Lady Rader-Wellorff pulled Barry hard towards a particular roulette table, around which were seated Jeremy, Teremy, Meremy, Heremy, Queremy, Smellemy, Sea Anemone and Dave.
“Hello, everyone!” she said. “Can I leave Barrington with you?” They all looked up. No one said anything. “Super!” said Lady Rader-Wellorff. And disappeared into the crowd.
Barry sat down in between Jeremy and Teremy. There was hardly any room, and they didn’t move up much to let him in.
“Place your bets, please.”
Barry looked up. Peevish had appeared and was now wearing a weird cap with a transparent green peak. With a smooth smile, the butler twisted the roulette wheel and set the little white ball spinning round its edge.
Jeremy, Teremy, Meremy, Heremy, Queremy, Smellemy, Sea Anemone and Dave all started frantically placing their chips on the squares laid out on the long green table. Jeremy on red, Teremy on black, Meremy on odd, Heremy on even, Queremy on the first 12, Smellemy on the middle 12, Sea Anemone on the last 12 and Dave on a corner of the table that just had a tiny bit of cheese stuck to it.
“No bets, Your Massive Importance?” said Peevish. Barry realised he was talking to him.
“I don’t know where to put it.”
Peevish leant over and looked Barry closely in the eye.
“I think 23 is always a good bet, Your Bigness.” And then he winked.
“I don’t know,” said Barry. “I always like the number 19.”
Peevish sighed. “No, Your Great Silliness. 23. That’s the BEST BET.”
“Oh!” said Barry. He looked at the ball, spinning round the edges of the wheel like a cyclist going round a velodrome at top speed. It started to fall down the ramp of the wheel, heading towards the numbers.
Quickly, he picked up his million-pound chip and, after a couple of seconds of frantically looking – where was it?! Oh yes, there between 22 and 24 – he put it down on 23. Peevish, at that point, seemed to nod to himself, and… Barry wasn’t sure, but he thought he might just have pressed something under the table.
At any rate, the wheel stopped spinning very suddenly and the little white ball bounced down from the edge, spun a bit on 24, but then settled snugly into 23.
“My goodness,” said Peevish. “There’s a surprise.”
“Um… how much have I won?” said Barry.
Peevish sprinkled a series of one-million-pound chips on the table and pushed them towards him with a little shovel.
“Thirty-six million pounds, Your Richness.”
“Oh my God,” said Barry. He was about to leap up and stick both hands in the air, like he’d just scored a goal, but then he noticed that all the other children were staring angrily at him.
“That’s not fair!” said Jeremy.
“You did it, Peevish!” said Queremy.
“The new child always wins!” said Meremy.
“Waaaaaaaaaaah!!!” said Sea Anemone.
“Hmm, this is a lovely piece of cheese…” said Dave.
“Um… sorry,” said Barry, not sure what to do. Peevish had appeared beside him with a small plastic bucket, like you get on a beach.
“For your chips, Your Chipfulness…” he said. And ladled them in.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaahh!!” continued Sea Anemone.
“Look, I don’t want to upset anyone…” said Barry.
“Nonsense, Barrington!” said Lord Rader-Wellorff, bursting through the crowd around the table. “Jolly well done. And now: guns!”