"No matter whence it comes, you shall have it."
"Very well. Here is your gold; I hope you no longer doubt that it is gold?"
"Give me pen and paper to write the receipt for this generous loan."
"What do I want a receipt from your lordship for?"
"My dear count, I often borrow, but I never fail to write a receipt," rejoined the prince.
"Have it your own way, my lord."
The cardinal took a quill and scrawled in large and illegible writing a signature under a line or two which a schoolboy would be ashamed of at present.
"Will that do?" he inquired, handing it to Balsamo, who put it in his pocket without looking at it.
"Perfectly," he said.
"You have not read it."