The Sword Maker | Page 6

on the parapet, thoughtfully shaping in his
mind what he would say to Herr Goebel in the morning.
Along the opposite side of the river lay a compact mass of barges; ugly,
somber, black in the moonlight, silent witnesses to the ruin of Frankfort.
The young man gazed at this melancholy accumulation of useless
floating stock, and breathed the deeper when he reflected that whoever
could set these boats in motion again would prove himself, temporarily
at least, the savior of the city.
When the bells began to toll eleven, Roland roused himself, walked
across the bridge to Sachsenhausen, and so to his squalid lodging,
consoling himself with the remembrance that the great King
Charlemagne had made this his own place of residence. Here, before
retiring to bed, he wrote the letter which he was to send in next day to
Herr Goebel, composing it with some care, so that it aroused curiosity
without satisfying it.
It was half-past ten next morning when Roland presented himself at the
door of the leading merchant in the Fahrgasse, and sent in to that
worthy his judiciously worded epistle. He was kept waiting in the hall
longer than he expected, but at last the venerable porter appeared, and
said Herr Goebel would be pleased to receive him. He was conducted
up the stair to the first floor, and into a front room which seemed to be
partly library and partly business office. Here seated at a stout table, he
recognized the grave burgher whose home-coming he had witnessed
the night before.

The keen eyes of the merchant seemed to penetrate to his inmost
thought, and it struck Roland that there came into them an expression
of disappointment, for he probably did not expect so youthful a visitor.
"Will you be seated, mein Herr," said his host; and Roland, with an
inclination of the head, accepted the invitation. "My time is very
completely occupied to-day," continued the elder man, "for although
there is little business afoot in Frankfort, my own affairs have been
rather neglected of late, and I am endeavoring to overtake the arrears."
"I know that," said Roland. "I stood by your doorcheek last night when
you returned home."
"Did you so? May I ask why?"
"There was no particular reason. It happened that I walked down the
Fahrgasse, endeavoring to make up my mind upon whom I should call
to-day."
"And why have I received the preference?"
"Perhaps, sir, it would be more accurate to say your house received the
preference, if it is such. I was struck by its appearance of solidity and
wealth, and, differing from all others in the door being ajar, I lingered
before it last night with some inclination to enter. Then the procession
which accompanied you came along. I heard your address to your
friends, and wondered what the formality was about. After the door was
closed I accosted one of those who escorted you, and learned your
name, business, and reputation."
"You must be a stranger in Frankfort when you needed to make such
inquiry."
"Those are almost the same words that my acquaintance of last night
used, and he seemed astonished when I replied that I was born in
Frankfort, and had lived here all my life."
"Ah, I suppose no man is so well known as he thinks he is, but I

venture to assert that you are not engaged in business here."
"Sir, you are in the right. I fear I have hitherto led a somewhat useless
existence."
"On money earned by some one else, perhaps."
"Again you hit the nail on the head, Herr Goebel. I lodge on the other
side of the river, and coming to and fro each day, the sight of all those
useless barges depresses me, and I have formulated a plan for putting
them in motion again."
"I fear, sir, that wiser heads than yours have been meditating upon that
project without avail."
"I should have been more gratified, Herr Goebel, if you had said 'older
heads.'"
The suspicion of a smile hovered for a brief instant round the shrewd,
firm lips of the merchant.
"Young sir, your gentle reproof is deserved. I know nothing of your
wisdom, and so should have referred to the age, and not to the
equipment of your head. It occurs to me, as I study you more closely,
that I have met you before. Your face seems familiar."
"'Tis but a chance resemblance, I suspect. Until very recently I have
been absorbed in my studies, and rarely left my father's house."
"I am doubtless mistaken. But to return to our theme. As you are
ignorant of my name and standing in this city, you are probably
unaware of the efforts already made to remove the deadlock on the
Rhine."
"In that,