A dingy waiter took our hats and coats and hung them up.

Anastasius plucked me by the sleeve.
"If you don't mind staking a little for the sake of appearances, I shall be grateful." I whispered: "Can you tell me now, my dear Professor, for what reason you have brought me to this gaming-hell ?" He looked up at me out of his mournful eyes and murmured, "_Patienza, lieber Herr_." Then spying a vacant place behind the chairs at the baccarat table, he darted thither, and I followed in his wake.

There must have been about a couple of hundred louis in the bank, which was held by a dissipated, middle-aged man who, having once been handsome in a fleshy way, had run to fat.

His black hair, cropped short, stood up like a shoebrush, and when he leaned back in his chair a roll of flesh rose above his collar.

I disliked the fellow for his unhealthiness, and for the hard mockery in his puffy eyes.