"And who do you think will be elected to the board this year?"
"I thought Glücksmann and Ettinger."
"The time for the Breitbachs and Knesebecks is past.... Well, as far as I am concerned, both of them may count upon my vote."
"Mr. Breitbach has not been here for an age," remarked Elkish with a shrewd look.
"Well! To offset that, Herr Regierungsrat Dr. Weilen wishes to visit us to-day—a cousin of my wife."
"He?" The eyes of the old clerk flamed suddenly with burning hatred. "He is baptized, Herr Geheimrat. A grandson of Rabbi Eliezer,.... the first in the family."
"That is not so certain," murmured the Kommerzienrat under his breath.
"And merely to further his prospects! A grandson of Rabbi Eliezer!" Unbounded contempt was expressed by the tone of the faithful clerk, for many years the confidant of his chief, whom he had accompanied from their former home to Berlin.
"How does the cat get across the stream, Elkish? As a Jew he would have had no future, even if he were a direct descendant of King David."
"And is a career everything?"