I'm not so sure. I got an official letter yesterday from the committee, asking me if I was the author of a pamphlet called "The Ordeal." Beata. Why did you write it under an assumed name? Norbert. Only on my father's account. Beata. If you disguised yourself at all, you ought to have done so more thoroughly. Norbert. Why, Aunt Beata! Haven't you often told me that every reformer must have the courage of his convictions? Beata. Yes; but I've no sympathy with unnecessary martyrdom. Keep a cool head, dear boy, and don't be drawn into controversy just yet. Haven't I often told you that this college duelling you rail against is only a preparation for the real battle of life--the battle of ideas and beliefs? You'll come to that later--ask your father how it is! Norbert. Oh, father--of course he's only interested in big things. Beata. What does he say to your article? Norbert. Immature. Beata. Was he vexed? Norbert. When I asked him if it annoyed him, he laughed and said:--"I know the world too well to agree with you. But you must work out the problem for yourself. I sha'n't interfere." Beata. Well, what more do you want? Did you expect him to go into raptures? Norbert. Wait and see, Aunt Beata! I mean to suffer for my convictions. I mean to brave persecution. Is that a laughing matter? Beata. Come! Come! No bragging--not even about persecution. It's intoxicating at first, but the after-taste is bitter. Norbert. Don't make fun of me, Aunt Beata. Beata. Heaven forbid! You know _I_ don't disapprove of your article. Norbert. How could you? Isn't it all yours? Beata. I don't understand anything about duelling. Norbert. No, but my ideas are yours--every one of them. All I've said about self-restraint--about striving toward an harmonious whole--about the Greek ideal of freedom--and how posterity will smile at our struggles--it's all yours, Aunt Beata, every word of it. Beata. Don't tell your father! And besides, it isn't. My ideas have got twisted in that wild young brain of yours. And it might annoy him to think that I had put them there---- Norbert. Oh, Aunt Beata, _I_ know what you really think. But, of course, if you don't want me to, I---- _Enter_ Conrad. Conrad (_announcing_). Baron Voelkerlingk.