“Don't you kid yourself. And, anyhow, I'm not looking for it. I don't mind working so you can sit here and nurse a grouch, but I certainly don't intend to start hunting another job.”
She had eyed him morosely. “If you ask me,” she continued, “you're out of your mind. What's Germany to you? You forgot it as fast as you could, until this war came along. You and Rudolph! You're long distance patriots, you are.”
“I will not help my country's enemies,” he had said doggedly.
“Your country s enemies. My word! Isn't this your country? What's the old Kaiser to you?”
He had ordered her out of the house, then, but she had laughed at him. She could always better him in an argument.
“Suppose I do go?” she had inquired. “What are you going to live on? I'm not crazy in the head, if you are.”
She rather thought he would strike her. He had done it before, with the idea of enforcing discipline. If he did, she would leave him. Let him shift for himself. He had taken her money for years, and he could live on that. But he had only glared at her.
“We would have done better to remain in Germany,” he said. “America has no respect for parents. It has no discipline. It is a country without law.”
She felt a weakening in him, and followed up her advantage.
“And another thing, while we're at it,” she flung at him. “Don't you go on trying to shove Rudolph down my throat. I'm off Rudolph for keeps.”