When Luck Runs Out — War and Peace

An hour and a half in, the room watches Rostóv, not their own cards. His column of losses passes twenty thousand while Dólokhov follows every stake and has fixed a finish line: forty-three thousand, the sum of his and Sónya's ages.

Rostóv cannot name when happiness ended. He prays, counts coat cords, stakes at random, and stares at the reddish hands that hold him. Dólokhov refuses big bets and sets small ones, stretching the torture while Rostóv tells himself his friend cannot want his ruin.

At forty-three thousand Dólokhov stops the pack, totals the debt, and offers one last card. Rostóv writes twenty-one instead of six thousand, wins ten rubles, and hears the count: forty-three thousand owed. In the next room Dólokhov mentions Sónya and lucky in love, unlucky at cards; Rostóv flees with an I.O.U. and a promise of tomorrow.