When the midday meal was over, the children left the table and prepared
to go to school. Jason Philip lighted a cigar, and took the newspaper
from his pocket.
"Did you find anything for the second-hand furniture man?" he asked, as
he puffed away.
"I found something for him and something for myself," she said.
"What do you mean? You found something for yourself?"
"What do I mean? I mean just what I said. I have always known that there
was something crooked about that money."
"What money are you talking about? Listen, don't speak to me in riddles!
When you have anything to say to me, say it. Do you understand?"
"I mean Gottfried Nothafft's money, Jason Philip," said Theresa, almost
in a whisper.
Jason Philip bent over the table. "Then you have at last found the old
receipt, have you?" he asked with wide-opened eyes. "Ahem! You have
found the receipt that I've been looking for for years ...?"
Theresa nodded. She took out a hairpin, and stuck it in a crust of
bread. Jason Philip got up, clasped his hands behind his back, and began
to walk back and forth. Just then Rieke came in and began to clear off
the table. She went about her business in a slow but noisy fashion. She
made things rattle, even if she could not make them hum. When she was
through, Jason Philip, his hands pressed to his hips, his elbows
protruding, planted himself before Theresa.
"I suppose you think I am going to let you browbeat me," he began.
"Well, my dear woman, you're mistaken. Listen! Are you angry at me
because I have created for you and your children a dignified existence?
Do you take it amiss of me for having kept your sister from going to the
poor-house? You act as though I had won that much money at the county
fair, or had squandered an equal amount at the same place. The truth is,
Gottfried Nothafft entrusted me with three thousand taler. That's what
he did; that's the truth. It was his intention to keep the whole affair
from the chatter of women. And he willed that I should use this
hard-earned capital in a productive way, and not give it to the culprit
who would waste it in debauchery and worse if possible."
"Ill-gotten goods seldom prosper," said Theresa, without looking up.
"Things may go along all right for ten years, and that seems like a long
time, but the vengeance of Heaven comes in the eleventh, as it has
already come in the case of little Marcus."
"Theresa--you're talking like a mad woman," said Jason Philip at the top
of his voice. With that he picked up a chair, and threw it on the floor
so violently that every cup, spoon, and plate in the room shook.
Theresa turned her peasant face toward him without the shadow of a trace
of fear. He was a trifle alarmed: "You'll have to be responsible, if you
can, for any misfortune that visits us in the future." She spoke these
words with a deep voice.
"Do you think I am a bandit?" said Jason Philip. "Do you think I want to
pocket the money? Don't you think that I am capable of anything better
or higher than that? Or is ambition of any sort quite beyond your powers
of comprehension?"
"Well, what ambitions do you have?" asked Theresa in a tone of
sullenness, her eyes in the meantime blinking.
"Listen," Jason Philip continued, as he sat down on the chair he had so
violently abused a minute before, and assumed the air of a teacher:
"The culprit has got to submit, and that with good grace. He has got to
fall on his knees before me. And he'll come to it. I have made some
inquiries; I am on his tracks; and I know that he has just about reached
the end of his rope. He'll come, depend upon it he'll come around, and
when he does he will whine. Then I am going to take him into the
business. In this way we will see whether it is humanly possible to make
a useful man out of him. If I can, and if he sticks, I'll call him into
the office, tell him the whole story, make everything as clear as day to
him, and then offer to take him in as a partner in the firm. You have
got to admit that he will be a made man if he becomes my partner. He
will have sense enough himself to see this, and as sure as you are
living, he will first kiss my hand and then eat out of it for the
kindness I have shown him. And once this has all been put through, I
will bind him to us more firmly than ever by having him marry
Philippina."
A wry smile disfigured Theresa's face. "I see, so, so," she said in a
sing-song tone. "You will have him marry Philippina. I take it that you
feel that she will be hard to marry, and that the man who does marry her
will have his hands full. Well, that's not a bad idea."
"In this way," continued Jason Philip, without detecting the scorn in
Theresa's words, "the account between the culprit and myself will be
settled. He will become a decent member of society, the money will
remain in the family, and Philippina will be cared for."
"And suppose he does not come; suppose he does not fall on his knees;
suppose you have made a miscalculation. What then?" Whether Jason Philip
himself believed what he had said Theresa could not determine. Nor had
she the slightest desire to enlighten herself on this point. She did not
look him in the face, but contented herself with letting her eyes rest
on his hands.
"Well--there will be time then to change my plans," said Jason Philip,
in a tone of peeved vexation. "Leave it to me. I have turned the whole
situation over in my mind; I have omitted not the slightest detail. I
know men, and I have never made a mistake in judging them. _Mahlzeit!_"
With that he went out.
Theresa remained seated for a while, her arms folded across her breast.
Then she got up, and walked over to the door that opened on to the
court. Suddenly she stopped as if rooted to the sill: she caught sight
of Philippina, who was then sitting by the window mending a pair of
socks. On her face there was an expression of naivete that may be
harmless in itself, but it was enough to arouse suspicion.
"What's the matter with you, why didn't you go to school?" asked Theresa
uneasily.
"I couldn't; I had a headache," said Philippina curtly, and broke the
thread as she gave a hasty jerk at the needle. Her dishevelled hair hung
down over her forehead and quite concealed her face.
Theresa was silent. Her gloom-laden eyes rested on the diligent fingers
of Philippina. It was easy to suspect that the girl had heard everything
Jason Philip had said, for he had such a loud voice. She could have done
this without going to the trouble of listening at the door. Theresa was
minded to give the girl a talking-to; but she controlled herself, and
quietly withdrew.
Philippina looked straight through her as she left. But she did not
interrupt her work, and in a short while she could be heard humming a
tune to herself. There was a challenge in her voice.