'Well, perhaps that's natural.

You have no secret from me now, I say; no, not one.

For now, I know, that all those sums of money, that all those loans, advances, and supplies that you have had from me, have found their way to--shall I say the word ?' 'Aye!' replied the old man, 'say it, if you will.' 'To the gaming-table,' rejoined Quilp, 'your nightly haunt.

This was the precious scheme to make your fortune, was it; this was the secret certain source of wealth in which I was to have sunk my money (if I had been the fool you took me for); this was your inexhaustible mine of gold, your El Dorado, eh ?' 'Yes,' cried the old man, turning upon him with gleaming eyes, 'it was.
It is.

It will be, till I die.' 'That I should have been blinded,' said Quilp looking contemptuously at him, 'by a mere shallow gambler!' 'I am no gambler,' cried the old man fiercely.