“Upon zero, upon zero! Again upon zero! Stake as much as ever you can. How much have we got? Seventy ten-gülden pieces? We shall not miss them, so stake twenty pieces at a time.”

“Think a moment, Madame. Sometimes zero does not turn up for two hundred rounds in succession. I assure you that you may lose all your capital.”

“You are wrong⁠—utterly wrong. Stake, I tell you! What a chattering tongue you have! I know perfectly well what I am doing.” The old lady was shaking with excitement.

“But the rules do not allow of more than 120 gülden being staked upon zero at a time.”

“How ‘do not allow’? Surely you are wrong? Monsieur, monsieur⁠—” here she nudged the croupier who was sitting on her left, and preparing to spin⁠—“ combien zero? Douze? Douze? ”

I hastened to translate.