e, a banker
from Vienna, whose father had been a friend of the old man's, and at
whose counting-house he could always get exchange for his bank-notes
and other little accommodations. The visitor was Felix Kaulmann.

"To what circumstance do I owe the honor? What good news do you bring
me?"

"My worthy friend, I shall not make any preamble. Time is precious to
you, as it is to me, and therefore I go straight to the point. By the
authorization of the Prince of Bondavara I have been placed at the
head of a joint-stock company, who have just started some gigantic
coal-works, whose capital has risen from ten millions to eight hundred
and twenty millions."

"That is eighty-two millions more than you would require."

"The money is the least part. What I stand in need of is well-known
men for the administration, for the result of the whole undertaking
rests upon the zeal, the capability, the intelligence of the governing
body."

"Well, such men are not difficult to find if there is a prospect of a
good dividend."

"The dividend is not to be despised. The bonus to each member of the
administration will be, yearly, five or six thousand gulden."

"Really? What a nice income!--a stroke of luck for those who are
chosen."

"Well, I have chosen you for a member, my worthy friend."

"An honor, a great honor for me; but how much must I put down before I
am admitted?"

"Neither before nor after shall you be asked to put down anything. The
only condition is that every member of the administration must hold
one thousand shares."

"That means paying in a deal of money, my young friend."

"I didn't say a word of paying in; I only spoke of holding."

"But, my young friend, although I am only a provincial merchant in a
small way, I know that, so far as money is in question, to subscribe
is another word for payment."

"With this exception--if both subscriptions equalize one another. Ah,
I see you do not like even a question of subscribing. Well, listen. We
will suppose that you take one thousand shares in my coal company, and
at the same time I give you an undertaking to take over one thousand
shares at par from _you_; in this way we are even, and neither of us
loses a shilling."

"Hem! But what is the necessity for such a joke?"

"I will be frank with you. The world has its eyes fixed upon the
actions of important men; if these stir in any affair, the others stir
likewise. If on 'change it is known that you, my worthy fri