Marie Belloc Lowndes

“ She rather wondered now that she had never told Count Paul about her visit to the Paris fortune teller. But she had been taught to regard everything savoring of “superstition” as not only silly and weak-minded, but also as discreditable. She had gone to the Paris diseuse des bonnes aventures to please Anna Olsen, to whom the woman's business card had been handed by the chambermaid at their hotel. Anna Olsen had been eager to consult her, the more so that she charged so small a fee.
“Only five francs!” went on Mabel gayly. “And she gave us plenty for our money, I assure you. ”

“ The older woman had seemed to care so very little about poor Anna, and Anna's odd disappearance. If Madame Olsen had indeed been foolish enough to go down to the Casino and lose all her money, well, that was surely a reason for them all to feel very much concerned about her. Mabel Blackett had a generous, open nature; she would have been very glad to advance money to her friend, but Anna was not poor. ”

“ In the early days of Mabel Blackett's stay at Enghien, the Comte De Poupel very seldom dined at the Pension Noir. He came back to dress each evening—he was the only man in the pension, and Mabel was the only lady, who dressed for dinner—but as soon as he was dressed he would hurry down to the Casino again, dining there. Of late, however, he had fallen into the habit of dining at the pension. He did so on the night Mabel had heard of her friend's departure from Enghien. ”