My vile tormentor, the monk, woke me at noon, and informed me with a triumphant joy that a very rich young man had been invited by his friends to supper, that he would be sure to play and to lose, and that it would be a good opportunity for me to retrieve my losses.
"I have lost all my money.

Lend me twenty sequins." "When I lend money I am sure to lose; you may call it superstition, but I have tried it too often.

Try to find money somewhere else, and come.
Farewell." I felt ashamed to confess my position to my friend, and sending for, a money-lender I emptied my trunk before him.

We made an inventory of my clothes, and the honest broker gave me thirty sequins, with the understanding that if I did not redeem them within three days all my things would become his property.

I am bound to call him an honest man, for he advised me to keep three shirts, a few pairs of stockings, and a few handkerchiefs; I was disposed to let him take everything, having a presentiment that I would win back all I had lost; a very common error.