Adriana had less taste than the others for this game, it required too much precision; and, at the same time, a degree of strength above her age.
Ernestina, Valeria, and the rest of the eldest girls, received, about this time, a present of a set of nine-pins, of a different sort from those we have been speaking of. They compose the game called _Siam_. You lose at it, also, by making too many points; and you are then said, as in the other, to _burst_. Your fate is decided more frequently by chance at _Siam_ than at nine-pins, for you cannot always guide the quoit at will, which serves to throw down the pins. The quoit is made of a hard close wood, the edge of it is cut a little sloping, so as to describe a curve it is directed circularly either to the right or to the left.
This game is very common in India, and as it was introduced into France during the reign of Louis XIV., by people in the suite of the ambassador of Siam, who was at that time at the Court of Versailles, it has retained the name of their country.
The nine-pins are not all of the same value; those which are ranged in a circle reckon each for one point; three others which form the point of the opposite side count for 5, 4, and 3; the one in the middle is called the Siam, but it is necessary to throw that down by itself, otherwise the player loses all the points he has gained before, and is obliged to begin again.
The rock upon which the player is apt to split, is, as we have already said, the going beyond the number of points fixed upon; and no skill can avert this danger which may arise from the slightest chance, such as the least unevenness of the ground, or even a little sand upon the quoit; from causes thus trivial, the game is frequently lost, just at the moment that the player appears to be on the point of gaining it.
Our young people amused themselves, for the rest of the autumn, with a review of the games which had delighted them during the spring and summer; they returned to the capital in the beginning of November. The young ladies eagerly resumed the lessons which they took from their different masters. Victor, who for the first time, obtained a prize at the University, entered into a higher class, where he strove with a laudable emulation to surpass his fellow collegians. The Misses D’Hernilly, instructed by the first masters in the knowledge of languages, and in every other accomplishment suitable to their rank, passed their leisure hours in society, selected for them by their mother, and chiefly under her own eye. Between study and relaxation their time flew rapidly, but both the young ladies and their brother, often recollected with pleasure, the amusements they had enjoyed at the castle D’Hernilly, and looked forward with delight, although without impatience, to the period when returning to the country they should once more resume their healthful and exhilarating sports.