BOOK ONE: YESTERDAY 101 look of anger on the face of his senior master and his ominous silence began to alarm him, Rector Franccis had stoutly de- fended his beloved German and that was enough. He became again the conciliatory gentleman he was by nature. "Please da not misunderstand me, my dear colleague," he said soothingly. "Far be it from me to say anything against youe Leader. You remember how the Emperor Sigismund silenced the bishop who corrected his grammatical mistakes. 'Ego imperator Ro- manus supra grammaticos sto' No one requires your Leader to he an expert on German grammar. But I require it of the pupils of Queen Louise School," It sounded like an apology. But it remained a piece of im- pudence on the part of that fellow Franccis to have spoken so disrespectfully of the Leader's failings. What he, Vogelsang, might think, it was not right that this effeminate creature should blurt it out. Bernd Vogelsang would not permit him- self, in any case, to be diverted from his object. Not by a lang shot I At that moment vengeance for the crime which the boy Oppermann had committed became Senior Master Bernd Vogelsang's life-work. "Let us return to the point, Herr Rector," he squeaked. The invisible sabre was back again now, "The case of Oppermann is not only one of a slander against the German race, a slander that horders upon treason in such times as these, it is also an uncommonly irnpudent hreach of school discipline. I must ask you again: what steps do YOll propose to take to punish the refractory boy Oppermann?" Rector Franccis sat on, tired,courteous, harmless as ever. "1 will cohsider the matter, my dear colleague," said he. Rumour travelled swiftly in Queen Louise School. A year ago, the porter, Mellenthin, had saluted yaung Oppermann, the son of the furniture people, obsequiously. Now he looked the other way when Berthold left the building. However, when

102 THE OPPERMANNS saluting Vogelsang, he would remain stiffiy at attention even after the senior master had walked paste Who was it who had always said that the new man would, one of these days, show these donkeys what was what? And who was showing them now? Once more it was proved that Mellenthin, the porter, had a good nose. 17 I n two hundred and twelve out of the two hundred and seventy flats in the block in Friedrich Karl Strasse at Tem- pelhof, Christmas trees were lit, They had cost anything from one to four marks apiece; they were for the most part modest little fir trees, ornamented with all sorts of fripperies, little candles and tinsei and with brightly coloured, not exactly wholesome, sweetmeats. Gifts lay beneath them, heterogeneous yet always of the same types: underclothing, wearing apparel, cigars, chocolate, toys, gingerbread. People with particularly grandiose ideas had soared to a camera or a radio. Two bicycles had also been presented on the block in Friedrich Karl Strasse. The price tickets of the various presents had, for the most part, been removed. But the recipient did not have to inquire very long before being informed of the exact cost. In Herr Wolfsohn's Bat, too, a Christmas tree had been lighted. Herr Wolfsohn had had grandiose ideas. He had paid two marks seventy for the tree. It had been marked at three marks fifty but the shopkeeper had made a reduction of eighty pfennigs. Anyway, it had heen easy for Herr Wolfsohn to do things on a grand scale. The improbahle had happened. The gallant steed, Quelques Fleurs, had won a smashing vic- tory. On the first of December Herr Wolfsohn had a surplus of eighty-two marks that Frau Wolfsohn knew nothing about,