“Double it, if you wish!”
Mr. Pelham accepted the challenge; but now he appeared to play with greater deliberation. He placed two hundred pounds each on numbers 5 and 24, exactly opposite zero. I looked at Grace; she was leaning over the table, watching the duel with eager eyes, and I could see that her whole soul was in the game. Round and round went the wheel, and we all followed the progress of the marble with the most intense interest. The ball fell into 28, and Sydney won.
“I shall stick to my numbers,” said Mr. Pelham, staking similar amounts upon the same two numbers. This time zero appeared, and Sydney swept the board. Again the two numbers were backed for the high stakes, and now the marble rolled into number 24.
“There’s nothing like constancy,” cried Mr. Pelham.
Sydney, with a steady hand, wrote out an I O U for seven thousand pounds, and threw it over to Mr. Pelham.
Once more the same numbers were backed, and the devil sent the marble rolling back for the second time into number 24.
“Always back the last number and the last colour,” cried Mr. Pelham.
“For a novice, Pelham,” remarked one of our party, “you play exceedingly well.”
The slight sneer which accompanied the remark was not lost upon us, but Mr. Pelham did not appear to notice it. I believe at that moment there was not a man in the room who would not have been made happy by the opportunity of picking a quarrel with him.
“There is nothing difficult to learn in it,” said Mr. Pelham; “even such a poor player as myself may happen to be favoured by fortune.”