"He's as obstinate as a mule!"
Judge Claiborne laughed at the Baron's vehemence.
"He comes by it honestly. I can imagine his father doing the same thing
under similar circumstances."
"What! This rot about democracy! This light tossing away of an honest
title, a respectable fortune! My dear sir, there is such a thing as
carrying democracy too far!"
"I suppose there is; but he's of age; he's a grown man. I don't see what
you're going to do about it."
"Neither do I! But think what he's putting aside. The boy's clever--he
has courage and brains, as we know; he could have position--the home
government is under immense obligations to him. A word from me to Vienna
and his services to the crown would be acknowledged in the most generous
fashion. And with his father's memory and reputation behind him--"
"But the idea of reward doesn't appeal to him. We canvassed that last
night."
"There's one thing I haven't dared to ask him: to take his own name--to
become Frederick Augustus von Stroebel, even if he doesn't want his
father's money or the title. Quite likely he will refuse that, too.
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