t down," said Paul de Virieu suddenly. But when Sylvia Bailey
sat down he did not come and sit by her, instead he so placed himself
that he looked across at her slender, rounded figure, and happy smiling
face.

"Are you thinking of staying long at Lacville, Madame?" he asked
abruptly.

"I don't know," she answered hesitatingly. "It will depend on my friend
Madame Wolsky's plans. If we both like it, I daresay we shall stay three
or four weeks."

There fell what seemed to Sylvia a long silence between them. The
Frenchman was gazing at her with a puzzled, thoughtful look.

Suddenly he got up, and after taking a turn up and down the orangery, he
came and stood before her.

"Mrs. Bailey!" he exclaimed. "Will you permit me to be rather
impertinent?"

Sylvia reddened violently. The question took her utterly by surprise. But
the Comte de Virieu's next words at once relieved, and yes, it must be
admitted, chagrined her.

"I ask you, Madame, to leave Lacville! I ask permission to tell you
frankly and plainly that it is not a place to which you ought to have
been brought."

He spoke with great emphasis.

Sylvia looked up at him. She was bewildered, and though not exactly
offended, rather hurt.

"But why?" she asked plaintively. "Why should I not stay at Lacville?"

"Oh, well, there can be no harm in your staying on a few days if you
are desirous of doing so. But Lacville is not a place where I should
care for my own sister to come and stay." He went on, speaking much
quicker--"Indeed, I will say more! I will tell you that Lacville may
seem a paradise to you, but that it is a paradise full of snakes."

"Snakes?" repeated Sylvia slowly. "You mean, of course, human snakes?"

He bowed gravely.

"Every town where reigns the Goddess of play attracts reptiles, Madame,
as the sun attracts lizards! It is not the game that does so, or even the
love of play in the Goddess's victims; no, it is the love of gold!"

Sylvia noticed that he had grown curiously pale.

"Lacville as a gambling centre counts only next to Monte Carlo. But
whereas many people go to Monte Carlo for health, and for various forms
of amusement, people only come here in order to play, and to see others
play. The Casino, which doubtless appears to you a bright, pretty place,
has been the scene and the cause of many a tragedy. Do you know how Paris
regards Lacville?" he asked searchingly.

"No--yes," Sylvia hesitated. "You see I never heard of Lacville ti