"When they arrived home, [Dostoevsky] fell on his knees once again, begging for ten francs, only ten francs, to try his luck just once more, for the very, very last time, because he would never have another chance again—after all, they were leaving, and of this very last time he just had to win, if only a small amount, if only ten francs equal the amount he was asking from Anna Grigor'yevna—but the main thing was to win without losing anything, not even a single franc, and then he would be able to leave with peace of mind because the last word would have been his, the last spin, and then all this would take on the appearance of an isosceles triangle which, despite having very acute angles and a blunt apex, at least would have some kind of peak—otherwise, it would all just resemble an ordinary horizontal line with nothing to crown it."
~~ from Summer in Baden-Baden by Leonid Tsypkin
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