Once restored to his rank under the flag of his country, he would perhaps abandon a vice only taken up from idleness.

Agathe, who no longer received her friends in the evening, sat in the chimney-corner reading her prayers, while Madame Descoings consulted the cards, interpreted her dreams, and applied the rules of the "cabala" to her lottery ventures.

This jovial fanatic never missed a single drawing; she still pursued her trey,--which never turned up.

It was nearly twenty-one years old, just approaching its majority; on this ridiculous idea the old woman now pinned her faith.

One of its three numbers had stayed at the bottom of all the wheels ever since the institution of the lottery.
Accordingly, Madame Descoings laid heavy stakes on that particular number, as well as on all the combinations of the three numbers.