'Nothing,' said the other, with a gesture that was too clear.
'Have you gone bankrupt?'
Ninetto Costa shut his eyes, shivering, as if he did not want to see something; then he said:
'Yes, I have.'
'This is ruin, ruin!' shouted Don Crescenzio, throwing up his arms heavenwards.
The other bit his moustache convulsively.
'At least, you have kept something. That eleven hundred francs you owe me—you must have kept it, have you not?'
Ninetta Costa looked at him dreamily.
'If I do not get this eleven hundred francs by Tuesday evening, I must go prison!' the lottery banker shrieked out.