A man who sat next to
me at dinner,--one of those stupid do-nothing fools that one meets
everywhere,--told me so. He is one of the Beargarden set, and of
course he knows all about it.'
'Did he say how much?'
'How is he to pay anything? Of all things men do this is the
worst. A man who would think himself disgraced for ever if he
accepted a present of money will not scruple to use all his wits
to rob his friend of everything that he has by studying the run of
the cards or by watching the paces of some brutes of horses! And
they consider themselves to be fine gentlemen! A real gentleman
should never want the money out of another man's pocket;--should
never think of money at all.'
'I don't know how that is to be helped, my dear. You have got to
think of money.'
'Yes; I have to think of it, and do think of it, and because I do
so I am not what I call a gentleman.'
'No;--my dear, you're a lady.'
'Psha! you know what I mean. I might have had the feelings of a
gentleman as well as the best man that was ever born. I haven't;
but I have never done anything so mean as gambling.
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