The Earl and the Nightingale by Ella Edon

Author:Ella Edon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2019-11-06T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

A FAMILIAR SIGHT

J onathan was well aware that he was becoming a familiar sight around the Crockford establishment and reasoned it was only a matter of time before someone would be on to him and try to rob him or shut him down some other way. Technically, gambling was illegal although everyone he knew spent some time playing cards for a paltry sum at a soirée, and most of the older men he knew spent at least some of their time at baccarat or Faro (as they liked to call Pharaoh) or that most insidious of all gambling sports, roulette. So, it was not a matter of breaking the law that troubled him, but the fact that he did not want the winning to become a habit. For Jonathan was a logical fellow, who had discovered he had a particular skill - almost a genius for winning at cribbage. He had won some money at Pharaoh, but he knew it was only his pure dumb luck that had provided this boon to him.

When he met with Garance the next day for breakfast at her flat in St. Martin-in-the-fields, he expressed his misgivings.

“By Jove, my dearest Garance, I feel like I really took advantage of that poor fool yesterday. It’s just not right!”

“Jonathan, you sell yourself short! Nobody tells me it is not right to sing as well as I do. I was given a gift from God, and it has earned me a great deal of money and fame. You are a mathematical genius and you can calculate odds, spot strange runs, sums, and other points that almost nobody else can do. So why would you feel guilty about earning a living through this? I almost feel you could make many times your family fortune through a judicious use of your talent.”

“Well, yes, I suppose that is true, my love,” he said, knitting his brow. “But I feel we need to be somewhat more sociable. Now, by my reckoning, I am getting very close to the amount needed to pay back that blasted Scotsman, Alastair Kerr.”

“That is excellent news. What is your sum today, Jonathan, my darling?”

“Well, I began the night with three thousand and I added seven thousand to my pot by the end of the night last night.”

“So, you have over ten thousand pounds still, do you not?”

“Yes. But I shall need fifteen thousand to be square with this chap. Do you think we could do it tonight?”

“Well I suppose so,” said Garance. “You see, the way I see it, you have this remarkable talent for cribbage, but like any other sport, you must leave room for losing. And you have yet to experience loss. With one win after another, it is only a matter a time before you begin to lose.”

“Actually, that is a common fallacy, as I understand it. The odds of my losing are no more increased with every win I score.”

“But that makes no sense!” said Garance.

“Perhaps, my love, but it is true.

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