The man was indeed an adept at a great variety of tricks by which the unsuspecting could be taken in.
"I ought to know," he said.

"I was for three years in a gambling house in Paris, where every other man was a sharper.

I have been in places of the same sort in Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Italy.

At first I was only a boy waiter, and as until evening there was nothing doing at these places, men would sometimes amuse themselves by teaching me tricks, easy ones to begin with, and when they saw I was sharp and quick handed they went on.

After a time I began to work as a confederate, and at last on my own account; but I got disgusted with it at last.