In the short story The Soul of the Croupier, Franklin Rudge is a young man from the American Mid-West. He is in Monte Carlo as part of a party of American tourists who are having their first tour of Europe. One of the girls in the party Elizabeth Martin is interested in him, and he likes her but is much more enraptured by the Countess Czarnova. Franklin comes across as a simple young man who speaks his mind. He pours out his heart about the Countess to Mr Satterthwaite. To Mr Satterthwaite, the Countess is totally unsuitable for Franklin, and she is probably not all she claims to be. At the same time, the Countess also appears to be someone who needs help. Fortunately helping people and disentangling relationships is just the sort of thing Satterthwaite and Harley Quin often do.
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