Malzin returned with the map and as every table was overcrowded with bibelots and jardinières, it was spread out upon the piano. Capriani eagerly travelled over it with his pudgy forefinger. "The track of the new railway must go here, between the iron works and Schneeburg."
"Then it must go a very long round," Arthur remarked, "can you obtain the permit?"
Capriani stuck a thumb in an arm-hole of his waistcoat and smiled.
"Malzin, you know the estates around here; to whom does that belong?" pointing to a spot upon the map.
"That belongs to Kamenz," said Malzin bending forward, and fitting his eye-glass in his eye.
"And that?"
"To Lodrin."
"Then it comes to whether the interests of these gentlemen jump with your own," Arthur observed. "If they should work against you, you never can obtain the permit."
"Pshaw! I understand tolerably well how to deal with these gentlemen."
"Kamenz will give you no trouble, he is up to his neck in embarrassments, and would be glad to dispose advantageously of a piece of his land," drawled Kilary, looking at the map and giving his opinion with lazy assurance.