The Englishman's Revelations — The Gambler

On the promenade the narrator meets Mr. Astley, who already knows about the dismissal though almost no one else speaks of it. Over coffee the narrator confesses his love for Polina for the first time at length, then shows Astley her note and recounts the Baron farce, the General's cowardice, and De Griers' morning visit. Astley scolds him for gossiping about Polina and De Griers without facts, then reveals why the whole household trembles: Mlle. Blanche is a rebranded adventuress who was expelled from Roulettenberg three seasons ago after con games, unpaid hotels, and a scene with the Baroness. She now needs a respectable marriage to the General before any new scandal revives the old ban. The narrator's public antics threaten that delicate scheme. Astley also hints that De Griers waits on the grandmother's death and Polina's dowry. The chapter ends with a woman on the hotel verandah shouting the narrator's name in Russian.