"Arthur!" sobbed the elder lady, reproachfully.
"I must beg, Arthur, that you will not always be charging me with spite and obstinacy," pouted the younger.
"But, my dear child, it is perfectly true--"
"Don't be always contradicting!" cried Mrs. Jenny, energetically, stamping her foot and taking out her handkerchief, ready to cry at a moment's notice. He knew this manœuvre of old and drew his hand hastily through his hair.
"Very well then, what am I to do about it?" he asked. "What do you want of me?"
"Your advice, Arthur," groaned the mother-in-law.
"My advice? Well then--say yes."
"But he is so entirely without means, as I heard the other day," interposed Mrs. Baumhagen.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Bah! Gertrude can afford to marry a poor man. Besides--I don't know much about Niendorf, but I should think something might be made of it under good management. He seems to be the man for the place, and Wolff was telling me the other day that Linden was going to raise sheep on a large scale."
"That last bit of information of course settles the matter," remarked Jenny, ironically.