And I did go on--went on at such a

And I did go on--went on at such a rate, that in another quarter of an hour
the croupier called out, "Gentlemen, the bank has discontinued for to-night."
All the notes, and all the gold in that "bank," now lay in a heap under my
hands; the whole floating capital of the gambling-house was waiting to pour into
my pockets!
"Tie up the money in your pocket-handkerchief, my worthy sir," said the old
soldier, as I wildly plunged my hands into my heap of gold. "Tie it up, as we
used to tie up a bit of dinner in the Grand Army; your winnings are too heavy
for any breeches-pockets that ever were sewed. There! that's it--shovel them in,
notes and all! CrediŽ! what luck! Stop! another napoleon on the floor! Ah! sacrŽ
petit polisson de Napoleon! have I found thee at last? Now then, sir--two tight
double knots each way with your honorable permission, and the money's safe. Feel
it! feel it, fortunate sir! hard and round as a cannon-ball--Ah, bah! if they
had only fired such cannon-balls at us at Austerlitz--nom d'une pipe! if they
only had! And now, as an ancient grenadier, as an ex-brave of the French army,
what remains for me to do? I ask what? Simply this: to entreat my valued English
friend to drink a bottle of Champagne with me, and toast the goddess Fortune in
foaming goblets before we part!"
Excellent ex-brave! Convivial ancient grenadier! Champagne by all means! An
English cheer for an old soldier! Hurrah! hurrah! Another English cheer for the
goddess Fortune! Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!
"Bravo! the Englishman; the amiable, gracious Englishman, in whose veins
circulates the vivacious blood of France! Another glass? Ah, bah!--the bottle is
empty! Never mind! Vive le vin! I, the old soldier, order another bottle, and
half a pound of bonbons with it!"
"No, no, ex-brave; never--ancient grenadier! Your bottle last time; my
bottle this. Behold it! Toast away! The French Army! the great Napoleon! the
present company! the croupier! the honest croupier's wife and daughters--if he
has any! the Ladies generally! everybody in the world!"
By the time the second bottle of Champagne was emptied, I felt as if I had
been drinking liquid fire--my brain seemed all aflame. No excess in wine had
ever had this effect on me before in my life. Was it the result of a stimulant
acting upon my system when I was in a highly excited state? Was my stomach in a
particularly disordered condition? Or was the Champagne amazingly strong?
"Ex-brave of the French Army!" cried I, in a mad state of exhilaration, "I
am on fire! how are you? You have set me on fire! Do you hear, my hero of
Austerlitz? Let us have a third bottle of Champagne to put the flame out!"
The old soldier wagged his head, rolled his goggle-eyes, until I expected to
see them slip out of their sockets; placed his dirty forefinger by the side of
his broken nose; solemnly ejaculated "Coffee!" and immediately ran off into an
inner room.
The word pronounced by the eccentric veteran seemed to have a magical effect
on the rest of the company present. With one accord they all rose to depart.
Probably they had expected to profit by my intoxication; but finding that my new
friend was benevolently bent on preventing me from getting dead drunk, had now
abandoned all hope of thriving pleasantly on my winnings. Whatever their motive
might be, at any rate they went away in a body. When the old soldier returned,
and sat down again opposite to me at the table, we had the room to ourselves. I
could see the croupier, in a sort of vestibule which opened out of it, eating
his supper in solitude. The silence was now deeper than ever.