Kienast had been compensated by a number of shares proportionate to his means. His brother-in-law would not admit this, and professed, on the contrary, to have real grounds for his unconscionable demands. Was he not, as Magda's husband, part-owner of the old Hessling factory, to the extent of one-eighth of its value? The factory was sold and Diederich had received ready money and preferred Gausenfeld shares in exchange. Kienast demanded one-eighth of the capital income and of the yearly dividends from the preferred shares. To this unheard of presumption Diederich replied emphatically that he owed nothing more either to his sister or his brother-in-law. "I was bound to pay you only your share of the annual profits of my factory. My factory is sold. Gausenfeld does not belong to me but to a company of shareholders. So far as the capital is concerned, that is my private fortune. You have no claim on it." Kienast called this barefaced robbery. Fully convinced by his own argument Diederich talked of blackmail, and then came a lawsuit.
The lawsuit lasted three years. It was fought with increasing bitterness, especially by Kienast, who gave up his post in Eschweiler and moved with Magda to Netzig, in order to devote himself entirely to it. As chief witness against Diederich he had cited old Sotbier, who, in his desire for vengeance, was actually prepared to prove that even earlier Diederich had not given his relations the money which was due to them. Kienast also bethought himself of the idea of showing up certain incidents in Diederich's past, with the assistance of Napoleon Fischer, now a deputy in the Reichstag. In this, however, he never quite succeeded. Nevertheless, those tactics compelled Diederich on different occasions to pay over considerable sums to the party funds of the Social Democrats. And he told himself that his personal loss grieved him less than the injury which the national cause thereby suffered. Guste, who could not see quite so far, egged on the men in their fight rather from feminine motives. Her first child was
