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The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz, Volume II

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Chevaliers D'industrie, Or Polite Sharpers

The 'protector' next hands over his 'young friends' to
'executioners,' who fleece them for the common benefit of the
confederates. They do not always wait for the coming of age of
their young dupes in order to strike the grand 'stroke.' When
they find that the father of a family shudders at the idea of a
public scandal, they immolate their victim at once--for fear lest
he should escape from their hands. Of course they are always
open to 'capitulate'--to come to terms; and if the aid of the law
is invoked they give in discreetly.

About a century ago there flourished at Paris one of these
adventurers, who made a great noise and did a vast amount of
evil. This man of a thousand faces, this Proteus, as great a
corrupter as he was corrupted, changed his name, his quarters,
and field of operations, according to the exigences of business.
Although a man of ardent temperament and inconceivable activity,
his cold-blooded rascality was never in a hurry. He could wait;
he could bide his time. Taking in, at a glance, all the
requirements of a case, and seeing through all its difficulties,
he worked out his scheme with the utmost patience and consummated
his crime with absolute security.

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