The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-09-30
THE BARON'S RIVAL

p.ron Won Raehnitz was q member Of
Rsccarat Club IN the Rue Raymond
- Touiouse OF Paris. He was asomewhat
user1orka BILE man. member Of one of tne
- hut impecunious families OF Saxony,
rad some five years before been
aargbt young. and married by a brilliant
oornnlexioned, though not very rich, Ameri-
oon Girl. For a year or two they had been
santent to live in his dull native town,
18th its round OF first-rate operas but
| .bird-rate everything else. At the Anglo
american Club the baron had evinced Ger
toin aptitude for ecarte poker, picquet,
snd so uniform had been his success at
these games that it was not long before
no began to yearn for fresh fields and
PASTURES new, where he could play FOR
higher stakes than were obtainable in a
.ecoDd-rate German town and third-rate
/, Anplo-American society. His wife, too,
i'm messed by his success, and not unwill-
inr to realize larger returns, encouraged
| him in his ambition, with the result that
move was made to Paris and he became
| a member of the famous Baccarat Club.
From the moment of his arrival. eight
wears before our story opens, Fortune had
| snlleu uPOu biC yOthf3 ~ NOHhuiCl. l'ut
this was. perhaps, not so much that she
showed him any special kindness as that
he left no stone unturned to assist the
ackle goddess in declaring in his favor.
This young man was not gambler by
. nature; that is to say. he never risked
his money where he considered the odds
we're against him. In all games of chance
combined with skill he knew that skill
int ha lopr IJa
estimated his own play nor under-esti-
mated that of an adversary. He knew,
foo. that a cool head and unwearied brain
always had the odds in their favor, and,
gambling as he did merely as matter
Of business. he strictly took advantage
of these and other palpable verities. On
first becoming a member of the club, he
had confined himself to playing in the
small hours of the morning. All the
highest play was between and o'clock,
and these hours he had avoided first on
principle. After clock he had noticed
that play became Stacker, and that those
players who still stayed on we're either
over excited with wine or beginning to
tire; and by O'Clock, in the morning,
there we're, as rule. but a few jaded or
half-intoxicated members; fair game, he
cO0SlueTcu, lOI d OuuS uldu vi Regular
habits, and who took a sufficency of
Sleep
Now, as he said to his wife, he was In
Paris on business, and pleasure and con-
yenience must give way to that, and she,
being a practical woman, cheerfully
acquiesced. The consequence was that
this enterprising young couple kept very
curious hours indeed. They went to bed
VI or A nto nj IN, ha ~
got up as regularly at midnight. Won
Rachnitz then dressed himself faultlessly
in evening costume, kissed his dear little
wife, who wished him good success, and
turned into the club as fresh as paint
| And this plan for some time succeeded ex-
cellently we'll Indeed. the Frau Baronin
who was not quite as ambitious as her
husband, was beginning to look forward
potency in the near future.
But this was by no means Won Rach-
nitz's idea. A comfortable competency
did not appear half tempting enough tc
him. He swore in his heart that he
would stick to business until he was a
really wealthy man. His success was I'M
doubleday great with the paratively
small fry. but his practice in the small
ANuio Va tAiO was OILY W 10 Uu6
prelude to greater things in the real
gambling hours of the club. He only
waited his opportunity to rake in, as he
believed himself capable Of doing, the
thousands which changed hands before
one o'clock, in place of the hundreds he
gathered all too slowly after that hour
IN vain his wife used all her efforts to in
duce him to be content with the sutficien-
he had olraa n IL bar
no heed. but babe her wait patiently, and
ne would make her a rich woman.
Thus it was that, about three years be-
lore certain Raoul Fleischer obtained
membership in the club, Won Rachnitz
mad become one of the nine to-one O'CLOCK
haDltues. AS in his earlier ventures, his
luck had from the first proved phenomenal
ana this was the more astonishing as
here he was pitted against the finest and
coolest players in the world. However,
OF course, bad fortune was sure to come at
iast-at last, so all the KIN owing ones said
by this time Won kanchitz had amassed
d large sum of money-larger, indeed
Ian any Of his associates imagined. He
and his wife were living very smartly i'll a
small way, and We're by degrees making
good their position in the very best
society. He was very popular with the
ietdlng members of the club amongst
whom We're the cream OF the male Paris
ian aristocracy.
My dear" said the Baroness one DAY
wish you would give up play"
l wish l could. my love. l would give
IL up tomorrow if / saw my way to dc
so'
/ can't see what is to prevent You, il
you wish. It's simply tempting Provi-
'ence to trust to your luck any longer"
You are perfectly right in what you
say, but you must remember that the ma
Jorty Of the Baccarat Club don't LOOK or
gaming as business, and if it was for a
moment imagined that played only for
tAe money make we should lose ground
'erl1bly in society"
don't see why"
You do not, and yet I've told you ofteu
enough that a man who has played sue
cessfully is always expected to go on Civ
ing his fellow members an opportunity
iof revenge. l should go down tremen-
uously in their estimation il suddenly
stopped playing without giving any rea-
son You don't know how suspicious people
oecome OF man who gives up play before