Скорбь сатаны / The sorrows of Satan. Уровень 4

The more I won the more excited I became, till presently my humour changed and I was seized by a whimsical desire to lose. I wished this for young Lynton’s sake. He seemed literally maddened by my constant winnings, and continued his foolhardy and desperate play. His eyes glittered with a hungry feverishness. The other gamesters concealed their feelings more cleverly. Again and again I gathered up the stakes, till at last the players rose, Viscount Lynton among them.

“Well, I’ve lost everything!” he said, with a loud laugh. “You must give me my chance of a revanche tomorrow, Mr. Tempest!”

I bowed.

“With pleasure!”

He called a waiter at the end of the room to bring him a brandy and soda, and meanwhile I was surrounded by the rest of the men, all of them repeating the Viscount’s suggestion of a �revanche,’ and strenuously urging upon me the necessity of returning to the club the next night.

I readily agreed, and while we were in the midst of talk, Lucio suddenly addressed young Lynton.

“Will you make up another game with me?” he inquired. “I’ll start the bank with this,” – and he placed two notes of five hundred pounds each on the table.

There was a moment’s silence. The Viscount was thirstily drinking his brandy-and-soda, and glanced at the notes with covetous bloodshot eyes.

Then he shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

“I can’t stake anything,” he said; “I’ve already told you I’ve lost everything.”

“Sit down, sit down, Lynton!” urged one man near him. “I’ll lend you some money.”

“Thanks, I’d rather not!” he returned, flushing a little. “I’m too much in your debt already. You go on, you fellows, and I’ll watch the play.”

“Let me persuade you Viscount Lynton,” said Lucio, looking at him with his dazzling inscrutable smile.

“If you do not stake money, stake something trifling and merely nominal,” and here he took up a counter. “This frequently represents fifty pounds, – let it represent for once something that is not valuable like money, – your soul, for example!”

A burst of laughter broke from all the men. Lucio laughed softly with them.