ed on the gallows" or "in the penitentiary." And
when it was long forgotten the children would only need to appear and
it would be called into life again; people would point with their
fingers and turn from them in horror. The confidence of the world
which one inherits from one's parents is the capital with which one
begins life. Confidence must be placed in man before he deserves it,
in order that he may learn to deserve it. Who would place confidence
in children branded with a father's guilt? The flush on his thin
cheeks burned brighter, his sunken breast panted heavily.
Involuntarily he pointed forward with his arm. Fritz Nettenmair
divined his meaning, tried to pull himself together, and would have
sunk helplessly down again if he had not supported himself with both
hands. Lying thus on his hands and knees before the old gentleman he
cried out in an agony of fear, "What do you want, father? What have
you in mind?"

"I want to see," said the old gentleman in a shrill whisper, "whether
I must do it or whether you will do what must be done. For it must be
done. Nobody knows anything as yet which could lead to an
investigation before the courts except me, your wife and Valentine.
For myself I can answer, but not for them; they may betray what they
know. If you should fall now from the scaffolding, so that people
could think it was an accident, the great disgrace would be prevented.
The slater who meets his death through accident stands before the
world as an honest man--honest as the soldier who dies on the
battle-field. You are not worthy of such a death, you bankrupt soul.
The hangman should drag you on a cowhide to the gallows, you villain,
who have murdered your brother and have tried to poison the future of
your innocent children and my past life which has been always full of
honor. You have brought down disgrace enough on your house, you shall
not bring more. They shall never say of me, that my son, or of my
grandchildren, that their father, died on the gallows or in the
penitentiary. Say the Lord's Prayer, now, if you can still pray. Then
turn as if you were going back to your work and step with your right
foot over the scaffolding. If I say the shock of your brother's death
made you dizzy, the courts and the town will believe me. That is the
return for a life that has been different from yours. If you will not
do it of your own accord, I shall go with you and you will have me too
on your conscience. People know