The trap being set, Cæsar took the train, worn out and feverish. He
arrived at Madrid, took a bath, and went to see the Minister; and after
the interview went to his house in the Calle de Galileo and spent two
days in bed, alone in the completest silence.
The third day Alzugaray arrived, anxious.
“What’s the matter? Are you sick?” he asked.
“No. How did you know I was here?”
“Your janitress came to my house to tell me you were in bed.”
“Well, there’s nothing wrong with me, boy.”
“You should know that there’s a splendid chance to make some money,
today.”
“My dear fellow!”
“Yes, and we haven’t done anything in the market, except one miserable
little operation.”
“And why do you think there is such a good chance?”
“Because there is, because everybody can see it,” said Alzugaray.
“Prices are going to rise with this project of the Minister of
Finance’s; they are going in for a big deal; everybody has been
indiscreet, without meaning to be, and people on the market are buying
and buying. Everybody is sure of a rise... and we are doing nothing.”
“We are doing nothing,” repeated Cæsar.
“But it is absurd.”
“What’s the date?”
“The twenty-second.”
“The evening of the twenty-seventh we will talk.”
“How mysterious you are, boy.”
“I can’t tell you any more now. If you have bought anything, sell it.”
“But why?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“All right, when you get on these sibylline airs, I say no more. Another
thing. Various gentlemen have come to tell me that they wanted to play
the market; they have heard that it is about to go up....”
“Who were they?”
“Among others, Amparito’s father and Don Calixto García Guerrero.”
“If they wish to give security, tell our broker, and I will sell them
anything they want to buy.”
“Really?”
“Really. I have my reasons for doing it.”
“This time we are all going to make, except you.”
“Dear Ignacio, I am at Sinigaglia.”
“What does that mean?”
“If you have a moment free, read the history of the Borgias,” murmured
Cæsar, turning over in bed.
The next few days Cæsar lived in constant intranquillity. Yarza
telegraphed him, saying that they had done the whole operation. On the
27th, in the afternoon, Cæsar wandered toward the Calle de Alcalá;
Madrid wore its normal aspect; the newspaper boys were calling no
extras. More worried than he liked, Cæsar went for his walk by the
Canalillo and then shut himself in his house. In the evening he went out
breathless and bought the newspapers. His first impression was one of
panic; there was nothing; on reaching the third page he uttered an
exclamation and smiled. The Minister of Finance had just offered his
resignation.
The next morning Cæsar went to the hotel in the Carrera de San Jerónimo
where he had a room, and in the afternoon to the Chamber. He telephoned
to Alzugaray to come and see him after the exchange closed.
Alzugaray arrived, looking pale, in company with Amparito’s father, Don
Calixto, and the broker. They were all wretched. The news was horrible.
Domestics had fallen two points and were still falling; in Paris the
Foreign Loan had fallen more than four; Northern was not falling but
tumbling to the bottom of a precipice.
“Did you know that the Minister was going to present his resignation?”
asked the broker, in despair.
“I, no. How should I know it? Even the Minister himself couldn’t have
known it yesterday. But I had scientific data for not believing in that
rise.”
“I am ruined,” exclaimed the broker. “I have lost my savings.”
Don Calixto and Amparito’s father had also lost very large sums, which
Cæsar won, and they were disconsolate.
When they were gone and only Alzugaray remained, he said to Cæsar:
“And you have played in Paris, too, probably.”
“Yes.”
“On a fall?”
“Certainly.”
“You are a bandit.”
“This game, my dear Ignacio, based solely on events, is not a
speculator’s game, but is, simply, a hold-up. The other day I told you:
‘I am at Sinigaglia.’ Did you read the history of Cæsar Borgia?”
“Yes.”
“Well, what he did at Sinigaglia to the _condottieri_, to Vittellozzo,
Oliverotto da Fermo, and his other two captain-adventurers, I have done
to the Minister of Finance, to Don Calixto, Amparito’s father, and many
others.” And Cæsar explained his game. Alzugaray was amazed.
“How much have you made?”
“From what these telegrams say, I think I shall go over half a million
francs. From those beginners, Don Calixto and Amparito’s father, I think
I have made forty thousand pesetas.”
“What an atrocious person! If the Minister should find out about your
game.”
“Let him find out. I am not worried. The famous financier, in addition
to being an idiot, is an honourable rogue. He plays the market with
the object of enriching himself and leaving a fortune to his repugnant
children. I, on the other hand, play it with a patriotic object.”
The matter didn’t rest there: Puchol, carried away by an easily
comprehensible desire for lucre, and thinking it brought the same amount
to the famous financier whether he played through Recquillart or through
Muller, had made the last bid for the Minister through the new broker.
The Minister’s winnings diminished considerably and Cæsar’s gained in
proportion. The illustrious financier, on learning what had happened,
shrieked to heaven; but he said nothing, because of the secret
transaction they had had together. Puchol was dismissed by Recquillart,
and with the thirty thousand francs he collected from Cæsar he set up
for himself.
The Minister, a little later, went to Biarritz, to collect his share.
On his return he sent Cæsar a note, unsigned and written on the
type-writer. It read:
“I did not think you had enough ability for cheating. Another time I
will be more careful.”
Cæsar replied in the same manner, as follows:
“When it’s a question of a man who, besides being an idiot, is a poor
creature and a cheat like you, I have no scruple in robbing him first
and despising him afterwards.”
Some days later Cæsar published an article attacking the retiring
Minister of Finance and disclosing a lot of data and figures.
The Minister answered with a letter in a Conservative paper, in which
he denied everything Cæsar alleged, and said, with contempt, that
questions of Finance were not to be treated by “amateurs.”
Cæsar said that he considered himself insulted by the Minister’s words,
whom, however, he admired as a financier; and a few months later he
joined the Liberal party and was received with open arms by its famous
chief.