"Where on earth have you dug up this strange purchaser since last night?"
"There is nothing at all strange about him, I assure you. I found him here."
"Here, in this locanda?"
"On my word, yes."
"I really beg your pardon," Valentine said. "I am too well acquainted with the gravity of your character to suppose that you have any intention of deceiving me—"
"Oh!"
"But all this is so extraordinary—"
"I am as much astonished as yourself at it."
"Really!"
"The more so because I did not know that Don Louis wished to sell the herd here, and consequently the proposition does not emanate from me."