changed at a
stroke. As the possessor of eight thousand dollars--alas! there were but
seven thousand six hundred--he was a small Croesus among men of his
class: many carried on transactions involving hundreds of thousands
without as much capital as he had; in short, the world was his oyster,
and he had but to bethink himself with what lever he should open it--how
invest his capital--how double it--how increase it tenfold. There were
many ways before him: he might continue to lend money on high interest,
he might speculate, or carry on some regular business; but each of these
involved his beloved capital in some degree of risk; he might win,
indeed, but then he might lose all, and the very thought so terrified
him that he relinquished one scheme after another.

There was, indeed, one way in which a keen-witted man might possibly
make much without great danger of loss.

Veitel had been accustomed, as a dealer in old clothes, to visit the
different seats of landed proprietors; at the wool market he was in the
habit of offering his services to gentlemen with mustaches and orders of
merit; in his master's office he was constantly occupied with the means
and affairs of the nobility. How intimately he knew old Ehrenthal's
secret desire to become the possessor of a certain estate! And how came
it that in the midst of his annoyance with Hippus, the thought of his
schoolfellow Anton suddenly flashed across him, and of the day when he
had walked with him last? That very morning he had walked about the
baron's estate, and lounged by the cow-house, counting the double row of
horns within, till the dairy-maid ordered him away. Now the thought
passed like lightning through his brain that he might as well become the
owner of that estate as Ehrenthal, and drive with a pair of horses into
the town. From that moment he had a fixed plan, and began to carry it
out.

And he speculated cunningly too. He determined to acquire a claim upon
the baron's property by a mortgage; thus he would safely invest his
capital, and work on quietly till the day came when he could get hold of
the property itself. At all events, if he did not succeed in that, his
money would be safe. Meanwhile, he would become an agent and
commissioner, buy and sell, and do many clever things besides. Also, he
must remain Ehrenthal's factotum as long as it suited him. Rosalie was
handsome and rich, for Bernhard would not live to inherit his father's
wealth. Perhaps he might