A Start in Life [75]
At the tone and accent of that voice Oscar recognized a motherly
kindness which is often found in women of her kind, and he answered
openly:--
"I have lost five hundred francs which my employer gave me to obtain a
document to-morrow morning; there's nothing for me but to fling myself
into the river; I am dishonored."
"How silly you are!" she said. "Stay where you are; I'll get you a
thousand francs and you can win back what you've lost; but don't risk
more than five hundred, so that you may be sure of your master's
money. Georges plays a fine game at ecarte; bet on him."
Oscar, frightened by his position, accepted the offer of the mistress
of the house.
"Ah!" he thought, "it is only women of rank who are capable of such
kindness. Beautiful, noble, rich! how lucky Georges is!"
He received the thousand francs from Florentine and returned to bet on
his hoaxer. Georges had just passed for the fourth time when Oscar sat
down beside him. The other players saw with satisfaction the arrival
of a new better; for all, with the instinct of gamblers, took the side
of Giroudeau, the old officer of the Empire.
"Messieurs," said Georges, "you'll be punished for deserting me; I
feel in the vein. Come, Oscar, we'll make an end of them!"
Georges and his partner lost five games running. After losing the
thousand francs Oscar was seized with the fury of play and insisted on
taking the cards himself. By the result of a chance not at all
uncommon with those who play for the first time, he won. But Georges
bewildered him with advice; told him when to throw the cards, and even
snatched them from his hand; so that this conflict of wills and
intuitions injured his vein. By three o'clock in the morning, after
various changes of fortune, and still drinking punch, Oscar came down
to his last hundred francs. He rose with a heavy head, completely
stupefied, took a few steps forward, and fell upon a sofa in the
boudoir, his eyes closing in a leaden sleep.
"Mariette," said Fanny Beaupre to Godeschal's sister, who had come in
about two o'clock, "do you dine here to-morrow? Camusot and Pere
Cardot are coming, and we'll have some fun."
"What!" cried Florentine, "and my old fellow never told me!"
"He said he'd tell you to-morrow morning," remarked Fanny Beaupre.
"The devil take him and his orgies!" exclaimed Florentine. "He and
Camusot are worse than magistrates or stage-managers. But we have very
good dinners here, Mariette," she continued. "Cardot always orders
them from Chevet's; bring your Duc de Maufrigneuse and we'll make them
dance like Tritons."
Hearing the names of Cardot and Camusot, Oscar made an effort to throw
off his sleep; but he could only mutter a few words which were not
understood, and then he fell back upon the silken cushions.
"You'll have to keep him here all night," said Fanny Beaupre,
laughing, to Florentine.
"Oh! poor boy! he is drunk with punch and despair both. It is the
second clerk in your brother's office," she said to Mariette. "He has
lost the money his master gave him for some legal affair. He wanted to
drown himself; so I lent him a thousand francs, but those brigands
Finot and Giroudeau won them from him. Poor innocent!"
"But we ought to wake him," said Mariette. "My brother won't make
light of it, nor his master either."
"Oh, wake him if you can, and carry him off with you!" said
Florentine, returning to the salon to receive the adieux of some
departing guests.
Presently those who remained began what was called "character
dancing," and by the time it was broad daylight, Florentine, tired
out, went to bed, oblivious to Oscar, who was still in the boudoir
sound asleep.
CHAPTER X
ANOTHER CATASTROPHE
About eleven the next morning, a terrible sound awoke the unfortunate
clerk. Recognizing the voice of his uncle Cardot, he thought it wise
to feign