‘The origin of that credit of a million of florins is connected with a fact which Mr. Rally has told me since our last visit to him,--a fact which marvellously characterises the infinite possibilities of gambling. One morning, an elegant carriage, with four superbly caparisoned horses, their manes flowing in the wind, stopped at the door of Mr. Rally’s temporary residence in Moscow. A man of about thirty, with a frank and open countenance, alighted from it. He sends in his name, and presents himself, with those easy manners which are always a passport for a man who has no other recommendation. “Pray excuse my visit,” he said to Mr. Rally in very pure French, “but I have had the advantage of meeting you now and again in public, and I have presumed upon the circumstance to call upon you. I hope you will excuse the liberty.” When he had seated himself he went on. “The matter I wish to speak to you about is of the highest importance to me, but allow me to ask you for a promise that, whether you consent or refuse to render me the service I have come to ask, you will keep the secret.” Mr. Rally promised at once, and the young man went on. “My name is Soueskof-Feodorowich. I am a merchant of the first class. You are no doubt aware of the rank we occupy among the bourgeoisie. I live in your neighbourhood, but my business house and my habitual home are at Toula. You are, I have been told, an English gentleman who has taken up his quarters for a few months in Moscow, and, like most of your distinguished countrymen, you play heavily and in the noblest manner. That is what is done in Russia, and, for the matter of that, everywhere. But I have been told moreover, monsieur, that you play carefully, and allow me to congratulate you on the fact, for this gives you a great guarantee against being duped. You’ll excuse me if I add that this reputation induced me to present myself to you.” Mr. Rally was somewhat surprised at this preamble, but before he could translate his surprise into words his visitor resumed, “I, monsieur, never gamble. I do not even know a game, but I come in furtherance of an attempt, the success of which will depend upon you, in which gambling will play a part. I have heard you praised for your noble character; I have perfect faith in it, and I have come to place in your hands a possession prized highly by every Englishman--namely, liberty. That word, from my lips, may seem strange to you. The first gift of God after life is liberty. Well, sir, that liberty, without which life is nothing, I am for ever deprived of. I speak of it as the blind hankers after the light. I am a serf, and perhaps it is reserved for you to efface from my forehead that ignominious stigma, that mark of opprobrium which the law compels us to engrave on our doors, that scutcheon of infamy which we inherit from generation to generation, like the sign that God’s finger set on the brow of Cain. My request to you is this.