There was such convincing truth in his words that Ernst was silent. He to whom luxury was a necessity of existence could hardly have withstood temptation; but because he could not help the conviction that this was so, did he all the more detest the man who had come off conqueror in the fiercest of all battles,--the conflict with self.
"And now go, and hold your betrothed to her promise," Wolfgang went on, still more bitterly. "She will not break it, nor will she forgive me for what has been. There you are right. I have paid for my wrong-doing with my happiness. Force Erna to bestow upon you her hand; her love you cannot gain, for that belongs to me,--to me alone!"
"Ah, you dare----!" Ernst began, furiously, but paused before the cold, proud triumph in the eyes that met his own.
"Well? upon what ground now would you quarrel with me? That I love your betrothed is hardly an insult; that I am beloved you cannot pardon. I never knew it myself before to-day."
Waltenberg looked as if he would fain have flown at the throat of the man who thus uttered what could not be gainsaid; in a voice half stifled by passion be rejoined, "Then you can easily conceive that I shall hardly consent to share the love of my betrothed with another,--with a living rival at least."
Elmhorst shrugged his shoulders: "Is this a challenge?"
"Yes, and the affair had best be concluded as soon as possible. I will send Herr Gronau to you to-morrow to make the necessary arrangements, and I hope you will agree that to-morrow shall decide----"
"Not at all," Elmhorst interrupted him. "I shall have no time to-morrow, nor the day after."
"No time for an affair of honour?"
"No, Herr Waltenberg. In fact, I have no great opinion of these affairs of honour which consist in trying to put an end as quickly as possible to a man whom one hates. But there are cases in which one must be false to his convictions rather than incur the imputation of cowardice. So I am ready. But we workingmen have an honour of our own apart from that cherished as such by the favoured idlers of society, and mine demands that I should not expose myself to the possibility of being shot before the task which I have undertaken to fulfil has been accomplished. In eight or ten days the Wolkenstein bridge will be finished,--I shall then have completed my task; I shall have seen my work accomplished. Then I shall be at your disposal, but not an hour sooner. Until then you will be obliged to curb your impatience."