H. de Vere Stacpoole and Margaret Stacpoole

“ Then they went in to a bar where Simon imbibed a cocktail, and from the bar they went upstairs.
Pugeot opened a door and disclosed Monte Carlo—a Monte Carlo shrunk to one room and one table. This was the Wilderness Club, and around the table were grouped men of all ages and sizes, some of them of the highest social standing.
The stakes were high. Just as a child gobbles a stolen apple so these gentlemen seemed to be trying to make as much out of their furtive business as they could, and get away, winners or losers, as soon as possible, lest worse befall them. ”

“ Pugeot played and lost and then Simon plunged. They were there an hour, and in that hour Simon won seven hundred pounds! Then Pugeot, far more delighted than he, dragged him away. It was now nearly one o'clock, and downstairs they had luncheon of a sort and a bottle of cliquot of a sort.
“You came in with two hundred and you are going out with nine,” said Pugeot. “I am so jolly glad! You have the luck! When we've finished we'll go for a great, tearing spin and get the air. You'd better get a cap somewhere, that straw hat will be blown to Jericho. You've never seen Randall drive? He beats me. ”

“ Then, the wheel on and all the nuts retested by Randall, an operation which Pugeot took as a sort of personal insult, the jack was taken down and Pugeot threw it into a ditch. They would not want it again, as they had not another spare wheel, and it was a nuisance, anyhow; but Randall, with the good humor and patience which came to him from a salary equal to the salary of a country curate, free quarters and big tips and perquisites, recovered the jack and they started.
A town and an inn that absolutely refused to serve the smiling motorists with anything stronger than “minerals” was passed. ”