"But I have a condition, too," said David. "You must sell me the wool."
"Well, why not?" said Slusuhr, slily treading on Pomuchelskopp's toes. "Let him go and look at it."
Pomuchelskopp understood the sign, and complimented David out of doors that he might go and examine the wool, and, when he returned and seated himself on the sofa by the notary, the latter laughed loudly, and said, "We know each other!"
"What do you mean?" asked Pomuchelskopp, feeling as if he had stepped out of his coach into the mud.
"My friend," said the notary, slapping him on the shoulder, "I have known all along what you wanted, and, if you will pull at the same rope with me, you shall not fail of securing it."
Good heavens, what a sly fox! Pomuchelskopp was frightened.
"Herr Notary, I don't deny----"
"No need of words between us. If things go as they should, you shall get Pumpelhagen in time, and David shall have his compound interest, and I--ah, I could manage the business myself, but it is a little too much for me to undertake,--I will take a mill or a farm, and by and by set up as a landed proprietor myself. But it will cost you a good deal of money."
"That it will, God knows, a great deal of money; but that is no matter. It torments me too much to look over at that beautiful estate; isn't it a sin and a shame it should be in such hands?"
The notary looked askance at him, as if to say, "Do you really mean that?"