3/26 I passed a portion of the night in calculating over and over again; for the invariable result was so frightful that my mind and heart refused to accept the evidence of my senses. The sum lost in gambling by my nephew is incredible." "What!" exclaimed Mr.Van de Werve, "then the Signor Turchi was not mistaken in his suspicions ?" "Ten thousand crowns!" said Deodati sighing. "Impossible! That is a fortune of itself." "And yet it is true. There is a deficit of ten thousand crowns in the money vault of the house, and there are exactly ten thousand crowns unaccounted for on the books. Not a line, not a mark refers in any manner to the employment or destination of this sum. |