r.

Sylvia looked about her timidly; but no one took the slightest notice of
her, and this in itself was rather strange. She was used to exciting a
good deal of attention wherever she went in France, but here, at
Lacville, everyone seemed blind to her presence. It was almost as if she
were invisible! In a way this was a relief to her; but at the same time,
she found it curiously disconcerting.

She walked slowly round each gambling table, keeping well outside the
various circles of people sitting and standing there.

Strange to say Anna Wolsky was not among them. Of that fact Sylvia soon
became quite sure.

At last a servant in livery came up to her. "Does Madame want a seat?" he
asked officiously. "If so, I can procure Madame a seat in a very few
moments."

But Sylvia, blushing, shook her head. She certainly had no wish to sit
down.

"I only came in to look for a friend," she said, hesitatingly; "but my
friend is not here."

And she was making her way out of the Salle des Jeux, feeling rather
disconsolate and disappointed, when suddenly, in the vestibule, she saw
Madame Wolsky walking towards her in the company of a middle-aged man.

"Then that is settled?" Sylvia heard Anna say in her indifferent French.
"You will fill up all the formalities, and by the time I arrive the card
of membership will be ready for me? This kind of thing"--she waved her
hand towards the large room Sylvia had just left--"is no use to me at
all! I only like _le Grand Jeu_"; and a slight smile came over her dark
face.

The man who was with her laughed as if she had made a good joke; then
bowing, he left her.

"Sylvia!"

"Anna!"

Mrs. Bailey fancied that the other was not particularly sorry to have
been followed.

"So you came after me? Well! Well! I never should have thought to have
seen my dear Puritan, Sylvia Bailey, in such a place as the Casino of
Lacville?" said the Polish lady laughing. "However, as you are here,
let us enjoy ourselves. Would you like to risk a few francs?"

Together they had gone back into the Salle des Jeux, and Anna drew Sylvia
towards the nearest table.

"This is a child's game!" she exclaimed, contemptuously. "I cannot
understand how all these clever Parisians can care to come out here and
lose their money every Saturday and Sunday, to say nothing of other
days!"

"But I suppose some of these people make money?" questioned Sylvia. She
thought she saw a great deal of money being won, as well as l