unless she bent down and kissed the egg
passionately. Her smile seemed inadequate, and she ate with a worried
fear of seeming ungrateful, especially as she was impelled to hurry,
lest those people in front of the Casino should take all the places at
the tables. She wanted to sit down to gamble, for the strenuous game she
had played last night, with many stakes, would be impossible when
stretching over people's heads.

By half-past nine she was in the crowd, all her money, with the
exception of two hundred pounds she had put by, crushed into her big
beaded hand-bag. She remembered how at Aberdeen the night she went to
the theatre people stood like this, patiently waiting for the pit-door
to open. What did she not remember about that, her first and only visit
to a theatre?

At last the Casino doors yawned, as if they disliked waking up. The
procession rolled toward them, like a determined and vigorous python.
Mary was carried ahead with the rush. She had forgotten that she ought
to have renewed her ticket, but fortunately she was not asked for it;
and as she had come without a wrap, there was nothing to turn her aside
from the rooms.

Once across the threshold of the big Salle Schmidt, the struggle began.
It was not only the young and agile who raced each other to the tables.
Men who looked as if they might have pulled one foot from the grave in
order to reach the Casino, hobbled wildly across the slippery floor.
Fat elderly ladies waddled with indomitable speed, like women tied up in
bags for an obstacle race; and an invalid gentleman, a famous player,
with his attendant--the first to get in--was swept along in a small bath
chair ahead of the crowd, an expression of fierce exhilaration on a
gaunt face white as bleached bone. But the young and healthy gamblers
had an advantage, especially those with long legs.

Only yesterday Mary would have let herself be passed by every one,
rather than push into a place which somebody else wanted. Now, however,
the gambler's fever was in her. Whatever happened, she must get a seat
at the table where she had played last night. To do so was the most
important thing on earth. Slender and tall and long-limbed, she ran like
a young Diana; though not since she had become Sister Rose had she ever
been undignified enough to run. Straight as an arrow she aimed for the
table she wanted, and convulsively seized the back of the last unclaimed
chair. It was grasped at the same instant by a youn