Be quiet, be quiet, and hear me out. That false friend, who had insinuated himself into my confidence, by many flattering praises and professions of regard, and by sometimes accommodating me with small loans of money, which I still hoped to repay, introduced me to the gaming table. There I was at first allowed to be successful, and encouraged to risk still higher stakes: at last a tide of ill luck, as it was called, set strongly against me, and I was borne down to ruin and despair.
YOUNG ARDEN.
O what you must have suffered, father!
ARDEN.
I was not a very happy man, Edmond; and when I thought of your mother and you——
YOUNG ARDEN.
Nay, nay! say nothing of this. We shall do very well; we are satisfied.
ARDEN.
I will go on with my story. Being thus desperate, I wrote to my old relation Fenshaw for the loan of a thousand pounds, which I sincerely meant to repay, whenever I should have it in my power.
