“And yet all this time Shund’s remarkable abilities have not been able to win the slightest notice on the part of progressive men—it is revolting!” cried the banker. “Mr. Schwefel, I will speak plainly, trusting to your being discreet; I will recommend your factory at Vienna, but only on condition that you have Hans Shund elected mayor and member of the legislature.”
“This is asking a great deal—quite flattering for Shund and very tempting to me,” said the leader with a bright face and a thrice repeated nod to the banker. “Since, however, what you ask is neither incompatible with the spirit of the times nor dishonorable to the sense of a liberal man, I accept your offer, for it is no small advantage for me from a business point of view.”
“Capital, Mr. Schwefel! Capital, because very sensible!” spoke Carl Greifmann approvingly. A short groan, resembling the violent bursting forth of suppressed indignation, resounded from the adjoining apartment. The banker shuffled on the floor and drowned the groan by loudly rasping his throat.
“One condition, however, I must insist upon,” continued the manufacturer of straw hats. “My arm might prove unequal to a task that will create no ordinary sensation. But if you succeeded in winning over Erdblatt and Sand to the scheme, it would prosper without fail and without much noise.”
“I shall do so with pleasure, Mr. Schwefel! Both those gentlemen will, in all probability, call on me to-day in relation to matters of business. It will be for me a pleasing consciousness to have aided in obtaining merited recognition for Hans Shund.”
“Our agreement is, however, to be kept strictly secret from the public.”
“Of course, of course!”
“You will not forget, at the same time, Mr. Greifmann, that our very extraordinary undertaking will necessitate greater than ordinary outlay. It is a custom among laborers not to work on the day before election, and the same on election day itself. Yet, in order to keep them in good humor, they must get wages the same as if they had worked. This is for the manufacturer no insignificant disadvantage. Moreover, workingmen and doubtful voters require to be stimulated with beer gratis—another tax on our purses.”
“How high do these expenses run?” asked the millionaire.
“For Sand, Erdblatt, and myself, they never fall short of twelve hundred florins.”