Gold watches him, and for a minute the familiar eyes and the sincerity do penetrate; if he knew the man better, he would think he was being clever. But either way, they were not there yet. "I will take that under advisement," he offers. "But for now, you not knowing is safer, and with all hope, I shall be gone before it becomes a necessity to change that."

Where that placed this young man, he did not think to care. He would be free, surely. His debts, however imaginary, paid.