THE JEW'S REVENGE.
The emperor paced his cabinet in unusual agitation. Contrary to his
daily habits, the Controlorgang was closed, and his secretaries had been
ordered to remain in the chancery, and do their writing there.
The emperor had been weeping; and he wished his anguish to be hidden
from any eye save that of God.
A great sorrow had befallen him. Gunther, his indefatigable co-laborer,
the trustiest of counsellors, the man whom, next to Lacy and Rosenberg,
he loved best on earth--Gunther had betrayed him! He had sold a secret
of state for gold!
There, before him on the table, lay the reports of the secret police,
whose duty it was to open all letters passing through the post, and to
present such as looked suspicious. [Footnote: "The Emperor Franz and
Metternich: a Fragment." (From Hormayer, p. 795)] Among these letters
was one which strongly inculpated Gunther. It was written by Baron
Eskeles Flies to a commercial friend in Amsterdam. It stated that he
(Eskeles Flies) had just received a communication of such vital
importance that it was worth much more to him than the thousand ducats
he had paid to his informer. The emperor, tired of his contention with
Holland regarding the navigation of the Scheldt, had agreed to accept
the ten millions offered by Holland in return for his guaranty that she
should still preserve her right to demand toll of all ships passing
through that portion of the river which was within the Dutch boundaries.
[Footnote: Joseph had claimed from Holland the right to navigate the
Scheldt and the canals dug by the Dutch, free of toll. These latter
refused, and the emperor forth-with marched his troops into Holland. He
had expected to be sustained by the other maritime powers of Europe, but
they protecting the Dutch, Joseph was obliged to withdraw his troops.
But he claimed an indemnity for the expenses incurred by putting his
regiments upon a war-footing, and demanded twenty millions. He then
agreed to take fifteen, but was finally obliged to be content with ten,
which was all that the Dutch would allow him. Whereupon Frederick the
Great said that Joseph had cried out for a great sum, but had been
obliged to come down to a "pour boire."]
Eskeles Flies besought his Amsterdam correspondent to procure him this
loan, which he was ready to advance to the republic in four instalments.
He bound his friend to strict secrecy, for the information he imparted
was not to be made public for twenty-four hours, and the possession of
this secret gave them signal advantage over all other bankers.
Now Gunther alone had been intrusted by the emperor with this secret of
state. With the exception of Prince Kaunitz, not another man in Austria
knew that Joseph intended to accept the proffered indemnity.
It was clear, then, that Gunther was the traitor, and yet his imperial
master would not believe. He clung to the hope that something might yet
occur to exculpate his favorite, though how or whence exoneration was to
come, he could not conceive.
The banker had been summoned, and the emperor awaited his coming. In the
impatience of his heart he had sent a courier, and after the courier his
own carriage, for he could not endure his suspense one moment longer
than was unavoidable.
Often as he paced the room, his heart throbbing violently, he paused to
listen, and then glanced again and again at the clock to see if the
banker could be nigh.
"If it be true," thought he, resuming his agitated walk, "I never shall
trust man again. I believed that Gunther's heart was as noble as his
face. Is it possible that such a countenance should lie? Gunther, the
generous, disinterested Gunther--can it be that he has sold my secrets?
I cannot, will not believe it. I must see himself, and hear his defence
from his own lips."
Hurried along by this magnanimous impulse, the emperor approached the
door. But he paused, and shook his head.
"No, no. Conviction must come from testimony, not from assertion. Men
are all actors, and often have I seen how skilfully they wear the mask
of innocence. I have been too often deceived. Ah! there at last is the
banker."
Yes, it was he. The page flung open the door, and announced:
"Baron von Eskoles Flies."
The baron entered the room. He had grown old since Rachel's flight.
Scarcely a year had elapsed since then; but in that year her father's
raven locks had become white as snow, and the stalwart man of fifty had
grown old and feeble.
The emperor came forward, and extended his hand.
"Look at me, Eskeles," said he, in his quick, eager way; "do not bow so
ceremoniously, we have no time to waste on formalities. Look at me, and
let me see whether you are an honest man scorning falsehood, even though
it might shield a fellow-creature from harm."
The banker looked the emperor full in the face, and bore the scrutiny of
his searching eyes without wincing.
"I see that you can look me in the face," said Joseph. "You will speak
the truth."
"The Jew is forbidden by his religious code to lie," was the reply.
Joseph crossed the room quickly, and taking a letter from his
escritoire, gave it to the banker.
"Is this your writing?"
Eskeles lifted his eyes slowly to the paper, and seemed surprised.
"Yes, that is my writing. I posted this letter yesterday. How, then, do
I find it here? Its detention is a serious inconvenience to me."
He said this with the demeanor of a merchant whose mind is upon his
business, and who has no idea that it can concern any other person.
"The letter was sent to me by the secret police," said the emperor. The
banker looked up in astonishment. "Ah!" exclaimed he. "then the tales
which are told of the opening of all our letters by detectives, are not
fables!"
"No--they are not fables, and I am justified in the scrutiny. Men are so
corrupt that our only defence against treachery is espionage. It is a
pity that it should be so; but as long as the people are base, their
sovereigns must stop short of no means to foil them."
"But I have never sinned against your majesty. Why, then, is my letter
open to suspicion?"
"Every man is suspected by the secret police," replied Joseph, with a
shrug. "For that reason they had orders to stop every letter addressed
to Holland. The precaution had been made imperative by our
misunderstandings with that country. And you see yourself that your
letter betrays a secret of state."
"Betrays!" repeated the banker. "We betray that which we are expected to
bury within the recesses of our own heart. But this news was to go out
into the world, and was a subject for percentage. I should have made at
least half a million had my letter not been unluckily detained by your
majesty."
"I shall not prevent you from earning your percentage," replied Joseph,
scornfully. "Your letter shall go to-day, and my dispatches shall be
detained until to-morrow. In that way you can still make your half
million."
The banker bowed. "I thank your majesty for your exceeding
condescension," said he.
"I will do you this favor, but you must do me a service in return."
"It is not necessary for your majesty to concede me the right to earn
half a million, to buy my services," said Eskeles, with a slight shade
of reproach. "I hope that I have always been ready to serve your
majesty, even when no percentage was to be gained thereby."
"And I have recognized it, BARON Eskeles Flies. But I do not speak of
pecuniary services to-day. I ask a favor of another nature. Tell me,
then, without reserve, who is the man that receives a thousand ducats
for revealing a secret of state to you."
The banker started as if he had received a shot, and glanced inquiringly
at the emperor. "Was that in the letter?" asked he.
Joseph gave it into his hands. Eskeles perused it eagerly, and then,
murmured in a voice of exceeding contrition, "Ay, it is there. I was
indiscreet." Then, as if overcome by his fault, his head sank upon his
breast.
"I await your answer," said the emperor. "Who betrayed me to you for a
thousand ducats?"
The banker raised his head as if making a difficult resolve. "Your
majesty, that was an idle boast of mine to enhance the value of my
news."
"Mere evasion, baron!" replied Joseph, angrily. "Even if you had not
written the words in that letter, I should still ask of you, who it is
that betrays my secrets?"
"No one, sire," replied Eskeles, uneasily. "I guessed it. Yes,
yes,"--continued he, as though a happy idea had just struck him--"that
is it--I guessed. Every one knows of your majesty's difficulty with
Holland, and I might well guess that you would be glad to end this
strife by accepting the ten millions, and so save your subjects from the
horrors of war."
"You are not the truthful man I had supposed. There is no logic in your
lies, Baron Eskeles. You might guess that I would accept the ten
millions, but as you are not omniscient, you could not say positively
that I had written my dispatches yesterday, and would sign them to-day.
Your inventions are clumsy, baron, and I must say that they do you
honor; for they prove that you have little experience in the art of
lying. But the truth I must have, and as your lord and emperor, I
command you to speak. For the third time, who betrayed my secrets to
you?"
"Oh, sire, I swore not to betray him," said Eskeles, in a faltering
voice.
"I absolve you from the oath."
"But the God of Israel cannot absolve me. I cannot speak the name of the
man, but--your majesty can guess it."
He was silent for a few moments, then raising his head, the emperor saw
that his face had become deadly pale. In a low, unsteady voice he
continued: "Your majesty knows that I once had a daughter."
"HAD? You have a daughter, baron."
"She is dead to me," murmured Eskeles so inaudibly that the emperor
scarcely heard him. "She left me a year ago for a man whom she loved
better than her father."
"But she left because you would have married her to a man whom she
hated. Gunther told me so."
"Yes, sire. I had no idea that my unhappy child would go to such
extremity. Had she entreated me as she should have done, I would have
yielded; but her lover had hardened her heart against me, and she
abandoned me--not to become the honorable wife of any man, but to lead a
life of shame and reproach. Rachel is not married, she is the mistress
of that man."
"This, too, is your fault, baron. You made her swear never to become a
Christian, and by our laws she could not marry him. But he considers her
as his wife. You see that I know all. Gunther, to justify himself,
confided to me the whole history of his love."
"He did not tell the truth, sire. My daughter herself is unwilling to
become a Christian."
"Then she is a conscientious Jewess?"
"No, sire, she does not attend the synagogue."
"What is she, then?" asked the emperor, astonished.
"She is a Deist; and precisely because I required of her to profess
either Judaism or Christianity, she fled to that man whom she cannot be
made to believe is the suitor of her wealth and not of herself."
"Do you think, then, that Gunther is interested?"
"I know it, sire. He offered for a hundred thousand florins to renounce
Rachel and deliver her up to me--Here is his letter; your majesty can
see it."
The emperor took the letter, and read it. "It is his writing," murmured
he, sorrowfully; "it is too true."
"I refused," continued Eskeles. "I would not buy my daughter back. I
therefore waited to see what would follow."
"What followed?"
The banker was silent for a moment; then sighing, he said, in low,
trembling tones: "Not long after, I received another letter. He said he
was straitened in means, that Rachel was pampered, and required so many
luxuries that she had exhausted his purse. As I would not listen to his
first proposition, he had another to make. I would give him a certain
sum, and he would do me a substantial service."
"He offered a thousand ducats, did he not?"
"I do not remember. The sum is stated in the letter. Here it is, your
majesty." And with these words Eskeles drew a paper from his bosom.
"It is, it is," said the emperor, in a voice of anguish. "I can no
longer doubt his treachery."
Eskeles Flies returned the paper to his bosom. "I keep this on my
person," said he, "because when Rachel returns to me, it will cure her
of her love for such a villain. "
"Gunther, then, received the money?" said Joseph.
"He did, sire."
"Then you no longer deny that he was the Judas."
"Your majesty can remember which of your secretaries was charged with
the copying of your dispatches."
The emperor sighed. "I know, I know," murmured he; "and yet it pains me
so to believe it, for I have loved him sincerely."
"And I have loved my daughter," returned Eskeles. "This man stole her
from me, and has converted my child into a Deist."
"She shall be returned to you, and Gunther shall receive the punishment
of his crimes," cried Joseph, in a loud and angry voice. "No mercy for
him! I shall know how to act as becomes a wronged and outraged
sovereign."
"But that will not restore my child" said Eskeles, disconsolately.
"What good is it to me that this wretch is to suffer? It will not bring
back Rachel. And even if she should be forced to seek my protection,
what comfort can I derive from one who is a Deist--a creature who mocks
at religion?"
"She will be obliged to become one thing or the other, if she would
shield herself from the fearful consequences of her skepticism."
"That is it," cried Eskeles, joyfully. "Your majesty has found the
remedy. Rachel must be threatened with the disgrace of legal punishment,
and then she will repent, and return to her father. Sire, I accuse her
of Deism. I exact that she be brought to judgment."
"To judgment!" exclaimed the emperor. "Do you know the punishment for her
offence?"
"Fifty lashes on the offender's back! But fear will save her. My Rachel
will never dare avow herself a Deist."
"Perhaps not; but I, as a Christian, cannot allow you to force her back
to Judaism."
"Then try to make a Christian of her, sire--Oh, I beseech you, lend
yourself to my paternal stratagem for her restoration to honor! Act upon
my accusation; have her imprisoned in her home; and for four weeks, let
a priest visit her daily to instruct her in your majesty's faith. Then
let her decide whether she will become a Christian or remain a Jewess."
"Bethink you that if she should prove contumacious, I cannot rescue her
from punishment. If you persist in your accusation, remember that the
law must take its course."
"I persist, and demand investigation."
"It shall be granted you. And now here is your letter. Post it to-day,
and it will still be twenty-four hours in advance of mine. We must both
perform our duty, you as a merchant, I as a sovereign; and, believe me,
you shall have revenge for the wrongs, inflicted upon you by the double
traitor who has betrayed his emperor and his mistress."
"I care nothing for his punishment," repeated Eskeles, wearily; "all
that I ask is my daughter."
The emperor gave his hand, and the banker, pressing it to his lips,
backed out of the cabinet. Joseph looked after him with sympathizing
eyes. "Poor man! Grief has made him old. Sorrow lengthens days to years,
and wrinkles many a brow which time has never touched."
But without, Baron Eskelies Flies had changed his mien. No longer bowed
down with grief, he stood triumphantly reviewing the success of his
strategy.
"I am revenged!" thought he. "Short-sighted emperor, you do not dream
that you arc the tool wherewith the Jew has wreaked his vengeance upon
the Christian! Go on, and ruin your faithful friend! Go on, hot-headed
judge; punish the man who loves you, without giving him a hearing; and
imagine yourself to be administering justice, while you inflict the
grossest injustice. It is so Christian-like. Follow the instincts of
your love and hate, your passion or your pleasures, ye children of the
moment, while the calculating Jew plays upon your credulity!--And now,
God of my fathers, let the Christian priest but irritate my child with
his importunities, and she will seek refuge from his persecutions in the
synagogue!"