collect my thoughts, and felt as if I had just awakened from a long
heavy sleep. It was now dark; lights streamed from the open windows of
the gambling-rooms; the voices of the croupiers, the stir and hum of the
players and jingling of money were distinctly heard in the street
without. I have already told you I am no gambler, not from scruple, but
choice. Nevertheless, I used often to stroll up to the Cursaal for an
hour of in evening, when the play was at the highest, to look on and
chat with any acquaintances I met. Mechanically, I now ascended the
stairs. On the landing-place, I found myself face to face with a man
with whom I was slightly intimate, and who, a few evenings before, had
borrowed forty francs of me. I had not seen him since, and he now
returned me the piece of gold. 'Try your luck with it,' said he; 'there
is a run against the bank tonight, every body wins, and M. Blanc looks
blue.' And he pointed to one of the proprietors of the tables, who,
however, wore a tolerably tranquil air, knowing well that what was
carried away one night, would come back with compound interest the next.
The play was heavy at the Rouge-et-noir table; a Russian and two
Frenchmen--the latter of whom, judging from their appearance, and from
the complicated array of calculations on the table before them, were
professional gamblers--extracted, at nearly every _coup_, notes or
rouleaus of gold from the grated boxes in front of the bankers. I drank
a glass of water, for my lips and mouth were dry and hot, and placing
myself as near the table as the crowd of players and spectators
permitted, watched the game. My hand was in my pocket, the forty-franc
piece still between its fingers. But in spite of the advice of him who
had paid it me, I felt no disposition to risk the coin; not that I
feared to lose it, for as my only one it was useless, but because, as I
tell you, I never had the slightest love of gambling or expectation to
win.

"A pause occurred in the game. The cards had run out, and the bankers
were subjecting them to those complicated and ostentatious shufflings
intended to convince the players of the fairness of their dealings.
During this operation, the previous silence was exchanged for eager
gossip. The game, it appeared, had come out that night in a peculiar
manner, very favourable to those who had had _nous_ and nerve to avail
themselves of it. There had been alternate long runs upon red and black.

"'_Mille noms de Dieu