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Elliot knocked back the third whisky he’d had that night.
What a winning streak!
For three nights now, Lady Luck had been with him. He was not sure what had changed, but that one gambling token and a few notes had turned into quite a pile that now rested beside him on the table. Harrison was watching over him, so nervous that his knee was jerking up and down.
“You sure about this, Elliot?” He leaned forward, whispering in his ear so that the others at the table could not hear him.
“I’m positive. Winning with this stake,” he gestured to the pile beside him, “then I stand a chance of paying the death tax. I have to risk it all, Harrison.”
His friend merely grimaced and sat back again, his knee bobbing up and down.
Elliot calmly turned his cards over in his hands and let his eyes dance across the gambling tokens beside him. It had been three very lucky nights indeed, and he felt he owed that luck to one person.
For some reason, the lady he had met at the ball the other night was never far from his mind. The mere thought of her had Elliot steering toward trying to collect hands with queens in the run. It seemed absurd at first, a mad thing in an attempt to make money. Yet more times than not, he had won with a queen in his hand.
Lucky queens tonight!
Looking across the table, Elliot watched his fellow card players for the night. On one side was Baron Argyll, an Irish lord who seemed to have a particular love for gambling. Elliot rather imagined he was gambling his fortune away. On his other side was a count from Germany, Count Bergmann, who seemed to lose more than he won.
Opposite Elliot was a gentleman he could not quite decipher, a Mr Harrington. Mr Harrington offered no description of who he was, or his past. What was clear to Elliot was that the man was on a losing streak at the moment, and just kept pouring more into the table that ended up in Elliot’s pot.
“Another hand,” Elliot urged, as the others nodded in agreement. As the dealer shuffled the cards, Elliot felt Harrison move to his shoulder, whispering again.
“I can’t watch this, Elliot,” he whispered.
“Why not? I’ll win, Harrison.”
“You cannot guarantee it.” Harrison shook his head. “I have a headache, too. I must go home. I probably drank too much tonight. I wish you luck, my friend.”
He clapped Elliot on the shoulder once before he left. Elliot was distracted, watching his friend go. Harrison did seem to be swaying as he walked, but there was something in Harrison’s words that had made him hesitate.
You cannot guarantee it.
“Well? Are you playing, Your Grace?” Mr Harrington’s words from across the table drew Elliot’s attention.
“I’m in.” He added his bet to the table. They went round a couple of times, and when Elliot found two matching cards in his own hand, he was delighted. He kept a straight face, not revealing it for a second.
When a third queen was turned up in the middle of the table, he was thrilled. With three of a kind, he was unlikely to lose. Taking his opportunity, he pushed all of his winnings into the middle. It was such a vast sum that Baron Argyll and Count Bergmann whistled and cursed.
“Are you sure of this, Your Grace?” Lord Argyll asked, his Irish accent thick.
“I am positive.”
Lord Argyll folded, as did Count Bergmann.
“I’ll see your bet.” Mr Harrington ordered new tokens and added them to the middle of the table. More curses followed, some in German from the count, as Lord Argyll ordered himself another whisky.
“I need a drink for this,” he chuckled, downing it quickly.
“It is time to show your cards, gentlemen,” the dealer said.
Elliot paused, thinking through what he knew. From his guess, Mr Harrington may have had a pair himself. He kept looking down at a ten on the table with reassurance. Knowing he had won, Elliot turned up his cards.
“Three queens.” More whistles followed from Lord Argyll and Count Bergmann, but they did not last.
“I’m afraid I have you beat. Three kings.” Mr Harrington lowered his hand, revealing three kings. Elliot sat forward, leaning onto the table, flummoxed by it. The chances were nigh on impossible, and he was so sure he had watched the way the dealer had shuffled his cards. The kings should not have been in this part of the pack. “It seems you have lost, Your Grace.”
His money was dragged away from the middle of the table.
