Should he tell Mr.Sponge candidly the state of his finances, and trust to his generosity for letting him off?
Was Mr.Sponge a likely man to do it?
He thought he was.

But, then, would he blab?
He thought he would, and that would blow him among those by whom he wished to be thought knowing, a man not to be done.

Altogether he was very much perplexed: seventy pounds was a vast of money; and then there was his watch gone, too! a hundred and more altogether.

He must have been drunk to do it--_very_ drunk, he should say; and then he began to think whether he had not better treat it as an after-dinner frolic, and pretend to forget all about it.

That seemed feasible.
All at once it occurred to Pacey that Mr.Spraggon was the purchaser, and that he was only a middle-man.