Following a certain method employed in
Greekdom, he ascertained that on every card
there existed a spot which, according to its place
on the card, indicated the suit and the value of
that card.

Suppose the back of each card to be traversed
vertically by eight imaginary parallel lines, and
by four horizontal ones, as is shown below:

{image: diagram showing positions of spots on cards}

The first set denote the value of the card; the
second set the suit. The mark is placed at the
point of intersection of these imaginary divisions.
That is the whole of the scheme. Practice does
the rest. As to the method of printing the
mysterious spot, the author declines to indicate
it, his object being to signalise and not to teach
that mode of cheating. It suffices that, when
looked at closely, the spot is confounded with
the white surface of the card, but that, at a
distance, the reflexion of the light renders the card
brilliant while the spot remains dull.

At first sight, it will appear very difficult to
ascertain to which division an isolated spot on
the back of a card belongs. Nevertheless, a
little attention will prove that the * on the card
above, can neither belong to the second nor to
the fourth vertical division; and, in like manner,
that it is on the line of the second horizontal
division. The card, therefore, is the queen of
diamonds.

This successful investigation induced him to
pursue the subject further, and to ascertain
whether a person who plays for amusement only,
has the slightest chance of winning with a person
who plays only to live. As the conclusion
arrived at, was, that such supposed favourable
chance is nil; that the amount of the amateur's
losses is limited only by the magnanimity, the
forbearance, or the cunning caution, of the
professed gambler; that, in cases of swindling and
cheating at cards, the magistrate may be led
astray even by his own innocence and his
honest conscience; the "expert" determined
to give the public at large, a proof of his gratitude
for the favours and the fortune received
from them.

In the execution of such a task prudence was
necessary. He had no intention of tempting
the needy, or of putting a dangerous weapon
into the hands of unscrupulous or perverted
individuals. Therefore, in his explanations of
sharpers' tricks, if he tells enough to enable you
to understand them, he does not tell you quite
enough to enable you to execute them; and he
has so good an opinion of honest people, that
he believes the perusal of his book will inspire
them with no other thought than to beware of
roguish manœuvres. Nevertheless, he is haunted
by one apprehension:

You may have seen a couple of men, who
have been fighting in the street, suddenly
become reconciled, and then turn their united
strength against the busybody who separated
them. The author may, perhaps, incur a
similar fate; he may be regarded both by the
beater and the beaten, by the trickster and the
dupe, as a common enemy. Inveterate players
may be dissatisfied at having to renounce
play, for fear of being cheated; Greeks will
certainly bear a grudge against the man who
has taken such pains to tear off their mask.
Robert-Houdin was obliged to relinquish
personal research into this branch of learning,
because it led him into bodily peril: he engaged a
sort of agent, or commercial traveller, in the
Greekery line. A young man, who was
introduced to him, and whose life, "although
tolerably respectable," was spent in taverns and
gambling-houses—plain English would style this
respectable young man "a spy"—undertook to
supply information. Every time that he bagged
and brought in a novel dodge, the master paid
him liberally. It was a curious monomania,
certainly; but the book was the object, and
remains the result.

The modern Greeks derive their title from a
certain chevalier, a Greek by birth, named
Apoulos, who, towards the close of Louis the
Fourteenth's reign, was admitted to court. He
soon realised such considerable profits at play,
that he raised suspicions as to the nature of his
good luck. In spite of his marvellous expertness,
the chevalier was caught in the fact of
cheating, and sent to the galleys for twenty
years. The adventure made a great noise; and
henceforward the name of Apoulos, or simply ot
Greek, was given to every individual who
attempted to correct the caprice of fortune.
Since then, the Greeks have multiplied and
thriven; they have calculated with the patience
of mathematicians, and invented and imagined
with the genius of poets. From the days of
pharaon, lansquenet, and quadrille, down to the
present time, they have made a pack of cards
fulfil the office of the philosopher's stone.

Although roulette has been banished from
France, the Greeks have never ceased to reside
in the land. Where are they to be found?
Their numerous dupes know only too well.