ed with the fear that the lad was deceiving him, and, terrified at
the great responsibility he had taken on himself, he said in a
voice that was harder than he really intended, much harder than was
compatible with his feelings: "I would punish you as a good-for-nothing
fellow if I heard you had! I would cast you off--then you could see how
you got on. Disgraceful debts! To be in debt!"

Kate gazed at her husband the whole time. She had never seen him
like that before. She wanted to call out, to interrupt him: "You are
too strict, much too strict. You'll prevent him confessing anything if
you speak like that"--but she could not say a word. She was mute under
the burden of the fears that overwhelmed her. Her eyes, full of a
terrible anxiety, hung on the young face that had grown pale.

Wolfgang's lips quivered; his thoughts were active. He wanted to
speak, had already opened his mouth to do so, to confess that he had
spent more than he had had. If only his father were not always so
extremely proper. Good gracious, you cannot help pulling handfuls of
money out of your pockets if you have got it to spend! But he did not
say anything to these--these two about it. They were good people on the
whole, but they could not put themselves into his place. Good people?
No, they were not.

And now came his indignation. What possessed his father to treat him
in that manner, to scold him in that tone of voice? Like a criminal.
And she, why did she stare at him in that way with eyes in which he
thought he read something that looked like contempt? Well, then, he
would horrify them still more, hurl into their faces: "Of course I have
debts, what does that matter?" But in the midst of his anger came the
cool calculation: what had his father said: "I would cast you off"?

All at once Wolfgang got a great fright. He had need of
these people, he could not do without them. And so he pulled himself
together quickly: he must not confess anything, by any means, he must
be sure not to betray himself. And he said, in a quick transition from
defiant passion to smooth calmness: "I don't know why you excite
yourself so, pater. I have none."

"Really none?" His father looked at him gravely and inquiringly, but
a glad hope shone already through the gravity.

And when his son answered "No," he stretched out his hand to him
across the table: "I'm pleased to hear it."

They were very nice to him that evening. Wolfgang felt it with much
satisfaction.