"What? Where can you get any such absurd rate?"
"From your esteemed colleague, Ebenezer. Here's a copy of the new note."
"Well, I must say I wouldn't have expected that of Ebenezer. If all this is true, I suppose I could meet his rate."
"You'll have to better it, after what you made from selling my arithmetic."
"Now, Martinus, what I did was strictly legal—"
"Didn't say it wasn't."
"Oh, very well. I suppose God planned it this way. I'll give you seven and four tenths."
Padway laughed scornfully.
"Seven, then. But that's the lowest, absolutely, positively, finally."
When Padway had received his old notes, a receipt for the old loans, and a copy of the new note, Thomasus asked him, "How did you get Ebenezer to offer you such an unheard-of figure?"