eleven o'clock
Previously , I had thought of the idea , not as an occurrence which was ever likely to come about , but as something which NEVER could come about . The time was a quarter past eleven o'clock when I entered the Casino in such a state of hope -LRB- though , at the same time , of agitation -RRB- as I had never before experienced . In the gaming-rooms there were still a large number of people , but not half as many as had been present in the morning . At eleven o'clock there usually remained behind only the real , the desperate gamblers -- persons for whom , at spas , there existed nothing beyond roulette , and who went thither for that alone . These gamesters took little note of what was going on around them , and were interested in none of the appurtenances of the season , but played from morning till night , and would have been ready to play through the night until dawn had that been possible . As it was , they used to disperse unwillingly when , at midnight , roulette came to an end . Likewise , as soon as ever roulette was drawing to a close and the head croupier had called `` Les trois derniers coups , '' most of them were ready to stake on the last three rounds all that they had in their pockets -- and , for the most part , lost it .