"On money earned by some one else, perhaps."

"Again you hit the nail on the head, Herr Goebel. I lodge on the other
side of the river, and coming to and fro each day, the sight of all
those useless barges depresses me, and I have formulated a plan for
putting them in motion again."

"I fear, sir, that wiser heads than yours have been meditating upon that
project without avail."

"I should have been more gratified, Herr Goebel, if you had said 'older
heads.'"

The suspicion of a smile hovered for a brief instant round the shrewd,
firm lips of the merchant.

"Young sir, your gentle reproof is deserved. I know nothing of your
wisdom, and so should have referred to the age, and not to the equipment
of your head. It occurs to me, as I study you more closely, that I have
met you before. Your face seems familiar."

"'Tis but a chance resemblance, I suspect. Until very recently I have
been absorbed in my studies, and rarely left my father's house."

"I am doubtless mistaken. But to return to our theme. As you are
ignorant of my name and standing in this city, you are probably unaware
of the efforts already made to remove the deadlock on the Rhine."

"In that, Herr Goebel, you are at fault. I know an expedition of folly
was promoted at enormous expense, and that the empty barges, numbering