Now, he was scowling. He understood her point, and perfectly. After all, he had spent untold hours closeted with his accountants and tax lawyers, in years gone by, figuring out every angle to shave money from his tax bill. But…
Even in his day and age, up-time, with all the complex dodges a highly industrialized and well-educated society provided, the key to efficient tax collection had been the basically cooperative attitude of the tax-payer. Sure, everybody would look for the legitimate loopholes. But, in truth, not all that many people really tried to break the law outright. Especially when-
"Jesus, you're right," he whispered. "Give them a legal loophole…"
"At last. The dawning light." Her smile was positively serene. "You let me trot around and show all those noblewomen how their husbands can swindle the emperor all the way to their opera houses-as founding contributors, of course, they'll be entitled to their own box seats-and they'll cough up the money he needs for his soldiers and his ironclads. Gladly enough, believe me. They won't want any surly foreigners sailing up the river to interrupt their parties. And Gustav Adolf doesn't really lose anything in the process, because-you know this as well as I do-he'd never get his hands on that money anyway. They'd hide that much from him, be sure of it. So why not have them hide it in broad daylight? And, while you're at it, provide this place with universities and art institutes and musical centers-which anybody can use, after all-and also make them feel like they're important. A part of it, not just the sheep that got shorn."
He stared up at her. Then, rose abruptly to his feet.
"Let's try it. What the hell." He took her coat off the rack by the door and held it up. "Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"Radio station at the naval base. I'm going to call the President. If the idea comes from him, Gustav Adolf will listen."
"It's the middle of the night!"
"So what? It's not far to walk."
Still, she hesitated. Simpson gave her that same twisted half-grin.
"Come on, Mary. In for a penny, in for a pound. We're living in the middle of the so-called 'radical district,' in case you didn't know. Sure, those CoC youngsters are just barely this side of ruffians. They rub me the wrong way just looking at them. But I'll give them one thing: this is the only part of the city that's pretty much crime free."
Harshly: "They call it 'knee-capping.' Except they do it with a hammer instead of a gun. That's the established penalty for robbing or stealing. First offense. You don't want to know where it goes from there. Let's just say it ends up in the Elbe and leave it at that."
Mary's eyes were wide. "You're kidding." She turned to face the door, her expression apprehensive, as if worried that wild-eyed anarchists would break in any moment.
"No, I'm not kidding. But"-this with a bit of a chuckle-"I assure you that we don't have to worry about them. Say whatever else, those CoC roughnecks approve of the United States. The Navy in particular, I think, the way I see them coming down to the wharf all the time to admire the ironclads."
He helped her on with her coat. "I don't approve of their conduct, of course. But I also never hesitate to walk home from the naval base after dark. I guess it's not a perfect world, is it?"
She was still wide-eyed when he opened the door for her, after taking up a lamp. " 'Knee-capping,' " she muttered. "That never happened in Pittsburgh. Well. Not in our neighborhood."
"No, it didn't. On the other hand, I can also remember you complaining that the courts coddled criminals. No danger of that happening here."
By the time they neared the naval base, picking their way slowly in the light shed by the lamp in Simpson's hand, Mary's apprehension seemed to be fading away. Simpson realized now that she'd never made this walk before. Not at night, at least. So she, unlike him, was not accustomed to its… peculiarities.
Young people-most of them young men-standing on street corners with their hands in their pockets, was not the sort of thing which people of John and Mary Simpson's class were accustomed to look upon with favor. Especially in a city which had no streetlights. But, after the first two such little groups did nothing more than nod politely, Mary began to relax. By the time they reached the third and largest group, standing not far from the entrance to the navy yard, Simpson decided it was time he put his own lingering doubts to rest.
So, as they drew alongside the cluster of half a dozen people, five young men and a girl-teenagers, half of them-Simpson came to a halt. The murmured conversation among the youngsters died away and one of the group, a man in his twenties, stepped forward a pace or two.
"Excuse me. My name is John Simpson and I'm-"
"We know who you are, Admiral," the young man said softly. He nodded his head politely to Mary. "Frau Simpson. My name is Gunther. Gunther Achterhof. I am in charge of this district. What may I do for you?"
In charge? 'District'? Simpson was taken off-balance for a moment. Then cleared his throat and said:
"My wife may, in the future, wish to come down to the shipyards. I would appreciate it if you would… ah…"
Achterhof smiled, his crooked teeth gleaming in the lamplight despite the dark spots left by caries. "We can provide her with an escort, if you wish. But there's really nothing to fear. Your house is under guard at all times. Even when you are not there, since Frau Simpson arrived in Magdeburg."
Simpson stared at him. Mary was practically goggling at him. Her German was good enough to follow the conversation.
"The enemies of the revolution. Richelieu has agents everywhere-Ferdinand and Maximilian too. Desperate and vicious men. They will stop at nothing."
Achterhof added a word in German which Simpson did not recognize. From the venom roiling under the syllables, he suspected that it was the CoC's version of slang terms which had been found throughout history when the anger of the long-downtrodden began to congeal and harden. Sasenach. Bouzhoi. Honkie. Sometimes national, sometimes racial, sometimes simply a matter of class. The simple definitions of people who had had enough!-and were none too concerned about the fine points.
"The United States, of course, is their most feared and hated enemy. So-" Gunther shrugged. Or, it might be better to say, shifted his shoulders into a fighter's stance. "We guard."
There seemed nothing further to say. Simpson realized, suddenly, that he would never really understand how to talk to someone like this. So…
Let Stearns deal with them. He can, I can't. I'll deal with the Navy. That I know how to do.
He nodded, murmured a few words of thanks, and went on his way.
"He seems a nice enough young man," said his wife hesitantly.
"Mary, he is absolutely nothing of the sort. On the other hand, he's on our side."
After a few more steps, she said, "Best figure out how to keep him there, then. I'm telling you, John. Culture."
The radio operator was on duty of course, but he was obviously surprised to be called upon. As a rule, since reception was always best in the hours after sundown, the radio was only used then. But, with the higher power and full-sized antennas available to the radio stations in Magdeburg and Grantville, radio communication was quite possible at any time.
"Uh, sir," said the radioman as Simpson gave him the opening words of the message, "the President'll still be asleep. I send this 'urgent top priority' they'll-"