Veterans' Association is an invaluable basis of operations. From that point we can hit out in a straight line, so to speak, to the Emperor William Monument: there the battle will be won." "Hurrah!" cried Kühnchen again, but the other two wanted to know what was this business with the monument. Diederich initiated them into his idea, but preferred to gloss over the fact that it was the subject of a compact between himself and Napoleon Fischer. The Liberal Infant Asylum was not popular, so much he confided, and many voters would be drawn to the national cause, if they were promised an Emperor William Monument out of the Kühlemann bequest. In the first place, this would create more employment, and then it would bring business to the town, for the unveiling of such a monument drew people from far and wide. Netzig had a prospect of losing its bad reputation as a democratic hole and to bask in the sunshine of official favour. At this Diederich remembered his agreement with Wulckow, which he also preferred to leave unmentioned. "To the man who achieved and secured so much for us all"—he pointed enthusiastically to Kunze—"our dear old town will one day certainly erect a monument. He and Emperor William the Great will face one an other—" "And stick out our tongues," concluded the major, whose scepticism was unshaken. "If you believe that the people of Netzig are only waiting for the great man to lead them, with bands playing, into the national camp, why do you not play the part of that great man yourself?" And his eyes looked squarely into Diederich's. But the latter only returned his gaze all the more virtuously and laid his hand on his heart! "Major, my well-known devotion to King and country has already imposed upon me trials more severe than a candidature to the Reichstag, and I think I may say, I have stood the test! And in so doing I was not afraid, as a pioneer in a good cause, to draw upon myself all the hatred of ill-disposed people, thereby making it impossible for me to reap myself the fruit of my sacrifice. Netzig would not vote for me, but it will vote for
