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a pin drop upon the floor. In ceasing, he departed at once, and as
abruptly as he had entered. Can I--shall I describe my sensations?--must
I say that I felt all the horrors of the damned? Most assuredly I had
little time given for reflection. Many hands roughly seized me upon the
spot, and lights were immediately reprocured. A search ensued. In the
lining of my sleeve were found all the court cards essential in ecarte,
and, in the pockets of my wrapper, a number of packs, facsimiles of
those used at our sittings, with the single exception that mine were of
the species called, technically, arrondees; the honours being slightly
convex at the ends, the lower cards slightly convex at the sides. In
this disposition, the dupe who cuts, as customary, at the length of the
pack, will invariably find that he cuts his antagonist an honor; while
the gambler, cutting at the breadth, will, as certainly, cut nothing for
his victim which may count in the records of the game.
Any burst of indignation upon this discovery would have affected me less
than the silent contempt, or the sarcastic composure, with which it was
received.
"Mr. Wilson," said our host, stooping to remove from beneath his feet
an exceedingly luxurious cloak of rare furs, "Mr. Wilson, this is your
property." (The weather was cold; and, upon quitting my own room, I had
thrown a cloak over my dressing wrapper, putting it off upon reaching
the scene of play.) "I presume it is supererogatory to seek here (eyeing
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