"So you do not know that the young man has refused the money altogether?"
"Re--refused?" cried Berkow, starting back.
"Refused?" repeated Arthur. "Why?"
"Probably because it offended him to be put off with a sum of money offered through a third person, while those whom he had saved did not think it worth their while to add even a word of thanks. I have made good this latter negligence, but I could not persuade him to accept the smallest thing. It does not seem as though the Director had managed the matter so 'admirably.'"
Arthur bit his lip. He knew these words were meant for him, though they were spoken to his father.
"It appears, then, you sent for him yourself?" he asked.
"Certainly."
"I wish you had left it undone," said Berkow, somewhat irritated. "This Hartmann is pointed out to me on all sides as the chief promoter of that revolutionary spirit which I am about to meet with the utmost severity. I see now that too much has not been said about him. If this fellow dares to refuse such a sum, because it has not been paid to him with all the ceremony his mightiness demands, he may well be capable of anything. I must remind you, Eugénie, that there are certain considerations my daughter-in-law must keep in mind even when she is giving a proof of her kind feeling."
The old contemptuous look played about Eugénie's lips. Remembering the compulsion to which she had been subjected, she felt but little disposed to yield to her father-in-law's wishes, and the bitter thought of it rising within her made her overlook the real justice of what he said.
"I am sorry, Herr Berkow," she answered, icily, "that other considerations must have weight with me besides any your daughter-in-law may be bound to regard. This was an exceptional case, and you must allow me to act on my own judgment in such matters both now and for the future."