"Par la mordieu! if that Jarnonville had not left the game, I should have won twice as much, thrice as much; I was in luck; I should have won until morning. And that D'Artigues, and Cournac--to refuse to take the dice--when I offered them their revenge at lansquenet--that swindlers' game! and when I was losing! God damn me! I would stake my patrimony, my moustaches, my mistress, if anyone would give me anything on them, and my soul, if the devil would take it.--Let me see: how much did I win from them? five or six hundred pistoles at most; and even so, I am not sure that their rose crowns aren't clipped or counterfeit. A noble night's work, on my word! as if that would make up what I have lost! I know that I may continue to win to-morrow, and the day after to-morrow; that I may win as often as I have lost.--Ah! I will win! I must! I must win enough to buy another _petite maison_, as I have lost mine to that infernal De Montrevers.--Where in the devil am I to take my pretty courtesan, Camilla, to-morrow?--This is strange; I feel dizzy; that Jurançon wine was good, but it is heady.--Where in the devil shall I take my new conquest to-morrow? Cournac refused to lend me his _petite maison_, on the pretext that he was to have company there. The coxcomb! he boasts of it, but it is a lie; I know from his esquire that when he goes there he is always alone! However, we shall find some place of shelter to take our belle; I am in funds now, and with a well-filled purse one is welcomed cordially everywhere.--Apropos of my purse, let us be sure that I haven't lost it. By hell! I am quite capable of it, I am so dizzy!" At that thought, the young man hastily put his hand to his belt; but his eyes almost immediately resumed a serene expression, as he felt his purse, which was round and full. He could not resist the desire to take it in his hands and feel the weight of it, saying to himself: "At last, I am not going home with an empty purse. Ten thousand devils! it is a long time since that has happened to me!" And Léodgard was about to restore the purse to his belt, when a person who had drawn near to him, quietly and unperceived, caught his arm, saying: "It is unnecessary; don't give yourself the trouble to put it back." II A ROBBER The man who had halted in front of Léodgard was tall and strong, and seemed rather young than old; he was so strangely attired, that, after meeting him once, it would be difficult not to remember him.