The dinner reached its conclusion, and we all returned together, on
the foreign plan, to coffee and cigars in the drawing-room. The women
smoked, and drank liqueurs as well as coffee, with the men. One of them
went to the piano, and a little impromptu ball followed, the ladies
dancing with their cigarettes in their mouths. Keeping my eyes and
ears on the alert, I saw an innocent-looking table, with a surface of
rosewood, suddenly develop a substance of green cloth. At the same time,
a neat little roulette-table made its appearance from a hiding-place
in a sofa. Passing near the venerable landlady, I heard her ask the
servant, in a whisper, "if the dogs were loose?" After what I had
observed, I could only conclude that the dogs were used as a patrol, to
give the alarm in case of a descent of the police. It was plainly high
time to thank Captain Peterkin for his hospitality, and to take our
leave.

"We have had enough of this," I whispered to Romayne in English. "Let us
go."

In these days it is a delusion to suppose that you can speak
confidentially in the English language, when French people are within
hearing. One of the ladies asked Romayne, tenderly, if he was tired of
her already. Another reminded him that it was raining heavily (as we
could all hear), and suggested waiting until it cleared up. The hideous
General waved his greasy hand in the direction of the card table, and
said, "The game is waiting for us."

Romayne was excited, but not stupefied, by the wine he had drunk. He
answered, discreetly enough, "I must beg you to excuse me; I am a poor
card player."