He bemoaned his lot, but continued, only to have something to do.

With grim sarcasm he called himself the galley-slave of pleasure.

And notwithstanding all these consuming excesses, he asserted that he could not render his imagination barren.
Amid the greatest follies at suppers, during the clinking of glasses; in the excitement of the dance-inspirations came to him in flashes, he made prodigious discoveries.
And as Marechal ventured a timid "Oh!" tinged with incredulity, Savinien flew into a passion.

Yes; he had invented something astonishing; he saw fortune within reach, and he thought the bargain made with his aunt very unjust.

Therefore he had come to break it, and to regain his liberty.
Marechal looked at the young man while he was explaining with animation his ambitious projects.