No rest
for the eye."
"But supposing you change your mind, and want come back and try your
luck? You couldn't, if you'd taken the _viatique_."
"Yes I could--when I'd paid it back. It's supposed to be a loan, you
know, which you have to repay before you're allowed to play again."
"Oh, I didn't know!"
A group of young men walked past, laughing. "Never saw such a run of
luck," said one. "Seventeen on red and I was on it from the first.
Glorious place, Monte! Let's drink its health!"
They turned, stared with interest at Mary, and passed on, lowering their
voices. She caught the words "something new," but there was no sense in
them for her ears. She saw the Dauntreys hurrying to the Casino, with
Mrs. Collis and her daughter, and Dodo Wardropp. Two men were with them,
both young, and one rather distinguished looking. All were too deeply
absorbed in themselves and each other to notice her. The ladies were
charmingly dressed, and so were most of the women who passed, all going
quickly like the figures of a cinematograph; but some were of the
strangest possible types. Mary said to herself that they must be
infinitely more interesting in their own secret selves than lookers on
could ever know. The hidden realities in all these passionately
egotistic selves came to her as she sat watching, in attractive or
repellent flashes of light. Then she lost the secret again, and they
became mere puppets in a moving show. The only real thing was the
Casino, and she began to study the large bright face of it.
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