"I can't
understand
why my grandmother never gambles.
Pushkin - Queen of Spades
The winners ate with relish; the losers, on the
contrary, pushed back their plates and sat brooding gloomily. Under
the influence of the good wine, however, the conversation then became
general.
"Well, Sourine? " said the host inquiringly.
"Oh, I lost as usual. My luck is abominable. No matter how cool I keep,
I never win. "
"How is it, Herman, that you never touch a card? " remarked one of the
men, addressing a young officer of the Engineering Corps. "Here you are
with the rest of us at five o'clock in the morning, and you have neither
played nor bet all night. "
"Play interests me greatly," replied the person addressed, "but I hardly
care to sacrifice the necessaries of life for uncertain superfluities. "
"Herman is a German, therefore economical; that explains it," said
Tomsky. "But the person I can't quite understand is my grandmother, the
Countess Anna Fedorovna. "
"Why? " inquired a chorus of voices.
"I can't understand why my grandmother never gambles. "
"I don't see anything very striking in the fact that a woman of eighty
refuses to gamble," objected Naroumov.
"Have you never heard her story? "
"No--"
"Well, then, listen to it. To begin with, sixty years ago my grandmother
went to Paris, where she was all the fashion. People crowded each other
in the streets to get a chance to see the 'Muscovite Venus,' as she was
called. All the great ladies played faro, then. On one occasion, while
playing with the Duke of Orleans, she lost an enormous sum. She told her
husband of the debt, but he refused outright to pay it. Nothing could
induce him to change his mind on the subject, and grandmother was at
her wits' ends. Finally, she remembered a friend of hers, Count
Saint-Germain. You must have heard of him, as many wonderful stories
have been told about him. He is said to have discovered the elixir of
life, the philosopher's stone, and many other equally marvelous things.
He had money at his disposal, and my grandmother knew it. She sent him a
note asking him to come to see her. He obeyed her summons and found her
in great distress.
contrary, pushed back their plates and sat brooding gloomily. Under
the influence of the good wine, however, the conversation then became
general.
"Well, Sourine? " said the host inquiringly.
"Oh, I lost as usual. My luck is abominable. No matter how cool I keep,
I never win. "
"How is it, Herman, that you never touch a card? " remarked one of the
men, addressing a young officer of the Engineering Corps. "Here you are
with the rest of us at five o'clock in the morning, and you have neither
played nor bet all night. "
"Play interests me greatly," replied the person addressed, "but I hardly
care to sacrifice the necessaries of life for uncertain superfluities. "
"Herman is a German, therefore economical; that explains it," said
Tomsky. "But the person I can't quite understand is my grandmother, the
Countess Anna Fedorovna. "
"Why? " inquired a chorus of voices.
"I can't understand why my grandmother never gambles. "
"I don't see anything very striking in the fact that a woman of eighty
refuses to gamble," objected Naroumov.
"Have you never heard her story? "
"No--"
"Well, then, listen to it. To begin with, sixty years ago my grandmother
went to Paris, where she was all the fashion. People crowded each other
in the streets to get a chance to see the 'Muscovite Venus,' as she was
called. All the great ladies played faro, then. On one occasion, while
playing with the Duke of Orleans, she lost an enormous sum. She told her
husband of the debt, but he refused outright to pay it. Nothing could
induce him to change his mind on the subject, and grandmother was at
her wits' ends. Finally, she remembered a friend of hers, Count
Saint-Germain. You must have heard of him, as many wonderful stories
have been told about him. He is said to have discovered the elixir of
life, the philosopher's stone, and many other equally marvelous things.
He had money at his disposal, and my grandmother knew it. She sent him a
note asking him to come to see her. He obeyed her summons and found her
in great distress.
