know about the art
and craft of roulette was apocryphal.

'Place this for me,' said a feminine voice.

He turned swiftly. It was Cosette's voice! There she stood, exquisitely
and miraculously dressed, behind his chair, holding a note of the Bank
of France in her gloved hand!

'When did you come?' he asked loudly, in his extreme astonishment.

'_Pstt!_' she smilingly admonished him for breaking the rule of the
saloons. 'Place this for me.'

It was a note for a thousand francs.

'This?' he said.

'Yes.'

'But where?'

'Choose,' she whispered. 'You are lucky. You will bring happiness.'

He did not know what he was doing, so madly whirled his brain, and, as
the black enclosure happened to be nearest to him, he dropped the note
there. The croupier at the end of the table manoeuvred it with his
rake, and called out to the centre: '_Billet de mille francs._' Then,
when it was too late, Henry recollected that black had already turned
up three times together. But in a moment black had won.

'I can quite understand the fascination this game has for people,' Henry
thought.

'Leave them there,' said Cosette, pointing to the two notes for a
thousand francs each. 'I like to follow the run.'

Black won again.

'Leave them there,' said Cosette, pointing to the four notes for a
thousand francs each. 'I did say you would bring happiness.' They smiled
at each other happily.

Black won again.

Cosette repeated her orders. Such a method of playing was entirely
contrary to Henry's expert opinion. Nevertheless, black, in defiance of
rules, continued to win. When sixteen thousand francs of paper lay
before Henry, the croupier addressed him sharply, and he gathered, with
Cosette's assistance, that the maximum stake was twelve thousand francs.

'Put four thousand on the odd numbers,' said Cosette. 'Eh? You think?'

'No,' said Henry. 'Evens.'

And the number four turned up again.

At a stroke he had won sixteen thousand francs, six hundred and forty
pounds, for Cosette, and the total gains were one thousand two hundred
and forty pounds.

The spectators were at last interested in Henry's play. It was no longer
an illusion on his part that people stared at him.

'Say a number,' whispered Cosette. 'Shut the eyes and say a number.'

'Twenty-four,' said Henry. She had told him it was her age.

'_Bien! Voila huit louis!_' she exclaimed, opening her purse of netted
gold; and he took the eight coins and put them on number