d induce us to remain
without.

[Illustration: THE RIDE TO SANT' AGNESE]

From a spacious, richly decorated entrance-hall, the gambling-rooms
opened by noiseless swinging doors. Entering, we saw the tables
surrounded by a close circle of seated players, with a second circle
standing behind, playing over their shoulders, and sometimes even a
third behind these. Although so many persons were present, it was very
still, the only sounds being the chink, chink, of the gold and silver
coins, and the dull, mechanical voices of the officials announcing
the winning numbers. There were tables for both roulette and trente et
quarante, the playing beginning each day at eleven in the morning and
continuing without intermission until eleven at night. Everywhere was
lavished the luxury of flowers, paintings, marbles, and the costliest
decoration of all kinds; beyond, in a superb hall, the finest orchestra
on the Continent was playing the divine music of Beethoven; outside, one
of the loveliest gardens in the world offered itself to those who wished
to stroll awhile. And all of this was given freely, without restriction
and without price, upon a site and under a sky as beautiful as earth can
produce. But one sober look at the faces of the steady players around
those tables betrayed, under all this luxury and beauty, the real horror
of the place; for men and women, young and old alike, had the gambler's
strange fever in the expression of the eye, all the more intense
because, in almost every case, so governed, so stonily repressed, so
deadly cold! After a half-hour of observation, we left the rooms, and I
was glad to breathe the outside air once more. The place had so struck
to my heart, with its intensity, its richness, its stillness, and its
terror, that I had not been able even to smile at the Professor's
demeanor; he had signified his disapprobation (while looking at
everything quite closely, however) by buttoning his coat up to the chin
and keeping his hat on. I almost expected to see him open his umbrella.

"To me, they seemed all mad," I said, with a shudder, looking up at the
calm mountains with a sense of relief.

"It is a species of madness," said Verney. Miss Elaine was with him; she
had taken his arm while in the gambling-room; she said she felt "so
timid." Margaret and Lloyd meanwhile had only looked on for a moment or
two, and had then disappeared; we learned afterwards that they had gone
to the concert-room, where mus