"Of course. Put the difference on my bill."
"Yes, sir. That would be twelve pence."
Small talk at the table stopped. A penny for each meatless meal!
"Innkeeper, that seems excessive. I do not like to haggle, but if I decide that you are cheating me, you will lose my business." .1 said this quietly and calmly but without smiling.
"Yes, Sir Conrad." Beads of sweat suddenly dotted the man's forehead. When I eventually settled the bill, four pence accounted for that meal.
Later that day, I got their price for my bushings. It came to thirty-one hundred pence. Each.
"That seems excessive," I said. "Let's go over your expenses, and mind you, I intend to check these prices myself in the market."
The copper would cost eight hundred pence, and calamine, a compound of zinc, was three hundred and fifty pence. We had agreed, from samples that they had on hand, on a hard brass of about thirty percent zinc. The clay they dug up themselves, and they chopped their own wood by arrangement with a landowner. With transportation costs, those two items came to a hundred and fifty pence. The eye opener was the wax. It was a rare commodity, like the honey that came with it. The wax would cost eleven hundred pence, almost as much as the metal. The remaining five hundred pence for their labor and equipment did not seem excessive. Still ...
Still, there was no reason why the molds themselves could not be cast off wooden forms. Both bushings could be made the same so that only one set of forms would be needed. Also, I would need four bushings for the upcoming "dry mill" that would grind grain.
In addition, I had hoped that more mills would be wanted by other landowners. We might need a lot of bushings. A lot of parts that I had planned to make of wood could be made better-much better-in brass: some of the gearing and the pump cylinders and pulleys. I wanted some fire-heated tubs for a laundry and Parts for a threshing machine, and, well, all sorts of things.
"Gentlemen." They looked up in surprise at my use of the term. "Your prices seem fair for what you propose to do, but it happens that I know some less-expensive techniques. Not for bells, you understand, but for the kind of things I have in mind." As it turned out, in two years they were selling bells again. You had to choose from three standard sizes and had no choice of inscriptions, but they were half the cost of the Cracow bells.
"Now, then," I continued. "It is obvious that you are suffering under a burden of debt. It is also obvious that you have no security at all and that your families are hungry. I propose to purchase your establishment and pay you all a decent salary. I also intend to pay for a number of improvements around here. What do you think?"
"Well, that sounds fine, but there are guild rules..." said Thom, the eldest.
"What? I thought you were the only bell casters in Cieszyn."
"Well, we are."
"Then who is the guild master?"
"I am, actually."
"And these are your guild members?"
"Uh ... yes."
"Then to hell with your damned guild! You are three brothers, and I am talking about hiring you."
"Can't the guild vote to disband?" the youngest, Wladyslaw, asked.
"But there's nothing in the rules-"
"And to hell with your rules! 1, Sir Conrad Stargard, by the power granted to me by my sword, do hereby proclaim your guild null and void. Questions?"
Thom checked with his brothers. "No, I guess not."
"So. I'm not sure of local property values, but for your house and furnace and lands, does two thousand pence sound fair?"
I got enthusiastic nods from the younger two. The eldest said, "We also have certain rights and privileges to clay and wood, and two thousand pence would not quite cover our debts."
"Let's make it twenty-five hundred, then," I said. "I would not want my vassals to be suffering from debt."
"Vassals? You would take an oath?"
"Of course, and I would expect you to, also. All of you and your wives, besides."
"Our wives?"
"An oath of honesty and fair work. Your wives help you, don't they?"
"Yes, but--"
"I do not touch other men's wives. Now, what would you say to six hundred pence per year each, with two hundred pence to each of your wives? When your children are old enough to help, we'll discuss it. Agreed?"
The eldest looked about. "I suppose so."
"Good. I will pay half of your first year's salary in advance, since it appears that you need some things around here. You need some clothes, but don't buy a lot. The price of common cloth is about to drop."
"How can you know?"
"Let's say that I can smell it. In addition, since I want you to apply yourselves diligently to this enterprise, once all expenses, improvements, materials, taxes, salaries, and so forth are paid, you will divide among yourselves one-twelfth of the surplus."
"Profit" is not a nice word for a socialist.
Their mute agreement had turned to enthusiasm.
"Good. Now go discuss the matter with your wives. Come to me while the sun is still high, for I want your oaths. I shall be at the inn."
I was only halfway through my first beer when the six of them showed up, smiling.
"Innkeeper, I want your whole staff in the courtyard. There are oaths to be taken!"
So we had a deal, and it was in this manner that 1-1 can't say nationalized, since I'm not a nation, but, socialized the Bros. Krakowski Brass Works. In doing so, I was acting again, playing the role of the shrewd merchant and dirtying my good socialist soul in the process. The thing needed doing, and much of being a man is doing the things that must be done no matter how unnatural or painful they are. Surely this was a small evil compared with the naked corpses I had left in a snowy wood.
I bought the beer, called for an honest scale, and weighed out the money I owed. When I had left Okoitz, Count Lambert had been distracted with the planting and hadn't mentioned money, so I had brought along twenty thousand pence of my own. I wasn't worried; the count was honest. You see, you must either trust a person or not trust him. It is stupid to rely on oaths or marks on a piece of parchment because a thief will rob you no matter what is written down, and an honest man stays honestwithin reason.
I weighed out thirty-seven hundred pence in goldthe exchange rate of silver to gold being 54 to 1--which I gave to Thom. Then I weighed out another four thousand and told him that I wanted him to buy copper and calamine at the best possible prices. We needed a woodcarver, and I told him to find one. The other two brothers were ordered to go out and bring in vast amounts of firewood and clay and start making charcoal.
There was some consternation, and then it was agreed that the innkeeper would safeguard the gold until morning, since he kept an armed guard at night.
The party was breaking up as Krystyana returned. She was excited about her day's shopping in the big city. As supper was served, she prattled on and on about pins and churches and ribbons and merchants and the outlandish price of dinner. I was in a good mood and said little. I heard every detail of every bargain, and sometimes feminine babble makes a pleasant background noise to relax in. Eventually she wound down.
"That's wonderful, pretty girl. Did you buy anything for yourself ?"
"Well, no. I mean, you said..."