“It’s clever enough!” cried Kovroff, pressing his hand with the gay enthusiasm of genuine interest.

“For this truth much thanks!” cried Kallash, clinking glasses with him.  “It is clever—­that is the best praise I could receive from you.  Let us drink to the success of my scheme!”

XV

THE FISH BITES

Three days after this conversation the younger prince Shadursky dined with Sergei Antonovitch Kovroff.

That morning he received a note from Kovroff, in which the worthy Sergei complained of ill health and begged the prince to come and dine with him and cheer him up.

The prince complied with his request, and appearing at the appointed time found Count Kallash alone with his host.

Among other gossip, the prince announced that he expected shortly to go to Switzerland, as he had bad reports of the health of his mother, who was in Geneva.

At this news Kallash glanced significantly toward Kovroff.

Passing from topic to topic, the conversation finally turned to the financial position of Russia.  Sergei Antonovitch, according to his expression, “went to the root of the matter,” and indicated the “source of the evil,” very frankly attacking the policy of the government, which did everything to discourage gold mining, hedging round this most important industry with all kinds of difficulties, and practically prohibiting the free production of the precious metals by laying on it a dead weight of costly formalities.

“I have facts ready to hand,” he went on, summing up his argument.  “I have an acquaintance here, an employee of one of the best-known men in the gold-mining industry.”  Here Kovroff mentioned a well-known name.  “He is now in St. Petersburg.  Well, a few days ago he suddenly came to me as if he had something weighing on his mind.  And I have had business relations with him in times past.  Well, what do you think?  He suddenly made me a proposal, secretly of course; would I not take some gold dust off his hands?  You must know that these trusted employees every year bring several hundred pounds of gold from Asia, and of course it stands to reason that they cannot get rid of it in the ordinary way, but smuggle it through private individuals.  It is uncommonly profitable for the purchasers, because they buy far below the market rates.  So there are plenty of purchasers.  Several of the leading jewelers” (and here he named three or four of the best-known firms) “never refuse such a deal, and last year a banking house in Berlin bought a hundred pounds’ weight of gold through agents here.  Well, this same employee, my acquaintance, is looking for an opportunity to get rid of his wares.  And he tells me he managed to bring in about forty pounds of gold, if not more.  I introduce this fact to illustrate the difficulties put in the way of enterprise by our intelligent government.”