'It is bad for me; I have thirty to forty thousand francs at stake,' said the stock-broker, beating his trouser-leg with his stick in an elegant way.
'And how are you to pay?'
'I will pay,' the other ended up by saying, in a vague way.
'You have had several bad settling-days, it seems to me.'
'So, so. It is Lillina that takes away everything,' he muttered, with a not perfectly sincere gesture of regret.
'Lillina? She says "No," 'remarked Don Gennaro.
'Did she tell you so? She is the greatest liar among women! You can't think what a liar she is, Gennaro!' and he cried out more against her, rather in a sham rage. 'Have you got these jewels?' he added anxiously, though he tried to seem indifferent.
'Yes. Are they for Lillina?'
'Yes—that is to say, I am not certain; she is too great a liar! Besides, I have someone else in my eye.'
'You are a devil, Ninetto!' Don Gennaro said laughingly.