“We have convivial parties,” he continued. “If you like cards, you can try your hand at winning or losing. We play for fifty-pound rouleaux. There is always a great crowd, and not infrequently you may see ten thousand pounds on the table. Some play small; others plunge in regardless of consequences. My young friend, Lord Stravendale, before he was of age, one night lost eleven thousand pounds, but nothing daunted he played again, and as luck would have it got it all back at one hazard. He lamented he had not made the stakes larger, and said if he had been playing deep he might have made a million. It was really very clever in Stravendale.”
Again his lordship laughed, but Miss Newville could not see anything in the narrative to cause her to smile.
“There is Charley Fox,” Lord Upperton continued, “who goes in rather strong. He makes grand speeches in the Commons; but almost always gets fleeced at Almack’s. The Jews, who are usually on hand in one of the outside rooms with their shekels, waiting to lend money, charge exorbitant interest. Charley calls it the Jerusalem Chamber. Sometimes he gets completely cleaned out, and has to borrow a guinea to pay the waiter who brings him his brandy. One night at the beginning he won eight thousand pounds, but before morning lost the last sixpence.”
“Do ladies play?” Miss Newville asked.
“Certainly; they love gaming as well as the men. Her royal highness the Duchess of Cumberland not long ago set up card playing and gaming in her drawing-rooms. Her sister, Lady Elizabeth Lutterell, is one of the best gamesters in London. It is whispered, though, that she cheats on the sly. Lady Essex gives grand card parties, where there is high gaming. One lady, whom I know, lost three thousand guineas at loo. It is whispered that two ladies, not long since, had high words at one of Lady Essex’s parties; that they rode out to St. Pancras and fought a duel with pistols, and that one was wounded; which shows that our noble women have real grit.”
“Is what you are saying a fair picture of life among the nobility?” Ruth asked.
“I would not have you think, Miss Newville, that everybody of noble birth or high position is a gambler, but every one who plays, of course, wants a stake of some kind.”
“Pardon me, my lord, but I do not see any fun in losing money in the way you speak of.”
“Well, perhaps there isn’t any fun in losing, but it is real jolly when you win. It is like drinking wine; it warms you up.”