Whatever their motive might be, at any rate they went away in a body.

When the old soldier returned, and sat down again opposite to me at the table, we had the room to ourselves.

I could see the croupier, in a sort of vestibule which opened out of it, eating his supper in solitude.

The silence was now deeper than ever.
A sudden change, too, had come over the "ex-brave." He assumed a portentously solemn look; and when he spoke to me again, his speech was ornamented by no oaths, enforced by no finger-snapping, enlivened by no apostrophes or exclamations.
"Listen, my dear sir," said he, in mysteriously confidential tones--"listen to an old soldier's advice.

I have been to the mistress of the house (a very charming woman, with a genius for cookery!) to impress on her the necessity of making us some particularly strong and good coffee.