You can back the red if you like, your wife
shall put her money on the numbers coming up below eighteen, and I
will back the odd. In that way you stand to win 24,000 francs if our
combination wins, and you lose less than if you simply back the color.
Do you understand?"
"No!" cried the Frenchman, reaching for the piles of money which the
Plunger had divided rapidly into three parts, "on the red; all on the
red!"
"Good heavens, man!" cried the Plunger, bitterly. "I may not know
much, but you should allow me to understand this dirty business." He
caught the Frenchman by the wrists, and the young man, more impressed
with the strange look in the boy's face than by his physical force,
stood still, while the ball rolled and rolled, and clicked merrily,
and stopped, and balanced, and then settled into the "seven."
"Red, odd, and below," the croupier droned mechanically.
"Ah! you see; what did I tell you?" said the Plunger, with sudden
calmness. "You have won more than your 20,000 francs; you are
proprietors--I congratulate you!"
"Ah, my God!" cried the Frenchman, in a frenzy of delight, "I will
double it."
He reached toward the fresh piles of coin as if he meant to sweep them
back again, but the Plunger put himself in his way and with a quick
movement caught up the rolls of money and dropped them into the skirt
of the woman, which she raised like an apron to receive her treasure.
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