The accursed apres has chased me like a remorse, and when
black has come up I have wished myself converted to red. Otherwise I have
no repentance--I am joueur--nature has made me so, as she made my brother
devot. The Archbishop of Strasbourg is of our parents; I saw his grandeur
when I went lately to Strasbourg, on my last pilgrimage to the Mont de
Piete. I owned to him that I would pawn his cross and ring to go play:
the good prelate laughed, and said his chaplain should keep an eye on
them. Will you dine with me? The landlord of my hotel was the intendant
of our cousin, the Duc d'Ivry, and will give me credit to the day of
judgment. I do not abuse his noble confidence. My dear! there are covers
of silver put upon my table every day with which I could retrieve my
fortune, did I listen to the suggestions of Satanas; but I say to him,
Vade retro. Come and dine with me--Duluc's kitchen is very good."
These easy confessions were uttered by a gentleman who was nearly forty
years of age, and who had indeed played the part of a young man in Paris
and the great European world so long, that he knew or chose to perform no
other.
Pages:
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655