Four thousand dollars is a pretty profit where no capital has been risked." "But it makes me anxious," said Ehrenthal.

"Believe me, Loewenberg, it excites me so much that I can not sleep at night; and when my wife asks me, 'Are you asleep, Ehrenthal ?' I have always to say, 'I can not sleep, Sidonie; I must think of business.'" An hour later a carriage with four horses rolled away from the door.

The following morning Commissary Walter received a business call from Loewenberg, and was convinced, by the cool, shrewd manner of the man, that the circumstances of the Count Zaminsky could not be so desperate as was commonly believed.
Eight days after, the baron received a letter from his legal adviser, containing a copy of one from Commissary Walter.

These experienced lawyers both agreed in thinking that the mortgage in question was not positively undesirable; and when Ehrenthal next called, he found the baron's mind made up to the purchase.

The irresistible inducement was the making a few thousand dollars.