d with pearl. But now most of the
inlay had disappeared, leaving unsightly holes.

At the bottom of the cup were a number of metallic compartments, and
the whole interior portion was revolving slowly at a turn of the old
man's fingers.

He picked a tiny ivory ball from the table and placed it in the cup.
He set the interior spinning and the ball circulating in the reverse
direction. The sphere clicked and clattered as it forced its way among
the metallic strips.

It may seem strange that I did not at first recognize a roulette-wheel.
But the game is more a diversion of the rich than of those with whom
fortune had thrown me. Gambling had never appealed to me, and I knew
roulette only by reputation.

The ball stopped and settled in one of the compartments, and the old
man took a gold-piece from one of the squares on the table, transferred
a little pile of gold from his right side to his left, and jotted down
some figures upon his paper.

And suddenly I was aware of an abysmal rage that filled me. It seemed
like an abominable dream--the futile old man, the ruffians and their
wenches below. And I had endured so much for Jacqueline, to find
myself immeshed in such things in the end. I stepped forward and swept
the entire heap of gold into the centre of the table.

"M. Duchaine!" I shouted. "Why are you playing the fool here when your
daughter is suffering persecution?"

The old man seemed to be aware of my presence for the first time. He
looked up at me out of his mild old eyes, and shook his head in
apparent perplexity.

"You are welcome, _monsieur_," he said, half rising with a courtly air.
"Do you wish to stake a few pieces in a game with me?"

He gathered up a handful of the coins and pushed them toward me.

"Of course, we shall give back our stakes at the end," he continued,
eyeing me with a cunning expression, in which I seemed to detect
avarice and madness, too.

"This is just to see how well we play. Afterward, if we are satisfied,
we will play for real money--real gold."

He began to divide the gold-pieces into two heaps.

"You see, _monsieur_, I have a system--at least, I nearly have a
system," he went on eagerly. "But it may not be so good as yours.
Come. You shall be the banker, and see if you can win my money from
me. But we shall return the stakes afterward."

"M. Duchaine!" I shouted in his ear. "Where is your daughter?"

"My daughter," he repeated in mild surprise. "Ah, yes; s