I
At length I returned from two weeks leave of absence to find
that my patrons had arrived three days ago in Roulettenberg. I
received from them a welcome quite different to that which I had
expected. The General eyed me coldly, greeted me in rather haughty
fashion, and dismissed me to pay my respects to his sister. It was
clear that from SOMEWHERE money had been acquired. I thought I
could even detect a certain shamefacedness in the General's glance.
Maria Philipovna, too, seemed distraught, and conversed with me
with an air of detachment. Nevertheless, she took the money which I
handed to her, counted it, and listened to what I had to tell. To
luncheon there were expected that day a Monsieur Mezentsov, a
French lady, and an Englishman; for, whenever money was in hand, a
banquet in Muscovite style was always given. Polina Alexandrovna,
on seeing me, inquired why I had been so long away. Then, without
waiting for an answer, she departed. Evidently this was not mere
accident, and I felt that I must throw some light upon matters. It
was high time that I did so.I was assigned a small room on the fourth floor of the hotel
(for you must know that I belonged to the General's suite). So far
as I could see, the party had already gained some notoriety in the
place, which had come to look upon the General as a Russian
nobleman of great wealth. Indeed, even before luncheon he charged
me, among other things, to get two thousand-franc notes changed for
him at the hotel counter, which put us in a position to be thought
millionaires at all events for a week! Later, I was about to take
Mischa and Nadia for a walk when a summons reached me from the
staircase that I must attend the General. He began by deigning to
inquire of me where I was going to take the children; and as he did
so, I could see that he failed to look me in the eyes. He WANTED to
do so, but each time was met by me with such a fixed, disrespectful
stare that he desisted in confusion. In pompous language, however,
which jumbled one sentence into another, and at length grew
disconnected, he gave me to understand that I was to lead the
children altogether away from the Casino, and out into the park.
Finally his anger exploded, and he added sharply:"I suppose you would like to take them to the Casino to play
roulette? Well, excuse my speaking so plainly, but I know how
addicted you are to gambling. Though I am not your mentor, nor wish
to be, at least I have a right to require that you shall not
actually compromise me.""I have no money for gambling," I quietly
replied."But you will soon be in receipt of some," retorted the
General, reddening a little as he dived into his writing desk and
applied himself to a memorandum book. From it he saw that he had
120 roubles of mine in his keeping."Let us calculate," he went on. "We must translate these
roubles into thalers. Here—take 100 thalers, as a round sum. The
rest will be safe in my hands."In silence I took the money."You must not be offended at what I say," he continued. "You
are too touchy about these things. What I have said I have said
merely as a warning. To do so is no more than my
right."When returning home with the children before luncheon, I met
a cavalcade of our party riding to view some ruins. Two splendid
carriages, magnificently horsed, with Mlle. Blanche, Maria
Philipovna, and Polina Alexandrovna in one of them, and the
Frenchman, the Englishman, and the General in attendance on
horseback! The passers-by stopped to stare at them, for the effect
was splendid—the General could not have improved upon it. I
calculated that, with the 4000 francs which I had brought with me,
added to what my patrons seemed already to have acquired, the party
must be in possession of at least 7000 or 8000 francs—though that
would be none too much for Mlle. Blanche, who, with her mother and
the Frenchman, was also lodging in our hotel. The latter gentleman
was called by the lacqueys "Monsieur le Comte," and Mlle. Blanche's
mother was dubbed "Madame la Comtesse." Perhaps in very truth they
WERE "Comte et Comtesse."I knew that "Monsieur le Comte" would take no notice of me
when we met at dinner, as also that the General would not dream of
introducing us, nor of recommending me to the "Comte." However, the
latter had lived awhile in Russia, and knew that the person
referred to as an "uchitel" is never looked upon as a bird of fine
feather. Of course, strictly speaking, he knew me; but I was an
uninvited guest at the luncheon—the General had forgotten to
arrange otherwise, or I should have been dispatched to dine at the
table d'hote. Nevertheless, I presented myself in such guise that
the General looked at me with a touch of approval; and, though the
good Maria Philipovna was for showing me my place, the fact of my
having previously met the Englishman, Mr. Astley, saved me, and
thenceforward I figured as one of the company.This strange Englishman I had met first in Prussia, where we
had happened to sit vis-a-vis in a railway train in which I was
travelling to overtake our party; while, later, I had run across
him in France, and again in Switzerland—twice within the space of
two weeks! To think, therefore, that I should suddenly encounter
him again here, in Roulettenberg! Never in my life had I known a
more retiring man, for he was shy to the pitch of imbecility, yet
well aware of the fact (for he was no fool). At the same time, he
was a gentle, amiable sort of an individual, and, even on our first
encounter in Prussia I had contrived to draw him out, and he had
told me that he had just been to the North Cape, and was now
anxious to visit the fair at Nizhni Novgorod. How he had come to
make the General's acquaintance I do not know, but, apparently, he
was much struck with Polina. Also, he was delighted that I should
sit next him at table, for he appeared to look upon me as his bosom
friend.During the meal the Frenchman was in great feather: he was
discursive and pompous to every one. In Moscow too, I remembered,
he had blown a great many bubbles. Interminably he discoursed on
finance and Russian politics, and though, at times, the General
made feints to contradict him, he did so humbly, and as though
wishing not wholly to lose sight of his own dignity.For myself, I was in a curious frame of mind. Even before
luncheon was half finished I had asked myself the old, eternal
question: "WHY do I continue to dance attendance upon the General,
instead of having left him and his family long ago?" Every now and
then I would glance at Polina Alexandrovna, but she paid me no
attention; until eventually I became so irritated that I decided to
play the boor.First of all I suddenly, and for no reason whatever, plunged
loudly and gratuitously into the general conversation. Above
everything I wanted to pick a quarrel with the Frenchman; and, with
that end in view I turned to the General, and exclaimed in an
overbearing sort of way—indeed, I think that I actually interrupted
him—that that summer it had been almost impossible for a Russian to
dine anywhere at tables d'hote. The General bent upon me a glance
of astonishment."If one is a man of self-respect," I went on, "one risks
abuse by so doing, and is forced to put up with insults of every
kind. Both at Paris and on the Rhine, and even in Switzerland—there
are so many Poles, with their sympathisers, the French, at these
tables d'hote that one cannot get a word in edgeways if one happens
only to be a Russian."This I said in French. The General eyed me doubtfully, for he
did not know whether to be angry or merely to feel surprised that I
should so far forget myself."Of course, one always learns SOMETHING EVERYWHERE," said the
Frenchman in a careless, contemptuous sort of tone."In Paris, too, I had a dispute with a Pole," I continued,
"and then with a French officer who supported him. After that a
section of the Frenchmen present took my part. They did so as soon
as I told them the story of how once I threatened to spit into
Monsignor's coffee.""To spit into it?" the General inquired with grave
disapproval in his tone, and a stare, of astonishment, while the
Frenchman looked at me unbelievingly."Just so," I replied. "You must know that, on one occasion,
when, for two days, I had felt certain that at any moment I might
have to depart for Rome on business, I repaired to the Embassy of
the Holy See in Paris, to have my passport visaed. There I
encountered a sacristan of about fifty, and a man dry and cold of
mien. After listening politely, but with great reserve, to my
account of myself, this sacristan asked me to wait a little. I was
in a great hurry to depart, but of course I sat down, pulled out a
copy of L'Opinion Nationale, and fell to reading an extraordinary
piece of invective against Russia which it happened to contain. As
I was thus engaged I heard some one enter an adjoining room and ask
for Monsignor; after which I saw the sacristan make a low bow to
the visitor, and then another bow as the visitor took his leave. I
ventured to remind the good man of my own business also; whereupon,
with an expression of, if anything, increased dryness, he again
asked me to wait. Soon a third visitor arrived who, like myself,
had come on business (he was an Austrian of some sort); and as soon
as ever he had stated his errand he was conducted upstairs! This
made me very angry. I rose, approached the sacristan, and told him
that, since Monsignor was receiving callers, his lordship might
just as well finish off my affair as well. Upon this the sacristan
shrunk back in astonishment. It simply passed his understanding
that any insignificant Russian should dare to compare himself with
other visitors of Monsignor's! In a tone of the utmost effrontery,
as though he were delighted to have a chance of insulting me, he
looked me up and down, and then said: "Do you suppose that
Monsignor is going to put aside his coffee for YOU?" But I only
cried the louder: "Let me tell you that I am going to SPIT into
that coffee! Yes, and if you do not get me my passport visaed this
very minute, I shall take it to Monsignor myself.""What? While he is engaged with a Cardinal?" screeched the
sacristan, again shrinking back in horror. Then, rushing to the
door, he spread out his arms as though he would rather die than let
me enter.Thereupon I declared that I was a heretic and a barbarian—"Je
suis heretique et barbare," I said, "and that these archbishops and
cardinals and monsignors, and the rest of them, meant nothing at
all to me. In a word, I showed him that I was not going to give
way. He looked at me with an air of infinite resentment. Then he
snatched up my passport, and departed with it upstairs. A minute
later the passport had been visaed! Here it is now, if you care to
see it,"—and I pulled out the document, and exhibited the Roman
visa."But—" the General began."What really saved you was the fact that you proclaimed
yourself a heretic and a barbarian," remarked the Frenchman with a
smile. "Cela n'etait pas si bete.""But is that how Russian subjects ought to be treated? Why,
when they settle here they dare not utter even a word—they are
ready even to deny the fact that they are Russians! At all events,
at my hotel in Paris I received far more attention from the company
after I had told them about the fracas with the sacristan. A fat
Polish nobleman, who had been the most offensive of all who were
present at the table d'hote, at once went upstairs, while some of
the Frenchmen were simply disgusted when I told them that two years
ago I had encountered a man at whom, in 1812, a French 'hero' fired
for the mere fun of discharging his musket. That man was then a boy
of ten and his family are still residing in Moscow.""Impossible!" the Frenchman spluttered. "No French soldier
would fire at a child!""Nevertheless the incident was as I say," I replied. "A very
respected ex-captain told me the story, and I myself could see the
scar left on his cheek."The Frenchman then began chattering volubly, and the General
supported him; but I recommended the former to read, for example,
extracts from the memoirs of General Perovski, who, in 1812, was a
prisoner in the hands of the French. Finally Maria Philipovna said
something to interrupt the conversation. The General was furious
with me for having started the altercation with the Frenchman. On
the other hand, Mr. Astley seemed to take great pleasure in my
brush with Monsieur, and, rising from the table, proposed that we
should go and have a drink together. The same afternoon, at four
o'clock, I went to have my customary talk with Polina Alexandrovna;
and, the talk soon extended to a stroll. We entered the Park, and
approached the Casino, where Polina seated herself upon a bench
near the fountain, and sent Nadia away to a little distance to play
with some other children. Mischa also I dispatched to play by the
fountain, and in this fashion we—that is to say, Polina and
myself—contrived to find ourselves alone.Of course, we began by talking on business matters. Polina
seemed furious when I handed her only 700 gulden, for she had
thought to receive from Paris, as the proceeds of the pledging of
her diamonds, at least 2000 gulden, or even more."Come what may, I MUST have money," she said. "And get it
somehow I will—otherwise I shall be ruined."I asked her what had happened during my absence."Nothing; except that two pieces of news have reached us from
St. Petersburg. In the first place, my grandmother is very ill, and
unlikely to last another couple of days. We had this from Timothy
Petrovitch himself, and he is a reliable person. Every moment we
are expecting to receive news of the end.""All of you are on the tiptoe of expectation?" I
queried."Of course—all of us, and every minute of the day. For a
year-and-a-half now we have been looking for this.""Looking for it?""Yes, looking for it. I am not her blood relation, you know—I
am merely the General's step-daughter. Yet I am certain that the
old lady has remembered me in her will.""Yes, I believe that you WILL come in for a good deal," I
said with some assurance."Yes, for she is fond of me. But how come you to think
so?"I answered this question with another one. "That Marquis of
yours," I said, "—is HE also familiar with your family
secrets?""And why are you yourself so interested in them?" was her
retort as she eyed me with dry grimness."Never mind. If I am not mistaken, the General has succeeded
in borrowing money of the Marquis.""It may be so.""Is it likely that the Marquis would have lent the money if
he had not known something or other about your grandmother? Did you
notice, too, that three times during luncheon, when speaking of
her, he called her 'La Baboulenka'? [Dear little Grandmother]. What
loving, friendly behaviour, to be sure!""Yes, that is true. As soon as ever he learnt that I was
likely to inherit something from her he began to pay me his
addresses. I thought you ought to know that.""Then he has only just begun his courting? Why, I thought he
had been doing so a long while!""You KNOW he has not," retorted Polina angrily. "But where on
earth did you pick up this Englishman?" She said this after a
pause."I KNEW you would ask about him!" Whereupon I told her of my
previous encounters with Astley while travelling."He is very shy," I said, "and susceptible. Also, he is in
love with you.—""Yes, he is in love with me," she replied."And he is ten times richer than the Frenchman. In fact, what
does the Frenchman possess? To me it seems at least doubtful that
he possesses anything at all.""Oh, no, there is no doubt about it. He does possess some
chateau or other. Last night the General told me that for certain.
NOW are you satisfied?""Nevertheless, in your place I should marry the
Englishman.""And why?" asked Polina."Because, though the Frenchman is the handsomer of the two,
he is also the baser; whereas the Englishman is not only a man of
honour, but ten times the wealthier of the pair.""Yes? But then the Frenchman is a marquis, and the cleverer
of the two," remarked Polina imperturbably."Is that so?" I repeated."Yes; absolutely."Polina was not at all pleased at my questions; I could see
that she was doing her best to irritate me with the brusquerie of
her answers. But I took no notice of this."It amuses me to see you grow angry," she continued.
"However, inasmuch as I allow you to indulge in these questions and
conjectures, you ought to pay me something for the
privilege.""I consider that I have a perfect right to put these
questions to you," was my calm retort; "for the reason that I am
ready to pay for them, and also care little what becomes of
me."Polina giggled."Last time you told me—when on the Shlangenberg—that at a
word from me you would be ready to jump down a thousand feet into
the abyss. Some day I may remind you of that saying, in order to
see if you will be as good as your word. Yes, you may depend upon
it that I shall do so. I hate you because I have allowed you to go
to such lengths, and I also hate you and still more—because you are
so necessary to me. For the time being I want you, so I must keep
you."Then she made a movement to rise. Her tone had sounded very
angry. Indeed, of late her talks with me had invariably ended on a
note of temper and irritation—yes, of real temper."May I ask you who is this Mlle. Blanche?" I inquired (since
I did not wish Polina to depart without an
explanation)."You KNOW who she is—just Mlle. Blanche. Nothing further has
transpired. Probably she will soon be Madame General—that is to
say, if the rumours that Grandmamma is nearing her end should prove
true. Mlle. Blanche, with her mother and her cousin, the Marquis,
know very well that, as things now stand, we are
ruined.""And is the General at last in love?""That has nothing to do with it. Listen to me. Take these 700
florins, and go and play roulette with them. Win as much for me as
you can, for I am badly in need of money."So saying, she called Nadia back to her side, and entered the
Casino, where she joined the rest of our party. For myself, I took,
in musing astonishment, the first path to the left. Something had
seemed to strike my brain when she told me to go and play roulette.
Strangely enough, that something had also seemed to make me
hesitate, and to set me analysing my feelings with regard to her.
In fact, during the two weeks of my absence I had felt far more at
my ease than I did now, on the day of my return; although, while
travelling, I had moped like an imbecile, rushed about like a man
in a fever, and actually beheld her in my dreams. Indeed, on one
occasion (this happened in Switzerland, when I was asleep in the
train) I had spoken aloud to her, and set all my fellow-travellers
laughing. Again, therefore, I put to myself the question: "Do I, or
do I not love her?" and again I could return myself no answer or,
rather, for the hundredth time I told myself that I detested her.
Yes, I detested her; there were moments (more especially at the
close of our talks together) when I would gladly have given half my
life to have strangled her! I swear that, had there, at such
moments, been a sharp knife ready to my hand, I would have seized
that knife with pleasure, and plunged it into her breast. Yet I
also swear that if, on the Shlangenberg, she had REALLY said to me,
"Leap into that abyss," I should have leapt into it, and with equal
pleasure. Yes, this I knew well. One way or the other, the thing
must soon be ended. She, too, knew it in some curious way; the
thought that I was fully conscious of her inaccessibility, and of
the impossibility of my ever realising my dreams, afforded her, I
am certain, the keenest possible pleasure. Otherwise, is it likely
that she, the cautious and clever woman that she was, would have
indulged in this familiarity and openness with me? Hitherto (I
concluded) she had looked upon me in the same light that the old
Empress did upon her servant—the Empress who hesitated not to
unrobe herself before her slave, since she did not account a slave
a man. Yes, often Polina must have taken me for something less than
a man!"Still, she had charged me with a commission—to win what I
could at roulette. Yet all the time I could not help wondering WHY
it was so necessary for her to win something, and what new schemes
could have sprung to birth in her ever-fertile brain. A host of new
and unknown factors seemed to have arisen during the last two
weeks. Well, it behoved me to divine them, and to probe them, and
that as soon as possible. Yet not now: at the present moment I must
repair to the roulette-table.
II
I confess I did not like it. Although I had made up my mind
to play, I felt averse to doing so on behalf of some one else. In
fact, it almost upset my balance, and I entered the gaming rooms
with an angry feeling at my heart. At first glance the scene
irritated me. Never at any time have I been able to bear the
flunkeyishness which one meets in the Press of the world at large,
but more especially in that of Russia, where, almost every evening,
journalists write on two subjects in particular namely, on the
splendour and luxury of the casinos to be found in the Rhenish
towns, and on the heaps of gold which are daily to be seen lying on
their tables. Those journalists are not paid for doing so: they
write thus merely out of a spirit of disinterested complaisance.
For there is nothing splendid about the establishments in question;
and, not only are there no heaps of gold to be seen lying on their
tables, but also there is very little money to be seen at all. Of
course, during the season, some madman or another may make his
appearance—generally an Englishman, or an Asiatic, or a Turk—and
(as had happened during the summer of which I write) win or lose a
great deal; but, as regards the rest of the crowd, it plays only
for petty gulden, and seldom does much wealth figure on the
board.
When, on the present occasion, I entered the gaming-rooms
(for the first time in my life), it was several moments before I
could even make up my mind to play. For one thing, the crowd
oppressed me. Had I been playing for myself, I think I should have
left at once, and never have embarked upon gambling at all, for I
could feel my heart beginning to beat, and my heart was anything
but cold-blooded. Also, I knew, I had long ago made up my mind,
that never should I depart from Roulettenberg until some radical,
some final, change had taken place in my fortunes. Thus, it must
and would be. However ridiculous it may seem to you that I was
expecting to win at roulette, I look upon the generally accepted
opinion concerning the folly and the grossness of hoping to win at
gambling as a thing even more absurd. For why is gambling a whit
worse than any other method of acquiring money? How, for instance,
is it worse than trade? True, out of a hundred persons, only one
can win; yet what business is that of yours or of mine?
At all events, I confined myself at first simply to looking
on, and decided to attempt nothing serious. Indeed, I felt that, if
I began to do anything at all, I should do it in an absent-minded,
haphazard sort of way—of that I felt certain. Also, it behoved me
to learn the game itself; since, despite a thousand descriptions of
roulette which I had read with ceaseless avidity, I knew nothing of
its rules, and had never even seen it played.
In the first place, everything about it seemed to me so
foul—so morally mean and foul. Yet I am not speaking of the hungry,
restless folk who, by scores nay, even by hundreds—could be seen
crowded around the gaming-tables. For in a desire to win quickly
and to win much I can see nothing sordid; I have always applauded
the opinion of a certain dead and gone, but cocksure, moralist who
replied to the excuse that "one may always gamble moderately", by
saying that to do so makes things worse, since, in that case, the
profits too will always be moderate.
Insignificant profits and sumptuous profits do not stand on
the same footing. No, it is all a matter of proportion. What may
seem a small sum to a Rothschild may seem a large sum to me, and it
is not the fault of stakes or of winnings that everywhere men can
be found winning, can be found depriving their fellows of
something, just as they do at roulette. As to the question whether
stakes and winnings are, in themselves, immoral is another question
altogether, and I wish to express no opinion upon it. Yet the very
fact that I was full of a strong desire to win caused this gambling
for gain, in spite of its attendant squalor, to contain, if you
will, something intimate, something sympathetic, to my eyes: for it
is always pleasant to see men dispensing with ceremony, and acting
naturally, and in an unbuttoned mood....
Yet, why should I so deceive myself? I could see that the
whole thing was a vain and unreasoning pursuit; and what, at the
first glance, seemed to me the ugliest feature in this mob of
roulette players was their respect for their occupation—the
seriousness, and even the humility, with which they stood around
the gaming tables. Moreover, I had always drawn sharp distinctions
between a game which is de mauvais genre and a game which is
permissible to a decent man. In fact, there are two sorts of
gaming—namely, the game of the gentleman and the game of the
plebs—the game for gain, and the game of the herd. Herein, as said,
I draw sharp distinctions. Yet how essentially base are the
distinctions! For instance, a gentleman may stake, say, five or ten
louis d'or—seldom more, unless he is a very rich man, when he may
stake, say, a thousand francs; but, he must do this simply for the
love of the game itself—simply for sport, simply in order to
observe the process of winning or of losing, and, above all things,
as a man who remains quite uninterested in the possibility of his
issuing a winner. If he wins, he will be at liberty, perhaps, to
give vent to a laugh, or to pass a remark on the circumstance to a
bystander, or to stake again, or to double his stake; but, even
this he must do solely out of curiosity, and for the pleasure of
watching the play of chances and of calculations, and not because
of any vulgar desire to win. In a word, he must look upon the
gaming-table, upon roulette, and upon trente et quarante, as mere
relaxations which have been arranged solely for his amusement. Of
the existence of the lures and gains upon which the bank is founded
and maintained he must profess to have not an inkling. Best of all,
he ought to imagine his fellow-gamblers and the rest of the mob
which stands trembling over a coin to be equally rich and
gentlemanly with himself, and playing solely for recreation and
pleasure. This complete ignorance of the realities, this innocent
view of mankind, is what, in my opinion, constitutes the truly
aristocratic. For instance, I have seen even fond mothers so far
indulge their guileless, elegant daughters—misses of fifteen or
sixteen—as to give them a few gold coins and teach them how to
play; and though the young ladies may have won or have lost, they
have invariably laughed, and departed as though they were well
pleased. In the same way, I saw our General once approach the table
in a stolid, important manner. A lacquey darted to offer him a
chair, but the General did not even notice him. Slowly he took out
his money bags, and slowly extracted 300 francs in gold, which he
staked on the black, and won. Yet he did not take up his
winnings—he left them there on the table. Again the black turned
up, and again he did not gather in what he had won; and when, in
the third round, the RED turned up he lost, at a stroke, 1200
francs. Yet even then he rose with a smile, and thus preserved his
reputation; yet I knew that his money bags must be chafing his
heart, as well as that, had the stake been twice or thrice as much
again, he would still have restrained himself from venting his
disappointment.
On the other hand, I saw a Frenchman first win, and then
lose, 30,000 francs cheerfully, and without a murmur. Yes; even if
a gentleman should lose his whole substance, he must never give way
to annoyance. Money must be so subservient to gentility as never to
be worth a thought. Of course, the SUPREMELY aristocratic thing is
to be entirely oblivious of the mire of rabble, with its setting;
but sometimes a reverse course may be aristocratic to remark, to
scan, and even to gape at, the mob (for preference, through a
lorgnette), even as though one were taking the crowd and its
squalor for a sort of raree show which had been organised specially
for a gentleman's diversion. Though one may be squeezed by the
crowd, one must look as though one were fully assured of being the
observer—of having neither part nor lot with the observed. At the
same time, to stare fixedly about one is unbecoming; for that,
again, is ungentlemanly, seeing that no spectacle is worth an open
stare—are no spectacles in the world which merit from a gentleman
too pronounced an inspection.
However, to me personally the scene DID seem to be worth
undisguised contemplation—more especially in view of the fact that
I had come there not only to look at, but also to number myself
sincerely and wholeheartedly with, the mob. As for my secret moral
views, I had no room for them amongst my actual, practical
opinions. Let that stand as written: I am writing only to relieve
my conscience. Yet let me say also this: that from the first I have
been consistent in having an intense aversion to any trial of my
acts and thoughts by a moral standard. Another standard altogether
has directed my life....
As a matter of fact, the mob was playing in exceedingly foul
fashion. Indeed, I have an idea that sheer robbery was going on
around that gaming-table. The croupiers who sat at the two ends of
it had not only to watch the stakes, but also to calculate the
game—an immense amount of work for two men! As for the crowd
itself—well, it consisted mostly of Frenchmen. Yet I was not then
taking notes merely in order to be able to give you a description
of roulette, but in order to get my bearings as to my behaviour
when I myself should begin to play. For example, I noticed that
nothing was more common than for another's hand to stretch out and
grab one's winnings whenever one had won. Then there would arise a
dispute, and frequently an uproar; and it would be a case of "I beg
of you to prove, and to produce witnesses to the fact, that the
stake is yours."
At first the proceedings were pure Greek to me. I could only
divine and distinguish that stakes were hazarded on numbers, on
"odd" or "even," and on colours. Polina's money I decided to risk,
that evening, only to the amount of 100 gulden. The thought that I
was not going to play for myself quite unnerved me. It was an
unpleasant sensation, and I tried hard to banish it. I had a
feeling that, once I had begun to play for Polina, I should wreck
my own fortunes. Also, I wonder if any one has EVER approached a
gaming-table without falling an immediate prey to superstition? I
began by pulling out fifty gulden, and staking them on "even." The
wheel spun and stopped at 13. I had lost! With a feeling like a
sick qualm, as though I would like to make my way out of the crowd
and go home, I staked another fifty gulden—this time on the red.
The red turned up. Next time I staked the 100 gulden just where
they lay—and again the red turned up. Again I staked the whole sum,
and again the red turned up. Clutching my 400 gulden, I placed 200
of them on twelve figures, to see what would come of it. The result
was that the croupier paid me out three times my total stake! Thus
from 100 gulden my store had grown to 800! Upon that such a
curious, such an inexplicable, unwonted feeling overcame me that I
decided to depart. Always the thought kept recurring to me that if
I had been playing for myself alone I should never have had such
luck. Once more I staked the whole 800 gulden on the "even." The
wheel stopped at 4. I was paid out another 800 gulden, and,
snatching up my pile of 1600, departed in search of Polina
Alexandrovna.
I found the whole party walking in the park, and was able to
get an interview with her only after supper. This time the
Frenchman was absent from the meal, and the General seemed to be in
a more expansive vein. Among other things, he thought it necessary
to remind me that he would be sorry to see me playing at the
gaming-tables. In his opinion, such conduct would greatly
compromise him—especially if I were to lose much. "And even if you
were to WIN much I should be compromised," he added in a meaning
sort of way. "Of course I have no RIGHT to order your actions, but
you yourself will agree that..." As usual, he did not finish his
sentence. I answered drily that I had very little money in my
possession, and that, consequently, I was hardly in a position to
indulge in any conspicuous play, even if I did gamble. At last,
when ascending to my own room, I succeeded in handing Polina her
winnings, and told her that, next time, I should not play for
her.
"Why not?" she asked excitedly.
