What industry, what energy and what intelligence had been brought to bear, to attain such a result, to create a world out of nothing! Was it to be wondered at if he who had created it carried his head higher than other men; or if this head, which had so much and so many to think of, to consider and to care for, were often shadowed by heavy clouds? Loud voices, which sounded close to Reinhold, startled him out of these meditations, a high one and a deep one, in which he thought he recognised his uncle's. A dispute must be going on. The high voice got gradually louder, till a thundering "Silence!" stopped the flow. It could only be Uncle Ernst thus thundering. He stood still, uncertain whether to go nearer or to avoid the disputants. They however came round the great blocks of marble which he had just been looking at, his uncle and a red-haired man, whose ugly face was distorted and inflamed with anger. On his uncle's forehead, too, from which the broad-brimmed hat was pushed back, lay a red angry cloud, but his large powerful eyes had a calm and steady look, and his voice, too, was calm and steady as now seeing his nephew, he said: "Good-morning, Reinhold, though it is not a good morning for me." "Do you require my presence any longer, Herr Schmidt?" asked the man. "Certainly. You will dismiss the people in my presence." "That I shall not do, Herr Schmidt." "In my presence, and in that of all the others. Sound the bell!" And Uncle Ernst pointed to a small platform over which hung a great bell. "That is not my office," said the overseer hotly. "True," answered Uncle Ernst, "for from this moment you no longer hold any office." "I claim a quarter's notice." "That we shall soon see." Uncle Ernst went up to the bell; Reinhold stepped before him. "Let me," said he. He did not wait for his uncle's answer, and pulled the rope that hung down; immediately the mighty clang of the great clapper sounded through the yard, overpowering and drowning the screeching and shrieking of the saws, the tapping and knocking of hammers and chisels, and startling the workmen at their work. Presently they emerged from all sides with anxious faces. While they assembled and stood in groups as they came from the workshops to the number of about two hundred, so Reinhold thought. Uncle Ernst stood leaning against a block of marble with folded arms, staring straight in front of him; a few steps from him stood the overseer, now very pale, and in whose alarmed and anxious looks it was easy to see that fear alone kept him in his place. Reinhold had come up to the side of the block upon which his uncle was leaning so as to be near him in any case. Whatever was the matter it was certainly nothing pleasant, and as his glance fell upon the people, he noticed several desperate and even wild faces.