She looks round at him, and says,
"Don't trust to my colour; I have been unlucky the whole evening.
Place your stake on the other colour, and you may have a chance
of winning." My Lord (a true Englishman) blushes, bows, and obeys.
The Countess proves to be a prophet. She loses again. My Lord wins twice
the sum that he has risked.
'The Countess rises from the table. She has no more money,
and she offers my Lord her chair.
'Instead of taking it, he politely places his winnings in her hand,
and begs her to accept the loan as a favour to himself.
The Countess stakes again, and loses again. My Lord smiles superbly,
and presses a second loan on her. From that moment her luck turns.
She wins, and wins largely. Her brother, the Baron, trying his fortune
in another room, hears of what is going on, and joins my Lord and
the Countess.
'Pay attention, if you please, to the Baron. He is delineated
as a remarkable and interesting character.
'This noble person has begun life with a single-minded devotion
to the science of experimental chemistry, very surprising in a young
and handsome man with a brilliant future before him.
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