Kami was no doubt more impudent, more cynical and more arrogant
than others of his class. As he was more wealthy, he had more
followers; he had been more toadied and flattered, and victimized
to a greater extent by the host of female intriguers, who look
upon every foreigner as their rightful prey.
He spoke French passably well, but with an abominable accent.
"Here you are at last!" he exclaimed, as the baron entered the
room. "I was becoming very anxious."
"About what, prince?"
Why Kami-Bey was called prince no one knew, not even the man
himself. Perhaps it was because the lackey who opened his
carriage door on his arrival at the Grand Hotel had addressed him
by that title.
"About what!" he repeated. "You have won more than three hundred
thousand francs from me, and I was wondering if you intended to
give me the slip."
The baron frowned, and this time he omitted the title of prince
altogether. "It seems to me, sir, that according to our
agreement, we were to play until one of us had won five hundred
thousand francs," he said haughtily.
"That's true--but we ought to play every day."
"Possibly: but I'm very busy just now. I wrote to you explaining
this, did I not? If you are at all uneasy, tear up the book in
which the results of our games are noted, and that shall be the
end of it. You will gain considerably by the operation.
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