Thanks to the rule of the House of Esterházy, the Jews of Eisenstadt survived the mass expulsions from Austria, issued by Emperor Leopold in 1671. However, challenges remained, as the town’s Jewish community sought to trade with far-flung Jewish houses across Europe. Raimund, as a young boy, acted as a messenger, delivering letters of credit seventy kilometres north to and from Vienna. On one such trip, caught by some thuggish teenagers, who dropped his trousers to confirm his Jewish heritage. Raimund was strung up in an orchard, and as the taunts and torture began to escalate to their inevitable conclusion, Aloysia happened upon the scene, as she passed in her carriage. Sending a footman to end the dangerous game, she had the boy brought to her. When Raimund asked what he could do in return for his rescue, pressed, Aloysia asked for a pint of his blood. A token she said that would help the emaciated boys of her sponsored orphanage back in Vienna. Raimund, no fool, was so fascinated and beguiled by this aristocratic lady, that he refused to leave, camping at her back door until she offered him a position in her service. Years as a courier had taught Raimund how to keep a secret, and soon Aloysia was using this again. Raimund began his service delivering mail between the Votaries, and with trust came the privilege, eventually, of membership. As his youth began to betray him, Raimund moved to England to begin a new life as an industrialist.
