‘Heads!’ she cried; and it was heads.
Sophia intended to begin gently till she saw the run of the game, and staked five napoleons on red.
‘Black,’ replied her opponent, and lost.
Sophia hesitated.
‘Red,’ she said—‘limit. I think this will make an amusing game.’
‘On number thirteen, limit,’ replied this remarkable young man.
Sophia held her breath. Hardened gambler as she was, she always let thirteen severely alone, and she heard her pulse hammering in her throat as the ball clicked and flew off at tangents. Long before it stopped she had a presentiment what would happen, and when it paused, ran on again, slowed and died, dropping into thirteen, she was not surprised.
‘I congratulate you,’ she said with entire truth, and handed him sixteen times the limit stake.
For the next half-hour after this the play was only moderately sensational. They staked on dozens and half-dozens, occasionally even on colour, and the Black Domino continued to make a handsome income. About four o’clock he yawned slightly, and it being Sophia’s turn to stake, when she backed a colour, he wearily laid down the limit stake of a hundred napoleons on number twenty.
‘My age,’ he said.