Read Lest Darkness Fall for Free Online

Actually he was worn out. He was naturally a
quick speaker, and to have to plod syllable by syllable through this foul
language almost drove him crazy.
     
                "Very ingenious,
Martinus," wheezed the banker. "And now for the details of that loan.
Of course you weren't serious in setting such an absurdly low figure as ten and
a half per cent —"
     
                "What? You're damn
right I was serious! And you agreed —"
     
                "Now, Martinus. What I
meant was that after my clerks had learned your system, if it was as
good as you claimed, I'd consider lending you money at that rate. But meanwhile
you can't expect me to give you my —"
     
                Padway jumped up. "You
— you wielder of a — oh, hell, what's Latin for chisel ? If you won't
—"
     
                "Don't be hasty, my
young friend. After all, you've given my boys their start; they can go alone
from there if need be. So you might as well —"
     
                "All right, you just
let them try to go on from there. I'll find another banker and teach his clerks
properly. Subtraction, multiplication, div —"
     
                " Ai! "
yelped Thomasus. "You can't go spreading this secret all over Rome! It
wouldn't be fair to me!"
     
                "Oh, can't I?
Just watch. I could even make a pretty good living teaching it. If you think
—"
     
                "Now, now, let's not
lose our tempers. Let's remember Christ's teachings about patience. I'll make a
special concession because you're just starting out in business ..."
     
                Padway got his loan at ten
and a half. He agreed grudgingly not to reveal his arithmetic elsewhere until
the first loan was paid off.
     
                Padway bought a copper
kettle at what he would have called a junk shop. But nobody had ever heard of
copper tubing. After he and Thomasus had exhausted the second-hand metal shops
between the latter's house and the warehouse district at the south end of town,
he started in on coppersmith's places. The coppersmiths had never heard of
copper tubing, either. A couple of them offered to try to turn out some, but at
astronomical prices.
     
                "Martinus!" wailed
the banker. "We've walked at least five miles, and my feet are giving out.
Wouldn't lead pipe do just as well? You can get all you want of that."
     
                "It would do fine
except for one thing," said Padway, "we'd probably poison our
customers. And that might give the business a bad name, you know."
     
                "Well, I don't see that
you're getting anywhere as it is."
     
                Padway thought a minute
while Thomasus and Ajax, the Negro slave, who was carrying the kettle, watched
him. "If I could hire a man who was generally handy with tools, and had
some metal-working experience, I could show him how to make copper tubing. How
do you go about hiring people here?"
     
                "You don't," said
Thomasus. "It just happens. You could buy a slave — but you haven't enough
money. I shouldn't care to put up the price of a good slave into your venture.
And it takes a skilled foreman to get enough work out of a slave to make him a
profitable investment."
     
                Padway said, "How would
it be to put a sign in front of your place, stating that a position is
open?"
     
                "What?" squawked
the banker. "Do You hear that, God? First he seduces my money away from me
on this wild plan. Now he wants to plaster my house with signs! Is there no
limit —"
     
                "Now, Thomasus, don't
get excited. It won't be a big sign, and it'll be very artistic. I'll paint it
myself. You want me to succeed, don't you?"
     
                "It won't work, I tell
you. Most workmen can't read. And I won't have you demean yourself by manual
labor that way. It's