The cards were quickly dealt, and the fateful, to Chester the
incomprehensible, words were quickly uttered. Chester saw that Sylvia,
unknowing of the fact, had won--that five louis were added to her
original stake. The fair-haired Frenchman in evening dress by whom Mrs.
Bailey had been sitting looked round; not seeing her, he himself swept up
the stake and slipped the ten louis into his pocket.
"Bill! You here? I had quite given you up! I thought you had missed the
train--at any rate, I never thought you would come out to Lacville as
late as this."
The bright colour, which was one of Sylvia's chief physical attributes,
had faded from her cheeks. She looked pale, and her heart was beating
uncomfortably. She would have given almost anything in the world for
Bill Chester not to have come down to the Club and caught her like
this--"caught" was the expression poor Sylvia used to herself.
"I am so sorry," she went on, breathlessly, "so very sorry! What a wretch
you must have thought me! But I have got you such a nice room in a
pension where a friend of mine was for a time.
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