Monsieur Linders had, in fact, sown his wild oats, so to
speak, and settled down to the business of his life. In former
days, gambling had been a passion with him--too much so,
indeed, to admit of his playing with any great success; he had
been apt to lose both temper and skill. Time, however, while
increasing this passion for play, till it gradually became a
necessity of his life, had taught him to bring to bear upon it
all the ability which would have eminently fitted him for some
more praiseworthy employment. Formerly he had indulged in it
as a diversion; now it became a serious business, which he
prosecuted with a cool head, determined will, and unfailing
perseverance--qualities for which few would have given him
credit in the wild unsettled period of his early career. The
result was highly satisfactory to himself; he was soon known
as one of the most successful haunters of the German and
Belgian gaming-tables; he cast off the outward aspect and
manners of the Bohemian set he had once affected, and assumed
the guise and dress of the gentleman he really was--at least by
birth and education--and which he found at once more profitable
and more congenial to his maturer tastes.
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