red on the
scene she was fifty-two francs to the good; her nieces were hovering
forlornly in the background, like chickens that have been hatched out
by a duck and are despairingly watching their parent disporting herself
in a dangerous and uncongenial element. The supper-party which Roger
insisted on standing that night in honour of his aunt and the three
Miss Brimley Bomefields was remarkable for the unrestrained gaiety of
two of the participants and the funereal mirthlessness of the remaining
guests.

"'I do not think,' Christine confided afterwards to a friend, who
re-confided it to Bertie van Tahn, 'that I shall ever be able to touch
PATE DE FOIE GRAS again. It would bring back memories of that awful
evening.'

"For the next two or three days the nieces made plans for returning to
England or moving on to some other resort where there was no casino.
The aunt was busy making a system for winning at PETITS CHEVAUX.
Number eight, her first love, had been running rather unkindly for her,
and a series of plunges on number five had turned out even worse.

"'Do you know, I dropped over seven hundred francs at the tables this
afternoon,' she announced cheerfully at dinner on the fourth evening of
their visit.

"'Aunt! Twenty-eight pounds! And you were losing last night too.'

"'Oh, I shall get it all back,' she said optimistically; 'but not here.
These silly little horses are no good. I shall go somewhere where one
can play comfortably at roulette. You needn't look so shocked. I've
always felt that, given the opportunity, I should be an inveterate
gambler, and now you darlings have put the opportunity in my way. I
must drink your very good healths. Waiter, a bottle of PONTET CANET.
Ah, it's number seven on the wine list; I shall plunge on number seven
to-night. It won four times running this afternoon when I was backing
that silly number five.'

"Number seven was not in a winning mood that evening. The Brimley
Bomefields, tired of watching disaster from a distance, drew near to
the table where their aunt was now an honoured habituee, and gazed
mournfully at the successive victories of one and five and eight and
four, which swept 'good money' out of the purse of seven's obstinate
backer. The day's losses totalled something very near two thousand
francs.

"'You incorrigible gamblers,' said Roger chaffingly to them, when he
found them at the tables.

"'We are not gambling,' said Christine freezingly; 'we