“Well, you wealthy people have it easy,” Lilienfeld said wistfully. “You always manage to wriggle out of everything. Tell me, are you a millionaire?”

Silbermann smiled. “No, I’m really not,” he said.

“I thought you might be. You look like one. So calm. I think as a rule rich people have smooth faces without a lot of wrinkles, right?”

“There are as many different types of faces as there are types of worry. If you don’t have one kind you have another. Is my situation any better than yours?”

“Maybe not at the moment, but otherwise it is! I don’t begrudge you, either. I don’t envy anybody! At most my brother, he’s in South America. He managed to get out of Germany and he’s earning good money there. But he’s also been through a lot. We all have. You, too. I’m really happy that you’re a rich man. Because otherwise how else would I have managed to come up with the two hundred marks?”

“They stole two hundred thousand marks from me, if I include the apartment house!” said Silbermann, more to himself than to the other.

“Two hundred thousand marks,” Lilienfeld sighed reverently. “And here I thought I shouldn’t have asked for two hundred in exchange for nothing more than an address. But two hundred thousand! How does that make you feel? I can only imagine. I lost five or six thousand marks myself—that’s how much my shop was worth. But this. It must be absolutely horrible. It would be better if you’d never had it, I think. And here you wanted to give me an extra hundred! That shows that you’re a noble soul. But maybe you’re also thinking it no longer matters.”

“Maybe,” said Silbermann, holding back his smile with effort.

“Still, you meant it very well,” Lilienfeld decided. “You must be in complete despair, losing two hundred thousand marks—I think I’d do something to myself!”

Silbermann shook his head. “The amount itself doesn’t matter,” he said. “After all, losing your business was…”

“Yes, my wonderful shop,” Lilienfeld interrupted, wistfully. “I had two display windows, you know? Sure they were small all right, but they brought in a lot of business! I even fashioned pews for the church, despite the fact that I’m a Jew! Incidentally, the Jewish community still owes me three hundred marks!” For a moment Lilienfeld seemed lost in thought. “And now it’s all gone, everything, just like that! The windows smashed, and the landlord gave me notice. Then they wanted to arrest me on top of that. If only I’d been able to pack my tools! All gone, everything…” He propped his elbows on his knees and buried his head between his hands. “I wasn’t even able to take my Sunday suit!” he said gloomily.

“You see, I’m no worse off than you,” Silbermann said, picking back up the thread of the conversation. “Whether you lose two hundred thousand marks or your shop, it’s not that big a difference. As it is, I managed to save some money.”