That is why I want, at any
price, to avoid these shameful innuendoes in the papers, and that
is why I name the day after tomorrow as the limit of the time I
can give you.
Aune: Mr. Bernick, you might just as well name this afternoon as
the limit.
Bernick: You mean that I am asking an impossibility?
Aune: Yes, with the hands we have now at the yard.
Bernick: Very good; then we must look about elsewhere.
Aune: Do you really mean, sir, to discharge still more of your
old workmen?
Bernick: No, I am not thinking of that.
Aune: Because I think it would cause bad blood against you both
among the townsfolk and in the papers, if you did that.
Bernick: Very probably; therefore, we will not do it. But, if the
"Indian Girl" is not ready to sail the day after tomorrow, I
shall discharge you.
Aune (with a start): Me! (He laughs.) You are joking, Mr.
Bernick.
Bernick: I should not be so sure of that, if I were you.
Aune: Do you mean that you can contemplate discharging me?--Me,
whose father and grandfather worked in your yard all their lives,
as I have done myself--?
Bernick: Who is it that is forcing me to do it?
Aune: You are asking what is impossible, Mr.
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