"Then excuse my remarking, Count Golm, that I think you are rather ungrateful," replied the Councillor, drawing on his gloves. "I have done more for you than I would for our own shareholders, even if they went down on their knees to me in a body. I have laid before you the actual position of the Berlin-Sundin Railway Company; I have confessed that our only hope is a continuation of the Sundin railway through your island to some harbour which will be, as it were, the head of the serpent; in other words that we can only save our first project by a second, which will be supported by the first. On this point our interests are common, however much apart they may be elsewhere. It is our interest to obtain this continuation, even if that head of the serpent, the harbour, were in the moon, let alone anywhere upon the island, even in the north. Your interests demand that an Eastern terminus should be chosen, to which the railway would run through your whole property. Good. I come to you--offer you, so to say, my outstretched hand, show you the means and the way, how, by some quite possible cleverness, you may set aside all present obstacles which are in your way--remember that, Count Golm--not in ours--for this object put you in possession of a family secret as I did before of a business secret, and finally offer you, if I may so express myself, the hand of a young, handsome, and charming woman, and you tell me that I have come in vain!" The Councillor took up his hat, but the Count still did not move from his seat. "It certainly is most ungrateful of me," said he, "but you know no one is pleased with the most agreeable of prospects when he is in such a disagreeable position as I am." The Councillor slowly brushed the top of his hat round and round with his elbow. "I am going to make a proposal, Count Golm. We have both spoken warmly; a walk in the cool of the evening will do you good also; take your hat and let me have the honour of taking you with me on my visit." "Who are you going to see?" "The contractor of our railway, Herr Philip Schmidt." The Count raised himself in his chair, and then let himself immediately fall back. "I hate the name," he said moodily. "What in all the world has the name to do with the matter?" answered the Councillor; "and really Herr Philip Schmidt will take it as a matter of course that it should be a great honour to him to make the personal acquaintance of Count Golm; and, furthermore, Herr Schmidt is not only a rich but a rising man, and, as our contractor, is very intimate with our banker, Herr Hugo Lübbener, who is also Count Golm's banker--enfin, the most appropriate individual to arrange a temporary difficulty for the Count, or if as I can fancy this way would not suit him, to enable him to settle the various accounts with Lübbener in the most speedy manner." "But one cannot storm a man's very door," cried the Count; "you must at least make some excuse for me."