her, and this in itself was rather strange. She was used to exciting a
good deal of attention wherever she went in France, but here, at
Lacville, everyone seemed blind to her presence. It was almost as if she
were invisible! In a way this was a relief to her; but at the same time,
she found it curiously disconcerting.

She walked slowly round each gambling table, keeping well outside the
various circles of people sitting and standing there.

Strange to say Anna Wolsky was not among them. Of that fact Sylvia soon
became quite sure.

At last a servant in livery came up to her. "Does Madame want a seat?" he
asked officiously. "If so, I can procure Madame a seat in a very few
moments."

But Sylvia, blushing, shook her head. She certainly had no wish to sit
down.

"I only came in to look for a friend," she said, hesitatingly; "but my
friend is not here."

And she was making her way out of the Salle des Jeux, feeling rather
disconsolate and disappointed, when suddenly, in the vestibule, she saw
Madame Wolsky walking towards her in the company of a middle-aged man.

"Then that is settled?" Sylvia heard Anna say in her indifferent French.
"You will fill up all the formalities, and by the time I arrive the card
of membership will be ready for me? This kind of thing"--she waved her
hand towards the large room Sylvia had just left--"is no use to me at