They bow you away,
first audibly pronouncing your name with polyglottic accuracy, and then
you are free to wander where you like. But probably you will want to go
at once from the large, nobly colonnaded reception-hall or atrium, into
that series of salons where wickeder visitors than yourself are already
closely seated at the oblong tables, and standing one or two deep round
them. The salons of the series are four, and the tables in each are from
two to five, according to the demands of the season; some are Trente et
Quarante-tables, and some, by far the greater number, are
Roulette-tables. Roulette seems the simpler game, and the more popular;
I formed the notion that there was a sort of aristocratic quality in
Trente et Quarante, and that the players of that game were of higher
rank and longer purse, but I can allege no reason justifying my notion.
All that I can say is that the tables devoted to it commanded the
seaward views, and the tops of the gardens where the players withdrew
when they wished to commit suicide.
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