"
Now, in the latter part of this speech, Mynheer Krause committed a small
mistake. He was known to be a babbler, one to whom a secret could not be
imparted, without every risk of its being known; and it was from the
knowledge of this failing in Mynheer Krause that Ramsay had received
such very particular recommendations to him. As syndic of the town, it
was impossible to prevent his knowledge of government secrets, and when
these occasionally escaped, they were always traced to his not being
able to hold his tongue.
Nothing pleased Mynheer Krause so much as a secret, because nothing gave
him so much pleasure as whispering it confidentially into the ear of a
dozen confidential friends. The consequence was, the government was
particularly careful that he should not know what was going on, and did
all they could to prevent it; but there were many others who, although
they could keep a secret, had no objection to part with it for a
consideration, and in the enormous commercial transactions of Mynheer
Krause, it was not unfrequent for a good bargain to be struck with him
by one or more of the public functionaries, the difference between the
sum proposed and accepted being settled against the interests of Mynheer
Krause, by the party putting him in possession of some government
movement which had hitherto been kept _in petto_.
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