since yesterday.

_Ridolfo_--What game?

_Pandolfo_--An innocent game: "first and second" [_i.e._, faro].

_Ridolfo_--And how does it go?

_Pandolfo_--For me it goes well.

_Ridolfo_--Have you amused yourself playing too?

_Pandolfo_--Yes, I took a little hand also.

_Ridolfo_--Excuse me, my friend; I've no business to meddle in your
affairs, but--it doesn't look well when the master of the shop plays;
because if he loses he's laughed at, and if he wins he's suspected.

_Pandolfo_--I am content if they haven't the laugh on me. As for the
rest, let them suspect as they please; I pay no attention.

_Ridolfo_--Dear friend, we are neighbors; I shouldn't want you to get
into trouble. You know, by your play before you have brought up in the
court.

_Pandolfo_--I'm easily satisfied. I won a pair of sequins, and wanted no
more.

_Ridolfo_--That's right. Pluck the quail without making it cry out. From
whom did you win them?

_Pandolfo_--A jeweler's boy.

_Ridolfo_--Bad. Very bad. That tempts the boys to rob their masters.

_Pandolfo_--Oh, don't moralize to me. Let the greenhorns stay at home. I
keep open for any one who wants to play.

_Ridolfo_--And has Signor Eugenio been playing this past night?

_Pandolfo_--He's playing yet. He hasn't dined, he hasn't slept, and he's
lost all his money.

_Ridolfo_ [_aside_]--Poor young man! [_Aloud._] And how much has he
lost?

_Pandolfo_--A hundred sequins in cash: and now he is playing on credit.

_Ridolfo_--With whom is he playing?

_Pandolfo_--With the count.

_Ridolfo_--And whom else?

_Pandolfo_--With him alone.

_Ridolfo_--It seems to me an honest man shouldn't stand by and see
people assassinated.

_Pandolfo_--Oho, my friend, if you're going to be so thin-skinned you'll
make little money.

_Ridolfo_--I don't care for that. Till now I have been in service, and
did my duty honestly. I saved a few pennies, and with the help of my old
master, who was Signor Eugenio's father, you know, I have opened this
shop. With it I mean to live honorably and not disgrace my profession.

[_People from the gambling-shop call "Cards!"_]

_Pandolfo_ [_answering_]--At your service.

_Ridolfo_--For mercy's sake, get poor Signor Eugenio away from the
table.

_Pandolfo_--For all me, he may lose his shirt: I don't care. [_Starts
out._]

_Ridolfo_--And the coffee--shall I charge it?

_Pandolfo_--Not at all: we'll deal a card for it.

_Ridolfo_--I'm no greenhorn,