Herr Krafft was about to reply, but was prevented by the hasty
appearance of Herr Heyboldt, the first procurist, who entered the
apartment; not an antiquated comedy figure in shoe-buckles, coarse
woolen socks, velvet pantaloons, and a long-tailed coat, his vest full
of tobacco, and a goose-quill back of his comically flexible ear; no,
but a fine-looking man, dressed in the latest style and in black, with
a medal in his button-hole, and having an earnest, expressive
countenance. He was house-holder, member of the City Council, and
militia captain; the gold medal and colored ribbon on his left breast
told of his having saved, at the risk of his own life, a Leander who
had been carried away by the current in the swimming-baths.
His announcement, urgent as it was, was made without haste, deliberate
and cool, somewhat as the mate informs the captain that an ugly wind
has sprung up. "Herr Principal," he said, "the crowd has broken in the
barriers and one wing of the gateway; they are attacking the
counting-house." "Who breaks, pays," said Krafft, with a joke; "we
will charge the sport to their account."--"The police are not strong
enough; they have sent to the Royal Watch for military."--"That is
right, Heyboldt. No accident, no arms or legs broken?"--"Not that I
know of."--"Pity for Meyer Hirsch; he would have thundered
magnificently in the official Morning News against the excesses of the
rage for speculation. Nor any one wounded by the police?"--"Not any,
so far."--"Pity for Hirsch Meyer. The oppositional Evening Journal has
missed a capital opportunity of weeping over the barbarity of the
soldateska. At all events, the two papers must continue to write--one
for, the other against us. Keep Hirsch Meyer and Meyer Hirsch
going."--"All right, Herr Principal."--"Send each of them a polite
line, to the effect that we have taken the liberty of keeping a few
shares for him, to sell them at the most favorable moment, and pay him
over the difference."--"It shall be attended to, Herr Principal."--"So
our Southwestern Railway goes well, Heyboldt?"--"By steam, Herr
Principal." The sober man smiled at his daring joke, and Herr Krafft
smiled affably with him. "The amount that we have left to furnish will
be exhausted before one has time to turn around. The people throw
money, bank-notes, government bonds, at our cashiers, who cannot fill
up the receipts fast enough. On the Bourse they fought for the
blanks."--"For the next four weeks we will run the stock up, Heyboldt;
after that it can fall, but slowly, with decorum."--"I understand,
Herr Principal."
A cashier came rushing in without knocking. "Herr Principal," he
stammered in his panic, "we have not another blank, and the people are
pouring in upon us more and more violently. Wild shouts call for you."
"To your place, sir," thundered Krafft at him. "I shall come when I
think it time. In no case," he added more quietly, "before the
military arrive. We need an interference, for the sake of the market."
The messenger disappeared; but pale, bewildered countenances were to
be seen in the doorways of the comptoir; the house called for its
master: the trembling daughter sent again and again for her father.
"Let us bring the play to a close," said Herr Krafft, after brief
deliberation; he stepped into the middle office, flung open a window,
and raising his harsh voice to its loudest tones, cried to the throng
below, "You are looking for me, folks. Here I am. What do you want of
me?" "Shares, subscriptions," was the noisy answer.--"You claim
without any right or any manners. This is my house, a peaceable
citizen's house. You are breaking in as though it were a dungeon, an
arsenal, a tax-office,--as though we were in the midst of a
revolution. Are you not ashamed of yourselves?" A confused murmur rang
through the astonished ranks. "If you wish to do business with me,"
continued the merchant, "you must first learn manners and discipline.
Have I invited your visit? Do I need your money, or do you need my
shares? Send up some deputies to convey your requests. I shall have
nothing to do with a turbulent mob." So saying, he closed the window
with such violence that the panes cracked, and the fragments fell down
on the heads of the assailants.
"The Principal knows how to talk to the people," said Heyboldt with
pride to Roland, the mute witness of this strange scene. "He speaks
their own language. He replies to a broken door with a broken window."
Meantime a company of soldiers had arrived on double-quick, with a
flourish of drums. The officer's word of command rang through the
crowd, now grown suddenly quiet: "Fix bayonets! form line! march!"
Yard and passages were cleared, the doors guarded; in the street the
low muttering tide, forced back, made a sort of dam. Three deputies,
abashed and confused, appeared at Krafft's door and craved audience.
The merchant received them like a prince surrounded by his court, in
the midst of his clerks, in the large counting-room. The spokesman
commenced: "We ask your pardon, Herr Krafft, for what has
happened."--"For shame, that you should drag in soldiers as witnesses
and peacemakers in a quiet little business affair among order-loving
citizens."--"It was reported that we had been fooled with these
subscriptions, and that the entire sum had been already disposed of on
the Bourse."--"And even if that were so, am I to be blamed for it? The
Southwestern Railway must raise thirty millions. Double, treble that
amount is offered it. Can I prevent the necessity of reducing the
subscriptions?"--"No; but they say that we poor folks shall not get a
cent's worth; the big men of the Bourse have gobbled up the best bits
right before our noses."--"They say so? Who says so? Court Cooper
Taeubert, I ask you who says so?"--"Gracious Herr Court Banker--"
"Don't Court or Gracious me. My name is Krafft, Herr Hans Heinrich
Krafft. I think we know each other, Master Taeubert. It is not the
first time that we have done business together. You have a very snug
little share in my workingmen's bank. Grain-broker Wuest, you have
bought one of the houses in my street. Do I ever dun you for the
installments of purchase money?" "No indeed, Herr Krafft; you are a
good man, a public-spirited man, no money-maker, no leech, no Jew!"
cried the triumvirate of deputies in chorus.--"I am nothing more than
you are: a man of business, who works for his living, the son of a
peasant, a plain simple citizen. I began in a smaller way than any of
you; but I shall never forget that I am flesh of your flesh, blood of
your blood. Facts have proved it. I will give you a fresh proof
to-day. Go home and tell the people who have sent you, Hans Heinrich
Krafft will give up the share which his house has subscribed to the
Southwestern Railway, in favor of the less wealthy citizens of this
city. This sum of five hundred thousand thalers shall be divided up
_pro rata_ among the subscriptions under five hundred dollars."
"Heaven bless you, Herr Krafft!" stammered out the court cooper, and
the grain-broker essayed to shed a tear of gratitude; the confidential
clerk Herr Lange, the third of the group, caught at the hand of the
patron to kiss it, with emotion. Krafft drew it back angrily. "No
self-abasement, Herr Lange," he said. "We are men of the people; let
us behave as such. God bless you, gentlemen. You know my purpose. Make
it known to the good people waiting outside, and see that I am rid of
my billeting. Let the subscriptions be conducted quietly and in good
order. Adieu, children!" The deputation withdrew. A few minutes
afterwards there was heard a thundering hurrah:--"Hurrah for Herr
Krafft! Three cheers for Father Krafft!" He showed himself at the
window, nodded quickly and soberly, and motioned to them to disperse.
While the tumult was subsiding, Krafft and Roland retired into the
private counting-room. "You have," the latter said, "spoken nobly,
acted nobly."--"I have made a bargain, nothing more, nothing less;
moreover, not a bad one."--"How so?"--"In three months I shall buy at
70, perhaps still lower, what I am now to give up to them at
90."--"You know that beforehand?"--"With mathematical certainty. The
public expects an El Dorado in the Southwestern Railway, as it does in
every new enterprise. The undertaking is a good one, it is true, or I
should not have ventured upon it. But one must be able to wait until
the fruit is ripe. The small holders cannot do that; they sow today,
and tomorrow they wish to reap. At the first payment their heart and
their purse are all right. At the second or third, both are gone. Upon
the least rise they will throw the paper, for which they were ready to
break each other's necks, upon the market, and so depreciate their
property. But if some fortuitous circumstance should cause a pressure
upon the money market, then they drop all that they have, in a perfect
panic, for any price. I shall watch this moment, and buy. In a year or
so, when the road is finished and its communications complete, the
shares that were subscribed for at 90, and which I shall have bought
at 60 to 70, will touch 100, or higher."
"That is to say," said Roland, thoughtfully, "you will gain at the
expense of those people whose confidence you have aroused, then
satisfied with objects of artificial value, and finally drained for
yourself." "Business is business," replied the familiar harsh voice.
"Unless I become a counterfeiter or a forger I can do nothing more
than to convert other persons' money into my own; of course, in an
honest way."--"And you do this, without fearing lest one day some one
mightier and luckier than you should do the same to you?"--"I must be
prepared for that; I am prepared."--"Also for the storm,--not one of
your own creating, but one sent by the wrath of God, that shall
scatter all this paper splendor of our times, and reduce this
appalling social inequality of ours to a universal zero?" "Let us
quietly abide this Last Day," laughed the banker, taking the artist
by the arm.