“My servants are safe,” Mayer said.
One of his guests was smiling without humor. “You seem to forget, Honorable Mayer, that I carry the title of baron.”
Mayer shook his head. “No, Baron Leonar. But neither do you disagree with what I say. The businessman, the merchant, the manufacturer on Genoa today, is only tolerated. Were it not for the fact that the barons have no desire to eliminate such a profitable source of income, they would milk us dry overnight.”
Someone shrugged. “That is the way of things. We are lucky to have wrested, bribed and begged as many favors from the lords as we have. Our twenty cities all have charters that protect us from complete despoilation.”
Mayer twisted excitedly in his chair. “As of today, things begin to change. Jerry, that platen press.”
Jerry Kennedy
