She pushed the money away from her.
“I don’t want it. It’s yours. I can’t take it.”
“What? Why, I won it for you! It was for you I gambled; for you I risked my capital. It’s given me the rarest pleasure doing this for you; now you mustn’t spoil all by refusing.”
“But I do refuse,” she cried fiercely. “It’s your money. How can I take it?”
“Oh, rot! You’ll make me cross in a minute. Granted it was an absurd idea on my part to make the Casino pay you back this money, what else was there to do? I couldn’t leave you in the hole. I had to do something for you. This way appealed to me as being both original and amusing. Come now ... if you like, consider it a loan, you can pay me back some day. There! It’s the solution of all your difficulties. It will establish you,—perhaps be the beginning of a modest fortune. Think of that bright little bonnet-shop on the Boulevard du Montparnasse. How happy you’ll be there. And I’ll come and see you....”
“If I take it as a loan, will you stop gambling?”
“Oh, come now, that’s absurd. Why should I? It really amuses me very much and I’m sure to win. The Casino owes me a living. It’s like a bank from which I draw a little every day. It would be a shame to stop.”
“You’re like all the rest. I’ve seen it coming over you for some time. You’re getting to think of nothing but roulette. You used to go for long walks, spend your time in the open air; now you’re either in the Rooms or working over permanencies. In the end you’ll lose everything.”
“Nonsense. I tell you I understand the game now. I can get my living at it. It only needs prudence, patience, judgment. A man can start with five francs and win a fortune. The great mass of the people are fools. They play anyhow. But I tell you it takes brains to play that game. There are the laws of chance, the calculation of probabilities.... Oh, I know I can win. I tell you, I can win....”
“I’ve heard the others say that,” she answered scornfully. “Once I thought the same. It’s all an illusion. In the end it’s ruin.”