Part 48 (1/2)
”De Neufville has fallen--that is a hard blow,” muttered Gotzkowsky; and as his wandering eye met Ephraim's, he added with an expression of complete prostration: ”Enjoy my suffering; you have succeeded--I am hurt unto death!”
”Listen to me, Gotzkowsky,” said Ephraim, approaching nearer to him; ”I mean well by you.”
”Oh, yes!” said Gotzkowsky, bitterly; ”after you have hastened my downfall, you condescend to love me. Yes, indeed! I believe in your friends.h.i.+p; for none but a friend would have had the heart to bring such a Job's message.”
Ephraim shook his head. ”Listen to me,” said he; ”I will be quite candid with you. Formerly I hated you, it is true, for you were more powerful and richer than I was; you were renowned for being honest and punctual, and that hurt me. If a large bargain was to be made, they were not satisfied unless Gotzkowsky was concerned in it, and if your name stood at the bottom of a contract, every one was pleased. Your name was as good as gold, and that vexed me.”
”And for that reason you wished to overthrow me, and worked unceasingly for my downfall; because you knew that I expected this remittance of light money from Hamburg!”
”I procured the decision that the light money should be declared uncurrent, that is true. I succeeded. From this hour I am more powerful and richer than you. You shall see that I only hated your house, not yourself; I have come to help you. You must indeed fail; that I am aware of, and that if you were to put forth all your power, you could not stand this blow, You must and will fail, and that this very day.”
Gotzkowsky muttered some unintelligible words, and covered his face with his hands. ”Yes,” he cried, piteously, ”I and all my hopes have suffered s.h.i.+pwreck.”
Ephraim laid his hand suddenly upon his shoulder. ”Seek, then, to save some plank from the wreck, on which you may swim. You can no longer save your creditors; save yourself.”
Gotzkowsky removed his hands slowly from his face, and looked at him with astonishment and wonder.
Ephraim met his look with a smiling and mysterious expression, and bending down to Gotzkowsky's ear, whispered: ”I think you will not be such a fool as to give up all you have to your creditors, and to go out of your house a poor man. Intrust me with your important papers, and all that you possess of money and valuables, and I will preserve them for you. You do not answer. Come, be reasonable; do not allow the world the pleasure of pitying you; it does not deserve it. Believe me, mankind is bad; and he is a fool who strives to be better than his fellows.” He stopped, and directed an inquiring look toward Gotzkowsky.
The latter regarded him proudly and with contempt. ”This, then, is your friends.h.i.+p for me? You wish to make me a cheat!”
”Every man cheats his neighbor,” cried Ephraim, shrugging his shoulders; ”why should you alone be honest?”
”Because I do not wish to be ashamed of myself. It is the fault of others that I fall to-day. It shall not be said that Gotzkowsky is guilty of any crime of his own.”
”It will be said, nevertheless,” interrupted Ephraim; ”for whoever is unfortunate, is in the wrong, in the eyes of men. And if he can help himself at the expense of others, and does not do it, do you think men will admire him for it? No! believe me, they will only laugh at him.
I have often been sorry for you, Gotzkowsky; for, with all your good sense, your whole life through has been a miscalculation--”
”Or rather say,” said Gotzkowsky, sadly, ”I have not calculated enough, and from all the experiences of my life I have not drawn the sum total.”
”You miscalculated,” said Ephraim, ”for you calculated on grat.i.tude.
That is a bad investment which does not bear interest. Mankind cannot be grateful, and when any one tries to be so he must sink, for others are not so. Whoever wishes to succeed in this world, must think only of himself, and keep his own interest in sight.”
”You wise men of the world are right!” cried Gotzkowsky, with a hoa.r.s.e laugh.
Unhindered by Gotzkowsky's vehement and scornful bearing, Ephraim continued: ”If I had thought as you did, I would not have been able to operate against you, nor could I have brought the mint ordinance to bear on you. Then, to be sure, I would have been grateful, but it would not have been business-like. Therefore I thought first of my own welfare, and after that I came here to serve you, and show you my grat.i.tude.”
”I do not desire any grat.i.tude. Let me go my way--you go yours.”
Ephraim looked at him almost pityingly. ”Be reasonable, Gotzkowsky; take good advice. The world does not thank you for being honorable.
Mankind has not deserved the pleasure of laughing at you. And they will laugh!”
”Leave me, I tell you!” cried Gotzkowsky; ”you shall not deprive me of my last possession, my conscience!”
”Conscience!” sneered Ephraim. ”You will starve on that capital.”
Gotzkowsky sighed deeply and dropped his head on his breast. At this moment there were heard from without loud hurrahs and jubilant sounds, mingled with the tones of martial music.
King Frederick II. was returning this day to Berlin, after a long absence, and the happy and delighted Berliners had prepared for him a pompous and brilliant entry. They had built triumphal arches, and the guilds had gone forth to accompany him into the city, now adorned for festivity. The procession had to pa.s.s by Gotzkowsky's house, and already were heard the sounds of the approaching music, while the shouts and cries of the people became louder and shriller.
Ephraim stepped to the window, opened it, and pointing down into the street, he said, with a mocking laugh: ”Just look, Gotzkowsky! There is the true test of your beautiful, high-toned principles. How often has Berlin not called you her benefactor, and yet she is overjoyed on the very day you are going to ruin! The whole town of Berlin knows that Gotzkowsky fails to-day, and yet they pa.s.s by your house with merry music, and no one thinks of you.”