CHAPTER XXV

DELAPINE TRIES HIS HAND AT THE TABLES

"The ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, But here or there as strikes the Player goes, And he that tossed you down into the Field, He knows about it all--He knows, He knows."

_The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám_, verse lxx.

"Where is the professor?" asked Villebois at the breakfast table next morning. "Has anyone seen him?"

As no one had apparently done so, a deputation was agreed upon to go in search of him and bring him down.

Villebois, Payot, Marcel and Riche were selected, and the quartette marched up to his bedroom and knocked.

They found him in his dressing-gown sitting at a table apparently deep in thought. All looked at him in amazement. He seemed transformed and unearthly. His face was ghastly pale with his brilliant eyes fixed and staring, while his fingers were twitching nervously.

"Professor," exclaimed Villebois, "we have come to tell you that breakfast is nearly over, and everyone is wondering what has become of you."

But Delapine made no movement. A roulette wheel stood before him similar to those used in the Casino. Several sheets of paper covered with algebraical equations lay on the table, while at his side was a well-thumbed copy of Vega's Logarithm Tables and Bertrand's and Poincaré's _Calcul des Probabilités_ lay open near it.

"Professor, we are waiting for you," said Riche, giving him a gentle slap on the back, but suddenly started back declaring that he had received something like an electric shock.

They looked at one another in astonishment.

"What on earth is the matter with him?" they asked. "Is he ill, or in a trance, or what?"

Villebois drew Riche on one side, and they held a short consultation in hurried whispers.

"Don't be alarmed, Riche," said Villebois. "What would be very serious in the case of ordinary people is not so with Delapine. I know him well, and whenever he goes into this state he is sure to do something surprising and far beyond the powers of common mortals like ourselves. My advice is to slip away quietly and return to the ladies. Whatever you do, don't wake him, but let him come round by himself."

So saying he withdrew on tip-toe, the others following him silently out of the room.

They returned to the breakfast table, and Riche with great forethought saw that breakfast was kept hot for Delapine when he should come down.

"What an extraordinary man," said Violette to Marcel who was sitting next to her.

"Yes, you would have had reason to say so if you had been in his room just now when Riche touched him and actually received a shock. It reminded me of an electric eel."

"I was positively frightened when I saw him," said Payot. "He looked transfigured and his face was wax-like and quite motionless."

"You need not be frightened, papa," said Renée, looking up. "Henri told me last night that he intended to go to the Casino this morning, and he would give the directors something to think about for a long time to come, and you know by now that when Henri says anything will happen it always does happen."

"By Jove, there's nothing more certain," said Marcel. "It reminds me of Henry Smith's story of the difference between the judge and the bishop. It happened that the Master of Balliol was giving a dinner at which the careers of two of the men belonging to the College came up for discussion--one of whom had just been made a judge, and the other a bishop.

"Which of the two is the greater man?" asked the master.

"Oh," replied Smith, "the bishop of course. A judge after all can only say 'you be hanged,' whereas, the bishop can say 'you be damned.'"

"Yes," the master rejoined, "that's all very fine, but when the bishop says 'you be damned,' there's no certainty that you will be damned, whereas, if the judge says 'you be hanged'--well, you jolly well _will be_ hanged."

"Marcel you are incorrigible," said Riche, shaking with laughter.

"But is Delapine really going to play at the Casino?" asked Villebois, as soon as they had ceased laughing.

"He told Renée and me so, didn't he, Renée?"

Renée nodded, and then added, "But I am certain of one thing, doctor, and that is he won't lose his money there. He has much too scientific a mind to take mere chances like the people we saw there yesterday. Besides, didn't he point out to us the fallacies of their systems?"

"That's true," said Villebois half to himself. "Well, well, we shall see."

At this moment the door opened, and one of the waiters came up with a note for Payot, and a message to say that the professor would be pleased to meet them in the garden in half an hour.

The note was dated the day before, and ran as follows:

Dear M. Payot,

Please hand over to Renée all the money you have brought with you to Beaulieu, and permit me to have the use of it unconditionally for one day. If you have complete confidence in my powers I shall have the pleasure of returning it to-morrow with interest.

Faithfully yours, Delapine.

Payot, after reading this note, went up to his room and returned in a few moments with a letter which he handed to his daughter with instructions to give it to Delapine at the very first opportunity. Shortly afterwards, according to the appointment made by Delapine, they all adjourned to the garden where they found him sitting in a little thatched summer-house, still wearing that strange weird look which they had noticed earlier in the morning.

Each in turn tried to draw him into conversation, but in vain. He remained in a dream-like attitude without speaking, while his face was as impassive and mysterious as the Sphinx. The only sign of life was in his eyes which occasionally lit up in an almost unnatural way, and then closed again.

At length he slowly rose from his seat, and with hands clasped behind his back, and with head bent as if in deep thought, walked towards the carriage drawn up in front of the hotel.

As soon as Delapine had taken his seat with the rest of the party, the coachman, who had already received his instructions, drove rapidly to Monte Carlo.

"Have you a letter for me?" asked Delapine, turning to Renée, who sat next to him.

"Oh, yes, Henri. Father gave me this for you, but I did not like to disturb your reverie, or I would have given it to you before."

Taking the letter from her hand, Delapine opened it, and found that it contained 4,000 francs in notes.

They arrived at the Casino in good time so as to enable Delapine to secure a seat close to the roulette wheel. He motioned to Renée and Payot to sit next to him, while the rest of the party stood round behind his chair.

All the people looked at him in wonder, as his vacant gaze and general mien were so unearthly, so entirely different from those of the other players, that a thrill of mingled awe and expectancy seemed to come over the whole assembly.

Delapine slowly turned his head round, fixing his intense gaze on each person in turn round the table.

"Look, look at Delapine," said Riche, as he nudged Marcel. "Doesn't he remind you of a Bengal tiger lying in ambush and turning his head slowly round to watch the movements of his prey? Parbleu, but it makes me feel quite creepy. I can imagine him lashing his tail just before making a spring."

"He is merely watching the other players, but he hasn't staked a sou himself up till now."

Meanwhile Delapine continued passively to watch the play for about twenty minutes. At the end of that time he quietly took out of the envelope three bank notes of 100 francs each, and placed one on each of the three consecutive numbers 7, 28 and 12, while putting a 1,000 franc note on each of the squares, red, impair, and manque, and then rapidly turning his head concentrated his gaze on the little ball which had just fallen on to the larger wheel. The ball bobbed frantically about, and at length fell into No. 7.

"Sept, rouge, impair et manque," shouted the croupier, as he raked in Delapine's pieces on 28 and 12, and tossed seven notes of 500 frs. each on to No. 7, and 1,000 fr. notes on to "rouge," "impair," and "manque." Delapine's stake of 3,300 frs. was now increased by 6,300 frs.[21] Whispering a few words to Renée, telling her what numbers to back, and without troubling himself in the least about his own gains, he once more turned his attention to the little ball.

Renée immediately did as he had told her and placed the maximum allowed--180 frs.--on number 7, leaving the money with the gains added on each of the single chances, rouge, pair and manque.

Round went the wheel again, and the little ball hopped about as before.

Delapine did not move his head but continued to gaze steadily on the ball.

Five times running Renée repeated the process, each time leaving the maximum--6,000 frs.--on each even chance, and the maximum on the single number. At last she ceased for a moment and counted the notes in hand. She had won 120,000 francs.

All this time Delapine had remained motionless with his eyes fixed like a carved Buddha. At length he leaned over and whispered to Renée, who immediately transferred the maximum stakes to three fresh numbers and different squares.

The whole thing was done so quietly and so unobtrusively that only an onlooker who had been specially regarding him could have noticed that Delapine had made the slightest movement.

Occasionally he would take half-a-dozen gold pieces and rapidly throw them on to as many squares or numbers, without troubling his head in the least as to whether they won or lost.

But Renée was winning so fast that she became the centre of attraction for the crowd which grew more and more dense at the table, little dreaming that it was the quiet professor at her side and not the player herself who was manipulating the stakes, and who was responsible for all her marvellous good fortune.

Strangely enough, Delapine lost his own little stakes more often than he won, as he allowed them to remain on any squares they chanced to fall on. Now and again a coin would drop on the line between two squares--à cheval--or covering four numbers--en carré. Sometimes the croupier would sweep them into the bank--sometimes Delapine would receive eleven or eight times his stake. When this happened he would quietly pick up his winnings so as to compensate for his other losses, but as often as not he did not trouble to collect his winnings, but allowed them to remain on the table until they were swept off by the remorseless rake.

"Look at that fool of a man," whispered one of the lady players, pointing to Delapine. "He sits there staring at the wheel like an idiot, and actually forgot to take up his money, and now it's all swept away. What a fool. Well, it serves him right."

"Yes," replied her companion, "he's evidently a bit soft in the head. What a pity he didn't ask me to play for him."

During the intervals when the wheel was at rest, or when it had just started revolving, Delapine would quietly look round the tables and make a mental note of the characters assembled.

Payot's eyes nearly started out of his head when he saw Renée's huge pile of notes creeping up minute by minute. He touched the professor and spoke to him. Delapine, however, did not for one moment appear to notice, and Renée, dreading lest her father should break the spell, touched him on the shoulder.

"Please, father, do keep quiet, or you'll spoil everything."

Payot had the good sense to take the hint and made no further attempt to interrupt.

It was not long before the news of Renée's amazing good fortune spread to the other tables, and soon she found herself surrounded by an eager crowd, pushing and jostling each other in their anxiety to see not only the numbers she was backing, but the lucky player herself. She had just placed the maximum on ten different chances, and several of the others, noticing how uniformly successful she was, put their money on the same numbers and squares.

Nine out of the ten stakes won, and as the croupiers were paying out the money they suddenly stopped. The bank was broken!

The news spread like wild fire all over the room, and a ringing cheer rose from the crowd.

Renée's pile had reached 700,000 francs.

A few minutes later two attendants came in carrying a large steel box containing a fresh supply of money.

Everyone now resolved to stake his or her cash on the same ventures as Renée.

Delapine who was quietly watching the greedy looks of the crowd round and in front of Renée, squeezed her hand unnoticed in a peculiar way which conveyed to her the hidden meaning. Scribbling a few words on a piece of paper which he folded up, Delapine whispered to Renée, and at the same time handed the folded paper to Payot.

The latter opened the note and read:--

"Do not be alarmed at what is going to happen. I know what I am doing, and I have good reason for doing it."

Ten different chances were selected by Renée and a small amount was placed on each.

"Zero," cried the croupier, and all the stakes were either raked in or placed 'in prison.'

Again Renée staked a couple of hundred francs on six different squares. The others followed. Zero came a second time, and all the previous stakes were swept into the bank, while a fresh lot went into 'prison.' Five times Zero turned up, and Renée lost 12,000 francs. Again and again she staked the same amount on different numbers and colours, and each time five out of the six stakes were swept into the bank. Most of those who had followed her cue dropped away from the table, and many left the room looking very downhearted, some indeed not attempting to hide their disgust.

At length her bad luck was so pronounced that they all ceased to follow her lead, and nearly all those standing round her had either left the room or had gone to watch the other tables.

Renée had lost 60,000 francs.

Delapine's eyes glistened and some of his natural colour came back, but it was only for a moment. The reaction proved too strong, and leaning back in his chair, he appeared to sink into a deep sleep. It was nearly half an hour before he woke up again. To his surprise he found himself almost alone with Renée. Only the members of his party remained, and they were for the most part scattered about the room. It was half-past twelve, and the crowd had evidently left for lunch.

"Let us go," said Delapine. "After lunch we will make some money."

"Haven't you made enough already?" they asked, laughing.

"No," he replied, "up till now I have only been skirmishing with the ball."

"Good Lord," said Marcel, "he has made nearly three-quarters of a million francs, and he calls that skirmishing. I wonder what his serious play will be like?"

"Have a little patience," said Delapine, "and you shall see."

While waiting for lunch Renée was privately instructed by Delapine as to the plan of campaign for the afternoon's play, and immediately after their meal the professor retired to his room to recover his energy. Shortly afterwards the carriages were ordered, and the party returned to the fray.

On entering the rooms Renée and Delapine resumed the seats which had been retained for them by means of a very liberal tip to the croupier and chef de partie of his table.

Owing to the heavy losses sustained by those who had followed Renée's lead during the later play in the fore-noon, very few people stood round the table, and those who were seated were too much afraid to be led again by her.

At first Delapine appeared quite normal as he sat watching the game, but gradually his manner changed, and he seemed to become oblivious to all around him. He stared fixedly at the ball, while Renée, acting under previous instructions, placed the maximum stake on every one of the eleven chances which the game offered. Sometimes she would place a maximum on Zero only, omitting all the other squares, and would leave it there four or five times running. At other times she would back two numbers of the same colour and put 2,000 francs on each of the even chances. In this way half an hour went by, and Renée's pile of notes steadily increased.

Twenty minutes later the Administration had to bring a third supply. The croupiers began to get anxious. Once more the crowd began to collect, and again Delapine started staking small sums at random. Whenever the other players showed a disposition to follow Renée's lead, her hand would feel a squeeze from Delapine, and she would place her stakes on the wrong numbers, or she would suddenly back the first four numbers, or put a maximum on Zero which was sure to turn up.

Charley and Ridgeway came in, and seeing Payot and Violette, went up to them. Payot whispered a warning to his two friends not to speak to or even to notice Delapine. They nodded in acquiescence.

At length the bank 'broke' for the third time, and play was suspended while the senior members of the Administration were called in. After an anxious consultation a new roulette wheel was brought, and half a dozen detectives were ordered to watch the professor and Renée, with the result that Delapine became quite reckless and lost several thousand francs, while Renée lost her stakes four times in succession. Unfortunately Charley and his friend were plunging heavily, and lost all they had on them.

"C'est rien," said the croupier to the director, "we shall get it all back in an hour--and more," they added significantly. The detectives shrugged their shoulders and left the table at the bidding of the director, but continued to keep their eyes on Renée and Delapine all the same.

Once more Delapine lapsed into his cataleptic condition, and once more Renée 'broke' the bank.

Five times the chef de partie had been obliged to send for fresh supplies of money, and thrice the roulette wheel was changed.

The chef tore his hair. "C'est terrible. The devil himself must be laying against us," and wringing his hands in helpless despair, he left the room, returning almost immediately with all the members of the Administration.

They all stood round Delapine.

All the players in the room had left their tables and collected in a huge crowd round the two tables, near the end of one of which the professor was sitting with Renée and Payot alongside of him. The crowd made way for the members of the Administration who stood in a half circle round Delapine and his two companions.

They watched Renée put a maximum on the eleven chances and one on No. 4, and saw with their own eyes the little ball tumble into one of the little compartments.

All of them craned their necks to see, and yes, sure enough, the croupier shouted out--"Quatre, noir, pair et manque."

The directors stared at one another, petrified with astonishment.

One of them slipped away hurriedly and returned with Monsieur Eperon the Chef de Police of Monaco and two of his satellites.

"Arrest them," cried the director in a loud voice, pointing to Renée and Delapine.

A moment afterwards the chief cashier of the bank came running into the room.

"Messieurs," he cried, "the bank is empty--not a sou remains in the coffers. Mon Dieu, what are we to do?"

The bank was really broken--for the first time in the history of the Casino.

The Administration formally declared the rooms closed, and Delapine and Renée were escorted to the police station, followed by the whole of their party together with Charley and Ridgeway who formed the rearguard. At length they entered one of the large rooms of the gendarmerie. Monsieur Eperon and two assistants sat down at a high table. Renée and Delapine stood in front of them while the directors stood around, and a whole crowd of witnesses filled the room behind.

The police took the names and addresses of the accused.

"Well, gentlemen, what is the crime you charge us with?" said the professor, drawing himself up to his full height, and looking at them with one of his commanding gestures.

"You are accused of cheating at the tables," said the Chef de Police.

"Cheating at the tables, what do you mean?"

"The Administration of the Bank accuse you of having bribed the croupiers and of tampering with the wheel," replied M. Eperon, twirling his moustache and looking very fierce.

"That is impossible," replied Delapine, "as the croupiers were changed each time they sent for more money."

The croupiers were brought in and cross-examined. They swore that they had never spoken a word to either the professor or the lady who was playing with him.

In the face of their denial it was seen to be useless to press the charge of bribery in connection with the croupiers, so after discharging them from further attendance, the Chef de Police decided that the solution of the mystery lay in the fact that Delapine and his accomplice must have tampered with the roulette wheel.

"But the wheel has been changed no less than three times," asserted Delapine, "and on the last occasion I heard it remarked that a new wheel was used."

Monsieur Eperon asked if it were true that a perfectly new wheel had been used, and on receiving a reply in the affirmative, shrugged his shoulders in a helpless manner.

A short consultation was then held, as a result of which a roulette wheel was sent for, and the Chef de Police himself spun it round.

"What number would you like the ball to fall into?" enquired Delapine quietly.

"No. 29," replied M. Eperon.

"29 be it," said Delapine, smiling, and as the wheel was spun round the little ball dropped into 29 as he had predicted.

One director after another repeated the experiment, but always with the result that the ball fell into whatever number they suggested. Cheer after cheer arose from the witnesses, and the police were either unwilling or powerless to suppress the applause.

"Une merveille," said M. Eperon, holding up his hands.

Everyone was absolutely dumbfounded.

As the directors were unable to maintain any of the charges against Delapine and Renée, they were requested to retire with the police to one of the anterooms, where a further conference was held.

At length they returned, and the Chef de Police asked Delapine how he invariably managed to put his stakes on the winning numbers.

"The law cannot compel me to explain my systems of play, gentlemen, and I refuse to answer. I have broken no law, I never saw either the croupiers or the roulette wheel before. I have not done anything against the regulations. I merely pitted my wits against yours, and I have won. Therein lies the whole of my offence."

At this all the visitors cheered, and were immediately silenced by the police.

M. Eperon was obliged to admit that they could not produce any evidence of guilt, and told the directors he was reluctantly compelled to dismiss the charge.

"What will you accept now to reveal your system to me?" said the head of the Administration in a whisper as he stepped up to the professor.

"If you will first hand over to me 500,000 francs as a reward for my disclosure as well as compensation to my fiancée and myself for our unjust arrest, I will disclose the secret," he replied, "but not otherwise."

At length after some discussion a cheque for the amount asked for by the professor was handed over to him.

"Excuse me," replied Delapine, "but I should much prefer to be paid in notes."

The head of the Administration gave a grim smile as he ordered the sum of half a million francs to be handed to him in crisp bank notes.

"Ah! that is better," replied Delapine as he put them very carefully away in his pocket-book.

"The whole secret, gentlemen," said the professor slowly and with great deliberation, "lies in my will power. It is the power of Mind over Matter. When I concentrate the whole of my will on the little ball, and resolve that it shall stop, it is obliged to do so. That is the whole secret, gentlemen--'Mens agitat molem' (the mind moves matter) is just as true to-day as it was when Vigil wrote these words nearly nineteen hundred years ago."

Thereupon Delapine took Renée by the hand, and bowing gracefully to the astonished and bewildered officials, and shaking hands with M. Eperon, he left the gendarmerie amid the applause of the crowd.

As his party were leaving the police court, Delapine gave a handsome present to each of the croupiers, and also paid a couple of detectives to assist in carrying the spoils in a large bag to the carriage. On his way out he met a young woman sobbing bitterly.

"What is the matter?" asked Delapine.

She told him that her husband was lying ill in Paris, and there being no means of supporting him and her children, she had sold everything she possessed, and had taken the train to Monte Carlo with the idea of winning sufficient money to keep the home going, and now, alas! she had lost her all.

Delapine gave her his address and told her to call on him at his hotel the next morning, and if he found that her story were true, he would send her home well provided for.

When the party arrived at the Hotel des Anglais, Delapine emptied the contents of the bag on the table.

The counting and piling up in thousands of all their winnings occupied more than an hour, and when at last the task was finished they found themselves in possession of no less than three million seven hundred thousand and fifty francs (3,700,050 francs).

"Now," said the professor to his friend Payot, "do you still doubt my powers? Perhaps this will help to convince you," and after carefully counting them he handed him 1,000,000 francs in crisp notes. Payot, overcome with emotion and weeping tears of joy, wrung his benefactor's hand, but was powerless to speak.

"That is not all," continued Delapine, "here is five hundred thousand francs for Renée's 'dot,' she has fairly earned them by the admirable way in which she carried out my instructions. Without her I could not have succeeded, for had I placed the stakes myself I could not have concentrated my mind sufficiently to control the movements of the ball."

Then turning to Villebois he said. "Here, my dear friend, is a gift for you," handing him at the same time 350,000 francs, "out of this you will be able to provide for Céleste. For you, my dear friend Beaupaire, is another 350,000 francs, and pray see that Violette has half of it for her 'dot', so that Marcel may be able to display the latest fashions in embroidered waistcoats." One hundred thousand and fifty francs he divided among the rest of the party, and 50,000 frs. he kept for emergencies out of which he paid back Charley and Ridgeway all they had lost, on their promise that they would not gamble in the future, and sent the poor woman away rejoicing to her sick husband in Paris.

"And what are you keeping for yourself, professor?" they all asked.

"I have my salary, and that is quite enough for me. I am merely keeping the remaining one million three hundred and fifty thousand francs, the interest of which I shall devote to the purchase of scientific instruments to assist my poorer students, and to help the poor unfortunates whom I saw were on the verge of being ruined by this pernicious gambling concern. And now," he said, smiling, "you must excuse me as I am sadly in need of a rest to recover from the strain of my mental powers which this game has cost me. I think, ladies and gentlemen, the bank will be unable to declare a dividend at the next half-yearly meeting. By the way, Riche, did you find out the whereabouts of that gentleman I sent you to follow out of the Casino?"

"Oh! yes, we found out he was staying at the Metropole. We saw his name in the books under the signature of Monsieur et Madame Paradis."

"Could you find out nothing more?" 7 "Nothing whatever," said Riche.

Delapine twirled his moustache meditatively. "Hum, what an odd name! Well, au revoir until to-morrow morning, when we shall have to prepare for our journey to Paris."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 21: No. 7 won 3,500 frs., the three even bets won 3,000 frs.: nos. 28 and 12 lost 200 frs.]