The Gambler's Last Dance — The Gambler

The narrator calls his Paris stay a delirium: in three weeks he burns through the hundred thousand francs still in his hands while Blanche keeps the other half for her establishment. She inspects his purse daily, calls him her utchitel, and spends on horses, parties, and social climbing while he hosts vulgar guests and drinks to escape boredom. He answers her extravagance with flat indifference, even encouraging her affairs, finding strange peace in being used. The General arrives broken from the Roulettenberg scandal; Blanche welcomes him, parades him on the Boulevards, and manipulates him toward marriage while the narrator funds the household. She induces the General to sign notes in Albert's name so she can punish him later, then marries him in a quiet ceremony once the narrator's money is gone. Parting, she gives him two thousand francs and calls him a good child who will gamble it away. He keeps five hundred francs and plans Homburg, refusing Roulettenberg until next year because luck should not be tested twice in succession. The chapter shows addiction spreading from the casino into relationships, where the narrator accepts exploitation as familiar comfort.