bearings when I began to play, as, in my place, any systematic gambler would have done. No, I merely extended my stock of twenty ten-gülden pieces, and threw them down upon the space “ Passe ” which happened to be confronting me.
“ Vingt-deux! ” called the croupier.
I had won! I staked upon the same again—both my original stake and my winnings.
“ Trente-et-un! ” called the croupier.
Again I had won, and was now in possession of eighty ten-gülden pieces. Next, I moved the whole eighty on to twelve middle numbers (a stake which, if successful, would bring me in a triple profit, but also involved a risk of two chances to one). The wheel revolved, and stopped at twenty-four. Upon this I was paid out notes and gold until I had by my side a total sum of two thousand gülden.
It was as in a fever that I moved the pile, en bloc, on to the red. Then suddenly I came to myself (though that was the only time during the evening’s play when fear cast its cold spell over me, and showed itself in a trembling of the hands and knees). For with horror I had realised that I must win, and that upon that stake there depended all my life.
“Rouge!” called the croupier. I drew a long breath, and hot shivers went coursing over my body. I was paid out my winnings in banknotes—amounting, of course, to a total of four thousand florins, eight hundred gülden (I could still calculate the amounts).
After that, I remember, I again staked two thousand florins upon twelve middle numbers, and lost. Again I staked the whole of my gold, with eight hundred gülden, in notes, and lost. Then madness seemed to come upon me, and seizing my last two thousand florins, I staked them upon