"That is too good of you," he replied, as he gave her one; "but of course you will forget all about it. Good-night, good-bye."
"Auf wiedersehen," she answered prettily, and turned to her companion on her left, who had watched the little comedy with a scowl upon his face. Melville noted the scowl and bowed sardonically as he moved away. To be conscious of superiority to anyone is satisfactory in one's hour of discomfiture, and Melville derived a complacent satisfaction from this little man's evident annoyance.
"The little bounder doesn't like me," he thought, "but he's a little ass to show it. He must be very rich for Mrs. Sinclair to be willing to lay aside her weeds for him."
The doors swung behind him, and in another moment Melville was in the open air. He stretched out his arms in pure enjoyment of the lovely night.
"I am infinitely obliged to you," he said to his escort; "the other trifling formalities will, doubtless, be completed in due course;" and in what seemed an incredibly short time Melville was on his way to London.
Inside the Casino, the little bounder turned to his companion.
"Since you have no room in your purse for visiting cards," he said, "may I not keep that one in safe custody for you?"
"Thanks, no," the woman answered, and slipped it inside her dress; "I haven't finished playing yet, and my luck is in to-night."
"Would you be as kind to me," he pursued, "if I had to have recourse to the charity of the bank to pay my fare to London? Or would you drop me when my money went?"
Mrs. Sinclair looked at him coolly.