Late in the summer there were great doings in the village. The Techniker married Bertha, the doctor's second daughter,--the eldest was resolved to remain single,--and the doctor's son, who made chronometers, returned from his travels. It was said that he intended to erect, near his father's house, a large establishment for the fabrication of clocks and watches, with all kinds of new machinery. In the whole country there were lamentations, for it was feared everyone would be ruined, and that now clocks would be made here, as they were in America, without a single stroke of a file, and entirely by the pressure of machinery. Lenz was one of those in no manner disturbed; he said that hitherto they had been able to compete with the American clockmakers, and he saw no reason why they should not do the same with regard to the Doctor's case; moreover, no machinery could place the mechanism properly together,--man's intelligence was required for that. It would be rather an advantage to many parts of the clocks, if they could be made quicker by machinery. Lenz and the schoolmaster were, in the mean time, much occupied in trying to effect a project they had long cherished. The principal traders were to enter into an association, to render themselves independent of retail dealers, and merchants. But instead of any effectual support, they found only grumbling and complaints, and Annele, when she heard of the plan, said:-- "For goodness' sake give it up; I wonder you don't tire of always rolling the balls for others to play." Annele, however, repeatedly urged Lenz to undertake an establishment of this kind along with her father, and if it was necessary, he might travel for a year in the interests of the firm, while she would stay with her parents. Lenz, however, declared,-- "I am not suited to that kind of thing, and I shall certainly not leave home as a married man, when I never did so as a bachelor." He therefore entirely gave up all idea of an Association, and pacified Annele by assuring her that they would have quite as good an income; that she need have no fears on that account, and Pilgrim quite agreed with Lenz's views. Annele consequently regarded Pilgrim as the chief obstacle to Lenz's advancement in life. "He is a man," said she, "who never in all his life succeeded in anything, and he never will." She tried, in every possible way, to sow discord between Pilgrim and Lenz, but she entirely failed. Annele brooded over various plans, and was constantly reckoning and calculating in her head. She knew that Lenz had become security for Faller when he bought his house, and now she constantly pressed on him the propriety of recalling this security. He was obliged to consent to her wish, but just as he arrived at Faller's house his friend came out to meet him, laughing, and saying-- "My wife has just presented me, for the second time, with twins."