“I replied in a suitable manner to the acclamations of the crowd and the kindly flattery of the councillors; but I told them, at the end of my address, that I should feel ungrateful indeed if, upon such an occasion, a certain humble fellow-worker of mine were overlooked in the public rejoicings. Thereupon I extended my hand to the enthusiast, that young engineer of parts whom I had so fortunately met some months before and whom I had arranged should be near the steps of my dais at the required moment. I handed him up. I smiled benignantly upon him as he blushed with happy shame and pleasure. I even set him at my side.
“ ‘It is all very well, my friends,’ said I, as I concluded my little speech, ‘to speak as you do of the foresight and business acumen, organizing power, and the rest of it, which—I hope justly—you ascribe to me when you tell me how, as with a magic wand, I raised all this new city from the marsh which preceded it. But what would such gifts be had they not been aided and supplemented by talents no less essential, such as those which we all admire in this young friend at my right? He it is who has performed, sometimes in a very literal sense, the spadework. His has been the hard, obscure, constant labour and vigilance, without which my own more conspicuous efforts would have been in vain!’
“After a few subdued cheers from the assembly, most of whom had never heard of the young man, while the rest had forgotten him, all dispersed, and I was free to seek repose in my own new and sumptuous house.
“I am glad to say that this public mention of my worthy young colleague was not all I did for him. As the agreed salary which I paid him by our contract would now soon expire, I arranged with the council that he should have a permanent post as keeper of the public squares, at a wage more than double that of the gardeners, and be granted (on condition of good behaviour) a limited pension when he should reach his seventieth year, the same to be deducted in small weekly sums from his pay: which sums, as he was not yet thirty-two would accumulate to much more than was necessary and leave over and above his retiring stipend a balance for anything the council might think useful. He was also lent, rent free, a small four-roomed house with a nice strip of front garden and a wooden shed at the side. His duties occupied him from a little before sunrise to the pleasant dusk of eve, with an hour off for meals and a fortnight’s holiday in the autumn.
“Even his little sister was not forgotten. I obtained for her, from my friends among the religious authorities (notably the mufti, who was most strenuous in her cause) the post of head cleaner at the new mosque. Her salary there was necessarily somewhat smaller than her brother’s, nor had she any holidays, while her hours were a trifle longer. But, on the other hand, she had no responsibilities.
“Shortly after all this I determined to sell my holding in this new property and to betake myself to other mercantile adventures in further lands. I had been in this place more than a year. I had made very good friends. It was the scene of a success greater than any I had yet experienced. Nevertheless I felt I could remain there no longer. The field was too small for my expanding opportunities. There was nothing left to take.
“I announced, therefore, my intentions to realize, and allowed a certain interval for a public decision upon the purchase of my land, and leases, and other interests.
“A curious discussion arose. One party, composed mainly of wealthy but intelligent young men, of university professors and of jailbirds, were insistent that the town council should buy all my land and the city possess it for the future; for it was obviously wrong (they agreed) that improvements in land and houses should go to private individuals. The other party, which was made up almost entirely of builders and auctioneers, furiously opposed this scheme which (they said) struck at the roots of all morals and family life. These stoutly maintained that, in the natural scheme of Providence, all should be parcelled out among the highest bidders.
“For my part I was, like the great mass of the taxpayers, indifferent to either argument. All that interested me was the obvious fact that in the competition between these two groups on the council the value of my property necessarily rose.
“At last the first party prevailed, the city bought me out (really a most interesting social experiment!), and I received the sum of two million pieces of gold.”
“Two million pieces!” shouted the astonished little nephews in chorus.
“My children,” said the old man with a kindly smile, “to you, coming as you do from such a home as that of your father, my dear brother, the sum must seem fabulous, though to me today it sounds moderate enough. Nevertheless, you are right. From that moment I count the great change in my life and the confirmation of that Divine Mercy which had always watched me hitherto, as I now know, but which henceforward was gloriously present in every act of my life.
“Before the day when I first saw that river and that town, first met the enthusiastic young engineer, first formed my decisive plan, I had been a man subject
