Silas looked thoughtfully at his visitor, and then rubbing his hands, said, with a sly chuckle: "But, my dear Mr. Horton, allow me to remind you that, in the first place, I have no excuse for canceling these articles, or for kicking Paul Lisimon out of my office; and that, in the second, I cannot see why I am bound to comply with any absurd whim which even my most important client may happen to take into his head." Augustus Horton threw his cigar aside with a contemptuous and impatient gesture. "I am not used," he said with a chilling hauteur, "to ask for any service for which I am not prepared to pay liberally. Send this young man about his business--making it appear that he has been to blame in the affair, and besides what you lose by canceling the articles I will give you five thousand dollars." "Send him about his business?" "Yes. If possible in such a manner as to disgust Don Juan with his protege." A strange smile illuminated Silas Craig's crafty countenance. "Disgust Don Juan with his protege?" he said. "Yes, find this fellow out in some piece of low trickery or dishonor. He is not obliged to be really guilty, if he only appears so." "In such a manner that Don Juan may cast him off?" asked Silas, with the same meaning smile. "Yes, do that, and I will double your reward. Instead of five thousand dollars I will give you ten." "It's rather a critical business." "Yes, but a sort of business that I should think is scarcely new to you, my worthy Silas," said Augustus, with a sneer. That contemptuous curve of the lip was not lost upon Silas Craig; but the usurer himself entertained a consummate disdain for these men who despised his character, but were yet content to make use of him in deeds to which they would have been themselves ashamed to own. "I think it can be done," he said quietly, "and I have no objection to do it, upon one condition--" "And that is--" "That over and above the ten thousand dollars I am to receive on the day on which Paul Lisimon is dismissed from this office and from the house of his patron, Don Juan, you give me twenty thousand more upon the day of your marriage with Camillia Moraquitos." The planter bit his lip, and his brow grew crimson with vexation. "How do you know that I have any thought of seeking to win Camillia Moraquitos for my wife?" he asked, angrily. "How do I know?" answered the usurer. "Augustus Horton, it may please your proud nature to despise me, although you come here to demand my services. Despise my code of morality, if you will, but do not despise my powers of penetration. There is not a client who enters this office whose inmost thoughts I have not reckoned up before he has been five minutes in my company. It is a knack we lawyers acquire, if we are fit for our business. Shall I tell you your motive in wishing to thrust Paul Lisimon from my office?" "Yes, if you can."