_The Spider's Web_ Only the select attended the meetings at Fernand's.

It was doubly hard to choose them.

They had to have enough money to afford high play, and they also had to lose without a murmur.

It made it extremely difficult to build up a clientele, but Fernand was equal to the task.

He seemed to smell out the character of a man or woman, to know at once how much iron was in their souls.