"Really! And do you say that so composedly to my face?"
"Am I to deny the truth?"
"And since when have you been a member of that party?"
"For four years."
"The thing started, then, in Berlin: I thought as much. And you have actually allowed yourself to be thus ensnared. To be sure you were very young and inexperienced, but still I would have expected you to be wiser."
One could see that the young man was wounded by the manner in which he was spoken to. Calmly, but with sharper intonation, he replied: "Those are your views, Herr Dernburg; I regret that mine differ from them."
"And it is not for me to disturb myself about them, you think," supplemented Dernburg. "There you are mistaken, though. I do concern myself about the political opinions of my employés. But I do not condescend to enter into explanations with them. Whoever does not like Odensburg can quit. I force nobody to stay; but he who does remain has to submit absolutely to its regulations. Either----or! There is no third way here."
"Then I shall be obliged to choose that 'or,'" said Egbert coldly.
"Will it be so easy for you to leave us?"
The young man looked down moodily.