“My mother is waiting for you to thank her for all she has done,” he said. “I didn’t want it done.” “Nevertheless, you will thank my mother for the trouble she has taken.” With mechanical politeness Brenda turned to Frau Erdmann and said something that might pass for thanks. The ensuing farewells were strained, and when the husband and wife were left to themselves their first words in their future home were words of discord. Brenda had been trying to make up her mind to say little or nothing of the vexation she felt, but Lothar stirred her anger at once. “_Frauenlaunen?_ Women’s whims! I’ve no patience with them,” he began. “I think you ought to have told me,” cried Brenda. “Told you what?” “Told me that you had commissioned your mother to take this flat and choose these atrocious papers and carpets. I could have explained that I wanted to choose my own.” “August is right,” said Lothar. “There is too much ‘my’ in your point of view. This is not your house. It is mine. You are in it because you are my wife. If I am satisfied, nothing else matters.” “I could not live with these walls. I shall have them all redone at my own expense.” “You will not have one done. I will not permit you to waste our joint income in such a senseless way. You have married a man and not a milksop, and the sooner you find it out the better.” “But surely I am to have money of my own. My father said so.” “It will be spent as I direct.” “Well ... I hope we sha’n’t quarrel about money.” Transcriber’s Notes Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks remedied. Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. An excerpt of a different book begins after page 301. To avoid duplicate page numbers, a page range of 1120-1131 has been used in this eBook. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Big Fight, by David Fallon