“And where did you get your money from?”

“From my father and my own work. I can honestly say that I earned it!”

“And now I’m starting to earn money for myself. All these years I’ve watched how other people lived. Now it’s my turn! I should have squeezed old Levi for fifty thousand marks! Oh was I ever dumb!” Becker was getting more and more worked up. “Too nice, I’m just too nice. We’re simply no match for you Jews, that’s what it is.”

Faced with this spontaneous but not exactly blind hatred, it took a while for Silbermann to find the right response.

“You’ve known me for twenty-three years,” he then said slowly, “through war and peacetime…”

“Don’t come to me with that old song!”

“Gustav, if you weren’t … the way things are now, if you were a man of character, then you would…”

“Stop with all this blathering. You think I’m that stupid? Now you’ve gone and shown your true colors! You’d be happy to rob your friends to help some lousy rich old Jew! People of your kind can’t even have friends unless they’re Jewish.”

“Did you drink too much? Or did you lose money gambling? Gustav, what’s gotten into you? Judging from all your moral outrage, I take it you have some other dirty tricks in mind.”

“Dirty tricks? I don’t give a damn how you see it. I just want to tell you point-blank that our friendship is over. From now on each of us is doing his own deals. We no longer have anything to do with each other!”

“Gustav, what on earth is the matter with you? You can’t fool me. Do you think I can’t tell how hard you’re trying to sound enraged?”

Silbermann probably shouldn’t have said that, because now Becker really became furious. His face turned alarmingly red before he regained control of himself.

“This is too much,” he snapped, with feigned obstinacy. “You insulted me … you followed me … you mistrusted me … so now I’ll give you a reason to do so! Because we’re through, we’re finished! You can have Becker Scrap and Salvage Co. I’m giving up my shares, I don’t want to keep a single one, even though I lent my name. So kindly make sure it’s removed immediately. That’s right! And as for the eighty thousand marks, we’re splitting that. That’s the simplest thing. And in return you get all your shares back. And then we’re done with each other.”

He said that as harshly as he could, but his voice was trembling, and Silbermann, who was at first taken aback by the bold proposition, had the impression that the other man was practically desperate, forcing himself to utter each of his nasty proclamations. It seemed to him that Becker felt obliged to prove that he was equal to the times, rather than following his own volition, his own conviction.

“Gustav,” Silbermann said quietly, “why are you so intent on becoming a scoundrel? It doesn’t suit you at all.”