Suddenly, with a resolve, he rose and, passing along the plage, arrived at a large, white house overlooking the sea, where, on the second floor, he entered a luxuriously-furnished suite of rooms where roulette was in full swing.
Many smartly-dressed men and women were playing around the green table—some winning, some losing heavily.
The room, filled to overflowing, was almost suffocating, while, combined with the chatter of women and the lower voices of men, was the distinctive sound of the clink of gold as the croupier raked it in or paid it out.
To several acquaintances Ralph nodded merrily as he strolled through the room, until suddenly he came upon two men, wealthy he knew them to be, with whom he had played cards on the previous night.
“Ah, messieurs!” he cried, greeting them merrily. “Are you prepared to give me my revenge—eh?”
“Quite, m’sieur,” was the reply of the elder of the men. “Shall it be in the next room? There is a table free.”
“At your pleasure,” was “The American’s” reply. The man who had proved so shrewd on the previous night was absent, but the two other men were, he knew, somewhat inexperienced at cards.
They passed into the adjoining room and there sat down, a stranger joining them. Others were playing in the same room, including at least a couple of “crooks” well known to Ansell—one man an elegantly-dressed Italian and the other a Spaniard. The summer resorts of Europe prove the happy hunting-ground for the knights of industry.
The cards were dealt, and the game played.
At the first coup Ralph Ansell won three hundred francs, though he played fairly. Again and again he won. His luck had returned.