"I am master in my own house and I always thrash my apprentices. He is an apprentice and will be employed in the editorial office later on. That's what's going to be done, although there are people who imagine that a paper can only be properly edited by a man who has been to college. Speak up, Gustav, are you learning newspaper work? Answer, but tell the truth, or...."
Before the boy had time to reply, the door was opened and a head looked in—a very striking head, and certainly not one that might have been expected in such a place; but it was a well-known head; it had been painted five times.
At the sight of it the editor strapped his belt round him, hastily put on his coat, bowed and smiled.
The visitor asked whether the editor was disengaged? He received a satisfactory reply, and the last remnant of the working man disappeared when a quick movement swept the communard's cap off the editor's head.
Both men went into an inner office and the door closed behind them.
"I wonder what the Count's after?" said Ygberg, with the air of a schoolboy, when the master had left the class-room.
"I don't wonder in the least," said Falk; "I think I know the kind of rascal he is, and the kind of rascal the editor is. But I am surprised to find that you have changed from a mere blockhead into an infamous wretch, and that you lend yourself to these disgraceful acts."
"Don't lose your temper, my dear fellow! You were not at the House last night?"
"No! In my opinion Parliament is a farce, except in so far as private interests are concerned. What about the 'Triton'?"
"The question was put to the vote, and it was resolved that the Government, in view of the greatness, the patriotism, which characterized the enterprise, should take over the debentures while the society went into liquidation, that is to say, settled the current affairs."