“Would anyone pay so much for a witch, Karasch?”
He shook his head.
“The man may be lying.”
I called to him, and he came and confirmed what he had said to me so stoutly that Karasch was convinced.
“Are you agreed yet?”
“There would be no difficulty if we were sure of you. Can he pay such a sum as four thousand florins?” he asked Karasch, nodding his head toward me.
“It is a big fortune,” was the answer, with a shrug of the shoulders. “But what he promises he always does.”
Not a very convincing banker’s reference that at the best; and the leader shook his head.
“That’s the point. It’s only a promise,” he said, slowly, with a shake of the head. “Have you got any of it here to give us now?” The question was asked casually enough, as if it were no more than the occasion warranted; but I saw more than that in it.
“I’ve told you I’d pay you afterwards. That’s the last word.”