Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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He was a thin sallow-faced man, with a shrewd expression, and captivating manners.

He said, addressing those present, “We are all friends here; all know one another, and we are here for amusement, that’s all.”

Several of the members assented by nods to this proposition.

The croupier seemed satisfied.

“He loved play,” he said, and here he shook a pound’s worth of “counters” in his white long-fingered hand.

Gambler, indeed! Not he.

He was no gambler, but he loved play to beguile the tedium of what would be otherwise his lonely hours.

He loved society, and was glad to see so many faces around him with which he had been familiar for years.

He certainly did talk like a father—​not to say like a saint—​to the members of the club.

The hot feverish players smiled grimly at his eloquence.

He was the only talkative man in the room.

There were many there who were not quite so cheery. They were evidently bent on business, not gossip or badinage, and to judge from their apparel their business did not please them much.