"Ah!" said the same old gentleman, as he stood moralising by his side,
"the same luck never comes _twice_--she should have tried other numbers."

The Doctor saw immediately that the old gentleman had been in the
confidence of the deceased. He questioned him. There was a look of
significance, which betrayed plainly that _he knew all_. He was in fact
one of those who earn their subsistence by writing letters for those who
are deficient in the skill of penmanship or epistolary composition. He had
written _the very letter itself_; to his pen was owing that sort of
_copy-book_ phrase, "May the gifts of Fortune conduct to the Temple of
Happiness!" The Doctor had in truth, as he often said when alluding to the
subject, made his fortune in the lottery.

We wish we could leave the story here, and let the reader suppose that
gratitude alone had induced the old woman to act so generous a part. But
the whole truth should be honestly told. There was a mixture of
superstition in the case. It was _his number_ that had won the prize, and
she considered it, as expressed in the letter which accompanied the notes,
in the light of his property. In all countries where a lottery has been
long established, the strangest superstitions grow up concerning what are
called lucky numbers. In Italy, where this manner of increasing the public
revenue is still resorted to, not only is any number which has presented
itself under peculiar circumstances sure to be propitious, but there is a
well-known book, of acknowledged authority we believe, containing a list
of words, with a special number attached to each word, by the aid of which
you can convert into a lucky number any extraordinary event which has
occurred to you. Let any thing happen of public or private interest--let
any thing have been dreamt, or even talked of that was at all surprising,
you have only to look in this dictionary for the word which may be
supposed to contain the essence of the matter; as, for instance, fire,
death, birth--and the number that is opposite that word will assuredly win
your fortune. When the Countess first saw the prescription of the young
Doctor, she was going to throw it angrily on the floor; but her eye was
suddenly riveted by the _numbers_ in it--the numbers of the grains and
_ozs._ in the cabalistic writing--and she felt assured that in these lucky
numbers her fortune was made. The first stake she played she played for
_him_; and, singularly enough, she won!