John Singer Sargent Two Women Asleep in a Punt under the Willows painting

John Singer Sargent Two Women Asleep in a Punt under the Willows painting
William Bouguereau Birth of Venus painting
At length, when they found they were likely to be quite in want, they got together, by a final effort, eight or ten pistoles, with which Porthos went to the gaming-table. Unfortunately luck ran against him. He lost all, together with twenty-five pistoles for which he pledged his word.Then the embarrassment became distress. The hungry friends, followed by their lackeys, were seen haunting the quays and guard-rooms, picking up among their friends abroad all the dinners they could meet with; for, according to the advice of Aramis, it was prudent to sow repasts right and left in prosperity in order to reap a few in time of need.
D’Artagnan was racking his brain to find a direction with which, as with Archimedes’ lever, he had no doubt that they should succeed in moving the world, when some one tapped gently at his door.