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Her earliest experiences had been amidst the larger ventures of life, the deeper interests that gather round advancing years; her playground had been the salons of the gayest watering-places in Europe, her playthings the roulette-board and the little gold and silver pieces that had passed so freely backwards and forwards on the long green tables where desperate stakes were ventured, and fortunes won and lost in a night; and it was amongst these that she now proposed to try her own little game of enterprise, and prepare this grand surprise for Monsieur Horace.
The conversation forever returned to Spa and Baden-Baden, and many wagers were made upon the amount of money which Risque would gain first day second day first week, and so forth. At last they resolved to send to Lees' chamber for the roulette-board, and pass the evening in experiment. They drew Jacks for the party who should fetch it, and Freckle, always unfortunate, was pronounced the man.
"But that is not at all a pretty game that you have there," said the Countess, shaking her head; "it was not for little girls that Mademoiselle Cécile placed the roulette-board there. Where is your doll? why are you not playing with her?" "My doll is in bed; and I like this best," answered the child indifferently. "Encore ce malheureux trente-six! Je n'ai pas de chance ce soir!"
She went off to her work at the mont-de-piete with a glow of satisfaction which comes to those who exhibit an iron will in trying circumstances. And at the mont-de-piete there occurred a surprising incident. Surprising incidents, as Mr Vince would have said, are the zero on the roulette-board of life.
He looked at Ruth, his face full of concern. 'You don't mean to say you have been slaving away in that stuffy Great Scott! I'll have you out of that quick. You mustn't go there again. He stooped and kissed her. 'Perhaps you had better let me explain, he said. 'Explanations, I always think, are the zero on the roulette-board of life. They're always somewhere about, waiting to pop up.
The company was perhaps sixteen in number, all men, few beyond the prime of life, and, with hardly an exception, of a dashing and capable exterior. They were divided into two groups, one about a roulette-board, and the other surrounding a table at which one of their number held a bank of baccarat. "I see," thought Brackenbury, "I am in a private gambling saloon, and the cabman was a tout."
She was not used to having ''Sh! said to her by young men, and she resented it. 'I've got it, he declared, with relief. 'I knew I should, but these good things take time. Affinities are the zero on the roulette-board of life. Just as we select a number on which to stake our money, so do we select a type of girl whom we think we should like to marry.
He partook of some champagne, which he found excellent; and observing that many of the company were already smoking, he lit one of his own Manillas, and strolled up to the roulette-board, where he sometimes made a stake and sometimes looked on smilingly on the fortune of others.
'By an extraordinary coincidence I happened to be hanging about outside this house just now, when your father came along and invited me in to dinner. Have you ever thought much about coincidences, Miss Warden? To my mind, they may be described as the zero on the roulette-board of life. He regarded her fondly.
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