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Volume I Volume II

The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz

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GAMBLING AMONG THE ANCIENT HINDOOS.--A HINDOO LEGEND AND ITS MODERN PARALLEL

CHAPTER II. page 12

There are traditions of such stakes having been laid and lost by
husbands in _England;_ and a remarkable case of the kind will be
found related in Ainsworth's `Old Saint Paul's,' as having
occurred during the Plague of London, in the year 1665. There
can be little doubt that it is founded on fact; and the conduct
of the English wife, curiously enough, bears a striking
resemblance to that of Draupadi in the Indian narrative.

A Captain Disbrowe of the king's body-guard lost a large sum of
money to a notorious debauchee, a gambler and bully, named Sir
Paul Parravicin. The latter had made an offensive allusion
to the wife of Captain Disbrowe, after winning his money; and
then, picking up the dice-box, and spreading a large heap of gold
on the table, he said to the officer who anxiously watched his
movements:--`I mentioned your wife, Captain Disbrowe, not with
any intention of giving you offence, but to show you that,
although you have lost your money, you have still a valuable
stake left.'

`I do not understand you, Sir Paul,' returned Disbrowe, with a
look of indignant surprise.

`To be plain, then,' replied Parravicin, `I have won from you two
hundred pounds--all you possess. You are a ruined man, and as
such, will run any hazard to retrieve your losses. I give you a
last chance. I will stake all my winnings--nay, double the
amount--against your wife. You have a key of the house you
inhabit, by which you admit yourself at all hours; so at least I
am informed. If I win, that key shall be mine. I will take my
chance of the rest. Do you understand me now?'

`I do,' replied the young man, with concentrated fury. `I
understand that you are a villain. You have robbed me of my
money, and would rob me of my honour.'

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