On arriving at the train, Cæsar bought all the evening papers. In one
of them he found an article entitled: _The Projects of the Minister of
Finance_, and he read it carefully.
The writer said that the Minister of Finance had never been so closely
identified with the Conservative Cabinet as at that moment; that he
had plans for a number of projects for the salvation of the Spanish
Treasury, which he would briefly explain.
“It’s a witty joke,” thought Cæsar.
He was too well acquainted with the market and monetary affairs in
general, too well acquainted with the sterling worth of the famous
financier not to understand the idea of his scheme.
Cæsar knew that the Minister not only was not on good terms with his
colleagues in the Government, but was at sword’s points with them, and
was moreover disposed to give up his portfolio from one day to the next.
Whence came this haste to launch the plan for the suppression of the
government tax and restoring the value of the currency? Why did he send
him, Cæsar, on this errand, and not somebody in the Department?
His haste to launch the plan was easy to comprehend.
The Minister was about to give a decisive impulse to all stocks; the
suppression of the affidavit and the restoring the value of the currency
would shove up domestic paper in Spain and foreign stocks in France to
extraordinary heights. Then a difficulty with the Speaker, a moment of
anger, such as was to be expected in a character like the Minister’s,
would oblige him to offer his resignation... prices would take a
terrible drop, and the Minister, having already planned for a big bear
scoop in Paris, would clear some hundreds of thousands of francs and
keep his reputation as a patriot and an excellent financier.
Why was he sending Cæsar? No doubt because he suspected his secretary,
whom he had probably given similar missions to previously.
Cæsar knew the Minister well. He had described him in his notes in
these words: “He is dark and brachicephalic; a man of tradition and
good common sense; average intellect, astute, a good father and a good
Catholic. He believes himself cleverer than he really is. His two
leading passions are vanity and money.”
Cæsar knew the Minister, but the Minister did not know Cæsar. He
imagined him to be a man of brilliant intellect, but incapable of
grasping realities.
After thinking a long while over the business, while he was undressing
to go to bed in the sleeping-car, Cæsar said:
“There is only one thing to find out. Who is the Minister’s broker in
Paris, and who is his banker? With Yarza’s assistance that is not going
to be difficult for me to ascertain. When we know what broker he works
through and what banker, the affair is finished.”
Having concluded thus, he got into his berth, put out the light, and lay
there dozing.