"You forced your money upon me," I said, "as you have forced it upon others. You would have ruined me, as you have ruined others. I have made you pay for it. Out of a spirit of revenge you laid a snare for me, and thought to entangle me in it; and now you find yourself caught in your own trap. Instead of biting, you are bit. I put your money into the State Bank, at fair interest; I knew it was quite safe there. I never touched it, never used a florin of it, and with the interest I received yesterday I bought this handsome chain and this handsome lever watch, which I shall wear as long as I live, to remind me always that honesty is the best policy. Never, never shall it be set two hours fast or two hours slow to entrap the innocent and unsuspecting. Count the money, Pretzel, count the money; you will find it right to a florin; and you can carry it away in those beautiful strong vans you have gone to the expense of hiring for my benefit."
Shaking as if he had an ague, Pretzel counted the money and flung the bond at my feet.
"You do not require me any longer," said the lawyer to him, with an ill-concealed smile. I saw that he enjoyed the joke, and that very soon the whole town would be laughing at the capital trick Master Fink had played upon Miser Pretzel.
"Wait a moment, please," I said to the lawyer; "it is not yet quite finished. In your presence I present Pretzel the money-lender with a small account he owes me, and I request immediate payment of the same.
"Account!" snarled Pretzel; "I owe you nothing."
"Pardon me. Here is the account, with the items fairly and properly set down. Twenty-two times have I regulated your watch for you, at your own request. Why you wanted it so often examined and set in order when nothing was the matter with it was your affair, not mine; I sit at my counter to attend to my customers. I charge you one florin a time--in all, twenty-two florins."
"You are an extortionist," he said; and if he could have scorched me to death with his evil eye it would have afforded him, I have no doubt, the greatest satisfaction; "I shall not pay you a florin of this false account."
"It is a faithful account," I said, "and if it is not paid before twelve o'clock to-morrow--by my watch, not yours--I shall have you summoned in the Public Court. You may take my word that I mean what I say. Good-morning."
"Master Fink," he said, with the look of a snake, "one day I may be even with you."
"Till then," I said, "farewell."