wer me these?"

"Some of dem I have here," said Stein, taking down from a shelf a small
vellum-bound volume, fastened with a padlock and chain, the key of which
he wore attached to his watch. "Here is de grand 'arcanum,'" said he,
laughing; "here are de calculs made in de experience of forty-one
year! Where is de man in Europe can say as mush as dat? In dis book is
recounted de great game of de Duc de Brancas, where he broke de bank
every night of de week till Saturday,--two million tree hundred tousand
francs! Caumartin, the first croupier, shot hisself, and Nogeot go mad.
He reckon de moneys in de casette, for when he say on Friday night,
'Monseigneur,' say he, 'we have not de full sum here,--there's one
hundred and seventy tousand francs too little,' de Duc reply, 'Never
mind, mon cher Monsieur Nogeot, I am noways pressed,--don't distress
yourself,--only let it be pay before I go home to bed.' Nogeot lose his
reason when he hear it. Ah! here is de whole 'Greschichte,' and here de
table of chances."

Beecher gazed on the precious volume as Aladdin might have done on the
lamp. It was the mystic key to untold riches. With that marvellous
book a man needed no more in life; there lay all the "cabals," all the
"martingales," that years of intense toil and deep study had discovered.
To win that knowledge, too, what hearts had been broken, what
desolation, what death! It was a record of martyrs in his eyes, and he
really regarded it with a sort of rapturous veneration.

Old Lazarus did not fail to detect the expression of wonderment and
admiration. He saw depicted there the glowing ecstasy that all
the triumphs of high art could not call up. The vigorous energy of
Wouvermans, the glowing coloring of Cuyp, the mellow richness of Mieris,
had not touched that nature which now vibrated in every chord to the
appeal of Fortune. It was the submissive worship of a devotee before
some sacred relic! Stein read that gaze, and tracked its every motive;
and with a solemn gesture he clasped the volume and locked it.

"But you are surely going to show me--I mean, you are about to tell me
the answer to these questions?"

Stein shook his head dubiously, as he said: "Dat is my Kleinod, my
idol,--in dat book lie de secret of secrets, and I say to myself,
'Lazarus, be poor, be destitute, be houseless to-morrow, and you know
how to get rich if you will.' De great law of Chances--de rule dat guide
what we call 'Luck'--dere it is written! I h