n though it
was, a great many people were sitting there, drinking tea or coffee,
and listening to "La Paloma."

The windows of the Casino were open, protected by awnings; birds were
taking their last flight, before going to bed in some orange or lemon
tree. The place was more charming than in the high season; but the
face I looked for was not to be seen, and I deserted the Terrace for
the Rooms.

I had not been to "Monte" since the Boer war; and when I had gone
through the formalities at the Bureau, and entered the first _salle_,
it struck me strangely to find everything exactly as I had left it
years ago.

The same heavy stillness, emphasised by the continuous chink, chink of
gold and silver, and broken only by the announcement of events at
different tables: "_Onze, noir, impair et manque";--"Rien ne va
plus";--"Zero!_"

The same _onze_; the same _rien n'va plus_; the same _zero_ heralded
in the same secretly joyous, outwardly apologetic tone, by the
croupiers fortunate enough to produce it. The same croupiers too;--(or
do croupiers develop a family likeness of face, of voice, of coat, as
the years go chinking zeroly on?). The same players, or their
_doppelgaengers_; the same pictured nymphs smiling on the ornate
walls. But there was no Boy, no Boy's sister; and suddenly it occurred
to me that I was foolish to expect him. He was too childlike in
appearance to have obtained a ticket of admission to the gambling
rooms.

Since it was useless to look for him here, and no other place seemed
promising at this hour, there was nothing to do but pass the moments
until time to change for dinner. Accordingly I watched the tables.
Once, like most men of my age, I had been bitten by the roulette fever
and had wrestled with "systems" in their thousands, not so much for
the mere "gamble," as for the joy of striving to beat the wily Pascal
at his own invention.

In those old days the wheel had been like a populous town for me,
inhabited by quaint little people, each living in his own snug house;
the Little People of Roulette. Not a number on the board but his face
was familiar to me; I would have known him if I had met him in the
street. There was sly, thin, dark little Dix, always sneaking up on
tiptoe when you did not want him, and popping out behind your back.
Business-like, successful, bustling Onze; tactless but honest Douze;
treacherous yet fascinating Treize; blundering Seize; graceful,
brunette Dix-Sept; and the fait