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money, and you will give me a guarantee that it will be paid to me. You
will give me bills at sight for the sum of one hundred thousand francs
which you owe me."
The unhappy Olivier hesitating to comply with this demand, his
implacable creditor rose and seized the bell.
"Oh, do not ring, sir--do not ring," said the young man, "I will sign the
paper."
And he signed it.
The villainous plot was consummated.
Olivier returned to his family, and humbly confessed all that he had
done.
His old father, rather than bring disgrace on his child, paid the money,
esteeming his son's honour beyond all price.
The Society of Philosophers had shared in this roguery, in the persons of
Chaffard and the Belgian capitalist.
To Chaffard was delegated the arrangement of the money department;
and so well did he manage the business, that, in a very short space of
time, he had the satisfaction of receiving a hundred thousand francs, in
exchange for the bills which he held.
Chauvignac, ever watchful for his own interest, immediately claimed his
portion of the booty. Half the sum (as had been agreed on) was handed
over to him, for having arranged the scheme and prepared the victim.
The remaining fifty thousand francs were left in the hands of Chaffard,
to be divided between the three philosophers.
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But the cunning rascal finding himself in possession of funds sufficient
to give him a year's enjoyment and luxury, and living, as he did, in fear
from day to day of being arrested for his numerous misdeeds, instead of
going to Paris, directed his.
steps to Brussels, to play in his turn (but in good earnest) the rle of a
French capitalist.
In a moment of weakness, Chaffard had confided his project to
Chauvignac, who immediately wrote, and told the two other
philosophers of it.
Raymond, who was a philosopher in the true acceptation of the word,
received the news with great coolness; he had learned to his cost that one
must never depend on the honour of a rogue.
This fresh escapade of Chaffard did not surprise him; he had rather
expected it.
With Andras it was otherwise: furious at seeing himself the puppet of a
man whom he regarded as his inferior, if not in bodily strength, at least
in intelligence and sagacity, he swore that he would overtake the thief,
and make him disgorge his ill-gotten gains.
Full of artifices and schemes, he started for Belgium; but, by way of
precaution, he took with him, as a fellow-traveller and companion, a
celebrated pugilist--a sort of herculean bull-dog, whom he intended to let
loose at his antagonist, if occasion required.
Once separated from the man, whom he had every reason to regard as
his bad angel, Raymond felt no longer sufficient strength to follow the
dangerous profession, into which he had been so fatally enticed.
The constant dangers by which he was surrounded, a last spark of
conscience, and a return of better feelings, made him determine to quit
for ever the discreditable career which he was following.
Possessed of twenty thousand francs, he had sufficient funds to keep him
for awhile, and give him time to find some employment, which would
enable him to live honourably. But after some months, led on by his old
love of gambling in general and roulette in particular, he visited the
various spas and watering-places, where those engines of ruin, gambling
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tables, are to be found, and where he undertook his famous crusade
against the banks and their "croupiers."
We know the result of the calculations and computations of Voisin
Raymond,--the inevitable fate of all gamesters who count on benefiting
by the favours of fortune.
It took Raymond some days to narrate to me the above story, as, when
the clock struck the hour for beginning to play, he immediately quitted
me, and thought of nothing but his hypothetical combinations.
He was trying a new system, about which, by-the-bye, he would never
tell me a word, but I had little doubt that it would prove as fallacious as
the former one, and leave him nothing but his own bright dreams as his
reward.
When I quitted Baden, he was penniless, and I had to add to the loan I
had already made him.
Since his conversion, I had had good proof, that he preferred suffering
the most severe privations, rather than have recourse to his skill in
sharping; and this it was which made me advance him a larger sum.
When we parted, I left Raymond overjoyed with the hopes of being able
to repay me ail he owed, in a very short space of time, and even of being
able to break the bank with the money I had lent him.
These golden visions, alas! were never destined to be realised. Soon
afterwards, I went to Paris to resume my "sances," and whilst there, I
received a letter from Raymond, making a last appeal to my generosity,
to enable him to live until he got a situation he was trying for.
Wishing to prevent a recurrence of similar appeals, I did not answer his
letter, but wrote to one of my friends at Strasbourg, to send the wretched
man fifty francs, without telling him the name of his benefactor.
A whole year passed without my hearing any more of Raymond. I
thought it very probable he had died of want, when one day, on returning
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Chapter XII-An Infamous Snare
home in a cab, I could not drive up to my own door, as an elegant
brougham, which had just driven up, was standing opposite to it.
I therefore got out, and what was my astonishment, at recognising in my
visitor, Voisin Raymond, extremely well dressed, and sporting all his
beard, as in the former happy roulette days, except that it was not quite
so long.
I almost hesitated to address him, so great was my surprise; I thought I
must be the victim of an illusion.
"Ah!" exclaimed Raymond (making use of precisely the same words he
did at our first meeting at Baden), "how a beard changes a man!
especially when that man is transformed into a demimillionnaire!"
"Come in quickly," said I to Raymond, "I am curious to know, to what
lucky chance you owe your present prosperity."
My visitor followed me without uttering a word, and even after our
entrance into the drawing-room, still remained silent.
I was the first to speak.
"How is it, my friend, that your great good luck has never been
mentioned in the newspapers? You know, that when the bank loses, they
make a point of giving the fact publicity through the press, in hopes of
alluring fresh players?"
Still no reply from Raymond; but, after a protracted silence of several
moments, he said: "I am doing my best to find some means of
prolonging your error; not finding any, I decide to tell you the truth.
"You doubtless remember, that when I commenced the history of my
life, out of respect for one of the members of my family, I concealed my
name. It was out of regard to my brother, who held a high appointment
in the magistracy.
"This brother, who, thank God, knew nothing of my doings, except that I
had run through my fortune, died three months since, without leaving a
will. I am his sole heir, and have come into twenty-five thousand francs
a year.
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"This is how I have managed to become a rich man.
"I have entirely renounced gambling," continued Raymond. "I am rich
enough for all I require, and have no ambition to become more wealthy.
"I could now, however," added he, with an air of triumph, "break every
one of the banks, if I liked; and what a glorious vengeance I could take
for all my former ill luck. Fortunately, my heart is too full of happiness
to leave any room for vengeance."
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