# The Patrioteer/Chapter 3

III
"You are a practical person, too!" Diederich was delighted. "Then you used to climb over the garden wall to us, you little rogue! Most of the time you did not wear knickers, and when your dress slipped up there was a view from behind."
She shrieked; no decent man would remember such things. "Now, it must be much more interesting," added Diederich. She at once became more serious.
"Now, I am engaged to be married."
It was to Wolfgang Buck that she was engaged. Diederich was silent and his face expressed his disappointment. Then he declared reluctantly that he knew Buck. She said cautiously: "I suppose you mean that he is rather eccentric? But the Bucks are a very distinguished family. Of course, in other families there is more money," she concluded. Feeling that this shot was directed at him, Diederich looked at her. She twinkled. He wanted to ask her something, but he had lost courage.
Just before they reached Netzig Fräulein Daimchen asked: "and what about your heart, Dr. Hessling, is it still free?"
"So far I have avoided an engagement." He nodded his head seriously. "Oh, you must tell me all about it," she cried, ​but their train was now entering the station. "I hope we'll meet soon again," said Diederich. "I can only say that a young man often comes damned near burning his fingers. A yes or a no can spoil his whole life."
His two sisters were waiting in the station. When they caught sight of Guste Daimchen, they first made a wry face but then rushed up and helped to carry her luggage. As soon as they were alone with Diederich they explained their zeal. Guste had come in for some money and was a millionairess. So that was it! He was filled with timid respect.
The sisters related the story in detail. An elderly relative in Magdeburg had left all the money to Guste as a reward for the way she had looked after him. "And she earned it," remarked Emma, "towards the end, he was simply disgusting, they say." Magda added: "and, of course, you can draw your own conclusions, for Guste was a whole year in the house with him alone."
Diederich at once became indignant. "A young girl should not say such things," he cried righteously, but Magda assured him that Inge Tietz, Meta Harnisch and every one said it. "Then I command you most emphatically to contradict such talk." There was a moment's silence, then Emma said: "Guste, you know, is already engaged."—"I know that," muttered Diederich.
They met a number of acquaintances. Diederich heard them addressing him as "Doctor," beamed proudly, and walked on between Emma and Magda, who cast admiring glances from each side at his new style of wearing his moustache. When they reached the house, Frau Hessling received her son with open arms and shrieks like those of a drowning person calling for help. Diederich also wept, much to his own surprise. All at once he realised that the solemn hour of fate had come, in which he entered the room for the first time as the real head of the family, completely fitted out with the title of Doctor, land determined to guide the factory and the family ​according to his own well considered views. He took the hands of his mother and sisters all together, and said in earnest tones: "I shall never forget that I am responsible before God for you."
Frau Hessling, however, was uneasy. "Are you ready, my boy?" she asked. "Our people are waiting for you." Diederich finished his beer and went downstairs at the head of his family. The yard had been swept clean and the entrance to the factory was framed with wreaths of flowers which surrounded the inscription "Welcome!" In front stood the old bookkeeper Sötbier who said: "Well, good day, Dr. Hessling. I ain't had a chance to come up, there were still some things to do."
"On a day like this you might have left it," replied Diederich walking past him. Inside, in the rag room he found the work people. They all stood clustered together; the twelve workmen who looked after the paper machine, the cylinder machine and the cutter, the three bookkeepers together with the women whose job it was to sort the rags. The men coughed, there was an awkward pause until several of the women pushed forward a little girl who held a bouquet of flowers in front of her and in a piping voice wished the Doctor welcome and good luck. With a gracious air Diederich accepted the flowers. Now it was his turn to clear his throat. First he turned towards his own family, then he looked sharply into the faces of his workers, one after another, even the blackbearded machinist, although this man's look made him feel uncomfortable. Then he began:
He raised his voice and spoke still more sharply and commandingly, looking all the while at old Sötbier:
"Now I have taken the rudder into my own hands. My course is set straight and I am guiding you to glorious times. Those who wish to help me, are heartily welcome, but whoever opposes me in this work I will smash."
He tried to make his eyes flash and the ends of his moustache rose still higher.
"There is only one master here, and I am he. I am responsible only to God and my own conscience. You can always count on my fatherly benevolence, but revolutionary desires will be shattered against my unbending will. Should I discover any connection between one of you"—he caught the eye of the black-bearded machinist, who looked suspicious—"and the Social Democratic clubs, our relationship will be severed. I regard every Social Democrat as an enemy of my business and his country. … So now return to your work and consider well what I have told you.
He turned round sharply and marched off, breathing heavily His strong words produced in him a kind of dizziness which made him incapable of recognising any face. Disturbed and respectful, his family followed him, while the workers stared at one another in dumb amazement, before they attacked the bottles of beer which stood ready for the feast.
Upstairs Diederich was explaining his plans to his mother and sisters. The factory would have to be enlarged by taking in the house of their neighbour at the back. They would have to go into competition with their rivals. A place in the sun! Old Klüsing over there in the Gausenfeld paper factory probably imagined that he would go on forever getting all the business. … Finally Magda raised the question as to where he expected to get the money, but Frau Hessling interrupted her. "Your brother knows all about that better than we do." Cautiously she added: "Many a girl would be happy if she could win his heart."—Fearing his anger she pressed her hand ​to her mouth. But Diederich merely blushed. Then she had enough courage to kiss him. "It would be such a terrible blow to me," she sobbed, "if my son, my. dear son, went away from home. It is doubly hard for a widow. Frau Daimchen feels it too, now that her Guste is going to marry Wolfgang Buck."
"Perhaps not," said Emma, the elder girl. "They say that Wolfgang has an affair with an actress." Frau Hessling completely forgot to chide her daughter. "But where so much money is at stake! A million, people say."
Diederich said contemptuously that he knew Buck, that he was not normal. "It must run in the family. The old man also married an actress."
"The results are easily seen," said Emma. "You hear all sorts of things about the daughter, Frau Lauer."
"Children!" begged Frau Hessling nervously. But Diederich quieted her.
"That's all right, mother, it is high time to bell the cat. I take the view that the Bucks have long since become unworthy of their position in this town. They are a decadent family."
"The wife of Maurice, the eldest son," said Magda, "is nothing but a peasant. They were lately in town, and he, too, looked quite countrified." Emma was full of indignation.
"And what about the brother of old Herr Buck? Always so elegant, and his five unmarried daughters? They have soup brought from the public kitchen, I know that for a fact."
"Yes, Herr Buck founded the public kitchen," explained Diederich. "Also the Discharged Prisoners' Aid, and goodness knows what besides. I'd like to know when he has time to look after his own business."
"I should not be surprised," said Frau Hessling, "if he hadn't very much more business left. Though, of course, I have the greatest respect for Herr Buck. He is so well thought of."
Diederich laughed bitterly. "Why, then? We have all been ​brought up to honour old Buck. The great man of Netzig! Sentenced to death in Forty Eight!"
"But that was an historic service, your father always used to say."
"Service," shouted Diederich. "When I know that any one is against the government that is quite enough for me. Why should high treason be a service?"
Before the astonished women he launched into politics. These old Democrats who still led the regiment, they were a positive disgrace to Netzig! Unpatriotic slackers, at odds with the government! They were a mockery of the spirit of the time. Because old Judge Kühlemann was their representative in the Reichstag, and was a friend of the notorious Eugene Richter, business here was at a standstill and nobody got any money. Of course, there would be no railway connections or soldiers for such a radical hole. No traffic and no influx of population! The legal appointments were always in the hands of the same couple of families, that was well-known, and they passed round the jobs among themselves and there was nothing for any one else. The Gausenfeld paper factory furnished all the supplies for the town, for Klüsing, the owner, also be longed to old Buck's gang.
Magda had something else to add. "Recently the amateurs' show at the Civic Club had been put off because Herr Buck's daughter, Frau Lauer, was ill. That is simply absolutism." "Nepotism, you mean," said Diederich sharply. He rolled his eyes. "And into the bargain, Herr Lauer is a socialist. But Herr Buck had better look out! We shall keep a sharp eye on him."
Nevertheless he did not sleep well that night. By seven o'clock he was down in the factory and at once raised a row because the beer bottles of the day before were still lying about. "No boozing here, this is not a barroom. Surely that is in the regulations, Herr Sötbier?"—"Regulations?" said the old bookkeeper. "We have none." Diederich was speechless. He shut himself up with Sötbier in the office. "No regulations? Then, of course, nothing more can surprise me. What are those ridiculous orders on which you are working?" and he scattered the letters about on the desk. "It seems to be high time that I took charge. The business is going to the dogs in your hands."
"To the dogs, Master Diederich?"
"Doctor Hessling to you!"
He insisted that they should underbid all the other factories.
"We cannot do that for long," said Sötbier. "In fact we are not in position at all to execute such large orders as Gausenfeld."
"And you set up to be a business man? We'll simply install more machinery."
"That costs money," replied Sötbier.
"Then we'll get some! I'll bring some style into this business. Wait till you see. If you don't want to back me up, I'll do it alone."
Sötbier shook his head. "Your father and I always agreed, Master Diederich. Together we worked up this business."
"Times are changed, and don't you forget it. I am my own manager."
"Impetuous youth," sighed Sötbier as Diederich slammed the door. He walked through the room in which the mechanical drum, beating loudly, was washing the rags in chlorine and went into the smaller room where the large boiling machine was. In the doorway he unexpectedly met the blackbearded machinist. Diederich started and almost made way for him, but he brushed past him with his shoulder before ​the man could step aside. Snorting with impatience, he watched the machine at work, the cylinders turning and the knife cutting, which separated the material into threads. Weren't the people who attended the machine grinning at him slyly, because he had been frightened by that dark fellow? "He is an impudent dog! He must be fired!" A bestial hate arose in Diederich, the hatred of his fair flesh for the thin dark man of another race, which he would have liked to regard as inferior and which looked sinister. Diederich made a sudden movement.
"The cylinder is not in the right position, the knives are working badly!" As the hands merely stared at him, he yelled: "where is the machinist?" When the man with the black beard came along, Diederich said: "look how this has been bungled. The cylinder is much too close to the knives and they are cutting everything to pieces. I will hold you responsible for the damage."
The man bent over the machine. "No harm done," he said quietly, and again Diederich wondered if a smile was not hidden by that black beard. The machinist gave him a surly mocking look, which Diederich could not stand. He stopped blustering and simply made a gesture with his arms. "I hold you responsible."
"What's wrong now?" asked Sötbier, who had heard the noise. Then he explained that the rags were not being cut too fine, that they were always done in this way. The men nodded their heads in approval and the machinist stood there indifferently. Diederich did not feel equal to a discussion about his competence in such matters, so he shouted: "In the future, you will kindly see that it is done differently!" and he turned away.
He reached the rag room, and he recovered his composure as he watched with an expert eye the women who were sorting the rags on the sieve plates of the long tables. One little 'dark-eyed woman was bold enough to smile at him from ​beneath her coloured kerchief, but her glance met such a stony stare that she shrank back and bent upon her work. Brightly-coloured rags streamed out of the sacks, the whispering of the women was stilled under the master's eye, and in the warm stuffy atmosphere nothing else could be heard but the gentle rattling of the blades as they came down upon the tables and cut off the buttons. But Diederich, who was examining the hot water pipes, heard something suspicious. He looked over a heap of sacks—and started back, with blushing cheeks and quivering moustache. "Stop that now," he shouted, "come out here!" A young workman crept out. "The female, too!" shouted Diederich. "Look lively! " Finally, when the girl appeared, he struck an attitude. Nice goings on, indeed! Not only was the plave a bar room but it was something else! He swore so loudly that all the workers gathered about him. "Well, Herr Sötbier, I suppose this also has always been done in this way. I congratulate you on such success. These people are accustomed to waste my time amusing themselves behind the sacks. How did this man get in here?" The young man said she was engaged to be married to him. "Married? Here, we know nothing about marriage, only about work. You are both stealing my time, for which I pay you. You are swine and thieves. I shall give you both the sack and lodge a complaint against you for indecent conduct." He gave a challenging glance all around.
"In this place I insist upon German virtue and decency. Do you understand?" Then he caught the eye of the machinist. "And I will see that they are observed, whether you like it or not."
"I haven't made any objections," said the man quietly, but Diederich could not contain himself any longer. At last, he had got something against him.
"It is not my business to look after people," the man interrupted.
"You are very insubordinate and you have encouraged those beneath you in insubordination. You are preparing for the revolution. What's your name, anyhow?"
"Napoleon Fischer," said the man. Diederich stammered. "Nap— Well, I'm damned! Are you a Social Democrat?"
"I am."
"I thought so. You're fired."
He turned round to the others. "Remember what you have seen—" And he bounced out of the room. In the yard Sötbier ran after him. "Master Diederich!" He was greatly excited, and he would not speak until the door of the private office had been closed behind him. "This won't do," said the bookkeeper, "he is a union man."—"For that very reason he is fired," replied Diederich. Sötbier explained that it would not do, because all the others would strike. Diederich could not understand this. Were they all in the Union? No. Well, then. But Sötbier explained that they were afraid of the Reds, even the older people could not be relied upon.
"I'll kick them all out!" cried Diederich, "bag and baggage, with all their belongings!"
"Then it would be a question if we could get others to take their places," said Sötbier with a pale smile, looking from under his green eye shade at his young master who was knocking the furniture about in his rage. "Am I master in my own factory or not? I will show them—"
Sötbier waited until his rage had evaporated, then he said: "You need not say anything to Fischer, he won't leave us, for he knows that it would lead to too much trouble."
Diederich flared up again: "Really! So it is not necessary for me to beg him to have the kindness to stay. Napoleon the Great! I need not invite him to dinner on Sunday, I suppose? It would be too great an honour for me!"
His face was red and swollen, the room seemed to stifle him, ​and he threw the door open. It so happened that the machinist was just passing. Diederich gazed after him and his hatred made his impressions sharper than usual. He noticed the man's thin, crooked legs, his bony shoulders, and his arms which hung forward. As the machinist spoke to the men, he could see his strong jaws working underneath his thin, black beard. How Diederich hated that mouth and those knotted hands! The black devil had long since passed and still Diederich was conscious of his odour.
"Just look, Sötbier, how his arms reach down to the ground. He will soon run on all fours and eat nuts. Just you watch, we'll trip up that ape! Napoleon! The name in itself is a provocation. He had better look out for himself, for there's one thing certain, either he or I will go under."
With head erect, he left the factory. Putting on a morningcoat he made preparations to pay a call on the most important people of the town. From Meisestrasse, in order to reach the house of Dr. Scheffelweis, the Mayor, in Schweinichenstrasse, he had simply to go along Kaiser Wilhelmstrasse. He wished to do so, but at the decisive moment, as if by a secret agreement with himself, he turned aside into the Fleischhauergrube. The two steps in front of old Herr Buck's house were removed from the traffic of the passers-by, and always had been. The bell-handle on the yellow glass door caused a prolonged rattling noise in the empty interior. Then a door opened in the back ground and the old servant crept along the floor. But long before she could reach the outer door, the master of the house himself stepped out of his office and opened it. He seized Diederich, who bowed deeply, by the hand and dragged him in.
"My dear Hessling, I have been expecting you. I heard that you'd arrived. Welcome back to Netzig, my dear Doctor." Tears sprang into Diederich's eyes and he stammered.
"You are too kind, Herr Buck. I need hardly say, Herr Buck, that you are the first person on whom I wanted to call, and to assure that I am always—I am always—at your ​service," he concluded, smiling like a diligent schoolboy. Old Herr Buck still held him fast with his hand which was warm yet light and soft in its pressure.
"My service"—he shoved forward a chair for Diederich—"you mean, of course, the service of your fellow citizens, who will be grateful to you. I think I can promise you that they will shortly elect you to the Town Council, for that would be a mark of respect to a family which deserves it, and then"—old Buck made a gesture of dignified generosity—"I rely upon you to give us an early opportunity of seeing you raised to the bench."
Diederich bowed, smiling happily, as if he already had been raised to the honour. "I do not say," continued Herr Buck, "that public opinion in our town is sound in every respect"—his white beard sank onto his necktie—"but there is still room"—his beard rose again—"and God grant it may long be so, there is still room for genuine Liberals."
"I need hardly tell you I am thoroughly liberal," Diederich assured him.
Old Buck ran his hand over the papers on his desk. "Your lamented father often used to sit opposite to me here, and particularly at the time when he was building the paper mill. To my great joy I could be of use to him in that matter. It was a question of the stream which now flows through your yard."
Diederich said in a grave voice: "How often, Herr Buck, my father has told me that he owed to you the stream without which we could not exist."
"You must not say that he owed it only to me, but rather to the happy circumstances of our civic life." Looking earnestly at Diederich, the old gentleman raised his white forefinger: "But certain people and a certain party would like to make many changes as soon as they could." With deep feeling: "The enemy is at the gate; we must stand together."
A moment passed in silence, then in lighter tones and with ​a slight smile, he said: "are you not, my dear Dr. Hessling, in the same position as your father then was? Don't you want to extend your business? Have you any plans?"
"Certainly, I have." With great eagerness Diederich set forth what he would like to see happen. The other listened carefully, nodded, and took a pinch of snuff. … Finally, he said: "This much I can see; the alterations will not only cause you great expense, but under certain conditions, may give rise to difficulties under the city building laws, with which I, by the way, am concerned as a magistrate. Take a look, my dear Hessling, at what I have here on my desk."
Diederich recognised an exact plan of his property with that which lay behind it. His astonished face produced a smile of satisfaction in old Buck. "I have no doubt that I can see that no oppressive conditions are raised." And in reply to Diederich's profuse thanks: "We do a service to the whole communnity when we help on each one of our friends, for all except tyrants are friends of the people's party."
After these words he leant back deeper in his chair and folded his hands. His expression had relaxed and he nodded his head in a grandfatherly fashion. "As a child you had such lovely fair curls," said he. Diederich understood that the official part of the conversation was over. He took the liberty of saying, "I still remember how I used to come to this house as a small boy, when I used to play soldiers with your son Wolfgang."
"Ah, yes, and now he is playing soldiers again."
"Oh, he is very popular with the officers. He told me so himself."
"I wish, my dear Hessling, that he had more of your practical disposition … but he will settle down once I have got him married."
"Meanwhile, unfortunately, he gets into silly scrapes." The old gentleman gazed out of the window. Diederich did not dare to show his curiosity.
"Silly scrapes? I can hardly believe it. He always impressed me by his intelligence, even at college; his compositions. And his recent statement to me about the Emperor, that he would really like to be the first labour leader.…"
"God save the workers from that."
"What do you mean?" Diederich was absolutely astounded.
"Because it would do them no good. It has not done the rest of us any good either."
"Yet, it is thanks to the Hohenzollerns that we have a united German Empire."
"We are not united," said old Buck, rising from his chair with unaccustomed haste. "In order to prove our unity we ought to be able to follow our own impulse, but can we? You call yourselves united because the curse of servility is spreading everywhere. That is what Herwegh, a survivor like myself, cried to those who were drunk with victory in the spring of 1870. What would he say now!" Diederich's reply to this voice from another world was to stammer: "Ah, yes, you belong to Forty-Eight."
"My dear young friend, you mean that I have lost and that I am a fool. Yes, we were beaten, because we were foolish enough to believe in the people. We believed that they would achieve for themselves what they now receive from their masters at the cost of liberty. We thought of this nation as powerful, wealthy, full of understanding for its own affairs and consecrated to the future. We did not see that, without political education, of which it has less than any other, it was fated to fall the victim of the powers of the past, after the first flush of freedom. Even in our time there were far too many people who pursued their own personal interests, unconcerned about the common weal, and who were contented when they could fulfil the ignoble needs of a selfish life of pleasure by basking ​in the sun of some one's approval. Since that time their name is legion, for they have been relieved of all care for the public welfare. Your masters have already made you into a worldpower, and, while you're earning money whatever way you can, and spending whatever way you like, they will build the fleet? for you—or rather for themselves—which we ourselves at that time would have built. Our poet then knew what you are now only learning: the future of Germany will spring from the furrows which Columbus ploughed."
"So Bismarck has really accomplished something," said Diederich in mild triumph.
"That is just the point, that he has been allowed to do it! At the same time he has done it all in such a matter-of-fact manner, but nominally in the name of his master. We citizens of Forty-Eight were more honest, it seems to me, for then I myself paid the price of my own daring."
"Oh, yes, I know, you were condemned to death," said Diederich, once more impressed.
"I was condemned because I defended the supremacy of the National Parliament against individual authority, and I led the people to revolt in their hour of need. Thus the unity of Germany was in our hearts. It was a matter of conscience, the personal obligation of every individual, by which he was prepared to stand. No! we had no thought of sacrificing German unity. When, defeated and betrayed, I was waiting in this house with my last remaining friends for the King's soldiers, I was still a man, nevertheless, who himself had created an ideal, one of many, but a man. Where are they now?"
"At that time the whole town thronged this house. Now it is as lonely as the grave. Wolfgang was the last to go. I would abandon everything, but we must respect our past, young man, even when we have been beaten."
"No doubt," said Diederich. "You're still the most influential man in the town. People always say Herr Buck owns the town."
"But I do not want that, I want it to belong to itself." He sighed deeply. "That is a long story, you will gradually learn it when you get an insight into our administration. Every day we are more hardly pressed by the government and their Junker taskmasters. To-day they want to compel us to supply light to the landlords who pay us no taxes. To-morrow we shall have to build roads for them. Finally they will take away our right to self-government. We are living in a beleaguered town as you will see."
Diederich gave an embarrassed smile. "It cannot be as bad as all that, for the Emperor has such modern ideas."
"Hm, yes," replied old Buck, shaking his head. He stood up—and then decided to say nothing. He offered Diederich his hand. "My dear Doctor, your friendship will be as precious to me as your father's was. After this conversation I have the hope that we shall be able to work together in all things."
Moved by the glance of those friendly blue eyes Diederich laid his hand upon his heart. "I am a thorough-going Liberal!"
"Above all, I warn you against Governor von Wulckow. He is the enemy who has been sent here into the city against us. The municipal authorities maintain only such relations with him as are absolutely unavoidable. I personally have the honour to be cut by him in the street."
"Oh!" cried Diederich genuinely disturbed.
The Fleischhauergrube was pretty steep, but that was not the only reason why Diederich was out of breath. At first he was somewhat dazed, but gradually he had the feeling of having allowed himself to be bluffed. "An old chatter-box like that is nothing more than a scarecrow, and yet he impresses me." He vaguely recalled his childhood when old Herr Buck, who had been condemned to death, inspired him with as much respect and the same fear as the policeman at the corner or the spectre in the Castle. "Am I always going to be so weak? Another man would not have allowed himself to be treated in this fashion." The fact that he had been silent, or had feebly contradicted, so many compromising speeches, might have unpleasant consequences. He prepared the most effective reply for the next occasion. "The whole thing was a trap, he wanted to catch me and render me harmless … but I'll show him!" Diederich clenched his fist in his pocket as he marched erect along Kaiser Wilhelmstrasse. "For the present I must put up with him, but let him beware when I am the stronger!"
The Mayor's house had been newly painted and the plate glass windows shone as of yore. A pretty servant received him. She took him up the stairs, passing by a friendly boy in bis cuit holding a lamp, through an anteroom in which a small rug lay in front of almost every piece of furniture, and left him in the dining-room. It was furnished in light colours, with attractive pictures and in the midst of it all the Mayor and another gentleman sat at lunch. Dr. Scheffelweis extended a white hand to Diederich and looked at him over the edge of his pince-nez. Nevertheless, you never knew if he was look ing at you, his glance was so vague, and his eyes were as ​colourless as his face and his scanty side-whiskers, which were cut in mutton-chop fashion. Several times the Mayor attempted to talk before he finally found something which it was safe to say. "What fine scars," said he; and turning to the other gentleman, "Don't you think so?"
The other gentleman looked so Jewish that Diederich maintained a reserve at first. But the Mayor introduced him: "Herr Assessor Jadassohn of the Public Prosecutor's Office." This made a respectful greeting indispensable.
"Come and sit down," said the Mayor, "we are just beginning." He poured out some porter for Diederich and helped him to Lachsschinken. "My wife and her mother have gone out, the children are at school, I am a bachelor. Your health!"
The Jewish gentleman from the Public Prosecutor's Office had eyes only for the servant. While she was busy at the table near him his hand disappeared. Then she left the room and he was anxious to talk of public affairs, but the Mayor would not be interrupted. "The two ladies will not be back to lunch. My mother-in-law is at the dentist's, and I know what that means, it is not an easy business with her. Meanwhile the whole house is at our disposal." He fetched a liqueur from the sideboard, sang its praises, made his guests confirm its merits, and continued to boast of his idyllic mornings, in a monotonous voice interrupted by chewing. In spite of his contentment, his expression gradually became more and more anxious, as he felt that the conversation could not continue in this fashion. After all three had been silent for a minute he made up his mind.
"I suppose I may assume, Dr. Hessling—my house is not in the immediate vicinity of yours and I should think it quite natural if you had called on other gentlemen before coming to me."
Diederich was already blushing for the lie he had not yet told. "It would come out," he thought, just in time, and so he replied: "As a matter of fact I took the liberty—that is to ​say, my first thought of course, was to call on you, Mr. Mayor, but in memory of my father, who had such a high opinion of old Herr Buck.…"
"Quite so, quite so." The Mayor nodded emphatically. "Herr Buck is the oldest of our deserving citizens and therefore exercises a doubtless legitimate influence."
"Only for the time being," said the Jewish gentleman from the Public Prosecutor's Office in an unexpectedly harsh tone, as he looked defiantly at Diederich. The Mayor had bent his head over his cheese, and Diederich, finding himself helpless, blinked. As the gentleman's look demanded a response, he mumbled something about "innate respect" and even began to cite memories of his childhood as an excuse for having gone first to Herr Buck. While he was speaking he gazed in terror at the huge, red, prominent ears of the gentleman from the Public Prosecutor's. The latter allowed Diederich to stammer on to the end, as if he were a prisoner in the dock giving himself away. Finally he retorted cuttingly: "There are certain cases where respect is a habit which one must lose."
Diederich stopped short and then ventured to laugh meaningly. The Mayor with a pale smile and a conciliatory gesture said: "Dr. Jadassohn likes to be witty—a thing which I personally esteem him for particularly. In my position, of course, I am compelled to consider things impersonally and without prejudice. Therefore I must admit, on the one hand.…"
"But it must be a loyal one!" Diederich added. The Mayor made signs as if to pacify them. "Gentlemen!" he entreated, "gentlemen, if we must discuss the matter, then it is certainly right, with all due respect to the gentleman named, that we confess, on the other hand—"
"On the other hand!" repeated Jadassohn sternly.
"—the deepest regret for our unfortunately most unfavourable relations with the representatives of the State administration. It is right that I should ask you to remember that the unwonted harshness of Governor Von Wulckow towards the city authorities—"
"Towards disaffected organisations," interjected Jadassohn. Diederich ventured: "I am a thoroughly liberal man but I must say.…"
"A town," explained the Assessor, "which opposes the wishes of the government certainly cannot be surprised when the government turns a cold shoulder to it!"
"We could travel from Berlin to Netzig," Diederich declared, "in half the time if we were in better odour with the powers that be."
The Mayor allowed them to finish their duet. He was pale and his eyes were closed behind his pince-nez. Suddenly he looked at them with a wan smile.
"Gentlemen, do not worry. I know that opinions more in harmony with the spirit of the times prevail elsewhere. Pray, do not believe that it was my fault that no telegram of greeting was sent to His Majesty on the occasion of his last visit to the provinces during the manoeuvres last year.…"
"The refusal of the authorities was thoroughly un-German," Jadassohn declared emphatically.
"The national flag must be held aloft," Diederich insisted. The Mayor threw up his hands.
"I know it, gentlemen. But I am only the chairman of the board and must carry out its decisions, unfortunately. Change the conditions. Dr. Jadassohn remembers our row with the ​government about the Social Democratic teacher, Rettich. I could not control the man. Herr von Wulckow knows"—the Mayor winked his eye—"that I would have done it if I could." They looked at one another in silence for a while. Jadassohn blew his nose as if he had heard enough. But Diederich could not be silent any longer. "Liberalism is the beginning of Social Democracy. Such people as Buck, Kühlemann, Eugen Richter, make our workers impudent. My factory imposes upon me the heaviest sacrifices in work and responsibilities, and on top of that I have conflicts with my workers. Why? Because we are not united against the Red peril, and there are certain employers with socialistic leanings, as, for example, the son-in-law of Herr Buck. Herr Lauer's workmen have a share in whatever profits the factory earns. That is immoral. It undermines law and order, and I hold that order is more necessary than ever in these difficult times. Therefore we need a strong government like that which is led by our glorious young Emperor. I declare that I stand fast by His Majesty in all circumstances.…" Here the two others bowed profoundly and Diederich replied, his eyes flashing. Unlike the democratic balderdash in which the departing generation still believed, the Emperor was the representative of youth, the most individual personality, charmingly impulsive and a highly original thinker. "One man must be master, and master in every field! " Diederich made a full confession of the strongest and most strenuous opinions, and declared that an end must be made, once and for all, in Netzig of the old liberal routine. "Now comes the new age!"
Jadassohn and the Mayor listened quietly until he had finished, Jadassohn's ears growing longer all the time. Then he crowed: "There are loyal Germans in Netzig also." And Diederich shouted: "We will go after those who are not loyal. We shall see whether certain families are to enjoy the position they now have. Apart from old Buck, who are his supporters? ​His sons are peasants or ne'er do wells, his son-in-law is a socialist, and they say his daughter.…"
They looked at one another, and the Mayor sniggered and went pale with excitement. He was bursting with delight, as he cried: "And you didn't know that Herr Buck's brother is bankrupt!"
They loudly expressed their satisfaction. That man with his five elegant daughters! The President of the Harmony Club! But, as Diederich knew, they got their meals from the public kitchen. At this stage the Mayor poured out some more cognac and passed round the cigars. All at once he became certain that they were on the eve of a big change. "The Reichstag elections will take place in eighteen months. Between now and then you gentlemen will have to work."
Diederich proposed that the three of them should there and then constitute themselves an inner election committee.
Jadassohn explained that it was absolutely essential to get into touch with Governor von Wulckow. "In the strictest confidence," added the Mayor, winking. Diederich regretted that the "Netzig Journal," the chief newspaper in the town, was tarred with the liberal brush. "A damned Semitic rag!" said Jadassohn. On the other hand, the loyal government county paper had practically no influence in the town. But old Klüsing in Gausenfeld supplied paper to both. As he had money in the "Netzig Journal," it did not seem improbable to Diederich that its attitude might be influenced through him. They would have to frighten him into thinking that otherwise he would lose the county paper. "After all, there is another paper factory in Netzig," said the Mayor, grinning. Then the maid came in and announced she would have to set the table for dinner, as the mistress would soon be back—and also Frau Hauptmann, she added. When he heard this title the Mayor at once jumped up. As he accompanied his guest to the door, his head drooped, and in spite of all the cognac, he looked ​quite pale. On the stairs he caught Diederich by the sleeve. Jadassohn had remained behind, and the screams of the maid could be heard. There was already a ring at the door.
"My dear Doctor," whispered the Mayor, "I hope you have not misunderstood me. In everything we discussed I have, of course, only the interests of the town at heart. It goes without saying that I have no intention of undertaking anything in which I am not sure of the support of the organisations of which I have the honour to be the chief."
He blinked earnestly, but before Diederich had collected his thoughts, the ladies were entering the house, and the Mayor released his arm to hasten to meet them. His wife, who was dried up and wrinkled with care, had scarcely time to greet the gentlemen. She had to separate the children who were fighting. Her mother was a head taller and still youthful looking, and she looked sternly at the flushed faces of the luncheon guests. Then, with Juno-like majesty, she descended upon the Mayor who grew visibly smaller. … Assessor Jadassohn had already disappeared. Diederich made formal bows which were not returned and hastened away. He felt uncomfortable and looked uneasily about him in the street. He was not listening to what Jadassohn said and suddenly he turned back. He had to ring loudly several times, for there was a great deal of noise inside. The family was still standing at the foot of the stairs, where the children were pushing one another and screaming. A discussion was in progress. The Mayoress wanted her husband to take some action against a headmaster who had mishandled her son. His mother-in-law, on the contrary, was insisting that the master should be promoted because his wife had the greatest influence on the committee of the Bethlehem Asylum for fallen girls. The Mayor entreated them in turn with his hands. At last, he got a word in.
"On the one hand.…"
At this point Diederich had seized him by the arm. With ​many apologies to the ladies, he took him aside and tremblingly whispered: "My dear Mr. Mayor, I am most anxious to avoid misunderstanding. I must repeat that I am a thoroughly liberal man."
Dr. Scheffelweis hastily assured him that he was no less certain of this than of his own sound Liberalism. Then he was called and Diederich somewhat relieved left the house. Jadassohn awaited him with a grin.
"I suppose you got frightened. Wait a bit! Nobody can ever compromise himself with the head of our city. Like God Almighty he is always on the side of the strongest battalions. To-day I just wanted to find out how far he had gone with von Wulckow. Things are not doing badly, we can move a step forward."
"Please do not forget," said Diederich reservedly, "that I am at home amongst the citizens of Netzig and I am naturally also a liberal."
Jadassohn gave him a sidelong glance. "A Neo-Teuton?" he asked. Diederich turned to him in astonishment, as he added: "How is my old friend Wiebel?"
"Do you know him? He was my fag."
"Do I know him? I arranged a duel with him."
Diederich seized the hand which Jadassohn held out to him and they shook warmly. That settled the matter and arm in arm they went down to the Ratskeller to dine.
The place was empty and dimly lighted. The gas was turned on for them at the end of the room, and while they were waiting for the soup they discovered mutual college friends. Fatty Delitzsch! As an eye-witness Diederich gave a circumstantial account of his tragic end. They drank the first glass of Rauenthal to his memory. It turned out that Jadassohn had also been through the February riots, and, like Diederich, he had learned to respect power. "His Majesty," said the Assessor, "showed such courage as would take your breath away. Several times I thought, by God—" He ​stopped and they gazed shuddering into each other's eyes. In order to banish the dreadful spectacle they raised their glasses. "The best of luck," said Jadassohn. "The same to you," replied Diederich. "To the very good health of your family." And Diederich answered, "I shall certainly convey the compliment to them at home."
Although his food was getting cold, Jadassohn launched into an elaborate eulogy of the Emperor's character. The Philistines, the fault-finders, and the Jews might pick holes in him as they liked, taking him all in all our glorious young Emperor is the most individual personality, charmingly impulsive and a highly original thinker. Diederich fancied that he had already established this fact and nodded contentedly. He said to himself that a person's outward appearance was sometimes deceptive, and that the length of one's ears did not determine one's loyal sentiments. They drained their glasses to the success of the struggle for throne and altar against revolution in every shape and form.
Then they got back to conditions in Netzig. They were both agreed that the new national spirit to which they must convert the town need have no other programme than the name of His Majesty. Political parties were so much rubbish, as His Majesty himself had said. "I know only two parties, those who are with me and those who are against me." Those were his words and they expressed the facts. Unfortunately in Netzig the party which was against him was still on top, but that would have to be changed, and it would be—of this Diederich was certain—by means of the Veterans' Association. Jadassohn, who was not a member, undertook nevertheless to introduce Diederich to the leading people. First and foremost there was Pastor Zillich, a member of Jadassohn's corps and a true-born German! They would call on him as soon as they had finished. They drank his health. Diederich also drank to his captain, the captain who, from being his stern superior, had become his best friend. "My term of military service is ​the year which I would least like to lose out of my life." All of a sudden, with flushed cheeks, he shouted: "And it is such noble memories which these Democrats would like to spoil for us!"
Old Buck! Diederich could not contain his rage as he stammered: "Such a creature would prevent us from serving in the army, saying that we are slaves! Because he once took part in a revolution.…"
"That is all over now," said Jadassohn.
"Are we all to get condemned to death on that account? If they had only chopped his head off! … And the Hohenzollerns, they say, are no use to us!"
"Certainly not to him," said Jadassohn taking a long drink.
"But I declare," continued Diederich rolling his eyes, "that I listened to all his vicious humbug only in order to find out what type of mind he has. I call you as witness, Herr Assessor! If that old schemer ever asserts that I am his friend, and that I approve of his infamous treason to the Emperor, then I will call upon you to witness that I protested this very day."
He broke into perspiration as he thought of the affair with the Building Commission and of the protection which he was to enjoy. … Suddenly he threw onto the table a small book, almost square in shape, and broke into a mocking laugh.
"He goes in for poetry also!"
Jadassohn turned over the pages. "Songs of the Athletes." "In Captivity." "All Hail to the Republic! " "By the lake lay a youth, sad to see" … "Quite so that's what they were. Sentimentalizing about jail birds while rocking the foundations of society. Revolutionary sentimentality, subversive ideas and flabby bearing. Thank God, we are differently constituted."
"Away—with your altar candles!" declaimed Jadassohn. "That sort of thing is for my friend Zillich. Now that he has finished his siesta, we can clear off."
They found the Pastor drinking coffee. He wanted immediately to send his wife and daughter out of the room, but Jadassohn gallantly detained the mistress of the house. He also tried to kiss the young lady's hand, but she turned her back on him. Diederich, who was rather tight, begged the ladies most urgently to stay and they did so. He explained to them that after Berlin Netzig seemed remarkably quiet. "The ladies are rather behind the times. I give you my word of honour, gnadiges Fratdein, you are the first person I have seen here who could easily stroll Unter den Linden without any one noticing that you were from Netzig." Then he learned that she had really been once in Berlin, and had even been to Ronacher's. Diederich profited by the occasion to recall a song he had heard there, but which he could only whisper into her ear.
"Unsre lieben siissen Dam'n, Zeigen alles, was sie ham'n."
As she gave him a bold glance he kissed her lightly on the neck. She looked at him beseechingly, whereupon he assured her with the utmost frankness that she was a nice little girl. With downcast eyes she fled to her mother who had been watching the entire proceedings. The Pastor was in earnest conversation with Jadassohn. He was complaining that church attendance in Netzig had fallen off terribly.
"On the third Sunday after Easter, just think of it! On the third Sunday after Easter, I had to preach to the sexton and three old ladies from the home for decayed gentlewomen. Everybody else had influenza."
Jadassohn replied: "In view of the lukewarm, not to mention hostile, attitude which the party in power adopts towards ​matters of church and religion, it is a wonder the three old ladies were there. Why do they not go to the Free Thought lectures of Doctor Heuteufel?"
The Pastor shot up out of his chair. He snorted so much that his beard looked like foam, and his frock-coat flapped wildly. "Herr Assessor!" he cried vehemently, "this man is my brother-in-law, and vengeance is mine saith the Lord. But also this person is my brother-in-law and the husband of my own sister, I can only pray to God, pray with clasped hands, that He shall strike him with the lightning of his vengeance. Otherwise, He will one day be obliged to rain fire and brimstone upon the whole of Netzig. Heuteufel, do you understand, gives coffee, coffee for nothing, to the people so that they will come to him and let him capture their souls. And then he tells them that marriage is not a sacrament, but a contract—as if I were ordering a suit of clothes." The Pastor laughed bitterly.
"Disgusting," said Diederich in a deep voice, and while Jadassohn was assuring the Pastor of the positive nature of his Christianity, Diederich began again to make obvious efforts to approach Käthchen by changing his chair. Fräulein Käthchen," he said, "I can assure you most seriously that to me marriage is really a sacrament." Käthchen replied:
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Dr. Hessling."
He turned hot all over. "Don't look at me so crossly!"
Käthchen sighed. "You are so frightfully designing. I am sure you are no better than Herr Assessor Jadassohn. Your sisters have told me all the things you used to do in Berlin, they are my best friends."
Then they would meet soon again?—Yes, at the Harmony Club. "But you needn't think that I believe anything you say. You arrived together with Guste Daimchen at the station."
Diederich asked what that proved, and said that he protested against any conclusions which might be drawn from ​that purely accidental fact. Besides, Fräulein Daimchen was already engaged.
"Oh, her!" sneered Käthchen. "That doesn't make any difference to her, she is such a shocking flirt."
The Pastor's wife also confirmed this. That very day she had seen Guste in patent-leather shoes and lilac-coloured stockings. That promised nothing good. Käthchen's lip curled.
"And then that inheritance of hers—"
This insinuation reduced Diederich to perturbed silence. The Pastor had just admitted to Jadassohn the necessity of discussing once again more fully with them the position of the Christian Church in Netzig. He asked his wife for his hat and coat. It was already dark on the staircase, and as the two others went in front Diederich had a chance to kiss Käthchen's neck again. She said languishingly: "Nobody in Netzig has a moustache that tickles like yours"—which flattered him at first, but immediately awoke in him painful suspicions. So he let her go and disappeared. Jadassohn was waiting for him downstairs and whispered: "Never say die! The old boy did not notice anything and the mother pretends not to." He winked impressively.
When they had passed St. Mary's Church the three men wanted to get to the market place, but the Pastor stood still and indicated something behind him with a movement of his head. "You gentlemen doubtless know the name of the alley to the left of the church round the corner. That dirty hole of an alley, or rather a certain house in it."
"Little Berlin," said Jadassohn, for the Pastor would not move on.
"Little Berlin," he repeated, laughing painfully, and again he shouted with a gesture of holy wrath, so that many people turned round: "Little Berlin … in the shadow of my church! Such a house! and the Town Council will not listen to me. They make fun of me. But they make fun of some one ​else,"—here the Pastor moved on again—"and He will not allow Himself to be made fun of."
Jadassohn was of that opinion. But, while his companions were arguing heatedly, Diederich saw Guste Daimchen approaching from the Rathaus. He raised his hat to her with formal politeness and she smiled disdainfully. It occurred to him that Käthchen Zillich was just as fair and that she also had that small, impertinently retrousse nose. As a matter of fact, one or the other would do. Guste, it is true, was more broadly built. "And she knows well how to take care of herself. She will slap your face before you know where you are." He turned round to look after Guste. From behind she looked extraordinarily round and she waddled. In that moment Diederich decided: either her or nobody!
The other two had eventually also noticed her. "Was that not the little daughter of Frau Daimchen?" the Pastor asked, adding: "Our Bethlehem Home for fallen girls is still waiting for the gifts of the generous, I wonder if Fräulein Daimchen is generous? People say she has inherited a million."
Jadassohn hastened to declare that this was greatly exaggerated. Diederich contradicted him, saying that he knew the circumstances. The deceased uncle had made much more out of chicory than you would think. He was so positive that the Assessor was forced to promise to have an inquiry made as to the truth by the authorities in Magdeburg. Diederich said no more, for he had achieved his purpose.
"Wolfgang?" queried Diederich. "I saw a lot of him in Berlin. He is living there with an actress."
The Pastor coughed disapprovingly. As they just reached the square on which the theatre stood he looked sternly across the building and said: "Little Berlin, it is true, is beside my church, but it is in a dark corner at least. This den of iniquity flaunts itself on the public square, and our sons and daughters rub sleeves with common prostitutes,"—he pointed to the stage door where some members of the company were standing.
Meanwhile they had turned into Kaiser Wilhelmstrasse and were obliged to salute various gentlemen who were just going into the Masonic Hall. When they had passed and had put on again the hats which they had so respectfully removed, Jadassohn said: "We shall have to keep an eye on the people who take part in that Masonic humbug. His Majesty most decidedly disapproves of it."
"So far as my brother-in-law Heuteufel is concerned," declared the Pastor, "even the most dangerous sect would not surprise me."
"Well, and what about Herr Lauer?" Diederich inquired. "A man who does not hesitate to share his profits with his workmen, is capable of anything."
"The worst of all," declared Jadassohn, "is Landgerichtsrat Fritzsche, who dares to show himself in that company, one of His Majesty's judges, arm in arm with Cohn, the money-lender. Vat does dat mean, Cohn?" Jadassohn mimicked, turning up the palms of his hands.
Diederich continued: "Since he and Frau Lauer …" He ​stopped short and began to explain that he could easily understand how these people always won their cases in the courts. "They stick together and close their ranks." Pastor Zillich muttered something about orgies which were said to be celebrated in that building, and at which unspeakable things had happened. Jadassohn smiled significantly:
"Well, it is fortunate that their windows are overlooked by Herr von Wulckow." And Diederich nodded approvingly at the government building on the opposite side of the street. Next door stood the military depot, in front of which a sentinel was marching up and down. "It does your heart good to see the glint of the rifle of one of those fine fellows," cried Diederich. "With them we can hold that gang in check."
As a matter of fact, the rifle did not shine, because it was dark. Groups of returning workmen were already making their way home through the evening crowd. Jadassohn proposed that they should go and take a drink at Klappsch's, round the corner. It was comfortable there, for at that hour there were no customers. Klappsch was also a loyal citizen, and while his daughter was bringing the beer he expressed his warmest thanks to the Pastor for the good work which he was doing for his youngsters in the Bible class. It was true that the eldest had again stolen some sugar, but he had not been able, in consequence, to sleep at night, and had confessed his sins to God so loudly that Klappsch had heard him and had given him a good hiding. From that the talk drifted to the government officials whom Klappsch supplied with lunch. He was able to report how they spent churchtime on Sundays. Jadassohn took notes while, at the same time, his hand disappeared behind Fräulein Klappsch. Diederich discussed with Pastor Zillich the founding of a Christian workman's club. "Any of my men who won't join will have to go," he promised. This prospect cheered up the Pastor. After the girl had brought beer and cognac several times he found himself in the same state of hopeful determination to ​which his two companions had attained in the course of the day.
"My brother-in-law Heuteufel," he cried, banging the table, "may preach as much as he likes about our being descended from monkeys. I shall get back my congregation inspite of him."
"Not only yours," Diederich assured him.
"Yes, there are too many churches in Netzig," the Pastor admitted. "Too few, man of God, too few," said Jadassohn sharply. He called Diederich to witness how things had developed in Berlin. There also the churches were standing empty until His Majesty intervened. He had issued a command to the city authorities: "See to it that churches are built in Berlin." Then they were built, religion became fashionable again, they got customers. The Pastor, the publican, Jadassohn and Diederich all grew enthusiastic over the profound piety of the monarch. Then a loud report was heard.
"Some one Has fired a shot!" Jadassohn jumped up first and they all turned pale as they looked at one another. Like a flash of lightning Diederich saw in his mind's eye the bony face of Napoleon Fischer, the machinist with the black beard through which his grey skin was visible. "The revolution! it has started!" he stammered. Outside was the patter of running feet, and suddenly they all seized their hats and ran out.
The people who had collected were standing in a frightened semicircle, from the corner of the military depot to the steps of the Masonic Hall. On the other side, where the circle was open, some one was lying face downwards in the middle of the street. The soldier, who had previously been marching up and down so gaily, was now standing motionless in the sentry box. His helmet was a little on one side and he was visibly pale. With his mouth wide open he was staring at the fallen figure, while he held his rifle by the barrel and let it drag along the ground. There was a muffled murmur ​from the crowd, consisting chiefly of workmen and women of the people. Suddenly a man's voice said very loudly: "Ah, ah!" Then there was a deep silence. Diederich and Jadassohn exchanged a glance of fear and understanding as to the critical nature of the occasion.
Down the street ran a policeman, and in front of him a girl, her dress flying in the wind, who cried while still some distance away: "There he is! the soldier fired!"
She came up, threw herself on her knees and shook the man. "Up! Do stand up!"
She waited. His feet seemed to move convulsively, but he lay there, his arms and legs stretched out over the pavement. Then she began to cry: "Karl!" There was a scream which made everybody start. The women joined in the crying, and several men pushed forward with clenched fists. The crowd had become denser. From between the cars, which had come to a halt, reinforcements overflowed. In the midst of the threatening mob the girl worked herself free, her loosened hair streaming, her face distorted with tears. It could be seen that she was screaming, but not a sound could be heard, for it was drowned in the general noise. The solitary policeman pushed the crowd back with outstretched arms, for they would have trodden on the prostrate figure. He shouted at them in vain, tramping on their toes, and, losing his head, he began to gaze around wildly for help.
It came. A window was opened in the government building, an immense beard appeared, and a voice was heard, a formidable bass voice, which reached the ears of every one above the outcry, like the rumbling of distant cannons, even when the words could not be understood.
"Wulckow," said Jadassohn. "At last."
"I forbid this!" thundered the voice. "Who dares to make this noise here in front of my house?" And as it became a little quieter: "Where is the sentry?"
Now, for the first time, most of the people noticed that the ​soldier had withdrawn into the sentry box, as deeply as possible so that only the barrel of his rifle projected. "Come out, my man!" the bass voice commanded from above. "You have done your duty. He provoked you. His Majesty will reward you for your bravery. Do you understand?"
Every one had understood and was dumb with amazement, including even the girl. All the more formidably he boomed.
"Disperse, or I'll have you shot!"
A moment passed and some had already begun to rim. The workmen broke up into groups, lingered … and then went a little further on, with downcast heads. The governor shouted down again:
"Paschke, go and get a doctor."
Then he slammed the window. At the entrance of the building, however, there was a movement of people. Gentlemen suddenly emerged to give orders, a mass of policemen was running about on all sides, pushing the people who still remained, and shouting on their own account. Diederich and his companions, who had stepped back around their corner, noticed some gentlemen standing on the steps of the Masonic Hall. Now Dr. Heuteufel was making his way between them. "I am a doctor," he said in a loud voice, as he went quickly across the street and bent over the wounded man. He turned him over, opened his waistcoat and pressed his ear to his chest. At that moment there was complete silence, even the police stopped shouting. But the girl stood there, leaning forward with her shoulders hunched as if she feared the threat of a blow, and with her fist clenched to her heart as if that was the heart which had stopped beating.
Dr. Heuteufel stood up. "The man is dead," he said. Simultaneously he noticed that the girl was tottering, and he made a move to seize her. But she stood erect again, looking down at the face of the dead man, and said simply: ​"Karl." More softly: "Karl." The doctor looked round and asked: "What's to become of this girl?"
Then Jadassohn stepped forward. "I am Assessor Jadassohn of the Public Prosecutor's Office. This girl must be removed. As her lover provoked the sentry, there is ground for suspicion that she was concerned in the offence. Inquiries will be instituted."
He made a sign to two policemen who seized the girl. Dr. Heuteufel raised his voice: "Herr Assessor, as a doctor I certify that the condition of this girl will not permit her arrest." Somebody said: "Why don't you arrest the corpse also!" But Jadassohn croaked: "Herr Lauer, I forbid all criticism of such measures as I may officially take."
Meanwhile Diederich had shown signs of great excitement. "Oh! … Ah! … Why, that is—" He was quite pale, and began again: "Gentlemen. … Gentlemen, I am in a position to … I know these people, the man and the girl. My name is Dr. Hessling. Up till to-day they were both employed in my factory. I had to discharge them on account of indecent behaviour in public."
"Ah, indeed!" said Jadassohn. Pastor Zillich made a movement. "This is truly the hand of God," he remarked. Herr Lauer's face went deep red under his grey beard, his burly figure was shaking with anger.
"We won't be so sure about the hand of God. What seems likely, Dr. Hessling, is that the man took his dismissal to heart and was guilty of disorderly conduct. He had a wife and perhaps children, too."
"They were not married at all," said Diederich, indignant in his turn. "He told me so himself."
"What difference does that make?" Lauer asked. The Pastor raised his hands in horror. "Have we reached the stage," he cried, "when it makes no difference whether God's moral law is followed or not?"
Lauer declared that it was unseemly to argue about moral ​laws in the street when somebody had been shot with the connivance of the authorities. He turned to the girl and offered her employment in his workshop. Meanwhile an ambulance had come up and the dead man was raised from the ground. When they were placing him in the car the girl started out of her stupor, threw herself upon the stretcher, tore it from the grasp of the bearers before they could prevent her, and it fell on the pavement. Clasping the dead man convulsively, and with wild screams she rolled on the ground. With great difficulty she was separated from the corpse and placed in a cab. The assistant surgeon, who had accompanied the ambulance, drove off with her.
Jadassohn advanced threateningly towards Lauer, who was moving off with Heuteufel and the other members of the Masonic Lodge. "One moment, please. You stated just now that with the connivance of the authorities—I call these gentlemen to witness that that was your expression—with the connivance of the authorities somebody had been shot here. I call upon you to answer whether this was intended as a criticism of the authorities."
"Do you really, now," replied Lauer, looking at him. "I suppose you would like to have me jailed, too?"
"At the same time," continued Jadassohn, in loud cutting tones, "I draw your attention to the fact that the conduct of a sentry, firing upon a person who molests him, was defined in authoritative quarters as praiseworthy and justifiable, a few months ago in the Luck affair. It was rewarded by marks of official distinction and approval. Beware how you criticise the actions of the supreme authorities."
"I have not done so," said Lauer. "I have merely expressed my disapproval of the gentleman there with the dangerous moustache."
"What?" asked Diederich, who was still staring at the pavement where the man had fallen, which was stained with ​blood. Finally he understood that it was he who had been challenged.
"His Majesty wears a moustache like that. It is a German fashion. Moreover, I decline all discussion with an employer who encourages revolution."
Lauer opened his mouth in a rage, although old Buck's brother, Heuteufel, Cohn and Judge Fritzsche tried to drag him off. Jadassohn and Pastor Zillich ranged themselves beside Diederich, ready for the fray. Then a detachment of infantry arrived at a quick march and closed off the street, which was quite empty. The lieutenant in charge called upon the gentlemen to move on. They lost no time in obeying, but they observed how the lieutenant went up to the sentry on duty and shook his hand.
"Bravo!" said Jadassohn, and Dr. Heuteufel added: "Tomorrow, I suppose, it will be the turn of the , captain, the major and the colonel to pronounce his eulogy and reward the fellow with money."
"Quite right!" said Jadassohn.
"But—" Heuteufel stood still—"gentlemen, let us understand one another. What is the sense in all that? Just be cause this lout of a peasant could not understand a joke. A joking reply, a good-humoured laugh, and he would disarm the workman who wanted to challenge him, his comrade, a poor devil like himself, instead of that, he is ordered to shoot. And afterwards come the grandiloquent phrases." Judge Fritzsche agreed, and counselled moderation. Then said Diederich, still pale and with a voice that trembled:
"The people must learn to feel power! The life of one man is not too much to pay for the sensation of imperial power!"
"Provided it is not your life," retorted Heuteufel.
Heuteufel shrugged his shoulders. While they continued on their way Diederich, who was a little behind with Pastor Zillich, tried to explain his feelings to the latter. Breathing heavily with emotion, he said: "For me, the incident partakes of the sublime, of the majestic, so to speak. That a person who is impertinent can be simply shot down in the public street, without trial,—think of it! It brings something heroic into the dulness of civil life. It shows people what power means."
"When exercised by the grace of God," added the Pastor.
"Of course. That's just it. That's why the thing gives me a real sense of religious exaltation. From time to time one notices evidence of the existence of higher things, of powers to which we are all subjected. For example, in the Berlin riots last February, when His Majesty ventured into the seething tumult with such phenomenal coolness—I can tell you—" As the others had stopped in front of the Ratskeller, Diederich raised his voice. "If the Emperor on that occasion had ordered the soldiers to close off Unter den Linden, and to fire on the whole crowd of us, straight into the middle of us, I say…"
"You would have shouted hooray," concluded Dr. Heuteufel.
"Would you not?" asked Diederich, attempting a flashing glance. "I do hope that we are all inspired by national feeling!"
Herr Lauer was on the point of again replying incautiously, but was restrained. Instead, Cohn said: "I, too, am patriotic. But do we pay our army for such pleasantries?" Diederich looked him up and down.
"Your army, do you say? Herr Cohn, the department store owner, has an army. Did you hear that, gentlemen?" He laughed loftily. "Hitherto I have only heard of the army of His Majesty the Emperor!"
Dr. Heuteufel murmured something about the rights of the ​people, but in the hectoring tone of a drill sergeant Diederich declared that he had no use for a mere figurehead of an Emperor. A people without stern discipline would fall into decay. … By this time they had reached the cellar where Lauer and his friends were already seated. "Well, are you going to sit with us?" Heuteufel asked Diederich. "In the last analysis, I suppose, we are all liberals." Then Diederich solemnly declared: "Liberals, of course. But where great national issues are concerned I am not in favour of half measures. In such matters there are for me only two parties, which His Majesty himself has defined: Those who are with him and those who are against him. Therefore, it is pretty evident to me that my place is not at your table."
He made a formal bow and went over to an unoccupied table. Jadassohn and Pastor Zillich followed him. People seated in the neighbourhood turned round, and a general silence ensued. In the exuberance of what he had been through Diederich conceived the idea of ordering champagne. At the other table there was whispering, then some one moved his chair. It was Fritzsche. He said good-bye, came over to Diederich's table to shake hands with his party and went out.
"He was well advised to do that," remarked Jadassohn. "He recognised in time that his position was untenable." Diederich answered: "I should have preferred an honest break. No one who has a clear conscience in matters of patriotism has any reason to fear those people." But Pastor Zillich seemed embarrassed. "The righteous man must suffer much," said he. "You have no idea what an intriguer Heuteufel is. God knows what atrocious story he will tell about us to-morrow." At this Diederich gave a start. Dr. Heuteufel was one of the initiated in that still obscure incident of his life, when he tried to escape military service! In a mocking letter he had refused to give a certificate of ill-health. He held him in the hollow of his hand and could destroy him! In his ​sudden terror Diederich began to fear revelations from his school-days, when Dr. Heuteufel had painted his throat and accused him of being a coward. He broke into a sweat, but called all the more loudly for lobster and champagne.
The Masonic brethren at the other table had worked themselves up again over the violent death of the young workman. What were the military and the Junkers thinking about when they ordered it? They acted as if they were in a conquered country! When they had become more heated they rose to the point of demanding that the conduct of the State should be in the hands of the civilians, who, as a matter of fact, did all the work. Lauer wanted to know in what respect the ruling caste was any better than other people. "They are not even superior in race," he declared, "they are all infested with Jews, even including the princely family." But he added: "I mean no offence to my friend, Cohn."
It was time to intervene, Diederich felt. He hastily swallowed another glass, then stood up, marched heavily into the middle of the room beneath the Gothic chandelier, and said sharply:
"Herr Lauer, allow me to ask whether German princes are included in the princely houses which, according to your personal opinion, are infested with Jews?"
Quietly, and in an almost friendly fashion, Lauer replied: "Why, certainly."
"Indeed," said Diederich, drawing a deep breath before delivering his final stroke. The entire restaurant was all attention as he asked:
"Amongst these Jewish princely families in Germany do you include one which I do not need to specify?" Diederich said this with an air of triumph. He was perfectly certain that his opponent would now lose his head, stammer and crawl under the table. But he found himself met with unexpected cynicism.
Now it was Diederich's turn to lose his bearings from sheer horror. He looked around as if asking whether his ears had deceived him. The expressions of those present assured him that he had not. He muttered that time would show what would be the consequences of this statement of Herr Lauer, and withdrew in tolerable order into the friendly camp. Simultaneously Jadassohn appeared again upon the scene, after having disappeared no one knew where.
"I was not an eye-witness of what had just happened here," he said at once. "I want to make this point absolutely clear, as it may be of the greatest importance in the later developments of the case." He then obtained an exact account of what had happened. Diederich related the story with great heat. He claimed as his service that he had cut off the enemy's retreat. "Now we have him in our power!"
"Certainly," confirmed Jadassohn, who had been taking notes.
The two gentlemen clasped hands fervently. They gazed into each other's eyes with mute promises of strength and loyalty. "Sir," said the major, "you have behaved like a real German patriot." Bowing and scraping, they settled their chairs in their places, presented their glasses to one another, and finally drank. Diederich immediately ordered another bottle. The major emptied his glass as regularly as it was filled, and between drinks he assured them that he too could take his stand when it was a question of German loyalty. "Even though my King has now relieved me of active service—"
"The major," Jadassohn explained, "was last stationed at the military depot."
"—I have still got the heart of an old soldier"—striking his breast—"and I shall always oppose unpatriotic tendencies, with fire and sword!" As he shouted these words his fist came down heavily upon the table. At that moment Herr Cohn hastened out behind his back, pulling his hat down upon his head. In order that his departure should look less like a retreat Herr Buck's brother first went to the lavatory. "Ha, ha!" said Jadassohn. Then in a louder tone: "Major, the enemy is in flight." Pastor Zillich was still uneasy.
"Heuteufel is still there. I do not trust him."
As Diederich ordered the third bottle he looked round contemptuously at Lauer and Dr. Heuteufel, who were sitting alone and staring shamefacedly at their beer glasses.
"We have the power," said he, "and those gentlemen over there are well aware of it. They have already resigned themselves to the fact that the sentry fired. They now look as if they were afraid that it would be their turn next. And their turn will come!" Diederich explained that he would lodge a complaint with the Public Prosecutor against Herr Lauer because of his previous statement. "And I shall see," Jadassohn assured him, "that the complaint is followed up. I shall ​personally appear at the trial. You gentlemen know that I am not concerned as a witness, as I was not present when the thing happened."
"We will clean out the Augean stables," said Diederich, and he began about the Veterans' Association, to which every true patriot and loyal supporter of the Emperor would have to rally. The major assumed a professional air. Yes, indeed, he was on the committee of the Association. They served their King as best they could; he was ready to propose Diederich as a member, so that the loyal element might be strengthened; hitherto, there was no use denying it, the damned Democrats predominated even there. In the major's opinion, the authorities were far too considerate towards the peculiar conditions in Netzig. He himself, if he had been appointed commanding officer of the District, would have kept a sharp check on the officers of the Reserve at the elections, he guaranteed that. "But, unfortunately, my King did not give me the opportunity, so—" In order to console him Diederich filled his glass again. While the major was drinking Jadassohn leaned over to Diederich and whispered: "Don't believe a word of it! He is a spineless creature and crawls before old Buck. We must make an impression on him."
Diederich proceeded to do so at once. "I may tell you that I have already made formal arrangements with Governor von Wulckow." And as the major opened his eyes in astonishment: "Next year, major, come the Reichstag elections. Then we loyal citizens will have a heavy task. The fight is already on."
"Forward," said the major grimly. "Prost!"
"The same to you!" replied Diederich. "Gentlemen, however powerful the subversive elements in the country may be, we are stronger, for we have one agitator whom our opponents have not, and that is His Majesty."
"His Majesty has issued the command to every part of his country, and therefore to Netzig, that the citizens shall at last awake from their slumbers. That is what we want, too!"
Jadassohn, the major and Pastor Zillich manifested their wakefulness by thumping the table, shouting their applause, and toasting one another. The major shouted: "To us officers His Majesty said: 'These are the gentlemen upon whom I can rely!'"
"And to us," cried Pastor Zillich, "he said, if the Church has need of princes—"
They abandoned all restraint, for the restaurant was quite empty, Lauer and Heuteufel had slipped away unnoticed, and the gas had been turned out at the end of the room.
"He also said—" Diederich puffed out his cheeks until they were fiery red and his moustache seemed to stick into his eyes, but still he thundered impressively. "We stand under the emblem of commerce, and so we do. Under his exalted leadership we are determined to get trade."
"And to make a career!" Jadassohn crowed. "His Majesty has said that everybody is welcome who wishes to help him. Does anybody suggest that this does not include me?" he asked in a challenging tone, his bloodshot eyes gleaming. The major bellowed once more:
"My King can rely on me for a dead certainty. He dismissed me too soon, as an honest German citizen I am not afraid to say that to his face. He will have bitter need of me when trouble begins. I have no intention of only firing off crackers at club balls for the rest of my life. I was at Sedan!"
"God bless me soul, so was I!" cried a shrill piping voice out of the invisible depths, and out the shadows appeared a little old man with long grey hair. He tottered up, his spectacles glitering, his cheeks glowing, and he shouted: "Major Kunze! Well, well! my old pal, you are as well as when we ​were together in France. That's what I always say: 'Live well and the longer the better!'" The major introduced him. "Professor Kühnchen, of the High School." The little man entered into lively explanations as to how he had come to be forgotten there in the dark. Earlier he had been with some people. "I suppose I must have dozed off a bit, and then the damned fellows left me in the lurch." His sleep had not dulled the fire of what he had drunk, and with boastful cries he reminded the major of their mutual achievements in the iron year. "The frank-tiroors!" he yelled, and moisture ran, out of his wrinkled, toothless mouth. "Those were the boy-os! As sure as you gentlemen are looking at me, I have still got a stiff finger where a frank-tiroor bit me, just because I wanted to slit his throat a bit with my sword. A dirty trick the fellow played on me!" He showed the finger round the table and elicited cries of admiration. Diederich's feeling of enthusiasm was frankly mixed with fear. Involuntarily he saw himself in the position of the franc-tireur: the fiery little man was kneeling on his chest and pointing the blade at his throat. He had to go outside for a moment.
Kühnchen had to interrupt his inventions, he was choking with laughter, while the whole table boomed in unison.
Kühnchen recovered. "The treacherous swine had also caught us napping! And the women! Upon my word, gentlemen, there is nothing can touch the French women for viciousness. They poured boiling water on our heads. Now, I ask you, was that lady-like? When the house was on fire they threw the children out of the window, and expected us to catch them. Nice, wasn't it? But foolish! On our bayonets we caught the little devils. And then the women!" Kühnchen bent his gouty fingers as if they held the butt end of a gun and looked up as if there was still some one to be empaled. His glasses shone and he continued to lie. "At last a real fat one came along. She could not get through the window frontways, so she tried if she could go backwards. But you didn't know your Kiihnchen, my child. I wasn't slow in getting up on the shoulders of two comrades, and with my bayonet I tickled her fat French—"
The last word was drowned in the applause. The professor added: "Every Sedan anniversary I tell the story in noble words to my class. The youngsters must learn what heroic forebears they had."
They were all agreed that this could only strengthen the loyal sentiments of the younger generation, and they toasted Kühnchen. In their enthusiasm none had noticed that a newcomer had approached the table. Suddenly Jadassohn saw the modest grey figure of a man in a long military cape, and made a friendly sign to him. "Why, come along, Herr Rothgroschen!" In the exuberance of his spirit Diederich asked overbearingly: "Who are you?"
The stranger answered cringingly: "Rothgroschen, editor of the 'Netzig Journal.'"
They all laughed and the editor smiled humbly.
"His Majesty has described your type," said Diederich. "Well, come and sit down."
He poured out champagne for him, and Rothgroschen drank it gratefully. He looked round in a cool but shy manner at the company, whose self-consciousness had been greatly heightened by the empty bottles which lay on the ground. They soon forgot him. He waited patiently till somebody asked him how he had blown in there in the middle of the night. "I had to make the paper ready," he explained with an air of importance. "To-morrow morning you will want to read in the paper all about the workman who was shot."
"We know that better than you," cried Diederich. "You have to write it up like a starving penny-a-liner."
The editor smiled apologetically and listened dutifully while they all related at the same time what had happened. When the noise subsided he continued: "As that gentleman there—"
"Dr. Hessling," said Diederich sharply.
"Rothgroschen," murmured the editor. "As you mentioned the name of the Emperor just now, it will interest these gentlemen to know that he has made another proclamation."
"I will not stand any joking!" shouted Diederich. The editor bowed and placed his hand on his heart. "There is a letter from the Emperor."
"I suppose," Diederich asked, "that could only have reached your desk through some infamous betrayal of confidence." Rothgroschen extended a deprecating hand. "The Emperor himself has designed it for publication. You'll read it to-morrow in the newspapers. I have a proof here."
"Go ahead, Doctor," the major ordered. Diederich cried: "What is that? Doctor? Are you a Doctor?" But no one was interested in anything but the letter. They snatched the proof from the editor's hand. "Hurrah!" cried Jadassohn, who could still read without much difficulty. "His Majesty has definitely identified himself with the Christian Church." ​Pastor Zillich rejoiced so heartily that he got a hiccup. "That's one in the eye for Heuteufel! At last that impudent scientist, hie, will get what's coming to him. These fellows dare to discuss the question of divine revelation, which I myself, hic, can hardly understand, and I have studied theology!" Professor Kühnchen threw the proof sheets up into the air. "Gentlemen, if I do not make my class read that letter, and set it as a subject for composition, then my name is not Kühnchen!"
Diederich was very serious. "Hammurabi was truly an instrument of God! I should like to know who would deny it." He glared round angrily. Rothgroschen bent his shoulders. "And Emperor William the Great," Diederich continued, "I insist on him. If he was not an instrument of the Lord, then the Lord does not know what an instrument is!"
"That is absolutely my opinion," the major confirmed. Fortunately nobody contradicted him, for Diederich was determined to go to extremes. Clinging to the table he staggered up from his chair. "What about our magnificent young Emperor?" he asked threateningly. From every side the answer came: "Personality, impulsive … versatile … an original thinker." Diederich was not satisfied.
"I move that he is also an instrument!"
The motion was passed unanimously.
"And I further move that His Majesty be informed by telegram of this resolution!"
"I second the motion!" bellowed the major. Diederich declared: "Passed unanimously and with enthusiasm!" He flopped back into his seat. Kiihnchen and Jadassohn assisted one another in drawing up the telegram. They read out what they had concocted.
"A meeting held in the Ratskeller at Netzig—"
"Gathered in session," corrected Diederich. They continued:
"Loyal, hie, and Christian," added Pastor Zillich.
"Are you gentlemen really serious?" asked Rothgroschen in a voice of gentle entreaty. "I thought it was a joke."
Then Diederich lost his temper.
"We do not trifle with sacred things! Do you want me to prove it to you in acts as well as words, you broken-down scholar?"
As Rothgroschen's gestures indicated complete submission, Diederich quieted down again and said: "Your health!" The major shouted as if he would burst: "We are the gentlemen on whom His Majesty can rely!" Jadassohn begged him to be quiet and began to read.
"This meeting of loyal and Christian citizens, gathered in session at the Ratskeller in Netzig, humbly extends to Your Majesty its unanimous and enthusiastic approval of Your Majesty's Royal testimony to revealed religion. We register our deepest loathing of revolution in every form, and in the courageous act of a sentry in Netzig to-day we greet the gratifying evidence that Your Majesty, no less than Hammurabi and Emperor William the Great, is the instrument of Almighty God." Jadassohn gave a flattered smile when they all applauded.
"Let us sign!" cried the major. "Or has any gentleman anything to say?" Rothgroschen cleared his throat. "With the utmost deference, just one point."
"I cannot allow that," said Diederich. The alcohol had given the editor courage, and he rolled on his seat, sniggering senselessly.
"I have nothing to say against the sentry, gentlemen. In fact, I have always held that soldiers are there to shoot."
"Well, what then?"
"Yes, but how do you know that the Emperor thinks so?"
"Of course, he does! Look at the Luck case."
"Precedents—he, he—are all very well, but we know that the Emperor is an original thinker and—he, he—and very ​impulsive. He does not like to be forestalled. If I were to write in the paper that you, Dr. Hessling, should be appointed minister, then—he, he—you would certainly never be appointed."
"The perverted reasoning of a Jew," cried Jadassohn. The editor became indignant. "Every time there is a High Church festival I write a column and a half of appropriate sentiment. The sentry, however, may be accused of murder. Then we shall have put our foot in it."
A silence ensued. Abstractedly the major laid the pencil on the table. Diederich seized it. "Are we loyal citizens?" and he signed his name furiously. Then the enthusiasm was renewed. Rothgroschen wanted to sign his name second.
"To the telegraph-office!"
Diederich gave orders to have the bill sent to him the next day and they left the restaurant. All of a sudden Rothgroschen was full of the wildest hopes. "If I can get the Emperor's reply it will be a real journalistic scoop."
The major bellowed: "Now we shall see whether I am to continue arranging charity bazaars!"
Pastor Zillich could already see his church swarming with people and Heuteufel being stoned by the mob. Kühnchen was dreaming of the streets of Netzig bathed in blood. "Does any one dare to question my loyalty to the Emperor?" crowed Jadassohn. And Diederich: "Old Buck had better look out! and Klüsing and Gausenfeld, too! We are awakening from our sleep!"
The gentlemen held themselves very straight, and from time to time one of them shot forward unexpectedly. They made a great noise with their sticks on the closed shutters of the shops, and they sang the "Watch on the Rhine" without making the slightest effort to keep in time with one another. At the corner of the Courthouse stood a policeman, but fortunately he did not move. "Do you want anything, little man?" should Rothgroschen, who was oblivious of all ​consequences. "We are telegraphing to the Emperor!" In front of the Post Office an accident befell Pastor Zillich, who had the weakest stomach. While the others endeavoured to ease his plight, Diederich rang the bell and handed in the telegram. When the postal official had read it, he looked hesitatingly at Diederich, but the latter glared so fiercely that he shrank back and did his duty. Meanwhile Diederich, without any reason, continued to glare and strike an attitude as if he were the Emperor when an aide-de-camp reported the heroic deed of the sentry, and the prime minister handed him the telegram of greeting. Diederich felt the helmet on his head, he tapped the sword at his side and said: "I am very powerful!" The telegraphist thought he was making some complaint and counted his change again. Diederich took the money, went up to a desk and scribbled some lines on a piece of paper. He put it in his pocket and returned to his companions.
"Not only that telegram," he whispered sharply. "I have another one." He drew a piece of paper out of his pocket. "The night telegraphist is an old acquaintance of mine, and he gave it to me. You must promise me the utmost discretion as to its origin, otherwise the man will lose his post."
As Rothgroschen at once promised everything, Diederich continued without looking at the paper:
"It is addressed to the military depot and must be communicated by the colonel himself to the sentry who shot the workman. It reads as follows: 'For your valour on the field of honour against the domestic enemy we are pleased to extend our approval and hereby promote you to the rank of lance-corporal. …' Here, look for yourself"—and Diederich handed the paper to the editor. But Rothgroschen did not look at it, he only stared at Diederich in blank amazement, at his adamant bearing, at his moustache pointing upwards and his flashing eyes.