On a warm September day the Chancellor--who, being also the Minister for Foreign Affairs, resided in the Foreign Office--stood on his balcony and, looking past the street, watched the doings in the public park. But the movement there seemed less animated than in past years,--only a few white-enameled baby carriages rolled over the paths, and in spite of the mild weather the chairs and benches were almost unoccupied. Someone knocked at the door. Sharply the Chancellor called “Come in!” and his departmental chief, Dr. Fronz, entered. At the end of June, shortly after the passage of the expulsion law, Schwertfeger had gone to the Tyrol to recuperate after the nervous strain of the great responsibility and hard work of the previous weeks. For more than two months he lived incognito in a village near the Arlberg. Except for his departmental chief no one knew his whereabouts; he permitted no letters or reports to be sent to him, paid no attention to current events, and let Fronz write him only of unusually important occurrences. As a matter of fact, everything had been provided for: The chief of the Viennese police and the captains of the various districts had received precise instructions, and Parliament had adjourned until autumn. Therefore Dr. Schwertfeger felt that he could be dispensed with, and considered it his duty to gather new strength and energy for the tasks to come. He had returned to Vienna this morning; and now Fronz was to give him a detailed report. After various departmental matters had been disposed of, Schwertfeger, with a thud, sat down before his desk, took pen and paper for stenographic notes, and, seeming very calm and cool though his every nerve was vibrating with excitement, said: “Now, dear friend, tell me about the execution and visible results of the new law so far. How is our financial situation? I’m entirely in the dark, you know.” Dr. Fronz cleared his throat, and began: “Financially, things aren’t running as smoothly as we had hoped. At first the krone rose by leaps and bounds to the hundredth part of a centime in Zurich; then there were some slight though insignificant fluctuations, and since the end of July the krone has not progressed, but is remaining stationary, in spite of the enormous influx of gold from the treasuries of the great Christian associations and of the banker Huxtable. Strangely enough, our hopes for large payments from the exiles have not materialized as yet. No considerable amounts in either kronen or foreign securities are gravitating toward the revenue offices. It seems that our Christian fellow-citizens include thousands of parasites who unscrupulously take over the excess property of the Jews, taxes on which had been withheld fraudulently; and in return they give the Jews cheques on foreign banks.” “That was only to be expected,” said the Chancellor, a contemptuous smile playing on his compressed lips. “All of them, Jew and Christian, are selfish and grasping!”