obtaining a son-in-law capable of assisting him in carrying out his
financial schemes.

De la Brive
That is a good idea, and suits me exactly; but suppose he wishes to
find out too much about me.

Mericourt
I have given M. Mercadet an excellent account of you.

De la Brive
I have fallen upon my feet truly.

Mericourt
But you are not going to lose the dandy's self-possession? I quite
understand that your position is risky. A man would not marry,
excepting from utter despair. Marriage is suicide for the man of the
world. (In a low voice) Come, tell me--can you hold out much longer?

De la Brive
If I had not two names, one for the bailiffs and one for the
fashionable world, I should be banished from the Boulevard. Woman and
I, as you know, have wrought each the ruin of the other, and, as
fashion now goes, to find a rich Englishwoman, an amiable dowager, an
amorous gold mine, would be as impossible as to find an extinct
animal.

Mericourt
What of the gaming table?