le Marquis; and since you find the conditions onerous----"
"I did not say so," interrupted M. de Valorsay, quickly--"I did
not even think it!"
This gave Pascal an opportunity to present his programme, and he
availed himself of it. "Others may pretend to oblige people
merely from motives of friendship," he remarked. "But I am more
honest. If I do anything in the way of business, I expect to be
paid for it; and I vary my terms according to my clients' need.
It would be impossible to have a fixed price for services like
mine. When, on two different occasions, I saved a gentleman of
your acquaintance from bankruptcy, I asked ten thousand francs the
first time, and fifteen thousand the second. Was that an
exaggerated estimate of my services? I might boast with truth that
I once assured the marriage of a brilliant viscount by keeping his
creditors quiet while his courtship was in progress. The day
after the wedding he paid me twenty thousand francs. Didn't he
owe them to me? If, instead of being a trifle short of money, you
happened to be ruined, I should not ask you merely for a thousand
francs. I should study your position, and fix my terms according
to the magnitude of the peril from which I rescued you."
There was not a sentence, not a word of this cynical explanation
which had not been carefully studied beforehand. There was not an
expression which was not a tempting bait to the marquis's evil
instincts.
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