The pipe represented a mermaid, whose double twisted tail curled around the stem as far as the amber mouthpiece and whose seductive head had been hollowed for the bowl. Schleifmann could not conceal his admiration. "It is marvelous ... colossal, colossal!" he repeated, using the German expression which to him signified supreme enthusiasm.... "I am going to smoke it now.... Waiter, matches!" Uncle Cyprien watched the preparations for the inauguration with a glorious and softened feeling. "Exquisite!" Schleifmann declared, after two whiffs. "A child could smoke it.... You are very kind, my dear Cyprien." He took up the case and examined the lining, a coat of dark red plush with the maker's name stamped in gold letters. Brusquely, he knocked on the table with his fist. "Raindal!" he shouted. "Look me in the eyes!" "Here!" the ex-official replied, looking furtively at his friend, his face slantwise. "You are gambling at the Bourse, my friend!" "I!" said Uncle Cyprien, in shocked rebellion. "Yes, you! This address tells me everything: Place de la Bourse! You are gambling on the mines!... Have a care, Raindal! This is an adventure which may cost a great deal more than you imagine!" He replaced the pipe in its case with a gesture of renunciation. "You make me tired, Schleifmann!" grumbled Cyprien. "You upset me considerably.... What! I take the trouble to buy you a pipe, to choose it as if for myself! And this is all I get for it: words of ill-omen!... Well, yes; there.... I have gambled.... I have even won.... I won seven hundred francs.... But it is fi-ni-shed, all finished! To-day I stopped everything.... Are you satisfied, you silly?" "Finished!" the Galician sneered. "I do not believe a word of it, my dear fellow.... Begun, yes.... But finished, after such a profit! You take me for a fool, Raindal!" Cyprien made a haughty grimace. "As you like! Don't believe me! I cannot compel you to believe me.... Very well, then.... I am still gambling.... I gamble until I am all out of breath.... Quite so.... And you are leaving me my pipe?... You couldn't do anything pleasanter!" Unwittingly, Schleifmann glanced with regret at the plump siren which, lying on her side, seemed as if asleep. "There! I don't want to upset you, my dear Cyprien!... Nevertheless, I am shamed to take your pipe.... I ought not to.... It isn't right." "Don't be so fussy," said Raindal, with an air of affection. "Take it back quickly ... since as I tell you I'm not gambling any more!" "The Lord be praised, if you are telling the truth!" Schleifmann murmured, as he lit his pipe. The conversation once more became friendly. From time to time, Schleifmann exhaled between two puffs: "Delicious.... Colossal!" Uncle Cyprien thought that his deception had succeeded and ventured in a careless tone: