“That’s no concern of mine. I don’t want to harm you. If I liked, I could get the money before noon, you see, and I’m poor. You wear nice clothes, and you get something better to eat for dinner than I do. But I won’t say anything. I am willing to wait a few days. The day after tomorrow, in the afternoon, I will whistle for you, then you will bring it along. You can recognize my whistle?”

He gave me a whistle that I had often heard before.

“Yes,” I said, “I know it.”

He went away, as if I didn’t belong to him. It had been only a transaction between us, nothing further.