Evening star., 1921-05-01

bacCarat and need a surrr way I" WIN
a stake or pay hotel hii!
The teachers are men. Not. r"gu-
, larly. young men, but old fellows with
white muStacheS. eN-army otncerS
with wooden legs or tired faced. mel
ancholy chaps, who look like business
men recuperating their health. w neh
smart young fellows learn to make a
living at bridge they are much IKE
the women. They think that il has
arrived" that the problem of life IS
solved 4 young and brilliant de
mobbed' British officer has Just gone
wrong at Nice. He gave up looking for
a lob when he found that he was
making s3OO per week at bridge.
There is another man here reputed t"
have made $4,000 in two months IN
London clubs. But at honest bridge
a losing period is sure /" come Ihe
boys go broke.
The girls learn anyhow to smear
the pack" 1t is a rough h-and ready
trick. sufficient for th" foolish. rich
women and the honest men of their
families who are its prcd"Stlned VIC
Tins. If you take Il card from new
pack, moiSten your finger and draw
it across the polished back, the mark
viii remain, even if the cards are
played with continuously for a week
! is imperceptihle in most lights. par
ticularly after the pack has been nan
died once or twice. except to the eye
which is looking for it The light mas
to catch the card at a certain angle
for the smear" to be visible. but with
Il little practice ii is easy to get a
glimpse of il. both while the cards
are being dealt and held in the play
ers' hands. You smear them straight
down. horizontally across and dag
onally. and every high card becomes
marked in PLAIN figures
Thus moral principles are broken
down in an atmosphere of luxury and
false ideas of values. When our hero
ines discover that there is no big.
sure money even in crooked bridge
they are ripe for the major with the
wooden leg. and the fine old fellow
with the white muStaChc picks OUT
his mice.
He has no use for boys. He let's them
go But what we rightly call nice
girls and women of good position.
when they start on the jewel lifting
career. develop nerve. audacity and
genius They have confidence. There
is serious boss behind them. full OF
wise suggestions and all prudence.
They have no bother to sell the jew
els. He does all that part and divides
honestly. And when they find money
lying loose they need not fear a trap.
The boss will change il.
These things are known. says Du-
rot: but it is another thing to prove
them.
What is there to go on? How shall
Il
ace hotel Her money comes in checks
from Paris and London. Is she all
, the time making acquaintance with
women possessing jewels? SO do all
the other women in the hotels. They
are the lonely rich. They cling to
smart young woman who is amusing.
When the police suspect they dare not
act. They know that they will find
nothing.
Il *
THE police can lay a trap. 1t will
L not catch a well backed mouse.
1t may, theoretically, catch a lone
woman operating on her own. as in
the case at Cannes, but the fact that
no jewels have been recovered veri
fies that women of intelligence. good
front and unblemished reputation are
hard to trap. SO long as they avoid
marked money, and that} }the diamond
Offices of the Riviera (whose busi-
ness is admittedly to pick up bargains
from ruined players at the tables) are