os," where the lady of
the house was in the habit of allowing a genteel amount of gambling
among her male friends. She never played herself, but stood and looked
on with much interest. On occasion she would tempt fortune by the hand
of a chosen deputy, and nothing could be prettier or more artistic
than her behavior. She was just eager enough for a girl unused to the
excitement and fond of triumph, just indifferent enough to show that
her play was merely a pastime, and the gain of the money or its loss a
matter of no moment. Ah! signorina, you were a great artist.

At "Mon Repos" I soon became an habitual, and, I was fain to think, a
welcome, guest. Mrs. Carrington, who entertained a deep distrust of
the manners and excesses of Aureataland, was good enough to consider
me eminently respectable, while the signorina was graciousness itself.
I was even admitted to the select circle at the dinner party which, as
a rule, preceded her Wednesday evening reception, and I was a constant
figure round the little roulette board, which, of all forms of gaming,
was our hostess' favorite delectation. The colonel was, not to my
pleasure, an equally invariable guest, and the President himself would
often honor the party with his presence, an honor we found rather
expensive, for his luck at all games of skill or chance was
extraordinary.

"I have always trusted Fortune," he would say, "and to me she is not
fickle."

"Who would be fickle if your Excellency were pleased to trust her?"
the signorina would respond, with a glance of almost fond admiration.

This sort of thing did not please McGregor. He made no concealment
of the fact that he claimed the foremost place among the signorina's
admirers, utterly declining to make way even for the President. The
latter took his boorishness very quietly; and I could not avoid the
conclusion that the President held, or thought he held, the trumps.
I was, naturally, intensely jealous of both these great men, and,
although I had no cause to complain of my treatment, I could not
stifle some resentment at the idea that I was, after all, an outsider
and not allowed a part in the real drama that was going on. My
happiness was further damped by the fact that luck ran steadily
against me, and I saw my bonus dwindling very rapidly. I suppose I
may as well be frank, and confess that my bonus, to speak strictly,
vanished within six months after I first set foot in "Mon Repos,"
and I found it necessary to m