I had to pay a thousand crowns
for it; you see I did not forget you."
"Well, here is a draft for four thousand crowns," said Manteuffel;
"you see I did not forget your price."
"And now for the rich and lovely wife."
"Listen. In Nuremberg I am acquainted with a rich family, who have
but one fair daughter; she will inherit a million. The family is not
noble, but they wish to marry their daughter to a Prussian cavalier.
I have proposed you, and you are accepted; you have only to go to
Nuremberg and deliver these letters; you will be received as a son,
and immediately after the wedding you will come into possession of a
million."
"A million is not such a large sum after all," said Pollnitz. "If I
must marry a citizen in order to obtain a fortune I know a girl here
who is young, lovely, and much in love with me, and I think she has
not less than a million."
"Well, take the letters; you can consider the subject. Au revoir, my
dear baron. Oh, I forgot one other small stipulation connected with
your marriage with the Nuremberger; the family is Protestant, and
will not accept a Catholic for their rich daughter; so you will have
to become a Protestant."
"Well, that is a small affair. I was once a Protestant, and I think
I was just as good as I am now.
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