one o'clock precisely
What a fool the fellow is ! '' and the old lady turned sharply away . On the left , among the players at the other half of the table , a young lady was playing , with , beside her , a dwarf . Who the dwarf may have been -- whether a relative or a person whom she took with her to act as a foil -- I do not know ; but I had noticed her there on previous occasions , since , everyday , she entered the Casino at one o'clock precisely , and departed at two -- thus playing for exactly one hour . Being well-known to the attendants , she always had a seat provided for her ; and , taking some gold and a few thousand-franc notes out of her pocket -- would begin quietly , coldly , and after much calculation , to stake , and mark down the figures in pencil on a paper , as though striving to work out a system according to which , at given moments , the odds might group themselves . Always she staked large coins , and either lost or won one , two , or three thousand francs a day , but not more ; after which she would depart . The Grandmother took a long look at her .