costumes have been frequently worn within the last two years both
at Baden and Hombourg. The old lady at the end of the table, to
the left, is a well-known habituee at both places. The
bustling and shuffling eagerness of the figures in the background
is exceedingly well rendered.

`As a whole, the _Tapis Vert_ is a very fine illustration of real
life, as met with in most of the leading German watering-
places.'[75]


[75] `Illustrated Times.'


`At the present moment,' says another authority, writing more
than a year ago, `there are three very bold female gamblers at
Baden. One is the Russian Princess ----, who plays several hours
every day at _Rouge et Noir_, and sometimes makes what in our
money would be many hundreds, and at others goes empty away. She
wins calmly enough, but when luck is against her looks
anxious. The second is the wife of an Italian ex-minister, who
is well known both as an authoress and politician. She
patronizes _Roulette_, and at every turn of the wheel her money
passes on the board. She is a good gambler--smirking when she
wins, and smirking when she loses. She dresses as splendidly as
any of the dames of Paris. The other night she excited a flutter
among the ladies assembled in the salons of the "Conversation"
by appearing in a robe flaming red with an exaggerated train
which dragged its slow length along the floor. But the greatest
of the feminine players is the Leonie Leblanc. When she is at