Rastignac, out of his winnings at cards, would pay his jeweler exorbitant prices for gold watches and chains, and then, to meet the exigencies of play, would carry them to the pawnbroker, that discreet and forbidding-looking friend of youth; but when it was a question of paying for board or lodging, or for the necessary implements for the cultivation of his Elysian fields, his imagination and pluck alike deserted him.
Baldin eta, bere jokoarentzat behar zuen diruaren eskuratzeko, Rastignacek erosten jakiten bazuen bere pitxidunarenean erlojuak eta urrezko kateak, bere irabazien gain garesti ordainduak, eta gero Bahitetxerat, gazteriaren adiskide ilun eta zuhur horrenganat, eramaten zituenak, nola asmorik hala ausartziarik gabe kausitzen zen bere mantenua, bere ostatua, ordaindu beharra egokitzen zenean, zein bere bizitza dotorearen ustiatzeko baitezpadako tresnak erosi behar izaten zituenean.