Claude took up a position from which he could note the actions of the stranger in whom he was so interested. At first, Mensmore staked nothing. He placed a small pile of gold in front of him; he seemed to listen expectantly to the _croupier's_ monotonous cry--"_Vingt-sept_, _rouge_, _impair_, _passe_," or "_Dixhuit_, _noir_, _pair_, _manque_," and so on, while the little ivory ball whirred around the disc, and the long rakes, with unerring skill, drew in or pushed forward the sums lost or won. The dominant expression of Mensmore's face as he sat and listened was one of disappointment. Something for which he waited did not happen. At last, with a tightening of his lips and a gathering sternness in his eyes, he placed five louis on the red, the number previously called being thirteen. Black won. For the next three attempts, each time with a five louis stake on the board, Mensmore backed the red, but still black won. Next to him, an Italian, betting in notes of a thousand francs each, had quadrupled his first bet by backing the black. Both men rose simultaneously, the Italian grinning delightedly at a smart Parisienne, who joyously nodded her congratulations, the Englishman quiet, utterly unmoved, but slightly pallid. He passed out into the _foyer_ and stopped to light a cigarette. Bruce noticed that his hand was steady, and that all the air of excitement had gone. These were ill signs. There is no man so calm as he who has deliberately resolved to take his own life. That Mensmore was ruined, that he was hopelessly in love with a woman whom he could not marry, and that he was about to commit suicide, Bruce was as certain as though the facts had been proved by a coroner. But this thing should not happen if he could prevent it. The band was now playing one of Waldteufel's waltzes. Mensmore listened to the fascinating melody for a moment. He hesitated at the door of the writing-room; but he went out, puffing furiously at his cigarette. A guard looked at him as he turned to the right of the entrance, and made for the shaded terraces overlooking the sea. "A silent Englishman," thought the man; and he caught sight of Bruce, also smoking, preoccupied, and solitary. "Another silent Englishman. _Mon Dieu!_ What miserable lives these English lead!" And so the two vanished into the blackness of the foliage, while, within the brilliantly lighted building, the _frou-frou_ of silk mingled with soft laughter and the sweet strains of music. If it be true that extremes meet, then this was a night for a tragedy. CHAPTER IX BREAKING THE BANK There were not many people in this part of the Casino gardens. A few love-making couples and a handful of others who preferred the chilly quietude of Nature to the throng of the interior promenade, made up the occupants of the winding paths that cover the seaward slope.