The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Ix Part 86

WILKENS.

But--

FORESTER.

Hang it! You always have a "But." That's the way he goes on every day.

For twenty years--

WILKENS.

But today he is your master.

FORESTER.

Master or not. The forest shall not be cleared. WILKENS. But you will lose your place.

FORESTER.

To G.o.dfrey? Idle talk! Stein himself can't bear G.o.dfrey, and he knows what I am worth to him. I need not sing my own praise. Show me a forest anywhere in the whole district that can be compared to mine.--Do you hear? Why, there he is back again. Sit down. And if he comes in, act as if nothing had happened.

SCENE IX _The same. Enter_ MoLLER _rapidly; later_, ANDREW.

FORESTER (_not looking up_).

Well, I deal.

[_Takes the cards, notices his mistake_.]

Is that you, Mr. Moller?

MoLLER (_pompously_).

At your service.

FORESTER.

Well, sit down. Has he cooled down again, the old hot-head? Why doesn't he come in? I suppose he expects me to fetch him?

[_Is about to go_.]

MoLLER.

Mr. Stein sends me to ask you, sir, whether you have changed your mind.

FORESTER.

I should say not!

MoLLER.

That you will clear the forest?

FORESTER.

That I will _not_ clear the forest.

MoLLER.

That means, that you are going to resign your position as forester.

FORESTER.

That means--that you are a fool.

MoLLER (_very pompously_).

I have been commissioned by Mr. Adolf Friedrich Stein, head of the firm of Stein and Son, in case you should still persist in your refusal to execute the command of your master, to announce to you your dismissal, and to notify G.o.dfrey immediately that he is forester of Dusterwalde.

FORESTER.

And that would be a great pleasure to you--

MoLLER.

I am not to be considered in this matter. What is to be considered is the firm of Stein and Son, whom I have the honor to represent. I give you five minutes time for consideration.

[_Steps to the window_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SCHNORR VON CAROLSFELD THE FINDING OF MOSES]

FORESTER.

Dismiss me? Dismiss me? Do you know what that means? Dismiss a man who has served faithfully for forty years? Good heavens, sir! If I should do what he wishes--then I deserved to be dismissed. Clear the forest! And the mountain faces north and northwest, absolutely exposed--

WILKENS.

Well! But this is not a question of your trees.

FORESTER.

So that the wind can rush in and break down everything. Hang it!

Nonsense! He does not mean it at all. If he only comes to his senses--

WILKENS.

That's just what I say. Until it comes to the actual cutting down, one has time to think a hundred times. And don't you see that it is not at all the cutting down that Mr. Stein is concerned about? He is only concerned about maintaining his authority. If he is the master he necessarily must be right.