He knocked about, as he would have said, for half the night--not because he was delighted at having won ten thousand francs, but rather because all of a sudden he found himself disgusted at the manner in which he had spent the evening.

It was extremely characteristic of Bernard Longueville that his pleasure should suddenly transform itself into flatness.

What he felt was not regret or repentance.

He had it not in the least on his conscience that he had given countenance to the reprehensible practice of gaming.

It was annoyance that he had passed out of his own control--that he had obeyed a force which he was unable to measure at the time.