It was simply a _tripot_, or gambling-den.
And all this solemn farce of Secretariats and _cartes d'entree_ to obtain admission! It is curious how the bureaucratic instinct is ingrained in the French character.
It was a large, ill-ventilated room, blue with cigarette and cigar smoke.

Some thirty men were sitting or standing around a baccarat table in the centre, and two or three groups hung around _ecarte_ tables in the corners.

A personage who looked like a slightly more prosperous brother of the raven outside and wore a dinner-jacket, promenaded the room with the air of one in authority.

He scrutinised us carefully from a distance; then advanced and greeted us politely.
"You have chosen an excellent evening," said he.

"There are a great many people, and the banks are large." He bowed and passed on.