BOOK ONE: YESTERDAY And as Oppermann came forward, Vogelsang added, obvi- ously in a very good humour today, in a kindly bantering and encouraging tone : "Wolfram von Eschenbach, begin." Berthold, standing between the teacher's platforrn and the boys' benches, showed no sign of nervousness. He appeared unconcerned and casual, his right foot advanced, his right arm hanging down, and his left hand resting lightlyon his hip. He had not chosen the easiest road, he had not shirked any of the difficulties. He had seen it through. He was quite certain now what we, or at any rate what he, could learn from Arminius the German. From the standpoint of a rationalist, the achieve- ment of Arminius might appear useless. But such an interpre- tation became meaningless in view of the unbounded admira- tion which the heroism of this man, in the cause of liberty, had kindled in the heart of every German, especially in a German of today. Berthold wished to pursue this train of thought in ac- cordance with the good old rules he had been taught: general introduction, statement of subject, point of view of the lee- turer, the objections, the refutation of the objections, then fi- nally, onee more, the lecturer's thesis. Berthold had set down in writing, to the last comma, exactly what he wished to say. But speaking came easily to hirn, so he had disdained to learn his manuscript by heart in parrot fashion. He wished, while keeping to his fundamental design, to leave the wording of the individual points to the inspiration of the moment. He stood there, then, and spoke. He saw the faces of the other boys before hirn: Max Weber's, Kurt Baumann's, Wer- ner Rittersteg's, and Heinrich Lavendel's. But he was not speaking to thern. Only to hirnself and to that fellow behind hirn, the enerny. For Senior Master Vogelsang had taken up a position at Berthold's back. He sat there stiffiy, uncornpromisingly, and listened. Berthold could not see hirn, but he knew that V ogel- sang's gaze was fixed hard upon hirn, exactly on the nape of