t to the
influence of his sister-in-law; since then he had grown even more
estranged from him--and no wonder! Apollonius had already become
acquainted with his brother's vanity and greed for honor, and what had
happened since then had made the latter feel himself slighted in favor
of Apollonius. His sister-in-law's dislike Apollonius thought he could
overcome in time by honest endeavor, his brother's injured greed of
honor by outward subordination. If there was no further obstacle in
the way, he might hope to perform the task, difficult as it seemed.
But what lay between him and his brother was something different, very
different, from what he thought; and that he did not know it only made
it more dangerous. It was a suspicion, born of the consciousness of
guilt. Whatever he did to clear the apparent obstacles out of the way
could only increase the real one.

Apollonius soon saw that the system to which he had become accustomed
in Cologne, the rapid and carefully planned cooeperation, did not exist
here, nor even such methodical management as his father had formerly
maintained. The slater had to wait for fifteen minutes and longer at a
time for the slates; the tenders dawdled and had a good excuse for
doing so in the slackness and laziness of the cutters and sorters. His
brother laughed half compassionately at Apollonius' complaint. Such
system as he demanded did not exist anywhere and was not even
possible. In his own mind he made fun again of the dreamer who was so
unpractical. And even if the system had been possible the work was
done by the day. Wasted time was paid for just the same as that
properly applied. And when Apollonius himself tried to put an end to
the old method of jogging along, his brother saw in him again the
time-server of the inspector and the council, while he saw himself as
the straightforward man who disdained such tricks. He persuaded
himself that Apollonius wanted to unseat him altogether, and had even
worse intentions in his mind--in which, however, he should not succeed
with all his cunning, although he had come home on purpose to do so.
And still he thought the dreamer would make a fool of himself if he
tried to carry out what he himself, who knew the world, could not
succeed in doing;--he who was keener in action than even old Blue-coat
had been in his day.

Fritz Nettenmair thought he was outdoing the old gentleman when he
whistled still more shrilly on his fingers, coughed still more
w