Paris: The Novel

they’re a good risk?”
    “That is a good question.” Baruch seemed to soften a bit. “Maybe you’re not so stupid after all.” He paused. “You need security. The man has to pledge something for the loan, so you have to figure what it’s worth, and whether he really owns it. And you need a good head for numbers. If the risk is high, you’re going to need a higher interest rate to protect yourself. Are you understanding me?”
    “I think so. You have to calculate.”
    “Yes. But you know what. It’s not just that. It’s an art as well. You really have to understand the man’s affairs. And you have to judge his character. Sometimes that’s the most important thing of all. Character.” He shrugged. “So maybe it’s like being a physician. It’s instinct, you know. I’m a money physician. I look after people’s lives. It’s a terrible occupation.” He looked at Jacob to see how he was taking it.
    “I think it’s interesting,” said Jacob frankly.
    “It’s not so bad.”
    “The Christians call it usury.”
    “The Jews call it usury. It’s in the Torah. Thou shalt not lend money at interest. It says so.” He paused a moment. “You know something? The Torah is very good at telling you what not to do. But if there is no profitto be had, no interest, then there is no reason for anyone to lend, and so nobody can borrow anything. They can steal it from their grandmother, but they can’t borrow it.” He smiled. “But there is an escape clause. A Jew is not allowed to lend at interest to another Jew. But it doesn’t say that you can’t lend to someone who is not a Jew. So we can lend to Christians.”
    “And the Christians are allowed to borrow from us.”
    “By the same logic. They say they mustn’t lend at interest, because it says so in the Bible. But if a Jew is prepared to lend, then that’s all right. They say the Jew is probably going to hell anyway, so who cares? It’s one of the few occupations they allow us to follow, which is very convenient for them.” He made a dismissive motion with his hands. “They get the money. We go to hell.”
    “But the Christians lend money too,” Jacob objected. “What about the Italian moneylenders, like the Lombards? I heard that they’re sanctioned by the pope himself.”
    “Ah. But they don’t charge interest.”
    “So how can they have any profit?”
    “They charge a fee instead.”
    “What’s the difference?”
    “Mathematically? There is no difference. But the word is different.”
    They were coming close to the huge compound of the Knights Templar now, and they had stopped to gaze at it.
    “How is it the Templars are so rich?” Jacob had asked Baruch.
    “They had huge land grants. For generations. They don’t pay taxes. And they lend money. The king owes them a fortune.”
    “They lend for a fee, then,” Jacob said. “No interest.”
    “Of course,” Baruch replied. “Actually,” he went on, “the Templars are interesting. They lend money. But that’s only part of it. They’re brilliant.”
    “Why?”
    “Look at their building. It’s an impregnable fortress. There’s probably more gold in there than any other building in France. It all got started when they transported bullion out to the Holy Land for the crusaders to use. They kept the money in fortresses out there, too. But that was just the start. Since then, they’ve built fortified bullion stores all over Christendom. So what’s so clever about that?”
    “I suppose then they have bullion ready for any purpose, in any country.”
    “True, but that’s not the point. The point,” said Baruch, “is that when you travel, you don’t have to take a lot of money with you. No armed guards. No fear of getting robbed. You just deposit your bullion with the Templars in London or Paris, get a receipt, and that gives you credit to draw on the Templars’ bullion deposits wherever you’re going. The Templars will charge you a large fee for the service, but it’s worth it. You’ve saved yourself a fortune in security.”
    “Did the Templars invent this?”
    “No. The old merchants around the Mediterranean have been holding credit balances with each other since time out of mind. But the scale of the Templars’ operations is stupendous. They’ve got enough stashed in some of their forts to pay for an army.”
    “They must have to transport bullion themselves, sometimes,” Jacob said.
    “Yes. But who’s going to attack a bullion shipment guarded by the