"Farewell? Forever? Doctor, I verily believe you are out of your senses."
The young physician was wont to be all patience and gentleness, but at this interference with his most sacred emotions he lost his temper so thoroughly that he tried to be rude.
"Herr Gronau, let me reiterate my request that you will no longer meddle in my affairs. Do you suppose that I can ever call by the name of father a man who so injured my father? You understand nothing of any refinement of sentiment."
"No, I suppose not; but all the more do I comprehend what is practical, and this matter is as simple as possible. You possess a means of forcing Nordheim to consent to your marriage with his daughter, whom you love. Use it and marry her. Anything else is nonsense, and that's an end of it!"
"My opinion precisely," said a voice from the doorway, and Frau Gersdorf, having heard the last words, advanced into the room and took part with aplomb in the conversation.
"Herr Gronau is perfectly right. The matter is as plain and simple as possible," she repeated. "All you have to do, Benno, is to marry Alice, and there's an end of it."
Poor Reinsfeld thus assailed on both sides might well tremble for his 'refinement of sentiment.' He made up his mind to a final effort, and declared,--
"But I will not. I am the one, and the only one, to decide here!"
"A pretty lover you are!" exclaimed Gronau raising his hands to heaven in despair.
Molly, however, took a much more practical view of the case, and attacked Benno's obstinacy from the other side.