“He is the head of the syndicate, the president of your company, and his colleagues are the board of directors.”
“I see, I see. Then Mr. Schwartzbrod and his friends are not sufferers by this little deal of mine?”
“Oh! bless you, no, Lord Stranleigh, except in so far as they have parted with their property a little more cheaply than they had intended. I believe Mr. Schwartzbrod considers that a fair price for the shares would have been from three-and-six to four shillings.”
“I’m not very good at figures,” complained his lordship, with a slight wrinkle in his forehead, “but if three-and-six is a fair price, then the loss of the syndicate is merely a shilling a share, and as they sold me three hundred thousand shares, that comes to—” He looked helplessly at Mac-keller.
“Fifteen thousand pounds,” said Mackeller sharply.
“Ah, thanks. Fifteen thousand pounds. Well, that divided between seven amounts to——”
Again he turned an appealing eye to the somber Mackeller, who replied promptly:
“Two thousand one hundred and forty-two pounds, six shillings each.”
“I’m ever so much obliged, Mackeller. What a deuce of an advantage it is to possess brains! I am told that east of the Danube people cannot figure up simple little sums in their mind, and so this gives the Jews a great advantage over them in commercial dealings, which adds to the wealth of the Jew, but detracts from his popularity. I fear the inability to count often begins west of Regent Street, and afflicts many of us who are accustomed to paying the waiter at the club exactly what he demands. But to return to our muttons, Mr. Hahn, I must congratulate you on the fact that your clients, who I understand are rich and estimable men, lose merely a couple of thousand each on a deal involving some hundreds of thousands, although it occupied but a few minutes of the time of forty stockbrokers acting simultaneously. I suppose as the amount of their loss is so trifling, you have not come here to make any appeal for clemency on behalf of the respectable Mr. Schwartzbrod and his colleagues?”
“Oh, not at all, your lordship. No, Mr. Schwartzbrod is merely anxious that the transfer should be made in such a way as to give you as little trouble as possible.”