Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 2).djvu/142

 had taken the habit of going every evening to the Union Club, the only one which the village possessed. It was named thus because they were always disputing there. Generally we played there a little, except during the three large fairs of the year, which lasted each time about eight days.

"One autumn afternoon, towards the commencement of one of these fairs, I arrived at the Club in good time.

"There were many people in the Club whom I did not know: rich farmers who only came rarely to the town, or squires from the country who came to advertise their houses.

A good party to-day,' said an habitué to me; it will be curious.'

"I turned towards the table where they were playing, and checked a gesture of surprise. The banker was quite a young man of about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, whom I knew by sight. He interested me, for his father had died very bravely at Magenta, and had left him a small fortune, and a name difficult to equal. He only came rarely to the Club, and did not play. I was therefore very much astonished to see him holding a bank, and a large bank, too, for the notes and coins were piled up before him.

How much each time?' asked someone.

Oh!' said a fat farmer, laughing, 'M. de Mertens has all the luck; he is able to hold an open bank.'

"The young man was very pale; there was a kind of wildness in his eyes.

Open bank!' he stammered.

"This was a signal for his ill-luck. Ten times in succession the unfortunate Mertens lost. In a quarter of an hour the bank had broken.

"Another player took his place, and the play proceeded, so animated, so passionate, that I even allowed myself to be fascinated, and began to play with the others.

"There was no more room round the table, and so I played standing, holding in my hand my hat, into which I nervously threw my gains, which grew larger and larger every minute.

"The party was more impassioned than ever, when someone cried out to me—

Captain, you are being robbed!'