concerned he will suffer much rather than offend the exclusiveness of
his class by derogating from the most insignificant of its prejudices.
He is not afraid of poverty. No one can maintain the position of a
gentleman with more exiguous resources than often fall to his share.
Rather than leave the smallest debt of honour unpaid, he will
unhesitatingly take his own life. That a man should suffer himself to
live after doing such a deed as had broken Kuno von Rieseneck's career
seems to him a crime against humanity. He is often called avaricious,
because, like Frau von Sigmundskron, he is often very, very poor; but
he has never been called a coward, nor a traitor, by any man, or class
of men, who knew him. All gentlemen throughout the world are brothers,
it is true, for to be a gentleman is to be brave, honest, courteous,
and nothing more. But the gentlemen of different nations are like
brothers brought up in different schools. An Englishman who should
demand satisfaction by arms, of another Englishman, for a hasty word
spoken in jest, would be considered a lunatic in the clubs, and if he
carried his warlike intentions into effect with the consent of his
adversary, and killed his man, the law would hang him without mercy as
a common murderer. On the other hand, a German who should refuse a
duel, or not demand one if insulted, would be dismissed from the army
and made an outcast from society. And these things do not depend upon
civilisation, since modern Germany is probably more civilised than
modern England. They depend upon national character.

When Greif heard of his uncle's existence, and, at the same time, of
his disgrace, it seemed to him that a cloud had descended upon his own
brilliant future. He had long nursed in secret his desire for a
military life, and had often wondered at his father's unwillingness to
discuss the matter. He now suddenly understood the true state of the
case and realised, by the measure of his disappointment, the magnitude