Not an easy trick which is why it impresses: the Faro Shuffle.
I’ve been so busy on my work in progress Dark Heart that I completely forgot to release a Sunday Snippet! I hope you don’t mind!
Last month, I shared some historical detail on Faro, the popular 18th century card game and a snippet from Moonstone Conspiracy.
But it’s not just our heroine Lady Abigail who is a dab hand at cards, our Moonstone Conspiracy hero, the Honourable Daniel Ridgeway is too.
Not only is he quite adept at the art, he also know a few tricks such as the Faro Shuffle:
He’s also a bit of a ‘card’ himself, knowing how to tweak his nemesis’s nose by palming him The Scottish Curse card. The term was coined sometime at the beginning of the 18th century but these days is hardly known outside of active card playing circles.
The second story dates back to the ruthless massacre at Glencoe where Sir John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, ordered the massacre of the Glencoe MacDonalds.
The massacre caused an outcry across Britain and since the Stair coat of arms bears a striking resemblance to the nine of diamonds the card was forever to become known as the Curse of Scotland by association.
The real origins are lost in time, but there are some very interesting involving variously Mary, Queen of Scots, the Duke of Cumberland and even the Pope!
My favourite is that the ‘curse’ may not be a curse at all…
Though the nine diamonds in today’s playing cards are arranged in an H pattern, early versions favoured an X shape. When viewed sideways, these cards look very similar to the Scottish flag—known as St. Andrew’s Cross or the Cross of Scotland. It’s very possible that the original name of the card was actually the Cross of Scotland.
Excerpt
Dauncey took his seat before speaking. “You’re the son of Viscount Pemberley, one of the unrepresentative swill who sits in the House of Lords.”
“I see you know my father well,” Daniel grinned as he swept the playing cards across the baise. “Then you must also know that, despite my red hair, I am what they call the ‘black sheep’ of the family and now completely cut off.”
Using the card on his right, Daniel tipped the displayed deck over and the cards travelled like a wave to the opposite shore. The action revealed the suits momentarily before he used the end card on the left to flip them back.
“Surely you know I was cast out of the family without a penny more than fifteen years ago,” he stated. “Reason would tell you I have no love of privilege and unearned wealth.”
Dauncey watched closely as Daniel swept the cards into a neat single pile.
“Rag-wearing radicals we have aplenty, Ridgeway. What we don’t have is malcontents with money.”
Certain of his audience, Daniel cut the deck into two even piles.
“I can get you money. Two hundred pounds at least.”
“That’s a fine trick if you can do it.”
Daniel raised the half decks, one in each hand, and executed a perfect faro shuffle, neatly interleaving each half deck. It was an old magician’s trick he had perfected and it never failed to impress an audience.
“I know many fine tricks, including how to fly a kite without dipping a hand into one’s own pockets.”
He smiled slyly and performed the split and shuffle action again before fanning out the deck, suits down. “But I have a condition.”
“Of course you do,” Dauncey responded sarcastically.
“I want in. I want you to introduce me to your society.”