BOOK ONE: YESTERDAY "Be thankful that you have gotten along with hirn a11 right so far. One can never be careful enough these days." Frau Mellenthin, the porter's wife, was disappointed. From what her husband had said, she had expected that the new man would at once distinguish himself by some great deed. Mellenthin, the porter, however, did not allow himself to be dissuaded so soon from his first opinion. "Tannenberg was not won in a day either, he'll do something yet," he declared em- phatically. Frau Mellenthin took heart and repeated her hus- band's opinion to others; for he had a good nose for changes in the weather, and could scent every storm two days before it came. 12 At eleven twenty-five Herr Markus Wolfsohn, salesman at n the Potsdamer Strasse branch of Oppermann's Furniture Stores, had begun to serve Frau Elsbeth Gericke, who wished to buy her husband achair for Christmas, She was not quite sure whether she wanted an ordinary chair or an arrnchair. All she was certain of was that it must be some piece of furni- ture, something just for her husband. Herr Wolfsohn had shown her all sorts of chairs and armchairs. But Frau Gericke was a lady who couldn't make up her mind. Further, a pur- chase of this kind was a great occasion for her, which she wished to prolong to the full; she was delighted to be the ob- ject of such painstaking attention. And it was painstaking at- tention that Herr Wolfsohn gave her. Herr Wolfsohn was a good salesman, serving customers was his lifework. At eleven forty-five, matters had reached a decisive stage. She was hooked, Herr Wolfsohn recognized it with the prac- tised eye of a trade-psychologist, with many years of experi-