A strange smile illuminated Silas Craig's crafty countenance.
"Disgust Don Juan with his protege?" he said.
"Yes, find this fellow out in some piece of low trickery or dishonor. He is not obliged to be really guilty, if he only appears so."
"In such a manner that Don Juan may cast him off?" asked Silas, with the same meaning smile.
"Yes, do that, and I will double your reward. Instead of five thousand dollars I will give you ten."
"It's rather a critical business."
"Yes, but a sort of business that I should think is scarcely new to you, my worthy Silas," said Augustus, with a sneer.
That contemptuous curve of the lip was not lost upon Silas Craig; but the usurer himself entertained a consummate disdain for these men who despised his character, but were yet content to make use of him in deeds to which they would have been themselves ashamed to own.
"I think it can be done," he said quietly, "and I have no objection to do it, upon one condition—"
"And that is—"