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.