“I wrote a book of original quality, which few people liked, as only one person could understand it; for the rest it was merely a collection of phrases.
“The book was entitled The Set of Emeralds, and I signed it with my initials only.
“Since I am not Victor Hugo, nor anybody of the sort, I need not tell you that I did not get for my novel what the author of Notre Dame de Paris had for his latest; but what with one thing and another I gathered together a sufficient sum to begin my plan of campaign.
“The emeralds in question would be worth from fourteen to fifteen thousand dollars, and toward the purchase I now counted up the respectable sum of one hundred and fifty. It was necessary, then, to game.