|
... t; 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 oasis vinyl 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 who had succeeded in
pushing their way to the tables were standing with their feet
firmly oasis vinyl 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 oasis vinyl calculation and staking. Behind the foremost row
were herded a second and a third row of people awaiting their
turn; but sometimes their impatience led these people to
stretch a hand through oasis vinyl 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 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 oasis vinyl 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 reaped a rich harvest. Indeed, in every direction
money was being filched from pockets or oasis vinyl 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 oasis vinyl money,
provided that the sum was not a large one--not large enough to
have attracted the attention of the croupiers or some
fellow-player. Moreover, if it were a stake of 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 ... |
