Page:The fortunes of Fifi (IA fortunesoffifi00seawiala).pdf/78

 the thought of Fifi's possible rise in the world, he was so grumpy, Fifi declared she almost hated him.

They were among the first to arrive, and secured good seats near the tribune. There sat the officers of the lottery, the mayor with his tricolored sash, and several representatives of the government, together with a little fairy of a child, all in white, who was to draw the numbers from the wheel, which was already in place.

The crowd assembled in the hall was an orderly and well-dressed one, but Fifi and Cartouche, who were used to crowds, felt in a subtile way that it was quite different from the ordinary crowd. Most of the people were, like Cartouche, in a state of acute tension. They were strangely still and silent, but also, strangely ready to laugh, to cry, to shout—to do anything which would take the edge off the crisis.

When the drawing began, and one or two small prizes of twenty and fifty francs were drawn, the winners were vociferously cheered. There was a feeling that the grand prize of a hundred thousand francs would not be drawn until late in the after