Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson’s adventure concerns a stoke of chance with a certain Lucky Shilling. Holmes was not in the ordinary sense of the word a gambling man although the chances he took were sometimes too long for comfort. Consequently Dr Watson was surprised when he suggested they took on two of the crack whist players at the Bagatelle Club at stakes that were considerably over their heads. The stakes they were playing for were a young man’s honor and possibly his life.