The 48 Laws Of Power

I/rench

per/}xrrie'r.

Do

you

lift?

it?”

“Ilove

it,

”3!to

replied.

The

following

day

I

went

throughmy

cffctrts

and

found

two

empty
bonlrns.Bathhat]

come

from

France,but

went

empty.

IwantIt)(1

downtown

department

rlureand

])llfC’llLl£’(l

tenounces

ofCot_v'.r

"April

Vmlz..

poured

thisinto[its

two!"ren<:hbottles,

mrvfuliy

xeulml

«mm.

wrzzppwi

themin

fissile

paper.

That

£.’Vl’HiIlg

I

dmppea’

by

tlzrbankers‘home-

and

presenled

thetwo

btJttle.s'

tohis

wife.

"They

were

especially

putupfor

mem

CoI()gne,"ltt;I(1/wr.

Thenext

day

the

bunkercalledat

my

hotcl.Hi.\'

wife

was

mmprurerlby

my

perfume,

Shet'zm§id-

creditthemost

W(>TI(l(‘?‘flil,

(hemm!

l’.l‘OIi(“

frugraizctt

she

hm!ever«med. 1 didno!

tellmebanker

he

could

get

ailIn»warrtczi

righ!

inOmtrhat.

“Sitemid.

"

the[tanker

adriatl,

"thatI

was

formnule

[0be’u.\:mt'i-

ztttrtlwithamanlike

mat."

Frmnthanonhis

uttilttdewax

t‘/zarzged,

for

hehad

(‘amp/ale

faith

inhis

wt'fc3'jut1g-

merit...,Ha

partrrl

with

$35(),0l)U.This,

incivieumlly

was

my

big,-;z¢'.rt[con]

sums.

"YELLOW1<u:“wr:t1,.

lX75—l‘J76

276 LAW 33

headofan

engineeringcompany,

andenteredinto

conversation

withhim.

Lollerhad

made

hisfortune

onlyrecently,

and

forging

socialconnections

was

veryimportant

tohim.Hefelthonoredandsomewhatintimidated

by

this

sophisticated

man,

who

spokeperfectEnglish

withahintofa

foreign

accentOverthe

days

to

come,

thetwobecamefriends.

Lollerofcoursedidmostofthe

talking,

and

one

night

heconfessed

thathis

business

was

doingpoorly,

with

moretroublesahead.In

return,

Lustig

confided

in

his new friend

that

he too had serious

money

prob1ems——Communisls

hadseizedhis

family

estateandallitsassets.He

wastoooldtolearnatradeand

go

towork.

Luckily

hehadfoundanan

swer——“a

money—making

machine."“You

counterfeit?”Loller

whispered

in

half—shock.

No,

Lusiigreplied,explaining

that

through

asecretchemical

process.

hismachinecould

duplicateanypapercurrency

with

complete

ac»

curacy.

Putinadollarbillandsixhourslaxer

you

had

two,

both

perfect.

He

proceeded

to

explain

howthemachinehadbeen

smuggled

outof

Europe,

howtheGermanshad

developed

ittounderminethe

British,

howithad

supported

the

count

for

several

years,

andon

and

on.WhenLollerinsisted

ona

demonstration,

thetwomenwentto

Lustig's

room,

wherethecount

produced

a

magnificent

mahogany

boxfittedwith

slots,

cranks,

anddials.

Lollerwatchedas

Lustig

inserteda.dollarbillinthebox.Sure

enough,

early

the

followingmorningLustigpulled

outtwo

bills,

stillwetfromthe

chemicals.

Lustiggave

thenotesto

Loller,

who

immediately

tookthebillstoa

localbank—-——which

accepted

themas

genuine.

Nowthebusinessmanfever-

ishlybegged

Lusug

tosellhimamachine.Thecount

explained

thatthere

was

only

onein

existence,

soLollermadehima

high

offer:

$25,000,

thena

considerable

amount

(more

than

$400,000

in

today’sterms).

Even

so,

Lustig

seemedreluctant:Hedidnotfeel

right

about

making

hisfriend

pay

somuch.Yet

finally

he

agreed

tothesale.After

all,

he

said,

“I

suppose

it

matterslittlewhat

youpay

me.You

are,

after

all,

going

torecoverthe

amountwithinafew

daysbyduplicatingyour

ownbills.”

Making

Loller

swear

nevertorevealthemachine’sexistencetoother

people,Lustig

ac»

cepted

the

money.

Laterthesame

day

hecheckedoutofthehotel.A

year

later,

after

many

futile

attempts

at

duplicatingbills,

Loller

finally

wentto

the

police

withthe

story

ofhowCount

Lustig

hadconnedhimwitha

pair

ofdollar

bills,

some

chemicals,

anda.

worthless

mahogany

box.

Interpretation

Count

Lustlg

hadan

eagleeye

forother

people’s

weaknesses.Hesawthem

in

thesmallest

gesture.

Loller,

for

instance,

overtipped

waiters,

seemed

nervousinconversationwiththe

concierge,

talked

loudly

abouthisbusi»

ness.His

weakness,

Lustig

knew,

washisneedforsocialvalidationandfor

the

respect

that

he

thought

his

wealthhad

earnedhim.Hewasalsochroni-

cally

insecure.

Luslig

hadcome

to

thehoteltohuntfor

prey.

InLollerhe

hornedinonthe

perfect

sucker»-—aman

hungering

forsomeonetofillhis

psychic

voids.

In

offering

Lollerhis

friendship,

then,

Lustig

knewhewas

offering

him

the

immediate

respect

oftheother

guests.

As

a

count,

Lustig

wasalsooffer-