A Gentleman Vagabond and Some Others

palms, and at night ablaze with hundreds of lamps hung in festoons of blue, yellow, and red. This is the Casino. On each side of the wide entrance is a bill-board, announcing that some world-renowne

oke and absinthe laden interior blazes a small theatre, with stage footlights and scenery, where the several

of the devil-a game of tipsy marbles, rolling about in search of sunken saucers emblazoned with the arms of the nations of the earth. These whirligigs of amateur crime are constantly surrounded by eager-eyed men and women, who try their luck for the amusem

stout shoes with silver buckles, and I had just reached the long corridor on my way to the garden, to es

r. May I speak t

in black, with a huge emerald pin in his shirt front. I have never h

a low voice, his eyes glancing about furtively, "at

f the St. Gotthard Tunnel this half-way house of Lucerne-this oasis between Paris and Rome-has sheltered most of the adventurers of Europe; that under these same trees, and on these very b

is might be my opportunity. I would see the game and perhaps run across some of these curious individuals. I consulted my watch; there was h

arrived I knoc

t the top was a passageway and another door, and behind this a large room paneled in dark wood. On one side of this apartment was a high desk. Here sat the cashier counting money, and arranging little piles of chips of various colors. In the c

more absorbed or more silent; a cold, death-like, ominous stillness that seemed to saturate the very air. The only sounds were the occa

Le jeu est fait;

he personnel of th

with waxy face and watery, yellow eyes, made paper pills, rolling them slowly between thumb and forefinger-his features as immobile as a death-mask. A blue-eyed, blond German officer, with a decoration on the lapel of his coat, nonchalantly twirled his mustache, his shoulders strainin

oke, no o

t once,-the croupier and a woman

y of a toad. His thin and bloodless lips were flattened over a row of pure white teeth with glistening specks of gold that opened when he smiled; closing again slowly like an automaton's. His shrunken, colorless hands lay on the black cloth like huge white spiders;

fluttering about them, or lighting noi

of apology for taking the stakes. When the bank lost, the lips parted slowly, showing the teeth, in a half smile. Such deli

th an air of high breeding which was unmistakable. Her features were clean-cut and refined, her mouth and nose delicately shaped. Her forehead was shaded by waves of brown hair which half covered her ears. The eyes were large and so

ok through into the heart below. Hers was one of these. Every light and shadow of hope and disappointment t

next instant she was clutching her winnings with almost the ferocity of a hungry animal. Then she

from the bag upon the counter, sweep the ivories into her hand, and noiselessly regain her seat. She seemed to know no one, and no one to know her, unless it might hav

ce like chalk, her eyes bloodshot, her teeth cl

ame w

e exception of the Parisienne, who had gone some time before, taking her companion with her, the devotees were the same,-the two Englishmen still exchanging clean, wh

es blazed in a frenzy of delight. She was sweeping into her open hands the piles of gold before her.

d her face with her veil, hugged the money