"'The Count owes you your fee for drawing up the agreement!' Gobseck
called after me as I took my leave.



"One morning, a few days after the scene which initiated me into the
terrible depths beneath the surface of the life of a woman of fashion,
the Count came into my private office.

"'I have come to consult you on a matter of grave moment,' he said,
'and I begin by telling you that I have perfect confidence in you, as
I hope to prove to you. Your behavior to Mme. de Grandlieu is above
all praise,' the Count went on. (You see, madame, that you have paid
me a thousand times over for a very simple matter.)

"I bowed respectfully, and replied that I had done nothing but the
duty of an honest man.

"'Well,' the Count went on, 'I have made a great many inquiries about
the singular personage to whom you owe your position. And from all
that I can learn, Gobseck is a philosopher of the Cynic school. What
do you think of his probity?'

"'M. le Comte,' said I, 'Gobseck is my benefactor--at fifteen per
cent,' I added, laughing. 'But his avarice does not authorize me to
paint him to the life for a stranger's benefit.'

"'Speak out, sir. Your frankness cannot injure Gobseck or yourself. I
do not expect to find an angel in a pawnbroker.'