you are the young man who m. de seebach recommended?
your name is lazlo zilagyi?
you come highly recommended by herr seebach.
for whom else have you worked?
who else can give me information about you?
you will do. i will give you 30.  a day. i do not provide your clothing; you will sleep at home, and you will be at my orders every morning at seven o'clock.
is there something wrong?
the rascals! they think to catch me, do they? why, young man, my chief conspiracy is a faro-bank. but the king is so jealous, that he will see a spy in every person who comes to his miserable capital, in the great sandy desert here.
i'd give five years of my life to see the old country again, the greenfields, and the river, and the old round tower, and the burying place.
my lad, i have been in every service; and, between ourselves, owe money in every capital in europe. i have been a rolling stone. play -- play has been my ruin! that and beauty. the women have made a fool of me, my dear boy. i am a soft- hearted creature, and this minute, at sixty-two, have no more command of myself than when peggy o'dwyer made a fool of me at sixteen.
the cards are now my only livelihood. sometimes i am in luck, and then i lay out my money in these trinkets you see. it's property, look you, and the only way i have found of keeping a little about me. when the luck goes against me, why, my dear, my diamonds go to the pawnbrokers and i wear paste. do you understand the cards?
we will practice in the mornings, my boy, and i'll put you up to a thing or two worth knowing.
i deny your grace's accusations, and beg you to say how you have been cheated?
your grace owes me seventy thousand frederics, which i have honorably won.
your grace, if i am so tame as to take this, then i must give up an honorable and lucrative occupation.
tell them i intend to demand satisfaction from the prince.
have no fear. it will come out well for me.
i have faced that problem before.
make your mind easy, you shall not be left behind, i warrant you. do take a last look at your barracks, make your mind easy, say a farewell to your friends in berlin. the dear souls, how they will weep when they hear you are out of the country, and, out of it, you shall go.
where is my rascal, lazlo?
good gracious! what is this?
it is shameful -- infamous! i insist upon being put down at the austrian ambassador's house.
ten thousand? but the scoundrel owes me seventy thousand.
all europe shall hear of this!
i have no luggage.
gentlemen, i wish you a good day. will you please go to the house from whence we set out this morning, and tell my man there to send my baggage on to three kings at dresden?
from the chevalier de belle fast to roderick james, esquire, gentilhomme anglais. at the hotel des trois couronnes, dresden, saxe. my dear roderick -- this comes to you by a sure hand, no other than mr. lumpit, of the english mission, who is acquainted, as all berlin will be directly, with our wonderful story. they only know half as yet; they only know that a deserter went off in my clothes, and all are in admiration of your cleverness and valor.
as i lay in my bed two and a half hours after your departure, in comes your ex-captain, galgenstein.
straightaway he makes for the red box where i keep my love letters, my glass eye which i used to wear, my two sets of paris teeth, and my other private matters that you know of. he first tries a bunch of keys, but none of them fit the english lock. then he takes out of his pocket a chisel and hammer, and falls to work like a professional burglar, actually bursting open the little box! now was my time to act! i advance towards him armed with an immense water-jug. i come noiselessly up to him just as he has broken the box, and, with all my might, i deal him such a blow over the head as smashes the water-jug to bits, and sends the captain with a snort lifeless to the ground. then i ring all the bells in the house; and shout, and swear, and scream, "thieves! -- thieves! -- landlord! -- murder! -- fire!" until the whole household comes tumbling up the stairs.
where is my servant? who dares to rob me in open day? look at the villain whom i find in the act of breaking my chest open! send for the police, send for his excellency the austrian minister! all europe shall know of this insult!
me! why, man, i have been in bed all morning. i am ill -- i have taken physic -- i have not left the house this morning! where is that scoundrel, lazlo? but, stop! where are my clothes and wig?
and my money -- my money! where is my purse with forty-eight frederics in it? but we have one of the villains left, officers, seize him.
what! a gentleman breaking open my trunk with hammer and chisel -- impossible!
herr galgenstein was returning to life by this time, with a swelling on his skull as big as a saucepan; and the officers carried him off, and, to make a long story short, poor galgenstein is now on his way to spandau; and his uncle, the minister of police galgenstein, has brought me five hundred louis, with a humble request that i would leave berlin forthwith, and hush up this painful matter.
sir, we have but eighty thousand florins in bank, or two hundred thousand at three months; if your highness' bags do not contain more than eight thousand, we will meet you.
to risk one's life against such people is an imposition.
certain?