Perlefter Read Online Free

Perlefter and people like him were not always pleased with the behaviour of the upper classes, they were proud of this, of their good fortune at being allowed to share the same room with them.
    It was, as I said, a club of the Moderate Party, which had no great significance in the country but had newspapers – a lot of papers and skilful pens. It was as if this party had been created for Alexander Perlefter. It was like that bridge where he liked to linger; it required no decisiveness or risky actions – rather, it seemed moderating. It mediated, it created no decisive enemies, it met Perlefter’s world view, it left God alone – as well as the princes and the rich people – but also the workers, the homeless and the gypsies.
    One might assume that this club was frequented by people such as Perlefter. But it was not so. As far as I could tell, there were not many of the ordinariness of Alexander Perlefter. The opportunity was offered me, on a few occasions, to dine at the club. I came to know some of the members. Perlefter introduced me to them. He did not fail to praise my talents and achievements in front of the men to whom he introduced me, although he himself did not think as much of my talents and achievements as he pretended. Afterwards he did not forget to describe for me, enthusiastically, the importance, the greatness and the character of each man. I recall that neither Herr Perlefter nor I had madeany impression upon these people. They nodded in a friendly manner and smiled, revealing their yellowed smoker’s teeth and gold fillings, but I disappeared from their memory as might any indifferent object, some insignificant poster or the number of a taxi they had used. I didn’t bother trying to make an impression on these great and decorous men because I was too anxious trying to memorize their faces and their mannerisms. Thus I knew that the divorce lawyer, Herr Doctor Sigismund Grunewald, who used to be known as Grünewald, wore a full beard that looked like a black carpet which has become grey around the edges through frequent use. He had rather thin fingers with improbably strong knuckles, which looked like nodes or frostbite scars. With these white and sinister fingers he often stroked his beard, stretching them apart to make a sort of natural comb out of them. At the attorneys’ table sat the former minister Lierecke, a man whose bushy beard concealed his upper and lower lip and who liked furtively and absentmindedly to wipe his fingers dry on the end of the tablecloth. There was also in the club the tin-can manufacturer Simmwinger, a grey gentleman with striking and colourful wide neckties and high collars, in whose ears were whitish-yellow tufts of overgrown moss. Frequenting the club was the café owner and former master baker Ringelhardt who owned the three largest cafés in the city and who always spoke loudly as if he were addressing the thousands of customers at one of his packed locations. There also came into the club a pensioner named MajorGrohl, a small man with a red and porous nose who, although he wore civilian clothes, could not manage without the spurs on his boots and who ever lived in an eternal cloud of silver clinking and owned a large sheep-dog that answered to the unusual name of Kratt. There was also the Member of Parliament, Schundeler, a young man from the garment industry who through diligent studies of the national economy and several courses in public speaking had worked his way to becoming a representative of the people. I can recall the tobacco dealer Zopf, the watchmaker and jeweller Beständig, the riding-school owner Nessedolt, the Fire Department inspector Teul, the government commissioner Taklap and the Jewish rabbi Bloch.
    All these men esteemed Perlefter. He received respect from all of them. But there were different grades of respect, and they corresponded to the different social levels of gentleman. Herr Perlefter was on familiar terms