Page:H.M. The Patrioteer.djvu/108

100 her coloured kerchief, but her glance met such a stony stare that she shrank back and bent upon her work. Brightly-coloured rags streamed out of the sacks, the whispering of the women was stilled under the master's eye, and in the warm stuffy atmosphere nothing else could be heard but the gentle rattling of the blades as they came down upon the tables and cut off the buttons. But Diederich, who was examining the hot water pipes, heard something suspicious. He looked over a heap of sacks—and started back, with blushing cheeks and quivering moustache. "Stop that now," he shouted, "come out here!" A young workman crept out. "The female, too!" shouted Diederich. "Look lively! " Finally, when the girl appeared, he struck an attitude. Nice goings on, indeed! Not only was the plave a bar room but it was something else! He swore so loudly that all the workers gathered about him. "Well, Herr Sötbier, I suppose this also has always been done in this way. I congratulate you on such success. These people are accustomed to waste my time amusing themselves behind the sacks. How did this man get in here?" The young man said she was engaged to be married to him. "Married? Here, we know nothing about marriage, only about work. You are both stealing my time, for which I pay you. You are swine and thieves. I shall give you both the sack and lodge a complaint against you for indecent conduct." He gave a challenging glance all around.

"In this place I insist upon German virtue and decency. Do you understand?" Then he caught the eye of the machinist. "And I will see that they are observed, whether you like it or not."

"I haven't made any objections," said the man quietly, but Diederich could not contain himself any longer. At last, he had got something against him.

"Your conduct has been all along most suspicious. If you had been doing your duty, I should not have caught these two people."