Bernick.
Bernick: Oh, where there's a will there's a way. Yes or no; give
me a decisive answer, or consider yourself discharged on the
spot.
Aune (coming a step nearer to him): Mr. Bernick, have you ever
realised what discharging an old workman means? You think he can
look about for another job? Oh, yes, he can do that; but does
that dispose of the matter? You should just be there once, in the
house of a workman who has been discharged, the evening he comes
home bringing all his tools with him.
Bernick: Do you think I am discharging you with a light heart?
Have I not always been a good master to you?
Aune: So much the worse, Mr. Bernick. Just for that very reason
those at home will not blame you; they will say nothing to me,
because they dare not; but they will look at me when I am not
noticing, and think that I must have deserved it. You see, sir,
that is--that is what I cannot bear. I am a mere nobody, I know;
but I have always been accustomed to stand first in my own home.
My humble home is a little community too, Mr. Bernick--a little
community which I have been able to support and maintain because
my wife has believed in me and because my children have believed
in me.
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