n, after an interval
of a couple of rounds, in another break of three or four appearances.
Sometimes, this astonishing regularity manifested itself in patches; a
thing to upset all the calculations of note--taking gamblers who play
with a pencil and a memorandum book in their hands Fortune perpetrates
some terrible jests at roulette!

Since my entry not more than half an hour could have elapsed. Suddenly
a croupier informed me that I had, won thirty thousand florins, as well
as that, since the latter was the limit for which, at any one time, the
bank could make itself responsible, roulette at that table must close
for the night. Accordingly, I caught up my pile of gold, stuffed it
into my pocket, and, grasping my sheaf of bank-notes, moved to the
table in an adjoining salon where a second game of roulette was in
progress. The crowd followed me in a body, and cleared a place for me
at the table; after which, I proceeded to stake as before--that is to
say, at random and without calculating. What saved me from ruin I do
not know.

Of course there were times when fragmentary reckonings DID come
flashing into my brain. For instance, there were times when I attached
myself for a while to certain figures and coups--though always leaving
them, again before long, without knowing what I was doing.

In fact, I cannot have been in possession of all my faculties, for I
can remember the croupiers correcting my play more than once, owing to
my having made mistakes of the gravest order. My brows were damp with
sweat, and my hands were shaking. Also, Poles came around me to proffer
their services, but I heeded none of them. Nor did my luck fail me now.
Suddenly, there arose around me a loud din of talking and laughter.
"Bravo, bravo!" was the general shout, and some people even clapped
their hands. I had raked in thirty thousand florins, and again the bank
had had to close for the night!

"Go away now, go away now," a voice whispered to me on my right. The
person who had spoken to me was a certain Jew of Frankfurt--a man who
had been standing beside me the whole while, and occasionally helping
me in my play.

"Yes, for God's sake go," whispered a second voice in my left ear.
Glancing around, I perceived that the second voice had come from a
modestly, plainly dressed lady of rather less than thirty--a woman
whose face, though pale and sickly-looking, bore also very evident
traces of former beauty. At the moment, I was stuffing the