adverse fortune and are certain of ourselves being vanquished. Our reasoning faculties desert us and we play a game that we know to be absurd. And the chips disappear; first the white, then the red, then the blue, and we put our name to more notes.
"After having had the self-control for ten long years to think twice before spending thirty-five sous for cab-hire, as I had done, we make bets of five hundred francs without hesitating. But I will sum up the situation for you in very few words: I had entered the club at eleven o'clock; when I turned the key in my door at two I had lost and owed the whole sum of three thousand francs that I had obtained upon my credit, and, as I told you, it was nearly all that I possessed in the world."
"Well, well!" said I, "if you did not become a confirmed gambler after such a shaking up as that, it was because you hadn't it in you. It was enough to ruin a man forever."
"You are right," rejoined Frémiot, "when I awoke the following morning after the lethargic slumber that always succeeds such sensations, the scene of the preceding night arose before my mind in its entirety and I had but two ideas in my head: to secure my revenge that same evening and to utilize the experience that I had acquired in the combination of my bets. I mentally reviewed certain deals, where I had lost and where I should have won. All at once my eyes fell on the envelope that was lying on the table addressed to Ladrat. An involuntary calculation passed through my head which made it clear to me that the gift of that money would be a foolish sacrifice. After paying the three thousand francs that I owed I would have
