"And La--La--what did you call her? La Jolleta--what became of her?"

She made a graphic gesture.

"She went into the sack, little one---into the sack. She was old. One
should go gracefully."

"You too," Stonehouse said, in a savage undertone.

"I---- Oh, no, _jamais, jamais_." She lifted the monstrous crest of
plumage from her head and set it in the midst of the flowers and
rumpled up her hair till she was like the child riding the fat pony.
"You see yourself--I never grow old, my friend."

"You are older already," he persisted.

But the man opposite broke in again. He leant towards Stonehouse, his
inflamed eye through the staring monocle fixing him with an
extraordinary tipsy earnestness.

"No, doctor, you are mis-mistaken. It would be intolerable--you
understand--quite intolerable. There are things that--that must not be
true--as there are other things that must be true. We've staked our
last penny on it, sir, and we've got to win. Mademoiselle here knows
all about it, and she'll play the game. A sport, doctor, a sport.
Won't let old friends go bankrupt--no--certainly not."

They laughed at him. It seemed unlikely that he himself knew what he
was talking about. But he shook his head and remained sunk in solemn
meditation, twirling the stem of his glass between thick, unsteady
fingers. The girl next him nudged him disgustedly.

"Oh, wake up! You'll be crying in a minute. Talk of something else."

"Tell us the story of the Duke and the Black Opal, Gyp."

She waved them off.

"No--no--that is not discreet. One must not tell tales. That might
frighten someone 'ere who loves me."

And she looked at Stonehouse, a little malicious and insolently,
childishly sure. He leant towards her, speaking in an undertone,
trying to stare her down.

"Do you mean me, Mademoiselle?"

"And why not, _Monsieur le docteur_? Would it be so strange? You say
you love nobody. But it seems you love ze poor fat Moretti--terribly,
terribly, no doubt, so that you almost break your small 'eart for 'er.
And per'aps someone else too. You say you don't drink--but you are
just a leetle drunk already. You are not different from ze rest. I
tell you that before--and I know. I am a connoisseur. It is
written--'ere in the eyes and in the mouth. It is dangerous, the way
you live. _Quant a moi_--I don't want you, my friend--we two--that
would be an eruption--a disaster--I should be afraid."

She pretended to shu