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ew uneasiness. It was as though she had admitted some new complication into her life. "Could I have some tea?" she begged. He ordered some and sat with her while she drank it. "You know," he declared, "if I might be permitted to say so, I think you are taking the gaming here a little too seriously. If you have been unlucky, it is very easy to arrange an advance for you. Would you like some money? If so, I will see to it when I go to the bank to-morrow. I can let you have a hundred pounds at once, if you like." A hundred pounds! If only she dared tell him that she had lost a thousand within the last two hours! Once more he was fingering his pocket-book. "Come," he went on pleasantly, "you had better have a hundred from me, for luck." He counted out the notes. Her fingers began to shake. "I didn't mean to play any more to-night," she faltered, irresolutely. "Nor should I," he agreed. "Take my advice, Violet, and go home now. This will do for you to-morrow." She took the money and dropped it into her jewelled bag. "Very well," she said, "I won't play any more, but I don't want to go home yet. It is early, and I can never sleep here if I go to bed. Sit with me for half-an-hour, and then perhaps you could give me some supper?" He shook his head. "I am so sorry," he answered, "but at one o'clock I have an appointment." "An appointment?" "Such bad luck," he continued. "It would have given me very great pleasure to have had supper with you, Violet." "An appointment at one o'clock," she repeated slowly. "Isn't that just a little--unusual?" "Perhaps so," he assented. "I can assure you that I am very sorry." She leaned suddenly towards him. The aloofness had gone from her manner. The barrier seemed for a moment to have fallen down. Once more she was the Violet he remembered. She smiled into his face, and smiled with her eyes as well as her lips, just the smile he had been thinking of an hour ago in the Opera House. "Don't go, please," she begged. "I am feeling lonely to-night and I am so tired of everybody and everything. Take me to supper at the Cafe de Paris. Then, if you like, we might come back here for half-an-hour. Or--" She hesitated. "I am horribly sorry," he declared, in a tone which was full of real regret. "Indeed, Violet, I am. But I have an appointment which I must keep, and I can't tell exactly how long it may take me." The very fact that the nature of that appointmen
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