Rami Sharif is an Egyptian man of business lately come from Paris. A known face in the gambling club, he wears the air of a professional to the manner born — a man in his forties or beyond, given to the high-stakes card table. He offered Gizem Faruki a stake of two hundred gold to enter a more exacting game, upon the understanding that the sum should be repaid only out of her winnings.
Through the play Rami never once won, and the tension mounted at the table, not least with another player, one Rashad. His manner is grave and businesslike; he keeps up a cordial small talk whilst his mind runs chiefly on the stakes, and he deals with the others — Chique Manu and Rashad among them — with the ease of a man deep in the gambling world, yet without the least appearance of dishonesty in his dealings. After Gizem Faruki took the game and repaid him, his continued presence in the club served only to point up the high-stakes character of the evening.