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... orning. Behind the
old lady's chair marched Potapitch and Martha--Potapitch in his
frockcoat and white waistcoat, with a cloak over all, and the
forty-year-old and rosy, but slightly grey-headed, Martha in a
mobcap, cotton dress, and squeaking shoes. Frequently the old
lady would twist herself round to converse with these servants.
As for De Griers, he spoke as though he had made up his mind to
do something (though it is also possible that he spoke in this
manner merely in order to hearten the General, with whom he
appeared to have held a conference). But, alas, the Grandmother
had uttered the fatal words, "I am not going to mulberry paper give you any of
my money;" and though De Griers might regard these words
lightly, the General knew his mother better. Also, I noticed
that De Griers and Mlle. Blanche were still exchanging looks;
while of the Prince and the German savant I lost sight at the
end of the Avenue, where they had turned back and left us.
Into the Casino we marched in triumph. At once, both in the
person of the commissionaire and in the persons of the footmen,
there sprang to life the same reverence as had arisen in the
lacqueys of the hotel.
Yet it was not without some curiosity
that they eyed us.
Without loss of time, the Grandmother gave orders that she should
be wheeled through every room in the establishment; of which
apartments she praised a few, while to others she remained
indifferent. Concerning everything, however, she asked
questions. Finally we reached the gaming-salons, where a lacquey
who was, acting as guard over the doors, flung them open as
though he were a man possessed.
The Grandmother's entry into the roulette-salon produced a
profound impression upon the public. Around the tables, and at
the further end of the room where the trente-et-quarante table
was set out, there may have been gathered from 150 to 200
gamblers, ranged in several rows. Those mulberry paper who had succeeded in
pushing their way to the tables were standing with their feet
firmly planted, in order to avoid having to give up their places
until they should have finished their game (since merely to
stand looking on--thus occupying a gambler's place for
nothing--was not permitted). True, chairs were provided around
the tables, but few players made use of them--more especially if
there was a large attendance of the general public; since to
stand allowed of a closer approach; and, therefore, of greater
facilities for calculation and staking. Behind the foremost row
were herded a second and a third row of mulberry paper people awaiting their
turn; but sometimes their impatience led these people to
stretch a hand through the first row, in order to deposit their
stakes. Even third-row individuals would dart forward to stake;
whence seldom did more than five or ten minutes pass embossing paper without a
scene over disputed money arising at one or another end of the
table. On the other hand, the police of the Casino were an able
body of men; and though to escape the crush was an
impossibility, however much one might wish it, the eight
croupiers apportioned to each table kept an eye upon the stakes,
performed the necessary reckoning, and decided disputes as they
arose.
In the last resort they always called in the Casino
police, and the disputes would immediately come to an end.
Policemen were stationed about the Casino in ordinary costume,
and mingled with the spectators so as to make it impossible to
recognise them.
In particular they kept a lookout for
pickpockets and swindlers, who simply swanned in the roulette
salons, and mulberry paper reaped a rich harvest. Indeed, in every direction
money was being filched from pockets or purses--though, of
course, if the attempt miscarried, a great uproar ensued. One
had only to approach a roulette table, begin to play, and
then openly grab some one else's winnings, for a din to be
raised, and the thief to start vociferating that the stake was
HIS; and, if the coup had been carried out with sufficient skill,
and the witnesses wavered at all in their testimony, the thief
would as likely as not succeed in getting away with the money,
provided that the sum was not a large one--not embossing paper large enough to
have attracted the attention of the croupiers or some
fellow-player. Moreover, if it were a stake of mulberry paper insignificant
size, its true owner would sometimes decline to continue the
dispute, rather than become involved in a scandal. Conversely,
if the thief was detected, he was ignominiously expelled the
building.
Upon all this the Grandmother gazed with open-eyed curiosity;
and, on some thieves happening to be turned out of the place,
she was delighted. Trente-et-quarante interested her but little;
she preferred roulette, with its ever-revolving wheel.
At length
she expressed a wish to view the game closer; whereupon in some
mysterious manner, the lacqueys and other officious agents
(especially one or two ruined Poles of the kind who keep
offering their services to successful gamblers and foreigners in
general) at once found and cleared a space for the old lady
among the crush, at the very centre of one of the tables, and
next to the chief croupier; after which they wheeled her chair
thither.
Upon this a number of visitors who were not playing,
but only looking on (particularly some Englishmen with their
families), pressed closer forward towards the table, in order
to watch the old lady from among the ranks of the gamblers. Many
a lorgnette I saw turned in her direction, and the croupiers'
hopes rose high that such an eccentric player was about to
provide them with something out of the common. An old lady of
seventy-five years who, though unable to walk, desired to play
was not an everyday phenomenon. I too pressed fo ... |
