Marie Belloc Lowndes

“ Why allow herself to be contaminated by breathing the same air as some of the women who were there round her? She and the common, middle-aged woman standing behind her, who, by the way, was not playing, but only looking on, were the only “respectable” women in the room!
And then it was all so deliberate. Oldchester had once seen a man whom he greatly respected drunk, and the sight had ever remained with him. But, after all, a man may get drunk by accident, nay, it may almost be said that a man always gets drunk by accident. But in this matter Mabel Blackett knew very well what she was about. ”

“ Oldchester had listened impatiently while the man explained that Madame Blackett, having waited for m'sieur till half-past nine, had concluded that he meant to spend the night in Paris, and so had gone to the Casino which, as m'sieur doubtless knew, was the great attraction of delightful and salubrious Enghien.
The American asked to be shown to the room which Mrs. Blackett had engaged for him; but again there came a torrent of apologies in Monsieur Noir's voluble and flowery French. There was, alas, no room for m'sieur in the pension ”

“ Overhanging the lake, and rearing its large mass of building against the still, starry sky, the Casino, where reigns triumphantly the Goddess of Chance, and that, in spite of the efforts which the tradespeople of Paris are ever making to dislodge her from there. ”

“ But long before the dealer of the cards had uttered the fateful words: “Le jeu est fait! Rien ne va plus!” Mrs. Blackett uttered an exclamation under her breath, and hurriedly rose from the table. She had seen Oldchester—seen his eves fixed upon her with a perplexed, angry look in them, and the look had made her wince.
As she made her way through the crowd—some one had quickly slipped into her vacant chair—Oldchester saw that she had won; that is, five louis had been added to her original stake; at once the money was swept up by the fair-haired Frenchman in evening dress with whom Mrs. ”