“I don’t know what they thought of my playing, for I still refused to press my luck as even the most cowardly player would have done, but I know they were fairly astonished at the way the cards came to me. Over and over again I filled full hands, drawing to a pair; twice I held fours, and the flushes were as common as two pairs ever were when I played before. I played at random. I made wild draws and foolish bets, and threw down winning hands, but the chips kept coming my way till the situation became positively painful. That luck held till the game broke up, and, though I had honestly tried to keep from winning, I had seventy-five dollars cash to the good, over and above the stack I bought on entering the game. To make matters worse, one of the players had given me some unmistakably black looks, and in my embarrassment I felt certain that he took me for a card sharp, and I thought that the others would be likely to share his opinion. “When we were all saying good-night, however, one of the players drew me one side and whispered: “‘We were very glad to see you win that money.’ I was puzzled for fair, but I said: “‘Well, I’m glad you’re glad, but why should you be? I didn’t exactly like it myself.’ “‘No,’ he replied. ‘I saw you didn’t. But didn’t you notice that the man that lost the most lost his temper also?’ “‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I did notice that.’ “‘Well,’ he chuckled, ‘he is the fellow we have been trying all winter to catch.’ “That was a relief, but I never got over my regret that the easiest winnings I ever made at poker should have come when I was trying my best to lose.” “I quite believe, as you do,” said one of his listeners, “that there is such a thing as luck, but do you think that it is affected by anything that we can possess?” “Meaning a rabbit’s foot or a child’s caul, I suppose,” said the gray-haired young-looking man with a smile. “Well, I wouldn’t like to declare myself on that point, but I can tell you one more story that is true within my own knowledge. About five years ago I met a man on Broadway, whom I had formerly known as a speculator and a roving character in the West. He was a good fellow, with a reputation for being square that I had never heard questioned, and he had, when I knew him well, been unusually successful, so that he was very well off for a young man. I was therefore surprised to see that he looked very seedy. Moreover, he had a discouraged look which I had never seen on his face before.