him to "stop now." The two Frenchmen were
laughing and nodding their congratulations. The little old lady was
bowing and beaming good-will. Excepting, perhaps, the croupiers.
Berry seemed less concerned than anyone present.

"No. I'm not going to stop," he said gently, "because that would be
foolish. But I'll give it a miss this time, because it's not coming
up. It's no longer a question of guessing, dear. I tell you, I know."

The ball went flying.

After a moment's interval--

"_Ocho_ (eight)," announced the croupier.

"You see," said Berry. "I should have lost my money. Now this time my
old friend Zero will come along."

On to the white-edged rectangle went fourteen pounds.

A few seconds later I was receiving four hundred and ninety....

I began to feel dazed. As for counting the money, it was out of the
question. Idiotically I began to arrange the counters in little
piles....

'35' turned up.

"That's right," said Berry quietly. "And now... It's really very
monotonous, but..."

With a shrug of his shoulders, he set the limit on 'Zero.'

I held my breath....

The ball ceased to rattle--began to fall--ricochetted from stud to
stud--tumbled into the wheel--nosed '32'--and ... fell with a click
into '0.'

Berry spread out his hands.

"I tell you," he said, "it's too easy.... And now, again."

"Don't!" cried Daphne. "Don't! I beg you----"

"My darling," said Berry, "after to-night--No. Leave the stake,
please--I'll never play again. This evening--well, the money's there,
and we may as well have it, mayn't we? I mean, it isn't as if I hadn't
been given the tip. From the moment I woke this morning---- Listen,
dear. Don't bother about the wheel--the lady's been hammering away.
You must admit, she's done the job thoroughly. First the intuition:
then the wherewithal: then, what to back. I should be a bottle-nosed
mug if I didn't----"

"_Zero._"

Upon the explosion of excitement which greeted the astounding event,
patrons of the Baccarat Table and of the other Roulette Wheel left
their seats and came crowding open-mouthed to see what was toward.
Complete strangers were chattering like old friends. Gibbering with
emotion, the Spanish Jew was dramatically recounting what had occurred.
The Dutchman was sitting back, laughing boisterously. The Frenchmen
were waving and crying, "_Vive l'Angleterre_." Jonah was shouting as
though he had been in the hunting field. Adele and Jill