I had to content myself with it, as there was no choice.

"You will sleep in my room," said I to Le Duc, "take care to provide
yourself with a bed, and bring my baggage in."

"What do you think of Gilbert, sir?" said my Spaniard; "I only recognized
him just as he was going, and I had a lively desire to take him by the
back of his neck."

"You would have done well to have satisfied that desire."

"I will, when I see him again."

As I was leaving my big room, I was accosted politely by a man who said
he was glad to be my neighbour, and offered to take me to the fountain if
I were going there. I accepted his offer. He was a tall fair man, about
fifty years old; he must once have been handsome, but his excessive
politeness should have made me suspect him; however, I wanted somebody to
talk to, and to give me the various pieces of information I required. On
the way he informed me of the condition of the people I had seen, and I
learnt that none of them had come to Aix for the sake of the waters.

"I am the only one," said he, "who takes them out of necessity. I am
consumptive; I get thinner every day, and if the waters don't do me any
good I shall not last much longer."

So all the others have only come here for amusement's sake?"

"And to game, sir, for they are all professional gamesters."