cool, I never allow anything to put me
out, and yet I always lose!"

"And you did not once allow yourself to be tempted to back the
red? Your firmness astonishes me."

"But what do you think of Hermann?" said one of the guests,
pointing to a young engineer. "He has never had a card in his
hand in his life, he has never in his life laid a wager; and yet
he sits here till five o'clock in the morning watching our play."

"Play interests me very much," said Hermann, "but I am not in the
position to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of winning the
superfluous."

"Hermann is a German; he is economical--that is all!" observed
Tomsky. "But if there is one person that I cannot understand, it
is my grandmother, the Countess Anna Fedorovna!"

"How so?" inquired the guests.

"I cannot understand," continued Tomsky, "how it is that my
grandmother does not punt."

"Then you do not know the reason why?"

"No, really; I haven't the faintest idea. But let me tell you the
story. You must know that about sixty years ago my grandmother went to
Paris, where she created quite a sensation. People used to run after
her to catch a glimpse of the 'Muscovite Venus.' Richelieu made love
to her, and my grandmother maintains that he almost blew out his
brains in consequence of her cruelty. At that time ladies used to play
at faro. On one occasion at the Court, she lost a very considerable
sum to the Duke of Orleans. On returning home, my grandmother removed
the patches from her face, took off her hoops, informed my grandfather
of her loss at the gaming-table, and ordered him to pay the money. My
deceased grandfather, as far as I remember, was a sort of
house-steward to my grandmother. He dreaded her like fire; but, on
hearing of such a heavy loss, he almost went out of his mind. He
calculated the various sums she had lost, and pointed out to her that
in six months she had spent half a million of francs; that neither
their Moscow nor Saratoff estates were in Paris; and, finally, refused
point-blank to pay the debt. My grandmother gave him a box on the ear
and slept by herself as a sign of her displeasure. The next day she
sent for her husband, hoping that this domestic punishment had
produced an effect upon him, but she found him inflexible. For the
first time in her life she entered into reasonings and explanations
with him, thinking to be able to convince him by pointing out to him
that there are debts and debts, and that there is a gr