and stopped at thirty. We had lost!
"Again, again, again! Stake again!" shouted the old lady.
Without attempting to oppose her further, but merely shrugging
my shoulders, I placed twelve more ten-gulden pieces upon the
table. The wheel whirled around and around, with the Grandmother
simply quaking as she watched its revolutions.
"Does she again think that zero is going to be the winning
coup?" thought I, as I stared at her in astonishment. Yet an
absolute assurance of winning was shining on her face; she
looked perfectly convinced that zero was about to be called
again. At length the ball dropped off into one of the notches.
"Zero!" cried the croupier.
"Ah!!!" screamed the old lady as she turned to me in a whirl
of triumph.
I myself was at heart a gambler. At that moment I became acutely
conscious both of that fact and of the fact that my hands and
knees were shaking, and that the blood was beating in my brain.
Of course this was a rare occasion--an occasion on which zero had
turned up no less than three times within a dozen rounds; yet in
such an event there was nothing so very surprising, seeing that,
only three days ago, I myself had been a witness to zero turning
up THREE TIMES IN SUCCESSION, so that one of the players who was
recording the coups on paper was moved to remark that for
several days past zero had never turned up at all!
With the Grandmother, as with any one who has won a very large
sum, the management settled up with great attention and respect,
since she was fortunate to have to receive no less than 4200
gulden. Of these gulden the odd 200 were paid her in gold, and
the remainder in bank notes.
This time the old lady did not call for Potapitch; for that she
was too preoccupied. Though not outwardly shaken by the event
(indeed, she seemed perfectly calm), she was trembling inwardly
from head to foot. At length, completely absorbed in the game,
she burst out:
"Alexis Ivanovitch, did not the croupier just say that 4000
florins were the most that could be staked at any one time?
Well, take these 4000, and stake them upon the red."
To oppose her was useless. Once more the wheel revolved.
"Rouge!" proclaimed the croupier.
Again 4000 florins--in all 8000!
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