“I am not in a position to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of gaining the superfluous.”

Hermann repeats this phrase like a mantra, establishing his personality and financial status at the same time. He is not a wealthy man, and he is careful about spending his money, lacking the material resources of his friends. He distinguishes between the “necessary” and the “superfluous.” As Hermann becomes more obsessed with the countess’s trick, however, he will abandon the careful protection of his savings in a desperate search for superfluous wealth that he covets.

“And he revealed to her a secret for which any of us would be willing to pay a high price….”

The story about the countess’s trick is filled with ambiguity. The nature of the trick is never described, only the success and wealth that it provides. These empty spaces allow Hermann’s mind to fill in the details. The ellipsis at the end of the quote represents the space that Hermann can fill: the story of the countess’s trick is so vague that it can mean anything he wants it to mean, making it even more tempting.

“The Countess did not have the slightest pretensions to beauty, which had long since faded from her face, but she adhered to all the habits of her youth, strictly following the fashions of the 1770s, spending just as much time and trouble on her toilette as she had sixty years before.”

Since winning her game of cards, the countess has become caught in a cycle of wealth and luxury from which she cannot escape. She finds no real pleasure in life, as she is ignored at balls and barely knows which of her friends are still alive.