No man was more master of the hundred little artifices by which the spectator--“the gallery” is the play phrase--can arouse the hopes and stimulate the expectations of the losing player. He knew to perfection when to back the unlucky gambler, and how to throw out those half-muttered words of encouragement so dear and precious to the loser's heart. But if he knew all this well, he also knew that there are times when these interferences become impertinent, and when the intense excitement of the game will not admit of the distraction of sympathy. Linton, therefore, was silent; he took his seat behind the chair of one of his intimates, and watched the table attentively. At the close of a game wherein fortune vacillated for a long time, the Duke lost above a hundred thousand francs,--a kind of pause, like a truce, seemed to intervene, and Rica sat with the cards before him, not making preparations for a new deal. “Fortune is too decidedly your enemy this evening, my Lord Duke; I am really ashamed to see you lose thus continuously.” “There is a certain Château de Marlier, which belongs to me, near St. Germain,” said the Duke. “It has been valued, with its grounds, at upwards of seven hundred thousand francs; are you disposed to advance so much upon it?” “As loan or purchase?” asked Rica. “Whichever you prefer. If the choice were mine, I should say as a loan.” “_Parbleu!_ it is a beautiful spot,” said one of the players. “It was formerly a hunting-seat of Louis XIV.” “You are quite correct, sir,” said the Duke. “It was a present from that monarch to my grandfather, and possesses, amongst its other advantages, the privilege of giving the owner a ducal coronet. If any man be weak enough in these days to care for the distinction, he can be Duke de Marlier on easy terms.” “Take him,” whispered Linton in Rica's ear. “I accept the venture as my own.” “Were I to accept this offer, my Lord Duke,” said Rica, “am I to understand that no mortgages nor charges of any kind are in existence against this property?” “It is perfectly unencumbered,” said the Duke, calmly. “There are some half-dozen pictures--a Velasquez or two amongst them--which I should reserve as my own; but everything else would belong to the purchaser.” “The cost of transferring property in France is considerable, I believe, and there is some difficulty respecting the right of foreigners to inherit,” said Rica, again. “Take him, I say; the risk is mine,” whispered Linton, whose impatience at the other's caution became each moment stronger. “Do you accept, Monsieur de Rica?” said the Duke, pushing back his chair from the table, as though about to rise, “or is there to be an armistice for the present?” “It would be ungenerous, my Lord Duke, to refuse you anything in my power to grant,” said Rica, obsequiously. “As a high-spirited but unfortunate player--”