Finn rose. Cordt put his arm over his shoulder and they paced the room together.
“I had so many dreams, Finn. And I gained such confidence, because my own happiness was shattered and I had you. I had become an old man, but my mind was not blunted. I had suffered shipwreck, but I was not afraid of the sea. I believed in life ... in God, if you like.”
They did not walk well together and Cordt removed his arm. Finn sat down in his chair again and listened. Cordt went on walking:
“Then came the days which you know ... the days of the present.... You grew up into the quiet man you are. Your eyes looked heavily upon life, you shrank back timidly when you saw that there was fire and smoke on earth.... You kept your scutcheon untarnished, but that is easily done, when one doesn’t fight. You were never in places where one does not wish to be seen ... that is true. But you never went outside your door, Finn ... never. There was no fire in your blood, no desire in your thoughts. You were tired, Finn ... merely tired.... I grew frightened for you.... As the years passed, you had become more to me than a son. You were not only flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone ... you were a link in the human chain that goes on through the ages, ever onward. Your hand was in mine, but your life was more precious than mine. For you had to carry a greater burden and to carry it into new ways.... Remember, Finn, I had been on the mountain and seen through the mist. It was more than the question of an inheritance, more than family pride and family loyalty. You and I were allied in a great cause. And I sat with the map before me and followed the course of the battle ... like an old soldier, who can no longer sally forth himself, but who has his son and his colors and his emperor under fire.... Remember how I had arrived at where I was. Remember what I had lost, what I had let go, how completely I had sacrificed myself for you. I had you, Finn ... had I anything else?... When I, then, became frightened for you, I plunged into my wonderful treasure and endowed you lavishly. I told you the legend of the old house and thought it would call you to arms, like the blast of the bugle over the camp. I revealed your father’s and your mother’s fate to you, that you might see how people fight for happiness. I sent you out into the world, where life is bigger and stronger than at home, so that life might make you into a man.... But never ... never did I put any constraint upon you. Never did I usurp the place of Providence.... And you turned over the pages of the picture-book and came home paler than before and wearier. The old room was merely a charming poem to you, that sang you into deeper dreams. Up there ... where the strong men of our race met their wives, when the sun went down upon the business of the day, and talked gladly and earnestly when their hearts impelled them to ... there you sit, alone, all day long, with your slack hands.”
Then he laid his hands firmly on Finn’s shoulders. And Finn looked up with moist eyes and quivering mouth.
“To-day, Finn, I have given you your inheritance. From to-day, I look upon you as of age. You were such that one could not use coercion with you ... and, in fact, there was none that wanted to use it. Nor could one be angry with you ... you were the same ... it was the same ... always. To-day, that is past. Go out and buy yourself a house and take a wife and have children by her. And remember that, if there were some in the family that fell, there was none that flinched.”
“Father.... I understand you ... but I cannot do what you want.”
Cordt took a step back and tossed his thick hair from his forehead:
“You pale people understand everything, because no faith blinds your eyes: you are so kind and clever, you think. You judge leniently, you do not judge at all, you know that the truth is nowhere and everywhere. You justify every silly thought you have entertained ... you sit for all time and contemplate your navel ... and then you let the murderer go and the thief escape. God help you poor wretches! The stupidest, the most ignorant dervish is cleverer and kinder than you!”
Finn wanted to say something, but Cordt made a preventive gesture with his hand: