A week later he received one of those historic telegrams, calling him to some African outbreak, or Indian, I can't recall which. At any rate, it left me alone in Dieppe. I had been passably fortunate at roulette; that is to say, I invariably won back what I lost. I believe I had about five thousand of the original seven. Dieppe is very enticing in the summer: the bands, the hotels, the handsome women, the military and the sea. The night after Smeed had gone I sauntered over to the tables and played a modest stake, won and lost, won and lost again. The blind Madonna was merely flirting with me, luring me on. I suddenly threw restraint to the winds, and plunged. I won heavily, and then began to lose. Unconsciously I had discovered a system, and like a stubborn fool I stuck to it--29 and 26. Neither of these numbers came up till more than four thousand of my capital had taken its place at the croupier's elbow. I had been sensible enough to leave some of my money at the hotel. I went away from the tables, perspiring and burning with fever. I cursed the blind Madonna, and counted over the money I had remaining. It was exactly seven hundred. This would pay my passage home. But the spirit of gambling ran riot in my veins. Besides, I thirsted for revenge. What! give up? Bah! all or nothing! I returned, and placed the seven hundred on black. I won. I stuffed the original stake in my pocket and put the winnings on the odd. I won again. I had twenty-one hundred; so I stopped and watched the game. I observed a handsome young boy plunging madly; he was losing, but in a lordly fashion. When I got back to my room I flipped up a coin to see whether I should stay in Dieppe or leave in the morning for Paris, where my sister was a guest of the wife of one of the British _attachés_. When a man gambles he wants to do it thoroughly. Heads, I was to go; tails, I was to remain and buck the tiger. Heads it fell; and I packed my trunk. No more of the blind Madonna for me, I vowed. I had had enough, perhaps more than enough. But one does not lose the habit overnight. On the way from Dieppe to Paris a veiled woman entered my carriage, which was third, nothing else being obtainable. Rather, she entered immediately after I did. She was accompanied by a young man of twenty-one or two. His face was good to look at, but at present it was marred by sullen chagrin and despair. Occasionally I saw the girl's hands close convulsively. These hands were so beautifully small and white that I was anxious to see their owner's face; but this pleasure was denied me. Presently she addressed me in German, inquiring the time we should reach Paris. I don't know what possessed me, but I replied in French that I did not understand German. She repeated the question in French, and I answered. The young man took out his fob, and I could see that his watch was gone.