“‘But if it is too much, stick up for yourself, Grotius!’ (a name he jokingly gave me). ‘When I ask you for thirteen per cent, it is all in the way of business; look into it, see if you can pay it; I don’t like a man to agree too easily. Is it too much?’
“‘No,’ said I, ‘I will make up for it by working a little harder.’
“‘Gad! your clients will pay for it!’ said he, looking at me wickedly out of the corner of his eyes.
“‘No, by all the devils in hell!’ cried I, ‘it shall be I who will pay. I would sooner cut my hand off than flay people.’
“‘Good-night,’ said Daddy Gobseck.
“‘Why, fees are all according to scale,’ I added.
“‘Not for compromises and settlements out of Court, and cases where litigants come to terms,’ said he. ‘You can send in a bill for thousands of francs, six thousand even at a swoop (it depends on the importance of the case), for conferences with So-and-so, and expenses, and drafts, and memorials, and your jargon. A man must learn to look out for business of this kind. I will recommend you as a most competent, clever attorney. I will send you such a lot of work of this sort that your colleagues will be fit to burst with envy. Werbrust, Palma, and Gigonnet, my cronies, shall hand over their expropriations to you; they have plenty of them, the Lord knows! So you will have two practices—the one you are buying, and the other I will build up for you. You ought almost to pay me fifteen per cent on my loan.’
“‘So be it, but no more,’ said I, with the firmness which means that a man is determined not to concede another point.
“Daddy Gobseck’s face relaxed; he looked pleased with me.
“‘I shall pay the money over to your principal myself,’ said he, ‘so as to establish a lien on the purchase and caution-money.’