PROLOGUE
In x844 Sigmund Herzog tried tu persuade his father to enroll in tile
project that was to take emigrants from Germany and settle them in
the Republic of Texas. Herr Herzog had no wish to Icave Frankfurt，
where even a ]ew， if he was a clothing manufacturer like Herzog，
could live in comfort， relatively free from harassment， for the un-
known hazards of a strange land. When the Texas project collapsed，
leaving hundreds of refugees stranded， he trusted that he had heard
the last of this nonsense of Sigmund s.
He had not， although it was five years before the subject came up
again. Sigmund， with typical tenacity， renounced many of tile pleas-
ures of youth in order to save file money he made working for his fa-
tber. In 1848， when he was twenty-two years old， he said good-by to
his family and set sail for America.
Sigmund spoke no English. After paying for his passage， he had
little money left. If he had dreamed of prospecting for gold in the
pavements of the New World， he was disappointed. Many like him
gave up and went home， but even if Sigmund could have hought his
passage back he would not have gone. He was too stubborn.
He was also handsome and， even as a young man， compelling. All
the Herzogs had finely etched， imperious faces， with brilliant， large
eyes of blue， gray， or green， and， with few exceptions， great personal
magnetism. They tended to be clever as well. Within several
months， Sigmund had put aside sufficient money from various me-
nial jobs to equip a pushcart and had picked up enough of tile lan-
guage to convince prospective customers of the superiority of his
merchandise. He began by selling cheap household items to the poor
in the streets of New York， but before long he was able to upgrade
his stock and take it into the homes of middle-class women， who
found him as attractive as tlrey did his prices and what he had to
sell.
Eight years after he landed in America， Sigmund opened a
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