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might have been getting kickbacks on the dyes and other supplies that were bought by the count. That
was what much of the beating was about. Finding the money. He was keeping it in the dye supply side
shed. He had the only key to the place."
"Hmph. You know, he couldn't have stolen that much alone. He would have had to have accomplices.
No one man could possibly have carried out that much cloth and not been noticed. After all, hundreds of
people work around here, and many of them were Count Lambert's knights."
"We know, sir, but he won't talk about that."
I went back into Muskarini's cell. He knew I was there, even though he couldn't see me. "Well, Angelo.
What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I didn't steal that money, your grace. It was mine."
"Yours? Almost half a million pence was yours? Look, I was there at the beginning, remember? You
were absolutely penniless, starving to death in a garret in Cieszyn! I hired you as a gift for my liege lord.
How could you have gotten such wealth? You'll have to tell a better lie than that before I believe it!"
"Count Lambert gave it to me, your grace. He did, I swear!"
"No, Angelo. The count was very generous about a lot of things, but not money. Lands, yes. Women,
yes. Money, no!"
"But he did, your grace. That wasn't nine parts per gross I got. It was six percent! The count, he gave
me that much as a bonus. See, I was only being paid one hundred pence a year, plus room and board.
Once the factory was working well and making fabulous profits because of my knowledge and labor, I
asked the count for a substantial raise, and he wouldn't give it to me. I kept on asking him, and he kept
on turning me down. But he was giving cloth out easily enough. You certainly got enough of it! So I
asked if I could have a share of the cloth we made, and he said that would be possible. He asked how
much I wanted, and I told him six percent, figuring we would settle for some much lower figure, since
he'd been so stingy with me so far. But the count said that six percent would be fine, and he went in to his
latest lady. I could hardly believe my ears, but he agreed to it! I swear that this is true on the grave of my
own mother! "
"Hmph. Then how did you turn that cloth into money?"
"Why, I sold it to merchants, your grace, the same way that everybody else does."
"The same way that everybody else does?"
"Yes, your grace. Many of the girls here sell cloth to the merchants. That's how they are paid, in cloth.
Oh, some of the workers come here for just a season and go home with a full hope chest, but some of
the ladies have been working here every year since we started. They are our skilled workers, and we
couldn't possibly manage without them. Now, you can't expect a lady to save cloth for nine years and
never need a penny in real money! Of course we all sold to merchants, and Count Lambert never said a
thing about it. We have a regular exchange set up, with fixed prices, and a girl draws her back wages in
cloth according to what a merchant wants to buy. It was our cloth, after all. We'd earned it! "
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"You know, Angelo, that story is almost believable. But tell me, why did you keep your money hidden?"
"Your grace, if you had such a fabulous sum, wouldn't you worry about thieves?"
"It would have been safe enough in the count's strong room, especially what with the new locks I
installed there for him."
"Yes, your grace, but then he would have seen how much I had earned working for him. You see, -1
had the feeling that he didn't know how much six percent of gross was. I didn't want to remind him."
"Hmph. And that's why you spent hardly any of the money, so the count wouldn't know that you were
rich?"
"Of course, your grace. In a few more years I was going back to Florence, a wealthy man, a merchant
of substance!"
"Hmph. Knowing the count as I did, I almost believe your story. Almost. The real problem is that even if
every word you've told me is true, you were still robbing Count Lambert. You say that you had a verbal
contract with him, and I admit that verbal contracts were the only sort that Lambert would make. But for
a contract to be binding, there must be a meeting of the minds. If Lambert didn't know how much you
were getting, there was no contract. You were stealing, nonetheless!"
"Your grace, you can't believe that! You wouldn't have me killed!"
"No, I probably wouldn't, but my contract with Duke Henryk has him worrying about all legal matters.
Your life is in his hands, not mine."
I went out and told the accountants to call in Baron Pulaski and have him hear the case. Then they would
send the results to Duke Henryk for his determination.
My immediate problem was to find a replacement for Muskarini. Something that he had said gave me
hope, though. There were women here who had more than six years' experience in cloth making. I went
through the factory looking for them, since of course there were no personel records. Soon I had five
possible candidates for the job, and I was told of three more on the night shift, whom I sent for. Then I
took them into one of the guest rooms one at a time and spent about a quarter hour talking to each them.
And you know, there wasn't the slightest doubt in my mind as to who was best qualified for the job of
running the whole factory.
One young lady was twenty-two. She seemed to know everything I did about cloth making and quite a
bit more that .1 didn't. She was currently in charge of the linenweaving operation, but she also knew what
was happening everywhere else. She had taken full advantage of the educational opportunities at Okoitz
and could read and write adequately as well as keep accurate books. And when I hinted about getting
together for the night, she very politely turned me down. That impressed me considerably! So once I had
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