"I, myself," was the quiet reply.
"And you expected me to approve them and put my name to them?"
"I expect every thing of my future son-in-law," Nordheim declared, with sharp emphasis.
"Then you have misunderstood me. I cannot sign the estimates."
"Wolfgang!" There was an evident menace in Nordheim's tone.
"I will not sign them, I say. I never will lend my name to a falsehood."
"You dare to use such language to me?" the president exclaimed, angrily.
"What other language could be used if I should sanction estimates which I know to be false?" Wolfgang asked, with bitterness. "I am the engineer-in-chief, my word is decisive for the company and for the stockholders, who are utterly ignorant in the matter. The responsibility is mine alone."
"Your word could never be questioned," Nordheim interposed. "I had no idea you were such a martinet. You know nothing of business, or you would see that I, in my position, could not possibly venture what I do were there any danger. The figures are so combined that it is impossible to prove an--error from them, and I have explanations prepared for every emergency. No one can blame either you or myself."
At this assertion a smile of infinite scorn hovered upon Elmhorst's lips: "That was certainly the last thing to occur to me! We do indeed misunderstand each other. You fear discovery, I fear the fraud. In short, I will have nothing to do with a lie, and if I refuse my signature it cannot be told."