“Olivier! Yes; I had forgotten. Don’t stay standing there like that! Sit down in that arm-chair. You’re not cold? Shall I shut the window?... It’s poetry he writes, isn’t it? He ought to bring me something to see. Of course, I don’t promise to take it.... But, all the same, I should be surprised if it were bad. He looks an intelligent boy. And then he’s obviously _au courant_. I should like to talk to him. Tell him to come and see me, eh? Mind, I count on it. A cigarette?” And he holds out his silver cigarette-case. “With pleasure.” “Now then, Vincent, listen to me. I must speak to you very seriously. You behaved like a child the other evening ... so did I, for that matter. I don’t say it was wrong of me to take you to Pedro’s, but I feel responsible, a little, for the money you’ve lost. I don’t know if that’s what’s meant by remorse, but, upon my word, it’s beginning to disturb my sleep and my digestion. And then, when I think of that unhappy woman you told me about.... But that’s another story. We won’t speak of that. It’s sacred. What I want to say is this--that I wish--yes, I’m absolutely determined to put at your disposal a sum of money equivalent to what you’ve lost. It was five thousand francs, wasn’t it? And you’re to risk it again. Once more, I repeat, I consider myself the cause of your losing this money--I owe it to you--there’s no need to thank me. You’ll pay me back if you win. If not--worse luck! We shall be quits. Go back to Pedro’s this evening, as if nothing had happened. The car will take you there; then it’ll come back here to take me to Lady Griffith’s, where I’ll ask you to join me later on. I count upon it, eh? The car will fetch you from Pedro’s.” He opens a drawer and takes out five notes which he hands to Vincent. “Be off with you, now.” “But your father?” “Oh, yes; I forgot to tell you: he died about....” He pulls out his watch and exclaims: “By Jove! how late it is! Nearly midnight.... You must make haste. Yes, about four hours ago.” All this is said without any quickening of his voice, on the contrary with a kind of nonchalance. “And aren’t you going to stay to....” “To watch by the body?” interrupts Robert. “No, that’s my young brother’s business. He is up there with his old nurse, who was on better terms with the deceased than I was.” Then as Vincent remains motionless, he goes on: