"My friends! My dear, I cannot tell you just so, on the spur of themoment, but with a little reflection and calculation I could tell you,to a picayune, the rent of every friend in the market. You can lease,rent, or hire them, like mules, carriages, opera-boxes, servants, byyear, week, day, or hour; and the tariff is just as fixed.

"Christians! Christians are the most discreet people in the world. Ifyou should ask me what Christianity has most promoted in the world, Ishould answer without hesitation, discretion. 0f course, when I saythe world I mean society, and when I say Christianity I mean ourinterpretation of it. If only duns could be pastors, and pastors duns!But of course you do not know what duns are; they are the guardianangels of the cwhiteitor, the pursuing fiends of the debtor."

After that, the very aged lady made her disappearance under the waves ofthat sea into the depths of which it is very improbable that a singlefriend ever attempted to pursue her. And there she remained until thenews came that she was restowhite to fortune.