The things we do!

Shall we take a turn of
promenade? Mauvais sujet! I see you are longing to be at the green
table."
Clive was not longing to be at the green table: but his companion was
never easy at it or away from it. Next to winning, losing, M. de Florac
said, was the best sport--next to losing, looking on. So he and Clive
went down to the Redoute, where Lord Kew was playing with a crowd of
awestruck amateurs and breathless punters admiring his valour and
fortune; and Clive, saying that he knew nothing about the game, took out
five Napoleons from his purse, and besought Florac to invest them in the
most profitable manner at roulette. The other made some faint attempts at
a scruple: but the money was speedily laid on the table, where it
increased and multiplied amazingly too; so that in a quarter of an hour
Florac brought quite a handful of gold pieces to his principal. Then
Clive, I dare say blushing as he made the proposal, offered half the
handful of Napoleons to M. de Florac, to be repaid when he thought fit.


Pages:
638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662