say. So far
as I am concerned, I have not the slightest reason to defend a Doederlein
in your presence." He was silent for a moment and took a deep breath. "I
cannot speak more distinctly; somehow or other I cannot quite find the
right words," he continued in a disconcerted way, "but the point is, the
man has committed a crime against a woman, a crime so malicious, subtle,
and naive, that he deserves every stigma with which it is possible to
brand him, and even then he would not be adequately punished."

"You see," exclaimed Daniel, "he is not only a miserable musician. And
that is the way it always is. They are all like that. Oh, these
bitter-sweet, grinning, pajama-bred, match-making, ninnying, super-smart
manikins--it makes your blood curdle to look at one of them. And yet a
real man has got to run the gauntlet before them his whole life long,
and down through their narrow little alleys at that!"

"Rather," said Benda with bowed head. "It is a tough, clammy poison pap.
If you stir it with your finger, you will stick fast, and it will suck
the very marrow out of your bones. But you are speaking for the time
being without precise knowledge of all the pertinent material, as we say
in science. During my study of the cells of plants and animals, I came
to see that a so-called fundamental procreation was out of the question.
I gave expression to this view in a circle of professional colleagues.
They laughed at me. To-day it is no longer possible to oppose the theory
I then advanced. One of my former friends succeeded in making certain
combinations of acetic acid, crystallised by artificial means. When he
made his great discovery known, one of the assembled gentlemen cried
out: 'Be careful, doctorette, or your amido atoms will get out of their
cage.' That is a sample of the base and treacherous fashion in which we
are treated by the very people who we might think were our warmest
friends, for they are apparently trying to reach the same goal that we
are. But you! The world may reject you, and you still have what no one
can take from you. I have to wait in patience until a judge hands down a
decision either condemning me or redeeming me. You? Between you and me
there is the same difference that exists between the seed which, sunk
into the earth, shoots up whether it rains or shines, and some kind of a
utensil which rusts in the store because no one buys it."

He got up and said: "You are the more fortunate of us two, it be