The Confusion

Jacob Gold added, "It is fine for those who have the houses here, the land, the servants. They transact an enormous amount of business and they find ways to live well. The lack of hard money is only felt when one wants to cash out and move somewhere else. But if that is the kind of person you are—"

"Then you don't live in Lyon and you are not a member of the Dépôt," Eliza said.

"We can talk about this all day, going in circles like the Uroburos," said Samuel, clapping his hands, "but the fact is that we're here and we want to buy some timber for the King. And we don't have any money. But we have credit from Monsieur Castan who in turn has credit because he lives here and is very much a member of the Dépôt."

"Thank you, Samuel," Eliza said. "You are correct: people trust Monsieur Castan; when one of the other members of this Dépôt writes in his ledger ‘M. Castan owes me such-and-such number of ecus,' to them that's as good as gold. And what we need to do is turn that ‘gold' into some timber arriving at Nantes."

"Thanks to Monsieur Wachsma

"We need to find someone who is a member of this Dépôt and who is willing to write in his ledger that the King owes him the money," Eliza said.

"But that still doesn't get the money into the hands of him who sells us the timber, unless he is a member of the Dépôt, and I do not phant'sy that lumberjacks are invited," said Samuel.

"And it provides no way for us to realize a profit," Abraham, the ever-vigilant, reminded them.

Eliza reached out and pinched him on the nose to shut him up while she pointed out, "True, and yet wax, silk and other commodities are sold here in immense quantities, so there must be some way of doing it! And some do realize hard money profits, as is proved by the covert transfers of bullion to Geneva!"

Monsieur Wachsma

"So a plan begins to take shape," said Samuel. "We will negotiate terms with a timber-wholesaler, denominated in ecus au soleil, never mind that they are a wholly fictitious currency, and then take the matter to the Dépôt and allow them to clear it on their ledgers. We end up with the timber; but is is possible for us to extract any profit?"

Monsieur Wachsma

"This is how people move to Lyon, and never leave," muttered Jacob Gold, combining in this one remark the Amsterdammer's amazement at Lyon's business practices with the Parisian's disdain for its culture.

Monsieur Wachsma

"What about getting some bullion and ru

"There is a lot of competition for the small amount of bullion that exists here, and so you will have to accept a large discount," Monsieur Wachsma

"Now, there is a familiar name," Eliza said. "I have been to their factory in Leipzig, and been ogled by Lothar himself."

"I have never heard of them," said Samuel, "but if this Lothar was ogling you it means he is not altogether stupid."

"They are metals specialists," said Jacob Gold, "I know that much."

"When the Genoese here went bankrupt," said Monsieur Wachsma

Abraham snorted. "Ours goes back all the way to Adam."

"Yes; but to them this is all very impressive," said Monsieur Wachsma

"What do they do?" Abraham wanted to know.

"Lend money, clear transactions, like other banks. But their real specialty is maneuvers such as the one we are talking about now: shipment of bullion to Geneva. Do you remember when I warned you that there would be a discount if you converted your earnings to bullion here? It should have occurred to you to wonder just where the missing money disappears to in such a case. The answer is that it goes into the coffers of Lothar von Hacklheber."

Monsieur Wachsma

"I trade in wax. I know where wax comes from and where it goes, and how much wax of different types is worth to different people in different times and places. I say to you that what I am to wax, Lothar von Hacklheber is to money."

"You mean gold? Silver?"

"All kinds. Metals in pig, bullion, or minted form, paper, moneys of account such as our ecus au soleil. To me, money is frankly somewhat mysterious; but to him it is all as simple as wax. Or so it would seem; like honeycombs in a boiler, it melts together and is con-fused into one thing."

"Then we shall go and talk to his agent here," Eliza said.

"Agreed," said Samuel de la Vega, "but I say to you that if they simply had a few coins lying about the place, we could get this whole thing done in an hour. That this system works, I ca

"THE NEXT DAY," Eliza continued, "I met Gerhard Ma

She now relaxed her grip on Bonaventure Rossignol's testicles. For in the end, this was the only way she had found to maintain Bon-bon's attentiveness as she had discoursed of ecus au soleil and the Dépôt and so forth. But the mention of the name Hacklheber brought Rossignol to attention.

"Lothar von Hacklheber," she continued, "is not the sort who gladly suffers an employee to while away the afternoons sipping coffee in the café."