Amanda Scott (52 page)

banker
Whoever holds the bank, the House players, or in some cases, noblemen who could afford to do so.

blacklegs
Cheats.

blank
(1) In card-point games, a card worth nothing. (2) A hand without court cards, consisting only of numerals.

bonnetters
Thimble-rig, to “bonnet” any green one who might happen to win—that is to say, to knock his hat over his eyes, whilst the operator and the others bolted with the stakes.

Captain Sharp
A cheating bully, whose office was to bully any
pigeon
who, suspecting roguery, refused to pay what he had lost.

card points
The point values of cards in point-trick games (as opposed to nominal face values). In Piquet, for example, the point value of an ace is eleven, not one.

cards and capot
A player winning seven or more tricks scores 10 for
cards.
For winning all twelve, he scores an additional 30 (40 in all) for
capot.

carte blanche
A hand without court cards.

carte rouge
A hand in which every card counts towards a scoring combination (Piquet).

chance
See
main
for full explanation of both Hazard terms.

coppering
Placing a copper penny on one’s stake in Faro, meaning that one bets on the house card to win. Each play consists of two cards being drawn by the
banker.
One is the English card, for the players, the other the house card. The banker wins all the money staked on the house card, unless the wager is “coppered.”

court cards
King, Queen, Jack, etc., as opposed to numeral or pip cards. Also called facecards, and originally coats.

crabs
Losing throw in Hazard.

deal
To distribute cards to the players at start of play.

declare
To show and score for a valid combination of cards in hand (Piquet).

deuce
The two of any given suit.

discard
(1) To lay aside an unwanted card or cards from hand. (2) To throw a worthless or unwanted card to a trick.

do
To cheat.

done up
Ruined.

down-hills
False dice which run low.

draw
To take or be dealt one or more cards from a stock or waste-pit.

dun territory
When one’s gaming debts are greater than one’s assets.

eggers
To egg on the dupe to bet (Thimble-rig).

elbow-shaker
A gamester.

elder
The player obliged or privileged to make the opening bet, bid, or lead. In Piquet, and other two-player games, the Antagonist, or non-dealing player.

en passant
A manner of capturing a pawn in chess (in passing).

Faro
The most widespread Western gambling game of the 18th and 19th centuries. There was a staking layout of 13 cards, punters bet on individual ranks to win or lose, and the outcome was basically determined by the banker’s dealing cards alternately to a winning and losing pile. When only three cards remained, players could bet on the order in which they would appear. According to Andrew Steinmetz
(The Gaming Table,
1870), some Faro tables were laid out with all 52 cards, but in general the rules required 13. The play described at Lord Yarborne’s ladies’ supper is from Steinmetz, describing play during the 1820s. The above description of Faro is from by David
A Dictionary of Card Games
Parlett (1992).

flat-catchers
Minor members of “the Fancy.”

Fulhams
Loaded dice.

fuzz
To shave cards, to change the pack.

game
Bubbles, flats, Pigeons.

Greeks
Cheats at play.

green
A
dupe.

groom-porter
That member of a gaming house staff who ran a gaming table. He instructed players in the rules, raked in the losses to the House, and generally was responsible for keeping order.

gull gropers
Usurers who lend money to gamesters.

Hazard
A game played with two dice. As many men as can stand around the largest round table may play it. According to
The Compleat Gamester
by Charles Cotton:
Hazzard is a proper name for this Game; for it speedily makes a Man or undoes him; in the twinkling of an eye either a Man or a Mouse. There are two things chiefly to be observed, that is, Main and Chance; the Chance is the Caster’s, and the Main theirs who are concerned in play with him … Certainly Hazzard is the most bewitching Game that is plaid on the Dice; for when a man begins to play he knows not when to leave off; and having once accustomed himself to play at Hazzard, he hardly ever after minds anything else. …

hedge
To secure a bet by betting on the other side as well.

highjinks
A gambler who drinks to intoxicate his pigeon.

hunting
Drawing in the unwary.

lead
To play the first card; or, the first card played.

main
In Hazard, the number called by the
caster
before his first
cast.
If it turns up, he wins. If not, the number that does turn up is his
chance.
If he throws
chance
after that point, he wins the stakes on the table. However, except for that first cast, if the caster throws his
main,
he has “thrown out”, and (under English rules) must pay every other player an amount equal to that man’s stake.

markers
Various types, used by gamesters to mark their own rouleaux or other wagers on a tableful of same. When money was raked in by the
groom-porter,
the bettor retrieved his marker(s).

nick
In Hazard, a losing cast. Everyone loses his wager, and the house or banker rakes in the money. The caster loses only his stake, and may continue casting.

pawn
To hide a card or die.

pigeons
Dupes of sharpers at play.

pique
If the Elder (non-dealer) reaches 30 upon or after leading to the first trick, and Younger (dealer) has not yet scored anything for combinations or tricks, he adds a bonus of 30 for
pique.
Younger cannot score pique. (Note: In her game with Nicholas, Melissa scores a repique but not a pique because she is dealer.)

Piquet
Piquet, or Picket, goes back to the early sixteenth century and has long been regarded as one of the all-time great games for two players. According to
The Compleat Gamester
by Charles Cotton (the standard work on games in England from 1674 till the mid-18th century, and from which Edmund Hoyle gleaned much of the information for his later work on card games):
Before you begin the Game at Picket, you must throw out of the Pack the Deuces, Trays, Fours, and Fives
(by 1800 the sixes were also thrown out)
and play with the rest of the Cards, which are in number Thirty and six
(32 after 1800).

point
In Piquet, the total face value of all cards held of any one suit.

repique
If either player reaches a score of 30 for combinations alone before the other has scored anything, he adds a bonus of 60 for
repique.

rook
Gambler.

rouleau(x)
A roll of sovereigns used for betting, much like a roll of dimes or quarters.

St Hugh’s bones
Dice. A bale of bard cinque deuces; a bale of flat cinque deuces; a bale of flat size aces; a bale of bard cater treys; a bale of flat cater treys; a bale of Fulhams; a bale of light graniers; a bale of gordes, with as many highmen and lowmen for passage; a bale of demies; a bale of long dice for even or odd; a bale of bristles; a bale of direct contraries—names of false dice.

stock
Cards which are not dealt initially but may be drawn from or dealt out later in the play.

thimble-rig
Shell game.

thimble rigger
One who runs a shell game.

trick
A set of cards equal to the number of players, each having contributed one in succession.

trump
(1) A superior suit, any card of which will beat that of any other suit played to the trick. (2) To play such a card.

up-hills
False dice which run high.

velvet
a. the winnings of a player in a gambling game; b. a profit or gain beyond ordinary expectation (Webster).

Vincent’s Law
The art of cheating at cards by the banker, who plays booty, Gripe, who bets, and the Vincent, who is cheated. The gain is called termage.

vowel
To give an I.O.U. in payment.

younger
The player last in turn to bid or play at the start of a game (usually the dealer).

Dear Reader,

A ladybug met Julius Caesar at a Halloween party, and the seed that had been planted for this story began to grow. Julius Caesar is a psychologist in real life, who specializes in battered women, molested children, and other forms of child abuse. The ladybug was this author. We spent three hours discussing Melissa Seacourt. It was a great party.

Melissa first appeared as a child in
Dangerous Illusions
(Pinnacle, June 1994), and she seemed a natural heroine for this book, but before I could use her, I needed to know if she could enjoy happiness with a would-be domineering male. I also wanted a few ideas about how she could grow and leave the worst of her past behind without modern counseling. To my astonishment and relief, I learned that her cousin Charley was exactly the sort of person most likely to help. The only problem after that was keeping Charley from taking over Melissa’s book. I did that by promising her one of her own.

For those of you who like to know about the real bits of history in my books, I came across the account of the chess player and his Almighty opponent in the course of my research, as an example of the sort of con-artistry that was rampant in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and I couldn’t resist using it. When I discovered a carefully detailed description of how to ensnare the minor son of a nobleman, the primary subplot of
Dangerous Games
fell into place.

The conclusion of the book developed from a combination of a recipe for “gulling pigeons,” added to a string of signs I encountered last year, while driving to our summer cabin. Beginning with a huge banner strung across the road, it rapidly became clear that two people had quarreled, and the gentleman was determined to make a very public apology.

Also true is the King’s Drawing Room. After three postponements, due to his gout, King George IV held a Drawing Room on May 20, 1824, the details of which were printed (down to which window he stood by) in the London
Times.

I do hope you’ve enjoyed this book. If you would like to know more about some of the characters (including Charley and Lady Ophelia), I invite you to read
Dangerous Illusions,
and to look for
Dangerous Angels,
Charley’s story, in December 1996.

Hail, Caesar!

A fourth-generation Californian of Scottish descent, Amanda Scott is the author of more than fifty romantic novels, many of which appeared on the
USA Today
bestseller list. Her Scottish heritage and love of history (she received undergraduate and graduate degrees in history at Mills College and California State University, San Jose, respectively) inspired her to write historical fiction. Credited by
Library Journal
with starting the Scottish romance subgenre, Scott has also won acclaim for her sparkling Regency romances. She is the recipient of the Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award (for
Lord Abberley’s Nemesis
, 1986) and the RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award. She lives in central California with her husband.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1996 by Lynne Scott-Drennan

cover design by Mimi Bark