Monthly fee: one, two, two-and-a-half, three, four and five pesetas.
(Actions speak louder than words)
General Director: Pelayo Huesca, Misericordia, 6.
“Eh?” cried Mingote when Manuel had finished reading. “What do you think of that? Here he is making his living in La Europa, and then he goes and plagiarizes me and runs La Benefactora. That man is the same way in everything. As treacherous as the waves. But ah, Señor Don Pelayo, I’ll get even with you yet. If you’re a perfidious bat, I’ll nail you to my door; if you’re a miserable tortoise, I’ll smash your shell for you. Do you see, my son? What can you expect of a country where they don’t respect intellectual property, which is not only the most sacred, but the only legitimate form of all property?”
Mingote did not point out to Manuel a note that was printed on the margin of his circular. This was one of Don Pelayo’s ideas. In it the Agency offered itself for certain intimate investigations and services. This note, very tactfully drawn up, was addressed to those who wished to form the acquaintance of an agreeable woman so as to complete their education; to those who were eager to consummate a good match; to those who harboured doubts as to their other half; and to others, to whom the Agency offered probing and confidential investigations, at a low price, and vigilance by day and by night, accomplishing all these assignments with the utmost delicacy.
Mingote did not like to confess that this idea had escaped him.
“Do you understand? It’s impossible to live,” he concluded. “Folks are nothing but beasts. I see, however, that you make distinctions, and I’ll take you under my wing.”
And, indeed, through Mingote’s protection, Manuel was able to eat that night.
“Tomorrow, when you arrive,” instructed Bonifacio, “you’ll take a package of these circulars and go around distributing them from house to house, without missing a single one. I don’t want you to slip them in under the doors, either. At every house you are to knock and ask. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”