"Aigle"--which in summer was frequented by a few German families, who
came to live cheaply and to drink the waters of a neighbouring mineral
spring. That same year two French brothers of the name of Blanc arrived
at Frankfort. They were men of a speculative turn, and a recent and
somewhat daring speculation in France, connected with the old semaphore
telegraph, had rendered it necessary for them to withdraw for a time
from their native land. Their stock-in-trade consisted in a Roulette
wheel, a few thousand francs, and an old and skilful croupier of
Frascati, who knew a great deal about the properties of cards. The
authorities of the town of Frankfort, being dull traders, declined to
allow them to initiate their townsmen into the mysteries of cards and
Roulette, so hearing that there were some strangers living at Hombourg,
they put themselves into an old diligence, and the same evening
disembarked at the "Aigle." The next day the elder brother called upon
the prime minister, an ancient gentleman, who, with a couple of clerks,
for some L60 a year governed the Landgrafate of Hombourg to his own and
the general satisfaction. After a private interview with this statesman
the elder Blanc returned poorer in money, but with a permission in his
pocket to put up his Roulette wheel in one of the rooms of the inn. In
a few months the money of the innocent water-drinkers passed from their
pockets into those of the brothers Blanc. The ancient man of Frascati
turned the wheel, and no matter on what number the water-drinkers risked
their money, that number did not turn up. At the close of the summer
season a second visit was made to the prime minister, and the Blancs
returned to Frankfort with an exclusive concession to establish games
of hazard within the wide spreading dominions of the Landgraf. For this
they had agreed to build a kursaal, to lay out a public garden, and to
pay into the national exchequer 40,000 florins (a florin is worth one
shilling and eight-pence) per annum. Having obtained this concession,
the next step was to found a company. Frankfort abounds in Hebrew
speculators, who are not particular how they make money, and as the
speculation appeared a good one, the money was soon forthcoming. It was
decided that the nominal capital was to be 400,000 florins, divided into
shares of 100 florins each. Half the shares were subscribed for by the
Hebrew financialists, and the other half was credited to the Blancs as
the price