his notes of hand. The more he owes the better; but, above all, make him
play.'

'He can't pay a shilling,' answered I. 'The Jews will not discount his
notes at cent. per cent.'

'So much the better. You shall see we will make use of them,' answered
the old gentleman. And I must confess that the plan he laid was a
gallant, clever, and fair one.

I was to make Magny play; in this there was no great difficulty. We had
an intimacy together, for he was a good sportsman as well as myself, and
we came to have a pretty considerable friendship for one another; if he
saw a dice-box it was impossible to prevent him from handling it; but he
took to it as natural as a child does to sweetmeats.

At first he won of me; then he began to lose; then I played him money
against some jewels that he brought: family trinkets, he said, and
indeed of considerable value. He begged me, however, not to dispose of
them in the duchy, and I gave and kept my word to him to this effect.
From jewels he got to playing upon promissory notes; and as they would
not allow him to play at the Court tables and in public upon credit, he
was very glad to have an opportunity of indulging his favourite passion
in private. I have had him for hours at my pavilion (which I had fitted
up in the Eastern manner, very splendid) rattling the dice till it
became time to go to his service at Court, and we would spend day after
day in this manner. He brought me more jewels,--a pearl necklace,
an antique emerald breast ornament, and other trinkets, as a set-off
against these losses: for I need not say that I should not have played
with him all this time had he been winning; but, after about a week, the
luck set in against him, and he became my debtor in a prodigious sum. I
do not care to mention the extent of it; it was such as I never thought
the young man could pay.

Why, then, did I play for it? Why waste days in private play with a mere
bankrupt, when business seemingly much more profitable was to be done
elsewhere? My reason I boldly confess. I wanted to win from Monsieur de
Magny, not his money, but his intended wife, the Countess Ida. Who can
say that I had not a right to use ANY stratagem in this matter of love?
Or, why say love? I wanted the wealth of the lady: I loved her quite as
much as Magny did; I loved her quite as much as yonder blushing virgin
of seventeen does who marries an old lord of seventy. I followed the
practice of the world in this; having resol