A STORY OF THE ROULETTE-TABLE.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 285, 7 May 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

A STORY OF THE ROU-LETTE-TABLE.

♦_ (Adapted from the Spanish, 'I want lo ask you a question, Gomez.' ' Well, my dear boy, what is it V ' Where did you get your money f The question was such an abrupt one —it was almost impertinent. But Gomez de Bonilla was an intimate friend of mine, a good fellow, and —we had dined, To say truth we had not only dined but wined, and it was over some excellent prandials in the shape of further wine and fragrant cigars that I had asked the question. But I had long wished to do so, and I will tell you why. Some two years before, Gomez was as poor as a church-mouse. He was always a good fellow j but then, you know, there is a difference between good follows and rich and good, follows poor, And to my

shame be it spoken, I think I liked him better rich than poor. Well, as T said, he was almost destitute, lie had a profession, it is true —he was a journalist; but in Spain the gains of the fraternity of the pen are not large. What little he did earn went to the bad for he was an inveterate gambler. But from a poverty-stricken journalist he suddenly blossomed out into a man of wealth. He had the finest horses, he. belonged to the most fashionable club, he had the most luxuriously fitted town house, he had purchased the country s\at of a decayed grandee, he had the bev cook in Madrid, ami he moved in the best society—for, alas ! even in Spain the golden key is beginning to open all portals. But do not think from what I say that Gomez was not a gentleman, for ha came of an excellent family. ' Wtdl, as I said, we had just finished an excellent dinner, and over the walnuts and wine I put my question : ' Gomez, where did you get your money V He looked at rae thoughtfully, and knocked the ash from his cigar: ' Where did I.get my money ?' he repeated slosvly. ' And what say Dame Rumor concerning it, Pedro ?' 'There are all sorts of stories,'l replied ; ' some probable and some wildly impossible; some goodhumoured, more ill-natured. You will pardon my frankness if I tell you that I have heard people call your wealth ' ill-gotten gains, whisper of retired highwaymen, and the like. There are others, who hint darkly at counterfeiting. Among the lower classes there is a wide-spread belief that you have sold yourself to the devil. And I have even met intelligent people who hinted at supernatural mean.*.' 1 Perhaps they were right,' was the laconic reply. I stared at him.

' Listen, and you may perhaps tell me whether the moans were supernatural or no. 1 have never been able to decide. The reason that the source of my fortune has never been discovered was because the only man who knew of it left the city the day after—' He paused.

' The day after what?' 1 queried. ' Well, I will begin at the beginning. The story is curious, and should be told in consequence.' He lit a fresh cigar, and then began : ' You knew me two years ago, when I was poor. You also knew, as did all my friends, that T had a passion for gaming. You would all of you chorus, when speaking to me, ' Poor Bonilla! He has the worst of vices—he is a desperate gambler. You were all wrong. I did nob play simply for the love of it. I played simply because I was poor. 1 was not a gambler. I was a sculptor. I had fixed upon a certain sum which I considered a competence. I saw no way of accuiring it by my profession, so I devoted myself to the gree.n cloth—how assiduously you know.' He smiled at the expression of assent which involuntarily flitted over my countenance, watched the smoke-wreaths curling over his head for a moment, and continued : ' One evening I was feeling unusually blue. I never drank as you know, —that is never to excess—and certainly never do what is called ' drowning sorrow.' My recourse was .the gaming-table. Unfortunately I had in my possession a considerable sum of money, which had been entrusted to me by a friend for the purpose of paying some debts as he had been suddenly called away from the city. I entered the gambling hell, and seated myself at the roulette-table. Fortune was against me; the few duros that belonged to me were soon gone. Something seemed to possess me that night; I was not myself. I did what I never should have dreamed myself capable of doing—l staked my friend's money. I staked it, and I lost it all.'

I was about to speak. 'Do not condemn me,' he interrupted, ' you could say nothing severer than were my self-re-proaches. Long I sa'i there, glaring at the other players. As I watched the ivory ball spin round, my brain seemed to spin round too. My senses seemed to be leaving me. I felt as if life were no longer dear to me. Penniless and dishonoured, what was there left to live for 1

1 As these thoughts passed through my working brain, the night wore on. The players dropped off one by one. The tables were deserted. Soon there was but one left lighted —the roulette-table before which I sat, and at which one persevering gamester was trying his luck. Finally, he, too, wearied, and I was left alone with the banker, who was the proprietor of the gamblinghell.'

' Oh, 1 remember, 0 I interrupted, 'Jose Herrara, who tlisappeared so suddenly a couple of years ago.' ' The same,' replied Bonilla, fixing his eyes keenly upon me. I do not know why, but I began to feel uncomfortable. However he continued : ' The banker looked at me incjuiringly. I half rose to retire. I had fully determined to blow out my brains in the street, and that I did not do so is owing to one of the strangest of circumstances —so strange that you will not blame me for wondering whether it was supernatural. I half rose, I say, and as I did so, I saw upon the floor a

round, bright object which had a silver shimmer as the gas-tight fell upon it. It was a coin, a ' 4 A peseta,' I interrupted, breathlessly. ' Yes,' he went on, ' a little bib of silver coin—only a peseta. But it saved my life. I placed my foot upon it, and motioning to the banker, said ;

' A peseta on the seventeen 1' 'The banker knew me well—he ho.d cause to—and without making any inquiries he repeated my wager after me, and set the ball a-whirling It stopped in the seventeen. ' Seventeen wins,' said he, and on the seventeen clanged seven silver duros.

' Do you leave it there V said he. ' I nodded. ' Again the ivory ball spun round and again it stopped at seventeen. 'Seventeen wins,' said the banker.

' Again I left the glittering pile upon the seventeen, and again it won. Seven several times did the goddess Fortune smile upon me. And when I stopped, it was nob because I feared to venture further, but because I had broken the bank. The poverty-stricken wretch who a few moments before had contem plated suicide was now wealthy.' ' And the peseta,' said I, ' you have that still, of course V ' No,' he replied with a strange smile.

' Why 1 exclaimed I, with surprise, ' Had I been you, 1 would have kept it all my life.' ' No,' he replied with the same peculiar smile, ' you would not have kept it.' ' And why nob ?' ' "When I stooped to pick up the coin, I found—nothing.' ' Nothing !' I echoed, ' Why—what—where —' ' That which I had taken for a peseta was not a coin .The round silvery object on which the light had fallen and deceived me was j 1 What V ' A drop of water.'