"Treason, then! You would incite me to degrading perjury and treason?" Arno exclaimed, looking at his brother with flashing eyes. "Matters have gone far indeed when a Hohenwald can make such proposals to his brother!"
The Finanzrath was quite unprepared for such a reply. He had never imagined that Arno could refuse to undertake the task assigned to him, and therefore had he explained his schemes and hopes with such reckless frankness. He suddenly found himself exposed to a danger of which he had not dreamed. What if Arno should misuse the knowledge thus gained! He grew pale, but speedily recovered his composure. He must show no sign of fear; the game might yet perhaps be won.
"Who talks of treason?" he rejoined, with forced calmness. "Is it treason for a Saxon officer to obey his king's command? Is it treason to break an alliance that was framed by mere brute force? Was York guilty of treason in 1813? Has not posterity honoured him as the saviour of his country? Do not judge too hastily, my dear Arno, do not yield to a momentary emotion, but ask yourself, after calm reflection, whether you are justified in refusing your services to your country at her sorest need. Can you ever forget that you are a Saxon? Our king and country are to be delivered from the Prussian yoke; remember that, Arno, before you decide."
Arno looked at his brother with profound contempt. "I will hear no more!" he said, sternly. "What your share may be in the disgraceful intrigue of which you speak I do not know, nor do I wish to know. Go your own dark way, but do not think to mislead me by your sophistry. I know my duty. You reckon upon my hatred of Prussia, upon my love for our own little Saxon land; your reckoning is false from beginning to end. Yes, I do hate the arrogant, ambitious Prussian, but I have a fiercer hatred for the arch-enemy of all Germany, and it fills me with shame and indignation that a Hohenwald should dream of inciting his brother to a disgraceful league with France in a war with Germany. This is the error in your prudent calculations: you reckon upon the hatred of Prussia in South Germany, in Hanover and Saxony, but that hatred will vanish like chaff before the wind when it comes to be a question of defending Germany against French lust of conquest. Neither you nor your noble Russian friend Count Repuin can use the German love of country as a factor in your calculations, for you do not appreciate its existence, nor that there are happily but few scoundrels in Germany so ready as yourself to satisfy their own selfish ambition by giving over their fatherland to French greed of territory."