“I suppose,” said Hugh, “that you base your system on the law of average?”
The professor laughed tolerantly. “No, I don’t. Law of average,—that is child’s talk to me. Of course every table has its average, every wheel has its average, every croupier, you, I; every coup that is played, is an average with something that has gone before. Ah! these foolish system-players with their talk of average and probability and phenomenon. Why, every coup is a phenomenon as regards something that has gone before. These things don’t exist. They are sounding terms that mean nothing. No, the trouble is that all these students of the laws of chance go about it wrongly. Their systems are analytic, mine is synthetic.”
“Do you claim that it is infallible?”
“By no means. You saw me fail to-day. What I do claim is that I will succeed one time out of three.”
“That’s good enough.”
“Good enough to ruin the bank. I won’t stop till I have taken a hundred millions from them. Don’t think I want the money. I won’t touch one sou of it.”
“What will you do with it?”
“I am a patriot. My country is in trouble, in debt. I will give it all to my country.”
“But why do you hate the Casino? Is it revenge?”
“No, retribution. My only son came here, played, lost all ... he’s dead. Now you know the brutal truth. I did not intend to tell any one. It’s painful even after twenty years....”