I was laughing, but Wolffert did not appreciate my joke. He flushed slightly.
"That's your gentile ignorance, my friend. That's the reason your people are so dense—they never learn—they keep repeating the same thing. No wonder we discover new worlds for you to claim!"
"What new worlds have you discovered?"
"Well, first, Literature, next commerce. What is your oldest boasted scripture?"
"I thought you were talking of material worlds!"
"We helped about that, too—did our full part. You think Queen Isabella pawned her jewels to send Christobal Colon to discover America—don't you?"
I nodded.
"Well, the man who put up the money for that little expedition was a Jew—'Arcangel, the Treasurer.' You never heard of him!"
"Never."
"He did it all the same. If you would read something else beside your narrow English writings, Glave, you would learn something of the true history of civilization." Now and then Wolffert's arrogance, like Antipater's, showed through the rents in his raiment.