"My friend," he said to the mayor, and his tones took on a schoolmasterish severity, "your long absence from Earth has perhaps made you forget those elements of human wisdom that have entered the folk-lore of your native planet. Such as, for example: 'It is folly to kill a goose that lays golden eggs,' and 'Penny wise is pound foolish.'"
"I don't get the connection," objected Johnson.
"Well, by obliging us to pay such a high price for your dinner, you put out of your reach the chance of profiting from a really substantial deal. My partner and I were prepared to make you a sizable offer for the peculiar creature you call Genius. But by reducing our funds the way you have—"
"Who said I wanted to sell him?" the mayor interrupted. He rubbed his fingers together and asked disinterestedly: "What were you going to offer, anyhow?"
"It doesn't matter any longer," Harvey said with elaborate carelessness. "Perhaps you wouldn't have accepted it, anyway."
"That's right," Johnson came back emphatically. "But what would your offer have been which I would have turned down?"
"Which one? The one we were going to make, or the one we can make now?"
"Either one. It don't make no difference. Genius is too valuable to sell."
"Oh, come now, Mr. Johnson. Don't tell me no amount of money would tempt you!"
"Nope. But how much did you say?"