94 THE OPPERMANNS you are, young man? What sort of people do you suppose you have sitting here before you? Here, in the presence of Ger- mans, in this time of German need, you dare to characterize the tremendous act which stands at the beginning of German history as useless and devoid of meaning? You admit that, you say. You have the effrontery to utter arguments of the rankest opportunism and then you say: you admit that, If you, your- self, have lost every spark of German feeling, you might at least spare us, who retain our love for our Fatherland, your foul abuse. I forbid it, Listen to me, Oppermann. I forbid it, not only for my sake, but for the sake of this institution, which still remains, for the present, a Gerrnan one." A deathly silence had fallen. The thoughts of most of the boys had been wool-gathering in the warm room. They were sprawling, day-dreaming, but now, at the sharp, squeaking voice of Vogelsang, they looked up at Berthold. Had he really said samething so awful? And what was it, actually, that he had said? It had been something about Luther and Gutenberg. They did not quite understand Vogelsang's rage, but probably Op- permann had really gone a little too far. In these lectures one ought to say just wh at was in the lesson-books, no more and no less. It looked as though he had got himself into a nice messe Berthold himself, when Vogelsang had interrupted hirn, was at first deeply astonished. What was the matter with the man? Why was he shouting so? He rnight have had the decency to let hirn finish. It had not hitherto been the custom to interrupt the lecturer. Dr, Heinzius had never done so. But he was now under the ground, in the cemetery at Stahnsdorf. And that fellow was shouting. The "objections" had to be stated. They ought not to be suppressed, they had to be refuted. That was what we have been taught, such were the rules, Dr. Hein- zius taught us that, I didn't say anything at all against Arrninius. The thing was