Both were eager to dissociate themselves from the ordinary gambler who
lost or won a few francs in those of the gambling rooms open to the
general public.
"Well," said Anna at last, "I suppose we had better leave now, but we
might as well go on driving for about an hour, and then, when it is a
little cooler, we will go back to Paris and be there in time for tea."
The driver was as good-natured as everyone else at Lacville seemed to be.
He drove his fares away from the town, and so to the very outskirts of
Lacville, where there were many charming bits of wild woodland and
gardens up for sale.
"Even five years ago," he said, "much of this was forest, Mesdames; but
now--well, Dame!--you can understand people are eager to sell. There are
rumours that the Concession may be withdrawn from the Casino--that would
be terrible, some say it would kill Lacville! It would be all the same to
me, I should always find work elsewhere. But it makes everyone eager to
sell--those, I mean, who have land at Lacville. There are others,"
continued the man--he had turned round on his seat, and the horse was
going at a foot's pace--"who declare that it would be far better for the
town--that there would be a more solid population established here--you
understand, Mesdames, what I mean? The Lacville tradesmen would be as
pleased, quite as pleased, or so some of them say; but, all the same,
they are selling their land!"
When the two friends finally got back to the Hotel de l'Horloge, Sylvia
Bailey found that a letter, which had not been given to her that morning,
contained the news that the English friends whom she had been expecting
to join in Switzerland the following week had altered their plans, and
were no longer going abroad.
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