"Very well.--But there are some men who have a perfect mania for singing."

"And who often sing false--as, for instance---- I declare four queens!"

While these gentlemen played, Anatole shouted at the top of his voice:

"'Come, lady fair; I await thee, I await thee, I await thee!'"

"That is horrible!" said the count.

"It sounds like the hissing of a railroad train when it stops."

"I have a sequence!"

"It seems that we are not to see Madame Monleard and her husband this evening?"

"No; they have gone to some grand affair.--I declare a single bezique!"

"Ah! Monleard doesn't propose that his little wife shall be bored; they are going to parties all the time."

"Yes; if only it will last.--I declare four kings--eighty!"

"And why shouldn't it last?--Mon Dieu! how that fellow makes my ears ache with his 'I await thee! I await thee!'--I am sorry for Mademoiselle Adolphine."

"Haven't you heard, monsieur le comte,--a simple marriage in diamonds,--that Monsieur Monleard was speculating on the Bourse in a--another marriage, clubs this time--in a terrific way?"

"Faith! no.--Why, I am not counting at all. It's that infernal singer's fault!"

"I have been told for a fact that he has lost a lot of money lately."

"We must never believe more than half of what we're told, you know."

"Double bezique!"

"Deuce take it! how you are beating me! Ah! they're singing a duet now; we shall hear Mademoiselle Adolphine, at all events. If she could only drown that fellow's voice!"

"I have made eleven hundred on this deal."

"And I a hundred and twenty. I am a long way behind. Do we count the fifteen hundred?"

"To be sure; when you get three beziques, they count fifteen hundred.

But, in order to count them, you must still have the first two in hand."

"Yes, yes, I know that. What is it they're singing now? Something else from _La Dame Blanche_, I think."

"It's your play, monsieur le comte."

"Yes, so it is; I beg your pardon. It's that man's voice that confuses me, or rather stuns me. Oh! what a squealer! Poor girl! she has a stock of patience."

"I declare a royal marriage!"

"You are counting all the time, Monsieur Batonnin; you are very lucky to be able to attend to your game."

"I try not to listen.--Single bezique!"

It was difficult not to hear the young singer, who at that moment was shouting, with all the force of his lungs:

"'Thith hand, thith hand tho lovely!'"

At last, the duet being at an end, Adolphine declared that she was tired, and left the piano.

"I can well believe that she's tired!" said Monsieur de la Beriniere; "she might well be, for less than that. To play that fellow's accompaniments--to sing with him! what a wicked task!"

"I have won, monsieur le comte!"

"Very good! give me my revenge. I can pay more attention to the game, now that I don't hear that hissing voice; he's a veritable serpent, is that young man."

But Monsieur de Raincy had seated himself beside Adolphine, and he talked to her while the others played. Naturally, they spoke in undertones, in order not to disturb the players. This conversation, of which he could not catch a single word, seemed to annoy the count even more than the music; and Batonnin made the most of his opponent's distraction and misplays, while saying to him in a wheedling tone:

"Monsieur le comte isn't in luck to-night.--I declare a sequence!"

"It's true, I am absent-minded.--Well, Mademoiselle Adolphine, have you stopped singing?"

"Oh! no, monsieur; I am resting."

"For heaven's sake, take care," said Batonnin; "you'll suggest to that young man the idea of beginning again!"

"Why, no; I am talking to Mademoiselle Gerbault. I am sure that Monsieur de Raincy is boring her at this moment. I would like to rid her of him."

"Bezique!--You think she's bored? But you may be mistaken--he's a very good-looking fellow, is Monsieur de Raincy.--Four aces!"

"Ah! upon my word! If he's a good-looking fellow--with that stupid, idiotic, conceited air!"

"He has a good figure.--Double bezique!"

"Sapristi! you never fail to get that.--And that p.r.o.nunciation of his--do you think that's pretty, too?"

"Not in singing, at all events.--Take your card, if you please, monsieur le comte!"

"Ah! to be sure.--I was not paying attention. Whose play is it?"

"Mine.--I have the honor of winning again. I have triple bezique--fifteen hundred!"

"Is it possible?"

"Look for yourself."

"Well! I am not sorry it's over. I am not at all in the mood for cards to-night."