"Ah, then, sir," said the Count, "by your own avowal you are a perfect egotist.Your great aim is to live, and to live for yourself.""It is nearly so," answered Gilbert, "only I avoid using the word, it is a little hard.Not that I was born an egotist, but I have become one.If I still possessed the heart I had at twenty, Ishould have brought here with me some very romantic ideas.You may well laugh, sir, but suppose I had arrived at your castle ten years ago; it would have been with a fixed intention of loving you a great deal, and of making you love me.But now, mon Dieu! now Iknow a little of the world, and I say to myself that there can be no question between us but a bargain, and that good bargains should be advantageous to both parties.""What a terrible man you are," cried the Count with a mocking laugh."You destroy my illusions without pity, you wound my poetical soul.In my simplicity, I imagined that we should be enamored of each other.I intended to make an intimate friend of my secretary,--the dear confidant of all my thoughts, but at the moment when I was prepared to open my arms to him, the ingrate says to me in a studied tone: 'Sir, there is nothing but the question of a bargain between us; I am the seller, you are the buyer; I sell you Greek, and you pay me cash down.' Peste! Monsieur, 'your beautiful soul' does not pride itself on its poetry.As an experiment, I will take you at your word.There is nothing but a bargain between us.I will make the terms and you will agree without complaint, though I am the Turk and you the Moor.""Pardon me," answered Gilbert, "it is naturally to your interest to treat me with consideration.You may give me a great deal to do, Ishall not grudge my time or trouble, but you must not overburden me.I am not exacting, and all that I ask for is a few hours of leisure and solitude daily to enjoy in peace.
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