"You earn at least twenty pistoles a year."
"Double that."
"Fortunate rascal. When I say rascal, you are the most perfectly honest man that I know. I even believe that you are the only one that I know. Good old Marcel! I am very much pleased to have met you again. I have looked for you all over, in the gambling houses and in the gambling hells even."
"Oh, I have not played for a long time."
"Nonsense, you are joking."
"No, since our adventure I have lost my taste for playing. To go to prison when one is innocent is very disagreeable."
"Oh, well, old fellow, there are a good many thieves who don't go and that makes the balance correct. As for me, I confess that I still play. It amuses me. Besides, it is the pleasure of a great nobleman, and there is nothing more noble than to play and lose right down to your boots."
"Since I am only a valet I have no need of following that fashion."
"You are wrong. It is always necessary to follow the great. You played a very strong game of piquet."
"Me? Oh, on the contrary, I am a very weak player."