Nor were they aware of the one big difference with the statue, since neither of them had ever met Rebecca Abrabanel. And while the major had seen some of the scurrilous pamphlets circulated about her by rabid anti-Semites in previous years, the woodcut images of her contained in them had borne no relationship whatever to reality.

This image, on the other hand, was a pretty fair depiction of Rebecca. The artist who'd designed the woodcut was one of the soldiers attached to the printing press Mike had left behind. The soldier had met the general's wife on two occasions, and had a good memory of her. That wasn't surprising. He was a young man and Rebecca was generally acknowledged as one of the most beautiful women in Europe, even by her enemies. In fact, especially by her enemies. Terms like "temptress" and "succubus" were often connected to her. If you didn't know any better and moved in those circles, you'd be certain that her middle name was Delilah.

Good-looking female image or not, the miller didn't care. He'd never heard the expressions "you can't judge a book by its cover" or "not worth a continental" but it didn't matter. He was no damn fool.

"That's not worth the paper it's printed on," he protested.

Fruehauf shook his head, his expression one of sorrow rather than anger. "How can you claim such a thing? It's even traded on the currency exchanges in Grantville and Magdeburg. By now, probably in Venice and Amsterdam, too."

"Not in Prague," the miller said stoutly.

Fruehauf gave him the sort of look normally reserved for village idiots. "And if it were, would you trust it any more? Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't that exchange-and the stock market too, I hear-owned outright by Wallenstein?"



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