Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-29

one danger is to go in for excitement
Whereby hangs several tales.
Leon for example, whom his intimates
know as THE Nephew"-is by nature fitted
for his easy sinecure. He must be thirty
five years old at preseat, pleasant manner
ed, quiet in dress, like a superior kind OF
clerk. calm. Indifferent and-confidence In
spring.
get how we became acquainted. It was
three years ago; but l remember that De
fore the day was over a vision Oh easy
money fully possessed me.
The conversation had turned on the an
Gent story of the eighteen Italians who, a
few wears ago, won 100000 francs from the
bank in two weeks by betting on the phy-
steal defects Of particular roulette wheel
They discovered that the compartments
| O. 8 L. H. Is, II, "a, % and 81 were trifie
| larger than they should have been, While
| certain of the divisions were a trille hgh-
err: and before the administration had as
covered the secret the Italian band got
aWav with 10000 francs a day. 1t is a
| tale you hear at your hotel dinner table be-
| fore YOU have been forty-eight hours in the
princpality.
roulettes changed from table to table and
from storeroom to table every night, l in
formed Leon.
Leon smiled cautiously.
| Did he imagine me to be an Engllsn
milor? Or the son of some American rail
| way king? Little by little he confessed
| that there might be another roulette with
| a similar physical defect among the thirty
| five ofs them which the administration
| keeps continually in working order. Little
| by little 1 came to the conclusion that ne
himself had won a great deal on 1t now
| and then, when he could fnd IL Tor one
/ day among the twelve others.
| l confess that | would have proposed d
| combination to him had l not been at the
| moment peculiarly hard up for ready
4 n; 1hcn q i'll
| betray me? In any case Leon showed him.
| self uncommuncative the next morn
| ing Perhaps this is the only reason
| did not hunt up some moneyed victim Tor
| him.
| 1t was only the next season that [ came
| across his actual operations-after he mad
| operated. A well-to-do French widow
| whom | met disconsoately averaging
| down her expenses in my second-class
hotel told me the story-from her own ex-
| perience The curious thing was that she
still believed in his good faith and was only
| waiting for remittances to begin again.
| He had been trusted empoye of Herr
! Schwilge, the manufacturing optictan al
strasburg to whom the Casino people pay
| LOCO francs for each roulette she in
formed me. (The Schwilge roulettes have q
European reputation for precision. Turned
| with force their cylinders continue TO re-
volve for twelve minuteS.)
| Two years ago, when they were making
a new lot of roulettes for the Casino she
| continued. He arranged one SO that six
Then he threw up his situation with Herr
Schwilge and came down here to opera te
at his roulette-which he could recognize by
a minute mark on 1t whenever 1t happened
to be one of the twelve in use on any par
ticular day. He had already Won lot bu
as he could not play often he was willing t(
| take me as a partner. AS was only just,
| furnished the capital
Won for Three Days.
And you lost?'
Not at all. The first three days we wor
a great deal of money Then the roulette
disappeared from the rooms. Two days
later Leon thought that he recognized it
but he was mistaken. We played-and los
| all my money"
why did you not go on playing will
some of Leons?
| oh, it was my duty to furnish the capt
| tai and, as Leon says, there is no hurry
| / think / persuaded her that She was be
| ing robbed to this extent that, tn,
strength of an outrageous story. she wa
taking all the risks of ordinary roulette
| while Leon was taking half the profits. A
| luck swings back and forth before the fina
| crash when one has capital, he had during
| three days managed to stop her off eacl
time when she was a considerable winner
Then they divided.
l have said that the danger of this sor
of thing consists in going In for excitement
! Two months later, while l was still a
| Monte Carlo, Leon allowed himself to b.
tempted to try for big lump sum in TIN