fog pein st wae ; ~ BLEDAY Bet PAGE & COQ.il | A dO ALl | tii— ~ el ano ‘ - aap araans hip dipciidibanetdnenahalraatiintmien aaa pein ons tap ater, t eaereeyerteat reer ri( eh re “- ; - r > tee renee i u she ba GPS a) erree ty ay ; scat s Trorsal Seta = + Piet pees es eLiseusoks GRINNALDS—TWYFORD COLLECTION PRESENTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA BY MR. AND MRS. JEFFERSON C. GRINNALDS AS A MEMORIAL TO HIS MOTHER ROBERTA SARAH TWYFORD SUSECCRC REECE Re Rees } ue Sonn STi reas merle i ;Ch ereane Sois So tereee etre eee Gt: BEST ap + Spay bes + oh gibi hie eats erat Gh Tes ey Tt ye iTHE LURE OF MONTE CARLO paesseciraras i i ok rahe _ pth ee wos bet SGA ee aa Gee t Le sinter ee ees T 7) rod A ae - a aT 7? ae mre SSS = nas ert ek ae pe a RIE - ee SEES tee be at ~T) ae ; i — -Stee bet nated etera Ce had ats. Set ee Aree ese al f Be ae ths Faia 3 i i od te Lees © pend ® See PS be erp shew eos etre eh beak oo hen hn Cl rare iB h ve itheat oF 53 nese rae ee ee ye gs Fy b ) 4 = ig J ie dante a ceedinna meted HfS s can eee eed befTHE STATUE OF FORTUNE ON THE CASINO WALL DESIGNED EXPRESSLY FOR ITS PLACE BY SARAH BERNHARDT EIT OEE ELERS ESSE SES ES ESTER STENT SPI TT er Tee re Sta ee Eee racer teTHE LURE OF MONTE CARLO BY C. N.\& A. MY WILLIAMSON WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1924 aaa ahae Bet eore rrr e Bi — eet ee ee Es Rawle 7 Ph oon mG 7.5 e 34 eres Bt gryr RITE reer eh irre ae EN genie vos grata tree J as a) + ad, iat ape bares so. ge tee elUU veces ne Nee toate rk te = eee = a2 Ne Serk \S\"= A oe th a4 a . oC ie — © po ~ | | : \ \ Published 1924 Copyright in England. Mulls 3 Boon, Lid., London Made and Printed in Great Britain by Neill & Co., Lid., Edinburgh iy. § ra aePREFACE PROPER: LY, this book should be called The “ Lures”? of Monte Carlo, because there are dozens of lures, and a volume could easily be written round each. But please don’t be frightened! This isn’t Volume I. It is the only volume that’s going to be. In tell ling all I’ve learned about “‘ Monte ”’ in my fiftec en or sixteen seasons there, the method I’ve decided to work upon is: Condensation ; Concentration; one Chapter, one Lure; all Lures (blending together in a great composite Lure) boiled down into ae ica Five is a popular number in a certain game associated with Monte Carlo, as you may know! Rouge, Impaire, et Manque! The question is, which Lure to begin with; which to sandwich into the middle; which to work up to in the end, each being equally important in its own way. V PPETON NP ONE TET IRE TOE PET | - =r) ASS. SEH pre Dey ey gata ks reste - UateY eearth re Hei GaBaE atibiih ees ane ae vi THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO Let us, then, select these boiled-down Lures, and put them in their places. There is History. History and Destiny are step-sisters, walk- ing hand in hand; therefore, place aux dames ! we must begin with History. That settles itself. People may not travel to Monte Carlo from India, Egypt, China, Australia, and even from unknown islands in far-off, for- gotten seas, expressly in order to study the history of Monaco; still, such a unique and colourful history as this strange little Princi- pality has picked up in the last few thousand years adds charm and romance for imaginative minds. I can almost hear you echo, “ Imaginative minds! Monte Carlo!” and laugh. But do believe me, it is the imaginative minds that feel most thrillingly Monte Carlo’s lure, even the lure of the cai There is Scenery. Scenery groups itself with History, because it gives background to the pageant. W e may know in our hearts that, although for.one reason or other ‘‘ Monte” would be as popular if it possessed no fairer scenery es PsPIE ET Wits t irr germ eederer sarees hie t tt Tt crt tl ol enPREFACE V1 than Clapham Junction or the outskirts of Jersey City, nevertheless flowery gardens shadowed with palms and framed by opal mountains towering above a sapphire sea add beauty’s siren call. Then comes Climate, hand in hand with Scenery, which it helps to create and sustain. Distinctly it ranks as an attraction; yet— let me warn you that it should never be oy -] sc . ~ ; sro eae =] ar 71oOMC 7 as used as an excuse. He who excuses himself U 4. or wintering at °° Monte” Teese of the +h climate’’ is popularly supposed to accuse himself of—but never dat It is a delicious climate, more bracing at of sweet Mentone about five miles 8. ward, nestling the Italian frontier; less ian glittering Nice, twelve miles along the azure coast of France to the west. All the same, don’t dwell too earnestly upon the beneficial climate to your friends at home. Now we have the lure-procession started from the head, but before we think of its long and scintillating tail we must recog onise the importance of the body. Society, Amuse- ments, and Sport strengthen and adorn it. The Scandals, old and new, the eternal z . area . . . nti Pere peer esters ett eat TT ti eee Ta PEPENe Gee aint: | SAR Se ET Lee ee PTS rete Se eae Stns PE . ¥ ee A ees Pena teer ee zi 1S R ee ee and A aa eee | ee. es eo * the oY RETERS a7 oy peo 2 hak ou 4 Pas ST ater aoe czy reve4 Sap Dean pub ie a8 a vil THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO Comedy, Tragedy, and Romance give piquant individuality. The Secret Season—well, that shall be a secret till it falls into line as a Lure known at present to comparatively few. As for Lures IV and V on my list, they — though no more important on principle than the rest—make more show, call for more space. Together they form the end of the procession, and the jew elled iridescence of a peacock’s tail spread in the sun is ae Arh eh a yee Tot be ol Masi tid pet-pecae bin betes = e bens hg ate ie 9 tae eT PSSU PETER LETTS ST STS TSOP ete titer ieee nt mee Vistiai its sien tri su te totem aCONTENTS LURE PAGE PREFACE Vv I. History—FrRom HERCULES UP TO DATE 13 II. SCENERY ; CLIMATE ; EXCURSIONS ; Montr Carwuo’s HINTERLAND; THE SECRET SEASON 48 Ill. Soctery ; Demt-Soctrty : Non-Soctrk&ty : I AMUSEMENTS ; SPORT 8] IV. Tor GamBiine ; TALES OF THE TABLES ; SUPERSTITIONS; ROMANCES; COMEDIES; TRAGEDIES . . 100 V. METHODS OF PLAY ; SYSTEMS, ETC. - 1ol Sa Terr ces in — uy PETES,ae PO at f) paale pa aa Pal rar ¥ rs ee ey} Nase bees Ae eh Le t ts ; i “| 3 Le I 4. 2 ant i Aor) es roe ae ape 4982 een renee ea Cal chews aioe potest wi Tad nae. eed Lewd ee soe pasted? Lea Te el pose eee en be vow bet ase 4 ee Bs Mad abate prety re r a a ee Seas He ae 6st ee aad PUTPIPTIET Sr icecepent rea Crit eer ow a etek rath) cv irons salt ole Lk aeLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The Statue of Fortune on the Casino Wall, designed expressly for its place by Sarah Bernhardt — Frontispiece FACING PAGE The Promontory of Monaco 3 ea AUS The Gardens from the Casino, Monte Carlo . : 55 Monte Carlo, seen from the old fortifications of Monaco . . 58 The School of Croupiers—Underground s 20 The Roulette Wheel, taken apart to prove that there was no fake a bo —I The Casino employee using the “ Spirit Level” to see that the roulette wheel is correctly balanced. This is done at each table early every morning 134 Roulette Wheel and Tableau : : ee Se EPs iertet ie bist et ee se re weet Payee eer PERE E VEL IT betes pen oer ti spies Cena Lal 7? Be bape’ 3 etn eat terete Pts brat eee aeparti 5 ey re Sa tl ee res Ree T <7 Seer a Es 133 em fer peel hy a he ae fh . aa ERLE) rete hth eT La ga tess Pad peer a pare’ +" 4 et Sid - je , ay - I~ Se ee ete A oak ce - < bes 7bee tea rity had SEE Sao ebel el a eee sis are boast perc aT ye inva a ———— = Pr omnipnd J pate a 3 ; R48) at if Edi ot a Serie sa cata ise wad oes c ah of tees Laks MSIL NTRS To eae Cee a ee ees Trt et ciate are ayTHE LURE OF MONTE CARLO LURE I HISTORY —FROM HERCULES UP TO DATE Ler’s pretend that you and I are friends who have known each other alongtime. You have come to Monte Carlo for a first visit. Before using your letters of introduction to people in hotels or villas, before getting your ticket of admission to the Casino and to the Sporting Club, or launching out upon a hectic career of pleasure, you wish to know a few things about the Principality itself which only an ‘old inhabitant ”’ can tell. The most appropriate place to talk of Monaco’s history is on top of Monaco’s Rock, so we climb there on foot, in order to go back mentally for more centuries than we'll stop to count before reaching the old Place d’Armes, the Palace, the Government build- ings, and so on. 13 One SESS praise SME PET Syst pee Fy Greg tk Pet eter ie ert Prsre his ties eee ie ety se et SA hay SS a a ey erties pe) ee asad | ; mes ‘f eS Aste eos oy pit Q ets viret. ee MATES- Soe! eae! 14 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO Looking up from the bottom of the winding mule path, the way seems steep and far. We almost wish that we hadn’t decided to be so heroic, but that instead we had hailed a taxi, or one of those smart victoria-like vehicles drawn by two fast horses, so charac- teristic of Monte Carlo even in automobile days. Rather than walk up, we might even have taken the Monaco tram (trolley), that starts in the Boulevard d’Italie at Monte Carlo, descends the hill to the Condamine (where the harbour frames a deep bay of beryl green flecked with blue), and then mounts the higher hill to Monaco’s ancient town on the rock. But it’s too late now! It would be weak to change our minds. Up we go, and soon are in the spirit of the adventure. The mule path isn’t steep really. Mule paths never are, or mules would calmly sit down and refuse to move. Thus Dante must have climbed when he made his famous pilgrimage to what we moderns name the ‘‘ French Riviera,’ and the huddled old town of ruddy-tiled roots and narrow streets like deep, dark cracks doesn’t look as if it had changed much since FIVEEUS EAST SITA Taare tl: tits ik te tee Pel een ere ie ret tt tr re a ee ae ' >HISTORY 15 he took the Aurelian Way from Italy to Provence. The fortress castle of the first Grimaldi princes hadn’t crumbled into ruin then; but it must be even more picturesque in our day than in his, now that the moss-grown foundations blend with the rose-and-grey tints of the rock whence they spring. We don’t linger in the Place d’Armes, or stop to stare at the Renaissance palace built to replace the ancient castle. The great Romanesque cathedral of black and white, whose silver chimes float across the waters of the bay to ears of gamblers, was mostly paid for by the gold of gamblers, and is interesting in many ways. But this is not our moment for it, nor for the huge “ Fish Museum,” as the late Prince Albert’s monu- mental Museum of Oceanography is called. They belong to the late past and the present. We are going to dream in the far, far pas for a little while; then we'll stroll back this way, and there will be no confusion or anachronism. Ne go along the Promenade St Martin to find a seat in the hanging garden, near one of the charming sentinel towers where longTa ie ie a rer Hat pare een ve Rist eeere en et He Bn itt ue eet Hf Snare Pst t an a nee bE et Mite nierierrers it Sy dy £3) 4 th ba . 16 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO ago soldiers of Grimaldi sovereigns watched for enemy ships. We can look far down over the sheer precipice of rock into a sea of transparent emerald through which blue flames seem to shoot and shiver; and the song of that sea—sung upon the same siren notes for thousands of years—will tell us the tale of the past if we listen. Long, long ago there was no sea here, yet even in those days there was history : dumb, brutish history of cave folk ae mammoth animals—the “last of the dragons ’ and the fierce, naked men who mastered them by the superior force of budding human intelligence. That story is told by the troglodyte skeletons discovered during the nineteenth century, tucked away to sleep in many a snug cavern high up on the mountain face ; told by them and their remarkable orna- ments of shells brought from far-off seas by prehistoric travellers in trade ; told, too, by the bleached bones of mammoth beasts and the black stains of hearth-fires on cave walls. The Mediterranean—‘ middle sea ’’—has no whisper of those times, for its blue flood had not yet poured through that vast valley SISOS See) OD ree eee ae Pe yy et Te CUI LU bleep tga la bts ee ee ss ecb mht pi eran er eeelee eta, - reHISTORY 17 between the mountains of North Africa and the Alpes-Maritimes. The tale of Monaco’s beginnings told by the sea starts, so far as we know, with the Iberians, fugitives from Spain, who were followed by the mysterious fort-building Ligurians who were later to resist the power of Rome. Then, also through Spain, where they had been conquerors, came the great adventurers and civilisers of the world’s dawn, the trading, fighting Pheenicians. About the time that others of their race were buying tin in Cornwall, the Phcenicians of Spanish conquests strayed southward through the gate of the Pyrenees, and among various discoveries annexed a certain peninsular rock which, like the fortress- castle of some Titan king, towered out of the azure sea. This rock possessed not only the charm of beauty; it had practical possibilities which the Phcenicians recognised. There was the bay, almost a ready-made port; and inland were rivers and rich fertile plains. While Nature was being supplemented in the creation of that port, religious artists planned a temple in honour of the Pheenicians' most admired deity, the Greek man-god, ) dead ak Tot a eer a ys 5 od a os OM eae ts ‘ i Ye ree PERE SL TST ey eo S i pin ka po! ees eate Dae it ey mee ty rr. Pa 6 Pie} eC etic Lat eek nAake ak te 4 * pay Oe ane re oeHepes MONACO OF SS OS = ~ Z. zm — 4 Kos i — SA ~ A, THE Reet Wotetooipnect slit mens thatthe r eth. Lt en ee Sem ryihsb pb teaihe ss EISHISTORY 19 Hercules fell in love with the rock, on which perhaps to his godlike eyes the siren, who still sits on its height and lures men, was visible. He coveted the majestic shape, as you and I might covet some old chateau passed in motoring, and in his day to covet was to take. On the rock, which he named for himself, Hercules established a colony, which prospered, and probably played the first gambling game with dice, which the Phoenicians merely copied. Hercules himself could not have found much time to play, however, for legend says that he occupied himself in exterminating the sea-dragons that infested the coast, lurking in the caverns now basely known as “blow holes ’’ at Cap Martin, between Monte Carlo and Mentone. Even to this day a slice of Cap Martin is called “* La Dragonnieére,”’ and peasant mothers warn their children to come home before dark, or the one dragon who escaped Hercules’ sword will catch them. I believe in the Hercules legend myself, and I hope that you will. Those dwellers within the Principality of Monaco who love romance like to call themselves “ the guests of Hercules,” you know.20 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO After the Phoenicians who honoured Hercules came the Carthaginians in their wonderful ships, and made use of the fine commercial roads their practical predecessors had prepared. Ancient coins found in the low-lying Condamine, under the shadow of the rock, show just when Carthaginian rule was first established. Then at last the glory of Carthage faded. Roman feet trod the miraculous mountain road begun by Hercules, and nobly called by Roman men the “Herculean Way,” before the days of the ‘‘ Aurelian Way.” The old Greek name of Hercules Monoikos was Romanised, and the port became Portus Herculis Monceci. But the Romans had to fight for three hundred years with the brave, grey-eyed Ligurians before they could call the azure coast in general, and Monaco Rock in, particular, their own. When at last the agricultural soldiers laid down their arms and ceased from their generations of guerrilla warfare, Augustus Czesar was so pleased about it that he began to build his great triumphal Trophia on the mountain which gives Monaco so fine a background. You and I will go up by the21 HISTORY famous funiculaire some day and visit “ La Turbie,” as it has now become. We will wander round the huge ruin, a magnificent gesture of triumph in stone, and note the reconstruction being splendidly, if slowly, made by French archeologists. From the site of the Trophia—or lower down at the Moorish-looking, pink hotel where people come for glorious views and almost equally glorious food—we can see a broken stone pillar standing up against sky and sea: the ‘“ Tour de Supplice,”’ where the Romans are said to have executed their Ligurian prisoners with torture. All this groups itself with the history of Monaco; and there is history, too, in the old mountain town of La Turbie with its dark tunnels of streets and its houses built with the stones from the Trophia itself. Here in the feudal and Middle Ages was a colony of refugee Jews who had been persecuted in the sunny plains below. Yes, I suppose that, talking of La Trophia, we may as well begin here to skip from Roman triumphs to feudal horrors. La Trophia, where the god Apollo was said to call when he visited Ligurian forests to flirt with pretty se2 — ——————- “3 = 7 ™ = wilt Fe | arrears ‘ aH brein eT ee Lhe - v2. 7 Be) a oes cas ey" : 5 Olver aie are LT Lakadc te ae Be a ka eae eS Te eae Dt the 42 Zs oeet. ae RS CeO ae ‘ eis hee ee ees Sede Aine od Y - 7 3 pas tee oe 2 7 ‘ - : at 5 ae Si P s iets aia ¥ 2 Teo er si 4 porate ore app teet ts ibe te tatt rie wees tart ETL eb et hia + oe ipa tee tbet e Epa has eypal DO Te 22 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO nymphs and dryads, suffered many humilia- tions at the hands of the Goths and Vandals, and was temporarily transformed into a fortress in times medieval. Only rare events of public interest shook the Rock of Hercules after it became import- ant under the Romans, until it shook in good earnest when overrun by all the bandits of Kurope and pirates of the sea. Of these rare events, however, there are at least two that ought not to be skipped, for though they “bulked not large in the world’s eye,” they have a memorable place in Monaco’s most romantic records. Here, in the hanging garden on the rock, within a stone’s throw of her grotto, is the right place to review the very ancient story of Sainte Dévote. Just as Hercules is the pagan patron as well as founder of Monaco (his figure remaining on the town arms, though covered with a monkish robe by medieval Church dignitaries), so is the gentle Dévote the Christian patron of the rock. She was a beautiful young girl who lived on the island of Corsica, which, though eighty miles across the sea from Monaco, appears in the famous mirage of dawn or sunset to beHISTORY 23 almost within swimming distance. On the mountainous island it was still fashionable in Dévote’s day (about 300 A.D.) to worship the ancient gods; but Dévote and a few other ‘“‘fair young virgins,” the old story tells, were converted to Christianity by an eloquent priest who had lately been preaching in North Africa. These girls dedicated them- selves to the service of Jesus Christ ; and the work of Dévote, the moving spirit of the band, soon drew the attention of the pagan authorities. She refused to abjure her religion even in torture, and was at last mercifully slain by a sword that pierced her heart. The body would have been given to carrion crows had it not been for the Christian priest. His mission on the island being finished, he determined to take back with him to Africa the body of Dévote and there give it sacred burial. Aided by a fisherman, one of his disciples, the priest placed the dead. girl in a small boat and covered her with island flowers. Thus living and dead sailed away; but a contrary wind carried them north instead of south, and in an inspired dream the priest saw Dévote rise from among her fragrant flowers. EMIT ie haat —_ yee ete eee Aura) ter Ea ae Fee SEMIS es Epa rceyer es 2 Sp SPOT eT) oe idl Ride ceeds wpe rr Pech tS Raea Sie an sea tba rey ertra tierce tr ee iM TE Ue pias 24 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO “Take me not to Africa,’ she said, ‘‘ but to the Port of Hercules, and build there an oratory chapel above my dead body. When we near the place where I wish to lie in my long sleep, a white dove will issue from the wound which took my life, and fly towards the rock where the sepulchre must be.”’ When the priest wakened, he did not believe in the truth of this dream, even though he saw that the mass of flowers had been pushed aside from the face and breast of the dead Dévote while he slept. He did not wish to believe, because he knew little about the Rock of Hercules, and he and the fisherman had their hearts set upon Africa. They strove against the wind that drove them north, but their efforts were vain. A resistless power guided them towards the place of the dream, and within sight of the promontory a sleep of exhaustion brought another vision to the priest. He saw a white dove spring from the bosom of the girl and fly straight into a narrow ravine, or valley, which is now called the Vallon de Gaumates. In a dusky recess of the rock-wall it perched, and remained bright as a silver lamp in a dark church. No longer could the two men resist this leading.HISTORY 25 Though the dove was but the creature of a dream, a pale semblance of it with spread wings and a lily in its beak seemed printed upon the rock like an inlay of silver. When the sepulchre had been made for Dévote (she was buried under the flowers that, like her body, remained fair and iresh), even if the priest and the fisherman had wished to leave, they could not have done so. The inhabitants of the rock and the plain beneath were so impressed by the arrival and the story of the two dreams, that they burnt the boat in which the three had come to their shores. Converted to Christianity by the priest, they built the first chapel on the very spot where the present one now stands—so small, so white in its dim ravine !—and Dévote of the dove lives for ever as the patron saint of the rock. It would be hard to count the Mona- gasque girls named in her honour; and each year, on the supposed anniversary of the miraculous landing, with great ceremonial the boat of Sainte Dévote is burned in the harbour. This is one of the events concerning Monaco which have to be mentioned before skipping to the Middle Ages, and the other is a visit of Ls ee _ ae abla aie r i — = se rs Spt G sth tal of Panta d + fa eet i Tas iba aut igen Ta ET Tk - 7 eer io re ee Teese he Pats Creer Cees ss pt ire rr = Pactep oe RET TT ree cs Pea pre peers Fa it Bind 4°27} ee ia: — wen’ i. romiaheae a) ; nostraPSV eryrperatre rere etre) ETP Tine SAM hed dikes pe ey Sey te ey oe ee Se mana ay arate Nae td tata ee a ae a Le 47 APNGl: pin . i rs ‘4a. mid ata ee 26 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO the great Roman Emperor Maximilian. He had been fighting and crushing the Bagaudes in Gaul, and it was from the Port of Hercules that he chose to take ship with his army for Italian shores. There was a slight delay in getting off, and Maximilian is supposed to have been impressed by the possibilities of the harbour. “A wise man might well spend money here,’’ he remarked. And perhaps it was this speech which inspired the late Prince Albert of Monaco to lavish millions and make his harbour of importance to Europe. After the Romans passed, five centuries are missing from the history of Monaco. Perhaps they were peaceful centuries. I'd like to believe so, for all the “ wild thyme ”’ in the world might be named after what the azure coast went through between the sixth and eleventh centuries after Christ. All the fierce peoples whose ambition was to sack the Roman Empire found what we call the Riviera a pleasant place to spend a holiday en route from Gaul or Lombardy or some- where. Of course their idea of a holiday was pillage. They stole everything that men had worth having, including their wives andHISTORY 27 daughters, and burned down their houses as a climax, just for the fun of the thing: Van- dals, Goths, Burgundians, etc., also came the Lombards, drunk with their triumph over the Milanese. They enjoyed themselves thoroughly till Charlemagne humbled them ; but Monaco and its seaside neighbours in Liguria profited little from the Lombards’ enforced absence. Riviera dwellers had to find handy rocks to which their families and belongings could be hastily transported trom the smiling but dangerous plains below. “The Saracens are coming!” was the cry ; and that cry echoed constantly over the blue coast for full two centuries. Those were the days when the wonderful rock-towns of the 2iviera and its hinterland, which we admire so much, were built round the vestiges of pagan temples by desperate men with litle eye to the picturesque. Shoulder to shoulder on their dark heights the old, old houses still stand, as their de- fenders once stood. But often all defence was vain. The fierce hordes from the sea poured up the steep, almost unclimbable slopes, ravaged and killed, and annexed their victims’ dwellings for their own. peeked a eee Seer StS ere re Tas easy fis — 7 west a5 A 7 MT eto ce gente rar ney eae hy cs pap ah ees Tia oe ens bgetnd aes econ oe er] = a te ey aA tessa paper ee cre oes ae ss Bn fe =28 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO The wonderful rock-village of Eze (once crowned by a temple of Ceres) and many other mountain-towns along the coast tell the historic tale with dark, Saracenic eyes, and Arab words sprinkled among the Latin, Italian, and old French of their patois. In those troubled days men who knew how to organise others of less brain force, and teach them to fight, became great seigniors, and their fortress-castles took the place of pagan temples on the defended heights along the shore. In the eleventh century Monaco was protected by the seigneur of La Turbie— (La Trophia). More and more consequence was given to the harbour, and in the twelfth century the Republic of Genoa, calling herself *‘ Mistress of the Seas,”’ decided that the Port of Hercules should belong to her. After many negotiations her time came. Henry VI, Sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire, needed Genoa’s help to carry out his revenge upon Sicily, and, to gain this help, ceded the port and promontory—on con- ditions. ‘These were, that the Mistress of the Seas should construct a castle-fortress on the summit of the rock, and there fight theHISTORY 29 emperor’s battles against the powerful Counts of Provence who claimed Monaco. Genoa promised—but didn’t perform. The Emperor Frederic II was obliged to give gentle reminders followed by veiled threats. Then at last, in the early thirteenth century, were begun the four massive towers which now in their ruin seem almost one with the rock itself. The ‘“‘ new castle,” the fortress was called then, showing that it must have had a predecessor. And near by a church was built, called the Church of St Martin, in whose honour was named the garden promenade where you and I are sitting as we talk. Many things good and bad happened to Monaco after that, but as a Principality of the Grimaldi family it was born towards the close of the thirteenth century, just about the time when the ‘‘ new castle’? was ready for the reception of a master. Already the Grimaldis were powerful, and had served Genoa as soldiers and statesmen. Their birthplace was a rock-village, still bearing their name and showing the ruins of their first home, on a height just past the Italian frontier, near Ventimiglia. But other yi - ee Ts 27 AEG ED me: a Pe oe ert ho tatelack ei eos30 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO lands had been given them, and they had dotted the coast with castles as far westward as Nice. Genoa was under the influence of the Guelphs in that puzzling feud with the tire- some Ghibelines which convulsed all Italy, but in a bloodthirsty massacre they were routed. To uphold their power along the coast and regain Genoa, they needed the Port of Monaco. How to get it was the question, for, protected as it was by Genoese ships and its own natural advantages, the height could be captured only by surprise. Some clever trick was needed, and Franchesino di Grimaldi thought of one. On a wild night when the mistral was blowing (it was January 8, 1297), a monk of saintly appearance presented himself at the lower gates of the fortress. He had travelled far, and begged of the guards that he might have food and a few hours’ rest. Why not— one man alone? The few soldiers on duty all good Catholics, when it was no trouble to be good—consulted together. But before they had time to close the portcullis behind him, the false monk—no other than Grimaldi himself—attacked the half-dozen men withHISTORY 31 incredible force and fury. While they de- fended themselves against the amazing onslaught, Grimaldi’s followers poured in through the unclosed gates, hundreds of Guelph soldiers hidden by the darkness of night, and the fortress fell to them. After that surprise conquest, Monaco under Grimaldi hunted the Ghibelines by sea and land. Guelphs triumphed, and Guelphs failed, as years-went on, but the Grimaldis were never permanently banished. Their qualities as soldiers made them famous throughout Kurope. A Charles Grimaldi fought at Crécy in 1346, and was grievously wounded, but ten years later he was governing Ventimiglia for Queen Joanna, having already acquired Mentone (Roman Lumone), as part of his possessions, from the great Vento family, now fallen upon evil days of poverty. I have seen men of that ancient name driving cabs and taking tickets in trams, but they still keep their clear-cut features and_ perfect manners. Charles the Grand was the title bestowed upon this Grimaldi before he died. Few of his descendants were ever quite so deserving of the name. They lost and won the rock and port. ‘The fortunes of Europe TT es jx eT aay xs i i err et ia Stoaieh a fad es See, ee erty a4 ete -4 fap Lee eye ee a UR ag Soe eek Bier eS C Se oT Garett ay weer i A sau sioeg Pee ee Lilet ede it ee EL beeen ate)= Maher Ma nc DT Rais Rae yi 4 ron ea! Peqea ty Gea hp aaa . 135%) Oa asta Tee TSIM ni a 32 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO changed like the patterns in a kaleidoscope, and the Grimaldis came and went. They always thought of the rock as theirs, how- ever, and schemed to keep it for one branch or other of the family. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Monaco owned a proud navy; but in 1569 its lord was reduced by semi-starvation to sell his ships to Genoa. Spain had neglected to pay him money owed for services. Nor was this the last time that Spain was a lagging debtor of Monaco. All through the records of slow-passing years recur those words: ‘‘ Spain defaults.” As late as 1625 Spain and Monaco were in lively correspondence. Spain conferred upon Prince Honoré Grimaldi the Order of the Golden Fleece, and then embarrassed him extremely by failing to keep the engagements made in a thirty-year-old treaty. Mona- gasque soldiers could not be paid. The Principality was enslaved, and the one remaining honour conferred upon its unhappy sovereign was an occasional (and expensive) visit from an Austrian Archduke or a Queen of Hungary. (Since then, before the world war, Monte Carlo took many a revenge out of the pockets of Austrian archdukes, etc. !) pat 4 =i 3HISTORY 33 Somehow, despite his bad luck, Honoré had nevertheless managed to build a fine palace (practically destroyed in the Revolution) in which to receive his distinguished though unwelcome visitors. Perhaps that was one reason why they were so fond of coming ! By Honoré’s time, not only Mentone but Roquebrune was included in the Principality, and things would have been going well had there been money to pay for palaces and soldiers. By treaty Spaniards ruled; by other treaties and by battles Spaniards lost control. In 1644, while Honoré still lived, pirates returned in force to ravage the azure coast, and the poor, harassed prince with his hungry soldiers strove to keep up the brave traditions of his ancestors. It was in his day, too, that the revolution in England and banishment of the Stuarts linked itself with Monagasque history! The Duke of York, afterwards King James IJ, wished to negotiate with Monaco for a naval port whence to do battle with the Protector ; and the courtesy, combined with diplomacy, of Honoré in this war of wits earned thanks from the French Court. During the next years it is quite exciting Wi toad eA Pisa amie PEP Tie Ld ae Da) el TTSy r > SEPM TP Ta sj po *yretit roe ETE tete reettaee ete eek eid reer hon re reat ne oe +2 piiomi a are ses earira se tarsay Fp eh ET CONT pee es vi ho eed yapsct lange : ce ea Ninote ee eee ns ae ety ia attste* 7 Fed ts heated ‘alee raed er pms Sipe ghee Pe eae Sliced fern34 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO to see how famous names join themselves with Monagasque history. Prince Antoine Lin the bewildering warfare of the early eighteenth century, was so loyal to France (he sent the one ship of his navy, pawned his jewels, and gave the famous Grimaldi silver to help his big neighbour) that in the Treaty of Utrecht erateful France refused to cede Monaco to Savoy. In 1747 the reigning sovereign saved his Principality by his brave pronouncement to the English of Monagasque neutrality in the war between France and the Austro-Sardinian allies. He sent official messengers on board the leading ship of the three English men-of- war threatening to bombard Mentone, and invited them to dine at the palace on the rock. This probably appealed to the British sailors’ sense of humour. In any case, the dinner came off and the bombardment didn’t ! In 1767, while Honoré III reigned at Monaco, King George III's brother, the Duke of York, going by sea from Marseilles to Genoa, was taken ill. His ship put into the Port of Monaco, and the duke was carried to the palace. Every care was given him, but the sickness was mortal, and death came onHISTORY 35 the eleventh day. King George sent a frigate to bring his brother’s body home; and the next year testified his gratitude by inviting the Grimaldi prince to visit him in England. Many honours were bestowed upon the guest, and among the presents he received were a number of pedigree horses from the Duke of Gloucester. There had been time between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for Queen Victoria to forget this incident, when she refused to accept the attentions offered her at Monaco on her way to Mentone. But much water had run under the mill during that long interval—and roulette wheels had begun to turn ! In 1792 France suppressed the Grimaldis’ feudal right over French lands, granted as a reward of loyalty when that same century was young. The prince demanded an in- demnity; but it had not been paid when Louis XVI fell. Now, save for its neutrality, Monaco would have been in the hottest of hot waters ; even as it was, the revolutionary Spirit seized the prince’s subjects. Generals of the French Republic were commanded to organise everywhere free ad- eee yeee ein er era rer erent err rrr : Bers Prati eeu pee EL EA La EE UATE Mii eid Be eine bree hy rte tere bites Ss eitedd erates — eecrete sterrietind ence ee ” i. t rats eS NEy, eratisieatstis tears = tes at eer ere eo , - , na By F he : $ 4 * ere) 7 ee - eed AN s oy PLT O! hg ee yet Ne Lehi bP aa B15 Sek Peepers eee | oe: P i pes iasot lA ATs, ibs * 1! he Par o i" 36 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO ministrations based on the new laws of France. Neutrality or no neutrality, pronounced General Brunell, the decree should be applied to Mentone! A tree of liberty was planted by the patriots, and Monaco rose in arms against their Grimaldi ruler. All protests of the prince were in vain. He saw his little country forcibly united with Republican France, and dark grew the sky for him and his. Suspected of plotting, he was im- prisoned. All his relatives living in France suffered the same fate; a Prince of Monaco was beheaded; the palace on the rock was pillaged, and became a military hospital. Even the name ‘“‘ Monaco” was replaced by that of ‘‘ Fort Hercules.” Thus degraded, the lost Principality slept a nightmare sleep through the Napoleonic wars in Italy, roused once by an English bombard- ment, and half awakened by Napoleon’s construction of the Corniche road which crossed what once had been Grimaldi land. In the general ruin, the family ceased to use its proud name. Even under the empire the Duc de Valentinois was called plain ‘Monsieur Valentinois,” he who should have been the ruling prince was “ Monsieur deHISTORY 37 Monaco”; yet it was for him to revive something of the Grimaldi luck. He won Napoleon’s favour, and became chamberlain to the empress. This, he said, was ~ but the entering wedge.” His ambition was to have his family’s sovereign rights restored, and negotiations had begun when, as Louis XVI had fallen, so fell the emperor. Still, Prince Joseph did not lose hope. He waited. The allies entered Paris, and a treaty to settle the affairs of HKurope was in progress. It looked as if Grimaldi claims would be sacrificed and torn to pieces by powerful neighbours; but—Prince Joseph had always kept on friendly terms with Talleyrand. There is a story, and perhaps a true story, which brings a pretty lady into this delicate affair: a whisper in Talleyrand’s ear at the right moment, and—a signature which changed Monaco’s long winter of dis- content to glorious summer. Be this as it may, the Treaty of Paris placed the Princi- pality of Monaco where it had been before the fatal January 1, 1792. You see how dramatic each act has been in the history of Hercules’ Rock. The roulette wheel of Fate has turned some un- Wappen ok el Ss ie psy RTE eT a SRG rs ary PP eee a raat stg ost) 5h Ta T pearerveciete -. Whar sace aa e port tae SS dare dakar - ve ieee eee ha dig mbna be meee ES ‘ ks aah ae ’ SE 0 at Cet CT dee eod 4 nae Seat eere Testi t,t pa aS as Toy erent “s nt 7 tad - Ft RE Ts da aes bee eee PAS et tt teePrelit is esate reas LiL Sar aba dea “IPR ppd pete di, 88 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO expected patterns; and a neat little cowp de deux (run of two) was spun one day in March, 1815. Thanks to Prince Joseph, to Talleyrand (and perhaps to a lady), Honoré IV was on his way southward to enter in state into his possessions. Not tar from Cannes the Grimaldis’ post- chaise, with four fresh horses, was stopped about eleven o'clock at night by a small armed band. ‘“‘ We must have the loan of two of your horses,’ announced a man in the uniform of a general. “‘ Impossible!” answered Honoré IV sharply. “I need them myself, and I am in a hurry.” “So are we in a hurry,” retorted the general. Another officer of shorter build came forward out of a little olive grove. The darkness shadowed his face, yet something in his allure, as the French say, thrilled the prince. “Whither are you bound, Monsieur ? ”’ asked the newcomer. To Monaco,” replied Honoré. “I am the reigning prince, going to retake possession of my throne.”’HISTORY 39 “Ah!” exclaimed the other. “A co- incidence. I am Napoleon Bonaparte, en route to Paris to retake possession of my throne.” Two horses were lent to the emperor, who had made his escape from Elba. He went to Paris, to plunge into the adventure we know; and Honoré continued his journey to Monaco, foreseeing a hundred new com- plications for himself as well as for Kurope. In those days as in these, nobody had any money, and the princes of Monaco had less, it seemed to them, than anyone else, especi- ally when, after some bad bargaining with Turin, the Principality had to abandon its rights to manufacture cigars and the odd objects which did duty for cigarettes in those days. 'The concessions obtained in place of this right proved worthless; and, since even a prince must live, the sovereign of the moment decided that his one resource was to become a tyrant. No Grimaldi of Monaco ever had been a tyrant, and having no precedent, this ruler did not succeed very well. Despite the advice of certain among his councillors in the ancient and loyal aristocracy of Monaco, the prince short- SSNS ea SS a ears) ba ede Tass vee Ethie ae Firsts ir Zemin ind Sa ee ae ’ , a <4 ey 4 tf PEs oor] SiR e a See a Be i at er ey rea eheaaea ers (ra eer ta kins ; Pre ete g ee ak ae Say oats - in . pets a le sa eran satan she ee CT Tai bata een En dui > peat ,SMA BE Ratt ey sips Peet eh aM AIM ge Bier atenre ee tt SAE 3 40 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO sightedly relieved his country of financial embarrassment for the moment by giving an exclusive concession to a Marseilles “‘ profiteer,”’ seller of grain and maker of bread. Years passed, but matters grew worse instead of better. Oil mills were estab- lished outside the Principality. A road to these mills had to be constructed, and a tax was levied on the Monagasques, already obliged to pay extortionate prices for flour and bread. Also the material sold to them was bad, and they were forbidden to buy elsewhere. Tired of complaints and glum faces, the prince turned his back on the rock and took up his residence in Paris. But why should he enjoy himself there while his people suffered? Why should he re- build and redecorate the palace he scorned to live in while their wretched homes crumbled for want of repairs? Why should he plan exquisite gardens (you and I are sitting in them now!) while women and children starved ? The last straw was when the handsome but obstinate Honoré proudly established a mint for the making of money, practically useless outside the Principality. He left aHISTORY Al heritage of trouble and little else to his romantically named and well-meaning brother Florestan. No one believed in Florestan’s good faith. Like a chained dog, revolution growled year after year, until in the great Italian struggle for freedom and the Revolution in Paris the chain was snapped. Concessions hastily made came too late. Mentone and Rocca- bruna definitely rebelled in 1840, and aiter a Gilbert and Sullivan revolution, serious incidents mingled with comic opera, the two communes shook off the princely shackles. Mentone and Roccabruna became free towns, “ »rotected” by the King of Sardinia; and it was only by luck—and extreme loyalty —that the rock kept its own flag instead of the flag of Sardinia, which threatened to wave above its ancient ramparts. It was not until 1859-60 that Mentone and Roccabruna became French with all the western Riviera, and thenceforth frenchified themselves into ‘“‘ Menton” and “ Roquebrune”’ respectively. Still, say the peasants, “if you chased all the Italians away from the Midi, there would be precious few inhabitants left.” The sympathies of_ a 42 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO Monaco (what was left of it) were French, and the protectorate of Sardinia over the rock was abandoned. Those were the days of post-chaises. Little had changed since that exquisite classic, Doctor Antonio, had been written by Guy Ruffini, first making Bordighera famous in literature. But in 1868 a railway was opened between Mentone and Nice. The reason why this railway was urgently needed at this date hasn’t come down to us in history ; but any amateur Sherlock Holmes is free to “* deduce.”’ Prince Charles II] was a wise and good prince. He wished the old saying, ** Monaco must pull in his belt not to suffer hunger,” to become obsolete; and it occurred to him that a miniature Casino planned on German lines (Germany was coining untold millions from gambling then) might be useful in a small, despotic state where no permission, no concession, need be asked from powers behind the throne. There were, in fact, no powers behind the Monagasque throne! People had “ discovered’ the Riviera about this time. Invalids wintered at Mentone. Why shouldn’t gamblers winter at Monaco ?HISTORY 43 Monaco was too small for most industries to thrive; but the industry of gambling takes up less room than most others of far- reaching possibilities. The first Casino was situated on the rock, where, later, 1t was turned into barracks for soldiers. The idea was a brilliant one; but somehow it languished in execution, until Monsieur Francois Blanc, who had already achieved a brilliant success in Baden-Baden, bought the ‘‘gambling concession.” He was an organising genius, and—well, have you “ Sherlocked”’ why it was essential, aiter 1863-4, that trains instead oi horses and slow boats should carry travellers between Nice and Mentone ? When Monsieur Blanc first opened his reorganised Casino and built an hotel for players (the embryo Hotel de Paris), he adver- tised free passages from Nice to Monaco by boat, and many people availed themselves of the offer. But most of them “sickened on the wave,” boats being small, and some went to bed instead of playing roulette. Oh yes, the railway was badly needed, and earned fine dividends from the first ! “ Never a war in Europe without a Grimaldirere PRT POT eatery yer sear es pa nen, Soe par tnreespoieeny We er Pe teria enpyrae erry ee Pee + a ei Megl pat tats S155 aah ari seyi wives nts BCCeeeeR LUPE ete ys TE AUE ELT Claes ooo ier ier Te ares es aaa betel td re tae aesy pense aba bukeae ot et A : By iiete caer peters eae) erate - ener ttt bet An ES, Lele, M4 erat : ‘ele ak pa eg . i dhiea dt. tert vee tia tab } 44 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO fighting in it!” is an old proverb of the family. Naturally, the heir to the throne, Prince Albert, went to help France as a sailor in the war of 1870 (he always loved the sea), although he had but lately married a wite with Royal German blood in her veins. She was Lady Mary Victoria, daughter of the Duke of Hamilton and Princess Maria of Baden. The grandmother of Lady Mary, however, had been born a Beauharnais, which links her with Napoleon. Lady Mary was beautiful, Lady Mary was young—too young for marriage, too young to know her own mind. She was only seventeen when she married the heir to the despotic little country of Monaco, and she felt like a prisoner there. A lovely garden was planned and named for her (you and I can go to see it, with the mere presentation of a card, if “the family” are not en residence), and many improvements were made to please her in the palace. But hers was a wild young soul. Hven the coming of her baby boy, Prince Louis, could not tame it. When her suggestion of divorce was refused, she ran away with the child in her arms; but because of a certain train being late toA5 HISTORY start, the rebellious little princess was caught and brought home defeated. Later, the marriage was annulled by the Catholic Church, on the grounds that Lady Mary had been a child, forced into marriage by her parents against her own will and consent. It was not until 1889, nearly twenty years afterwards, that Prince Albert came into his heritage as ruler of the rock; and just a year later he married a charming widow, the Duchesse de Richelieu, who had been a Mademoiselle Heine. She, like the vanished bride of long ago, was beautiful. She was also extremely in- telligent, and musical in her tastes. So kind and charming was she also, that “ the Princess Alice”? soon became the idol of the people, perhaps the most popular princess Monaco had ever owned. Alas! however, the marriage was scarcely luckier than the first. In a few years, though not divorced, the pair were definitely separated, and the blue eyes and fair hair of Princess Alice were seen no more at Monte Carlo nor on the rock. It was Charles III who began the cathedral, but Prince Albert I who finished it; and Trio ry , 7 aoa - a TRIS SSeS re eed a 0 P14 LyRte aM Es ~“y mara at \ Sah PMs. eee ebees ak MPa ET ar eee at rene Tier yerria [rte Teed svessneg Tver’ pt exe meres er eDomnry Sve) RTS POERNT Trg Eyt ery yard nyt cote oo hee rae RES reas eetrece ecg Tre : eta ' aT err cert Hie a eke rae Attra 2 Tete aed mi Bho t Spee Clee be tL ht hens. wade eke 4 ban ae 4 . ae ‘ : oy) eh 73 4 frye re tete gest SP oetathat Mian: Saree aden p ear LBA Feet spre ee eh ae oe to) - O fi PAS oo de tebhallt Gb eree trees Ledeen eh 46 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO the port in its present perfection, as well as the huge * Fish Museum,” were entirely planned and carried out by Prince Albert. He did much for Monaco, though he never loved it as a residence; and still less has it been loved by his son (the only child), Prince Louis, who was born at about the time of the Franco-Prussian War. “Never will I take up my inheritance!’ Prince Louis sald as a boy; and thinking little of its responsibilities, he made while very young something like a “‘morganatic marriage” with a pretty girl of rather humble birth. There was a daughter, and realising that he could scarcely count upon his son to follow him, Prince Albert adopted the child when she was thirteen or fourteen, gave her the old family title of ‘‘ Duchesse de Valentinois,”’ had her beautifully educated, and introduced her to the affections of his subjects. Now, her grandfather dead, her father (an extremely brave soldier who did big things in the world war) comparatively indifferent to Monagasque affairs, the young Duchess reigns over the hearts of the people. She has made a love match with a young man of a very old and distinguished family of the Midi, and is aHISTORY 47 mother though still in her early twenties. Gone are the dull days when a command invitation to an entertainment at the palace was dreaded. The Duchesse de Valentinois is a perfect hostess and an up-to-date one. Lucky are those who “ write their names ”’ in the palace book, and are accepted as being on her visiting list ! History, as it concerns Monsieur Francois Blane and descendants, concerns the gambling, and “ belongs in another place.”’ his _ . ea, _— c= wt ¢ ‘. wy Ve. - tivo. d., ¥Fis —— WYFORD SOLFO AL 7 f LISRARY TEE TN I IT ee cee Pea ATS Mer ReisMAS i Ps ith ij int nb EHDUE ad Te vi 1: ns) te isin pels ie ty a ent tists: ist LURE II SCENERY; CLIMATE; EXCURSIONS; MONTE CARLO’S HINTERLAND; THE SECRET SEASON Ir is fashionable among sophisticated people to say that the beauty of the French Riviera in general, and Monte Carlo in particular, is ‘‘ meretricious. ’’ This is a silly and unjust fashion, for the only meretricious features of the scenery are certain over-ornate buildings; and techni- cally, buildings aren't scenery, are they? I agree, if you like, that sometimes they interfere with it; but there’s a simple recipe that all true beauty-lovers can follow. I am not sure whether or not I invented it, but anyhow, there’s no patent. When, at Monte Carlo or elsewhere, a large, square, box-like apartment-house with a bright red roof, and vague ornaments of sapphire blue faience on its staring fagade, 48SCENERY 49 screens a view of sea and palms, why not make it transparent for your mental eyes ? See through the thing as if it didn’t exist. A little good-will mixed with imagination and it can be done! Besides, why seize upon the Riviera for the picking of such flaws? How many beauty spots are there in the inhabited world which tasteless man hasn’t spoiled in some way ? I know of few, if any. Monte Carlo is a colourful mosaic of gardens, where Nature has been tamed and trained and played with by skilful artists. On this exquisite coast, which the French affectionately and appropriately name the cote dazur, Monte Carlo lies like a great blazing jewel upon the breast of a beautiful woman. The whole Riviera is but a strip of almost tropical loveliness between the ‘“tideless sea’? and a chain of mountains, little sisters marching hand in hand with the high Swiss Alps and those of Italy. ‘The Alpes-Maritimes, with their graceful shapes, have a curious effect of unreality in the sunshine of a true Riviera day. They don’t look as if they were made of granite or any other stone. They seem semi-transparent, 4 OTT - * Pate Wis Tepeal VE TIag PANY SETURTOR ERENT TT EYER! RM eG HHI midta bites i Seer, Peete etal got} a poigss) Ne ah iseoas bod Shere i 50 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO exquisitely ethereal, and appear to float against the pale yet burning blue of an un- clouded sky. ‘They are grey, yet not a grey like other greys. You've often seen draperies of grey gauze or chiffon over rose chiffon ; under that, blue; under that, purple; and beneath all a gleaming fabric of mingled gold and silver. Well, that is the grey of the mountains that tower up behind Monte Carlo and the flowery line of other Riviera towns. At dusk they turn to the sweet, sad blue of dead violets, that has a hint of white in it. In moonlight they are transformed to palely glinting opals. It is these mountains which the azure coast has to thank for its flowers and palms, its orange and lemon blossoms that perfume the air when in less favoured places it is cold winter. The southern sun beating upon this long wall of rock is reflected back, and gives artificial warmth to the strip of shore fring- ing the Mediterranean; and though this fact ought perhaps to come under the heading of ‘Climate,’ it is important to scenery as well. Behind the mountain wall both scenery and climate are different. peSCENERY 51 Between shore and mountains, caressed by the sun which pours down of its own kind accord, and is reflected back again as I’ve just tried to explain, grow all the sweetest things that can make up a fairy world of enchantment. Olive trees, whose gracious forms are left to take their own way—not stiffly pollarded as in parts of Spain and California—grow lovelier as they grow older. Some are very old indeed; as old, it is said, as the time when villas of Roman millionaires stood where palaces of French, English, and American millionaires stand to-day. T'hey—the olive trees—assume every shape that the most intelligent tree can devise in its long, long dream of life. Some are like charming dancers waving scarves of silver tinsel. Some are like ancient bearded men of giant build, crouching in sleep. Some are like leaning towers, and—oh, a thousand other fascinating camouflages which you may puzzle out for yourself as you wander through your favourite olive groves, and the gentle breeze that plays there whispers secrets if you care to listen. That breeze itself is one of the sweetest secrets of olive groves! Great winds seem never permitted to enter CEST EPs eee SES Sig EAP NERS EEE TS ee ater Seren a lw te bhi om 7 = shea — a ners pepen a pied ae rege pep eet A ek Tl . * Sea Whee ae Ca dkeiet Thies penlinnse: ome oa ret 5 ie 4 Sobel a chbpert’ uits, pe eee a NTT es La i eta ,—. Se STOTT athe ti rer enn rn hy PROT eT EE! BD ae: rs PUSS Ip T oe eck ar Ses taki That ets £5 ebay ah aia ee Pret t ey) eee Pes wee oa) Bene 8 Sa ah Le q ‘ eae Frise rs ye iturin Fe . : MH 52 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO there. Even the fierce mistral, that “ steel broom of the Midi,” that sweeps down from Provence, seldom or never violates the sanctuary of the olive groves. Always, even in full noontide sun, you would say it was moonlight under the soft grey olive trees. They have their own light, like magic lamps, and their little leaves twinkle like swarms of silver bees. The best and rarest jade has just the green- grey of olive leaves; and among various shapes I have seen olives assume at will, is that of an Aladdin’s cave fountain, spraying jade beads and spangles. There is no scenic frame more effective for Riviera scenery than the frame of dim-tinted olive trees. Look out through them at a landscape where here and there dark cypresses soar up black as burnt torches, and seem to give out clear, high music like sharp notes struck on a piano. Umbrella pines are blots of ink thrown on the sky’s blue arch. Snow- powdered hills float behind orchards of orange trees, where the golden fruit hangs like a million miniature lanterns on dark green boughs, and the blossoms are like a dusting of snow blown down from the mountains.SCENERY 53 Flower gardens have the soft pinks and mauves and blues of old Persian rugs spread under trees for an Omar Khayyam picnic ; palm trees are tents of Saracen princes, decorated with beckoning, sacred hands of Fatima; and all these charms of the azure coast gain colour and “‘ value” seen through the dull silver frame of the olives. When Monte Carlo, the lesser hill-brother of Monaco Rock, was turned into a pleasure town, it was as if all the beauties of the Riviera had been bidden to a feast there, and then never allowed to go home—never allowed to want to go home! Lovely wild things have become slightly sophisticated, perhaps; but sophistication has its own charm. Nothing, for instance, could well be more sophisticated in a landscape than Monte Carlo seen at night from Cap Martin, or from some hillside lying east of Monaco. The amazing jewels of its illumination dazzle the sight. Look across the silver stretch of sea between the promontory of Cap Martin and the two taller promontories, Monte Carlo and Monaco Rock, which hold the beryl harbour in their arms. The Casino and its terraces take the ESSER PS SSO ps i TR tena ene Pests hacia =~ epee Brees ela a = coal Be eee Leap rea a A eee Loe. eT ss bs ee ee SEEN fap: SD pret NS bar tees babieae ns SeomReeT Tees Tere Tawa SPT Uy eeENTRRSRT OTT! sted) PLEAD TS pabtbadal deg Pie teega er Be tid toa das ie Ee Sears : Ain. Sabena: eee 54 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO form of a huge purple cushion flung down on a faintly glittering mirror of steel; and on that cushion sparkle and scintillate jewels beyond counting: lights that are Koh-i-noors and sun-topazes, Indian temple-rubies and unflawed cabochon emeralds or sapphires. Not in all the world, I think, is there anything quite like it, quite so excitingly beautiful or at the same time so utterly sophisticated. Luna Park, at Coney Island, and many seaside piers more than rival in sheer glaring brightness the jewels of the purple cushion on the steel mirror, but there is not rivalry at all in beauty and romance. Though Monte Carlo and the Riviera are thoroughly up to date, their scenic lure is old as Eden: the rock-villages that hang like birds’ nests on the mountain crags; their twisted trees whose ancestors were planted by Ligurians or Romans; their old, old mule paths mounting up the hillside from the level of some modern streets; antique arch- ways between leaning peasant houses ; ancient types of clear-cut faces where burn dark Saracenic eyes; the music of old songs sung by the wandering troubadours of Pro- vence, or the stranger lilt of Moorish chantsrs ao 5 PT ee Saeiett Sy soe Sled oo bly 54 coe Seer aire ee oT q HM : Myya Pele et ts ta aT eae peers. {rie ae a ct al og a lets re — ree ee y i Underwood THE GARDENS THE CASINO, MONTE CARLOSCENERY 59 mingling with bell-notes from old church towers. And you need go no more than a mile out of Monte Carlo, on to some olive- clad hillside, to find a flock of fleecy sheep or goats browsing in scented clover, tended by a shepherd wearing a mantle of skin slung over his shoulders, and reedily playing a flute like those played more than a thousand years ago by Grecian forbears. One of the charms of Monte Carlo, viewed as part of the unique little Principality, is the unexpected way in which, here and there, it stops being Monte Carlo and becomes a bit of France. You stroll up the beautiful public gardens from the Casino, for instance, under the long, straight lines of shady palms. Every trickling fountain, every well-tended flower-bed on the emerald grass, tells you that you are in Monte Carlo. But you walk a little further. You decide that you will go to your bank and change some money, or that you will climb the hill towards Beau- soleil (the French wanted to call it “ Monte Carlo Superior,” but weren't allowed to do so), and behold! you are in France. There is one house, indeed, so far west that the shadow of the great Téte de Chien falls upon it early ; BF ERE TY a laa nse YI aa es ee cans Sa a Tae Ratt ot ory Cine ee aad asters re Tir ae < BST Cs ae ea res Sade Pe pot dy ote ae es fee GE Aye SLT hee eet Kitten a ee ie] =e bee re Se Liat lbekee : ey sda ees o56 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO a house which is half in France. I believe it is rather troublesome to the occupants in the matter of taxes, for house property is taxed in the latter country, not in the former. Of course you and I know, because we’ve discussed Monagasque history together, that once the Principality comprised Roquebrune and Mentone; but in these days it is a mere bite nibbled from the chin of France, two and a quarter miles long and from one hun- dred and sixty-five to one thousand one hundred yards wide. Another charm (unless you suffer from it; and you won't do that if you behave yourself) is the despotic law of the little country. The reigning prince or princess, as the case may be, has all power. There is nothing beyond. Under the sovereign is the governor, and his voice is that of the prince. There is no real reason why you shouldn’t be thrown into a dungeon on the rock if you deserve such punishment; and on arriving at Monte Carlo you tacitly agree to abide by the laws of the land. There are plenty of printed notices hanging about. It is your own fault if you don’t see them. At “Monte ”’ itself it is the “Société desSCENERY 57 Bains de Mer”’ (charming, innocent name !), to whom the prince granted not only the gambling concession but also a certain strict jurisdiction over the inhabitants, temporary and permanent. You read in the Casino and in other places that the authorities have the right to banish you from the Principality at any moment without explanation. The very fact that you don’t indignantly turn your back on Monte Carlo proves that you consent to have it turned for you, if you must. But only very notorious and undesirable persons are ever banished from the Principality in this ruthless fashion. I’m not sure that the Casino ranks as ‘Scenery,’ yet it is a very important feature in it, and in the different periods of its con- struction it has done its best to loom up picturesquely among tall palms on its double- tiered terrace above the sea. I have heard its architecture likened to all sorts of things both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms; and one funny fact about the Casino is, that it can at the same time look like an exaggerated wedding cake, a seated tiger, a Moorish mosque, a French restaurant, and a horned monster of the dragon age. Bich ee PUNE EI aA TUES USE 7‘eo RPP Aer eR Ferd Ft 58 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO This is really clever of it, and gives the building “‘ lure,” if not classic charm. The bulk of it was built as long ago as 1878, when those concerned began to realise that Monte Carlo was destined to be among the great successes of the world, and therefore would be worth all it might cost in exploita- tion. The celebrated Charles Garnier was the architect, and he it was who gave the horned monster effect ; horns that are queer little cupolas glittering with coloured tiles. Next came the addition of the so-called “ new rooms,”’ about eighteen or nineteen years ago, and later a large new wing, in much more agreeable and modern taste, with good, simple lines, not wriggling proudly under a thousand useless decorations, as if to say, “ Look how much money has been spent on me!” Some- how, time has contrived to blend the different styles together, so that the component parts of the huge building appear to be on friendly terms with one another. I’m not going to invite you inside the Casino with me till we’re ready for the gambling “lure,” and that isn’t quite yet, but on the facade: “Fortune” by Sarah Bernhardt, “Dancing” by Gustave Doré are worth“+ LY Sd eo SARE MONACO OF ATIONS FORTIS Ol THE nd — ~~ ~~ ARLO, SEEN MONTE(PrErere Se Coe eras eens hy tins re eer a F & ! t : | i fest 4 Ce rt Meee tee onc | Seki eweSCENERY 59 looking at. To me those figures, though not at all of surpassing beauty in themselves, give a spice of romantic charm to the Casino. As for the climate of Monte Carlo, it sounds absurd to say that it isn’t precisely the same as all the rest of the Riviera. Nevertheless this is true; and one can almost say that there is no “ Riviera climate” as a whole. You see, if you stop to think, each place has a slightly different aspect, and much depends upon that. Monaco and Monte Carlo, for instance, are more or less protected from the mistral wind by that glorious guardian mountain, the Téte de Chien, once the site of a Roman camp. To imaginative persons, especially if they have “lost ’”’ at ‘“‘ Monte,” the Téte de Chien is a sad mountain. Not only does it throw a dark bat-wing shadow at sunset over the Place du Casino and the terraces behind the Casino overlooking the sea, but upon its summit observant eyes can make out the prostrate form of a giant, prone on his face, sorrowing over the sorrows of disappointed gamblers. But the giant is a great protector, and Monaco may be grateful to him. Not only does he shoulder off the mistral; if it tee sees pe ee ae ti = = — 3 OTE Te et Pd hea {poi ee Ta See rer ieee, ee Se) Brot rsseet Stes Gs eo ih ae WEE eee Chats Tas Err area aa saa Ea ee ee mad dectiontoteens arte d Ms PAS .60 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO were not for the Téte de Chien, the ‘ Secret Season’ about which ’m going to tell you by and by would be distinctly less agreeable. Monte Carlo has less wind than Nice, and for some reason which I am not clever enough to explain (I must add that I never met anyone else who was!) the climate is more nimble, more exhilarating, than that of its exquisite little neighbour on the east, Mentone. ‘““Monte”’ begins to be delicious about the first of October, remains delicious until the middle of November, when (as everywhere) a few dark days and storms may come, but with oh, such peacock and black opal effects of colour inseaand sky! Through all the winter months the sun shines. You need never ask yourself, “Ought I to take an umbrella?” unless prophetic clouds have been banking them- selves up along the horizon for days. Some- times in December you can walk on the sun- bathed terrace in flannels if you’re a man, in thin white cloth or serge if you’re a woman. But when there’s a touch of mistral in the air, or the east wind, which can be cold or can be soft (if it’s sirocco), you'll be sorry if you've left overcoat or furs at home. March has its chill, but April comes in a burst ofSCENERY 61 spring flowers. April is adorable on the Riviera, and May is either equally so, or better—though comparatively few know much about the Riviera and its climate except in the “high season’? — Christmas till Kaster. But wait! I have more to say on this subject soon. Often you will hear about the famous “ sunset chill’? at Monte Carlo and all over the Riviera. It is, on principle, the béte noire of elderly people; but really and truly, like most bugbears, it is nothing to fear. There does come a sudden change—a cool- ness which is like Nature’s sigh of regret for the passing of the sun. She weeps a few tears of dew, even sheds them thoughtlessly on garden seats and chairs ; but neither her chilly sigh nor her few brief tears injure the health of those who don’t worry over them. It is a mere superstition of olden days those days when silly humans dreaded all air after sundown, and shut it out of their houses. In a few minutes after its coming, the ‘Riviera chill” of winter sunsets is gone, and the air becomes normally warm and soft again.pe 62 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO Now forthe lure of excursions from“* Monte”’! I’m not going to bother you much with the more or less obvious ones. You know about them, or if you don’t, your friends and the nearest guide-books will tell you all that you can possibly want to know. If you haven’t a motor-car yourself, be nice to somebody who has one; or if you don’t like to be nice to people because of what you can get out of them, oh, you rare creature, take a taxi! From Monte Carlo you can, in a few hours, see some of the loveliest scenery on earth. By the Upper or Lower Corniche you can slide to Beaulieu, to Nice, to Cannes. You can spin past ancient hill-towns to the greater hill-town of Grasse, where Napoleon once stayed in his most exciting days (you remember that dramatic encounter I told you about between him and the Prince of Monaco ?), and where now the most delectable sweets and perfumes are made. You'll never forget a visit to the perfume factory at the season when the clean brick floors are carpeted with violets and roses. Also, if you like crystallised fruits—but I won’t tantalise you. Lovely as that last excursion is, especially if you go via Nice, not Cannes, and thus seeSCENERY 68 the rock-towns on the way, I suppose I must count it as among the more or less obvious trips, since almost everyone goes to Grasse and buys perfume or crystallised fruit. But it isn’t quite so obvious to stop at the Gorge du Loup on the way up for luncheon (you've started early, of course), eating exquisite trout, and gazing down from a high terrace upon the singing river between its steep carved walls of rock. Indeed, I think that none of the many “Gorge” excursions of the Riviera are obvious, and they are all thrilling. Round Nice are the most marvellous ones—too many to name. You have only to ‘“‘ask and to have” if you fancy gorges ! From Monte Carlo the most wonderful thing of all to do, in a very short time, is to go up to the golf course at Mont Agel—oh yes, go whether you play golf or whether you hate the name of the ‘‘ middle-aged game, ” for the view from the course is beyond all others. You think, perhaps, that from La Turbie (just half-way up) you can see every- thing worth seeing in the way of views. You lunch at La Turbie, and you go on to Laghet to visit the church of the adorably64 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO quaint votive pictures, over which you hardly know whether to shriek with ribald laughter or shed a tear. You say, if you don’t golf, ‘Why trouble about Mont Agel?” But if you do trouble about it, youll know that you would never have forgiven yourself if you hadn’t done so. But these are really not the things I planned to talk about. They are too famous. | won’t pause to say much even about Les Rochers Rouges, past Mentone, along a little no-thoroughfare road cut into the shore just over the Italian frontier. Almost anybody can tell you about the prehistoric skeletons discovered there in rose-red caves, and now on exhibition to pampered moderns who ‘“‘ view the remains”’ after a perfect luncheon in a most amusing out-of-door restaurant with dried palm leaves for a roof. No, I’m going to deal with the less known excursions and the “‘ Secret Season ”’ together. If I told you all about those excursions which in my enthusiasm I should like to tell, there’d be a danger of the dozen volumes I frightened you with at first. But I must select a few, just as one walks along aSCENERY 65 glorious garden-border picking out a special flower here and there to make a “nose- gay.” The excursions in themselves are suitable for any season. But—well, you know how it is at Monte Carlo when all your friends are there! What with luncheons and dinners, bridge, concerts, opera, shopping, and little ‘* flutters’? in the Rooms, there never seems time to go further than the tennis-court or golf links. ‘‘ Let’s pretend,” therefore, that I have coaxed you to stay on for the “ Secret Season.”’ That might be a title for a detective story about Monte Carlo; but it isn’t. I always call the season that is not a season — the season which merrily thrives though “nobody”? knows it exists—the “Secret Season.”? So now you understand that I’m talking of the months when, for the fashion- able world, the Riviera is wiped off the map —the months between April and December. The ‘‘ Secret Season’? is merely my pet- name for that dreamlike period. The most secret part of all is the summer —May, June, July, August, September, In the earlier spring and later autumn a tew D a gicF Ey : cis s — nar x cat, . : Prey pret ge ey PSTN SE BSE STS TL LSE a rar gh Viet = = Send kee ae tk el Sh k be do " Berar aaa rs eT, os jeepspaTeey ee ere ys SP wari Tr . et Eee) aA Re oy Paris at toe eshte at SERRE LEC —= 66 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO people you know may for some reason be on the Riviera; at hotels which open early and close late, or at their villas; but it is only those who are on the most intimately affectionate terms with the azure coast who realise the very special charms of summer there. Very seldom is the heat made disagreeably heavy by a humid atmosphere, even in August; and at worst humidity lasts but a few days at a time then, for August is the month of refreshing thunder-storms. Instead of going to England for the London season in May and June, or to Aix or to New York or Newport, you’ve decided, “just for fun,” to follow quite a famous example set by Miss Mary Garden, and stay from May through October at Monte Carlo. You have the choice of numerous hotels which keep open all the year round. At the head of the list, of course, is the Hotel de Paris, the first good hotel built at “ Monte” in the days of the Casino’s young success, and still the favourite. Never, in the ‘“‘ high season,” is the “‘ Paris’? so attractive as in the “ little,”’ or “‘ secret’? season as I choose to call it; for then the balconies overlooking the Place eras (er hiee hd = % ey aa es Tae. siSCENERY 67 du Casino are protected with awnings; under their shadow are placed many little tables, flower decked, and at night lit by red-shaded electric candles that glow like roses in the purple dusk. You, however, decide to take a villa for the summer, instead of stopping at the ‘ Paris”’ or one of the other hotels. This villa is a very amusing one, unique in its way. It is built close to the sea, and you reach it by going downhill under a railway bridge. It is not far from the delightful bathing-place, which is one of the great summer attractions of Monte Carlo, and you have a lovely garden arboured with the grey-green canopy of huge old olive trees. If you had gone to any hotel in the heart of the gay little town you’d not have had the fireflies, and it would be a pity to miss them ! Clever little creatures, they seem to know all about dates! They arrive in the middle of May, a few at a time—just a tiny, wander- ing star or two—in order apparently to find out if conditions are right for the rest of the tribe. Then suddenly they appear in droves. Like winding rivers of flashing golden light CANITTa aaa paa aaa prota pete se RT ST tt le be meen rychase Snead et Paes eas E fn" al aere edie 3 Amr tT Dye bee ie teteg tesa! ore F aan pe meer ene ate met CRRA“i eit ty ade ea PULLS eae ected baboee aidaanee od Bak ch abhi ig ee Re eee anes ptiay cd hy) eee b hye ek oe aks —— 68 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO they pour through the dull silver avenues of the olive trees. They shine among the strange, beautiful flowers of a Riviera summer, and like strings of swinging lanterns reveal deep, rich colours which without them would be lost in “‘dusk of dreams.” They hang like a blowing, spangled curtain between your eyes and the sea. They fleck the faintly gleaming surface of the fountain close to the tiled terrace, and drown there— unless you rescue them, as you'll probably be moved to do. Every night you have this fairy illumination until the middle of June. Then, as suddenly as it came, it is gone. One month of scintil- lating life, and the fireflies’ mission is done! But in leaving, they do not leave your garden desolate. To be sure, you have little or no grass, except under the deepest shade of trees, for Riviera garden-grass is as delicate as green gauze. The summer sun burns it up, and it is sown again in early autumn, beginning with October to cover lawns with a thin emerald film, just about the time of the autumn roses’ first budding. Your summer garden, however, has the second crop ofSCENERY 69 roses (you know that Riviera roses bloom twice, once in autumn, once in spring), which do not die till late in June; and even then many wonderful, semi-tropical flowers hide the absence of the grass. Mosquitoes have practically been eliminated at Monte Carlo by strenuous efforts of ex- perienced gardeners, though after the first of June until November they are rather disagreeable in some less well-regulated Riviera places. Your villa windows have screens ; and even out of doors you are better off than in many American summer resorts I know. Now let me picture a few of your days. It is June, and you breakfast out of doors, with plenty of delicious wild strawberries or cherries or early peaches. You have told your smiling French-Italian cook to give you this little feast very early, because you are going on a rather long excursion, and wish to be well started before the heat of the day. Don’t, however, imagine it merely a hotter edition of those days you remember in winter - cloudless sky, blazing sun. In June the sky is often dove-grey, with delicate, mottled clouding, exactly like the back of a mackerel Sire Trad eee i cae te eater oR eet a a Ld cr Ms .Tt eee e tee tiene nero ee ore ee Te eee Tee a4, Sed Ghee Re Lea a aera tet: } ‘Kael: i) raee) ti ‘t) Sa ' a \ j 70 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO freshly caught. This mass of silver scales screens the sun and gives a strangely restful effect to the landscape of pale olives, black cypresses, and floods of bright geraniums, purple convolvuli, bougainvillia, and other flowers. You and your friends motor to Mentone, five miles away, where you have engaged extremely elaborate donkeys to carry the women of the party (and the luncheon!) up the mule path to the high rock-village of Sainte Agnés, with its ruined castle and its romantic legend. The men of the party walk, as do the dark-faced attendants of the elaborate donkeys, and the expedition takes its time. It pauses at almost every turn of the ancient mule path to gaze at a different view. Always the path is steep fora mule path, and often it runs like a ribbon along the edge of a precipice; but the donkeys are sure-footed. You lunch in some exquisite shadowed dell, or you wait till you come to the village, and buy rich red or cool white wine of the country at the inn. After- wards, if you have courage, you climb on foot to the castle where a young Saracen chief is said to have kept a Christian girlSCENERY ae imprisoned until, tor love of her, he became a Christian himself. Another day you go to Gorbio—on donkey again, or on foot ; and it is very appropriate to arrive at that wild, yet well-hoteled rock-town on the back of an dne, because a quite celebrated and charming book wag written about the place by Dominique Durandy. He called his story L?Ane de Gorbio, and the name of that little animal was ‘‘ Bismarck.” Now you are discovering the true ‘* Hinter- land” of Monte Carlo and the Riviera. Sospel is a star ol the Hinterland too; the most glorious, even thrilling motor spin to a high, mountain-town of great picturesque- ness, above a rapid river with one of the sweetest singing voices I ever heard. ‘There is splendid golf at Sospel in these days, and a good hotel where people often spend weeks in spring and summer. The late Duke of Sutherland had a villa at Sospel. Of course you mustn't forget Roquebrune, place of the August Passion Play, one of the most beautiful of all Riviera rock- towns, and the nearest to Monte Carlo. You can walk up early one morning, if you ett aed. ark ae SeSTSES we ey pee ee fea: moh: pega (sr bait dFTES Sao LeE Cr PnT TOV aS EON TT | ET GRIEES TREC St FETT RSRSEST BEETS oi: pe he iid Bd Bd dad LB ea Bieri ad pi | : past ss 34 ats Shab ser PAT AES Tess) cee . ty the oa panty) tent — : 72 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO are energetic; or if you love your ease, you may motor up to the first level, and simply saunter the rest of the way. One of the most powerful families of the Middle Ages, the Lascaris, lived in the old castle which crowns the height, and has been partly (lamentably !) restored. Here and there in a peasant dwelling, once a portion of the far- spreading castle, or built by robbing the ruins, is a beautiful old piece of furniture which adorned some room of the princely house in happy, forgotten days. Though Roquebrune is a small village huddled under the castle walls, it is a big commune, and has an impressively large church that owns a magnificent crucifix, relic of crusading days. But to me the feature which makes the place memorable among other rock-villages of the coast or the Hinterland is the curé’s garden. It is only a tiny garden, and you reach it (if the kind curé is your guide, or if you have his permission) through a little glass door that gleams like a clear, bright jewel in the solemn brown dusk of the church. The garden—a miniature wilderness of sweet-scented flowers canopied with lemonSCENERY Vé and orange trees—is a bouquet growing on the verge of a sheer precipice ; but sitting in the curé’s grape arbour, gazing down on a picture as lovely as the world can show, your host will tell you the legend of Roquebrune. Long, long ago, the inhabitants were so wicked that in punishment for its sins the whole village began to slide down the moun- tain face in a great earthquake. Fortunately, the Virgin heard the cries of a few saintly souls, and her intercession stopped the village half-way, where it still remains perilously poised. There is no village in that wonderful Hinterland which has not more than one legend of the sort, and all are rich in history, from the Romans to medizval days. There's not one about which a story couldn't be written, and many of the tales concern Monaco. Cagnes, for instance, which people know now mostly for its fine golf and little colony of villas built by golfers. Once the castle protecting the village was an important seat of the Grimaldi princes. Cagnes you reach by crossing the river Var (gateway to France when Kurope was young) and by passing through Nice. Pro- is el am a ere pers ? Fe gee ee A Tw oh + he ad = _ — — = pathy ety ses an rE ie _ (yh ge bgeiiers toy al aa Pecks. ~ Sor ofl eye ee cs atk pia74 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO perly, it belongs to that excursion to Grasse which we just glanced at en passant; but it 1s a separate picture worth seeing. And how I wish I could tell you about half the other hidden pictures that the Hinterland holds! You could spend your whole summer in motoring from one to the other; but you are spending your summer at Monte Carlo instead. J mustn’t forget that fact, and the excursions I mention are supposed to be mere ‘ out flyings,”’ as the Germans would say. There is Pielle, for instance, with its wonderful old church-glass; also St Martin- Vésubie; Thorenc with its lake and forests ; Barcelonnette; and Piera Cava, highest and coolest of all, with perpetual snow in sight— all in the Hinterland, that rich and wondrous background of the tourist-ridden Riviera which (comparatively) few eyes see. The plains and slopes of this Hinterland, which seems so utterly remote, so separated in thought and life from Monte Carlo, really live upon it in a way. Their industries supply the gay shops of Monte Carlo with flowers; the markets with the vegetables, the black olives, the delicious early figs, grapes, and other fruit in season whichSCENERY 75 adorn the tables of expensive Monte Carlo restaurants. From the Hinterland, too, come eggs, butter, milk, honey, and chickens for Monte Carlo. Dark-faced peasants with Ligurian eyes sing Saracenic songs while they work for the little town of pleasure they have never seen. There is no need to tell you about St Raphael, any more than about Cannes and Antibes and all the other places which, as one says, everyone was “born knowing about.” I suppose most people know of Fréjus too, for they can’t help seeing the aqueduct as they pass in the train, unless they shut their eyes or turn their backs ; but some may not know how well worth while it is to stop for a few hours at Frejus to see the arena, the three great archways or portes, and the beautiful twelith-century cathedral. Stopping there could be one stage of a glorious spring or summer motor tour (it could just as well be done in winter, though the roads would be more congested with rival cars), spinning in a good automobile along the wondrous curves of the Esterel Mountains, with their wild gorges and gulfs of dark, IT PAP OITT Tit ele ei Eee Bars IE tar fost epee eae Oy a ec saree a Tt mts pera ae iae ae at Tu hina zRs rivedi] Sytyrtey>y? 76 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO fragrant pines; then down the wooded coast where only that toy railway, the charming little chemin de sud, runs. After the middle of May it is a Sleeping-Beauty world. You wind along the rose-red road that curves among blue inlets of the sea, Sapphire-bright as the eyes of Naiads peep- ing through a tangle of dark tresses: those tresses are the close-growing pines that pour forth a heady perfume, like burning incense. On, on you can spin in your car, but not too fast, because the eye would not miss a yard of the lovely coast, past tiny, ancient towns (each one worth seeing), all the way to St Maxime, Beauvallon, and St Tropez, on the glorious gulf of that name. At those three places, if nowhere else, you will pause, I think, simply because you can’t tear your- self away. At Beauvallon there is a very fine hotel, meant to lure lovers of Monte Carlo away for the summer; and without doubt it offers temptations: forests, flowers, a private bathing establishment on a beach of poetic charm, music, shady walks—a hundred “lures.” But, then, I am writing about the lure of Monte Carlo. I can merely glance at other lures, just as I am invitingSCENERY he you to glance at them while enjoying the big, the all-absorbing lure of “* Monte.” I mustn’t even dwell too long on sweet Borme-les-Mimosas, high, cooled by pine breezes, and offering you walks through paths hedged waist-high with flowers—a joy after motor-infested roads smoking white dust. Madame Elinor Glyn is one person who loves Borme-les-Mimosas, and there are many others —artists, writers, dreamers. There is San Salvadour, too, with a magni- ficent cure for rheumatism and gout, and a beautiful hotel, once an old chateau, to stay and take it in. Hyéres and Costabelle are among the ‘“ everybody-knows”’ places; and at Toulon the Riviera doesn’t call itself the Riviera any longer. So now we will run back in that car of ours (unless we make a short detour to Valescure, drowned in pines) to Monte Carlo, smiling quietly in its ‘“‘ Secret Season.” We'll spend a few delicious, lazy days there, without moving very much farther than the amusing new (comparatively new !) Iitablissement des Bains, anyhow in the mornings. There are lots of pretty women, including Miss Mary Garden, in bathing dresses oll TISESe eapere eres By ADL i 7 -- te re . 7 2 . cs re * ie eka Peat Te eae E prs nach Ta ae ~ Ped at ae - Pass es Ghee ia} wiih etna aaa chine At ars sl Lag te eg A erE ey Zee rm pets fae pond St Pan Pee * oat r pa ses A ead Ptr vis Peri p Pace tein Seok) pe Skaarta. G 78 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO as smart as those of Dinard or Deauville; so you must look your best when you bathe, or sit under the awnings while the music plays. After luncheon, if it happens to be a par- ticularly warm day, you can motor (or take the funiculaire) up to La Turbie, where you'll have to slip on a cloak if you have tea on the high terrace of the pink hotel with its marvellous view. For a change you can drive to Mentone, and go by funiculaire up the adorable little pointed mountain, which has the ancient convent of Sainte Annunciata at the top. There’s an hotel in a garden where you can have tea, and where a number of other people are spending the whole summer, gazing down on the fairest, mountain-framed picture possible to imagine. If you care to walk down the mule path, returning to lower levels, stepping on grey satin-smooth rocks, of shapes which make you feel you are treading upon ele- phants’ backs, often the mirage of Corsica will float before your eyes all the way. And oh, the sweet, southern country smells of wild thyme and rosemary, which the French call *‘ romarin”’! You will return to dress for dinner at yourSCENERY 79 ) own villa, or perhaps at the “‘ Paris” on the balcony I told you of, when the Place du Casino is filled with an ineffable blue dusk, so blue that you seem to be sitting there at your little white table with its ruby-glowing candle-shades, deep down under azure water. When the great full moon, honey yellow, tipped with red, comes up like a basket of roses, and the Casino lights give the look of bright enamel to the flowers, after dinner you stroll over to the terrace behind the Casino, where there is delicious music every summer night. There are plenty of chairs and little tables, and you can have an ice, or coffee, and sit quietly till you feel like looking into the Casino. The summer, or ‘‘secret’’ season Casino is very different inside from the Casino in winter. The windows are wide open, and now and then some bird, lured by the bright light, will fly in. A fountain plays softly in the middle of the great Salle Schmidt, cooling the air already cooled by breezes from without (it’s only in a very “‘ blue” moon that there’s no night breeze in the hottest months at Monte Carlo) ; and all through the summer there are plenty of players in the Rooms; not enough 99 ar eT ait etebai tice Pueern Tab ae a pee re paces tania oF ay he apts igsbrere™ SN asaya Se aay bed ad ea oh ha std. x Bo ates et es sae! Oe Aaa Lda _ na A be e prota eras ' So aed LA ed Tae ia iris) eee 7 aa es my Ne80 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO to crowd them, but enough to make them gay. Myself, I love the ‘‘ Secret Season ” at Monte Carlo. I wonder if I have been able to make you love the idea of it a little also? To agree that I am right to rank it asa “lure”?LURE II] SOCIETY ; DEMI-SOCIETY ; NON-SOCIETY ; AMUSEMENTS ; SPORT At Monte Carlo you are sure of one thing if you stay long enough—you will meet every human being (from everywhere) whom you want to meet; also every human being you want not to meet. On the whole, however, you meet many more pleasant than un- pleasant people there. You see the latter, but you don’t need to meet them; and the types of unpleasant people who come to ‘**Monte’”’ are all more or less interesting as human documents.”’ This chapter, however, is supposed to begin with “‘ Society ’’?; and there are no unpleasant people in the society to be got at Monte Carlo. If such creatures managed to squeeze in, they would soon be pushed out again. ‘“ Real” society at Monte Carlo is of the villas; not only in the place itself, but in the 81 6 ate la Saipan sere ret Fi Wott eae peri eaica Spears eee tne Saad ied Anne dreds sede wh 4 et ie aide eee Tas fs rte, as 3 ealarrrer oes ose eee ve. . rs pi fe pre eiek te aoe itm DAEs as os fs # yesh gd Tt oe) aS. Dea ttetaa spats e eerie teen tlt : Spree sce be Syotis = eee eee Ta a4 st Le ae eonaes ar roe ¢ ie TrITTLs are eer pb hs beara rTP Ti cecheta aed Rs ft -reanibets 9h eS nen) ee) aigtite eset ne Seer$ aeeyA i ore. i i ®102 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO initials §.B.M. Could any other name have been so sweet, so soothing ? No word about roulette or trente-et-qua- rante, which were the only games played at “Monte” in those days, and are still, within the walls of the Casino itself. ‘‘Sea baths,”’ like charity, could cover a multitude of— other attractions. Prince Albert was accorded a concession to extend over many years, being paid at an increasing ratio. In 1937 the agreed-upon sum will mount up to one million pounds— five million dollars. Monsieur Camille Blanc built himself an ornate villa on a hillside, away from the madding crowd at “ Monte,” with a marvel- lous view. His brother Edouard became one of the best-known racing men in France, and each one was slightly annoyed it mistaken for the brother, as often happened. No other Blanc in the world, however, was annoyed at being mistaken for either one of the two. The Blanc family nowadays is connected with most of the royalties in Europe. Though the hereditary ruler of the rock has despotic rights over the Principality, andTHE GAMBLING 108 the Governor of Monaco is the administrator, the 8.B.M. is the power which really concerns foreigners, and, indeed, all dwellers at Monte Carlo—the ‘‘ Guests of Hercules,’’ as I once called them in a book. [It is the 8.B.M. which supplies such amuse- ments as it thinks you ought to enjoy outside the Rooms and the Sporting Club: the opera, plays, the pigeon-shooting, the golf at Mont Agel and the motor vehicles to take you there, the beautiful bathing establishment (naturally it would see to that, as an excuse for its name!), the carnivals, etc. The $.B.M. engages hosts of gardeners to keep Monte Carlo a little earthly paradise. It provides a fire department, and goodness knows what besides, although the amazing organisation of the Casino itself in all its branches (of which the public never thinks—even those members of the public lucky enough to be stockholders) might seem big enough to absorb its energies. And far beyond the boundaries of Monaco, throughout the whole of France, quietly, un- obtrusively, spreads the power of the 8.B.M. All important newspapers of the country receive a certain annual sum for advertising SMS neh ado oh treaties (a EST y ue nb oles PRTG tap Pre s4 errs ry ERAT R SOOT Eh? eee ons Hae a i Nip et) seer aise tat eta ea a Fae" eet Be hee! eeeeees Ed ples 25 eee eer aa! Rep ink vi ones te) : aor3 a TT area, ee, i re — aS Seee pi Shea A Pgs eae eer itit KN eh beac aren eee ees ee re eee ee Sr TOUT EET Tear Capa aT tea h Seon Roe ET a oe Ver aaa S Le a ae . y r& (cae Se 104 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO Monte Carlo, and many small journals also, provided they are reputable and influential in the towns they serve. Monte Carlo advertising is not like other advertising, however, at all events in France. Advertisements appear, yes; but newspapers are paid as much for what they may keep out of their pages as for what they must put in. Not that the 8.B.M. ever gives money to shut the mouths or dry the pens of black- mailers. If it did that, it would become the victim of every unscrupulous rag in Europe. In fact, such “‘rags”’ actually have been started, and run for a short time—a very short time !—with the object of terrorising Monte Carlo. Hideous stories were invented, and threats were made to print them ; the publica- tion was even begun; but Monte Carlo went calmly on as if nothing had happened. Soon the blackmailers’ funds failed, and the scandalous papers ceased to come out. Once in a while even now the trick is tried in a neighbouring town, such as Nice (a black- mailing paper would be suppressed at once, of course, in Monaco itself) ; but nobody cares, nobody reads it, and a few weeks see its death. It is only, as I said, the importantTHE GAMBLING 105 and reputable journals that the 8.B.M. need study ; and if you ever wished any such paper in France to publish news of a “scandal”’ ‘“‘ Monte,’’ to please you, why, then, you Sond realise that the 8.B.M. knows its business. I have a friend, for instance, who had trans- lated into French an English novelette, which happened to have in it some scenes at Monte Carlo. She sold this translation in advance to a Paris paper which often used feuille- tons of hers, and knew her work, but when the editor read the story and saw that it concerned Monte Carlo, he wrote that it would be impossible for him to use it. ‘There was nothing whatever in the tale disparaging to Monte Carlo, but there was the usual heroine who lost heavily, and had to be rescued by the hero. My friend was asked to do another story for the money which had already been paid. Inquiring of other Paris journalists, she lear 1ed the true reason, which her editor had preferred not to mention. None of them would ever print aaah about Monte Carlo not officially sanctioned by the authorities. The S.B.M. has irons in the political fire as well as a hand in the newspaper game ; eauet fae erie oto pete eas etry Tres, hiss M SERS LSeS a i: stad Sct ee”106 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO also it is said (I don’t know this for a fact, but it is too amusing, I should hope, not to be true) that occasionally a conspicuous person, man or woman, winning sensationally at the tables, is encouraged to go on at the Casino’s secret expense after luck has begun to fail. In the case of further loss, the Casino would be safe, as the bank would mechanically get back its loan. In the case of returning good fortune for the players, the Casino would halve the winnings, and obtain a world-wide advertisement (be sure the Paris papers and all others would be allowed to publish this news!) for a comparatively small price. This was said to be the “ mystery of Darn- borough,” though very likely it was not true ; and Mr Darnborough, wherever he may be in these days, will laugh if he happens to see the story. He was a smart-looking young man, said by some to be an American, though no Americans knew him as such. He came one year to “Monte,” and accomplished the feat known as ‘* breaking the bank ’’—which, as a matter of fact, has meant no more ior many years than quietly sending for more money at a table where funds are running low; soTHE GAMBLING 107 quietly that no one sees what is happening. Only the player is told in a whisper by his favourite croupier, and is free to pass on the news to his friends if he likes. The table is an attraction to amateurs afterwards for weeks ! One evening Mr Darnborough expected to break the bank again, and invited a number of friends to dine with him at the Café de Paris, opposite the hotel, to celebrate his second big stroke of luck. But, alas, the stroke was reversed! The host (“‘Smith’s Bank” being shut at that hour) lost so much that he was obliged to borrow from one of his guests to pay for the dinner. This was about the end of Mr Darnborough’s sensational play that season; but he came back in the summer a year or two later, won enormously, and (a thing almost unheard of) repeated his success another summer. This time he won more than any player had ever won since the Casino started; yet the S.B.M. did not seem to be ruffled, as it distinctly had been in the classic case of the creat Jaggers, or of the Italian who invented the method of staking called by his own name ‘ Paroli’—just as Mr Labouchere’s system is called the “ Labby.” Indeed, Mr Mae ed = Ts [atc ta dar oi aI 5 n ETT Mat rere natitede) foie steel otes oe ae Steet orate aot Te re er hee cee ts Gtieed pears ai pheeh OoT Se tT ah ae, See PET. Cobalt ea ian eerie oy in (eed Oy bees peeps y en epee bash hone pee phe TTA + Att by nS 8 3 a aurerrpess tre aR, ao cad bos pederpenerey roe Serer or ber cter yy pe Oe PE ho i rae ea neat pi SEPT THY ETT (ers TLOEaT PER ACEED ETH PESER bE ErRee Load EEaT SORT EET ao tts Pou Tl a a 108 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO Darnborough enjoyed a privilege seldom accorded at the tables. He was allowed to place his stakes (several at a time, often) after the croupier had announced, “ Rien ne va plus.’ When the ball was actually slowing on the wheel, so that some rough idea might be gained of where it was most likely to fall, Mr Darnborough would stake. This was so obviously to the disadvantage of the bank that people wondered, even as they had wondered before, why the S.M.B. didn’t find some excuse to get Mr Darn- borough out of the Principality. Other great winners had been got rid of in rather subtle ways, according to gossip; with Mr Darn- borough, however, it was like Tennyson’s ~ Brook”: “‘Men may come and men may go, but he goes on for ever.”’ Kiventually he went away in triumph and a gorgeous automobile, carrying with him one hundred thousand pounds (five hundred thousand dollars) of the Casino’s money. Those who knew him said that he stopped at Nice on the way to Paris and lost nearly a fourth of bis winnings at baccarat; but at worst he had made a fortune, and never again has he shown himself at “‘ Monte.”THE GAMBLING 109 Many people were sure that the 8.B.M. financed this sensational gambler. But—gqurén sabe ? And in any case, I’ve told this story out of its place. Properly it belongs among “Tales of the Tables,’ and I was talking to you about the Casino’s amazing organisation. Pm not quite sure whether one little thing that the authorities of this despotic paradise claim power to do ought to be mentioned in a book called The ** Lure” of Monte Carlo. It is not an attraction, but—it is interesting ! Naturally, the Casino and all Monte Carlo are full of detectives, because a great gambling centre always brings criminals and “‘ wanted ”’ ones from everywhere. Gangs of inter- national thieves of the most showy sort (they have to be good looking and well dressed) congregate at “Monte” in the high season. Detectives, therefore, are not by any means all Monagasque or even French. They are of every country, and they work together. You may be a white dove of innocence, but if for any reason you are suspected as a spy, a thief, a murderer, or even as something far less fearsome, what does it avail you to lock up all your luggage, or even to leave sealed envelopes or boxes in your hotel safe when you peri ge aa ; SRS tie SE a iT Serr are Cetera eared i te Paes es ise Sota ia eats ee bi ‘M Rist110 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO go out to gamble or otherwise amuse yourself ? Less than nothing! You have your trouble for your pains. While you are absent your hotel will be visited by One to whom your landlord dare refuse nothing. When that One leaves, he will know just what you have hidden away, yet your receptacles will be so _ perfectly fastened once more, that you will never dream of what has been done behind your back. That is, you will never dream of it it you are found guiltless or given the benefit of the doubt. Otherwise, you may guess when you receive notice to leave the Princi- pality within a certain number of hours. But now for pleasanter things—and more suitable, for no such weird incident will ever befall you ! Au contraire, everything will be done for your pleasure ! People who know nothing of Monte Carlo often vaguely imagine it a disorderly place. There could be no greater mistake. The overcrowded Principality is perhaps the most orderly place in Europe. You have the privilege of being wicked only if you keep your wickedness bottledTHE GAMBLING 111 up and behave quietly and with perfect discretion. You may not so much as make a noise in the streets of Monte Carlo at night. Why, even a quarrelsome cat or dog is suppressed, so why not a human being! Tradespeople doing business on the azure coast are not allowed to gamble at the Casino or Sporting Club, though they may enter there for concerts, opera, or plays. Even bankers, lawyers, doctors or other professional persons living on the Riviera are not supposed to gamble. And this rule is not snobbish, as on the surface it might appear to be. It is intended to protect those who ought not to risk money at games of chance. “The Society for Sea- Bathing” offers its attractions to the rich, who, supposedly, can afford to lose. Monte Carlo wants no ‘ griefs,”’ no scandals, and so generous (partly in its own interest) is the S.B.M. that, if you have been silly enough to “lose all,” they give you a strong incentive not to blow your brains out. This incentive is called the viatique. YT am gure that you will never lose all, “so I won’t address you” on this subject. ek epee | ees See Tee ale SEH aaa ar Arable bel eas ae 4 Bieter cee ss aac eei iss sh Ls a at ates - Hats bad tee coy SR LED a aE " ea112 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO Let’s say, instead, that we have a friend who has come from India to Monte Carlo with a system which he has been testing for months. He won thousands—in his own room, with a permanence! But at the Casino something has gone wrong with the game and—his capital. All he has to do, if he is sensible, is this: he tells an official of the Casino that he is ‘* broke,’ and that he wants to get the viatique. That official leads him benevolently to one of those “ looking-glass ” doors that haven’t the air of being doors, in the big Salle Schmidt, the first gambling-room you enter from the atrium. Beyond the door is a little room. An official there (oh, there are officials every- where!) gives to the unfortunate one a yellow slip of paper and sends him upstairs to another room, also to another official. The loser shows his yellow slip, and tells his story in detail: who he is, how long he has been at Monte Carlo, how much he has lost and in what circumstances. There is a certain amount of red tape: a delay sufficient to prove the truth of the tale, but none of the unpleasant publicity applicants for the viatique were exposed to_in the Casino’s early days.THE GAMBLING 113 At last, the unlucky player is given a second- class ticket all the way home to Bombay, with enough loose money for extras during the journey. He promises, in return, never to enter the gambling-rooms again unless and until he repays the S.B.M. for the “loan” made to him; and it is politely intimated that the sooner he avails himself of the S.B.M.’s generosity the better pleased will be the said 8.B.M. If he does come back and doesn’t pay, the Casino detectives will certainly recognise and arrest him. There are, of course, a few ruined gamblers who would rather rid the world of themselves than ask for a viatique, and these kill them- selves in their hotels, or in secluded parts of the Principality, down by the sea, on a railway track, in the public gardens, or the gardens on the rock, or they preter the woods at Cap Martin. As for killing yourself in the Casino or Sporting Club, or anywhere else in sight of a crowd, it is con- sidered ‘‘caddish’’; in fact, “it is not done’’—except by bounders or madmen. But out of the average number of suicides in a year at Monte Carlo (scarcely a dozen), more than half have been proved not to be 8 EP RT TE ST so oe eee saa = ey. " esa ¥y oF; erry a ’ EEE etait Aarts Peay pea a erTapas Ser) aed ae rr inate ort fagtets; Tol aaa a Cie Pos eS ar | ee hed POEs ates re ia ES ‘ ae . Peg nits Ret Se ee ne bees cau ad amt iagt ied 4 a wd . PTS Peet geet a . -ees itive eee rryerer hh 114 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO gamblers at all; they are men or, once in a blue moon, women who have scarcely shown themselves in the Rooms, and have played, if at all, only with a few five-franc pieces, in the hope that gambling at Monte Carlo may be blamed for the deed. You see, it is very convenient for anyone determined to commit suicide to commit it at Monaco. Thus a family quarrel, the despair of a jilted lover, the shame of a betrayed husband, can be hidden. For there is no coroner’s inquest in the Principality. A suicide, if his own people don’t want him, is buried in an obscure corner of the beautiful cemetery on the hillside, and there’s an end of him so far as this world is concerned ; except that a “record” of the case is kept in the secret archives, and can be referred to, if necessary, even after the lapse of many years. Now, forgetting all about suicides, unless we run against a few more in “ Tales of the Tables,” let us—you and me—walk into the Casino together. You have just arrived. You want to have a little “‘ flutter,” if only to see what it is like. We must begin by getting your ticket ofTHE GAMBLING 115 admission. It can be only for the day, at first. Then you may have one for a week, and aiter that your “season ticket.” We mount the steps between two fine-looking men in the livery of the 8.B.M., who stand ready hospitably to help people out of their motors—or prevent them from entering the Casino, as the case may be. We pass into the large atrium, or entrance hall, where men may smoke and women too. It is crowded as usual. You hear, “I never saw such a run on a dozen!” or, “I couldn’t get on to a run anywhere, on anything ! ” In a room at the right, extremely keen-looking men in black frock-coats stand behind a sort of counter. You show them your visiting- card. They write down two or three little items about you in a big book; and though their eyes express no more than a polite, human interest in your personality, so ob- servant are they that, if they ever saw you fifteen years ago, for fifteen minutes, they are remembering precisely when, where, and how. Presently you receive the ticket, which is ““ good” for one day only. Next, we walk into the vestiare, where you leave your hat if you’re a man, and any parcel, no matter ae MTR Ip nh ne ae Sik hares eee ore ares coe = CITE PrrT tt hae nba 2 tangs ae bap ebaed ay he) TP , .. - se . wets NaF Secs Ta: ce A popes - 9 +e oo a RE ye bre +f116 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO how tiny, which you may have been carrying. Once, years and years ago, a German woman took a bomb into the Salle Schmidt, disguised in a small, neat packet, which she “ forgot ” on a seat. Had she kept her countenance when an attendant hurried after her to return the parcel, the biggest and most important of the gambling-rooms might have been wrecked. In return for your coat, or whatever it is, you'll receive a disc with a number on it, and if you are like half the other people who enter the Rooms for the first time, you will want to try your luck at roulette with those numbers. Suppose, for instance, you have ~ 50,’ you will play on five, and on zero. Of course you'll be very silly to do this, but if I dare to tell you so, you will probably retort, “Why isn’t it as good as any other system, since no system can be of any use ? ”’ My answer will be—but this isn’t the place for that answer. You must wait for it until the next chapter. Now we cross the atrium and pause before the doors of the Salle Schmidt, the first, the biggest, and most ornate of the Rooms, named after the old-fashioned man whoTHE GAMBLING ey designed its old-fashioned but handsome decorations, and showing his portrait, if you can be bothered to search for it. At each of the doors is stationed a black-coated man, who lets pass those whose faces are familiar to him and who (he is certain) possess tickets of admission. Not knowing your face, his look says, “* Votre billet, sv vous platt.” You display your ticket and are allowed tO pass. If you expected to hear a loud buzz of voices or other noise in the gambling-rooms at Monte Carlo you will realise your mistake the instant you enter. In the huge, ornate room with its many roulette tables, its mellow light like illumin- ated gold dust, its beautiful chandeliers that reflect in the polished floors, its colourful wall, its frescoes and mirrors, there is a kind of humming silence. No one ever speaks loudly. The only voices heard are those of the croupiers, announcing where the ball has fallen: ‘‘ Dix-huit, rouge, paire, et manque ! "4 stopping the play with a brusque, “ Reren nva plus!” or permitting it to begin with a ‘“ Messieurs, Mesdames, faites vos jeux!” Sasa ing Bnsietalse. sree rel eatin det) eee ee eee eS SPIRE DT —— ee fg A apa. Ps Pepa e ase rai ad > ‘-118 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO The tables are crowded—people pressing in two or three rows behind the sixteen chairs of the seated players, and leaning oppressively against the croupiers’ high stools —and you decide to sit on one of the long, leather-covered benches against the wall, to look on and ask questions for a while. One of the first things you notice is, that as well as the electric lights hung low over the tables, there are oil lamps. Once, a band of Italian brigands tried to raid the Casino, reducing the Salle Schmidt to darkness, while they grabbed for the money. Nothing of that sort could happen nowadays. And the double system of lighting might also be useful in an earthquake. Not, how- ever, that Monte Carlo is subject to earth- quakes. The whole Principality is lucky enough to be founded upon rock; and in the historic “quake” which shook Mentone and half wrecked several Italian Riviera towns, play did not cease at Monte Carlo. Another thing you may notice if people move away from a table near by, is that, instead of being supported on legs, the said table is set upon a solid foundation, which leaves just room for the knees of seatedTHE GAMBLING gamblers. Once (there are so many “ once- upon-a-time ”’ stories at ‘* Monte” !) an enter- prising individual hid all night under a roulette table. Early in the morning he sneaked out before the Casino opened, and narrowed many of the red pockets by pinch- ing them, so as to cause runs on black. He was discovered ; but immediately afterwards those solid blocks took the place of table- legs. The Casino never has to learn a lesson twice ! Perhaps you now turn your interest to the croupiers. Must they be Monagasques ? Are they well paid? How long are their hours of duty ? Have they any control over the ball ? No, they need not be Monagasques. Before the war there were many Germans; but on August 2, 1914, not one German was left. Naturally, there have been none since, for, although Monaco was supposed to be neutral in the war, and Prince Albert and the Kaiser had been friends, as a matter of fact the Principality is in the hands of France. Those hands could squeeze it with a death- orip in these days, if they chose, even as they squeezed in the days of the French Revolu- renee 4 ee er f rd ba ged der nt as gad Le in ee es : pe Peete oe 2 oo sem pee ea! pares r= ed Mord Sar ae ae G Tee Sc tal be ow pray Sheen ih ate Por enced Lees Cae aa oes erg re RS ee ee ee boatiee hed ahs Tea 5 reenact “| = poadeeapare re 4 re oi Sete eA Se payee ae eee A) rere et oT ak rs poet eSSettee 120 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO tion. Only superficial cases in law are dealt with by Monagasque functionaries. Mur- derers are tried and acquitted or condemned by French law; and in all emergencies of life and death, such as the emergency of 1914, France prevails. There are French, Italian, and Belgian croupiers as well as Monagasques; there are Swiss and Spanish croupiers, mostly young or youngish men, who take their places after six months’ intensive training in the extremely interesting underground “ school’’ where all their clever “ stunts’’ are practised. But in August 1914 most of the staff (all save the Germans, who were interned on an island near Cannes) rushed off to fight. Their families were supported by the 8.B.M., and pensions were given to widows of soldier- croupiers. For some months of the war the Casino was closed, and the S.B.M. would gladly have allowed it to remain so, partly for appearance’ sake, and partly because by opening it, with the attendant expenses, they were bound to lose money. ‘The trades- people of the Riviera, however, foresaw the ruin of their business if Monte Carlo ceased to be a lure. The 8.B.M. were persuaded* spe paler es SCHO OUND rR R¢( ~ 4 S-UNDE UR _ _ Ay — je , YY OL OF a eer iow aege ee paceteseg ite aetna. keel air: a. * eee ie >]Spas tot ee od Cee eee ie ry vee ewrpoitss ree “ od 40 - at ery rs Be 7 mi A oe a £ te) es ois of Renee rye BEN og Rake a} Pals | Cor aee enn eel Sr cman 7 ee iy Pt thee Pod oat E aeditniear intelTHE GAMBLING 121 that, for patriotism’s sake, they must open ; and open they did, with a set of ancient ‘“ dug-outs ”’ for crouplers. Croupiers are well paid, and as contented a set of men as you can find. Many of them have saved enough to buy a small business, either on the rock or down in the Conda- mine, or even in the smart Boulevard des Moulins or the Boulevard d’ Italie, at “‘Monte”’ itself, where their wives look after the little shop, café, kiosk, apartment-house, pension, or what not. The cream of the croupiers can rise to the top in the Casino, for there is a system of promotion ; and it’s a fine thing to become an inspector! Even those who don’t achieve promotion do achieve a pension for life, if they lose their health, or when they erow too old for the work that needs steady nerves and hands, keen eyes and ready wit. Age, therefore, has no real terror for croupiers ; and there being no taxes in Monaco, a small income goes a long way. Speaking ot taxes, it is only hotel-keepers and big businesses that are taxed, and even so the tax doesn’t ‘all itself a tax. It is merely a firm hint that charity begins at home—‘ home” mean- ing Monaco. Hotel-keepers must part with Ripe Loe featPiha Poe ia os = Fs : 54 vy i. 1 oe 8 a. aT ia ae + ere) eres ry Ld ay Shi tet nt a EF j IV ECT SePSt ed atacer es RP ENTS Dt Babes CSEE EE, 122 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO two francs (maybe it is even more since the war) every season for every guest; this sum helping to support the fine hospital, the Hotel de Dieu; and you can see that these frances pile high, in a place where there are more hotels in proportion to the country’s size than any other in the world. But to go back to the croupiers you were asking me about. They are “on duty” for two hours, then ‘off’ for two hours, and so on, during a day which begins at 10 a.m. and ends at midnight in the Casino. Also, they are allowed short yearly holidays. It is really remarkable what a Monte Carlo croupier can do in his two hours of freedom ! One of his favourite amusements is an excursion into the woods of Cap Martin, ending with a sivop on the wide veranda of the “ Cottage’’ restaurant, or perhaps a ramble over the hills above the Cap. Always in the afternoons, at any season, tramcars returning from Mentone to Monte Carlo pick up a ‘“‘ band” of two or three crouplers with their hands full of sweet-scented thyme and rosemary. Rather pathetic considering their very sophisticated profession, don’tTHE GAMBLING 1238 you think ? You wouldn’t, of course, recog- nise these peaceful picnickers as croupiers if you were not already familiar with their faces at the tables, for the moment they are free they hurry to the croupiers’ dressing- room and change their black frock-coats, etc., for the mufti of outside life. You didn’t know that there are no pockets in those deadly respectable “‘ frockers,’’ did you ? Long ago the “ no-pocket”’ rule was en- forced by the S.B.M., in the days before a box for voluntary contributions by the “ grate- ful public”? to the croupiers was placed unobtrusively on each table. At that time, though croupiers were strictly forbidden, on pain of dismissal, to accept tips, the tempta- tion was great. Also—though Monte Carlo croupiers are a very honest set of men— occasionally one had a lapse from virtue and palmed a hundred-frane note, a louis, or even one of those beautiful big golden coins minted in Monaco, called a plaque, which used to decorate the tables before the war. Since 1914, counters of different shapes and colours representing different sums olf money have usurped the place of gold, and TA Tt ; crea beadkan errbiett ities itty = = Ss aed ey yes ee ie we ihaniey bes Pear aye SUL sic rand i pei gaa: ae aA sd arersepers oe tr124 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO even—partly—that of the silver five-frane piece. To make these occasional lapses more dangerous, pockets were eliminated. Nowa- days, there is little temptation for croupiers to break the rule concerning tips, for the boxes provide enormous sums, which are divided among the croupiers at the end of each season. Sometimes in a good year there are ten or twelve thousand pounds (fifty or sixty thousand dollars) to divide. In the tipping times, it was only women who pushed into the hands of their pet croupiers gold pieces or tightly folded notes, under the sharp eyes of inspectors or Casino detectives. Men were more cautious. They would leave envelopes addressed to the croupiers they wished to reward at a certain maison de tabac kept by a croupier, and there these envelopes would cautiously be picked up in free hours by the men for whom they were intended. Even so, however, the erring ones were sometimes betrayed by spies and dis- charged for indélicatesse, the delicious French word for such indiscretions as theirs. There are many real romances among the croupiers, and one of the best I will tell you,ets THE GAMBLING 125 though it has a bitter ending. Long ago a young German naval officer on leave came (incog. of course) to Monte Carlo, played roulette, and lost. A fellow-countryman, recognising him, not only refused to lend him money, but gave the delinquent away to the German Admiralty. Suicide seemed the only resource; but poison, somehow, failed to kill. Coming to himself in a ward of the Hotel de Dieu, the young man was forced to face life again. He begged for a job as croupier, and his request was granted. Followed six months’ traming in the underground school, and then the ex-naval officer, naturalising himseli as a Monagasque, became one of the most brilliant croupiers the Casino had ever seen. He rose after some years to be an inspector, and was eventually placed far more highly. At the beginning of the war he held one ot the most enviable positions midway up in the 8.B.M. But Monagasque as he was by adoption, he had decided long before that blood was stronger than the best French wine. For years he had been secretly serving the Wilhelmstrasse, and hardly troubled to excuse his activities when they were found out. (ata ; - Aey et, he i! tees: YS) ‘egies ee bg 4 ri Cd ham Dal Lhestanean eS +s i peer te ayers (ht iin preteen acts ae if vayate — mee aera tess y cca bald bet aL deed eoe ae eee ea Ee RN tei siisanyae os PN ey ) 126 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO By the end of August 1914 he had exchanged his honoured position at Monaco for quarters on an island of internment; and Heaven alone knows what has become of him now. Croupiers naturally like to have it thought by players that they can control the roulette wheel and the ball, though they will seldom make a claim of the sort in actual words; and the Casino authorities are not really averse to such an impression among their clients. You see the reason for this, don’t you ? Suppose you fancied the number seventeen (most people do, poor dears !), wouldn’t you be likely to risk your money on it often and with confidence if you believed that the nice croupier beside whom you always tried to sit could spin seventeen for you? Of course, he would murmur, he dare do it only now and then, or he would be “spotted.” But you might (he would add) stake on neigh- bours of seventeen as well as the number itself, and the dozen containing seventeen (the middle dozen), also putting five francs or a louis occasionally on zero, which all croupiers are ordered to spin beyond the mathematical number of times due in the game, zero being Vami de la maison—the friend of the house.gander bela! q a Tas ees seer pal red re ori Ban a rai sf Stet ad partes 1 rere se at Certs Cache aki’ ORT aete ee co caches! Spiro watt 5 a + Par tease TUTTI ITIPasdicd chet Py mls sa Seeded a ties ana nemngranatateemine — — I ee ee ee eener ys [ae o NO FAKE ae WAS oy ve wae so ws THAT THERE PROVE TO ay sf his er neqasd Hed mL Sot we pe a a a. TAKEN EL, WHE oe 4 ROULI ak PHI SerenTHE GAMBLING 127 As a matter of fact, owing to the “ obstacles ”’ placed on the rim of the wheel, the progress of the ball cannot be controlled by the croupier who spins. If it could, he would secretly instruct his friends to play, and would become rich! It may possibly be true that the croupiers are ordered to “try for zero” in their practice, though it is very improbable, and the 8.B.M. will never tell. In any case, statistics show that zero doesn’t ** come up ”’ more often than it should in a year’s average, therefore the alleged order is certainly not carried out with conspicuous success. Nevertheless, this human element in roulette —the ball being thrown, and the wheel spun by men of different temperament and physique does appear to influence the chances in the game from the mathematician’s point of view. It is extremely interesting that mathe- maticians scoff at this theory unless and until they study roulette as actually played at gambling resorts or the permanences taken from the tables, noi those made by them- selves with a roulette wheel or roulette watch. Some croupiers of unemotional and even nw — Sea eT er oi on) 22 asker aero : Ld = i iE ty ors ry de | Ey Masih Et FSI sad ely is bry rea tit Sa bar abet cope Pat plaka ‘ ah ph aaa ae rp peaeg es rt a ~ ign PPT ves oy aa aeoe ae fad ads Giaee sO PTT ag cea ied yat phate (pp Bb ea tees 3 ¢ | pa Wag as rsh ant ae aed bale sa pees eee eos mie § bese ate cer eae a4 eh pe aa ~ ce onan ak TEAL sae Tepes icp a nere res i ae ce ie128 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO temper spin with extreme regularity. Others, more vital and vivid, set the ball rolling and the wheel spinning with a certain jerkiness. Among the so-called “simple chances” (red and black, even and uneven, under eighteen and above eighteen in the thirty-six numbers), red and black is the only one of these three chances which conforms perfectly to the mathematical law. The other two of the simple chances show a slight deviation, as famous mathematicians who study Monte Carlo play admit—Professor Karl Pearson among them. This deviation might possibly be explained by a combination of the human element, and the fact that numbers making up the two latter of the simple chances do not alternate regularly along the wheel, as do the red and black qualities of all numbers in roulette. Systems have been invented following this law, and based upon what is called the “ fault in the wheel’; but this isn’t the place to tell about them. They must wait until the next chapter. By this time you must have tired of talk about croupiers. We spy a couple of chairs at a near-by table, where the crowd is thinning,THE GAMBLING 129 and grab them with the abysmal selfishness of the gambler, whose motto at Monte Carlo is, self first ! ’’ In the Rooms you would get no credit for unselfishness. You would merely be thought a fool; and it is really amusing when the Casino opens in the morning to see the fierce sauve-qui-peut rush of the would-be players for chairs at their pet tables. Some of those who are most ruthless may not even be players in their own interest. They are hired by lazy gamblers to hold chairs until they themselves are ready to arrive later. If the hired ones fail to seize seats they will not be paid. Besides that, they will lose the chance of gaining for themselves half of any winnings they may make on the five-franc pieces given them for such stakes as they must put down in order to hold their chairs. If persons wish to do no more than watch the tables, they must stand, not sit! You and I have secured seats; therefore we fling ourselves into the spirit of the game. You, being a newcomer, are fascinated with numbers, and wish to try your fortune on those of your vestiaire check. I, having the experience of years behind me, advise rouge 9 ETA nT 3 TNE) thaneeayd rel = rds Seeaer et CR oe ee aa a2 tae a4 oe me ts rd iz aad ie # Tat ary wes Ld ear st eae pre un Par Tee Pe Bad pe eee er ee eect eh 3 renee ears eee EIDTSS LE STN tee Ee eaeeR Toe Se. Sa eae a ae 1 patent aah: fo pees rors 5sio ae 7 rewaria ts e ae pets tebe130 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO et nowr, and a little system easy to play, which at worst will save you serious loss. In the end, we compromise on the ‘“‘ dozens,” an amusing game, more exciting than the simple chances, easier to win upon than a number where you have only one chance in thirty-six, counting zero. With “ beginner’s luck ’’ you make several nice wins, and wisely decide to stop. To- morrow, when you have renewed your ticket for a week, you can obtain admission to the Sporting Club across the way, and to the Cercle Prive, which is under the Casino roof in the newest and handsomest part of that building. It is not difficult to get this admission. Fifty francs for each: if you are a man, proof that you are a member of a good club at home (generally a visiting-card is proof enough 3), or if you are a woman, an introduction from some male friend already a member. In the beautiful Cercle Privé you will play the same games as in the less select rooms of the Casino—roulette and trente-et-quarante ; but you will not have great difficulty in finding a chair. There is no rush, no loss of dignity in the Cercle Privé. You will meet most of your friends there.THE GAMBLING 131 In the “Sporting” you will meet your friends too, but there it is much gayer, much more “ lively,” than in the Cercle Privé. In fact, there is no place in Europe that is gayer and livelier than the Sporting Club at ‘‘ Monte” in the high season, especially after midnight, when the Casino has closed. There, also, you will play roulette, and the quieter game of trente-et- quarante, which many people consider more a game of skill, for those blessed with an excep- tionally good “card memory,” than a game of chance. Because it is so quiet, and appeals to those bent on winning rather than on fun at any price, trente-et-quarante is less favoured by the 8.B.M. than emotion-stirring roulette. Prince Albert, however, stipulated in giving his concession that there should be a certain number of trente-et-quarante tables; and a certain number there are. But there are not nearly so many as the tables for roulette ; and you can’t play with a stake less than a louis, whereas you may make a fortune at roulette, starting with one five-franc piece. It has been done. But not often. Oh, not often at all! If you are tired of play, you can stroll outside the Casino and take a little iron table in that gay spot joyously known4 a ov ee ee Tite He nn f ; ae 134 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO change the wheel, and see if it would change Jaggers’ luck. Fortunately for him, he had been able to observe a tiny white speck on the black rim of this particular wheel, and so, no matter where the wheel went, Jaggers went also— as the lamb followed Mary in the children’s rhyme. He won unbrokenly, and when his stakes had been raised to the maximum, he hired a number of men to play the system with him, always at his table. This was not a “syndicate ’’ in the ordinary sense of the word, for the capital was all Jaggers’. His men were paid in fixed sums at the end of each day, after the players had handed over the winnings to their employer. It was only when this band had taken eighty thousand pounds, or about four hundred thousand dollars of the bank’s money, that the authorities became desperate. They sent to Paris for experts, and one night, after Casino hours, it was discovered that the wheel at the table last chosen by Jaggers was out of balance. It was removed from play; and from that day to this, each wheel has been tested with a spirit level before the Casino doors open in the morning. Also, the wheelsTs. ide Lhnk Gl dom Spbdadthad | a Tee [ pe ery Te tam ae ange 2 aS OE ER ET iad Fr wpe ee Te Pie chee RY 4 rT E ROULETTE EV EARLY ~ A } Satin t & eo THAT THE TABLE ces a 4 ce +e S eanenehtee 1 I ACH Pio hance 1S } TO AT E: IT LEVEL” DONE IS a = Py yD C a — o — Z. Z. ~ C rz at enn baal ~ 4 Sie gedispe! qa are ae tee Lo pied coat a THE Pay TS Peta ie. SING Rearectads E U ape ~ 4 J -_ SS ad eae Petes Ep ef Thee! areas MPLOYI . 4 = INO Ek oe ae die ~, 8 S ete placa hat ae gh op aS rrUST eee ess ore p ars $3 « eo rs eee ae es se pido ys 8; is na S rar ae ? tf? Cea Pa : f ua ees a S v c eee aD diated das poicd ps ee rates my es meaae y x ¢ a - cs ROA CSTR D LTT ay te a Cera tare, yee ee ot etd nn, dadneteilie’THE GAMBLING 135 are changed from table to table on principle, now and then. As for Jaggers, when he found that the mystery of his luck was no longer a mystery, he discharged his players, and left Monte Carlo with his immense winnings. The case of Wells, the absconding English bank cashier, was among the famous ones of long ago; but this ‘man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo” in song as well as reality was soon broken himself, despite the fact that he invented a superficially clever system which can go magnificently—at times. You may read about it in one of Mr Victor Bethell’s system books which are so popular at “Monte.” Far be it from me to encroach on his rights! You and I laughed over some of the weird mascots which you saw gamblers using: ugly little gods and silly little pigs which they place beside them on the table, pendants or brooches with a favourite number in diamonds beating on excited breasts. But you would have to stop a long time at “Monte”? before you could learn half the superstitions of gamblers. You must never, never wish “luck’’ to ay ? ey artl a - CSTE IMGT mcg aT Pea SE paoeerg et ies sented Se iki taeda ee TA AS el eh tm Wy RUSTE —Iy Sere FSG inl eee ig ee ees Pee ey ; phe tnd Byres a tace a et OTS eer tcf , Mean ota Leichekd et TE sed i ere Tae aa Nera Sspate Me A Peet A peers: oT ae tf esa rig t. tae tae eae pare tags ae paras Se ee ite ed tachi Haare Terrie ear ri > [. = sy) Pie hee . ta or A! a one ye 8 OE | as aoe panne beewreperoe sy Mp Peery ee eo1386 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO a player. Such a wish is supposed to bring the contrary. Often he will not dare to play if someone has indiscreetly hoped aloud that he will win. To please him, it is better to say, “’ Well, I hope you'll lose ! ”’ Another thing that you must not do is to watch a gambler at his game, unless you are sure he wants you to do so, and “be his mascot.’”’ You may, for him, have the evil eye, and instead of using his right hand to play with, he must ‘“‘ make horns” with his index and his smallest fingers under the table. If he is Italian, he probably owns a little ivory or mother-o’-pearl hand which permanently “makes horns”; but that is not a strong enough influence. Of course, also, there are the superstitions of the Right Croupier to sit beside; of the Right Table to play at; of the colour you wear, which must never be green; of shutting your eyes rather than see the pigeons that strut in the Place, before you enter the Casino to play; oh, and a hundred other things, among which, of course, is the luck of touching a hunchback’s hump ! Strange to say, the “Suicide’s Table”’ is considered lucky by some people. It isTHE GAMBLING 137 near the entrance of the Salle Schmidt on the right as you come in from the atrium ; and once, years ago, a man blew out his brains there. He is one of not more than half a dozen at most who have caddishly killed themselves inside the Casino in the half-century of its existence. Another man, within my knowledge, shot himself at a roulette table; and one or two people have fainted or been seized with sudden ill- ness which rumour turned to tragedy. But, though few real tragedies have occurred in the gambling-rooms, the employees of the S.B.M. are as ready for emergencies as if they had daily practice ! If you faint at play, or collapse for any reason whatever, you are quietly, gently disposed of by decorous persons, who bear you into a room behind a mirror door to recover yourself; and the thing has happened so quickly that no one, except at your own table, has observed the slightest disturbance. Even at your own table play will have gone on without interruption. And if there is a spot of blood, a wrapping of nice red baize is provided. I read a story of Monte Carlo the other rer FETs . Coe 5 car 7 y - = +4 wet ert) area ne pal Pay a aS Ste SY U1, ob eee ana i pe | et | hrs eros , 4 Jittheete =n US "aed! On erepeteseys theres Sere apa terat a) Pet et iia) SL hed ad 5 a Pere ee z Tah D f a . m oO na pert ety1388 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO day in which a “‘dozen men appeared from nowhere, and bore the body away.”’ In real lite, if such an affair happened, two or three men would have been enough—and far less conspicuous ! Now I am going to give you the stories of three Monte Carlo suicides—the most mys- terious ever known, also one famous murder ; and then I will end up my tale-telling with a comedy or two. One morning early a very beautiful woman arrived at the Hotel de Paris. She had driven up in the hotel omnibus from a slow train arriving from the north, but she had no luggage. She offered to pay in advance, however, and a room was assigned to her. In the visitors’ book she signed, after an instant’s noticeable hesitation, ‘*‘ Madame Dupont, Paris”?; but she did not look in the least like a Madame Dupont. She had the air of a princess or duchess travelling incog. On her golden hair (somewhat dishevelled, as if after a tiresome night journey) she wore a hat which was extremely expensive looking and most unsuitable to travel in. In her ears were screwed large diamond solitaires. Round her lovely throatTHE GAMBLING 189 was a string of perfect pearls. Everything else, with the exception of a pair of smart shoes with exquisite brilliant buckles, was covered by an exceptionally long cloak of magnificent Russian sables. The lady paid for her room from a very handsome gold mesh bag stuffed with notes. In opening it with gloveless, ringless hands, a small lace- trimmed handkerchief fell out upon the desk, and the polite hotel clerk, handing it back, noticed that it was soaking wet. Later, he wondered if it had been drenched with tears. All that day the beautiful Madame Dupont remained in her room, without even ringing for food. ‘Towards evening, however, she telephoned down asking the management to see that a table was reserved for her in the restaurant for an early dinner, as she wished to go to the opera which, that night, was to be La Tosca. She asked also that a good seat for the opera should be got for her, no matter what the price. In the restaurant she was a good deal stared at, not only because of her beauty, but because, despite the warmth of the room, where all the other women were in evening dress, she wore the sable coat, closed from PIrrricgr i rr5 —— “oP s ho 7 re . Tite Mad Sit Pre T8 iT a8 ATL seer ty bra thr as 74 fied hd GALT od pees ty 16 bbb tees eg ae RL Re ‘ Said ye. yeep Tt Pipi c fees eae eer eee tees i ‘ = SP SEA hd Bi tats : +o ae Ta erate pee t ys eget es aati Peecrrs yor ySaeesstely] : Taha) peter rns ed w “=140 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO throat to feet. The dinner she ordered was short but well chosen, and it was remembered afterwards that she had emptied a half-bottle of champagne. A waiter reported, also, that he thought he had seen the lady pour into her hand a number of tabloids from a small bottle taken from her gold bag, and crunch these down as she drank a glassful of wine. At the opera, though she removed her hat, she retained the sable coat. Immediately after the performance she returned to the hotel and went to her room. About two or three o’clock a young man, coming in late, saw that the door of a room next his own stood ajar, though there was no light on the other side. From within the room came strange sounds of difficult breathing, that resembled stifled groans. He called the night- watchman, and together the two men entered the room, switching on the electric light. On the bed lay a young woman ghastly pale and unconscious, but still strangely beautiful. She wore a filmy chemise, a pair of black silk stockings, and—nothing else. Nor were there any other clothes in the room save the diamond-buckled shoes and the wonderful sable cloak.Rie pores ge eS THE GAMBLING 141 The mystery of wearing this cloak in the heated restaurant and at the opera was now clear. The lady had travelled in her chemise, shoes, and stockings, covered by the large charity of the cloak. As for the rest of the mystery, however, despite searching inquiries by the secret police, it was never explained. No one claimed the lovely body, with its jewels and sables. No one knows to this day whence the golden-haired woman came, why she had to start on a journey in such tragic haste, or why she chose an opera at Monte Carlo for her funeral music. At the same hotel appeared one night a nervous-looking young man, well dressed, and having as his sole luggage a handsome kit-bag. He wrote a common-place English- sounding name in the visitors’ book and, as it was night, went up to bed. Later, the boots was greatly surprised to see, standing outside the door, eleven pairs of shoes, brown, black, and of almost every description. This was peculiar enough, but there was a still more remarkable detail. On each pair of shoes was a different kind of mud or dust. Even the boots “ Sherlocked” that thebees | ty ae a 142 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO owner of this travelling-shoe display must have been on a walking tour in different parts of the country in all sorts of weather. But his business was not to think; it was to act. He polished the shoes and put them back, thus inadvertently, perhaps, destroying evidence which might have been valuable. Next morning the door remained closed ; but that was nobody’s affair. By an odd coincidence, however, a couple of lively young Englishmen mistook the number of the room for that of a friend they had come to Monte Carlo to meet. They pounded on the door. No reply. They pounded again. Stirrings could now be heard within the room, but still no answer was vouchsafed. It occurred to one of the youths to shout, purely in fun, “Open in the name of the law, or we'll break the door in.” Almost instantly followed a shot, then sinister silence ; and of course the door had to be broken in good earnest, though as unobtrusively as possible. The occupant of the room had shot himself through the brain, and was stone dead when found. The handsome kit-bag was empty, and, as the dead man was fully clothed,THE GAMBLING 143 evidently its only contents had been the eleven pairs of shoes. This was another mystery which was never cleared up; and here is a third. At a Monte Carlo hotel (not the ‘‘ Paris” this time) there was an alarm of fire in the middle of the night years ago. Red flames blazed behind a closed window; smoke writhed serpent-like from under a locked door. Breaking in, the rescue-party found a dead man in bed, with the broken remains of a queerly shaped “‘ poison bottle” beside him, and under the bed the _ half-melted remains of twelve metal candlesticks, in which, no doubt, lighted candles had been set. The one small piece of luggage brought by the dead man was empty, and therefore it was deduced that it had contained only the candles and candleholders. No doubt the hope had been that the body would be destroyed by fire, and that identi- fication would prove impossible. But the selfish suicide who had imperilled the lives of all in the hotel did not succeed in cremat- ing himself. The fire was discovered too soon, and extinguished. Nevertheless his identity remained a secret. You see, friends and Per er ney et Tere Che cs . rs eehnpyited Yh Fhe: St ot BaP eee Te maa Riste ches pad Lap irae ee os FT. Tat ies Tees i See i be ite) ae aes ne mi pee rt 5 ZAR ea ere trees ee ee a . 4 Seer a = ey ain SEEN ts Piette: Sota eles peat yes Des ; 3 Prete144 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO relatives are sometimes glad to stand finger on lips behind a veil of perpetual silence ! Perhaps you have heard of the Monte Carlo “trunk murder’ which filled columns of newspapers about twelve years ago. One season a pleasant-mannered Irishman, whose only fault, apparently, was “looking on wine when it was red,”’ came to “‘ Monte” with his less attractive wife, a French-Canadian. Their name was Gould, and the man pre- tended to have inherited his brother’s title, a baronetcy. This title was genuine, but the brother (in Australia) happened to be alive. That was a detail not learned till later, Australia being a long way from Monte Carlo. The Goulds took a flat in a ra’her smart apartment-house, and managed to get more or less into society. Many people had known the man as a crack tennis-player, of good family, in Ireland years before; and the fact that his wife had been a fashionable, successful dressmaker in Montreal didn’t handicap him seriously. They had come to “Monte” to play, and they did play. But they had come to win, and instead, they lost. They lost everything, and were at their wits’ end.THE GAMBLING 145 The man would have gone away, accepting defeat, but the woman was a born murderess —suspected, it was found out, of having poisoned a first husband in India. She began to plan possible murders of rich acquaintances, but her list was limited as the season was over. Finally, she fixed upon a middle-aged Swedish countess, who wore a great deal of showy jewellery; and one warm Sunday afternoon the intended victim was invited to the Gould apartment to drink tea alone with her hosts. She went, and never came out alive. At the instigation of Mrs (calling herself Lady) Gould, the wretched husband, half dazed by drink, killed the countess with a hammer, striking her on the head from behind as she sipped tea and nibbled French pastry. The two dismembered the body in the bath, packed it in a new trunk and a large kit- bag, shut up the bloodstained flat (which they were keeping on for the summer), and travelled to Marseilles with their gruesome luggage. From Marseilles they intended to sail for Algeria, but a French porter, putting the trunk on a truck, saw a blood-spot. He spoke to the stationmaster. Both trunk and bag were 10 aS - oote 4 eet Eee t 28 PETER een gb aN os bh tae SII Pree Fen PME Att tos Erg ree Us ao ae weet t ae ale bss a. . si rel or baecantees ak go) nates! KS F hal beet pete nbiseseases een | eee eae ste egos ea a ta aT yae- : eB og thes pS be eros Cyndi Speier satis etl rs aie ee TST aa Tes ss as oe Wi Sasta errenay rete Tr Le lastrega the oe Patel tes, ee Phe bray tos oh el eal ‘ ad shea oA SaaS146 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO opened, despite all protests; the couple were tried, and sent to New Caledonia for life. The sentence was not excessive in length, however, for the pair died within a few months of each other several years ago. The ironic side of the tragedy was this: the countess’s jewels turned out to be false, and were worth only a few hundred francs. I wonder if the story I’m going to tell you next can be called a comedy? In any case, it’s far removed from tragedy. An immensely rich elderly Russian, fond of gambling, fond of jewellery, used to stay before the war at a well-known hotel with many window balconies. His suite was on the second floor, and he had a balcony for every room. In the Casino he met and took a violent fancy to a young Frenchman, who said that he had just finished his medical studies in Paris, and was enjoying a little holiday before beginning to practise. The Russian engaged the young doctor as his medical attendant, and paid him a generous salary, but for some reason did not invite his favourite to stop in the same hotel. In fact, he seemed not to desire his constantTHE GAMBLING 14:7 presence there, perhaps because of certain little elderly flirtations which might have been laughed at by a younger man. One night, the old Russian millionaire was robbed of all his ready money and his famous jewels. Not only that, but he had been half choked as well. ‘My one satis- faction,’ he gurgled to the police, “‘is that I was able to bite the hand of the thief. I think I must have bitten it to the bone, for he gave a fearful cry, and flung himself out of the room on to the balcony, by which, evidently, he reached my window. Send for , my doctor, at once! ”’ The doctor was sent for, but was unable to come, as his right hand had somehow been terribly wounded in the night ! Kven if that is not true comedy, here I give you a story that is, without a doubt. It’s a “ tale of the tables,” too ! Once a very, very pretty lady used to come each season to Monte Carlo, and was perhaps the most admired figure of the half-world, or “‘ non-society.”” She had with her a sister, who acted more or less as a maid for the imperious beauty whom she slightly resembled, without being in the least beautiful PStVeeg ala tes recone -~ re Fy os r —¥ PENTIMA eerie a4 Tr 3 eae oe bid rtd on Sprerat eh pate eae ta Tore ete ie ee ee i " % T ore es rere rot > = : re ; Ayr be os M ~ mele Seite ahi te Peet ay peer he eiaets r ’ ere e Ea is Fa [sy Shiasie as i- 71 ishel etelogonan asa eat Cede) bee he ere testbed = oe bam ioe em FMT Marg pies 3 nba! “ 5 Ax ea Py - in thy te elem 4 * Be eb bor epee sna PUA E Le Bnet hres ren peri ras tt148 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO herself. ‘‘ The Pretty Girl’s Sister’ was the name people gave the drudge behind her back. She wore her sister’s cast-off clothes, and apparently had no possessions of her own, except a tiny terrier, of the tremulous, black- and-tan breed. At the end of one season the handsome sister departed suddenly with a fierce-looking baron from some country of Central Europe. Perhaps, in his fierceness, he refused to be burdened by the Pretty Girl’s Sister. In any case, that young person was left behind with her dog, and not enough money either to remain in an expensive hotel or to return | home—wherever home was. The young woman must, however, have been a person of parts. Do you remember the delicious fairy story of the Poor Princess, and her little dog Fredelonde who used to visit the Prince’s palace and steal food for his mistress ? Well, this modern Fredelonde didn’t steal. He had a much better tip. The Pretty Girl’s Sister would go to a restaurant without the wherewithal to buy a dinner, but when she had seated herself modestly at a table, Fredelonde would frisk off and visit the tables of other diners. With singulareT Pry ister Tee PB ie oa | THE GAMBLING 149 intelligence, he always elected to make friends with men; and he would stand, quivering as if he were cold, gazing up with wistful eyes, until some kindly hand offered a morsel of food. Smiling as only a dog can smile, he would shake his head. Other food would be offered, with the same result. Still the miniature head would decline regretfully. Pennies would be produced, to be regarded with a negative shake, and the same result would follow the offer of silver. But when a louis appeared (there was gold in those days !), or better still, a bank note, it was snapped up with extravagant tail waggings. Off flew Fredelonde to his mistress; and so intensely amused were the donors that, instead of regretting their curiosity-prompted gifts, they repeated them. The Pretty Girl’s Sister was told by a friend that gold coins obtained in this way would bring her wonderful luck at the tables. She tried, and one night on a marvellous run—playing numbers and all their qualities : their dozens, their carrées, their chevaua, their colour, etc.—she won three thousand pounds (fifteen thousand dollars). The friend and adviser induced the lucky i 7 j “ Ti od RSET) a -- a es 3 yee 7 ee ope : cht Se ay os , en Siolvia icp ese et ms <2 SO Pe ET : erred tts et pep Ie eth abe Sod eet a Pers ea abit Ped bires blet tort (ro ge k ie aa tS 7 denf bifm¥ “ ; a wee Lert ee nn : na cats Shas otk eee a w= . z aie AD RR eas apes - La ep he-teehaaens & SRE aaasb oasis rel | +o et Rake echo ss eae =. ane rt ee TBs e Lae eee eet gate) Rap abect SSS Sree AGS ON Teeth aera . pense art One ncaa, tee os se = or Soe I Ti Dre 7 Basusisee oes FU aiae peepee peed te een roe i rs150 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO one to put her winnings into French rentes and not risk them again, or keep anything on hand, lest “‘ your sister comes back broke and borrows it.’’ This counsel was accepted, and the Pretty Girl’s Sister’s one extravagance was to buy a diamond-studded collar for Fredelonde.LURE V METHODS OF PLAY; SYSTEMS, ETC. THE one really funny thing about the 8.B.M. is, that though it is a very marvellous machine, it is also extremely human. Try to get at it in any way, and you may not find its human side. But it is there; and it is afraid of systems. To be sure, no system, no matter how clever (and there are many clever systems), has ever put the bank in danger, or come near to doing so. The great winners, with the exception of Jaggers and perhaps Darnborough, have been ‘‘plungers.” But the intricate game of roulette, invented by the famous monk, Pascal, has a fault, owing, as partially ex- plained in the last chapter, to the way in which the numbers lie round the wheel. The red and black chance alone is perfectly regular, alternating in colour as it does round the wheel, broken only by zero, the 1651152 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO “friend of the house,’’ the number without quality or colour. Not only are manque and passe (the numbers under and above eighteen in the thirty-six) and pare and umparre (odd and even) grouped together here and there, but the dozens-and-columns ‘quality’ of numbers disposes itself also in irregular fashion; therefore many minds are focusing upon this so-called defect, that some day a system based upon it may make the Casino totter on its financial foundations. Who knows? Anything may happen in this queer world. Why not that ? A serious system player who “ works”’ day after day at the tables at Monte Carlo, and wins money with a certain regularity even if his stakes are low and his gains small —is watched. This sounds like nonsense, but it is actually true. An employee of the S.B.M. mingles with the crowd, looks over the gambler’s shoulder, and endeavours to pick up some idea of his method, both by studying the man’s game and peering at the “‘ system book ” which is pretty sure to lie open on the table, showing neatly made records of play and calculations. If the watcher thinks the system at allMETHODS OF PLAY 153 likely to succeed or “ make trouble,” he takes down notes, and the method is tested by men behind the scenes whose business it 1s to do that sort of thing for the Casino. If the player is a newcomer, his description 1s put into black and white, including particulars of his career. There is always the possibility, you see, that he is on the point of discovering Tur System, whereupon, of course, he would boldly increase the amount of his stake, and milk the Casino cow till she began to feel the drain. In case of such an eventuality, you can understand that it would be a wise precaution to have learned all about the player’s past, his personality, etc. If he had thoughtlessly evaded or disobeyed the law of any land, there would be a good excuse to banish him from the Principality before he had annexed too much of the bank’s money. Thousands of people all over the world are engaged at this very time and every other time in trying to dig the fault out of the wheel and profit by it. Thousands more people who have given up trying to do that are practising other systems founded upon the mathematical chances of the game, and they ge ee nn rs eres FPA = rd ES SE eae | ee eon ete eae eae * ! ——) Soyer aye Set os a 4 (A at aedaite ae * hao ia Tk b earl 7 Steuart eet “Eh eS RES ea esas ay Nd eke eekera ee eee fet 154 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO are testing their theories on records of Monte Carlo tables, or playing with small roulette wheels of their own, which are probably ill-balanced and arouse false hopes. Systems at trente-et-quarante are watched and tested also, if carefully and successfully played by a cool-headed gambler; but as that game has few chances on which it is possible to stake, there are, of course, comparatively few systems. The danger of the bank lies mostly in the card memory of exceptional punters with plenty of courage and plenty of capital; and this is a real danger, which rears its head once or twice a season in the Casino. Men who are the genuine winners at trente-et-quarante are not so likely to give back their gains to the bank as are the lucky ones of gay roulette. Trente-et-quarante does not attract wild gamblers as does the wonderful wheel with its alluring variety of chances. At roulette, it is the faithful devotees of the “simple chances”? who are most apt to win in the end and go away with something more substantial than bitter memories. 'The “ splashers”’ who play all over the board and on numeros en plein are the ones who helpMETHODS OF PLAY 155 the bank to win. You see, on red and black, odd and even, or under and above eighteen, the gambler has the same chance as the bank, except for zero, and the appearance of zero does not actually sweep his stake away if he is playing on one of these. He can divide with the bank if he wishes; or he can leave his money on the table in the hope that the colour he has bet on may come up alter zero. In case it does so, he can take back his stake or let it remain for arun. Thus, though zero is mathematically due to “come up” once in every thirty-seven spins, the player on the “ simple chances ” stands to lose only half a stake on zero out of thirty-seven. In all the other chances zero sweeps everything away, unless the gambler places enough on it to protect his other chances, and that is a very costly tribute. Almost any “system” is better than “ splashing,’ which—in the slang of the tables —means staking anyhow, according to the idea that jumps into the head at the moment. Most systems are silly; some are dangerous. But to play on a system means keeping your head, which in itself is a protection—oiten the only one. a ere eI ae a ra es . SIT eae TIRES! at Sa ee += 1 ey Eres Rided yet) Boke oa : See sda. gales ey ery) ae ees airpeh i [ie eart yg od FT EPS ra MN sen hy nowt —pet thawte ye ord bag [ e 7 + ela k pedctehahe be Mped She ee Do ae eae testers aaa a ie tea ks ran i es Pyros aa) ephaead pede ¥2 are Ty - dis bee pre ser i areas “4158 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO of the simple chances. Long runs are bad for your system, for they will break you, as you will learn in a minute. What you want is a run of four or five on any one of the simple chances: rouge et noir, paire et impaire, manque et passe. Let us say that there has been a run of four on black. Having divided your capital into piles of seven units (seven five-franc pieces—and never bring your whole capital to the Casino lest you be tempted to “splash! ’’) —you bet one five-franc piece on red, which is equivalent to betting that the runs of black will not continue. If red appears, you win one piece, and put it in a separate place, where you intend to keep winnings, otherwise your calculations may get mixed! If, on the contrary, black continues and you lose, you get two on red again. If you win, you have regained your lost piece and won another. In case of a second loss, you stake the remaining four out of your capital of seven, still playing on red, in the hope that the run of black will break at last. If it does break, you have made up your loss of three pieces and have won another.METHODS OF PLAY 159 A loss of seven, however, you must consider a “break.” To win back the lost seven and gain a piece you would have to stake eight, and a loss would mean that you were out fifteen pieces. That sum is too much for a ‘little player’ to pick up with so small and prudent a system. He can if he chooses, though, increase his “unit”? from a five- franc piece to ten francs, if he thinks the “table” is changing in his favour. There are so many runs of four, five, and six that you do gather in a great many wins, and can aftord occasional breaks of seven, which are fairly easy to make up, betting against runs on any of the simple chances. Of course, you can use this system with a higher unit, but I am talking of the “small players”? who try to make roulette their business, and live on gains of three or four louis a day. I once told a young man this method, he having lost most of his gambling capital, about six or seven hundred dollars (one hundred and twenty or forty pounds) in playing a rather dangerous system on the alluring dozens. He adopted my plan, and with five-franc units won several hundred sarc - — a 3 ~ TT .ti J Seopa al ot eee oe eee Tee Sey be mote a on e) ‘ er A > eee ere SS SE epee phar ce peh eee ioe Be es ae * a pee bel ‘ee es pot i ye , yi Peet elec ibateae 4 nergy ~ Raga ti eels erator a SS eee ey Py Satta Tats ds Le err Cres tit 74160 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO dollars in a fortnight. He increased his unit to ten francs, then a louis, and did so well that he found himself, after a month, nearly a thousand pounds (five thousand dollars) “to the good.” This pleased him so much that he deter- mined to reach the round figure one evening. Playing with louis units, he “‘ got on” a bad run, and instead of letting himself break with a loss of seven, to begin again with one unit, according to the rule which he had faithfully obeyed till then, he staked higher and higher, following out the progression known as the “ Little Martingale,” reached the limit, lost nearly all he had made, and flung away the rest “ splashing anyhow ”’ on numbers. That was the end of him at Monte Carlo. He returned to London, and told everybody that roulette was a “‘mug’s game.’ Perhaps —just perhaps !—that was because he lost his head and became a “mug” himself at the crucial moment ! Now I am going to tell you a system which you must not take seriously, though it worked astonishingly well for a whole season. After you have smiled with me at it, I'll give youMETHODS OF PLAY 16] some ways of winning through which roulette can be made to appear not quite such a “mug’s game” as it seems; though, of course, much depends upon the player. It is human nature, not the infallibility of the game, which sends most Monte Carlo visitors away losers. There was once a man at Monte Carlo who said that, if he played for himself, he could ~ keep neither his head nor his sense of humour.” Out of the latter he evolved a system. It consisted in hiring a woman, who knew the game well but was timid about taking risks, to gamble for him. He provided a good capital, and his only instructions in the use of it were these: “Play any system you like, but play it the wrong way round. Play to lose. Try to lose. Whatever you lose, Pll give you that sum for yourself. Win, and you get only two louis a day for your work.”’ The lady’s timidity vanished like morning dew in the hot sun of greed. She became bold as a lion. She never hesitated for an instant what to do at the tables, consequently she couldn’t lose. Her employer had a good 1] rn ae by teed ETS yet bal > a ares Ata eagle oo eee an ers Pre es Tae gl Sree} re ao ot beh Qe Os Ed Sle aap tet peed pnt Serie Ad 4 a Saeed pen 5 Ree eet ear pee nt ohn et) Ce ak s ae ote e et. : Z F pee cestr: Ses Wide iepat tad rg ies Se ae 2 simiipebies biel te Ayan ¥4 SV dele ay, i. rhe: ctory Be ae eee ete yer sy) ct ys or por iesiare ata SARS : . whee pues Se ry ed ois peepee coh tli Sot ae: os Sn ad S05 OS p< eae 5162 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO run for his money—and for his sense of humour ! I think, as a kind of preiace to some serious methods of play at roulette (that sounds like the title of a book, doesn’t it ?), I will tell you of one method now being practised by three aienas of mine whose many bad seasons at “‘Monte’’ have filled them with a wild passion to seize that will-o’-the-wisp, “the fault in the wheel.” Their idea of tackling it is different from any other I have ever heard of, though this doesn’t mean that the poor, much-abused wheel has two faults. My friends are willing to spend a great deal of time and patience and risk a great deal of money on the fact—yes, it ww @ mathematical fact !—that not all the numbers in any one of the three roulette dozens ever “come up”’ in a dozen, or two dozen, or three dozen spins. ‘The many runs which constantly arrive, runs of two, three, and over (a run ot twenty-seven on a simple chance has occurred. once in fifty Monte Carlo years, I’ve been told, and a run above fifteen is rare, while a run of four numbers is the record), account for repeating numbers.METHODS OF PLAY 163 The trio of players, dividing one capital into three equal parts, will each attack a dozen, betting always for “repeats” on numbers, not only once, then stopping, but as soon as a number shows itself (counting zero aS a number as well, though techni- cally it isn’t one), “ going” for it until it has shown up again. Thus they are often ‘“ on” several numbers at the same time—which explains why each dozen must have a player of its own. No one man could make the proper stakes of this game on all three dozens at once. A flat stake (no progression) is used until any one of the players is actually in loss. Then he raises his unit, but con- tinues upon that level as a flat stake till he has won back his actual losses, in which case he returns to his original unit for the sake of prudence; or, if he loses again in the same proportion as before, he raises the unit once more; and so on till the game ends for the day, or until his partners have gained enough to atone for his losses. When this happens, it is prudent to adopt a low unit again, just as if he himself had been a winner. These friends of mine consider this a scientific system, and say that never yet in ae owe cor r ear me Vina cent A 4 “~ red i paekonst nr ~ : " She oS oat ae a ie eraeeit} oa Sener tots] o 5 = aT ry ape tw Lats STs alee a) et * + ie SaTaE She pcre SEPT et ea rer) ae SY al rests ierecas bet bag Pop we ear essen tae yee oa eth top ee Drea tigerst focwcremiy th nak hy doe pir Sprayers Cae ny ae era ait cETiuaseae e Vy 2 tappnne t4 aed Nerhitedy moet Pea ow de ok. Oe bs ene eat nee Teed es ats4 a oO eer é Fyn eerie) tres ae eae OTe F A a eee endte-vnchs belerey vale poe eT SA ens hays nee Vee : — +164 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO their experience have they played through a whole day without winning something worth while. As their stakes upon numbers are very small compared with the wins, three men with good heads on their shoulders and plenty of money in their pockets have a good chance of success at this game. But it would be foolish to attempt playing it, even with five- franc units, without a big capital. Sometimes when these gambling friends have felt the strain of numbers en plein, they rest their brains by toying with a somewhat similar and simpler game on the dozens. Each takes a dozen, as in the former way, but plays it as a dozen, not on twelve separate numbers. He plays for his dozen to repeat, and when he wins, parolis for it to come once again. To paroli is to leave your stake and your winnings on the table in the hope that luck will come a second time. In this easier game, the trio are successtul too; and if they ‘‘feel in their bones” that the ‘‘ wheel is running their way,” they paroli for two or three wins instead of one. They play against each other on the board, although their capital and hopes are one; but as in the bolder systemMETHODS OF PLAY 165 on numbers, the wins are considerably larger than the losses. My belief, founded on arguing against my friends, is that a game rather like theirs, but on two dozens only, would be better and safer. And in my conceit I will give you the rules for this in detail. Theoretically, each one of the three dozens should show itself on each third spin of the wheel; but of course this does not happen for more than a very few spins—inter- mittences. One player can manage this game on two dozens, but it is simpler to have a partner, dividing (for a five-franc unit) a capital of eight thousand francs. When your dozen appears, you play for it to repeat once, using the baréme of pro- gression given on next page. ed ame po pee eerie pm lee eee et PP) ee) t3S%s fe ou mite Prey ma ae ite aa oT Ser Pe arta ed apart on a Yee re Li cAEe cece ab and may tt spacgcher a ited 2 Gr ans Pa SS es a ie a eed Ces he prices SOUP aes peed - en Maal emer ae eae] ra peer yap eg eniter jn SY eT ee ree ee “ - owe eee SE aT a mrs: : ee ee tke epee | ss errno ee ied creas ies ‘ ~~wuts oubd beak dbieedd @a nes arsreiesi teetkge Pitta gram" y Bevel 166 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO el ss ake re I PSae. THE TABLE OR BAREME | uae ee ’ QC c / Order of | Amount of | Sum of Amount of US We ee peat 0 ant eee idee polar a a er losing Win, includ- | Stake. Stake. 2 | | | | Stakes. | ing Stake. ee | 4 | I | hss | 2 ] 2 3 gl 3 l 3 3 aa 4. I 4 3 5 | 2 6 G 6 | 2 8 = 6 | 7 | 3 ee 9 | Bye apa 3 14>) oe | | 9 | Ae a 13 2 | 10 | Ds Dae 15 ll 6 29 18 12 | Te 36r eee 13 10 46 30 1 | [be 61 45 15 | 2 | Sl | 460 16 | 25 |e 106 75 je aay — e~ { LdSSI eros PEC OP RD Ces S AL Seeger ee eri earn te yore yet CLE 56 og METHODS OF PLAY 167 To succeed, you must be cautious. You must keep account of losses and wins. When, between the two, you have won enough, you must stop; and the same when you have lost, if the “table” is running persistently against your game. Another system which can be very good and can’t be very bad (I speak compara- tively !), is a game on any one of the simple chances at roulette, or, of course, can just as well be played at trente-et-quaranie, as can any method suited to the simple (or even) chances. Whatever the capital you may set aside, you must subdivide it into smaller capitals of seven units each, and the idea is to play against two successive losses. Two losses running mean that you lose one capital of seven pieces; but with scattered losses you can “worry along” for some time; and with seven wins in succession your seven units of capital give you eighty-three units of gain. Luck like this does come some- times ; but personally, I should advise taking 4 successive win of four or five spins. Suppose you play red and black, both for runs of two on one colour or for intermittences. TET IR ae pie ee Rete att) Opinio Manitaeen pete ry ieheny Tot PESTS eae La - é 4 st ae Pet macwrgonh a iad ie. 4 ed tar 2 aa eos vi ra ae aye gh ara cz re Tole TS - feeStes ah Agee ht Legbted 8 io ts . apnea hes Ea Ajeee i) iia > : 4 egeiiqesetet poet 5 re Sos Le ‘ Fe aale cae i be 4 =) Or ris ares ath Sino iae rd ek a Terres epee ~ “ bs ke ey ee rem cer yy , wt hd = as * Tr secant fot Ley ‘ ET Se ee ee pepeieteet rye gy h' A wing ae ath oy 4 eres ee168 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO G6 Or, you can “go” for one colour alone if you like, playing, for instance, always for red, but stopping and waiting, after two blacks have appeared, for your colour to come back. This last way is rather good, when you want three or four successive wins, but you have so many waits and _ losses between your runs of good luck, that it is an irritating method, and useful only when you need runs of wins now and then to help your game. Another “ attack ”’ which is quite amusing and successful (though it’s difficult to see why it should succeed !) is this: You sit or stand at the roulette table till the croupier has announced two numbers. Suppose these are 18 and 32. You add together the first two figures in the numbers, namely, 1 and 3. Thus you get 4. Four being a black number, you bet on black, and so on. It is a curiously even as well as easy game, but cannot be played on trente-et-quarante, as there are no numbers to add up. And here is the table of progression to use with any “attack” you select for your system of sevens: .METHODS OF PLAY ORIGINAL CAPITAL—7 UNITS Ist stake 1 unit.—If won capital now 8 units, giving 2 stakes of 4 units. 2nd stake 4 units.—If won capital now 12 units, giving 2 stakes of 6 units. 3rd stake 6 units.—If won capital now 18 units, giving 2 stakes of 9 units. 4th stake 9 units.—If won capital now 27 units, giving 2 stakes of 13 units. 5th stake 13 units.—If won capital now 40 units, giving 2 stakes of 20 units. 6th stake 20 units.—If won capital now 60 units, giving 2 stakes of 30 units. ith stake 30 units.—If won capital now 90 units. That is, 83 units won in seven coups. You notice, of course, the peculiarity of this progression, namely, that by adding the win each time to the original capital you always have in hand enough for two bets. So to get up to the top of the progression and win the 83 units, it is not necessary to have seven consecutive wins; but you must not lose twice successively. Very often this pro- longs the struggle for a tedious time. You , _ , PERT ET PET LI AT Ee ora 27a eA Le an ram) Tail edo Gi-clta. a ES | Aiea dg 944 heey riten F) Sete ties) Bae Tine ‘ ik Beye) Sasa It ; nae Ue poe brad dodebh-yot ia bppeeeh oaee ns bebe) rt ett ee ay raheis Hy ads ae ty or 3 at : : og pert bets opbens 5 Laaarigh ; ws MOT ty fees saeCibsp bs patRssa see kieee ree cs = ise [2 eh Oe FR eae s SPREE a eee eet sees PORTE eT ar ole ee al cee as bein riko op’ eres beRees eee ete ee , olwer : oi i CORN 170 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO win the first bet, but lose the second. That is ballottage. You have neither won nor lost, and you cannot go up till you have made a winning bet. So you play the same stake again, and this time you win. You pass to the next figure of your baréme, and this entitles you to go higher still, and so on. A loss on the first stake gives a loss oi 1 unit; two consecutive losses at any higher stage cause the loss of 7 units, and you have to begin again at the beginning. Perhaps you may remember my mention- ing various systems, based on finding the fault in the wheel, played not on numbers, but on a combination of even chances with the dozens and columns. Now I'll explain an idea of this sort for you in detail. Friends of mine who like elaborate games have played it with success ; but it is only fair to warn you that the in- ventor, who called himself the “ King of Roulette’ and sold his marvellous method to my friends for a certain sum, lived in a garret, did not follow the latest fashions in clothes, apparently dieted rigidly (perhaps for his health!), and said that the reason he never entered the Casino to win on his ownMETHODS OF PLAY 171 discovery was because the S.B.M. feared him too much to permit his presence. Ont ATTEMPT TO USE THE FAULT IN THE WHEEL The red and black numbers alternate evenly round the wheel, but not so the pairs and impairs (even and odd numbers), for several of these lie in couples. It is the same with the manque and passe numbers (before 18 ; after 18), and of such irregularities you must take advantage in a peculiar way. It is a small advantage, but it is in favour of the player. Although the idea is complicated, the procedure is simple. Mark on your roulette card, without playing, the first number which appears. If it be a pair number, your next play is black; if an impair number, you play red; and this for the reason that there are two more pair blacks than pair reds ; two or more impair reds than impair blacks. Thus, when there is a run on pair, there should also be a run on black ; and with impair and red the same. Behold a fault in the wheel! But 5 so amen rm rn ei eee Lad a pel py tote | Bet th or es * es ting oe teadirtergung sy ae tiie ly 2 4s ss Fee pene te oe el ata Sos Sceh sce Eres ore ee bean al od Lneeed = Cai Le bap pda ea ey teed = sanhers eerste Ny172 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO dependent upon that is another, which can be used to buttress a game founded upon this fault. Take the table of the game. Look at it closely. Observe the middle and last columns. You see that in the second column there are eight blacks to four reds, while in the third column there are eight reds to four blacks. When you play, therefore, as indicated by the appearance of pair or wmpair, staking on black or red as directed, stake also another piece on column two, if you are playing black; or column three, if you are playing red. There is not enough advantage to be gained in this to make “ flat’ stakes worth playing except on a very good “pass.” But here is an effective progression for the game. This is sometimes called le montant semple. Play 1 unit on black or red, while you win. At the first loss, increase the stake to 2 units. If that be a loss, stake 3, going up one for each spin of the wheel after this, win or lose, until you have got all your losses back from the bank, or are one ahead on the game. Then, for prudence, return to a stake of one. Or, if you wish for excitementFACSIMILE OF ROULETTE WHEEL assed awed loc @ 6F 23)24 27 30 321338 EP PTT EE pan aE ES PS TT 2 eee RABAT REEL EE Ye TSA sale ayy penn halt hp | os zy ia ee ee ee kd yon al Step ioe ibaa Somer bay Ppleitent nh Lp omer epmgera ded Lape np foes 7 er Prete eb gt es Iii SL nga aha. e4 oe eenees ee a ra ep Se eke Pry ered hdd 21 a nee pT & ae THES ee eae eg eR partes et | anqu 4a18 ImpairPOPP Re eae Care rd rea . sO ee a) ksek eases faked st} rer ee ees =e fire een tie ee Pease a ret , ates area Pate aa ss 1 oe chor ectunrsen deci Ke ee par a} Pee ogden ieee ia o Beard ocMETHODS OF PLAY 173 ed , a 4 aes 2h Fea pn te hag quarts os tet eo ae eee a pty tS, pmaeter et $4 ebay tel ee ee aed ea PETITE pease Ci eae des BPs OP TE: a ~ a At ‘ instead of prudence, parol; which means, leave on all or part of your win in the hope of winning once more, thus realising a large sum at the bank’s expense. On the column, it is necessary to increase the stake only after two losses instead ot one, as the payment for a win is two pieces for one. Here again is a system for the simple chances at roulette, or for trente-et-quarante. It is slow, and if not sure, that’s because no system is sure. Play upon the colours in combinations of six. The stake is made on the last colour out; always back the winning colour. Thus in a table like this : Pee atige ee sp eitscd beeen cain sip pe 24g ets ES papers ets eg sta Steeacete ee a ond Ses “="% a n Se ae pa gt hai faced tery & pacenbor eye est F . : Pea creme Te pit Pees ibe perio ol so eer yes RLS pat tobe ha rere Tiree ris permy te tt Sal wdqiap wen <—s ORS Secpek She te a ek Car : res ae Parra Saeed ss ag re a. om TT ere Tat Ar eee J Perec Ee ta ere otis Pye ay eae hiede. gi A. +++++ you make five pieces. : Never lose more than three pieces in any . tableau. Having lost three pieces, rest until fe the tableaw is completed. If you lose the . eee. FOF err TT ena oes - 7 oe wap! Sei biter ree = SEs SL. TEST RIV PET - (PRESET YS 4 hero gte a! Leplelae en pon Tete tT LT SSL ees Bee ace a oe or ae eh a ee Ms derstHrie ee ee eae ee ‘ eters oe iYSeen t ere tree are ee ~~ PPr tea Mt teen p Re Ryatit pyle 3 a f 174 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO first three coups, do not play on the next three coups, which complete the tableau of six coups. For example: N Re a N pies: pe You played black and lost; red and lost, and black and lost. When zero comes out, leave your stake in prison to see what will happen, and after- wards go on with the tableau as if nothing | had occurred. It is quite simple, but the most important part is the progression. Stake 1 unit, and always 1 until the loss amounts to at least 10. After which, increase the stake to 2 units until loss amounts to 30 or falls below 10. As soon as the loss falls below 10 the stake must fall to 1 unit again. When the loss amounts to 30, increase the stake to 3 until loss amounts to 90 or falls below 30.METHODS OF PLAY 175 When loss amounts to 90, increase stake to 4 until loss amounts to 170 or falls below 90. When loss amounts to 170, increase stake to 5 until loss amounts to 270 or falls below 170. When loss amounts to 270, increase stake to 6 units until loss amounts to 390 or falls below 270. When loss is under 10, stake is 1 unit. between 10 and_ 30 stake is 2 units. SOM Ue O 3 33 ) 9 - 90: Se dONe 5. ye - Ole 2 Oe Ome es HOY an OO 6 Unless the bank can get 100 ahead of the player, the latter must win. The stake must only be altered after the completion of a tableau, and not in the middle of it. If, for example, you have just had aa TTT TT eee eee - * areekkt $4 Ct eee PO aN To hk pees WUT LT y LAO ERAS ,- fer esr Le rere an! en EMS EE aaah AR Ee I eters ret Pi kt) er, ei Lava S) ghee pes tes the Sy eon i aS were yee 8 es ao at bare phiband tet Yorn tk nant : eet Sets Seer 5 peers metas ceed et sd adi. dae) Blog ok = an + > ae SS “t FY os a7 pame very re tt Te eT a eae ee TT he eee ; fone tue ewer § pia eeevik eg mt , 7 tS Seah uf Sesit Uo ee eee ov bot OB e a F Ea Pe fey ga pT et ‘cae Bett ow Pw ke A or id ey reg a Partin a4 4 cadens! Pape ter gore Paw iad ee ela pa 239 ers ti st THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO N R RK — N= N a R a R — N — N N R N — 3 — 3 R R N — N — R — R a N — R + R R + R N — — 3 — l = minus 10. Increase to 2 and get: va +\+++++ HUW o You win 10 units here, as you complete the tableau before altering the stake, although the first shot brought your loss below 10. With the necessary capital of 390 units and the requisite patience, the bank should not be able to beat you, as the progression willMETHODS OF PLAY 77 stifle enough losses to prevent probable ecart from producing overwhelming losses. Quite a favourite system with experienced and patient gamblers is the following method for simple chances, which 1s a rather brilliant bid to get the whole spirit of the game. Every attack at roulette is an attempt to win at least as many bets as you lose. The ancient avant derner, where you wait for two spins, then play for the last colour but one to come again, gives you all intermittences (after the first of them) and all runs after the first two. But there are so many combinations of figures which make you lose, that in the end the attractive- sounding avant dermer proves a broken reed. Study on the same lines, however, has developed a more subtle and repaying attack. Examine any record of roulette, and you see certain groupings of well-known figures that constantly occur: the intermittence, the run, the cowp de deux, the coup de trois, the figure called two-one (2.e. B.B.R. or R.R.B.), and three-one (B.B.B.R. or R.R.R.B.). To invent an attack which con- quers these figures is to go lar towards solving the problem of roulette. 12 ae Oe er ETT ted te eee yee , ere SE PPS Cree co gtt tele SPAT PSR TEETER CT ODES tee Soria ieee " OO gee aE ol EAGT 75a TRS RATE AAAES aE ae aa Ree Gea tee ee EEL inet aaeert keds abi Ve RD Tn oe eee TT tar) , ~ pawn vee Ts em eT paar aae Ko ADT sa 7 Pp Peto Oe Pg Sisk “ Sr pai aed ee Eee preteen se aka seer iro to Pepa erin Ieee Lory 4 [ 4 ae re ees olin as ROTATES eb oy ead ae RTT pe ae eiatcisirngeahted aioe Reet ape are errccrs | PY re saps Nabpet fy tw a = apa pits sare © » iar EON a Janae ae SARE per ete ite n tapi eet : pares173 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO Play, therefore, for the repetition, not of the avant dernier coup (or spin before the last), but for the avant avant dermer, the last spin but two. And do not regard these spins in the usual way, as reds and blacks, but as runs and intermittences. This idea is new to most roulette players, but has great advantages. Write on paper a string of any patterns, imagining that you begin to play only after the first three spins. You will see that with this method you win all intermittences, all runs, all “‘two-ones”’ and ‘“ three-threes. ” But no attack is so good that at least two ficures are not against it. In this game the ““two-twos’? (one coup de deux following another) and three-ones (three of a colour followed by one of the other colour) are the enemy. They make you lose every bet, while they go on. But why let them defeat you? Hither stop playing till the figures change, or risk betting for the hostile com- bination to continue. Thus, if it repeats, as it often does, you win; but you return to your proper game as soon as it breaks up. For this attempt to reach the heart of roulette there are two suitable progressions.METHODS OF PLAY 179 - The safer of the two is the “see-saw.” It takes patience, but it is solid. You begin by playing 1 unit (say a five- france piece or a louis), and continue on that stake while you win, or till you have lost three bets in succession. When this happens, the three losing stakes are written on your ecard thus: 1, 1, 1; and then you play two units instead of one. If this bet wins, you strike out with your pencil the third losing 1, and the figures stand 1,1. You drop to the stake of 1, and continue on it till you lose 1 (when you return to staking 2), or till you win one twice, whereupon all losses are wiped out. Of course you may lose several twos, say three of them, when your card will stand, 111,222. This forces you to play 3; and if you win your first bet of 3 you strike out your last losing 2, returning to a stake of 2; but a loss of 3, three times, forces you to a stake of 4, and so on, up and down like a see-saw. Each phase of the game must be carefully marked, and the player must never forget to strike out losses and descend to the lower scale when he can. The alternative progression is: PPP ede ee ele pae adle Deompr dpe epee me ep er oe ht ee en ert Aa, op psa yeee ek SS 9 te EAA RU) TAS Mclberprd perc hee eT Cie tek SO Ce Merman! oh UL TES DES Ovas ab el Wek DE PLR, eae eae TRO dees ee ere ee ar tal (Sa) aia ta bets ths Vales a To. yes ad ors ws - * Et deed Aes NS harsh Pieper eye ke atk nf men Sp ei A deleted toy ps os a i Re Gi rr Serr Te retro o te eegees ee pene re OE 6g rp n a ee Wetter pene eal y Aig Aa mn bee a8 pe lee iers cee Pe oa ra ee ge et SOT Te Pen sa. aa wf er ee eee ood Seo h eme fe patng akg he pe rae omer aot 8 bap ca ve EY a180 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO THe Lone PAROLI A parok, so called, means leaving your own stake and your win both on the table for a repetition of a win each time you have made one. This special parol is arranged for fifteen spins, and with such a good attack you seldom fail to make two consecutive wins in fifteen spins of the wheel: ee a oe —_ _ zs _ tN Order of Amount of | Sum Ok | Net | Coups. Stake. Losses. | Profits: ai | ] | | | o 2 es. 9 2 Be el Se ne 4 Me 8 7 | 7. on D o 10 4 6 4 i ae 2 | 7 6 20 4 | 8 | 3 28 4 | Oe ay 20 38 Selle uage 10 | 14 pd ae 4 | 11 | Lea 105 2 | 12 ee te Om) 5 13 | o4 | 129 7 14 AGA WT ea KeeehGMETHODS OF PLAY 181 Now for a little “‘ invention ’’ of my own! I didn’t make it for myself, but for a friend who had lost a great deal in “ splashing.” He accepted this attack gratefully, and found it good, using by preference the “ Little Martingale”’ with the break | once men- tioned, or a small paroli—playing tor two successive wins only, leaving on half or all of his first gain, and occasionally, after a run of ill luck, raising his unit till he had won back most of his losses. The attack I advised consisted in waiting for two spins of the wheel. If a couple of intermittences had appeared, my friend was to bet that three more would not follow; or in other words, would bet against a run of five intermittences. If the two watched spins were not intermittences, but a pair of blacks, or a pair of reds, the player had to bet that three of the same colour would not come after in succession. The first stake was a five-franc piece. If he lost, he played two. If that was a loss, he played four, which was the ‘“‘ break’? in the progression known as the “small Martingale.” Three losses meant seven pieces gone; and he then allowed a fourth stake of three pieces, which EE err Lie tere reat er pe ee eg ae EE Pe | ere Pett " A ee | x ferwito let ol wt tirt amt ute mrasihie MSFT TT ET eLepeee PEGE Gea weneRoe Coote MS STR SRSLE ECB SetL ASAE ALE LD, Tee ee eres Eyl bee= | Tres rey SETS “ pate OF 5 Mantes i nd cal xen _ a 4 SS ahd Ph . nA Phi in Pere pore ees Aes pep 7 ay ays eae eee TZ PER re es he Sorte Serer |. a Pre er ae Se eed we Rhesekottins he pokey pa a PE we Bh eh ee Ste See TT iene Tose haies! Te ee end bottentye area ase ern lilgeegay hee rece either eaten nes aot te Sh meh | fe gh aie etree esr Ea Se aie iia oe th be en et ve eit 4 bitter sae ee eet Py Taree TT me eee eel pres ae I ean Sahel a =f Ey rr aad np gt es ot ee 2 Re Res akin . ~ = an ony xf ee eapene ni ee epee ete isprs, ey RB denek-) 182 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO he considered better than returning to one unit. If the fourth bet were unlucky, four units could be played, so that a win at either of these “‘ after-break’”’ stages helped to retrieve something, without recklessly chas- ing losses. The alternative, or parol, I’ve just described. The ‘‘ trick’ of the game, however, which really made its value, was stopping play for one spin after each win. By doing this, one avoided loss on a run of five of a colour, or six intermittences, occasionally coming off safely even after a longer run, according as one fell upon it at the start. When one had “broken ’”’ for seven pieces, and the two follow- ing bets of three and four pieces, one simply waited to let a further adverse run roll by. On all short runs the game could not help going well, and even on long runs the losses were so small that they could easily be made up on good cards. I have said that every system of “ attack ” on simple chances is based on the hope of winning as many bets as you lose. Unfortun- ately, this is hard to do, for zero is always against you, giving the bank a certain amount of advantage, even if luck is your friend.METHODS OF PLAY 183 If this hope could be fulfilled, ~ flat stakes ’’—no progression—Ww ould be ideal. Alas! this ideal is hard to materialise ; but I’m going to give you a game of flat stakes which often places in your hands gains far above the unit you have risked. It is a game meant for you to pursue through thirty-six spins. Even if you lose each coup, you have lost only thirty -six pieces, and that would rarely happen, in the great variety of your betting, through all the chances that roulette can offer. To begin with, you settle upon a number which you wish to chase. Say you pick out seventeen, which is considered a lucky number by superstitious persons. But before chasing it haphazard, you look for a table where (by glancing at people’s cards) you see that seventeen hasn’ t shown for a long time, or else that it’s “coming out” often. Hither way gives you a good chance. If seventeen has been “‘shy,’”’ it must soon or late make up its mathematical average. If, on the other hand, it is repeating, that’s a sign it has now begun to make up ! Seventeen is a black number. Instead of going for it en plein with thirty-five chances ES a eee Ee s ETT ICN Sat peer eet tt tee ott TOT Te haa ee eco pt hte EReT Reamer Pian SF PETIT TI ET cen - ee oe Ed C4 oe ined SE eae Lay hte TST TTT Tce T LT CT RSET RE OR ELD Seg EMC Ee mOBS LEN TSG Ces BOs ie MRE els oh ee eee FTL EE eeTage eS (eee er 184 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO and zero against you, “the whole gamut” orders your first bet to be black. If you win —either on your own number or, as is more probable, on some other black one—you count that you're beginning again. Once more you bet black, and so on, while you win; so you see, on this game, you can do well on a long run of a colour. If you lose your black bet, however, you say to yourself, ‘Seventeen is in the middle dozen. Ill go for it with the middle dozen.” You may easily win the two pieces which this chance gives, on that dozen without getting seventeen! And on that stage, as well as every other, a win sends you back at once to your simple chance. Should you lose on the dozen, you put a piece on the first six of the middle dozen, for seventeen lies there. The six, or sixaine, gives a win of five pieces for one, so if you succeed there, you do very well. But if you fail, you must try the four, or carré, where seventeen. lurks. A win gives eight pieces for one. Next, your hope is in the three numbers lying together on the board, 16, 17, 18. A win brings you eleven pieces. Failure drives you to the cheval, two numbers, one of whichMETHODS OF PLAY 185 is seventeen, and for a win on either of the two you get seventeen pieces. But suppose you've lost every time, you have still seven- teen en plein betore you! Your first bet on the simple chance (black) if it failed wasn’t repeated. The same with your loss on the dozen. On the sixaine, however, you had three goes, in case of loss ; three also on the carré. On the three (transversale plein) you had the same. The cheval gave you two chances, if you lost the three; and at last, on the number itself you had seventeen bets, to retrieve yourself before counting that you'd got a “bust.” So you see, you've a good long run for your money; and it’s seldom you don’t pick up a fair number of pieces, even though the number you want hever shows up. On the principle of hoarding the best to the last, I have saved up a system pronounced (after soul-searching tests at the tables) ‘almost infallible’? by several surprised mathematicians. If you try it, remember that patience is as necessary in the game of roulette as in the game of life ; and that it is human nature, se Pind eee et tdee eee IEEE E Tere eeerr ayer CIS . , en Pe ee ey LL FTES ORES RTT GRNT Ts MOTT Sty se Tye ah etree aaa fhe RTT PST Tee PETE Dees EERE CREE Tame het Oyoes ag!186 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO not the nature of roulette, which fills the pockets of the 8.B.M. year after year. Taking your patience for granted, I pre- scribe a capital of at least five thousand francs for a game of this sort, with a five-franc unit. You may not have played at “‘ Monte,” but as a mathematician, let us say, you’ve tried all the chances of roulette. You know there are as many black as red numbers of the thirty-six on the wheel, and that, except for zero, if you bet on red or black you ought on the average to “ guess right”’ as often as the bank; say fifty times right in a hundred coups and fifty times wrong. Well, in this game which I give you as a tribute to your patience, sang-froid, and the capital you’re willing to risk, every winning bet is auto- matically two units higher than every losing one. Therefore your object of winning one unit (in your case a louis) for each spin of the wheel is accomplished when you’ve won the same number of bets that you’ve lost; though you can win a good sum by virtue of this progression long before you’ve equal- ised your bets. And there’s no danger of reaching the maximum even with a long runMETHODS OF PLAY 187 of bad luck, which you’re bound to have sometimes. We're still talking of the progression, or the stakes you play. Later, I'll tell you the manner of ‘attack’ I think best for this ‘“mathematician’s”’? system; that is, the rules which will guide you in putting money on a particular colour. Now we'll say you begin. You stake a louis if you have capital enough. Ii you vin, you stake a louis again, and continue doing the same till your first loss. When you make that, you put on three louis next time. If you win, you’ve done the trick, and you go back to your stake of one. Ii you lose, you don’t increase your stake as you did after the first loss, but go on playing three louis each losing coup. As soon as you win one stake of three louis, you cross out with your roulette pencil the first stake of one louis you lost. The winning three thus cancels the original loss of one. If you have lost several threes, and have them to cancel, you begin after the first three won to play a stake of five. You go on doing this till all the lost threes are erased. But, almost surely you'll lose some fives. To wipe them Bette neh eran eee Toss ran 5 . , permet eet Se ees perso eh (Ey Oo (hr both Ge ter cadena pov rte PT TC sae eee Ree RE ag) rete: pieay I by arts ie188 THE LURE OF MONTE CARLO out, seven must be played, and so forth. That’s the way you go on till at last your bets are evened, or until, anyhow, you’ve won enough to satisfy you after a struggle. You can’t win at every séance, but you can always win in the end, in spite of zero, which will take its percentage. I tell you the bank dreads the kind of man who has the qualities to play this “ mathematician’s”’ system. As for the “ attack ’’—as professionals call it—here’s a congenial one: When you sit down at a table (you must sit; it takes concentration!) don’t play the first coup.. If red comes, stake on red for the next; if black, stake on black; that is, play for the run of the colour that appears. At your first loss, you still go for the run; but if you have two consecutive losses on a colour, you change over and play for the colour which has made you lose twice. In that way, the one thing which can give you a string of losses are runs of two—coups de dewx—or red red, black black. These can repeat so often that it’s a good game to play for them. So, when two coups de deux have appeared—red red, black black, or wice versa—vyou leave the strictree METHODS OF PLAY 189 system, and bet for the runs of two to keep on. As soon as they break up, however, you return to the strict. If you can’t win by this method, it must be either that your patience (much-insisted- on virtue!) has failed, or else that your guardian angel doesn’t wish you to gamble. And even so, as I have been trying to prove to you all along, there are many, many other ‘lures’? besides gambling, at Monte Carlo! PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY NEILL AND CO.,, LID., EDINBURGH, SR a eee EL aan . - , Dee pret ee TT nee eee Pree Bes ET Sy od Che on tng immeniree apace tt tT sty tet teeen eye Ct oR eg Seta pi ets einer i Hos? 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Sie rate =i oP ae ee eee oe eT Ce pad naa syBas ye ae ear es en aeatiee Le — mike 2 lw feet PEN meld ig Sade noe i a a Pd ey ce a Aedop sys Caged att tit. ” ee oe aeeee i... parecer ee aa eh el bal at al tacts ete pear peta Wee Te ty Hirgnieie Mis ees wpe pet ou pees ot UX GOL O49 Jib MOwtt ere + i Resi eed oa Fat ter erree vy le a fen key a4 iz a oS: aie ei aeae ei vt . ‘ Toes 2 ibe ale a et rts eh 5 fg ore