"Elkish can wait."
"Indeed not! I must consult him about to-morrow's committee meeting of
the Magdeburg Machine Construction Company."
"Now, Benas," she interrupted, "there are weightier matters than the
Magdeburg Machine Construction...."
"You say that so lightly, Fanny.... I cannot understand how a woman as
clever as you are can say such things. The 'Magdeburgs' not important! a
small matter! When the balance-sheet is published to-morrow, and the
dividends declared, they will rise in value at least fifteen points; and
_that_, you say, is of no importance! I must still give my orders about
buying and selling; for at the close of the exchange, they will
naturally fall, but the day after, then--I tell you, Fanny, it will be a
big thing!"
"That's all very good and nice. Money, sadly enough, is the only power
we have nowadays; but sometimes other things affect the course of
events, as, for instance, this letter."
"Well, what of it? Elkish may come at any moment."
She opened the letter while he turned on the electric light of his
reading lamp, whose green silk shade spread a soft, subdued light over
the room.
"Regierungsrat Dr. Victor Weilen begs permission to pay his respects
this evening at nine o'clock. He apologizes for setting so late an hour,
but explains that his duties keep him occupied until late in the day;
and inasmuch as the matter which he wishes to discuss is a family
affair, he hopes we shall receive him."
"A family affair? He! What does he want of the family? and so
unexpectedly! That's really curious. A family affair!"
"He begs, as the time is so short, that an answer be sent to him by
telephone, to the Foreign Office, where he will wait until eight
o'clock."
"Gracious, how swell! The Foreign Office! And thus do we attain to the
honor of telephoning to the Foreign Office," he added satirically.
"What shall the answer be, Joshua? that we are at home?"
"Surely, if you wish to receive him. I cannot understand your
excitement, dearest. You have received a Regierungsrat in your
drawing-rooms before this, even an Oberregierungsrat. There was a time
when Mr. Breitbach found our Moet rather fair...."
"There _was_ a time, Benas!"