"Of course you must! And at midnight, whatever your gains or losses, bring them here. I shall be there." The young man had by this time reached such a pitch of utter exhaustion that, if Gannot had told him to go and fling himself into the river, he would have gone. He carried out Gannot's instructions to the letter. He had never put foot in a gaming-house before; fortune, it is said, favours the innocent beginner: he played and won. At a quarter to twelve--for he had not forgotten the injunctions of the master for whom he began to feel a sort of superstitious reverence--he went away with his pockets full of gold and his heart bursting with joy. Gannot was walking up and down the passage which led to the Perron, quietly smoking his cigar. From the farthest distance when he first caught sight of him, the youth shouted-- "Oh! my friend, such good luck! I have won fifteen hundred francs; when my bill of exchange is paid I shall still have a thousand francs!... Let me embrace you; I owe you my very life." Gannot gently checked him with his hand, and told him to moderate his transports of gratitude. "Ah! now," he said, "we can indeed go and have a glass of punch, can we not?" "A glass of punch? A bowl, my friend, two bowls! As much as ever you like, and havanas _ad libitum!_ I am rich; when my bill of exchange is paid, my watch redeemed, I shall still have ..." "You have told me all that before." "Upon my word, I am so pleased I cannot repeat it often enough, dear friend!" And the young man gave himself up to shouts of immoderate joy, whilst Gannot regally climbed the stairs which led to the Hollandais, the only one left open after midnight. It was full. Gannot called for the _waiters._ One waiter appeared. "I asked for _the waiters_," said Gannot. He fetched three who were in the ice-house and they roused up two who had already gone to bed--fifteen came in all. Gannot counted them. "Good!" he said. "Now, waiters, go from table to table and ask the gentlemen and ladies at them what they would like to take." "Then, monsieur ..." "I will pay for it!" Gannot replied, in lordly tones.