“The Count seemed to be entirely absorbed in his own thoughts.
“‘You shall have your money to-morrow,’ he said, ‘have the diamonds in readiness,’ and he went.
“‘There goes one who looks to me to be as stupid as an honest man,’ Gobseck said coolly when the Count had gone.
“‘Say rather stupid as a man of passionate nature.’
“‘The Count owes you your fee for drawing up the agreement!’ Gobseck called after me as I took my leave.”
“One morning, a few days after the scene which initiated me into the terrible depths beneath the surface of the life of a woman of fashion, the Count came into my private office.
“‘I have come to consult you on a matter of grave moment,’ he said, ‘and I begin by telling you that I have perfect confidence in you, as I hope to prove to you. Your behavior to Mme. de Grandlieu is above all praise,’ the Count went on. (You see, madame, that you have paid me a thousand times over for a very simple matter.)
“I bowed respectfully, and replied that I had done nothing but the duty of an honest man.
“‘Well,’ the Count went on, ‘I have made a great many inquiries about the singular personage to whom you owe your position. And from all that I can learn, Gobseck is a philosopher of the Cynic school. What do you think of his probity?’
“‘M. le Comte,’ said I, ‘Gobseck is my benefactor—at fifteen per cent,’ I added, laughing. ‘But his avarice does not authorize me to paint him to the life for a stranger’s benefit.’