“Just what I am busy about, my little Nicole,” responded Beausire.
“By shuffling the cards?”
“Did I not tell you that I have found the infallible coup?”
“At it again, eh? Captain Beausire, I warn you that I am going to hunt up my old acquaintances and see if one of them cannot have you shut up in the madhouse. Dear, dear, if Lord Richelieu were not dead, if Cardinal Rohan were not ruined, if Lady Lamotte Valois were not in London dodging the sheriff’s officers——“
“What are you talking about?”
“I should find means and not be obliged to share the misery of an old swashbuckler like this one.”
With a queenly flirt of the hand Oliva alias Nicole Legay, disdainfully indicated the gambler.
“But I keep telling you that I shall be rich to-morrow,” he repeated, himself at any rate convinced.
“Show me the first gold piece of your million and I shall believe the rest.”
“You will see ten gold pieces this evening—the very sum promised me. You can have five to buy a silk dress and a velvet suit for the youngster: with the balance I will bring you the million I promised.”