A PROPHETIC GAME AT CARDS

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 147, 1 December 1870, Page 7

A PROPHETIC GAME AT CARDS

Since tiie outbreak of war between Prussia and France war and its consequences have beeu the chief topic of conversation, battles of the past have been orally fou ;ht o'er again, and anecdotes alluding thereto have been generally set afioat. One of them, from " Apploton's Journal," as it involves a game of cards, prophetic in character, in relation to the proposed set-to between Prussia and France, we here give apace to : — One hot afternoon in the month of August, '07, three men sat round a table in a private parlour at the Hotel Darmstadt at Ems, taking such comforts as they could derive from the juice of R'lenis i giMjw iiiid a pack of cards. Tne most loiispii-uous figure- of the group wm a large man with v bald head, greyis'i blue eyes, a heavy light- coloured moustache, airs ab/>ut him that would have done honour to the imperial purple. This personage had even then achieved some fame, and was tolerably well known to reading people by the name of Bismarck. Next to him s.it another bald-headed individual, inferior to Bismarck iv stature, with a border of black hair about tho base of iiis skull that looked like the rim of an old felt hat (ruthlessly robbed of its crown), condemned to remain there as a permanent fixture. During the Crimean war the fathsr of this man figured at tie cabiuent councils iv St. Petersburg as Count Nesselrode, but the son was only known as a clever gamester and an habitue' o( the fashionabb European watering-places. T.ie turd member of the party was a little fellow (so little that his feet scarcely touched the floor), wit'i dark, piercing eyes, swarthy skin, and vivacity enough for half a dozjn ordinary men. At t ie same time of which we speak he was the French consul at Stuttgart. All of them had been partaking freely of wine, and each in turn s'luffi kI the cards with a vim that the generous grape imparts even to the most phlegmatic temperament. Tie Frenchman, in t ie interlude play, kept up a running firo of conversation, skipping from topic to topic with a facility wiie i only Fronchmin enjoy, until warming as he went on, he ventured the declaration that France wouid one day mark her boundary by the R'line, from Basel to the sen. ' : A hundred Fredericks to fifty !" exclaimed Nesselrode, ''that s'le won't." " Done," replied fie Frenchman, "and let tins game be the fortune-teller." They shuffljd the cards, and the Frenchman lost. " Another w,i.rer," said Nesael rode, with a glance at Bismarck, who eyed his two companions calmly, fiough never uttering a single word. " Another wager ! two hundred and fifty that within five years France and Prussia measure swords, and that France yields Alsace and the whole disputed border. " G'est impossible !"' excitedly responded the counsul. Again the cards were shuffled. At the fourth round, Bismarck and the Frenchman had oacli taken two tricks. Tfc was the Russian's load. He threw the queen of clubs upon tho table. " King !" shouted the Frenchman in triumph, as he covered Nesselrode's card, and extended his hand to seize the prize. "Not so fast," eooly remarked the Prussian Premier; "I believe the game is mine ;" and casting the acs, he leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. " Man Dieu\" shouted the diseomfitted player, " but cards always wero liars ;M; M and, unable to conceal tho chagrin and oxcitomont that overmastered him, ho rose from the table and quitted the room. Three years have scarcely elapsed since tho incident hero narrated (an incident

which Nt'ssi-lrode told with hearty satisfaction in tiie JCmy cafes thai .summer), and now the big cloud of war that ha.s Inhered over Europe baa curst, t n> :-e.--u!t may prove that t!ie cards \w rv not such liars after all.