"Very good then, Mr. Raby," pursued the Jew. (He no longer thought of
him as "young Mr. Matyi.") "But before I leave this place, nay, before
you send me packing, I must needs have three words with you."
"All right, out with them!"
"Now the first is this: since I first weathered winter's snow and
summer's dust on this good Mother Earth of ours, I never before met a
man who was frightened at money. I see him for the first time to-day.
You were positively averse to keeping my gold. Nay, I believe that you
wanted to break my head on account of it. And now I find you have no
sweetheart, you neither drink nor gamble; you fraternise with no one.
That again is something quite unheard-of. And finally, a man will not
dot the 'i' of another person's writing, that also is something out of
the common, let me tell you."
"Well for one word I think that is long enough--what else?"
"The second concerns myself. As truly as that I yesterday was
'Rothesel,' and to-day am 'Rotheisel,' so surely is it that Rotheisel
won't neglect a treasure which Rothesel has discovered. I know of a
treasure, in fine, for the carrying off of which, as in the fairy tales,
only clean hands can avail."
"I don't understand what you are talking about."
"Well, I do. There is a treasure lying buried in a certain place, a
solid heap of more than a hundred thousand ducats, on the track of which
I would set a champion."
"I still do not understand. To whom does this goodly hoard belong?"
"This money has been wrung from the sweat and blood of the poor and the
oppressed, nay, squeezed out of ragged and hunger-bitten wretches,
moistened by the tears of widows and orphans, purloined, and concealed
from the Crown. It is the people of your native town, good sir, whose
misery has augmented this treasure, and who starve and complain for the
lack of it, while beggars swarm throughout the country. If this sort of
thing goes on, the whole State must go to the dogs. I know what I am
talking about, and will gladly lead you to the hoard. When you are in a
position to rescue it from the dragon's clutches, two-thirds of it will
go back to the poor wretched folk it was wrung from, and a third to
enrich the man who restores it."
"But if you know all this, why not do it yourself?" questioned his
listener.
"Tut, tut, my most respected sir, have you then studied to such little
purpose as not to know the laws of your native land? Does it not stand
written that the plaintiff must be a Christian? The Jew can do nothing.
And, moreover, were I as good a Christian as the zealous old sacristan
who opens the church every morning single-handed and shuts it at
nightfall, I should not be the man for this business. For it is just
such a man as you is wanted, my respected sir, a man who, once he has
set his hand to the work, will not allow himself to be beaten out of the
field. For as long as the seven-headed dragon that guards the treasure
sees that no one attempts to raise it, he'll wag his seven heads more
boldly than ever. As soon as the delegates who are told off to take
charge of it, notice that by chance ten or twenty heaps of ducats have
been left perhaps on the table, they go back and verify that all is in
good order. They will resent the adventurous knight's interference, and
will give him his _quietus_ if he is not wary. He must press on against
all foes, even if help fail him. How should a poor insignificant mortal
like myself be fitted for such an undertaking? For such a quest, a
powerful chivalrous man is needed, who has the _entree_ at Court, who is
likewise a noble himself, and can wield the pen as well as the sword, in
fine, one who has a heart open to the cry of the poor and oppressed, and
the faculty of sympathising with the people. They are not my people--I
am only a foreigner here, but it goes to my heart when I see how the
harrow tears and the clods are broken, how for others is the sowing that
these may reap. Then I thank God that He has not given me a portion in
this land, but that I am a stranger here. Believe me, Mr. Raby, the
nobles always know how to oppress the vassals. The Turkish pacha at
most, has shorn his subjects: the Magyar landlord has fairly plucked
his, but the Szent-Endre council flay their victims of hide and hair
alike. So that's my third word!"
"All right, just give me more precise details over all this, and come
and look me up at my lodgings; there we can talk it over; I shall be at
home the whole evening."
So at the appointed time, Abraham went to discuss matters with Raby, and
did not get home till morning. He literally talked the whole night long.
Yet when he at last took leave, he bound his friend on his honour:
"That you never betray how you knew all these things. The Spanish
Inquisition was mere child's play compared to what those good people
would do to me, if they knew that it was I who had made it so hot for
them."