"Upon me?"
"Yes, sir. I might have paid you back for the way in which you paid me off in my pupil's presence; I might have told you that free labor—I abstain from using the word love, and simply confine myself to refer to such work as one man will do freely for another—can never be paid. I suppressed my feelings, because I wished that your son should love and respect you more than he does other people, than even myself."
Sonnenkamp clenched his fists. He stared at Eric for awhile, but soon looked down; he had to exert great self-control in order not to betray that he trembled.
At last he said,—
"I don't know what you mean by some expressions you have used, and I don't want to know. But I am the man to put a bullet through the forehead of him who attempts-—-"
"I very readily comprehend your excitement," said Eric, quietly straightening himself up and looking Sonnenkamp coolly in the face.
"Who are you? Who am I?" asked Sonnenkamp, while his features were strangely distorted.
"I am your son's tutor, and I know the accountableness of my position; I am in your service; this is your house, you can turn me out of it at once."
"I will not do that—not that! Have I said that I would? I must only explain myself to you, and you must explain yourself to me. Have you not said to Roland that the time will come, or has already come, when there would no longer be any private property?"
Eric assured him that he had not the remotest purpose of doing anything of the kind; he was sorry that he made use of the illustration, and regretted Roland's misconception.