upon the gaming-table, upon roulette, and upon trente et
quarante, as mere relaxations which have been arranged solely
for his amusement. Of the existence of the lures and gains upon
which the bank is founded and maintained he must profess to have
not an inkling. Best of all, he ought to imagine his
fellow-gamblers and the rest of the mob which stands trembling
over a coin to be equally rich and gentlemanly with himself, and
playing solely for recreation and pleasure. This complete
ignorance of the realities, this innocent view of mankind, is
what, in my opinion, constitutes the truly aristocratic. For
instance, I have seen even fond mothers so far indulge their
guileless, elegant daughters--misses of fifteen or sixteen--as to
give them a few gold coins and teach them how to play; and
though the young ladies may have won or have lost, they have
invariably laughed, and departed as though they were well
pleased. In the same way, I saw our General once approach the
table in a stolid, important manner. A lacquey darted to offer
him a chair, but the General did not even notice him. Slowly he
took out his money bags, and slowly extracted 300 francs in
gold, which he staked on the black, and won. Yet he did not take
up his winnings--he left them there on the table. Again the
black turned up, and again he did not gather in what he had won;
and when, in the third round, the RED turned up he lost, at a
stroke, 1200 francs. Yet even then he rose with a smile, and
thus preserved his reputation; yet I knew that his money bags
must be chafing his heart, as well as that, had the stake been
twice or thrice as much again, he would still have restrained
himself from venting his disappointment.

On the other hand, I saw a Frenchman first win, and then lose,