Losses have fallen
heavy on me, of late. There is a gelding, dead, that fifty Holland ducats
will not replace on the boom-key of Rotterdam, to say nothing of freight
and charges, which come particularly heavy--"
"Speak to thy offer!" interrupted the other, who evidently wished to
shorten the interview.
"Restore the girl, and take five-and-twenty thin pieces."
"Half-price for a Flemish gelding! La Belle would blush, with honest
pride, did she know her value in the market!"
"Extortion and bowels of compassion! Let it be a hundred, and no further
words between us."
"Harkee, Mr. Van Beverout; that I sometimes trespass on the Queen's
earnings, is not to be denied and least of all to you; for I like neither
this manner of ruling a nation by deputy, nor the principle which says
that one bit of earth is to make laws for another. 'Tis not my humor, Sir,
to wear an English cotton when my taste is for the Florentine; nor to
swallow beer, when I more relish the delicate wines of Gascony Beyond
this, thou knowest I do not trifle, even with fancied rights; and had I
fifty of thy nieces, sacks of ducats should not purchase one!"
The Alderman stared, in a manner that might have induced a spectator to
believe he was listening to an incomprehensible proposition. Still his
companion spoke with a warmth that gave him no small reason to believe he
uttered no more than he felt, and, inexplicable as it might prove, that he
valued treasure less than feeling.
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