"And all this is estimated at,----," began Gaspar.
"We will not say," quietly responded Ezekiel. "Here are the title-deeds of the town, of the mansion, of manufactory and mill, all belong to the estate; not one of the five thousand souls owns one inch of the ground on which they toil, or one shingle of the roof beneath which they sleep."
"This is dedicated to the 'Real Estate in the city of New York,'" said Ezekiel--"worth $1,521,000, twenty-one years ago, and now--well, well--New York twenty-one years ago was the presumptuous rival of Philadelphia. She is now the city of the Continent. And this real estate is located in the most thriving portions of the city--among the haunts of trade near the Battery, and in the region of splendid mansions up town."
"And you would not like to name the usual revenue?"--a smile crossed the pale visage of Gaspar Manuel.
Ezekiel led the way into the fifth vault.
"Matters in regard to Banks and bank stock are kept here," he said, showing the light of the candle upon the well laden shelves--"Rather an uncertain kind of property. The United States' Bank made a sad onslaught upon these shelves. But let us go into the next room."
"This is our bank," said Ezekiel; "that is to say, the Treasury of the Van Huyden estate, in which we keep our _specie basis_. You perceive the huge iron safe which occupies nearly one-half of the apartment? Dr. Martin Fulmer carries the Key of course, and with that Key he can perchance, at any moment, command the destinies of the commercial world. A golden foundation is a solid foundation, as the world goes."
As though for the moment paralyzed, by the revelation of the immense wealth of the Van Huyden estate, Gaspar Manuel stood motionless as a statue, resting one arm upon the huge safe and at the same time resting his forehead in his hand.
"We will now pass into the seventh apartment," said Ezekiel, and in a moment they stood in the last vault of the seven. "It is arched and shelved, you perceive, like the others; and the shelves are burdened with carefully-arranged papers----"
"Title-deeds, I presume, title-deeds and mortgages?" interrupted Gaspar Manuel.
"No," answered Ezekiel, suffering the rays of the candle to fall upon the crowded shelves. "Those shelves contain _briefs_ of the personal history of permanent persons of this city, of many parts of the Union, I may say, of many parts of the globe. Sketches of the personal history of prominent persons, and of persons utterly obscure: records of remarkable facts, in the history of particular families: brief but interesting portraitures of incidents, societies, governments and men; the contents of those shelves, sir, is knowledge, and knowledge that, in the grasp of a determined man, would be a fearful Power. For," he turned and fixed his gaze on Gaspar Manuel; "for you stand in the Secret Police Department of the Van Huyden estate."