She wore
an odd piece of red coral for a brooch, and by looking steadily at
this he brought the rest of the figure into focus and saw, without
surprise,--for every commonplace seemed strange to him now, and
everything peculiar quite a matter of course,--that she was distinctly
not an _habituee_ of the place, and looked more like a lady's maid
than an adventuress. She was French and pretty,--such a girl as might
wait in a Duval restaurant or sit as a cashier behind a little counter
near the door.
"We should not be here," she said, as if in answer to his look and in
apology for her presence. "But Louis, my husband, he would come. I
told him that this was not for such as we are, but Louis is so bold.
He said that upon his marriage tour he would live with the best, and
so here he must come to play as the others do. We have been married,
sir, only since Tuesday, and we must go back to Paris to-morrow; they
would give him only the three days. He is not a gambler; he plays
dominos at the cafes, it is true. But what will you? He is young and
with so much spirit, and I know that you, sir, who are so fortunate
and who understand so well how to control these tables, I know that
you will persuade him.
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