n who placed
in his hand the losing cards. We know that nowhere is there such
absurd superstition as amongst gamblers. It was only with the utmost
difficulty that Menars managed to shake the Colonel off. He had even to
go the length of telling him he would rather fight him than stake for
him; and the Colonel was by no means fond of fighting. The Chevalier
cursed himself for ever having yielded to the old ass at all.

"Of course the story of the Chevalier's luck could not but be passed on
from one to another, with all sorts of mysterious, inexplicable
additions added on to it, representing him as a man in league with
supernatural powers. But that one who had his luck should go on
abstaining from touching cards was a thing which could not but give the
highest idea of the firmness of his character, and much increase the
consideration in which he was held.

"A year after this the Chevalier found himself in the most pressing and
distressing embarrassment in consequence of the non-payment to him of
the trifling sum on which he managed by a struggle to live. He was
obliged to confide this to his most intimate friend, who, without a
moment's hesitation, helped him to what he required, at the same time
telling him he was the most extraordinary, eccentric individual the
world had ever probably contained.

"'Destiny,' he said, 'gives us hints, indications of the direction in
which we have to seek and find our welfare, and it is only our
indolence which is to blame when we neglect those hints and fail to
understand them. The Power which rules over us has very distinctly
whispered into your ear, "If thou wouldest have money and possessions,
go and play; otherwise thou wilt for ever remain poor, needy,
dependent."'

"Then, for the first time, the thought of the wonderful luck he had
had at the faro table rose vividly before his mind's eye, and, waking
and dreaming, he saw cards before him, and heard the monotonous
_gagne-perd_ of the banquier, and the clink of the gold pieces.

"'It is true,' he said to himself, 'a single night like that one would
raise me out of poverty, and free me from the terrible necessity of
being a burden on my friends. It is simply a duty to follow the
promptings of Destiny.'

"The same friend who advised him to take to playing went with him to
the table, and, to make him easy in his mind, presented him with twenty
louis d'or.

"If his game had been an extraordinary one when he was staking for the
o