I need not
impress upon you that I am speaking in the strictest confidence, and
that you must never breathe a word about our partnership, even to the
wife of your bosom.'
"'Monsieur,' I returned, 'I have no wife to breathe to, and my bosom is
unsurpassed as a receptacle for secrets,'
"'Good,' he said. 'Well, without beating about the bush, I will tell
you who I am.' He then uttered a name that made me jump, and before we
parted it was arranged that I should supply him with a tale immediately
as a specimen of my abilities.
"This tale, which I accomplished the same evening, pleased him so well
that he forthwith gave me an order for two more. I can create a plot
almost as rapidly as a debt, and before long I had delivered
manuscripts to him in such wholesale quantities that if I had been paid
cash for them, I should have been in a position to paint the Butte the
richest shade of red. It was his custom, however, to make excuses and
payments on account, and as we were capital friends by now, I never
demurred.
"Well, things went on in this fashion until one day he hinted to me
that I had provided him with enough manuscripts to last him for two
years; his study was lumbered with evidence of my talent, and his
market, after all, was not unlimited. He owed me then close upon three
thousand francs, and it was agreed that he should wipe the debt out by
weekly instalments. Enfin, I was content enough--I foresaw an ample
income for two years to come, and renewed leisure to win immortality by
my epics.
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