Lest our moralizing should grow uncomfortable, dear reader, let us return to Mr. Merl, now occupied, as he was, in this same process of self-examination. He sat with a little note-book before him, recalling various incidents of the past. And if the lowering expression of his face might be trusted, his reveries were not rose-colored; and yet, as he turned over the pages, it might be seen that moments of gratulation alternated with the intervals of self-reproach.
“Wednesday, the 10th,” muttered he to himself, “dined at Philippe's--supped with Arkright and Bailey--whist at double Nap. points--won four hundred and ten--might have made it a thousand, but B. flung the cards out of the window in a passion, and had to cease playing.
“Thursday--toothache--stayed at home, and played piquet with myself--discovered two new combinations, in taking in cards--Irving came to see me--won from him twenty pounds his mother had just sent him.
“Friday--a good day's work--walked into Martin for two thousand seven hundred, and took his bill at three months, with promise to renew--dined with Sitwell, and sold him my Perugino for six hundred--cost myself not as many francs--am to have the refusal of all Vanderbrett's cabinets for letting him off his match with Columbine, which, by the way, he was sure to win, as Mope is dead lame.
“Martin again--Saturday--came to have his revenge, but seemed quarrelsome; so I affected an engagement, and declined play.
“Sunday--gave him his revenge, to the tune of twelve hundred in my own favor--'Lansquenet' in the evening at his rooms--several swells present--thought it prudent to drop some tin, and so, lost one hundred and forty Naps.--Sir Giles Bruce the chief winner--rich, and within two months of being of age.
“Monday--the Perugino returned as a bad copy by Fava--took it at once, and said I was taken in myself--Sitwell so pleased that he sat down to écarté, and lost two hundred to me. I dine with him to-morrow.
“Tuesday--blank--dinner at Sitwell's--met Colonel Cardie, whom I saw at Hombourg, and so refused to play. It was, I suspect, a plan of Sitwell's to pit us against each other.
“Wednesday--sold out my African at seventy-one and an eighth--realized well, and bought in Poyais, which will rise for at least ten days to come--took Canchard's château at Ghent for his old debt at écarté--don't like it, as it may be talked about.