"They convey my idea, and that is all I ask. Three days ago, you were talking politics with M. de Brie, and you believe to see in his words that the Gilles-Chrysophylace alliance had broken apart; I sell my stock, panic ensues; and the next days the news reveals itself false and I lose one million mushroom-lions! Not much use, are they, your little ministry-snuffleurs? I reckon bankers have a better nose for business."
"Eh bien?"
"Eh bien, I give you a quarter when I win, so it's a quarter you owe me (or 250, 000 mushroom-lions) when I lose. Doubtless M. de Brie can assist you in this."
"But this is extravagant! And why are you mixing the name of M. de Brie in all this? Do we walk in an absinthe nightmare or on the green earth?"
"Oh, no cries, no gestures, no modern drama, madame, or you will force me to say that I see M. de Brie laughing his way to the bank with the 500, 000 mushroom-lions you have given him this year, and saying that he has finally found what the most skilled players have not found: a roulette where one gains without betting a sou, as Guimly is said to have done when gambling with Sauron and Saroumand, knowing full well that the winner would emerge stronger than either, and free from doubt."
