“Such scenes were foreseen, and are inevitable! Let the police be instructed immediately to shut off the railroad stations, arrange that wherever possible the trains should leave at night, and see to it that the main stations should not be used, but only the shunting stations outside the city. And now one more question: How do people in general view the execution of the law?” “With tremendous enthusiasm, of course. The police are having a hundred clever plain-clothes men mingle in the crowds and make observations. And they are unanimous in reporting that the Christian population is actually delirious with joy, and is expecting an early change for the better in general conditions, a decrease in the price of food, and a more equalized distribution of wealth. Even among the working-men who are still organized as Social-Democrats there is great satisfaction with the exodus of the Jews. On the other hand, however, it cannot be denied that the populace is excited and uncertain. No one knows what the future will bring, the masses live from hand to mouth, there is amazing extravagance among the lower classes, and intoxication is increasing from day to day. “An important factor in the prevalent high spirits is the sudden end of the housing shortage. Since the beginning of July forty thousand apartments, hitherto occupied by Jews, have been vacated in Vienna alone. A direct result of this is a veritable flood of weddings,--the priests have to marry ten or twenty couples at a time.” Schwertfeger, who was a bachelor, nodded and smiled with satisfaction. “I think we’ve done enough for today. Now that I have a more or less complete view of the situation I’ll settle down with the reports of the various ministries.” A nod, and the departmental chief was dismissed. But Fronz remained in the room and, discreetly clearing his throat, regained the attention of the Chancellor, who had already opened one of his reports. “I should like to inform Your Excellency that the Municipal Council of Vienna has decided, by a great majority, to change the name of the Schottenring to ‘Dr. Karl Schwertfeger Ring,’ and that a similar renaming of streets and squares has been resolved upon by three hundred other Austrian municipalities. In Innsbruck they have even organized a monument committee that expects to erect a marble monument to Your Excellency next year.” The Chancellor rose, went over to the balcony, and again looked down on the park; furiously he paced twice through the large room before he said: “Put a stop to all such tributes! Let them be postponed until we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the liberation of Vienna from the Jews!” CHAPTER VII. A MIDDLE-CLASS VIENNESE HOME