“Shall we drop you at the Pension Malfait?” said Madame Wachner amiably.  “It is right on our way home, you know.  I, too, have made money—­” she chuckled joyously.

Madame Wachner left the two friends standing in the hall while she went to look for her husband in the public gambling room, and as they stood there Sylvia became conscious that they were being stared at with a great deal of interest and curiosity.  The news of Anna Wolsky’s extraordinary good luck had evidently spread.

“I wish I had come in a little earlier,” said Sylvia presently.  “I’ve never seen you take the Bank before.  Surely this is the first time you have done so?”

“Yes, this is the first time I have ever been tempted to take the Bank at Lacville.  But somehow I suddenly felt as if I should be lucky to-night.  You see, I’ve made a good deal of money the last day or two, and Madame Wachner persuaded me to try my luck.”

“I wish you had told me you were thinking of taking the Bank.”

“I would have told you,” said Anna quietly, “if I had seen you to-day.  But I have been seeing very little of you lately, Sylvia.  Why, you are more with Madame Wachner than with me!”

She did not speak unkindly, but Sylvia felt a pang of remorse.  She had indeed seen very little of Anna Wolsky during the last few days, but that was not because she had been with Madame Wachner.

“I will come and see you for a little while to-night,” she said impetuously, “for I am going to spend to-morrow in Paris—­with a friend who is there just now—­”

She hurried out the half-truth with a curious feeling of guilt.

“Yes, do come!” cried Anna eagerly.  “You can stay with me while the carriage takes the Wachners on home, and then it can call for you on the way back.  I should not like you to walk to the Villa du Lac alone at this time of night.”

“Ah, but I’m not like you; I haven’t won piles of money!” said Sylvia, smiling.

“No, but that makes very little difference in a place like this—­”

And then Monsieur and Madame Wachner joined them.  L’Ami Fritz looked quite moved out of himself.  He seized Anna by the hand.  “I congratulate you!” he said heartily.  “What a splendid thing to go on winning like that.  I wish I had been there, for I might have followed your luck!”

They all four walked out of the Casino.  It was a very dark night.

“And what will you do with all that money?” Monsieur Wachner solicitously inquired.  “It is a great sum to carry about, is it not?”

“It is far better to carry about one’s money than to trust it to anyone but to a well-managed bank,” exclaimed his wife, before Anna could answer the question.  “As for the hotel-keepers, I would not trust them with one penny.  What happened to a friend of ours, eh, Fritz, tell them that?”

They were now packed into an open carriage, and driving towards the Pension Malfait.