Chapter 4 - Page 2

charter. When all the players but one
were anxious to continue an exciting game, the daring sailor, du
Halga, one of those rich fellows prodigal of costs they do not pay,
would offer ten counters to Mademoiselle Zephirine or Mademoiselle
Jacqueline, when either of them, or both of them, had lost their five
sous, on condition of reimbursement in case they won. An old bachelor
could allow himself such gallantries to the sex. The baron also
offered ten counters to the old maids, but under the honest pretext of
continuing the game. The miserly maidens accepted, not, however,
without some pressing, as is the use and wont of maidens. But, before
giving way to this vast prodigality the baron and the chevalier were
required to have won; otherwise the offer would have been taken as an
insult.

/Mouche/ became a brilliant affair when a Demoiselle de Kergarouet
was in transit with her aunt. We use the single name, for the
Kergarouets had never been able to induce any one to call them
Kergarouet-Pen-Hoel,--not even their servants, although the latter
had strict orders so to do. At these times the aunt held out to the
niece as a signal treat the /mouche/ at the du Guenics. The girl was
ordered to look amiable, an easy thing to do in the presence of the
beautiful Calyste, whom the four Kergarouet young ladies all adored.
Brought up in the midst of modern civilization, these young persons
cared little for five sous a game, and on such occasions the stakes
went higher. Those were evenings of great emotion to the old blind
sister. The baroness would give her sundry hints by pressing her foot
a certain number of times, according to the size of the stake it was
safe to play. To play or not to play, if the basket were full, involved
an inward struggle, where cupidity fought with fear. If Charlotte de
Kergarouet, who was usually called giddy, was lucky in her bold throws,
her aunt on their return home (if she had not won herself), would be cold
and disapproving, and lecture the girl: she had too much decision in her
character; a young person should never assert herself in presence of
her betters; her manner of taking the basket and beginning to play was
really insolent; the proper behavior of a young girl demanded much
more reserve and greater modesty; etc.

It can easily be imagined that these games, carried on nightly for
twenty years, were interrupted now and then by narratives of events in
the town, or by discussions on public events. Sometimes the players
would sit for half an hour, their cards held fan-shape on their
stomachs, engaged in talking. If, as a result of these inattentions, a
counter was missing from the basket, every one eagerly declared that
he or she had put in their proper number. Usually the