a Knight of Transylvania, and threw a bottle at his head, which
broke on the table, flooding it with wine.

"Well, sir," said the abbe, "you'll have to take the trouble to open
another bottle: we are thirsty."

"With pleasure," replied M. d'Anquetil. "But, abbe, know that a
gentleman does not mark points he has not made, and does not cheat
at cards except at the king's card-table, round which all sorts of
people are assembled, to whom one owes nothing. On any other table
it is a vile action. Abbe, say, do you want to be looked on as an
adventurer?"

"It is remarkable," said my good tutor, "that you blame at cards or
dice a practice so much commended in the art of war, politics and
trade; in each of these people glorify themselves by correcting the
injuries of fortune. It is not that I do not pique myself on honesty
when playing at cards. Thank God, I always play straight, and you
must have been dreaming, sir, when you fancied I had marked points I
did not make. Had it been otherwise, I would appeal to the example
given by the blessed Bishop of Geneva, who did not scruple to cheat
at cards. But I cannot defend myself against the reflection that at
play men are much more sensitive than in serious business, and that
they employ the whole of their probity at the backgammon board,
where it incommodes them but indifferently, whereas they put it
entirely in the background in a battle or a treaty of peace, where
it would be troublesome. Polyaenus, sir, has written, in the Greek
language a book on Stratagems, wherein is shown to what excess
deceit is pushed by the great leaders."