In placing his stake on the table, he had leaned over the shoulder of a gentleman whose hair and beard were of a most extraordinary black, who, without playing, pricked a card with a pin. This gentleman turned toward him, and with an amiable smile, and in a most gracious tone said:
"It is yours, sir."
Decidedly, he was mistaken in thinking he had lost; and he must take this heap of louis, which he did, but neglecting to take, also, his first stake.
The game continued.
"Thirty-two," called the croupier.
Saniel perceived that his five louis had remained on the thirty-two; he believed that he had won, since this number was called, and his ignorance was such that he did not know that in roulette a number is paid thirty- six times the stake: the croupier would, therefore, push toward him one hundred and eighty Louis.
But, to his great surprise, he pushed him no more money than at first. This was incomprehensible. When he lost, money was paid to him, and when he won, he was paid only half his due.
His face betrayed his astonishment so plainly that he saw a mocking smile in the eyes of the black-haired man, who had again turned toward him.
As he played merely for the sake of playing, and not to win or lose, he pocketed all that was pushed toward him and his stake.
"Since you are not going to play any more," said the amiable gentleman, leaving his chair, "will you permit me to say a word to you?"