Not men only. And not only the woman with the sealskin jacket and the diamond ear-rings (did she sleep as well as eat and play in these adornments?); other women, too, sat at the absorbing game.
“Are they really gambling?” Hildegarde had asked the giant, the first time he found her in a group looking on.
The giant had laughed and said, “Don’t they look it?”
“No. They are so—so quiet.”
“That’s when they’re plunging worst.”
“You mean they’re making large sums of money here now, and take it like that?”
“Yes, and losing, too, and take it just the same. It’s only in books that gamblers gurgle and gasp.”
But even the cheerful giant had seemed to feel this was no place for Miss Mar. “Aren’t you coming up-stairs?” As she still lingered fascinated, “I’ve been getting some oranges for you.”
“How?”