“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, Herr Goebel, you are at fault.  I know an expedition of folly was promoted at enormous expense, and that the empty barges, numbering something like fivescore, now rest in the deepest part of the Rhine.”

“Why do you call it an expedition of folly?”

“Surely the result shows it to be such.”