"Not at all," said Albert; "you must pay attention; besides, you might have won with your three aces, if you hadn't run against a _misty_. Come, pay up, my dear fellow. Parbleu! you're not so badly off! you're less than thirty francs to the bad." "Thirty francs fifty, and now I've lost my stake again! This is very fine!" "Ingrate! after being so lucky in love, not to be willing to be unlucky at play." "I don't see the necessity of losing all the time." "Think of Madame Plays, and complain if you dare!" Young Tobie made a wry face every time Madame Plays was mentioned, and he looked furtively at Albert, muttering between his teeth. After feeling in all his pockets, he feigned an air of astonishment, saying: "Well, well! I haven't any more money." "You must have discovered that before," suggested Balivan, "as you have already taken some from the pool." "Ah! yes, of course.--Will you lend me three or four napoleons, Albert?" "I would with the greatest pleasure," Albert replied; "but I am out more than five hundred francs myself, and I have had to borrow. Put up a fetich, that's the simplest way--put a sou, a key, anything you please, in front of you, and call it worth any amount you choose." "True, you are right; I'll put up a fetich." Tobie felt in his pocket; he produced one of the olives he had stored there at dinner, and placed it in front of him, saying: "That stands for five hundred francs!" The painter roared with laughter. "Rather high-priced olives!" he said. "I'm not surprised that he filled his pockets with them; he must have taken at least ten thousand francs' worth," cried Mouillot. "Come, who wants some punch? I'll fill the glasses. By the way, I don't see our magnetizer. Where's Dupétrain? Has he gone?" "Probably," said Balivan. "He never plays, and, seeing that there was no hope of telling us his story, perhaps he has gone home to bed, to try to put someone to sleep." "What's your pretty neighbor's name?" inquired Célestin, stretching himself out on a couch. "My neighbor? Wait a minute--I go the limit." "I take it," said Tobie, rolling his eyes about in a high state of excitement. "I take all bets." "All right." Tobie showed a _misty_; but Balivan had a _brelan carré_. "You told me just now that _brelans_ didn't count!" cried the little fellow. "True, except _brelans carrés_; they always beat everything." "Well, then, I don't understand anything at all about it; it's enough to drive a man mad! I don't know what I am playing." "Come, pay me. You're very lucky, for I bet almost nothing--only twenty-one francs." "A man can ruin himself with such luck. Here, change this for me; it stands for five hundred francs." Tobie offered his olive; but Balivan shook his head. "I haven't enough money to change it for you, you can see that for yourself. You owe me twenty-one francs."