The Gambler | Page 7

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