A Woman-Hater

g visit. A royal personage had commanded "Il Barbiere," the part of Rosina to be restored t

quarter to four o'clock. Ina, who suffered a good deal at rehearsals from the inaccuracy and apathy of the pe

hotographs of her, taken the day before. She smiled gratefully at his zeal. He also reminded her that he had orders to take her to the Ku

not miss going on any account; but

as long as you like,"

the Kursaal and secure me a place at the table in the largest room. There I will join you. If he is not there

joking," said he. "Why, if you lose five napoleons a

e to lose at cards. I mean to play this afternoon;

is no more to be said. I won't r

kant, and said, quietly, "Others, besides me, can be stubborn, and get their

ed an advance from the manager, and then proceeded to the principal gaming-tab

to conversation with his neighbor, a young swell, who was watching the run of the colors, and betting in silver, and pricking a card, preparatory to going in for a great coup. Meantime he favor

rtists can in the afternoon, and was awakened by the servant b

Zoe Vizard." This led to inquiries, and he told her a lady of superla

ls from me. I was too dazzled, and struck by

n tell me was sh

rious as the sun. Her earthly abode is

e tell

ers are faint, the pencil being inferior to the case, which was golden. Nevertheless, as one is

said Ina, dryly. "I will detai

est repast. Then she made her afternoon toilet,

g to the table without the man on whom it was h

indeed, we must, or we shall derange the true order of time and sequence of incidents; for, please

the greatest clubs in London are petty things: a club with spacious dining-rooms, ball-rooms, concert-rooms, gambling-rooms, theater, and delicious gardens. The build

dining-room she was enchanted. That lofty and magnificent salon, with its daring mixture of red and black, and green and blue, all melted into harmony by the rivers of gold that ran boldly among them, went to her very heart. A Greek is half an Ori

om all this was literally Greek. "

d the Moresque walls around her, and the beauties of n

in conclave with M. Chevet.

nner," said she, "and take me

ious, with green slopes, and rich foliage, and flowers, and enlivened by bright silk dresses, sparkling fitfully among the green leaves, or flaming out boldly in the sun; and,

d on air, and beamed as brig

speak for a good while; her content was so great. At last she

n it. The gamblers

re! Excitement! Who wa

ocent excitement can nev

really wick

ith risk of proportionate loss; in short, by gambling with cards, or without them. Now, look into the mind of the gambler-he wants to make money, contrary to nature, and unjustly. He wants to be rewarded without merit, to make a fortune in a moment, and without industry, vigilance, true skill, or self-denial. 'A penny saved is a penny gained' does not enter his creed. Strip the thing of its disguise, it is avarice, sordid avarice; and I call it weak avarice, because the gambler relies on chance alone, yet accepts uneven chances, and hopes that Fortune will be as much in love with h

ay. I am much happier walk

e de

of you to make a friend of me, and talk sense. Oh

ny Dover, I declare. She has not seen us yet. She is short-sighted. Come

there she said hotl

aid he, very c

out women's ways; and you are always pretending to know them. Why, she ha

ible

t girl, I

iven her for a bad purpose. She has used it for a frivolous o

do you call it-chose?-de'tournement des fonds-what is the English word

transaction; you have not dug in the

t mind, I do; so please

rd, very gravely. "You wil

hy not

uel to her; barbarously cruel. What! call h

ing her blues before yo

is there a creature that ought to be pitied more and handled more delicately than a poor lady? Why, you would make her writhe with shame and distress! Well, I do think ther

he, humbly. "Thank you for thinking for me

. But, come now, why

more help speaking to her than I could fly; and don't go fancying s

even as they went, Vizard returned to his normal condition, and doled out, rather indolently, that they were out on pleasur

on: to be sure, she knew that apathy, or even tranquillity, on

did you get

e a smal

enc

his is not a French mixture: loud, disc

rd. "Why, I thought the Fre

they are afraid of nothing else: and many of their mixtures are as discordant to the eye as Wagner's music to the ear. Now, after all,

instance," sugge

" said she, "no one ever thought of putting blue

was painted by a great artist; and, do you know, he had colored the ceiling blue and the walls green: and I assure you the effect was heavenly: but, then, he had chosen the exact tints of green and blue that would go together. The draperies were between crimson and maroon. But there's an

"I was not aware I had a sister, youthf

eved Miss Maitland wished to take

nted in a mechanical way; and

itland!" said she, with such an air. "She wants

would you, if you were in a sca

ave Fanny her new dress: but she had a

Zoe, for now they were alone, her brothe

" said he; "the truth is, I am p

h-in c

s and not their senses. Now we are going to those gaming-tables. At first, of course, you will play; but, as soon as eve

e girl proudly, "I wi

her eyes round for Severne, and was manifestly

prick her in the least, for such a trifle as de'tournement des fonds; and public admiration did not improv

ed, and they proceeded

lues-though, by-the-by, one hears of them as depressing-and encouraged by admiration and

eless inspection, came to the great attraction of

t each table were seated a number of persons, and others standing behind them. Among the persons seated was the dealer, or, in roulette, the spinner

e which minutely would be to write a little comedy that others have already written, were drawn into playing at l

e, winning without open exultation. The old hands, especially, began play with a padlock on the tongue and a mask upon the face. There are masks, however, that do not hide the eye; and Miss Vizard caught some flashes that escaped the masks even then at the commencement of the play. Still, external stoicism prevailed, on the whole, and h

tonous voice of an a

jeu, messie

a pause of

st fait,

ter two

ne va

ble-mumb

et couleur," or whatev

in charge of the funds chucked the precise amount of the winnings on to each stake with unerring

ten s

st fait,

two s

ne va

"La'! Rouge gagne et couleur perd:" the mech

ses; but the mere game did not monopolize her attention many seconds. There were other things better worth noting: the great varieties of human type that a single

hibboleth of the Minories, the twang of certain American States, the guttural expectoration of Germany,

e were as variou

the gray-eyed Saxon; faces all cheek-bones, and faces no chee

n, and the red paws of obese shop-keepers, and the yellow, bird-like claws of old withered gamesters, all stretched out, side by side, in strange contrast, to plac

on her head in a primrose hat with a red feather. A gold chain, so big that it would have done for a felon instead of a fool, encircled her neck, and was weighted with innumerable lockets, which in size and inventive taste resembled a poached egg, and betrayed the insular goldsmith. A train three yards long completed this gorgeous figure. She had commenced life a shrimp-girl, and pushed a dredge before her, instead of pulling a silken besom after her. Another stately queen (with an "a") heated the atmosphere with a

, and almost jocular, with the croupiers; and that, although they did not talk loud, being kept in order by the general etiquette, they rustled and fidgeted and played in a devil-may-care sort of manner. This was

like to see the other rooms." She whispered to Miss M

d Vizard; "tha

ime. As they followed the others, he said, "

Don't you see? C'est la chas

n se'v'ere,"

ned that sort of French in her

was the same t

ng in, then turned to Vizard, blushed

of c

an

. We will stand by a

trente et quarante is not only unintelligible, but uninteresting. At roulette there is a pictorial object and dramatic incident; the board, the turning of the moulinet, and the swift revolutions of an ivory ball, its lowered speed, its irregular bounds, and its final settlement in one

nty-first year. The ball was so illogical as to go into No. 3, and she lost.

1, and the croupier handed her thirty-five

re heavily, for she said, "No. That will never happen to me again, I know;" and

girl! She will give the devil more trouble

ce. "C'est la chasse qu

r discourse with French scraps. She was not so ill-bred. But abroad she

, when they were in the garden. Zoe had hung behind, and interpreted Fanny ill-naturedly; and here was Fanny at the same game, literally backb

ground, and a ceiling blazing with gold, and the air glittering with lusters. Two very

six steps into the room, Zoe stood

anny bear the blame. It is her application o

iliarly to Joseph Ashmead, and preparin

one to pick with him; and when he was out of sight, the bone seemed pretty large. But when she

d smiling, and put her finger to her mouth, as much as to say, "Let us have some fun.

is, and encourage

g pause; and still with her eye fixed on Severne. He did not see her, nor her companions, partly because they were not in front of him, but approaching at a sharp angle, and also because he was just then beginning to be

Then, true to his system, he doubled on the winning color. One hundred pounds on red. Black won. He dou

o happen-viz., alternation of the color-

said he. He clutched his own hair convulsively, in a struggle with his mania, and prevailed

shmead, "you must t

cross the table at the great mirror, and, suddenly putting his handkerchief to his mouth, he mad

the table, saw a vacant chair, and glided into it, revealing to Zoe Vizard and her party a noble face, not so s

atly and smoothly than this, in which, nevert

n; yet no one had time to take the seat, she gli

ne, then stared at the newcomer, and then turned round a

trick? Having looked at her companions, and seen only her own surprise ref

. She seemed very familiar with the

not a gentleman. He wore a brown velveteen shooting-coat, with a magenta tie that gave Zoe a pain in the eye. She had already felt sorry to see her Severne was acquainted with

evening. But Zoe had not this knowledge, and she could not possibly divine it. The whole thing was presented to her senses thus: a vulgar man, with a brown velveteen shooting-coat and a red-hot tie was a mutual friend of

act or other; so she was driven at last to a woman's remedy. She would wait, and watch. Severne would probably come back, and some

uliar tone, "I will play at this table

heir seats: she made a courteous inclination of the head, and installed Miss Maitland in one seat, without reserve. She put a little gold on the table, and asked Miss Maitland, in a whisper, to play for her. She herself had neither eye nor ear except for Ina Klosking. That lady was havin

above her breath, "Well, but if he request

ut it was accompanied by a shake of th

cussion, Ina Klosking said, "

roduced s

and twenty-five pounds of his, and play. When he returns, we shall, at all

ng back. Ah, I shall see what all t

time to dissect her, which she did without mercy. Well, her costume was beautifully made, and fitted on a symmetrical figure; but as to color, it was neutral-a warm French gray, and neither courted admiration nor

uspicious of design, but asked herself what was the leading motive; and the question was no sooner asked than answered. "She has dressed for her golden ha

t their dresses showed off their dresses; the Klosking's showed off herself. And there was a native dignity, and, above all

every other woman who was in sight at a single sweep. She recognized Zoe directly, with a flush of pleasure; a swe

in return, though, till that moment, she had been knitt

xplained it to her, and how it had failed. "Not but what," said he, "there is a great deal in it most evening

a few pounds on red, then on

because Ashmead was the chief speaker, she cast her eyes

ish as he staked his silver, and an Anglican rector, betting flyers, and as nonchalant, in the blest absence of his flock and the Baptist minister, as if he were playing at whist with the old Bishop of Norwich, who played a nightly rubber in my father's day-and a very bad one. There was a French count,

upper lip that, prejudice apart, became her very well. Her front hair was confined by two gold threads a little way apart, on which were fixed a singular ornament, the vivid eyes of a peacock's tail set close together all round. It was gl

disdain from every lady within sight of it, Zoe excepted. She was placable. This was a

a gambler as any in Europe. It was not that she bet very heavily, but that she bet every day and all day. She began in the afternoon, and played till midnight if there was a table going. She knew no day of religion-no day of rest. She won, and she lost: her own fortune and her husband's stood the money drain; but how about the golden hours? She was losing her youth and wasting her soul. Yet the administration gave her a warning; they did not allow the irretrievable hours to be stolen from her with a noiseless hand. At All Souls' College, Oxford, in the first quadrangle, grave, thoughtful men raised to the top story, two hundred years ago, a grand sundial, the largest, perhaps, and noblest in the kingdom. They set it on the face of the Quad, and wrote over the long pointer in large letters of gold, these words, "Pereunt et imputantur," which refer to the hours indicated below, and mean literally, "They perish, and go down to our

hey have grown fishy; but the eyes of these female novices were a sight. Fanny's, being light gray, gleamed like a panther's whose prey is within leap. Zoe's dark orbs could not resemble any wild beast's; but they glowed with unholy fire; and, indeed, all down the table was now seen that which no painter can convey-for his beautiful but contracted art confines him to a moment of time-and writers have strangely neglected to notice, viz., th

by his teeth and pulled them

ive hand that it came all down her cheek, and looked most rakish and unbecoming. Even Zoe and Fann

at first the players lost largely

only forty pounds, gold seemed to grow around her, and even notes to rise and make a cushion. She, too, was excited, though not openly; her gloves were off, and her own lovely ha

cleared out Ned Severne, and she won heavily, beca

d out; and looked in amazement at the

s Klosking, and bet as she did: her pile increased. The dove caught

caught. The Klosking won three times, and lost three times; but

off half her stake; but even here she w

ome time appeared to rule the roost, and thrust red of

ing looked a little pale; but, driven by some unaccountable impulse, she doubled. So did the creole. Red won. The automata chucked sixteen hundred pounds to the Klosking, and six hundred pounds

the settlement was followed by a short whisper, and a croupier, in a voice as mechan

her backers had