A Game at Chess; or, When Jew meets Greek. And In and Out of Zion

Front matter

; OR, gluten Qgw meet*. (§vcck+ AND IN AND OUT OF ZION. OR, pil)i>n Jt^ttt meet$ __ vzek. AND IN AND OUT OF ZION EY J. FOGERTY, Author of "Rachel's Romance," " Lauterdale," "Countess Irene," " Caterina," " Robert Leeman's Daughters," &c, &c. LONDON : DIPROSE c_ BATEMAN, Sheffield Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. [ALL RIGHTS RES£RV£D.\ LONDON I DIFB06E, UJ.TLM-N AND CO., FB1NTEBB, Sheffield street, Lincoln's inn fields, w.c. <!■ CONTENTS & CHAPTER PAGE I. The Chiffonier... ... ... ... ... 7 II. Herse 14 III. Baron Schilizzi ... ... ... ... ... 23 IV. An Opening 34 V. The Game 41 VI. Check 49 VII. Perplexed 57 VJII. Naxo 66 IX. Senzi 75 X. Miramar ?5 XI. Marchi.io 94 XII. Vendetta 102 XIII. Within the Shadow 110 XIV. The Meeting 117 XV. Michael Schilizzi 125 XVI. Mated i;2 IN AND OUT OF ZION.

I. The Mackays 139 II. Zion ... 146 III. The Rescue - ... OR, WHEN JEW MEETS GREEK. ,*& CHAPTER '■ fiwgagwj the chiffonier. fc-^i kJflr happened that in the year iS — the writer B*M -Ssj was engaged in prosecuting an undertaking pSfer-rSs^ in Vienna which necessitated being often 4(&&UeJf. abroad in the streets at unearthly hours, £^S*-rH*j^ even long before sunrise, in order to inspect •*TK*\v* certain districts of the city whilst they were unencumbered with traffic. The Viennese are an early rising people, and as a rule are in bed at ten o'clock. Most of the shops are open before eight in the morning, and men are to be seen breakfasting in the cafes at seven, at which hour the omnibuses and tramways are busy. It was my habit to sleep on a sofa, partly dressed, and in the summer months to leave my hotel at the first glimpse of dawn, when the streets were deserted save by a few policemen, standing silent and watchful at the corners.

I frequently observed in the quarter in which I lived, an elderly solitary man having a massive head and fine features, engaged in searching for something on the ground, with downcast eyes and an anxious expression, as soon as it was possible for him to see. He carried a long stick with an iron hook at the end, and now and then, but not often, quickly transferred some object from amongst the paving stones to a covered basket, like a fishing basket, slung from his shoulder. Once or twice I stopped close to him, but he evidently disliked being observed, as he either stood still and caught nothing, turning his back to me, or shuffled away down a side street with his pole over his shoulder, as if to indicate that he had ceased searching for the day. He was short in stature, and appeared to be about sixty years of age.

Chapter II. Herse

V^\ EXT day I was engaged in drawing up a report I for the London syndicate regarding the great {, difficulties likely to be met with in the prosecution of the project they had entrusted to me, and the total absence of local support amongst the bankers and financiers of the city — who are chiefly Hebrews— when a dainty little note was brought to me, properly directed in the Latin character. On opening it, I read in a neat hand, in English : — " The owner of Fritz desires to thank the kind gentleman who has taken so much trouble in restoring her pet dog." I locked the little missive in a drawer, and resumed my report, concluding with the expression of a strong opinion — " That it would take a lifetime to convince the municipality of Vienna of the usefulness of undertakings which were eagerly welcomed in the capitals of every other European country."

I naturally expected that this would lead to my speedy recall and the abandonment of the project, and so I sallied Herse. 15 forth no more at early morn, but went every evening to the opera, and yet I saw nothing of the Baron or any of the family. In a few days I received a telegram from London — " See Baron Schilizzi. Messrs. R will introduce you." Messrs. R were then acting as financial agents for my friends in London, but were rather indifferent to the business in hand. They readily gave me a letter of introduction to their neighbour, Baron Schilizzi, which I hastened to present immediately. The tall porter in livery, at the external gate, recognised me, and said : " Fritz is upstairs all right. Fraulein Herse wanted to know very much what you were like, but I only saw you for a moment by gaslight, and couldn't well tell her.

If you wait here for a little while, you will see her drive out with her sisters and the baroness. She is the handsomest and the nicest of the family." It did not appear to me to be proper to stand in the draughty entrance porch on the chance of seeing Fraulein Herse once more, so I nodded to the man my agreement with him in opinion, and hurried upstairs to a large waiting-room, wainscoted in polished oak, where a clerk took my letter of introduction to the head of the house. Whilst I waited, I looked round the large room, and was struck with the singular appearance of a number of bright and half-worn horse-shoes — of all sizes and pat terns — fastened to the walls and door-jambs. There were some hundreds of them, and as I subsequently passed through a corridor leading to the sanctum of the banker, I saw over a hundred more, similarly disposed.

A Game al Chess. I found the banker seated at a handsome writing table in a rather darkened room, thoughtfully leaning his head on his hand, as if partly concealing his face. The letter I had brought lay open before him. " Our friends, next door, strongly recommend you and your business to me," he said, smiling. " Why do they not promote the matter themselves ? " " They appear to think it is more in your line Baron," I said. " They are chiefly engaged with loans to European Governments, and do not seem to understand or care for purely industrial undertakings." " They understand them well enough," he said, " but they don't care for your business, because they know too well the hostility you are likely to meet with. May I ask how old you are ? " I stated accurately my moderate age in reply. " You look older than that," he said.

" When you have lived to be twice your age, and have spent as many years in your present pursuit, you may then begin to convince the Vienna town council of the advantages of this pro ject. Have you ever had such an experience else where ? " I candidly admitted that I had not, and referred to similar things I had been engaged in, in other countries, which had succeeded. " You will be as grey as I am before you succeed here," he said, at the same time he suddenly dropped his hand from his face to the table. As I looked at him closely, I could have sworn he was the man I saw the other morning grubbing in the dust of the Ring Strasse ; he had the same silver-grey hair, the same aquiline nose, dark eyes, and pale face. He appeared to notice my scrutiny and again partly covered his face with his hand.

Herse 17 I looked round the room at the bright horse-shoes on the walls ; there was a large one on the table on which he had been recently pressing his open hand. I had heard enough now to be certain that this man would take no part in the business I had in hand, and I decided at once to change the subject. " May I ask, Baron," I said, " the meaning of all these horse-shoes? I have seen them everywhere I have been in this bank." " Yes, you may ask," he replied laughing, " but I can't tell you. It is a whim of mine to decorate my bureau with old horse-shoes. My grandfather began business at Trieste by buying up all the cast shoes he could find and then sold them at a large profit to make gunbarrels. Perhaps these of mine will fetch a round sum when I am dead and gone." " Gunbarrels are made of mild steel now-a-days," I remarked.

"How many horse-shoes do you think you have, Baron ? I know an English firm who would give a fair price for them for another purpose. They become slightly magnetic from percussion on the pavements in the streets." " Yes they do," he said quickly, " how did you find that out ? " " By a mere accident," I replied. " I once sailed in a vessel which carried several tons of old horse-shoes as ballast, all the compasses went wrong in consequence, and we were shipwrecked. The horse-shoes went to the bottom, and then the wreck drifted on shore, and I and the others escaped." A grey shade seemed to come over the Baron's pale face. He turned in his chair and looked at me seriously out of his dark, sombre-looking eyes. " Do you know how many horse-shoes were In the ship ? " he asked in a low voice. " No, but I heard there were about twenty English tons."

Baron Schilizzi quickly opened a drawer and took out a book of mercantile tables. Then he poised the large horse-shoe in his hand and placed it and some others separately on a small weighing machine. He appeared to be calculating the number of average-sized horse-shoes likely to make twenty tons in weight and remained silent for a time without noticing me. At last he said cheerfully, " I have not got twenty tons yet, so I need not fear an unlucky catastrophe like yours, but I should like to hear more about that shipwreck. Will you come and dine with me and my family this evening? They all speak English and the girls play and sing well. I know you are fond of music, as I have seen you so often at the Opera House. By the way, one of my daughters wishes to thank you for your kindness to little Freetz."

I started at the word so pronounced. The chiffonier had also said "Freetz," and it was the only word I had heard him speak. " I shall be very happy to come, Baron," I said, eagerly, as I rose to take leave. " We dine at seven," he said, " be punctual like a good fellow, I want to have a long talk with you after dinner. I am glad you escaped in that shipwreck ; don't worry yourself any more about this business of yours in Vienna, I think I know of something better at Trieste, we want a good water supply there very badly, I'll under take to find the money if you will find the brains; I think I can manage the municipality. Au revoir." The energetic banker warmly shook my hand as he Heysi. 19 concluded, and I went out walking as if I trod on air. Now I sliould see and speak with Fritz's lovely mistress, that very evening in her own house and be within the gates of Paradise.

What to me were my business perplexities in Vienna ? A fresh opening would be made for me at Trieste, where I had heard the Schilizzi family resided during a great part of the year, and I might get to know them well. I had made some enquiries about them from friends, and learned that the Baron was believed to be very rich and engaged a good deal in constructing public works. He was also said to be eccentric and superstitious. He was descended from a Greek family long settled in Trieste, and was now an Austrian subject to whom a title had been given on the completion of a line of railway he had undertaken. Truly, " the lines had fallen to me in pleasant places." I went early to a first-class hairdresser and had my head elaborately curled and frizzed. Dark-haired maidens, I had heard, liked men with hair and eyes of the opposite colour, and I was thankful to mother Nature for providing me with blue eyes and yellow locks.

The hairdresser must have thought me half-demented, I was so hard to please, but he did his level best and was paid accordingly. Punctually at seven, I bore his handiwork under my hat inside the banker's gates. I ascended by another staircase, this time in the wing of the house occupied as a residence by the family, and was ushered into a magnificent drawing-room, lit up by many wax lights. I saw a vision of beautiful women in flowing Greek costumes, and from the midst of the group came the kindly hostess to meet me. She spoke excellent English and gracefully introduced me to her three daughters, one of whom, I learned, was a married lady with a long and to me unpronounceable name. E . I only had eyes for the youngest girl, who held Fritz in her arms, and warmly thanked me again for the trouble I had taken in restoring him to his abode.

Fritz seconded the expression of thanks by vigorously wagging his tail. " How was it you came to make friends with him ?" she asked, in a sweet voice. " I am told he knew you directly when he saw you in the Opera House. The staircase man said so." I was about to explain, when the Baron approached and took me by the arm. " You are fond of dogs, I think," he said : and I fancied he pressed my arm unduly. " Yes, I am very fond of nice dogs. My sister has one like Fritz in England. I bought him here in Vienna last year. He is called Franz, after your Emperor." " Then, perhaps, he is a brother of my Fritz," said Fraulein Herse. " I wish I could see them together- Mother, if we go to England next year, you must permit me to take Fritz with us to see his brother and fraternise." " You are not sure of the brotherhood yet, Herse,' said her mother.

" I don't see how the relationship is to be established. Fritz would probably fraternise with half the little dogs he met, and run away with one of them." Here dinner was announced, and the lady of the house claimed my arm. I saw Fraulein Herse borne off by a dark young Italian with an artistically waxed moustache. Apparently he did not speak English or German, but to his partner, English, German, and Italian seemed to come alike. She laughed pleasantly at some stories he told, and I felt that I could have walked in a procession at his funeral with satisfaction.t --■_■■ c Herse". 21 I was obliged to attend closely to the conversation of the lady of the house, who asked a great many questions as to my family in England, and the works I had been engaged on. " My second son is of your profession," she said, " but I think he will soon join his elder brother in our business at Trieste.

It is extensive and varied, and requires closer supervision, and now my husband ought to have more rest. Has he shown you his large collection of horse-shoes in the bureau ? " I replied that I had seen a part of the curious collection. " There are many hundreds of them disposed all over the place," she said, " and each one represents some business transaction the Baron has been engaged in. When he enters on a new affair he selects a fresh horse-shoe, and has it inscribed with the name of the business under consideration. He seems to conjure with it in some mysterious way. I daresay it is all fancy, but it is no use telling him so. When discussing any project for the first time he says he can tell if it will succeed by pressing his hand on the particular horse-shoe he has selected. His father had the same strange peculiarity.

It must seem very odd to strangers. No one can tell where my husband gets them from. He has never been seen to buy any, and they are all polished and engraved by a workman in the basement." It suddenly dawned on me that I could enlighten the lady. I had no doubt now, that the Baron was the early chiffonier, and that the things I had seen him groping for with his hook were iron horse-shoes. The covered porch of the Opera House was the most likely place to find cast horse-shoes of the best kind, as there I had seen many spirited horses striking fire from the paving stones in their efforts to dash off quickly with the carnages. I looked at the end of the table, and saw the sombre eyes of the Baron fixed on me. He smiled on catching my glance, and asked to have the pleasure of drinking wine with me.

This done, the Baroness resumed her questioning. " I suppose you are an early riser?" she said. " You look so healthy, I am sure you breathe the morning air after a cold bath, like most Englishmen. It is so hard to get my husband out of bed in the morning. He often sleeps until after nine o'clock, and abhors cold water. That is what makes him look so pale." Again I glanced at the Baron, and saw him smile curiously, as if to say : " You and I know better, old fellow, about my early rising, but please keep it to your self." I discovered later on, that he went to bed again for a few hours when he got back with his basket.

Chapter III. Baron Schilizzi

7"7 I HEN the ladies retired, the Baron came fl I round at once to my end of the table. " I heard my wife talking to you of my hobby for collecting horse-shoes," he said. " Everyone who can afford it has a hobby of some kind. It's either postage stamps or penny whistles, or old coins or beetles, or something equally silly. My neighbour Baron R collects butterflies and ransacks the earth for new speci mens. When he sticks long pins through them I daresay he fancies he is impaling a Christian defaulter. That's the association of ideas." " Would it matter much if the debtor were of his own religion ? " I asked. " Yes very much, then he'd probably let the butterfly go free if there were any life in it, or put it in a sunny spot to recover, pouring oil and wine on its wounds as the good Samaritan did to his ancestor who fell among thieves.

If the defaulter were of the Greek church, which is the faith of your humble servant, he'd grind him to powder. He sends me all the affairs he thinks hope less and likely to end in loss. That is why he sent you round so readily." " I am much obliged to him sor the introduction," I said, " He couldn't have conferred a greater favour on me. I'll call and tell him so." "Yes, but don't say I declined the business. Let him imagine I am going up to my neck in it, and likely to get into deep water. I want to throw him off the scent for a time." " I thought, from what he said to me that you were old bosom friends," I remarked. Baron Schilizzi here smiled his curious cynical smile. " He is a great chess player," he said. " When he plays he always tries to make his opponent believe he is going to win the game, until the moment when he chooses to give him ' check.' " " When Greek meets Greek !

" I ventured to quote. " No," he said laughing. " When Greek meets Jew, then comes the real tug of war. It only ends when one of the combatants retires to Abraham's bosom. The former head of his great house opened a branch of his bank in Trieste to fight my father on his own ground. I came to Vienna to fight the son on his." " But surely there need be no fighting," I said. " That is impossible, my young friend. It is racial antipathy, fomented by religious antagonism. Probably the Greeks drew the eye teeth of one of his forefathers in an unpleasant fashion, and now he'd like to return the compliment. When I go round to see him I always feel as if I were in the dentist's chair. When he calls on me I fancy I can see the pincers sticking out of his pocket." "And then I suppose you consult a magnetised horse shoe," I said'.

" And he— what does he do ? " " He plays an imaginary game of chess on the table before him. I can see him unconsciously moving the pieces. Sometimes he says 'check' under his breath, and then he strokes down his great beard. I fancy Shylock had that trick when he thought he had a man on the hip — ' to feed fat an ancient grudge.' " " I hope your chess-playing neighbour won't ever get you on the hip, Baron." " Not if I can help it," he replied, curtly. " Now tell me again all about that shipwreck. Are you quite sure of the number of tons of horse-shoes you had in the hold ? " " I had good reason to know, Baron, because I was unfortunate enough to be the owner of them. I bought them from the captain during the voyage, and paid him by a draft on my bankers, and, of course, I couldn't insure them at sea."

" Do you deal in such things ? " he asked. " No, but I have a friend, a steel maker, who does. I bought them to sell again to him — partly from whim, and partly because I had won a great many games at chess from the captain during the voyage, and accepted some of the old horse-shoes in payment of the stakes. Perhaps I deserved to lose my money. I could easily beat the captain but he wouldn't see it. Even when I gave him chances he always managed to lose. He was a Greek, too. He contracted to deliver them at Cardiff, near my friend's works, but after the shipwreck he hurried to London and cashed my draft." Baron Schilizzi sprang from the table in excitement, and smote his hands together. "The captain took you in," he said. "May I ask you what you paid for the old horse-shoes ? " A Game at Chest.

" Ten pounds a ton, Baron — iron was dear then. He owed me about fifteen pounds, I think, which I deducted, of course. He had borrowed five pounds from me, and lost ten more at chess." Schilizzi here stretched his arms towards the ceiling, and laughed long and loudly. His short body was con vulsed, and his face grew livid. " How old were you then ? " he asked at length. " Just over twenty, I was in Southern Italy, and took my passage home with the Greek captain from the little port of Barletta. I had been up in the mountains near Melfi, surveying the route of a light railway to bring down timber from the Monticchio Forest and was robbed of all my money by brigands, so I was glad to get a cheap passage home." "And a cheap passage you got," he said sarcastically, " that must have been near ten years ago, the time of the great 'crack' in Vienna.

That little vessel was ours and sailed from Trieste; she put into Barletta in bad weather. You bought my father's horse-shoes from that clever captain, there were about twenty tons of them. We had awful bad luck that year after we parted with them, but they were insured with our neighbour Baron R 's house in Trieste. He had even worse luck than ours in the great financial crisis. Probably he also parted with something he had been collecting; then there soon comes a crash, but it is a rule with us never to accumulate beyond a certain number, if you do the head of the house speedily dies, that is worse than losing one's money." " It depends," I said, " if he goes to Abraham's bosom he will be out of the hurly-burly and ought to be happy for evermore." The banker shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows?" he said.

" If I met Baron R in that locality we should quarrel in trying to get the better of each other. What has been done with those woods at Monticchio ? We deal largely in timber at Trieste." " I am told they are still growing, Baron, the oak and walnut trees were magnificent and there were thousands of them." The banker turned to speak rapidly to the young Italian in his own language and seemed to me to be telling him how I had been cheated by the Greek captain. I then knew very little of the language, but could make out that the captain, like many Greek sailors, was a skilful chess player and had intentionally lost the games we played, with ulterior motives. Presently they began to talk of the great Forest of Monticchio near Melfi, but they spoke so fast I could not well understand what they said.

The dark young man often looked at me superciliously, an 1 I felt more than ever desirous to join in that funeral procession. Coffee was brought, and then we proceeded to join the ladies in the drawing-room, from whence I could hear the sound of music. On entering the room I saw two of the daughters at the piano. Fraulein Herse was seated in a low chair, reading, with Fritz in her lap. The young Italian quickly took a seat beside her and began to pull the little dog's silky ears. I was glad to see that Fritz resented this liberty, he barked and snapped at the aggressor. Then the young man began to tell the story of the shipwreck and my simplicity to the young lady. He frequently glanced at me as he spoke and laughed, but as he went on, her face assumed a grave expression, and her dark eyes seemed to flash with indignation.

She hastily with drew Fritz from the reach of his hand and said a few words in tones of annoyance, whereupon Fritz barked loudly at him. Then she rose and came over to where I sat, near her mother. " It will be be better to send Fritz to bed, Hers6," the mother said. "He seems out of temper to-night; and you must sing something for us." " He has been teased and vexed," she replied, stamp ing her little foot. " He will be quiet and good over here." " Let me hold him, Fraulein, whilst you sing," I said. "Fritz and I are old friends." She gently placed the little animal in my arms, and said quietly : " You have not yet told me how that has come to pass. Is it a secret ? " " Yes," I said, " but it is not my secret." " Then you are right in not telling. In what language would you like to hear me sing ?

" " In whatever tongue you like best." " The young lady smiled, and went to a music cabinet to select a song. Her unmarried sister sat down to play the accompaniment, and laughed when she read the title of the song selected. The young Italian approached the piano, as if to turn over the music when required, and I felt happy in seeing Fraulein Herse take up a position which effectually prevented him doing so. The prelude struck me as one I had heard before, and at the first sentence I knew that it was a quaint little English ballad which the young lady had selected. She sang in a rich soprano voice : — " ' Love me, love my dog.' 'Tis an ancient phrase, True to-day as long ago ; True in many ways. He who would my favour win, Must be good and kind ; For it is a dreadful sin To shew a cruel mind.

" If my dog dislikes your face, Rest assured he knows Things which are a sad disgrace, Worse than cruel blows. You may hide from human eyes, Passions dark and grim ; But my dog the truth descries, Nought is hid from him." Oh, how I wished that swarthy Italian understood English, that he might gather into his soul the meaning of those simple words. He looked very black just now, because Herse sang with her back to him, but he com prehended not. Fritz seemed to understand perfectly. He licked my hands the whole time, and cuddled himself close to me, until his young mistress came to claim him again. Baron Schillizzi sat down near us and asked me to narrate how I escaped from the brigands, whilst his daughters pressed round to listen, and the Italian Count consoled himself for his inability to understand me by improvising some melancholy music on the piano, which did not interfere with the story I had to tell.

" Once upon a time," I began, " when I was very young and foolish, just before the war of '66, a London merchant came to me one day and said, ' I want you to go to the south of Italy for me to a place called Monte Voiture, near Melfi, to see if a light railway can be readily made from the crater of an extinct volcano up there, down the Appenines to the port of Bari or Barletta, by which a great quantity of forest timber can be trans ported and shipped. You will have a guard of soldiers with you, on account of the brigands who infest that place. Go to Naples first and there you will meet the Intendantc of the Government Forests, who will go with you. You must report to us within a month in a cypher which is here. Tell no one what conclusion you come to, and start at once.' It was my first responsible engagement, and I left London immediately in high feather, studying an Italian phrase book and the cypher on the way.