Page:Short Story Classics (Foreign, Volume 4, French I, Collier, 1907).djvu/114

1110 the cards; 'we do not make bargains of that kind.'

"And she pushed away the brilliant, which fell to the ground and rolled to my side.

"The domino remained still without moving, forgetting the ring, sunk in thought.

"I picked up the ring and handed it to her.

"Through her mask I saw her eyes fixed on mine.

"'You must help me to get in,' she said to me; 'You must, for pity's sake.'

"'But I am going out, madame,' I said to her.

"'Then give me six francs for this ring, and you will render me a service for which I shall bless you my life long.'

"I replaced the ring on her finger; I went to the box-office, I took two tickets. We reentered together.

"As we arrived within the corrider I felt that she was tottering. Then with her second hand she made a kind of ring around my arm.

"'Are you in pain?' I asked her.

"'No, no, it is nothing,' she replied, 'a dizziness, that is all—'

"She hurried me into the hall.

"We reentered into that giddy Charenton.

"Three times we made the tour, breaking our way with great difficulty through the waves of masks that were hurling themselves one upon the other; she trembling at every unseemly word that came to her ear; I blushing to be seen giving my arm to a woman who