y assistance
as adjutant and my share of the pie; I accepted Croce's invitation.

CHAPTER XIV

I Get Rich Again--My Adventure At Dolo--Analysis of a Long Letter From C.
C.--Mischievous Trick Played Upon Me By P. C.--At Vincenza--A
Tragi-comedy At the Inn

Necessity, that imperious law and my only excuse, having made me almost
the partner of a cheat, there was still the difficulty of finding the
three hundred sequins required; but I postponed the task of finding them
until after I should have made the acquaintance of the dupes of the
goddess to whom they addressed their worship. Croce took me to the Prato
delta Valle, where we found madame surrounded with foreigners. She was
pretty; and as a secretary of the imperial ambassador, Count Rosemberg,
had attached himself to her, not one of the Venetian nobles dared court
her. Those who interested me among the satellites gravitating around that
star were the Swede Gilenspetz, a Hamburger, the Englishman Mendez, who
has already been mentioned, and three or four others to whore Croce
called my attention.

We dined all together, and after dinner there was a general call for a
faro bank; but Croce did not accept. His refusal surprised me, because
with three hundred sequins, being a very skilful player, he had enough to
try his fortune. He did not, however, allow my suspicions to last long,
for he took me to his own room and shewed me fifty pieces of eight, which
were equal to three hundred sequins. When I saw that the professional
gambler had not chosen me as his partner with the intention of making a
dupe of me, I told him that I would certainly procure the amount, and
upon that promise he invited everybody to supper for the following day.
We agreed that we would divide the spoils before parting in the evening,
and that no one should be allowed to play on trust.

I had to procure the amount, but to whom could I apply? I could ask no
one but M. de Bragadin. The excellent man had not that sum in his
possession, for his purse was generally empty; but he found a usurer--a
species of animal too numerous unfortunately for young men--who, upon a
note of hand endorsed by him, gave me a thousand ducats, at five per
cent. for one month, the said interest being deducted by anticipation
from the capital. It was exactly the amount I required. I went to the
supper; Croce held the bank until daylight, and we divided sixteen
hundred sequins between us. The game continued the next even