At the beginning of Fontane's career the Berlin novelists were disciples of Scott, but the only one to survive was Alexis, who adapted Scott's method to the Mark of Brandenburg. Fontane imitated him in _Before the Storm_ (1878), which deals with conditions in the Mark before the wars of liberation. _Schach von Wuthenow_ (1883), a sort of prelude to _Before the Storm_, was far superior as a novel and helped to establish Fontane's supremacy among his contemporaries, for he had become the leader of the younger generation after the publication of two stories of crimes, _Grete Minde_ (1880) and _Ellernklipp_ (1881), and the creation of the modern Berlin novel, in _L'Adultera_ (1882). _L'Adultera_ unfolds the history of a marriage of reason between a young wife and a considerably older husband, a situation which Fontane later treated, with important variations and ever increasing skill, in _Count Petöfi_ (1884), _Cécile_ (1887), and _Effi Briest_ (1895). With his inexhaustible fund of observation to draw upon he could make the action of his novels a minor consideration and concentrate his rare psychological powers upon realistic conversations in which characters reveal themselves and incidentally acquaint us intimately with others. We see and hear what the world ordinarily sees and hears. A past master in the art of suggestion, which he acquired in his ballad period, Fontane omits many scenes that others would elaborate with minute detail, such as love scenes and passionate crises, and contents himself with bringing vividly before us his true-to-life figures in their historical and social environments. As a conservative Prussian he believed in the supremacy of the law and the punishment of transgression, and his works reflect this belief. _Trials and Tribulations_ (1887) and _Stine_ (1890) were the first German novels absolutely to avoid the introduction of exciting scenes merely for effect. These histories of mismated couples from different social strata are recounted with hearty simplicity, deep understanding of life, and frank recognition of human weakness, but without condemnation, tears, or pointing a moral. They made Fontane famous. _Frau Jenny Treibel_ (1892), an exquisitely humorous picture of the Berlin _bourgeoisie_, and _Effi Briest_ "the most profound miracle of Fontane's youthful art," added considerably to the fame of the gray-haired "modern," while _The Poggenpuhls_ (1896) and _Stechlin_ (1898) won him further laurels at a time when most writers would long ago have been resting on those they had already achieved. If a line were drawn to represent graphically his productivity from his sixtieth year on, it would take the form of a gradually rising curve.