y people
would like to have. Eve reluctantly took out two louis, the only coins
in her imitation gold bag. She was not near a croupier, and having seen
already that a few five-franc pieces lay among her neighbour's gold and
notes, she asked Mary with a pleasant smile if she would mind changing a
louis for her. "I'm not lucky, like you," she said, "so I'm afraid to
play with gold."

Mary pushed four five-franc pieces along the table, and would have been
only too glad not to accept the gold in exchange, but of course she
could not make a present of money to Lady Dauntrey. "I shall be
delighted," she said.

"You're sure you're not wanting your silver?" Eve inquired.

"Oh, no, thank you. I sometimes put five francs on zero _en plein_ to
protect half a stake on a simple chance," Mary explained, now thoroughly
conversant with every intricacy of the game that had been so kind to
her. "But zero's been up three times in half an hour, so I don't think I
shall bother with it again for a while. And, anyhow, I'm not playing for
a few minutes. Sometimes I feel as if I must wait for an inspiration."

"I wish I ever had one!" sighed Lady Dauntrey, hesitating over one of
her big silver coins. "Do tell me where to put this. You're so
wonderful, you might bring even me a stroke of luck."

"But I should be so distressed if I made you lose," Mary said, as
gravely as if the five-franc piece in question had been a _mille_ note.
"But--well--if it were mine, I rather think I should try ten. I've no
inspiration for myself this time; but I seem to see ten floating in the
air around you, and that's the way my inspirations come. I see numbers
or colours, and then I play on them."

"I'll try it!" Eve exclaimed. "But will you put the money on for me? I
want all your luck, and none of my own."

Mary pushed the five-franc piece on to the number 10, using a rake of
her own which Dick Carleton had given her. It was a glorified rake,
which he had ordered specially for her, made of ebony with the initials
"M. G." set into it in little sapphires, her favourite stones.

Ten came up, and Lady Dauntrey was enchanted. She even felt an impulse
of gratitude, and a superstitious conviction that this girl would be for
her a bringer of good fortune.

"I've so often watched your play, and wanted to tell you how much I
admired it," she said, "but I never quite had the courage."

Lady Dauntrey did not look like a woman who would lack courage for
anything sh