[CHAPTER XIV.]
MINOR CHEATS OF MEN OF THE WORLD.
Ruses and Frauds allowable by custom in Society.
In the ordinary affairs of life, it is easy to know the difference between honesty and roguery: conscience and the laws have traced a line of demarcation, about which all right-minded people agree.
In the matter of play, it is not the same thing: one knows perfectly where roguery ends, but it is very difficult to say where it begins?
Let me hasten to give an explanation, without which my readers will have a right to call me to task.
"Do you mean to pretend," they will say, "that a man of sense is not capable of discriminating between honesty and roguery?" This would, indeed, be giving too great a position to cheating.
I at once disclaim the assertion of any such opinion; none believe more in honesty than myself. But for that firm belief, this work would probably never have seen the light.
But let a man be ever so upright and just in his play, there are houses where certain licences are allowed, where the play is not high enough, to make it worth a man's while to cheat.