The kind priest, amazed at this message, replied to me:

"Are you telling the truth?" I haven't heard anything about it. Our opinion is only likely, the opposite may also be likely.

"In truth, my father," I said, "it is more than likely that it is good what Mr. First President has done, and that he has thereby stopped the spread of obvious bribery, which has been tolerated for too long.

"I think of it in the same way," said the priest, "but let us give it up, let us do away with the judges."

"You're right," I said, "they don't thank you enough for everything you do for them.

"It is not a point," said the priest, "but there is so much to say about all of them that it is necessary to speak briefly about each one.

Now let's talk about the dealers. You know that the greatest difficulty here is to keep them from covetousness; For this reason our fathers also took special pains, for they hate this vice so much that Escobar says (Tr. 3, Prov. 5, No 1): "Not to consider covetousness a sin is heresy." And our father Boni, in his Summa of Sins (ch. 14), fills several pages with punishments for usurers. He declares that "they are disgraced during their lifetime and unworthy of church burial after death."

"Oh, my father! I did not think that he was so strict!

"He is strict when necessary," he replied to me, "but at the same time this learned casuist, remarking that it is only the desire for profit that makes us engage in usury, adds: "A great deal, therefore, would help the people if, protecting them from the evil effects of covetousness, and at the same time from the sin which causes this vice, they would give them the means of obtaining the same and even greater profit from their money by some useful and lawful use of it, which turns out to be covetousness."

"Certainly, my father, there would be no more moneylenders.

"And for this," he said, "he proposed 'one general method for people of all kinds: nobles, chairmen, councillors, etc.' It is so easy that it consists only in the use of certain words that must be pronounced when lending money; after that, one can make a profit without fear that it will be covetous, as it would undoubtedly be if one did otherwise here.

"And what are these mysterious sayings, my father?"

"Here they are," said the priest, "and word for word, for you know that Fr. Escobar wrote his Summation of Sins in French, in order to be understood by all, as he says in the preface: 'He who is asked to borrow money will therefore answer in this way: I have no money to lend, but I can borrow it on condition that I receive an honest and lawful income. If you wish to use this sum for business with the stipulation that the profits and losses are divided in half, perhaps I will decide to do so. It is also true that it is too difficult to agree on a profit, so if you would agree to provide me with a certain share of the income and capital, so that they would not be subject to accident, we would agree at once, and I could give you the money immediately." Is it not a convenient way to get money without sin, and is not Father Boni right when he concludes this method with the following words: "This, in my opinion, is the way in which a multitude of people, who provoke the just indignation of God against them by their covetousness, their extortions, and their unlawful contracts, can be saved by obtaining beautiful, honest, and lawful benefits"?

"Oh, my father," I said, "these words have great power. Undoubtedly, there is some secret power in them, capable of banishing covetousness, which, however, I do not understand; I have always thought that this sin consists in getting more money than it has been borrowed.