All this was a certainty supposing he had possessed the most moderate talents, and behaved with common decency. But at seventeen he was already notorious, even at the court of Louis XV., for his vicious life; an incorrigible gambler, and over head and ears in debt. His guardian reproached him, and his debts were paid, but the same thing kept happening until, when he was twenty years old, he lost in one night five hundred thousand francs, his debts besides amounting to another hundred thousand.
In the evening Catherine II. died and Paul arrived. Lisette hardly dared leave the Princess Dolgoroukis, to go home, as every one was saying there would be a revolution against Paul. The streets were filled with people, but there was no [138] disorder. The crowds reassembled next day before the palace of Catherine, calling her their mother, with cries and tears.Monsieur, I have just been hearing so much nonsense about this portrait, that really I dont know whether I have been working like an artist or a sign-painter.The day after to-morrow.