''Would two hundred tempt you to speak?'
''If such a proposition were to come from a stranger, I might, perchance, accept it; but seeing it comes from you—never.'
''Why?'
''Because, when you offer me two hundred dollars for any thing, it must be worth far more than you offer.'
''Well, now, admit, just as a supposition, that I am interested in this matter, what harm will it do you, if we both turn an honest penny?'
''That is just the point; but I don't want you to turn ten pennies to my one.'
''Your scruples, my dear Pepito, display a cautious temperament, and evince deep acquaintance with human nature; you see through my little veil of mystery, and I own your sagacity; now I will be honest with you—with a man like you, lying is mere folly. It is true, I am to have four hundred dollars if I can find out where you have been. I swear to you by the holy Virgin of Guadalupe, I am making a clean breast of it. Now, will you take that amount? Say the word, and I will go and fetch it right away.'
'This proposition seemed to embarrass the scrupulous Pepito extremely, and he remained some time lost in thought.
''But, if you only receive four hundred, and give me four hundred, what the deuce will you make out of such an operation?'
''Trust entirely to your generosity.'