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Show A GAMBLING INCIDENT AT BADEN-BADEN. Some ten years ago, while standing one evening at the entrance of the Conversation-haus at Baden Baden, two men whom I had seen playing roulette the night before passed me. One was dark and swarthy looking, of about fifty, and the other a pale faced fellow, whom I set down as being twenty-eight or thirty years old. The effeminate and weaker expression of the younger man contrasted so strongly with the resolute and rather stern look of his companion, that I could not help saying: "Now, there go the wolf and the lamb." "No doubt," said my friend Tom Plunkett who knew Baden-Baden and its most notable frequenters "like a book," "but which is the wolf and which the lamb?" "That's easy enough to see," I replied, confidently, "that old pirate who is leading the delicate young man to destruction, can't disguise his wolfish character." Upon this my friend told me the real facts of the case. The man whom I had stigmatized as a pirate, was a captain of an American merchant vessel, who, having accumulated a snug fortune, was enjoying some of it on a European tour. He had met in Baden Baden an attractive young English widow, of whom he had become deeply enamored. Although she did not reciprocate his affection, yet her own fortunes were at so low an ebb that she lent a ready ear to his proposals. Arrangements for the marriage had been made, when an event occurred to interrupt their pleasant relations. This was the arrival in Baden of the younger man. Although young in years, he was old in experience of the dark side of life. Of a good family, he had, before he was out of his teens, lost caste by associating with sharpers, and, beginning by being plucked, soon acquired the knowledge and skill which enabled him to pluck others. His principal weakness was his infatuation for the young widow. When, therefore, he learned of her relations to the American, he lost not time in visiting the scene of her amatory activities and quickly laid his plans for raining his rival and securing the widow for himself. No sooner had he become acquainted with the sailor than he used every means of ingratiating himself in his affections. The younger man soon excited in the elder a passion for gaming. Then followed an artfully contrived scheme to persuade the captain that, while gambling at the public table was unsafe in consequence of the odds in favor of the bank, a private game of cards was sure to bring a run of luck to a persistent player. But the captain could not be convinced of the truth of this theory and frequented the public tables, much to the disgust of the young Englishman who feared there would be nothing left for him after roulette and Rouge et Noir had attacked the captain's pockets. The captain had been tolerably successful the few times he had played but his stakes were so small that his lack tempted him to increase them. I had followed him into the gaming rooms, my curiosity being piqued by the stories I had just heard of his being in the toils of the young English wolf. "Try the red," said the vulpine friend, who kept close to his elbow. The captain's rouleau of Napoleons accordingly was laid down on that color, but the luck was against him and he lost. He then made a still larger venture on the black and, losing again, became very much excited. "Don't try again," said the Englishman soothingly, "but come round to my rooms and have a quiet game to see if the luck won't turn." This suggestion the captain acceded to. About midnight the captain returned. His face had a worn and haggard appearance, and he looked two year older than he did a few hours before. There was a strange wildness in his eye wholly unlike its usual calm and steady expression. He glanced restlessly about as if in search of some one and then, addressing a friend, said: "Have you seen Staunton?" meaning the young Englishman. On receiving a reply in the negative, he strode into the street, drew a pistol and shot himself through the head. The facts which came out the next day showed that the captain had been literally "cleaned out" by Staunton, and could not face the thought of appearing before the woman he loved, a penniless and ruined man. Staunton quitted Baden-Baden the next day, but left an explanatory note for the beautiful widow. His expectation of winning her was, however, doomed to be disappointed, as three months afterward, she married a young German Count. |