"As you like," he said. "I thought you cared more about the peasants."
"I do not care a jot about the peasants," she answered passionately, "as
compared--It is you I am thinking about, not them. I think you are
selfish, and cruel to your friends."
"My friends have never shown that they are consumed with anxiety on my
account."
"That is mere prevarication. Leave that to Herr Steinmetz and such men,
whose business it is; you don't do it well. Your friends may feel a lot
that they do not show."
She spoke the words shortly and sharply. Surreptitious good is so rare,
that when it is found out it very naturally gets mixed up with secret
evil, and the perpetrator of the hidden good deed feels guilty of a
crime. Paul was in this lamentable position, which he proceeded to
further aggravate by seeking to excuse himself.
"I did it after mature consideration. I tried paying another man, but he
shirked his work and showed the white feather; so Steinmetz and I
concluded that there was nothing to be done but do our dirty work
ourselves."
"Which, being translated, means that you do it."
"Pardon me. Steinmetz does his share."
Catrina Lanovitch was essentially a woman, despite her somewhat
masculine frame. She settled Karl Steinmetz's account with a sniff of
contempt.
"And that is why you have been so fond of Osterno the last two years?"
she asked innocently.
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