In spite of his pleas and threats, Diederich finally had to sign a paper, pledging himself not only to vote for the hall, but to work up the councillors with whom he had influence. After that he bluntly declared the interview at an end and took the beer bottle out of the machinist's hand. But Napoleon Fischer had a twinkle in his eye. Dr. Hessling ought to be thankful that he was dealing with him and not with Rille, the party boss. Rille was trying to get into the running himself and would not have been agreeable to such a compromise. Opinion was divided amongst the party. Diederich therefore would have good reason to do something on behalf of Fischer's candidature in the press where he had influence. "If strangers, like Rille, for example, were to poke their noses into your affairs, Doctor, I am sure you would not like it. Between the two of us it is quite different. We have already turned a few tricks together." With this he left Diederich to his own feelings.
Some days later Emma and Magda were invited to tea at Frau von Wulckow's, and Diederich accompanied them. With their chins in the air the three of them marched along Kaiser Wilhelmstrasse, and Diederich raised his hat very calmly to the gentlemen on the steps of the Freemasons' Lodge, who stared in amazement as he entered the government building. He greeted the sentry with a genial wave of his hand. In the dressing room they met several officers and their wives, to whom the Fraulein Hesslings were already well known. Clicking his spurs, Lieutenant von Brietzen helped Emma off with her coat, and she thanked him over her shoulder like a countess. She nudged Diederich with her foot to draw his attention to the sacred ground on which they were treading. After they had given precedence to Herr von Brietzen on entering the drawing-room, had bowed and scraped ecstatically to the Governor's wife, and had been introduced to everybody—what a task it was, as dangerous as it was honourable, to sit on a little chair, squeezed in amongst the ladies, to balance one's
