Perhaps its former occupant had gambled away his last kreutzer and left the room.

At any rate, the newcomer advanced without hesitation and took the vacant seat.

It may be that the players were too absorbed in their game to notice him; or possibly they had so recently come together that they were not yet sufficiently acquainted to detect a stranger's presence; or, again, the feeble light and the clouds of tobacco smoke may have rendered it impossible to distinguish one's neighbours very clearly.

Whatever the reason, the stranger's advent elicited no comment.

A pocketful of money furnished him all the language he needed to speak, and the cards were dealt to him as a matter of course.