"Go on, then," said the saddler, "that's just the price I always likes to pay for everything."
"Will you keep it secret?" said the boy.
"Of course I will. When did you ever hear of me telling anything to a single individual?"
"Never to a single individual, but I have heard you tell things to the whole town."
"Confound your impudence. Get out of my shop directly."
"Oh! very good. I can go and tell old Mitchell, the pork-butcher."
"No, I say—stop; don't tell him. If anybody is to know, let it be me, and I'll promise you I'll keep it secret."
"Very good," said the boy, returning, "you shall know it; and, mind, you have promised me to keep it secret, so that if it gets known, you know it cannot be any fault of mine."
The fact was, the boy was anxious it should be known, only that in case some consequences might arise, he thought he would quiet his own conscience, by getting a promise of secrecy from Tobias Philpots, which he well knew that individual would not think of keeping.
He then related to him the interview he had had with the Hungarian nobleman at the inn, how he had promised a number of half-crowns, but a very small instalment of which he had received.