Perlefter Read Online Free PDF Page A

man must work for free. And how he must work, the poor fellow! How much intelligence a lawyer must apply! The prosecutor is no dummy either, eh? But the defender must be a thousand times smarter. He can even convince a murderer himself that he has not murdered!’
    â€˜So,’ I said to Herr Perlefter, ‘is that OK? Can one allow a murderer to be acquitted just because the public defender comes up with good excuses?’
    â€˜He won’t be acquitted!’ replied Perlefter.
    â€˜But what if he is acquitted after all?’
    â€˜It happens once every ten years!’
    â€˜That’s quite often enough!’
    â€˜It’s actually very seldom!’
    â€˜But let’s not argue over this!’
    â€˜We already are! I say “seldom”; you say “often”!’
    And thus could Perlefter silence even a stubborn opponent. He escaped from arguments. He was actually not as dumb as he made himself out to be. It was as if he were made of rubber. He curled himself up, but then he was there again at the forefront, where you had not expected him. The truth was, he actually had nothing against acquitted murderers so long as the defence lawyer gave a handsome argument. These he read at night before he fell asleep in the
Freien Zeit,
the big newspaper that came to the house twice a day and which had a fondness for sentimental and witty articles. Herr Perlefter first read the business section, for which the editor Philippi was responsible. Then came the daily editorial, which Perlefter sometimes read twice. The editorial was always anonymous, but the whole world knew that it was personally written by the publisher of the newspaper, Herr Brandstadt. Nobody called this anonymous personality by name, although everyone knew who it was. One said only ‘he’.
    â€˜What did he write today in the
Freien Zeit?’
asked Herr Perlefter’s brother who never had time to read.
    â€˜He wrote an excellent piece on obligations. You must read it!’ answered Herr Perlefter.
    But when Herr Brandstadt dealt with home politics Perlefter said, ‘Phenomenal, this editorial, a magnificent article!’ He agreed with all the opinions of the author. Brandstadt wrote to Perlefter’s soul. The editor found exactly those words upon which Perlefter had chewed but could not quite get out. Nevertheless it seemed to Perlefter as soon as he had finished readingthe article that the very same words had escaped his lips once before. He often said, ‘I said exactly the same thing to Hahn yesterday. Today it’s in the newspaper.’
    What had he said word for word to Hahn? ‘On principle, I am against unrest. At a minimum, every incidence of unrest corrupts and damages our business transactions. One mustn’t do everything to the extreme. Let me speak of all this. Disputes are unnecessary. One can always reach an agreement. I want peace at any cost. We all want peace. We need it. I’m not in favour of extreme antagonism, but rich and poor must both exist. The rich, however, must sustain the poor. I’ll do what I can. God is my witness!’
    Well, this was not the speech from the editorial in the
Freien Zeit
verbatim. But the sense was, without question, the same.
    Perlefter’s political world-view was ever unchanging. Thus the views he held before the war remained the same after the war. Formerly he had proper respect for the Emperor. Although he was not in love with the monarchy, he believed it was a necessity. The war disturbed him, although his earnings were ever greater. Yes, I must confess to Perlefter’s credit that he did not like war. It is true that he had been exempted. He had nothing to fear. He feared anyway. Everything was topsyturvy. If a clerk was absent-minded they could still call him to arms! Out of error, but the misfortune would be the same. When once I came to Perlefter with two medals that had been given to me during the war he brought me to the