ables appear to
entertain a strong antipathy to the first deal or two after the cards
have been "re-made." I have been told by one or two masters of the craft
that they have a fancy to see how matters are likely to go before they
strike in, as if it were possible to deduce the future of the game from
its past! That it is possible appears to be an article of faith with
the old stagers, and, indeed, every now and then odd coincidences occur
which tend to confirm them in their creed. I witnessed an occurrence
which was either attributable (as I believe) to sheer chance, or (as
its hero earnestly assured me) to instinct. A fair and frail Magyar was
punting on numbers with immense pluck and uniform ill fortune. Behind
her stood a Viennese gentleman of my acquaintance, who enjoys a certain
renown amongst his friends for the faculty of prophecy, which, however,
he seldom exercises for his own benefit. Observing that she hesitated
about staking her double florin, he advised her to set it on the number
3. Round went the wheel, and in twenty seconds the ball tumbled into
compartment 3 sure enough. At the next turn she asked his advice, and
was told to try number 24. No sooner said than done, and 24 came up in
due course, whereby Mdlle L. C. won 140 odd gulden in two coups, the
amount risked by her being exactly four florins. Like a wise girl, she
walked off with her booty, and played no more that day at Roulette.
A few minutes later I saw an Englishman go through the performance of
losing four thousand francs by experimentalizing on single numbers.
Twenty times running did he set ten louis-d'ors on a number (varying the
number at each stake), and not one of his selection proved successful.
At the "Thirty and Forty" I saw an eminent diplomatist win sixty
thousand francs with scarcely an intermission of failure; he played all
over the table, pushing his rouleaux backwards and forwards, from black
to red, without any appearance of system that I could detect, and the
cards seemed to follow his inspiration. It was a great battle; as usual,
three or four smaller fish followed in his wake, till they lost courage
and set against him, much to their discomfiture and the advantage of the
bank; but from first to last--that is, till the cards ran out, and he
left the table--he was steadily victorious. In the evening he went in
again for another heavy bout, at which I chanced to be present; but
fortune had forsaken him; and he not only lost his