“That was nice of you, Tony,” she said gratefully, as they started to walk home through the deserted streets.
He threw her a quick, enigmatic smile.
“I’ve an obliging disposition. Haven’t you found that out yet?”
Ann laughed.
“It’s becoming quite noticeable,” she retorted. “Tony, you nearly broke the bank to-night, I should think.”
“Broke the bank! At five francs a time!” He kicked a pebble viciously into the roadway. “It was confounded bad luck to get a run like that with such a rotten limit. With an equal run at Monte I’d have made a fortune. Oh, damn!”
They walked on in silence for a while. There was no moon. The lake lay dark and mysterious, pricked here and there with the swaying orange light of a fishing-boat. High up, like a ring of planets brooding above the town, the great arc of the Caux Palace lights blazed through the starlit dusk.
Tony reverted to the evening’s play.
“You didn’t do badly, either,” he said, challengingly. “You weren’t bored to-night, were you?”
An odd little smile crossed her face.