Now the last eight cards are down, and the game is suddenly seen to be lost.

One small other shuffle might have won it; if that tray of spades had fallen one place to the right or left, the thing would now be easy; if it were a deuce or a four, the thing were easy.

One spot on the card has brought ruin.

The game has foiled us with its own peculiar cleverness.
But then, we learn to expect failure; and, most important of all, we learn to succeed while failing.

We learn to see our cards fall wretchedly without a tremor.