de Valorsay turned upon him. He was furious with
himself. "I am losing my wits," he thought.
"Still more wise counsel," remarked the ruined nobleman
ironically. "While you are about it, why don't you advise me to
sell my horses and carriages, and establish myself in a garret in
the Rue Amelot? Such a course would seem very natural, wouldn't
it? and, of course, it would inspire M. de Chalusse with boundless
confidence!"
"But without going to such extremes----"
"Hold your tongue!" interrupted the marquis, violently. "Better
than any one else you know that I cannot retrench, although the
reality no longer exists. I am condemned, cost what it may, to
keep up appearances. That is my only hope of salvation. I have
gambled, given expensive suppers, indulged in dissipation of every
kind, and I must continue to do so. I have come to hate Ninette
Simplon, for whom I have committed so many acts of folly, and yet
I still keep her--to show that I am rolling in wealth. I have
thrown thousand-franc notes out of the window, and I mustn't stop
throwing them. Indeed, what would people say if I stopped! Why,
'Valorsay is a ruined man!' Then, farewell to my hopes of marrying
an heiress. And so I am always gay and smiling; that is part of
my role. What would my servants--the twenty spies that I pay--
what would they think if they saw me thoughtful or disturbed? You
would scarcely believe it, M. Fortunat, but I have positively been
reduced to dining on credit at my club, because I had paid, that
morning, for a month's provender for my horses! It is true I have
many valuable articles in my house, but I cannot dispose of them.
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