“I know it, and that makes him all the more dangerous. He has already borrowed money from you, has he not?” “Why, yes--sometimes.” “He will never pay you.” “Do you think not?” “I am sure of it. He will urge you to play.” “Yes, he has often proposed it.” “It is the most fatal of passions. He is a gambler and he has ruined himself. When a man has reached that point, he tries too often to ruin others; for an unlucky gambler is sometimes far from delicate in the methods to which he resorts to obtain money, in order to gratify his passion. Daréna has reached that point.” “As you have so bad an opinion of Daréna, how does it happen that he is a friend of yours? Why did he come to Gagny with you?” “Your question is perfectly just; but in society one accepts a man’s good qualities and does not concern oneself enough about his bad ones. Daréna bears an honorable name; he is able to behave most becomingly when he chooses; in fact, he has most agreeable and fascinating manners; and nobody asks for anything more in society. But, I tell you again, one should look for something more in a friend.” “And the women, my dear Monfréville, the women--must I distrust them too? Ah! that would be a great pity, women are so pretty!” “It’s different with women! As a general rule, men are too fickle to be exacting in the choice of their mistresses, and for that reason such liaisons are not at all dangerous. What does it matter that you are in love with a coquette, with a woman whose reputation is more than shady, with an actress who will make a fool of you? That love will soon be replaced by another, which, in its turn, will be as quickly forgotten! A man’s reputation has nothing to fear from all that; on the contrary, the more love-affairs you have, the more flattered the ladies will be to win your love; that fact says more for their self-esteem than for their hearts.” “What do you say? to attract the women, one must deceive them?” cried Chérubin, gazing at Monfréville with an incredulous expression. “Do you mean that it is all the same to them whether we forget them and abandon them?” Monfréville turned pale, his brow darkened, and he kept his eyes on the floor for a long while; not for some moments did he reply: