onius
threw the arms his father had refused around his own breast to hold
the pain there which, if it had risen and crossed his lips, would have
betrayed to his father how deeply he felt the latter's misery. The
same consideration made old Valentine turn his involuntary motion to
help the old gentleman to stand upright, into a movement to pick up
the shears which lay between him and his master. He too wanted to hide
from the son what could not be hidden, so faithfully and deeply had he
learned to live in the father's feelings.

The old gentleman had risen and held out his hand to his son much as
if the latter had been absent as many days as he had been years. "You
must be tired and hungry! I am somewhat troubled with my eyes--but it
is of no consequence. As regards the business, talk to Fritz. I have
given it up. I want to have peace. But that is not the real reason;
young people must become independent some time. It makes them more
eager to work."

He came a step nearer his son. He seemed to be carrying on a struggle
within himself. He wanted to say something which no one should hear
except his son. But he was silent. Why did he suppress what he wanted
to say? Did it concern the business, or the honor of the house? And
did he know or suspect that the one who was now responsible for both
in his place was standing leaning against the gate of the little
garden and could hear what he said to the new-comer, or, if he spoke
secretly to him, could at least see that he did so? Was this why he
had had Apollonius called home from abroad? And did the expression of
a "why" now still seem to him incompatible with his position?

It was a curious party at the midday meal. The old gentleman dined
alone in his little room as usual. The children too had been sent
away, and did not come in again until after the meal. The young wife
was more in the kitchen or elsewhere out of the room than at the
table; and if she did once sit down there for a few minutes, she was
as dumb as she had been when Apollonius greeted her; the resentful
cloud did not pass from her forehead. Fritz was accustomed to his
father's condition, which pierced Apollonius' heart with the keenness
of new-felt pain. He talked only of the old man's oddities; old
Blue-coat did not know what he wanted himself, and made life
needlessly unpleasant for himself and all the others in the house. If
Apollonius began to talk of the business, of the repairs to be made to
the roof o