'"
"And," says Vizard, "there is a French proverb founded on _experience:_
"C'est encore rouge qui perd, Et encore noir. Mais toujours blanc qui
gagne.'"
Severne, for the first time, looked angry and mortified; he turned his
back and was silent. Vizard looked at him uneasily, hesitated a moment,
then flung the remainder of his cigar away and seemed to rouse himself
body and soul. He squared his shoulders, as if he were going to box the
Demon of play for his friend, and he let out good sense right and left,
and, indeed, was almost betrayed into eloquence. "What!" he cried, "you,
who are so bright and keen and knowing in everything else, are you really
so blinded by egotism and credulity as to believe that you can invent any
method of betting at _rouge et noir_ that has not been tried before you
were born? Do you remember the first word in La Bruy'ere's famous work?"
"No," said Ned, sulkily. "Read nothing but newspapers."
"Good lad. Saves a deal of trouble. Well, he begins 'Tout est
dit'--'everything has been said;' and I say that, in your business, 'Tout
est fait'--'everything has been done.' Every move has been tried before
you existed, and the result of all is that to bet against the bank,
wildly or systematically, is to gamble against a rock.
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