'I call Heaven to witness that I never played for gain of mine, or love of play; that at every piece I staked, I whispered to myself that orphan's name and called on Heaven to bless the venture;--which it never did.

Whom did it prosper?
Who were those with whom I played?
Men who lived by plunder, profligacy, and riot; squandering their gold in doing ill, and propagating vice and evil.

My winnings would have been from them, my winnings would have been bestowed to the last farthing on a young sinless child whose life they would have sweetened and made happy.
What would they have contracted?
The means of corruption, wretchedness, and misery.

Who would not have hoped in such a cause?
Tell me that! Who would not have hoped as I did ?' 'When did you first begin this mad career ?' asked Quilp, his taunting inclination subdued, for a moment, by the old man's grief and wildness.
'When did I first begin ?' he rejoined, passing his hand across his brow.

'When was it, that I first began?
When should it be, but when I began to think how little I had saved, how long a time it took to save at all, how short a time I might have at my age to live, and how she would be left to the rough mercies of the world, with barely enough to keep her from the sorrows that wait on poverty; then it was that I began to think about it.' 'After you first came to me to get your precious grandson packed off to sea ?' said Quilp.
'Shortly after that,' replied the old man.