Hearing so much said of the enormous profits gained by swindlers, the reader will, naturally enough, conceive, that in the end, all Greeks must of necessity become millionaires and capitalists.
Far from it; notwithstanding their great profits, this reprobate class never prospers; on an average, out of every hundred Greeks, 99+1 die in want. The explanation is easy.
The recruits of "modern Greece," without exception, are men whose debauchery and prodigality have brought them to ruin.
Nothing would be more difficult, than to make a sharper thrifty and economical. They are all dissolute, prodigal, and ostentatious, according to their means.
These gentlemen, far from proportioning their expenses to their incomes, think not of the future, and live in extravagant luxury. They have horses, carriages, mistresses, &c., &c., and each one endeavours to outdo all his acquaintance in his expenditure.
It is hardly credible, but nevertheless true, that a sharper sometimes loses money at play. These men, blasés with the successes which they themselves have created, sometimes sigh for the excitement caused by real play. To obtain it, they rush to the roulette or rouge-et-noir table. In these two games the Greek finds retributive justice, and fortune takes a sure revenge for many former deeds of wrong.
[CHAPTER X.]
THE DOCTOR DUPED.
The false capitalist—The rogue is bled—More confederates arrive—A good hand—The fleecing—The doctor bled.