to him rather a source of irritation than delight. The confirmed
gamester is doing nothing less than perpetually digging a grave for his
own happiness.

The third and most numerous group of men round the tapis vert consisted
of a class most of whom had already spent their fortunes, exhausted
their health, and lost their position in society, by the fatal and
demoralizing thirst for gold, which still fascinated them. These
became the hawks of the gambling table; their quick and wild-glancing
eyes were constantly looking out for suitable game during the day, and
leaving it where it might be bagged at night. Both at the rouge et
noir table and roulette the same sort of company might be met with.
These gambling-houses were the very fountains of immorality: they
gathered together, under the most seductive circumstances, the swindler
and the swindled. There were tables for all classes--the workman might
play with 20 sous, or the gentleman with 10,000 francs. The law did
not prevent any class from indulging in a vice that assisted to fill
the coffers of the municipality of Paris.

The floor over the gambling-house was occupied by unmarried women. I
will not attempt to picture some of the saddest evils of the society of
large cities; but I may add that these Phrynes lived in a style of
splendour which can only be accounted for by the fact of their
participating in the easily-earned gains of the gambling-house regime.
Such was the state of the Palais Royal under Louis XVIII. and Charles
X.: the Palais Royal of the present day is simply a tame and
legitimately-commercial mart, compared with that of olden times.
Society has changed; Government no longer patronizes such nests of
immorality; and though vice may exist to the same extent, it assumes
another garb, and does not appear in the open streets, as at the period
to which I have referred.

At that time, the Palais Royal was externally the only well-lighted
place in Paris. It was the rendezvous of all idlers, and especially of
that particular class of ladies who lay out their attractions for the
public at large. These were to be seen at all hours in full dress,
their bare necks ornamented with mock diamonds and pearls; and thus
decked out in all their finery, they paraded up and down, casting their
eyes significantly on every side. Some strange stories are told in
connection with the gambling houses of the Palais Royal. An officer of
the Grenadier Guards came to Paris