“You see, Mr. Venus, I’ve lost no time,” said Mr. Boffin. “Here I am.”
“Here you are, sir,” assented Mr. Venus.
“I don’t like secrecy,” pursued Mr. Boffin—“at least, not in a general way I don’t—but I dare say you’ll show me good reason for being secret so far.”
“I think I shall, sir,” returned Venus.
“Good,” said Mr. Boffin. “You don’t expect Wegg, I take it for granted?”
“No, sir. I expect no one but the present company.”
Mr. Boffin glanced about him, as accepting under that inclusive denomination the French gentleman and the circle in which he didn’t move, and repeated, “The present company.”
“Sir,” said Mr. Venus, “before entering upon business, I shall have to ask you for your word and honour that we are in confidence.”
“Let’s wait a bit and understand what the expression means,” answered Mr. Boffin. “In confidence for how long? In confidence forever and a day?”
“I take your hint, sir,” said Venus; “you think you might consider the business, when you came to know it, to be of a nature incompatible with confidence on your part?”
“I might,” said Mr. Boffin with a cautious look.
“True, sir. Well, sir,” observed Venus, after clutching at his dusty hair, to brighten his ideas, “let us put it another way. I open the business with you, relying upon your honour not to do anything in it, and not to mention me in it, without my knowledge.”