me day in London or Paris; and
perhaps he will do so," says the Belgian, "for he has talent.
That little dirty-looking young man with a hooked nose, and
the red Turkish slippers, is a Spaniard going through a course
of studies at Liege; he is staying in the hotel, and so are
the fat old gentleman and lady seated on the sofa; they are
Brazilians, and he has been sent over by his Government to
purchase arms, I believe. Those three young ladies in white
are sisters, and are come here from Antwerp for the summer;
that is their mother talking to Mademoiselle Cecile. I see no
one else at this moment," he added, looking slowly round the
room at the groups of dancers who stood chattering and fanning
themselves in the interval between the dances.

"Who is that?" asked Graham, directing his attention to a
gentleman who had just appeared, and was standing, leaning in
the doorway opposite.

He was a tall handsome man, with light air, and a long fair
moustache and beard, perfectly well dressed, and with an air
sufficiently distinguished to make him at once conspicuous
amongst the Liege clerks and shopkeepers, of whom a large part
of the company consisted.

"Ah! precisely, Monsieur, you have fixed upon the most
remarkable personage here," cried his companion, with some
excitement; "but is it possible you do not know him?"

"I never saw him before," answered Graham. "Is he a celebrity?
A prince, or an ambassador, or anything of that kind?"

"No, nothing of that kind," said the other laughing, "but a
celebrity nevertheless in his way. That is M. Linders, the
great gambler."

"I never even heard of him," said the young Englishman; "but
then I don't know much about such people."

"It is true, I had forgotten that Monsieur is not of this
country; but you would hear enough about him were you to stay
any time at Wiesbaden, or Homburg, or Spa, or any of those
places. He twice broke the bank at Homburg last year, won two
hundred thousand francs at Spa this summer, and lost them
again the next week. He is a most dangerous fellow, and
positively dreaded by the proprietors of the tables."

"What! when he loses two hundred thousand francs?"

"Ah! that is a thing that rarely happens; as a rule he is
perfectly cool, which is the principal thing at these tables,
plays when the run is in his favour, and stops when it is
against him; but occasionally he gets excited, and then of
course the chances are that he loses everything like anoth