The rooms are decorated by several
French painters of note, and the whole interior is designed by the
famous architect Gamier, to as little effect of beauty as could well be.
It is as if these French artists had worked in the German taste, rather
than their own, and in any case they have achieved in their several
allegories and impersonations something uniformly heavy and dull. One
might fancy that the mood of the players at the tables had imparted
itself to the figures in the panels, but very likely this is not so, for
the players had apparently parted with none of their unpleasing dulness.
They were in about equal number men and women, and they partook equally
of a look of hard repression. The repression may not have been wholly
from within; a little away from each table hovered, with an air of
detachment, certain plain and quiet men, who, for all their apparent
inattention, may have been agents of the Administration vigilant to
subdue the slightest show of drama in the players.
Pages:
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476