“Yes, my friend; and you must confess that a minister of finance is the best man to apply to for money. I have written to his excellency that I stand in urgent need of five hundred dollars today, and I request him to extricate me from my embarrassment. I ask him to appoint an hour during the forenoon when I may call upon him and get the money.”
“And you really believe that he will give you the money?”
“My dear sir, I am perfectly sure of it, and in order to satisfy you likewise, I will make a proposition. Accompany my footman to the minister’s house, carry the letter to him yourself, and hear his reply. You may then repeat this reply to my footman, go home in good spirits, and wait there until I bring you the money.”
“And if you should fail to come?” asked Werner.
“Then that last remedy you alluded to, suicide, always remains to you. Now go, my dear sir. John! John!”
The footman opened the door with a rapidity indicating that his ears probably had not been very far from the keyhole.
“John,” said Gentz, “accompany this gentleman to the house of Minister Schulenburg-Kehnert, and wait at the door for the reply he will repeat to you. And now, Mr. Werner, good-by; you see I have done all I can, and I hope you will remember that in future, and not make so much noise for the sake of a few miserable dollars. Good gracious, if I did not owe any one more than you, my creditors might thank their stars—”
“Poor creditors!” sighed Mr. Werner, saluting Gentz, and left the room with the footman, holding the letter like a trophy in his hand.