As soon as ever we arrived the Grandmother ordered me to stake twelve ten-gülden pieces in succession upon zero. Once, twice, and thrice I did so, yet zero never turned up.

“Stake again,” said the old lady with an impatient nudge of my elbow, and I obeyed.

“How many times have we lost?” she inquired⁠—actually grinding her teeth in her excitement.

“We have lost 144 ten-gülden pieces,” I replied. “I tell you, Madame, that zero may not turn up until nightfall.”

“Never mind,” she interrupted. “Keep on staking upon zero, and also stake a thousand gülden upon rouge. Here is a banknote with which to do so.”

The red turned up, but zero missed again, and we only got our thousand gülden back.