I know how to listen when clever men are talking. That is the secret of what you call my influence.
Baron Ludwig.
You think so?--Well--there was Richard, dabbling in poetry and politics, in archæology and explorations, like the typical noble amateur. He had a fortune from his mother, while I was poor. But in one respect I was richer than he; for he married a fool who dragged him down to the level of her own silly snobbishness. But then you came--and lifted him up again. Then all his dormant powers awoke--he discovered his gift as a speaker, he became the mouthpiece of the party, he got into the Reichstag, and----
Beata.
And dropped out again.
Baron Ludwig.
Exactly. And the estrangement between us dates from that time. It was reported that government had left him in the lurch, and I was thought to be more or less responsible.
Beata.
At all events, his career was cut short. And he failed again at the next election.
Baron Ludwig.