Two pairs of eyes peered at the revolving wheel. They did not notice that the Dutchman, plunging at the last moment upon 'MANQUE,' had touched their counter with his cuff and moved it to '9.' The ball lost its momentum, poppled across the ridges, and leaped to rest. "_Nueve._" Two faces fell. I wondered if a new frock had vanished into air.... With the edge of his rake a croupier was tapping their counter and looking round for the claimant. For a second the Jew peered about him. Then he pointed to himself and stretched out his hand. I called to the croupier in French. "No. It belongs to Monsieur and Madame. I saw what happened. That gentleman moved it with his cuff." "_Merci, Monsieur._" With a sickly leer the pretender rallied the croupier, confidentially assured the dainty Englishwoman that he did not care, and, laughing a little too heartily, waved the thirty-five pounds towards their bewildered owners. "B-but it isn't mine," stammered the boy. "Yes," I said, smiling. "Your counter was moved. I saw the whole thing." I hesitated. Then, "If you'll take an old hand's advice, you'll stop now. A thing like that's invariably the end of one's luck." I was not 'an old hand,' and I had no authority for my dictum. My interference was unpardonable. When the two stopped to thank me, as they passed from the room, I felt like a criminal. Still, they looked very charming; and, after all, a frock on the back is worth a score at the dressmaker's. "I am going," said Berry, "to suspend my courtship and smoke a cigarette. Possibly I'm going too strong. If I give the lady a rest, she may think more of me." "I suppose," said Daphne, "you're bent on losing it all." Her husband frowned. "Fortune favours the bold," he said shortly. "You see, she's just proving me. If I were to falter, she'd turn me down." It was impossible not to admire such confidence. I bade my sister take heart. "Much," I concluded, "may be done with forty pounds." "Fifty," corrected Berry. "And now let's change the subject. How d'you pronounce Lwow? Or would you rather tell me a fairy tale?" I shook my head. "My power," I said, "of concentration is limited." "Then I must," said Berry. "It's fatal to brood over your fortune." He sat back in his chair and let the smoke make its own way out of his mouth. "There was once a large king. It wasn't his fault. The girth went with the crown. All the Koppabottemburgs were enormous. Besides, it went very well with his subjects. Looking upon him, they felt they were getting their money's worth. A man of simple tastes, his favourite hobby was fowls. "One day, just as he'd finished cleaning out the fowl-house, he found that he'd run out of maize. So he slipped on his invisible cloak and ran round to the grocer's. He always wore his invisible cloak when shopping. He found it cheaper.