Sharp County record., 1881-03-03
THREE, SEVEN, ACE.

"What! did you bet on the red all
the evening?"
Eyes, l rarely change my play"
"You are the most impaSsive gam
bier | have ever seem"
"What do you think of Hermann,
then, for self-control? He never in his
life touched a card or made bet, and
yet he will watch US play till morning,
such is his love of it."
True said Hermann, ''it interests
me, but I never play"
This conversation took place at the
quarters of Naroumof, Lieutenant of
hussars. 1t was late. Play had been
heavy, and potations deep.
"Ah, well," cried Tomski, "Her-
mann is in the engineer corps, and
therefore economical is all. But,
for curiosity, just look at my grand
mother, the Countess Fedotovna. She
is rich; she is woman, and she is
eighty years old-yet she never playsm
at is, indeed, strange said Mar
oumoff, "but what is the reasonw
"Listen and l will tell you. You
must know that sixty years ago she was
at Paris, and created a furor by her
beauty-they called her the Muscovite
Venus. Those were the good old days,
Just before the fall of the monarchy in
'89, when every one, ladies and all,
played at faro. One evening she lost
large sum to the Comte de Provence,
the Kings brother. On her return she
took off her patches, disheveled her
hair, and, thus tragicaIly prepared, in
formed her husband of her i'll luck.
My defunct grandfather (peace to his
ashes) was species of financial secre-
tary to his wife. He feared only her
and the devil-the last the least. But
when she confided to him the amount
she had lost, he almost rose to the cell
ing, flew into terrible passion, and re-
fused to pay single franc. My grand
mother acted like a woman Of spirit
she slapped his face, and passed the
night in another room. The next day,
however, she returned to the attack.
Tears this time; but it was useless.
Her long-sufering husband declared
that she had already wasted half mill
ion, and it might as well end one time
as another.
Fortunately for her, an idea oc-
Cured by which she did not fail to
profit. There was that time in Paris a
certain strange individual who was
known by the name of the Comte de
Saint-Germain. You have doubtless
heard of him. He was looked upon as
the Wandering Jew, and was reputed
to oposSess the secret of the philosophers
stone and the elixir of life as well. De-
spite the mystery surrounding him he
was much sought after and was univer-
sally liked. Well, she wrote to him re-
questing him to grant her an interview.
The old gentleman hastened to her
house and found her plunged in despair.
She related to him her misfortune, the
cruelty of her husband, and begged him
to assist her. After rejecting a few
moments, Saint-Germain replied:
"' Madame, l can easily lend you the
money you require, but l well know you
will have no peace until you repay me.
do not wish to extricate you from one
dilemma only to plunge you into anoth-
er There is but one course open to you
you must win the money back again
~ ..B But, my dear Count said d--nr-
grandmother, I've already told you
that | haven't frame
go You do not need money he re-
piled; listen And then he confded
to hera secret for which any one of you,
gentlemen, would give ten years of his
life.n
All the young officers listened with
intense interest, Tomski paused mo-
ment, lit his cigar, and continued:
That evening she went to the
Queens game at Versailles. The
Comte de Provence was banker, the
game faro. She told him some femi.