"Oh yes, no doubt a few may make money at this game! But I have just been
arranging, with the aid of the owner of the Pension where I am going to
stay when I come here, to join the Club."

And then, realising that Sylvia did not understand, she went on.

"You see, my dear child, there are two kinds of play here--as there are,
indeed, at almost every Casino in France. There is _this_ game, which is,
as I say, a child's game--a game at which you can make or lose a few
francs; and then there is Baccarat!"

She waited a moment.

"Yes?" said Sylvia questioningly.

"Baccarat is played here in what they call the Club, in another part of
the building. As there is an entrance fee to the Club, there is never
such a crowd in the Baccarat Room as there is here. And those who belong
to the Club 'mean business,' as they say in your dear country. They come,
that is, to play in the way that I understand and that I enjoy play!"

A little colour rose to Anna Wolsky's sallow cheeks; she looked
exhilarated, excited at the thoughts and memories her words conjured up.

Sylvia also felt curiously excited. She found the scene strangely
fascinating--the scene presented by this crowd of eager men and women,
each and all absorbed in this mysterious game which looked anything
but a child's game, though Anna had called it so.

But as they were trying to make their way through the now dense crowd of