The lottery was drawn every five days in different localities, at
Bordeaux, Lyons, Lille, Strasburg, and Paris. The Paris lottery was
drawn on the twenty-fifth of each month, and the lists closed on the
twenty-fourth, at midnight. Philippe studied all these points and set
himself to watch. He came home at midday; the Descoings had gone out,
and had taken the key of the _appartement_. But that was no difficulty.
Philippe pretended to have forgotten something, and asked the
concierge to go herself and get a locksmith, who lived close by, and
who came at once and opened the door. The villain's first thought was
the bed; he uncovered it, passed his hands over the mattress before he
examined the bedstead, and at the lower end felt the pieces wrapped up
in paper. He at once ripped the ticking, picked out twenty napoleons,
and then, without taking time to sew up the mattress, re-made the bed
neatly enough, so that Madame Descoings could suspect nothing.
The gambler stole off with a light foot, resolving to play at three
different times, three hours apart, and each time for only ten
minutes. Thorough-going players, ever since 1786, the time at which
public gaming-houses were established,--the true players whom the
government dreaded, and who ate up, to use a gambling term, the money
of the bank,--never played in any other way. But before attaining this
measure of experience they lost fortunes.
Pages:
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409