BOOK ONE: YESTERDAY 115 noticed her abstraction. A little vexed, he took leave of Sybil earlier than he had intended. The next day Professor Mühlheim had lunch at Gustav's house. The brisk little rnan's face was more slyly wrinkled than ever on this occasion. He had put through a splendid piece of business for Gustav just in the nick of time. He had been urging Gustav for years to invest his capital abroad, The outlook in Germany was becoming steadily more threatening. W ould he not be a madman who should continue to sit in a train, the staff of which showed unmistakable signs of mad- ness? Mühlheim now had the opportunity, through a certain transaction, to invest money abroad without risk. He gave Gustav circumstantial details, The business had been very shrewdly thought out, everything about it was perfectly legal, the artful tax requirements had been cleverly circumvented. Mühlheim sipped his black coffee slowly. Patiently, proceed- ing from one point to another, he explained the whole compli- cated business to his friend. Gustav listened, fidgeting nerv- ously, tapping a tune on his thigh with his powerful, hairy hand. The God's Eye moved back and forth, Immanuel Oppermann regarded his grandson with a shrewd, kindly, sleepy expression. Grandfather Immanuel had had an easy time. He had never faced such problems as this. Besides, he would probably have accepted Mühlheim's offer with the greatest satisfaction. But he, Gustav, did not approve. His feel- ings rebelled, Perplexity and mental conflict were reflected in his face, which never hid any emotion. Mühlheim grew angry. He got into a regular passion. F or whose benefit did Gustav wish to leave his money in Germany, then? For the militarists, so that they could make mincemeat of it for their secret armaments? For the big industrialists, so that they could apply it to exceedingly dubious enterprises in Russia, for which it was never possible to get in sufficient capi... tal? For the Nationalists, so that they could pay their storm