"No, thank God! unfortunate as I am, I have never put myself in the way of being imprisoned." "Look you, my dear fellow, that doesn't prevent one's being an honest man; I've been to Sainte-Pélagie more than once myself, and it's likely that I shall go again. Poor Auguste!--Damn this knot! I shall never get it tied.--Well, what chance brings you here, my dear friend? You haven't been seen anywhere for a century." "It's three years since I left Paris; I have been in Italy and England." "The devil you say! Tell me, is it true that the English tie their cravats like a groom?" "That isn't the kind of thing I gave my attention to on my travels. As I have told you, Léon, I am not in luck; but when I was rich you had recourse to my purse more than once. I lent you more than a thousand francs; half of that sum would be of great service to me now, and I have come to ask you to pay me five hundred francs on account of what you owe me." "Parbleu! my dear Auguste, you have chosen a very bad time. I lost at roulette yesterday all the money I had. I determined to put my luck to the test. I have nothing left, and if I can't pick up ten louis or so to-day, to take a lovely little woman to the Bois, I am a lost man. My charmer will probably go to the Bois with somebody else, and you can understand--Does my cravat look all right?" "I thought that you had a better heart, Léon. You will find ten louis to take your charmer to drive, but you can't find them for me, to whom you owe them, and who am in a lamentable plight." "I don't say that I won't find them for you, my dear fellow. Come again in a few days; I promise to put aside all I win at cards, and it shall be for you. Poor Dalville--on my honor, I am distressed.--This corner of my collar won't stay in place; it's terribly annoying, it spoils all the harmony of a costume." Auguste left the young dandy's apartment, wondering how he could ever have been the friend of a man whose head was as empty as his heart. He called upon others of his debtors: some were out, some had moved. He returned home, tired out and with little hope of faring better on the morrow. For several days he persistently pursued them; but the majority were not to be found or not to be seen; those whom he succeeded in seeing never had any money, and it was impossible for him to catch young Léon at home again. He sought fruitlessly the abode of the Marquis de Cligneval; but one day, as he was going home, he saw monsieur le marquis, ran after him and stopped him. "What do you want of me?" said Monsieur de Cligneval haughtily. "I have something to say to you, monsieur." "I don't know you." "You don't know me!" cried Auguste angrily, standing in front of the marquis, who was about to walk away. His tone and the flash in his eyes evidently refreshed Monsieur de Cligneval's memory, for he replied, trying to smile: