Chapter 13

Summary

Thilde's conversations with Hugo when he returned from the town hall to his residence continued in this manner. As autumn approached, the lamp was lowered every evening and a tallow candle was placed inside it that glowed so wonderfully that no one passed by the house without casting a glance inside. “Berliners have such a sense of style in these things,” was the general verdict. Rebecca Silberstein pressed her father to get something similar, but he was opposed to it. “Rebecca, when he comes, I’m not saying who, then you shall have the lamp. And it will not be rose-colored; it will be ruby, and you will have a heavenly glow when you sleep.”

Rebecca was dissatisfied with this postponement, but she was almost the only dissatisfied person in the town. All the others rejoiced in their new mayor. Silberstein, who read a great deal and always spoke in an educated way, said, “He has initiatives. Anyone can have initiative, but initiatives, that's what distinguishes higher persons from lower persons.”

Isenthal, who always contradicted him, did so in this case too, but Silberstein became quite annoyed and said, “Don't say a word, Isenthal, or you’ll do an injustice and you’ll bring it down on your own head. Is he not like Nathan the Wise? Isn't he the man who has the three rings? Isn't he just, and doesn't he look like an apostle? And his wife, a very cultured lady, spoke of the Trinity and said that the Pope in Rome and Luther and Moses, they should become one. And that this is Prussia, and that she is blessed by that unity. That's what she said, and I’m telling you: Moses stays, Moses has priority.”

Everything went well. Only the district administrator remained cool, and it was quite obvious that he was not particularly pleased, neither about the “initiative” that was eclipsing his own light nor about Hugo's Nathan-like qualities and his equal treatment of the Three Faiths. There were encounters in which Hugo was snubbed, particularly by the wife of the district administrator.