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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14470-0.txt b/14470-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cd6b59 --- /dev/null +++ b/14470-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20687 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14470 *** + + VOLUME XII + + + + GUSTAV FREYTAG + THEODOR FONTANE + + + + [Illustration: FREDERICK THE GREAT PLAYING THE FLUTE + _From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_] + + + + + THE GERMAN CLASSICS + OF + THE NINETEENTH AND + TWENTIETH CENTURY + + + Masterpieces of German Literature + TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH + + + + EDITOR-IN-CHIEF + KUNO FRANCKE, PH.D., LL.D., LITT.D. + Professor of the History of German Culture, + Emeritus, and Honorary Curator of the Germanic Museum, + Harvard University + + + ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF + WILLIAM GUILD HOWARD, A.M. + Professor of German, Harvard University + + + In Twenty Volumes Illustrated + + + + ALBANY, N.Y. + J.B. LYON COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + Copyright 1914 + + + + + + +CONTRIBUTORS AND TRANSLATORS + + + +VOLUME XII + + +Special Writers + + +ERNEST F. HENDERSON, Ph.D., L.H.D., Author of _The History of Germany +in the Middle Ages; Short History of Germany_, etc.: The Life of +Gustav Freytag. + + +WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M., Associate Professor of German, Leland +Stanford Junior University: The Life of Theodor Fontane. + + +Translators + +ERNEST F. HENDERSON, Ph.D., L.H.D., Author of _The History of Germany +in the Middle Ages; Short History of Germany_, etc.: The Journalists. + +WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M., Associate Professor of German, Leland +Stanford Junior University: Effi Briest; Extracts from "My Childhood +Days." + +E.H. BABBITT, A.B., Assistant Professor of German, Tufts College: +Doctor Luther; Frederick the Great. + +MARGARETE MÃœNSTERBERG: + +Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck; The Bridge by the Tay. + + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME XII + + + GUSTAV FREYTAG + + The Life of Gustav Freytag. By Ernest F. Henderson + + The Journalists. Translated by Ernest F. Henderson + + Doctor Luther. Translated by E.H. Babbitt + + Frederick the Great. Translated by E.H. Babbitt + + + THEODOR FONTANE + + The Life of Theodor Fontane. By William A. Cooper + + Effi Briest. Translated by William A. Cooper + + Extracts from "My Childhood Days." Translated by William A. Cooper + + Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck. Translated by Margarete Münsterberg + + The Bridge by the Tay. Translated by Margarete Münsterberg + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS--VOLUME XII + +Frederick the Great Playing the Flute. + By Adolph von Menzel. _Frontispiece_ + +Gustav Freytag. By Stauffer-Bern + +At the Concert. By Adolph von Menzel + +Nature Enthusiasts. By Adolph von Menzel + +On the Terrace. By Adolph von Menzel + +In the Beergarden. By Adolph von Menzel + +Lunch Buffet at Kissingen. By Adolph von Menzel + +Luther Monument at Worms. By Ernst Rietschel + +Frederick William I Inspecting a School. By Adolph von Menzel + +Court Ball at Rheinsberg. By Adolph von Menzel + +Frederick the Great and His Round Table. By Adolph von Menzel + +Frederick the Great on a Pleasure Trip. By Adolph von Menzel + +Theodor Fontane. By Hanns Fechner + +Fontane Monument at Neu-Ruppin + +A Sunday in the Garden of the Tuileries. By Adolph von Menzel + +Divine Service in the Woods at Kösen. By Adolph von Menzel + +A Street Scene at Paris. By Adolph von Menzel + +Procession at Gastein. By Adolph von Menzel + +High Altar at Salzburg. By Adolph von Menzel + +Bathing Boys. By Adolph von Menzel + +Frau von Schleinitz "At Home." By Adolph von Menzel + +Supper at a Court Ball. By Adolph von Menzel + + + + + +EDITOR'S NOTE + +This volume, containing representative works by two of the foremost +realists of midcentury German literature, Freytag and Fontane, brings, +as an artistic parallel, selections from the work of the greatest +realist of midcentury German painting: Adolph von Menzel. + +KUNO FRANCKE. + + + + + +THE LIFE OF GUSTAV FREYTAG + + +By ERNEST F. HENDERSON, PH.D., L.H.D. + +Author of _A History of Germany in the Middle Ages; A Short History of +Germany, etc._ + + +It is difficult to assign to Gustav Freytag his exact niche in the +hall of fame, because of his many-sidedness. He wrote one novel of +which the statement has been made by an eminent French critic that no +book in the German language, with the exception of the Bible, has +enjoyed in its day so wide a circulation; he wrote one comedy which +for years was more frequently played than any other on the German +stage; he wrote a series of historical sketches--_Pictures of the +German Past_ he calls them--which hold a unique place in German +literature, being as charming in style as they are sound in +scholarship. Add to these a work on the principles of dramatic +criticism that is referred to with respect by the very latest writers +on the subject, an important biography, a second very successful +novel, and a series of six historical romances that vary in interest, +indeed, but that are a noble monument to his own nation and that, +alone, would have made him famous. + +As a novelist Freytag is often compared with Charles Dickens, largely +on account of the humor that so frequently breaks forth from his +pages. It is a different kind of humor, not so obstreperous, not so +exaggerated, but it helps to lighten the whole in much the same way. +One moment it is an incongruous simile, at another a bit of sly +satire; now infinitely small things are spoken of as though they were +great, and again we have the reverse. + +It is in his famous comedy, _The Journalists_, which appeared in 1853, +that Freytag displays his humor to its best advantage. Some of the +situations themselves, without being farcical, are exceedingly +amusing, as when the Colonel, five minutes after declaiming against +the ambition of journalists and politicians, and enumerating the +different forms under which it is concealed, lets his own ambition run +away with him and is won by the very same arts he has just been +denouncing. Again, Bolz's capture of the wine-merchant Piepenbrink at +the ball given under the auspices of the rival party is very cleverly +described indeed. There is a difference of opinion as to whether or +not Bolz was inventing the whole dramatic story of his rescue by +Oldendorf, but there can be no difference of opinion as to the +comicality of the scene that follows, where, under the very eyes of +his rivals and with the consent of the husband, Bolz prepares to kiss +Mrs. Piepenbrink. The play abounds with curious little bits of satire, +quaint similes and unexpected exaggerations. "There is so much that +happens," says Bolz in his editorial capacity, "and so tremendously +much that does not happen, that an honest reporter should never be at +a loss for novelties." Playing dominoes with polar bears, teaching +seals the rudiments of journalism, waking up as an owl with tufts of +feathers for ears and a mouse in one's beak, are essentially +Freytagian conceptions; and no one else could so well have expressed +Bolz's indifference to further surprises--they may tell him if they +will that some one has left a hundred millions for the purpose of +painting all negroes white, or of making Africa four-cornered; but he, +Bolz, has reached a state of mind where he will accept as truth +anything and everything. + +Freytag's greatest novel, entitled _Soll und Haben_ (the technical +commercial terms for "debit" and "credit"), appeared in 1856. _Dombey +and Son_ by Dickens had been published a few years before and is worth +our attention for a moment because of a similarity of theme in the two +works. In both, the hero is born of the people, but comes in contact +with the aristocracy not altogether to his own advantage; in both, +looming in the background of the story, is the great mercantile house +with its vast and mysterious transactions. The writer of this short +article does not hesitate to place _Debit and Credit_ far ahead of +_Dombey and Son_. That does not mean that there are not single +episodes, and occasionally a character, in _Dombey and Son_ that the +German author could never have achieved. But, considered as an +artistic whole, the English novel is so disjointed and uneven that the +interest often flags and almost dies, while many of the characters are +as grotesque and wooden as so many jumping-jacks. In Freytag's work, +on the other hand, the different parts are firmly knitted together; an +ethical purpose runs through the whole, and there is a careful +subordination of the individual characters to the general plan of the +whole structure. It is much the same contrast as that between an +old-fashioned Italian opera and a modern German tone-drama. In the one +case the effects are made through senseless repetition and through +_tours de force_ of the voice; in the other there is a steady +progression in dramatic intensity, link joining link without a gap. + +But to say that _Debit and Credit_ is a finer book than _Dombey and +Son_ is not to claim that Freytag, all in all, is a greater novelist +than Dickens. The man of a single fine book would have to be +superlatively great to equal one who could show such fertility in +creation of characters or produce such masterpieces of description. +Dickens reaches heights of passion to which Freytag could never +aspire; in fact the latter's temperament strikes one as rather a cool +one. Even Spielhagen, far inferior to him in many regards, could +thrill where Freytag merely interests. + +Freytag's _forte_ lay in fidelity of depiction, in the power to +ascertain and utilize essential facts. It would not be fair to say +that he had little imagination, for in the parts of _The Ancestors_ +that have to do with remote times, times of which our whole knowledge +is gained from a few paragraphs in old chronicles and where the +scenes and incidents have to be invented, he is at his best. But one +of his great merits lies in his evident familiarity with the +localities mentioned in the pages as well as with the social +environment of his personages. The house of T.D. Schröter in _Debit +and Credit_ had its prototype in the house of Molinari in Breslau, and +at the Molinaris Freytag was a frequent visitor. Indeed in the company +of the head of the firm he even undertook just such a journey to the +Polish provinces in troubled times as he makes Anton take with +Schröter. Again, the life in the newspaper office, so amusingly +depicted in _The Journalists_, was out of the fulness of his own +experience as editor of a political sheet. A hundred little natural +touches thus add to the realism of the whole and make the figures, as +a German critic says, "stand out like marble statues against a hedge +of yew." The reproach has been made that many of Freytag's characters +are too much alike. He has distinct types which repeat themselves both +in the novels and in the plays. George Saalfeld in _Valentine_, for +instance, is strikingly like Bolz in _The Journalists_ or Fink in +_Debit and Credit_. Freytag's answer to such objections was that an +author, like any other artist, must work from models, which he is not +obliged constantly to change. The feeling for the solidarity of the +arts was very strong with him. He practically abandoned writing for +the stage just after achieving his most noted success and merely for +the reason that in poetic narration, as he called it, he saw the +possibility of being still more dramatic. He felt hampered by the +restrictions which the necessarily limited length of an evening's +performance placed upon him, and wished more time and space for the +explanation of motives and the development of his plot. In his novel, +then, he clung to exactly the same arrangement of his theme as in his +drama--its initial presentation, the intensification of the interest, +the climax, the revulsion, the catastrophe. Again, in the matter of +contrast he deliberately followed the lead of the painter who knows +which colors are complementary and also which ones will clash. + +[Illustration: GUSTAV FREYTAG. STAUFFER-BERN] + +What, now, are some of the special qualities that have made +Freytag's literary work so enduring, so dear to the Teuton heart, so +successful in every sense of the word? For one thing, there are a +clearness, conciseness and elegance of style, joined to a sort of +musical rhythm, that hold one captive from the beginning. So evident +is his meaning in every sentence that his pages suffer less by +translation than is the case with almost any other author. + +Freytag's highly polished sentences seem perfectly spontaneous, though +we know that he went through a long period of rigid training before +achieving success. "For five years," he himself writes, "I had pursued +the secret of dramatic style; like the child in the fairy-tale I had +sought it from the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. At length I had found +it: my soul could create securely and comfortably after the manner +which the stage itself demanded." He had found it, we are given to +understand, in part through the study of the French dramatists of his +own day of whom Scribe was one just then in vogue. From them, says a +critic, he learned "lightness of touch, brevity, conciseness, +directness, the use of little traits as a means of giving insight into +character, different ways of keeping the interest at the proper point +of tension, and a thousand little devices for clearing the stage of +superfluous figures or making needed ones appear at the crucial +moment." Among his tricks of style, if we may call them so, are +inversion and elision; by the one he puts the emphasis just where he +wishes, by the other he hastens the action without sacrificing the +meaning. Another of his weapons is contrast--grave and gay, high and +low succeed each other rapidly, while vice and virtue follow suit. + +No writer ever trained himself for his work more consciously and +consistently. He experimented with each play, watched its effect on +his audiences, asked himself seriously whether their apparent want of +interest in this or that portion was due to some defect in his work or +to their own obtuseness. He had failures, but remarkably few, and they +did not discourage him; nor did momentary success in one field +prevent him from abandoning it for another in which he hoped to +accomplish greater things. He is his own severest critic, and in his +autobiography speaks of certain productions as worthless which are +only relatively wanting in merit. + +Freytag's orderly treatment of his themes affords constant pleasure to +the reader. He proceeds as steadily toward his climax as the builder +does toward the highest point of his roof. He had learned much about +climaxes, so he tells us himself, from Walter Scott, who was the first +to see the importance of a great final or concluding effect. + +We have touched as yet merely on externals. Elegance of style, +orderliness of arrangement, consecutiveness of thought alone would +never have given Freytag his place in German literature. All these had +first to be consecrated to the service of a great idea. That idea as +expressed in _Debit and Credit_ is that the hope of the German nation +rests in its steady commercial or working class. He shows the dignity, +yes, the poetry of labor. The nation had failed to secure the needed +political reforms, to the bitter disappointment of numerous patriots; +Freytag's mission was to teach that there were other things worth +while besides these constitutional liberties of which men had so long +dreamed and for which they had so long struggled. + +Incidentally he holds the decadent noble up to scorn, and shows how he +still clings to his old pretensions while their very basis is +crumbling under him. It is a new and active life that Freytag +advocates, one of toil and of routine, but one that in the end will +give the highest satisfaction. Such ideas were products of the +revolution of 1848, and they found the ground prepared for them by +that upheaval. Freytag, as Fichte had done in 1807 and 1808, +inaugurated a campaign of education which was to prove enormously +successful. A French critic writes of _Debit and Credit_ that it was +"the breviary in which a whole generation of Germans learned to read +and to think," while an English translator (three translations of the +book appeared in England in the same year) calls it the _Uncle Tom's +Cabin_ of the German workingman. A German critic is furious that a +work of such real literary merit should be compared to one so flat and +insipid as Mrs. Stowe's production; but he altogether misses the +point, which is the effect on the people of a spirited defense of +those who had hitherto had no advocate. + +Freytag has been called an opportunist, but the term should not be +considered one of reproach. It certainly was opportune that his great +work appeared at the moment when it was most needed, a moment of +discouragement, of disgust at everything high and low. It brought its +smiling message and remained to cheer and comfort. _The Journalists_, +too, was opportune, for it called attention to a class of men whose +work was as important as it was unappreciated. Up to 1848, the year of +the revolution, the press had been under such strict censorship that +any frank discussion of public matters had been out of the question. +But since then distinguished writers, like Freytag himself, had taken +the helm. Even when not radical, they were dreaded by the +reactionaries, and even Freytag escaped arrest in Prussia only by +hastily becoming a court official of his friend the Duke of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha--within whose domains he already owned an estate +and was in the habit of residing for a portion of each year--and thus +renouncing his Prussian citizenship. Even Freytag's _Pictures from the +German Past_ may be said to have been opportune. Already, for a +generation, the new school of scientific historians--the Rankes, the +Wattenbachs, the Waitzs, the Giesebrechts--had been piling up their +discoveries, and collating and publishing manuscripts describing the +results of their labors. They lived on too high a plane for the +ordinary reader. Freytag did not attempt to "popularize" them by cheap +methods. He served as an interpreter between the two extremes. He +chose a type of facts that would have seemed trivial to the great +pathfinders, worked them up with care from the sources, and by his +literary art made them more than acceptable to the world at large. In +these _Pictures from the German Past_, as in the six volumes of the +series of historical romances entitled _The Ancestors_, a patriotic +purpose was not wanting. Freytag wished to show his Germans that they +had a history to be proud of, a history whose continuity was unbroken; +the nation had been through great vicissitudes, but everything had +tended to prove that the German has an inexhaustible fund of reserve +force. Certain national traits, certain legal institutions, could be +followed back almost to the dawn of history, and it would be found +that the Germans of the first centuries of our era were not nearly so +barbarous as had been supposed. + +And so with a wonderful talent for selecting typical and essential +facts and not overburdening his narrative with detail he leads us down +the ages. The hero of his introductory romance in _The Ancestors_ is a +Vandal chieftain who settles among the Thuringians at the time of the +great wandering of the nations--the hero of the last of the series is +a journalist of the nineteenth century. All are descendants of the one +family, and Freytag has a chance to develop some of his theories of +heredity. Not only can bodily aptitudes and mental peculiarities be +transmitted, but also the tendency to act in a given case much as the +ancestor would have done. + +It cannot be denied that as Freytag proceeds with _The Ancestors_ the +tendency to instruct and inform becomes too marked. He had begun his +career in the world by lecturing on literature at the University of +Breslau, but had severed his connection with that institution because +he was not allowed to branch out into history. Possibly those who +opposed him were right and the two subjects are incapable of +amalgamation. Freytag in this, his last great work, revels in the +fulness of his knowledge of facts, but shows more of the thoroughness +of the scholar than of the imagination of the poet. The novels become +epitomes of the history of the time. No type of character may be +omitted. So popes and emperors, monks and missionaries, German +warriors and Roman warriors, minstrels and students, knights, +crusaders, colonists, landskechts, and mercenaries are dragged in and +made to do their part with all too evident fidelity to truth. + +We owe much of our knowledge of Freytag's life to a charming +autobiography which served as a prefatory volume to his collected +works. Freytag lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1895 at the age of +seventy-nine. Both as a newspaper editor and as a member of parliament +(the former from 1848 to 1860, the latter for the four years from 1867 +to 1871) he had shown his patriotism and his interest in public +affairs. Many of his numerous essays, written for the _Grenzboten_, +are little masterpieces and are to be found among his collected works +published in 1888. As a member of parliament, indeed, he showed no +marked ability and his name is associated with no important measure. + +Not to conceal his shortcoming it must be said that Freytag, at the +time of the accession to the throne of the present head of the German +Empire, laid himself open to much censure by attacking the memory of +the dead Emperor Frederick who had always been his friend and patron. + +In conclusion it may be said that no one claims for Freytag a place in +the front rank of literary geniuses. He is no Goethe, no Schiller, no +Dante, no Milton, no Shakespeare. He is not a pioneer, has not changed +the course of human thought. But yet he is an artist of whom his +country may well be proud, who has added to the happiness of hundreds +of thousands of Germans, and who only needs to be better understood to +be thoroughly enjoyed by foreigners. + +England and America have much to learn from him--the value of long, +careful, and unremitting study; the advantage of being thoroughly +familiar with the scenes and types of character depicted; the charm of +an almost unequaled simplicity and directness. He possessed the rare +gift of being able to envelop every topic that he touched with an +atmosphere of elegance and distinction. His productions are not +ephemeral, but are of the kind that will endure. + + * * * * * + + + + +_GUSTAV FREYTAG_ + + + + + * * * * * + +#THE JOURNALISTS# + + + + DRAMATIS PERSONÆ + + BERG, _retired Colonel_. + + IDA, _his daughter_. + + ADELAIDE RUNECK. + + SENDEN, _landed proprietor_. + _ + PROFESSOR OLDENDORF, _editor-in-chief_. | + | + CONRAD BOLZ, _editor_. | + | + BELLMAUS, _on the staff._. | + | + KÄMPE, _on the staff_. } of the newspaper + | _The Union_. + KÖRNER, _on the staff_. | + | + PRINTER HENNING, _owner_. | + | + MILLER, _factotum_. _| + + _ + BLUMENBERG, _editor_. | + } of the newspaper + SCHMOCK, _on the staff_. _| _Coriolanus_. + + + + PIEPENBRINK, _wine merchant and voter_. + + LOTTIE, _his wife_. + + BERTHA, _their daughter_. + + KLEINMICHEL _citizen and voter_. + + FRITZ, _his son_. + + JUDGE SCHWARZ. + + _A foreign ballet-dancer._ + + KORB, _secretary for Adelaide's estate_. + + CARL, _the Colonel's man-servant._ + + _A waiter._ + + _Club-guests._ _Deputations of citizens_. + + + +_Place of action: A provincial capital._ + + +THE JOURNALISTS[1] (1853) + +TRANSLATED BY ERNEST F. HENDERSON, PH.D., L.H.D. + + + + +ACT I + + +SCENE I + + +_A summer parlor in the_ COLONEL'S _house. Handsome furnishings. In +the centre of rear wall an open door, behind it a verandah and garden; +on the sides of rear wall large windows. Right and left, doors; on the +right, well in front, a window. Tables, chairs, a small sofa_. + +IDA _is sitting in front on the right reading a book. The_ COLONEL +_enters through centre door with an open box in his hand in which are +dahlias_. + +COLONEL. + +Here, Ida, are the new varieties of dahlias our gardener has grown. +You'll have to rack your brains to find names for them. Day after +tomorrow is the Horticultural Society meeting, when I am to exhibit +and christen them. + +IDA. + +This light-colored one here should be called the "Adelaide." + +COLONEL. + +Adelaide Buneck, of course. Your own name is out of the running, for +as a little dahlia you have long been known to the flower-trade. + +IDA. + +One shall be called after your favorite writer, "Boz." + +COLONEL. + +Splendid! And it must be a really fine one, this yellow one here with +violet points. And the third one--how shall we christen that? + +IDA (_stretching out her hand entreatingly to her father_). + +"Edward Oldendorf." + +COLONEL. + +What! The professor? The editor? Oh no, that will not do! It was bad +enough for him to take over the paper; but that he now has allowed +himself to be led by his party into running for Parliament--that I can +never forgive him. + +IDA. + +Here he comes himself. + +COLONEL (_aside_). + +It used to be a pleasure to me to hear his footstep; now I can hardly +keep from being rude when I see him. + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF. + +OLDENDORF. + +Good morning, Colonel! + +IDA (_with a friendly greeting_). + +Good morning, Edward. Help me to admire the new dahlias that father +has grown. + +COLONEL. + +But do not trouble the professor. Such trifles no longer interest him; +he has bigger things in his head. + +OLDENDORF. + +At all events I have not lost my ability to enjoy what gives you +pleasure. + +COLONEL (_grumbling to himself_). + +You have not given me much proof of that. I fear you take pleasure in +doing the very things that vex me. You are doubtless quite busy now +with your election, Mr. Future Member of Parliament! + +OLDENDORF. + +You know, Colonel, that I myself have less than any one else to do +with it. + +COLONEL. + +Oh, I don't believe that! It is the usual custom in such elections, I +imagine, to pay court to influential persons and shake hands with the +voters, to make speeches, scatter promises, and do all the other +little devil's tricks. + +OLDENDORF. + +You yourself do not believe, Colonel, that I would do anything +discreditable? + +COLONEL. + +Not? I am not so sure, Oldendorf. Since you have turned journalist, +edit your _Union_ and daily reproach the State with its faulty +organization, you are no longer what you used to be. + +OLDENDORF (_who up to this point has been conversing with_ IDA _about +the flowers, but now turns to the_ COLONEL). + +Does what I now say or write conflict with my former views? It would +be hard to convince me of that. And still less can you have noticed +any change in my feelings or in my conduct toward you. + +COLONEL (_obdurate_). + +Well, I don't see what reason you would have for that. I am not going +to spoil my morning by quarreling. Ida may try to straighten things +out with you. I am going to my flowers. [_Takes the box and exit +toward the garden._] + +OLDENDORF. + +What has put your father in such a bad humor? Has something in the +newspaper vexed him again? + +IDA. + +I do not think so. But it annoys him that now in politics you again +find it necessary to advocate measures he detests and attack +institutions he reveres. (_Shyly._) Edward, is it really impossible +for you to withdraw from the election? + +OLDENDORF. + +It is impossible. + +IDA. + +I should then have you here, and father could regain his good humor; +for he would highly appreciate the sacrifice you were making for him, +and we could look forward to a future as peaceful as our past has +been. + +OLDENDORF. + +I know that, Ida, and I feel anything but pleasure at the prospect of +becoming member for this town; yet I cannot withdraw. + +IDA (_turning away_). + +Father is right. You have changed entirely since becoming editor of +the paper. + +OLDENDORF. + +Ida! You too! If this is going to cause discord between us I shall +indeed feel badly. + +IDA. + +Dear Edward! I am only grieving at losing you for so long. + +OLDENDORF. + +I am not yet elected. If I do become member and can have my way, I +will take you to the capital and never let you leave my side again. + +IDA. + +Ah, Edward, we can't think of that now! But do spare father. + +OLDENDORF. + +You know how much I stand from him; and I don't give up hope of his +becoming reconciled to me. The election once over, I will make another +appeal to his heart. I may wrest from him a favorable answer that will +mean our marriage. + +IDA. + +But do humor his little foibles. He is in the garden near his dahlia +bed; express your delight over the gay colors. If you go at it +skilfully enough perhaps he may still call one the "Edward Oldendorf." +We have been talking of it already. Come! [_Exeunt both._] + +_Enter_ SENDEN, BLUMENBERG, CARL, SCHMOCK. + +SENDEN (_entering_). + +Is the Colonel alone? + +CARL. + +Professor Oldendorf is with him. + +SENDEN. + +Take in our names. [_Exit_ CARL.] This everlasting Oldendorf! I say, +Blumenberg, this connection of the old gentleman with the _Union_ must +stop. We cannot really call him one of us so long as the professor +frequents this house. We need the Colonel's influential personality. + +BLUMENBERG. + +It is the best-known house in town--the best society, good wine, and +art. + +SENDEN. + +I have my private reasons, too, for bringing the Colonel over to our +side. And everywhere the professor and his clique block our way. + +BLUMENBERG. + +The friendship shall cease. I promise you that it shall cease, +gradually, within the next few weeks. The first step has already been +taken. The gentlemen of the _Union_ have fallen into the trap. + +SENDEN. + +Into what trap? + +BLUMENBERG. + +The one I set for them in our paper. [_Turning upon_ SCHMOCK _who is +standing in the doorway._] Why do you stand here, Schmock? Can't you +wait at the gate? + +SCHMOCK. + +I went where you did. Why should I not stand here? I know the Colonel +as well as you do. + +BLUMENBERG. + +Don't be forward and don't be impudent. Go and wait at the gate, and +when I bring you the article, quickly run with it to the +press--understand? + +SCHMOCK. + +How can I help understanding when you croak like a raven? + +[_EXIT_.] + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann, A -G, Munich_ +AT THE CONCERT ADOLPH VON MENZEL.] + +BLUMENBERG (_to_ SENDEN). + +He is a vulgar person, but he is useful! Now that we are alone, +listen! The other day when you brought me to call here, I begged the +Colonel just to write down his ideas on the questions of the day. + +SENDEN. + +Yes, alas! You piled on the flattery much too thick, but the old +gentleman did, nevertheless, at last take fire. + +BLUMENBERG. + +We begged him to read to us what he had written; he read it to us, we +praised it. + +SENDEN. + +It was very tiresome all the same. + +BLUMENBERG. + +I begged it of him for our paper. + +SENDEN. + +Yes, unfortunately! And now I must carry these bulky things to your +press. These articles are too heavy; they won't do the _Coriolanus_ +any good. + +BLUMENBERG. + +Yet I printed them gladly. When a man has written for a paper he +becomes a good friend of that paper. The Colonel at once subscribed +for the _Coriolanus_, and, the next day, invited me to dinner. + +SENDEN (_shrugging his shoulders_). + +If that is all you gain by it! + +BLUMENBERG. + +It is merely the beginning.--The articles are clumsy; why should I not +say so? + +SENDEN. + +God knows they are! + +BLUMENBERG. + +And no one knows who the author is. + +SENDEN. + +That was the old gentleman's stipulation. I imagine he is afraid of +Oldendorf. + +BLUMENBERG. + +And precisely what I anticipated has come to pass. Oldendorf's paper +has today attacked these articles. Here is the latest issue of the +_Union_. + +SENDEN. + +Let me look at it. Well, that will be a fine mix-up! Is the attack +insulting? + +BLUMENBERG. + +The Colonel will be sure to consider it so. Don't you think that that +will help us against the professor? + +SENDEN. + +Upon my honor you are the slyest devil that ever crept out of an +inkstand! + +BLUMENBERG. + +Give it to me, the Colonel is coming. _Enter the_ COLONEL. + +COLONEL. + +Good morning, gentlemen!--[_aside_] and that Oldendorf should just +happen to be here! If only he will remain in the garden! Well, Mr. +Editor, how is the _Coriolanus_? + +BLUMENBERG. + +Our readers admire the new articles marked with an arrow. Is there any +chance that some more-- + +COLONEL (_drawing a manuscript from his pocket and looking round_). + +I rely on your discretion. As a matter of fact I wanted to read it +through again on account of the structure of the sentences. + +BLUMENBERG. + +That can best be done in the proof-reading. + +COLONEL. + +I think it will do. Take it; but not a word-- + +BLUMENBERG. + +You will let me send it at once to press. [_At the door._] Schmock! + +[SCHMOCK _appears at the door, takes the manuscript and exit +quickly._] + +SENDEN. + +Blumenberg is keeping the sheet up to the mark, but, as he has +enemies, he has to fight hard to defend himself. + +COLONEL (_amused_). + +Enemies? Who does not have them? But journalists have nerves like +women. Everything excites you; every word that any one says against +you rouses your indignation! Oh come, you are sensitive people! + +BLUMENBERG. + +Possibly you are right, Colonel. But when one has opponents like this +_Union_-- + +COLONEL. + +Oh, yes, the _Union_. It is a thorn in the flesh to both of you. There +is a great deal in it that I cannot praise; but, really when it comes +to sounding an alarm, attacking, and pitching in, it is cleverer than +your paper. The articles are witty; even when they are on the wrong +side one cannot help laughing at them. + +BLUMENBERG. + +Not always. In today's attack on the best articles the +_Coriolanus_ has published in a long time I see no wit at all. + +COLONEL. + +Attack on what articles? + +BLUMENBERG. + +On yours, Colonel. I must have the paper somewhere about +me. + +[_Searches, and gives him a copy of the Union._] + +COLONEL. + +Oldendorf's paper attacks my articles! [_Reads._] "We regret +such lack of knowledge--" + +BLUMENBERG. + +And here-- + +COLONEL. + +"It is an unpardonable piece of presumption"--What! I am +presumptuous? + +BLUMENBERG. + +And here-- + +COLONEL. + +"One may be in doubt as to whether the naïveté of the +contributor is comical or tragical, but at all events he has no right +to join in the discussion"--[_Throwing down the paper._] Oh, that is +contemptible! It is a low trick! + +_Enter_ IDA _and_ OLDENDORF _from the garden._ + +SENDEN (_aside_). + +Now comes the cloud-burst! + +COLONEL. + +Professor, your newspaper is making progress. To bad principles is now +added something else--baseness. + +IDA (_frightened_). + +Father! + +OLDENDORF (_coming forward_). + +Colonel, how can you justify this insulting expression? + +COLONEL (_holding out the paper to him_). + +Look here! That stands in your paper! In your paper, Oldendorf! + +OLDENDORF. + +The tone of the attack is not quite as calm as I could have wished-- + +COLONEL. + +Not quite so calm? Not really? + +OLDENDORF. + +In substance the attack is justified. + +COLONEL. + +Sir! You dare say that to me! + +IDA. + +Father! + +OLDENDORF. + +Colonel, I do not comprehend this attitude, and I beg you to consider +that we are speaking before witnesses. + +COLONEL. + +Do not ask for any consideration. It would have been your place to +show consideration for the man whose friendship you are otherwise so +ready to claim. + +OLDENDORF. + +But, first of all, tell me frankly what is your own connection with +the articles attacked in the _Coriolanus_? + +COLONEL. + +A very chance connection, too insignificant in your eyes to deserve +your regard. The articles are by me! + +IDA. + +Heavens! + +OLDENDORF (_vehemently_). + +By you? Articles in the paper of this gentleman? + +IDA (_entreating him_). + +Edward! + +OLDENDORF (_more calmly_). + +The _Union_ has attacked not you but an unknown person, who to us was +merely a partisan of this gentleman. You would have spared us both +this painful scene had you not concealed from me the fact that you are +a correspondent of the _Coriolanus_. + +COLONEL. + +You will have to stand my continuing not to make you a confidant of my +actions. You have here given me a printed proof of your friendship, +which does not make me long for other proofs. + +OLDENDORF (_taking up his hat_). + +I can only say that I deeply regret the occurrence, but do not feel +myself in the least to blame. I hope, Colonel, that, when you think +the matter over calmly, you will come to the same conclusion. Good-by, +Miss Ida. Good day to you. + +[_Exit as far as centre door._] + +IDA (_entreating_). + +Father, don't let him leave us that way! + +COLONEL. + +It is better than to have him stay. + +_Enter_ ADELAIDE. + +ADELAIDE (_entering in elegant traveling costume, meets_ OLDENDORF _at +the door_). + +Not so fast, Professor! + +[OLDENDORF _kisses her hand and leaves._] + + + IDA. }(_together_ Adelaide! [_Falls into her arms._]). + COLONEL. } Adelaide! And at such a moment! + + +ADELAIDE (_holding_ IDA _fast and stretching out her hand to the_ +COLONEL). + +Shake hands with your compatriot. Aunt sends love, and Rosenau Manor, +in its brown autumn dress, presents its humble compliments. The +fields lie bare, and in the garden the withered leaves dance with the +wind.--Ah, Mr. von Senden! + +COLONEL (_introducing_). + +Mr. Blumenberg, the editor. + +SENDEN. + +We are delighted to welcome our zealous agriculturist to the city. + +ADELAIDE. + +And we should have been pleased occasionally to meet our neighbor in +the country. + +COLONEL. + +He has a great deal to do here. He is a great politician, and works +hard for the good cause. + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, indeed, we read of his doings in the newspaper. I drove through +your fields yesterday. Your potatoes are not all in yet. Your steward +didn't get through with the work. + +SENDEN. + +You Rosenau people are privileged to get through a week earlier than +any one else. + +ADELAIDE. + +On the other hand, we have nothing to do but to farm. (_Amicably._) +The neighbors send greetings. + +SENDEN. + +Thank you. We must relinquish you now to friends who have more claim +on you than we have. But will you not receive me in the course of the +day so that I can ask for the news from home? [ADELAIDE _inclines her +head._] + +SENDEN. + +Good-by, Colonel. (_To_ IDA.) My respectful compliments, Miss Berg. + +[_Exit together with_ BLUMENBERG.] + +IDA (_embracing_ ADELAIDE). + +I have you at last. Now everything will be all right! + +ADELAIDE. + +What is to be all right? Is anything not all right? Back there some +one passed me more quickly than usual, and here I see glistening eyes +and a furrowed brow. [_Kisses her on the eyes._] They shall not ruin +your pretty eyes. And you, honored friend, turn a more friendly +countenance to me. + +COLONEL. + +You must stay with us all winter; it will be the first you have given +us in a long time; we shall try to deserve such a favor. + +ADELAIDE (_seriously_). + +It is the first one since my father's death that I have cared to +mingle with the world again. Besides, I have business that calls me +here. You know I came of age this summer, and my legal friend, Judge +Schwarz, requires my presence. Listen, Ida, the servants are +unpacking, go and see that things are properly put away. (_Aside._) +And put a damp cloth over your eyes for people can see that you have +been crying. [_Exit_ IDA _to the right._ ADELAIDE _quickly goes up to +the_ COLONEL.] What is the matter with Ida and the professor? + +COLONEL. + +That would be a long story. I shall not spoil my pleasure with it now. +We men are at odds; our views are too opposed. + +ADELAIDE. + +But were not your views opposed before this, too? And yet you were on +such good terms with Oldendorf! + +COLONEL. + +They were not so extremely opposed as now. + +ADELAIDE. + +And which of you has changed his views? + +COLONEL. + +H'm! Why, he, of course. He is led astray in great part by his evil +companions. There are some men, journalists on his paper, and +especially there is a certain Bolz. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +What's this I hear? + +COLONEL. + +But probably you know him yourself. Why, he comes from your +neighborhood. + +ADELAIDE. + +He is a Rosenau boy. + +COLONEL. + +I remember. Your father, the good old general, could not endure him. + +ADELAIDE. + +At least he sometimes said so. + +COLONEL. + +Since then this Bolz has become queer. His mode of life is said to be +irregular, and I fear his morals are pretty loose. He is Oldendorf's +evil genius. + +ADELAIDE. + +That would be a pity!--No, I do not believe it! + +COLONEL. What do you not believe, Adelaide? + +ADELAIDE (_smiling_). + +I do not believe in evil geniuses. What has gone wrong between you and +Oldendorf can be set right again. Enemies today, friends +tomorrow--that is the way in politics; but Ida's feelings will not +change so quickly. Colonel, I have brought with me a beautiful design +for a dress. That new dress I mean to wear this winter as bridesmaid. + +COLONEL. + +No chance of it! You can't catch me that way, girl. I'll carry the war +into the enemy's country. Why do you drive other people to the altar +and let your own whole neighborhood joke you about being the Sleeping +Beauty and the virgin farmer? + +ADELAIDE (_laughing_). + +Well, so they do. + +COLONEL. + +The richest heiress in the whole district! Courted by a host of +adorers, yet so firmly intrenched against all sentiment; no one can +comprehend it. + +ADELAIDE. + +My dear Colonel, if our young gentlemen were as lovable as certain +older ones--but, alas! they are not. + +COLONEL. + +You shan't escape me. We shall hold you fast in town, until we find +one among our young men whom you will deem worthy to be enrolled under +your command. For whoever be your chosen husband, he will have the +same experience I have had--namely, that, first or last, he will have +to do your bidding. + +ADELAIDE (_quickly_). + +Will you do my bidding with regard to Ida and the professor? Now I +have you! + +COLONEL. + +Will you do me the favor of choosing your husband this winter while +you are with us? Yes? Now I have _you_! + +ADELAIDE. + +It's a bargain! Shake hands! [_Holds out her hand to him._] + +COLONEL (_puts his hand in hers, laughing_). + +Well, you're outwitted. + +[_Exit through centre door._] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +I don't think I am. What, Mr. Conrad Bolz! Is that your reputation +among people! You live an irregular life? You have loose morals? You +are an evil genius?-- + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB (_through the centre door with a package_). + +Where shall I put the account-books and the papers, Miss Adelaide? + +ADELAIDE. + +In my apartment. Tell me, dear Korb, did you find your room here in +order? + +KORB. + +In the finest order. The servant has given me two wax candles; it is +pure extravagance. + +ADELAIDE. + +You need not touch a pen for me this whole day. I want you to see the +town and look up your acquaintances. You have acquaintances here, I +suppose? + +KORB. + +Not very many. It is more than a year since I was last here. + +ADELAIDE (_indifferently_). + +But are there no people from Rosenau here? + +KORB. + +Among the soldiers are four from the village. There is John Lutz of +Schimmellutz-- + +ADELAIDE. + +I know. Have you no other acquaintance here from the village? + +KORB. + +None at all, except him, of course-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Except him? Whom do you mean? + +KORB. + +Why, our Mr. Conrad. + +ADELAIDE. + +Oh, to be sure! Are you not going to visit him? I thought you had +always been good friends. + +KORB. + +Going to visit him? That is the first place I am going to. I have been +looking forward to it during the whole journey. He is a faithful soul +of whom the village has a right to be proud. + +ADELAIDE (_warmly_). + +Yes, he has a faithful heart. + +KORB (_eagerly_). + +Ever merry, ever friendly, and so attached to the village! Poor man, +it is a long time since he was there! + +ADELAIDE. + +Don't speak of it! + +KORB. + +He will ask me about everything--about the farming-- + +ADELAIDE (_eagerly_). + +And about the horses. The old sorrel he was so fond of riding is still +alive. KORB. And about the shrubs he planted with you. + +ADELAIDE. + +Especially about the lilac-bush where my arbor now stands. Be sure you +tell him about that. + +KORB. + +And about the pond. Three hundred and sixty carp! + +ADELAIDE. + +And sixty gold-tench; don't forget that. And the old carp with the +copper ring about his body, that he put there, came out with the last +haul, and we threw him back again. + +KORB. + +And how he will ask about you, Miss Adelaide! + +ADELAIDE. + +Tell him I am well. + +KORB. + +And how you have carried on the farming since the general died; and +that you take his newspaper which I read aloud to the farm-hands +afterward. + +ADELAIDE. + +Just that you need not tell him. [_Sighing, aside._] On these lines I +shall learn nothing whatever. [_Pause, gravely._] See here, dear Korb, +I have heard all sorts of things about Mr. Bolz that surprise me. He +is said to live an irregular life. + +KORB. + +Yes, I imagine he does; he always was a wild colt. + +ADELAIDE. + +He is said to spend more than his income. + +KORB. + +Yes, that is quite possible. But I am perfectly sure he spends it +merrily. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Small consolation I shall get from him! (_Indifferently._) He has now +a good position, I suppose; won't he soon be looking for a wife? + +KORB. + +A wife? No, he is not doing that. It is impossible. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well, I heard something of the kind; at least he is said to be much +interested in a young lady. People are talking of it. + +KORB. + +Why, that would be--no, I don't believe it. (_Hastily._) But I'll ask +him about it at once. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well, he would be the last person to tell you. One learns such things +from a man's friends and acquaintances. The village people ought to +know it, I suppose, if a Rosenau man marries. + +KORB. + +Of course they should. I must get at the truth of that. + +ADELAIDE. + +You would have to go about it the right way. You know how crafty he +is. + +KORB. + +Oh, I'll get round him all right. I'll find some way. + +ADELAIDE. + +Go, dear Korb! [_Exit_ KORB.] Those were sad tidings with which the +Colonel met me. Conrad--immoral, unworthy? It is impossible! A noble +character cannot change to that extent. I do not believe one word of +what they say! + +[_EXIT_.] + + +SCENE II + + +_Editorial room of the "Union." Doors in the centre and on both sides. +On the left, in the foreground, a desk with newspapers and documents. +On the right, a similar, smaller table. Chairs._ + +_Enter_ BOLZ, _through the side door on the right, then_ MILLER +_through the centre door._ + +BOLZ (_eagerly_). + +Miller! Factotum! Where is the mail? + +MILLER (_nimbly with a package of letters and newspapers_). + +Here is the mail, Mr. Bolz; and here, from the press, is the +proof-sheet of this evening's issue to be corrected. + +BOLZ (_at the table on the left quickly opening, looking through, and +marking letters with a pencil_). + +I have already corrected the proof, old rascal! + +MILLER. + +Not quite. Down here is still the "Miscellaneous" which Mr. Bellmaus +gave the type-setters. + +BOLZ. + +Let us have it! + +[_Reads in the newspaper._] + +"Washing stolen from the yard"--"Triplets +born"--"Concert"--"Concert"--"Meeting of an +Association"--"Theatre"--all in order--"Newly invented engine"--"The +great sea-serpent spied." + +[_Jumping up._] + +What the deuce is this? Is he bringing up the old sea-serpent again? +It ought to be cooked into a jelly for him, and he be made to eat it +cold. + +[_Hurries to the door on the right._] + +Bellmaus, monster, come out! + +_Enter_ BELLMAUS. + +BELLMAUS (_from the right, pen in hand_). + +What is the matter! Why all this noise? + +BOLZ (_solemnly_). + +Bellmaus, when we did you the honor of intrusting you with the odds +and ends for this newspaper, we never expected you to bring the +everlasting great sea-serpent writhing through the columns of our +journal!--How could you put in that worn-out old lie? + +BELLMAUS. + +It just fitted. There were exactly six lines left. + +BOLZ. + +That is an excuse, but not a good one. Invent your own stories. What +are you a journalist for? Make a little "Communication," an +observation, for instance, on human life in general, or something +about dogs running around loose in the streets; or choose a +bloodcurdling story such as a murder out of politeness, or how a +woodchuck bit seven sleeping children, or something of that kind. So +infinitely much happens, and so infinitely much does not happen, that +an honest newspaper man ought never to be without news. + +BELLMAUS. + +Give it here, I will change it. + +[_Goes to the table, looks into a printed sheet, cuts a clipping from +it with large shears, and pastes it on the copy of the newspaper._] + +BOLZ. + +That's right, my son, so do, and mend thy ways. + +[_Opening the door on the right._] + +Kämpe, can you come in a moment? (_To_ MILLER, _who is waiting at the +door._) Take that proof straight to the press! + +[MILLER _takes the sheet from_ BELLMAUS _and hurries off._] + +_Enter_ KÄMPE. + +KÄMPE. + +But I can't write anything decent while you are making such a noise. + +BOLZ. + +You can't? What have you just written, then? At most, I imagine, a +letter to a ballet-dancer or an order to your tailor. + +BELLMAUS. + +No, he writes tender letters. He is seriously in love, for he took me +walking in the moonlight yesterday and scorned the idea of a drink. + +KÄMPE (_who has seated himself comfortably_). + +Gentlemen, it is unfair to call a man away from his work for the sake +of making such poor jokes. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, yes, he evidently slanders you when he maintains that you love +anything else but your new boots and to some small degree your own +person. You yourself are a love-spurting nature, little Bellmaus. You +glow like a fusee whenever you see a young lady. Spluttering and smoky +you hover around her, and yet don't dare even to address her. But we +must be lenient with him; his shyness is to blame. He blushes in +woman's presence, and is still capable of lovely emotions, for he +started out to be a lyric poet. + +BELLMAUS. + +I don't care to be continually reproached with my poems. Did I ever +read them to you? + +BOLZ. + +No, thank Heaven, that audacity you never had. (_Seriously._) But, +now, gentlemen, to business. Today's number is ready. Oldendorf is not +yet here, but meanwhile, let us hold a confidential session. Oldendorf +_must_ be chosen deputy from this town to the next Parliament; our +party and the _Union must_ put that through. How does our stock stand +today? + +KÄMPE. + +Remarkably high. Our opponents agree that no other candidate would be +so dangerous for them, and our friends everywhere are most hopeful. +But you know how little that may signify. Here is the list of the +voters. Our election committee sends word to you that our calculations +were correct. Of the hundred voters from our town, forty surely ours. +About an equal number are pledged to the other party; the remnant of +some twenty votes are undecided. It is clear that the election will +be determined by a very small majority. + +BOLZ. + +Of course we shall have that majority--a majority of from eight to ten +votes. Just say that, everywhere, with the greatest assuredness. Many +a one who is still undecided will come over to us on hearing that we +are the stronger. Where is the list of our uncertain voters? [_Looks +it over._] + +KÄMPE. + +I have placed a mark wherever our friends think some influence might +be exerted. + +BOLZ. + +I see two crosses opposite one name; what do they signify? + +KÄMPE. + +That is Piepenbrink, the wine-dealer Piepenbrink. He has a large +following in his district, is a well-to-do man, and, they say, can +command five or six votes among his adherents. + +BOLZ. + +Him we must have. What sort of a man is he? + +KÄMPE. + +He is very blunt, they say, and no politician at all. + +BELLMAUS. + +But he has a pretty daughter. + +KÄMPE. + +What's the use of his pretty daughter? I'd rather he had an ugly +wife--one could get at him more easily. + +BELLMAUS. + +Yes, but he has one--a lady with little curls and fiery red ribbons +in her cap. + +BOLZ. + +Wife or no wife, the man must be ours. Hush, some one is coming; that +is Oldendorf's step. He needn't know anything of our conference. Go to +your room, gentlemen. To be continued this evening. + +KÄMPE (_at the door_). + +It is still agreed, I suppose, that in the next number I resume the +attack on the new correspondent of the _Coriolanus_, the one with the +arrow. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, indeed. Pitch into him, decently but hard. Just now, on the eve +of the election, a little row with our opponents will do us good; and +the articles with the arrow give us a great opening. + +[_Exeunt_ KÄMPE _and_ BELLMAUS.] + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF _through centre door._ + +OLDENDORF. + +Good-day, Conrad. + +BOLZ (_at the table on the right, looking over the list of voters_). + +Blessed be thy coming! The mail is over there; there is nothing of +importance. + +OLDENDORF. + +Do you need me here today? + +BOLZ. + +No, my darling. This evening's issue is ready. For tomorrow Kämpe is +writing the leading article. + +OLDENDORF. + +About what? + +BOLZ. + +A little skirmish with the _Coriolanus_. Another one against the +unknown correspondent with the arrow who attacked our party. But do +not worry; I told Kämpe to make the article dignified, very dignified. + +OLDENDORF. + +For Heaven's sake, don't! The article must not be written. + +BOLZ. + +I fail to comprehend you. What use are political opponents if you +cannot attack them? + +OLDENDORF. + +Now see here! These articles were written by the Colonel; he told me +so himself today. + +BOLZ. + +Thunder and lightning! + +OLDENDORF (_gloomily_). + +You may imagine that along with this admission went other intimations +which place me just now in a very uncomfortable position as regards +the Colonel and his family. + +BOLZ (_seriously_). + +And what does the Colonel want you to do? + +OLDENDORF. + +He will be reconciled to me if I resign the editorship of this paper +and withdraw as candidate for election. + +BOLZ. + +The devil! He is moderate in his demands! + +OLDENDORF. + +I suffer under this discord; to you, as my friend, I can say so. + +BOLZ (_going up to him and pressing his hand_). + +Solemn moment of manly emotion! + +OLDENDORF. + +Don't play the clown just now. You can imagine how unpleasant my +position in the Colonel's house has become. The worthy old gentleman +either frigid or violent; the conversation spiced with bitter +allusions; Ida suffering--I can often see that she has been crying. If +our party wins and I become member for the town, I fear I shall lose +all hope of marrying Ida. + +BOLZ (_vehemently_). + +And if you withdraw it will be a serious blow to our party. (_Rapidly +and emphatically._) The coming session of Parliament will determine +the fate of the country. The parties are almost equal. Every loss is a +blow of a vote to our cause. In this town we have no other candidate +but you, who is sufficiently popular to make his election probable. If +you withdraw from the contest, no matter what the reason, our +opponents win. + +OLDENDORF. + +Unfortunately what you say is true. + +BOLZ (_with continued vehemence_). + +I won't dwell on my confidence in your talents. I am convinced that, +in the House, and, possibly, as one of the ministers, you will be of +service to your country. I merely ask you, now, to remember your duty +to our political friends, who have pinned their faith on you, and to +this paper and ourselves, who for three years have worked for the +credit of the name of Oldendorf which heads our front page. Your honor +is at stake, and every moment of wavering is wrong. + +OLDENDORF (_dignified_). + +You are exciting yourself without reason. I too deem it wrong to +retire now when I am told that our cause needs me. But in confessing +to you, my friend, that my decision means a great personal sacrifice, +I am not compromising either our cause or ourselves as individuals. + +BOLZ (_soothingly_). + +Right you are! You are a loyal comrade. And so peace, friendship, +courage! Your old Colonel won't be inexorable. + +OLDENDORF. + +He has grown intimate with Senden, who flatters him in every way, and +has plans, I fear, which affect me also. I should feel still more +worried but for knowing that I have now a good advocate in the +Colonel's house. Adelaide Runeck has just arrived. + +BOLZ. + +Adelaide Runeck? She into the bargain! (_Quickly calling through the +door on the right._) Kämpe, the article against the knight of the +arrow is not to be written. Understand? + +_Enter_ KÄMPE. + +KÄMPE (_at the door, pen in hand_). + +But what is to be written, then? + +BOLZ. + +The devil only knows! See here! Perhaps I can induce Oldendorf to +write the leading article for tomorrow himself. But at all events you +must have something on hand. + +KÄMPE. + +But what? + +BOLZ (_excitedly_). + +For all I care write about emigration to Australia; that, at any rate, +will give no offense. + +KÄMPE. + +Good! Am I to encourage it or advise against it? + +BOLZ (_quickly_). + +Advise against it, of course; we need every one who is willing to work +here at home. Depict Australia as a contemptible hole. Be perfectly +truthful but make it as black as possible--how the Kangaroo, balled +into a heap, springs with invincible malice at the settler's head, +while the duckbill nips at the back of his legs; how the gold-seeker +has, in winter, to stand up to his neck in salt water while for three +months in summer he has not a drop to drink; how he may live through +all that only to be eaten up at last by thievish natives. Make it very +vivid and end up with the latest market prices for Australian wool +from the _Times_. You'll find what books you need in the library. +[_Slams the door to._] + +OLDENDORF (_at the table_). + +Do you know Miss Runeck? She often inquires about you in her letters +to Ida. + +BOLZ. + +Indeed? Yes, to be sure, I know her. We are from the same village--she +from the manor-house, I from the parsonage. My father taught us +together. Oh, yes, I know her! + +OLDENDORF. + +How comes it that you have drifted so far apart? You never speak of +her. + +BOLZ. + +H'm! It is an old story--family quarrels, Montagues and Capulets. I +have not seen her for a long time. + +OLDENDORF (_smiling_). + +I hope that you too were not estranged by politics. + +BOLZ. + +Politics did, indeed, have something to do with our separation; you +see it is the common misfortune that party life destroys friendship. + +OLDENDORF. + +Sad to relate! In religion any educated man will tolerate the +convictions of another; but in politics we treat each other like +reprobates if there be the slightest shade of difference of opinion +between us. + +BOLZ (_aside_). + +Matter for our next article! (_Aloud._) "The slightest shade of +difference of opinion between us." Just what I think! We must have +that in our paper! (_Entreating)_. Look! A nice little virtuous +article: "An admonition to our voters--Respect our opponents, for they +are, after all, our brothers!" (_Urging him more and more._) +Oldendorf, that would be something for you--there is virtue and +humanity in the theme; writing will divert you, and you owe the paper +an article because you forbade the feud. Please do me the favor! Go +into the back room there and write. No one shall disturb you. + +OLDENDORF (_smiling_). + +You are just a vulgar intriguer! + +BOLZ (_forcing him from his chair_). + +Please, you'll find ink and paper there. Come, deary, come! [_He +accompanies him to the door on the left. Exit_ OLDENDORF. BOLZ +_calling after him._] Will you have a cigar? An old Henry Clay? +[_Draws a cigar-case from his pocket._] No? Don't make it too short; +it is to be the principal article! [_He shuts the door, calls through +the door on the right._] The professor is writing the article himself. +See that nobody disturbs him! [_Coming to the front._] So that is +settled.--Adelaide here in town! I'll go straight to her! Stop, keep +cool, keep cool! Old Bolz, you are no longer the brown lad from the +parsonage. And even if you were, _she_ has long since changed. Grass +has grown over the grave of a certain childish inclination. Why are +you suddenly thumping so, my dear soul? Here in town she is just as +far off from you as on her estates. [_Seating himself and playing with +a pencil._] "Nothing like keeping cool," murmured the salamander as he +sat in the stove fire. + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB. + +Is Mr. Bolz in? + +BOLZ (_jumping up_). + +Korb! My dear Korb! Welcome, heartily welcome! It is good of you not +to have forgotten me. [_Shakes hands with him._] I am very glad to see +you. + +KORB. + +And I even more to see you. Here we are in town. The whole village +sends greetings! From Anton the stable-boy--he is now head man--to the +old night watchman whose horn you once hung up on the top of the +tower. Oh, what a pleasure this is! + +BOLZ. + +How is Miss Runeck? Tell me, old chap! + +KORB. + +Very well indeed, now. But we have been through much. The late general +was ill for four years. It was a bad time. You know he was always an +irritable man. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, he was hard to manage.-- + +KORB. + +And especially during his illness. But Miss Adelaide took care of +him, so gentle and so pale, like a perfect lamb. Now, since his death, +Miss Adelaide runs the estate, and like the best of managers. The +village is prospering again. I will tell you everything, but not until +this evening. Miss Adelaide is waiting for me; I merely ran in quickly +to tell you that we are here. + +BOLZ. + +Don't be in such a hurry, Korb.--So the people in the village still +think of me! + +KORB. + +I should say they did! No one can understand why you don't come near +us. It was another matter while the old gentleman was alive, but now-- + +BOLZ (_seriously_). + +My parents are dead; a stranger lives in the parsonage. + +KORB. + +But we in the manor-house are still alive! Miss Runeck would surely be +delighted-- + +BOLZ. + +Does she still remember me? + +KORB. + +Of course she does. This very day she asked about you. + +BOLZ. + +What did she ask, old chap? + +KORB. + +She asked me if it was true what people are saying, that you have +grown very wild, make debts, run after girls, and are up to the devil +generally. + +BOLZ. + +Good gracious! You stood up for me, I trust? + +KORB. + +Of course! I told her that all that might be taken for granted with +you. + +BOLZ. + +Confound it! That's what she thinks of me, is it? Tell me, Korb, Miss +Adelaide has many suitors, has she not? + +KORB. + +The sands of the sea are as nothing to it. + +BOLZ (_vexed_). + +But yet she can finally choose only one, I suppose. + +KORB (_slyly_). + +Correct! But which one? That's the question. + +BOLZ. + +Which do you think it will be? + +KORB. + +Well, that is difficult to say. There is this Mr. von Senden who is +now living in town. If any one has a chance it is probably he. He +fusses about us like a weasel. Just as I was leaving he sent to the +house a whole dozen of admission cards to the great fête at the club. +It must be the sort of club where the upper classes go arm-in-arm with +the townspeople. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, it is a political society of which Senden is a director. It is +casting out a great net for voters. And the Colonel and the ladies are +going? + +KORB. + +I hear they are. I, too, received a card. + +BOLZ (_to himself_). + +Has it come to this? Poor Oldendorf!--And Adelaide at the club fête of +Mr. von Senden! + +KORB (_to himself_). + +How am I going to begin and find out about his love-affairs? +(_Aloud._) Oh, see here, Mr. Conrad, one thing more! Have you possibly +some real good friend in this concern to whom you could introduce me? + +BOLZ. + +Why, old chap? + +KORB. + +It is only--I am a stranger here, and often have commissions and +errands where I need advice. I should like to have some one to consult +should you chance to be away, or with whom I could leave word for you. + +BOLZ. + +You will find me here at almost any time of day. [_At the door._] +Bellmaus! [_Enter_ BELLMAUS.] You see this gentleman here. He is an +honored old friend of mine from my native village. Should he happen +not to find me here, you take my place.--This gentleman's name is +Bellmaus, and he is a good fellow. + +KORB. + +I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Bellmaus. + +BELLMAUS. + +And I to make yours. You have not told me his name yet. + +BOLZ. + +Korb. He has had a great deal to carry in his life, and has often +carried me on his back, too. + +BELLMAUS. + +I too am pleased, Mr. Korb. [_They shake hands._] + +KORB. + +Well, that is in order, and now I must go or Miss Adelaide will be +waiting. + +BOLZ. + +Good-by! Hope to see you very soon again. + +[_Exit_ KORB; _exit_ BELLMAUS _through door on the right._] + +BOLZ (_alone_). + +So this Senden is courting her! Oh, that is bitter! + +_Enter_ HENNING, _followed by_ MILLER. + +HENNING (_in his dressing-gown, hurriedly, with a printed roll in his +hand_). + +Your servant, Mr. Bolz! Is "opponent" spelt with one p or with two +p's? The new proofreader has corrected it one p. + +BOLZ (_deep in his thoughts_). + +Estimable Mr. Henning, the _Union_ prints it with two p's. + +HENNING. + +I said so at once. [_To_ MILLER.] It must be changed; the press is +waiting. + +[_Exit_ MILLER _hastily._] + +I took occasion to read the leading article. Doubtless you wrote it +yourself. It is very good, but too sharp, Mr. Bolz. Pepper and +mustard--that will give offense; it will cause bad blood. + +BOLZ (_still deep in his thoughts, violently_). + +I always did have an antipathy to this man! + +[Illustration: _Permission Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, +Stuttgart_. NATURE ENTHUSIASTS. ADOLPH VON MENZEL] + +HENNING (_hurt_). + +How? What? Mr. Bolz? You have an antipathy to me? + +BOLZ. + +To whom? No, dear Mr. Henning, you are a good fellow and would be the +best newspaper owner in the world, if only you were not often as +frightened as a hare. [_Embraces him._] My regards to Mrs. Henning, +sir, and leave me alone. I am thinking up my next article. + +HENNING (_while he is being thrust out_). + +But do, please, write very moderately and kindly, dear Mr. Bolz. + +BOLZ (_alone, walking to and fro again_). + +Senden avoids me whenever he can. He stands things from me that any +one else would strongly resent. Is it possible that he suspects-- + +_Enter_ MILLER. + +MILLER (_hurriedly_). + +A lady I don't know wishes to pay her respects to you. + +BOLZ. + +A lady! And to me? + +MILLER. + +To the editor. [_Hands him a card._] + +BOLZ (_reads_). + +Leontine Pavoni-Gessler, _née_ Melloni from Paris. She must have to do +with art. Is she pretty? + +MILLER. + +H'm! So, so! + +BOLZ. + +Then tell her we are very sorry that we cannot have the pleasure, that +it is the editor's big washing-day. + +MILLER. + +What? + +BOLZ (_vehemently_). + +Washing, children's washing. That we are sitting up to the elbows in +soapsuds. + +MILLER (_laughing_). + +And I am to-- + +BOLZ (_impatiently_). + +You're a blockhead! [_At the door._] Bellmaus! [_Enter_ BELLMAUS.] +Stay here and receive the visitor. [_Gives him the card._] + +BELLMAUS. + +Ah, that is the new ballet-dancer who is expected here. [_Inspecting +his coat._] But I'm not dressed for it! + +BOLZ. + +All the more dressed she will be. [_To_ MILLER.] Show the lady in. + +[_Exit_ MILLER.] + +BELLMAUS. + +But really I cannot-- + +BOLZ (_irritably_). + +Oh the devil, don't put on airs! [_Goes to the table, puts papers in +the drawer, seizes his hat._] + +_Enter_ MADAME PAVONI. + +MADAME PAVONI. + +Have I the honor of seeing before me the editor of the _Union_? + +BELLMAUS (_bowing_). + +To be sure--that is to say--won't you kindly be seated? [_Pushes up +chairs._] + +BOLZ. + +Adelaide is clear-sighted and clever. How can she possibly fail to see +through that fellow? + +MADAME PAVONI. + +Mr. Editor, the intelligent articles about art which adorn your +paper--have prompted me-- + +BELLMAUS. + +Oh, please! + +BOLZ. (_having made up his mind_). + +I must gain entrance into this club-fête! + +[_Exit with a bow to the lady._ BELLMAUS _and_ MADAME PAVONI _sit +facing each other._] + + + + +ACT II + + +SCENE I + + +_The_ COLONEL'S _summer parlor. In the foreground on the right_ IDA +_and_ ADELAIDE, _next to_ ADELAIDE _the_ COLONEL, _all sitting. In +front of them a table with coffee set._ + +COLONEL (_in conversation with_ ADELAIDE, _laughing_). + +A splendid story, and cleverly told! I am heartily glad that you are +with us, dear Adelaide. Now, at any rate, we shall talk about +something else at table besides this everlasting politics! H'm! The +professor has not come today. He never used to miss our coffee-hour. + +[_Pause;_ ADELAIDE _and_ IDA _look at each other._ IDA _sighs._] + +ADELAIDE. + +Perhaps he has work to do. + +IDA. + +Or he is vexed with us because I am going to the fête tonight. + +COLONEL (_irritably_). + +Nonsense, you are not his wife nor even openly his fiancée. You are in +your father's house and belong in my circle.--H'm! I see he treasures +it up against me that I did some plain speaking the other day. I think +I was a little impatient. + +ADELAIDE (_nodding her head_). + +Yes, a little, I hear. + +IDA. + +He is worried about the way you feel, dear father. + +COLONEL. + +Well, I have reason enough to be vexed; don't remind me of it. And +that, in addition, he lets himself be mixed up in these elections, is +unpardonable. + +[_Walks up and down._] + +But you had better send for him, Ida. + +IDA _rings. Enter_ CARL. + +IDA. + +Our compliments to the professor and we are waiting coffee for him. + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +COLONEL. + +Well, that about waiting was not quite necessary. Why, we have +finished our coffee. + +ADELAIDE. + +Ida has not finished yet. + +IDA. + +Hush! + +ADELAIDE. + +Why did he ever let himself be put up as candidate? He has plenty to +do as it is. + +COLONEL. + +Pure ambition, girls. The devil of ambition possesses these young men. +He impels them as steam does a locomotive. + +IDA. + +No, father, _he_ never thought of himself in the matter. + +COLONEL. + +It does not stand out quite so nakedly as, "I must make a career for +myself," or "I wish to become a famous man." The procedure is more +delicate. The good friends come along and say: "Your duty to the good +cause requires you to--it is a crime against your country if you do +not--it is a sacrifice for you but we demand it." And so a pretty +mantle is thrown around vanity, and the candidate issues forth--from +pure patriotism of course! Don't teach an old soldier worldly wisdom. +We, dear Adelaide, sit calmly by and laugh at such weaknesses. + +ADELAIDE. + +And are indulgent toward them when we have so good a heart as you. + +COLONEL. + +Yes, one profits by experience. + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +Mr. von Senden and two other gentlemen. + +COLONEL. + +What do they want? Pleased to see them! + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +Allow me to have them shown in here, children. Senden never stays +long. He is a roving spirit. + +[_The ladies rise._] + +IDA. + +The hour is again spoiled for us. + +ADELAIDE. + +Don't mind it; we shall have all the more time to dress. + +[_Exeunt_ IDA _and_ ADELAIDE _on the left._] + +_Enter_ SENDEN, BLUMENBERG, _a third gentleman._ + +SENDEN. + +Colonel, we come on behalf of the committee for the approaching +election to notify you that that committee has unanimously voted to +make you, Colonel, our party's candidate. + +COLONEL. _Me?_ + +SENDEN. + +The committee begs you to accept this nomination so that the necessary +announcement can be made to the voters at this evening's fête. + +COLONEL. + +Are you in earnest, dear Senden? Where did the committee get such an +idea? + +SENDEN. + +Colonel, our president, who had previously agreed to run for our town, +found that it would be more advantageous to be candidate from a +provincial district; apart from him no one of our townsmen is so well +known and so popular with the citizens as yourself. If you accede to +our request our party is certain of victory; if you refuse, there is +every probability that our opponents will have their own way. You will +agree with us that such an eventuality must be avoided under all +circumstances. + +COLONEL. + +I see all that; but, on personal grounds, it is impossible for me to +help our friends in this matter. + +SENDEN (_to the others_). + +Let me explain to the Colonel certain things which will possibly make +him look favorably on our request. + +[_Exeunt_ BLUMENBERG _and the other gentlemen into the garden, where +they are visible from time to time._] + +COLONEL. + +But, Senden, how could you put me in this embarrassing position! You +know that for years Oldendorf has frequented my house and that it will +be extremely unpleasant for me openly to oppose him. + +SENDEN. + +If the professor is really so devoted to you and your household, he +has now the best opportunity to show it. It is a foregone conclusion +that he will at once withdraw. + +COLONEL. + +I am not quite so sure of that; he is very stubborn in many ways. + +SENDEN. + +If he do not withdraw such egotism can scarcely still be called +stubbornness. And in such a case you would scarcely be under +obligations to him; obligations, Colonel, which might work injury to +the whole country. Besides, he has no chance of being elected if you +accept, for you will defeat him by a majority not large but sure. + +COLONEL. + +Are we so perfectly certain of this majority! + +SENDEN. + +I think I can guarantee it. Blumenberg and the other gentlemen have +made very thorough inquiries. + +COLONEL. + +It would serve the professor quite right if he had to withdraw in my +favor.--But no--no; it will not do at all, my friend. + +SENDEN. + +We know, Colonel, what a sacrifice we are asking of you, and that +nothing could compensate you for it save the consciousness of having +done your country a great service. + +COLONEL. + +To be sure. + +SENDEN. + +It would be so regarded in the capital, too, and I am convinced that +your entering the House would also cause pleasure in other circles +than those of your numerous friends and admirers. + +COLONEL. + +I should meet there many old friends and comrades. (_Aside_.) I should +be presented at Court. + +SENDEN. + +The minister of war asked very warmly after you the other day; he too +must have been one of your companions in arms. + +COLONEL. + +Yes indeed! As young blades we served in the same company and played +many mad pranks together. It would be a pleasure to see him now in the +House, drawing his honest face into dark lines. He was a wild devil in +the regiment, but a fine boy. + +SENDEN. + +Nor will he be the only one to receive you with open arms. + +COLONEL. + +In any case, I should have to think the matter over. + +SENDEN. + +Don't be angry, Colonel, if I urge you to decide. This evening we have +to introduce their candidate to our citizen guests. It is high time, +or all is lost. + +COLONEL (_hesitating_). + +Senden, you put a knife to my throat! + +[SENDEN, _from the door, motions the gentlemen in the garden to come +in_.] + +BLUMENBERG. + +We venture to urge you, knowing that so good a soldier as you, +Colonel, makes up his mind quickly. + +COLONEL (_after struggling inwardly_). + +Well, so be it, gentlemen, I accept! Tell the committee I appreciate +their confidence. This evening we will talk over details. + +BLUMENBERG. + +We thank you, Colonel. The whole town will be rejoiced to hear of your +decision. + +COLONEL. + +Good-by until this evening. + +[_Exeunt the visitors_; + +COLONEL _alone, thoughtfully_.] + +I fear I ought not to have accepted so quickly; but I had to do the +minister of war that favor. What will the girls say to it? And +Oldendorf? + +[_Enter_ OLDENDORF.] + +There he is himself. + +[_Clears his throat_.] + +He will be astonished. I can't help it, he must withdraw. Good +morning, Professor, you come just at the right moment. + +OLDENDORF (_hastily_). + +Colonel, there is a report in town that Mr. von Senden's party have +put you up as their candidate. I ask for your own assurance that you +would not accept such a nomination. + +COLONEL. + +And, supposing the proposition had been made to me, why should I not +accept as well as you? Yes, rather than you; for the motives that +would determine me are sounder than your reasons. + +OLDENDORF. + +So there is some foundation then to the rumor? + +COLONEL. + +To be frank, it is the truth. I have accepted. You see in me your +opponent. + +OLDENDORF. + +Nothing so bad has yet occurred to trouble our relations. Colonel, +could not the memory of a friendship, hearty and undisturbed for +years, induce you to avoid this odious conflict? + +COLONEL. + +Oldendorf, I could not act otherwise, believe me. It is your place now +to remember our old friendship. You are a younger man, let alone other +relationships; you are the one now to withdraw. + +OLDENDORF (_more excitedly_). + +Colonel, I have known you for years. I know how keenly and how deeply +you feel things and how little your ardent disposition fits you to +bear the petty vexations of current politics, the wearing struggle of +debates. Oh, my worthy friend, do listen to my exhortations and take +back your consent. + +COLONEL. + +Let that be my concern. I am an old block of hard timber. Think of +yourself, dear Oldendorf. You are young, you have fame as a scholar; +your learning assures you every success. Why, in another sphere of +activity, do you seek to exchange honor and recognition for naught but +hatred, mockery, and humiliation? For with such views as yours you +cannot fail to harvest them. Think it over. Be sensible, and withdraw. + +OLDENDORF. + +Colonel, could I follow my own inclinations I should do so on the +spot. But in this contest I am under obligations to my friends. I +cannot withdraw now. + +COLONEL (_excitedly_). + +Nor can I withdraw, lest I harm the good cause. We are no further now +than in the beginning. (_Aside_.) Obstinate fellow! + +[_Both walk up and down on opposite sides of the stage._] + +You have not the least chance whatever of being elected, Oldendorf; my +friends are sure of having the majority of the votes. You are exposing +yourself to a public defeat. (_Kindly_.) I should dislike having you +of all people beaten by me; it will cause gossip and scandal. Just +think of it! It is perfectly useless for you to conjure up the +conflict. + +OLDENDORF. + +Even if it were such a foregone conclusion as you assume, Colonel, I +should still have to hold out to the end. But as far as I can judge +the general sentiment, the result is by no means so certain. And +think, Colonel, if you should happen to be defeated-- + +COLONEL (_irritated_). + +I tell you, that will not be the case. + +OLDENDORF. + +But if it should be? How odious that would be for both of us! How +would you feel toward me then! I might possibly welcome a defeat in my +heart; for you it would be a terrible mortification, and, Colonel, I +dread this possibility. + +COLONEL. + +For that very reason you should withdraw. + +OLDENDORF. + +I can no longer do so; but there is still time for you. + +COLONEL (_vehemently_). + +Thunder and lightning, sir, I have said yes; I am not the man to cap +it with a no! + +[_Both walk up and down._] + +That appears to end it, Professor! My wishes are of no account to you; +I ought to have known that! We must go our separate ways. We have +become open opponents; let us be honest enemies-- + +OLDENDORF (_seizing the_ COLONEL'S _hand_). + +Colonel, I consider this a most unfortunate day; for I see sad results +to follow. Rest assured that no circumstances can shake my love and +devotion for you. + +COLONEL. + +We are drawn up in line of battle, as it were. You mean to let +yourself be defeated by an old military man. You shall have your +desire. + +OLDENDORF. + +I ask your permission to tell Miss Ida of our conversation. + +COLONEL (_somewhat uneasy_). + +You had better not do that just now, Professor. An opportunity will +come in due time. At present the ladies are dressing. I myself will +say what is necessary. + +OLDENDORF. + +Farewell, Colonel, and think of me without hard feelings. + +COLONEL. + +I will try my best, Professor. + +[_Exit_ OLDENDORF.] + +He has not given in! What depths of ambition there are in these +scholars! + +_Enter_ IDA, ADELAIDE. + +IDA. + +Was not that Edward's voice? + +COLONEL. + +Yes, my child. + +ADELAIDE. + +And he has gone away again! Has anything happened? + +COLONEL. + +Well, yes, girls. To make a long story short, Oldendorf does not +become member for this town, but I. + +ADELAIDE} (_together_.) You, Colonel? IDA } You, father? + +IDA. + +Has Edward withdrawn? + +ADELAIDE. + +Is the election over? + +COLONEL. + +Neither one nor the other. Oldendorf has proved his much-vaunted +devotion to us by not withdrawing, and election day is not yet past. +But from what I hear there is no doubt that Oldendorf will be +defeated. + +IDA. + +And you, father, have come out before everybody as his opponent? + +ADELAIDE. + +And what did Oldendorf say to that, Colonel? + +COLONEL. + +Don't excite me, girls! Oldendorf was stubborn, otherwise he behaved +well, and as far as that is concerned all is in order. The grounds +which determined me to make the sacrifice are very weighty. I will +explain them to you more fully another time. The matter is decided; I +have accepted; let that suffice for the present. + +IDA. + +But, dear father-- + +COLONEL. + +Leave me in peace, Ida, I have other things to think of. This evening +I am to speak in public; that is, so to say, the custom at such +elections. Don't worry, my child, we'll get the better of the +professor and his clique. + +[_Exit_ COLONEL _toward the garden_. IDA _and_ ADELAIDE _stand facing +each other and wring their hands._] + +IDA. + +What do you say to that? + +ADELAIDE. + +You are his daughter--what do _you_ say? + +IDA. + +Not possible!--Father! Scarcely had he finished explaining to us +thoroughly what petty mantles ambition assumes in such elections-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, he described them right vividly, all the little wraps and cloaks +of vanity. + +IDA. + +And within an hour he lets them throw the cloak about himself. Why, it +is terrible! And if father is not elected? It was wrong of Edward not +to give in to father's weakness. Is that your love for me, Professor? +He, too, never thought of me! + +ADELAIDE. + +Shall I tell you what? Let us hope that they both fail. These +politicians! It was bad enough for you when only one was in politics; +now that both have tasted of the intoxicating drink you are done for. +Were I ever to come into a position to make a man my master, I should +impose upon him but one condition, the wise rule of conduct of my old +aunt: Smoke tobacco, my husband, as much as you please; at most it +will spoil the walls; but never dare to look at a newspaper--that will +spoil your character. + +[KORB _appears at the door_.] + +What news do you bring, Korb? + +KORB (_hastily, mysteriously_). + +It isn't true! + +ADELAIDE (_the same_). What isn't true? + +KORB. + +That he has a fiancée. He has no idea of it. His friend says he has +but one lady-love. + +ADELAIDE (_eagerly_). + +Who is she? + +KORB. His newspaper. + + +ADELAIDE (_relieved_). + +Ah, indeed. (_Aloud_.) + +One can see by that how many falsehoods people tell. It is good, dear +Korb. + +[_Exit_ KORB.] + +IDA. What isn't true? + +ADELAIDE (_sighing_). + +Well, that we women are cleverer than men. We talk just as wisely and +I fear are just as glad to forget our wisdom at the first opportunity. +We are all of us together poor sinners! + +IDA. + +You can joke about it. You never knew what it was to have your father +and the man you loved oppose each other as enemies. + +ADELAIDE. + +Do you think so! Well, I once had a good friend who had foolishly +given her heart to a handsome, high-spirited boy. She was a mere child +and it was a very touching relationship: knightly devotion on his part +and tender sighings on hers. Then the young heroine had the misfortune +to become very jealous, and so far forgot poetry and deportment as to +give her heart's chosen knight a box on the ear. It was only a little +box, but it had fateful consequences. The young lady's father had seen +it and demanded an explanation. Then the young knight acted like a +perfect hero. He took all the blame upon himself and told the alarmed +father that he had asked the young lady to kiss him--poor fellow, he +never had the courage for such a thing!--and the blow had been her +answer. A stern man was the father; he treated the lad very harshly. +The hero was sent away from his family and his home, and the heroine +sat lonely in her donjon-tower and mourned her lost one. + +IDA. + +She ought to have told her father the truth. + +ADELAIDE. + +Oh, she did. But her confession made matters only worse. Years have +gone by since then, and the knight and his lady are now old people and +have become quite sensible. + +IDA (_smiling_). + +And, because they are sensible, do they not love each other any +longer? + +ADELAIDE. + +How the man feels about it, dear child, I cannot tell you exactly. He +wrote the lady a very beautiful letter after the death of her +father--that is all I know about it. But the lady has greater +confidence than you, for she still hopes. (_Earnestly_.) Yes, she +hopes; and even her father permitted that before he died--you see, she +still hopes. + +IDA (_embracing her_). + +And who is the banished one for whom she still hopes? + +ADELAIDE. + +Hush, dearest, that is a dark secret. Few persons living know about +it; and when the birds on the trees of Rosenau tell each other the +story they treat it as a dim legend of their forefathers. They then +sing softly and sorrowfully, and their feathers stand on end with awe. +In due time you shall learn all about it; but now you must think of +the fête, and of how pretty you are going to look. + +IDA. + +On the one hand the father, on the other the lover--how will it end? + +ADELAIDE. + +Do not worry. The one is an old soldier, the other a young statesman; +two types that we women have wound around our little fingers from time +immemorial! [_Both leave_.] + + +SCENE II + + +_Side room of a public hall. The rear wall a great arch with columns, +through which one looks into the lighted hall and through it into another. +On the left, toward the front, a door. On the right, tables and chairs; +chandeliers. Later, from time to time distant music. In the hall ladies +and gentlemen walking about or standing in groups_. SENDEN, BLUMENBERG, +_behind them_ SCHMOCK _coming from the hall_. + +SENDEN. All is going well. There is a splendid spirit in the company. +These good townspeople are delighted with our arrangements. It was a +fine idea of yours, Blumenberg, to have this fête. + +BLUMENBEEG. Only hurry and get people warmed up! It's a good thing to +begin with some music. Vienna waltzes are best on account of the +women. Then comes a speech from you, then some solo singing, and, at +supper, the introduction of the Colonel, and the toasts. It can't help +being a success; the men must have hearts of stone if they don't give +their votes in return for such a fête. + +SENDEN. The toasts have been apportioned. + +BLUMENBERG. But the music?--Why has the music stopped? + +SENDEN. I am waiting for the Colonel to arrive. + +BLUMENBERG. He must be received with a blare of trumpets. It will +flatter him, you know. + +SENDEN. That's what I ordered. Directly after, they start up a march +and we bring him in procession. + +BLUMENBERG. First rate! That will lend solemnity to his entrance. Only +think up your speech. Be popular, for today we are among the rabble. + +_Enter guests, among them_ HENNING. + +SENDEN (_doing the honors with BLUMENBERG_). Delighted to see you +here! We knew that you would not fail us. Is this your wife? + +GUEST. Yes, Mr. von Senden, this is my wife. + +SENDEN. You here, too, Mr. Henning? Welcome, my dear sir! + +HENNING. I was invited by my friend and really had the curiosity to +come. My presence, I hope, will not be unpleasant to any one? + +SENDEN. Quite the contrary. We are most pleased to greet you here. + +[_Guests leave through centre door_; SENDEN _goes out in conversation +with them._] + +BLUMENBERG. He knows how to manage people. It's the good manners of +these gentlemen that does it. He is useful--useful to me too. He +manages the others, and I manage him. [_Turning, he sees_ SCHMOCK, +_who is hovering near the door_.] What are you doing here? Why do you +stand there listening? You are not a door-keeper! See that you keep +out of my vicinity. Divide yourself up among the company. + +SCHMOCK. Whom shall I go to if I know none of these people at all? You +are the only person I know. + +BLUMENBERG. Why must you tell people that you know me? I consider it +no honor to stand next to you. + +SCHMOCK. If it is not an honor it's not a disgrace either; But I can +stay by myself. + +BLUMENBERG. Have you money to get something to eat? Go to the +restaurant-keeper and order something charged to me. The committee +will pay for it. + +SCHMOCK. I don't care to go and eat. I have no need to spend anything. +I have had my supper. + +[_Blare of trumpets and march in the distance. Exit_ BLUMENBERG. +SCHMOCK _alone, coming forward, angrily_.] + +I hate him! I'll tell him I hate him, that I despise him from the +bottom of my heart! + +[_Turns to go, comes back._] + +But I cannot tell him so, or he will cut out all I send in for the +special correspondence I write for his paper! I will try to swallow it +down! + +_[Exit through centre door_.] + +_Enter_ BOLZ, KÄMPE, BELLMAUS _by side door_. + +BOLZ (_marching in_). Behold us in the house of the Capulets! +[_Pretends to thrust a sword into its scabbard._] Conceal your swords +under roses. Blow your little cheeks up, and look as silly and +innocent as possible. Above all, don't let me see you get into a row, +and if you meet this Tybaldus Senden be so good as to run round the +corner. + +[_The procession is seen marching through the rear halls_.] + +You, Romeo Bellmaus, look out for the little women. I see more +fluttering curls and waving kerchiefs there than are good for your +peace of mind. + +KÄMPE. I bet a bottle of champagne that if one of us gets into a row +it will be you. + +BOLZ. Possibly. But I promise you that you shall surely come in for +your share of it. Now listen to my plan of operations. You +Kämpe--[_Enter_ SCHMOCK.] Stop! Who is that? Thunder! The factotum of +the _Coriolanus_! Our _incognito_ has not lasted long. + +SCHMOCK (_even before the last remark, has been seen looking in at the +door, coming forward_). I wish you good evening, Mr. Bolz. + +BOLZ. I wish you the same and of even better quality, Mr. Schmock. + +SCHMOCK. Might I have a couple of words with you? + +BOLZ. A couple? Don't ask for too few, noble armor-bearer of the +_Coriolanus_! A couple of dozen words you shall have, but no more. + +SCHMOCK. Could you not employ me on your paper. + +BOLZ (_to_ KÄMPE _and_ BELLMAUS). Do you hear that? On our paper? H'm! +'Tis much you ask, noble Roman! + +SCHMOCK. I am sick of the _Coriolanus_. I would do any kind of work +you needed done. I want to be with respectable people, where one can +earn something and be treated decently. + +BOLZ. What are you asking of us, slave of Rome? We to entice you away +from your party--never! We do violence to your political convictions? +Make you a renegade? We bear the guilt of your joining our party? No, +sir! We have a tender conscience. It rises in arms against your +proposition! + +SCHMOCK. Why do you let that trouble you? Under Blumenberg I have +learned to write whichever way the wind blows. I have written on the +left and again on the right. I can write in any direction. + +BOLZ. I see you have character. You would be a sure success on our +paper. Your offer does us honor, but we cannot accept it now. So +momentous an affair as your defection needs deep consideration. +Meanwhile you will have confided in no unfeeling barbarian. (_Aside to +the others_.) We may be able to worm something out of him. Bellmaus, +you have the tenderest heart of us three; you must devote yourself to +him today. + +BELLMAUS. But what shall I do with him? + +BOLZ. Take him into the restaurant, sit down in a corner with him, +pour punch into every hollow of his poor head until his secrets jump +out like wet mice. Make him chatter, especially about the elections. +Go, little man, and take good care not to get overheated yourself and +babble. + +BELLMAUS. In that case I shall not see much of the fête. + +BOLZ. That's true, my son! But what does the fête mean to you? Heat, +dust, and stale dance-music. Besides, we will tell you all about it in +the morning; and then you are a poet, and can imagine the whole affair +to be much finer than it really was. So don't take it to heart. You +may think you have a thankless role, but it is the most important of +all, for it requires coolness and cleverness. Go, mousey, and look out +about getting overheated. + +BELLMAUS. I'll look out, old tom-cat.--Come along Schmock! + +[BELLMAUS _and_ SCHMOCK _leave_.] + +BOLZ. We might as well separate, too. + +KÄMPE. I'll go and see how people feel. If I need you I'll look you +up. + +BOLZ. I had better not show myself much. I'll stay around here. + +[_Exit_ KÄMPE.] + +Alone at last! + +[_Goes to centre door_.] + +There stands the Colonel, closely surrounded. It is she! She is here, +and I have to lie in hiding like a fox under the leaves.--But she has +falcon eyes,--perhaps--the throng disperses--she is walking through +the hall arm-in-arm with Ida--(_Excitedly_.) They are drawing nearer! +(_Irritably_.) Oh, bother! There is Korb rushing toward me! And just +now! + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB. Mr. Conrad! I can't believe my eyes! You here, at this fête! + +BOLZ (_hastily_). Hush, old chap! I'm not here without a reason. I can +trust you--you're one of us, you know. + +KORB. Body and soul. Through all the talking and fiddling I've kept +saying to myself, "Long live the _Union!"_ Here she is! + +[_Shows him a paper in his pocket_.] + +BOLZ. Good, Korb, you can do me a great favor. In a corner of the +refreshment room Bellmaus is sitting with a stranger. He is to pump +the stranger, but cannot stand much himself and is likely to say +things he shouldn't. You'll do the party a great service if you will +hurry in and drink punch so as to keep Bellmaus up to the mark. You +have a strong head--I know it from of old. + +KORB (_hastily_). I go! You are as full of tricks as ever, I see. You +may rely on me. The stranger shall succumb, and the _Union_ shall +triumph. + +[_Exit quickly. The music ceases_.] + +BOLZ. Poor Schmock! [_At the door_.] + +Ah, they are still walking through the hall. Ida is being spoken to, +she stops, Adelaide goes on--(_Excitedly_.) she's coming, she's coming +alone! + +ADELAIDE (_makes a motion as though to pass the door, but suddenly +enters_. BOLZ _bows_). Conrad! My dear doctor! + +[_Holds out her hand_. BOLZ _bends low over it_.] + +ADELAIDE (_in joyous emotion_). I knew you at once from a distance. +Let me see your faithful face. Yes, it has changed but little--a scar, +browner, and a small line about the mouth. I hope it is from laughing. + +BOLZ. If at this moment I feel like anything but laughing it is only a +passing malignity of soul. I see myself double, like a melancholy +Highlander. In your presence my long happy childhood passes bodily +before my eyes. All the joy and pain it brought me I feel as vividly +again as though I were still the boy who went into the wood for you in +search of wild adventures and caught robin-red-breasts. And yet the +fine creature I see before me is so different from my playmate that I +realize I am only dreaming a beautiful dream. Your eyes shine as +kindly as ever, but--(_Bowing_.) I have scarcely the right still to +think of old dreams. + +ADELAIDE. Possibly I, too, am not so changed as you think; and changed +though we both be, we have remained good friends, have we not? + +BOLZ. Rather than give up one iota of my claim to your regard, I would +write and print and try to sell malicious articles against myself. + +ADELAIDE. And yet you have been too proud all this time even to come +and see your friend in town. Why have you broken with the Colonel? + +BOLZ. I have not broken with him. On the contrary, I have a very +estimable position in his house--one that I can best keep by going +there as seldom as possible. The Colonel, and occasionally Miss Ida, +too, like to assuage their anger against Oldendorf and the newspaper +by regarding me as the evil one with horns and hoofs. A relationship +so tender must be handled with care--a devil must not cheapen himself +by appearing every day. + +ADELAIDE. Well, I hope you will now abandon this lofty viewpoint. I am +spending the winter in town, and I hope that for love of your +boyhood's friend you will call on my friends as a denizen of this +world. + +BOLZ. In any role you apportion me. + +ADELAIDE. Even in that of a peace-envoy between the Colonel and +Oldendorf? + +BOLZ. If peace be at the cost of Oldendorf's withdrawal, then no. +Otherwise I am ready to serve you in all good works. + +ADELAIDE. But I fear that this is the only price at which peace can be +purchased. You see, Mr. Conrad, we too have become opponents. + +BOLZ. To do anything against your wishes is horrible to me, son of +perdition though I be. So my saint wills and commands that Oldendorf +do not become member of Parliament? + +ADELAIDE. I will it and command it, Mr. Devil! + +BOLZ. It is hard. Up in your heaven you have so many gentlemen to +bestow on Miss Ida; why must you carry off a poor devil's one and only +soul, the professor? + +ADELAIDE. It is just the professor I want, and you must let me have +him. + +BOLZ. I am in despair. I would tear my hair were the place not so +unsuitable. I dread your anger. The thought makes me tremble that you +might not like this election. + +ADELAIDE. Well, try to stop the election, then. + +BOLZ. That I cannot do. But so soon as it is over I am fated to mourn +and grow melancholy over your anger. I shall withdraw from the +world--far, far to the North Pole. There I shall end my days sadly, +playing dominoes with polar bears, or spreading the elements of +journalistic training among the seals. That will be easier to endure +than the scathing glance of your eyes. + +ADELAIDE (_laughing_). Yes, that's the way you always were. You made +every possible promise and acted exactly as you pleased. But before +starting for the North Pole, perhaps you will make one more effort to +reconcile me here. + +[KÄMPE _is seen at the door._] + +Hush!--I shall look forward to your visit. Farewell, my re-found +friend! + +[_EXIT_.] + +BOLZ. And thus my good angel turns her back to me in anger! And now, +politics, thou witch, I am irretrievably in thy power! + +[_Exit quickly through centre door._] + +_Enter_ PIEPENBRINK, MRS. PIEPENBRINK, BERTHA _escorted by_ FRITZ +KLEINMICHEL, _and_ KLEINMICHEL _through centre door. Quadrille behind +the scenes._ + +PIEPENBRINK. Thank Heaven, we are out of this crowd! + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. It is very hot. + +KLEINMICHEL. And the music is too loud. There are too many trumpets +and I hate trumpets. + +PIEPENBRINK. Here's a quiet spot; we'll sit down here. + +FRITZ. Bertha would prefer staying in the ball-room. Might I not go +back with her? + +PIEPENBRINK. I have no objection to you young people going back into +the ball-room, but I prefer your staying here with us. I like to keep +my whole party together. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Stay with your parents, my child! + +PIEPENBRINK. Sit down! (_To his wife._) You sit at the corner, Fritz +comes next to me. You take Bertha between you, neighbors. Her place +will soon be at your table, anyway. + +[_They seat themselves at the table on the right--at the left corner_ +MRS. PIEPENBRINK, _then he himself_, FRITZ, BERTHA, KLEINMICHEL.] + +FRITZ. When will "soon" be, godfather? You have been saying that this +long time, but you put off the wedding day further and further. + +PIEPENBRINK. That is no concern of yours. + +FRITZ. I should think it is, godfather! Am I not the man that wants +to marry Bertha? + +PIEPENBRINK. That's a fine argument! Any one can want that. But it's I +who am to give her to you, which is more to the point, young man; for +it is going to be hard enough for me to let the little wag-tail leave +my nest. So you wait. You shall have her, but wait! + +KLEINMICHEL. He will wait, neighbor. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well, I should strongly advise him to do so. Hey! Waiter, +waiter! + +[Illustration: _Permission F. Bruckman, A.-G. Munich_ ON THE TERRACE +ADOLF VON MENZEL] + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. What poor service one gets in such places! + +PIEPENBRINK. Waiter! + +[_Waiter comes._] + +My name is Piepenbrink. I brought along six bottles of my own wine. +The restaurant-keeper has them. I should like them here. + +[_While the waiter is bringing the bottles and glasses_ BOLZ _and_ +KÄMPE _appear. Waiter from time to time in the background._] + +BOLZ (_aside to_ KÄMPE). Which one is it? + +KÄMPE. The one with his back to us, the broad-shouldered one. + +BOLZ. And what kind of a business does he carry on? + +KÄMPE. Chiefly red wines. + +BOLZ. Good! (_Aloud._) Waiter, a table and two chairs here! A bottle +of red wine! + +[_Waiter brings what has been ordered to the front, on the left._] + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. What are those people doing here? + +PIEPENBRINK. That is the trouble with such promiscuous assemblies, +that one never can be alone. + +KLEINMICHEL. They seem respectable gentlemen; I think I have seen one +of them before. + +PIEPENBRINK (_decisively_). Respectable or not, they are in our way. + +KLEINMICHEL. Yes, to be sure, so they are. + +BOLZ (_seating himself with_ KÄMPE). Here, my friend, we can sit +quietly before a bottle of red wine. I hardly dare to pour it out, for +the wine at such restaurants is nearly always abominable. What sort of +stuff do you suppose this will be? + +PIEPENBRINK (_irritated_). Indeed? Just listen to that! + +KÄMPE. Let's try it. + +[_Pours out; in a low voice._] + +There is a double P. on the seal; that might mean Piepenbrink. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well, I am curious to know what these greenhorns will +have to say against the wine. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Be quiet, Philip, they can hear you over there. + +BOLZ (_in a low tone_). I'm sure you are right. The restaurant takes +its wine from him. That's his very reason for coming. + +PIEPENBRINK. They don't seem to be thirsty; they are not drinking. + +BOLZ (_tastes it; aloud_). Not bad! + +PIEPENBRINK (_ironically_). Indeed? + +BOLZ (_takes another sip_). A good, pure wine. + +PIEPENBRINK (_relieved_). The fellow's judgment is not so bad. + +BOLZ. But it does not compare with a similar wine that I recently +drank at a friend's house. + +PIEPENBRINK. Indeed? + +BOLZ. I learned then that there is only one man in town from whom a +sensible wine-drinker should take his red wine. + +KÄMPE. And that is? + +PIEPENBRINK (_ironically_). I really should like to know. + +BOLZ. It's a certain Piepenbrink. + +PIEPENBRINK (_nodding his head contentedly_). Good! + +KÄMPE. Yes, it is well known to be a very reliable firm. + +PIEPENBRINK. They don't know that their own wine, too, is from my +cellars. Ha! Ha! Ha! + +BOLZ (_turning to him_). Are you laughing at us, Sir? + +PIEPENBRINK. Ha! Ha! Ha! No offense. I merely heard you talking about +the wine. So you like Piepenbrink's wine better than this here? Ha! +Ha! Ha! + +BOLZ (_slightly indignant_). Sir, I must request you to find my +expressions less comical. I do not know Mr. Piepenbrink, but I have +the pleasure of knowing his wine; and so I repeat the assertion that +Piepenbrink has better wine in his cellar than this here. What do you +find to laugh at in that? You do not know Piepenbrink's wines and have +no right to judge of them. + +PIEPENBRINK. I do not know Piepenbrink's wines, I do not know Philip +Piepenbrink either, I never saw his wife--do you hear that, +Lottie?--And when his daughter Bertha meets me I ask, "Who is that +little black-head?" That is a funny story. Isn't it, Kleinmichel? + +KLEINMICHEL. It is very funny! [_Laughs._] + +BOLZ (_rising with dignity_). Sir, I am a stranger to you and have +never insulted you. You look honorable and I find you in the society +of charming ladies. For that reason I cannot imagine that you came +here to mock at strangers. As man to man, therefore, I request you to +explain why you find my harmless words so astonishing. If you don't +like Mr. Piepenbrink why do you visit it on us? + +PIEPENBRINK _(rising_). Don't get too excited, Sir. Now, see here! The +wine you are now drinking is also from Piepenbrink's cellar, and I +myself am the Philip Piepenbrink for whose sake you are pitching into +me. Now, do you see why I laugh? + +BOLZ. Ah, is that the way things stand? You yourself are Mr. +Piepenbrink? Then I am really glad to make your acquaintance. No +offense, honored Sir! + +PIEPENBRINK. No, no offense. Everything is all right. + +BOLZ. Since you were so kind as to tell us your name, the next thing +in order is for you to learn ours. I'm Bolz, Doctor of Philosophy, and +my friend here is Mr. Kämpe. + +PIEPENBRINK. Pleased to meet you. + +BOLZ. We are comparative strangers in this company and had withdrawn +to this side room as one feels slightly embarrassed among so many new +faces. But we should be very sorry if by our presence we in any way +disturbed the enjoyment of the ladies and the conversation of so +estimable a company. Tell us frankly if we are in the way, and we will +find another place. + +PIEPENBRINK. You seem to me a jolly fellow and are not in the least in +my way, Doctor Bolz--that was the name, was it not? + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. We, too, are strangers here and had only just sat +down. Piepenbrink! + +[_Nudges him slightly._] + +PIEPENBRINK. I tell you what, Doctor, as you are already acquainted +with the yellow-seal from my cellar and have passed a very sensible +verdict upon it, how would it be for you to give it another trial +here? Sit down with us if you have nothing better to do, and we will +have a good talk together. + +BOLZ (_with dignity, as throughout this whole scene, during which both +he and KÄMPE must not seem to be in any way pushing_). That is a very +kind invitation, and we accept it with pleasure. Be good enough, dear +Sir, to present us to your company. + +PIEPENBRINK. This here is my wife. + +BOLZ. Do not be vexed at our breaking in upon you, Madam. We promise +to behave ourselves and to be as good company as lies in the power of +two shy bachelors. + +PIEPENBRINK. Here is my daughter. + +BOLZ (_to_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK). One could have known that from the +likeness. + +PIEPENBRINK. This is my friend, Mr. Kleinmichel, and this, Fritz +Kleinmichel, my daughter's fiancé. + +BOLZ. I congratulate you, gentlemen, on such delightful society. (_To_ +PIEPENBRINK.) Permit me to sit next to the lady of the house. Kämpe, I +thought you would sit next to Mr. Kleinmichel. + +[_They sit down_.] + +Now we alternate! Waiter! + +[_Waiter comes to him_.] + +Two bottles of this! + +PIEPENBRINK. Hold on! You won't find that wine here. I brought my own +kind. You're to drink with me. + +BOLZ. But Mr. Piepenbrink---- + +PIEPENBRINK. No remonstrances! You drink with me. And when I ask any +one to drink with me, Sir, I don't mean to sip, as women do, but to +drink out and fill up. You must make up your mind to that. + +BOLZ. Well, I am content. We as gratefully accept your hospitality as +it is heartily offered. But you must then let me have my revenge. Next +Sunday you are all to be my guests, will you? Say yes, my kind host! +Punctually at seven, informal supper. I am single, so it will be in a +quiet, respectable hotel. Give your consent, my dear Madam. Shake +hands on it, Mr. Piepenbrink.--You, too, Mr. Kleinmichel and Mr. +Fritz! + +[_Holds out his hand to each of them_.] + +PIEPENBRINK. If my wife is satisfied it will suit me all right. + +BOLZ. Done! Agreed! And now the first toast. To the good spirit who +brought us together today, long may he live!--[_Questioning those +about him_.] What's the spirit's name? + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. Chance. + +BOLZ. No, he has a yellow cap. + +PIEPENBRINK. Yellow-seal is his name. + +BOLZ. Correct! Here's his health! We hope the gentleman may last a +long time, as the cat said to the bird when she bit its head off. + +KLEINMICHEL. We wish him long life just as we are putting an end to +him. + +BOLZ. Well said! Long life! + +PIEPENBRINK. Long life! + +[_They touch glasses_. PIEPENBRINK _to his wife_.] + +It is going to turn out well today, after all. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. They are very modest nice men. + +BOLZ. You can't imagine how glad I am that our good fortune brought us +into such pleasant company. For although in there everything is very +prettily arranged-- + +PIEPENBRINK. It really is all very creditable. + +BOLZ. Very creditable! But yet this political society is not to my +taste. + +PIEPENBRINK. Ah, indeed! You don't belong to the party, I suppose, and +on that account do not like it. + +BOLZ. It's not that! But when I reflect that all these people have +been invited, not really to heartily enjoy themselves, but in order +that they shall presently give their votes to this or that gentleman, +it cools my ardor. + +PIEPENBRINK. Oh, it can hardly be meant just that way. Something could +be said on the other side--don't you think so, comrade? + +KLEINMICHEL. I trust no one will be asked to sign any agreement here. + +BOLZ. Perhaps not. I have no vote to cast and I am proud to be in a +company where nothing else is thought of but enjoying oneself with +one's neighbor and paying attention to the queens of society--to +charming women! Touch glasses, gentlemen, to the health of the ladies, +of the two who adorn our circle. [_All touch glasses_.] + +PIEPENBRINK. Come here, Lottie, your health is being drunk. + +BOLZ. Young lady, allow a stranger to drink to your future prosperity. + + +PIEPENBRINK. What else do you suppose they are going to do in there? + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. I hear that at supper there are to be speeches, and +the candidate for election, Colonel Berg, is to be introduced. + +PIEPENBRINK. A very estimable gentleman. + +KLEINMICHEL. Yes, it is a good choice the gentlemen on the committee +have made. + +ADELAIDE, _who has been visible in the rear, now saunters in_. + +ADELAIDE. He sitting here? What sort of a company is that? + +KÄMPE. People say that Professor Oldendorf has a good chance of +election. Many are said to be going to vote for him. + +PIEPENBRINK. I have nothing to say against him, only to my mind he is +too young. + +SENDEN _is seen in the rear, later_ BLUMENBERG _and guests_. + +SENDEN. You here, Miss Runeck? + +ADELAIDE. I'm amusing myself with watching those queer people. They +act as though the rest of the company were non-existent. + +SENDEN. What do I see? There sits the _Union_ itself and next to one +of the most important personages of the fête! + +[_The music ceases_.] + +BOLZ (_who has meanwhile been conversing with_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK _but +has listened attentively--to_ MR. PIEPENBRINK). There, you see the +gentlemen cannot desist from talking politics after all. (_To_ +PIEPENBRINK.) Did you not mention Professor Oldendorf? + +PIEPENBRINK. Yes, my jolly Doctor, just casually. + +BOLZ. When you talk of him I heartily pray you to say good things +about him; for he is the best, the noblest man I know. + +PIEPENBRINK. Indeed? You know him? + +KLEINMICHEL. Are you possibly a friend of his! + +BOLZ. More than that. Were the professor to say to me today: "Bolz, it +will help me to have you jump into the water," I should have to jump +in, unpleasant as it would be to me just at this moment to drown in +water. + +PIEPENBRINK. Oho! That is strong! + +BOLZ. In this company I have no right to speak of candidates for +election. But if I did have a member to elect he should be the +one--he, first of all. + +PIEPENBRINK. But you are very much prejudiced in the man's favor. + +BOLZ. His political views do not concern me here at all. But what do I +demand of a member? That he be a man; that he have a warm heart and a +sure judgment, and that he know unwaveringly and unquestionably what +is good and right; furthermore, that he have the strength to do what +he knows to be right without delay, without hesitation. + +PIEPENBRINK. Bravo! + +KLEINMICHEL. But the Colonel, too, is said to be that kind of a man. + +BOLZ. Possibly he is, I do not know; but of Oldendorf I know it. I +looked straight into his heart on the occasion of an unpleasant +experience I went through. I was once on the point of burning to +powder when he was kind enough to prevent it. Him I have to thank for +sitting here. He saved my life. + +SENDEN. He lies abominably! + +[_Starts forward_.] + +ADELAIDE (_holding him back_). Be still! I believe there is some truth +to the story. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well now, it was very fine of him to save your life; but +that kind of thing often happens. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Do tell us about it, Doctor! + +BOLZ. The little affair is like a hundred others and would not +interest me at all, had I not been through it myself. Picture to +yourself an old house. I am a student living on the third floor. In +the house opposite me lives a young scholar; we do not know each +other. At dead of night I am awakened by a great noise and a strange +crackling under me. If it were mice, they must have been having a +torchlight procession for the room was brilliantly illuminated. I rush +to the window, the bright flame from the story under me leaps up to +where I stand. My window-panes burst about my head, and a vile cloud +of smoke rushes in on me. There being no great pleasure under the +circumstances in leaning out of the window, I rush to the door and +throw it open. The stairs, too, cannot resist the mean impulse +peculiar to old wood, they are all ablaze. Up three flights of stairs +and no exit! I gave myself up for lost. Half unconscious I hurried +back to the window. I heard the cries from the street, "A man! a man! +This way with the ladder!" A ladder was set up. In an instant it began +to smoke and to burn like tinder. It was dragged away. Then streams of +water from all the engines hissed in the flames beneath me. Distinctly +I could hear each separate stream striking the glowing wall. A fresh +ladder was put up; below there was deathly silence and you can imagine +that I, too, had no desire to make much of a commotion in my fiery +furnace. "It can't be done," cried the people below. Then a full, rich +voice rang out: "Raise the ladder higher!" Do you know, I felt +instantly that this was the voice of my rescuer. "Hurry!" cried those +below. Then a fresh cloud of vapor penetrated the room. I had had my +share of the thick smoke, and lay prostrate on the ground by the +window. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Poor Doctor Bolz! + +PIEPENBRINK (_eagerly_). Go on! + +[SENDEN _starts forward_.] + +ADELAIDE (_holding him back_). Please, let him finish, the story is +true! + +BOLZ. Then a man's hand seizes my neck. A rope is wound round me under +the arms, and a strong wrist raises me from the ground. A moment later +I was on the ladder, half dragged, half carried; with shirt aflame, +and unconscious, I reached the pavement.--I awoke in the room of the +young scholar. Save for a few slight burns, I had brought nothing with +me over into the new apartment; all my belongings were burned. The +stranger nursed me and cared for me like a brother. Not until I was +able to go out again did I learn that this scholar was the same man +who had paid his visit to me that night on the ladder. You see the man +has his heart in the right spot, and that's why I wish him now to +become member of Parliament, and why I could do for him what I would +not do for myself; for him I could electioneer, intrigue, or make +fools of honest people. That man is Professor Oldendorf. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well, he's a tremendously fine man! [_Rising_.] Here's to +the health of Professor Oldendorf! [_All rise and touch glasses_.] + +BOLZ (_bowing pleasantly to all--to_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK). I see warm +sympathy shining in your eyes, dear madam, and I thank you for it. Mr. +Piepenbrink, I ask permission to shake your hand; you are a fine +fellow. [_Slaps him on the back and embraces him_.] Give me your hand, +Mr. Kleinmichel! [_Embraces him_.] And you, too, Mr. Fritz +Kleinmichel! May no child of yours ever sit in the fire, but if he +does may there ever be a gallant man at hand to pull him out. Come +nearer, I must embrace you, too. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK (_much moved_). Piepenbrink, we have veal-cutlets +tomorrow. What do you think? [_Converses with him in a low tone_.] + +ADELAIDE. His spirits are running away with him! + +SENDEN. He is unbearable! I see that you are as indignant as I am. He +snatches away our people; it can no longer be endured. + +BOLZ (_who had gone the rounds of table, returning and standing in +front of_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK). It really isn't right to let it stop +here. Mr. Piepenbrink, head of the house, I appeal to you, I ask your +permission--hand or mouth? + +ADELAIDE (_horrified, on the right toward the front_). He is actually +kissing her! + +PIEPENBRINK. Sail in, old man, courage! + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Piepenbrink, I no longer know you! + +ADELAIDE (_at the moment when_ BOLZ _is about to kiss_ MRS. +PIEPENBRINK _crosses the stage, passing them casually, as it were, and +holds her bouquet between_ BOLZ _and_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK. _In a low +tone, quickly to_ BOLZ). You're going too far! You are being watched! + +[_Passes to the rear on the left, and exit_.] + +BOLZ. A fairy interferes! + +SENDEN _(who has already been haranguing some of the other guests, +including_ BLUMENBERG, _noisily pushes forward at this moment--to +those at the table_). He is presumptuous; he has thrust himself in! + +PIEPENBRINK (_bringing down his hand on the table and rising_). Oho! I +like that! If I kiss my wife or let her be kissed, that is nobody's +concern whatever! Nobody's! No man and no woman and no fairy has a +right to put a hand before her mouth. + +BOLZ. Very true! Splendid! Hear! Hear! + +SENDEN. Revered Mr. Piepenbrink, no offense against you! The company +is charmed to see you here. Only to Mr. Bolz we will remark that his +presence is causing scandal. So completely opposed are his political +principles that we must regard his appearing at this fête as an +unwarrantable intrusion! + +BOLZ. My political principles opposed? In society I know no other +political principle than this--to drink with nice people and not to +drink with those whom I do not consider nice. With you, Sir, I have +not drunk. + +PIEPENBRINK _(striking the table_). That was a good one! + +SENDEN _(hotly)_. You thrust yourself in here! + +BOLZ _(indignantly)_. Thrust myself in? + +PIEPENBRINK. Thrust himself in? Old man, you have an entrance ticket, +I suppose? + +BOLZ _(frankly)_. Here is my ticket! It is not you I am showing it to, +but this honorable man from whom you are trying to estrange me by +your attack. Kämpe, give your ticket to Mr. Piepenbrink. He is the man +to judge of all the tickets in the world! + +PIEPENBRINK. Here are two tickets just exactly as valid as my own. +Why, you scattered them right and left like sour grape juice. Oho! I +see quite well how things stand! I'm not one of your crowd, either, +but you want to get me. That's why you came to my house again and +again--because you expected to capture me. Because I am a voter, +that's why you're after me. But because this honorable man is not a +voter he does not count for you at all. We know those smooth tricks! + +SENDEN. But, Mr. Piepenbrink! + +PIEPENBRINK _(interrupting him, more angrily)_. Is that any reason for +insulting a peaceful guest? Is it a reason for closing my wife's +mouth? It is an injustice to this man, and he shall stay here as long +as I do. And he shall stay here by my side. And whoever attempts to +attack him will have to deal with me! + +BOLZ. Your fist, good sir! You're a faithful comrade! And so +hand-in-hand with you Philip, I defy the Capulet and his entire clan! + +PIEPENBRINK. Philip! Right you are, Conrad, my boy! Come here! They +shall swell with anger till they burst! Here's to Philip and Conrad! +_[They drink brotherhood.]_ + +BOLZ. Long live Piepenbrink! + +PIEPENBRINK. So, old chum! Shall I tell you what! Since we are having +so good a time I think we'll leave all these people to their own +devices, and all of you come home with me. I'll brew a punch and we'll +sit together as merrily as jackdaws. I'll escort you, Conrad, and the +rest of you go ahead. + +SENDEN _(and guests)_. But do listen, _revered_ Mr. Piepenbrink! + +PIEPENBRINK. I'll listen to nothing. I'm done with you! + +_Enter_ BELLMAUS _and other guests_. + +BELLMAUS _(hurrying through the crowd_). Here I am! + +BOLZ. My nephew! Gracious Madam, I put him under your protection! +Nephew, you escort Madam Piepenbrink. (MRS. PIEPENBRINK _takes a firm +grip on_ BELLMAUS'S _arm and holds him securely. Polka behind the +scene.)_ Farewell, gentlemen, it's beyond your power to spoil our good +humor. There, the music is striking up! We march off in a jolly +procession, and again I cry in conclusion, Long live Piepenbrink! + +THE DEPARTING ONES. Long live Piepenbrink! _[They march off in +triumph_. FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and his fiancée,_ KÄMPE _with_ +KLEINMICHEL, MRS. PIEPENBRINK _with_ BELLMAUS, _finally_ BOLZ _with_ +PIEPENBRINK.] + +_Enter_ COLONEL. + +COLONEL. What's going on here? + +SENDEN. An outrageous scandal! The _Union_ has kidnapped our two most +important voters! + + + + +ACT III + + +SCENE I + + +_The_ COLONEL'S _Summer Parlor_. + +_The_ COLONEL _in front, walking rapidly up and down. In the rear_, +ADELAIDE _and_ IDA _arm-in-arm, the latter in great agitation. A short +pause. Then enter_ SENDEN. + +SENDEN (_hastily calling through centre door_). + +All goes well! 37 votes against 29. + +COLONEL. + +Who has 37 votes? + +SENDEN. + +Why you, Colonel, of course! + +COLONEL. + +Of course! (_Exit_ SENDEN.) The election day is unendurable! In no +fight in my life did I have this feeling of fear. It is a mean +cannon-fever of which any ensign might be ashamed. And it is a long +time since I was an ensign! + +[_Stamping his foot_.] + +Confound it! + +[_Goes to rear of stage_.] + +IDA (_coming forward with_ ADELAIDE). + +This uncertainty is frightful. Only one thing is sure, I shall be +unhappy whichever way this election turns out. + +[_Leans on_ ADELAIDE.] + +ADELAIDE. + +Courage! Courage, little girl! Things may still turn out all right. +Hide your anxiety from your father; he is in a state of mind, as it +is, that does not please me at all. + +_Enter_ BLUMENBERG _in haste; the_ COLONEL _rushes toward him_. + +COLONEL. + +Now, sir, how do things stand? + +BLUMENBERG. + +41 votes for you, Colonel, 34 for our opponents; three have fallen on +outsiders. The votes are being registered at very long intervals now, +but the difference in your favor remains much the same. Eight more +votes for you, Colonel, and the victory is won. We have every chance +now of coming out ahead. I am hurrying back, the decisive moment is at +hand. My compliments to the ladies! + +[_Exit_.] + +COLONEL. + +Ida! + +[IDA _hastens to him_.] + +Are you my good daughter? + +IDA. + +My dear father! + +COLONEL. + +I know what is troubling you, child. You are worse off than any one. +Console yourself, Ida; if, as seems likely, the professor has to make +way for the old soldier, then we'll talk further on the matter. +Oldendorf has not deserved it of me; there are many things about him +that I do not like. But you are my only child. I shall think of that +and of nothing else; but the very first thing to do is to break down +the young man's obstinacy. + +[_Releases_ IDA; _walks up and down again._] + +ADELAIDE (_in the foreground, aside_). + +The barometer has risen, the sunshine of pardon breaks through the +clouds. If only it were all over! Such excitement is infectious! (_To_ +IDA.) You see you do not yet have to think of entering a nunnery. + +IDA. But if Oldendorf is defeated, how will he bear it! + +ADELAIDE (_shrugging her shoulders_). + +He loses a seat in unpleasant company and wins, instead, an amusing +little wife. I think he ought to be satisfied. In any case he will +have a chance to make his speeches. Whether he makes them in one house +or another, what is the difference? I fancy you will listen to him +more reverently than any other member. + +IDA (_shyly_). + +But Adelaide, what if it really would be better for the country to +have Oldendorf elected? + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, dearest, in that case there is no help for the country. Our State +and the rest of the European nations must learn to get along without +the professor. You have yourself to attend to first of all; you wish +to marry him; you come first. + +[_Enter_ CARL.] + +What news, Carl? + +CARL. + +Mr. von Senden presents his compliments and reports 47 to 42. The head +of the election committee, he says, has already congratulated him. + +COLONEL. + +Congratulated? Lay out my uniform, ask for the key of the wine-cellar, +and set the table; we are likely to have visitors this evening. + +CARL. + +Yes, Colonel. + +[_Exit_.] + +COLONEL (_to himself in the foreground_). + +Now, my young professor! My style does not please you? It may be that +you are right. I grant you are a better journalist. But here, where it +is a serious matter, you will find yourself in the wrong, just for +once. [_Pause_.] I may be obliged to say a few words this evening. It +used to be said of me in the regiment, indeed, that I could always +speak to the point, but these manoeuvres in civilian dress disconcert +me a little. Let's think it over! It will be only proper for me to +mention Oldendorf in my speech, of course with due respect and +appreciation; yes indeed, I must do that. He is an honest fellow, with +an excellent heart, and a scholar with fine judgment. And he can be +very amiable if you disregard his political theories. We have had +pleasant evenings together. And as we sat then around my fat +tea-kettle and the good boy began to tell his stories, Ida's eyes +would be fixed on his face and would shine with pleasure--yes, and my +own old eyes, too, I think. Those were fine evenings! Why do we have +them no longer? Bah! They'll come back again! He'll bear defeat +quietly in his own way--a good, helpful way. No sensitiveness in him! +He really is at heart a fine fellow, and Ida and I could be happy with +him. And so, gentlemen and electors--but thunder and lightning! I +can't say all that to the voters! I'll say to them-- + +_Enter_ SENDEN. + +SENDEN (_excitedly_). + +Shameful, shameful! All is lost! + +COLONEL. + +Aha! (_Instantly draws himself up in military posture_.) + + + ADELAIDE } My presentiment! Father! + } [_Hurries to him_]. + } (_together_). + } + IDA } Dear me! + + +SENDEN. + +It was going splendidly. We had 47, the opponents 42 votes. Eight +votes were still to be cast. Two more for us and the day would have +been ours. The legally appointed moment for closing the ballot-box had +come. All looked at the clock and called for the dilatory voters. Then +there was a trampling of feet in the corridor. A group of eight +persons pushed noisily into the hall, at their head the vulgar +wine-merchant Piepenbrink, the same one who at the fête the other +day-- + +ADELAIDE. + +We know; go on-- + +SENDEN. + +Each of the band in turn came forward, gave his vote and "Edward +Oldendorf" issued from the lips of all. Then finally came this +Piepenbrink. Before voting he asked the man next to him: "Is the +professor sure of it?" "Yes," was the reply. "Then I, as last voter, +choose as member of Parliament"--[_Stops._] + +ADELAIDE. + +The professor? + +SENDEN. + +No. "A most clever and cunning politician," so he put it, "Dr. Conrad +Bolz." Then he turned short around and his henchmen followed him. + +ADELAIDE (_aside, smiling_). + +Aha! + +SENDEN. + +Oldendorf is member by a majority of two votes. + +COLONEL. + +Ugh! + +SENDEN. + +It is a shame! No one is to blame for this result but these +journalists of the _Union_. Such a running about, an intriguing, a +shaking of hands with all the voters, a praising of this Oldendorf, a +shrugging of the shoulders at us--and at you, dear Sir! + +COLONEL. + +Indeed? + +IDA. + +That last is not true. + +ADELAIDE (_to_ SENDEN). + +Show some regard, and spare those here. + +COLONEL. + +You are trembling, my daughter. You are a woman, and let yourself be +too much affected by such trifles. I will not have you listen to these +tidings any longer. Go, my child! Why, your friend has won, there is +no reason for you to cry! Help her, Miss Adelaide! + +IDA (_is led by_ ADELAIDE _to the side door on the left; +entreatingly_.) + +Leave me! Stay with father! + +SENDEN. + +Upon my honor, the bad faith and arrogance with which this paper is +edited are no longer to be endured. Colonel, since we are alone--for +Miss Adelaide will let me count her as one of us--we have a chance to +take a striking revenge. Their days are numbered now. Quite a long +time ago, already, I had the owner of the _Union_ sounded. He is not +disinclined to sell the paper, but merely has scruples about the party +now controlling the sheet. At the club-fête I myself had a talk with +him. + +ADELAIDE. + +What's this I hear? + +SENDEN. + +This outcome of the election will cause the greatest bitterness among +all our friends, and I have no doubt that, in a few days, by forming a +stock company, we can collect the purchase price. That would be a +deadly blow to our opponents, a triumph for the good cause. The most +widely-read sheet in the province in our hands, edited by a +committee-- + +ADELAIDE. + +To which Mr. von Senden would not refuse his aid-- + +SENDEN. + +As a matter of duty I should do my part. Colonel, if you would be one +of the shareholders, your example would at once make the purchase a +sure thing. + +COLONEL. + +Sir, what you do to further your political ideas is your own affair. +Professor Oldendorf, however, has been a welcome guest in my house. +Never will I work against him behind his back. You would have spared +me this moment had you not previously deceived me by your assurances +as to the sentiments of the majority. However, I bear you no malice. +You acted from the best of motives, I am sure. I beg the company to +excuse me if I withdraw for today. I hope to see you tomorrow again, +dear Senden. + +SENDEN. + +Meanwhile I will start the fund for the purchase of the newspaper. I +bid you good day. [_Exit_.] + +COLONEL. + +Pardon me, Adelaide, if I leave you alone. I have some letters to +write, and [_with a forced laugh_] my newspapers to read. + +ADELAIDE (_sympathetically_). + +May I not stay with you now, of all times? + +COLONEL (_with an effort_). + +I shall be better off alone, now. + +[_Exit through centre door_.] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +My poor Colonel! Injured vanity is hard at work in his faithful soul. +And Ida. [_Gently opens the door on the left, remains standing_.] She +is writing. It is not difficult to guess to whom. [_Closes the door_.] +And for all of this mischief that evil spirit Journalism is to blame. +Everybody complains of it, and every one tries to use it for his own +ends. My Colonel scorned newspaper men until he became one himself, +and Senden misses no opportunity of railing at my good friends of +the pen, merely because he wishes to put himself in their place. I see +Piepenbrink and myself becoming journalists, too, and combining to +edit a little sheet under the title of _Naughty Bolz_. So the _Union_ +is in danger of being secretly sold. It might be quite a good thing +for Conrad: he would then have to think of something else besides the +newspaper. Ah! the rogue would start a new one at once! + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF _and_ CARL. + +OLDENDORF (_while still outside of the room_). + +And the Colonel will receive no one? + +CARL. + +No one, Professor. [_Exit_.] + +ADELAIDE (_going up to_ OLDENDORF). + +Dear Professor, this is not just the right moment for you to come. We +are very much hurt and out of sorts with the world, but most of all +with you. + +OLDENDORF. + +I am afraid you are, but I must speak to him. + +_Enter_ IDA _through the door on the left_. + +IDA (_going toward him_). + +Edward! I knew you would come! + +OLDENDORF. + +My dear Ida! [_Embraces her_.] + +IDA (_with her arms around his neck_). + +And what will become of us now? + +_Enter_ COLONEL _through centre door_. + +COLONEL (_with forced calmness_). + +You shall remain in no doubt about that, my daughter! I beg you, +Professor, to forget that you were once treated as a friend in this +household. I require you, Ida, to banish all thought of the hours when +this gentleman entertained you with his sentiments. (_More +violently_.) Be still! In my own house at least I submit to no attacks +from a journalist. Forget him, or forget that you are my daughter. Go +in there! [_Leads_ IDA, _not ungently, out to the left, and places +himself in front of the door_.] On this ground, Mr. Editor and Member +of Parliament, before the heart of my child, you shall not beat me. + +[_Exit to the left_.] + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Dear me! That is bad! + +OLDENDORF (_as the_ COLONEL _turns to go, with determination_). + +Colonel, it is ungenerous of you to refuse me this interview. [_Goes +toward the door_.] + +ADELAIDE (_intercepting him quickly_). + +Stop! No further! He is in a state of excitement where a single word +might do permanent harm. But do not leave us this way, Professor; give +me just a few moments. + +OLDENDORF. + +I must, in my present condition of mind, ask your indulgence. I have +long dreaded just such a scene, and yet I hardly feel able to control +myself. + +ADELAIDE. + +You know our friend; you know that his quick temper drives him into +acts for which later he would gladly atone. + +OLDENDORF. + +This was more than a fit of temper. It means a breach between us +two--a breach that seems to me beyond healing. + +ADELAIDE. + +Beyond healing, Professor! If your sentiments toward Ida are what I +think they are, healing is not so difficult. Would it not be fitting +for you even now--especially now--to accede to the father's wishes. +Does not the woman you love deserve that, for once at least, you +sacrifice your ambition! + +OLDENDORF. + +My ambition, yes; my duty, no. + +ADELAIDE. + +Your own happiness, Professor, seems to me to be ruined for a long +time, possibly forever, if you part from Ida in this way. + +OLDENDORF (_gloomily_). + +Not every one can be happy in his private life. + +ADELAIDE. + +This resignation does not please me at all, least of all in a man. +Pardon me for saying so, plainly. (_Ingratiatingly_.) Is the +misfortune so great if you become member for this town a few years +later, or even not at all? + +OLDENDORF. + +Miss Runeck, I am not conceited. I do not rate my abilities very high, +and, as far as I know myself, there is no ambitious impulse lurking at +the bottom of my heart. Possibly, as you do now, so a later age will +set a low estimate on our political wrangling, our party aims, and all +that that includes. Possibly all our labor will be without result; +possibly much of the good we hope to do will, when achieved, turn out +to be the opposite--yes, it is highly probable that my own share in +the struggle will often be painful, unedifying, and not at all what +you would call a grateful task; but all that must not keep me from +devoting my life to the strife and struggle of the age to which I +belong. That struggle, after all, is the best and noblest that the +present has to offer. Not every age permits its sons to achieve +results which remain great for all time; and, I repeat, not every age +can make those who live in it distinguished and happy. + +ADELAIDE. + +I think every age can accomplish that if the individuals will only +understand how to be great and happy. [_Rising_.] You, Professor, will +do nothing for your own little home-happiness. You force your friends +to act for you. + +[Illustration: Permission F. Bruckmann, A.-G. Munich +IN THE BEERGARDEN Adolph von Menzel] + +OLDENDORF. + +At all events cherish as little anger against me as possible, and +speak a good word for me to Ida. + +ADELAIDE. + +I shall set my woman's wits to aiding you, Mr. Statesman. + +[_Exit_ OLDENDORF.] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +So this is one of the noble, scholarly, free spirits of the German +nation! And he climbs into the fire from a sheer sense of duty! But to +conquer anything--the world, happiness, or even a wife--for that he +never was made! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL (_announcing_). + +Dr. Bolz! + +ADELAIDE. + +Ah! He at least will be no such paragon of virtue!--Where is the +Colonel? + +CARL. + +In Miss Ida's room. + +ADELAIDE. + +Show the gentleman in here. + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +I feel somewhat embarrassed at seeing you again, Mr. Bolz; I shall +take pains to conceal it. + +_Enter_ BOLZ. + +BOLZ. + +A poor soul has just left you, vainly seeking consolation in your +philosophy. I too come as an unfortunate, for yesterday I incurred +your displeasure; and but for your presence, which cut short a +vexatious scene, Mr. von Senden, in the interests of social propriety, +would doubtless have pitched into me still harder. I thank you for the +reminder you gave me; I take it as a sign that you will not withdraw +your friendly interest in me. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Very pretty, very diplomatic!--It is kind of you to put so good a +construction on my astonishing behavior. But pardon me if I presume to +interfere again; that scene with Mr. von Senden will not, I trust, +give provocation for a second one? + +BOLZ (_aside_). + +This eternal Senden! (_Aloud_.) Your interest in him furnishes me +grounds for avoiding further consequences. I think I can manage it. + +ADELAIDE. + +I thank you. And now let me tell you that you are a dangerous +diplomatist. You have inflicted a thorough defeat on this household. +On this unfortunate day but one thing has pleased me--the one vote +which sought to make you member of Parliament. + +BOLZ. + +It was a crazy idea of the honest wine-merchant. + +ADELAIDE. + +You took so much trouble to put your friend in, why did you not work +for yourself? The young man I used to know had lofty aims, and nothing +seemed beyond the range of his soaring ambition. Have you changed, or +is the fire still burning? + +BOLZ (_smiling_). + +I have become a journalist, Miss Adelaide. + +ADELAIDE. + +Your friend is one, too. + +BOLZ. + +Only as a side issue. But I belong to the guild. He who has joined it +may have the ambition to write wittily or well. All that goes beyond +that is not for us. + +ADELAIDE. + +Not for you? + +BOLZ. + +For that we are too flighty, too restless and scatter-brained. + +ADELAIDE. + +Are you in earnest about that, Conrad? + +BOLZ. + +Perfectly in earnest. Why should I wish to seem to you different from +what I am? We journalists feed our minds on the daily news; we must +taste the dishes Satan cooks for men down to the smallest morsel; so +you really should make allowances for us. The daily vexation over +failure and wrong doing, the perpetual little excitements over all +sorts of things--that has an effect upon a man. At first one clenches +one's fist, then one learns to laugh at it. If you work only for the +day you come to live for the day. + +ADELAIDE (_perturbed_). + +But that is sad, I think. + +BOLZ. + +On the contrary, it is quite amusing. We buzz like bees, in spirit we +fly through the whole world, suck honey when we find it, and sting +when something displeases us. Such a life is not apt to make great +heroes, but queer dicks like us are also needed. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Now he too is at it, and he is even worse than the other one. + +BOLZ. + +We won't waste sentiment on that account. I scribble away so long as +it goes. When it no longer goes, others take my place and do the same. +When Conrad Bolz, the grain of wheat, has been crushed in the great +mill, other grains fall on the stones until the flour is ready from +which the future, possibly, will bake good bread for the benefit of +the many. + +ADELAIDE. + +No, no, that is morbidness; such resignation is wrong. + +BOLZ. + +Such resignation will eventually be found in every profession. It is +not your lot. To you is due a different kind of happiness, and you +will find it. (_Feelingly_.) Adelaide, as a boy I wrote you tender +verses and lulled myself in foolish dreams. I was very fond of you, +and the wound our separation inflicted still smarts at times. +[ADELAIDE _makes a deprecatory gesture_.] Don't be alarmed, I am not +going to pain you. I long begrudged my fate, and had moments when I +felt like an outcast. But now when you stand there before me in full +radiancy, so lovely, so desirable, when my feeling for you is as warm +as ever, I must say to you all the same: Your father, it is true, +treated me roughly; but that he separated us, that he prevented you, +the rich heiress, who could claim anything, with your own exclusive +circle of friends, from throwing herself away on a wild boy who had +always shown more presumption than power--that was really very +sensible, and he acted quite rightly in the matter. + +ADELAIDE (_in her agitation seizing his hands_). + +Thank you, Conrad, thank you for speaking so of my dead father! Yes, +you are good, you have a heart. It makes me very happy that you should +have shown it to me. + +BOLZ. + +It is only a tiny little pocket-heart for private use. It was quite +against my will that it happened to make its appearance. + +ADELAIDE. + +And now enough of us two! Here in this house our help is needed. You +have won, have completely prevailed against us. I submit, and +acknowledge you my master. But now show mercy and let us join forces. +In this conflict of you men a rude blow has been struck at the heart +of a girl whom I love. I should like to make that good again and I +want you to help me. + +BOLZ. + +I am at your command. + +ADELAIDE. + +The Colonel must be reconciled. Think up some way of healing his +injured self-esteem. + +BOLZ. + +I have thought it over and have taken some steps. Unfortunately, all I +can do is to make him feel that his anger at Oldendorf is folly. This +soft conciliatory impulse you alone can inspire. + +ADELAIDE. + +Then we women must try our luck. + +BOLZ. + +Meanwhile I will hurry and do what little I can. + +ADELAIDE. + +Farewell, Mr. Editor. And think not only of the progress of the great +world, but also occasionally of one friend, who suffers from the base +egotism of wishing to be happy on her own account. + +BOLZ. + +You have always found your happiness in looking after the happiness of +others. With that kind of egotism there is no difficulty in being +happy. [_Exit_.] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +He still loves me! He is a man with feeling and generosity. But he, +too, is resigned. They are all _ill_--these men! They have no courage! +From pure learning and introspection they have lost all confidence in +themselves. This Conrad! Why doesn't he say to me: "Adelaide, I want +you to be my wife?" He can be brazen enough when he wants to! God +forbid! He philosophizes about my kind of happiness and his kind of +happiness! It was all very fine, but sheer nonsense.--My young +country-squires are quite different. They have no great burden of +wisdom and have more whims and prejudices than they ought to; but they +do their hating and loving thoroughly and boldly, and never forget +their own advantage. They are the better for it! Praised be the +country, the fresh air, and my broad acres! [_Pause; with decision_.] +The _Union_ is to be sold! Conrad must come to the country to get rid +of his crotchets! [_Sits down and writes; rings; enter_ CARL.] Take +this note to Judge Schwarz; I want him kindly to come to me on urgent +business. + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +_Enter_ IDA _through the side door on the left_. + +IDA. + +I am too restless to keep still! Let me cry here to my heart's +content! [_Weeps on_ ADELAIDE'S _neck_.] + +ADELAIDE (_tenderly_). + +Poor child! The bad men have been very cruel to you. It's all right +for you to grieve, darling, but don't be so still and resigned! + +IDA. + +I have but the one thought: he is lost to me--lost forever! + +ADELAIDE. + +You are a dear good girl. But be reassured! You haven't lost him at +all. On the contrary, we'll see to it that you get him back better +than ever. With blushing cheeks and bright eyes he shall reappear to +you, the noble man, your chosen demigod--and your pardon the demigod +shall ask for having caused you pain!-- + +IDA (_looking up at her_). + +What are you telling me? + +ADELAIDE. + +Listen! This night I read in the stars that you were to become Mrs. +Member-of-Parliament. A big star fell from heaven, and on it was +written in legible letters: "Beyond peradventure she shall have him!" +The fulfilment has attached to it but one condition. + +IDA. + +What condition? Tell me! + +ADELAIDE. + +I recently told you of a certain lady and an unknown gentleman. You +remember? + +IDA. + +I have thought of it incessantly. + +ADELAIDE. + +Good! On the same day on which this lady finds her knight again shall +you also be reconciled with your professor--not sooner, not later. +Thus it is written. + +IDA. + +I am so glad to believe you. And when will the day come? + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, dear, I do not know that exactly. But I will confide in you, +since we girls are alone, that the said lady is heartily tired of the +long hoping and waiting and will, I fear, do something desperate. + +IDA (_embracing her_). + +If only she will hurry up! + +ADELAIDE (_holding her_). + +Hush! Some man might hear us! [_Enter_ KORB.] What is it, old friend? + +KORB. + +Miss Adelaide, out there is Mr. Bellmaus, the friend-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Very well, and he wishes to speak to me? + +KORB. + +Yes. I myself advised him to come to you; he has something to tell +you. + +ADELAIDE. + +Bring him in here! [_Exit_ KORB.] + +IDA. + +Let me go away; my eyes are red with weeping. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well go, dear. In a few minutes I will rejoin you. (_Exit_ IDA.) + +He too! The whole _Union_--one after the other! + +_Enter_ BEULMAUS. + +BELLMAUS (_shyly, bowing repeatedly_). + +You permit me, Miss Runeck! + +ADELAIDE (_kindly_). + +I am glad to receive your visit, and am curious about the interesting +disclosures you have to make to me. + +BELLMAUS. + +There is no one to whom I would rather confide what I have heard, Miss +Runeck, than to you. Having learned from Mr. Korb that you are a +subscriber to our newspaper I feel sure-- + +ADELAIDE. + +That I deserve, too, to be a friend of the editors. Thank you for the +good opinion. + +BELLMAUS. + +There is this man Schmock! He is a poor fellow who has been little in +good society and was until now on the staff of the _Coriolanus_. + +ADELAIDE. I remember having seen him. + +BELLMAUS. + +At Bolz's request I gave him a few glasses of punch. He thereupon grew +jolly and told me of a great plot that Senden and the editor of the +_Coriolanus_ have hatched between them. These two gentlemen, so he +assures me, had planned to discredit Professor Oldendorf in the +Colonel's eyes and so drove the Colonel into writing articles for the +_Coriolanus_. + +ADELAIDE. + +But is the young man who made you these revelations at all +trustworthy? + +BELLMAUS. + +He can't stand much punch, and after three glasses he told me all this +of his own accord. In general I don't consider him very reputable. I +should call him a good fellow, but reputable--no, he's not quite that. + +ADELAIDE (_indifferently_.) + +Do you suppose this gentleman who drank the three glasses of punch +would be willing to repeat his disclosures before other persons? + +BELLMAUS. + +He said he would, and spoke of proofs too. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Aha! (_Aloud_.) I fear the proofs won't amount to much. And you have +not spoken of it to the professor or Mr. Bolz? + +BELLMAUS. + +Our professor is very much occupied these days, and Bolz is the +jolliest man in the world; but his relations with Mr. von Senden being +already strained I thought-- + +ADELAIDE (_quickly_). + +And you were quite right, dear Mr. Bellmaus. So in other regards you +are content with Mr. Bolz? + +BELLMAUS. + +He is a sociable, excellent man, and I am on very good terms with him. +All of us are on very good terms with him. + +ADELAIDE. + +I am glad to hear it. + +BELLMAUS. + +He sometimes goes a little too far, but he has the best heart in the +world. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings" ye +shall hear the truth! + +BELLMAUS. + +His nature, you know, is a purely prosaic one; for poetry he has not +the least comprehension. ADELAIDE. Do you think so? + +BELLMAUS. + +Yes, he often bursts forth on the subject. + +ADELAIDE (_rising_). + +I thank you for your communication even if I cannot attach weight to +it, and I am glad to have met in you one of the editorial staff. +Journalists, I find, are dangerous people, and it is just as well to +secure their good will; although I, as an unimportant person, will try +never to furnish matter for a newspaper article. [_As_ BELLMAUS +_lingers._] Can I do anything more for you? + +BELLMAUS (_with warmth_). + +Yes, Miss Runeck, if you would be so good as to accept this copy of my +poems. They are poems of youth, to be sure, my first attempts, but I +count on your friendly indulgence. + +[_Draws a gilt-edged book from his pocket, and hands it to her._] + +ADELAIDE. + +I thank you heartily, Mr. Bellmaus. Never before has a poet presented +me with his works. I shall read the beautiful book through in the +country, and, under my trees, shall rejoice that I have friends in +town who spare a thought for me too, when they represent beauty for +other people. + +BELLMAUS (_fervently_). + +Rest assured, Miss Runeck, that no poet will forget you, who has once +had the good fortune to make your acquaintance. + +[_Exit with a deep bow._] + +ADELAIDE. + +This Mr. Schmock with the three glasses of punch is well worth +cultivating, I should say. Scarcely have I arrived in town when my +room turns into a regular business office, where editors and authors +ply their trade. I fear that is an omen. + +[_Exit to the left._] + +_It grows dark. The_ COLONEL _enters from the garden._ + +COLONEL (_slowly coming forward_). + +I am glad that all is over between us. [_Stamping his foot._] I am +very glad! [_In a depressed tone._] I feel free and more relieved than +for a long time. I think I could actually sing! At this moment I am +the subject of conversation over all tea-cups, on all beer-benches. +Everywhere arguing and laughter: It serves him right, the old fool! +Damn! [_Enter_ CARL, _with lights and the newspaper_.] Who told you to +bring the lamp? + +CARL. + +Colonel, it is your hour for reading the newspaper. Here it is. [_Lays +it on the table_.] + +COLONEL. + +A low rabble, these gentlemen of the pen! Cowardly, malicious, +insidious in their anonymity. How this band will triumph now, and over +me! How they will laud their editor to the skies! There lies the +contemptible sheet! In it stands my defeat, trumpeted forth with full +cheeks, with scornful shrugs of the shoulders--away with it! [_Walks +up and down, looks at the newspaper on the ground, picking it up_.] +All the same I will drink out the dregs! [_Seats himself.]_ Here, +right in the beginning! [_Reading_.] "Professor Oldendorf--majority of +two votes. This journal is bound to rejoice over the result."--I don't +doubt it!--"But no less a matter for rejoicing was the electoral +contest which preceded it."--Naturally--"It has probably never before +been the case that, as here, two men stood against each other who were +so closely united by years of friendship, both so distinguished by the +good will of their fellow-citizens. It was a knightly combat between +two friends, full of generosity, without malice, without jealousy; yes +doubtless, deep down in his heart, each harbored the hope that his +friend and opponent and not himself would be the victor"--[_Lays down +the paper; wipes his brow_.] What sort of language is that? [_Reads_.] +"and aside from some special party views, never did a man have greater +claims to victory than our honored opponent. What he, through his +upright, noble personality stands for among his wide circle of friends +and acquaintances, this is not the place to dwell upon. But the way in +which, by his active participation in all public spirited enterprises +of the town, he has given aid and counsel, is universally known and +will be realized by our fellow-citizens, especially today, with +heartfelt gratitude." [_Lays the paper aside_.] That is a vile style! +[_Reads on_.] "By a very small majority of votes our town has decreed +to uphold the younger friend's political views in Parliament. But by +all parties today--so it is reported--addresses and deputations are +being prepared, not to extol the victor in the electoral contest, but +to express to his opponent the general reverence and respect of which +never a man was more worthy than he."--That is open assassination! +That is a fearful indiscretion of Oldendorf's, that is the revenge of +a journalist, so fine and pointed! Oh, it is just like him! No, it is +not like him! It is revolting, it is inhuman! What am I to do! +Deputations and addresses to me? To Oldendorf's friend? Bah, it is all +mere gossip, newspaper-babble that costs nothing but a few fine words! +The town knows nothing of these sentiments. It is blackguardism! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +Letters from the local mail. + +[_Lays them on the table._] + +[_Exit_.] + +COLONEL. + +There is something up, here, too. I dread to open them. [_Breaks open +the first one_.] What the devil! A poem?--and to me? "To our noble +opponent, the best man in town."--Signed? What is the signature? +"B--aus!" B--aus? I don't know it, it must be a pseudonym! [_Reads_.] +It seems to be exceedingly good poetry!--And what have we here? +[_Opens the second letter_.] "To the benefactor of the poor, the +father of orphans." An address!--[_Reads_.] "Veneration and +kindliness."--Signature: "Many women and girls." The seal a P.P.--Good +God, what does it all mean? Have I gone mad? If these are really +voices from the town, and if that is the way people look on this day, +then I must confess men think better of me than I do of myself! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +A number of gentlemen wish to speak to you, Colonel. + +COLONEL. + +What sort of gentlemen! + +CARL. + +They say: A deputation from the voters. + +COLONEL. + +Show them in. This confounded newspaper was right, after all. + +_Enter_ PIEPENBRINK, KLEINMICHEL _and three other gentlemen. They +bow, the_ COLONEL _likewise_. + +PIEPENBRINK (_solemnly_). + +My Colonel: A number of voters have sent us as a deputation to you to +inform you on this special day that the whole town considers you a +most respectable and worthy man. + +COLONEL (_stiffly_). + +I am obliged for the good opinion. + +PIEPENBRINK. + +You have no reason to feel obliged. It is the truth. You are a man of +honor through and through, and it gives us pleasure to tell you so; +you cannot object to hearing this from your fellow-citizens. + +COLONEL. + +I always did consider myself a man of honor, gentlemen. + +PIEPENBRINK. + +There you were quite right. And you have proved your good principles, +too. On every occasion. In cases of poverty, of famine, of caring for +orphans, also at our shooting-club meeting--always when we citizens +enjoyed or needed a benevolent good man, you were among the first. +Always simple and loyal without arrogance or supercilious manners. +That's the reason why we universally love and honor you. (_Colonel +wipes his eyes_.) Today many of us gave their votes to the professor. +Some on account of politics, some because they know that he is your +close friend and possibly even your future son-in-law. COLONEL (_not +harshly_). + +Sir-- + +PIEPENBRINK. + +Nor did I myself vote for you. + +COLONEL (_somewhat more excitedly_). + +Sir-- + +PIEPENBRINK. + +But for that very reason I come to you with the rest, and that is why +we tell you what the citizens think of you. And we hope that for long +years to come you will preserve to us your manly principles and +friendly heart as an honored, most respected gentleman and +fellow-citizen. + +COLONEL (_without harshness_). + +Why do you not say that to the professor, to the man that you have +chosen? + +PIEPENBRINK. + +He shall first deserve it in Parliament before the town thanks him. +But you _have_ deserved it of us, and therefore we come to you. + +COLONEL (_heartily_). + +I thank you, sir, for your kind words. They are very comforting to me +just now. May I ask your name? + +PIEPENBRINK. + +My name is Piepenbrink. + +COLONEL (_morely coldly, but not impolitely_). + +Ah, indeed, that is your name! (_With dignity._) I thank you, +gentlemen, for the friendly sentiment you have expressed, whether it +be that you render the true opinion of the town, or speak according to +the desire of individuals. I thank you, and shall go on doing what I +think is right. + +[_Bows, so does the deputation; exit latter_.] + +This, then, is that Piepenbrink, the close friend of his friend! But +the man's words were sensible and his whole demeanor honorable; it +cannot possibly be all rascality. Who knows! They are clever +intriguers; send into my house newspaper articles, letters, and these +good-natured people, to make me soft-hearted; act in public as my +friends, to make me confide again in their falseness! Yes, that is it. +It is a preconcerted plan! They will find they have miscalculated! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +Dr. Bolz! + +COLONEL. + +I am at home to no one any longer! + +CARL. + +So I told the gentleman; but he insisted on speaking to you, saying +that he came in on an affair of honor. + +COLONEL. + +What? But Oldendorf won't be so insane--show him in here! + +_Enter_ BOLZ. + +BOLZ (_with dignity_). + +Colonel, I come to make you an announcement which the honor of a third +person necessitates. + +COLONEL. + +I am prepared for it, and beg you not to prolong it unduly. + +BOLZ. + +No more than is requisite. The article in this evening's _Union_ +which deals with your personality was written by me and inserted by me +in the paper without Oldendorf's knowledge. + +COLONEL. + +It can interest me little to know who wrote the article. + +BOLZ (_courteously_). + +But I consider it important to tell you that it is not by Oldendorf +and that Oldendorf knew nothing about it. My friend was so taken up +these last weeks with his own sad and painful experiences that he left +the management of the paper entirely to me. For all that has lately +appeared in it I alone am responsible. + +COLONEL. + +And why do you impart this information? + +BOLZ. + +You have sufficient penetration to realize, Colonel, that, after the +scene which took place today between you and my friend, Oldendorf as a +man of honor could neither write such an article nor allow it to +appear in his paper. + +COLONEL. + +How so, sir? In the article itself I saw nothing unsuitable. + +BOLZ. + +The article exposes my friend in your eyes to the suspicion of having +tried to regain your good-will by unworthy flattery. Nothing is +further from his thoughts than such a method. You, Colonel, are too +honorable a man yourself to consider a mean action natural to your +friend. + +COLONEL. + +You are right. (_Aside_.) This defiance is unbearable! (_Aloud_.) Is +your explanation at an end? + +BOLZ. + +It is. I must add still another: that I myself regret very much having +written this article. + +COLONEL. + +I imagine I do not wrong you in assuming that you have already written +others that were still more to be regretted. + +BOLZ (_continuing_). + +I had the article printed before hearing of your last interview with +Oldendorf. (_Very courteously_.) My reason for regretting it is, that +it is not quite true. I was too hasty in describing your personality +to the public. Today, at least, it is no longer a true portrait; it is +flattering. + +COLONEL (_bursting out_). + +Well, by the devil, that is rude! + +BOLZ. + +Your pardon--it is only true. I wish to convince you that a journalist +can regret having written falsehoods. + +COLONEL. + +Sir! (_Aside_.) I must restrain myself, or he will always get the +better of me.--Dr. Bolz, I see that you are a clever man and know your +trade. Since, in addition, you seem inclined today to speak only the +truth, I must beg you to tell me further if you, too, organized the +demonstrations which purport to represent to me public sentiment. + +BOLZ (_bowing_). + +I have, as a matter of fact, not been inactive in the matter. + +COLONEL (_holding out the letter to him, angrily_). + +Did you prompt these, too? + +BOLZ. + +In part, Colonel. This poem is the heart-outpouring of an honest youth +who reveres in you the paternal friend of Oldendorf and the ideal of a +chivalrous hero. I inspired him with the courage to send you the poem. +It was well-meant, at any rate. The poet will have to seek another +ideal. The address comes from women and girls who constitute the +Association for the Education of Orphans. The Association includes +among its members Miss Ida Berg. I myself composed this address for +the ladies; it was written down by the daughter of the wine-merchant +Piepenbrink. + +COLONEL. + +That was just about my opinion concerning these letters. It is +needless to ask if you too are the contriver who sent me the citizens? + +BOLZ. + +At all events I did not discourage them. [_From without a male chorus +of many voices_.] + + + Hail! Hail! Hail! + Within the precincts of our town, + Blessed by each burgher's son, + There dwells a knight of high renown, + A noble, faithful one. + + Who doth in need for aid apply + To this brave knight sends word; + For love is his bright panoply + And mercy is his sword. + + We laud him now in poem and song + Protector of the lowly throng. + The Colonel, the Colonel, + The noble Colonel Berg! + + +COLONEL (_rings after the first measure of the song_. CARL _enters_). + +You are to let no one in if you wish to remain in my service. + +CARL. + +Colonel, they are already in the garden, a great company of them. It +is the glee club; the leaders are already at the steps. + +BOLZ (_who has opened the window_). + +Very well sung, Colonel--from _La Juive_--he is the best tenor in town +and the accompaniment is exceedingly original. + +COLONEL (_aside_). + +It is enough to drive one mad. [_Aloud_.] Show the gentlemen in! + +_Exit_ CARL. _At the end of the verse enter_ FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and +two other gentlemen_. + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. + +Colonel, the local glee club asks to be allowed to sing you some +songs--kindly listen to the little serenade as a feeble expression of +the general veneration and love. + +COLONEL. + +Gentlemen, I regret exceedingly that a case of illness in my family +makes it desirable for me to have you curtail your artistic +performance. I thank you for your intentions, and beg you will sing to +Professor Oldendorf the songs you had designed for me. + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. + +We considered it our duty first to greet you before visiting your +friend. In order not to disturb invalids, we will, with your +permission, place ourselves further away from the house, in the +garden. + +COLONEL. + +Do as you please. + +[FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and the two others leave_.] + +Is this act, too, an invention of yours? + +BOLZ (_with a bow_). + +Partially at least. But you are too kind, Colonel, if you look upon me +as the sole originator of all these demonstrations. My share in it is +really a small one. I have done nothing but edit public opinion a +little; all these different people are not dolls, which a skilful +puppet-man can move around by pulling wires. These are all voices of +capable and honorable persons, and what they have said to you is +actually the general opinion of the town--that is to say, the +conviction of the better and more sensible elements in the town. Were +that not the case I should have labored quite in vain with these good +people to bring a single one of them into your house. + +COLONEL. + +He is right again, and I am always in the wrong! + +BOLZ (_very courteously_). + +Permit me to explain further, that I consider these tender expressions +of general regard out of place now, and that I deeply regret my share +in them. Today at least, no friend of Oldendorf has any occasion to +praise your chivalrous sentiments or your self-effacement. + +COLONEL (_going toward him_). + +Doctor Bolz, you use the privilege of your profession to speak +recklessly, and are insulting outsiders in a way that exhausts my +patience. You are in my house, and it is a customary social amenity to +respect the domicile of one's opponent. + +BOLZ (_leaning on a chair, good-naturedly_). + +If you mean by that that you have a right to expel from your house +unwelcome guests you did not need to remind me of it, for this very +day you shut your doors on another whose love for you gave him a +better right to be here than I have. + +COLONEL. + +Sir, such brazen-facedness I have never yet experienced. + +BOLZ (_with a bow_). + +I am a journalist, and claim what you have just called the privilege +of my profession. + +[_Grand march by brass band. Enter_ CARL _quickly_.] + +COLONEL (_going toward him_). + +Shut the garden gate; no one is to come in. [_The music stops_.] + +BOLZ (_at the window_). + +You are locking your friends out; this time I am innocent. + +CARL. + +Ah, Colonel, it is too late. The singers are back there in the garden, +and in front a great procession is approaching the house; it is Mr. +von Senden and the entire club. + +[_Goes to rear of stage_.] + +COLONEL (_to_ BOLZ). + +Sir, I wish the conversation between us to end. + +BOLZ (_speaking back at him from the window_). + +In your position, Colonel, I find the desire very natural. [_Looking +out again_.] A brilliant procession! They all carry paper lanterns, +and on the lanterns are inscriptions! Besides the ordinary club +mottoes, I see others. Why isn't Bellmaus ever looking when he might +be helping the newspaper! [_Taking out a note book_.] We'll quickly +note those inscriptions for our columns. [_Over his shoulder_.] Pardon +me! Oh, that is truly remarkable: "Down with our enemies!" And here a +blackish lantern with white letters--"Death to the _Union_!" Holy +thunder! [_Calls out of the window_.] Good evening, gentlemen! + +COLONEL (_going up to him_). + +Sir, you're in league with the devil! + +BOLZ (_turning quickly around_). + +Very kind of you, Colonel, to show yourself at the window with me. + +[COLONEL _retreats_.] + +SENDEN (_from below_). + +Whose voice is that! + +BOLZ. + +Good evening, Mr. von Senden!--The gentleman with the dark lantern and +white inscription would oblige us greatly by kindly lifting it up to +the Colonel. Blow your light out, man, and hand me the lantern. So, +thank you--man with the witty motto! [_Pulling in the stick and +lantern_.] Here, Colonel, is the document of the brotherly love your +friends cherish toward us. [_Tears the lantern from the stick_.] The +lantern for you, the stick for the lantern-bearer! [_Throws the stick +out of the window_.] I have the honor to bid you good day! + +[_Turns to go, meets_ ADELAIDE.] + +_Male chorus, close at hand again: "Within the precincts of our town;" +trumpets join in; then many voices: "Long live_ COLONEL BERG! +_Hurrah!_" ADELAIDE _has entered on the left, during the noise_. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well, is the whole town upside-down today? + +BOLZ. + +I've done my share; he is half converted. Good night! + +COLONEL (_throwing the lantern on the ground--in a rage_). + +To the devil with all journalists! + +_Male chorus_, SENDEN, BLUMENBERG _and many other gentlemen, in +procession, are visible through the door into the garden; the +deputation comes in; chorus and lantern-bearers form a group at the +entrance_. + +SENDEN (_with a loud voice while the curtain is lowered_). + +Colonel, the Club has the honor of greeting its revered members! + + + + +ACT IV + + +SCENE I + + +_The_ COLONEL'S _summer parlor_. COLONEL _enters from the garden, +followed by_ CARL. + +COLONEL (_on entering, crossly_). + +Who ordered William to bring the horse round in front of the bedrooms? +The brute makes a noise with his hoofs that would wake the dead. + +CARL. + +Are you not going to ride today, Colonel? + +COLONEL. + +No. Take the horse to the stable! + +CARL. + +Yes, Colonel. [_Exit_.] + +COLONEL (_rings_, CARL _reappears at the door_). + +Is Miss Runeck at home? + +CARL. + +She is in her room; the judge has been with her an hour already. + +COLONEL. + +What? Early in the morning? + +CARL. + +Here she is herself. + +[_Exit as soon as_ ADELAIDE _enters_.] + +_Enter_ ADELAIDE _and_ KORB _through the door on the right_. + +ADELAIDE (_to_ KORB). + +You had better remain near the garden gate, and when the said young +man comes bring him to us. + +[_Exit_ KORB.] + +Good-morning, Colonel. + +[_Going up to him and examining him gaily_.] + +How is the weather today? + +COLONEL. + +Gray, girl, gray and stormy. Vexation and grief are buzzing round in +my head until it is fit to burst. How is the child? + +ADELAIDE. + +Better. She was wise enough to fall asleep toward morning. Now she is +sad, but calm. + +COLONEL. + +This very calmness annoys me. If she would only once shriek and tear +her hair a bit! It would be horrible, but there would be something +natural about it. It is this smiling and then turning away to dry +secret tears that makes me lose my composure. It is unnatural in my +child. + +ADELAIDE. + +Possibly she knows her father's kind heart better than he does +himself; possibly she still has hopes. + +COLONEL. + +Of what? Of a reconciliation with him? After what has happened a +reconciliation between Oldendorf and myself is out of the question. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +I wonder if he wants me to contradict him! + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB (_to_ ADELAIDE). + +The gentleman has come. + +ADELAIDE. + +I will ring. + +[_Exit_ KORB.] + +Help me out of a little dilemma. I have to speak with a strange young +man who seems in need of help, and I should like to have you stay near +me.--May I leave this door open? + +[_Points to the door on the left_.] + +COLONEL. + +That means, I suppose, in plain English, that I +am to go in there? + +ADELAIDE. + +I beg it of you--just for five minutes. + +COLONEL. + +Very well--if only I don't have to listen. + +ADELAIDE. + +I do not require it; but you will listen all the +same if the conversation happens to interest you. + +COLONEL (_smiling_). + +In that case I shall come out. + +[_Exit to the left_; ADELAIDE _rings_.] + +_Enter_ SCHMOCK. KORB _also appears at the entrance, but quickly +withdraws_. + +SCHMOCK (_with a bow_). + +I wish you a good-morning. Are you the lady who sent me her secretary? + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes. You said you wished to speak to me personally. + +SCHMOCK. + +Why should the secretary know about it if I want to tell you +something? Here are the notes that Senden wrote and that I found in +the paper-basket of the _Coriolanus_. Look them over, and see if they +will be of use to the Colonel. What can I do with them? There's +nothing to be done with them. + +ADELAIDE (_looking through them, reading, in an aside_). + +"Here I send you the wretched specimens of style, etc." Incautious and +very low-minded! [_Lays them on the table. Aloud_.] At any rate these +unimportant notes are better off in my paper-basket than in any one +else's. And what, sir, induces you to confide in me? + +[Illustration: _Permission Union Deutsch um Vellagssesellsckaft +Stuttgart_. LUNCH BUFFET AT KISSENGEN ADOLPH VON MENZEL. ] + +SCHMOCK. + +I suppose because Bellmaus told me you were a clever person who would +choose a good way of telling the Colonel to be on his guard against +Senden and against my editor; and the Colonel is a kind man; the other +day he ordered a glass of sweet wine and a salmon sandwich as a lunch +for me. + +COLONEL (_visible at the door, clasping his hands sympathetically_). + +Merciful heavens! + +SCHMOCK. + +Why should I let him be duped by these people! + +ADELAIDE. + +Since you did not dislike the lunch, we will see that you get another +one. + +SCHMOCK. + +Oh please, don't trouble yourself on my account. + +ADELAIDE. + +Can we help you with anything else? + +SCHMOCK. + +What should you be able to help me with? [_Examining his boots and +clothes_.] I have everything in order now. My trouble is only that I +have got into the wrong occupation. I must try to get out of +literature. + +ADELAIDE (_sympathetically_.) + +It is very hard, I suppose, to feel at home in literature? + +SCHMOCK. + +That depends. My editor is an unfair man. He cuts out too much and +pays too little. "Attend to your style first of all," says he; "a good +style is the chief thing." "Write impressively, Schmock," says he; +"write profoundly; it is required of a newspaper today that it be +profound." Good! I write profoundly, I make my style logical! But when +I bring him what I have done he hurls it away from him and shrieks: +"What is that? That is heavy, that is pedantic!" says he. "You must +write dashingly; it's brilliant you must be, Schmock. It is now the +fashion to make everything pleasant for the reader." What am I to do? +I write dashingly again; I put a great deal of brilliant stuff in the +article; and when I bring it he takes his red pencil and strikes out +all that is commonplace and leaves me only the brilliant stuff +remaining. + +COLONEL. + +Are such things possible? + +SCHMOCK. + +How can I exist under such treatment? How can I write him only +brilliant stuff at less than a penny a line. I can't exist under it! +And that is why I'm going to try to get out of the business. If only I +could earn twenty-five to thirty dollars, I would never in my life +write again for a newspaper; I would then set up for myself in +business--a little business that could support me. + +ADELAIDE. + +Wait a moment! [_Looks into her purse_.] + +COLONEL (_hastily coming forward_). + +Leave that to me, dear Adelaide. The young man wants to cease being a +journalist. That appeals to me. Here, here is money such as you desire +if you will promise me from this day on not to touch a pen again for a +newspaper. Here, take it. + +SCHMOCK. + +A Prussian bank note--twenty-five thalers in currency? On my honor, I +promise you, on my honor and salvation, I go this very day to a cousin +of mine who has a paying business. Would you like an I.O.U., Colonel, +or shall I make out a long-term promissory note? + +COLONEL. + +Get out with your promissory note! + +SCHMOCK. + +Then I will write out a regular I.O.U. I prefer it to be only an +I.O.U. + +COLONEL (_impatiently_). + +I don't want your I.O.U. either. Sir, for God's sake get out of the +house! + +SCHMOCK. + +And how about the interest? If I can have it at five per cent. I +should like it. + +ADELAIDE. + +The gentleman makes you a present of the money. + +SCHMOCK. + +He makes me a present of the money? It's a miracle! I tell you what, +Colonel, if I don't succeed with the money it remains a gift, but if I +work my way up with it I return it. I hope I will work my way up. +COLONEL. Do just as you like about that. + +SCHMOCK. + +I like to have it that way, Colonel.--Meanwhile I thank you, and may +some other joy come to make it up to you. Good day, Sir and Madam. + +ADELAIDE. + +We must not forget the lunch. [_Rings,_ KORB _enters_.] Dear Korb! +[_Talks in a low tone to him_.] + +SCHMOCK. + +O please, do not go to that trouble! + +[_Exeunt_ SCHMOCK _and_ KORB.] + +COLONEL. + +And now, dear lady, explain this whole conversation; it concerns me +intimately enough. + +ADELAIDE. + +Senden spoke tactlessly to outsiders about his relations with you and +your household. This young man had overheard some of it, and also had +notes written by Senden in his possession, which contained unsuitable +expressions. I thought it best to get these notes out of his hands. + +COLONEL. + +I want you to let me have those letters, Adelaide. + +ADELAIDE (_entreating_). + +Why, Colonel? + +COLONEL. + +I won't get angry, girl. + +ADELAIDE. + +Nor is it worth while to do so. But still I beg you won't look at +them. You know enough now, for you know that he, with his associates, +does not merit such great confidence as you have latterly reposed in +him. + +COLONEL (_sadly_). + +Well, well! In my old days I have had bad luck with my acquaintances. + +ADELAIDE. + +If you put Oldendorf and this one (_pointing to the letters_) in the +same class you are quite mistaken. + +COLONEL. + +I don't do that, girl. For Senden I had no such affection, and that's +why it is easier to bear it when he does me an injury. + +ADELAIDE (_gently_). + +And because you loved the other one, that was the reason why yesterday +you were so-- + +COLONEL. + +Say it, mentor--so harsh and violent! + +ADELAIDE. + +Worse than that, you were unjust. + +COLONEL. + +I said the same thing to myself last night, as I went to Ida's room +and heard the poor thing cry. I was a hurt, angry man and was wrong in +the form--but in the matter itself I was, all the same, right. Let him +be member of Parliament; he may be better suited for it than I. It is +his being a newspaper writer that separates us. + +ADELAIDE. + +But he is only doing what you did yourself! + +COLONEL. + +Don't remind me of that folly! Were he as my son-in-law to hold a +different opinion from mine regarding current happenings--that I could +doubtless stand. But if day by day he were to proclaim aloud to the +world feelings and sentiments the opposite of mine, and I had to read +them, and had to hear my son-in-law reproached and laughed at for them +on all sides by old friends and comrades, and I had to swallow it +all--you see that is more than I could bear! + +ADELAIDE. + +And Ida? Because you won't bear it Ida is to be made unhappy? + +COLONEL. + +My poor child! She has been unhappy throughout the whole affair. This +half-hearted way of us men has long been a mistake. It is better to +end it with one sharp pain. + +ADELAIDE (_seriously_). + +I cannot see that ending of it as yet. I shall only see it when Ida +laughs once more as merrily as she used to do. + +COLONEL (_excitedly walking about, exclaiming_). + +Well then, I'll give him my child, and go and sit alone in a corner. I +had other views for my old age, but God forbid that my beloved girl +should be made unhappy by me. He is reliable and honorable, and will +take good care of her. I shall move back to the little town I came +from. + +ADELAIDE (_seizing his hand_). + +My revered friend, no--you shall not do that! Neither Oldendorf nor +Ida would accept their happiness at such a price. But if Senden and +his friends were secretly to take the paper away from the professor, +what then? + +COLONEL (_joyfully_). + +Then he would no longer be a journalist! (_Uneasily_.) But I won't +hear of such a thing. I am no friend of underhanded action. + +ADELAIDE. + +Nor am I! (_Heartily_.) Colonel, you have often shown a confidence in +me that has made me happy and proud. Even today you let me speak more +frankly than is usually permitted to a girl. Will you give me one more +great proof of your regard? + +COLONEL (_pressing her hand_). + +Adelaide, we know how we stand with each other. Speak out! + +ADELAIDE. + +For one hour, today, be my faithful knight. Allow me to lead you +wherever I please. + +COLONEL. + +What are you up to, child? + +ADELAIDE. + +Nothing wrong, nothing unworthy of you or of me. You shall not long be +kept in the dark about it. + +COLONEL. + +If I must, I will surrender. But may I not know something of what I +have to do? + +ADELAIDE. + +You are to accompany me on a visit, and at the same time keep in mind +the things we have just talked over so sensibly. + +COLONEL. + +On a visit? + +_Enter_ KORB. + +ADELAIDE. + +On a visit I am making in my own interest. + +KORB (_to_ ADELAIDE). + +Mr. von Senden wishes to pay his respects. + +COLONEL. + +I don't wish to see him now. + +ADELAIDE. + +Be calm, Colonel! We have not time to be angry even with him. I shall +have to see him for a few moments. + +COLONEL. + +Then I will go away. + +ADELAIDE (_entreating_). + +But you will accompany me directly? The carriage is waiting. + +COLONEL. + +I obey the command. [_Exit to the left_.] + +ADELAIDE. + +I have made a hasty decision; I have ventured on something that was +doubtless too bold for a girl; for now that the crisis is at hand, I +feel my courage leaving me. I had to do it for his sake and for all +our sakes. (_To_ KORB.) Ask Miss Ida to get ready--the coachman will +come straight back for her. Dear Korb, let your thoughts be with me. I +am going on a weighty errand, old friend! [_Exit_ ADELAIDE.] + +KORB. + +(_alone_). Gracious, how her eyes shine! What is she tip to? She's not +going to elope with the old Colonel, I hope! Well, whatever she is up +to, she will carry it through. There is only one person who could ever +be a match for her. Oh, Mr. Conrad, if only I could speak! + +[_EXIT_.] + + +SCENE II + + +_Editorial room of the Union. Enter_ BOLZ _through the door on the +left, directly afterward_ MILLER. + +BOLZ (_at middle door_). + +In here with the table! + +MILLER (_carries small table, all set, with wine-bottles, glasses and +plates, to the foreground on the left; brings up five chairs while he +speaks_). + +Mr. Piepenbrink sends his regards, with the message that the wine is +yellow-seal, and that, if the Doctor drinks any healths, he must not +forget Mr. Piepenbrink's health. He was very jolly, the stout +gentleman. And Madam Piepenbrink reminded him that he ought to +subscribe for the _Union_. He commissioned me to see to it. + +BOLZ (_who meanwhile has been turning over papers at the work-table on +the right, rising_). + +Let's have some wine! + +[MILLER _pours some in a glass_.] + +In honor of the worthy vintner! [_Drinks._] + +I treated him scandalously, but he has proved true-hearted. Tell him +his health was not forgotten. There, take this bottle along!--Now, get +out! + +[_Exit_ MILLER. BOLZ _opening the door on the left_.] + +Come, gentlemen, today I carry out my promise. + +[_Enter_ KÄMPE, BELLMAUS, KÖRNER.] + +This is the lunch I agreed to give. And now, my charming day-flies, +put as much rose-color into your cheeks and your humors as your wits +will let you. [_Pouring out_.] The great victory is won; the _Union_ +has celebrated one of the noblest of triumphs; in ages still to come +belated angels will say with awe: "Those were glorious days," and so +on--see continuation in today's paper. Before we sit down, the first +toast-- + +KÄMPE. The member-elect-- + +BOLZ. + +No, our first toast is to the mother of all, the great power which +produces members--the newspaper, may she prosper! + +ALL. + +Hurrah! [_Clink glasses_.] + +BOLZ. + +Hurrah! And secondly, long live--hold on, the member himself is not +here yet. + +KÄMPE. + +Here he comes. + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF. + +BOLZ. + +The member from our venerable town, editor-in-chief and professor, +journalist, and good fellow, who is angry just now because behind his +back this and that got into the paper--hurrah for him! + +ALL. + +Hurrah! + +OLDENDORF (_in a friendly tone_.) + +I thank you, gentlemen. + +BOLZ (_drawing_ OLDENDORF _to the front_). + +And you are no longer vexed with us? + +OLDENDORF. + +Your intention was good, but it was a great indiscretion. + +BOLZ. + +Forget all about it! (_Aloud_.) Here, take your glass and sit down +with us. Don't be proud, young statesman! Today you are one of us. +Well, here sits the editorial staff! Where is worthy Mr. +Henning--where tarries our owner, printer and publisher, Gabriel +Henning? + +KÄMPE. + +I met him a little while ago on the stairs. He crept by me as shyly as +though he were some one who had been up to mischief. + +BOLZ. + +Probably he feels as Oldendorf does--he is again not pleased with the +attitude of the paper. + +MILLER (_thrusting in his head_). + +The papers and the mail! + +BOLZ. + +Over there! [MILLER _enters, lays the papers on the work-table._] + +MILLER. + +Here is the _Coriolanus_. There is something in it about our paper. +The errand-boy of the _Coriolanus_ grinned at me scornfully, and +recommended me to look over the article. + +BOLZ. + +Give it here! Be quiet, Romans, _Coriolanus_ speaks.--All ye devils, +what does that mean? [_Reads_.] "On the best of authority we have just +been informed that a great change is imminent in the newspaper affairs +of our province. Our opponent, the _Union_, will cease to direct her +wild attacks against all that is high and holy."--This high and holy +means Blumenberg.--"The ownership is said to have gone over into other +hands, and there is a sure prospect that we shall be able from now on +to greet as an ally this widely read sheet." How does that taste to +you, gentlemen? + +MILLER} Thunder! KÄMPE.}_(All together_.) Nonsense! BELLMAUS.} It's a +lie! + +OLDENDORF. + +It's another of Blumenberg's reckless inventions. + +BOLZ. + +There is something behind it all. Go and get me Gabriel Henning. +[_Exit_ MILLER.] This owner has played the traitor; we have been +poisoned. [_Springing up._] And this is the feast of the Borgia! +Presently the _misericordia_ will enter and sing our dirge. Do me the +favor at least to eat up the oysters before it be too late. + +OLDENDORF (_who has seized the newspaper_.) + +Evidently this news is only an uncertain rumor. Henning will tell us +there is no truth in it. Stop seeing ghosts, and sit down with us. + +BOLZ (_seating himself_). + +I sit down, not because I put faith in your words, but because I don't +wish to do injustice to the lunch. Get hold of Henning; he must give +an account of himself. + +OLDENDORF. + +But, as you heard, he is not at home. + +BOLZ (_zealously eating_). + +Oh, thou wilt have a fearful awakening, little Orsini! Bellmaus, pour +me out some wine. But if the story be not true, if this _Coriolanus_ +have lied, by the purple in this glass be it sworn I will be his +murderer! The grimmest revenge that ever an injured journalist took +shall fall on his head; he shall bleed to death from pin-pricks; every +poodle in the street shall look on him scornfully and say: "Fie, +_Coriolanus_, I wouldn't take a bite at you even if you were a +sausage." [_A knock is heard_. BOLZ _lays down his knife.] Memento +mori_! There are our grave-diggers. The last oyster, now, and then +farewell thou lovely world! + +_Enter_ JUDGE SCHWARZ _and_ SENDEN _from the door on the left; the +door remains open_. + +SCHWARZ. + +Obedient servant, gentlemen! + +SENDEN. + +Your pardon if we disturb you. + +BOLZ (_remaining seated at the table_). + +Not in the least. This is our regular luncheon, contracted for a whole +year--fifty oysters and two bottles daily for each member of the +staff. Whoever buys the newspaper has to furnish it. + +SCHWARZ. + +What brings us here, Professor, is a communication which Mr. Henning +should have been the first to make to you. He preferred handing over +the task to me. + +OLDENDORF. + +I await your communication. + +SCHWARZ. + +Mr. Henning has, from yesterday on, transferred to me by sale all +rights pertaining to him as owner of the newspaper _Union_. + +OLDENDORF. + +To you, Judge? + +SCHWARZ. + +I acknowledge that I have bought it merely as accredited agent of a +third person. Here is the deed; it contains no secrets. [_Hands him a +paper_.] + +OLDENDORF (_looking through it, to_ BOLZ). + +It is drawn up by a notary in due form--sold for thirty thousand +thalers. [_Agitation among the staff-members_.] Let me get to the +bottom of the matter. Is this change of owner also to be connected +with a change in the political attitude of the sheet? + +SENDEN (_coming forward_). + +Certainly, Professor, that was the intention in making the purchase. + +OLDENDORF. + +Do I possibly see in you the new owner? + +SENDEN. + +Not that, but I have the honor to be a friend of his. You yourself, as +well as these gentlemen, have a right to demand the fulfilment of your +contracts. Your contracts provide, I understand, for six months' +notice. It goes without saying that you continue to draw your salary +until the expiration of this term. + +BOLZ (_rising_). + +You are very kind, Mr. von Senden. Our contracts empower us to edit +the paper as we see fit, and to control its tone and its party +affiliations. For the next half-year, therefore, we shall not only +continue to draw our salaries but also to conduct the paper for the +benefit of the party to which you have not the honor to belong. + +SENDEN (_angrily_). + +We'll find a way to prevent that! + +OLDENDORF. + +Calm yourself. That kind of work would scarcely be worthy of us. If +such are the circumstances, I announce that I resign the editorship +from today, and release you from all obligations to me. + +BOLZ. + +I don't mind. I make the same announcement. + +BELLMAUS. + +KÄMPE}(_together_). We too! + +KÖRNER} + +SENDEN (_to_ SCHWARZ). + +You can testify that the gentlemen voluntarily renounce their rights. + +BOLZ (_to the staff_). + +Hold on, gentlemen, don't be too generous. It is all right for you to +take no further part in editing the paper if your friends withdraw. +But why abandon your pecuniary claims on the new owner? + +BELLMAUS. + +I'd rather take nothing at all from them; I'll follow your example. + +BOLZ (_stroking him_). + +Noble sentiment, my son! We'll make our way in the world together. +What do you think of a hand-organ, Bellmaus! We 'll take it to fairs +and sing your songs through. I'll turn and you'll sing. + +OLDENDORF. + +Since the new owner of the paper is not one of you, you will, in +concluding this transaction, find the question only natural--To whom +have we ceded our rights? + +SENDEN. + +The present owner of the paper is-- + +_Enter_ COLONEL _through side door on the left_. + +OLDENDORF (_starting back in alarm_). + +Colonel! + +BOLZ. + +Ah, now it is becoming high tragedy! + +COLONEL. + +First of all, Professor, be assured that I have nothing to do with +this whole affair, and merely come at the request of the purchaser. +Not until I came here, did I know anything of what was going on. I +hope you will take my word for that. + +BOLZ. + +Well, I find this game unseemly, and I insist on being told who this +new owner is who mysteriously hides behind different persons! + +_Enter_ ADELAIDE _from the side door, left._ + +ADELAIDE. + +He stands before you! + +BOLZ. + +I should just like to faint. + +BELLMAUS. + +That is a heavenly joke! + +ADELAIDE (_bowing_). + +How do you do, gentlemen! [_To the staff_.] Am I right in assuming +that these gentlemen have hitherto been connected with editing the +paper? + +BELLMAUS (_eagerly_). + +Yes, Miss Runeck! Mr. Kämpe for leading articles, Mr. Körner for the +French and English correspondence, and I for theatre, music, fine +arts, and miscellaneous. + +ADELAIDE. + +I shall be much pleased if your principles will let you continue +devoting your talents to my newspaper. [_The three members of the +staff bow_.] + +BELLMAUS (_laying his hand on his heart_). + +Miss Runeck, under your editorship I'll go to the ends of the world! + +ADELAIDE (_smiling and politely_). + +Ah, no, merely into that room. + +[_Points to the door on the right_.] + +I +need half an hour to collect my thoughts for my new activities. + +BELLMAUS (_while departing_). + +That's the best thing I ever heard! + +[BELLMAUS, KÄMPE, KÖRNER _leave_.] + +ADELAIDE. + +Professor, you resigned the management of the paper with a readiness +which delights me. (_Pointedly_.) I wish to edit the _Union_ in my +own fashion. + +[_Seizes his hand and leads him to the_ COLONEL.] + +Colonel, he is no longer editor; we have outwitted him; you have your +satisfaction. + +COLONEL (_holding out his arms to him_). + +Come, Oldendorf! For what happened I have been sorry since the moment +we parted. + +OLDENDORF. + +My honored friend! + +ADELAIDE (_pointing to the door on the left_). + +There is some one else in there who wants to take part in the +reconciliation. It might be Mr. Gabriel Henning. + +IDA _appears at the side door_. + +IDA. + +Edward! + +[OLDENDORF _hurries to the door_, IDA _meets him, he embraces +her. Both leave on the left. The_ COLONEL _follows_.] + +ADELAIDE (_sweetly_). + +Before asking you, Mr. von Senden, to interest yourself in the editing +of the newspaper, I beg you to read through this correspondence which +I received as a contribution to my columns. + +SENDEN (_takes a glance at them_). + +Miss Runeck, I don't know whose indiscretion-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Fear none on my part. I am a newspaper proprietor, and (_with, marked +emphasis_) shall keep editorial secrets. + +[SENDEN _bows_.] + +May I ask +for the deed, Judge? And will you gentlemen be kind enough to ease the +mind of the vendor as to the outcome of the transaction? + +[_Mutual +bows_. SENDEN _and_ SCHWARZ _leave_.] + +ADELAIDE (_after a short pause_). + +Now, Mr. Bolz, what am I going to do about you? + +BOLZ. + +I am prepared for anything. I am surprised at nothing any more. If +some one should go straight off and spend a capital of a hundred +millions in painting negroes white with oil-colors, or in making +Africa four-cornered, I should not let it astonish me. If I wake up +tomorrow as an owl with two tufts of feathers for ears and a mouse in +my beak, I will say, "All right," and remember that worse things have +happened. + +ADELAIDE. + +What is the matter with you, Conrad? Are you displeased with me? + +BOLZ. + +With you? You have been generous as ever; only too generous. And it +would all have been fine, if only this whole scene had been +impossible. That fellow Senden! + +ADELAIDE. + +We have seen the last of him! Conrad, I'm one of the party! + +BOLZ. + +Hallelujah! I hear countless angels blowing on their trumpets! I'll +stay with the _Union_! + +ADELAIDE. + +About that I am no longer the one to decide. For I have still a +confession to make to you. I, too, am not the real owner of the +newspaper. + +BOLZ. + +You are not? Now, by all the gods, I am at my wit's end. I'm beginning +not to care who this owner is. Be he man, will-of-the-wisp, or the +devil Beelzebub in person, I bid him defiance. + +ADELAIDE. + +He is a kind of a will-of-the-wisp, a little something of a devil, and +from top to toe a great rogue. For, Conrad, my friend, beloved of my +youth, it is you yourself. + +[_Hands him the deed_.] + +BOLZ (_stupefied for a moment, reads_). + +"Ceded to Conrad Bolz"--correct! So that would be a sort of gift. +Can't be accepted, much too little! + +[_Throws the paper aside_.] +Prudence be gone! + +[_Falls on his knees before_ ADELAIDE.] + +Here I +kneel, Adelaide! What I am saying I don't know in my joy, for the +whole room is dancing round with me. If you will take me for your +husband, you will do me the greatest favor in the world. If you don't +want me, box my ears and send me off! + +ADELAIDE (_bending down to him_). + +I do want you! (_Kissing him_.) This was the cheek! + +BOLZ. + +And these are the lips. + +[_Kisses her; they remain in an embrace; short +pause_.] + +_Enter_ COLONEL, IDA, OLDENDORF. + +COLONEL (_in amazement, at the door_). + +What is this? + +BOLZ. + +Colonel, it takes place under editorial sanction. + +COLONEL. + +Adelaide, what do I see? + +ADELAIDE (_stretching out her hand to the_ COLONEL). + +Dear friend, I'm betrothed to a journalist! + +[_As_ IDA _and_ OLDENDORF _from either side hasten to the pair, the +curtain falls_] + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Permission S. Hirzel, Leipzig.] + + * * * * * + + + + +DOCTOR LUTHER (1859) + + +By GUSTAV FREYTAG + +TRANSLATED BY E.H. BABBITT, A.B. Assistant Professor of German, Tufts +College. + + +Some well-meaning men still wish that the defects of their old church +had not led to so great a revolt, and even liberal Roman Catholics +still fail to see in Luther and Zwingli anything but zealous heretics +whose wrath brought about a schism. May such views vanish from +Germany! All religious denominations have reason to attribute to +Luther whatever in their present faith is genuine and sincere, and has +a wholesome and sustaining influence. The heretic of Wittenberg is +fully as much the reformer of the German Catholics as of the +Protestants. This is true not only because the teachers of the +Catholic Church in their struggle against him outgrew the old +scholasticism, and fought for their sacraments with new weapons gained +from his language, his culture, and his moral worth; nor because he, +in effect, destroyed the church of the Middle Ages and forced his +opponents at Trent to raise a firmer structure, though seemingly +within the old forms and proportions; but still more because he +expressed the common basis of all German denominations, of our +spiritual courage, piety, and honesty, with such force that a good +deal of his own nature, to the present benefit of every German, has +survived in our doctrines and language, in our civil laws and morals, +in the thoughtfulness of our people, and in our science and +literature. Some of the ideas for which Luther's stubborn and +contentious spirit fought, against both Catholics and Calvinists, are +abandoned by the free investigation of modern times. His intensely +passionate beliefs, gained in the heartrending struggles of a devout +soul, occasionally missed an important truth. Sometimes he was harsh, +unfair, even cruel toward his opponents; but such things should no +longer disturb any German, for all the limitations of his nature and +training are as nothing compared with the fulness of the blessings +which have flowed from his great heart into the life of our nation. + +But he should not have seceded after all, some people say; for his +action has divided Germany into two hostile camps, and the ancient +strife, under varying battle-cries, has continued to our day. Those +who think so might assert with equal right that the Christian revolt +from Judaism was not necessary--why did not the apostles reform the +venerable high-priesthood of Zion? They might assert that Hampden +would have done better if he had paid the ship-money and had taught +the Stuarts their lesson peaceably; that William of Orange committed a +crime when he did not put his life and his sword into the hands of +Alva, as Egmont did; that Washington was a traitor because he did not +surrender himself and his army to the English; they might condemn as +evil everything that is new and great in doctrine and in life and that +owes its birth to a struggle against what is old. + +To but few mortals has been vouchsafed such a powerful influence as +Luther had upon their contemporaries and upon subsequent ages. But his +life, like that of every great man, leaves the impression of an +affecting tragedy when attention is centred on its pivotal events. It +shows us, like the career of all heroes of history whom Fate permitted +to live out their lives, three stages. First, the personality of the +man develops, powerfully influenced by the restricting environment. It +tries to reconcile incompatibilities, while in the depth of his soul +ideas and convictions are gradually translated into volition. At last +they burst forth in a definite action, and the solitary individual +enters upon the contest with the world. Then follows a period of +greater activity, more rapid growth, and larger victories. The +influence of the one man upon the masses grows ever greater. Mightily +he draws the whole nation to follow in his footsteps, and becomes its +hero, its pattern; the vital force of millions appears summed up in +one man. + +[Illustration: _Permission Underwood & Underwood, New York_ +LUTHER MONUMENT AT WORMS by ERNST RIETSCHEL] + +But the spirit of the nation does not long endure the preëminence of a +single, well-centred personality; for the life and the power and the +needs of a nation are more manifold than even the greatest single +force and lofty aim. The eternal contrast between the individual and +the nation appears. Even the soul of a nation is, in the presence of +the eternal, a finite personality--but in comparison with the +individual it appears boundless. A man is forced by the logical result +of his thoughts and actions, by all the significance of his own deeds, +into a closely restricted path. The soul of the nation needs for its +life irreconcilable contrasts and incessant effort in most varied +directions. Much that the individual failed to assimilate rises to +fight against him. The reaction of the people begins--at first weak, +here and there, based on different reasons and with slight +justification; then it grows stronger and ever more victorious. +Finally the intellectual influence of the life of the individual is +limited to his own followers, and crystallizes into a single one of +the many elements of national growth. The last period of a great life +is always filled with secret resignation, with bitterness, and with +silent suffering. + +Thus it was with Luther. The first of these periods continued up to +the day on which he posted his theses, the second until his return +from the Wartburg, the third to his death and the beginning of the +Schmalkaldic War. It is not the purpose of this sketch to give his +entire biography, but to tell briefly how he developed and what he +was. Much in his nature appears strange and unpleasing so long as he +is viewed from afar; but this historic figure has the remarkable +quality of becoming greater and more attractive the more closely it is +approached, and from beginning to end it would inspire a good +biographer with admiration, tenderness, and a certain good humor. + +Luther rose from the great source of all national strength, the +freeholding peasant class. His father moved from Möhra, a forest +village of the Thuringian mountains, where his relatives constituted +half the population, northward into the neighborhood of Mansfeld, to +work as a miner. So the boy's cradle stood in a cottage in which was +still felt the old thrill of the ghosts of the pine wood and the dark +clefts which were thought to be the entrances to the ore veins of the +mountain. Certainly the imagination of the boy was often busy with +dark traditions from heathen mythology. He was accustomed to feel the +presence of uncanny powers as well in the phenomena of nature as in +the life of man. When he turned monk such remembrances from childhood +grew gloomier and took the shape of the devil of Scripture, but the +busy tempter who everywhere lies in wait for the life of man always +retained for him something of the features of the mischievous goblin +who secretly lurks about the peasant's hearth and stable. + +His father, a curt, sturdy, vigorous man, firm in his resolves, and of +unusual, shrewd common sense, had worked his way, after hard +struggles, to considerable prosperity. He kept strict discipline in +his household. Even in later years Luther thought with sadness of the +severe punishments he had endured as a boy and the sorrow they had +caused his tender, childish heart. But Old Hans Luther, nevertheless, +up to his death in 1530, had some influence on the life of his son. +When at the age of twenty-two Martin secretly entered the monastery +the old man was violently angry; for he had already planned a good +match for him. Friends finally succeeded in bringing the angry father +to consent to a reconciliation; and as his imploring son confessed +that a terrible apparition had driven him to the secret vow to enter +the monastery, he replied with the sorrowful words, "God grant that it +was not a deception and trick of the devil;" and he still further +wrenched the heart of the monk by the angry question, "You thought you +were obeying the command of God when you went into the monastery; have +you not heard also that you shall obey your parents?" These words made +a deep impression on the son, and when, many years after, he sat in +the Wartburg, expelled from the Church and outlawed by the Emperor, he +wrote to his father the touching words: "Do you still wish to tear me +from the monastery? You are still my father and I your son. The law +and the power of God are on your side--on my side human weakness. But +look that you boast not yourself against God, he has been beforehand +with you,--he has taken me out himself." From that time on it seemed +to the old man as if his son were restored to him. Old Hans had once +counted upon having a grandson for whom he would work. He now came +back obstinately to this thought, caring nothing for the rest of the +world, and soon urged his son to marry; his encouragement was not the +least of the influences to which Luther yielded, and when his father, +advanced in years, at last a councillor of Mansfeld, lay in his death +throes and the minister bent over him and asked the dying man if he +wished to die in the purified faith in Christ and the Holy Gospel, old +Hans gathered his strength once more and said curtly, "He is a wretch +who does not believe in it." When Luther told this later he added +admiringly, "Yes that was a man of the old time." The son received the +news of the father's death in the fortress of Coburg. When he read +the letter, in which his wife inclosed a picture of his youngest +daughter Magdalena, he uttered to a companion merely the words, "Well, +my father is dead too," rose, took his psalter, went into his room, +and prayed and wept so hard that, as the faithful Veit Dietrich wrote, +his head was confused the next day; but he came out again with his +soul at peace. The same day he wrote with deep emotion to Melanchthon +of the great love of his father and of his intimate relations with +him. "I have never despised death so much as today. We die so often +before we finally die. Now I am the oldest of my family and I have the +right to follow him." From such a father the son inherited what was +fundamental to his character--truthfulness, a sturdy will, +straightforward common sense, and tact in dealing with men and +affairs. His childhood was full of rigor. He had many a bitter +experience in the Latin school and as a choir boy, though tempered by +kindness and love, and he kept through it all--what is more easily +kept in the lowlier circles of life--a heart full of faith in the +goodness of human nature and reverence for everything great in the +world. When he was at the University of Erfurt, his father was already +in a position to supply his needs more abundantly. He felt the vigor +of youth, and was a merry companion with song and lute. Of his +spiritual life at that time little is known except that death came +near him, and that in a thunder storm he was "called upon by a +terrible apparition from heaven." In terror he took a vow to go into a +monastery, and quickly and secretly carried out his resolve. + +From that time date our reports about the troubles of his soul. At +odds with his father, full of awe at the thought of an incomprehensible +eternity, cowed by the wrath of God, he began with supernatural +exertions a life of renunciation, devotion, and penance. He found no +peace. All the highest questions of life rushed with fearful force +upon his defenseless, wandering soul. Remarkably strong and passionate +with him was the necessity of feeling himself in harmony with God and +the universe. What theology offered him was all unintelligible, +bitter, and repulsive. To his nature the riddles of the moral order of +the universe were most important. That the good should suffer, and the +evil succeed; that God should condemn the human race to the monstrous +burden of sin because a simple-minded woman had bitten into an apple; +that this same God should endure our sins with love, toleration, and +patience; that Christ at one time sent away honorable people with +severity, and at another time associated with harlots, publicans, +and sinners--"human understanding with its wisdom turns to folly at +this." Then he would complain to his spiritual adviser, Staupitz: +"Dear Doctor, our Lord treats people so cruelly. Who can serve Him +if he lays on blows like this?" But when he got the answer, "How +else could He subdue the stubborn heads?" this sensible argument +could not console the young man. With fervid desire to find the +incomprehensible God, he searched all his thoughts and dreams with +self-torture. Every earthly thought, every beat of his youthful blood, +became for him a cruel wrong. He began to despair of himself; he +wrestled in unceasing prayer, fasted and scourged himself. At one time +the priests had to break into his cell in which he had been lying for +days in a condition not far from insanity. With warm sympathy Staupitz +looked upon such heart-rending torment, and sought to give him peace +by blunt counsel. Once when Luther had written to him, "Oh, my sin! My +sin! My sin!" his spiritual adviser gave him the answer, "You long to +be without sin, and you have no real sin. Christ is the forgiveness of +real sins, such as parricide and the like. If Christ is to help you, +you must have a list of real sins, and not come to Him with such trash +and make-believe sins, seeing a sin in every trifle." The manner in +which Luther gradually raised himself above such despair was decisive +for his whole life. The God whom he served was at that time a God of +terror. His anger was to be appeased only by the means of grace which +the ancient Church prescribed--in the first place through constant +confession, for which there were innumerable prescriptions and formulæ +which seemed to the heart empty and cold. By strictly prescribed +activities and the practice of so-called good works, the feeling of +real atonement and inward peace had not come to the young man. Finally +a saying of his spiritual adviser pierced his heart like an arrow: +"That alone is true penance which begins with love for God. Love for +God and inward exaltation is not the result of the means of grace +which the Church teaches; it must go before them." This doctrine from +Tauler's school became for the young man the basis of a new spiritual +and moral relation to God; it was for him a sacred discovery. The +transformation of his spiritual life was the principal thing. For that +he had to work. From the depths of every human heart must come +repentance, expiation, and atonement. He and every man could lift +himself up to God, alone. Not until now did he realize what free +prayer was. In place of a far-off divine power which he had formerly +sought in vain through a hundred forms and childish confessions, there +came before him at last the image of an all-loving protector to whom +he could speak at any time joyfully and in tears; to whom he could +bring all sorrow, every doubt; who took unceasing interest in him, +cared for him, granted or denied his heartfelt petitions tenderly, +like a good father. So he learned to pray; and how ardent his prayers +became! From this time he lived in peace with the beloved God whom he +had finally found, every day, every hour. His intercourse with the +Most High became more intimate than with the dearest companions of +this earth. When he poured out his whole self before Him, then calm +came over him and a holy peace, a feeling of unspeakable love. He felt +himself a part of God, and remained in this relation to Him from that +time throughout his whole life. He heeded no longer the roundabout +ways of the ancient Church; he could, with God in his heart, defy the +whole world. Even thus early he ventured to believe that those held +false doctrine who put so much stress on works of penance, that there +was nothing beyond these works but a cold satisfaction and a +ceremonious confession; and when, later, he learned from Melanchthon +that the Greek word for penitence, _metanoia_ meant literally "change +of mind," it seemed to him a wonderful revelation. On this ground +rested the confident assurance with which he opposed the words of +Scripture to the ordinances of the Church. By this means Luther in the +monastery gradually worked his way to spiritual liberty. All his later +doctrines, his battles against indulgences, his imperturbable +steadfastness, his method of interpreting the Scriptures, rested upon +the struggles through which he, while a monk, had found his God; and +it may well be said that the new era of German history began with +Luther's prayers in the monastery. Life was soon to thrust him under +its hammer, to harden the pure metal of his soul. + +In 1508 Luther reluctantly accepted the professorship of dialectics at +the new university of Wittenberg. He would rather have taught that +theology which even then he believed the true one. When, in 1510, he +went to Rome on business for his order, it is well known what devotion +and piety marked his sojourn in the Holy City, and with what horror +the heathen life of the Romans and the moral corruption and +worldliness of the clergy filled him. It was there where his +devotions, while he was officiating at mass, were disturbed by the +reckless jests which the Roman priests of his order called out to him. +He never forgot the devil-inspired words[2] as long as he lived. + +But the hierarchy, however deeply its corruption shocked him, still +contained his whole hope; outside of it there was no God and no +salvation. The noble idea of the Catholic Church, and its conquests of +fifteen hundred years, enraptured the mind even of the strongest. And +when this German in Roman clerical dress, at the risk of his life, +inspected the ruins of ancient Rome and stood in awe before the +gigantic columns of the temples which, according to report, the Goths +had once destroyed, the sturdy man from the mountains of the old +Hermunduri little dreamed that it would be his own fate to destroy the +temples of medieval Rome more thoroughly, more fiercely, more grandly. +Luther came back from Rome still a faithful son of the great Mother +Church. All heresy, such as that of the Bohemians, was hateful to him. +He took a warm interest, after his return, in Reuchlin's contest +against the judges of heresy at Cologne, and, in 1512, stood on the +side of the Humanists; but even then he felt that something separated +him from this movement. When, a few years later, he was in Gotha, he +did not call upon the worthy Mutianus Rufus, although he wrote him a +very polite letter of apology; and soon after he was offended by the +inward coldness and secular tone in which theological sinners were +ridiculed in Erasmus' dialogues. The profane worldliness of the +Humanists was never quite in harmony with the cheerful faith of +Luther's soul, and the pride with which he afterward offended the +sensitive Erasmus in a letter which was meant to be conciliatory, was +probably even then in his soul. Even the forms of literary modesty +adopted by Luther at that time give the impression that they were +wrung from an unbending spirit by the power of Christian humility. + +For even at that time he felt himself secure and strong in his faith. +As early as 1516 he wrote to Spalatin, who was the link of intercourse +between him and the Elector, Frederick the Wise, that the Elector was +the most prudent of men in the things of this world, but was afflicted +with sevenfold blindness in matters concerning God and the salvation +of the soul. And Luther had reason for this expression, for the +provident spirit of that moderate prince appeared in his careful +efforts, among other things, to gather in for domestic use the means +of grace recommended by the Church. For instance, he had a special +hobby for sacred relics, and just at this time Staupitz, the vicar of +the Augustinian order for Saxony, was occupied in the Rhine region and +elsewhere in collecting them for the Elector. For Luther the absence +of his superior was important, for he had to fill his place. He was +already a respected man in his order. Although professor (of theology +since 1512), he still lived in his monastery in Wittenberg and +generally wore his monk's habit; and now he visited the thirty +monasteries in his charge, deposed priors, uttered severe censure of +bad discipline, and urged severity against fallen monks. But something +of the simple faith of the brother of the monastery still clung to +him. + +It was in this spirit of confidence and German sincerity that he +wrote, October 31, 1517, after he had posted the theses against Tetzel +on the church door, to Archbishop Albert of Mainz, the protector of +the seller of indulgences. Full of the popular belief in the wisdom +and the goodwill of the highest rulers, Luther thought (he often said +so later) that it was only necessary to present honestly to the +princes of the Church the disadvantage and immorality of such abuses. +But how childish this zeal of the monk appeared to the polished and +worldly prince of the Church! What so deeply offended the honest man +was, from the point of view of the Archbishop, a matter long settled. +The sale of indulgences was an evil in the Church a hundred times +deplored, but as unavoidable as many institutions seem to the +politician; while not good in themselves, they must be kept for the +sake of a greater interest. The greatest interest of the Archbishop +and the curia was their supremacy, which was acquired and maintained +by such commercial dealings. The great interest of Luther and the +people was truth. This was the parting of the ways. + +And so Luther entered upon the struggle, a poor and faithful son of +the Church, full of German devotion to authority; but yet he had in +his character something which gave him strength against too extreme +exercise of this authority--a close relation to his God. He was then +thirty-four years old, in the fulness of his strength, of medium +stature, his body vigorous and without the corpulency of his later +years, appearing tall beside the small, delicate, boyish form of +Melanchthon. In the face which showed the effects of vigils and inward +struggles, shone two fiery eyes whose keen brilliancy was hard to +meet. He was a respected man, not only in his order, but at the +University; not a great scholar--he learned Greek from Melanchthon in +the first year of his professorship, and Hebrew soon after. He had no +extensive book learning, and never had the ambition to shine as a +writer of Latin verse; but he was astonishingly well-read in the +Scriptures and some of the Fathers of the Church, and what he had once +learned he assimilated with German thoroughness. He was the untiring +shepherd of his flock, a zealous preacher, a warm friend, once more +full of a decorous cheerfulness; he was of an assured bearing, polite +and skilful in social intercourse, with a confidence of spirit which +often lighted up his face in a smile. The small events of the day +might indeed affect him and annoy him. He was excitable, and easily +moved to tears, but on any great emergency, after he had overcome his +early nervous excitement, such as, for instance, embarrassed him when +he first appeared before the Diet at Worms--then he showed wonderful +calmness and self-command. He knew no fear. Indeed, his lion's nature +found satisfaction in the most dangerous situations. The danger of +death into which he sometimes fell, the malicious ambushes of his +enemies, seemed to him at that time hardly worthy of mention. The +reason for this superhuman heroism, as one may call it, was again his +close personal relation to his God. He had long periods in which he +wished, with a cheerful smile, for martyrdom in the service of truth +and of his God. Terrible struggles were still before him, but those in +which men opposed him did not seem to deserve this name. He had +defeated the devil himself again and again for years. He even +overcame the fear and torment of hell, which did its utmost to cloud +his reason. Such a man might perhaps be killed, but he could hardly be +conquered. + +The period of the struggle which now follows, from the beginning of +the indulgences controversy until his departure from the Wartburg--the +time of his greatest victories and of his tremendous popularity--is +perhaps best known; but it seems to us that even here his nature has +never yet been correctly judged. + +Nothing is more remarkable at this period than the manner in which +Luther became gradually estranged from the Church of Rome. His life +was modest and without ambition. He clung with the deepest reverence +to the lofty idea of the Church, for fifteen hundred years the +communion of saints; and yet in four short years he was destined to be +cut off from the faith of his fathers, torn from the soil in which he +had been so firmly rooted. And during all this time he was destined to +stand alone in the struggle, or at best with a few faithful +companions--after 1518 together with Melanchthon. He was to be exposed +to all the perils of the fiercest war, not only against innumerable +enemies, but also in defiance of the anxious warnings of sincere +friends and patrons. Three times the Roman party tried to silence +him--through the official activity of Cajetan, through the persuasive +arts of Miltitz, and the untimely persistence of the contentious Eck. +Three times he spoke to the Pope himself in letters which are among +the most valuable documents of those years. Then came the parting. He +was anathematized and outlawed. According to the old university +custom, he burned the enemy's declaration of war, and with it the +possibility of return. With cheerful confidence he went to Worms in +order that the princes of his nation might decide whether he should +die or thenceforth live among them without pope or church, according +to the Bible alone. + +[Illustration: _Permission F Pruelmann A G Munich_ +FREDERICK WILLIAM I INSPECTING A SCHOOL Adolph von Menzel.] + +At first, when he had printed his theses against Tetzel, he was +astonished at the enormous excitement which they caused in Germany, at +the venomous hatred of his enemies, and at the signs of joyful +recognition which he received from many sides. Had he, then, done such +an unheard-of thing? What he had expressed was, he knew, the belief of +all the best men of the Church. When the Bishop of Brandenburg had +sent the Abbot of Lehnin to him, with the request that Luther would +suppress the printed edition of his German sermon on indulgences and +grace, however near the truth he might be, the brother of the poor +Augustinian monastery was deeply moved that such great men should +speak to him in so friendly and cordial a manner, and he was ready to +give up the printing rather than make himself a monster that disturbed +the Church. Eagerly he sought to refute the report that the Elector +had instigated his quarrel with Tetzel--"they wish to involve the +innocent prince in the enmity that falls on me." He was ready to do +anything to keep the peace before Cajetan and with Miltitz. One thing +he would not do--recant what he had said against the unchristian +extension of the system of indulgences; but recantation was the only +thing the hierarchy wanted of him. For a long time he still wished for +peace, reconciliation, and return to the peaceful activity of his +cell; and again and again a false assertion of his opponents set his +blood on fire, and every opposition was followed by a new and sharper +blow from his weapon. + +Even in the first letter to Leo X, May 30, 1518, Luther's heroic +assurance is remarkable. He is still entirely the faithful son of the +Church. He still concludes by falling at the Pope's feet, offers him +his whole life and being, and promises to honor his voice as the voice +of Christ, whose representative the head of the Church is; but even +from this devotion befitting the monk, the vigorous words flash out: +"If I have merited death, I refuse not to die." In the body of the +letter, how strong are the expressions in which he sets forth the +coarseness of the sellers of indulgences! Here, too, his surprise is +honest that his theses are making so much stir with their +unintelligible sentences, involved, according to the old custom, to +the point of riddles. And good humor sounds in the manly words: "What +shall I do? I cannot recant. In our century full of intellect and +beauty, which might put Cicero into a corner, I am only an unlearned, +limited, poorly educated man! But the goose must needs cackle among +the swans." + +The following year almost all who honored Luther united in the +endeavor to bring about a reconciliation. Staupitz and Palatin, and +the Elector through them, scolded, besought, and urged; the papal +chamberlain, Miltitz himself, praised Luther's attitude, and whispered +to him that he was entirely right, implored him, drank with him, and +kissed him. Luther, to be sure, thought he knew that the courtier had +a secret mission to make him a captive, if possible, and bring him to +Rome. But the peacemakers successfully hit upon the point in which the +stubborn man heartily agreed with them--that respect for the Church +must be maintained, and its unity must not be destroyed. Luther +promised to keep quiet and to submit the decision of the contested +points to three worthy bishops. While in this position he was urged to +write a letter of apology to the Pope. But even this letter of March +3, 1519, though approved by the mediators and written under +compulsion, is characteristic as showing the advance Luther had made. +Humility, such as our theologians see in it, is hardly present, but a +cautious diplomatic attitude throughout. Luther regrets that what he +has done to defend the honor of the Roman Church should have been +interpreted as lack of respect in him. He promises henceforth to say +nothing more about indulgences--if, that is, his opponents will do +the same; he offers to address a manifesto to the people in which he +will advise them to give proper obedience to the Church and not to be +estranged from her because his adversaries have been insolent and he +himself harsh. But all these submissive words do not conceal the rift +which already separates his mind from the essential basis of the +Church of Rome. It sounds like cold irony when he writes: "What shall +I do, Most Holy Father? I am at a complete loss. I cannot endure the +weight of your anger, and yet I do not know how to escape it. They +demand a recantation from me. If it could accomplish what they propose +by it, I would recant without hesitation, but the opposition of my +adversaries has spread my writings farther than I had ever hoped; they +have taken hold too deeply on the souls of men. In Germany today +talent, learning, freedom of judgment are flourishing. If I should +recant, I should cover the Church, in the judgment of my Germans, with +still greater disgrace. It is they--my adversaries--who have brought +the Church of Rome into disrepute with us in Germany." He finally +closes politely: "If I should be able to do more, I shall without +doubt be very ready. May Christ preserve your Holiness! Martin +Luther." + +Much is to be read between the lines of this studied reserve. Even if +the vain Eck had not immediately set all Wittenberg University by the +ears, this letter could hardly have been considered at Rome as a token +of repentant submission. + +The thunderbolt of excommunication had been hurled; Rome had spoken. +Now Luther, again completely his old self, wrote once more to the Pope +that great and famous letter which, at the request of the untiring +Miltitz, he dated back to September 6, 1520, that he might be able to +ignore the bull of excommunication. It is a beautiful reflection of a +resolute mind which from a lofty standpoint calmly surveys its +opponent, and at the same time is magnificent in its sincerity, and of +the noblest spirit. With sincere sympathy he speaks of the personality +and of the difficult position of the Pope; but it is the sympathy of a +stranger. He still laments with melancholy the condition of the +Church, but it is plain that he himself has already outgrown it. It is +a farewell letter. With the keenest severity there is still a firm +attitude and silent sorrow. Such is the way a man parts from what he +has once loved and found unworthy. This letter was to be the last +bridge for the peacemakers. For Luther it was the liberation of his +soul. + +In these years Luther had become a different man. In the first place +he had acquired prudence and self-reliance in his intercourse with the +most exalted personages, and at heavy cost had won insight into the +policies and the private character of the rulers. Nothing was at heart +more painful to the peaceable nature of his sovereign than this bitter +theological controversy, which sometimes furthered his political ends +but always disturbed his peace of mind. Constant efforts were made by +his court to keep the Wittenberg people within bounds, and Luther +always saw to it that they were made too late. Whenever the faithful +Spalatin dissuaded him from the publication of a new polemic, he +received the answer that there was no help for it, that the sheets +were printed and already in the hands of many and could not be +suppressed. And in his dealings with his adversaries Luther had +acquired the assurance of a seasoned warrior. He was bitterly hurt +when Hieronymus Emser, in the spring of 1518, craftily took him to a +banquet in Dresden where he was forced to argue with angry enemies, +especially when he learned that a Dominican friar had listened at the +door and the next day had spread it in the town that Luther had been +completely silenced, and that the listener had had difficulty to +restrain himself from rushing into the room and spitting in Luther's +face. At that first meeting with Cajetan Luther still prostrated +himself humbly at the feet of the prince of the Church; after the +second he allowed himself to express the view that the cardinal was as +fit for his office as an ass to play the harp. He treated the polite +Miltitz with fitting politeness. The Roman had hoped to tame the +German bear, but soon the courtier came of his own accord into the +position which was appropriate for him--he was used by Luther. And in +the Leipzig disputation against Eck the favorable impression which the +self-possessed, honest, and sturdy nature of Luther produced was the +best counterpoise to the self-satisfied assurance of his clever +opponent. + +But Luther's inward life calls for greater sympathy. It was after all +a terrible period for him. Close to exaltation and victory lay for him +deathly anxiety, torturing doubt, and horrible apparitions. He, almost +alone, was in arms against all Christendom, and was becoming more and +more irreconcilably hostile to the mightiest power, which still +included everything that had been sacred to him since his youth. What +if, after all, he were wrong in this or that! He was responsible for +every soul that he led away with him--and whither? What was there +outside the Church but destruction and perdition for time and for +eternity? If his adversaries and anxious friends cut him to the heart +with reproaches and warnings, the pain, the secret remorse, the +uncertainty which he must not acknowledge to any one, were greater +beyond comparison. He found peace, to be sure, in prayer. Whenever his +fervid soul, seeking its God, rose in mighty flights, he was filled +with strength, peace, and cheerfulness. But in hours of less tense +exaltation, when his sensitive spirit quivered under unpleasant +impressions, then he felt himself embarrassed, divided, under the +spell of another power which was hostile to his God. He knew from +childhood how actively evil spirits ensnare mankind; he had learned +from the Scripture that the Devil works against the purest to ruin +them. On his path the busy devils were lurking to weaken him, to +mislead him, to make innumerable others wretched through him. He saw +their work in the angry bearing of the cardinal, in the scornful face +of Eck, even in the thoughts of his own soul. He knew how powerful +they had been in Rome. Even in his youth apparitions had tormented +him; now they reappeared. From the dark shadows of his study the +spectre of the tempter lifted its claw-like hand against his reason. +Even while he was praying the Devil approached him in the form of +the Redeemer, radiant as King of Heaven with the five wounds, as +the ancient Church represented Him. But Luther knew that Christ +appears to poor humanity only in His words, or in humble form, as He +hung upon the cross; and he roused himself vigorously and cried +to the apparition: "Avaunt, foul fiend!"--and the vision disappeared. +Thus the strong heart of the man worked for years in savage +indignation--always renewed. It was a sad struggle between reason and +insanity, but Luther always came out victorious; the native strength +of his sound nature prevailed. In long prayer, often lasting for +hours, the stormy waves of his emotion became calm, and his massive +intelligence and his conscience brought him every time out of doubt to +certainty. He considered this process of liberation as a gracious +inspiration of his God, and after such moments he who had once been in +such anxious doubt was as firm as steel, indifferent to the opinion of +men, not to be moved, inexorable. Quite a different picture is that of +his personality in contest with earthly foes. Here he retains almost +everywhere the superiority of conviction, particularly in his literary +feuds. + +The literary activity which he developed at this time was gigantic. Up +to 1517 he had printed little. From that time on he was not only the +most productive but the greatest popular writer of Germany. The energy +of his style, the vigor of his argumentation, the ardor and passion of +his conviction, carried away his readers. No one had ever spoken thus +to the people. His language lent itself to every mood, to all keys; +now brief, forcible, sharp as steel, now in majestic breadth, the +words poured in among the people like a mighty stream. A figurative +expression, a striking simile, made the most difficult thoughts +intelligible. His was a wonderfully creative power. He used language +with sovereign ease. As soon as he touched a pen his mind worked with +the greatest freedom; his sentences show the cheerful warmth which +filled him, the perfect charm of sympathetic creation is poured out +upon them. And such power is by no means least apparent in the attacks +which he makes upon individual opponents, and it is closely connected +with a fault which caused misgivings even to his admiring +contemporaries. He liked to play with his opponents. His imagination +clothed the form of an enemy with a grotesque mask, and he teased, +scorned, and stabbed this picture of his imagination with turns of +speech which had not always the grace of moderation, or even of +decency; but in the midst of vituperation, his good humor generally +had a conciliatory effect--although, to be sure, not upon his victims. +Petty spite was rarely visible; not seldom the most imperturbable +good-nature. Sometimes he fell into a true artistic zeal, forgot the +dignity of the reformer, and pinched like a German peasant boy, even +like a malicious goblin. What blows he gave to all his opponents, now +with a club, wielded by an angry giant, now with a jester's bauble! He +liked to twist their names into ridiculous forms, and thus they lived +in Wittenberg circles as beasts, or as fools. Eck became Dr. Geck; +Murner was adorned with the head and claws of a cat; Emser, who had +printed at the head of most of his pamphlets his coat-of-arms the head +of a horned goat, was abused as a goat. The Latin name of the renegade +humanist Cochläus, was retranslated, and Luther greeted him as a snail +with impenetrable armor, and--sad to say--sometimes also as a dirty +boy whose nose needed wiping. Still worse, terrible even to his +contemporaries, was the reckless violence with which he declaimed +against hostile princes. It is true that he sometimes bestowed upon +his sovereign's cousin, Duke George of Saxony, a consideration hardly +to be avoided. Each considered the other the prey of the devil, but in +secret each esteemed in the other a manly worth. Again and again they +fell into dissension, even in writing, but again and again Luther +prayed warmly for his neighbor's soul. The reckless wilfulness of +Henry VIII. of England, on the other hand, offended the German +reformer to the depths of his soul; he reviled him horribly and +without cessation; and even in his last years he treated the +hot-headed Henry of Brunswick like a naughty school-boy. "Clown" was +the mildest of many dramatic characters in which he represented him. +When, later, such outpourings of excessive zeal stared at him from the +printed page, and his friends complained, he would be vexed at his +rudeness, upbraid himself, and honestly repent. But repentance availed +little, for on the next occasion he would commit the same fault; and +Spalatin had some reason to look distrustfully upon a projected +publication even when Luther proposed to write very gently and tamely. +His opponents could not equal him in his field. They called names with +equal vigor, but they lacked his inward freedom. Unfortunately it +cannot be denied that this little appendage to the moral dignity of +his nature was sometimes the spice which made his writings so +irresistible to the honest Germans of the sixteenth century. + +In the autumn of 1517 he had got into a quarrel with a reprobate +Dominican friar; in the winter of 1520 he burned the Pope's bull. In +the spring of 1518 he had prostrated himself at the feet of the Vicar +of Christ; in the spring of 1521 he declared at the Diet of Worms, +before the emperor and the princes and the papal legates, that he +believed neither the Pope nor the Councils alone, only the testimony +of the Holy Scripture and the interpretation of reason. Now he was +free, but excommunication and outlawry hovered over his head. He was +inwardly free, but he was free as the beast of the forest is free, and +behind him bayed the blood-thirsty pack. He had reached the +culminating point of his life, and the powers against which he had +revolted, even the thoughts which he himself had aroused among the +people, were working from now on against his life and doctrine. + +Even at Worms, so it appears, it had been made clear to Luther that he +must disappear for a while. The customs of the Franconian Knights, +among whom he had faithful followers, suggested the idea of having him +spirited away by armed men. Elector Frederick, with his faithful +friends, discussed the abduction, and it was quite after the manner +of this prince that he himself did not wish to know the place of +retreat, in order to be able, in case of need, to swear to his +ignorance. Nor was it easy to win Luther over to the plan, for his +bold heart had long ago overcome earthly fear; and with an +enthusiastic joy, in which there was much fanaticism and some humor, +he watched the attempts of the Romanists to put out of the way a man +of whom Another must dispose, He who spoke through his lips. + +Unwillingly he submitted. The secret was not easy to keep, however +skilfully the abduction had been planned. At first none of the +Wittenbergers but Melanchthon knew where he was. But Luther was the +last man to submit to even the best-intentioned intrigue. Very soon an +active communication arose between the Wartburg and Wittenberg. No +matter how much caution was used in delivering the letters, it was +difficult to avoid suspicion. In his fortified retreat, Luther found +out earlier than the Wittenbergers what was going on in the world +outside. He was informed of everything that happened at his +university, and tried to keep up the courage of his friends and direct +their policy. It is touching to see how he tried to strengthen +Melanchthon, whose unpractical nature made him feel painfully the +absence of his sturdy friend. "Things will get on without me," he +writes to him; "only have courage. I am no longer necessary to you. If +I get out, and I cannot return to Wittenberg, I shall go into the wide +world. You are men enough to hold the fortress of the Lord against the +Devil, without me." He dated his letters from the air, from Patmos, +from the desert, from "among the birds that sing merrily on the +branches and praise God with all their might from morning to night." +Once he tried to be crafty. He inclosed in a letter to Spalatin a +letter intended to deceive: "It was believed without reason that he +was at the Wartburg. He was living among faithful brethren. It was +surprising that no one had thought of Bohemia;" and then came a +thrust--not ill-tempered--at Duke George of Saxony, his most active +enemy. This letter Spalatin was to lose with well-planned carelessness +so that it should come into the hands of the enemy. But in this kind +of diplomacy he was certainly not logical, for as soon as his leonine +nature was aroused by some piece of news, he would determine +impulsively to start for Erfurt or Wittenberg. It was hard for him to +bear the inactivity of his life. He was treated with the greatest +attention by the governor of the castle, and this attention expressed +itself, as was the custom at that time, primarily in the shape of the +best care in the matter of food and drink. The rich living, the lack +of activity, and the fresh mountain air into which the theologian was +transported, had their effect upon soul and body. He had already +brought from Worms a physical infirmity, now there were added hours of +gloomy melancholy which made him unfit for work. + +On two successive days he joined hunting parties, but his heart was +with the few hares and partridges which were driven into the net by +the troop of men and dogs. "Innocent creatures! The papists persecute +in the same way!" To save the life of a little hare he had wrapped him +in the sleeve of his coat. The dogs came and crushed the animal's +bones within the protecting coat. "Thus Satan rages against the souls +that I seek to save." Luther had reason for protecting himself and his +friends from Satan. He had rejected all the authority of the Church; +now he stood terribly alone; nothing was left to him but his last +resort--the Scriptures. The ancient Church had represented +Christianity in continual development. The faith had been kept in a +fluid state by a living tradition which ran parallel with the +Scriptures, by the Councils, by the Papal decrees; and they had +adapted themselves, like a facile stream, to the sharp corners of +national character, to the urgent needs of each age. It is true that +this noble idea of a perpetually living organism had not been +preserved in its original purity. The best part of its life had +vanished; empty cocoons were being preserved. The old democratic +church had been transformed into the irresponsible sovereignty of a +few, had been stained with all the vices of an unconscientious +aristocracy, and was already in striking opposition to reason and +popular feeling. What Luther, however, could put in its place--the +word of the Scriptures--although it gave freedom from a hopeless mass +of soulless excrescences, threatened on the other hand new dangers. + +What was the Bible? Between the earliest and latest writings of the +sacred book lay perhaps two thousand years. Even the New Testament was +not written by Christ himself, not even entirely by those who had +received the sacred doctrine from his lips. It was compiled after his +death. Portions of it might have been transmitted inexactly. +Everything was written in a foreign tongue, which it was difficult for +the Germans to understand. Even the keenest penetration was in danger +of interpreting falsely unless the grace of God enlightened the +interpreter as it had the apostles. The ancient Church had settled the +matter summarily; in it the sacrament of holy orders gave such +enlightenment. Indeed, the Holy Father even laid claim to divine +authority to decide arbitrarily what should be right, even when his +will was contrary to the Scriptures. The reformer had nothing but his +feeble human knowledge, and prayer. + +The first unavoidable step was that he must use his reason, for a +certain critical treatment even of the Holy Bible was necessary. Nor +did Luther fail to see that the books of the New Testament were of +varying worth. It is well known that he did not highly esteem the +Apocalypse, and that the Epistle of James was regarded by him as "an +epistle of straw." But his objection to particular portions never +shook his faith in the whole. His belief was inflexible that the Holy +Scriptures, excepting a few books, contained a divine revelation in +every word and letter. It was for him the dearest thing on earth, the +foundation of all his learning. He had put himself so in sympathy +with it that he lived among its figures as in the present. The more +urgent his feeling of responsibility, the warmer the passion with +which he clung to Scripture; and a strong instinct for the sensible +and the fitting really helped him over many dangers. His +discrimination had none of the hair-splitting sophistry of the ancient +teachers. He despised useless subtleties, and, with admirable tact, +let go what seemed to him unessential; but, if he was not to lose his +faith or his reason, he could do nothing, after all, but found the new +doctrine on words and conditions of life fifteen hundred years old, +and in some cases he became the victim of what his adversary Eck +called "the black letter." + +Under the urgency of these conditions his method took form. If he had +a question to settle, he collected all the passages of Holy Scripture +which seemed to offer him an answer. He sought earnestly to understand +all passages in their context, and then he struck a balance, giving +the greatest weight to those which agreed with each other, and for +those which were at variance patiently striving to find a solution +which might reconcile the seeming contradiction. The resulting +conviction he firmly established in his heart, regardless of +temptations, by fervent prayer. With this procedure he was sometimes +bound to reach conclusions which seemed, even to ordinary human +understanding, vulnerable. When, for instance, in the year 1522, he +undertook, from the Scriptures, to put matrimony on a new moral basis, +reason and the needs of the people were certainly on his side when he +subjected to severe criticism the eighteen grounds of the +Ecclesiastical Law for forbidding and annulling marriages and +condemned the unworthy favoring of the rich over the poor. But it was, +after all, strange when Luther tried to prove from the Bible alone +what degrees of relationship were permitted and what were forbidden, +especially as he also took into consideration the Old Testament, in +which various queer marriages were contracted without any opposition +from the ancient Jehovah. God undoubtedly had sometimes allowed his +elect to have two wives. + +And it was this method which, in 1529, during the discussions with the +Calvinists, made him so obstinate, when he wrote on the table in front +of him, "This _is_ my body," and sternly disregarded the tears and +outstretched hand of Zwingli. He had never been narrower and yet never +mightier--the fear-inspiring man who had won his conviction in the +most violent inward struggles against doubt and the Devil. It was an +imperfect method, and his opponents attacked it, not without success. +With it his doctrine became subject to the fate of all human wisdom. +But in this method there was also a vivid emotional process in which +his own reason and the culture and the inward needs of his time found +better expression than he himself knew. And it became the +starting-point from which a conscientious spirit of investigation has +wrought for the German people the highest intellectual freedom. + +With such tremendous trials there came also to the outcast monk at the +Wartburg other minor temptations. He had long ago, by almost +superhuman intellectual activity, overcome what were then regarded +with great distrust as fleshly impulses; now nature asserted herself +vigorously, and he several times asked his friend Melanchthon to pray +for him on this account. Then Fate would have it that during these +very weeks the restless mind of Carlstadt in Wittenberg fell upon the +question of the marriage of priests, and reached the conclusion, in a +pamphlet on celibacy, that the vow of chastity was not binding on +priests and monks. The Wittenbergers in general agreed--first of all, +Melanchthon, whose position in this matter was freest from prejudice, +since he had never received ordination and had been married for two +years. + +So at this point a tangle of thoughts and moral questions was caused +from without in Luther's soul, the threads of which were destined to +involve his whole later life. Whatever heartfelt joy and worldly +happiness was granted him from this time on depended on the answer +which he found to this question. It was the happiness of his home-life +which made it possible for him to endure the later years. Only in it +did the flower of his abundant affection develop. So Fate graciously +sent the lonely man the message which was to unite him anew and more +firmly than ever with his people; and the way in which Luther dealt +with this question is again characteristic. His pious disposition and +the conservative strain in his nature revolted against the hasty and +superficial manner in which Carlstadt reasoned. + +It may be assumed that much in his own feelings, at that particular +time, made him suspicious that the Devil might be using this dubious +question to tempt the children of God, and yet at this very moment, in +his confinement, he had special sympathy for the poor monks behind +monastery walls. He searched the Scriptures. He had soon disposed of +the marriage of priests, but there was nothing in the Bible about +monks. "The Scripture is silent; man is uncertain." And then he was +struck by the ridiculous idea that even his nearest friends might +marry. He writes to the cautious Spalatin, "Good Lord! Our +Wittenbergers want to give wives to the monks too. Well, they are not +going to hang one on my neck;" and he gives the ironical warning, +"Look out that you do not marry too." But the problem still occupied +him incessantly. Life is lived rapidly in such great times. Gradually, +through Melanchthon's reasoning, and, we may assume, after fervent +prayer, he found certainty. What settled the matter, unknown to +himself, must have been the recognition that the opening of the +monasteries had become reasonable and necessary for a more moral +foundation of civil life. For almost three months he had struggled +over the question. On the first of November, 1521, he wrote the letter +to his father already cited. + +The effect of his words upon the people was incalculable. Everywhere +there was a stir in the cloisters. From the doors of almost all the +monasteries and convents monks and nuns stole out--at first singly and +in secret flight; then whole convents broke up. When Luther with +greater cares weighing upon him returned the next spring to +Wittenberg, the runaway monks and nuns gave him much to do. Secret +letters were sent to him from all quarters, often from excited nuns +who, the children of stern parents, had been put into convents, and +now, without money and without protection, sought aid from the great +reformer. It was not unnatural that they should throng to Wittenberg. +Once nine nuns came in a carriage from the aristocratic establishment +at Nimpfschen--among them a Staupitz, two Zeschaus, and Catherine von +Bora. At another time sixteen nuns were to be provided for, and so on. +He felt deep sympathy for these poor souls. He wrote in their behalf +and traveled to find them shelter in respectable families. Sometimes +indeed he felt it too much of a good thing, and the hordes of runaway +monks were an especial burden to him. He complains that "they wish to +marry immediately and are the most incompetent people for any kind of +work." Through his bold solution of a difficult question he gave great +offense. He himself had painful experiences; for among those who now +returned in tumult to civil life there were, to be sure, high-minded +men, but also those who were rude and worthless. Yet all this never +made him hesitate for a moment. As usual with him, he was made the +more determined by the opposition he met. When, in 1524, he published +the story of the sufferings of a novice, Florentina of Oberweimar, he +repeated on the title page what he had already so often preached: "God +often gives testimony in the Scriptures that He will have no +compulsory service, and no one shall become His except with pleasure +and love. God help us! Is there no reasoning with us? Have we no sense +and no hearing? I say it again, God will have no compulsory service. I +say it a third time, I say it a hundred thousand times, God will have +no compulsory service." + +So Luther entered upon the last period of his life. His disappearance +in the Thuringian forest had caused an enormous stir. His adversaries +trembled before the anger which arose in town and country against +those who were called murderers. But the interruption of his public +activity became fateful for him. So long as in Wittenberg he was the +central point of the struggle, his word, his pen, had held sovereign +control over the great intellectual movement in north and south; now +it worked without method in different directions, in many minds. One +of the oldest of Luther's allies began the confusion. Wittenberg +itself became the scene of a strange commotion. Then Luther could +endure the Wartburg no longer. Once before he had been secretly in +Wittenberg; now, against the Elector's will, he returned there +publicly. And there began a heroic struggle against old friends, and +against the conclusions drawn from his own doctrine. His activity was +superhuman. He thundered without cessation from the pulpit, in the +cell his pen flew fast; but he could not reclaim every dissenting +mind. Even he could not prevent the rabble of the towns from breaking +out in savage fury against the institutions of the ancient Church and +against hated individuals, nor the excitement of the people from +brewing political storms, nor the knights from rising against the +princes, and the peasants against the knights. What was more, he could +not prevent the intellectual liberty which he had won for the Germans +from producing, even in pious and learned men, an independent judgment +about creed and life, a judgment which was contrary to his own +convictions. There came the gloomy years of the Iconoclasts, the +Anabaptists, the Peasant Wars, the regrettable dissensions over the +sacrament. How often at this time did Luther's form rise sombre and +mighty over the contestants! How often did the perversion of mankind +and his own secret doubts fill him with anxious care for the future of +Germany! + +For in a savage age which was accustomed to slay with fire and sword, +this German had a high, pure conception of the battles of the +intellect such as no other man attained. Even in the times of his own +greatest danger he mortally hated any use of violence. He himself did +not wish to be sheltered by his prince--indeed he desired no human +protection for his doctrine. He fought with a sharp quill against his +foes, but he burnt only a paper at the stake. He hated the Pope as he +did the Devil, but he always preached a love of peace and Christian +tolerance of the Papists. He suspected many of being in secret league +with the Devil, but he never burned a witch. In all Catholic countries +the pyres flamed high for the adherents of the new creed; even Hutten +was under strong suspicion of having cut off the ears of a few monks. +So humane was Luther's disposition that he entertained cordial +sympathy with the humiliated Tetzel and wrote him a consolatory +letter. To obey the authorities whom God has established was his +highest political principle. Only when the service of his God demanded +it did his opposition flame up. When he left Worms he had been ordered +not to preach--he who was just on the point of being declared an +outlaw. He did not submit to the prohibition, but his honest +conscience was fearful that this might be interpreted as disobedience. +His conception of the position of the Emperor was still quite the +antiquated and popular one. As subjects obey the powers that be, so +the princes and electors had to obey the Emperor according to the law +of the land. + +With the personality of Charles V. he had human sympathy all his +life--not only at that first period when he greeted him as "Dear +Youngster," but also later, when he well knew that the Spanish +Burgundian was granting nothing more than political tolerance to the +German Reformation. "He is pious and quiet," Luther said of him; "he +talks in a year less than I do in a day. He is a child of fortune." He +liked to praise the Emperor's moderation, modesty, and forbearance. +Long after he had condemned Charles' policy, and in secret distrusted +his character, he insisted upon it among his table companions that the +master of Germany should be spoken of with reverence, and said +apologetically to the younger ones, "A politician cannot be so frank +as we of the clergy." + +Even as late as 1530 it was his view that it was wrong for the +Elector to take arms against his Emperor. Not until 1537 did he fall +in reluctantly with the freer views of his circle, but he thought then +that the endangered prince had no right to make the first attack. The +venerable tradition of a firm, well articulated federal State was +still thus active in this man of the people at a time when the proud +structure of the old Saxon and Franconian empires was already +crumbling away. Yet in such loyalty there was no trace of a slavish +spirit. When his prince once urged him to write an open letter, his +sense of truth rose against the title of the Emperor, "Most Gracious +Lord," for he said the Emperor was not graciously disposed toward him. +And in his frequent intercourse with those of rank, he showed a +reckless frankness which more than once alarmed the courtiers. In all +reverence he spoke truths to his own prince such as only a great +character may express and only a good-hearted one can listen to. On +the whole he cared little for the German princes, much as he esteemed +a few. Frequent and just were his complaints about their incapacity, +their lawlessness, and their vices. He also liked to treat the +nobility with irony; the coarseness of most of them was highly +distasteful to him. He felt a democratic displeasure toward the hard +and selfish jurists who managed the affairs of the princes, worked for +favor, and harassed the poor; for the best of them he admitted only a +very doubtful prospect of the mercy of God. His whole heart, on the +other hand, was with the oppressed. He sometimes blamed the peasants +for their stolidity, and their extortions in selling their grain, but +he often praised their class, looked with cordial sympathy upon their +hardships, and never forgot that by birth he belonged among them. + +But all this belonged to the temporal order; he served the spiritual. +The popular conception was also firmly fixed in his mind that two +controlling powers ought to rule the German nation in common--the +Church and the princes; and he was entirely right in proudly +contrasting the sphere where lay his rights and duties with that of +the temporal powers. In his spiritual field there were solidarity, a +spirit of sacrifice, and a wealth of ideals, while in secular affairs +narrow selfishness, robbery, fraud, and weakness were to be found +everywhere. He fought vigorously lest the authorities should assume to +control matters which concerned the pastor and the independence of the +congregations. He judged all policies according to what would benefit +his faith, and according to the dictates of his Bible. Where the +Scriptures seemed endangered by worldly politics, he protested, caring +little who was hit. It was not his fault that he was strong and the +princes were weak, and no blame attaches to him, the monk, the +professor, the pastor, if the league of Protestant princes was weak as +a herd of deer against the crafty policy of the Emperor. He himself +was well aware that Italian diplomacy was not his strong point. If the +active Landgrave of Hesse happened not to follow the advice of the +clergy, Luther, in his heart, respected him all the more: "He knows +what he wants and succeeds, he has a fine sense of this world's +affairs." + +Now, after Luther's return to Wittenberg, the flood of democracy was +rising among the people. He had opened the monasteries; now the people +called for redress against many other social evils, such as the misery +of the peasants, the tithes, the traffic in benefices, the bad +administration of justice. Luther's honest heart sympathized with this +movement. He warned and rebuked the landed gentry and the princes. But +when the wild waves of the Peasant War flooded his own spiritual +fields, and bloody deeds of violence wounded his sensibilities; when +he felt that the fanatics and demagogues were exerting upon the hordes +of peasants an influence which threatened destruction to his doctrine; +then, in the greatest anger, he threw himself into opposition to the +uncouth mob. His call to the princes sounded out, wild and warlike; +the most horrible thing had fallen upon him--the gospel of love had +been disgraced by the wilful insolence of those who called themselves +its followers. His policy here was again the right one; there was, +unfortunately, no better power in Germany than that of the princes, +and the future of the Fatherland depended upon them after all, for +neither the serfs, the robber barons, nor the isolated free cities +which stood like islands in the rising flood, gave any assurance. +Luther was entirely right in the essential point, but the same +obstinate, unyielding manner which previously had made his struggle +against the hierarchy so popular, turned now against the people +themselves. A cry of amazement and horror shot through the masses. He +was a traitor! He who for eight years had been the favorite and hero +of the people suddenly became most unpopular. His safety and his life +were again threatened; even five years later it was dangerous for him, +on account of the peasants, to travel to Mansfeld to visit his sick +father. The indignation of the people also worked against his +doctrine. The itinerant preachers and the new apostles treated him as +a lost, corrupted man. + + +[Illustration: _Permission F. Bruckmann, A.-G., Munich_ +COURT BALL AT RHEINSBERG Adolph von Menzel] + +He was outlawed, banned, and cursed by the populace. Many well-meaning +men, too, had not approved of his attack on celibacy and monastic +life. The country gentry threatened to seize the outlaw on the +highways because he had destroyed the nunneries into which, as into +foundling asylums, the legitimate daughters of the poverty-stricken +gentry used to be cast in earliest childhood. The Roman party was +triumphant; the new heresy had lost what so far had made it powerful. +Luther's life and his doctrine seemed alike near their end. + +Then Luther determined to marry. For two years Catherine von Bora had +lived in the house of Reichenbach, the city clerk, afterward mayor of +Wittenberg. A healthy, good looking girl, she was, like many others, +the abandoned daughter of a family of the country gentry of Meissen. +Twice Luther had tried to find her a husband, as in fatherly care he +had done for several of her companions. Finally Catherine declared +that she would marry no one but Luther himself, or his friend Amsdorf. +Luther was surprised, but he reached a decision quickly. Accompanied +by Lucas Kranach, he asked for her hand and married her on the spot. +Then he invited his friends to the wedding feast, asked at Court for +the venison which the Prince was accustomed to present to his +professors when they married, and received the table wine as a present +from the city of Wittenberg. How things stood in Luther's soul at that +time we should be glad to know. His whole being was under the highest +tension. The savage vigor of his nature struck out in all directions. +He was deeply shocked at the misery which arose about him from burned +villages and murdered men. If he had been a fanatic in his ideas, he +would probably have perished now in despair; but above the stormy +restlessness which could be perceived in him up to his marriage, there +shone now, like a clear light, the conviction that he was the guardian +of divine right among the Germans, and that to protect civil order and +morality, he must lead public opinion, not follow it. However violent +his utterances are in particular cases, he appears just at this time +preëminently conservative, and more self-possessed than ever. He also +believed, it is true, that he was not destined to live much longer, +and often and with longing awaited his martyrdom. He entered wedlock, +perfectly at peace with himself on this point, for he had fully +convinced himself of the necessity and the scriptural sanction of the +married state. In recent years he had urged all his acquaintances to +marry--finally even his old adversary, the Archbishop of Mainz. He +himself gave two reasons for his decision. For many years he had +deprived his father of his son; and it would be like an atonement if +he should leave to old Hans a grandson in case of his own death. There +was also some defiance in it. His adversaries were saying in triumph +that Luther was humiliated, and since all the world now took offense +at him, he proposed to give them still greater offense in his good +cause. He was of vigorous nature, but there was no trace of coarse +sensuality in him, and we may assume that the best reason, which he +confessed to no friend, was, after all, the decisive one: Gossip had +known for a long time more than he did, but now he also knew that +Catherine was dear to him. "I am no passionate lover, but I am fond of +her," he wrote to one of his closest friends. + +And this marriage, performed in opposition to the judgment of his +contemporaries, and amid the shouts of scorn of his adversaries, +became the bond to which we Germans owe as much as to the years in +which he, a priest of the ancient Church, bore arms in behalf of his +theology. For henceforth the husband, the father, and the citizen, +became the reformer also of the domestic life of his nation; and the +very blessing of their earthly life which Protestants and Catholics +share alike today is due to the marriage of an excommunicated monk +with a runaway nun. + +For twenty more busy years he was destined to work as an educator of +his nation. During this time his greatest work, the translation of the +Bible, was completed, and in this work, which he accomplished in +coöperation with his Wittenberg friends, he acquired a complete +control of the language of the people--a language whose wealth and +power he first learned to realize through this work. We know the lofty +spirit which he brought to this undertaking. His purpose was to create +a book for the people, and for this he studied industriously turns of +phrases, proverbs, and special terms which made up the people's +current language. Even Humanists had written an awkward, involved +German, with clumsy sentences in unfortunate imitation of the Latin +style. Now the nation acquired for daily reading a work which, in +simple words and short sentences, gave expression to the deepest +wisdom and the best intellectual life of the time. Along with Luther's +other works, the German Bible became the foundation of the modern +German language, and this language, in which our whole literature and +intellectual life has found expression, has become an indestructible +possession which, in the gloomiest times, even corrupted and +distorted, has reminded the various German strains that they have +common interests. Every individual in our country still rises superior +to the dialect of his native place, and the language of culture, +poetry, and science which Luther created is still the tie which binds +all German souls in unity. + +And what he did for the social life of the Germans was no less; for by +his precepts and his writings he consecrated family prayers, marriage +and the training of children, the daily life of the community, +education, manners, amusements, whatever touches the heart, and all +social pleasures. He was everywhere active in setting up new ideals, +in laying deeper foundations. There was no field of human duty upon +which he did not force his Germans to reflect. Through his many +sermons and minor writings he influenced large groups of people, and +by his innumerable letters, in which he gave advice and consolation to +those who asked for them, he influenced individuals. When he +incessantly urged his contemporaries to examine for themselves whether +a desire was justified or not, or what was the duty of a father toward +his child, of the subject toward the authorities, of the councillor +toward the people, the progress which was made through him was so +important because here too he set free the conscience of the +individual and put everywhere in the place of compulsion from without, +against which selfishness had defiantly rebelled, a self-control in +harmony with the spirit of the individual. How beautiful is his +conception of the necessity of training children by schooling, +especially in the ancient languages! How he recommends the +introduction of his beloved music into the schools! How large is his +vision when he advises the city-councils to establish public +libraries! And again, how conscientiously he tried, in matters of +betrothal and marriage, to protect the heart of the lovers against +stern parental authority! To be sure, his horizon is always bounded by +the letter of the Scriptures, but everywhere there sounds through his +sermons, his advice, his censure, the beautiful keynote of his German +nature, the necessity of liberty and discipline, of love and morality. +He had overthrown the old sacrament of marriage, but gave a higher, +nobler, freer form to the intimate relation of man and wife. He had +fought the clumsy monastery schools; and everywhere in town and +hamlet, wherever his influence was felt, there grew up better +educational institutions for the young. He had done away with the mass +and with Latin church music; he put in its place, for friends and foes +alike, regular preaching and German chorals. + +As time advanced, it became ever more apparent that it was a necessity +for Luther to perceive God in every gracious, good and tender gift of +this world. In this sense he was always pious and always wise--when he +was out-of-doors, or among his friends, in innocent merriment, when he +teased his wife, or held his children in his arms. Before a +fruit-tree, which he saw hanging full of fruit, he rejoiced in its +splendor, and said, "If Adam had not fallen, we should have admired +all trees as we do this one." He took a large pear into his hands and +marveled: "See! Half a year ago this pear was deeper under ground than +it is long and broad, and lay at the very end of the roots. These +smallest and least observed creations are the greatest miracles. God +is in the humblest things of nature--a leaf or a blade of grass." Two +birds made their nest in the Doctor's garden and flew up in the +evening, often frightened by passers-by. He called to them, "Oh, you +dear birds! Don't fly away. I am very willing to have you here, if you +could only believe me. But just so we mortals have no faith in our +God." He delighted in the companionship of whole-souled men; he drank +his wine with satisfaction, while the conversation ran actively over +great things and small. He judged with splendid humor enemies and good +acquaintances alike, and told jolly stories; and when he got into +discussion, passed his hand across his knee, which was a peculiarity +of his; or he might sing, or play the lute, and start a chorus. +Whatever gave innocent pleasure was welcome to him. His favorite art +was music; he judged leniently of dancing, and, fifty years before +Shakespeare, spoke approvingly of comedy, for he said, "It instructs +us, like a mirror, how everybody should conduct himself." + +When he sat thus with Melanchthon, Master Philip was the charitable +scholar who sometimes put wise limitations upon the daring assertions +of his lusty friend. If, at such times, the conversation turned upon +rich people, and Frau Käthe could not help remarking longingly, "If my +man had had a notion, he would have got very rich," Melanchthon would +pronounce gravely, "That is impossible; for those who, like him, work +for the general good cannot follow up their own advantage." But there +was one subject upon which the two men loved to dispute. Melanchthon +was a great admirer of astrology, but Luther looked upon this science +with supreme contempt. On the other hand, Luther, through his method +of interpreting the Scriptures--and alas! through secret political +cares also--had arrived at the conviction that the end of the world +was near. That again seemed to the learned Melanchthon very dubious. +So if Melanchthon began to talk about the signs of the zodiac and +aspects, and explained Luther's success by his having been born under +the sign of the Sun, then Luther would exclaim, "I don't think much of +your Sol. I am a peasant's son. My father, grandfather, and +great-grandfather were thorough peasants." "Yes," replied Melanchthon, +"even in a hamlet, you would have become a leader, a magistrate, or a +foreman over other laborers." "But," cried Luther, victoriously, "I +have become a bachelor of arts, a master, a monk. That was not +foretold by the stars. And after that I got the Pope by the hair and +he in turn got me. I have taken a nun to wife and got some children by +her. Who saw that in the stars?" Melanchthon, continuing his +astrological prophecies and turning to the fate of the Emperor +Charles, declared that this prince was destined to die in 1584. Then +Luther broke out vehemently--"The world will not last as long as that, +for when we drive out the Turks the prophecy of Daniel will be +fulfilled and completed; then the Day of Judgment is certainly at our +doors." + +How lovable he was as father in his family! When his children stood +before the table and looked hard at the fruit and the peaches, he +said, "If anybody wants to see the image of one who rejoiceth in hope, +he has here the real model. Oh, that we might look forward so +cheerfully to the Judgment Day! Adam and Eve must have had much better +fruit! Ours are nothing but crab-apples in contrast. And I think the +serpent was then a most beautiful creature, kindly and gracious; it +still wears its crown, but after the curse it lost its feet and +beautiful body." Once he looked at his three-year-old son who was +playing and talking to himself and said, "This child is like a drunken +man. He does not know that he is alive, yet lives on safely and +merrily and hops and jumps. Such children love to be in spacious +apartments where they have room," and he took the child in his arms. +"You are our Lord's little fool, subject to His mercy and forgiveness +of sins, not subject to the Law. You have no fear; you are safe, +nothing troubles you; the way you do is the uncorrupted way. Parents +always like their youngest children best; my little Martin is my +dearest treasure. Such little ones need their parents' care and love +the most; therefore the love of their parents always reaches down to +them. How Abraham must have felt when he had in mind to sacrifice his +youngest and dearest son! Probably he said nothing to Sarah about it. +That must have been a bitter journey for him." His favorite daughter +Magdalena lay at the point of death and he lamented, "I love her +truly, but, dear God, if it be Thy will to take her away to Thee, I +shall gladly know that she is with Thee. Magdalena, my little +daughter, you would like to stay here with your father, and yet you +would be willing to go to the other Father?" Then the child said, +"Yes, dear father, as God wills." When she was dying he fell on his +knees before the bed and wept bitterly, and prayed that God would +redeem her; and so she fell asleep under her father's hands, and when +the people came to help lay out the corpse and spoke to the Doctor +according to custom, he said, "I am cheerful in my mind, but the flesh +is weak. This parting is hard beyond measure. It is strange to know +she is certainly in peace and that it is well with her, and yet to be +so sorrowful all the time." + +His Dominus, or Lord Käthe, as he liked to call his wife in letters to +his friends, had soon developed into a capable manager. And she had no +slight troubles: little children, her husband often in poor health, a +number of boarders--teachers and poor students--her house always open, +seldom lacking scholarly or noble guests, and, with all that, scanty +means and a husband who preferred giving to receiving, and who once, +in his zeal, when she was in bed with a young child, even seized the +silver baptismal presents of the child in order to give alms. Luther, +in 1527, for instance, could not afford even eight gulden for his +former prior and friend Briesger. He writes to him sadly: "Three +silver cups (wedding presents) are pawned for fifty gulden, the fourth +is sold. The year has brought one hundred gulden of debts. Lucas +Kranach will not go security for me any more, lest I ruin myself +completely." Sometimes Luther refuses presents, even those which his +prince offers him: but it seems that regard for his wife and children +gave him in later years some sense of economy. When he died his estate +amounted to some eight or nine thousand gulden, comprising, among +other things, a little country place, a large garden, and two houses. +This was surely in large part Frau Käthe's doing. By the way in which +Luther treats her we see how happy his household was. When he made +allusions to the ready tongue of women he had little right to do so, +for he himself was not by any means a man who could be called +reticent. When she showed her joy at being able to bring to table all +kinds of fish from the little pond in her garden, the Doctor, for his +part, was deeply pleased but did not fail to add a pleasant discourse +on the happiness of contentment. Or when on one occasion she became +impatient at the reading of the Psalter, and gave him to understand +that she had heard enough about saints--that she read a good deal +every day and could talk enough about them too--that God only desired +her to act like them; then the Doctor, in reply to this sensible +answer, sighed and said, "Thus begins discontent at God's word. There +will be nothing but new books coming out, and the Scriptures will be +again thrown into the corner." But the firm alliance of these two good +people was for a long time not without its secret sorrow. We can only +surmise the suffering of the wife's soul when, even as late as 1527, +Luther in a dangerous illness took final farewell from her with the +words: "You are my lawful wife, and as such you must surely consider +yourself." + +In the same spirit as with his dear ones, Luther consorted with the +high powers of his faith. All the good characters from the Bible were +true friends to him. His vivid imagination had confidently given them +shape, and, with the simplicity of a child, he liked to picture to +himself their conditions. When Veit Deitrich asked him what kind of +person the Apostle Paul was, Luther answered quickly, "He was an +insignificant, slim little fellow like Philip Melanchthon." The Virgin +Mary was a graceful image to him. "She was a fine girl," he said +admiringly; "she must have had a good voice." He liked to think of the +Redeemer as a child with his parents, carrying the dinner to his +father in the lumber yard, and to picture Mary, when he stayed too +long away, as asking--"Darling, where have you been so long?" One +should not think of the Saviour seated on the rainbow in glory, nor as +the fulfiller of the law--this conception is too grand and terrible +for man--but only as a poor sufferer who lives among sinners and dies +for them. + +Even his God was to him preëminently the head of a household and a +father. He liked to reflect upon the economy of nature. He lost +himself in wondering consideration of how much wood God was obliged to +create. "Nobody can calculate what God needs to feed the sparrows and +the useless birds alone. These cost him in one year more than the +revenues of the king of France. And then think of the other things! +God understands all trades. In his tailor shop he makes the stag a +coat that lasts a hundred years. As a shoemaker he gives him shoes for +his feet, and through the pleasant sun he is a cook. He might get rich +if he would; he might stop the sun, inclose the air, and threaten the +pope, emperor, bishops and the doctors with death if they did not pay +him on the spot one hundred thousand gulden. But he does not do that, +and we are thankless scoundrels." He reflected seriously about where +the food comes from for so many people. Old Hans Luther had asserted +that there were more people than sheaves of grain. The Doctor believed +that more sheaves are grown than there are people, but still more +people than stacks of grain. "But a stack of grain yields hardly a +bushel, and a man cannot live a whole year on that." Even a dunghill +invited him to deep reflection. "God has as much to clear away as to +create. If He were not continually carrying things off, men would have +filled the world with rubbish long ago." And if God often punishes +those who fear Him worse than those who have no religion, he appears +to Luther to be like a strict householder who punishes his son oftener +than his good-for-nothing servant, but who secretly is laying up an +inheritance for his son; while he finally dismisses the servant. And +merrily he draws the conclusion, "If our Lord can pardon me for having +annoyed Him for twenty years by reading masses, He can put it to my +credit also that at times I have taken a good drink in His honor. The +world may interpret it as it will." + +He is also greatly surprised that God should be so angry with the +Jews. "They have prayed anxiously for fifteen hundred years with +seriousness and great zeal, as their prayer-books show, and He has not +for the whole time noticed them with a word. If I could pray as they +do I would give books worth two hundred florins for the gift. It must +be a great unutterable wrath. O, good Lord, punish us with pestilence +rather than with such silence!" + +Like a child, Luther prayed every morning and evening, and frequently +during the day, even while eating. Prayers which he knew by heart he +repeated over and over with warm devotion, preferably the Lord's +Prayer. Then he recited as an act of devotion the shorter Catechism; +the Psalter he always carried with him as a prayer-book. When he was +in passionate anxiety his prayer became a stormy wrestling with God, +so powerful, great, and solemnly simple that it can hardly be compared +with other human emotions. Then he was the son who lay despairingly at +his father's feet, or the faithful servant who implores his prince; +for his whole conviction was firmly fixed that God's decisions could +be affected by begging and urging, and so the effusion of feeling +alternated in his prayer with complaints, even with earnest +reproaches. It has often been told how, in 1540, at Weimar, he brought +Melanchthon, who was at the point of death, to life again. When Luther +arrived, he found Master Philip in the death throes, unconscious, his +eyes set. Luther was greatly startled and said, "God help us! How the +Devil has wronged this _Organan_," then he turned his back to the +company and went to the window as he was wont to do when he prayed. +"Here," Luther himself later recounted, "Our Lord had to grant my +petition, for I challenged Him and filled His ears with all the +promises of prayer which I could remember from the Scriptures, so that +He had to hear me if I was to put any trust in His promises." Then he +took Melanchthon by the hand saying, "Be comforted, Philip, you will +not die;" and Melanchthon, under the spell of his vigorous friend, +began at once to breathe again, came back to consciousness, and +recovered. + +As God was the source of all good, so, for Luther, the Devil was the +author of everything harmful and bad. The Devil interfered +perniciously in the course of nature, in sickness and pestilence, +failure of crops and famine. But since Luther had begun to teach, the +greater part of the Enemy's activity had been transferred to the souls +of men. In them he inspired impure thoughts as well as doubt, +melancholy, and depression. Everything which the thoughtful Luther +stated so definitely and cheerfully rested beforehand with terrible +force upon his conscience. If he awoke in the night, the Devil stood +by his bed full of malicious joy and whispered alarming things to him. +Then his mind struggled for freedom, often for a long time in vain. +And it is noteworthy how the son of the sixteenth century proceeded in +such spiritual struggles. Sometimes it was a relief to him if he stuck +out of bed the least dignified part of his body. This action, by which +prince and peasant of the time used to express supreme contempt, +sometimes helped when nothing else would. But his exuberant humor did +not always deliver him. Every new investigation of the Scriptures, +every important sermon on a new subject, caused him further pangs of +conscience. On these occasions he sometimes got into such excitement +that his soul was incapable of systematic thinking, and trembled in +anxiety for days. When he was busy with the question of the monks and +nuns, a text struck his attention which, as he thought in his +excitement, proved him in the wrong. His heart "melted in his body; he +was almost choked by the Devil." Then Bugenhagen visited him. Luther +took him outside the door and showed him the threatening text, and +Bugenhagen, apparently upset by his friend's excitement, began to +doubt too, without suspecting the depth of the torment which Luther +was enduring. This gave Luther a final and terrible fright. Again he +passed an awful night. The next morning Bugenhagen came in again. "I +am thoroughly angry," he said; "I have only just looked at the text +carefully. The passage has a quite different meaning." "It is true," +Luther related afterward, "it was a ridiculous argument--ridiculous, I +mean, for a man in his senses, but not for him who is tempted." + +Often he complained to his friends about the terrors of the struggles +which the Devil caused him. "He has never since the creation been so +fierce and angry as now at the end of the world. I feel him very +plainly. He sleeps closer to me than my Käthe--that is, he gives me +more trouble than she does pleasure." Luther never tired of censuring +the pope as the Anti-Christ, and the papal system as the work of the +Devil. But a closer scrutiny will recognize under this hatred of the +Devil an indestructible piety, in which the loyal heart of the man was +bound to the old Church. What became hallucinations to him were often +only pious remembrances from his youth, which stood in startling +contrast to the transformations which he had passed through as a man. + +For no man is entirely transformed by the great thoughts and deeds of +his manhood. We ourselves do not become new through new deeds. Our +mental life is based upon the sum of all thoughts and feelings that we +have ever had. Whoever is chosen by Fate to establish new greatness by +destroying the greatness of the old, shatters in fragments at the same +time a portion of his own life. He must break obligations in order to +fulfil greater obligations. The more conscientious he is, the more +deeply he feels in his own heart the wound he has inflicted upon the +order of the world. That is the secret sorrow, the regret, of every +great historical character. There are few mortals who have felt this +sorrow so deeply as Luther. And what is great in him is the fact that +such sorrow never kept him from the boldest action. To us this appears +as a tragic touch in his spiritual life. + +Another thing most momentous for him was the attitude which he had to +take toward his own doctrine. He had left to his followers nothing but +the authority of Scripture. He clung passionately to its words as to +the last effective anchor for the human race. Before him the pope, +with his hierarchy, had interpreted, misinterpreted, and added to the +text of the Scriptures; now he was in the same situation. He, with a +circle of dependent friends, had to claim for himself the privilege of +understanding the words of the Scriptures correctly, and applying them +rightly to the life of the times. This was a superhuman task, and the +man who undertook it must necessarily be subject to some of the +disadvantages which he himself had so grandly combatted in the +Catholic Church. His mental makeup was firmly decided and unyielding: +he was born to be a ruler if ever a mortal was; but this gigantic, +daemonic character of his will inevitably made him sometimes a tyrant. +Although he practised tolerance in many important matters, often as +the result of self-restraint and often with a willing heart, this was +only the fortunate result of his kindly disposition, which was +effective also here. Not infrequently, however, he became the pope of +the Protestants. For him and his people there was no choice. He has +been reproached in modern times for doing so little to bring the laity +into coöperation by means of a presbyterial organization. Never was a +reproach more unjust. What was possible in Switzerland, with +congregations of sturdy free peasants, was utterly impracticable at +that time in Germany. Only the dwellers in the larger cities had among +them enough intelligence and power to criticise the Protestant clergy; +almost nine-tenths of the Protestants in Germany were oppressed +peasants, the majority of whom were indifferent and stubborn, corrupt +in morals, and, after the Peasant War, savage in manners. The new +church was obliged to force its discipline upon them as upon neglected +children. Whoever doubts this should look at the reports of +visitations, and notice the continued complaints of the reformers +about the rudeness of their poverty-stricken congregations. But the +great man was subject to still further hindrances. The ruler of the +souls of the German people lived in a little town, among poor +university professors and students, in a feeble community of which he +often had occasion to complain. He was spared none of the evils of +petty surroundings, of unpleasant disputes with narrow-minded scholars +or uncultured neighbors. There was much in his nature which made him +especially sensitive to such things. No man bears in his heart with +impunity the feeling of being the privileged instrument of God. +Whoever lives in that feeling is too great for the narrow and petty +structure of middle-class society. If Luther had not been modest to +the depths of his heart, and of infinite kindness in his intercourse +with others, he would inevitably have appeared perfectly unendurable +to the matter-of-fact and common-sense people who stood indifferent by +his side. As it was, however, he came only on rare occasions into +serious conflict with his fellow-citizens, the town administration, +the law faculty of his university, or the councillors of his +sovereign. He was not always right, but he almost always carried his +point against them, for seldom did any one dare to defy the violence +of his anger. With all this he was subject to severe physical +ailments, the frequent return of which in the last years of his life +exhausted even his tremendous vigor. He felt this with great sorrow, +and incessantly prayed to his God that He might take him to Himself. +He was not yet an old man in years, but he seemed so to himself--very +old and out of place in a strange and worldly universe. These years, +which did not abound in great events, but were made burdensome by +political and local quarrels, and filled with hours of bitterness and +sorrow, will inspire sympathy, we trust, in every one who studies the +life of this great man impartially. The ardor of his life had warmed +his whole people, had called forth in millions the beginnings of a +higher human development; the blessing remained for the millions, +while he himself felt at last little but the sorrow. Once he joyfully +had hoped to die as a martyr; now he wished for the peace of the +grave, like a trusty, aged, worn-out laborer--another case of a tragic +human fate. + +But the greatest sorrow that he felt lay in the relation of his +doctrine to the life of his nation. He had founded a new church on his +pure gospel, and had given to the spirit and the conscience of the +people an incomparably greater meaning. All about him flourished a new +life and greater prosperity, and many valuable arts--painting and +music--the enjoyment of comfort, and a finer social culture. Still +there was something in the air of Germany which threatened ruin: +princes and governments were fiercely at odds, foreign powers were +threatening invasions--the Emperor of Spain, the Pope from Rome, the +Turks from the Mediterranean; fanatics and demagogues were +influential, and the hierarchy was not yet fallen. As to his new +gospel, had it welded the nation into greater unity and power? The +discontent had only been increased. The future of his church was to +depend on the worldly interests of a few princes; and he knew the best +among them! Something terrible was coming; the Scriptures were to be +fulfilled; the Day of Judgment was at hand. But after this God would +build up a new universe more beautiful, grander, and purer, full of +peace and happiness, a world in which no devil would exist, in which +every human soul would feel more joy over the flowers and fruit of the +new trees of heaven than the present generation over gold and silver; +where music, the most beautiful of all arts, should ring in tones much +more delightful than the most splendid song of the best singers in +this world. There a good man would find again all the dear ones whom +he had loved and lost in this world. + +The longing of the creature for the ideal type of existence grew +stronger and stronger in him. If he expected the end of the world, it +was due to dim remembrances from the far-distant past of the German +people, which still hovered over the soul of the new reformer. Yet it +was likewise a prophetic foreboding of the near future. It was not the +end of the world that was in preparation, but the Thirty Years' War. + +Thus he died. When the hearse with his corpse passed through the +Thuringian country, all the bells in city and hamlet tolled, and the +people crowded sobbing about his bier. A large portion of the German +national strength went into the coffin with this one man. And Philip +Melanchthon spoke in the castle church at Wittenberg over his body: +"Any one who knew him well, must bear witness to this--that he was a +very kind man, gracious, friendly, and affectionate in all +conversation, and by no means insolent, stormy, obstinate, or +quarrelsome. And yet with this went a seriousness and courage in words +and actions, such as there should be in such a man. His heart was +loyal and without guile. The severity which he used in his writings +against the enemies of the Gospel came not from a quarrelsome and +malicious spirit but from great seriousness and zeal for the truth. He +showed very great courage and manhood, and was not easily disturbed. +He was not intimidated by threats, danger, or alarms. He was also of +such a high, clear intelligence that when affairs were confused, +obscure, and difficult he was often the only one who could see at once +what was advisable and feasible. He was not, as perhaps some thought, +too unobservant to notice the condition of the government everywhere. +He knew right well how we are governed, and noted especially the +spirit and the intentions of those with whom he had to do. We, +however, must keep a faithful, everlasting memory of this dear father +of ours, and never let him go out of our hearts." Such was Luther--an +almost superhuman nature; his mind ponderous and sharply limited, his +will powerful and temperate, his morals pure, his heart full of love. +Because no other man appeared after him strong enough to become the +leader of the nation, the German people lost for centuries their +leadership of the earth. The leadership of the Germans in the realm of +intellect, however, is founded on Luther. + + +[Footnote 2: "_Cito remitte matri filiolum_!" ("Send the little boy +right home to his mother.")] + + * * * * * + + + + +FREDERICK THE GREAT + +By GUSTAV FREYTAG + +TRANSLATED BY E.H. BABBITT, A.B. + +Assistant Professor of German, Tufts College + + +What was it that, after the Thirty Years' War drew the attention of +the politicians of Europe to the little State on the northeastern +frontier of Germany which was struggling upward in spite of the Swedes +and the Poles, the Hapsburgs and the Bourbons? The inheritance of the +Hohenzollern was no richly endowed land in which the farmer dwelt in +comfort on well-tilled acres, to which wealthy merchant princes +brought, in deeply-laden galleons, the silks of Italy and the spices +and ingots of the New World. It was a poor, desolate, sandy country of +burned cities and ruined villages. The fields were untilled, and many +square miles, stripped of men and cattle, were given over to the +caprices of wild nature. When, in 1640, Frederick William succeeded to +the Electorate, he found nothing but contested claims to scattered +territories of some thirty thousand square miles. In all the fortified +places of his home land were lodged insolent conquerors. In an +insecure desert this shrewd and tricky prince established his state, +with a craft and disregard of his neighbors' rights which, even in +that unscrupulous age, aroused criticism, but at the same time, with a +heroism and greatness of mind which more than once showed higher +conceptions of German honor than were held by the Emperor himself or +any other prince of the realm. Nevertheless, when, in 1688, this +adroit statesman died, he left behind him only an unimportant State, +in no way to be reckoned among the powers of Europe. For while his +sovereignty extended over about forty-four thousand square miles, +these contained only one million three hundred thousand inhabitants; +and when Frederick II., a hundred years after his great-grandfather, +succeeded to the crown, he inherited only two million two hundred and +forty thousand subjects, not so many as the single province of Silesia +contains today. What was it then that, immediately after the battles +of the Thirty Years' War, aroused the jealousy of all the governments, +and especially of the Imperial house, and which since then has made +such warm friends and such bitter enemies for the Brandenburg +government? For two centuries neither Germans nor foreigners ceased to +set their hopes on this new State, and for an equally long time +neither Germans nor foreigners ceased to call it--at first with +ridicule, and then with spite--"an artificial structure which cannot +endure heavy storms, which has intruded without justification among +the powers of Europe." How did it come about that impartial judges +finally, soon after the death of Frederick the Great, declared that it +was time to cease prophesying the destruction of this widely hated +power? For after every defeat, they said, it had risen more +vigorously, and had repaired all the damages and losses of war more +quickly than was possible elsewhere; its prosperity and intelligence +also were increasing more rapidly than in any other part of Germany. + +It was indeed a very individual and new shade of German character +which appeared in the Hohenzollern princes and their people on the +territory conquered from the Slavs, and forced recognition with sharp +challenge. It seemed that the characters there embraced greater +contrasts; for the virtues and faults of the rulers, the greatness and +the weakness of their policies, stood forth in sharp contradiction, +every limitation appeared more striking, every discord more violent, +and every achievement more astonishing. This State could apparently +produce everything that was strange and unusual, but could not endure +one thing--peaceful mediocrity, which elsewhere may be so comfortable +and useful. + +With this the situation of the country had much to do. It was a border +land, making head at once against the Swedes, the Slavs, the French, +and the Dutch. There was hardly a question of European diplomacy which +did not affect the weal and woe of this State; hardly an entanglement +which did not give an active prince the opportunity to validate his +claim. The decadent power of Sweden and the gradual dissolution of +Poland opened up extensive prospects; the superiority of France and +the distrustful friendship of Holland urged armed caution. From the +very first year, in which Elector Frederick William had been obliged +to take possession of his own fortresses by force and cunning, it was +evident that there on the outskirts of German territory a vigorous, +cautious, warlike government was indispensable for the safety of +Germany. And after the beginning of the French War in 1674, Europe +recognized that the crafty policy which proceeded from this obscure +corner was undertaking also the astonishing task of heroically +defending the western boundary of Germany against the superior forces +of the King of France. + +There was perhaps also something remarkable in the racial character of +the Brandenburg people, in which princes and subjects shared alike. +Down to Frederick's time, the Prussian districts had given to Germany +relatively few scholars, writers, and artists. Even the passionate +zeal of the Reformation seemed to be subdued there. The people who +inhabited the border land, mostly of the Lower Saxon strain, with a +slight tinge of Slavic blood, were a tough, sturdy race, not specially +graceful in social manners, but with unusual keenness of understanding +and clearness of judgment. Those who lived in the capital had been +glib of tongue and ready to scoff from time immemorial: all were +capable of great exertions; industrious, persistent, and of enduring +strength. + +[Illustration: _From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_ +FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS ROUND TABLE] + +But the character of the princes was a more potent factor than the +location of their country or the race-character of their people; for +the way in which the Hohenzollerns molded their state was different +from that of any other princes since the days of Charlemagne. Many a +princely family can show a number of rulers who have successfully +built up their state--the Bourbons, for instance, united a wide +expanse of territory into one great political body;--or who have been +brave warriors through several generations,--there never were any +braver than the Vasas or the Protestant Wittelsbachs in Sweden. But +none have been the educators of their people as were the early +Hohenzollerns, who as great landed proprietors in a devastated +country drew new men into their service and guided their education; +who for almost a hundred and fifty years, as strict managers, worked, +schemed, and endured, took risks, and even did injustice--all that +they might build up for their state a people like themselves--hard, +economical, clever, bold, with the highest civic ambitions. + +In this sense we are justified in admiring the providential +character of the Prussian State. Of the four princes who ruled +it from the Thirty Years' War to the day when the "hoary-headed +abbot in the monastery of Sans Souci" closed his weary eyes, each +one, with his virtues and vices, was the natural complement of his +predecessor--Elector Frederick William, the greatest statesman +produced by the school of the Thirty Years' War, the splendor-loving +King Frederick I., the parsimonious despot Frederick William I., and +finally, in the eighteenth century, he in whom were united the talents +and great qualities of almost all his ancestors--the flower of the +family. + +Life in the royal palace at Berlin was cheerless in Frederick's +childhood; poorer in love and sunshine than in most citizens' +households at that rude time. It may be doubted whether the king his +father, or the queen, was more to blame for the disorganization of the +family life--in either case through natural defects which grew more +pronounced in the constant friction of the household. The king, an odd +tyrant with a soft heart but a violent temper, tried to compel love +and confidence with a cudgel; he possessed keen insight into human +nature, but was so ignorant that he always ran the risk of becoming +the victim of a scoundrel. Dimly aware of his weakness, he had grown +suspicious and was subject to sudden fits of violence. The queen, in +contrast, was a rather insignificant woman, colder at heart, but with +a strong sense of her princely dignity; with a tendency to intrigue, +without prudence or discretion. Both had the best of intentions, and +took honest pains to bring up their children to a capable and worthy +maturity; but both unintelligently interfered with the sound +development of the childish souls. The mother was so tactless as to +make the children, even at a tender age, the confidants of her +annoyances and intrigues. The undignified parsimony of the king, the +blows which he distributed so freely in his rooms, and the monotonous +daily routine which he forced upon her, were the subject of no end of +complaining, sulking, and ridicule in her apartments. Crown Prince +Frederick grew up, the playmate of his elder sister, into a gentle +child with sparkling eyes and beautiful light hair. He was taught with +exactness what the king desired,--and that was little enough: French, +a certain amount of history, and the necessary accomplishments of a +soldier. Against the will of his father (the great King had never +surmounted the difficulties of the genitive and dative) he acquired +some knowledge of the Latin declensions. To the boy, who was easily +led and in the king's presence looked shy and defiant, the women +imparted his first interest in French literature. He himself later +gave his sister the credit for it, but his governess too was an +accomplished French woman. That the foreign atmosphere was hateful to +the king certainly contributed to make the son fond of it; for almost +systematically praise was bestowed in the queen's apartments upon +everything that was displeasing to the stern mind of the master. When +in the family circle the king made one of his clumsy, pious speeches, +Princess Wilhelmina and young Frederick would look at each other +significantly, until the mischievous face of one or the other aroused +childish laughter, and brought the king's wrath to the point of +explosion. For this reason, the son, even in his earliest years, +became a source of vexation to his father, who called him an +effeminate, untidy fellow with an unmanly pleasure in clothes and +trifles. + +But from the report of his sister, for whose unsparing judgment +censure was easier than praise, it is evident that the amiability of +the talented boy had its effect upon those about him: as when, for +instance, he secretly read a French story with his sister, and recast +the whole Berlin Court into the comic characters of the novel; when +they made forbidden music with flute and lute; when he went in +disguise to her and they recited the parts of a French comedy to each +other. But in order to enjoy even these harmless pleasures the prince +was constantly forced into falsehood, deception, and disguise. He was +proud, high-minded, magnanimous, with an uncompromising love of truth. +The fact that deception was utterly repulsive to him, that even where +it was advisable he was unwilling to stoop to it, and that, if he ever +undertook it, he dissimulated unskilfully, threw a constantly +increasing strain upon his relations with his father. The king's +distrust grew, and the son's offended sense of personal dignity found +expression in the form of stubbornness. + +So he grew up surrounded by coarse spies who reported every word to +the king. With a mind of the richest endowments, of the most +discerning eagerness for knowledge, but without any suitable male +society, it is no wonder that the young man went astray. In comparison +with other German courts, the Prussian might be regarded as very +virtuous: but frivolity toward women and a lack of reserve in the +discussion of the most dubious relations were pronounced even there. +After a visit to the dissolute court of Dresden, Prince Frederick +began to behave like other princes of his time, and generally found +good comrades among his father's younger officers. We know little +about him at that period, but may conclude that he ran some risk, not +of becoming depraved, but of wasting valuable years in a spendthrift +life among unworthy companions. It certainly was not alone the +increasing dissatisfaction of his father which at that time destroyed +his peace of mind and tossed him about aimlessly, but quite as much +that inner discontent, which leads an unformed youth the more wildly +astray the greater the secret demands are which his mind makes on +life. + +He determined to flee to England. How the flight failed, how the anger +of the military commander, Frederick William, flamed up against the +deserting officer, every one knows. With the days of his imprisonment +in Küstrin and his stay in Ruppin, his years of serious education +began. The terrible experiences he had been through had aroused new +strength in him. He had endured, with princely pride, all the terrors +of death and of the most terrible humiliation. He had reflected in the +solitude of his prison on the greatest riddle of life--on death and +what is beyond. He had realized that there was nothing left for him +but submission, patience, and quiet waiting. But bitter, heart-rending +misfortune is a school which develops not only the good--it fosters +also many faults. He learned to keep his counsel hidden in the depth +of his soul, and to look upon men with suspicion, using them as his +instruments, deceiving and flattering them with prudent serenity in +which his heart had no share. He was obliged to flatter the cowardly +and vulgar Grumbkow, and to be glad when he finally had won him over +to his side. For years he had to take the utmost pains, over and over +again, to conquer the displeasure and lack of confidence of his stern +father. His nature always revolted against such humiliation, and he +tried by bitter mockery to give expression to his injured self-esteem. +His heart, which warmed toward everything noble, prevented him from +becoming a hardened egoist; but he did not grow any the milder or more +conciliatory, and long after he had become a great man and wise ruler, +there remained in him from this time of servitude some trace of petty +cunning. The lion sometimes, in a spirit of undignified vengeance, did +not scorn to scratch like a cat. + +Still, in those years, he learned something useful too--the strict +spirit of economy with which his father's narrow but able mind cared +for the welfare of his country and his household. When, to please the +king, he had to draw up leases, and took pains to increase the yield +of a domain by a few hundred thalers; or even entered unduly into the +hobbies of the king and proposed to him to kidnap a tall shepherd of +Mecklenburg as a recruit--these doings were at first, to be sure, only +a tedious means of propitiating the king, for he asked Grumbkow to +procure for him a man to make out the lists in his stead; the officers +in public and private service informed him where a surplus was to be +made, here and there, and he continued to ridicule the giant soldiers +whenever he could with impunity. Gradually, however, the new world +into which he had been transplanted, and the practical interests of +the people and of the State, became attractive to him. It was easy to +see that even his father's turn for economy was often tyrannical and +whimsical. The king was always convinced that he wished nothing but +the best for his country, and therefore took the liberty to interfere, +in the most arbitrary manner, even in the details of the property and +business of private persons. He ordered, for instance, that no he-goat +should run with the ewes; that all colored sheep, gray, black, or +piebald, should be completely disposed of within three years, and only +fine white wool be tolerated; he prescribed exactly how the copper +standard measures of the Berlin bushel, which he had sent all over the +country (at the expense of his subjects) should be preserved and kept +locked up so as to get no dents. In order to foster the linen and +woolen industry, he decreed that his subjects should wear none of the +fashionable chintz and calico, and threatened with a hundred thalers' +fine and three days in the pillory everybody who, after eight months, +permitted a shred of calico in his house in dress, gown, cap, or +furniture coverings. This method of ruling certainly seemed severe and +petty; but the son learned to honor nevertheless the prudent mind and +good intentions which were recognizable underneath such edicts, and +himself gradually acquired a wealth of detailed knowledge such as is +not usually at the disposal of a prince--real estate values, market +prices, and the needs of the people; the usages, rights, and duties of +humble life. He even absorbed something of the pride with which the +King boasted of his business knowledge; and when he himself had become +the all-powerful administrator of his State, the unbounded advantage +which was due to his knowledge of the people and of trade became +manifest. Only in this way was the wise economy made possible with +which he managed his own household and the State finances, as well as +the unceasing care for detail by which he developed agriculture, +trade, prosperity, and culture among his people. He could examine +equally well the daily accounts of his cooks and the estimates of the +income from the domains, forests, and taxes. For his ability to judge +with precision the smallest things as well as the greatest, his people +were in great part indebted to the years during which he had sat +unwillingly as assessor at the green table at Ruppin. Sometimes, +however, there befell him also what in his father's time had been +vexatious--that his knowledge of business details was, after all, not +extensive enough, and that he, like his father, gave orders which +arbitrarily interfered with the life of his Prussians, and could not +be carried out. + +Scarcely had Frederick partially recovered from the blows of the great +catastrophe of his youth, when a new misfortune fell upon him, just as +terrible as the first, and in its consequences still more momentous +for his life. He was forced by the King to marry. Heartrending is the +sorrow with which he struggles to free himself from the bride chosen +for him. "She may be as frivolous as she pleases if only she is not a +simpleton! That I cannot bear." It was all in vain. He looked upon +this alliance with bitterness and anger almost to the very day of his +wedding, and never outgrew the bitter belief that his father had thus +destroyed his emotional life. His sensitive feelings, his affectionate +heart, were bartered away in the most reckless manner. Nor by this act +was he alone made unhappy, but also a good woman who was worthy of a +better fate. Princess Elizabeth of Bevern had many noble qualities of +heart; she was not a simpleton, she did not lack beauty, and could +pass muster before the fierce criticism of the princesses of the royal +house. But we fear that, if she had been an angel from heaven, the +pride of the Prince would have protested against her, for he was +offended to the depths of his nature by the needless barbarity of a +compulsory marriage. And yet the relation was not always so cold as +has sometimes been assumed. For six years the kindness of heart and +tact of the Princess succeeded time after time in reconciling the +crown prince to her. In the retirement of Rheinsberg she was really +his helpmeet and an amiable hostess for his guests, and it was +reported by the Austrian agents to the Court of Vienna that her +influence was increasing. But her modest, clinging nature had too +little of the qualities which can permanently hold an intellectual +man. The wide-awake members of the Brandenburg line felt the need of +giving quick and pointed expression to every easily aroused feeling. +When the Princess was excited, she grew quiet as if paralyzed; she +also lacked the easy graces of society. The two natures did not agree. +Then, too, her manner of showing affection toward her husband, always +dutiful, and subordinating herself as if under a spell and overwhelmed +by his great mind, was not very interesting for the Prince, who had +acquired, with the French intellectual culture, no little of the +frivolity of French society. + +When Frederick became King, the Princess soon lost even the slight +part which she had won in her husband's affections. His long absence +in the first Silesian War gave the finishing stroke to their +estrangement. The relations of husband and wife became more and more +distant. Years passed when they did not see each other, and icy +brevity and coolness can be perceived in his letters to her. Still the +fact that the King was obliged to esteem her character so highly +maintained her in her outward position. Later, his relations with +women influenced his emotions very slightly. Even his sister at +Bayreuth, sickly, nervous, embittered by jealousy of an unfaithful +husband, was estranged from her brother for years; and not until she +had given up all hope of life did this proud member of the House of +Brandenburg, aging and unhappy, seek again the heart of the brother +whose little hand she had once held as they stood before their stern +father. His mother also, to whom King Frederick always showed +excellent filial devotion, was not able to occupy a large place in his +heart. His other brothers and sisters were younger, and were only too +much disposed to hatch obscure domestic conspiracies against him. If +the King ever condescended to show any attentions to a lady of the +court or of the stage, these were in general as disturbing as they +were flattering for the persons in question. When he found +intelligence, grace, and womanly dignity united, as in Frau von Camas, +who was the Queen's first lady-in-waiting, he expressed the amiability +of his nature in many cordial attentions. But on the whole, women did +not add much light or splendor to his life, and the cordial intimacy +of family life hardly ever warmed his heart. In this direction his +feelings were dried up. This was perhaps fortunate for his people, it +was undoubtedly fatal to his private life. The full warmth of his +human feelings was reserved almost exclusively for his little circle +of intimates, with whom he laughed, wrote poetry, discussed +philosophy, made plans for the future, and later discussed his +military operations and dangers. + +His married life in Rheinsberg opens the best period of his younger +years. He succeeded in bringing together there a number of well +educated, cheerful companions. The little circle led a poetic life of +which those who shared in it have left a pleasing picture. Frederick +began to work seriously on his education. The expression of emotion +easily took for him the form of conventional French versification. He +worked incessantly to acquire the refinements of the foreign style. +But his mind was also busy with more serious matters. He eagerly +sought answers to all the highest questions of humanity in the works +of the Encyclopedists and of Christian Wolff. He sat bent over maps +and battle-plans, and, along with parts for the amateur theatre and +architects' sketches, other projects were in preparation, which, a few +years later, were to arouse the attention of the world. + +Then the day came when his dying father laid down the reins of +government and told the officer of the day to take his orders from the +new commander-in-chief of Prussia. How the Prince was judged by his +political contemporaries we see from the characterization which an +Austrian agent had given of him a short time before: "He is graceful, +wears his own hair, and has a somewhat careless bearing; likes the +fine arts and good cooking. He would like to begin his rule by +something striking. He is a firmer friend of the army than his father. +His religion is that of a gentleman: he believes in God and the +forgiveness of sins. He likes splendor and things on a large scale. He +will reëstablish all the court positions and bring the nobles to his +court." This prophecy was not fully justified. We seek to understand +other sides of his nature at this time. The new King was a man of +fiery, enthusiastic temperament, he was quickly aroused, and the tears +came readily to his eyes. Like his contemporaries, he too was +passionately eager to admire grandeur and to give himself up to tender +feelings in a poetical mood. He played adagios softly on his flute. +Like his worthy contemporaries, he did not easily find, in prose or +poetry, the full expression of his feelings; pathetic oratory stirred +him to tearful emotion. In spite of all his French aphorisms, the +essence of his nature was very German in this respect also. + +Those who ascribe to him a cold heart have judged him unfairly. It is +not cold hearts in princes which give the most offense by their +harshness. Such hearts are almost always gifted with the art of +satisfying those about them by uniform graciousness and tactful +expression. The strongest utterances of contempt are generally found +close beside the pleasing tones of a caressing tenderness. But in +Frederick, it seems to us, there was a striking and unusual union of +two totally opposite tendencies of the emotional nature, which +elsewhere are engaged in an unending struggle. He had in equal degree +the need to idealize life for himself, and the impulse to destroy +ideal moods without mercy in himself and in others. This first +peculiarity of his was perhaps the most beautiful, perhaps the +saddest, with which a human being was ever equipped in the struggles +of earth. His was indeed a poetic nature. He possessed to a high +degree that peculiar power which endeavors to reconstruct vulgar +reality according to the ideal needs of its own nature, and covers +everything near with the grace and light of a new life. It was a +necessity for him to make over with the grace of his imagination the +image of those dear to him, and to adorn the relation to them into +which he had voluntarily entered. In this there was always a certain +kind of posing. Even where he had the most ardent feelings, he was +more in love with the glorified picture of the individual in his mind +than with the real personality. It was in such a mood that he kissed +Voltaire's hand. As soon as the difference between the ideal and the +real person became unpleasantly perceptible, he let go the person and +clung to the image. One to whom nature has given this temperament, +letting him see love and friendship chiefly through the colored glass +of a poetical mood, will always, according to the judgment of others, +show caprice in the choice of his friends. The uniform warmth which +treats with consideration all alike seems to be denied to such +natures. To any one to whom the King had become a friend in his own +fashion, he always showed the greatest attention and assiduity, +however much his moods changed at particular moments. He could become +as sentimental in his sorrow over the loss of such a friend as any +German of the Werther period. He had lived for many years on somewhat +distant terms with his sister in Bayreuth, and not until the last +years before her death, amid the terrors of a burdensome war, did her +image rise vividly again before him as that of an affectionate sister. +After her death he found a gloomy satisfaction in picturing to himself +and others the cordiality of his relations with her. He erected a +little temple to her and often made pilgrimages to it. Toward any one +who did not approach his heart through the medium of a poetic mood, or +incite him to poetic expression of his affection, or who touched a +wrong note anywhere in his sensitive nature, he was cold, +contemptuous, and indifferent--a king who only asked to what extent +the other person could be useful to him; he even pushed him aside when +he could no longer use him. Such a character may perhaps surround the +life of a young man with poetic lustre and give brightness and charm +even to common things, but unless it is coupled with a high degree of +morality, a sense of duty, and a mind set upon higher things, it will +leave him sad and lonely in later years. In the most favorable cases +it will make bitter enemies as well as very warm admirers. A somewhat +similar disposition brought to Goethe's noble soul heavy sorrows, +transitory relations, many disappointments, and a solitary old age. It +becomes doubly momentous for a king, before whom others rarely stand +with assurance and on equal terms; for his most sincere friends may +yet turn into admiring flatterers, unstable in their bearing, now +constrained under the moral spell of his majesty, now, under the +conviction of their own rights, fault-finding and discontented. + +This need of ideal relations and longing for people to whom he could +unbosom himself without reserve, worked at cross purposes with +Frederick's penetrating discrimination, and his uncompromising love of +truth, which was a deadly enemy of all deception, impatiently resisted +every illusion, despised shams, and sought for the essence of things. +This scrutinizing view of life and its duties might well offer him +protection against those deceptions which oftener annoy an +imaginative prince, who gives his confidence, than a private +individual. His acuteness, however, showed itself also in savage moods +as unsparingly, sarcastically, and maliciously destructive. Where did +he get this disposition? Was it Brandenburg blood? Was it an +inheritance from his great-grandmother, the Electress Sophia of +Hanover, and his grandmother, Queen Sophia Charlotte, those +intellectual women with whom Leibniz had discussed the eternal harmony +of the universe? The harsh school of his youth certainly had had +something to do with it. His insight into the foibles of others was +keen. Wherever he saw a weak point, wherever any one's manners annoyed +or provoked him, his ready tongue was busy. His gibes fell unsparingly +upon friend and foe alike; and even where silence and patience were +demanded by every consideration of prudence, he could not control +himself. At such times his soul seemed to suffer some strange +transformation. With merciless exaggeration he distorted the picture +of his victim into a caricature. On closer examination the principal +motive here also appears to be pleasure in intellectual production. He +frees himself from an unpleasant impression by improvising against his +victim. He makes a grotesque picture with inner satisfaction and is +astonished if the victim, deeply offended, in turn takes up arms +against him. His resemblance to Luther in this respect is very +striking. Neither the king nor the reformer cared whether his behavior +was dignified or seemly, for both of them, excited like men on the +hunting field, entirely forgot the consequences in the joy of the +fight. Both did themselves and their great causes serious injury in +this way, and were honestly surprised when they discovered the fact. +To be sure, the blows with the cudgel or the whip which the great monk +of the sixteenth century dealt were far more terrible than the +pin-pricks of the great prince in the age of enlightenment. But when a +king teases and mocks and sometimes pinches maliciously, it is harder +to forgive him for his undignified behavior; for he frequently engages +in an unequal contest with his victims. The great prince treated all +his political opponents in this way, and aroused deadly enemies +against himself. He joked at the table, and put in circulation +stinging verses and pamphlets about Madame de Pompadour in France and +the Empresses Elizabeth and Maria Theresa. Similarly, he sometimes +caressed, sometimes scolded and scratched his poetical ideal, +Voltaire; but he also proceeded in this way with people whom he really +esteemed highly, in whom he put the greatest confidence, and whom he +took into the circle of his intimate friends. He brought the Marquis +d'Argens to his court, made him chamberlain, member of the Academy, +and one of his nearest and dearest friends. The letters which he wrote +to him from the camps of the Seven Years' War are among the most +beautiful and touching records that the King has left us. When +Frederick came home from the war it was his fond hope that the marquis +would live with him in his palace at Sans Souci. And a few years later +this charming relation was broken up in the most painful manner. How +was that possible! The marquis was perhaps the best Frenchman that the +King had brought into his circle, a man of honor, with fine feelings, +fine education, and really devoted to the King; but he was neither a +great character nor an especially strong man. For years the King had +admired in him a scholar--which he was not--a wise, clear-sighted, +assured philosopher with pleasing wit and fresh humor; he had in short +set up an extremely pleasing, fanciful image of him. Now, in daily +intercourse, Frederick found himself mistaken. A lack of robustness on +the part of the Frenchman, causing him to dwell with hypochondriac +exaggeration on his poor health, annoyed the King, who began to +realize that the aging marquis was neither a great genius nor an +intellectual giant. The ideal which he had formed of him was +destroyed. Now the King began to make fun of him on account of his +weaknesses. The sensitive Frenchman thereupon asked for leave of +absence, that a sojourn of a few months in France might restore his +health. The King was offended by this ill-humored attitude, and +continued his raillery in friendly letters which he sent him. He said +that it was rumored that a werewolf had appeared in France. This was +undoubtedly the marquis, in the disguise of a Prussian and a sick man, +and he asked if he had begun to eat little children. He had not +formerly had that bad habit, but people change a good deal in +traveling. The marquis, instead of a few months, stayed two winters. +When he was about to return, he sent certificates from his physicians. +Probably the worthy man had really been ill, but the King was +deeply offended by this awkward attempt at justification on the +part of an old friend, and when the latter returned, the old intimacy +was gone forever. The King would not let him go, but he took pleasure +in punishing the renegade by stinging speeches and harsh jokes. +Finally the Frenchman, deeply hurt, asked for his dismissal. His +request was granted, and the sorrow and anger of the King is seen from +the wording of the order. When the marquis, in the last letter which +he wrote the King before his death, represented to him again, and not +without bitterness, how scornfully and badly he had treated an +unselfish admirer, Frederick read the letter without a word. But he +wrote with grief to the dead man's widow telling her of his friendship +for her husband, and had a costly monument erected for him in a +foreign land. The great prince fared similarly with most of his +intimates. Magic as was his power to attract, he had demoniac +faculties for repelling. But if any one is disposed to blame the man +for this, let him be told that hardly another king in history has so +unsparingly disclosed his most intimate soul-life to his friends as +Frederick. + +Frederick had worn the crown only a few months when the Emperor +Charles VI. died. Now everything urged the young King to risk a +master-stroke. That he determined upon such a step was in itself, in +spite of the momentary weakness of Austria, a token of bold courage. +The countries which he ruled had perhaps a seventh as many inhabitants +as the broad lands of Maria Theresa. True, his army was for the time +being far superior to the Austrian in numbers and discipline, and +according to the ideas of the time, the mass of the people was not +then in the same way as today available for recruiting purposes. Nor +did he fully realize the greatness of Maria Theresa. But even in the +preparations for the invasion the King showed that he had long hoped +to measure himself against Austria. In an exalted mood he entered upon +a struggle which was to be decisive for his own life and that of his +State. He cared little at heart for the right which he might have to +the Silesian duchies, and which with his pen he tried to prove before +Europe. For this the policy of the despotic States of the seventeenth +and eighteenth centuries had no regard whatever. Any one who could +find a plausible defense of his cause made use of it, but in case of +need the most improbable argument, the most shallow pretext, was +sufficient. In this way Louis XIV. had made war; in this way the +Emperor had followed up his interests against the Turks, Italians, +Germans, French, and Spaniards; in this way a great part of the +successes of the great Elector had been frustrated by others. Just +where the rights of the Hohenzollerns were the plainest, as in +Pomerania, they had been most ruthlessly curtailed, and by no one more +than by the Emperor and the Hapsburgs. Now the Hohenzollerns sought +their revenge. "Be my Cicero and prove the right of my cause, and I +will be your Cæsar and carry it through," Frederick wrote to Jordan +after the invasion of Silesia. Gaily, with light step as if going to a +dance, the King entered upon the fields of his victories. There was +still cheerful enjoyment of life, sweet coquetry with verse, and +intellectual conversation with his intimates on the pleasures of the +day, on God, nature, and immortality, which he considered the spice of +life. But the great task upon which he had entered began to have its +effect upon his soul even in the early weeks, even before he had +passed through the fiery ordeal of the first great battle. And from +that time on it hammered and forged upon his soul until it turned his +hair gray and hardened his fiery heart into ringing steel. With that +wonderful clearness which was peculiar to him, he watched the +beginning of these changes. He even then viewed his own life as from +without. "You will find me more philosophical than you think," he +writes to his friend. "I have always been so--sometimes more, +sometimes less. My youth, the fire of passion, the longing for glory, +and, to tell you the whole truth, curiosity, and finally, a secret +instinct, have forced me out of the sweet peace which I enjoyed, and +the wish to see my name in the gazettes and in history has led me into +new paths. Come here to me. Philosophy will maintain her rights, and I +assure you that if I had not this cursed love of fame, I should think +only of peaceful comfort." + +When the faithful Jordan actually came to him and the King saw the man +of peaceful enjoyment timid and uncomfortable in the field, he +suddenly realized that he himself had become another and a stronger +man. The guest who had been honored by him so long as the more +scholarly, and who had corrected his verses, criticized his letters, +and been far ahead of him in the knowledge of Greek philosophy, now, +in spite of all his philosophical training, gave the King the +impression of a man without courage. With bitter derision Frederick +attacked him in one of his best improvisations, contrasting the +warrior in himself with the weak philosopher. In however bad taste the +ridiculing verses were with which he overwhelmed Jordan again and +again, the return of the old cordial feeling was just as quick; but it +was the first gentle hint of fate for the King himself. The same thing +was to befall him often. He was to lose valuable men, loyal friends, +one after another; not only by death, but still more by the coldness +and estrangement which arose between his nature and theirs. For the +way upon which he had now entered was destined to develop more and +more all the greatness, but also all the narrow features, of his +nature, up to the limit of human possibility. The higher he rose above +others, the smaller their natures inevitably appeared to him. Almost +all whom in later years he measured by his own standard were far from +able to endure the test, and the dissatisfaction and disappointment +which he then experienced became again keener and more relentless +until he himself, from a solitary height, looked down with stony eyes +upon the doings of the men at his feet; but always, even to his last +hours, the piercing chill of his searching glance was broken by the +bright splendor of soft human feelings, and the fact that these were +left to him is what makes his great tragic figure so affecting. + +During the first war, to be sure, he still looked back with longing to +the calm peace of his "Remusberg," and felt deeply the exaction of the +tremendous fate which had already involved him. "It is hard to bear +with equanimity this good and bad fortune," he writes; "one may appear +indifferent in success and unmoved in adversity, the features of the +face can be controlled; but the man, the inward man, the depths of the +heart, are affected none the less." And he concludes hopefully, "All +that I wish for myself is that success may not destroy in me the human +feelings and virtues, to which I have always clung. May my friends +find me as I have always been." And at the end of the war he writes: +"See, your friend is victorious for the second time! Who would have +said a few years ago that your pupil in philosophy would play a +soldier's part in the world; that Providence would use a poet to +overthrow the political system of Europe?" This shows how fresh and +young Frederick felt when he returned to Berlin in triumph after his +first war. + +For the second time he took the field to assert his claim to Silesia. +Again he was victorious. He had already the calm confidence of a tried +general. His joy at the excellence of his troops was great. "All that +flatters me in this victory," he wrote to Frau von Camas, "is that I +could contribute by a quick decision and a bold manoeuvre to the +preservation of so many good people. I would not have the least of my +soldiers wounded for vain glory, which no longer deceives me." But in +the midst of the contest came the death of two of his dearest friends, +Jordan and Kayserlingk. His grief was touching: "In less than three +months I have lost my two most faithful friends, people with whom I +had lived daily, pleasant companions, honorable men, and true friends. +It is hard for a heart that was made so sensitive as mine to restrain +my deep sorrow. When I come back to Berlin, I shall be almost a +stranger in my own fatherland, lonesome in my own house. You too have +had the misfortune to lose at one time several people who were dear to +you. I admire your courage, but I cannot imitate it. My only hope is +in time, which can overcome everything in nature. It begins by +weakening the impressions on our brains, and only ceases when it +destroys us utterly. I anticipate with terror visiting all the places +which call up in me sad memories of friends whom I have lost forever." +And four weeks after their death he writes to the same friend, who +tried to console him: "Do not believe that pressure of business and +danger give distraction in sadness. I know from experience that that +is a poor remedy. Unfortunately only four weeks have passed since my +tears and my sorrow began, but after the violent outbursts of the +first days, I feel myself just as sad, just as little consoled, as at +the beginning." And when his worthy tutor, Duhan, sent him at his +request some French books which Jordan had left behind, the King +wrote, late in the autumn of the same year: "Tears came into my eyes +when I opened the books of my poor dear Jordan. I loved him so much, +it will be hard to realize that he is no more." Not long after the +King lost also the intimate friend to whom this letter was addressed. + +The loss, in 1745, of the friends of his youth was an important +turning point in the King's mental life. With these unselfish, +honorable men almost everything died which had made him happy in his +intercourse with others. The intimacies into which he now entered as a +man were all of another kind. Even the best of the new acquaintances +received perhaps his occasional confidence, but never his heartfelt +friendship. The need for stimulating intellectual intercourse +remained, and became even stronger and more imperative, for in this +too he was unique; he never could dispense with cheerful and +confidential companions, with light, almost reckless conversation, +flitting through all shades of human moods, thoughtful or frivolous, +from the greatest questions of the human race down to the little +events of the day. Immediately after his accession he had written to +Voltaire and invited him to his court. He had first met the Frenchman +in 1740 on a journey near Wesel. Soon after, Voltaire had come to +Berlin for a few days, at heavy expense. He had even then impressed +the King as a jester, but Frederick felt nevertheless an infinite +respect for the talent of the man. Voltaire was to him the greatest +poet of all times, the master of ceremonies of Parnassus, where the +King himself was so anxious to play a part. Frederick's desire to have +this man in his train became stronger and stronger. He regarded +himself as his pupil; he wished to have all his verses approved by the +master; among his Brandenburg officials he pined for the wit and +spirit of the elegant Frenchman, and finally, his vanity as a +sovereign was concerned--he wanted to be a prince of the _beaux +esprits_ and philosophers, as he had become a glorious leader of +armies. After the second Silesian war his intimates were mostly +foreigners. After 1750 he had the pleasure of seeing the great +Voltaire also as a member of his court. It was no misfortune that this +unworthy man endured for only a few years his sojourn among the +barbarians. + +During these ten years, from 1746 to 1756, Frederick acquired literary +independence, and that importance as a writer which is not yet +sufficiently appreciated in Germany. As to his French poetry, a German +can only judge imperfectly. He was a facile poet, who was easily +master of every mood in metre and rhyme, but from the point of view +of a Frenchman, he never completely overcame in his lyric poetry the +difficulties of a foreign language, however diligently his confidants +revised his work. He even lacked, it seems to us, the uniform +rhetorical spirit, that style which in Voltaire's time was the first +mark of a born poet. The effect of beautiful and noble sentiments, in +splendid phraseology, is spoiled by trivial thoughts and commonplace +expressions in the next line. Nor was the development of his taste +sufficiently assured and independent. In his esthetic judgment he was +quick, both to admire and to condemn; in reality, he was much more +dependent upon the opinion of his French acquaintances than his pride +would have admitted. What was best, moreover, in French poetry at that +time--the return to Nature and the struggle of the beauty of reality +against the fetters of an antiquated conventionalism--remained to him +a sealed book. For a long time he looked upon Rousseau as an eccentric +vagabond, and upon the conscientious and accurate spirit of Diderot +even as shallow. And yet it seems to us that there often appear in his +poems, especially in the light improvisations which he made to please +his friends, a wealth of poetical detail and a charming tone of true +feeling, which at least his model Voltaire might have envied. + +Frederick's history of his times is, like Cæsar's _Commentaries_, one +of the most important documents of historical literature. True, like +the Roman general, like all practical statesmen, he stated facts as +they are reflected in the soul of a participant. He does not give due +value to everything or full justice to everybody, but he knows +infinitely more than is revealed to one at a distance, and he wrote of +some of the motives underlying the great events, not without +prejudice, yet with magnanimity toward his opponents. Writing at times +without the enormous reference material which a professional historian +must collect about him, he was occasionally deceived by his memory and +his judgment, though both were very reliable. He was, moreover, +composing an apology for his house, his politics, his campaigns; and, +like Cæsar, he sometimes ignores facts or interprets them as he wishes +them to go down to posterity; but his love of truth and the frankness +with which he treats his house and his own actions are no less +admirable than his sovereign calm and the ease with which he soars +above events, in spite of the little rhetorical embellishments which +were due to the taste of his time. + +His many-sidedness is as astonishing as his productiveness. One of the +greatest military writers, a historian of importance, a clever poet, +and at the same time a popular philosopher, a practical statesman, +even a writer of very free and easy anonymous pamphlets, and sometimes +a journalist, he was always ready to take up his pen for anything that +inspired him and aroused his passions or enthusiasm, or to attack, in +verse or prose, any one who provoked or annoyed him--not only the pope +and the Empress, the Jesuits and the Dutch journalists, but also old +friends if they seemed lukewarm to him,--which he could not +endure,--or if they actually threatened to break with him. Never since +Luther has there been such a belligerent, relentless, untiring writer. +As soon as he put pen to paper he was like Proteus, everything: sage +or intriguer, historian or poet, whatever the situation demanded, +always an active, fiery, intellectual--sometimes also an +ill-mannered--man, with never a moment's thought of his royal +position. Whatever he liked he praised in poems or eulogies: the noble +doctrines of his own philosophy, his friends, his army, religious +liberty, independent investigation, tolerance, and popular education. + +The conquering power of Frederick's mind had reached out in all +directions. When ambition inspired him to victory it seemed as if +there were no obstacle that would check him. Then came the years of +trial--seven years of terrible, heartrending cares--the great period, +in which the heaviest tasks that ever a man accomplished were laid +upon his rich, ambitious spirit, in which almost everything perished +which was his own possession, joy and happiness, peace and selfish +comfort; in which also many pleasing and graceful characteristics of +the man were to disappear, that he might become the self-sacrificing +prince of his people, the foremost servant of his State, and the hero +of a nation. No lust of conquest made him take the field this time; it +had long been plain to him that he was fighting for his own life and +that of his State. But his determination had grown only the stronger. +Like the stormwind he purposed to dash into the clouds which were +collecting from all sides about his head, and to break up the +thunderbolts through the energy of an irresistible attack, before they +were discharged. He had never been conquered up to this time. His +enemies had been beaten every time he had fallen upon them with his +terrible instrument--the army. Herein lay his only hope. If his +well-tried power did not fail him now, he might save his State. + +But in the very first conflict with his old enemy, the Austrians, he +saw that they, too, had learned from him and were changed. He exerted +his strength to the utmost, and at Kollin it failed him. The 18th of +June, 1757, is the most momentous day in Frederick's life. There +happened on that day what twice more in this war snatched victory from +him--the general had underestimated his enemy and had expected the +impossible from his own brave army. After a short period of +stupefaction Frederick arose with new strength. Instead of an +aggressive war, he had been forced to wage a desperate war of defense. +His foes attacked his little country from all sides. He entered upon a +death struggle with every great power of the Continent, master of only +four million men and a defeated army. Now his talent as general showed +itself as he escaped the enemy after defeats and again attacked in the +most unexpected quarters and beat them, faced first one army and then +another, unsurpassed in his dispositions, inexhaustible in expedients, +unequaled as leader of troops in battle. So he stood, one against +five--Austrians, Russians, French, any one of whom was his superior in +strength, and at the same time against the Swedes and the Imperial +troops. For five years he struggled thus against armies far larger +than his own--every spring in danger of being crushed merely by +numbers, every autumn free again. A loud cry of admiration and +sympathy ran through Europe; and among those who gave the loudest +praise, although reluctantly, were his most bitter enemies. Now, in +these years of changing fortune, when the King himself experienced +such bitter vicissitudes of the fortune of war, his generalship was +the astonishment of all the armies of Europe. How, always the more +rapid and skilful, he managed to establish his lines against his +opponents; how so often he outflanked in an oblique position the +weakest wing of the enemy, forced it back, and put it to rout; how his +cavalry, which, newly organized, had become the strongest in the +world, dashed in fury upon the foe, broke their ranks, scattered their +battalions: all this was celebrated everywhere as a new advance in +military art, and the invention of surpassing genius. The tactics and +the strategy of the Prussian army came to be for almost half a century +the ideal and model for all the armies of Europe. It was the unanimous +opinion that Frederick was the greatest general of his time, and that +there had been few leaders since the beginning of history who could be +compared with him. It seemed incredible that the smaller numbers so +often conquered the greater, and even when defeated, instead of being +routed, faced the enemy, who had hardly recovered from his injuries, +as threatening and fully equipped as before. Today we praise not only +the field operations of the King, but also the wise prudence with +which he handled his supplies. He knew very well how much he was +limited by having to consider the commissariat, and the thousands of +carts in which he had to take with him the provisions and the daily +supplies of the soldiers; but he also knew that this method was his +only salvation. Once, when after the battle of Rossbach he made the +astonishing march into Silesia--one hundred and eighty-nine miles in +fifteen days--he, in the greatest danger, abandoned his old method. He +made his way through the country as other armies did at that time, +and quartered his men upon the people. But he wisely returned at once +to his old plan. For as soon as his enemies learned to imitate this +free movement, he was certainly doomed. When the old militia in his +ancient provinces rose to arms again, helped to drive out the Swedes, +and bravely defended Colberg and Berlin, he accepted their assistance +without objection; but he took pains not to encourage a guerilla war; +and when his East Frisian peasantry revolted independently against the +French and were severely punished by them for it, he told them with +brutal frankness that it was their own fault, for war was a matter for +soldiers; the business of the peasants and citizens should be +uninterrupted industry, the payment of taxes, and the furnishing of +recruits. He well knew that he was lost if a people's war in Saxony +and Bohemia should be aroused against him. This readiness, indicative +of the cautious general, to restrict himself to military forms, which +alone made the contest possible for him, may be reckoned among his +greatest qualities. + +Louder and louder became the cry of sorrow and admiration with which +Germans and foreigners watched this death-struggle of the lion at bay. +As early as 1740 the young King had been praised by the Protestants as +the champion of freedom of conscience and enlightenment, against +intolerance and the Jesuits. When, a few months after the battle at +Kollin, he completely defeated the French at Rossbach, he became the +hero of Germany. A glad cry of joy broke out everywhere. For two +hundred years the French had done great wrong to the divided country; +now the German national idea began to revolt against the influence of +French culture, and the King, who himself greatly admired Parisian +poetry, had effectively routed the Parisian generals with German +musket balls. It was such a brilliant victory, such a humiliating +defeat of the hereditary enemy, that everywhere in Germany there was +hearty rejoicing. Even where the soldiers of a State were fighting +against King Frederick, the people at home in city and country +rejoiced at the blows he dealt in good old German fashion. And the +longer the war lasted, the more active became the faith in the King's +invincibility, and the higher rose the confidence of the Germans. For +the first time in long, long years they now had a hero of whose +military glory they could be proud--a man who accomplished what seemed +more than human. Innumerable anecdotes about him ran through the +country. Every little touch about his calmness, good humor, kindness +to individual soldiers, and the loyalty of his army, traveled hundreds +of miles. How, in danger of death, he played the flute in his tent, +how his wounded soldiers sang chorals after the battle, how he took +off his hat to a regiment--he has often been imitated since--all this +was reported on the Neckar and the Rhine, was printed, and listened to +with merry laughter and tears of emotion. It was natural that poets +should sing his praise. Three of them had been in the Prussian army: +Gleim and Lessing, as secretaries of Prussian generals, and Ewald von +Kleist, a favorite of the younger literary circles, as an officer, +until the bullet struck him at Kunersdorf. But still more touching for +us is the loyal devotion of the Prussian people. The old provinces, +Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Westphalia, were suffering +unspeakably by the war, but the proud joy of having a share in the +hero of Europe often lifted even humble men above their own +sufferings. Citizens and peasants took the field as militiamen again +and again for years. When a number of recruits from the province of +Cleves and the county of Ravensberg deserted after a lost battle and +returned home, the deserters were declared perjurers by their own +fellow-countrymen and relatives, were excluded from the villages and +driven back to the army. + +Foreign opinion was no less enthusiastic. In the Protestant cantons of +Switzerland there was as warm sympathy with the King's fate as if the +descendants of the Rütli men had never been separated from the German +empire. There were people there who were made ill by vexation when the +King's cause was in a bad way. It was the same in England. Every +victory of the King aroused wild joy in London. Houses were +illuminated and pictures and laudatory poems offered for sale. In +Parliament Pitt announced with admiration every new deed of the great +ally. Even at Paris, in the theatres and salons, people were rather +Prussian than French. The French derided their own generals and the +clique of Madame de Pompadour. Whoever was on the side of the French +arms, so Duclos reports, hardly dared to give expression to his views. +In St. Petersburg, the grand duke Peter and his party were such good +Prussians that they grieved in secret at every reverse of Frederick's +cause. The enthusiasm penetrated even to Turkey and to the Khan of +Tartary; and this respectful admiration of a whole continent outlasted +the war. When Hackert, the painter, was traveling through the interior +of Sicily, a gift of honor of wine and fruit was offered him by the +city council because they had heard that he was a Prussian, a subject +of the great King for whom they wished thereby to show their +reverence; and Muley Ismail, the emperor of Morocco, released without +any ransom the crew of a ship belonging to a citizen of Emden, whom +the Berbers had brought prisoner to Mogador, sent them in new clothes +to Lisbon, and assured them that their King was the greatest man in +the world, that no Prussian should be a prisoner in his land, and that +his cruisers would never attack the Prussian flag. + +Poor oppressed soul of the German people! Long years had passed since +the men between the Rhine and the Oder had felt the joy of being +esteemed above others among the nations of the earth! Now by the magic +of one man's power everything was transformed. The German citizen, +awakened as from an anxious dream, looked out upon the world and +within to his own heart. Men had long vegetated quietly, without a +past in which they could rejoice, without a great future in which they +could hope. Now all at once they felt that they, too, had a share in +the honor and the greatness of the world; that a king and his people, +all of their blood, had given to the German national idea a golden +setting, and to the history of civilization a new meaning. Now they +were experiencing the struggles, ventures, and victories of a great +man. Work on in your study, peaceful thinker, fantastic dreamer! You +have learned over-night to look down with a smile upon foreign ways +and to expect great things of your own talent. Try to realize, now, +what flows from your heart! + +But while the youthful power of the people shook its wings with +enthusiastic warmth, how did the great prince feel who was struggling +ceaselessly against his enemies? The inspiring cry of the people rang +in his ears as a feeble sound. The King heard it almost with +indifference. His heart grew calmer and colder. To be sure, passionate +hours of sorrow and heart-rending cares came to him over and over +again. He kept them hidden from his army; his calm face became harder, +his brow more deeply furrowed, and his expression more rigid. Only +before a few intimates he opened his heart from time to time, and then +for a moment the sorrow of the man who had reached the limits of human +possibilities broke forth. + +Ten days after the battle of Kollin his mother died. A few weeks +afterward he drove in anger his brother August Wilhelm from the army, +because he had not been strong enough to lead it. The next year this +brother died "of sorrow," as the officer of the day announced to the +King. Shortly after he received the news of the death of his sister at +Bayreuth. One after another his generals fell by his side, or lost the +King's confidence, because they were not equal to the superhuman tasks +of this war. His veterans, the pride of his heart, hardened warriors, +seasoned in three fierce wars, who, dying, stretched out their hands +toward him and called his name, were crushed in entire companies about +him, and what came to fill the broad gaps that death incessantly +mowed in his army were young men, some good material, but many +worthless. The King made use of them as he did of others, more +sternly, more severely. His glance and his word gave courage and +devotion even to the inferior sort, but still he knew that all this +was not salvation. His criticism became brief and cutting, his praise +rare. So he lived on; five summers and winters came and went; the work +was gigantic; his thinking and scheming was inexhaustible, his eagle +eye scrutinized searchingly the most remote and petty circumstances, +and yet there was no change, and no hope anywhere. The King read and +wrote in leisure hours just as before; he composed verses and kept up +a correspondence with Voltaire and Algarotti, but he was prepared to +see all this come soon to an end--a swift and sudden one. He carried +in his pocket day and night something which could make him free from +Daun and Laudon. At times the whole affair filled him with disdain. + +The letters of the man from whom Germany dates a new epoch in its +intellectual life deserve to be read with reverence by every German. +When you find him writing to Frau von Camas, "For the last six years I +have felt that it is the living, not the dead, for whom one should be +sorry," if you are shocked by the gloomy energy of his determination +you must beware of thinking that in it the power of this remarkable +spirit found its highest expression. It is true that the King had some +moments of desperation when he longed for death by the enemy's bullet +in order not to be forced to use the capsule which he carried in his +pocket. He was indeed fully determined not to ruin the State by living +as a captive of Austria; to this extent what he writes is terribly +true. But he was also of a poetic temperament, a child of the century +which so longed for great deeds and found such immense satisfaction in +the expression of exalted feelings. He was, to the bottom of his +heart, a German with the same emotional needs as, for instance, the +infinitely weaker Klopstock and his admirers. The consideration and +resolute expression of his final resolve made him freer and more +cheerful at heart. He wrote to his sister at Bayreuth about it in the +momentous second year of the war; and this letter is especially +characteristic, for his sister also was determined not to survive him +and the downfall of his house; and he approved this decision, to +which, by the way, he gave little attention in his gloomy satisfaction +at his own reflections. The two royal children had once secretly +recited, in the house of their stern father, the parts of French +tragedies; now their hearts beat again in the single thought of +freeing themselves by a Catonian death from a life full of +disappointment, confusion, and suffering. But when the excited and +nervous sister fell seriously ill, Frederick forgot all his Stoic +philosophy, and clinging fast to life with a passionate tenderness, +worried and mourned over her who was the dearest to him of his family. +When she died, his poignant grief was perhaps increased by the feeling +that he had interfered in too tragic a manner with a tender woman's +life. Thus, even in the greatest of all Germans born in the first half +of the eighteenth century, poetic feelings, and the wish to appear +beautiful and great, were strangely mingled with the serious realities +of life. Poor little Professor Semler who, while under the deepest +emotion, still studied his attitudes and worked over his polite +phrases, and the great King, who in cool expectation of the hour of +his death, still wrote of suicide in beautifully balanced +periods--both were sons of the same age, in which pathos, which had +not yet found worthy expression in art, luxuriated like climbing +plants about the realities of life. But the King was greater than his +philosophy. In reality he never lost his courage, nor the persistent, +defiant vigor characteristic of the old Germans, nor the secret hope +which a man needs in every difficult task. + +And he held out. The forces of his enemies grew weaker, their generals +were worn out, and their armies were scattered. Finally Russia +withdrew from the coalition. This, and the King's last victories, +turned the balance. He had won. He had not only conquered Silesia, but +vindicated its possession for his Prussian kingdom. But while his +people rejoiced, and the loyal citizens of his capital prepared a +festive reception for him, he shunned their merrymaking and withdrew +silent and alone to Sans Souci. He said that he wished to spend his +remaining days in peace, living for his people. + +In the first twenty-three years of his reign he had struggled +and fought to maintain his power against the world. Twenty-three +years more he was destined to rule peacefully over his people as +a wise, stern patriarch. He guided his State with the greatest +self-denial, though with insistence on his own ways, striving for +the greatest things, but yet in full control even of the smallest. +Many of his ideas have been left behind by the advance of modern +civilization--they were the result of the experiences of his youth +and early manhood. Thought was to be free; every man to think what he +pleased, but to do his duty as a citizen. He himself subordinated his +comfort and his expenditures to the welfare of the State, meeting the +whole expense of the royal household with some two hundred thousand +thalers; thinking first of the advantage of his people and last of +himself. His subjects, in their turn, he felt should bear cheerfully +whatever duties and burdens he imposed upon them. Every one was to +remain in the station in which birth and education had placed him. The +noblemen were to be landholders and officers; to the citizens belonged +the towns, trade, manufacturing, instruction, and invention; to the +peasant, the land and the menial work. But in his sphere each one was +to be prosperous and happy. Equal, strict, ready justice for every +one; no favors to the highborn and rich--rather, in case of doubt, the +humble should have the preference. To increase the number of useful +men; to make every activity as profitable and as perfect as possible; +to buy as little as possible abroad; to produce everything at home, +exporting the surplus--these were the leading principles of his social +and economic theories. He exerted himself incessantly to increase the +acreage of arable land, and to provide new places for settlers. Swamps +were drained, lakes drawn off, dikes thrown up. Canals were dug and +money advanced to found new factories. At the instigation and with the +financial support of the government cities and villages were rebuilt, +more solid and sanitary than they had been before. The farmers' credit +system, fire insurance societies, and the Royal Bank were founded. +Everywhere public schools were established. Educated people were +brought in from abroad; the government officials everywhere were +required to be educated, and regulated by examination and strict +inspection. It is the duty of the historian to enumerate and praise +all this, if also to mention some unsuccessful attempts of the King, +which were inevitable owing to his endeavor to control everything +himself. + +The King cared for all his lands, and by no means least for his child +of sorrow, the newly won Silesia. When he conquered this great +district it had a few more than a million inhabitants. They realized +vividly the contrast between the easy-going Austrian management and +the precise, restless, stirring rule of Prussia. In Vienna the +catalogue of prohibited books had been larger than at Rome; now bales +of books came incessantly from Germany into the province, reading and +buying were astonishingly free, even printed attacks upon the +sovereign himself. In Austria it was the privilege of the aristocracy +to wear foreign cloth. When the father of Frederick the Great of +Prussia had forbidden the importation of cloth, he had first of all +dressed himself and his princes in domestic goods. In Vienna no office +had been considered aristocratic if it implied anything but a nominal +function; all the actual work was a matter for subordinates. A +chamberlain stood higher than a veteran general or minister. In +Prussia even the highest born was little esteemed if he was not useful +to the State, and the King himself was a most exact official, who +watched and scolded over every thousand thalers saved or spent. Any +one in Austria who left the Catholic Church was punished with +confiscation of property and banishment; under the Prussians anybody +could leave or join any church--that was his own affair. Under the +imperial rule the government had been, on the whole, negligent if it +had been forced to occupy itself with any matter; the Prussian +officials had their noses and their hands in everything. In spite of +the three Silesian wars the province grew to be far more prosperous +than it had been under the Empire. Up to this time a hundred years had +not been sufficient to wipe out the visible traces of the Thirty +Years' War. The people remembered well how in the cities the heaps of +rubbish from the time of the Swedish invasions had lain about, and +between the remaining houses there were patches of waste ground +blackened by fire. Many small cities still had log houses in the old +Slavic style, with thatched or shingled roofs, patched up shabbily +from time to time. In a few decades the Prussians removed the traces +not only of former devastations, but also of the recent Seven Years' +War. Frederick laid out several hundred new villages, had fifteen +good-sized towns rebuilt in regular streets--largely with funds from +the royal treasury--and had compelled the landed proprietors to +restore several thousand farms which they had abolished as individual +holdings, and install upon them tenants with rights of succession. +Under the Empire the taxes had been lower, but they had been unfairly +distributed and had fallen chiefly upon the poor, the nobility being +exempt from the greater part of them. The collection was imperfect, +much was embezzled or poorly applied; relatively little came into the +imperial treasury. The Prussians, on the contrary, divided the country +into small districts, appraised every acre of land, and in a few years +abolished almost all exemptions. The outlying country now paid its +land taxes and the cities their excise duties. So the province bore +the double burden with greater ease, and no one but the privileged +classes grumbled; and with all this, it could maintain forty thousand +soldiers, whereas formerly there had been in the province only about +two thousand. Before 1740 the nobility had lived _en grand seigneur_. +All who were Catholic and rich lived in Vienna. Everybody else who +could raise enough money betook himself to Breslau. Now the majority +of landholders lived on their estates, the poverty-stricken nobles +disappeared, the nobility knew that the King honored them if they +looked after the cultivation of the land, and that the new master +showed cold contempt to those who neither managed their estates nor +filled civil or military positions. Formerly lawsuits had been endless +and expensive, hardly to be carried through without bribery and +sacrifice of money. Now it was observed that the number of lawyers +decreased, so quickly came the decisions. Under the Austrians, to be +sure, the caravan trade with the East had been greater; the people of +the Bukowina and Hungary, and also the Poles, turned elsewhere and +were already looking toward Trieste; but in place of this, new +manufacturing industries arose; wool and textiles, and in the mountain +valleys a flourishing linen industry. Many found the new era +uncomfortable, many were really incommoded by its severity; but few +dared to deny that on the whole things had been greatly improved. + +But another thing in the Prussian system was astonishing to the +Silesians, and soon gained a secret power over their minds. This was +the Spartan spirit of devotion on the part of the King's servants, +which appeared so frequently even among the humblest officials; for +instance, the revenue collectors, never popular even before the +introduction of the French system. In this case they were retired +subaltern officers, veteran soldiers of the King, who had won his +battles for him and grown gray in powder smoke. They sat now by the +gates smoking their pipes; with their very small pay they could +indulge in no luxuries; but they were on the spot from early morning +until late at night, doing their duty skilfully, precisely and +quickly, as old soldiers are wont to do. Their minds were always on +their service; it was their honor and their pride. For years to come +old Silesians from the time of the great King used to tell their +grandchildren how the punctuality, strictness, and honesty of the +Prussian officials had astonished them. In every district +headquarters, for instance, there was a tax collector. He lived in his +little office, which was perhaps also his bedroom, and collected in a +great wooden bowl the land taxes, which the village officials brought +into his room monthly on an appointed day. Many thousand thalers were +entered on the lists, and were delivered, to the last penny, to the +great main treasuries. The pay too of such a man was small. He sat and +collected and stowed in purses until his hair became white and his +trembling hands were no longer able to manage the two-groschen pieces. +And it was the pride of his life that the King knew him personally, +and if he ever drove through the place would silently look at him from +his great eyes, while the horses were being changed, or, if he was +very gracious, give him a slight nod. With respect and a certain awe +the people looked upon even these subordinate servants of the new +principle, and the Silesians were not alone in this. Something new had +come into the world in general. It was not a mere figure of speech +when Frederick called himself the foremost servant of his State. As he +had taught his wild nobility on the battlefield that it was the +highest honor to die for the Fatherland, so his untiring, faithful +care forced upon the soul of the least of his servants in the distant +border towns the great idea of the duty of living and working first of +all for the good of his King and his country. + +When the province of Prussia was forced, in the Seven Years' War, to +do homage to Empress Elizabeth, and remained for several years +incorporated in the Russian Empire, the officers of the district found +means nevertheless to raise money and grain for their King in secret, +and in spite of a foreign army and government. Great skill was used to +accomplish the transportation. There were many in the secret, but not +a traitor among them. In disguise they stole through the Russian lines +at the risk of their lives, although they knew that they would reap +small thanks from the King, who did not care for his East Prussians at +all. He spoke contemptuously of them, and showed them unwillingly the +favors which he bestowed on the other provinces. His face turned to +stone whenever he learned that one of his young officers was born +between the Memel and the Vistula, and after the war he never trod on +East Prussian soil. But this conduct did not disturb the East +Prussians in their admiration. They clung with faithful love to +their ungracious lord, and his best and most enthusiastic eulogist was +Emanuel Kant. + +Life in the King's service was serious, often hard--work and +deprivation without end. It was difficult even for the best to satisfy +the strict master; and the greatest devotion received but curt thanks. +If a man was worn out he was likely to be coldly cast aside. There was +work without end everywhere: something new, something beginning, some +scaffolding of an unfinished structure. To a foreign visitor this life +did not seem at all graceful; it was austere, monotonous, and rude, +with little beauty or carefree cheerfulness. And as the King's +bachelor household, his taciturn servants, and the submissive +intimates under the trees of the quiet garden, gave a foreign guest +the impression of a monastery, so in all Prussian institutions he +found something of the renunciation and the discipline of a great busy +monastic brotherhood. + +For something of this spirit had been transmitted even to the people +themselves. Today we honor in this an undying merit of Frederick II., +for this spirit of abnegation is still the secret of the greatness of +the Prussian State, and the final and best guarantee of its +permanence. The artfully constructed machine which the great King had +set up with so much intelligence and effectiveness was not to last +forever; twenty years after his death it broke down; but in the fact +that the State did not perish with it, that the intelligence and +patriotism of the citizens were able of their own accord to establish +under his successors a new life on a new basis, we see the secret of +Frederick's greatness. + +Nine years after the close of the last war which was fought for the +possession of Silesia, Frederick increased his domain by a new +acquisition, not much less in area, but thinly populated--the Polish +districts which have since become German territory under the name of +West Prussia. + +If the King's claims to Silesia had been doubtful, all the acumen of +his officials was now needed to make a show of some uncertain right to +portions of the new acquisition. About this the King himself was +little concerned. He had defended before the world with almost +superhuman heroism the occupation of Silesia. This province was united +to Prussia by streams of blood. In the case of West Prussia the craft +of the politician did the work almost alone, and for a long time the +conqueror lacked in public opinion that justification for his action +which, as it seems, is given by the horrors of war and the capricious +fortune of the battlefield. But this last acquisition of the King's, +though wanting in the thunder of guns and the trumpets of victory, was +yet, of all the great gifts which the German people owe to Frederick +II., the greatest and most abounding in fortunate consequences. +Through several hundred years the Germans had been divided and hemmed +in and encroached upon by neighbors greedy for conquest; the great +King was the first conqueror who again pushed the German boundaries +toward the east. A hundred years after his great ancestor had in vain +defended the fortresses of the Rhine against Louis XIV., Frederick +gave the Germans again the explicit admonition that it was their duty +to carry law, education, liberty, culture, and industry into the east +of Europe. His whole territory, with the exception of a few Old Saxon +districts, had been originally German, then Slavic, then again won +from the Slavs by fierce wars or colonization; never since the +migrations of the Middle Ages had the struggle ceased for the broad +plains east of the Oder; never since the conquest of Brandenburg had +this house forgotten that it was the warden of the German border. +Whenever wars ceased the politicians were busy. The Elector Frederick +William had freed Prussia, the territory of the Teutonic Knights, from +feudal allegiance to Poland. Frederick I. had boldly raised this +isolated colony to a kingdom. But the possession of East Prussia was +insecure. It was not the corrupt republic of Poland which threatened +danger, but the rising power of Russia. Frederick had learned to +respect the Russians as enemies; he knew the soaring ambition of +Empress Catherine, and as a prudent prince seized the right moment. +The new territory--Pomerelia, the _voivodeship_ (administrative +province) of Kulm and Marienburg, the bishopric of Ermeland, the city +of Elbing, a portion of Cujavia, a portion of Posen--united East +Prussia with Pomerania and Brandenburg. It had always been a border +land. Since the early times people of different races had crowded into +the coasts of the Baltic: Germans, Slavs, Lithuanians, and Finns. From +the thirteenth century the Germans had made their way into this +Vistula country as founders of cities and agriculturists: Teutonic +Knights, merchants, pious monks, German noblemen and peasants. On both +sides of the Vistula arose the towers and boundary stones of German +colonies--supreme among them the magnificent city of Danzig, the +Venice of the Baltic, the great seaport of the Slavic countries, with +its rich St. Mary's Church and the palaces of its merchant princes; +and beyond it on another arm of the Vistula, its modest rival, Elbing: +farther up, the stately towers and broad avenues of Marienburg; near +it the great princely castle of the Teutonic order, the most beautiful +architectural monument of Northern Germany; and in the Vistula valley, +on a rich alluvial soil, the old prosperous colonial estates: one of +the most productive countries of the world, protected against the +devastations of the Slavic stream by massive dikes dating back to the +days of the Knights. Still farther up were Marienwerder, Graudenz, +Kulm, and in the low lands of the Netze, Bromberg, the centre of the +German border colonies among a Polish population. Smaller German towns +and village communities were scattered through the whole territory, +and the rich Cistercian monasteries of Oliva and Peplin had been +zealous colonizers. But in the fifteenth century the tyrannical +severity of the Teutonic order had driven the German cities and +landowners of West Prussia to an alliance with Poland. + +The Reformation of the sixteenth century won the submission not only +of the German colonists but of three-quarters of the nobility in the +great republic of Poland; and toward 1590 about seventy out of a +hundred parishes in the Slavic district of Pomerelia were Protestant. +It seemed for a short time as if a new commonwealth and a new culture +were about to develop in the Slavic East--a great Polish State with +German elements in the cities. But the introduction of the Jesuits +brought an unsalutary change. The Polish nobility returned to the +Catholic Church: in the Jesuit schools their sons were trained to +proselytizing fanaticism, and from that time on the Polish State +declined, conditions becoming worse and worse. + +The attitude of the Germans in West Prussia was not uniform toward the +proselytizing Jesuits and Slavic tyranny. A large proportion of the +immigrant German nobles became Catholic and Polish; the townsmen and +peasants remained for the most part obstinately Protestant. So there +was added to the conflict in language conflict in religious creed, and +to race hatred a religious frenzy. In this century of enlightenment +the persecution of Germans in these districts became fanatical. One +church after another was torn down, the wooden ones set on fire, and +after the church was burned the village had lost its right to a +parish: German preachers and school teachers were driven out and +disgracefully maltreated. "_Vexa Lutheranum dabit thalerum_" ("harry a +Lutheran and he will give up a thaler") was the usual motto of the +Poles against the Germans. One of the greatest landowners in the +country, a certain Unruh of the Birnbaum family, the starost of +Gnesen, was sentenced to die, after having his tongue pulled out and +his hands chopped off, because he had copied from German books into a +notebook sarcastic remarks about the Jesuits. There was no more +justice, no more safety. The national party of the Polish nobility, in +alliance with fanatic priests, persecuted most passionately those whom +they hated as Germans and Protestants. All sorts of plunder-loving +rabble collected on the side of the "patriots" or "confederates." They +collected into bands, overran the country in search of plunder, and +fell upon the smaller towns and German villages, not only from +religious zeal, but still more from the greed of booty. The Polish +nobleman Roskowsky wore boots of different colors, a red one to +indicate fire, and a black one for death. Thus he rode, levying +blackmail, from one place to another, and in Jastrow he had the hands, +the feet, and finally the head of the Protestant preacher Willich cut +off and thrown into a swamp. This happened in 1768. + +Such was the condition of the country just before the Prussian +occupation. It was a state of things that might perhaps be found now +in Bosnia, but would be unheard of in the most wretched corner of +Christian Europe. + +While still only a boy of twelve in the palace in Berlin, Frederick +the Great had been reminded by his father's anger and sorrow that the +kings of Prussia had a duty as protectors toward the German colonies +on the Vistula. For in 1724 a loud call from that quarter for help had +rung through Germany, and the bloody tragedy at Thorn became an +important subject of public interest and of diplomacy. During a +procession which the Jesuits were conducting through the city, some +Polish nobles of the Jesuit college had insulted some citizens and +schoolboys, and the angered populace had broken into the Jesuit school +and college and inflicted damage. This petty street-riot had been +brought up in the Polish parliament, sitting as a trial court, and the +parliament, after a passionate speech by the leader of the Jesuits, +had condemned to death the two burgomasters of the city and sixteen +citizens; whereupon the Jesuit party hastened to put to death the head +burgomaster, Rössner, and nine citizens, in some cases with barbarous +cruelty. The church of St. Mary was taken from the Protestants, the +clergymen driven out, and the school closed. King Frederick William +had tried in vain at the time to help the unfortunate city. He had +prevailed upon all the neighboring powers to send stern notes, and had +felt himself bitterly grieved and humiliated when all his +representations were disregarded; now after fifty years his son came +to put an end to this barbarous disorder, and to unite again with +Prussia this land which before the Polish sovereignty had belonged to +the Teutonic order. + +[Illustration: FREDERICK THE GREAT ON A PLEASURE TRIP +_From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_] + +Danzig, to be sure, indispensable to the Poles, maintained itself +through these decades of disorder in aristocratic seclusion. It +remained a free city under Slavic protection, for a long time +suspicious of the great King and not well disposed toward him. Thorn +also had to wait twenty years longer in oppression, separated from the +other German colonies, as a Polish border city. But the energetic +assistance of the King saved the country and most of the German towns +from destruction. The Prussian officials who were sent into the +country were astonished at the desolation of the unheard-of situation +which existed but a few days' journey from their capital. Only certain +larger towns, in which the German life had been protected by strong +walls and the old market traffic, and some sheltered country +districts, inhabited exclusively by Germans (such as the lowlands near +Danzig, the villages under the mild rule of the Cistercians of Oliva, +and the prosperous German places of the Catholic Ermeland), were left +in tolerable condition. Other towns lay in ruins, as did most of the +farmsteads of the open country. The Prussians found Bromberg, a German +colonial city, in ruins; and it is even yet impossible to determine +exactly how the city came into that condition. In fact, the +vicissitudes which the whole Netze district had undergone in the last +nine years before the Prussian occupation are completely unknown. No +historian, no document, no chronicle, gives reports of the destruction +and the slaughter which must have raged there. Evidently the Polish +factions fought between themselves, and crop failures and pestilence +may have done the rest. Kulm had preserved from an earlier time its +well-built walls and stately churches, but in the streets the +foundation walls of the cellars stood out of the decaying wood and +broken tiles of the crumbled buildings. There were whole streets of +nothing but such cellar rooms in which wretched people lived. Of the +forty houses of the main market-place twenty-eight had no doors, no +roofs, no windows, and no owners. Other cities were in a similar +condition. + +The majority of the country people also lived in circumstances which +seemed pitiable to the King's officers, especially on the borders of +Pomerania, where the Wendish Cassubians dwelt. Whoever approached a +village there saw gray huts with ragged thatch on a bare plain without +a tree, without a garden--only the wild cherry-trees were indigenous. +The houses were built of poles daubed with clay. The entrance door +opened into a room with a great fireplace and no chimney; heating +stoves were unknown. Seldom was a candle lighted, only pineknots +brightened the darkness of the long winter evenings. The chief article +of the wretched furniture was a crucifix with a holy water basin +below. The filthy and uncouth people lived on rye porridge, often on +herbs which they cooked like cabbage in a soup, on herrings, and on +brandy, to which women as well as men were addicted. Bread was baked +only by the richest. Many had never in their lives tasted such a +delicacy; few villages had an oven. If the people ever kept bees they +sold the honey to the city dwellers, they also trafficked in carved +spoons and stolen bark; in exchange for these they got at the fairs +their coarse blue cloth coats, black fur caps, and bright red +kerchiefs for the women. Looms were rare and spinning-wheels were +unknown. The Prussians heard there no popular songs, no dances, no +music--pleasures which even the most wretched Pole does not give up; +stupid and clumsy, the people drank their wretched brandy, fought, and +fell into the corners. And the country nobility were hardly different +from the peasants; they drove their own primitive plows and clattered +about in wooden shoes on the earthen floors of their cottages. It was +difficult even for the King of Prussia to help these people. Only the +potato spread quickly; but for a long time the fruit-trees which had +been planted by order were destroyed by the people, and all other +attempts at promoting agriculture met with opposition. + +Just as poverty-stricken and ruined were the border districts with a +Polish population. But the Polish peasant in all his poverty and +disorder at least kept the greater vivacity of his race. Even on the +estates of the higher nobility, of the starosts, and of the crown, all +the farm buildings were dilapidated and useless. Any one who wished to +send a letter must employ a special messenger, for there was no post +in the country. To be sure, no need was felt of one in the villages, +for most of the nobility knew no more of reading and writing than the +peasants. If any one fell ill, he found no help but the secret +remedies of some old village crone, for there was not an apothecary in +the whole country. If any one needed a coat he could do no better than +take needle in hand himself--for many miles there was no tailor, +unless one of the trade made a trip through the country on the chances +of finding work. If any one wished to build a house he must provide +for artisans from the West as best he could. The country people were +still living in a hopeless struggle with the packs of wolves, and +there were few villages in which every winter men and animals were not +decimated. If the smallpox broke out, or any other contagious disease +came upon the country, the people saw the white image of pestilence +flying through the air and alighting upon their cottages; they knew +what such an apparition meant: it was the desolation of their homes, +the wiping out of whole communities; and with gloomy resignation they +awaited their fate. There was hardly anything like justice in the +country. Only the larger cities maintained powerless courts. The +noblemen and the starosts inflicted their punishments with +unrestrained caprice. They habitually beat and threw into horrible +dungeons not only the peasants but the citizens of the country towns +who were ruled by them or fell into their hands. In the quarrels which +they had with one another, they fought by bribery in the few courts +which had jurisdiction over them. In later years that too had almost +ceased. They sought vengeance with their own resources, by sudden +onslaughts and bloody sword-play. + +It was in reality an abandoned country without discipline, without +law, without masters. It was a desert; on about 13,000 square miles +500,000 people lived, less than forty to a square mile. And the +Prussian King treated his acquisition like an uninhabited prairie. He +located boundary stones almost at his pleasure, then moved them some +miles farther again. Up to the present time the tradition remains in +Ermeland, the district around Heilberg and Braunsberg, with twelve +towns and a hundred villages, that two Prussian drummers with twelve +men conquered all Ermeland with four drumsticks. And then the King in +his magnificent manner began to build up the country. He was attracted +by precisely these run-down conditions, and West Prussia henceforth +became, as Silesia had been before, his favorite child, which with +infinite care, like a dutiful mother, he washed and brushed, provided +with new clothes, forced into school and good behavior, and never let +out of his sight. The diplomatic negotiations about the conquest were +still going on when he sent a troop of his best officials into the +wilderness. The territory was subdivided into small districts, in the +shortest possible time the whole land area was appraised and equitably +taxed, each district provided with a provincial magistrate, with a +court, and with post-offices and sanitary police. New parishes were +called into life as if by magic, a company of 187 school teachers was +brought into the country--the worthy Semler had chosen and drilled +part of them--and squads of German artisans were got together, from +the machinist down to the brickmaker. Everywhere was heard the bustle +of digging, hammering, building. The cities were filled with +colonists, street after street rose from the ruins, the estates of the +starosts were changed into crown estates, new villages of colonists +were laid out, new agricultural enterprises ordered. In the first year +after the occupation the great canal was dug, which in a course of a +dozen miles or so unites the Vistula by way of the Netze with the Oder +and the Elbe. A year after the King issued the order for the canal he +saw with his own eyes laden Oder barges 120 feet long enter the +Vistula, bound east. Through the new waterway broad stretches of land +were drained and immediately filled with German colonists. Incessantly +the King urged on, praised, and censured. However great the zeal of +his officials was, it was seldom able to satisfy him. In this way, in +a few years, the wild Slavic weeds which had sprung up here and there +even over the German fields were brought under control, and the Polish +districts, too, got used to the orderliness of the new life; and West +Prussia showed itself, in the wars after 1806, almost as stoutly +Prussian as the old provinces. + +While the gray-haired King planned and created, year after year passed +over his thoughtful head. His surroundings became stiller and more +solitary; the circle of men whom he took into his confidence became +smaller. He had laid aside his flute, and the new French literature +appeared to him shallow and tedious. Sometimes it seemed to him as if +a new life were budding under him in Germany, but he was a stranger to +it. He worked untiringly for his army and for the prosperity of his +people; the instruments he used were of less and less importance to +him, while his feeling for the great duties of his crown became ever +loftier and more passionate. + +But just as his seven years' struggle in war may be called superhuman, +so now there was in his work something tremendous, which appeared to +his contemporaries sometimes more than earthly and sometimes inhuman. +It was great, but it was also terrible, that for him the prosperity of +the whole was at any moment the highest thing, and the comfort of the +individual so utterly nothing. When he drove out of the service with +bitter censure, in the presence of his men, a colonel whose regiment +had made a vexatious mistake on review; when in the swamp land of the +Netze he counted more the strokes of the 10,000 spades than the +sufferings of the workmen who lay ill with malarial fever in the +hospitals he had erected for them; when he anticipated with his +restless demands the most rapid execution, there was, though united +with the deepest respect and devotion, a feeling of awe among his +people, as before one whose being is moved by some unearthly power. He +appeared to the Prussians as the fate of the State, unaccountable, +inexorable, omniscient, comprehending the greatest as well as the +smallest. And when they told each other that he had also tried to +overcome Nature, and that yet his orange trees had perished in the +last frosts of spring, then they quietly rejoiced that there was a +limit for their King after all, but still more that he had submitted +to it with such good-humor and had taken off his hat to the cold days +of May. + +With touching sympathy the people collected all the incidents of the +King's life which showed human feeling, and thus gave an intimate +picture of him. Lonesome as his house and garden were, the imagination +of his Prussians hovered incessantly around the consecrated place. If +any one on a warm moonlight night succeeded in getting into the +vicinity of the palace, he found the doors open, perhaps without a +guard, and he could see the great King sleeping in his room on a camp +bed. The fragrance of the flowers, the song of the night birds, the +quiet moonlight, were the only guards, almost the only courtiers of +the lonely man. Fourteen times the oranges bloomed at Sans Souci after +the acquisition of West Prussia--then Nature asserted her rights over +the great King. He died alone, with but his servants about him. + +He had set out in his prime with an ambitious spirit and had wrested +from fate all the great and magnificent prizes of life. A prince of +poets and philosophers, a historian and general, no triumph which he +had won had satisfied him. All earthly glory had become to him +fortuitous, uncertain and worthless, and he had kept only his iron +sense of duty incessantly active. His soul had grown up and out of the +dangerous habit of alternating between warm enthusiasm and sober +keenness of perception. Once he had idealized with poetic caprice some +individuals, and despised the masses that surrounded him. But in the +struggles of his life he lost all selfishness, he lost almost +everything which was personally dear to him; and at last came to set +little value upon the individual, while the need of living for the +whole grew stronger and stronger in him. With the most refined +selfishness he had desired the greatest things for himself, and +unselfishly at last he gave himself for the common good and the +happiness of the humble people. He had entered upon life as an +idealist, and even the most terrible experiences had not destroyed +these ideals but ennobled and purified them. He had sacrificed many +men for his State, but no one so completely as himself. + +Such a phenomenon appeared unusual and great to his contemporaries; it +seems still greater to us who can trace even today in the character of +our people, in our political life, and in our art and literature, the +influence of his activities. + + * * * * + + + + +THE LIFE OF THEODOR FONTANE + +By WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M. + +Associate Professor of German, Leland Stanford Jr. University + + +Theodor Fontane was by both his parents a descendant of French +Huguenots. His grandfather Fontane, while teaching the princes of +Prussia the art of drawing, won the friendship of Queen Luise, who +later appointed him her private secretary. Our poet's father, Louis +Fontane, served his apprenticeship as an apothecary in Berlin. In 1818 +the stately Gascon married Emilie Labry, whose ancestors had come from +the Cevennes, not far from the region whence the Fontanes had +emigrated to Germany. The young couple moved to Neu-Ruppin, where they +bought an apothecary's shop. Here Theodor was born on the thirtieth of +December, 1819. + +Louis Fontane was irresponsible and fantastic, full of _bonhomie_, and +an engaging story teller. He possessed a "stupendous" fund of +anecdotes of Napoleon and his marshals, and told them with such charm +that his son acquired an unusual fondness for anecdotes, which he +indulges extensively in some of his writings, particularly the +autobiographical works and books of travel. The problem of making both +ends meet seems to have occupied the father less than the +gratification of his "noble passions," chief among which was card +playing. He gambled away so much money that in eight years he was +forced to sell his business and move to other parts. He purposely +continued the search for a new business as long as possible, but +finally bought an apothecary's shop in Swinemünde. + +His young wife was passionate and independent, energetic and +practical, but unselfish. To her husband's democratic tendency she +opposed a strong aristocratic leaning. Their ill fortune in Neu-Ruppin +affected her nerves so seriously that she went to Berlin for treatment +while the family was moving. + +In Swinemünde the father put the children in the public school, but +when the aristocratic mother arrived from Berlin she took them out, +and for a time the little ones were taught at home. The unindustrious +father was prevailed upon to divide with the mother the burden of +teaching them and undertook the task with a mild protest, employing +what he humorously designated the "Socratic method." He taught +geography and history together, chiefly by means of anecdotes, with +little regard for accuracy or thoroughness. Though his method was far +from Socratic, it interested young Theodor and left an impression on +him for life. His mother confined her efforts mainly to the +cultivation of a good appearance and gentle manners, for, as one might +perhaps expect of the daughter of a French silk merchant, she valued +outward graces above inward culture, and she avowedly had little +respect for the authority of scholars and books. + +After a while an arrangement was made whereby Theodor shared for two +years the private lessons given by a Dr. Lau to the children of a +neighbor, and "whatever backbone his knowledge possessed" he owed to +this instruction. A similar arrangement was made with the private +tutor who succeeded Dr. Lau. He had the children learn the most of +Schiller's ballads by heart. Fontane always remained grateful for +this, probably because it was as a writer of ballads that he first won +recognition. If we look upon the ballad as a poetically heightened +form of anecdote we discover an element of unity in his early +education, and that will help us to understand why the technique of +his novels shows such a marked influence of the ballad. + +"How were we children trained?" asks Fontane in _My Childhood Years_. +"Not at all, and excellently," is his answer, referring to the lack of +strict parental discipline in the home and to the quiet influence of +his mother's example. + +[Illustration: _Permission Berlin Photo Co, New York_ +THEODOR FONTANE HANNS FECHNER] + +Among the notable events of the five years Theodor spent in +Swinemünde, were the liberation of Greece, the war between Russia and +Turkey, the conquest of Algiers, the revolution in France, the +separation of Belgium from Holland, and the Polish insurrection. +Little wonder that the lad watched eagerly for the arrival of the +newspapers and quickly devoured their contents. + +In Swinemünde the family again lived beyond their means. The father's +extravagance and his passion for gambling showed no signs of +abatement. The mother was very generous in the giving of presents, for +she said that what money they had would be spent anyhow and it might +as well go for some useful purpose. The city being a popular summer +resort, they had a great many guests from Berlin during the season, +and in the winter they frequently entertained Swinemünde friends. + +Theodor left home at the age of twelve to begin his preparation for +life. The first year he spent at the gymnasium in Neu-Ruppin. The +following year (1833) he was sent to an industrial school in Berlin. +There he lived with his uncle August, whose character and financial +management remind one of our poet's father. Theodor was irregular in +his attendance at school and showed more interest in the newspapers +and magazines than in his studies. At the age of sixteen he became the +apprentice of a Berlin apothecary with the expectation of eventually +succeeding his father in business. After serving his apprenticeship he +was employed as assistant dispenser by apothecaries in Berlin, Burg, +Leipzig, and Dresden. When he reached the age of thirty he became a +full-fledged dispenser and was in a position to manage the business of +his father, but the latter had long ago retired and moved to the +village of Letschin. The Fontane home was later broken up by the +mutual agreement of the parents to dissolve their unhappy union. The +father went first to Eberswalde and then to Schiffmühle, where he died +in 1867; the mother returned to Neu-Ruppin and died there in 1869. + +The beginning of Theodor's first published story appeared in the +_Berliner Figaro_ a few days before he was twenty years of age. The +same organ had previously contained some of his lyrics and ballads. +The budding poet had belonged to a Lenau Club and the fondness he had +there acquired for Lenau's poetry remained unchanged throughout his +long life, which is more than can be said of many literary products +that won his admiration in youth. He also joined a Platen Club, which +afforded him less literary stimulus, but far more social pleasure. +During his year in Leipzig he brought himself to the notice of +literary circles by the publication, in the _Tageblatt_, of a +satirical poem entitled _Shakespeare's Stocking_. As a result he was +made a member of the Herwegh Club, where he met, among others, the +celebrated Max Müller, who remained his life-long friend. After a year +in Dresden Fontane returned to Leipzig, hoping to be able to support +himself there by his writings. He made the venture too soon. When he +ran short of funds he visited his parents for a while and then went to +Berlin to serve his year in the army (1844). He was granted a furlough +of two weeks for a trip to London at the expense of a friend. In +Berlin he joined a Sunday Club, humorously called the "Tunnel over the +Spree," at the meetings of which original literary productions were +read and frankly criticised. During the middle of the nineteenth +century almost all the poetic lights of Berlin were members of the +"Tunnel." Heyse, Storm, and Dahn were on the roll, and Fontane came +into touch with them; he and Storm remained friends in spite of the +fact that Storm once called him "frivolous." Fontane later evened the +score by classing Storm among the "sacred kiss monopolists." The most +productive members of the Club during this period (1844-54) were +Fontane, Scherenberg, Hesekiel, and Heinrich Smidt. Smidt, sometimes +called the Marryat of Germany, was a prolific spinner of yarns, which +were interesting, though of a low quality. He employed, however, many +of the same motives that Fontane later put to better use. Hesekiel was +a voluminous writer of light fiction. From him Fontane learned to +discard high-sounding phrases and to cultivate the true-to-life tone +of spoken speech. Scherenberg, enthusiastically heralded as the +founder of a new epic style, confined himself largely to poetic +descriptions of battles. + +When Fontane joined the "Tunnel" the particular _genre_ of poetry in +vogue at the meetings was the ballad, due to Strachwitz's clever +imitations of Scottish models. Fontane's lyrics were too much like +Herwegh's to win applause, but his ballads were enthusiastically +received. One, in celebration of Derfflinger, established his standing +in the Club, and one in honor of Zieten brought him permanently into +favor with a wider public; these poems were composed in 1846. Two +years later he read two books that for a long time determined his +literary trend--Percy's _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_ and +Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_. He began to write ballads +on English subjects and one of them, _Archibald Douglas_, created a +great sensation at the "Tunnel" meeting and has ever since maintained +its place among the best German poems. Its popularity is partly due to +the fact that it was so appropriately set to music by Carl Löwe. When +Fontane returned to Berlin in 1852, after a summer's absence in +England, he felt estranged from the "Tunnel" and ceased attending the +meetings. Two noblemen members, von Lepel and von Merckel, who had +become his friends, introduced him to the country nobility of the Mark +of Brandenburg, which enabled him to make valuable additions to his +portfolio of studies later drawn upon for his novels, among others, +_Effi Briest_. + +In 1847 Fontane passed the apothecary's examination by a "hair's +breadth" and soon found employment in Berlin. In the March Revolution +(1848) he played a comical rôle, but was subsequently elected a +delegate to the first convention to choose a representative. For a +year and a quarter he taught two deaconesses pharmacy at an +institution called "Bethany." When that employment came to an end he +decided that the hoped-for time had finally arrived to give up the +dispensing of medicines and earn his living by his pen. Some of his +new ballads were accepted by the _Morgenblatt_, and a volume of +verses, dedicated to his fiancée, found a publisher. When news arrived +of the victory of Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein at Idstedt (1850) he +set out for Kiel to enlist in the army. In Altona he received a letter +offering him a position in the press department of the Prussian +Ministry of the Interior. He accepted immediately and at the same time +wrote to Emilie Kummer, to whom he had been engaged for five years, +proposing that they should be married in October. She hastened to +secure an apartment in Berlin and furnish it, and the wedding was +celebrated on the sixteenth of October. Fontane thought he had entered +the harbor of success, but he lost his ministerial position in six +weeks and was again at sea. He had, however, a companion ready to +share his trials and triumphs, and their union proved to be very +happy. + +In the summer of 1852 he was sent by the Prussian Ministry to London +to study English conditions and write reports for the government +journals, _Preussische Zeitung_ and _Die Zeit_. In 1855 he was again +sent to England, and this time his journalistic engagement lasted for +four years. Accounts of his experiences are contained in _A Summer in +London_ (1854) and _Beyond the Tweed_ (1860). From 1860 to 1870 he was +on the staff of the _Kreuzzeitung_ and during this time served as a +war correspondent in the campaigns of 1864, 1866, and 1870-71. While +accompanying the army in France he was seized with a desire to visit +the home of Joan of Arc at Domrémy, and was captured, taken for a spy, +and imprisoned for a time on the island of Oléron in the Atlantic +Ocean. An interesting account of his experiences is given in _Prisoner +of War_ (1871). During his years in England he had taken advantage of +the opportunity to visit Scotland and familiarize himself with its +picturesque beauties and its wealth of historical and literary +associations. In the midst of these travels the thought had occurred +to him that his own Mark of Brandenburg had its beauties, too, and its +wealth of associations. On returning to Berlin he began his long +series of journeyings through his native province, making a thorough +study of both country and people, particularly the Junkers, for which +his trained powers of observation, combined with warm patriotism and +true love of historical research, eminently fitted him. His published +records of these travels, _Rambles through the Mark of Brandenburg_ +(1862-81) and _Five Castles_ (1889), won for him the title of the +interpreter of the Mark. His right to this distinction was further +established by the novels in which he later employed the fruits of +these studies. + +Fontane is equally celebrated as an interpreter of Berlin, where he +lived for over fifty years, being the one prominent German writer to +identify himself with a great city. His two autobiographical works, +_From Twenty to Thirty_ and _C.F. Scherenberg_, tell of his early +experiences in the Prussian capital. From 1870 to 1889 he was dramatic +critic for the _Vossische Zeitung_, for which he reviewed the +performances at the Royal Theatre. In one of his last criticisms he +hailed Hauptmann as a dramatist of promise. In 1876 he was elected +secretary of the Berlin Academy of Arts, but served only a brief time. +In 1891 the Emperor made him a present of three thousand marks for his +services to German literature. In 1894 the University of Berlin +bestowed upon him the honorary title of doctor of philosophy. He died +on the twentieth day of September, 1898. + +Fontane's lyric poetry in the narrower sense is not of a high order; +in fact almost none of his writings show the true lyric quality. There +is also a striking lack of the dramatic element in his works, and he +seems to have felt this limitation of his genius, for he studiously +avoided the portrayal of scenes that might prove intensely dramatic. +As a writer of ballads he excelled and ranks among the foremost of +Germany. The British subjects he treated were impressed upon him +during his travels in England and his study of English history. His +German themes were taken largely from Prussian history, particularly +the period of Frederick the Great. His permanent place in the history +of German literature is due, however, not so much to his verse as to +his prose writings. He is best known as a novelist, and in the field +of the modern novel he is one of the most conspicuous figures. + +German novels of the older school were usually too long for a single +volume. Fontane's first important work of fiction, _Before the Storm_, +filled four volumes; but he had so much trouble in finding a publisher +for it that he began to write one-volume novels, introducing a +practice which has since become the common tradition. He employed in +them a typical feature of the technique of the ballad, which leaps +from one situation to another, leaving gaps to be filled by the fancy +of the reader. He says himself, in _Before the Storm_: "I have always +observed that the leaping action of the ballad is one of the chief +characteristics and beauties of this branch of poetry. All that is +necessary is that fancy be given the right kind of a stimulus. When +that end is attained, one may boldly assert, the less told the +better." + +At the beginning of Fontane's career the Berlin novelists were +disciples of Scott, but the only one to survive was Alexis, who +adapted Scott's method to the Mark of Brandenburg. Fontane imitated +him in _Before the Storm_ (1878), which deals with conditions in the +Mark before the wars of liberation. _Schach von Wuthenow_ (1883), a +sort of prelude to _Before the Storm_, was far superior as a novel and +helped to establish Fontane's supremacy among his contemporaries, for +he had become the leader of the younger generation after the +publication of two stories of crimes, _Grete Minde_ (1880) and +_Ellernklipp_ (1881), and the creation of the modern Berlin novel, in +_L'Adultera_ (1882). _L'Adultera_ unfolds the history of a marriage of +reason between a young wife and a considerably older husband, a +situation which Fontane later treated, with important variations and +ever increasing skill, in _Count Petöfi_ (1884), _Cécile_ (1887), and +_Effi Briest_ (1895). With his inexhaustible fund of observation to +draw upon he could make the action of his novels a minor consideration +and concentrate his rare psychological powers upon realistic +conversations in which characters reveal themselves and incidentally +acquaint us intimately with others. We see and hear what the world +ordinarily sees and hears. A past master in the art of suggestion, +which he acquired in his ballad period, Fontane omits many scenes that +others would elaborate with minute detail, such as love scenes and +passionate crises, and contents himself with bringing vividly before +us his true-to-life figures in their historical and social +environments. As a conservative Prussian he believed in the supremacy +of the law and the punishment of transgression, and his works reflect +this belief. + +_Trials and Tribulations_ (1887) and _Stine_ (1890) were the first +German novels absolutely to avoid the introduction of exciting scenes +merely for effect. These histories of mismated couples from different +social strata are recounted with hearty simplicity, deep understanding +of life, and frank recognition of human weakness, but without +condemnation, tears, or pointing a moral. They made Fontane famous. +_Frau Jenny Treibel_ (1892), an exquisitely humorous picture of the +Berlin _bourgeoisie_, and _Effi Briest_ "the most profound miracle of +Fontane's youthful art," added considerably to the fame of the +gray-haired "modern," while _The Poggenpuhls_ (1896) and _Stechlin_ +(1898) won him further laurels at a time when most writers would long +ago have been resting on those they had already achieved. If a line +were drawn to represent graphically his productivity from his sixtieth +year on, it would take the form of a gradually rising curve. + +His career as a novelist began so late in life that when he once +discovered his particular field he cultivated it with persistent +diligence and would not allow himself to be drawn away by enthusiasts +into other fields. Strength of character was not, however, a new +phenomenon in his life, for as long ago as the days when he was an +active member of the "Tunnel" he had come in close contact with the +Kugler coterie in Berlin, where the so-called Munich school +originated, and yet he did not follow his friends in that eclectic +movement. So when the naturalistic school of writers began to win +enthusiastic support, even though he found himself in the main in +sympathy with their announced creed, he did not join them in practice. +He felt that what the literature of the Fatherland needed was +"originality," and he sought to attain it in his own way, apart from +storm and stress. As his mind matured through accumulated knowledge of +the world, and his heart mellowed through years of experience and +observation, he rose to a point of view above sentiment and prejudice, +where the fogs of passion melt away and the light of kindly wisdom +shines. + +[Illustration: FONTANE MONUMENT AT NEU RUPPIN.] + + * * * * * + +_THEODOR FONTANE_ + + * * * * * + + + + +EFFI BRIEST (1895) + + +TRANSLATED AND ABRIDGED BY WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M. + +Associate Professor of German, Leland Stanford Jr. University + + +CHAPTER I + + +In front of the old manor house occupied by the von Briest family +since the days of Elector George William, the bright sunshine was +pouring down upon the village road, at the quiet hour of noon. The +wing of the mansion looking toward the garden and park cast its broad +shadow over a white and green checkered tile walk and extended out +over a large round bed, with a sundial in its centre and a border of +Indian shot and rhubarb. Some twenty paces further, and parallel to +the wing of the house, there ran a churchyard wall, entirely covered +with a small-leaved ivy, except at the place where an opening had been +made for a little white iron gate. Behind this arose the shingled +tower of Hohen-Cremmen, whose weather vane glistened in the sunshine, +having only recently been regilded. The front of the house, the wing, +and the churchyard wall formed, so to speak, a horseshoe, inclosing a +small ornamental garden, at the open side of which was seen a pond, +with a small footbridge and a tied-up boat. Close by was a swing, with +its crossboard hanging from two ropes at either end, and its frame +posts beginning to lean to one side. Between the pond and the circular +bed stood a clump of giant plane trees, half hiding the swing. + +The terrace in front of the manor house, with its tubbed aloe plants +and a few garden chairs, was an agreeable place to sit on cloudy days, +besides affording a variety of things to attract the attention. But, +on days when the hot sun beat down there, the side of the house toward +the garden was given a decided preference, especially by the mother +and the daughter of the house. On this account they were today sitting +on the tile walk in the shade, with their backs to the open windows, +which were all overgrown with wild grape-vines, and by the side of a +little projecting stairway, whose four stone steps led from the +garden to the ground floor of the wing of the mansion. Both mother and +daughter were busy at work, making an altar cloth out of separate +squares, which they were piecing together. Skeins of woolen yarn of +various colors, and an equal variety of silk thread lay in confusion +upon a large round table, upon which were still standing the luncheon +dessert plates and a majolica dish filled with fine large +gooseberries. + +Swiftly and deftly the wool-threaded needles were drawn back and +forth, and the mother seemed never to let her eyes wander from the +work. But the daughter, who bore the Christian name of Effi, laid +aside her needle from time to time and arose from her seat to practice +a course of healthy home gymnastics, with every variety of bending and +stretching. It was apparent that she took particular delight in these +exercises, to which she gave a somewhat comical turn, and whenever she +stood there thus engaged, slowly raising her arms and bringing the +palms of her hands together high above her head, her mother would +occasionally glance up from her needlework, though always but for a +moment and that, too, furtively, because she did not wish to show how +fascinating she considered her own child, although in this feeling of +motherly pride she was fully justified. Effi wore a blue and white +striped linen dress, a sort of smock-frock, which would have shown no +waist line at all but for the bronze-colored leather belt which she +drew up tight. Her neck was bare and a broad sailor collar fell over +her shoulders and back. In everything she did there was a union of +haughtiness and gracefulness, and her laughing brown eyes betrayed +great natural cleverness and abundant enjoyment of life and goodness +of heart. She was called the "little girl," which she had to suffer +only because her beautiful slender mother was a full hand's breadth +taller than she. + +Effi had just stood up again to perform her calisthenic exercises when +her mother, who at the moment chanced to be looking up from her +embroidery, called to her: "Effi, you really ought to have been an +equestrienne, I'm thinking. Always on the trapeze, always a daughter +of the air. I almost believe you would like something of the sort." + +"Perhaps, mama. But if it were so, whose fault would it be? From whom +do I get it? Why, from no one but you. Or do you think, from papa? +There, it makes you laugh yourself. And then, why do you always dress +me in this rig, this boy's smock? Sometimes I fancy I shall be put +back in short clothes yet. Once I have them on again I shall courtesy +like a girl in her early teens, and when our friends in Rathenow come +over I shall sit in Colonel Goetze's lap and ride a trot horse. Why +not? He is three-fourths an uncle and only one-fourth a suitor. You +are to blame. Why don't I have any party clothes? Why don't you make a +lady of me?" + +"Should you like me to?" + +"No." With that she ran to her mother, embraced her effusively and +kissed her. + +"Not so savagely, Effi, not so passionately. I am always disturbed +when I see you thus." + +At this point three young girls stepped into the garden through the +little iron gate in the churchyard wall and started along the gravel +walk toward the round bed and the sundial. They all waved their +umbrellas at Effi and then ran up to Mrs. von Briest and kissed her +hand. She hurriedly asked a few questions and then invited the girls +to stay and visit with them, or at least with Effi, for half an hour. +"Besides, I have something else that I must do and young folks like +best to be left to themselves. Fare ye well." With these words she +went up the stone steps into the house. + +Two of the young girls, plump little creatures, whose freckles and +good nature well matched their curly red hair, were daughters of +Precentor Jahnke, who swore by the Hanseatic League, Scandinavia, and +Fritz Reuter, and following the example of his favorite writer and +fellow countryman, had named his twin daughters Bertha and Hertha, in +imitation of Mining and Lining. The third young lady was Hulda +Niemeyer, Pastor Niemeyer's only child. She was more ladylike than the +other two, but, on the other hand, tedious and conceited, a lymphatic +blonde, with slightly protruding dim eyes, which, nevertheless, seemed +always to be seeking something, for which reason the Hussar Klitzing +once said: "Doesn't she look as though she were every moment +expecting the angel Gabriel?" Effi felt that the rather captious +Klitzing was only too right in his criticism, yet she avoided making +any distinction between the three girl friends. Nothing could have +been farther from her mind at this moment. Resting her arms on the +table, she exclaimed: "Oh, this tedious embroidery! Thank heaven, you +are here." + +"But we have driven your mama away," said Hulda. + +"Oh no. She would have gone anyhow. She is expecting a visitor, an old +friend of her girlhood days. I must tell you a story about him later, +a love story with a real hero and a real heroine, and ending with +resignation. It will make you open your eyes wide with amazement. +Moreover, I saw mama's old friend over in Schwantikow. He is a +district councillor, a fine figure, and very manly." + +"Manly? That's a most important consideration," said Hertha. + +"Certainly, it's the chief consideration. 'Women womanly, men manly,' +is, you know, one of papa's favorite maxims. And now help me put the +table in order, or there will be another scolding." + +It took but a moment to put the things in the basket and, when the +girls sat down again, Hulda said: "Now, Effi, now we are ready, now +for the love story with resignation. Or isn't it so bad?" + +"A story with resignation is never bad. But I can't begin till Hertha +has taken some gooseberries; she keeps her eyes glued on them. Please +take as many as you like, we can pick some more afterward. But be sure +to throw the hulls far enough away, or, better still, lay them here on +this newspaper supplement, then we can wrap them up in a bundle and +dispose of everything at once. Mama can't bear to see hulls lying +about everywhere. She always says that some one might slip on them and +break a leg." + +"I don't believe it," said Hertha, applying herself closely to the +berries. + +"Nor I either," replied Effi, confirming the opinion. "Just think of +it, I fall at least two or three times every day and have never broken +any bones yet. The right kind of leg doesn't break so easily; +certainly mine doesn't, neither does yours, Hertha. What do you think, +Hulda?" + +"One ought not to tempt fate. Pride will have a fall." + +"Always the governess. You are just a born old maid." + +"And yet I still have hopes of finding a husband, perhaps even before +you do." + +"For aught I care. Do you think I shall wait for that? The idea! +Furthermore one has already been picked out for me and perhaps I shall +soon have him. Oh, I am not worrying about that. Not long ago little +Ventivegni from over the way said to me: 'Miss Effi, what will you bet +we shall not have a charivari and a wedding here this year yet?'" + +"And what did you say to that?" + +"Quite possible, I said, quite possible; Hulda is the oldest; she may +be married any day. But he refused to listen to that and said: 'No, I +mean at the home of another young lady who is just as decided a +brunette as Miss Hulda is a blonde.' As he said this he looked at me +quite seriously--But I am wandering and am forgetting the story." + +"Yes, you keep dropping it all the while; may be you don't want to +tell it, after all?" + +"Oh, I want to, but I have interrupted the story a good many times, +chiefly because it is a little bit strange, indeed, almost romantic." + +"Why, you said he was a district councillor." + +"Certainly, a district councillor, and his name is Geert von +Innstetten, Baron von Innstetten." + +All three laughed. + +"Why do you laugh?" said Effi, nettled. "What does this mean?" + +"Ah, Effi, we don't mean to offend you, nor the Baron either. +Innstetten did you say? And Geert? Why, there is nobody by that name +about here. And then you know the names of noblemen are often a bit +comical." + +"Yes, my dear, they are. But people do not belong to the nobility for +nothing. They can endure such things, and the farther back their +nobility goes, I mean in point of time, the better they are able to +endure them. But you don't know anything about this and you must not +take offense at me for saying so. We shall continue to be good friends +just the same. So it is Geert von Innstetten and he is a Baron. He is +just as old as mama, to the day." + +"And how old, pray, is your mama?" + +"Thirty-eight." + +"A fine age." + +"Indeed it is, especially when one still looks as well as mama. I +consider her truly a beautiful woman, don't you, too? And how +accomplished she is in everything, always so sure and at the same time +so ladylike, and never unconventional, like papa. If I were a young +lieutenant I should fall in love with mama." + +"Oh, Effi, how can you ever say such a thing?" said Hulda. "Why, that +is contrary to the fourth commandment." + +"Nonsense. How can it be? I think it would please mama if she knew I +said such a thing." + +"That may be," interrupted Hertha. "But are you ever going to tell the +story?" + +"Yes, compose yourself and I'll begin. We were speaking of Baron von +Innstetten. Before he had reached the age of twenty he was living over +in Rathenow, but spent much of his time on the seignioral estates of +this region, and liked best of all to visit in Schwantikow, at my +grandfather Belling's. Of course, it was not on account of my +grandfather that he was so often there, and when mama tells about it +one can easily see on whose account it really was. I think it was +mutual, too." + +"And what came of it?" + +"The thing that was bound to come and always does come. He was still +much too young and when my papa appeared on the scene, who had already +attained the title of baronial councillor and the proprietorship of +Hohen-Cremmen, there was no need of further time for consideration. +She accepted him and became Mrs. von Briest." + +"What did Innstetten do?" said Bertha, "what became of him? He didn't +commit suicide, otherwise you could not be expecting him today." + +"No, he didn't commit suicide, but it was something of that nature." + +"Did he make an unsuccessful attempt?" + +"No, not that. But he didn't care to remain here in the neighborhood +any longer, and he must have lost all taste for the soldier's career, +generally speaking. Besides, it was an era of peace, you know. In +short, he asked for his discharge and took up the study of the law, as +papa would say, with a 'true beer zeal.' But when the war of seventy +broke out he returned to the army, with the Perleberg troops, instead +of his old regiment, and he now wears the cross. Naturally, for he is +a smart fellow. Right after the war he returned to his documents, and +it is said that Bismarck thinks very highly of him, and so does the +Emperor. Thus it came about that he was made district councillor in +the district of Kessin." + +"What is Kessin? I don't know of any Kessin here." + +"No, it is not situated here in our region; it is a long distance away +from here, in Pomerania, in Farther Pomerania, in fact, which +signifies nothing, however, for it is a watering place (every place +about there is a summer resort), and the vacation journey that Baron +Innstetten is now enjoying is in reality a tour of his cousins, or +something of the sort. He wishes to visit his old friends and +relatives here." + +"Has he relatives here?" + +"Yes and no, depending on how you look at it. There are no +Innstettens here, there are none anywhere any more, I believe. But he +has here distant cousins on his mother's side, and he doubtless wished +above all to see Schwantikow once more and the Belling house, to which +he was attached by so many memories. So he was over there the day +before yesterday and today he plans to be here in Hohen-Cremmen." + +"And what does your father say about it?" + +"Nothing at all. It is not his way. Besides, he knows mama, you see. +He only teases her." + +At this moment the clock struck twelve and before it had ceased +striking, Wilke, the old factotum of the Briest family, came on the +scene to give a message to Miss Effi: "Your Ladyship's mother sends +the request that your Ladyship make her toilet in good season; the +Baron will presumably drive up immediately after one o'clock." While +Wilke was still delivering this message he began to put the ladies' +work-table in order and reached first for the sheet of newspaper, on +which the gooseberry hulls lay. + +"No, Wilke, don't bother with that. It is our affair to dispose of the +hulls--Hertha, you must now wrap up the bundle and put a stone in it, +so that it will sink better. Then we will march out in a long funeral +procession and bury the bundle at sea." + +Wilke smiled with satisfaction. "Oh, Miss Effi, she's a trump," was +about what he was thinking. But Effi laid the paper bundle in the +centre of the quickly gathered up tablecloth and said: "Now let all +four of us take hold, each by a corner, and sing something sorrowful." + +"Yes, Effi, that is easy enough to say, but what, pray, shall we +sing?" + +"Just anything. It is quite immaterial, only it must have a rime in +'oo;' 'oo' is always a sad vowel. Let us sing, say: + + + 'Flood, flood, + Make it all good.'" + + +While Effi was solemnly intoning this litany, all four marched out +upon the landing pier, stepped into the boat tied there, and from the +further end of it slowly lowered into the pond the pebble-weighted +paper bundle. + +"Hertha, now your guilt is sunk out of sight," said Effi, "in which +connection it occurs to me, by the way, that in former times poor +unfortunate women are said to have been thrown overboard thus from a +boat, of course for unfaithfulness." + +"But not here, certainly." + +"No, not here," laughed Effi, "such things do not take place here. But +they do in Constantinople and it just occurs to me that you must know +about it, for you were present in the geography class when the teacher +told about it." + +"Yes," said Hulda, "he was always telling us about such things. But +one naturally forgets them in the course of time." + +"Not I, I remember things like that." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The conversation ran on thus for some time, the girls recalling with +mingled disgust and delight the school lessons they had had in common, +and a great many of the teacher's uncalled-for remarks. Suddenly +Hulda said: "But you must make haste, Effi; why, you look--why, what +shall I say--why, you look as though you had just come from a cherry +picking, all rumpled and crumpled. Linen always gets so badly creased, +and that large white turned down collar--oh, yes, I have it now; you +look like a cabin boy." + +"Midshipman, if you please. I must derive some advantage from my +nobility. But midshipman or cabin boy, only recently papa again +promised me a mast, here close by the swing, with yards and a rope +ladder. Most assuredly I should like one and I should not allow +anybody to interfere with my fastening the pennant at the top. And +you, Hulda, would climb up then on the other side and high in the air +we would shout: 'Hurrah!' and give each other a kiss. By Jingo, that +would be a sweet one." + +"'By Jingo.' Now just listen to that. You really talk like a +midshipman. However, I shall take care not to climb up after you, I am +not such a dare-devil. Jahnke is quite right when he says, as he +always does, that you have too much Billing in you, from your mother. +I am only a preacher's daughter." + +"Ah, go along. Still waters run deep--But come, let us swing, two on a +side; I don't believe it will break. Or if you don't care to, for you +are drawing long faces again, then we will play hide-and-seek. I still +have a quarter of an hour. I don't want to go in, yet, and anyhow it +is merely to say: 'How do you do?' to a district councillor, and a +district councillor from Further Pomerania to boot. He is elderly, +too. Why he might almost be my father; and if he actually lives in a +seaport, for, you know, that is what Kessin is said to be, I really +ought to make the best impression upon him in this sailor costume, and +he ought almost to consider it a delicate attention. When princes +receive anybody, I know from what papa has told me, they always put on +the uniform of the country of their guest. So don't worry--Quick, +quick, I am going to hide and here by the bench is the base." + +Hulda was about to fix a few boundaries, but Effi had already run up +the first gravel walk, turning to the left, then to the right, and +suddenly vanishing from sight. "Effi, that does not count; where are +you? We are not playing run away; we are playing hide-and-seek." With +these and similar reproaches the girls ran to search for her, far +beyond the circular bed and the two plane trees standing by the side +of the path. She first let them get much farther than she was from the +base and then, rushing suddenly from her hiding place, reached the +bench, without any special exertion, before there was time to say: +"one, two, three." + +"Where were you?" + +"Behind the rhubarb plants; they have such large leaves, larger even +than a fig leaf." + +"Shame on you." + +"No, shame on you, because you didn't catch me. Hulda, with her big +eyes, again failed to see anything. She is always slow." Hereupon Effi +again flew away across the circle toward the pond, probably because +she planned to hide at first behind a dense-growing hazelnut hedge +over there, and then from that point to take a long roundabout way +past the churchyard and the front house and thence back to the wing +and the base. Everything was well calculated, but before she was half +way round the pond she heard some one at the house calling her name +and, as she turned around, saw her mother waving a handkerchief from +the stone steps. In a moment Effi was standing by her. + +"Now you see that I knew what I was talking about. You still have that +smock-frock on and the caller has arrived. You are never on time." + +"I shall be on time, easily, but the caller has not kept his +appointment. It is not yet one o'clock, not by a good deal," she said, +and turning to the twins, who had been lagging behind, called to them: +"Just go on playing; I shall be back right away." + +The next moment Effi and her mama entered the spacious drawing-room, +which occupied almost the whole ground floor of the side wing. + +"Mama, you daren't scold me. It is really only half past. Why does he +come so early? Cavaliers never arrive too late, much less too early." + +Mrs. von Briest was evidently embarrassed. But Effi cuddled up to her +fondly and said: "Forgive me, I will hurry now. You know I can be +quick, too, and in five minutes Cinderella will be transformed into a +princess. Meanwhile he can wait or chat with papa." + +Bowing to her mother, she was about to trip lightly up the little iron +stairway leading from the drawing-room to the story above. But Mrs. +von Briest, who could be unconventional on occasion, if she took a +notion to, suddenly held Effi back, cast a glance at the charming +young creature, still all in a heat from the excitement of the game, a +perfect picture of youthful freshness, and said in an almost +confidential tone: "After all, the best thing for you to do is to +remain as you are. Yes, don't change. You look very well indeed. And +even if you didn't, you look so unprepared, you show absolutely no +signs of being dressed for the occasion, and that is the most +important consideration at this moment. For I must tell you, my sweet +Effi--" and she clasped her daughter's hands--"for I must tell you--" + +"Why, mama, what in the world is the matter with you? You frighten me +terribly." + +"I must tell you, Effi, that Baron Innstetten has just asked me for +your hand." + +"Asked for my hand? In earnest?" + +"That is not a matter to make a jest of. You saw him the day before +yesterday and I think you liked him. To be sure, he is older than you, +which, all things considered, is a fortunate circumstance. Besides, he +is a man of character, position, and good breeding, and if you do not +say 'no,' which I could hardly expect of my shrewd Effi, you will be +standing at the age of twenty where others stand at forty. You will +surpass your mama by far." + +Effi remained silent, seeking a suitable answer. Before she could find +one she heard her father's voice in the adjoining room. The next +moment Councillor von Briest, a well preserved man in the fifties, and +of pronounced _bonhomie_, entered the drawing-room, and with him Baron +Innstetten, a man of slender figure, dark complexion, and military +bearing. + +When Effi caught sight of him she fell into a nervous tremble, but +only for an instant, as almost at the very moment when he was +approaching her with a friendly bow there appeared at one of the wide +open vine-covered windows the sandy heads of the Jahnke twins, and +Hertha, the more hoidenish, called into the room: "Come, Effi." Then +she ducked from sight and the two sprang from the back of the bench, +upon which they had been standing, down into the garden and nothing +more was heard from them except their giggling and laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Later in the day Baron Innstetten was betrothed to Effi von Briest. At +the dinner which followed, her jovial father found it no easy matter +to adjust himself to the solemn rôle that had fallen to him. He +proposed a toast to the health of the young couple, which was not +without its touching effect upon Mrs. von Briest, for she obviously +recalled the experiences of scarcely eighteen years ago. However, the +feeling did not last long. What it had been impossible for her to be, +her daughter now was, in her stead. All things considered, it was just +as well, perhaps even better. For one could live with von Briest, in +spite of the fact that he was a bit prosaic and now and then showed a +slight streak of frivolity. Toward the end of the meal--the ice was +being served--the elderly baronial councillor once more arose to his +feet to propose in a second speech that from now on they should all +address each other by the familiar pronoun "Du." Thereupon he embraced +Innstetten and gave him a kiss on the left cheek. But this was not the +end of the matter for him. On the contrary, he went on to recommend, +in addition to the "Du," a set of more intimate names and titles for +use in the home, seeking to establish a sort of basis for hearty +intercourse, at the same time preserving certain well-earned, and +hence justified, distinctions. For his wife he suggested, as the best +solution of the problem, the continuation of "Mama," for there are +young mamas, as well as old; whereas for himself, he was willing to +forego the honorable title of "Papa," and could not help feeling a +decided preference for the simple name of Briest, if for no other +reason, because it was so beautifully short. "And then as for the +children," he said--at which word he had to give himself a jerk as he +exchanged gazes with Innstetten, who was only about a dozen years his +junior--"well, let Effi just remain Effi, and Geert, Geert. Geert, if +I am not mistaken, signifies a tall and slender trunk, and so Effi may +be the ivy destined to twine about it." At these words the betrothed +couple looked at each other somewhat embarrassed, Effi's face showing +at the same time an expression of childlike mirth, but Mrs. von Briest +said: "Say what you like, Briest, and formulate your toasts to suit +your own taste, but if you will allow me one request, avoid poetic +imagery; it is beyond your sphere." These silencing words were +received by von Briest with more assent than dissent. "It is possible +that you are right, Luise." + +Immediately after rising from the table, Effi took leave to pay a +visit over at the pastor's. On the way she said to herself: "I think +Hulda will be vexed. I have got ahead of her after all. She always was +too vain and conceited." + +But Effi was not quite right in all that she expected. Hulda behaved +very well, preserving her composure absolutely and leaving the +indication of anger and vexation to her mother, the pastor's wife, +who, indeed, made some very strange remarks. "Yes, yes, that's the +way it goes. Of course. Since it couldn't be the mother, it has to be +the daughter. That's nothing new. Old families always hold together, +and where there is a beginning there will be an increase." The elder +Niemeyer, painfully embarrassed by these and similar pointed remarks, +which showed a lack of culture and refinement, lamented once more the +fact that he had married a mere housekeeper. + +[Illustration: _Permission F. Bruckmann A.-G. Munich_ +A SUNDAY IN THE GARDEN OF THE TUILERIES ADOLPH VON MENZEL.] + +After visiting the pastor's family Effi naturally went next to the +home of the precentor Jahnke. The twins had been watching for her and +received her in the front yard. + +"Well, Effi," said Hertha, as all three walked up and down between the +two rows of amaranths, "well, Effi, how do you really feel?" + +"How do I feel? O, quite well. We already say 'Du' to each other and +call each other by our first names. His name is Geert, but it just +occurs to me that I have already told you that." + +"Yes, you have. But in spite of myself I feel so uneasy about it. Is +he really the right man?" + +"Certainly he is the right man. You don't know anything about such +matters, Hertha. Any man is the right one. Of course he must be a +nobleman, have a position, and be handsome." + +"Goodness, Effi, how you do talk! You used to talk quite differently." + +"Yes, I used to." + +"And are you quite happy already?" + +"When one has been two hours betrothed, one is always quite happy. At +least, that is my idea about it." + +"And don't you feel at all--oh, what shall I say?--a bit awkward?" + +"Yes, I do feel a bit awkward, but not very. And I fancy I shall get +over it." + +After these visits at the parsonage and the home of the precentor, +which together had not consumed half an hour, Effi returned to the +garden veranda, where coffee was about to be served. Father-in-law and +son-in-law were walking up and down along the gravel path by the plane +trees. Von Briest was talking about the difficulties of a district +councillor's position, saying that he had been offered one at various +times, but had always declined. "The ability to have my own way in all +matters has always been the thing that was most to my liking, at least +more--I beg your pardon, Innstetten--than always having to look up to +some one else. For in the latter case one is always obliged to bear in +mind and pay heed to exalted and most exalted superiors. That is no +life for me. Here I live along in such liberty and rejoice at every +green leaf and the wild grape-vine that grows over those windows +yonder." + +He spoke further in this vein, indulging in all sorts of +anti-bureaucratic remarks, and excusing himself from time to time with +a blunt "I beg your pardon, Innstetten," which he interjected in a +variety of ways. The Baron mechanically nodded assent, but in reality +paid little attention to what was said. He turned his gaze again and +again, as though spellbound, to the wild grape-vine twining about the +window, of which Briest had just spoken, and as his thoughts were thus +engaged, it seemed to him as though he saw again the girls' sandy +heads among the vines and heard the saucy call, "Come, Effi." + +He did not believe in omens and the like; on the contrary, he was far +from entertaining superstitious ideas. Nevertheless he could not rid +his mind of the two words, and while Briest's peroration rambled on +and on he had the constant feeling that the little incident was +something more than mere chance. + +Innstetten, who had taken only a short vacation, departed the +following morning, after promising to write every day. "Yes, you must +do that," Effi had said, and these words came from her heart. She had +for years known nothing more delightful than, for example, to receive +a large number of birthday letters. Everybody had to write her a +letter for that day. Such expressions as "Gertrude and Clara join me +in sending you heartiest congratulations," were tabooed. Gertrude and +Clara, if they wished to be considered friends, had to see to it that +they sent individual letters with separate postage stamps, and, if +possible, foreign ones, from Switzerland or Carlsbad, for her birthday +came in the traveling season. + +Innstetten actually wrote every day, as he had promised. The thing +that made the receipt of his letters particularly pleasurable was the +circumstance that he expected in return only one very short letter +every week. This he received regularly and it was always full of +charming trifles, which never failed to delight him. Mrs. von Briest +undertook to carry on the correspondence with her future son-in-law +whenever there was any serious matter to be discussed, as, for +example, the settling of the details of the wedding, and questions of +the dowry and the furnishing of the new home. Innstetten was now +nearly three years in office, and his house in Kessin, while not +splendidly furnished, was nevertheless very well suited to his +station, and it seemed advisable to gain from correspondence with him +some idea of what he already had, in order not to buy anything +superfluous. When Mrs. von Briest was finally well enough informed +concerning all these details it was decided that the mother and +daughter should go to Berlin, in order, as Briest expressed himself, +to buy up the trousseau for Princess Effi. + +Effi looked forward to the sojourn in Berlin with great pleasure, the +more so because her father had consented that they should take +lodgings in the Hotel du Nord. "Whatever it costs can be deducted from +the dowry, you know, for Innstetten already has everything." Mrs. von +Briest forbade such "mesquineries" in the future, once for all, but +Effi, on the other hand, joyously assented to her father's plan, +without so much as stopping to think whether he had meant it as a jest +or in earnest, for her thoughts were occupied far, far more with the +impression she and her mother should make by their appearance at the +table d'hôte, than with Spinn and Mencke, Goschenhofer, and other such +firms, whose names had been provisionally entered in her memorandum +book. And her demeanor was entirely in keeping with these frivolous +fancies, when the great Berlin week had actually come. + +Cousin von Briest of the Alexander regiment, an uncommonly jolly young +lieutenant, who took the _Fliegende Blatter_ and kept a record of the +best jokes, placed himself at the disposal of the ladies for every +hour he should be off duty, and so they would sit with him at the +corner window of Kranzler's, or perhaps in the Café Bauer, when +permissible, or would drive out in the afternoon to the Zoological +Garden, to see the giraffes, of which Cousin von Briest, whose name, +by the way, was Dagobert, was fond of saying: "They look like old +maids of noble birth." Every day passed according to program, and on +the third or fourth day they went, as directed, to the National +Gallery, because Dagobert wished to show his cousin the "Isle of the +Blessed." "To be sure, Cousin Effi is on the point of marrying, and +yet it may perhaps be well to have made the acquaintance of the 'Isle +of the Blessed' beforehand." His aunt gave him a slap with her fan, +but accompanied the blow with such a gracious look that he saw no +occasion to change the tone. + +These were heavenly days for all three, no less for Cousin Dagobert +than for the ladies, for he was a past master in the art of escorting +and always knew how quickly to compromise little differences. Of the +differences of opinion to be expected between mother and daughter +there was never any lack during the whole time, but fortunately they +never came out in connection with the purchases to be made. Whether +they bought a half dozen or three dozen of a particular thing, Effi +was uniformly satisfied, and when they talked, on the way home, about +the prices of the articles bought, she regularly confounded the +figures. Mrs. von Briest, ordinarily so critical, even toward her own +beloved child, not only took this apparent lack of interest lightly, +she even recognized in it an advantage. "All these things," said she +to herself, "do not mean much to Effi. Effi is unpretentious; she +lives in her own ideas and dreams, and when one of the Hohenzollern +princesses drives by and bows a friendly greeting from her carriage +that means more to Effi than a whole chest full of linen." + +That was all correct enough, and yet only half the truth. Effi cared +but little for the possession of more or less commonplace things, but +when she walked up and down Unter den Linden with her mother, and, +after inspecting the most beautiful show-windows, went into Demuth's +to buy a number of things for the honeymoon tour of Italy, her true, +character showed itself. Only the most elegant articles found favor in +her sight, and, if she could not have the best, she forewent the +second-best, because this second meant nothing to her. Beyond +question, she was able to forego,--in that her mother was right,--and +in this ability to forego there was a certain amount of +unpretentiousness. But when, by way of exception, it became a question +of really possessing a thing, it always had to be something out of the +ordinary. In this regard she was pretentious. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Cousin Dagobert was at the station when the ladies took the train for +Hohen-Cremmen. The Berlin sojourn had been a succession of happy days, +chiefly because there had been no suffering from disagreeable and, one +might almost say, inferior relatives. Immediately after their arrival +Effi had said: "This time we must remain incognito, so far as Aunt +Therese is concerned. It will not do for her to come to see us here in +the hotel. Either Hotel du Nord or Aunt Therese; the two would not go +together at all." The mother had finally agreed to this, had, in fact, +sealed the agreement with a kiss on her daughter's forehead. + +With Cousin Dagobert, of course, it was an entirely different matter. +Not only did he have the social grace of the Guards, but also, what is +more, the peculiarly good humor now almost a tradition with the +officers of the Alexander regiment, and this enabled him from the +outset to draw out both the mother and the daughter and keep them in +good spirits to the end of their stay. "Dagobert," said Effi at the +moment of parting, "remember that you are to come to my nuptial-eve +celebration; that you are to bring a cortège goes without saying. But +don't you bring any porter or mousetrap seller. For after the +theatrical performances there will be a ball, and you must take into +consideration that my first grand ball will probably be also my last. +Fewer than six companions--superb dancers, that goes without +saying--will not be approved. And you can return by the early morning +train." Her cousin promised everything she asked and so they bade each +other farewell. + +Toward noon the two women arrived at their Havelland station in the +middle of the marsh and after a drive of half an hour were at +Hohen-Cremmen. Von Briest was very happy to have his wife and daughter +at home again, and asked questions upon questions, but in most cases +did not wait for the answers. Instead of that he launched out into a +long account of what he had experienced in the meantime. "A while ago +you were telling me about the National Gallery and the 'Isle of the +Blessed.' Well, while you were away, there was something going on +here, too. It was our overseer Pink and the gardener's wife. Of +course, I had to dismiss Pink, but it went against the grain to do it. +It is very unfortunate that such affairs almost always occur in the +harvest season. And Pink was otherwise an uncommonly efficient man, +though here, I regret to say, in the wrong place. But enough of that; +Wilke is showing signs of restlessness too." + +At dinner von Briest listened better. The friendly intercourse with +Cousin Dagobert, of whom he heard a good deal, met with his approval, +less so the conduct toward Aunt Therese. But one could see plainly +that, at the same time that he was declaring his disapproval, he was +rejoicing; for a little mischievous trick just suited his taste, and +Aunt Therese was unquestionably a ridiculous figure. He raised his +glass and invited his wife and daughter to join him in a toast. After +dinner, when some of the handsomest purchases were unpacked and laid +before him for his judgment, he betrayed a great deal of interest, +which still remained alive, or, at least did not die out entirely, +even after he had glanced over the bills. "A little bit dear, or let +us say, rather, very dear; however, it makes no difference. Everything +has so much style about it, I might almost say, so much inspiration, +that I feel in my bones, if you give me a trunk like that and a +traveling rug like this for Christmas, I shall be ready to take our +wedding journey after a delay of eighteen years, and we, too, shall be +in Rome for Easter. What do you think, Luise? Shall we make up what we +are behind? Better late than never." + +Mrs. von Briest made a motion with her hand, as if to say: +"Incorrigible," and then left him to his own humiliation, which, +however, was not very deep. + + * * * * * + +The end of August had come, the wedding day (October the 3d) was +drawing nearer, and in the manor house, as well as at the parsonage +and the schoolhouse, all hands were incessantly occupied with the +preparations for the pre-nuptial eve. Jahnke, faithful to his passion +for Fritz Reuter, had fancied it would be particularly "ingenious" to +have Bertha and Hertha appear as Lining and Mining, speaking Low +German, of course, whereas Hulda was to present the elder-tree scene +of _Käthchen von Heilbronn_, with Lieutenant Engelbrecht of the +Hussars as Wetter vom Strahl. Niemeyer, who by rights was the father +of the idea, had felt no hesitation to compose additional lines +containing a modest application to Innstetten and Effi. He himself was +satisfied with his effort and at the end of the first rehearsal heard +only very favorable criticisms of it, with one exception, to be sure, +viz., that of his patron lord, and old friend, Briest, who, when he +had heard the admixture of Kleist and Niemeyer, protested vigorously, +though not on literary grounds. "High Lord, and over and over, High +Lord--what does that mean? That is misleading and it distorts the +whole situation. Innstetten is unquestionably a fine specimen of the +race, a man of character and energy, but, when it comes to that, the +Briests are not of base parentage either. We are indisputably a +historic family--let me add: 'Thank God'--and the Innstettens are not. +The Innstettens are merely old, belong to the oldest nobility, if you +like; but what does oldest nobility mean? I will not permit that a von +Briest, or even a figure in the wedding-eve performance, whom +everybody must recognize as the counterpart of our Effi--I will not +permit, I say, that a Briest either in person or through a +representative speak incessantly of 'High Lord.' Certainly not, unless +Innstetten were at least a disguised Hohenzollern; there are some, you +know. But he is not one and hence I can only repeat that it distorts +the whole situation." + +For a long time von Briest really held fast to this view with +remarkable tenacity. But after the second rehearsal, at which Käthchen +was half in costume, wearing a tight-fitting velvet bodice, he was so +carried away as to remark: "Käthchen lies there beautifully," which +turn was pretty much the equivalent of a surrender, or at least +prepared the way for one. That all these things were kept secret from +Effi goes without saying. With more curiosity on her part, however, it +would have been wholly impossible. But she had so little desire to +find out about the preparations made and the surprises planned that +she declared to her mother with all emphasis: "I can wait and see," +and, when Mrs. von Briest still doubted her, Effi closed the +conversation with repeated assurances that it was really true and her +mother might just as well believe it. And why not? It was all just a +theatrical performance, and prettier and more poetical than +_Cinderella_, which she had seen on the last evening in Berlin--no, on +second thought, it couldn't be prettier and more poetical. In this +play she herself would have been glad to take a part, even if only for +the purpose of making a chalk mark on the back of the ridiculous +boarding-school teacher. "And how charming in the last act is +'Cinderella's awakening as a princess,' or at least as a countess! +Really, it was just like a fairy tale." She often spoke in this way, +was for the most part more exuberant than before, and was vexed only +at the constant whisperings and mysterious conduct of her girl +friends. "I wish they felt less important and paid more attention to +me. When the time comes they will only forget their lines and I shall +have to be in suspense on their account and be ashamed that they are +my friends." + +Thus ran Effi's scoffing remarks and there was no mistaking the fact +that she was not troubling herself any too much about the pre-nuptial +exercises and the wedding day. Mrs. von Briest had her own ideas on +the subject, but did not permit herself to worry about it, as Effi's +mind was, to a considerable extent, occupied with the future, which +after all was a good sign. Furthermore Effi, by virtue of her wealth +of imagination, often launched out into descriptions of her future +life in Kessin for a quarter of an hour at a time,--descriptions +which, incidentally, and much to the amusement of her mother, revealed +a remarkable conception of Further Pomerania, or, perhaps it would be +more correct to say, they embodied this conception, with clever +calculation and definite purpose. For Effi delighted to think of +Kessin as a half-Siberian locality, where the ice and snow never fully +melted. + +"Today Goschenhofer has sent the last thing," said Mrs. von Briest, +sitting, as was her custom, out in front of the wing of the mansion +with Effi at the work-table, upon which the supplies of linen and +underclothing kept increasing, whereas the newspapers, which merely +took up space, were constantly decreasing. "I hope you have everything +now, Effi. But if you still cherish little wishes you must speak them +out, if possible, this very hour. Papa has sold the rape crop at a +good price and is in an unusually good humor." + +"Unusually? He is always in a good humor." + +"In an unusually good humor," repeated the mother. "And it must be +taken advantage of. So speak. Several times during our stay in Berlin +I had the feeling that you had a very special desire for something or +other more." + +"Well, dear mama, what can I say? As a matter of fact I have +everything that one needs, I mean that one needs _here_. But as it is +once for all decided that I am to go so far north--let me say in +passing that I have no objections; on the contrary I look forward with +pleasure to it, to the northern lights and the brighter splendor of +the stars--as this has been definitely decided, I should like to have +a set of furs." + +"Why, Effi, child, that is empty folly. You are not going to St. +Petersburg or Archangel." + +"No, but I am a part of the way." + +"Certainly, child, you are a part of the way; but what does that mean? +If you go from here to Nauen you are, by the same train of reasoning, +a part of the way to Russia. However, if you want some furs you shall +have them. But let me tell you beforehand, I advise you not to buy +them. Furs are proper for elderly people; even your old mother is +still too young for them, and if you, in your seventeenth year, come +out in mink or marten the people of Kessin will consider it a +masquerade." + +It was on the second of September that these words were spoken, and +the conversation would doubtless have been continued, if it had not +happened to be the anniversary of the battle of Sedan. But because of +the day they were interrupted by the sound of drum and fife, and Effi, +who had heard before of the proposed parade, but had meanwhile +forgotten about it, rushed suddenly away from the work-table, past the +circular plot and the pond, in the direction of a balcony built on the +churchyard wall, to which one could climb by six steps not much +broader than the rungs of a ladder. In an instant she was at the top +and, surely enough, there came all the school children marching along, +Jahnke strutting majestically beside the right flank, while a little +drum major marched at the head of the procession, several paces in +advance, with an expression on his countenance as though it were +incumbent upon him to fight the battle of Sedan all over again. Effi +waved her handkerchief and he promptly returned the greeting by a +salute with his shining baton. + +A week later mother and daughter were again sitting in the same +place, busy, as before, with their work. It was an exceptionally +beautiful day; the heliotrope growing in a neat bed around the sundial +was still in bloom, and the soft breeze that was stirring bore its +fragrance over to them. + +"Oh, how well I feel," said Effi, "so well and so happy! I can't think +of heaven as more beautiful. And, after all, who knows whether they +have such wonderful heliotrope in heaven?" + +"Why, Effi, you must not talk like that. You get that from your +father, to whom nothing is sacred. Not long ago he even said: +'Niemeyer looks like Lot.' Unheard of. And what in the world can he +mean by it? In the first place he doesn't know how Lot looked, and +secondly it shows an absolute lack of consideration for Hulda. +Luckily, Niemeyer has only the one daughter, and for this reason the +comparison really falls to the ground. In one regard, to be sure, he +was only too right, viz., in each and every thing that he said about +'Lot's wife,' our good pastor's better half, who again this year, as +was to be expected, simply ruined our Sedan celebration by her folly +and presumption. By the by it just occurs to me that we were +interrupted in our conversation when Jahnke came by with the school. +At least I cannot imagine that the furs, of which you were speaking at +that time, should have been your only wish. So let me know, darling, +what further things you have set your heart upon." + +"None, mama." + +"Truly, none?" + +"No, none, truly; perfectly in earnest. But, on second thought, if +there were anything--" + +"Well?" + +"It would be a Japanese bed screen, black, with gold birds on it, all +with long crane bills. And then perhaps, besides, a hanging lamp for +our bedroom, with a red shade." + +Mrs. von Briest remained silent. + +"Now you see, mama, you are silent and look as though I had said +something especially improper." + +"No, Effi, nothing improper. Certainly not in the presence of your +mother, for I know you so well. You are a fantastic little person, +you like nothing better than to paint fanciful pictures of the future, +and the richer their coloring the more beautiful and desirable they +appear to you. I saw that when we were buying the traveling articles. +And now you fancy it would be altogether adorable to have a bed screen +with a variety of fabulous beasts on it, all in the dim light of a red +hanging lamp. It appeals to you as a fairy tale and you would like to +be a princess." + +Effi took her mother's hand and kissed it. "Yes, mama, that is my +nature." + +"Yes, that is your nature. I know it only too well. But, my dear Effi, +we must be circumspect in life, and we women especially. Now when you +go to Kessin, a small place, where hardly a streetlamp is lit at +night, the people will laugh at such things. And if they would only +stop with laughing! Those who are ill-disposed toward you--and there +are always some--will speak of your bad bringing-up, and many will +doubtless say even worse things." + +"Nothing Japanese, then, and no hanging lamp either. But I confess I +had thought it would be so beautiful and poetical to see everything in +a dim red light." + +Mrs. von Briest was moved. She got up and kissed Effi. "You are a +child. Beautiful and poetical. Nothing but fancies. The reality is +different, and often it is well that there should be dark instead of +light and shimmer." + +Effi seemed on the point of answering, but at this moment Wilke came +and brought some letters. One was from Kessin, from Innstetten. "Ah, +from Geert," said Effi, and putting the letter in her pocket, she +continued in a calm tone: "But you surely will allow me to set the +grand piano across one corner of the room. I care more for that than +for the open fireplace that Geert has promised me. And then I am going +to put your portrait on an easel. I can't be entirely without you. Oh, +how I shall be homesick to see you, perhaps even on the wedding tour, +and most certainly in Kessin. Why, they say the place has no garrison, +not even a staff surgeon, and how fortunate it is that it is at least +a watering place. Cousin von Briest, upon whom I shall rely as my +chief support, always goes with his mother and sister to Warnemunde. +Now I really do not see why he should not, for a change, some day +direct our dear relatives toward Kessin. Besides, 'direct' seems to +suggest a position on the staff, to which, I believe, he aspires. And +then, of course, he will come along and live at our house. Moreover +Kessin, as somebody just recently told me, has a rather large steamer, +which runs over to Sweden twice a week. And on the ship there is +dancing (of course they have a band on board), and he dances very +well." + +"Who?" + +"Why, Dagobert." + +"I thought you meant Innstetten. In any case the time has now come to +know what he writes. You still have the letter in your pocket, you +know." + +"That's right. I had almost forgotten it." She opened the letter and +glanced over it. + +"Well, Effi, not a word? You are not beaming and not even smiling. And +yet he always writes such bright and entertaining letters, and not a +word of fatherly wisdom in them." + +"That I should not allow. He has his age and I have my youth. I should +shake my finger at him and say: 'Geert, consider which is better.'" + +"And then he would answer: 'You have what is better.' For he is not +only a man of most refined manners, he is at the same time just and +sensible and knows very well what youth means. He is always reminding +himself of that and adapting himself to youthful ways, and if he +remains the same after marriage you will lead a model married life." + +"Yes, I think so, too, mama. But just imagine--and I am almost ashamed +to say it--I am not so very much in favor of what is called a model +married life." + +"That is just like you. And now tell me, pray, what are you really in +favor of?" + +"I am--well, I am in favor of like and like and naturally also of +tenderness and love. And if tenderness and love are out of the +question, because, as papa says, love is after all only fiddle-faddle, +which I, however, do not believe, well, then I am in favor of wealth +and an aristocratic house, a really aristocratic one, to which Prince +Frederick Charles will come for an elk or grouse hunt, or where the +old Emperor will call and have a gracious word for every lady, even +for the younger ones. And then when we are in Berlin I am for court +balls and gala performances at the Opera, with seats always close by +the grand central box." + +"Do you say that out of pure sauciness and caprice?" + +"No, mama, I am fully in earnest. Love comes first, but right after +love come splendor and honor, and then comes amusement--yes, +amusement, always something new, always something to make me laugh or +weep. The thing I cannot endure is _ennui_." + +"If that is the case, how in the world have you managed to get along +with us?" + +"Why, mama, I am amazed to hear you say such a thing. To be sure, in +the winter time, when our dear relatives come driving up to see us and +stay for six hours, or perhaps even longer, and Aunt Gundel and Aunt +Olga eye me from head to foot and find me impertinent--and Aunt Gundel +once told me that I was--well, then occasionally it is not very +pleasant, that I must admit. But otherwise I have always been happy +here, so happy--" + +As she said the last words she fell, sobbing convulsively, at her +mother's feet and kissed her hands. + +"Get up, Effi. Such emotions as these overcome one, when one is as +young as you and facing her wedding and the uncertain future. But now +read me the letter, unless it contains something very special, or +perhaps secrets." + +"Secrets," laughed Effi and sprang to her feet in a suddenly changed +mood. "Secrets! Yes, yes, he is always coming to the point of telling +me some, but the most of what he writes might with perfect propriety +be posted on the bulletin board at the mayor's office, where the +ordinances of the district council are posted. But then, you know, +Geert is one of the councillors." + +"Read, read." + +"Dear Effi: The nearer we come to our wedding day, the more scanty +your letters grow. When the mail arrives I always look first of all +for your handwriting, but, as you know, all in vain, as a rule, and +yet I did not ask to have it otherwise. The workmen are now in the +house who are to prepare the rooms, few in number, to be sure, for +your coming. The best part of the work will doubtless not be done till +we are on our journey. Paper-hanger Madelung, who is to furnish +everything, is an odd original. I shall tell you about him the next +time. Now I must tell you first of all how happy I am over you, over +my sweet little Effi. The very ground beneath my feet here is on fire, +and yet our good city is growing more and more quiet and lonesome. The +last summer guest left yesterday. Toward the end he went swimming at +nine degrees above zero (Centigrade), and the attendants were always +rejoiced when he came out alive. For they feared a stroke of apoplexy, +which would give the baths a bad reputation, as though the water were +worse here than elsewhere. I rejoice when I think that in four weeks I +shall row with you from the Piazzetta out to the Lido or to Murano, +where they make glass beads and beautiful jewelry. And the most +beautiful shall be yours. Many greetings to your parents and the +tenderest kiss for yourself from your Geert." + +Effi folded the letter and put it back into the envelope. + +"That is a very pretty letter," said Mrs. von Briest, "and that it +observes due moderation throughout is a further merit." + +"Yes, due moderation it surely does observe." + +"My dear Effi, let me ask a question. Do you wish that the letter did +not observe due moderation? Do you wish that it were more +affectionate, perhaps gushingly affectionate?" + +"No, no, mama. Honestly and truly no, I do not wish that. So it is +better as it is." + +"So it is better as it is. There you go again. You are so queer. And +by the by, a moment ago you were weeping. Is something troubling you? +It is not yet too late. Don't you love Geert?" + +"Why shouldn't I love him? I love Hulda, and I love Bertha, and I love +Hertha. And I love old Mr. Niemeyer, too. And that I love you and papa +I don't even need to mention. I love all who mean well by me and are +kind to me and humor me. No doubt Geert will humor me, too. To be +sure, in his own way. You see he is already thinking of giving me +jewelry in Venice. He hasn't the faintest suspicion that I care +nothing for jewelry. I care more for climbing and swinging and am +always happiest when I expect every moment that something will give +way or break and cause me to tumble. It will not cost me my head the +first time, you know." + +"And perhaps you also love your Cousin von Briest?" + +"Yes, very much. He always cheers me." + +"And would you have liked to marry Cousin von Briest?" + +"Marry? For heaven's sake no. Why, he is still half a boy. Geert is a +man, a handsome man, a man with whom I can shine and he will make +something of himself in the world. What are you thinking of, mama?" + +"Well, that is all right, Effi, I am glad to hear it. But there is +something else troubling you." + +"Perhaps." + +"Well, speak." + +"You see, mama, the fact that he is older than I does no harm. Perhaps +that is a very good thing. After all he is not old and is well and +strong and is so soldierly and so keen. And I might almost say I am +altogether in favor of him, if he only--oh, if he were only a little +bit different." + +"How, pray, Effi." + +"Yes, how? Well, you must not laugh at me. It is something that I +only very recently overheard, over at the parsonage. We were talking +about Innstetten and all of a sudden old Mr. Niemeyer wrinkled his +forehead, in wrinkles of respect and admiration, of course, and said: +'Oh yes, the Baron. He is a man of character, a man of principles." + +"And that he is, Effi." + +"Certainly. And later, I believe, Niemeyer said he is even a man of +convictions. Now that, it seems to me, is something more. Alas, and +I--I have none. You see, mama, there is something about this that +worries me and makes me uneasy. He is so dear and good to me and so +considerate, but I am afraid of him." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The days of festivity at Hohen-Cremmen were past; all the guests had +departed, likewise the newly married couple, who left the evening of +the wedding day. + +The nuptial-eve performance had pleased everybody, especially the +players, and Hulda had been the delight of all the young officers, not +only the Rathenow Hussars, but also their more critically inclined +comrades of the Alexander regiment. Indeed everything had gone well +and smoothly, almost better than expected. The only thing to be +regretted was that Bertha and Hertha had sobbed so violently that +Jahnke's Low German verses had been virtually lost. But even that had +made but little difference. A few fine connoisseurs had even expressed +the opinion that, "to tell the truth, forgetting what to say, sobbing, +and unintelligibility, together form the standard under which the most +decided victories are won, particularly in the case of pretty, curly +red heads." Cousin von Briest had won a signal triumph in his +self-composed rôle. He had appeared as one of Demuth's clerks, who had +found out that the young bride was planning to go to Italy immediately +after the wedding, for which reason he wished to deliver to her a +traveling trunk. This trunk proved, of course, to be a giant box of +bonbons from Hövel's. The dancing had continued till three o'clock, +with the effect that Briest, who had been gradually talking himself +into the highest pitch of champagne excitement, had made various +remarks about the torch dance, still in vogue at many courts, and the +remarkable custom of the garter dance. Since these remarks showed no +signs of coming to an end, and kept getting worse and worse, they +finally reached the point where they simply had to be choked off. +"Pull yourself together, Briest," his wife had whispered to him in a +rather earnest tone; "you are not here for the purpose of making +indecent remarks, but of doing the honors of the house. We are having +at present a wedding and not a hunting party." Whereupon von Briest +answered: "I see no difference between the two; besides, I am happy." + +The wedding itself had also gone well, Niemeyer had conducted the +service in an exquisite fashion, and on the way home from the church +one of the old men from Berlin, who half-way belonged to the court +circle, made a remark to the effect that it was truly wonderful how +thickly talents are distributed in a state like ours. "I see therein a +triumph of our schools, and perhaps even more of our philosophy. When +I consider how this Niemeyer, an old village preacher, who at first +looked like a hospitaler--why, friend, what do you say? Didn't he +speak like a court preacher? Such tact, and such skill in antithesis, +quite the equal of Kögel, and in feeling even better. Kögel is too +cold. To be sure, a man in his position has to be cold. Generally +speaking, what is it that makes wrecks of the lives of men? Always +warmth, and nothing else." It goes without saying that these remarks +were assented to by the dignitary to whom they were addressed, a +gentleman as yet unmarried, who doubtless for this very reason was, at +the time being, involved in his fourth "relation." "Only too true, +dear friend," said he. "Too much warmth--most excellent--Besides, I +must tell you a story, later." + +The day after the wedding was a clear October day. The morning sun +shone bright, yet there was a feeling of autumn chilliness in the air, +and von Briest, who had just taken breakfast in company with his wife, +arose from his seat and stood, with his hands behind his back, before +the slowly dying open fire. Mrs. von Briest, with her fancy work in +her hands, moved likewise closer to the fireplace and said to Wilke, +who entered just at this point to clear away the breakfast table: "And +now, Wilke, when you have everything in order in the dining hall--but +that comes first--then see to it that the cakes are taken over to the +neighbors, the nutcake to the pastor's and the dish of small cakes to +the Jahnkes'. And be careful with the goblets. I mean the thin cut +glasses." + +Briest had already lighted his third cigarette, and, looking in the +best of health, declared that "nothing agrees with one so well as a +wedding, excepting one's own, of course." + +"I don't know why you should make that remark, Briest. It is +absolutely news to me that you suffered at your wedding. I can't +imagine why you should have, either." + +"Luise, you are a wet blanket, so to speak. But I take nothing amiss, +not even a thing like that. Moreover, why should we be talking about +ourselves, we who have never even taken a wedding tour? Your father +was opposed to it. But Effi is taking a wedding tour now. To be +envied. Started on the ten o'clock train. By this time they must be +near Ratisbon, and I presume he is enumerating to her the chief art +treasures of the Walhalla, without getting off the train--that goes +without saying. Innstetten is a splendid fellow, but he is pretty much +of an art crank, and Effi, heaven knows, our poor Effi is a child of +nature. I am afraid he will annoy her somewhat with his enthusiasm for +art." + +"Every man annoys his wife, and enthusiasm for art is not the worst +thing by a good deal." + +"No, certainly not. At all events we will not quarrel about that; it +is a wide field. Then, too, people are so different. Now you, you +know, would have been the right person for that. Generally speaking, +you would have been better suited to Innstetten than Effi. What a +pity! But it is too late now." + +"Extremely gallant remark, except for the fact that it is not apropos. +However, in any case, what has been has been. Now he is my son-in-law, +and it can accomplish nothing to be referring back all the while to +the affairs of youth." + +"I wished merely to rouse you to an animated humor." + +"Very kind of you, but it was not necessary. I am in an animated +humor." + +"Likewise a good one?" + +"I might almost say so. But you must not spoil it.--Well, what else is +troubling you? I see there is something on your mind." + +"Were you pleased with Effi? Were you satisfied with the whole affair? +She was so peculiar, half naïve, and then again very self-conscious +and by no means as demure as she ought to be toward such a husband. +That surely must be due solely to the fact that she does not yet fully +know what she has in him. Or is it simply that she does not love him +very much? That would be bad. For with all his virtues he is not the +man to win her love with an easy grace." + +Mrs. von Briest kept silent and counted the stitches of her fancy +work. Finally she said: "What you just said, Briest, is the most +sensible thing I have heard from you for the last three days, +including your speech at dinner. I, too, have had my misgivings. But I +believe we have reason to feel satisfied." + +"Has she poured out her heart to you?" + +"I should hardly call it that. True, she cannot help talking, but she +is not disposed to tell everything she has in her heart, and she +settles a good many things for herself. She is at once communicative +and reticent, almost secretive; in general, a very peculiar mixture." + +"I am entirely of your opinion. But how do you know about this if she +didn't tell you?" + +"I only said she did not pour out her heart to me. Such a general +confession, such a complete unburdening of the soul, it is not in her +to make. It all came out of her by sudden jerks, so to speak, and then +it was all over. But just because it came from her soul so +unintentionally and accidentally, as it were, it seemed to me for that +very reason so significant." + +"When was this, pray, and what was the occasion?" + +"Unless I am mistaken, it was just three weeks ago, and we were +sitting in the garden, busied with all sorts of things belonging to +her trousseau, when Wilke brought a letter from Innstetten. She put it +in her pocket and a quarter of an hour later had wholly forgotten +about it, till I reminded her that she had a letter. Then she read it, +but the expression of her face hardly changed. I confess to you that +an anxious feeling came over me, so intense that I felt a strong +desire to have all the light on the matter that it is possible to have +under the circumstances." + +"Very true, very true." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Well, I mean only--But that is wholly immaterial. Go on with your +story; I am all ears." + +"So I asked her straight out how matters stood, and as I wished to +avoid anything bordering on solemnity, in view of her peculiar +character, and sought to take the whole matter as lightly as possible, +almost as a joke, in fact, I threw out the question, whether she would +perhaps prefer to marry Cousin von Briest, who had showered his +attentions upon her in Berlin." + +"And?" + +"You ought to have seen her then. Her first answer was a saucy laugh. +Why, she said, her cousin was really only a big cadet in lieutenant's +uniform. And she could not even love a cadet, to saying nothing of +marrying one. Then she spoke of Innstetten, who suddenly became for +her a paragon of manly virtues." + +"How do you explain that?" + +"It's quite simple. Lively, emotional, I might almost say, passionate +as she is, or perhaps just because she is so constituted, she is not +one of those who are so particularly dependent upon love, at least not +upon what truly deserves the name. To be sure, she speaks of love, +even with emphasis and a certain tone of conviction, but only because +she has somewhere read that love is indisputably the most exalted, +most beautiful, most glorious thing in the world. And it may be, +perhaps, that she has merely heard it from that sentimental person, +Hulda, and repeats it after her. But she does not feel it very deeply. +It is barely possible that it will come later. God forbid. But it is +not yet at hand." + +"Then what is at hand? What ails her?" + +"In my judgment, and according to her own testimony, she has two +things: mania for amusement and ambition." + +"Well, those things can pass away. They do not disturb me." + +"They do me. Innstetten is the kind of a man who makes his own career. +I will not call him pushing, for he is not, he has too much of the +real gentleman in him for that. Let us say, then, he is a man who will +make his own career. That will satisfy Effi's ambition." + +"Very well. I call that good." + +"Yes, it is good. But that is only the half. Her ambition will be +satisfied, but how about her inclination for amusement and adventure? +I have my doubts. For the little entertainment and awakening of +interest, demanded every hour, for the thousand things that overcome +ennui, the mortal enemy of a spiritual little person, for these +Innstetten will make poor provision. He will not leave her in the +midst of an intellectual desert; he is too wise and has had too much +experience in the world for that, but he will not specially amuse her +either. And, most of all, he will not even bother to ask himself +seriously how to go about it. Things can go on thus for a while +without doing much harm, but she will finally become aware of the +situation and be offended. And then I don't know what will happen. For +gentle and yielding as she is, she has, along with these qualities, a +certain inclination to fly into a fury, and at such times she hazards +everything." + +At this point Wilke came in from the dining hall and reported that he +had counted everything and found everything there, except that one of +the fine wine glasses was broken, but that had occurred yesterday when +the toast was drunk. Miss Hulda had clinked her glass too hard against +Lieutenant Nienkerk's. + +"Of course, half asleep and always has been, and lying under the elder +tree has obviously not improved matters. A silly person, and I don't +understand Nienkerk." + +"I understand him perfectly." + +"But he can't marry her." + +"No." + +"His purpose, then?" + +"A wide field, Luise." + +This was the day after the wedding. Three days later came a scribbled +little card from Munich, with all the names on it indicated by two +letters only. "Dear mama: This morning we visited the Pinakothek. +Geert wanted to go over to the other museum, too, the name of which I +will not mention here, because I am in doubt about the right way to +spell it, and I dislike to ask him. I must say, he is angelic to me +and explains everything. Generally speaking, everything is very +beautiful, but it's a strain. In Italy it will probably slacken +somewhat and get better. We are lodging at the 'Four Seasons,' which +fact gave Geert occasion to remark to me, that 'outside it was autumn, +but in me he was having spring.' I consider that a very graceful +compliment. He is really very attentive. To be sure, I have to be +attentive, too, especially when he says something or is giving me an +explanation. Besides, he knows everything so well that he doesn't even +need to consult a guide book. He delights to talk of you two, +especially mama. He considers Hulda somewhat affected, but old Mr. +Niemeyer has completely captivated him. A thousand greetings from your +thoroughly entranced, but somewhat weary Effi." + +Similar cards now arrived daily, from Innsbruck, from Vicenza, from +Padua. Every one began: "We visited the famous gallery here this +morning," or, if it was not the gallery, it was an arena or some +church of "St. Mary" with a surname. From Padua came, along with the +card, a real letter. "Yesterday we were in Vicenza. One must see +Vicenza on account of Palladio. Geert told me that everything modern +had its roots in him. Of course, with reference only to architecture. +Here in Padua, where we arrived this morning, he said to himself +several times in the hotel omnibus, 'He lies in Padua interred,' and +was surprised when he discovered that I had never heard these words. +But finally he said it was really very well and in my favor that I +knew nothing about them. He is very just, I must say. And above all he +is angelic to me and not a bit overbearing and not at all old, either. +I still have pains in my feet, and the consulting of guide books and +standing so long before pictures wears me out. But it can't be helped, +you know. I am looking forward to Venice with much pleasure. We shall +stay there five days, perhaps even a whole week. Geert has already +begun to rave about the pigeons in St. Mark's Square, and the fact +that one can buy there little bags of peas and feed them to the pretty +birds. There are said to be paintings representing this scene, with +beautiful blonde maidens, 'a type like Hulda,' as he said. And that +reminds me of the Jahnke girls. I would give a good deal if I could be +sitting with them on a wagon tongue in our yard and feeding _our_ +pigeons. Now, you must not kill the fan tail pigeon with the big +breast; I want to see it again. Oh, it is so beautiful here. This is +even said to be the most beautiful of all. Your happy, but somewhat +weary Effi." + +When Mrs. von Briest had finished reading the letter she said: "The +poor child. She is homesick." + +"Yes," said von Briest, "she is homesick. This accursed traveling--" + +"Why do you say that now! You might have hindered it, you know. But it +is just your way to play the wise man after a thing is all over. After +a child has fallen into the well the aldermen cover up the well." + +"Ah, Luise, don't bother me with that kind of stuff. Effi is our +child, but since the 3d of October she has been the Baroness of +Innstetten. And if her husband, our son-in-law, desires to take a +wedding tour and use it as an occasion for making a new catalogue of +every gallery, I can't keep him from doing it. That is what it means +to get married." + +"So now you admit it. In talking with me you have always denied, yes, +always denied that the wife is in a condition of restraint." + +"Yes, Luise, I have. But what is the use of discussing that now? It is +really too wide a field." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Innstetten's leave of absence was to expire the 15th of November, and +so when they had reached Capri and Sorrento he felt morally bound to +follow his usual habit of returning to his duties on the day and at +the hour designated. So on the morning of the 14th they arrived by the +fast express in Berlin, where Cousin von Briest met them and proposed +that they should make use of the two hours before the departure of the +Stettin train to pay a visit to the Panorama and then have a little +luncheon together. Both proposals were accepted with thanks. At noon +they returned to the station, shook hands heartily and said good-by, +after both Effi and her husband had extended the customary invitation, +"Do come to see us some day," which fortunately is never taken +seriously. As the train started Effi waved a last farewell from her +compartment. Then she leaned back and made herself comfortable, but +from time to time sat up and held out her hand to Innstetten. + +It was a pleasant journey, and the train arrived on time at the +Klein-Tantow station, from which a turnpike led to Kessin, ten miles +away. In the summer time, especially during the tourist season, +travelers were accustomed to avoid the turnpike and take the water +route, going by an old sidewheel steamer down the Kessine, the river +from which Kessin derived its name. But the "Phoenix"--about which the +wish had long been vainly cherished, that, at some time when there +were no passengers on board, it might justify its name and burn to +ashes--regularly stopped running on the 1st of October. For this +reason Innstetten had telegraphed from Stettin to his coachman Kruse: +"Five o'clock, Klein-Tantow station. Open carriage, if good weather." + +It certainly was good weather, and there sat Kruse in the open +carriage at the station. He greeted the newly arrived couple with all +the prescribed dignity of a first-class coachman. + +"Well, Kruse, everything in order?" + +"At your service, Sir Councillor." + +"Then, Effi, please get in." As Effi was doing as bid, and one of the +station porters was finding a place for a small satchel by the +coachman, in front, Innstetten left orders to send the rest of the +luggage by the omnibus. Then he, too, took his seat and after +condescendingly asking one of the bystanders for a light called to +Kruse: "Drive on, Kruse." The carriage rolled quickly over the rails +of the many tracks at the crossing, then slantingly down the slope of +the embankment, and on the turnpike past an inn called "The Prince +Bismarck." At this point the road forked, one branch leading to the +right to Kessin, the other to the left to Varzin. In front of the inn +stood a moderately tall, broad-shouldered man in a fur coat and a fur +cap. The cap he took off with great deference as the District +Councillor drove by. "Pray, who was that?" said Effi, who was +extremely interested in all she saw and consequently in the best of +humor. "He looked like a starost, though I am forced to confess I +never saw a starost before." + +"Which is no loss, Effi. You guessed very well just the same. He does +really look like a starost and is something of the sort, too. I mean +by that, he is half Polish. His name is Golchowski, and whenever we +have an election or a hunt here, he is at the top of the list. In +reality he is a very unsafe fellow, whom I would not trust across the +road, and he doubtless has a great deal on his conscience. But he +assumes an air of loyalty, and when the quality of Varzin go by here +he would like nothing better than to throw himself before their +carriages. I know that at the same time he is hostile to the Prince. +But what is the use? We must not have any misunderstandings with him, +for we need him. He has this whole region in his pocket and +understands electioneering better than any one else. Besides, he is +considered well-to-do and lends out money at usury which is contrary +to the ordinary practice of the Poles." + +"But he was good-looking." + +"Yes, good-looking he is. Most of the people here are good-looking. A +handsome strain of human beings. But that is the best that can be said +of them. Your Brandenburg people look more unostentatious and more +ill-humored, and in their conduct they are less respectful, in fact, +are not at all respectful, but their yes is yes and no is no, and one +can depend upon them. Here everybody is uncertain." + +"Why do you tell me that, since I am obliged to live here among them +now?" + +"Not you. You will not hear or see much of them. For city and country +are here very different, and you will become acquainted with our city +people only, our good people of Kessin." + +"Our good people of Kessin. Is that sarcasm, or are they really so +good?" + +"That they are really good is not exactly what I mean to say, but they +are different from the others; in fact, they have no similarity +whatever to the country inhabitants here." + +"How does that come?" + +"Because they are entirely different human beings, by ancestry and +association. The people you find in the country here are the so-called +Cassubians, of whom you may have heard, a Slavic race, who have been +living here for a thousand years and probably much longer. But all the +inhabitants of our seaports, and the commercial cities near the coast, +have moved here from a distance and trouble themselves very little +about the Cassubian backwoods, because they derive little profit from +that source and are dependent upon entirely different sources. The +sources upon which they are dependent are the regions with which they +have commercial relations, and as their commerce brings them into +touch with the whole world you will find among them people from every +nook and corner of the earth, even here in our good Kessin, in spite +of the fact that it is nothing but a miserable hole." + +"Why, that is perfectly charming, Geert. You are always talking about +the miserable hole, but I shall find here an entirely new world, if +you have not exaggerated. All kinds of exotics. That is about what you +meant, isn't it?" + +He nodded his head. + +"An entirely new world, I say, perhaps a negro, or a Turk, or perhaps +even a Chinaman." + +"Yes, a Chinaman, too. How well you can guess! It may be that we still +have one. He is dead now and buried in a little fenced-in plot of +ground close by the churchyard. If you are not easily frightened I +will show you his grave some day. It is situated among the dunes, with +nothing but lyme grass around it, and here and there a few +immortelles, and one always hears the sea. It is very beautiful and +very uncanny." + +"Oh, uncanny? I should like to know more about it. But I would better +not. Such stories make me have visions and dreams, and if, as I hope, +I sleep well tonight, I should certainly not like to see a Chinaman +come walking up to my bed the first thing." + +"You will not, either." + +"Not, either? Upon my word, that sounds strange, as though, after all, +it were possible. You seek to make Kessin interesting to me, but you +carry it a trifle too far. And have you many such foreigners in +Kessin?" + +"A great many. The whole population is made up of such foreigners, +people whose parents and grandparents lived in an entirely different +region." + +"Most remarkable. Please tell me more about them. But no more creepy +stories. I feel that there is always something creepy about a +Chinaman." + +"Yes, there is," laughed Geert, "but the rest, thank heaven, are of an +entirely different sort, all mannerly people, perhaps a little bit too +commercial, too thoughtful of their own advantage, and always on hand +with bills of questionable value. In fact, one must be cautious with +them. But otherwise they are quite agreeable. And to let you see that +I have not been deceiving you I will just give you a little sample, a +sort of index or list of names." + +"Please do, Geert." + +"For example, we have, not fifty paces from our house, and our gardens +are even adjoining, the master machinist and dredger Macpherson, a +real Scotchman and a Highlander." + +"And he still wears the native costume?" + +"No, thank heaven, he doesn't, for he is a shriveled up little man, of +whom neither his clan nor Walter Scott would be particularly proud. +And then we have, further, in the same house where this Macpherson +lives, an old surgeon by the name of Beza, in reality only a barber. +He comes from Lisbon, the same place that the famous general De Meza +comes from. Meza, Beza; you can hear the national relationship. And +then we have, up the river by the quay, where the ships lie, a +goldsmith by the name of Stedingk, who is descended from an old +Swedish family; indeed, I believe there are counts of the empire by +that name. Further, and with this man I will close for the present, we +have good old Dr. Hannemann, who of course is a Dane, and was a long +time in Iceland, has even written a book on the last eruption of +Hekla, or Krabla." + +"Why, that is magnificent, Geert. It is like having six novels that +one can never finish reading. At first it sounds commonplace, but +afterward seems quite out of the ordinary. And then you must also have +people, simply because it is a seaport, who are not mere surgeons or +barbers or anything of the sort. You must also have captains, some +flying Dutchman or other, or--" + +"You are quite right. We even have a captain who was once a pirate +among the Black Flags." + +"I don't know what you mean. What are Black Flags?" + +"They are people away off in Tonquin and the South Sea--But since he +has been back among men he has resumed the best kind of manners and is +quite entertaining." + +"I should be afraid of him nevertheless." + +"You don't need to be, at any time, not even when I am out in the +country or at the Prince's for tea, for along with everything else +that we have, we have, thank heaven, also Rollo." + +"Rollo?" + +"Yes, Bollo. The name makes you think of the Norman Duke, provided you +have ever heard Niemeyer or Jahnke speak of him. Our Rollo has +somewhat the same character. But he is only a Newfoundland dog, a most +beautiful animal, that loves me and will love you, too. For Rollo is a +connoisseur. So long as you have him about you, you are safe, and +nothing can get at you, neither a live man nor a dead one. But just +see the moon over yonder. Isn't it beautiful?" + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann A -G, Munich_ +DIVINE SERVICE IN THE WOODS AT KOSEN ADOLPH VON MENZEL] + +Effi, who had been leaning back quietly absorbed, drinking in every +word, half timorously, half eagerly, now sat erect and looked out to +the right, where the moon had just risen behind a white mass of +clouds, which quickly floated by. Copper-colored hung the great disk +behind a clump of alders and shed its light upon the expanse of water +into which the Kessine here widens out. Or perhaps it might be looked +upon as one of the fresh-water lakes connected with the Baltic Sea. + +Effi was stupefied. "Yes, you are right, Geert, how beautiful! But at +the same time there is something uncanny about it. In Italy I never +had such a sensation, not even when we were going over from Mestre to +Venice. There, too, we had water and swamps and moonlight, and I +thought the bridge would break. But it was not so spooky. What is the +cause of it, I wonder? Can it be the northern latitude?" + +Innstetten laughed. "We are here seventy-five miles further north than +in Hohen-Cremmen, and you have still a while to wait before we come to +the first polar bear. I think you are nervous from the long journey +and the Panorama, not to speak of the story of the Chinaman." + +"Why, you didn't tell me any story." + +"No, I only mentioned him. But a Chinaman is in himself a story." + +"Yes," she laughed. + +"In any case you will soon recover. Do you see the little house yonder +with the light? It is a blacksmith's shop. There the road bends. And +when we have passed the bend you will be able to see the tower of +Kessin, or to be more exact, the two." + +"Has it two?" + +"Yes, Kessin is picking up. It now has a Catholic church also." + +A half hour later the carriage stopped at the district councillor's +residence, which stood clear at the opposite end of the city. It was a +simple, rather old-fashioned, frame-house with plaster between the +timbers, and stood facing the main street, which led to the sea-baths, +while its gable looked down upon a grove, between the city limits and +the dunes, which was called the "Plantation." Furthermore this +old-fashioned frame-house was only Innstetten's private residence, +not the real district councillor's office. The latter stood diagonally +across the street. + +It was not necessary for Kruse to announce their arrival with three +cracks of his whip. The servants had long been watching at the doors +and windows for their master and mistress, and even before the +carriage stopped all the inmates of the house were grouped upon the +stone doorstep, which took up the whole width of the sidewalk. In +front of them was Rollo, who, the moment the carriage stopped, began +to circle around it. Innstetten first of all helped his young wife to +alight. Then, offering her his arm, he walked with a friendly bow past +the servants, who promptly turned and followed him into the +entrance-hall, which was furnished with splendid old wardrobes and +cases standing around the walls. The housemaid, a pretty girl, no +longer very young, whose stately plumpness was almost as becoming to +her as the neat little cap on her blonde head, helped her mistress +take off her muff and cloak, and was just stooping down to take off +her fur-lined rubber shoes. But before she had time to make a +beginning, Innstetten said: "I suppose the best thing will be for me +to introduce to you right here all the occupants of our house, with +the exception of Mrs. Kruse, who does not like to be seen, and who, I +presume, is holding her inevitable black chicken again." Everybody +smiled. "But never mind Mrs. Kruse. Here is my old Frederick, who was +with me when I was at the university. Good times then, weren't they, +Frederick?--This is Johanna, a fellow countrywoman of yours, if you +count those who come from the region of Pasewalk as full-fledged +Brandenburgians; and this is Christel, to whom we trust our bodily +welfare every noon and evening, and who knows how to cook, I can +assure you.--And this is Rollo. Well, Rollo, how goes it?" + +Rollo seemed only to have waited for this special greeting, for the +moment he heard his name he gave a bark for joy, stood up on his hind +legs and laid his forepaws on his master's shoulders. + +"That will do, Rollo, that will do. But look here; this is my wife. I +have told her about you and said that you were a beautiful animal and +would protect her." Hereupon Rollo ceased fawning and sat down in +front of Innstetten, looking up curiously at the young wife. And when +she held out her hand to him he frisked around her. + +During this introduction scene Effi had found time to look about. She +was enchanted, so to speak, by everything she saw, and at the same +time dazzled by the abundant light. In the forepart of the hall were +burning four or five wall lights, the reflectors themselves very +primitive, simply of tin-plate, which, however, only improved the +light and heightened the splendor. Two astral lamps with red shades, a +wedding present from Niemeyer, stood on a folding table between two +oak cupboards. On the front of the table was the tea service, with the +little lamp under the kettle already lighted. There were, beside +these, many, many other things, some of them very queer. From one side +of the hall to the other ran three beams, dividing the ceiling into +sections. From the front one was suspended a ship under full sail, +high quarter-deck, and cannon ports, while farther toward the front +door a gigantic fish seemed to be swimming in the air. Effi took her +umbrella, which she still held in her hand, and pushed gently against +the monster, so that it set up a slow rocking motion. + +"What is that, Geert?" she asked. + +"That is a shark." + +"And that thing, clear at the end of the hall, that looks like a huge +cigar in front of a tobacco store?" + +"That is a young crocodile. But you can look at all these things +better and more in detail tomorrow. Come now and let us take a cup of +tea. For in spite of shawls and rugs you must have been chilled. +Toward the last it was bitter cold." + +He offered Effi his arm and the two maids retired. Only Frederick and +Rollo followed the master of the house as he took his wife into his +sitting room and study. Effi was as much surprised here as she had +been in the hall, but before she had time to say anything, Innstetten +drew back a portiere, which disclosed a second, larger room looking +out on the court and garden. "Now this, Effi, is your room. Frederick +and Johanna have tried to arrange it the best they could in accordance +with my orders. I find it quite tolerable and should be happy if you +liked it, too." + +She withdrew her arm from his and stood up on her tip-toes to give him +a hearty kiss. "Poor little thing that I am, how you do spoil me! This +grand piano! and this rug! Why, I believe it is Turkish. And the bowl +with the little fishes, and the flower table besides! Luxuries, +everywhere I look." + +"Ah, my dear Effi, you will have to put up with that. It is to be +expected when one is young and pretty and amiable. And I presume the +inhabitants of Kessin have already found out about you, heaven knows +from what source. For of the flower table, at least, I am innocent. +Frederick, where did the flower table come from?" + +"Apothecary Gieshübler. There is a card on it." + +"Ah, Gieshübler, Alonzo Gieshübler," said Innstetten, laughingly and +almost boisterously handing the card with the foreign-sounding first +name to Effi. "Gieshübler. I forgot to tell you about him. Let me say +in passing that he bears the doctor's title, but does not like to be +addressed by it. He says it only vexes the real doctors, and I presume +he is right about that. Well, I think you will become acquainted with +him and that soon. He is our best number here, a bel-esprit and an +original, but especially a man of soul, which is after all the chief +thing. But enough of these things; let us sit down and drink our tea. +Where shall it be? Here in your room or over there in mine! There is +no other choice. Snug and tiny is my cabin." + +Without hesitating she sat down on a little corner sofa. "Let us stay +here today; you will be my guest today. Or let us say, rather: Tea +regularly in my room, breakfast in yours. Then each will secure his +rights, and I am curious to know where I shall like it best." + +"That will be a morning and evening question." + +"Certainly. But the way it is put, or better, our attitude toward it, +is the important thing." + +With that she laughed and cuddled up to him and was about to kiss his +hand. + +"No, Effi, for heaven's sake, don't do that. It is not my desire to be +a person looked up to with awe and respect. I am, for the inhabitants +of Kessin, but for you I am--" + +"What, pray?" + +"Ah, let that pass. Far be it from me to say what." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The sun was shining brightly when Effi awoke the next morning. It was +hard for her to get her bearings. Where was she? Correct, in Kessin, +in the house of District Councillor von Innstetten, and she was his +wife, Baroness Innstetten. Sitting up she looked around with +curiosity. During the evening before she had been too tired to examine +very carefully all the half-foreign, half-old-fashioned things that +surrounded her. Two pillars supported the ceiling beam, and green +curtains shut off from the rest of the room the alcove-like sleeping +apartment in which the beds stood. But in the middle a curtain was +either lacking or pulled back, and this afforded her a comfortable +orientation from her bed. There between the two windows stood the +narrow, but very high, pier-glass, while a little to the right, along +the hall wall, towered the tile stove, the door of which, as she had +discovered the evening before, opened into the hall in the +old-fashioned way. She now felt its warmth radiating toward her. How +fine it was to be in her own home! At no time during the whole tour +had she enjoyed so much comfort, not even in Sorrento. + +But where was Innstetten? All was still round about her, nobody was +there. She heard only the tick-tock of a small clock and now and then +a low sound in the stove, from which she inferred that a few new +sticks of wood were being shoved in from the hall. Gradually she +recalled that Geert had spoken the evening before of an electric bell, +for which she did not have to search long. Close by her pillows was +the little white ivory button, and she now pressed softly upon it. + +Johanna appeared at once. "At your Ladyship's service." + +"Oh, Johanna, I believe I have overslept myself. It must be late." + +"Just nine." + +"And my--" She couldn't make herself speak straightway of her +"husband." "His Lordship, he must have kept very quiet. I didn't hear +anything." + +"I'm sure he did. And your Ladyship has slept soundly. After the long +journey--" + +"Yes, I have. And his Lordship, is he always up so early?" + +"Always, your Ladyship. On that point he is strict; he cannot endure +late sleeping, and when he enters his room across the hall the stove +must be warm, and the coffee must not be late." + +"So he has already had his breakfast?" + +"Oh, no, your Ladyship--His Lordship--" + +Effi felt that she ought not to have asked the question and would +better have kept to herself the suspicion that Innstetten might not +have waited for her. So she was very eager to correct her mistake the +best she could, and when she had got up and taken a seat before the +pier-glass she resumed the conversation, saying: "Moreover, his +Lordship is quite right. Always to be up early was likewise the rule +in my parents' home. When people sleep away the morning, everything is +out of gear the rest of the day. But his Lordship will not be so +strict with me. For a long time last night I couldn't sleep, and was +even frightened a little bit." + +"What must I hear, your Ladyship? What was it, pray?" + +"There was a very strange noise overhead, not loud, but very +penetrating. At first it sounded as though gowns with long trains were +dragging over the floor, and in my excitement it seemed a few times as +though I heard little white satin slippers. It seemed as though they +were dancing overhead, but quite softly." + +As the conversation ran on thus Johanna glanced over the shoulder of +the young wife at the tall narrow mirror in order the better to +observe Effi's facial expressions. In reply she said: "Oh, yes, that +is up in the social room. We used to hear it in the kitchen, too. But +now we don't hear it any more; we have become accustomed to it." + +"Is there anything unusual about it?" + +"God forbid, not in the least. For a while no one knew for sure what +it came from, and even the preacher looked embarrassed, in spite of +the fact that Dr. Gieshübler always simply laughed at it. But now we +know that it comes from the curtains. The room is inclined to be musty +and damp, and for that reason the windows are always left open, except +when there is a storm. And so, as there is nearly always a strong +draft upstairs, the wind sweeps the old white curtains, which I think +are much too long, back and forth over the floor. That makes a sound +like silk dresses, or even satin slippers, as your Ladyship just +said." + +"That is it, of course. But what I cannot understand is why the +curtains are not taken down. Or they might be made shorter. It is such +a queer noise that it gets on one's nerves. And now, Johanna, give me +the little cape and put just a little dab of powder on my forehead. +Or, better still, take the 'refresher' from my traveling bag--Ah, that +is fine and refreshes me. Now I am ready to go over. He is still +there, isn't he, or has he been out?" + +"His Lordship went out earlier; I believe he was over at the office. +But he has been back for a quarter of an hour. I will tell Frederick +to bring the breakfast." + +With that Johanna left the room. Effi took one more look into the +mirror and then walked across the hall, which in the daylight lost +much of its charm of the evening before, and stepped into Geert's +room. + +He was sitting at his secretary, a rather clumsy cylindrical desk, +which, however, he did not care to part with, as it was an heirloom. +Effi was standing behind him, and had embraced and kissed him before +he could rise from his chair. + +"So early?" + +"So early, you say. Of course, to mock me." + +Innstetten shook his head. "How can I?" Effi took pleasure in accusing +herself, however, and refused to listen to the assurances of her +husband that his "so early" had been meant in all seriousness. "You +must know from our journey that I have never kept you waiting in the +morning. In the course of the day--well, that is a different matter. +It is true, I am not very punctual, but I am not a late sleeper. In +that respect my parents have given me good training, I think." + +"In that respect? In everything, my sweet Effi." + +"You say that just because we are still on our honeymoon,--why no, we +are past that already. For heaven's sake, Geert, I hadn't given it a +single thought, and--why, we have been married for over six weeks, six +weeks and a day. Yes, that alters the case. So I shall not take it as +flattery, I shall take it as the truth." + +At this moment Frederick came in and brought the coffee. The breakfast +table stood across the corner of the sitting room in front of a sofa +made just in the right shape and size to fill that corner. They both +sat down upon the sofa. + +"The coffee is simply delicious," said Effi, as she looked at the +room and its furnishings. "This is as good as hotel coffee or that we +had at Bottegone's--you remember, don't you, in Florence, with the +view of the cathedral? I must write mama about it. We don't have such +coffee in Hohen-Cremmen. On the whole, Geert, I am just beginning to +realize what a distinguished husband I married. In our home everything +was just barely passable." + +"Nonsense, Effi. I never saw better house-keeping than in your home." + +"And then how well your house is furnished. When papa had bought his +new weapon cabinet and hung above his writing desk the head of a +buffalo, and beneath that a picture of old general Wrangel, under whom +he had once served as an adjutant, he was very proud of what he had +done. But when I see these things here, all our Hohen-Cremmen elegance +seems by the side of them merely commonplace and meagre. I don't know +what to compare them with. Even last night, when I took but a cursory +look at them, a world of ideas occurred to me." + +"And what were they, if I may ask?" + +"What they were? Certainly. But you must not laugh at them. I once had +a picture book, in which a Persian or Indian prince (for he wore a +turban) sat with his feet under him on a silk cushion, and at his back +there was a great red silk bolster, which could be seen bulging out to +the right and left of him, and the wall behind the Indian prince +bristled with swords and daggers and panther skins and shields and +long Turkish guns. And see, it looks just like that here in your +house, and if you will cross your legs and sit down on them the +similarity will be complete." + +"Effi, you are a charming, dear creature. You don't know how deeply I +feel that and how much I should like to show you every moment that I +do feel it." + +"Well, there will be plenty of time for that. I am only seventeen, you +know, and have not yet made up my mind to die." + +"At least not before I do. To be sure, if I should die first, I should +like to take you with me. I do not want to leave you to any other man. +What do you say to that?" + +"Oh, I must have some time to think about it. Or, rather, let us not +think about it at all. I don't like to talk about death; I am for +life. And now tell me, how shall we live here? On our travels you told +me all sorts of queer things about the city and the country, but not a +word about how we shall live here. That here nothing is the same as in +Hohen-Cremmen and Schwantikow, I see plainly, and yet we must be able +to have something like intercourse and society in 'good Kessin,' as +you are always calling it. Have you any people of family in the city?" + +"No, my dear Effi. In this regard you are going to meet with great +disappointments. We have in the neighborhood a few noble families with +which you will become acquainted, but here in the city there is nobody +at all." + +"Nobody at all? That I can't believe. Why, you are upward of three +thousand people, and among three thousand people there certainly must +be, beside such inferior individuals as Barber Beza (I believe that +was his name), a certain élite, officials and the like." + +Innstetten laughed. "Yes, officials there are. But when you examine +them narrowly it doesn't mean much. Of course, we have a preacher and +a judge and a school principal and a commander of pilots, and of such +people in official positions I presume there may be as many as a dozen +altogether, but they are for the most part, as the proverb says, good +men, but poor fiddlers. And all the others are nothing but consuls." + +"Nothing but consuls! I beg you, Geert, how can you say 'nothing but +consuls?' Why, they are very high and grand, and, I might almost say, +awe-inspiring individuals. Consuls, I thought, were the men with the +bundles of rods, out of which an ax blade projected." + +"Not quite, Effi. Those men are called lictors." + +"Right, they are called lictors. But consuls are also men of very high +rank and authority. Brutus was a consul, was he not?" + +"Yes, Brutus was a consul. But ours are not very much like him and are +content to handle sugar and coffee, or open a case of oranges and sell +them to you at ten pfennigs apiece." + +"Not possible." + +"Indeed it is certain. They are tricky little tradesmen, who are +always at hand with their advice on any question of business, when +foreign vessels put in here and are at a loss to know what to do. And +when they have given advice and rendered service to some Dutch or +Portuguese vessel, they are likely in the end to become accredited +representatives of such foreign states, and so we have just as many +consuls in Kessin as we have ambassadors and envoys in Berlin. Then +whenever there is a holiday, and we have many holidays here, all the +flags are hoisted, and, if we happen to have a bright sunny morning, +on such days you can see all Europe flying flags from our roofs, and +the star-spangled banner and the Chinese dragon besides." + +"You are in a scoffing mood, Geert, and yet you may be right. But I +for my part, insignificant though I be, must confess, that I consider +all this charming and that our Havelland cities are nothing in +comparison. When the Emperor's birthday is celebrated in our region +the only flags hoisted are just the black and white, with perhaps a +bit of red here and there, but that is not to be compared with the +world of flags you speak of. Generally speaking, I find over and over +again, as I have already said, that everything here has a certain +foreign air about it, and I have not yet seen or heard a thing that +has not more or less amazed me. Yesterday evening, for example, there +was that remarkable ship out in the hall, and behind it the shark and +the crocodile. And here your own room. Everything so oriental and, I +cannot help repeating, everything as in the palace of an Indian +prince." + +"Well and good! I congratulate you, Princess." + +"And then upstairs the social room with its long curtains, which sweep +over the floor." + +"Now what, pray, do you know about that room?" + +"Nothing beyond what I just told you. For about an hour while I lay +awake in the night it seemed to me as though I heard shoes gliding +over the floor, and as though there were dancing, and something almost +like music, too. But all very quiet. I told Johanna about it this +morning, merely in order to excuse myself for sleeping so long +afterwards. She told me that it came from the long curtains up in the +social room. I think we shall put a stop to that by cutting off a +piece of the curtains or at least closing the windows. The weather +will soon turn stormy enough, anyhow. The middle of November is the +time, you know." + +Innstetten was a trifle embarrassed and sat with a puzzled look on his +face, seemingly undecided whether or not he should attempt to allay +all these fears. Finally he made up his mind to ignore them. "You are +quite right, Effi, we can shorten the long curtains upstairs. But +there is no hurry about it, especially as it is not certain whether it +will do any good. It may be something else, in the chimney, or a worm +in the wood, or a polecat. For we have polecats here. But, in any +case, before we undertake any changes you must first examine our whole +house, under my guidance; that goes without saying. We can do it in a +quarter of an hour. Then you make your toilette, dress up just a +little bit, for in reality you are most charming as you are now. You +must get ready for our friend Gieshübler. It is now past ten, and I +should be very much mistaken in him if he did not put in his +appearance here at eleven, or at twelve at the very latest, in order +most devotedly to lay his homage at your feet. This, by the way, is +the kind of language he indulges in. Otherwise he is, as I have +already said, a capital man, who will become your friend, if I know +him and you aright." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +It was long after eleven, but nothing had been seen of Gieshübler as +yet. "I can't wait any longer," Geert had said, whose duties called +him away. "If Gieshübler comes while I am gone, receive him as kindly +as possible and the call will go especially well. He must not become +embarrassed. When he is ill at ease he cannot find a word to say, or +says the queerest kind of things. But if you can win his confidence +and put him in a good humor he will talk like a book. Well, you will +do that easily enough. Don't expect me before three; there is a great +deal to do over across the way. And the matter of the room upstairs we +will consider further. Doubtless, the best thing will be to leave it +as it is." + +With that Innstetten went away and left his young wife alone. She sat, +leaning back, in a quiet, snug corner by the window, and, as she +looked out, rested her left arm on a small side leaf drawn out of the +cylindrical desk. The street was the chief thoroughfare leading to the +beach, for which reason there was a great deal of traffic here in the +summer time, but now, in the middle of November, it was all empty and +quiet, and only a few poor children, whose parents lived in thatched +cottages clear at the further edge of the "Plantation" came clattering +by in their wooden shoes. But Effi felt none of this loneliness, for +her fancy was still engaged with the strange things she had seen a +short time before during her examination of the house. + +This examination began with the kitchen, which had a range of modern +make, while an electric wire ran along the ceiling and into the maids' +room. These two improvements had only recently been made, and Effi was +pleased when Innstetten told her about them. Next they went from the +kitchen back into the hall and from there out into the court, the +first half of which was little more than a narrow passage-way running +along between the two side wings of the house. In these wings were to +be found all the other rooms set apart for house-keeping purposes. In +the right the maids' room, the manservant's room, and the mangling +room; to the left the coachman's quarters, situated between the stable +and the carriage shed and occupied by the Kruse family. Over this room +was the chicken house, while a trap door in the roof of the stable +furnished ingress and egress for the pigeons. Effi had inspected all +these parts of the house with a great deal of interest, but this +interest was exceeded by far when, upon returning from the court to +the front of the house, she followed Innstetten's leading and climbed +the stairway to the upper story. The stairs were askew, ramshackly, +and dark; but the hall, to which they led, almost gave one a cheerful +sensation, because it had a great deal of light and a good view of the +surrounding landscape. In one direction it looked out over the roofs +of the outskirts of the city and the "Plantation," toward a Dutch +windmill standing high up on a dune; in the other it looked out upon +the Kessine, which here, just above its mouth, was rather broad and +stately. It was a striking view and Effi did not hesitate to give +lively expression to her pleasure. "Yes, very beautiful, very +picturesque," answered Innstetten, without going more into detail, and +then opened a double door to the right, with leaves hanging somewhat +askew, which led into the so-called social room. This room ran clear +across the whole story. Both front and back windows were open and the +oft-mentioned curtains swung back and forth in the strong draft. From +the middle of one side wall projected an open fireplace with a large +stone mantlepiece, while on the opposite wall there hung a few tin +candlesticks, each with two candle sockets, just like those downstairs +in the hall, except that everything looked dingy and neglected. Effi +was somewhat disappointed and frankly said so. Then she remarked that +she would rather look at the rooms across the hall than at this +miserable, deserted social room. "To tell the truth, there is +absolutely nothing over there," answered Innstetten, but he opened the +doors nevertheless. Here were four rooms with one window each, all +tinted yellow, to match the social room, and all completely empty, +except that in one there stood three rush-bottomed chairs, with seats +broken through. On the back of one was pasted a little picture, only +half a finger long, representing a Chinaman in blue coat and wide +yellow trousers, with a low-crowned hat on his head. Effi saw it and +said: "What is the Chinaman doing here?" Innstetten himself seemed +surprised at the picture and assured her that he did not know. "Either +Christel or Johanna has pasted it there. Child's play. You can see it +is cut out of a primer." Effi agreed with that and was only surprised +that Innstetten took everything so seriously, as though it meant +something after all. + +Then she cast another glance into the social room and said, in effect, +that it was really a pity all that room should stand empty. "We have +only three rooms downstairs and if anybody comes to visit us we shall +not know whither to turn. Don't you think one could make two handsome +guest rooms out of the social room? This would just suit mama. She +could sleep in the back room and would have the view of the river and +the two moles, and from the front room she could see the city and the +Dutch windmill. In Hohen-Cremmen we have even to this day only a +German windmill. Now say, what do you think of it? Next May mama will +surely come." + +Innstetten agreed to everything, only he said finally: "That is all +very well. But after all it will be better if we give your mama rooms +over in the district councillor's office building. The whole second +story is vacant there, just as it is here, and she will have more +privacy there." + +That was the result, so to speak, which the first walk around through +the house accomplished. Effi then made her toilette, but not so +quickly as Innstetten had supposed, and now she was sitting in her +husband's room, turning her thoughts first to the little Chinaman +upstairs, then to Gieshübler, who still did not come. To be sure, a +quarter of an hour before, a stoop-shouldered and almost deformed +little gentleman in an elegant short fur coat and a very +smooth-brushed silk hat, too tall for his proportions, had walked +past on the other side of the street and had glanced over at her +window. But that could hardly have been Gieshübler. No, this +stoop-shouldered man, who had such a distinguished air about him, must +have been the presiding judge, and she recalled then that she had once +seen such a person at a reception given by Aunt Therese, but it +suddenly occurred to her that Kessin had only a lower court judge. + +While she was still following out this chain of thought the object of +her reflections, who had apparently been taking a morning stroll, or +perhaps a promenade around the "Plantation" to bolster up his courage, +came in sight again, and a minute later Frederick entered to announce +Apothecary Gieshübler. + +"Ask him kindly to come in." + +The poor young wife's heart fluttered, for it was the first time that +she had to appear as a housewife, to say nothing of the first woman of +the city. + +Frederick helped Gieshübler take off his fur coat and then opened the +door. + +Effi extended her hand to the timidly entering caller, who kissed it +with a certain amount of fervor. The young wife seemed to have made a +great impression upon him immediately. + +"My husband has already told me--But I am receiving you here in my +husband's room,--he is over at the office and may be back any moment. +May I ask you to step into my room?" + +Gieshübler followed Effi, who led the way into the adjoining room, +where she pointed to one of the arm chairs, as she herself sat down on +the sofa. "I wish I could tell you what a great pleasure it was +yesterday to receive the beautiful flowers with your card. I +straightway ceased to feel myself a stranger here and when I mentioned +the fact to Innstetten he told me we should unquestionably be good +friends." + +"Did he say that? The good councillor. In the councillor and you, most +gracious Lady,--I beg your permission to say it--two dear people have +been united. For what kind of a man your husband is, I know, and what +kind of a woman you are, most gracious Lady, I see." + +"Provided only you do not look at me with too friendly eyes. I am so +very young. And youth--" + +"Ah, most gracious Lady, say nothing against youth. Youth, even with +all its mistakes, is still beautiful and lovable, and age, even with +its virtues, is not good for much. Personally I have, it is true, no +right to say anything about this subject. About age I might have, +perhaps, but not about youth, for, to be frank, I was never young. +Persons with my misfortune are never young. That, it may as well be +said, is the saddest feature of the case. One has no true spirit, one +has no self-confidence, one hardly ventures to ask a lady for the +honor of a dance, because one does not desire to cause her an +embarrassment, and thus the years go by and one grows old, and life +has been poor and empty." + +Effi gave him her hand. "Oh, you must not say such things. We women +are by no means so bad." + +"Oh, no, certainly not." + +"And when I recall," continued Effi, "what all I have experienced--it +is not much, for I have gone out but little, and have almost always +lived in the country--but when I recall it, I find that, after all, we +always love what is worthy of love. And then I see, too, at once that +you are different from other men. We women have sharp eyes in such +matters. Perhaps in your case the name has something to do with it. +That was always a favorite assertion of our old pastor Niemeyer. The +name, he loved to say, especially the forename, has a certain +mysterious determining influence; and Alonzo Gieshübler, in my +opinion, opens to one a whole new world, indeed I feel almost tempted +to say, Alonzo is a romantic name, a fastidious name." + +Gieshübler smiled with a very unusual degree of satisfaction and +mustered up the courage to lay aside his silk hat, which up to this +time he had been turning in his hand. "Yes, most gracious Lady, you +hit the nail on the head that time." + +Oh, I understand. I have heard about the consuls, of Kessin is said to +have so many, and at the home of the Spanish consul your father +presumably made the acquaintance of the daughter of a sea-captain, a +beautiful Andalusian girl, I suppose; Andalusian girls are always +beautiful." + +"Precisely as you suppose, most gracious Lady. And my mother really +was a beautiful woman, ill as it behooves me personally to undertake +to prove it. But when your husband came here three years ago she was +still alive and still had the same fiery eyes as in her youth. He will +confirm my statement. I personally take more after the Gieshüblers, +who are people of little account, so far as external features are +concerned, but otherwise tolerably well favored. We have been living +here now for four generations, a full hundred years, and if there were +an apothecary nobility--" + +"You would have a right to claim it. And I, for my part, accept your +claim as proved, and that beyond question. For us who come of old +families it is a very easy matter, because we gladly recognize every +sort of noble-mindedness, no matter from what source it may come. At +least that is the way I was brought up by my father, as well as by my +mother. I am a Briest by birth and am descended from the Briest, who, +the day before the battle of Fehrbellin, led the sudden attack on +Rathenow, of which you may perhaps have heard." + +"Oh, certainly, most gracious Lady, that, you know, is my specialty." + +"Well then I am a von Briest. And my father has said to me more than +a hundred times: Effi,--for that is my name--Effi, here is our +beginning, and here only. When Froben traded the horse, he was that +moment a nobleman, and when Luther said, 'here I stand,' he was more +than ever a nobleman. And I think, Mr. Gieshübler, Innstetten was +quite right when he assured me you and I should be good friends." + +Gieshübler would have liked nothing better than to make her a +declaration of love then and there, and to ask that he might fight and +die for her as a Cid or some other campeador. But as that was out of +the question, and his heart could no longer endure the situation, he +arose from his seat, looked for his hat, which he fortunately found at +once, and, after again kissing the young wife's hand, withdrew quickly +from her presence without saying another word. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Such was Effi's first day in Kessin. Innstetten gave her half a week +further time to become settled and write letters to her mother, Hulda, +and the twins. Then the city calls began, some of which were made in a +closed carriage, for the rains came just right to make this unusual +procedure seem the sensible thing to do. When all the city calls had +been made the country nobility came next in order. These took longer, +as in most cases the distances were so great that it was not possible +to make more than one visit on any one day. First they went to the +Borckes' in Rothenmoor, then to Morgnitz, Dabergotz, and Kroschentin, +where they made their duty call at the Ahlemanns', the Jatzkows', and +the Grasenabbs'. Further down the list came, among other families, +that of Baron von Güldenklee in Papenhagen. The impression that Effi +received was everywhere the same. Mediocre people, whose friendliness +was for the most part of an uncertain character, and who, while +pretending to speak of Bismarck and the Crown Princess, were in +reality merely scrutinizing Effi's dress, which some considered too +pretentious for so youthful a woman, while others looked upon it as +too little suited to a lady of social position. Everything about her, +they said, betrayed the Berlin school,--sense in external matters and +a remarkable degree of uncertainty and embarrassment in the discussion +of great problems. At the Borckes', and also at the homes in Morgnitz +and Dabergotz, she had been declared "infected with rationalism," but +at the Grasenabbs' she was pronounced point-blank an "atheist." To be +sure, the elderly Mrs. Grasenabb, _née_ Stiefel, of Stiefelstein in +South Germany, had made a weak attempt to save Effi at least for +deism. But Sidonie von Grasenabb, an old maid of forty-three, had +gruffly interjected the remark: "I tell you, mother, simply an +atheist, and nothing short of an atheist, and that settles it." After +this outburst the old woman, who was afraid of her own daughter, had +observed discreet silence. + +The whole round had taken just about two weeks, and at a late hour on +the second day of December the Innstettens were returning home from +their last visit. At the Güldenklees' Innstetten had met with the +inevitable fate of having to argue politics with old Mr. Güldenklee. +"Yes, dearest district councillor, when I consider how times have +changed! A generation ago today, or about that long, there was, you +know, another second of December, and good Louis, the nephew of +Napoleon--_if_ he was his nephew, and not in reality of entirely +different extraction--was firing grape and canister at the Parisian +mob. Oh well, let him be forgiven for that; he was just the man to do +it, and I hold to the theory that every man fares exactly as well and +as ill as he deserves. But when he later lost all appreciation and in +the year seventy, without any provocation, was determined to have a +bout with us, you see, Baron, that was--well, what shall I say?--that +was a piece of insolence. But he was repaid for it in his own coin. +Our Ancient of Days up there is not to be trifled with and He is on +our side." + +"Yes," said Innstetten, who was wise enough to appear to be entering +seriously into such Philistine discussions, "the hero and conqueror of +Saarbrücken did not know what he was doing. But you must not be too +strict in your judgment of him personally. After all, who is master in +his own house? Nobody. I myself am already making preparations to put +the reins of government into other hands, and Louis Napoleon, you +know, was simply a piece of wax in the hands of his Catholic wife, or +let us say, rather, of his Jesuit wife." + +"Wax in the hands of his wife, who proceeded to bamboozle him. +Certainly, Innstetten, that is just what he was. But you don't think, +do you, that that is going to save him? He is forever condemned. +Moreover it has never yet been shown conclusively"--at these words his +glance sought rather timorously the eye of his better half--"that +petticoat government is not really to be considered an advantage. +Only, of course, it must be the right sort of a wife. But who was this +wife? She was not a wife at all. The most charitable thing to call her +is a 'dame,' and that tells the whole story. 'Dame' almost always +leaves an after-taste. This Eugenie--whose relation to the Jewish +banker I gladly ignore here, for I hate the 'I-am-holier-than-thou' +attitude--had a streak of the _café-chantant_ in her, and, if the city +in which she lived was a Babylon, she was a wife of Babylon. I don't +care to express myself more plainly, for I know"--and he bowed toward +Effi--"what I owe to German wives. Your pardon, most gracious Lady, +that I have so much as touched upon these things within your hearing." + +Such had been the trend of the conversation, after they had talked +about the election, the assassin Nobiling, and the rape crop, and when +Innstetten and Effi reached home they sat down to chat for half an +hour. The two housemaids were already in bed, for it was nearly +midnight. + +Innstetten put on his short house coat and morocco slippers, and began +to walk up and down in the room; Effi was still dressed in her society +gown, and her fan and gloves lay beside her. + +"Now," said Innstetten, standing still, "we really ought to celebrate +this day, but I don't know as yet how. Shall I play you a triumphal +march, or set the shark going out there, or carry you in triumph +across the hall? Something must be done, for I would have you know, +this visit today was the last one." + +"Thank heaven, if it was," said Effi. "But the feeling that we now +have peace and quiet is, I think, celebration enough in itself. Only +you might give me a kiss. But that doesn't occur to you. On that whole +long road not a touch, frosty as a snow-man. And never a thing but +your cigar." + +"Forget that, I am going to reform, but at present I merely want to +know your attitude toward this whole question of friendly relations +and social intercourse. Do you feel drawn to one or another of these +new acquaintances? Have the Borckes won the victory over the +Grasenabbs, or vice versa, or do you side with old Mr. Güldenklee? +What he said about Eugenie made a very noble and pure impression, +don't you think so?" + +"Aha, behold! Sir Geert von Innstetten is a gossip. I am learning to +know you from an entirely new side." + +"And if our nobility will not do," continued Innstetten, without +allowing himself to be interrupted, "what do you think of the city +officials of Kessin? What do you think of the club? After all, life +and death depend upon your answer. Recently I saw you talking with our +judge, who is a lieutenant of the reserves, a neat little man that one +might perhaps get along with, if he could only rid himself of the +notion that he accomplished the recapture of Le Bourget by attacking +him on the flank. And his wife! She is considered our best Boston +player and has, besides, the prettiest counters. So once more, Effi, +how is it going to be in Kessin? Will you become accustomed to the +place? Will you be popular and assure me a majority when I want to go +to the Imperial Diet? Or do you favor a life of seclusion, holding +yourself aloof from the people of Kessin, in the city as well as in +the country?" + +"I shall probably decide in favor of a secluded life, unless the +Apothecary at the sign of the Moor draws me out. To be sure, that will +make me fall still lower in Sidonie's estimation, but I shall have to +take the risk. This fight will simply have to be fought. I shall stand +or fall with Gieshübler. It sounds rather comical, but he is actually +the only person with whom it is possible to carry on a conversation, +the only real human being here." + +"That he is," said Innstetten. "How well you choose!" + +"Should I have _you_ otherwise?" said Effi and leaned upon his arm. + +That was on the 2d of December. A week later Bismarck was in Varzin, +and Innstetten now knew that until Christmas, and perhaps even for a +longer time, quiet days for him were not to be thought of. The Prince +had cherished a fondness for him ever since the days in Versailles, +and would often invite him to dinner, along with other guests, but +also alone, for the youthful district councillor, distinguished alike +for his bearing and his wisdom, enjoyed the favor of the Princess +also. + +The first invitation came for the 14th. As there was snow on the +ground Innstetten planned to take a sleigh for the two hours' drive to +the station, from which he had another hour's ride by train. "Don't +wait for me, Effi. I can't be back before midnight; it will probably +be two o'clock or even later. But I'll not disturb you. Good-by, I'll +see you in the morning." With that he climbed into the sleigh and away +the Isabella-colored span flew through the city and across the country +toward the station. + +That was the first long separation, for almost twelve hours. Poor +Effi! How was she to pass the evening? To go to bed early would be +inadvisable, for she would wake up and not be able to go to sleep +again, and would listen for every sound. No, it would be best to wait +till she was very tired and then enjoy a sound sleep. She wrote a +letter to her mother and then went to see Mrs. Kruse, whose condition +aroused her sympathy. This poor woman had the habit of sitting till +late at night with the black chicken in her lap. The friendliness the +visit was meant to show was by no means returned by Mrs. Kruse, who +sat in her overheated room quietly brooding away the time. So when +Effi perceived that her coming was felt as a disturbance rather than a +pleasure she went away, staying merely long enough to ask whether +there was anything the invalid would like to have. But all offers of +assistance were declined. + +Meanwhile it had become evening and the lamp was already burning. Effi +walked over to the window of her room and looked out at the grove, +whose trees were covered with glistening snow. She was completely +absorbed in the picture and took no notice of what was going on behind +her in the room. When she turned around she observed that Frederick +had quietly put the coffee tray on the table before the sofa and set a +place for her. "Why, yes, supper. I must sit down, I suppose." But she +could not make herself eat. So she got up from the table and reread +the letter she had written to her mother. If she had had a feeling of +loneliness before, it was doubly intense now. What would she not have +given if the two sandy-haired Jahnkes had just stepped in, or even +Hulda? The latter, to be sure, was always so sentimental and as a +usual thing occupied solely with her own triumphs. But doubtful and +insecure as these triumphs were, nevertheless Effi would be very happy +to be told about them at this moment. Finally she opened the grand +piano to play some music, but she could not play. "No, this will make +me hopelessly melancholy; I will read, rather." She looked for a book, +and the first to fall into her hands was a thick red tourist's +handbook, an old edition, perhaps from the days when Innstetten was a +lieutenant. "Yes, I will read in this book; there is nothing more +quieting than books like this. Only the maps should always be avoided. +But I shall guard against this source of sand in the eyes, which I +hate." + +She opened the book at random at page 153. In the adjoining room she +heard the tick-tock of the clock, and out of doors Rollo, who at +nightfall had left his place in the shed, as was his custom every +evening, and had stretched himself out on the large woven mat just +outside the bedroom door. The consciousness that he was near at hand +decreased Effi's feeling that she was forsaken. In fact, it almost put +her in a cheerful mood, and so she began, without further delay, to +read. On the page lying open before her there was something about the +"Hermitage," the well country-seat of the Margrave in the neighborhood +of Beireuth. It attracted her attention. Beireuth, Richard Wagner. So +she read: "Among the pictures in the 'Hermitage' let us mention one +more, which not because of its beauty, but because of its age and the +person it represents, may well claim our interest. It is a woman's +portrait, which has grown dark with age. The head is small, the face +has harsh, rather uncanny features, and she wears a ruff which seems +to support her head. Some think it is an old margravine from the end +of the 15th century, others are of the opinion that it is the Countess +of Orlamunde. All are agreed that it is the picture of the Lady who +since that time has achieved a certain notoriety in the history of the +Hohenzollern dynasty under the name of the 'Lady in white.'" + +"That was a lucky accident!" said Effi, as she shoved the book aside. +"I seek to quiet my nerves, and the first thing I run into is the +story of the 'Lady in white,' of whom I have been afraid as long as I +can remember. But inasmuch as I already have a creepy feeling I might +as well finish the story." + +She opened the book again and read further: "This old portrait itself, +the original of which plays such a rôle in Hohenzollern history, has +likewise a significance as a picture in the special history of the +Hermitage. No doubt, one circumstance that has something to do with +this is the fact that the picture hangs on a papered door, which is +invisible to the stranger and behind which there is a stairway leading +down into the cellar. It is said that when Napoleon spent the night +here the 'Lady in white' stepped out of the frame and walked up to his +bed. The Emperor, starting with fright, the story continues, called +for his adjutant, and to the end of his life always spoke with +exasperation of this 'cursed palace.'" + +"I must give up trying to calm myself by reading," said Effi. "If I +read further, I shall certainly come to a vaulted cellar that the +devil once rode out of on a wine cask. There are several of these in +Germany, I believe, and in a tourist's handbook all such things have +to be collected; that goes without saying. So I will close my eyes, +rather, and recall my wedding-eve celebration as well as I can,--how +the twins could not get any farther because of their tears, and how, +when everybody looked at everybody else with embarrassment, Cousin von +Briest declared that such tears opened the gate to Paradise. He was +truly charming and always in such exuberant spirits. And look at me +now! Here, of all places! Oh, I am not at all suited to be a grand +Lady. Now mama, she would have fitted this position, she would have +sounded the key-note, as behooves the wife of a district councillor, +and Sidonie Grasenabb would have been all homage toward her and would +not have been greatly disturbed about her belief or unbelief. But I--I +am a child and shall probably remain one, too. I once heard that it is +a good fortune. But I don't know whether that is true. Obviously a +wife ought always to adapt herself to the position in which she is +placed." + +At this moment Frederick came to clear off the table. + +"How late is it, Frederick?" + +"It is going on nine, your Ladyship." + +"Well, that is worth listening to. Send Johanna to me." + + * * * * * + +"Your Ladyship sent for me." + +"Yes, Johanna; I want to go to bed. It is still early, to be sure, but +I am so alone. Please go out first and post this letter, and when you +come back it will surely be time. And even if it isn't." + +Effi took the lamp and walked over to her bedroom. Just as she had +expected, there lay Rollo on the rush mat. When he saw her coming he +arose to make room for her to pass, and rubbed his ear against her +hand. Then he lay down again. + +Meanwhile Johanna had gone over to the office to post the letter. Over +there she had been in no particular hurry; on the contrary, she had +preferred to carry on a conversation with Mrs. Paaschen, the wife of +the janitor of the building. About the young wife, of course. + +"What kind of a woman is she anyhow?" asked Mrs. Paaschen. + +"She is very young." + +"Well, that is no misfortune, but rather the opposite. Young wives, +and that is just the good thing about them, never do anything but +stand before the mirror and pull at themselves and put on some +ornament. They don't see much or hear much and have not yet formed the +habit of counting the stubs of candles in the kitchen, and they don't +begrudge a maid a kiss if she gets one, simply because she herself no +longer gets any." + +"Yes," said Johanna, "that was the way with my former madame, and +wholly without occasion. But there is nothing of that kind about our +mistress." + +"Is he very affectionate?" + +"Oh very. That you can easily imagine." + +"But the fact that he leaves her thus alone--" + +"Yes, dear Mrs. Paaschen, but you must not forget--the Prince. After +all, you know, he is a district councillor, and perhaps he wants to +rise still higher." + +"Certainly he wants to, and he will, too. It's in him. Paaschen always +says so and he knows." + +This walk over to the office had consumed perhaps a quarter of an +hour, and when Johanna returned, Effi was already sitting before the +pier-glass, waiting. + +"You were gone a long time, Johanna." + +"Yes, your Ladyship--I beg your Ladyship's pardon--I met Mrs. Paaschen +over there and was delayed a bit. It is so quiet here. One is always +glad to meet a person with whom one can speak a word. Christel is a +very good person, but she doesn't talk, and Frederick is such a +sleepy-head. Besides, he is so cautious and never comes right out with +what he has to say. True, one must be able to hold one's tongue when +necessary, and Mrs. Paaschen, who is so inquisitive, is really not at +all according to my taste. Yet one likes to see and hear something +once in a while." + +Effi sighed. "Yes, Johanna, it is better so." + +"Your Ladyship has such beautiful hair, so long, and soft as silk." + +"Yes, it is very soft. But that is not a good thing, Johanna. As the +hair is, so is the character." + +"Certainly, your Ladyship. And a soft character is better than a hard +one. I have soft hair, too." + +"Yes, Johanna. And you have blonde hair, too. That the men like best." + +"Oh, there is a great difference, your Ladyship. There are many who +prefer black." + +"To be sure," laughed Effi, "that has been my experience, too. But it +must be because of something else entirely. Now, those who are blonde +always have a white complexion. You have, too, Johanna, and I would +wager my last pfennig that you have a good deal of attention paid to +you. I am still very young, but I know that much. Besides, I have a +girl friend, who was also so blonde, a regular flaxen blonde, even +blonder than you, and she was a preacher's daughter." + +"Oh, yes." + +"I beg you, Johanna, what do you mean by 'oh yes?' It sounds very +sarcastic and strange, and you have nothing against preachers' +daughters, have you?--She was a very pretty girl, as even our +officers thought, without exception, for we had officers, red hussars, +too. At the same time she knew very well how to dress herself. A black +velvet bodice and a flower, a rose or sometimes heliotrope, and if she +had not had such large protruding eyes--Oh you ought to have seen +them, Johanna, at least this large--" Effi laughingly pulled down her +right eye-lid--"she would have been simply a beauty. Her name was +Hulda, Hulda Niemeyer, and we were not even so very intimate. But if I +had her here now, and she were sitting there, yonder in the corner of +the little sofa, I would chat with her till midnight, or even longer. +I am so homesick"--in saying this she drew Johanna's head close to her +breast--"I am so much afraid." + +"Oh, that will soon be overcome, your Ladyship, we were all that way." + +"You were all that way? What does that mean, Johanna?" + +"If your Ladyship is really so much afraid, why, I can make a bed for +myself here. I can take the straw mattress and turn down a chair, so +that I have something to lean my head against, and then I can sleep +here till morning, or till his Lordship comes home." + +"He doesn't intend to disturb me. He promised me that specially." + +"Or I can merely sit down in the corner of the sofa." + +"Yes, that might do perhaps. No, it will not, either. His Lordship +must not know that I am afraid, he would not like it. He always wants +me to be brave and determined, as he is. And I can't be. I was always +somewhat easily influenced.--But, of course, I see plainly, I must +conquer myself and subject myself to his will in such particulars, as +well as in general. And then I have Rollo, you know. He is lying just +outside the threshold." + +Johanna nodded at each statement and finally lit the candle on Effi's +bedroom stand. Then she took the lamp. "Does your Ladyship wish +anything more?" + +"No, Johanna. The shutters are closed tight, are they not?" + +"Merely drawn to, your Ladyship. Otherwise it would be so dark and +stuffy." + +"Very well." + +Johanna withdrew, and Effi went to bed and wrapped herself up in the +covers. + +She left the candle burning, because she was determined not to go to +sleep at once. On the contrary, she planned to recapitulate her +wedding tour, as she had her wedding-eve celebration a short time +before, and let everything pass before her mind's eye in review. But +it turned out otherwise than she had expected, for when she had +reached Verona and was looking for the house of Juliet Capulet, her +eyes fell shut. The stub of candle in the little silver holder +gradually burned down, flickered once or twice, and went out. + +Effi had slept quite soundly for a while, when all of a sudden she +started up out of her sleep with a loud scream, indeed, she was able +to hear the scream, as she awoke, and she also noticed Rollo's barking +outside. His "bow-wow" went echoing down the hall, muffled and almost +terrifying. She felt as though her heart stood still, and was unable +to call out. At this moment something whisked past her, and the door +into the hall sprang open. But the moment of extreme fright was also +the moment of her rescue, for, instead of something terrible, Rollo +now came up to her, sought her hand with his head, and, when he had +found it, lay down upon the rug before her bed. With her other hand +Effi had pressed three times on the button of the bell and in less +than half a minute Johanna was there, in her bare feet, her skirt +hanging over her arm and a large checkered cloth thrown over her head +and shoulders. + +"Thank heaven, Johanna, that you are here." + +"What was the matter, your Ladyship? Your Ladyship has had a dream." + +"Yes, a dream. It must have been something of the sort, but it was +something else besides." + +"Pray, what, your Ladyship?" + +"I was sleeping quite soundly and suddenly I started up and +screamed--perhaps it was a nightmare--they have nightmares in our +family--My father has them, too, and frightens us with them. Mama +always says he ought not to humor himself so--But that is easy to +say--Well, I started up out of my sleep and screamed, and when I +looked around, as well as I could in the dark, something slipped past +my bed, right there where you are standing now, Johanna, and then it +was gone. And if I ask myself seriously, what it was--" + +"Well, your Ladyship?" + +"And if I ask myself seriously--I don't like to say it, Johanna--but I +believe it was the Chinaman." + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann, A.-G. Munich_ +A STREET SCENE AT PARIS Adolph von Menzel] + +"The one from upstairs?" said Johanna, trying to laugh, "our little +Chinaman that we pasted on the back of the chair, Christel and I? Oh, +your Ladyship has been dreaming, and even if your Ladyship was awake, +it all came from a dream." + +"I should believe that, if it had not been exactly the moment when +Rollo began to bark outside. So he must have seen it too. Then the +door flew open and the good faithful animal sprang toward me, as +though he were coming to my rescue. Oh, my dear Johanna, it was +terrible. And I so alone and so young. Oh, if I only had some one here +with whom I could weep. But so far from home--alas, from home." + +"The master may come any hour." + +"No, he shall not come. He shall not see me thus. He would probably +laugh at me and I could never pardon him for that. For it was so +fearful, Johanna--You must stay here now--But let Christel sleep and +Frederick too. Nobody must know about it." + +"Or perhaps I may fetch Mrs. Kruse to join us. She doesn't sleep +anyhow; she sits there all night long." + +"No, no, she is a kindred spirit. That black chicken has something to +do with it, too. She must not come. No, Johanna, you just stay here +yourself. And how fortunate that you merely drew the shutters to. Push +them open, make a loud noise, so that I may hear a human sound, a +human sound--I have to call it that, even if it seems queer--and then +open the window a little bit, that I may have air and light." + +Johanna did as ordered and Effi leaned back upon her pillows and soon +thereafter fell into a lethargic sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +It was six o'clock in the morning when Innstetten returned home from +Varzin. He made Rollo omit all demonstrations of affection and then +retired as quietly as possible to his room. Here he lay down in a +comfortable position, but would not allow Frederick to do more than +cover him up with a traveling rug. "Wake me at nine." And at this hour +he was wakened. He arose quickly and said: "Bring my breakfast." + +"Her Ladyship is still asleep." + +"But it is late. Has anything happened?" + +"I don't know. I only know that Johanna had to sleep all night in her +Ladyship's room." + +"Well, send Johanna to me then." + +She came. She had the same rosy complexion as ever, and so seemed not +to have been specially upset by the events of the night. + +"What is this I hear about her Ladyship? Frederick tells me something +happened and you slept in her room." + +"Yes, Sir Baron. Her Ladyship rang three times in very quick +succession, and I thought at once it meant something. And it did, too. +She probably had a dream, or it may perhaps have been the other +thing." + +"What other thing?" + +"Oh, your Lordship knows, I believe." + +"I know nothing. In any case we must put an end to it. And how did you +find her Ladyship?" + +"She was beside herself and clung to Rollo's collar with all her +might. The dog was standing beside her Ladyship's bed and was +frightened also." + +"And what had she dreamed, or, if you prefer, what had she heard or +seen? What did she say?" + +"That it just slipped along close by her." + +"What? Who?" + +"The man from upstairs. The one from the social hall or from the small +chamber." + +"Nonsense, I say. Over and over that same silly stuff. I don't want to +hear any more about it. And then you stayed with her Ladyship?" + +"Yes, your Lordship. I made a bed on the floor close by her. And I had +to hold her hand, and then she went to sleep." + +"And she is still sleeping?" + +"Very soundly." + +"I am worried about that, Johanna. One can sleep one's self well, but +also ill. We must waken her, cautiously, of course, so that she will +not be startled again. And tell Frederick not to bring the breakfast. +I will wait till her Ladyship is here. Now let me see how clever you +can be." + +Half an hour later Effi came. She looked charming, but quite pale, and +was leaning on Johanna. The moment she caught sight of Innstetten she +rushed up to him and embraced and kissed him, while the tears streamed +down her face. "Oh, Geert, thank heaven, you are here. All is well +again now. You must not go away again, you must not leave me alone +again." + +"My dear Effi--Just put it down, Frederick, I will do the rest--my +dear Effi, I am not leaving you alone from lack of consideration or +from caprice, but because it is necessary. I have no choice. I am a +man in office and cannot say to the Prince, or even to the Princess: +Your Highness, I cannot come; my wife is so alone, or, my wife is +afraid. If I said that it would put us in a rather comical light, me +certainly, and you, too. But first take a cup of coffee." + +Effi drank her coffee and its stimulating effect was plainly to be +seen. Then she took her husband's hand again and said: "You shall have +your way. I see, it is impossible. And then, you know, we aspire to +something higher. I say we, for I am really more eager for it than +you." + +"All wives are," laughed Innstetten. + +"So it is settled. You will accept invitations as heretofore, and I +will stay here and wait for my 'High Lord,' which reminds me of Hulda +under the elder tree. I wonder how she is getting along?" + +"Young ladies like Hulda always get along well. But what else were you +going to say?" + +"I was going to say, I will stay here, and even alone, if necessary. +But not in this house. Let us move out. There are such handsome houses +along the quay, one between Consul Martens and Consul Grützmacher, and +one on the Market, just opposite Gieshübler. Why can't we live there? +Why here, of all places? When we have had friends and relatives as +guests in our house I have often heard that in Berlin families move +out on account of piano playing, or on account of cockroaches, or on +account of an unfriendly concierge. If it is done on account of such a +trifle--" + +"Trifle? Concierge? Don't say that." + +"If it is possible because of such things it must also be possible +here, where you are district councillor and the people are obliged to +do your bidding and many even owe you a debt of gratitude. Gieshübler +would certainly help us, even if only for my sake, for he will +sympathize with me. And now say, Geert, shall we give up this +abominable house, this house with the--" + +"Chinaman, you mean. You see, Effi, one can pronounce the fearful word +without his appearing. What you saw or what, as you think, slipped +past your bed, was the little Chinaman that the maids pasted on the +back of the chair upstairs. I'll wager he had a blue coat on and a +very flat-crowned hat, with a shining button on top." + +She nodded. + +"Now you see, a dream, a hallucination. And then, I presume, Johanna +told you something last night, about the wedding upstairs." + +"No." + +"So much the better." + +"She didn't tell me a word. But from all this I can see that there is +something queer here. And then the crocodile; everything is so uncanny +here." + +"The first evening, when you saw the crocodile, you considered it +fairy-like--" + +"Yes, then." + +"And then, Effi, I can't well leave here now, even if it were possible +to sell the house or make an exchange. It is with this exactly as with +declining an invitation to Varzin. I can't have the people here in the +city saying that District Councillor Innstetten is selling his house +because his wife saw the little pasted-up picture of a Chinaman as a +ghost by her bed. I should be lost, Effi. One can never recover from +such ridiculousness." + +"But, Geert, are you so sure that there is nothing of the kind?" + +"That I will not affirm. It is a thing that one can believe or, +better, not believe. But supposing there were such things, what harm +do they do? The fact that bacilli are flying around in the air, of +which you have doubtless heard, is much worse and more dangerous than +all this scurrying about of ghosts, assuming that they do scurry +about, and that such a thing really exists. Then I am particularly +surprised to see _you_ show such fear and such an aversion, you a +Briest. Why, it is as though you came from a low burgher family. +Ghosts are a distinction, like the family tree and the like, and I +know families that would as lief give up their coat of arms as their +'Lady in white,' who may even be in black, for that matter." + +Effi remained silent. + +"Well, Effi; no answer?" + +"What do you expect me to answer? I have given in to you and shown +myself docile, but I think you in turn might be more sympathetic. If +you knew how I long for sympathy. I have suffered a great deal, really +a very great deal, and when I saw you I thought I should now be rid of +my fear. But you merely told me you had no desire to make yourself +ridiculous in the eyes either of the Prince or of the city. That is +small comfort. I consider it small, and so much the smaller, since, to +cap the climax, you contradict yourself, and not only seem to believe +in these things yourself, but even expect me to have a nobleman's +pride in ghosts. Well, I haven't. When you talk about families that +value their ghosts as highly as their coat of arms, all I have to say +is, that is a matter of taste, and I count my coat of arms worth more. +Thank heaven, we Briests have no ghosts. The Briests were always very +good people and that probably accounts for it." + +The dispute would doubtless have gone on longer and might perhaps have +led to a first serious misunderstanding if Frederick had not entered +to hand her Ladyship a letter. "From Mr. Gieshübler. The messenger is +waiting for an answer." + +All the ill-humor on Effi's countenance vanished immediately. It did +her good merely to hear Gieshübler's name, and her cheerful feeling +was further heightened when she examined the letter. In the first +place it was not a letter at all, but a note, the address "Madame the +Baroness von Innstetten, _née_ Briest," in a beautiful court hand, and +instead of a seal a little round picture pasted on, a lyre with a +staff sticking in it. But the staff might also be an arrow. She handed +the note to her husband, who likewise admired it. + +"Now read it." + +Effi broke open the wafer and read: "Most highly esteemed Lady, most +gracious Baroness: Permit me to join to my most respectful forenoon +greeting a most humble request. By the noon train a dear friend of +mine for many years past, a daughter of our good city of Kessin, Miss +Marietta Trippelli, will arrive here to sojourn in our midst +till tomorrow morning. On the 17th she expects to be in St. +Petersburg, where she will give concerts till the middle of January. +Prince Kotschukoff is again opening his hospitable house to her. In +her immutable kindness to me, Miss Trippelli has promised to spend +this evening at my house and sing some songs, leaving the choice +entirely to me, for she knows no such thing as difficulty. Could +Madame the Baroness consent to attend this soirée musicale, at seven +o'clock? Your husband, upon whose appearance I count with certainty, +will support my most humble request. The only other guests are Pastor +Lindequist, who will accompany, and the widow Trippel, of course. +Your most obedient servant. A. Gieshübler." + +"Well," said Innstetten, "yes or no?" + +"Yes, of course. That will pull me through. Besides, I cannot decline +my dear Gieshübler's very first invitation." + +"Agreed. So, Frederick, tell Mirambo, for I take it for granted he +brought the letter, that we shall have the honor." + +Frederick went out. When he was gone Effi asked: "Who is Mirambo?" + +"The genuine Mirambo is a robber chief in Africa,--Lake Tanganyika, if +your geography extends that far--but ours is merely Gieshübler's +charcoal dispenser and factotum, and will this evening, in all +probability, serve as a waiter in dress coat and cotton gloves." + +It was quite apparent that the little incident had had a favorable +effect on Effi and had restored to her a good share of her +light-heartedness. But Innstetten wished to do what he could to hasten +the convalescence. "I am glad you said yes, so quickly and without +hesitation, and now I should like to make a further proposal to you to +restore you entirely to your normal condition. I see plainly, you are +still annoyed by something from last night foreign to my Effi and it +must be got rid of absolutely. There is nothing better for that than +fresh air. The weather is splendid, cool and mild at the same time, +with hardly a breeze stirring. How should you like to take a drive +with me? A long one, not merely out through the "Plantation." In the +sleigh, of course, with the sleigh-bells on and the white snow +blankets. Then if we are back by four you can take a rest, and at +seven we shall be at Gieshübler's and hear Trippelli." + +Effi took his hand. "How good you are, Geert, and how indulgent! For I +must have seemed to you very childish, or at least very childlike, +first in the episode of fright and then, later, when I asked you to +sell the house, but worst of all in what I said about the Prince. I +urged you to break off all connection with him, and that would be +ridiculous. For after all he is the one man who has to decide our +destiny. Mine, too. You don't know how ambitious I am. To tell the +truth, it was only out of ambition that I married you. Oh, you must +not put on such a serious expression. I love you, you know. What is it +we say when we pluck a blossom and tear off the petals? 'With all my +heart, with grief and pain, beyond compare.'" She burst out laughing. +"And now tell me," she continued, as Innstetten still kept silent, +"whither shall we go?" + +"I thought, to the railway station, by a roundabout way, and then back +by the turnpike. We can dine at the station or, better, at +Golchowski's, at the Prince Bismarck Hotel, which we passed on the day +of our return home, as you perhaps remember. Such a visit always has a +good effect, and then I can have a political conversation with the +Starost by the grace of Effi, and even if he does not amount to much +personally he keeps his hotel in good condition and his cuisine in +still better. The people here are connoisseurs when it comes to eating +and drinking." + +It was about eleven when they had this conversation. At twelve Kruse +drove the sleigh up to the door and Effi got in. Johanna was going to +bring a foot bag and furs, but Effi, after all that she had juat +passed through, felt so strongly the need of fresh air that she took +only a double blanket and refused everything else. Innstetten said to +Kruse: "Now, Kruse, we want to drive to the station where you and I +were this morning. The people will wonder at it, but that doesn't +matter. Say, we drive here past the 'Plantation,' and then to the left +toward the Kroschentin church tower. Make the horses fly. We must be +at the station at one." + +Thus began the drive. Over the white roofs of the city hung a bank of +smoke, for there was little stir in the air. They flew past Utpatel's +mill, which turned very slowly, and drove so close to the churchyard +that the tips of the barberry bushes which hung out over the lattice +brushed against Effi, and showered snow upon her blanket. On the other +side of the road was a fenced-in plot, not much larger than a garden +bed, and with nothing to be seen inside except a young pine tree, +which rose out of the centre. + +"Is anybody buried there?" asked Effi. + +"Yes, the Chinaman." + +Effi was startled; it came to her like a stab. But she had strength +enough to control herself and ask with apparent composure: "Ours?" + +"Yes, ours. Of course, he could not be accommodated in the community +graveyard and so Captain Thomsen, who was what you might call his +friend, bought this patch and had him buried here. There is also a +stone with an inscription. It all happened before my time, of course, +but it is still talked about." + +"So there is something in it after all. A story. You said something of +the kind this morning. And I suppose it would be best for me to hear +what it is. So long as I don't know, I shall always be a victim of my +imaginations, in spite of all my good resolutions. Tell me the real +story. The reality cannot worry me so much as my fancy." + +"Good for you, Effi. I didn't intend to speak about it. But now it +comes in naturally, and that is well. Besides, to tell the truth, it +is nothing at all." + +"All the same to me: nothing at all or much or little. Only begin." + +"Yes, that is easy to say. The beginning is always the hardest part, +even with stories. Well, I think I shall begin with Captain Thomsen." + +"Very well." + +"Now Thomsen, whom I have already mentioned, was for many years a +so-called China-voyager, always on the way between Shanghai and +Singapore with a cargo of rice, and may have been about sixty when he +arrived here. I don't know whether he was born here or whether he had +other relations here. To make a long story short, now that he was here +he sold his ship, an old tub that he disposed of for very little, and +bought a house, the same that we are now living in. For out in the +world he had become a wealthy man. This accounts for the crocodile and +the shark and, of course, the ship. Thomsen was a very adroit man, as +I have been told, and well liked, even by Mayor Kirstein, but above +all by the man who was at that time the pastor in Kessin, a native of +Berlin, who had come here shortly before Thomsen and had met with a +great deal of opposition." + +"I believe it. I notice the same thing. They are so strict and +self-righteous here. I believe that is Pomeranian." + +"Yes and no, depending. There are other regions where they are not at +all strict and where things go topsy-turvy--But just see, Effi, there +we have the Kroschentin church tower right close in front of us. Shall +we not give up the station and drive over to see old Mrs. von +Grasenabb? Sidonie, if I am rightly informed, is not at home. So we +might risk it." + +"I beg you, Geert, what are you thinking of? Why, it is heavenly to +fly along thus, and I can simply feel myself being restored and all my +fear falling from me. And now you ask me to sacrifice all that merely +to pay these old people a flying visit and very likely cause them +embarrassment. For heaven's sake let us not. And then I want above all +to hear the story. We were talking about Captain Thomsen, whom I +picture to myself as a Dane or an Englishman, very clean, with white +stand-up collar, and perfectly white linen." + +"Quite right. So he is said to have looked. And with him lived a young +person of about twenty, whom some took for his niece, but most people +for his grand-daughter. The latter, however, considering their ages, +was hardly possible. Beside the grand-daughter or the niece, there was +also a Chinaman living with him, the same one who lies there among the +dunes and whose grave we have just passed." + +"Fine, fine." + +"This Chinaman was a servant at Thomsen's and Thomsen thought a great +deal of him, so that he was really more a friend than a servant. And +it remained so for over a year. Then suddenly it was rumored that +Thomsen's grand-daughter, who, I believe, was called Nina, was to be +married to a captain, in accordance with the old man's wish. And so +indeed it came about. There was a grand wedding at the house, the +Berlin pastor married them. The miller Utpatel, a Scottish Covenanter, +and Gieshübler, a feeble light in church matters, were invited, but +the more prominent guests were a number of captains with their wives +and daughters. And, as you can imagine, there was a lively time. In +the evening there was dancing, and the bride danced with every man and +finally with the Chinaman. Then all of a sudden the report spread that +she had vanished. And she was really gone, somewhere, but nobody knew +just what had happened. A fortnight later the Chinaman died. Thomsen +bought the plot I have shown you and had him buried in it. The Berlin +Pastor is said to have remarked: 'The Chinaman might just as well have +been buried in the Christian churchyard, for he was a very good man +and exactly as good as the rest.' Whom he really meant by the rest, +Gieshübler says nobody quite knew." + +"Well, in this matter I am absolutely against the pastor. Nobody ought +to say such things, for they are dangerous and unbecoming. Even +Niemeyer would not have said that." + +"The poor pastor, whose name, by the way, was Trippel, was very +seriously criticised for it, and it was truly a blessing that he soon +afterward died, for he would have lost his position otherwise. The +city was opposed to him, just as you are, in spite of the fact that +they had called him, and the Consistory, of course, was even more +antagonistic." + +"Trippel, you say? Then, I presume, there is some connection between +him and the pastor's widow, Mrs. Trippel, whom we are to see this +evening." + +"Certainly there is a connection. He was her husband, and the father +of Miss Trippelli." + +Effi laughed. "Of Miss Trippelli! At last I see the whole affair in a +clear light. That she was born in Kessin, Gieshübler wrote me, you +remember. But I thought she was the daughter of an Italian consul. We +have so many foreign names here, you know. And now I find she is good +German and a descendant of Trippel. Is she so superior that she could +venture to Italianize her name in this fashion?" + +"The daring shall inherit the earth. Moreover she is quite good. She +spent a few years in Paris with the famous Madame Viardot, and there +made the acquaintance of the Russian Prince. Russian Princes, you +know, are very enlightened, are above petty class prejudices, and +Kotschukoff and Gieshübler--whom she calls uncle, by the way, and one +might almost call him a born uncle--it is, strictly speaking, these +two who have made little Marie Trippel what she is. It was Gieshübler +who induced her to go to Paris and Kotschukoff made her over into +Marietta Trippelli." + +"Ah, Geert, what a charming story this is and what a humdrum life I +have led in Hohen-Cremmen! Never a thing out of the ordinary." + +Innstetten took her hand and said: "You must not speak thus, Effi. +With respect to ghosts one may take whatever attitude one likes. But +beware of 'out of the ordinary' things, or what is loosely called out +of the ordinary. That which appears to you so enticing, even a life +such as Miss Trippelli leads, is as a rule bought at the price of +happiness. I know quite well how you love Hohen-Cremmen and are +attached to it, but you often make sport of it, too, and have no +conception of how much quiet days like those in Hohen-Cremmen mean." + +"Yes I have," she said. "I know very well. Only I like to hear about +something else once in a while, and then the desire comes over me to +have a similar experience. But you are quite right, and, to tell the +truth, I long for peace and quiet." + +Innstetten shook his finger at her. "My dear, dear Effi, that again +you only imagine. Always fancies, first one thing, then another." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +[Innstetten and Effi stopped at the Prince Bismarck Hotel for dinner +and heard some of Golchowski's gossip. All three went out near the +tracks, when they heard a fast express coming, and as it passed in the +direction of Effi's old home, it filled her heart with longing. The +soirée musicale at Gieshübler's was particularly enlivened by the +bubbling humor of Miss Trippelli, whose singing was excellent, but did +not overshadow her talent as a conversationalist. Effi admired her +ability to sing dramatic pieces with composure. An uncanny ballad led +to a discussion of haunted houses and ghosts, in both of which Miss +Trippelli believed.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +The guests did not go home till late. Soon after ten Effi remarked to +Gieshübler that it was about time to leave, as Miss Trippelli must not +miss her train and would have to leave Kessin at six in order to catch +it. But Miss Trippelli overheard the remark and, in her own peculiar +unabashed way, protested against such thoughtful consideration. "Ah, +most gracious Lady, you think that one following my career needs +regular sleep, but you are mistaken. What we need regularly is +applause and high prices. Oh, laugh if you like. Besides, I can sleep +in my compartment on the train--for one learns to do such things--in +any position and even on my left side, and I don't even need to +unfasten my dress. To be sure, I am never laced tight; chest and lungs +must always be free, and, above all, the heart. Yes, most gracious +Lady, that is the prime essential. And then, speaking of sleep in +general, it is not the quantity that tells; it is the quality. A good +nap of five minutes is better than five hours of restless turning over +and over, first one way, then the other. Besides, one sleeps +marvelously in Russia, in spite of the strong tea. It must be the air +that causes it, or late dinners, or because one is so pampered. There +are no cares in Russia; in that regard Russia is better than America. +In the matter of money the two are equal." After this explanation on +the part of Miss Trippelli, Effi desisted from further warnings that +it was time to go. When twelve o'clock came, the guests, who had +meanwhile developed a certain degree of intimacy, bade their host a +merry and hearty good night. + + * * * * * + +Three days later Gieshübler's friend brought herself once more to +Effi's attention by a telegram in French, from St. Petersburg: "Madame +the Baroness von Innstetten, née von Briest. Arrived safe. Prince K. +at station. More taken with me than ever. Thousand thanks for your +good reception. Kindest regards to Monsieur the Baron. Marietta +Trippelli." + +Innstetten was delighted and gave more enthusiastic expression to his +delight than Effi was able to understand. + +"I don't understand you, Geert." + +"Because you don't understand Miss Trippelli. It's her true self in +the telegram, perfect to a dot." + +"So you take it all as a bit of comedy." + +"As what else could I take it, pray? All calculated for friends there +and here, for Kotschukoff and Gieshübler. Gieshübler will probably +found something for Miss Trippelli, or maybe just leave her a legacy." + +Gieshübler's party had occurred in the middle of December. +Immediately thereafter began the preparations for Christmas. Effi, who +might otherwise have found it hard to live through these days, +considered it a blessing to have a household with demands that had to +be satisfied. It was a time for pondering, deciding, and buying, and +this left no leisure for gloomy thoughts. The day before Christmas +gifts arrived from her parents, and in the parcels were packed a +variety of trifles from the precentor's family: beautiful queenings +from a tree grafted by Effi and Jahnke several years ago, beside brown +pulse-warmers and knee-warmers from Bertha and Hertha. Hulda only +wrote a few lines, because, as she pretended, she had still to knit a +traveling shawl for X. "That is simply not true," said Effi, "I'll +wager, there is no X in existence. What a pity she cannot cease +surrounding herself with admirers who do not exist!" + +When the evening came Innstetten himself arranged the presents for his +young wife. The tree was lit, and a small angel hung at the top. On +the tree was discovered a cradle with pretty transparencies and +inscriptions, one of which referred to an event looked forward to in +the Innstetten home the following year. Effi read it and blushed. Then +she started toward Innstetten to thank him, but before she had time to +carry out her design a Yule gift was thrown into the hall with a +shout, in accordance with the old Pomeranian custom. It proved to be a +box filled with a world of things. At the bottom they found the most +important gift of all, a neat little lozenge box, with a number of +Japanese pictures pasted on it, and inside of it a note, running,-- + + + "Three kings once came on a Christmas eve, + The king of the Moors was one, I believe;-- + The druggist at the sign of the Moor + Today with spices raps at your door; + Regretting no incense or myrrh to have found, + He throws pistachio and almonds around." + + +Effi read the note two or three times and was pleased. "The homage of +a good man has something very comforting about it. Don't you think so, +Geert?" + +"Certainly I do. It is the only thing that can afford real pleasure, +or at least ought to. Every one is otherwise so encumbered with stupid +obligations--I am myself. But, after all, one is what one is." + +The first holiday was church day, on the second they went to the +Borckes'. Everybody was there, except the Grasenabbs, who declined to +come, "because Sidonie was not at home." This excuse struck everybody +as rather strange. Some even whispered: "On the contrary, this is the +very reason they ought to have come." + +New Year's eve there was to be a club ball, which Effi could not well +miss, nor did she wish to, for it would give her an opportunity to see +the cream of the city all at once. Johanna had her hands full with the +preparation of the ball dress. Gieshübler, who, in addition to his +other hobbies, owned a hothouse, had sent Effi some camelias. +Innstetten, in spite of the little time at his disposal, had to drive +in the afternoon to Papenhagen, where three barns had burned. + +It became very quiet in the house. Christel, not having anything to +do, sleepily shoved a footstool up to the stove, and Effi retired into +her bedroom, where she sat down at a small writing desk between the +mirror and the sofa, to write to her mother. She had already written a +postal card, acknowledging receipt of the Christmas letter and +presents, but had written no other news for weeks. + +/# + "Kessin, Dec. 31. + + "_My dear mama_: + + "This will probably be a long letter, as I have not let you + hear from me for a long time. The card doesn't count. The last + time I wrote, I was in the midst of Christmas preparations; now + the Christmas holidays are past and gone. Innstetten and my + good friend Gieshübler left nothing undone to make Holy Night + as agreeable for me as possible, but I felt a little lonely and + homesick for you. Generally speaking, much as I have cause to + be grateful and happy, I cannot rid myself entirely of a + feeling of loneliness, and if I formerly made more fun than + necessary, perhaps, of Hulda's eternal tears of emotion, I am + now being punished for it and have to fight against such tears + myself, for Innstetten must not see them. However, I am sure + that it will all be better when our household is more + enlivened, which is soon to be the case, my dear mama. What I + recently hinted at is now a certainty and Innstetten gives me + daily proof of his joy on account of it. It is not necessary to + assure you how happy I myself am when I think of it, for the + simple reason that I shall then have life and entertainment at + home, or, as Geert says, 'a dear little plaything.' This word + of his is doubtless proper, but I wish he would not use it, + because it always give me a little shock and reminds me how + young I am and that I still half belong in the nursery. This + notion never leaves me (Geert says it is pathological) and, as + a result, the thing that should be my highest happiness is + almost the contrary, a constant embarrassment for me. Recently, + dear mama, when the good Flemming damsels plied me with all + sorts of questions imaginable, it seemed as though I were + undergoing an examination poorly prepared, and I think I must + have answered very stupidly. I was out of sorts, too, for often + what looks like sympathy is mere inquisitiveness, and theirs + impressed me as the more meddlesome, since I have a long while + yet to wait for the happy event. Some time in the summer, early + in July, I think. You must come then, or better still, so soon + as I am at all able to get about, I'll take a vacation and set + out for Hohen-Cremmen to see you. Oh, how happy it makes me to + think of it and of the Havelland air! Here it is almost always + cold and raw. There I shall drive out upon the marsh every day + and see red and yellow flowers everywhere, and I can even now + see the baby stretching out its hands for them, for I know it + must feel really at home there. But I write this for you alone. + Innstetten must not know about it and I should excuse myself + even to you for wanting to come to Hohen-Cremmen with the baby, + and for announcing my visit so early, instead of inviting you + urgently and cordially to Kessin, which, you may know, has + fifteen hundred summer guests every year, and ships with all + kinds of flags, and even a hotel among the dunes. But if I show + so little hospitality it is not because I am inhospitable. I am + not so degenerate as that. It is simply because our residence, + with all its handsome and unusual features, is in reality not a + suitable house at all; it is only a lodging for two people, and + hardly that, for we haven't even a dining room, which, as you + can well imagine, is embarrassing when people come to visit us. + True, we have other rooms upstairs, a large social hall and + four small rooms, but there is something uninviting about them, + and I should call them lumber rooms, if there were any lumber + in them. But they are entirely empty, except for a few + rush-bottomed chairs, and leave a very queer impression, to say + the least. You no doubt think this very easy to change, but the + house we live in is--is haunted. Now it is out. I beseech you, + however, not to make any reference to this in your answer, for + I always show Innstetten your letters and he would be beside + himself if he found out what I have written to you. I ought not + to have done it either, especially as I have been undisturbed + for a good many weeks and have ceased to be afraid; but Johanna + tells me it will come back again, especially if some new person + appears in the house. I couldn't think of exposing you to such + a danger, or--if that is too harsh an expression--to such a + peculiar and uncomfortable disturbance. I will not trouble you + with the matter itself today, at least not in detail. They tell + the story of an old captain, a so-called China-voyager, and + his grand-daughter, who after a short engagement to a young + captain here suddenly vanished on her wedding day. That might + pass, but there is something of greater moment. A young + Chinaman, whom her father had brought back from China and who + was at first the servant and later the friend of the old man, + died shortly afterward and was buried in a lonely spot near the + churchyard. Not long ago I drove by there, but turned my face + away quickly and looked in the other direction, because I + believe I should otherwise have seen him sitting on the grave. + For oh, my dear mama, I have really seen him once, or it at + least seemed so, when I was sound asleep and Innstetten was + away from home visiting the Prince. It was terrible. I should + not like to experience anything like it again. I can't well + invite you to such a house, handsome as it is otherwise, for, + strange to say, it is both uncanny and cozy. Innstetten did not + do exactly the right thing about it either, if you will allow + me to say so, in spite of the fact that I finally agreed with + him in many particulars. He expected me to consider it nothing + but old wives' nonsense and laugh about it, but all of a sudden + he himself seemed to believe in it, at the very time when he + was making the queer demand of me to consider such hauntings a + mark of blue blood and old nobility. But I can't do it and I + won't, either. Kind as he is in other regards, in this + particular he is not kind and considerate enough toward me. + That there is something in it I know from Johanna and also from + Mrs. Kruse. The latter is our coachman's wife and always sits + holding a black chicken in an overheated room. This alone is + enough to scare one. Now you know why _I_ want to come when the + time arrives. Oh, if it were only time now! There are so many + reasons for this wish. Tonight we have a New Year's eve ball, + and Gieshübler, the only amiable man here, in spite of the fact + that he has one shoulder higher than the other, or, to tell the + truth, has even a greater deformity--Gieshübler has sent me + some camelias. Perhaps I shall dance after all. Our doctor says + it would not hurt me; on the contrary. Innstetten has also + given his consent, which almost surprised me. And now remember + me to papa and kiss him for me, and all the other dear friends. + Happy New Year! + + Your Effi." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +The New Year's eve ball lasted till the early morning and Effi was +generously admired, not quite so unhesitatingly, to be sure, as the +bouquet of camelias, which was known to have come from Gieshübler's +greenhouse. After the ball everybody fell back into the same old +routine, and hardly any attempt was made to establish closer social +relations. Hence the winter seemed very long. Visits from the noble +families of the neighborhood were rare, and when Effi was reminded of +her duty to return the visits she always remarked in a half-sorrowful +tone: "Yes, Geert, if it is absolutely necessary, but I shall be bored +to death." Innstetten never disputed the statement. What was said, +during these afternoon calls, about families, children, and +agriculture, was bearable, but when church questions were discussed +and the pastors present were treated like little popes, even looked +upon themselves as such, then Effi lost her patience and her mind +wandered sadly back to Niemeyer, who was always modest and +unpretentious, in spite of the fact that on every important occasion +it was said he had the stuff in him to be called to the cathedral. +Seemingly friendly as were the Borcke, Flemming, and Grasenabb +families, with the exception of Sidonie Grasenabb, real friendship was +out of the question, and often there would have been very little of +pleasure and amusement, or even of reasonably agreeable association, +if it had not been for Gieshübler. + +He looked out for Effi as though he were a special Providence, and she +was grateful to him for it. In addition to his many other interests he +was a faithful and attentive reader of the newspapers. He was, in +fact, the head of the Journal Club, and so scarcely a day passed that +Mirambo did not bring to Effi a large white envelope full of separate +sheets and whole papers, in which particular passages were marked, +usually with a fine lead pencil, but occasionally with a heavy blue +pencil and an exclamation or interrogation point. And that was not +all. He also sent figs and dates, and chocolate drops done up in satin +paper and tied with a little red ribbon. Whenever any specially +beautiful flower was blooming in his greenhouse he would bring some of +the blossoms himself and spend a happy hour chatting with his adored +friend. He cherished in his heart, both separately and combined, all +the beautiful emotions of love--that of a father and an uncle, a +teacher and an admirer. Effi was affected by all these attentions and +wrote to Hohen-Cremmen about them so often that her mother began to +tease her about her "love for the alchymist." But this well-meant +teasing failed of its purpose; it was almost painful to her, in fact, +because it made her conscious, even though but dimly, of what was +really lacking in her married life, viz., outspoken admiration, +helpful suggestions, and little attentions. + +Innstetten was kind and good, but he was not a lover. He felt that he +loved Effi; hence his clear conscience did not require him to make any +special effort to show it. It had almost become a rule with him to +retire from his wife's room to his own when Frederick brought the +lamp. "I have a difficult matter yet to attend to." With that he went. +To be sure, the portiere was left thrown back, so that Effi could hear +the turning of the pages of the document or the scratching of his pen, +but that was all. Then Rollo would often come and lie down before her +upon the fireplace rug, as much as to say: "Must just look after you +again; nobody else does." Then she would stoop down and say softly: +"Yes, Rollo, we are alone." At nine Innstetten would come back for +tea, usually with the newspaper in his hand, and would talk about the +Prince, who was having so much annoyance again, especially because of +that Eugen Richter, whose conduct and language beggared all +description. Then he would read over the list of appointments made and +orders conferred, to the most of which he objected. Finally he would +talk about the election and how fortunate it was to preside over a +district in which there was still some feeling of respect. When he had +finished with this he asked Effi to play something, either from +_Lohengrin_ or the _Walküre_, for he was a Wagner enthusiast. What had +won him over to this composer nobody quite knew. Some said, his +nerves, for matter-of-fact as he seemed, he was in reality nervous. +Others ascribed it to Wagner's position on the Jewish question. +Probably both sides were right. At ten Innstetten relaxed and indulged +in a few well-meant, but rather tired caresses, which Effi accepted, +without genuinely returning them. + +Thus passed the winter. April came and Effi was glad when the garden +behind the court began to show green. + +She could hardly wait for summer to come with its walks along the +beach and its guests at the baths. * * * The months had been so +monotonous that she once wrote: "Can you imagine, mama, that I have +almost become reconciled to our ghost? Of course, that terrible night, +when Geert was away at the Prince's house, I should not like to live +through again, no, certainly not; but this being always alone, with +nothing whatever happening, is hard, too, and when I wake up in the +night I occasionally listen to see if I can hear the shoes, shuffling +up above, and when all is quiet I am almost disappointed and say to +myself: If only it would come back, but not too bad and not too +close!" + +It was in February that Effi wrote these words and now it was almost +May. The "Plantation" was beginning to take on new life again and one +could hear the song of the finches. During this same week the storks +returned, and one of them soared slowly over her house and alighted +upon a barn near Utpatel's mill, its old resting place. Effi, who now +wrote to her mother more frequently than heretofore, reported this +happening, and at the conclusion of her letter said: "I had almost +forgotten one thing, my dear mama, viz., the new district commander of +the landwehr, who has been here now for almost four weeks. But shall +we really have him? That is the question, and a question of +importance, too, much as my statement will make you laugh, because you +do not know how we are suffering here from social famine. At least I +am, for I am at a loss to know what to make of the nobility here. My +fault, perhaps, but that is immaterial. The fact remains, there has +been a famine, and for this reason I have looked forward, through all +the winter months, to the new district commander as a bringer of +comfort and deliverance. His predecessor was an abominable combination +of bad manners and still worse morals and, as though that were not +enough, was always in financial straits. We have suffered under him +all this time, Innstetten more than I, and when we heard early in +April that Major von Crampas was here--for that is the name of the new +man--we rushed into each other's arms, as though no further harm could +befall us in our dear Kessin. But, as already mentioned, it seems as +though there will be nothing going on, now that he is here. He is +married, has two children, one eight, the other ten years old, and +his wife is a year older than he--say, forty-five. That of itself +would make little difference, and why shouldn't I find a motherly +friend delightfully entertaining? Miss Trippelli was nearly thirty, +and I got along with her quite well. But Mrs. Crampas, who by the way +was not a _von_, is impossible. She is always out of sorts, almost +melancholy, much like our Mrs. Kruse, of whom she reminds me not a +little, and it all comes from jealousy. Crampas himself is said to be +a man of many 'relations,' a ladies' man, which always sounds +ridiculous to me and would in this case, if he had not had a duel with +a comrade on account of just such a thing. His left arm was shattered +just below the shoulder and it is noticeable at first sight, in spite +of the operation, which was heralded abroad as a masterpiece of +surgical art. It was performed by Wilms and I believe they call it +resection. + +"Both Mr. and Mrs. Crampas were at our house a fortnight ago to pay us +a visit. The situation was painful, for Mrs. Crampas watched her +husband so closely that he became half-embarrassed, and I wholly. That +he can be different, even jaunty and in high spirits, I was convinced +three days ago, when, he sat alone with Innstetten, and I was able to +follow their conversation from my room. I afterward talked with him +myself and found him a perfect gentleman and extraordinarily clever. +Innstetten was in the same brigade with him during the war and they +often saw each other at Count Gröben's to the north of Paris. Yes, my +dear mama, he is just the man to instill new life into Kessin. +Besides, he has none of the Pomeranian prejudices, even though he is +said to have come from Swedish Pomerania. But his wife! Nothing can be +done without her, of course, and still less with her." + +Effi was quite right. As a matter of fact no close friendship was +established with the Crampas family. They met once at the Borckes', +again quite casually at the station, and a few days later on a steamer +excursion up the "Broad" to a large beech and oak forest called "The +Chatter-man." But they merely exchanged short greetings, and Effi was +glad when the bathing season opened early in June. To be sure, there +was still a lack of summer visitors, who as a rule did not come in +numbers before St. John's Day. But even the preparations afforded +entertainment. In the "Plantation" a merry-go-round and targets were +set up, the boatmen calked and painted their boats, every little +apartment put up new curtains, and rooms with damp exposure and +subject to dry-rot were fumigated and aired. + +In Effi's own home everybody was also more or less excited, not +because of summer visitors, however, but of another expected arrival. +Even Mrs. Kruse wished to help as much as she could. But Effi was +alarmed at the thought of it and said: "Geert, don't let Mrs. Kruse +touch anything. It would do no good, and I have enough to worry about +without that." Innstetten promised all she asked, adding that Christel +and Johanna would have plenty of time, anyhow. + + * * * * * + +[An elderly widow and her maid arrived and took rooms for the season +opposite the Innstetten house. The widow died and was buried in the +cemetery. After watching the funeral from her window Effi walked out +to the hotel among the dunes and on her way home turned into the +cemetery, where she found the widow's maid sitting in the burning +sun.] + + * * * * * + +"It is a hot place you have picked out," said Effi, "much too hot. And +if you are not cautious you may have a sun-stroke." + +"That would be a blessing." + +"How so?" + +"Then I should be out of the world." + +"I don't think you ought to say that, even if you had bad luck or lost +a dear friend. I presume you loved her very dearly?" + +"I? Her? Oh, heaven forbid!" + +"You are very sad, however, and there must be some cause." + +"There is, too, your Ladyship." + +"Do you know me?" + +"Yes. You are the wife of the district councillor across the street +from us. I was always talking with the old woman about you. But the +time came when she could talk no more, because she could not draw a +good breath. There was something the matter with her here, dropsy, +perhaps. But so long as she could speak she spoke incessantly. She was +a genuine Berlin--" + +"Good woman?" + +"No. If I said that it would be a lie. She is in her grave now and we +ought not to say anything bad about the dead, especially as even they +hardly have peace. Oh well, I suppose she has found peace. But she was +good for nothing and was quarrelsome and stingy and made no provision +for me. The relatives who came yesterday from Berlin * * * were very +rude and unkind to me and raised all sorts of objections when they +paid me my wages, merely because they had to and because there are +only six more days before the beginning of a new quarter. Otherwise I +should have received nothing, or only half, or only a quarter--nothing +with their good will. And they gave me a torn five-mark note to pay my +fare back to Berlin. Well, it is just enough for a fourth-class ticket +and I suppose I shall have to sit on my luggage. But I won't do it. I +will sit here and wait till I die--Heavens, I thought I should have +peace here and I could have stood it with the old woman, too. But now +this has come to nothing and I shall have to be knocked around again. +Besides, I am a Catholic. Oh, I have had enough of it and I wish I lay +where the old woman lies. She might go on living for all of me. * * *" + + + +Rollo, who had accompanied Effi, had meanwhile sat down before the +maid, with his tongue away out, and looked at her. When she stopped +talking he arose, stepped forward, and laid his head upon her knees. +Suddenly she was transformed. "My, this means something for me. Why, +here is a creature that can endure me, that looks at me like a friend +and lays its head on my knees. My, it has been a long time since +anything like that has happened to me. Well, old boy, what's your +name? My, but you are a splendid fellow!" + +"Rollo," said Effi. + +"Rollo; that is strange. But the name makes no difference. I have a +strange name, too, that is, forename. And the likes of me have no +other, you know." + +"What is your name?" + +"I am called Roswitha." + +"Yes, that is strange; why, that is--" + +"Yes, quite right, your Ladyship, it is a Catholic name. And that is +another trouble, that I am a Catholic. From Eichsfeld. Being a +Catholic makes it harder and more disagreeable for me. Many won't have +Catholics, because they run to the church so much. * * *" + +"Roswitha," said Effi, sitting down by her on the bench. "What are you +going to do now?" + +"Ah, your Ladyship, what could I be going to do? Nothing. Honestly and +truly, I should like to sit here and wait till I fall over dead. * * +*" + +"I want to ask you something, Roswitha. Are you fond of children? Have +you ever taken care of little children?" + +"Indeed I have. That is the best and finest thing about me. * * * When +a dear little thing stands up in one's lap, a darling little creature +like a doll, and looks at one with its little peepers, that, I tell +you, is something that opens up one's heart. * * *" + +"Now let me tell you, Roswitha, you are a good true person; I can +tell it by your looks. A little bit unceremonious, but that doesn't +hurt; it is often true of the best people, and I have had confidence +in you from the beginning. Will you come along to my house? It seems +as though God had sent you to me. I am expecting a little one soon, +and may God help me at the time. When the child comes it must be cared +for and waited upon and perhaps even fed from a bottle, though I hope +not. But one can never tell. What do you say? Will you come?" + +Roswitha sprang up, seized the hand of the young wife and kissed it +fervently. "Oh, there is indeed a God in heaven, and when our need is +greatest help is nearest. Your Ladyship shall see, I can do it. I am +an orderly person and have good references. You can see for yourself +when I bring you my book. The very first time I saw your Ladyship I +thought: 'Oh, if I only had such a mistress!' And now I am to have +her. O, dear God, O, holy Virgin Mary, who would have thought it +possible, when we had put the old woman in her grave and the relatives +made haste to get away and left me sitting here?" + +"Yes, it is the unexpected that often happens, Roswitha, and +occasionally for our good. Let us go now. Rollo is getting impatient +and keeps running down to the gate." + +Roswitha was ready at once, but went back to the grave, mumbled a few +words and crossed herself. Then they walked down the shady path and +back to the churchyard gate. * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +In less than a quarter of an hour the house was reached. As they +stepped into the cool hall * * * Effi said: "Now, Roswitha, you go in +there. That is our bedroom. I am going over to the district +councillor's office to tell my husband that I should like to have you +as a nurse for the baby. He will doubtless agree to it, but I must +have his consent. Then when I have it we must find other quarters for +him and you will sleep with me in the alcove * * *" + +When Innstetten learned the situation he said with alacrity: "You did +the right thing, Effi, and if her testimonials are not too bad we will +take her on her good face * * *" + +Effi was very happy to have encountered so little difficulty, and +said: "Now it will be all right. Now I am no longer afraid * * *" + +That same hour Roswitha moved into the house with her few possessions +and established herself in the little alcove. When the day was over +she went to bed early and, tired as she was, fell asleep instantly. + +The next morning Effi inquired how she had slept and whether she had +heard anything. + +"What?" asked Roswitha. + +"Oh, nothing. I just meant some sound as though a broom were sweeping +or some one were sliding over the floor." + +Roswitha laughed and that made an especially good impression upon her +young mistress. Effi had been brought up a Protestant and would have +been very much alarmed if any Catholic traits had been discovered in +her. And yet she believed that Catholicism affords the better +protection against such things as "that upstairs" * * * + +All soon began to feel at home with one another, for Effi, like most +country noblewomen of Brandenburg, had the amiable characteristic of +liking to listen to such little stories as those for which the +deceased widow, with her avarice, her nephews and their wives, +afforded Roswitha an inexhaustible fund of material. Johanna was also +an appreciative listener. + +Often, when Effi laughed aloud at the drastic passages, Johanna would +deign to smile, but inwardly she was surprised that her Ladyship found +pleasure in such stupid stuff. This feeling of surprise, along with +her sense of superiority, proved on the whole very fortunate and +helped to avoid quarrels with Johanna about their relative positions. +Roswitha was simply the comic figure, and for Johanna to be jealous of +her would have been as bad as to envy Rollo his position of +friendship. + +Thus passed a week, chatty and almost jolly, for Effi looked forward +with less anxiety than heretofore to the important coming event. Nor +did she think that it was so near. On the ninth day the chattering and +jollity came to an end. Running and hurrying took their place, and +Innstetten himself laid aside his customary reserve entirely. On the +morning of the 3d of July a cradle was standing by Effi's bed. Dr. +Hannemann joyously grasped the young mother's hand and said: "We have +today the anniversary of Königgrätz; a pity, that it is a girl. But +the other may come yet, and the Prussians have many anniversaries of +victories." Roswitha doubtless had some similar idea, but for the +present her joy over the new arrival knew no bounds. Without further +ado she called the child "little Annie," which the young mother took +as a sign. "It must have been an inspiration," she said, "that +Roswitha hit upon this particular name." Even Innstetten had nothing +to say against it, and so they began to talk about "little Annie" long +before the christening day arrived. + +Effi, who expected to be with her parents in Hohen-Cremmen from the +middle of August on, would have liked to postpone the baptism till +then. But it was not feasible. Innstetten could not take a vacation +and so the 15th of August * * * was set for the ceremony, which of +course was to take place in the church. The accompanying banquet was +held in the large clubhouse on the quay, because the district +councillor's house had no dining hall. All the nobles of the +neighborhood were invited and all came. Pastor Lindequist delivered +the toast to the mother and the child in a charming way that was +admired on all sides. But Sidonie von Grasenabb took occasion to +remark to her neighbor, an assessor of the strict type: "Yes, his +occasional addresses will pass. But he cannot justify his sermons +before God or man. He is a half-way man, one of those who are +rejected because they are lukewarm. I don't care to quote the Bible +here literally." Immediately thereafter old Mr. von Borcke took the +floor to drink to the health of Innstetten: "Ladies and Gentlemen: +These are hard times in which we live; rebellion, defiance, lack of +discipline, whithersoever we look. But * * * so long as we still have +men like Baron von Innstetten, whom I am proud to call my friend, just +so long we can endure it, and our old Prussia will hold out. Indeed, +my friends, with Pomerania and Brandenburg we can conquer this foe and +set our foot upon the head of the poisonous dragon of revolution. Firm +and true, thus shall we gain the victory. The Catholics, our brethren, +whom we must respect, even though we fight them, have the 'rock of +Peter,' but our rock is of bronze. Three cheers for Baron Innstetten!" +Innstetten thanked him briefly. Effi said to Major von Crampas, who +sat beside her, that the 'rock of Peter' was probably a compliment to +Roswitha, and she would later approach old Councillor of Justice +Gadebusch and ask him if he were not of her opinion. For some +unaccountable reason Crampas took this remark seriously and advised +her not to ask the Councillor's opinion, which amused Effi +exceedingly. "Why, I thought you were a better mind-reader." + +"Ah, your Ladyship, in the case of beautiful young women who are not +yet eighteen the art of mind-reading fails utterly." + +"You are defeating your cause completely, Major. You may call me a +grandmother, but you can never be pardoned for alluding to the fact +that I am not yet eighteen." + +When they left the table the late afternoon steamer came down the +Kessine and called at the landing opposite the clubhouse. Effi sat by +an open window with Crampas and Gieshübler, drinking coffee and +watching the scene below. "Tomorrow morning at nine the same boat will +take me up the river, and at noon I shall be in Berlin, and in the +evening I shall be in Hohen-Cremmen, and Roswitha will walk beside me +and carry the child in her arms. I hope it will not cry. Ah, what a +feeling it gives me even today! Dear Gieshübler, were you ever so +happy to see again your parental home?" + +[Illustation: _Permission F. Bruckmann A.-G. Munich_ PROCESSION AT +GASTEIN Adolph von Menzel] "Yes, the feeling is not new to me, most +gracious Lady, excepting only that I have never taken any little Annie +with me, for I have none to take." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +Effi left home in the middle of August and was back in Kessin at the +end of September. During the six weeks' visit she had often longed to +return, but when she now reached the house and entered the dark hall +into which no light could enter except the little from the stairway, +she had a sudden feeling of fear and said to herself: "There is no +such pale, yellow light in Hohen-Cremmen." + +A few times during the days in Hohen-Cremmen she had longed for the +"Haunted house," but on the whole her life there had been full of +happiness and contentment. To be sure, she had not known what to +make of Hulda, who was not taking kindly to her rôle of waiting +for a husband or fiancé to turn up. With the twins, however, she +got along much better, and more than once when she played ball or +croquet with them she entirely forgot that she was married. Those +were happy moments. Her chief delight was, as in former days, to +stand on the swing board as it flew through the air and gave her +a tingling sensation, a shudder of sweet danger, when she felt she +would surely fall the next moment. When she finally sprang out of +the swing, she went with the two girls to sit on the bench in front +of the schoolhouse and there told old Mr. Jahnke, who joined them, +about her life in Kessin, which she said was half-hanseatic and +half-Scandinavian, and anything but a replica of Schwantikow and +Hohen-Cremmen. + +Such were the little daily amusements, to which were added occasional +drives into the summery marsh, usually in the dog-cart. But Effi liked +above everything else the chats she had almost every morning with her +mother, as they sat upstairs in the large airy room, while Roswitha +rocked the baby and sang lullabies in a Thuringian dialect which +nobody fully understood, perhaps not even Roswitha. Effi and her +mother would move over to the open window and look out upon the park, +the sundial, or the pond with the dragon flies hovering almost +motionless above it, or the tile walk, where von Briest sat beside the +porch steps reading the newspapers. Every time he turned a page he +took off his nose glasses and greeted his wife and daughter. When he +came to his last paper, usually the _Havelland Advertiser_, Effi went +down either to sit beside him or stroll with him through the garden +and park. On one such occasion they stepped from the gravel walk over +to a little monument standing to one side, which Briest's grandfather +had erected in memory of the battle of Waterloo. It was a rusty +pyramid with a bronze cast of Blücher in front and one of Wellington +in the rear. + +"Have you any such walks in Kessin?" said von Briest, "and does +Innstetten accompany you and tell you stories?" + +"No, papa, I have no such walks. It is out of the question, for we +have only a small garden behind the house, in reality hardly a garden +at all, just a few box-bordered plots and vegetable beds with three or +four fruit trees. Innstetten has no appreciation of such things and, I +fancy, does not expect to stay much longer in Kessin." + +"But, child, you must have exercise and fresh air, for you are +accustomed to them." + +"Oh, I have both. Our house is situated near a grove, which they call +the 'Plantation,' and I walk there a great deal and Rollo with me." + +"Always Rollo," laughed von Briest. "If I didn't know better, I should +be tempted to think that you cared more for Rollo than for your +husband and child." + +"Ah, papa, that would be terrible, even if I am forced to admit that +there was a time when I could not have gotten along without Rollo. +That was--oh, you know when--On that occasion he virtually saved my +life, or I at least fancied he did, and since then he has been my good +friend and my chief dependence. But he is only a dog, and of course +human beings come first." + +"Yes, that is what they always say, but I have my doubts. There is +something peculiar about brute creatures and a correct understanding +of them has not yet been arrived at. Believe me, Effi, this is another +wide field. When I think how a person has an accident on the water or +on the slippery ice, and some dog, say, one like your Rollo, is at +hand, he will not rest till he has brought the unfortunate person to +the shore. And if the victim is already dead, the dog will lie down +beside him and bark and whine till somebody comes, and if nobody +comes he will stay by the corpse till he himself is dead. That is what +such an animal always does. And now take mankind on the other hand. +God forgive me for saying it, but it sometimes seems to me as though +the brute creature were better than man." + +"But, papa, if I said that to Innstetten--" + +"No, Effi, you would better not." + +"Rollo would rescue me, of course, but Innstetten would, too. He is a +man of honor, you know." + +"That he is." + +"And loves me." + +"That goes without saying. And where there is love it is reciprocated. +That is the way of the world. I am only surprised that he didn't take +a vacation and flit over here. When one has such a young wife--" + +Effi blushed, for she thought exactly the same thing. But she did not +care to admit it. "Innstetten is so conscientious and he desires to be +thought well of, I believe, and has his own plans for the future. +Kessin, you know, is only a stepping stone. And, after all, I am not +going to run away from him. He has me, you see. If he were too +affectionate--beside the difference between our ages--people would +merely smile." + +"Yes, they would, Effi. But one must not mind that. Now, don't say +anything about it, not even to mama. It is so hard to say what to do +and what not. That is also a wide field." + +More than once during Effi's visit with her parents such conversations +as the above had occurred, but fortunately their effect had not lasted +long. Likewise the melancholy impression made upon her by the Kessin +house at the moment of her return quickly faded away. Innstetten was +full of little attentions, and when tea had been taken and the news +of the city and the gossip about lovers had been talked over in a +merry mood Effi took his arm affectionately and went into the other +room with him to continue their chat and hear some anecdotes about +Miss Trippelli, who had recently had another lively correspondence +with Gieshübler. This always meant a new debit on her never settled +account. During this conversation Effi was very jolly, enjoying to the +full the emotions of a young wife, and was glad to be rid of Roswitha, +who had been transferred to the servants' quarters for an indefinite +period. + +The next morning she said: "The weather is beautiful and mild and I +hope the veranda on the side toward the 'Plantation' is in good order, +so that we can move out of doors and take breakfast there. We shall be +shut up in our rooms soon enough, at best, for the Kessin winters are +really four weeks too long." + +Innstetten agreed heartily. The veranda Effi spoke of, which might +perhaps better be called a tent, had been put up in the summer, three +or four weeks before Effi's departure for Hohen-Cremmen. It consisted +of a large platform, with the side in front open, an immense awning +overhead, while to the right and left there were broad canvas +curtains, which could be shoved back and forth by means of rings on an +iron rod. It was a charming spot and all summer long was admired by +the visitors who passed by on their way to the baths. + +Effi had leaned back in a rocking chair and said, as she pushed the +coffee tray toward her husband: "Geert, you might play the amiable +host today. I for my part find this rocker so comfortable that I do +not care to get up. So exert yourself and if you are right glad to +have me back again I shall easily find some way to get even." As she +said this she straightened out the white damask cloth and laid her +hand upon it. Innstetten took her hand and kissed it. + +"Well, how did you get on without me?" + +"Badly enough, Effi." + +"You just say so and try to look gloomy, but in reality there is not a +word of truth in it." + +"Why, Effi--" + +"As I will prove to you, If you had had the least bit of longing for +your child--I will not speak of myself, for, after all, what is a +woman to such a high lord, who was a bachelor for so many years and +was in no hurry--" + +"Well?" + +"Yes, Geert, if you had had just the least bit of longing, you would +not have left me for six weeks to enjoy widow-like my own sweet +society in Hohen-Cremmen, with nobody about but Niemeyer and Jahnke, +and now and then our friends in Schwantikow. Nobody at all came from +Rathenow, which looked as though they were afraid of me, or I had +grown too old." + +"Ah, Effi, how you do talk! Do you know that you are a little +coquette?" + +"Thank heaven that you say so. You men consider a coquette the best +thing a woman can be. And you yourself are not different from the +rest, even if you do put on such a solemn and honorable air. I know +very well, Geert--To tell the truth, you are--" + +"Well, what?" + +"Well, I prefer not to say. But I know you very well. To tell the +truth, you are, as my Schwantikow uncle once said, an affectionate +man, and were born under the star of love, and Uncle Belling was quite +right when he said so. You merely do not like to show it and think it +is not proper and spoils one's career. Have I struck it?" + +Innstetten laughed. "You have struck it a little bit. And let me tell +you, Effi, you seem to me entirely changed. Before little Annie came +you were a child, but all of a sudden--" + +"Well?" + +"All of a sudden you are like another person. But it is becoming to +you and I like you very much. Shall I tell you further?" + +"What?" + +"There is something alluring about you." + +"Oh, my only Geert, why, what you say is glorious. Now my heart is +gladder than ever--Give me another half a cup--Do you know that that +is what I have always desired? We women must be alluring, or we are +nothing whatever." + +"Is that your own idea?" + +"I might have originated it, but I got it from Niemeyer." + +"From Niemeyer! My, oh my, what a fine pastor he is! Well, I just tell +you, there are none like him here. But how did he come by it? Why, it +seems as though some Don Juan, some regular heart smasher had said +it." + +"Ah, who knows?" laughed Effi. "But isn't that Crampas coming there? +And from the beach! You don't suppose he has been swimming? On the +27th of September!" + +"He often does such things, purely to make an impression." + +Crampas had meanwhile come up quite near and greeted them. + +"Good morning," cried Innstetten. "Come closer, come closer." + +Crampas, in civilian dress, approached and kissed Effi's hand. She +went on rocking, and Innstetten said: "Excuse me, Major, for doing the +honors of the house so poorly; but the veranda is not a house and, +strictly speaking, ten o'clock in the morning is no time. At this hour +we omit formalities, or, if you like, we all make ourselves at home. +So sit down and give an account of your actions. For by your hair,--I +wish for your sake there were more of it--I see plainly you have been +swimming." + +He nodded. + +"Inexcusable," said Innstetten, half in earnest and half joking. "Only +four weeks ago you yourself witnessed Banker Heinersdorf's calamity. +He too thought the sea and the magnificent waves would respect him on +account of his millions. But the gods are jealous of each other, and +Neptune, without any apparent cause, took sides against Pluto, or at +least against Heinersdorf." + +Crampas laughed. "Yes, a million marks! If I had that much, my dear +Innstetten, I should not have risked it, I presume; for beautiful as +the weather is, the water was only 9° centigrade. But a man like me, +with his million deficit,--permit me this little bit of boasting--a +man like me can take such liberties without fearing the jealousy of +the gods. Besides, there is comfort in the proverb, 'Whoever is born +for the noose cannot perish in the water.'" + +"Why, Major," said Effi, "you don't mean to talk your neck +into--excuse me!--such an unprosaic predicament, do you? To be sure, +many believe--I refer to what you just said--that every man more or +less deserves to be hanged. And yet, Major--for a major--" + +"It is not the traditional way of dying. I admit it, your Ladyship. +Not traditional and, in my case, not even very probable. So it was +merely a quotation, or, to be more accurate, a common expression. +Still, there is some sincerity back of it when I say the sea will not +harm me, for I firmly expect to die a regular, and I hope honorable, +soldier's death. Originally it was only a gypsy's prophesy, but with +an echo in my own conscience." + +Innstetten laughed. "There will be a few obstacles, Crampas, unless +you plan to serve under the Sublime Porte or the Chinese dragon. There +the soldiers are knocking each other around now. Take my word for it, +that kind of business is all over here for the next thirty years, and +if anybody has the desire to meet his death as a soldier--" + +"He must first order a war of Bismarck. I know all about it, +Innstetten. But that is a mere bagatelle for you. It is now the end of +September. In ten weeks at the latest the Prince will be in Varzin +again, and as he has a liking for you--I will refrain from using the +more vulgar term, to avoid facing the barrel of your pistol--you will +be able, won't you, to provide a little war for an old Vionville +comrade? The Prince is only a human being, like the rest of us, and a +kind word never comes amiss." + +During this conversation Effi had been wadding bread and tossing it on +the table, then making figures out of the little balls, to indicate +that a change of topic was desirable. But Innstetten seemed bent on +answering Crampas's joking remarks, for which reason Effi decided it +would be better for her simply to interrupt. "I can't see, Major, why +we should trouble ourselves about your way of dying. Life lies nearer +to us and is for the time being a more serious matter." + +Crampas nodded. + +"I am glad you agree with me. How are we to live here? That is the +question right now. That is more important than anything else. +Gieshübler has written me a letter on the subject and I would show it +to you if it did not seem indiscreet or vain, for there are a lot of +other things besides in the letter. Innstetten doesn't need to read +it; he has no appreciation of such things. Incidentally, the +handwriting is like engraving, and the style is what one would expect +if our Kessin friend had been brought up at an Old French court. The +fact that he is humpbacked and wears white jabots such as no other +human being wears--I can't imagine where he has them ironed--all this +fits so well. Now Gieshübler has written to me about plans for the +evenings at the club, and about a manager by the name of Crampas. You +see, Major, I like that better than the soldier's death, let alone the +other." + +"And I, personally, no less than you. It will surely be a splendid +winter if we may feel assured of the support of your Ladyship. Miss +Trippelli is coming--" + +"Trippelli? Then I am superfluous." + +"By no means, your Ladyship. Miss Trippelli cannot sing from one +Sunday till the next; it would be too much for her and for us. Variety +is the spice of life, a truth which, to be sure, every happy marriage +seems to controvert." + +"If there are any happy marriages, mine excepted," and she held out +her hand to Innstetten. + +"Variety then," continued Crampas. "To secure it for ourselves and our +club, of which for the time being I have the honor to be the +vice-president, we need the help of everybody who can be depended +upon. If we put our heads together we can turn this whole place upside +down. The theatrical pieces have already been selected--_War in Peace, +Mr. Hercules, Youthful Love,_ by Wilbrandt, and perhaps _Euphrosyne_, +by Gensichen. You as Euphrosyne and I middle-aged Goethe. You will be +astonished to see how well I can act the prince of poets, if act is +the right word." + +"No doubt. In the meantime I have learned from the letter of my +alchemistic correspondent that, in addition to your other +accomplishments, you are an occasional poet. At first I was +surprised." + +"You couldn't see that I looked the part." + +"No. But since I have found out that you go swimming at 9° I have +changed my mind. Nine degrees in the Baltic Sea beats the Castalian +Fountain." + +"The temperature of which is unknown." + +"Not to me; at least nobody will contradict me. But now I must get up. +There comes Roswitha with little Annie." + +She arose and went toward Roswitha, took the child, and tossed it up +with pride and joy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +[For the next few weeks Crampas came regularly every morning to gossip +a while with Effi on the veranda and then ride horseback with her +husband. Finally she desired to ride with them and, although +Innstetten did not approve of the idea, Crampas secured a horse for +her. On one of their rides Crampas let fall a remark about how it +bored him to have to observe such a multitude of petty laws. Effi +applauded the sentiment. Innstetten took the Major to task and +reminded him that one of his frivolous escapades had cost him an arm. +When the election campaign began Innstetten; could no longer take the +time for the horseback rides, and so Effi went out with Crampas, +accompanied by two lackeys. One day, while riding slowly through the +woods, Crampas spoke at length of Innstetten's character, telling how +in earlier life the councillor was more respected than loved, how he +had a mystical tendency and was inclined to make sport of his +comrades. He referred also to Innstetten's fondness for ghost +stories, which led Effi to tell her experience with the Chinaman. +Crampas said that because of an unusual ambition Innstetten had to +have an unusual residence; hence the haunted house. He further +poisoned Effi's mind by telling her that her husband was a born +pedagogue and in the education of his wife was employing the haunted +house in accordance with a definite pedagogical plan.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The clock struck two as they reached the house. Crampas bade Effi +adieu, rode into the city, and dismounted at his residence on the +market square. Effi changed her dress and tried to take a nap, but +could not go to sleep, for she was less weary than out of humor. That +Innstetten should keep his ghosts, in order to live in an +extraordinary house, that she could endure; it harmonized with his +inclination to be different from the great mass. But the other thing, +that he should use his ghosts for pedagogical purposes, that was +annoying, almost insulting. It was clear to her mind that "pedagogical +purposes" told less than half the story. What Crampas had meant was +far, far worse, was a kind of instrument designed to instill fear. It +was wholly lacking in goodness of heart and bordered almost on +cruelty. The blood rushed to her head, she clenched her little fist, +and was on the point of laying plans, but suddenly she had to laugh. +"What a child I am!" she exclaimed. "Who can assure me that Crampas is +right? Crampas is entertaining, because he is a gossip, but he is +unreliable, a mere braggart, and cannot hold a candle to Innstetten." + +At this moment Innstetten drove up, having decided to come home +earlier today than usual. Effi sprang from her seat to greet him in +the hall and was the more affectionate, the more she felt she had +something to make amends for. But she could not entirely ignore what +Crampas had said, and in the midst of her caresses, while she was +listening with apparent interest, there was the ever recurring echo +within: "So the ghost is part of a design, a ghost to keep me in my +place." + +Finally she forgot it, however, and listened artlessly to what he had +to tell her. + + * * * * * + +About the middle of November the north wind blew up a gale, which for +a day and a half swept over the moles so violently that the Kessine, +more and more dammed back, finally overflowed the quay and ran into +the streets. But after the storm had spent its rage the weather +cleared and a few sunny autumn days followed. "Who knows how long they +will last," said Effi to Crampas, and they decided to ride out once +more on the following morning. Innstetten, who had a free day, was to +go too. They planned to ride to the mole and dismount there, then take +a little walk along the beach and finally have luncheon at a sheltered +spot behind the dunes. + +At the appointed hour Crampas rode up before the house. Kruse was +holding the horse for her Ladyship, who quickly lifted herself into +the saddle, saying that Innstetten had been prevented from going and +wished to be excused. There had been another big fire in Morgenitz the +night before, the third in three weeks, pointing to incendiarism, and +he had been obliged to go there, much to his sorrow, for he had looked +forward with real pleasure to this ride, thinking it would probably be +the last of the season. + +Crampas expressed his regret, perhaps just to say something, but +perhaps with sincerity, for inconsiderate as he was in chivalrous love +affairs, he was, on the other hand, equally a hale fellow well met. To +be sure, only superficially. To help a friend and five minutes later +deceive him were things that harmonized very well with his sense of +honor. He could do both with incredible bonhomie. + +The ride followed the usual route through the "Plantation." Rollo went +ahead, then came Crampas and Effi, and Kruse followed. Crampas's +lackey was not along. + +"Where did you leave Knut?" + +"He has the mumps." + +"Remarkable," laughed Effi. "To tell the truth, he always looked as +though he had something of the sort." + +"Quite right. But you ought to see him now. Or rather not, for you can +take the mumps from merely seeing a case." + +"I don't believe it." + +"There is a great deal that young wives don't believe." + +"And again they believe many things they would better not believe." + +"Do you say that for my benefit?" + +"No." + +"Sorry." + +"How becoming this 'sorry' is to you! I really believe, Major, you +would consider it entirely proper, if I were to make a declaration of +love to you." + +"I will not go quite that far. But I should like to see the fellow who +would not desire such a thing. Thoughts and wishes go free of duty." + +"There is some question about that. Besides, there is a difference +between thoughts and wishes. Thoughts, as a rule, keep in the +background, but wishes, for the most part, hover on the lips." + +"I wish you wouldn't say that." + +"Ah, Crampas, you are--you are--" + +"A fool." + +"No. That is another exaggeration. But you are something else. In +Hohen-Cremmen we always said, I along with the rest, that the most +conceited person in the world was a hussar ensign at eighteen." + +"And now?" + +"Now I say, the most conceited person in the world is a district +major of the landwehr at forty-two." + +"Incidentally, my other two years that you most graciously ignore make +amends for the remark. Kiss the hand" (--My respects to you). + +"Yes, 'kiss the hand.' That is just the expression that fits you. It +is Viennese. And the Viennese--I made their acquaintance four years +ago in Carlsbad, where they courted me, a fourteen-year-old slip of a +girl. What a lot of things I had to listen to!" + +"Certainly nothing more than was right." + +"If that were true, the intended compliment would be rather rude--But +see the buoys yonder, how they swim and dance. The little red flags +are hauled in. Every time I have seen the red flags this summer, the +few times that I have ventured to go down to the beach, I have said to +myself: there lies Vineta, it must lie there, those are the tops of +the towers." + +"That is because you know Heine's poem." + +"Which one?" + +"Why, the one about Vineta." + +"No, I don't know that one; indeed I know very few, to my sorrow." + +"And yet you have Gieshübler and the Journal Club. However, Heine gave +the poem a different name, 'Sea Ghosts,' I believe, or something of +the sort. But he meant Vineta. As he himself--pardon me, if I proceed +to tell you here the contents of the poem--as the poet, I was about to +say, is passing the place, he is lying on the ship's deck and looking +down into the water, and there he sees narrow, medieval streets, and +women tripping along in hoodlike hats. All have songbooks in their +hands and are going to church, and all the bells are ringing. When he +hears the bells he is seized with a longing to go to church himself, +even though only for the sake of the hoodlike hats, and in the heat of +desire he screams aloud and is about to plunge in. But at that moment +the captain seizes him by the leg and exclaims: 'Doctor, are you +crazy?'" + +"Why, that is delicious! I'd like to read it. Is it long?" + +"No, it is really short, somewhat longer than 'Thou hast diamonds and +pearls,' or 'Thy soft lily fingers,'" and he gently touched her hand. +"But long or short, what descriptive power, what objectivity! He is my +favorite poet and I know him by heart, little as I care in general for +this poetry business, in spite of the jingles I occasionally +perpetrate myself. But with Heine's poetry it is different. It is all +life, and above everything else he is a connoisseur of love, which, +you know, is the highest good. Moreover, he is not one-sided." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean he is not all for love." + +"Well, even if he had this one-sidedness it would not be the worst +thing in the world. What else does he favor?" + +"He is also very much in favor of romance, which, to be sure, follows +closely after love and, in the opinion of some people, coincides with +it. But I don't believe it does. In his later poems, which have been +called 'romantic'--as a matter of fact, he called them that +himself--in these romantic poems there is no end of killing. Often on +account of love, to be sure, but usually for other, more vulgar +reasons, among which I include politics, which is almost always +vulgar. Charles Stuart, for example, carries his head under his arm in +one of these romances, and still more gruesome is the story of +Vitzliputzli." + +"Of whom?" + +"Vitzliputzli. He is a Mexican god, and when the Mexicans had taken +twenty or thirty Spaniards prisoners, these twenty or thirty had to be +sacrificed to Vitzliputzli. There was no help for it, it was a +national custom, a cult, and it all took place in the turn of a +hand--belly open, heart out--" + +"Stop, Crampas, no more of that. It is indecent, and disgusting +besides. And all this when we are just about on the point of eating +lunch!" + +"I for my part am not affected by it, as I make it my rule to let my +appetite depend only upon the menu." + +During this conversation they had come from the beach, according to +program, to a bench built in the lee of the dunes, with an extremely +primitive table in front of it, simply a board on top of two posts. +Kruse, who had ridden ahead, had the lunch already served--tea rolls, +slices of cold roast meat, and red wine, and beside the bottle stood +two pretty little gold-rimmed glasses, such as one buys in watering +places or takes home as souvenirs from glass works. + +They dismounted. Kruse, who had tied the reins of his own horse around +a stunted pine, walked up and down with the other two horses, while +Crampas and Effi sat down at the table and enjoyed the clear view of +beach and mole afforded by a narrow cut through the dunes. + +The half-wintery November sun shed its fallow light upon the still +agitated sea and the high-running surf. Now and then a puff of wind +came and carried the spray clear up to the table. There was lyme grass +all around, and the bright yellow of the immortelles stood out sharply +against the yellow sand they were growing in, despite the kinship of +colors. Effi played the hostess. "I am sorry, Major, to have to pass +you the rolls in a basket lid." + +"I don't mind the platter, so long as it holds a favor." + +"But this is Kruse's arrangement--Why, there you are too, Rollo. But +our lunch does not take you into account. What shall we do with +Rollo?" + +"I say, give him everything--I for my part out of gratitude. For, you +see, dearest Effi--" + +Effi looked at him. + +"For, you see, most gracious Lady, Rollo reminds me of what I was +about to tell you as a continuation or counterpart of the Vitzliputzli +story, only much more racy, because a love story. Have you ever heard +of a certain Pedro the Cruel?" + +"I have a faint recollection." + +"A kind of Bluebeard king." + +"That is fine. That is the kind girls like best to hear about, and I +still remember we always said of my friend Hulda Niemeyer, whose name +you have heard, I believe, that she knew no history, except the six +wives of Henry the Eighth, that English Bluebeard, if the word is +strong enough for him. And, really, she knew these six by heart. You +ought to have heard her when she pronounced the names, especially that +of the mother of queen Elizabeth,--so terribly embarrassed, as though +it were her turn next--But now, please, the story of Don Pedro." + +"Very well. At Don Pedro's court there was a handsome black Spanish +knight, who wore on his breast the cross of Calatrava, which is about +the equivalent of the Black Eagle and the _Pour le Mérite_ together. +This cross was essential, they always had to wear it, and this +Calatrava knight, whom the queen secretly loved, of course--" + +"Why of course?" + +"Because we are in Spain." + +"So we are." + +"And this Calatrava knight, I say, had a very beautiful dog, a +Newfoundland dog, although there were none as yet, for it was just a +hundred years before the discovery of America. A very beautiful dog, +let us call him Rollo." + +When Rollo heard his name he barked and wagged his tail. + +"It went on thus for many a day. But the secret love, which probably +did not remain entirely secret, soon became too much for the king, who +cared very little for the Calatrava knight anyhow; for he was not only +a cruel king, but also a jealous old wether--or, if that word is not +just suited for a king, and still less for my amiable listener, Mrs. +Effi, call him at least a jealous creature. Well, he resolved to have +the Calatrava knight secretly beheaded for his secret love." + +"I can't blame him." + +"I don't know, most gracious Lady. You must hear further. In part it +was all right, but it was too much. The king, in my judgment, went +altogether too far. He pretended he was going to arrange a feast for +the knight in honor of his deeds as a warrior and hero, and there was +a long table and all the grandees of the realm sat at this table, and +in the middle sat the king, and opposite him was the place of honor +for the Calatrava knight. But the knight failed to appear, and when +they had waited a long while for him, they finally had to begin the +feast without him, and his place remained vacant. A vacant place just +opposite the king!" + +"And then?" + +"And then, fancy, most gracious Lady, as the king, this Pedro, is +about to rise in order dissemblingly to express his regret that his +'dear guest' has not yet appeared, the horrified servants are heard +screaming on the stairway, and before anybody knows what has happened, +something flies along the table, springs upon the chair, and places a +severed head upon the empty plate. Over this very head Rollo stares at +the one sitting face to face with him, viz., the king. Rollo had +accompanied his master on his last journey, and the moment the ax fell +the faithful animal snatched the falling head, and here he was now, +our friend Rollo, at the long festal board, accusing the royal +murderer." + +Effi was rapt with attention. After a few moments she said: "Crampas, +that is in its way very beautiful, and because it is very beautiful I +will forgive you. But you might do better, and please me more, if you +would tell stories of another kind, even from Heine. Certainly Heine +has not written exclusively of Vitzliputzli and Don Pedro and _your_ +Rollo. I say _your_, for mine would not have done such a thing. Come, +Rollo. Poor creature, I can't look at you any more without thinking of +the Calatrava knight, whom the queen secretly loved--Call Kruse, +please, that he may put these things back in the saddle bag, and, as +we ride home, you must tell me something different, something entirely +different." + +Kruse came. As he was about to take the glasses Crampas said: "Kruse, +leave the one glass, this one here. I'll take it myself." + +"Your servant, Major." + +Effi, who had overheard this, shook her head. Then she laughed. +"Crampas, what in the world are you thinking of? Kruse is stupid +enough not to think a second time about anything, and even if he did +he fortunately would arrive at no conclusion. But that does not +justify you in keeping this thirty-pfennig glass from the Joseph Glass +Works." + +"Your scornful reference to its price makes me feel its value all the +more deeply." + +"Always the same story. You are such a humorist, but a very queer one. +If I understand you rightly you are going to--it is ridiculous and I +almost hesitate to say it--you are going to perform now the act of the +King of Thule." + +He nodded with a touch of roguishness. + +"Very well, for all I care. Everybody wears his right cap; you know +which one. But I must be permitted to say that the rôle you are +assigning to me in this connection is far from flattering. I don't +care to figure as a rhyme to your King of Thule. Keep the glass, but +please draw no conclusions that would compromise me. I shall tell +Innstetten about it." + +"That you will not do, most gracious Lady." + +"Why not?" + +"Innstetten is not the man to see such things in their proper light." + +She eyed him sharply for a moment, then lowered her eyes confused and +almost embarrassed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +[Effi's peace was disturbed, but the prospect of a quiet winter, with +few occasions to meet Crampas, reassured her. She and her husband +began to spend their evenings reviewing their Italian journey. +Gieshübler joined them and soon announced that Crampas was planning an +amateur performance of _A Step out of the Way_, with Effi as the +heroine. She felt the danger, but was eager to act, as Crampas was +only the coach. Her playing won enthusiastic applause and Innstetten +raved over his captivating wife. A casual remark about Mrs. Crampas +led him to assert that she was insanely jealous of Effi, and to tell +how Crampas had wheedled her into agreeing to stay at home the second +day after Christmas, while he himself joined the Innstettens and +others on a sleighing party. Innstetten then said, in a way suggesting +the strict pedagogue, that Crampas was not to be trusted, particularly +in his relations to women. On Christmas day Effi was happy till she +discovered she had received no greeting from Crampas. That put her out +of sorts and made her conscious that all was not well. Innstetten +noticed her troubled state and, when she told him she felt unworthy of +the kindness showered upon her, he said that people get only what they +deserve, but she was not sure of his meaning. The proposed sleighing +party was carried out. After coffee at Forester Ring's lodge all went +out for a walk. Crampas remarked to Effi that they were in danger of +being snowed in. She replied with the story of a poem entitled _God's +Wall_, which she had learned from her pastor. During a war an aged +widow prayed God to build a wall to protect her from the enemy. God +caused her cottage to be snowed under, and the enemy passed by. +Crampas changed the subject.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +[At seven o'clock dinner was served. At the table Sidonie Grasenabb +had much to say against the loose modern way of bringing up girls, +with particular reference to the Forester's frivolous daughters. After +a toast to Ring, in which Güldenklee indulged in various puns on the +name, the Prussian song was sung and the company made ready to start +home. Gieshübler's coachman had meanwhile been kicked in the shin by +one of the horses and the doctor ordered him to stay at the Forester's +for the present. Innstetten undertook to drive home in his place. +Sidonie Grasenabb rode part of the way with Effi and Crampas, till a +small stream with a quicksand bottom was encountered, when she left +the sleigh and joined her family in their carriage. Crampas who had +been sent by Innstetten to look after the ladies in his sleigh, was +now alone with Effi. When she saw that the roundabout way was bringing +them to a dark forest, through which they would have to pass, she +sought to steady her nerves by clasping her hands together with all +her might. Then she recalled the poem about _God's Wall_ and tried two +or three times to repeat the widow's prayer for protection, but was +conscious that her words were dead. She was afraid, and yet felt as +though she were under a spell, which she did not care to cast off. +When the sleigh entered the dark woods Crampas spoke her name softly, +with trembling voice, took her hand, loosened the clenched fingers, +and covered them with fervent kisses. She felt herself fainting. When +she again opened her eyes the sleigh had passed out of the woods and +it soon drove up before her home in Kessin.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +Innstetten, who had observed Effi sharply as he lifted her from the +sleigh, but had avoided speaking to her in private about the strange +drive, arose early the following morning and sought to overcome his +ill-humor, from the effects of which he still suffered. + +"Did you sleep well?" he asked, as Effi came to breakfast. + +"Yes." + +"How fortunate! I can't say the same of myself. I dreamed you met with +an accident in the sleigh, in the quicksand, and Crampas tried to +rescue you--I must call it that--, but he sank out of sight with you." + +"You say all this so queerly, Geert. Your words contain a covert +reproach, and I can guess why." + +"Very remarkable." + +"You do not approve of Crampas's coming and offering us his +assistance." + +"Us?" + +"Yes, us. Sidonie and me. You seem to have forgotten entirely that the +Major came at your request. At first he sat opposite me, and I may +say, incidentally, that it was indeed an uncomfortable seat on that +miserable narrow strip, but when the Grasenabbs came up and took +Sidonie, and our sleigh suddenly drove on, I suppose you expected that +I should ask him to get out? That would have made a laughing stock of +me, and you know how sensitive you are on that point. Remember, we +have ridden horseback many times together, with your consent, and now +you don't think I should ride in the same vehicle with him. It is +wrong, we used to say at home, to mistrust a nobleman." + +"A nobleman," said Innstetten with emphasis. + +"Isn't he one? You yourself called him a cavalier, a perfect cavalier, +in fact." + +"Yes," continued Innstetten, his tone growing more friendly, though it +still betrayed a slight shade of sarcasm. "A cavalier he is, and a +perfect cavalier, that is beyond dispute. But nobleman? My dear Effi, +a nobleman has a different look. Have you ever noticed anything noble +about him? Not I." + +Effi stared at the ground and kept silent. + +"It seems we are of the same opinion. But, as you said, I myself am to +blame. I don't care to speak of a _faux pas_; it is not the right word +in this connection. I assume the blame, and it shall not occur again, +if I can prevent it. But you will be on your guard, too, if you heed +my advice. He is coarse and has designs of his own on young women. I +knew him of old." + +"I shall remember what you say. But just one thing--I believe you +misunderstand him." + +"I do _not_ misunderstand him." + +"Or me," she said, with all the force at her command, and attempted to +meet his gaze. + +"Nor you either, my dear Effi. You are a charming little woman, but +persistence is not exactly your specialty." + +He arose to go. When he had got as far as the door Frederick entered +to deliver a note from Gieshübler, addressed, of course, to her +Ladyship. + +Effi took it. "A secret correspondence with Gieshübler," she said. +"Material for another fit of jealousy on the part of my austere Lord. +Or isn't it?" + +"No, not quite, my dear Effi. I am so foolish as to make a distinction +between Crampas and Gieshübler. They are not the same number of carats +fine, so to speak. You know, the value of gold is estimated by carats, +in certain circumstances that of men also. And I must add that I +personally have a considerably higher regard for Gieshübler's white +jabot, in spite of the fact that jabots are no longer worn, than I +have for Crampas's red sapper whiskers. But I doubt if that is +feminine taste." + +"You think we are weaker than we are." + +"A consolation of extraordinarily little practical application. But +enough of that. Read your note." + +Effi read: "May I inquire about the health of my gracious Lady? I know +only that you luckily escaped the quicksand. But there was still +plenty of danger lurking along the road through the woods. Dr. +Hannemann has just returned and reassures me concerning Mirambo, +saying that yesterday he considered the case more serious than he +cared to let us know, but not so today. It was a charming +sleigh-ride.--In three days we shall celebrate New Year's eve. We +shall have to forego a festivity like last year's, but we shall have a +ball, of course, and to see you present would delight the dancers and, +by no means least, Yours most respectfully, Alonzo G." + +Effi laughed. "Well, what do you say?" + +"The same as before, simply that I should rather see you with +Gieshübler than with Crampas." + +"Because you take Crampas too seriously and Gieshübler too lightly." + +Innstetten jokingly shook his finger at her. + +Three days later was New Year's eve. Effi appeared in a charming ball +gown, a gift that the Christmas table had brought her. But she did not +dance. She took her seat among the elderly dames, for whom easy chairs +were placed near the orchestra gallery. Of the particular noble +families with which the Innstettens associated there was nobody +present, because, shortly before, there had occurred a slight +disagreement with the city faction in the management of the club, +which had been accused of "destructive tendencies," especially by old +Mr. Güldenklee. However, three or four other noble families from over +the Kessine, who were not members of the club, but only invited +guests, had crossed over the ice on the river, some of them from a +great distance, and were happy to take part in the festivity. Effi sat +between the elderly wife of baronial councillor von Padden and a +somewhat younger Mrs. von Titzewitz. The former, an excellent old +lady, was in every way an original, and sought by means of orthodox +German Christianity to counteract the tendency toward Wendish +heathenism, with which nature had endowed her, especially in the +prominent structure of her cheek bones. In her orthodoxy she went so +far that even Sidonie von Grasenabb was in comparison a sort of +_esprit fort_. The elderly dame, having sprung from a union of the +Radegast and the Schwantikow branches of the family, had inherited the +old Padden humor, which had for years rested like a blessing upon the +family and had heartily rejoiced everybody who came into touch with +them, even though enemies in politics or religion. + +"Well, child," said the baronial councillor's wife, "how are you +getting on, anyhow?" + +"Quite well, most gracious Lady. I have a very excellent husband." + +"I know. But that does not always suffice. I, too, had an excellent +husband. How do matters actually stand? No temptations?" + +Effi was startled and touched at the same time. There was something +uncommonly refreshing about the free and natural tone in which the old +lady spoke, and the fact that she was such a pious woman made it even +more refreshing. + +"Ah, most gracious Lady--" + +"There it comes. Nothing new, the same old story. Time makes no change +here, and perhaps it is just as well. The essential thing, my dear +young woman, is struggle. One must always wrestle with the natural +man. And when one has conquered self and feels almost like screaming +out, because it hurts so, then the dear angels shout for joy." + +"Ah, most gracious Lady, it is often very hard." + +"To be sure, it is hard. But the harder the better. You must be glad +of that. The weakness of the flesh is lasting. I have grandsons and +granddaughters and see it every day. But the conquering of self in the +faith, my dear Lady, that is the essential thing, that is the true +way. This was brought to our knowledge by our old man of God, Martin +Luther. Do you know his _Table Talks_?" + +"No, most gracious Lady." + +"I am going to send them to you." + +At this moment Major von Crampas stepped up to Effi and inquired about +her health. Effi was red as blood. Before she had time to reply he +said: "May I ask you, most gracious Lady, to present me to these +Ladies?" + +Effi introduced Crampas, who had already got his bearings perfectly +and in the course of his small talk mentioned all the von Paddens and +von Titzewitzes he had ever heard of. At the same time he excused +himself for not yet having made his call and presented his wife to the +people beyond the Kessine. "But it is strange what a separating power +water has. It is the same way with the English Channel." + +"How?" asked old Mrs. von Titzewitz. + +Crampas, considering it inadvisable to give explanations which would +have been to no purpose, continued: "To twenty Germans who go to +France there is not one who goes to England. That is because of the +water. I repeat, water has a dividing power." + +Mrs. von Padden, whose fine instinct scented some insinuation in this +remark, was about to take up the cudgels for water, but Crampas spoke +on with increasing fluency and turned the attention of the ladies to a +beautiful Miss von Stojentin, "without question the queen of the +ball," he said, incidentally casting an admiring glance at Effi. Then +he bowed quickly to the three ladies and walked away. + +"Handsome man," said Mrs. von Padden. "Does he ever come to your +house?" + +"Casually." + +"Truly a handsome man," repeated Mrs. von Padden. "A little bit too +self-assured. Pride will have a fall. But just see, there he is, +taking his place with Grete Stojentin. Why, really, he is too old, he +is at least in the middle of the forties." + +"He is going on forty-four." + +"Aha, you seem to be well acquainted with him." + + * * * * * + +It was very opportune for Effi that the new year, from the very +beginning, brought a variety of diversions. New Year's eve a sharp +northeast wind began to blow and during the next few days it increased +in velocity till it amounted almost to a hurricane. On the 3d of +January in the afternoon it was reported that a ship which had not +been able to make its way into port had been wrecked a hundred yards +from the mole. It was said to be an English ship from Sunderland +and, so far as could be ascertained, had seven men on board. In spite +of strenuous efforts the pilots were unable to row around the mole, +and the launching of a boat from the beach was out of the question, as +the surf was too heavy. That sounded sad enough. But Johanna, who +brought the news, had a word of comfort. Consul Eschrich, she said, +was hastening to the scene with the life-saving apparatus and the +rocket battery, and success was certain. The distance was not quite as +great as in the year '75, and that time all lives had been saved; even +the poodle had been rescued. "It was very touching to see how the dog +rejoiced and again and again licked with his red tongue both the +Captain's wife and the dear little child, not much larger than little +Annie." + +"Geert, I must go there, I must see it," Effi declared, and both set +out at once in order not to be too late. They chose just the right +moment, for as they reached the beach beyond the "Plantation" the +first shot was fired and they saw plainly how the rocket with the life +line sailed beneath the storm cloud and fell down beyond the ship. +Immediately all hands were astir on board and they used the small line +to haul in the heavier hawser with the basket. Before long the basket +returned and one of the sailors, a very handsome, slender man, with an +oilcloth hood, was safe on land. He was plied with questions by the +inquisitive spectators, while the basket made another trip to fetch +the second man, then the third, and so on. All were rescued, and as +Effi walked home with her husband a half hour later she felt like +throwing herself on the sand and having a good cry. A beautiful +emotion had again found lodgment in her heart and she was immeasurably +happy that it was so. + +This occurred on the 3d. On the 5th a new excitement was experienced, +of an entirely different kind, to be sure. On his way out of the +council house Innstetten had met Gieshübler, who, by the way, was an +alderman and a member of the magistracy. In conversation with him +Innstetten had learned that the ministry of war had inquired what +attitude the city authorities would assume in case the question of a +garrison were raised. If they showed their willingness to meet the +necessary conditions, viz., to build stables and barracks, they might +be granted two squadrons of hussars. "Well, Effi, what do you say +about it?" Effi looked as though struck dumb. All the innocent +happiness of her childhood years was suddenly brought back to her and +for a moment it seemed as though red hussars--for these were to be red +hussars, like those at home in Hohen-Cremmen--were the true guardians +of Paradise and innocence. Still she remained silent. + +"Why, you aren't saying anything, Effi." + +"Strangely, I'm not, Geert. But it makes me so happy that I cannot +speak for joy. Is it really going to be? Are they truly going to +come?" + +"It is a long way off yet. In fact, Gieshübler said the city fathers, +his colleagues, didn't deserve it at all. Instead of simply being +unanimous and happy over the honor, or if not over the honor, at least +over the advantage, they had brought forward all sorts of 'ifs' and +'buts,' and had been niggardly about the buildings. In fact, +Confectioner Michelsen had gone so far as to say it would corrupt the +morals of the city, and whoever had a daughter would better be +forehanded and secure iron grills for his windows." + +"That is incredible. I have never seen more mannerly people than our +hussars. Really, Geert. Well, you know so yourself. And so this +Michelsen wants to protect everything with iron bars. Has he any +daughters?" + +"Certainly. Three, in fact. But they are all out of the race." + +Effi laughed more heartily than she had for a long time. But the mood +was of short duration and when Innstetten went away and left her alone +she sat down by the baby's cradle, and tears fell on the pillows. The +old feeling came over her again that she was a prisoner without hope +of escape. + +She suffered intensely from the feeling and longed more than ever for +liberty. But while she was capable of strong emotions she had not a +strong character. She lacked steadfastness and her good desires soon +passed away. Thus she drifted on, one day, because she could not help +it, the next, because she did not care to try to help it. She seemed +to be in the power of the forbidden and the mysterious. + +So it came about that she, who by nature was frank and open, +accustomed herself more and more to play an underhand part. At times +she was startled at the ease with which she could do it. Only in one +respect she remained unchanged--she saw everything clearly and glossed +nothing. Late one evening she stepped before the mirror in her +bedroom. The lights and shadows flitted to and fro and Rollo began to +bark outside. That moment it seemed to her as though somebody were +looking over her shoulder. But she quickly bethought herself. "I know +well enough what it is. It was not _he_," and she pointed her finger +toward the haunted room upstairs. "It was something else--my +conscience--Effi, you are lost." + +Yet things continued on this course; the ball was rolling, and what +happened one day made the actions of the next a necessity. + +About the middle of the month there came invitations from the four +families with which the Innstettens associated most. They had agreed +upon the order in which they would entertain. The Borckes were to +begin, the Flemmings and Grasenabbs followed, the Güldenklees came +last. Each time a week intervened. All four invitations came on the +same day. They were evidently intended to leave an impression of +orderliness and careful planning, and probably also of special +friendliness and congeniality. + +"I shall not go, Geert, and you must excuse me in advance on the +ground of the treatment which I have been undergoing for weeks past." + +Innstetten laughed. "Treatment. I am to blame it on the treatment. +That is the pretext. The real reason is you don't care to." + +"No, I am more honest than you are willing to admit. It was your own +suggestion that I consult the doctor. I did so and now I must follow +his advice. The good doctor thinks I am anæmic, strangely enough, and +you know that I drink chalybeate water every day. If you combine this +in imagination with a dinner at the Borckes', with, say, brawn and eel +aspic, you can't help feeling that it would be the death of me. And +certainly you would not think of asking such a thing of your Effi. To +be sure, I feel at times--" + +"I beg you, Effi." + +"However, the one good thing about it is that I can look forward with +pleasure to accompanying you each time a part of the way in the +carriage, as far as the mill, certainly, or the churchyard, or even to +the corner of the forest, where the crossroad to Morgnitz comes in. +Then I can alight and saunter back. It is always very beautiful among +the dunes." + +Innstetten was agreed, and when the carriage drove up three days later +Effi got in with her husband and accompanied him to the corner of the +forest. "Stop here, Geert. You drive on to the left now, but I am +going to the right, down to the beach and back through the +'Plantation.' It is rather far, but not too far. Dr. Hannemann tells +me every day that exercise is everything, exercise and fresh air. And +I almost believe he is right. Give my regards to all the company, only +you needn't say anything to Sidonie." + +The drives on which Effi accompanied her husband as far as the corner +of the forest were repeated every week, but even on the intervening +days she insisted that she should strictly observe the doctor's +orders. Not a day passed that she did not take her prescribed walk, +usually in the afternoon, when Innstetten began to become absorbed in +his newspapers. The weather was beautiful, the air soft and fresh, the +sky cloudy. As a rule she went out alone, after saying to Roswitha: +"Roswitha, I am going down the turnpike now and then to the right to +the place with the merrygo-round. There I shall wait for you, meet me +there. Then we can walk back by the avenue of birches or through the +ropewalk. But do not come unless Annie is asleep. If she is not +asleep send Johanna. Or, rather, just let it go. It is not necessary; +I can easily find the way." + +The first day they met as planned. Effi sat on a bench by a long shed, +looking over at a low yellow plaster house with exposed timbers +painted black, an inn at which the lower middle classes drank their +glass of beer or played at ombre. It was hardly dusk, but the windows +were already bright, and their gleams of light fell upon the piles of +snow and the few trees standing at one side. "See, Roswitha, how +beautiful that looks." + +This was repeated for a few days. But usually, when Roswitha reached +the merry-go-round and the shed, nobody was there, and when she came +back home and entered the hall Effi came to meet her, saying: "Where +in the world have you been, Roswitha? I have been back a long time." + +Thus it went on for weeks. The matter of the hussars was about given +up, on account of objections made by the citizens. But as the +negotiations were not yet definitely closed and had recently been +referred to the office of the commander in chief, Crampas was called +to Stettin to give his opinion to the authorities. + +From there he wrote the second day to Innstetten: "Pardon me, +Innstetten, for taking French leave. It all came so quickly. Here, +however, I shall seek to draw the matter out long, for it is a +pleasure to be out in the world again. My regards to your gracious +wife, my amiable patroness." + +He read it to Effi, who remained silent. Finally she said: + +"It is very well thus." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"That he is gone. To tell the truth, he always says the same things. +When he is back he will at least for a time have something new to +say." + +[Illustration: HIGH ALTAR AT SALZBURG +_From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_] + +Innstetten gave her a sharp scrutinizing glance, but he saw nothing, +and his suspicion was allayed. "I am going away, too," he said after +a while, "and to Berlin at that. Perhaps I, too, can bring back +something new, as well as Crampas. My dear Effi always wants to hear +something new. She is bored to death in our good Kessin. I shall be +away about a week, perhaps a day or two longer. But don't be +alarmed--I don't think it will come back--You know, that thing +upstairs--But even if it should, you have Rollo and Roswitha." + +Effi smiled to herself and felt at the same time a mingling of +sadness. She could not help recalling the day when Crampas had told +her for the first time that her husband was acting out a play with the +ghost and her fear. The great pedagogue! But was he not right? Was not +the play in place? All kinds of contradicting thoughts, good and bad, +shot through her head. + +The third day Innstetten went away. He had not said anything about his +business in Berlin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Innstetten had been gone but four days when Crampas returned from +Stettin with the news that the higher authorities had definitely +dropped the plan of detailing two squadrons to Kessin. There were so +many small cities that were applying for a garrison of cavalry, +particularly for Blücher hussars, that as a rule, he said, an offer of +such troops met with a hearty reception, and not a halting one. When +Crampas made this report the magistracy looked quite badly +embarrassed. Only Gieshübler was triumphant, because he thought the +discomfiture served his narrow-minded colleagues exactly right. When +the news reached the common people a certain amount of depression +spread among them, indeed even some of the consuls with eligible +daughters were for the time being dissatisfied. But on the whole they +soon forgot about it, perhaps because the question of the day, "What +was Innstetten's business in Berlin?" was more interesting to the +people of Kessin, or at least to the dignitaries of the city. They +did not care to lose their unusually popular district councillor, and +yet very exaggerated rumors about him were in circulation, rumors +which, if not started by Gieshübler, were at least supported and +further spread by him. Among other things it was said that Innstetten +would go to Morocco as an ambassador with a suite, bearing gifts, +including not only the traditional vase with a picture of Sans Souci +and the New Palace, but above all a large refrigerator. The latter +seemed so probable in view of the temperature in Morocco, that the +whole story was believed. + +In time Effi heard about it. The days when the news would have cheered +her were not yet so very far distant. But in the frame of mind in +which she had been since the end of the year she was no longer capable +of laughing artlessly and merrily. Her face had taken on an entirely +new expression, and her half-pathetic, half-roguish childishness, +which she had preserved as a woman, was gone. The walks to the beach +and the "Plantation," which she had given up while Crampas was in +Stettin, she resumed after his return and would not allow them to be +interfered with by unfavorable weather. It was arranged as formerly +that Roswitha should come to meet her at the end of the ropewalk, or +near the churchyard, but they missed each other oftener than before. +"I could scold you, Roswitha, for never finding me. But it doesn't +matter; I am no longer afraid, not even by the churchyard, and in the +forest I have never yet met a human soul." + +It was on the day before Innstetten's return from Berlin that Effi +said this. Roswitha paid little attention to the remarks, as she was +absorbed in hanging up garlands over the doors. Even the shark was +decorated with a fir bough and looked more remarkable than usual. Effi +said: "That is right, Roswitha. He will be pleased with all the green +when he comes back tomorrow. I wonder whether I should go out again +today? Dr. Hannemann insists upon it and is continually saying I do +not take it seriously enough, otherwise I should certainly be looking +better. But I have no real desire today; it is drizzling and the sky +is so gray." + +"I will fetch her Ladyship's raincoat." + +"Do so, but don't come for me today; we should not meet anyhow," and +she laughed. "Really, Roswitha, you are not a bit good at finding. And +I don't want to have you catch a cold all for nothing." + +So Roswitha remained at home and, as Annie was sleeping, went over to +chat with Mrs. Kruse. "Dear Mrs. Kruse," she said, "you were going to +tell me about the Chinaman. Yesterday Johanna interrupted you. She +always puts on such airs, and such a story would not interest her. But +I believe there was, after all, something in it, I mean the story of +the Chinaman and Thomsen's niece, if she was not his granddaughter." + +Mrs. Kruse nodded. + +Roswitha continued: "Either it was an unhappy love"--Mrs. Kruse nodded +again--"or it may have been a happy one, and the Chinaman was simply +unable to endure the sudden termination of it. For the Chinese are +human, like the rest of us, and everything is doubtless the same with +them as with us." + +"Everything," assured Mrs. Kruse, who was about to corroborate it by +her story, when her husband entered and said: "Mother, you might give +me the bottle of leather varnish. I must have the harness shining when +his Lordship comes home tomorrow. He sees everything, and even if he +says nothing, one can tell that he has seen it all." + +"I'll bring it out to you, Kruse," said Roswitha. "Your wife is just +going to tell me something more; but it will soon be finished and then +I'll come and bring it." + +A few minutes later Roswitha came out into the yard with the bottle of +varnish in her hand and stood by the harness which Kruse had just hung +over the garden fence. "By George!" he said, as he took the bottle +from her hand, "it will not do much good; it keeps drizzling all the +time and the shine will come off. But I am one of those who think +everything must be kept in order." + +"Indeed it must. Besides, Kruse, that is good varnish, as I can see at +a glance, and first-class varnish doesn't stay sticky very long, it +must dry immediately. Even if it is foggy tomorrow, or dewy, it will +be too late then to hurt it. But, I must say, that is a remarkable +story about the Chinaman." + +Kruse laughed. "It is nonsense, Roswitha. My wife, instead of paying +attention to proper things, is always telling such tales, and when I +go to put on a clean shirt there is a button off. It has been so ever +since we came here. She always had just such stories in her head and +the black hen besides. And the black hen doesn't even lay eggs. After +all, what can she be expected to lay eggs out of? She never goes out, +and such things as eggs can't come from mere cock-a-doodle-dooing. It +is not to be expected of any hen." + +"See here, Kruse, I am going to repeat that to your wife. I have +always considered you a respectable man and now you say things like +that about the cock-a-doodle-dooing. Men are always worse than we +think. Really I ought to take this brush right now and paint a black +moustache on your face." + +"Well, Roswitha, one could put up with that from you," and Kruse, who +was usually on his dignity, seemed about to change to a more flirting +tone, when he suddenly caught sight of her Ladyship, who today came +from the other side of the "Plantation" and just at this moment was +passing along the garden fence. + +"Good day, Roswitha, my, but you are merry. What is Annie doing?" + +"She is asleep, your Ladyship." + +As Roswitha said this she turned red and quickly breaking off the +conversation, started toward the house to help her Ladyship change her +clothes. For it was doubtful whether Johanna was there. She hung +around a good deal over at the "office" nowadays, because there was +less to do at home and Frederick and Christel were too tedious for her +and never knew anything. + +Annie was still asleep. Effi leaned over the cradle, then had her hat +and raincoat taken off and sat down upon the little sofa in her +bedroom. She slowly stroked back her moist hair, laid her feet on a +stool, which Roswitha drew up to her, and said, as she evidently +enjoyed the comfort of resting after a rather long walk: "Roswitha, I +must remind you that Kruse is married." + +"I know it, your Ladyship." + +"Yes, what all doesn't one know, and yet one acts as though one did +_not_ know. Nothing can ever come of this." + +"Nothing is supposed to come of it, your Ladyship." + +"If you think she is an invalid you are reckoning without your host. +Invalids live the longest. Besides she has the black chicken. Beware +of it. It knows everything and tattles everything. I don't know, it +makes me shudder. And I'll wager all that business upstairs has some +connection with this chicken." + +"Oh, I don't believe it. But it is terrible just the same, and Kruse, +who always sides himself against his wife, cannot talk me out of it." + +"What did he say?" + +"He said it was nothing but mice." + +"Well, mice are quite bad enough. I can't bear mice. But, to change +the subject, I saw you chatting with Kruse, plainly, also your +familiar actions, and in fact I think you were going to paint a +moustache on his lip. That I call pretty far advanced. A little later +you will be jilted. You are still a smug person and have your charms. +But beware, that is all I have to say to you. Just what was your +experience the first time? Was it such that you can tell me about it?" + +"Oh, I can tell you. But it was terrible. And because it was so +terrible, your Ladyship's mind can be perfectly easy with regard to +Kruse. A girl who has gone through what I did has enough of it and +takes care. I still dream of it occasionally and then I am all knocked +to pieces the next day. Such awful fright." + +Effi sat up and leaned her head on her arm. "Tell me about it, and how +it came about. I know from my observations at home that it is always +the same story with you girls." + +"Yes, no doubt it is always the same at first, and I am determined not +to think that there was anything special about my case. But when the +time came that they threw it into my face and I was suddenly forced to +say: 'yes, it is so,' oh, _that_ was terrible. Mother--well, I could +get along with her, but father, who had the village blacksmith's shop, +he was severe and quick to fly into a rage. When he heard it, he came +at me with a pair of tongs which he had just taken from the fire and +was going to kill me. I screamed and ran up to the attic and hid +myself and there I lay and trembled, and did not come down till they +called me and told me to come. Besides, I had a younger sister, who +always pointed at me and said: 'Ugh!' Then when the child was about to +come I went into a barn near by, because I was afraid to stay in the +house. There strangers found me half dead and carried me into the +house and laid me in my bed. The third day they took the child away +and when I asked where it was they said it was well taken care of. Oh, +your Ladyship, may the holy mother of God protect you from such +distress!" + +Effi was startled and stared at Roswitha with wide-opened eyes. But +she was more frightened than vexed. "The things you do say! Why, I am +a married woman. You must not say such things; it is improper, it is +not fitting." + +"Oh, your Ladyship." + +"Tell me rather what became of you. They had robbed you of your baby. +You told me that." + +"And then, a few days later, somebody from Erfurt drove up to the +mayor's office and asked whether there was not a wet nurse there, and +the mayor said 'yes,' God bless him! So the strange gentleman took me +away with him and from that day I was better off. Even with the old +widow my life was tolerable, and finally I came to your Ladyship. That +was the best, the best of all." As she said this she stepped to the +sofa and kissed Effi's hand. + +"Roswitha, you must not always be kissing my hand, I don't like it. +And do beware of Kruse. Otherwise you are a good and sensible +person--With a married man--it is never well." + +"Ah, your Ladyship, God and his saints lead us wondrously, and the +bad fortune that befalls us has also its good side. If one is not made +better by it there is no help for him--Really, I like the men." + +"You see, Roswitha, you see." + +"But if the same feeling should come over me again--the affair with +Kruse, there is nothing in that--and I could not control myself, I +should run straight into the water. It was too terrible. Everything. +And I wonder what ever became of the poor baby? I don't think it is +still living; they had it killed, but I am to blame." She threw +herself down by Annie's cradle, and rocked the child and sang her +favorite lullaby over and over again without stopping. + +"Stop," said Effi, "don't sing any more; I have a headache. Bring in +the newspapers. Or has Gieshübler sent the journals?" + +"He did, and the fashion paper was on top. We were turning over the +leaves, Johanna and I, before she went across the street. Johanna +always gets angry that she cannot have such things. Shall I fetch the +fashion paper?" + +"Yes, fetch it and bring me the lamp, too." + +Roswitha went out and when Effi was alone she said: "What things they +do have to help one out! One pretty woman with a muff and another with +a half veil--fashion puppets. But it is the best thing for turning my +thoughts in some other direction." + +In the course of the following morning a telegram came from +Innstetten, in which he said he would come by the second train, which +meant that he would not arrive in Kessin before evening. The day +proved one of never ending restlessness. Fortunately Gieshübler came +in the afternoon and helped pass an hour. Finally, at seven o'clock, +the carriage drove up. Effi went out and greeted her husband. +Innstetten was in a state of excitement that was unusual for him and +so it came about that he did not notice the embarrassment mingled with +Effi's heartiness. In the hall the lamps and candles were burning, and +the tea service, which Frederick had placed on one of the tables +between the cabinets, reflected the brilliant light. + +"Why, this looks exactly as it did when we first arrived here. Do you +remember, Effi?" + +She nodded. + +"Only the shark with his fir bough behaves more calmly today, and even +Rollo pretends to be reticent and does not put his paws on my +shoulders. What is the matter with you, Rollo?" + +Rollo rubbed past his master and wagged his tail. + +"He is not exactly satisfied; either it is with me or with others. +Well, I'll assume, with me. At all events let us go in." He entered +his room and as he sat down on the sofa asked Effi to take a seat +beside him. "It was so fine in Berlin, beyond expectation, but in the +midst of all my pleasure I always felt a longing to be back. And how +well you look! A little bit pale and also a little bit changed, but it +is all becoming to you." + +Effi turned red. + +"And now you even turn red. But it is as I tell you. You used to have +something of the spoiled child about you; now all of a sudden you look +like a wife." + +"I like to hear that, Geert, but I think you are just saying it." + +"No, no, you can credit yourself with it, if it is something +creditable." + +"I should say it is." + +"Now guess who sent you his regards." + +"That is not hard, Geert. Besides, we wives, for I can count myself +one since you are back"--and she reached out her hand and laughed--"we +wives guess easily. We are not so obtuse as you." + +"Well, who was it?" + +"Why, Cousin von Briest, of course. He is the only person I know in +Berlin, not counting my aunts, whom you no doubt failed to look up, +and who are far too envious to send me their regards. Haven't you +found, too, that all old aunts are envious?" + +"Yes, Effi, that is true. And to hear you say it reminds me that you +are my same old Effi. For you must know that the old Effi, who looked +like a child, also suited my taste. Just exactly as does your Ladyship +at present." + +"Do you think so? And if you had to decide between the two"-- + +"That is a question for scholars; I shall not talk about it. But there +comes Frederick with the tea. How I have longed for this hour! And I +said so, too, even to your Cousin Briest, as we were sitting at +Dressel's and drinking Champagne to your health--Your ears must have +rung--And do you know what your cousin said?" + +"Something silly, certainly. He is great at that." + +"That is the blackest ingratitude I have ever heard of in all my life. +'Let us drink to the health of Effi,' he said, 'my beautiful +cousin--Do you know, Innstetten, that I should like nothing better +than to challenge you and shoot you dead? For Effi is an angel, and +you robbed me of this angel.' And he looked so serious and sad, as he +said it, that one might almost have believed him." + +"Oh, I know that mood of his. The how-manieth were you drinking?" + +"I don't recall now and perhaps could not have told you then. But this +I do believe, that he was wholly in earnest. And perhaps it would have +been the right match. Don't you think you could have lived with him?" + +"Could have lived? That is little, Geert. But I might almost say, I +could not even have lived with him." + +"Why not? He is really a fine amiable fellow and quite sensible, +besides." + +"Yes, he is that." + +"But--" + +"But he is a tomfool. And that is not the kind of a man we women love, +not even when we are still half children, as you have always thought +me and perhaps still do, in spite of my progress. Tomfoolery is not +what we want. Men must be men." + +"It's well you say so. My, a man surely has to mind his p's and q's. +Fortunately I can say I have just had an experience that looks as +though I had minded my p's and q's, or at least I shall be expected to +in the future--Tell me, what is your idea of a ministry?" + +"A ministry? Well, it may be one of two things. It may be people, wise +men of high rank, who rule the state; and it may be merely a house, a +palace, a Palazzo Strozzi or Pitti, or, if these are not fitting, any +other. You see I have not taken my Italian journey in vain." + +"And could you make up your mind to live in such a palace? I mean in +such a ministry?" + +"For heaven's sake, Geert, they have not made you a minister, have +they? Gieshübler said something of the sort. And the Prince is +all-powerful. Heavens, he has accomplished it at last and I am only +eighteen." + +Innstetten laughed. "No, Effi, not a minister; we have not risen to +that yet. But perhaps I may yet develop a variety of gifts that would +make such a thing not impossible." + +"So not just yet, not yet a minister?" + +"No. And, to tell the truth, we are not even to live in the ministry, +but I shall go daily to the ministry, as I now go to our district +council office, and I shall make reports to the minister and travel +with him, when he inspects the provincial offices. And you will be the +wife of a head clerk of a ministerial department and live in Berlin, +and in six months you will hardly remember that you have been here in +Kessin, where you have had nothing but Gieshübler and the dunes and +the 'Plantation.'" + +Effi did not say a word, but her eyes kept getting larger and larger. +About the corners of her mouth there was a nervous twitching and her +whole slender body trembled. Suddenly she slid from her seat down to +Innstetten's feet, clasped her arms around his knees and said in a +tone, as though she were praying: "Thank God!" + +Innstetten turned pale. What was that? Something that had come over +him weeks before, but had swiftly passed away, only to come back from +time to time, returned again now and spoke so plainly out of his eyes +that it startled Effi. She had allowed herself to be carried away by a +beautiful feeling, differing but little from a confession of her +guilt, and had told more than she dared. She must offset it, must find +some way of escape, at whatever cost. + +"Get up, Effi. What is the matter with you?" + +Effi arose quickly. However, she did not sit down on the sofa again, +but drew up a high-backed chair, apparently because she did not feel +strong enough to hold herself up without support. + +"What is the matter with you?" repeated Innstetten. "I thought you had +spent happy days here. And now you cry out, 'Thank God!' as though +your whole life here had been one prolonged horror. Have I been a +horror to you? Or is it something else? Speak!" + +"To think that you can ask such a question!" said Effi, seeking by a +supreme effort to suppress the trembling of her voice. "Happy days! +Yes, certainly, happy days, but others, too. Never have I been +entirely free from fear here, never. Never yet a fortnight that it did +not look over my shoulder again, that same face, the same sallow +complexion. And these last nights while you were away, it came back +again, not the face, but there was shuffling of feet again, and Rollo +set up his barking again, and Roswitha, who also heard it, came to my +bed and sat down by me and we did not go to sleep till day began to +dawn. This is a haunted house and I was expected to believe in the +ghost, for you are a pedagogue. Yes, Geert, that you are. But be that +as it may, thus much I know, I have been afraid in this house for a +whole year and longer, and when I go away from here the fear will +leave me, I think, and I shall be free again." + +Innstetten had not taken his eyes off her and had followed every word. +What could be the meaning of "You are a pedagogue," and the other +statement that preceded, "And I was expected to believe in the ghost?" +What was all that about? Where did it come from? And he felt a slight +suspicion arising and becoming more firmly fixed. But he had lived +long enough to know that all signs deceive, and that in our jealousy, +in spite of its hundred eyes, we often go farther astray than in the +blindness of our trust. Possibly it was as she said, and, if it was, +why should she not cry out: "Thank God!" + +And so, quickly looking at the matter from all possible sides, he +overcame his suspicion and held out his hand to her across the table: +"Pardon me, Effi, but I was so much surprised by it all. I suppose, of +course, it is my fault. I have always been too much occupied with +myself. We men are all egoists. But it shall be different from now on. +There is one good thing about Berlin, that is certain: there are no +haunted houses there. How could there be! Now let us go into the other +room and see Annie; otherwise Roswitha will accuse me of being an +unaffectionate father." + +During these words Effi had gradually become more composed, and the +consciousness of having made a felicitous escape from a danger of her +own creation restored her countenance and buoyancy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +The next morning the two took their rather late breakfast together. +Innstetten had overcome his ill-humor and something worse, and Effi +was so completely taken up with her feeling of liberation that not +only had her power of feigning a certain amount of good humor +returned, but she had almost regained her former artlessness. She was +still in Kessin, and yet she already felt as though it lay far behind +her. + +"I have been thinking it over, Effi," said Innstetten, "you are not +entirely wrong in all you have said against our house here. For +Captain Thomsen it was quite good enough, but not for a spoiled young +wife. Everything old-fashioned and no room. You shall have a better +house in Berlin, with a dining hall, but different from the one here, +and in the hall and on the stairway colored-glass windows, Emperor +William with sceptre and crown, or some religious picture, a St. +Elizabeth or a Virgin Mary. Let us say a Virgin Mary; we owe that to +Roswitha." + +Effi laughed. "So shall it be. But who will select an apartment for +us? I couldn't think of sending Cousin von Briest to look for one, to +say nothing of my aunts. They would consider anything good enough." + +"When it comes to selecting an apartment, nobody can do that to the +satisfaction of any one else. I think you will have to go yourself." + +"And when do you think?" + +"The middle of March." + +"Oh, that is much too late, Geert; everything will be gone then. The +good apartments will hardly wait for us." + +"All right. But it was only yesterday that I came home and I can't +well say: 'go tomorrow.' That would not look right and it would not +suit me very well either. I am happy to have you with me once more." + +"No," she said, as she gathered together the breakfast dishes rather +noisily to hide a rising embarrassment, "no, and it shall not be +either, neither today nor tomorrow, but before very long, however. And +if I find anything I shall soon be back again. But one thing more, +Roswitha and Annie must go with me. It would please me most if you +went too. But, I see, that is out of the question. And I think the +separation will not last long. I already know, too, where I shall +rent." + +"Where?" + +"That must remain my secret. I want to have a secret myself. I want to +surprise you later." + +At this point Frederick entered to bring the mail. The most of the +pieces were official and newspapers. "Ah, there is also a letter for +you," said Innstetten. "And, if I am not mistaken, mama's +handwriting." + +Effi took the letter. "Yes, from mama. But that is not the Friesack +postmark. Just see, why, it is plainly Berlin." + +"Certainly," laughed Innstetten. "You act as though it were a miracle. +Mama is doubtless in Berlin and has written her darling a letter from +her hotel." + +"Yes," said Effi, "that is probably it. But I almost have fears, and +can find no real consolation in what Hulda Niemeyer always said: that +when one has fears it is better than when one has hopes. What do you +think about it?" + +"For a pastor's daughter not quite up to the standard. But now read +the letter. Here is a paper knife." + +Effi cut open the envelope and read: "My dear Effi: For the last +twenty-four hours I have been here in Berlin--Consultations with +Schweigger. As soon as he saw me he congratulated me, and when I asked +him, astonished, what occasion there was, I learned that a director of +a ministerial department by the name of Wüllersdorf had just been at +his office and told him that Innstetten had been called to a position +with the ministry. I am a little vexed to have to learn a thing like +that from a third person. But in my pride and joy I forgive you. +Moreover, I always knew, even when I was at Rathenow, that he would +make something of himself. Now you are to profit by it. Of course you +must have an apartment and new furniture. If, my dear Effi, you think +you can make use of my advice, come as soon as your time will permit. +I shall remain here a week for treatment, and if it is not effective, +perhaps somewhat longer. Schweigger is rather indefinite on the +subject. I have taken a private room on Schadow St. Adjoining my room +there are others vacant. What the matter is with my eye I will tell +you when I see you. The thing that occupies me at present is your +future. Briest will be unspeakably happy. He always pretends to be so +indifferent about such things, but in reality he thinks more of them +than I do. My regards to Innstetten, and a kiss for Annie, whom you +will perhaps bring along. As ever your tenderly loving mother, Louise +von B." + +Effi laid the letter on the table and said nothing. Her mind was +firmly made up as to what she should do, but she did not want to say +it herself. She wanted Innstetten to speak the first word and then she +would hesitatingly say, "yes." + +Innstetten actually fell into the trap. "Well, Effi, you remain so +calm." + +"Ah, Geert, everything has its two sides. On the one hand I shall be +happy to see mother again, and maybe even in a few days. But there are +so many reasons for delaying." + +"What are they?" + +"Mama, as you know, is very determined and recognizes only her own +will. With papa she has been able to have her way in everything. But I +should like to have an apartment to suit _my_ taste, and new furniture +that _I_ like." + +Innstetten laughed. "Is that all?" + +"Well, that is enough, I should think. But it is not all." Then she +summoned up her courage, looked at him, and said: "And then, Geert, I +should not like to be separated from you again so soon." + +"You rogue, you just say that because you know my weakness. But we are +all vain, and I will believe it. I will believe it and yet, at the +same time, play the hero who foregoes his own desires. Go as soon as +you think it necessary and can justify it before your own heart." + +"You must not talk like that, Geert. What do you mean by 'justifying +it before my own heart?' By saying that you force me, half +tyrannically, to assume a role of affection, and I am compelled to +say from sheer coquetry: 'Ah, Geert, then I shall never go.' Or +something of the sort." + +Innstetten shook his finger at her. "Effi, you are too clever for me. +I always thought you were a child, and now I see that you are on a par +with all the rest. But enough of that, or, as your papa always said, +'that is too wide a field.' Say, rather, when you are going?" + +"Today is Tuesday. Let us say, then, Friday noon by the boat. Then I +shall be in Berlin in the evening." + +"Settled. And when will you be back?" + +"Well, let us gay Monday evening. That will make three days." + +"Impossible. That is too soon. You can't accomplish everything in +three days. Your mama will not let you go so soon, either." + +"Then leave it to my discretion." + +"All right," and Innstetten arose from his seat to go over to the +district councillor's office. + + * * * * * + +The days before Effi's departure flew by quickly. Roswitha was very +happy. "Ah, your Ladyship, Kessin, oh yes--but it is not Berlin. And +the street cars. And then when the gong rings and one does not know +whether to turn to the right or the left, and it has sometimes seemed +to me as though everything would run right over me. Oh, there is +nothing like that here. Many a day I doubt if we see six people, and +never anything else but the dunes and the sea outside. And it roars +and roars, but that is all." + +"Yes, Roswitha, you are right. It roars and roars all the time, but +this is not the right kind of life. Besides, one has all sorts of +stupid ideas. That you cannot deny, and your conduct with Kruse was +not in accord with propriety." + +"Ah, your Ladyship--" + +"Well, I will not make any further inquiries. You would not admit +anything, of course. Only be sure not to take too few things with you. +In fact, you may take all your things along, and Annie's too." + +"I thought we were coming back." + +"Yes, I am. It is his Lordship's desire. But you may perhaps stay +there, with my mother. Only see to it that she does not spoil little +Annie too badly. She was often strict with me, but a grandchild--" + +"And then, too, you know, little Annie is so sweet, one is tempted to +take a bite of her. Nobody can help being fond of her." + +That was on Thursday, the day before the departure. Innstetten had +driven into the country and was not expected home till toward evening. +In the afternoon Effi went down town, as far as the market square, and +there entered the apothecary's shop and asked for a bottle of _sal +volatile_. "One never knows with whom one is to travel," she said to +the old clerk, with whom she was accustomed to chat, and who adored +her as much as Gieshübler himself. + +"Is the doctor in?" she asked further, when she had put the little +bottle in her pocket. + +"Certainly, your Ladyship, he is in the adjoining room reading the +papers." + +"I shall not disturb him, shall I?" + +"Oh, never." + +Effi stepped in. It was a small room with a high ceiling and shelves +around the walls, on which stood alembics and retorts. Along one wall +were filing cases arranged alphabetically and provided with iron rings +on the front ends. They contained the prescriptions. + +Gieshübler was delighted and embarrassed. "What an honor! Here among +my retorts! May I invite her Ladyship to be seated for a moment?" + +"Certainly, dear Gieshübler. But really only for a moment. I want to +bid you farewell." + +"But, most gracious Lady, you are coming back, aren't you? I heard it +was only for three or four days." + +"Yes, dear friend, I am supposed to come back, and it is even arranged +that I shall be back in Kessin in a week at the latest. But it is +possible that I may _not_ come back. I don't need to tell you all the +thousand possibilities--I see you are about to tell me I am still too +young to--but young people sometimes die. And then there are so many +other things. So I prefer to take leave of you as though it were for +ever." + +"But, most gracious Lady--" + +"As though it were for ever. And I want to thank you, dear Gieshübler. +For you were the best thing here; naturally, because you were the best +man. If I live to be a hundred years old I shall not forget you. I +have felt lonely here at times, and at times my heart was so heavy, +heavier than you can ever know. I have not always managed rightly. But +whenever I have seen you, from the very first day, I have always felt +happier, and better, too." + +"Oh, most gracious Lady." + +"And I wished to thank you for it. I have just bought a small bottle +of _sal volatile_. There are often such remarkable people in the +compartment, who will not even permit a window to be opened. If I shed +any tears--for, you know, it goes right up into one's head, the salts, +I mean--then I will think of you. Adieu, dear friend, and give my +regards to your friend, Miss Trippelli. During these last weeks I have +often thought of her and of Prince Kotschukoff. After all is said and +done it remains a peculiar relation. But I can understand it--and let +me hear from you some day. Or I shall write." + +With these words Effi went out. Gieshübler accompanied her out upon +the square. He was dumbfounded, so completely that he entirely +overlooked many enigmatical things she said. + +Effi went back home. "Bring me the lamp, Johanna," she said, "but into +my bedroom. And then a cup of tea. I am so cold and cannot wait till +his Lordship returns." + +The lamp and the tea came. Effi was already sitting at her little +writing desk, with a sheet of letter paper before her and the pen in +her hand. "Please, Johanna, put the tea on the table there." + +When Johanna had left the room Effi locked her door, looked into the +mirror for a moment and then sat down again, and wrote: "I leave +tomorrow by the boat, and these are farewell lines. Innstetten expects +me back in a few days, but I am _not_ coming back--why I am not coming +back, you know--it would have been better if I had never seen this +corner of the earth. I implore you not to take this as a reproach. All +the fault is mine. If I look at your house--_your_ conduct may be +excusable, not mine. My fault is very grievous, but perhaps I can +overcome it. The fact that we were called away from here is to me, so +to speak, a sign that I may yet be restored to favor. Forget the past, +forget me. Your Effi." + +She ran hastily over the lines once more. The strangest thing to her +was the avoidance of the familiar "Du," but that had to be. It was +meant to convey the idea that there was no bridge left. Then she put +the letter into an envelope and walked toward a house between the +churchyard and the corner of the forest. A thin column of smoke arose +from the half tumbled down chimney. There she delivered the letter. + +When she reached home Innstetten was already there and she sat down by +him and told him about Gieshübler and the _sal volatile_. Innstetten +laughed. "Where did you get your Latin, Effi?" + +The boat, a light sailing vessel (the steamers ran only in the summer) +left at twelve. A quarter of an hour before, Effi and Innstetten were +on board; likewise Roswitha and Annie. + +The baggage was bulkier than seemed necessary for a journey of so few +days. Innstetten talked with the captain. Effi, in a raincoat and +light gray traveling hat, stood on the after deck, near the tiller, +and looked out upon the quay and the pretty row of houses that +followed the line of the quay. Just opposite the landing stood the +Hoppensack Hotel, a three-story building, from whose gable a yellow +flag, with a cross and a crown on it, hung down limp in the quiet +foggy air. Effi looked up at the flag for a while, then let her eyes +sink slowly until they finally rested on a number of people who stood +about inquisitively on the quay. At this moment the bell rang. Effi +had a very peculiar sensation. The boat slowly began to move, and as +she once more looked closely at the landing bridge she saw that +Crampas was standing in the front row. She was startled to see him, +but at the same time was glad. He, on the other hand, with his whole +bearing changed, was obviously agitated, and waved an earnest adieu to +her. She returned his greeting in like spirit, but also with great +friendliness, and there was pleading in her eyes. Then she walked +quickly to the cabin, where Roswitha had already made herself at home +with Annie. She remained here in the rather close rooms till they +reached the point where the river spreads out into a sheet of water +called the "Broad." Then Innstetten came and called to her to come up +on deck and enjoy the glorious landscape. She went up. Over the +surface of the water hung gray clouds and only now and then could one +catch a half-veiled glimpse of the sun through a rift in the dense +mass. Effi thought of the day, just a year and a quarter ago, when she +had driven in an open carriage along the shore of this same "Broad." A +brief span, and life often so quiet and lonely. Yet how much had +happened since then! + +Thus they sailed up the fairway and at two o'clock were at the station +or very near it. As they, a moment later, passed the Prince Bismarck +Hotel, Golchowski, who was again standing at the door, joined them and +accompanied them to the steps leading up the embankment. At the +station they found the train was not yet signaled, so they walked up +and down on the platform. Their conversation turned about the question +of an apartment. They agreed on the quarter of the city, that it must +be between the Tiergarten and the Zoological Garden. "I want to hear +the finches sing and the parrots scream," said Innstetten, and Effi +was willing. + +Then they heard the signal and the train ran into the station. The +station master was full of attentions and Effi received a compartment +to herself. + +Another handshake, a wave of her handkerchief, and the train began +again to move. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +[Effi was met at the Berlin station by her mother and Cousin von +Briest. While drinking tea in the mother's room Cousin von Briest was +asked to tell a joke, and propounded a Bible conundrum, which Effi +took as an omen that no more sorrow was to befall her. The following +day began the search for an apartment, and one was found on Keith +street, which exactly suited, except that the house was not finished +and the walls not yet dried out. Effi kept it in mind, however, and +looked further, being as long about it as possible. After two weeks +Innstetten began to insist on her return and to make pointed +allusions. She saw there was nothing left but to sham illness. Then +she rented the apartment on Keith street, wrote a card saying she +would be home the next day, and had the trunks packed. The next +morning she stayed in bed and feigned illness, but preferred not to +call a doctor. She telegraphed about her delay to her husband. After +three days of the farce she yielded to her mother and called an old +ladies' doctor by the name of Rummschüttel ('Shake 'em around'). After +a few questions he prescribed a mixture of bitter almond water and +orange blossom syrup and told her to keep quiet. Later he called every +third day, noticing that his calls embarrassed her. She felt he had +seen through her from the start, but the farce had to be kept up till +Innstetten had closed his house and shipped his things. Four days +before he was due in Berlin she suddenly got well and wrote him she +could now travel, but thought it best to await him in Berlin. As soon +as she received his favorable telegram she hastened to the new +apartment, where she raised her eyes, folded her hands, and said: +"Now, with God's help, a new life, and a different one!"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +Three days later, at nine o 'clock in the evening, Innstetten arrived +in Berlin. Effi, her mother, and Cousin Briest were at the station. +The reception was hearty, particularly on the part of Effi, and a +world of things had been talked about when the carriage they had taken +stopped before their new residence on Keith street. "Well, you have +made a good choice, Effi," said Innstetten, as he entered the +vestibule; "no shark, no crocodile, and, I hope, no spooks." + +"No, Geert, that is all past. A new era has dawned and I am no longer +afraid. I am also going to be better than heretofore and live more +according to your will." This she whispered to him as they climbed the +carpeted stairs to the third story. Cousin von Briest escorted the +mother. + +In their apartment there was still a great deal to be done, but enough +had been accomplished to make a homelike impression and Innstetten +exclaimed out of the joy of his heart: "Effi, you are a little +genius." But she declined the praise, pointing to her mother, saying +she really deserved the credit. Her mother had issued inexorable +commands, such as, "It must stand here," and had always been right, +with the natural result that much time had been saved and their good +humor had never been disturbed. Finally Roswitha came in to welcome +her master. She took advantage of the opportunity to say: "Miss Annie +begs to be excused for today,"--a little joke, of which she was proud, +and which accomplished her purpose perfectly. + +They took seats around the table, already set, and when Innstetten had +poured himself a glass of wine and all had joined him in a toast to +"happy days," he took Effi's hand and said: "Now tell me, Effi, what +was the nature of your illness?" + +"Oh, let us not talk about that; it would be a waste of breath--A +little painful and a real disturbance, because it cancelled our plans. +But that was all, and now it is past. Rummschüttel justified his +reputation; he is a fine, amiable old man, as I believe I wrote you. +He is said not to be a particularly brilliant scholar, but mama says +that is an advantage. And she is doubtless right, as usual. Our good +Dr. Hannemann was no luminary either, and yet he was always +successful. Now tell me, how are Gieshübler and all the others?" + +"Let me see, who are all the others? Crampas sends his regards to her +Ladyship." + +"Ah, very polite." + +"And the pastor also wishes to be remembered to you. But the people in +the country were rather cool and seemed inclined to hold me +responsible for your departure without formally taking leave. Our +friend Sidonie spoke quite pointedly, but good Mrs. von Padden, whom I +called on specially the day before yesterday, was genuinely pleased to +receive your regards and your declaration of love for her. She said +you were a charming woman, but I ought to guard you well. When I +replied that you considered me more of a pedagogue than a husband, she +said in an undertone and almost as though speaking from another world: +'A young lamb as white as snow!' Then she stopped." + +Cousin von Briest laughed. "'A young lamb as white as snow.' Hear +that, cousin?" He was going to continue teasing her, but gave it up +when he saw that she turned pale. + +The conversation dragged on a while longer, dealing chiefly with +former relations, and Effi finally learned, from various things +Innstetten said, that of all their Kessin household Johanna alone had +declared a willingness to move with them to Berlin. She had remained +behind, to be sure, but would arrive in two or three days with the +rest of the things. Innstetten was glad of her decision, for she had +always been their most useful servant and possessed an unusual amount +of the style demanded in a large city, perhaps a bit too much. Both +Christel and Frederick had said they were too old, and Kruse had not +even been asked. "What do we want with a coachman here?" concluded +Innstetten, "private horses and carriages are things of the past; that +luxury is seen no more in Berlin. We could not even have found a place +for the black chicken. Or do I underestimate the apartment?" + +Effi shook her head, and as a short pause ensued the mother arose, +saying it was half past ten and she had still a long way to go, but +nobody should accompany her, as the carriage stand was quite near. +Cousin Briest declined, of course, to accede to this request. +Thereupon they bade each other good night, after arranging to meet the +following morning. + +Effi was up rather early and, as the air was almost as warm as in the +summer, had ordered the breakfast table moved close to the open +balcony door. When Innstetten appeared she stepped out upon the +balcony with him and said: "Well, what do you say? You wished to hear +the finches singing in the Tiergarten and the parrots calling in the +Zoological Garden. I don't know whether both will do you the favor, +but it is possible. Do you hear that? It came from the little park +over yonder. It is not the real Tiergarten, but near it." + +Innstetten was delighted and as grateful as though Effi herself had +conjured up all these things for him. Then they sat down and Annie +came in. Roswitha expected Innstetten to find a great change in the +child, and he did. They went on chatting, first about the people of +Kessin, then about the visits to be made in Berlin, and finally about +a summer journey. They had to stop in the middle of their conversation +in order to be at the rendezvous on time. + +They met, as agreed, at Helms's, opposite the Red Palace, went to +various stores, lunched at Hiller's, and were home again in good +season. It was a capital day together, and Innstetten was very glad to +be able once more to share in the life of a great city and feel its +influence upon him. The following day, the 1st of April, he went to +the Chancellor's Palace to register, considerately foregoing a +personal call, and then went to the Ministry to report for duty. He +was received, in spite of the rush of business and social obligations, +in fact he was favored with a particularly friendly reception by his +chief, who said: "I know what a valuable man you are and am certain +nothing can ever disturb our harmony." + +Likewise at home everything assumed a good aspect. Effi truly +regretted to see her mother return to Hohen-Cremmen, even after her +treatment had been prolonged to nearly six weeks, as she had predicted +in the beginning. But the loss was partly offset by Johanna's arrival +in Berlin on the same day. That was at least something, and even if +the pretty blonde was not so near to Effi's heart as the wholly +unselfish and infinitely good-natured Roswitha, nevertheless she was +treated on an equality with her, both by Innstetten and her young +mistress, because she was very clever and useful and showed a decided, +self-conscious reserve toward the men. According to a Kessin rumor the +roots of her existence could be traced to a long-retired officer of +the Pasewalk garrison, which was said to explain her aristocratic +temperament, her beautiful blonde hair, and the special shapeliness of +her appearance. Johanna shared the joy displayed on all hands at her +arrival and was perfectly willing to resume her former duties as house +servant and lady's maid, whereas Roswitha, who after an experience of +nearly a year had acquired about all of Christel's cookery art, was to +superintend the culinary department. The care and nurture of Annie +fell to Effi herself, at which Roswitha naturally laughed, for she +knew young wives. + +Innstetten was wholly devoted to his office and his home. He was +happier than formerly in Kessin, because he could not fail to observe +that Effi manifested more artlessness and cheerfulness. She could do +so because she felt freer. True, the past still cast a shadow over her +life, but it no longer worried her, or at least much more rarely and +transiently, and all such after-effects served but to give her bearing +a peculiar charm. In everything she did there was an element of +sadness, of confession, so to speak, and it would have made her happy +if she could have shown it still more plainly. But, of course, she +dared not. + +When they made their calls, during the first weeks of April, the +social season of the great city was not yet past, but it was about to +end, so they were unable to share in it to any great extent. During +the latter half of May it expired completely and they were more than +ever happy to be able to meet at the noon hour in the Tiergarten, when +Innstetten came from his office, or to take a walk in the afternoon to +the garden of the Palace in Charlottenburg. As Effi walked up and down +the long front, between the Palace and the orange trees, she studied +time and again the many Roman emperors standing there, found a +remarkable resemblance between Nero and Titus, gathered pine cones +that had fallen from the trees, and then walked arm in arm with her +husband toward the Spree till they came to the lonely Belvedere +Palace. + +"They say this palace was also once haunted," she remarked. + +"No, merely ghostly apparitions." + +"That is the same thing." + +"Yes, sometimes," said Innstetten. "As a matter of fact, however, +there is a difference. Ghostly apparitions are always artificial, or +at least that is said to have been the case in the Belvedere, as +Cousin von Briest told me only yesterday, but hauntings are never +artificial; hauntings are natural." + +"So you do believe in them?" + +"Certainly I believe in them. There are such things. But I don't quite +believe in those we had in Kessin. Has Johanna shown you her Chinaman +yet?" + +"What Chinaman?" + +"Why, ours. Before she left our old house she pulled him off the back +of the chair upstairs and put him in her purse. I caught a glimpse of +him not long ago when she was changing a mark for me. She was +embarrassed, but confessed." + +"Oh, Geert, you ought not to have told me that. Now there is such a +thing in our house again." + +"Tell her to burn it up." + +"No, I don't want to; it would not do any good anyhow. But I will ask +Roswitha--" + +"What? Oh, I understand, I can imagine what you are thinking of. You +will ask her to buy a picture of a saint and put it also in the purse. +Is that about it?" + +Effi nodded. + +"Well, do what you like, but do not tell anybody." + + * * * * * + +Effi finally said she would rather not do it, and they went on talking +about all sorts of little things, till the plans for their summer +journey gradually crowded out other interests. They rode back to the +"Great Star" and then walked home by the Korso Boulevard and the broad +Frederick William Street. + +They planned to take their vacation at the end of July and go to the +Bavarian Alps, as the Passion Play was to be given again this year at +Oberammergau. But it could not be done, as Privy Councillor von +Wüllersdorf, whom Innstetten had known for some time and who was now +his special colleague, fell sick suddenly and Innstetten had to stay +and take his place. Not until the middle of August was everything +again running smoothly and a vacation journey possible. It was too +late then to go to Oberammergau, so they fixed upon a sojourn on the +island of Rügen. "First, of course, Stralsund, with Schill, whom you +know, and with Scheele, whom you don't know. Scheele discovered +oxygen, but you don't need to know that. Then from Stralsund to Bergen +and the Rugard, where Wüllersdorf said one can get a good view of the +whole island, and thence between the Big and the Little Jasmund Bodden +to Sassnitz. Going to Rügen means going to Sassnitz. Binz might +perhaps be possible, too, but, to quote Wüllersdorf again, there are +so many small pebbles and shells on the beach, and we want to go +bathing." + +Effi agreed to everything planned by Innstetten, especially that the +whole household should be broken up for four weeks, Roswitha going +with Annie to Hohen-Cremmen, and Johanna visiting her younger +half-brother, who had a sawmill near Pasewalk. Thus everybody was well +provided for. + +At the beginning of the following week they set out and the same +evening were in Sassnitz. Over the hostelry was the sign, "Hotel +Fahrenheit." "I hope the prices are according to Réaumur," added +Innstetten, as he read the name, and the two took an evening walk +along the beach cliffs in the best of humor. From a projecting rock +they looked out upon the bay quivering in the moonlight. Effi was +entranced. "Ah, Geert, why, this is Capri, it is Sorrento. Yes, let us +stay here, but not in the hotel, of course. The waiters are too +aristocratic for me and I feel ashamed to ask for a bottle of soda +water." + +"Yes, everybody is an employee. But, I think, we can find private +quarters." + +"I think so too. And we will look for them the first thing in the +morning." + +The next morning was as beautiful as the evening had been, and they +took coffee out of doors. Innstetten received a few letters, which had +to be attended to promptly, and so Effi decided at once to employ the +hour thus left free for her in looking for quarters. She first walked +past an inclosed meadow, then past groups of houses and fields of +oats, finally turning into a road which ran through a kind of gully to +the sea. Where this gully road struck the beach there stood an inn +shaded by tall beech trees, not so aristocratic as the "Fahrenheit," a +mere restaurant, in fact, which because of the early hour was entirely +empty. Effi sat down at a point with a good view and hardly had she +taken a sip of the sherry she had ordered when the inn-keeper stepped +up to engage her in conversation, half out of curiosity and half out +of politeness. + +"We like it very well here," she said, "my husband and I. What a +splendid view of the bay! Our only worry is about a place to stay." + +"Well, most gracious Lady, that will be hard." + +"Why, it is already late in the season." + +"In spite of that. Here in Sassnitz there is surely nothing to be +found, I can guarantee you. But farther along the shore, where the +next village begins--you can see the shining roofs from here--there +you might perhaps find something." + +"What is the name of the village?" + +"Crampas." + +Effi thought she had misunderstood him. "Crampas," she repeated, with +an effort. "I never heard the word as the name of a place. Nothing +else in the neighborhood?" + +"No, most gracious Lady, nothing around here. But farther up, toward +the north, you will come to other villages, and in the hotel near +Stubbenkammer they will surely be able to give you information. +Addresses are always left there by people who would be willing to rent +rooms." + +Effi was glad to have had the conversation alone and when she reported +it a few moments later to her husband, keeping back only the name of +the village adjoining Sassnitz, he said: "Well, if there is nothing +around here the best thing will be to take a carriage, which, +incidentally, is always the way to take leave of a hotel, and without +any ado move farther up toward Stubbenkammer. We can doubtless find +there some idyllic spot with a honeysuckle arbor, and, if we find +nothing, there is still left the hotel, and they are all alike." + +Effi was willing, and about noon they reached the hotel near +Stubbenkammer, of which Innstetten had just spoken, and there ordered +a lunch. "But not until half an hour from now. We intend to take a +walk first and view the Hertha Lake. I presume you have a guide?" + +Following the affirmative answer a middle-aged man approached our +travelers. He looked as important and solemn as though he had been at +least an adjunct of the ancient Hertha worship. + +The lake, which was only a short distance away, had a border of tall +trees and a hem of rushes, while on its quiet black surface there swam +hundreds of water lilies. + +"It really looks like something of the sort," said Effi, "like Hertha +worship." + +"Yes, your Ladyship, and the stones are further evidences of it." + +"What stones?" + +"The sacrificial stones." + +While the conversation continued in this way they stepped from the +lake to a perpendicular wall of gravel and clay, against which leaned +a few smooth polished stones, with a shallow hollow in each drained by +a few grooves. + +"What is the purpose of these?" + +"To make it drain better, your Ladyship." + +"Let us go," said Effi, and, taking her husband's arm, she walked back +with him to the hotel, where the breakfast already ordered was served +at a table with a view far out upon the sea. Before them lay the bay +in the sunshine, with sail boats here and there gliding across its +surface and sea gulls pursuing each other about the neighboring +cliffs. It was very beautiful and Effi said so; but, when she looked +across the glittering surface, she saw again, toward the south, the +brightly shining roofs of the long-stretched-out village, whose name +had given her such a start earlier in the morning. + +Even without any knowledge or suspicion of what was occupying her, +Innstetten saw clearly that she was having no joy or satisfaction. "I +am sorry, Effi, that you derive no real pleasure from these things +here. You cannot forget the Hertha Lake, and still less the +stones." + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann A.-G. Munich_ +BATHING BOYS Adolph von Menzel] + +She nodded. "It is as you say, and I must confess that I have seen +nothing in my life that made me feel so sad. Let us give up entirely +our search for rooms. I can't stay here." + +"And yesterday it seemed to you a Gulf of Naples and everything +beautiful you could think of." + +"Yes, yesterday." + +"And today? No longer a trace of Sorrento?" + +"Still one trace, but only one. It is Sorrento on the point of dying." + +"Very well, then, Effi," said Innstetten, reaching her his hand. "I do +not want to worry you with Rügen and so let us give it up. Settled. It +is not necessary for us to tie ourselves up to Stubbenkammer or +Sassnitz or farther down that way. But whither?" + +"I suggest that we stay a day longer and wait for the steamer that +comes from Stettin tomorrow on its way to Copenhagen. It is said to be +so pleasurable there and I can't tell you how I long for something +pleasurable. Here I feel as though I could never laugh again in all my +life and had never laughed at all, and you know how I like to laugh." + +Innstetten showed himself full of sympathy with her state, the more +readily, as he considered her right in many regards. Really +everything, though beautiful, was melancholy. + +They waited for the Stettin boat and in the very early morning of the +third day they landed in Copenhagen. Two hours later they were in the +Thorwaldsen Museum, and Effi said: "Yes, Geert, this is beautiful and +I am glad we set out for here." Soon thereafter they went to dinner +and at the table made the acquaintance of a Jutland family, opposite +them, whose daughter, Thora von Penz, was as pretty as a picture and +attracted immediately the attention and admiration of both Innstetten +and Effi. Effi could not stop looking at her large blue eyes and +flaxen blonde hair, and when they left the table an hour and a half +later the Penz family, who unfortunately had to leave Copenhagen the +same day, expressed the hope that they might have the privilege of +entertaining the young Prussian couple in the near future at Aggerhuus +Castle, some two miles from the Lym-Fiord. The invitation was accepted +by the Innstettens with little hesitation. + +Thus passed the hours in the hotel. But that was not yet enough of a +good thing for this memorable day, which Effi enthusiastically +declared ought to be a red-letter day in the calendar. To fill her +measure of happiness to the full the evening brought a performance at +the Tivoli Theatre, an Italian pantomime, _Arlequin and Columbine_. +She was completely captivated by the little roguish tricks, and when +they returned to their hotel late in the evening she said: "Do you +know, Geert, I now feel that I am gradually coming to again. I will +not even mention beautiful Thora, but when I consider that this +morning Thorwaldsen and this evening Columbine--" + +"Whom at bottom you liked better than Thorwaldsen--" + +"To be frank, yes. I have a natural appreciation of such things. Our +good Kessin was a misfortune for me. Everything got on my nerves +there. Rügen too, almost. I suggest we stay here in Copenhagen a few +days longer, including an excursion to Fredericksborg and Helsingor, +of course, and then go over to Jutland. I anticipate real pleasure +from seeing beautiful Thora again, and if I were a man I should fall +in love with her." + +Innstetten laughed. "You don't know what I am going to do." + +"I shouldn't object. That will create a rivalry and I shall show you +that I still have my powers, too." + +"You don't need to assure me of that." + +The journey was made according to this plan. Over in Jutland they went +up the Lym-Fiord as far as Aggerhuus Castle, where they spent three +days with the Penz family, and then returned home, making many stops +on the way, for sojourns of various lengths, in Viborg, Flensburg, +Kiel, and Hamburg. From Hamburg, which they liked uncommonly well, +they did not go direct to Keith St. in Berlin, but first to +Hohen-Cremmen, where they wished to enjoy a well-earned rest. For +Innstetten it meant but a few days, as his leave of absence expired, +but Effi remained a week longer and declared her desire not to arrive +at home till the 3d of October, their wedding anniversary. + +Annie had flourished splendidly in the country air and Roswitha's plan +of having her walk to meet her mother succeeded perfectly. Briest +proved himself an affectionate grandfather, warned them against too +much love, and even more strongly against too much severity, and was +in every way the same as always. But in reality all his affection was +bestowed upon Effi, who occupied his emotional nature continually, +particularly when he was alone with his wife. + +"How do you find Effi?" + +"Dear and good as ever. We cannot thank God enough that we have such a +lovely daughter. How thankful she is for everything, and always so +happy to be under our rooftree again." + +"Yes," said Briest, "she has more of this virtue than I like. To tell +the truth, it seems as though this were still her home. Yet she has +her husband and child, and her husband is a jewel and her child an +angel, and still she acts as though Hohen-Cremmen were her favorite +abode, and her husband and child were nothing in comparison with you +and me. She is a splendid daughter, but she is too much of a daughter +to suit me. It worries me a little bit. She is also unjust to +Innstetten. How do matters really stand between them?" + +"Why, Briest, what do you mean?" + +"Well, I mean what I mean and you know what, too. Is she happy? Or is +there something or other in the way? From the very beginning it has +seemed to me as though she esteemed him more than she loved him, and +that to my mind is a bad thing. Even love may not last forever, and +esteem will certainly not. In fact women become angry when they have +to esteem a man; first they become angry, then bored, and in the end +they laugh." + +"Have you had any such experience?" + +"I will not say that I have. I did not stand high enough in esteem. +But let us not get wrought up any further. Tell me how matters stand." + +"Pshaw! Briest, you always come back to the same things. We have +talked about and exchanged our views on this question more than a +dozen times, and yet you always come back and, in spite of your +pretended omniscience, ask me about it with the most dreadful naïveté, +as though my eyes could penetrate any depth. What kind of notions have +you, anyhow, of a young wife, and more especially of your daughter? Do +you think that the whole situation is so plain? Or that I am an +oracle--I can't just recall the name of the person--or that I hold the +truth cut and dried in my hands, when Effi has poured out her heart to +me?--at least what is so designated. For what does pouring out one's +heart mean? After all, the real thing is kept back. She will take care +not to initiate me into her secrets. Besides, I don't know from whom +she inherited it, but she is--well, she is a very sly little person +and this slyness in her is the more dangerous because she is so very +lovable." + +"So you do admit that--lovable. And good, too?" + +"Good, too. That is, full of goodness of heart. I am not quite certain +about anything further. I believe she has an inclination to let +matters take their course and to console herself with the hope that +God will not call her to a very strict account." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Yes, I do. Furthermore I think she has improved in many ways. Her +character is what it is, but the conditions since she moved to Berlin +are much more favorable and they are becoming more and more devoted to +each other. She told me something to that effect and, what is more +convincing to me, I found it confirmed by what I saw with my own +eyes." + +"Well, what did she say?" + +"She said: 'Mama, things are going better now. Innstetten was always +an excellent husband, and there are not many like him, but I couldn't +approach him easily, there was something distant about him. He was +reserved even in his affectionate moments, in fact, more reserved then +than ever. There have been times when I feared him.'" + +"I know, I know." + +"What do you mean, Briest? That I have feared you, or that you have +feared me? I consider the one as ridiculous as the other." + +"You were going to tell me about Effi." + +"Well, then, she confessed to me that this feeling of strangeness had +left her and that had made her very happy. Kessin had not been the +right place for her, the haunted house and the people there, some too +pious, others too dull; but since she had moved to Berlin she felt +entirely in her place. He was the best man in the world, somewhat too +old for her and too good for her, but she was now 'over the mountain.' +She used this expression, which, I admit, astonished me." + +"How so? It is not quite up to par, I mean the expression. But--" + +"There is something behind it, and she wanted to give me an inkling." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Yes, Briest. You always seem to think she could never be anything but +innocent. But you are mistaken. She likes to drift with the waves, and +if the wave is good she is good, too. Fighting and resisting are not +her affair." + +Roswitha came in with Annie and interrupted the conversation. + +This conversation occurred on the day that Innstetten departed from +Hohen-Cremmen for Berlin, leaving Effi behind for at least a week. He +knew she liked nothing better than whiling away her time, care-free, +with sweet dreams, always hearing friendly words and assurances of her +loveliness. Indeed that was the thing which pleased her above +everything else, and here she enjoyed it again to the full and most +gratefully, even though diversions were utterly lacking. Visitors +seldom came, because after her marriage there was no real attraction, +at least for the young people. * * * + +On her wedding anniversary, the 3d of October, Effi was to be back in +Berlin. On the evening before, under the pretext of desiring to pack +her things and prepare for the journey, she retired to her room +comparatively early. As a matter of fact, her only desire was to be +alone. Much as she liked to chat, there were times when she longed for +repose. + +Her rooms were in the upper story on the side toward the garden. In +the smaller one Roswitha was sleeping with Annie and their door was +standing ajar. She herself walked to and fro in the larger one, which +she occupied. The lower casements of the windows were open and the +little white curtains were blown by the draft and slowly fell over the +back of the chair, till another puff of wind came and raised them +again. It was so light that she could read plainly the titles of the +pictures hanging in narrow gilt frames over the sofa: "The Storming of +Düppel, Fort No. 5," and "King William and Count Bismarck on the +Heights of Lipa." Effi shook her head and smiled. "When I come back +again I am going to ask for different pictures; I don't like such +warlike sights." Then she closed one window and sat down by the other, +which she left open. How she enjoyed the whole scene! Almost behind +the church tower was the moon, which shed its light upon the grassy +plot with the sundial and the heliotrope beds. Everything was covered +with a silvery sheen. Beside the strips of shadow lay white strips of +light, as white as linen on the bleaching ground. Farther on stood the +tall rhubarb plants with their leaves an autumnal yellow, and she +thought of the day, only a little over two years before, when she had +played there with Hulda and the Jahnke girls. On that occasion, when +the visitor came she ascended the little stone steps by the bench and +an hour later was betrothed. + +She arose, went toward the door, and listened. Roswitha was asleep and +Annie also. + +Suddenly, as the child lay there before her, a throng of pictures of +the days in Kessin came back to her unbidden. There was the district +councillor's dwelling with its gable, and the veranda with the view of +the "Plantation," and she was sitting in the rocking chair, rocking. +Soon Crampas stepped up to her to greet her, and then came Roswitha +with the child, and she took it, held it up, and kissed it. + +"That was the first day, there is where it began." In the midst of her +revery she left the room the two were sleeping in and sat down again +at the open window and gazed out into the quiet night. + +"I cannot get rid of it," she said. "But worst of all, and the thing +that makes me lose faith in myself--" Just then the tower clock began +to strike and Effi counted the strokes. "Ten--Tomorrow at this time I +shall be in Berlin. We shall speak about our wedding anniversary and +he will say pleasing and friendly things to me and perhaps words of +affection. I shall sit there and listen and have a sense of guilt in +my heart." She leaned her head upon her hand and stared silently into +the night. + +"And have a sense of guilt in my heart," she repeated. "Yes, the sense +is there. But is it a burden upon my heart? No. That is why I am +alarmed at myself. The burden there is quite a different thing--dread, +mortal dread, and eternal fear that it may some day be found out. And, +besides the dread, shame. I am ashamed of myself. But as I do not feel +true repentance, neither do I true shame. I am ashamed only on account +of my continual lying and deceiving. It was always my pride that I +could not lie and did not need to--lying is so mean, and now I have +had to lie all the time, to him and to everybody, big lies and little +lies. Even Rummschüttel noticed it and shrugged his shoulders, and +who knows what he thinks of me? Certainly not the best things. Yes, +dread tortures me, and shame on account of my life of lies. But not +shame on account of my guilt--that I do not feel, or at least not +truly, or not enough, and the knowledge that I do not is killing me. +If all women are like this it is terrible, if they are not--which I +hope--then _I_ am in a bad predicament; there is something out of +order in my heart, I lack proper feeling. Old Mr. Niemeyer once told +me, in his best days, when I was still half a child, that proper +feeling is the essential thing, and if we have that the worst cannot +befall us, but if we have it not, we are in eternal danger, and what +is called the Devil has sure power over us. For the mercy of God, is +this my state?" + +She laid her head upon her arms and wept bitterly. When she +straightened up again, calmed, she gazed out into the garden. All was +so still, and her ear could detect a low sweet sound, as of falling +rain, coming from the plane trees. This continued for a while. Then +from the village street came the sound of a human voice. The old +nightwatchman Kulicke was calling out the hour. When at last he was +silent she heard in the distance the rattling of the passing train, +some two miles away. This noise gradually became fainter and finally +died away entirely--Still the moonlight lay upon the grass plot and +there was still the low sound, as of falling rain upon the plane +trees. But it was only the gentle playing of the night air. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +[The following evening Innstetten met Effi at the station in Berlin +and said he had thought she would not keep her word, as she had not +when she came to Berlin to select their apartment. In a short time he +began to bestir himself to make a place for his wife in Berlin +society. At a small party early in the season he tactlessly twitted +her about Crampas and for days thereafter she felt haunted by the +Major's spirit. But once the Empress had selected her to be a lady of +honor at an important function, and the Emperor had addressed a few +gracious remarks to her at a court ball, the past began to seem to her +a mere dream, and her cheerfulness was restored. After about seven +years in Berlin Dr. Rummschüttel was one day called to see her for +various reasons and prescribed treatment at Schwalbach and Ems. She +was to be accompanied by the wife of Privy Councillor Zwicker, who in +spite of her forty odd years seemed to need a protectress more than +Effi did. While Roswitha was helping with the preparations for the +journey Effi called her to account for never going, as a good Catholic +should, to a priest to confess her sins, particularly her great sin, +and promised to talk the matter over with her seriously after +returning from Ems.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +[Innstetten could see by Effi's letters from Ems that Mrs. Zwicker was +not the right kind of a companion for her and he longed for her to +come back to him. As the end of her sojourn at the watering place +approached, preparations were made to welcome her on her return home. +A "W," made of forget-me-nots, was to be hung up and some verses +composed by a friend of the family were to be spoken by Annie. One day +when Annie was returning from school Roswitha went out to meet her and +was challenged by her to a race up the stairs. When Annie reached the +top she stumbled and fell upon a scraper, cutting an ugly gash in her +forehead. Roswitha and Johanna washed the wound with cold water and +decided to tie it up with the long bandage once used to bind the +mother's sprained ankle. In their search for the bandage they broke +open the lock to the sewing table drawers, which they began to empty +of their contents. Among other things they took out a small package of +letters tied up with a red silk cord. Before they had ended the search +Innstetten came home. He examined the wound and sent for Dr. +Rummschüttel. After scolding Annie and telling her what she must do +till her mother came home, he sat down with her to dine and promised +to read her a letter just received from her mother.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +For a while Innstetten sat at the table with Annie in silence. +Finally, when the stillness became painful to him, he asked her a few +questions about the school superintendent and which teacher she liked +best. She answered rather listlessly, because she felt he was not +paying much attention. The situation was not improved till Johanna +whispered to little Annie, after the second course, that there was +something else to come. And surely enough, good Roswitha, who felt +under obligation to her pet on this unlucky day, had prepared +something extra. She had risen to an omelet with sliced apple filling. + +The sight of it made Annie somewhat more talkative. Innstetten's frame +of mind was likewise bettered when the doorbell rang a moment later +and Dr. Rummschüttel entered, quite accidentally. He had just dropped +in, without any suspicion that he had been sent for. He approved of +the compresses. "Send for some Goulard water and keep Annie at home +tomorrow. Quiet is the best remedy." Then he asked further about her +Ladyship and what kind of news had been received from Ems, and said he +would come again the next day to see the patient. + +When they got up from the table and went into the adjoining room, +where the bandage had been searched for so zealously, albeit in vain, +Annie was again laid upon the sofa. Johanna came and sat down beside +her, while Innstetten began to put back into the sewing table the +countless things that still lay in gay confusion upon the window sill. +Now and then he was at a loss to know what to do and was obliged to +ask. + +"Where do these letters belong, Johanna?" + +"Clear at the bottom," said she, "here in this drawer." + +During the question and answer Innstetten examined more closely than +before the little package tied up with a red cord. It seemed to +consist of a number of notes, rather than letters. Bending it between +his thumb and forefinger, like a pack of cards, he slowly let the +edges slip off one at a time, and a few lines, in reality only +disconnected words, darted past his eyes. It was impossible to +distinguish them clearly, yet it seemed to him as though he had +somewhere seen the handwriting before. Should he look into the +matter? + +"Johanna, you might bring us the coffee. Annie will also take half a +cup. The doctor has not forbidden it, and what is not forbidden is +allowed." + +As he said this he untied the red cord, and while Johanna was going to +the kitchen he quickly ran over the whole contents of the package. +Only two or three letters were addressed to Mrs. District Councillor +von Innstetten. He now recognized the handwriting; it was that of the +Major. Innstetten had known nothing about a correspondence between +Crampas and Effi. His brain began to grow dizzy. He put the package in +his pocket and returned to his room. A few moments later Johanna +rapped softly on his door to let him know that the coffee was served. +He answered, but that was all. Otherwise the silence was complete. Not +until a quarter of an hour later was he heard walking to and fro on +the rug. "I wonder what ails papa?" said Johanna to Annie. "The doctor +said it was nothing, didn't he?" + +The walking to and fro in the adjoining room showed no signs of +ending, but Innstetten finally came out and said: "Johanna, keep an +eye on Annie and make her remain quiet on the sofa. I am going out to +walk for an hour or two." Then he gazed fixedly at the child and left +the room. + +"Did you notice, Johanna, how papa looked?" + +"Yes, Annie. He must have had a great vexation. He was all pale. I +never saw him like that." + +Hours passed. The sun was already down and only a red glow was visible +above the roofs across the street, when Innstetten came back. He took +Annie's hand and asked her how she was. Then he ordered Johanna to +bring the lamp into his room. The lamp came. In its green shade were +half-transparent ovals with photographs, various pictures of his wife +that had been made in Kessin for the other members of the cast when +they played Wichert's _A Step out of the Way_. Innstetten turned the +shade slowly from left to right and studied each individual picture. +Then he gave that up and, as the air was so sultry, opened the balcony +door and finally took up the package of letters again. He seemed to +have picked out a few and laid them on top the first time he looked +them over. These he now read once more in a half audible voice: + +"Come again this afternoon to the dunes behind the mill. At old Mrs. +Adermann's we can see each other without fear, as the house is far +enough off the road. You must not worry so much about everything. We +have our rights, too. If you will say that to yourself emphatically, I +think all fear will depart from you. Life would not be worth the +living if everything that applies in certain specific cases should be +made to apply in all. All the best things lie beyond that. Learn to +enjoy them." + +"'Away from here,' you write, 'flight.' Impossible. I cannot leave my +wife in the lurch, in poverty, along with everything else. It is out +of the question, and we must take life lightly, otherwise we are poor +and lost. Light-heartedness is our best possession. All is fate; it +was not so to be. And would you have it otherwise--that we had never +seen each other?" + +Then came the third letter: + +"Be at the old place again today. How are my days to be spent without +you here in this dreary hole? I am beside myself, and yet thus much of +what you say is right; it is salvation, and we must in the end bless +the hand that inflicts this separation on us." + +Innstetten had hardly shoved the letters aside when the doorbell rang. +In a moment Johanna announced Privy Councillor Wüllersdorf. +Wüllersdorf entered and saw at a glance that something must have +happened. + +"Pardon me, Wüllersdorf," said Innstetten, receiving him, "for having +asked you to come at once to see me. I dislike to disturb anybody in +his evening's repose, most of all a hard-worked department chief. But +it could not be helped. I beg you, make yourself comfortable, and +here is a cigar." + +Wüllersdorf sat down. Innstetten again walked to and fro and would +gladly have gone on walking, because of his consuming restlessness, +but he saw it would not do. So he took a cigar himself, sat down face +to face with Wüllersdorf, and tried to be calm. + +"It is for two reasons," he began, "that I have sent for you. Firstly, +to deliver a challenge, and, secondly, to be my second in the +encounter itself. The first is not agreeable and the second still +less. And now your answer?" + +"You know, Innstetten, I am at your disposal. But before I know about +the case, pardon me the naïve question, must it be? We are beyond the +age, you know--you to take a pistol in your hand, and I to have a +share in it. However, do not misunderstand me; this is not meant to be +a refusal. How could I refuse you anything? But tell me now what it +is." + +"It is a question of a gallant of my wife, who at the same time was my +friend, or almost a friend." + +Wüllersdorf looked at Innstetten. "Instetten, that is not possible." + +"It is more than possible, it is certain. Read." + +Wüllersdorf ran over the letters hastily. "These are addressed to your +wife?" + +"Yes. I found them today in her sewing table." + +"And who wrote them?" + +"Major von Crampas." + +"So, things that occurred when you were still in Kessin?" + +Innstetten nodded. + +"So, it was six years ago, or half a year longer?" + +"Yes." + +Wüllersdorf kept silent. After a while Innstetten said: "It almost +looks, Wüllersdorf, as though the six or seven years made an +impression on you. There is a theory of limitation, of course, but I +don't know whether we have here a case to which the theory can be +applied." + +"I don't know, either," said Wüllersdorf. "And I confess frankly, the +whole case seems to turn upon that question." + +Innstetten looked at him amazed. "You say that in all seriousness?" + +"In all seriousness. It is no time for trying one's skill at +pleasantry or dialectic hair-splitting." + +"I am curious to know what you mean. Tell me frankly what you think +about it." + +"Innstetten, your situation is awful and your happiness in life is +destroyed. But if you kill the lover your happiness in life is, so to +speak, doubly destroyed, and to your sorrow over a wrong suffered will +be added the sorrow over a wrong done. Everything hinges on the +question, do you feel absolutely compelled to do it? Do you feel so +injured, insulted, so indignant that one of you must go, either he or +you? Is that the way the matter stands?" + +"I don't know." + +"You must know." + +Innstetten sprang up, walked to the window, and tapped on the panes, +full of nervous excitement. Then he turned quickly, stepped toward +Wüllersdorf and said: "No, that is not the way the matter stands." + +"How does it stand then?" + +"It amounts to this--that I am unspeakably unhappy. I am mortified, +infamously deceived, and yet I have no feeling of hatred or even of +thirst for revenge. If I ask myself 'why not?' on the spur of the +moment, I am unable to assign any other reason than the intervening +years. People are always talking about inexpiable guilt. That is +undeniably wrong in the sight of God, but I say it is also in the +sight of man. I never should have believed that time, purely as time, +could so affect one. Then, in the second place, I love my wife, yes, +strange to say, I love her still, and dreadful as I consider all that +has happened, I am so completely under the spell of her loveliness, +the bright charm peculiarly her own, that in spite of myself I feel in +the innermost recesses of my heart inclined to forgive." + +Wüllersdorf nodded. "I fully understand your attitude, Innstetten, I +should probably feel the same way about it. But if that is your +feeling and you say to me: 'I love this woman so much that I can +forgive her everything,' and if we consider, further, that it all +happened so long, long ago that it seems like an event in some other +world, why, if that is the situation, Innstetten, I feel like asking, +wherefore all this fuss?" + +"Because it must be, nevertheless. I have thought it over from every +point of view. We are not merely individuals, we belong to a whole, +and have always to take the whole into consideration. We are +absolutely dependent. If it were possible to live in solitude I could +let it pass. I should then bear the burden heaped upon me, though real +happiness would be gone. But so many people are forced to live without +real happiness, and I should have to do it too, and I could. We don't +need to be happy, least of all have we any claim on happiness, and it +is not absolutely necessary to put out of existence the one who has +taken our happiness away. We can let him go, if we desire to live on +apart from the world. But in the social life of the world a certain +something has been worked out that is now in force, and in accordance +with the principles of which we have been accustomed to judge +everybody, ourselves as well as others. It would never do to run +counter to it. Society would despise us and in the end we should +despise ourselves and, not being able to bear the strain, we should +fire a bullet into our brains. Pardon me for delivering such a +discourse, which after all is only a repetition of what every man has +said to himself a hundred times. But who can say anything now? Once +more then, no hatred or anything of the kind, and I do not care to +have blood on my hands for the sake of the happiness taken away from +me. But that social something, let us say, which tyrannizes us, takes +no account of charm, or love, or limitation. I have no choice. I +must." + +"I don't know, Innstetten." + +Innstetten smiled. "You shall decide yourself, Wüllersdorf. It is now +ten o 'clock. Six hours ago, I will concede, I still had control of +the situation, I could do the one thing or the other, there was still +a way out. Not so now; now I am in a blind alley. You may say, I have +nobody to blame but myself; I ought to have guarded and controlled +myself better, ought to have hid it all in my own heart and fought it +out there. But it came upon me too suddenly, with too much force, and +so I can hardly reproach myself for not having held my nerves in check +more successfully. I went to your room and wrote you a note and +thereby lost the control of events. From that very moment the secret +of my unhappiness and, what is of greater moment, the smirch on my +honor was half revealed to another, and after the first words we +exchanged here it was wholly revealed. Now, inasmuch as there is +another who knows my secret, I can no longer turn back." + +"I don't know," repeated Wüllersdorf. "I don't like to resort to the +old worn-out phrase, but still I can do no better than to say: +Innstetten, it will all rest in my bosom as in a grave." + +"Yes, Wüllersdorf, that is what they all say. But there is no such +thing as secrecy. Even if you remain true to your word and are secrecy +personified toward others, still _you_ know it and I shall not be +saved from your judgment by the fact that you have just expressed to +me your approval and have even said you fully understood my attitude. +It is unalterably settled that from this moment on I should be an +object of your sympathy, which in itself is not very agreeable, and +every word you might hear me exchange with my wife would be subject to +your check, whether you would or no, and if my wife should speak of +fidelity or should pronounce judgment upon another woman, as women +have a way of doing, I should not know which way to look. Moreover, if +it came to pass that I counseled charitable consideration in some +wholly commonplace affair of honor, 'because of the apparent lack of +deception,' or something of the sort, a smile would pass over your +countenance, or at least a twitch would be noticeable, and in your +heart you would say: 'poor Innstetten, he has a real passion for +analyzing all insults chemically, in order to determine their +insulting contents, and he _never_ finds the proper quantity of the +suffocating element. He has never yet been suffocated by an affair.' +Am I right, Wüllersdorf, or not?" + +Wüllersdorf had risen to his feet. "I think it is awful that you +should be right, but you _are_ right. I shall no longer trouble you +with my 'must it be.' The world is simply as it is, and things do not +take the course _we_ desire, but the one _others_ desire. This talk +about the 'ordeal,' with which many pompous orators seek to assure us, +is sheer nonsense, there is nothing in it. On the contrary, our cult +of honor is idolatry, but we must submit to it so long as the idol is +honored." + +Innstetten nodded. + +They remained together a quarter of an hour longer and it was decided +that Wüllersdorf should set out that same evening. A night train left +at twelve. They parted with a brief "Till we meet again in Kessin." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +According to the agreement Innstetten set out the following evening. +He took the same train Wüllersdorf had taken the day before and +shortly after five o'clock in the morning was at the station, from +which the road branched off to the left for Kessin. The steamer +referred to several times before was scheduled to leave daily, during +the season, immediately after the arrival of this train, and +Innstetten heard its first signal for departure as he reached the +bottom step of the stairway leading down the embankment. The walk to +the landing took less than three minutes. After greeting the captain, +who was somewhat embarrassed and hence must have heard of the whole +affair the day before, he took a seat near the tiller. In a moment the +boat pulled away from the foot bridge; the weather was glorious, the +morning sun bright, and but few passengers on board. Innstetten +thought of the day when, returning here from his wedding tour, he had +driven along the shore of the Kessine with Effi in an open carriage. +That was a gray November day, but his heart was serene. Now it was the +reverse: all was serene without, and the November day was within. +Many, many a time had he come this way afterward, and the peace +hovering over the fields, the horses in harness pricking up their ears +as he drove by, the men at work, the fertility of the soil--all these +things had done his soul good, and now, in harsh contrast with that, +he was glad when clouds came up and began slightly to overcast the +laughing blue sky. They steamed down the river and soon after they had +passed the splendid sheet of water called the "Broad" the Kessin +church tower hove in sight and a moment later the quay and the long +row of houses with ships and boats in front of them. Soon they were at +the landing. Innstetten bade the captain goodbye and approached the +bridge that had been rolled out to facilitate the disembarkation. +Wüllersdorf was there. The two greeted each other, without speaking a +word at first, and then walked across the levee to the Hoppensack +Hotel, where they sat down under an awning. + +"I took a room here yesterday," said Wüllersdorf, who did not wish to +begin with the essentials. "When we consider what a miserable hole +Kessin is, it is astonishing to find such a good hotel here. I have no +doubt that my friend the head waiter speaks three languages. Judging +by the parting of his hair and his low-cut vest we can safely count on +four--Jean, please bring us some coffee and cognac." + +Innstetten understood perfectly why Wüllersdorf assumed this tone, and +approved of it, but he could not quite master his restlessness and +kept taking out his watch involuntarily. "We have time," said +Wüllersdorf. "An hour and a half yet, or almost. I ordered the +carriage at a quarter after eight; we have not more than ten minutes +to drive." + +"Where?" + +"Crampas first proposed a corner of the woods, just behind the +churchyard. Then he interrupted himself and said: 'No, not there.' +Then we agreed upon a place among the dunes, close by the beach. The +outer dune has a cut through it and one can look out upon the sea." + +Innstetten smiled. "Crampas seems to have selected a beautiful spot. +He always had a way of doing that. How did he behave?" + +"Marvelously." + +"Haughtily? frivolously?" + +"Neither the one nor the other. I confess frankly, Innstetten, it +staggered me. When I mentioned your name he turned as pale as death, +but tried hard to compose himself, and I saw a twitching about the +corners of his mouth. But it was only a moment till he had regained +his composure and after that he was all sorrowful resignation. I am +quite certain he feels that he will not come out of the affair alive, +and he doesn't care to. If I judge him correctly he is fond of living +and at the same time indifferent about it. He takes life as it comes +and knows that it amounts to but little." + +"Who is his second? Or let me say, rather, whom will he bring along?" + +"That was what worried him most after he had recovered himself. He +mentioned two or three noblemen of the vicinity, but dropped their +names, saying they were too old and too pious, and that he would +telegraph to Treptow for his friend Buddenbrook. Buddenbrook came and +is a capital man, at once resolute and childlike. He was unable to +calm himself, and paced back and forth in the greatest excitement. But +when I had told him all he said exactly as you and I: 'You are right, +it must be.'" + +The coffee came. They lighted their cigars and Wüllersdorf again +sought to turn the conversation to more indifferent things. "I am +surprised that nobody from Kessin has come to greet you. I know you +were very popular. What is the matter with your friend Gieshübler?" + +Innstetten smiled. "You don't know the people here on the coast. They +are half Philistines and half wiseacres, not much to my taste. But +they have one virtue, they are all very mannerly, and none more so +than my old Gieshübler. Everybody knows, of course, what it is about, +and for that very reason they take pains not to appear inquisitive." + +At this moment there came into view to the left a chaise-like carriage +with the top down, which, as it was ahead of time, drove up very +slowly. + +"Is that ours?" asked Innstetten. + +"Presumably." + +A moment later the carriage stopped in front of the hotel and +Innstetten and Wüllersdorf arose to their feet. Wüllersdorf stepped +over to the coachman and said: "To the mole." + +The mole lay in the wrong direction of the beach, to the right instead +of the left, and the false orders were given merely to avoid any +possible interference. Besides, whether they intended to keep to the +right or to the left after they were beyond the city limits, they had +to pass through the "Plantation" in either case, and so their course +led unavoidably past Innstetten's old residence. The house seemed more +quiet than formerly. If the rooms on the ground floor looked rather +neglected, what must have been the state upstairs! The uncanny feeling +that Innstetten had so often combatted in Effi, or had at least +laughed at, now came over him, and he was glad when they had driven +past. + +"That is where I used to live," he said to Wüllersdorf. + +"It looks strange, rather deserted and abandoned." + +"It may be. In the city it was called a haunted house and from the way +it stands there today I cannot blame people for thinking so." + +"What did they tell about it?" + +"Oh, stupid nonsense. An old ship's captain with a granddaughter or a +niece, who one fine day disappeared, and then a Chinaman, who was +probably her lover. In the hall a small shark and a crocodile, both +hung up by strings and always in motion, wonderful to relate, but now +is no time for that, when my head is full of all sorts of other +phantoms." + +"You forget that it may all turn out well yet." + +"It must not. A while ago, Wüllersdorf, when you were speaking about +Crampas, you yourself spoke differently." + +Soon thereafter they had passed through the "Plantation" and the +coachman was about to turn to the right toward the mole. "Drive to the +left, rather. The mole can wait." + +The coachman turned to the left into the broad driveway, which ran +behind the men's bathhouse toward the forest. When they were within +three hundred paces of the forest Wüllersdorf ordered the coachman to +stop. Then the two walked through grinding sand down a rather broad +driveway, which here cut at right angles through the three rows of +dunes. All along the sides of the road stood thick clumps of lyme +grass, and around them immortelles and a few blood-red pinks. +Innstetten stooped down and put one of the pinks in his buttonhole. +"The immortelles later." + +They walked on thus for five minutes. When they had come to the rather +deep depression which ran along between the two outer rows of dunes +they saw their opponents off to the left, Crampas and Buddenbrook, and +with them good Dr. Hannemann, who held his hat in his hand, so that +his white hair was waving in the wind. + +Innstetten and Wüllersdorf walked up the sand defile; Buddenbrook came +to meet them. They exchanged greetings and then the two seconds +stepped aside for a brief conference. They agreed that the opponents +should advance _a tempo_ and shoot when ten paces apart. Then +Buddenbrook returned to his place. Everything was attended to quickly, +and the shots were fired. Crampas fell. + +Innstetten stepped back a few paces and turned his face away from the +scene. Wüllersdorf walked over to Buddenbrook and the two awaited the +decision of the doctor, who shrugged his shoulders. At the same time +Crampas indicated by a motion of his hand that he wished to say +something. Wüllersdorf bowed down to him, nodded his assent to the few +words, which could scarcely be heard as they came from the lips of the +dying man, and then went toward Innstetten. + +"Crampas wishes to speak to you, Innstetten. You must comply with his +wish. He hasn't three minutes more to live." + +Innstetten walked over to Crampas. + +"Will you--" were the dying man's last words. Then a painful, yet +almost friendly expression in his eyes, and all was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + +In the evening of the same day Innstetten was back again in Berlin. He +had taken the carriage, which he had left by the crossroad behind the +dunes, directly for the railway station, without returning to Kessin, +and had left to the seconds the duty of reporting to the authorities. +On the train he had a compartment to himself, which enabled him to +commune with his own mind and live the event all over again. He had +the same thoughts as two days before, except that they ran in the +opposite direction, beginning with conviction as to his rights and his +duty and ending in doubt. "Guilt, if it is anything at all, is not +limited by time and place and cannot pass away in a night. Guilt +requires expiation; there is some sense in that. Limitation, on the +other hand, only half satisfies; it is weak, or at least it is +prosaic." He found comfort in this thought and said to himself over +and over that what had happened was inevitable. But the moment he +reached this conclusion he rejected it. "There must be a limitation; +limitation is the only sensible solution. Whether or not it is prosaic +is immaterial. What is sensible is usually prosaic. I am now +forty-five. If I had found the letters twenty-five years later I +should have been seventy. Then Wüllersdorf would have said: +'Innstetten, don't be a fool.' And if Wüllersdorf didn't say it, +Buddenbrook would, and if _he_ didn't, either, I myself should. That +is clear. When we carry a thing to extremes we carry it too far and +make ourselves ridiculous. No doubt about it. But where does it begin? +Where is the limit? Within ten years a duel is required and we call it +an affair of honor. After eleven years, or perhaps ten and a half, we +call it nonsense. The limit, the limit. Where is it? Was it reached? +Was it passed? When I recall his last look, resigned and yet smiling +in his misery, that look said: 'Innstetten, this is stickling for +principle. You might have spared me this, and yourself, too.' Perhaps +he was right. I hear some such voice in my soul. Now if I had been +full of deadly hatred, if a deep feeling of revenge had found a place +in my heart--Revenge is not a thing of beauty, but a human trait and +has naturally a human right to exist. But this affair was all for the +sake of an idea, a conception, was artificial, half comedy. And now I +must continue this comedy, must send Effi away and ruin her, and +myself, too--I ought to have burned the letters, and the world should +never have been permitted to hear about them. And then when she came, +free from suspicion, I ought to have said to her: 'Here is your +place,' and ought to have parted from her inwardly, not before the +eyes of the world. There are so many marriages that are not marriages. +Then happiness would have been gone, but I should not have had the +eye staring at me with its searching look and its mild, though mute, +accusation." + +Shortly before ten o'clock Innstetten alighted in front of his +residence. He climbed the stairs and rang the bell. Johanna came and +opened the door. + +"How is Annie?" + +"Very well, your Lordship. She is not yet asleep--If your Lordship--" + +"No, no, it would merely excite her. It would be better to wait till +morning to see her. Bring me a glass of tea, Johanna. Who has been +here?" + +"Nobody but the doctor." + +Innstetten was again alone. He walked to and fro as he loved to do. +"They know all about it. Roswitha is stupid, but Johanna is a clever +person. If they don't know accurate details, they have made up a story +to suit themselves and so they know anyhow. It is remarkable how many +things become indications and the basis for tales, as though the whole +world had been present." + +Johanna brought the tea, and Innstetten drank it. He was tired to +death from the overexertion and went to sleep. + +The next morning he was up in good season. He saw Annie, spoke a few +words with her, praised her for being a good patient, and then went to +the Ministry to make a report to his chief of all that had happened. +The minister was very gracious. "Yes, Innstetten, happy is the man who +comes out of all that life may bring to us whole. It has gone hard +with you." He approved all that had taken place and left the rest to +Innstetten. + +It was late in the afternoon when Innstetten returned home and found +there a few lines from Wüllersdorf. "Returned this morning. A world of +experiences--painful, touching--Gieshübler particularly. The most +amiable humpback I ever saw. About you he did not say so very much, +but the wife, the wife! He could not calm himself and finally the +little man broke out in tears. What strange things happen! It would be +better if we had more Gieshüblers. But there are more of the other +sort--Then the scene at the home of the major--dreadful. Excuse me +from speaking about it. I have learned once more to be on my guard. I +shall see you tomorrow. Yours, W." + +Innstetten was completely staggered when he read the note. He sat down +and wrote a few words in reply. When he had finished he rang the bell. +"Johanna, put these letters in the box." + +Johanna took the letters and was on the point of going. + +"And then, Johanna, one thing more. My wife is not coming back. You +will hear from others why. Annie must not know anything about it, at +least not now. The poor child. You must break the news to her +gradually that she has no mother any more. I can't do it. But be wise +about it, and don't let Roswitha spoil it all." + +Johanna stood there a moment quite stupefied, and then went up to +Innstetten and kissed his hand. + +By the time she had reached the kitchen her heart was overflowing with +pride and superiority, indeed almost with happiness. His Lordship had +not only told her everything, he had even added the final injunction, +"and don't let Roswitha spoil it all." That was the most important +point. And although she had a kindly feeling and even sympathy for her +mistress, nevertheless the thing that above all else occupied her was +the triumph of a certain intimate relation to her gracious master. + +Under ordinary conditions it would have been easy for her to display +and assert this triumph, but today it so happened that her rival, +without having been made a confidante, was nevertheless destined to +appear the better informed of the two. Just about at the same time as +the above conversation was taking place the porter had called +Roswitha into his little lodge downstairs and handed her as she +entered a newspaper to read. "There, Roswitha, is something that will +interest you. You can bring it back to me later. It is only the +_Foreigners' Gazette_, but Lena has already gone out to get the _Minor +Journal_. There will probably be more in it. They always know +everything. Say, Roswitha, who would have thought such a thing!" + +Roswitha, who was ordinarily none too curious, had, however, after +these words betaken herself as quickly as possible up the back stairs +and had just finished reading the account when Johanna came to her. + +Johanna laid the letters Innstetten had given her upon the table, +glanced over the addresses, or at least pretended to, for she knew +very well to whom they were directed, and said with feigned composure: +"One goes to Hohen-Cremmen." + +"I understand that," said Roswitha. + +Johanna was not a little astonished at this remark. "His Lordship does +not write to Hohen-Cremmen ordinarily." + +"Oh, ordinarily? But now--Just think, the porter gave me _this_ +downstairs only a moment ago." + +Johanna took the paper and read in an undertone a passage marked with +a heavy ink line: "As we learn from a well informed source, shortly +before going to press, there occurred yesterday morning in the +watering place Kessin, in Hither Pomerania, a duel between Department +Chief von Innstetten of Keith St. and Major von Crampas. Major von +Crampas fell. According to rumors, relations are said to have existed +between him and the Department Chief's wife, who is beautiful and +still very young." + +"What don't such papers write?" said Johanna, who was vexed at seeing +her news anticipated. "Yes," said Roswitha, "and now the people will +read this and say disgraceful things about my poor dear mistress. And +the poor major! Now he is dead!" + +"Why, Roswitha, what are you thinking of anyhow? Ought he _not_ to be +dead? Or ought our dear gracious master to be dead?" + +"No, Johanna, our gracious master, let him live, let everybody live. I +am not for shooting people and can't even bear the report of the +pistol. But take into consideration, Johanna, that was half an +eternity ago, and the letters, which struck me as so strange the +moment I saw them, because they had a red cord, not a ribbon, wrapped +around them three or four times and tied--why, they were beginning to +look quite yellow, it was so long ago. You see, we have been here now +for over six years, and how can a man, just because of such old +things--" + +"Ah, Roswitha, you speak according to your understanding. If we +examine the matter narrowly, you are to blame. It comes from the +letters. Why did you come with the chisel and break open the sewing +table, which is never permissible? One must never break open a lock in +which another has turned a key." + +"Why, Johanna, it is really too cruel of you to say such a thing to my +face, and you know that _you_ are to blame, and that you rushed half +crazy into the kitchen and told me the sewing table must be opened, +the bandage was in it, and then I came with the chisel, and now you +say I am to blame. No, I say--" + +"Well, I will take it back, Roswitha. But you must not come to me and +say: 'the poor major!' What do you mean by the 'poor major?' The poor +major was altogether good for nothing. A man who has such a red +moustache and twirls it all the time is never good for anything, he +does nothing but harm. When one has always been employed in +aristocratic homes--but you haven't been, Roswitha, that's where you +are lacking--one knows what is fitting and proper and what honor is, +and knows that when such a thing comes up there is no way to get +around it, and then comes what is called a challenge and one of the +men is shot." + +"Oh, I know that, too; I am not so stupid as you always try to make me +appear. But since it happened so long ago--" + +"Oh, Roswitha, that everlasting 'so long ago!' It shows plainly enough +that you don't know anything about it. You are always telling the same +old story about your father with the red-hot tongs and how he came at +you with them, and every time I put a red-hot heater in the iron I see +him about to kill you on account of the child that died so long ago. +Indeed, Roswitha, you talk about it all the time, and all there is +left for you to do now is to tell little Annie the story, and as soon +as little Annie has been confirmed she will be sure to hear it, +perhaps the same day. I am grieved that you should have had all that +experience, and yet your father was only a village blacksmith who shod +horses and put tires on wheels, and now you come forward and expect +our gracious master calmly to put up with all this, merely because it +happened so long ago. What do you mean by long ago? Six years is not +long ago. And our gracious mistress, who, by the way, is not coming +back--his Lordship just told me so--her Ladyship is not yet twenty-six +and her birthday is in August, and yet you come to me with the plea of +'long ago.' If she were thirty-six, for at thirty-six, I tell you, one +must be particularly cautious, and if his Lordship had done nothing, +then aristocratic people would have 'cut' him. But you are not +familiar with that word, Roswitha, you know nothing about it." + +"No, I know nothing about it and care less, but what I do know is that +you are in love with his Lordship." + +Johanna struck up a convulsive laugh. + +"Well, laugh. I have noticed it for a long time. I don't put it past +you, but fortunately his Lordship takes no note of it. The poor wife, +the poor wife!" + +Johanna was anxious to declare peace. "That will do now, Roswitha. You +are mad again, but, I know, all country girls get mad." + +"May be." + +"I am just going to post these letters now and see whether the porter +has got the other paper. I understood you to say, didn't I, that he +sent Lena to get one? There must be more in it; this is as good as +nothing at all." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + +[After Effi and Mrs. Zwicker had been in Ems for nearly three weeks +they took breakfast one morning in the open air. The postman was late +and Effi was impatient, as she had received no letter from Innstetten +for four days. The coming of a pretty waitress to clear away the +breakfast dishes started a conversation about pretty housemaids, and +Effi spoke enthusiastically of her Johanna's unusual abundance of +beautiful flaxen hair. This led to a discussion of painful +experiences, in the course of which Effi admitted that she knew what +sin meant, but she distinguished between an occasional sin and a +habitual sin. Mrs. Zwicker was indulging in a tirade against the +pleasure resorts and the ill-sounding names of places in the environs +of Berlin, when the postman came. There was nothing from Innstetten, +but a large registered letter from Hohen-Cremmen. Effi felt an +unaccountable hesitation to open it. Overcoming this she found in the +envelope a long letter from her mother and a package of banknotes, +upon which her father had written with a red pencil the sum they +represented. She leaned back in the rocking chair and began to read. +Before she had got very far, the letter fell out of her hands and all +the blood left her face. With an effort she picked up the letter and +started to go to her room, asking Mrs. Zwicker to send the maid. By +holding to the furniture as she dragged herself along she was able to +reach her bed, where she fell in a swoon.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + +Minutes passed. When Effi came to she got up and sat on a chair by the +window and gazed out into the quiet street. Oh, if there had only been +turmoil and strife outside! But there was only the sunshine on the +macadam road and the shadows of the lattice and the trees. The feeling +that she was alone in the world came over her with all its might. An +hour ago she was a happy woman, the favorite of all who knew her, and +now an outcast. She had read only the beginning of the letter, but +enough to have the situation clearly before her. Whither? She had no +answer to this question, and yet she was full of deep longing to +escape from her present environment, to get away from this Zwicker +woman, to whom the whole affair was merely "an interesting case," and +whose sympathy, if she had any such thing in her make-up, would +certainly not equal her curiosity. + +"Whither?" + +On the table before her lay the letter, but she lacked the courage to +read any more of it. Finally she said: "What have I further to fear? +What else can be said that I have not already said to myself? The man +who was the cause of it all is dead, a return to my home is out of the +question, in a few weeks the divorce will be decreed, and the child +will be left with the father. Of course. I am guilty, and a guilty +woman cannot bring up her child. Besides, wherewith? I presume I can +make my own way. I will see what mama writes about it, how she +pictures my life." + +With these words she took up the letter again to finish reading it. + +"--And now your future, my dear Effi. You will have to rely upon +yourself and, so far as outward means are concerned, may count upon +our support. You will do best to live in Berlin, for the best place to +live such things down is a large city. There you will be one of the +many who have robbed themselves of free air and bright sunshine. You +will lead a lonely life. If you refuse to, you will probably have to +step down out of your sphere. The world in which you have lived will +be closed to you. The saddest thing for us and for you--yes, for you, +as we know you--is that your parental home will also be closed to you. +We can offer you no quiet place in Hohen-Cremmen, no refuge in our +house, for it would mean the shutting off of our house from all the +world, and we are decidedly not inclined to do that. Not because we +are too much attached to the world or that it would seem to us +absolutely unbearable to bid farewell to what is called 'society.' No, +not for that reason, but simply because we stand by our colors and are +going to declare to the whole world our--I cannot spare you the +word--our condemnation of your actions, of the actions of our only and +so dearly beloved child--" + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann A.-G., Munich_ +FRAU VON SCHLEINITZ AT HOME Adolph von Menzel] + +Effi could read no further. Her eyes filled with tears and after +seeking in vain to fight them back she burst into convulsive sobs and +wept till her pain was alleviated. + +Half an hour later there was a knock at the door and when Effi called: +"Come in!" Mrs. Zwicker appeared. + +"May I come in?" + +"Certainly, my dear," said Effi, who now lay upon the sofa under a +light covering and with her hands folded. "I am exhausted and have +made myself as comfortable here as I could. Won't you please take a +seat?" + +Mrs. Zwicker sat down where the table with the bowl of flowers would +be between her and Effi. Effi showed no sign of embarrassment and made +no change in her position; she did not even unfold her hands. It +suddenly became immaterial to her what the woman thought. All she +wanted was to get away. + +"You have received sad news, dear, gracious Lady?" + +"Worse than sad," said Effi. "At any rate sad enough to bring our +association here quickly to an end. I must leave today." + +"I should not like to appear obtrusive, but has the news anything to +do with Annie?" + +"No, not with Annie. The news did not come from Berlin at all, it was +a letter from my mother. She is worried about me and I am anxious to +divert her, or, if I can't do that, at least to be near at hand." + +"I appreciate that only too well, much as I lament the necessity of +spending these last days in Ems without you. May I offer you my +services?" + +Before Effi had time to answer, the pretty waitress entered and +announced that the guests were just gathering for lunch, and everybody +was greatly excited, for the Emperor was probably coming for three +weeks and at the end of his stay there would be grand manoeuvres and +the hussars from her home town would be there, too. + +Mrs. Zwicker discussed immediately the question, whether it would be +worth while to stay till then, arrived at a decided answer in the +affirmative, and then went to excuse Effi's absence from lunch. + +A moment later, as the waitress was about to leave, Effi said: "And +then, Afra, when you are free, I hope you can come back to me for a +quarter of an hour to help me pack. I am leaving by the seven o'clock +train." + +"Today? Oh, your Ladyship, what a pity! Why, the beautiful days are +just going to begin." + +Effi smiled. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + +Three years had passed and for almost that length of time Effi had +been living in a small apartment on Königgrätz Street--a front room +and back room, behind which was the kitchen with a servant's bedroom, +everything as ordinary and commonplace as possible. And yet it was an +unusually pretty apartment, that made an agreeable impression on +everybody who saw it, the most agreeable perhaps on old Dr. +Rummschüttel, who called now and then and had long ago forgiven the +poor young wife, not only for the rheumatism and neuralgia farce of +bygone years, but also for everything else that had happened in the +meantime--if there was any need of forgiveness on his part, +considering the very different cases he knew about. He was now far +along in the seventies, but whenever Effi, who had been ailing +considerably for some time, wrote a letter asking him to call, he came +the following forenoon and would not listen to any excuses for the +number of steps he had to climb. "No excuse, please, dear, most +gracious Lady; for in the first place it is my calling, and in the +second I am happy and almost proud that I am still able to climb the +three flights so well. If I were not afraid of inconveniencing +you,--since, after all, I come as a physician and not as a friend of +nature or a landscape enthusiast,--I should probably come oftener, +merely to see you and sit down for a few minutes at your back window. +I don't believe you fully appreciate the view." + +"Oh, yes I do," said Effi; but Rummschüttel, not allowing himself to +be interrupted, continued: "Please, most gracious Lady, step here just +for a moment, or allow me to escort you to the window. Simply +magnificent again today! Just see the various railroad embankments, +three, no, four, and how the trains glide back and forth continually, +and now that train yonder disappears again behind a group of trees. +Really magnificent! And how the sun shines through the white smoke! If +St. Matthew's Churchyard were not immediately behind it it would be +ideal." + +"I like to look at churchyards." + +"Yes, you dare say that. But how about us? We physicians are +unavoidably confronted with the question, might there, perhaps, not +have been some fewer graves here? However, most gracious Lady, I am +satisfied with you and my only complaint is that you will not listen +to anything about Ems. For your catarrhal affections--" + +Effi remained silent. + +"Ems would work miracles. But as you don't care to go there--and I +understand your reasons--drink the water here. In three minutes you +can be in the Prince Albrecht Garden, and even if the music and the +costumes and all the diversions of a regular watering-place promenade +are lacking, the water itself, you know, is the important thing." + +Effi was agreed, and Rummschüttel took his hat and cane, but stepped +once more to the window. "I hear people talking about a plan to +terrace the Hill of the Holy Cross. God bless the city government! +Once that bare spot yonder is greener--A charming apartment! I could +almost envy you--By the way, gracious Lady, I have been wanting for a +long time to say to you, you always write me such a lovely letter. +Well, who wouldn't enjoy that? But it requires an effort each time. +Just send Roswitha for me." + +"Just send Roswitha for me," Rummschüttel had said. Why, was Roswitha +at Effi's? Instead of being on Keith Street was she on Königgrätz +Street? Certainly she was, and had been for a long time, just as long +as Effi herself had been living on Königgrätz Street. Three days +before they moved Roswitha had gone to see her dear mistress and that +was a great day for both of them, so great that we must go back and +tell about it. + +The day that the letter of renunciation came from Hohen-Cremmen and +Effi returned from Ems to Berlin she did not take a separate apartment +at once, but tried living in a boarding house, which suited her +tolerably well. The two women who kept the boarding house were +educated and considerate and had long ago ceased to be inquisitive. +Such a variety of people met there that it would have been too much of +an undertaking to pry into the secrets of each individual. Such things +only interfered with business. Effi, who still remembered the +cross-questionings to which the eyes of Mrs. Zwicker had subjected +her, was very agreeably impressed with the reserve of the boarding +house keepers. But after two weeks had passed she felt plainly that +she could not well endure the prevailing atmosphere of the place, +either the physical or the moral. There were usually seven persons at +the table. Beside Effi and one of the landladies--the other looked +after the kitchen--there were two Englishwomen, who were attending the +university, a noblewoman from Saxony, a very pretty Galician Jewess, +whose real occupation nobody knew, and a precentor's daughter from +Polzin in Pomerania, who wished to become a painter. That was a bad +combination, and the attempts of each to show her superiority to the +others were unrefreshing. Remarkable to relate, the Englishwomen were +not absolutely the worst offenders, but competed for the palm with the +girl from Polzin, who was filled with the highest regard for her +mission as a painter. Nevertheless Effi, who assumed a passive +attitude, could have withstood the pressure of this intellectual +atmosphere if it had not been combined with the air of the boarding +house, speaking from a purely physical and objective point of view. +What this air was actually composed of was perhaps beyond the +possibility of determination, but that it took away sensitive Effi's +breath was only too certain, and she saw herself compelled for this +external reason to go out in search of other rooms, which she found +comparatively near by, in the above-described apartment on Königgrätz +St. She was to move in at the beginning of the autumn quarter, had +made the necessary purchases, and during the last days of September +counted the hours till her liberation from the boarding house. On one +of these last days, a quarter of an hour after she had retired from +the dining room, planning to enjoy a rest on a sea grass sofa covered +with some large-figured woolen material, there was a gentle rap at her +door. + +"Come in!" + +One of the housemaids, a sickly looking person in the middle thirties, +who by virtue of always being in the hall of the boarding house +carried the atmosphere stored there with her everywhere, in her +wrinkles, entered the room and said: "I beg your pardon, gracious +Lady, but somebody wishes to speak to you." + +"Who?" + +"A woman." + +"Did she tell you her name?" + +"Yes. Roswitha." + +Before Effi had hardly heard this name she shook off her drowsiness, +sprang up, ran out into the corridor, grasped Roswitha by both hands +and drew her into her room. + +"Roswitha! You! Oh, what joy! What do you bring? Something good, of +course. Such a good old face can bring only good things. Oh, how happy +I am! I could give a kiss. I should not have thought such joy could +ever come to me again. You good old soul, how are you anyhow? Do you +still remember how the ghost of the Chinaman used to stalk about? +Those were happy times. I thought then they were unhappy, because I +did not yet know the hardness of life. Since then I have come to know +it. Oh, there are far worse things than ghosts. Come, my good +Roswitha, come, sit down by me and tell me--Oh, I have such a longing. +How is Annie?" + +Roswitha was unable to speak, and so she let her eyes wander around +the strange room, whose gray and dusty-looking walls were bordered +with narrow gilt molding. Finally she found herself and said that his +Lordship was back from Glatz. That the old Emperor had said, "six +weeks were quite sufficient (imprisonment) in such a case," and she +had only waited for his Lordship's return, on Annie's account, who had +to have some supervision. Johanna was no doubt a proper person, but +she was still too pretty and too much occupied with herself, and God +only knows what all she was thinking about. But now that his Lordship +could again keep an eye on Annie and see that everything was right, +she herself wanted to try to find out how her Ladyship was getting on. + +"That is right, Roswitha." + +"And I wanted to see whether your Ladyship lacked anything, and +whether you might need me. If so I would stay right here and pitch in +and do everything and see to it that your Ladyship was getting on well +again." + +Effi had been leaning back in the corner of the sofa with her eyes +closed, but suddenly she sat up and said: "Yes, Roswitha, what you +were saying there is an idea, there is something in it. For I must +tell you that I am not going to stay in this boarding house. I have +rented an apartment farther down the street and have bought furniture, +and in three more days I shall move in. And if, when I arrive there, I +could say to you: 'No, Roswitha, not there, the wardrobe must stand +here and the mirror there,' why, that would be worth while, and I +should like it. Then when we got tired of all the drudgery I should +say: 'Now, Roswitha, go over there and get us a decanter of Munich +beer, for when one has been working one is thirsty for a drink, and, +if you can, bring us also something good from the Habsburg Restaurant. +You can return the dishes later.' Yes, Roswitha, when I think of that +it makes my heart feel a great deal lighter. But I must ask you +whether you have thought it all over? I will not speak of Annie, to +whom you are so attached, for she is almost your own child; +nevertheless Annie will be provided for, and Johanna is also attached +to her, you know. So leave her out of the consideration. But if you +want to come to me remember how everything has changed. I am no longer +as I used to be. I have now taken a very small apartment, and the +porter will doubtless pay but little attention to you and me. We shall +have to be very economical, always have what we used to call our +Thursday meal, because that was cleaning day. Do you remember? And do +you remember how good Mr. Gieshübler once came in and was urged to sit +down with us, and how he said he had never eaten such a delicate dish? +You probably remember he was always so frightfully polite, but really +he was the only human being in the city who was a connoisseur in +matters of eating. The others called everything fine." + +Roswitha was enjoying every word and could already see everything +running smoothly, when Effi again said: "Have you considered all this? +For, while it is my own household, I must not overlook the fact that +you have been spoiled these many years, and formerly no questions were +ever asked, for we did not need to be saving; but now I must be +saving, for I am poor and have only what is given me, you know, +remittances from Hohen-Cremmen. My parents are very good to me, so far +as they are able, but they are not rich. And now tell me what you +think." + +"That I shall come marching along with my trunk next Saturday, not in +the evening, but early in the morning, and that I shall be there when +the settling process begins. For I can take hold quite differently +from your Ladyship." + +"Don't say that, Roswitha. I can work too. One can do anything when +obliged to." + +"And then your Ladyship doesn't need to worry about me, as though I +might think: 'that is not good enough for Roswitha.' For Roswitha +anything is good that she has to share with your Ladyship, and most to +her liking would be something sad. Yes, I look forward to that with +real pleasure. Your Ladyship shall see I know what sadness is. Even if +I didn't know, I should soon find out. I have not forgotten how I was +sitting there in the churchyard, all alone in the world, thinking to +myself it would probably be better if I were lying there in a row with +the others. Who came along? Who saved my life? Oh, I have had so much +to endure. That day when my father came at me with the red-hot +tongs--" + +"I remember, Roswitha." + +"Well, that was bad enough. But when I sat there in the churchyard, so +completely poverty stricken and forsaken, that was worse still. Then +your Ladyship came. I hope I shall never go to heaven if I forget +that." + +As she said this she arose and went toward the window. "Oh, your +Ladyship must see _him_ too." + +Effi stepped to the window. Over on the other side of the street sat +Rollo, looking up at the windows of the boarding house. + +A few days later Effi, with the aid of Roswitha, moved into the +apartment on Königgrätz St., and liked it there from the beginning. +To be sure, there was no society, but during her boarding house days +she had derived so little pleasure from intercourse with people that +it was not hard for her to be alone, at least not in the beginning. +With Roswitha it was impossible, of course, to carry on an esthetic +conversation, or even to discuss what was in the paper, but when it +was simply a question of things human and Effi began her sentence +with, "Oh, Roswitha, I am again afraid," then the faithful soul always +had a good answer ready, always comfort and usually advice. + +Until Christmas they got on excellently, but Christmas eve was rather +sad and when New Year's Day came Effi began to grow quite melancholy. +It was not cold, only grizzly and rainy, and if the days were short, +the evenings were so much the longer. What was she to do! She read, +she embroidered, she played solitaire, she played Chopin, but +nocturnes were not calculated to bring much light into her life, and +when Roswitha came with the tea tray and placed on the table, beside +the tea service, two small plates with an egg and a Vienna cutlet +carved in small slices, Effi said, as she closed the piano: "Move up, +Roswitha. Keep me company." + +Roswitha joined her. "I know, your Ladyship has been playing too much +again. Your Ladyship always looks like that and has red spots. The +doctor forbade it, didn't he?" + +"Ah, Roswitha, it is easy for the doctor to forbid, and also easy for +you to repeat everything he says. But what shall I do? I can't sit all +day long at the window and look over toward Christ's Church. Sundays, +during the evening service, when the windows are lighted up, I always +look over that way; but it does me no good, it always makes my heart +feel heavier." + +"Well, then, your Ladyship ought to go to church. Your Ladyship has +been there once." + +"Oh, many a time. But I have derived little benefit from it. He +preaches quite well and is a very wise man, and I should be happy if I +knew the hundredth part of it all. But it seems as though I were +merely reading a book. Then when he speaks so loud and saws the air +and shakes his long black locks I am drawn, entirely out of my +attitude of worship." + +"Out of?" + +Effi laughed. "You think I hadn't yet got into such an attitude. That +is probably true. But whose fault is it? Certainly not mine. He always +talks so much about the Old Testament. Even if that is very good it +doesn't edify me. Anyhow, this everlasting listening is not the right +thing. You see, I ought to have so much to do that I should not know +whither to turn. That would suit me. Now there are societies where +young girls learn housekeeping, or sewing, or to be kindergarten +teachers. Have you ever heard of these?" + +"Yes, I once heard of them. Once upon a time little Annie was to go to +a kindergarten." + +"Now you see, you know better than I do. I should like to join some +such society where I can make myself useful. But it is not to be +thought of. The women in charge wouldn't take me, they couldn't. That +is the most terrible thing of all, that the world is so closed to one, +that it even forbids one to take a part in charitable work. I can't +even give poor children a lesson after hours to help them catch up." + +"That would not do for your Ladyship. The children always have such +greasy shoes on, and in wet weather there is so much steam and smoke, +your Ladyship could never stand it." + +Effi smiled. "You are probably right, Roswitha, but it is a bad sign +that you should be right, and it shows me that I still have too much +of the old Effi in me and that I am still too well off." + +Roswitha would not agree to that. "Anybody as good as your Ladyship +can't be too well off. Now you must not always play such sad music. +Sometimes I think all will be well yet, something will surely turn +up." + +And something did turn up. Effi desired to become a painter, in spite +of the precentor's daughter from Polzin, whose conceit as an artist +she still remembered as exceedingly disagreeable. Although she laughed +about the plan herself, because she was conscious she could never +rise above the lowest grade of dilettantism, nevertheless she went at +her work with zest, because she at last had an occupation and that, +too, one after her own heart, because it was quiet and peaceful. She +applied for instruction to a very old professor of painting, who was +well-informed concerning the Brandenburgian aristocracy, and was, at +the same time, very pious, so that Effi seemed to be his heart's +delight from the outset. He probably thought, here was a soul to be +saved, and so he received her with extraordinary friendliness, as +though she had been his daughter. This made Effi very happy, and the +day of her first painting lesson marked for her a turning point toward +the good. Her poor life was now no longer so poor, and Roswitha was +triumphant when she saw that she had been right and something had +turned up after all. + +Thus things went on for considerably over a year. Coming again in +contact with people made Effi happy, but it also created within her +the desire to renew and extend associations. Longing for Hohen-Cremmen +came over her at times with the force of a true passion, and she +longed still more passionately to see Annie. After all she was her +child, and when she began to turn this thought over in her mind and, +at the same time, recalled what Miss Trippelli had once said, to wit: +"The world is so small that one could be certain of coming suddenly +upon some old acquaintance in Central Africa," she had a reason for +being surprised that she had never met Annie. But the time finally +arrived when a change was to occur. She was coming from her painting +lesson, close by the Zoological Garden, and near the station stepped +into a horse car. It was very hot and it did her good to see the +lowered curtains blown out and back by the strong current of air +passing through the car. She leaned back in the corner toward the +front platform and was studying several pictures of blue tufted and +tasseled sofas on a stained window pane, when the car began to move +more slowly and she saw three school children spring up with school +bags on their backs and little pointed hats on their heads. Two of +them were blonde and merry, the third brunette and serious. This one +was Annie. Effi was badly startled, and the thought of a meeting with +the child, for which she had so often longed, filled her now with +deadly fright. What was to be done? With quick determination she +opened the door to the front platform, on which nobody was standing +but the driver, whom she asked to let her get off in front at the next +station. "It is forbidden, young lady," said the driver. But she gave +him a coin and looked at him so appealingly that the good-natured man +changed his mind and mumbled to himself: "I really am not supposed to, +but perhaps once will not matter." When the car stopped he took out +the lattice and Effi sprang off. + +She was still greatly excited when she reached the house. + +"Just think, Roswitha, I have seen Annie." Then she told of the +meeting in the tram car. Roswitha was displeased that the mother and +daughter had not been rejoiced to see each other again, and was very +hard to convince that it would not have looked well in the presence of +so many people. Then Effi had to tell how Annie looked and when she +had done so with motherly pride Roswitha said: "Yes, she is what one +might call half and half. Her pretty features and, if I may be +permitted to say it, her strange look she gets from her mother, but +her seriousness is exactly her father. When I come to think about it, +she is more like his Lordship." + +"Thank God!" said Effi. + +"Now, your Ladyship, there is some question about that. No doubt there +is many a person who would take the side of the mother." + +"Do you think so, Roswitha? I don't." + +"Oh, oh, I am not so easily fooled, and I think your Ladyship knows +very well, too, how matters really stand and what the men like best." + +"Oh, don't speak of that, Roswitha." + +The conversation ended here and was never afterward resumed. But even +though Effi avoided speaking to Roswitha about Annie, down deep in her +heart she was unable to get over that meeting and suffered from the +thought of having fled from her own child. It troubled her till she +was ashamed, and her desire to meet Annie grew till it became +pathological. It was not possible to write to Innstetten and ask his +permission. She was fully conscious of her guilt, indeed she nurtured +the sense of it with almost zealous care; but, on the other hand, at +the same time that she was conscious of guilt, she was also filled +with a certain spirit of rebellion against Innstetten. She said to +herself, he was right, again and again, and yet in the end he was +wrong. All had happened so long before, a new life had begun--he might +have let it die; instead poor Crampas died. + +No, it would not do to write to Innstetten; but she wanted to see +Annie and speak to her and press her to her heart, and after she had +thought it over for days she was firmly convinced as to the best way +to go about it. + +The very next morning she carefully put on a decent black dress and +set out for Unter den Linden to call on the minister's wife. She sent +in her card with nothing on it but "Effi von Innstetten, _née_ von +Briest." Everything else was left off, even "Baroness." When the man +servant returned and said, "Her Excellency begs you to enter," Effi +followed him into an anteroom, where she sat down and, in spite of her +excitement, looked at the pictures on the walls. First of all there +was Guido Reni's _Aurora_, while opposite it hung English etchings of +pictures by Benjamin West, made by the well known aquatint process. +One of the pictures was King Lear in the storm on the heath. + +Effi had hardly finished looking at the pictures when the door of the +adjoining room opened and a tall slender woman of unmistakably +prepossessing appearance stepped toward the one who had come to +request a favor of her and held out her hand. "My dear most gracious +Lady," she said, "what a pleasure it is for me to see you again." As +she said this she walked toward the sofa and sat down, drawing Effi to +a seat beside her. + +Effi was touched by the goodness of heart revealed in every word and +movement. Not a trace of haughtiness or reproach, only beautiful human +sympathy. "In what way can I be of service to you?" asked the +minister's wife. + +Effi's lips quivered. Finally she said: "The thing that brings me here +is a request, the fulfillment of which your Excellency may perhaps +make possible. I have a ten-year-old daughter whom I have not seen for +three years and should like to see again." + +The minister's wife took Effi's hand and looked at her in a friendly +way. + +"When I say, 'not seen for three years,' that is not quite right. +Three days ago I saw her again." Then Effi described with great +vividness how she had met Annie. "Fleeing from my own child. I know +very well that as we sow we shall reap and I do not wish to change +anything in my life. It is all right as it is, and I have not wished +to have it otherwise. But this separation from my child is really too +hard and I have a desire to be permitted to see her now and then, not +secretly and clandestinely, but with the knowledge and consent of all +concerned." + +"With the knowledge and consent of all concerned," repeated the +minister's wife. "So that means with the consent of your husband. I +see that his bringing up of the child is calculated to estrange her +from her mother, a method which I do not feel at liberty to judge. +Perhaps he is right. Pardon me for this remark, gracious Lady." + +Effi nodded. + +"You yourself appreciate the attitude of your husband, and your only +desire is that proper respect be shown to a natural impulse, indeed, I +may say, the most beautiful of our impulses, at least we women all +think so. Am I right?" + +"In every particular." + +"So you want me to secure permission for occasional meetings, in your +home, where you can attempt to win back the heart of your child." + +Effi expressed again her acquiescence, and the minister's wife +continued: "Then, most gracious Lady, I shall do what I can. But we +shall not have an easy task. Your husband--pardon me for calling him +by that name now as before--is a man who is not governed by moods and +fancies, but by principles, and it will be hard for him to discard +them or even give them up temporarily. Otherwise he would have begun +long ago to pursue a different method of action and education. What to +your heart seems hard he considers right." + +"Then your Excellency thinks, perhaps, it would be better to take back +my request!" + +"Oh, no. I wished only to explain the actions of your husband, not to +say justify them, and wished at the same time to indicate the +difficulties we shall in all probability encounter. But I think we +shall overcome them nevertheless. We women are able to accomplish a +great many things if we go about them wisely and do not make too great +pretensions. Besides, your husband is one of my special admirers and +he cannot well refuse to grant what I request of him. Tomorrow we have +a little circle meeting at which I shall see him and the day after +tomorrow morning you will receive a few lines from me telling you +whether or not I have approached him wisely, that is to say, +successfully. I think we shall come off victorious, and you will see +your child again and enjoy her. She is said to be a very pretty girl. +No wonder." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + +Two days later the promised lines arrived and Effi read: "I am glad, +dear gracious Lady, to be able to give you good news. Everything +turned out as desired. Your husband is too much a man of the world to +refuse a Lady a request that she makes of him. But I must not keep +from you the fact that I saw plainly his consent was not in accord +with what he considers wise and right. But let us not pick faults +where we ought to be glad. We have arranged that Annie is to come some +time on Monday and may good fortune attend your meeting." + +It was on the postman's second round that Effi received these lines +and it would presumably be less than two hours till Annie appeared. +That was a short time and yet too long. Effi walked restlessly about +the two rooms and then back to the kitchen, where she talked with +Roswitha about everything imaginable: about the ivy over on Christ's +Church and the probability that next year the windows would be +entirely overgrown; about the porter, who had again turned off the gas +so poorly that they were likely to be blown up; and about buying their +lamp oil again at the large lamp store on Unter den Linden instead of +on Anhalt St. She talked about everything imaginable, except Annie, +because she wished to keep down the fear lurking in her soul, in spite +of the letter from the minister's wife, or perhaps because of it. + +Finally, at noon, the bell was rung timidly and Roswitha went to look +through the peephole. Surely enough, it was Annie. Roswitha gave the +child a kiss, but said nothing, and then led her very quietly, as +though some one were ill in the house, from the corridor into the back +room and then to the door opening into the front room. + +"Go in there, Annie." With these words she left the child and returned +to the kitchen, for she did not wish to be in the way. + +Effi was standing at the other end of the room with her back against +the post of the mirror when the child entered. "Annie!" But Annie +stood still by the half opened door, partly out of embarrassment, but +partly on purpose. Effi rushed to her, lifted her up, and kissed her. + +"Annie, my sweet child, how glad I am! Come, tell me." She took Annie +by the hand and went toward the sofa to sit down. Annie stood and +looked shyly at her mother, at the same time reaching her left hand +toward the corner of the table cloth, hanging down near her. "Did you +know, Annie, that I saw you one day?" + +"Yes, I thought you did." + +"Now tell me a great deal. How tall you have grown! And that is the +scar there. Roswitha told me about it. You were always so wild and +hoidenish in your playing. You get that from your mother. She was the +same way. And at school? I fancy you are always at the head, you look +to me as though you ought to be a model pupil and always bring home +the best marks. I have heard also that Miss von Wedelstädt praises +you. That is right. I was likewise ambitious, but I had no such good +school. Mythology was always my best study. In what are you best?" + +"I don't know." + +"Oh, you know well enough. Pupils always know that. In what do you +have the best marks?" + +"In religion." + +"Now, you see, you do know after all. Well, that is very fine. I was +not so good in it, but it was probably due to the instruction. We had +only a young man licensed to preach." + +"We had, too." + +"Has he gone away?" + +Annie nodded. + +"Why did he leave?" + +"I don't know. Now we have the preacher again." + +"And you all love him dearly?" + +"Yes, and two of the girls in the highest class are going to change +their religion." + +"Oh, I understand; that is fine. And how is Johanna?" + +"Johanna brought me to the door of the house." + +"Why didn't you bring her up with you?" + +"She said she would rather stay downstairs and wait over at the +church." + +"And you are to meet her there?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, I hope she will not get impatient. There is a little front yard +over there and the windows are half overgrown with ivy, as though it +were an old church." + +"But I should not like to keep her waiting." + +"Oh, I see, you are very considerate, and I presume I ought to be glad +of it. We need only to make the proper division of the time--Tell me +now how Rollo is." + +"Rollo is very well, but papa says he is getting so lazy. He lies in +the sun all the time." + +"That I can readily believe. He was that way when you were quite +small. And now, Annie, today we have just seen each other, you know; +will you visit me often?" + +"Oh, certainly, if I am allowed to." + +"We can take a walk in the Prince Albrecht Garden." + +"Oh, certainly, if I am allowed to." + +"Or we may go to Schilling's and eat ice cream, pineapple or vanilla +ice cream. I always liked vanilla best." + +"Oh, certainly, if I am allowed to." + +At this third "if I am allowed to" the measure was full. Effi sprang +up and flashed the child a look of indignation. + +"I believe it is high time you were going, Annie. Otherwise Johanna +will get impatient." She rang the bell and Roswitha, who was in the +next room, entered immediately. "Roswitha, take Annie over to the +church. Johanna is waiting there. I hope she has not taken cold. I +should be sorry. Remember me to Johanna." + +The two went out. + +Hardly had Roswitha closed the door behind her when Effi tore open her +dress, because she was threatened with suffocation, and fell to +laughing convulsively. "So that is the way it goes to meet after a +long separation." She rushed forward, opened the window and looked for +something to support her. In the distress of her heart she found it. +There beside the window was a bookshelf with a few volumes of Schiller +and Körner on it, and on top of the volumes of poems, which were of +equal height, lay a Bible and a songbook. She reached for them, +because she had to have something before which she could kneel down +and pray. She laid both Bible and songbook on the edge of the table +where Annie had been standing, and threw herself violently down before +them and spoke in a half audible tone: "O God in Heaven, forgive me +what I have done. I was a child--No, no, I was not a child, I was old +enough to know what I was doing. I _did_ know, too, and I will not +minimize my guilt. But this is too much. This action of the child is +not the work of my God who would punish me, it is the work of _him_, +and _him_ alone. I thought he had a noble heart and have always felt +small beside him, but now I know that it is he who is small. And +because he is small he is cruel. Everything that is small is cruel. +_He_ taught the child to say that. He always was a school-master, +Crampas called him one, scoffingly at the time, but he was right. 'Oh, +certainly if I am allowed to!' You don't _have_ to be allowed to. I +don't want you any more, I hate you both, even my own child. Too much +is too much. He was ambitious, but nothing more. Honor, honor, honor. +And then he shot the poor fellow whom I never even loved and whom I +had forgotten, because I didn't love him. It was all stupidity in the +first place, but then came blood and murder, with me to blame. And now +he sends me the child, because he cannot refuse a minister's wife +anything, and before he sends the child he trains it like a parrot and +teaches it the phrase, 'if I am allowed to.' I am disgusted at what I +did; but the thing that disgusts me most is your virtue. Away with +you! I must live, but I doubt if it will be long." + +When Roswitha came back Effi lay on the floor seemingly lifeless, with +her face turned away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + + +Rummschüttel was called and pronounced Effi's condition serious. He +saw that the hectic flush he had noticed for over a year was more +pronounced than ever, and, what was worse, she showed the first +symptoms of nervous fever. But his quiet, friendly manner, to which he +added a dash of humor, did Effi good, and she was calm so long as +Rummschüttel was with her. When he left, Roswitha accompanied him as +far as the outer hall and said: "My, how I am scared, Sir Councillor; +if it ever comes back, and it may--oh, I shall never have another +quiet hour. But it was too, too much, the way the child acted. Her +poor Ladyship! And still so young; at her age many are only beginning +life." + +"Don't worry, Roswitha. It may all come right again. But she must get +away. We will see to that. Different air, different people." + +Two days later there arrived in Hohen-Cremmen a letter which ran: +"Most gracious Lady: My long-standing friendly relations to the houses +of Briest and Belling, and above all the hearty love I cherish for +your daughter, will justify these lines. Things cannot go on any +longer as they are. Unless something is done to rescue your daughter +from the loneliness and sorrow of the life she has been leading for +years she will soon pine away. She always had a tendency to +consumption, for which reason I sent her to Ems years ago. This old +trouble is now aggravated by a new one; her nerves are giving out. +Nothing but a change of air can check this. But whither shall I send +her? It would not be hard to make a proper choice among the watering +places of Silesia. Salzbrunn is good, and Reinerz still better, on +account of the nervous complication. But no place except Hohen-Cremmen +will do. For, most gracious Lady, air alone cannot restore your +daughter's health. She is pining away because she has nobody but +Roswitha. The fidelity of a servant is beautiful, but parental love is +better. Pardon an old man for meddling in affairs that lie outside of +his calling as a physician. No, not outside, either, for after all it +is the physician who is here speaking and making demands--pardon the +word--in accordance with his duty. I have seen so much of life--But +enough on this topic. With kindest regards to your husband, your +humble servant, Dr. Rummschüttel." + +Mrs. von Briest had read the letter to her husband. They were sitting +on the shady tile walk, with their backs to the drawing room and +facing the circular bed and the sundial. The wild grapevine twining +around the windows was rustling gently in the breeze and over the +water a few dragon-flies were hovering in the bright sunshine. + +Briest sat speechless, drumming on the tea-tray. + +"Please don't drum, I had rather you would talk." + +"Ah, Luise, what shall I say? My drumming says quite enough. You have +known for over a year what I think about it. At the time when +Innstetten's letter came, a flash from a clear sky, I was of your +opinion. But that was half an eternity ago. Am I to play the grand +inquisitor till the end of my days? I tell you, I have had my fill of +it for a long time." + +"Don't reproach me, Briest. I love her as much as you, perhaps more; +each in his own way. But it is not our only purpose in life to be weak +and affectionate and to tolerate things that are contrary to the law +and the commandments, things that men condemn, and in the present +instance rightly." + +"Hold on! One thing comes first." + +"Of course, one thing comes first; but what is the one thing?" + +"The love of parents for their children, especially when they have +only one child." + +"Then good-by catechism, morality, and the claims of 'society.'" + +"Ah, Luise, talk to me about the catechism as much as you like, but +don't speak to me about 'society.'" + +"It is very hard to get along without 'society."' + +"Also without a child. Believe me, Luise,'society' can shut one eye +when it sees fit. Here is where I stand in the matter: If the people +of Rathenow come, all right, if they don't come, all right too. I am +simply going to telegraph: 'Effi, come.' Are you agreed?" + +She got up and kissed him on the forehead. "Of course I am. Only you +must not find fault with me. An easy step it is not, and from now on +our life will be different." + +"I can stand it. There is a good rape crop and in the autumn I can +hunt an occasional hare. I still have a taste for red wine, and it +will taste even better when we have the child back in the house. Now I +am going to send the telegram." + + * * * * * + +Effi had been in Hohen-Cremmen for over six months. She occupied the +two rooms on the second floor which she had formerly had when there +for a visit. The larger one was furnished for her personally, and +Roswitha slept in the other. What Rummschüttel had expected from this +sojourn and the good that went with it, was realized, so far as it +could be realized. The coughing diminished, the bitter expression that +had robbed Effi's unusually kind face of a good part of its charm +disappeared, and there came days when she could laugh again. About +Kessin and everything back there little was said, with the single +exception of Mrs. von Padden--and Gieshübler, of course, for whom old +Mr. von Briest had a very tender spot in his heart. "This Alonzo, this +fastidious Spaniard, who harbors a Mirambo and brings up a +Trippelli--well, he must be a genius, and you can't make me believe +he isn't." Then Effi had to yield and act for him the part of +Gieshübler, with hat in hand and endless bows of politeness. By virtue +of her peculiar talent for mimicry, she could do the bows very well, +although it went against the grain, because she always felt that it +was an injustice to the dear good man.--They never talked about +Innstetten and Annie, but it was settled that Annie was to inherit +Hohen-Cremmen. + +Effi took a new lease on life, and her mother, who in true womanly +fashion was not altogether averse to regarding the affair, painful +though it was, as merely an interesting case, vied with her father in +expressions of love and devotion. + +"Such a good winter we have not had for a long time," said Briest. +Then Effi arose from her seat and stroked back the sparse hairs from +his forehead. But beautiful as everything seemed from the point of +view of Effi's health, it was all illusion, for in reality the disease +was gaining ground and quietly consuming her vitality. Effi again +wore, as on the day of her betrothal to Innstetten, a blue and white +striped smock with a loose belt, and when she walked up to her parents +with a quick elastic step, to bid them good morning, they looked at +each other with joyful surprise--with joyful surprise and yet at the +same time with sadness, for they could not fail to see that it was not +the freshness of youth, but a transformation, that gave her slender +form and beaming eyes this peculiar appearance. All who observed her +closely saw this, but Effi herself did not. Her whole attention was +engaged by the happy feeling at being back in this place, to her so +charmingly peaceful, and living reconciled with those whom she had +always loved and who had always loved her, even during the years of +her misery and exile. + +She busied herself with all sorts of things about the home and +attended to the decorations and little improvements in the household. +Her appreciation of the beautiful enabled her always to make the right +choice. Reading and, above all, study of the arts she had given up +entirely. "I have had so much of it that I am happy to be able to lay +my hands in my lap." Besides, it doubtless reminded her too much of +her days of sadness. She cultivated instead the art of contemplating +nature with calmness and delight, and when the leaves fell from the +plane trees, or the sunbeams glistened on the ice of the little pond, +or the first crocuses blossomed in the circular plot, still half in +the grip of winter--it did her good, and she could gaze on all these +things for hours, forgetting what life had denied her, or, to be more +accurate, what she had robbed herself of. + +Callers were not altogether a minus quantity, not everybody shunned +her; but her chief associates were the families at the schoolhouse and +the parsonage. + +It made little difference that the Jahnke daughters had left home; +there could have been no very cordial friendship with them anyhow. But +she found a better friend than ever in old Mr. Jahnke himself, who +considered not only all of Swedish Pomerania, but also the Kessin +region as Scandinavian outposts, and was always asking questions about +them. "Why, Jahnke, we had a steamer, and, as I wrote to you, I +believe, or may perhaps have told you, I came very near going over to +Wisby. Just think, I almost went to Wisby. It is comical, but I can +say 'almost' with reference to many things in my life." + +"A pity, a pity," said Jahnke. + +"Yes, indeed, a pity. But I actually did make a tour of Rügen. You +would have enjoyed that, Jahnke. Just think, Arcona with its great +camping place of the Wends, that is said still to be visible. I myself +did not go there, but not very far away is the Hertha Lake with white +and yellow water lilies. The place made one think a great deal of your +Hertha." + +"Yes, yes, Hertha. But you were about to speak of the Hertha Lake." + +"Yes, I was. And just think, Jahnke, close by the lake stood two large +shining sacrificial stones, with the grooves still showing, in which +the blood used to run off. Ever since then I have had an aversion for +the Wends." + +"Oh, pardon me, gracious Lady, but they were not Wends. The legends of +the sacrificial stones and the Hertha Lake go back much, much farther, +clear back before the birth of Christ. They were the pure Germans, +from whom we are all descended." + +"Of course," laughed Effi, "from whom we are all descended, the +Jahnkes certainly, and perhaps the Briests, too." + +Then she dropped the subject of Rügen and the Hertha Lake and asked +about his grandchildren and which of them he liked best, Bertha's or +Hertha's. + +Indeed Effi was on a very friendly footing with Jahnke. But in spite +of his intimate relation to Hertha Lake, Scandinavia, and Wisby, he +was only a simple man and so the lonely young woman could not fail to +value her chats with Niemeyer much higher. In the autumn, so long as +promenades in the park were possible, she had an abundance of such +chats, but with the beginning of winter came an interruption for +several months, because she did not like to go to the parsonage. Mrs. +Niemeyer had always been a very disagreeable woman, but she pitched +her voice higher than ever now, in spite of the fact that in the +opinion of the parish she herself was not altogether above reproach. + +The situation remained the same throughout the winter, much to Effi's +sorrow. But at the beginning of April when the bushes showed a fringe +of green and the park paths dried off, the walks were resumed. + +Once when they were sauntering along they heard a cuckoo in the +distance, and Effi began to count to see how many times it called. She +was leaning on Niemeyer's arm. Suddenly she said: "The cuckoo is +calling yonder, but I don't want to consult him about the length of my +life. Tell me, friend, what do you think of life?" + +"Ah, dear Effi, you must not lay such doctors' questions before me. +You must apply to a philosopher or offer a prize to a faculty. What do +I think of life? Much and little. Sometimes it is very much and +sometimes very little." + +"That is right, friend, I like that; I don't need to know anymore." As +she said this they came to the swing. She sprang into it as nimbly as +in her earliest girlhood days, and before the old man, who watched +her, could recover from his fright, she crouched down between the two +ropes and set the swing board in motion by a skillful lifting and +dropping of the weight of her body. In a few seconds she was flying +through the air. Then, holding on with only one hand, she tore a +little silk handkerchief from around her neck and waved it happily and +haughtily. Soon she let the swing stop, sprang out, and took +Niemeyer's arm again. + +"Effi, you are just as you always were." + +"No, I wish I were. But I am too old for this; I just wanted to try it +once more. Oh, how fine it was and how much good the air did me! It +seemed as though I were flying up to heaven. I wonder if I shall go to +heaven? Tell me, friend, you ought to know. Please, please." + +Niemeyer took her hand into his two wrinkled ones and gave her a kiss +on the forehead, saying: "Yes, Effi, you will." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + + +Effi spent the whole day out in the park, because she needed to take +the air. Old Dr. Wiesike of Friesack approved of it, but in his +instructions gave her too much liberty to do what she liked, and +during the cold days in May she took a severe cold. She became +feverish, coughed a great deal, and the doctor, who had been calling +every third day, now came daily. He was put to it to know what to do, +for the sleeping powders and cough medicines Effi asked for could not +be given, because of the fever. + +"Doctor," said old von Briest, "what is going to come of this? You +have known her since she was a little thing, in fact you were here at +her birth. I don't like all these symptoms: her noticeable falling +away, the red spots, and the gleam of her eyes when she suddenly turns +to me with a pleading look. What do you think it will amount to? Must +she die?" + +Wiesike shook his head gravely. "I will not say that, von Briest, but +I don't like the way her fever keeps up. However, we shall bring it +down soon, for she must go to Switzerland or Mentone for pure air and +agreeable surroundings that will make her forget the past." + +"Lethe, Lethe." + +"Yes, Lethe," smiled Wiesike. "It's a pity that while the ancient +Swedes, the Greeks, were leaving us the name they did not leave us +also the spring itself." + +"Or at least the formula for it. Waters are imitated now, you know. +My, Wiesike, what a business we could build up here if we could only +start such a sanatorium! Friesack the spring of forgetfulness! Well, +let us try the Riviera for the present. Mentone is the Riviera, is it +not? To be sure, the price of grain is low just now, but what must be +must be. I shall talk with my wife about it." + +That he did, and his wife consented immediately, influenced in part by +her own ardent desire to see the south, particularly since she had +felt like one retired from the world. But Effi would not listen to it. +"How good you are to me! And I am selfish enough to accept the +sacrifice, if I thought it would do any good. But I am certain it +would only harm me." + +"You try to make yourself think that, Effi." + +"No. I have become so irritable that everything annoys me. Not here at +home, for you humor me and clear everything out of my way. But when +traveling that is impossible, the disagreeable element cannot be +eliminated so easily. It begins with the conductor and ends with the +waiter. Even when I merely think of their self-satisfied countenances +my temperature runs right up. No, no, keep me here. I don't care to +leave Hohen-Cremmen any more; my place is here. The heliotrope around +the sundial is dearer to me than Mentone." + +After this conversation the plan was dropped and in spite of the great +benefit Wiesike had expected from the Riviera he said: "We must +respect these wishes, for they are not mere whims. Such patients have +a very fine sense and know with remarkable certainty what is good for +them and what not. What Mrs. Effi has said about the conductor and the +waiter is really quite correct, and there is no air with healing power +enough to counterbalance hotel annoyances, if one is at all affected +by them. So let us keep her here. If that is not the best thing, it is +certainly not the worst." + +This proved to be true. Effi got better, gained a little in weight +(old von Briest belonged to the weight fanatics), and lost much of her +irritability. But her need of fresh air kept growing steadily, and +even when the west wind blew and the sky was overcast with gray +clouds, she spent many hours out of doors. On such days she would +usually go out into the fields or the marsh, often as far as two +miles, and when she grew tired would sit down on the hurdle fence, +where, lost in dreams, she would watch the ranunculi and red sorrel +waving in the wind. + +"You go out so much alone," said Mrs. von Briest. "Among our people +you are safe, but there are so many strange vagabonds prowling +around." + +That made an impression on Effi, who had never thought of danger, and +when she was alone with Roswitha, she said: "I can't well take you +with me, Roswitha; you are too fat and no longer sure-footed." + +"Oh, your Ladyship, it is hardly yet as bad as that. Why, I could +still be married." + +"Of course," laughed Effi. "One is never too old for that. But let me +tell you, Roswitha, if I had a dog to accompany me--Papa's hunting dog +has no attachment for me--hunting dogs are so stupid--and he never +stirs till the hunter or the gardener takes the gun from the rack. I +often have to think of Rollo." + +"True," said Roswitha, "they have nothing like Rollo here. But I don't +mean anything against 'here.' Hohen-Cremmen is very good." + +Three or four days after this conversation between Effi and Roswitha, +Innstetten entered his office an hour earlier than usual. The morning +sun, which shone very brightly, had wakened him and as he had +doubtless felt he could not go to sleep again he had got out of bed to +take up a piece of work that had long been waiting to be attended to. + +At a quarter past eight he rang. Johanna brought the breakfast tray, +on which, beside the morning papers, there were two letters. He +glanced at the addresses and recognized by the handwriting that one +was from the minister. But the other? The postmark could not be read +plainly and the address, "Baron von Innstetten, Esq.," showed a happy +lack of familiarity with the customary use of titles. In keeping with +this was the very primitive character of the writing. But the address +was remarkably accurate: "W., Keith St. 1c, third story." + +Innstetten was enough of an official to open first the letter from +"His Excellency." "My dear Innstetten: I am happy to be able to +announce to you that His Majesty has deigned to sign your appointment +and I congratulate you sincerely." Innstetten was pleased at the +friendly lines from the minister, almost more than at the appointment +itself, for, since the morning in Kessin, when Crampas had bidden him +farewell with that look which still haunted him, he had grown somewhat +sceptical of such things as climbing higher on the ladder. Since then +he had measured with a different measure and viewed things in a +different light. Distinction--what did that amount to in the end? As +the days passed by with less and less of joy for him, he more than +once recalled a half-forgotten minister's anecdote from the time of +the elder Ladenberg, who, upon receiving the Order of the Red Eagle, +for which he had long been waiting, threw it down in a rage and +exclaimed: "Lie there till you turn black." It probably did turn into +a black one subsequently, but many days too late and certainly without +real satisfaction for the receiver. Everything that is to give us +pleasure must come at the right time and in the right circumstances, +for what delights us today may be valueless tomorrow. Innstetten felt +this deeply, and as certainly as he had formerly laid store by honors +and distinctions coming from his highest superiors, just so certainly +was he now firmly convinced that the glittering appearance of things +amounted to but little, and that what is called happiness, if it +existed at all, is something other than this appearance. "Happiness, +if I am right, lies in two things: being exactly where one +belongs--but what official can say that of himself?--and, especially, +performing comfortably the most commonplace functions, that is, +getting enough sleep and not having new boots that pinch. When the 720 +minutes of a twelve-hour day pass without any special annoyance that +can be called a happy day." + +Innstetten was today in the mood for such gloomy reflections. When he +took up the second letter and read it he ran his hand over his +forehead, with the painful feeling that there is such a thing as +happiness, that he had once possessed it, but had lost it and could +never again recover it. Johanna entered and announced Privy Councillor +Wüllersdorf, who was already standing on the threshold and said: +"Congratulations, Innstetten." + +"I believe you mean what you say; the others will be vexed. However--" + +"However. You are surely not going to be pessimistic at a moment like +this." + +"No. The graciousness of His Majesty makes me feel ashamed, and the +friendly feeling of the minister, to whom I owe all this, almost +more." + +"But--" + +[Illustration: SUPPER AT A COURT BALL +_From the Painting by Adolph van Menzel_] + +"But I have forgotten how to rejoice. If I said that to anybody but +you my words would be considered empty phrases. But you understand me. +Just look around you. How empty and deserted everything is! When +Johanna comes in, a so-called jewel, she startles me and frightens me. +Her stage entry," continued Innstetten, imitating Johanna's pose, "the +half comical shapeliness of her bust, which comes forward claiming +special attention, whether of mankind or me, I don't know--all this +strikes me as so sad and pitiable, and if it were not so ridiculous, +it might drive me to suicide." + +"Dear Innstetten, are you going to assume the duties of a permanent +secretary in this frame of mind?" + +"Oh, bah! How can I help it? Read these lines I have just received." + +Wüllersdorf took the second letter with the illegible postmark, was +amused at the "Esq.," and stepped to the window that he might read +more easily. + +"Gracious Sir: I suppose you will be surprised that I am writing to +you, but it is about Rollo. Little Annie told us last year Rollo was +so lazy now, but that doesn't matter here. He can be as lazy as he +likes here, the lazier the better. And her Ladyship would like it so +much. She always says, when she walks upon the marsh or over the +fields: 'I am really afraid, Roswitha, because I am so alone; but who +is there to accompany me? Rollo, oh yes, he would do. He bears no +grudge against me either. That is the advantage, that animals do not +trouble themselves so much about such things.' These are her +Ladyship's words and I will say nothing further, and merely ask your +Lordship to remember me to my little Annie. Also to Johanna. From your +faithful, most obedient servant, Roswitha Gellenbagen." + +"Well," said Wüllersdorf, as he folded the letter again, "she is ahead +of us." + +"I think so, too." + +"This is also the reason why everything else seems so doubtful to +you." + +"You are right. It has been going through my head for a long time, and +these simple words with their intended, or perhaps unintended +complaint, have put me completely beside myself again. It has been +troubling me for over a year and I should like to get clear out of +here. Nothing pleases me any more. The more distinctions I receive the +more I feel that it is all vanity. My life is bungled, and so I have +thought to myself I ought to have nothing more to do with strivings +and vanities, and ought to be able to employ my pedagogical +inclinations, which after all are my most characteristic quality, as a +superintendent of public morals. It would not be anything new. If the +plan were feasible I should surely become a very famous character, +such as Dr. Wichern of the Rough House in Hamburg, for example, that +man of miracles, who tamed all criminals with his glance and his +piety." + +"Hm, there is nothing to be said against that; it would be possible." + +"No, it is not possible either. Not even _that_. Absolutely every +avenue is closed to me. How could I touch the soul of a murderer? To +do that one must be intact himself. And if one no longer is, but has a +like spot on his own hands, then he must at least be able to play the +crazy penitent before his confreres, who are to be converted, and +entertain them with a scene of gigantic contrition." + +Wüllersdorf nodded. + +"Now you see, you agree. But I can't do any of these things any more. +I can no longer play the man in the hair shirt, let alone the dervish +or the fakir, who dances himself to death in the midst of his +self-accusations. And inasmuch as all such things are impossible I +have puzzled out, as the best thing for me, to go away from here and +off to the coal black fellows who know nothing of culture and honor. +Those fortunate creatures! For culture and honor and such rubbish are +to blame for all my trouble. We don't do such things out of passion, +which might be an acceptable excuse. We do them for the sake of mere +notions--notions! And then the one fellow collapses and later the +other collapses, too, only in a worse way." + +"Oh pshaw! Innstetten, those are whims, mere fancies. Go to Africa! +What does that mean! It will do for a lieutenant who is in debt. But a +man like you! Are you thinking of presiding over a palaver, in a red +fez, or of entering into blood relationship with a son-in-law of King +Mtesa? Or will you feel your way along the Congo in a tropical helmet, +with six holes in the top of it, until you come out again at Kamerun +or thereabouts? Impossible!" + +"Impossible? Why? If _that_ is impossible, what then?" + +"Simply stay here and practice resignation. Who, pray, is unoppressed! +Who could not say every day: 'Really a very questionable affair.' You +know, I have also a small burden to bear, not the same as yours, but +not much lighter. That talk about creeping around in the primeval +forest or spending the night in an ant hill is folly. Whoever cares +to, may, but it is not the thing for us. The best thing is to stand in +the gap and hold out till one falls, but, until then, to get as much +out of life as possible in the small and even the smallest things, +keeping one eye open for the violets when they bloom, or the Luise +monument when it is decorated with flowers, or the little girls with +high lace shoes when they skip the rope. Or drive out to Potsdam and +go into the Church of Peace, where Emperor Frederick lies, and where +they are just beginning to build him a tomb. As you stand there +consider the life of that man, and if you are not pacified then, there +is no help for you, I should say." + +"Good, good! But the year is long and every single day--and then the +evening." + +"That is always the easiest part of the day to know what to do with. +Then we have _Sardanapal_, or _Coppelia_, with Del Era, and when that +is out we have Siechen's, which is not to be despised. Three steins +will calm you every time. There are always many, a great many others, +who are in exactly the same general situation as we are, and one of +them who had had a great deal of misfortune once said to me: 'Believe +me, Wüllersdorf, we cannot get along without "false work."' The man +who said it was an architect and must have known about it. His +statement is correct. Never a day passes but I am reminded of the +'false work.'" + +After Wüllersdorf had thus expressed himself he took his hat and cane. +During these words Innstetten may have recalled his own earlier +remarks about little happiness, for he nodded his head half agreeing, +and smiled to himself. + +"Where are you going now, Wüllersdorf? It is too early yet for the +Ministry." + +"I am not going there at all today. First I shall take an hour's walk +along the canal to the Charlottenburg lock and then back again. And +then make a short call at Huth's on Potsdam St., going cautiously up +the little wooden stairway. Below there is a flower store." + +"And that affords you pleasure? That satisfies you?" + +"I should not say that exactly, but it will help a bit. I shall find +various regular guests there drinking their morning glass, but their +names I wisely keep secret. One will tell about the Duke of Ratibor, +another about the Prince-Bishop Kopp, and a third perhaps about +Bismarck. There is always a little something to be learned. +Three-fourths of what is said is inaccurate, but if it is only witty I +do not waste much time criticising it and always listen gratefully." + +With that he went out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + +May was beautiful, June more beautiful, and after Effi had happily +overcome the first painful feeling aroused in her by Rollo's arrival, +she was full of joy at having the faithful dog about her again. +Roswitha was praised and old von Briest launched forth into words of +recognition for Innstetten, who, he said, was a cavalier, never petty, +but always stout-hearted. "What a pity that the stupid affair had to +come between them! As a matter of fact, they were a model couple." The +only one who remained calm during the welcoming scene was Rollo +himself, who either had no appreciation of time or considered the +separation as an irregularity which was now simply removed. The fact +that he had grown old also had something to do with it, no doubt. He +remained sparing with his demonstrations of affection as he had been +with his evidences of joy, during the welcoming scene. But he had +grown in fidelity, if such a thing were possible. He never left the +side of his mistress. The hunting dog he treated benevolently, but as +a being of a lower order. At night he lay on the rush mat before +Effi's door; in the morning, when breakfast was served out of doors by +the sundial, he was always quiet, always sleepy, and only when Effi +arose from the breakfast table and walked toward the hall to take her +straw hat and umbrella from the rack, did his youth return. Then, +without troubling himself about whether his strength was to be put to +a hard or easy test, he ran up the village road and back again and did +not calm down till they were out in the fields. Effi, who cared more +for fresh air than for landscape beauty, avoided the little patches of +forest and usually kept to the main road, which 'at first was bordered +with very old elms and then, where the turnpike began, with poplars. +This road led to the railway station about an hour's walk away. She +enjoyed everything, breathing in with delight the fragrance wafted to +her from the rape and clover fields, or watching the soaring of the +larks, and counting the draw-wells and troughs, to which the cattle +went to drink. She could hear a soft ringing of bells that made her +feel as though she must close her eyes and pass away in sweet +forgetfulness. Near the station, close by the turnpike, lay a road +roller. This was her daily resting place, from which she could observe +what took place on the railroad. Trains came and went and sometimes +she could see two columns of smoke which for a moment seemed to blend +into one and then separated, one going to the right, the other to the +left, till they disappeared behind the village and the grove. Rollo +sat beside her, sharing her lunch, and when he had caught the last +bite, he would run like mad along some plowed furrow, doubtless to +show his gratitude, and stop only when a pair of pheasants scared from +their nest flew up from a neighboring furrow close by him. + +"How beautiful this summer is! A year ago, dear mama, I should not +have thought I could ever again be so happy," said Effi every day as +she walked with her mother around the pond or picked an early apple +from a tree and bit into it vigorously, for she had beautiful teeth. +Mrs. von Briest would stroke her hand and say: "Just wait till you are +well again, Effi, quite well, and then we shall find happiness, not +that of the past, but a new kind. Thank God, there are several kinds +of happiness. And you shall see, we shall find something for you." + +"You are so good. Really I have changed your lives and made you +prematurely old." + +"Oh, my dear Effi, don't speak of it. I thought the same about it, +when the change came. Now I know that our quiet is better than the +noise and loud turmoil of earlier years. If you keep on as you are we +can go away yet. When Wiesike proposed Mentone you were ill and +irritable, and because you were ill, you were right in saying what you +did about conductors and waiters. When you have steadier nerves again +you can stand that. You will no longer be offended, but will laugh at +the grand manners and the curled hair. Then the blue sea and white +sails and the rocks all overgrown with red cactus--I have never seen +them, to be sure, but that is how I imagine them. I should like to +become acquainted with them." + +Thus the summer went by and the meteoric showers were also past. +During these evenings Effi had sat at her window till after midnight +and yet never grew tired of watching. "I always was a weak Christian, +but I wonder whether we ever came from up there and whether, when all +is over here, we shall return to our heavenly home, to the stars above +or further beyond. I don't know and don't care to know. I just have +the longing." + +Poor Effi! She had looked up at the wonders of the sky and thought +about them too long, with the result that the night air, and the fog +rising from the pond, made her so ill she had to stay in bed again. +When Wiesike was summoned and had examined her he took Briest aside +and said: "No more hope; be prepared for an early end." + +What he said was only too true, and a few days later, comparatively +early in the evening, it was not yet ten o'clock, Roswitha came down +stairs and said to Mrs. von Briest: "Most gracious Lady, her Ladyship +upstairs is very ill. She talks continually to herself in a soft voice +and sometimes it seems as though she were praying, but she says she is +not, and I don't know, it seems to me as though the end might come any +hour." + +"Does she wish to speak to me?" + +"She hasn't said so, but I believe she does. You know how she is; she +doesn't want to disturb you and make you anxious. But I think it would +be well." + +"All right, Roswitha, I will come." + +Before the clock began to strike Mrs. von Briest mounted the stairway +and entered Effi's room. Effi lay on a reclining chair near the open +window. Mrs. von Briest drew up a small black chair with three gilt +spindles in its ebony back, took Effi's hand and said: "How are you, +Effi! Roswitha says you are so feverish." + +"Oh, Roswitha worries so much about everything. I could see by her +looks she thought I was dying. Well, I don't know. She thinks +everybody ought to be as much worried as she is." + +"Are you so calm about dying, dear Effi?" + +"Entirely calm, mama." + +"Aren't you deceiving yourself? Everybody clings to life, especially +the young, and you are still so young, dear Effi." + +Effi remained silent for a while. Then she said: "You know, I haven't +read much. Innstetten was often surprised at it, and he didn't like +it." + +This was the first time she had mentioned Innstetten's name, and it +made a deep impression on her mother and showed clearly that the end +was come. + +"But I thought," said Mrs. von Briest, "you were going to tell me +something." + +"Yes, I was, because you spoke of my still being so young. Certainly I +am still young; but that makes no difference. During our happy days +Innstetten used to read aloud to me in the evening. He had very good +books, and in one of them there was a story about a man who had been +called away from a merry table. The following morning he asked how it +had been after he left. Somebody answered: 'Oh, there were all sorts +of things, but you really didn't miss anything.' You see, mama, these +words have impressed themselves upon my memory--It doesn't signify +very much if one is called away from the table a little early." + +Mrs. von Briest remained silent. Effi lifted herself up a little +higher and said: "Now that I have talked to you about old times and +also about Innstetten, I must tell you something else, dear mama." + +"You are getting excited, Effi." + +"No, no, to tell about the burden of my heart will not excite me, it +will quiet me. And so I wanted to tell you that I am dying reconciled +to God and men, reconciled also to _him_." + +"Did you cherish in your heart such great bitterness against him? +Really--pardon me, my dear Effi, for mentioning it now--really it was +you who brought down sorrow upon yourself and your husband." + +Effi assented. "Yes, mama, and how sad that it should be so. But when +all the terrible things happened, and finally the scene with +Annie--you know what I mean--I turned the tables on him, mentally, if +I may use the ridiculous comparison, and came to believe seriously +that he was to blame, because he was prosaic and calculating, and +toward the end cruel. Then curses upon him crossed my lips." + +"Does that trouble you now?" + +"Yes. And I am anxious that he shall know how, during my days of +illness here, which have been almost my happiest, how it has become +clear to my mind that he was right in his every act. In the affair +with poor Crampas--well, after all, what else could he have done? Then +the act by which he wounded me most deeply, the teaching of my own +child to shun me, even in that he was right, hard and painful as it is +for me to admit it. Let him know that I died in this conviction. It +will comfort and console him, and may reconcile him. He has much that +is good in his nature and was as noble as anybody can be who is not +truly in love." + +Mrs. von Briest saw that Effi was exhausted and seemed to be either +sleeping or about to go to sleep. She rose quietly from her chair and +went out. Hardly had she gone when Effi also got up, and sat at the +open window to breathe in the cool night air once more. The stars +glittered and not a leaf stirred in the park. But the longer she +listened the more plainly she again heard something like soft rain +falling on the plane trees. A feeling of liberation came over her. +"Rest, rest." + + * * * * * + +It was a month later and September was drawing to an end. The weather +was beautiful, but the foliage in the park began to show a great deal +of read and yellow and since the equinox, which had brought three +stormy days, the leaves lay scattered in every direction. In the +circular plot a slight change had been made. The sundial was gone and +in the place where it had stood there lay since yesterday a white +marble slab with nothing on it but "Effi Briest" and a cross beneath. +This had been Em's last request. "I should like to have back my old +name on my stone; I brought no honor to the other." This had been +promised her. + +The marble slab had arrived and been placed in position yesterday, and +Briest and his wife were sitting in view of it, looking at it and the +heliotrope, which had been spared, and which now bordered the stone. +Rollo lay beside them with his head on his paws. + +Wilke, whose spats were growing wider and wider, brought the breakfast +and the mail, and old Mr. von Briest said: "Wilke, order the little +carriage. I am going to drive across the country with my wife." + +Mrs. von Briest had meanwhile poured the coffee and was looking at the +circle and its flower bed. "See, Briest, Rollo is lying by the stone +again. He is really taking it harder than we. He wont eat any more, +either." + +"Well, Luise, it is the brute creature. That is just what I have +always said. We don't amount to as much as we think. But here we +always talk about instinct. In the end I think it is the best." + +"Don't speak that way. When you begin to philosophize--don't take +offense--Briest, you show your incompetence. You have a good +understanding, but you can't tackle such questions." + +"That's true." + +"And if it is absolutely necessary to discuss questions there are +entirely different ones, Briest, and I can tell you that not a day +passes, since the poor child has been lying here, but such questions +press themselves on me." + +"What questions?" + +"Whether after all we are perhaps not to blame?" + +"Nonsense, Luise. What do you mean?" + +"Whether we ought not to have disciplined her differently. You and I +particularly, for Niemeyer is only a cipher; he leaves everything in +doubt. And then, Briest, sorry as I am--your continual use of +ambiguous expressions--and finally, and here I accuse myself too, for +I do not desire to come off innocent in this matter, I wonder if she +was not too young, perhaps?" + +Rollo, who awoke at these words, shook his head gravely and Briest +said calmly: "Oh, Luise, don't--that is _too_ wide a field." + + * * * * * + + + + +EXTRACTS FROM "MY CHILDHOOD YEARS" (1894) + +By THEODOR FONTANE + +TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M. + +Associate Professor of German, Leland Stanford Jr. University + + +On one of the last days of March, in the year 1819, a chaise drove up +before the apothecary's shop at the sign of the Lion, in Neu-Ruppin, +and a young couple, who a short time before had jointly purchased the +shop, alighted from the carriage and were received by the servants of +the house. The husband was only twenty-three years of age--for people +married very young in those days, just after the war. The wife was +twenty-one. They Were my parents.... + +I was born there on the 30th of December that same year. With my +mother it was a matter of life and death, for which reason, whenever +she was twitted with favoring me, she was accustomed simply to reply: +"That is because I suffered most for him." In this favored position I +remained a long time, some eighteen years, till the birth of a late +child, my youngest sister, for whom I stood sponsor and whom I even +held during the christening. This was a great honor for me, but with +it went hand in hand my dethronement by this very sister. It goes +without saying that as the youngest child she straightway became the +darling of the family. + +At Easter, 1819, my father took possession of the apothecary's shop in +Neu-Ruppin, which he had acquired at a most favorable price, for a +song, so to speak; at Easter, 1826, after three of my four brothers +and sisters had been born there, he disposed of the property. Whenever +this early sale of the business became a topic of conversation, it +was always characterized as disastrous for my father and the whole +family. But unjustly. The disastrous feature, which revealed itself +many years later--and fortunately even then in a bearable form, for my +papa was truly a lucky man--lay not in the particular act of the sale, +but in the character of my father, who always spent more than his +income, and would not have given up the habit, even if he had remained +in Neu-Ruppin. That he confessed to me with his peculiar frankness +many, many times, when he had grown old and I was no longer young. "I +was still half a boy when I married," he was wont to say, "and my too +early independence explains everything." Whether or not he was right, +this is not the place to say. Generally speaking, his habits were +anything but businesslike; he took his dreams of good fortune for +realities and applied himself to the cultivation of "noble passions," +without ever stopping to think that at best he had but modest means at +his disposal. His first extravagance was a horse and carriage; then he +soon acquired a passion for gaming, and, during the seven years from +1819 to 1826, he gambled away a small fortune. The chief winner was +the lord of a neighboring manor. When, thirty years later, the son of +this lord loaned me a small sum of money, my father said to me: "Don't +hesitate to take the money; his father took ten thousand thalers from +me at dummy whist, a little at a time." Perhaps this figure was too +high, but however that may be, the sum was at all events large enough +to throw his credit and debit out of balance and to make him, among +other things, a very tardy payer of interest. Now in ordinary +circumstances, if, for example, he could have had recourse to +mortgages and the like, this would not have been, for a time at least, +a wholly unbearable situation; but unfortunately it so happened that +my father's chief creditor was his own father, who now took occasion +to give expression to his only too justified displeasure, both in +letters and in personal interviews. To make the situation even more +oppressive, these reproaches were approved, and hence made doubly +severe, by my mother, who stood wholly on her father-in-law's side. In +short, the further matters went, the more my father was placed between +two fires, and for no other reason than to extricate himself from a +position which continually injured his pride he resolved to sell the +property and business, the exceptional productiveness of which was as +well known to him as to anybody else, in spite of the fact that he was +the very opposite of a business man. After all, his whole plan proved +to be, at least in the beginning and from his point of view, +thoroughly proper and advantageous. He received for the apothecary's +shop double the original purchase price, and saw himself thereby all +at once put in a position to satisfy his creditors, who were at the +same time his accusers. And he did it, too. He paid back the sum his +father had advanced him, asked his wife, half jokingly, half +scoffingly, whether perchance she wished to invest her money "more +safely and more advantageously," and thereby achieved what for seven +years he had been longing for, namely, freedom and independence. +Relieved from all irksome tutelage, he found himself suddenly at the +point where it was "no longer necessary to take orders from anybody." +And with him that was a specially vital matter his whole life long. +From youth to old age he thirsted for that state; but as he did not +know well how to attain it, he never enjoyed his longed-for liberty +and independence for more than a few days or weeks at a time. To use +one of his favorite expressions, he was always in the "lurch," was +always financially embarrassed, and for that reason recalled to the +end of his life with special pleasure the short period, now reached, +between Easter, 1826, and Midsummer day, 1827. With him this was the +only time when the "lurch" was lacking.... + +During this time we lived near the Rheinsberg Gate, in a capacious +rented apartment, which included all the rooms on the main floor. So +far as home comforts are concerned, my parents were both very well +satisfied with the change; so were the other children, who found here +ample room for their games; but I could not become reconciled to it, +and have even to this day unpleasant memories of the rented residence. +There was a butcher's shop in the building, and that did not suit my +fancy. Through the long dark court ran a gutter, with blood always +standing in it, while at the end of one of the side wings a beef, +killed the night before, hung on a broad ladder leaning against the +house. Fortunately I never had to witness the preceding scenes, except +when pigs were slaughtered. Then it was sometimes unavoidable. One day +is still fresh in my memory. I was standing in the hall and gazing out +through the open back door into the court, where it just happened that +several persons were down on the ground struggling with a pig that was +squealing its last. I was paralyzed with horror. As soon as I +recovered control of myself I took to my heels, running down the +street, through the town gate, and out to the "Vineyard," a favorite +resort of the Ruppiners. But before I had finally reached that place I +sat down on the top of a hummock to rest and catch my breath. I stayed +away the whole forenoon. At dinner I was called upon to give an +account of myself. "For heaven's sake, boy, where have you been so +long?" I made a clean breast of the matter, saying that I had been put +to flight by the spectacle down in the court and that half way to the +"Vineyard" I had rested on a hummock and leaned my back against a +crumbling pillar. "Why, there you sat in perfect composure on Gallows +Hill," said my father, laughing. Feeling as though the noose were +being laid about my neck, I begged permission to leave the table. + +It was also at this time that I entered the primary school, which was +nothing unusual, inasmuch as I was going on seven years of age. I was +quick to learn and made progress, but my mother considered it her duty +to help me on, now and then, especially in reading, and so every +afternoon I stood by her little sewing table and read to her all sorts +of little stories out of the _Brandenburg Children's Friend_, a good +book, but illustrated, alas, with frightful pictures. My performance +was probably quite tolerable, for the ability to read and write +well--by the way, a very important thing in life--is a sort of +inheritance in the family. But my mother was not easy to satisfy; +furthermore she acted on the assumption that recognition and praise +spoil character, a point of view which even now I do not consider +right. At the slightest mistake she brought into play the "quick hand" +always at her service. But she displayed no temper in doing it; she +was always merely proceeding in accordance with her principle, +"anything but coddling." One blow too many could never do any harm +and, if it turned out that I had really not deserved any particular +one, it was reckoned as offsetting some of my naughty pranks that had +happened to escape discovery. "Anything but coddling." That is indeed +a very good principle, and I do not care to criticise it, in spite of +the fact that its application did not help me, not even as a hardening +process; but whatever one may think of it, my mother now and then +carried her harsh treatment too far. + +I had long blond hair, less to my own delight than to my mother's; for +to keep it in its would-be state of beauty I was subjected to the most +interminable and occasionally the most painful combing ordeals, +especially those with the fine comb. If I had been called upon at the +time to name the medieval instruments of torture, the "fine comb" +would have stood among those at the head of my list. Until the blood +came there was no thought of stopping. The following day the scarcely +healed spot was again scrutinized with suspicious eye, and thus one +torture was followed by another. To be sure, if, as may be possible, I +owe it to this procedure that I still have a fairly good head of hair, +I did not suffer in vain, and I humbly apologize. + +This careful treatment of my scalp was accompanied by an equally +painstaking treatment of my complexion, and this painful care also +showed a tendency to apply too drastic remedies. If my skin was +chapped by the east wind or the severe heat of the sun, my mother was +immediately at hand with a slice of lemon as an unfailing remedy. And +it always helped. Cold cream and such things would have been more to +my fancy and would doubtless have accomplished the same end. But my +mother showed the same relentlessness toward herself, and one who +valiantly leads the way into the battle may properly command others to +follow. + +During the time that we occupied the rented apartment I became seven +years of age, just old enough to retain all sorts of things; and yet I +remember exceedingly little from that period, in fact but two events. +These I probably recall because a vivid color impression helped me to +retain them. One of the events was a great fire, in which the barns +outside the Eheinsberg Gate burned down. However, I must state in +advance that it was not the burning of the barns that impressed itself +upon my memory, but a scene that took place immediately before my +eyes, one only incidentally occasioned by the fire, which I did not +see at all. On that day my parents were at a small dinner party, clear +at the other end of the city. When the company was suddenly apprised +of the news that all the barns were on fire, my mother, who was a very +nervous person, immediately felt certain that her children could not +escape death in the flames, or were at least in grave danger of losing +their lives. Being completely carried away by this idea she rushed +from the table, down the long Frederick William street, and without +hat or cloak, and with her hair half tumbled down in her mad chase, +burst into our large front room and found us, snatched out of bed and +wrapped in blankets, sitting around on cushions and footstools. On +catching sight of us she screamed aloud for joy and then fell in a +swoon. When, the next moment, various people, the landlord's family +among others, came in with candles in their hands, the whole picture +which the room presented received a dazzling light, especially the +dark red brocade dress of my mother and the black hair that fell down +over it, and this red and black with the flickering candles round +about--all this I have retained to the present hour. + +The other picture, or let me say, rather, the second little occurrence +that still lives in my memory, was entirely devoid of dramatic +elements, but color again came to my assistance. This time it was +yellow, instead of red. During the interim year my father made +frequent journeys to Berlin. Once, say, in the month of November, the +sunset colors were already gleaming through the trees on the city +ramparts, as I stood down in our doorway watching my father as he put +on his driving gloves with a certain aplomb and then suddenly sprang +upon the front seat of his small calash. My mother was there also. +"Really the boy might go along," said my father. I pricked up my ears, +rejoiced in my little soul, which even then longed eagerly for +anything a little out of the ordinary and likely to give me the +shivers. My mother consented immediately, a thing which can be +explained only on the assumption that she expected her darling child +with the beautiful blond locks to make a good impression upon my +grandfather, whose home was the goal of the journey. "Very well," she +said, "take the boy along. But first I will put a warm coat on him." +"Not necessary; I'll put him in the footbag." And, surely enough, I +was hauled up into the carriage and put just as I was into the footbag +lying on the front of the carriage, which was entirely open, with not +even a leather apron stretched across it. If a stone got in our way or +we received a jolt there was nothing to keep me from being thrown out. +But this notion did not for a single moment disturb my pleasure. At a +quick trot we rolled along through Alt-Ruppin toward Cremmen, and long +before we reached this place, which was about half way along the +journey, the stars came out and grew brighter and brighter and more +and more sparkling. I gazed enraptured at this splendor and no sleep +came to my eyes. Never since have I traveled with such delight; it +seemed as though we were journeying to heaven. Toward eight o 'clock +in the morning our carriage drove up before my grandfather's house. +Let me here insert the remark that my grandfather, with the help of +his three wives, whom he had married a number of years apart, had +risen first from a drawing teacher to a private secretary, and then, +what was still more significant, had recently advanced to the dignity +of a well-to-do property owner in Berlin. To be sure, only in the +Little Hamburg street. The art of living implied in this achievement +was not transmitted to any of his sons or grandsons. + +We climbed the stairs and entered the door. Here we were greeted by a +homely idyl. Pierre Barthélemy and his third wife--an excellent woman, +whom I later learned to esteem very highly--were just sitting at +breakfast. Everything looked very cozy. On the table was a service of +Dresden china, and among the cups and pitchers I noticed a neat blue +and white figured open-work bread basket with Berlin milk rolls in it. +The rolls then were different from now, much larger and circular in +shape, baked a light brown and yet crisp. Over the sofa hung a large +oil portrait of my grandfather, just recently painted, by Professor +Wachs. It was very good and full of life, but I should have forgotten +the expressive face and perhaps the whole scene of the visit, if it +had not been for the black and sulphur-yellow striped vest, which +Pierre Barthélemy, as I was later informed, regularly wore, and which, +in consequence, occupied a considerable portion of the picture hanging +above his head. + +It goes without saying that we shared in the breakfast, and the +grandparents, well-bred people that they were, did not show so very +plainly that, on the whole, the visit, with its to-be-expected +business negotiations, was for them in reality a disturbance. True, +there was all day long not a sign of tenderness toward me, so that I +was heartily glad when we started back home in the evening. Not until +a great deal later was I able to see that the coolness with which I +was received was not meant for poor little me, but, as already +indicated, for my father. I merely had to suffer with him. To such an +extremely solid character as my grandfather the self-assured, +man-of-the-world tone of his son, who by a clever business stroke had +acquired a feeling of independence and comfortable circumstances, was +so disagreeable and oppressive, that my blond locks, on whose +impression my mother had counted with such certainty, failed utterly +to exert their charm. + +I have already remarked that such excursions to Berlin occurred +frequently in those days, but still more frequent were journeys into +the provinces, because it was incumbent upon my father to look about +for a new apothecary's shop to buy. If he had had his way about it he +doubtless would never have changed this state of affairs and would +have declared the interim permanent. For, whereas his passion for +gaming was in reality forced upon him by his need to kill time, he had +by nature a genuine passion for his horse and carriage, and to drive +around in the world the whole of life in search of an apothecary's +shop, without being able to find one, would have been, I presume, just +the ideal occupation for him. But he saw that it was out of the +question; a few years of travel would have consumed his means. So he +only took great care to guard against too hasty purchases, and that +answered the same purpose. The more critically he proceeded the longer +he could continue his journeys and provide new quarters every evening +for his beloved white horse, which, by the way, was a charming animal. +I say "his white horse," for he was more concerned about good quarters +for the horse than for himself. And so, for three-fourths of a year, +till Christmas, 1826, he was on the road a great deal, not to say +most, of the time, covering, to be sure, quite an extensive territory, +which, beside the Province of Brandenburg, included Saxony, Thuringia, +and finally Pomerania. + +In later life this period of travel was a favorite topic of +conversation with my father, and likewise with my mother, who +ordinarily assumed a rather indifferent attitude toward the favorite +themes of my father. That she made an exception in this case was due +in part to the fact that during his journeyings my father had written +to his young wife many "love letters," which as letters it was my +mother's chief delight to ridicule, so long as she lived. "For I would +have you know, children," she was wont to say, "I still have your +father's love letters; one always keeps such charming things. One of +these I even know by heart, at least the beginning. The letter came +from Eisleben, and in it your father wrote to me: 'I arrived here this +afternoon and have found very good quarters. Also for the horse, whose +neck and shoulders are somewhat galled. However, I will not write you +today about that, but about the fact that this is the place where +Martin Luther was born on the 10th of November, 1483, nine years +before the discovery of America.' There you have your father as a +lover. You see, he would have been qualified to publish a _Letter +Writer_." + +All this was said by my mother not only with considerable seriousness, +but also, unfortunately, with bitterness. It always grieved her that +my father, much as he loved her, had never shown the slightest +familiarity with the ways of tenderness. + +The travels, which were kept up for nine months, were finally directed +eastward toward the mouth of the Oder. Shortly before Christmas my +father set out by stage coach, to save his horse from the hardships of +winter travel, and when he arrived in Swinemünde the thermometer stood +at 15° below zero, Fahrenheit. The cognac in his bottle was frozen to +a lump of ice. He was so much the more warmly received by the widow +Geisler, who, inasmuch as her husband had died the previous year, +desired to sell her apothecary's shop as quickly as possible. And the +sale was made. In the letter announcing the conclusion of the +transaction was this passage: "We now have a new home in the province +of Pomerania, Pomerania, of which false notions are frequently held; +for it is really a splendid province and much richer than the Mark. +And where the people are rich is the best place to live. Swinemünde +itself is, to be sure, unpaved, but sand is better than bad pavement, +where the horses are always having something the matter with their +insteps. Unfortunately the transfer is not to be made for six months, +which I regret. But I must be doing something again, must have an +occupation once more." + +Three days after the arrival of this letter he was home again himself. +We were dragged out of bed, heavy with sleep, and called upon to +rejoice that we were to go to Swinemünde. + +To me the word represented but a strange sound.... + +When we arrived in Swinemünde, in the summer of 1827, it seemed an +ugly hole, and yet, on the other hand, a place of very rare charm, +for, in spite of the dullness of the majority of its streets, it had +that peculiar liveliness that commerce and navigation produce. It +depended altogether upon what part of the city one chose as a point of +observation, whether one's judgment was one thing or its opposite, +favorable or unfavorable. If one chose the Church Square, surrounded +by houses, among which was our apothecary's shop, one could find +little of good to say, although the chief street ran past there. But +if one forsook the inner city and went down to the "River," as the +Swine was regularly called, his hitherto unfavorable opinion was +converted into its opposite. Here ran along the river, for nearly a +mile, the "Bulwark," as poetic a riverside street as one could +imagine. The very fact that here everything was kept to medium +proportions, and there was nowhere anything to recall the grandeur of +the really great commercial centres, these very medium dimensions gave +everything an exceedingly attractive appearance, to which only a +hypochondriac, or a person wholly unappreciative of the charms of form +and color, could fail to respond. To be sure, this "Bulwark" street +was not everywhere the same, indeed some parts of it left much to be +desired, especially those up the river; but from the cross street +which began at the corner of our house and led off at right angles +one could find refreshment of spirit in the pictures that presented +themselves, step by step, as one followed the course of the river. +Here ran out from the sloping bank into the river a number of board +rafts, some smaller, some larger, floating benches upon which, from +early morning on, one saw maids at work washing clothes, always in +cheerful conversation with one another, or with the sailors who leaned +lazily over the street wall watching them. These rafts, which with the +figures upon them produced a most picturesque effect, were called +"clappers," and were used, especially by strangers and summer guests, +for orientation and description of location. E.g. "He lives down by +Klempin's clapper," or "opposite Jahnke's clapper." Between the rafts +or wash benches were regular spaces devoted to piers, and here the +majority of the ships were moored, in the winter often three or four +rows. The crews were on shore at this time, and the only evidence that +the vessels were not wholly unguarded was a column of smoke rising +from the kitchen stovepipes, or, more often, a spitz-dog sitting on a +mound of sailcloth, if not on the top of his kennel, and barking at +the passersby. Then in the spring, when the Swine was again free from +ice, everything began at once, as though by magic, to show signs of +life, and the activity along the river indicated that the time for +sailing was again near. Then the ships' hulls were laid on their +sides, the better to examine them for possible injuries, and if any +were found, one could see the following day, at corresponding places +along the wharf, little fires made of chips of wood and raveled-out +bits of old hawsers, and over them tar was simmering in three-legged +iron pots. Beside these lay whole piles of oakum. And now the process +of calking began. Then, as noon approached, another pot, filled with +potatoes and bacon, was shoved into the fire, and many, many a time, +as I passed by here on my way, at this hour, I eagerly inhaled the +appetizing vapors, not in the least disturbed by the admixture of +pitch. Even in my old age I am still fond of regaling myself, or at +least my nerves, with the bitumen smoke that floats through our Berlin +streets, when they are being newly asphalted. + +In the spring and summer time activity was also resumed by the English +steam dredger, which lay in the middle of the river, and upon which it +was incumbent to clear the channel. The quantities of earth and slime +drawn up from the bottom were emptied at a shallow place in the river +and piled up so as to cause a little artificial island to come into +existence. A few years later this island was covered with a rank +growth of reeds and sedges, and in all probability it now supports +houses and establishments of the marine station, as evidence to all +those who saw the first third of the century, that times have changed +and we have been growing as a world power. + +For half an hour at a time, when possible, I watched the work of the +English dredger, whose engineer, an old Scotchman by the name of +Macdonald, was a special friend of mine. Who could have told then +that, a generation later, I should make a tour of his Scottish clan +and, under the guidance of a Maedonald, should visit the spot on the +island of Icolmkill, where, according to an old fiction, King Macbeth +lies buried. + +I watched also, with as much interest as the dredging, the mooring of +ships, when they came home from long voyages, some of them, such as +the Queen Luise, a marine trading vessel, from their voyages around +the world, which signified something in those days. My main vessel, +however, was the Mentor, which was said to have won the victory in a +fight with Chinese pirates. The pirates carried a long-barreled bronze +cannon which shot better than the rough cast-iron cannons of which the +Mentor had a few on board. Besides, the pirate boat was much swifter, +so that our Swinemünde trader soon found itself in a bad position. But +the captain was equal to the emergency. He had all his heavy cannons +moved to one side of the ship, then purposely moderated his speed, in +order to make it easier for his pursuers to catch up with him. And now +their boat was really alongside, and the pirates were already +preparing to climb over the side of the ship, when the captain of the +Mentor gave the preconcerted signal and the cannons rolled with all +force and swiftness from the one side of the ship to the other and the +weight of the heavy guns, carrying the thin wall before them, crushed +to pieces the boat lying below, already certain of victory, so that +every soul on board was lost. + +Such stories were always in the air and were associated, not only with +the ships lying along the "Bulwark," but occasionally also with the +houses on the opposite side. Further down the river both the houses +and the stories lost their charm, until, at the very end of the city, +one came to a large building standing back from the street, which +again aroused interest. This was the recently erected "Society House," +the meeting place not only for the summer bathers, but also, during +the season, for the leading people of the city, of whom no one, +perhaps, was more often seen there than my father. To be sure, his +frequent visits were really not made on account of the "Society House" +itself, least of all on account of the concerts and theatrical +performances given in it, to say nothing of the occasional balls,--no, +what attracted him and took him out there now and then even £or his +morning glass, was a pavilion standing close by the "Society House," +in which a major with a historical name and most affable manners, +dressed in a faultless blue frock coat with gold buttons, kept the +bank. This was only too often the resort of my father, who, when he +had lost a considerable sum and had correspondingly enriched the pot +of the bank keeper, instead of being out of sorts over it, simply drew +the inference that the keeping of the bank was a business that +produced sure gain, and the old major with the high white neckcloth +and the diamond pin was an extremely enviable man and, above all, one +very worthy of emulation. In such a career one got something out of +life. My father expressed such opinions, too, when he came home and +sat down late to dinner. This he did once in the presence of a +recently married sister of my mother, who was visiting in our home +during the bathing season. + +"But you are not going to-do that," she replied to his remarks. + +"Why not?" + +"Because there is no honor in it." + +"Hm, honor," he ejaculated, and began to drum upon the table with his +fingers; but, not having the courage to argue the question, he merely +turned his face away and left the table. + + * * * * * + +The city was very ugly and very handsome, and an equal contrast was, +to be observed in its inhabitants, at least with respect to their +moral qualities. Here, as in all seaports, there was a broad stratum +of human beings day in and day out under the influence of rum and +arrack, and they composed the main body of the population; but there +was also, as is quite general in seaports, a society of a materially +higher type spiritually, which overshadowed by far what one usually +met with in those days in the small cities of the inland provinces, +especially the Mark of Brandenburg, where the narrowest philistinism +held sway. That these inhabitants were so thoroughly free from +narrow-mindedness was without doubt due to a variety of causes, but +chiefly, perhaps, to the fact that the whole population was of a +pronounced international character. In the villages of the environs +there still lived presumably a certain number of the descendants of +the Wendic Pomeranian: aborigines of the days of Julin and Vineta. In +Swinemünde itself, especially in the upper stratum of society, there +was such a confusion of races that one came in contact with +representatives from all the nations of Northern Europe, Swedes, +Danes, Dutchmen, and Scotchmen, who had settled here at one time or +another, most of them, no doubt, at the beginning of the century, the +period when the hitherto unimportant city first began to grow and +prosper. + +The number of inhabitants, at the time of our arrival, was about four +thousand, of whom hardly a tenth were citizens of the city, and a +still very much smaller fraction entered into consideration socially. +What could be called, with more or less justice, the society of the +city was composed of not more than twenty families. These twenty +families, together with a few of the nobility, who came in from the +country to spend the winter, formed a private club, with headquarters +in the Olthoff Hall, and the club's membership was further enlarged, +as was the society of the city in general, by the dependents, or +retinue, of a few of the richest and most respected houses. These +protégés, half of them poor relatives, half bankrupt merchants, +were not always invited, but were, on all important convivial +occasions, designed to produce a deep impression, and their function +then was to submit to what the Englishmen call practical jokes, +during the second half of the banquet, the first half being, as a +usual thing, conspicuous for the remarkably proper conduct of the +company. When the time arrived for this part of the program all +bonds of pious awe were loosed and they proceeded with most daring +experiments, which my pen hesitates to record. On one occasion one of +these unfortunates--unfortunate because poor and dependent--had to +suffer a jaw tooth to be pulled out with the first pair of tongs that +could be found; but it must not be inferred that those who undertook +the operation were necessarily rough men. It was only a case where the +socially arrogant, who made themselves so generally conspicuous in +those days, especially under the stimulation of wine, did not hesitate +to take such liberties. In rich aristocratic houses in the country +they occasionally went to even greater extremes.... + +How did we live at our house? On the whole, well, far beyond our +station and our means. So far as the culinary department was +concerned, there were, to be sure, occasional strange periods; for +example, in the summer time, when, on account of the superabundant +yield of milk, the star of milk soup reigned supreme. Then everybody +struck, feigning lack of appetite. + +But these were only exceptional conditions, of short duration. +Ordinarily we were well and very sensibly fed, a thing which we owed +less to our mother than to our housekeeper, a Miss Schröder. Before +going any further I must tell about her. When we reached Swinemünde my +mother was still in Berlin taking treatment for her nerves, so that my +father was immediately confronted with the question, who should manage +the household in the interim. There were no local newspapers, so he +had to inquire around orally. After a few days a letter was brought by +messenger from the head forester's lodge at Pudagla, inquiring whether +the head forester's sister might offer us her services. She had +learned housekeeping in her brother's home. My father answered +immediately in the affirmative and for two days rejoiced in the +thought of being able to take into his home as housekeeper a sister of +a head forester, and from Pudagla, to boot. That afforded relief; he +felt honored. On the third day the Schröder girl drove up to our house +and was received by my father. He declared later that he had kept his +countenance, but I am not quite sure of it, in spite of the +possibility that his good heart and his politeness may have made the +victory over himself easier. The good Schröder girl, be it said, was a +pendant to the "princess with the death's head," who came to notice in +Berlin at about this time. What had caused the misfortune of the +latter (who was restored to her original appearance by Dieffenbach, by +a plastic surgical treatment, since become famous), I do not know. In +the case of the Schröder girl, however, it was the smallpox. Now what +is smallpox? Everybody has seen persons who have been afflicted with +smallpox, and has considered the expression, "the devil has threshed +peas on his or her face," more or less apt. At least the expression +has become proverbial. In this case, however, the proverbial phrase, +if applied, would have been mere glossing over, for the Schröder girl +had, not pits the size of peas, but scars half as broad as your hand, +a spectacle, the like of which I have never again encountered. Yet, as +already said, a contract was entered into, and a happier one was never +closed. The Schröder girl was a treasure, and when my mother came home +six weeks later she said: "You did well to take her, Louis; disfigured +as she is, her eyes have been spared, and they tell one that she is +faithful and reliable. And she is safe from love affairs, and we with +her. With her we shall have only pleasant experiences." + +And so it proved. So long as we remained in Swinemünde the Schröder +girl remained in our house, loved and respected by old and young, not +least of all by my father, who gave her particular credit for her +sense of justice and her candor, in spite of the fact that he +occasionally had to suffer severely because of these two qualities. +She was always waging war against him. In the first place, out of love +for my mother, for whom she came to be an eloquent advocate, in spite +of the fact that my mother was thoroughly able to defend herself, in +accordance with her maxim, "The best defense is a blow." In the second +place, she was the mistress of the pantry, which was intrusted to her +with most plenary powers, and my father was always undertaking +pillaging expeditions against it, not only to satisfy his own personal +wants, which she might have tolerated, even though he was capable of +consuming half a veal roast for his breakfast, without thinking +anything about it; but she objected strenuously to his raids for the +benefit of his pet chickens, dogs, and cats. We had two cats, Peter +and Petrine. Peter, also called Peter the Great, who might have been +mistaken for a young jaguar, was his special pet, and when this +beautiful animal followed him, purring, into the pantry, and he always +followed, there was no end to the dainty morsels given him. The best +was none too good. This wanton waste made the Schröder girl, faithful +soul that she was, fly into a rage, for she often saw her plans for +dinner completely upset. + +In the house she was indeed a treasure, but for us children, +especially me, she was even more than that, she was a real blessing. +The training we received from our parents advanced by fits and starts; +sometimes there was training and again there was none, and never any +thought of continuity. But the Schröder girl supplied the continuity. +She had no favorites, never allowed herself to be outwitted, and knew +just how to handle each one of us. As for me, she knew that I was +good-natured, but sensitive, proud, and under the control of a certain +degree of megalomania. These bad inclinations she wished to hold in +check, and so said to me times without number: "Yes, you think you are +a marvelous fellow, but you are only a childish boy, just like the +rest of them, only at times a bit worse. You always want to play the +young gentleman, but young gentlemen don't lick honey from their +plates, or at least don't deny it if they have done so, in fact they +never tell lies. Not long ago I heard you prating about honor, but I +want to tell you, _that_ doesn't look to me like honor." She insisted +upon truthfulness, treated boasting with fine ridicule, and was chary +of compliments. But when she did praise it was effective. She did me +many a good turn, and not until late in life, when I was past fifty, +did I meet another woman, this time an elderly lady, who exerted such +an educational influence upon me. Even now I am still taking lessons +and learn from people who are young enough to be my grandchildren. + +Thus much about the good Schröder girl, and after this digression in +memory of her I ask once more: "Well, how did we live?" I propose to +show how we lived, by means of a series of pictures, and in order to +introduce order and clarity into the description it will be well to +divide our life as we lived it into two halves, a summer life and a +winter life. + +First, then, there was the summer life. About the middle of June we +regularly had the house full of visitors; for my mother, in accordance +with the old custom, still kept in touch with her relatives, a trait +which we children only very imperfectly inherited from her. But let it +be understood, she kept in touch with her relatives, not to derive +advantages from them, but to bestow advantages. She was incredibly +generous, and there were times when we, after we had grown up, asked +ourselves the question, which passion really threatened us most, the +gaming passion of our father, or the giving and presenting passion of +our mother. But we finally discovered the answer to the question. What +our father did was simply money thrown away, whereas the excessive +amounts given away by our mother were always unselfishly given and +carried with them a quiet blessing. No doubt a certain desire to be, +so far as possible, a _grande dame_, if only in a very small degree, +had something to do with it, but then all our doings show some +elements of human weakness. Later in life, when we talked with her +about these things, she said: "Certainly, I might have refrained from +doing many things. We spent far more than our income. But I said to +myself: 'What there is will be spent anyhow, and so it is better for +it to go my way than the other.'" + +These summer months, from the middle of June on, were often made +especially charming by the numbers of visitors in our home, mostly +young women relatives from Berlin, who were both cheerful and +talkative. The household was then completely changed, for weeks at a +time, and, the hatchet being temporarily buried, merriment and playing +of sly tricks, with occasional boisterous pranks, became the order of +the day. The most brilliant performer in the fun-making competitions +that frequently arose was always my father himself. He was, as +handsome men often are, the absolute opposite of Don Juan, and proud +of his virtue. But by as much as he was unlike Don Juan, he was +charming as a Gascon, when it came to a spirited discussion of pert +and often most daring themes, with young ladies, of whom he made but +one requirement, that they be handsome, otherwise it was not worth his +while. I inherited from him this inclination to enter into subtle +discussions with ladies, in a jesting tone; indeed I have ever carried +this inclination over into my style of writing, and when I read +corresponding scenes in my novels and short stories it once in awhile +seems to me as though I heard my father speaking. Except with this +difference, that I fall far short of his felicitousness, as people who +had known him in his prime often told me, when he was over severity +and I was correspondingly along in years. I have frequently been +addressed in some such way as this: "Now see here, you do very well, +when you have your good days, but you can't compete with your father." +And that was certainly true. His small talk, born of bonhomie and at +the same time enlivened with fantastic lawyerly artifice, was simply +irresistible, even when dealing with business matters, in which as a +rule heartiness has no place. And yet his remarks on money matters had +a lasting effect, so that none of us children ever cherished the +slightest feeling of bitterness on account of his most remarkable +financial operations. My mother, however, was of too different a +nature to be easily converted or carried away by his social graces. +These matters were to her most repugnant when treated lightly and +jestingly. "Whatever is serious is not funny, that's all." But she +never disputed the fact that, as a happy humorist, he always succeeded +in drawing people over to his side, though she never failed to add: +"unfortunately." + +And now let us return to the summer visitors in our home. At times it +was rather difficult to furnish continual rounds of entertainment for +the young women, and would perhaps have proved impossible, if it had +not been for the horses. Almost every afternoon, when the weather was +good, the carriage drove up to our door, and such days during the +bathing season, when we were often almost completely overwhelmed with +visitors, were probably the only times when my mother, without in the +least sacrificing her fundamental convictions, was temporarily +reconciled to the existence of horse and carriage. Whoever knows +Swinemünde, and there are many who do know the place, is aware of the +fact that one is never embarrassed there for a beautiful spot to visit +on afternoon drives, and even in those days this was as true as it is +today. There was the trip along the beach to Heringsdorf, or, on the +other side, out to the moles; but the most popular drives, because +they afforded protection from the sun, were those back into the +country, either through the dense beech forest toward Corswant, or +better still to the village of Camminke, situated near the Haff of +Stettin and the Golm (mountain). There was a much frequented +skittle-alley there, where women played as well as men. I myself liked +to stand by the splintery lath trough, in which the skittle-boy rolled +back the balls. My only reason for choosing this position was because +I had heard a short time before that one of the players at this very +alley, in catching a ball as it rolled to him, had run a long lath +splinter under the nail of his index finger. That had made such an +impression on me that I always stood there shuddering for fear of a +repetition of the accident, which fortunately did not occur. When I +finally grew tired of waiting I stepped through a lattice gate, always +hanging aslant and always creaky, into a garden plot running along +close by the skittle-alley and parallel with it. It was a genuine +peasant's garden, with touch-me-nots and mignonette in bloom, and in +one place the mallows grew so tall that they formed a lane. Then when +the sun went down behind the forest the Golm, which lay to the west, +was bathed in red light, and the metal ball on its tall pillar looked +down, like a sphere of gold, upon the village and the skittle-garden. +Myriads of mosquitoes hung in the air, and the bumble bees flew back +and forth between the box-edged beds. + +Our visitors usually left at the beginning of August, and when +September came the last of the hotel guests departed from the city. +If anybody chose to remain longer it was inconvenient for the +landlords, in which connection the following scene occurred. A man, a +Berliner of course, on returning to his hotel, after accompanying some +departing friends to their steamer, sat down leisurely by his host and +hostess, rubbed his hands together, and said: "Well, Hoppensack, at +last the Berliners are all gone, or at least nearly all of them; now +we shall have a good time, now it will be cozy." He expected, of +course, that the host and hostess would agree with him most heartily. +But instead of that he found himself looking into long faces. Finally +he screwed up his courage and asked why they were so indifferent. +"Why, good heavens, Mr. Schünemann," said Hoppensack, "a recorder and +his wife came to us the last of May and now it is almost the middle of +September. We want to be alone again, you see." As Mrs. Hoppensack +nodded approvingly, there was nothing left for Schünemann to do but to +depart himself the next day. + +Not long after the last summer guests had gone the equinoctial storms +set in, and, if it was a bad year, they lasted on into November. First +the chestnuts fell, then the tiles rattled down from the roof, and +from the eaves-troughs, always placed with their outlets close by +bedroom windows, the rain splashed noisily down into the yard. In the +course of time, scattered clouds sailed across the clearing sky and +the air turned cold. Everybody felt the chilliness, and all day long +there was an old woodchopper at work in the shed. My father would +often go down to see him, take the ax and split wood for him a +half-hour at a time. + +Social activities were at a standstill during these late autumn days. +People were recovering from the strain of the summer season and +storing up strength for winter entertainments. Before these began +there was an interregnum of several weeks, the slaughtering and baking +times, the latter coinciding with the Christmas period. First came +the slaughtering of geese. A regular household without a goose-killing +time could hardly have been thought of. Many things had to be taken +into account. First of all, perhaps, were the feathers to make new +beds, which were always needed for guest chambers; but the chief +concern were the smoked goose-breasts, almost as important articles as +the hams and sides of bacon hanging in the chimney. Shortly before St. +Martin's day, if enough geese had been collected to supply the needs, +they were penned up for fattening, in the court, which gave rise to a +horrible cackling, well calculated to rob us of our night's rest for a +whole week. But a day was straightway set for the beginning of the +feast, about the middle of November. In the court, in a lean-to built +near the end of the house, and, strange to say, with a dove-cote over +it, was the servants' room, in which, beside the cook, two house-maids +slept, provided always they did any sleeping. The coachman was +supposed, according to a rule of the house, to occupy the straw-loft, +but was happy to forego the independence of these quarters, which went +with his position, preferring by his presence to crowd still worse the +already crowded space of the servants' room, in full accord with +Schiller's lines, + + + "Room is in the smallest hovel + For a happy, loving pair." + + +But when goose-killing time came it meant a very considerable further +overcrowding, for on the evening that the massacring was to begin +there was added to the number of persons usually quartered in the +servants' room a special force of old women, four or five in number, +who at other times earned a living at washing or weeding. + +Then the sacrificial festivities began, always late in the evening. +Through the wide-open door--open, because otherwise it would not have +been possible to endure the stifling air--the stars shone into the +smoky room, which was dimly lighted by a tallow candle, with always a +thief in the candle. Near the door stood in a semi-circle the five +slaughter priestesses, each with a goose between her knees, and as +they bored holes through the skullcaps of the poor fowls, with sharp +kitchen knives--a procedure, the necessity of which I have never +understood--they sang all sorts of folk-songs, the text of which +formed a strange contrast, as well to the murderous act as to the +mournful melody. At least one had to suppose this to be the case, for +the maids, who sat on the edge of the bed with their guest from the +straw-loft between them, followed the folksongs with never-ending +merriment, and at the passages that sounded specially mournful they +even burst into cheers. Both my parents were morally strict, and they +often discussed the question, whether there were not some way to put a +stop to this insolent conduct, but they finally gave it up. My father +had a lurking suspicion that such a custom had existed in antiquity, +and, after he-had looked the matter up, said: "It is a repetition of +ancient conditions, the Roman saturnalia, or, what amounts to the same +thing, a case where the servants temporarily lord it over the +so-called lords." When he had thus classified the occurrence +historically he was satisfied, the more so as the maids always amused +him the following morning by lowering their eyes in a most unusually +modest fashion. Then he would make fantastically extravagant remarks, +as though _Gil Blas_ had been his favorite book. That was not the +case, however. He read Walter Scott exclusively, for which I am +grateful to him even to this day, since, even then, a few crumbs fell +from his table for me. His favorite among all the works was _Quintin +Durward_, probably on account of its French subject. + +I have here further to add that the terrors of this goose-killing time +were by no means ended with the slaughter night and the mournful +melodies. On the contrary, they lasted at least three or four days +longer, for the slaughtering time was also the time when the giblets +dressed with goose-blood were served daily at our table, a dish which, +according to the Pomeranian view, stands unrivaled in the realm of +cookery. Furthermore my father considered it his duty to support the +view peculiar to this region, and, when the great steaming platter +appeared, would say: "Ah, that is fine! Just eat some of this; it is +the black soup of the Spartans, full of strength and stamina." But I +observed that he, along with the rest of us, picked out the dried +fruit and almond dumplings, leaving the nourishing gravy for the +servants outside, above all for the slaughtering and mourning women, +who by their boring operations had established the most legitimate +claim to it. + +About a fortnight later came the pig-killing, toward which my feeling +remained exactly the same as on that occasion when, hardly seven +years of age, I had fled from the city toward Alt-Ruppin, in +order to escape, not only the spectacle, but a whole gamut of +ear-and-heart-rending sounds. But I had meanwhile grown out of +childhood into boyhood, and a boy, whether he will or no, feels +honor-bound manfully to take everything that comes along, even if his +own deepest nature revolts against it. That the prospect of rice +pudding with raisins in it was a contributing factor in this comedy of +bravery, I am unable to say, for fond as I am of good things to eat, I +was always, during the weeks just preceding Christmas, half upset by +the smell of hot grease that drifted through the house. At least I +never had what could be called a really good appetite during this +period, despite the fact that it would have been particularly worth +while just then. Especially would such have been the case when, as +usually happened about the first of December, a stag was sent in from +the chief forester's and was hung up, eviscerated, as game usually is, +against the gable end of the servants' house. Day after day the cook +would go to this horrible gable ornament and cut out, first the +haunch, then the shoulders and legs, with the result that we always +heaved a sigh of relief when the glory of this venison was a thing of +the past. + +A far happier time was the baking week, which began with spice-nuts +and sugar cookies, and ended with bretzels, wreath-cakes, and cakes +baked on tins. Not only were we admitted to the bakeroom, where there +was a most alluring odor of bitter almonds and grated lemons; we also +received, as a foretaste of Christmas, a bountiful supply of little +cake-rolls, baked especially for us children. "I know," said my +mother, "that the children will upset their stomachs eating them, but +even that is better than that they should be restricted to too low a +diet. They shall have joyful holiday feeling during all these days, +and nothing can give it to them better than holiday cakes." There is +something in that view, and it may be absolutely right if the children +are thoroughly robust. But we were not so robust that the principle +could be applied to us without modification. And so, about Christmas +time, I was always much given to crying. + +On New Year's Eve there was a club ball, which I, being the oldest +child, was allowed to witness. I took my position in one corner of the +hall and looked on with vacillating feelings. When the dancing couples +whirled past me I was happy, on the one hand, because I was permitted +to stand there as a sort of guest and share in the pleasure with my +eyes, and yet, on the other hand, I was unhappy, because I was merely +an onlooker instead of a participator in the dance. My personal +insignificance weighed heavy upon me, doubly heavy because of the +gastric condition I was regularly in at this reason, and it continued +so until the nightwatchman, wrapped in his long blue cloak, came into +the hall at midnight and, after blowing a preliminary signal on his +horn, wished everybody a happy New Year. Then, as if by magic, my +feeling of sentimentality vanished entirely, and I was carried away by +the comic grotesqueness of the scene, and soon regained my freedom and +buoyancy of spirit. + +Just about this time social activities began, taking the form of a +series of weekly feasts, many of which resembled that of Belshazzar, +in so far as a spirit hand was at the very time writing the bankruptcy +of the host upon the wall. However, my knowledge of the details of +these feasts was derived only from hearsay. But any special banquets, +whether great or small, that fell to the lot of our own house I saw +with my own eyes and it is about these that I now propose to tell. + +When it came our turn to entertain, the whole house was pervaded with +a feeling of solemnity, which had a certain similarity to the feeling +at the time of a wedding. Furthermore, a parallel to the tripartite +division into wedding-eve celebration, wedding day, and the day after, +appeared in the form of preparation day, real feast-day, and eating of +the remnants. Which of these three days deserved the prize may remain +an open question, but I am inclined to believe I liked the first the +best. To be sure, it was unepicurean and called for much +self-restraint, but it was rich in anticipation of glorious things to +come. + +On this day of preparation the widow Gaster, a celebrated cook, came +to our house, as she did to all other houses on similar occasions. Her +personal appearance united complacence with dignity, and by virtue of +this latter quality she was received with respect and unlimited +confidence. Because of a dislike, easily understood, for all the +things she had to prepare day in and day out, especially sweets, she +lived-almost exclusively on red wine, deriving the little other +sustenance she needed from the vapors of hot grease, with which she +was continually surrounded. Her arrival at our house was always a +signal for me to plant myself near the kitchen, where everything that +took place could be observed and, incidentally, admired. It was always +her first task to bake a tree-cake on a spit. She kept a record of all +the tree-cakes she baked, and when the number reached a thousand the +housewives of Swinemünde gave her a well-deserved feast in celebration +of the achievement. To be sure, tree-cakes are to be had even today, +but they are degenerations, weak, spongy, and pale-cheeked, whereas in +those days they had a happy firmness, which in the most successful +specimens rose to crispness, accompanied by a scale of colors running +from the darkest ocher to the brightest yellow. It always gave me +great pleasure to watch a tree-cake come into being. Toward the back +wall of a huge fireplace stood a low half-dome, built of bricks, the +top projecting forward like a roof, the bottom slanting toward the +back. Along this slanting part was built a narrow charcoal fire about +four feet long and by it were placed two small iron supports, upon +which a roasting spit was laid, with a contrivance for turning it. +However, the spit resting upon the supports proved to be something +more than a mere rod. In fact the spit itself was run lengthwise +through a hollow wooden cone, which had a covering of greased paper +over its outer surface, and the purpose of which was to form a core +for the tree-cake. Then, with a tin spoon fastened upon a long stick, +the cook began to pour on a thin batter, which at first dripped off in +a way that made the method of application appear futile, and this +continued for a considerable length of time. But from the moment that +the batter became more consistent, and the dripping slower, hope began +to revive, and in a few hours the splendidly browned and copiously +jagged tree-cake was taken off the wooden cone. All this had a +symbolical significance. The successful completion of this _pièce de +résistance_ inspired confidence in the success of the feast itself. +The tree-cake cast the horoscope, so to speak, of the whole affair. + +I shall pass over the kitchen activities on the day of the +entertainment and describe instead the feast itself. Along extension +table was moved into my mother's parlor--the only room available for +the purpose--and soon stood well set in front of the moire sofa with +the three hundred silver studs. The guests were not seated at the +table till the candles were lit. The man who presided over the banquet +always sat with his back toward the Schinkel mirror, whereas all the +other guests could, with little or no inconvenience, observe +themselves in the glass. + +So far as I can recall they were always gentlemen's dinner parties, +with twelve or fourteen persons, and only on rare occasions did my +mother appear at the table, then usually accompanied by her sister, +who often visited us for months at a time in the winter season and was +in those days still very young and handsome. It was always a specially +difficult matter to assign her a suitable place, and only when old Mr. +von Flemming and Privy Councillor Kind were present was she in any +degree safe from extremely ardent attentions. It was almost impossible +to protect her from such attentions. The men had respect for virtue, +perhaps, though I have my doubts even about that, but virtuous airs +were considered in bad taste, and where was the line to be drawn +between reality and appearance? That the ladies retired from the table +toward the end of the meal and appeared again only for a brief quarter +of an hour to do the honors at coffee, goes without saying. + +I have spoken above of the culinary art of good Mrs. Gaster, but in +spite of that art the bill of fare was really simple, especially in +comparison with the luxury prevalent nowadays at dinner parties. +Simple, I say, and yet stable. No man was willing to fall behind a set +standard, nor did he care to go beyond it. The soup was followed by a +fish course, and that, without fail, by French turnips and smoked +goose-breast. Then came a huge roast, and finally a sweet dish, with +fruits, spice-cakes, and Königsberg marchpane. An almost greater +simplicity prevailed with respect to the wines. After the soup sherry +was passed. Then a red wine of moderate price and moderate quality +gained the ascendant and held sway till coffee was served. So the +peculiar feature of these festivities did not lie in the materials +consumed, but, strange to say, in a certain spiritual element, in the +tone that prevailed. This varied considerably, when we take into +account the beginning and the end. The beginning was marked by toasts +in fine style, and occasionally, especially if the feast was at the +same time a family party--a birthday celebration or something of the +sort--there were even verses, which from the point of view of +regularity of form and cleverness of ideas left nothing to be desired. +Only recently I found among my father's papers some of these literary +efforts and was astonished to see how good they were. Humor, wit, and +playing on words were never lacking. There were special occasions when +even deep emotion, was expressed and then those who were farthest from +having a proper feeling, but nearest to a state of delirium, arose +regularly from their seats and marched up to the speaker to embrace +and kiss him. This kissing scene always denoted the beginning of the +second half of the feast. The further the dinner advanced the freer +became the conversation, and, when it had reached the stage where all +feeling of restraint was cast aside, the most insolent and often the +rudest badgering was indulged in, or, if for any reason this was not +allowed, the company began to rally certain individuals, or, as we +might say, began to poke fun at them. One of the choicest victims of +this favorite occupation of the whole round table was my papa. It had +long been known that when it was a question of conversation he had +three hobbies, viz., personal ranks and decorations in the Prussian +State, the population of all cities and hamlets according to the +latest census, and the names and ducal titles of the French marshals, +including an unlimited number of Napoleonic anecdotes, the latter +usually in the original. Occasionally this original version was +disputed from the point of view of sentence structure and grammar, +whereupon my father, when driven into a corner, would reply with +imperturbable repose: "My French feeling tells me that it must be +thus, thus and not otherwise," a declaration which naturally served +but to increase the hilarity. + +Yes, indeed, Napoleon and his marshals! My father's knowledge in this +field was simply stupendous, and I wager there was not in that day a +single historian, nor is there any now, who, so far as French war +stories and personal anecdotes of the period from Marengo to Waterloo +are concerned, would have been in any sense of the word qualified to +enter into competition with him. Where he got all his material is an +enigma to me. The only explanation I can offer is that he had in his +memory a pigeonhole, into which fell naturally everything he found +that appealed to his passion, in his constant reading of journals and +miscellanies. + + * * * * * + +When we had been safely lodged, at Midsummer, 1827, in the house with +the gigantic roof and the wooden eavestrough, into which my father +could easily lay his hand, this question immediately presented itself: +"What is to become of the children now? To what school shall we send +them?" If my mother had been there a solution of the problem would +doubtless have been found, one that would have had due regard for what +was befitting our station, at least, if not for what we should learn. +But since my mama, as already stated, had remained in Berlin to +receive treatment for her nerves, the decision rested with my father, +and he settled the matter in short order, presumably after some such +characteristic soliloquy as follows: "The city has only one school, +the city school, and as the city school is the only one, it is +consequently the best." No sooner thought than done. Before a week was +passed I was a pupil of the city school. About the school I remember +very little, only that there was a large room with a blackboard, +stifling air in spite of the fact that the windows were always open, +and an endless number of boys in baize and linen jackets, unkempt and +barefoot, or in wooden shoes, which made a fearful noise. It was very +sad. But even then, as unfortunately in later years, I had so few +pleasing illusions about going to school that the conditions +previously described to me did not appear specially dreadful when I +became personally acquainted with them. I simply supposed that things +had to be thus. But toward autumn, when my mother arrived on the scene +and saw me coming home from school with the wooden-shoe boys, she was +beside herself and cast an anxious glance at my hair, which she +doubtless thought she could not well trust in such company. She then +had one of her heart-to-heart talks with my father, who was probably +told that he had again taken only himself into consideration. That +same day my withdrawal from school was announced to Rector Beda, who +lived diagonally across the street from us. He was not angry at the +announcement, declared, on the contrary, to my mother that "he had +really been surprised. * * *" Thus far all was well. Just criticism +had been exercised and action had been taken in accord with it. But +now that it was necessary to find something better to substitute for +the school, even my mother was at her wits' end. Teachers seemed to +be, or were in fact, lacking, and as it had been impossible in so +short a time to establish relations to the good families of the city, +it was decided for the present to let me grow up wild and calmly to +wait till something turned up. But to prevent my lapsing into dense +ignorance I was to read an hour daily to my mother and learn some +Latin and French words from my father, in addition to geography and +history. + +"Will you be equal to that, Louis?" my mother had asked. + +"Equal to? What do you mean by 'equal to?' Of course I am equal to it. +Your same old lack of confidence in me." + +"Not twenty-four hours ago you yourself were full of doubt about it." + +"I presume the plan did not appeal to me then. But if it must be, I +understand the Prussian pharmacopoeia as well as anybody, and in my +parents' house French was spoken. As for the rest, to speak of it +would be ridiculous. You know that in such things I am more than a +match for ten graduates." + +As a matter of fact he really gave me lessons, which, I may say in +advance, were kept up even after the need of them no longer existed, +and, peculiar as these lessons were, I learned more from them than +from many a famous teacher. My father picked out quite arbitrarily the +things he had long known by heart or, perhaps, had just read the same +day, and vitalized geography with history, always, of course, in such +a way that in the end his favorite themes were given due prominence. +For example: + +"Do you know about East and West Prussia?" + +"Yes, papa; that is the country after which Prussia is called Prussia +and after which we are all called Prussians." + +"Very good, very good; a little too much Prussia, but that doesn't +matter. And do you also know the capitals of the two provinces?" + +"Yes, papa; Königsberg and Danzig." + +"Very good. I myself have been in Danzig, and came near going to +Königsberg, too, but something intervened. Have you ever heard +perchance who it was that finally captured Danzig after the brave +defense of our General Kalckreuth?" + +"No, papa." + +"Well, it is not to be expected. Very few people do know it, and the +so-called higher educated never know it. Well, it was General Lefèvre, +a man of rare bravery, upon whom Napoleon later bestowed the title of +_Duc de Dantzic_, spelled with a final c, in which regard the +languages differ. That was in the year 1807." + +"After the battle of Jena?" + +"Yes, it may be put that way; but only in the same sense as if you +were to say, it was after the Seven Years' War." + +"I don't understand, papa." + +"Doesn't matter. I mean, Jena was too long ago. But one might say it +was after the battle of Prussian Eylau, a fearfully bloody battle, in +which the Russian Guard was almost annihilated, and in which Napoleon, +before surrendering, said to his favorite Duroc: 'Duroc, today I have +made the acquaintance of the sixth great power of Europe, _la boue_.'" + +"What does that mean?" + +"_La boue_ means the mud. But one can express it more strongly in +German, and I am inclined to think that Napoleon, who, when he felt +like it, had something cynical about him, really meant this stronger +expression." + +"What is cynical?" + +"Cynical--hm, cynical--it is a word often used, and one might say, +cynical is the same as rough or brutal. But I presume it may be +defined more accurately. We will look it up later in the encyclopedia. +It is well to be informed about such things, but one does not need to +know everything on the spur of the moment." + +Such was the character of the geography lessons, always ending with +historical anecdotes. But he preferred to begin at once with history, +or what seemed to him history. And here I must mention his pronounced +fondness for all the events and the persons concerned in them between +the siege of Toulon and the imprisonment on the island of St. Helena. +He was always reverting to these persons and things. I have elsewhere +named his favorites, with Ney and Lannes at the head of the list, but +in that enumeration I forgot to mention one man, who stood perhaps +nearer to his heart than these, namely, Latour d'Auvergne, of whom he +had told me any number of anecdotes back in our Ruppin days. These +were now repeated. According to the new stories Latour d'Auvergne bore +the title of the "First Grenadier of France," because in spite of his +rank of general he always stood in the rank and file, next to the +right file-leader of the Old Guard. Then when he fell, in the battle +of Neuburg, Napoleon gave orders that the heart of the "First +Grenadier" be placed in an urn and carried along with the troop, and +that his name, Latour d'Auvergne, be regularly called at every +roll-call, and the soldier serving as file-leader be instructed to +answer in his stead and tell where he was. This was about what I had +long ago learned by heart from my father's stories; but his fondness +for this hero was so great that, whenever it was at all possible, he +returned to him and asked the same questions. Or, to be more accurate, +the same scene was enacted, for it was a scene. + +"Do you know Latour d'Auvergne?" he usually began. + +"Certainly. He was the First Grenadier of France." + +"Good. And do you also know how he was honored after he was dead?" + +"Certainly." + +"Then tell me how it was." + +"Very well; but you must first stand up, papa, and be file-leader, or +I can't do it." + +Then he would actually rise from his seat on the sofa and in true +military fashion take his position before me as file-leader of the Old +Guard, while I myself, little stick-in-the-mud that I was, assumed the +part of the roll-calling officer. Then I began to call the names: + +"Latour d'Auvergne!" + +"He is not here," answered my father in a basso profundo voice. + +"Where is he, pray?" + +"He died on the field of honor." + +Once in awhile my mother attended these peculiar lessons--the one +about Latour, however, was never ventured in her presence--and she did +not fail to give us to understand, by her looks, that she considered +this whole method, which my father with an inimitable expression of +countenance called his "Socratic method," exceedingly dubious. But +she, by nature wholly conventional, not only in this particular, but +in others, was absolutely wrong, for, to repeat, I owe in fact to +these lessons, and the similar conversations growing out of them, all +the best things, at least all the most practical things, I know. Of +all that my father was able to teach me nothing has been forgotten and +nothing has proved useless for my purposes. Not only have these +stories been of hundredfold benefit to me socially throughout my long +life, they have also, in my writing, been ever at hand as a Golden +Treasury, and if I were asked, to what teacher I felt most deeply +indebted, I should have to reply: to my father, my father, who knew +nothing at all, so to speak, but, with his wealth of anecdotes picked +up from newspapers and magazines, and covering every variety of theme, +gave me infinitely more help than all my _Gymnasium_ and _Realschule_ +teachers put together. What information these men offered me, even if +it was good, has been for the most part forgotten; but the stories of +Ney and Rapp have remained fresh in my memory to the present hour. + +My father's method, which, much as I feel indebted to it, was after +all somewhat peculiar and utterly devoid of logic and consistency, +would in all probability have led to violent quarrels between my +parents, if my critical mother, who saw only its weaknesses and none +of its virtues, had attached any special significance to it in +general. But that was not the case. She only felt that my father's way +of teaching was totally different from the usual way, in that it would +not lead to many practical results, i.e., would not give me much +preparation for an examination, and in this respect she was perfectly +right. However, as she herself attached so little value to knowledge +in general, she contented herself with smiling at the "Socratic +method," as she saw no reason for becoming seriously wrought up over +it. According to her honest conviction there were other things in life +of far greater importance than knowledge, to say nothing of erudition, +and these other things were: a good appearance and good manners. That +her children should all present a good appearance was with her an +article of faith, so to speak, and she considered it a natural +consequence of their good appearance that they either already had or +would acquire good manners. So the only essential was to present a +good appearance. Serious studies seemed to her not a help, but, on the +contrary, a hindrance to happiness, that is to say, real happiness, +which she looked upon as inseparable from money and property. A +hundred-thousand-dollar man _was_ something, and she respected, even +honored him, whereas chief judges and councillors of the chancery +commanded very little respect from her, and would have commanded even +less, if the State, which she did respect, had not stood behind them. +She was incapable of bowing in good faith to any so-called spiritual +authority, not because she cherished too exalted an opinion of +herself--she was, on the contrary, entirely without vanity and +arrogance--but solely because, constituted as she was, she could not +recognize an authority of knowledge, much less of erudition, in a +practical field of life--and with her the non-practical fields never +entered into consideration. + +I still remember the time, some twenty years after the events just +narrated, when my parents were thinking of separating and of +eventually being divorced. A separation actually came about, the +divorce idea was dropped. But the latter was for a time considered in +all seriousness, and a friend of our family, Pastor Schultz, the then +preacher at Bethany, who made a specialty of divorce questions--it was +in the reign of Frederick William IV., when such problems were treated +with revived dogmatic severity--Pastor Schultz, I say, opposed the +plan, as soon as he heard of it, with all his power and eloquence. My +mother had a great deal of admiration for him and knew, besides, the +respect he enjoyed of "those highest in authority," and "those highest +in authority" meant something to her; nevertheless his severe +presentation of the matter made not the slightest impression upon her; +in fact his argument was so fruitless that, as soon as he finished, +she said with a reposeful air of superiority: "My dear Schultz, you +understand this question thoroughly; but whether or not I have a right +to secure a divorce is a question which no human being in the whole +world can answer so well as I myself." With that she closed the +conversation. + +She was similarly skeptical of every kind of authority, and had no +confidence whatever in the ability of the three university faculties. +For example, since patriarchal conditions were her ideal, she +questioned whether mankind derived any material advantages from +jurisprudence. It settled everything, as she thought, by favoritism or +personal advantage, or at least in a mechanical way. Riches, property, +especially landed property, accompanied if possible by the airs of a +legation attaché--_that_ was something that unlocked the world and +the hearts of men, that was real power. Everything else was comedy, +illusion, a soap-bubble, that threatened to burst any moment. And then +nothing was left. One can readily understand why my mother, with such +views, insisted upon taking me out of the barefoot school, and did not +consider an interim, with no regular school instruction, any special +misfortune. The evil in it was that it violated the rule. As for the +rest, the little bit of learning lost could be made up at any time. +And if not, then not.... + +It is a pretty saying that every child has its angel, and one does not +need to be very credulous to believe it. For the little tots this +angel is a fairy, enveloped in a long white lily veil, which stands +smiling at the foot of a cradle and either wards off danger or helps +out of it when it is really at hand. That is the fairy for the little +ones. But when one has outgrown the cradle or crib, and has begun to +sleep in a regular bed, in other words, when one has become a robust +boy, one still needs his angel just the same, indeed the need is all +the greater. But instead of the lily angel it needs to be a sort of +archangel, a strong, manly angel, with shield and spear, otherwise his +strength will not suffice for his growing tasks. + +As a matter of fact, I was not wild and venturesome, and all my +escapades that were attributed to me as of such a nature were always +undertaken after a wise estimate of my strength. Nevertheless I have, +with respect to that period, a feeling that I was constantly being +rescued, a feeling in which I can hardly be in error. When I left home +at the age of twelve, the age at which, as a usual thing, real dangers +begin, there was doubtless a sudden change in my case, for it now +seems to me as though my angel had had a vacation from that time on. +All dangers ceased entirely or shrank into such insignificance that +they left no impression upon me. In view of the fact that the two +periods were so close together, there must have been this difference, +otherwise I should not have retained such entirely different feelings +about them. + +It was one of our chief sports to fire off so-called shooting-keys. +That the children of large cities know anything about shooting-keys is +hardly probable, hence I may be permitted to describe them here. They +were hollow keys with very thin walls, consequently of enormous bore, +so to speak, and were used to lock trunks, especially the trunks of +servant girls. It was our constant endeavor to gain possession of such +keys and at times our expeditions were nothing short of piracy. Woe be +unto the poor servant girl who forgot to take a key out of its lock! +She never saw it again. We took possession of it, and the simple +procedure of filing out a touchhole produced a finished firearm. As +these keys were always rusty, and occasionally split, it not +infrequently happened that they burst; but we always escaped injury. +The angel helped. + +Much more dangerous was the art of making fireworks, which I was +always practicing. With the help of sulphur and saltpeter, which we +kept in a convenient place in the apothecary's shop, I had made of +myself a full-fledged pyrotechnician, in which process I was very +materially aided by my skill in the manipulation of cardboard and +paste. All sorts of shells were easily made, and so I produced +Catherine-wheels, revolving suns, and flower-pots. Often these +creations refused to perform the duty expected of them, and then we +piled them up and, by means of a sulphurated match, touched off the +whole heap of miscarried glory and waited to see what it would do. +This was all done with comparatively little danger. Fraught with all +the more danger for us was the thing which was considered the simplest +and lowest product of the art of pyrotechnics, and was so rated by us, +viz., the serpent. Very often the serpents I made would not burn +properly, because I had not used the right mixture, no doubt, and that +always vexed me greatly. When a Catherine-wheel refused to turn, that +could at least be tolerated, for a Catherine-wheel is a comparatively +difficult thing to make. A serpent, on the other hand, could not well +help burning, and when, for all that, one simply would not burn, that +was a humiliation that could not be suffered. So I would bend over the +shells as they stuck in the pile of sand and begin to blow, in order +to give new life to the dying tinder fire. When it went out entirely, +that was really the best thing for me. But if it went off suddenly, my +hair was singed or my forehead burned. Nothing worse ever happened, +for the angel was protecting me with his shield. + +That was the element of fire. But we also came in contact with water, +which was not to be wondered at in a seaport. + +In the autumn of 1831 a Berlin relative made me a present of a cannon, +not just an ordinary child's plaything, such as can be bought of any +coppersmith or tinner, but a so-called pattern-cannon, such as is seen +only in arsenals,--a splendid specimen, of great beauty and elegance, +the carriage firm and neat, the barrel highly polished and about a +foot and a half long. I was more than delighted, and determined to +proceed at once to a bombardment of Swinemünde. Two boys of my age and +my younger brother climbed with me into a boat lying at Klempin's +Clapper, and we rowed down-stream, with the cannon in the bow. When we +were about opposite the Society House I considered that the time had +arrived for the beginning of the bombardment, and fired three shots, +waiting after each shot to see whether the people on the "Bulwark" +took notice of us, and whether they showed due respect for the +seriousness of our actions. But neither of these things happened. A +thing that did happen, however, was that we meanwhile got out into the +current, were caught by it and carried away, and when we suddenly saw +ourselves between the embankments of the moles, I was suddenly seized +with a terrible fright. I realized that, if we kept on in this way, in +ten minutes more we should be out at sea and might drift away toward +Bornholm and the Swedish coast. It was a desperate situation, and we +finally resorted to the least brave, but most sensible, means +imaginable, and began to scream with all our might, all the time +beckoning and waving various objects, showing on the whole +considerable cleverness in the invention of distress signals. At last +we attracted the attention of some pilots standing on the West mole, +who shook their fingers threateningly at us, but finally, with smiling +countenances, threw us a rope. That rescued us from danger. One of the +pilots knew me; his son was one of my playmates. This doubtless +accounts for the fact that the seamen dismissed us with a few +epithets, which might have been worse. I took my cannon under my arm, +but not without having the satisfaction of seeing it admired. Then I +went home, after promising to send out Hans Ketelböter, a lusty +sailor-boy who lived quite near our home, to row back the boat, which +was meanwhile moored to a pile. + +This was the most unique among my adventures with water, but by no +means the most dangerous. The most dangerous was at the same time the +most ordinary, because it recurred every time I went swimming in the +sea. Any one who knows the Baltic seaside resorts, knows the so-called +"reffs." By "reffs" are meant the sandbanks running parallel to the +beach, out a hundred or two hundred paces, and often with very little +water washing over them. Upon these the swimmers can stand and rest, +when, they have crossed the deep places lying between them and the +shore. In order that they may know exactly where these shallow places +are, little red banners are hoisted over the sandbanks. Here lay for +me a daily temptation. When the sea was calm and everything normal, my +skill as a swimmer was just sufficient to carry me safely over the +deep places to the nearest sandbank. But if the conditions were less +favorable, or if by chance I let myself down too soon, so that I had +no solid ground beneath my feet, I was frightened, sometimes almost to +death. Luckily I always managed to get out, though not by myself. +Strength and help came from some other source. + +Another danger of water which I was destined to undergo had no +connection with the sea, but occurred on the river, close by the +"Bulwark," not five hundred paces from our house. I shall tell about +it later; but first I wish to insert here another little occurrence, +in which no help of an angel was needed. + +I was not good at swimming, nor at steering or rowing; but one of the +things I could do well, very well indeed, was walking on stilts. +According to our family tradition we came from the region of +Montpelier, whereas I personally ought by rights to be able, in view +of my virtuosity as a stilt-walker, to trace my ancestry back to the +Landes, where the inhabitants are, so to speak, grown fast to their +stilts, and hardly take them off when they go to bed. To make a long +story short, I was a brilliant stilt-walker, and in comparison with +those of the western Garonne region, the home of the very low stilts, +I had the advantage that I could not get my buskins high enough to +suit me, for the little blocks of wood fastened on the inner side of +my stilts were some three feet high. By taking a quick start and +running the ends of the two poles slantingly into the ground I was +able to swing myself without fail upon the stilt-blocks and to begin +immediately my giant stride. Ordinarily this was an unremunerative +art, but on a few occasions I derived real profit from it, when my +stilts enabled me to escape storms that were about to break over my +head. That was in the days just after Captain Ferber, who had served +out his time with the "Neufchâtellers," retired on a pension and moved +to Swinemünde. Ferber, whom the Swinemünders called Teinturier, the +French translation of his name, because of his relation to Neufchâtel, +came of a very good family, was, if I mistake not, the son of a high +official in the ministry of finance, who could boast of long-standing +relations to the Berlin Court, dating back to the war times of the +year 1813. This was no doubt the reason why the son, in spite of the +fact that he did not belong to the nobility and was of German +extraction--the Neufchâtel officers were in those days still for the +most part French-Swiss--was permitted to serve with the élite +battalion, where he was well liked, because he was clever, a good +comrade, and an author besides. He wrote novelettes after the fashions +then in vogue. But in spite of his popularity he could not hold his +position, because his fondness for coffee and cognac, which soon +became restricted to the latter, grew upon him so rapidly that he was +forced to retire. His removal to Swinemünde was doubtless due to the +fact that seaports are better suited for such passions than are inland +cities. Fondness for cognac attracts less attention. + +Whatever his reason may have been, however, Ferber was soon as popular +in his new place of residence as previously in Berlin, for he had that +kindliness of character which is the "dearest child of the +dram-bottle." He was very fond of my father, who reciprocated the +sentiment. But this friendship did not spring up at the very beginning +of their acquaintance. In fact it developed out of a little +controversy between them, that is to say, a defeat sustained by my +father, one of whose amiable peculiarities it was, within twenty-four +hours at the latest to convert his anger at being put to flight, into +approbation bordering on homage for the victor. + +His defeat came about thus. One day the assertion was made by Ferber, +that, whether we liked it or not, a German must be looked upon as the +"father of the French Revolution," for Minister Necker, though born in +Geneva, was the son or grandson of a Küstrin postmaster. This seemed +to my father a perfectly preposterous assertion, and he combated it +with a rather supercilious mien, till it was finally shown to be +substantially correct. Then my father's arrogance, growing out of a +conviction of his superior knowledge, was transformed first into +respect and later into friendship, and even twenty years after, +whenever we drove from our Oderbruch village to the neighboring city +of Küstrin, he never had much to say about Crown Prince Fritz, or +Katte's decapitation, but regularly remarked: "Oh yes, Necker, who may +be called the father of the French Revolution, traced his ancestry +back to this city of Küstrin. I owe the information to Ferber, Captain +Ferber, whom we called Teinturier. It is a pity he could not give up +his _aqua vitæ_. At times it was pitiable." + +Yes, pitiable it was, but not to us children, who, on the contrary, +always broke out into cheers whenever the captain, usually in rather +desolate costume, came staggering up the Great Church Street to find a +place to continue his breakfast. We used to follow close behind him +and tease and taunt him till he would try to catch and thrash one or +the other of us. Occasionally he succeeded; but I always escaped with +ease, because I chose for my teasings only days when it had rained a +short time before. Then there stood in the street between our house +and the church on the other side a huge pool of water, which became my +harbor of refuge. Holding my stilts at the proper angle, I sprang +quickly upon them as soon as I saw that Teinturier, in spite of his +condition, was close on my heels, and then I marched triumphantly into +the pool of water. There I stood like a stork on one stilt and +presented arms with the other, as I continued scoffing at him. Cursing +and threatening he marched away, the poor captain. But he took care +not to make good his threats, because in his good moments he did not +like to be reminded of the bad ones. + +We had several playgrounds. The one we liked best perhaps was along +the "Bulwark," at the point where the side street branched off from +our house. The whole surroundings were very picturesque, especially in +the winter time, when the ships, stripped of their topmasts, lay at +their moorings, often in three rows, the last pretty far out in the +river. We were allowed to play along the "Bulwark" and practice our +rope-walking art on the stretched hawsers as far as they hung close to +the ground. Only one thing was prohibited. We were not allowed to go +on board the ships, much less to climb the rope ladders to the +mastheads. A very sensible prohibition. But the more sensible it was, +the greater was our desire to disregard it, and in the game of "robber +and wayfarer," of which we were all very fond, disregarding of this +prohibition was almost a matter of course. Furthermore, discovery lay +beyond the range of probability; our parents were either at their +"party" or invited to dine out. "So let's go ahead. If anybody tells +on us, he will be worse off than we." + +So we thought one Sunday in April, 1831. It must have been about that +time of year, for I can still recall the clear, cold tone of the +atmosphere. On the ship there was not a sign of life, and on the +"Bulwark" not a human soul to be seen, which further proves to me that +it was a Sunday. + +I, being the oldest and strongest, was the robber, of course. Of the +eight or ten smaller boys only one was in any measure able to compete +with me. That was an illegitimate child, called Fritz Ehrlich +(Honorable), as though to compensate him for his birth. These boys had +set out from the Church Square, the usual starting-point of the chase, +and were already close after me. I arrived at the "Bulwark" exhausted, +and, as there was no other way of escape, ran over a firm broad plank +walk toward the nearest ship, with the whole pack after me. This +naturally forced me to go on from the first ship to the second and +from the second to the third. There was no going any further, and if I +wished, in spite of this dilemma, to escape my enemies, there was +nothing left for me but to seek a hiding-place on the ship itself, or +at least a spot difficult of access. I found such a place and climbed +up about the height of a man to the top of the superstructure near the +cabin. In this superstructure was usually to be found, among other +rooms, the ship's cuisine. My climbing was facilitated by steps built +in the perpendicular wall. And there I stood then, temporarily safe, +gazing down as a victor at my pursuers. But the sense of victory did +not last long; the steps were there for others as well as for me, and +an instant later Fritz Ehrlich was also on the roof. Now I was indeed +lost if I foiled to find another way of escape. So, summoning all my +strength, I took as long a running start as the narrow space would +permit and sprang from the roof of the kitchen over the intervening +strip of water back to the second ship and then ran for the shore, as +though chased by all the furies. When I had reached the shore it was +nothing to run to the base in front of our house and be free. But I +was destined not to enjoy my happiness very long, for almost the very +moment I once more had solid ground beneath my feet I heard cries of +distress coming from the third and second ships, and my name called +repeatedly, which made me think something must have happened. Swiftly +as I had made for the shore over the noisy plank walk, I now hastened +back over it. There was no time to lose. Fritz Ehrlich had tried to +imitate my leap from the kitchen, but, failing to equal my distance, +had fallen into the water between the ships. And there the poor boy +was, digging his nails into the cracks in the ship's hull. Swimming +was out of the question, even if he knew anything about it. Besides, +the water was icy cold. To reach him from the deck with the means at +hand was impossible. So I grasped a piece of rope hanging from a rope +ladder and, letting myself down the side of the ship, tried every way +I could think of to lengthen my body as much as possible, till finally +Fritz was barely able to catch hold of my left foot, which reached +furthest down, while I held on above with my right hand. "Take hold, +Fritz!" But the doughty fellow, who may have realized that we should +both be lost if he really took a firm hold, contented himself with +laying his hand lightly upon the toe of my boot, and little as that +was, it nevertheless sufficed to keep his head above water. To be +sure, he may have been by natural endowment a "water treader," as they +are called; or he may have had the traditional luck of the +illegitimate, which seems to me on second thought more probable. In +any case he kept afloat till some people came from the shore and +reached a punt-pole down to him, while some others untied a boat +lying at Hannemann's Clapper and rowed it into the space between the +ships to fish him out. The moment that the saving punt-pole arrived +some man unknown to me reached down from the ladder, seized me by the +collar, and with a vigorous jerk hoisted me back on deck. + +On this occasion not a word of reproach was uttered, though I could +not say as much of any other occasion of the kind. The people took +Fritz Ehrlich, drenched and freezing, to a house in the immediate +neighborhood, while the rest of us started home in a very humble frame +of mind. To be sure, I had also a feeling of elation, despite the fact +that my prospects for the future were not of the pleasantest. But my +fears were not realized. Quite the contrary. The following morning, as +I was starting to school, my father met me in the hall and stopped me. +Neighbor Pietzker, the good man with the nightcap, had been tattling +again, though with better intentions than usual. + +"I've heard the whole business," said my father. "Why, in the name of +heaven, can't you be obedient! But we'll let it pass, since you +acquitted yourself so well. I know all the details. Pietzker across +the street ..." + +Hereupon I was allowed to go to school. + + + + +SIR RIBBECK OF RIBBECK[3] + +By THEODOR FONTANE + + + + Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck in Havelland-- + A pear-tree in his yard did stand, + And in the golden autumn-tide, + When pears were shining far and wide, + Sir Ribbeck, when barely the bells struck noon, + Would stuff both his pockets with pears right soon. + If a boy in clogs would come his way, + He would call: "My boy, have a pear today?" + To a girl he'd call: "Little maid over there, + Now come here to me, and I'll give you a pear." + And thus he did ever, as years went by, + Till Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck came to die. + He felt his end coming, 'twas autumn-tide, + And the pears were laughing, far and wide, + Then spoke Sir Ribbeck: "And now I must die. + Lay a pear in my grave, beside me to lie!" + From the double-roofed house in three days more, + Sir Ribbeck to his grave they bore. + All the peasants and cotters with solemn face, + Did sing: "Lord Jesus, in Thy Grace"-- + And the children moaned with hearts of lead: + "Who will give us a pear? Now he is dead." + Thus moaned the children--that was not good-- + Not knowing old Ribbeck as they should. + The new, to be sure, is a miser hard; + Over park and pear-tree he keeps stern guard. + But the old, who this doubtless could foretell, + Distrusting his son, he knew right well + What he was about when he bade them lay + A pear in his grave, on his dying day: + + Out of his silent haunt, in the third year, + A little pear-tree shoot did soon appear. + And many a year now comes and goes, + But a pear-tree on the grave there grows, + And in the golden autumn-tide, + The pears are shining far and wide. + When a boy o'er the grave-yard wends his way, + The tree whispers: "Boy, have a pear today?" + To a girl it says: "Little maid over there, + Come here to me and I'll give you a pear." + So there are blessings still from the hand + Of Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck in Havelland. + + +[Footnote 3: Translator: Margarete Münsterberg.] + + +THE BRIDGE BY THE TAY[4] (1879) + +/# +"_When shall we three meet again_".--Macbeth +#/ + + + "When shall we three meet again?" + "The dam of the bridge at seven attain!" + "By the pier in the middle. I'll put out amain + "The flames." + "I too." + "I'll come from the north." + "And I from the south." + "From the sea I'll soar forth." + + "Ha, that will be a merry-go-round, + The bridge must sink into the ground." + "And with the train what shall we do + That crosses the bridge at seven?" + "That too." + "That must go too!" + "A bawble, a naught, + What the hand of man hath wrought!" + + The bridgekeeper's house that stands in the north-- + All windows to the south look forth, + And the inmates there without peace or rest + Are gazing southward with anxious zest; + They gaze and wait a light to spy + That over the water "I'm coming!" should cry, + "I'm coming--night and storm are vain-- + I from Edinburg the train!" + + And the bridgekeeper says: "I see a gleam + On the other shore. That's it, I deem. + Now mother, away with bad dreams, for see, + Our Johnnie is coming--he'll want his tree, + And what is left of candles, light + As if it were on Christmas night. + Twice we shall have our Christmas cheer-- + In eleven minutes he must be here." + + It is the train, with the gale it vies + And panting by the south tower flies. + "There's the bridge still," says Johnnie. "But that's all right, + We'll make it surely out of spite! + A solid boiler and double steam + Should win in such a fight, 'twould seem, + Let it rave and rage and run at its bent, + We'll put it down: this element! + + And our bridge is our pride. I must laugh always + When I think back of the olden days, + And all the trouble and misery + That with the wretched boat would be; + And many cheerful Christmas nights + I spent at the ferryman's house--the lights + From our windows I'd watch and count them o'er, + And could not reach the other shore." + + The bridgekeeper's house that stands in the north-- + All windows to the south look forth, + And the inmates there without peace or rest + Are gazing southward with anxious zest: + More furious grew the winds' wild games, + And now, as if the sky poured flames, + Comes shooting down a radiance bright + O'er the water below.--Now again all is night. + + "When shall we three meet again?" + "At midnight the top of the mountain attain!" + "By the alder-stem on the high moorland plain!" + "I'll come." + "And I too." + "And the number I'll tell." + "And I the names." + "I the torture right well." + "Whoo! + Like splinters the woodwork crashed in two." + "A bawble,--a naught, + What the hand of man hath wrought!" + + +[Footnote 4: Translator: Margarete Münsterberg.] + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics Of The Nineteenth +And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14470 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f24f37f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14470 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14470) diff --git a/old/14470-8.txt b/old/14470-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6492749 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14470-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21073 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And +Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 26, 2004 [EBook #14470] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GERMAN CLASSICS, V12 *** + + + + +Produced by Stan Goodman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + VOLUME XII + + + + GUSTAV FREYTAG + THEODOR FONTANE + + + + [Illustration: FREDERICK THE GREAT PLAYING THE FLUTE + _From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_] + + + + + THE GERMAN CLASSICS + OF + THE NINETEENTH AND + TWENTIETH CENTURY + + + Masterpieces of German Literature + TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH + + + + EDITOR-IN-CHIEF + KUNO FRANCKE, PH.D., LL.D., LITT.D. + Professor of the History of German Culture, + Emeritus, and Honorary Curator of the Germanic Museum, + Harvard University + + + ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF + WILLIAM GUILD HOWARD, A.M. + Professor of German, Harvard University + + + In Twenty Volumes Illustrated + + + + ALBANY, N.Y. + J.B. LYON COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + Copyright 1914 + + + + + + +CONTRIBUTORS AND TRANSLATORS + + + +VOLUME XII + + +Special Writers + + +ERNEST F. HENDERSON, Ph.D., L.H.D., Author of _The History of Germany +in the Middle Ages; Short History of Germany_, etc.: The Life of +Gustav Freytag. + + +WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M., Associate Professor of German, Leland +Stanford Junior University: The Life of Theodor Fontane. + + +Translators + +ERNEST F. HENDERSON, Ph.D., L.H.D., Author of _The History of Germany +in the Middle Ages; Short History of Germany_, etc.: The Journalists. + +WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M., Associate Professor of German, Leland +Stanford Junior University: Effi Briest; Extracts from "My Childhood +Days." + +E.H. BABBITT, A.B., Assistant Professor of German, Tufts College: +Doctor Luther; Frederick the Great. + +MARGARETE MÜNSTERBERG: + +Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck; The Bridge by the Tay. + + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME XII + + + GUSTAV FREYTAG + + The Life of Gustav Freytag. By Ernest F. Henderson + + The Journalists. Translated by Ernest F. Henderson + + Doctor Luther. Translated by E.H. Babbitt + + Frederick the Great. Translated by E.H. Babbitt + + + THEODOR FONTANE + + The Life of Theodor Fontane. By William A. Cooper + + Effi Briest. Translated by William A. Cooper + + Extracts from "My Childhood Days." Translated by William A. Cooper + + Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck. Translated by Margarete Münsterberg + + The Bridge by the Tay. Translated by Margarete Münsterberg + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS--VOLUME XII + +Frederick the Great Playing the Flute. + By Adolph von Menzel. _Frontispiece_ + +Gustav Freytag. By Stauffer-Bern + +At the Concert. By Adolph von Menzel + +Nature Enthusiasts. By Adolph von Menzel + +On the Terrace. By Adolph von Menzel + +In the Beergarden. By Adolph von Menzel + +Lunch Buffet at Kissingen. By Adolph von Menzel + +Luther Monument at Worms. By Ernst Rietschel + +Frederick William I Inspecting a School. By Adolph von Menzel + +Court Ball at Rheinsberg. By Adolph von Menzel + +Frederick the Great and His Round Table. By Adolph von Menzel + +Frederick the Great on a Pleasure Trip. By Adolph von Menzel + +Theodor Fontane. By Hanns Fechner + +Fontane Monument at Neu-Ruppin + +A Sunday in the Garden of the Tuileries. By Adolph von Menzel + +Divine Service in the Woods at Kösen. By Adolph von Menzel + +A Street Scene at Paris. By Adolph von Menzel + +Procession at Gastein. By Adolph von Menzel + +High Altar at Salzburg. By Adolph von Menzel + +Bathing Boys. By Adolph von Menzel + +Frau von Schleinitz "At Home." By Adolph von Menzel + +Supper at a Court Ball. By Adolph von Menzel + + + + + +EDITOR'S NOTE + +This volume, containing representative works by two of the foremost +realists of midcentury German literature, Freytag and Fontane, brings, +as an artistic parallel, selections from the work of the greatest +realist of midcentury German painting: Adolph von Menzel. + +KUNO FRANCKE. + + + + + +THE LIFE OF GUSTAV FREYTAG + + +By ERNEST F. HENDERSON, PH.D., L.H.D. + +Author of _A History of Germany in the Middle Ages; A Short History of +Germany, etc._ + + +It is difficult to assign to Gustav Freytag his exact niche in the +hall of fame, because of his many-sidedness. He wrote one novel of +which the statement has been made by an eminent French critic that no +book in the German language, with the exception of the Bible, has +enjoyed in its day so wide a circulation; he wrote one comedy which +for years was more frequently played than any other on the German +stage; he wrote a series of historical sketches--_Pictures of the +German Past_ he calls them--which hold a unique place in German +literature, being as charming in style as they are sound in +scholarship. Add to these a work on the principles of dramatic +criticism that is referred to with respect by the very latest writers +on the subject, an important biography, a second very successful +novel, and a series of six historical romances that vary in interest, +indeed, but that are a noble monument to his own nation and that, +alone, would have made him famous. + +As a novelist Freytag is often compared with Charles Dickens, largely +on account of the humor that so frequently breaks forth from his +pages. It is a different kind of humor, not so obstreperous, not so +exaggerated, but it helps to lighten the whole in much the same way. +One moment it is an incongruous simile, at another a bit of sly +satire; now infinitely small things are spoken of as though they were +great, and again we have the reverse. + +It is in his famous comedy, _The Journalists_, which appeared in 1853, +that Freytag displays his humor to its best advantage. Some of the +situations themselves, without being farcical, are exceedingly +amusing, as when the Colonel, five minutes after declaiming against +the ambition of journalists and politicians, and enumerating the +different forms under which it is concealed, lets his own ambition run +away with him and is won by the very same arts he has just been +denouncing. Again, Bolz's capture of the wine-merchant Piepenbrink at +the ball given under the auspices of the rival party is very cleverly +described indeed. There is a difference of opinion as to whether or +not Bolz was inventing the whole dramatic story of his rescue by +Oldendorf, but there can be no difference of opinion as to the +comicality of the scene that follows, where, under the very eyes of +his rivals and with the consent of the husband, Bolz prepares to kiss +Mrs. Piepenbrink. The play abounds with curious little bits of satire, +quaint similes and unexpected exaggerations. "There is so much that +happens," says Bolz in his editorial capacity, "and so tremendously +much that does not happen, that an honest reporter should never be at +a loss for novelties." Playing dominoes with polar bears, teaching +seals the rudiments of journalism, waking up as an owl with tufts of +feathers for ears and a mouse in one's beak, are essentially +Freytagian conceptions; and no one else could so well have expressed +Bolz's indifference to further surprises--they may tell him if they +will that some one has left a hundred millions for the purpose of +painting all negroes white, or of making Africa four-cornered; but he, +Bolz, has reached a state of mind where he will accept as truth +anything and everything. + +Freytag's greatest novel, entitled _Soll und Haben_ (the technical +commercial terms for "debit" and "credit"), appeared in 1856. _Dombey +and Son_ by Dickens had been published a few years before and is worth +our attention for a moment because of a similarity of theme in the two +works. In both, the hero is born of the people, but comes in contact +with the aristocracy not altogether to his own advantage; in both, +looming in the background of the story, is the great mercantile house +with its vast and mysterious transactions. The writer of this short +article does not hesitate to place _Debit and Credit_ far ahead of +_Dombey and Son_. That does not mean that there are not single +episodes, and occasionally a character, in _Dombey and Son_ that the +German author could never have achieved. But, considered as an +artistic whole, the English novel is so disjointed and uneven that the +interest often flags and almost dies, while many of the characters are +as grotesque and wooden as so many jumping-jacks. In Freytag's work, +on the other hand, the different parts are firmly knitted together; an +ethical purpose runs through the whole, and there is a careful +subordination of the individual characters to the general plan of the +whole structure. It is much the same contrast as that between an +old-fashioned Italian opera and a modern German tone-drama. In the one +case the effects are made through senseless repetition and through +_tours de force_ of the voice; in the other there is a steady +progression in dramatic intensity, link joining link without a gap. + +But to say that _Debit and Credit_ is a finer book than _Dombey and +Son_ is not to claim that Freytag, all in all, is a greater novelist +than Dickens. The man of a single fine book would have to be +superlatively great to equal one who could show such fertility in +creation of characters or produce such masterpieces of description. +Dickens reaches heights of passion to which Freytag could never +aspire; in fact the latter's temperament strikes one as rather a cool +one. Even Spielhagen, far inferior to him in many regards, could +thrill where Freytag merely interests. + +Freytag's _forte_ lay in fidelity of depiction, in the power to +ascertain and utilize essential facts. It would not be fair to say +that he had little imagination, for in the parts of _The Ancestors_ +that have to do with remote times, times of which our whole knowledge +is gained from a few paragraphs in old chronicles and where the +scenes and incidents have to be invented, he is at his best. But one +of his great merits lies in his evident familiarity with the +localities mentioned in the pages as well as with the social +environment of his personages. The house of T.D. Schröter in _Debit +and Credit_ had its prototype in the house of Molinari in Breslau, and +at the Molinaris Freytag was a frequent visitor. Indeed in the company +of the head of the firm he even undertook just such a journey to the +Polish provinces in troubled times as he makes Anton take with +Schröter. Again, the life in the newspaper office, so amusingly +depicted in _The Journalists_, was out of the fulness of his own +experience as editor of a political sheet. A hundred little natural +touches thus add to the realism of the whole and make the figures, as +a German critic says, "stand out like marble statues against a hedge +of yew." The reproach has been made that many of Freytag's characters +are too much alike. He has distinct types which repeat themselves both +in the novels and in the plays. George Saalfeld in _Valentine_, for +instance, is strikingly like Bolz in _The Journalists_ or Fink in +_Debit and Credit_. Freytag's answer to such objections was that an +author, like any other artist, must work from models, which he is not +obliged constantly to change. The feeling for the solidarity of the +arts was very strong with him. He practically abandoned writing for +the stage just after achieving his most noted success and merely for +the reason that in poetic narration, as he called it, he saw the +possibility of being still more dramatic. He felt hampered by the +restrictions which the necessarily limited length of an evening's +performance placed upon him, and wished more time and space for the +explanation of motives and the development of his plot. In his novel, +then, he clung to exactly the same arrangement of his theme as in his +drama--its initial presentation, the intensification of the interest, +the climax, the revulsion, the catastrophe. Again, in the matter of +contrast he deliberately followed the lead of the painter who knows +which colors are complementary and also which ones will clash. + +[Illustration: GUSTAV FREYTAG. STAUFFER-BERN] + +What, now, are some of the special qualities that have made +Freytag's literary work so enduring, so dear to the Teuton heart, so +successful in every sense of the word? For one thing, there are a +clearness, conciseness and elegance of style, joined to a sort of +musical rhythm, that hold one captive from the beginning. So evident +is his meaning in every sentence that his pages suffer less by +translation than is the case with almost any other author. + +Freytag's highly polished sentences seem perfectly spontaneous, though +we know that he went through a long period of rigid training before +achieving success. "For five years," he himself writes, "I had pursued +the secret of dramatic style; like the child in the fairy-tale I had +sought it from the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. At length I had found +it: my soul could create securely and comfortably after the manner +which the stage itself demanded." He had found it, we are given to +understand, in part through the study of the French dramatists of his +own day of whom Scribe was one just then in vogue. From them, says a +critic, he learned "lightness of touch, brevity, conciseness, +directness, the use of little traits as a means of giving insight into +character, different ways of keeping the interest at the proper point +of tension, and a thousand little devices for clearing the stage of +superfluous figures or making needed ones appear at the crucial +moment." Among his tricks of style, if we may call them so, are +inversion and elision; by the one he puts the emphasis just where he +wishes, by the other he hastens the action without sacrificing the +meaning. Another of his weapons is contrast--grave and gay, high and +low succeed each other rapidly, while vice and virtue follow suit. + +No writer ever trained himself for his work more consciously and +consistently. He experimented with each play, watched its effect on +his audiences, asked himself seriously whether their apparent want of +interest in this or that portion was due to some defect in his work or +to their own obtuseness. He had failures, but remarkably few, and they +did not discourage him; nor did momentary success in one field +prevent him from abandoning it for another in which he hoped to +accomplish greater things. He is his own severest critic, and in his +autobiography speaks of certain productions as worthless which are +only relatively wanting in merit. + +Freytag's orderly treatment of his themes affords constant pleasure to +the reader. He proceeds as steadily toward his climax as the builder +does toward the highest point of his roof. He had learned much about +climaxes, so he tells us himself, from Walter Scott, who was the first +to see the importance of a great final or concluding effect. + +We have touched as yet merely on externals. Elegance of style, +orderliness of arrangement, consecutiveness of thought alone would +never have given Freytag his place in German literature. All these had +first to be consecrated to the service of a great idea. That idea as +expressed in _Debit and Credit_ is that the hope of the German nation +rests in its steady commercial or working class. He shows the dignity, +yes, the poetry of labor. The nation had failed to secure the needed +political reforms, to the bitter disappointment of numerous patriots; +Freytag's mission was to teach that there were other things worth +while besides these constitutional liberties of which men had so long +dreamed and for which they had so long struggled. + +Incidentally he holds the decadent noble up to scorn, and shows how he +still clings to his old pretensions while their very basis is +crumbling under him. It is a new and active life that Freytag +advocates, one of toil and of routine, but one that in the end will +give the highest satisfaction. Such ideas were products of the +revolution of 1848, and they found the ground prepared for them by +that upheaval. Freytag, as Fichte had done in 1807 and 1808, +inaugurated a campaign of education which was to prove enormously +successful. A French critic writes of _Debit and Credit_ that it was +"the breviary in which a whole generation of Germans learned to read +and to think," while an English translator (three translations of the +book appeared in England in the same year) calls it the _Uncle Tom's +Cabin_ of the German workingman. A German critic is furious that a +work of such real literary merit should be compared to one so flat and +insipid as Mrs. Stowe's production; but he altogether misses the +point, which is the effect on the people of a spirited defense of +those who had hitherto had no advocate. + +Freytag has been called an opportunist, but the term should not be +considered one of reproach. It certainly was opportune that his great +work appeared at the moment when it was most needed, a moment of +discouragement, of disgust at everything high and low. It brought its +smiling message and remained to cheer and comfort. _The Journalists_, +too, was opportune, for it called attention to a class of men whose +work was as important as it was unappreciated. Up to 1848, the year of +the revolution, the press had been under such strict censorship that +any frank discussion of public matters had been out of the question. +But since then distinguished writers, like Freytag himself, had taken +the helm. Even when not radical, they were dreaded by the +reactionaries, and even Freytag escaped arrest in Prussia only by +hastily becoming a court official of his friend the Duke of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha--within whose domains he already owned an estate +and was in the habit of residing for a portion of each year--and thus +renouncing his Prussian citizenship. Even Freytag's _Pictures from the +German Past_ may be said to have been opportune. Already, for a +generation, the new school of scientific historians--the Rankes, the +Wattenbachs, the Waitzs, the Giesebrechts--had been piling up their +discoveries, and collating and publishing manuscripts describing the +results of their labors. They lived on too high a plane for the +ordinary reader. Freytag did not attempt to "popularize" them by cheap +methods. He served as an interpreter between the two extremes. He +chose a type of facts that would have seemed trivial to the great +pathfinders, worked them up with care from the sources, and by his +literary art made them more than acceptable to the world at large. In +these _Pictures from the German Past_, as in the six volumes of the +series of historical romances entitled _The Ancestors_, a patriotic +purpose was not wanting. Freytag wished to show his Germans that they +had a history to be proud of, a history whose continuity was unbroken; +the nation had been through great vicissitudes, but everything had +tended to prove that the German has an inexhaustible fund of reserve +force. Certain national traits, certain legal institutions, could be +followed back almost to the dawn of history, and it would be found +that the Germans of the first centuries of our era were not nearly so +barbarous as had been supposed. + +And so with a wonderful talent for selecting typical and essential +facts and not overburdening his narrative with detail he leads us down +the ages. The hero of his introductory romance in _The Ancestors_ is a +Vandal chieftain who settles among the Thuringians at the time of the +great wandering of the nations--the hero of the last of the series is +a journalist of the nineteenth century. All are descendants of the one +family, and Freytag has a chance to develop some of his theories of +heredity. Not only can bodily aptitudes and mental peculiarities be +transmitted, but also the tendency to act in a given case much as the +ancestor would have done. + +It cannot be denied that as Freytag proceeds with _The Ancestors_ the +tendency to instruct and inform becomes too marked. He had begun his +career in the world by lecturing on literature at the University of +Breslau, but had severed his connection with that institution because +he was not allowed to branch out into history. Possibly those who +opposed him were right and the two subjects are incapable of +amalgamation. Freytag in this, his last great work, revels in the +fulness of his knowledge of facts, but shows more of the thoroughness +of the scholar than of the imagination of the poet. The novels become +epitomes of the history of the time. No type of character may be +omitted. So popes and emperors, monks and missionaries, German +warriors and Roman warriors, minstrels and students, knights, +crusaders, colonists, landskechts, and mercenaries are dragged in and +made to do their part with all too evident fidelity to truth. + +We owe much of our knowledge of Freytag's life to a charming +autobiography which served as a prefatory volume to his collected +works. Freytag lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1895 at the age of +seventy-nine. Both as a newspaper editor and as a member of parliament +(the former from 1848 to 1860, the latter for the four years from 1867 +to 1871) he had shown his patriotism and his interest in public +affairs. Many of his numerous essays, written for the _Grenzboten_, +are little masterpieces and are to be found among his collected works +published in 1888. As a member of parliament, indeed, he showed no +marked ability and his name is associated with no important measure. + +Not to conceal his shortcoming it must be said that Freytag, at the +time of the accession to the throne of the present head of the German +Empire, laid himself open to much censure by attacking the memory of +the dead Emperor Frederick who had always been his friend and patron. + +In conclusion it may be said that no one claims for Freytag a place in +the front rank of literary geniuses. He is no Goethe, no Schiller, no +Dante, no Milton, no Shakespeare. He is not a pioneer, has not changed +the course of human thought. But yet he is an artist of whom his +country may well be proud, who has added to the happiness of hundreds +of thousands of Germans, and who only needs to be better understood to +be thoroughly enjoyed by foreigners. + +England and America have much to learn from him--the value of long, +careful, and unremitting study; the advantage of being thoroughly +familiar with the scenes and types of character depicted; the charm of +an almost unequaled simplicity and directness. He possessed the rare +gift of being able to envelop every topic that he touched with an +atmosphere of elegance and distinction. His productions are not +ephemeral, but are of the kind that will endure. + + * * * * * + + + + +_GUSTAV FREYTAG_ + + + + + * * * * * + +#THE JOURNALISTS# + + + + DRAMATIS PERSONÆ + + BERG, _retired Colonel_. + + IDA, _his daughter_. + + ADELAIDE RUNECK. + + SENDEN, _landed proprietor_. + _ + PROFESSOR OLDENDORF, _editor-in-chief_. | + | + CONRAD BOLZ, _editor_. | + | + BELLMAUS, _on the staff._. | + | + KÄMPE, _on the staff_. } of the newspaper + | _The Union_. + KÖRNER, _on the staff_. | + | + PRINTER HENNING, _owner_. | + | + MILLER, _factotum_. _| + + _ + BLUMENBERG, _editor_. | + } of the newspaper + SCHMOCK, _on the staff_. _| _Coriolanus_. + + + + PIEPENBRINK, _wine merchant and voter_. + + LOTTIE, _his wife_. + + BERTHA, _their daughter_. + + KLEINMICHEL _citizen and voter_. + + FRITZ, _his son_. + + JUDGE SCHWARZ. + + _A foreign ballet-dancer._ + + KORB, _secretary for Adelaide's estate_. + + CARL, _the Colonel's man-servant._ + + _A waiter._ + + _Club-guests._ _Deputations of citizens_. + + + +_Place of action: A provincial capital._ + + +THE JOURNALISTS[1] (1853) + +TRANSLATED BY ERNEST F. HENDERSON, PH.D., L.H.D. + + + + +ACT I + + +SCENE I + + +_A summer parlor in the_ COLONEL'S _house. Handsome furnishings. In +the centre of rear wall an open door, behind it a verandah and garden; +on the sides of rear wall large windows. Right and left, doors; on the +right, well in front, a window. Tables, chairs, a small sofa_. + +IDA _is sitting in front on the right reading a book. The_ COLONEL +_enters through centre door with an open box in his hand in which are +dahlias_. + +COLONEL. + +Here, Ida, are the new varieties of dahlias our gardener has grown. +You'll have to rack your brains to find names for them. Day after +tomorrow is the Horticultural Society meeting, when I am to exhibit +and christen them. + +IDA. + +This light-colored one here should be called the "Adelaide." + +COLONEL. + +Adelaide Buneck, of course. Your own name is out of the running, for +as a little dahlia you have long been known to the flower-trade. + +IDA. + +One shall be called after your favorite writer, "Boz." + +COLONEL. + +Splendid! And it must be a really fine one, this yellow one here with +violet points. And the third one--how shall we christen that? + +IDA (_stretching out her hand entreatingly to her father_). + +"Edward Oldendorf." + +COLONEL. + +What! The professor? The editor? Oh no, that will not do! It was bad +enough for him to take over the paper; but that he now has allowed +himself to be led by his party into running for Parliament--that I can +never forgive him. + +IDA. + +Here he comes himself. + +COLONEL (_aside_). + +It used to be a pleasure to me to hear his footstep; now I can hardly +keep from being rude when I see him. + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF. + +OLDENDORF. + +Good morning, Colonel! + +IDA (_with a friendly greeting_). + +Good morning, Edward. Help me to admire the new dahlias that father +has grown. + +COLONEL. + +But do not trouble the professor. Such trifles no longer interest him; +he has bigger things in his head. + +OLDENDORF. + +At all events I have not lost my ability to enjoy what gives you +pleasure. + +COLONEL (_grumbling to himself_). + +You have not given me much proof of that. I fear you take pleasure in +doing the very things that vex me. You are doubtless quite busy now +with your election, Mr. Future Member of Parliament! + +OLDENDORF. + +You know, Colonel, that I myself have less than any one else to do +with it. + +COLONEL. + +Oh, I don't believe that! It is the usual custom in such elections, I +imagine, to pay court to influential persons and shake hands with the +voters, to make speeches, scatter promises, and do all the other +little devil's tricks. + +OLDENDORF. + +You yourself do not believe, Colonel, that I would do anything +discreditable? + +COLONEL. + +Not? I am not so sure, Oldendorf. Since you have turned journalist, +edit your _Union_ and daily reproach the State with its faulty +organization, you are no longer what you used to be. + +OLDENDORF (_who up to this point has been conversing with_ IDA _about +the flowers, but now turns to the_ COLONEL). + +Does what I now say or write conflict with my former views? It would +be hard to convince me of that. And still less can you have noticed +any change in my feelings or in my conduct toward you. + +COLONEL (_obdurate_). + +Well, I don't see what reason you would have for that. I am not going +to spoil my morning by quarreling. Ida may try to straighten things +out with you. I am going to my flowers. [_Takes the box and exit +toward the garden._] + +OLDENDORF. + +What has put your father in such a bad humor? Has something in the +newspaper vexed him again? + +IDA. + +I do not think so. But it annoys him that now in politics you again +find it necessary to advocate measures he detests and attack +institutions he reveres. (_Shyly._) Edward, is it really impossible +for you to withdraw from the election? + +OLDENDORF. + +It is impossible. + +IDA. + +I should then have you here, and father could regain his good humor; +for he would highly appreciate the sacrifice you were making for him, +and we could look forward to a future as peaceful as our past has +been. + +OLDENDORF. + +I know that, Ida, and I feel anything but pleasure at the prospect of +becoming member for this town; yet I cannot withdraw. + +IDA (_turning away_). + +Father is right. You have changed entirely since becoming editor of +the paper. + +OLDENDORF. + +Ida! You too! If this is going to cause discord between us I shall +indeed feel badly. + +IDA. + +Dear Edward! I am only grieving at losing you for so long. + +OLDENDORF. + +I am not yet elected. If I do become member and can have my way, I +will take you to the capital and never let you leave my side again. + +IDA. + +Ah, Edward, we can't think of that now! But do spare father. + +OLDENDORF. + +You know how much I stand from him; and I don't give up hope of his +becoming reconciled to me. The election once over, I will make another +appeal to his heart. I may wrest from him a favorable answer that will +mean our marriage. + +IDA. + +But do humor his little foibles. He is in the garden near his dahlia +bed; express your delight over the gay colors. If you go at it +skilfully enough perhaps he may still call one the "Edward Oldendorf." +We have been talking of it already. Come! [_Exeunt both._] + +_Enter_ SENDEN, BLUMENBERG, CARL, SCHMOCK. + +SENDEN (_entering_). + +Is the Colonel alone? + +CARL. + +Professor Oldendorf is with him. + +SENDEN. + +Take in our names. [_Exit_ CARL.] This everlasting Oldendorf! I say, +Blumenberg, this connection of the old gentleman with the _Union_ must +stop. We cannot really call him one of us so long as the professor +frequents this house. We need the Colonel's influential personality. + +BLUMENBERG. + +It is the best-known house in town--the best society, good wine, and +art. + +SENDEN. + +I have my private reasons, too, for bringing the Colonel over to our +side. And everywhere the professor and his clique block our way. + +BLUMENBERG. + +The friendship shall cease. I promise you that it shall cease, +gradually, within the next few weeks. The first step has already been +taken. The gentlemen of the _Union_ have fallen into the trap. + +SENDEN. + +Into what trap? + +BLUMENBERG. + +The one I set for them in our paper. [_Turning upon_ SCHMOCK _who is +standing in the doorway._] Why do you stand here, Schmock? Can't you +wait at the gate? + +SCHMOCK. + +I went where you did. Why should I not stand here? I know the Colonel +as well as you do. + +BLUMENBERG. + +Don't be forward and don't be impudent. Go and wait at the gate, and +when I bring you the article, quickly run with it to the +press--understand? + +SCHMOCK. + +How can I help understanding when you croak like a raven? + +[_EXIT_.] + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann, A -G, Munich_ +AT THE CONCERT ADOLPH VON MENZEL.] + +BLUMENBERG (_to_ SENDEN). + +He is a vulgar person, but he is useful! Now that we are alone, +listen! The other day when you brought me to call here, I begged the +Colonel just to write down his ideas on the questions of the day. + +SENDEN. + +Yes, alas! You piled on the flattery much too thick, but the old +gentleman did, nevertheless, at last take fire. + +BLUMENBERG. + +We begged him to read to us what he had written; he read it to us, we +praised it. + +SENDEN. + +It was very tiresome all the same. + +BLUMENBERG. + +I begged it of him for our paper. + +SENDEN. + +Yes, unfortunately! And now I must carry these bulky things to your +press. These articles are too heavy; they won't do the _Coriolanus_ +any good. + +BLUMENBERG. + +Yet I printed them gladly. When a man has written for a paper he +becomes a good friend of that paper. The Colonel at once subscribed +for the _Coriolanus_, and, the next day, invited me to dinner. + +SENDEN (_shrugging his shoulders_). + +If that is all you gain by it! + +BLUMENBERG. + +It is merely the beginning.--The articles are clumsy; why should I not +say so? + +SENDEN. + +God knows they are! + +BLUMENBERG. + +And no one knows who the author is. + +SENDEN. + +That was the old gentleman's stipulation. I imagine he is afraid of +Oldendorf. + +BLUMENBERG. + +And precisely what I anticipated has come to pass. Oldendorf's paper +has today attacked these articles. Here is the latest issue of the +_Union_. + +SENDEN. + +Let me look at it. Well, that will be a fine mix-up! Is the attack +insulting? + +BLUMENBERG. + +The Colonel will be sure to consider it so. Don't you think that that +will help us against the professor? + +SENDEN. + +Upon my honor you are the slyest devil that ever crept out of an +inkstand! + +BLUMENBERG. + +Give it to me, the Colonel is coming. _Enter the_ COLONEL. + +COLONEL. + +Good morning, gentlemen!--[_aside_] and that Oldendorf should just +happen to be here! If only he will remain in the garden! Well, Mr. +Editor, how is the _Coriolanus_? + +BLUMENBERG. + +Our readers admire the new articles marked with an arrow. Is there any +chance that some more-- + +COLONEL (_drawing a manuscript from his pocket and looking round_). + +I rely on your discretion. As a matter of fact I wanted to read it +through again on account of the structure of the sentences. + +BLUMENBERG. + +That can best be done in the proof-reading. + +COLONEL. + +I think it will do. Take it; but not a word-- + +BLUMENBERG. + +You will let me send it at once to press. [_At the door._] Schmock! + +[SCHMOCK _appears at the door, takes the manuscript and exit +quickly._] + +SENDEN. + +Blumenberg is keeping the sheet up to the mark, but, as he has +enemies, he has to fight hard to defend himself. + +COLONEL (_amused_). + +Enemies? Who does not have them? But journalists have nerves like +women. Everything excites you; every word that any one says against +you rouses your indignation! Oh come, you are sensitive people! + +BLUMENBERG. + +Possibly you are right, Colonel. But when one has opponents like this +_Union_-- + +COLONEL. + +Oh, yes, the _Union_. It is a thorn in the flesh to both of you. There +is a great deal in it that I cannot praise; but, really when it comes +to sounding an alarm, attacking, and pitching in, it is cleverer than +your paper. The articles are witty; even when they are on the wrong +side one cannot help laughing at them. + +BLUMENBERG. + +Not always. In today's attack on the best articles the +_Coriolanus_ has published in a long time I see no wit at all. + +COLONEL. + +Attack on what articles? + +BLUMENBERG. + +On yours, Colonel. I must have the paper somewhere about +me. + +[_Searches, and gives him a copy of the Union._] + +COLONEL. + +Oldendorf's paper attacks my articles! [_Reads._] "We regret +such lack of knowledge--" + +BLUMENBERG. + +And here-- + +COLONEL. + +"It is an unpardonable piece of presumption"--What! I am +presumptuous? + +BLUMENBERG. + +And here-- + +COLONEL. + +"One may be in doubt as to whether the naïveté of the +contributor is comical or tragical, but at all events he has no right +to join in the discussion"--[_Throwing down the paper._] Oh, that is +contemptible! It is a low trick! + +_Enter_ IDA _and_ OLDENDORF _from the garden._ + +SENDEN (_aside_). + +Now comes the cloud-burst! + +COLONEL. + +Professor, your newspaper is making progress. To bad principles is now +added something else--baseness. + +IDA (_frightened_). + +Father! + +OLDENDORF (_coming forward_). + +Colonel, how can you justify this insulting expression? + +COLONEL (_holding out the paper to him_). + +Look here! That stands in your paper! In your paper, Oldendorf! + +OLDENDORF. + +The tone of the attack is not quite as calm as I could have wished-- + +COLONEL. + +Not quite so calm? Not really? + +OLDENDORF. + +In substance the attack is justified. + +COLONEL. + +Sir! You dare say that to me! + +IDA. + +Father! + +OLDENDORF. + +Colonel, I do not comprehend this attitude, and I beg you to consider +that we are speaking before witnesses. + +COLONEL. + +Do not ask for any consideration. It would have been your place to +show consideration for the man whose friendship you are otherwise so +ready to claim. + +OLDENDORF. + +But, first of all, tell me frankly what is your own connection with +the articles attacked in the _Coriolanus_? + +COLONEL. + +A very chance connection, too insignificant in your eyes to deserve +your regard. The articles are by me! + +IDA. + +Heavens! + +OLDENDORF (_vehemently_). + +By you? Articles in the paper of this gentleman? + +IDA (_entreating him_). + +Edward! + +OLDENDORF (_more calmly_). + +The _Union_ has attacked not you but an unknown person, who to us was +merely a partisan of this gentleman. You would have spared us both +this painful scene had you not concealed from me the fact that you are +a correspondent of the _Coriolanus_. + +COLONEL. + +You will have to stand my continuing not to make you a confidant of my +actions. You have here given me a printed proof of your friendship, +which does not make me long for other proofs. + +OLDENDORF (_taking up his hat_). + +I can only say that I deeply regret the occurrence, but do not feel +myself in the least to blame. I hope, Colonel, that, when you think +the matter over calmly, you will come to the same conclusion. Good-by, +Miss Ida. Good day to you. + +[_Exit as far as centre door._] + +IDA (_entreating_). + +Father, don't let him leave us that way! + +COLONEL. + +It is better than to have him stay. + +_Enter_ ADELAIDE. + +ADELAIDE (_entering in elegant traveling costume, meets_ OLDENDORF _at +the door_). + +Not so fast, Professor! + +[OLDENDORF _kisses her hand and leaves._] + + + IDA. }(_together_ Adelaide! [_Falls into her arms._]). + COLONEL. } Adelaide! And at such a moment! + + +ADELAIDE (_holding_ IDA _fast and stretching out her hand to the_ +COLONEL). + +Shake hands with your compatriot. Aunt sends love, and Rosenau Manor, +in its brown autumn dress, presents its humble compliments. The +fields lie bare, and in the garden the withered leaves dance with the +wind.--Ah, Mr. von Senden! + +COLONEL (_introducing_). + +Mr. Blumenberg, the editor. + +SENDEN. + +We are delighted to welcome our zealous agriculturist to the city. + +ADELAIDE. + +And we should have been pleased occasionally to meet our neighbor in +the country. + +COLONEL. + +He has a great deal to do here. He is a great politician, and works +hard for the good cause. + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, indeed, we read of his doings in the newspaper. I drove through +your fields yesterday. Your potatoes are not all in yet. Your steward +didn't get through with the work. + +SENDEN. + +You Rosenau people are privileged to get through a week earlier than +any one else. + +ADELAIDE. + +On the other hand, we have nothing to do but to farm. (_Amicably._) +The neighbors send greetings. + +SENDEN. + +Thank you. We must relinquish you now to friends who have more claim +on you than we have. But will you not receive me in the course of the +day so that I can ask for the news from home? [ADELAIDE _inclines her +head._] + +SENDEN. + +Good-by, Colonel. (_To_ IDA.) My respectful compliments, Miss Berg. + +[_Exit together with_ BLUMENBERG.] + +IDA (_embracing_ ADELAIDE). + +I have you at last. Now everything will be all right! + +ADELAIDE. + +What is to be all right? Is anything not all right? Back there some +one passed me more quickly than usual, and here I see glistening eyes +and a furrowed brow. [_Kisses her on the eyes._] They shall not ruin +your pretty eyes. And you, honored friend, turn a more friendly +countenance to me. + +COLONEL. + +You must stay with us all winter; it will be the first you have given +us in a long time; we shall try to deserve such a favor. + +ADELAIDE (_seriously_). + +It is the first one since my father's death that I have cared to +mingle with the world again. Besides, I have business that calls me +here. You know I came of age this summer, and my legal friend, Judge +Schwarz, requires my presence. Listen, Ida, the servants are +unpacking, go and see that things are properly put away. (_Aside._) +And put a damp cloth over your eyes for people can see that you have +been crying. [_Exit_ IDA _to the right._ ADELAIDE _quickly goes up to +the_ COLONEL.] What is the matter with Ida and the professor? + +COLONEL. + +That would be a long story. I shall not spoil my pleasure with it now. +We men are at odds; our views are too opposed. + +ADELAIDE. + +But were not your views opposed before this, too? And yet you were on +such good terms with Oldendorf! + +COLONEL. + +They were not so extremely opposed as now. + +ADELAIDE. + +And which of you has changed his views? + +COLONEL. + +H'm! Why, he, of course. He is led astray in great part by his evil +companions. There are some men, journalists on his paper, and +especially there is a certain Bolz. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +What's this I hear? + +COLONEL. + +But probably you know him yourself. Why, he comes from your +neighborhood. + +ADELAIDE. + +He is a Rosenau boy. + +COLONEL. + +I remember. Your father, the good old general, could not endure him. + +ADELAIDE. + +At least he sometimes said so. + +COLONEL. + +Since then this Bolz has become queer. His mode of life is said to be +irregular, and I fear his morals are pretty loose. He is Oldendorf's +evil genius. + +ADELAIDE. + +That would be a pity!--No, I do not believe it! + +COLONEL. What do you not believe, Adelaide? + +ADELAIDE (_smiling_). + +I do not believe in evil geniuses. What has gone wrong between you and +Oldendorf can be set right again. Enemies today, friends +tomorrow--that is the way in politics; but Ida's feelings will not +change so quickly. Colonel, I have brought with me a beautiful design +for a dress. That new dress I mean to wear this winter as bridesmaid. + +COLONEL. + +No chance of it! You can't catch me that way, girl. I'll carry the war +into the enemy's country. Why do you drive other people to the altar +and let your own whole neighborhood joke you about being the Sleeping +Beauty and the virgin farmer? + +ADELAIDE (_laughing_). + +Well, so they do. + +COLONEL. + +The richest heiress in the whole district! Courted by a host of +adorers, yet so firmly intrenched against all sentiment; no one can +comprehend it. + +ADELAIDE. + +My dear Colonel, if our young gentlemen were as lovable as certain +older ones--but, alas! they are not. + +COLONEL. + +You shan't escape me. We shall hold you fast in town, until we find +one among our young men whom you will deem worthy to be enrolled under +your command. For whoever be your chosen husband, he will have the +same experience I have had--namely, that, first or last, he will have +to do your bidding. + +ADELAIDE (_quickly_). + +Will you do my bidding with regard to Ida and the professor? Now I +have you! + +COLONEL. + +Will you do me the favor of choosing your husband this winter while +you are with us? Yes? Now I have _you_! + +ADELAIDE. + +It's a bargain! Shake hands! [_Holds out her hand to him._] + +COLONEL (_puts his hand in hers, laughing_). + +Well, you're outwitted. + +[_Exit through centre door._] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +I don't think I am. What, Mr. Conrad Bolz! Is that your reputation +among people! You live an irregular life? You have loose morals? You +are an evil genius?-- + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB (_through the centre door with a package_). + +Where shall I put the account-books and the papers, Miss Adelaide? + +ADELAIDE. + +In my apartment. Tell me, dear Korb, did you find your room here in +order? + +KORB. + +In the finest order. The servant has given me two wax candles; it is +pure extravagance. + +ADELAIDE. + +You need not touch a pen for me this whole day. I want you to see the +town and look up your acquaintances. You have acquaintances here, I +suppose? + +KORB. + +Not very many. It is more than a year since I was last here. + +ADELAIDE (_indifferently_). + +But are there no people from Rosenau here? + +KORB. + +Among the soldiers are four from the village. There is John Lutz of +Schimmellutz-- + +ADELAIDE. + +I know. Have you no other acquaintance here from the village? + +KORB. + +None at all, except him, of course-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Except him? Whom do you mean? + +KORB. + +Why, our Mr. Conrad. + +ADELAIDE. + +Oh, to be sure! Are you not going to visit him? I thought you had +always been good friends. + +KORB. + +Going to visit him? That is the first place I am going to. I have been +looking forward to it during the whole journey. He is a faithful soul +of whom the village has a right to be proud. + +ADELAIDE (_warmly_). + +Yes, he has a faithful heart. + +KORB (_eagerly_). + +Ever merry, ever friendly, and so attached to the village! Poor man, +it is a long time since he was there! + +ADELAIDE. + +Don't speak of it! + +KORB. + +He will ask me about everything--about the farming-- + +ADELAIDE (_eagerly_). + +And about the horses. The old sorrel he was so fond of riding is still +alive. KORB. And about the shrubs he planted with you. + +ADELAIDE. + +Especially about the lilac-bush where my arbor now stands. Be sure you +tell him about that. + +KORB. + +And about the pond. Three hundred and sixty carp! + +ADELAIDE. + +And sixty gold-tench; don't forget that. And the old carp with the +copper ring about his body, that he put there, came out with the last +haul, and we threw him back again. + +KORB. + +And how he will ask about you, Miss Adelaide! + +ADELAIDE. + +Tell him I am well. + +KORB. + +And how you have carried on the farming since the general died; and +that you take his newspaper which I read aloud to the farm-hands +afterward. + +ADELAIDE. + +Just that you need not tell him. [_Sighing, aside._] On these lines I +shall learn nothing whatever. [_Pause, gravely._] See here, dear Korb, +I have heard all sorts of things about Mr. Bolz that surprise me. He +is said to live an irregular life. + +KORB. + +Yes, I imagine he does; he always was a wild colt. + +ADELAIDE. + +He is said to spend more than his income. + +KORB. + +Yes, that is quite possible. But I am perfectly sure he spends it +merrily. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Small consolation I shall get from him! (_Indifferently._) He has now +a good position, I suppose; won't he soon be looking for a wife? + +KORB. + +A wife? No, he is not doing that. It is impossible. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well, I heard something of the kind; at least he is said to be much +interested in a young lady. People are talking of it. + +KORB. + +Why, that would be--no, I don't believe it. (_Hastily._) But I'll ask +him about it at once. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well, he would be the last person to tell you. One learns such things +from a man's friends and acquaintances. The village people ought to +know it, I suppose, if a Rosenau man marries. + +KORB. + +Of course they should. I must get at the truth of that. + +ADELAIDE. + +You would have to go about it the right way. You know how crafty he +is. + +KORB. + +Oh, I'll get round him all right. I'll find some way. + +ADELAIDE. + +Go, dear Korb! [_Exit_ KORB.] Those were sad tidings with which the +Colonel met me. Conrad--immoral, unworthy? It is impossible! A noble +character cannot change to that extent. I do not believe one word of +what they say! + +[_EXIT_.] + + +SCENE II + + +_Editorial room of the "Union." Doors in the centre and on both sides. +On the left, in the foreground, a desk with newspapers and documents. +On the right, a similar, smaller table. Chairs._ + +_Enter_ BOLZ, _through the side door on the right, then_ MILLER +_through the centre door._ + +BOLZ (_eagerly_). + +Miller! Factotum! Where is the mail? + +MILLER (_nimbly with a package of letters and newspapers_). + +Here is the mail, Mr. Bolz; and here, from the press, is the +proof-sheet of this evening's issue to be corrected. + +BOLZ (_at the table on the left quickly opening, looking through, and +marking letters with a pencil_). + +I have already corrected the proof, old rascal! + +MILLER. + +Not quite. Down here is still the "Miscellaneous" which Mr. Bellmaus +gave the type-setters. + +BOLZ. + +Let us have it! + +[_Reads in the newspaper._] + +"Washing stolen from the yard"--"Triplets +born"--"Concert"--"Concert"--"Meeting of an +Association"--"Theatre"--all in order--"Newly invented engine"--"The +great sea-serpent spied." + +[_Jumping up._] + +What the deuce is this? Is he bringing up the old sea-serpent again? +It ought to be cooked into a jelly for him, and he be made to eat it +cold. + +[_Hurries to the door on the right._] + +Bellmaus, monster, come out! + +_Enter_ BELLMAUS. + +BELLMAUS (_from the right, pen in hand_). + +What is the matter! Why all this noise? + +BOLZ (_solemnly_). + +Bellmaus, when we did you the honor of intrusting you with the odds +and ends for this newspaper, we never expected you to bring the +everlasting great sea-serpent writhing through the columns of our +journal!--How could you put in that worn-out old lie? + +BELLMAUS. + +It just fitted. There were exactly six lines left. + +BOLZ. + +That is an excuse, but not a good one. Invent your own stories. What +are you a journalist for? Make a little "Communication," an +observation, for instance, on human life in general, or something +about dogs running around loose in the streets; or choose a +bloodcurdling story such as a murder out of politeness, or how a +woodchuck bit seven sleeping children, or something of that kind. So +infinitely much happens, and so infinitely much does not happen, that +an honest newspaper man ought never to be without news. + +BELLMAUS. + +Give it here, I will change it. + +[_Goes to the table, looks into a printed sheet, cuts a clipping from +it with large shears, and pastes it on the copy of the newspaper._] + +BOLZ. + +That's right, my son, so do, and mend thy ways. + +[_Opening the door on the right._] + +Kämpe, can you come in a moment? (_To_ MILLER, _who is waiting at the +door._) Take that proof straight to the press! + +[MILLER _takes the sheet from_ BELLMAUS _and hurries off._] + +_Enter_ KÄMPE. + +KÄMPE. + +But I can't write anything decent while you are making such a noise. + +BOLZ. + +You can't? What have you just written, then? At most, I imagine, a +letter to a ballet-dancer or an order to your tailor. + +BELLMAUS. + +No, he writes tender letters. He is seriously in love, for he took me +walking in the moonlight yesterday and scorned the idea of a drink. + +KÄMPE (_who has seated himself comfortably_). + +Gentlemen, it is unfair to call a man away from his work for the sake +of making such poor jokes. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, yes, he evidently slanders you when he maintains that you love +anything else but your new boots and to some small degree your own +person. You yourself are a love-spurting nature, little Bellmaus. You +glow like a fusee whenever you see a young lady. Spluttering and smoky +you hover around her, and yet don't dare even to address her. But we +must be lenient with him; his shyness is to blame. He blushes in +woman's presence, and is still capable of lovely emotions, for he +started out to be a lyric poet. + +BELLMAUS. + +I don't care to be continually reproached with my poems. Did I ever +read them to you? + +BOLZ. + +No, thank Heaven, that audacity you never had. (_Seriously._) But, +now, gentlemen, to business. Today's number is ready. Oldendorf is not +yet here, but meanwhile, let us hold a confidential session. Oldendorf +_must_ be chosen deputy from this town to the next Parliament; our +party and the _Union must_ put that through. How does our stock stand +today? + +KÄMPE. + +Remarkably high. Our opponents agree that no other candidate would be +so dangerous for them, and our friends everywhere are most hopeful. +But you know how little that may signify. Here is the list of the +voters. Our election committee sends word to you that our calculations +were correct. Of the hundred voters from our town, forty surely ours. +About an equal number are pledged to the other party; the remnant of +some twenty votes are undecided. It is clear that the election will +be determined by a very small majority. + +BOLZ. + +Of course we shall have that majority--a majority of from eight to ten +votes. Just say that, everywhere, with the greatest assuredness. Many +a one who is still undecided will come over to us on hearing that we +are the stronger. Where is the list of our uncertain voters? [_Looks +it over._] + +KÄMPE. + +I have placed a mark wherever our friends think some influence might +be exerted. + +BOLZ. + +I see two crosses opposite one name; what do they signify? + +KÄMPE. + +That is Piepenbrink, the wine-dealer Piepenbrink. He has a large +following in his district, is a well-to-do man, and, they say, can +command five or six votes among his adherents. + +BOLZ. + +Him we must have. What sort of a man is he? + +KÄMPE. + +He is very blunt, they say, and no politician at all. + +BELLMAUS. + +But he has a pretty daughter. + +KÄMPE. + +What's the use of his pretty daughter? I'd rather he had an ugly +wife--one could get at him more easily. + +BELLMAUS. + +Yes, but he has one--a lady with little curls and fiery red ribbons +in her cap. + +BOLZ. + +Wife or no wife, the man must be ours. Hush, some one is coming; that +is Oldendorf's step. He needn't know anything of our conference. Go to +your room, gentlemen. To be continued this evening. + +KÄMPE (_at the door_). + +It is still agreed, I suppose, that in the next number I resume the +attack on the new correspondent of the _Coriolanus_, the one with the +arrow. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, indeed. Pitch into him, decently but hard. Just now, on the eve +of the election, a little row with our opponents will do us good; and +the articles with the arrow give us a great opening. + +[_Exeunt_ KÄMPE _and_ BELLMAUS.] + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF _through centre door._ + +OLDENDORF. + +Good-day, Conrad. + +BOLZ (_at the table on the right, looking over the list of voters_). + +Blessed be thy coming! The mail is over there; there is nothing of +importance. + +OLDENDORF. + +Do you need me here today? + +BOLZ. + +No, my darling. This evening's issue is ready. For tomorrow Kämpe is +writing the leading article. + +OLDENDORF. + +About what? + +BOLZ. + +A little skirmish with the _Coriolanus_. Another one against the +unknown correspondent with the arrow who attacked our party. But do +not worry; I told Kämpe to make the article dignified, very dignified. + +OLDENDORF. + +For Heaven's sake, don't! The article must not be written. + +BOLZ. + +I fail to comprehend you. What use are political opponents if you +cannot attack them? + +OLDENDORF. + +Now see here! These articles were written by the Colonel; he told me +so himself today. + +BOLZ. + +Thunder and lightning! + +OLDENDORF (_gloomily_). + +You may imagine that along with this admission went other intimations +which place me just now in a very uncomfortable position as regards +the Colonel and his family. + +BOLZ (_seriously_). + +And what does the Colonel want you to do? + +OLDENDORF. + +He will be reconciled to me if I resign the editorship of this paper +and withdraw as candidate for election. + +BOLZ. + +The devil! He is moderate in his demands! + +OLDENDORF. + +I suffer under this discord; to you, as my friend, I can say so. + +BOLZ (_going up to him and pressing his hand_). + +Solemn moment of manly emotion! + +OLDENDORF. + +Don't play the clown just now. You can imagine how unpleasant my +position in the Colonel's house has become. The worthy old gentleman +either frigid or violent; the conversation spiced with bitter +allusions; Ida suffering--I can often see that she has been crying. If +our party wins and I become member for the town, I fear I shall lose +all hope of marrying Ida. + +BOLZ (_vehemently_). + +And if you withdraw it will be a serious blow to our party. (_Rapidly +and emphatically._) The coming session of Parliament will determine +the fate of the country. The parties are almost equal. Every loss is a +blow of a vote to our cause. In this town we have no other candidate +but you, who is sufficiently popular to make his election probable. If +you withdraw from the contest, no matter what the reason, our +opponents win. + +OLDENDORF. + +Unfortunately what you say is true. + +BOLZ (_with continued vehemence_). + +I won't dwell on my confidence in your talents. I am convinced that, +in the House, and, possibly, as one of the ministers, you will be of +service to your country. I merely ask you, now, to remember your duty +to our political friends, who have pinned their faith on you, and to +this paper and ourselves, who for three years have worked for the +credit of the name of Oldendorf which heads our front page. Your honor +is at stake, and every moment of wavering is wrong. + +OLDENDORF (_dignified_). + +You are exciting yourself without reason. I too deem it wrong to +retire now when I am told that our cause needs me. But in confessing +to you, my friend, that my decision means a great personal sacrifice, +I am not compromising either our cause or ourselves as individuals. + +BOLZ (_soothingly_). + +Right you are! You are a loyal comrade. And so peace, friendship, +courage! Your old Colonel won't be inexorable. + +OLDENDORF. + +He has grown intimate with Senden, who flatters him in every way, and +has plans, I fear, which affect me also. I should feel still more +worried but for knowing that I have now a good advocate in the +Colonel's house. Adelaide Runeck has just arrived. + +BOLZ. + +Adelaide Runeck? She into the bargain! (_Quickly calling through the +door on the right._) Kämpe, the article against the knight of the +arrow is not to be written. Understand? + +_Enter_ KÄMPE. + +KÄMPE (_at the door, pen in hand_). + +But what is to be written, then? + +BOLZ. + +The devil only knows! See here! Perhaps I can induce Oldendorf to +write the leading article for tomorrow himself. But at all events you +must have something on hand. + +KÄMPE. + +But what? + +BOLZ (_excitedly_). + +For all I care write about emigration to Australia; that, at any rate, +will give no offense. + +KÄMPE. + +Good! Am I to encourage it or advise against it? + +BOLZ (_quickly_). + +Advise against it, of course; we need every one who is willing to work +here at home. Depict Australia as a contemptible hole. Be perfectly +truthful but make it as black as possible--how the Kangaroo, balled +into a heap, springs with invincible malice at the settler's head, +while the duckbill nips at the back of his legs; how the gold-seeker +has, in winter, to stand up to his neck in salt water while for three +months in summer he has not a drop to drink; how he may live through +all that only to be eaten up at last by thievish natives. Make it very +vivid and end up with the latest market prices for Australian wool +from the _Times_. You'll find what books you need in the library. +[_Slams the door to._] + +OLDENDORF (_at the table_). + +Do you know Miss Runeck? She often inquires about you in her letters +to Ida. + +BOLZ. + +Indeed? Yes, to be sure, I know her. We are from the same village--she +from the manor-house, I from the parsonage. My father taught us +together. Oh, yes, I know her! + +OLDENDORF. + +How comes it that you have drifted so far apart? You never speak of +her. + +BOLZ. + +H'm! It is an old story--family quarrels, Montagues and Capulets. I +have not seen her for a long time. + +OLDENDORF (_smiling_). + +I hope that you too were not estranged by politics. + +BOLZ. + +Politics did, indeed, have something to do with our separation; you +see it is the common misfortune that party life destroys friendship. + +OLDENDORF. + +Sad to relate! In religion any educated man will tolerate the +convictions of another; but in politics we treat each other like +reprobates if there be the slightest shade of difference of opinion +between us. + +BOLZ (_aside_). + +Matter for our next article! (_Aloud._) "The slightest shade of +difference of opinion between us." Just what I think! We must have +that in our paper! (_Entreating)_. Look! A nice little virtuous +article: "An admonition to our voters--Respect our opponents, for they +are, after all, our brothers!" (_Urging him more and more._) +Oldendorf, that would be something for you--there is virtue and +humanity in the theme; writing will divert you, and you owe the paper +an article because you forbade the feud. Please do me the favor! Go +into the back room there and write. No one shall disturb you. + +OLDENDORF (_smiling_). + +You are just a vulgar intriguer! + +BOLZ (_forcing him from his chair_). + +Please, you'll find ink and paper there. Come, deary, come! [_He +accompanies him to the door on the left. Exit_ OLDENDORF. BOLZ +_calling after him._] Will you have a cigar? An old Henry Clay? +[_Draws a cigar-case from his pocket._] No? Don't make it too short; +it is to be the principal article! [_He shuts the door, calls through +the door on the right._] The professor is writing the article himself. +See that nobody disturbs him! [_Coming to the front._] So that is +settled.--Adelaide here in town! I'll go straight to her! Stop, keep +cool, keep cool! Old Bolz, you are no longer the brown lad from the +parsonage. And even if you were, _she_ has long since changed. Grass +has grown over the grave of a certain childish inclination. Why are +you suddenly thumping so, my dear soul? Here in town she is just as +far off from you as on her estates. [_Seating himself and playing with +a pencil._] "Nothing like keeping cool," murmured the salamander as he +sat in the stove fire. + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB. + +Is Mr. Bolz in? + +BOLZ (_jumping up_). + +Korb! My dear Korb! Welcome, heartily welcome! It is good of you not +to have forgotten me. [_Shakes hands with him._] I am very glad to see +you. + +KORB. + +And I even more to see you. Here we are in town. The whole village +sends greetings! From Anton the stable-boy--he is now head man--to the +old night watchman whose horn you once hung up on the top of the +tower. Oh, what a pleasure this is! + +BOLZ. + +How is Miss Runeck? Tell me, old chap! + +KORB. + +Very well indeed, now. But we have been through much. The late general +was ill for four years. It was a bad time. You know he was always an +irritable man. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, he was hard to manage.-- + +KORB. + +And especially during his illness. But Miss Adelaide took care of +him, so gentle and so pale, like a perfect lamb. Now, since his death, +Miss Adelaide runs the estate, and like the best of managers. The +village is prospering again. I will tell you everything, but not until +this evening. Miss Adelaide is waiting for me; I merely ran in quickly +to tell you that we are here. + +BOLZ. + +Don't be in such a hurry, Korb.--So the people in the village still +think of me! + +KORB. + +I should say they did! No one can understand why you don't come near +us. It was another matter while the old gentleman was alive, but now-- + +BOLZ (_seriously_). + +My parents are dead; a stranger lives in the parsonage. + +KORB. + +But we in the manor-house are still alive! Miss Runeck would surely be +delighted-- + +BOLZ. + +Does she still remember me? + +KORB. + +Of course she does. This very day she asked about you. + +BOLZ. + +What did she ask, old chap? + +KORB. + +She asked me if it was true what people are saying, that you have +grown very wild, make debts, run after girls, and are up to the devil +generally. + +BOLZ. + +Good gracious! You stood up for me, I trust? + +KORB. + +Of course! I told her that all that might be taken for granted with +you. + +BOLZ. + +Confound it! That's what she thinks of me, is it? Tell me, Korb, Miss +Adelaide has many suitors, has she not? + +KORB. + +The sands of the sea are as nothing to it. + +BOLZ (_vexed_). + +But yet she can finally choose only one, I suppose. + +KORB (_slyly_). + +Correct! But which one? That's the question. + +BOLZ. + +Which do you think it will be? + +KORB. + +Well, that is difficult to say. There is this Mr. von Senden who is +now living in town. If any one has a chance it is probably he. He +fusses about us like a weasel. Just as I was leaving he sent to the +house a whole dozen of admission cards to the great fête at the club. +It must be the sort of club where the upper classes go arm-in-arm with +the townspeople. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, it is a political society of which Senden is a director. It is +casting out a great net for voters. And the Colonel and the ladies are +going? + +KORB. + +I hear they are. I, too, received a card. + +BOLZ (_to himself_). + +Has it come to this? Poor Oldendorf!--And Adelaide at the club fête of +Mr. von Senden! + +KORB (_to himself_). + +How am I going to begin and find out about his love-affairs? +(_Aloud._) Oh, see here, Mr. Conrad, one thing more! Have you possibly +some real good friend in this concern to whom you could introduce me? + +BOLZ. + +Why, old chap? + +KORB. + +It is only--I am a stranger here, and often have commissions and +errands where I need advice. I should like to have some one to consult +should you chance to be away, or with whom I could leave word for you. + +BOLZ. + +You will find me here at almost any time of day. [_At the door._] +Bellmaus! [_Enter_ BELLMAUS.] You see this gentleman here. He is an +honored old friend of mine from my native village. Should he happen +not to find me here, you take my place.--This gentleman's name is +Bellmaus, and he is a good fellow. + +KORB. + +I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Bellmaus. + +BELLMAUS. + +And I to make yours. You have not told me his name yet. + +BOLZ. + +Korb. He has had a great deal to carry in his life, and has often +carried me on his back, too. + +BELLMAUS. + +I too am pleased, Mr. Korb. [_They shake hands._] + +KORB. + +Well, that is in order, and now I must go or Miss Adelaide will be +waiting. + +BOLZ. + +Good-by! Hope to see you very soon again. + +[_Exit_ KORB; _exit_ BELLMAUS _through door on the right._] + +BOLZ (_alone_). + +So this Senden is courting her! Oh, that is bitter! + +_Enter_ HENNING, _followed by_ MILLER. + +HENNING (_in his dressing-gown, hurriedly, with a printed roll in his +hand_). + +Your servant, Mr. Bolz! Is "opponent" spelt with one p or with two +p's? The new proofreader has corrected it one p. + +BOLZ (_deep in his thoughts_). + +Estimable Mr. Henning, the _Union_ prints it with two p's. + +HENNING. + +I said so at once. [_To_ MILLER.] It must be changed; the press is +waiting. + +[_Exit_ MILLER _hastily._] + +I took occasion to read the leading article. Doubtless you wrote it +yourself. It is very good, but too sharp, Mr. Bolz. Pepper and +mustard--that will give offense; it will cause bad blood. + +BOLZ (_still deep in his thoughts, violently_). + +I always did have an antipathy to this man! + +[Illustration: _Permission Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, +Stuttgart_. NATURE ENTHUSIASTS. ADOLPH VON MENZEL] + +HENNING (_hurt_). + +How? What? Mr. Bolz? You have an antipathy to me? + +BOLZ. + +To whom? No, dear Mr. Henning, you are a good fellow and would be the +best newspaper owner in the world, if only you were not often as +frightened as a hare. [_Embraces him._] My regards to Mrs. Henning, +sir, and leave me alone. I am thinking up my next article. + +HENNING (_while he is being thrust out_). + +But do, please, write very moderately and kindly, dear Mr. Bolz. + +BOLZ (_alone, walking to and fro again_). + +Senden avoids me whenever he can. He stands things from me that any +one else would strongly resent. Is it possible that he suspects-- + +_Enter_ MILLER. + +MILLER (_hurriedly_). + +A lady I don't know wishes to pay her respects to you. + +BOLZ. + +A lady! And to me? + +MILLER. + +To the editor. [_Hands him a card._] + +BOLZ (_reads_). + +Leontine Pavoni-Gessler, _née_ Melloni from Paris. She must have to do +with art. Is she pretty? + +MILLER. + +H'm! So, so! + +BOLZ. + +Then tell her we are very sorry that we cannot have the pleasure, that +it is the editor's big washing-day. + +MILLER. + +What? + +BOLZ (_vehemently_). + +Washing, children's washing. That we are sitting up to the elbows in +soapsuds. + +MILLER (_laughing_). + +And I am to-- + +BOLZ (_impatiently_). + +You're a blockhead! [_At the door._] Bellmaus! [_Enter_ BELLMAUS.] +Stay here and receive the visitor. [_Gives him the card._] + +BELLMAUS. + +Ah, that is the new ballet-dancer who is expected here. [_Inspecting +his coat._] But I'm not dressed for it! + +BOLZ. + +All the more dressed she will be. [_To_ MILLER.] Show the lady in. + +[_Exit_ MILLER.] + +BELLMAUS. + +But really I cannot-- + +BOLZ (_irritably_). + +Oh the devil, don't put on airs! [_Goes to the table, puts papers in +the drawer, seizes his hat._] + +_Enter_ MADAME PAVONI. + +MADAME PAVONI. + +Have I the honor of seeing before me the editor of the _Union_? + +BELLMAUS (_bowing_). + +To be sure--that is to say--won't you kindly be seated? [_Pushes up +chairs._] + +BOLZ. + +Adelaide is clear-sighted and clever. How can she possibly fail to see +through that fellow? + +MADAME PAVONI. + +Mr. Editor, the intelligent articles about art which adorn your +paper--have prompted me-- + +BELLMAUS. + +Oh, please! + +BOLZ. (_having made up his mind_). + +I must gain entrance into this club-fête! + +[_Exit with a bow to the lady._ BELLMAUS _and_ MADAME PAVONI _sit +facing each other._] + + + + +ACT II + + +SCENE I + + +_The_ COLONEL'S _summer parlor. In the foreground on the right_ IDA +_and_ ADELAIDE, _next to_ ADELAIDE _the_ COLONEL, _all sitting. In +front of them a table with coffee set._ + +COLONEL (_in conversation with_ ADELAIDE, _laughing_). + +A splendid story, and cleverly told! I am heartily glad that you are +with us, dear Adelaide. Now, at any rate, we shall talk about +something else at table besides this everlasting politics! H'm! The +professor has not come today. He never used to miss our coffee-hour. + +[_Pause;_ ADELAIDE _and_ IDA _look at each other._ IDA _sighs._] + +ADELAIDE. + +Perhaps he has work to do. + +IDA. + +Or he is vexed with us because I am going to the fête tonight. + +COLONEL (_irritably_). + +Nonsense, you are not his wife nor even openly his fiancée. You are in +your father's house and belong in my circle.--H'm! I see he treasures +it up against me that I did some plain speaking the other day. I think +I was a little impatient. + +ADELAIDE (_nodding her head_). + +Yes, a little, I hear. + +IDA. + +He is worried about the way you feel, dear father. + +COLONEL. + +Well, I have reason enough to be vexed; don't remind me of it. And +that, in addition, he lets himself be mixed up in these elections, is +unpardonable. + +[_Walks up and down._] + +But you had better send for him, Ida. + +IDA _rings. Enter_ CARL. + +IDA. + +Our compliments to the professor and we are waiting coffee for him. + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +COLONEL. + +Well, that about waiting was not quite necessary. Why, we have +finished our coffee. + +ADELAIDE. + +Ida has not finished yet. + +IDA. + +Hush! + +ADELAIDE. + +Why did he ever let himself be put up as candidate? He has plenty to +do as it is. + +COLONEL. + +Pure ambition, girls. The devil of ambition possesses these young men. +He impels them as steam does a locomotive. + +IDA. + +No, father, _he_ never thought of himself in the matter. + +COLONEL. + +It does not stand out quite so nakedly as, "I must make a career for +myself," or "I wish to become a famous man." The procedure is more +delicate. The good friends come along and say: "Your duty to the good +cause requires you to--it is a crime against your country if you do +not--it is a sacrifice for you but we demand it." And so a pretty +mantle is thrown around vanity, and the candidate issues forth--from +pure patriotism of course! Don't teach an old soldier worldly wisdom. +We, dear Adelaide, sit calmly by and laugh at such weaknesses. + +ADELAIDE. + +And are indulgent toward them when we have so good a heart as you. + +COLONEL. + +Yes, one profits by experience. + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +Mr. von Senden and two other gentlemen. + +COLONEL. + +What do they want? Pleased to see them! + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +Allow me to have them shown in here, children. Senden never stays +long. He is a roving spirit. + +[_The ladies rise._] + +IDA. + +The hour is again spoiled for us. + +ADELAIDE. + +Don't mind it; we shall have all the more time to dress. + +[_Exeunt_ IDA _and_ ADELAIDE _on the left._] + +_Enter_ SENDEN, BLUMENBERG, _a third gentleman._ + +SENDEN. + +Colonel, we come on behalf of the committee for the approaching +election to notify you that that committee has unanimously voted to +make you, Colonel, our party's candidate. + +COLONEL. _Me?_ + +SENDEN. + +The committee begs you to accept this nomination so that the necessary +announcement can be made to the voters at this evening's fête. + +COLONEL. + +Are you in earnest, dear Senden? Where did the committee get such an +idea? + +SENDEN. + +Colonel, our president, who had previously agreed to run for our town, +found that it would be more advantageous to be candidate from a +provincial district; apart from him no one of our townsmen is so well +known and so popular with the citizens as yourself. If you accede to +our request our party is certain of victory; if you refuse, there is +every probability that our opponents will have their own way. You will +agree with us that such an eventuality must be avoided under all +circumstances. + +COLONEL. + +I see all that; but, on personal grounds, it is impossible for me to +help our friends in this matter. + +SENDEN (_to the others_). + +Let me explain to the Colonel certain things which will possibly make +him look favorably on our request. + +[_Exeunt_ BLUMENBERG _and the other gentlemen into the garden, where +they are visible from time to time._] + +COLONEL. + +But, Senden, how could you put me in this embarrassing position! You +know that for years Oldendorf has frequented my house and that it will +be extremely unpleasant for me openly to oppose him. + +SENDEN. + +If the professor is really so devoted to you and your household, he +has now the best opportunity to show it. It is a foregone conclusion +that he will at once withdraw. + +COLONEL. + +I am not quite so sure of that; he is very stubborn in many ways. + +SENDEN. + +If he do not withdraw such egotism can scarcely still be called +stubbornness. And in such a case you would scarcely be under +obligations to him; obligations, Colonel, which might work injury to +the whole country. Besides, he has no chance of being elected if you +accept, for you will defeat him by a majority not large but sure. + +COLONEL. + +Are we so perfectly certain of this majority! + +SENDEN. + +I think I can guarantee it. Blumenberg and the other gentlemen have +made very thorough inquiries. + +COLONEL. + +It would serve the professor quite right if he had to withdraw in my +favor.--But no--no; it will not do at all, my friend. + +SENDEN. + +We know, Colonel, what a sacrifice we are asking of you, and that +nothing could compensate you for it save the consciousness of having +done your country a great service. + +COLONEL. + +To be sure. + +SENDEN. + +It would be so regarded in the capital, too, and I am convinced that +your entering the House would also cause pleasure in other circles +than those of your numerous friends and admirers. + +COLONEL. + +I should meet there many old friends and comrades. (_Aside_.) I should +be presented at Court. + +SENDEN. + +The minister of war asked very warmly after you the other day; he too +must have been one of your companions in arms. + +COLONEL. + +Yes indeed! As young blades we served in the same company and played +many mad pranks together. It would be a pleasure to see him now in the +House, drawing his honest face into dark lines. He was a wild devil in +the regiment, but a fine boy. + +SENDEN. + +Nor will he be the only one to receive you with open arms. + +COLONEL. + +In any case, I should have to think the matter over. + +SENDEN. + +Don't be angry, Colonel, if I urge you to decide. This evening we have +to introduce their candidate to our citizen guests. It is high time, +or all is lost. + +COLONEL (_hesitating_). + +Senden, you put a knife to my throat! + +[SENDEN, _from the door, motions the gentlemen in the garden to come +in_.] + +BLUMENBERG. + +We venture to urge you, knowing that so good a soldier as you, +Colonel, makes up his mind quickly. + +COLONEL (_after struggling inwardly_). + +Well, so be it, gentlemen, I accept! Tell the committee I appreciate +their confidence. This evening we will talk over details. + +BLUMENBERG. + +We thank you, Colonel. The whole town will be rejoiced to hear of your +decision. + +COLONEL. + +Good-by until this evening. + +[_Exeunt the visitors_; + +COLONEL _alone, thoughtfully_.] + +I fear I ought not to have accepted so quickly; but I had to do the +minister of war that favor. What will the girls say to it? And +Oldendorf? + +[_Enter_ OLDENDORF.] + +There he is himself. + +[_Clears his throat_.] + +He will be astonished. I can't help it, he must withdraw. Good +morning, Professor, you come just at the right moment. + +OLDENDORF (_hastily_). + +Colonel, there is a report in town that Mr. von Senden's party have +put you up as their candidate. I ask for your own assurance that you +would not accept such a nomination. + +COLONEL. + +And, supposing the proposition had been made to me, why should I not +accept as well as you? Yes, rather than you; for the motives that +would determine me are sounder than your reasons. + +OLDENDORF. + +So there is some foundation then to the rumor? + +COLONEL. + +To be frank, it is the truth. I have accepted. You see in me your +opponent. + +OLDENDORF. + +Nothing so bad has yet occurred to trouble our relations. Colonel, +could not the memory of a friendship, hearty and undisturbed for +years, induce you to avoid this odious conflict? + +COLONEL. + +Oldendorf, I could not act otherwise, believe me. It is your place now +to remember our old friendship. You are a younger man, let alone other +relationships; you are the one now to withdraw. + +OLDENDORF (_more excitedly_). + +Colonel, I have known you for years. I know how keenly and how deeply +you feel things and how little your ardent disposition fits you to +bear the petty vexations of current politics, the wearing struggle of +debates. Oh, my worthy friend, do listen to my exhortations and take +back your consent. + +COLONEL. + +Let that be my concern. I am an old block of hard timber. Think of +yourself, dear Oldendorf. You are young, you have fame as a scholar; +your learning assures you every success. Why, in another sphere of +activity, do you seek to exchange honor and recognition for naught but +hatred, mockery, and humiliation? For with such views as yours you +cannot fail to harvest them. Think it over. Be sensible, and withdraw. + +OLDENDORF. + +Colonel, could I follow my own inclinations I should do so on the +spot. But in this contest I am under obligations to my friends. I +cannot withdraw now. + +COLONEL (_excitedly_). + +Nor can I withdraw, lest I harm the good cause. We are no further now +than in the beginning. (_Aside_.) Obstinate fellow! + +[_Both walk up and down on opposite sides of the stage._] + +You have not the least chance whatever of being elected, Oldendorf; my +friends are sure of having the majority of the votes. You are exposing +yourself to a public defeat. (_Kindly_.) I should dislike having you +of all people beaten by me; it will cause gossip and scandal. Just +think of it! It is perfectly useless for you to conjure up the +conflict. + +OLDENDORF. + +Even if it were such a foregone conclusion as you assume, Colonel, I +should still have to hold out to the end. But as far as I can judge +the general sentiment, the result is by no means so certain. And +think, Colonel, if you should happen to be defeated-- + +COLONEL (_irritated_). + +I tell you, that will not be the case. + +OLDENDORF. + +But if it should be? How odious that would be for both of us! How +would you feel toward me then! I might possibly welcome a defeat in my +heart; for you it would be a terrible mortification, and, Colonel, I +dread this possibility. + +COLONEL. + +For that very reason you should withdraw. + +OLDENDORF. + +I can no longer do so; but there is still time for you. + +COLONEL (_vehemently_). + +Thunder and lightning, sir, I have said yes; I am not the man to cap +it with a no! + +[_Both walk up and down._] + +That appears to end it, Professor! My wishes are of no account to you; +I ought to have known that! We must go our separate ways. We have +become open opponents; let us be honest enemies-- + +OLDENDORF (_seizing the_ COLONEL'S _hand_). + +Colonel, I consider this a most unfortunate day; for I see sad results +to follow. Rest assured that no circumstances can shake my love and +devotion for you. + +COLONEL. + +We are drawn up in line of battle, as it were. You mean to let +yourself be defeated by an old military man. You shall have your +desire. + +OLDENDORF. + +I ask your permission to tell Miss Ida of our conversation. + +COLONEL (_somewhat uneasy_). + +You had better not do that just now, Professor. An opportunity will +come in due time. At present the ladies are dressing. I myself will +say what is necessary. + +OLDENDORF. + +Farewell, Colonel, and think of me without hard feelings. + +COLONEL. + +I will try my best, Professor. + +[_Exit_ OLDENDORF.] + +He has not given in! What depths of ambition there are in these +scholars! + +_Enter_ IDA, ADELAIDE. + +IDA. + +Was not that Edward's voice? + +COLONEL. + +Yes, my child. + +ADELAIDE. + +And he has gone away again! Has anything happened? + +COLONEL. + +Well, yes, girls. To make a long story short, Oldendorf does not +become member for this town, but I. + +ADELAIDE} (_together_.) You, Colonel? IDA } You, father? + +IDA. + +Has Edward withdrawn? + +ADELAIDE. + +Is the election over? + +COLONEL. + +Neither one nor the other. Oldendorf has proved his much-vaunted +devotion to us by not withdrawing, and election day is not yet past. +But from what I hear there is no doubt that Oldendorf will be +defeated. + +IDA. + +And you, father, have come out before everybody as his opponent? + +ADELAIDE. + +And what did Oldendorf say to that, Colonel? + +COLONEL. + +Don't excite me, girls! Oldendorf was stubborn, otherwise he behaved +well, and as far as that is concerned all is in order. The grounds +which determined me to make the sacrifice are very weighty. I will +explain them to you more fully another time. The matter is decided; I +have accepted; let that suffice for the present. + +IDA. + +But, dear father-- + +COLONEL. + +Leave me in peace, Ida, I have other things to think of. This evening +I am to speak in public; that is, so to say, the custom at such +elections. Don't worry, my child, we'll get the better of the +professor and his clique. + +[_Exit_ COLONEL _toward the garden_. IDA _and_ ADELAIDE _stand facing +each other and wring their hands._] + +IDA. + +What do you say to that? + +ADELAIDE. + +You are his daughter--what do _you_ say? + +IDA. + +Not possible!--Father! Scarcely had he finished explaining to us +thoroughly what petty mantles ambition assumes in such elections-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, he described them right vividly, all the little wraps and cloaks +of vanity. + +IDA. + +And within an hour he lets them throw the cloak about himself. Why, it +is terrible! And if father is not elected? It was wrong of Edward not +to give in to father's weakness. Is that your love for me, Professor? +He, too, never thought of me! + +ADELAIDE. + +Shall I tell you what? Let us hope that they both fail. These +politicians! It was bad enough for you when only one was in politics; +now that both have tasted of the intoxicating drink you are done for. +Were I ever to come into a position to make a man my master, I should +impose upon him but one condition, the wise rule of conduct of my old +aunt: Smoke tobacco, my husband, as much as you please; at most it +will spoil the walls; but never dare to look at a newspaper--that will +spoil your character. + +[KORB _appears at the door_.] + +What news do you bring, Korb? + +KORB (_hastily, mysteriously_). + +It isn't true! + +ADELAIDE (_the same_). What isn't true? + +KORB. + +That he has a fiancée. He has no idea of it. His friend says he has +but one lady-love. + +ADELAIDE (_eagerly_). + +Who is she? + +KORB. His newspaper. + + +ADELAIDE (_relieved_). + +Ah, indeed. (_Aloud_.) + +One can see by that how many falsehoods people tell. It is good, dear +Korb. + +[_Exit_ KORB.] + +IDA. What isn't true? + +ADELAIDE (_sighing_). + +Well, that we women are cleverer than men. We talk just as wisely and +I fear are just as glad to forget our wisdom at the first opportunity. +We are all of us together poor sinners! + +IDA. + +You can joke about it. You never knew what it was to have your father +and the man you loved oppose each other as enemies. + +ADELAIDE. + +Do you think so! Well, I once had a good friend who had foolishly +given her heart to a handsome, high-spirited boy. She was a mere child +and it was a very touching relationship: knightly devotion on his part +and tender sighings on hers. Then the young heroine had the misfortune +to become very jealous, and so far forgot poetry and deportment as to +give her heart's chosen knight a box on the ear. It was only a little +box, but it had fateful consequences. The young lady's father had seen +it and demanded an explanation. Then the young knight acted like a +perfect hero. He took all the blame upon himself and told the alarmed +father that he had asked the young lady to kiss him--poor fellow, he +never had the courage for such a thing!--and the blow had been her +answer. A stern man was the father; he treated the lad very harshly. +The hero was sent away from his family and his home, and the heroine +sat lonely in her donjon-tower and mourned her lost one. + +IDA. + +She ought to have told her father the truth. + +ADELAIDE. + +Oh, she did. But her confession made matters only worse. Years have +gone by since then, and the knight and his lady are now old people and +have become quite sensible. + +IDA (_smiling_). + +And, because they are sensible, do they not love each other any +longer? + +ADELAIDE. + +How the man feels about it, dear child, I cannot tell you exactly. He +wrote the lady a very beautiful letter after the death of her +father--that is all I know about it. But the lady has greater +confidence than you, for she still hopes. (_Earnestly_.) Yes, she +hopes; and even her father permitted that before he died--you see, she +still hopes. + +IDA (_embracing her_). + +And who is the banished one for whom she still hopes? + +ADELAIDE. + +Hush, dearest, that is a dark secret. Few persons living know about +it; and when the birds on the trees of Rosenau tell each other the +story they treat it as a dim legend of their forefathers. They then +sing softly and sorrowfully, and their feathers stand on end with awe. +In due time you shall learn all about it; but now you must think of +the fête, and of how pretty you are going to look. + +IDA. + +On the one hand the father, on the other the lover--how will it end? + +ADELAIDE. + +Do not worry. The one is an old soldier, the other a young statesman; +two types that we women have wound around our little fingers from time +immemorial! [_Both leave_.] + + +SCENE II + + +_Side room of a public hall. The rear wall a great arch with columns, +through which one looks into the lighted hall and through it into another. +On the left, toward the front, a door. On the right, tables and chairs; +chandeliers. Later, from time to time distant music. In the hall ladies +and gentlemen walking about or standing in groups_. SENDEN, BLUMENBERG, +_behind them_ SCHMOCK _coming from the hall_. + +SENDEN. All is going well. There is a splendid spirit in the company. +These good townspeople are delighted with our arrangements. It was a +fine idea of yours, Blumenberg, to have this fête. + +BLUMENBEEG. Only hurry and get people warmed up! It's a good thing to +begin with some music. Vienna waltzes are best on account of the +women. Then comes a speech from you, then some solo singing, and, at +supper, the introduction of the Colonel, and the toasts. It can't help +being a success; the men must have hearts of stone if they don't give +their votes in return for such a fête. + +SENDEN. The toasts have been apportioned. + +BLUMENBERG. But the music?--Why has the music stopped? + +SENDEN. I am waiting for the Colonel to arrive. + +BLUMENBERG. He must be received with a blare of trumpets. It will +flatter him, you know. + +SENDEN. That's what I ordered. Directly after, they start up a march +and we bring him in procession. + +BLUMENBERG. First rate! That will lend solemnity to his entrance. Only +think up your speech. Be popular, for today we are among the rabble. + +_Enter guests, among them_ HENNING. + +SENDEN (_doing the honors with BLUMENBERG_). Delighted to see you +here! We knew that you would not fail us. Is this your wife? + +GUEST. Yes, Mr. von Senden, this is my wife. + +SENDEN. You here, too, Mr. Henning? Welcome, my dear sir! + +HENNING. I was invited by my friend and really had the curiosity to +come. My presence, I hope, will not be unpleasant to any one? + +SENDEN. Quite the contrary. We are most pleased to greet you here. + +[_Guests leave through centre door_; SENDEN _goes out in conversation +with them._] + +BLUMENBERG. He knows how to manage people. It's the good manners of +these gentlemen that does it. He is useful--useful to me too. He +manages the others, and I manage him. [_Turning, he sees_ SCHMOCK, +_who is hovering near the door_.] What are you doing here? Why do you +stand there listening? You are not a door-keeper! See that you keep +out of my vicinity. Divide yourself up among the company. + +SCHMOCK. Whom shall I go to if I know none of these people at all? You +are the only person I know. + +BLUMENBERG. Why must you tell people that you know me? I consider it +no honor to stand next to you. + +SCHMOCK. If it is not an honor it's not a disgrace either; But I can +stay by myself. + +BLUMENBERG. Have you money to get something to eat? Go to the +restaurant-keeper and order something charged to me. The committee +will pay for it. + +SCHMOCK. I don't care to go and eat. I have no need to spend anything. +I have had my supper. + +[_Blare of trumpets and march in the distance. Exit_ BLUMENBERG. +SCHMOCK _alone, coming forward, angrily_.] + +I hate him! I'll tell him I hate him, that I despise him from the +bottom of my heart! + +[_Turns to go, comes back._] + +But I cannot tell him so, or he will cut out all I send in for the +special correspondence I write for his paper! I will try to swallow it +down! + +_[Exit through centre door_.] + +_Enter_ BOLZ, KÄMPE, BELLMAUS _by side door_. + +BOLZ (_marching in_). Behold us in the house of the Capulets! +[_Pretends to thrust a sword into its scabbard._] Conceal your swords +under roses. Blow your little cheeks up, and look as silly and +innocent as possible. Above all, don't let me see you get into a row, +and if you meet this Tybaldus Senden be so good as to run round the +corner. + +[_The procession is seen marching through the rear halls_.] + +You, Romeo Bellmaus, look out for the little women. I see more +fluttering curls and waving kerchiefs there than are good for your +peace of mind. + +KÄMPE. I bet a bottle of champagne that if one of us gets into a row +it will be you. + +BOLZ. Possibly. But I promise you that you shall surely come in for +your share of it. Now listen to my plan of operations. You +Kämpe--[_Enter_ SCHMOCK.] Stop! Who is that? Thunder! The factotum of +the _Coriolanus_! Our _incognito_ has not lasted long. + +SCHMOCK (_even before the last remark, has been seen looking in at the +door, coming forward_). I wish you good evening, Mr. Bolz. + +BOLZ. I wish you the same and of even better quality, Mr. Schmock. + +SCHMOCK. Might I have a couple of words with you? + +BOLZ. A couple? Don't ask for too few, noble armor-bearer of the +_Coriolanus_! A couple of dozen words you shall have, but no more. + +SCHMOCK. Could you not employ me on your paper. + +BOLZ (_to_ KÄMPE _and_ BELLMAUS). Do you hear that? On our paper? H'm! +'Tis much you ask, noble Roman! + +SCHMOCK. I am sick of the _Coriolanus_. I would do any kind of work +you needed done. I want to be with respectable people, where one can +earn something and be treated decently. + +BOLZ. What are you asking of us, slave of Rome? We to entice you away +from your party--never! We do violence to your political convictions? +Make you a renegade? We bear the guilt of your joining our party? No, +sir! We have a tender conscience. It rises in arms against your +proposition! + +SCHMOCK. Why do you let that trouble you? Under Blumenberg I have +learned to write whichever way the wind blows. I have written on the +left and again on the right. I can write in any direction. + +BOLZ. I see you have character. You would be a sure success on our +paper. Your offer does us honor, but we cannot accept it now. So +momentous an affair as your defection needs deep consideration. +Meanwhile you will have confided in no unfeeling barbarian. (_Aside to +the others_.) We may be able to worm something out of him. Bellmaus, +you have the tenderest heart of us three; you must devote yourself to +him today. + +BELLMAUS. But what shall I do with him? + +BOLZ. Take him into the restaurant, sit down in a corner with him, +pour punch into every hollow of his poor head until his secrets jump +out like wet mice. Make him chatter, especially about the elections. +Go, little man, and take good care not to get overheated yourself and +babble. + +BELLMAUS. In that case I shall not see much of the fête. + +BOLZ. That's true, my son! But what does the fête mean to you? Heat, +dust, and stale dance-music. Besides, we will tell you all about it in +the morning; and then you are a poet, and can imagine the whole affair +to be much finer than it really was. So don't take it to heart. You +may think you have a thankless role, but it is the most important of +all, for it requires coolness and cleverness. Go, mousey, and look out +about getting overheated. + +BELLMAUS. I'll look out, old tom-cat.--Come along Schmock! + +[BELLMAUS _and_ SCHMOCK _leave_.] + +BOLZ. We might as well separate, too. + +KÄMPE. I'll go and see how people feel. If I need you I'll look you +up. + +BOLZ. I had better not show myself much. I'll stay around here. + +[_Exit_ KÄMPE.] + +Alone at last! + +[_Goes to centre door_.] + +There stands the Colonel, closely surrounded. It is she! She is here, +and I have to lie in hiding like a fox under the leaves.--But she has +falcon eyes,--perhaps--the throng disperses--she is walking through +the hall arm-in-arm with Ida--(_Excitedly_.) They are drawing nearer! +(_Irritably_.) Oh, bother! There is Korb rushing toward me! And just +now! + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB. Mr. Conrad! I can't believe my eyes! You here, at this fête! + +BOLZ (_hastily_). Hush, old chap! I'm not here without a reason. I can +trust you--you're one of us, you know. + +KORB. Body and soul. Through all the talking and fiddling I've kept +saying to myself, "Long live the _Union!"_ Here she is! + +[_Shows him a paper in his pocket_.] + +BOLZ. Good, Korb, you can do me a great favor. In a corner of the +refreshment room Bellmaus is sitting with a stranger. He is to pump +the stranger, but cannot stand much himself and is likely to say +things he shouldn't. You'll do the party a great service if you will +hurry in and drink punch so as to keep Bellmaus up to the mark. You +have a strong head--I know it from of old. + +KORB (_hastily_). I go! You are as full of tricks as ever, I see. You +may rely on me. The stranger shall succumb, and the _Union_ shall +triumph. + +[_Exit quickly. The music ceases_.] + +BOLZ. Poor Schmock! [_At the door_.] + +Ah, they are still walking through the hall. Ida is being spoken to, +she stops, Adelaide goes on--(_Excitedly_.) she's coming, she's coming +alone! + +ADELAIDE (_makes a motion as though to pass the door, but suddenly +enters_. BOLZ _bows_). Conrad! My dear doctor! + +[_Holds out her hand_. BOLZ _bends low over it_.] + +ADELAIDE (_in joyous emotion_). I knew you at once from a distance. +Let me see your faithful face. Yes, it has changed but little--a scar, +browner, and a small line about the mouth. I hope it is from laughing. + +BOLZ. If at this moment I feel like anything but laughing it is only a +passing malignity of soul. I see myself double, like a melancholy +Highlander. In your presence my long happy childhood passes bodily +before my eyes. All the joy and pain it brought me I feel as vividly +again as though I were still the boy who went into the wood for you in +search of wild adventures and caught robin-red-breasts. And yet the +fine creature I see before me is so different from my playmate that I +realize I am only dreaming a beautiful dream. Your eyes shine as +kindly as ever, but--(_Bowing_.) I have scarcely the right still to +think of old dreams. + +ADELAIDE. Possibly I, too, am not so changed as you think; and changed +though we both be, we have remained good friends, have we not? + +BOLZ. Rather than give up one iota of my claim to your regard, I would +write and print and try to sell malicious articles against myself. + +ADELAIDE. And yet you have been too proud all this time even to come +and see your friend in town. Why have you broken with the Colonel? + +BOLZ. I have not broken with him. On the contrary, I have a very +estimable position in his house--one that I can best keep by going +there as seldom as possible. The Colonel, and occasionally Miss Ida, +too, like to assuage their anger against Oldendorf and the newspaper +by regarding me as the evil one with horns and hoofs. A relationship +so tender must be handled with care--a devil must not cheapen himself +by appearing every day. + +ADELAIDE. Well, I hope you will now abandon this lofty viewpoint. I am +spending the winter in town, and I hope that for love of your +boyhood's friend you will call on my friends as a denizen of this +world. + +BOLZ. In any role you apportion me. + +ADELAIDE. Even in that of a peace-envoy between the Colonel and +Oldendorf? + +BOLZ. If peace be at the cost of Oldendorf's withdrawal, then no. +Otherwise I am ready to serve you in all good works. + +ADELAIDE. But I fear that this is the only price at which peace can be +purchased. You see, Mr. Conrad, we too have become opponents. + +BOLZ. To do anything against your wishes is horrible to me, son of +perdition though I be. So my saint wills and commands that Oldendorf +do not become member of Parliament? + +ADELAIDE. I will it and command it, Mr. Devil! + +BOLZ. It is hard. Up in your heaven you have so many gentlemen to +bestow on Miss Ida; why must you carry off a poor devil's one and only +soul, the professor? + +ADELAIDE. It is just the professor I want, and you must let me have +him. + +BOLZ. I am in despair. I would tear my hair were the place not so +unsuitable. I dread your anger. The thought makes me tremble that you +might not like this election. + +ADELAIDE. Well, try to stop the election, then. + +BOLZ. That I cannot do. But so soon as it is over I am fated to mourn +and grow melancholy over your anger. I shall withdraw from the +world--far, far to the North Pole. There I shall end my days sadly, +playing dominoes with polar bears, or spreading the elements of +journalistic training among the seals. That will be easier to endure +than the scathing glance of your eyes. + +ADELAIDE (_laughing_). Yes, that's the way you always were. You made +every possible promise and acted exactly as you pleased. But before +starting for the North Pole, perhaps you will make one more effort to +reconcile me here. + +[KÄMPE _is seen at the door._] + +Hush!--I shall look forward to your visit. Farewell, my re-found +friend! + +[_EXIT_.] + +BOLZ. And thus my good angel turns her back to me in anger! And now, +politics, thou witch, I am irretrievably in thy power! + +[_Exit quickly through centre door._] + +_Enter_ PIEPENBRINK, MRS. PIEPENBRINK, BERTHA _escorted by_ FRITZ +KLEINMICHEL, _and_ KLEINMICHEL _through centre door. Quadrille behind +the scenes._ + +PIEPENBRINK. Thank Heaven, we are out of this crowd! + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. It is very hot. + +KLEINMICHEL. And the music is too loud. There are too many trumpets +and I hate trumpets. + +PIEPENBRINK. Here's a quiet spot; we'll sit down here. + +FRITZ. Bertha would prefer staying in the ball-room. Might I not go +back with her? + +PIEPENBRINK. I have no objection to you young people going back into +the ball-room, but I prefer your staying here with us. I like to keep +my whole party together. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Stay with your parents, my child! + +PIEPENBRINK. Sit down! (_To his wife._) You sit at the corner, Fritz +comes next to me. You take Bertha between you, neighbors. Her place +will soon be at your table, anyway. + +[_They seat themselves at the table on the right--at the left corner_ +MRS. PIEPENBRINK, _then he himself_, FRITZ, BERTHA, KLEINMICHEL.] + +FRITZ. When will "soon" be, godfather? You have been saying that this +long time, but you put off the wedding day further and further. + +PIEPENBRINK. That is no concern of yours. + +FRITZ. I should think it is, godfather! Am I not the man that wants +to marry Bertha? + +PIEPENBRINK. That's a fine argument! Any one can want that. But it's I +who am to give her to you, which is more to the point, young man; for +it is going to be hard enough for me to let the little wag-tail leave +my nest. So you wait. You shall have her, but wait! + +KLEINMICHEL. He will wait, neighbor. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well, I should strongly advise him to do so. Hey! Waiter, +waiter! + +[Illustration: _Permission F. Bruckman, A.-G. Munich_ ON THE TERRACE +ADOLF VON MENZEL] + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. What poor service one gets in such places! + +PIEPENBRINK. Waiter! + +[_Waiter comes._] + +My name is Piepenbrink. I brought along six bottles of my own wine. +The restaurant-keeper has them. I should like them here. + +[_While the waiter is bringing the bottles and glasses_ BOLZ _and_ +KÄMPE _appear. Waiter from time to time in the background._] + +BOLZ (_aside to_ KÄMPE). Which one is it? + +KÄMPE. The one with his back to us, the broad-shouldered one. + +BOLZ. And what kind of a business does he carry on? + +KÄMPE. Chiefly red wines. + +BOLZ. Good! (_Aloud._) Waiter, a table and two chairs here! A bottle +of red wine! + +[_Waiter brings what has been ordered to the front, on the left._] + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. What are those people doing here? + +PIEPENBRINK. That is the trouble with such promiscuous assemblies, +that one never can be alone. + +KLEINMICHEL. They seem respectable gentlemen; I think I have seen one +of them before. + +PIEPENBRINK (_decisively_). Respectable or not, they are in our way. + +KLEINMICHEL. Yes, to be sure, so they are. + +BOLZ (_seating himself with_ KÄMPE). Here, my friend, we can sit +quietly before a bottle of red wine. I hardly dare to pour it out, for +the wine at such restaurants is nearly always abominable. What sort of +stuff do you suppose this will be? + +PIEPENBRINK (_irritated_). Indeed? Just listen to that! + +KÄMPE. Let's try it. + +[_Pours out; in a low voice._] + +There is a double P. on the seal; that might mean Piepenbrink. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well, I am curious to know what these greenhorns will +have to say against the wine. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Be quiet, Philip, they can hear you over there. + +BOLZ (_in a low tone_). I'm sure you are right. The restaurant takes +its wine from him. That's his very reason for coming. + +PIEPENBRINK. They don't seem to be thirsty; they are not drinking. + +BOLZ (_tastes it; aloud_). Not bad! + +PIEPENBRINK (_ironically_). Indeed? + +BOLZ (_takes another sip_). A good, pure wine. + +PIEPENBRINK (_relieved_). The fellow's judgment is not so bad. + +BOLZ. But it does not compare with a similar wine that I recently +drank at a friend's house. + +PIEPENBRINK. Indeed? + +BOLZ. I learned then that there is only one man in town from whom a +sensible wine-drinker should take his red wine. + +KÄMPE. And that is? + +PIEPENBRINK (_ironically_). I really should like to know. + +BOLZ. It's a certain Piepenbrink. + +PIEPENBRINK (_nodding his head contentedly_). Good! + +KÄMPE. Yes, it is well known to be a very reliable firm. + +PIEPENBRINK. They don't know that their own wine, too, is from my +cellars. Ha! Ha! Ha! + +BOLZ (_turning to him_). Are you laughing at us, Sir? + +PIEPENBRINK. Ha! Ha! Ha! No offense. I merely heard you talking about +the wine. So you like Piepenbrink's wine better than this here? Ha! +Ha! Ha! + +BOLZ (_slightly indignant_). Sir, I must request you to find my +expressions less comical. I do not know Mr. Piepenbrink, but I have +the pleasure of knowing his wine; and so I repeat the assertion that +Piepenbrink has better wine in his cellar than this here. What do you +find to laugh at in that? You do not know Piepenbrink's wines and have +no right to judge of them. + +PIEPENBRINK. I do not know Piepenbrink's wines, I do not know Philip +Piepenbrink either, I never saw his wife--do you hear that, +Lottie?--And when his daughter Bertha meets me I ask, "Who is that +little black-head?" That is a funny story. Isn't it, Kleinmichel? + +KLEINMICHEL. It is very funny! [_Laughs._] + +BOLZ (_rising with dignity_). Sir, I am a stranger to you and have +never insulted you. You look honorable and I find you in the society +of charming ladies. For that reason I cannot imagine that you came +here to mock at strangers. As man to man, therefore, I request you to +explain why you find my harmless words so astonishing. If you don't +like Mr. Piepenbrink why do you visit it on us? + +PIEPENBRINK _(rising_). Don't get too excited, Sir. Now, see here! The +wine you are now drinking is also from Piepenbrink's cellar, and I +myself am the Philip Piepenbrink for whose sake you are pitching into +me. Now, do you see why I laugh? + +BOLZ. Ah, is that the way things stand? You yourself are Mr. +Piepenbrink? Then I am really glad to make your acquaintance. No +offense, honored Sir! + +PIEPENBRINK. No, no offense. Everything is all right. + +BOLZ. Since you were so kind as to tell us your name, the next thing +in order is for you to learn ours. I'm Bolz, Doctor of Philosophy, and +my friend here is Mr. Kämpe. + +PIEPENBRINK. Pleased to meet you. + +BOLZ. We are comparative strangers in this company and had withdrawn +to this side room as one feels slightly embarrassed among so many new +faces. But we should be very sorry if by our presence we in any way +disturbed the enjoyment of the ladies and the conversation of so +estimable a company. Tell us frankly if we are in the way, and we will +find another place. + +PIEPENBRINK. You seem to me a jolly fellow and are not in the least in +my way, Doctor Bolz--that was the name, was it not? + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. We, too, are strangers here and had only just sat +down. Piepenbrink! + +[_Nudges him slightly._] + +PIEPENBRINK. I tell you what, Doctor, as you are already acquainted +with the yellow-seal from my cellar and have passed a very sensible +verdict upon it, how would it be for you to give it another trial +here? Sit down with us if you have nothing better to do, and we will +have a good talk together. + +BOLZ (_with dignity, as throughout this whole scene, during which both +he and KÄMPE must not seem to be in any way pushing_). That is a very +kind invitation, and we accept it with pleasure. Be good enough, dear +Sir, to present us to your company. + +PIEPENBRINK. This here is my wife. + +BOLZ. Do not be vexed at our breaking in upon you, Madam. We promise +to behave ourselves and to be as good company as lies in the power of +two shy bachelors. + +PIEPENBRINK. Here is my daughter. + +BOLZ (_to_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK). One could have known that from the +likeness. + +PIEPENBRINK. This is my friend, Mr. Kleinmichel, and this, Fritz +Kleinmichel, my daughter's fiancé. + +BOLZ. I congratulate you, gentlemen, on such delightful society. (_To_ +PIEPENBRINK.) Permit me to sit next to the lady of the house. Kämpe, I +thought you would sit next to Mr. Kleinmichel. + +[_They sit down_.] + +Now we alternate! Waiter! + +[_Waiter comes to him_.] + +Two bottles of this! + +PIEPENBRINK. Hold on! You won't find that wine here. I brought my own +kind. You're to drink with me. + +BOLZ. But Mr. Piepenbrink---- + +PIEPENBRINK. No remonstrances! You drink with me. And when I ask any +one to drink with me, Sir, I don't mean to sip, as women do, but to +drink out and fill up. You must make up your mind to that. + +BOLZ. Well, I am content. We as gratefully accept your hospitality as +it is heartily offered. But you must then let me have my revenge. Next +Sunday you are all to be my guests, will you? Say yes, my kind host! +Punctually at seven, informal supper. I am single, so it will be in a +quiet, respectable hotel. Give your consent, my dear Madam. Shake +hands on it, Mr. Piepenbrink.--You, too, Mr. Kleinmichel and Mr. +Fritz! + +[_Holds out his hand to each of them_.] + +PIEPENBRINK. If my wife is satisfied it will suit me all right. + +BOLZ. Done! Agreed! And now the first toast. To the good spirit who +brought us together today, long may he live!--[_Questioning those +about him_.] What's the spirit's name? + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. Chance. + +BOLZ. No, he has a yellow cap. + +PIEPENBRINK. Yellow-seal is his name. + +BOLZ. Correct! Here's his health! We hope the gentleman may last a +long time, as the cat said to the bird when she bit its head off. + +KLEINMICHEL. We wish him long life just as we are putting an end to +him. + +BOLZ. Well said! Long life! + +PIEPENBRINK. Long life! + +[_They touch glasses_. PIEPENBRINK _to his wife_.] + +It is going to turn out well today, after all. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. They are very modest nice men. + +BOLZ. You can't imagine how glad I am that our good fortune brought us +into such pleasant company. For although in there everything is very +prettily arranged-- + +PIEPENBRINK. It really is all very creditable. + +BOLZ. Very creditable! But yet this political society is not to my +taste. + +PIEPENBRINK. Ah, indeed! You don't belong to the party, I suppose, and +on that account do not like it. + +BOLZ. It's not that! But when I reflect that all these people have +been invited, not really to heartily enjoy themselves, but in order +that they shall presently give their votes to this or that gentleman, +it cools my ardor. + +PIEPENBRINK. Oh, it can hardly be meant just that way. Something could +be said on the other side--don't you think so, comrade? + +KLEINMICHEL. I trust no one will be asked to sign any agreement here. + +BOLZ. Perhaps not. I have no vote to cast and I am proud to be in a +company where nothing else is thought of but enjoying oneself with +one's neighbor and paying attention to the queens of society--to +charming women! Touch glasses, gentlemen, to the health of the ladies, +of the two who adorn our circle. [_All touch glasses_.] + +PIEPENBRINK. Come here, Lottie, your health is being drunk. + +BOLZ. Young lady, allow a stranger to drink to your future prosperity. + + +PIEPENBRINK. What else do you suppose they are going to do in there? + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. I hear that at supper there are to be speeches, and +the candidate for election, Colonel Berg, is to be introduced. + +PIEPENBRINK. A very estimable gentleman. + +KLEINMICHEL. Yes, it is a good choice the gentlemen on the committee +have made. + +ADELAIDE, _who has been visible in the rear, now saunters in_. + +ADELAIDE. He sitting here? What sort of a company is that? + +KÄMPE. People say that Professor Oldendorf has a good chance of +election. Many are said to be going to vote for him. + +PIEPENBRINK. I have nothing to say against him, only to my mind he is +too young. + +SENDEN _is seen in the rear, later_ BLUMENBERG _and guests_. + +SENDEN. You here, Miss Runeck? + +ADELAIDE. I'm amusing myself with watching those queer people. They +act as though the rest of the company were non-existent. + +SENDEN. What do I see? There sits the _Union_ itself and next to one +of the most important personages of the fête! + +[_The music ceases_.] + +BOLZ (_who has meanwhile been conversing with_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK _but +has listened attentively--to_ MR. PIEPENBRINK). There, you see the +gentlemen cannot desist from talking politics after all. (_To_ +PIEPENBRINK.) Did you not mention Professor Oldendorf? + +PIEPENBRINK. Yes, my jolly Doctor, just casually. + +BOLZ. When you talk of him I heartily pray you to say good things +about him; for he is the best, the noblest man I know. + +PIEPENBRINK. Indeed? You know him? + +KLEINMICHEL. Are you possibly a friend of his! + +BOLZ. More than that. Were the professor to say to me today: "Bolz, it +will help me to have you jump into the water," I should have to jump +in, unpleasant as it would be to me just at this moment to drown in +water. + +PIEPENBRINK. Oho! That is strong! + +BOLZ. In this company I have no right to speak of candidates for +election. But if I did have a member to elect he should be the +one--he, first of all. + +PIEPENBRINK. But you are very much prejudiced in the man's favor. + +BOLZ. His political views do not concern me here at all. But what do I +demand of a member? That he be a man; that he have a warm heart and a +sure judgment, and that he know unwaveringly and unquestionably what +is good and right; furthermore, that he have the strength to do what +he knows to be right without delay, without hesitation. + +PIEPENBRINK. Bravo! + +KLEINMICHEL. But the Colonel, too, is said to be that kind of a man. + +BOLZ. Possibly he is, I do not know; but of Oldendorf I know it. I +looked straight into his heart on the occasion of an unpleasant +experience I went through. I was once on the point of burning to +powder when he was kind enough to prevent it. Him I have to thank for +sitting here. He saved my life. + +SENDEN. He lies abominably! + +[_Starts forward_.] + +ADELAIDE (_holding him back_). Be still! I believe there is some truth +to the story. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well now, it was very fine of him to save your life; but +that kind of thing often happens. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Do tell us about it, Doctor! + +BOLZ. The little affair is like a hundred others and would not +interest me at all, had I not been through it myself. Picture to +yourself an old house. I am a student living on the third floor. In +the house opposite me lives a young scholar; we do not know each +other. At dead of night I am awakened by a great noise and a strange +crackling under me. If it were mice, they must have been having a +torchlight procession for the room was brilliantly illuminated. I rush +to the window, the bright flame from the story under me leaps up to +where I stand. My window-panes burst about my head, and a vile cloud +of smoke rushes in on me. There being no great pleasure under the +circumstances in leaning out of the window, I rush to the door and +throw it open. The stairs, too, cannot resist the mean impulse +peculiar to old wood, they are all ablaze. Up three flights of stairs +and no exit! I gave myself up for lost. Half unconscious I hurried +back to the window. I heard the cries from the street, "A man! a man! +This way with the ladder!" A ladder was set up. In an instant it began +to smoke and to burn like tinder. It was dragged away. Then streams of +water from all the engines hissed in the flames beneath me. Distinctly +I could hear each separate stream striking the glowing wall. A fresh +ladder was put up; below there was deathly silence and you can imagine +that I, too, had no desire to make much of a commotion in my fiery +furnace. "It can't be done," cried the people below. Then a full, rich +voice rang out: "Raise the ladder higher!" Do you know, I felt +instantly that this was the voice of my rescuer. "Hurry!" cried those +below. Then a fresh cloud of vapor penetrated the room. I had had my +share of the thick smoke, and lay prostrate on the ground by the +window. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Poor Doctor Bolz! + +PIEPENBRINK (_eagerly_). Go on! + +[SENDEN _starts forward_.] + +ADELAIDE (_holding him back_). Please, let him finish, the story is +true! + +BOLZ. Then a man's hand seizes my neck. A rope is wound round me under +the arms, and a strong wrist raises me from the ground. A moment later +I was on the ladder, half dragged, half carried; with shirt aflame, +and unconscious, I reached the pavement.--I awoke in the room of the +young scholar. Save for a few slight burns, I had brought nothing with +me over into the new apartment; all my belongings were burned. The +stranger nursed me and cared for me like a brother. Not until I was +able to go out again did I learn that this scholar was the same man +who had paid his visit to me that night on the ladder. You see the man +has his heart in the right spot, and that's why I wish him now to +become member of Parliament, and why I could do for him what I would +not do for myself; for him I could electioneer, intrigue, or make +fools of honest people. That man is Professor Oldendorf. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well, he's a tremendously fine man! [_Rising_.] Here's to +the health of Professor Oldendorf! [_All rise and touch glasses_.] + +BOLZ (_bowing pleasantly to all--to_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK). I see warm +sympathy shining in your eyes, dear madam, and I thank you for it. Mr. +Piepenbrink, I ask permission to shake your hand; you are a fine +fellow. [_Slaps him on the back and embraces him_.] Give me your hand, +Mr. Kleinmichel! [_Embraces him_.] And you, too, Mr. Fritz +Kleinmichel! May no child of yours ever sit in the fire, but if he +does may there ever be a gallant man at hand to pull him out. Come +nearer, I must embrace you, too. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK (_much moved_). Piepenbrink, we have veal-cutlets +tomorrow. What do you think? [_Converses with him in a low tone_.] + +ADELAIDE. His spirits are running away with him! + +SENDEN. He is unbearable! I see that you are as indignant as I am. He +snatches away our people; it can no longer be endured. + +BOLZ (_who had gone the rounds of table, returning and standing in +front of_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK). It really isn't right to let it stop +here. Mr. Piepenbrink, head of the house, I appeal to you, I ask your +permission--hand or mouth? + +ADELAIDE (_horrified, on the right toward the front_). He is actually +kissing her! + +PIEPENBRINK. Sail in, old man, courage! + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Piepenbrink, I no longer know you! + +ADELAIDE (_at the moment when_ BOLZ _is about to kiss_ MRS. +PIEPENBRINK _crosses the stage, passing them casually, as it were, and +holds her bouquet between_ BOLZ _and_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK. _In a low +tone, quickly to_ BOLZ). You're going too far! You are being watched! + +[_Passes to the rear on the left, and exit_.] + +BOLZ. A fairy interferes! + +SENDEN _(who has already been haranguing some of the other guests, +including_ BLUMENBERG, _noisily pushes forward at this moment--to +those at the table_). He is presumptuous; he has thrust himself in! + +PIEPENBRINK (_bringing down his hand on the table and rising_). Oho! I +like that! If I kiss my wife or let her be kissed, that is nobody's +concern whatever! Nobody's! No man and no woman and no fairy has a +right to put a hand before her mouth. + +BOLZ. Very true! Splendid! Hear! Hear! + +SENDEN. Revered Mr. Piepenbrink, no offense against you! The company +is charmed to see you here. Only to Mr. Bolz we will remark that his +presence is causing scandal. So completely opposed are his political +principles that we must regard his appearing at this fête as an +unwarrantable intrusion! + +BOLZ. My political principles opposed? In society I know no other +political principle than this--to drink with nice people and not to +drink with those whom I do not consider nice. With you, Sir, I have +not drunk. + +PIEPENBRINK _(striking the table_). That was a good one! + +SENDEN _(hotly)_. You thrust yourself in here! + +BOLZ _(indignantly)_. Thrust myself in? + +PIEPENBRINK. Thrust himself in? Old man, you have an entrance ticket, +I suppose? + +BOLZ _(frankly)_. Here is my ticket! It is not you I am showing it to, +but this honorable man from whom you are trying to estrange me by +your attack. Kämpe, give your ticket to Mr. Piepenbrink. He is the man +to judge of all the tickets in the world! + +PIEPENBRINK. Here are two tickets just exactly as valid as my own. +Why, you scattered them right and left like sour grape juice. Oho! I +see quite well how things stand! I'm not one of your crowd, either, +but you want to get me. That's why you came to my house again and +again--because you expected to capture me. Because I am a voter, +that's why you're after me. But because this honorable man is not a +voter he does not count for you at all. We know those smooth tricks! + +SENDEN. But, Mr. Piepenbrink! + +PIEPENBRINK _(interrupting him, more angrily)_. Is that any reason for +insulting a peaceful guest? Is it a reason for closing my wife's +mouth? It is an injustice to this man, and he shall stay here as long +as I do. And he shall stay here by my side. And whoever attempts to +attack him will have to deal with me! + +BOLZ. Your fist, good sir! You're a faithful comrade! And so +hand-in-hand with you Philip, I defy the Capulet and his entire clan! + +PIEPENBRINK. Philip! Right you are, Conrad, my boy! Come here! They +shall swell with anger till they burst! Here's to Philip and Conrad! +_[They drink brotherhood.]_ + +BOLZ. Long live Piepenbrink! + +PIEPENBRINK. So, old chum! Shall I tell you what! Since we are having +so good a time I think we'll leave all these people to their own +devices, and all of you come home with me. I'll brew a punch and we'll +sit together as merrily as jackdaws. I'll escort you, Conrad, and the +rest of you go ahead. + +SENDEN _(and guests)_. But do listen, _revered_ Mr. Piepenbrink! + +PIEPENBRINK. I'll listen to nothing. I'm done with you! + +_Enter_ BELLMAUS _and other guests_. + +BELLMAUS _(hurrying through the crowd_). Here I am! + +BOLZ. My nephew! Gracious Madam, I put him under your protection! +Nephew, you escort Madam Piepenbrink. (MRS. PIEPENBRINK _takes a firm +grip on_ BELLMAUS'S _arm and holds him securely. Polka behind the +scene.)_ Farewell, gentlemen, it's beyond your power to spoil our good +humor. There, the music is striking up! We march off in a jolly +procession, and again I cry in conclusion, Long live Piepenbrink! + +THE DEPARTING ONES. Long live Piepenbrink! _[They march off in +triumph_. FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and his fiancée,_ KÄMPE _with_ +KLEINMICHEL, MRS. PIEPENBRINK _with_ BELLMAUS, _finally_ BOLZ _with_ +PIEPENBRINK.] + +_Enter_ COLONEL. + +COLONEL. What's going on here? + +SENDEN. An outrageous scandal! The _Union_ has kidnapped our two most +important voters! + + + + +ACT III + + +SCENE I + + +_The_ COLONEL'S _Summer Parlor_. + +_The_ COLONEL _in front, walking rapidly up and down. In the rear_, +ADELAIDE _and_ IDA _arm-in-arm, the latter in great agitation. A short +pause. Then enter_ SENDEN. + +SENDEN (_hastily calling through centre door_). + +All goes well! 37 votes against 29. + +COLONEL. + +Who has 37 votes? + +SENDEN. + +Why you, Colonel, of course! + +COLONEL. + +Of course! (_Exit_ SENDEN.) The election day is unendurable! In no +fight in my life did I have this feeling of fear. It is a mean +cannon-fever of which any ensign might be ashamed. And it is a long +time since I was an ensign! + +[_Stamping his foot_.] + +Confound it! + +[_Goes to rear of stage_.] + +IDA (_coming forward with_ ADELAIDE). + +This uncertainty is frightful. Only one thing is sure, I shall be +unhappy whichever way this election turns out. + +[_Leans on_ ADELAIDE.] + +ADELAIDE. + +Courage! Courage, little girl! Things may still turn out all right. +Hide your anxiety from your father; he is in a state of mind, as it +is, that does not please me at all. + +_Enter_ BLUMENBERG _in haste; the_ COLONEL _rushes toward him_. + +COLONEL. + +Now, sir, how do things stand? + +BLUMENBERG. + +41 votes for you, Colonel, 34 for our opponents; three have fallen on +outsiders. The votes are being registered at very long intervals now, +but the difference in your favor remains much the same. Eight more +votes for you, Colonel, and the victory is won. We have every chance +now of coming out ahead. I am hurrying back, the decisive moment is at +hand. My compliments to the ladies! + +[_Exit_.] + +COLONEL. + +Ida! + +[IDA _hastens to him_.] + +Are you my good daughter? + +IDA. + +My dear father! + +COLONEL. + +I know what is troubling you, child. You are worse off than any one. +Console yourself, Ida; if, as seems likely, the professor has to make +way for the old soldier, then we'll talk further on the matter. +Oldendorf has not deserved it of me; there are many things about him +that I do not like. But you are my only child. I shall think of that +and of nothing else; but the very first thing to do is to break down +the young man's obstinacy. + +[_Releases_ IDA; _walks up and down again._] + +ADELAIDE (_in the foreground, aside_). + +The barometer has risen, the sunshine of pardon breaks through the +clouds. If only it were all over! Such excitement is infectious! (_To_ +IDA.) You see you do not yet have to think of entering a nunnery. + +IDA. But if Oldendorf is defeated, how will he bear it! + +ADELAIDE (_shrugging her shoulders_). + +He loses a seat in unpleasant company and wins, instead, an amusing +little wife. I think he ought to be satisfied. In any case he will +have a chance to make his speeches. Whether he makes them in one house +or another, what is the difference? I fancy you will listen to him +more reverently than any other member. + +IDA (_shyly_). + +But Adelaide, what if it really would be better for the country to +have Oldendorf elected? + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, dearest, in that case there is no help for the country. Our State +and the rest of the European nations must learn to get along without +the professor. You have yourself to attend to first of all; you wish +to marry him; you come first. + +[_Enter_ CARL.] + +What news, Carl? + +CARL. + +Mr. von Senden presents his compliments and reports 47 to 42. The head +of the election committee, he says, has already congratulated him. + +COLONEL. + +Congratulated? Lay out my uniform, ask for the key of the wine-cellar, +and set the table; we are likely to have visitors this evening. + +CARL. + +Yes, Colonel. + +[_Exit_.] + +COLONEL (_to himself in the foreground_). + +Now, my young professor! My style does not please you? It may be that +you are right. I grant you are a better journalist. But here, where it +is a serious matter, you will find yourself in the wrong, just for +once. [_Pause_.] I may be obliged to say a few words this evening. It +used to be said of me in the regiment, indeed, that I could always +speak to the point, but these manoeuvres in civilian dress disconcert +me a little. Let's think it over! It will be only proper for me to +mention Oldendorf in my speech, of course with due respect and +appreciation; yes indeed, I must do that. He is an honest fellow, with +an excellent heart, and a scholar with fine judgment. And he can be +very amiable if you disregard his political theories. We have had +pleasant evenings together. And as we sat then around my fat +tea-kettle and the good boy began to tell his stories, Ida's eyes +would be fixed on his face and would shine with pleasure--yes, and my +own old eyes, too, I think. Those were fine evenings! Why do we have +them no longer? Bah! They'll come back again! He'll bear defeat +quietly in his own way--a good, helpful way. No sensitiveness in him! +He really is at heart a fine fellow, and Ida and I could be happy with +him. And so, gentlemen and electors--but thunder and lightning! I +can't say all that to the voters! I'll say to them-- + +_Enter_ SENDEN. + +SENDEN (_excitedly_). + +Shameful, shameful! All is lost! + +COLONEL. + +Aha! (_Instantly draws himself up in military posture_.) + + + ADELAIDE } My presentiment! Father! + } [_Hurries to him_]. + } (_together_). + } + IDA } Dear me! + + +SENDEN. + +It was going splendidly. We had 47, the opponents 42 votes. Eight +votes were still to be cast. Two more for us and the day would have +been ours. The legally appointed moment for closing the ballot-box had +come. All looked at the clock and called for the dilatory voters. Then +there was a trampling of feet in the corridor. A group of eight +persons pushed noisily into the hall, at their head the vulgar +wine-merchant Piepenbrink, the same one who at the fête the other +day-- + +ADELAIDE. + +We know; go on-- + +SENDEN. + +Each of the band in turn came forward, gave his vote and "Edward +Oldendorf" issued from the lips of all. Then finally came this +Piepenbrink. Before voting he asked the man next to him: "Is the +professor sure of it?" "Yes," was the reply. "Then I, as last voter, +choose as member of Parliament"--[_Stops._] + +ADELAIDE. + +The professor? + +SENDEN. + +No. "A most clever and cunning politician," so he put it, "Dr. Conrad +Bolz." Then he turned short around and his henchmen followed him. + +ADELAIDE (_aside, smiling_). + +Aha! + +SENDEN. + +Oldendorf is member by a majority of two votes. + +COLONEL. + +Ugh! + +SENDEN. + +It is a shame! No one is to blame for this result but these +journalists of the _Union_. Such a running about, an intriguing, a +shaking of hands with all the voters, a praising of this Oldendorf, a +shrugging of the shoulders at us--and at you, dear Sir! + +COLONEL. + +Indeed? + +IDA. + +That last is not true. + +ADELAIDE (_to_ SENDEN). + +Show some regard, and spare those here. + +COLONEL. + +You are trembling, my daughter. You are a woman, and let yourself be +too much affected by such trifles. I will not have you listen to these +tidings any longer. Go, my child! Why, your friend has won, there is +no reason for you to cry! Help her, Miss Adelaide! + +IDA (_is led by_ ADELAIDE _to the side door on the left; +entreatingly_.) + +Leave me! Stay with father! + +SENDEN. + +Upon my honor, the bad faith and arrogance with which this paper is +edited are no longer to be endured. Colonel, since we are alone--for +Miss Adelaide will let me count her as one of us--we have a chance to +take a striking revenge. Their days are numbered now. Quite a long +time ago, already, I had the owner of the _Union_ sounded. He is not +disinclined to sell the paper, but merely has scruples about the party +now controlling the sheet. At the club-fête I myself had a talk with +him. + +ADELAIDE. + +What's this I hear? + +SENDEN. + +This outcome of the election will cause the greatest bitterness among +all our friends, and I have no doubt that, in a few days, by forming a +stock company, we can collect the purchase price. That would be a +deadly blow to our opponents, a triumph for the good cause. The most +widely-read sheet in the province in our hands, edited by a +committee-- + +ADELAIDE. + +To which Mr. von Senden would not refuse his aid-- + +SENDEN. + +As a matter of duty I should do my part. Colonel, if you would be one +of the shareholders, your example would at once make the purchase a +sure thing. + +COLONEL. + +Sir, what you do to further your political ideas is your own affair. +Professor Oldendorf, however, has been a welcome guest in my house. +Never will I work against him behind his back. You would have spared +me this moment had you not previously deceived me by your assurances +as to the sentiments of the majority. However, I bear you no malice. +You acted from the best of motives, I am sure. I beg the company to +excuse me if I withdraw for today. I hope to see you tomorrow again, +dear Senden. + +SENDEN. + +Meanwhile I will start the fund for the purchase of the newspaper. I +bid you good day. [_Exit_.] + +COLONEL. + +Pardon me, Adelaide, if I leave you alone. I have some letters to +write, and [_with a forced laugh_] my newspapers to read. + +ADELAIDE (_sympathetically_). + +May I not stay with you now, of all times? + +COLONEL (_with an effort_). + +I shall be better off alone, now. + +[_Exit through centre door_.] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +My poor Colonel! Injured vanity is hard at work in his faithful soul. +And Ida. [_Gently opens the door on the left, remains standing_.] She +is writing. It is not difficult to guess to whom. [_Closes the door_.] +And for all of this mischief that evil spirit Journalism is to blame. +Everybody complains of it, and every one tries to use it for his own +ends. My Colonel scorned newspaper men until he became one himself, +and Senden misses no opportunity of railing at my good friends of +the pen, merely because he wishes to put himself in their place. I see +Piepenbrink and myself becoming journalists, too, and combining to +edit a little sheet under the title of _Naughty Bolz_. So the _Union_ +is in danger of being secretly sold. It might be quite a good thing +for Conrad: he would then have to think of something else besides the +newspaper. Ah! the rogue would start a new one at once! + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF _and_ CARL. + +OLDENDORF (_while still outside of the room_). + +And the Colonel will receive no one? + +CARL. + +No one, Professor. [_Exit_.] + +ADELAIDE (_going up to_ OLDENDORF). + +Dear Professor, this is not just the right moment for you to come. We +are very much hurt and out of sorts with the world, but most of all +with you. + +OLDENDORF. + +I am afraid you are, but I must speak to him. + +_Enter_ IDA _through the door on the left_. + +IDA (_going toward him_). + +Edward! I knew you would come! + +OLDENDORF. + +My dear Ida! [_Embraces her_.] + +IDA (_with her arms around his neck_). + +And what will become of us now? + +_Enter_ COLONEL _through centre door_. + +COLONEL (_with forced calmness_). + +You shall remain in no doubt about that, my daughter! I beg you, +Professor, to forget that you were once treated as a friend in this +household. I require you, Ida, to banish all thought of the hours when +this gentleman entertained you with his sentiments. (_More +violently_.) Be still! In my own house at least I submit to no attacks +from a journalist. Forget him, or forget that you are my daughter. Go +in there! [_Leads_ IDA, _not ungently, out to the left, and places +himself in front of the door_.] On this ground, Mr. Editor and Member +of Parliament, before the heart of my child, you shall not beat me. + +[_Exit to the left_.] + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Dear me! That is bad! + +OLDENDORF (_as the_ COLONEL _turns to go, with determination_). + +Colonel, it is ungenerous of you to refuse me this interview. [_Goes +toward the door_.] + +ADELAIDE (_intercepting him quickly_). + +Stop! No further! He is in a state of excitement where a single word +might do permanent harm. But do not leave us this way, Professor; give +me just a few moments. + +OLDENDORF. + +I must, in my present condition of mind, ask your indulgence. I have +long dreaded just such a scene, and yet I hardly feel able to control +myself. + +ADELAIDE. + +You know our friend; you know that his quick temper drives him into +acts for which later he would gladly atone. + +OLDENDORF. + +This was more than a fit of temper. It means a breach between us +two--a breach that seems to me beyond healing. + +ADELAIDE. + +Beyond healing, Professor! If your sentiments toward Ida are what I +think they are, healing is not so difficult. Would it not be fitting +for you even now--especially now--to accede to the father's wishes. +Does not the woman you love deserve that, for once at least, you +sacrifice your ambition! + +OLDENDORF. + +My ambition, yes; my duty, no. + +ADELAIDE. + +Your own happiness, Professor, seems to me to be ruined for a long +time, possibly forever, if you part from Ida in this way. + +OLDENDORF (_gloomily_). + +Not every one can be happy in his private life. + +ADELAIDE. + +This resignation does not please me at all, least of all in a man. +Pardon me for saying so, plainly. (_Ingratiatingly_.) Is the +misfortune so great if you become member for this town a few years +later, or even not at all? + +OLDENDORF. + +Miss Runeck, I am not conceited. I do not rate my abilities very high, +and, as far as I know myself, there is no ambitious impulse lurking at +the bottom of my heart. Possibly, as you do now, so a later age will +set a low estimate on our political wrangling, our party aims, and all +that that includes. Possibly all our labor will be without result; +possibly much of the good we hope to do will, when achieved, turn out +to be the opposite--yes, it is highly probable that my own share in +the struggle will often be painful, unedifying, and not at all what +you would call a grateful task; but all that must not keep me from +devoting my life to the strife and struggle of the age to which I +belong. That struggle, after all, is the best and noblest that the +present has to offer. Not every age permits its sons to achieve +results which remain great for all time; and, I repeat, not every age +can make those who live in it distinguished and happy. + +ADELAIDE. + +I think every age can accomplish that if the individuals will only +understand how to be great and happy. [_Rising_.] You, Professor, will +do nothing for your own little home-happiness. You force your friends +to act for you. + +[Illustration: Permission F. Bruckmann, A.-G. Munich +IN THE BEERGARDEN Adolph von Menzel] + +OLDENDORF. + +At all events cherish as little anger against me as possible, and +speak a good word for me to Ida. + +ADELAIDE. + +I shall set my woman's wits to aiding you, Mr. Statesman. + +[_Exit_ OLDENDORF.] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +So this is one of the noble, scholarly, free spirits of the German +nation! And he climbs into the fire from a sheer sense of duty! But to +conquer anything--the world, happiness, or even a wife--for that he +never was made! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL (_announcing_). + +Dr. Bolz! + +ADELAIDE. + +Ah! He at least will be no such paragon of virtue!--Where is the +Colonel? + +CARL. + +In Miss Ida's room. + +ADELAIDE. + +Show the gentleman in here. + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +I feel somewhat embarrassed at seeing you again, Mr. Bolz; I shall +take pains to conceal it. + +_Enter_ BOLZ. + +BOLZ. + +A poor soul has just left you, vainly seeking consolation in your +philosophy. I too come as an unfortunate, for yesterday I incurred +your displeasure; and but for your presence, which cut short a +vexatious scene, Mr. von Senden, in the interests of social propriety, +would doubtless have pitched into me still harder. I thank you for the +reminder you gave me; I take it as a sign that you will not withdraw +your friendly interest in me. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Very pretty, very diplomatic!--It is kind of you to put so good a +construction on my astonishing behavior. But pardon me if I presume to +interfere again; that scene with Mr. von Senden will not, I trust, +give provocation for a second one? + +BOLZ (_aside_). + +This eternal Senden! (_Aloud_.) Your interest in him furnishes me +grounds for avoiding further consequences. I think I can manage it. + +ADELAIDE. + +I thank you. And now let me tell you that you are a dangerous +diplomatist. You have inflicted a thorough defeat on this household. +On this unfortunate day but one thing has pleased me--the one vote +which sought to make you member of Parliament. + +BOLZ. + +It was a crazy idea of the honest wine-merchant. + +ADELAIDE. + +You took so much trouble to put your friend in, why did you not work +for yourself? The young man I used to know had lofty aims, and nothing +seemed beyond the range of his soaring ambition. Have you changed, or +is the fire still burning? + +BOLZ (_smiling_). + +I have become a journalist, Miss Adelaide. + +ADELAIDE. + +Your friend is one, too. + +BOLZ. + +Only as a side issue. But I belong to the guild. He who has joined it +may have the ambition to write wittily or well. All that goes beyond +that is not for us. + +ADELAIDE. + +Not for you? + +BOLZ. + +For that we are too flighty, too restless and scatter-brained. + +ADELAIDE. + +Are you in earnest about that, Conrad? + +BOLZ. + +Perfectly in earnest. Why should I wish to seem to you different from +what I am? We journalists feed our minds on the daily news; we must +taste the dishes Satan cooks for men down to the smallest morsel; so +you really should make allowances for us. The daily vexation over +failure and wrong doing, the perpetual little excitements over all +sorts of things--that has an effect upon a man. At first one clenches +one's fist, then one learns to laugh at it. If you work only for the +day you come to live for the day. + +ADELAIDE (_perturbed_). + +But that is sad, I think. + +BOLZ. + +On the contrary, it is quite amusing. We buzz like bees, in spirit we +fly through the whole world, suck honey when we find it, and sting +when something displeases us. Such a life is not apt to make great +heroes, but queer dicks like us are also needed. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Now he too is at it, and he is even worse than the other one. + +BOLZ. + +We won't waste sentiment on that account. I scribble away so long as +it goes. When it no longer goes, others take my place and do the same. +When Conrad Bolz, the grain of wheat, has been crushed in the great +mill, other grains fall on the stones until the flour is ready from +which the future, possibly, will bake good bread for the benefit of +the many. + +ADELAIDE. + +No, no, that is morbidness; such resignation is wrong. + +BOLZ. + +Such resignation will eventually be found in every profession. It is +not your lot. To you is due a different kind of happiness, and you +will find it. (_Feelingly_.) Adelaide, as a boy I wrote you tender +verses and lulled myself in foolish dreams. I was very fond of you, +and the wound our separation inflicted still smarts at times. +[ADELAIDE _makes a deprecatory gesture_.] Don't be alarmed, I am not +going to pain you. I long begrudged my fate, and had moments when I +felt like an outcast. But now when you stand there before me in full +radiancy, so lovely, so desirable, when my feeling for you is as warm +as ever, I must say to you all the same: Your father, it is true, +treated me roughly; but that he separated us, that he prevented you, +the rich heiress, who could claim anything, with your own exclusive +circle of friends, from throwing herself away on a wild boy who had +always shown more presumption than power--that was really very +sensible, and he acted quite rightly in the matter. + +ADELAIDE (_in her agitation seizing his hands_). + +Thank you, Conrad, thank you for speaking so of my dead father! Yes, +you are good, you have a heart. It makes me very happy that you should +have shown it to me. + +BOLZ. + +It is only a tiny little pocket-heart for private use. It was quite +against my will that it happened to make its appearance. + +ADELAIDE. + +And now enough of us two! Here in this house our help is needed. You +have won, have completely prevailed against us. I submit, and +acknowledge you my master. But now show mercy and let us join forces. +In this conflict of you men a rude blow has been struck at the heart +of a girl whom I love. I should like to make that good again and I +want you to help me. + +BOLZ. + +I am at your command. + +ADELAIDE. + +The Colonel must be reconciled. Think up some way of healing his +injured self-esteem. + +BOLZ. + +I have thought it over and have taken some steps. Unfortunately, all I +can do is to make him feel that his anger at Oldendorf is folly. This +soft conciliatory impulse you alone can inspire. + +ADELAIDE. + +Then we women must try our luck. + +BOLZ. + +Meanwhile I will hurry and do what little I can. + +ADELAIDE. + +Farewell, Mr. Editor. And think not only of the progress of the great +world, but also occasionally of one friend, who suffers from the base +egotism of wishing to be happy on her own account. + +BOLZ. + +You have always found your happiness in looking after the happiness of +others. With that kind of egotism there is no difficulty in being +happy. [_Exit_.] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +He still loves me! He is a man with feeling and generosity. But he, +too, is resigned. They are all _ill_--these men! They have no courage! +From pure learning and introspection they have lost all confidence in +themselves. This Conrad! Why doesn't he say to me: "Adelaide, I want +you to be my wife?" He can be brazen enough when he wants to! God +forbid! He philosophizes about my kind of happiness and his kind of +happiness! It was all very fine, but sheer nonsense.--My young +country-squires are quite different. They have no great burden of +wisdom and have more whims and prejudices than they ought to; but they +do their hating and loving thoroughly and boldly, and never forget +their own advantage. They are the better for it! Praised be the +country, the fresh air, and my broad acres! [_Pause; with decision_.] +The _Union_ is to be sold! Conrad must come to the country to get rid +of his crotchets! [_Sits down and writes; rings; enter_ CARL.] Take +this note to Judge Schwarz; I want him kindly to come to me on urgent +business. + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +_Enter_ IDA _through the side door on the left_. + +IDA. + +I am too restless to keep still! Let me cry here to my heart's +content! [_Weeps on_ ADELAIDE'S _neck_.] + +ADELAIDE (_tenderly_). + +Poor child! The bad men have been very cruel to you. It's all right +for you to grieve, darling, but don't be so still and resigned! + +IDA. + +I have but the one thought: he is lost to me--lost forever! + +ADELAIDE. + +You are a dear good girl. But be reassured! You haven't lost him at +all. On the contrary, we'll see to it that you get him back better +than ever. With blushing cheeks and bright eyes he shall reappear to +you, the noble man, your chosen demigod--and your pardon the demigod +shall ask for having caused you pain!-- + +IDA (_looking up at her_). + +What are you telling me? + +ADELAIDE. + +Listen! This night I read in the stars that you were to become Mrs. +Member-of-Parliament. A big star fell from heaven, and on it was +written in legible letters: "Beyond peradventure she shall have him!" +The fulfilment has attached to it but one condition. + +IDA. + +What condition? Tell me! + +ADELAIDE. + +I recently told you of a certain lady and an unknown gentleman. You +remember? + +IDA. + +I have thought of it incessantly. + +ADELAIDE. + +Good! On the same day on which this lady finds her knight again shall +you also be reconciled with your professor--not sooner, not later. +Thus it is written. + +IDA. + +I am so glad to believe you. And when will the day come? + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, dear, I do not know that exactly. But I will confide in you, +since we girls are alone, that the said lady is heartily tired of the +long hoping and waiting and will, I fear, do something desperate. + +IDA (_embracing her_). + +If only she will hurry up! + +ADELAIDE (_holding her_). + +Hush! Some man might hear us! [_Enter_ KORB.] What is it, old friend? + +KORB. + +Miss Adelaide, out there is Mr. Bellmaus, the friend-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Very well, and he wishes to speak to me? + +KORB. + +Yes. I myself advised him to come to you; he has something to tell +you. + +ADELAIDE. + +Bring him in here! [_Exit_ KORB.] + +IDA. + +Let me go away; my eyes are red with weeping. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well go, dear. In a few minutes I will rejoin you. (_Exit_ IDA.) + +He too! The whole _Union_--one after the other! + +_Enter_ BEULMAUS. + +BELLMAUS (_shyly, bowing repeatedly_). + +You permit me, Miss Runeck! + +ADELAIDE (_kindly_). + +I am glad to receive your visit, and am curious about the interesting +disclosures you have to make to me. + +BELLMAUS. + +There is no one to whom I would rather confide what I have heard, Miss +Runeck, than to you. Having learned from Mr. Korb that you are a +subscriber to our newspaper I feel sure-- + +ADELAIDE. + +That I deserve, too, to be a friend of the editors. Thank you for the +good opinion. + +BELLMAUS. + +There is this man Schmock! He is a poor fellow who has been little in +good society and was until now on the staff of the _Coriolanus_. + +ADELAIDE. I remember having seen him. + +BELLMAUS. + +At Bolz's request I gave him a few glasses of punch. He thereupon grew +jolly and told me of a great plot that Senden and the editor of the +_Coriolanus_ have hatched between them. These two gentlemen, so he +assures me, had planned to discredit Professor Oldendorf in the +Colonel's eyes and so drove the Colonel into writing articles for the +_Coriolanus_. + +ADELAIDE. + +But is the young man who made you these revelations at all +trustworthy? + +BELLMAUS. + +He can't stand much punch, and after three glasses he told me all this +of his own accord. In general I don't consider him very reputable. I +should call him a good fellow, but reputable--no, he's not quite that. + +ADELAIDE (_indifferently_.) + +Do you suppose this gentleman who drank the three glasses of punch +would be willing to repeat his disclosures before other persons? + +BELLMAUS. + +He said he would, and spoke of proofs too. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Aha! (_Aloud_.) I fear the proofs won't amount to much. And you have +not spoken of it to the professor or Mr. Bolz? + +BELLMAUS. + +Our professor is very much occupied these days, and Bolz is the +jolliest man in the world; but his relations with Mr. von Senden being +already strained I thought-- + +ADELAIDE (_quickly_). + +And you were quite right, dear Mr. Bellmaus. So in other regards you +are content with Mr. Bolz? + +BELLMAUS. + +He is a sociable, excellent man, and I am on very good terms with him. +All of us are on very good terms with him. + +ADELAIDE. + +I am glad to hear it. + +BELLMAUS. + +He sometimes goes a little too far, but he has the best heart in the +world. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings" ye +shall hear the truth! + +BELLMAUS. + +His nature, you know, is a purely prosaic one; for poetry he has not +the least comprehension. ADELAIDE. Do you think so? + +BELLMAUS. + +Yes, he often bursts forth on the subject. + +ADELAIDE (_rising_). + +I thank you for your communication even if I cannot attach weight to +it, and I am glad to have met in you one of the editorial staff. +Journalists, I find, are dangerous people, and it is just as well to +secure their good will; although I, as an unimportant person, will try +never to furnish matter for a newspaper article. [_As_ BELLMAUS +_lingers._] Can I do anything more for you? + +BELLMAUS (_with warmth_). + +Yes, Miss Runeck, if you would be so good as to accept this copy of my +poems. They are poems of youth, to be sure, my first attempts, but I +count on your friendly indulgence. + +[_Draws a gilt-edged book from his pocket, and hands it to her._] + +ADELAIDE. + +I thank you heartily, Mr. Bellmaus. Never before has a poet presented +me with his works. I shall read the beautiful book through in the +country, and, under my trees, shall rejoice that I have friends in +town who spare a thought for me too, when they represent beauty for +other people. + +BELLMAUS (_fervently_). + +Rest assured, Miss Runeck, that no poet will forget you, who has once +had the good fortune to make your acquaintance. + +[_Exit with a deep bow._] + +ADELAIDE. + +This Mr. Schmock with the three glasses of punch is well worth +cultivating, I should say. Scarcely have I arrived in town when my +room turns into a regular business office, where editors and authors +ply their trade. I fear that is an omen. + +[_Exit to the left._] + +_It grows dark. The_ COLONEL _enters from the garden._ + +COLONEL (_slowly coming forward_). + +I am glad that all is over between us. [_Stamping his foot._] I am +very glad! [_In a depressed tone._] I feel free and more relieved than +for a long time. I think I could actually sing! At this moment I am +the subject of conversation over all tea-cups, on all beer-benches. +Everywhere arguing and laughter: It serves him right, the old fool! +Damn! [_Enter_ CARL, _with lights and the newspaper_.] Who told you to +bring the lamp? + +CARL. + +Colonel, it is your hour for reading the newspaper. Here it is. [_Lays +it on the table_.] + +COLONEL. + +A low rabble, these gentlemen of the pen! Cowardly, malicious, +insidious in their anonymity. How this band will triumph now, and over +me! How they will laud their editor to the skies! There lies the +contemptible sheet! In it stands my defeat, trumpeted forth with full +cheeks, with scornful shrugs of the shoulders--away with it! [_Walks +up and down, looks at the newspaper on the ground, picking it up_.] +All the same I will drink out the dregs! [_Seats himself.]_ Here, +right in the beginning! [_Reading_.] "Professor Oldendorf--majority of +two votes. This journal is bound to rejoice over the result."--I don't +doubt it!--"But no less a matter for rejoicing was the electoral +contest which preceded it."--Naturally--"It has probably never before +been the case that, as here, two men stood against each other who were +so closely united by years of friendship, both so distinguished by the +good will of their fellow-citizens. It was a knightly combat between +two friends, full of generosity, without malice, without jealousy; yes +doubtless, deep down in his heart, each harbored the hope that his +friend and opponent and not himself would be the victor"--[_Lays down +the paper; wipes his brow_.] What sort of language is that? [_Reads_.] +"and aside from some special party views, never did a man have greater +claims to victory than our honored opponent. What he, through his +upright, noble personality stands for among his wide circle of friends +and acquaintances, this is not the place to dwell upon. But the way in +which, by his active participation in all public spirited enterprises +of the town, he has given aid and counsel, is universally known and +will be realized by our fellow-citizens, especially today, with +heartfelt gratitude." [_Lays the paper aside_.] That is a vile style! +[_Reads on_.] "By a very small majority of votes our town has decreed +to uphold the younger friend's political views in Parliament. But by +all parties today--so it is reported--addresses and deputations are +being prepared, not to extol the victor in the electoral contest, but +to express to his opponent the general reverence and respect of which +never a man was more worthy than he."--That is open assassination! +That is a fearful indiscretion of Oldendorf's, that is the revenge of +a journalist, so fine and pointed! Oh, it is just like him! No, it is +not like him! It is revolting, it is inhuman! What am I to do! +Deputations and addresses to me? To Oldendorf's friend? Bah, it is all +mere gossip, newspaper-babble that costs nothing but a few fine words! +The town knows nothing of these sentiments. It is blackguardism! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +Letters from the local mail. + +[_Lays them on the table._] + +[_Exit_.] + +COLONEL. + +There is something up, here, too. I dread to open them. [_Breaks open +the first one_.] What the devil! A poem?--and to me? "To our noble +opponent, the best man in town."--Signed? What is the signature? +"B--aus!" B--aus? I don't know it, it must be a pseudonym! [_Reads_.] +It seems to be exceedingly good poetry!--And what have we here? +[_Opens the second letter_.] "To the benefactor of the poor, the +father of orphans." An address!--[_Reads_.] "Veneration and +kindliness."--Signature: "Many women and girls." The seal a P.P.--Good +God, what does it all mean? Have I gone mad? If these are really +voices from the town, and if that is the way people look on this day, +then I must confess men think better of me than I do of myself! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +A number of gentlemen wish to speak to you, Colonel. + +COLONEL. + +What sort of gentlemen! + +CARL. + +They say: A deputation from the voters. + +COLONEL. + +Show them in. This confounded newspaper was right, after all. + +_Enter_ PIEPENBRINK, KLEINMICHEL _and three other gentlemen. They +bow, the_ COLONEL _likewise_. + +PIEPENBRINK (_solemnly_). + +My Colonel: A number of voters have sent us as a deputation to you to +inform you on this special day that the whole town considers you a +most respectable and worthy man. + +COLONEL (_stiffly_). + +I am obliged for the good opinion. + +PIEPENBRINK. + +You have no reason to feel obliged. It is the truth. You are a man of +honor through and through, and it gives us pleasure to tell you so; +you cannot object to hearing this from your fellow-citizens. + +COLONEL. + +I always did consider myself a man of honor, gentlemen. + +PIEPENBRINK. + +There you were quite right. And you have proved your good principles, +too. On every occasion. In cases of poverty, of famine, of caring for +orphans, also at our shooting-club meeting--always when we citizens +enjoyed or needed a benevolent good man, you were among the first. +Always simple and loyal without arrogance or supercilious manners. +That's the reason why we universally love and honor you. (_Colonel +wipes his eyes_.) Today many of us gave their votes to the professor. +Some on account of politics, some because they know that he is your +close friend and possibly even your future son-in-law. COLONEL (_not +harshly_). + +Sir-- + +PIEPENBRINK. + +Nor did I myself vote for you. + +COLONEL (_somewhat more excitedly_). + +Sir-- + +PIEPENBRINK. + +But for that very reason I come to you with the rest, and that is why +we tell you what the citizens think of you. And we hope that for long +years to come you will preserve to us your manly principles and +friendly heart as an honored, most respected gentleman and +fellow-citizen. + +COLONEL (_without harshness_). + +Why do you not say that to the professor, to the man that you have +chosen? + +PIEPENBRINK. + +He shall first deserve it in Parliament before the town thanks him. +But you _have_ deserved it of us, and therefore we come to you. + +COLONEL (_heartily_). + +I thank you, sir, for your kind words. They are very comforting to me +just now. May I ask your name? + +PIEPENBRINK. + +My name is Piepenbrink. + +COLONEL (_morely coldly, but not impolitely_). + +Ah, indeed, that is your name! (_With dignity._) I thank you, +gentlemen, for the friendly sentiment you have expressed, whether it +be that you render the true opinion of the town, or speak according to +the desire of individuals. I thank you, and shall go on doing what I +think is right. + +[_Bows, so does the deputation; exit latter_.] + +This, then, is that Piepenbrink, the close friend of his friend! But +the man's words were sensible and his whole demeanor honorable; it +cannot possibly be all rascality. Who knows! They are clever +intriguers; send into my house newspaper articles, letters, and these +good-natured people, to make me soft-hearted; act in public as my +friends, to make me confide again in their falseness! Yes, that is it. +It is a preconcerted plan! They will find they have miscalculated! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +Dr. Bolz! + +COLONEL. + +I am at home to no one any longer! + +CARL. + +So I told the gentleman; but he insisted on speaking to you, saying +that he came in on an affair of honor. + +COLONEL. + +What? But Oldendorf won't be so insane--show him in here! + +_Enter_ BOLZ. + +BOLZ (_with dignity_). + +Colonel, I come to make you an announcement which the honor of a third +person necessitates. + +COLONEL. + +I am prepared for it, and beg you not to prolong it unduly. + +BOLZ. + +No more than is requisite. The article in this evening's _Union_ +which deals with your personality was written by me and inserted by me +in the paper without Oldendorf's knowledge. + +COLONEL. + +It can interest me little to know who wrote the article. + +BOLZ (_courteously_). + +But I consider it important to tell you that it is not by Oldendorf +and that Oldendorf knew nothing about it. My friend was so taken up +these last weeks with his own sad and painful experiences that he left +the management of the paper entirely to me. For all that has lately +appeared in it I alone am responsible. + +COLONEL. + +And why do you impart this information? + +BOLZ. + +You have sufficient penetration to realize, Colonel, that, after the +scene which took place today between you and my friend, Oldendorf as a +man of honor could neither write such an article nor allow it to +appear in his paper. + +COLONEL. + +How so, sir? In the article itself I saw nothing unsuitable. + +BOLZ. + +The article exposes my friend in your eyes to the suspicion of having +tried to regain your good-will by unworthy flattery. Nothing is +further from his thoughts than such a method. You, Colonel, are too +honorable a man yourself to consider a mean action natural to your +friend. + +COLONEL. + +You are right. (_Aside_.) This defiance is unbearable! (_Aloud_.) Is +your explanation at an end? + +BOLZ. + +It is. I must add still another: that I myself regret very much having +written this article. + +COLONEL. + +I imagine I do not wrong you in assuming that you have already written +others that were still more to be regretted. + +BOLZ (_continuing_). + +I had the article printed before hearing of your last interview with +Oldendorf. (_Very courteously_.) My reason for regretting it is, that +it is not quite true. I was too hasty in describing your personality +to the public. Today, at least, it is no longer a true portrait; it is +flattering. + +COLONEL (_bursting out_). + +Well, by the devil, that is rude! + +BOLZ. + +Your pardon--it is only true. I wish to convince you that a journalist +can regret having written falsehoods. + +COLONEL. + +Sir! (_Aside_.) I must restrain myself, or he will always get the +better of me.--Dr. Bolz, I see that you are a clever man and know your +trade. Since, in addition, you seem inclined today to speak only the +truth, I must beg you to tell me further if you, too, organized the +demonstrations which purport to represent to me public sentiment. + +BOLZ (_bowing_). + +I have, as a matter of fact, not been inactive in the matter. + +COLONEL (_holding out the letter to him, angrily_). + +Did you prompt these, too? + +BOLZ. + +In part, Colonel. This poem is the heart-outpouring of an honest youth +who reveres in you the paternal friend of Oldendorf and the ideal of a +chivalrous hero. I inspired him with the courage to send you the poem. +It was well-meant, at any rate. The poet will have to seek another +ideal. The address comes from women and girls who constitute the +Association for the Education of Orphans. The Association includes +among its members Miss Ida Berg. I myself composed this address for +the ladies; it was written down by the daughter of the wine-merchant +Piepenbrink. + +COLONEL. + +That was just about my opinion concerning these letters. It is +needless to ask if you too are the contriver who sent me the citizens? + +BOLZ. + +At all events I did not discourage them. [_From without a male chorus +of many voices_.] + + + Hail! Hail! Hail! + Within the precincts of our town, + Blessed by each burgher's son, + There dwells a knight of high renown, + A noble, faithful one. + + Who doth in need for aid apply + To this brave knight sends word; + For love is his bright panoply + And mercy is his sword. + + We laud him now in poem and song + Protector of the lowly throng. + The Colonel, the Colonel, + The noble Colonel Berg! + + +COLONEL (_rings after the first measure of the song_. CARL _enters_). + +You are to let no one in if you wish to remain in my service. + +CARL. + +Colonel, they are already in the garden, a great company of them. It +is the glee club; the leaders are already at the steps. + +BOLZ (_who has opened the window_). + +Very well sung, Colonel--from _La Juive_--he is the best tenor in town +and the accompaniment is exceedingly original. + +COLONEL (_aside_). + +It is enough to drive one mad. [_Aloud_.] Show the gentlemen in! + +_Exit_ CARL. _At the end of the verse enter_ FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and +two other gentlemen_. + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. + +Colonel, the local glee club asks to be allowed to sing you some +songs--kindly listen to the little serenade as a feeble expression of +the general veneration and love. + +COLONEL. + +Gentlemen, I regret exceedingly that a case of illness in my family +makes it desirable for me to have you curtail your artistic +performance. I thank you for your intentions, and beg you will sing to +Professor Oldendorf the songs you had designed for me. + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. + +We considered it our duty first to greet you before visiting your +friend. In order not to disturb invalids, we will, with your +permission, place ourselves further away from the house, in the +garden. + +COLONEL. + +Do as you please. + +[FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and the two others leave_.] + +Is this act, too, an invention of yours? + +BOLZ (_with a bow_). + +Partially at least. But you are too kind, Colonel, if you look upon me +as the sole originator of all these demonstrations. My share in it is +really a small one. I have done nothing but edit public opinion a +little; all these different people are not dolls, which a skilful +puppet-man can move around by pulling wires. These are all voices of +capable and honorable persons, and what they have said to you is +actually the general opinion of the town--that is to say, the +conviction of the better and more sensible elements in the town. Were +that not the case I should have labored quite in vain with these good +people to bring a single one of them into your house. + +COLONEL. + +He is right again, and I am always in the wrong! + +BOLZ (_very courteously_). + +Permit me to explain further, that I consider these tender expressions +of general regard out of place now, and that I deeply regret my share +in them. Today at least, no friend of Oldendorf has any occasion to +praise your chivalrous sentiments or your self-effacement. + +COLONEL (_going toward him_). + +Doctor Bolz, you use the privilege of your profession to speak +recklessly, and are insulting outsiders in a way that exhausts my +patience. You are in my house, and it is a customary social amenity to +respect the domicile of one's opponent. + +BOLZ (_leaning on a chair, good-naturedly_). + +If you mean by that that you have a right to expel from your house +unwelcome guests you did not need to remind me of it, for this very +day you shut your doors on another whose love for you gave him a +better right to be here than I have. + +COLONEL. + +Sir, such brazen-facedness I have never yet experienced. + +BOLZ (_with a bow_). + +I am a journalist, and claim what you have just called the privilege +of my profession. + +[_Grand march by brass band. Enter_ CARL _quickly_.] + +COLONEL (_going toward him_). + +Shut the garden gate; no one is to come in. [_The music stops_.] + +BOLZ (_at the window_). + +You are locking your friends out; this time I am innocent. + +CARL. + +Ah, Colonel, it is too late. The singers are back there in the garden, +and in front a great procession is approaching the house; it is Mr. +von Senden and the entire club. + +[_Goes to rear of stage_.] + +COLONEL (_to_ BOLZ). + +Sir, I wish the conversation between us to end. + +BOLZ (_speaking back at him from the window_). + +In your position, Colonel, I find the desire very natural. [_Looking +out again_.] A brilliant procession! They all carry paper lanterns, +and on the lanterns are inscriptions! Besides the ordinary club +mottoes, I see others. Why isn't Bellmaus ever looking when he might +be helping the newspaper! [_Taking out a note book_.] We'll quickly +note those inscriptions for our columns. [_Over his shoulder_.] Pardon +me! Oh, that is truly remarkable: "Down with our enemies!" And here a +blackish lantern with white letters--"Death to the _Union_!" Holy +thunder! [_Calls out of the window_.] Good evening, gentlemen! + +COLONEL (_going up to him_). + +Sir, you're in league with the devil! + +BOLZ (_turning quickly around_). + +Very kind of you, Colonel, to show yourself at the window with me. + +[COLONEL _retreats_.] + +SENDEN (_from below_). + +Whose voice is that! + +BOLZ. + +Good evening, Mr. von Senden!--The gentleman with the dark lantern and +white inscription would oblige us greatly by kindly lifting it up to +the Colonel. Blow your light out, man, and hand me the lantern. So, +thank you--man with the witty motto! [_Pulling in the stick and +lantern_.] Here, Colonel, is the document of the brotherly love your +friends cherish toward us. [_Tears the lantern from the stick_.] The +lantern for you, the stick for the lantern-bearer! [_Throws the stick +out of the window_.] I have the honor to bid you good day! + +[_Turns to go, meets_ ADELAIDE.] + +_Male chorus, close at hand again: "Within the precincts of our town;" +trumpets join in; then many voices: "Long live_ COLONEL BERG! +_Hurrah!_" ADELAIDE _has entered on the left, during the noise_. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well, is the whole town upside-down today? + +BOLZ. + +I've done my share; he is half converted. Good night! + +COLONEL (_throwing the lantern on the ground--in a rage_). + +To the devil with all journalists! + +_Male chorus_, SENDEN, BLUMENBERG _and many other gentlemen, in +procession, are visible through the door into the garden; the +deputation comes in; chorus and lantern-bearers form a group at the +entrance_. + +SENDEN (_with a loud voice while the curtain is lowered_). + +Colonel, the Club has the honor of greeting its revered members! + + + + +ACT IV + + +SCENE I + + +_The_ COLONEL'S _summer parlor_. COLONEL _enters from the garden, +followed by_ CARL. + +COLONEL (_on entering, crossly_). + +Who ordered William to bring the horse round in front of the bedrooms? +The brute makes a noise with his hoofs that would wake the dead. + +CARL. + +Are you not going to ride today, Colonel? + +COLONEL. + +No. Take the horse to the stable! + +CARL. + +Yes, Colonel. [_Exit_.] + +COLONEL (_rings_, CARL _reappears at the door_). + +Is Miss Runeck at home? + +CARL. + +She is in her room; the judge has been with her an hour already. + +COLONEL. + +What? Early in the morning? + +CARL. + +Here she is herself. + +[_Exit as soon as_ ADELAIDE _enters_.] + +_Enter_ ADELAIDE _and_ KORB _through the door on the right_. + +ADELAIDE (_to_ KORB). + +You had better remain near the garden gate, and when the said young +man comes bring him to us. + +[_Exit_ KORB.] + +Good-morning, Colonel. + +[_Going up to him and examining him gaily_.] + +How is the weather today? + +COLONEL. + +Gray, girl, gray and stormy. Vexation and grief are buzzing round in +my head until it is fit to burst. How is the child? + +ADELAIDE. + +Better. She was wise enough to fall asleep toward morning. Now she is +sad, but calm. + +COLONEL. + +This very calmness annoys me. If she would only once shriek and tear +her hair a bit! It would be horrible, but there would be something +natural about it. It is this smiling and then turning away to dry +secret tears that makes me lose my composure. It is unnatural in my +child. + +ADELAIDE. + +Possibly she knows her father's kind heart better than he does +himself; possibly she still has hopes. + +COLONEL. + +Of what? Of a reconciliation with him? After what has happened a +reconciliation between Oldendorf and myself is out of the question. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +I wonder if he wants me to contradict him! + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB (_to_ ADELAIDE). + +The gentleman has come. + +ADELAIDE. + +I will ring. + +[_Exit_ KORB.] + +Help me out of a little dilemma. I have to speak with a strange young +man who seems in need of help, and I should like to have you stay near +me.--May I leave this door open? + +[_Points to the door on the left_.] + +COLONEL. + +That means, I suppose, in plain English, that I +am to go in there? + +ADELAIDE. + +I beg it of you--just for five minutes. + +COLONEL. + +Very well--if only I don't have to listen. + +ADELAIDE. + +I do not require it; but you will listen all the +same if the conversation happens to interest you. + +COLONEL (_smiling_). + +In that case I shall come out. + +[_Exit to the left_; ADELAIDE _rings_.] + +_Enter_ SCHMOCK. KORB _also appears at the entrance, but quickly +withdraws_. + +SCHMOCK (_with a bow_). + +I wish you a good-morning. Are you the lady who sent me her secretary? + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes. You said you wished to speak to me personally. + +SCHMOCK. + +Why should the secretary know about it if I want to tell you +something? Here are the notes that Senden wrote and that I found in +the paper-basket of the _Coriolanus_. Look them over, and see if they +will be of use to the Colonel. What can I do with them? There's +nothing to be done with them. + +ADELAIDE (_looking through them, reading, in an aside_). + +"Here I send you the wretched specimens of style, etc." Incautious and +very low-minded! [_Lays them on the table. Aloud_.] At any rate these +unimportant notes are better off in my paper-basket than in any one +else's. And what, sir, induces you to confide in me? + +[Illustration: _Permission Union Deutsch um Vellagssesellsckaft +Stuttgart_. LUNCH BUFFET AT KISSENGEN ADOLPH VON MENZEL. ] + +SCHMOCK. + +I suppose because Bellmaus told me you were a clever person who would +choose a good way of telling the Colonel to be on his guard against +Senden and against my editor; and the Colonel is a kind man; the other +day he ordered a glass of sweet wine and a salmon sandwich as a lunch +for me. + +COLONEL (_visible at the door, clasping his hands sympathetically_). + +Merciful heavens! + +SCHMOCK. + +Why should I let him be duped by these people! + +ADELAIDE. + +Since you did not dislike the lunch, we will see that you get another +one. + +SCHMOCK. + +Oh please, don't trouble yourself on my account. + +ADELAIDE. + +Can we help you with anything else? + +SCHMOCK. + +What should you be able to help me with? [_Examining his boots and +clothes_.] I have everything in order now. My trouble is only that I +have got into the wrong occupation. I must try to get out of +literature. + +ADELAIDE (_sympathetically_.) + +It is very hard, I suppose, to feel at home in literature? + +SCHMOCK. + +That depends. My editor is an unfair man. He cuts out too much and +pays too little. "Attend to your style first of all," says he; "a good +style is the chief thing." "Write impressively, Schmock," says he; +"write profoundly; it is required of a newspaper today that it be +profound." Good! I write profoundly, I make my style logical! But when +I bring him what I have done he hurls it away from him and shrieks: +"What is that? That is heavy, that is pedantic!" says he. "You must +write dashingly; it's brilliant you must be, Schmock. It is now the +fashion to make everything pleasant for the reader." What am I to do? +I write dashingly again; I put a great deal of brilliant stuff in the +article; and when I bring it he takes his red pencil and strikes out +all that is commonplace and leaves me only the brilliant stuff +remaining. + +COLONEL. + +Are such things possible? + +SCHMOCK. + +How can I exist under such treatment? How can I write him only +brilliant stuff at less than a penny a line. I can't exist under it! +And that is why I'm going to try to get out of the business. If only I +could earn twenty-five to thirty dollars, I would never in my life +write again for a newspaper; I would then set up for myself in +business--a little business that could support me. + +ADELAIDE. + +Wait a moment! [_Looks into her purse_.] + +COLONEL (_hastily coming forward_). + +Leave that to me, dear Adelaide. The young man wants to cease being a +journalist. That appeals to me. Here, here is money such as you desire +if you will promise me from this day on not to touch a pen again for a +newspaper. Here, take it. + +SCHMOCK. + +A Prussian bank note--twenty-five thalers in currency? On my honor, I +promise you, on my honor and salvation, I go this very day to a cousin +of mine who has a paying business. Would you like an I.O.U., Colonel, +or shall I make out a long-term promissory note? + +COLONEL. + +Get out with your promissory note! + +SCHMOCK. + +Then I will write out a regular I.O.U. I prefer it to be only an +I.O.U. + +COLONEL (_impatiently_). + +I don't want your I.O.U. either. Sir, for God's sake get out of the +house! + +SCHMOCK. + +And how about the interest? If I can have it at five per cent. I +should like it. + +ADELAIDE. + +The gentleman makes you a present of the money. + +SCHMOCK. + +He makes me a present of the money? It's a miracle! I tell you what, +Colonel, if I don't succeed with the money it remains a gift, but if I +work my way up with it I return it. I hope I will work my way up. +COLONEL. Do just as you like about that. + +SCHMOCK. + +I like to have it that way, Colonel.--Meanwhile I thank you, and may +some other joy come to make it up to you. Good day, Sir and Madam. + +ADELAIDE. + +We must not forget the lunch. [_Rings,_ KORB _enters_.] Dear Korb! +[_Talks in a low tone to him_.] + +SCHMOCK. + +O please, do not go to that trouble! + +[_Exeunt_ SCHMOCK _and_ KORB.] + +COLONEL. + +And now, dear lady, explain this whole conversation; it concerns me +intimately enough. + +ADELAIDE. + +Senden spoke tactlessly to outsiders about his relations with you and +your household. This young man had overheard some of it, and also had +notes written by Senden in his possession, which contained unsuitable +expressions. I thought it best to get these notes out of his hands. + +COLONEL. + +I want you to let me have those letters, Adelaide. + +ADELAIDE (_entreating_). + +Why, Colonel? + +COLONEL. + +I won't get angry, girl. + +ADELAIDE. + +Nor is it worth while to do so. But still I beg you won't look at +them. You know enough now, for you know that he, with his associates, +does not merit such great confidence as you have latterly reposed in +him. + +COLONEL (_sadly_). + +Well, well! In my old days I have had bad luck with my acquaintances. + +ADELAIDE. + +If you put Oldendorf and this one (_pointing to the letters_) in the +same class you are quite mistaken. + +COLONEL. + +I don't do that, girl. For Senden I had no such affection, and that's +why it is easier to bear it when he does me an injury. + +ADELAIDE (_gently_). + +And because you loved the other one, that was the reason why yesterday +you were so-- + +COLONEL. + +Say it, mentor--so harsh and violent! + +ADELAIDE. + +Worse than that, you were unjust. + +COLONEL. + +I said the same thing to myself last night, as I went to Ida's room +and heard the poor thing cry. I was a hurt, angry man and was wrong in +the form--but in the matter itself I was, all the same, right. Let him +be member of Parliament; he may be better suited for it than I. It is +his being a newspaper writer that separates us. + +ADELAIDE. + +But he is only doing what you did yourself! + +COLONEL. + +Don't remind me of that folly! Were he as my son-in-law to hold a +different opinion from mine regarding current happenings--that I could +doubtless stand. But if day by day he were to proclaim aloud to the +world feelings and sentiments the opposite of mine, and I had to read +them, and had to hear my son-in-law reproached and laughed at for them +on all sides by old friends and comrades, and I had to swallow it +all--you see that is more than I could bear! + +ADELAIDE. + +And Ida? Because you won't bear it Ida is to be made unhappy? + +COLONEL. + +My poor child! She has been unhappy throughout the whole affair. This +half-hearted way of us men has long been a mistake. It is better to +end it with one sharp pain. + +ADELAIDE (_seriously_). + +I cannot see that ending of it as yet. I shall only see it when Ida +laughs once more as merrily as she used to do. + +COLONEL (_excitedly walking about, exclaiming_). + +Well then, I'll give him my child, and go and sit alone in a corner. I +had other views for my old age, but God forbid that my beloved girl +should be made unhappy by me. He is reliable and honorable, and will +take good care of her. I shall move back to the little town I came +from. + +ADELAIDE (_seizing his hand_). + +My revered friend, no--you shall not do that! Neither Oldendorf nor +Ida would accept their happiness at such a price. But if Senden and +his friends were secretly to take the paper away from the professor, +what then? + +COLONEL (_joyfully_). + +Then he would no longer be a journalist! (_Uneasily_.) But I won't +hear of such a thing. I am no friend of underhanded action. + +ADELAIDE. + +Nor am I! (_Heartily_.) Colonel, you have often shown a confidence in +me that has made me happy and proud. Even today you let me speak more +frankly than is usually permitted to a girl. Will you give me one more +great proof of your regard? + +COLONEL (_pressing her hand_). + +Adelaide, we know how we stand with each other. Speak out! + +ADELAIDE. + +For one hour, today, be my faithful knight. Allow me to lead you +wherever I please. + +COLONEL. + +What are you up to, child? + +ADELAIDE. + +Nothing wrong, nothing unworthy of you or of me. You shall not long be +kept in the dark about it. + +COLONEL. + +If I must, I will surrender. But may I not know something of what I +have to do? + +ADELAIDE. + +You are to accompany me on a visit, and at the same time keep in mind +the things we have just talked over so sensibly. + +COLONEL. + +On a visit? + +_Enter_ KORB. + +ADELAIDE. + +On a visit I am making in my own interest. + +KORB (_to_ ADELAIDE). + +Mr. von Senden wishes to pay his respects. + +COLONEL. + +I don't wish to see him now. + +ADELAIDE. + +Be calm, Colonel! We have not time to be angry even with him. I shall +have to see him for a few moments. + +COLONEL. + +Then I will go away. + +ADELAIDE (_entreating_). + +But you will accompany me directly? The carriage is waiting. + +COLONEL. + +I obey the command. [_Exit to the left_.] + +ADELAIDE. + +I have made a hasty decision; I have ventured on something that was +doubtless too bold for a girl; for now that the crisis is at hand, I +feel my courage leaving me. I had to do it for his sake and for all +our sakes. (_To_ KORB.) Ask Miss Ida to get ready--the coachman will +come straight back for her. Dear Korb, let your thoughts be with me. I +am going on a weighty errand, old friend! [_Exit_ ADELAIDE.] + +KORB. + +(_alone_). Gracious, how her eyes shine! What is she tip to? She's not +going to elope with the old Colonel, I hope! Well, whatever she is up +to, she will carry it through. There is only one person who could ever +be a match for her. Oh, Mr. Conrad, if only I could speak! + +[_EXIT_.] + + +SCENE II + + +_Editorial room of the Union. Enter_ BOLZ _through the door on the +left, directly afterward_ MILLER. + +BOLZ (_at middle door_). + +In here with the table! + +MILLER (_carries small table, all set, with wine-bottles, glasses and +plates, to the foreground on the left; brings up five chairs while he +speaks_). + +Mr. Piepenbrink sends his regards, with the message that the wine is +yellow-seal, and that, if the Doctor drinks any healths, he must not +forget Mr. Piepenbrink's health. He was very jolly, the stout +gentleman. And Madam Piepenbrink reminded him that he ought to +subscribe for the _Union_. He commissioned me to see to it. + +BOLZ (_who meanwhile has been turning over papers at the work-table on +the right, rising_). + +Let's have some wine! + +[MILLER _pours some in a glass_.] + +In honor of the worthy vintner! [_Drinks._] + +I treated him scandalously, but he has proved true-hearted. Tell him +his health was not forgotten. There, take this bottle along!--Now, get +out! + +[_Exit_ MILLER. BOLZ _opening the door on the left_.] + +Come, gentlemen, today I carry out my promise. + +[_Enter_ KÄMPE, BELLMAUS, KÖRNER.] + +This is the lunch I agreed to give. And now, my charming day-flies, +put as much rose-color into your cheeks and your humors as your wits +will let you. [_Pouring out_.] The great victory is won; the _Union_ +has celebrated one of the noblest of triumphs; in ages still to come +belated angels will say with awe: "Those were glorious days," and so +on--see continuation in today's paper. Before we sit down, the first +toast-- + +KÄMPE. The member-elect-- + +BOLZ. + +No, our first toast is to the mother of all, the great power which +produces members--the newspaper, may she prosper! + +ALL. + +Hurrah! [_Clink glasses_.] + +BOLZ. + +Hurrah! And secondly, long live--hold on, the member himself is not +here yet. + +KÄMPE. + +Here he comes. + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF. + +BOLZ. + +The member from our venerable town, editor-in-chief and professor, +journalist, and good fellow, who is angry just now because behind his +back this and that got into the paper--hurrah for him! + +ALL. + +Hurrah! + +OLDENDORF (_in a friendly tone_.) + +I thank you, gentlemen. + +BOLZ (_drawing_ OLDENDORF _to the front_). + +And you are no longer vexed with us? + +OLDENDORF. + +Your intention was good, but it was a great indiscretion. + +BOLZ. + +Forget all about it! (_Aloud_.) Here, take your glass and sit down +with us. Don't be proud, young statesman! Today you are one of us. +Well, here sits the editorial staff! Where is worthy Mr. +Henning--where tarries our owner, printer and publisher, Gabriel +Henning? + +KÄMPE. + +I met him a little while ago on the stairs. He crept by me as shyly as +though he were some one who had been up to mischief. + +BOLZ. + +Probably he feels as Oldendorf does--he is again not pleased with the +attitude of the paper. + +MILLER (_thrusting in his head_). + +The papers and the mail! + +BOLZ. + +Over there! [MILLER _enters, lays the papers on the work-table._] + +MILLER. + +Here is the _Coriolanus_. There is something in it about our paper. +The errand-boy of the _Coriolanus_ grinned at me scornfully, and +recommended me to look over the article. + +BOLZ. + +Give it here! Be quiet, Romans, _Coriolanus_ speaks.--All ye devils, +what does that mean? [_Reads_.] "On the best of authority we have just +been informed that a great change is imminent in the newspaper affairs +of our province. Our opponent, the _Union_, will cease to direct her +wild attacks against all that is high and holy."--This high and holy +means Blumenberg.--"The ownership is said to have gone over into other +hands, and there is a sure prospect that we shall be able from now on +to greet as an ally this widely read sheet." How does that taste to +you, gentlemen? + +MILLER} Thunder! KÄMPE.}_(All together_.) Nonsense! BELLMAUS.} It's a +lie! + +OLDENDORF. + +It's another of Blumenberg's reckless inventions. + +BOLZ. + +There is something behind it all. Go and get me Gabriel Henning. +[_Exit_ MILLER.] This owner has played the traitor; we have been +poisoned. [_Springing up._] And this is the feast of the Borgia! +Presently the _misericordia_ will enter and sing our dirge. Do me the +favor at least to eat up the oysters before it be too late. + +OLDENDORF (_who has seized the newspaper_.) + +Evidently this news is only an uncertain rumor. Henning will tell us +there is no truth in it. Stop seeing ghosts, and sit down with us. + +BOLZ (_seating himself_). + +I sit down, not because I put faith in your words, but because I don't +wish to do injustice to the lunch. Get hold of Henning; he must give +an account of himself. + +OLDENDORF. + +But, as you heard, he is not at home. + +BOLZ (_zealously eating_). + +Oh, thou wilt have a fearful awakening, little Orsini! Bellmaus, pour +me out some wine. But if the story be not true, if this _Coriolanus_ +have lied, by the purple in this glass be it sworn I will be his +murderer! The grimmest revenge that ever an injured journalist took +shall fall on his head; he shall bleed to death from pin-pricks; every +poodle in the street shall look on him scornfully and say: "Fie, +_Coriolanus_, I wouldn't take a bite at you even if you were a +sausage." [_A knock is heard_. BOLZ _lays down his knife.] Memento +mori_! There are our grave-diggers. The last oyster, now, and then +farewell thou lovely world! + +_Enter_ JUDGE SCHWARZ _and_ SENDEN _from the door on the left; the +door remains open_. + +SCHWARZ. + +Obedient servant, gentlemen! + +SENDEN. + +Your pardon if we disturb you. + +BOLZ (_remaining seated at the table_). + +Not in the least. This is our regular luncheon, contracted for a whole +year--fifty oysters and two bottles daily for each member of the +staff. Whoever buys the newspaper has to furnish it. + +SCHWARZ. + +What brings us here, Professor, is a communication which Mr. Henning +should have been the first to make to you. He preferred handing over +the task to me. + +OLDENDORF. + +I await your communication. + +SCHWARZ. + +Mr. Henning has, from yesterday on, transferred to me by sale all +rights pertaining to him as owner of the newspaper _Union_. + +OLDENDORF. + +To you, Judge? + +SCHWARZ. + +I acknowledge that I have bought it merely as accredited agent of a +third person. Here is the deed; it contains no secrets. [_Hands him a +paper_.] + +OLDENDORF (_looking through it, to_ BOLZ). + +It is drawn up by a notary in due form--sold for thirty thousand +thalers. [_Agitation among the staff-members_.] Let me get to the +bottom of the matter. Is this change of owner also to be connected +with a change in the political attitude of the sheet? + +SENDEN (_coming forward_). + +Certainly, Professor, that was the intention in making the purchase. + +OLDENDORF. + +Do I possibly see in you the new owner? + +SENDEN. + +Not that, but I have the honor to be a friend of his. You yourself, as +well as these gentlemen, have a right to demand the fulfilment of your +contracts. Your contracts provide, I understand, for six months' +notice. It goes without saying that you continue to draw your salary +until the expiration of this term. + +BOLZ (_rising_). + +You are very kind, Mr. von Senden. Our contracts empower us to edit +the paper as we see fit, and to control its tone and its party +affiliations. For the next half-year, therefore, we shall not only +continue to draw our salaries but also to conduct the paper for the +benefit of the party to which you have not the honor to belong. + +SENDEN (_angrily_). + +We'll find a way to prevent that! + +OLDENDORF. + +Calm yourself. That kind of work would scarcely be worthy of us. If +such are the circumstances, I announce that I resign the editorship +from today, and release you from all obligations to me. + +BOLZ. + +I don't mind. I make the same announcement. + +BELLMAUS. + +KÄMPE}(_together_). We too! + +KÖRNER} + +SENDEN (_to_ SCHWARZ). + +You can testify that the gentlemen voluntarily renounce their rights. + +BOLZ (_to the staff_). + +Hold on, gentlemen, don't be too generous. It is all right for you to +take no further part in editing the paper if your friends withdraw. +But why abandon your pecuniary claims on the new owner? + +BELLMAUS. + +I'd rather take nothing at all from them; I'll follow your example. + +BOLZ (_stroking him_). + +Noble sentiment, my son! We'll make our way in the world together. +What do you think of a hand-organ, Bellmaus! We 'll take it to fairs +and sing your songs through. I'll turn and you'll sing. + +OLDENDORF. + +Since the new owner of the paper is not one of you, you will, in +concluding this transaction, find the question only natural--To whom +have we ceded our rights? + +SENDEN. + +The present owner of the paper is-- + +_Enter_ COLONEL _through side door on the left_. + +OLDENDORF (_starting back in alarm_). + +Colonel! + +BOLZ. + +Ah, now it is becoming high tragedy! + +COLONEL. + +First of all, Professor, be assured that I have nothing to do with +this whole affair, and merely come at the request of the purchaser. +Not until I came here, did I know anything of what was going on. I +hope you will take my word for that. + +BOLZ. + +Well, I find this game unseemly, and I insist on being told who this +new owner is who mysteriously hides behind different persons! + +_Enter_ ADELAIDE _from the side door, left._ + +ADELAIDE. + +He stands before you! + +BOLZ. + +I should just like to faint. + +BELLMAUS. + +That is a heavenly joke! + +ADELAIDE (_bowing_). + +How do you do, gentlemen! [_To the staff_.] Am I right in assuming +that these gentlemen have hitherto been connected with editing the +paper? + +BELLMAUS (_eagerly_). + +Yes, Miss Runeck! Mr. Kämpe for leading articles, Mr. Körner for the +French and English correspondence, and I for theatre, music, fine +arts, and miscellaneous. + +ADELAIDE. + +I shall be much pleased if your principles will let you continue +devoting your talents to my newspaper. [_The three members of the +staff bow_.] + +BELLMAUS (_laying his hand on his heart_). + +Miss Runeck, under your editorship I'll go to the ends of the world! + +ADELAIDE (_smiling and politely_). + +Ah, no, merely into that room. + +[_Points to the door on the right_.] + +I +need half an hour to collect my thoughts for my new activities. + +BELLMAUS (_while departing_). + +That's the best thing I ever heard! + +[BELLMAUS, KÄMPE, KÖRNER _leave_.] + +ADELAIDE. + +Professor, you resigned the management of the paper with a readiness +which delights me. (_Pointedly_.) I wish to edit the _Union_ in my +own fashion. + +[_Seizes his hand and leads him to the_ COLONEL.] + +Colonel, he is no longer editor; we have outwitted him; you have your +satisfaction. + +COLONEL (_holding out his arms to him_). + +Come, Oldendorf! For what happened I have been sorry since the moment +we parted. + +OLDENDORF. + +My honored friend! + +ADELAIDE (_pointing to the door on the left_). + +There is some one else in there who wants to take part in the +reconciliation. It might be Mr. Gabriel Henning. + +IDA _appears at the side door_. + +IDA. + +Edward! + +[OLDENDORF _hurries to the door_, IDA _meets him, he embraces +her. Both leave on the left. The_ COLONEL _follows_.] + +ADELAIDE (_sweetly_). + +Before asking you, Mr. von Senden, to interest yourself in the editing +of the newspaper, I beg you to read through this correspondence which +I received as a contribution to my columns. + +SENDEN (_takes a glance at them_). + +Miss Runeck, I don't know whose indiscretion-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Fear none on my part. I am a newspaper proprietor, and (_with, marked +emphasis_) shall keep editorial secrets. + +[SENDEN _bows_.] + +May I ask +for the deed, Judge? And will you gentlemen be kind enough to ease the +mind of the vendor as to the outcome of the transaction? + +[_Mutual +bows_. SENDEN _and_ SCHWARZ _leave_.] + +ADELAIDE (_after a short pause_). + +Now, Mr. Bolz, what am I going to do about you? + +BOLZ. + +I am prepared for anything. I am surprised at nothing any more. If +some one should go straight off and spend a capital of a hundred +millions in painting negroes white with oil-colors, or in making +Africa four-cornered, I should not let it astonish me. If I wake up +tomorrow as an owl with two tufts of feathers for ears and a mouse in +my beak, I will say, "All right," and remember that worse things have +happened. + +ADELAIDE. + +What is the matter with you, Conrad? Are you displeased with me? + +BOLZ. + +With you? You have been generous as ever; only too generous. And it +would all have been fine, if only this whole scene had been +impossible. That fellow Senden! + +ADELAIDE. + +We have seen the last of him! Conrad, I'm one of the party! + +BOLZ. + +Hallelujah! I hear countless angels blowing on their trumpets! I'll +stay with the _Union_! + +ADELAIDE. + +About that I am no longer the one to decide. For I have still a +confession to make to you. I, too, am not the real owner of the +newspaper. + +BOLZ. + +You are not? Now, by all the gods, I am at my wit's end. I'm beginning +not to care who this owner is. Be he man, will-of-the-wisp, or the +devil Beelzebub in person, I bid him defiance. + +ADELAIDE. + +He is a kind of a will-of-the-wisp, a little something of a devil, and +from top to toe a great rogue. For, Conrad, my friend, beloved of my +youth, it is you yourself. + +[_Hands him the deed_.] + +BOLZ (_stupefied for a moment, reads_). + +"Ceded to Conrad Bolz"--correct! So that would be a sort of gift. +Can't be accepted, much too little! + +[_Throws the paper aside_.] +Prudence be gone! + +[_Falls on his knees before_ ADELAIDE.] + +Here I +kneel, Adelaide! What I am saying I don't know in my joy, for the +whole room is dancing round with me. If you will take me for your +husband, you will do me the greatest favor in the world. If you don't +want me, box my ears and send me off! + +ADELAIDE (_bending down to him_). + +I do want you! (_Kissing him_.) This was the cheek! + +BOLZ. + +And these are the lips. + +[_Kisses her; they remain in an embrace; short +pause_.] + +_Enter_ COLONEL, IDA, OLDENDORF. + +COLONEL (_in amazement, at the door_). + +What is this? + +BOLZ. + +Colonel, it takes place under editorial sanction. + +COLONEL. + +Adelaide, what do I see? + +ADELAIDE (_stretching out her hand to the_ COLONEL). + +Dear friend, I'm betrothed to a journalist! + +[_As_ IDA _and_ OLDENDORF _from either side hasten to the pair, the +curtain falls_] + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Permission S. Hirzel, Leipzig.] + + * * * * * + + + + +DOCTOR LUTHER (1859) + + +By GUSTAV FREYTAG + +TRANSLATED BY E.H. BABBITT, A.B. Assistant Professor of German, Tufts +College. + + +Some well-meaning men still wish that the defects of their old church +had not led to so great a revolt, and even liberal Roman Catholics +still fail to see in Luther and Zwingli anything but zealous heretics +whose wrath brought about a schism. May such views vanish from +Germany! All religious denominations have reason to attribute to +Luther whatever in their present faith is genuine and sincere, and has +a wholesome and sustaining influence. The heretic of Wittenberg is +fully as much the reformer of the German Catholics as of the +Protestants. This is true not only because the teachers of the +Catholic Church in their struggle against him outgrew the old +scholasticism, and fought for their sacraments with new weapons gained +from his language, his culture, and his moral worth; nor because he, +in effect, destroyed the church of the Middle Ages and forced his +opponents at Trent to raise a firmer structure, though seemingly +within the old forms and proportions; but still more because he +expressed the common basis of all German denominations, of our +spiritual courage, piety, and honesty, with such force that a good +deal of his own nature, to the present benefit of every German, has +survived in our doctrines and language, in our civil laws and morals, +in the thoughtfulness of our people, and in our science and +literature. Some of the ideas for which Luther's stubborn and +contentious spirit fought, against both Catholics and Calvinists, are +abandoned by the free investigation of modern times. His intensely +passionate beliefs, gained in the heartrending struggles of a devout +soul, occasionally missed an important truth. Sometimes he was harsh, +unfair, even cruel toward his opponents; but such things should no +longer disturb any German, for all the limitations of his nature and +training are as nothing compared with the fulness of the blessings +which have flowed from his great heart into the life of our nation. + +But he should not have seceded after all, some people say; for his +action has divided Germany into two hostile camps, and the ancient +strife, under varying battle-cries, has continued to our day. Those +who think so might assert with equal right that the Christian revolt +from Judaism was not necessary--why did not the apostles reform the +venerable high-priesthood of Zion? They might assert that Hampden +would have done better if he had paid the ship-money and had taught +the Stuarts their lesson peaceably; that William of Orange committed a +crime when he did not put his life and his sword into the hands of +Alva, as Egmont did; that Washington was a traitor because he did not +surrender himself and his army to the English; they might condemn as +evil everything that is new and great in doctrine and in life and that +owes its birth to a struggle against what is old. + +To but few mortals has been vouchsafed such a powerful influence as +Luther had upon their contemporaries and upon subsequent ages. But his +life, like that of every great man, leaves the impression of an +affecting tragedy when attention is centred on its pivotal events. It +shows us, like the career of all heroes of history whom Fate permitted +to live out their lives, three stages. First, the personality of the +man develops, powerfully influenced by the restricting environment. It +tries to reconcile incompatibilities, while in the depth of his soul +ideas and convictions are gradually translated into volition. At last +they burst forth in a definite action, and the solitary individual +enters upon the contest with the world. Then follows a period of +greater activity, more rapid growth, and larger victories. The +influence of the one man upon the masses grows ever greater. Mightily +he draws the whole nation to follow in his footsteps, and becomes its +hero, its pattern; the vital force of millions appears summed up in +one man. + +[Illustration: _Permission Underwood & Underwood, New York_ +LUTHER MONUMENT AT WORMS by ERNST RIETSCHEL] + +But the spirit of the nation does not long endure the preëminence of a +single, well-centred personality; for the life and the power and the +needs of a nation are more manifold than even the greatest single +force and lofty aim. The eternal contrast between the individual and +the nation appears. Even the soul of a nation is, in the presence of +the eternal, a finite personality--but in comparison with the +individual it appears boundless. A man is forced by the logical result +of his thoughts and actions, by all the significance of his own deeds, +into a closely restricted path. The soul of the nation needs for its +life irreconcilable contrasts and incessant effort in most varied +directions. Much that the individual failed to assimilate rises to +fight against him. The reaction of the people begins--at first weak, +here and there, based on different reasons and with slight +justification; then it grows stronger and ever more victorious. +Finally the intellectual influence of the life of the individual is +limited to his own followers, and crystallizes into a single one of +the many elements of national growth. The last period of a great life +is always filled with secret resignation, with bitterness, and with +silent suffering. + +Thus it was with Luther. The first of these periods continued up to +the day on which he posted his theses, the second until his return +from the Wartburg, the third to his death and the beginning of the +Schmalkaldic War. It is not the purpose of this sketch to give his +entire biography, but to tell briefly how he developed and what he +was. Much in his nature appears strange and unpleasing so long as he +is viewed from afar; but this historic figure has the remarkable +quality of becoming greater and more attractive the more closely it is +approached, and from beginning to end it would inspire a good +biographer with admiration, tenderness, and a certain good humor. + +Luther rose from the great source of all national strength, the +freeholding peasant class. His father moved from Möhra, a forest +village of the Thuringian mountains, where his relatives constituted +half the population, northward into the neighborhood of Mansfeld, to +work as a miner. So the boy's cradle stood in a cottage in which was +still felt the old thrill of the ghosts of the pine wood and the dark +clefts which were thought to be the entrances to the ore veins of the +mountain. Certainly the imagination of the boy was often busy with +dark traditions from heathen mythology. He was accustomed to feel the +presence of uncanny powers as well in the phenomena of nature as in +the life of man. When he turned monk such remembrances from childhood +grew gloomier and took the shape of the devil of Scripture, but the +busy tempter who everywhere lies in wait for the life of man always +retained for him something of the features of the mischievous goblin +who secretly lurks about the peasant's hearth and stable. + +His father, a curt, sturdy, vigorous man, firm in his resolves, and of +unusual, shrewd common sense, had worked his way, after hard +struggles, to considerable prosperity. He kept strict discipline in +his household. Even in later years Luther thought with sadness of the +severe punishments he had endured as a boy and the sorrow they had +caused his tender, childish heart. But Old Hans Luther, nevertheless, +up to his death in 1530, had some influence on the life of his son. +When at the age of twenty-two Martin secretly entered the monastery +the old man was violently angry; for he had already planned a good +match for him. Friends finally succeeded in bringing the angry father +to consent to a reconciliation; and as his imploring son confessed +that a terrible apparition had driven him to the secret vow to enter +the monastery, he replied with the sorrowful words, "God grant that it +was not a deception and trick of the devil;" and he still further +wrenched the heart of the monk by the angry question, "You thought you +were obeying the command of God when you went into the monastery; have +you not heard also that you shall obey your parents?" These words made +a deep impression on the son, and when, many years after, he sat in +the Wartburg, expelled from the Church and outlawed by the Emperor, he +wrote to his father the touching words: "Do you still wish to tear me +from the monastery? You are still my father and I your son. The law +and the power of God are on your side--on my side human weakness. But +look that you boast not yourself against God, he has been beforehand +with you,--he has taken me out himself." From that time on it seemed +to the old man as if his son were restored to him. Old Hans had once +counted upon having a grandson for whom he would work. He now came +back obstinately to this thought, caring nothing for the rest of the +world, and soon urged his son to marry; his encouragement was not the +least of the influences to which Luther yielded, and when his father, +advanced in years, at last a councillor of Mansfeld, lay in his death +throes and the minister bent over him and asked the dying man if he +wished to die in the purified faith in Christ and the Holy Gospel, old +Hans gathered his strength once more and said curtly, "He is a wretch +who does not believe in it." When Luther told this later he added +admiringly, "Yes that was a man of the old time." The son received the +news of the father's death in the fortress of Coburg. When he read +the letter, in which his wife inclosed a picture of his youngest +daughter Magdalena, he uttered to a companion merely the words, "Well, +my father is dead too," rose, took his psalter, went into his room, +and prayed and wept so hard that, as the faithful Veit Dietrich wrote, +his head was confused the next day; but he came out again with his +soul at peace. The same day he wrote with deep emotion to Melanchthon +of the great love of his father and of his intimate relations with +him. "I have never despised death so much as today. We die so often +before we finally die. Now I am the oldest of my family and I have the +right to follow him." From such a father the son inherited what was +fundamental to his character--truthfulness, a sturdy will, +straightforward common sense, and tact in dealing with men and +affairs. His childhood was full of rigor. He had many a bitter +experience in the Latin school and as a choir boy, though tempered by +kindness and love, and he kept through it all--what is more easily +kept in the lowlier circles of life--a heart full of faith in the +goodness of human nature and reverence for everything great in the +world. When he was at the University of Erfurt, his father was already +in a position to supply his needs more abundantly. He felt the vigor +of youth, and was a merry companion with song and lute. Of his +spiritual life at that time little is known except that death came +near him, and that in a thunder storm he was "called upon by a +terrible apparition from heaven." In terror he took a vow to go into a +monastery, and quickly and secretly carried out his resolve. + +From that time date our reports about the troubles of his soul. At +odds with his father, full of awe at the thought of an incomprehensible +eternity, cowed by the wrath of God, he began with supernatural +exertions a life of renunciation, devotion, and penance. He found no +peace. All the highest questions of life rushed with fearful force +upon his defenseless, wandering soul. Remarkably strong and passionate +with him was the necessity of feeling himself in harmony with God and +the universe. What theology offered him was all unintelligible, +bitter, and repulsive. To his nature the riddles of the moral order of +the universe were most important. That the good should suffer, and the +evil succeed; that God should condemn the human race to the monstrous +burden of sin because a simple-minded woman had bitten into an apple; +that this same God should endure our sins with love, toleration, and +patience; that Christ at one time sent away honorable people with +severity, and at another time associated with harlots, publicans, +and sinners--"human understanding with its wisdom turns to folly at +this." Then he would complain to his spiritual adviser, Staupitz: +"Dear Doctor, our Lord treats people so cruelly. Who can serve Him +if he lays on blows like this?" But when he got the answer, "How +else could He subdue the stubborn heads?" this sensible argument +could not console the young man. With fervid desire to find the +incomprehensible God, he searched all his thoughts and dreams with +self-torture. Every earthly thought, every beat of his youthful blood, +became for him a cruel wrong. He began to despair of himself; he +wrestled in unceasing prayer, fasted and scourged himself. At one time +the priests had to break into his cell in which he had been lying for +days in a condition not far from insanity. With warm sympathy Staupitz +looked upon such heart-rending torment, and sought to give him peace +by blunt counsel. Once when Luther had written to him, "Oh, my sin! My +sin! My sin!" his spiritual adviser gave him the answer, "You long to +be without sin, and you have no real sin. Christ is the forgiveness of +real sins, such as parricide and the like. If Christ is to help you, +you must have a list of real sins, and not come to Him with such trash +and make-believe sins, seeing a sin in every trifle." The manner in +which Luther gradually raised himself above such despair was decisive +for his whole life. The God whom he served was at that time a God of +terror. His anger was to be appeased only by the means of grace which +the ancient Church prescribed--in the first place through constant +confession, for which there were innumerable prescriptions and formulæ +which seemed to the heart empty and cold. By strictly prescribed +activities and the practice of so-called good works, the feeling of +real atonement and inward peace had not come to the young man. Finally +a saying of his spiritual adviser pierced his heart like an arrow: +"That alone is true penance which begins with love for God. Love for +God and inward exaltation is not the result of the means of grace +which the Church teaches; it must go before them." This doctrine from +Tauler's school became for the young man the basis of a new spiritual +and moral relation to God; it was for him a sacred discovery. The +transformation of his spiritual life was the principal thing. For that +he had to work. From the depths of every human heart must come +repentance, expiation, and atonement. He and every man could lift +himself up to God, alone. Not until now did he realize what free +prayer was. In place of a far-off divine power which he had formerly +sought in vain through a hundred forms and childish confessions, there +came before him at last the image of an all-loving protector to whom +he could speak at any time joyfully and in tears; to whom he could +bring all sorrow, every doubt; who took unceasing interest in him, +cared for him, granted or denied his heartfelt petitions tenderly, +like a good father. So he learned to pray; and how ardent his prayers +became! From this time he lived in peace with the beloved God whom he +had finally found, every day, every hour. His intercourse with the +Most High became more intimate than with the dearest companions of +this earth. When he poured out his whole self before Him, then calm +came over him and a holy peace, a feeling of unspeakable love. He felt +himself a part of God, and remained in this relation to Him from that +time throughout his whole life. He heeded no longer the roundabout +ways of the ancient Church; he could, with God in his heart, defy the +whole world. Even thus early he ventured to believe that those held +false doctrine who put so much stress on works of penance, that there +was nothing beyond these works but a cold satisfaction and a +ceremonious confession; and when, later, he learned from Melanchthon +that the Greek word for penitence, _metanoia_ meant literally "change +of mind," it seemed to him a wonderful revelation. On this ground +rested the confident assurance with which he opposed the words of +Scripture to the ordinances of the Church. By this means Luther in the +monastery gradually worked his way to spiritual liberty. All his later +doctrines, his battles against indulgences, his imperturbable +steadfastness, his method of interpreting the Scriptures, rested upon +the struggles through which he, while a monk, had found his God; and +it may well be said that the new era of German history began with +Luther's prayers in the monastery. Life was soon to thrust him under +its hammer, to harden the pure metal of his soul. + +In 1508 Luther reluctantly accepted the professorship of dialectics at +the new university of Wittenberg. He would rather have taught that +theology which even then he believed the true one. When, in 1510, he +went to Rome on business for his order, it is well known what devotion +and piety marked his sojourn in the Holy City, and with what horror +the heathen life of the Romans and the moral corruption and +worldliness of the clergy filled him. It was there where his +devotions, while he was officiating at mass, were disturbed by the +reckless jests which the Roman priests of his order called out to him. +He never forgot the devil-inspired words[2] as long as he lived. + +But the hierarchy, however deeply its corruption shocked him, still +contained his whole hope; outside of it there was no God and no +salvation. The noble idea of the Catholic Church, and its conquests of +fifteen hundred years, enraptured the mind even of the strongest. And +when this German in Roman clerical dress, at the risk of his life, +inspected the ruins of ancient Rome and stood in awe before the +gigantic columns of the temples which, according to report, the Goths +had once destroyed, the sturdy man from the mountains of the old +Hermunduri little dreamed that it would be his own fate to destroy the +temples of medieval Rome more thoroughly, more fiercely, more grandly. +Luther came back from Rome still a faithful son of the great Mother +Church. All heresy, such as that of the Bohemians, was hateful to him. +He took a warm interest, after his return, in Reuchlin's contest +against the judges of heresy at Cologne, and, in 1512, stood on the +side of the Humanists; but even then he felt that something separated +him from this movement. When, a few years later, he was in Gotha, he +did not call upon the worthy Mutianus Rufus, although he wrote him a +very polite letter of apology; and soon after he was offended by the +inward coldness and secular tone in which theological sinners were +ridiculed in Erasmus' dialogues. The profane worldliness of the +Humanists was never quite in harmony with the cheerful faith of +Luther's soul, and the pride with which he afterward offended the +sensitive Erasmus in a letter which was meant to be conciliatory, was +probably even then in his soul. Even the forms of literary modesty +adopted by Luther at that time give the impression that they were +wrung from an unbending spirit by the power of Christian humility. + +For even at that time he felt himself secure and strong in his faith. +As early as 1516 he wrote to Spalatin, who was the link of intercourse +between him and the Elector, Frederick the Wise, that the Elector was +the most prudent of men in the things of this world, but was afflicted +with sevenfold blindness in matters concerning God and the salvation +of the soul. And Luther had reason for this expression, for the +provident spirit of that moderate prince appeared in his careful +efforts, among other things, to gather in for domestic use the means +of grace recommended by the Church. For instance, he had a special +hobby for sacred relics, and just at this time Staupitz, the vicar of +the Augustinian order for Saxony, was occupied in the Rhine region and +elsewhere in collecting them for the Elector. For Luther the absence +of his superior was important, for he had to fill his place. He was +already a respected man in his order. Although professor (of theology +since 1512), he still lived in his monastery in Wittenberg and +generally wore his monk's habit; and now he visited the thirty +monasteries in his charge, deposed priors, uttered severe censure of +bad discipline, and urged severity against fallen monks. But something +of the simple faith of the brother of the monastery still clung to +him. + +It was in this spirit of confidence and German sincerity that he +wrote, October 31, 1517, after he had posted the theses against Tetzel +on the church door, to Archbishop Albert of Mainz, the protector of +the seller of indulgences. Full of the popular belief in the wisdom +and the goodwill of the highest rulers, Luther thought (he often said +so later) that it was only necessary to present honestly to the +princes of the Church the disadvantage and immorality of such abuses. +But how childish this zeal of the monk appeared to the polished and +worldly prince of the Church! What so deeply offended the honest man +was, from the point of view of the Archbishop, a matter long settled. +The sale of indulgences was an evil in the Church a hundred times +deplored, but as unavoidable as many institutions seem to the +politician; while not good in themselves, they must be kept for the +sake of a greater interest. The greatest interest of the Archbishop +and the curia was their supremacy, which was acquired and maintained +by such commercial dealings. The great interest of Luther and the +people was truth. This was the parting of the ways. + +And so Luther entered upon the struggle, a poor and faithful son of +the Church, full of German devotion to authority; but yet he had in +his character something which gave him strength against too extreme +exercise of this authority--a close relation to his God. He was then +thirty-four years old, in the fulness of his strength, of medium +stature, his body vigorous and without the corpulency of his later +years, appearing tall beside the small, delicate, boyish form of +Melanchthon. In the face which showed the effects of vigils and inward +struggles, shone two fiery eyes whose keen brilliancy was hard to +meet. He was a respected man, not only in his order, but at the +University; not a great scholar--he learned Greek from Melanchthon in +the first year of his professorship, and Hebrew soon after. He had no +extensive book learning, and never had the ambition to shine as a +writer of Latin verse; but he was astonishingly well-read in the +Scriptures and some of the Fathers of the Church, and what he had once +learned he assimilated with German thoroughness. He was the untiring +shepherd of his flock, a zealous preacher, a warm friend, once more +full of a decorous cheerfulness; he was of an assured bearing, polite +and skilful in social intercourse, with a confidence of spirit which +often lighted up his face in a smile. The small events of the day +might indeed affect him and annoy him. He was excitable, and easily +moved to tears, but on any great emergency, after he had overcome his +early nervous excitement, such as, for instance, embarrassed him when +he first appeared before the Diet at Worms--then he showed wonderful +calmness and self-command. He knew no fear. Indeed, his lion's nature +found satisfaction in the most dangerous situations. The danger of +death into which he sometimes fell, the malicious ambushes of his +enemies, seemed to him at that time hardly worthy of mention. The +reason for this superhuman heroism, as one may call it, was again his +close personal relation to his God. He had long periods in which he +wished, with a cheerful smile, for martyrdom in the service of truth +and of his God. Terrible struggles were still before him, but those in +which men opposed him did not seem to deserve this name. He had +defeated the devil himself again and again for years. He even +overcame the fear and torment of hell, which did its utmost to cloud +his reason. Such a man might perhaps be killed, but he could hardly be +conquered. + +The period of the struggle which now follows, from the beginning of +the indulgences controversy until his departure from the Wartburg--the +time of his greatest victories and of his tremendous popularity--is +perhaps best known; but it seems to us that even here his nature has +never yet been correctly judged. + +Nothing is more remarkable at this period than the manner in which +Luther became gradually estranged from the Church of Rome. His life +was modest and without ambition. He clung with the deepest reverence +to the lofty idea of the Church, for fifteen hundred years the +communion of saints; and yet in four short years he was destined to be +cut off from the faith of his fathers, torn from the soil in which he +had been so firmly rooted. And during all this time he was destined to +stand alone in the struggle, or at best with a few faithful +companions--after 1518 together with Melanchthon. He was to be exposed +to all the perils of the fiercest war, not only against innumerable +enemies, but also in defiance of the anxious warnings of sincere +friends and patrons. Three times the Roman party tried to silence +him--through the official activity of Cajetan, through the persuasive +arts of Miltitz, and the untimely persistence of the contentious Eck. +Three times he spoke to the Pope himself in letters which are among +the most valuable documents of those years. Then came the parting. He +was anathematized and outlawed. According to the old university +custom, he burned the enemy's declaration of war, and with it the +possibility of return. With cheerful confidence he went to Worms in +order that the princes of his nation might decide whether he should +die or thenceforth live among them without pope or church, according +to the Bible alone. + +[Illustration: _Permission F Pruelmann A G Munich_ +FREDERICK WILLIAM I INSPECTING A SCHOOL Adolph von Menzel.] + +At first, when he had printed his theses against Tetzel, he was +astonished at the enormous excitement which they caused in Germany, at +the venomous hatred of his enemies, and at the signs of joyful +recognition which he received from many sides. Had he, then, done such +an unheard-of thing? What he had expressed was, he knew, the belief of +all the best men of the Church. When the Bishop of Brandenburg had +sent the Abbot of Lehnin to him, with the request that Luther would +suppress the printed edition of his German sermon on indulgences and +grace, however near the truth he might be, the brother of the poor +Augustinian monastery was deeply moved that such great men should +speak to him in so friendly and cordial a manner, and he was ready to +give up the printing rather than make himself a monster that disturbed +the Church. Eagerly he sought to refute the report that the Elector +had instigated his quarrel with Tetzel--"they wish to involve the +innocent prince in the enmity that falls on me." He was ready to do +anything to keep the peace before Cajetan and with Miltitz. One thing +he would not do--recant what he had said against the unchristian +extension of the system of indulgences; but recantation was the only +thing the hierarchy wanted of him. For a long time he still wished for +peace, reconciliation, and return to the peaceful activity of his +cell; and again and again a false assertion of his opponents set his +blood on fire, and every opposition was followed by a new and sharper +blow from his weapon. + +Even in the first letter to Leo X, May 30, 1518, Luther's heroic +assurance is remarkable. He is still entirely the faithful son of the +Church. He still concludes by falling at the Pope's feet, offers him +his whole life and being, and promises to honor his voice as the voice +of Christ, whose representative the head of the Church is; but even +from this devotion befitting the monk, the vigorous words flash out: +"If I have merited death, I refuse not to die." In the body of the +letter, how strong are the expressions in which he sets forth the +coarseness of the sellers of indulgences! Here, too, his surprise is +honest that his theses are making so much stir with their +unintelligible sentences, involved, according to the old custom, to +the point of riddles. And good humor sounds in the manly words: "What +shall I do? I cannot recant. In our century full of intellect and +beauty, which might put Cicero into a corner, I am only an unlearned, +limited, poorly educated man! But the goose must needs cackle among +the swans." + +The following year almost all who honored Luther united in the +endeavor to bring about a reconciliation. Staupitz and Palatin, and +the Elector through them, scolded, besought, and urged; the papal +chamberlain, Miltitz himself, praised Luther's attitude, and whispered +to him that he was entirely right, implored him, drank with him, and +kissed him. Luther, to be sure, thought he knew that the courtier had +a secret mission to make him a captive, if possible, and bring him to +Rome. But the peacemakers successfully hit upon the point in which the +stubborn man heartily agreed with them--that respect for the Church +must be maintained, and its unity must not be destroyed. Luther +promised to keep quiet and to submit the decision of the contested +points to three worthy bishops. While in this position he was urged to +write a letter of apology to the Pope. But even this letter of March +3, 1519, though approved by the mediators and written under +compulsion, is characteristic as showing the advance Luther had made. +Humility, such as our theologians see in it, is hardly present, but a +cautious diplomatic attitude throughout. Luther regrets that what he +has done to defend the honor of the Roman Church should have been +interpreted as lack of respect in him. He promises henceforth to say +nothing more about indulgences--if, that is, his opponents will do +the same; he offers to address a manifesto to the people in which he +will advise them to give proper obedience to the Church and not to be +estranged from her because his adversaries have been insolent and he +himself harsh. But all these submissive words do not conceal the rift +which already separates his mind from the essential basis of the +Church of Rome. It sounds like cold irony when he writes: "What shall +I do, Most Holy Father? I am at a complete loss. I cannot endure the +weight of your anger, and yet I do not know how to escape it. They +demand a recantation from me. If it could accomplish what they propose +by it, I would recant without hesitation, but the opposition of my +adversaries has spread my writings farther than I had ever hoped; they +have taken hold too deeply on the souls of men. In Germany today +talent, learning, freedom of judgment are flourishing. If I should +recant, I should cover the Church, in the judgment of my Germans, with +still greater disgrace. It is they--my adversaries--who have brought +the Church of Rome into disrepute with us in Germany." He finally +closes politely: "If I should be able to do more, I shall without +doubt be very ready. May Christ preserve your Holiness! Martin +Luther." + +Much is to be read between the lines of this studied reserve. Even if +the vain Eck had not immediately set all Wittenberg University by the +ears, this letter could hardly have been considered at Rome as a token +of repentant submission. + +The thunderbolt of excommunication had been hurled; Rome had spoken. +Now Luther, again completely his old self, wrote once more to the Pope +that great and famous letter which, at the request of the untiring +Miltitz, he dated back to September 6, 1520, that he might be able to +ignore the bull of excommunication. It is a beautiful reflection of a +resolute mind which from a lofty standpoint calmly surveys its +opponent, and at the same time is magnificent in its sincerity, and of +the noblest spirit. With sincere sympathy he speaks of the personality +and of the difficult position of the Pope; but it is the sympathy of a +stranger. He still laments with melancholy the condition of the +Church, but it is plain that he himself has already outgrown it. It is +a farewell letter. With the keenest severity there is still a firm +attitude and silent sorrow. Such is the way a man parts from what he +has once loved and found unworthy. This letter was to be the last +bridge for the peacemakers. For Luther it was the liberation of his +soul. + +In these years Luther had become a different man. In the first place +he had acquired prudence and self-reliance in his intercourse with the +most exalted personages, and at heavy cost had won insight into the +policies and the private character of the rulers. Nothing was at heart +more painful to the peaceable nature of his sovereign than this bitter +theological controversy, which sometimes furthered his political ends +but always disturbed his peace of mind. Constant efforts were made by +his court to keep the Wittenberg people within bounds, and Luther +always saw to it that they were made too late. Whenever the faithful +Spalatin dissuaded him from the publication of a new polemic, he +received the answer that there was no help for it, that the sheets +were printed and already in the hands of many and could not be +suppressed. And in his dealings with his adversaries Luther had +acquired the assurance of a seasoned warrior. He was bitterly hurt +when Hieronymus Emser, in the spring of 1518, craftily took him to a +banquet in Dresden where he was forced to argue with angry enemies, +especially when he learned that a Dominican friar had listened at the +door and the next day had spread it in the town that Luther had been +completely silenced, and that the listener had had difficulty to +restrain himself from rushing into the room and spitting in Luther's +face. At that first meeting with Cajetan Luther still prostrated +himself humbly at the feet of the prince of the Church; after the +second he allowed himself to express the view that the cardinal was as +fit for his office as an ass to play the harp. He treated the polite +Miltitz with fitting politeness. The Roman had hoped to tame the +German bear, but soon the courtier came of his own accord into the +position which was appropriate for him--he was used by Luther. And in +the Leipzig disputation against Eck the favorable impression which the +self-possessed, honest, and sturdy nature of Luther produced was the +best counterpoise to the self-satisfied assurance of his clever +opponent. + +But Luther's inward life calls for greater sympathy. It was after all +a terrible period for him. Close to exaltation and victory lay for him +deathly anxiety, torturing doubt, and horrible apparitions. He, almost +alone, was in arms against all Christendom, and was becoming more and +more irreconcilably hostile to the mightiest power, which still +included everything that had been sacred to him since his youth. What +if, after all, he were wrong in this or that! He was responsible for +every soul that he led away with him--and whither? What was there +outside the Church but destruction and perdition for time and for +eternity? If his adversaries and anxious friends cut him to the heart +with reproaches and warnings, the pain, the secret remorse, the +uncertainty which he must not acknowledge to any one, were greater +beyond comparison. He found peace, to be sure, in prayer. Whenever his +fervid soul, seeking its God, rose in mighty flights, he was filled +with strength, peace, and cheerfulness. But in hours of less tense +exaltation, when his sensitive spirit quivered under unpleasant +impressions, then he felt himself embarrassed, divided, under the +spell of another power which was hostile to his God. He knew from +childhood how actively evil spirits ensnare mankind; he had learned +from the Scripture that the Devil works against the purest to ruin +them. On his path the busy devils were lurking to weaken him, to +mislead him, to make innumerable others wretched through him. He saw +their work in the angry bearing of the cardinal, in the scornful face +of Eck, even in the thoughts of his own soul. He knew how powerful +they had been in Rome. Even in his youth apparitions had tormented +him; now they reappeared. From the dark shadows of his study the +spectre of the tempter lifted its claw-like hand against his reason. +Even while he was praying the Devil approached him in the form of +the Redeemer, radiant as King of Heaven with the five wounds, as +the ancient Church represented Him. But Luther knew that Christ +appears to poor humanity only in His words, or in humble form, as He +hung upon the cross; and he roused himself vigorously and cried +to the apparition: "Avaunt, foul fiend!"--and the vision disappeared. +Thus the strong heart of the man worked for years in savage +indignation--always renewed. It was a sad struggle between reason and +insanity, but Luther always came out victorious; the native strength +of his sound nature prevailed. In long prayer, often lasting for +hours, the stormy waves of his emotion became calm, and his massive +intelligence and his conscience brought him every time out of doubt to +certainty. He considered this process of liberation as a gracious +inspiration of his God, and after such moments he who had once been in +such anxious doubt was as firm as steel, indifferent to the opinion of +men, not to be moved, inexorable. Quite a different picture is that of +his personality in contest with earthly foes. Here he retains almost +everywhere the superiority of conviction, particularly in his literary +feuds. + +The literary activity which he developed at this time was gigantic. Up +to 1517 he had printed little. From that time on he was not only the +most productive but the greatest popular writer of Germany. The energy +of his style, the vigor of his argumentation, the ardor and passion of +his conviction, carried away his readers. No one had ever spoken thus +to the people. His language lent itself to every mood, to all keys; +now brief, forcible, sharp as steel, now in majestic breadth, the +words poured in among the people like a mighty stream. A figurative +expression, a striking simile, made the most difficult thoughts +intelligible. His was a wonderfully creative power. He used language +with sovereign ease. As soon as he touched a pen his mind worked with +the greatest freedom; his sentences show the cheerful warmth which +filled him, the perfect charm of sympathetic creation is poured out +upon them. And such power is by no means least apparent in the attacks +which he makes upon individual opponents, and it is closely connected +with a fault which caused misgivings even to his admiring +contemporaries. He liked to play with his opponents. His imagination +clothed the form of an enemy with a grotesque mask, and he teased, +scorned, and stabbed this picture of his imagination with turns of +speech which had not always the grace of moderation, or even of +decency; but in the midst of vituperation, his good humor generally +had a conciliatory effect--although, to be sure, not upon his victims. +Petty spite was rarely visible; not seldom the most imperturbable +good-nature. Sometimes he fell into a true artistic zeal, forgot the +dignity of the reformer, and pinched like a German peasant boy, even +like a malicious goblin. What blows he gave to all his opponents, now +with a club, wielded by an angry giant, now with a jester's bauble! He +liked to twist their names into ridiculous forms, and thus they lived +in Wittenberg circles as beasts, or as fools. Eck became Dr. Geck; +Murner was adorned with the head and claws of a cat; Emser, who had +printed at the head of most of his pamphlets his coat-of-arms the head +of a horned goat, was abused as a goat. The Latin name of the renegade +humanist Cochläus, was retranslated, and Luther greeted him as a snail +with impenetrable armor, and--sad to say--sometimes also as a dirty +boy whose nose needed wiping. Still worse, terrible even to his +contemporaries, was the reckless violence with which he declaimed +against hostile princes. It is true that he sometimes bestowed upon +his sovereign's cousin, Duke George of Saxony, a consideration hardly +to be avoided. Each considered the other the prey of the devil, but in +secret each esteemed in the other a manly worth. Again and again they +fell into dissension, even in writing, but again and again Luther +prayed warmly for his neighbor's soul. The reckless wilfulness of +Henry VIII. of England, on the other hand, offended the German +reformer to the depths of his soul; he reviled him horribly and +without cessation; and even in his last years he treated the +hot-headed Henry of Brunswick like a naughty school-boy. "Clown" was +the mildest of many dramatic characters in which he represented him. +When, later, such outpourings of excessive zeal stared at him from the +printed page, and his friends complained, he would be vexed at his +rudeness, upbraid himself, and honestly repent. But repentance availed +little, for on the next occasion he would commit the same fault; and +Spalatin had some reason to look distrustfully upon a projected +publication even when Luther proposed to write very gently and tamely. +His opponents could not equal him in his field. They called names with +equal vigor, but they lacked his inward freedom. Unfortunately it +cannot be denied that this little appendage to the moral dignity of +his nature was sometimes the spice which made his writings so +irresistible to the honest Germans of the sixteenth century. + +In the autumn of 1517 he had got into a quarrel with a reprobate +Dominican friar; in the winter of 1520 he burned the Pope's bull. In +the spring of 1518 he had prostrated himself at the feet of the Vicar +of Christ; in the spring of 1521 he declared at the Diet of Worms, +before the emperor and the princes and the papal legates, that he +believed neither the Pope nor the Councils alone, only the testimony +of the Holy Scripture and the interpretation of reason. Now he was +free, but excommunication and outlawry hovered over his head. He was +inwardly free, but he was free as the beast of the forest is free, and +behind him bayed the blood-thirsty pack. He had reached the +culminating point of his life, and the powers against which he had +revolted, even the thoughts which he himself had aroused among the +people, were working from now on against his life and doctrine. + +Even at Worms, so it appears, it had been made clear to Luther that he +must disappear for a while. The customs of the Franconian Knights, +among whom he had faithful followers, suggested the idea of having him +spirited away by armed men. Elector Frederick, with his faithful +friends, discussed the abduction, and it was quite after the manner +of this prince that he himself did not wish to know the place of +retreat, in order to be able, in case of need, to swear to his +ignorance. Nor was it easy to win Luther over to the plan, for his +bold heart had long ago overcome earthly fear; and with an +enthusiastic joy, in which there was much fanaticism and some humor, +he watched the attempts of the Romanists to put out of the way a man +of whom Another must dispose, He who spoke through his lips. + +Unwillingly he submitted. The secret was not easy to keep, however +skilfully the abduction had been planned. At first none of the +Wittenbergers but Melanchthon knew where he was. But Luther was the +last man to submit to even the best-intentioned intrigue. Very soon an +active communication arose between the Wartburg and Wittenberg. No +matter how much caution was used in delivering the letters, it was +difficult to avoid suspicion. In his fortified retreat, Luther found +out earlier than the Wittenbergers what was going on in the world +outside. He was informed of everything that happened at his +university, and tried to keep up the courage of his friends and direct +their policy. It is touching to see how he tried to strengthen +Melanchthon, whose unpractical nature made him feel painfully the +absence of his sturdy friend. "Things will get on without me," he +writes to him; "only have courage. I am no longer necessary to you. If +I get out, and I cannot return to Wittenberg, I shall go into the wide +world. You are men enough to hold the fortress of the Lord against the +Devil, without me." He dated his letters from the air, from Patmos, +from the desert, from "among the birds that sing merrily on the +branches and praise God with all their might from morning to night." +Once he tried to be crafty. He inclosed in a letter to Spalatin a +letter intended to deceive: "It was believed without reason that he +was at the Wartburg. He was living among faithful brethren. It was +surprising that no one had thought of Bohemia;" and then came a +thrust--not ill-tempered--at Duke George of Saxony, his most active +enemy. This letter Spalatin was to lose with well-planned carelessness +so that it should come into the hands of the enemy. But in this kind +of diplomacy he was certainly not logical, for as soon as his leonine +nature was aroused by some piece of news, he would determine +impulsively to start for Erfurt or Wittenberg. It was hard for him to +bear the inactivity of his life. He was treated with the greatest +attention by the governor of the castle, and this attention expressed +itself, as was the custom at that time, primarily in the shape of the +best care in the matter of food and drink. The rich living, the lack +of activity, and the fresh mountain air into which the theologian was +transported, had their effect upon soul and body. He had already +brought from Worms a physical infirmity, now there were added hours of +gloomy melancholy which made him unfit for work. + +On two successive days he joined hunting parties, but his heart was +with the few hares and partridges which were driven into the net by +the troop of men and dogs. "Innocent creatures! The papists persecute +in the same way!" To save the life of a little hare he had wrapped him +in the sleeve of his coat. The dogs came and crushed the animal's +bones within the protecting coat. "Thus Satan rages against the souls +that I seek to save." Luther had reason for protecting himself and his +friends from Satan. He had rejected all the authority of the Church; +now he stood terribly alone; nothing was left to him but his last +resort--the Scriptures. The ancient Church had represented +Christianity in continual development. The faith had been kept in a +fluid state by a living tradition which ran parallel with the +Scriptures, by the Councils, by the Papal decrees; and they had +adapted themselves, like a facile stream, to the sharp corners of +national character, to the urgent needs of each age. It is true that +this noble idea of a perpetually living organism had not been +preserved in its original purity. The best part of its life had +vanished; empty cocoons were being preserved. The old democratic +church had been transformed into the irresponsible sovereignty of a +few, had been stained with all the vices of an unconscientious +aristocracy, and was already in striking opposition to reason and +popular feeling. What Luther, however, could put in its place--the +word of the Scriptures--although it gave freedom from a hopeless mass +of soulless excrescences, threatened on the other hand new dangers. + +What was the Bible? Between the earliest and latest writings of the +sacred book lay perhaps two thousand years. Even the New Testament was +not written by Christ himself, not even entirely by those who had +received the sacred doctrine from his lips. It was compiled after his +death. Portions of it might have been transmitted inexactly. +Everything was written in a foreign tongue, which it was difficult for +the Germans to understand. Even the keenest penetration was in danger +of interpreting falsely unless the grace of God enlightened the +interpreter as it had the apostles. The ancient Church had settled the +matter summarily; in it the sacrament of holy orders gave such +enlightenment. Indeed, the Holy Father even laid claim to divine +authority to decide arbitrarily what should be right, even when his +will was contrary to the Scriptures. The reformer had nothing but his +feeble human knowledge, and prayer. + +The first unavoidable step was that he must use his reason, for a +certain critical treatment even of the Holy Bible was necessary. Nor +did Luther fail to see that the books of the New Testament were of +varying worth. It is well known that he did not highly esteem the +Apocalypse, and that the Epistle of James was regarded by him as "an +epistle of straw." But his objection to particular portions never +shook his faith in the whole. His belief was inflexible that the Holy +Scriptures, excepting a few books, contained a divine revelation in +every word and letter. It was for him the dearest thing on earth, the +foundation of all his learning. He had put himself so in sympathy +with it that he lived among its figures as in the present. The more +urgent his feeling of responsibility, the warmer the passion with +which he clung to Scripture; and a strong instinct for the sensible +and the fitting really helped him over many dangers. His +discrimination had none of the hair-splitting sophistry of the ancient +teachers. He despised useless subtleties, and, with admirable tact, +let go what seemed to him unessential; but, if he was not to lose his +faith or his reason, he could do nothing, after all, but found the new +doctrine on words and conditions of life fifteen hundred years old, +and in some cases he became the victim of what his adversary Eck +called "the black letter." + +Under the urgency of these conditions his method took form. If he had +a question to settle, he collected all the passages of Holy Scripture +which seemed to offer him an answer. He sought earnestly to understand +all passages in their context, and then he struck a balance, giving +the greatest weight to those which agreed with each other, and for +those which were at variance patiently striving to find a solution +which might reconcile the seeming contradiction. The resulting +conviction he firmly established in his heart, regardless of +temptations, by fervent prayer. With this procedure he was sometimes +bound to reach conclusions which seemed, even to ordinary human +understanding, vulnerable. When, for instance, in the year 1522, he +undertook, from the Scriptures, to put matrimony on a new moral basis, +reason and the needs of the people were certainly on his side when he +subjected to severe criticism the eighteen grounds of the +Ecclesiastical Law for forbidding and annulling marriages and +condemned the unworthy favoring of the rich over the poor. But it was, +after all, strange when Luther tried to prove from the Bible alone +what degrees of relationship were permitted and what were forbidden, +especially as he also took into consideration the Old Testament, in +which various queer marriages were contracted without any opposition +from the ancient Jehovah. God undoubtedly had sometimes allowed his +elect to have two wives. + +And it was this method which, in 1529, during the discussions with the +Calvinists, made him so obstinate, when he wrote on the table in front +of him, "This _is_ my body," and sternly disregarded the tears and +outstretched hand of Zwingli. He had never been narrower and yet never +mightier--the fear-inspiring man who had won his conviction in the +most violent inward struggles against doubt and the Devil. It was an +imperfect method, and his opponents attacked it, not without success. +With it his doctrine became subject to the fate of all human wisdom. +But in this method there was also a vivid emotional process in which +his own reason and the culture and the inward needs of his time found +better expression than he himself knew. And it became the +starting-point from which a conscientious spirit of investigation has +wrought for the German people the highest intellectual freedom. + +With such tremendous trials there came also to the outcast monk at the +Wartburg other minor temptations. He had long ago, by almost +superhuman intellectual activity, overcome what were then regarded +with great distrust as fleshly impulses; now nature asserted herself +vigorously, and he several times asked his friend Melanchthon to pray +for him on this account. Then Fate would have it that during these +very weeks the restless mind of Carlstadt in Wittenberg fell upon the +question of the marriage of priests, and reached the conclusion, in a +pamphlet on celibacy, that the vow of chastity was not binding on +priests and monks. The Wittenbergers in general agreed--first of all, +Melanchthon, whose position in this matter was freest from prejudice, +since he had never received ordination and had been married for two +years. + +So at this point a tangle of thoughts and moral questions was caused +from without in Luther's soul, the threads of which were destined to +involve his whole later life. Whatever heartfelt joy and worldly +happiness was granted him from this time on depended on the answer +which he found to this question. It was the happiness of his home-life +which made it possible for him to endure the later years. Only in it +did the flower of his abundant affection develop. So Fate graciously +sent the lonely man the message which was to unite him anew and more +firmly than ever with his people; and the way in which Luther dealt +with this question is again characteristic. His pious disposition and +the conservative strain in his nature revolted against the hasty and +superficial manner in which Carlstadt reasoned. + +It may be assumed that much in his own feelings, at that particular +time, made him suspicious that the Devil might be using this dubious +question to tempt the children of God, and yet at this very moment, in +his confinement, he had special sympathy for the poor monks behind +monastery walls. He searched the Scriptures. He had soon disposed of +the marriage of priests, but there was nothing in the Bible about +monks. "The Scripture is silent; man is uncertain." And then he was +struck by the ridiculous idea that even his nearest friends might +marry. He writes to the cautious Spalatin, "Good Lord! Our +Wittenbergers want to give wives to the monks too. Well, they are not +going to hang one on my neck;" and he gives the ironical warning, +"Look out that you do not marry too." But the problem still occupied +him incessantly. Life is lived rapidly in such great times. Gradually, +through Melanchthon's reasoning, and, we may assume, after fervent +prayer, he found certainty. What settled the matter, unknown to +himself, must have been the recognition that the opening of the +monasteries had become reasonable and necessary for a more moral +foundation of civil life. For almost three months he had struggled +over the question. On the first of November, 1521, he wrote the letter +to his father already cited. + +The effect of his words upon the people was incalculable. Everywhere +there was a stir in the cloisters. From the doors of almost all the +monasteries and convents monks and nuns stole out--at first singly and +in secret flight; then whole convents broke up. When Luther with +greater cares weighing upon him returned the next spring to +Wittenberg, the runaway monks and nuns gave him much to do. Secret +letters were sent to him from all quarters, often from excited nuns +who, the children of stern parents, had been put into convents, and +now, without money and without protection, sought aid from the great +reformer. It was not unnatural that they should throng to Wittenberg. +Once nine nuns came in a carriage from the aristocratic establishment +at Nimpfschen--among them a Staupitz, two Zeschaus, and Catherine von +Bora. At another time sixteen nuns were to be provided for, and so on. +He felt deep sympathy for these poor souls. He wrote in their behalf +and traveled to find them shelter in respectable families. Sometimes +indeed he felt it too much of a good thing, and the hordes of runaway +monks were an especial burden to him. He complains that "they wish to +marry immediately and are the most incompetent people for any kind of +work." Through his bold solution of a difficult question he gave great +offense. He himself had painful experiences; for among those who now +returned in tumult to civil life there were, to be sure, high-minded +men, but also those who were rude and worthless. Yet all this never +made him hesitate for a moment. As usual with him, he was made the +more determined by the opposition he met. When, in 1524, he published +the story of the sufferings of a novice, Florentina of Oberweimar, he +repeated on the title page what he had already so often preached: "God +often gives testimony in the Scriptures that He will have no +compulsory service, and no one shall become His except with pleasure +and love. God help us! Is there no reasoning with us? Have we no sense +and no hearing? I say it again, God will have no compulsory service. I +say it a third time, I say it a hundred thousand times, God will have +no compulsory service." + +So Luther entered upon the last period of his life. His disappearance +in the Thuringian forest had caused an enormous stir. His adversaries +trembled before the anger which arose in town and country against +those who were called murderers. But the interruption of his public +activity became fateful for him. So long as in Wittenberg he was the +central point of the struggle, his word, his pen, had held sovereign +control over the great intellectual movement in north and south; now +it worked without method in different directions, in many minds. One +of the oldest of Luther's allies began the confusion. Wittenberg +itself became the scene of a strange commotion. Then Luther could +endure the Wartburg no longer. Once before he had been secretly in +Wittenberg; now, against the Elector's will, he returned there +publicly. And there began a heroic struggle against old friends, and +against the conclusions drawn from his own doctrine. His activity was +superhuman. He thundered without cessation from the pulpit, in the +cell his pen flew fast; but he could not reclaim every dissenting +mind. Even he could not prevent the rabble of the towns from breaking +out in savage fury against the institutions of the ancient Church and +against hated individuals, nor the excitement of the people from +brewing political storms, nor the knights from rising against the +princes, and the peasants against the knights. What was more, he could +not prevent the intellectual liberty which he had won for the Germans +from producing, even in pious and learned men, an independent judgment +about creed and life, a judgment which was contrary to his own +convictions. There came the gloomy years of the Iconoclasts, the +Anabaptists, the Peasant Wars, the regrettable dissensions over the +sacrament. How often at this time did Luther's form rise sombre and +mighty over the contestants! How often did the perversion of mankind +and his own secret doubts fill him with anxious care for the future of +Germany! + +For in a savage age which was accustomed to slay with fire and sword, +this German had a high, pure conception of the battles of the +intellect such as no other man attained. Even in the times of his own +greatest danger he mortally hated any use of violence. He himself did +not wish to be sheltered by his prince--indeed he desired no human +protection for his doctrine. He fought with a sharp quill against his +foes, but he burnt only a paper at the stake. He hated the Pope as he +did the Devil, but he always preached a love of peace and Christian +tolerance of the Papists. He suspected many of being in secret league +with the Devil, but he never burned a witch. In all Catholic countries +the pyres flamed high for the adherents of the new creed; even Hutten +was under strong suspicion of having cut off the ears of a few monks. +So humane was Luther's disposition that he entertained cordial +sympathy with the humiliated Tetzel and wrote him a consolatory +letter. To obey the authorities whom God has established was his +highest political principle. Only when the service of his God demanded +it did his opposition flame up. When he left Worms he had been ordered +not to preach--he who was just on the point of being declared an +outlaw. He did not submit to the prohibition, but his honest +conscience was fearful that this might be interpreted as disobedience. +His conception of the position of the Emperor was still quite the +antiquated and popular one. As subjects obey the powers that be, so +the princes and electors had to obey the Emperor according to the law +of the land. + +With the personality of Charles V. he had human sympathy all his +life--not only at that first period when he greeted him as "Dear +Youngster," but also later, when he well knew that the Spanish +Burgundian was granting nothing more than political tolerance to the +German Reformation. "He is pious and quiet," Luther said of him; "he +talks in a year less than I do in a day. He is a child of fortune." He +liked to praise the Emperor's moderation, modesty, and forbearance. +Long after he had condemned Charles' policy, and in secret distrusted +his character, he insisted upon it among his table companions that the +master of Germany should be spoken of with reverence, and said +apologetically to the younger ones, "A politician cannot be so frank +as we of the clergy." + +Even as late as 1530 it was his view that it was wrong for the +Elector to take arms against his Emperor. Not until 1537 did he fall +in reluctantly with the freer views of his circle, but he thought then +that the endangered prince had no right to make the first attack. The +venerable tradition of a firm, well articulated federal State was +still thus active in this man of the people at a time when the proud +structure of the old Saxon and Franconian empires was already +crumbling away. Yet in such loyalty there was no trace of a slavish +spirit. When his prince once urged him to write an open letter, his +sense of truth rose against the title of the Emperor, "Most Gracious +Lord," for he said the Emperor was not graciously disposed toward him. +And in his frequent intercourse with those of rank, he showed a +reckless frankness which more than once alarmed the courtiers. In all +reverence he spoke truths to his own prince such as only a great +character may express and only a good-hearted one can listen to. On +the whole he cared little for the German princes, much as he esteemed +a few. Frequent and just were his complaints about their incapacity, +their lawlessness, and their vices. He also liked to treat the +nobility with irony; the coarseness of most of them was highly +distasteful to him. He felt a democratic displeasure toward the hard +and selfish jurists who managed the affairs of the princes, worked for +favor, and harassed the poor; for the best of them he admitted only a +very doubtful prospect of the mercy of God. His whole heart, on the +other hand, was with the oppressed. He sometimes blamed the peasants +for their stolidity, and their extortions in selling their grain, but +he often praised their class, looked with cordial sympathy upon their +hardships, and never forgot that by birth he belonged among them. + +But all this belonged to the temporal order; he served the spiritual. +The popular conception was also firmly fixed in his mind that two +controlling powers ought to rule the German nation in common--the +Church and the princes; and he was entirely right in proudly +contrasting the sphere where lay his rights and duties with that of +the temporal powers. In his spiritual field there were solidarity, a +spirit of sacrifice, and a wealth of ideals, while in secular affairs +narrow selfishness, robbery, fraud, and weakness were to be found +everywhere. He fought vigorously lest the authorities should assume to +control matters which concerned the pastor and the independence of the +congregations. He judged all policies according to what would benefit +his faith, and according to the dictates of his Bible. Where the +Scriptures seemed endangered by worldly politics, he protested, caring +little who was hit. It was not his fault that he was strong and the +princes were weak, and no blame attaches to him, the monk, the +professor, the pastor, if the league of Protestant princes was weak as +a herd of deer against the crafty policy of the Emperor. He himself +was well aware that Italian diplomacy was not his strong point. If the +active Landgrave of Hesse happened not to follow the advice of the +clergy, Luther, in his heart, respected him all the more: "He knows +what he wants and succeeds, he has a fine sense of this world's +affairs." + +Now, after Luther's return to Wittenberg, the flood of democracy was +rising among the people. He had opened the monasteries; now the people +called for redress against many other social evils, such as the misery +of the peasants, the tithes, the traffic in benefices, the bad +administration of justice. Luther's honest heart sympathized with this +movement. He warned and rebuked the landed gentry and the princes. But +when the wild waves of the Peasant War flooded his own spiritual +fields, and bloody deeds of violence wounded his sensibilities; when +he felt that the fanatics and demagogues were exerting upon the hordes +of peasants an influence which threatened destruction to his doctrine; +then, in the greatest anger, he threw himself into opposition to the +uncouth mob. His call to the princes sounded out, wild and warlike; +the most horrible thing had fallen upon him--the gospel of love had +been disgraced by the wilful insolence of those who called themselves +its followers. His policy here was again the right one; there was, +unfortunately, no better power in Germany than that of the princes, +and the future of the Fatherland depended upon them after all, for +neither the serfs, the robber barons, nor the isolated free cities +which stood like islands in the rising flood, gave any assurance. +Luther was entirely right in the essential point, but the same +obstinate, unyielding manner which previously had made his struggle +against the hierarchy so popular, turned now against the people +themselves. A cry of amazement and horror shot through the masses. He +was a traitor! He who for eight years had been the favorite and hero +of the people suddenly became most unpopular. His safety and his life +were again threatened; even five years later it was dangerous for him, +on account of the peasants, to travel to Mansfeld to visit his sick +father. The indignation of the people also worked against his +doctrine. The itinerant preachers and the new apostles treated him as +a lost, corrupted man. + + +[Illustration: _Permission F. Bruckmann, A.-G., Munich_ +COURT BALL AT RHEINSBERG Adolph von Menzel] + +He was outlawed, banned, and cursed by the populace. Many well-meaning +men, too, had not approved of his attack on celibacy and monastic +life. The country gentry threatened to seize the outlaw on the +highways because he had destroyed the nunneries into which, as into +foundling asylums, the legitimate daughters of the poverty-stricken +gentry used to be cast in earliest childhood. The Roman party was +triumphant; the new heresy had lost what so far had made it powerful. +Luther's life and his doctrine seemed alike near their end. + +Then Luther determined to marry. For two years Catherine von Bora had +lived in the house of Reichenbach, the city clerk, afterward mayor of +Wittenberg. A healthy, good looking girl, she was, like many others, +the abandoned daughter of a family of the country gentry of Meissen. +Twice Luther had tried to find her a husband, as in fatherly care he +had done for several of her companions. Finally Catherine declared +that she would marry no one but Luther himself, or his friend Amsdorf. +Luther was surprised, but he reached a decision quickly. Accompanied +by Lucas Kranach, he asked for her hand and married her on the spot. +Then he invited his friends to the wedding feast, asked at Court for +the venison which the Prince was accustomed to present to his +professors when they married, and received the table wine as a present +from the city of Wittenberg. How things stood in Luther's soul at that +time we should be glad to know. His whole being was under the highest +tension. The savage vigor of his nature struck out in all directions. +He was deeply shocked at the misery which arose about him from burned +villages and murdered men. If he had been a fanatic in his ideas, he +would probably have perished now in despair; but above the stormy +restlessness which could be perceived in him up to his marriage, there +shone now, like a clear light, the conviction that he was the guardian +of divine right among the Germans, and that to protect civil order and +morality, he must lead public opinion, not follow it. However violent +his utterances are in particular cases, he appears just at this time +preëminently conservative, and more self-possessed than ever. He also +believed, it is true, that he was not destined to live much longer, +and often and with longing awaited his martyrdom. He entered wedlock, +perfectly at peace with himself on this point, for he had fully +convinced himself of the necessity and the scriptural sanction of the +married state. In recent years he had urged all his acquaintances to +marry--finally even his old adversary, the Archbishop of Mainz. He +himself gave two reasons for his decision. For many years he had +deprived his father of his son; and it would be like an atonement if +he should leave to old Hans a grandson in case of his own death. There +was also some defiance in it. His adversaries were saying in triumph +that Luther was humiliated, and since all the world now took offense +at him, he proposed to give them still greater offense in his good +cause. He was of vigorous nature, but there was no trace of coarse +sensuality in him, and we may assume that the best reason, which he +confessed to no friend, was, after all, the decisive one: Gossip had +known for a long time more than he did, but now he also knew that +Catherine was dear to him. "I am no passionate lover, but I am fond of +her," he wrote to one of his closest friends. + +And this marriage, performed in opposition to the judgment of his +contemporaries, and amid the shouts of scorn of his adversaries, +became the bond to which we Germans owe as much as to the years in +which he, a priest of the ancient Church, bore arms in behalf of his +theology. For henceforth the husband, the father, and the citizen, +became the reformer also of the domestic life of his nation; and the +very blessing of their earthly life which Protestants and Catholics +share alike today is due to the marriage of an excommunicated monk +with a runaway nun. + +For twenty more busy years he was destined to work as an educator of +his nation. During this time his greatest work, the translation of the +Bible, was completed, and in this work, which he accomplished in +coöperation with his Wittenberg friends, he acquired a complete +control of the language of the people--a language whose wealth and +power he first learned to realize through this work. We know the lofty +spirit which he brought to this undertaking. His purpose was to create +a book for the people, and for this he studied industriously turns of +phrases, proverbs, and special terms which made up the people's +current language. Even Humanists had written an awkward, involved +German, with clumsy sentences in unfortunate imitation of the Latin +style. Now the nation acquired for daily reading a work which, in +simple words and short sentences, gave expression to the deepest +wisdom and the best intellectual life of the time. Along with Luther's +other works, the German Bible became the foundation of the modern +German language, and this language, in which our whole literature and +intellectual life has found expression, has become an indestructible +possession which, in the gloomiest times, even corrupted and +distorted, has reminded the various German strains that they have +common interests. Every individual in our country still rises superior +to the dialect of his native place, and the language of culture, +poetry, and science which Luther created is still the tie which binds +all German souls in unity. + +And what he did for the social life of the Germans was no less; for by +his precepts and his writings he consecrated family prayers, marriage +and the training of children, the daily life of the community, +education, manners, amusements, whatever touches the heart, and all +social pleasures. He was everywhere active in setting up new ideals, +in laying deeper foundations. There was no field of human duty upon +which he did not force his Germans to reflect. Through his many +sermons and minor writings he influenced large groups of people, and +by his innumerable letters, in which he gave advice and consolation to +those who asked for them, he influenced individuals. When he +incessantly urged his contemporaries to examine for themselves whether +a desire was justified or not, or what was the duty of a father toward +his child, of the subject toward the authorities, of the councillor +toward the people, the progress which was made through him was so +important because here too he set free the conscience of the +individual and put everywhere in the place of compulsion from without, +against which selfishness had defiantly rebelled, a self-control in +harmony with the spirit of the individual. How beautiful is his +conception of the necessity of training children by schooling, +especially in the ancient languages! How he recommends the +introduction of his beloved music into the schools! How large is his +vision when he advises the city-councils to establish public +libraries! And again, how conscientiously he tried, in matters of +betrothal and marriage, to protect the heart of the lovers against +stern parental authority! To be sure, his horizon is always bounded by +the letter of the Scriptures, but everywhere there sounds through his +sermons, his advice, his censure, the beautiful keynote of his German +nature, the necessity of liberty and discipline, of love and morality. +He had overthrown the old sacrament of marriage, but gave a higher, +nobler, freer form to the intimate relation of man and wife. He had +fought the clumsy monastery schools; and everywhere in town and +hamlet, wherever his influence was felt, there grew up better +educational institutions for the young. He had done away with the mass +and with Latin church music; he put in its place, for friends and foes +alike, regular preaching and German chorals. + +As time advanced, it became ever more apparent that it was a necessity +for Luther to perceive God in every gracious, good and tender gift of +this world. In this sense he was always pious and always wise--when he +was out-of-doors, or among his friends, in innocent merriment, when he +teased his wife, or held his children in his arms. Before a +fruit-tree, which he saw hanging full of fruit, he rejoiced in its +splendor, and said, "If Adam had not fallen, we should have admired +all trees as we do this one." He took a large pear into his hands and +marveled: "See! Half a year ago this pear was deeper under ground than +it is long and broad, and lay at the very end of the roots. These +smallest and least observed creations are the greatest miracles. God +is in the humblest things of nature--a leaf or a blade of grass." Two +birds made their nest in the Doctor's garden and flew up in the +evening, often frightened by passers-by. He called to them, "Oh, you +dear birds! Don't fly away. I am very willing to have you here, if you +could only believe me. But just so we mortals have no faith in our +God." He delighted in the companionship of whole-souled men; he drank +his wine with satisfaction, while the conversation ran actively over +great things and small. He judged with splendid humor enemies and good +acquaintances alike, and told jolly stories; and when he got into +discussion, passed his hand across his knee, which was a peculiarity +of his; or he might sing, or play the lute, and start a chorus. +Whatever gave innocent pleasure was welcome to him. His favorite art +was music; he judged leniently of dancing, and, fifty years before +Shakespeare, spoke approvingly of comedy, for he said, "It instructs +us, like a mirror, how everybody should conduct himself." + +When he sat thus with Melanchthon, Master Philip was the charitable +scholar who sometimes put wise limitations upon the daring assertions +of his lusty friend. If, at such times, the conversation turned upon +rich people, and Frau Käthe could not help remarking longingly, "If my +man had had a notion, he would have got very rich," Melanchthon would +pronounce gravely, "That is impossible; for those who, like him, work +for the general good cannot follow up their own advantage." But there +was one subject upon which the two men loved to dispute. Melanchthon +was a great admirer of astrology, but Luther looked upon this science +with supreme contempt. On the other hand, Luther, through his method +of interpreting the Scriptures--and alas! through secret political +cares also--had arrived at the conviction that the end of the world +was near. That again seemed to the learned Melanchthon very dubious. +So if Melanchthon began to talk about the signs of the zodiac and +aspects, and explained Luther's success by his having been born under +the sign of the Sun, then Luther would exclaim, "I don't think much of +your Sol. I am a peasant's son. My father, grandfather, and +great-grandfather were thorough peasants." "Yes," replied Melanchthon, +"even in a hamlet, you would have become a leader, a magistrate, or a +foreman over other laborers." "But," cried Luther, victoriously, "I +have become a bachelor of arts, a master, a monk. That was not +foretold by the stars. And after that I got the Pope by the hair and +he in turn got me. I have taken a nun to wife and got some children by +her. Who saw that in the stars?" Melanchthon, continuing his +astrological prophecies and turning to the fate of the Emperor +Charles, declared that this prince was destined to die in 1584. Then +Luther broke out vehemently--"The world will not last as long as that, +for when we drive out the Turks the prophecy of Daniel will be +fulfilled and completed; then the Day of Judgment is certainly at our +doors." + +How lovable he was as father in his family! When his children stood +before the table and looked hard at the fruit and the peaches, he +said, "If anybody wants to see the image of one who rejoiceth in hope, +he has here the real model. Oh, that we might look forward so +cheerfully to the Judgment Day! Adam and Eve must have had much better +fruit! Ours are nothing but crab-apples in contrast. And I think the +serpent was then a most beautiful creature, kindly and gracious; it +still wears its crown, but after the curse it lost its feet and +beautiful body." Once he looked at his three-year-old son who was +playing and talking to himself and said, "This child is like a drunken +man. He does not know that he is alive, yet lives on safely and +merrily and hops and jumps. Such children love to be in spacious +apartments where they have room," and he took the child in his arms. +"You are our Lord's little fool, subject to His mercy and forgiveness +of sins, not subject to the Law. You have no fear; you are safe, +nothing troubles you; the way you do is the uncorrupted way. Parents +always like their youngest children best; my little Martin is my +dearest treasure. Such little ones need their parents' care and love +the most; therefore the love of their parents always reaches down to +them. How Abraham must have felt when he had in mind to sacrifice his +youngest and dearest son! Probably he said nothing to Sarah about it. +That must have been a bitter journey for him." His favorite daughter +Magdalena lay at the point of death and he lamented, "I love her +truly, but, dear God, if it be Thy will to take her away to Thee, I +shall gladly know that she is with Thee. Magdalena, my little +daughter, you would like to stay here with your father, and yet you +would be willing to go to the other Father?" Then the child said, +"Yes, dear father, as God wills." When she was dying he fell on his +knees before the bed and wept bitterly, and prayed that God would +redeem her; and so she fell asleep under her father's hands, and when +the people came to help lay out the corpse and spoke to the Doctor +according to custom, he said, "I am cheerful in my mind, but the flesh +is weak. This parting is hard beyond measure. It is strange to know +she is certainly in peace and that it is well with her, and yet to be +so sorrowful all the time." + +His Dominus, or Lord Käthe, as he liked to call his wife in letters to +his friends, had soon developed into a capable manager. And she had no +slight troubles: little children, her husband often in poor health, a +number of boarders--teachers and poor students--her house always open, +seldom lacking scholarly or noble guests, and, with all that, scanty +means and a husband who preferred giving to receiving, and who once, +in his zeal, when she was in bed with a young child, even seized the +silver baptismal presents of the child in order to give alms. Luther, +in 1527, for instance, could not afford even eight gulden for his +former prior and friend Briesger. He writes to him sadly: "Three +silver cups (wedding presents) are pawned for fifty gulden, the fourth +is sold. The year has brought one hundred gulden of debts. Lucas +Kranach will not go security for me any more, lest I ruin myself +completely." Sometimes Luther refuses presents, even those which his +prince offers him: but it seems that regard for his wife and children +gave him in later years some sense of economy. When he died his estate +amounted to some eight or nine thousand gulden, comprising, among +other things, a little country place, a large garden, and two houses. +This was surely in large part Frau Käthe's doing. By the way in which +Luther treats her we see how happy his household was. When he made +allusions to the ready tongue of women he had little right to do so, +for he himself was not by any means a man who could be called +reticent. When she showed her joy at being able to bring to table all +kinds of fish from the little pond in her garden, the Doctor, for his +part, was deeply pleased but did not fail to add a pleasant discourse +on the happiness of contentment. Or when on one occasion she became +impatient at the reading of the Psalter, and gave him to understand +that she had heard enough about saints--that she read a good deal +every day and could talk enough about them too--that God only desired +her to act like them; then the Doctor, in reply to this sensible +answer, sighed and said, "Thus begins discontent at God's word. There +will be nothing but new books coming out, and the Scriptures will be +again thrown into the corner." But the firm alliance of these two good +people was for a long time not without its secret sorrow. We can only +surmise the suffering of the wife's soul when, even as late as 1527, +Luther in a dangerous illness took final farewell from her with the +words: "You are my lawful wife, and as such you must surely consider +yourself." + +In the same spirit as with his dear ones, Luther consorted with the +high powers of his faith. All the good characters from the Bible were +true friends to him. His vivid imagination had confidently given them +shape, and, with the simplicity of a child, he liked to picture to +himself their conditions. When Veit Deitrich asked him what kind of +person the Apostle Paul was, Luther answered quickly, "He was an +insignificant, slim little fellow like Philip Melanchthon." The Virgin +Mary was a graceful image to him. "She was a fine girl," he said +admiringly; "she must have had a good voice." He liked to think of the +Redeemer as a child with his parents, carrying the dinner to his +father in the lumber yard, and to picture Mary, when he stayed too +long away, as asking--"Darling, where have you been so long?" One +should not think of the Saviour seated on the rainbow in glory, nor as +the fulfiller of the law--this conception is too grand and terrible +for man--but only as a poor sufferer who lives among sinners and dies +for them. + +Even his God was to him preëminently the head of a household and a +father. He liked to reflect upon the economy of nature. He lost +himself in wondering consideration of how much wood God was obliged to +create. "Nobody can calculate what God needs to feed the sparrows and +the useless birds alone. These cost him in one year more than the +revenues of the king of France. And then think of the other things! +God understands all trades. In his tailor shop he makes the stag a +coat that lasts a hundred years. As a shoemaker he gives him shoes for +his feet, and through the pleasant sun he is a cook. He might get rich +if he would; he might stop the sun, inclose the air, and threaten the +pope, emperor, bishops and the doctors with death if they did not pay +him on the spot one hundred thousand gulden. But he does not do that, +and we are thankless scoundrels." He reflected seriously about where +the food comes from for so many people. Old Hans Luther had asserted +that there were more people than sheaves of grain. The Doctor believed +that more sheaves are grown than there are people, but still more +people than stacks of grain. "But a stack of grain yields hardly a +bushel, and a man cannot live a whole year on that." Even a dunghill +invited him to deep reflection. "God has as much to clear away as to +create. If He were not continually carrying things off, men would have +filled the world with rubbish long ago." And if God often punishes +those who fear Him worse than those who have no religion, he appears +to Luther to be like a strict householder who punishes his son oftener +than his good-for-nothing servant, but who secretly is laying up an +inheritance for his son; while he finally dismisses the servant. And +merrily he draws the conclusion, "If our Lord can pardon me for having +annoyed Him for twenty years by reading masses, He can put it to my +credit also that at times I have taken a good drink in His honor. The +world may interpret it as it will." + +He is also greatly surprised that God should be so angry with the +Jews. "They have prayed anxiously for fifteen hundred years with +seriousness and great zeal, as their prayer-books show, and He has not +for the whole time noticed them with a word. If I could pray as they +do I would give books worth two hundred florins for the gift. It must +be a great unutterable wrath. O, good Lord, punish us with pestilence +rather than with such silence!" + +Like a child, Luther prayed every morning and evening, and frequently +during the day, even while eating. Prayers which he knew by heart he +repeated over and over with warm devotion, preferably the Lord's +Prayer. Then he recited as an act of devotion the shorter Catechism; +the Psalter he always carried with him as a prayer-book. When he was +in passionate anxiety his prayer became a stormy wrestling with God, +so powerful, great, and solemnly simple that it can hardly be compared +with other human emotions. Then he was the son who lay despairingly at +his father's feet, or the faithful servant who implores his prince; +for his whole conviction was firmly fixed that God's decisions could +be affected by begging and urging, and so the effusion of feeling +alternated in his prayer with complaints, even with earnest +reproaches. It has often been told how, in 1540, at Weimar, he brought +Melanchthon, who was at the point of death, to life again. When Luther +arrived, he found Master Philip in the death throes, unconscious, his +eyes set. Luther was greatly startled and said, "God help us! How the +Devil has wronged this _Organan_," then he turned his back to the +company and went to the window as he was wont to do when he prayed. +"Here," Luther himself later recounted, "Our Lord had to grant my +petition, for I challenged Him and filled His ears with all the +promises of prayer which I could remember from the Scriptures, so that +He had to hear me if I was to put any trust in His promises." Then he +took Melanchthon by the hand saying, "Be comforted, Philip, you will +not die;" and Melanchthon, under the spell of his vigorous friend, +began at once to breathe again, came back to consciousness, and +recovered. + +As God was the source of all good, so, for Luther, the Devil was the +author of everything harmful and bad. The Devil interfered +perniciously in the course of nature, in sickness and pestilence, +failure of crops and famine. But since Luther had begun to teach, the +greater part of the Enemy's activity had been transferred to the souls +of men. In them he inspired impure thoughts as well as doubt, +melancholy, and depression. Everything which the thoughtful Luther +stated so definitely and cheerfully rested beforehand with terrible +force upon his conscience. If he awoke in the night, the Devil stood +by his bed full of malicious joy and whispered alarming things to him. +Then his mind struggled for freedom, often for a long time in vain. +And it is noteworthy how the son of the sixteenth century proceeded in +such spiritual struggles. Sometimes it was a relief to him if he stuck +out of bed the least dignified part of his body. This action, by which +prince and peasant of the time used to express supreme contempt, +sometimes helped when nothing else would. But his exuberant humor did +not always deliver him. Every new investigation of the Scriptures, +every important sermon on a new subject, caused him further pangs of +conscience. On these occasions he sometimes got into such excitement +that his soul was incapable of systematic thinking, and trembled in +anxiety for days. When he was busy with the question of the monks and +nuns, a text struck his attention which, as he thought in his +excitement, proved him in the wrong. His heart "melted in his body; he +was almost choked by the Devil." Then Bugenhagen visited him. Luther +took him outside the door and showed him the threatening text, and +Bugenhagen, apparently upset by his friend's excitement, began to +doubt too, without suspecting the depth of the torment which Luther +was enduring. This gave Luther a final and terrible fright. Again he +passed an awful night. The next morning Bugenhagen came in again. "I +am thoroughly angry," he said; "I have only just looked at the text +carefully. The passage has a quite different meaning." "It is true," +Luther related afterward, "it was a ridiculous argument--ridiculous, I +mean, for a man in his senses, but not for him who is tempted." + +Often he complained to his friends about the terrors of the struggles +which the Devil caused him. "He has never since the creation been so +fierce and angry as now at the end of the world. I feel him very +plainly. He sleeps closer to me than my Käthe--that is, he gives me +more trouble than she does pleasure." Luther never tired of censuring +the pope as the Anti-Christ, and the papal system as the work of the +Devil. But a closer scrutiny will recognize under this hatred of the +Devil an indestructible piety, in which the loyal heart of the man was +bound to the old Church. What became hallucinations to him were often +only pious remembrances from his youth, which stood in startling +contrast to the transformations which he had passed through as a man. + +For no man is entirely transformed by the great thoughts and deeds of +his manhood. We ourselves do not become new through new deeds. Our +mental life is based upon the sum of all thoughts and feelings that we +have ever had. Whoever is chosen by Fate to establish new greatness by +destroying the greatness of the old, shatters in fragments at the same +time a portion of his own life. He must break obligations in order to +fulfil greater obligations. The more conscientious he is, the more +deeply he feels in his own heart the wound he has inflicted upon the +order of the world. That is the secret sorrow, the regret, of every +great historical character. There are few mortals who have felt this +sorrow so deeply as Luther. And what is great in him is the fact that +such sorrow never kept him from the boldest action. To us this appears +as a tragic touch in his spiritual life. + +Another thing most momentous for him was the attitude which he had to +take toward his own doctrine. He had left to his followers nothing but +the authority of Scripture. He clung passionately to its words as to +the last effective anchor for the human race. Before him the pope, +with his hierarchy, had interpreted, misinterpreted, and added to the +text of the Scriptures; now he was in the same situation. He, with a +circle of dependent friends, had to claim for himself the privilege of +understanding the words of the Scriptures correctly, and applying them +rightly to the life of the times. This was a superhuman task, and the +man who undertook it must necessarily be subject to some of the +disadvantages which he himself had so grandly combatted in the +Catholic Church. His mental makeup was firmly decided and unyielding: +he was born to be a ruler if ever a mortal was; but this gigantic, +daemonic character of his will inevitably made him sometimes a tyrant. +Although he practised tolerance in many important matters, often as +the result of self-restraint and often with a willing heart, this was +only the fortunate result of his kindly disposition, which was +effective also here. Not infrequently, however, he became the pope of +the Protestants. For him and his people there was no choice. He has +been reproached in modern times for doing so little to bring the laity +into coöperation by means of a presbyterial organization. Never was a +reproach more unjust. What was possible in Switzerland, with +congregations of sturdy free peasants, was utterly impracticable at +that time in Germany. Only the dwellers in the larger cities had among +them enough intelligence and power to criticise the Protestant clergy; +almost nine-tenths of the Protestants in Germany were oppressed +peasants, the majority of whom were indifferent and stubborn, corrupt +in morals, and, after the Peasant War, savage in manners. The new +church was obliged to force its discipline upon them as upon neglected +children. Whoever doubts this should look at the reports of +visitations, and notice the continued complaints of the reformers +about the rudeness of their poverty-stricken congregations. But the +great man was subject to still further hindrances. The ruler of the +souls of the German people lived in a little town, among poor +university professors and students, in a feeble community of which he +often had occasion to complain. He was spared none of the evils of +petty surroundings, of unpleasant disputes with narrow-minded scholars +or uncultured neighbors. There was much in his nature which made him +especially sensitive to such things. No man bears in his heart with +impunity the feeling of being the privileged instrument of God. +Whoever lives in that feeling is too great for the narrow and petty +structure of middle-class society. If Luther had not been modest to +the depths of his heart, and of infinite kindness in his intercourse +with others, he would inevitably have appeared perfectly unendurable +to the matter-of-fact and common-sense people who stood indifferent by +his side. As it was, however, he came only on rare occasions into +serious conflict with his fellow-citizens, the town administration, +the law faculty of his university, or the councillors of his +sovereign. He was not always right, but he almost always carried his +point against them, for seldom did any one dare to defy the violence +of his anger. With all this he was subject to severe physical +ailments, the frequent return of which in the last years of his life +exhausted even his tremendous vigor. He felt this with great sorrow, +and incessantly prayed to his God that He might take him to Himself. +He was not yet an old man in years, but he seemed so to himself--very +old and out of place in a strange and worldly universe. These years, +which did not abound in great events, but were made burdensome by +political and local quarrels, and filled with hours of bitterness and +sorrow, will inspire sympathy, we trust, in every one who studies the +life of this great man impartially. The ardor of his life had warmed +his whole people, had called forth in millions the beginnings of a +higher human development; the blessing remained for the millions, +while he himself felt at last little but the sorrow. Once he joyfully +had hoped to die as a martyr; now he wished for the peace of the +grave, like a trusty, aged, worn-out laborer--another case of a tragic +human fate. + +But the greatest sorrow that he felt lay in the relation of his +doctrine to the life of his nation. He had founded a new church on his +pure gospel, and had given to the spirit and the conscience of the +people an incomparably greater meaning. All about him flourished a new +life and greater prosperity, and many valuable arts--painting and +music--the enjoyment of comfort, and a finer social culture. Still +there was something in the air of Germany which threatened ruin: +princes and governments were fiercely at odds, foreign powers were +threatening invasions--the Emperor of Spain, the Pope from Rome, the +Turks from the Mediterranean; fanatics and demagogues were +influential, and the hierarchy was not yet fallen. As to his new +gospel, had it welded the nation into greater unity and power? The +discontent had only been increased. The future of his church was to +depend on the worldly interests of a few princes; and he knew the best +among them! Something terrible was coming; the Scriptures were to be +fulfilled; the Day of Judgment was at hand. But after this God would +build up a new universe more beautiful, grander, and purer, full of +peace and happiness, a world in which no devil would exist, in which +every human soul would feel more joy over the flowers and fruit of the +new trees of heaven than the present generation over gold and silver; +where music, the most beautiful of all arts, should ring in tones much +more delightful than the most splendid song of the best singers in +this world. There a good man would find again all the dear ones whom +he had loved and lost in this world. + +The longing of the creature for the ideal type of existence grew +stronger and stronger in him. If he expected the end of the world, it +was due to dim remembrances from the far-distant past of the German +people, which still hovered over the soul of the new reformer. Yet it +was likewise a prophetic foreboding of the near future. It was not the +end of the world that was in preparation, but the Thirty Years' War. + +Thus he died. When the hearse with his corpse passed through the +Thuringian country, all the bells in city and hamlet tolled, and the +people crowded sobbing about his bier. A large portion of the German +national strength went into the coffin with this one man. And Philip +Melanchthon spoke in the castle church at Wittenberg over his body: +"Any one who knew him well, must bear witness to this--that he was a +very kind man, gracious, friendly, and affectionate in all +conversation, and by no means insolent, stormy, obstinate, or +quarrelsome. And yet with this went a seriousness and courage in words +and actions, such as there should be in such a man. His heart was +loyal and without guile. The severity which he used in his writings +against the enemies of the Gospel came not from a quarrelsome and +malicious spirit but from great seriousness and zeal for the truth. He +showed very great courage and manhood, and was not easily disturbed. +He was not intimidated by threats, danger, or alarms. He was also of +such a high, clear intelligence that when affairs were confused, +obscure, and difficult he was often the only one who could see at once +what was advisable and feasible. He was not, as perhaps some thought, +too unobservant to notice the condition of the government everywhere. +He knew right well how we are governed, and noted especially the +spirit and the intentions of those with whom he had to do. We, +however, must keep a faithful, everlasting memory of this dear father +of ours, and never let him go out of our hearts." Such was Luther--an +almost superhuman nature; his mind ponderous and sharply limited, his +will powerful and temperate, his morals pure, his heart full of love. +Because no other man appeared after him strong enough to become the +leader of the nation, the German people lost for centuries their +leadership of the earth. The leadership of the Germans in the realm of +intellect, however, is founded on Luther. + + +[Footnote 2: "_Cito remitte matri filiolum_!" ("Send the little boy +right home to his mother.")] + + * * * * * + + + + +FREDERICK THE GREAT + +By GUSTAV FREYTAG + +TRANSLATED BY E.H. BABBITT, A.B. + +Assistant Professor of German, Tufts College + + +What was it that, after the Thirty Years' War drew the attention of +the politicians of Europe to the little State on the northeastern +frontier of Germany which was struggling upward in spite of the Swedes +and the Poles, the Hapsburgs and the Bourbons? The inheritance of the +Hohenzollern was no richly endowed land in which the farmer dwelt in +comfort on well-tilled acres, to which wealthy merchant princes +brought, in deeply-laden galleons, the silks of Italy and the spices +and ingots of the New World. It was a poor, desolate, sandy country of +burned cities and ruined villages. The fields were untilled, and many +square miles, stripped of men and cattle, were given over to the +caprices of wild nature. When, in 1640, Frederick William succeeded to +the Electorate, he found nothing but contested claims to scattered +territories of some thirty thousand square miles. In all the fortified +places of his home land were lodged insolent conquerors. In an +insecure desert this shrewd and tricky prince established his state, +with a craft and disregard of his neighbors' rights which, even in +that unscrupulous age, aroused criticism, but at the same time, with a +heroism and greatness of mind which more than once showed higher +conceptions of German honor than were held by the Emperor himself or +any other prince of the realm. Nevertheless, when, in 1688, this +adroit statesman died, he left behind him only an unimportant State, +in no way to be reckoned among the powers of Europe. For while his +sovereignty extended over about forty-four thousand square miles, +these contained only one million three hundred thousand inhabitants; +and when Frederick II., a hundred years after his great-grandfather, +succeeded to the crown, he inherited only two million two hundred and +forty thousand subjects, not so many as the single province of Silesia +contains today. What was it then that, immediately after the battles +of the Thirty Years' War, aroused the jealousy of all the governments, +and especially of the Imperial house, and which since then has made +such warm friends and such bitter enemies for the Brandenburg +government? For two centuries neither Germans nor foreigners ceased to +set their hopes on this new State, and for an equally long time +neither Germans nor foreigners ceased to call it--at first with +ridicule, and then with spite--"an artificial structure which cannot +endure heavy storms, which has intruded without justification among +the powers of Europe." How did it come about that impartial judges +finally, soon after the death of Frederick the Great, declared that it +was time to cease prophesying the destruction of this widely hated +power? For after every defeat, they said, it had risen more +vigorously, and had repaired all the damages and losses of war more +quickly than was possible elsewhere; its prosperity and intelligence +also were increasing more rapidly than in any other part of Germany. + +It was indeed a very individual and new shade of German character +which appeared in the Hohenzollern princes and their people on the +territory conquered from the Slavs, and forced recognition with sharp +challenge. It seemed that the characters there embraced greater +contrasts; for the virtues and faults of the rulers, the greatness and +the weakness of their policies, stood forth in sharp contradiction, +every limitation appeared more striking, every discord more violent, +and every achievement more astonishing. This State could apparently +produce everything that was strange and unusual, but could not endure +one thing--peaceful mediocrity, which elsewhere may be so comfortable +and useful. + +With this the situation of the country had much to do. It was a border +land, making head at once against the Swedes, the Slavs, the French, +and the Dutch. There was hardly a question of European diplomacy which +did not affect the weal and woe of this State; hardly an entanglement +which did not give an active prince the opportunity to validate his +claim. The decadent power of Sweden and the gradual dissolution of +Poland opened up extensive prospects; the superiority of France and +the distrustful friendship of Holland urged armed caution. From the +very first year, in which Elector Frederick William had been obliged +to take possession of his own fortresses by force and cunning, it was +evident that there on the outskirts of German territory a vigorous, +cautious, warlike government was indispensable for the safety of +Germany. And after the beginning of the French War in 1674, Europe +recognized that the crafty policy which proceeded from this obscure +corner was undertaking also the astonishing task of heroically +defending the western boundary of Germany against the superior forces +of the King of France. + +There was perhaps also something remarkable in the racial character of +the Brandenburg people, in which princes and subjects shared alike. +Down to Frederick's time, the Prussian districts had given to Germany +relatively few scholars, writers, and artists. Even the passionate +zeal of the Reformation seemed to be subdued there. The people who +inhabited the border land, mostly of the Lower Saxon strain, with a +slight tinge of Slavic blood, were a tough, sturdy race, not specially +graceful in social manners, but with unusual keenness of understanding +and clearness of judgment. Those who lived in the capital had been +glib of tongue and ready to scoff from time immemorial: all were +capable of great exertions; industrious, persistent, and of enduring +strength. + +[Illustration: _From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_ +FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS ROUND TABLE] + +But the character of the princes was a more potent factor than the +location of their country or the race-character of their people; for +the way in which the Hohenzollerns molded their state was different +from that of any other princes since the days of Charlemagne. Many a +princely family can show a number of rulers who have successfully +built up their state--the Bourbons, for instance, united a wide +expanse of territory into one great political body;--or who have been +brave warriors through several generations,--there never were any +braver than the Vasas or the Protestant Wittelsbachs in Sweden. But +none have been the educators of their people as were the early +Hohenzollerns, who as great landed proprietors in a devastated +country drew new men into their service and guided their education; +who for almost a hundred and fifty years, as strict managers, worked, +schemed, and endured, took risks, and even did injustice--all that +they might build up for their state a people like themselves--hard, +economical, clever, bold, with the highest civic ambitions. + +In this sense we are justified in admiring the providential +character of the Prussian State. Of the four princes who ruled +it from the Thirty Years' War to the day when the "hoary-headed +abbot in the monastery of Sans Souci" closed his weary eyes, each +one, with his virtues and vices, was the natural complement of his +predecessor--Elector Frederick William, the greatest statesman +produced by the school of the Thirty Years' War, the splendor-loving +King Frederick I., the parsimonious despot Frederick William I., and +finally, in the eighteenth century, he in whom were united the talents +and great qualities of almost all his ancestors--the flower of the +family. + +Life in the royal palace at Berlin was cheerless in Frederick's +childhood; poorer in love and sunshine than in most citizens' +households at that rude time. It may be doubted whether the king his +father, or the queen, was more to blame for the disorganization of the +family life--in either case through natural defects which grew more +pronounced in the constant friction of the household. The king, an odd +tyrant with a soft heart but a violent temper, tried to compel love +and confidence with a cudgel; he possessed keen insight into human +nature, but was so ignorant that he always ran the risk of becoming +the victim of a scoundrel. Dimly aware of his weakness, he had grown +suspicious and was subject to sudden fits of violence. The queen, in +contrast, was a rather insignificant woman, colder at heart, but with +a strong sense of her princely dignity; with a tendency to intrigue, +without prudence or discretion. Both had the best of intentions, and +took honest pains to bring up their children to a capable and worthy +maturity; but both unintelligently interfered with the sound +development of the childish souls. The mother was so tactless as to +make the children, even at a tender age, the confidants of her +annoyances and intrigues. The undignified parsimony of the king, the +blows which he distributed so freely in his rooms, and the monotonous +daily routine which he forced upon her, were the subject of no end of +complaining, sulking, and ridicule in her apartments. Crown Prince +Frederick grew up, the playmate of his elder sister, into a gentle +child with sparkling eyes and beautiful light hair. He was taught with +exactness what the king desired,--and that was little enough: French, +a certain amount of history, and the necessary accomplishments of a +soldier. Against the will of his father (the great King had never +surmounted the difficulties of the genitive and dative) he acquired +some knowledge of the Latin declensions. To the boy, who was easily +led and in the king's presence looked shy and defiant, the women +imparted his first interest in French literature. He himself later +gave his sister the credit for it, but his governess too was an +accomplished French woman. That the foreign atmosphere was hateful to +the king certainly contributed to make the son fond of it; for almost +systematically praise was bestowed in the queen's apartments upon +everything that was displeasing to the stern mind of the master. When +in the family circle the king made one of his clumsy, pious speeches, +Princess Wilhelmina and young Frederick would look at each other +significantly, until the mischievous face of one or the other aroused +childish laughter, and brought the king's wrath to the point of +explosion. For this reason, the son, even in his earliest years, +became a source of vexation to his father, who called him an +effeminate, untidy fellow with an unmanly pleasure in clothes and +trifles. + +But from the report of his sister, for whose unsparing judgment +censure was easier than praise, it is evident that the amiability of +the talented boy had its effect upon those about him: as when, for +instance, he secretly read a French story with his sister, and recast +the whole Berlin Court into the comic characters of the novel; when +they made forbidden music with flute and lute; when he went in +disguise to her and they recited the parts of a French comedy to each +other. But in order to enjoy even these harmless pleasures the prince +was constantly forced into falsehood, deception, and disguise. He was +proud, high-minded, magnanimous, with an uncompromising love of truth. +The fact that deception was utterly repulsive to him, that even where +it was advisable he was unwilling to stoop to it, and that, if he ever +undertook it, he dissimulated unskilfully, threw a constantly +increasing strain upon his relations with his father. The king's +distrust grew, and the son's offended sense of personal dignity found +expression in the form of stubbornness. + +So he grew up surrounded by coarse spies who reported every word to +the king. With a mind of the richest endowments, of the most +discerning eagerness for knowledge, but without any suitable male +society, it is no wonder that the young man went astray. In comparison +with other German courts, the Prussian might be regarded as very +virtuous: but frivolity toward women and a lack of reserve in the +discussion of the most dubious relations were pronounced even there. +After a visit to the dissolute court of Dresden, Prince Frederick +began to behave like other princes of his time, and generally found +good comrades among his father's younger officers. We know little +about him at that period, but may conclude that he ran some risk, not +of becoming depraved, but of wasting valuable years in a spendthrift +life among unworthy companions. It certainly was not alone the +increasing dissatisfaction of his father which at that time destroyed +his peace of mind and tossed him about aimlessly, but quite as much +that inner discontent, which leads an unformed youth the more wildly +astray the greater the secret demands are which his mind makes on +life. + +He determined to flee to England. How the flight failed, how the anger +of the military commander, Frederick William, flamed up against the +deserting officer, every one knows. With the days of his imprisonment +in Küstrin and his stay in Ruppin, his years of serious education +began. The terrible experiences he had been through had aroused new +strength in him. He had endured, with princely pride, all the terrors +of death and of the most terrible humiliation. He had reflected in the +solitude of his prison on the greatest riddle of life--on death and +what is beyond. He had realized that there was nothing left for him +but submission, patience, and quiet waiting. But bitter, heart-rending +misfortune is a school which develops not only the good--it fosters +also many faults. He learned to keep his counsel hidden in the depth +of his soul, and to look upon men with suspicion, using them as his +instruments, deceiving and flattering them with prudent serenity in +which his heart had no share. He was obliged to flatter the cowardly +and vulgar Grumbkow, and to be glad when he finally had won him over +to his side. For years he had to take the utmost pains, over and over +again, to conquer the displeasure and lack of confidence of his stern +father. His nature always revolted against such humiliation, and he +tried by bitter mockery to give expression to his injured self-esteem. +His heart, which warmed toward everything noble, prevented him from +becoming a hardened egoist; but he did not grow any the milder or more +conciliatory, and long after he had become a great man and wise ruler, +there remained in him from this time of servitude some trace of petty +cunning. The lion sometimes, in a spirit of undignified vengeance, did +not scorn to scratch like a cat. + +Still, in those years, he learned something useful too--the strict +spirit of economy with which his father's narrow but able mind cared +for the welfare of his country and his household. When, to please the +king, he had to draw up leases, and took pains to increase the yield +of a domain by a few hundred thalers; or even entered unduly into the +hobbies of the king and proposed to him to kidnap a tall shepherd of +Mecklenburg as a recruit--these doings were at first, to be sure, only +a tedious means of propitiating the king, for he asked Grumbkow to +procure for him a man to make out the lists in his stead; the officers +in public and private service informed him where a surplus was to be +made, here and there, and he continued to ridicule the giant soldiers +whenever he could with impunity. Gradually, however, the new world +into which he had been transplanted, and the practical interests of +the people and of the State, became attractive to him. It was easy to +see that even his father's turn for economy was often tyrannical and +whimsical. The king was always convinced that he wished nothing but +the best for his country, and therefore took the liberty to interfere, +in the most arbitrary manner, even in the details of the property and +business of private persons. He ordered, for instance, that no he-goat +should run with the ewes; that all colored sheep, gray, black, or +piebald, should be completely disposed of within three years, and only +fine white wool be tolerated; he prescribed exactly how the copper +standard measures of the Berlin bushel, which he had sent all over the +country (at the expense of his subjects) should be preserved and kept +locked up so as to get no dents. In order to foster the linen and +woolen industry, he decreed that his subjects should wear none of the +fashionable chintz and calico, and threatened with a hundred thalers' +fine and three days in the pillory everybody who, after eight months, +permitted a shred of calico in his house in dress, gown, cap, or +furniture coverings. This method of ruling certainly seemed severe and +petty; but the son learned to honor nevertheless the prudent mind and +good intentions which were recognizable underneath such edicts, and +himself gradually acquired a wealth of detailed knowledge such as is +not usually at the disposal of a prince--real estate values, market +prices, and the needs of the people; the usages, rights, and duties of +humble life. He even absorbed something of the pride with which the +King boasted of his business knowledge; and when he himself had become +the all-powerful administrator of his State, the unbounded advantage +which was due to his knowledge of the people and of trade became +manifest. Only in this way was the wise economy made possible with +which he managed his own household and the State finances, as well as +the unceasing care for detail by which he developed agriculture, +trade, prosperity, and culture among his people. He could examine +equally well the daily accounts of his cooks and the estimates of the +income from the domains, forests, and taxes. For his ability to judge +with precision the smallest things as well as the greatest, his people +were in great part indebted to the years during which he had sat +unwillingly as assessor at the green table at Ruppin. Sometimes, +however, there befell him also what in his father's time had been +vexatious--that his knowledge of business details was, after all, not +extensive enough, and that he, like his father, gave orders which +arbitrarily interfered with the life of his Prussians, and could not +be carried out. + +Scarcely had Frederick partially recovered from the blows of the great +catastrophe of his youth, when a new misfortune fell upon him, just as +terrible as the first, and in its consequences still more momentous +for his life. He was forced by the King to marry. Heartrending is the +sorrow with which he struggles to free himself from the bride chosen +for him. "She may be as frivolous as she pleases if only she is not a +simpleton! That I cannot bear." It was all in vain. He looked upon +this alliance with bitterness and anger almost to the very day of his +wedding, and never outgrew the bitter belief that his father had thus +destroyed his emotional life. His sensitive feelings, his affectionate +heart, were bartered away in the most reckless manner. Nor by this act +was he alone made unhappy, but also a good woman who was worthy of a +better fate. Princess Elizabeth of Bevern had many noble qualities of +heart; she was not a simpleton, she did not lack beauty, and could +pass muster before the fierce criticism of the princesses of the royal +house. But we fear that, if she had been an angel from heaven, the +pride of the Prince would have protested against her, for he was +offended to the depths of his nature by the needless barbarity of a +compulsory marriage. And yet the relation was not always so cold as +has sometimes been assumed. For six years the kindness of heart and +tact of the Princess succeeded time after time in reconciling the +crown prince to her. In the retirement of Rheinsberg she was really +his helpmeet and an amiable hostess for his guests, and it was +reported by the Austrian agents to the Court of Vienna that her +influence was increasing. But her modest, clinging nature had too +little of the qualities which can permanently hold an intellectual +man. The wide-awake members of the Brandenburg line felt the need of +giving quick and pointed expression to every easily aroused feeling. +When the Princess was excited, she grew quiet as if paralyzed; she +also lacked the easy graces of society. The two natures did not agree. +Then, too, her manner of showing affection toward her husband, always +dutiful, and subordinating herself as if under a spell and overwhelmed +by his great mind, was not very interesting for the Prince, who had +acquired, with the French intellectual culture, no little of the +frivolity of French society. + +When Frederick became King, the Princess soon lost even the slight +part which she had won in her husband's affections. His long absence +in the first Silesian War gave the finishing stroke to their +estrangement. The relations of husband and wife became more and more +distant. Years passed when they did not see each other, and icy +brevity and coolness can be perceived in his letters to her. Still the +fact that the King was obliged to esteem her character so highly +maintained her in her outward position. Later, his relations with +women influenced his emotions very slightly. Even his sister at +Bayreuth, sickly, nervous, embittered by jealousy of an unfaithful +husband, was estranged from her brother for years; and not until she +had given up all hope of life did this proud member of the House of +Brandenburg, aging and unhappy, seek again the heart of the brother +whose little hand she had once held as they stood before their stern +father. His mother also, to whom King Frederick always showed +excellent filial devotion, was not able to occupy a large place in his +heart. His other brothers and sisters were younger, and were only too +much disposed to hatch obscure domestic conspiracies against him. If +the King ever condescended to show any attentions to a lady of the +court or of the stage, these were in general as disturbing as they +were flattering for the persons in question. When he found +intelligence, grace, and womanly dignity united, as in Frau von Camas, +who was the Queen's first lady-in-waiting, he expressed the amiability +of his nature in many cordial attentions. But on the whole, women did +not add much light or splendor to his life, and the cordial intimacy +of family life hardly ever warmed his heart. In this direction his +feelings were dried up. This was perhaps fortunate for his people, it +was undoubtedly fatal to his private life. The full warmth of his +human feelings was reserved almost exclusively for his little circle +of intimates, with whom he laughed, wrote poetry, discussed +philosophy, made plans for the future, and later discussed his +military operations and dangers. + +His married life in Rheinsberg opens the best period of his younger +years. He succeeded in bringing together there a number of well +educated, cheerful companions. The little circle led a poetic life of +which those who shared in it have left a pleasing picture. Frederick +began to work seriously on his education. The expression of emotion +easily took for him the form of conventional French versification. He +worked incessantly to acquire the refinements of the foreign style. +But his mind was also busy with more serious matters. He eagerly +sought answers to all the highest questions of humanity in the works +of the Encyclopedists and of Christian Wolff. He sat bent over maps +and battle-plans, and, along with parts for the amateur theatre and +architects' sketches, other projects were in preparation, which, a few +years later, were to arouse the attention of the world. + +Then the day came when his dying father laid down the reins of +government and told the officer of the day to take his orders from the +new commander-in-chief of Prussia. How the Prince was judged by his +political contemporaries we see from the characterization which an +Austrian agent had given of him a short time before: "He is graceful, +wears his own hair, and has a somewhat careless bearing; likes the +fine arts and good cooking. He would like to begin his rule by +something striking. He is a firmer friend of the army than his father. +His religion is that of a gentleman: he believes in God and the +forgiveness of sins. He likes splendor and things on a large scale. He +will reëstablish all the court positions and bring the nobles to his +court." This prophecy was not fully justified. We seek to understand +other sides of his nature at this time. The new King was a man of +fiery, enthusiastic temperament, he was quickly aroused, and the tears +came readily to his eyes. Like his contemporaries, he too was +passionately eager to admire grandeur and to give himself up to tender +feelings in a poetical mood. He played adagios softly on his flute. +Like his worthy contemporaries, he did not easily find, in prose or +poetry, the full expression of his feelings; pathetic oratory stirred +him to tearful emotion. In spite of all his French aphorisms, the +essence of his nature was very German in this respect also. + +Those who ascribe to him a cold heart have judged him unfairly. It is +not cold hearts in princes which give the most offense by their +harshness. Such hearts are almost always gifted with the art of +satisfying those about them by uniform graciousness and tactful +expression. The strongest utterances of contempt are generally found +close beside the pleasing tones of a caressing tenderness. But in +Frederick, it seems to us, there was a striking and unusual union of +two totally opposite tendencies of the emotional nature, which +elsewhere are engaged in an unending struggle. He had in equal degree +the need to idealize life for himself, and the impulse to destroy +ideal moods without mercy in himself and in others. This first +peculiarity of his was perhaps the most beautiful, perhaps the +saddest, with which a human being was ever equipped in the struggles +of earth. His was indeed a poetic nature. He possessed to a high +degree that peculiar power which endeavors to reconstruct vulgar +reality according to the ideal needs of its own nature, and covers +everything near with the grace and light of a new life. It was a +necessity for him to make over with the grace of his imagination the +image of those dear to him, and to adorn the relation to them into +which he had voluntarily entered. In this there was always a certain +kind of posing. Even where he had the most ardent feelings, he was +more in love with the glorified picture of the individual in his mind +than with the real personality. It was in such a mood that he kissed +Voltaire's hand. As soon as the difference between the ideal and the +real person became unpleasantly perceptible, he let go the person and +clung to the image. One to whom nature has given this temperament, +letting him see love and friendship chiefly through the colored glass +of a poetical mood, will always, according to the judgment of others, +show caprice in the choice of his friends. The uniform warmth which +treats with consideration all alike seems to be denied to such +natures. To any one to whom the King had become a friend in his own +fashion, he always showed the greatest attention and assiduity, +however much his moods changed at particular moments. He could become +as sentimental in his sorrow over the loss of such a friend as any +German of the Werther period. He had lived for many years on somewhat +distant terms with his sister in Bayreuth, and not until the last +years before her death, amid the terrors of a burdensome war, did her +image rise vividly again before him as that of an affectionate sister. +After her death he found a gloomy satisfaction in picturing to himself +and others the cordiality of his relations with her. He erected a +little temple to her and often made pilgrimages to it. Toward any one +who did not approach his heart through the medium of a poetic mood, or +incite him to poetic expression of his affection, or who touched a +wrong note anywhere in his sensitive nature, he was cold, +contemptuous, and indifferent--a king who only asked to what extent +the other person could be useful to him; he even pushed him aside when +he could no longer use him. Such a character may perhaps surround the +life of a young man with poetic lustre and give brightness and charm +even to common things, but unless it is coupled with a high degree of +morality, a sense of duty, and a mind set upon higher things, it will +leave him sad and lonely in later years. In the most favorable cases +it will make bitter enemies as well as very warm admirers. A somewhat +similar disposition brought to Goethe's noble soul heavy sorrows, +transitory relations, many disappointments, and a solitary old age. It +becomes doubly momentous for a king, before whom others rarely stand +with assurance and on equal terms; for his most sincere friends may +yet turn into admiring flatterers, unstable in their bearing, now +constrained under the moral spell of his majesty, now, under the +conviction of their own rights, fault-finding and discontented. + +This need of ideal relations and longing for people to whom he could +unbosom himself without reserve, worked at cross purposes with +Frederick's penetrating discrimination, and his uncompromising love of +truth, which was a deadly enemy of all deception, impatiently resisted +every illusion, despised shams, and sought for the essence of things. +This scrutinizing view of life and its duties might well offer him +protection against those deceptions which oftener annoy an +imaginative prince, who gives his confidence, than a private +individual. His acuteness, however, showed itself also in savage moods +as unsparingly, sarcastically, and maliciously destructive. Where did +he get this disposition? Was it Brandenburg blood? Was it an +inheritance from his great-grandmother, the Electress Sophia of +Hanover, and his grandmother, Queen Sophia Charlotte, those +intellectual women with whom Leibniz had discussed the eternal harmony +of the universe? The harsh school of his youth certainly had had +something to do with it. His insight into the foibles of others was +keen. Wherever he saw a weak point, wherever any one's manners annoyed +or provoked him, his ready tongue was busy. His gibes fell unsparingly +upon friend and foe alike; and even where silence and patience were +demanded by every consideration of prudence, he could not control +himself. At such times his soul seemed to suffer some strange +transformation. With merciless exaggeration he distorted the picture +of his victim into a caricature. On closer examination the principal +motive here also appears to be pleasure in intellectual production. He +frees himself from an unpleasant impression by improvising against his +victim. He makes a grotesque picture with inner satisfaction and is +astonished if the victim, deeply offended, in turn takes up arms +against him. His resemblance to Luther in this respect is very +striking. Neither the king nor the reformer cared whether his behavior +was dignified or seemly, for both of them, excited like men on the +hunting field, entirely forgot the consequences in the joy of the +fight. Both did themselves and their great causes serious injury in +this way, and were honestly surprised when they discovered the fact. +To be sure, the blows with the cudgel or the whip which the great monk +of the sixteenth century dealt were far more terrible than the +pin-pricks of the great prince in the age of enlightenment. But when a +king teases and mocks and sometimes pinches maliciously, it is harder +to forgive him for his undignified behavior; for he frequently engages +in an unequal contest with his victims. The great prince treated all +his political opponents in this way, and aroused deadly enemies +against himself. He joked at the table, and put in circulation +stinging verses and pamphlets about Madame de Pompadour in France and +the Empresses Elizabeth and Maria Theresa. Similarly, he sometimes +caressed, sometimes scolded and scratched his poetical ideal, +Voltaire; but he also proceeded in this way with people whom he really +esteemed highly, in whom he put the greatest confidence, and whom he +took into the circle of his intimate friends. He brought the Marquis +d'Argens to his court, made him chamberlain, member of the Academy, +and one of his nearest and dearest friends. The letters which he wrote +to him from the camps of the Seven Years' War are among the most +beautiful and touching records that the King has left us. When +Frederick came home from the war it was his fond hope that the marquis +would live with him in his palace at Sans Souci. And a few years later +this charming relation was broken up in the most painful manner. How +was that possible! The marquis was perhaps the best Frenchman that the +King had brought into his circle, a man of honor, with fine feelings, +fine education, and really devoted to the King; but he was neither a +great character nor an especially strong man. For years the King had +admired in him a scholar--which he was not--a wise, clear-sighted, +assured philosopher with pleasing wit and fresh humor; he had in short +set up an extremely pleasing, fanciful image of him. Now, in daily +intercourse, Frederick found himself mistaken. A lack of robustness on +the part of the Frenchman, causing him to dwell with hypochondriac +exaggeration on his poor health, annoyed the King, who began to +realize that the aging marquis was neither a great genius nor an +intellectual giant. The ideal which he had formed of him was +destroyed. Now the King began to make fun of him on account of his +weaknesses. The sensitive Frenchman thereupon asked for leave of +absence, that a sojourn of a few months in France might restore his +health. The King was offended by this ill-humored attitude, and +continued his raillery in friendly letters which he sent him. He said +that it was rumored that a werewolf had appeared in France. This was +undoubtedly the marquis, in the disguise of a Prussian and a sick man, +and he asked if he had begun to eat little children. He had not +formerly had that bad habit, but people change a good deal in +traveling. The marquis, instead of a few months, stayed two winters. +When he was about to return, he sent certificates from his physicians. +Probably the worthy man had really been ill, but the King was +deeply offended by this awkward attempt at justification on the +part of an old friend, and when the latter returned, the old intimacy +was gone forever. The King would not let him go, but he took pleasure +in punishing the renegade by stinging speeches and harsh jokes. +Finally the Frenchman, deeply hurt, asked for his dismissal. His +request was granted, and the sorrow and anger of the King is seen from +the wording of the order. When the marquis, in the last letter which +he wrote the King before his death, represented to him again, and not +without bitterness, how scornfully and badly he had treated an +unselfish admirer, Frederick read the letter without a word. But he +wrote with grief to the dead man's widow telling her of his friendship +for her husband, and had a costly monument erected for him in a +foreign land. The great prince fared similarly with most of his +intimates. Magic as was his power to attract, he had demoniac +faculties for repelling. But if any one is disposed to blame the man +for this, let him be told that hardly another king in history has so +unsparingly disclosed his most intimate soul-life to his friends as +Frederick. + +Frederick had worn the crown only a few months when the Emperor +Charles VI. died. Now everything urged the young King to risk a +master-stroke. That he determined upon such a step was in itself, in +spite of the momentary weakness of Austria, a token of bold courage. +The countries which he ruled had perhaps a seventh as many inhabitants +as the broad lands of Maria Theresa. True, his army was for the time +being far superior to the Austrian in numbers and discipline, and +according to the ideas of the time, the mass of the people was not +then in the same way as today available for recruiting purposes. Nor +did he fully realize the greatness of Maria Theresa. But even in the +preparations for the invasion the King showed that he had long hoped +to measure himself against Austria. In an exalted mood he entered upon +a struggle which was to be decisive for his own life and that of his +State. He cared little at heart for the right which he might have to +the Silesian duchies, and which with his pen he tried to prove before +Europe. For this the policy of the despotic States of the seventeenth +and eighteenth centuries had no regard whatever. Any one who could +find a plausible defense of his cause made use of it, but in case of +need the most improbable argument, the most shallow pretext, was +sufficient. In this way Louis XIV. had made war; in this way the +Emperor had followed up his interests against the Turks, Italians, +Germans, French, and Spaniards; in this way a great part of the +successes of the great Elector had been frustrated by others. Just +where the rights of the Hohenzollerns were the plainest, as in +Pomerania, they had been most ruthlessly curtailed, and by no one more +than by the Emperor and the Hapsburgs. Now the Hohenzollerns sought +their revenge. "Be my Cicero and prove the right of my cause, and I +will be your Cæsar and carry it through," Frederick wrote to Jordan +after the invasion of Silesia. Gaily, with light step as if going to a +dance, the King entered upon the fields of his victories. There was +still cheerful enjoyment of life, sweet coquetry with verse, and +intellectual conversation with his intimates on the pleasures of the +day, on God, nature, and immortality, which he considered the spice of +life. But the great task upon which he had entered began to have its +effect upon his soul even in the early weeks, even before he had +passed through the fiery ordeal of the first great battle. And from +that time on it hammered and forged upon his soul until it turned his +hair gray and hardened his fiery heart into ringing steel. With that +wonderful clearness which was peculiar to him, he watched the +beginning of these changes. He even then viewed his own life as from +without. "You will find me more philosophical than you think," he +writes to his friend. "I have always been so--sometimes more, +sometimes less. My youth, the fire of passion, the longing for glory, +and, to tell you the whole truth, curiosity, and finally, a secret +instinct, have forced me out of the sweet peace which I enjoyed, and +the wish to see my name in the gazettes and in history has led me into +new paths. Come here to me. Philosophy will maintain her rights, and I +assure you that if I had not this cursed love of fame, I should think +only of peaceful comfort." + +When the faithful Jordan actually came to him and the King saw the man +of peaceful enjoyment timid and uncomfortable in the field, he +suddenly realized that he himself had become another and a stronger +man. The guest who had been honored by him so long as the more +scholarly, and who had corrected his verses, criticized his letters, +and been far ahead of him in the knowledge of Greek philosophy, now, +in spite of all his philosophical training, gave the King the +impression of a man without courage. With bitter derision Frederick +attacked him in one of his best improvisations, contrasting the +warrior in himself with the weak philosopher. In however bad taste the +ridiculing verses were with which he overwhelmed Jordan again and +again, the return of the old cordial feeling was just as quick; but it +was the first gentle hint of fate for the King himself. The same thing +was to befall him often. He was to lose valuable men, loyal friends, +one after another; not only by death, but still more by the coldness +and estrangement which arose between his nature and theirs. For the +way upon which he had now entered was destined to develop more and +more all the greatness, but also all the narrow features, of his +nature, up to the limit of human possibility. The higher he rose above +others, the smaller their natures inevitably appeared to him. Almost +all whom in later years he measured by his own standard were far from +able to endure the test, and the dissatisfaction and disappointment +which he then experienced became again keener and more relentless +until he himself, from a solitary height, looked down with stony eyes +upon the doings of the men at his feet; but always, even to his last +hours, the piercing chill of his searching glance was broken by the +bright splendor of soft human feelings, and the fact that these were +left to him is what makes his great tragic figure so affecting. + +During the first war, to be sure, he still looked back with longing to +the calm peace of his "Remusberg," and felt deeply the exaction of the +tremendous fate which had already involved him. "It is hard to bear +with equanimity this good and bad fortune," he writes; "one may appear +indifferent in success and unmoved in adversity, the features of the +face can be controlled; but the man, the inward man, the depths of the +heart, are affected none the less." And he concludes hopefully, "All +that I wish for myself is that success may not destroy in me the human +feelings and virtues, to which I have always clung. May my friends +find me as I have always been." And at the end of the war he writes: +"See, your friend is victorious for the second time! Who would have +said a few years ago that your pupil in philosophy would play a +soldier's part in the world; that Providence would use a poet to +overthrow the political system of Europe?" This shows how fresh and +young Frederick felt when he returned to Berlin in triumph after his +first war. + +For the second time he took the field to assert his claim to Silesia. +Again he was victorious. He had already the calm confidence of a tried +general. His joy at the excellence of his troops was great. "All that +flatters me in this victory," he wrote to Frau von Camas, "is that I +could contribute by a quick decision and a bold manoeuvre to the +preservation of so many good people. I would not have the least of my +soldiers wounded for vain glory, which no longer deceives me." But in +the midst of the contest came the death of two of his dearest friends, +Jordan and Kayserlingk. His grief was touching: "In less than three +months I have lost my two most faithful friends, people with whom I +had lived daily, pleasant companions, honorable men, and true friends. +It is hard for a heart that was made so sensitive as mine to restrain +my deep sorrow. When I come back to Berlin, I shall be almost a +stranger in my own fatherland, lonesome in my own house. You too have +had the misfortune to lose at one time several people who were dear to +you. I admire your courage, but I cannot imitate it. My only hope is +in time, which can overcome everything in nature. It begins by +weakening the impressions on our brains, and only ceases when it +destroys us utterly. I anticipate with terror visiting all the places +which call up in me sad memories of friends whom I have lost forever." +And four weeks after their death he writes to the same friend, who +tried to console him: "Do not believe that pressure of business and +danger give distraction in sadness. I know from experience that that +is a poor remedy. Unfortunately only four weeks have passed since my +tears and my sorrow began, but after the violent outbursts of the +first days, I feel myself just as sad, just as little consoled, as at +the beginning." And when his worthy tutor, Duhan, sent him at his +request some French books which Jordan had left behind, the King +wrote, late in the autumn of the same year: "Tears came into my eyes +when I opened the books of my poor dear Jordan. I loved him so much, +it will be hard to realize that he is no more." Not long after the +King lost also the intimate friend to whom this letter was addressed. + +The loss, in 1745, of the friends of his youth was an important +turning point in the King's mental life. With these unselfish, +honorable men almost everything died which had made him happy in his +intercourse with others. The intimacies into which he now entered as a +man were all of another kind. Even the best of the new acquaintances +received perhaps his occasional confidence, but never his heartfelt +friendship. The need for stimulating intellectual intercourse +remained, and became even stronger and more imperative, for in this +too he was unique; he never could dispense with cheerful and +confidential companions, with light, almost reckless conversation, +flitting through all shades of human moods, thoughtful or frivolous, +from the greatest questions of the human race down to the little +events of the day. Immediately after his accession he had written to +Voltaire and invited him to his court. He had first met the Frenchman +in 1740 on a journey near Wesel. Soon after, Voltaire had come to +Berlin for a few days, at heavy expense. He had even then impressed +the King as a jester, but Frederick felt nevertheless an infinite +respect for the talent of the man. Voltaire was to him the greatest +poet of all times, the master of ceremonies of Parnassus, where the +King himself was so anxious to play a part. Frederick's desire to have +this man in his train became stronger and stronger. He regarded +himself as his pupil; he wished to have all his verses approved by the +master; among his Brandenburg officials he pined for the wit and +spirit of the elegant Frenchman, and finally, his vanity as a +sovereign was concerned--he wanted to be a prince of the _beaux +esprits_ and philosophers, as he had become a glorious leader of +armies. After the second Silesian war his intimates were mostly +foreigners. After 1750 he had the pleasure of seeing the great +Voltaire also as a member of his court. It was no misfortune that this +unworthy man endured for only a few years his sojourn among the +barbarians. + +During these ten years, from 1746 to 1756, Frederick acquired literary +independence, and that importance as a writer which is not yet +sufficiently appreciated in Germany. As to his French poetry, a German +can only judge imperfectly. He was a facile poet, who was easily +master of every mood in metre and rhyme, but from the point of view +of a Frenchman, he never completely overcame in his lyric poetry the +difficulties of a foreign language, however diligently his confidants +revised his work. He even lacked, it seems to us, the uniform +rhetorical spirit, that style which in Voltaire's time was the first +mark of a born poet. The effect of beautiful and noble sentiments, in +splendid phraseology, is spoiled by trivial thoughts and commonplace +expressions in the next line. Nor was the development of his taste +sufficiently assured and independent. In his esthetic judgment he was +quick, both to admire and to condemn; in reality, he was much more +dependent upon the opinion of his French acquaintances than his pride +would have admitted. What was best, moreover, in French poetry at that +time--the return to Nature and the struggle of the beauty of reality +against the fetters of an antiquated conventionalism--remained to him +a sealed book. For a long time he looked upon Rousseau as an eccentric +vagabond, and upon the conscientious and accurate spirit of Diderot +even as shallow. And yet it seems to us that there often appear in his +poems, especially in the light improvisations which he made to please +his friends, a wealth of poetical detail and a charming tone of true +feeling, which at least his model Voltaire might have envied. + +Frederick's history of his times is, like Cæsar's _Commentaries_, one +of the most important documents of historical literature. True, like +the Roman general, like all practical statesmen, he stated facts as +they are reflected in the soul of a participant. He does not give due +value to everything or full justice to everybody, but he knows +infinitely more than is revealed to one at a distance, and he wrote of +some of the motives underlying the great events, not without +prejudice, yet with magnanimity toward his opponents. Writing at times +without the enormous reference material which a professional historian +must collect about him, he was occasionally deceived by his memory and +his judgment, though both were very reliable. He was, moreover, +composing an apology for his house, his politics, his campaigns; and, +like Cæsar, he sometimes ignores facts or interprets them as he wishes +them to go down to posterity; but his love of truth and the frankness +with which he treats his house and his own actions are no less +admirable than his sovereign calm and the ease with which he soars +above events, in spite of the little rhetorical embellishments which +were due to the taste of his time. + +His many-sidedness is as astonishing as his productiveness. One of the +greatest military writers, a historian of importance, a clever poet, +and at the same time a popular philosopher, a practical statesman, +even a writer of very free and easy anonymous pamphlets, and sometimes +a journalist, he was always ready to take up his pen for anything that +inspired him and aroused his passions or enthusiasm, or to attack, in +verse or prose, any one who provoked or annoyed him--not only the pope +and the Empress, the Jesuits and the Dutch journalists, but also old +friends if they seemed lukewarm to him,--which he could not +endure,--or if they actually threatened to break with him. Never since +Luther has there been such a belligerent, relentless, untiring writer. +As soon as he put pen to paper he was like Proteus, everything: sage +or intriguer, historian or poet, whatever the situation demanded, +always an active, fiery, intellectual--sometimes also an +ill-mannered--man, with never a moment's thought of his royal +position. Whatever he liked he praised in poems or eulogies: the noble +doctrines of his own philosophy, his friends, his army, religious +liberty, independent investigation, tolerance, and popular education. + +The conquering power of Frederick's mind had reached out in all +directions. When ambition inspired him to victory it seemed as if +there were no obstacle that would check him. Then came the years of +trial--seven years of terrible, heartrending cares--the great period, +in which the heaviest tasks that ever a man accomplished were laid +upon his rich, ambitious spirit, in which almost everything perished +which was his own possession, joy and happiness, peace and selfish +comfort; in which also many pleasing and graceful characteristics of +the man were to disappear, that he might become the self-sacrificing +prince of his people, the foremost servant of his State, and the hero +of a nation. No lust of conquest made him take the field this time; it +had long been plain to him that he was fighting for his own life and +that of his State. But his determination had grown only the stronger. +Like the stormwind he purposed to dash into the clouds which were +collecting from all sides about his head, and to break up the +thunderbolts through the energy of an irresistible attack, before they +were discharged. He had never been conquered up to this time. His +enemies had been beaten every time he had fallen upon them with his +terrible instrument--the army. Herein lay his only hope. If his +well-tried power did not fail him now, he might save his State. + +But in the very first conflict with his old enemy, the Austrians, he +saw that they, too, had learned from him and were changed. He exerted +his strength to the utmost, and at Kollin it failed him. The 18th of +June, 1757, is the most momentous day in Frederick's life. There +happened on that day what twice more in this war snatched victory from +him--the general had underestimated his enemy and had expected the +impossible from his own brave army. After a short period of +stupefaction Frederick arose with new strength. Instead of an +aggressive war, he had been forced to wage a desperate war of defense. +His foes attacked his little country from all sides. He entered upon a +death struggle with every great power of the Continent, master of only +four million men and a defeated army. Now his talent as general showed +itself as he escaped the enemy after defeats and again attacked in the +most unexpected quarters and beat them, faced first one army and then +another, unsurpassed in his dispositions, inexhaustible in expedients, +unequaled as leader of troops in battle. So he stood, one against +five--Austrians, Russians, French, any one of whom was his superior in +strength, and at the same time against the Swedes and the Imperial +troops. For five years he struggled thus against armies far larger +than his own--every spring in danger of being crushed merely by +numbers, every autumn free again. A loud cry of admiration and +sympathy ran through Europe; and among those who gave the loudest +praise, although reluctantly, were his most bitter enemies. Now, in +these years of changing fortune, when the King himself experienced +such bitter vicissitudes of the fortune of war, his generalship was +the astonishment of all the armies of Europe. How, always the more +rapid and skilful, he managed to establish his lines against his +opponents; how so often he outflanked in an oblique position the +weakest wing of the enemy, forced it back, and put it to rout; how his +cavalry, which, newly organized, had become the strongest in the +world, dashed in fury upon the foe, broke their ranks, scattered their +battalions: all this was celebrated everywhere as a new advance in +military art, and the invention of surpassing genius. The tactics and +the strategy of the Prussian army came to be for almost half a century +the ideal and model for all the armies of Europe. It was the unanimous +opinion that Frederick was the greatest general of his time, and that +there had been few leaders since the beginning of history who could be +compared with him. It seemed incredible that the smaller numbers so +often conquered the greater, and even when defeated, instead of being +routed, faced the enemy, who had hardly recovered from his injuries, +as threatening and fully equipped as before. Today we praise not only +the field operations of the King, but also the wise prudence with +which he handled his supplies. He knew very well how much he was +limited by having to consider the commissariat, and the thousands of +carts in which he had to take with him the provisions and the daily +supplies of the soldiers; but he also knew that this method was his +only salvation. Once, when after the battle of Rossbach he made the +astonishing march into Silesia--one hundred and eighty-nine miles in +fifteen days--he, in the greatest danger, abandoned his old method. He +made his way through the country as other armies did at that time, +and quartered his men upon the people. But he wisely returned at once +to his old plan. For as soon as his enemies learned to imitate this +free movement, he was certainly doomed. When the old militia in his +ancient provinces rose to arms again, helped to drive out the Swedes, +and bravely defended Colberg and Berlin, he accepted their assistance +without objection; but he took pains not to encourage a guerilla war; +and when his East Frisian peasantry revolted independently against the +French and were severely punished by them for it, he told them with +brutal frankness that it was their own fault, for war was a matter for +soldiers; the business of the peasants and citizens should be +uninterrupted industry, the payment of taxes, and the furnishing of +recruits. He well knew that he was lost if a people's war in Saxony +and Bohemia should be aroused against him. This readiness, indicative +of the cautious general, to restrict himself to military forms, which +alone made the contest possible for him, may be reckoned among his +greatest qualities. + +Louder and louder became the cry of sorrow and admiration with which +Germans and foreigners watched this death-struggle of the lion at bay. +As early as 1740 the young King had been praised by the Protestants as +the champion of freedom of conscience and enlightenment, against +intolerance and the Jesuits. When, a few months after the battle at +Kollin, he completely defeated the French at Rossbach, he became the +hero of Germany. A glad cry of joy broke out everywhere. For two +hundred years the French had done great wrong to the divided country; +now the German national idea began to revolt against the influence of +French culture, and the King, who himself greatly admired Parisian +poetry, had effectively routed the Parisian generals with German +musket balls. It was such a brilliant victory, such a humiliating +defeat of the hereditary enemy, that everywhere in Germany there was +hearty rejoicing. Even where the soldiers of a State were fighting +against King Frederick, the people at home in city and country +rejoiced at the blows he dealt in good old German fashion. And the +longer the war lasted, the more active became the faith in the King's +invincibility, and the higher rose the confidence of the Germans. For +the first time in long, long years they now had a hero of whose +military glory they could be proud--a man who accomplished what seemed +more than human. Innumerable anecdotes about him ran through the +country. Every little touch about his calmness, good humor, kindness +to individual soldiers, and the loyalty of his army, traveled hundreds +of miles. How, in danger of death, he played the flute in his tent, +how his wounded soldiers sang chorals after the battle, how he took +off his hat to a regiment--he has often been imitated since--all this +was reported on the Neckar and the Rhine, was printed, and listened to +with merry laughter and tears of emotion. It was natural that poets +should sing his praise. Three of them had been in the Prussian army: +Gleim and Lessing, as secretaries of Prussian generals, and Ewald von +Kleist, a favorite of the younger literary circles, as an officer, +until the bullet struck him at Kunersdorf. But still more touching for +us is the loyal devotion of the Prussian people. The old provinces, +Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Westphalia, were suffering +unspeakably by the war, but the proud joy of having a share in the +hero of Europe often lifted even humble men above their own +sufferings. Citizens and peasants took the field as militiamen again +and again for years. When a number of recruits from the province of +Cleves and the county of Ravensberg deserted after a lost battle and +returned home, the deserters were declared perjurers by their own +fellow-countrymen and relatives, were excluded from the villages and +driven back to the army. + +Foreign opinion was no less enthusiastic. In the Protestant cantons of +Switzerland there was as warm sympathy with the King's fate as if the +descendants of the Rütli men had never been separated from the German +empire. There were people there who were made ill by vexation when the +King's cause was in a bad way. It was the same in England. Every +victory of the King aroused wild joy in London. Houses were +illuminated and pictures and laudatory poems offered for sale. In +Parliament Pitt announced with admiration every new deed of the great +ally. Even at Paris, in the theatres and salons, people were rather +Prussian than French. The French derided their own generals and the +clique of Madame de Pompadour. Whoever was on the side of the French +arms, so Duclos reports, hardly dared to give expression to his views. +In St. Petersburg, the grand duke Peter and his party were such good +Prussians that they grieved in secret at every reverse of Frederick's +cause. The enthusiasm penetrated even to Turkey and to the Khan of +Tartary; and this respectful admiration of a whole continent outlasted +the war. When Hackert, the painter, was traveling through the interior +of Sicily, a gift of honor of wine and fruit was offered him by the +city council because they had heard that he was a Prussian, a subject +of the great King for whom they wished thereby to show their +reverence; and Muley Ismail, the emperor of Morocco, released without +any ransom the crew of a ship belonging to a citizen of Emden, whom +the Berbers had brought prisoner to Mogador, sent them in new clothes +to Lisbon, and assured them that their King was the greatest man in +the world, that no Prussian should be a prisoner in his land, and that +his cruisers would never attack the Prussian flag. + +Poor oppressed soul of the German people! Long years had passed since +the men between the Rhine and the Oder had felt the joy of being +esteemed above others among the nations of the earth! Now by the magic +of one man's power everything was transformed. The German citizen, +awakened as from an anxious dream, looked out upon the world and +within to his own heart. Men had long vegetated quietly, without a +past in which they could rejoice, without a great future in which they +could hope. Now all at once they felt that they, too, had a share in +the honor and the greatness of the world; that a king and his people, +all of their blood, had given to the German national idea a golden +setting, and to the history of civilization a new meaning. Now they +were experiencing the struggles, ventures, and victories of a great +man. Work on in your study, peaceful thinker, fantastic dreamer! You +have learned over-night to look down with a smile upon foreign ways +and to expect great things of your own talent. Try to realize, now, +what flows from your heart! + +But while the youthful power of the people shook its wings with +enthusiastic warmth, how did the great prince feel who was struggling +ceaselessly against his enemies? The inspiring cry of the people rang +in his ears as a feeble sound. The King heard it almost with +indifference. His heart grew calmer and colder. To be sure, passionate +hours of sorrow and heart-rending cares came to him over and over +again. He kept them hidden from his army; his calm face became harder, +his brow more deeply furrowed, and his expression more rigid. Only +before a few intimates he opened his heart from time to time, and then +for a moment the sorrow of the man who had reached the limits of human +possibilities broke forth. + +Ten days after the battle of Kollin his mother died. A few weeks +afterward he drove in anger his brother August Wilhelm from the army, +because he had not been strong enough to lead it. The next year this +brother died "of sorrow," as the officer of the day announced to the +King. Shortly after he received the news of the death of his sister at +Bayreuth. One after another his generals fell by his side, or lost the +King's confidence, because they were not equal to the superhuman tasks +of this war. His veterans, the pride of his heart, hardened warriors, +seasoned in three fierce wars, who, dying, stretched out their hands +toward him and called his name, were crushed in entire companies about +him, and what came to fill the broad gaps that death incessantly +mowed in his army were young men, some good material, but many +worthless. The King made use of them as he did of others, more +sternly, more severely. His glance and his word gave courage and +devotion even to the inferior sort, but still he knew that all this +was not salvation. His criticism became brief and cutting, his praise +rare. So he lived on; five summers and winters came and went; the work +was gigantic; his thinking and scheming was inexhaustible, his eagle +eye scrutinized searchingly the most remote and petty circumstances, +and yet there was no change, and no hope anywhere. The King read and +wrote in leisure hours just as before; he composed verses and kept up +a correspondence with Voltaire and Algarotti, but he was prepared to +see all this come soon to an end--a swift and sudden one. He carried +in his pocket day and night something which could make him free from +Daun and Laudon. At times the whole affair filled him with disdain. + +The letters of the man from whom Germany dates a new epoch in its +intellectual life deserve to be read with reverence by every German. +When you find him writing to Frau von Camas, "For the last six years I +have felt that it is the living, not the dead, for whom one should be +sorry," if you are shocked by the gloomy energy of his determination +you must beware of thinking that in it the power of this remarkable +spirit found its highest expression. It is true that the King had some +moments of desperation when he longed for death by the enemy's bullet +in order not to be forced to use the capsule which he carried in his +pocket. He was indeed fully determined not to ruin the State by living +as a captive of Austria; to this extent what he writes is terribly +true. But he was also of a poetic temperament, a child of the century +which so longed for great deeds and found such immense satisfaction in +the expression of exalted feelings. He was, to the bottom of his +heart, a German with the same emotional needs as, for instance, the +infinitely weaker Klopstock and his admirers. The consideration and +resolute expression of his final resolve made him freer and more +cheerful at heart. He wrote to his sister at Bayreuth about it in the +momentous second year of the war; and this letter is especially +characteristic, for his sister also was determined not to survive him +and the downfall of his house; and he approved this decision, to +which, by the way, he gave little attention in his gloomy satisfaction +at his own reflections. The two royal children had once secretly +recited, in the house of their stern father, the parts of French +tragedies; now their hearts beat again in the single thought of +freeing themselves by a Catonian death from a life full of +disappointment, confusion, and suffering. But when the excited and +nervous sister fell seriously ill, Frederick forgot all his Stoic +philosophy, and clinging fast to life with a passionate tenderness, +worried and mourned over her who was the dearest to him of his family. +When she died, his poignant grief was perhaps increased by the feeling +that he had interfered in too tragic a manner with a tender woman's +life. Thus, even in the greatest of all Germans born in the first half +of the eighteenth century, poetic feelings, and the wish to appear +beautiful and great, were strangely mingled with the serious realities +of life. Poor little Professor Semler who, while under the deepest +emotion, still studied his attitudes and worked over his polite +phrases, and the great King, who in cool expectation of the hour of +his death, still wrote of suicide in beautifully balanced +periods--both were sons of the same age, in which pathos, which had +not yet found worthy expression in art, luxuriated like climbing +plants about the realities of life. But the King was greater than his +philosophy. In reality he never lost his courage, nor the persistent, +defiant vigor characteristic of the old Germans, nor the secret hope +which a man needs in every difficult task. + +And he held out. The forces of his enemies grew weaker, their generals +were worn out, and their armies were scattered. Finally Russia +withdrew from the coalition. This, and the King's last victories, +turned the balance. He had won. He had not only conquered Silesia, but +vindicated its possession for his Prussian kingdom. But while his +people rejoiced, and the loyal citizens of his capital prepared a +festive reception for him, he shunned their merrymaking and withdrew +silent and alone to Sans Souci. He said that he wished to spend his +remaining days in peace, living for his people. + +In the first twenty-three years of his reign he had struggled +and fought to maintain his power against the world. Twenty-three +years more he was destined to rule peacefully over his people as +a wise, stern patriarch. He guided his State with the greatest +self-denial, though with insistence on his own ways, striving for +the greatest things, but yet in full control even of the smallest. +Many of his ideas have been left behind by the advance of modern +civilization--they were the result of the experiences of his youth +and early manhood. Thought was to be free; every man to think what he +pleased, but to do his duty as a citizen. He himself subordinated his +comfort and his expenditures to the welfare of the State, meeting the +whole expense of the royal household with some two hundred thousand +thalers; thinking first of the advantage of his people and last of +himself. His subjects, in their turn, he felt should bear cheerfully +whatever duties and burdens he imposed upon them. Every one was to +remain in the station in which birth and education had placed him. The +noblemen were to be landholders and officers; to the citizens belonged +the towns, trade, manufacturing, instruction, and invention; to the +peasant, the land and the menial work. But in his sphere each one was +to be prosperous and happy. Equal, strict, ready justice for every +one; no favors to the highborn and rich--rather, in case of doubt, the +humble should have the preference. To increase the number of useful +men; to make every activity as profitable and as perfect as possible; +to buy as little as possible abroad; to produce everything at home, +exporting the surplus--these were the leading principles of his social +and economic theories. He exerted himself incessantly to increase the +acreage of arable land, and to provide new places for settlers. Swamps +were drained, lakes drawn off, dikes thrown up. Canals were dug and +money advanced to found new factories. At the instigation and with the +financial support of the government cities and villages were rebuilt, +more solid and sanitary than they had been before. The farmers' credit +system, fire insurance societies, and the Royal Bank were founded. +Everywhere public schools were established. Educated people were +brought in from abroad; the government officials everywhere were +required to be educated, and regulated by examination and strict +inspection. It is the duty of the historian to enumerate and praise +all this, if also to mention some unsuccessful attempts of the King, +which were inevitable owing to his endeavor to control everything +himself. + +The King cared for all his lands, and by no means least for his child +of sorrow, the newly won Silesia. When he conquered this great +district it had a few more than a million inhabitants. They realized +vividly the contrast between the easy-going Austrian management and +the precise, restless, stirring rule of Prussia. In Vienna the +catalogue of prohibited books had been larger than at Rome; now bales +of books came incessantly from Germany into the province, reading and +buying were astonishingly free, even printed attacks upon the +sovereign himself. In Austria it was the privilege of the aristocracy +to wear foreign cloth. When the father of Frederick the Great of +Prussia had forbidden the importation of cloth, he had first of all +dressed himself and his princes in domestic goods. In Vienna no office +had been considered aristocratic if it implied anything but a nominal +function; all the actual work was a matter for subordinates. A +chamberlain stood higher than a veteran general or minister. In +Prussia even the highest born was little esteemed if he was not useful +to the State, and the King himself was a most exact official, who +watched and scolded over every thousand thalers saved or spent. Any +one in Austria who left the Catholic Church was punished with +confiscation of property and banishment; under the Prussians anybody +could leave or join any church--that was his own affair. Under the +imperial rule the government had been, on the whole, negligent if it +had been forced to occupy itself with any matter; the Prussian +officials had their noses and their hands in everything. In spite of +the three Silesian wars the province grew to be far more prosperous +than it had been under the Empire. Up to this time a hundred years had +not been sufficient to wipe out the visible traces of the Thirty +Years' War. The people remembered well how in the cities the heaps of +rubbish from the time of the Swedish invasions had lain about, and +between the remaining houses there were patches of waste ground +blackened by fire. Many small cities still had log houses in the old +Slavic style, with thatched or shingled roofs, patched up shabbily +from time to time. In a few decades the Prussians removed the traces +not only of former devastations, but also of the recent Seven Years' +War. Frederick laid out several hundred new villages, had fifteen +good-sized towns rebuilt in regular streets--largely with funds from +the royal treasury--and had compelled the landed proprietors to +restore several thousand farms which they had abolished as individual +holdings, and install upon them tenants with rights of succession. +Under the Empire the taxes had been lower, but they had been unfairly +distributed and had fallen chiefly upon the poor, the nobility being +exempt from the greater part of them. The collection was imperfect, +much was embezzled or poorly applied; relatively little came into the +imperial treasury. The Prussians, on the contrary, divided the country +into small districts, appraised every acre of land, and in a few years +abolished almost all exemptions. The outlying country now paid its +land taxes and the cities their excise duties. So the province bore +the double burden with greater ease, and no one but the privileged +classes grumbled; and with all this, it could maintain forty thousand +soldiers, whereas formerly there had been in the province only about +two thousand. Before 1740 the nobility had lived _en grand seigneur_. +All who were Catholic and rich lived in Vienna. Everybody else who +could raise enough money betook himself to Breslau. Now the majority +of landholders lived on their estates, the poverty-stricken nobles +disappeared, the nobility knew that the King honored them if they +looked after the cultivation of the land, and that the new master +showed cold contempt to those who neither managed their estates nor +filled civil or military positions. Formerly lawsuits had been endless +and expensive, hardly to be carried through without bribery and +sacrifice of money. Now it was observed that the number of lawyers +decreased, so quickly came the decisions. Under the Austrians, to be +sure, the caravan trade with the East had been greater; the people of +the Bukowina and Hungary, and also the Poles, turned elsewhere and +were already looking toward Trieste; but in place of this, new +manufacturing industries arose; wool and textiles, and in the mountain +valleys a flourishing linen industry. Many found the new era +uncomfortable, many were really incommoded by its severity; but few +dared to deny that on the whole things had been greatly improved. + +But another thing in the Prussian system was astonishing to the +Silesians, and soon gained a secret power over their minds. This was +the Spartan spirit of devotion on the part of the King's servants, +which appeared so frequently even among the humblest officials; for +instance, the revenue collectors, never popular even before the +introduction of the French system. In this case they were retired +subaltern officers, veteran soldiers of the King, who had won his +battles for him and grown gray in powder smoke. They sat now by the +gates smoking their pipes; with their very small pay they could +indulge in no luxuries; but they were on the spot from early morning +until late at night, doing their duty skilfully, precisely and +quickly, as old soldiers are wont to do. Their minds were always on +their service; it was their honor and their pride. For years to come +old Silesians from the time of the great King used to tell their +grandchildren how the punctuality, strictness, and honesty of the +Prussian officials had astonished them. In every district +headquarters, for instance, there was a tax collector. He lived in his +little office, which was perhaps also his bedroom, and collected in a +great wooden bowl the land taxes, which the village officials brought +into his room monthly on an appointed day. Many thousand thalers were +entered on the lists, and were delivered, to the last penny, to the +great main treasuries. The pay too of such a man was small. He sat and +collected and stowed in purses until his hair became white and his +trembling hands were no longer able to manage the two-groschen pieces. +And it was the pride of his life that the King knew him personally, +and if he ever drove through the place would silently look at him from +his great eyes, while the horses were being changed, or, if he was +very gracious, give him a slight nod. With respect and a certain awe +the people looked upon even these subordinate servants of the new +principle, and the Silesians were not alone in this. Something new had +come into the world in general. It was not a mere figure of speech +when Frederick called himself the foremost servant of his State. As he +had taught his wild nobility on the battlefield that it was the +highest honor to die for the Fatherland, so his untiring, faithful +care forced upon the soul of the least of his servants in the distant +border towns the great idea of the duty of living and working first of +all for the good of his King and his country. + +When the province of Prussia was forced, in the Seven Years' War, to +do homage to Empress Elizabeth, and remained for several years +incorporated in the Russian Empire, the officers of the district found +means nevertheless to raise money and grain for their King in secret, +and in spite of a foreign army and government. Great skill was used to +accomplish the transportation. There were many in the secret, but not +a traitor among them. In disguise they stole through the Russian lines +at the risk of their lives, although they knew that they would reap +small thanks from the King, who did not care for his East Prussians at +all. He spoke contemptuously of them, and showed them unwillingly the +favors which he bestowed on the other provinces. His face turned to +stone whenever he learned that one of his young officers was born +between the Memel and the Vistula, and after the war he never trod on +East Prussian soil. But this conduct did not disturb the East +Prussians in their admiration. They clung with faithful love to +their ungracious lord, and his best and most enthusiastic eulogist was +Emanuel Kant. + +Life in the King's service was serious, often hard--work and +deprivation without end. It was difficult even for the best to satisfy +the strict master; and the greatest devotion received but curt thanks. +If a man was worn out he was likely to be coldly cast aside. There was +work without end everywhere: something new, something beginning, some +scaffolding of an unfinished structure. To a foreign visitor this life +did not seem at all graceful; it was austere, monotonous, and rude, +with little beauty or carefree cheerfulness. And as the King's +bachelor household, his taciturn servants, and the submissive +intimates under the trees of the quiet garden, gave a foreign guest +the impression of a monastery, so in all Prussian institutions he +found something of the renunciation and the discipline of a great busy +monastic brotherhood. + +For something of this spirit had been transmitted even to the people +themselves. Today we honor in this an undying merit of Frederick II., +for this spirit of abnegation is still the secret of the greatness of +the Prussian State, and the final and best guarantee of its +permanence. The artfully constructed machine which the great King had +set up with so much intelligence and effectiveness was not to last +forever; twenty years after his death it broke down; but in the fact +that the State did not perish with it, that the intelligence and +patriotism of the citizens were able of their own accord to establish +under his successors a new life on a new basis, we see the secret of +Frederick's greatness. + +Nine years after the close of the last war which was fought for the +possession of Silesia, Frederick increased his domain by a new +acquisition, not much less in area, but thinly populated--the Polish +districts which have since become German territory under the name of +West Prussia. + +If the King's claims to Silesia had been doubtful, all the acumen of +his officials was now needed to make a show of some uncertain right to +portions of the new acquisition. About this the King himself was +little concerned. He had defended before the world with almost +superhuman heroism the occupation of Silesia. This province was united +to Prussia by streams of blood. In the case of West Prussia the craft +of the politician did the work almost alone, and for a long time the +conqueror lacked in public opinion that justification for his action +which, as it seems, is given by the horrors of war and the capricious +fortune of the battlefield. But this last acquisition of the King's, +though wanting in the thunder of guns and the trumpets of victory, was +yet, of all the great gifts which the German people owe to Frederick +II., the greatest and most abounding in fortunate consequences. +Through several hundred years the Germans had been divided and hemmed +in and encroached upon by neighbors greedy for conquest; the great +King was the first conqueror who again pushed the German boundaries +toward the east. A hundred years after his great ancestor had in vain +defended the fortresses of the Rhine against Louis XIV., Frederick +gave the Germans again the explicit admonition that it was their duty +to carry law, education, liberty, culture, and industry into the east +of Europe. His whole territory, with the exception of a few Old Saxon +districts, had been originally German, then Slavic, then again won +from the Slavs by fierce wars or colonization; never since the +migrations of the Middle Ages had the struggle ceased for the broad +plains east of the Oder; never since the conquest of Brandenburg had +this house forgotten that it was the warden of the German border. +Whenever wars ceased the politicians were busy. The Elector Frederick +William had freed Prussia, the territory of the Teutonic Knights, from +feudal allegiance to Poland. Frederick I. had boldly raised this +isolated colony to a kingdom. But the possession of East Prussia was +insecure. It was not the corrupt republic of Poland which threatened +danger, but the rising power of Russia. Frederick had learned to +respect the Russians as enemies; he knew the soaring ambition of +Empress Catherine, and as a prudent prince seized the right moment. +The new territory--Pomerelia, the _voivodeship_ (administrative +province) of Kulm and Marienburg, the bishopric of Ermeland, the city +of Elbing, a portion of Cujavia, a portion of Posen--united East +Prussia with Pomerania and Brandenburg. It had always been a border +land. Since the early times people of different races had crowded into +the coasts of the Baltic: Germans, Slavs, Lithuanians, and Finns. From +the thirteenth century the Germans had made their way into this +Vistula country as founders of cities and agriculturists: Teutonic +Knights, merchants, pious monks, German noblemen and peasants. On both +sides of the Vistula arose the towers and boundary stones of German +colonies--supreme among them the magnificent city of Danzig, the +Venice of the Baltic, the great seaport of the Slavic countries, with +its rich St. Mary's Church and the palaces of its merchant princes; +and beyond it on another arm of the Vistula, its modest rival, Elbing: +farther up, the stately towers and broad avenues of Marienburg; near +it the great princely castle of the Teutonic order, the most beautiful +architectural monument of Northern Germany; and in the Vistula valley, +on a rich alluvial soil, the old prosperous colonial estates: one of +the most productive countries of the world, protected against the +devastations of the Slavic stream by massive dikes dating back to the +days of the Knights. Still farther up were Marienwerder, Graudenz, +Kulm, and in the low lands of the Netze, Bromberg, the centre of the +German border colonies among a Polish population. Smaller German towns +and village communities were scattered through the whole territory, +and the rich Cistercian monasteries of Oliva and Peplin had been +zealous colonizers. But in the fifteenth century the tyrannical +severity of the Teutonic order had driven the German cities and +landowners of West Prussia to an alliance with Poland. + +The Reformation of the sixteenth century won the submission not only +of the German colonists but of three-quarters of the nobility in the +great republic of Poland; and toward 1590 about seventy out of a +hundred parishes in the Slavic district of Pomerelia were Protestant. +It seemed for a short time as if a new commonwealth and a new culture +were about to develop in the Slavic East--a great Polish State with +German elements in the cities. But the introduction of the Jesuits +brought an unsalutary change. The Polish nobility returned to the +Catholic Church: in the Jesuit schools their sons were trained to +proselytizing fanaticism, and from that time on the Polish State +declined, conditions becoming worse and worse. + +The attitude of the Germans in West Prussia was not uniform toward the +proselytizing Jesuits and Slavic tyranny. A large proportion of the +immigrant German nobles became Catholic and Polish; the townsmen and +peasants remained for the most part obstinately Protestant. So there +was added to the conflict in language conflict in religious creed, and +to race hatred a religious frenzy. In this century of enlightenment +the persecution of Germans in these districts became fanatical. One +church after another was torn down, the wooden ones set on fire, and +after the church was burned the village had lost its right to a +parish: German preachers and school teachers were driven out and +disgracefully maltreated. "_Vexa Lutheranum dabit thalerum_" ("harry a +Lutheran and he will give up a thaler") was the usual motto of the +Poles against the Germans. One of the greatest landowners in the +country, a certain Unruh of the Birnbaum family, the starost of +Gnesen, was sentenced to die, after having his tongue pulled out and +his hands chopped off, because he had copied from German books into a +notebook sarcastic remarks about the Jesuits. There was no more +justice, no more safety. The national party of the Polish nobility, in +alliance with fanatic priests, persecuted most passionately those whom +they hated as Germans and Protestants. All sorts of plunder-loving +rabble collected on the side of the "patriots" or "confederates." They +collected into bands, overran the country in search of plunder, and +fell upon the smaller towns and German villages, not only from +religious zeal, but still more from the greed of booty. The Polish +nobleman Roskowsky wore boots of different colors, a red one to +indicate fire, and a black one for death. Thus he rode, levying +blackmail, from one place to another, and in Jastrow he had the hands, +the feet, and finally the head of the Protestant preacher Willich cut +off and thrown into a swamp. This happened in 1768. + +Such was the condition of the country just before the Prussian +occupation. It was a state of things that might perhaps be found now +in Bosnia, but would be unheard of in the most wretched corner of +Christian Europe. + +While still only a boy of twelve in the palace in Berlin, Frederick +the Great had been reminded by his father's anger and sorrow that the +kings of Prussia had a duty as protectors toward the German colonies +on the Vistula. For in 1724 a loud call from that quarter for help had +rung through Germany, and the bloody tragedy at Thorn became an +important subject of public interest and of diplomacy. During a +procession which the Jesuits were conducting through the city, some +Polish nobles of the Jesuit college had insulted some citizens and +schoolboys, and the angered populace had broken into the Jesuit school +and college and inflicted damage. This petty street-riot had been +brought up in the Polish parliament, sitting as a trial court, and the +parliament, after a passionate speech by the leader of the Jesuits, +had condemned to death the two burgomasters of the city and sixteen +citizens; whereupon the Jesuit party hastened to put to death the head +burgomaster, Rössner, and nine citizens, in some cases with barbarous +cruelty. The church of St. Mary was taken from the Protestants, the +clergymen driven out, and the school closed. King Frederick William +had tried in vain at the time to help the unfortunate city. He had +prevailed upon all the neighboring powers to send stern notes, and had +felt himself bitterly grieved and humiliated when all his +representations were disregarded; now after fifty years his son came +to put an end to this barbarous disorder, and to unite again with +Prussia this land which before the Polish sovereignty had belonged to +the Teutonic order. + +[Illustration: FREDERICK THE GREAT ON A PLEASURE TRIP +_From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_] + +Danzig, to be sure, indispensable to the Poles, maintained itself +through these decades of disorder in aristocratic seclusion. It +remained a free city under Slavic protection, for a long time +suspicious of the great King and not well disposed toward him. Thorn +also had to wait twenty years longer in oppression, separated from the +other German colonies, as a Polish border city. But the energetic +assistance of the King saved the country and most of the German towns +from destruction. The Prussian officials who were sent into the +country were astonished at the desolation of the unheard-of situation +which existed but a few days' journey from their capital. Only certain +larger towns, in which the German life had been protected by strong +walls and the old market traffic, and some sheltered country +districts, inhabited exclusively by Germans (such as the lowlands near +Danzig, the villages under the mild rule of the Cistercians of Oliva, +and the prosperous German places of the Catholic Ermeland), were left +in tolerable condition. Other towns lay in ruins, as did most of the +farmsteads of the open country. The Prussians found Bromberg, a German +colonial city, in ruins; and it is even yet impossible to determine +exactly how the city came into that condition. In fact, the +vicissitudes which the whole Netze district had undergone in the last +nine years before the Prussian occupation are completely unknown. No +historian, no document, no chronicle, gives reports of the destruction +and the slaughter which must have raged there. Evidently the Polish +factions fought between themselves, and crop failures and pestilence +may have done the rest. Kulm had preserved from an earlier time its +well-built walls and stately churches, but in the streets the +foundation walls of the cellars stood out of the decaying wood and +broken tiles of the crumbled buildings. There were whole streets of +nothing but such cellar rooms in which wretched people lived. Of the +forty houses of the main market-place twenty-eight had no doors, no +roofs, no windows, and no owners. Other cities were in a similar +condition. + +The majority of the country people also lived in circumstances which +seemed pitiable to the King's officers, especially on the borders of +Pomerania, where the Wendish Cassubians dwelt. Whoever approached a +village there saw gray huts with ragged thatch on a bare plain without +a tree, without a garden--only the wild cherry-trees were indigenous. +The houses were built of poles daubed with clay. The entrance door +opened into a room with a great fireplace and no chimney; heating +stoves were unknown. Seldom was a candle lighted, only pineknots +brightened the darkness of the long winter evenings. The chief article +of the wretched furniture was a crucifix with a holy water basin +below. The filthy and uncouth people lived on rye porridge, often on +herbs which they cooked like cabbage in a soup, on herrings, and on +brandy, to which women as well as men were addicted. Bread was baked +only by the richest. Many had never in their lives tasted such a +delicacy; few villages had an oven. If the people ever kept bees they +sold the honey to the city dwellers, they also trafficked in carved +spoons and stolen bark; in exchange for these they got at the fairs +their coarse blue cloth coats, black fur caps, and bright red +kerchiefs for the women. Looms were rare and spinning-wheels were +unknown. The Prussians heard there no popular songs, no dances, no +music--pleasures which even the most wretched Pole does not give up; +stupid and clumsy, the people drank their wretched brandy, fought, and +fell into the corners. And the country nobility were hardly different +from the peasants; they drove their own primitive plows and clattered +about in wooden shoes on the earthen floors of their cottages. It was +difficult even for the King of Prussia to help these people. Only the +potato spread quickly; but for a long time the fruit-trees which had +been planted by order were destroyed by the people, and all other +attempts at promoting agriculture met with opposition. + +Just as poverty-stricken and ruined were the border districts with a +Polish population. But the Polish peasant in all his poverty and +disorder at least kept the greater vivacity of his race. Even on the +estates of the higher nobility, of the starosts, and of the crown, all +the farm buildings were dilapidated and useless. Any one who wished to +send a letter must employ a special messenger, for there was no post +in the country. To be sure, no need was felt of one in the villages, +for most of the nobility knew no more of reading and writing than the +peasants. If any one fell ill, he found no help but the secret +remedies of some old village crone, for there was not an apothecary in +the whole country. If any one needed a coat he could do no better than +take needle in hand himself--for many miles there was no tailor, +unless one of the trade made a trip through the country on the chances +of finding work. If any one wished to build a house he must provide +for artisans from the West as best he could. The country people were +still living in a hopeless struggle with the packs of wolves, and +there were few villages in which every winter men and animals were not +decimated. If the smallpox broke out, or any other contagious disease +came upon the country, the people saw the white image of pestilence +flying through the air and alighting upon their cottages; they knew +what such an apparition meant: it was the desolation of their homes, +the wiping out of whole communities; and with gloomy resignation they +awaited their fate. There was hardly anything like justice in the +country. Only the larger cities maintained powerless courts. The +noblemen and the starosts inflicted their punishments with +unrestrained caprice. They habitually beat and threw into horrible +dungeons not only the peasants but the citizens of the country towns +who were ruled by them or fell into their hands. In the quarrels which +they had with one another, they fought by bribery in the few courts +which had jurisdiction over them. In later years that too had almost +ceased. They sought vengeance with their own resources, by sudden +onslaughts and bloody sword-play. + +It was in reality an abandoned country without discipline, without +law, without masters. It was a desert; on about 13,000 square miles +500,000 people lived, less than forty to a square mile. And the +Prussian King treated his acquisition like an uninhabited prairie. He +located boundary stones almost at his pleasure, then moved them some +miles farther again. Up to the present time the tradition remains in +Ermeland, the district around Heilberg and Braunsberg, with twelve +towns and a hundred villages, that two Prussian drummers with twelve +men conquered all Ermeland with four drumsticks. And then the King in +his magnificent manner began to build up the country. He was attracted +by precisely these run-down conditions, and West Prussia henceforth +became, as Silesia had been before, his favorite child, which with +infinite care, like a dutiful mother, he washed and brushed, provided +with new clothes, forced into school and good behavior, and never let +out of his sight. The diplomatic negotiations about the conquest were +still going on when he sent a troop of his best officials into the +wilderness. The territory was subdivided into small districts, in the +shortest possible time the whole land area was appraised and equitably +taxed, each district provided with a provincial magistrate, with a +court, and with post-offices and sanitary police. New parishes were +called into life as if by magic, a company of 187 school teachers was +brought into the country--the worthy Semler had chosen and drilled +part of them--and squads of German artisans were got together, from +the machinist down to the brickmaker. Everywhere was heard the bustle +of digging, hammering, building. The cities were filled with +colonists, street after street rose from the ruins, the estates of the +starosts were changed into crown estates, new villages of colonists +were laid out, new agricultural enterprises ordered. In the first year +after the occupation the great canal was dug, which in a course of a +dozen miles or so unites the Vistula by way of the Netze with the Oder +and the Elbe. A year after the King issued the order for the canal he +saw with his own eyes laden Oder barges 120 feet long enter the +Vistula, bound east. Through the new waterway broad stretches of land +were drained and immediately filled with German colonists. Incessantly +the King urged on, praised, and censured. However great the zeal of +his officials was, it was seldom able to satisfy him. In this way, in +a few years, the wild Slavic weeds which had sprung up here and there +even over the German fields were brought under control, and the Polish +districts, too, got used to the orderliness of the new life; and West +Prussia showed itself, in the wars after 1806, almost as stoutly +Prussian as the old provinces. + +While the gray-haired King planned and created, year after year passed +over his thoughtful head. His surroundings became stiller and more +solitary; the circle of men whom he took into his confidence became +smaller. He had laid aside his flute, and the new French literature +appeared to him shallow and tedious. Sometimes it seemed to him as if +a new life were budding under him in Germany, but he was a stranger to +it. He worked untiringly for his army and for the prosperity of his +people; the instruments he used were of less and less importance to +him, while his feeling for the great duties of his crown became ever +loftier and more passionate. + +But just as his seven years' struggle in war may be called superhuman, +so now there was in his work something tremendous, which appeared to +his contemporaries sometimes more than earthly and sometimes inhuman. +It was great, but it was also terrible, that for him the prosperity of +the whole was at any moment the highest thing, and the comfort of the +individual so utterly nothing. When he drove out of the service with +bitter censure, in the presence of his men, a colonel whose regiment +had made a vexatious mistake on review; when in the swamp land of the +Netze he counted more the strokes of the 10,000 spades than the +sufferings of the workmen who lay ill with malarial fever in the +hospitals he had erected for them; when he anticipated with his +restless demands the most rapid execution, there was, though united +with the deepest respect and devotion, a feeling of awe among his +people, as before one whose being is moved by some unearthly power. He +appeared to the Prussians as the fate of the State, unaccountable, +inexorable, omniscient, comprehending the greatest as well as the +smallest. And when they told each other that he had also tried to +overcome Nature, and that yet his orange trees had perished in the +last frosts of spring, then they quietly rejoiced that there was a +limit for their King after all, but still more that he had submitted +to it with such good-humor and had taken off his hat to the cold days +of May. + +With touching sympathy the people collected all the incidents of the +King's life which showed human feeling, and thus gave an intimate +picture of him. Lonesome as his house and garden were, the imagination +of his Prussians hovered incessantly around the consecrated place. If +any one on a warm moonlight night succeeded in getting into the +vicinity of the palace, he found the doors open, perhaps without a +guard, and he could see the great King sleeping in his room on a camp +bed. The fragrance of the flowers, the song of the night birds, the +quiet moonlight, were the only guards, almost the only courtiers of +the lonely man. Fourteen times the oranges bloomed at Sans Souci after +the acquisition of West Prussia--then Nature asserted her rights over +the great King. He died alone, with but his servants about him. + +He had set out in his prime with an ambitious spirit and had wrested +from fate all the great and magnificent prizes of life. A prince of +poets and philosophers, a historian and general, no triumph which he +had won had satisfied him. All earthly glory had become to him +fortuitous, uncertain and worthless, and he had kept only his iron +sense of duty incessantly active. His soul had grown up and out of the +dangerous habit of alternating between warm enthusiasm and sober +keenness of perception. Once he had idealized with poetic caprice some +individuals, and despised the masses that surrounded him. But in the +struggles of his life he lost all selfishness, he lost almost +everything which was personally dear to him; and at last came to set +little value upon the individual, while the need of living for the +whole grew stronger and stronger in him. With the most refined +selfishness he had desired the greatest things for himself, and +unselfishly at last he gave himself for the common good and the +happiness of the humble people. He had entered upon life as an +idealist, and even the most terrible experiences had not destroyed +these ideals but ennobled and purified them. He had sacrificed many +men for his State, but no one so completely as himself. + +Such a phenomenon appeared unusual and great to his contemporaries; it +seems still greater to us who can trace even today in the character of +our people, in our political life, and in our art and literature, the +influence of his activities. + + * * * * + + + + +THE LIFE OF THEODOR FONTANE + +By WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M. + +Associate Professor of German, Leland Stanford Jr. University + + +Theodor Fontane was by both his parents a descendant of French +Huguenots. His grandfather Fontane, while teaching the princes of +Prussia the art of drawing, won the friendship of Queen Luise, who +later appointed him her private secretary. Our poet's father, Louis +Fontane, served his apprenticeship as an apothecary in Berlin. In 1818 +the stately Gascon married Emilie Labry, whose ancestors had come from +the Cevennes, not far from the region whence the Fontanes had +emigrated to Germany. The young couple moved to Neu-Ruppin, where they +bought an apothecary's shop. Here Theodor was born on the thirtieth of +December, 1819. + +Louis Fontane was irresponsible and fantastic, full of _bonhomie_, and +an engaging story teller. He possessed a "stupendous" fund of +anecdotes of Napoleon and his marshals, and told them with such charm +that his son acquired an unusual fondness for anecdotes, which he +indulges extensively in some of his writings, particularly the +autobiographical works and books of travel. The problem of making both +ends meet seems to have occupied the father less than the +gratification of his "noble passions," chief among which was card +playing. He gambled away so much money that in eight years he was +forced to sell his business and move to other parts. He purposely +continued the search for a new business as long as possible, but +finally bought an apothecary's shop in Swinemünde. + +His young wife was passionate and independent, energetic and +practical, but unselfish. To her husband's democratic tendency she +opposed a strong aristocratic leaning. Their ill fortune in Neu-Ruppin +affected her nerves so seriously that she went to Berlin for treatment +while the family was moving. + +In Swinemünde the father put the children in the public school, but +when the aristocratic mother arrived from Berlin she took them out, +and for a time the little ones were taught at home. The unindustrious +father was prevailed upon to divide with the mother the burden of +teaching them and undertook the task with a mild protest, employing +what he humorously designated the "Socratic method." He taught +geography and history together, chiefly by means of anecdotes, with +little regard for accuracy or thoroughness. Though his method was far +from Socratic, it interested young Theodor and left an impression on +him for life. His mother confined her efforts mainly to the +cultivation of a good appearance and gentle manners, for, as one might +perhaps expect of the daughter of a French silk merchant, she valued +outward graces above inward culture, and she avowedly had little +respect for the authority of scholars and books. + +After a while an arrangement was made whereby Theodor shared for two +years the private lessons given by a Dr. Lau to the children of a +neighbor, and "whatever backbone his knowledge possessed" he owed to +this instruction. A similar arrangement was made with the private +tutor who succeeded Dr. Lau. He had the children learn the most of +Schiller's ballads by heart. Fontane always remained grateful for +this, probably because it was as a writer of ballads that he first won +recognition. If we look upon the ballad as a poetically heightened +form of anecdote we discover an element of unity in his early +education, and that will help us to understand why the technique of +his novels shows such a marked influence of the ballad. + +"How were we children trained?" asks Fontane in _My Childhood Years_. +"Not at all, and excellently," is his answer, referring to the lack of +strict parental discipline in the home and to the quiet influence of +his mother's example. + +[Illustration: _Permission Berlin Photo Co, New York_ +THEODOR FONTANE HANNS FECHNER] + +Among the notable events of the five years Theodor spent in +Swinemünde, were the liberation of Greece, the war between Russia and +Turkey, the conquest of Algiers, the revolution in France, the +separation of Belgium from Holland, and the Polish insurrection. +Little wonder that the lad watched eagerly for the arrival of the +newspapers and quickly devoured their contents. + +In Swinemünde the family again lived beyond their means. The father's +extravagance and his passion for gambling showed no signs of +abatement. The mother was very generous in the giving of presents, for +she said that what money they had would be spent anyhow and it might +as well go for some useful purpose. The city being a popular summer +resort, they had a great many guests from Berlin during the season, +and in the winter they frequently entertained Swinemünde friends. + +Theodor left home at the age of twelve to begin his preparation for +life. The first year he spent at the gymnasium in Neu-Ruppin. The +following year (1833) he was sent to an industrial school in Berlin. +There he lived with his uncle August, whose character and financial +management remind one of our poet's father. Theodor was irregular in +his attendance at school and showed more interest in the newspapers +and magazines than in his studies. At the age of sixteen he became the +apprentice of a Berlin apothecary with the expectation of eventually +succeeding his father in business. After serving his apprenticeship he +was employed as assistant dispenser by apothecaries in Berlin, Burg, +Leipzig, and Dresden. When he reached the age of thirty he became a +full-fledged dispenser and was in a position to manage the business of +his father, but the latter had long ago retired and moved to the +village of Letschin. The Fontane home was later broken up by the +mutual agreement of the parents to dissolve their unhappy union. The +father went first to Eberswalde and then to Schiffmühle, where he died +in 1867; the mother returned to Neu-Ruppin and died there in 1869. + +The beginning of Theodor's first published story appeared in the +_Berliner Figaro_ a few days before he was twenty years of age. The +same organ had previously contained some of his lyrics and ballads. +The budding poet had belonged to a Lenau Club and the fondness he had +there acquired for Lenau's poetry remained unchanged throughout his +long life, which is more than can be said of many literary products +that won his admiration in youth. He also joined a Platen Club, which +afforded him less literary stimulus, but far more social pleasure. +During his year in Leipzig he brought himself to the notice of +literary circles by the publication, in the _Tageblatt_, of a +satirical poem entitled _Shakespeare's Stocking_. As a result he was +made a member of the Herwegh Club, where he met, among others, the +celebrated Max Müller, who remained his life-long friend. After a year +in Dresden Fontane returned to Leipzig, hoping to be able to support +himself there by his writings. He made the venture too soon. When he +ran short of funds he visited his parents for a while and then went to +Berlin to serve his year in the army (1844). He was granted a furlough +of two weeks for a trip to London at the expense of a friend. In +Berlin he joined a Sunday Club, humorously called the "Tunnel over the +Spree," at the meetings of which original literary productions were +read and frankly criticised. During the middle of the nineteenth +century almost all the poetic lights of Berlin were members of the +"Tunnel." Heyse, Storm, and Dahn were on the roll, and Fontane came +into touch with them; he and Storm remained friends in spite of the +fact that Storm once called him "frivolous." Fontane later evened the +score by classing Storm among the "sacred kiss monopolists." The most +productive members of the Club during this period (1844-54) were +Fontane, Scherenberg, Hesekiel, and Heinrich Smidt. Smidt, sometimes +called the Marryat of Germany, was a prolific spinner of yarns, which +were interesting, though of a low quality. He employed, however, many +of the same motives that Fontane later put to better use. Hesekiel was +a voluminous writer of light fiction. From him Fontane learned to +discard high-sounding phrases and to cultivate the true-to-life tone +of spoken speech. Scherenberg, enthusiastically heralded as the +founder of a new epic style, confined himself largely to poetic +descriptions of battles. + +When Fontane joined the "Tunnel" the particular _genre_ of poetry in +vogue at the meetings was the ballad, due to Strachwitz's clever +imitations of Scottish models. Fontane's lyrics were too much like +Herwegh's to win applause, but his ballads were enthusiastically +received. One, in celebration of Derfflinger, established his standing +in the Club, and one in honor of Zieten brought him permanently into +favor with a wider public; these poems were composed in 1846. Two +years later he read two books that for a long time determined his +literary trend--Percy's _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_ and +Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_. He began to write ballads +on English subjects and one of them, _Archibald Douglas_, created a +great sensation at the "Tunnel" meeting and has ever since maintained +its place among the best German poems. Its popularity is partly due to +the fact that it was so appropriately set to music by Carl Löwe. When +Fontane returned to Berlin in 1852, after a summer's absence in +England, he felt estranged from the "Tunnel" and ceased attending the +meetings. Two noblemen members, von Lepel and von Merckel, who had +become his friends, introduced him to the country nobility of the Mark +of Brandenburg, which enabled him to make valuable additions to his +portfolio of studies later drawn upon for his novels, among others, +_Effi Briest_. + +In 1847 Fontane passed the apothecary's examination by a "hair's +breadth" and soon found employment in Berlin. In the March Revolution +(1848) he played a comical rôle, but was subsequently elected a +delegate to the first convention to choose a representative. For a +year and a quarter he taught two deaconesses pharmacy at an +institution called "Bethany." When that employment came to an end he +decided that the hoped-for time had finally arrived to give up the +dispensing of medicines and earn his living by his pen. Some of his +new ballads were accepted by the _Morgenblatt_, and a volume of +verses, dedicated to his fiancée, found a publisher. When news arrived +of the victory of Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein at Idstedt (1850) he +set out for Kiel to enlist in the army. In Altona he received a letter +offering him a position in the press department of the Prussian +Ministry of the Interior. He accepted immediately and at the same time +wrote to Emilie Kummer, to whom he had been engaged for five years, +proposing that they should be married in October. She hastened to +secure an apartment in Berlin and furnish it, and the wedding was +celebrated on the sixteenth of October. Fontane thought he had entered +the harbor of success, but he lost his ministerial position in six +weeks and was again at sea. He had, however, a companion ready to +share his trials and triumphs, and their union proved to be very +happy. + +In the summer of 1852 he was sent by the Prussian Ministry to London +to study English conditions and write reports for the government +journals, _Preussische Zeitung_ and _Die Zeit_. In 1855 he was again +sent to England, and this time his journalistic engagement lasted for +four years. Accounts of his experiences are contained in _A Summer in +London_ (1854) and _Beyond the Tweed_ (1860). From 1860 to 1870 he was +on the staff of the _Kreuzzeitung_ and during this time served as a +war correspondent in the campaigns of 1864, 1866, and 1870-71. While +accompanying the army in France he was seized with a desire to visit +the home of Joan of Arc at Domrémy, and was captured, taken for a spy, +and imprisoned for a time on the island of Oléron in the Atlantic +Ocean. An interesting account of his experiences is given in _Prisoner +of War_ (1871). During his years in England he had taken advantage of +the opportunity to visit Scotland and familiarize himself with its +picturesque beauties and its wealth of historical and literary +associations. In the midst of these travels the thought had occurred +to him that his own Mark of Brandenburg had its beauties, too, and its +wealth of associations. On returning to Berlin he began his long +series of journeyings through his native province, making a thorough +study of both country and people, particularly the Junkers, for which +his trained powers of observation, combined with warm patriotism and +true love of historical research, eminently fitted him. His published +records of these travels, _Rambles through the Mark of Brandenburg_ +(1862-81) and _Five Castles_ (1889), won for him the title of the +interpreter of the Mark. His right to this distinction was further +established by the novels in which he later employed the fruits of +these studies. + +Fontane is equally celebrated as an interpreter of Berlin, where he +lived for over fifty years, being the one prominent German writer to +identify himself with a great city. His two autobiographical works, +_From Twenty to Thirty_ and _C.F. Scherenberg_, tell of his early +experiences in the Prussian capital. From 1870 to 1889 he was dramatic +critic for the _Vossische Zeitung_, for which he reviewed the +performances at the Royal Theatre. In one of his last criticisms he +hailed Hauptmann as a dramatist of promise. In 1876 he was elected +secretary of the Berlin Academy of Arts, but served only a brief time. +In 1891 the Emperor made him a present of three thousand marks for his +services to German literature. In 1894 the University of Berlin +bestowed upon him the honorary title of doctor of philosophy. He died +on the twentieth day of September, 1898. + +Fontane's lyric poetry in the narrower sense is not of a high order; +in fact almost none of his writings show the true lyric quality. There +is also a striking lack of the dramatic element in his works, and he +seems to have felt this limitation of his genius, for he studiously +avoided the portrayal of scenes that might prove intensely dramatic. +As a writer of ballads he excelled and ranks among the foremost of +Germany. The British subjects he treated were impressed upon him +during his travels in England and his study of English history. His +German themes were taken largely from Prussian history, particularly +the period of Frederick the Great. His permanent place in the history +of German literature is due, however, not so much to his verse as to +his prose writings. He is best known as a novelist, and in the field +of the modern novel he is one of the most conspicuous figures. + +German novels of the older school were usually too long for a single +volume. Fontane's first important work of fiction, _Before the Storm_, +filled four volumes; but he had so much trouble in finding a publisher +for it that he began to write one-volume novels, introducing a +practice which has since become the common tradition. He employed in +them a typical feature of the technique of the ballad, which leaps +from one situation to another, leaving gaps to be filled by the fancy +of the reader. He says himself, in _Before the Storm_: "I have always +observed that the leaping action of the ballad is one of the chief +characteristics and beauties of this branch of poetry. All that is +necessary is that fancy be given the right kind of a stimulus. When +that end is attained, one may boldly assert, the less told the +better." + +At the beginning of Fontane's career the Berlin novelists were +disciples of Scott, but the only one to survive was Alexis, who +adapted Scott's method to the Mark of Brandenburg. Fontane imitated +him in _Before the Storm_ (1878), which deals with conditions in the +Mark before the wars of liberation. _Schach von Wuthenow_ (1883), a +sort of prelude to _Before the Storm_, was far superior as a novel and +helped to establish Fontane's supremacy among his contemporaries, for +he had become the leader of the younger generation after the +publication of two stories of crimes, _Grete Minde_ (1880) and +_Ellernklipp_ (1881), and the creation of the modern Berlin novel, in +_L'Adultera_ (1882). _L'Adultera_ unfolds the history of a marriage of +reason between a young wife and a considerably older husband, a +situation which Fontane later treated, with important variations and +ever increasing skill, in _Count Petöfi_ (1884), _Cécile_ (1887), and +_Effi Briest_ (1895). With his inexhaustible fund of observation to +draw upon he could make the action of his novels a minor consideration +and concentrate his rare psychological powers upon realistic +conversations in which characters reveal themselves and incidentally +acquaint us intimately with others. We see and hear what the world +ordinarily sees and hears. A past master in the art of suggestion, +which he acquired in his ballad period, Fontane omits many scenes that +others would elaborate with minute detail, such as love scenes and +passionate crises, and contents himself with bringing vividly before +us his true-to-life figures in their historical and social +environments. As a conservative Prussian he believed in the supremacy +of the law and the punishment of transgression, and his works reflect +this belief. + +_Trials and Tribulations_ (1887) and _Stine_ (1890) were the first +German novels absolutely to avoid the introduction of exciting scenes +merely for effect. These histories of mismated couples from different +social strata are recounted with hearty simplicity, deep understanding +of life, and frank recognition of human weakness, but without +condemnation, tears, or pointing a moral. They made Fontane famous. +_Frau Jenny Treibel_ (1892), an exquisitely humorous picture of the +Berlin _bourgeoisie_, and _Effi Briest_ "the most profound miracle of +Fontane's youthful art," added considerably to the fame of the +gray-haired "modern," while _The Poggenpuhls_ (1896) and _Stechlin_ +(1898) won him further laurels at a time when most writers would long +ago have been resting on those they had already achieved. If a line +were drawn to represent graphically his productivity from his sixtieth +year on, it would take the form of a gradually rising curve. + +His career as a novelist began so late in life that when he once +discovered his particular field he cultivated it with persistent +diligence and would not allow himself to be drawn away by enthusiasts +into other fields. Strength of character was not, however, a new +phenomenon in his life, for as long ago as the days when he was an +active member of the "Tunnel" he had come in close contact with the +Kugler coterie in Berlin, where the so-called Munich school +originated, and yet he did not follow his friends in that eclectic +movement. So when the naturalistic school of writers began to win +enthusiastic support, even though he found himself in the main in +sympathy with their announced creed, he did not join them in practice. +He felt that what the literature of the Fatherland needed was +"originality," and he sought to attain it in his own way, apart from +storm and stress. As his mind matured through accumulated knowledge of +the world, and his heart mellowed through years of experience and +observation, he rose to a point of view above sentiment and prejudice, +where the fogs of passion melt away and the light of kindly wisdom +shines. + +[Illustration: FONTANE MONUMENT AT NEU RUPPIN.] + + * * * * * + +_THEODOR FONTANE_ + + * * * * * + + + + +EFFI BRIEST (1895) + + +TRANSLATED AND ABRIDGED BY WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M. + +Associate Professor of German, Leland Stanford Jr. University + + +CHAPTER I + + +In front of the old manor house occupied by the von Briest family +since the days of Elector George William, the bright sunshine was +pouring down upon the village road, at the quiet hour of noon. The +wing of the mansion looking toward the garden and park cast its broad +shadow over a white and green checkered tile walk and extended out +over a large round bed, with a sundial in its centre and a border of +Indian shot and rhubarb. Some twenty paces further, and parallel to +the wing of the house, there ran a churchyard wall, entirely covered +with a small-leaved ivy, except at the place where an opening had been +made for a little white iron gate. Behind this arose the shingled +tower of Hohen-Cremmen, whose weather vane glistened in the sunshine, +having only recently been regilded. The front of the house, the wing, +and the churchyard wall formed, so to speak, a horseshoe, inclosing a +small ornamental garden, at the open side of which was seen a pond, +with a small footbridge and a tied-up boat. Close by was a swing, with +its crossboard hanging from two ropes at either end, and its frame +posts beginning to lean to one side. Between the pond and the circular +bed stood a clump of giant plane trees, half hiding the swing. + +The terrace in front of the manor house, with its tubbed aloe plants +and a few garden chairs, was an agreeable place to sit on cloudy days, +besides affording a variety of things to attract the attention. But, +on days when the hot sun beat down there, the side of the house toward +the garden was given a decided preference, especially by the mother +and the daughter of the house. On this account they were today sitting +on the tile walk in the shade, with their backs to the open windows, +which were all overgrown with wild grape-vines, and by the side of a +little projecting stairway, whose four stone steps led from the +garden to the ground floor of the wing of the mansion. Both mother and +daughter were busy at work, making an altar cloth out of separate +squares, which they were piecing together. Skeins of woolen yarn of +various colors, and an equal variety of silk thread lay in confusion +upon a large round table, upon which were still standing the luncheon +dessert plates and a majolica dish filled with fine large +gooseberries. + +Swiftly and deftly the wool-threaded needles were drawn back and +forth, and the mother seemed never to let her eyes wander from the +work. But the daughter, who bore the Christian name of Effi, laid +aside her needle from time to time and arose from her seat to practice +a course of healthy home gymnastics, with every variety of bending and +stretching. It was apparent that she took particular delight in these +exercises, to which she gave a somewhat comical turn, and whenever she +stood there thus engaged, slowly raising her arms and bringing the +palms of her hands together high above her head, her mother would +occasionally glance up from her needlework, though always but for a +moment and that, too, furtively, because she did not wish to show how +fascinating she considered her own child, although in this feeling of +motherly pride she was fully justified. Effi wore a blue and white +striped linen dress, a sort of smock-frock, which would have shown no +waist line at all but for the bronze-colored leather belt which she +drew up tight. Her neck was bare and a broad sailor collar fell over +her shoulders and back. In everything she did there was a union of +haughtiness and gracefulness, and her laughing brown eyes betrayed +great natural cleverness and abundant enjoyment of life and goodness +of heart. She was called the "little girl," which she had to suffer +only because her beautiful slender mother was a full hand's breadth +taller than she. + +Effi had just stood up again to perform her calisthenic exercises when +her mother, who at the moment chanced to be looking up from her +embroidery, called to her: "Effi, you really ought to have been an +equestrienne, I'm thinking. Always on the trapeze, always a daughter +of the air. I almost believe you would like something of the sort." + +"Perhaps, mama. But if it were so, whose fault would it be? From whom +do I get it? Why, from no one but you. Or do you think, from papa? +There, it makes you laugh yourself. And then, why do you always dress +me in this rig, this boy's smock? Sometimes I fancy I shall be put +back in short clothes yet. Once I have them on again I shall courtesy +like a girl in her early teens, and when our friends in Rathenow come +over I shall sit in Colonel Goetze's lap and ride a trot horse. Why +not? He is three-fourths an uncle and only one-fourth a suitor. You +are to blame. Why don't I have any party clothes? Why don't you make a +lady of me?" + +"Should you like me to?" + +"No." With that she ran to her mother, embraced her effusively and +kissed her. + +"Not so savagely, Effi, not so passionately. I am always disturbed +when I see you thus." + +At this point three young girls stepped into the garden through the +little iron gate in the churchyard wall and started along the gravel +walk toward the round bed and the sundial. They all waved their +umbrellas at Effi and then ran up to Mrs. von Briest and kissed her +hand. She hurriedly asked a few questions and then invited the girls +to stay and visit with them, or at least with Effi, for half an hour. +"Besides, I have something else that I must do and young folks like +best to be left to themselves. Fare ye well." With these words she +went up the stone steps into the house. + +Two of the young girls, plump little creatures, whose freckles and +good nature well matched their curly red hair, were daughters of +Precentor Jahnke, who swore by the Hanseatic League, Scandinavia, and +Fritz Reuter, and following the example of his favorite writer and +fellow countryman, had named his twin daughters Bertha and Hertha, in +imitation of Mining and Lining. The third young lady was Hulda +Niemeyer, Pastor Niemeyer's only child. She was more ladylike than the +other two, but, on the other hand, tedious and conceited, a lymphatic +blonde, with slightly protruding dim eyes, which, nevertheless, seemed +always to be seeking something, for which reason the Hussar Klitzing +once said: "Doesn't she look as though she were every moment +expecting the angel Gabriel?" Effi felt that the rather captious +Klitzing was only too right in his criticism, yet she avoided making +any distinction between the three girl friends. Nothing could have +been farther from her mind at this moment. Resting her arms on the +table, she exclaimed: "Oh, this tedious embroidery! Thank heaven, you +are here." + +"But we have driven your mama away," said Hulda. + +"Oh no. She would have gone anyhow. She is expecting a visitor, an old +friend of her girlhood days. I must tell you a story about him later, +a love story with a real hero and a real heroine, and ending with +resignation. It will make you open your eyes wide with amazement. +Moreover, I saw mama's old friend over in Schwantikow. He is a +district councillor, a fine figure, and very manly." + +"Manly? That's a most important consideration," said Hertha. + +"Certainly, it's the chief consideration. 'Women womanly, men manly,' +is, you know, one of papa's favorite maxims. And now help me put the +table in order, or there will be another scolding." + +It took but a moment to put the things in the basket and, when the +girls sat down again, Hulda said: "Now, Effi, now we are ready, now +for the love story with resignation. Or isn't it so bad?" + +"A story with resignation is never bad. But I can't begin till Hertha +has taken some gooseberries; she keeps her eyes glued on them. Please +take as many as you like, we can pick some more afterward. But be sure +to throw the hulls far enough away, or, better still, lay them here on +this newspaper supplement, then we can wrap them up in a bundle and +dispose of everything at once. Mama can't bear to see hulls lying +about everywhere. She always says that some one might slip on them and +break a leg." + +"I don't believe it," said Hertha, applying herself closely to the +berries. + +"Nor I either," replied Effi, confirming the opinion. "Just think of +it, I fall at least two or three times every day and have never broken +any bones yet. The right kind of leg doesn't break so easily; +certainly mine doesn't, neither does yours, Hertha. What do you think, +Hulda?" + +"One ought not to tempt fate. Pride will have a fall." + +"Always the governess. You are just a born old maid." + +"And yet I still have hopes of finding a husband, perhaps even before +you do." + +"For aught I care. Do you think I shall wait for that? The idea! +Furthermore one has already been picked out for me and perhaps I shall +soon have him. Oh, I am not worrying about that. Not long ago little +Ventivegni from over the way said to me: 'Miss Effi, what will you bet +we shall not have a charivari and a wedding here this year yet?'" + +"And what did you say to that?" + +"Quite possible, I said, quite possible; Hulda is the oldest; she may +be married any day. But he refused to listen to that and said: 'No, I +mean at the home of another young lady who is just as decided a +brunette as Miss Hulda is a blonde.' As he said this he looked at me +quite seriously--But I am wandering and am forgetting the story." + +"Yes, you keep dropping it all the while; may be you don't want to +tell it, after all?" + +"Oh, I want to, but I have interrupted the story a good many times, +chiefly because it is a little bit strange, indeed, almost romantic." + +"Why, you said he was a district councillor." + +"Certainly, a district councillor, and his name is Geert von +Innstetten, Baron von Innstetten." + +All three laughed. + +"Why do you laugh?" said Effi, nettled. "What does this mean?" + +"Ah, Effi, we don't mean to offend you, nor the Baron either. +Innstetten did you say? And Geert? Why, there is nobody by that name +about here. And then you know the names of noblemen are often a bit +comical." + +"Yes, my dear, they are. But people do not belong to the nobility for +nothing. They can endure such things, and the farther back their +nobility goes, I mean in point of time, the better they are able to +endure them. But you don't know anything about this and you must not +take offense at me for saying so. We shall continue to be good friends +just the same. So it is Geert von Innstetten and he is a Baron. He is +just as old as mama, to the day." + +"And how old, pray, is your mama?" + +"Thirty-eight." + +"A fine age." + +"Indeed it is, especially when one still looks as well as mama. I +consider her truly a beautiful woman, don't you, too? And how +accomplished she is in everything, always so sure and at the same time +so ladylike, and never unconventional, like papa. If I were a young +lieutenant I should fall in love with mama." + +"Oh, Effi, how can you ever say such a thing?" said Hulda. "Why, that +is contrary to the fourth commandment." + +"Nonsense. How can it be? I think it would please mama if she knew I +said such a thing." + +"That may be," interrupted Hertha. "But are you ever going to tell the +story?" + +"Yes, compose yourself and I'll begin. We were speaking of Baron von +Innstetten. Before he had reached the age of twenty he was living over +in Rathenow, but spent much of his time on the seignioral estates of +this region, and liked best of all to visit in Schwantikow, at my +grandfather Belling's. Of course, it was not on account of my +grandfather that he was so often there, and when mama tells about it +one can easily see on whose account it really was. I think it was +mutual, too." + +"And what came of it?" + +"The thing that was bound to come and always does come. He was still +much too young and when my papa appeared on the scene, who had already +attained the title of baronial councillor and the proprietorship of +Hohen-Cremmen, there was no need of further time for consideration. +She accepted him and became Mrs. von Briest." + +"What did Innstetten do?" said Bertha, "what became of him? He didn't +commit suicide, otherwise you could not be expecting him today." + +"No, he didn't commit suicide, but it was something of that nature." + +"Did he make an unsuccessful attempt?" + +"No, not that. But he didn't care to remain here in the neighborhood +any longer, and he must have lost all taste for the soldier's career, +generally speaking. Besides, it was an era of peace, you know. In +short, he asked for his discharge and took up the study of the law, as +papa would say, with a 'true beer zeal.' But when the war of seventy +broke out he returned to the army, with the Perleberg troops, instead +of his old regiment, and he now wears the cross. Naturally, for he is +a smart fellow. Right after the war he returned to his documents, and +it is said that Bismarck thinks very highly of him, and so does the +Emperor. Thus it came about that he was made district councillor in +the district of Kessin." + +"What is Kessin? I don't know of any Kessin here." + +"No, it is not situated here in our region; it is a long distance away +from here, in Pomerania, in Farther Pomerania, in fact, which +signifies nothing, however, for it is a watering place (every place +about there is a summer resort), and the vacation journey that Baron +Innstetten is now enjoying is in reality a tour of his cousins, or +something of the sort. He wishes to visit his old friends and +relatives here." + +"Has he relatives here?" + +"Yes and no, depending on how you look at it. There are no +Innstettens here, there are none anywhere any more, I believe. But he +has here distant cousins on his mother's side, and he doubtless wished +above all to see Schwantikow once more and the Belling house, to which +he was attached by so many memories. So he was over there the day +before yesterday and today he plans to be here in Hohen-Cremmen." + +"And what does your father say about it?" + +"Nothing at all. It is not his way. Besides, he knows mama, you see. +He only teases her." + +At this moment the clock struck twelve and before it had ceased +striking, Wilke, the old factotum of the Briest family, came on the +scene to give a message to Miss Effi: "Your Ladyship's mother sends +the request that your Ladyship make her toilet in good season; the +Baron will presumably drive up immediately after one o'clock." While +Wilke was still delivering this message he began to put the ladies' +work-table in order and reached first for the sheet of newspaper, on +which the gooseberry hulls lay. + +"No, Wilke, don't bother with that. It is our affair to dispose of the +hulls--Hertha, you must now wrap up the bundle and put a stone in it, +so that it will sink better. Then we will march out in a long funeral +procession and bury the bundle at sea." + +Wilke smiled with satisfaction. "Oh, Miss Effi, she's a trump," was +about what he was thinking. But Effi laid the paper bundle in the +centre of the quickly gathered up tablecloth and said: "Now let all +four of us take hold, each by a corner, and sing something sorrowful." + +"Yes, Effi, that is easy enough to say, but what, pray, shall we +sing?" + +"Just anything. It is quite immaterial, only it must have a rime in +'oo;' 'oo' is always a sad vowel. Let us sing, say: + + + 'Flood, flood, + Make it all good.'" + + +While Effi was solemnly intoning this litany, all four marched out +upon the landing pier, stepped into the boat tied there, and from the +further end of it slowly lowered into the pond the pebble-weighted +paper bundle. + +"Hertha, now your guilt is sunk out of sight," said Effi, "in which +connection it occurs to me, by the way, that in former times poor +unfortunate women are said to have been thrown overboard thus from a +boat, of course for unfaithfulness." + +"But not here, certainly." + +"No, not here," laughed Effi, "such things do not take place here. But +they do in Constantinople and it just occurs to me that you must know +about it, for you were present in the geography class when the teacher +told about it." + +"Yes," said Hulda, "he was always telling us about such things. But +one naturally forgets them in the course of time." + +"Not I, I remember things like that." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The conversation ran on thus for some time, the girls recalling with +mingled disgust and delight the school lessons they had had in common, +and a great many of the teacher's uncalled-for remarks. Suddenly +Hulda said: "But you must make haste, Effi; why, you look--why, what +shall I say--why, you look as though you had just come from a cherry +picking, all rumpled and crumpled. Linen always gets so badly creased, +and that large white turned down collar--oh, yes, I have it now; you +look like a cabin boy." + +"Midshipman, if you please. I must derive some advantage from my +nobility. But midshipman or cabin boy, only recently papa again +promised me a mast, here close by the swing, with yards and a rope +ladder. Most assuredly I should like one and I should not allow +anybody to interfere with my fastening the pennant at the top. And +you, Hulda, would climb up then on the other side and high in the air +we would shout: 'Hurrah!' and give each other a kiss. By Jingo, that +would be a sweet one." + +"'By Jingo.' Now just listen to that. You really talk like a +midshipman. However, I shall take care not to climb up after you, I am +not such a dare-devil. Jahnke is quite right when he says, as he +always does, that you have too much Billing in you, from your mother. +I am only a preacher's daughter." + +"Ah, go along. Still waters run deep--But come, let us swing, two on a +side; I don't believe it will break. Or if you don't care to, for you +are drawing long faces again, then we will play hide-and-seek. I still +have a quarter of an hour. I don't want to go in, yet, and anyhow it +is merely to say: 'How do you do?' to a district councillor, and a +district councillor from Further Pomerania to boot. He is elderly, +too. Why he might almost be my father; and if he actually lives in a +seaport, for, you know, that is what Kessin is said to be, I really +ought to make the best impression upon him in this sailor costume, and +he ought almost to consider it a delicate attention. When princes +receive anybody, I know from what papa has told me, they always put on +the uniform of the country of their guest. So don't worry--Quick, +quick, I am going to hide and here by the bench is the base." + +Hulda was about to fix a few boundaries, but Effi had already run up +the first gravel walk, turning to the left, then to the right, and +suddenly vanishing from sight. "Effi, that does not count; where are +you? We are not playing run away; we are playing hide-and-seek." With +these and similar reproaches the girls ran to search for her, far +beyond the circular bed and the two plane trees standing by the side +of the path. She first let them get much farther than she was from the +base and then, rushing suddenly from her hiding place, reached the +bench, without any special exertion, before there was time to say: +"one, two, three." + +"Where were you?" + +"Behind the rhubarb plants; they have such large leaves, larger even +than a fig leaf." + +"Shame on you." + +"No, shame on you, because you didn't catch me. Hulda, with her big +eyes, again failed to see anything. She is always slow." Hereupon Effi +again flew away across the circle toward the pond, probably because +she planned to hide at first behind a dense-growing hazelnut hedge +over there, and then from that point to take a long roundabout way +past the churchyard and the front house and thence back to the wing +and the base. Everything was well calculated, but before she was half +way round the pond she heard some one at the house calling her name +and, as she turned around, saw her mother waving a handkerchief from +the stone steps. In a moment Effi was standing by her. + +"Now you see that I knew what I was talking about. You still have that +smock-frock on and the caller has arrived. You are never on time." + +"I shall be on time, easily, but the caller has not kept his +appointment. It is not yet one o'clock, not by a good deal," she said, +and turning to the twins, who had been lagging behind, called to them: +"Just go on playing; I shall be back right away." + +The next moment Effi and her mama entered the spacious drawing-room, +which occupied almost the whole ground floor of the side wing. + +"Mama, you daren't scold me. It is really only half past. Why does he +come so early? Cavaliers never arrive too late, much less too early." + +Mrs. von Briest was evidently embarrassed. But Effi cuddled up to her +fondly and said: "Forgive me, I will hurry now. You know I can be +quick, too, and in five minutes Cinderella will be transformed into a +princess. Meanwhile he can wait or chat with papa." + +Bowing to her mother, she was about to trip lightly up the little iron +stairway leading from the drawing-room to the story above. But Mrs. +von Briest, who could be unconventional on occasion, if she took a +notion to, suddenly held Effi back, cast a glance at the charming +young creature, still all in a heat from the excitement of the game, a +perfect picture of youthful freshness, and said in an almost +confidential tone: "After all, the best thing for you to do is to +remain as you are. Yes, don't change. You look very well indeed. And +even if you didn't, you look so unprepared, you show absolutely no +signs of being dressed for the occasion, and that is the most +important consideration at this moment. For I must tell you, my sweet +Effi--" and she clasped her daughter's hands--"for I must tell you--" + +"Why, mama, what in the world is the matter with you? You frighten me +terribly." + +"I must tell you, Effi, that Baron Innstetten has just asked me for +your hand." + +"Asked for my hand? In earnest?" + +"That is not a matter to make a jest of. You saw him the day before +yesterday and I think you liked him. To be sure, he is older than you, +which, all things considered, is a fortunate circumstance. Besides, he +is a man of character, position, and good breeding, and if you do not +say 'no,' which I could hardly expect of my shrewd Effi, you will be +standing at the age of twenty where others stand at forty. You will +surpass your mama by far." + +Effi remained silent, seeking a suitable answer. Before she could find +one she heard her father's voice in the adjoining room. The next +moment Councillor von Briest, a well preserved man in the fifties, and +of pronounced _bonhomie_, entered the drawing-room, and with him Baron +Innstetten, a man of slender figure, dark complexion, and military +bearing. + +When Effi caught sight of him she fell into a nervous tremble, but +only for an instant, as almost at the very moment when he was +approaching her with a friendly bow there appeared at one of the wide +open vine-covered windows the sandy heads of the Jahnke twins, and +Hertha, the more hoidenish, called into the room: "Come, Effi." Then +she ducked from sight and the two sprang from the back of the bench, +upon which they had been standing, down into the garden and nothing +more was heard from them except their giggling and laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Later in the day Baron Innstetten was betrothed to Effi von Briest. At +the dinner which followed, her jovial father found it no easy matter +to adjust himself to the solemn rôle that had fallen to him. He +proposed a toast to the health of the young couple, which was not +without its touching effect upon Mrs. von Briest, for she obviously +recalled the experiences of scarcely eighteen years ago. However, the +feeling did not last long. What it had been impossible for her to be, +her daughter now was, in her stead. All things considered, it was just +as well, perhaps even better. For one could live with von Briest, in +spite of the fact that he was a bit prosaic and now and then showed a +slight streak of frivolity. Toward the end of the meal--the ice was +being served--the elderly baronial councillor once more arose to his +feet to propose in a second speech that from now on they should all +address each other by the familiar pronoun "Du." Thereupon he embraced +Innstetten and gave him a kiss on the left cheek. But this was not the +end of the matter for him. On the contrary, he went on to recommend, +in addition to the "Du," a set of more intimate names and titles for +use in the home, seeking to establish a sort of basis for hearty +intercourse, at the same time preserving certain well-earned, and +hence justified, distinctions. For his wife he suggested, as the best +solution of the problem, the continuation of "Mama," for there are +young mamas, as well as old; whereas for himself, he was willing to +forego the honorable title of "Papa," and could not help feeling a +decided preference for the simple name of Briest, if for no other +reason, because it was so beautifully short. "And then as for the +children," he said--at which word he had to give himself a jerk as he +exchanged gazes with Innstetten, who was only about a dozen years his +junior--"well, let Effi just remain Effi, and Geert, Geert. Geert, if +I am not mistaken, signifies a tall and slender trunk, and so Effi may +be the ivy destined to twine about it." At these words the betrothed +couple looked at each other somewhat embarrassed, Effi's face showing +at the same time an expression of childlike mirth, but Mrs. von Briest +said: "Say what you like, Briest, and formulate your toasts to suit +your own taste, but if you will allow me one request, avoid poetic +imagery; it is beyond your sphere." These silencing words were +received by von Briest with more assent than dissent. "It is possible +that you are right, Luise." + +Immediately after rising from the table, Effi took leave to pay a +visit over at the pastor's. On the way she said to herself: "I think +Hulda will be vexed. I have got ahead of her after all. She always was +too vain and conceited." + +But Effi was not quite right in all that she expected. Hulda behaved +very well, preserving her composure absolutely and leaving the +indication of anger and vexation to her mother, the pastor's wife, +who, indeed, made some very strange remarks. "Yes, yes, that's the +way it goes. Of course. Since it couldn't be the mother, it has to be +the daughter. That's nothing new. Old families always hold together, +and where there is a beginning there will be an increase." The elder +Niemeyer, painfully embarrassed by these and similar pointed remarks, +which showed a lack of culture and refinement, lamented once more the +fact that he had married a mere housekeeper. + +[Illustration: _Permission F. Bruckmann A.-G. Munich_ +A SUNDAY IN THE GARDEN OF THE TUILERIES ADOLPH VON MENZEL.] + +After visiting the pastor's family Effi naturally went next to the +home of the precentor Jahnke. The twins had been watching for her and +received her in the front yard. + +"Well, Effi," said Hertha, as all three walked up and down between the +two rows of amaranths, "well, Effi, how do you really feel?" + +"How do I feel? O, quite well. We already say 'Du' to each other and +call each other by our first names. His name is Geert, but it just +occurs to me that I have already told you that." + +"Yes, you have. But in spite of myself I feel so uneasy about it. Is +he really the right man?" + +"Certainly he is the right man. You don't know anything about such +matters, Hertha. Any man is the right one. Of course he must be a +nobleman, have a position, and be handsome." + +"Goodness, Effi, how you do talk! You used to talk quite differently." + +"Yes, I used to." + +"And are you quite happy already?" + +"When one has been two hours betrothed, one is always quite happy. At +least, that is my idea about it." + +"And don't you feel at all--oh, what shall I say?--a bit awkward?" + +"Yes, I do feel a bit awkward, but not very. And I fancy I shall get +over it." + +After these visits at the parsonage and the home of the precentor, +which together had not consumed half an hour, Effi returned to the +garden veranda, where coffee was about to be served. Father-in-law and +son-in-law were walking up and down along the gravel path by the plane +trees. Von Briest was talking about the difficulties of a district +councillor's position, saying that he had been offered one at various +times, but had always declined. "The ability to have my own way in all +matters has always been the thing that was most to my liking, at least +more--I beg your pardon, Innstetten--than always having to look up to +some one else. For in the latter case one is always obliged to bear in +mind and pay heed to exalted and most exalted superiors. That is no +life for me. Here I live along in such liberty and rejoice at every +green leaf and the wild grape-vine that grows over those windows +yonder." + +He spoke further in this vein, indulging in all sorts of +anti-bureaucratic remarks, and excusing himself from time to time with +a blunt "I beg your pardon, Innstetten," which he interjected in a +variety of ways. The Baron mechanically nodded assent, but in reality +paid little attention to what was said. He turned his gaze again and +again, as though spellbound, to the wild grape-vine twining about the +window, of which Briest had just spoken, and as his thoughts were thus +engaged, it seemed to him as though he saw again the girls' sandy +heads among the vines and heard the saucy call, "Come, Effi." + +He did not believe in omens and the like; on the contrary, he was far +from entertaining superstitious ideas. Nevertheless he could not rid +his mind of the two words, and while Briest's peroration rambled on +and on he had the constant feeling that the little incident was +something more than mere chance. + +Innstetten, who had taken only a short vacation, departed the +following morning, after promising to write every day. "Yes, you must +do that," Effi had said, and these words came from her heart. She had +for years known nothing more delightful than, for example, to receive +a large number of birthday letters. Everybody had to write her a +letter for that day. Such expressions as "Gertrude and Clara join me +in sending you heartiest congratulations," were tabooed. Gertrude and +Clara, if they wished to be considered friends, had to see to it that +they sent individual letters with separate postage stamps, and, if +possible, foreign ones, from Switzerland or Carlsbad, for her birthday +came in the traveling season. + +Innstetten actually wrote every day, as he had promised. The thing +that made the receipt of his letters particularly pleasurable was the +circumstance that he expected in return only one very short letter +every week. This he received regularly and it was always full of +charming trifles, which never failed to delight him. Mrs. von Briest +undertook to carry on the correspondence with her future son-in-law +whenever there was any serious matter to be discussed, as, for +example, the settling of the details of the wedding, and questions of +the dowry and the furnishing of the new home. Innstetten was now +nearly three years in office, and his house in Kessin, while not +splendidly furnished, was nevertheless very well suited to his +station, and it seemed advisable to gain from correspondence with him +some idea of what he already had, in order not to buy anything +superfluous. When Mrs. von Briest was finally well enough informed +concerning all these details it was decided that the mother and +daughter should go to Berlin, in order, as Briest expressed himself, +to buy up the trousseau for Princess Effi. + +Effi looked forward to the sojourn in Berlin with great pleasure, the +more so because her father had consented that they should take +lodgings in the Hotel du Nord. "Whatever it costs can be deducted from +the dowry, you know, for Innstetten already has everything." Mrs. von +Briest forbade such "mesquineries" in the future, once for all, but +Effi, on the other hand, joyously assented to her father's plan, +without so much as stopping to think whether he had meant it as a jest +or in earnest, for her thoughts were occupied far, far more with the +impression she and her mother should make by their appearance at the +table d'hôte, than with Spinn and Mencke, Goschenhofer, and other such +firms, whose names had been provisionally entered in her memorandum +book. And her demeanor was entirely in keeping with these frivolous +fancies, when the great Berlin week had actually come. + +Cousin von Briest of the Alexander regiment, an uncommonly jolly young +lieutenant, who took the _Fliegende Blatter_ and kept a record of the +best jokes, placed himself at the disposal of the ladies for every +hour he should be off duty, and so they would sit with him at the +corner window of Kranzler's, or perhaps in the Café Bauer, when +permissible, or would drive out in the afternoon to the Zoological +Garden, to see the giraffes, of which Cousin von Briest, whose name, +by the way, was Dagobert, was fond of saying: "They look like old +maids of noble birth." Every day passed according to program, and on +the third or fourth day they went, as directed, to the National +Gallery, because Dagobert wished to show his cousin the "Isle of the +Blessed." "To be sure, Cousin Effi is on the point of marrying, and +yet it may perhaps be well to have made the acquaintance of the 'Isle +of the Blessed' beforehand." His aunt gave him a slap with her fan, +but accompanied the blow with such a gracious look that he saw no +occasion to change the tone. + +These were heavenly days for all three, no less for Cousin Dagobert +than for the ladies, for he was a past master in the art of escorting +and always knew how quickly to compromise little differences. Of the +differences of opinion to be expected between mother and daughter +there was never any lack during the whole time, but fortunately they +never came out in connection with the purchases to be made. Whether +they bought a half dozen or three dozen of a particular thing, Effi +was uniformly satisfied, and when they talked, on the way home, about +the prices of the articles bought, she regularly confounded the +figures. Mrs. von Briest, ordinarily so critical, even toward her own +beloved child, not only took this apparent lack of interest lightly, +she even recognized in it an advantage. "All these things," said she +to herself, "do not mean much to Effi. Effi is unpretentious; she +lives in her own ideas and dreams, and when one of the Hohenzollern +princesses drives by and bows a friendly greeting from her carriage +that means more to Effi than a whole chest full of linen." + +That was all correct enough, and yet only half the truth. Effi cared +but little for the possession of more or less commonplace things, but +when she walked up and down Unter den Linden with her mother, and, +after inspecting the most beautiful show-windows, went into Demuth's +to buy a number of things for the honeymoon tour of Italy, her true, +character showed itself. Only the most elegant articles found favor in +her sight, and, if she could not have the best, she forewent the +second-best, because this second meant nothing to her. Beyond +question, she was able to forego,--in that her mother was right,--and +in this ability to forego there was a certain amount of +unpretentiousness. But when, by way of exception, it became a question +of really possessing a thing, it always had to be something out of the +ordinary. In this regard she was pretentious. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Cousin Dagobert was at the station when the ladies took the train for +Hohen-Cremmen. The Berlin sojourn had been a succession of happy days, +chiefly because there had been no suffering from disagreeable and, one +might almost say, inferior relatives. Immediately after their arrival +Effi had said: "This time we must remain incognito, so far as Aunt +Therese is concerned. It will not do for her to come to see us here in +the hotel. Either Hotel du Nord or Aunt Therese; the two would not go +together at all." The mother had finally agreed to this, had, in fact, +sealed the agreement with a kiss on her daughter's forehead. + +With Cousin Dagobert, of course, it was an entirely different matter. +Not only did he have the social grace of the Guards, but also, what is +more, the peculiarly good humor now almost a tradition with the +officers of the Alexander regiment, and this enabled him from the +outset to draw out both the mother and the daughter and keep them in +good spirits to the end of their stay. "Dagobert," said Effi at the +moment of parting, "remember that you are to come to my nuptial-eve +celebration; that you are to bring a cortège goes without saying. But +don't you bring any porter or mousetrap seller. For after the +theatrical performances there will be a ball, and you must take into +consideration that my first grand ball will probably be also my last. +Fewer than six companions--superb dancers, that goes without +saying--will not be approved. And you can return by the early morning +train." Her cousin promised everything she asked and so they bade each +other farewell. + +Toward noon the two women arrived at their Havelland station in the +middle of the marsh and after a drive of half an hour were at +Hohen-Cremmen. Von Briest was very happy to have his wife and daughter +at home again, and asked questions upon questions, but in most cases +did not wait for the answers. Instead of that he launched out into a +long account of what he had experienced in the meantime. "A while ago +you were telling me about the National Gallery and the 'Isle of the +Blessed.' Well, while you were away, there was something going on +here, too. It was our overseer Pink and the gardener's wife. Of +course, I had to dismiss Pink, but it went against the grain to do it. +It is very unfortunate that such affairs almost always occur in the +harvest season. And Pink was otherwise an uncommonly efficient man, +though here, I regret to say, in the wrong place. But enough of that; +Wilke is showing signs of restlessness too." + +At dinner von Briest listened better. The friendly intercourse with +Cousin Dagobert, of whom he heard a good deal, met with his approval, +less so the conduct toward Aunt Therese. But one could see plainly +that, at the same time that he was declaring his disapproval, he was +rejoicing; for a little mischievous trick just suited his taste, and +Aunt Therese was unquestionably a ridiculous figure. He raised his +glass and invited his wife and daughter to join him in a toast. After +dinner, when some of the handsomest purchases were unpacked and laid +before him for his judgment, he betrayed a great deal of interest, +which still remained alive, or, at least did not die out entirely, +even after he had glanced over the bills. "A little bit dear, or let +us say, rather, very dear; however, it makes no difference. Everything +has so much style about it, I might almost say, so much inspiration, +that I feel in my bones, if you give me a trunk like that and a +traveling rug like this for Christmas, I shall be ready to take our +wedding journey after a delay of eighteen years, and we, too, shall be +in Rome for Easter. What do you think, Luise? Shall we make up what we +are behind? Better late than never." + +Mrs. von Briest made a motion with her hand, as if to say: +"Incorrigible," and then left him to his own humiliation, which, +however, was not very deep. + + * * * * * + +The end of August had come, the wedding day (October the 3d) was +drawing nearer, and in the manor house, as well as at the parsonage +and the schoolhouse, all hands were incessantly occupied with the +preparations for the pre-nuptial eve. Jahnke, faithful to his passion +for Fritz Reuter, had fancied it would be particularly "ingenious" to +have Bertha and Hertha appear as Lining and Mining, speaking Low +German, of course, whereas Hulda was to present the elder-tree scene +of _Käthchen von Heilbronn_, with Lieutenant Engelbrecht of the +Hussars as Wetter vom Strahl. Niemeyer, who by rights was the father +of the idea, had felt no hesitation to compose additional lines +containing a modest application to Innstetten and Effi. He himself was +satisfied with his effort and at the end of the first rehearsal heard +only very favorable criticisms of it, with one exception, to be sure, +viz., that of his patron lord, and old friend, Briest, who, when he +had heard the admixture of Kleist and Niemeyer, protested vigorously, +though not on literary grounds. "High Lord, and over and over, High +Lord--what does that mean? That is misleading and it distorts the +whole situation. Innstetten is unquestionably a fine specimen of the +race, a man of character and energy, but, when it comes to that, the +Briests are not of base parentage either. We are indisputably a +historic family--let me add: 'Thank God'--and the Innstettens are not. +The Innstettens are merely old, belong to the oldest nobility, if you +like; but what does oldest nobility mean? I will not permit that a von +Briest, or even a figure in the wedding-eve performance, whom +everybody must recognize as the counterpart of our Effi--I will not +permit, I say, that a Briest either in person or through a +representative speak incessantly of 'High Lord.' Certainly not, unless +Innstetten were at least a disguised Hohenzollern; there are some, you +know. But he is not one and hence I can only repeat that it distorts +the whole situation." + +For a long time von Briest really held fast to this view with +remarkable tenacity. But after the second rehearsal, at which Käthchen +was half in costume, wearing a tight-fitting velvet bodice, he was so +carried away as to remark: "Käthchen lies there beautifully," which +turn was pretty much the equivalent of a surrender, or at least +prepared the way for one. That all these things were kept secret from +Effi goes without saying. With more curiosity on her part, however, it +would have been wholly impossible. But she had so little desire to +find out about the preparations made and the surprises planned that +she declared to her mother with all emphasis: "I can wait and see," +and, when Mrs. von Briest still doubted her, Effi closed the +conversation with repeated assurances that it was really true and her +mother might just as well believe it. And why not? It was all just a +theatrical performance, and prettier and more poetical than +_Cinderella_, which she had seen on the last evening in Berlin--no, on +second thought, it couldn't be prettier and more poetical. In this +play she herself would have been glad to take a part, even if only for +the purpose of making a chalk mark on the back of the ridiculous +boarding-school teacher. "And how charming in the last act is +'Cinderella's awakening as a princess,' or at least as a countess! +Really, it was just like a fairy tale." She often spoke in this way, +was for the most part more exuberant than before, and was vexed only +at the constant whisperings and mysterious conduct of her girl +friends. "I wish they felt less important and paid more attention to +me. When the time comes they will only forget their lines and I shall +have to be in suspense on their account and be ashamed that they are +my friends." + +Thus ran Effi's scoffing remarks and there was no mistaking the fact +that she was not troubling herself any too much about the pre-nuptial +exercises and the wedding day. Mrs. von Briest had her own ideas on +the subject, but did not permit herself to worry about it, as Effi's +mind was, to a considerable extent, occupied with the future, which +after all was a good sign. Furthermore Effi, by virtue of her wealth +of imagination, often launched out into descriptions of her future +life in Kessin for a quarter of an hour at a time,--descriptions +which, incidentally, and much to the amusement of her mother, revealed +a remarkable conception of Further Pomerania, or, perhaps it would be +more correct to say, they embodied this conception, with clever +calculation and definite purpose. For Effi delighted to think of +Kessin as a half-Siberian locality, where the ice and snow never fully +melted. + +"Today Goschenhofer has sent the last thing," said Mrs. von Briest, +sitting, as was her custom, out in front of the wing of the mansion +with Effi at the work-table, upon which the supplies of linen and +underclothing kept increasing, whereas the newspapers, which merely +took up space, were constantly decreasing. "I hope you have everything +now, Effi. But if you still cherish little wishes you must speak them +out, if possible, this very hour. Papa has sold the rape crop at a +good price and is in an unusually good humor." + +"Unusually? He is always in a good humor." + +"In an unusually good humor," repeated the mother. "And it must be +taken advantage of. So speak. Several times during our stay in Berlin +I had the feeling that you had a very special desire for something or +other more." + +"Well, dear mama, what can I say? As a matter of fact I have +everything that one needs, I mean that one needs _here_. But as it is +once for all decided that I am to go so far north--let me say in +passing that I have no objections; on the contrary I look forward with +pleasure to it, to the northern lights and the brighter splendor of +the stars--as this has been definitely decided, I should like to have +a set of furs." + +"Why, Effi, child, that is empty folly. You are not going to St. +Petersburg or Archangel." + +"No, but I am a part of the way." + +"Certainly, child, you are a part of the way; but what does that mean? +If you go from here to Nauen you are, by the same train of reasoning, +a part of the way to Russia. However, if you want some furs you shall +have them. But let me tell you beforehand, I advise you not to buy +them. Furs are proper for elderly people; even your old mother is +still too young for them, and if you, in your seventeenth year, come +out in mink or marten the people of Kessin will consider it a +masquerade." + +It was on the second of September that these words were spoken, and +the conversation would doubtless have been continued, if it had not +happened to be the anniversary of the battle of Sedan. But because of +the day they were interrupted by the sound of drum and fife, and Effi, +who had heard before of the proposed parade, but had meanwhile +forgotten about it, rushed suddenly away from the work-table, past the +circular plot and the pond, in the direction of a balcony built on the +churchyard wall, to which one could climb by six steps not much +broader than the rungs of a ladder. In an instant she was at the top +and, surely enough, there came all the school children marching along, +Jahnke strutting majestically beside the right flank, while a little +drum major marched at the head of the procession, several paces in +advance, with an expression on his countenance as though it were +incumbent upon him to fight the battle of Sedan all over again. Effi +waved her handkerchief and he promptly returned the greeting by a +salute with his shining baton. + +A week later mother and daughter were again sitting in the same +place, busy, as before, with their work. It was an exceptionally +beautiful day; the heliotrope growing in a neat bed around the sundial +was still in bloom, and the soft breeze that was stirring bore its +fragrance over to them. + +"Oh, how well I feel," said Effi, "so well and so happy! I can't think +of heaven as more beautiful. And, after all, who knows whether they +have such wonderful heliotrope in heaven?" + +"Why, Effi, you must not talk like that. You get that from your +father, to whom nothing is sacred. Not long ago he even said: +'Niemeyer looks like Lot.' Unheard of. And what in the world can he +mean by it? In the first place he doesn't know how Lot looked, and +secondly it shows an absolute lack of consideration for Hulda. +Luckily, Niemeyer has only the one daughter, and for this reason the +comparison really falls to the ground. In one regard, to be sure, he +was only too right, viz., in each and every thing that he said about +'Lot's wife,' our good pastor's better half, who again this year, as +was to be expected, simply ruined our Sedan celebration by her folly +and presumption. By the by it just occurs to me that we were +interrupted in our conversation when Jahnke came by with the school. +At least I cannot imagine that the furs, of which you were speaking at +that time, should have been your only wish. So let me know, darling, +what further things you have set your heart upon." + +"None, mama." + +"Truly, none?" + +"No, none, truly; perfectly in earnest. But, on second thought, if +there were anything--" + +"Well?" + +"It would be a Japanese bed screen, black, with gold birds on it, all +with long crane bills. And then perhaps, besides, a hanging lamp for +our bedroom, with a red shade." + +Mrs. von Briest remained silent. + +"Now you see, mama, you are silent and look as though I had said +something especially improper." + +"No, Effi, nothing improper. Certainly not in the presence of your +mother, for I know you so well. You are a fantastic little person, +you like nothing better than to paint fanciful pictures of the future, +and the richer their coloring the more beautiful and desirable they +appear to you. I saw that when we were buying the traveling articles. +And now you fancy it would be altogether adorable to have a bed screen +with a variety of fabulous beasts on it, all in the dim light of a red +hanging lamp. It appeals to you as a fairy tale and you would like to +be a princess." + +Effi took her mother's hand and kissed it. "Yes, mama, that is my +nature." + +"Yes, that is your nature. I know it only too well. But, my dear Effi, +we must be circumspect in life, and we women especially. Now when you +go to Kessin, a small place, where hardly a streetlamp is lit at +night, the people will laugh at such things. And if they would only +stop with laughing! Those who are ill-disposed toward you--and there +are always some--will speak of your bad bringing-up, and many will +doubtless say even worse things." + +"Nothing Japanese, then, and no hanging lamp either. But I confess I +had thought it would be so beautiful and poetical to see everything in +a dim red light." + +Mrs. von Briest was moved. She got up and kissed Effi. "You are a +child. Beautiful and poetical. Nothing but fancies. The reality is +different, and often it is well that there should be dark instead of +light and shimmer." + +Effi seemed on the point of answering, but at this moment Wilke came +and brought some letters. One was from Kessin, from Innstetten. "Ah, +from Geert," said Effi, and putting the letter in her pocket, she +continued in a calm tone: "But you surely will allow me to set the +grand piano across one corner of the room. I care more for that than +for the open fireplace that Geert has promised me. And then I am going +to put your portrait on an easel. I can't be entirely without you. Oh, +how I shall be homesick to see you, perhaps even on the wedding tour, +and most certainly in Kessin. Why, they say the place has no garrison, +not even a staff surgeon, and how fortunate it is that it is at least +a watering place. Cousin von Briest, upon whom I shall rely as my +chief support, always goes with his mother and sister to Warnemunde. +Now I really do not see why he should not, for a change, some day +direct our dear relatives toward Kessin. Besides, 'direct' seems to +suggest a position on the staff, to which, I believe, he aspires. And +then, of course, he will come along and live at our house. Moreover +Kessin, as somebody just recently told me, has a rather large steamer, +which runs over to Sweden twice a week. And on the ship there is +dancing (of course they have a band on board), and he dances very +well." + +"Who?" + +"Why, Dagobert." + +"I thought you meant Innstetten. In any case the time has now come to +know what he writes. You still have the letter in your pocket, you +know." + +"That's right. I had almost forgotten it." She opened the letter and +glanced over it. + +"Well, Effi, not a word? You are not beaming and not even smiling. And +yet he always writes such bright and entertaining letters, and not a +word of fatherly wisdom in them." + +"That I should not allow. He has his age and I have my youth. I should +shake my finger at him and say: 'Geert, consider which is better.'" + +"And then he would answer: 'You have what is better.' For he is not +only a man of most refined manners, he is at the same time just and +sensible and knows very well what youth means. He is always reminding +himself of that and adapting himself to youthful ways, and if he +remains the same after marriage you will lead a model married life." + +"Yes, I think so, too, mama. But just imagine--and I am almost ashamed +to say it--I am not so very much in favor of what is called a model +married life." + +"That is just like you. And now tell me, pray, what are you really in +favor of?" + +"I am--well, I am in favor of like and like and naturally also of +tenderness and love. And if tenderness and love are out of the +question, because, as papa says, love is after all only fiddle-faddle, +which I, however, do not believe, well, then I am in favor of wealth +and an aristocratic house, a really aristocratic one, to which Prince +Frederick Charles will come for an elk or grouse hunt, or where the +old Emperor will call and have a gracious word for every lady, even +for the younger ones. And then when we are in Berlin I am for court +balls and gala performances at the Opera, with seats always close by +the grand central box." + +"Do you say that out of pure sauciness and caprice?" + +"No, mama, I am fully in earnest. Love comes first, but right after +love come splendor and honor, and then comes amusement--yes, +amusement, always something new, always something to make me laugh or +weep. The thing I cannot endure is _ennui_." + +"If that is the case, how in the world have you managed to get along +with us?" + +"Why, mama, I am amazed to hear you say such a thing. To be sure, in +the winter time, when our dear relatives come driving up to see us and +stay for six hours, or perhaps even longer, and Aunt Gundel and Aunt +Olga eye me from head to foot and find me impertinent--and Aunt Gundel +once told me that I was--well, then occasionally it is not very +pleasant, that I must admit. But otherwise I have always been happy +here, so happy--" + +As she said the last words she fell, sobbing convulsively, at her +mother's feet and kissed her hands. + +"Get up, Effi. Such emotions as these overcome one, when one is as +young as you and facing her wedding and the uncertain future. But now +read me the letter, unless it contains something very special, or +perhaps secrets." + +"Secrets," laughed Effi and sprang to her feet in a suddenly changed +mood. "Secrets! Yes, yes, he is always coming to the point of telling +me some, but the most of what he writes might with perfect propriety +be posted on the bulletin board at the mayor's office, where the +ordinances of the district council are posted. But then, you know, +Geert is one of the councillors." + +"Read, read." + +"Dear Effi: The nearer we come to our wedding day, the more scanty +your letters grow. When the mail arrives I always look first of all +for your handwriting, but, as you know, all in vain, as a rule, and +yet I did not ask to have it otherwise. The workmen are now in the +house who are to prepare the rooms, few in number, to be sure, for +your coming. The best part of the work will doubtless not be done till +we are on our journey. Paper-hanger Madelung, who is to furnish +everything, is an odd original. I shall tell you about him the next +time. Now I must tell you first of all how happy I am over you, over +my sweet little Effi. The very ground beneath my feet here is on fire, +and yet our good city is growing more and more quiet and lonesome. The +last summer guest left yesterday. Toward the end he went swimming at +nine degrees above zero (Centigrade), and the attendants were always +rejoiced when he came out alive. For they feared a stroke of apoplexy, +which would give the baths a bad reputation, as though the water were +worse here than elsewhere. I rejoice when I think that in four weeks I +shall row with you from the Piazzetta out to the Lido or to Murano, +where they make glass beads and beautiful jewelry. And the most +beautiful shall be yours. Many greetings to your parents and the +tenderest kiss for yourself from your Geert." + +Effi folded the letter and put it back into the envelope. + +"That is a very pretty letter," said Mrs. von Briest, "and that it +observes due moderation throughout is a further merit." + +"Yes, due moderation it surely does observe." + +"My dear Effi, let me ask a question. Do you wish that the letter did +not observe due moderation? Do you wish that it were more +affectionate, perhaps gushingly affectionate?" + +"No, no, mama. Honestly and truly no, I do not wish that. So it is +better as it is." + +"So it is better as it is. There you go again. You are so queer. And +by the by, a moment ago you were weeping. Is something troubling you? +It is not yet too late. Don't you love Geert?" + +"Why shouldn't I love him? I love Hulda, and I love Bertha, and I love +Hertha. And I love old Mr. Niemeyer, too. And that I love you and papa +I don't even need to mention. I love all who mean well by me and are +kind to me and humor me. No doubt Geert will humor me, too. To be +sure, in his own way. You see he is already thinking of giving me +jewelry in Venice. He hasn't the faintest suspicion that I care +nothing for jewelry. I care more for climbing and swinging and am +always happiest when I expect every moment that something will give +way or break and cause me to tumble. It will not cost me my head the +first time, you know." + +"And perhaps you also love your Cousin von Briest?" + +"Yes, very much. He always cheers me." + +"And would you have liked to marry Cousin von Briest?" + +"Marry? For heaven's sake no. Why, he is still half a boy. Geert is a +man, a handsome man, a man with whom I can shine and he will make +something of himself in the world. What are you thinking of, mama?" + +"Well, that is all right, Effi, I am glad to hear it. But there is +something else troubling you." + +"Perhaps." + +"Well, speak." + +"You see, mama, the fact that he is older than I does no harm. Perhaps +that is a very good thing. After all he is not old and is well and +strong and is so soldierly and so keen. And I might almost say I am +altogether in favor of him, if he only--oh, if he were only a little +bit different." + +"How, pray, Effi." + +"Yes, how? Well, you must not laugh at me. It is something that I +only very recently overheard, over at the parsonage. We were talking +about Innstetten and all of a sudden old Mr. Niemeyer wrinkled his +forehead, in wrinkles of respect and admiration, of course, and said: +'Oh yes, the Baron. He is a man of character, a man of principles." + +"And that he is, Effi." + +"Certainly. And later, I believe, Niemeyer said he is even a man of +convictions. Now that, it seems to me, is something more. Alas, and +I--I have none. You see, mama, there is something about this that +worries me and makes me uneasy. He is so dear and good to me and so +considerate, but I am afraid of him." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The days of festivity at Hohen-Cremmen were past; all the guests had +departed, likewise the newly married couple, who left the evening of +the wedding day. + +The nuptial-eve performance had pleased everybody, especially the +players, and Hulda had been the delight of all the young officers, not +only the Rathenow Hussars, but also their more critically inclined +comrades of the Alexander regiment. Indeed everything had gone well +and smoothly, almost better than expected. The only thing to be +regretted was that Bertha and Hertha had sobbed so violently that +Jahnke's Low German verses had been virtually lost. But even that had +made but little difference. A few fine connoisseurs had even expressed +the opinion that, "to tell the truth, forgetting what to say, sobbing, +and unintelligibility, together form the standard under which the most +decided victories are won, particularly in the case of pretty, curly +red heads." Cousin von Briest had won a signal triumph in his +self-composed rôle. He had appeared as one of Demuth's clerks, who had +found out that the young bride was planning to go to Italy immediately +after the wedding, for which reason he wished to deliver to her a +traveling trunk. This trunk proved, of course, to be a giant box of +bonbons from Hövel's. The dancing had continued till three o'clock, +with the effect that Briest, who had been gradually talking himself +into the highest pitch of champagne excitement, had made various +remarks about the torch dance, still in vogue at many courts, and the +remarkable custom of the garter dance. Since these remarks showed no +signs of coming to an end, and kept getting worse and worse, they +finally reached the point where they simply had to be choked off. +"Pull yourself together, Briest," his wife had whispered to him in a +rather earnest tone; "you are not here for the purpose of making +indecent remarks, but of doing the honors of the house. We are having +at present a wedding and not a hunting party." Whereupon von Briest +answered: "I see no difference between the two; besides, I am happy." + +The wedding itself had also gone well, Niemeyer had conducted the +service in an exquisite fashion, and on the way home from the church +one of the old men from Berlin, who half-way belonged to the court +circle, made a remark to the effect that it was truly wonderful how +thickly talents are distributed in a state like ours. "I see therein a +triumph of our schools, and perhaps even more of our philosophy. When +I consider how this Niemeyer, an old village preacher, who at first +looked like a hospitaler--why, friend, what do you say? Didn't he +speak like a court preacher? Such tact, and such skill in antithesis, +quite the equal of Kögel, and in feeling even better. Kögel is too +cold. To be sure, a man in his position has to be cold. Generally +speaking, what is it that makes wrecks of the lives of men? Always +warmth, and nothing else." It goes without saying that these remarks +were assented to by the dignitary to whom they were addressed, a +gentleman as yet unmarried, who doubtless for this very reason was, at +the time being, involved in his fourth "relation." "Only too true, +dear friend," said he. "Too much warmth--most excellent--Besides, I +must tell you a story, later." + +The day after the wedding was a clear October day. The morning sun +shone bright, yet there was a feeling of autumn chilliness in the air, +and von Briest, who had just taken breakfast in company with his wife, +arose from his seat and stood, with his hands behind his back, before +the slowly dying open fire. Mrs. von Briest, with her fancy work in +her hands, moved likewise closer to the fireplace and said to Wilke, +who entered just at this point to clear away the breakfast table: "And +now, Wilke, when you have everything in order in the dining hall--but +that comes first--then see to it that the cakes are taken over to the +neighbors, the nutcake to the pastor's and the dish of small cakes to +the Jahnkes'. And be careful with the goblets. I mean the thin cut +glasses." + +Briest had already lighted his third cigarette, and, looking in the +best of health, declared that "nothing agrees with one so well as a +wedding, excepting one's own, of course." + +"I don't know why you should make that remark, Briest. It is +absolutely news to me that you suffered at your wedding. I can't +imagine why you should have, either." + +"Luise, you are a wet blanket, so to speak. But I take nothing amiss, +not even a thing like that. Moreover, why should we be talking about +ourselves, we who have never even taken a wedding tour? Your father +was opposed to it. But Effi is taking a wedding tour now. To be +envied. Started on the ten o'clock train. By this time they must be +near Ratisbon, and I presume he is enumerating to her the chief art +treasures of the Walhalla, without getting off the train--that goes +without saying. Innstetten is a splendid fellow, but he is pretty much +of an art crank, and Effi, heaven knows, our poor Effi is a child of +nature. I am afraid he will annoy her somewhat with his enthusiasm for +art." + +"Every man annoys his wife, and enthusiasm for art is not the worst +thing by a good deal." + +"No, certainly not. At all events we will not quarrel about that; it +is a wide field. Then, too, people are so different. Now you, you +know, would have been the right person for that. Generally speaking, +you would have been better suited to Innstetten than Effi. What a +pity! But it is too late now." + +"Extremely gallant remark, except for the fact that it is not apropos. +However, in any case, what has been has been. Now he is my son-in-law, +and it can accomplish nothing to be referring back all the while to +the affairs of youth." + +"I wished merely to rouse you to an animated humor." + +"Very kind of you, but it was not necessary. I am in an animated +humor." + +"Likewise a good one?" + +"I might almost say so. But you must not spoil it.--Well, what else is +troubling you? I see there is something on your mind." + +"Were you pleased with Effi? Were you satisfied with the whole affair? +She was so peculiar, half naïve, and then again very self-conscious +and by no means as demure as she ought to be toward such a husband. +That surely must be due solely to the fact that she does not yet fully +know what she has in him. Or is it simply that she does not love him +very much? That would be bad. For with all his virtues he is not the +man to win her love with an easy grace." + +Mrs. von Briest kept silent and counted the stitches of her fancy +work. Finally she said: "What you just said, Briest, is the most +sensible thing I have heard from you for the last three days, +including your speech at dinner. I, too, have had my misgivings. But I +believe we have reason to feel satisfied." + +"Has she poured out her heart to you?" + +"I should hardly call it that. True, she cannot help talking, but she +is not disposed to tell everything she has in her heart, and she +settles a good many things for herself. She is at once communicative +and reticent, almost secretive; in general, a very peculiar mixture." + +"I am entirely of your opinion. But how do you know about this if she +didn't tell you?" + +"I only said she did not pour out her heart to me. Such a general +confession, such a complete unburdening of the soul, it is not in her +to make. It all came out of her by sudden jerks, so to speak, and then +it was all over. But just because it came from her soul so +unintentionally and accidentally, as it were, it seemed to me for that +very reason so significant." + +"When was this, pray, and what was the occasion?" + +"Unless I am mistaken, it was just three weeks ago, and we were +sitting in the garden, busied with all sorts of things belonging to +her trousseau, when Wilke brought a letter from Innstetten. She put it +in her pocket and a quarter of an hour later had wholly forgotten +about it, till I reminded her that she had a letter. Then she read it, +but the expression of her face hardly changed. I confess to you that +an anxious feeling came over me, so intense that I felt a strong +desire to have all the light on the matter that it is possible to have +under the circumstances." + +"Very true, very true." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Well, I mean only--But that is wholly immaterial. Go on with your +story; I am all ears." + +"So I asked her straight out how matters stood, and as I wished to +avoid anything bordering on solemnity, in view of her peculiar +character, and sought to take the whole matter as lightly as possible, +almost as a joke, in fact, I threw out the question, whether she would +perhaps prefer to marry Cousin von Briest, who had showered his +attentions upon her in Berlin." + +"And?" + +"You ought to have seen her then. Her first answer was a saucy laugh. +Why, she said, her cousin was really only a big cadet in lieutenant's +uniform. And she could not even love a cadet, to saying nothing of +marrying one. Then she spoke of Innstetten, who suddenly became for +her a paragon of manly virtues." + +"How do you explain that?" + +"It's quite simple. Lively, emotional, I might almost say, passionate +as she is, or perhaps just because she is so constituted, she is not +one of those who are so particularly dependent upon love, at least not +upon what truly deserves the name. To be sure, she speaks of love, +even with emphasis and a certain tone of conviction, but only because +she has somewhere read that love is indisputably the most exalted, +most beautiful, most glorious thing in the world. And it may be, +perhaps, that she has merely heard it from that sentimental person, +Hulda, and repeats it after her. But she does not feel it very deeply. +It is barely possible that it will come later. God forbid. But it is +not yet at hand." + +"Then what is at hand? What ails her?" + +"In my judgment, and according to her own testimony, she has two +things: mania for amusement and ambition." + +"Well, those things can pass away. They do not disturb me." + +"They do me. Innstetten is the kind of a man who makes his own career. +I will not call him pushing, for he is not, he has too much of the +real gentleman in him for that. Let us say, then, he is a man who will +make his own career. That will satisfy Effi's ambition." + +"Very well. I call that good." + +"Yes, it is good. But that is only the half. Her ambition will be +satisfied, but how about her inclination for amusement and adventure? +I have my doubts. For the little entertainment and awakening of +interest, demanded every hour, for the thousand things that overcome +ennui, the mortal enemy of a spiritual little person, for these +Innstetten will make poor provision. He will not leave her in the +midst of an intellectual desert; he is too wise and has had too much +experience in the world for that, but he will not specially amuse her +either. And, most of all, he will not even bother to ask himself +seriously how to go about it. Things can go on thus for a while +without doing much harm, but she will finally become aware of the +situation and be offended. And then I don't know what will happen. For +gentle and yielding as she is, she has, along with these qualities, a +certain inclination to fly into a fury, and at such times she hazards +everything." + +At this point Wilke came in from the dining hall and reported that he +had counted everything and found everything there, except that one of +the fine wine glasses was broken, but that had occurred yesterday when +the toast was drunk. Miss Hulda had clinked her glass too hard against +Lieutenant Nienkerk's. + +"Of course, half asleep and always has been, and lying under the elder +tree has obviously not improved matters. A silly person, and I don't +understand Nienkerk." + +"I understand him perfectly." + +"But he can't marry her." + +"No." + +"His purpose, then?" + +"A wide field, Luise." + +This was the day after the wedding. Three days later came a scribbled +little card from Munich, with all the names on it indicated by two +letters only. "Dear mama: This morning we visited the Pinakothek. +Geert wanted to go over to the other museum, too, the name of which I +will not mention here, because I am in doubt about the right way to +spell it, and I dislike to ask him. I must say, he is angelic to me +and explains everything. Generally speaking, everything is very +beautiful, but it's a strain. In Italy it will probably slacken +somewhat and get better. We are lodging at the 'Four Seasons,' which +fact gave Geert occasion to remark to me, that 'outside it was autumn, +but in me he was having spring.' I consider that a very graceful +compliment. He is really very attentive. To be sure, I have to be +attentive, too, especially when he says something or is giving me an +explanation. Besides, he knows everything so well that he doesn't even +need to consult a guide book. He delights to talk of you two, +especially mama. He considers Hulda somewhat affected, but old Mr. +Niemeyer has completely captivated him. A thousand greetings from your +thoroughly entranced, but somewhat weary Effi." + +Similar cards now arrived daily, from Innsbruck, from Vicenza, from +Padua. Every one began: "We visited the famous gallery here this +morning," or, if it was not the gallery, it was an arena or some +church of "St. Mary" with a surname. From Padua came, along with the +card, a real letter. "Yesterday we were in Vicenza. One must see +Vicenza on account of Palladio. Geert told me that everything modern +had its roots in him. Of course, with reference only to architecture. +Here in Padua, where we arrived this morning, he said to himself +several times in the hotel omnibus, 'He lies in Padua interred,' and +was surprised when he discovered that I had never heard these words. +But finally he said it was really very well and in my favor that I +knew nothing about them. He is very just, I must say. And above all he +is angelic to me and not a bit overbearing and not at all old, either. +I still have pains in my feet, and the consulting of guide books and +standing so long before pictures wears me out. But it can't be helped, +you know. I am looking forward to Venice with much pleasure. We shall +stay there five days, perhaps even a whole week. Geert has already +begun to rave about the pigeons in St. Mark's Square, and the fact +that one can buy there little bags of peas and feed them to the pretty +birds. There are said to be paintings representing this scene, with +beautiful blonde maidens, 'a type like Hulda,' as he said. And that +reminds me of the Jahnke girls. I would give a good deal if I could be +sitting with them on a wagon tongue in our yard and feeding _our_ +pigeons. Now, you must not kill the fan tail pigeon with the big +breast; I want to see it again. Oh, it is so beautiful here. This is +even said to be the most beautiful of all. Your happy, but somewhat +weary Effi." + +When Mrs. von Briest had finished reading the letter she said: "The +poor child. She is homesick." + +"Yes," said von Briest, "she is homesick. This accursed traveling--" + +"Why do you say that now! You might have hindered it, you know. But it +is just your way to play the wise man after a thing is all over. After +a child has fallen into the well the aldermen cover up the well." + +"Ah, Luise, don't bother me with that kind of stuff. Effi is our +child, but since the 3d of October she has been the Baroness of +Innstetten. And if her husband, our son-in-law, desires to take a +wedding tour and use it as an occasion for making a new catalogue of +every gallery, I can't keep him from doing it. That is what it means +to get married." + +"So now you admit it. In talking with me you have always denied, yes, +always denied that the wife is in a condition of restraint." + +"Yes, Luise, I have. But what is the use of discussing that now? It is +really too wide a field." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Innstetten's leave of absence was to expire the 15th of November, and +so when they had reached Capri and Sorrento he felt morally bound to +follow his usual habit of returning to his duties on the day and at +the hour designated. So on the morning of the 14th they arrived by the +fast express in Berlin, where Cousin von Briest met them and proposed +that they should make use of the two hours before the departure of the +Stettin train to pay a visit to the Panorama and then have a little +luncheon together. Both proposals were accepted with thanks. At noon +they returned to the station, shook hands heartily and said good-by, +after both Effi and her husband had extended the customary invitation, +"Do come to see us some day," which fortunately is never taken +seriously. As the train started Effi waved a last farewell from her +compartment. Then she leaned back and made herself comfortable, but +from time to time sat up and held out her hand to Innstetten. + +It was a pleasant journey, and the train arrived on time at the +Klein-Tantow station, from which a turnpike led to Kessin, ten miles +away. In the summer time, especially during the tourist season, +travelers were accustomed to avoid the turnpike and take the water +route, going by an old sidewheel steamer down the Kessine, the river +from which Kessin derived its name. But the "Phoenix"--about which the +wish had long been vainly cherished, that, at some time when there +were no passengers on board, it might justify its name and burn to +ashes--regularly stopped running on the 1st of October. For this +reason Innstetten had telegraphed from Stettin to his coachman Kruse: +"Five o'clock, Klein-Tantow station. Open carriage, if good weather." + +It certainly was good weather, and there sat Kruse in the open +carriage at the station. He greeted the newly arrived couple with all +the prescribed dignity of a first-class coachman. + +"Well, Kruse, everything in order?" + +"At your service, Sir Councillor." + +"Then, Effi, please get in." As Effi was doing as bid, and one of the +station porters was finding a place for a small satchel by the +coachman, in front, Innstetten left orders to send the rest of the +luggage by the omnibus. Then he, too, took his seat and after +condescendingly asking one of the bystanders for a light called to +Kruse: "Drive on, Kruse." The carriage rolled quickly over the rails +of the many tracks at the crossing, then slantingly down the slope of +the embankment, and on the turnpike past an inn called "The Prince +Bismarck." At this point the road forked, one branch leading to the +right to Kessin, the other to the left to Varzin. In front of the inn +stood a moderately tall, broad-shouldered man in a fur coat and a fur +cap. The cap he took off with great deference as the District +Councillor drove by. "Pray, who was that?" said Effi, who was +extremely interested in all she saw and consequently in the best of +humor. "He looked like a starost, though I am forced to confess I +never saw a starost before." + +"Which is no loss, Effi. You guessed very well just the same. He does +really look like a starost and is something of the sort, too. I mean +by that, he is half Polish. His name is Golchowski, and whenever we +have an election or a hunt here, he is at the top of the list. In +reality he is a very unsafe fellow, whom I would not trust across the +road, and he doubtless has a great deal on his conscience. But he +assumes an air of loyalty, and when the quality of Varzin go by here +he would like nothing better than to throw himself before their +carriages. I know that at the same time he is hostile to the Prince. +But what is the use? We must not have any misunderstandings with him, +for we need him. He has this whole region in his pocket and +understands electioneering better than any one else. Besides, he is +considered well-to-do and lends out money at usury which is contrary +to the ordinary practice of the Poles." + +"But he was good-looking." + +"Yes, good-looking he is. Most of the people here are good-looking. A +handsome strain of human beings. But that is the best that can be said +of them. Your Brandenburg people look more unostentatious and more +ill-humored, and in their conduct they are less respectful, in fact, +are not at all respectful, but their yes is yes and no is no, and one +can depend upon them. Here everybody is uncertain." + +"Why do you tell me that, since I am obliged to live here among them +now?" + +"Not you. You will not hear or see much of them. For city and country +are here very different, and you will become acquainted with our city +people only, our good people of Kessin." + +"Our good people of Kessin. Is that sarcasm, or are they really so +good?" + +"That they are really good is not exactly what I mean to say, but they +are different from the others; in fact, they have no similarity +whatever to the country inhabitants here." + +"How does that come?" + +"Because they are entirely different human beings, by ancestry and +association. The people you find in the country here are the so-called +Cassubians, of whom you may have heard, a Slavic race, who have been +living here for a thousand years and probably much longer. But all the +inhabitants of our seaports, and the commercial cities near the coast, +have moved here from a distance and trouble themselves very little +about the Cassubian backwoods, because they derive little profit from +that source and are dependent upon entirely different sources. The +sources upon which they are dependent are the regions with which they +have commercial relations, and as their commerce brings them into +touch with the whole world you will find among them people from every +nook and corner of the earth, even here in our good Kessin, in spite +of the fact that it is nothing but a miserable hole." + +"Why, that is perfectly charming, Geert. You are always talking about +the miserable hole, but I shall find here an entirely new world, if +you have not exaggerated. All kinds of exotics. That is about what you +meant, isn't it?" + +He nodded his head. + +"An entirely new world, I say, perhaps a negro, or a Turk, or perhaps +even a Chinaman." + +"Yes, a Chinaman, too. How well you can guess! It may be that we still +have one. He is dead now and buried in a little fenced-in plot of +ground close by the churchyard. If you are not easily frightened I +will show you his grave some day. It is situated among the dunes, with +nothing but lyme grass around it, and here and there a few +immortelles, and one always hears the sea. It is very beautiful and +very uncanny." + +"Oh, uncanny? I should like to know more about it. But I would better +not. Such stories make me have visions and dreams, and if, as I hope, +I sleep well tonight, I should certainly not like to see a Chinaman +come walking up to my bed the first thing." + +"You will not, either." + +"Not, either? Upon my word, that sounds strange, as though, after all, +it were possible. You seek to make Kessin interesting to me, but you +carry it a trifle too far. And have you many such foreigners in +Kessin?" + +"A great many. The whole population is made up of such foreigners, +people whose parents and grandparents lived in an entirely different +region." + +"Most remarkable. Please tell me more about them. But no more creepy +stories. I feel that there is always something creepy about a +Chinaman." + +"Yes, there is," laughed Geert, "but the rest, thank heaven, are of an +entirely different sort, all mannerly people, perhaps a little bit too +commercial, too thoughtful of their own advantage, and always on hand +with bills of questionable value. In fact, one must be cautious with +them. But otherwise they are quite agreeable. And to let you see that +I have not been deceiving you I will just give you a little sample, a +sort of index or list of names." + +"Please do, Geert." + +"For example, we have, not fifty paces from our house, and our gardens +are even adjoining, the master machinist and dredger Macpherson, a +real Scotchman and a Highlander." + +"And he still wears the native costume?" + +"No, thank heaven, he doesn't, for he is a shriveled up little man, of +whom neither his clan nor Walter Scott would be particularly proud. +And then we have, further, in the same house where this Macpherson +lives, an old surgeon by the name of Beza, in reality only a barber. +He comes from Lisbon, the same place that the famous general De Meza +comes from. Meza, Beza; you can hear the national relationship. And +then we have, up the river by the quay, where the ships lie, a +goldsmith by the name of Stedingk, who is descended from an old +Swedish family; indeed, I believe there are counts of the empire by +that name. Further, and with this man I will close for the present, we +have good old Dr. Hannemann, who of course is a Dane, and was a long +time in Iceland, has even written a book on the last eruption of +Hekla, or Krabla." + +"Why, that is magnificent, Geert. It is like having six novels that +one can never finish reading. At first it sounds commonplace, but +afterward seems quite out of the ordinary. And then you must also have +people, simply because it is a seaport, who are not mere surgeons or +barbers or anything of the sort. You must also have captains, some +flying Dutchman or other, or--" + +"You are quite right. We even have a captain who was once a pirate +among the Black Flags." + +"I don't know what you mean. What are Black Flags?" + +"They are people away off in Tonquin and the South Sea--But since he +has been back among men he has resumed the best kind of manners and is +quite entertaining." + +"I should be afraid of him nevertheless." + +"You don't need to be, at any time, not even when I am out in the +country or at the Prince's for tea, for along with everything else +that we have, we have, thank heaven, also Rollo." + +"Rollo?" + +"Yes, Bollo. The name makes you think of the Norman Duke, provided you +have ever heard Niemeyer or Jahnke speak of him. Our Rollo has +somewhat the same character. But he is only a Newfoundland dog, a most +beautiful animal, that loves me and will love you, too. For Rollo is a +connoisseur. So long as you have him about you, you are safe, and +nothing can get at you, neither a live man nor a dead one. But just +see the moon over yonder. Isn't it beautiful?" + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann A -G, Munich_ +DIVINE SERVICE IN THE WOODS AT KOSEN ADOLPH VON MENZEL] + +Effi, who had been leaning back quietly absorbed, drinking in every +word, half timorously, half eagerly, now sat erect and looked out to +the right, where the moon had just risen behind a white mass of +clouds, which quickly floated by. Copper-colored hung the great disk +behind a clump of alders and shed its light upon the expanse of water +into which the Kessine here widens out. Or perhaps it might be looked +upon as one of the fresh-water lakes connected with the Baltic Sea. + +Effi was stupefied. "Yes, you are right, Geert, how beautiful! But at +the same time there is something uncanny about it. In Italy I never +had such a sensation, not even when we were going over from Mestre to +Venice. There, too, we had water and swamps and moonlight, and I +thought the bridge would break. But it was not so spooky. What is the +cause of it, I wonder? Can it be the northern latitude?" + +Innstetten laughed. "We are here seventy-five miles further north than +in Hohen-Cremmen, and you have still a while to wait before we come to +the first polar bear. I think you are nervous from the long journey +and the Panorama, not to speak of the story of the Chinaman." + +"Why, you didn't tell me any story." + +"No, I only mentioned him. But a Chinaman is in himself a story." + +"Yes," she laughed. + +"In any case you will soon recover. Do you see the little house yonder +with the light? It is a blacksmith's shop. There the road bends. And +when we have passed the bend you will be able to see the tower of +Kessin, or to be more exact, the two." + +"Has it two?" + +"Yes, Kessin is picking up. It now has a Catholic church also." + +A half hour later the carriage stopped at the district councillor's +residence, which stood clear at the opposite end of the city. It was a +simple, rather old-fashioned, frame-house with plaster between the +timbers, and stood facing the main street, which led to the sea-baths, +while its gable looked down upon a grove, between the city limits and +the dunes, which was called the "Plantation." Furthermore this +old-fashioned frame-house was only Innstetten's private residence, +not the real district councillor's office. The latter stood diagonally +across the street. + +It was not necessary for Kruse to announce their arrival with three +cracks of his whip. The servants had long been watching at the doors +and windows for their master and mistress, and even before the +carriage stopped all the inmates of the house were grouped upon the +stone doorstep, which took up the whole width of the sidewalk. In +front of them was Rollo, who, the moment the carriage stopped, began +to circle around it. Innstetten first of all helped his young wife to +alight. Then, offering her his arm, he walked with a friendly bow past +the servants, who promptly turned and followed him into the +entrance-hall, which was furnished with splendid old wardrobes and +cases standing around the walls. The housemaid, a pretty girl, no +longer very young, whose stately plumpness was almost as becoming to +her as the neat little cap on her blonde head, helped her mistress +take off her muff and cloak, and was just stooping down to take off +her fur-lined rubber shoes. But before she had time to make a +beginning, Innstetten said: "I suppose the best thing will be for me +to introduce to you right here all the occupants of our house, with +the exception of Mrs. Kruse, who does not like to be seen, and who, I +presume, is holding her inevitable black chicken again." Everybody +smiled. "But never mind Mrs. Kruse. Here is my old Frederick, who was +with me when I was at the university. Good times then, weren't they, +Frederick?--This is Johanna, a fellow countrywoman of yours, if you +count those who come from the region of Pasewalk as full-fledged +Brandenburgians; and this is Christel, to whom we trust our bodily +welfare every noon and evening, and who knows how to cook, I can +assure you.--And this is Rollo. Well, Rollo, how goes it?" + +Rollo seemed only to have waited for this special greeting, for the +moment he heard his name he gave a bark for joy, stood up on his hind +legs and laid his forepaws on his master's shoulders. + +"That will do, Rollo, that will do. But look here; this is my wife. I +have told her about you and said that you were a beautiful animal and +would protect her." Hereupon Rollo ceased fawning and sat down in +front of Innstetten, looking up curiously at the young wife. And when +she held out her hand to him he frisked around her. + +During this introduction scene Effi had found time to look about. She +was enchanted, so to speak, by everything she saw, and at the same +time dazzled by the abundant light. In the forepart of the hall were +burning four or five wall lights, the reflectors themselves very +primitive, simply of tin-plate, which, however, only improved the +light and heightened the splendor. Two astral lamps with red shades, a +wedding present from Niemeyer, stood on a folding table between two +oak cupboards. On the front of the table was the tea service, with the +little lamp under the kettle already lighted. There were, beside +these, many, many other things, some of them very queer. From one side +of the hall to the other ran three beams, dividing the ceiling into +sections. From the front one was suspended a ship under full sail, +high quarter-deck, and cannon ports, while farther toward the front +door a gigantic fish seemed to be swimming in the air. Effi took her +umbrella, which she still held in her hand, and pushed gently against +the monster, so that it set up a slow rocking motion. + +"What is that, Geert?" she asked. + +"That is a shark." + +"And that thing, clear at the end of the hall, that looks like a huge +cigar in front of a tobacco store?" + +"That is a young crocodile. But you can look at all these things +better and more in detail tomorrow. Come now and let us take a cup of +tea. For in spite of shawls and rugs you must have been chilled. +Toward the last it was bitter cold." + +He offered Effi his arm and the two maids retired. Only Frederick and +Rollo followed the master of the house as he took his wife into his +sitting room and study. Effi was as much surprised here as she had +been in the hall, but before she had time to say anything, Innstetten +drew back a portiere, which disclosed a second, larger room looking +out on the court and garden. "Now this, Effi, is your room. Frederick +and Johanna have tried to arrange it the best they could in accordance +with my orders. I find it quite tolerable and should be happy if you +liked it, too." + +She withdrew her arm from his and stood up on her tip-toes to give him +a hearty kiss. "Poor little thing that I am, how you do spoil me! This +grand piano! and this rug! Why, I believe it is Turkish. And the bowl +with the little fishes, and the flower table besides! Luxuries, +everywhere I look." + +"Ah, my dear Effi, you will have to put up with that. It is to be +expected when one is young and pretty and amiable. And I presume the +inhabitants of Kessin have already found out about you, heaven knows +from what source. For of the flower table, at least, I am innocent. +Frederick, where did the flower table come from?" + +"Apothecary Gieshübler. There is a card on it." + +"Ah, Gieshübler, Alonzo Gieshübler," said Innstetten, laughingly and +almost boisterously handing the card with the foreign-sounding first +name to Effi. "Gieshübler. I forgot to tell you about him. Let me say +in passing that he bears the doctor's title, but does not like to be +addressed by it. He says it only vexes the real doctors, and I presume +he is right about that. Well, I think you will become acquainted with +him and that soon. He is our best number here, a bel-esprit and an +original, but especially a man of soul, which is after all the chief +thing. But enough of these things; let us sit down and drink our tea. +Where shall it be? Here in your room or over there in mine! There is +no other choice. Snug and tiny is my cabin." + +Without hesitating she sat down on a little corner sofa. "Let us stay +here today; you will be my guest today. Or let us say, rather: Tea +regularly in my room, breakfast in yours. Then each will secure his +rights, and I am curious to know where I shall like it best." + +"That will be a morning and evening question." + +"Certainly. But the way it is put, or better, our attitude toward it, +is the important thing." + +With that she laughed and cuddled up to him and was about to kiss his +hand. + +"No, Effi, for heaven's sake, don't do that. It is not my desire to be +a person looked up to with awe and respect. I am, for the inhabitants +of Kessin, but for you I am--" + +"What, pray?" + +"Ah, let that pass. Far be it from me to say what." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The sun was shining brightly when Effi awoke the next morning. It was +hard for her to get her bearings. Where was she? Correct, in Kessin, +in the house of District Councillor von Innstetten, and she was his +wife, Baroness Innstetten. Sitting up she looked around with +curiosity. During the evening before she had been too tired to examine +very carefully all the half-foreign, half-old-fashioned things that +surrounded her. Two pillars supported the ceiling beam, and green +curtains shut off from the rest of the room the alcove-like sleeping +apartment in which the beds stood. But in the middle a curtain was +either lacking or pulled back, and this afforded her a comfortable +orientation from her bed. There between the two windows stood the +narrow, but very high, pier-glass, while a little to the right, along +the hall wall, towered the tile stove, the door of which, as she had +discovered the evening before, opened into the hall in the +old-fashioned way. She now felt its warmth radiating toward her. How +fine it was to be in her own home! At no time during the whole tour +had she enjoyed so much comfort, not even in Sorrento. + +But where was Innstetten? All was still round about her, nobody was +there. She heard only the tick-tock of a small clock and now and then +a low sound in the stove, from which she inferred that a few new +sticks of wood were being shoved in from the hall. Gradually she +recalled that Geert had spoken the evening before of an electric bell, +for which she did not have to search long. Close by her pillows was +the little white ivory button, and she now pressed softly upon it. + +Johanna appeared at once. "At your Ladyship's service." + +"Oh, Johanna, I believe I have overslept myself. It must be late." + +"Just nine." + +"And my--" She couldn't make herself speak straightway of her +"husband." "His Lordship, he must have kept very quiet. I didn't hear +anything." + +"I'm sure he did. And your Ladyship has slept soundly. After the long +journey--" + +"Yes, I have. And his Lordship, is he always up so early?" + +"Always, your Ladyship. On that point he is strict; he cannot endure +late sleeping, and when he enters his room across the hall the stove +must be warm, and the coffee must not be late." + +"So he has already had his breakfast?" + +"Oh, no, your Ladyship--His Lordship--" + +Effi felt that she ought not to have asked the question and would +better have kept to herself the suspicion that Innstetten might not +have waited for her. So she was very eager to correct her mistake the +best she could, and when she had got up and taken a seat before the +pier-glass she resumed the conversation, saying: "Moreover, his +Lordship is quite right. Always to be up early was likewise the rule +in my parents' home. When people sleep away the morning, everything is +out of gear the rest of the day. But his Lordship will not be so +strict with me. For a long time last night I couldn't sleep, and was +even frightened a little bit." + +"What must I hear, your Ladyship? What was it, pray?" + +"There was a very strange noise overhead, not loud, but very +penetrating. At first it sounded as though gowns with long trains were +dragging over the floor, and in my excitement it seemed a few times as +though I heard little white satin slippers. It seemed as though they +were dancing overhead, but quite softly." + +As the conversation ran on thus Johanna glanced over the shoulder of +the young wife at the tall narrow mirror in order the better to +observe Effi's facial expressions. In reply she said: "Oh, yes, that +is up in the social room. We used to hear it in the kitchen, too. But +now we don't hear it any more; we have become accustomed to it." + +"Is there anything unusual about it?" + +"God forbid, not in the least. For a while no one knew for sure what +it came from, and even the preacher looked embarrassed, in spite of +the fact that Dr. Gieshübler always simply laughed at it. But now we +know that it comes from the curtains. The room is inclined to be musty +and damp, and for that reason the windows are always left open, except +when there is a storm. And so, as there is nearly always a strong +draft upstairs, the wind sweeps the old white curtains, which I think +are much too long, back and forth over the floor. That makes a sound +like silk dresses, or even satin slippers, as your Ladyship just +said." + +"That is it, of course. But what I cannot understand is why the +curtains are not taken down. Or they might be made shorter. It is such +a queer noise that it gets on one's nerves. And now, Johanna, give me +the little cape and put just a little dab of powder on my forehead. +Or, better still, take the 'refresher' from my traveling bag--Ah, that +is fine and refreshes me. Now I am ready to go over. He is still +there, isn't he, or has he been out?" + +"His Lordship went out earlier; I believe he was over at the office. +But he has been back for a quarter of an hour. I will tell Frederick +to bring the breakfast." + +With that Johanna left the room. Effi took one more look into the +mirror and then walked across the hall, which in the daylight lost +much of its charm of the evening before, and stepped into Geert's +room. + +He was sitting at his secretary, a rather clumsy cylindrical desk, +which, however, he did not care to part with, as it was an heirloom. +Effi was standing behind him, and had embraced and kissed him before +he could rise from his chair. + +"So early?" + +"So early, you say. Of course, to mock me." + +Innstetten shook his head. "How can I?" Effi took pleasure in accusing +herself, however, and refused to listen to the assurances of her +husband that his "so early" had been meant in all seriousness. "You +must know from our journey that I have never kept you waiting in the +morning. In the course of the day--well, that is a different matter. +It is true, I am not very punctual, but I am not a late sleeper. In +that respect my parents have given me good training, I think." + +"In that respect? In everything, my sweet Effi." + +"You say that just because we are still on our honeymoon,--why no, we +are past that already. For heaven's sake, Geert, I hadn't given it a +single thought, and--why, we have been married for over six weeks, six +weeks and a day. Yes, that alters the case. So I shall not take it as +flattery, I shall take it as the truth." + +At this moment Frederick came in and brought the coffee. The breakfast +table stood across the corner of the sitting room in front of a sofa +made just in the right shape and size to fill that corner. They both +sat down upon the sofa. + +"The coffee is simply delicious," said Effi, as she looked at the +room and its furnishings. "This is as good as hotel coffee or that we +had at Bottegone's--you remember, don't you, in Florence, with the +view of the cathedral? I must write mama about it. We don't have such +coffee in Hohen-Cremmen. On the whole, Geert, I am just beginning to +realize what a distinguished husband I married. In our home everything +was just barely passable." + +"Nonsense, Effi. I never saw better house-keeping than in your home." + +"And then how well your house is furnished. When papa had bought his +new weapon cabinet and hung above his writing desk the head of a +buffalo, and beneath that a picture of old general Wrangel, under whom +he had once served as an adjutant, he was very proud of what he had +done. But when I see these things here, all our Hohen-Cremmen elegance +seems by the side of them merely commonplace and meagre. I don't know +what to compare them with. Even last night, when I took but a cursory +look at them, a world of ideas occurred to me." + +"And what were they, if I may ask?" + +"What they were? Certainly. But you must not laugh at them. I once had +a picture book, in which a Persian or Indian prince (for he wore a +turban) sat with his feet under him on a silk cushion, and at his back +there was a great red silk bolster, which could be seen bulging out to +the right and left of him, and the wall behind the Indian prince +bristled with swords and daggers and panther skins and shields and +long Turkish guns. And see, it looks just like that here in your +house, and if you will cross your legs and sit down on them the +similarity will be complete." + +"Effi, you are a charming, dear creature. You don't know how deeply I +feel that and how much I should like to show you every moment that I +do feel it." + +"Well, there will be plenty of time for that. I am only seventeen, you +know, and have not yet made up my mind to die." + +"At least not before I do. To be sure, if I should die first, I should +like to take you with me. I do not want to leave you to any other man. +What do you say to that?" + +"Oh, I must have some time to think about it. Or, rather, let us not +think about it at all. I don't like to talk about death; I am for +life. And now tell me, how shall we live here? On our travels you told +me all sorts of queer things about the city and the country, but not a +word about how we shall live here. That here nothing is the same as in +Hohen-Cremmen and Schwantikow, I see plainly, and yet we must be able +to have something like intercourse and society in 'good Kessin,' as +you are always calling it. Have you any people of family in the city?" + +"No, my dear Effi. In this regard you are going to meet with great +disappointments. We have in the neighborhood a few noble families with +which you will become acquainted, but here in the city there is nobody +at all." + +"Nobody at all? That I can't believe. Why, you are upward of three +thousand people, and among three thousand people there certainly must +be, beside such inferior individuals as Barber Beza (I believe that +was his name), a certain élite, officials and the like." + +Innstetten laughed. "Yes, officials there are. But when you examine +them narrowly it doesn't mean much. Of course, we have a preacher and +a judge and a school principal and a commander of pilots, and of such +people in official positions I presume there may be as many as a dozen +altogether, but they are for the most part, as the proverb says, good +men, but poor fiddlers. And all the others are nothing but consuls." + +"Nothing but consuls! I beg you, Geert, how can you say 'nothing but +consuls?' Why, they are very high and grand, and, I might almost say, +awe-inspiring individuals. Consuls, I thought, were the men with the +bundles of rods, out of which an ax blade projected." + +"Not quite, Effi. Those men are called lictors." + +"Right, they are called lictors. But consuls are also men of very high +rank and authority. Brutus was a consul, was he not?" + +"Yes, Brutus was a consul. But ours are not very much like him and are +content to handle sugar and coffee, or open a case of oranges and sell +them to you at ten pfennigs apiece." + +"Not possible." + +"Indeed it is certain. They are tricky little tradesmen, who are +always at hand with their advice on any question of business, when +foreign vessels put in here and are at a loss to know what to do. And +when they have given advice and rendered service to some Dutch or +Portuguese vessel, they are likely in the end to become accredited +representatives of such foreign states, and so we have just as many +consuls in Kessin as we have ambassadors and envoys in Berlin. Then +whenever there is a holiday, and we have many holidays here, all the +flags are hoisted, and, if we happen to have a bright sunny morning, +on such days you can see all Europe flying flags from our roofs, and +the star-spangled banner and the Chinese dragon besides." + +"You are in a scoffing mood, Geert, and yet you may be right. But I +for my part, insignificant though I be, must confess, that I consider +all this charming and that our Havelland cities are nothing in +comparison. When the Emperor's birthday is celebrated in our region +the only flags hoisted are just the black and white, with perhaps a +bit of red here and there, but that is not to be compared with the +world of flags you speak of. Generally speaking, I find over and over +again, as I have already said, that everything here has a certain +foreign air about it, and I have not yet seen or heard a thing that +has not more or less amazed me. Yesterday evening, for example, there +was that remarkable ship out in the hall, and behind it the shark and +the crocodile. And here your own room. Everything so oriental and, I +cannot help repeating, everything as in the palace of an Indian +prince." + +"Well and good! I congratulate you, Princess." + +"And then upstairs the social room with its long curtains, which sweep +over the floor." + +"Now what, pray, do you know about that room?" + +"Nothing beyond what I just told you. For about an hour while I lay +awake in the night it seemed to me as though I heard shoes gliding +over the floor, and as though there were dancing, and something almost +like music, too. But all very quiet. I told Johanna about it this +morning, merely in order to excuse myself for sleeping so long +afterwards. She told me that it came from the long curtains up in the +social room. I think we shall put a stop to that by cutting off a +piece of the curtains or at least closing the windows. The weather +will soon turn stormy enough, anyhow. The middle of November is the +time, you know." + +Innstetten was a trifle embarrassed and sat with a puzzled look on his +face, seemingly undecided whether or not he should attempt to allay +all these fears. Finally he made up his mind to ignore them. "You are +quite right, Effi, we can shorten the long curtains upstairs. But +there is no hurry about it, especially as it is not certain whether it +will do any good. It may be something else, in the chimney, or a worm +in the wood, or a polecat. For we have polecats here. But, in any +case, before we undertake any changes you must first examine our whole +house, under my guidance; that goes without saying. We can do it in a +quarter of an hour. Then you make your toilette, dress up just a +little bit, for in reality you are most charming as you are now. You +must get ready for our friend Gieshübler. It is now past ten, and I +should be very much mistaken in him if he did not put in his +appearance here at eleven, or at twelve at the very latest, in order +most devotedly to lay his homage at your feet. This, by the way, is +the kind of language he indulges in. Otherwise he is, as I have +already said, a capital man, who will become your friend, if I know +him and you aright." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +It was long after eleven, but nothing had been seen of Gieshübler as +yet. "I can't wait any longer," Geert had said, whose duties called +him away. "If Gieshübler comes while I am gone, receive him as kindly +as possible and the call will go especially well. He must not become +embarrassed. When he is ill at ease he cannot find a word to say, or +says the queerest kind of things. But if you can win his confidence +and put him in a good humor he will talk like a book. Well, you will +do that easily enough. Don't expect me before three; there is a great +deal to do over across the way. And the matter of the room upstairs we +will consider further. Doubtless, the best thing will be to leave it +as it is." + +With that Innstetten went away and left his young wife alone. She sat, +leaning back, in a quiet, snug corner by the window, and, as she +looked out, rested her left arm on a small side leaf drawn out of the +cylindrical desk. The street was the chief thoroughfare leading to the +beach, for which reason there was a great deal of traffic here in the +summer time, but now, in the middle of November, it was all empty and +quiet, and only a few poor children, whose parents lived in thatched +cottages clear at the further edge of the "Plantation" came clattering +by in their wooden shoes. But Effi felt none of this loneliness, for +her fancy was still engaged with the strange things she had seen a +short time before during her examination of the house. + +This examination began with the kitchen, which had a range of modern +make, while an electric wire ran along the ceiling and into the maids' +room. These two improvements had only recently been made, and Effi was +pleased when Innstetten told her about them. Next they went from the +kitchen back into the hall and from there out into the court, the +first half of which was little more than a narrow passage-way running +along between the two side wings of the house. In these wings were to +be found all the other rooms set apart for house-keeping purposes. In +the right the maids' room, the manservant's room, and the mangling +room; to the left the coachman's quarters, situated between the stable +and the carriage shed and occupied by the Kruse family. Over this room +was the chicken house, while a trap door in the roof of the stable +furnished ingress and egress for the pigeons. Effi had inspected all +these parts of the house with a great deal of interest, but this +interest was exceeded by far when, upon returning from the court to +the front of the house, she followed Innstetten's leading and climbed +the stairway to the upper story. The stairs were askew, ramshackly, +and dark; but the hall, to which they led, almost gave one a cheerful +sensation, because it had a great deal of light and a good view of the +surrounding landscape. In one direction it looked out over the roofs +of the outskirts of the city and the "Plantation," toward a Dutch +windmill standing high up on a dune; in the other it looked out upon +the Kessine, which here, just above its mouth, was rather broad and +stately. It was a striking view and Effi did not hesitate to give +lively expression to her pleasure. "Yes, very beautiful, very +picturesque," answered Innstetten, without going more into detail, and +then opened a double door to the right, with leaves hanging somewhat +askew, which led into the so-called social room. This room ran clear +across the whole story. Both front and back windows were open and the +oft-mentioned curtains swung back and forth in the strong draft. From +the middle of one side wall projected an open fireplace with a large +stone mantlepiece, while on the opposite wall there hung a few tin +candlesticks, each with two candle sockets, just like those downstairs +in the hall, except that everything looked dingy and neglected. Effi +was somewhat disappointed and frankly said so. Then she remarked that +she would rather look at the rooms across the hall than at this +miserable, deserted social room. "To tell the truth, there is +absolutely nothing over there," answered Innstetten, but he opened the +doors nevertheless. Here were four rooms with one window each, all +tinted yellow, to match the social room, and all completely empty, +except that in one there stood three rush-bottomed chairs, with seats +broken through. On the back of one was pasted a little picture, only +half a finger long, representing a Chinaman in blue coat and wide +yellow trousers, with a low-crowned hat on his head. Effi saw it and +said: "What is the Chinaman doing here?" Innstetten himself seemed +surprised at the picture and assured her that he did not know. "Either +Christel or Johanna has pasted it there. Child's play. You can see it +is cut out of a primer." Effi agreed with that and was only surprised +that Innstetten took everything so seriously, as though it meant +something after all. + +Then she cast another glance into the social room and said, in effect, +that it was really a pity all that room should stand empty. "We have +only three rooms downstairs and if anybody comes to visit us we shall +not know whither to turn. Don't you think one could make two handsome +guest rooms out of the social room? This would just suit mama. She +could sleep in the back room and would have the view of the river and +the two moles, and from the front room she could see the city and the +Dutch windmill. In Hohen-Cremmen we have even to this day only a +German windmill. Now say, what do you think of it? Next May mama will +surely come." + +Innstetten agreed to everything, only he said finally: "That is all +very well. But after all it will be better if we give your mama rooms +over in the district councillor's office building. The whole second +story is vacant there, just as it is here, and she will have more +privacy there." + +That was the result, so to speak, which the first walk around through +the house accomplished. Effi then made her toilette, but not so +quickly as Innstetten had supposed, and now she was sitting in her +husband's room, turning her thoughts first to the little Chinaman +upstairs, then to Gieshübler, who still did not come. To be sure, a +quarter of an hour before, a stoop-shouldered and almost deformed +little gentleman in an elegant short fur coat and a very +smooth-brushed silk hat, too tall for his proportions, had walked +past on the other side of the street and had glanced over at her +window. But that could hardly have been Gieshübler. No, this +stoop-shouldered man, who had such a distinguished air about him, must +have been the presiding judge, and she recalled then that she had once +seen such a person at a reception given by Aunt Therese, but it +suddenly occurred to her that Kessin had only a lower court judge. + +While she was still following out this chain of thought the object of +her reflections, who had apparently been taking a morning stroll, or +perhaps a promenade around the "Plantation" to bolster up his courage, +came in sight again, and a minute later Frederick entered to announce +Apothecary Gieshübler. + +"Ask him kindly to come in." + +The poor young wife's heart fluttered, for it was the first time that +she had to appear as a housewife, to say nothing of the first woman of +the city. + +Frederick helped Gieshübler take off his fur coat and then opened the +door. + +Effi extended her hand to the timidly entering caller, who kissed it +with a certain amount of fervor. The young wife seemed to have made a +great impression upon him immediately. + +"My husband has already told me--But I am receiving you here in my +husband's room,--he is over at the office and may be back any moment. +May I ask you to step into my room?" + +Gieshübler followed Effi, who led the way into the adjoining room, +where she pointed to one of the arm chairs, as she herself sat down on +the sofa. "I wish I could tell you what a great pleasure it was +yesterday to receive the beautiful flowers with your card. I +straightway ceased to feel myself a stranger here and when I mentioned +the fact to Innstetten he told me we should unquestionably be good +friends." + +"Did he say that? The good councillor. In the councillor and you, most +gracious Lady,--I beg your permission to say it--two dear people have +been united. For what kind of a man your husband is, I know, and what +kind of a woman you are, most gracious Lady, I see." + +"Provided only you do not look at me with too friendly eyes. I am so +very young. And youth--" + +"Ah, most gracious Lady, say nothing against youth. Youth, even with +all its mistakes, is still beautiful and lovable, and age, even with +its virtues, is not good for much. Personally I have, it is true, no +right to say anything about this subject. About age I might have, +perhaps, but not about youth, for, to be frank, I was never young. +Persons with my misfortune are never young. That, it may as well be +said, is the saddest feature of the case. One has no true spirit, one +has no self-confidence, one hardly ventures to ask a lady for the +honor of a dance, because one does not desire to cause her an +embarrassment, and thus the years go by and one grows old, and life +has been poor and empty." + +Effi gave him her hand. "Oh, you must not say such things. We women +are by no means so bad." + +"Oh, no, certainly not." + +"And when I recall," continued Effi, "what all I have experienced--it +is not much, for I have gone out but little, and have almost always +lived in the country--but when I recall it, I find that, after all, we +always love what is worthy of love. And then I see, too, at once that +you are different from other men. We women have sharp eyes in such +matters. Perhaps in your case the name has something to do with it. +That was always a favorite assertion of our old pastor Niemeyer. The +name, he loved to say, especially the forename, has a certain +mysterious determining influence; and Alonzo Gieshübler, in my +opinion, opens to one a whole new world, indeed I feel almost tempted +to say, Alonzo is a romantic name, a fastidious name." + +Gieshübler smiled with a very unusual degree of satisfaction and +mustered up the courage to lay aside his silk hat, which up to this +time he had been turning in his hand. "Yes, most gracious Lady, you +hit the nail on the head that time." + +Oh, I understand. I have heard about the consuls, of Kessin is said to +have so many, and at the home of the Spanish consul your father +presumably made the acquaintance of the daughter of a sea-captain, a +beautiful Andalusian girl, I suppose; Andalusian girls are always +beautiful." + +"Precisely as you suppose, most gracious Lady. And my mother really +was a beautiful woman, ill as it behooves me personally to undertake +to prove it. But when your husband came here three years ago she was +still alive and still had the same fiery eyes as in her youth. He will +confirm my statement. I personally take more after the Gieshüblers, +who are people of little account, so far as external features are +concerned, but otherwise tolerably well favored. We have been living +here now for four generations, a full hundred years, and if there were +an apothecary nobility--" + +"You would have a right to claim it. And I, for my part, accept your +claim as proved, and that beyond question. For us who come of old +families it is a very easy matter, because we gladly recognize every +sort of noble-mindedness, no matter from what source it may come. At +least that is the way I was brought up by my father, as well as by my +mother. I am a Briest by birth and am descended from the Briest, who, +the day before the battle of Fehrbellin, led the sudden attack on +Rathenow, of which you may perhaps have heard." + +"Oh, certainly, most gracious Lady, that, you know, is my specialty." + +"Well then I am a von Briest. And my father has said to me more than +a hundred times: Effi,--for that is my name--Effi, here is our +beginning, and here only. When Froben traded the horse, he was that +moment a nobleman, and when Luther said, 'here I stand,' he was more +than ever a nobleman. And I think, Mr. Gieshübler, Innstetten was +quite right when he assured me you and I should be good friends." + +Gieshübler would have liked nothing better than to make her a +declaration of love then and there, and to ask that he might fight and +die for her as a Cid or some other campeador. But as that was out of +the question, and his heart could no longer endure the situation, he +arose from his seat, looked for his hat, which he fortunately found at +once, and, after again kissing the young wife's hand, withdrew quickly +from her presence without saying another word. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Such was Effi's first day in Kessin. Innstetten gave her half a week +further time to become settled and write letters to her mother, Hulda, +and the twins. Then the city calls began, some of which were made in a +closed carriage, for the rains came just right to make this unusual +procedure seem the sensible thing to do. When all the city calls had +been made the country nobility came next in order. These took longer, +as in most cases the distances were so great that it was not possible +to make more than one visit on any one day. First they went to the +Borckes' in Rothenmoor, then to Morgnitz, Dabergotz, and Kroschentin, +where they made their duty call at the Ahlemanns', the Jatzkows', and +the Grasenabbs'. Further down the list came, among other families, +that of Baron von Güldenklee in Papenhagen. The impression that Effi +received was everywhere the same. Mediocre people, whose friendliness +was for the most part of an uncertain character, and who, while +pretending to speak of Bismarck and the Crown Princess, were in +reality merely scrutinizing Effi's dress, which some considered too +pretentious for so youthful a woman, while others looked upon it as +too little suited to a lady of social position. Everything about her, +they said, betrayed the Berlin school,--sense in external matters and +a remarkable degree of uncertainty and embarrassment in the discussion +of great problems. At the Borckes', and also at the homes in Morgnitz +and Dabergotz, she had been declared "infected with rationalism," but +at the Grasenabbs' she was pronounced point-blank an "atheist." To be +sure, the elderly Mrs. Grasenabb, _née_ Stiefel, of Stiefelstein in +South Germany, had made a weak attempt to save Effi at least for +deism. But Sidonie von Grasenabb, an old maid of forty-three, had +gruffly interjected the remark: "I tell you, mother, simply an +atheist, and nothing short of an atheist, and that settles it." After +this outburst the old woman, who was afraid of her own daughter, had +observed discreet silence. + +The whole round had taken just about two weeks, and at a late hour on +the second day of December the Innstettens were returning home from +their last visit. At the Güldenklees' Innstetten had met with the +inevitable fate of having to argue politics with old Mr. Güldenklee. +"Yes, dearest district councillor, when I consider how times have +changed! A generation ago today, or about that long, there was, you +know, another second of December, and good Louis, the nephew of +Napoleon--_if_ he was his nephew, and not in reality of entirely +different extraction--was firing grape and canister at the Parisian +mob. Oh well, let him be forgiven for that; he was just the man to do +it, and I hold to the theory that every man fares exactly as well and +as ill as he deserves. But when he later lost all appreciation and in +the year seventy, without any provocation, was determined to have a +bout with us, you see, Baron, that was--well, what shall I say?--that +was a piece of insolence. But he was repaid for it in his own coin. +Our Ancient of Days up there is not to be trifled with and He is on +our side." + +"Yes," said Innstetten, who was wise enough to appear to be entering +seriously into such Philistine discussions, "the hero and conqueror of +Saarbrücken did not know what he was doing. But you must not be too +strict in your judgment of him personally. After all, who is master in +his own house? Nobody. I myself am already making preparations to put +the reins of government into other hands, and Louis Napoleon, you +know, was simply a piece of wax in the hands of his Catholic wife, or +let us say, rather, of his Jesuit wife." + +"Wax in the hands of his wife, who proceeded to bamboozle him. +Certainly, Innstetten, that is just what he was. But you don't think, +do you, that that is going to save him? He is forever condemned. +Moreover it has never yet been shown conclusively"--at these words his +glance sought rather timorously the eye of his better half--"that +petticoat government is not really to be considered an advantage. +Only, of course, it must be the right sort of a wife. But who was this +wife? She was not a wife at all. The most charitable thing to call her +is a 'dame,' and that tells the whole story. 'Dame' almost always +leaves an after-taste. This Eugenie--whose relation to the Jewish +banker I gladly ignore here, for I hate the 'I-am-holier-than-thou' +attitude--had a streak of the _café-chantant_ in her, and, if the city +in which she lived was a Babylon, she was a wife of Babylon. I don't +care to express myself more plainly, for I know"--and he bowed toward +Effi--"what I owe to German wives. Your pardon, most gracious Lady, +that I have so much as touched upon these things within your hearing." + +Such had been the trend of the conversation, after they had talked +about the election, the assassin Nobiling, and the rape crop, and when +Innstetten and Effi reached home they sat down to chat for half an +hour. The two housemaids were already in bed, for it was nearly +midnight. + +Innstetten put on his short house coat and morocco slippers, and began +to walk up and down in the room; Effi was still dressed in her society +gown, and her fan and gloves lay beside her. + +"Now," said Innstetten, standing still, "we really ought to celebrate +this day, but I don't know as yet how. Shall I play you a triumphal +march, or set the shark going out there, or carry you in triumph +across the hall? Something must be done, for I would have you know, +this visit today was the last one." + +"Thank heaven, if it was," said Effi. "But the feeling that we now +have peace and quiet is, I think, celebration enough in itself. Only +you might give me a kiss. But that doesn't occur to you. On that whole +long road not a touch, frosty as a snow-man. And never a thing but +your cigar." + +"Forget that, I am going to reform, but at present I merely want to +know your attitude toward this whole question of friendly relations +and social intercourse. Do you feel drawn to one or another of these +new acquaintances? Have the Borckes won the victory over the +Grasenabbs, or vice versa, or do you side with old Mr. Güldenklee? +What he said about Eugenie made a very noble and pure impression, +don't you think so?" + +"Aha, behold! Sir Geert von Innstetten is a gossip. I am learning to +know you from an entirely new side." + +"And if our nobility will not do," continued Innstetten, without +allowing himself to be interrupted, "what do you think of the city +officials of Kessin? What do you think of the club? After all, life +and death depend upon your answer. Recently I saw you talking with our +judge, who is a lieutenant of the reserves, a neat little man that one +might perhaps get along with, if he could only rid himself of the +notion that he accomplished the recapture of Le Bourget by attacking +him on the flank. And his wife! She is considered our best Boston +player and has, besides, the prettiest counters. So once more, Effi, +how is it going to be in Kessin? Will you become accustomed to the +place? Will you be popular and assure me a majority when I want to go +to the Imperial Diet? Or do you favor a life of seclusion, holding +yourself aloof from the people of Kessin, in the city as well as in +the country?" + +"I shall probably decide in favor of a secluded life, unless the +Apothecary at the sign of the Moor draws me out. To be sure, that will +make me fall still lower in Sidonie's estimation, but I shall have to +take the risk. This fight will simply have to be fought. I shall stand +or fall with Gieshübler. It sounds rather comical, but he is actually +the only person with whom it is possible to carry on a conversation, +the only real human being here." + +"That he is," said Innstetten. "How well you choose!" + +"Should I have _you_ otherwise?" said Effi and leaned upon his arm. + +That was on the 2d of December. A week later Bismarck was in Varzin, +and Innstetten now knew that until Christmas, and perhaps even for a +longer time, quiet days for him were not to be thought of. The Prince +had cherished a fondness for him ever since the days in Versailles, +and would often invite him to dinner, along with other guests, but +also alone, for the youthful district councillor, distinguished alike +for his bearing and his wisdom, enjoyed the favor of the Princess +also. + +The first invitation came for the 14th. As there was snow on the +ground Innstetten planned to take a sleigh for the two hours' drive to +the station, from which he had another hour's ride by train. "Don't +wait for me, Effi. I can't be back before midnight; it will probably +be two o'clock or even later. But I'll not disturb you. Good-by, I'll +see you in the morning." With that he climbed into the sleigh and away +the Isabella-colored span flew through the city and across the country +toward the station. + +That was the first long separation, for almost twelve hours. Poor +Effi! How was she to pass the evening? To go to bed early would be +inadvisable, for she would wake up and not be able to go to sleep +again, and would listen for every sound. No, it would be best to wait +till she was very tired and then enjoy a sound sleep. She wrote a +letter to her mother and then went to see Mrs. Kruse, whose condition +aroused her sympathy. This poor woman had the habit of sitting till +late at night with the black chicken in her lap. The friendliness the +visit was meant to show was by no means returned by Mrs. Kruse, who +sat in her overheated room quietly brooding away the time. So when +Effi perceived that her coming was felt as a disturbance rather than a +pleasure she went away, staying merely long enough to ask whether +there was anything the invalid would like to have. But all offers of +assistance were declined. + +Meanwhile it had become evening and the lamp was already burning. Effi +walked over to the window of her room and looked out at the grove, +whose trees were covered with glistening snow. She was completely +absorbed in the picture and took no notice of what was going on behind +her in the room. When she turned around she observed that Frederick +had quietly put the coffee tray on the table before the sofa and set a +place for her. "Why, yes, supper. I must sit down, I suppose." But she +could not make herself eat. So she got up from the table and reread +the letter she had written to her mother. If she had had a feeling of +loneliness before, it was doubly intense now. What would she not have +given if the two sandy-haired Jahnkes had just stepped in, or even +Hulda? The latter, to be sure, was always so sentimental and as a +usual thing occupied solely with her own triumphs. But doubtful and +insecure as these triumphs were, nevertheless Effi would be very happy +to be told about them at this moment. Finally she opened the grand +piano to play some music, but she could not play. "No, this will make +me hopelessly melancholy; I will read, rather." She looked for a book, +and the first to fall into her hands was a thick red tourist's +handbook, an old edition, perhaps from the days when Innstetten was a +lieutenant. "Yes, I will read in this book; there is nothing more +quieting than books like this. Only the maps should always be avoided. +But I shall guard against this source of sand in the eyes, which I +hate." + +She opened the book at random at page 153. In the adjoining room she +heard the tick-tock of the clock, and out of doors Rollo, who at +nightfall had left his place in the shed, as was his custom every +evening, and had stretched himself out on the large woven mat just +outside the bedroom door. The consciousness that he was near at hand +decreased Effi's feeling that she was forsaken. In fact, it almost put +her in a cheerful mood, and so she began, without further delay, to +read. On the page lying open before her there was something about the +"Hermitage," the well country-seat of the Margrave in the neighborhood +of Beireuth. It attracted her attention. Beireuth, Richard Wagner. So +she read: "Among the pictures in the 'Hermitage' let us mention one +more, which not because of its beauty, but because of its age and the +person it represents, may well claim our interest. It is a woman's +portrait, which has grown dark with age. The head is small, the face +has harsh, rather uncanny features, and she wears a ruff which seems +to support her head. Some think it is an old margravine from the end +of the 15th century, others are of the opinion that it is the Countess +of Orlamunde. All are agreed that it is the picture of the Lady who +since that time has achieved a certain notoriety in the history of the +Hohenzollern dynasty under the name of the 'Lady in white.'" + +"That was a lucky accident!" said Effi, as she shoved the book aside. +"I seek to quiet my nerves, and the first thing I run into is the +story of the 'Lady in white,' of whom I have been afraid as long as I +can remember. But inasmuch as I already have a creepy feeling I might +as well finish the story." + +She opened the book again and read further: "This old portrait itself, +the original of which plays such a rôle in Hohenzollern history, has +likewise a significance as a picture in the special history of the +Hermitage. No doubt, one circumstance that has something to do with +this is the fact that the picture hangs on a papered door, which is +invisible to the stranger and behind which there is a stairway leading +down into the cellar. It is said that when Napoleon spent the night +here the 'Lady in white' stepped out of the frame and walked up to his +bed. The Emperor, starting with fright, the story continues, called +for his adjutant, and to the end of his life always spoke with +exasperation of this 'cursed palace.'" + +"I must give up trying to calm myself by reading," said Effi. "If I +read further, I shall certainly come to a vaulted cellar that the +devil once rode out of on a wine cask. There are several of these in +Germany, I believe, and in a tourist's handbook all such things have +to be collected; that goes without saying. So I will close my eyes, +rather, and recall my wedding-eve celebration as well as I can,--how +the twins could not get any farther because of their tears, and how, +when everybody looked at everybody else with embarrassment, Cousin von +Briest declared that such tears opened the gate to Paradise. He was +truly charming and always in such exuberant spirits. And look at me +now! Here, of all places! Oh, I am not at all suited to be a grand +Lady. Now mama, she would have fitted this position, she would have +sounded the key-note, as behooves the wife of a district councillor, +and Sidonie Grasenabb would have been all homage toward her and would +not have been greatly disturbed about her belief or unbelief. But I--I +am a child and shall probably remain one, too. I once heard that it is +a good fortune. But I don't know whether that is true. Obviously a +wife ought always to adapt herself to the position in which she is +placed." + +At this moment Frederick came to clear off the table. + +"How late is it, Frederick?" + +"It is going on nine, your Ladyship." + +"Well, that is worth listening to. Send Johanna to me." + + * * * * * + +"Your Ladyship sent for me." + +"Yes, Johanna; I want to go to bed. It is still early, to be sure, but +I am so alone. Please go out first and post this letter, and when you +come back it will surely be time. And even if it isn't." + +Effi took the lamp and walked over to her bedroom. Just as she had +expected, there lay Rollo on the rush mat. When he saw her coming he +arose to make room for her to pass, and rubbed his ear against her +hand. Then he lay down again. + +Meanwhile Johanna had gone over to the office to post the letter. Over +there she had been in no particular hurry; on the contrary, she had +preferred to carry on a conversation with Mrs. Paaschen, the wife of +the janitor of the building. About the young wife, of course. + +"What kind of a woman is she anyhow?" asked Mrs. Paaschen. + +"She is very young." + +"Well, that is no misfortune, but rather the opposite. Young wives, +and that is just the good thing about them, never do anything but +stand before the mirror and pull at themselves and put on some +ornament. They don't see much or hear much and have not yet formed the +habit of counting the stubs of candles in the kitchen, and they don't +begrudge a maid a kiss if she gets one, simply because she herself no +longer gets any." + +"Yes," said Johanna, "that was the way with my former madame, and +wholly without occasion. But there is nothing of that kind about our +mistress." + +"Is he very affectionate?" + +"Oh very. That you can easily imagine." + +"But the fact that he leaves her thus alone--" + +"Yes, dear Mrs. Paaschen, but you must not forget--the Prince. After +all, you know, he is a district councillor, and perhaps he wants to +rise still higher." + +"Certainly he wants to, and he will, too. It's in him. Paaschen always +says so and he knows." + +This walk over to the office had consumed perhaps a quarter of an +hour, and when Johanna returned, Effi was already sitting before the +pier-glass, waiting. + +"You were gone a long time, Johanna." + +"Yes, your Ladyship--I beg your Ladyship's pardon--I met Mrs. Paaschen +over there and was delayed a bit. It is so quiet here. One is always +glad to meet a person with whom one can speak a word. Christel is a +very good person, but she doesn't talk, and Frederick is such a +sleepy-head. Besides, he is so cautious and never comes right out with +what he has to say. True, one must be able to hold one's tongue when +necessary, and Mrs. Paaschen, who is so inquisitive, is really not at +all according to my taste. Yet one likes to see and hear something +once in a while." + +Effi sighed. "Yes, Johanna, it is better so." + +"Your Ladyship has such beautiful hair, so long, and soft as silk." + +"Yes, it is very soft. But that is not a good thing, Johanna. As the +hair is, so is the character." + +"Certainly, your Ladyship. And a soft character is better than a hard +one. I have soft hair, too." + +"Yes, Johanna. And you have blonde hair, too. That the men like best." + +"Oh, there is a great difference, your Ladyship. There are many who +prefer black." + +"To be sure," laughed Effi, "that has been my experience, too. But it +must be because of something else entirely. Now, those who are blonde +always have a white complexion. You have, too, Johanna, and I would +wager my last pfennig that you have a good deal of attention paid to +you. I am still very young, but I know that much. Besides, I have a +girl friend, who was also so blonde, a regular flaxen blonde, even +blonder than you, and she was a preacher's daughter." + +"Oh, yes." + +"I beg you, Johanna, what do you mean by 'oh yes?' It sounds very +sarcastic and strange, and you have nothing against preachers' +daughters, have you?--She was a very pretty girl, as even our +officers thought, without exception, for we had officers, red hussars, +too. At the same time she knew very well how to dress herself. A black +velvet bodice and a flower, a rose or sometimes heliotrope, and if she +had not had such large protruding eyes--Oh you ought to have seen +them, Johanna, at least this large--" Effi laughingly pulled down her +right eye-lid--"she would have been simply a beauty. Her name was +Hulda, Hulda Niemeyer, and we were not even so very intimate. But if I +had her here now, and she were sitting there, yonder in the corner of +the little sofa, I would chat with her till midnight, or even longer. +I am so homesick"--in saying this she drew Johanna's head close to her +breast--"I am so much afraid." + +"Oh, that will soon be overcome, your Ladyship, we were all that way." + +"You were all that way? What does that mean, Johanna?" + +"If your Ladyship is really so much afraid, why, I can make a bed for +myself here. I can take the straw mattress and turn down a chair, so +that I have something to lean my head against, and then I can sleep +here till morning, or till his Lordship comes home." + +"He doesn't intend to disturb me. He promised me that specially." + +"Or I can merely sit down in the corner of the sofa." + +"Yes, that might do perhaps. No, it will not, either. His Lordship +must not know that I am afraid, he would not like it. He always wants +me to be brave and determined, as he is. And I can't be. I was always +somewhat easily influenced.--But, of course, I see plainly, I must +conquer myself and subject myself to his will in such particulars, as +well as in general. And then I have Rollo, you know. He is lying just +outside the threshold." + +Johanna nodded at each statement and finally lit the candle on Effi's +bedroom stand. Then she took the lamp. "Does your Ladyship wish +anything more?" + +"No, Johanna. The shutters are closed tight, are they not?" + +"Merely drawn to, your Ladyship. Otherwise it would be so dark and +stuffy." + +"Very well." + +Johanna withdrew, and Effi went to bed and wrapped herself up in the +covers. + +She left the candle burning, because she was determined not to go to +sleep at once. On the contrary, she planned to recapitulate her +wedding tour, as she had her wedding-eve celebration a short time +before, and let everything pass before her mind's eye in review. But +it turned out otherwise than she had expected, for when she had +reached Verona and was looking for the house of Juliet Capulet, her +eyes fell shut. The stub of candle in the little silver holder +gradually burned down, flickered once or twice, and went out. + +Effi had slept quite soundly for a while, when all of a sudden she +started up out of her sleep with a loud scream, indeed, she was able +to hear the scream, as she awoke, and she also noticed Rollo's barking +outside. His "bow-wow" went echoing down the hall, muffled and almost +terrifying. She felt as though her heart stood still, and was unable +to call out. At this moment something whisked past her, and the door +into the hall sprang open. But the moment of extreme fright was also +the moment of her rescue, for, instead of something terrible, Rollo +now came up to her, sought her hand with his head, and, when he had +found it, lay down upon the rug before her bed. With her other hand +Effi had pressed three times on the button of the bell and in less +than half a minute Johanna was there, in her bare feet, her skirt +hanging over her arm and a large checkered cloth thrown over her head +and shoulders. + +"Thank heaven, Johanna, that you are here." + +"What was the matter, your Ladyship? Your Ladyship has had a dream." + +"Yes, a dream. It must have been something of the sort, but it was +something else besides." + +"Pray, what, your Ladyship?" + +"I was sleeping quite soundly and suddenly I started up and +screamed--perhaps it was a nightmare--they have nightmares in our +family--My father has them, too, and frightens us with them. Mama +always says he ought not to humor himself so--But that is easy to +say--Well, I started up out of my sleep and screamed, and when I +looked around, as well as I could in the dark, something slipped past +my bed, right there where you are standing now, Johanna, and then it +was gone. And if I ask myself seriously, what it was--" + +"Well, your Ladyship?" + +"And if I ask myself seriously--I don't like to say it, Johanna--but I +believe it was the Chinaman." + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann, A.-G. Munich_ +A STREET SCENE AT PARIS Adolph von Menzel] + +"The one from upstairs?" said Johanna, trying to laugh, "our little +Chinaman that we pasted on the back of the chair, Christel and I? Oh, +your Ladyship has been dreaming, and even if your Ladyship was awake, +it all came from a dream." + +"I should believe that, if it had not been exactly the moment when +Rollo began to bark outside. So he must have seen it too. Then the +door flew open and the good faithful animal sprang toward me, as +though he were coming to my rescue. Oh, my dear Johanna, it was +terrible. And I so alone and so young. Oh, if I only had some one here +with whom I could weep. But so far from home--alas, from home." + +"The master may come any hour." + +"No, he shall not come. He shall not see me thus. He would probably +laugh at me and I could never pardon him for that. For it was so +fearful, Johanna--You must stay here now--But let Christel sleep and +Frederick too. Nobody must know about it." + +"Or perhaps I may fetch Mrs. Kruse to join us. She doesn't sleep +anyhow; she sits there all night long." + +"No, no, she is a kindred spirit. That black chicken has something to +do with it, too. She must not come. No, Johanna, you just stay here +yourself. And how fortunate that you merely drew the shutters to. Push +them open, make a loud noise, so that I may hear a human sound, a +human sound--I have to call it that, even if it seems queer--and then +open the window a little bit, that I may have air and light." + +Johanna did as ordered and Effi leaned back upon her pillows and soon +thereafter fell into a lethargic sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +It was six o'clock in the morning when Innstetten returned home from +Varzin. He made Rollo omit all demonstrations of affection and then +retired as quietly as possible to his room. Here he lay down in a +comfortable position, but would not allow Frederick to do more than +cover him up with a traveling rug. "Wake me at nine." And at this hour +he was wakened. He arose quickly and said: "Bring my breakfast." + +"Her Ladyship is still asleep." + +"But it is late. Has anything happened?" + +"I don't know. I only know that Johanna had to sleep all night in her +Ladyship's room." + +"Well, send Johanna to me then." + +She came. She had the same rosy complexion as ever, and so seemed not +to have been specially upset by the events of the night. + +"What is this I hear about her Ladyship? Frederick tells me something +happened and you slept in her room." + +"Yes, Sir Baron. Her Ladyship rang three times in very quick +succession, and I thought at once it meant something. And it did, too. +She probably had a dream, or it may perhaps have been the other +thing." + +"What other thing?" + +"Oh, your Lordship knows, I believe." + +"I know nothing. In any case we must put an end to it. And how did you +find her Ladyship?" + +"She was beside herself and clung to Rollo's collar with all her +might. The dog was standing beside her Ladyship's bed and was +frightened also." + +"And what had she dreamed, or, if you prefer, what had she heard or +seen? What did she say?" + +"That it just slipped along close by her." + +"What? Who?" + +"The man from upstairs. The one from the social hall or from the small +chamber." + +"Nonsense, I say. Over and over that same silly stuff. I don't want to +hear any more about it. And then you stayed with her Ladyship?" + +"Yes, your Lordship. I made a bed on the floor close by her. And I had +to hold her hand, and then she went to sleep." + +"And she is still sleeping?" + +"Very soundly." + +"I am worried about that, Johanna. One can sleep one's self well, but +also ill. We must waken her, cautiously, of course, so that she will +not be startled again. And tell Frederick not to bring the breakfast. +I will wait till her Ladyship is here. Now let me see how clever you +can be." + +Half an hour later Effi came. She looked charming, but quite pale, and +was leaning on Johanna. The moment she caught sight of Innstetten she +rushed up to him and embraced and kissed him, while the tears streamed +down her face. "Oh, Geert, thank heaven, you are here. All is well +again now. You must not go away again, you must not leave me alone +again." + +"My dear Effi--Just put it down, Frederick, I will do the rest--my +dear Effi, I am not leaving you alone from lack of consideration or +from caprice, but because it is necessary. I have no choice. I am a +man in office and cannot say to the Prince, or even to the Princess: +Your Highness, I cannot come; my wife is so alone, or, my wife is +afraid. If I said that it would put us in a rather comical light, me +certainly, and you, too. But first take a cup of coffee." + +Effi drank her coffee and its stimulating effect was plainly to be +seen. Then she took her husband's hand again and said: "You shall have +your way. I see, it is impossible. And then, you know, we aspire to +something higher. I say we, for I am really more eager for it than +you." + +"All wives are," laughed Innstetten. + +"So it is settled. You will accept invitations as heretofore, and I +will stay here and wait for my 'High Lord,' which reminds me of Hulda +under the elder tree. I wonder how she is getting along?" + +"Young ladies like Hulda always get along well. But what else were you +going to say?" + +"I was going to say, I will stay here, and even alone, if necessary. +But not in this house. Let us move out. There are such handsome houses +along the quay, one between Consul Martens and Consul Grützmacher, and +one on the Market, just opposite Gieshübler. Why can't we live there? +Why here, of all places? When we have had friends and relatives as +guests in our house I have often heard that in Berlin families move +out on account of piano playing, or on account of cockroaches, or on +account of an unfriendly concierge. If it is done on account of such a +trifle--" + +"Trifle? Concierge? Don't say that." + +"If it is possible because of such things it must also be possible +here, where you are district councillor and the people are obliged to +do your bidding and many even owe you a debt of gratitude. Gieshübler +would certainly help us, even if only for my sake, for he will +sympathize with me. And now say, Geert, shall we give up this +abominable house, this house with the--" + +"Chinaman, you mean. You see, Effi, one can pronounce the fearful word +without his appearing. What you saw or what, as you think, slipped +past your bed, was the little Chinaman that the maids pasted on the +back of the chair upstairs. I'll wager he had a blue coat on and a +very flat-crowned hat, with a shining button on top." + +She nodded. + +"Now you see, a dream, a hallucination. And then, I presume, Johanna +told you something last night, about the wedding upstairs." + +"No." + +"So much the better." + +"She didn't tell me a word. But from all this I can see that there is +something queer here. And then the crocodile; everything is so uncanny +here." + +"The first evening, when you saw the crocodile, you considered it +fairy-like--" + +"Yes, then." + +"And then, Effi, I can't well leave here now, even if it were possible +to sell the house or make an exchange. It is with this exactly as with +declining an invitation to Varzin. I can't have the people here in the +city saying that District Councillor Innstetten is selling his house +because his wife saw the little pasted-up picture of a Chinaman as a +ghost by her bed. I should be lost, Effi. One can never recover from +such ridiculousness." + +"But, Geert, are you so sure that there is nothing of the kind?" + +"That I will not affirm. It is a thing that one can believe or, +better, not believe. But supposing there were such things, what harm +do they do? The fact that bacilli are flying around in the air, of +which you have doubtless heard, is much worse and more dangerous than +all this scurrying about of ghosts, assuming that they do scurry +about, and that such a thing really exists. Then I am particularly +surprised to see _you_ show such fear and such an aversion, you a +Briest. Why, it is as though you came from a low burgher family. +Ghosts are a distinction, like the family tree and the like, and I +know families that would as lief give up their coat of arms as their +'Lady in white,' who may even be in black, for that matter." + +Effi remained silent. + +"Well, Effi; no answer?" + +"What do you expect me to answer? I have given in to you and shown +myself docile, but I think you in turn might be more sympathetic. If +you knew how I long for sympathy. I have suffered a great deal, really +a very great deal, and when I saw you I thought I should now be rid of +my fear. But you merely told me you had no desire to make yourself +ridiculous in the eyes either of the Prince or of the city. That is +small comfort. I consider it small, and so much the smaller, since, to +cap the climax, you contradict yourself, and not only seem to believe +in these things yourself, but even expect me to have a nobleman's +pride in ghosts. Well, I haven't. When you talk about families that +value their ghosts as highly as their coat of arms, all I have to say +is, that is a matter of taste, and I count my coat of arms worth more. +Thank heaven, we Briests have no ghosts. The Briests were always very +good people and that probably accounts for it." + +The dispute would doubtless have gone on longer and might perhaps have +led to a first serious misunderstanding if Frederick had not entered +to hand her Ladyship a letter. "From Mr. Gieshübler. The messenger is +waiting for an answer." + +All the ill-humor on Effi's countenance vanished immediately. It did +her good merely to hear Gieshübler's name, and her cheerful feeling +was further heightened when she examined the letter. In the first +place it was not a letter at all, but a note, the address "Madame the +Baroness von Innstetten, _née_ Briest," in a beautiful court hand, and +instead of a seal a little round picture pasted on, a lyre with a +staff sticking in it. But the staff might also be an arrow. She handed +the note to her husband, who likewise admired it. + +"Now read it." + +Effi broke open the wafer and read: "Most highly esteemed Lady, most +gracious Baroness: Permit me to join to my most respectful forenoon +greeting a most humble request. By the noon train a dear friend of +mine for many years past, a daughter of our good city of Kessin, Miss +Marietta Trippelli, will arrive here to sojourn in our midst +till tomorrow morning. On the 17th she expects to be in St. +Petersburg, where she will give concerts till the middle of January. +Prince Kotschukoff is again opening his hospitable house to her. In +her immutable kindness to me, Miss Trippelli has promised to spend +this evening at my house and sing some songs, leaving the choice +entirely to me, for she knows no such thing as difficulty. Could +Madame the Baroness consent to attend this soirée musicale, at seven +o'clock? Your husband, upon whose appearance I count with certainty, +will support my most humble request. The only other guests are Pastor +Lindequist, who will accompany, and the widow Trippel, of course. +Your most obedient servant. A. Gieshübler." + +"Well," said Innstetten, "yes or no?" + +"Yes, of course. That will pull me through. Besides, I cannot decline +my dear Gieshübler's very first invitation." + +"Agreed. So, Frederick, tell Mirambo, for I take it for granted he +brought the letter, that we shall have the honor." + +Frederick went out. When he was gone Effi asked: "Who is Mirambo?" + +"The genuine Mirambo is a robber chief in Africa,--Lake Tanganyika, if +your geography extends that far--but ours is merely Gieshübler's +charcoal dispenser and factotum, and will this evening, in all +probability, serve as a waiter in dress coat and cotton gloves." + +It was quite apparent that the little incident had had a favorable +effect on Effi and had restored to her a good share of her +light-heartedness. But Innstetten wished to do what he could to hasten +the convalescence. "I am glad you said yes, so quickly and without +hesitation, and now I should like to make a further proposal to you to +restore you entirely to your normal condition. I see plainly, you are +still annoyed by something from last night foreign to my Effi and it +must be got rid of absolutely. There is nothing better for that than +fresh air. The weather is splendid, cool and mild at the same time, +with hardly a breeze stirring. How should you like to take a drive +with me? A long one, not merely out through the "Plantation." In the +sleigh, of course, with the sleigh-bells on and the white snow +blankets. Then if we are back by four you can take a rest, and at +seven we shall be at Gieshübler's and hear Trippelli." + +Effi took his hand. "How good you are, Geert, and how indulgent! For I +must have seemed to you very childish, or at least very childlike, +first in the episode of fright and then, later, when I asked you to +sell the house, but worst of all in what I said about the Prince. I +urged you to break off all connection with him, and that would be +ridiculous. For after all he is the one man who has to decide our +destiny. Mine, too. You don't know how ambitious I am. To tell the +truth, it was only out of ambition that I married you. Oh, you must +not put on such a serious expression. I love you, you know. What is it +we say when we pluck a blossom and tear off the petals? 'With all my +heart, with grief and pain, beyond compare.'" She burst out laughing. +"And now tell me," she continued, as Innstetten still kept silent, +"whither shall we go?" + +"I thought, to the railway station, by a roundabout way, and then back +by the turnpike. We can dine at the station or, better, at +Golchowski's, at the Prince Bismarck Hotel, which we passed on the day +of our return home, as you perhaps remember. Such a visit always has a +good effect, and then I can have a political conversation with the +Starost by the grace of Effi, and even if he does not amount to much +personally he keeps his hotel in good condition and his cuisine in +still better. The people here are connoisseurs when it comes to eating +and drinking." + +It was about eleven when they had this conversation. At twelve Kruse +drove the sleigh up to the door and Effi got in. Johanna was going to +bring a foot bag and furs, but Effi, after all that she had juat +passed through, felt so strongly the need of fresh air that she took +only a double blanket and refused everything else. Innstetten said to +Kruse: "Now, Kruse, we want to drive to the station where you and I +were this morning. The people will wonder at it, but that doesn't +matter. Say, we drive here past the 'Plantation,' and then to the left +toward the Kroschentin church tower. Make the horses fly. We must be +at the station at one." + +Thus began the drive. Over the white roofs of the city hung a bank of +smoke, for there was little stir in the air. They flew past Utpatel's +mill, which turned very slowly, and drove so close to the churchyard +that the tips of the barberry bushes which hung out over the lattice +brushed against Effi, and showered snow upon her blanket. On the other +side of the road was a fenced-in plot, not much larger than a garden +bed, and with nothing to be seen inside except a young pine tree, +which rose out of the centre. + +"Is anybody buried there?" asked Effi. + +"Yes, the Chinaman." + +Effi was startled; it came to her like a stab. But she had strength +enough to control herself and ask with apparent composure: "Ours?" + +"Yes, ours. Of course, he could not be accommodated in the community +graveyard and so Captain Thomsen, who was what you might call his +friend, bought this patch and had him buried here. There is also a +stone with an inscription. It all happened before my time, of course, +but it is still talked about." + +"So there is something in it after all. A story. You said something of +the kind this morning. And I suppose it would be best for me to hear +what it is. So long as I don't know, I shall always be a victim of my +imaginations, in spite of all my good resolutions. Tell me the real +story. The reality cannot worry me so much as my fancy." + +"Good for you, Effi. I didn't intend to speak about it. But now it +comes in naturally, and that is well. Besides, to tell the truth, it +is nothing at all." + +"All the same to me: nothing at all or much or little. Only begin." + +"Yes, that is easy to say. The beginning is always the hardest part, +even with stories. Well, I think I shall begin with Captain Thomsen." + +"Very well." + +"Now Thomsen, whom I have already mentioned, was for many years a +so-called China-voyager, always on the way between Shanghai and +Singapore with a cargo of rice, and may have been about sixty when he +arrived here. I don't know whether he was born here or whether he had +other relations here. To make a long story short, now that he was here +he sold his ship, an old tub that he disposed of for very little, and +bought a house, the same that we are now living in. For out in the +world he had become a wealthy man. This accounts for the crocodile and +the shark and, of course, the ship. Thomsen was a very adroit man, as +I have been told, and well liked, even by Mayor Kirstein, but above +all by the man who was at that time the pastor in Kessin, a native of +Berlin, who had come here shortly before Thomsen and had met with a +great deal of opposition." + +"I believe it. I notice the same thing. They are so strict and +self-righteous here. I believe that is Pomeranian." + +"Yes and no, depending. There are other regions where they are not at +all strict and where things go topsy-turvy--But just see, Effi, there +we have the Kroschentin church tower right close in front of us. Shall +we not give up the station and drive over to see old Mrs. von +Grasenabb? Sidonie, if I am rightly informed, is not at home. So we +might risk it." + +"I beg you, Geert, what are you thinking of? Why, it is heavenly to +fly along thus, and I can simply feel myself being restored and all my +fear falling from me. And now you ask me to sacrifice all that merely +to pay these old people a flying visit and very likely cause them +embarrassment. For heaven's sake let us not. And then I want above all +to hear the story. We were talking about Captain Thomsen, whom I +picture to myself as a Dane or an Englishman, very clean, with white +stand-up collar, and perfectly white linen." + +"Quite right. So he is said to have looked. And with him lived a young +person of about twenty, whom some took for his niece, but most people +for his grand-daughter. The latter, however, considering their ages, +was hardly possible. Beside the grand-daughter or the niece, there was +also a Chinaman living with him, the same one who lies there among the +dunes and whose grave we have just passed." + +"Fine, fine." + +"This Chinaman was a servant at Thomsen's and Thomsen thought a great +deal of him, so that he was really more a friend than a servant. And +it remained so for over a year. Then suddenly it was rumored that +Thomsen's grand-daughter, who, I believe, was called Nina, was to be +married to a captain, in accordance with the old man's wish. And so +indeed it came about. There was a grand wedding at the house, the +Berlin pastor married them. The miller Utpatel, a Scottish Covenanter, +and Gieshübler, a feeble light in church matters, were invited, but +the more prominent guests were a number of captains with their wives +and daughters. And, as you can imagine, there was a lively time. In +the evening there was dancing, and the bride danced with every man and +finally with the Chinaman. Then all of a sudden the report spread that +she had vanished. And she was really gone, somewhere, but nobody knew +just what had happened. A fortnight later the Chinaman died. Thomsen +bought the plot I have shown you and had him buried in it. The Berlin +Pastor is said to have remarked: 'The Chinaman might just as well have +been buried in the Christian churchyard, for he was a very good man +and exactly as good as the rest.' Whom he really meant by the rest, +Gieshübler says nobody quite knew." + +"Well, in this matter I am absolutely against the pastor. Nobody ought +to say such things, for they are dangerous and unbecoming. Even +Niemeyer would not have said that." + +"The poor pastor, whose name, by the way, was Trippel, was very +seriously criticised for it, and it was truly a blessing that he soon +afterward died, for he would have lost his position otherwise. The +city was opposed to him, just as you are, in spite of the fact that +they had called him, and the Consistory, of course, was even more +antagonistic." + +"Trippel, you say? Then, I presume, there is some connection between +him and the pastor's widow, Mrs. Trippel, whom we are to see this +evening." + +"Certainly there is a connection. He was her husband, and the father +of Miss Trippelli." + +Effi laughed. "Of Miss Trippelli! At last I see the whole affair in a +clear light. That she was born in Kessin, Gieshübler wrote me, you +remember. But I thought she was the daughter of an Italian consul. We +have so many foreign names here, you know. And now I find she is good +German and a descendant of Trippel. Is she so superior that she could +venture to Italianize her name in this fashion?" + +"The daring shall inherit the earth. Moreover she is quite good. She +spent a few years in Paris with the famous Madame Viardot, and there +made the acquaintance of the Russian Prince. Russian Princes, you +know, are very enlightened, are above petty class prejudices, and +Kotschukoff and Gieshübler--whom she calls uncle, by the way, and one +might almost call him a born uncle--it is, strictly speaking, these +two who have made little Marie Trippel what she is. It was Gieshübler +who induced her to go to Paris and Kotschukoff made her over into +Marietta Trippelli." + +"Ah, Geert, what a charming story this is and what a humdrum life I +have led in Hohen-Cremmen! Never a thing out of the ordinary." + +Innstetten took her hand and said: "You must not speak thus, Effi. +With respect to ghosts one may take whatever attitude one likes. But +beware of 'out of the ordinary' things, or what is loosely called out +of the ordinary. That which appears to you so enticing, even a life +such as Miss Trippelli leads, is as a rule bought at the price of +happiness. I know quite well how you love Hohen-Cremmen and are +attached to it, but you often make sport of it, too, and have no +conception of how much quiet days like those in Hohen-Cremmen mean." + +"Yes I have," she said. "I know very well. Only I like to hear about +something else once in a while, and then the desire comes over me to +have a similar experience. But you are quite right, and, to tell the +truth, I long for peace and quiet." + +Innstetten shook his finger at her. "My dear, dear Effi, that again +you only imagine. Always fancies, first one thing, then another." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +[Innstetten and Effi stopped at the Prince Bismarck Hotel for dinner +and heard some of Golchowski's gossip. All three went out near the +tracks, when they heard a fast express coming, and as it passed in the +direction of Effi's old home, it filled her heart with longing. The +soirée musicale at Gieshübler's was particularly enlivened by the +bubbling humor of Miss Trippelli, whose singing was excellent, but did +not overshadow her talent as a conversationalist. Effi admired her +ability to sing dramatic pieces with composure. An uncanny ballad led +to a discussion of haunted houses and ghosts, in both of which Miss +Trippelli believed.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +The guests did not go home till late. Soon after ten Effi remarked to +Gieshübler that it was about time to leave, as Miss Trippelli must not +miss her train and would have to leave Kessin at six in order to catch +it. But Miss Trippelli overheard the remark and, in her own peculiar +unabashed way, protested against such thoughtful consideration. "Ah, +most gracious Lady, you think that one following my career needs +regular sleep, but you are mistaken. What we need regularly is +applause and high prices. Oh, laugh if you like. Besides, I can sleep +in my compartment on the train--for one learns to do such things--in +any position and even on my left side, and I don't even need to +unfasten my dress. To be sure, I am never laced tight; chest and lungs +must always be free, and, above all, the heart. Yes, most gracious +Lady, that is the prime essential. And then, speaking of sleep in +general, it is not the quantity that tells; it is the quality. A good +nap of five minutes is better than five hours of restless turning over +and over, first one way, then the other. Besides, one sleeps +marvelously in Russia, in spite of the strong tea. It must be the air +that causes it, or late dinners, or because one is so pampered. There +are no cares in Russia; in that regard Russia is better than America. +In the matter of money the two are equal." After this explanation on +the part of Miss Trippelli, Effi desisted from further warnings that +it was time to go. When twelve o'clock came, the guests, who had +meanwhile developed a certain degree of intimacy, bade their host a +merry and hearty good night. + + * * * * * + +Three days later Gieshübler's friend brought herself once more to +Effi's attention by a telegram in French, from St. Petersburg: "Madame +the Baroness von Innstetten, née von Briest. Arrived safe. Prince K. +at station. More taken with me than ever. Thousand thanks for your +good reception. Kindest regards to Monsieur the Baron. Marietta +Trippelli." + +Innstetten was delighted and gave more enthusiastic expression to his +delight than Effi was able to understand. + +"I don't understand you, Geert." + +"Because you don't understand Miss Trippelli. It's her true self in +the telegram, perfect to a dot." + +"So you take it all as a bit of comedy." + +"As what else could I take it, pray? All calculated for friends there +and here, for Kotschukoff and Gieshübler. Gieshübler will probably +found something for Miss Trippelli, or maybe just leave her a legacy." + +Gieshübler's party had occurred in the middle of December. +Immediately thereafter began the preparations for Christmas. Effi, who +might otherwise have found it hard to live through these days, +considered it a blessing to have a household with demands that had to +be satisfied. It was a time for pondering, deciding, and buying, and +this left no leisure for gloomy thoughts. The day before Christmas +gifts arrived from her parents, and in the parcels were packed a +variety of trifles from the precentor's family: beautiful queenings +from a tree grafted by Effi and Jahnke several years ago, beside brown +pulse-warmers and knee-warmers from Bertha and Hertha. Hulda only +wrote a few lines, because, as she pretended, she had still to knit a +traveling shawl for X. "That is simply not true," said Effi, "I'll +wager, there is no X in existence. What a pity she cannot cease +surrounding herself with admirers who do not exist!" + +When the evening came Innstetten himself arranged the presents for his +young wife. The tree was lit, and a small angel hung at the top. On +the tree was discovered a cradle with pretty transparencies and +inscriptions, one of which referred to an event looked forward to in +the Innstetten home the following year. Effi read it and blushed. Then +she started toward Innstetten to thank him, but before she had time to +carry out her design a Yule gift was thrown into the hall with a +shout, in accordance with the old Pomeranian custom. It proved to be a +box filled with a world of things. At the bottom they found the most +important gift of all, a neat little lozenge box, with a number of +Japanese pictures pasted on it, and inside of it a note, running,-- + + + "Three kings once came on a Christmas eve, + The king of the Moors was one, I believe;-- + The druggist at the sign of the Moor + Today with spices raps at your door; + Regretting no incense or myrrh to have found, + He throws pistachio and almonds around." + + +Effi read the note two or three times and was pleased. "The homage of +a good man has something very comforting about it. Don't you think so, +Geert?" + +"Certainly I do. It is the only thing that can afford real pleasure, +or at least ought to. Every one is otherwise so encumbered with stupid +obligations--I am myself. But, after all, one is what one is." + +The first holiday was church day, on the second they went to the +Borckes'. Everybody was there, except the Grasenabbs, who declined to +come, "because Sidonie was not at home." This excuse struck everybody +as rather strange. Some even whispered: "On the contrary, this is the +very reason they ought to have come." + +New Year's eve there was to be a club ball, which Effi could not well +miss, nor did she wish to, for it would give her an opportunity to see +the cream of the city all at once. Johanna had her hands full with the +preparation of the ball dress. Gieshübler, who, in addition to his +other hobbies, owned a hothouse, had sent Effi some camelias. +Innstetten, in spite of the little time at his disposal, had to drive +in the afternoon to Papenhagen, where three barns had burned. + +It became very quiet in the house. Christel, not having anything to +do, sleepily shoved a footstool up to the stove, and Effi retired into +her bedroom, where she sat down at a small writing desk between the +mirror and the sofa, to write to her mother. She had already written a +postal card, acknowledging receipt of the Christmas letter and +presents, but had written no other news for weeks. + +/# + "Kessin, Dec. 31. + + "_My dear mama_: + + "This will probably be a long letter, as I have not let you + hear from me for a long time. The card doesn't count. The last + time I wrote, I was in the midst of Christmas preparations; now + the Christmas holidays are past and gone. Innstetten and my + good friend Gieshübler left nothing undone to make Holy Night + as agreeable for me as possible, but I felt a little lonely and + homesick for you. Generally speaking, much as I have cause to + be grateful and happy, I cannot rid myself entirely of a + feeling of loneliness, and if I formerly made more fun than + necessary, perhaps, of Hulda's eternal tears of emotion, I am + now being punished for it and have to fight against such tears + myself, for Innstetten must not see them. However, I am sure + that it will all be better when our household is more + enlivened, which is soon to be the case, my dear mama. What I + recently hinted at is now a certainty and Innstetten gives me + daily proof of his joy on account of it. It is not necessary to + assure you how happy I myself am when I think of it, for the + simple reason that I shall then have life and entertainment at + home, or, as Geert says, 'a dear little plaything.' This word + of his is doubtless proper, but I wish he would not use it, + because it always give me a little shock and reminds me how + young I am and that I still half belong in the nursery. This + notion never leaves me (Geert says it is pathological) and, as + a result, the thing that should be my highest happiness is + almost the contrary, a constant embarrassment for me. Recently, + dear mama, when the good Flemming damsels plied me with all + sorts of questions imaginable, it seemed as though I were + undergoing an examination poorly prepared, and I think I must + have answered very stupidly. I was out of sorts, too, for often + what looks like sympathy is mere inquisitiveness, and theirs + impressed me as the more meddlesome, since I have a long while + yet to wait for the happy event. Some time in the summer, early + in July, I think. You must come then, or better still, so soon + as I am at all able to get about, I'll take a vacation and set + out for Hohen-Cremmen to see you. Oh, how happy it makes me to + think of it and of the Havelland air! Here it is almost always + cold and raw. There I shall drive out upon the marsh every day + and see red and yellow flowers everywhere, and I can even now + see the baby stretching out its hands for them, for I know it + must feel really at home there. But I write this for you alone. + Innstetten must not know about it and I should excuse myself + even to you for wanting to come to Hohen-Cremmen with the baby, + and for announcing my visit so early, instead of inviting you + urgently and cordially to Kessin, which, you may know, has + fifteen hundred summer guests every year, and ships with all + kinds of flags, and even a hotel among the dunes. But if I show + so little hospitality it is not because I am inhospitable. I am + not so degenerate as that. It is simply because our residence, + with all its handsome and unusual features, is in reality not a + suitable house at all; it is only a lodging for two people, and + hardly that, for we haven't even a dining room, which, as you + can well imagine, is embarrassing when people come to visit us. + True, we have other rooms upstairs, a large social hall and + four small rooms, but there is something uninviting about them, + and I should call them lumber rooms, if there were any lumber + in them. But they are entirely empty, except for a few + rush-bottomed chairs, and leave a very queer impression, to say + the least. You no doubt think this very easy to change, but the + house we live in is--is haunted. Now it is out. I beseech you, + however, not to make any reference to this in your answer, for + I always show Innstetten your letters and he would be beside + himself if he found out what I have written to you. I ought not + to have done it either, especially as I have been undisturbed + for a good many weeks and have ceased to be afraid; but Johanna + tells me it will come back again, especially if some new person + appears in the house. I couldn't think of exposing you to such + a danger, or--if that is too harsh an expression--to such a + peculiar and uncomfortable disturbance. I will not trouble you + with the matter itself today, at least not in detail. They tell + the story of an old captain, a so-called China-voyager, and + his grand-daughter, who after a short engagement to a young + captain here suddenly vanished on her wedding day. That might + pass, but there is something of greater moment. A young + Chinaman, whom her father had brought back from China and who + was at first the servant and later the friend of the old man, + died shortly afterward and was buried in a lonely spot near the + churchyard. Not long ago I drove by there, but turned my face + away quickly and looked in the other direction, because I + believe I should otherwise have seen him sitting on the grave. + For oh, my dear mama, I have really seen him once, or it at + least seemed so, when I was sound asleep and Innstetten was + away from home visiting the Prince. It was terrible. I should + not like to experience anything like it again. I can't well + invite you to such a house, handsome as it is otherwise, for, + strange to say, it is both uncanny and cozy. Innstetten did not + do exactly the right thing about it either, if you will allow + me to say so, in spite of the fact that I finally agreed with + him in many particulars. He expected me to consider it nothing + but old wives' nonsense and laugh about it, but all of a sudden + he himself seemed to believe in it, at the very time when he + was making the queer demand of me to consider such hauntings a + mark of blue blood and old nobility. But I can't do it and I + won't, either. Kind as he is in other regards, in this + particular he is not kind and considerate enough toward me. + That there is something in it I know from Johanna and also from + Mrs. Kruse. The latter is our coachman's wife and always sits + holding a black chicken in an overheated room. This alone is + enough to scare one. Now you know why _I_ want to come when the + time arrives. Oh, if it were only time now! There are so many + reasons for this wish. Tonight we have a New Year's eve ball, + and Gieshübler, the only amiable man here, in spite of the fact + that he has one shoulder higher than the other, or, to tell the + truth, has even a greater deformity--Gieshübler has sent me + some camelias. Perhaps I shall dance after all. Our doctor says + it would not hurt me; on the contrary. Innstetten has also + given his consent, which almost surprised me. And now remember + me to papa and kiss him for me, and all the other dear friends. + Happy New Year! + + Your Effi." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +The New Year's eve ball lasted till the early morning and Effi was +generously admired, not quite so unhesitatingly, to be sure, as the +bouquet of camelias, which was known to have come from Gieshübler's +greenhouse. After the ball everybody fell back into the same old +routine, and hardly any attempt was made to establish closer social +relations. Hence the winter seemed very long. Visits from the noble +families of the neighborhood were rare, and when Effi was reminded of +her duty to return the visits she always remarked in a half-sorrowful +tone: "Yes, Geert, if it is absolutely necessary, but I shall be bored +to death." Innstetten never disputed the statement. What was said, +during these afternoon calls, about families, children, and +agriculture, was bearable, but when church questions were discussed +and the pastors present were treated like little popes, even looked +upon themselves as such, then Effi lost her patience and her mind +wandered sadly back to Niemeyer, who was always modest and +unpretentious, in spite of the fact that on every important occasion +it was said he had the stuff in him to be called to the cathedral. +Seemingly friendly as were the Borcke, Flemming, and Grasenabb +families, with the exception of Sidonie Grasenabb, real friendship was +out of the question, and often there would have been very little of +pleasure and amusement, or even of reasonably agreeable association, +if it had not been for Gieshübler. + +He looked out for Effi as though he were a special Providence, and she +was grateful to him for it. In addition to his many other interests he +was a faithful and attentive reader of the newspapers. He was, in +fact, the head of the Journal Club, and so scarcely a day passed that +Mirambo did not bring to Effi a large white envelope full of separate +sheets and whole papers, in which particular passages were marked, +usually with a fine lead pencil, but occasionally with a heavy blue +pencil and an exclamation or interrogation point. And that was not +all. He also sent figs and dates, and chocolate drops done up in satin +paper and tied with a little red ribbon. Whenever any specially +beautiful flower was blooming in his greenhouse he would bring some of +the blossoms himself and spend a happy hour chatting with his adored +friend. He cherished in his heart, both separately and combined, all +the beautiful emotions of love--that of a father and an uncle, a +teacher and an admirer. Effi was affected by all these attentions and +wrote to Hohen-Cremmen about them so often that her mother began to +tease her about her "love for the alchymist." But this well-meant +teasing failed of its purpose; it was almost painful to her, in fact, +because it made her conscious, even though but dimly, of what was +really lacking in her married life, viz., outspoken admiration, +helpful suggestions, and little attentions. + +Innstetten was kind and good, but he was not a lover. He felt that he +loved Effi; hence his clear conscience did not require him to make any +special effort to show it. It had almost become a rule with him to +retire from his wife's room to his own when Frederick brought the +lamp. "I have a difficult matter yet to attend to." With that he went. +To be sure, the portiere was left thrown back, so that Effi could hear +the turning of the pages of the document or the scratching of his pen, +but that was all. Then Rollo would often come and lie down before her +upon the fireplace rug, as much as to say: "Must just look after you +again; nobody else does." Then she would stoop down and say softly: +"Yes, Rollo, we are alone." At nine Innstetten would come back for +tea, usually with the newspaper in his hand, and would talk about the +Prince, who was having so much annoyance again, especially because of +that Eugen Richter, whose conduct and language beggared all +description. Then he would read over the list of appointments made and +orders conferred, to the most of which he objected. Finally he would +talk about the election and how fortunate it was to preside over a +district in which there was still some feeling of respect. When he had +finished with this he asked Effi to play something, either from +_Lohengrin_ or the _Walküre_, for he was a Wagner enthusiast. What had +won him over to this composer nobody quite knew. Some said, his +nerves, for matter-of-fact as he seemed, he was in reality nervous. +Others ascribed it to Wagner's position on the Jewish question. +Probably both sides were right. At ten Innstetten relaxed and indulged +in a few well-meant, but rather tired caresses, which Effi accepted, +without genuinely returning them. + +Thus passed the winter. April came and Effi was glad when the garden +behind the court began to show green. + +She could hardly wait for summer to come with its walks along the +beach and its guests at the baths. * * * The months had been so +monotonous that she once wrote: "Can you imagine, mama, that I have +almost become reconciled to our ghost? Of course, that terrible night, +when Geert was away at the Prince's house, I should not like to live +through again, no, certainly not; but this being always alone, with +nothing whatever happening, is hard, too, and when I wake up in the +night I occasionally listen to see if I can hear the shoes, shuffling +up above, and when all is quiet I am almost disappointed and say to +myself: If only it would come back, but not too bad and not too +close!" + +It was in February that Effi wrote these words and now it was almost +May. The "Plantation" was beginning to take on new life again and one +could hear the song of the finches. During this same week the storks +returned, and one of them soared slowly over her house and alighted +upon a barn near Utpatel's mill, its old resting place. Effi, who now +wrote to her mother more frequently than heretofore, reported this +happening, and at the conclusion of her letter said: "I had almost +forgotten one thing, my dear mama, viz., the new district commander of +the landwehr, who has been here now for almost four weeks. But shall +we really have him? That is the question, and a question of +importance, too, much as my statement will make you laugh, because you +do not know how we are suffering here from social famine. At least I +am, for I am at a loss to know what to make of the nobility here. My +fault, perhaps, but that is immaterial. The fact remains, there has +been a famine, and for this reason I have looked forward, through all +the winter months, to the new district commander as a bringer of +comfort and deliverance. His predecessor was an abominable combination +of bad manners and still worse morals and, as though that were not +enough, was always in financial straits. We have suffered under him +all this time, Innstetten more than I, and when we heard early in +April that Major von Crampas was here--for that is the name of the new +man--we rushed into each other's arms, as though no further harm could +befall us in our dear Kessin. But, as already mentioned, it seems as +though there will be nothing going on, now that he is here. He is +married, has two children, one eight, the other ten years old, and +his wife is a year older than he--say, forty-five. That of itself +would make little difference, and why shouldn't I find a motherly +friend delightfully entertaining? Miss Trippelli was nearly thirty, +and I got along with her quite well. But Mrs. Crampas, who by the way +was not a _von_, is impossible. She is always out of sorts, almost +melancholy, much like our Mrs. Kruse, of whom she reminds me not a +little, and it all comes from jealousy. Crampas himself is said to be +a man of many 'relations,' a ladies' man, which always sounds +ridiculous to me and would in this case, if he had not had a duel with +a comrade on account of just such a thing. His left arm was shattered +just below the shoulder and it is noticeable at first sight, in spite +of the operation, which was heralded abroad as a masterpiece of +surgical art. It was performed by Wilms and I believe they call it +resection. + +"Both Mr. and Mrs. Crampas were at our house a fortnight ago to pay us +a visit. The situation was painful, for Mrs. Crampas watched her +husband so closely that he became half-embarrassed, and I wholly. That +he can be different, even jaunty and in high spirits, I was convinced +three days ago, when, he sat alone with Innstetten, and I was able to +follow their conversation from my room. I afterward talked with him +myself and found him a perfect gentleman and extraordinarily clever. +Innstetten was in the same brigade with him during the war and they +often saw each other at Count Gröben's to the north of Paris. Yes, my +dear mama, he is just the man to instill new life into Kessin. +Besides, he has none of the Pomeranian prejudices, even though he is +said to have come from Swedish Pomerania. But his wife! Nothing can be +done without her, of course, and still less with her." + +Effi was quite right. As a matter of fact no close friendship was +established with the Crampas family. They met once at the Borckes', +again quite casually at the station, and a few days later on a steamer +excursion up the "Broad" to a large beech and oak forest called "The +Chatter-man." But they merely exchanged short greetings, and Effi was +glad when the bathing season opened early in June. To be sure, there +was still a lack of summer visitors, who as a rule did not come in +numbers before St. John's Day. But even the preparations afforded +entertainment. In the "Plantation" a merry-go-round and targets were +set up, the boatmen calked and painted their boats, every little +apartment put up new curtains, and rooms with damp exposure and +subject to dry-rot were fumigated and aired. + +In Effi's own home everybody was also more or less excited, not +because of summer visitors, however, but of another expected arrival. +Even Mrs. Kruse wished to help as much as she could. But Effi was +alarmed at the thought of it and said: "Geert, don't let Mrs. Kruse +touch anything. It would do no good, and I have enough to worry about +without that." Innstetten promised all she asked, adding that Christel +and Johanna would have plenty of time, anyhow. + + * * * * * + +[An elderly widow and her maid arrived and took rooms for the season +opposite the Innstetten house. The widow died and was buried in the +cemetery. After watching the funeral from her window Effi walked out +to the hotel among the dunes and on her way home turned into the +cemetery, where she found the widow's maid sitting in the burning +sun.] + + * * * * * + +"It is a hot place you have picked out," said Effi, "much too hot. And +if you are not cautious you may have a sun-stroke." + +"That would be a blessing." + +"How so?" + +"Then I should be out of the world." + +"I don't think you ought to say that, even if you had bad luck or lost +a dear friend. I presume you loved her very dearly?" + +"I? Her? Oh, heaven forbid!" + +"You are very sad, however, and there must be some cause." + +"There is, too, your Ladyship." + +"Do you know me?" + +"Yes. You are the wife of the district councillor across the street +from us. I was always talking with the old woman about you. But the +time came when she could talk no more, because she could not draw a +good breath. There was something the matter with her here, dropsy, +perhaps. But so long as she could speak she spoke incessantly. She was +a genuine Berlin--" + +"Good woman?" + +"No. If I said that it would be a lie. She is in her grave now and we +ought not to say anything bad about the dead, especially as even they +hardly have peace. Oh well, I suppose she has found peace. But she was +good for nothing and was quarrelsome and stingy and made no provision +for me. The relatives who came yesterday from Berlin * * * were very +rude and unkind to me and raised all sorts of objections when they +paid me my wages, merely because they had to and because there are +only six more days before the beginning of a new quarter. Otherwise I +should have received nothing, or only half, or only a quarter--nothing +with their good will. And they gave me a torn five-mark note to pay my +fare back to Berlin. Well, it is just enough for a fourth-class ticket +and I suppose I shall have to sit on my luggage. But I won't do it. I +will sit here and wait till I die--Heavens, I thought I should have +peace here and I could have stood it with the old woman, too. But now +this has come to nothing and I shall have to be knocked around again. +Besides, I am a Catholic. Oh, I have had enough of it and I wish I lay +where the old woman lies. She might go on living for all of me. * * *" + + + +Rollo, who had accompanied Effi, had meanwhile sat down before the +maid, with his tongue away out, and looked at her. When she stopped +talking he arose, stepped forward, and laid his head upon her knees. +Suddenly she was transformed. "My, this means something for me. Why, +here is a creature that can endure me, that looks at me like a friend +and lays its head on my knees. My, it has been a long time since +anything like that has happened to me. Well, old boy, what's your +name? My, but you are a splendid fellow!" + +"Rollo," said Effi. + +"Rollo; that is strange. But the name makes no difference. I have a +strange name, too, that is, forename. And the likes of me have no +other, you know." + +"What is your name?" + +"I am called Roswitha." + +"Yes, that is strange; why, that is--" + +"Yes, quite right, your Ladyship, it is a Catholic name. And that is +another trouble, that I am a Catholic. From Eichsfeld. Being a +Catholic makes it harder and more disagreeable for me. Many won't have +Catholics, because they run to the church so much. * * *" + +"Roswitha," said Effi, sitting down by her on the bench. "What are you +going to do now?" + +"Ah, your Ladyship, what could I be going to do? Nothing. Honestly and +truly, I should like to sit here and wait till I fall over dead. * * +*" + +"I want to ask you something, Roswitha. Are you fond of children? Have +you ever taken care of little children?" + +"Indeed I have. That is the best and finest thing about me. * * * When +a dear little thing stands up in one's lap, a darling little creature +like a doll, and looks at one with its little peepers, that, I tell +you, is something that opens up one's heart. * * *" + +"Now let me tell you, Roswitha, you are a good true person; I can +tell it by your looks. A little bit unceremonious, but that doesn't +hurt; it is often true of the best people, and I have had confidence +in you from the beginning. Will you come along to my house? It seems +as though God had sent you to me. I am expecting a little one soon, +and may God help me at the time. When the child comes it must be cared +for and waited upon and perhaps even fed from a bottle, though I hope +not. But one can never tell. What do you say? Will you come?" + +Roswitha sprang up, seized the hand of the young wife and kissed it +fervently. "Oh, there is indeed a God in heaven, and when our need is +greatest help is nearest. Your Ladyship shall see, I can do it. I am +an orderly person and have good references. You can see for yourself +when I bring you my book. The very first time I saw your Ladyship I +thought: 'Oh, if I only had such a mistress!' And now I am to have +her. O, dear God, O, holy Virgin Mary, who would have thought it +possible, when we had put the old woman in her grave and the relatives +made haste to get away and left me sitting here?" + +"Yes, it is the unexpected that often happens, Roswitha, and +occasionally for our good. Let us go now. Rollo is getting impatient +and keeps running down to the gate." + +Roswitha was ready at once, but went back to the grave, mumbled a few +words and crossed herself. Then they walked down the shady path and +back to the churchyard gate. * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +In less than a quarter of an hour the house was reached. As they +stepped into the cool hall * * * Effi said: "Now, Roswitha, you go in +there. That is our bedroom. I am going over to the district +councillor's office to tell my husband that I should like to have you +as a nurse for the baby. He will doubtless agree to it, but I must +have his consent. Then when I have it we must find other quarters for +him and you will sleep with me in the alcove * * *" + +When Innstetten learned the situation he said with alacrity: "You did +the right thing, Effi, and if her testimonials are not too bad we will +take her on her good face * * *" + +Effi was very happy to have encountered so little difficulty, and +said: "Now it will be all right. Now I am no longer afraid * * *" + +That same hour Roswitha moved into the house with her few possessions +and established herself in the little alcove. When the day was over +she went to bed early and, tired as she was, fell asleep instantly. + +The next morning Effi inquired how she had slept and whether she had +heard anything. + +"What?" asked Roswitha. + +"Oh, nothing. I just meant some sound as though a broom were sweeping +or some one were sliding over the floor." + +Roswitha laughed and that made an especially good impression upon her +young mistress. Effi had been brought up a Protestant and would have +been very much alarmed if any Catholic traits had been discovered in +her. And yet she believed that Catholicism affords the better +protection against such things as "that upstairs" * * * + +All soon began to feel at home with one another, for Effi, like most +country noblewomen of Brandenburg, had the amiable characteristic of +liking to listen to such little stories as those for which the +deceased widow, with her avarice, her nephews and their wives, +afforded Roswitha an inexhaustible fund of material. Johanna was also +an appreciative listener. + +Often, when Effi laughed aloud at the drastic passages, Johanna would +deign to smile, but inwardly she was surprised that her Ladyship found +pleasure in such stupid stuff. This feeling of surprise, along with +her sense of superiority, proved on the whole very fortunate and +helped to avoid quarrels with Johanna about their relative positions. +Roswitha was simply the comic figure, and for Johanna to be jealous of +her would have been as bad as to envy Rollo his position of +friendship. + +Thus passed a week, chatty and almost jolly, for Effi looked forward +with less anxiety than heretofore to the important coming event. Nor +did she think that it was so near. On the ninth day the chattering and +jollity came to an end. Running and hurrying took their place, and +Innstetten himself laid aside his customary reserve entirely. On the +morning of the 3d of July a cradle was standing by Effi's bed. Dr. +Hannemann joyously grasped the young mother's hand and said: "We have +today the anniversary of Königgrätz; a pity, that it is a girl. But +the other may come yet, and the Prussians have many anniversaries of +victories." Roswitha doubtless had some similar idea, but for the +present her joy over the new arrival knew no bounds. Without further +ado she called the child "little Annie," which the young mother took +as a sign. "It must have been an inspiration," she said, "that +Roswitha hit upon this particular name." Even Innstetten had nothing +to say against it, and so they began to talk about "little Annie" long +before the christening day arrived. + +Effi, who expected to be with her parents in Hohen-Cremmen from the +middle of August on, would have liked to postpone the baptism till +then. But it was not feasible. Innstetten could not take a vacation +and so the 15th of August * * * was set for the ceremony, which of +course was to take place in the church. The accompanying banquet was +held in the large clubhouse on the quay, because the district +councillor's house had no dining hall. All the nobles of the +neighborhood were invited and all came. Pastor Lindequist delivered +the toast to the mother and the child in a charming way that was +admired on all sides. But Sidonie von Grasenabb took occasion to +remark to her neighbor, an assessor of the strict type: "Yes, his +occasional addresses will pass. But he cannot justify his sermons +before God or man. He is a half-way man, one of those who are +rejected because they are lukewarm. I don't care to quote the Bible +here literally." Immediately thereafter old Mr. von Borcke took the +floor to drink to the health of Innstetten: "Ladies and Gentlemen: +These are hard times in which we live; rebellion, defiance, lack of +discipline, whithersoever we look. But * * * so long as we still have +men like Baron von Innstetten, whom I am proud to call my friend, just +so long we can endure it, and our old Prussia will hold out. Indeed, +my friends, with Pomerania and Brandenburg we can conquer this foe and +set our foot upon the head of the poisonous dragon of revolution. Firm +and true, thus shall we gain the victory. The Catholics, our brethren, +whom we must respect, even though we fight them, have the 'rock of +Peter,' but our rock is of bronze. Three cheers for Baron Innstetten!" +Innstetten thanked him briefly. Effi said to Major von Crampas, who +sat beside her, that the 'rock of Peter' was probably a compliment to +Roswitha, and she would later approach old Councillor of Justice +Gadebusch and ask him if he were not of her opinion. For some +unaccountable reason Crampas took this remark seriously and advised +her not to ask the Councillor's opinion, which amused Effi +exceedingly. "Why, I thought you were a better mind-reader." + +"Ah, your Ladyship, in the case of beautiful young women who are not +yet eighteen the art of mind-reading fails utterly." + +"You are defeating your cause completely, Major. You may call me a +grandmother, but you can never be pardoned for alluding to the fact +that I am not yet eighteen." + +When they left the table the late afternoon steamer came down the +Kessine and called at the landing opposite the clubhouse. Effi sat by +an open window with Crampas and Gieshübler, drinking coffee and +watching the scene below. "Tomorrow morning at nine the same boat will +take me up the river, and at noon I shall be in Berlin, and in the +evening I shall be in Hohen-Cremmen, and Roswitha will walk beside me +and carry the child in her arms. I hope it will not cry. Ah, what a +feeling it gives me even today! Dear Gieshübler, were you ever so +happy to see again your parental home?" + +[Illustation: _Permission F. Bruckmann A.-G. Munich_ PROCESSION AT +GASTEIN Adolph von Menzel] "Yes, the feeling is not new to me, most +gracious Lady, excepting only that I have never taken any little Annie +with me, for I have none to take." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +Effi left home in the middle of August and was back in Kessin at the +end of September. During the six weeks' visit she had often longed to +return, but when she now reached the house and entered the dark hall +into which no light could enter except the little from the stairway, +she had a sudden feeling of fear and said to herself: "There is no +such pale, yellow light in Hohen-Cremmen." + +A few times during the days in Hohen-Cremmen she had longed for the +"Haunted house," but on the whole her life there had been full of +happiness and contentment. To be sure, she had not known what to +make of Hulda, who was not taking kindly to her rôle of waiting +for a husband or fiancé to turn up. With the twins, however, she +got along much better, and more than once when she played ball or +croquet with them she entirely forgot that she was married. Those +were happy moments. Her chief delight was, as in former days, to +stand on the swing board as it flew through the air and gave her +a tingling sensation, a shudder of sweet danger, when she felt she +would surely fall the next moment. When she finally sprang out of +the swing, she went with the two girls to sit on the bench in front +of the schoolhouse and there told old Mr. Jahnke, who joined them, +about her life in Kessin, which she said was half-hanseatic and +half-Scandinavian, and anything but a replica of Schwantikow and +Hohen-Cremmen. + +Such were the little daily amusements, to which were added occasional +drives into the summery marsh, usually in the dog-cart. But Effi liked +above everything else the chats she had almost every morning with her +mother, as they sat upstairs in the large airy room, while Roswitha +rocked the baby and sang lullabies in a Thuringian dialect which +nobody fully understood, perhaps not even Roswitha. Effi and her +mother would move over to the open window and look out upon the park, +the sundial, or the pond with the dragon flies hovering almost +motionless above it, or the tile walk, where von Briest sat beside the +porch steps reading the newspapers. Every time he turned a page he +took off his nose glasses and greeted his wife and daughter. When he +came to his last paper, usually the _Havelland Advertiser_, Effi went +down either to sit beside him or stroll with him through the garden +and park. On one such occasion they stepped from the gravel walk over +to a little monument standing to one side, which Briest's grandfather +had erected in memory of the battle of Waterloo. It was a rusty +pyramid with a bronze cast of Blücher in front and one of Wellington +in the rear. + +"Have you any such walks in Kessin?" said von Briest, "and does +Innstetten accompany you and tell you stories?" + +"No, papa, I have no such walks. It is out of the question, for we +have only a small garden behind the house, in reality hardly a garden +at all, just a few box-bordered plots and vegetable beds with three or +four fruit trees. Innstetten has no appreciation of such things and, I +fancy, does not expect to stay much longer in Kessin." + +"But, child, you must have exercise and fresh air, for you are +accustomed to them." + +"Oh, I have both. Our house is situated near a grove, which they call +the 'Plantation,' and I walk there a great deal and Rollo with me." + +"Always Rollo," laughed von Briest. "If I didn't know better, I should +be tempted to think that you cared more for Rollo than for your +husband and child." + +"Ah, papa, that would be terrible, even if I am forced to admit that +there was a time when I could not have gotten along without Rollo. +That was--oh, you know when--On that occasion he virtually saved my +life, or I at least fancied he did, and since then he has been my good +friend and my chief dependence. But he is only a dog, and of course +human beings come first." + +"Yes, that is what they always say, but I have my doubts. There is +something peculiar about brute creatures and a correct understanding +of them has not yet been arrived at. Believe me, Effi, this is another +wide field. When I think how a person has an accident on the water or +on the slippery ice, and some dog, say, one like your Rollo, is at +hand, he will not rest till he has brought the unfortunate person to +the shore. And if the victim is already dead, the dog will lie down +beside him and bark and whine till somebody comes, and if nobody +comes he will stay by the corpse till he himself is dead. That is what +such an animal always does. And now take mankind on the other hand. +God forgive me for saying it, but it sometimes seems to me as though +the brute creature were better than man." + +"But, papa, if I said that to Innstetten--" + +"No, Effi, you would better not." + +"Rollo would rescue me, of course, but Innstetten would, too. He is a +man of honor, you know." + +"That he is." + +"And loves me." + +"That goes without saying. And where there is love it is reciprocated. +That is the way of the world. I am only surprised that he didn't take +a vacation and flit over here. When one has such a young wife--" + +Effi blushed, for she thought exactly the same thing. But she did not +care to admit it. "Innstetten is so conscientious and he desires to be +thought well of, I believe, and has his own plans for the future. +Kessin, you know, is only a stepping stone. And, after all, I am not +going to run away from him. He has me, you see. If he were too +affectionate--beside the difference between our ages--people would +merely smile." + +"Yes, they would, Effi. But one must not mind that. Now, don't say +anything about it, not even to mama. It is so hard to say what to do +and what not. That is also a wide field." + +More than once during Effi's visit with her parents such conversations +as the above had occurred, but fortunately their effect had not lasted +long. Likewise the melancholy impression made upon her by the Kessin +house at the moment of her return quickly faded away. Innstetten was +full of little attentions, and when tea had been taken and the news +of the city and the gossip about lovers had been talked over in a +merry mood Effi took his arm affectionately and went into the other +room with him to continue their chat and hear some anecdotes about +Miss Trippelli, who had recently had another lively correspondence +with Gieshübler. This always meant a new debit on her never settled +account. During this conversation Effi was very jolly, enjoying to the +full the emotions of a young wife, and was glad to be rid of Roswitha, +who had been transferred to the servants' quarters for an indefinite +period. + +The next morning she said: "The weather is beautiful and mild and I +hope the veranda on the side toward the 'Plantation' is in good order, +so that we can move out of doors and take breakfast there. We shall be +shut up in our rooms soon enough, at best, for the Kessin winters are +really four weeks too long." + +Innstetten agreed heartily. The veranda Effi spoke of, which might +perhaps better be called a tent, had been put up in the summer, three +or four weeks before Effi's departure for Hohen-Cremmen. It consisted +of a large platform, with the side in front open, an immense awning +overhead, while to the right and left there were broad canvas +curtains, which could be shoved back and forth by means of rings on an +iron rod. It was a charming spot and all summer long was admired by +the visitors who passed by on their way to the baths. + +Effi had leaned back in a rocking chair and said, as she pushed the +coffee tray toward her husband: "Geert, you might play the amiable +host today. I for my part find this rocker so comfortable that I do +not care to get up. So exert yourself and if you are right glad to +have me back again I shall easily find some way to get even." As she +said this she straightened out the white damask cloth and laid her +hand upon it. Innstetten took her hand and kissed it. + +"Well, how did you get on without me?" + +"Badly enough, Effi." + +"You just say so and try to look gloomy, but in reality there is not a +word of truth in it." + +"Why, Effi--" + +"As I will prove to you, If you had had the least bit of longing for +your child--I will not speak of myself, for, after all, what is a +woman to such a high lord, who was a bachelor for so many years and +was in no hurry--" + +"Well?" + +"Yes, Geert, if you had had just the least bit of longing, you would +not have left me for six weeks to enjoy widow-like my own sweet +society in Hohen-Cremmen, with nobody about but Niemeyer and Jahnke, +and now and then our friends in Schwantikow. Nobody at all came from +Rathenow, which looked as though they were afraid of me, or I had +grown too old." + +"Ah, Effi, how you do talk! Do you know that you are a little +coquette?" + +"Thank heaven that you say so. You men consider a coquette the best +thing a woman can be. And you yourself are not different from the +rest, even if you do put on such a solemn and honorable air. I know +very well, Geert--To tell the truth, you are--" + +"Well, what?" + +"Well, I prefer not to say. But I know you very well. To tell the +truth, you are, as my Schwantikow uncle once said, an affectionate +man, and were born under the star of love, and Uncle Belling was quite +right when he said so. You merely do not like to show it and think it +is not proper and spoils one's career. Have I struck it?" + +Innstetten laughed. "You have struck it a little bit. And let me tell +you, Effi, you seem to me entirely changed. Before little Annie came +you were a child, but all of a sudden--" + +"Well?" + +"All of a sudden you are like another person. But it is becoming to +you and I like you very much. Shall I tell you further?" + +"What?" + +"There is something alluring about you." + +"Oh, my only Geert, why, what you say is glorious. Now my heart is +gladder than ever--Give me another half a cup--Do you know that that +is what I have always desired? We women must be alluring, or we are +nothing whatever." + +"Is that your own idea?" + +"I might have originated it, but I got it from Niemeyer." + +"From Niemeyer! My, oh my, what a fine pastor he is! Well, I just tell +you, there are none like him here. But how did he come by it? Why, it +seems as though some Don Juan, some regular heart smasher had said +it." + +"Ah, who knows?" laughed Effi. "But isn't that Crampas coming there? +And from the beach! You don't suppose he has been swimming? On the +27th of September!" + +"He often does such things, purely to make an impression." + +Crampas had meanwhile come up quite near and greeted them. + +"Good morning," cried Innstetten. "Come closer, come closer." + +Crampas, in civilian dress, approached and kissed Effi's hand. She +went on rocking, and Innstetten said: "Excuse me, Major, for doing the +honors of the house so poorly; but the veranda is not a house and, +strictly speaking, ten o'clock in the morning is no time. At this hour +we omit formalities, or, if you like, we all make ourselves at home. +So sit down and give an account of your actions. For by your hair,--I +wish for your sake there were more of it--I see plainly you have been +swimming." + +He nodded. + +"Inexcusable," said Innstetten, half in earnest and half joking. "Only +four weeks ago you yourself witnessed Banker Heinersdorf's calamity. +He too thought the sea and the magnificent waves would respect him on +account of his millions. But the gods are jealous of each other, and +Neptune, without any apparent cause, took sides against Pluto, or at +least against Heinersdorf." + +Crampas laughed. "Yes, a million marks! If I had that much, my dear +Innstetten, I should not have risked it, I presume; for beautiful as +the weather is, the water was only 9° centigrade. But a man like me, +with his million deficit,--permit me this little bit of boasting--a +man like me can take such liberties without fearing the jealousy of +the gods. Besides, there is comfort in the proverb, 'Whoever is born +for the noose cannot perish in the water.'" + +"Why, Major," said Effi, "you don't mean to talk your neck +into--excuse me!--such an unprosaic predicament, do you? To be sure, +many believe--I refer to what you just said--that every man more or +less deserves to be hanged. And yet, Major--for a major--" + +"It is not the traditional way of dying. I admit it, your Ladyship. +Not traditional and, in my case, not even very probable. So it was +merely a quotation, or, to be more accurate, a common expression. +Still, there is some sincerity back of it when I say the sea will not +harm me, for I firmly expect to die a regular, and I hope honorable, +soldier's death. Originally it was only a gypsy's prophesy, but with +an echo in my own conscience." + +Innstetten laughed. "There will be a few obstacles, Crampas, unless +you plan to serve under the Sublime Porte or the Chinese dragon. There +the soldiers are knocking each other around now. Take my word for it, +that kind of business is all over here for the next thirty years, and +if anybody has the desire to meet his death as a soldier--" + +"He must first order a war of Bismarck. I know all about it, +Innstetten. But that is a mere bagatelle for you. It is now the end of +September. In ten weeks at the latest the Prince will be in Varzin +again, and as he has a liking for you--I will refrain from using the +more vulgar term, to avoid facing the barrel of your pistol--you will +be able, won't you, to provide a little war for an old Vionville +comrade? The Prince is only a human being, like the rest of us, and a +kind word never comes amiss." + +During this conversation Effi had been wadding bread and tossing it on +the table, then making figures out of the little balls, to indicate +that a change of topic was desirable. But Innstetten seemed bent on +answering Crampas's joking remarks, for which reason Effi decided it +would be better for her simply to interrupt. "I can't see, Major, why +we should trouble ourselves about your way of dying. Life lies nearer +to us and is for the time being a more serious matter." + +Crampas nodded. + +"I am glad you agree with me. How are we to live here? That is the +question right now. That is more important than anything else. +Gieshübler has written me a letter on the subject and I would show it +to you if it did not seem indiscreet or vain, for there are a lot of +other things besides in the letter. Innstetten doesn't need to read +it; he has no appreciation of such things. Incidentally, the +handwriting is like engraving, and the style is what one would expect +if our Kessin friend had been brought up at an Old French court. The +fact that he is humpbacked and wears white jabots such as no other +human being wears--I can't imagine where he has them ironed--all this +fits so well. Now Gieshübler has written to me about plans for the +evenings at the club, and about a manager by the name of Crampas. You +see, Major, I like that better than the soldier's death, let alone the +other." + +"And I, personally, no less than you. It will surely be a splendid +winter if we may feel assured of the support of your Ladyship. Miss +Trippelli is coming--" + +"Trippelli? Then I am superfluous." + +"By no means, your Ladyship. Miss Trippelli cannot sing from one +Sunday till the next; it would be too much for her and for us. Variety +is the spice of life, a truth which, to be sure, every happy marriage +seems to controvert." + +"If there are any happy marriages, mine excepted," and she held out +her hand to Innstetten. + +"Variety then," continued Crampas. "To secure it for ourselves and our +club, of which for the time being I have the honor to be the +vice-president, we need the help of everybody who can be depended +upon. If we put our heads together we can turn this whole place upside +down. The theatrical pieces have already been selected--_War in Peace, +Mr. Hercules, Youthful Love,_ by Wilbrandt, and perhaps _Euphrosyne_, +by Gensichen. You as Euphrosyne and I middle-aged Goethe. You will be +astonished to see how well I can act the prince of poets, if act is +the right word." + +"No doubt. In the meantime I have learned from the letter of my +alchemistic correspondent that, in addition to your other +accomplishments, you are an occasional poet. At first I was +surprised." + +"You couldn't see that I looked the part." + +"No. But since I have found out that you go swimming at 9° I have +changed my mind. Nine degrees in the Baltic Sea beats the Castalian +Fountain." + +"The temperature of which is unknown." + +"Not to me; at least nobody will contradict me. But now I must get up. +There comes Roswitha with little Annie." + +She arose and went toward Roswitha, took the child, and tossed it up +with pride and joy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +[For the next few weeks Crampas came regularly every morning to gossip +a while with Effi on the veranda and then ride horseback with her +husband. Finally she desired to ride with them and, although +Innstetten did not approve of the idea, Crampas secured a horse for +her. On one of their rides Crampas let fall a remark about how it +bored him to have to observe such a multitude of petty laws. Effi +applauded the sentiment. Innstetten took the Major to task and +reminded him that one of his frivolous escapades had cost him an arm. +When the election campaign began Innstetten; could no longer take the +time for the horseback rides, and so Effi went out with Crampas, +accompanied by two lackeys. One day, while riding slowly through the +woods, Crampas spoke at length of Innstetten's character, telling how +in earlier life the councillor was more respected than loved, how he +had a mystical tendency and was inclined to make sport of his +comrades. He referred also to Innstetten's fondness for ghost +stories, which led Effi to tell her experience with the Chinaman. +Crampas said that because of an unusual ambition Innstetten had to +have an unusual residence; hence the haunted house. He further +poisoned Effi's mind by telling her that her husband was a born +pedagogue and in the education of his wife was employing the haunted +house in accordance with a definite pedagogical plan.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The clock struck two as they reached the house. Crampas bade Effi +adieu, rode into the city, and dismounted at his residence on the +market square. Effi changed her dress and tried to take a nap, but +could not go to sleep, for she was less weary than out of humor. That +Innstetten should keep his ghosts, in order to live in an +extraordinary house, that she could endure; it harmonized with his +inclination to be different from the great mass. But the other thing, +that he should use his ghosts for pedagogical purposes, that was +annoying, almost insulting. It was clear to her mind that "pedagogical +purposes" told less than half the story. What Crampas had meant was +far, far worse, was a kind of instrument designed to instill fear. It +was wholly lacking in goodness of heart and bordered almost on +cruelty. The blood rushed to her head, she clenched her little fist, +and was on the point of laying plans, but suddenly she had to laugh. +"What a child I am!" she exclaimed. "Who can assure me that Crampas is +right? Crampas is entertaining, because he is a gossip, but he is +unreliable, a mere braggart, and cannot hold a candle to Innstetten." + +At this moment Innstetten drove up, having decided to come home +earlier today than usual. Effi sprang from her seat to greet him in +the hall and was the more affectionate, the more she felt she had +something to make amends for. But she could not entirely ignore what +Crampas had said, and in the midst of her caresses, while she was +listening with apparent interest, there was the ever recurring echo +within: "So the ghost is part of a design, a ghost to keep me in my +place." + +Finally she forgot it, however, and listened artlessly to what he had +to tell her. + + * * * * * + +About the middle of November the north wind blew up a gale, which for +a day and a half swept over the moles so violently that the Kessine, +more and more dammed back, finally overflowed the quay and ran into +the streets. But after the storm had spent its rage the weather +cleared and a few sunny autumn days followed. "Who knows how long they +will last," said Effi to Crampas, and they decided to ride out once +more on the following morning. Innstetten, who had a free day, was to +go too. They planned to ride to the mole and dismount there, then take +a little walk along the beach and finally have luncheon at a sheltered +spot behind the dunes. + +At the appointed hour Crampas rode up before the house. Kruse was +holding the horse for her Ladyship, who quickly lifted herself into +the saddle, saying that Innstetten had been prevented from going and +wished to be excused. There had been another big fire in Morgenitz the +night before, the third in three weeks, pointing to incendiarism, and +he had been obliged to go there, much to his sorrow, for he had looked +forward with real pleasure to this ride, thinking it would probably be +the last of the season. + +Crampas expressed his regret, perhaps just to say something, but +perhaps with sincerity, for inconsiderate as he was in chivalrous love +affairs, he was, on the other hand, equally a hale fellow well met. To +be sure, only superficially. To help a friend and five minutes later +deceive him were things that harmonized very well with his sense of +honor. He could do both with incredible bonhomie. + +The ride followed the usual route through the "Plantation." Rollo went +ahead, then came Crampas and Effi, and Kruse followed. Crampas's +lackey was not along. + +"Where did you leave Knut?" + +"He has the mumps." + +"Remarkable," laughed Effi. "To tell the truth, he always looked as +though he had something of the sort." + +"Quite right. But you ought to see him now. Or rather not, for you can +take the mumps from merely seeing a case." + +"I don't believe it." + +"There is a great deal that young wives don't believe." + +"And again they believe many things they would better not believe." + +"Do you say that for my benefit?" + +"No." + +"Sorry." + +"How becoming this 'sorry' is to you! I really believe, Major, you +would consider it entirely proper, if I were to make a declaration of +love to you." + +"I will not go quite that far. But I should like to see the fellow who +would not desire such a thing. Thoughts and wishes go free of duty." + +"There is some question about that. Besides, there is a difference +between thoughts and wishes. Thoughts, as a rule, keep in the +background, but wishes, for the most part, hover on the lips." + +"I wish you wouldn't say that." + +"Ah, Crampas, you are--you are--" + +"A fool." + +"No. That is another exaggeration. But you are something else. In +Hohen-Cremmen we always said, I along with the rest, that the most +conceited person in the world was a hussar ensign at eighteen." + +"And now?" + +"Now I say, the most conceited person in the world is a district +major of the landwehr at forty-two." + +"Incidentally, my other two years that you most graciously ignore make +amends for the remark. Kiss the hand" (--My respects to you). + +"Yes, 'kiss the hand.' That is just the expression that fits you. It +is Viennese. And the Viennese--I made their acquaintance four years +ago in Carlsbad, where they courted me, a fourteen-year-old slip of a +girl. What a lot of things I had to listen to!" + +"Certainly nothing more than was right." + +"If that were true, the intended compliment would be rather rude--But +see the buoys yonder, how they swim and dance. The little red flags +are hauled in. Every time I have seen the red flags this summer, the +few times that I have ventured to go down to the beach, I have said to +myself: there lies Vineta, it must lie there, those are the tops of +the towers." + +"That is because you know Heine's poem." + +"Which one?" + +"Why, the one about Vineta." + +"No, I don't know that one; indeed I know very few, to my sorrow." + +"And yet you have Gieshübler and the Journal Club. However, Heine gave +the poem a different name, 'Sea Ghosts,' I believe, or something of +the sort. But he meant Vineta. As he himself--pardon me, if I proceed +to tell you here the contents of the poem--as the poet, I was about to +say, is passing the place, he is lying on the ship's deck and looking +down into the water, and there he sees narrow, medieval streets, and +women tripping along in hoodlike hats. All have songbooks in their +hands and are going to church, and all the bells are ringing. When he +hears the bells he is seized with a longing to go to church himself, +even though only for the sake of the hoodlike hats, and in the heat of +desire he screams aloud and is about to plunge in. But at that moment +the captain seizes him by the leg and exclaims: 'Doctor, are you +crazy?'" + +"Why, that is delicious! I'd like to read it. Is it long?" + +"No, it is really short, somewhat longer than 'Thou hast diamonds and +pearls,' or 'Thy soft lily fingers,'" and he gently touched her hand. +"But long or short, what descriptive power, what objectivity! He is my +favorite poet and I know him by heart, little as I care in general for +this poetry business, in spite of the jingles I occasionally +perpetrate myself. But with Heine's poetry it is different. It is all +life, and above everything else he is a connoisseur of love, which, +you know, is the highest good. Moreover, he is not one-sided." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean he is not all for love." + +"Well, even if he had this one-sidedness it would not be the worst +thing in the world. What else does he favor?" + +"He is also very much in favor of romance, which, to be sure, follows +closely after love and, in the opinion of some people, coincides with +it. But I don't believe it does. In his later poems, which have been +called 'romantic'--as a matter of fact, he called them that +himself--in these romantic poems there is no end of killing. Often on +account of love, to be sure, but usually for other, more vulgar +reasons, among which I include politics, which is almost always +vulgar. Charles Stuart, for example, carries his head under his arm in +one of these romances, and still more gruesome is the story of +Vitzliputzli." + +"Of whom?" + +"Vitzliputzli. He is a Mexican god, and when the Mexicans had taken +twenty or thirty Spaniards prisoners, these twenty or thirty had to be +sacrificed to Vitzliputzli. There was no help for it, it was a +national custom, a cult, and it all took place in the turn of a +hand--belly open, heart out--" + +"Stop, Crampas, no more of that. It is indecent, and disgusting +besides. And all this when we are just about on the point of eating +lunch!" + +"I for my part am not affected by it, as I make it my rule to let my +appetite depend only upon the menu." + +During this conversation they had come from the beach, according to +program, to a bench built in the lee of the dunes, with an extremely +primitive table in front of it, simply a board on top of two posts. +Kruse, who had ridden ahead, had the lunch already served--tea rolls, +slices of cold roast meat, and red wine, and beside the bottle stood +two pretty little gold-rimmed glasses, such as one buys in watering +places or takes home as souvenirs from glass works. + +They dismounted. Kruse, who had tied the reins of his own horse around +a stunted pine, walked up and down with the other two horses, while +Crampas and Effi sat down at the table and enjoyed the clear view of +beach and mole afforded by a narrow cut through the dunes. + +The half-wintery November sun shed its fallow light upon the still +agitated sea and the high-running surf. Now and then a puff of wind +came and carried the spray clear up to the table. There was lyme grass +all around, and the bright yellow of the immortelles stood out sharply +against the yellow sand they were growing in, despite the kinship of +colors. Effi played the hostess. "I am sorry, Major, to have to pass +you the rolls in a basket lid." + +"I don't mind the platter, so long as it holds a favor." + +"But this is Kruse's arrangement--Why, there you are too, Rollo. But +our lunch does not take you into account. What shall we do with +Rollo?" + +"I say, give him everything--I for my part out of gratitude. For, you +see, dearest Effi--" + +Effi looked at him. + +"For, you see, most gracious Lady, Rollo reminds me of what I was +about to tell you as a continuation or counterpart of the Vitzliputzli +story, only much more racy, because a love story. Have you ever heard +of a certain Pedro the Cruel?" + +"I have a faint recollection." + +"A kind of Bluebeard king." + +"That is fine. That is the kind girls like best to hear about, and I +still remember we always said of my friend Hulda Niemeyer, whose name +you have heard, I believe, that she knew no history, except the six +wives of Henry the Eighth, that English Bluebeard, if the word is +strong enough for him. And, really, she knew these six by heart. You +ought to have heard her when she pronounced the names, especially that +of the mother of queen Elizabeth,--so terribly embarrassed, as though +it were her turn next--But now, please, the story of Don Pedro." + +"Very well. At Don Pedro's court there was a handsome black Spanish +knight, who wore on his breast the cross of Calatrava, which is about +the equivalent of the Black Eagle and the _Pour le Mérite_ together. +This cross was essential, they always had to wear it, and this +Calatrava knight, whom the queen secretly loved, of course--" + +"Why of course?" + +"Because we are in Spain." + +"So we are." + +"And this Calatrava knight, I say, had a very beautiful dog, a +Newfoundland dog, although there were none as yet, for it was just a +hundred years before the discovery of America. A very beautiful dog, +let us call him Rollo." + +When Rollo heard his name he barked and wagged his tail. + +"It went on thus for many a day. But the secret love, which probably +did not remain entirely secret, soon became too much for the king, who +cared very little for the Calatrava knight anyhow; for he was not only +a cruel king, but also a jealous old wether--or, if that word is not +just suited for a king, and still less for my amiable listener, Mrs. +Effi, call him at least a jealous creature. Well, he resolved to have +the Calatrava knight secretly beheaded for his secret love." + +"I can't blame him." + +"I don't know, most gracious Lady. You must hear further. In part it +was all right, but it was too much. The king, in my judgment, went +altogether too far. He pretended he was going to arrange a feast for +the knight in honor of his deeds as a warrior and hero, and there was +a long table and all the grandees of the realm sat at this table, and +in the middle sat the king, and opposite him was the place of honor +for the Calatrava knight. But the knight failed to appear, and when +they had waited a long while for him, they finally had to begin the +feast without him, and his place remained vacant. A vacant place just +opposite the king!" + +"And then?" + +"And then, fancy, most gracious Lady, as the king, this Pedro, is +about to rise in order dissemblingly to express his regret that his +'dear guest' has not yet appeared, the horrified servants are heard +screaming on the stairway, and before anybody knows what has happened, +something flies along the table, springs upon the chair, and places a +severed head upon the empty plate. Over this very head Rollo stares at +the one sitting face to face with him, viz., the king. Rollo had +accompanied his master on his last journey, and the moment the ax fell +the faithful animal snatched the falling head, and here he was now, +our friend Rollo, at the long festal board, accusing the royal +murderer." + +Effi was rapt with attention. After a few moments she said: "Crampas, +that is in its way very beautiful, and because it is very beautiful I +will forgive you. But you might do better, and please me more, if you +would tell stories of another kind, even from Heine. Certainly Heine +has not written exclusively of Vitzliputzli and Don Pedro and _your_ +Rollo. I say _your_, for mine would not have done such a thing. Come, +Rollo. Poor creature, I can't look at you any more without thinking of +the Calatrava knight, whom the queen secretly loved--Call Kruse, +please, that he may put these things back in the saddle bag, and, as +we ride home, you must tell me something different, something entirely +different." + +Kruse came. As he was about to take the glasses Crampas said: "Kruse, +leave the one glass, this one here. I'll take it myself." + +"Your servant, Major." + +Effi, who had overheard this, shook her head. Then she laughed. +"Crampas, what in the world are you thinking of? Kruse is stupid +enough not to think a second time about anything, and even if he did +he fortunately would arrive at no conclusion. But that does not +justify you in keeping this thirty-pfennig glass from the Joseph Glass +Works." + +"Your scornful reference to its price makes me feel its value all the +more deeply." + +"Always the same story. You are such a humorist, but a very queer one. +If I understand you rightly you are going to--it is ridiculous and I +almost hesitate to say it--you are going to perform now the act of the +King of Thule." + +He nodded with a touch of roguishness. + +"Very well, for all I care. Everybody wears his right cap; you know +which one. But I must be permitted to say that the rôle you are +assigning to me in this connection is far from flattering. I don't +care to figure as a rhyme to your King of Thule. Keep the glass, but +please draw no conclusions that would compromise me. I shall tell +Innstetten about it." + +"That you will not do, most gracious Lady." + +"Why not?" + +"Innstetten is not the man to see such things in their proper light." + +She eyed him sharply for a moment, then lowered her eyes confused and +almost embarrassed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +[Effi's peace was disturbed, but the prospect of a quiet winter, with +few occasions to meet Crampas, reassured her. She and her husband +began to spend their evenings reviewing their Italian journey. +Gieshübler joined them and soon announced that Crampas was planning an +amateur performance of _A Step out of the Way_, with Effi as the +heroine. She felt the danger, but was eager to act, as Crampas was +only the coach. Her playing won enthusiastic applause and Innstetten +raved over his captivating wife. A casual remark about Mrs. Crampas +led him to assert that she was insanely jealous of Effi, and to tell +how Crampas had wheedled her into agreeing to stay at home the second +day after Christmas, while he himself joined the Innstettens and +others on a sleighing party. Innstetten then said, in a way suggesting +the strict pedagogue, that Crampas was not to be trusted, particularly +in his relations to women. On Christmas day Effi was happy till she +discovered she had received no greeting from Crampas. That put her out +of sorts and made her conscious that all was not well. Innstetten +noticed her troubled state and, when she told him she felt unworthy of +the kindness showered upon her, he said that people get only what they +deserve, but she was not sure of his meaning. The proposed sleighing +party was carried out. After coffee at Forester Ring's lodge all went +out for a walk. Crampas remarked to Effi that they were in danger of +being snowed in. She replied with the story of a poem entitled _God's +Wall_, which she had learned from her pastor. During a war an aged +widow prayed God to build a wall to protect her from the enemy. God +caused her cottage to be snowed under, and the enemy passed by. +Crampas changed the subject.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +[At seven o'clock dinner was served. At the table Sidonie Grasenabb +had much to say against the loose modern way of bringing up girls, +with particular reference to the Forester's frivolous daughters. After +a toast to Ring, in which Güldenklee indulged in various puns on the +name, the Prussian song was sung and the company made ready to start +home. Gieshübler's coachman had meanwhile been kicked in the shin by +one of the horses and the doctor ordered him to stay at the Forester's +for the present. Innstetten undertook to drive home in his place. +Sidonie Grasenabb rode part of the way with Effi and Crampas, till a +small stream with a quicksand bottom was encountered, when she left +the sleigh and joined her family in their carriage. Crampas who had +been sent by Innstetten to look after the ladies in his sleigh, was +now alone with Effi. When she saw that the roundabout way was bringing +them to a dark forest, through which they would have to pass, she +sought to steady her nerves by clasping her hands together with all +her might. Then she recalled the poem about _God's Wall_ and tried two +or three times to repeat the widow's prayer for protection, but was +conscious that her words were dead. She was afraid, and yet felt as +though she were under a spell, which she did not care to cast off. +When the sleigh entered the dark woods Crampas spoke her name softly, +with trembling voice, took her hand, loosened the clenched fingers, +and covered them with fervent kisses. She felt herself fainting. When +she again opened her eyes the sleigh had passed out of the woods and +it soon drove up before her home in Kessin.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +Innstetten, who had observed Effi sharply as he lifted her from the +sleigh, but had avoided speaking to her in private about the strange +drive, arose early the following morning and sought to overcome his +ill-humor, from the effects of which he still suffered. + +"Did you sleep well?" he asked, as Effi came to breakfast. + +"Yes." + +"How fortunate! I can't say the same of myself. I dreamed you met with +an accident in the sleigh, in the quicksand, and Crampas tried to +rescue you--I must call it that--, but he sank out of sight with you." + +"You say all this so queerly, Geert. Your words contain a covert +reproach, and I can guess why." + +"Very remarkable." + +"You do not approve of Crampas's coming and offering us his +assistance." + +"Us?" + +"Yes, us. Sidonie and me. You seem to have forgotten entirely that the +Major came at your request. At first he sat opposite me, and I may +say, incidentally, that it was indeed an uncomfortable seat on that +miserable narrow strip, but when the Grasenabbs came up and took +Sidonie, and our sleigh suddenly drove on, I suppose you expected that +I should ask him to get out? That would have made a laughing stock of +me, and you know how sensitive you are on that point. Remember, we +have ridden horseback many times together, with your consent, and now +you don't think I should ride in the same vehicle with him. It is +wrong, we used to say at home, to mistrust a nobleman." + +"A nobleman," said Innstetten with emphasis. + +"Isn't he one? You yourself called him a cavalier, a perfect cavalier, +in fact." + +"Yes," continued Innstetten, his tone growing more friendly, though it +still betrayed a slight shade of sarcasm. "A cavalier he is, and a +perfect cavalier, that is beyond dispute. But nobleman? My dear Effi, +a nobleman has a different look. Have you ever noticed anything noble +about him? Not I." + +Effi stared at the ground and kept silent. + +"It seems we are of the same opinion. But, as you said, I myself am to +blame. I don't care to speak of a _faux pas_; it is not the right word +in this connection. I assume the blame, and it shall not occur again, +if I can prevent it. But you will be on your guard, too, if you heed +my advice. He is coarse and has designs of his own on young women. I +knew him of old." + +"I shall remember what you say. But just one thing--I believe you +misunderstand him." + +"I do _not_ misunderstand him." + +"Or me," she said, with all the force at her command, and attempted to +meet his gaze. + +"Nor you either, my dear Effi. You are a charming little woman, but +persistence is not exactly your specialty." + +He arose to go. When he had got as far as the door Frederick entered +to deliver a note from Gieshübler, addressed, of course, to her +Ladyship. + +Effi took it. "A secret correspondence with Gieshübler," she said. +"Material for another fit of jealousy on the part of my austere Lord. +Or isn't it?" + +"No, not quite, my dear Effi. I am so foolish as to make a distinction +between Crampas and Gieshübler. They are not the same number of carats +fine, so to speak. You know, the value of gold is estimated by carats, +in certain circumstances that of men also. And I must add that I +personally have a considerably higher regard for Gieshübler's white +jabot, in spite of the fact that jabots are no longer worn, than I +have for Crampas's red sapper whiskers. But I doubt if that is +feminine taste." + +"You think we are weaker than we are." + +"A consolation of extraordinarily little practical application. But +enough of that. Read your note." + +Effi read: "May I inquire about the health of my gracious Lady? I know +only that you luckily escaped the quicksand. But there was still +plenty of danger lurking along the road through the woods. Dr. +Hannemann has just returned and reassures me concerning Mirambo, +saying that yesterday he considered the case more serious than he +cared to let us know, but not so today. It was a charming +sleigh-ride.--In three days we shall celebrate New Year's eve. We +shall have to forego a festivity like last year's, but we shall have a +ball, of course, and to see you present would delight the dancers and, +by no means least, Yours most respectfully, Alonzo G." + +Effi laughed. "Well, what do you say?" + +"The same as before, simply that I should rather see you with +Gieshübler than with Crampas." + +"Because you take Crampas too seriously and Gieshübler too lightly." + +Innstetten jokingly shook his finger at her. + +Three days later was New Year's eve. Effi appeared in a charming ball +gown, a gift that the Christmas table had brought her. But she did not +dance. She took her seat among the elderly dames, for whom easy chairs +were placed near the orchestra gallery. Of the particular noble +families with which the Innstettens associated there was nobody +present, because, shortly before, there had occurred a slight +disagreement with the city faction in the management of the club, +which had been accused of "destructive tendencies," especially by old +Mr. Güldenklee. However, three or four other noble families from over +the Kessine, who were not members of the club, but only invited +guests, had crossed over the ice on the river, some of them from a +great distance, and were happy to take part in the festivity. Effi sat +between the elderly wife of baronial councillor von Padden and a +somewhat younger Mrs. von Titzewitz. The former, an excellent old +lady, was in every way an original, and sought by means of orthodox +German Christianity to counteract the tendency toward Wendish +heathenism, with which nature had endowed her, especially in the +prominent structure of her cheek bones. In her orthodoxy she went so +far that even Sidonie von Grasenabb was in comparison a sort of +_esprit fort_. The elderly dame, having sprung from a union of the +Radegast and the Schwantikow branches of the family, had inherited the +old Padden humor, which had for years rested like a blessing upon the +family and had heartily rejoiced everybody who came into touch with +them, even though enemies in politics or religion. + +"Well, child," said the baronial councillor's wife, "how are you +getting on, anyhow?" + +"Quite well, most gracious Lady. I have a very excellent husband." + +"I know. But that does not always suffice. I, too, had an excellent +husband. How do matters actually stand? No temptations?" + +Effi was startled and touched at the same time. There was something +uncommonly refreshing about the free and natural tone in which the old +lady spoke, and the fact that she was such a pious woman made it even +more refreshing. + +"Ah, most gracious Lady--" + +"There it comes. Nothing new, the same old story. Time makes no change +here, and perhaps it is just as well. The essential thing, my dear +young woman, is struggle. One must always wrestle with the natural +man. And when one has conquered self and feels almost like screaming +out, because it hurts so, then the dear angels shout for joy." + +"Ah, most gracious Lady, it is often very hard." + +"To be sure, it is hard. But the harder the better. You must be glad +of that. The weakness of the flesh is lasting. I have grandsons and +granddaughters and see it every day. But the conquering of self in the +faith, my dear Lady, that is the essential thing, that is the true +way. This was brought to our knowledge by our old man of God, Martin +Luther. Do you know his _Table Talks_?" + +"No, most gracious Lady." + +"I am going to send them to you." + +At this moment Major von Crampas stepped up to Effi and inquired about +her health. Effi was red as blood. Before she had time to reply he +said: "May I ask you, most gracious Lady, to present me to these +Ladies?" + +Effi introduced Crampas, who had already got his bearings perfectly +and in the course of his small talk mentioned all the von Paddens and +von Titzewitzes he had ever heard of. At the same time he excused +himself for not yet having made his call and presented his wife to the +people beyond the Kessine. "But it is strange what a separating power +water has. It is the same way with the English Channel." + +"How?" asked old Mrs. von Titzewitz. + +Crampas, considering it inadvisable to give explanations which would +have been to no purpose, continued: "To twenty Germans who go to +France there is not one who goes to England. That is because of the +water. I repeat, water has a dividing power." + +Mrs. von Padden, whose fine instinct scented some insinuation in this +remark, was about to take up the cudgels for water, but Crampas spoke +on with increasing fluency and turned the attention of the ladies to a +beautiful Miss von Stojentin, "without question the queen of the +ball," he said, incidentally casting an admiring glance at Effi. Then +he bowed quickly to the three ladies and walked away. + +"Handsome man," said Mrs. von Padden. "Does he ever come to your +house?" + +"Casually." + +"Truly a handsome man," repeated Mrs. von Padden. "A little bit too +self-assured. Pride will have a fall. But just see, there he is, +taking his place with Grete Stojentin. Why, really, he is too old, he +is at least in the middle of the forties." + +"He is going on forty-four." + +"Aha, you seem to be well acquainted with him." + + * * * * * + +It was very opportune for Effi that the new year, from the very +beginning, brought a variety of diversions. New Year's eve a sharp +northeast wind began to blow and during the next few days it increased +in velocity till it amounted almost to a hurricane. On the 3d of +January in the afternoon it was reported that a ship which had not +been able to make its way into port had been wrecked a hundred yards +from the mole. It was said to be an English ship from Sunderland +and, so far as could be ascertained, had seven men on board. In spite +of strenuous efforts the pilots were unable to row around the mole, +and the launching of a boat from the beach was out of the question, as +the surf was too heavy. That sounded sad enough. But Johanna, who +brought the news, had a word of comfort. Consul Eschrich, she said, +was hastening to the scene with the life-saving apparatus and the +rocket battery, and success was certain. The distance was not quite as +great as in the year '75, and that time all lives had been saved; even +the poodle had been rescued. "It was very touching to see how the dog +rejoiced and again and again licked with his red tongue both the +Captain's wife and the dear little child, not much larger than little +Annie." + +"Geert, I must go there, I must see it," Effi declared, and both set +out at once in order not to be too late. They chose just the right +moment, for as they reached the beach beyond the "Plantation" the +first shot was fired and they saw plainly how the rocket with the life +line sailed beneath the storm cloud and fell down beyond the ship. +Immediately all hands were astir on board and they used the small line +to haul in the heavier hawser with the basket. Before long the basket +returned and one of the sailors, a very handsome, slender man, with an +oilcloth hood, was safe on land. He was plied with questions by the +inquisitive spectators, while the basket made another trip to fetch +the second man, then the third, and so on. All were rescued, and as +Effi walked home with her husband a half hour later she felt like +throwing herself on the sand and having a good cry. A beautiful +emotion had again found lodgment in her heart and she was immeasurably +happy that it was so. + +This occurred on the 3d. On the 5th a new excitement was experienced, +of an entirely different kind, to be sure. On his way out of the +council house Innstetten had met Gieshübler, who, by the way, was an +alderman and a member of the magistracy. In conversation with him +Innstetten had learned that the ministry of war had inquired what +attitude the city authorities would assume in case the question of a +garrison were raised. If they showed their willingness to meet the +necessary conditions, viz., to build stables and barracks, they might +be granted two squadrons of hussars. "Well, Effi, what do you say +about it?" Effi looked as though struck dumb. All the innocent +happiness of her childhood years was suddenly brought back to her and +for a moment it seemed as though red hussars--for these were to be red +hussars, like those at home in Hohen-Cremmen--were the true guardians +of Paradise and innocence. Still she remained silent. + +"Why, you aren't saying anything, Effi." + +"Strangely, I'm not, Geert. But it makes me so happy that I cannot +speak for joy. Is it really going to be? Are they truly going to +come?" + +"It is a long way off yet. In fact, Gieshübler said the city fathers, +his colleagues, didn't deserve it at all. Instead of simply being +unanimous and happy over the honor, or if not over the honor, at least +over the advantage, they had brought forward all sorts of 'ifs' and +'buts,' and had been niggardly about the buildings. In fact, +Confectioner Michelsen had gone so far as to say it would corrupt the +morals of the city, and whoever had a daughter would better be +forehanded and secure iron grills for his windows." + +"That is incredible. I have never seen more mannerly people than our +hussars. Really, Geert. Well, you know so yourself. And so this +Michelsen wants to protect everything with iron bars. Has he any +daughters?" + +"Certainly. Three, in fact. But they are all out of the race." + +Effi laughed more heartily than she had for a long time. But the mood +was of short duration and when Innstetten went away and left her alone +she sat down by the baby's cradle, and tears fell on the pillows. The +old feeling came over her again that she was a prisoner without hope +of escape. + +She suffered intensely from the feeling and longed more than ever for +liberty. But while she was capable of strong emotions she had not a +strong character. She lacked steadfastness and her good desires soon +passed away. Thus she drifted on, one day, because she could not help +it, the next, because she did not care to try to help it. She seemed +to be in the power of the forbidden and the mysterious. + +So it came about that she, who by nature was frank and open, +accustomed herself more and more to play an underhand part. At times +she was startled at the ease with which she could do it. Only in one +respect she remained unchanged--she saw everything clearly and glossed +nothing. Late one evening she stepped before the mirror in her +bedroom. The lights and shadows flitted to and fro and Rollo began to +bark outside. That moment it seemed to her as though somebody were +looking over her shoulder. But she quickly bethought herself. "I know +well enough what it is. It was not _he_," and she pointed her finger +toward the haunted room upstairs. "It was something else--my +conscience--Effi, you are lost." + +Yet things continued on this course; the ball was rolling, and what +happened one day made the actions of the next a necessity. + +About the middle of the month there came invitations from the four +families with which the Innstettens associated most. They had agreed +upon the order in which they would entertain. The Borckes were to +begin, the Flemmings and Grasenabbs followed, the Güldenklees came +last. Each time a week intervened. All four invitations came on the +same day. They were evidently intended to leave an impression of +orderliness and careful planning, and probably also of special +friendliness and congeniality. + +"I shall not go, Geert, and you must excuse me in advance on the +ground of the treatment which I have been undergoing for weeks past." + +Innstetten laughed. "Treatment. I am to blame it on the treatment. +That is the pretext. The real reason is you don't care to." + +"No, I am more honest than you are willing to admit. It was your own +suggestion that I consult the doctor. I did so and now I must follow +his advice. The good doctor thinks I am anæmic, strangely enough, and +you know that I drink chalybeate water every day. If you combine this +in imagination with a dinner at the Borckes', with, say, brawn and eel +aspic, you can't help feeling that it would be the death of me. And +certainly you would not think of asking such a thing of your Effi. To +be sure, I feel at times--" + +"I beg you, Effi." + +"However, the one good thing about it is that I can look forward with +pleasure to accompanying you each time a part of the way in the +carriage, as far as the mill, certainly, or the churchyard, or even to +the corner of the forest, where the crossroad to Morgnitz comes in. +Then I can alight and saunter back. It is always very beautiful among +the dunes." + +Innstetten was agreed, and when the carriage drove up three days later +Effi got in with her husband and accompanied him to the corner of the +forest. "Stop here, Geert. You drive on to the left now, but I am +going to the right, down to the beach and back through the +'Plantation.' It is rather far, but not too far. Dr. Hannemann tells +me every day that exercise is everything, exercise and fresh air. And +I almost believe he is right. Give my regards to all the company, only +you needn't say anything to Sidonie." + +The drives on which Effi accompanied her husband as far as the corner +of the forest were repeated every week, but even on the intervening +days she insisted that she should strictly observe the doctor's +orders. Not a day passed that she did not take her prescribed walk, +usually in the afternoon, when Innstetten began to become absorbed in +his newspapers. The weather was beautiful, the air soft and fresh, the +sky cloudy. As a rule she went out alone, after saying to Roswitha: +"Roswitha, I am going down the turnpike now and then to the right to +the place with the merrygo-round. There I shall wait for you, meet me +there. Then we can walk back by the avenue of birches or through the +ropewalk. But do not come unless Annie is asleep. If she is not +asleep send Johanna. Or, rather, just let it go. It is not necessary; +I can easily find the way." + +The first day they met as planned. Effi sat on a bench by a long shed, +looking over at a low yellow plaster house with exposed timbers +painted black, an inn at which the lower middle classes drank their +glass of beer or played at ombre. It was hardly dusk, but the windows +were already bright, and their gleams of light fell upon the piles of +snow and the few trees standing at one side. "See, Roswitha, how +beautiful that looks." + +This was repeated for a few days. But usually, when Roswitha reached +the merry-go-round and the shed, nobody was there, and when she came +back home and entered the hall Effi came to meet her, saying: "Where +in the world have you been, Roswitha? I have been back a long time." + +Thus it went on for weeks. The matter of the hussars was about given +up, on account of objections made by the citizens. But as the +negotiations were not yet definitely closed and had recently been +referred to the office of the commander in chief, Crampas was called +to Stettin to give his opinion to the authorities. + +From there he wrote the second day to Innstetten: "Pardon me, +Innstetten, for taking French leave. It all came so quickly. Here, +however, I shall seek to draw the matter out long, for it is a +pleasure to be out in the world again. My regards to your gracious +wife, my amiable patroness." + +He read it to Effi, who remained silent. Finally she said: + +"It is very well thus." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"That he is gone. To tell the truth, he always says the same things. +When he is back he will at least for a time have something new to +say." + +[Illustration: HIGH ALTAR AT SALZBURG +_From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_] + +Innstetten gave her a sharp scrutinizing glance, but he saw nothing, +and his suspicion was allayed. "I am going away, too," he said after +a while, "and to Berlin at that. Perhaps I, too, can bring back +something new, as well as Crampas. My dear Effi always wants to hear +something new. She is bored to death in our good Kessin. I shall be +away about a week, perhaps a day or two longer. But don't be +alarmed--I don't think it will come back--You know, that thing +upstairs--But even if it should, you have Rollo and Roswitha." + +Effi smiled to herself and felt at the same time a mingling of +sadness. She could not help recalling the day when Crampas had told +her for the first time that her husband was acting out a play with the +ghost and her fear. The great pedagogue! But was he not right? Was not +the play in place? All kinds of contradicting thoughts, good and bad, +shot through her head. + +The third day Innstetten went away. He had not said anything about his +business in Berlin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Innstetten had been gone but four days when Crampas returned from +Stettin with the news that the higher authorities had definitely +dropped the plan of detailing two squadrons to Kessin. There were so +many small cities that were applying for a garrison of cavalry, +particularly for Blücher hussars, that as a rule, he said, an offer of +such troops met with a hearty reception, and not a halting one. When +Crampas made this report the magistracy looked quite badly +embarrassed. Only Gieshübler was triumphant, because he thought the +discomfiture served his narrow-minded colleagues exactly right. When +the news reached the common people a certain amount of depression +spread among them, indeed even some of the consuls with eligible +daughters were for the time being dissatisfied. But on the whole they +soon forgot about it, perhaps because the question of the day, "What +was Innstetten's business in Berlin?" was more interesting to the +people of Kessin, or at least to the dignitaries of the city. They +did not care to lose their unusually popular district councillor, and +yet very exaggerated rumors about him were in circulation, rumors +which, if not started by Gieshübler, were at least supported and +further spread by him. Among other things it was said that Innstetten +would go to Morocco as an ambassador with a suite, bearing gifts, +including not only the traditional vase with a picture of Sans Souci +and the New Palace, but above all a large refrigerator. The latter +seemed so probable in view of the temperature in Morocco, that the +whole story was believed. + +In time Effi heard about it. The days when the news would have cheered +her were not yet so very far distant. But in the frame of mind in +which she had been since the end of the year she was no longer capable +of laughing artlessly and merrily. Her face had taken on an entirely +new expression, and her half-pathetic, half-roguish childishness, +which she had preserved as a woman, was gone. The walks to the beach +and the "Plantation," which she had given up while Crampas was in +Stettin, she resumed after his return and would not allow them to be +interfered with by unfavorable weather. It was arranged as formerly +that Roswitha should come to meet her at the end of the ropewalk, or +near the churchyard, but they missed each other oftener than before. +"I could scold you, Roswitha, for never finding me. But it doesn't +matter; I am no longer afraid, not even by the churchyard, and in the +forest I have never yet met a human soul." + +It was on the day before Innstetten's return from Berlin that Effi +said this. Roswitha paid little attention to the remarks, as she was +absorbed in hanging up garlands over the doors. Even the shark was +decorated with a fir bough and looked more remarkable than usual. Effi +said: "That is right, Roswitha. He will be pleased with all the green +when he comes back tomorrow. I wonder whether I should go out again +today? Dr. Hannemann insists upon it and is continually saying I do +not take it seriously enough, otherwise I should certainly be looking +better. But I have no real desire today; it is drizzling and the sky +is so gray." + +"I will fetch her Ladyship's raincoat." + +"Do so, but don't come for me today; we should not meet anyhow," and +she laughed. "Really, Roswitha, you are not a bit good at finding. And +I don't want to have you catch a cold all for nothing." + +So Roswitha remained at home and, as Annie was sleeping, went over to +chat with Mrs. Kruse. "Dear Mrs. Kruse," she said, "you were going to +tell me about the Chinaman. Yesterday Johanna interrupted you. She +always puts on such airs, and such a story would not interest her. But +I believe there was, after all, something in it, I mean the story of +the Chinaman and Thomsen's niece, if she was not his granddaughter." + +Mrs. Kruse nodded. + +Roswitha continued: "Either it was an unhappy love"--Mrs. Kruse nodded +again--"or it may have been a happy one, and the Chinaman was simply +unable to endure the sudden termination of it. For the Chinese are +human, like the rest of us, and everything is doubtless the same with +them as with us." + +"Everything," assured Mrs. Kruse, who was about to corroborate it by +her story, when her husband entered and said: "Mother, you might give +me the bottle of leather varnish. I must have the harness shining when +his Lordship comes home tomorrow. He sees everything, and even if he +says nothing, one can tell that he has seen it all." + +"I'll bring it out to you, Kruse," said Roswitha. "Your wife is just +going to tell me something more; but it will soon be finished and then +I'll come and bring it." + +A few minutes later Roswitha came out into the yard with the bottle of +varnish in her hand and stood by the harness which Kruse had just hung +over the garden fence. "By George!" he said, as he took the bottle +from her hand, "it will not do much good; it keeps drizzling all the +time and the shine will come off. But I am one of those who think +everything must be kept in order." + +"Indeed it must. Besides, Kruse, that is good varnish, as I can see at +a glance, and first-class varnish doesn't stay sticky very long, it +must dry immediately. Even if it is foggy tomorrow, or dewy, it will +be too late then to hurt it. But, I must say, that is a remarkable +story about the Chinaman." + +Kruse laughed. "It is nonsense, Roswitha. My wife, instead of paying +attention to proper things, is always telling such tales, and when I +go to put on a clean shirt there is a button off. It has been so ever +since we came here. She always had just such stories in her head and +the black hen besides. And the black hen doesn't even lay eggs. After +all, what can she be expected to lay eggs out of? She never goes out, +and such things as eggs can't come from mere cock-a-doodle-dooing. It +is not to be expected of any hen." + +"See here, Kruse, I am going to repeat that to your wife. I have +always considered you a respectable man and now you say things like +that about the cock-a-doodle-dooing. Men are always worse than we +think. Really I ought to take this brush right now and paint a black +moustache on your face." + +"Well, Roswitha, one could put up with that from you," and Kruse, who +was usually on his dignity, seemed about to change to a more flirting +tone, when he suddenly caught sight of her Ladyship, who today came +from the other side of the "Plantation" and just at this moment was +passing along the garden fence. + +"Good day, Roswitha, my, but you are merry. What is Annie doing?" + +"She is asleep, your Ladyship." + +As Roswitha said this she turned red and quickly breaking off the +conversation, started toward the house to help her Ladyship change her +clothes. For it was doubtful whether Johanna was there. She hung +around a good deal over at the "office" nowadays, because there was +less to do at home and Frederick and Christel were too tedious for her +and never knew anything. + +Annie was still asleep. Effi leaned over the cradle, then had her hat +and raincoat taken off and sat down upon the little sofa in her +bedroom. She slowly stroked back her moist hair, laid her feet on a +stool, which Roswitha drew up to her, and said, as she evidently +enjoyed the comfort of resting after a rather long walk: "Roswitha, I +must remind you that Kruse is married." + +"I know it, your Ladyship." + +"Yes, what all doesn't one know, and yet one acts as though one did +_not_ know. Nothing can ever come of this." + +"Nothing is supposed to come of it, your Ladyship." + +"If you think she is an invalid you are reckoning without your host. +Invalids live the longest. Besides she has the black chicken. Beware +of it. It knows everything and tattles everything. I don't know, it +makes me shudder. And I'll wager all that business upstairs has some +connection with this chicken." + +"Oh, I don't believe it. But it is terrible just the same, and Kruse, +who always sides himself against his wife, cannot talk me out of it." + +"What did he say?" + +"He said it was nothing but mice." + +"Well, mice are quite bad enough. I can't bear mice. But, to change +the subject, I saw you chatting with Kruse, plainly, also your +familiar actions, and in fact I think you were going to paint a +moustache on his lip. That I call pretty far advanced. A little later +you will be jilted. You are still a smug person and have your charms. +But beware, that is all I have to say to you. Just what was your +experience the first time? Was it such that you can tell me about it?" + +"Oh, I can tell you. But it was terrible. And because it was so +terrible, your Ladyship's mind can be perfectly easy with regard to +Kruse. A girl who has gone through what I did has enough of it and +takes care. I still dream of it occasionally and then I am all knocked +to pieces the next day. Such awful fright." + +Effi sat up and leaned her head on her arm. "Tell me about it, and how +it came about. I know from my observations at home that it is always +the same story with you girls." + +"Yes, no doubt it is always the same at first, and I am determined not +to think that there was anything special about my case. But when the +time came that they threw it into my face and I was suddenly forced to +say: 'yes, it is so,' oh, _that_ was terrible. Mother--well, I could +get along with her, but father, who had the village blacksmith's shop, +he was severe and quick to fly into a rage. When he heard it, he came +at me with a pair of tongs which he had just taken from the fire and +was going to kill me. I screamed and ran up to the attic and hid +myself and there I lay and trembled, and did not come down till they +called me and told me to come. Besides, I had a younger sister, who +always pointed at me and said: 'Ugh!' Then when the child was about to +come I went into a barn near by, because I was afraid to stay in the +house. There strangers found me half dead and carried me into the +house and laid me in my bed. The third day they took the child away +and when I asked where it was they said it was well taken care of. Oh, +your Ladyship, may the holy mother of God protect you from such +distress!" + +Effi was startled and stared at Roswitha with wide-opened eyes. But +she was more frightened than vexed. "The things you do say! Why, I am +a married woman. You must not say such things; it is improper, it is +not fitting." + +"Oh, your Ladyship." + +"Tell me rather what became of you. They had robbed you of your baby. +You told me that." + +"And then, a few days later, somebody from Erfurt drove up to the +mayor's office and asked whether there was not a wet nurse there, and +the mayor said 'yes,' God bless him! So the strange gentleman took me +away with him and from that day I was better off. Even with the old +widow my life was tolerable, and finally I came to your Ladyship. That +was the best, the best of all." As she said this she stepped to the +sofa and kissed Effi's hand. + +"Roswitha, you must not always be kissing my hand, I don't like it. +And do beware of Kruse. Otherwise you are a good and sensible +person--With a married man--it is never well." + +"Ah, your Ladyship, God and his saints lead us wondrously, and the +bad fortune that befalls us has also its good side. If one is not made +better by it there is no help for him--Really, I like the men." + +"You see, Roswitha, you see." + +"But if the same feeling should come over me again--the affair with +Kruse, there is nothing in that--and I could not control myself, I +should run straight into the water. It was too terrible. Everything. +And I wonder what ever became of the poor baby? I don't think it is +still living; they had it killed, but I am to blame." She threw +herself down by Annie's cradle, and rocked the child and sang her +favorite lullaby over and over again without stopping. + +"Stop," said Effi, "don't sing any more; I have a headache. Bring in +the newspapers. Or has Gieshübler sent the journals?" + +"He did, and the fashion paper was on top. We were turning over the +leaves, Johanna and I, before she went across the street. Johanna +always gets angry that she cannot have such things. Shall I fetch the +fashion paper?" + +"Yes, fetch it and bring me the lamp, too." + +Roswitha went out and when Effi was alone she said: "What things they +do have to help one out! One pretty woman with a muff and another with +a half veil--fashion puppets. But it is the best thing for turning my +thoughts in some other direction." + +In the course of the following morning a telegram came from +Innstetten, in which he said he would come by the second train, which +meant that he would not arrive in Kessin before evening. The day +proved one of never ending restlessness. Fortunately Gieshübler came +in the afternoon and helped pass an hour. Finally, at seven o'clock, +the carriage drove up. Effi went out and greeted her husband. +Innstetten was in a state of excitement that was unusual for him and +so it came about that he did not notice the embarrassment mingled with +Effi's heartiness. In the hall the lamps and candles were burning, and +the tea service, which Frederick had placed on one of the tables +between the cabinets, reflected the brilliant light. + +"Why, this looks exactly as it did when we first arrived here. Do you +remember, Effi?" + +She nodded. + +"Only the shark with his fir bough behaves more calmly today, and even +Rollo pretends to be reticent and does not put his paws on my +shoulders. What is the matter with you, Rollo?" + +Rollo rubbed past his master and wagged his tail. + +"He is not exactly satisfied; either it is with me or with others. +Well, I'll assume, with me. At all events let us go in." He entered +his room and as he sat down on the sofa asked Effi to take a seat +beside him. "It was so fine in Berlin, beyond expectation, but in the +midst of all my pleasure I always felt a longing to be back. And how +well you look! A little bit pale and also a little bit changed, but it +is all becoming to you." + +Effi turned red. + +"And now you even turn red. But it is as I tell you. You used to have +something of the spoiled child about you; now all of a sudden you look +like a wife." + +"I like to hear that, Geert, but I think you are just saying it." + +"No, no, you can credit yourself with it, if it is something +creditable." + +"I should say it is." + +"Now guess who sent you his regards." + +"That is not hard, Geert. Besides, we wives, for I can count myself +one since you are back"--and she reached out her hand and laughed--"we +wives guess easily. We are not so obtuse as you." + +"Well, who was it?" + +"Why, Cousin von Briest, of course. He is the only person I know in +Berlin, not counting my aunts, whom you no doubt failed to look up, +and who are far too envious to send me their regards. Haven't you +found, too, that all old aunts are envious?" + +"Yes, Effi, that is true. And to hear you say it reminds me that you +are my same old Effi. For you must know that the old Effi, who looked +like a child, also suited my taste. Just exactly as does your Ladyship +at present." + +"Do you think so? And if you had to decide between the two"-- + +"That is a question for scholars; I shall not talk about it. But there +comes Frederick with the tea. How I have longed for this hour! And I +said so, too, even to your Cousin Briest, as we were sitting at +Dressel's and drinking Champagne to your health--Your ears must have +rung--And do you know what your cousin said?" + +"Something silly, certainly. He is great at that." + +"That is the blackest ingratitude I have ever heard of in all my life. +'Let us drink to the health of Effi,' he said, 'my beautiful +cousin--Do you know, Innstetten, that I should like nothing better +than to challenge you and shoot you dead? For Effi is an angel, and +you robbed me of this angel.' And he looked so serious and sad, as he +said it, that one might almost have believed him." + +"Oh, I know that mood of his. The how-manieth were you drinking?" + +"I don't recall now and perhaps could not have told you then. But this +I do believe, that he was wholly in earnest. And perhaps it would have +been the right match. Don't you think you could have lived with him?" + +"Could have lived? That is little, Geert. But I might almost say, I +could not even have lived with him." + +"Why not? He is really a fine amiable fellow and quite sensible, +besides." + +"Yes, he is that." + +"But--" + +"But he is a tomfool. And that is not the kind of a man we women love, +not even when we are still half children, as you have always thought +me and perhaps still do, in spite of my progress. Tomfoolery is not +what we want. Men must be men." + +"It's well you say so. My, a man surely has to mind his p's and q's. +Fortunately I can say I have just had an experience that looks as +though I had minded my p's and q's, or at least I shall be expected to +in the future--Tell me, what is your idea of a ministry?" + +"A ministry? Well, it may be one of two things. It may be people, wise +men of high rank, who rule the state; and it may be merely a house, a +palace, a Palazzo Strozzi or Pitti, or, if these are not fitting, any +other. You see I have not taken my Italian journey in vain." + +"And could you make up your mind to live in such a palace? I mean in +such a ministry?" + +"For heaven's sake, Geert, they have not made you a minister, have +they? Gieshübler said something of the sort. And the Prince is +all-powerful. Heavens, he has accomplished it at last and I am only +eighteen." + +Innstetten laughed. "No, Effi, not a minister; we have not risen to +that yet. But perhaps I may yet develop a variety of gifts that would +make such a thing not impossible." + +"So not just yet, not yet a minister?" + +"No. And, to tell the truth, we are not even to live in the ministry, +but I shall go daily to the ministry, as I now go to our district +council office, and I shall make reports to the minister and travel +with him, when he inspects the provincial offices. And you will be the +wife of a head clerk of a ministerial department and live in Berlin, +and in six months you will hardly remember that you have been here in +Kessin, where you have had nothing but Gieshübler and the dunes and +the 'Plantation.'" + +Effi did not say a word, but her eyes kept getting larger and larger. +About the corners of her mouth there was a nervous twitching and her +whole slender body trembled. Suddenly she slid from her seat down to +Innstetten's feet, clasped her arms around his knees and said in a +tone, as though she were praying: "Thank God!" + +Innstetten turned pale. What was that? Something that had come over +him weeks before, but had swiftly passed away, only to come back from +time to time, returned again now and spoke so plainly out of his eyes +that it startled Effi. She had allowed herself to be carried away by a +beautiful feeling, differing but little from a confession of her +guilt, and had told more than she dared. She must offset it, must find +some way of escape, at whatever cost. + +"Get up, Effi. What is the matter with you?" + +Effi arose quickly. However, she did not sit down on the sofa again, +but drew up a high-backed chair, apparently because she did not feel +strong enough to hold herself up without support. + +"What is the matter with you?" repeated Innstetten. "I thought you had +spent happy days here. And now you cry out, 'Thank God!' as though +your whole life here had been one prolonged horror. Have I been a +horror to you? Or is it something else? Speak!" + +"To think that you can ask such a question!" said Effi, seeking by a +supreme effort to suppress the trembling of her voice. "Happy days! +Yes, certainly, happy days, but others, too. Never have I been +entirely free from fear here, never. Never yet a fortnight that it did +not look over my shoulder again, that same face, the same sallow +complexion. And these last nights while you were away, it came back +again, not the face, but there was shuffling of feet again, and Rollo +set up his barking again, and Roswitha, who also heard it, came to my +bed and sat down by me and we did not go to sleep till day began to +dawn. This is a haunted house and I was expected to believe in the +ghost, for you are a pedagogue. Yes, Geert, that you are. But be that +as it may, thus much I know, I have been afraid in this house for a +whole year and longer, and when I go away from here the fear will +leave me, I think, and I shall be free again." + +Innstetten had not taken his eyes off her and had followed every word. +What could be the meaning of "You are a pedagogue," and the other +statement that preceded, "And I was expected to believe in the ghost?" +What was all that about? Where did it come from? And he felt a slight +suspicion arising and becoming more firmly fixed. But he had lived +long enough to know that all signs deceive, and that in our jealousy, +in spite of its hundred eyes, we often go farther astray than in the +blindness of our trust. Possibly it was as she said, and, if it was, +why should she not cry out: "Thank God!" + +And so, quickly looking at the matter from all possible sides, he +overcame his suspicion and held out his hand to her across the table: +"Pardon me, Effi, but I was so much surprised by it all. I suppose, of +course, it is my fault. I have always been too much occupied with +myself. We men are all egoists. But it shall be different from now on. +There is one good thing about Berlin, that is certain: there are no +haunted houses there. How could there be! Now let us go into the other +room and see Annie; otherwise Roswitha will accuse me of being an +unaffectionate father." + +During these words Effi had gradually become more composed, and the +consciousness of having made a felicitous escape from a danger of her +own creation restored her countenance and buoyancy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +The next morning the two took their rather late breakfast together. +Innstetten had overcome his ill-humor and something worse, and Effi +was so completely taken up with her feeling of liberation that not +only had her power of feigning a certain amount of good humor +returned, but she had almost regained her former artlessness. She was +still in Kessin, and yet she already felt as though it lay far behind +her. + +"I have been thinking it over, Effi," said Innstetten, "you are not +entirely wrong in all you have said against our house here. For +Captain Thomsen it was quite good enough, but not for a spoiled young +wife. Everything old-fashioned and no room. You shall have a better +house in Berlin, with a dining hall, but different from the one here, +and in the hall and on the stairway colored-glass windows, Emperor +William with sceptre and crown, or some religious picture, a St. +Elizabeth or a Virgin Mary. Let us say a Virgin Mary; we owe that to +Roswitha." + +Effi laughed. "So shall it be. But who will select an apartment for +us? I couldn't think of sending Cousin von Briest to look for one, to +say nothing of my aunts. They would consider anything good enough." + +"When it comes to selecting an apartment, nobody can do that to the +satisfaction of any one else. I think you will have to go yourself." + +"And when do you think?" + +"The middle of March." + +"Oh, that is much too late, Geert; everything will be gone then. The +good apartments will hardly wait for us." + +"All right. But it was only yesterday that I came home and I can't +well say: 'go tomorrow.' That would not look right and it would not +suit me very well either. I am happy to have you with me once more." + +"No," she said, as she gathered together the breakfast dishes rather +noisily to hide a rising embarrassment, "no, and it shall not be +either, neither today nor tomorrow, but before very long, however. And +if I find anything I shall soon be back again. But one thing more, +Roswitha and Annie must go with me. It would please me most if you +went too. But, I see, that is out of the question. And I think the +separation will not last long. I already know, too, where I shall +rent." + +"Where?" + +"That must remain my secret. I want to have a secret myself. I want to +surprise you later." + +At this point Frederick entered to bring the mail. The most of the +pieces were official and newspapers. "Ah, there is also a letter for +you," said Innstetten. "And, if I am not mistaken, mama's +handwriting." + +Effi took the letter. "Yes, from mama. But that is not the Friesack +postmark. Just see, why, it is plainly Berlin." + +"Certainly," laughed Innstetten. "You act as though it were a miracle. +Mama is doubtless in Berlin and has written her darling a letter from +her hotel." + +"Yes," said Effi, "that is probably it. But I almost have fears, and +can find no real consolation in what Hulda Niemeyer always said: that +when one has fears it is better than when one has hopes. What do you +think about it?" + +"For a pastor's daughter not quite up to the standard. But now read +the letter. Here is a paper knife." + +Effi cut open the envelope and read: "My dear Effi: For the last +twenty-four hours I have been here in Berlin--Consultations with +Schweigger. As soon as he saw me he congratulated me, and when I asked +him, astonished, what occasion there was, I learned that a director of +a ministerial department by the name of Wüllersdorf had just been at +his office and told him that Innstetten had been called to a position +with the ministry. I am a little vexed to have to learn a thing like +that from a third person. But in my pride and joy I forgive you. +Moreover, I always knew, even when I was at Rathenow, that he would +make something of himself. Now you are to profit by it. Of course you +must have an apartment and new furniture. If, my dear Effi, you think +you can make use of my advice, come as soon as your time will permit. +I shall remain here a week for treatment, and if it is not effective, +perhaps somewhat longer. Schweigger is rather indefinite on the +subject. I have taken a private room on Schadow St. Adjoining my room +there are others vacant. What the matter is with my eye I will tell +you when I see you. The thing that occupies me at present is your +future. Briest will be unspeakably happy. He always pretends to be so +indifferent about such things, but in reality he thinks more of them +than I do. My regards to Innstetten, and a kiss for Annie, whom you +will perhaps bring along. As ever your tenderly loving mother, Louise +von B." + +Effi laid the letter on the table and said nothing. Her mind was +firmly made up as to what she should do, but she did not want to say +it herself. She wanted Innstetten to speak the first word and then she +would hesitatingly say, "yes." + +Innstetten actually fell into the trap. "Well, Effi, you remain so +calm." + +"Ah, Geert, everything has its two sides. On the one hand I shall be +happy to see mother again, and maybe even in a few days. But there are +so many reasons for delaying." + +"What are they?" + +"Mama, as you know, is very determined and recognizes only her own +will. With papa she has been able to have her way in everything. But I +should like to have an apartment to suit _my_ taste, and new furniture +that _I_ like." + +Innstetten laughed. "Is that all?" + +"Well, that is enough, I should think. But it is not all." Then she +summoned up her courage, looked at him, and said: "And then, Geert, I +should not like to be separated from you again so soon." + +"You rogue, you just say that because you know my weakness. But we are +all vain, and I will believe it. I will believe it and yet, at the +same time, play the hero who foregoes his own desires. Go as soon as +you think it necessary and can justify it before your own heart." + +"You must not talk like that, Geert. What do you mean by 'justifying +it before my own heart?' By saying that you force me, half +tyrannically, to assume a role of affection, and I am compelled to +say from sheer coquetry: 'Ah, Geert, then I shall never go.' Or +something of the sort." + +Innstetten shook his finger at her. "Effi, you are too clever for me. +I always thought you were a child, and now I see that you are on a par +with all the rest. But enough of that, or, as your papa always said, +'that is too wide a field.' Say, rather, when you are going?" + +"Today is Tuesday. Let us say, then, Friday noon by the boat. Then I +shall be in Berlin in the evening." + +"Settled. And when will you be back?" + +"Well, let us gay Monday evening. That will make three days." + +"Impossible. That is too soon. You can't accomplish everything in +three days. Your mama will not let you go so soon, either." + +"Then leave it to my discretion." + +"All right," and Innstetten arose from his seat to go over to the +district councillor's office. + + * * * * * + +The days before Effi's departure flew by quickly. Roswitha was very +happy. "Ah, your Ladyship, Kessin, oh yes--but it is not Berlin. And +the street cars. And then when the gong rings and one does not know +whether to turn to the right or the left, and it has sometimes seemed +to me as though everything would run right over me. Oh, there is +nothing like that here. Many a day I doubt if we see six people, and +never anything else but the dunes and the sea outside. And it roars +and roars, but that is all." + +"Yes, Roswitha, you are right. It roars and roars all the time, but +this is not the right kind of life. Besides, one has all sorts of +stupid ideas. That you cannot deny, and your conduct with Kruse was +not in accord with propriety." + +"Ah, your Ladyship--" + +"Well, I will not make any further inquiries. You would not admit +anything, of course. Only be sure not to take too few things with you. +In fact, you may take all your things along, and Annie's too." + +"I thought we were coming back." + +"Yes, I am. It is his Lordship's desire. But you may perhaps stay +there, with my mother. Only see to it that she does not spoil little +Annie too badly. She was often strict with me, but a grandchild--" + +"And then, too, you know, little Annie is so sweet, one is tempted to +take a bite of her. Nobody can help being fond of her." + +That was on Thursday, the day before the departure. Innstetten had +driven into the country and was not expected home till toward evening. +In the afternoon Effi went down town, as far as the market square, and +there entered the apothecary's shop and asked for a bottle of _sal +volatile_. "One never knows with whom one is to travel," she said to +the old clerk, with whom she was accustomed to chat, and who adored +her as much as Gieshübler himself. + +"Is the doctor in?" she asked further, when she had put the little +bottle in her pocket. + +"Certainly, your Ladyship, he is in the adjoining room reading the +papers." + +"I shall not disturb him, shall I?" + +"Oh, never." + +Effi stepped in. It was a small room with a high ceiling and shelves +around the walls, on which stood alembics and retorts. Along one wall +were filing cases arranged alphabetically and provided with iron rings +on the front ends. They contained the prescriptions. + +Gieshübler was delighted and embarrassed. "What an honor! Here among +my retorts! May I invite her Ladyship to be seated for a moment?" + +"Certainly, dear Gieshübler. But really only for a moment. I want to +bid you farewell." + +"But, most gracious Lady, you are coming back, aren't you? I heard it +was only for three or four days." + +"Yes, dear friend, I am supposed to come back, and it is even arranged +that I shall be back in Kessin in a week at the latest. But it is +possible that I may _not_ come back. I don't need to tell you all the +thousand possibilities--I see you are about to tell me I am still too +young to--but young people sometimes die. And then there are so many +other things. So I prefer to take leave of you as though it were for +ever." + +"But, most gracious Lady--" + +"As though it were for ever. And I want to thank you, dear Gieshübler. +For you were the best thing here; naturally, because you were the best +man. If I live to be a hundred years old I shall not forget you. I +have felt lonely here at times, and at times my heart was so heavy, +heavier than you can ever know. I have not always managed rightly. But +whenever I have seen you, from the very first day, I have always felt +happier, and better, too." + +"Oh, most gracious Lady." + +"And I wished to thank you for it. I have just bought a small bottle +of _sal volatile_. There are often such remarkable people in the +compartment, who will not even permit a window to be opened. If I shed +any tears--for, you know, it goes right up into one's head, the salts, +I mean--then I will think of you. Adieu, dear friend, and give my +regards to your friend, Miss Trippelli. During these last weeks I have +often thought of her and of Prince Kotschukoff. After all is said and +done it remains a peculiar relation. But I can understand it--and let +me hear from you some day. Or I shall write." + +With these words Effi went out. Gieshübler accompanied her out upon +the square. He was dumbfounded, so completely that he entirely +overlooked many enigmatical things she said. + +Effi went back home. "Bring me the lamp, Johanna," she said, "but into +my bedroom. And then a cup of tea. I am so cold and cannot wait till +his Lordship returns." + +The lamp and the tea came. Effi was already sitting at her little +writing desk, with a sheet of letter paper before her and the pen in +her hand. "Please, Johanna, put the tea on the table there." + +When Johanna had left the room Effi locked her door, looked into the +mirror for a moment and then sat down again, and wrote: "I leave +tomorrow by the boat, and these are farewell lines. Innstetten expects +me back in a few days, but I am _not_ coming back--why I am not coming +back, you know--it would have been better if I had never seen this +corner of the earth. I implore you not to take this as a reproach. All +the fault is mine. If I look at your house--_your_ conduct may be +excusable, not mine. My fault is very grievous, but perhaps I can +overcome it. The fact that we were called away from here is to me, so +to speak, a sign that I may yet be restored to favor. Forget the past, +forget me. Your Effi." + +She ran hastily over the lines once more. The strangest thing to her +was the avoidance of the familiar "Du," but that had to be. It was +meant to convey the idea that there was no bridge left. Then she put +the letter into an envelope and walked toward a house between the +churchyard and the corner of the forest. A thin column of smoke arose +from the half tumbled down chimney. There she delivered the letter. + +When she reached home Innstetten was already there and she sat down by +him and told him about Gieshübler and the _sal volatile_. Innstetten +laughed. "Where did you get your Latin, Effi?" + +The boat, a light sailing vessel (the steamers ran only in the summer) +left at twelve. A quarter of an hour before, Effi and Innstetten were +on board; likewise Roswitha and Annie. + +The baggage was bulkier than seemed necessary for a journey of so few +days. Innstetten talked with the captain. Effi, in a raincoat and +light gray traveling hat, stood on the after deck, near the tiller, +and looked out upon the quay and the pretty row of houses that +followed the line of the quay. Just opposite the landing stood the +Hoppensack Hotel, a three-story building, from whose gable a yellow +flag, with a cross and a crown on it, hung down limp in the quiet +foggy air. Effi looked up at the flag for a while, then let her eyes +sink slowly until they finally rested on a number of people who stood +about inquisitively on the quay. At this moment the bell rang. Effi +had a very peculiar sensation. The boat slowly began to move, and as +she once more looked closely at the landing bridge she saw that +Crampas was standing in the front row. She was startled to see him, +but at the same time was glad. He, on the other hand, with his whole +bearing changed, was obviously agitated, and waved an earnest adieu to +her. She returned his greeting in like spirit, but also with great +friendliness, and there was pleading in her eyes. Then she walked +quickly to the cabin, where Roswitha had already made herself at home +with Annie. She remained here in the rather close rooms till they +reached the point where the river spreads out into a sheet of water +called the "Broad." Then Innstetten came and called to her to come up +on deck and enjoy the glorious landscape. She went up. Over the +surface of the water hung gray clouds and only now and then could one +catch a half-veiled glimpse of the sun through a rift in the dense +mass. Effi thought of the day, just a year and a quarter ago, when she +had driven in an open carriage along the shore of this same "Broad." A +brief span, and life often so quiet and lonely. Yet how much had +happened since then! + +Thus they sailed up the fairway and at two o'clock were at the station +or very near it. As they, a moment later, passed the Prince Bismarck +Hotel, Golchowski, who was again standing at the door, joined them and +accompanied them to the steps leading up the embankment. At the +station they found the train was not yet signaled, so they walked up +and down on the platform. Their conversation turned about the question +of an apartment. They agreed on the quarter of the city, that it must +be between the Tiergarten and the Zoological Garden. "I want to hear +the finches sing and the parrots scream," said Innstetten, and Effi +was willing. + +Then they heard the signal and the train ran into the station. The +station master was full of attentions and Effi received a compartment +to herself. + +Another handshake, a wave of her handkerchief, and the train began +again to move. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +[Effi was met at the Berlin station by her mother and Cousin von +Briest. While drinking tea in the mother's room Cousin von Briest was +asked to tell a joke, and propounded a Bible conundrum, which Effi +took as an omen that no more sorrow was to befall her. The following +day began the search for an apartment, and one was found on Keith +street, which exactly suited, except that the house was not finished +and the walls not yet dried out. Effi kept it in mind, however, and +looked further, being as long about it as possible. After two weeks +Innstetten began to insist on her return and to make pointed +allusions. She saw there was nothing left but to sham illness. Then +she rented the apartment on Keith street, wrote a card saying she +would be home the next day, and had the trunks packed. The next +morning she stayed in bed and feigned illness, but preferred not to +call a doctor. She telegraphed about her delay to her husband. After +three days of the farce she yielded to her mother and called an old +ladies' doctor by the name of Rummschüttel ('Shake 'em around'). After +a few questions he prescribed a mixture of bitter almond water and +orange blossom syrup and told her to keep quiet. Later he called every +third day, noticing that his calls embarrassed her. She felt he had +seen through her from the start, but the farce had to be kept up till +Innstetten had closed his house and shipped his things. Four days +before he was due in Berlin she suddenly got well and wrote him she +could now travel, but thought it best to await him in Berlin. As soon +as she received his favorable telegram she hastened to the new +apartment, where she raised her eyes, folded her hands, and said: +"Now, with God's help, a new life, and a different one!"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +Three days later, at nine o 'clock in the evening, Innstetten arrived +in Berlin. Effi, her mother, and Cousin Briest were at the station. +The reception was hearty, particularly on the part of Effi, and a +world of things had been talked about when the carriage they had taken +stopped before their new residence on Keith street. "Well, you have +made a good choice, Effi," said Innstetten, as he entered the +vestibule; "no shark, no crocodile, and, I hope, no spooks." + +"No, Geert, that is all past. A new era has dawned and I am no longer +afraid. I am also going to be better than heretofore and live more +according to your will." This she whispered to him as they climbed the +carpeted stairs to the third story. Cousin von Briest escorted the +mother. + +In their apartment there was still a great deal to be done, but enough +had been accomplished to make a homelike impression and Innstetten +exclaimed out of the joy of his heart: "Effi, you are a little +genius." But she declined the praise, pointing to her mother, saying +she really deserved the credit. Her mother had issued inexorable +commands, such as, "It must stand here," and had always been right, +with the natural result that much time had been saved and their good +humor had never been disturbed. Finally Roswitha came in to welcome +her master. She took advantage of the opportunity to say: "Miss Annie +begs to be excused for today,"--a little joke, of which she was proud, +and which accomplished her purpose perfectly. + +They took seats around the table, already set, and when Innstetten had +poured himself a glass of wine and all had joined him in a toast to +"happy days," he took Effi's hand and said: "Now tell me, Effi, what +was the nature of your illness?" + +"Oh, let us not talk about that; it would be a waste of breath--A +little painful and a real disturbance, because it cancelled our plans. +But that was all, and now it is past. Rummschüttel justified his +reputation; he is a fine, amiable old man, as I believe I wrote you. +He is said not to be a particularly brilliant scholar, but mama says +that is an advantage. And she is doubtless right, as usual. Our good +Dr. Hannemann was no luminary either, and yet he was always +successful. Now tell me, how are Gieshübler and all the others?" + +"Let me see, who are all the others? Crampas sends his regards to her +Ladyship." + +"Ah, very polite." + +"And the pastor also wishes to be remembered to you. But the people in +the country were rather cool and seemed inclined to hold me +responsible for your departure without formally taking leave. Our +friend Sidonie spoke quite pointedly, but good Mrs. von Padden, whom I +called on specially the day before yesterday, was genuinely pleased to +receive your regards and your declaration of love for her. She said +you were a charming woman, but I ought to guard you well. When I +replied that you considered me more of a pedagogue than a husband, she +said in an undertone and almost as though speaking from another world: +'A young lamb as white as snow!' Then she stopped." + +Cousin von Briest laughed. "'A young lamb as white as snow.' Hear +that, cousin?" He was going to continue teasing her, but gave it up +when he saw that she turned pale. + +The conversation dragged on a while longer, dealing chiefly with +former relations, and Effi finally learned, from various things +Innstetten said, that of all their Kessin household Johanna alone had +declared a willingness to move with them to Berlin. She had remained +behind, to be sure, but would arrive in two or three days with the +rest of the things. Innstetten was glad of her decision, for she had +always been their most useful servant and possessed an unusual amount +of the style demanded in a large city, perhaps a bit too much. Both +Christel and Frederick had said they were too old, and Kruse had not +even been asked. "What do we want with a coachman here?" concluded +Innstetten, "private horses and carriages are things of the past; that +luxury is seen no more in Berlin. We could not even have found a place +for the black chicken. Or do I underestimate the apartment?" + +Effi shook her head, and as a short pause ensued the mother arose, +saying it was half past ten and she had still a long way to go, but +nobody should accompany her, as the carriage stand was quite near. +Cousin Briest declined, of course, to accede to this request. +Thereupon they bade each other good night, after arranging to meet the +following morning. + +Effi was up rather early and, as the air was almost as warm as in the +summer, had ordered the breakfast table moved close to the open +balcony door. When Innstetten appeared she stepped out upon the +balcony with him and said: "Well, what do you say? You wished to hear +the finches singing in the Tiergarten and the parrots calling in the +Zoological Garden. I don't know whether both will do you the favor, +but it is possible. Do you hear that? It came from the little park +over yonder. It is not the real Tiergarten, but near it." + +Innstetten was delighted and as grateful as though Effi herself had +conjured up all these things for him. Then they sat down and Annie +came in. Roswitha expected Innstetten to find a great change in the +child, and he did. They went on chatting, first about the people of +Kessin, then about the visits to be made in Berlin, and finally about +a summer journey. They had to stop in the middle of their conversation +in order to be at the rendezvous on time. + +They met, as agreed, at Helms's, opposite the Red Palace, went to +various stores, lunched at Hiller's, and were home again in good +season. It was a capital day together, and Innstetten was very glad to +be able once more to share in the life of a great city and feel its +influence upon him. The following day, the 1st of April, he went to +the Chancellor's Palace to register, considerately foregoing a +personal call, and then went to the Ministry to report for duty. He +was received, in spite of the rush of business and social obligations, +in fact he was favored with a particularly friendly reception by his +chief, who said: "I know what a valuable man you are and am certain +nothing can ever disturb our harmony." + +Likewise at home everything assumed a good aspect. Effi truly +regretted to see her mother return to Hohen-Cremmen, even after her +treatment had been prolonged to nearly six weeks, as she had predicted +in the beginning. But the loss was partly offset by Johanna's arrival +in Berlin on the same day. That was at least something, and even if +the pretty blonde was not so near to Effi's heart as the wholly +unselfish and infinitely good-natured Roswitha, nevertheless she was +treated on an equality with her, both by Innstetten and her young +mistress, because she was very clever and useful and showed a decided, +self-conscious reserve toward the men. According to a Kessin rumor the +roots of her existence could be traced to a long-retired officer of +the Pasewalk garrison, which was said to explain her aristocratic +temperament, her beautiful blonde hair, and the special shapeliness of +her appearance. Johanna shared the joy displayed on all hands at her +arrival and was perfectly willing to resume her former duties as house +servant and lady's maid, whereas Roswitha, who after an experience of +nearly a year had acquired about all of Christel's cookery art, was to +superintend the culinary department. The care and nurture of Annie +fell to Effi herself, at which Roswitha naturally laughed, for she +knew young wives. + +Innstetten was wholly devoted to his office and his home. He was +happier than formerly in Kessin, because he could not fail to observe +that Effi manifested more artlessness and cheerfulness. She could do +so because she felt freer. True, the past still cast a shadow over her +life, but it no longer worried her, or at least much more rarely and +transiently, and all such after-effects served but to give her bearing +a peculiar charm. In everything she did there was an element of +sadness, of confession, so to speak, and it would have made her happy +if she could have shown it still more plainly. But, of course, she +dared not. + +When they made their calls, during the first weeks of April, the +social season of the great city was not yet past, but it was about to +end, so they were unable to share in it to any great extent. During +the latter half of May it expired completely and they were more than +ever happy to be able to meet at the noon hour in the Tiergarten, when +Innstetten came from his office, or to take a walk in the afternoon to +the garden of the Palace in Charlottenburg. As Effi walked up and down +the long front, between the Palace and the orange trees, she studied +time and again the many Roman emperors standing there, found a +remarkable resemblance between Nero and Titus, gathered pine cones +that had fallen from the trees, and then walked arm in arm with her +husband toward the Spree till they came to the lonely Belvedere +Palace. + +"They say this palace was also once haunted," she remarked. + +"No, merely ghostly apparitions." + +"That is the same thing." + +"Yes, sometimes," said Innstetten. "As a matter of fact, however, +there is a difference. Ghostly apparitions are always artificial, or +at least that is said to have been the case in the Belvedere, as +Cousin von Briest told me only yesterday, but hauntings are never +artificial; hauntings are natural." + +"So you do believe in them?" + +"Certainly I believe in them. There are such things. But I don't quite +believe in those we had in Kessin. Has Johanna shown you her Chinaman +yet?" + +"What Chinaman?" + +"Why, ours. Before she left our old house she pulled him off the back +of the chair upstairs and put him in her purse. I caught a glimpse of +him not long ago when she was changing a mark for me. She was +embarrassed, but confessed." + +"Oh, Geert, you ought not to have told me that. Now there is such a +thing in our house again." + +"Tell her to burn it up." + +"No, I don't want to; it would not do any good anyhow. But I will ask +Roswitha--" + +"What? Oh, I understand, I can imagine what you are thinking of. You +will ask her to buy a picture of a saint and put it also in the purse. +Is that about it?" + +Effi nodded. + +"Well, do what you like, but do not tell anybody." + + * * * * * + +Effi finally said she would rather not do it, and they went on talking +about all sorts of little things, till the plans for their summer +journey gradually crowded out other interests. They rode back to the +"Great Star" and then walked home by the Korso Boulevard and the broad +Frederick William Street. + +They planned to take their vacation at the end of July and go to the +Bavarian Alps, as the Passion Play was to be given again this year at +Oberammergau. But it could not be done, as Privy Councillor von +Wüllersdorf, whom Innstetten had known for some time and who was now +his special colleague, fell sick suddenly and Innstetten had to stay +and take his place. Not until the middle of August was everything +again running smoothly and a vacation journey possible. It was too +late then to go to Oberammergau, so they fixed upon a sojourn on the +island of Rügen. "First, of course, Stralsund, with Schill, whom you +know, and with Scheele, whom you don't know. Scheele discovered +oxygen, but you don't need to know that. Then from Stralsund to Bergen +and the Rugard, where Wüllersdorf said one can get a good view of the +whole island, and thence between the Big and the Little Jasmund Bodden +to Sassnitz. Going to Rügen means going to Sassnitz. Binz might +perhaps be possible, too, but, to quote Wüllersdorf again, there are +so many small pebbles and shells on the beach, and we want to go +bathing." + +Effi agreed to everything planned by Innstetten, especially that the +whole household should be broken up for four weeks, Roswitha going +with Annie to Hohen-Cremmen, and Johanna visiting her younger +half-brother, who had a sawmill near Pasewalk. Thus everybody was well +provided for. + +At the beginning of the following week they set out and the same +evening were in Sassnitz. Over the hostelry was the sign, "Hotel +Fahrenheit." "I hope the prices are according to Réaumur," added +Innstetten, as he read the name, and the two took an evening walk +along the beach cliffs in the best of humor. From a projecting rock +they looked out upon the bay quivering in the moonlight. Effi was +entranced. "Ah, Geert, why, this is Capri, it is Sorrento. Yes, let us +stay here, but not in the hotel, of course. The waiters are too +aristocratic for me and I feel ashamed to ask for a bottle of soda +water." + +"Yes, everybody is an employee. But, I think, we can find private +quarters." + +"I think so too. And we will look for them the first thing in the +morning." + +The next morning was as beautiful as the evening had been, and they +took coffee out of doors. Innstetten received a few letters, which had +to be attended to promptly, and so Effi decided at once to employ the +hour thus left free for her in looking for quarters. She first walked +past an inclosed meadow, then past groups of houses and fields of +oats, finally turning into a road which ran through a kind of gully to +the sea. Where this gully road struck the beach there stood an inn +shaded by tall beech trees, not so aristocratic as the "Fahrenheit," a +mere restaurant, in fact, which because of the early hour was entirely +empty. Effi sat down at a point with a good view and hardly had she +taken a sip of the sherry she had ordered when the inn-keeper stepped +up to engage her in conversation, half out of curiosity and half out +of politeness. + +"We like it very well here," she said, "my husband and I. What a +splendid view of the bay! Our only worry is about a place to stay." + +"Well, most gracious Lady, that will be hard." + +"Why, it is already late in the season." + +"In spite of that. Here in Sassnitz there is surely nothing to be +found, I can guarantee you. But farther along the shore, where the +next village begins--you can see the shining roofs from here--there +you might perhaps find something." + +"What is the name of the village?" + +"Crampas." + +Effi thought she had misunderstood him. "Crampas," she repeated, with +an effort. "I never heard the word as the name of a place. Nothing +else in the neighborhood?" + +"No, most gracious Lady, nothing around here. But farther up, toward +the north, you will come to other villages, and in the hotel near +Stubbenkammer they will surely be able to give you information. +Addresses are always left there by people who would be willing to rent +rooms." + +Effi was glad to have had the conversation alone and when she reported +it a few moments later to her husband, keeping back only the name of +the village adjoining Sassnitz, he said: "Well, if there is nothing +around here the best thing will be to take a carriage, which, +incidentally, is always the way to take leave of a hotel, and without +any ado move farther up toward Stubbenkammer. We can doubtless find +there some idyllic spot with a honeysuckle arbor, and, if we find +nothing, there is still left the hotel, and they are all alike." + +Effi was willing, and about noon they reached the hotel near +Stubbenkammer, of which Innstetten had just spoken, and there ordered +a lunch. "But not until half an hour from now. We intend to take a +walk first and view the Hertha Lake. I presume you have a guide?" + +Following the affirmative answer a middle-aged man approached our +travelers. He looked as important and solemn as though he had been at +least an adjunct of the ancient Hertha worship. + +The lake, which was only a short distance away, had a border of tall +trees and a hem of rushes, while on its quiet black surface there swam +hundreds of water lilies. + +"It really looks like something of the sort," said Effi, "like Hertha +worship." + +"Yes, your Ladyship, and the stones are further evidences of it." + +"What stones?" + +"The sacrificial stones." + +While the conversation continued in this way they stepped from the +lake to a perpendicular wall of gravel and clay, against which leaned +a few smooth polished stones, with a shallow hollow in each drained by +a few grooves. + +"What is the purpose of these?" + +"To make it drain better, your Ladyship." + +"Let us go," said Effi, and, taking her husband's arm, she walked back +with him to the hotel, where the breakfast already ordered was served +at a table with a view far out upon the sea. Before them lay the bay +in the sunshine, with sail boats here and there gliding across its +surface and sea gulls pursuing each other about the neighboring +cliffs. It was very beautiful and Effi said so; but, when she looked +across the glittering surface, she saw again, toward the south, the +brightly shining roofs of the long-stretched-out village, whose name +had given her such a start earlier in the morning. + +Even without any knowledge or suspicion of what was occupying her, +Innstetten saw clearly that she was having no joy or satisfaction. "I +am sorry, Effi, that you derive no real pleasure from these things +here. You cannot forget the Hertha Lake, and still less the +stones." + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann A.-G. Munich_ +BATHING BOYS Adolph von Menzel] + +She nodded. "It is as you say, and I must confess that I have seen +nothing in my life that made me feel so sad. Let us give up entirely +our search for rooms. I can't stay here." + +"And yesterday it seemed to you a Gulf of Naples and everything +beautiful you could think of." + +"Yes, yesterday." + +"And today? No longer a trace of Sorrento?" + +"Still one trace, but only one. It is Sorrento on the point of dying." + +"Very well, then, Effi," said Innstetten, reaching her his hand. "I do +not want to worry you with Rügen and so let us give it up. Settled. It +is not necessary for us to tie ourselves up to Stubbenkammer or +Sassnitz or farther down that way. But whither?" + +"I suggest that we stay a day longer and wait for the steamer that +comes from Stettin tomorrow on its way to Copenhagen. It is said to be +so pleasurable there and I can't tell you how I long for something +pleasurable. Here I feel as though I could never laugh again in all my +life and had never laughed at all, and you know how I like to laugh." + +Innstetten showed himself full of sympathy with her state, the more +readily, as he considered her right in many regards. Really +everything, though beautiful, was melancholy. + +They waited for the Stettin boat and in the very early morning of the +third day they landed in Copenhagen. Two hours later they were in the +Thorwaldsen Museum, and Effi said: "Yes, Geert, this is beautiful and +I am glad we set out for here." Soon thereafter they went to dinner +and at the table made the acquaintance of a Jutland family, opposite +them, whose daughter, Thora von Penz, was as pretty as a picture and +attracted immediately the attention and admiration of both Innstetten +and Effi. Effi could not stop looking at her large blue eyes and +flaxen blonde hair, and when they left the table an hour and a half +later the Penz family, who unfortunately had to leave Copenhagen the +same day, expressed the hope that they might have the privilege of +entertaining the young Prussian couple in the near future at Aggerhuus +Castle, some two miles from the Lym-Fiord. The invitation was accepted +by the Innstettens with little hesitation. + +Thus passed the hours in the hotel. But that was not yet enough of a +good thing for this memorable day, which Effi enthusiastically +declared ought to be a red-letter day in the calendar. To fill her +measure of happiness to the full the evening brought a performance at +the Tivoli Theatre, an Italian pantomime, _Arlequin and Columbine_. +She was completely captivated by the little roguish tricks, and when +they returned to their hotel late in the evening she said: "Do you +know, Geert, I now feel that I am gradually coming to again. I will +not even mention beautiful Thora, but when I consider that this +morning Thorwaldsen and this evening Columbine--" + +"Whom at bottom you liked better than Thorwaldsen--" + +"To be frank, yes. I have a natural appreciation of such things. Our +good Kessin was a misfortune for me. Everything got on my nerves +there. Rügen too, almost. I suggest we stay here in Copenhagen a few +days longer, including an excursion to Fredericksborg and Helsingor, +of course, and then go over to Jutland. I anticipate real pleasure +from seeing beautiful Thora again, and if I were a man I should fall +in love with her." + +Innstetten laughed. "You don't know what I am going to do." + +"I shouldn't object. That will create a rivalry and I shall show you +that I still have my powers, too." + +"You don't need to assure me of that." + +The journey was made according to this plan. Over in Jutland they went +up the Lym-Fiord as far as Aggerhuus Castle, where they spent three +days with the Penz family, and then returned home, making many stops +on the way, for sojourns of various lengths, in Viborg, Flensburg, +Kiel, and Hamburg. From Hamburg, which they liked uncommonly well, +they did not go direct to Keith St. in Berlin, but first to +Hohen-Cremmen, where they wished to enjoy a well-earned rest. For +Innstetten it meant but a few days, as his leave of absence expired, +but Effi remained a week longer and declared her desire not to arrive +at home till the 3d of October, their wedding anniversary. + +Annie had flourished splendidly in the country air and Roswitha's plan +of having her walk to meet her mother succeeded perfectly. Briest +proved himself an affectionate grandfather, warned them against too +much love, and even more strongly against too much severity, and was +in every way the same as always. But in reality all his affection was +bestowed upon Effi, who occupied his emotional nature continually, +particularly when he was alone with his wife. + +"How do you find Effi?" + +"Dear and good as ever. We cannot thank God enough that we have such a +lovely daughter. How thankful she is for everything, and always so +happy to be under our rooftree again." + +"Yes," said Briest, "she has more of this virtue than I like. To tell +the truth, it seems as though this were still her home. Yet she has +her husband and child, and her husband is a jewel and her child an +angel, and still she acts as though Hohen-Cremmen were her favorite +abode, and her husband and child were nothing in comparison with you +and me. She is a splendid daughter, but she is too much of a daughter +to suit me. It worries me a little bit. She is also unjust to +Innstetten. How do matters really stand between them?" + +"Why, Briest, what do you mean?" + +"Well, I mean what I mean and you know what, too. Is she happy? Or is +there something or other in the way? From the very beginning it has +seemed to me as though she esteemed him more than she loved him, and +that to my mind is a bad thing. Even love may not last forever, and +esteem will certainly not. In fact women become angry when they have +to esteem a man; first they become angry, then bored, and in the end +they laugh." + +"Have you had any such experience?" + +"I will not say that I have. I did not stand high enough in esteem. +But let us not get wrought up any further. Tell me how matters stand." + +"Pshaw! Briest, you always come back to the same things. We have +talked about and exchanged our views on this question more than a +dozen times, and yet you always come back and, in spite of your +pretended omniscience, ask me about it with the most dreadful naïveté, +as though my eyes could penetrate any depth. What kind of notions have +you, anyhow, of a young wife, and more especially of your daughter? Do +you think that the whole situation is so plain? Or that I am an +oracle--I can't just recall the name of the person--or that I hold the +truth cut and dried in my hands, when Effi has poured out her heart to +me?--at least what is so designated. For what does pouring out one's +heart mean? After all, the real thing is kept back. She will take care +not to initiate me into her secrets. Besides, I don't know from whom +she inherited it, but she is--well, she is a very sly little person +and this slyness in her is the more dangerous because she is so very +lovable." + +"So you do admit that--lovable. And good, too?" + +"Good, too. That is, full of goodness of heart. I am not quite certain +about anything further. I believe she has an inclination to let +matters take their course and to console herself with the hope that +God will not call her to a very strict account." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Yes, I do. Furthermore I think she has improved in many ways. Her +character is what it is, but the conditions since she moved to Berlin +are much more favorable and they are becoming more and more devoted to +each other. She told me something to that effect and, what is more +convincing to me, I found it confirmed by what I saw with my own +eyes." + +"Well, what did she say?" + +"She said: 'Mama, things are going better now. Innstetten was always +an excellent husband, and there are not many like him, but I couldn't +approach him easily, there was something distant about him. He was +reserved even in his affectionate moments, in fact, more reserved then +than ever. There have been times when I feared him.'" + +"I know, I know." + +"What do you mean, Briest? That I have feared you, or that you have +feared me? I consider the one as ridiculous as the other." + +"You were going to tell me about Effi." + +"Well, then, she confessed to me that this feeling of strangeness had +left her and that had made her very happy. Kessin had not been the +right place for her, the haunted house and the people there, some too +pious, others too dull; but since she had moved to Berlin she felt +entirely in her place. He was the best man in the world, somewhat too +old for her and too good for her, but she was now 'over the mountain.' +She used this expression, which, I admit, astonished me." + +"How so? It is not quite up to par, I mean the expression. But--" + +"There is something behind it, and she wanted to give me an inkling." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Yes, Briest. You always seem to think she could never be anything but +innocent. But you are mistaken. She likes to drift with the waves, and +if the wave is good she is good, too. Fighting and resisting are not +her affair." + +Roswitha came in with Annie and interrupted the conversation. + +This conversation occurred on the day that Innstetten departed from +Hohen-Cremmen for Berlin, leaving Effi behind for at least a week. He +knew she liked nothing better than whiling away her time, care-free, +with sweet dreams, always hearing friendly words and assurances of her +loveliness. Indeed that was the thing which pleased her above +everything else, and here she enjoyed it again to the full and most +gratefully, even though diversions were utterly lacking. Visitors +seldom came, because after her marriage there was no real attraction, +at least for the young people. * * * + +On her wedding anniversary, the 3d of October, Effi was to be back in +Berlin. On the evening before, under the pretext of desiring to pack +her things and prepare for the journey, she retired to her room +comparatively early. As a matter of fact, her only desire was to be +alone. Much as she liked to chat, there were times when she longed for +repose. + +Her rooms were in the upper story on the side toward the garden. In +the smaller one Roswitha was sleeping with Annie and their door was +standing ajar. She herself walked to and fro in the larger one, which +she occupied. The lower casements of the windows were open and the +little white curtains were blown by the draft and slowly fell over the +back of the chair, till another puff of wind came and raised them +again. It was so light that she could read plainly the titles of the +pictures hanging in narrow gilt frames over the sofa: "The Storming of +Düppel, Fort No. 5," and "King William and Count Bismarck on the +Heights of Lipa." Effi shook her head and smiled. "When I come back +again I am going to ask for different pictures; I don't like such +warlike sights." Then she closed one window and sat down by the other, +which she left open. How she enjoyed the whole scene! Almost behind +the church tower was the moon, which shed its light upon the grassy +plot with the sundial and the heliotrope beds. Everything was covered +with a silvery sheen. Beside the strips of shadow lay white strips of +light, as white as linen on the bleaching ground. Farther on stood the +tall rhubarb plants with their leaves an autumnal yellow, and she +thought of the day, only a little over two years before, when she had +played there with Hulda and the Jahnke girls. On that occasion, when +the visitor came she ascended the little stone steps by the bench and +an hour later was betrothed. + +She arose, went toward the door, and listened. Roswitha was asleep and +Annie also. + +Suddenly, as the child lay there before her, a throng of pictures of +the days in Kessin came back to her unbidden. There was the district +councillor's dwelling with its gable, and the veranda with the view of +the "Plantation," and she was sitting in the rocking chair, rocking. +Soon Crampas stepped up to her to greet her, and then came Roswitha +with the child, and she took it, held it up, and kissed it. + +"That was the first day, there is where it began." In the midst of her +revery she left the room the two were sleeping in and sat down again +at the open window and gazed out into the quiet night. + +"I cannot get rid of it," she said. "But worst of all, and the thing +that makes me lose faith in myself--" Just then the tower clock began +to strike and Effi counted the strokes. "Ten--Tomorrow at this time I +shall be in Berlin. We shall speak about our wedding anniversary and +he will say pleasing and friendly things to me and perhaps words of +affection. I shall sit there and listen and have a sense of guilt in +my heart." She leaned her head upon her hand and stared silently into +the night. + +"And have a sense of guilt in my heart," she repeated. "Yes, the sense +is there. But is it a burden upon my heart? No. That is why I am +alarmed at myself. The burden there is quite a different thing--dread, +mortal dread, and eternal fear that it may some day be found out. And, +besides the dread, shame. I am ashamed of myself. But as I do not feel +true repentance, neither do I true shame. I am ashamed only on account +of my continual lying and deceiving. It was always my pride that I +could not lie and did not need to--lying is so mean, and now I have +had to lie all the time, to him and to everybody, big lies and little +lies. Even Rummschüttel noticed it and shrugged his shoulders, and +who knows what he thinks of me? Certainly not the best things. Yes, +dread tortures me, and shame on account of my life of lies. But not +shame on account of my guilt--that I do not feel, or at least not +truly, or not enough, and the knowledge that I do not is killing me. +If all women are like this it is terrible, if they are not--which I +hope--then _I_ am in a bad predicament; there is something out of +order in my heart, I lack proper feeling. Old Mr. Niemeyer once told +me, in his best days, when I was still half a child, that proper +feeling is the essential thing, and if we have that the worst cannot +befall us, but if we have it not, we are in eternal danger, and what +is called the Devil has sure power over us. For the mercy of God, is +this my state?" + +She laid her head upon her arms and wept bitterly. When she +straightened up again, calmed, she gazed out into the garden. All was +so still, and her ear could detect a low sweet sound, as of falling +rain, coming from the plane trees. This continued for a while. Then +from the village street came the sound of a human voice. The old +nightwatchman Kulicke was calling out the hour. When at last he was +silent she heard in the distance the rattling of the passing train, +some two miles away. This noise gradually became fainter and finally +died away entirely--Still the moonlight lay upon the grass plot and +there was still the low sound, as of falling rain upon the plane +trees. But it was only the gentle playing of the night air. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +[The following evening Innstetten met Effi at the station in Berlin +and said he had thought she would not keep her word, as she had not +when she came to Berlin to select their apartment. In a short time he +began to bestir himself to make a place for his wife in Berlin +society. At a small party early in the season he tactlessly twitted +her about Crampas and for days thereafter she felt haunted by the +Major's spirit. But once the Empress had selected her to be a lady of +honor at an important function, and the Emperor had addressed a few +gracious remarks to her at a court ball, the past began to seem to her +a mere dream, and her cheerfulness was restored. After about seven +years in Berlin Dr. Rummschüttel was one day called to see her for +various reasons and prescribed treatment at Schwalbach and Ems. She +was to be accompanied by the wife of Privy Councillor Zwicker, who in +spite of her forty odd years seemed to need a protectress more than +Effi did. While Roswitha was helping with the preparations for the +journey Effi called her to account for never going, as a good Catholic +should, to a priest to confess her sins, particularly her great sin, +and promised to talk the matter over with her seriously after +returning from Ems.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +[Innstetten could see by Effi's letters from Ems that Mrs. Zwicker was +not the right kind of a companion for her and he longed for her to +come back to him. As the end of her sojourn at the watering place +approached, preparations were made to welcome her on her return home. +A "W," made of forget-me-nots, was to be hung up and some verses +composed by a friend of the family were to be spoken by Annie. One day +when Annie was returning from school Roswitha went out to meet her and +was challenged by her to a race up the stairs. When Annie reached the +top she stumbled and fell upon a scraper, cutting an ugly gash in her +forehead. Roswitha and Johanna washed the wound with cold water and +decided to tie it up with the long bandage once used to bind the +mother's sprained ankle. In their search for the bandage they broke +open the lock to the sewing table drawers, which they began to empty +of their contents. Among other things they took out a small package of +letters tied up with a red silk cord. Before they had ended the search +Innstetten came home. He examined the wound and sent for Dr. +Rummschüttel. After scolding Annie and telling her what she must do +till her mother came home, he sat down with her to dine and promised +to read her a letter just received from her mother.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +For a while Innstetten sat at the table with Annie in silence. +Finally, when the stillness became painful to him, he asked her a few +questions about the school superintendent and which teacher she liked +best. She answered rather listlessly, because she felt he was not +paying much attention. The situation was not improved till Johanna +whispered to little Annie, after the second course, that there was +something else to come. And surely enough, good Roswitha, who felt +under obligation to her pet on this unlucky day, had prepared +something extra. She had risen to an omelet with sliced apple filling. + +The sight of it made Annie somewhat more talkative. Innstetten's frame +of mind was likewise bettered when the doorbell rang a moment later +and Dr. Rummschüttel entered, quite accidentally. He had just dropped +in, without any suspicion that he had been sent for. He approved of +the compresses. "Send for some Goulard water and keep Annie at home +tomorrow. Quiet is the best remedy." Then he asked further about her +Ladyship and what kind of news had been received from Ems, and said he +would come again the next day to see the patient. + +When they got up from the table and went into the adjoining room, +where the bandage had been searched for so zealously, albeit in vain, +Annie was again laid upon the sofa. Johanna came and sat down beside +her, while Innstetten began to put back into the sewing table the +countless things that still lay in gay confusion upon the window sill. +Now and then he was at a loss to know what to do and was obliged to +ask. + +"Where do these letters belong, Johanna?" + +"Clear at the bottom," said she, "here in this drawer." + +During the question and answer Innstetten examined more closely than +before the little package tied up with a red cord. It seemed to +consist of a number of notes, rather than letters. Bending it between +his thumb and forefinger, like a pack of cards, he slowly let the +edges slip off one at a time, and a few lines, in reality only +disconnected words, darted past his eyes. It was impossible to +distinguish them clearly, yet it seemed to him as though he had +somewhere seen the handwriting before. Should he look into the +matter? + +"Johanna, you might bring us the coffee. Annie will also take half a +cup. The doctor has not forbidden it, and what is not forbidden is +allowed." + +As he said this he untied the red cord, and while Johanna was going to +the kitchen he quickly ran over the whole contents of the package. +Only two or three letters were addressed to Mrs. District Councillor +von Innstetten. He now recognized the handwriting; it was that of the +Major. Innstetten had known nothing about a correspondence between +Crampas and Effi. His brain began to grow dizzy. He put the package in +his pocket and returned to his room. A few moments later Johanna +rapped softly on his door to let him know that the coffee was served. +He answered, but that was all. Otherwise the silence was complete. Not +until a quarter of an hour later was he heard walking to and fro on +the rug. "I wonder what ails papa?" said Johanna to Annie. "The doctor +said it was nothing, didn't he?" + +The walking to and fro in the adjoining room showed no signs of +ending, but Innstetten finally came out and said: "Johanna, keep an +eye on Annie and make her remain quiet on the sofa. I am going out to +walk for an hour or two." Then he gazed fixedly at the child and left +the room. + +"Did you notice, Johanna, how papa looked?" + +"Yes, Annie. He must have had a great vexation. He was all pale. I +never saw him like that." + +Hours passed. The sun was already down and only a red glow was visible +above the roofs across the street, when Innstetten came back. He took +Annie's hand and asked her how she was. Then he ordered Johanna to +bring the lamp into his room. The lamp came. In its green shade were +half-transparent ovals with photographs, various pictures of his wife +that had been made in Kessin for the other members of the cast when +they played Wichert's _A Step out of the Way_. Innstetten turned the +shade slowly from left to right and studied each individual picture. +Then he gave that up and, as the air was so sultry, opened the balcony +door and finally took up the package of letters again. He seemed to +have picked out a few and laid them on top the first time he looked +them over. These he now read once more in a half audible voice: + +"Come again this afternoon to the dunes behind the mill. At old Mrs. +Adermann's we can see each other without fear, as the house is far +enough off the road. You must not worry so much about everything. We +have our rights, too. If you will say that to yourself emphatically, I +think all fear will depart from you. Life would not be worth the +living if everything that applies in certain specific cases should be +made to apply in all. All the best things lie beyond that. Learn to +enjoy them." + +"'Away from here,' you write, 'flight.' Impossible. I cannot leave my +wife in the lurch, in poverty, along with everything else. It is out +of the question, and we must take life lightly, otherwise we are poor +and lost. Light-heartedness is our best possession. All is fate; it +was not so to be. And would you have it otherwise--that we had never +seen each other?" + +Then came the third letter: + +"Be at the old place again today. How are my days to be spent without +you here in this dreary hole? I am beside myself, and yet thus much of +what you say is right; it is salvation, and we must in the end bless +the hand that inflicts this separation on us." + +Innstetten had hardly shoved the letters aside when the doorbell rang. +In a moment Johanna announced Privy Councillor Wüllersdorf. +Wüllersdorf entered and saw at a glance that something must have +happened. + +"Pardon me, Wüllersdorf," said Innstetten, receiving him, "for having +asked you to come at once to see me. I dislike to disturb anybody in +his evening's repose, most of all a hard-worked department chief. But +it could not be helped. I beg you, make yourself comfortable, and +here is a cigar." + +Wüllersdorf sat down. Innstetten again walked to and fro and would +gladly have gone on walking, because of his consuming restlessness, +but he saw it would not do. So he took a cigar himself, sat down face +to face with Wüllersdorf, and tried to be calm. + +"It is for two reasons," he began, "that I have sent for you. Firstly, +to deliver a challenge, and, secondly, to be my second in the +encounter itself. The first is not agreeable and the second still +less. And now your answer?" + +"You know, Innstetten, I am at your disposal. But before I know about +the case, pardon me the naïve question, must it be? We are beyond the +age, you know--you to take a pistol in your hand, and I to have a +share in it. However, do not misunderstand me; this is not meant to be +a refusal. How could I refuse you anything? But tell me now what it +is." + +"It is a question of a gallant of my wife, who at the same time was my +friend, or almost a friend." + +Wüllersdorf looked at Innstetten. "Instetten, that is not possible." + +"It is more than possible, it is certain. Read." + +Wüllersdorf ran over the letters hastily. "These are addressed to your +wife?" + +"Yes. I found them today in her sewing table." + +"And who wrote them?" + +"Major von Crampas." + +"So, things that occurred when you were still in Kessin?" + +Innstetten nodded. + +"So, it was six years ago, or half a year longer?" + +"Yes." + +Wüllersdorf kept silent. After a while Innstetten said: "It almost +looks, Wüllersdorf, as though the six or seven years made an +impression on you. There is a theory of limitation, of course, but I +don't know whether we have here a case to which the theory can be +applied." + +"I don't know, either," said Wüllersdorf. "And I confess frankly, the +whole case seems to turn upon that question." + +Innstetten looked at him amazed. "You say that in all seriousness?" + +"In all seriousness. It is no time for trying one's skill at +pleasantry or dialectic hair-splitting." + +"I am curious to know what you mean. Tell me frankly what you think +about it." + +"Innstetten, your situation is awful and your happiness in life is +destroyed. But if you kill the lover your happiness in life is, so to +speak, doubly destroyed, and to your sorrow over a wrong suffered will +be added the sorrow over a wrong done. Everything hinges on the +question, do you feel absolutely compelled to do it? Do you feel so +injured, insulted, so indignant that one of you must go, either he or +you? Is that the way the matter stands?" + +"I don't know." + +"You must know." + +Innstetten sprang up, walked to the window, and tapped on the panes, +full of nervous excitement. Then he turned quickly, stepped toward +Wüllersdorf and said: "No, that is not the way the matter stands." + +"How does it stand then?" + +"It amounts to this--that I am unspeakably unhappy. I am mortified, +infamously deceived, and yet I have no feeling of hatred or even of +thirst for revenge. If I ask myself 'why not?' on the spur of the +moment, I am unable to assign any other reason than the intervening +years. People are always talking about inexpiable guilt. That is +undeniably wrong in the sight of God, but I say it is also in the +sight of man. I never should have believed that time, purely as time, +could so affect one. Then, in the second place, I love my wife, yes, +strange to say, I love her still, and dreadful as I consider all that +has happened, I am so completely under the spell of her loveliness, +the bright charm peculiarly her own, that in spite of myself I feel in +the innermost recesses of my heart inclined to forgive." + +Wüllersdorf nodded. "I fully understand your attitude, Innstetten, I +should probably feel the same way about it. But if that is your +feeling and you say to me: 'I love this woman so much that I can +forgive her everything,' and if we consider, further, that it all +happened so long, long ago that it seems like an event in some other +world, why, if that is the situation, Innstetten, I feel like asking, +wherefore all this fuss?" + +"Because it must be, nevertheless. I have thought it over from every +point of view. We are not merely individuals, we belong to a whole, +and have always to take the whole into consideration. We are +absolutely dependent. If it were possible to live in solitude I could +let it pass. I should then bear the burden heaped upon me, though real +happiness would be gone. But so many people are forced to live without +real happiness, and I should have to do it too, and I could. We don't +need to be happy, least of all have we any claim on happiness, and it +is not absolutely necessary to put out of existence the one who has +taken our happiness away. We can let him go, if we desire to live on +apart from the world. But in the social life of the world a certain +something has been worked out that is now in force, and in accordance +with the principles of which we have been accustomed to judge +everybody, ourselves as well as others. It would never do to run +counter to it. Society would despise us and in the end we should +despise ourselves and, not being able to bear the strain, we should +fire a bullet into our brains. Pardon me for delivering such a +discourse, which after all is only a repetition of what every man has +said to himself a hundred times. But who can say anything now? Once +more then, no hatred or anything of the kind, and I do not care to +have blood on my hands for the sake of the happiness taken away from +me. But that social something, let us say, which tyrannizes us, takes +no account of charm, or love, or limitation. I have no choice. I +must." + +"I don't know, Innstetten." + +Innstetten smiled. "You shall decide yourself, Wüllersdorf. It is now +ten o 'clock. Six hours ago, I will concede, I still had control of +the situation, I could do the one thing or the other, there was still +a way out. Not so now; now I am in a blind alley. You may say, I have +nobody to blame but myself; I ought to have guarded and controlled +myself better, ought to have hid it all in my own heart and fought it +out there. But it came upon me too suddenly, with too much force, and +so I can hardly reproach myself for not having held my nerves in check +more successfully. I went to your room and wrote you a note and +thereby lost the control of events. From that very moment the secret +of my unhappiness and, what is of greater moment, the smirch on my +honor was half revealed to another, and after the first words we +exchanged here it was wholly revealed. Now, inasmuch as there is +another who knows my secret, I can no longer turn back." + +"I don't know," repeated Wüllersdorf. "I don't like to resort to the +old worn-out phrase, but still I can do no better than to say: +Innstetten, it will all rest in my bosom as in a grave." + +"Yes, Wüllersdorf, that is what they all say. But there is no such +thing as secrecy. Even if you remain true to your word and are secrecy +personified toward others, still _you_ know it and I shall not be +saved from your judgment by the fact that you have just expressed to +me your approval and have even said you fully understood my attitude. +It is unalterably settled that from this moment on I should be an +object of your sympathy, which in itself is not very agreeable, and +every word you might hear me exchange with my wife would be subject to +your check, whether you would or no, and if my wife should speak of +fidelity or should pronounce judgment upon another woman, as women +have a way of doing, I should not know which way to look. Moreover, if +it came to pass that I counseled charitable consideration in some +wholly commonplace affair of honor, 'because of the apparent lack of +deception,' or something of the sort, a smile would pass over your +countenance, or at least a twitch would be noticeable, and in your +heart you would say: 'poor Innstetten, he has a real passion for +analyzing all insults chemically, in order to determine their +insulting contents, and he _never_ finds the proper quantity of the +suffocating element. He has never yet been suffocated by an affair.' +Am I right, Wüllersdorf, or not?" + +Wüllersdorf had risen to his feet. "I think it is awful that you +should be right, but you _are_ right. I shall no longer trouble you +with my 'must it be.' The world is simply as it is, and things do not +take the course _we_ desire, but the one _others_ desire. This talk +about the 'ordeal,' with which many pompous orators seek to assure us, +is sheer nonsense, there is nothing in it. On the contrary, our cult +of honor is idolatry, but we must submit to it so long as the idol is +honored." + +Innstetten nodded. + +They remained together a quarter of an hour longer and it was decided +that Wüllersdorf should set out that same evening. A night train left +at twelve. They parted with a brief "Till we meet again in Kessin." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +According to the agreement Innstetten set out the following evening. +He took the same train Wüllersdorf had taken the day before and +shortly after five o'clock in the morning was at the station, from +which the road branched off to the left for Kessin. The steamer +referred to several times before was scheduled to leave daily, during +the season, immediately after the arrival of this train, and +Innstetten heard its first signal for departure as he reached the +bottom step of the stairway leading down the embankment. The walk to +the landing took less than three minutes. After greeting the captain, +who was somewhat embarrassed and hence must have heard of the whole +affair the day before, he took a seat near the tiller. In a moment the +boat pulled away from the foot bridge; the weather was glorious, the +morning sun bright, and but few passengers on board. Innstetten +thought of the day when, returning here from his wedding tour, he had +driven along the shore of the Kessine with Effi in an open carriage. +That was a gray November day, but his heart was serene. Now it was the +reverse: all was serene without, and the November day was within. +Many, many a time had he come this way afterward, and the peace +hovering over the fields, the horses in harness pricking up their ears +as he drove by, the men at work, the fertility of the soil--all these +things had done his soul good, and now, in harsh contrast with that, +he was glad when clouds came up and began slightly to overcast the +laughing blue sky. They steamed down the river and soon after they had +passed the splendid sheet of water called the "Broad" the Kessin +church tower hove in sight and a moment later the quay and the long +row of houses with ships and boats in front of them. Soon they were at +the landing. Innstetten bade the captain goodbye and approached the +bridge that had been rolled out to facilitate the disembarkation. +Wüllersdorf was there. The two greeted each other, without speaking a +word at first, and then walked across the levee to the Hoppensack +Hotel, where they sat down under an awning. + +"I took a room here yesterday," said Wüllersdorf, who did not wish to +begin with the essentials. "When we consider what a miserable hole +Kessin is, it is astonishing to find such a good hotel here. I have no +doubt that my friend the head waiter speaks three languages. Judging +by the parting of his hair and his low-cut vest we can safely count on +four--Jean, please bring us some coffee and cognac." + +Innstetten understood perfectly why Wüllersdorf assumed this tone, and +approved of it, but he could not quite master his restlessness and +kept taking out his watch involuntarily. "We have time," said +Wüllersdorf. "An hour and a half yet, or almost. I ordered the +carriage at a quarter after eight; we have not more than ten minutes +to drive." + +"Where?" + +"Crampas first proposed a corner of the woods, just behind the +churchyard. Then he interrupted himself and said: 'No, not there.' +Then we agreed upon a place among the dunes, close by the beach. The +outer dune has a cut through it and one can look out upon the sea." + +Innstetten smiled. "Crampas seems to have selected a beautiful spot. +He always had a way of doing that. How did he behave?" + +"Marvelously." + +"Haughtily? frivolously?" + +"Neither the one nor the other. I confess frankly, Innstetten, it +staggered me. When I mentioned your name he turned as pale as death, +but tried hard to compose himself, and I saw a twitching about the +corners of his mouth. But it was only a moment till he had regained +his composure and after that he was all sorrowful resignation. I am +quite certain he feels that he will not come out of the affair alive, +and he doesn't care to. If I judge him correctly he is fond of living +and at the same time indifferent about it. He takes life as it comes +and knows that it amounts to but little." + +"Who is his second? Or let me say, rather, whom will he bring along?" + +"That was what worried him most after he had recovered himself. He +mentioned two or three noblemen of the vicinity, but dropped their +names, saying they were too old and too pious, and that he would +telegraph to Treptow for his friend Buddenbrook. Buddenbrook came and +is a capital man, at once resolute and childlike. He was unable to +calm himself, and paced back and forth in the greatest excitement. But +when I had told him all he said exactly as you and I: 'You are right, +it must be.'" + +The coffee came. They lighted their cigars and Wüllersdorf again +sought to turn the conversation to more indifferent things. "I am +surprised that nobody from Kessin has come to greet you. I know you +were very popular. What is the matter with your friend Gieshübler?" + +Innstetten smiled. "You don't know the people here on the coast. They +are half Philistines and half wiseacres, not much to my taste. But +they have one virtue, they are all very mannerly, and none more so +than my old Gieshübler. Everybody knows, of course, what it is about, +and for that very reason they take pains not to appear inquisitive." + +At this moment there came into view to the left a chaise-like carriage +with the top down, which, as it was ahead of time, drove up very +slowly. + +"Is that ours?" asked Innstetten. + +"Presumably." + +A moment later the carriage stopped in front of the hotel and +Innstetten and Wüllersdorf arose to their feet. Wüllersdorf stepped +over to the coachman and said: "To the mole." + +The mole lay in the wrong direction of the beach, to the right instead +of the left, and the false orders were given merely to avoid any +possible interference. Besides, whether they intended to keep to the +right or to the left after they were beyond the city limits, they had +to pass through the "Plantation" in either case, and so their course +led unavoidably past Innstetten's old residence. The house seemed more +quiet than formerly. If the rooms on the ground floor looked rather +neglected, what must have been the state upstairs! The uncanny feeling +that Innstetten had so often combatted in Effi, or had at least +laughed at, now came over him, and he was glad when they had driven +past. + +"That is where I used to live," he said to Wüllersdorf. + +"It looks strange, rather deserted and abandoned." + +"It may be. In the city it was called a haunted house and from the way +it stands there today I cannot blame people for thinking so." + +"What did they tell about it?" + +"Oh, stupid nonsense. An old ship's captain with a granddaughter or a +niece, who one fine day disappeared, and then a Chinaman, who was +probably her lover. In the hall a small shark and a crocodile, both +hung up by strings and always in motion, wonderful to relate, but now +is no time for that, when my head is full of all sorts of other +phantoms." + +"You forget that it may all turn out well yet." + +"It must not. A while ago, Wüllersdorf, when you were speaking about +Crampas, you yourself spoke differently." + +Soon thereafter they had passed through the "Plantation" and the +coachman was about to turn to the right toward the mole. "Drive to the +left, rather. The mole can wait." + +The coachman turned to the left into the broad driveway, which ran +behind the men's bathhouse toward the forest. When they were within +three hundred paces of the forest Wüllersdorf ordered the coachman to +stop. Then the two walked through grinding sand down a rather broad +driveway, which here cut at right angles through the three rows of +dunes. All along the sides of the road stood thick clumps of lyme +grass, and around them immortelles and a few blood-red pinks. +Innstetten stooped down and put one of the pinks in his buttonhole. +"The immortelles later." + +They walked on thus for five minutes. When they had come to the rather +deep depression which ran along between the two outer rows of dunes +they saw their opponents off to the left, Crampas and Buddenbrook, and +with them good Dr. Hannemann, who held his hat in his hand, so that +his white hair was waving in the wind. + +Innstetten and Wüllersdorf walked up the sand defile; Buddenbrook came +to meet them. They exchanged greetings and then the two seconds +stepped aside for a brief conference. They agreed that the opponents +should advance _a tempo_ and shoot when ten paces apart. Then +Buddenbrook returned to his place. Everything was attended to quickly, +and the shots were fired. Crampas fell. + +Innstetten stepped back a few paces and turned his face away from the +scene. Wüllersdorf walked over to Buddenbrook and the two awaited the +decision of the doctor, who shrugged his shoulders. At the same time +Crampas indicated by a motion of his hand that he wished to say +something. Wüllersdorf bowed down to him, nodded his assent to the few +words, which could scarcely be heard as they came from the lips of the +dying man, and then went toward Innstetten. + +"Crampas wishes to speak to you, Innstetten. You must comply with his +wish. He hasn't three minutes more to live." + +Innstetten walked over to Crampas. + +"Will you--" were the dying man's last words. Then a painful, yet +almost friendly expression in his eyes, and all was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + +In the evening of the same day Innstetten was back again in Berlin. He +had taken the carriage, which he had left by the crossroad behind the +dunes, directly for the railway station, without returning to Kessin, +and had left to the seconds the duty of reporting to the authorities. +On the train he had a compartment to himself, which enabled him to +commune with his own mind and live the event all over again. He had +the same thoughts as two days before, except that they ran in the +opposite direction, beginning with conviction as to his rights and his +duty and ending in doubt. "Guilt, if it is anything at all, is not +limited by time and place and cannot pass away in a night. Guilt +requires expiation; there is some sense in that. Limitation, on the +other hand, only half satisfies; it is weak, or at least it is +prosaic." He found comfort in this thought and said to himself over +and over that what had happened was inevitable. But the moment he +reached this conclusion he rejected it. "There must be a limitation; +limitation is the only sensible solution. Whether or not it is prosaic +is immaterial. What is sensible is usually prosaic. I am now +forty-five. If I had found the letters twenty-five years later I +should have been seventy. Then Wüllersdorf would have said: +'Innstetten, don't be a fool.' And if Wüllersdorf didn't say it, +Buddenbrook would, and if _he_ didn't, either, I myself should. That +is clear. When we carry a thing to extremes we carry it too far and +make ourselves ridiculous. No doubt about it. But where does it begin? +Where is the limit? Within ten years a duel is required and we call it +an affair of honor. After eleven years, or perhaps ten and a half, we +call it nonsense. The limit, the limit. Where is it? Was it reached? +Was it passed? When I recall his last look, resigned and yet smiling +in his misery, that look said: 'Innstetten, this is stickling for +principle. You might have spared me this, and yourself, too.' Perhaps +he was right. I hear some such voice in my soul. Now if I had been +full of deadly hatred, if a deep feeling of revenge had found a place +in my heart--Revenge is not a thing of beauty, but a human trait and +has naturally a human right to exist. But this affair was all for the +sake of an idea, a conception, was artificial, half comedy. And now I +must continue this comedy, must send Effi away and ruin her, and +myself, too--I ought to have burned the letters, and the world should +never have been permitted to hear about them. And then when she came, +free from suspicion, I ought to have said to her: 'Here is your +place,' and ought to have parted from her inwardly, not before the +eyes of the world. There are so many marriages that are not marriages. +Then happiness would have been gone, but I should not have had the +eye staring at me with its searching look and its mild, though mute, +accusation." + +Shortly before ten o'clock Innstetten alighted in front of his +residence. He climbed the stairs and rang the bell. Johanna came and +opened the door. + +"How is Annie?" + +"Very well, your Lordship. She is not yet asleep--If your Lordship--" + +"No, no, it would merely excite her. It would be better to wait till +morning to see her. Bring me a glass of tea, Johanna. Who has been +here?" + +"Nobody but the doctor." + +Innstetten was again alone. He walked to and fro as he loved to do. +"They know all about it. Roswitha is stupid, but Johanna is a clever +person. If they don't know accurate details, they have made up a story +to suit themselves and so they know anyhow. It is remarkable how many +things become indications and the basis for tales, as though the whole +world had been present." + +Johanna brought the tea, and Innstetten drank it. He was tired to +death from the overexertion and went to sleep. + +The next morning he was up in good season. He saw Annie, spoke a few +words with her, praised her for being a good patient, and then went to +the Ministry to make a report to his chief of all that had happened. +The minister was very gracious. "Yes, Innstetten, happy is the man who +comes out of all that life may bring to us whole. It has gone hard +with you." He approved all that had taken place and left the rest to +Innstetten. + +It was late in the afternoon when Innstetten returned home and found +there a few lines from Wüllersdorf. "Returned this morning. A world of +experiences--painful, touching--Gieshübler particularly. The most +amiable humpback I ever saw. About you he did not say so very much, +but the wife, the wife! He could not calm himself and finally the +little man broke out in tears. What strange things happen! It would be +better if we had more Gieshüblers. But there are more of the other +sort--Then the scene at the home of the major--dreadful. Excuse me +from speaking about it. I have learned once more to be on my guard. I +shall see you tomorrow. Yours, W." + +Innstetten was completely staggered when he read the note. He sat down +and wrote a few words in reply. When he had finished he rang the bell. +"Johanna, put these letters in the box." + +Johanna took the letters and was on the point of going. + +"And then, Johanna, one thing more. My wife is not coming back. You +will hear from others why. Annie must not know anything about it, at +least not now. The poor child. You must break the news to her +gradually that she has no mother any more. I can't do it. But be wise +about it, and don't let Roswitha spoil it all." + +Johanna stood there a moment quite stupefied, and then went up to +Innstetten and kissed his hand. + +By the time she had reached the kitchen her heart was overflowing with +pride and superiority, indeed almost with happiness. His Lordship had +not only told her everything, he had even added the final injunction, +"and don't let Roswitha spoil it all." That was the most important +point. And although she had a kindly feeling and even sympathy for her +mistress, nevertheless the thing that above all else occupied her was +the triumph of a certain intimate relation to her gracious master. + +Under ordinary conditions it would have been easy for her to display +and assert this triumph, but today it so happened that her rival, +without having been made a confidante, was nevertheless destined to +appear the better informed of the two. Just about at the same time as +the above conversation was taking place the porter had called +Roswitha into his little lodge downstairs and handed her as she +entered a newspaper to read. "There, Roswitha, is something that will +interest you. You can bring it back to me later. It is only the +_Foreigners' Gazette_, but Lena has already gone out to get the _Minor +Journal_. There will probably be more in it. They always know +everything. Say, Roswitha, who would have thought such a thing!" + +Roswitha, who was ordinarily none too curious, had, however, after +these words betaken herself as quickly as possible up the back stairs +and had just finished reading the account when Johanna came to her. + +Johanna laid the letters Innstetten had given her upon the table, +glanced over the addresses, or at least pretended to, for she knew +very well to whom they were directed, and said with feigned composure: +"One goes to Hohen-Cremmen." + +"I understand that," said Roswitha. + +Johanna was not a little astonished at this remark. "His Lordship does +not write to Hohen-Cremmen ordinarily." + +"Oh, ordinarily? But now--Just think, the porter gave me _this_ +downstairs only a moment ago." + +Johanna took the paper and read in an undertone a passage marked with +a heavy ink line: "As we learn from a well informed source, shortly +before going to press, there occurred yesterday morning in the +watering place Kessin, in Hither Pomerania, a duel between Department +Chief von Innstetten of Keith St. and Major von Crampas. Major von +Crampas fell. According to rumors, relations are said to have existed +between him and the Department Chief's wife, who is beautiful and +still very young." + +"What don't such papers write?" said Johanna, who was vexed at seeing +her news anticipated. "Yes," said Roswitha, "and now the people will +read this and say disgraceful things about my poor dear mistress. And +the poor major! Now he is dead!" + +"Why, Roswitha, what are you thinking of anyhow? Ought he _not_ to be +dead? Or ought our dear gracious master to be dead?" + +"No, Johanna, our gracious master, let him live, let everybody live. I +am not for shooting people and can't even bear the report of the +pistol. But take into consideration, Johanna, that was half an +eternity ago, and the letters, which struck me as so strange the +moment I saw them, because they had a red cord, not a ribbon, wrapped +around them three or four times and tied--why, they were beginning to +look quite yellow, it was so long ago. You see, we have been here now +for over six years, and how can a man, just because of such old +things--" + +"Ah, Roswitha, you speak according to your understanding. If we +examine the matter narrowly, you are to blame. It comes from the +letters. Why did you come with the chisel and break open the sewing +table, which is never permissible? One must never break open a lock in +which another has turned a key." + +"Why, Johanna, it is really too cruel of you to say such a thing to my +face, and you know that _you_ are to blame, and that you rushed half +crazy into the kitchen and told me the sewing table must be opened, +the bandage was in it, and then I came with the chisel, and now you +say I am to blame. No, I say--" + +"Well, I will take it back, Roswitha. But you must not come to me and +say: 'the poor major!' What do you mean by the 'poor major?' The poor +major was altogether good for nothing. A man who has such a red +moustache and twirls it all the time is never good for anything, he +does nothing but harm. When one has always been employed in +aristocratic homes--but you haven't been, Roswitha, that's where you +are lacking--one knows what is fitting and proper and what honor is, +and knows that when such a thing comes up there is no way to get +around it, and then comes what is called a challenge and one of the +men is shot." + +"Oh, I know that, too; I am not so stupid as you always try to make me +appear. But since it happened so long ago--" + +"Oh, Roswitha, that everlasting 'so long ago!' It shows plainly enough +that you don't know anything about it. You are always telling the same +old story about your father with the red-hot tongs and how he came at +you with them, and every time I put a red-hot heater in the iron I see +him about to kill you on account of the child that died so long ago. +Indeed, Roswitha, you talk about it all the time, and all there is +left for you to do now is to tell little Annie the story, and as soon +as little Annie has been confirmed she will be sure to hear it, +perhaps the same day. I am grieved that you should have had all that +experience, and yet your father was only a village blacksmith who shod +horses and put tires on wheels, and now you come forward and expect +our gracious master calmly to put up with all this, merely because it +happened so long ago. What do you mean by long ago? Six years is not +long ago. And our gracious mistress, who, by the way, is not coming +back--his Lordship just told me so--her Ladyship is not yet twenty-six +and her birthday is in August, and yet you come to me with the plea of +'long ago.' If she were thirty-six, for at thirty-six, I tell you, one +must be particularly cautious, and if his Lordship had done nothing, +then aristocratic people would have 'cut' him. But you are not +familiar with that word, Roswitha, you know nothing about it." + +"No, I know nothing about it and care less, but what I do know is that +you are in love with his Lordship." + +Johanna struck up a convulsive laugh. + +"Well, laugh. I have noticed it for a long time. I don't put it past +you, but fortunately his Lordship takes no note of it. The poor wife, +the poor wife!" + +Johanna was anxious to declare peace. "That will do now, Roswitha. You +are mad again, but, I know, all country girls get mad." + +"May be." + +"I am just going to post these letters now and see whether the porter +has got the other paper. I understood you to say, didn't I, that he +sent Lena to get one? There must be more in it; this is as good as +nothing at all." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + +[After Effi and Mrs. Zwicker had been in Ems for nearly three weeks +they took breakfast one morning in the open air. The postman was late +and Effi was impatient, as she had received no letter from Innstetten +for four days. The coming of a pretty waitress to clear away the +breakfast dishes started a conversation about pretty housemaids, and +Effi spoke enthusiastically of her Johanna's unusual abundance of +beautiful flaxen hair. This led to a discussion of painful +experiences, in the course of which Effi admitted that she knew what +sin meant, but she distinguished between an occasional sin and a +habitual sin. Mrs. Zwicker was indulging in a tirade against the +pleasure resorts and the ill-sounding names of places in the environs +of Berlin, when the postman came. There was nothing from Innstetten, +but a large registered letter from Hohen-Cremmen. Effi felt an +unaccountable hesitation to open it. Overcoming this she found in the +envelope a long letter from her mother and a package of banknotes, +upon which her father had written with a red pencil the sum they +represented. She leaned back in the rocking chair and began to read. +Before she had got very far, the letter fell out of her hands and all +the blood left her face. With an effort she picked up the letter and +started to go to her room, asking Mrs. Zwicker to send the maid. By +holding to the furniture as she dragged herself along she was able to +reach her bed, where she fell in a swoon.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + +Minutes passed. When Effi came to she got up and sat on a chair by the +window and gazed out into the quiet street. Oh, if there had only been +turmoil and strife outside! But there was only the sunshine on the +macadam road and the shadows of the lattice and the trees. The feeling +that she was alone in the world came over her with all its might. An +hour ago she was a happy woman, the favorite of all who knew her, and +now an outcast. She had read only the beginning of the letter, but +enough to have the situation clearly before her. Whither? She had no +answer to this question, and yet she was full of deep longing to +escape from her present environment, to get away from this Zwicker +woman, to whom the whole affair was merely "an interesting case," and +whose sympathy, if she had any such thing in her make-up, would +certainly not equal her curiosity. + +"Whither?" + +On the table before her lay the letter, but she lacked the courage to +read any more of it. Finally she said: "What have I further to fear? +What else can be said that I have not already said to myself? The man +who was the cause of it all is dead, a return to my home is out of the +question, in a few weeks the divorce will be decreed, and the child +will be left with the father. Of course. I am guilty, and a guilty +woman cannot bring up her child. Besides, wherewith? I presume I can +make my own way. I will see what mama writes about it, how she +pictures my life." + +With these words she took up the letter again to finish reading it. + +"--And now your future, my dear Effi. You will have to rely upon +yourself and, so far as outward means are concerned, may count upon +our support. You will do best to live in Berlin, for the best place to +live such things down is a large city. There you will be one of the +many who have robbed themselves of free air and bright sunshine. You +will lead a lonely life. If you refuse to, you will probably have to +step down out of your sphere. The world in which you have lived will +be closed to you. The saddest thing for us and for you--yes, for you, +as we know you--is that your parental home will also be closed to you. +We can offer you no quiet place in Hohen-Cremmen, no refuge in our +house, for it would mean the shutting off of our house from all the +world, and we are decidedly not inclined to do that. Not because we +are too much attached to the world or that it would seem to us +absolutely unbearable to bid farewell to what is called 'society.' No, +not for that reason, but simply because we stand by our colors and are +going to declare to the whole world our--I cannot spare you the +word--our condemnation of your actions, of the actions of our only and +so dearly beloved child--" + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann A.-G., Munich_ +FRAU VON SCHLEINITZ AT HOME Adolph von Menzel] + +Effi could read no further. Her eyes filled with tears and after +seeking in vain to fight them back she burst into convulsive sobs and +wept till her pain was alleviated. + +Half an hour later there was a knock at the door and when Effi called: +"Come in!" Mrs. Zwicker appeared. + +"May I come in?" + +"Certainly, my dear," said Effi, who now lay upon the sofa under a +light covering and with her hands folded. "I am exhausted and have +made myself as comfortable here as I could. Won't you please take a +seat?" + +Mrs. Zwicker sat down where the table with the bowl of flowers would +be between her and Effi. Effi showed no sign of embarrassment and made +no change in her position; she did not even unfold her hands. It +suddenly became immaterial to her what the woman thought. All she +wanted was to get away. + +"You have received sad news, dear, gracious Lady?" + +"Worse than sad," said Effi. "At any rate sad enough to bring our +association here quickly to an end. I must leave today." + +"I should not like to appear obtrusive, but has the news anything to +do with Annie?" + +"No, not with Annie. The news did not come from Berlin at all, it was +a letter from my mother. She is worried about me and I am anxious to +divert her, or, if I can't do that, at least to be near at hand." + +"I appreciate that only too well, much as I lament the necessity of +spending these last days in Ems without you. May I offer you my +services?" + +Before Effi had time to answer, the pretty waitress entered and +announced that the guests were just gathering for lunch, and everybody +was greatly excited, for the Emperor was probably coming for three +weeks and at the end of his stay there would be grand manoeuvres and +the hussars from her home town would be there, too. + +Mrs. Zwicker discussed immediately the question, whether it would be +worth while to stay till then, arrived at a decided answer in the +affirmative, and then went to excuse Effi's absence from lunch. + +A moment later, as the waitress was about to leave, Effi said: "And +then, Afra, when you are free, I hope you can come back to me for a +quarter of an hour to help me pack. I am leaving by the seven o'clock +train." + +"Today? Oh, your Ladyship, what a pity! Why, the beautiful days are +just going to begin." + +Effi smiled. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + +Three years had passed and for almost that length of time Effi had +been living in a small apartment on Königgrätz Street--a front room +and back room, behind which was the kitchen with a servant's bedroom, +everything as ordinary and commonplace as possible. And yet it was an +unusually pretty apartment, that made an agreeable impression on +everybody who saw it, the most agreeable perhaps on old Dr. +Rummschüttel, who called now and then and had long ago forgiven the +poor young wife, not only for the rheumatism and neuralgia farce of +bygone years, but also for everything else that had happened in the +meantime--if there was any need of forgiveness on his part, +considering the very different cases he knew about. He was now far +along in the seventies, but whenever Effi, who had been ailing +considerably for some time, wrote a letter asking him to call, he came +the following forenoon and would not listen to any excuses for the +number of steps he had to climb. "No excuse, please, dear, most +gracious Lady; for in the first place it is my calling, and in the +second I am happy and almost proud that I am still able to climb the +three flights so well. If I were not afraid of inconveniencing +you,--since, after all, I come as a physician and not as a friend of +nature or a landscape enthusiast,--I should probably come oftener, +merely to see you and sit down for a few minutes at your back window. +I don't believe you fully appreciate the view." + +"Oh, yes I do," said Effi; but Rummschüttel, not allowing himself to +be interrupted, continued: "Please, most gracious Lady, step here just +for a moment, or allow me to escort you to the window. Simply +magnificent again today! Just see the various railroad embankments, +three, no, four, and how the trains glide back and forth continually, +and now that train yonder disappears again behind a group of trees. +Really magnificent! And how the sun shines through the white smoke! If +St. Matthew's Churchyard were not immediately behind it it would be +ideal." + +"I like to look at churchyards." + +"Yes, you dare say that. But how about us? We physicians are +unavoidably confronted with the question, might there, perhaps, not +have been some fewer graves here? However, most gracious Lady, I am +satisfied with you and my only complaint is that you will not listen +to anything about Ems. For your catarrhal affections--" + +Effi remained silent. + +"Ems would work miracles. But as you don't care to go there--and I +understand your reasons--drink the water here. In three minutes you +can be in the Prince Albrecht Garden, and even if the music and the +costumes and all the diversions of a regular watering-place promenade +are lacking, the water itself, you know, is the important thing." + +Effi was agreed, and Rummschüttel took his hat and cane, but stepped +once more to the window. "I hear people talking about a plan to +terrace the Hill of the Holy Cross. God bless the city government! +Once that bare spot yonder is greener--A charming apartment! I could +almost envy you--By the way, gracious Lady, I have been wanting for a +long time to say to you, you always write me such a lovely letter. +Well, who wouldn't enjoy that? But it requires an effort each time. +Just send Roswitha for me." + +"Just send Roswitha for me," Rummschüttel had said. Why, was Roswitha +at Effi's? Instead of being on Keith Street was she on Königgrätz +Street? Certainly she was, and had been for a long time, just as long +as Effi herself had been living on Königgrätz Street. Three days +before they moved Roswitha had gone to see her dear mistress and that +was a great day for both of them, so great that we must go back and +tell about it. + +The day that the letter of renunciation came from Hohen-Cremmen and +Effi returned from Ems to Berlin she did not take a separate apartment +at once, but tried living in a boarding house, which suited her +tolerably well. The two women who kept the boarding house were +educated and considerate and had long ago ceased to be inquisitive. +Such a variety of people met there that it would have been too much of +an undertaking to pry into the secrets of each individual. Such things +only interfered with business. Effi, who still remembered the +cross-questionings to which the eyes of Mrs. Zwicker had subjected +her, was very agreeably impressed with the reserve of the boarding +house keepers. But after two weeks had passed she felt plainly that +she could not well endure the prevailing atmosphere of the place, +either the physical or the moral. There were usually seven persons at +the table. Beside Effi and one of the landladies--the other looked +after the kitchen--there were two Englishwomen, who were attending the +university, a noblewoman from Saxony, a very pretty Galician Jewess, +whose real occupation nobody knew, and a precentor's daughter from +Polzin in Pomerania, who wished to become a painter. That was a bad +combination, and the attempts of each to show her superiority to the +others were unrefreshing. Remarkable to relate, the Englishwomen were +not absolutely the worst offenders, but competed for the palm with the +girl from Polzin, who was filled with the highest regard for her +mission as a painter. Nevertheless Effi, who assumed a passive +attitude, could have withstood the pressure of this intellectual +atmosphere if it had not been combined with the air of the boarding +house, speaking from a purely physical and objective point of view. +What this air was actually composed of was perhaps beyond the +possibility of determination, but that it took away sensitive Effi's +breath was only too certain, and she saw herself compelled for this +external reason to go out in search of other rooms, which she found +comparatively near by, in the above-described apartment on Königgrätz +St. She was to move in at the beginning of the autumn quarter, had +made the necessary purchases, and during the last days of September +counted the hours till her liberation from the boarding house. On one +of these last days, a quarter of an hour after she had retired from +the dining room, planning to enjoy a rest on a sea grass sofa covered +with some large-figured woolen material, there was a gentle rap at her +door. + +"Come in!" + +One of the housemaids, a sickly looking person in the middle thirties, +who by virtue of always being in the hall of the boarding house +carried the atmosphere stored there with her everywhere, in her +wrinkles, entered the room and said: "I beg your pardon, gracious +Lady, but somebody wishes to speak to you." + +"Who?" + +"A woman." + +"Did she tell you her name?" + +"Yes. Roswitha." + +Before Effi had hardly heard this name she shook off her drowsiness, +sprang up, ran out into the corridor, grasped Roswitha by both hands +and drew her into her room. + +"Roswitha! You! Oh, what joy! What do you bring? Something good, of +course. Such a good old face can bring only good things. Oh, how happy +I am! I could give a kiss. I should not have thought such joy could +ever come to me again. You good old soul, how are you anyhow? Do you +still remember how the ghost of the Chinaman used to stalk about? +Those were happy times. I thought then they were unhappy, because I +did not yet know the hardness of life. Since then I have come to know +it. Oh, there are far worse things than ghosts. Come, my good +Roswitha, come, sit down by me and tell me--Oh, I have such a longing. +How is Annie?" + +Roswitha was unable to speak, and so she let her eyes wander around +the strange room, whose gray and dusty-looking walls were bordered +with narrow gilt molding. Finally she found herself and said that his +Lordship was back from Glatz. That the old Emperor had said, "six +weeks were quite sufficient (imprisonment) in such a case," and she +had only waited for his Lordship's return, on Annie's account, who had +to have some supervision. Johanna was no doubt a proper person, but +she was still too pretty and too much occupied with herself, and God +only knows what all she was thinking about. But now that his Lordship +could again keep an eye on Annie and see that everything was right, +she herself wanted to try to find out how her Ladyship was getting on. + +"That is right, Roswitha." + +"And I wanted to see whether your Ladyship lacked anything, and +whether you might need me. If so I would stay right here and pitch in +and do everything and see to it that your Ladyship was getting on well +again." + +Effi had been leaning back in the corner of the sofa with her eyes +closed, but suddenly she sat up and said: "Yes, Roswitha, what you +were saying there is an idea, there is something in it. For I must +tell you that I am not going to stay in this boarding house. I have +rented an apartment farther down the street and have bought furniture, +and in three more days I shall move in. And if, when I arrive there, I +could say to you: 'No, Roswitha, not there, the wardrobe must stand +here and the mirror there,' why, that would be worth while, and I +should like it. Then when we got tired of all the drudgery I should +say: 'Now, Roswitha, go over there and get us a decanter of Munich +beer, for when one has been working one is thirsty for a drink, and, +if you can, bring us also something good from the Habsburg Restaurant. +You can return the dishes later.' Yes, Roswitha, when I think of that +it makes my heart feel a great deal lighter. But I must ask you +whether you have thought it all over? I will not speak of Annie, to +whom you are so attached, for she is almost your own child; +nevertheless Annie will be provided for, and Johanna is also attached +to her, you know. So leave her out of the consideration. But if you +want to come to me remember how everything has changed. I am no longer +as I used to be. I have now taken a very small apartment, and the +porter will doubtless pay but little attention to you and me. We shall +have to be very economical, always have what we used to call our +Thursday meal, because that was cleaning day. Do you remember? And do +you remember how good Mr. Gieshübler once came in and was urged to sit +down with us, and how he said he had never eaten such a delicate dish? +You probably remember he was always so frightfully polite, but really +he was the only human being in the city who was a connoisseur in +matters of eating. The others called everything fine." + +Roswitha was enjoying every word and could already see everything +running smoothly, when Effi again said: "Have you considered all this? +For, while it is my own household, I must not overlook the fact that +you have been spoiled these many years, and formerly no questions were +ever asked, for we did not need to be saving; but now I must be +saving, for I am poor and have only what is given me, you know, +remittances from Hohen-Cremmen. My parents are very good to me, so far +as they are able, but they are not rich. And now tell me what you +think." + +"That I shall come marching along with my trunk next Saturday, not in +the evening, but early in the morning, and that I shall be there when +the settling process begins. For I can take hold quite differently +from your Ladyship." + +"Don't say that, Roswitha. I can work too. One can do anything when +obliged to." + +"And then your Ladyship doesn't need to worry about me, as though I +might think: 'that is not good enough for Roswitha.' For Roswitha +anything is good that she has to share with your Ladyship, and most to +her liking would be something sad. Yes, I look forward to that with +real pleasure. Your Ladyship shall see I know what sadness is. Even if +I didn't know, I should soon find out. I have not forgotten how I was +sitting there in the churchyard, all alone in the world, thinking to +myself it would probably be better if I were lying there in a row with +the others. Who came along? Who saved my life? Oh, I have had so much +to endure. That day when my father came at me with the red-hot +tongs--" + +"I remember, Roswitha." + +"Well, that was bad enough. But when I sat there in the churchyard, so +completely poverty stricken and forsaken, that was worse still. Then +your Ladyship came. I hope I shall never go to heaven if I forget +that." + +As she said this she arose and went toward the window. "Oh, your +Ladyship must see _him_ too." + +Effi stepped to the window. Over on the other side of the street sat +Rollo, looking up at the windows of the boarding house. + +A few days later Effi, with the aid of Roswitha, moved into the +apartment on Königgrätz St., and liked it there from the beginning. +To be sure, there was no society, but during her boarding house days +she had derived so little pleasure from intercourse with people that +it was not hard for her to be alone, at least not in the beginning. +With Roswitha it was impossible, of course, to carry on an esthetic +conversation, or even to discuss what was in the paper, but when it +was simply a question of things human and Effi began her sentence +with, "Oh, Roswitha, I am again afraid," then the faithful soul always +had a good answer ready, always comfort and usually advice. + +Until Christmas they got on excellently, but Christmas eve was rather +sad and when New Year's Day came Effi began to grow quite melancholy. +It was not cold, only grizzly and rainy, and if the days were short, +the evenings were so much the longer. What was she to do! She read, +she embroidered, she played solitaire, she played Chopin, but +nocturnes were not calculated to bring much light into her life, and +when Roswitha came with the tea tray and placed on the table, beside +the tea service, two small plates with an egg and a Vienna cutlet +carved in small slices, Effi said, as she closed the piano: "Move up, +Roswitha. Keep me company." + +Roswitha joined her. "I know, your Ladyship has been playing too much +again. Your Ladyship always looks like that and has red spots. The +doctor forbade it, didn't he?" + +"Ah, Roswitha, it is easy for the doctor to forbid, and also easy for +you to repeat everything he says. But what shall I do? I can't sit all +day long at the window and look over toward Christ's Church. Sundays, +during the evening service, when the windows are lighted up, I always +look over that way; but it does me no good, it always makes my heart +feel heavier." + +"Well, then, your Ladyship ought to go to church. Your Ladyship has +been there once." + +"Oh, many a time. But I have derived little benefit from it. He +preaches quite well and is a very wise man, and I should be happy if I +knew the hundredth part of it all. But it seems as though I were +merely reading a book. Then when he speaks so loud and saws the air +and shakes his long black locks I am drawn, entirely out of my +attitude of worship." + +"Out of?" + +Effi laughed. "You think I hadn't yet got into such an attitude. That +is probably true. But whose fault is it? Certainly not mine. He always +talks so much about the Old Testament. Even if that is very good it +doesn't edify me. Anyhow, this everlasting listening is not the right +thing. You see, I ought to have so much to do that I should not know +whither to turn. That would suit me. Now there are societies where +young girls learn housekeeping, or sewing, or to be kindergarten +teachers. Have you ever heard of these?" + +"Yes, I once heard of them. Once upon a time little Annie was to go to +a kindergarten." + +"Now you see, you know better than I do. I should like to join some +such society where I can make myself useful. But it is not to be +thought of. The women in charge wouldn't take me, they couldn't. That +is the most terrible thing of all, that the world is so closed to one, +that it even forbids one to take a part in charitable work. I can't +even give poor children a lesson after hours to help them catch up." + +"That would not do for your Ladyship. The children always have such +greasy shoes on, and in wet weather there is so much steam and smoke, +your Ladyship could never stand it." + +Effi smiled. "You are probably right, Roswitha, but it is a bad sign +that you should be right, and it shows me that I still have too much +of the old Effi in me and that I am still too well off." + +Roswitha would not agree to that. "Anybody as good as your Ladyship +can't be too well off. Now you must not always play such sad music. +Sometimes I think all will be well yet, something will surely turn +up." + +And something did turn up. Effi desired to become a painter, in spite +of the precentor's daughter from Polzin, whose conceit as an artist +she still remembered as exceedingly disagreeable. Although she laughed +about the plan herself, because she was conscious she could never +rise above the lowest grade of dilettantism, nevertheless she went at +her work with zest, because she at last had an occupation and that, +too, one after her own heart, because it was quiet and peaceful. She +applied for instruction to a very old professor of painting, who was +well-informed concerning the Brandenburgian aristocracy, and was, at +the same time, very pious, so that Effi seemed to be his heart's +delight from the outset. He probably thought, here was a soul to be +saved, and so he received her with extraordinary friendliness, as +though she had been his daughter. This made Effi very happy, and the +day of her first painting lesson marked for her a turning point toward +the good. Her poor life was now no longer so poor, and Roswitha was +triumphant when she saw that she had been right and something had +turned up after all. + +Thus things went on for considerably over a year. Coming again in +contact with people made Effi happy, but it also created within her +the desire to renew and extend associations. Longing for Hohen-Cremmen +came over her at times with the force of a true passion, and she +longed still more passionately to see Annie. After all she was her +child, and when she began to turn this thought over in her mind and, +at the same time, recalled what Miss Trippelli had once said, to wit: +"The world is so small that one could be certain of coming suddenly +upon some old acquaintance in Central Africa," she had a reason for +being surprised that she had never met Annie. But the time finally +arrived when a change was to occur. She was coming from her painting +lesson, close by the Zoological Garden, and near the station stepped +into a horse car. It was very hot and it did her good to see the +lowered curtains blown out and back by the strong current of air +passing through the car. She leaned back in the corner toward the +front platform and was studying several pictures of blue tufted and +tasseled sofas on a stained window pane, when the car began to move +more slowly and she saw three school children spring up with school +bags on their backs and little pointed hats on their heads. Two of +them were blonde and merry, the third brunette and serious. This one +was Annie. Effi was badly startled, and the thought of a meeting with +the child, for which she had so often longed, filled her now with +deadly fright. What was to be done? With quick determination she +opened the door to the front platform, on which nobody was standing +but the driver, whom she asked to let her get off in front at the next +station. "It is forbidden, young lady," said the driver. But she gave +him a coin and looked at him so appealingly that the good-natured man +changed his mind and mumbled to himself: "I really am not supposed to, +but perhaps once will not matter." When the car stopped he took out +the lattice and Effi sprang off. + +She was still greatly excited when she reached the house. + +"Just think, Roswitha, I have seen Annie." Then she told of the +meeting in the tram car. Roswitha was displeased that the mother and +daughter had not been rejoiced to see each other again, and was very +hard to convince that it would not have looked well in the presence of +so many people. Then Effi had to tell how Annie looked and when she +had done so with motherly pride Roswitha said: "Yes, she is what one +might call half and half. Her pretty features and, if I may be +permitted to say it, her strange look she gets from her mother, but +her seriousness is exactly her father. When I come to think about it, +she is more like his Lordship." + +"Thank God!" said Effi. + +"Now, your Ladyship, there is some question about that. No doubt there +is many a person who would take the side of the mother." + +"Do you think so, Roswitha? I don't." + +"Oh, oh, I am not so easily fooled, and I think your Ladyship knows +very well, too, how matters really stand and what the men like best." + +"Oh, don't speak of that, Roswitha." + +The conversation ended here and was never afterward resumed. But even +though Effi avoided speaking to Roswitha about Annie, down deep in her +heart she was unable to get over that meeting and suffered from the +thought of having fled from her own child. It troubled her till she +was ashamed, and her desire to meet Annie grew till it became +pathological. It was not possible to write to Innstetten and ask his +permission. She was fully conscious of her guilt, indeed she nurtured +the sense of it with almost zealous care; but, on the other hand, at +the same time that she was conscious of guilt, she was also filled +with a certain spirit of rebellion against Innstetten. She said to +herself, he was right, again and again, and yet in the end he was +wrong. All had happened so long before, a new life had begun--he might +have let it die; instead poor Crampas died. + +No, it would not do to write to Innstetten; but she wanted to see +Annie and speak to her and press her to her heart, and after she had +thought it over for days she was firmly convinced as to the best way +to go about it. + +The very next morning she carefully put on a decent black dress and +set out for Unter den Linden to call on the minister's wife. She sent +in her card with nothing on it but "Effi von Innstetten, _née_ von +Briest." Everything else was left off, even "Baroness." When the man +servant returned and said, "Her Excellency begs you to enter," Effi +followed him into an anteroom, where she sat down and, in spite of her +excitement, looked at the pictures on the walls. First of all there +was Guido Reni's _Aurora_, while opposite it hung English etchings of +pictures by Benjamin West, made by the well known aquatint process. +One of the pictures was King Lear in the storm on the heath. + +Effi had hardly finished looking at the pictures when the door of the +adjoining room opened and a tall slender woman of unmistakably +prepossessing appearance stepped toward the one who had come to +request a favor of her and held out her hand. "My dear most gracious +Lady," she said, "what a pleasure it is for me to see you again." As +she said this she walked toward the sofa and sat down, drawing Effi to +a seat beside her. + +Effi was touched by the goodness of heart revealed in every word and +movement. Not a trace of haughtiness or reproach, only beautiful human +sympathy. "In what way can I be of service to you?" asked the +minister's wife. + +Effi's lips quivered. Finally she said: "The thing that brings me here +is a request, the fulfillment of which your Excellency may perhaps +make possible. I have a ten-year-old daughter whom I have not seen for +three years and should like to see again." + +The minister's wife took Effi's hand and looked at her in a friendly +way. + +"When I say, 'not seen for three years,' that is not quite right. +Three days ago I saw her again." Then Effi described with great +vividness how she had met Annie. "Fleeing from my own child. I know +very well that as we sow we shall reap and I do not wish to change +anything in my life. It is all right as it is, and I have not wished +to have it otherwise. But this separation from my child is really too +hard and I have a desire to be permitted to see her now and then, not +secretly and clandestinely, but with the knowledge and consent of all +concerned." + +"With the knowledge and consent of all concerned," repeated the +minister's wife. "So that means with the consent of your husband. I +see that his bringing up of the child is calculated to estrange her +from her mother, a method which I do not feel at liberty to judge. +Perhaps he is right. Pardon me for this remark, gracious Lady." + +Effi nodded. + +"You yourself appreciate the attitude of your husband, and your only +desire is that proper respect be shown to a natural impulse, indeed, I +may say, the most beautiful of our impulses, at least we women all +think so. Am I right?" + +"In every particular." + +"So you want me to secure permission for occasional meetings, in your +home, where you can attempt to win back the heart of your child." + +Effi expressed again her acquiescence, and the minister's wife +continued: "Then, most gracious Lady, I shall do what I can. But we +shall not have an easy task. Your husband--pardon me for calling him +by that name now as before--is a man who is not governed by moods and +fancies, but by principles, and it will be hard for him to discard +them or even give them up temporarily. Otherwise he would have begun +long ago to pursue a different method of action and education. What to +your heart seems hard he considers right." + +"Then your Excellency thinks, perhaps, it would be better to take back +my request!" + +"Oh, no. I wished only to explain the actions of your husband, not to +say justify them, and wished at the same time to indicate the +difficulties we shall in all probability encounter. But I think we +shall overcome them nevertheless. We women are able to accomplish a +great many things if we go about them wisely and do not make too great +pretensions. Besides, your husband is one of my special admirers and +he cannot well refuse to grant what I request of him. Tomorrow we have +a little circle meeting at which I shall see him and the day after +tomorrow morning you will receive a few lines from me telling you +whether or not I have approached him wisely, that is to say, +successfully. I think we shall come off victorious, and you will see +your child again and enjoy her. She is said to be a very pretty girl. +No wonder." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + +Two days later the promised lines arrived and Effi read: "I am glad, +dear gracious Lady, to be able to give you good news. Everything +turned out as desired. Your husband is too much a man of the world to +refuse a Lady a request that she makes of him. But I must not keep +from you the fact that I saw plainly his consent was not in accord +with what he considers wise and right. But let us not pick faults +where we ought to be glad. We have arranged that Annie is to come some +time on Monday and may good fortune attend your meeting." + +It was on the postman's second round that Effi received these lines +and it would presumably be less than two hours till Annie appeared. +That was a short time and yet too long. Effi walked restlessly about +the two rooms and then back to the kitchen, where she talked with +Roswitha about everything imaginable: about the ivy over on Christ's +Church and the probability that next year the windows would be +entirely overgrown; about the porter, who had again turned off the gas +so poorly that they were likely to be blown up; and about buying their +lamp oil again at the large lamp store on Unter den Linden instead of +on Anhalt St. She talked about everything imaginable, except Annie, +because she wished to keep down the fear lurking in her soul, in spite +of the letter from the minister's wife, or perhaps because of it. + +Finally, at noon, the bell was rung timidly and Roswitha went to look +through the peephole. Surely enough, it was Annie. Roswitha gave the +child a kiss, but said nothing, and then led her very quietly, as +though some one were ill in the house, from the corridor into the back +room and then to the door opening into the front room. + +"Go in there, Annie." With these words she left the child and returned +to the kitchen, for she did not wish to be in the way. + +Effi was standing at the other end of the room with her back against +the post of the mirror when the child entered. "Annie!" But Annie +stood still by the half opened door, partly out of embarrassment, but +partly on purpose. Effi rushed to her, lifted her up, and kissed her. + +"Annie, my sweet child, how glad I am! Come, tell me." She took Annie +by the hand and went toward the sofa to sit down. Annie stood and +looked shyly at her mother, at the same time reaching her left hand +toward the corner of the table cloth, hanging down near her. "Did you +know, Annie, that I saw you one day?" + +"Yes, I thought you did." + +"Now tell me a great deal. How tall you have grown! And that is the +scar there. Roswitha told me about it. You were always so wild and +hoidenish in your playing. You get that from your mother. She was the +same way. And at school? I fancy you are always at the head, you look +to me as though you ought to be a model pupil and always bring home +the best marks. I have heard also that Miss von Wedelstädt praises +you. That is right. I was likewise ambitious, but I had no such good +school. Mythology was always my best study. In what are you best?" + +"I don't know." + +"Oh, you know well enough. Pupils always know that. In what do you +have the best marks?" + +"In religion." + +"Now, you see, you do know after all. Well, that is very fine. I was +not so good in it, but it was probably due to the instruction. We had +only a young man licensed to preach." + +"We had, too." + +"Has he gone away?" + +Annie nodded. + +"Why did he leave?" + +"I don't know. Now we have the preacher again." + +"And you all love him dearly?" + +"Yes, and two of the girls in the highest class are going to change +their religion." + +"Oh, I understand; that is fine. And how is Johanna?" + +"Johanna brought me to the door of the house." + +"Why didn't you bring her up with you?" + +"She said she would rather stay downstairs and wait over at the +church." + +"And you are to meet her there?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, I hope she will not get impatient. There is a little front yard +over there and the windows are half overgrown with ivy, as though it +were an old church." + +"But I should not like to keep her waiting." + +"Oh, I see, you are very considerate, and I presume I ought to be glad +of it. We need only to make the proper division of the time--Tell me +now how Rollo is." + +"Rollo is very well, but papa says he is getting so lazy. He lies in +the sun all the time." + +"That I can readily believe. He was that way when you were quite +small. And now, Annie, today we have just seen each other, you know; +will you visit me often?" + +"Oh, certainly, if I am allowed to." + +"We can take a walk in the Prince Albrecht Garden." + +"Oh, certainly, if I am allowed to." + +"Or we may go to Schilling's and eat ice cream, pineapple or vanilla +ice cream. I always liked vanilla best." + +"Oh, certainly, if I am allowed to." + +At this third "if I am allowed to" the measure was full. Effi sprang +up and flashed the child a look of indignation. + +"I believe it is high time you were going, Annie. Otherwise Johanna +will get impatient." She rang the bell and Roswitha, who was in the +next room, entered immediately. "Roswitha, take Annie over to the +church. Johanna is waiting there. I hope she has not taken cold. I +should be sorry. Remember me to Johanna." + +The two went out. + +Hardly had Roswitha closed the door behind her when Effi tore open her +dress, because she was threatened with suffocation, and fell to +laughing convulsively. "So that is the way it goes to meet after a +long separation." She rushed forward, opened the window and looked for +something to support her. In the distress of her heart she found it. +There beside the window was a bookshelf with a few volumes of Schiller +and Körner on it, and on top of the volumes of poems, which were of +equal height, lay a Bible and a songbook. She reached for them, +because she had to have something before which she could kneel down +and pray. She laid both Bible and songbook on the edge of the table +where Annie had been standing, and threw herself violently down before +them and spoke in a half audible tone: "O God in Heaven, forgive me +what I have done. I was a child--No, no, I was not a child, I was old +enough to know what I was doing. I _did_ know, too, and I will not +minimize my guilt. But this is too much. This action of the child is +not the work of my God who would punish me, it is the work of _him_, +and _him_ alone. I thought he had a noble heart and have always felt +small beside him, but now I know that it is he who is small. And +because he is small he is cruel. Everything that is small is cruel. +_He_ taught the child to say that. He always was a school-master, +Crampas called him one, scoffingly at the time, but he was right. 'Oh, +certainly if I am allowed to!' You don't _have_ to be allowed to. I +don't want you any more, I hate you both, even my own child. Too much +is too much. He was ambitious, but nothing more. Honor, honor, honor. +And then he shot the poor fellow whom I never even loved and whom I +had forgotten, because I didn't love him. It was all stupidity in the +first place, but then came blood and murder, with me to blame. And now +he sends me the child, because he cannot refuse a minister's wife +anything, and before he sends the child he trains it like a parrot and +teaches it the phrase, 'if I am allowed to.' I am disgusted at what I +did; but the thing that disgusts me most is your virtue. Away with +you! I must live, but I doubt if it will be long." + +When Roswitha came back Effi lay on the floor seemingly lifeless, with +her face turned away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + + +Rummschüttel was called and pronounced Effi's condition serious. He +saw that the hectic flush he had noticed for over a year was more +pronounced than ever, and, what was worse, she showed the first +symptoms of nervous fever. But his quiet, friendly manner, to which he +added a dash of humor, did Effi good, and she was calm so long as +Rummschüttel was with her. When he left, Roswitha accompanied him as +far as the outer hall and said: "My, how I am scared, Sir Councillor; +if it ever comes back, and it may--oh, I shall never have another +quiet hour. But it was too, too much, the way the child acted. Her +poor Ladyship! And still so young; at her age many are only beginning +life." + +"Don't worry, Roswitha. It may all come right again. But she must get +away. We will see to that. Different air, different people." + +Two days later there arrived in Hohen-Cremmen a letter which ran: +"Most gracious Lady: My long-standing friendly relations to the houses +of Briest and Belling, and above all the hearty love I cherish for +your daughter, will justify these lines. Things cannot go on any +longer as they are. Unless something is done to rescue your daughter +from the loneliness and sorrow of the life she has been leading for +years she will soon pine away. She always had a tendency to +consumption, for which reason I sent her to Ems years ago. This old +trouble is now aggravated by a new one; her nerves are giving out. +Nothing but a change of air can check this. But whither shall I send +her? It would not be hard to make a proper choice among the watering +places of Silesia. Salzbrunn is good, and Reinerz still better, on +account of the nervous complication. But no place except Hohen-Cremmen +will do. For, most gracious Lady, air alone cannot restore your +daughter's health. She is pining away because she has nobody but +Roswitha. The fidelity of a servant is beautiful, but parental love is +better. Pardon an old man for meddling in affairs that lie outside of +his calling as a physician. No, not outside, either, for after all it +is the physician who is here speaking and making demands--pardon the +word--in accordance with his duty. I have seen so much of life--But +enough on this topic. With kindest regards to your husband, your +humble servant, Dr. Rummschüttel." + +Mrs. von Briest had read the letter to her husband. They were sitting +on the shady tile walk, with their backs to the drawing room and +facing the circular bed and the sundial. The wild grapevine twining +around the windows was rustling gently in the breeze and over the +water a few dragon-flies were hovering in the bright sunshine. + +Briest sat speechless, drumming on the tea-tray. + +"Please don't drum, I had rather you would talk." + +"Ah, Luise, what shall I say? My drumming says quite enough. You have +known for over a year what I think about it. At the time when +Innstetten's letter came, a flash from a clear sky, I was of your +opinion. But that was half an eternity ago. Am I to play the grand +inquisitor till the end of my days? I tell you, I have had my fill of +it for a long time." + +"Don't reproach me, Briest. I love her as much as you, perhaps more; +each in his own way. But it is not our only purpose in life to be weak +and affectionate and to tolerate things that are contrary to the law +and the commandments, things that men condemn, and in the present +instance rightly." + +"Hold on! One thing comes first." + +"Of course, one thing comes first; but what is the one thing?" + +"The love of parents for their children, especially when they have +only one child." + +"Then good-by catechism, morality, and the claims of 'society.'" + +"Ah, Luise, talk to me about the catechism as much as you like, but +don't speak to me about 'society.'" + +"It is very hard to get along without 'society."' + +"Also without a child. Believe me, Luise,'society' can shut one eye +when it sees fit. Here is where I stand in the matter: If the people +of Rathenow come, all right, if they don't come, all right too. I am +simply going to telegraph: 'Effi, come.' Are you agreed?" + +She got up and kissed him on the forehead. "Of course I am. Only you +must not find fault with me. An easy step it is not, and from now on +our life will be different." + +"I can stand it. There is a good rape crop and in the autumn I can +hunt an occasional hare. I still have a taste for red wine, and it +will taste even better when we have the child back in the house. Now I +am going to send the telegram." + + * * * * * + +Effi had been in Hohen-Cremmen for over six months. She occupied the +two rooms on the second floor which she had formerly had when there +for a visit. The larger one was furnished for her personally, and +Roswitha slept in the other. What Rummschüttel had expected from this +sojourn and the good that went with it, was realized, so far as it +could be realized. The coughing diminished, the bitter expression that +had robbed Effi's unusually kind face of a good part of its charm +disappeared, and there came days when she could laugh again. About +Kessin and everything back there little was said, with the single +exception of Mrs. von Padden--and Gieshübler, of course, for whom old +Mr. von Briest had a very tender spot in his heart. "This Alonzo, this +fastidious Spaniard, who harbors a Mirambo and brings up a +Trippelli--well, he must be a genius, and you can't make me believe +he isn't." Then Effi had to yield and act for him the part of +Gieshübler, with hat in hand and endless bows of politeness. By virtue +of her peculiar talent for mimicry, she could do the bows very well, +although it went against the grain, because she always felt that it +was an injustice to the dear good man.--They never talked about +Innstetten and Annie, but it was settled that Annie was to inherit +Hohen-Cremmen. + +Effi took a new lease on life, and her mother, who in true womanly +fashion was not altogether averse to regarding the affair, painful +though it was, as merely an interesting case, vied with her father in +expressions of love and devotion. + +"Such a good winter we have not had for a long time," said Briest. +Then Effi arose from her seat and stroked back the sparse hairs from +his forehead. But beautiful as everything seemed from the point of +view of Effi's health, it was all illusion, for in reality the disease +was gaining ground and quietly consuming her vitality. Effi again +wore, as on the day of her betrothal to Innstetten, a blue and white +striped smock with a loose belt, and when she walked up to her parents +with a quick elastic step, to bid them good morning, they looked at +each other with joyful surprise--with joyful surprise and yet at the +same time with sadness, for they could not fail to see that it was not +the freshness of youth, but a transformation, that gave her slender +form and beaming eyes this peculiar appearance. All who observed her +closely saw this, but Effi herself did not. Her whole attention was +engaged by the happy feeling at being back in this place, to her so +charmingly peaceful, and living reconciled with those whom she had +always loved and who had always loved her, even during the years of +her misery and exile. + +She busied herself with all sorts of things about the home and +attended to the decorations and little improvements in the household. +Her appreciation of the beautiful enabled her always to make the right +choice. Reading and, above all, study of the arts she had given up +entirely. "I have had so much of it that I am happy to be able to lay +my hands in my lap." Besides, it doubtless reminded her too much of +her days of sadness. She cultivated instead the art of contemplating +nature with calmness and delight, and when the leaves fell from the +plane trees, or the sunbeams glistened on the ice of the little pond, +or the first crocuses blossomed in the circular plot, still half in +the grip of winter--it did her good, and she could gaze on all these +things for hours, forgetting what life had denied her, or, to be more +accurate, what she had robbed herself of. + +Callers were not altogether a minus quantity, not everybody shunned +her; but her chief associates were the families at the schoolhouse and +the parsonage. + +It made little difference that the Jahnke daughters had left home; +there could have been no very cordial friendship with them anyhow. But +she found a better friend than ever in old Mr. Jahnke himself, who +considered not only all of Swedish Pomerania, but also the Kessin +region as Scandinavian outposts, and was always asking questions about +them. "Why, Jahnke, we had a steamer, and, as I wrote to you, I +believe, or may perhaps have told you, I came very near going over to +Wisby. Just think, I almost went to Wisby. It is comical, but I can +say 'almost' with reference to many things in my life." + +"A pity, a pity," said Jahnke. + +"Yes, indeed, a pity. But I actually did make a tour of Rügen. You +would have enjoyed that, Jahnke. Just think, Arcona with its great +camping place of the Wends, that is said still to be visible. I myself +did not go there, but not very far away is the Hertha Lake with white +and yellow water lilies. The place made one think a great deal of your +Hertha." + +"Yes, yes, Hertha. But you were about to speak of the Hertha Lake." + +"Yes, I was. And just think, Jahnke, close by the lake stood two large +shining sacrificial stones, with the grooves still showing, in which +the blood used to run off. Ever since then I have had an aversion for +the Wends." + +"Oh, pardon me, gracious Lady, but they were not Wends. The legends of +the sacrificial stones and the Hertha Lake go back much, much farther, +clear back before the birth of Christ. They were the pure Germans, +from whom we are all descended." + +"Of course," laughed Effi, "from whom we are all descended, the +Jahnkes certainly, and perhaps the Briests, too." + +Then she dropped the subject of Rügen and the Hertha Lake and asked +about his grandchildren and which of them he liked best, Bertha's or +Hertha's. + +Indeed Effi was on a very friendly footing with Jahnke. But in spite +of his intimate relation to Hertha Lake, Scandinavia, and Wisby, he +was only a simple man and so the lonely young woman could not fail to +value her chats with Niemeyer much higher. In the autumn, so long as +promenades in the park were possible, she had an abundance of such +chats, but with the beginning of winter came an interruption for +several months, because she did not like to go to the parsonage. Mrs. +Niemeyer had always been a very disagreeable woman, but she pitched +her voice higher than ever now, in spite of the fact that in the +opinion of the parish she herself was not altogether above reproach. + +The situation remained the same throughout the winter, much to Effi's +sorrow. But at the beginning of April when the bushes showed a fringe +of green and the park paths dried off, the walks were resumed. + +Once when they were sauntering along they heard a cuckoo in the +distance, and Effi began to count to see how many times it called. She +was leaning on Niemeyer's arm. Suddenly she said: "The cuckoo is +calling yonder, but I don't want to consult him about the length of my +life. Tell me, friend, what do you think of life?" + +"Ah, dear Effi, you must not lay such doctors' questions before me. +You must apply to a philosopher or offer a prize to a faculty. What do +I think of life? Much and little. Sometimes it is very much and +sometimes very little." + +"That is right, friend, I like that; I don't need to know anymore." As +she said this they came to the swing. She sprang into it as nimbly as +in her earliest girlhood days, and before the old man, who watched +her, could recover from his fright, she crouched down between the two +ropes and set the swing board in motion by a skillful lifting and +dropping of the weight of her body. In a few seconds she was flying +through the air. Then, holding on with only one hand, she tore a +little silk handkerchief from around her neck and waved it happily and +haughtily. Soon she let the swing stop, sprang out, and took +Niemeyer's arm again. + +"Effi, you are just as you always were." + +"No, I wish I were. But I am too old for this; I just wanted to try it +once more. Oh, how fine it was and how much good the air did me! It +seemed as though I were flying up to heaven. I wonder if I shall go to +heaven? Tell me, friend, you ought to know. Please, please." + +Niemeyer took her hand into his two wrinkled ones and gave her a kiss +on the forehead, saying: "Yes, Effi, you will." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + + +Effi spent the whole day out in the park, because she needed to take +the air. Old Dr. Wiesike of Friesack approved of it, but in his +instructions gave her too much liberty to do what she liked, and +during the cold days in May she took a severe cold. She became +feverish, coughed a great deal, and the doctor, who had been calling +every third day, now came daily. He was put to it to know what to do, +for the sleeping powders and cough medicines Effi asked for could not +be given, because of the fever. + +"Doctor," said old von Briest, "what is going to come of this? You +have known her since she was a little thing, in fact you were here at +her birth. I don't like all these symptoms: her noticeable falling +away, the red spots, and the gleam of her eyes when she suddenly turns +to me with a pleading look. What do you think it will amount to? Must +she die?" + +Wiesike shook his head gravely. "I will not say that, von Briest, but +I don't like the way her fever keeps up. However, we shall bring it +down soon, for she must go to Switzerland or Mentone for pure air and +agreeable surroundings that will make her forget the past." + +"Lethe, Lethe." + +"Yes, Lethe," smiled Wiesike. "It's a pity that while the ancient +Swedes, the Greeks, were leaving us the name they did not leave us +also the spring itself." + +"Or at least the formula for it. Waters are imitated now, you know. +My, Wiesike, what a business we could build up here if we could only +start such a sanatorium! Friesack the spring of forgetfulness! Well, +let us try the Riviera for the present. Mentone is the Riviera, is it +not? To be sure, the price of grain is low just now, but what must be +must be. I shall talk with my wife about it." + +That he did, and his wife consented immediately, influenced in part by +her own ardent desire to see the south, particularly since she had +felt like one retired from the world. But Effi would not listen to it. +"How good you are to me! And I am selfish enough to accept the +sacrifice, if I thought it would do any good. But I am certain it +would only harm me." + +"You try to make yourself think that, Effi." + +"No. I have become so irritable that everything annoys me. Not here at +home, for you humor me and clear everything out of my way. But when +traveling that is impossible, the disagreeable element cannot be +eliminated so easily. It begins with the conductor and ends with the +waiter. Even when I merely think of their self-satisfied countenances +my temperature runs right up. No, no, keep me here. I don't care to +leave Hohen-Cremmen any more; my place is here. The heliotrope around +the sundial is dearer to me than Mentone." + +After this conversation the plan was dropped and in spite of the great +benefit Wiesike had expected from the Riviera he said: "We must +respect these wishes, for they are not mere whims. Such patients have +a very fine sense and know with remarkable certainty what is good for +them and what not. What Mrs. Effi has said about the conductor and the +waiter is really quite correct, and there is no air with healing power +enough to counterbalance hotel annoyances, if one is at all affected +by them. So let us keep her here. If that is not the best thing, it is +certainly not the worst." + +This proved to be true. Effi got better, gained a little in weight +(old von Briest belonged to the weight fanatics), and lost much of her +irritability. But her need of fresh air kept growing steadily, and +even when the west wind blew and the sky was overcast with gray +clouds, she spent many hours out of doors. On such days she would +usually go out into the fields or the marsh, often as far as two +miles, and when she grew tired would sit down on the hurdle fence, +where, lost in dreams, she would watch the ranunculi and red sorrel +waving in the wind. + +"You go out so much alone," said Mrs. von Briest. "Among our people +you are safe, but there are so many strange vagabonds prowling +around." + +That made an impression on Effi, who had never thought of danger, and +when she was alone with Roswitha, she said: "I can't well take you +with me, Roswitha; you are too fat and no longer sure-footed." + +"Oh, your Ladyship, it is hardly yet as bad as that. Why, I could +still be married." + +"Of course," laughed Effi. "One is never too old for that. But let me +tell you, Roswitha, if I had a dog to accompany me--Papa's hunting dog +has no attachment for me--hunting dogs are so stupid--and he never +stirs till the hunter or the gardener takes the gun from the rack. I +often have to think of Rollo." + +"True," said Roswitha, "they have nothing like Rollo here. But I don't +mean anything against 'here.' Hohen-Cremmen is very good." + +Three or four days after this conversation between Effi and Roswitha, +Innstetten entered his office an hour earlier than usual. The morning +sun, which shone very brightly, had wakened him and as he had +doubtless felt he could not go to sleep again he had got out of bed to +take up a piece of work that had long been waiting to be attended to. + +At a quarter past eight he rang. Johanna brought the breakfast tray, +on which, beside the morning papers, there were two letters. He +glanced at the addresses and recognized by the handwriting that one +was from the minister. But the other? The postmark could not be read +plainly and the address, "Baron von Innstetten, Esq.," showed a happy +lack of familiarity with the customary use of titles. In keeping with +this was the very primitive character of the writing. But the address +was remarkably accurate: "W., Keith St. 1c, third story." + +Innstetten was enough of an official to open first the letter from +"His Excellency." "My dear Innstetten: I am happy to be able to +announce to you that His Majesty has deigned to sign your appointment +and I congratulate you sincerely." Innstetten was pleased at the +friendly lines from the minister, almost more than at the appointment +itself, for, since the morning in Kessin, when Crampas had bidden him +farewell with that look which still haunted him, he had grown somewhat +sceptical of such things as climbing higher on the ladder. Since then +he had measured with a different measure and viewed things in a +different light. Distinction--what did that amount to in the end? As +the days passed by with less and less of joy for him, he more than +once recalled a half-forgotten minister's anecdote from the time of +the elder Ladenberg, who, upon receiving the Order of the Red Eagle, +for which he had long been waiting, threw it down in a rage and +exclaimed: "Lie there till you turn black." It probably did turn into +a black one subsequently, but many days too late and certainly without +real satisfaction for the receiver. Everything that is to give us +pleasure must come at the right time and in the right circumstances, +for what delights us today may be valueless tomorrow. Innstetten felt +this deeply, and as certainly as he had formerly laid store by honors +and distinctions coming from his highest superiors, just so certainly +was he now firmly convinced that the glittering appearance of things +amounted to but little, and that what is called happiness, if it +existed at all, is something other than this appearance. "Happiness, +if I am right, lies in two things: being exactly where one +belongs--but what official can say that of himself?--and, especially, +performing comfortably the most commonplace functions, that is, +getting enough sleep and not having new boots that pinch. When the 720 +minutes of a twelve-hour day pass without any special annoyance that +can be called a happy day." + +Innstetten was today in the mood for such gloomy reflections. When he +took up the second letter and read it he ran his hand over his +forehead, with the painful feeling that there is such a thing as +happiness, that he had once possessed it, but had lost it and could +never again recover it. Johanna entered and announced Privy Councillor +Wüllersdorf, who was already standing on the threshold and said: +"Congratulations, Innstetten." + +"I believe you mean what you say; the others will be vexed. However--" + +"However. You are surely not going to be pessimistic at a moment like +this." + +"No. The graciousness of His Majesty makes me feel ashamed, and the +friendly feeling of the minister, to whom I owe all this, almost +more." + +"But--" + +[Illustration: SUPPER AT A COURT BALL +_From the Painting by Adolph van Menzel_] + +"But I have forgotten how to rejoice. If I said that to anybody but +you my words would be considered empty phrases. But you understand me. +Just look around you. How empty and deserted everything is! When +Johanna comes in, a so-called jewel, she startles me and frightens me. +Her stage entry," continued Innstetten, imitating Johanna's pose, "the +half comical shapeliness of her bust, which comes forward claiming +special attention, whether of mankind or me, I don't know--all this +strikes me as so sad and pitiable, and if it were not so ridiculous, +it might drive me to suicide." + +"Dear Innstetten, are you going to assume the duties of a permanent +secretary in this frame of mind?" + +"Oh, bah! How can I help it? Read these lines I have just received." + +Wüllersdorf took the second letter with the illegible postmark, was +amused at the "Esq.," and stepped to the window that he might read +more easily. + +"Gracious Sir: I suppose you will be surprised that I am writing to +you, but it is about Rollo. Little Annie told us last year Rollo was +so lazy now, but that doesn't matter here. He can be as lazy as he +likes here, the lazier the better. And her Ladyship would like it so +much. She always says, when she walks upon the marsh or over the +fields: 'I am really afraid, Roswitha, because I am so alone; but who +is there to accompany me? Rollo, oh yes, he would do. He bears no +grudge against me either. That is the advantage, that animals do not +trouble themselves so much about such things.' These are her +Ladyship's words and I will say nothing further, and merely ask your +Lordship to remember me to my little Annie. Also to Johanna. From your +faithful, most obedient servant, Roswitha Gellenbagen." + +"Well," said Wüllersdorf, as he folded the letter again, "she is ahead +of us." + +"I think so, too." + +"This is also the reason why everything else seems so doubtful to +you." + +"You are right. It has been going through my head for a long time, and +these simple words with their intended, or perhaps unintended +complaint, have put me completely beside myself again. It has been +troubling me for over a year and I should like to get clear out of +here. Nothing pleases me any more. The more distinctions I receive the +more I feel that it is all vanity. My life is bungled, and so I have +thought to myself I ought to have nothing more to do with strivings +and vanities, and ought to be able to employ my pedagogical +inclinations, which after all are my most characteristic quality, as a +superintendent of public morals. It would not be anything new. If the +plan were feasible I should surely become a very famous character, +such as Dr. Wichern of the Rough House in Hamburg, for example, that +man of miracles, who tamed all criminals with his glance and his +piety." + +"Hm, there is nothing to be said against that; it would be possible." + +"No, it is not possible either. Not even _that_. Absolutely every +avenue is closed to me. How could I touch the soul of a murderer? To +do that one must be intact himself. And if one no longer is, but has a +like spot on his own hands, then he must at least be able to play the +crazy penitent before his confreres, who are to be converted, and +entertain them with a scene of gigantic contrition." + +Wüllersdorf nodded. + +"Now you see, you agree. But I can't do any of these things any more. +I can no longer play the man in the hair shirt, let alone the dervish +or the fakir, who dances himself to death in the midst of his +self-accusations. And inasmuch as all such things are impossible I +have puzzled out, as the best thing for me, to go away from here and +off to the coal black fellows who know nothing of culture and honor. +Those fortunate creatures! For culture and honor and such rubbish are +to blame for all my trouble. We don't do such things out of passion, +which might be an acceptable excuse. We do them for the sake of mere +notions--notions! And then the one fellow collapses and later the +other collapses, too, only in a worse way." + +"Oh pshaw! Innstetten, those are whims, mere fancies. Go to Africa! +What does that mean! It will do for a lieutenant who is in debt. But a +man like you! Are you thinking of presiding over a palaver, in a red +fez, or of entering into blood relationship with a son-in-law of King +Mtesa? Or will you feel your way along the Congo in a tropical helmet, +with six holes in the top of it, until you come out again at Kamerun +or thereabouts? Impossible!" + +"Impossible? Why? If _that_ is impossible, what then?" + +"Simply stay here and practice resignation. Who, pray, is unoppressed! +Who could not say every day: 'Really a very questionable affair.' You +know, I have also a small burden to bear, not the same as yours, but +not much lighter. That talk about creeping around in the primeval +forest or spending the night in an ant hill is folly. Whoever cares +to, may, but it is not the thing for us. The best thing is to stand in +the gap and hold out till one falls, but, until then, to get as much +out of life as possible in the small and even the smallest things, +keeping one eye open for the violets when they bloom, or the Luise +monument when it is decorated with flowers, or the little girls with +high lace shoes when they skip the rope. Or drive out to Potsdam and +go into the Church of Peace, where Emperor Frederick lies, and where +they are just beginning to build him a tomb. As you stand there +consider the life of that man, and if you are not pacified then, there +is no help for you, I should say." + +"Good, good! But the year is long and every single day--and then the +evening." + +"That is always the easiest part of the day to know what to do with. +Then we have _Sardanapal_, or _Coppelia_, with Del Era, and when that +is out we have Siechen's, which is not to be despised. Three steins +will calm you every time. There are always many, a great many others, +who are in exactly the same general situation as we are, and one of +them who had had a great deal of misfortune once said to me: 'Believe +me, Wüllersdorf, we cannot get along without "false work."' The man +who said it was an architect and must have known about it. His +statement is correct. Never a day passes but I am reminded of the +'false work.'" + +After Wüllersdorf had thus expressed himself he took his hat and cane. +During these words Innstetten may have recalled his own earlier +remarks about little happiness, for he nodded his head half agreeing, +and smiled to himself. + +"Where are you going now, Wüllersdorf? It is too early yet for the +Ministry." + +"I am not going there at all today. First I shall take an hour's walk +along the canal to the Charlottenburg lock and then back again. And +then make a short call at Huth's on Potsdam St., going cautiously up +the little wooden stairway. Below there is a flower store." + +"And that affords you pleasure? That satisfies you?" + +"I should not say that exactly, but it will help a bit. I shall find +various regular guests there drinking their morning glass, but their +names I wisely keep secret. One will tell about the Duke of Ratibor, +another about the Prince-Bishop Kopp, and a third perhaps about +Bismarck. There is always a little something to be learned. +Three-fourths of what is said is inaccurate, but if it is only witty I +do not waste much time criticising it and always listen gratefully." + +With that he went out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + +May was beautiful, June more beautiful, and after Effi had happily +overcome the first painful feeling aroused in her by Rollo's arrival, +she was full of joy at having the faithful dog about her again. +Roswitha was praised and old von Briest launched forth into words of +recognition for Innstetten, who, he said, was a cavalier, never petty, +but always stout-hearted. "What a pity that the stupid affair had to +come between them! As a matter of fact, they were a model couple." The +only one who remained calm during the welcoming scene was Rollo +himself, who either had no appreciation of time or considered the +separation as an irregularity which was now simply removed. The fact +that he had grown old also had something to do with it, no doubt. He +remained sparing with his demonstrations of affection as he had been +with his evidences of joy, during the welcoming scene. But he had +grown in fidelity, if such a thing were possible. He never left the +side of his mistress. The hunting dog he treated benevolently, but as +a being of a lower order. At night he lay on the rush mat before +Effi's door; in the morning, when breakfast was served out of doors by +the sundial, he was always quiet, always sleepy, and only when Effi +arose from the breakfast table and walked toward the hall to take her +straw hat and umbrella from the rack, did his youth return. Then, +without troubling himself about whether his strength was to be put to +a hard or easy test, he ran up the village road and back again and did +not calm down till they were out in the fields. Effi, who cared more +for fresh air than for landscape beauty, avoided the little patches of +forest and usually kept to the main road, which 'at first was bordered +with very old elms and then, where the turnpike began, with poplars. +This road led to the railway station about an hour's walk away. She +enjoyed everything, breathing in with delight the fragrance wafted to +her from the rape and clover fields, or watching the soaring of the +larks, and counting the draw-wells and troughs, to which the cattle +went to drink. She could hear a soft ringing of bells that made her +feel as though she must close her eyes and pass away in sweet +forgetfulness. Near the station, close by the turnpike, lay a road +roller. This was her daily resting place, from which she could observe +what took place on the railroad. Trains came and went and sometimes +she could see two columns of smoke which for a moment seemed to blend +into one and then separated, one going to the right, the other to the +left, till they disappeared behind the village and the grove. Rollo +sat beside her, sharing her lunch, and when he had caught the last +bite, he would run like mad along some plowed furrow, doubtless to +show his gratitude, and stop only when a pair of pheasants scared from +their nest flew up from a neighboring furrow close by him. + +"How beautiful this summer is! A year ago, dear mama, I should not +have thought I could ever again be so happy," said Effi every day as +she walked with her mother around the pond or picked an early apple +from a tree and bit into it vigorously, for she had beautiful teeth. +Mrs. von Briest would stroke her hand and say: "Just wait till you are +well again, Effi, quite well, and then we shall find happiness, not +that of the past, but a new kind. Thank God, there are several kinds +of happiness. And you shall see, we shall find something for you." + +"You are so good. Really I have changed your lives and made you +prematurely old." + +"Oh, my dear Effi, don't speak of it. I thought the same about it, +when the change came. Now I know that our quiet is better than the +noise and loud turmoil of earlier years. If you keep on as you are we +can go away yet. When Wiesike proposed Mentone you were ill and +irritable, and because you were ill, you were right in saying what you +did about conductors and waiters. When you have steadier nerves again +you can stand that. You will no longer be offended, but will laugh at +the grand manners and the curled hair. Then the blue sea and white +sails and the rocks all overgrown with red cactus--I have never seen +them, to be sure, but that is how I imagine them. I should like to +become acquainted with them." + +Thus the summer went by and the meteoric showers were also past. +During these evenings Effi had sat at her window till after midnight +and yet never grew tired of watching. "I always was a weak Christian, +but I wonder whether we ever came from up there and whether, when all +is over here, we shall return to our heavenly home, to the stars above +or further beyond. I don't know and don't care to know. I just have +the longing." + +Poor Effi! She had looked up at the wonders of the sky and thought +about them too long, with the result that the night air, and the fog +rising from the pond, made her so ill she had to stay in bed again. +When Wiesike was summoned and had examined her he took Briest aside +and said: "No more hope; be prepared for an early end." + +What he said was only too true, and a few days later, comparatively +early in the evening, it was not yet ten o'clock, Roswitha came down +stairs and said to Mrs. von Briest: "Most gracious Lady, her Ladyship +upstairs is very ill. She talks continually to herself in a soft voice +and sometimes it seems as though she were praying, but she says she is +not, and I don't know, it seems to me as though the end might come any +hour." + +"Does she wish to speak to me?" + +"She hasn't said so, but I believe she does. You know how she is; she +doesn't want to disturb you and make you anxious. But I think it would +be well." + +"All right, Roswitha, I will come." + +Before the clock began to strike Mrs. von Briest mounted the stairway +and entered Effi's room. Effi lay on a reclining chair near the open +window. Mrs. von Briest drew up a small black chair with three gilt +spindles in its ebony back, took Effi's hand and said: "How are you, +Effi! Roswitha says you are so feverish." + +"Oh, Roswitha worries so much about everything. I could see by her +looks she thought I was dying. Well, I don't know. She thinks +everybody ought to be as much worried as she is." + +"Are you so calm about dying, dear Effi?" + +"Entirely calm, mama." + +"Aren't you deceiving yourself? Everybody clings to life, especially +the young, and you are still so young, dear Effi." + +Effi remained silent for a while. Then she said: "You know, I haven't +read much. Innstetten was often surprised at it, and he didn't like +it." + +This was the first time she had mentioned Innstetten's name, and it +made a deep impression on her mother and showed clearly that the end +was come. + +"But I thought," said Mrs. von Briest, "you were going to tell me +something." + +"Yes, I was, because you spoke of my still being so young. Certainly I +am still young; but that makes no difference. During our happy days +Innstetten used to read aloud to me in the evening. He had very good +books, and in one of them there was a story about a man who had been +called away from a merry table. The following morning he asked how it +had been after he left. Somebody answered: 'Oh, there were all sorts +of things, but you really didn't miss anything.' You see, mama, these +words have impressed themselves upon my memory--It doesn't signify +very much if one is called away from the table a little early." + +Mrs. von Briest remained silent. Effi lifted herself up a little +higher and said: "Now that I have talked to you about old times and +also about Innstetten, I must tell you something else, dear mama." + +"You are getting excited, Effi." + +"No, no, to tell about the burden of my heart will not excite me, it +will quiet me. And so I wanted to tell you that I am dying reconciled +to God and men, reconciled also to _him_." + +"Did you cherish in your heart such great bitterness against him? +Really--pardon me, my dear Effi, for mentioning it now--really it was +you who brought down sorrow upon yourself and your husband." + +Effi assented. "Yes, mama, and how sad that it should be so. But when +all the terrible things happened, and finally the scene with +Annie--you know what I mean--I turned the tables on him, mentally, if +I may use the ridiculous comparison, and came to believe seriously +that he was to blame, because he was prosaic and calculating, and +toward the end cruel. Then curses upon him crossed my lips." + +"Does that trouble you now?" + +"Yes. And I am anxious that he shall know how, during my days of +illness here, which have been almost my happiest, how it has become +clear to my mind that he was right in his every act. In the affair +with poor Crampas--well, after all, what else could he have done? Then +the act by which he wounded me most deeply, the teaching of my own +child to shun me, even in that he was right, hard and painful as it is +for me to admit it. Let him know that I died in this conviction. It +will comfort and console him, and may reconcile him. He has much that +is good in his nature and was as noble as anybody can be who is not +truly in love." + +Mrs. von Briest saw that Effi was exhausted and seemed to be either +sleeping or about to go to sleep. She rose quietly from her chair and +went out. Hardly had she gone when Effi also got up, and sat at the +open window to breathe in the cool night air once more. The stars +glittered and not a leaf stirred in the park. But the longer she +listened the more plainly she again heard something like soft rain +falling on the plane trees. A feeling of liberation came over her. +"Rest, rest." + + * * * * * + +It was a month later and September was drawing to an end. The weather +was beautiful, but the foliage in the park began to show a great deal +of read and yellow and since the equinox, which had brought three +stormy days, the leaves lay scattered in every direction. In the +circular plot a slight change had been made. The sundial was gone and +in the place where it had stood there lay since yesterday a white +marble slab with nothing on it but "Effi Briest" and a cross beneath. +This had been Em's last request. "I should like to have back my old +name on my stone; I brought no honor to the other." This had been +promised her. + +The marble slab had arrived and been placed in position yesterday, and +Briest and his wife were sitting in view of it, looking at it and the +heliotrope, which had been spared, and which now bordered the stone. +Rollo lay beside them with his head on his paws. + +Wilke, whose spats were growing wider and wider, brought the breakfast +and the mail, and old Mr. von Briest said: "Wilke, order the little +carriage. I am going to drive across the country with my wife." + +Mrs. von Briest had meanwhile poured the coffee and was looking at the +circle and its flower bed. "See, Briest, Rollo is lying by the stone +again. He is really taking it harder than we. He wont eat any more, +either." + +"Well, Luise, it is the brute creature. That is just what I have +always said. We don't amount to as much as we think. But here we +always talk about instinct. In the end I think it is the best." + +"Don't speak that way. When you begin to philosophize--don't take +offense--Briest, you show your incompetence. You have a good +understanding, but you can't tackle such questions." + +"That's true." + +"And if it is absolutely necessary to discuss questions there are +entirely different ones, Briest, and I can tell you that not a day +passes, since the poor child has been lying here, but such questions +press themselves on me." + +"What questions?" + +"Whether after all we are perhaps not to blame?" + +"Nonsense, Luise. What do you mean?" + +"Whether we ought not to have disciplined her differently. You and I +particularly, for Niemeyer is only a cipher; he leaves everything in +doubt. And then, Briest, sorry as I am--your continual use of +ambiguous expressions--and finally, and here I accuse myself too, for +I do not desire to come off innocent in this matter, I wonder if she +was not too young, perhaps?" + +Rollo, who awoke at these words, shook his head gravely and Briest +said calmly: "Oh, Luise, don't--that is _too_ wide a field." + + * * * * * + + + + +EXTRACTS FROM "MY CHILDHOOD YEARS" (1894) + +By THEODOR FONTANE + +TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M. + +Associate Professor of German, Leland Stanford Jr. University + + +On one of the last days of March, in the year 1819, a chaise drove up +before the apothecary's shop at the sign of the Lion, in Neu-Ruppin, +and a young couple, who a short time before had jointly purchased the +shop, alighted from the carriage and were received by the servants of +the house. The husband was only twenty-three years of age--for people +married very young in those days, just after the war. The wife was +twenty-one. They Were my parents.... + +I was born there on the 30th of December that same year. With my +mother it was a matter of life and death, for which reason, whenever +she was twitted with favoring me, she was accustomed simply to reply: +"That is because I suffered most for him." In this favored position I +remained a long time, some eighteen years, till the birth of a late +child, my youngest sister, for whom I stood sponsor and whom I even +held during the christening. This was a great honor for me, but with +it went hand in hand my dethronement by this very sister. It goes +without saying that as the youngest child she straightway became the +darling of the family. + +At Easter, 1819, my father took possession of the apothecary's shop in +Neu-Ruppin, which he had acquired at a most favorable price, for a +song, so to speak; at Easter, 1826, after three of my four brothers +and sisters had been born there, he disposed of the property. Whenever +this early sale of the business became a topic of conversation, it +was always characterized as disastrous for my father and the whole +family. But unjustly. The disastrous feature, which revealed itself +many years later--and fortunately even then in a bearable form, for my +papa was truly a lucky man--lay not in the particular act of the sale, +but in the character of my father, who always spent more than his +income, and would not have given up the habit, even if he had remained +in Neu-Ruppin. That he confessed to me with his peculiar frankness +many, many times, when he had grown old and I was no longer young. "I +was still half a boy when I married," he was wont to say, "and my too +early independence explains everything." Whether or not he was right, +this is not the place to say. Generally speaking, his habits were +anything but businesslike; he took his dreams of good fortune for +realities and applied himself to the cultivation of "noble passions," +without ever stopping to think that at best he had but modest means at +his disposal. His first extravagance was a horse and carriage; then he +soon acquired a passion for gaming, and, during the seven years from +1819 to 1826, he gambled away a small fortune. The chief winner was +the lord of a neighboring manor. When, thirty years later, the son of +this lord loaned me a small sum of money, my father said to me: "Don't +hesitate to take the money; his father took ten thousand thalers from +me at dummy whist, a little at a time." Perhaps this figure was too +high, but however that may be, the sum was at all events large enough +to throw his credit and debit out of balance and to make him, among +other things, a very tardy payer of interest. Now in ordinary +circumstances, if, for example, he could have had recourse to +mortgages and the like, this would not have been, for a time at least, +a wholly unbearable situation; but unfortunately it so happened that +my father's chief creditor was his own father, who now took occasion +to give expression to his only too justified displeasure, both in +letters and in personal interviews. To make the situation even more +oppressive, these reproaches were approved, and hence made doubly +severe, by my mother, who stood wholly on her father-in-law's side. In +short, the further matters went, the more my father was placed between +two fires, and for no other reason than to extricate himself from a +position which continually injured his pride he resolved to sell the +property and business, the exceptional productiveness of which was as +well known to him as to anybody else, in spite of the fact that he was +the very opposite of a business man. After all, his whole plan proved +to be, at least in the beginning and from his point of view, +thoroughly proper and advantageous. He received for the apothecary's +shop double the original purchase price, and saw himself thereby all +at once put in a position to satisfy his creditors, who were at the +same time his accusers. And he did it, too. He paid back the sum his +father had advanced him, asked his wife, half jokingly, half +scoffingly, whether perchance she wished to invest her money "more +safely and more advantageously," and thereby achieved what for seven +years he had been longing for, namely, freedom and independence. +Relieved from all irksome tutelage, he found himself suddenly at the +point where it was "no longer necessary to take orders from anybody." +And with him that was a specially vital matter his whole life long. +From youth to old age he thirsted for that state; but as he did not +know well how to attain it, he never enjoyed his longed-for liberty +and independence for more than a few days or weeks at a time. To use +one of his favorite expressions, he was always in the "lurch," was +always financially embarrassed, and for that reason recalled to the +end of his life with special pleasure the short period, now reached, +between Easter, 1826, and Midsummer day, 1827. With him this was the +only time when the "lurch" was lacking.... + +During this time we lived near the Rheinsberg Gate, in a capacious +rented apartment, which included all the rooms on the main floor. So +far as home comforts are concerned, my parents were both very well +satisfied with the change; so were the other children, who found here +ample room for their games; but I could not become reconciled to it, +and have even to this day unpleasant memories of the rented residence. +There was a butcher's shop in the building, and that did not suit my +fancy. Through the long dark court ran a gutter, with blood always +standing in it, while at the end of one of the side wings a beef, +killed the night before, hung on a broad ladder leaning against the +house. Fortunately I never had to witness the preceding scenes, except +when pigs were slaughtered. Then it was sometimes unavoidable. One day +is still fresh in my memory. I was standing in the hall and gazing out +through the open back door into the court, where it just happened that +several persons were down on the ground struggling with a pig that was +squealing its last. I was paralyzed with horror. As soon as I +recovered control of myself I took to my heels, running down the +street, through the town gate, and out to the "Vineyard," a favorite +resort of the Ruppiners. But before I had finally reached that place I +sat down on the top of a hummock to rest and catch my breath. I stayed +away the whole forenoon. At dinner I was called upon to give an +account of myself. "For heaven's sake, boy, where have you been so +long?" I made a clean breast of the matter, saying that I had been put +to flight by the spectacle down in the court and that half way to the +"Vineyard" I had rested on a hummock and leaned my back against a +crumbling pillar. "Why, there you sat in perfect composure on Gallows +Hill," said my father, laughing. Feeling as though the noose were +being laid about my neck, I begged permission to leave the table. + +It was also at this time that I entered the primary school, which was +nothing unusual, inasmuch as I was going on seven years of age. I was +quick to learn and made progress, but my mother considered it her duty +to help me on, now and then, especially in reading, and so every +afternoon I stood by her little sewing table and read to her all sorts +of little stories out of the _Brandenburg Children's Friend_, a good +book, but illustrated, alas, with frightful pictures. My performance +was probably quite tolerable, for the ability to read and write +well--by the way, a very important thing in life--is a sort of +inheritance in the family. But my mother was not easy to satisfy; +furthermore she acted on the assumption that recognition and praise +spoil character, a point of view which even now I do not consider +right. At the slightest mistake she brought into play the "quick hand" +always at her service. But she displayed no temper in doing it; she +was always merely proceeding in accordance with her principle, +"anything but coddling." One blow too many could never do any harm +and, if it turned out that I had really not deserved any particular +one, it was reckoned as offsetting some of my naughty pranks that had +happened to escape discovery. "Anything but coddling." That is indeed +a very good principle, and I do not care to criticise it, in spite of +the fact that its application did not help me, not even as a hardening +process; but whatever one may think of it, my mother now and then +carried her harsh treatment too far. + +I had long blond hair, less to my own delight than to my mother's; for +to keep it in its would-be state of beauty I was subjected to the most +interminable and occasionally the most painful combing ordeals, +especially those with the fine comb. If I had been called upon at the +time to name the medieval instruments of torture, the "fine comb" +would have stood among those at the head of my list. Until the blood +came there was no thought of stopping. The following day the scarcely +healed spot was again scrutinized with suspicious eye, and thus one +torture was followed by another. To be sure, if, as may be possible, I +owe it to this procedure that I still have a fairly good head of hair, +I did not suffer in vain, and I humbly apologize. + +This careful treatment of my scalp was accompanied by an equally +painstaking treatment of my complexion, and this painful care also +showed a tendency to apply too drastic remedies. If my skin was +chapped by the east wind or the severe heat of the sun, my mother was +immediately at hand with a slice of lemon as an unfailing remedy. And +it always helped. Cold cream and such things would have been more to +my fancy and would doubtless have accomplished the same end. But my +mother showed the same relentlessness toward herself, and one who +valiantly leads the way into the battle may properly command others to +follow. + +During the time that we occupied the rented apartment I became seven +years of age, just old enough to retain all sorts of things; and yet I +remember exceedingly little from that period, in fact but two events. +These I probably recall because a vivid color impression helped me to +retain them. One of the events was a great fire, in which the barns +outside the Eheinsberg Gate burned down. However, I must state in +advance that it was not the burning of the barns that impressed itself +upon my memory, but a scene that took place immediately before my +eyes, one only incidentally occasioned by the fire, which I did not +see at all. On that day my parents were at a small dinner party, clear +at the other end of the city. When the company was suddenly apprised +of the news that all the barns were on fire, my mother, who was a very +nervous person, immediately felt certain that her children could not +escape death in the flames, or were at least in grave danger of losing +their lives. Being completely carried away by this idea she rushed +from the table, down the long Frederick William street, and without +hat or cloak, and with her hair half tumbled down in her mad chase, +burst into our large front room and found us, snatched out of bed and +wrapped in blankets, sitting around on cushions and footstools. On +catching sight of us she screamed aloud for joy and then fell in a +swoon. When, the next moment, various people, the landlord's family +among others, came in with candles in their hands, the whole picture +which the room presented received a dazzling light, especially the +dark red brocade dress of my mother and the black hair that fell down +over it, and this red and black with the flickering candles round +about--all this I have retained to the present hour. + +The other picture, or let me say, rather, the second little occurrence +that still lives in my memory, was entirely devoid of dramatic +elements, but color again came to my assistance. This time it was +yellow, instead of red. During the interim year my father made +frequent journeys to Berlin. Once, say, in the month of November, the +sunset colors were already gleaming through the trees on the city +ramparts, as I stood down in our doorway watching my father as he put +on his driving gloves with a certain aplomb and then suddenly sprang +upon the front seat of his small calash. My mother was there also. +"Really the boy might go along," said my father. I pricked up my ears, +rejoiced in my little soul, which even then longed eagerly for +anything a little out of the ordinary and likely to give me the +shivers. My mother consented immediately, a thing which can be +explained only on the assumption that she expected her darling child +with the beautiful blond locks to make a good impression upon my +grandfather, whose home was the goal of the journey. "Very well," she +said, "take the boy along. But first I will put a warm coat on him." +"Not necessary; I'll put him in the footbag." And, surely enough, I +was hauled up into the carriage and put just as I was into the footbag +lying on the front of the carriage, which was entirely open, with not +even a leather apron stretched across it. If a stone got in our way or +we received a jolt there was nothing to keep me from being thrown out. +But this notion did not for a single moment disturb my pleasure. At a +quick trot we rolled along through Alt-Ruppin toward Cremmen, and long +before we reached this place, which was about half way along the +journey, the stars came out and grew brighter and brighter and more +and more sparkling. I gazed enraptured at this splendor and no sleep +came to my eyes. Never since have I traveled with such delight; it +seemed as though we were journeying to heaven. Toward eight o 'clock +in the morning our carriage drove up before my grandfather's house. +Let me here insert the remark that my grandfather, with the help of +his three wives, whom he had married a number of years apart, had +risen first from a drawing teacher to a private secretary, and then, +what was still more significant, had recently advanced to the dignity +of a well-to-do property owner in Berlin. To be sure, only in the +Little Hamburg street. The art of living implied in this achievement +was not transmitted to any of his sons or grandsons. + +We climbed the stairs and entered the door. Here we were greeted by a +homely idyl. Pierre Barthélemy and his third wife--an excellent woman, +whom I later learned to esteem very highly--were just sitting at +breakfast. Everything looked very cozy. On the table was a service of +Dresden china, and among the cups and pitchers I noticed a neat blue +and white figured open-work bread basket with Berlin milk rolls in it. +The rolls then were different from now, much larger and circular in +shape, baked a light brown and yet crisp. Over the sofa hung a large +oil portrait of my grandfather, just recently painted, by Professor +Wachs. It was very good and full of life, but I should have forgotten +the expressive face and perhaps the whole scene of the visit, if it +had not been for the black and sulphur-yellow striped vest, which +Pierre Barthélemy, as I was later informed, regularly wore, and which, +in consequence, occupied a considerable portion of the picture hanging +above his head. + +It goes without saying that we shared in the breakfast, and the +grandparents, well-bred people that they were, did not show so very +plainly that, on the whole, the visit, with its to-be-expected +business negotiations, was for them in reality a disturbance. True, +there was all day long not a sign of tenderness toward me, so that I +was heartily glad when we started back home in the evening. Not until +a great deal later was I able to see that the coolness with which I +was received was not meant for poor little me, but, as already +indicated, for my father. I merely had to suffer with him. To such an +extremely solid character as my grandfather the self-assured, +man-of-the-world tone of his son, who by a clever business stroke had +acquired a feeling of independence and comfortable circumstances, was +so disagreeable and oppressive, that my blond locks, on whose +impression my mother had counted with such certainty, failed utterly +to exert their charm. + +I have already remarked that such excursions to Berlin occurred +frequently in those days, but still more frequent were journeys into +the provinces, because it was incumbent upon my father to look about +for a new apothecary's shop to buy. If he had had his way about it he +doubtless would never have changed this state of affairs and would +have declared the interim permanent. For, whereas his passion for +gaming was in reality forced upon him by his need to kill time, he had +by nature a genuine passion for his horse and carriage, and to drive +around in the world the whole of life in search of an apothecary's +shop, without being able to find one, would have been, I presume, just +the ideal occupation for him. But he saw that it was out of the +question; a few years of travel would have consumed his means. So he +only took great care to guard against too hasty purchases, and that +answered the same purpose. The more critically he proceeded the longer +he could continue his journeys and provide new quarters every evening +for his beloved white horse, which, by the way, was a charming animal. +I say "his white horse," for he was more concerned about good quarters +for the horse than for himself. And so, for three-fourths of a year, +till Christmas, 1826, he was on the road a great deal, not to say +most, of the time, covering, to be sure, quite an extensive territory, +which, beside the Province of Brandenburg, included Saxony, Thuringia, +and finally Pomerania. + +In later life this period of travel was a favorite topic of +conversation with my father, and likewise with my mother, who +ordinarily assumed a rather indifferent attitude toward the favorite +themes of my father. That she made an exception in this case was due +in part to the fact that during his journeyings my father had written +to his young wife many "love letters," which as letters it was my +mother's chief delight to ridicule, so long as she lived. "For I would +have you know, children," she was wont to say, "I still have your +father's love letters; one always keeps such charming things. One of +these I even know by heart, at least the beginning. The letter came +from Eisleben, and in it your father wrote to me: 'I arrived here this +afternoon and have found very good quarters. Also for the horse, whose +neck and shoulders are somewhat galled. However, I will not write you +today about that, but about the fact that this is the place where +Martin Luther was born on the 10th of November, 1483, nine years +before the discovery of America.' There you have your father as a +lover. You see, he would have been qualified to publish a _Letter +Writer_." + +All this was said by my mother not only with considerable seriousness, +but also, unfortunately, with bitterness. It always grieved her that +my father, much as he loved her, had never shown the slightest +familiarity with the ways of tenderness. + +The travels, which were kept up for nine months, were finally directed +eastward toward the mouth of the Oder. Shortly before Christmas my +father set out by stage coach, to save his horse from the hardships of +winter travel, and when he arrived in Swinemünde the thermometer stood +at 15° below zero, Fahrenheit. The cognac in his bottle was frozen to +a lump of ice. He was so much the more warmly received by the widow +Geisler, who, inasmuch as her husband had died the previous year, +desired to sell her apothecary's shop as quickly as possible. And the +sale was made. In the letter announcing the conclusion of the +transaction was this passage: "We now have a new home in the province +of Pomerania, Pomerania, of which false notions are frequently held; +for it is really a splendid province and much richer than the Mark. +And where the people are rich is the best place to live. Swinemünde +itself is, to be sure, unpaved, but sand is better than bad pavement, +where the horses are always having something the matter with their +insteps. Unfortunately the transfer is not to be made for six months, +which I regret. But I must be doing something again, must have an +occupation once more." + +Three days after the arrival of this letter he was home again himself. +We were dragged out of bed, heavy with sleep, and called upon to +rejoice that we were to go to Swinemünde. + +To me the word represented but a strange sound.... + +When we arrived in Swinemünde, in the summer of 1827, it seemed an +ugly hole, and yet, on the other hand, a place of very rare charm, +for, in spite of the dullness of the majority of its streets, it had +that peculiar liveliness that commerce and navigation produce. It +depended altogether upon what part of the city one chose as a point of +observation, whether one's judgment was one thing or its opposite, +favorable or unfavorable. If one chose the Church Square, surrounded +by houses, among which was our apothecary's shop, one could find +little of good to say, although the chief street ran past there. But +if one forsook the inner city and went down to the "River," as the +Swine was regularly called, his hitherto unfavorable opinion was +converted into its opposite. Here ran along the river, for nearly a +mile, the "Bulwark," as poetic a riverside street as one could +imagine. The very fact that here everything was kept to medium +proportions, and there was nowhere anything to recall the grandeur of +the really great commercial centres, these very medium dimensions gave +everything an exceedingly attractive appearance, to which only a +hypochondriac, or a person wholly unappreciative of the charms of form +and color, could fail to respond. To be sure, this "Bulwark" street +was not everywhere the same, indeed some parts of it left much to be +desired, especially those up the river; but from the cross street +which began at the corner of our house and led off at right angles +one could find refreshment of spirit in the pictures that presented +themselves, step by step, as one followed the course of the river. +Here ran out from the sloping bank into the river a number of board +rafts, some smaller, some larger, floating benches upon which, from +early morning on, one saw maids at work washing clothes, always in +cheerful conversation with one another, or with the sailors who leaned +lazily over the street wall watching them. These rafts, which with the +figures upon them produced a most picturesque effect, were called +"clappers," and were used, especially by strangers and summer guests, +for orientation and description of location. E.g. "He lives down by +Klempin's clapper," or "opposite Jahnke's clapper." Between the rafts +or wash benches were regular spaces devoted to piers, and here the +majority of the ships were moored, in the winter often three or four +rows. The crews were on shore at this time, and the only evidence that +the vessels were not wholly unguarded was a column of smoke rising +from the kitchen stovepipes, or, more often, a spitz-dog sitting on a +mound of sailcloth, if not on the top of his kennel, and barking at +the passersby. Then in the spring, when the Swine was again free from +ice, everything began at once, as though by magic, to show signs of +life, and the activity along the river indicated that the time for +sailing was again near. Then the ships' hulls were laid on their +sides, the better to examine them for possible injuries, and if any +were found, one could see the following day, at corresponding places +along the wharf, little fires made of chips of wood and raveled-out +bits of old hawsers, and over them tar was simmering in three-legged +iron pots. Beside these lay whole piles of oakum. And now the process +of calking began. Then, as noon approached, another pot, filled with +potatoes and bacon, was shoved into the fire, and many, many a time, +as I passed by here on my way, at this hour, I eagerly inhaled the +appetizing vapors, not in the least disturbed by the admixture of +pitch. Even in my old age I am still fond of regaling myself, or at +least my nerves, with the bitumen smoke that floats through our Berlin +streets, when they are being newly asphalted. + +In the spring and summer time activity was also resumed by the English +steam dredger, which lay in the middle of the river, and upon which it +was incumbent to clear the channel. The quantities of earth and slime +drawn up from the bottom were emptied at a shallow place in the river +and piled up so as to cause a little artificial island to come into +existence. A few years later this island was covered with a rank +growth of reeds and sedges, and in all probability it now supports +houses and establishments of the marine station, as evidence to all +those who saw the first third of the century, that times have changed +and we have been growing as a world power. + +For half an hour at a time, when possible, I watched the work of the +English dredger, whose engineer, an old Scotchman by the name of +Macdonald, was a special friend of mine. Who could have told then +that, a generation later, I should make a tour of his Scottish clan +and, under the guidance of a Maedonald, should visit the spot on the +island of Icolmkill, where, according to an old fiction, King Macbeth +lies buried. + +I watched also, with as much interest as the dredging, the mooring of +ships, when they came home from long voyages, some of them, such as +the Queen Luise, a marine trading vessel, from their voyages around +the world, which signified something in those days. My main vessel, +however, was the Mentor, which was said to have won the victory in a +fight with Chinese pirates. The pirates carried a long-barreled bronze +cannon which shot better than the rough cast-iron cannons of which the +Mentor had a few on board. Besides, the pirate boat was much swifter, +so that our Swinemünde trader soon found itself in a bad position. But +the captain was equal to the emergency. He had all his heavy cannons +moved to one side of the ship, then purposely moderated his speed, in +order to make it easier for his pursuers to catch up with him. And now +their boat was really alongside, and the pirates were already +preparing to climb over the side of the ship, when the captain of the +Mentor gave the preconcerted signal and the cannons rolled with all +force and swiftness from the one side of the ship to the other and the +weight of the heavy guns, carrying the thin wall before them, crushed +to pieces the boat lying below, already certain of victory, so that +every soul on board was lost. + +Such stories were always in the air and were associated, not only with +the ships lying along the "Bulwark," but occasionally also with the +houses on the opposite side. Further down the river both the houses +and the stories lost their charm, until, at the very end of the city, +one came to a large building standing back from the street, which +again aroused interest. This was the recently erected "Society House," +the meeting place not only for the summer bathers, but also, during +the season, for the leading people of the city, of whom no one, +perhaps, was more often seen there than my father. To be sure, his +frequent visits were really not made on account of the "Society House" +itself, least of all on account of the concerts and theatrical +performances given in it, to say nothing of the occasional balls,--no, +what attracted him and took him out there now and then even £or his +morning glass, was a pavilion standing close by the "Society House," +in which a major with a historical name and most affable manners, +dressed in a faultless blue frock coat with gold buttons, kept the +bank. This was only too often the resort of my father, who, when he +had lost a considerable sum and had correspondingly enriched the pot +of the bank keeper, instead of being out of sorts over it, simply drew +the inference that the keeping of the bank was a business that +produced sure gain, and the old major with the high white neckcloth +and the diamond pin was an extremely enviable man and, above all, one +very worthy of emulation. In such a career one got something out of +life. My father expressed such opinions, too, when he came home and +sat down late to dinner. This he did once in the presence of a +recently married sister of my mother, who was visiting in our home +during the bathing season. + +"But you are not going to-do that," she replied to his remarks. + +"Why not?" + +"Because there is no honor in it." + +"Hm, honor," he ejaculated, and began to drum upon the table with his +fingers; but, not having the courage to argue the question, he merely +turned his face away and left the table. + + * * * * * + +The city was very ugly and very handsome, and an equal contrast was, +to be observed in its inhabitants, at least with respect to their +moral qualities. Here, as in all seaports, there was a broad stratum +of human beings day in and day out under the influence of rum and +arrack, and they composed the main body of the population; but there +was also, as is quite general in seaports, a society of a materially +higher type spiritually, which overshadowed by far what one usually +met with in those days in the small cities of the inland provinces, +especially the Mark of Brandenburg, where the narrowest philistinism +held sway. That these inhabitants were so thoroughly free from +narrow-mindedness was without doubt due to a variety of causes, but +chiefly, perhaps, to the fact that the whole population was of a +pronounced international character. In the villages of the environs +there still lived presumably a certain number of the descendants of +the Wendic Pomeranian: aborigines of the days of Julin and Vineta. In +Swinemünde itself, especially in the upper stratum of society, there +was such a confusion of races that one came in contact with +representatives from all the nations of Northern Europe, Swedes, +Danes, Dutchmen, and Scotchmen, who had settled here at one time or +another, most of them, no doubt, at the beginning of the century, the +period when the hitherto unimportant city first began to grow and +prosper. + +The number of inhabitants, at the time of our arrival, was about four +thousand, of whom hardly a tenth were citizens of the city, and a +still very much smaller fraction entered into consideration socially. +What could be called, with more or less justice, the society of the +city was composed of not more than twenty families. These twenty +families, together with a few of the nobility, who came in from the +country to spend the winter, formed a private club, with headquarters +in the Olthoff Hall, and the club's membership was further enlarged, +as was the society of the city in general, by the dependents, or +retinue, of a few of the richest and most respected houses. These +protégés, half of them poor relatives, half bankrupt merchants, +were not always invited, but were, on all important convivial +occasions, designed to produce a deep impression, and their function +then was to submit to what the Englishmen call practical jokes, +during the second half of the banquet, the first half being, as a +usual thing, conspicuous for the remarkably proper conduct of the +company. When the time arrived for this part of the program all +bonds of pious awe were loosed and they proceeded with most daring +experiments, which my pen hesitates to record. On one occasion one of +these unfortunates--unfortunate because poor and dependent--had to +suffer a jaw tooth to be pulled out with the first pair of tongs that +could be found; but it must not be inferred that those who undertook +the operation were necessarily rough men. It was only a case where the +socially arrogant, who made themselves so generally conspicuous in +those days, especially under the stimulation of wine, did not hesitate +to take such liberties. In rich aristocratic houses in the country +they occasionally went to even greater extremes.... + +How did we live at our house? On the whole, well, far beyond our +station and our means. So far as the culinary department was +concerned, there were, to be sure, occasional strange periods; for +example, in the summer time, when, on account of the superabundant +yield of milk, the star of milk soup reigned supreme. Then everybody +struck, feigning lack of appetite. + +But these were only exceptional conditions, of short duration. +Ordinarily we were well and very sensibly fed, a thing which we owed +less to our mother than to our housekeeper, a Miss Schröder. Before +going any further I must tell about her. When we reached Swinemünde my +mother was still in Berlin taking treatment for her nerves, so that my +father was immediately confronted with the question, who should manage +the household in the interim. There were no local newspapers, so he +had to inquire around orally. After a few days a letter was brought by +messenger from the head forester's lodge at Pudagla, inquiring whether +the head forester's sister might offer us her services. She had +learned housekeeping in her brother's home. My father answered +immediately in the affirmative and for two days rejoiced in the +thought of being able to take into his home as housekeeper a sister of +a head forester, and from Pudagla, to boot. That afforded relief; he +felt honored. On the third day the Schröder girl drove up to our house +and was received by my father. He declared later that he had kept his +countenance, but I am not quite sure of it, in spite of the +possibility that his good heart and his politeness may have made the +victory over himself easier. The good Schröder girl, be it said, was a +pendant to the "princess with the death's head," who came to notice in +Berlin at about this time. What had caused the misfortune of the +latter (who was restored to her original appearance by Dieffenbach, by +a plastic surgical treatment, since become famous), I do not know. In +the case of the Schröder girl, however, it was the smallpox. Now what +is smallpox? Everybody has seen persons who have been afflicted with +smallpox, and has considered the expression, "the devil has threshed +peas on his or her face," more or less apt. At least the expression +has become proverbial. In this case, however, the proverbial phrase, +if applied, would have been mere glossing over, for the Schröder girl +had, not pits the size of peas, but scars half as broad as your hand, +a spectacle, the like of which I have never again encountered. Yet, as +already said, a contract was entered into, and a happier one was never +closed. The Schröder girl was a treasure, and when my mother came home +six weeks later she said: "You did well to take her, Louis; disfigured +as she is, her eyes have been spared, and they tell one that she is +faithful and reliable. And she is safe from love affairs, and we with +her. With her we shall have only pleasant experiences." + +And so it proved. So long as we remained in Swinemünde the Schröder +girl remained in our house, loved and respected by old and young, not +least of all by my father, who gave her particular credit for her +sense of justice and her candor, in spite of the fact that he +occasionally had to suffer severely because of these two qualities. +She was always waging war against him. In the first place, out of love +for my mother, for whom she came to be an eloquent advocate, in spite +of the fact that my mother was thoroughly able to defend herself, in +accordance with her maxim, "The best defense is a blow." In the second +place, she was the mistress of the pantry, which was intrusted to her +with most plenary powers, and my father was always undertaking +pillaging expeditions against it, not only to satisfy his own personal +wants, which she might have tolerated, even though he was capable of +consuming half a veal roast for his breakfast, without thinking +anything about it; but she objected strenuously to his raids for the +benefit of his pet chickens, dogs, and cats. We had two cats, Peter +and Petrine. Peter, also called Peter the Great, who might have been +mistaken for a young jaguar, was his special pet, and when this +beautiful animal followed him, purring, into the pantry, and he always +followed, there was no end to the dainty morsels given him. The best +was none too good. This wanton waste made the Schröder girl, faithful +soul that she was, fly into a rage, for she often saw her plans for +dinner completely upset. + +In the house she was indeed a treasure, but for us children, +especially me, she was even more than that, she was a real blessing. +The training we received from our parents advanced by fits and starts; +sometimes there was training and again there was none, and never any +thought of continuity. But the Schröder girl supplied the continuity. +She had no favorites, never allowed herself to be outwitted, and knew +just how to handle each one of us. As for me, she knew that I was +good-natured, but sensitive, proud, and under the control of a certain +degree of megalomania. These bad inclinations she wished to hold in +check, and so said to me times without number: "Yes, you think you are +a marvelous fellow, but you are only a childish boy, just like the +rest of them, only at times a bit worse. You always want to play the +young gentleman, but young gentlemen don't lick honey from their +plates, or at least don't deny it if they have done so, in fact they +never tell lies. Not long ago I heard you prating about honor, but I +want to tell you, _that_ doesn't look to me like honor." She insisted +upon truthfulness, treated boasting with fine ridicule, and was chary +of compliments. But when she did praise it was effective. She did me +many a good turn, and not until late in life, when I was past fifty, +did I meet another woman, this time an elderly lady, who exerted such +an educational influence upon me. Even now I am still taking lessons +and learn from people who are young enough to be my grandchildren. + +Thus much about the good Schröder girl, and after this digression in +memory of her I ask once more: "Well, how did we live?" I propose to +show how we lived, by means of a series of pictures, and in order to +introduce order and clarity into the description it will be well to +divide our life as we lived it into two halves, a summer life and a +winter life. + +First, then, there was the summer life. About the middle of June we +regularly had the house full of visitors; for my mother, in accordance +with the old custom, still kept in touch with her relatives, a trait +which we children only very imperfectly inherited from her. But let it +be understood, she kept in touch with her relatives, not to derive +advantages from them, but to bestow advantages. She was incredibly +generous, and there were times when we, after we had grown up, asked +ourselves the question, which passion really threatened us most, the +gaming passion of our father, or the giving and presenting passion of +our mother. But we finally discovered the answer to the question. What +our father did was simply money thrown away, whereas the excessive +amounts given away by our mother were always unselfishly given and +carried with them a quiet blessing. No doubt a certain desire to be, +so far as possible, a _grande dame_, if only in a very small degree, +had something to do with it, but then all our doings show some +elements of human weakness. Later in life, when we talked with her +about these things, she said: "Certainly, I might have refrained from +doing many things. We spent far more than our income. But I said to +myself: 'What there is will be spent anyhow, and so it is better for +it to go my way than the other.'" + +These summer months, from the middle of June on, were often made +especially charming by the numbers of visitors in our home, mostly +young women relatives from Berlin, who were both cheerful and +talkative. The household was then completely changed, for weeks at a +time, and, the hatchet being temporarily buried, merriment and playing +of sly tricks, with occasional boisterous pranks, became the order of +the day. The most brilliant performer in the fun-making competitions +that frequently arose was always my father himself. He was, as +handsome men often are, the absolute opposite of Don Juan, and proud +of his virtue. But by as much as he was unlike Don Juan, he was +charming as a Gascon, when it came to a spirited discussion of pert +and often most daring themes, with young ladies, of whom he made but +one requirement, that they be handsome, otherwise it was not worth his +while. I inherited from him this inclination to enter into subtle +discussions with ladies, in a jesting tone; indeed I have ever carried +this inclination over into my style of writing, and when I read +corresponding scenes in my novels and short stories it once in awhile +seems to me as though I heard my father speaking. Except with this +difference, that I fall far short of his felicitousness, as people who +had known him in his prime often told me, when he was over severity +and I was correspondingly along in years. I have frequently been +addressed in some such way as this: "Now see here, you do very well, +when you have your good days, but you can't compete with your father." +And that was certainly true. His small talk, born of bonhomie and at +the same time enlivened with fantastic lawyerly artifice, was simply +irresistible, even when dealing with business matters, in which as a +rule heartiness has no place. And yet his remarks on money matters had +a lasting effect, so that none of us children ever cherished the +slightest feeling of bitterness on account of his most remarkable +financial operations. My mother, however, was of too different a +nature to be easily converted or carried away by his social graces. +These matters were to her most repugnant when treated lightly and +jestingly. "Whatever is serious is not funny, that's all." But she +never disputed the fact that, as a happy humorist, he always succeeded +in drawing people over to his side, though she never failed to add: +"unfortunately." + +And now let us return to the summer visitors in our home. At times it +was rather difficult to furnish continual rounds of entertainment for +the young women, and would perhaps have proved impossible, if it had +not been for the horses. Almost every afternoon, when the weather was +good, the carriage drove up to our door, and such days during the +bathing season, when we were often almost completely overwhelmed with +visitors, were probably the only times when my mother, without in the +least sacrificing her fundamental convictions, was temporarily +reconciled to the existence of horse and carriage. Whoever knows +Swinemünde, and there are many who do know the place, is aware of the +fact that one is never embarrassed there for a beautiful spot to visit +on afternoon drives, and even in those days this was as true as it is +today. There was the trip along the beach to Heringsdorf, or, on the +other side, out to the moles; but the most popular drives, because +they afforded protection from the sun, were those back into the +country, either through the dense beech forest toward Corswant, or +better still to the village of Camminke, situated near the Haff of +Stettin and the Golm (mountain). There was a much frequented +skittle-alley there, where women played as well as men. I myself liked +to stand by the splintery lath trough, in which the skittle-boy rolled +back the balls. My only reason for choosing this position was because +I had heard a short time before that one of the players at this very +alley, in catching a ball as it rolled to him, had run a long lath +splinter under the nail of his index finger. That had made such an +impression on me that I always stood there shuddering for fear of a +repetition of the accident, which fortunately did not occur. When I +finally grew tired of waiting I stepped through a lattice gate, always +hanging aslant and always creaky, into a garden plot running along +close by the skittle-alley and parallel with it. It was a genuine +peasant's garden, with touch-me-nots and mignonette in bloom, and in +one place the mallows grew so tall that they formed a lane. Then when +the sun went down behind the forest the Golm, which lay to the west, +was bathed in red light, and the metal ball on its tall pillar looked +down, like a sphere of gold, upon the village and the skittle-garden. +Myriads of mosquitoes hung in the air, and the bumble bees flew back +and forth between the box-edged beds. + +Our visitors usually left at the beginning of August, and when +September came the last of the hotel guests departed from the city. +If anybody chose to remain longer it was inconvenient for the +landlords, in which connection the following scene occurred. A man, a +Berliner of course, on returning to his hotel, after accompanying some +departing friends to their steamer, sat down leisurely by his host and +hostess, rubbed his hands together, and said: "Well, Hoppensack, at +last the Berliners are all gone, or at least nearly all of them; now +we shall have a good time, now it will be cozy." He expected, of +course, that the host and hostess would agree with him most heartily. +But instead of that he found himself looking into long faces. Finally +he screwed up his courage and asked why they were so indifferent. +"Why, good heavens, Mr. Schünemann," said Hoppensack, "a recorder and +his wife came to us the last of May and now it is almost the middle of +September. We want to be alone again, you see." As Mrs. Hoppensack +nodded approvingly, there was nothing left for Schünemann to do but to +depart himself the next day. + +Not long after the last summer guests had gone the equinoctial storms +set in, and, if it was a bad year, they lasted on into November. First +the chestnuts fell, then the tiles rattled down from the roof, and +from the eaves-troughs, always placed with their outlets close by +bedroom windows, the rain splashed noisily down into the yard. In the +course of time, scattered clouds sailed across the clearing sky and +the air turned cold. Everybody felt the chilliness, and all day long +there was an old woodchopper at work in the shed. My father would +often go down to see him, take the ax and split wood for him a +half-hour at a time. + +Social activities were at a standstill during these late autumn days. +People were recovering from the strain of the summer season and +storing up strength for winter entertainments. Before these began +there was an interregnum of several weeks, the slaughtering and baking +times, the latter coinciding with the Christmas period. First came +the slaughtering of geese. A regular household without a goose-killing +time could hardly have been thought of. Many things had to be taken +into account. First of all, perhaps, were the feathers to make new +beds, which were always needed for guest chambers; but the chief +concern were the smoked goose-breasts, almost as important articles as +the hams and sides of bacon hanging in the chimney. Shortly before St. +Martin's day, if enough geese had been collected to supply the needs, +they were penned up for fattening, in the court, which gave rise to a +horrible cackling, well calculated to rob us of our night's rest for a +whole week. But a day was straightway set for the beginning of the +feast, about the middle of November. In the court, in a lean-to built +near the end of the house, and, strange to say, with a dove-cote over +it, was the servants' room, in which, beside the cook, two house-maids +slept, provided always they did any sleeping. The coachman was +supposed, according to a rule of the house, to occupy the straw-loft, +but was happy to forego the independence of these quarters, which went +with his position, preferring by his presence to crowd still worse the +already crowded space of the servants' room, in full accord with +Schiller's lines, + + + "Room is in the smallest hovel + For a happy, loving pair." + + +But when goose-killing time came it meant a very considerable further +overcrowding, for on the evening that the massacring was to begin +there was added to the number of persons usually quartered in the +servants' room a special force of old women, four or five in number, +who at other times earned a living at washing or weeding. + +Then the sacrificial festivities began, always late in the evening. +Through the wide-open door--open, because otherwise it would not have +been possible to endure the stifling air--the stars shone into the +smoky room, which was dimly lighted by a tallow candle, with always a +thief in the candle. Near the door stood in a semi-circle the five +slaughter priestesses, each with a goose between her knees, and as +they bored holes through the skullcaps of the poor fowls, with sharp +kitchen knives--a procedure, the necessity of which I have never +understood--they sang all sorts of folk-songs, the text of which +formed a strange contrast, as well to the murderous act as to the +mournful melody. At least one had to suppose this to be the case, for +the maids, who sat on the edge of the bed with their guest from the +straw-loft between them, followed the folksongs with never-ending +merriment, and at the passages that sounded specially mournful they +even burst into cheers. Both my parents were morally strict, and they +often discussed the question, whether there were not some way to put a +stop to this insolent conduct, but they finally gave it up. My father +had a lurking suspicion that such a custom had existed in antiquity, +and, after he-had looked the matter up, said: "It is a repetition of +ancient conditions, the Roman saturnalia, or, what amounts to the same +thing, a case where the servants temporarily lord it over the +so-called lords." When he had thus classified the occurrence +historically he was satisfied, the more so as the maids always amused +him the following morning by lowering their eyes in a most unusually +modest fashion. Then he would make fantastically extravagant remarks, +as though _Gil Blas_ had been his favorite book. That was not the +case, however. He read Walter Scott exclusively, for which I am +grateful to him even to this day, since, even then, a few crumbs fell +from his table for me. His favorite among all the works was _Quintin +Durward_, probably on account of its French subject. + +I have here further to add that the terrors of this goose-killing time +were by no means ended with the slaughter night and the mournful +melodies. On the contrary, they lasted at least three or four days +longer, for the slaughtering time was also the time when the giblets +dressed with goose-blood were served daily at our table, a dish which, +according to the Pomeranian view, stands unrivaled in the realm of +cookery. Furthermore my father considered it his duty to support the +view peculiar to this region, and, when the great steaming platter +appeared, would say: "Ah, that is fine! Just eat some of this; it is +the black soup of the Spartans, full of strength and stamina." But I +observed that he, along with the rest of us, picked out the dried +fruit and almond dumplings, leaving the nourishing gravy for the +servants outside, above all for the slaughtering and mourning women, +who by their boring operations had established the most legitimate +claim to it. + +About a fortnight later came the pig-killing, toward which my feeling +remained exactly the same as on that occasion when, hardly seven +years of age, I had fled from the city toward Alt-Ruppin, in +order to escape, not only the spectacle, but a whole gamut of +ear-and-heart-rending sounds. But I had meanwhile grown out of +childhood into boyhood, and a boy, whether he will or no, feels +honor-bound manfully to take everything that comes along, even if his +own deepest nature revolts against it. That the prospect of rice +pudding with raisins in it was a contributing factor in this comedy of +bravery, I am unable to say, for fond as I am of good things to eat, I +was always, during the weeks just preceding Christmas, half upset by +the smell of hot grease that drifted through the house. At least I +never had what could be called a really good appetite during this +period, despite the fact that it would have been particularly worth +while just then. Especially would such have been the case when, as +usually happened about the first of December, a stag was sent in from +the chief forester's and was hung up, eviscerated, as game usually is, +against the gable end of the servants' house. Day after day the cook +would go to this horrible gable ornament and cut out, first the +haunch, then the shoulders and legs, with the result that we always +heaved a sigh of relief when the glory of this venison was a thing of +the past. + +A far happier time was the baking week, which began with spice-nuts +and sugar cookies, and ended with bretzels, wreath-cakes, and cakes +baked on tins. Not only were we admitted to the bakeroom, where there +was a most alluring odor of bitter almonds and grated lemons; we also +received, as a foretaste of Christmas, a bountiful supply of little +cake-rolls, baked especially for us children. "I know," said my +mother, "that the children will upset their stomachs eating them, but +even that is better than that they should be restricted to too low a +diet. They shall have joyful holiday feeling during all these days, +and nothing can give it to them better than holiday cakes." There is +something in that view, and it may be absolutely right if the children +are thoroughly robust. But we were not so robust that the principle +could be applied to us without modification. And so, about Christmas +time, I was always much given to crying. + +On New Year's Eve there was a club ball, which I, being the oldest +child, was allowed to witness. I took my position in one corner of the +hall and looked on with vacillating feelings. When the dancing couples +whirled past me I was happy, on the one hand, because I was permitted +to stand there as a sort of guest and share in the pleasure with my +eyes, and yet, on the other hand, I was unhappy, because I was merely +an onlooker instead of a participator in the dance. My personal +insignificance weighed heavy upon me, doubly heavy because of the +gastric condition I was regularly in at this reason, and it continued +so until the nightwatchman, wrapped in his long blue cloak, came into +the hall at midnight and, after blowing a preliminary signal on his +horn, wished everybody a happy New Year. Then, as if by magic, my +feeling of sentimentality vanished entirely, and I was carried away by +the comic grotesqueness of the scene, and soon regained my freedom and +buoyancy of spirit. + +Just about this time social activities began, taking the form of a +series of weekly feasts, many of which resembled that of Belshazzar, +in so far as a spirit hand was at the very time writing the bankruptcy +of the host upon the wall. However, my knowledge of the details of +these feasts was derived only from hearsay. But any special banquets, +whether great or small, that fell to the lot of our own house I saw +with my own eyes and it is about these that I now propose to tell. + +When it came our turn to entertain, the whole house was pervaded with +a feeling of solemnity, which had a certain similarity to the feeling +at the time of a wedding. Furthermore, a parallel to the tripartite +division into wedding-eve celebration, wedding day, and the day after, +appeared in the form of preparation day, real feast-day, and eating of +the remnants. Which of these three days deserved the prize may remain +an open question, but I am inclined to believe I liked the first the +best. To be sure, it was unepicurean and called for much +self-restraint, but it was rich in anticipation of glorious things to +come. + +On this day of preparation the widow Gaster, a celebrated cook, came +to our house, as she did to all other houses on similar occasions. Her +personal appearance united complacence with dignity, and by virtue of +this latter quality she was received with respect and unlimited +confidence. Because of a dislike, easily understood, for all the +things she had to prepare day in and day out, especially sweets, she +lived-almost exclusively on red wine, deriving the little other +sustenance she needed from the vapors of hot grease, with which she +was continually surrounded. Her arrival at our house was always a +signal for me to plant myself near the kitchen, where everything that +took place could be observed and, incidentally, admired. It was always +her first task to bake a tree-cake on a spit. She kept a record of all +the tree-cakes she baked, and when the number reached a thousand the +housewives of Swinemünde gave her a well-deserved feast in celebration +of the achievement. To be sure, tree-cakes are to be had even today, +but they are degenerations, weak, spongy, and pale-cheeked, whereas in +those days they had a happy firmness, which in the most successful +specimens rose to crispness, accompanied by a scale of colors running +from the darkest ocher to the brightest yellow. It always gave me +great pleasure to watch a tree-cake come into being. Toward the back +wall of a huge fireplace stood a low half-dome, built of bricks, the +top projecting forward like a roof, the bottom slanting toward the +back. Along this slanting part was built a narrow charcoal fire about +four feet long and by it were placed two small iron supports, upon +which a roasting spit was laid, with a contrivance for turning it. +However, the spit resting upon the supports proved to be something +more than a mere rod. In fact the spit itself was run lengthwise +through a hollow wooden cone, which had a covering of greased paper +over its outer surface, and the purpose of which was to form a core +for the tree-cake. Then, with a tin spoon fastened upon a long stick, +the cook began to pour on a thin batter, which at first dripped off in +a way that made the method of application appear futile, and this +continued for a considerable length of time. But from the moment that +the batter became more consistent, and the dripping slower, hope began +to revive, and in a few hours the splendidly browned and copiously +jagged tree-cake was taken off the wooden cone. All this had a +symbolical significance. The successful completion of this _pièce de +résistance_ inspired confidence in the success of the feast itself. +The tree-cake cast the horoscope, so to speak, of the whole affair. + +I shall pass over the kitchen activities on the day of the +entertainment and describe instead the feast itself. Along extension +table was moved into my mother's parlor--the only room available for +the purpose--and soon stood well set in front of the moire sofa with +the three hundred silver studs. The guests were not seated at the +table till the candles were lit. The man who presided over the banquet +always sat with his back toward the Schinkel mirror, whereas all the +other guests could, with little or no inconvenience, observe +themselves in the glass. + +So far as I can recall they were always gentlemen's dinner parties, +with twelve or fourteen persons, and only on rare occasions did my +mother appear at the table, then usually accompanied by her sister, +who often visited us for months at a time in the winter season and was +in those days still very young and handsome. It was always a specially +difficult matter to assign her a suitable place, and only when old Mr. +von Flemming and Privy Councillor Kind were present was she in any +degree safe from extremely ardent attentions. It was almost impossible +to protect her from such attentions. The men had respect for virtue, +perhaps, though I have my doubts even about that, but virtuous airs +were considered in bad taste, and where was the line to be drawn +between reality and appearance? That the ladies retired from the table +toward the end of the meal and appeared again only for a brief quarter +of an hour to do the honors at coffee, goes without saying. + +I have spoken above of the culinary art of good Mrs. Gaster, but in +spite of that art the bill of fare was really simple, especially in +comparison with the luxury prevalent nowadays at dinner parties. +Simple, I say, and yet stable. No man was willing to fall behind a set +standard, nor did he care to go beyond it. The soup was followed by a +fish course, and that, without fail, by French turnips and smoked +goose-breast. Then came a huge roast, and finally a sweet dish, with +fruits, spice-cakes, and Königsberg marchpane. An almost greater +simplicity prevailed with respect to the wines. After the soup sherry +was passed. Then a red wine of moderate price and moderate quality +gained the ascendant and held sway till coffee was served. So the +peculiar feature of these festivities did not lie in the materials +consumed, but, strange to say, in a certain spiritual element, in the +tone that prevailed. This varied considerably, when we take into +account the beginning and the end. The beginning was marked by toasts +in fine style, and occasionally, especially if the feast was at the +same time a family party--a birthday celebration or something of the +sort--there were even verses, which from the point of view of +regularity of form and cleverness of ideas left nothing to be desired. +Only recently I found among my father's papers some of these literary +efforts and was astonished to see how good they were. Humor, wit, and +playing on words were never lacking. There were special occasions when +even deep emotion, was expressed and then those who were farthest from +having a proper feeling, but nearest to a state of delirium, arose +regularly from their seats and marched up to the speaker to embrace +and kiss him. This kissing scene always denoted the beginning of the +second half of the feast. The further the dinner advanced the freer +became the conversation, and, when it had reached the stage where all +feeling of restraint was cast aside, the most insolent and often the +rudest badgering was indulged in, or, if for any reason this was not +allowed, the company began to rally certain individuals, or, as we +might say, began to poke fun at them. One of the choicest victims of +this favorite occupation of the whole round table was my papa. It had +long been known that when it was a question of conversation he had +three hobbies, viz., personal ranks and decorations in the Prussian +State, the population of all cities and hamlets according to the +latest census, and the names and ducal titles of the French marshals, +including an unlimited number of Napoleonic anecdotes, the latter +usually in the original. Occasionally this original version was +disputed from the point of view of sentence structure and grammar, +whereupon my father, when driven into a corner, would reply with +imperturbable repose: "My French feeling tells me that it must be +thus, thus and not otherwise," a declaration which naturally served +but to increase the hilarity. + +Yes, indeed, Napoleon and his marshals! My father's knowledge in this +field was simply stupendous, and I wager there was not in that day a +single historian, nor is there any now, who, so far as French war +stories and personal anecdotes of the period from Marengo to Waterloo +are concerned, would have been in any sense of the word qualified to +enter into competition with him. Where he got all his material is an +enigma to me. The only explanation I can offer is that he had in his +memory a pigeonhole, into which fell naturally everything he found +that appealed to his passion, in his constant reading of journals and +miscellanies. + + * * * * * + +When we had been safely lodged, at Midsummer, 1827, in the house with +the gigantic roof and the wooden eavestrough, into which my father +could easily lay his hand, this question immediately presented itself: +"What is to become of the children now? To what school shall we send +them?" If my mother had been there a solution of the problem would +doubtless have been found, one that would have had due regard for what +was befitting our station, at least, if not for what we should learn. +But since my mama, as already stated, had remained in Berlin to +receive treatment for her nerves, the decision rested with my father, +and he settled the matter in short order, presumably after some such +characteristic soliloquy as follows: "The city has only one school, +the city school, and as the city school is the only one, it is +consequently the best." No sooner thought than done. Before a week was +passed I was a pupil of the city school. About the school I remember +very little, only that there was a large room with a blackboard, +stifling air in spite of the fact that the windows were always open, +and an endless number of boys in baize and linen jackets, unkempt and +barefoot, or in wooden shoes, which made a fearful noise. It was very +sad. But even then, as unfortunately in later years, I had so few +pleasing illusions about going to school that the conditions +previously described to me did not appear specially dreadful when I +became personally acquainted with them. I simply supposed that things +had to be thus. But toward autumn, when my mother arrived on the scene +and saw me coming home from school with the wooden-shoe boys, she was +beside herself and cast an anxious glance at my hair, which she +doubtless thought she could not well trust in such company. She then +had one of her heart-to-heart talks with my father, who was probably +told that he had again taken only himself into consideration. That +same day my withdrawal from school was announced to Rector Beda, who +lived diagonally across the street from us. He was not angry at the +announcement, declared, on the contrary, to my mother that "he had +really been surprised. * * *" Thus far all was well. Just criticism +had been exercised and action had been taken in accord with it. But +now that it was necessary to find something better to substitute for +the school, even my mother was at her wits' end. Teachers seemed to +be, or were in fact, lacking, and as it had been impossible in so +short a time to establish relations to the good families of the city, +it was decided for the present to let me grow up wild and calmly to +wait till something turned up. But to prevent my lapsing into dense +ignorance I was to read an hour daily to my mother and learn some +Latin and French words from my father, in addition to geography and +history. + +"Will you be equal to that, Louis?" my mother had asked. + +"Equal to? What do you mean by 'equal to?' Of course I am equal to it. +Your same old lack of confidence in me." + +"Not twenty-four hours ago you yourself were full of doubt about it." + +"I presume the plan did not appeal to me then. But if it must be, I +understand the Prussian pharmacopoeia as well as anybody, and in my +parents' house French was spoken. As for the rest, to speak of it +would be ridiculous. You know that in such things I am more than a +match for ten graduates." + +As a matter of fact he really gave me lessons, which, I may say in +advance, were kept up even after the need of them no longer existed, +and, peculiar as these lessons were, I learned more from them than +from many a famous teacher. My father picked out quite arbitrarily the +things he had long known by heart or, perhaps, had just read the same +day, and vitalized geography with history, always, of course, in such +a way that in the end his favorite themes were given due prominence. +For example: + +"Do you know about East and West Prussia?" + +"Yes, papa; that is the country after which Prussia is called Prussia +and after which we are all called Prussians." + +"Very good, very good; a little too much Prussia, but that doesn't +matter. And do you also know the capitals of the two provinces?" + +"Yes, papa; Königsberg and Danzig." + +"Very good. I myself have been in Danzig, and came near going to +Königsberg, too, but something intervened. Have you ever heard +perchance who it was that finally captured Danzig after the brave +defense of our General Kalckreuth?" + +"No, papa." + +"Well, it is not to be expected. Very few people do know it, and the +so-called higher educated never know it. Well, it was General Lefèvre, +a man of rare bravery, upon whom Napoleon later bestowed the title of +_Duc de Dantzic_, spelled with a final c, in which regard the +languages differ. That was in the year 1807." + +"After the battle of Jena?" + +"Yes, it may be put that way; but only in the same sense as if you +were to say, it was after the Seven Years' War." + +"I don't understand, papa." + +"Doesn't matter. I mean, Jena was too long ago. But one might say it +was after the battle of Prussian Eylau, a fearfully bloody battle, in +which the Russian Guard was almost annihilated, and in which Napoleon, +before surrendering, said to his favorite Duroc: 'Duroc, today I have +made the acquaintance of the sixth great power of Europe, _la boue_.'" + +"What does that mean?" + +"_La boue_ means the mud. But one can express it more strongly in +German, and I am inclined to think that Napoleon, who, when he felt +like it, had something cynical about him, really meant this stronger +expression." + +"What is cynical?" + +"Cynical--hm, cynical--it is a word often used, and one might say, +cynical is the same as rough or brutal. But I presume it may be +defined more accurately. We will look it up later in the encyclopedia. +It is well to be informed about such things, but one does not need to +know everything on the spur of the moment." + +Such was the character of the geography lessons, always ending with +historical anecdotes. But he preferred to begin at once with history, +or what seemed to him history. And here I must mention his pronounced +fondness for all the events and the persons concerned in them between +the siege of Toulon and the imprisonment on the island of St. Helena. +He was always reverting to these persons and things. I have elsewhere +named his favorites, with Ney and Lannes at the head of the list, but +in that enumeration I forgot to mention one man, who stood perhaps +nearer to his heart than these, namely, Latour d'Auvergne, of whom he +had told me any number of anecdotes back in our Ruppin days. These +were now repeated. According to the new stories Latour d'Auvergne bore +the title of the "First Grenadier of France," because in spite of his +rank of general he always stood in the rank and file, next to the +right file-leader of the Old Guard. Then when he fell, in the battle +of Neuburg, Napoleon gave orders that the heart of the "First +Grenadier" be placed in an urn and carried along with the troop, and +that his name, Latour d'Auvergne, be regularly called at every +roll-call, and the soldier serving as file-leader be instructed to +answer in his stead and tell where he was. This was about what I had +long ago learned by heart from my father's stories; but his fondness +for this hero was so great that, whenever it was at all possible, he +returned to him and asked the same questions. Or, to be more accurate, +the same scene was enacted, for it was a scene. + +"Do you know Latour d'Auvergne?" he usually began. + +"Certainly. He was the First Grenadier of France." + +"Good. And do you also know how he was honored after he was dead?" + +"Certainly." + +"Then tell me how it was." + +"Very well; but you must first stand up, papa, and be file-leader, or +I can't do it." + +Then he would actually rise from his seat on the sofa and in true +military fashion take his position before me as file-leader of the Old +Guard, while I myself, little stick-in-the-mud that I was, assumed the +part of the roll-calling officer. Then I began to call the names: + +"Latour d'Auvergne!" + +"He is not here," answered my father in a basso profundo voice. + +"Where is he, pray?" + +"He died on the field of honor." + +Once in awhile my mother attended these peculiar lessons--the one +about Latour, however, was never ventured in her presence--and she did +not fail to give us to understand, by her looks, that she considered +this whole method, which my father with an inimitable expression of +countenance called his "Socratic method," exceedingly dubious. But +she, by nature wholly conventional, not only in this particular, but +in others, was absolutely wrong, for, to repeat, I owe in fact to +these lessons, and the similar conversations growing out of them, all +the best things, at least all the most practical things, I know. Of +all that my father was able to teach me nothing has been forgotten and +nothing has proved useless for my purposes. Not only have these +stories been of hundredfold benefit to me socially throughout my long +life, they have also, in my writing, been ever at hand as a Golden +Treasury, and if I were asked, to what teacher I felt most deeply +indebted, I should have to reply: to my father, my father, who knew +nothing at all, so to speak, but, with his wealth of anecdotes picked +up from newspapers and magazines, and covering every variety of theme, +gave me infinitely more help than all my _Gymnasium_ and _Realschule_ +teachers put together. What information these men offered me, even if +it was good, has been for the most part forgotten; but the stories of +Ney and Rapp have remained fresh in my memory to the present hour. + +My father's method, which, much as I feel indebted to it, was after +all somewhat peculiar and utterly devoid of logic and consistency, +would in all probability have led to violent quarrels between my +parents, if my critical mother, who saw only its weaknesses and none +of its virtues, had attached any special significance to it in +general. But that was not the case. She only felt that my father's way +of teaching was totally different from the usual way, in that it would +not lead to many practical results, i.e., would not give me much +preparation for an examination, and in this respect she was perfectly +right. However, as she herself attached so little value to knowledge +in general, she contented herself with smiling at the "Socratic +method," as she saw no reason for becoming seriously wrought up over +it. According to her honest conviction there were other things in life +of far greater importance than knowledge, to say nothing of erudition, +and these other things were: a good appearance and good manners. That +her children should all present a good appearance was with her an +article of faith, so to speak, and she considered it a natural +consequence of their good appearance that they either already had or +would acquire good manners. So the only essential was to present a +good appearance. Serious studies seemed to her not a help, but, on the +contrary, a hindrance to happiness, that is to say, real happiness, +which she looked upon as inseparable from money and property. A +hundred-thousand-dollar man _was_ something, and she respected, even +honored him, whereas chief judges and councillors of the chancery +commanded very little respect from her, and would have commanded even +less, if the State, which she did respect, had not stood behind them. +She was incapable of bowing in good faith to any so-called spiritual +authority, not because she cherished too exalted an opinion of +herself--she was, on the contrary, entirely without vanity and +arrogance--but solely because, constituted as she was, she could not +recognize an authority of knowledge, much less of erudition, in a +practical field of life--and with her the non-practical fields never +entered into consideration. + +I still remember the time, some twenty years after the events just +narrated, when my parents were thinking of separating and of +eventually being divorced. A separation actually came about, the +divorce idea was dropped. But the latter was for a time considered in +all seriousness, and a friend of our family, Pastor Schultz, the then +preacher at Bethany, who made a specialty of divorce questions--it was +in the reign of Frederick William IV., when such problems were treated +with revived dogmatic severity--Pastor Schultz, I say, opposed the +plan, as soon as he heard of it, with all his power and eloquence. My +mother had a great deal of admiration for him and knew, besides, the +respect he enjoyed of "those highest in authority," and "those highest +in authority" meant something to her; nevertheless his severe +presentation of the matter made not the slightest impression upon her; +in fact his argument was so fruitless that, as soon as he finished, +she said with a reposeful air of superiority: "My dear Schultz, you +understand this question thoroughly; but whether or not I have a right +to secure a divorce is a question which no human being in the whole +world can answer so well as I myself." With that she closed the +conversation. + +She was similarly skeptical of every kind of authority, and had no +confidence whatever in the ability of the three university faculties. +For example, since patriarchal conditions were her ideal, she +questioned whether mankind derived any material advantages from +jurisprudence. It settled everything, as she thought, by favoritism or +personal advantage, or at least in a mechanical way. Riches, property, +especially landed property, accompanied if possible by the airs of a +legation attaché--_that_ was something that unlocked the world and +the hearts of men, that was real power. Everything else was comedy, +illusion, a soap-bubble, that threatened to burst any moment. And then +nothing was left. One can readily understand why my mother, with such +views, insisted upon taking me out of the barefoot school, and did not +consider an interim, with no regular school instruction, any special +misfortune. The evil in it was that it violated the rule. As for the +rest, the little bit of learning lost could be made up at any time. +And if not, then not.... + +It is a pretty saying that every child has its angel, and one does not +need to be very credulous to believe it. For the little tots this +angel is a fairy, enveloped in a long white lily veil, which stands +smiling at the foot of a cradle and either wards off danger or helps +out of it when it is really at hand. That is the fairy for the little +ones. But when one has outgrown the cradle or crib, and has begun to +sleep in a regular bed, in other words, when one has become a robust +boy, one still needs his angel just the same, indeed the need is all +the greater. But instead of the lily angel it needs to be a sort of +archangel, a strong, manly angel, with shield and spear, otherwise his +strength will not suffice for his growing tasks. + +As a matter of fact, I was not wild and venturesome, and all my +escapades that were attributed to me as of such a nature were always +undertaken after a wise estimate of my strength. Nevertheless I have, +with respect to that period, a feeling that I was constantly being +rescued, a feeling in which I can hardly be in error. When I left home +at the age of twelve, the age at which, as a usual thing, real dangers +begin, there was doubtless a sudden change in my case, for it now +seems to me as though my angel had had a vacation from that time on. +All dangers ceased entirely or shrank into such insignificance that +they left no impression upon me. In view of the fact that the two +periods were so close together, there must have been this difference, +otherwise I should not have retained such entirely different feelings +about them. + +It was one of our chief sports to fire off so-called shooting-keys. +That the children of large cities know anything about shooting-keys is +hardly probable, hence I may be permitted to describe them here. They +were hollow keys with very thin walls, consequently of enormous bore, +so to speak, and were used to lock trunks, especially the trunks of +servant girls. It was our constant endeavor to gain possession of such +keys and at times our expeditions were nothing short of piracy. Woe be +unto the poor servant girl who forgot to take a key out of its lock! +She never saw it again. We took possession of it, and the simple +procedure of filing out a touchhole produced a finished firearm. As +these keys were always rusty, and occasionally split, it not +infrequently happened that they burst; but we always escaped injury. +The angel helped. + +Much more dangerous was the art of making fireworks, which I was +always practicing. With the help of sulphur and saltpeter, which we +kept in a convenient place in the apothecary's shop, I had made of +myself a full-fledged pyrotechnician, in which process I was very +materially aided by my skill in the manipulation of cardboard and +paste. All sorts of shells were easily made, and so I produced +Catherine-wheels, revolving suns, and flower-pots. Often these +creations refused to perform the duty expected of them, and then we +piled them up and, by means of a sulphurated match, touched off the +whole heap of miscarried glory and waited to see what it would do. +This was all done with comparatively little danger. Fraught with all +the more danger for us was the thing which was considered the simplest +and lowest product of the art of pyrotechnics, and was so rated by us, +viz., the serpent. Very often the serpents I made would not burn +properly, because I had not used the right mixture, no doubt, and that +always vexed me greatly. When a Catherine-wheel refused to turn, that +could at least be tolerated, for a Catherine-wheel is a comparatively +difficult thing to make. A serpent, on the other hand, could not well +help burning, and when, for all that, one simply would not burn, that +was a humiliation that could not be suffered. So I would bend over the +shells as they stuck in the pile of sand and begin to blow, in order +to give new life to the dying tinder fire. When it went out entirely, +that was really the best thing for me. But if it went off suddenly, my +hair was singed or my forehead burned. Nothing worse ever happened, +for the angel was protecting me with his shield. + +That was the element of fire. But we also came in contact with water, +which was not to be wondered at in a seaport. + +In the autumn of 1831 a Berlin relative made me a present of a cannon, +not just an ordinary child's plaything, such as can be bought of any +coppersmith or tinner, but a so-called pattern-cannon, such as is seen +only in arsenals,--a splendid specimen, of great beauty and elegance, +the carriage firm and neat, the barrel highly polished and about a +foot and a half long. I was more than delighted, and determined to +proceed at once to a bombardment of Swinemünde. Two boys of my age and +my younger brother climbed with me into a boat lying at Klempin's +Clapper, and we rowed down-stream, with the cannon in the bow. When we +were about opposite the Society House I considered that the time had +arrived for the beginning of the bombardment, and fired three shots, +waiting after each shot to see whether the people on the "Bulwark" +took notice of us, and whether they showed due respect for the +seriousness of our actions. But neither of these things happened. A +thing that did happen, however, was that we meanwhile got out into the +current, were caught by it and carried away, and when we suddenly saw +ourselves between the embankments of the moles, I was suddenly seized +with a terrible fright. I realized that, if we kept on in this way, in +ten minutes more we should be out at sea and might drift away toward +Bornholm and the Swedish coast. It was a desperate situation, and we +finally resorted to the least brave, but most sensible, means +imaginable, and began to scream with all our might, all the time +beckoning and waving various objects, showing on the whole +considerable cleverness in the invention of distress signals. At last +we attracted the attention of some pilots standing on the West mole, +who shook their fingers threateningly at us, but finally, with smiling +countenances, threw us a rope. That rescued us from danger. One of the +pilots knew me; his son was one of my playmates. This doubtless +accounts for the fact that the seamen dismissed us with a few +epithets, which might have been worse. I took my cannon under my arm, +but not without having the satisfaction of seeing it admired. Then I +went home, after promising to send out Hans Ketelböter, a lusty +sailor-boy who lived quite near our home, to row back the boat, which +was meanwhile moored to a pile. + +This was the most unique among my adventures with water, but by no +means the most dangerous. The most dangerous was at the same time the +most ordinary, because it recurred every time I went swimming in the +sea. Any one who knows the Baltic seaside resorts, knows the so-called +"reffs." By "reffs" are meant the sandbanks running parallel to the +beach, out a hundred or two hundred paces, and often with very little +water washing over them. Upon these the swimmers can stand and rest, +when, they have crossed the deep places lying between them and the +shore. In order that they may know exactly where these shallow places +are, little red banners are hoisted over the sandbanks. Here lay for +me a daily temptation. When the sea was calm and everything normal, my +skill as a swimmer was just sufficient to carry me safely over the +deep places to the nearest sandbank. But if the conditions were less +favorable, or if by chance I let myself down too soon, so that I had +no solid ground beneath my feet, I was frightened, sometimes almost to +death. Luckily I always managed to get out, though not by myself. +Strength and help came from some other source. + +Another danger of water which I was destined to undergo had no +connection with the sea, but occurred on the river, close by the +"Bulwark," not five hundred paces from our house. I shall tell about +it later; but first I wish to insert here another little occurrence, +in which no help of an angel was needed. + +I was not good at swimming, nor at steering or rowing; but one of the +things I could do well, very well indeed, was walking on stilts. +According to our family tradition we came from the region of +Montpelier, whereas I personally ought by rights to be able, in view +of my virtuosity as a stilt-walker, to trace my ancestry back to the +Landes, where the inhabitants are, so to speak, grown fast to their +stilts, and hardly take them off when they go to bed. To make a long +story short, I was a brilliant stilt-walker, and in comparison with +those of the western Garonne region, the home of the very low stilts, +I had the advantage that I could not get my buskins high enough to +suit me, for the little blocks of wood fastened on the inner side of +my stilts were some three feet high. By taking a quick start and +running the ends of the two poles slantingly into the ground I was +able to swing myself without fail upon the stilt-blocks and to begin +immediately my giant stride. Ordinarily this was an unremunerative +art, but on a few occasions I derived real profit from it, when my +stilts enabled me to escape storms that were about to break over my +head. That was in the days just after Captain Ferber, who had served +out his time with the "Neufchâtellers," retired on a pension and moved +to Swinemünde. Ferber, whom the Swinemünders called Teinturier, the +French translation of his name, because of his relation to Neufchâtel, +came of a very good family, was, if I mistake not, the son of a high +official in the ministry of finance, who could boast of long-standing +relations to the Berlin Court, dating back to the war times of the +year 1813. This was no doubt the reason why the son, in spite of the +fact that he did not belong to the nobility and was of German +extraction--the Neufchâtel officers were in those days still for the +most part French-Swiss--was permitted to serve with the élite +battalion, where he was well liked, because he was clever, a good +comrade, and an author besides. He wrote novelettes after the fashions +then in vogue. But in spite of his popularity he could not hold his +position, because his fondness for coffee and cognac, which soon +became restricted to the latter, grew upon him so rapidly that he was +forced to retire. His removal to Swinemünde was doubtless due to the +fact that seaports are better suited for such passions than are inland +cities. Fondness for cognac attracts less attention. + +Whatever his reason may have been, however, Ferber was soon as popular +in his new place of residence as previously in Berlin, for he had that +kindliness of character which is the "dearest child of the +dram-bottle." He was very fond of my father, who reciprocated the +sentiment. But this friendship did not spring up at the very beginning +of their acquaintance. In fact it developed out of a little +controversy between them, that is to say, a defeat sustained by my +father, one of whose amiable peculiarities it was, within twenty-four +hours at the latest to convert his anger at being put to flight, into +approbation bordering on homage for the victor. + +His defeat came about thus. One day the assertion was made by Ferber, +that, whether we liked it or not, a German must be looked upon as the +"father of the French Revolution," for Minister Necker, though born in +Geneva, was the son or grandson of a Küstrin postmaster. This seemed +to my father a perfectly preposterous assertion, and he combated it +with a rather supercilious mien, till it was finally shown to be +substantially correct. Then my father's arrogance, growing out of a +conviction of his superior knowledge, was transformed first into +respect and later into friendship, and even twenty years after, +whenever we drove from our Oderbruch village to the neighboring city +of Küstrin, he never had much to say about Crown Prince Fritz, or +Katte's decapitation, but regularly remarked: "Oh yes, Necker, who may +be called the father of the French Revolution, traced his ancestry +back to this city of Küstrin. I owe the information to Ferber, Captain +Ferber, whom we called Teinturier. It is a pity he could not give up +his _aqua vitæ_. At times it was pitiable." + +Yes, pitiable it was, but not to us children, who, on the contrary, +always broke out into cheers whenever the captain, usually in rather +desolate costume, came staggering up the Great Church Street to find a +place to continue his breakfast. We used to follow close behind him +and tease and taunt him till he would try to catch and thrash one or +the other of us. Occasionally he succeeded; but I always escaped with +ease, because I chose for my teasings only days when it had rained a +short time before. Then there stood in the street between our house +and the church on the other side a huge pool of water, which became my +harbor of refuge. Holding my stilts at the proper angle, I sprang +quickly upon them as soon as I saw that Teinturier, in spite of his +condition, was close on my heels, and then I marched triumphantly into +the pool of water. There I stood like a stork on one stilt and +presented arms with the other, as I continued scoffing at him. Cursing +and threatening he marched away, the poor captain. But he took care +not to make good his threats, because in his good moments he did not +like to be reminded of the bad ones. + +We had several playgrounds. The one we liked best perhaps was along +the "Bulwark," at the point where the side street branched off from +our house. The whole surroundings were very picturesque, especially in +the winter time, when the ships, stripped of their topmasts, lay at +their moorings, often in three rows, the last pretty far out in the +river. We were allowed to play along the "Bulwark" and practice our +rope-walking art on the stretched hawsers as far as they hung close to +the ground. Only one thing was prohibited. We were not allowed to go +on board the ships, much less to climb the rope ladders to the +mastheads. A very sensible prohibition. But the more sensible it was, +the greater was our desire to disregard it, and in the game of "robber +and wayfarer," of which we were all very fond, disregarding of this +prohibition was almost a matter of course. Furthermore, discovery lay +beyond the range of probability; our parents were either at their +"party" or invited to dine out. "So let's go ahead. If anybody tells +on us, he will be worse off than we." + +So we thought one Sunday in April, 1831. It must have been about that +time of year, for I can still recall the clear, cold tone of the +atmosphere. On the ship there was not a sign of life, and on the +"Bulwark" not a human soul to be seen, which further proves to me that +it was a Sunday. + +I, being the oldest and strongest, was the robber, of course. Of the +eight or ten smaller boys only one was in any measure able to compete +with me. That was an illegitimate child, called Fritz Ehrlich +(Honorable), as though to compensate him for his birth. These boys had +set out from the Church Square, the usual starting-point of the chase, +and were already close after me. I arrived at the "Bulwark" exhausted, +and, as there was no other way of escape, ran over a firm broad plank +walk toward the nearest ship, with the whole pack after me. This +naturally forced me to go on from the first ship to the second and +from the second to the third. There was no going any further, and if I +wished, in spite of this dilemma, to escape my enemies, there was +nothing left for me but to seek a hiding-place on the ship itself, or +at least a spot difficult of access. I found such a place and climbed +up about the height of a man to the top of the superstructure near the +cabin. In this superstructure was usually to be found, among other +rooms, the ship's cuisine. My climbing was facilitated by steps built +in the perpendicular wall. And there I stood then, temporarily safe, +gazing down as a victor at my pursuers. But the sense of victory did +not last long; the steps were there for others as well as for me, and +an instant later Fritz Ehrlich was also on the roof. Now I was indeed +lost if I foiled to find another way of escape. So, summoning all my +strength, I took as long a running start as the narrow space would +permit and sprang from the roof of the kitchen over the intervening +strip of water back to the second ship and then ran for the shore, as +though chased by all the furies. When I had reached the shore it was +nothing to run to the base in front of our house and be free. But I +was destined not to enjoy my happiness very long, for almost the very +moment I once more had solid ground beneath my feet I heard cries of +distress coming from the third and second ships, and my name called +repeatedly, which made me think something must have happened. Swiftly +as I had made for the shore over the noisy plank walk, I now hastened +back over it. There was no time to lose. Fritz Ehrlich had tried to +imitate my leap from the kitchen, but, failing to equal my distance, +had fallen into the water between the ships. And there the poor boy +was, digging his nails into the cracks in the ship's hull. Swimming +was out of the question, even if he knew anything about it. Besides, +the water was icy cold. To reach him from the deck with the means at +hand was impossible. So I grasped a piece of rope hanging from a rope +ladder and, letting myself down the side of the ship, tried every way +I could think of to lengthen my body as much as possible, till finally +Fritz was barely able to catch hold of my left foot, which reached +furthest down, while I held on above with my right hand. "Take hold, +Fritz!" But the doughty fellow, who may have realized that we should +both be lost if he really took a firm hold, contented himself with +laying his hand lightly upon the toe of my boot, and little as that +was, it nevertheless sufficed to keep his head above water. To be +sure, he may have been by natural endowment a "water treader," as they +are called; or he may have had the traditional luck of the +illegitimate, which seems to me on second thought more probable. In +any case he kept afloat till some people came from the shore and +reached a punt-pole down to him, while some others untied a boat +lying at Hannemann's Clapper and rowed it into the space between the +ships to fish him out. The moment that the saving punt-pole arrived +some man unknown to me reached down from the ladder, seized me by the +collar, and with a vigorous jerk hoisted me back on deck. + +On this occasion not a word of reproach was uttered, though I could +not say as much of any other occasion of the kind. The people took +Fritz Ehrlich, drenched and freezing, to a house in the immediate +neighborhood, while the rest of us started home in a very humble frame +of mind. To be sure, I had also a feeling of elation, despite the fact +that my prospects for the future were not of the pleasantest. But my +fears were not realized. Quite the contrary. The following morning, as +I was starting to school, my father met me in the hall and stopped me. +Neighbor Pietzker, the good man with the nightcap, had been tattling +again, though with better intentions than usual. + +"I've heard the whole business," said my father. "Why, in the name of +heaven, can't you be obedient! But we'll let it pass, since you +acquitted yourself so well. I know all the details. Pietzker across +the street ..." + +Hereupon I was allowed to go to school. + + + + +SIR RIBBECK OF RIBBECK[3] + +By THEODOR FONTANE + + + + Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck in Havelland-- + A pear-tree in his yard did stand, + And in the golden autumn-tide, + When pears were shining far and wide, + Sir Ribbeck, when barely the bells struck noon, + Would stuff both his pockets with pears right soon. + If a boy in clogs would come his way, + He would call: "My boy, have a pear today?" + To a girl he'd call: "Little maid over there, + Now come here to me, and I'll give you a pear." + And thus he did ever, as years went by, + Till Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck came to die. + He felt his end coming, 'twas autumn-tide, + And the pears were laughing, far and wide, + Then spoke Sir Ribbeck: "And now I must die. + Lay a pear in my grave, beside me to lie!" + From the double-roofed house in three days more, + Sir Ribbeck to his grave they bore. + All the peasants and cotters with solemn face, + Did sing: "Lord Jesus, in Thy Grace"-- + And the children moaned with hearts of lead: + "Who will give us a pear? Now he is dead." + Thus moaned the children--that was not good-- + Not knowing old Ribbeck as they should. + The new, to be sure, is a miser hard; + Over park and pear-tree he keeps stern guard. + But the old, who this doubtless could foretell, + Distrusting his son, he knew right well + What he was about when he bade them lay + A pear in his grave, on his dying day: + + Out of his silent haunt, in the third year, + A little pear-tree shoot did soon appear. + And many a year now comes and goes, + But a pear-tree on the grave there grows, + And in the golden autumn-tide, + The pears are shining far and wide. + When a boy o'er the grave-yard wends his way, + The tree whispers: "Boy, have a pear today?" + To a girl it says: "Little maid over there, + Come here to me and I'll give you a pear." + So there are blessings still from the hand + Of Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck in Havelland. + + +[Footnote 3: Translator: Margarete Münsterberg.] + + +THE BRIDGE BY THE TAY[4] (1879) + +/# +"_When shall we three meet again_".--Macbeth +#/ + + + "When shall we three meet again?" + "The dam of the bridge at seven attain!" + "By the pier in the middle. I'll put out amain + "The flames." + "I too." + "I'll come from the north." + "And I from the south." + "From the sea I'll soar forth." + + "Ha, that will be a merry-go-round, + The bridge must sink into the ground." + "And with the train what shall we do + That crosses the bridge at seven?" + "That too." + "That must go too!" + "A bawble, a naught, + What the hand of man hath wrought!" + + The bridgekeeper's house that stands in the north-- + All windows to the south look forth, + And the inmates there without peace or rest + Are gazing southward with anxious zest; + They gaze and wait a light to spy + That over the water "I'm coming!" should cry, + "I'm coming--night and storm are vain-- + I from Edinburg the train!" + + And the bridgekeeper says: "I see a gleam + On the other shore. That's it, I deem. + Now mother, away with bad dreams, for see, + Our Johnnie is coming--he'll want his tree, + And what is left of candles, light + As if it were on Christmas night. + Twice we shall have our Christmas cheer-- + In eleven minutes he must be here." + + It is the train, with the gale it vies + And panting by the south tower flies. + "There's the bridge still," says Johnnie. "But that's all right, + We'll make it surely out of spite! + A solid boiler and double steam + Should win in such a fight, 'twould seem, + Let it rave and rage and run at its bent, + We'll put it down: this element! + + And our bridge is our pride. I must laugh always + When I think back of the olden days, + And all the trouble and misery + That with the wretched boat would be; + And many cheerful Christmas nights + I spent at the ferryman's house--the lights + From our windows I'd watch and count them o'er, + And could not reach the other shore." + + The bridgekeeper's house that stands in the north-- + All windows to the south look forth, + And the inmates there without peace or rest + Are gazing southward with anxious zest: + More furious grew the winds' wild games, + And now, as if the sky poured flames, + Comes shooting down a radiance bright + O'er the water below.--Now again all is night. + + "When shall we three meet again?" + "At midnight the top of the mountain attain!" + "By the alder-stem on the high moorland plain!" + "I'll come." + "And I too." + "And the number I'll tell." + "And I the names." + "I the torture right well." + "Whoo! + Like splinters the woodwork crashed in two." + "A bawble,--a naught, + What the hand of man hath wrought!" + + +[Footnote 4: Translator: Margarete Münsterberg.] + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics Of The Nineteenth +And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GERMAN CLASSICS, V12 *** + +***** This file should be named 14470-8.txt or 14470-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/4/7/14470/ + +Produced by Stan Goodman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/14470-8.zip b/old/14470-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f236980 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14470-8.zip diff --git a/old/14470.txt b/old/14470.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46c82f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14470.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21073 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And +Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 26, 2004 [EBook #14470] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GERMAN CLASSICS, V12 *** + + + + +Produced by Stan Goodman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + VOLUME XII + + + + GUSTAV FREYTAG + THEODOR FONTANE + + + + [Illustration: FREDERICK THE GREAT PLAYING THE FLUTE + _From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_] + + + + + THE GERMAN CLASSICS + OF + THE NINETEENTH AND + TWENTIETH CENTURY + + + Masterpieces of German Literature + TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH + + + + EDITOR-IN-CHIEF + KUNO FRANCKE, PH.D., LL.D., LITT.D. + Professor of the History of German Culture, + Emeritus, and Honorary Curator of the Germanic Museum, + Harvard University + + + ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF + WILLIAM GUILD HOWARD, A.M. + Professor of German, Harvard University + + + In Twenty Volumes Illustrated + + + + ALBANY, N.Y. + J.B. LYON COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + Copyright 1914 + + + + + + +CONTRIBUTORS AND TRANSLATORS + + + +VOLUME XII + + +Special Writers + + +ERNEST F. HENDERSON, Ph.D., L.H.D., Author of _The History of Germany +in the Middle Ages; Short History of Germany_, etc.: The Life of +Gustav Freytag. + + +WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M., Associate Professor of German, Leland +Stanford Junior University: The Life of Theodor Fontane. + + +Translators + +ERNEST F. HENDERSON, Ph.D., L.H.D., Author of _The History of Germany +in the Middle Ages; Short History of Germany_, etc.: The Journalists. + +WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M., Associate Professor of German, Leland +Stanford Junior University: Effi Briest; Extracts from "My Childhood +Days." + +E.H. BABBITT, A.B., Assistant Professor of German, Tufts College: +Doctor Luther; Frederick the Great. + +MARGARETE MUeNSTERBERG: + +Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck; The Bridge by the Tay. + + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME XII + + + GUSTAV FREYTAG + + The Life of Gustav Freytag. By Ernest F. Henderson + + The Journalists. Translated by Ernest F. Henderson + + Doctor Luther. Translated by E.H. Babbitt + + Frederick the Great. Translated by E.H. Babbitt + + + THEODOR FONTANE + + The Life of Theodor Fontane. By William A. Cooper + + Effi Briest. Translated by William A. Cooper + + Extracts from "My Childhood Days." Translated by William A. Cooper + + Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck. Translated by Margarete Muensterberg + + The Bridge by the Tay. Translated by Margarete Muensterberg + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS--VOLUME XII + +Frederick the Great Playing the Flute. + By Adolph von Menzel. _Frontispiece_ + +Gustav Freytag. By Stauffer-Bern + +At the Concert. By Adolph von Menzel + +Nature Enthusiasts. By Adolph von Menzel + +On the Terrace. By Adolph von Menzel + +In the Beergarden. By Adolph von Menzel + +Lunch Buffet at Kissingen. By Adolph von Menzel + +Luther Monument at Worms. By Ernst Rietschel + +Frederick William I Inspecting a School. By Adolph von Menzel + +Court Ball at Rheinsberg. By Adolph von Menzel + +Frederick the Great and His Round Table. By Adolph von Menzel + +Frederick the Great on a Pleasure Trip. By Adolph von Menzel + +Theodor Fontane. By Hanns Fechner + +Fontane Monument at Neu-Ruppin + +A Sunday in the Garden of the Tuileries. By Adolph von Menzel + +Divine Service in the Woods at Koesen. By Adolph von Menzel + +A Street Scene at Paris. By Adolph von Menzel + +Procession at Gastein. By Adolph von Menzel + +High Altar at Salzburg. By Adolph von Menzel + +Bathing Boys. By Adolph von Menzel + +Frau von Schleinitz "At Home." By Adolph von Menzel + +Supper at a Court Ball. By Adolph von Menzel + + + + + +EDITOR'S NOTE + +This volume, containing representative works by two of the foremost +realists of midcentury German literature, Freytag and Fontane, brings, +as an artistic parallel, selections from the work of the greatest +realist of midcentury German painting: Adolph von Menzel. + +KUNO FRANCKE. + + + + + +THE LIFE OF GUSTAV FREYTAG + + +By ERNEST F. HENDERSON, PH.D., L.H.D. + +Author of _A History of Germany in the Middle Ages; A Short History of +Germany, etc._ + + +It is difficult to assign to Gustav Freytag his exact niche in the +hall of fame, because of his many-sidedness. He wrote one novel of +which the statement has been made by an eminent French critic that no +book in the German language, with the exception of the Bible, has +enjoyed in its day so wide a circulation; he wrote one comedy which +for years was more frequently played than any other on the German +stage; he wrote a series of historical sketches--_Pictures of the +German Past_ he calls them--which hold a unique place in German +literature, being as charming in style as they are sound in +scholarship. Add to these a work on the principles of dramatic +criticism that is referred to with respect by the very latest writers +on the subject, an important biography, a second very successful +novel, and a series of six historical romances that vary in interest, +indeed, but that are a noble monument to his own nation and that, +alone, would have made him famous. + +As a novelist Freytag is often compared with Charles Dickens, largely +on account of the humor that so frequently breaks forth from his +pages. It is a different kind of humor, not so obstreperous, not so +exaggerated, but it helps to lighten the whole in much the same way. +One moment it is an incongruous simile, at another a bit of sly +satire; now infinitely small things are spoken of as though they were +great, and again we have the reverse. + +It is in his famous comedy, _The Journalists_, which appeared in 1853, +that Freytag displays his humor to its best advantage. Some of the +situations themselves, without being farcical, are exceedingly +amusing, as when the Colonel, five minutes after declaiming against +the ambition of journalists and politicians, and enumerating the +different forms under which it is concealed, lets his own ambition run +away with him and is won by the very same arts he has just been +denouncing. Again, Bolz's capture of the wine-merchant Piepenbrink at +the ball given under the auspices of the rival party is very cleverly +described indeed. There is a difference of opinion as to whether or +not Bolz was inventing the whole dramatic story of his rescue by +Oldendorf, but there can be no difference of opinion as to the +comicality of the scene that follows, where, under the very eyes of +his rivals and with the consent of the husband, Bolz prepares to kiss +Mrs. Piepenbrink. The play abounds with curious little bits of satire, +quaint similes and unexpected exaggerations. "There is so much that +happens," says Bolz in his editorial capacity, "and so tremendously +much that does not happen, that an honest reporter should never be at +a loss for novelties." Playing dominoes with polar bears, teaching +seals the rudiments of journalism, waking up as an owl with tufts of +feathers for ears and a mouse in one's beak, are essentially +Freytagian conceptions; and no one else could so well have expressed +Bolz's indifference to further surprises--they may tell him if they +will that some one has left a hundred millions for the purpose of +painting all negroes white, or of making Africa four-cornered; but he, +Bolz, has reached a state of mind where he will accept as truth +anything and everything. + +Freytag's greatest novel, entitled _Soll und Haben_ (the technical +commercial terms for "debit" and "credit"), appeared in 1856. _Dombey +and Son_ by Dickens had been published a few years before and is worth +our attention for a moment because of a similarity of theme in the two +works. In both, the hero is born of the people, but comes in contact +with the aristocracy not altogether to his own advantage; in both, +looming in the background of the story, is the great mercantile house +with its vast and mysterious transactions. The writer of this short +article does not hesitate to place _Debit and Credit_ far ahead of +_Dombey and Son_. That does not mean that there are not single +episodes, and occasionally a character, in _Dombey and Son_ that the +German author could never have achieved. But, considered as an +artistic whole, the English novel is so disjointed and uneven that the +interest often flags and almost dies, while many of the characters are +as grotesque and wooden as so many jumping-jacks. In Freytag's work, +on the other hand, the different parts are firmly knitted together; an +ethical purpose runs through the whole, and there is a careful +subordination of the individual characters to the general plan of the +whole structure. It is much the same contrast as that between an +old-fashioned Italian opera and a modern German tone-drama. In the one +case the effects are made through senseless repetition and through +_tours de force_ of the voice; in the other there is a steady +progression in dramatic intensity, link joining link without a gap. + +But to say that _Debit and Credit_ is a finer book than _Dombey and +Son_ is not to claim that Freytag, all in all, is a greater novelist +than Dickens. The man of a single fine book would have to be +superlatively great to equal one who could show such fertility in +creation of characters or produce such masterpieces of description. +Dickens reaches heights of passion to which Freytag could never +aspire; in fact the latter's temperament strikes one as rather a cool +one. Even Spielhagen, far inferior to him in many regards, could +thrill where Freytag merely interests. + +Freytag's _forte_ lay in fidelity of depiction, in the power to +ascertain and utilize essential facts. It would not be fair to say +that he had little imagination, for in the parts of _The Ancestors_ +that have to do with remote times, times of which our whole knowledge +is gained from a few paragraphs in old chronicles and where the +scenes and incidents have to be invented, he is at his best. But one +of his great merits lies in his evident familiarity with the +localities mentioned in the pages as well as with the social +environment of his personages. The house of T.D. Schroeter in _Debit +and Credit_ had its prototype in the house of Molinari in Breslau, and +at the Molinaris Freytag was a frequent visitor. Indeed in the company +of the head of the firm he even undertook just such a journey to the +Polish provinces in troubled times as he makes Anton take with +Schroeter. Again, the life in the newspaper office, so amusingly +depicted in _The Journalists_, was out of the fulness of his own +experience as editor of a political sheet. A hundred little natural +touches thus add to the realism of the whole and make the figures, as +a German critic says, "stand out like marble statues against a hedge +of yew." The reproach has been made that many of Freytag's characters +are too much alike. He has distinct types which repeat themselves both +in the novels and in the plays. George Saalfeld in _Valentine_, for +instance, is strikingly like Bolz in _The Journalists_ or Fink in +_Debit and Credit_. Freytag's answer to such objections was that an +author, like any other artist, must work from models, which he is not +obliged constantly to change. The feeling for the solidarity of the +arts was very strong with him. He practically abandoned writing for +the stage just after achieving his most noted success and merely for +the reason that in poetic narration, as he called it, he saw the +possibility of being still more dramatic. He felt hampered by the +restrictions which the necessarily limited length of an evening's +performance placed upon him, and wished more time and space for the +explanation of motives and the development of his plot. In his novel, +then, he clung to exactly the same arrangement of his theme as in his +drama--its initial presentation, the intensification of the interest, +the climax, the revulsion, the catastrophe. Again, in the matter of +contrast he deliberately followed the lead of the painter who knows +which colors are complementary and also which ones will clash. + +[Illustration: GUSTAV FREYTAG. STAUFFER-BERN] + +What, now, are some of the special qualities that have made +Freytag's literary work so enduring, so dear to the Teuton heart, so +successful in every sense of the word? For one thing, there are a +clearness, conciseness and elegance of style, joined to a sort of +musical rhythm, that hold one captive from the beginning. So evident +is his meaning in every sentence that his pages suffer less by +translation than is the case with almost any other author. + +Freytag's highly polished sentences seem perfectly spontaneous, though +we know that he went through a long period of rigid training before +achieving success. "For five years," he himself writes, "I had pursued +the secret of dramatic style; like the child in the fairy-tale I had +sought it from the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. At length I had found +it: my soul could create securely and comfortably after the manner +which the stage itself demanded." He had found it, we are given to +understand, in part through the study of the French dramatists of his +own day of whom Scribe was one just then in vogue. From them, says a +critic, he learned "lightness of touch, brevity, conciseness, +directness, the use of little traits as a means of giving insight into +character, different ways of keeping the interest at the proper point +of tension, and a thousand little devices for clearing the stage of +superfluous figures or making needed ones appear at the crucial +moment." Among his tricks of style, if we may call them so, are +inversion and elision; by the one he puts the emphasis just where he +wishes, by the other he hastens the action without sacrificing the +meaning. Another of his weapons is contrast--grave and gay, high and +low succeed each other rapidly, while vice and virtue follow suit. + +No writer ever trained himself for his work more consciously and +consistently. He experimented with each play, watched its effect on +his audiences, asked himself seriously whether their apparent want of +interest in this or that portion was due to some defect in his work or +to their own obtuseness. He had failures, but remarkably few, and they +did not discourage him; nor did momentary success in one field +prevent him from abandoning it for another in which he hoped to +accomplish greater things. He is his own severest critic, and in his +autobiography speaks of certain productions as worthless which are +only relatively wanting in merit. + +Freytag's orderly treatment of his themes affords constant pleasure to +the reader. He proceeds as steadily toward his climax as the builder +does toward the highest point of his roof. He had learned much about +climaxes, so he tells us himself, from Walter Scott, who was the first +to see the importance of a great final or concluding effect. + +We have touched as yet merely on externals. Elegance of style, +orderliness of arrangement, consecutiveness of thought alone would +never have given Freytag his place in German literature. All these had +first to be consecrated to the service of a great idea. That idea as +expressed in _Debit and Credit_ is that the hope of the German nation +rests in its steady commercial or working class. He shows the dignity, +yes, the poetry of labor. The nation had failed to secure the needed +political reforms, to the bitter disappointment of numerous patriots; +Freytag's mission was to teach that there were other things worth +while besides these constitutional liberties of which men had so long +dreamed and for which they had so long struggled. + +Incidentally he holds the decadent noble up to scorn, and shows how he +still clings to his old pretensions while their very basis is +crumbling under him. It is a new and active life that Freytag +advocates, one of toil and of routine, but one that in the end will +give the highest satisfaction. Such ideas were products of the +revolution of 1848, and they found the ground prepared for them by +that upheaval. Freytag, as Fichte had done in 1807 and 1808, +inaugurated a campaign of education which was to prove enormously +successful. A French critic writes of _Debit and Credit_ that it was +"the breviary in which a whole generation of Germans learned to read +and to think," while an English translator (three translations of the +book appeared in England in the same year) calls it the _Uncle Tom's +Cabin_ of the German workingman. A German critic is furious that a +work of such real literary merit should be compared to one so flat and +insipid as Mrs. Stowe's production; but he altogether misses the +point, which is the effect on the people of a spirited defense of +those who had hitherto had no advocate. + +Freytag has been called an opportunist, but the term should not be +considered one of reproach. It certainly was opportune that his great +work appeared at the moment when it was most needed, a moment of +discouragement, of disgust at everything high and low. It brought its +smiling message and remained to cheer and comfort. _The Journalists_, +too, was opportune, for it called attention to a class of men whose +work was as important as it was unappreciated. Up to 1848, the year of +the revolution, the press had been under such strict censorship that +any frank discussion of public matters had been out of the question. +But since then distinguished writers, like Freytag himself, had taken +the helm. Even when not radical, they were dreaded by the +reactionaries, and even Freytag escaped arrest in Prussia only by +hastily becoming a court official of his friend the Duke of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha--within whose domains he already owned an estate +and was in the habit of residing for a portion of each year--and thus +renouncing his Prussian citizenship. Even Freytag's _Pictures from the +German Past_ may be said to have been opportune. Already, for a +generation, the new school of scientific historians--the Rankes, the +Wattenbachs, the Waitzs, the Giesebrechts--had been piling up their +discoveries, and collating and publishing manuscripts describing the +results of their labors. They lived on too high a plane for the +ordinary reader. Freytag did not attempt to "popularize" them by cheap +methods. He served as an interpreter between the two extremes. He +chose a type of facts that would have seemed trivial to the great +pathfinders, worked them up with care from the sources, and by his +literary art made them more than acceptable to the world at large. In +these _Pictures from the German Past_, as in the six volumes of the +series of historical romances entitled _The Ancestors_, a patriotic +purpose was not wanting. Freytag wished to show his Germans that they +had a history to be proud of, a history whose continuity was unbroken; +the nation had been through great vicissitudes, but everything had +tended to prove that the German has an inexhaustible fund of reserve +force. Certain national traits, certain legal institutions, could be +followed back almost to the dawn of history, and it would be found +that the Germans of the first centuries of our era were not nearly so +barbarous as had been supposed. + +And so with a wonderful talent for selecting typical and essential +facts and not overburdening his narrative with detail he leads us down +the ages. The hero of his introductory romance in _The Ancestors_ is a +Vandal chieftain who settles among the Thuringians at the time of the +great wandering of the nations--the hero of the last of the series is +a journalist of the nineteenth century. All are descendants of the one +family, and Freytag has a chance to develop some of his theories of +heredity. Not only can bodily aptitudes and mental peculiarities be +transmitted, but also the tendency to act in a given case much as the +ancestor would have done. + +It cannot be denied that as Freytag proceeds with _The Ancestors_ the +tendency to instruct and inform becomes too marked. He had begun his +career in the world by lecturing on literature at the University of +Breslau, but had severed his connection with that institution because +he was not allowed to branch out into history. Possibly those who +opposed him were right and the two subjects are incapable of +amalgamation. Freytag in this, his last great work, revels in the +fulness of his knowledge of facts, but shows more of the thoroughness +of the scholar than of the imagination of the poet. The novels become +epitomes of the history of the time. No type of character may be +omitted. So popes and emperors, monks and missionaries, German +warriors and Roman warriors, minstrels and students, knights, +crusaders, colonists, landskechts, and mercenaries are dragged in and +made to do their part with all too evident fidelity to truth. + +We owe much of our knowledge of Freytag's life to a charming +autobiography which served as a prefatory volume to his collected +works. Freytag lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1895 at the age of +seventy-nine. Both as a newspaper editor and as a member of parliament +(the former from 1848 to 1860, the latter for the four years from 1867 +to 1871) he had shown his patriotism and his interest in public +affairs. Many of his numerous essays, written for the _Grenzboten_, +are little masterpieces and are to be found among his collected works +published in 1888. As a member of parliament, indeed, he showed no +marked ability and his name is associated with no important measure. + +Not to conceal his shortcoming it must be said that Freytag, at the +time of the accession to the throne of the present head of the German +Empire, laid himself open to much censure by attacking the memory of +the dead Emperor Frederick who had always been his friend and patron. + +In conclusion it may be said that no one claims for Freytag a place in +the front rank of literary geniuses. He is no Goethe, no Schiller, no +Dante, no Milton, no Shakespeare. He is not a pioneer, has not changed +the course of human thought. But yet he is an artist of whom his +country may well be proud, who has added to the happiness of hundreds +of thousands of Germans, and who only needs to be better understood to +be thoroughly enjoyed by foreigners. + +England and America have much to learn from him--the value of long, +careful, and unremitting study; the advantage of being thoroughly +familiar with the scenes and types of character depicted; the charm of +an almost unequaled simplicity and directness. He possessed the rare +gift of being able to envelop every topic that he touched with an +atmosphere of elegance and distinction. His productions are not +ephemeral, but are of the kind that will endure. + + * * * * * + + + + +_GUSTAV FREYTAG_ + + + + + * * * * * + +#THE JOURNALISTS# + + + + DRAMATIS PERSONAE + + BERG, _retired Colonel_. + + IDA, _his daughter_. + + ADELAIDE RUNECK. + + SENDEN, _landed proprietor_. + _ + PROFESSOR OLDENDORF, _editor-in-chief_. | + | + CONRAD BOLZ, _editor_. | + | + BELLMAUS, _on the staff._. | + | + KAeMPE, _on the staff_. } of the newspaper + | _The Union_. + KOeRNER, _on the staff_. | + | + PRINTER HENNING, _owner_. | + | + MILLER, _factotum_. _| + + _ + BLUMENBERG, _editor_. | + } of the newspaper + SCHMOCK, _on the staff_. _| _Coriolanus_. + + + + PIEPENBRINK, _wine merchant and voter_. + + LOTTIE, _his wife_. + + BERTHA, _their daughter_. + + KLEINMICHEL _citizen and voter_. + + FRITZ, _his son_. + + JUDGE SCHWARZ. + + _A foreign ballet-dancer._ + + KORB, _secretary for Adelaide's estate_. + + CARL, _the Colonel's man-servant._ + + _A waiter._ + + _Club-guests._ _Deputations of citizens_. + + + +_Place of action: A provincial capital._ + + +THE JOURNALISTS[1] (1853) + +TRANSLATED BY ERNEST F. HENDERSON, PH.D., L.H.D. + + + + +ACT I + + +SCENE I + + +_A summer parlor in the_ COLONEL'S _house. Handsome furnishings. In +the centre of rear wall an open door, behind it a verandah and garden; +on the sides of rear wall large windows. Right and left, doors; on the +right, well in front, a window. Tables, chairs, a small sofa_. + +IDA _is sitting in front on the right reading a book. The_ COLONEL +_enters through centre door with an open box in his hand in which are +dahlias_. + +COLONEL. + +Here, Ida, are the new varieties of dahlias our gardener has grown. +You'll have to rack your brains to find names for them. Day after +tomorrow is the Horticultural Society meeting, when I am to exhibit +and christen them. + +IDA. + +This light-colored one here should be called the "Adelaide." + +COLONEL. + +Adelaide Buneck, of course. Your own name is out of the running, for +as a little dahlia you have long been known to the flower-trade. + +IDA. + +One shall be called after your favorite writer, "Boz." + +COLONEL. + +Splendid! And it must be a really fine one, this yellow one here with +violet points. And the third one--how shall we christen that? + +IDA (_stretching out her hand entreatingly to her father_). + +"Edward Oldendorf." + +COLONEL. + +What! The professor? The editor? Oh no, that will not do! It was bad +enough for him to take over the paper; but that he now has allowed +himself to be led by his party into running for Parliament--that I can +never forgive him. + +IDA. + +Here he comes himself. + +COLONEL (_aside_). + +It used to be a pleasure to me to hear his footstep; now I can hardly +keep from being rude when I see him. + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF. + +OLDENDORF. + +Good morning, Colonel! + +IDA (_with a friendly greeting_). + +Good morning, Edward. Help me to admire the new dahlias that father +has grown. + +COLONEL. + +But do not trouble the professor. Such trifles no longer interest him; +he has bigger things in his head. + +OLDENDORF. + +At all events I have not lost my ability to enjoy what gives you +pleasure. + +COLONEL (_grumbling to himself_). + +You have not given me much proof of that. I fear you take pleasure in +doing the very things that vex me. You are doubtless quite busy now +with your election, Mr. Future Member of Parliament! + +OLDENDORF. + +You know, Colonel, that I myself have less than any one else to do +with it. + +COLONEL. + +Oh, I don't believe that! It is the usual custom in such elections, I +imagine, to pay court to influential persons and shake hands with the +voters, to make speeches, scatter promises, and do all the other +little devil's tricks. + +OLDENDORF. + +You yourself do not believe, Colonel, that I would do anything +discreditable? + +COLONEL. + +Not? I am not so sure, Oldendorf. Since you have turned journalist, +edit your _Union_ and daily reproach the State with its faulty +organization, you are no longer what you used to be. + +OLDENDORF (_who up to this point has been conversing with_ IDA _about +the flowers, but now turns to the_ COLONEL). + +Does what I now say or write conflict with my former views? It would +be hard to convince me of that. And still less can you have noticed +any change in my feelings or in my conduct toward you. + +COLONEL (_obdurate_). + +Well, I don't see what reason you would have for that. I am not going +to spoil my morning by quarreling. Ida may try to straighten things +out with you. I am going to my flowers. [_Takes the box and exit +toward the garden._] + +OLDENDORF. + +What has put your father in such a bad humor? Has something in the +newspaper vexed him again? + +IDA. + +I do not think so. But it annoys him that now in politics you again +find it necessary to advocate measures he detests and attack +institutions he reveres. (_Shyly._) Edward, is it really impossible +for you to withdraw from the election? + +OLDENDORF. + +It is impossible. + +IDA. + +I should then have you here, and father could regain his good humor; +for he would highly appreciate the sacrifice you were making for him, +and we could look forward to a future as peaceful as our past has +been. + +OLDENDORF. + +I know that, Ida, and I feel anything but pleasure at the prospect of +becoming member for this town; yet I cannot withdraw. + +IDA (_turning away_). + +Father is right. You have changed entirely since becoming editor of +the paper. + +OLDENDORF. + +Ida! You too! If this is going to cause discord between us I shall +indeed feel badly. + +IDA. + +Dear Edward! I am only grieving at losing you for so long. + +OLDENDORF. + +I am not yet elected. If I do become member and can have my way, I +will take you to the capital and never let you leave my side again. + +IDA. + +Ah, Edward, we can't think of that now! But do spare father. + +OLDENDORF. + +You know how much I stand from him; and I don't give up hope of his +becoming reconciled to me. The election once over, I will make another +appeal to his heart. I may wrest from him a favorable answer that will +mean our marriage. + +IDA. + +But do humor his little foibles. He is in the garden near his dahlia +bed; express your delight over the gay colors. If you go at it +skilfully enough perhaps he may still call one the "Edward Oldendorf." +We have been talking of it already. Come! [_Exeunt both._] + +_Enter_ SENDEN, BLUMENBERG, CARL, SCHMOCK. + +SENDEN (_entering_). + +Is the Colonel alone? + +CARL. + +Professor Oldendorf is with him. + +SENDEN. + +Take in our names. [_Exit_ CARL.] This everlasting Oldendorf! I say, +Blumenberg, this connection of the old gentleman with the _Union_ must +stop. We cannot really call him one of us so long as the professor +frequents this house. We need the Colonel's influential personality. + +BLUMENBERG. + +It is the best-known house in town--the best society, good wine, and +art. + +SENDEN. + +I have my private reasons, too, for bringing the Colonel over to our +side. And everywhere the professor and his clique block our way. + +BLUMENBERG. + +The friendship shall cease. I promise you that it shall cease, +gradually, within the next few weeks. The first step has already been +taken. The gentlemen of the _Union_ have fallen into the trap. + +SENDEN. + +Into what trap? + +BLUMENBERG. + +The one I set for them in our paper. [_Turning upon_ SCHMOCK _who is +standing in the doorway._] Why do you stand here, Schmock? Can't you +wait at the gate? + +SCHMOCK. + +I went where you did. Why should I not stand here? I know the Colonel +as well as you do. + +BLUMENBERG. + +Don't be forward and don't be impudent. Go and wait at the gate, and +when I bring you the article, quickly run with it to the +press--understand? + +SCHMOCK. + +How can I help understanding when you croak like a raven? + +[_EXIT_.] + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann, A -G, Munich_ +AT THE CONCERT ADOLPH VON MENZEL.] + +BLUMENBERG (_to_ SENDEN). + +He is a vulgar person, but he is useful! Now that we are alone, +listen! The other day when you brought me to call here, I begged the +Colonel just to write down his ideas on the questions of the day. + +SENDEN. + +Yes, alas! You piled on the flattery much too thick, but the old +gentleman did, nevertheless, at last take fire. + +BLUMENBERG. + +We begged him to read to us what he had written; he read it to us, we +praised it. + +SENDEN. + +It was very tiresome all the same. + +BLUMENBERG. + +I begged it of him for our paper. + +SENDEN. + +Yes, unfortunately! And now I must carry these bulky things to your +press. These articles are too heavy; they won't do the _Coriolanus_ +any good. + +BLUMENBERG. + +Yet I printed them gladly. When a man has written for a paper he +becomes a good friend of that paper. The Colonel at once subscribed +for the _Coriolanus_, and, the next day, invited me to dinner. + +SENDEN (_shrugging his shoulders_). + +If that is all you gain by it! + +BLUMENBERG. + +It is merely the beginning.--The articles are clumsy; why should I not +say so? + +SENDEN. + +God knows they are! + +BLUMENBERG. + +And no one knows who the author is. + +SENDEN. + +That was the old gentleman's stipulation. I imagine he is afraid of +Oldendorf. + +BLUMENBERG. + +And precisely what I anticipated has come to pass. Oldendorf's paper +has today attacked these articles. Here is the latest issue of the +_Union_. + +SENDEN. + +Let me look at it. Well, that will be a fine mix-up! Is the attack +insulting? + +BLUMENBERG. + +The Colonel will be sure to consider it so. Don't you think that that +will help us against the professor? + +SENDEN. + +Upon my honor you are the slyest devil that ever crept out of an +inkstand! + +BLUMENBERG. + +Give it to me, the Colonel is coming. _Enter the_ COLONEL. + +COLONEL. + +Good morning, gentlemen!--[_aside_] and that Oldendorf should just +happen to be here! If only he will remain in the garden! Well, Mr. +Editor, how is the _Coriolanus_? + +BLUMENBERG. + +Our readers admire the new articles marked with an arrow. Is there any +chance that some more-- + +COLONEL (_drawing a manuscript from his pocket and looking round_). + +I rely on your discretion. As a matter of fact I wanted to read it +through again on account of the structure of the sentences. + +BLUMENBERG. + +That can best be done in the proof-reading. + +COLONEL. + +I think it will do. Take it; but not a word-- + +BLUMENBERG. + +You will let me send it at once to press. [_At the door._] Schmock! + +[SCHMOCK _appears at the door, takes the manuscript and exit +quickly._] + +SENDEN. + +Blumenberg is keeping the sheet up to the mark, but, as he has +enemies, he has to fight hard to defend himself. + +COLONEL (_amused_). + +Enemies? Who does not have them? But journalists have nerves like +women. Everything excites you; every word that any one says against +you rouses your indignation! Oh come, you are sensitive people! + +BLUMENBERG. + +Possibly you are right, Colonel. But when one has opponents like this +_Union_-- + +COLONEL. + +Oh, yes, the _Union_. It is a thorn in the flesh to both of you. There +is a great deal in it that I cannot praise; but, really when it comes +to sounding an alarm, attacking, and pitching in, it is cleverer than +your paper. The articles are witty; even when they are on the wrong +side one cannot help laughing at them. + +BLUMENBERG. + +Not always. In today's attack on the best articles the +_Coriolanus_ has published in a long time I see no wit at all. + +COLONEL. + +Attack on what articles? + +BLUMENBERG. + +On yours, Colonel. I must have the paper somewhere about +me. + +[_Searches, and gives him a copy of the Union._] + +COLONEL. + +Oldendorf's paper attacks my articles! [_Reads._] "We regret +such lack of knowledge--" + +BLUMENBERG. + +And here-- + +COLONEL. + +"It is an unpardonable piece of presumption"--What! I am +presumptuous? + +BLUMENBERG. + +And here-- + +COLONEL. + +"One may be in doubt as to whether the naivete of the +contributor is comical or tragical, but at all events he has no right +to join in the discussion"--[_Throwing down the paper._] Oh, that is +contemptible! It is a low trick! + +_Enter_ IDA _and_ OLDENDORF _from the garden._ + +SENDEN (_aside_). + +Now comes the cloud-burst! + +COLONEL. + +Professor, your newspaper is making progress. To bad principles is now +added something else--baseness. + +IDA (_frightened_). + +Father! + +OLDENDORF (_coming forward_). + +Colonel, how can you justify this insulting expression? + +COLONEL (_holding out the paper to him_). + +Look here! That stands in your paper! In your paper, Oldendorf! + +OLDENDORF. + +The tone of the attack is not quite as calm as I could have wished-- + +COLONEL. + +Not quite so calm? Not really? + +OLDENDORF. + +In substance the attack is justified. + +COLONEL. + +Sir! You dare say that to me! + +IDA. + +Father! + +OLDENDORF. + +Colonel, I do not comprehend this attitude, and I beg you to consider +that we are speaking before witnesses. + +COLONEL. + +Do not ask for any consideration. It would have been your place to +show consideration for the man whose friendship you are otherwise so +ready to claim. + +OLDENDORF. + +But, first of all, tell me frankly what is your own connection with +the articles attacked in the _Coriolanus_? + +COLONEL. + +A very chance connection, too insignificant in your eyes to deserve +your regard. The articles are by me! + +IDA. + +Heavens! + +OLDENDORF (_vehemently_). + +By you? Articles in the paper of this gentleman? + +IDA (_entreating him_). + +Edward! + +OLDENDORF (_more calmly_). + +The _Union_ has attacked not you but an unknown person, who to us was +merely a partisan of this gentleman. You would have spared us both +this painful scene had you not concealed from me the fact that you are +a correspondent of the _Coriolanus_. + +COLONEL. + +You will have to stand my continuing not to make you a confidant of my +actions. You have here given me a printed proof of your friendship, +which does not make me long for other proofs. + +OLDENDORF (_taking up his hat_). + +I can only say that I deeply regret the occurrence, but do not feel +myself in the least to blame. I hope, Colonel, that, when you think +the matter over calmly, you will come to the same conclusion. Good-by, +Miss Ida. Good day to you. + +[_Exit as far as centre door._] + +IDA (_entreating_). + +Father, don't let him leave us that way! + +COLONEL. + +It is better than to have him stay. + +_Enter_ ADELAIDE. + +ADELAIDE (_entering in elegant traveling costume, meets_ OLDENDORF _at +the door_). + +Not so fast, Professor! + +[OLDENDORF _kisses her hand and leaves._] + + + IDA. }(_together_ Adelaide! [_Falls into her arms._]). + COLONEL. } Adelaide! And at such a moment! + + +ADELAIDE (_holding_ IDA _fast and stretching out her hand to the_ +COLONEL). + +Shake hands with your compatriot. Aunt sends love, and Rosenau Manor, +in its brown autumn dress, presents its humble compliments. The +fields lie bare, and in the garden the withered leaves dance with the +wind.--Ah, Mr. von Senden! + +COLONEL (_introducing_). + +Mr. Blumenberg, the editor. + +SENDEN. + +We are delighted to welcome our zealous agriculturist to the city. + +ADELAIDE. + +And we should have been pleased occasionally to meet our neighbor in +the country. + +COLONEL. + +He has a great deal to do here. He is a great politician, and works +hard for the good cause. + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, indeed, we read of his doings in the newspaper. I drove through +your fields yesterday. Your potatoes are not all in yet. Your steward +didn't get through with the work. + +SENDEN. + +You Rosenau people are privileged to get through a week earlier than +any one else. + +ADELAIDE. + +On the other hand, we have nothing to do but to farm. (_Amicably._) +The neighbors send greetings. + +SENDEN. + +Thank you. We must relinquish you now to friends who have more claim +on you than we have. But will you not receive me in the course of the +day so that I can ask for the news from home? [ADELAIDE _inclines her +head._] + +SENDEN. + +Good-by, Colonel. (_To_ IDA.) My respectful compliments, Miss Berg. + +[_Exit together with_ BLUMENBERG.] + +IDA (_embracing_ ADELAIDE). + +I have you at last. Now everything will be all right! + +ADELAIDE. + +What is to be all right? Is anything not all right? Back there some +one passed me more quickly than usual, and here I see glistening eyes +and a furrowed brow. [_Kisses her on the eyes._] They shall not ruin +your pretty eyes. And you, honored friend, turn a more friendly +countenance to me. + +COLONEL. + +You must stay with us all winter; it will be the first you have given +us in a long time; we shall try to deserve such a favor. + +ADELAIDE (_seriously_). + +It is the first one since my father's death that I have cared to +mingle with the world again. Besides, I have business that calls me +here. You know I came of age this summer, and my legal friend, Judge +Schwarz, requires my presence. Listen, Ida, the servants are +unpacking, go and see that things are properly put away. (_Aside._) +And put a damp cloth over your eyes for people can see that you have +been crying. [_Exit_ IDA _to the right._ ADELAIDE _quickly goes up to +the_ COLONEL.] What is the matter with Ida and the professor? + +COLONEL. + +That would be a long story. I shall not spoil my pleasure with it now. +We men are at odds; our views are too opposed. + +ADELAIDE. + +But were not your views opposed before this, too? And yet you were on +such good terms with Oldendorf! + +COLONEL. + +They were not so extremely opposed as now. + +ADELAIDE. + +And which of you has changed his views? + +COLONEL. + +H'm! Why, he, of course. He is led astray in great part by his evil +companions. There are some men, journalists on his paper, and +especially there is a certain Bolz. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +What's this I hear? + +COLONEL. + +But probably you know him yourself. Why, he comes from your +neighborhood. + +ADELAIDE. + +He is a Rosenau boy. + +COLONEL. + +I remember. Your father, the good old general, could not endure him. + +ADELAIDE. + +At least he sometimes said so. + +COLONEL. + +Since then this Bolz has become queer. His mode of life is said to be +irregular, and I fear his morals are pretty loose. He is Oldendorf's +evil genius. + +ADELAIDE. + +That would be a pity!--No, I do not believe it! + +COLONEL. What do you not believe, Adelaide? + +ADELAIDE (_smiling_). + +I do not believe in evil geniuses. What has gone wrong between you and +Oldendorf can be set right again. Enemies today, friends +tomorrow--that is the way in politics; but Ida's feelings will not +change so quickly. Colonel, I have brought with me a beautiful design +for a dress. That new dress I mean to wear this winter as bridesmaid. + +COLONEL. + +No chance of it! You can't catch me that way, girl. I'll carry the war +into the enemy's country. Why do you drive other people to the altar +and let your own whole neighborhood joke you about being the Sleeping +Beauty and the virgin farmer? + +ADELAIDE (_laughing_). + +Well, so they do. + +COLONEL. + +The richest heiress in the whole district! Courted by a host of +adorers, yet so firmly intrenched against all sentiment; no one can +comprehend it. + +ADELAIDE. + +My dear Colonel, if our young gentlemen were as lovable as certain +older ones--but, alas! they are not. + +COLONEL. + +You shan't escape me. We shall hold you fast in town, until we find +one among our young men whom you will deem worthy to be enrolled under +your command. For whoever be your chosen husband, he will have the +same experience I have had--namely, that, first or last, he will have +to do your bidding. + +ADELAIDE (_quickly_). + +Will you do my bidding with regard to Ida and the professor? Now I +have you! + +COLONEL. + +Will you do me the favor of choosing your husband this winter while +you are with us? Yes? Now I have _you_! + +ADELAIDE. + +It's a bargain! Shake hands! [_Holds out her hand to him._] + +COLONEL (_puts his hand in hers, laughing_). + +Well, you're outwitted. + +[_Exit through centre door._] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +I don't think I am. What, Mr. Conrad Bolz! Is that your reputation +among people! You live an irregular life? You have loose morals? You +are an evil genius?-- + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB (_through the centre door with a package_). + +Where shall I put the account-books and the papers, Miss Adelaide? + +ADELAIDE. + +In my apartment. Tell me, dear Korb, did you find your room here in +order? + +KORB. + +In the finest order. The servant has given me two wax candles; it is +pure extravagance. + +ADELAIDE. + +You need not touch a pen for me this whole day. I want you to see the +town and look up your acquaintances. You have acquaintances here, I +suppose? + +KORB. + +Not very many. It is more than a year since I was last here. + +ADELAIDE (_indifferently_). + +But are there no people from Rosenau here? + +KORB. + +Among the soldiers are four from the village. There is John Lutz of +Schimmellutz-- + +ADELAIDE. + +I know. Have you no other acquaintance here from the village? + +KORB. + +None at all, except him, of course-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Except him? Whom do you mean? + +KORB. + +Why, our Mr. Conrad. + +ADELAIDE. + +Oh, to be sure! Are you not going to visit him? I thought you had +always been good friends. + +KORB. + +Going to visit him? That is the first place I am going to. I have been +looking forward to it during the whole journey. He is a faithful soul +of whom the village has a right to be proud. + +ADELAIDE (_warmly_). + +Yes, he has a faithful heart. + +KORB (_eagerly_). + +Ever merry, ever friendly, and so attached to the village! Poor man, +it is a long time since he was there! + +ADELAIDE. + +Don't speak of it! + +KORB. + +He will ask me about everything--about the farming-- + +ADELAIDE (_eagerly_). + +And about the horses. The old sorrel he was so fond of riding is still +alive. KORB. And about the shrubs he planted with you. + +ADELAIDE. + +Especially about the lilac-bush where my arbor now stands. Be sure you +tell him about that. + +KORB. + +And about the pond. Three hundred and sixty carp! + +ADELAIDE. + +And sixty gold-tench; don't forget that. And the old carp with the +copper ring about his body, that he put there, came out with the last +haul, and we threw him back again. + +KORB. + +And how he will ask about you, Miss Adelaide! + +ADELAIDE. + +Tell him I am well. + +KORB. + +And how you have carried on the farming since the general died; and +that you take his newspaper which I read aloud to the farm-hands +afterward. + +ADELAIDE. + +Just that you need not tell him. [_Sighing, aside._] On these lines I +shall learn nothing whatever. [_Pause, gravely._] See here, dear Korb, +I have heard all sorts of things about Mr. Bolz that surprise me. He +is said to live an irregular life. + +KORB. + +Yes, I imagine he does; he always was a wild colt. + +ADELAIDE. + +He is said to spend more than his income. + +KORB. + +Yes, that is quite possible. But I am perfectly sure he spends it +merrily. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Small consolation I shall get from him! (_Indifferently._) He has now +a good position, I suppose; won't he soon be looking for a wife? + +KORB. + +A wife? No, he is not doing that. It is impossible. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well, I heard something of the kind; at least he is said to be much +interested in a young lady. People are talking of it. + +KORB. + +Why, that would be--no, I don't believe it. (_Hastily._) But I'll ask +him about it at once. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well, he would be the last person to tell you. One learns such things +from a man's friends and acquaintances. The village people ought to +know it, I suppose, if a Rosenau man marries. + +KORB. + +Of course they should. I must get at the truth of that. + +ADELAIDE. + +You would have to go about it the right way. You know how crafty he +is. + +KORB. + +Oh, I'll get round him all right. I'll find some way. + +ADELAIDE. + +Go, dear Korb! [_Exit_ KORB.] Those were sad tidings with which the +Colonel met me. Conrad--immoral, unworthy? It is impossible! A noble +character cannot change to that extent. I do not believe one word of +what they say! + +[_EXIT_.] + + +SCENE II + + +_Editorial room of the "Union." Doors in the centre and on both sides. +On the left, in the foreground, a desk with newspapers and documents. +On the right, a similar, smaller table. Chairs._ + +_Enter_ BOLZ, _through the side door on the right, then_ MILLER +_through the centre door._ + +BOLZ (_eagerly_). + +Miller! Factotum! Where is the mail? + +MILLER (_nimbly with a package of letters and newspapers_). + +Here is the mail, Mr. Bolz; and here, from the press, is the +proof-sheet of this evening's issue to be corrected. + +BOLZ (_at the table on the left quickly opening, looking through, and +marking letters with a pencil_). + +I have already corrected the proof, old rascal! + +MILLER. + +Not quite. Down here is still the "Miscellaneous" which Mr. Bellmaus +gave the type-setters. + +BOLZ. + +Let us have it! + +[_Reads in the newspaper._] + +"Washing stolen from the yard"--"Triplets +born"--"Concert"--"Concert"--"Meeting of an +Association"--"Theatre"--all in order--"Newly invented engine"--"The +great sea-serpent spied." + +[_Jumping up._] + +What the deuce is this? Is he bringing up the old sea-serpent again? +It ought to be cooked into a jelly for him, and he be made to eat it +cold. + +[_Hurries to the door on the right._] + +Bellmaus, monster, come out! + +_Enter_ BELLMAUS. + +BELLMAUS (_from the right, pen in hand_). + +What is the matter! Why all this noise? + +BOLZ (_solemnly_). + +Bellmaus, when we did you the honor of intrusting you with the odds +and ends for this newspaper, we never expected you to bring the +everlasting great sea-serpent writhing through the columns of our +journal!--How could you put in that worn-out old lie? + +BELLMAUS. + +It just fitted. There were exactly six lines left. + +BOLZ. + +That is an excuse, but not a good one. Invent your own stories. What +are you a journalist for? Make a little "Communication," an +observation, for instance, on human life in general, or something +about dogs running around loose in the streets; or choose a +bloodcurdling story such as a murder out of politeness, or how a +woodchuck bit seven sleeping children, or something of that kind. So +infinitely much happens, and so infinitely much does not happen, that +an honest newspaper man ought never to be without news. + +BELLMAUS. + +Give it here, I will change it. + +[_Goes to the table, looks into a printed sheet, cuts a clipping from +it with large shears, and pastes it on the copy of the newspaper._] + +BOLZ. + +That's right, my son, so do, and mend thy ways. + +[_Opening the door on the right._] + +Kaempe, can you come in a moment? (_To_ MILLER, _who is waiting at the +door._) Take that proof straight to the press! + +[MILLER _takes the sheet from_ BELLMAUS _and hurries off._] + +_Enter_ KAeMPE. + +KAeMPE. + +But I can't write anything decent while you are making such a noise. + +BOLZ. + +You can't? What have you just written, then? At most, I imagine, a +letter to a ballet-dancer or an order to your tailor. + +BELLMAUS. + +No, he writes tender letters. He is seriously in love, for he took me +walking in the moonlight yesterday and scorned the idea of a drink. + +KAeMPE (_who has seated himself comfortably_). + +Gentlemen, it is unfair to call a man away from his work for the sake +of making such poor jokes. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, yes, he evidently slanders you when he maintains that you love +anything else but your new boots and to some small degree your own +person. You yourself are a love-spurting nature, little Bellmaus. You +glow like a fusee whenever you see a young lady. Spluttering and smoky +you hover around her, and yet don't dare even to address her. But we +must be lenient with him; his shyness is to blame. He blushes in +woman's presence, and is still capable of lovely emotions, for he +started out to be a lyric poet. + +BELLMAUS. + +I don't care to be continually reproached with my poems. Did I ever +read them to you? + +BOLZ. + +No, thank Heaven, that audacity you never had. (_Seriously._) But, +now, gentlemen, to business. Today's number is ready. Oldendorf is not +yet here, but meanwhile, let us hold a confidential session. Oldendorf +_must_ be chosen deputy from this town to the next Parliament; our +party and the _Union must_ put that through. How does our stock stand +today? + +KAeMPE. + +Remarkably high. Our opponents agree that no other candidate would be +so dangerous for them, and our friends everywhere are most hopeful. +But you know how little that may signify. Here is the list of the +voters. Our election committee sends word to you that our calculations +were correct. Of the hundred voters from our town, forty surely ours. +About an equal number are pledged to the other party; the remnant of +some twenty votes are undecided. It is clear that the election will +be determined by a very small majority. + +BOLZ. + +Of course we shall have that majority--a majority of from eight to ten +votes. Just say that, everywhere, with the greatest assuredness. Many +a one who is still undecided will come over to us on hearing that we +are the stronger. Where is the list of our uncertain voters? [_Looks +it over._] + +KAeMPE. + +I have placed a mark wherever our friends think some influence might +be exerted. + +BOLZ. + +I see two crosses opposite one name; what do they signify? + +KAeMPE. + +That is Piepenbrink, the wine-dealer Piepenbrink. He has a large +following in his district, is a well-to-do man, and, they say, can +command five or six votes among his adherents. + +BOLZ. + +Him we must have. What sort of a man is he? + +KAeMPE. + +He is very blunt, they say, and no politician at all. + +BELLMAUS. + +But he has a pretty daughter. + +KAeMPE. + +What's the use of his pretty daughter? I'd rather he had an ugly +wife--one could get at him more easily. + +BELLMAUS. + +Yes, but he has one--a lady with little curls and fiery red ribbons +in her cap. + +BOLZ. + +Wife or no wife, the man must be ours. Hush, some one is coming; that +is Oldendorf's step. He needn't know anything of our conference. Go to +your room, gentlemen. To be continued this evening. + +KAeMPE (_at the door_). + +It is still agreed, I suppose, that in the next number I resume the +attack on the new correspondent of the _Coriolanus_, the one with the +arrow. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, indeed. Pitch into him, decently but hard. Just now, on the eve +of the election, a little row with our opponents will do us good; and +the articles with the arrow give us a great opening. + +[_Exeunt_ KAeMPE _and_ BELLMAUS.] + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF _through centre door._ + +OLDENDORF. + +Good-day, Conrad. + +BOLZ (_at the table on the right, looking over the list of voters_). + +Blessed be thy coming! The mail is over there; there is nothing of +importance. + +OLDENDORF. + +Do you need me here today? + +BOLZ. + +No, my darling. This evening's issue is ready. For tomorrow Kaempe is +writing the leading article. + +OLDENDORF. + +About what? + +BOLZ. + +A little skirmish with the _Coriolanus_. Another one against the +unknown correspondent with the arrow who attacked our party. But do +not worry; I told Kaempe to make the article dignified, very dignified. + +OLDENDORF. + +For Heaven's sake, don't! The article must not be written. + +BOLZ. + +I fail to comprehend you. What use are political opponents if you +cannot attack them? + +OLDENDORF. + +Now see here! These articles were written by the Colonel; he told me +so himself today. + +BOLZ. + +Thunder and lightning! + +OLDENDORF (_gloomily_). + +You may imagine that along with this admission went other intimations +which place me just now in a very uncomfortable position as regards +the Colonel and his family. + +BOLZ (_seriously_). + +And what does the Colonel want you to do? + +OLDENDORF. + +He will be reconciled to me if I resign the editorship of this paper +and withdraw as candidate for election. + +BOLZ. + +The devil! He is moderate in his demands! + +OLDENDORF. + +I suffer under this discord; to you, as my friend, I can say so. + +BOLZ (_going up to him and pressing his hand_). + +Solemn moment of manly emotion! + +OLDENDORF. + +Don't play the clown just now. You can imagine how unpleasant my +position in the Colonel's house has become. The worthy old gentleman +either frigid or violent; the conversation spiced with bitter +allusions; Ida suffering--I can often see that she has been crying. If +our party wins and I become member for the town, I fear I shall lose +all hope of marrying Ida. + +BOLZ (_vehemently_). + +And if you withdraw it will be a serious blow to our party. (_Rapidly +and emphatically._) The coming session of Parliament will determine +the fate of the country. The parties are almost equal. Every loss is a +blow of a vote to our cause. In this town we have no other candidate +but you, who is sufficiently popular to make his election probable. If +you withdraw from the contest, no matter what the reason, our +opponents win. + +OLDENDORF. + +Unfortunately what you say is true. + +BOLZ (_with continued vehemence_). + +I won't dwell on my confidence in your talents. I am convinced that, +in the House, and, possibly, as one of the ministers, you will be of +service to your country. I merely ask you, now, to remember your duty +to our political friends, who have pinned their faith on you, and to +this paper and ourselves, who for three years have worked for the +credit of the name of Oldendorf which heads our front page. Your honor +is at stake, and every moment of wavering is wrong. + +OLDENDORF (_dignified_). + +You are exciting yourself without reason. I too deem it wrong to +retire now when I am told that our cause needs me. But in confessing +to you, my friend, that my decision means a great personal sacrifice, +I am not compromising either our cause or ourselves as individuals. + +BOLZ (_soothingly_). + +Right you are! You are a loyal comrade. And so peace, friendship, +courage! Your old Colonel won't be inexorable. + +OLDENDORF. + +He has grown intimate with Senden, who flatters him in every way, and +has plans, I fear, which affect me also. I should feel still more +worried but for knowing that I have now a good advocate in the +Colonel's house. Adelaide Runeck has just arrived. + +BOLZ. + +Adelaide Runeck? She into the bargain! (_Quickly calling through the +door on the right._) Kaempe, the article against the knight of the +arrow is not to be written. Understand? + +_Enter_ KAeMPE. + +KAeMPE (_at the door, pen in hand_). + +But what is to be written, then? + +BOLZ. + +The devil only knows! See here! Perhaps I can induce Oldendorf to +write the leading article for tomorrow himself. But at all events you +must have something on hand. + +KAeMPE. + +But what? + +BOLZ (_excitedly_). + +For all I care write about emigration to Australia; that, at any rate, +will give no offense. + +KAeMPE. + +Good! Am I to encourage it or advise against it? + +BOLZ (_quickly_). + +Advise against it, of course; we need every one who is willing to work +here at home. Depict Australia as a contemptible hole. Be perfectly +truthful but make it as black as possible--how the Kangaroo, balled +into a heap, springs with invincible malice at the settler's head, +while the duckbill nips at the back of his legs; how the gold-seeker +has, in winter, to stand up to his neck in salt water while for three +months in summer he has not a drop to drink; how he may live through +all that only to be eaten up at last by thievish natives. Make it very +vivid and end up with the latest market prices for Australian wool +from the _Times_. You'll find what books you need in the library. +[_Slams the door to._] + +OLDENDORF (_at the table_). + +Do you know Miss Runeck? She often inquires about you in her letters +to Ida. + +BOLZ. + +Indeed? Yes, to be sure, I know her. We are from the same village--she +from the manor-house, I from the parsonage. My father taught us +together. Oh, yes, I know her! + +OLDENDORF. + +How comes it that you have drifted so far apart? You never speak of +her. + +BOLZ. + +H'm! It is an old story--family quarrels, Montagues and Capulets. I +have not seen her for a long time. + +OLDENDORF (_smiling_). + +I hope that you too were not estranged by politics. + +BOLZ. + +Politics did, indeed, have something to do with our separation; you +see it is the common misfortune that party life destroys friendship. + +OLDENDORF. + +Sad to relate! In religion any educated man will tolerate the +convictions of another; but in politics we treat each other like +reprobates if there be the slightest shade of difference of opinion +between us. + +BOLZ (_aside_). + +Matter for our next article! (_Aloud._) "The slightest shade of +difference of opinion between us." Just what I think! We must have +that in our paper! (_Entreating)_. Look! A nice little virtuous +article: "An admonition to our voters--Respect our opponents, for they +are, after all, our brothers!" (_Urging him more and more._) +Oldendorf, that would be something for you--there is virtue and +humanity in the theme; writing will divert you, and you owe the paper +an article because you forbade the feud. Please do me the favor! Go +into the back room there and write. No one shall disturb you. + +OLDENDORF (_smiling_). + +You are just a vulgar intriguer! + +BOLZ (_forcing him from his chair_). + +Please, you'll find ink and paper there. Come, deary, come! [_He +accompanies him to the door on the left. Exit_ OLDENDORF. BOLZ +_calling after him._] Will you have a cigar? An old Henry Clay? +[_Draws a cigar-case from his pocket._] No? Don't make it too short; +it is to be the principal article! [_He shuts the door, calls through +the door on the right._] The professor is writing the article himself. +See that nobody disturbs him! [_Coming to the front._] So that is +settled.--Adelaide here in town! I'll go straight to her! Stop, keep +cool, keep cool! Old Bolz, you are no longer the brown lad from the +parsonage. And even if you were, _she_ has long since changed. Grass +has grown over the grave of a certain childish inclination. Why are +you suddenly thumping so, my dear soul? Here in town she is just as +far off from you as on her estates. [_Seating himself and playing with +a pencil._] "Nothing like keeping cool," murmured the salamander as he +sat in the stove fire. + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB. + +Is Mr. Bolz in? + +BOLZ (_jumping up_). + +Korb! My dear Korb! Welcome, heartily welcome! It is good of you not +to have forgotten me. [_Shakes hands with him._] I am very glad to see +you. + +KORB. + +And I even more to see you. Here we are in town. The whole village +sends greetings! From Anton the stable-boy--he is now head man--to the +old night watchman whose horn you once hung up on the top of the +tower. Oh, what a pleasure this is! + +BOLZ. + +How is Miss Runeck? Tell me, old chap! + +KORB. + +Very well indeed, now. But we have been through much. The late general +was ill for four years. It was a bad time. You know he was always an +irritable man. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, he was hard to manage.-- + +KORB. + +And especially during his illness. But Miss Adelaide took care of +him, so gentle and so pale, like a perfect lamb. Now, since his death, +Miss Adelaide runs the estate, and like the best of managers. The +village is prospering again. I will tell you everything, but not until +this evening. Miss Adelaide is waiting for me; I merely ran in quickly +to tell you that we are here. + +BOLZ. + +Don't be in such a hurry, Korb.--So the people in the village still +think of me! + +KORB. + +I should say they did! No one can understand why you don't come near +us. It was another matter while the old gentleman was alive, but now-- + +BOLZ (_seriously_). + +My parents are dead; a stranger lives in the parsonage. + +KORB. + +But we in the manor-house are still alive! Miss Runeck would surely be +delighted-- + +BOLZ. + +Does she still remember me? + +KORB. + +Of course she does. This very day she asked about you. + +BOLZ. + +What did she ask, old chap? + +KORB. + +She asked me if it was true what people are saying, that you have +grown very wild, make debts, run after girls, and are up to the devil +generally. + +BOLZ. + +Good gracious! You stood up for me, I trust? + +KORB. + +Of course! I told her that all that might be taken for granted with +you. + +BOLZ. + +Confound it! That's what she thinks of me, is it? Tell me, Korb, Miss +Adelaide has many suitors, has she not? + +KORB. + +The sands of the sea are as nothing to it. + +BOLZ (_vexed_). + +But yet she can finally choose only one, I suppose. + +KORB (_slyly_). + +Correct! But which one? That's the question. + +BOLZ. + +Which do you think it will be? + +KORB. + +Well, that is difficult to say. There is this Mr. von Senden who is +now living in town. If any one has a chance it is probably he. He +fusses about us like a weasel. Just as I was leaving he sent to the +house a whole dozen of admission cards to the great fete at the club. +It must be the sort of club where the upper classes go arm-in-arm with +the townspeople. + +BOLZ. + +Yes, it is a political society of which Senden is a director. It is +casting out a great net for voters. And the Colonel and the ladies are +going? + +KORB. + +I hear they are. I, too, received a card. + +BOLZ (_to himself_). + +Has it come to this? Poor Oldendorf!--And Adelaide at the club fete of +Mr. von Senden! + +KORB (_to himself_). + +How am I going to begin and find out about his love-affairs? +(_Aloud._) Oh, see here, Mr. Conrad, one thing more! Have you possibly +some real good friend in this concern to whom you could introduce me? + +BOLZ. + +Why, old chap? + +KORB. + +It is only--I am a stranger here, and often have commissions and +errands where I need advice. I should like to have some one to consult +should you chance to be away, or with whom I could leave word for you. + +BOLZ. + +You will find me here at almost any time of day. [_At the door._] +Bellmaus! [_Enter_ BELLMAUS.] You see this gentleman here. He is an +honored old friend of mine from my native village. Should he happen +not to find me here, you take my place.--This gentleman's name is +Bellmaus, and he is a good fellow. + +KORB. + +I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Bellmaus. + +BELLMAUS. + +And I to make yours. You have not told me his name yet. + +BOLZ. + +Korb. He has had a great deal to carry in his life, and has often +carried me on his back, too. + +BELLMAUS. + +I too am pleased, Mr. Korb. [_They shake hands._] + +KORB. + +Well, that is in order, and now I must go or Miss Adelaide will be +waiting. + +BOLZ. + +Good-by! Hope to see you very soon again. + +[_Exit_ KORB; _exit_ BELLMAUS _through door on the right._] + +BOLZ (_alone_). + +So this Senden is courting her! Oh, that is bitter! + +_Enter_ HENNING, _followed by_ MILLER. + +HENNING (_in his dressing-gown, hurriedly, with a printed roll in his +hand_). + +Your servant, Mr. Bolz! Is "opponent" spelt with one p or with two +p's? The new proofreader has corrected it one p. + +BOLZ (_deep in his thoughts_). + +Estimable Mr. Henning, the _Union_ prints it with two p's. + +HENNING. + +I said so at once. [_To_ MILLER.] It must be changed; the press is +waiting. + +[_Exit_ MILLER _hastily._] + +I took occasion to read the leading article. Doubtless you wrote it +yourself. It is very good, but too sharp, Mr. Bolz. Pepper and +mustard--that will give offense; it will cause bad blood. + +BOLZ (_still deep in his thoughts, violently_). + +I always did have an antipathy to this man! + +[Illustration: _Permission Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, +Stuttgart_. NATURE ENTHUSIASTS. ADOLPH VON MENZEL] + +HENNING (_hurt_). + +How? What? Mr. Bolz? You have an antipathy to me? + +BOLZ. + +To whom? No, dear Mr. Henning, you are a good fellow and would be the +best newspaper owner in the world, if only you were not often as +frightened as a hare. [_Embraces him._] My regards to Mrs. Henning, +sir, and leave me alone. I am thinking up my next article. + +HENNING (_while he is being thrust out_). + +But do, please, write very moderately and kindly, dear Mr. Bolz. + +BOLZ (_alone, walking to and fro again_). + +Senden avoids me whenever he can. He stands things from me that any +one else would strongly resent. Is it possible that he suspects-- + +_Enter_ MILLER. + +MILLER (_hurriedly_). + +A lady I don't know wishes to pay her respects to you. + +BOLZ. + +A lady! And to me? + +MILLER. + +To the editor. [_Hands him a card._] + +BOLZ (_reads_). + +Leontine Pavoni-Gessler, _nee_ Melloni from Paris. She must have to do +with art. Is she pretty? + +MILLER. + +H'm! So, so! + +BOLZ. + +Then tell her we are very sorry that we cannot have the pleasure, that +it is the editor's big washing-day. + +MILLER. + +What? + +BOLZ (_vehemently_). + +Washing, children's washing. That we are sitting up to the elbows in +soapsuds. + +MILLER (_laughing_). + +And I am to-- + +BOLZ (_impatiently_). + +You're a blockhead! [_At the door._] Bellmaus! [_Enter_ BELLMAUS.] +Stay here and receive the visitor. [_Gives him the card._] + +BELLMAUS. + +Ah, that is the new ballet-dancer who is expected here. [_Inspecting +his coat._] But I'm not dressed for it! + +BOLZ. + +All the more dressed she will be. [_To_ MILLER.] Show the lady in. + +[_Exit_ MILLER.] + +BELLMAUS. + +But really I cannot-- + +BOLZ (_irritably_). + +Oh the devil, don't put on airs! [_Goes to the table, puts papers in +the drawer, seizes his hat._] + +_Enter_ MADAME PAVONI. + +MADAME PAVONI. + +Have I the honor of seeing before me the editor of the _Union_? + +BELLMAUS (_bowing_). + +To be sure--that is to say--won't you kindly be seated? [_Pushes up +chairs._] + +BOLZ. + +Adelaide is clear-sighted and clever. How can she possibly fail to see +through that fellow? + +MADAME PAVONI. + +Mr. Editor, the intelligent articles about art which adorn your +paper--have prompted me-- + +BELLMAUS. + +Oh, please! + +BOLZ. (_having made up his mind_). + +I must gain entrance into this club-fete! + +[_Exit with a bow to the lady._ BELLMAUS _and_ MADAME PAVONI _sit +facing each other._] + + + + +ACT II + + +SCENE I + + +_The_ COLONEL'S _summer parlor. In the foreground on the right_ IDA +_and_ ADELAIDE, _next to_ ADELAIDE _the_ COLONEL, _all sitting. In +front of them a table with coffee set._ + +COLONEL (_in conversation with_ ADELAIDE, _laughing_). + +A splendid story, and cleverly told! I am heartily glad that you are +with us, dear Adelaide. Now, at any rate, we shall talk about +something else at table besides this everlasting politics! H'm! The +professor has not come today. He never used to miss our coffee-hour. + +[_Pause;_ ADELAIDE _and_ IDA _look at each other._ IDA _sighs._] + +ADELAIDE. + +Perhaps he has work to do. + +IDA. + +Or he is vexed with us because I am going to the fete tonight. + +COLONEL (_irritably_). + +Nonsense, you are not his wife nor even openly his fiancee. You are in +your father's house and belong in my circle.--H'm! I see he treasures +it up against me that I did some plain speaking the other day. I think +I was a little impatient. + +ADELAIDE (_nodding her head_). + +Yes, a little, I hear. + +IDA. + +He is worried about the way you feel, dear father. + +COLONEL. + +Well, I have reason enough to be vexed; don't remind me of it. And +that, in addition, he lets himself be mixed up in these elections, is +unpardonable. + +[_Walks up and down._] + +But you had better send for him, Ida. + +IDA _rings. Enter_ CARL. + +IDA. + +Our compliments to the professor and we are waiting coffee for him. + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +COLONEL. + +Well, that about waiting was not quite necessary. Why, we have +finished our coffee. + +ADELAIDE. + +Ida has not finished yet. + +IDA. + +Hush! + +ADELAIDE. + +Why did he ever let himself be put up as candidate? He has plenty to +do as it is. + +COLONEL. + +Pure ambition, girls. The devil of ambition possesses these young men. +He impels them as steam does a locomotive. + +IDA. + +No, father, _he_ never thought of himself in the matter. + +COLONEL. + +It does not stand out quite so nakedly as, "I must make a career for +myself," or "I wish to become a famous man." The procedure is more +delicate. The good friends come along and say: "Your duty to the good +cause requires you to--it is a crime against your country if you do +not--it is a sacrifice for you but we demand it." And so a pretty +mantle is thrown around vanity, and the candidate issues forth--from +pure patriotism of course! Don't teach an old soldier worldly wisdom. +We, dear Adelaide, sit calmly by and laugh at such weaknesses. + +ADELAIDE. + +And are indulgent toward them when we have so good a heart as you. + +COLONEL. + +Yes, one profits by experience. + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +Mr. von Senden and two other gentlemen. + +COLONEL. + +What do they want? Pleased to see them! + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +Allow me to have them shown in here, children. Senden never stays +long. He is a roving spirit. + +[_The ladies rise._] + +IDA. + +The hour is again spoiled for us. + +ADELAIDE. + +Don't mind it; we shall have all the more time to dress. + +[_Exeunt_ IDA _and_ ADELAIDE _on the left._] + +_Enter_ SENDEN, BLUMENBERG, _a third gentleman._ + +SENDEN. + +Colonel, we come on behalf of the committee for the approaching +election to notify you that that committee has unanimously voted to +make you, Colonel, our party's candidate. + +COLONEL. _Me?_ + +SENDEN. + +The committee begs you to accept this nomination so that the necessary +announcement can be made to the voters at this evening's fete. + +COLONEL. + +Are you in earnest, dear Senden? Where did the committee get such an +idea? + +SENDEN. + +Colonel, our president, who had previously agreed to run for our town, +found that it would be more advantageous to be candidate from a +provincial district; apart from him no one of our townsmen is so well +known and so popular with the citizens as yourself. If you accede to +our request our party is certain of victory; if you refuse, there is +every probability that our opponents will have their own way. You will +agree with us that such an eventuality must be avoided under all +circumstances. + +COLONEL. + +I see all that; but, on personal grounds, it is impossible for me to +help our friends in this matter. + +SENDEN (_to the others_). + +Let me explain to the Colonel certain things which will possibly make +him look favorably on our request. + +[_Exeunt_ BLUMENBERG _and the other gentlemen into the garden, where +they are visible from time to time._] + +COLONEL. + +But, Senden, how could you put me in this embarrassing position! You +know that for years Oldendorf has frequented my house and that it will +be extremely unpleasant for me openly to oppose him. + +SENDEN. + +If the professor is really so devoted to you and your household, he +has now the best opportunity to show it. It is a foregone conclusion +that he will at once withdraw. + +COLONEL. + +I am not quite so sure of that; he is very stubborn in many ways. + +SENDEN. + +If he do not withdraw such egotism can scarcely still be called +stubbornness. And in such a case you would scarcely be under +obligations to him; obligations, Colonel, which might work injury to +the whole country. Besides, he has no chance of being elected if you +accept, for you will defeat him by a majority not large but sure. + +COLONEL. + +Are we so perfectly certain of this majority! + +SENDEN. + +I think I can guarantee it. Blumenberg and the other gentlemen have +made very thorough inquiries. + +COLONEL. + +It would serve the professor quite right if he had to withdraw in my +favor.--But no--no; it will not do at all, my friend. + +SENDEN. + +We know, Colonel, what a sacrifice we are asking of you, and that +nothing could compensate you for it save the consciousness of having +done your country a great service. + +COLONEL. + +To be sure. + +SENDEN. + +It would be so regarded in the capital, too, and I am convinced that +your entering the House would also cause pleasure in other circles +than those of your numerous friends and admirers. + +COLONEL. + +I should meet there many old friends and comrades. (_Aside_.) I should +be presented at Court. + +SENDEN. + +The minister of war asked very warmly after you the other day; he too +must have been one of your companions in arms. + +COLONEL. + +Yes indeed! As young blades we served in the same company and played +many mad pranks together. It would be a pleasure to see him now in the +House, drawing his honest face into dark lines. He was a wild devil in +the regiment, but a fine boy. + +SENDEN. + +Nor will he be the only one to receive you with open arms. + +COLONEL. + +In any case, I should have to think the matter over. + +SENDEN. + +Don't be angry, Colonel, if I urge you to decide. This evening we have +to introduce their candidate to our citizen guests. It is high time, +or all is lost. + +COLONEL (_hesitating_). + +Senden, you put a knife to my throat! + +[SENDEN, _from the door, motions the gentlemen in the garden to come +in_.] + +BLUMENBERG. + +We venture to urge you, knowing that so good a soldier as you, +Colonel, makes up his mind quickly. + +COLONEL (_after struggling inwardly_). + +Well, so be it, gentlemen, I accept! Tell the committee I appreciate +their confidence. This evening we will talk over details. + +BLUMENBERG. + +We thank you, Colonel. The whole town will be rejoiced to hear of your +decision. + +COLONEL. + +Good-by until this evening. + +[_Exeunt the visitors_; + +COLONEL _alone, thoughtfully_.] + +I fear I ought not to have accepted so quickly; but I had to do the +minister of war that favor. What will the girls say to it? And +Oldendorf? + +[_Enter_ OLDENDORF.] + +There he is himself. + +[_Clears his throat_.] + +He will be astonished. I can't help it, he must withdraw. Good +morning, Professor, you come just at the right moment. + +OLDENDORF (_hastily_). + +Colonel, there is a report in town that Mr. von Senden's party have +put you up as their candidate. I ask for your own assurance that you +would not accept such a nomination. + +COLONEL. + +And, supposing the proposition had been made to me, why should I not +accept as well as you? Yes, rather than you; for the motives that +would determine me are sounder than your reasons. + +OLDENDORF. + +So there is some foundation then to the rumor? + +COLONEL. + +To be frank, it is the truth. I have accepted. You see in me your +opponent. + +OLDENDORF. + +Nothing so bad has yet occurred to trouble our relations. Colonel, +could not the memory of a friendship, hearty and undisturbed for +years, induce you to avoid this odious conflict? + +COLONEL. + +Oldendorf, I could not act otherwise, believe me. It is your place now +to remember our old friendship. You are a younger man, let alone other +relationships; you are the one now to withdraw. + +OLDENDORF (_more excitedly_). + +Colonel, I have known you for years. I know how keenly and how deeply +you feel things and how little your ardent disposition fits you to +bear the petty vexations of current politics, the wearing struggle of +debates. Oh, my worthy friend, do listen to my exhortations and take +back your consent. + +COLONEL. + +Let that be my concern. I am an old block of hard timber. Think of +yourself, dear Oldendorf. You are young, you have fame as a scholar; +your learning assures you every success. Why, in another sphere of +activity, do you seek to exchange honor and recognition for naught but +hatred, mockery, and humiliation? For with such views as yours you +cannot fail to harvest them. Think it over. Be sensible, and withdraw. + +OLDENDORF. + +Colonel, could I follow my own inclinations I should do so on the +spot. But in this contest I am under obligations to my friends. I +cannot withdraw now. + +COLONEL (_excitedly_). + +Nor can I withdraw, lest I harm the good cause. We are no further now +than in the beginning. (_Aside_.) Obstinate fellow! + +[_Both walk up and down on opposite sides of the stage._] + +You have not the least chance whatever of being elected, Oldendorf; my +friends are sure of having the majority of the votes. You are exposing +yourself to a public defeat. (_Kindly_.) I should dislike having you +of all people beaten by me; it will cause gossip and scandal. Just +think of it! It is perfectly useless for you to conjure up the +conflict. + +OLDENDORF. + +Even if it were such a foregone conclusion as you assume, Colonel, I +should still have to hold out to the end. But as far as I can judge +the general sentiment, the result is by no means so certain. And +think, Colonel, if you should happen to be defeated-- + +COLONEL (_irritated_). + +I tell you, that will not be the case. + +OLDENDORF. + +But if it should be? How odious that would be for both of us! How +would you feel toward me then! I might possibly welcome a defeat in my +heart; for you it would be a terrible mortification, and, Colonel, I +dread this possibility. + +COLONEL. + +For that very reason you should withdraw. + +OLDENDORF. + +I can no longer do so; but there is still time for you. + +COLONEL (_vehemently_). + +Thunder and lightning, sir, I have said yes; I am not the man to cap +it with a no! + +[_Both walk up and down._] + +That appears to end it, Professor! My wishes are of no account to you; +I ought to have known that! We must go our separate ways. We have +become open opponents; let us be honest enemies-- + +OLDENDORF (_seizing the_ COLONEL'S _hand_). + +Colonel, I consider this a most unfortunate day; for I see sad results +to follow. Rest assured that no circumstances can shake my love and +devotion for you. + +COLONEL. + +We are drawn up in line of battle, as it were. You mean to let +yourself be defeated by an old military man. You shall have your +desire. + +OLDENDORF. + +I ask your permission to tell Miss Ida of our conversation. + +COLONEL (_somewhat uneasy_). + +You had better not do that just now, Professor. An opportunity will +come in due time. At present the ladies are dressing. I myself will +say what is necessary. + +OLDENDORF. + +Farewell, Colonel, and think of me without hard feelings. + +COLONEL. + +I will try my best, Professor. + +[_Exit_ OLDENDORF.] + +He has not given in! What depths of ambition there are in these +scholars! + +_Enter_ IDA, ADELAIDE. + +IDA. + +Was not that Edward's voice? + +COLONEL. + +Yes, my child. + +ADELAIDE. + +And he has gone away again! Has anything happened? + +COLONEL. + +Well, yes, girls. To make a long story short, Oldendorf does not +become member for this town, but I. + +ADELAIDE} (_together_.) You, Colonel? IDA } You, father? + +IDA. + +Has Edward withdrawn? + +ADELAIDE. + +Is the election over? + +COLONEL. + +Neither one nor the other. Oldendorf has proved his much-vaunted +devotion to us by not withdrawing, and election day is not yet past. +But from what I hear there is no doubt that Oldendorf will be +defeated. + +IDA. + +And you, father, have come out before everybody as his opponent? + +ADELAIDE. + +And what did Oldendorf say to that, Colonel? + +COLONEL. + +Don't excite me, girls! Oldendorf was stubborn, otherwise he behaved +well, and as far as that is concerned all is in order. The grounds +which determined me to make the sacrifice are very weighty. I will +explain them to you more fully another time. The matter is decided; I +have accepted; let that suffice for the present. + +IDA. + +But, dear father-- + +COLONEL. + +Leave me in peace, Ida, I have other things to think of. This evening +I am to speak in public; that is, so to say, the custom at such +elections. Don't worry, my child, we'll get the better of the +professor and his clique. + +[_Exit_ COLONEL _toward the garden_. IDA _and_ ADELAIDE _stand facing +each other and wring their hands._] + +IDA. + +What do you say to that? + +ADELAIDE. + +You are his daughter--what do _you_ say? + +IDA. + +Not possible!--Father! Scarcely had he finished explaining to us +thoroughly what petty mantles ambition assumes in such elections-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, he described them right vividly, all the little wraps and cloaks +of vanity. + +IDA. + +And within an hour he lets them throw the cloak about himself. Why, it +is terrible! And if father is not elected? It was wrong of Edward not +to give in to father's weakness. Is that your love for me, Professor? +He, too, never thought of me! + +ADELAIDE. + +Shall I tell you what? Let us hope that they both fail. These +politicians! It was bad enough for you when only one was in politics; +now that both have tasted of the intoxicating drink you are done for. +Were I ever to come into a position to make a man my master, I should +impose upon him but one condition, the wise rule of conduct of my old +aunt: Smoke tobacco, my husband, as much as you please; at most it +will spoil the walls; but never dare to look at a newspaper--that will +spoil your character. + +[KORB _appears at the door_.] + +What news do you bring, Korb? + +KORB (_hastily, mysteriously_). + +It isn't true! + +ADELAIDE (_the same_). What isn't true? + +KORB. + +That he has a fiancee. He has no idea of it. His friend says he has +but one lady-love. + +ADELAIDE (_eagerly_). + +Who is she? + +KORB. His newspaper. + + +ADELAIDE (_relieved_). + +Ah, indeed. (_Aloud_.) + +One can see by that how many falsehoods people tell. It is good, dear +Korb. + +[_Exit_ KORB.] + +IDA. What isn't true? + +ADELAIDE (_sighing_). + +Well, that we women are cleverer than men. We talk just as wisely and +I fear are just as glad to forget our wisdom at the first opportunity. +We are all of us together poor sinners! + +IDA. + +You can joke about it. You never knew what it was to have your father +and the man you loved oppose each other as enemies. + +ADELAIDE. + +Do you think so! Well, I once had a good friend who had foolishly +given her heart to a handsome, high-spirited boy. She was a mere child +and it was a very touching relationship: knightly devotion on his part +and tender sighings on hers. Then the young heroine had the misfortune +to become very jealous, and so far forgot poetry and deportment as to +give her heart's chosen knight a box on the ear. It was only a little +box, but it had fateful consequences. The young lady's father had seen +it and demanded an explanation. Then the young knight acted like a +perfect hero. He took all the blame upon himself and told the alarmed +father that he had asked the young lady to kiss him--poor fellow, he +never had the courage for such a thing!--and the blow had been her +answer. A stern man was the father; he treated the lad very harshly. +The hero was sent away from his family and his home, and the heroine +sat lonely in her donjon-tower and mourned her lost one. + +IDA. + +She ought to have told her father the truth. + +ADELAIDE. + +Oh, she did. But her confession made matters only worse. Years have +gone by since then, and the knight and his lady are now old people and +have become quite sensible. + +IDA (_smiling_). + +And, because they are sensible, do they not love each other any +longer? + +ADELAIDE. + +How the man feels about it, dear child, I cannot tell you exactly. He +wrote the lady a very beautiful letter after the death of her +father--that is all I know about it. But the lady has greater +confidence than you, for she still hopes. (_Earnestly_.) Yes, she +hopes; and even her father permitted that before he died--you see, she +still hopes. + +IDA (_embracing her_). + +And who is the banished one for whom she still hopes? + +ADELAIDE. + +Hush, dearest, that is a dark secret. Few persons living know about +it; and when the birds on the trees of Rosenau tell each other the +story they treat it as a dim legend of their forefathers. They then +sing softly and sorrowfully, and their feathers stand on end with awe. +In due time you shall learn all about it; but now you must think of +the fete, and of how pretty you are going to look. + +IDA. + +On the one hand the father, on the other the lover--how will it end? + +ADELAIDE. + +Do not worry. The one is an old soldier, the other a young statesman; +two types that we women have wound around our little fingers from time +immemorial! [_Both leave_.] + + +SCENE II + + +_Side room of a public hall. The rear wall a great arch with columns, +through which one looks into the lighted hall and through it into another. +On the left, toward the front, a door. On the right, tables and chairs; +chandeliers. Later, from time to time distant music. In the hall ladies +and gentlemen walking about or standing in groups_. SENDEN, BLUMENBERG, +_behind them_ SCHMOCK _coming from the hall_. + +SENDEN. All is going well. There is a splendid spirit in the company. +These good townspeople are delighted with our arrangements. It was a +fine idea of yours, Blumenberg, to have this fete. + +BLUMENBEEG. Only hurry and get people warmed up! It's a good thing to +begin with some music. Vienna waltzes are best on account of the +women. Then comes a speech from you, then some solo singing, and, at +supper, the introduction of the Colonel, and the toasts. It can't help +being a success; the men must have hearts of stone if they don't give +their votes in return for such a fete. + +SENDEN. The toasts have been apportioned. + +BLUMENBERG. But the music?--Why has the music stopped? + +SENDEN. I am waiting for the Colonel to arrive. + +BLUMENBERG. He must be received with a blare of trumpets. It will +flatter him, you know. + +SENDEN. That's what I ordered. Directly after, they start up a march +and we bring him in procession. + +BLUMENBERG. First rate! That will lend solemnity to his entrance. Only +think up your speech. Be popular, for today we are among the rabble. + +_Enter guests, among them_ HENNING. + +SENDEN (_doing the honors with BLUMENBERG_). Delighted to see you +here! We knew that you would not fail us. Is this your wife? + +GUEST. Yes, Mr. von Senden, this is my wife. + +SENDEN. You here, too, Mr. Henning? Welcome, my dear sir! + +HENNING. I was invited by my friend and really had the curiosity to +come. My presence, I hope, will not be unpleasant to any one? + +SENDEN. Quite the contrary. We are most pleased to greet you here. + +[_Guests leave through centre door_; SENDEN _goes out in conversation +with them._] + +BLUMENBERG. He knows how to manage people. It's the good manners of +these gentlemen that does it. He is useful--useful to me too. He +manages the others, and I manage him. [_Turning, he sees_ SCHMOCK, +_who is hovering near the door_.] What are you doing here? Why do you +stand there listening? You are not a door-keeper! See that you keep +out of my vicinity. Divide yourself up among the company. + +SCHMOCK. Whom shall I go to if I know none of these people at all? You +are the only person I know. + +BLUMENBERG. Why must you tell people that you know me? I consider it +no honor to stand next to you. + +SCHMOCK. If it is not an honor it's not a disgrace either; But I can +stay by myself. + +BLUMENBERG. Have you money to get something to eat? Go to the +restaurant-keeper and order something charged to me. The committee +will pay for it. + +SCHMOCK. I don't care to go and eat. I have no need to spend anything. +I have had my supper. + +[_Blare of trumpets and march in the distance. Exit_ BLUMENBERG. +SCHMOCK _alone, coming forward, angrily_.] + +I hate him! I'll tell him I hate him, that I despise him from the +bottom of my heart! + +[_Turns to go, comes back._] + +But I cannot tell him so, or he will cut out all I send in for the +special correspondence I write for his paper! I will try to swallow it +down! + +_[Exit through centre door_.] + +_Enter_ BOLZ, KAeMPE, BELLMAUS _by side door_. + +BOLZ (_marching in_). Behold us in the house of the Capulets! +[_Pretends to thrust a sword into its scabbard._] Conceal your swords +under roses. Blow your little cheeks up, and look as silly and +innocent as possible. Above all, don't let me see you get into a row, +and if you meet this Tybaldus Senden be so good as to run round the +corner. + +[_The procession is seen marching through the rear halls_.] + +You, Romeo Bellmaus, look out for the little women. I see more +fluttering curls and waving kerchiefs there than are good for your +peace of mind. + +KAeMPE. I bet a bottle of champagne that if one of us gets into a row +it will be you. + +BOLZ. Possibly. But I promise you that you shall surely come in for +your share of it. Now listen to my plan of operations. You +Kaempe--[_Enter_ SCHMOCK.] Stop! Who is that? Thunder! The factotum of +the _Coriolanus_! Our _incognito_ has not lasted long. + +SCHMOCK (_even before the last remark, has been seen looking in at the +door, coming forward_). I wish you good evening, Mr. Bolz. + +BOLZ. I wish you the same and of even better quality, Mr. Schmock. + +SCHMOCK. Might I have a couple of words with you? + +BOLZ. A couple? Don't ask for too few, noble armor-bearer of the +_Coriolanus_! A couple of dozen words you shall have, but no more. + +SCHMOCK. Could you not employ me on your paper. + +BOLZ (_to_ KAeMPE _and_ BELLMAUS). Do you hear that? On our paper? H'm! +'Tis much you ask, noble Roman! + +SCHMOCK. I am sick of the _Coriolanus_. I would do any kind of work +you needed done. I want to be with respectable people, where one can +earn something and be treated decently. + +BOLZ. What are you asking of us, slave of Rome? We to entice you away +from your party--never! We do violence to your political convictions? +Make you a renegade? We bear the guilt of your joining our party? No, +sir! We have a tender conscience. It rises in arms against your +proposition! + +SCHMOCK. Why do you let that trouble you? Under Blumenberg I have +learned to write whichever way the wind blows. I have written on the +left and again on the right. I can write in any direction. + +BOLZ. I see you have character. You would be a sure success on our +paper. Your offer does us honor, but we cannot accept it now. So +momentous an affair as your defection needs deep consideration. +Meanwhile you will have confided in no unfeeling barbarian. (_Aside to +the others_.) We may be able to worm something out of him. Bellmaus, +you have the tenderest heart of us three; you must devote yourself to +him today. + +BELLMAUS. But what shall I do with him? + +BOLZ. Take him into the restaurant, sit down in a corner with him, +pour punch into every hollow of his poor head until his secrets jump +out like wet mice. Make him chatter, especially about the elections. +Go, little man, and take good care not to get overheated yourself and +babble. + +BELLMAUS. In that case I shall not see much of the fete. + +BOLZ. That's true, my son! But what does the fete mean to you? Heat, +dust, and stale dance-music. Besides, we will tell you all about it in +the morning; and then you are a poet, and can imagine the whole affair +to be much finer than it really was. So don't take it to heart. You +may think you have a thankless role, but it is the most important of +all, for it requires coolness and cleverness. Go, mousey, and look out +about getting overheated. + +BELLMAUS. I'll look out, old tom-cat.--Come along Schmock! + +[BELLMAUS _and_ SCHMOCK _leave_.] + +BOLZ. We might as well separate, too. + +KAeMPE. I'll go and see how people feel. If I need you I'll look you +up. + +BOLZ. I had better not show myself much. I'll stay around here. + +[_Exit_ KAeMPE.] + +Alone at last! + +[_Goes to centre door_.] + +There stands the Colonel, closely surrounded. It is she! She is here, +and I have to lie in hiding like a fox under the leaves.--But she has +falcon eyes,--perhaps--the throng disperses--she is walking through +the hall arm-in-arm with Ida--(_Excitedly_.) They are drawing nearer! +(_Irritably_.) Oh, bother! There is Korb rushing toward me! And just +now! + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB. Mr. Conrad! I can't believe my eyes! You here, at this fete! + +BOLZ (_hastily_). Hush, old chap! I'm not here without a reason. I can +trust you--you're one of us, you know. + +KORB. Body and soul. Through all the talking and fiddling I've kept +saying to myself, "Long live the _Union!"_ Here she is! + +[_Shows him a paper in his pocket_.] + +BOLZ. Good, Korb, you can do me a great favor. In a corner of the +refreshment room Bellmaus is sitting with a stranger. He is to pump +the stranger, but cannot stand much himself and is likely to say +things he shouldn't. You'll do the party a great service if you will +hurry in and drink punch so as to keep Bellmaus up to the mark. You +have a strong head--I know it from of old. + +KORB (_hastily_). I go! You are as full of tricks as ever, I see. You +may rely on me. The stranger shall succumb, and the _Union_ shall +triumph. + +[_Exit quickly. The music ceases_.] + +BOLZ. Poor Schmock! [_At the door_.] + +Ah, they are still walking through the hall. Ida is being spoken to, +she stops, Adelaide goes on--(_Excitedly_.) she's coming, she's coming +alone! + +ADELAIDE (_makes a motion as though to pass the door, but suddenly +enters_. BOLZ _bows_). Conrad! My dear doctor! + +[_Holds out her hand_. BOLZ _bends low over it_.] + +ADELAIDE (_in joyous emotion_). I knew you at once from a distance. +Let me see your faithful face. Yes, it has changed but little--a scar, +browner, and a small line about the mouth. I hope it is from laughing. + +BOLZ. If at this moment I feel like anything but laughing it is only a +passing malignity of soul. I see myself double, like a melancholy +Highlander. In your presence my long happy childhood passes bodily +before my eyes. All the joy and pain it brought me I feel as vividly +again as though I were still the boy who went into the wood for you in +search of wild adventures and caught robin-red-breasts. And yet the +fine creature I see before me is so different from my playmate that I +realize I am only dreaming a beautiful dream. Your eyes shine as +kindly as ever, but--(_Bowing_.) I have scarcely the right still to +think of old dreams. + +ADELAIDE. Possibly I, too, am not so changed as you think; and changed +though we both be, we have remained good friends, have we not? + +BOLZ. Rather than give up one iota of my claim to your regard, I would +write and print and try to sell malicious articles against myself. + +ADELAIDE. And yet you have been too proud all this time even to come +and see your friend in town. Why have you broken with the Colonel? + +BOLZ. I have not broken with him. On the contrary, I have a very +estimable position in his house--one that I can best keep by going +there as seldom as possible. The Colonel, and occasionally Miss Ida, +too, like to assuage their anger against Oldendorf and the newspaper +by regarding me as the evil one with horns and hoofs. A relationship +so tender must be handled with care--a devil must not cheapen himself +by appearing every day. + +ADELAIDE. Well, I hope you will now abandon this lofty viewpoint. I am +spending the winter in town, and I hope that for love of your +boyhood's friend you will call on my friends as a denizen of this +world. + +BOLZ. In any role you apportion me. + +ADELAIDE. Even in that of a peace-envoy between the Colonel and +Oldendorf? + +BOLZ. If peace be at the cost of Oldendorf's withdrawal, then no. +Otherwise I am ready to serve you in all good works. + +ADELAIDE. But I fear that this is the only price at which peace can be +purchased. You see, Mr. Conrad, we too have become opponents. + +BOLZ. To do anything against your wishes is horrible to me, son of +perdition though I be. So my saint wills and commands that Oldendorf +do not become member of Parliament? + +ADELAIDE. I will it and command it, Mr. Devil! + +BOLZ. It is hard. Up in your heaven you have so many gentlemen to +bestow on Miss Ida; why must you carry off a poor devil's one and only +soul, the professor? + +ADELAIDE. It is just the professor I want, and you must let me have +him. + +BOLZ. I am in despair. I would tear my hair were the place not so +unsuitable. I dread your anger. The thought makes me tremble that you +might not like this election. + +ADELAIDE. Well, try to stop the election, then. + +BOLZ. That I cannot do. But so soon as it is over I am fated to mourn +and grow melancholy over your anger. I shall withdraw from the +world--far, far to the North Pole. There I shall end my days sadly, +playing dominoes with polar bears, or spreading the elements of +journalistic training among the seals. That will be easier to endure +than the scathing glance of your eyes. + +ADELAIDE (_laughing_). Yes, that's the way you always were. You made +every possible promise and acted exactly as you pleased. But before +starting for the North Pole, perhaps you will make one more effort to +reconcile me here. + +[KAeMPE _is seen at the door._] + +Hush!--I shall look forward to your visit. Farewell, my re-found +friend! + +[_EXIT_.] + +BOLZ. And thus my good angel turns her back to me in anger! And now, +politics, thou witch, I am irretrievably in thy power! + +[_Exit quickly through centre door._] + +_Enter_ PIEPENBRINK, MRS. PIEPENBRINK, BERTHA _escorted by_ FRITZ +KLEINMICHEL, _and_ KLEINMICHEL _through centre door. Quadrille behind +the scenes._ + +PIEPENBRINK. Thank Heaven, we are out of this crowd! + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. It is very hot. + +KLEINMICHEL. And the music is too loud. There are too many trumpets +and I hate trumpets. + +PIEPENBRINK. Here's a quiet spot; we'll sit down here. + +FRITZ. Bertha would prefer staying in the ball-room. Might I not go +back with her? + +PIEPENBRINK. I have no objection to you young people going back into +the ball-room, but I prefer your staying here with us. I like to keep +my whole party together. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Stay with your parents, my child! + +PIEPENBRINK. Sit down! (_To his wife._) You sit at the corner, Fritz +comes next to me. You take Bertha between you, neighbors. Her place +will soon be at your table, anyway. + +[_They seat themselves at the table on the right--at the left corner_ +MRS. PIEPENBRINK, _then he himself_, FRITZ, BERTHA, KLEINMICHEL.] + +FRITZ. When will "soon" be, godfather? You have been saying that this +long time, but you put off the wedding day further and further. + +PIEPENBRINK. That is no concern of yours. + +FRITZ. I should think it is, godfather! Am I not the man that wants +to marry Bertha? + +PIEPENBRINK. That's a fine argument! Any one can want that. But it's I +who am to give her to you, which is more to the point, young man; for +it is going to be hard enough for me to let the little wag-tail leave +my nest. So you wait. You shall have her, but wait! + +KLEINMICHEL. He will wait, neighbor. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well, I should strongly advise him to do so. Hey! Waiter, +waiter! + +[Illustration: _Permission F. Bruckman, A.-G. Munich_ ON THE TERRACE +ADOLF VON MENZEL] + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. What poor service one gets in such places! + +PIEPENBRINK. Waiter! + +[_Waiter comes._] + +My name is Piepenbrink. I brought along six bottles of my own wine. +The restaurant-keeper has them. I should like them here. + +[_While the waiter is bringing the bottles and glasses_ BOLZ _and_ +KAeMPE _appear. Waiter from time to time in the background._] + +BOLZ (_aside to_ KAeMPE). Which one is it? + +KAeMPE. The one with his back to us, the broad-shouldered one. + +BOLZ. And what kind of a business does he carry on? + +KAeMPE. Chiefly red wines. + +BOLZ. Good! (_Aloud._) Waiter, a table and two chairs here! A bottle +of red wine! + +[_Waiter brings what has been ordered to the front, on the left._] + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. What are those people doing here? + +PIEPENBRINK. That is the trouble with such promiscuous assemblies, +that one never can be alone. + +KLEINMICHEL. They seem respectable gentlemen; I think I have seen one +of them before. + +PIEPENBRINK (_decisively_). Respectable or not, they are in our way. + +KLEINMICHEL. Yes, to be sure, so they are. + +BOLZ (_seating himself with_ KAeMPE). Here, my friend, we can sit +quietly before a bottle of red wine. I hardly dare to pour it out, for +the wine at such restaurants is nearly always abominable. What sort of +stuff do you suppose this will be? + +PIEPENBRINK (_irritated_). Indeed? Just listen to that! + +KAeMPE. Let's try it. + +[_Pours out; in a low voice._] + +There is a double P. on the seal; that might mean Piepenbrink. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well, I am curious to know what these greenhorns will +have to say against the wine. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Be quiet, Philip, they can hear you over there. + +BOLZ (_in a low tone_). I'm sure you are right. The restaurant takes +its wine from him. That's his very reason for coming. + +PIEPENBRINK. They don't seem to be thirsty; they are not drinking. + +BOLZ (_tastes it; aloud_). Not bad! + +PIEPENBRINK (_ironically_). Indeed? + +BOLZ (_takes another sip_). A good, pure wine. + +PIEPENBRINK (_relieved_). The fellow's judgment is not so bad. + +BOLZ. But it does not compare with a similar wine that I recently +drank at a friend's house. + +PIEPENBRINK. Indeed? + +BOLZ. I learned then that there is only one man in town from whom a +sensible wine-drinker should take his red wine. + +KAeMPE. And that is? + +PIEPENBRINK (_ironically_). I really should like to know. + +BOLZ. It's a certain Piepenbrink. + +PIEPENBRINK (_nodding his head contentedly_). Good! + +KAeMPE. Yes, it is well known to be a very reliable firm. + +PIEPENBRINK. They don't know that their own wine, too, is from my +cellars. Ha! Ha! Ha! + +BOLZ (_turning to him_). Are you laughing at us, Sir? + +PIEPENBRINK. Ha! Ha! Ha! No offense. I merely heard you talking about +the wine. So you like Piepenbrink's wine better than this here? Ha! +Ha! Ha! + +BOLZ (_slightly indignant_). Sir, I must request you to find my +expressions less comical. I do not know Mr. Piepenbrink, but I have +the pleasure of knowing his wine; and so I repeat the assertion that +Piepenbrink has better wine in his cellar than this here. What do you +find to laugh at in that? You do not know Piepenbrink's wines and have +no right to judge of them. + +PIEPENBRINK. I do not know Piepenbrink's wines, I do not know Philip +Piepenbrink either, I never saw his wife--do you hear that, +Lottie?--And when his daughter Bertha meets me I ask, "Who is that +little black-head?" That is a funny story. Isn't it, Kleinmichel? + +KLEINMICHEL. It is very funny! [_Laughs._] + +BOLZ (_rising with dignity_). Sir, I am a stranger to you and have +never insulted you. You look honorable and I find you in the society +of charming ladies. For that reason I cannot imagine that you came +here to mock at strangers. As man to man, therefore, I request you to +explain why you find my harmless words so astonishing. If you don't +like Mr. Piepenbrink why do you visit it on us? + +PIEPENBRINK _(rising_). Don't get too excited, Sir. Now, see here! The +wine you are now drinking is also from Piepenbrink's cellar, and I +myself am the Philip Piepenbrink for whose sake you are pitching into +me. Now, do you see why I laugh? + +BOLZ. Ah, is that the way things stand? You yourself are Mr. +Piepenbrink? Then I am really glad to make your acquaintance. No +offense, honored Sir! + +PIEPENBRINK. No, no offense. Everything is all right. + +BOLZ. Since you were so kind as to tell us your name, the next thing +in order is for you to learn ours. I'm Bolz, Doctor of Philosophy, and +my friend here is Mr. Kaempe. + +PIEPENBRINK. Pleased to meet you. + +BOLZ. We are comparative strangers in this company and had withdrawn +to this side room as one feels slightly embarrassed among so many new +faces. But we should be very sorry if by our presence we in any way +disturbed the enjoyment of the ladies and the conversation of so +estimable a company. Tell us frankly if we are in the way, and we will +find another place. + +PIEPENBRINK. You seem to me a jolly fellow and are not in the least in +my way, Doctor Bolz--that was the name, was it not? + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. We, too, are strangers here and had only just sat +down. Piepenbrink! + +[_Nudges him slightly._] + +PIEPENBRINK. I tell you what, Doctor, as you are already acquainted +with the yellow-seal from my cellar and have passed a very sensible +verdict upon it, how would it be for you to give it another trial +here? Sit down with us if you have nothing better to do, and we will +have a good talk together. + +BOLZ (_with dignity, as throughout this whole scene, during which both +he and KAeMPE must not seem to be in any way pushing_). That is a very +kind invitation, and we accept it with pleasure. Be good enough, dear +Sir, to present us to your company. + +PIEPENBRINK. This here is my wife. + +BOLZ. Do not be vexed at our breaking in upon you, Madam. We promise +to behave ourselves and to be as good company as lies in the power of +two shy bachelors. + +PIEPENBRINK. Here is my daughter. + +BOLZ (_to_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK). One could have known that from the +likeness. + +PIEPENBRINK. This is my friend, Mr. Kleinmichel, and this, Fritz +Kleinmichel, my daughter's fiance. + +BOLZ. I congratulate you, gentlemen, on such delightful society. (_To_ +PIEPENBRINK.) Permit me to sit next to the lady of the house. Kaempe, I +thought you would sit next to Mr. Kleinmichel. + +[_They sit down_.] + +Now we alternate! Waiter! + +[_Waiter comes to him_.] + +Two bottles of this! + +PIEPENBRINK. Hold on! You won't find that wine here. I brought my own +kind. You're to drink with me. + +BOLZ. But Mr. Piepenbrink---- + +PIEPENBRINK. No remonstrances! You drink with me. And when I ask any +one to drink with me, Sir, I don't mean to sip, as women do, but to +drink out and fill up. You must make up your mind to that. + +BOLZ. Well, I am content. We as gratefully accept your hospitality as +it is heartily offered. But you must then let me have my revenge. Next +Sunday you are all to be my guests, will you? Say yes, my kind host! +Punctually at seven, informal supper. I am single, so it will be in a +quiet, respectable hotel. Give your consent, my dear Madam. Shake +hands on it, Mr. Piepenbrink.--You, too, Mr. Kleinmichel and Mr. +Fritz! + +[_Holds out his hand to each of them_.] + +PIEPENBRINK. If my wife is satisfied it will suit me all right. + +BOLZ. Done! Agreed! And now the first toast. To the good spirit who +brought us together today, long may he live!--[_Questioning those +about him_.] What's the spirit's name? + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. Chance. + +BOLZ. No, he has a yellow cap. + +PIEPENBRINK. Yellow-seal is his name. + +BOLZ. Correct! Here's his health! We hope the gentleman may last a +long time, as the cat said to the bird when she bit its head off. + +KLEINMICHEL. We wish him long life just as we are putting an end to +him. + +BOLZ. Well said! Long life! + +PIEPENBRINK. Long life! + +[_They touch glasses_. PIEPENBRINK _to his wife_.] + +It is going to turn out well today, after all. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. They are very modest nice men. + +BOLZ. You can't imagine how glad I am that our good fortune brought us +into such pleasant company. For although in there everything is very +prettily arranged-- + +PIEPENBRINK. It really is all very creditable. + +BOLZ. Very creditable! But yet this political society is not to my +taste. + +PIEPENBRINK. Ah, indeed! You don't belong to the party, I suppose, and +on that account do not like it. + +BOLZ. It's not that! But when I reflect that all these people have +been invited, not really to heartily enjoy themselves, but in order +that they shall presently give their votes to this or that gentleman, +it cools my ardor. + +PIEPENBRINK. Oh, it can hardly be meant just that way. Something could +be said on the other side--don't you think so, comrade? + +KLEINMICHEL. I trust no one will be asked to sign any agreement here. + +BOLZ. Perhaps not. I have no vote to cast and I am proud to be in a +company where nothing else is thought of but enjoying oneself with +one's neighbor and paying attention to the queens of society--to +charming women! Touch glasses, gentlemen, to the health of the ladies, +of the two who adorn our circle. [_All touch glasses_.] + +PIEPENBRINK. Come here, Lottie, your health is being drunk. + +BOLZ. Young lady, allow a stranger to drink to your future prosperity. + + +PIEPENBRINK. What else do you suppose they are going to do in there? + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. I hear that at supper there are to be speeches, and +the candidate for election, Colonel Berg, is to be introduced. + +PIEPENBRINK. A very estimable gentleman. + +KLEINMICHEL. Yes, it is a good choice the gentlemen on the committee +have made. + +ADELAIDE, _who has been visible in the rear, now saunters in_. + +ADELAIDE. He sitting here? What sort of a company is that? + +KAeMPE. People say that Professor Oldendorf has a good chance of +election. Many are said to be going to vote for him. + +PIEPENBRINK. I have nothing to say against him, only to my mind he is +too young. + +SENDEN _is seen in the rear, later_ BLUMENBERG _and guests_. + +SENDEN. You here, Miss Runeck? + +ADELAIDE. I'm amusing myself with watching those queer people. They +act as though the rest of the company were non-existent. + +SENDEN. What do I see? There sits the _Union_ itself and next to one +of the most important personages of the fete! + +[_The music ceases_.] + +BOLZ (_who has meanwhile been conversing with_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK _but +has listened attentively--to_ MR. PIEPENBRINK). There, you see the +gentlemen cannot desist from talking politics after all. (_To_ +PIEPENBRINK.) Did you not mention Professor Oldendorf? + +PIEPENBRINK. Yes, my jolly Doctor, just casually. + +BOLZ. When you talk of him I heartily pray you to say good things +about him; for he is the best, the noblest man I know. + +PIEPENBRINK. Indeed? You know him? + +KLEINMICHEL. Are you possibly a friend of his! + +BOLZ. More than that. Were the professor to say to me today: "Bolz, it +will help me to have you jump into the water," I should have to jump +in, unpleasant as it would be to me just at this moment to drown in +water. + +PIEPENBRINK. Oho! That is strong! + +BOLZ. In this company I have no right to speak of candidates for +election. But if I did have a member to elect he should be the +one--he, first of all. + +PIEPENBRINK. But you are very much prejudiced in the man's favor. + +BOLZ. His political views do not concern me here at all. But what do I +demand of a member? That he be a man; that he have a warm heart and a +sure judgment, and that he know unwaveringly and unquestionably what +is good and right; furthermore, that he have the strength to do what +he knows to be right without delay, without hesitation. + +PIEPENBRINK. Bravo! + +KLEINMICHEL. But the Colonel, too, is said to be that kind of a man. + +BOLZ. Possibly he is, I do not know; but of Oldendorf I know it. I +looked straight into his heart on the occasion of an unpleasant +experience I went through. I was once on the point of burning to +powder when he was kind enough to prevent it. Him I have to thank for +sitting here. He saved my life. + +SENDEN. He lies abominably! + +[_Starts forward_.] + +ADELAIDE (_holding him back_). Be still! I believe there is some truth +to the story. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well now, it was very fine of him to save your life; but +that kind of thing often happens. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Do tell us about it, Doctor! + +BOLZ. The little affair is like a hundred others and would not +interest me at all, had I not been through it myself. Picture to +yourself an old house. I am a student living on the third floor. In +the house opposite me lives a young scholar; we do not know each +other. At dead of night I am awakened by a great noise and a strange +crackling under me. If it were mice, they must have been having a +torchlight procession for the room was brilliantly illuminated. I rush +to the window, the bright flame from the story under me leaps up to +where I stand. My window-panes burst about my head, and a vile cloud +of smoke rushes in on me. There being no great pleasure under the +circumstances in leaning out of the window, I rush to the door and +throw it open. The stairs, too, cannot resist the mean impulse +peculiar to old wood, they are all ablaze. Up three flights of stairs +and no exit! I gave myself up for lost. Half unconscious I hurried +back to the window. I heard the cries from the street, "A man! a man! +This way with the ladder!" A ladder was set up. In an instant it began +to smoke and to burn like tinder. It was dragged away. Then streams of +water from all the engines hissed in the flames beneath me. Distinctly +I could hear each separate stream striking the glowing wall. A fresh +ladder was put up; below there was deathly silence and you can imagine +that I, too, had no desire to make much of a commotion in my fiery +furnace. "It can't be done," cried the people below. Then a full, rich +voice rang out: "Raise the ladder higher!" Do you know, I felt +instantly that this was the voice of my rescuer. "Hurry!" cried those +below. Then a fresh cloud of vapor penetrated the room. I had had my +share of the thick smoke, and lay prostrate on the ground by the +window. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Poor Doctor Bolz! + +PIEPENBRINK (_eagerly_). Go on! + +[SENDEN _starts forward_.] + +ADELAIDE (_holding him back_). Please, let him finish, the story is +true! + +BOLZ. Then a man's hand seizes my neck. A rope is wound round me under +the arms, and a strong wrist raises me from the ground. A moment later +I was on the ladder, half dragged, half carried; with shirt aflame, +and unconscious, I reached the pavement.--I awoke in the room of the +young scholar. Save for a few slight burns, I had brought nothing with +me over into the new apartment; all my belongings were burned. The +stranger nursed me and cared for me like a brother. Not until I was +able to go out again did I learn that this scholar was the same man +who had paid his visit to me that night on the ladder. You see the man +has his heart in the right spot, and that's why I wish him now to +become member of Parliament, and why I could do for him what I would +not do for myself; for him I could electioneer, intrigue, or make +fools of honest people. That man is Professor Oldendorf. + +PIEPENBRINK. Well, he's a tremendously fine man! [_Rising_.] Here's to +the health of Professor Oldendorf! [_All rise and touch glasses_.] + +BOLZ (_bowing pleasantly to all--to_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK). I see warm +sympathy shining in your eyes, dear madam, and I thank you for it. Mr. +Piepenbrink, I ask permission to shake your hand; you are a fine +fellow. [_Slaps him on the back and embraces him_.] Give me your hand, +Mr. Kleinmichel! [_Embraces him_.] And you, too, Mr. Fritz +Kleinmichel! May no child of yours ever sit in the fire, but if he +does may there ever be a gallant man at hand to pull him out. Come +nearer, I must embrace you, too. + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK (_much moved_). Piepenbrink, we have veal-cutlets +tomorrow. What do you think? [_Converses with him in a low tone_.] + +ADELAIDE. His spirits are running away with him! + +SENDEN. He is unbearable! I see that you are as indignant as I am. He +snatches away our people; it can no longer be endured. + +BOLZ (_who had gone the rounds of table, returning and standing in +front of_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK). It really isn't right to let it stop +here. Mr. Piepenbrink, head of the house, I appeal to you, I ask your +permission--hand or mouth? + +ADELAIDE (_horrified, on the right toward the front_). He is actually +kissing her! + +PIEPENBRINK. Sail in, old man, courage! + +MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Piepenbrink, I no longer know you! + +ADELAIDE (_at the moment when_ BOLZ _is about to kiss_ MRS. +PIEPENBRINK _crosses the stage, passing them casually, as it were, and +holds her bouquet between_ BOLZ _and_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK. _In a low +tone, quickly to_ BOLZ). You're going too far! You are being watched! + +[_Passes to the rear on the left, and exit_.] + +BOLZ. A fairy interferes! + +SENDEN _(who has already been haranguing some of the other guests, +including_ BLUMENBERG, _noisily pushes forward at this moment--to +those at the table_). He is presumptuous; he has thrust himself in! + +PIEPENBRINK (_bringing down his hand on the table and rising_). Oho! I +like that! If I kiss my wife or let her be kissed, that is nobody's +concern whatever! Nobody's! No man and no woman and no fairy has a +right to put a hand before her mouth. + +BOLZ. Very true! Splendid! Hear! Hear! + +SENDEN. Revered Mr. Piepenbrink, no offense against you! The company +is charmed to see you here. Only to Mr. Bolz we will remark that his +presence is causing scandal. So completely opposed are his political +principles that we must regard his appearing at this fete as an +unwarrantable intrusion! + +BOLZ. My political principles opposed? In society I know no other +political principle than this--to drink with nice people and not to +drink with those whom I do not consider nice. With you, Sir, I have +not drunk. + +PIEPENBRINK _(striking the table_). That was a good one! + +SENDEN _(hotly)_. You thrust yourself in here! + +BOLZ _(indignantly)_. Thrust myself in? + +PIEPENBRINK. Thrust himself in? Old man, you have an entrance ticket, +I suppose? + +BOLZ _(frankly)_. Here is my ticket! It is not you I am showing it to, +but this honorable man from whom you are trying to estrange me by +your attack. Kaempe, give your ticket to Mr. Piepenbrink. He is the man +to judge of all the tickets in the world! + +PIEPENBRINK. Here are two tickets just exactly as valid as my own. +Why, you scattered them right and left like sour grape juice. Oho! I +see quite well how things stand! I'm not one of your crowd, either, +but you want to get me. That's why you came to my house again and +again--because you expected to capture me. Because I am a voter, +that's why you're after me. But because this honorable man is not a +voter he does not count for you at all. We know those smooth tricks! + +SENDEN. But, Mr. Piepenbrink! + +PIEPENBRINK _(interrupting him, more angrily)_. Is that any reason for +insulting a peaceful guest? Is it a reason for closing my wife's +mouth? It is an injustice to this man, and he shall stay here as long +as I do. And he shall stay here by my side. And whoever attempts to +attack him will have to deal with me! + +BOLZ. Your fist, good sir! You're a faithful comrade! And so +hand-in-hand with you Philip, I defy the Capulet and his entire clan! + +PIEPENBRINK. Philip! Right you are, Conrad, my boy! Come here! They +shall swell with anger till they burst! Here's to Philip and Conrad! +_[They drink brotherhood.]_ + +BOLZ. Long live Piepenbrink! + +PIEPENBRINK. So, old chum! Shall I tell you what! Since we are having +so good a time I think we'll leave all these people to their own +devices, and all of you come home with me. I'll brew a punch and we'll +sit together as merrily as jackdaws. I'll escort you, Conrad, and the +rest of you go ahead. + +SENDEN _(and guests)_. But do listen, _revered_ Mr. Piepenbrink! + +PIEPENBRINK. I'll listen to nothing. I'm done with you! + +_Enter_ BELLMAUS _and other guests_. + +BELLMAUS _(hurrying through the crowd_). Here I am! + +BOLZ. My nephew! Gracious Madam, I put him under your protection! +Nephew, you escort Madam Piepenbrink. (MRS. PIEPENBRINK _takes a firm +grip on_ BELLMAUS'S _arm and holds him securely. Polka behind the +scene.)_ Farewell, gentlemen, it's beyond your power to spoil our good +humor. There, the music is striking up! We march off in a jolly +procession, and again I cry in conclusion, Long live Piepenbrink! + +THE DEPARTING ONES. Long live Piepenbrink! _[They march off in +triumph_. FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and his fiancee,_ KAeMPE _with_ +KLEINMICHEL, MRS. PIEPENBRINK _with_ BELLMAUS, _finally_ BOLZ _with_ +PIEPENBRINK.] + +_Enter_ COLONEL. + +COLONEL. What's going on here? + +SENDEN. An outrageous scandal! The _Union_ has kidnapped our two most +important voters! + + + + +ACT III + + +SCENE I + + +_The_ COLONEL'S _Summer Parlor_. + +_The_ COLONEL _in front, walking rapidly up and down. In the rear_, +ADELAIDE _and_ IDA _arm-in-arm, the latter in great agitation. A short +pause. Then enter_ SENDEN. + +SENDEN (_hastily calling through centre door_). + +All goes well! 37 votes against 29. + +COLONEL. + +Who has 37 votes? + +SENDEN. + +Why you, Colonel, of course! + +COLONEL. + +Of course! (_Exit_ SENDEN.) The election day is unendurable! In no +fight in my life did I have this feeling of fear. It is a mean +cannon-fever of which any ensign might be ashamed. And it is a long +time since I was an ensign! + +[_Stamping his foot_.] + +Confound it! + +[_Goes to rear of stage_.] + +IDA (_coming forward with_ ADELAIDE). + +This uncertainty is frightful. Only one thing is sure, I shall be +unhappy whichever way this election turns out. + +[_Leans on_ ADELAIDE.] + +ADELAIDE. + +Courage! Courage, little girl! Things may still turn out all right. +Hide your anxiety from your father; he is in a state of mind, as it +is, that does not please me at all. + +_Enter_ BLUMENBERG _in haste; the_ COLONEL _rushes toward him_. + +COLONEL. + +Now, sir, how do things stand? + +BLUMENBERG. + +41 votes for you, Colonel, 34 for our opponents; three have fallen on +outsiders. The votes are being registered at very long intervals now, +but the difference in your favor remains much the same. Eight more +votes for you, Colonel, and the victory is won. We have every chance +now of coming out ahead. I am hurrying back, the decisive moment is at +hand. My compliments to the ladies! + +[_Exit_.] + +COLONEL. + +Ida! + +[IDA _hastens to him_.] + +Are you my good daughter? + +IDA. + +My dear father! + +COLONEL. + +I know what is troubling you, child. You are worse off than any one. +Console yourself, Ida; if, as seems likely, the professor has to make +way for the old soldier, then we'll talk further on the matter. +Oldendorf has not deserved it of me; there are many things about him +that I do not like. But you are my only child. I shall think of that +and of nothing else; but the very first thing to do is to break down +the young man's obstinacy. + +[_Releases_ IDA; _walks up and down again._] + +ADELAIDE (_in the foreground, aside_). + +The barometer has risen, the sunshine of pardon breaks through the +clouds. If only it were all over! Such excitement is infectious! (_To_ +IDA.) You see you do not yet have to think of entering a nunnery. + +IDA. But if Oldendorf is defeated, how will he bear it! + +ADELAIDE (_shrugging her shoulders_). + +He loses a seat in unpleasant company and wins, instead, an amusing +little wife. I think he ought to be satisfied. In any case he will +have a chance to make his speeches. Whether he makes them in one house +or another, what is the difference? I fancy you will listen to him +more reverently than any other member. + +IDA (_shyly_). + +But Adelaide, what if it really would be better for the country to +have Oldendorf elected? + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, dearest, in that case there is no help for the country. Our State +and the rest of the European nations must learn to get along without +the professor. You have yourself to attend to first of all; you wish +to marry him; you come first. + +[_Enter_ CARL.] + +What news, Carl? + +CARL. + +Mr. von Senden presents his compliments and reports 47 to 42. The head +of the election committee, he says, has already congratulated him. + +COLONEL. + +Congratulated? Lay out my uniform, ask for the key of the wine-cellar, +and set the table; we are likely to have visitors this evening. + +CARL. + +Yes, Colonel. + +[_Exit_.] + +COLONEL (_to himself in the foreground_). + +Now, my young professor! My style does not please you? It may be that +you are right. I grant you are a better journalist. But here, where it +is a serious matter, you will find yourself in the wrong, just for +once. [_Pause_.] I may be obliged to say a few words this evening. It +used to be said of me in the regiment, indeed, that I could always +speak to the point, but these manoeuvres in civilian dress disconcert +me a little. Let's think it over! It will be only proper for me to +mention Oldendorf in my speech, of course with due respect and +appreciation; yes indeed, I must do that. He is an honest fellow, with +an excellent heart, and a scholar with fine judgment. And he can be +very amiable if you disregard his political theories. We have had +pleasant evenings together. And as we sat then around my fat +tea-kettle and the good boy began to tell his stories, Ida's eyes +would be fixed on his face and would shine with pleasure--yes, and my +own old eyes, too, I think. Those were fine evenings! Why do we have +them no longer? Bah! They'll come back again! He'll bear defeat +quietly in his own way--a good, helpful way. No sensitiveness in him! +He really is at heart a fine fellow, and Ida and I could be happy with +him. And so, gentlemen and electors--but thunder and lightning! I +can't say all that to the voters! I'll say to them-- + +_Enter_ SENDEN. + +SENDEN (_excitedly_). + +Shameful, shameful! All is lost! + +COLONEL. + +Aha! (_Instantly draws himself up in military posture_.) + + + ADELAIDE } My presentiment! Father! + } [_Hurries to him_]. + } (_together_). + } + IDA } Dear me! + + +SENDEN. + +It was going splendidly. We had 47, the opponents 42 votes. Eight +votes were still to be cast. Two more for us and the day would have +been ours. The legally appointed moment for closing the ballot-box had +come. All looked at the clock and called for the dilatory voters. Then +there was a trampling of feet in the corridor. A group of eight +persons pushed noisily into the hall, at their head the vulgar +wine-merchant Piepenbrink, the same one who at the fete the other +day-- + +ADELAIDE. + +We know; go on-- + +SENDEN. + +Each of the band in turn came forward, gave his vote and "Edward +Oldendorf" issued from the lips of all. Then finally came this +Piepenbrink. Before voting he asked the man next to him: "Is the +professor sure of it?" "Yes," was the reply. "Then I, as last voter, +choose as member of Parliament"--[_Stops._] + +ADELAIDE. + +The professor? + +SENDEN. + +No. "A most clever and cunning politician," so he put it, "Dr. Conrad +Bolz." Then he turned short around and his henchmen followed him. + +ADELAIDE (_aside, smiling_). + +Aha! + +SENDEN. + +Oldendorf is member by a majority of two votes. + +COLONEL. + +Ugh! + +SENDEN. + +It is a shame! No one is to blame for this result but these +journalists of the _Union_. Such a running about, an intriguing, a +shaking of hands with all the voters, a praising of this Oldendorf, a +shrugging of the shoulders at us--and at you, dear Sir! + +COLONEL. + +Indeed? + +IDA. + +That last is not true. + +ADELAIDE (_to_ SENDEN). + +Show some regard, and spare those here. + +COLONEL. + +You are trembling, my daughter. You are a woman, and let yourself be +too much affected by such trifles. I will not have you listen to these +tidings any longer. Go, my child! Why, your friend has won, there is +no reason for you to cry! Help her, Miss Adelaide! + +IDA (_is led by_ ADELAIDE _to the side door on the left; +entreatingly_.) + +Leave me! Stay with father! + +SENDEN. + +Upon my honor, the bad faith and arrogance with which this paper is +edited are no longer to be endured. Colonel, since we are alone--for +Miss Adelaide will let me count her as one of us--we have a chance to +take a striking revenge. Their days are numbered now. Quite a long +time ago, already, I had the owner of the _Union_ sounded. He is not +disinclined to sell the paper, but merely has scruples about the party +now controlling the sheet. At the club-fete I myself had a talk with +him. + +ADELAIDE. + +What's this I hear? + +SENDEN. + +This outcome of the election will cause the greatest bitterness among +all our friends, and I have no doubt that, in a few days, by forming a +stock company, we can collect the purchase price. That would be a +deadly blow to our opponents, a triumph for the good cause. The most +widely-read sheet in the province in our hands, edited by a +committee-- + +ADELAIDE. + +To which Mr. von Senden would not refuse his aid-- + +SENDEN. + +As a matter of duty I should do my part. Colonel, if you would be one +of the shareholders, your example would at once make the purchase a +sure thing. + +COLONEL. + +Sir, what you do to further your political ideas is your own affair. +Professor Oldendorf, however, has been a welcome guest in my house. +Never will I work against him behind his back. You would have spared +me this moment had you not previously deceived me by your assurances +as to the sentiments of the majority. However, I bear you no malice. +You acted from the best of motives, I am sure. I beg the company to +excuse me if I withdraw for today. I hope to see you tomorrow again, +dear Senden. + +SENDEN. + +Meanwhile I will start the fund for the purchase of the newspaper. I +bid you good day. [_Exit_.] + +COLONEL. + +Pardon me, Adelaide, if I leave you alone. I have some letters to +write, and [_with a forced laugh_] my newspapers to read. + +ADELAIDE (_sympathetically_). + +May I not stay with you now, of all times? + +COLONEL (_with an effort_). + +I shall be better off alone, now. + +[_Exit through centre door_.] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +My poor Colonel! Injured vanity is hard at work in his faithful soul. +And Ida. [_Gently opens the door on the left, remains standing_.] She +is writing. It is not difficult to guess to whom. [_Closes the door_.] +And for all of this mischief that evil spirit Journalism is to blame. +Everybody complains of it, and every one tries to use it for his own +ends. My Colonel scorned newspaper men until he became one himself, +and Senden misses no opportunity of railing at my good friends of +the pen, merely because he wishes to put himself in their place. I see +Piepenbrink and myself becoming journalists, too, and combining to +edit a little sheet under the title of _Naughty Bolz_. So the _Union_ +is in danger of being secretly sold. It might be quite a good thing +for Conrad: he would then have to think of something else besides the +newspaper. Ah! the rogue would start a new one at once! + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF _and_ CARL. + +OLDENDORF (_while still outside of the room_). + +And the Colonel will receive no one? + +CARL. + +No one, Professor. [_Exit_.] + +ADELAIDE (_going up to_ OLDENDORF). + +Dear Professor, this is not just the right moment for you to come. We +are very much hurt and out of sorts with the world, but most of all +with you. + +OLDENDORF. + +I am afraid you are, but I must speak to him. + +_Enter_ IDA _through the door on the left_. + +IDA (_going toward him_). + +Edward! I knew you would come! + +OLDENDORF. + +My dear Ida! [_Embraces her_.] + +IDA (_with her arms around his neck_). + +And what will become of us now? + +_Enter_ COLONEL _through centre door_. + +COLONEL (_with forced calmness_). + +You shall remain in no doubt about that, my daughter! I beg you, +Professor, to forget that you were once treated as a friend in this +household. I require you, Ida, to banish all thought of the hours when +this gentleman entertained you with his sentiments. (_More +violently_.) Be still! In my own house at least I submit to no attacks +from a journalist. Forget him, or forget that you are my daughter. Go +in there! [_Leads_ IDA, _not ungently, out to the left, and places +himself in front of the door_.] On this ground, Mr. Editor and Member +of Parliament, before the heart of my child, you shall not beat me. + +[_Exit to the left_.] + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Dear me! That is bad! + +OLDENDORF (_as the_ COLONEL _turns to go, with determination_). + +Colonel, it is ungenerous of you to refuse me this interview. [_Goes +toward the door_.] + +ADELAIDE (_intercepting him quickly_). + +Stop! No further! He is in a state of excitement where a single word +might do permanent harm. But do not leave us this way, Professor; give +me just a few moments. + +OLDENDORF. + +I must, in my present condition of mind, ask your indulgence. I have +long dreaded just such a scene, and yet I hardly feel able to control +myself. + +ADELAIDE. + +You know our friend; you know that his quick temper drives him into +acts for which later he would gladly atone. + +OLDENDORF. + +This was more than a fit of temper. It means a breach between us +two--a breach that seems to me beyond healing. + +ADELAIDE. + +Beyond healing, Professor! If your sentiments toward Ida are what I +think they are, healing is not so difficult. Would it not be fitting +for you even now--especially now--to accede to the father's wishes. +Does not the woman you love deserve that, for once at least, you +sacrifice your ambition! + +OLDENDORF. + +My ambition, yes; my duty, no. + +ADELAIDE. + +Your own happiness, Professor, seems to me to be ruined for a long +time, possibly forever, if you part from Ida in this way. + +OLDENDORF (_gloomily_). + +Not every one can be happy in his private life. + +ADELAIDE. + +This resignation does not please me at all, least of all in a man. +Pardon me for saying so, plainly. (_Ingratiatingly_.) Is the +misfortune so great if you become member for this town a few years +later, or even not at all? + +OLDENDORF. + +Miss Runeck, I am not conceited. I do not rate my abilities very high, +and, as far as I know myself, there is no ambitious impulse lurking at +the bottom of my heart. Possibly, as you do now, so a later age will +set a low estimate on our political wrangling, our party aims, and all +that that includes. Possibly all our labor will be without result; +possibly much of the good we hope to do will, when achieved, turn out +to be the opposite--yes, it is highly probable that my own share in +the struggle will often be painful, unedifying, and not at all what +you would call a grateful task; but all that must not keep me from +devoting my life to the strife and struggle of the age to which I +belong. That struggle, after all, is the best and noblest that the +present has to offer. Not every age permits its sons to achieve +results which remain great for all time; and, I repeat, not every age +can make those who live in it distinguished and happy. + +ADELAIDE. + +I think every age can accomplish that if the individuals will only +understand how to be great and happy. [_Rising_.] You, Professor, will +do nothing for your own little home-happiness. You force your friends +to act for you. + +[Illustration: Permission F. Bruckmann, A.-G. Munich +IN THE BEERGARDEN Adolph von Menzel] + +OLDENDORF. + +At all events cherish as little anger against me as possible, and +speak a good word for me to Ida. + +ADELAIDE. + +I shall set my woman's wits to aiding you, Mr. Statesman. + +[_Exit_ OLDENDORF.] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +So this is one of the noble, scholarly, free spirits of the German +nation! And he climbs into the fire from a sheer sense of duty! But to +conquer anything--the world, happiness, or even a wife--for that he +never was made! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL (_announcing_). + +Dr. Bolz! + +ADELAIDE. + +Ah! He at least will be no such paragon of virtue!--Where is the +Colonel? + +CARL. + +In Miss Ida's room. + +ADELAIDE. + +Show the gentleman in here. + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +I feel somewhat embarrassed at seeing you again, Mr. Bolz; I shall +take pains to conceal it. + +_Enter_ BOLZ. + +BOLZ. + +A poor soul has just left you, vainly seeking consolation in your +philosophy. I too come as an unfortunate, for yesterday I incurred +your displeasure; and but for your presence, which cut short a +vexatious scene, Mr. von Senden, in the interests of social propriety, +would doubtless have pitched into me still harder. I thank you for the +reminder you gave me; I take it as a sign that you will not withdraw +your friendly interest in me. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Very pretty, very diplomatic!--It is kind of you to put so good a +construction on my astonishing behavior. But pardon me if I presume to +interfere again; that scene with Mr. von Senden will not, I trust, +give provocation for a second one? + +BOLZ (_aside_). + +This eternal Senden! (_Aloud_.) Your interest in him furnishes me +grounds for avoiding further consequences. I think I can manage it. + +ADELAIDE. + +I thank you. And now let me tell you that you are a dangerous +diplomatist. You have inflicted a thorough defeat on this household. +On this unfortunate day but one thing has pleased me--the one vote +which sought to make you member of Parliament. + +BOLZ. + +It was a crazy idea of the honest wine-merchant. + +ADELAIDE. + +You took so much trouble to put your friend in, why did you not work +for yourself? The young man I used to know had lofty aims, and nothing +seemed beyond the range of his soaring ambition. Have you changed, or +is the fire still burning? + +BOLZ (_smiling_). + +I have become a journalist, Miss Adelaide. + +ADELAIDE. + +Your friend is one, too. + +BOLZ. + +Only as a side issue. But I belong to the guild. He who has joined it +may have the ambition to write wittily or well. All that goes beyond +that is not for us. + +ADELAIDE. + +Not for you? + +BOLZ. + +For that we are too flighty, too restless and scatter-brained. + +ADELAIDE. + +Are you in earnest about that, Conrad? + +BOLZ. + +Perfectly in earnest. Why should I wish to seem to you different from +what I am? We journalists feed our minds on the daily news; we must +taste the dishes Satan cooks for men down to the smallest morsel; so +you really should make allowances for us. The daily vexation over +failure and wrong doing, the perpetual little excitements over all +sorts of things--that has an effect upon a man. At first one clenches +one's fist, then one learns to laugh at it. If you work only for the +day you come to live for the day. + +ADELAIDE (_perturbed_). + +But that is sad, I think. + +BOLZ. + +On the contrary, it is quite amusing. We buzz like bees, in spirit we +fly through the whole world, suck honey when we find it, and sting +when something displeases us. Such a life is not apt to make great +heroes, but queer dicks like us are also needed. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Now he too is at it, and he is even worse than the other one. + +BOLZ. + +We won't waste sentiment on that account. I scribble away so long as +it goes. When it no longer goes, others take my place and do the same. +When Conrad Bolz, the grain of wheat, has been crushed in the great +mill, other grains fall on the stones until the flour is ready from +which the future, possibly, will bake good bread for the benefit of +the many. + +ADELAIDE. + +No, no, that is morbidness; such resignation is wrong. + +BOLZ. + +Such resignation will eventually be found in every profession. It is +not your lot. To you is due a different kind of happiness, and you +will find it. (_Feelingly_.) Adelaide, as a boy I wrote you tender +verses and lulled myself in foolish dreams. I was very fond of you, +and the wound our separation inflicted still smarts at times. +[ADELAIDE _makes a deprecatory gesture_.] Don't be alarmed, I am not +going to pain you. I long begrudged my fate, and had moments when I +felt like an outcast. But now when you stand there before me in full +radiancy, so lovely, so desirable, when my feeling for you is as warm +as ever, I must say to you all the same: Your father, it is true, +treated me roughly; but that he separated us, that he prevented you, +the rich heiress, who could claim anything, with your own exclusive +circle of friends, from throwing herself away on a wild boy who had +always shown more presumption than power--that was really very +sensible, and he acted quite rightly in the matter. + +ADELAIDE (_in her agitation seizing his hands_). + +Thank you, Conrad, thank you for speaking so of my dead father! Yes, +you are good, you have a heart. It makes me very happy that you should +have shown it to me. + +BOLZ. + +It is only a tiny little pocket-heart for private use. It was quite +against my will that it happened to make its appearance. + +ADELAIDE. + +And now enough of us two! Here in this house our help is needed. You +have won, have completely prevailed against us. I submit, and +acknowledge you my master. But now show mercy and let us join forces. +In this conflict of you men a rude blow has been struck at the heart +of a girl whom I love. I should like to make that good again and I +want you to help me. + +BOLZ. + +I am at your command. + +ADELAIDE. + +The Colonel must be reconciled. Think up some way of healing his +injured self-esteem. + +BOLZ. + +I have thought it over and have taken some steps. Unfortunately, all I +can do is to make him feel that his anger at Oldendorf is folly. This +soft conciliatory impulse you alone can inspire. + +ADELAIDE. + +Then we women must try our luck. + +BOLZ. + +Meanwhile I will hurry and do what little I can. + +ADELAIDE. + +Farewell, Mr. Editor. And think not only of the progress of the great +world, but also occasionally of one friend, who suffers from the base +egotism of wishing to be happy on her own account. + +BOLZ. + +You have always found your happiness in looking after the happiness of +others. With that kind of egotism there is no difficulty in being +happy. [_Exit_.] + +ADELAIDE (_alone_). + +He still loves me! He is a man with feeling and generosity. But he, +too, is resigned. They are all _ill_--these men! They have no courage! +From pure learning and introspection they have lost all confidence in +themselves. This Conrad! Why doesn't he say to me: "Adelaide, I want +you to be my wife?" He can be brazen enough when he wants to! God +forbid! He philosophizes about my kind of happiness and his kind of +happiness! It was all very fine, but sheer nonsense.--My young +country-squires are quite different. They have no great burden of +wisdom and have more whims and prejudices than they ought to; but they +do their hating and loving thoroughly and boldly, and never forget +their own advantage. They are the better for it! Praised be the +country, the fresh air, and my broad acres! [_Pause; with decision_.] +The _Union_ is to be sold! Conrad must come to the country to get rid +of his crotchets! [_Sits down and writes; rings; enter_ CARL.] Take +this note to Judge Schwarz; I want him kindly to come to me on urgent +business. + +[_Exit_ CARL.] + +_Enter_ IDA _through the side door on the left_. + +IDA. + +I am too restless to keep still! Let me cry here to my heart's +content! [_Weeps on_ ADELAIDE'S _neck_.] + +ADELAIDE (_tenderly_). + +Poor child! The bad men have been very cruel to you. It's all right +for you to grieve, darling, but don't be so still and resigned! + +IDA. + +I have but the one thought: he is lost to me--lost forever! + +ADELAIDE. + +You are a dear good girl. But be reassured! You haven't lost him at +all. On the contrary, we'll see to it that you get him back better +than ever. With blushing cheeks and bright eyes he shall reappear to +you, the noble man, your chosen demigod--and your pardon the demigod +shall ask for having caused you pain!-- + +IDA (_looking up at her_). + +What are you telling me? + +ADELAIDE. + +Listen! This night I read in the stars that you were to become Mrs. +Member-of-Parliament. A big star fell from heaven, and on it was +written in legible letters: "Beyond peradventure she shall have him!" +The fulfilment has attached to it but one condition. + +IDA. + +What condition? Tell me! + +ADELAIDE. + +I recently told you of a certain lady and an unknown gentleman. You +remember? + +IDA. + +I have thought of it incessantly. + +ADELAIDE. + +Good! On the same day on which this lady finds her knight again shall +you also be reconciled with your professor--not sooner, not later. +Thus it is written. + +IDA. + +I am so glad to believe you. And when will the day come? + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes, dear, I do not know that exactly. But I will confide in you, +since we girls are alone, that the said lady is heartily tired of the +long hoping and waiting and will, I fear, do something desperate. + +IDA (_embracing her_). + +If only she will hurry up! + +ADELAIDE (_holding her_). + +Hush! Some man might hear us! [_Enter_ KORB.] What is it, old friend? + +KORB. + +Miss Adelaide, out there is Mr. Bellmaus, the friend-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Very well, and he wishes to speak to me? + +KORB. + +Yes. I myself advised him to come to you; he has something to tell +you. + +ADELAIDE. + +Bring him in here! [_Exit_ KORB.] + +IDA. + +Let me go away; my eyes are red with weeping. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well go, dear. In a few minutes I will rejoin you. (_Exit_ IDA.) + +He too! The whole _Union_--one after the other! + +_Enter_ BEULMAUS. + +BELLMAUS (_shyly, bowing repeatedly_). + +You permit me, Miss Runeck! + +ADELAIDE (_kindly_). + +I am glad to receive your visit, and am curious about the interesting +disclosures you have to make to me. + +BELLMAUS. + +There is no one to whom I would rather confide what I have heard, Miss +Runeck, than to you. Having learned from Mr. Korb that you are a +subscriber to our newspaper I feel sure-- + +ADELAIDE. + +That I deserve, too, to be a friend of the editors. Thank you for the +good opinion. + +BELLMAUS. + +There is this man Schmock! He is a poor fellow who has been little in +good society and was until now on the staff of the _Coriolanus_. + +ADELAIDE. I remember having seen him. + +BELLMAUS. + +At Bolz's request I gave him a few glasses of punch. He thereupon grew +jolly and told me of a great plot that Senden and the editor of the +_Coriolanus_ have hatched between them. These two gentlemen, so he +assures me, had planned to discredit Professor Oldendorf in the +Colonel's eyes and so drove the Colonel into writing articles for the +_Coriolanus_. + +ADELAIDE. + +But is the young man who made you these revelations at all +trustworthy? + +BELLMAUS. + +He can't stand much punch, and after three glasses he told me all this +of his own accord. In general I don't consider him very reputable. I +should call him a good fellow, but reputable--no, he's not quite that. + +ADELAIDE (_indifferently_.) + +Do you suppose this gentleman who drank the three glasses of punch +would be willing to repeat his disclosures before other persons? + +BELLMAUS. + +He said he would, and spoke of proofs too. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +Aha! (_Aloud_.) I fear the proofs won't amount to much. And you have +not spoken of it to the professor or Mr. Bolz? + +BELLMAUS. + +Our professor is very much occupied these days, and Bolz is the +jolliest man in the world; but his relations with Mr. von Senden being +already strained I thought-- + +ADELAIDE (_quickly_). + +And you were quite right, dear Mr. Bellmaus. So in other regards you +are content with Mr. Bolz? + +BELLMAUS. + +He is a sociable, excellent man, and I am on very good terms with him. +All of us are on very good terms with him. + +ADELAIDE. + +I am glad to hear it. + +BELLMAUS. + +He sometimes goes a little too far, but he has the best heart in the +world. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings" ye +shall hear the truth! + +BELLMAUS. + +His nature, you know, is a purely prosaic one; for poetry he has not +the least comprehension. ADELAIDE. Do you think so? + +BELLMAUS. + +Yes, he often bursts forth on the subject. + +ADELAIDE (_rising_). + +I thank you for your communication even if I cannot attach weight to +it, and I am glad to have met in you one of the editorial staff. +Journalists, I find, are dangerous people, and it is just as well to +secure their good will; although I, as an unimportant person, will try +never to furnish matter for a newspaper article. [_As_ BELLMAUS +_lingers._] Can I do anything more for you? + +BELLMAUS (_with warmth_). + +Yes, Miss Runeck, if you would be so good as to accept this copy of my +poems. They are poems of youth, to be sure, my first attempts, but I +count on your friendly indulgence. + +[_Draws a gilt-edged book from his pocket, and hands it to her._] + +ADELAIDE. + +I thank you heartily, Mr. Bellmaus. Never before has a poet presented +me with his works. I shall read the beautiful book through in the +country, and, under my trees, shall rejoice that I have friends in +town who spare a thought for me too, when they represent beauty for +other people. + +BELLMAUS (_fervently_). + +Rest assured, Miss Runeck, that no poet will forget you, who has once +had the good fortune to make your acquaintance. + +[_Exit with a deep bow._] + +ADELAIDE. + +This Mr. Schmock with the three glasses of punch is well worth +cultivating, I should say. Scarcely have I arrived in town when my +room turns into a regular business office, where editors and authors +ply their trade. I fear that is an omen. + +[_Exit to the left._] + +_It grows dark. The_ COLONEL _enters from the garden._ + +COLONEL (_slowly coming forward_). + +I am glad that all is over between us. [_Stamping his foot._] I am +very glad! [_In a depressed tone._] I feel free and more relieved than +for a long time. I think I could actually sing! At this moment I am +the subject of conversation over all tea-cups, on all beer-benches. +Everywhere arguing and laughter: It serves him right, the old fool! +Damn! [_Enter_ CARL, _with lights and the newspaper_.] Who told you to +bring the lamp? + +CARL. + +Colonel, it is your hour for reading the newspaper. Here it is. [_Lays +it on the table_.] + +COLONEL. + +A low rabble, these gentlemen of the pen! Cowardly, malicious, +insidious in their anonymity. How this band will triumph now, and over +me! How they will laud their editor to the skies! There lies the +contemptible sheet! In it stands my defeat, trumpeted forth with full +cheeks, with scornful shrugs of the shoulders--away with it! [_Walks +up and down, looks at the newspaper on the ground, picking it up_.] +All the same I will drink out the dregs! [_Seats himself.]_ Here, +right in the beginning! [_Reading_.] "Professor Oldendorf--majority of +two votes. This journal is bound to rejoice over the result."--I don't +doubt it!--"But no less a matter for rejoicing was the electoral +contest which preceded it."--Naturally--"It has probably never before +been the case that, as here, two men stood against each other who were +so closely united by years of friendship, both so distinguished by the +good will of their fellow-citizens. It was a knightly combat between +two friends, full of generosity, without malice, without jealousy; yes +doubtless, deep down in his heart, each harbored the hope that his +friend and opponent and not himself would be the victor"--[_Lays down +the paper; wipes his brow_.] What sort of language is that? [_Reads_.] +"and aside from some special party views, never did a man have greater +claims to victory than our honored opponent. What he, through his +upright, noble personality stands for among his wide circle of friends +and acquaintances, this is not the place to dwell upon. But the way in +which, by his active participation in all public spirited enterprises +of the town, he has given aid and counsel, is universally known and +will be realized by our fellow-citizens, especially today, with +heartfelt gratitude." [_Lays the paper aside_.] That is a vile style! +[_Reads on_.] "By a very small majority of votes our town has decreed +to uphold the younger friend's political views in Parliament. But by +all parties today--so it is reported--addresses and deputations are +being prepared, not to extol the victor in the electoral contest, but +to express to his opponent the general reverence and respect of which +never a man was more worthy than he."--That is open assassination! +That is a fearful indiscretion of Oldendorf's, that is the revenge of +a journalist, so fine and pointed! Oh, it is just like him! No, it is +not like him! It is revolting, it is inhuman! What am I to do! +Deputations and addresses to me? To Oldendorf's friend? Bah, it is all +mere gossip, newspaper-babble that costs nothing but a few fine words! +The town knows nothing of these sentiments. It is blackguardism! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +Letters from the local mail. + +[_Lays them on the table._] + +[_Exit_.] + +COLONEL. + +There is something up, here, too. I dread to open them. [_Breaks open +the first one_.] What the devil! A poem?--and to me? "To our noble +opponent, the best man in town."--Signed? What is the signature? +"B--aus!" B--aus? I don't know it, it must be a pseudonym! [_Reads_.] +It seems to be exceedingly good poetry!--And what have we here? +[_Opens the second letter_.] "To the benefactor of the poor, the +father of orphans." An address!--[_Reads_.] "Veneration and +kindliness."--Signature: "Many women and girls." The seal a P.P.--Good +God, what does it all mean? Have I gone mad? If these are really +voices from the town, and if that is the way people look on this day, +then I must confess men think better of me than I do of myself! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +A number of gentlemen wish to speak to you, Colonel. + +COLONEL. + +What sort of gentlemen! + +CARL. + +They say: A deputation from the voters. + +COLONEL. + +Show them in. This confounded newspaper was right, after all. + +_Enter_ PIEPENBRINK, KLEINMICHEL _and three other gentlemen. They +bow, the_ COLONEL _likewise_. + +PIEPENBRINK (_solemnly_). + +My Colonel: A number of voters have sent us as a deputation to you to +inform you on this special day that the whole town considers you a +most respectable and worthy man. + +COLONEL (_stiffly_). + +I am obliged for the good opinion. + +PIEPENBRINK. + +You have no reason to feel obliged. It is the truth. You are a man of +honor through and through, and it gives us pleasure to tell you so; +you cannot object to hearing this from your fellow-citizens. + +COLONEL. + +I always did consider myself a man of honor, gentlemen. + +PIEPENBRINK. + +There you were quite right. And you have proved your good principles, +too. On every occasion. In cases of poverty, of famine, of caring for +orphans, also at our shooting-club meeting--always when we citizens +enjoyed or needed a benevolent good man, you were among the first. +Always simple and loyal without arrogance or supercilious manners. +That's the reason why we universally love and honor you. (_Colonel +wipes his eyes_.) Today many of us gave their votes to the professor. +Some on account of politics, some because they know that he is your +close friend and possibly even your future son-in-law. COLONEL (_not +harshly_). + +Sir-- + +PIEPENBRINK. + +Nor did I myself vote for you. + +COLONEL (_somewhat more excitedly_). + +Sir-- + +PIEPENBRINK. + +But for that very reason I come to you with the rest, and that is why +we tell you what the citizens think of you. And we hope that for long +years to come you will preserve to us your manly principles and +friendly heart as an honored, most respected gentleman and +fellow-citizen. + +COLONEL (_without harshness_). + +Why do you not say that to the professor, to the man that you have +chosen? + +PIEPENBRINK. + +He shall first deserve it in Parliament before the town thanks him. +But you _have_ deserved it of us, and therefore we come to you. + +COLONEL (_heartily_). + +I thank you, sir, for your kind words. They are very comforting to me +just now. May I ask your name? + +PIEPENBRINK. + +My name is Piepenbrink. + +COLONEL (_morely coldly, but not impolitely_). + +Ah, indeed, that is your name! (_With dignity._) I thank you, +gentlemen, for the friendly sentiment you have expressed, whether it +be that you render the true opinion of the town, or speak according to +the desire of individuals. I thank you, and shall go on doing what I +think is right. + +[_Bows, so does the deputation; exit latter_.] + +This, then, is that Piepenbrink, the close friend of his friend! But +the man's words were sensible and his whole demeanor honorable; it +cannot possibly be all rascality. Who knows! They are clever +intriguers; send into my house newspaper articles, letters, and these +good-natured people, to make me soft-hearted; act in public as my +friends, to make me confide again in their falseness! Yes, that is it. +It is a preconcerted plan! They will find they have miscalculated! + +_Enter_ CARL. + +CARL. + +Dr. Bolz! + +COLONEL. + +I am at home to no one any longer! + +CARL. + +So I told the gentleman; but he insisted on speaking to you, saying +that he came in on an affair of honor. + +COLONEL. + +What? But Oldendorf won't be so insane--show him in here! + +_Enter_ BOLZ. + +BOLZ (_with dignity_). + +Colonel, I come to make you an announcement which the honor of a third +person necessitates. + +COLONEL. + +I am prepared for it, and beg you not to prolong it unduly. + +BOLZ. + +No more than is requisite. The article in this evening's _Union_ +which deals with your personality was written by me and inserted by me +in the paper without Oldendorf's knowledge. + +COLONEL. + +It can interest me little to know who wrote the article. + +BOLZ (_courteously_). + +But I consider it important to tell you that it is not by Oldendorf +and that Oldendorf knew nothing about it. My friend was so taken up +these last weeks with his own sad and painful experiences that he left +the management of the paper entirely to me. For all that has lately +appeared in it I alone am responsible. + +COLONEL. + +And why do you impart this information? + +BOLZ. + +You have sufficient penetration to realize, Colonel, that, after the +scene which took place today between you and my friend, Oldendorf as a +man of honor could neither write such an article nor allow it to +appear in his paper. + +COLONEL. + +How so, sir? In the article itself I saw nothing unsuitable. + +BOLZ. + +The article exposes my friend in your eyes to the suspicion of having +tried to regain your good-will by unworthy flattery. Nothing is +further from his thoughts than such a method. You, Colonel, are too +honorable a man yourself to consider a mean action natural to your +friend. + +COLONEL. + +You are right. (_Aside_.) This defiance is unbearable! (_Aloud_.) Is +your explanation at an end? + +BOLZ. + +It is. I must add still another: that I myself regret very much having +written this article. + +COLONEL. + +I imagine I do not wrong you in assuming that you have already written +others that were still more to be regretted. + +BOLZ (_continuing_). + +I had the article printed before hearing of your last interview with +Oldendorf. (_Very courteously_.) My reason for regretting it is, that +it is not quite true. I was too hasty in describing your personality +to the public. Today, at least, it is no longer a true portrait; it is +flattering. + +COLONEL (_bursting out_). + +Well, by the devil, that is rude! + +BOLZ. + +Your pardon--it is only true. I wish to convince you that a journalist +can regret having written falsehoods. + +COLONEL. + +Sir! (_Aside_.) I must restrain myself, or he will always get the +better of me.--Dr. Bolz, I see that you are a clever man and know your +trade. Since, in addition, you seem inclined today to speak only the +truth, I must beg you to tell me further if you, too, organized the +demonstrations which purport to represent to me public sentiment. + +BOLZ (_bowing_). + +I have, as a matter of fact, not been inactive in the matter. + +COLONEL (_holding out the letter to him, angrily_). + +Did you prompt these, too? + +BOLZ. + +In part, Colonel. This poem is the heart-outpouring of an honest youth +who reveres in you the paternal friend of Oldendorf and the ideal of a +chivalrous hero. I inspired him with the courage to send you the poem. +It was well-meant, at any rate. The poet will have to seek another +ideal. The address comes from women and girls who constitute the +Association for the Education of Orphans. The Association includes +among its members Miss Ida Berg. I myself composed this address for +the ladies; it was written down by the daughter of the wine-merchant +Piepenbrink. + +COLONEL. + +That was just about my opinion concerning these letters. It is +needless to ask if you too are the contriver who sent me the citizens? + +BOLZ. + +At all events I did not discourage them. [_From without a male chorus +of many voices_.] + + + Hail! Hail! Hail! + Within the precincts of our town, + Blessed by each burgher's son, + There dwells a knight of high renown, + A noble, faithful one. + + Who doth in need for aid apply + To this brave knight sends word; + For love is his bright panoply + And mercy is his sword. + + We laud him now in poem and song + Protector of the lowly throng. + The Colonel, the Colonel, + The noble Colonel Berg! + + +COLONEL (_rings after the first measure of the song_. CARL _enters_). + +You are to let no one in if you wish to remain in my service. + +CARL. + +Colonel, they are already in the garden, a great company of them. It +is the glee club; the leaders are already at the steps. + +BOLZ (_who has opened the window_). + +Very well sung, Colonel--from _La Juive_--he is the best tenor in town +and the accompaniment is exceedingly original. + +COLONEL (_aside_). + +It is enough to drive one mad. [_Aloud_.] Show the gentlemen in! + +_Exit_ CARL. _At the end of the verse enter_ FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and +two other gentlemen_. + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. + +Colonel, the local glee club asks to be allowed to sing you some +songs--kindly listen to the little serenade as a feeble expression of +the general veneration and love. + +COLONEL. + +Gentlemen, I regret exceedingly that a case of illness in my family +makes it desirable for me to have you curtail your artistic +performance. I thank you for your intentions, and beg you will sing to +Professor Oldendorf the songs you had designed for me. + +FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. + +We considered it our duty first to greet you before visiting your +friend. In order not to disturb invalids, we will, with your +permission, place ourselves further away from the house, in the +garden. + +COLONEL. + +Do as you please. + +[FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and the two others leave_.] + +Is this act, too, an invention of yours? + +BOLZ (_with a bow_). + +Partially at least. But you are too kind, Colonel, if you look upon me +as the sole originator of all these demonstrations. My share in it is +really a small one. I have done nothing but edit public opinion a +little; all these different people are not dolls, which a skilful +puppet-man can move around by pulling wires. These are all voices of +capable and honorable persons, and what they have said to you is +actually the general opinion of the town--that is to say, the +conviction of the better and more sensible elements in the town. Were +that not the case I should have labored quite in vain with these good +people to bring a single one of them into your house. + +COLONEL. + +He is right again, and I am always in the wrong! + +BOLZ (_very courteously_). + +Permit me to explain further, that I consider these tender expressions +of general regard out of place now, and that I deeply regret my share +in them. Today at least, no friend of Oldendorf has any occasion to +praise your chivalrous sentiments or your self-effacement. + +COLONEL (_going toward him_). + +Doctor Bolz, you use the privilege of your profession to speak +recklessly, and are insulting outsiders in a way that exhausts my +patience. You are in my house, and it is a customary social amenity to +respect the domicile of one's opponent. + +BOLZ (_leaning on a chair, good-naturedly_). + +If you mean by that that you have a right to expel from your house +unwelcome guests you did not need to remind me of it, for this very +day you shut your doors on another whose love for you gave him a +better right to be here than I have. + +COLONEL. + +Sir, such brazen-facedness I have never yet experienced. + +BOLZ (_with a bow_). + +I am a journalist, and claim what you have just called the privilege +of my profession. + +[_Grand march by brass band. Enter_ CARL _quickly_.] + +COLONEL (_going toward him_). + +Shut the garden gate; no one is to come in. [_The music stops_.] + +BOLZ (_at the window_). + +You are locking your friends out; this time I am innocent. + +CARL. + +Ah, Colonel, it is too late. The singers are back there in the garden, +and in front a great procession is approaching the house; it is Mr. +von Senden and the entire club. + +[_Goes to rear of stage_.] + +COLONEL (_to_ BOLZ). + +Sir, I wish the conversation between us to end. + +BOLZ (_speaking back at him from the window_). + +In your position, Colonel, I find the desire very natural. [_Looking +out again_.] A brilliant procession! They all carry paper lanterns, +and on the lanterns are inscriptions! Besides the ordinary club +mottoes, I see others. Why isn't Bellmaus ever looking when he might +be helping the newspaper! [_Taking out a note book_.] We'll quickly +note those inscriptions for our columns. [_Over his shoulder_.] Pardon +me! Oh, that is truly remarkable: "Down with our enemies!" And here a +blackish lantern with white letters--"Death to the _Union_!" Holy +thunder! [_Calls out of the window_.] Good evening, gentlemen! + +COLONEL (_going up to him_). + +Sir, you're in league with the devil! + +BOLZ (_turning quickly around_). + +Very kind of you, Colonel, to show yourself at the window with me. + +[COLONEL _retreats_.] + +SENDEN (_from below_). + +Whose voice is that! + +BOLZ. + +Good evening, Mr. von Senden!--The gentleman with the dark lantern and +white inscription would oblige us greatly by kindly lifting it up to +the Colonel. Blow your light out, man, and hand me the lantern. So, +thank you--man with the witty motto! [_Pulling in the stick and +lantern_.] Here, Colonel, is the document of the brotherly love your +friends cherish toward us. [_Tears the lantern from the stick_.] The +lantern for you, the stick for the lantern-bearer! [_Throws the stick +out of the window_.] I have the honor to bid you good day! + +[_Turns to go, meets_ ADELAIDE.] + +_Male chorus, close at hand again: "Within the precincts of our town;" +trumpets join in; then many voices: "Long live_ COLONEL BERG! +_Hurrah!_" ADELAIDE _has entered on the left, during the noise_. + +ADELAIDE. + +Well, is the whole town upside-down today? + +BOLZ. + +I've done my share; he is half converted. Good night! + +COLONEL (_throwing the lantern on the ground--in a rage_). + +To the devil with all journalists! + +_Male chorus_, SENDEN, BLUMENBERG _and many other gentlemen, in +procession, are visible through the door into the garden; the +deputation comes in; chorus and lantern-bearers form a group at the +entrance_. + +SENDEN (_with a loud voice while the curtain is lowered_). + +Colonel, the Club has the honor of greeting its revered members! + + + + +ACT IV + + +SCENE I + + +_The_ COLONEL'S _summer parlor_. COLONEL _enters from the garden, +followed by_ CARL. + +COLONEL (_on entering, crossly_). + +Who ordered William to bring the horse round in front of the bedrooms? +The brute makes a noise with his hoofs that would wake the dead. + +CARL. + +Are you not going to ride today, Colonel? + +COLONEL. + +No. Take the horse to the stable! + +CARL. + +Yes, Colonel. [_Exit_.] + +COLONEL (_rings_, CARL _reappears at the door_). + +Is Miss Runeck at home? + +CARL. + +She is in her room; the judge has been with her an hour already. + +COLONEL. + +What? Early in the morning? + +CARL. + +Here she is herself. + +[_Exit as soon as_ ADELAIDE _enters_.] + +_Enter_ ADELAIDE _and_ KORB _through the door on the right_. + +ADELAIDE (_to_ KORB). + +You had better remain near the garden gate, and when the said young +man comes bring him to us. + +[_Exit_ KORB.] + +Good-morning, Colonel. + +[_Going up to him and examining him gaily_.] + +How is the weather today? + +COLONEL. + +Gray, girl, gray and stormy. Vexation and grief are buzzing round in +my head until it is fit to burst. How is the child? + +ADELAIDE. + +Better. She was wise enough to fall asleep toward morning. Now she is +sad, but calm. + +COLONEL. + +This very calmness annoys me. If she would only once shriek and tear +her hair a bit! It would be horrible, but there would be something +natural about it. It is this smiling and then turning away to dry +secret tears that makes me lose my composure. It is unnatural in my +child. + +ADELAIDE. + +Possibly she knows her father's kind heart better than he does +himself; possibly she still has hopes. + +COLONEL. + +Of what? Of a reconciliation with him? After what has happened a +reconciliation between Oldendorf and myself is out of the question. + +ADELAIDE (_aside_). + +I wonder if he wants me to contradict him! + +_Enter_ KORB. + +KORB (_to_ ADELAIDE). + +The gentleman has come. + +ADELAIDE. + +I will ring. + +[_Exit_ KORB.] + +Help me out of a little dilemma. I have to speak with a strange young +man who seems in need of help, and I should like to have you stay near +me.--May I leave this door open? + +[_Points to the door on the left_.] + +COLONEL. + +That means, I suppose, in plain English, that I +am to go in there? + +ADELAIDE. + +I beg it of you--just for five minutes. + +COLONEL. + +Very well--if only I don't have to listen. + +ADELAIDE. + +I do not require it; but you will listen all the +same if the conversation happens to interest you. + +COLONEL (_smiling_). + +In that case I shall come out. + +[_Exit to the left_; ADELAIDE _rings_.] + +_Enter_ SCHMOCK. KORB _also appears at the entrance, but quickly +withdraws_. + +SCHMOCK (_with a bow_). + +I wish you a good-morning. Are you the lady who sent me her secretary? + +ADELAIDE. + +Yes. You said you wished to speak to me personally. + +SCHMOCK. + +Why should the secretary know about it if I want to tell you +something? Here are the notes that Senden wrote and that I found in +the paper-basket of the _Coriolanus_. Look them over, and see if they +will be of use to the Colonel. What can I do with them? There's +nothing to be done with them. + +ADELAIDE (_looking through them, reading, in an aside_). + +"Here I send you the wretched specimens of style, etc." Incautious and +very low-minded! [_Lays them on the table. Aloud_.] At any rate these +unimportant notes are better off in my paper-basket than in any one +else's. And what, sir, induces you to confide in me? + +[Illustration: _Permission Union Deutsch um Vellagssesellsckaft +Stuttgart_. LUNCH BUFFET AT KISSENGEN ADOLPH VON MENZEL. ] + +SCHMOCK. + +I suppose because Bellmaus told me you were a clever person who would +choose a good way of telling the Colonel to be on his guard against +Senden and against my editor; and the Colonel is a kind man; the other +day he ordered a glass of sweet wine and a salmon sandwich as a lunch +for me. + +COLONEL (_visible at the door, clasping his hands sympathetically_). + +Merciful heavens! + +SCHMOCK. + +Why should I let him be duped by these people! + +ADELAIDE. + +Since you did not dislike the lunch, we will see that you get another +one. + +SCHMOCK. + +Oh please, don't trouble yourself on my account. + +ADELAIDE. + +Can we help you with anything else? + +SCHMOCK. + +What should you be able to help me with? [_Examining his boots and +clothes_.] I have everything in order now. My trouble is only that I +have got into the wrong occupation. I must try to get out of +literature. + +ADELAIDE (_sympathetically_.) + +It is very hard, I suppose, to feel at home in literature? + +SCHMOCK. + +That depends. My editor is an unfair man. He cuts out too much and +pays too little. "Attend to your style first of all," says he; "a good +style is the chief thing." "Write impressively, Schmock," says he; +"write profoundly; it is required of a newspaper today that it be +profound." Good! I write profoundly, I make my style logical! But when +I bring him what I have done he hurls it away from him and shrieks: +"What is that? That is heavy, that is pedantic!" says he. "You must +write dashingly; it's brilliant you must be, Schmock. It is now the +fashion to make everything pleasant for the reader." What am I to do? +I write dashingly again; I put a great deal of brilliant stuff in the +article; and when I bring it he takes his red pencil and strikes out +all that is commonplace and leaves me only the brilliant stuff +remaining. + +COLONEL. + +Are such things possible? + +SCHMOCK. + +How can I exist under such treatment? How can I write him only +brilliant stuff at less than a penny a line. I can't exist under it! +And that is why I'm going to try to get out of the business. If only I +could earn twenty-five to thirty dollars, I would never in my life +write again for a newspaper; I would then set up for myself in +business--a little business that could support me. + +ADELAIDE. + +Wait a moment! [_Looks into her purse_.] + +COLONEL (_hastily coming forward_). + +Leave that to me, dear Adelaide. The young man wants to cease being a +journalist. That appeals to me. Here, here is money such as you desire +if you will promise me from this day on not to touch a pen again for a +newspaper. Here, take it. + +SCHMOCK. + +A Prussian bank note--twenty-five thalers in currency? On my honor, I +promise you, on my honor and salvation, I go this very day to a cousin +of mine who has a paying business. Would you like an I.O.U., Colonel, +or shall I make out a long-term promissory note? + +COLONEL. + +Get out with your promissory note! + +SCHMOCK. + +Then I will write out a regular I.O.U. I prefer it to be only an +I.O.U. + +COLONEL (_impatiently_). + +I don't want your I.O.U. either. Sir, for God's sake get out of the +house! + +SCHMOCK. + +And how about the interest? If I can have it at five per cent. I +should like it. + +ADELAIDE. + +The gentleman makes you a present of the money. + +SCHMOCK. + +He makes me a present of the money? It's a miracle! I tell you what, +Colonel, if I don't succeed with the money it remains a gift, but if I +work my way up with it I return it. I hope I will work my way up. +COLONEL. Do just as you like about that. + +SCHMOCK. + +I like to have it that way, Colonel.--Meanwhile I thank you, and may +some other joy come to make it up to you. Good day, Sir and Madam. + +ADELAIDE. + +We must not forget the lunch. [_Rings,_ KORB _enters_.] Dear Korb! +[_Talks in a low tone to him_.] + +SCHMOCK. + +O please, do not go to that trouble! + +[_Exeunt_ SCHMOCK _and_ KORB.] + +COLONEL. + +And now, dear lady, explain this whole conversation; it concerns me +intimately enough. + +ADELAIDE. + +Senden spoke tactlessly to outsiders about his relations with you and +your household. This young man had overheard some of it, and also had +notes written by Senden in his possession, which contained unsuitable +expressions. I thought it best to get these notes out of his hands. + +COLONEL. + +I want you to let me have those letters, Adelaide. + +ADELAIDE (_entreating_). + +Why, Colonel? + +COLONEL. + +I won't get angry, girl. + +ADELAIDE. + +Nor is it worth while to do so. But still I beg you won't look at +them. You know enough now, for you know that he, with his associates, +does not merit such great confidence as you have latterly reposed in +him. + +COLONEL (_sadly_). + +Well, well! In my old days I have had bad luck with my acquaintances. + +ADELAIDE. + +If you put Oldendorf and this one (_pointing to the letters_) in the +same class you are quite mistaken. + +COLONEL. + +I don't do that, girl. For Senden I had no such affection, and that's +why it is easier to bear it when he does me an injury. + +ADELAIDE (_gently_). + +And because you loved the other one, that was the reason why yesterday +you were so-- + +COLONEL. + +Say it, mentor--so harsh and violent! + +ADELAIDE. + +Worse than that, you were unjust. + +COLONEL. + +I said the same thing to myself last night, as I went to Ida's room +and heard the poor thing cry. I was a hurt, angry man and was wrong in +the form--but in the matter itself I was, all the same, right. Let him +be member of Parliament; he may be better suited for it than I. It is +his being a newspaper writer that separates us. + +ADELAIDE. + +But he is only doing what you did yourself! + +COLONEL. + +Don't remind me of that folly! Were he as my son-in-law to hold a +different opinion from mine regarding current happenings--that I could +doubtless stand. But if day by day he were to proclaim aloud to the +world feelings and sentiments the opposite of mine, and I had to read +them, and had to hear my son-in-law reproached and laughed at for them +on all sides by old friends and comrades, and I had to swallow it +all--you see that is more than I could bear! + +ADELAIDE. + +And Ida? Because you won't bear it Ida is to be made unhappy? + +COLONEL. + +My poor child! She has been unhappy throughout the whole affair. This +half-hearted way of us men has long been a mistake. It is better to +end it with one sharp pain. + +ADELAIDE (_seriously_). + +I cannot see that ending of it as yet. I shall only see it when Ida +laughs once more as merrily as she used to do. + +COLONEL (_excitedly walking about, exclaiming_). + +Well then, I'll give him my child, and go and sit alone in a corner. I +had other views for my old age, but God forbid that my beloved girl +should be made unhappy by me. He is reliable and honorable, and will +take good care of her. I shall move back to the little town I came +from. + +ADELAIDE (_seizing his hand_). + +My revered friend, no--you shall not do that! Neither Oldendorf nor +Ida would accept their happiness at such a price. But if Senden and +his friends were secretly to take the paper away from the professor, +what then? + +COLONEL (_joyfully_). + +Then he would no longer be a journalist! (_Uneasily_.) But I won't +hear of such a thing. I am no friend of underhanded action. + +ADELAIDE. + +Nor am I! (_Heartily_.) Colonel, you have often shown a confidence in +me that has made me happy and proud. Even today you let me speak more +frankly than is usually permitted to a girl. Will you give me one more +great proof of your regard? + +COLONEL (_pressing her hand_). + +Adelaide, we know how we stand with each other. Speak out! + +ADELAIDE. + +For one hour, today, be my faithful knight. Allow me to lead you +wherever I please. + +COLONEL. + +What are you up to, child? + +ADELAIDE. + +Nothing wrong, nothing unworthy of you or of me. You shall not long be +kept in the dark about it. + +COLONEL. + +If I must, I will surrender. But may I not know something of what I +have to do? + +ADELAIDE. + +You are to accompany me on a visit, and at the same time keep in mind +the things we have just talked over so sensibly. + +COLONEL. + +On a visit? + +_Enter_ KORB. + +ADELAIDE. + +On a visit I am making in my own interest. + +KORB (_to_ ADELAIDE). + +Mr. von Senden wishes to pay his respects. + +COLONEL. + +I don't wish to see him now. + +ADELAIDE. + +Be calm, Colonel! We have not time to be angry even with him. I shall +have to see him for a few moments. + +COLONEL. + +Then I will go away. + +ADELAIDE (_entreating_). + +But you will accompany me directly? The carriage is waiting. + +COLONEL. + +I obey the command. [_Exit to the left_.] + +ADELAIDE. + +I have made a hasty decision; I have ventured on something that was +doubtless too bold for a girl; for now that the crisis is at hand, I +feel my courage leaving me. I had to do it for his sake and for all +our sakes. (_To_ KORB.) Ask Miss Ida to get ready--the coachman will +come straight back for her. Dear Korb, let your thoughts be with me. I +am going on a weighty errand, old friend! [_Exit_ ADELAIDE.] + +KORB. + +(_alone_). Gracious, how her eyes shine! What is she tip to? She's not +going to elope with the old Colonel, I hope! Well, whatever she is up +to, she will carry it through. There is only one person who could ever +be a match for her. Oh, Mr. Conrad, if only I could speak! + +[_EXIT_.] + + +SCENE II + + +_Editorial room of the Union. Enter_ BOLZ _through the door on the +left, directly afterward_ MILLER. + +BOLZ (_at middle door_). + +In here with the table! + +MILLER (_carries small table, all set, with wine-bottles, glasses and +plates, to the foreground on the left; brings up five chairs while he +speaks_). + +Mr. Piepenbrink sends his regards, with the message that the wine is +yellow-seal, and that, if the Doctor drinks any healths, he must not +forget Mr. Piepenbrink's health. He was very jolly, the stout +gentleman. And Madam Piepenbrink reminded him that he ought to +subscribe for the _Union_. He commissioned me to see to it. + +BOLZ (_who meanwhile has been turning over papers at the work-table on +the right, rising_). + +Let's have some wine! + +[MILLER _pours some in a glass_.] + +In honor of the worthy vintner! [_Drinks._] + +I treated him scandalously, but he has proved true-hearted. Tell him +his health was not forgotten. There, take this bottle along!--Now, get +out! + +[_Exit_ MILLER. BOLZ _opening the door on the left_.] + +Come, gentlemen, today I carry out my promise. + +[_Enter_ KAeMPE, BELLMAUS, KOeRNER.] + +This is the lunch I agreed to give. And now, my charming day-flies, +put as much rose-color into your cheeks and your humors as your wits +will let you. [_Pouring out_.] The great victory is won; the _Union_ +has celebrated one of the noblest of triumphs; in ages still to come +belated angels will say with awe: "Those were glorious days," and so +on--see continuation in today's paper. Before we sit down, the first +toast-- + +KAeMPE. The member-elect-- + +BOLZ. + +No, our first toast is to the mother of all, the great power which +produces members--the newspaper, may she prosper! + +ALL. + +Hurrah! [_Clink glasses_.] + +BOLZ. + +Hurrah! And secondly, long live--hold on, the member himself is not +here yet. + +KAeMPE. + +Here he comes. + +_Enter_ OLDENDORF. + +BOLZ. + +The member from our venerable town, editor-in-chief and professor, +journalist, and good fellow, who is angry just now because behind his +back this and that got into the paper--hurrah for him! + +ALL. + +Hurrah! + +OLDENDORF (_in a friendly tone_.) + +I thank you, gentlemen. + +BOLZ (_drawing_ OLDENDORF _to the front_). + +And you are no longer vexed with us? + +OLDENDORF. + +Your intention was good, but it was a great indiscretion. + +BOLZ. + +Forget all about it! (_Aloud_.) Here, take your glass and sit down +with us. Don't be proud, young statesman! Today you are one of us. +Well, here sits the editorial staff! Where is worthy Mr. +Henning--where tarries our owner, printer and publisher, Gabriel +Henning? + +KAeMPE. + +I met him a little while ago on the stairs. He crept by me as shyly as +though he were some one who had been up to mischief. + +BOLZ. + +Probably he feels as Oldendorf does--he is again not pleased with the +attitude of the paper. + +MILLER (_thrusting in his head_). + +The papers and the mail! + +BOLZ. + +Over there! [MILLER _enters, lays the papers on the work-table._] + +MILLER. + +Here is the _Coriolanus_. There is something in it about our paper. +The errand-boy of the _Coriolanus_ grinned at me scornfully, and +recommended me to look over the article. + +BOLZ. + +Give it here! Be quiet, Romans, _Coriolanus_ speaks.--All ye devils, +what does that mean? [_Reads_.] "On the best of authority we have just +been informed that a great change is imminent in the newspaper affairs +of our province. Our opponent, the _Union_, will cease to direct her +wild attacks against all that is high and holy."--This high and holy +means Blumenberg.--"The ownership is said to have gone over into other +hands, and there is a sure prospect that we shall be able from now on +to greet as an ally this widely read sheet." How does that taste to +you, gentlemen? + +MILLER} Thunder! KAeMPE.}_(All together_.) Nonsense! BELLMAUS.} It's a +lie! + +OLDENDORF. + +It's another of Blumenberg's reckless inventions. + +BOLZ. + +There is something behind it all. Go and get me Gabriel Henning. +[_Exit_ MILLER.] This owner has played the traitor; we have been +poisoned. [_Springing up._] And this is the feast of the Borgia! +Presently the _misericordia_ will enter and sing our dirge. Do me the +favor at least to eat up the oysters before it be too late. + +OLDENDORF (_who has seized the newspaper_.) + +Evidently this news is only an uncertain rumor. Henning will tell us +there is no truth in it. Stop seeing ghosts, and sit down with us. + +BOLZ (_seating himself_). + +I sit down, not because I put faith in your words, but because I don't +wish to do injustice to the lunch. Get hold of Henning; he must give +an account of himself. + +OLDENDORF. + +But, as you heard, he is not at home. + +BOLZ (_zealously eating_). + +Oh, thou wilt have a fearful awakening, little Orsini! Bellmaus, pour +me out some wine. But if the story be not true, if this _Coriolanus_ +have lied, by the purple in this glass be it sworn I will be his +murderer! The grimmest revenge that ever an injured journalist took +shall fall on his head; he shall bleed to death from pin-pricks; every +poodle in the street shall look on him scornfully and say: "Fie, +_Coriolanus_, I wouldn't take a bite at you even if you were a +sausage." [_A knock is heard_. BOLZ _lays down his knife.] Memento +mori_! There are our grave-diggers. The last oyster, now, and then +farewell thou lovely world! + +_Enter_ JUDGE SCHWARZ _and_ SENDEN _from the door on the left; the +door remains open_. + +SCHWARZ. + +Obedient servant, gentlemen! + +SENDEN. + +Your pardon if we disturb you. + +BOLZ (_remaining seated at the table_). + +Not in the least. This is our regular luncheon, contracted for a whole +year--fifty oysters and two bottles daily for each member of the +staff. Whoever buys the newspaper has to furnish it. + +SCHWARZ. + +What brings us here, Professor, is a communication which Mr. Henning +should have been the first to make to you. He preferred handing over +the task to me. + +OLDENDORF. + +I await your communication. + +SCHWARZ. + +Mr. Henning has, from yesterday on, transferred to me by sale all +rights pertaining to him as owner of the newspaper _Union_. + +OLDENDORF. + +To you, Judge? + +SCHWARZ. + +I acknowledge that I have bought it merely as accredited agent of a +third person. Here is the deed; it contains no secrets. [_Hands him a +paper_.] + +OLDENDORF (_looking through it, to_ BOLZ). + +It is drawn up by a notary in due form--sold for thirty thousand +thalers. [_Agitation among the staff-members_.] Let me get to the +bottom of the matter. Is this change of owner also to be connected +with a change in the political attitude of the sheet? + +SENDEN (_coming forward_). + +Certainly, Professor, that was the intention in making the purchase. + +OLDENDORF. + +Do I possibly see in you the new owner? + +SENDEN. + +Not that, but I have the honor to be a friend of his. You yourself, as +well as these gentlemen, have a right to demand the fulfilment of your +contracts. Your contracts provide, I understand, for six months' +notice. It goes without saying that you continue to draw your salary +until the expiration of this term. + +BOLZ (_rising_). + +You are very kind, Mr. von Senden. Our contracts empower us to edit +the paper as we see fit, and to control its tone and its party +affiliations. For the next half-year, therefore, we shall not only +continue to draw our salaries but also to conduct the paper for the +benefit of the party to which you have not the honor to belong. + +SENDEN (_angrily_). + +We'll find a way to prevent that! + +OLDENDORF. + +Calm yourself. That kind of work would scarcely be worthy of us. If +such are the circumstances, I announce that I resign the editorship +from today, and release you from all obligations to me. + +BOLZ. + +I don't mind. I make the same announcement. + +BELLMAUS. + +KAeMPE}(_together_). We too! + +KOeRNER} + +SENDEN (_to_ SCHWARZ). + +You can testify that the gentlemen voluntarily renounce their rights. + +BOLZ (_to the staff_). + +Hold on, gentlemen, don't be too generous. It is all right for you to +take no further part in editing the paper if your friends withdraw. +But why abandon your pecuniary claims on the new owner? + +BELLMAUS. + +I'd rather take nothing at all from them; I'll follow your example. + +BOLZ (_stroking him_). + +Noble sentiment, my son! We'll make our way in the world together. +What do you think of a hand-organ, Bellmaus! We 'll take it to fairs +and sing your songs through. I'll turn and you'll sing. + +OLDENDORF. + +Since the new owner of the paper is not one of you, you will, in +concluding this transaction, find the question only natural--To whom +have we ceded our rights? + +SENDEN. + +The present owner of the paper is-- + +_Enter_ COLONEL _through side door on the left_. + +OLDENDORF (_starting back in alarm_). + +Colonel! + +BOLZ. + +Ah, now it is becoming high tragedy! + +COLONEL. + +First of all, Professor, be assured that I have nothing to do with +this whole affair, and merely come at the request of the purchaser. +Not until I came here, did I know anything of what was going on. I +hope you will take my word for that. + +BOLZ. + +Well, I find this game unseemly, and I insist on being told who this +new owner is who mysteriously hides behind different persons! + +_Enter_ ADELAIDE _from the side door, left._ + +ADELAIDE. + +He stands before you! + +BOLZ. + +I should just like to faint. + +BELLMAUS. + +That is a heavenly joke! + +ADELAIDE (_bowing_). + +How do you do, gentlemen! [_To the staff_.] Am I right in assuming +that these gentlemen have hitherto been connected with editing the +paper? + +BELLMAUS (_eagerly_). + +Yes, Miss Runeck! Mr. Kaempe for leading articles, Mr. Koerner for the +French and English correspondence, and I for theatre, music, fine +arts, and miscellaneous. + +ADELAIDE. + +I shall be much pleased if your principles will let you continue +devoting your talents to my newspaper. [_The three members of the +staff bow_.] + +BELLMAUS (_laying his hand on his heart_). + +Miss Runeck, under your editorship I'll go to the ends of the world! + +ADELAIDE (_smiling and politely_). + +Ah, no, merely into that room. + +[_Points to the door on the right_.] + +I +need half an hour to collect my thoughts for my new activities. + +BELLMAUS (_while departing_). + +That's the best thing I ever heard! + +[BELLMAUS, KAeMPE, KOeRNER _leave_.] + +ADELAIDE. + +Professor, you resigned the management of the paper with a readiness +which delights me. (_Pointedly_.) I wish to edit the _Union_ in my +own fashion. + +[_Seizes his hand and leads him to the_ COLONEL.] + +Colonel, he is no longer editor; we have outwitted him; you have your +satisfaction. + +COLONEL (_holding out his arms to him_). + +Come, Oldendorf! For what happened I have been sorry since the moment +we parted. + +OLDENDORF. + +My honored friend! + +ADELAIDE (_pointing to the door on the left_). + +There is some one else in there who wants to take part in the +reconciliation. It might be Mr. Gabriel Henning. + +IDA _appears at the side door_. + +IDA. + +Edward! + +[OLDENDORF _hurries to the door_, IDA _meets him, he embraces +her. Both leave on the left. The_ COLONEL _follows_.] + +ADELAIDE (_sweetly_). + +Before asking you, Mr. von Senden, to interest yourself in the editing +of the newspaper, I beg you to read through this correspondence which +I received as a contribution to my columns. + +SENDEN (_takes a glance at them_). + +Miss Runeck, I don't know whose indiscretion-- + +ADELAIDE. + +Fear none on my part. I am a newspaper proprietor, and (_with, marked +emphasis_) shall keep editorial secrets. + +[SENDEN _bows_.] + +May I ask +for the deed, Judge? And will you gentlemen be kind enough to ease the +mind of the vendor as to the outcome of the transaction? + +[_Mutual +bows_. SENDEN _and_ SCHWARZ _leave_.] + +ADELAIDE (_after a short pause_). + +Now, Mr. Bolz, what am I going to do about you? + +BOLZ. + +I am prepared for anything. I am surprised at nothing any more. If +some one should go straight off and spend a capital of a hundred +millions in painting negroes white with oil-colors, or in making +Africa four-cornered, I should not let it astonish me. If I wake up +tomorrow as an owl with two tufts of feathers for ears and a mouse in +my beak, I will say, "All right," and remember that worse things have +happened. + +ADELAIDE. + +What is the matter with you, Conrad? Are you displeased with me? + +BOLZ. + +With you? You have been generous as ever; only too generous. And it +would all have been fine, if only this whole scene had been +impossible. That fellow Senden! + +ADELAIDE. + +We have seen the last of him! Conrad, I'm one of the party! + +BOLZ. + +Hallelujah! I hear countless angels blowing on their trumpets! I'll +stay with the _Union_! + +ADELAIDE. + +About that I am no longer the one to decide. For I have still a +confession to make to you. I, too, am not the real owner of the +newspaper. + +BOLZ. + +You are not? Now, by all the gods, I am at my wit's end. I'm beginning +not to care who this owner is. Be he man, will-of-the-wisp, or the +devil Beelzebub in person, I bid him defiance. + +ADELAIDE. + +He is a kind of a will-of-the-wisp, a little something of a devil, and +from top to toe a great rogue. For, Conrad, my friend, beloved of my +youth, it is you yourself. + +[_Hands him the deed_.] + +BOLZ (_stupefied for a moment, reads_). + +"Ceded to Conrad Bolz"--correct! So that would be a sort of gift. +Can't be accepted, much too little! + +[_Throws the paper aside_.] +Prudence be gone! + +[_Falls on his knees before_ ADELAIDE.] + +Here I +kneel, Adelaide! What I am saying I don't know in my joy, for the +whole room is dancing round with me. If you will take me for your +husband, you will do me the greatest favor in the world. If you don't +want me, box my ears and send me off! + +ADELAIDE (_bending down to him_). + +I do want you! (_Kissing him_.) This was the cheek! + +BOLZ. + +And these are the lips. + +[_Kisses her; they remain in an embrace; short +pause_.] + +_Enter_ COLONEL, IDA, OLDENDORF. + +COLONEL (_in amazement, at the door_). + +What is this? + +BOLZ. + +Colonel, it takes place under editorial sanction. + +COLONEL. + +Adelaide, what do I see? + +ADELAIDE (_stretching out her hand to the_ COLONEL). + +Dear friend, I'm betrothed to a journalist! + +[_As_ IDA _and_ OLDENDORF _from either side hasten to the pair, the +curtain falls_] + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Permission S. Hirzel, Leipzig.] + + * * * * * + + + + +DOCTOR LUTHER (1859) + + +By GUSTAV FREYTAG + +TRANSLATED BY E.H. BABBITT, A.B. Assistant Professor of German, Tufts +College. + + +Some well-meaning men still wish that the defects of their old church +had not led to so great a revolt, and even liberal Roman Catholics +still fail to see in Luther and Zwingli anything but zealous heretics +whose wrath brought about a schism. May such views vanish from +Germany! All religious denominations have reason to attribute to +Luther whatever in their present faith is genuine and sincere, and has +a wholesome and sustaining influence. The heretic of Wittenberg is +fully as much the reformer of the German Catholics as of the +Protestants. This is true not only because the teachers of the +Catholic Church in their struggle against him outgrew the old +scholasticism, and fought for their sacraments with new weapons gained +from his language, his culture, and his moral worth; nor because he, +in effect, destroyed the church of the Middle Ages and forced his +opponents at Trent to raise a firmer structure, though seemingly +within the old forms and proportions; but still more because he +expressed the common basis of all German denominations, of our +spiritual courage, piety, and honesty, with such force that a good +deal of his own nature, to the present benefit of every German, has +survived in our doctrines and language, in our civil laws and morals, +in the thoughtfulness of our people, and in our science and +literature. Some of the ideas for which Luther's stubborn and +contentious spirit fought, against both Catholics and Calvinists, are +abandoned by the free investigation of modern times. His intensely +passionate beliefs, gained in the heartrending struggles of a devout +soul, occasionally missed an important truth. Sometimes he was harsh, +unfair, even cruel toward his opponents; but such things should no +longer disturb any German, for all the limitations of his nature and +training are as nothing compared with the fulness of the blessings +which have flowed from his great heart into the life of our nation. + +But he should not have seceded after all, some people say; for his +action has divided Germany into two hostile camps, and the ancient +strife, under varying battle-cries, has continued to our day. Those +who think so might assert with equal right that the Christian revolt +from Judaism was not necessary--why did not the apostles reform the +venerable high-priesthood of Zion? They might assert that Hampden +would have done better if he had paid the ship-money and had taught +the Stuarts their lesson peaceably; that William of Orange committed a +crime when he did not put his life and his sword into the hands of +Alva, as Egmont did; that Washington was a traitor because he did not +surrender himself and his army to the English; they might condemn as +evil everything that is new and great in doctrine and in life and that +owes its birth to a struggle against what is old. + +To but few mortals has been vouchsafed such a powerful influence as +Luther had upon their contemporaries and upon subsequent ages. But his +life, like that of every great man, leaves the impression of an +affecting tragedy when attention is centred on its pivotal events. It +shows us, like the career of all heroes of history whom Fate permitted +to live out their lives, three stages. First, the personality of the +man develops, powerfully influenced by the restricting environment. It +tries to reconcile incompatibilities, while in the depth of his soul +ideas and convictions are gradually translated into volition. At last +they burst forth in a definite action, and the solitary individual +enters upon the contest with the world. Then follows a period of +greater activity, more rapid growth, and larger victories. The +influence of the one man upon the masses grows ever greater. Mightily +he draws the whole nation to follow in his footsteps, and becomes its +hero, its pattern; the vital force of millions appears summed up in +one man. + +[Illustration: _Permission Underwood & Underwood, New York_ +LUTHER MONUMENT AT WORMS by ERNST RIETSCHEL] + +But the spirit of the nation does not long endure the preeminence of a +single, well-centred personality; for the life and the power and the +needs of a nation are more manifold than even the greatest single +force and lofty aim. The eternal contrast between the individual and +the nation appears. Even the soul of a nation is, in the presence of +the eternal, a finite personality--but in comparison with the +individual it appears boundless. A man is forced by the logical result +of his thoughts and actions, by all the significance of his own deeds, +into a closely restricted path. The soul of the nation needs for its +life irreconcilable contrasts and incessant effort in most varied +directions. Much that the individual failed to assimilate rises to +fight against him. The reaction of the people begins--at first weak, +here and there, based on different reasons and with slight +justification; then it grows stronger and ever more victorious. +Finally the intellectual influence of the life of the individual is +limited to his own followers, and crystallizes into a single one of +the many elements of national growth. The last period of a great life +is always filled with secret resignation, with bitterness, and with +silent suffering. + +Thus it was with Luther. The first of these periods continued up to +the day on which he posted his theses, the second until his return +from the Wartburg, the third to his death and the beginning of the +Schmalkaldic War. It is not the purpose of this sketch to give his +entire biography, but to tell briefly how he developed and what he +was. Much in his nature appears strange and unpleasing so long as he +is viewed from afar; but this historic figure has the remarkable +quality of becoming greater and more attractive the more closely it is +approached, and from beginning to end it would inspire a good +biographer with admiration, tenderness, and a certain good humor. + +Luther rose from the great source of all national strength, the +freeholding peasant class. His father moved from Moehra, a forest +village of the Thuringian mountains, where his relatives constituted +half the population, northward into the neighborhood of Mansfeld, to +work as a miner. So the boy's cradle stood in a cottage in which was +still felt the old thrill of the ghosts of the pine wood and the dark +clefts which were thought to be the entrances to the ore veins of the +mountain. Certainly the imagination of the boy was often busy with +dark traditions from heathen mythology. He was accustomed to feel the +presence of uncanny powers as well in the phenomena of nature as in +the life of man. When he turned monk such remembrances from childhood +grew gloomier and took the shape of the devil of Scripture, but the +busy tempter who everywhere lies in wait for the life of man always +retained for him something of the features of the mischievous goblin +who secretly lurks about the peasant's hearth and stable. + +His father, a curt, sturdy, vigorous man, firm in his resolves, and of +unusual, shrewd common sense, had worked his way, after hard +struggles, to considerable prosperity. He kept strict discipline in +his household. Even in later years Luther thought with sadness of the +severe punishments he had endured as a boy and the sorrow they had +caused his tender, childish heart. But Old Hans Luther, nevertheless, +up to his death in 1530, had some influence on the life of his son. +When at the age of twenty-two Martin secretly entered the monastery +the old man was violently angry; for he had already planned a good +match for him. Friends finally succeeded in bringing the angry father +to consent to a reconciliation; and as his imploring son confessed +that a terrible apparition had driven him to the secret vow to enter +the monastery, he replied with the sorrowful words, "God grant that it +was not a deception and trick of the devil;" and he still further +wrenched the heart of the monk by the angry question, "You thought you +were obeying the command of God when you went into the monastery; have +you not heard also that you shall obey your parents?" These words made +a deep impression on the son, and when, many years after, he sat in +the Wartburg, expelled from the Church and outlawed by the Emperor, he +wrote to his father the touching words: "Do you still wish to tear me +from the monastery? You are still my father and I your son. The law +and the power of God are on your side--on my side human weakness. But +look that you boast not yourself against God, he has been beforehand +with you,--he has taken me out himself." From that time on it seemed +to the old man as if his son were restored to him. Old Hans had once +counted upon having a grandson for whom he would work. He now came +back obstinately to this thought, caring nothing for the rest of the +world, and soon urged his son to marry; his encouragement was not the +least of the influences to which Luther yielded, and when his father, +advanced in years, at last a councillor of Mansfeld, lay in his death +throes and the minister bent over him and asked the dying man if he +wished to die in the purified faith in Christ and the Holy Gospel, old +Hans gathered his strength once more and said curtly, "He is a wretch +who does not believe in it." When Luther told this later he added +admiringly, "Yes that was a man of the old time." The son received the +news of the father's death in the fortress of Coburg. When he read +the letter, in which his wife inclosed a picture of his youngest +daughter Magdalena, he uttered to a companion merely the words, "Well, +my father is dead too," rose, took his psalter, went into his room, +and prayed and wept so hard that, as the faithful Veit Dietrich wrote, +his head was confused the next day; but he came out again with his +soul at peace. The same day he wrote with deep emotion to Melanchthon +of the great love of his father and of his intimate relations with +him. "I have never despised death so much as today. We die so often +before we finally die. Now I am the oldest of my family and I have the +right to follow him." From such a father the son inherited what was +fundamental to his character--truthfulness, a sturdy will, +straightforward common sense, and tact in dealing with men and +affairs. His childhood was full of rigor. He had many a bitter +experience in the Latin school and as a choir boy, though tempered by +kindness and love, and he kept through it all--what is more easily +kept in the lowlier circles of life--a heart full of faith in the +goodness of human nature and reverence for everything great in the +world. When he was at the University of Erfurt, his father was already +in a position to supply his needs more abundantly. He felt the vigor +of youth, and was a merry companion with song and lute. Of his +spiritual life at that time little is known except that death came +near him, and that in a thunder storm he was "called upon by a +terrible apparition from heaven." In terror he took a vow to go into a +monastery, and quickly and secretly carried out his resolve. + +From that time date our reports about the troubles of his soul. At +odds with his father, full of awe at the thought of an incomprehensible +eternity, cowed by the wrath of God, he began with supernatural +exertions a life of renunciation, devotion, and penance. He found no +peace. All the highest questions of life rushed with fearful force +upon his defenseless, wandering soul. Remarkably strong and passionate +with him was the necessity of feeling himself in harmony with God and +the universe. What theology offered him was all unintelligible, +bitter, and repulsive. To his nature the riddles of the moral order of +the universe were most important. That the good should suffer, and the +evil succeed; that God should condemn the human race to the monstrous +burden of sin because a simple-minded woman had bitten into an apple; +that this same God should endure our sins with love, toleration, and +patience; that Christ at one time sent away honorable people with +severity, and at another time associated with harlots, publicans, +and sinners--"human understanding with its wisdom turns to folly at +this." Then he would complain to his spiritual adviser, Staupitz: +"Dear Doctor, our Lord treats people so cruelly. Who can serve Him +if he lays on blows like this?" But when he got the answer, "How +else could He subdue the stubborn heads?" this sensible argument +could not console the young man. With fervid desire to find the +incomprehensible God, he searched all his thoughts and dreams with +self-torture. Every earthly thought, every beat of his youthful blood, +became for him a cruel wrong. He began to despair of himself; he +wrestled in unceasing prayer, fasted and scourged himself. At one time +the priests had to break into his cell in which he had been lying for +days in a condition not far from insanity. With warm sympathy Staupitz +looked upon such heart-rending torment, and sought to give him peace +by blunt counsel. Once when Luther had written to him, "Oh, my sin! My +sin! My sin!" his spiritual adviser gave him the answer, "You long to +be without sin, and you have no real sin. Christ is the forgiveness of +real sins, such as parricide and the like. If Christ is to help you, +you must have a list of real sins, and not come to Him with such trash +and make-believe sins, seeing a sin in every trifle." The manner in +which Luther gradually raised himself above such despair was decisive +for his whole life. The God whom he served was at that time a God of +terror. His anger was to be appeased only by the means of grace which +the ancient Church prescribed--in the first place through constant +confession, for which there were innumerable prescriptions and formulae +which seemed to the heart empty and cold. By strictly prescribed +activities and the practice of so-called good works, the feeling of +real atonement and inward peace had not come to the young man. Finally +a saying of his spiritual adviser pierced his heart like an arrow: +"That alone is true penance which begins with love for God. Love for +God and inward exaltation is not the result of the means of grace +which the Church teaches; it must go before them." This doctrine from +Tauler's school became for the young man the basis of a new spiritual +and moral relation to God; it was for him a sacred discovery. The +transformation of his spiritual life was the principal thing. For that +he had to work. From the depths of every human heart must come +repentance, expiation, and atonement. He and every man could lift +himself up to God, alone. Not until now did he realize what free +prayer was. In place of a far-off divine power which he had formerly +sought in vain through a hundred forms and childish confessions, there +came before him at last the image of an all-loving protector to whom +he could speak at any time joyfully and in tears; to whom he could +bring all sorrow, every doubt; who took unceasing interest in him, +cared for him, granted or denied his heartfelt petitions tenderly, +like a good father. So he learned to pray; and how ardent his prayers +became! From this time he lived in peace with the beloved God whom he +had finally found, every day, every hour. His intercourse with the +Most High became more intimate than with the dearest companions of +this earth. When he poured out his whole self before Him, then calm +came over him and a holy peace, a feeling of unspeakable love. He felt +himself a part of God, and remained in this relation to Him from that +time throughout his whole life. He heeded no longer the roundabout +ways of the ancient Church; he could, with God in his heart, defy the +whole world. Even thus early he ventured to believe that those held +false doctrine who put so much stress on works of penance, that there +was nothing beyond these works but a cold satisfaction and a +ceremonious confession; and when, later, he learned from Melanchthon +that the Greek word for penitence, _metanoia_ meant literally "change +of mind," it seemed to him a wonderful revelation. On this ground +rested the confident assurance with which he opposed the words of +Scripture to the ordinances of the Church. By this means Luther in the +monastery gradually worked his way to spiritual liberty. All his later +doctrines, his battles against indulgences, his imperturbable +steadfastness, his method of interpreting the Scriptures, rested upon +the struggles through which he, while a monk, had found his God; and +it may well be said that the new era of German history began with +Luther's prayers in the monastery. Life was soon to thrust him under +its hammer, to harden the pure metal of his soul. + +In 1508 Luther reluctantly accepted the professorship of dialectics at +the new university of Wittenberg. He would rather have taught that +theology which even then he believed the true one. When, in 1510, he +went to Rome on business for his order, it is well known what devotion +and piety marked his sojourn in the Holy City, and with what horror +the heathen life of the Romans and the moral corruption and +worldliness of the clergy filled him. It was there where his +devotions, while he was officiating at mass, were disturbed by the +reckless jests which the Roman priests of his order called out to him. +He never forgot the devil-inspired words[2] as long as he lived. + +But the hierarchy, however deeply its corruption shocked him, still +contained his whole hope; outside of it there was no God and no +salvation. The noble idea of the Catholic Church, and its conquests of +fifteen hundred years, enraptured the mind even of the strongest. And +when this German in Roman clerical dress, at the risk of his life, +inspected the ruins of ancient Rome and stood in awe before the +gigantic columns of the temples which, according to report, the Goths +had once destroyed, the sturdy man from the mountains of the old +Hermunduri little dreamed that it would be his own fate to destroy the +temples of medieval Rome more thoroughly, more fiercely, more grandly. +Luther came back from Rome still a faithful son of the great Mother +Church. All heresy, such as that of the Bohemians, was hateful to him. +He took a warm interest, after his return, in Reuchlin's contest +against the judges of heresy at Cologne, and, in 1512, stood on the +side of the Humanists; but even then he felt that something separated +him from this movement. When, a few years later, he was in Gotha, he +did not call upon the worthy Mutianus Rufus, although he wrote him a +very polite letter of apology; and soon after he was offended by the +inward coldness and secular tone in which theological sinners were +ridiculed in Erasmus' dialogues. The profane worldliness of the +Humanists was never quite in harmony with the cheerful faith of +Luther's soul, and the pride with which he afterward offended the +sensitive Erasmus in a letter which was meant to be conciliatory, was +probably even then in his soul. Even the forms of literary modesty +adopted by Luther at that time give the impression that they were +wrung from an unbending spirit by the power of Christian humility. + +For even at that time he felt himself secure and strong in his faith. +As early as 1516 he wrote to Spalatin, who was the link of intercourse +between him and the Elector, Frederick the Wise, that the Elector was +the most prudent of men in the things of this world, but was afflicted +with sevenfold blindness in matters concerning God and the salvation +of the soul. And Luther had reason for this expression, for the +provident spirit of that moderate prince appeared in his careful +efforts, among other things, to gather in for domestic use the means +of grace recommended by the Church. For instance, he had a special +hobby for sacred relics, and just at this time Staupitz, the vicar of +the Augustinian order for Saxony, was occupied in the Rhine region and +elsewhere in collecting them for the Elector. For Luther the absence +of his superior was important, for he had to fill his place. He was +already a respected man in his order. Although professor (of theology +since 1512), he still lived in his monastery in Wittenberg and +generally wore his monk's habit; and now he visited the thirty +monasteries in his charge, deposed priors, uttered severe censure of +bad discipline, and urged severity against fallen monks. But something +of the simple faith of the brother of the monastery still clung to +him. + +It was in this spirit of confidence and German sincerity that he +wrote, October 31, 1517, after he had posted the theses against Tetzel +on the church door, to Archbishop Albert of Mainz, the protector of +the seller of indulgences. Full of the popular belief in the wisdom +and the goodwill of the highest rulers, Luther thought (he often said +so later) that it was only necessary to present honestly to the +princes of the Church the disadvantage and immorality of such abuses. +But how childish this zeal of the monk appeared to the polished and +worldly prince of the Church! What so deeply offended the honest man +was, from the point of view of the Archbishop, a matter long settled. +The sale of indulgences was an evil in the Church a hundred times +deplored, but as unavoidable as many institutions seem to the +politician; while not good in themselves, they must be kept for the +sake of a greater interest. The greatest interest of the Archbishop +and the curia was their supremacy, which was acquired and maintained +by such commercial dealings. The great interest of Luther and the +people was truth. This was the parting of the ways. + +And so Luther entered upon the struggle, a poor and faithful son of +the Church, full of German devotion to authority; but yet he had in +his character something which gave him strength against too extreme +exercise of this authority--a close relation to his God. He was then +thirty-four years old, in the fulness of his strength, of medium +stature, his body vigorous and without the corpulency of his later +years, appearing tall beside the small, delicate, boyish form of +Melanchthon. In the face which showed the effects of vigils and inward +struggles, shone two fiery eyes whose keen brilliancy was hard to +meet. He was a respected man, not only in his order, but at the +University; not a great scholar--he learned Greek from Melanchthon in +the first year of his professorship, and Hebrew soon after. He had no +extensive book learning, and never had the ambition to shine as a +writer of Latin verse; but he was astonishingly well-read in the +Scriptures and some of the Fathers of the Church, and what he had once +learned he assimilated with German thoroughness. He was the untiring +shepherd of his flock, a zealous preacher, a warm friend, once more +full of a decorous cheerfulness; he was of an assured bearing, polite +and skilful in social intercourse, with a confidence of spirit which +often lighted up his face in a smile. The small events of the day +might indeed affect him and annoy him. He was excitable, and easily +moved to tears, but on any great emergency, after he had overcome his +early nervous excitement, such as, for instance, embarrassed him when +he first appeared before the Diet at Worms--then he showed wonderful +calmness and self-command. He knew no fear. Indeed, his lion's nature +found satisfaction in the most dangerous situations. The danger of +death into which he sometimes fell, the malicious ambushes of his +enemies, seemed to him at that time hardly worthy of mention. The +reason for this superhuman heroism, as one may call it, was again his +close personal relation to his God. He had long periods in which he +wished, with a cheerful smile, for martyrdom in the service of truth +and of his God. Terrible struggles were still before him, but those in +which men opposed him did not seem to deserve this name. He had +defeated the devil himself again and again for years. He even +overcame the fear and torment of hell, which did its utmost to cloud +his reason. Such a man might perhaps be killed, but he could hardly be +conquered. + +The period of the struggle which now follows, from the beginning of +the indulgences controversy until his departure from the Wartburg--the +time of his greatest victories and of his tremendous popularity--is +perhaps best known; but it seems to us that even here his nature has +never yet been correctly judged. + +Nothing is more remarkable at this period than the manner in which +Luther became gradually estranged from the Church of Rome. His life +was modest and without ambition. He clung with the deepest reverence +to the lofty idea of the Church, for fifteen hundred years the +communion of saints; and yet in four short years he was destined to be +cut off from the faith of his fathers, torn from the soil in which he +had been so firmly rooted. And during all this time he was destined to +stand alone in the struggle, or at best with a few faithful +companions--after 1518 together with Melanchthon. He was to be exposed +to all the perils of the fiercest war, not only against innumerable +enemies, but also in defiance of the anxious warnings of sincere +friends and patrons. Three times the Roman party tried to silence +him--through the official activity of Cajetan, through the persuasive +arts of Miltitz, and the untimely persistence of the contentious Eck. +Three times he spoke to the Pope himself in letters which are among +the most valuable documents of those years. Then came the parting. He +was anathematized and outlawed. According to the old university +custom, he burned the enemy's declaration of war, and with it the +possibility of return. With cheerful confidence he went to Worms in +order that the princes of his nation might decide whether he should +die or thenceforth live among them without pope or church, according +to the Bible alone. + +[Illustration: _Permission F Pruelmann A G Munich_ +FREDERICK WILLIAM I INSPECTING A SCHOOL Adolph von Menzel.] + +At first, when he had printed his theses against Tetzel, he was +astonished at the enormous excitement which they caused in Germany, at +the venomous hatred of his enemies, and at the signs of joyful +recognition which he received from many sides. Had he, then, done such +an unheard-of thing? What he had expressed was, he knew, the belief of +all the best men of the Church. When the Bishop of Brandenburg had +sent the Abbot of Lehnin to him, with the request that Luther would +suppress the printed edition of his German sermon on indulgences and +grace, however near the truth he might be, the brother of the poor +Augustinian monastery was deeply moved that such great men should +speak to him in so friendly and cordial a manner, and he was ready to +give up the printing rather than make himself a monster that disturbed +the Church. Eagerly he sought to refute the report that the Elector +had instigated his quarrel with Tetzel--"they wish to involve the +innocent prince in the enmity that falls on me." He was ready to do +anything to keep the peace before Cajetan and with Miltitz. One thing +he would not do--recant what he had said against the unchristian +extension of the system of indulgences; but recantation was the only +thing the hierarchy wanted of him. For a long time he still wished for +peace, reconciliation, and return to the peaceful activity of his +cell; and again and again a false assertion of his opponents set his +blood on fire, and every opposition was followed by a new and sharper +blow from his weapon. + +Even in the first letter to Leo X, May 30, 1518, Luther's heroic +assurance is remarkable. He is still entirely the faithful son of the +Church. He still concludes by falling at the Pope's feet, offers him +his whole life and being, and promises to honor his voice as the voice +of Christ, whose representative the head of the Church is; but even +from this devotion befitting the monk, the vigorous words flash out: +"If I have merited death, I refuse not to die." In the body of the +letter, how strong are the expressions in which he sets forth the +coarseness of the sellers of indulgences! Here, too, his surprise is +honest that his theses are making so much stir with their +unintelligible sentences, involved, according to the old custom, to +the point of riddles. And good humor sounds in the manly words: "What +shall I do? I cannot recant. In our century full of intellect and +beauty, which might put Cicero into a corner, I am only an unlearned, +limited, poorly educated man! But the goose must needs cackle among +the swans." + +The following year almost all who honored Luther united in the +endeavor to bring about a reconciliation. Staupitz and Palatin, and +the Elector through them, scolded, besought, and urged; the papal +chamberlain, Miltitz himself, praised Luther's attitude, and whispered +to him that he was entirely right, implored him, drank with him, and +kissed him. Luther, to be sure, thought he knew that the courtier had +a secret mission to make him a captive, if possible, and bring him to +Rome. But the peacemakers successfully hit upon the point in which the +stubborn man heartily agreed with them--that respect for the Church +must be maintained, and its unity must not be destroyed. Luther +promised to keep quiet and to submit the decision of the contested +points to three worthy bishops. While in this position he was urged to +write a letter of apology to the Pope. But even this letter of March +3, 1519, though approved by the mediators and written under +compulsion, is characteristic as showing the advance Luther had made. +Humility, such as our theologians see in it, is hardly present, but a +cautious diplomatic attitude throughout. Luther regrets that what he +has done to defend the honor of the Roman Church should have been +interpreted as lack of respect in him. He promises henceforth to say +nothing more about indulgences--if, that is, his opponents will do +the same; he offers to address a manifesto to the people in which he +will advise them to give proper obedience to the Church and not to be +estranged from her because his adversaries have been insolent and he +himself harsh. But all these submissive words do not conceal the rift +which already separates his mind from the essential basis of the +Church of Rome. It sounds like cold irony when he writes: "What shall +I do, Most Holy Father? I am at a complete loss. I cannot endure the +weight of your anger, and yet I do not know how to escape it. They +demand a recantation from me. If it could accomplish what they propose +by it, I would recant without hesitation, but the opposition of my +adversaries has spread my writings farther than I had ever hoped; they +have taken hold too deeply on the souls of men. In Germany today +talent, learning, freedom of judgment are flourishing. If I should +recant, I should cover the Church, in the judgment of my Germans, with +still greater disgrace. It is they--my adversaries--who have brought +the Church of Rome into disrepute with us in Germany." He finally +closes politely: "If I should be able to do more, I shall without +doubt be very ready. May Christ preserve your Holiness! Martin +Luther." + +Much is to be read between the lines of this studied reserve. Even if +the vain Eck had not immediately set all Wittenberg University by the +ears, this letter could hardly have been considered at Rome as a token +of repentant submission. + +The thunderbolt of excommunication had been hurled; Rome had spoken. +Now Luther, again completely his old self, wrote once more to the Pope +that great and famous letter which, at the request of the untiring +Miltitz, he dated back to September 6, 1520, that he might be able to +ignore the bull of excommunication. It is a beautiful reflection of a +resolute mind which from a lofty standpoint calmly surveys its +opponent, and at the same time is magnificent in its sincerity, and of +the noblest spirit. With sincere sympathy he speaks of the personality +and of the difficult position of the Pope; but it is the sympathy of a +stranger. He still laments with melancholy the condition of the +Church, but it is plain that he himself has already outgrown it. It is +a farewell letter. With the keenest severity there is still a firm +attitude and silent sorrow. Such is the way a man parts from what he +has once loved and found unworthy. This letter was to be the last +bridge for the peacemakers. For Luther it was the liberation of his +soul. + +In these years Luther had become a different man. In the first place +he had acquired prudence and self-reliance in his intercourse with the +most exalted personages, and at heavy cost had won insight into the +policies and the private character of the rulers. Nothing was at heart +more painful to the peaceable nature of his sovereign than this bitter +theological controversy, which sometimes furthered his political ends +but always disturbed his peace of mind. Constant efforts were made by +his court to keep the Wittenberg people within bounds, and Luther +always saw to it that they were made too late. Whenever the faithful +Spalatin dissuaded him from the publication of a new polemic, he +received the answer that there was no help for it, that the sheets +were printed and already in the hands of many and could not be +suppressed. And in his dealings with his adversaries Luther had +acquired the assurance of a seasoned warrior. He was bitterly hurt +when Hieronymus Emser, in the spring of 1518, craftily took him to a +banquet in Dresden where he was forced to argue with angry enemies, +especially when he learned that a Dominican friar had listened at the +door and the next day had spread it in the town that Luther had been +completely silenced, and that the listener had had difficulty to +restrain himself from rushing into the room and spitting in Luther's +face. At that first meeting with Cajetan Luther still prostrated +himself humbly at the feet of the prince of the Church; after the +second he allowed himself to express the view that the cardinal was as +fit for his office as an ass to play the harp. He treated the polite +Miltitz with fitting politeness. The Roman had hoped to tame the +German bear, but soon the courtier came of his own accord into the +position which was appropriate for him--he was used by Luther. And in +the Leipzig disputation against Eck the favorable impression which the +self-possessed, honest, and sturdy nature of Luther produced was the +best counterpoise to the self-satisfied assurance of his clever +opponent. + +But Luther's inward life calls for greater sympathy. It was after all +a terrible period for him. Close to exaltation and victory lay for him +deathly anxiety, torturing doubt, and horrible apparitions. He, almost +alone, was in arms against all Christendom, and was becoming more and +more irreconcilably hostile to the mightiest power, which still +included everything that had been sacred to him since his youth. What +if, after all, he were wrong in this or that! He was responsible for +every soul that he led away with him--and whither? What was there +outside the Church but destruction and perdition for time and for +eternity? If his adversaries and anxious friends cut him to the heart +with reproaches and warnings, the pain, the secret remorse, the +uncertainty which he must not acknowledge to any one, were greater +beyond comparison. He found peace, to be sure, in prayer. Whenever his +fervid soul, seeking its God, rose in mighty flights, he was filled +with strength, peace, and cheerfulness. But in hours of less tense +exaltation, when his sensitive spirit quivered under unpleasant +impressions, then he felt himself embarrassed, divided, under the +spell of another power which was hostile to his God. He knew from +childhood how actively evil spirits ensnare mankind; he had learned +from the Scripture that the Devil works against the purest to ruin +them. On his path the busy devils were lurking to weaken him, to +mislead him, to make innumerable others wretched through him. He saw +their work in the angry bearing of the cardinal, in the scornful face +of Eck, even in the thoughts of his own soul. He knew how powerful +they had been in Rome. Even in his youth apparitions had tormented +him; now they reappeared. From the dark shadows of his study the +spectre of the tempter lifted its claw-like hand against his reason. +Even while he was praying the Devil approached him in the form of +the Redeemer, radiant as King of Heaven with the five wounds, as +the ancient Church represented Him. But Luther knew that Christ +appears to poor humanity only in His words, or in humble form, as He +hung upon the cross; and he roused himself vigorously and cried +to the apparition: "Avaunt, foul fiend!"--and the vision disappeared. +Thus the strong heart of the man worked for years in savage +indignation--always renewed. It was a sad struggle between reason and +insanity, but Luther always came out victorious; the native strength +of his sound nature prevailed. In long prayer, often lasting for +hours, the stormy waves of his emotion became calm, and his massive +intelligence and his conscience brought him every time out of doubt to +certainty. He considered this process of liberation as a gracious +inspiration of his God, and after such moments he who had once been in +such anxious doubt was as firm as steel, indifferent to the opinion of +men, not to be moved, inexorable. Quite a different picture is that of +his personality in contest with earthly foes. Here he retains almost +everywhere the superiority of conviction, particularly in his literary +feuds. + +The literary activity which he developed at this time was gigantic. Up +to 1517 he had printed little. From that time on he was not only the +most productive but the greatest popular writer of Germany. The energy +of his style, the vigor of his argumentation, the ardor and passion of +his conviction, carried away his readers. No one had ever spoken thus +to the people. His language lent itself to every mood, to all keys; +now brief, forcible, sharp as steel, now in majestic breadth, the +words poured in among the people like a mighty stream. A figurative +expression, a striking simile, made the most difficult thoughts +intelligible. His was a wonderfully creative power. He used language +with sovereign ease. As soon as he touched a pen his mind worked with +the greatest freedom; his sentences show the cheerful warmth which +filled him, the perfect charm of sympathetic creation is poured out +upon them. And such power is by no means least apparent in the attacks +which he makes upon individual opponents, and it is closely connected +with a fault which caused misgivings even to his admiring +contemporaries. He liked to play with his opponents. His imagination +clothed the form of an enemy with a grotesque mask, and he teased, +scorned, and stabbed this picture of his imagination with turns of +speech which had not always the grace of moderation, or even of +decency; but in the midst of vituperation, his good humor generally +had a conciliatory effect--although, to be sure, not upon his victims. +Petty spite was rarely visible; not seldom the most imperturbable +good-nature. Sometimes he fell into a true artistic zeal, forgot the +dignity of the reformer, and pinched like a German peasant boy, even +like a malicious goblin. What blows he gave to all his opponents, now +with a club, wielded by an angry giant, now with a jester's bauble! He +liked to twist their names into ridiculous forms, and thus they lived +in Wittenberg circles as beasts, or as fools. Eck became Dr. Geck; +Murner was adorned with the head and claws of a cat; Emser, who had +printed at the head of most of his pamphlets his coat-of-arms the head +of a horned goat, was abused as a goat. The Latin name of the renegade +humanist Cochlaeus, was retranslated, and Luther greeted him as a snail +with impenetrable armor, and--sad to say--sometimes also as a dirty +boy whose nose needed wiping. Still worse, terrible even to his +contemporaries, was the reckless violence with which he declaimed +against hostile princes. It is true that he sometimes bestowed upon +his sovereign's cousin, Duke George of Saxony, a consideration hardly +to be avoided. Each considered the other the prey of the devil, but in +secret each esteemed in the other a manly worth. Again and again they +fell into dissension, even in writing, but again and again Luther +prayed warmly for his neighbor's soul. The reckless wilfulness of +Henry VIII. of England, on the other hand, offended the German +reformer to the depths of his soul; he reviled him horribly and +without cessation; and even in his last years he treated the +hot-headed Henry of Brunswick like a naughty school-boy. "Clown" was +the mildest of many dramatic characters in which he represented him. +When, later, such outpourings of excessive zeal stared at him from the +printed page, and his friends complained, he would be vexed at his +rudeness, upbraid himself, and honestly repent. But repentance availed +little, for on the next occasion he would commit the same fault; and +Spalatin had some reason to look distrustfully upon a projected +publication even when Luther proposed to write very gently and tamely. +His opponents could not equal him in his field. They called names with +equal vigor, but they lacked his inward freedom. Unfortunately it +cannot be denied that this little appendage to the moral dignity of +his nature was sometimes the spice which made his writings so +irresistible to the honest Germans of the sixteenth century. + +In the autumn of 1517 he had got into a quarrel with a reprobate +Dominican friar; in the winter of 1520 he burned the Pope's bull. In +the spring of 1518 he had prostrated himself at the feet of the Vicar +of Christ; in the spring of 1521 he declared at the Diet of Worms, +before the emperor and the princes and the papal legates, that he +believed neither the Pope nor the Councils alone, only the testimony +of the Holy Scripture and the interpretation of reason. Now he was +free, but excommunication and outlawry hovered over his head. He was +inwardly free, but he was free as the beast of the forest is free, and +behind him bayed the blood-thirsty pack. He had reached the +culminating point of his life, and the powers against which he had +revolted, even the thoughts which he himself had aroused among the +people, were working from now on against his life and doctrine. + +Even at Worms, so it appears, it had been made clear to Luther that he +must disappear for a while. The customs of the Franconian Knights, +among whom he had faithful followers, suggested the idea of having him +spirited away by armed men. Elector Frederick, with his faithful +friends, discussed the abduction, and it was quite after the manner +of this prince that he himself did not wish to know the place of +retreat, in order to be able, in case of need, to swear to his +ignorance. Nor was it easy to win Luther over to the plan, for his +bold heart had long ago overcome earthly fear; and with an +enthusiastic joy, in which there was much fanaticism and some humor, +he watched the attempts of the Romanists to put out of the way a man +of whom Another must dispose, He who spoke through his lips. + +Unwillingly he submitted. The secret was not easy to keep, however +skilfully the abduction had been planned. At first none of the +Wittenbergers but Melanchthon knew where he was. But Luther was the +last man to submit to even the best-intentioned intrigue. Very soon an +active communication arose between the Wartburg and Wittenberg. No +matter how much caution was used in delivering the letters, it was +difficult to avoid suspicion. In his fortified retreat, Luther found +out earlier than the Wittenbergers what was going on in the world +outside. He was informed of everything that happened at his +university, and tried to keep up the courage of his friends and direct +their policy. It is touching to see how he tried to strengthen +Melanchthon, whose unpractical nature made him feel painfully the +absence of his sturdy friend. "Things will get on without me," he +writes to him; "only have courage. I am no longer necessary to you. If +I get out, and I cannot return to Wittenberg, I shall go into the wide +world. You are men enough to hold the fortress of the Lord against the +Devil, without me." He dated his letters from the air, from Patmos, +from the desert, from "among the birds that sing merrily on the +branches and praise God with all their might from morning to night." +Once he tried to be crafty. He inclosed in a letter to Spalatin a +letter intended to deceive: "It was believed without reason that he +was at the Wartburg. He was living among faithful brethren. It was +surprising that no one had thought of Bohemia;" and then came a +thrust--not ill-tempered--at Duke George of Saxony, his most active +enemy. This letter Spalatin was to lose with well-planned carelessness +so that it should come into the hands of the enemy. But in this kind +of diplomacy he was certainly not logical, for as soon as his leonine +nature was aroused by some piece of news, he would determine +impulsively to start for Erfurt or Wittenberg. It was hard for him to +bear the inactivity of his life. He was treated with the greatest +attention by the governor of the castle, and this attention expressed +itself, as was the custom at that time, primarily in the shape of the +best care in the matter of food and drink. The rich living, the lack +of activity, and the fresh mountain air into which the theologian was +transported, had their effect upon soul and body. He had already +brought from Worms a physical infirmity, now there were added hours of +gloomy melancholy which made him unfit for work. + +On two successive days he joined hunting parties, but his heart was +with the few hares and partridges which were driven into the net by +the troop of men and dogs. "Innocent creatures! The papists persecute +in the same way!" To save the life of a little hare he had wrapped him +in the sleeve of his coat. The dogs came and crushed the animal's +bones within the protecting coat. "Thus Satan rages against the souls +that I seek to save." Luther had reason for protecting himself and his +friends from Satan. He had rejected all the authority of the Church; +now he stood terribly alone; nothing was left to him but his last +resort--the Scriptures. The ancient Church had represented +Christianity in continual development. The faith had been kept in a +fluid state by a living tradition which ran parallel with the +Scriptures, by the Councils, by the Papal decrees; and they had +adapted themselves, like a facile stream, to the sharp corners of +national character, to the urgent needs of each age. It is true that +this noble idea of a perpetually living organism had not been +preserved in its original purity. The best part of its life had +vanished; empty cocoons were being preserved. The old democratic +church had been transformed into the irresponsible sovereignty of a +few, had been stained with all the vices of an unconscientious +aristocracy, and was already in striking opposition to reason and +popular feeling. What Luther, however, could put in its place--the +word of the Scriptures--although it gave freedom from a hopeless mass +of soulless excrescences, threatened on the other hand new dangers. + +What was the Bible? Between the earliest and latest writings of the +sacred book lay perhaps two thousand years. Even the New Testament was +not written by Christ himself, not even entirely by those who had +received the sacred doctrine from his lips. It was compiled after his +death. Portions of it might have been transmitted inexactly. +Everything was written in a foreign tongue, which it was difficult for +the Germans to understand. Even the keenest penetration was in danger +of interpreting falsely unless the grace of God enlightened the +interpreter as it had the apostles. The ancient Church had settled the +matter summarily; in it the sacrament of holy orders gave such +enlightenment. Indeed, the Holy Father even laid claim to divine +authority to decide arbitrarily what should be right, even when his +will was contrary to the Scriptures. The reformer had nothing but his +feeble human knowledge, and prayer. + +The first unavoidable step was that he must use his reason, for a +certain critical treatment even of the Holy Bible was necessary. Nor +did Luther fail to see that the books of the New Testament were of +varying worth. It is well known that he did not highly esteem the +Apocalypse, and that the Epistle of James was regarded by him as "an +epistle of straw." But his objection to particular portions never +shook his faith in the whole. His belief was inflexible that the Holy +Scriptures, excepting a few books, contained a divine revelation in +every word and letter. It was for him the dearest thing on earth, the +foundation of all his learning. He had put himself so in sympathy +with it that he lived among its figures as in the present. The more +urgent his feeling of responsibility, the warmer the passion with +which he clung to Scripture; and a strong instinct for the sensible +and the fitting really helped him over many dangers. His +discrimination had none of the hair-splitting sophistry of the ancient +teachers. He despised useless subtleties, and, with admirable tact, +let go what seemed to him unessential; but, if he was not to lose his +faith or his reason, he could do nothing, after all, but found the new +doctrine on words and conditions of life fifteen hundred years old, +and in some cases he became the victim of what his adversary Eck +called "the black letter." + +Under the urgency of these conditions his method took form. If he had +a question to settle, he collected all the passages of Holy Scripture +which seemed to offer him an answer. He sought earnestly to understand +all passages in their context, and then he struck a balance, giving +the greatest weight to those which agreed with each other, and for +those which were at variance patiently striving to find a solution +which might reconcile the seeming contradiction. The resulting +conviction he firmly established in his heart, regardless of +temptations, by fervent prayer. With this procedure he was sometimes +bound to reach conclusions which seemed, even to ordinary human +understanding, vulnerable. When, for instance, in the year 1522, he +undertook, from the Scriptures, to put matrimony on a new moral basis, +reason and the needs of the people were certainly on his side when he +subjected to severe criticism the eighteen grounds of the +Ecclesiastical Law for forbidding and annulling marriages and +condemned the unworthy favoring of the rich over the poor. But it was, +after all, strange when Luther tried to prove from the Bible alone +what degrees of relationship were permitted and what were forbidden, +especially as he also took into consideration the Old Testament, in +which various queer marriages were contracted without any opposition +from the ancient Jehovah. God undoubtedly had sometimes allowed his +elect to have two wives. + +And it was this method which, in 1529, during the discussions with the +Calvinists, made him so obstinate, when he wrote on the table in front +of him, "This _is_ my body," and sternly disregarded the tears and +outstretched hand of Zwingli. He had never been narrower and yet never +mightier--the fear-inspiring man who had won his conviction in the +most violent inward struggles against doubt and the Devil. It was an +imperfect method, and his opponents attacked it, not without success. +With it his doctrine became subject to the fate of all human wisdom. +But in this method there was also a vivid emotional process in which +his own reason and the culture and the inward needs of his time found +better expression than he himself knew. And it became the +starting-point from which a conscientious spirit of investigation has +wrought for the German people the highest intellectual freedom. + +With such tremendous trials there came also to the outcast monk at the +Wartburg other minor temptations. He had long ago, by almost +superhuman intellectual activity, overcome what were then regarded +with great distrust as fleshly impulses; now nature asserted herself +vigorously, and he several times asked his friend Melanchthon to pray +for him on this account. Then Fate would have it that during these +very weeks the restless mind of Carlstadt in Wittenberg fell upon the +question of the marriage of priests, and reached the conclusion, in a +pamphlet on celibacy, that the vow of chastity was not binding on +priests and monks. The Wittenbergers in general agreed--first of all, +Melanchthon, whose position in this matter was freest from prejudice, +since he had never received ordination and had been married for two +years. + +So at this point a tangle of thoughts and moral questions was caused +from without in Luther's soul, the threads of which were destined to +involve his whole later life. Whatever heartfelt joy and worldly +happiness was granted him from this time on depended on the answer +which he found to this question. It was the happiness of his home-life +which made it possible for him to endure the later years. Only in it +did the flower of his abundant affection develop. So Fate graciously +sent the lonely man the message which was to unite him anew and more +firmly than ever with his people; and the way in which Luther dealt +with this question is again characteristic. His pious disposition and +the conservative strain in his nature revolted against the hasty and +superficial manner in which Carlstadt reasoned. + +It may be assumed that much in his own feelings, at that particular +time, made him suspicious that the Devil might be using this dubious +question to tempt the children of God, and yet at this very moment, in +his confinement, he had special sympathy for the poor monks behind +monastery walls. He searched the Scriptures. He had soon disposed of +the marriage of priests, but there was nothing in the Bible about +monks. "The Scripture is silent; man is uncertain." And then he was +struck by the ridiculous idea that even his nearest friends might +marry. He writes to the cautious Spalatin, "Good Lord! Our +Wittenbergers want to give wives to the monks too. Well, they are not +going to hang one on my neck;" and he gives the ironical warning, +"Look out that you do not marry too." But the problem still occupied +him incessantly. Life is lived rapidly in such great times. Gradually, +through Melanchthon's reasoning, and, we may assume, after fervent +prayer, he found certainty. What settled the matter, unknown to +himself, must have been the recognition that the opening of the +monasteries had become reasonable and necessary for a more moral +foundation of civil life. For almost three months he had struggled +over the question. On the first of November, 1521, he wrote the letter +to his father already cited. + +The effect of his words upon the people was incalculable. Everywhere +there was a stir in the cloisters. From the doors of almost all the +monasteries and convents monks and nuns stole out--at first singly and +in secret flight; then whole convents broke up. When Luther with +greater cares weighing upon him returned the next spring to +Wittenberg, the runaway monks and nuns gave him much to do. Secret +letters were sent to him from all quarters, often from excited nuns +who, the children of stern parents, had been put into convents, and +now, without money and without protection, sought aid from the great +reformer. It was not unnatural that they should throng to Wittenberg. +Once nine nuns came in a carriage from the aristocratic establishment +at Nimpfschen--among them a Staupitz, two Zeschaus, and Catherine von +Bora. At another time sixteen nuns were to be provided for, and so on. +He felt deep sympathy for these poor souls. He wrote in their behalf +and traveled to find them shelter in respectable families. Sometimes +indeed he felt it too much of a good thing, and the hordes of runaway +monks were an especial burden to him. He complains that "they wish to +marry immediately and are the most incompetent people for any kind of +work." Through his bold solution of a difficult question he gave great +offense. He himself had painful experiences; for among those who now +returned in tumult to civil life there were, to be sure, high-minded +men, but also those who were rude and worthless. Yet all this never +made him hesitate for a moment. As usual with him, he was made the +more determined by the opposition he met. When, in 1524, he published +the story of the sufferings of a novice, Florentina of Oberweimar, he +repeated on the title page what he had already so often preached: "God +often gives testimony in the Scriptures that He will have no +compulsory service, and no one shall become His except with pleasure +and love. God help us! Is there no reasoning with us? Have we no sense +and no hearing? I say it again, God will have no compulsory service. I +say it a third time, I say it a hundred thousand times, God will have +no compulsory service." + +So Luther entered upon the last period of his life. His disappearance +in the Thuringian forest had caused an enormous stir. His adversaries +trembled before the anger which arose in town and country against +those who were called murderers. But the interruption of his public +activity became fateful for him. So long as in Wittenberg he was the +central point of the struggle, his word, his pen, had held sovereign +control over the great intellectual movement in north and south; now +it worked without method in different directions, in many minds. One +of the oldest of Luther's allies began the confusion. Wittenberg +itself became the scene of a strange commotion. Then Luther could +endure the Wartburg no longer. Once before he had been secretly in +Wittenberg; now, against the Elector's will, he returned there +publicly. And there began a heroic struggle against old friends, and +against the conclusions drawn from his own doctrine. His activity was +superhuman. He thundered without cessation from the pulpit, in the +cell his pen flew fast; but he could not reclaim every dissenting +mind. Even he could not prevent the rabble of the towns from breaking +out in savage fury against the institutions of the ancient Church and +against hated individuals, nor the excitement of the people from +brewing political storms, nor the knights from rising against the +princes, and the peasants against the knights. What was more, he could +not prevent the intellectual liberty which he had won for the Germans +from producing, even in pious and learned men, an independent judgment +about creed and life, a judgment which was contrary to his own +convictions. There came the gloomy years of the Iconoclasts, the +Anabaptists, the Peasant Wars, the regrettable dissensions over the +sacrament. How often at this time did Luther's form rise sombre and +mighty over the contestants! How often did the perversion of mankind +and his own secret doubts fill him with anxious care for the future of +Germany! + +For in a savage age which was accustomed to slay with fire and sword, +this German had a high, pure conception of the battles of the +intellect such as no other man attained. Even in the times of his own +greatest danger he mortally hated any use of violence. He himself did +not wish to be sheltered by his prince--indeed he desired no human +protection for his doctrine. He fought with a sharp quill against his +foes, but he burnt only a paper at the stake. He hated the Pope as he +did the Devil, but he always preached a love of peace and Christian +tolerance of the Papists. He suspected many of being in secret league +with the Devil, but he never burned a witch. In all Catholic countries +the pyres flamed high for the adherents of the new creed; even Hutten +was under strong suspicion of having cut off the ears of a few monks. +So humane was Luther's disposition that he entertained cordial +sympathy with the humiliated Tetzel and wrote him a consolatory +letter. To obey the authorities whom God has established was his +highest political principle. Only when the service of his God demanded +it did his opposition flame up. When he left Worms he had been ordered +not to preach--he who was just on the point of being declared an +outlaw. He did not submit to the prohibition, but his honest +conscience was fearful that this might be interpreted as disobedience. +His conception of the position of the Emperor was still quite the +antiquated and popular one. As subjects obey the powers that be, so +the princes and electors had to obey the Emperor according to the law +of the land. + +With the personality of Charles V. he had human sympathy all his +life--not only at that first period when he greeted him as "Dear +Youngster," but also later, when he well knew that the Spanish +Burgundian was granting nothing more than political tolerance to the +German Reformation. "He is pious and quiet," Luther said of him; "he +talks in a year less than I do in a day. He is a child of fortune." He +liked to praise the Emperor's moderation, modesty, and forbearance. +Long after he had condemned Charles' policy, and in secret distrusted +his character, he insisted upon it among his table companions that the +master of Germany should be spoken of with reverence, and said +apologetically to the younger ones, "A politician cannot be so frank +as we of the clergy." + +Even as late as 1530 it was his view that it was wrong for the +Elector to take arms against his Emperor. Not until 1537 did he fall +in reluctantly with the freer views of his circle, but he thought then +that the endangered prince had no right to make the first attack. The +venerable tradition of a firm, well articulated federal State was +still thus active in this man of the people at a time when the proud +structure of the old Saxon and Franconian empires was already +crumbling away. Yet in such loyalty there was no trace of a slavish +spirit. When his prince once urged him to write an open letter, his +sense of truth rose against the title of the Emperor, "Most Gracious +Lord," for he said the Emperor was not graciously disposed toward him. +And in his frequent intercourse with those of rank, he showed a +reckless frankness which more than once alarmed the courtiers. In all +reverence he spoke truths to his own prince such as only a great +character may express and only a good-hearted one can listen to. On +the whole he cared little for the German princes, much as he esteemed +a few. Frequent and just were his complaints about their incapacity, +their lawlessness, and their vices. He also liked to treat the +nobility with irony; the coarseness of most of them was highly +distasteful to him. He felt a democratic displeasure toward the hard +and selfish jurists who managed the affairs of the princes, worked for +favor, and harassed the poor; for the best of them he admitted only a +very doubtful prospect of the mercy of God. His whole heart, on the +other hand, was with the oppressed. He sometimes blamed the peasants +for their stolidity, and their extortions in selling their grain, but +he often praised their class, looked with cordial sympathy upon their +hardships, and never forgot that by birth he belonged among them. + +But all this belonged to the temporal order; he served the spiritual. +The popular conception was also firmly fixed in his mind that two +controlling powers ought to rule the German nation in common--the +Church and the princes; and he was entirely right in proudly +contrasting the sphere where lay his rights and duties with that of +the temporal powers. In his spiritual field there were solidarity, a +spirit of sacrifice, and a wealth of ideals, while in secular affairs +narrow selfishness, robbery, fraud, and weakness were to be found +everywhere. He fought vigorously lest the authorities should assume to +control matters which concerned the pastor and the independence of the +congregations. He judged all policies according to what would benefit +his faith, and according to the dictates of his Bible. Where the +Scriptures seemed endangered by worldly politics, he protested, caring +little who was hit. It was not his fault that he was strong and the +princes were weak, and no blame attaches to him, the monk, the +professor, the pastor, if the league of Protestant princes was weak as +a herd of deer against the crafty policy of the Emperor. He himself +was well aware that Italian diplomacy was not his strong point. If the +active Landgrave of Hesse happened not to follow the advice of the +clergy, Luther, in his heart, respected him all the more: "He knows +what he wants and succeeds, he has a fine sense of this world's +affairs." + +Now, after Luther's return to Wittenberg, the flood of democracy was +rising among the people. He had opened the monasteries; now the people +called for redress against many other social evils, such as the misery +of the peasants, the tithes, the traffic in benefices, the bad +administration of justice. Luther's honest heart sympathized with this +movement. He warned and rebuked the landed gentry and the princes. But +when the wild waves of the Peasant War flooded his own spiritual +fields, and bloody deeds of violence wounded his sensibilities; when +he felt that the fanatics and demagogues were exerting upon the hordes +of peasants an influence which threatened destruction to his doctrine; +then, in the greatest anger, he threw himself into opposition to the +uncouth mob. His call to the princes sounded out, wild and warlike; +the most horrible thing had fallen upon him--the gospel of love had +been disgraced by the wilful insolence of those who called themselves +its followers. His policy here was again the right one; there was, +unfortunately, no better power in Germany than that of the princes, +and the future of the Fatherland depended upon them after all, for +neither the serfs, the robber barons, nor the isolated free cities +which stood like islands in the rising flood, gave any assurance. +Luther was entirely right in the essential point, but the same +obstinate, unyielding manner which previously had made his struggle +against the hierarchy so popular, turned now against the people +themselves. A cry of amazement and horror shot through the masses. He +was a traitor! He who for eight years had been the favorite and hero +of the people suddenly became most unpopular. His safety and his life +were again threatened; even five years later it was dangerous for him, +on account of the peasants, to travel to Mansfeld to visit his sick +father. The indignation of the people also worked against his +doctrine. The itinerant preachers and the new apostles treated him as +a lost, corrupted man. + + +[Illustration: _Permission F. Bruckmann, A.-G., Munich_ +COURT BALL AT RHEINSBERG Adolph von Menzel] + +He was outlawed, banned, and cursed by the populace. Many well-meaning +men, too, had not approved of his attack on celibacy and monastic +life. The country gentry threatened to seize the outlaw on the +highways because he had destroyed the nunneries into which, as into +foundling asylums, the legitimate daughters of the poverty-stricken +gentry used to be cast in earliest childhood. The Roman party was +triumphant; the new heresy had lost what so far had made it powerful. +Luther's life and his doctrine seemed alike near their end. + +Then Luther determined to marry. For two years Catherine von Bora had +lived in the house of Reichenbach, the city clerk, afterward mayor of +Wittenberg. A healthy, good looking girl, she was, like many others, +the abandoned daughter of a family of the country gentry of Meissen. +Twice Luther had tried to find her a husband, as in fatherly care he +had done for several of her companions. Finally Catherine declared +that she would marry no one but Luther himself, or his friend Amsdorf. +Luther was surprised, but he reached a decision quickly. Accompanied +by Lucas Kranach, he asked for her hand and married her on the spot. +Then he invited his friends to the wedding feast, asked at Court for +the venison which the Prince was accustomed to present to his +professors when they married, and received the table wine as a present +from the city of Wittenberg. How things stood in Luther's soul at that +time we should be glad to know. His whole being was under the highest +tension. The savage vigor of his nature struck out in all directions. +He was deeply shocked at the misery which arose about him from burned +villages and murdered men. If he had been a fanatic in his ideas, he +would probably have perished now in despair; but above the stormy +restlessness which could be perceived in him up to his marriage, there +shone now, like a clear light, the conviction that he was the guardian +of divine right among the Germans, and that to protect civil order and +morality, he must lead public opinion, not follow it. However violent +his utterances are in particular cases, he appears just at this time +preeminently conservative, and more self-possessed than ever. He also +believed, it is true, that he was not destined to live much longer, +and often and with longing awaited his martyrdom. He entered wedlock, +perfectly at peace with himself on this point, for he had fully +convinced himself of the necessity and the scriptural sanction of the +married state. In recent years he had urged all his acquaintances to +marry--finally even his old adversary, the Archbishop of Mainz. He +himself gave two reasons for his decision. For many years he had +deprived his father of his son; and it would be like an atonement if +he should leave to old Hans a grandson in case of his own death. There +was also some defiance in it. His adversaries were saying in triumph +that Luther was humiliated, and since all the world now took offense +at him, he proposed to give them still greater offense in his good +cause. He was of vigorous nature, but there was no trace of coarse +sensuality in him, and we may assume that the best reason, which he +confessed to no friend, was, after all, the decisive one: Gossip had +known for a long time more than he did, but now he also knew that +Catherine was dear to him. "I am no passionate lover, but I am fond of +her," he wrote to one of his closest friends. + +And this marriage, performed in opposition to the judgment of his +contemporaries, and amid the shouts of scorn of his adversaries, +became the bond to which we Germans owe as much as to the years in +which he, a priest of the ancient Church, bore arms in behalf of his +theology. For henceforth the husband, the father, and the citizen, +became the reformer also of the domestic life of his nation; and the +very blessing of their earthly life which Protestants and Catholics +share alike today is due to the marriage of an excommunicated monk +with a runaway nun. + +For twenty more busy years he was destined to work as an educator of +his nation. During this time his greatest work, the translation of the +Bible, was completed, and in this work, which he accomplished in +cooeperation with his Wittenberg friends, he acquired a complete +control of the language of the people--a language whose wealth and +power he first learned to realize through this work. We know the lofty +spirit which he brought to this undertaking. His purpose was to create +a book for the people, and for this he studied industriously turns of +phrases, proverbs, and special terms which made up the people's +current language. Even Humanists had written an awkward, involved +German, with clumsy sentences in unfortunate imitation of the Latin +style. Now the nation acquired for daily reading a work which, in +simple words and short sentences, gave expression to the deepest +wisdom and the best intellectual life of the time. Along with Luther's +other works, the German Bible became the foundation of the modern +German language, and this language, in which our whole literature and +intellectual life has found expression, has become an indestructible +possession which, in the gloomiest times, even corrupted and +distorted, has reminded the various German strains that they have +common interests. Every individual in our country still rises superior +to the dialect of his native place, and the language of culture, +poetry, and science which Luther created is still the tie which binds +all German souls in unity. + +And what he did for the social life of the Germans was no less; for by +his precepts and his writings he consecrated family prayers, marriage +and the training of children, the daily life of the community, +education, manners, amusements, whatever touches the heart, and all +social pleasures. He was everywhere active in setting up new ideals, +in laying deeper foundations. There was no field of human duty upon +which he did not force his Germans to reflect. Through his many +sermons and minor writings he influenced large groups of people, and +by his innumerable letters, in which he gave advice and consolation to +those who asked for them, he influenced individuals. When he +incessantly urged his contemporaries to examine for themselves whether +a desire was justified or not, or what was the duty of a father toward +his child, of the subject toward the authorities, of the councillor +toward the people, the progress which was made through him was so +important because here too he set free the conscience of the +individual and put everywhere in the place of compulsion from without, +against which selfishness had defiantly rebelled, a self-control in +harmony with the spirit of the individual. How beautiful is his +conception of the necessity of training children by schooling, +especially in the ancient languages! How he recommends the +introduction of his beloved music into the schools! How large is his +vision when he advises the city-councils to establish public +libraries! And again, how conscientiously he tried, in matters of +betrothal and marriage, to protect the heart of the lovers against +stern parental authority! To be sure, his horizon is always bounded by +the letter of the Scriptures, but everywhere there sounds through his +sermons, his advice, his censure, the beautiful keynote of his German +nature, the necessity of liberty and discipline, of love and morality. +He had overthrown the old sacrament of marriage, but gave a higher, +nobler, freer form to the intimate relation of man and wife. He had +fought the clumsy monastery schools; and everywhere in town and +hamlet, wherever his influence was felt, there grew up better +educational institutions for the young. He had done away with the mass +and with Latin church music; he put in its place, for friends and foes +alike, regular preaching and German chorals. + +As time advanced, it became ever more apparent that it was a necessity +for Luther to perceive God in every gracious, good and tender gift of +this world. In this sense he was always pious and always wise--when he +was out-of-doors, or among his friends, in innocent merriment, when he +teased his wife, or held his children in his arms. Before a +fruit-tree, which he saw hanging full of fruit, he rejoiced in its +splendor, and said, "If Adam had not fallen, we should have admired +all trees as we do this one." He took a large pear into his hands and +marveled: "See! Half a year ago this pear was deeper under ground than +it is long and broad, and lay at the very end of the roots. These +smallest and least observed creations are the greatest miracles. God +is in the humblest things of nature--a leaf or a blade of grass." Two +birds made their nest in the Doctor's garden and flew up in the +evening, often frightened by passers-by. He called to them, "Oh, you +dear birds! Don't fly away. I am very willing to have you here, if you +could only believe me. But just so we mortals have no faith in our +God." He delighted in the companionship of whole-souled men; he drank +his wine with satisfaction, while the conversation ran actively over +great things and small. He judged with splendid humor enemies and good +acquaintances alike, and told jolly stories; and when he got into +discussion, passed his hand across his knee, which was a peculiarity +of his; or he might sing, or play the lute, and start a chorus. +Whatever gave innocent pleasure was welcome to him. His favorite art +was music; he judged leniently of dancing, and, fifty years before +Shakespeare, spoke approvingly of comedy, for he said, "It instructs +us, like a mirror, how everybody should conduct himself." + +When he sat thus with Melanchthon, Master Philip was the charitable +scholar who sometimes put wise limitations upon the daring assertions +of his lusty friend. If, at such times, the conversation turned upon +rich people, and Frau Kaethe could not help remarking longingly, "If my +man had had a notion, he would have got very rich," Melanchthon would +pronounce gravely, "That is impossible; for those who, like him, work +for the general good cannot follow up their own advantage." But there +was one subject upon which the two men loved to dispute. Melanchthon +was a great admirer of astrology, but Luther looked upon this science +with supreme contempt. On the other hand, Luther, through his method +of interpreting the Scriptures--and alas! through secret political +cares also--had arrived at the conviction that the end of the world +was near. That again seemed to the learned Melanchthon very dubious. +So if Melanchthon began to talk about the signs of the zodiac and +aspects, and explained Luther's success by his having been born under +the sign of the Sun, then Luther would exclaim, "I don't think much of +your Sol. I am a peasant's son. My father, grandfather, and +great-grandfather were thorough peasants." "Yes," replied Melanchthon, +"even in a hamlet, you would have become a leader, a magistrate, or a +foreman over other laborers." "But," cried Luther, victoriously, "I +have become a bachelor of arts, a master, a monk. That was not +foretold by the stars. And after that I got the Pope by the hair and +he in turn got me. I have taken a nun to wife and got some children by +her. Who saw that in the stars?" Melanchthon, continuing his +astrological prophecies and turning to the fate of the Emperor +Charles, declared that this prince was destined to die in 1584. Then +Luther broke out vehemently--"The world will not last as long as that, +for when we drive out the Turks the prophecy of Daniel will be +fulfilled and completed; then the Day of Judgment is certainly at our +doors." + +How lovable he was as father in his family! When his children stood +before the table and looked hard at the fruit and the peaches, he +said, "If anybody wants to see the image of one who rejoiceth in hope, +he has here the real model. Oh, that we might look forward so +cheerfully to the Judgment Day! Adam and Eve must have had much better +fruit! Ours are nothing but crab-apples in contrast. And I think the +serpent was then a most beautiful creature, kindly and gracious; it +still wears its crown, but after the curse it lost its feet and +beautiful body." Once he looked at his three-year-old son who was +playing and talking to himself and said, "This child is like a drunken +man. He does not know that he is alive, yet lives on safely and +merrily and hops and jumps. Such children love to be in spacious +apartments where they have room," and he took the child in his arms. +"You are our Lord's little fool, subject to His mercy and forgiveness +of sins, not subject to the Law. You have no fear; you are safe, +nothing troubles you; the way you do is the uncorrupted way. Parents +always like their youngest children best; my little Martin is my +dearest treasure. Such little ones need their parents' care and love +the most; therefore the love of their parents always reaches down to +them. How Abraham must have felt when he had in mind to sacrifice his +youngest and dearest son! Probably he said nothing to Sarah about it. +That must have been a bitter journey for him." His favorite daughter +Magdalena lay at the point of death and he lamented, "I love her +truly, but, dear God, if it be Thy will to take her away to Thee, I +shall gladly know that she is with Thee. Magdalena, my little +daughter, you would like to stay here with your father, and yet you +would be willing to go to the other Father?" Then the child said, +"Yes, dear father, as God wills." When she was dying he fell on his +knees before the bed and wept bitterly, and prayed that God would +redeem her; and so she fell asleep under her father's hands, and when +the people came to help lay out the corpse and spoke to the Doctor +according to custom, he said, "I am cheerful in my mind, but the flesh +is weak. This parting is hard beyond measure. It is strange to know +she is certainly in peace and that it is well with her, and yet to be +so sorrowful all the time." + +His Dominus, or Lord Kaethe, as he liked to call his wife in letters to +his friends, had soon developed into a capable manager. And she had no +slight troubles: little children, her husband often in poor health, a +number of boarders--teachers and poor students--her house always open, +seldom lacking scholarly or noble guests, and, with all that, scanty +means and a husband who preferred giving to receiving, and who once, +in his zeal, when she was in bed with a young child, even seized the +silver baptismal presents of the child in order to give alms. Luther, +in 1527, for instance, could not afford even eight gulden for his +former prior and friend Briesger. He writes to him sadly: "Three +silver cups (wedding presents) are pawned for fifty gulden, the fourth +is sold. The year has brought one hundred gulden of debts. Lucas +Kranach will not go security for me any more, lest I ruin myself +completely." Sometimes Luther refuses presents, even those which his +prince offers him: but it seems that regard for his wife and children +gave him in later years some sense of economy. When he died his estate +amounted to some eight or nine thousand gulden, comprising, among +other things, a little country place, a large garden, and two houses. +This was surely in large part Frau Kaethe's doing. By the way in which +Luther treats her we see how happy his household was. When he made +allusions to the ready tongue of women he had little right to do so, +for he himself was not by any means a man who could be called +reticent. When she showed her joy at being able to bring to table all +kinds of fish from the little pond in her garden, the Doctor, for his +part, was deeply pleased but did not fail to add a pleasant discourse +on the happiness of contentment. Or when on one occasion she became +impatient at the reading of the Psalter, and gave him to understand +that she had heard enough about saints--that she read a good deal +every day and could talk enough about them too--that God only desired +her to act like them; then the Doctor, in reply to this sensible +answer, sighed and said, "Thus begins discontent at God's word. There +will be nothing but new books coming out, and the Scriptures will be +again thrown into the corner." But the firm alliance of these two good +people was for a long time not without its secret sorrow. We can only +surmise the suffering of the wife's soul when, even as late as 1527, +Luther in a dangerous illness took final farewell from her with the +words: "You are my lawful wife, and as such you must surely consider +yourself." + +In the same spirit as with his dear ones, Luther consorted with the +high powers of his faith. All the good characters from the Bible were +true friends to him. His vivid imagination had confidently given them +shape, and, with the simplicity of a child, he liked to picture to +himself their conditions. When Veit Deitrich asked him what kind of +person the Apostle Paul was, Luther answered quickly, "He was an +insignificant, slim little fellow like Philip Melanchthon." The Virgin +Mary was a graceful image to him. "She was a fine girl," he said +admiringly; "she must have had a good voice." He liked to think of the +Redeemer as a child with his parents, carrying the dinner to his +father in the lumber yard, and to picture Mary, when he stayed too +long away, as asking--"Darling, where have you been so long?" One +should not think of the Saviour seated on the rainbow in glory, nor as +the fulfiller of the law--this conception is too grand and terrible +for man--but only as a poor sufferer who lives among sinners and dies +for them. + +Even his God was to him preeminently the head of a household and a +father. He liked to reflect upon the economy of nature. He lost +himself in wondering consideration of how much wood God was obliged to +create. "Nobody can calculate what God needs to feed the sparrows and +the useless birds alone. These cost him in one year more than the +revenues of the king of France. And then think of the other things! +God understands all trades. In his tailor shop he makes the stag a +coat that lasts a hundred years. As a shoemaker he gives him shoes for +his feet, and through the pleasant sun he is a cook. He might get rich +if he would; he might stop the sun, inclose the air, and threaten the +pope, emperor, bishops and the doctors with death if they did not pay +him on the spot one hundred thousand gulden. But he does not do that, +and we are thankless scoundrels." He reflected seriously about where +the food comes from for so many people. Old Hans Luther had asserted +that there were more people than sheaves of grain. The Doctor believed +that more sheaves are grown than there are people, but still more +people than stacks of grain. "But a stack of grain yields hardly a +bushel, and a man cannot live a whole year on that." Even a dunghill +invited him to deep reflection. "God has as much to clear away as to +create. If He were not continually carrying things off, men would have +filled the world with rubbish long ago." And if God often punishes +those who fear Him worse than those who have no religion, he appears +to Luther to be like a strict householder who punishes his son oftener +than his good-for-nothing servant, but who secretly is laying up an +inheritance for his son; while he finally dismisses the servant. And +merrily he draws the conclusion, "If our Lord can pardon me for having +annoyed Him for twenty years by reading masses, He can put it to my +credit also that at times I have taken a good drink in His honor. The +world may interpret it as it will." + +He is also greatly surprised that God should be so angry with the +Jews. "They have prayed anxiously for fifteen hundred years with +seriousness and great zeal, as their prayer-books show, and He has not +for the whole time noticed them with a word. If I could pray as they +do I would give books worth two hundred florins for the gift. It must +be a great unutterable wrath. O, good Lord, punish us with pestilence +rather than with such silence!" + +Like a child, Luther prayed every morning and evening, and frequently +during the day, even while eating. Prayers which he knew by heart he +repeated over and over with warm devotion, preferably the Lord's +Prayer. Then he recited as an act of devotion the shorter Catechism; +the Psalter he always carried with him as a prayer-book. When he was +in passionate anxiety his prayer became a stormy wrestling with God, +so powerful, great, and solemnly simple that it can hardly be compared +with other human emotions. Then he was the son who lay despairingly at +his father's feet, or the faithful servant who implores his prince; +for his whole conviction was firmly fixed that God's decisions could +be affected by begging and urging, and so the effusion of feeling +alternated in his prayer with complaints, even with earnest +reproaches. It has often been told how, in 1540, at Weimar, he brought +Melanchthon, who was at the point of death, to life again. When Luther +arrived, he found Master Philip in the death throes, unconscious, his +eyes set. Luther was greatly startled and said, "God help us! How the +Devil has wronged this _Organan_," then he turned his back to the +company and went to the window as he was wont to do when he prayed. +"Here," Luther himself later recounted, "Our Lord had to grant my +petition, for I challenged Him and filled His ears with all the +promises of prayer which I could remember from the Scriptures, so that +He had to hear me if I was to put any trust in His promises." Then he +took Melanchthon by the hand saying, "Be comforted, Philip, you will +not die;" and Melanchthon, under the spell of his vigorous friend, +began at once to breathe again, came back to consciousness, and +recovered. + +As God was the source of all good, so, for Luther, the Devil was the +author of everything harmful and bad. The Devil interfered +perniciously in the course of nature, in sickness and pestilence, +failure of crops and famine. But since Luther had begun to teach, the +greater part of the Enemy's activity had been transferred to the souls +of men. In them he inspired impure thoughts as well as doubt, +melancholy, and depression. Everything which the thoughtful Luther +stated so definitely and cheerfully rested beforehand with terrible +force upon his conscience. If he awoke in the night, the Devil stood +by his bed full of malicious joy and whispered alarming things to him. +Then his mind struggled for freedom, often for a long time in vain. +And it is noteworthy how the son of the sixteenth century proceeded in +such spiritual struggles. Sometimes it was a relief to him if he stuck +out of bed the least dignified part of his body. This action, by which +prince and peasant of the time used to express supreme contempt, +sometimes helped when nothing else would. But his exuberant humor did +not always deliver him. Every new investigation of the Scriptures, +every important sermon on a new subject, caused him further pangs of +conscience. On these occasions he sometimes got into such excitement +that his soul was incapable of systematic thinking, and trembled in +anxiety for days. When he was busy with the question of the monks and +nuns, a text struck his attention which, as he thought in his +excitement, proved him in the wrong. His heart "melted in his body; he +was almost choked by the Devil." Then Bugenhagen visited him. Luther +took him outside the door and showed him the threatening text, and +Bugenhagen, apparently upset by his friend's excitement, began to +doubt too, without suspecting the depth of the torment which Luther +was enduring. This gave Luther a final and terrible fright. Again he +passed an awful night. The next morning Bugenhagen came in again. "I +am thoroughly angry," he said; "I have only just looked at the text +carefully. The passage has a quite different meaning." "It is true," +Luther related afterward, "it was a ridiculous argument--ridiculous, I +mean, for a man in his senses, but not for him who is tempted." + +Often he complained to his friends about the terrors of the struggles +which the Devil caused him. "He has never since the creation been so +fierce and angry as now at the end of the world. I feel him very +plainly. He sleeps closer to me than my Kaethe--that is, he gives me +more trouble than she does pleasure." Luther never tired of censuring +the pope as the Anti-Christ, and the papal system as the work of the +Devil. But a closer scrutiny will recognize under this hatred of the +Devil an indestructible piety, in which the loyal heart of the man was +bound to the old Church. What became hallucinations to him were often +only pious remembrances from his youth, which stood in startling +contrast to the transformations which he had passed through as a man. + +For no man is entirely transformed by the great thoughts and deeds of +his manhood. We ourselves do not become new through new deeds. Our +mental life is based upon the sum of all thoughts and feelings that we +have ever had. Whoever is chosen by Fate to establish new greatness by +destroying the greatness of the old, shatters in fragments at the same +time a portion of his own life. He must break obligations in order to +fulfil greater obligations. The more conscientious he is, the more +deeply he feels in his own heart the wound he has inflicted upon the +order of the world. That is the secret sorrow, the regret, of every +great historical character. There are few mortals who have felt this +sorrow so deeply as Luther. And what is great in him is the fact that +such sorrow never kept him from the boldest action. To us this appears +as a tragic touch in his spiritual life. + +Another thing most momentous for him was the attitude which he had to +take toward his own doctrine. He had left to his followers nothing but +the authority of Scripture. He clung passionately to its words as to +the last effective anchor for the human race. Before him the pope, +with his hierarchy, had interpreted, misinterpreted, and added to the +text of the Scriptures; now he was in the same situation. He, with a +circle of dependent friends, had to claim for himself the privilege of +understanding the words of the Scriptures correctly, and applying them +rightly to the life of the times. This was a superhuman task, and the +man who undertook it must necessarily be subject to some of the +disadvantages which he himself had so grandly combatted in the +Catholic Church. His mental makeup was firmly decided and unyielding: +he was born to be a ruler if ever a mortal was; but this gigantic, +daemonic character of his will inevitably made him sometimes a tyrant. +Although he practised tolerance in many important matters, often as +the result of self-restraint and often with a willing heart, this was +only the fortunate result of his kindly disposition, which was +effective also here. Not infrequently, however, he became the pope of +the Protestants. For him and his people there was no choice. He has +been reproached in modern times for doing so little to bring the laity +into cooeperation by means of a presbyterial organization. Never was a +reproach more unjust. What was possible in Switzerland, with +congregations of sturdy free peasants, was utterly impracticable at +that time in Germany. Only the dwellers in the larger cities had among +them enough intelligence and power to criticise the Protestant clergy; +almost nine-tenths of the Protestants in Germany were oppressed +peasants, the majority of whom were indifferent and stubborn, corrupt +in morals, and, after the Peasant War, savage in manners. The new +church was obliged to force its discipline upon them as upon neglected +children. Whoever doubts this should look at the reports of +visitations, and notice the continued complaints of the reformers +about the rudeness of their poverty-stricken congregations. But the +great man was subject to still further hindrances. The ruler of the +souls of the German people lived in a little town, among poor +university professors and students, in a feeble community of which he +often had occasion to complain. He was spared none of the evils of +petty surroundings, of unpleasant disputes with narrow-minded scholars +or uncultured neighbors. There was much in his nature which made him +especially sensitive to such things. No man bears in his heart with +impunity the feeling of being the privileged instrument of God. +Whoever lives in that feeling is too great for the narrow and petty +structure of middle-class society. If Luther had not been modest to +the depths of his heart, and of infinite kindness in his intercourse +with others, he would inevitably have appeared perfectly unendurable +to the matter-of-fact and common-sense people who stood indifferent by +his side. As it was, however, he came only on rare occasions into +serious conflict with his fellow-citizens, the town administration, +the law faculty of his university, or the councillors of his +sovereign. He was not always right, but he almost always carried his +point against them, for seldom did any one dare to defy the violence +of his anger. With all this he was subject to severe physical +ailments, the frequent return of which in the last years of his life +exhausted even his tremendous vigor. He felt this with great sorrow, +and incessantly prayed to his God that He might take him to Himself. +He was not yet an old man in years, but he seemed so to himself--very +old and out of place in a strange and worldly universe. These years, +which did not abound in great events, but were made burdensome by +political and local quarrels, and filled with hours of bitterness and +sorrow, will inspire sympathy, we trust, in every one who studies the +life of this great man impartially. The ardor of his life had warmed +his whole people, had called forth in millions the beginnings of a +higher human development; the blessing remained for the millions, +while he himself felt at last little but the sorrow. Once he joyfully +had hoped to die as a martyr; now he wished for the peace of the +grave, like a trusty, aged, worn-out laborer--another case of a tragic +human fate. + +But the greatest sorrow that he felt lay in the relation of his +doctrine to the life of his nation. He had founded a new church on his +pure gospel, and had given to the spirit and the conscience of the +people an incomparably greater meaning. All about him flourished a new +life and greater prosperity, and many valuable arts--painting and +music--the enjoyment of comfort, and a finer social culture. Still +there was something in the air of Germany which threatened ruin: +princes and governments were fiercely at odds, foreign powers were +threatening invasions--the Emperor of Spain, the Pope from Rome, the +Turks from the Mediterranean; fanatics and demagogues were +influential, and the hierarchy was not yet fallen. As to his new +gospel, had it welded the nation into greater unity and power? The +discontent had only been increased. The future of his church was to +depend on the worldly interests of a few princes; and he knew the best +among them! Something terrible was coming; the Scriptures were to be +fulfilled; the Day of Judgment was at hand. But after this God would +build up a new universe more beautiful, grander, and purer, full of +peace and happiness, a world in which no devil would exist, in which +every human soul would feel more joy over the flowers and fruit of the +new trees of heaven than the present generation over gold and silver; +where music, the most beautiful of all arts, should ring in tones much +more delightful than the most splendid song of the best singers in +this world. There a good man would find again all the dear ones whom +he had loved and lost in this world. + +The longing of the creature for the ideal type of existence grew +stronger and stronger in him. If he expected the end of the world, it +was due to dim remembrances from the far-distant past of the German +people, which still hovered over the soul of the new reformer. Yet it +was likewise a prophetic foreboding of the near future. It was not the +end of the world that was in preparation, but the Thirty Years' War. + +Thus he died. When the hearse with his corpse passed through the +Thuringian country, all the bells in city and hamlet tolled, and the +people crowded sobbing about his bier. A large portion of the German +national strength went into the coffin with this one man. And Philip +Melanchthon spoke in the castle church at Wittenberg over his body: +"Any one who knew him well, must bear witness to this--that he was a +very kind man, gracious, friendly, and affectionate in all +conversation, and by no means insolent, stormy, obstinate, or +quarrelsome. And yet with this went a seriousness and courage in words +and actions, such as there should be in such a man. His heart was +loyal and without guile. The severity which he used in his writings +against the enemies of the Gospel came not from a quarrelsome and +malicious spirit but from great seriousness and zeal for the truth. He +showed very great courage and manhood, and was not easily disturbed. +He was not intimidated by threats, danger, or alarms. He was also of +such a high, clear intelligence that when affairs were confused, +obscure, and difficult he was often the only one who could see at once +what was advisable and feasible. He was not, as perhaps some thought, +too unobservant to notice the condition of the government everywhere. +He knew right well how we are governed, and noted especially the +spirit and the intentions of those with whom he had to do. We, +however, must keep a faithful, everlasting memory of this dear father +of ours, and never let him go out of our hearts." Such was Luther--an +almost superhuman nature; his mind ponderous and sharply limited, his +will powerful and temperate, his morals pure, his heart full of love. +Because no other man appeared after him strong enough to become the +leader of the nation, the German people lost for centuries their +leadership of the earth. The leadership of the Germans in the realm of +intellect, however, is founded on Luther. + + +[Footnote 2: "_Cito remitte matri filiolum_!" ("Send the little boy +right home to his mother.")] + + * * * * * + + + + +FREDERICK THE GREAT + +By GUSTAV FREYTAG + +TRANSLATED BY E.H. BABBITT, A.B. + +Assistant Professor of German, Tufts College + + +What was it that, after the Thirty Years' War drew the attention of +the politicians of Europe to the little State on the northeastern +frontier of Germany which was struggling upward in spite of the Swedes +and the Poles, the Hapsburgs and the Bourbons? The inheritance of the +Hohenzollern was no richly endowed land in which the farmer dwelt in +comfort on well-tilled acres, to which wealthy merchant princes +brought, in deeply-laden galleons, the silks of Italy and the spices +and ingots of the New World. It was a poor, desolate, sandy country of +burned cities and ruined villages. The fields were untilled, and many +square miles, stripped of men and cattle, were given over to the +caprices of wild nature. When, in 1640, Frederick William succeeded to +the Electorate, he found nothing but contested claims to scattered +territories of some thirty thousand square miles. In all the fortified +places of his home land were lodged insolent conquerors. In an +insecure desert this shrewd and tricky prince established his state, +with a craft and disregard of his neighbors' rights which, even in +that unscrupulous age, aroused criticism, but at the same time, with a +heroism and greatness of mind which more than once showed higher +conceptions of German honor than were held by the Emperor himself or +any other prince of the realm. Nevertheless, when, in 1688, this +adroit statesman died, he left behind him only an unimportant State, +in no way to be reckoned among the powers of Europe. For while his +sovereignty extended over about forty-four thousand square miles, +these contained only one million three hundred thousand inhabitants; +and when Frederick II., a hundred years after his great-grandfather, +succeeded to the crown, he inherited only two million two hundred and +forty thousand subjects, not so many as the single province of Silesia +contains today. What was it then that, immediately after the battles +of the Thirty Years' War, aroused the jealousy of all the governments, +and especially of the Imperial house, and which since then has made +such warm friends and such bitter enemies for the Brandenburg +government? For two centuries neither Germans nor foreigners ceased to +set their hopes on this new State, and for an equally long time +neither Germans nor foreigners ceased to call it--at first with +ridicule, and then with spite--"an artificial structure which cannot +endure heavy storms, which has intruded without justification among +the powers of Europe." How did it come about that impartial judges +finally, soon after the death of Frederick the Great, declared that it +was time to cease prophesying the destruction of this widely hated +power? For after every defeat, they said, it had risen more +vigorously, and had repaired all the damages and losses of war more +quickly than was possible elsewhere; its prosperity and intelligence +also were increasing more rapidly than in any other part of Germany. + +It was indeed a very individual and new shade of German character +which appeared in the Hohenzollern princes and their people on the +territory conquered from the Slavs, and forced recognition with sharp +challenge. It seemed that the characters there embraced greater +contrasts; for the virtues and faults of the rulers, the greatness and +the weakness of their policies, stood forth in sharp contradiction, +every limitation appeared more striking, every discord more violent, +and every achievement more astonishing. This State could apparently +produce everything that was strange and unusual, but could not endure +one thing--peaceful mediocrity, which elsewhere may be so comfortable +and useful. + +With this the situation of the country had much to do. It was a border +land, making head at once against the Swedes, the Slavs, the French, +and the Dutch. There was hardly a question of European diplomacy which +did not affect the weal and woe of this State; hardly an entanglement +which did not give an active prince the opportunity to validate his +claim. The decadent power of Sweden and the gradual dissolution of +Poland opened up extensive prospects; the superiority of France and +the distrustful friendship of Holland urged armed caution. From the +very first year, in which Elector Frederick William had been obliged +to take possession of his own fortresses by force and cunning, it was +evident that there on the outskirts of German territory a vigorous, +cautious, warlike government was indispensable for the safety of +Germany. And after the beginning of the French War in 1674, Europe +recognized that the crafty policy which proceeded from this obscure +corner was undertaking also the astonishing task of heroically +defending the western boundary of Germany against the superior forces +of the King of France. + +There was perhaps also something remarkable in the racial character of +the Brandenburg people, in which princes and subjects shared alike. +Down to Frederick's time, the Prussian districts had given to Germany +relatively few scholars, writers, and artists. Even the passionate +zeal of the Reformation seemed to be subdued there. The people who +inhabited the border land, mostly of the Lower Saxon strain, with a +slight tinge of Slavic blood, were a tough, sturdy race, not specially +graceful in social manners, but with unusual keenness of understanding +and clearness of judgment. Those who lived in the capital had been +glib of tongue and ready to scoff from time immemorial: all were +capable of great exertions; industrious, persistent, and of enduring +strength. + +[Illustration: _From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_ +FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS ROUND TABLE] + +But the character of the princes was a more potent factor than the +location of their country or the race-character of their people; for +the way in which the Hohenzollerns molded their state was different +from that of any other princes since the days of Charlemagne. Many a +princely family can show a number of rulers who have successfully +built up their state--the Bourbons, for instance, united a wide +expanse of territory into one great political body;--or who have been +brave warriors through several generations,--there never were any +braver than the Vasas or the Protestant Wittelsbachs in Sweden. But +none have been the educators of their people as were the early +Hohenzollerns, who as great landed proprietors in a devastated +country drew new men into their service and guided their education; +who for almost a hundred and fifty years, as strict managers, worked, +schemed, and endured, took risks, and even did injustice--all that +they might build up for their state a people like themselves--hard, +economical, clever, bold, with the highest civic ambitions. + +In this sense we are justified in admiring the providential +character of the Prussian State. Of the four princes who ruled +it from the Thirty Years' War to the day when the "hoary-headed +abbot in the monastery of Sans Souci" closed his weary eyes, each +one, with his virtues and vices, was the natural complement of his +predecessor--Elector Frederick William, the greatest statesman +produced by the school of the Thirty Years' War, the splendor-loving +King Frederick I., the parsimonious despot Frederick William I., and +finally, in the eighteenth century, he in whom were united the talents +and great qualities of almost all his ancestors--the flower of the +family. + +Life in the royal palace at Berlin was cheerless in Frederick's +childhood; poorer in love and sunshine than in most citizens' +households at that rude time. It may be doubted whether the king his +father, or the queen, was more to blame for the disorganization of the +family life--in either case through natural defects which grew more +pronounced in the constant friction of the household. The king, an odd +tyrant with a soft heart but a violent temper, tried to compel love +and confidence with a cudgel; he possessed keen insight into human +nature, but was so ignorant that he always ran the risk of becoming +the victim of a scoundrel. Dimly aware of his weakness, he had grown +suspicious and was subject to sudden fits of violence. The queen, in +contrast, was a rather insignificant woman, colder at heart, but with +a strong sense of her princely dignity; with a tendency to intrigue, +without prudence or discretion. Both had the best of intentions, and +took honest pains to bring up their children to a capable and worthy +maturity; but both unintelligently interfered with the sound +development of the childish souls. The mother was so tactless as to +make the children, even at a tender age, the confidants of her +annoyances and intrigues. The undignified parsimony of the king, the +blows which he distributed so freely in his rooms, and the monotonous +daily routine which he forced upon her, were the subject of no end of +complaining, sulking, and ridicule in her apartments. Crown Prince +Frederick grew up, the playmate of his elder sister, into a gentle +child with sparkling eyes and beautiful light hair. He was taught with +exactness what the king desired,--and that was little enough: French, +a certain amount of history, and the necessary accomplishments of a +soldier. Against the will of his father (the great King had never +surmounted the difficulties of the genitive and dative) he acquired +some knowledge of the Latin declensions. To the boy, who was easily +led and in the king's presence looked shy and defiant, the women +imparted his first interest in French literature. He himself later +gave his sister the credit for it, but his governess too was an +accomplished French woman. That the foreign atmosphere was hateful to +the king certainly contributed to make the son fond of it; for almost +systematically praise was bestowed in the queen's apartments upon +everything that was displeasing to the stern mind of the master. When +in the family circle the king made one of his clumsy, pious speeches, +Princess Wilhelmina and young Frederick would look at each other +significantly, until the mischievous face of one or the other aroused +childish laughter, and brought the king's wrath to the point of +explosion. For this reason, the son, even in his earliest years, +became a source of vexation to his father, who called him an +effeminate, untidy fellow with an unmanly pleasure in clothes and +trifles. + +But from the report of his sister, for whose unsparing judgment +censure was easier than praise, it is evident that the amiability of +the talented boy had its effect upon those about him: as when, for +instance, he secretly read a French story with his sister, and recast +the whole Berlin Court into the comic characters of the novel; when +they made forbidden music with flute and lute; when he went in +disguise to her and they recited the parts of a French comedy to each +other. But in order to enjoy even these harmless pleasures the prince +was constantly forced into falsehood, deception, and disguise. He was +proud, high-minded, magnanimous, with an uncompromising love of truth. +The fact that deception was utterly repulsive to him, that even where +it was advisable he was unwilling to stoop to it, and that, if he ever +undertook it, he dissimulated unskilfully, threw a constantly +increasing strain upon his relations with his father. The king's +distrust grew, and the son's offended sense of personal dignity found +expression in the form of stubbornness. + +So he grew up surrounded by coarse spies who reported every word to +the king. With a mind of the richest endowments, of the most +discerning eagerness for knowledge, but without any suitable male +society, it is no wonder that the young man went astray. In comparison +with other German courts, the Prussian might be regarded as very +virtuous: but frivolity toward women and a lack of reserve in the +discussion of the most dubious relations were pronounced even there. +After a visit to the dissolute court of Dresden, Prince Frederick +began to behave like other princes of his time, and generally found +good comrades among his father's younger officers. We know little +about him at that period, but may conclude that he ran some risk, not +of becoming depraved, but of wasting valuable years in a spendthrift +life among unworthy companions. It certainly was not alone the +increasing dissatisfaction of his father which at that time destroyed +his peace of mind and tossed him about aimlessly, but quite as much +that inner discontent, which leads an unformed youth the more wildly +astray the greater the secret demands are which his mind makes on +life. + +He determined to flee to England. How the flight failed, how the anger +of the military commander, Frederick William, flamed up against the +deserting officer, every one knows. With the days of his imprisonment +in Kuestrin and his stay in Ruppin, his years of serious education +began. The terrible experiences he had been through had aroused new +strength in him. He had endured, with princely pride, all the terrors +of death and of the most terrible humiliation. He had reflected in the +solitude of his prison on the greatest riddle of life--on death and +what is beyond. He had realized that there was nothing left for him +but submission, patience, and quiet waiting. But bitter, heart-rending +misfortune is a school which develops not only the good--it fosters +also many faults. He learned to keep his counsel hidden in the depth +of his soul, and to look upon men with suspicion, using them as his +instruments, deceiving and flattering them with prudent serenity in +which his heart had no share. He was obliged to flatter the cowardly +and vulgar Grumbkow, and to be glad when he finally had won him over +to his side. For years he had to take the utmost pains, over and over +again, to conquer the displeasure and lack of confidence of his stern +father. His nature always revolted against such humiliation, and he +tried by bitter mockery to give expression to his injured self-esteem. +His heart, which warmed toward everything noble, prevented him from +becoming a hardened egoist; but he did not grow any the milder or more +conciliatory, and long after he had become a great man and wise ruler, +there remained in him from this time of servitude some trace of petty +cunning. The lion sometimes, in a spirit of undignified vengeance, did +not scorn to scratch like a cat. + +Still, in those years, he learned something useful too--the strict +spirit of economy with which his father's narrow but able mind cared +for the welfare of his country and his household. When, to please the +king, he had to draw up leases, and took pains to increase the yield +of a domain by a few hundred thalers; or even entered unduly into the +hobbies of the king and proposed to him to kidnap a tall shepherd of +Mecklenburg as a recruit--these doings were at first, to be sure, only +a tedious means of propitiating the king, for he asked Grumbkow to +procure for him a man to make out the lists in his stead; the officers +in public and private service informed him where a surplus was to be +made, here and there, and he continued to ridicule the giant soldiers +whenever he could with impunity. Gradually, however, the new world +into which he had been transplanted, and the practical interests of +the people and of the State, became attractive to him. It was easy to +see that even his father's turn for economy was often tyrannical and +whimsical. The king was always convinced that he wished nothing but +the best for his country, and therefore took the liberty to interfere, +in the most arbitrary manner, even in the details of the property and +business of private persons. He ordered, for instance, that no he-goat +should run with the ewes; that all colored sheep, gray, black, or +piebald, should be completely disposed of within three years, and only +fine white wool be tolerated; he prescribed exactly how the copper +standard measures of the Berlin bushel, which he had sent all over the +country (at the expense of his subjects) should be preserved and kept +locked up so as to get no dents. In order to foster the linen and +woolen industry, he decreed that his subjects should wear none of the +fashionable chintz and calico, and threatened with a hundred thalers' +fine and three days in the pillory everybody who, after eight months, +permitted a shred of calico in his house in dress, gown, cap, or +furniture coverings. This method of ruling certainly seemed severe and +petty; but the son learned to honor nevertheless the prudent mind and +good intentions which were recognizable underneath such edicts, and +himself gradually acquired a wealth of detailed knowledge such as is +not usually at the disposal of a prince--real estate values, market +prices, and the needs of the people; the usages, rights, and duties of +humble life. He even absorbed something of the pride with which the +King boasted of his business knowledge; and when he himself had become +the all-powerful administrator of his State, the unbounded advantage +which was due to his knowledge of the people and of trade became +manifest. Only in this way was the wise economy made possible with +which he managed his own household and the State finances, as well as +the unceasing care for detail by which he developed agriculture, +trade, prosperity, and culture among his people. He could examine +equally well the daily accounts of his cooks and the estimates of the +income from the domains, forests, and taxes. For his ability to judge +with precision the smallest things as well as the greatest, his people +were in great part indebted to the years during which he had sat +unwillingly as assessor at the green table at Ruppin. Sometimes, +however, there befell him also what in his father's time had been +vexatious--that his knowledge of business details was, after all, not +extensive enough, and that he, like his father, gave orders which +arbitrarily interfered with the life of his Prussians, and could not +be carried out. + +Scarcely had Frederick partially recovered from the blows of the great +catastrophe of his youth, when a new misfortune fell upon him, just as +terrible as the first, and in its consequences still more momentous +for his life. He was forced by the King to marry. Heartrending is the +sorrow with which he struggles to free himself from the bride chosen +for him. "She may be as frivolous as she pleases if only she is not a +simpleton! That I cannot bear." It was all in vain. He looked upon +this alliance with bitterness and anger almost to the very day of his +wedding, and never outgrew the bitter belief that his father had thus +destroyed his emotional life. His sensitive feelings, his affectionate +heart, were bartered away in the most reckless manner. Nor by this act +was he alone made unhappy, but also a good woman who was worthy of a +better fate. Princess Elizabeth of Bevern had many noble qualities of +heart; she was not a simpleton, she did not lack beauty, and could +pass muster before the fierce criticism of the princesses of the royal +house. But we fear that, if she had been an angel from heaven, the +pride of the Prince would have protested against her, for he was +offended to the depths of his nature by the needless barbarity of a +compulsory marriage. And yet the relation was not always so cold as +has sometimes been assumed. For six years the kindness of heart and +tact of the Princess succeeded time after time in reconciling the +crown prince to her. In the retirement of Rheinsberg she was really +his helpmeet and an amiable hostess for his guests, and it was +reported by the Austrian agents to the Court of Vienna that her +influence was increasing. But her modest, clinging nature had too +little of the qualities which can permanently hold an intellectual +man. The wide-awake members of the Brandenburg line felt the need of +giving quick and pointed expression to every easily aroused feeling. +When the Princess was excited, she grew quiet as if paralyzed; she +also lacked the easy graces of society. The two natures did not agree. +Then, too, her manner of showing affection toward her husband, always +dutiful, and subordinating herself as if under a spell and overwhelmed +by his great mind, was not very interesting for the Prince, who had +acquired, with the French intellectual culture, no little of the +frivolity of French society. + +When Frederick became King, the Princess soon lost even the slight +part which she had won in her husband's affections. His long absence +in the first Silesian War gave the finishing stroke to their +estrangement. The relations of husband and wife became more and more +distant. Years passed when they did not see each other, and icy +brevity and coolness can be perceived in his letters to her. Still the +fact that the King was obliged to esteem her character so highly +maintained her in her outward position. Later, his relations with +women influenced his emotions very slightly. Even his sister at +Bayreuth, sickly, nervous, embittered by jealousy of an unfaithful +husband, was estranged from her brother for years; and not until she +had given up all hope of life did this proud member of the House of +Brandenburg, aging and unhappy, seek again the heart of the brother +whose little hand she had once held as they stood before their stern +father. His mother also, to whom King Frederick always showed +excellent filial devotion, was not able to occupy a large place in his +heart. His other brothers and sisters were younger, and were only too +much disposed to hatch obscure domestic conspiracies against him. If +the King ever condescended to show any attentions to a lady of the +court or of the stage, these were in general as disturbing as they +were flattering for the persons in question. When he found +intelligence, grace, and womanly dignity united, as in Frau von Camas, +who was the Queen's first lady-in-waiting, he expressed the amiability +of his nature in many cordial attentions. But on the whole, women did +not add much light or splendor to his life, and the cordial intimacy +of family life hardly ever warmed his heart. In this direction his +feelings were dried up. This was perhaps fortunate for his people, it +was undoubtedly fatal to his private life. The full warmth of his +human feelings was reserved almost exclusively for his little circle +of intimates, with whom he laughed, wrote poetry, discussed +philosophy, made plans for the future, and later discussed his +military operations and dangers. + +His married life in Rheinsberg opens the best period of his younger +years. He succeeded in bringing together there a number of well +educated, cheerful companions. The little circle led a poetic life of +which those who shared in it have left a pleasing picture. Frederick +began to work seriously on his education. The expression of emotion +easily took for him the form of conventional French versification. He +worked incessantly to acquire the refinements of the foreign style. +But his mind was also busy with more serious matters. He eagerly +sought answers to all the highest questions of humanity in the works +of the Encyclopedists and of Christian Wolff. He sat bent over maps +and battle-plans, and, along with parts for the amateur theatre and +architects' sketches, other projects were in preparation, which, a few +years later, were to arouse the attention of the world. + +Then the day came when his dying father laid down the reins of +government and told the officer of the day to take his orders from the +new commander-in-chief of Prussia. How the Prince was judged by his +political contemporaries we see from the characterization which an +Austrian agent had given of him a short time before: "He is graceful, +wears his own hair, and has a somewhat careless bearing; likes the +fine arts and good cooking. He would like to begin his rule by +something striking. He is a firmer friend of the army than his father. +His religion is that of a gentleman: he believes in God and the +forgiveness of sins. He likes splendor and things on a large scale. He +will reestablish all the court positions and bring the nobles to his +court." This prophecy was not fully justified. We seek to understand +other sides of his nature at this time. The new King was a man of +fiery, enthusiastic temperament, he was quickly aroused, and the tears +came readily to his eyes. Like his contemporaries, he too was +passionately eager to admire grandeur and to give himself up to tender +feelings in a poetical mood. He played adagios softly on his flute. +Like his worthy contemporaries, he did not easily find, in prose or +poetry, the full expression of his feelings; pathetic oratory stirred +him to tearful emotion. In spite of all his French aphorisms, the +essence of his nature was very German in this respect also. + +Those who ascribe to him a cold heart have judged him unfairly. It is +not cold hearts in princes which give the most offense by their +harshness. Such hearts are almost always gifted with the art of +satisfying those about them by uniform graciousness and tactful +expression. The strongest utterances of contempt are generally found +close beside the pleasing tones of a caressing tenderness. But in +Frederick, it seems to us, there was a striking and unusual union of +two totally opposite tendencies of the emotional nature, which +elsewhere are engaged in an unending struggle. He had in equal degree +the need to idealize life for himself, and the impulse to destroy +ideal moods without mercy in himself and in others. This first +peculiarity of his was perhaps the most beautiful, perhaps the +saddest, with which a human being was ever equipped in the struggles +of earth. His was indeed a poetic nature. He possessed to a high +degree that peculiar power which endeavors to reconstruct vulgar +reality according to the ideal needs of its own nature, and covers +everything near with the grace and light of a new life. It was a +necessity for him to make over with the grace of his imagination the +image of those dear to him, and to adorn the relation to them into +which he had voluntarily entered. In this there was always a certain +kind of posing. Even where he had the most ardent feelings, he was +more in love with the glorified picture of the individual in his mind +than with the real personality. It was in such a mood that he kissed +Voltaire's hand. As soon as the difference between the ideal and the +real person became unpleasantly perceptible, he let go the person and +clung to the image. One to whom nature has given this temperament, +letting him see love and friendship chiefly through the colored glass +of a poetical mood, will always, according to the judgment of others, +show caprice in the choice of his friends. The uniform warmth which +treats with consideration all alike seems to be denied to such +natures. To any one to whom the King had become a friend in his own +fashion, he always showed the greatest attention and assiduity, +however much his moods changed at particular moments. He could become +as sentimental in his sorrow over the loss of such a friend as any +German of the Werther period. He had lived for many years on somewhat +distant terms with his sister in Bayreuth, and not until the last +years before her death, amid the terrors of a burdensome war, did her +image rise vividly again before him as that of an affectionate sister. +After her death he found a gloomy satisfaction in picturing to himself +and others the cordiality of his relations with her. He erected a +little temple to her and often made pilgrimages to it. Toward any one +who did not approach his heart through the medium of a poetic mood, or +incite him to poetic expression of his affection, or who touched a +wrong note anywhere in his sensitive nature, he was cold, +contemptuous, and indifferent--a king who only asked to what extent +the other person could be useful to him; he even pushed him aside when +he could no longer use him. Such a character may perhaps surround the +life of a young man with poetic lustre and give brightness and charm +even to common things, but unless it is coupled with a high degree of +morality, a sense of duty, and a mind set upon higher things, it will +leave him sad and lonely in later years. In the most favorable cases +it will make bitter enemies as well as very warm admirers. A somewhat +similar disposition brought to Goethe's noble soul heavy sorrows, +transitory relations, many disappointments, and a solitary old age. It +becomes doubly momentous for a king, before whom others rarely stand +with assurance and on equal terms; for his most sincere friends may +yet turn into admiring flatterers, unstable in their bearing, now +constrained under the moral spell of his majesty, now, under the +conviction of their own rights, fault-finding and discontented. + +This need of ideal relations and longing for people to whom he could +unbosom himself without reserve, worked at cross purposes with +Frederick's penetrating discrimination, and his uncompromising love of +truth, which was a deadly enemy of all deception, impatiently resisted +every illusion, despised shams, and sought for the essence of things. +This scrutinizing view of life and its duties might well offer him +protection against those deceptions which oftener annoy an +imaginative prince, who gives his confidence, than a private +individual. His acuteness, however, showed itself also in savage moods +as unsparingly, sarcastically, and maliciously destructive. Where did +he get this disposition? Was it Brandenburg blood? Was it an +inheritance from his great-grandmother, the Electress Sophia of +Hanover, and his grandmother, Queen Sophia Charlotte, those +intellectual women with whom Leibniz had discussed the eternal harmony +of the universe? The harsh school of his youth certainly had had +something to do with it. His insight into the foibles of others was +keen. Wherever he saw a weak point, wherever any one's manners annoyed +or provoked him, his ready tongue was busy. His gibes fell unsparingly +upon friend and foe alike; and even where silence and patience were +demanded by every consideration of prudence, he could not control +himself. At such times his soul seemed to suffer some strange +transformation. With merciless exaggeration he distorted the picture +of his victim into a caricature. On closer examination the principal +motive here also appears to be pleasure in intellectual production. He +frees himself from an unpleasant impression by improvising against his +victim. He makes a grotesque picture with inner satisfaction and is +astonished if the victim, deeply offended, in turn takes up arms +against him. His resemblance to Luther in this respect is very +striking. Neither the king nor the reformer cared whether his behavior +was dignified or seemly, for both of them, excited like men on the +hunting field, entirely forgot the consequences in the joy of the +fight. Both did themselves and their great causes serious injury in +this way, and were honestly surprised when they discovered the fact. +To be sure, the blows with the cudgel or the whip which the great monk +of the sixteenth century dealt were far more terrible than the +pin-pricks of the great prince in the age of enlightenment. But when a +king teases and mocks and sometimes pinches maliciously, it is harder +to forgive him for his undignified behavior; for he frequently engages +in an unequal contest with his victims. The great prince treated all +his political opponents in this way, and aroused deadly enemies +against himself. He joked at the table, and put in circulation +stinging verses and pamphlets about Madame de Pompadour in France and +the Empresses Elizabeth and Maria Theresa. Similarly, he sometimes +caressed, sometimes scolded and scratched his poetical ideal, +Voltaire; but he also proceeded in this way with people whom he really +esteemed highly, in whom he put the greatest confidence, and whom he +took into the circle of his intimate friends. He brought the Marquis +d'Argens to his court, made him chamberlain, member of the Academy, +and one of his nearest and dearest friends. The letters which he wrote +to him from the camps of the Seven Years' War are among the most +beautiful and touching records that the King has left us. When +Frederick came home from the war it was his fond hope that the marquis +would live with him in his palace at Sans Souci. And a few years later +this charming relation was broken up in the most painful manner. How +was that possible! The marquis was perhaps the best Frenchman that the +King had brought into his circle, a man of honor, with fine feelings, +fine education, and really devoted to the King; but he was neither a +great character nor an especially strong man. For years the King had +admired in him a scholar--which he was not--a wise, clear-sighted, +assured philosopher with pleasing wit and fresh humor; he had in short +set up an extremely pleasing, fanciful image of him. Now, in daily +intercourse, Frederick found himself mistaken. A lack of robustness on +the part of the Frenchman, causing him to dwell with hypochondriac +exaggeration on his poor health, annoyed the King, who began to +realize that the aging marquis was neither a great genius nor an +intellectual giant. The ideal which he had formed of him was +destroyed. Now the King began to make fun of him on account of his +weaknesses. The sensitive Frenchman thereupon asked for leave of +absence, that a sojourn of a few months in France might restore his +health. The King was offended by this ill-humored attitude, and +continued his raillery in friendly letters which he sent him. He said +that it was rumored that a werewolf had appeared in France. This was +undoubtedly the marquis, in the disguise of a Prussian and a sick man, +and he asked if he had begun to eat little children. He had not +formerly had that bad habit, but people change a good deal in +traveling. The marquis, instead of a few months, stayed two winters. +When he was about to return, he sent certificates from his physicians. +Probably the worthy man had really been ill, but the King was +deeply offended by this awkward attempt at justification on the +part of an old friend, and when the latter returned, the old intimacy +was gone forever. The King would not let him go, but he took pleasure +in punishing the renegade by stinging speeches and harsh jokes. +Finally the Frenchman, deeply hurt, asked for his dismissal. His +request was granted, and the sorrow and anger of the King is seen from +the wording of the order. When the marquis, in the last letter which +he wrote the King before his death, represented to him again, and not +without bitterness, how scornfully and badly he had treated an +unselfish admirer, Frederick read the letter without a word. But he +wrote with grief to the dead man's widow telling her of his friendship +for her husband, and had a costly monument erected for him in a +foreign land. The great prince fared similarly with most of his +intimates. Magic as was his power to attract, he had demoniac +faculties for repelling. But if any one is disposed to blame the man +for this, let him be told that hardly another king in history has so +unsparingly disclosed his most intimate soul-life to his friends as +Frederick. + +Frederick had worn the crown only a few months when the Emperor +Charles VI. died. Now everything urged the young King to risk a +master-stroke. That he determined upon such a step was in itself, in +spite of the momentary weakness of Austria, a token of bold courage. +The countries which he ruled had perhaps a seventh as many inhabitants +as the broad lands of Maria Theresa. True, his army was for the time +being far superior to the Austrian in numbers and discipline, and +according to the ideas of the time, the mass of the people was not +then in the same way as today available for recruiting purposes. Nor +did he fully realize the greatness of Maria Theresa. But even in the +preparations for the invasion the King showed that he had long hoped +to measure himself against Austria. In an exalted mood he entered upon +a struggle which was to be decisive for his own life and that of his +State. He cared little at heart for the right which he might have to +the Silesian duchies, and which with his pen he tried to prove before +Europe. For this the policy of the despotic States of the seventeenth +and eighteenth centuries had no regard whatever. Any one who could +find a plausible defense of his cause made use of it, but in case of +need the most improbable argument, the most shallow pretext, was +sufficient. In this way Louis XIV. had made war; in this way the +Emperor had followed up his interests against the Turks, Italians, +Germans, French, and Spaniards; in this way a great part of the +successes of the great Elector had been frustrated by others. Just +where the rights of the Hohenzollerns were the plainest, as in +Pomerania, they had been most ruthlessly curtailed, and by no one more +than by the Emperor and the Hapsburgs. Now the Hohenzollerns sought +their revenge. "Be my Cicero and prove the right of my cause, and I +will be your Caesar and carry it through," Frederick wrote to Jordan +after the invasion of Silesia. Gaily, with light step as if going to a +dance, the King entered upon the fields of his victories. There was +still cheerful enjoyment of life, sweet coquetry with verse, and +intellectual conversation with his intimates on the pleasures of the +day, on God, nature, and immortality, which he considered the spice of +life. But the great task upon which he had entered began to have its +effect upon his soul even in the early weeks, even before he had +passed through the fiery ordeal of the first great battle. And from +that time on it hammered and forged upon his soul until it turned his +hair gray and hardened his fiery heart into ringing steel. With that +wonderful clearness which was peculiar to him, he watched the +beginning of these changes. He even then viewed his own life as from +without. "You will find me more philosophical than you think," he +writes to his friend. "I have always been so--sometimes more, +sometimes less. My youth, the fire of passion, the longing for glory, +and, to tell you the whole truth, curiosity, and finally, a secret +instinct, have forced me out of the sweet peace which I enjoyed, and +the wish to see my name in the gazettes and in history has led me into +new paths. Come here to me. Philosophy will maintain her rights, and I +assure you that if I had not this cursed love of fame, I should think +only of peaceful comfort." + +When the faithful Jordan actually came to him and the King saw the man +of peaceful enjoyment timid and uncomfortable in the field, he +suddenly realized that he himself had become another and a stronger +man. The guest who had been honored by him so long as the more +scholarly, and who had corrected his verses, criticized his letters, +and been far ahead of him in the knowledge of Greek philosophy, now, +in spite of all his philosophical training, gave the King the +impression of a man without courage. With bitter derision Frederick +attacked him in one of his best improvisations, contrasting the +warrior in himself with the weak philosopher. In however bad taste the +ridiculing verses were with which he overwhelmed Jordan again and +again, the return of the old cordial feeling was just as quick; but it +was the first gentle hint of fate for the King himself. The same thing +was to befall him often. He was to lose valuable men, loyal friends, +one after another; not only by death, but still more by the coldness +and estrangement which arose between his nature and theirs. For the +way upon which he had now entered was destined to develop more and +more all the greatness, but also all the narrow features, of his +nature, up to the limit of human possibility. The higher he rose above +others, the smaller their natures inevitably appeared to him. Almost +all whom in later years he measured by his own standard were far from +able to endure the test, and the dissatisfaction and disappointment +which he then experienced became again keener and more relentless +until he himself, from a solitary height, looked down with stony eyes +upon the doings of the men at his feet; but always, even to his last +hours, the piercing chill of his searching glance was broken by the +bright splendor of soft human feelings, and the fact that these were +left to him is what makes his great tragic figure so affecting. + +During the first war, to be sure, he still looked back with longing to +the calm peace of his "Remusberg," and felt deeply the exaction of the +tremendous fate which had already involved him. "It is hard to bear +with equanimity this good and bad fortune," he writes; "one may appear +indifferent in success and unmoved in adversity, the features of the +face can be controlled; but the man, the inward man, the depths of the +heart, are affected none the less." And he concludes hopefully, "All +that I wish for myself is that success may not destroy in me the human +feelings and virtues, to which I have always clung. May my friends +find me as I have always been." And at the end of the war he writes: +"See, your friend is victorious for the second time! Who would have +said a few years ago that your pupil in philosophy would play a +soldier's part in the world; that Providence would use a poet to +overthrow the political system of Europe?" This shows how fresh and +young Frederick felt when he returned to Berlin in triumph after his +first war. + +For the second time he took the field to assert his claim to Silesia. +Again he was victorious. He had already the calm confidence of a tried +general. His joy at the excellence of his troops was great. "All that +flatters me in this victory," he wrote to Frau von Camas, "is that I +could contribute by a quick decision and a bold manoeuvre to the +preservation of so many good people. I would not have the least of my +soldiers wounded for vain glory, which no longer deceives me." But in +the midst of the contest came the death of two of his dearest friends, +Jordan and Kayserlingk. His grief was touching: "In less than three +months I have lost my two most faithful friends, people with whom I +had lived daily, pleasant companions, honorable men, and true friends. +It is hard for a heart that was made so sensitive as mine to restrain +my deep sorrow. When I come back to Berlin, I shall be almost a +stranger in my own fatherland, lonesome in my own house. You too have +had the misfortune to lose at one time several people who were dear to +you. I admire your courage, but I cannot imitate it. My only hope is +in time, which can overcome everything in nature. It begins by +weakening the impressions on our brains, and only ceases when it +destroys us utterly. I anticipate with terror visiting all the places +which call up in me sad memories of friends whom I have lost forever." +And four weeks after their death he writes to the same friend, who +tried to console him: "Do not believe that pressure of business and +danger give distraction in sadness. I know from experience that that +is a poor remedy. Unfortunately only four weeks have passed since my +tears and my sorrow began, but after the violent outbursts of the +first days, I feel myself just as sad, just as little consoled, as at +the beginning." And when his worthy tutor, Duhan, sent him at his +request some French books which Jordan had left behind, the King +wrote, late in the autumn of the same year: "Tears came into my eyes +when I opened the books of my poor dear Jordan. I loved him so much, +it will be hard to realize that he is no more." Not long after the +King lost also the intimate friend to whom this letter was addressed. + +The loss, in 1745, of the friends of his youth was an important +turning point in the King's mental life. With these unselfish, +honorable men almost everything died which had made him happy in his +intercourse with others. The intimacies into which he now entered as a +man were all of another kind. Even the best of the new acquaintances +received perhaps his occasional confidence, but never his heartfelt +friendship. The need for stimulating intellectual intercourse +remained, and became even stronger and more imperative, for in this +too he was unique; he never could dispense with cheerful and +confidential companions, with light, almost reckless conversation, +flitting through all shades of human moods, thoughtful or frivolous, +from the greatest questions of the human race down to the little +events of the day. Immediately after his accession he had written to +Voltaire and invited him to his court. He had first met the Frenchman +in 1740 on a journey near Wesel. Soon after, Voltaire had come to +Berlin for a few days, at heavy expense. He had even then impressed +the King as a jester, but Frederick felt nevertheless an infinite +respect for the talent of the man. Voltaire was to him the greatest +poet of all times, the master of ceremonies of Parnassus, where the +King himself was so anxious to play a part. Frederick's desire to have +this man in his train became stronger and stronger. He regarded +himself as his pupil; he wished to have all his verses approved by the +master; among his Brandenburg officials he pined for the wit and +spirit of the elegant Frenchman, and finally, his vanity as a +sovereign was concerned--he wanted to be a prince of the _beaux +esprits_ and philosophers, as he had become a glorious leader of +armies. After the second Silesian war his intimates were mostly +foreigners. After 1750 he had the pleasure of seeing the great +Voltaire also as a member of his court. It was no misfortune that this +unworthy man endured for only a few years his sojourn among the +barbarians. + +During these ten years, from 1746 to 1756, Frederick acquired literary +independence, and that importance as a writer which is not yet +sufficiently appreciated in Germany. As to his French poetry, a German +can only judge imperfectly. He was a facile poet, who was easily +master of every mood in metre and rhyme, but from the point of view +of a Frenchman, he never completely overcame in his lyric poetry the +difficulties of a foreign language, however diligently his confidants +revised his work. He even lacked, it seems to us, the uniform +rhetorical spirit, that style which in Voltaire's time was the first +mark of a born poet. The effect of beautiful and noble sentiments, in +splendid phraseology, is spoiled by trivial thoughts and commonplace +expressions in the next line. Nor was the development of his taste +sufficiently assured and independent. In his esthetic judgment he was +quick, both to admire and to condemn; in reality, he was much more +dependent upon the opinion of his French acquaintances than his pride +would have admitted. What was best, moreover, in French poetry at that +time--the return to Nature and the struggle of the beauty of reality +against the fetters of an antiquated conventionalism--remained to him +a sealed book. For a long time he looked upon Rousseau as an eccentric +vagabond, and upon the conscientious and accurate spirit of Diderot +even as shallow. And yet it seems to us that there often appear in his +poems, especially in the light improvisations which he made to please +his friends, a wealth of poetical detail and a charming tone of true +feeling, which at least his model Voltaire might have envied. + +Frederick's history of his times is, like Caesar's _Commentaries_, one +of the most important documents of historical literature. True, like +the Roman general, like all practical statesmen, he stated facts as +they are reflected in the soul of a participant. He does not give due +value to everything or full justice to everybody, but he knows +infinitely more than is revealed to one at a distance, and he wrote of +some of the motives underlying the great events, not without +prejudice, yet with magnanimity toward his opponents. Writing at times +without the enormous reference material which a professional historian +must collect about him, he was occasionally deceived by his memory and +his judgment, though both were very reliable. He was, moreover, +composing an apology for his house, his politics, his campaigns; and, +like Caesar, he sometimes ignores facts or interprets them as he wishes +them to go down to posterity; but his love of truth and the frankness +with which he treats his house and his own actions are no less +admirable than his sovereign calm and the ease with which he soars +above events, in spite of the little rhetorical embellishments which +were due to the taste of his time. + +His many-sidedness is as astonishing as his productiveness. One of the +greatest military writers, a historian of importance, a clever poet, +and at the same time a popular philosopher, a practical statesman, +even a writer of very free and easy anonymous pamphlets, and sometimes +a journalist, he was always ready to take up his pen for anything that +inspired him and aroused his passions or enthusiasm, or to attack, in +verse or prose, any one who provoked or annoyed him--not only the pope +and the Empress, the Jesuits and the Dutch journalists, but also old +friends if they seemed lukewarm to him,--which he could not +endure,--or if they actually threatened to break with him. Never since +Luther has there been such a belligerent, relentless, untiring writer. +As soon as he put pen to paper he was like Proteus, everything: sage +or intriguer, historian or poet, whatever the situation demanded, +always an active, fiery, intellectual--sometimes also an +ill-mannered--man, with never a moment's thought of his royal +position. Whatever he liked he praised in poems or eulogies: the noble +doctrines of his own philosophy, his friends, his army, religious +liberty, independent investigation, tolerance, and popular education. + +The conquering power of Frederick's mind had reached out in all +directions. When ambition inspired him to victory it seemed as if +there were no obstacle that would check him. Then came the years of +trial--seven years of terrible, heartrending cares--the great period, +in which the heaviest tasks that ever a man accomplished were laid +upon his rich, ambitious spirit, in which almost everything perished +which was his own possession, joy and happiness, peace and selfish +comfort; in which also many pleasing and graceful characteristics of +the man were to disappear, that he might become the self-sacrificing +prince of his people, the foremost servant of his State, and the hero +of a nation. No lust of conquest made him take the field this time; it +had long been plain to him that he was fighting for his own life and +that of his State. But his determination had grown only the stronger. +Like the stormwind he purposed to dash into the clouds which were +collecting from all sides about his head, and to break up the +thunderbolts through the energy of an irresistible attack, before they +were discharged. He had never been conquered up to this time. His +enemies had been beaten every time he had fallen upon them with his +terrible instrument--the army. Herein lay his only hope. If his +well-tried power did not fail him now, he might save his State. + +But in the very first conflict with his old enemy, the Austrians, he +saw that they, too, had learned from him and were changed. He exerted +his strength to the utmost, and at Kollin it failed him. The 18th of +June, 1757, is the most momentous day in Frederick's life. There +happened on that day what twice more in this war snatched victory from +him--the general had underestimated his enemy and had expected the +impossible from his own brave army. After a short period of +stupefaction Frederick arose with new strength. Instead of an +aggressive war, he had been forced to wage a desperate war of defense. +His foes attacked his little country from all sides. He entered upon a +death struggle with every great power of the Continent, master of only +four million men and a defeated army. Now his talent as general showed +itself as he escaped the enemy after defeats and again attacked in the +most unexpected quarters and beat them, faced first one army and then +another, unsurpassed in his dispositions, inexhaustible in expedients, +unequaled as leader of troops in battle. So he stood, one against +five--Austrians, Russians, French, any one of whom was his superior in +strength, and at the same time against the Swedes and the Imperial +troops. For five years he struggled thus against armies far larger +than his own--every spring in danger of being crushed merely by +numbers, every autumn free again. A loud cry of admiration and +sympathy ran through Europe; and among those who gave the loudest +praise, although reluctantly, were his most bitter enemies. Now, in +these years of changing fortune, when the King himself experienced +such bitter vicissitudes of the fortune of war, his generalship was +the astonishment of all the armies of Europe. How, always the more +rapid and skilful, he managed to establish his lines against his +opponents; how so often he outflanked in an oblique position the +weakest wing of the enemy, forced it back, and put it to rout; how his +cavalry, which, newly organized, had become the strongest in the +world, dashed in fury upon the foe, broke their ranks, scattered their +battalions: all this was celebrated everywhere as a new advance in +military art, and the invention of surpassing genius. The tactics and +the strategy of the Prussian army came to be for almost half a century +the ideal and model for all the armies of Europe. It was the unanimous +opinion that Frederick was the greatest general of his time, and that +there had been few leaders since the beginning of history who could be +compared with him. It seemed incredible that the smaller numbers so +often conquered the greater, and even when defeated, instead of being +routed, faced the enemy, who had hardly recovered from his injuries, +as threatening and fully equipped as before. Today we praise not only +the field operations of the King, but also the wise prudence with +which he handled his supplies. He knew very well how much he was +limited by having to consider the commissariat, and the thousands of +carts in which he had to take with him the provisions and the daily +supplies of the soldiers; but he also knew that this method was his +only salvation. Once, when after the battle of Rossbach he made the +astonishing march into Silesia--one hundred and eighty-nine miles in +fifteen days--he, in the greatest danger, abandoned his old method. He +made his way through the country as other armies did at that time, +and quartered his men upon the people. But he wisely returned at once +to his old plan. For as soon as his enemies learned to imitate this +free movement, he was certainly doomed. When the old militia in his +ancient provinces rose to arms again, helped to drive out the Swedes, +and bravely defended Colberg and Berlin, he accepted their assistance +without objection; but he took pains not to encourage a guerilla war; +and when his East Frisian peasantry revolted independently against the +French and were severely punished by them for it, he told them with +brutal frankness that it was their own fault, for war was a matter for +soldiers; the business of the peasants and citizens should be +uninterrupted industry, the payment of taxes, and the furnishing of +recruits. He well knew that he was lost if a people's war in Saxony +and Bohemia should be aroused against him. This readiness, indicative +of the cautious general, to restrict himself to military forms, which +alone made the contest possible for him, may be reckoned among his +greatest qualities. + +Louder and louder became the cry of sorrow and admiration with which +Germans and foreigners watched this death-struggle of the lion at bay. +As early as 1740 the young King had been praised by the Protestants as +the champion of freedom of conscience and enlightenment, against +intolerance and the Jesuits. When, a few months after the battle at +Kollin, he completely defeated the French at Rossbach, he became the +hero of Germany. A glad cry of joy broke out everywhere. For two +hundred years the French had done great wrong to the divided country; +now the German national idea began to revolt against the influence of +French culture, and the King, who himself greatly admired Parisian +poetry, had effectively routed the Parisian generals with German +musket balls. It was such a brilliant victory, such a humiliating +defeat of the hereditary enemy, that everywhere in Germany there was +hearty rejoicing. Even where the soldiers of a State were fighting +against King Frederick, the people at home in city and country +rejoiced at the blows he dealt in good old German fashion. And the +longer the war lasted, the more active became the faith in the King's +invincibility, and the higher rose the confidence of the Germans. For +the first time in long, long years they now had a hero of whose +military glory they could be proud--a man who accomplished what seemed +more than human. Innumerable anecdotes about him ran through the +country. Every little touch about his calmness, good humor, kindness +to individual soldiers, and the loyalty of his army, traveled hundreds +of miles. How, in danger of death, he played the flute in his tent, +how his wounded soldiers sang chorals after the battle, how he took +off his hat to a regiment--he has often been imitated since--all this +was reported on the Neckar and the Rhine, was printed, and listened to +with merry laughter and tears of emotion. It was natural that poets +should sing his praise. Three of them had been in the Prussian army: +Gleim and Lessing, as secretaries of Prussian generals, and Ewald von +Kleist, a favorite of the younger literary circles, as an officer, +until the bullet struck him at Kunersdorf. But still more touching for +us is the loyal devotion of the Prussian people. The old provinces, +Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Westphalia, were suffering +unspeakably by the war, but the proud joy of having a share in the +hero of Europe often lifted even humble men above their own +sufferings. Citizens and peasants took the field as militiamen again +and again for years. When a number of recruits from the province of +Cleves and the county of Ravensberg deserted after a lost battle and +returned home, the deserters were declared perjurers by their own +fellow-countrymen and relatives, were excluded from the villages and +driven back to the army. + +Foreign opinion was no less enthusiastic. In the Protestant cantons of +Switzerland there was as warm sympathy with the King's fate as if the +descendants of the Ruetli men had never been separated from the German +empire. There were people there who were made ill by vexation when the +King's cause was in a bad way. It was the same in England. Every +victory of the King aroused wild joy in London. Houses were +illuminated and pictures and laudatory poems offered for sale. In +Parliament Pitt announced with admiration every new deed of the great +ally. Even at Paris, in the theatres and salons, people were rather +Prussian than French. The French derided their own generals and the +clique of Madame de Pompadour. Whoever was on the side of the French +arms, so Duclos reports, hardly dared to give expression to his views. +In St. Petersburg, the grand duke Peter and his party were such good +Prussians that they grieved in secret at every reverse of Frederick's +cause. The enthusiasm penetrated even to Turkey and to the Khan of +Tartary; and this respectful admiration of a whole continent outlasted +the war. When Hackert, the painter, was traveling through the interior +of Sicily, a gift of honor of wine and fruit was offered him by the +city council because they had heard that he was a Prussian, a subject +of the great King for whom they wished thereby to show their +reverence; and Muley Ismail, the emperor of Morocco, released without +any ransom the crew of a ship belonging to a citizen of Emden, whom +the Berbers had brought prisoner to Mogador, sent them in new clothes +to Lisbon, and assured them that their King was the greatest man in +the world, that no Prussian should be a prisoner in his land, and that +his cruisers would never attack the Prussian flag. + +Poor oppressed soul of the German people! Long years had passed since +the men between the Rhine and the Oder had felt the joy of being +esteemed above others among the nations of the earth! Now by the magic +of one man's power everything was transformed. The German citizen, +awakened as from an anxious dream, looked out upon the world and +within to his own heart. Men had long vegetated quietly, without a +past in which they could rejoice, without a great future in which they +could hope. Now all at once they felt that they, too, had a share in +the honor and the greatness of the world; that a king and his people, +all of their blood, had given to the German national idea a golden +setting, and to the history of civilization a new meaning. Now they +were experiencing the struggles, ventures, and victories of a great +man. Work on in your study, peaceful thinker, fantastic dreamer! You +have learned over-night to look down with a smile upon foreign ways +and to expect great things of your own talent. Try to realize, now, +what flows from your heart! + +But while the youthful power of the people shook its wings with +enthusiastic warmth, how did the great prince feel who was struggling +ceaselessly against his enemies? The inspiring cry of the people rang +in his ears as a feeble sound. The King heard it almost with +indifference. His heart grew calmer and colder. To be sure, passionate +hours of sorrow and heart-rending cares came to him over and over +again. He kept them hidden from his army; his calm face became harder, +his brow more deeply furrowed, and his expression more rigid. Only +before a few intimates he opened his heart from time to time, and then +for a moment the sorrow of the man who had reached the limits of human +possibilities broke forth. + +Ten days after the battle of Kollin his mother died. A few weeks +afterward he drove in anger his brother August Wilhelm from the army, +because he had not been strong enough to lead it. The next year this +brother died "of sorrow," as the officer of the day announced to the +King. Shortly after he received the news of the death of his sister at +Bayreuth. One after another his generals fell by his side, or lost the +King's confidence, because they were not equal to the superhuman tasks +of this war. His veterans, the pride of his heart, hardened warriors, +seasoned in three fierce wars, who, dying, stretched out their hands +toward him and called his name, were crushed in entire companies about +him, and what came to fill the broad gaps that death incessantly +mowed in his army were young men, some good material, but many +worthless. The King made use of them as he did of others, more +sternly, more severely. His glance and his word gave courage and +devotion even to the inferior sort, but still he knew that all this +was not salvation. His criticism became brief and cutting, his praise +rare. So he lived on; five summers and winters came and went; the work +was gigantic; his thinking and scheming was inexhaustible, his eagle +eye scrutinized searchingly the most remote and petty circumstances, +and yet there was no change, and no hope anywhere. The King read and +wrote in leisure hours just as before; he composed verses and kept up +a correspondence with Voltaire and Algarotti, but he was prepared to +see all this come soon to an end--a swift and sudden one. He carried +in his pocket day and night something which could make him free from +Daun and Laudon. At times the whole affair filled him with disdain. + +The letters of the man from whom Germany dates a new epoch in its +intellectual life deserve to be read with reverence by every German. +When you find him writing to Frau von Camas, "For the last six years I +have felt that it is the living, not the dead, for whom one should be +sorry," if you are shocked by the gloomy energy of his determination +you must beware of thinking that in it the power of this remarkable +spirit found its highest expression. It is true that the King had some +moments of desperation when he longed for death by the enemy's bullet +in order not to be forced to use the capsule which he carried in his +pocket. He was indeed fully determined not to ruin the State by living +as a captive of Austria; to this extent what he writes is terribly +true. But he was also of a poetic temperament, a child of the century +which so longed for great deeds and found such immense satisfaction in +the expression of exalted feelings. He was, to the bottom of his +heart, a German with the same emotional needs as, for instance, the +infinitely weaker Klopstock and his admirers. The consideration and +resolute expression of his final resolve made him freer and more +cheerful at heart. He wrote to his sister at Bayreuth about it in the +momentous second year of the war; and this letter is especially +characteristic, for his sister also was determined not to survive him +and the downfall of his house; and he approved this decision, to +which, by the way, he gave little attention in his gloomy satisfaction +at his own reflections. The two royal children had once secretly +recited, in the house of their stern father, the parts of French +tragedies; now their hearts beat again in the single thought of +freeing themselves by a Catonian death from a life full of +disappointment, confusion, and suffering. But when the excited and +nervous sister fell seriously ill, Frederick forgot all his Stoic +philosophy, and clinging fast to life with a passionate tenderness, +worried and mourned over her who was the dearest to him of his family. +When she died, his poignant grief was perhaps increased by the feeling +that he had interfered in too tragic a manner with a tender woman's +life. Thus, even in the greatest of all Germans born in the first half +of the eighteenth century, poetic feelings, and the wish to appear +beautiful and great, were strangely mingled with the serious realities +of life. Poor little Professor Semler who, while under the deepest +emotion, still studied his attitudes and worked over his polite +phrases, and the great King, who in cool expectation of the hour of +his death, still wrote of suicide in beautifully balanced +periods--both were sons of the same age, in which pathos, which had +not yet found worthy expression in art, luxuriated like climbing +plants about the realities of life. But the King was greater than his +philosophy. In reality he never lost his courage, nor the persistent, +defiant vigor characteristic of the old Germans, nor the secret hope +which a man needs in every difficult task. + +And he held out. The forces of his enemies grew weaker, their generals +were worn out, and their armies were scattered. Finally Russia +withdrew from the coalition. This, and the King's last victories, +turned the balance. He had won. He had not only conquered Silesia, but +vindicated its possession for his Prussian kingdom. But while his +people rejoiced, and the loyal citizens of his capital prepared a +festive reception for him, he shunned their merrymaking and withdrew +silent and alone to Sans Souci. He said that he wished to spend his +remaining days in peace, living for his people. + +In the first twenty-three years of his reign he had struggled +and fought to maintain his power against the world. Twenty-three +years more he was destined to rule peacefully over his people as +a wise, stern patriarch. He guided his State with the greatest +self-denial, though with insistence on his own ways, striving for +the greatest things, but yet in full control even of the smallest. +Many of his ideas have been left behind by the advance of modern +civilization--they were the result of the experiences of his youth +and early manhood. Thought was to be free; every man to think what he +pleased, but to do his duty as a citizen. He himself subordinated his +comfort and his expenditures to the welfare of the State, meeting the +whole expense of the royal household with some two hundred thousand +thalers; thinking first of the advantage of his people and last of +himself. His subjects, in their turn, he felt should bear cheerfully +whatever duties and burdens he imposed upon them. Every one was to +remain in the station in which birth and education had placed him. The +noblemen were to be landholders and officers; to the citizens belonged +the towns, trade, manufacturing, instruction, and invention; to the +peasant, the land and the menial work. But in his sphere each one was +to be prosperous and happy. Equal, strict, ready justice for every +one; no favors to the highborn and rich--rather, in case of doubt, the +humble should have the preference. To increase the number of useful +men; to make every activity as profitable and as perfect as possible; +to buy as little as possible abroad; to produce everything at home, +exporting the surplus--these were the leading principles of his social +and economic theories. He exerted himself incessantly to increase the +acreage of arable land, and to provide new places for settlers. Swamps +were drained, lakes drawn off, dikes thrown up. Canals were dug and +money advanced to found new factories. At the instigation and with the +financial support of the government cities and villages were rebuilt, +more solid and sanitary than they had been before. The farmers' credit +system, fire insurance societies, and the Royal Bank were founded. +Everywhere public schools were established. Educated people were +brought in from abroad; the government officials everywhere were +required to be educated, and regulated by examination and strict +inspection. It is the duty of the historian to enumerate and praise +all this, if also to mention some unsuccessful attempts of the King, +which were inevitable owing to his endeavor to control everything +himself. + +The King cared for all his lands, and by no means least for his child +of sorrow, the newly won Silesia. When he conquered this great +district it had a few more than a million inhabitants. They realized +vividly the contrast between the easy-going Austrian management and +the precise, restless, stirring rule of Prussia. In Vienna the +catalogue of prohibited books had been larger than at Rome; now bales +of books came incessantly from Germany into the province, reading and +buying were astonishingly free, even printed attacks upon the +sovereign himself. In Austria it was the privilege of the aristocracy +to wear foreign cloth. When the father of Frederick the Great of +Prussia had forbidden the importation of cloth, he had first of all +dressed himself and his princes in domestic goods. In Vienna no office +had been considered aristocratic if it implied anything but a nominal +function; all the actual work was a matter for subordinates. A +chamberlain stood higher than a veteran general or minister. In +Prussia even the highest born was little esteemed if he was not useful +to the State, and the King himself was a most exact official, who +watched and scolded over every thousand thalers saved or spent. Any +one in Austria who left the Catholic Church was punished with +confiscation of property and banishment; under the Prussians anybody +could leave or join any church--that was his own affair. Under the +imperial rule the government had been, on the whole, negligent if it +had been forced to occupy itself with any matter; the Prussian +officials had their noses and their hands in everything. In spite of +the three Silesian wars the province grew to be far more prosperous +than it had been under the Empire. Up to this time a hundred years had +not been sufficient to wipe out the visible traces of the Thirty +Years' War. The people remembered well how in the cities the heaps of +rubbish from the time of the Swedish invasions had lain about, and +between the remaining houses there were patches of waste ground +blackened by fire. Many small cities still had log houses in the old +Slavic style, with thatched or shingled roofs, patched up shabbily +from time to time. In a few decades the Prussians removed the traces +not only of former devastations, but also of the recent Seven Years' +War. Frederick laid out several hundred new villages, had fifteen +good-sized towns rebuilt in regular streets--largely with funds from +the royal treasury--and had compelled the landed proprietors to +restore several thousand farms which they had abolished as individual +holdings, and install upon them tenants with rights of succession. +Under the Empire the taxes had been lower, but they had been unfairly +distributed and had fallen chiefly upon the poor, the nobility being +exempt from the greater part of them. The collection was imperfect, +much was embezzled or poorly applied; relatively little came into the +imperial treasury. The Prussians, on the contrary, divided the country +into small districts, appraised every acre of land, and in a few years +abolished almost all exemptions. The outlying country now paid its +land taxes and the cities their excise duties. So the province bore +the double burden with greater ease, and no one but the privileged +classes grumbled; and with all this, it could maintain forty thousand +soldiers, whereas formerly there had been in the province only about +two thousand. Before 1740 the nobility had lived _en grand seigneur_. +All who were Catholic and rich lived in Vienna. Everybody else who +could raise enough money betook himself to Breslau. Now the majority +of landholders lived on their estates, the poverty-stricken nobles +disappeared, the nobility knew that the King honored them if they +looked after the cultivation of the land, and that the new master +showed cold contempt to those who neither managed their estates nor +filled civil or military positions. Formerly lawsuits had been endless +and expensive, hardly to be carried through without bribery and +sacrifice of money. Now it was observed that the number of lawyers +decreased, so quickly came the decisions. Under the Austrians, to be +sure, the caravan trade with the East had been greater; the people of +the Bukowina and Hungary, and also the Poles, turned elsewhere and +were already looking toward Trieste; but in place of this, new +manufacturing industries arose; wool and textiles, and in the mountain +valleys a flourishing linen industry. Many found the new era +uncomfortable, many were really incommoded by its severity; but few +dared to deny that on the whole things had been greatly improved. + +But another thing in the Prussian system was astonishing to the +Silesians, and soon gained a secret power over their minds. This was +the Spartan spirit of devotion on the part of the King's servants, +which appeared so frequently even among the humblest officials; for +instance, the revenue collectors, never popular even before the +introduction of the French system. In this case they were retired +subaltern officers, veteran soldiers of the King, who had won his +battles for him and grown gray in powder smoke. They sat now by the +gates smoking their pipes; with their very small pay they could +indulge in no luxuries; but they were on the spot from early morning +until late at night, doing their duty skilfully, precisely and +quickly, as old soldiers are wont to do. Their minds were always on +their service; it was their honor and their pride. For years to come +old Silesians from the time of the great King used to tell their +grandchildren how the punctuality, strictness, and honesty of the +Prussian officials had astonished them. In every district +headquarters, for instance, there was a tax collector. He lived in his +little office, which was perhaps also his bedroom, and collected in a +great wooden bowl the land taxes, which the village officials brought +into his room monthly on an appointed day. Many thousand thalers were +entered on the lists, and were delivered, to the last penny, to the +great main treasuries. The pay too of such a man was small. He sat and +collected and stowed in purses until his hair became white and his +trembling hands were no longer able to manage the two-groschen pieces. +And it was the pride of his life that the King knew him personally, +and if he ever drove through the place would silently look at him from +his great eyes, while the horses were being changed, or, if he was +very gracious, give him a slight nod. With respect and a certain awe +the people looked upon even these subordinate servants of the new +principle, and the Silesians were not alone in this. Something new had +come into the world in general. It was not a mere figure of speech +when Frederick called himself the foremost servant of his State. As he +had taught his wild nobility on the battlefield that it was the +highest honor to die for the Fatherland, so his untiring, faithful +care forced upon the soul of the least of his servants in the distant +border towns the great idea of the duty of living and working first of +all for the good of his King and his country. + +When the province of Prussia was forced, in the Seven Years' War, to +do homage to Empress Elizabeth, and remained for several years +incorporated in the Russian Empire, the officers of the district found +means nevertheless to raise money and grain for their King in secret, +and in spite of a foreign army and government. Great skill was used to +accomplish the transportation. There were many in the secret, but not +a traitor among them. In disguise they stole through the Russian lines +at the risk of their lives, although they knew that they would reap +small thanks from the King, who did not care for his East Prussians at +all. He spoke contemptuously of them, and showed them unwillingly the +favors which he bestowed on the other provinces. His face turned to +stone whenever he learned that one of his young officers was born +between the Memel and the Vistula, and after the war he never trod on +East Prussian soil. But this conduct did not disturb the East +Prussians in their admiration. They clung with faithful love to +their ungracious lord, and his best and most enthusiastic eulogist was +Emanuel Kant. + +Life in the King's service was serious, often hard--work and +deprivation without end. It was difficult even for the best to satisfy +the strict master; and the greatest devotion received but curt thanks. +If a man was worn out he was likely to be coldly cast aside. There was +work without end everywhere: something new, something beginning, some +scaffolding of an unfinished structure. To a foreign visitor this life +did not seem at all graceful; it was austere, monotonous, and rude, +with little beauty or carefree cheerfulness. And as the King's +bachelor household, his taciturn servants, and the submissive +intimates under the trees of the quiet garden, gave a foreign guest +the impression of a monastery, so in all Prussian institutions he +found something of the renunciation and the discipline of a great busy +monastic brotherhood. + +For something of this spirit had been transmitted even to the people +themselves. Today we honor in this an undying merit of Frederick II., +for this spirit of abnegation is still the secret of the greatness of +the Prussian State, and the final and best guarantee of its +permanence. The artfully constructed machine which the great King had +set up with so much intelligence and effectiveness was not to last +forever; twenty years after his death it broke down; but in the fact +that the State did not perish with it, that the intelligence and +patriotism of the citizens were able of their own accord to establish +under his successors a new life on a new basis, we see the secret of +Frederick's greatness. + +Nine years after the close of the last war which was fought for the +possession of Silesia, Frederick increased his domain by a new +acquisition, not much less in area, but thinly populated--the Polish +districts which have since become German territory under the name of +West Prussia. + +If the King's claims to Silesia had been doubtful, all the acumen of +his officials was now needed to make a show of some uncertain right to +portions of the new acquisition. About this the King himself was +little concerned. He had defended before the world with almost +superhuman heroism the occupation of Silesia. This province was united +to Prussia by streams of blood. In the case of West Prussia the craft +of the politician did the work almost alone, and for a long time the +conqueror lacked in public opinion that justification for his action +which, as it seems, is given by the horrors of war and the capricious +fortune of the battlefield. But this last acquisition of the King's, +though wanting in the thunder of guns and the trumpets of victory, was +yet, of all the great gifts which the German people owe to Frederick +II., the greatest and most abounding in fortunate consequences. +Through several hundred years the Germans had been divided and hemmed +in and encroached upon by neighbors greedy for conquest; the great +King was the first conqueror who again pushed the German boundaries +toward the east. A hundred years after his great ancestor had in vain +defended the fortresses of the Rhine against Louis XIV., Frederick +gave the Germans again the explicit admonition that it was their duty +to carry law, education, liberty, culture, and industry into the east +of Europe. His whole territory, with the exception of a few Old Saxon +districts, had been originally German, then Slavic, then again won +from the Slavs by fierce wars or colonization; never since the +migrations of the Middle Ages had the struggle ceased for the broad +plains east of the Oder; never since the conquest of Brandenburg had +this house forgotten that it was the warden of the German border. +Whenever wars ceased the politicians were busy. The Elector Frederick +William had freed Prussia, the territory of the Teutonic Knights, from +feudal allegiance to Poland. Frederick I. had boldly raised this +isolated colony to a kingdom. But the possession of East Prussia was +insecure. It was not the corrupt republic of Poland which threatened +danger, but the rising power of Russia. Frederick had learned to +respect the Russians as enemies; he knew the soaring ambition of +Empress Catherine, and as a prudent prince seized the right moment. +The new territory--Pomerelia, the _voivodeship_ (administrative +province) of Kulm and Marienburg, the bishopric of Ermeland, the city +of Elbing, a portion of Cujavia, a portion of Posen--united East +Prussia with Pomerania and Brandenburg. It had always been a border +land. Since the early times people of different races had crowded into +the coasts of the Baltic: Germans, Slavs, Lithuanians, and Finns. From +the thirteenth century the Germans had made their way into this +Vistula country as founders of cities and agriculturists: Teutonic +Knights, merchants, pious monks, German noblemen and peasants. On both +sides of the Vistula arose the towers and boundary stones of German +colonies--supreme among them the magnificent city of Danzig, the +Venice of the Baltic, the great seaport of the Slavic countries, with +its rich St. Mary's Church and the palaces of its merchant princes; +and beyond it on another arm of the Vistula, its modest rival, Elbing: +farther up, the stately towers and broad avenues of Marienburg; near +it the great princely castle of the Teutonic order, the most beautiful +architectural monument of Northern Germany; and in the Vistula valley, +on a rich alluvial soil, the old prosperous colonial estates: one of +the most productive countries of the world, protected against the +devastations of the Slavic stream by massive dikes dating back to the +days of the Knights. Still farther up were Marienwerder, Graudenz, +Kulm, and in the low lands of the Netze, Bromberg, the centre of the +German border colonies among a Polish population. Smaller German towns +and village communities were scattered through the whole territory, +and the rich Cistercian monasteries of Oliva and Peplin had been +zealous colonizers. But in the fifteenth century the tyrannical +severity of the Teutonic order had driven the German cities and +landowners of West Prussia to an alliance with Poland. + +The Reformation of the sixteenth century won the submission not only +of the German colonists but of three-quarters of the nobility in the +great republic of Poland; and toward 1590 about seventy out of a +hundred parishes in the Slavic district of Pomerelia were Protestant. +It seemed for a short time as if a new commonwealth and a new culture +were about to develop in the Slavic East--a great Polish State with +German elements in the cities. But the introduction of the Jesuits +brought an unsalutary change. The Polish nobility returned to the +Catholic Church: in the Jesuit schools their sons were trained to +proselytizing fanaticism, and from that time on the Polish State +declined, conditions becoming worse and worse. + +The attitude of the Germans in West Prussia was not uniform toward the +proselytizing Jesuits and Slavic tyranny. A large proportion of the +immigrant German nobles became Catholic and Polish; the townsmen and +peasants remained for the most part obstinately Protestant. So there +was added to the conflict in language conflict in religious creed, and +to race hatred a religious frenzy. In this century of enlightenment +the persecution of Germans in these districts became fanatical. One +church after another was torn down, the wooden ones set on fire, and +after the church was burned the village had lost its right to a +parish: German preachers and school teachers were driven out and +disgracefully maltreated. "_Vexa Lutheranum dabit thalerum_" ("harry a +Lutheran and he will give up a thaler") was the usual motto of the +Poles against the Germans. One of the greatest landowners in the +country, a certain Unruh of the Birnbaum family, the starost of +Gnesen, was sentenced to die, after having his tongue pulled out and +his hands chopped off, because he had copied from German books into a +notebook sarcastic remarks about the Jesuits. There was no more +justice, no more safety. The national party of the Polish nobility, in +alliance with fanatic priests, persecuted most passionately those whom +they hated as Germans and Protestants. All sorts of plunder-loving +rabble collected on the side of the "patriots" or "confederates." They +collected into bands, overran the country in search of plunder, and +fell upon the smaller towns and German villages, not only from +religious zeal, but still more from the greed of booty. The Polish +nobleman Roskowsky wore boots of different colors, a red one to +indicate fire, and a black one for death. Thus he rode, levying +blackmail, from one place to another, and in Jastrow he had the hands, +the feet, and finally the head of the Protestant preacher Willich cut +off and thrown into a swamp. This happened in 1768. + +Such was the condition of the country just before the Prussian +occupation. It was a state of things that might perhaps be found now +in Bosnia, but would be unheard of in the most wretched corner of +Christian Europe. + +While still only a boy of twelve in the palace in Berlin, Frederick +the Great had been reminded by his father's anger and sorrow that the +kings of Prussia had a duty as protectors toward the German colonies +on the Vistula. For in 1724 a loud call from that quarter for help had +rung through Germany, and the bloody tragedy at Thorn became an +important subject of public interest and of diplomacy. During a +procession which the Jesuits were conducting through the city, some +Polish nobles of the Jesuit college had insulted some citizens and +schoolboys, and the angered populace had broken into the Jesuit school +and college and inflicted damage. This petty street-riot had been +brought up in the Polish parliament, sitting as a trial court, and the +parliament, after a passionate speech by the leader of the Jesuits, +had condemned to death the two burgomasters of the city and sixteen +citizens; whereupon the Jesuit party hastened to put to death the head +burgomaster, Roessner, and nine citizens, in some cases with barbarous +cruelty. The church of St. Mary was taken from the Protestants, the +clergymen driven out, and the school closed. King Frederick William +had tried in vain at the time to help the unfortunate city. He had +prevailed upon all the neighboring powers to send stern notes, and had +felt himself bitterly grieved and humiliated when all his +representations were disregarded; now after fifty years his son came +to put an end to this barbarous disorder, and to unite again with +Prussia this land which before the Polish sovereignty had belonged to +the Teutonic order. + +[Illustration: FREDERICK THE GREAT ON A PLEASURE TRIP +_From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_] + +Danzig, to be sure, indispensable to the Poles, maintained itself +through these decades of disorder in aristocratic seclusion. It +remained a free city under Slavic protection, for a long time +suspicious of the great King and not well disposed toward him. Thorn +also had to wait twenty years longer in oppression, separated from the +other German colonies, as a Polish border city. But the energetic +assistance of the King saved the country and most of the German towns +from destruction. The Prussian officials who were sent into the +country were astonished at the desolation of the unheard-of situation +which existed but a few days' journey from their capital. Only certain +larger towns, in which the German life had been protected by strong +walls and the old market traffic, and some sheltered country +districts, inhabited exclusively by Germans (such as the lowlands near +Danzig, the villages under the mild rule of the Cistercians of Oliva, +and the prosperous German places of the Catholic Ermeland), were left +in tolerable condition. Other towns lay in ruins, as did most of the +farmsteads of the open country. The Prussians found Bromberg, a German +colonial city, in ruins; and it is even yet impossible to determine +exactly how the city came into that condition. In fact, the +vicissitudes which the whole Netze district had undergone in the last +nine years before the Prussian occupation are completely unknown. No +historian, no document, no chronicle, gives reports of the destruction +and the slaughter which must have raged there. Evidently the Polish +factions fought between themselves, and crop failures and pestilence +may have done the rest. Kulm had preserved from an earlier time its +well-built walls and stately churches, but in the streets the +foundation walls of the cellars stood out of the decaying wood and +broken tiles of the crumbled buildings. There were whole streets of +nothing but such cellar rooms in which wretched people lived. Of the +forty houses of the main market-place twenty-eight had no doors, no +roofs, no windows, and no owners. Other cities were in a similar +condition. + +The majority of the country people also lived in circumstances which +seemed pitiable to the King's officers, especially on the borders of +Pomerania, where the Wendish Cassubians dwelt. Whoever approached a +village there saw gray huts with ragged thatch on a bare plain without +a tree, without a garden--only the wild cherry-trees were indigenous. +The houses were built of poles daubed with clay. The entrance door +opened into a room with a great fireplace and no chimney; heating +stoves were unknown. Seldom was a candle lighted, only pineknots +brightened the darkness of the long winter evenings. The chief article +of the wretched furniture was a crucifix with a holy water basin +below. The filthy and uncouth people lived on rye porridge, often on +herbs which they cooked like cabbage in a soup, on herrings, and on +brandy, to which women as well as men were addicted. Bread was baked +only by the richest. Many had never in their lives tasted such a +delicacy; few villages had an oven. If the people ever kept bees they +sold the honey to the city dwellers, they also trafficked in carved +spoons and stolen bark; in exchange for these they got at the fairs +their coarse blue cloth coats, black fur caps, and bright red +kerchiefs for the women. Looms were rare and spinning-wheels were +unknown. The Prussians heard there no popular songs, no dances, no +music--pleasures which even the most wretched Pole does not give up; +stupid and clumsy, the people drank their wretched brandy, fought, and +fell into the corners. And the country nobility were hardly different +from the peasants; they drove their own primitive plows and clattered +about in wooden shoes on the earthen floors of their cottages. It was +difficult even for the King of Prussia to help these people. Only the +potato spread quickly; but for a long time the fruit-trees which had +been planted by order were destroyed by the people, and all other +attempts at promoting agriculture met with opposition. + +Just as poverty-stricken and ruined were the border districts with a +Polish population. But the Polish peasant in all his poverty and +disorder at least kept the greater vivacity of his race. Even on the +estates of the higher nobility, of the starosts, and of the crown, all +the farm buildings were dilapidated and useless. Any one who wished to +send a letter must employ a special messenger, for there was no post +in the country. To be sure, no need was felt of one in the villages, +for most of the nobility knew no more of reading and writing than the +peasants. If any one fell ill, he found no help but the secret +remedies of some old village crone, for there was not an apothecary in +the whole country. If any one needed a coat he could do no better than +take needle in hand himself--for many miles there was no tailor, +unless one of the trade made a trip through the country on the chances +of finding work. If any one wished to build a house he must provide +for artisans from the West as best he could. The country people were +still living in a hopeless struggle with the packs of wolves, and +there were few villages in which every winter men and animals were not +decimated. If the smallpox broke out, or any other contagious disease +came upon the country, the people saw the white image of pestilence +flying through the air and alighting upon their cottages; they knew +what such an apparition meant: it was the desolation of their homes, +the wiping out of whole communities; and with gloomy resignation they +awaited their fate. There was hardly anything like justice in the +country. Only the larger cities maintained powerless courts. The +noblemen and the starosts inflicted their punishments with +unrestrained caprice. They habitually beat and threw into horrible +dungeons not only the peasants but the citizens of the country towns +who were ruled by them or fell into their hands. In the quarrels which +they had with one another, they fought by bribery in the few courts +which had jurisdiction over them. In later years that too had almost +ceased. They sought vengeance with their own resources, by sudden +onslaughts and bloody sword-play. + +It was in reality an abandoned country without discipline, without +law, without masters. It was a desert; on about 13,000 square miles +500,000 people lived, less than forty to a square mile. And the +Prussian King treated his acquisition like an uninhabited prairie. He +located boundary stones almost at his pleasure, then moved them some +miles farther again. Up to the present time the tradition remains in +Ermeland, the district around Heilberg and Braunsberg, with twelve +towns and a hundred villages, that two Prussian drummers with twelve +men conquered all Ermeland with four drumsticks. And then the King in +his magnificent manner began to build up the country. He was attracted +by precisely these run-down conditions, and West Prussia henceforth +became, as Silesia had been before, his favorite child, which with +infinite care, like a dutiful mother, he washed and brushed, provided +with new clothes, forced into school and good behavior, and never let +out of his sight. The diplomatic negotiations about the conquest were +still going on when he sent a troop of his best officials into the +wilderness. The territory was subdivided into small districts, in the +shortest possible time the whole land area was appraised and equitably +taxed, each district provided with a provincial magistrate, with a +court, and with post-offices and sanitary police. New parishes were +called into life as if by magic, a company of 187 school teachers was +brought into the country--the worthy Semler had chosen and drilled +part of them--and squads of German artisans were got together, from +the machinist down to the brickmaker. Everywhere was heard the bustle +of digging, hammering, building. The cities were filled with +colonists, street after street rose from the ruins, the estates of the +starosts were changed into crown estates, new villages of colonists +were laid out, new agricultural enterprises ordered. In the first year +after the occupation the great canal was dug, which in a course of a +dozen miles or so unites the Vistula by way of the Netze with the Oder +and the Elbe. A year after the King issued the order for the canal he +saw with his own eyes laden Oder barges 120 feet long enter the +Vistula, bound east. Through the new waterway broad stretches of land +were drained and immediately filled with German colonists. Incessantly +the King urged on, praised, and censured. However great the zeal of +his officials was, it was seldom able to satisfy him. In this way, in +a few years, the wild Slavic weeds which had sprung up here and there +even over the German fields were brought under control, and the Polish +districts, too, got used to the orderliness of the new life; and West +Prussia showed itself, in the wars after 1806, almost as stoutly +Prussian as the old provinces. + +While the gray-haired King planned and created, year after year passed +over his thoughtful head. His surroundings became stiller and more +solitary; the circle of men whom he took into his confidence became +smaller. He had laid aside his flute, and the new French literature +appeared to him shallow and tedious. Sometimes it seemed to him as if +a new life were budding under him in Germany, but he was a stranger to +it. He worked untiringly for his army and for the prosperity of his +people; the instruments he used were of less and less importance to +him, while his feeling for the great duties of his crown became ever +loftier and more passionate. + +But just as his seven years' struggle in war may be called superhuman, +so now there was in his work something tremendous, which appeared to +his contemporaries sometimes more than earthly and sometimes inhuman. +It was great, but it was also terrible, that for him the prosperity of +the whole was at any moment the highest thing, and the comfort of the +individual so utterly nothing. When he drove out of the service with +bitter censure, in the presence of his men, a colonel whose regiment +had made a vexatious mistake on review; when in the swamp land of the +Netze he counted more the strokes of the 10,000 spades than the +sufferings of the workmen who lay ill with malarial fever in the +hospitals he had erected for them; when he anticipated with his +restless demands the most rapid execution, there was, though united +with the deepest respect and devotion, a feeling of awe among his +people, as before one whose being is moved by some unearthly power. He +appeared to the Prussians as the fate of the State, unaccountable, +inexorable, omniscient, comprehending the greatest as well as the +smallest. And when they told each other that he had also tried to +overcome Nature, and that yet his orange trees had perished in the +last frosts of spring, then they quietly rejoiced that there was a +limit for their King after all, but still more that he had submitted +to it with such good-humor and had taken off his hat to the cold days +of May. + +With touching sympathy the people collected all the incidents of the +King's life which showed human feeling, and thus gave an intimate +picture of him. Lonesome as his house and garden were, the imagination +of his Prussians hovered incessantly around the consecrated place. If +any one on a warm moonlight night succeeded in getting into the +vicinity of the palace, he found the doors open, perhaps without a +guard, and he could see the great King sleeping in his room on a camp +bed. The fragrance of the flowers, the song of the night birds, the +quiet moonlight, were the only guards, almost the only courtiers of +the lonely man. Fourteen times the oranges bloomed at Sans Souci after +the acquisition of West Prussia--then Nature asserted her rights over +the great King. He died alone, with but his servants about him. + +He had set out in his prime with an ambitious spirit and had wrested +from fate all the great and magnificent prizes of life. A prince of +poets and philosophers, a historian and general, no triumph which he +had won had satisfied him. All earthly glory had become to him +fortuitous, uncertain and worthless, and he had kept only his iron +sense of duty incessantly active. His soul had grown up and out of the +dangerous habit of alternating between warm enthusiasm and sober +keenness of perception. Once he had idealized with poetic caprice some +individuals, and despised the masses that surrounded him. But in the +struggles of his life he lost all selfishness, he lost almost +everything which was personally dear to him; and at last came to set +little value upon the individual, while the need of living for the +whole grew stronger and stronger in him. With the most refined +selfishness he had desired the greatest things for himself, and +unselfishly at last he gave himself for the common good and the +happiness of the humble people. He had entered upon life as an +idealist, and even the most terrible experiences had not destroyed +these ideals but ennobled and purified them. He had sacrificed many +men for his State, but no one so completely as himself. + +Such a phenomenon appeared unusual and great to his contemporaries; it +seems still greater to us who can trace even today in the character of +our people, in our political life, and in our art and literature, the +influence of his activities. + + * * * * + + + + +THE LIFE OF THEODOR FONTANE + +By WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M. + +Associate Professor of German, Leland Stanford Jr. University + + +Theodor Fontane was by both his parents a descendant of French +Huguenots. His grandfather Fontane, while teaching the princes of +Prussia the art of drawing, won the friendship of Queen Luise, who +later appointed him her private secretary. Our poet's father, Louis +Fontane, served his apprenticeship as an apothecary in Berlin. In 1818 +the stately Gascon married Emilie Labry, whose ancestors had come from +the Cevennes, not far from the region whence the Fontanes had +emigrated to Germany. The young couple moved to Neu-Ruppin, where they +bought an apothecary's shop. Here Theodor was born on the thirtieth of +December, 1819. + +Louis Fontane was irresponsible and fantastic, full of _bonhomie_, and +an engaging story teller. He possessed a "stupendous" fund of +anecdotes of Napoleon and his marshals, and told them with such charm +that his son acquired an unusual fondness for anecdotes, which he +indulges extensively in some of his writings, particularly the +autobiographical works and books of travel. The problem of making both +ends meet seems to have occupied the father less than the +gratification of his "noble passions," chief among which was card +playing. He gambled away so much money that in eight years he was +forced to sell his business and move to other parts. He purposely +continued the search for a new business as long as possible, but +finally bought an apothecary's shop in Swinemuende. + +His young wife was passionate and independent, energetic and +practical, but unselfish. To her husband's democratic tendency she +opposed a strong aristocratic leaning. Their ill fortune in Neu-Ruppin +affected her nerves so seriously that she went to Berlin for treatment +while the family was moving. + +In Swinemuende the father put the children in the public school, but +when the aristocratic mother arrived from Berlin she took them out, +and for a time the little ones were taught at home. The unindustrious +father was prevailed upon to divide with the mother the burden of +teaching them and undertook the task with a mild protest, employing +what he humorously designated the "Socratic method." He taught +geography and history together, chiefly by means of anecdotes, with +little regard for accuracy or thoroughness. Though his method was far +from Socratic, it interested young Theodor and left an impression on +him for life. His mother confined her efforts mainly to the +cultivation of a good appearance and gentle manners, for, as one might +perhaps expect of the daughter of a French silk merchant, she valued +outward graces above inward culture, and she avowedly had little +respect for the authority of scholars and books. + +After a while an arrangement was made whereby Theodor shared for two +years the private lessons given by a Dr. Lau to the children of a +neighbor, and "whatever backbone his knowledge possessed" he owed to +this instruction. A similar arrangement was made with the private +tutor who succeeded Dr. Lau. He had the children learn the most of +Schiller's ballads by heart. Fontane always remained grateful for +this, probably because it was as a writer of ballads that he first won +recognition. If we look upon the ballad as a poetically heightened +form of anecdote we discover an element of unity in his early +education, and that will help us to understand why the technique of +his novels shows such a marked influence of the ballad. + +"How were we children trained?" asks Fontane in _My Childhood Years_. +"Not at all, and excellently," is his answer, referring to the lack of +strict parental discipline in the home and to the quiet influence of +his mother's example. + +[Illustration: _Permission Berlin Photo Co, New York_ +THEODOR FONTANE HANNS FECHNER] + +Among the notable events of the five years Theodor spent in +Swinemuende, were the liberation of Greece, the war between Russia and +Turkey, the conquest of Algiers, the revolution in France, the +separation of Belgium from Holland, and the Polish insurrection. +Little wonder that the lad watched eagerly for the arrival of the +newspapers and quickly devoured their contents. + +In Swinemuende the family again lived beyond their means. The father's +extravagance and his passion for gambling showed no signs of +abatement. The mother was very generous in the giving of presents, for +she said that what money they had would be spent anyhow and it might +as well go for some useful purpose. The city being a popular summer +resort, they had a great many guests from Berlin during the season, +and in the winter they frequently entertained Swinemuende friends. + +Theodor left home at the age of twelve to begin his preparation for +life. The first year he spent at the gymnasium in Neu-Ruppin. The +following year (1833) he was sent to an industrial school in Berlin. +There he lived with his uncle August, whose character and financial +management remind one of our poet's father. Theodor was irregular in +his attendance at school and showed more interest in the newspapers +and magazines than in his studies. At the age of sixteen he became the +apprentice of a Berlin apothecary with the expectation of eventually +succeeding his father in business. After serving his apprenticeship he +was employed as assistant dispenser by apothecaries in Berlin, Burg, +Leipzig, and Dresden. When he reached the age of thirty he became a +full-fledged dispenser and was in a position to manage the business of +his father, but the latter had long ago retired and moved to the +village of Letschin. The Fontane home was later broken up by the +mutual agreement of the parents to dissolve their unhappy union. The +father went first to Eberswalde and then to Schiffmuehle, where he died +in 1867; the mother returned to Neu-Ruppin and died there in 1869. + +The beginning of Theodor's first published story appeared in the +_Berliner Figaro_ a few days before he was twenty years of age. The +same organ had previously contained some of his lyrics and ballads. +The budding poet had belonged to a Lenau Club and the fondness he had +there acquired for Lenau's poetry remained unchanged throughout his +long life, which is more than can be said of many literary products +that won his admiration in youth. He also joined a Platen Club, which +afforded him less literary stimulus, but far more social pleasure. +During his year in Leipzig he brought himself to the notice of +literary circles by the publication, in the _Tageblatt_, of a +satirical poem entitled _Shakespeare's Stocking_. As a result he was +made a member of the Herwegh Club, where he met, among others, the +celebrated Max Mueller, who remained his life-long friend. After a year +in Dresden Fontane returned to Leipzig, hoping to be able to support +himself there by his writings. He made the venture too soon. When he +ran short of funds he visited his parents for a while and then went to +Berlin to serve his year in the army (1844). He was granted a furlough +of two weeks for a trip to London at the expense of a friend. In +Berlin he joined a Sunday Club, humorously called the "Tunnel over the +Spree," at the meetings of which original literary productions were +read and frankly criticised. During the middle of the nineteenth +century almost all the poetic lights of Berlin were members of the +"Tunnel." Heyse, Storm, and Dahn were on the roll, and Fontane came +into touch with them; he and Storm remained friends in spite of the +fact that Storm once called him "frivolous." Fontane later evened the +score by classing Storm among the "sacred kiss monopolists." The most +productive members of the Club during this period (1844-54) were +Fontane, Scherenberg, Hesekiel, and Heinrich Smidt. Smidt, sometimes +called the Marryat of Germany, was a prolific spinner of yarns, which +were interesting, though of a low quality. He employed, however, many +of the same motives that Fontane later put to better use. Hesekiel was +a voluminous writer of light fiction. From him Fontane learned to +discard high-sounding phrases and to cultivate the true-to-life tone +of spoken speech. Scherenberg, enthusiastically heralded as the +founder of a new epic style, confined himself largely to poetic +descriptions of battles. + +When Fontane joined the "Tunnel" the particular _genre_ of poetry in +vogue at the meetings was the ballad, due to Strachwitz's clever +imitations of Scottish models. Fontane's lyrics were too much like +Herwegh's to win applause, but his ballads were enthusiastically +received. One, in celebration of Derfflinger, established his standing +in the Club, and one in honor of Zieten brought him permanently into +favor with a wider public; these poems were composed in 1846. Two +years later he read two books that for a long time determined his +literary trend--Percy's _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_ and +Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_. He began to write ballads +on English subjects and one of them, _Archibald Douglas_, created a +great sensation at the "Tunnel" meeting and has ever since maintained +its place among the best German poems. Its popularity is partly due to +the fact that it was so appropriately set to music by Carl Loewe. When +Fontane returned to Berlin in 1852, after a summer's absence in +England, he felt estranged from the "Tunnel" and ceased attending the +meetings. Two noblemen members, von Lepel and von Merckel, who had +become his friends, introduced him to the country nobility of the Mark +of Brandenburg, which enabled him to make valuable additions to his +portfolio of studies later drawn upon for his novels, among others, +_Effi Briest_. + +In 1847 Fontane passed the apothecary's examination by a "hair's +breadth" and soon found employment in Berlin. In the March Revolution +(1848) he played a comical role, but was subsequently elected a +delegate to the first convention to choose a representative. For a +year and a quarter he taught two deaconesses pharmacy at an +institution called "Bethany." When that employment came to an end he +decided that the hoped-for time had finally arrived to give up the +dispensing of medicines and earn his living by his pen. Some of his +new ballads were accepted by the _Morgenblatt_, and a volume of +verses, dedicated to his fiancee, found a publisher. When news arrived +of the victory of Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein at Idstedt (1850) he +set out for Kiel to enlist in the army. In Altona he received a letter +offering him a position in the press department of the Prussian +Ministry of the Interior. He accepted immediately and at the same time +wrote to Emilie Kummer, to whom he had been engaged for five years, +proposing that they should be married in October. She hastened to +secure an apartment in Berlin and furnish it, and the wedding was +celebrated on the sixteenth of October. Fontane thought he had entered +the harbor of success, but he lost his ministerial position in six +weeks and was again at sea. He had, however, a companion ready to +share his trials and triumphs, and their union proved to be very +happy. + +In the summer of 1852 he was sent by the Prussian Ministry to London +to study English conditions and write reports for the government +journals, _Preussische Zeitung_ and _Die Zeit_. In 1855 he was again +sent to England, and this time his journalistic engagement lasted for +four years. Accounts of his experiences are contained in _A Summer in +London_ (1854) and _Beyond the Tweed_ (1860). From 1860 to 1870 he was +on the staff of the _Kreuzzeitung_ and during this time served as a +war correspondent in the campaigns of 1864, 1866, and 1870-71. While +accompanying the army in France he was seized with a desire to visit +the home of Joan of Arc at Domremy, and was captured, taken for a spy, +and imprisoned for a time on the island of Oleron in the Atlantic +Ocean. An interesting account of his experiences is given in _Prisoner +of War_ (1871). During his years in England he had taken advantage of +the opportunity to visit Scotland and familiarize himself with its +picturesque beauties and its wealth of historical and literary +associations. In the midst of these travels the thought had occurred +to him that his own Mark of Brandenburg had its beauties, too, and its +wealth of associations. On returning to Berlin he began his long +series of journeyings through his native province, making a thorough +study of both country and people, particularly the Junkers, for which +his trained powers of observation, combined with warm patriotism and +true love of historical research, eminently fitted him. His published +records of these travels, _Rambles through the Mark of Brandenburg_ +(1862-81) and _Five Castles_ (1889), won for him the title of the +interpreter of the Mark. His right to this distinction was further +established by the novels in which he later employed the fruits of +these studies. + +Fontane is equally celebrated as an interpreter of Berlin, where he +lived for over fifty years, being the one prominent German writer to +identify himself with a great city. His two autobiographical works, +_From Twenty to Thirty_ and _C.F. Scherenberg_, tell of his early +experiences in the Prussian capital. From 1870 to 1889 he was dramatic +critic for the _Vossische Zeitung_, for which he reviewed the +performances at the Royal Theatre. In one of his last criticisms he +hailed Hauptmann as a dramatist of promise. In 1876 he was elected +secretary of the Berlin Academy of Arts, but served only a brief time. +In 1891 the Emperor made him a present of three thousand marks for his +services to German literature. In 1894 the University of Berlin +bestowed upon him the honorary title of doctor of philosophy. He died +on the twentieth day of September, 1898. + +Fontane's lyric poetry in the narrower sense is not of a high order; +in fact almost none of his writings show the true lyric quality. There +is also a striking lack of the dramatic element in his works, and he +seems to have felt this limitation of his genius, for he studiously +avoided the portrayal of scenes that might prove intensely dramatic. +As a writer of ballads he excelled and ranks among the foremost of +Germany. The British subjects he treated were impressed upon him +during his travels in England and his study of English history. His +German themes were taken largely from Prussian history, particularly +the period of Frederick the Great. His permanent place in the history +of German literature is due, however, not so much to his verse as to +his prose writings. He is best known as a novelist, and in the field +of the modern novel he is one of the most conspicuous figures. + +German novels of the older school were usually too long for a single +volume. Fontane's first important work of fiction, _Before the Storm_, +filled four volumes; but he had so much trouble in finding a publisher +for it that he began to write one-volume novels, introducing a +practice which has since become the common tradition. He employed in +them a typical feature of the technique of the ballad, which leaps +from one situation to another, leaving gaps to be filled by the fancy +of the reader. He says himself, in _Before the Storm_: "I have always +observed that the leaping action of the ballad is one of the chief +characteristics and beauties of this branch of poetry. All that is +necessary is that fancy be given the right kind of a stimulus. When +that end is attained, one may boldly assert, the less told the +better." + +At the beginning of Fontane's career the Berlin novelists were +disciples of Scott, but the only one to survive was Alexis, who +adapted Scott's method to the Mark of Brandenburg. Fontane imitated +him in _Before the Storm_ (1878), which deals with conditions in the +Mark before the wars of liberation. _Schach von Wuthenow_ (1883), a +sort of prelude to _Before the Storm_, was far superior as a novel and +helped to establish Fontane's supremacy among his contemporaries, for +he had become the leader of the younger generation after the +publication of two stories of crimes, _Grete Minde_ (1880) and +_Ellernklipp_ (1881), and the creation of the modern Berlin novel, in +_L'Adultera_ (1882). _L'Adultera_ unfolds the history of a marriage of +reason between a young wife and a considerably older husband, a +situation which Fontane later treated, with important variations and +ever increasing skill, in _Count Petoefi_ (1884), _Cecile_ (1887), and +_Effi Briest_ (1895). With his inexhaustible fund of observation to +draw upon he could make the action of his novels a minor consideration +and concentrate his rare psychological powers upon realistic +conversations in which characters reveal themselves and incidentally +acquaint us intimately with others. We see and hear what the world +ordinarily sees and hears. A past master in the art of suggestion, +which he acquired in his ballad period, Fontane omits many scenes that +others would elaborate with minute detail, such as love scenes and +passionate crises, and contents himself with bringing vividly before +us his true-to-life figures in their historical and social +environments. As a conservative Prussian he believed in the supremacy +of the law and the punishment of transgression, and his works reflect +this belief. + +_Trials and Tribulations_ (1887) and _Stine_ (1890) were the first +German novels absolutely to avoid the introduction of exciting scenes +merely for effect. These histories of mismated couples from different +social strata are recounted with hearty simplicity, deep understanding +of life, and frank recognition of human weakness, but without +condemnation, tears, or pointing a moral. They made Fontane famous. +_Frau Jenny Treibel_ (1892), an exquisitely humorous picture of the +Berlin _bourgeoisie_, and _Effi Briest_ "the most profound miracle of +Fontane's youthful art," added considerably to the fame of the +gray-haired "modern," while _The Poggenpuhls_ (1896) and _Stechlin_ +(1898) won him further laurels at a time when most writers would long +ago have been resting on those they had already achieved. If a line +were drawn to represent graphically his productivity from his sixtieth +year on, it would take the form of a gradually rising curve. + +His career as a novelist began so late in life that when he once +discovered his particular field he cultivated it with persistent +diligence and would not allow himself to be drawn away by enthusiasts +into other fields. Strength of character was not, however, a new +phenomenon in his life, for as long ago as the days when he was an +active member of the "Tunnel" he had come in close contact with the +Kugler coterie in Berlin, where the so-called Munich school +originated, and yet he did not follow his friends in that eclectic +movement. So when the naturalistic school of writers began to win +enthusiastic support, even though he found himself in the main in +sympathy with their announced creed, he did not join them in practice. +He felt that what the literature of the Fatherland needed was +"originality," and he sought to attain it in his own way, apart from +storm and stress. As his mind matured through accumulated knowledge of +the world, and his heart mellowed through years of experience and +observation, he rose to a point of view above sentiment and prejudice, +where the fogs of passion melt away and the light of kindly wisdom +shines. + +[Illustration: FONTANE MONUMENT AT NEU RUPPIN.] + + * * * * * + +_THEODOR FONTANE_ + + * * * * * + + + + +EFFI BRIEST (1895) + + +TRANSLATED AND ABRIDGED BY WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M. + +Associate Professor of German, Leland Stanford Jr. University + + +CHAPTER I + + +In front of the old manor house occupied by the von Briest family +since the days of Elector George William, the bright sunshine was +pouring down upon the village road, at the quiet hour of noon. The +wing of the mansion looking toward the garden and park cast its broad +shadow over a white and green checkered tile walk and extended out +over a large round bed, with a sundial in its centre and a border of +Indian shot and rhubarb. Some twenty paces further, and parallel to +the wing of the house, there ran a churchyard wall, entirely covered +with a small-leaved ivy, except at the place where an opening had been +made for a little white iron gate. Behind this arose the shingled +tower of Hohen-Cremmen, whose weather vane glistened in the sunshine, +having only recently been regilded. The front of the house, the wing, +and the churchyard wall formed, so to speak, a horseshoe, inclosing a +small ornamental garden, at the open side of which was seen a pond, +with a small footbridge and a tied-up boat. Close by was a swing, with +its crossboard hanging from two ropes at either end, and its frame +posts beginning to lean to one side. Between the pond and the circular +bed stood a clump of giant plane trees, half hiding the swing. + +The terrace in front of the manor house, with its tubbed aloe plants +and a few garden chairs, was an agreeable place to sit on cloudy days, +besides affording a variety of things to attract the attention. But, +on days when the hot sun beat down there, the side of the house toward +the garden was given a decided preference, especially by the mother +and the daughter of the house. On this account they were today sitting +on the tile walk in the shade, with their backs to the open windows, +which were all overgrown with wild grape-vines, and by the side of a +little projecting stairway, whose four stone steps led from the +garden to the ground floor of the wing of the mansion. Both mother and +daughter were busy at work, making an altar cloth out of separate +squares, which they were piecing together. Skeins of woolen yarn of +various colors, and an equal variety of silk thread lay in confusion +upon a large round table, upon which were still standing the luncheon +dessert plates and a majolica dish filled with fine large +gooseberries. + +Swiftly and deftly the wool-threaded needles were drawn back and +forth, and the mother seemed never to let her eyes wander from the +work. But the daughter, who bore the Christian name of Effi, laid +aside her needle from time to time and arose from her seat to practice +a course of healthy home gymnastics, with every variety of bending and +stretching. It was apparent that she took particular delight in these +exercises, to which she gave a somewhat comical turn, and whenever she +stood there thus engaged, slowly raising her arms and bringing the +palms of her hands together high above her head, her mother would +occasionally glance up from her needlework, though always but for a +moment and that, too, furtively, because she did not wish to show how +fascinating she considered her own child, although in this feeling of +motherly pride she was fully justified. Effi wore a blue and white +striped linen dress, a sort of smock-frock, which would have shown no +waist line at all but for the bronze-colored leather belt which she +drew up tight. Her neck was bare and a broad sailor collar fell over +her shoulders and back. In everything she did there was a union of +haughtiness and gracefulness, and her laughing brown eyes betrayed +great natural cleverness and abundant enjoyment of life and goodness +of heart. She was called the "little girl," which she had to suffer +only because her beautiful slender mother was a full hand's breadth +taller than she. + +Effi had just stood up again to perform her calisthenic exercises when +her mother, who at the moment chanced to be looking up from her +embroidery, called to her: "Effi, you really ought to have been an +equestrienne, I'm thinking. Always on the trapeze, always a daughter +of the air. I almost believe you would like something of the sort." + +"Perhaps, mama. But if it were so, whose fault would it be? From whom +do I get it? Why, from no one but you. Or do you think, from papa? +There, it makes you laugh yourself. And then, why do you always dress +me in this rig, this boy's smock? Sometimes I fancy I shall be put +back in short clothes yet. Once I have them on again I shall courtesy +like a girl in her early teens, and when our friends in Rathenow come +over I shall sit in Colonel Goetze's lap and ride a trot horse. Why +not? He is three-fourths an uncle and only one-fourth a suitor. You +are to blame. Why don't I have any party clothes? Why don't you make a +lady of me?" + +"Should you like me to?" + +"No." With that she ran to her mother, embraced her effusively and +kissed her. + +"Not so savagely, Effi, not so passionately. I am always disturbed +when I see you thus." + +At this point three young girls stepped into the garden through the +little iron gate in the churchyard wall and started along the gravel +walk toward the round bed and the sundial. They all waved their +umbrellas at Effi and then ran up to Mrs. von Briest and kissed her +hand. She hurriedly asked a few questions and then invited the girls +to stay and visit with them, or at least with Effi, for half an hour. +"Besides, I have something else that I must do and young folks like +best to be left to themselves. Fare ye well." With these words she +went up the stone steps into the house. + +Two of the young girls, plump little creatures, whose freckles and +good nature well matched their curly red hair, were daughters of +Precentor Jahnke, who swore by the Hanseatic League, Scandinavia, and +Fritz Reuter, and following the example of his favorite writer and +fellow countryman, had named his twin daughters Bertha and Hertha, in +imitation of Mining and Lining. The third young lady was Hulda +Niemeyer, Pastor Niemeyer's only child. She was more ladylike than the +other two, but, on the other hand, tedious and conceited, a lymphatic +blonde, with slightly protruding dim eyes, which, nevertheless, seemed +always to be seeking something, for which reason the Hussar Klitzing +once said: "Doesn't she look as though she were every moment +expecting the angel Gabriel?" Effi felt that the rather captious +Klitzing was only too right in his criticism, yet she avoided making +any distinction between the three girl friends. Nothing could have +been farther from her mind at this moment. Resting her arms on the +table, she exclaimed: "Oh, this tedious embroidery! Thank heaven, you +are here." + +"But we have driven your mama away," said Hulda. + +"Oh no. She would have gone anyhow. She is expecting a visitor, an old +friend of her girlhood days. I must tell you a story about him later, +a love story with a real hero and a real heroine, and ending with +resignation. It will make you open your eyes wide with amazement. +Moreover, I saw mama's old friend over in Schwantikow. He is a +district councillor, a fine figure, and very manly." + +"Manly? That's a most important consideration," said Hertha. + +"Certainly, it's the chief consideration. 'Women womanly, men manly,' +is, you know, one of papa's favorite maxims. And now help me put the +table in order, or there will be another scolding." + +It took but a moment to put the things in the basket and, when the +girls sat down again, Hulda said: "Now, Effi, now we are ready, now +for the love story with resignation. Or isn't it so bad?" + +"A story with resignation is never bad. But I can't begin till Hertha +has taken some gooseberries; she keeps her eyes glued on them. Please +take as many as you like, we can pick some more afterward. But be sure +to throw the hulls far enough away, or, better still, lay them here on +this newspaper supplement, then we can wrap them up in a bundle and +dispose of everything at once. Mama can't bear to see hulls lying +about everywhere. She always says that some one might slip on them and +break a leg." + +"I don't believe it," said Hertha, applying herself closely to the +berries. + +"Nor I either," replied Effi, confirming the opinion. "Just think of +it, I fall at least two or three times every day and have never broken +any bones yet. The right kind of leg doesn't break so easily; +certainly mine doesn't, neither does yours, Hertha. What do you think, +Hulda?" + +"One ought not to tempt fate. Pride will have a fall." + +"Always the governess. You are just a born old maid." + +"And yet I still have hopes of finding a husband, perhaps even before +you do." + +"For aught I care. Do you think I shall wait for that? The idea! +Furthermore one has already been picked out for me and perhaps I shall +soon have him. Oh, I am not worrying about that. Not long ago little +Ventivegni from over the way said to me: 'Miss Effi, what will you bet +we shall not have a charivari and a wedding here this year yet?'" + +"And what did you say to that?" + +"Quite possible, I said, quite possible; Hulda is the oldest; she may +be married any day. But he refused to listen to that and said: 'No, I +mean at the home of another young lady who is just as decided a +brunette as Miss Hulda is a blonde.' As he said this he looked at me +quite seriously--But I am wandering and am forgetting the story." + +"Yes, you keep dropping it all the while; may be you don't want to +tell it, after all?" + +"Oh, I want to, but I have interrupted the story a good many times, +chiefly because it is a little bit strange, indeed, almost romantic." + +"Why, you said he was a district councillor." + +"Certainly, a district councillor, and his name is Geert von +Innstetten, Baron von Innstetten." + +All three laughed. + +"Why do you laugh?" said Effi, nettled. "What does this mean?" + +"Ah, Effi, we don't mean to offend you, nor the Baron either. +Innstetten did you say? And Geert? Why, there is nobody by that name +about here. And then you know the names of noblemen are often a bit +comical." + +"Yes, my dear, they are. But people do not belong to the nobility for +nothing. They can endure such things, and the farther back their +nobility goes, I mean in point of time, the better they are able to +endure them. But you don't know anything about this and you must not +take offense at me for saying so. We shall continue to be good friends +just the same. So it is Geert von Innstetten and he is a Baron. He is +just as old as mama, to the day." + +"And how old, pray, is your mama?" + +"Thirty-eight." + +"A fine age." + +"Indeed it is, especially when one still looks as well as mama. I +consider her truly a beautiful woman, don't you, too? And how +accomplished she is in everything, always so sure and at the same time +so ladylike, and never unconventional, like papa. If I were a young +lieutenant I should fall in love with mama." + +"Oh, Effi, how can you ever say such a thing?" said Hulda. "Why, that +is contrary to the fourth commandment." + +"Nonsense. How can it be? I think it would please mama if she knew I +said such a thing." + +"That may be," interrupted Hertha. "But are you ever going to tell the +story?" + +"Yes, compose yourself and I'll begin. We were speaking of Baron von +Innstetten. Before he had reached the age of twenty he was living over +in Rathenow, but spent much of his time on the seignioral estates of +this region, and liked best of all to visit in Schwantikow, at my +grandfather Belling's. Of course, it was not on account of my +grandfather that he was so often there, and when mama tells about it +one can easily see on whose account it really was. I think it was +mutual, too." + +"And what came of it?" + +"The thing that was bound to come and always does come. He was still +much too young and when my papa appeared on the scene, who had already +attained the title of baronial councillor and the proprietorship of +Hohen-Cremmen, there was no need of further time for consideration. +She accepted him and became Mrs. von Briest." + +"What did Innstetten do?" said Bertha, "what became of him? He didn't +commit suicide, otherwise you could not be expecting him today." + +"No, he didn't commit suicide, but it was something of that nature." + +"Did he make an unsuccessful attempt?" + +"No, not that. But he didn't care to remain here in the neighborhood +any longer, and he must have lost all taste for the soldier's career, +generally speaking. Besides, it was an era of peace, you know. In +short, he asked for his discharge and took up the study of the law, as +papa would say, with a 'true beer zeal.' But when the war of seventy +broke out he returned to the army, with the Perleberg troops, instead +of his old regiment, and he now wears the cross. Naturally, for he is +a smart fellow. Right after the war he returned to his documents, and +it is said that Bismarck thinks very highly of him, and so does the +Emperor. Thus it came about that he was made district councillor in +the district of Kessin." + +"What is Kessin? I don't know of any Kessin here." + +"No, it is not situated here in our region; it is a long distance away +from here, in Pomerania, in Farther Pomerania, in fact, which +signifies nothing, however, for it is a watering place (every place +about there is a summer resort), and the vacation journey that Baron +Innstetten is now enjoying is in reality a tour of his cousins, or +something of the sort. He wishes to visit his old friends and +relatives here." + +"Has he relatives here?" + +"Yes and no, depending on how you look at it. There are no +Innstettens here, there are none anywhere any more, I believe. But he +has here distant cousins on his mother's side, and he doubtless wished +above all to see Schwantikow once more and the Belling house, to which +he was attached by so many memories. So he was over there the day +before yesterday and today he plans to be here in Hohen-Cremmen." + +"And what does your father say about it?" + +"Nothing at all. It is not his way. Besides, he knows mama, you see. +He only teases her." + +At this moment the clock struck twelve and before it had ceased +striking, Wilke, the old factotum of the Briest family, came on the +scene to give a message to Miss Effi: "Your Ladyship's mother sends +the request that your Ladyship make her toilet in good season; the +Baron will presumably drive up immediately after one o'clock." While +Wilke was still delivering this message he began to put the ladies' +work-table in order and reached first for the sheet of newspaper, on +which the gooseberry hulls lay. + +"No, Wilke, don't bother with that. It is our affair to dispose of the +hulls--Hertha, you must now wrap up the bundle and put a stone in it, +so that it will sink better. Then we will march out in a long funeral +procession and bury the bundle at sea." + +Wilke smiled with satisfaction. "Oh, Miss Effi, she's a trump," was +about what he was thinking. But Effi laid the paper bundle in the +centre of the quickly gathered up tablecloth and said: "Now let all +four of us take hold, each by a corner, and sing something sorrowful." + +"Yes, Effi, that is easy enough to say, but what, pray, shall we +sing?" + +"Just anything. It is quite immaterial, only it must have a rime in +'oo;' 'oo' is always a sad vowel. Let us sing, say: + + + 'Flood, flood, + Make it all good.'" + + +While Effi was solemnly intoning this litany, all four marched out +upon the landing pier, stepped into the boat tied there, and from the +further end of it slowly lowered into the pond the pebble-weighted +paper bundle. + +"Hertha, now your guilt is sunk out of sight," said Effi, "in which +connection it occurs to me, by the way, that in former times poor +unfortunate women are said to have been thrown overboard thus from a +boat, of course for unfaithfulness." + +"But not here, certainly." + +"No, not here," laughed Effi, "such things do not take place here. But +they do in Constantinople and it just occurs to me that you must know +about it, for you were present in the geography class when the teacher +told about it." + +"Yes," said Hulda, "he was always telling us about such things. But +one naturally forgets them in the course of time." + +"Not I, I remember things like that." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The conversation ran on thus for some time, the girls recalling with +mingled disgust and delight the school lessons they had had in common, +and a great many of the teacher's uncalled-for remarks. Suddenly +Hulda said: "But you must make haste, Effi; why, you look--why, what +shall I say--why, you look as though you had just come from a cherry +picking, all rumpled and crumpled. Linen always gets so badly creased, +and that large white turned down collar--oh, yes, I have it now; you +look like a cabin boy." + +"Midshipman, if you please. I must derive some advantage from my +nobility. But midshipman or cabin boy, only recently papa again +promised me a mast, here close by the swing, with yards and a rope +ladder. Most assuredly I should like one and I should not allow +anybody to interfere with my fastening the pennant at the top. And +you, Hulda, would climb up then on the other side and high in the air +we would shout: 'Hurrah!' and give each other a kiss. By Jingo, that +would be a sweet one." + +"'By Jingo.' Now just listen to that. You really talk like a +midshipman. However, I shall take care not to climb up after you, I am +not such a dare-devil. Jahnke is quite right when he says, as he +always does, that you have too much Billing in you, from your mother. +I am only a preacher's daughter." + +"Ah, go along. Still waters run deep--But come, let us swing, two on a +side; I don't believe it will break. Or if you don't care to, for you +are drawing long faces again, then we will play hide-and-seek. I still +have a quarter of an hour. I don't want to go in, yet, and anyhow it +is merely to say: 'How do you do?' to a district councillor, and a +district councillor from Further Pomerania to boot. He is elderly, +too. Why he might almost be my father; and if he actually lives in a +seaport, for, you know, that is what Kessin is said to be, I really +ought to make the best impression upon him in this sailor costume, and +he ought almost to consider it a delicate attention. When princes +receive anybody, I know from what papa has told me, they always put on +the uniform of the country of their guest. So don't worry--Quick, +quick, I am going to hide and here by the bench is the base." + +Hulda was about to fix a few boundaries, but Effi had already run up +the first gravel walk, turning to the left, then to the right, and +suddenly vanishing from sight. "Effi, that does not count; where are +you? We are not playing run away; we are playing hide-and-seek." With +these and similar reproaches the girls ran to search for her, far +beyond the circular bed and the two plane trees standing by the side +of the path. She first let them get much farther than she was from the +base and then, rushing suddenly from her hiding place, reached the +bench, without any special exertion, before there was time to say: +"one, two, three." + +"Where were you?" + +"Behind the rhubarb plants; they have such large leaves, larger even +than a fig leaf." + +"Shame on you." + +"No, shame on you, because you didn't catch me. Hulda, with her big +eyes, again failed to see anything. She is always slow." Hereupon Effi +again flew away across the circle toward the pond, probably because +she planned to hide at first behind a dense-growing hazelnut hedge +over there, and then from that point to take a long roundabout way +past the churchyard and the front house and thence back to the wing +and the base. Everything was well calculated, but before she was half +way round the pond she heard some one at the house calling her name +and, as she turned around, saw her mother waving a handkerchief from +the stone steps. In a moment Effi was standing by her. + +"Now you see that I knew what I was talking about. You still have that +smock-frock on and the caller has arrived. You are never on time." + +"I shall be on time, easily, but the caller has not kept his +appointment. It is not yet one o'clock, not by a good deal," she said, +and turning to the twins, who had been lagging behind, called to them: +"Just go on playing; I shall be back right away." + +The next moment Effi and her mama entered the spacious drawing-room, +which occupied almost the whole ground floor of the side wing. + +"Mama, you daren't scold me. It is really only half past. Why does he +come so early? Cavaliers never arrive too late, much less too early." + +Mrs. von Briest was evidently embarrassed. But Effi cuddled up to her +fondly and said: "Forgive me, I will hurry now. You know I can be +quick, too, and in five minutes Cinderella will be transformed into a +princess. Meanwhile he can wait or chat with papa." + +Bowing to her mother, she was about to trip lightly up the little iron +stairway leading from the drawing-room to the story above. But Mrs. +von Briest, who could be unconventional on occasion, if she took a +notion to, suddenly held Effi back, cast a glance at the charming +young creature, still all in a heat from the excitement of the game, a +perfect picture of youthful freshness, and said in an almost +confidential tone: "After all, the best thing for you to do is to +remain as you are. Yes, don't change. You look very well indeed. And +even if you didn't, you look so unprepared, you show absolutely no +signs of being dressed for the occasion, and that is the most +important consideration at this moment. For I must tell you, my sweet +Effi--" and she clasped her daughter's hands--"for I must tell you--" + +"Why, mama, what in the world is the matter with you? You frighten me +terribly." + +"I must tell you, Effi, that Baron Innstetten has just asked me for +your hand." + +"Asked for my hand? In earnest?" + +"That is not a matter to make a jest of. You saw him the day before +yesterday and I think you liked him. To be sure, he is older than you, +which, all things considered, is a fortunate circumstance. Besides, he +is a man of character, position, and good breeding, and if you do not +say 'no,' which I could hardly expect of my shrewd Effi, you will be +standing at the age of twenty where others stand at forty. You will +surpass your mama by far." + +Effi remained silent, seeking a suitable answer. Before she could find +one she heard her father's voice in the adjoining room. The next +moment Councillor von Briest, a well preserved man in the fifties, and +of pronounced _bonhomie_, entered the drawing-room, and with him Baron +Innstetten, a man of slender figure, dark complexion, and military +bearing. + +When Effi caught sight of him she fell into a nervous tremble, but +only for an instant, as almost at the very moment when he was +approaching her with a friendly bow there appeared at one of the wide +open vine-covered windows the sandy heads of the Jahnke twins, and +Hertha, the more hoidenish, called into the room: "Come, Effi." Then +she ducked from sight and the two sprang from the back of the bench, +upon which they had been standing, down into the garden and nothing +more was heard from them except their giggling and laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Later in the day Baron Innstetten was betrothed to Effi von Briest. At +the dinner which followed, her jovial father found it no easy matter +to adjust himself to the solemn role that had fallen to him. He +proposed a toast to the health of the young couple, which was not +without its touching effect upon Mrs. von Briest, for she obviously +recalled the experiences of scarcely eighteen years ago. However, the +feeling did not last long. What it had been impossible for her to be, +her daughter now was, in her stead. All things considered, it was just +as well, perhaps even better. For one could live with von Briest, in +spite of the fact that he was a bit prosaic and now and then showed a +slight streak of frivolity. Toward the end of the meal--the ice was +being served--the elderly baronial councillor once more arose to his +feet to propose in a second speech that from now on they should all +address each other by the familiar pronoun "Du." Thereupon he embraced +Innstetten and gave him a kiss on the left cheek. But this was not the +end of the matter for him. On the contrary, he went on to recommend, +in addition to the "Du," a set of more intimate names and titles for +use in the home, seeking to establish a sort of basis for hearty +intercourse, at the same time preserving certain well-earned, and +hence justified, distinctions. For his wife he suggested, as the best +solution of the problem, the continuation of "Mama," for there are +young mamas, as well as old; whereas for himself, he was willing to +forego the honorable title of "Papa," and could not help feeling a +decided preference for the simple name of Briest, if for no other +reason, because it was so beautifully short. "And then as for the +children," he said--at which word he had to give himself a jerk as he +exchanged gazes with Innstetten, who was only about a dozen years his +junior--"well, let Effi just remain Effi, and Geert, Geert. Geert, if +I am not mistaken, signifies a tall and slender trunk, and so Effi may +be the ivy destined to twine about it." At these words the betrothed +couple looked at each other somewhat embarrassed, Effi's face showing +at the same time an expression of childlike mirth, but Mrs. von Briest +said: "Say what you like, Briest, and formulate your toasts to suit +your own taste, but if you will allow me one request, avoid poetic +imagery; it is beyond your sphere." These silencing words were +received by von Briest with more assent than dissent. "It is possible +that you are right, Luise." + +Immediately after rising from the table, Effi took leave to pay a +visit over at the pastor's. On the way she said to herself: "I think +Hulda will be vexed. I have got ahead of her after all. She always was +too vain and conceited." + +But Effi was not quite right in all that she expected. Hulda behaved +very well, preserving her composure absolutely and leaving the +indication of anger and vexation to her mother, the pastor's wife, +who, indeed, made some very strange remarks. "Yes, yes, that's the +way it goes. Of course. Since it couldn't be the mother, it has to be +the daughter. That's nothing new. Old families always hold together, +and where there is a beginning there will be an increase." The elder +Niemeyer, painfully embarrassed by these and similar pointed remarks, +which showed a lack of culture and refinement, lamented once more the +fact that he had married a mere housekeeper. + +[Illustration: _Permission F. Bruckmann A.-G. Munich_ +A SUNDAY IN THE GARDEN OF THE TUILERIES ADOLPH VON MENZEL.] + +After visiting the pastor's family Effi naturally went next to the +home of the precentor Jahnke. The twins had been watching for her and +received her in the front yard. + +"Well, Effi," said Hertha, as all three walked up and down between the +two rows of amaranths, "well, Effi, how do you really feel?" + +"How do I feel? O, quite well. We already say 'Du' to each other and +call each other by our first names. His name is Geert, but it just +occurs to me that I have already told you that." + +"Yes, you have. But in spite of myself I feel so uneasy about it. Is +he really the right man?" + +"Certainly he is the right man. You don't know anything about such +matters, Hertha. Any man is the right one. Of course he must be a +nobleman, have a position, and be handsome." + +"Goodness, Effi, how you do talk! You used to talk quite differently." + +"Yes, I used to." + +"And are you quite happy already?" + +"When one has been two hours betrothed, one is always quite happy. At +least, that is my idea about it." + +"And don't you feel at all--oh, what shall I say?--a bit awkward?" + +"Yes, I do feel a bit awkward, but not very. And I fancy I shall get +over it." + +After these visits at the parsonage and the home of the precentor, +which together had not consumed half an hour, Effi returned to the +garden veranda, where coffee was about to be served. Father-in-law and +son-in-law were walking up and down along the gravel path by the plane +trees. Von Briest was talking about the difficulties of a district +councillor's position, saying that he had been offered one at various +times, but had always declined. "The ability to have my own way in all +matters has always been the thing that was most to my liking, at least +more--I beg your pardon, Innstetten--than always having to look up to +some one else. For in the latter case one is always obliged to bear in +mind and pay heed to exalted and most exalted superiors. That is no +life for me. Here I live along in such liberty and rejoice at every +green leaf and the wild grape-vine that grows over those windows +yonder." + +He spoke further in this vein, indulging in all sorts of +anti-bureaucratic remarks, and excusing himself from time to time with +a blunt "I beg your pardon, Innstetten," which he interjected in a +variety of ways. The Baron mechanically nodded assent, but in reality +paid little attention to what was said. He turned his gaze again and +again, as though spellbound, to the wild grape-vine twining about the +window, of which Briest had just spoken, and as his thoughts were thus +engaged, it seemed to him as though he saw again the girls' sandy +heads among the vines and heard the saucy call, "Come, Effi." + +He did not believe in omens and the like; on the contrary, he was far +from entertaining superstitious ideas. Nevertheless he could not rid +his mind of the two words, and while Briest's peroration rambled on +and on he had the constant feeling that the little incident was +something more than mere chance. + +Innstetten, who had taken only a short vacation, departed the +following morning, after promising to write every day. "Yes, you must +do that," Effi had said, and these words came from her heart. She had +for years known nothing more delightful than, for example, to receive +a large number of birthday letters. Everybody had to write her a +letter for that day. Such expressions as "Gertrude and Clara join me +in sending you heartiest congratulations," were tabooed. Gertrude and +Clara, if they wished to be considered friends, had to see to it that +they sent individual letters with separate postage stamps, and, if +possible, foreign ones, from Switzerland or Carlsbad, for her birthday +came in the traveling season. + +Innstetten actually wrote every day, as he had promised. The thing +that made the receipt of his letters particularly pleasurable was the +circumstance that he expected in return only one very short letter +every week. This he received regularly and it was always full of +charming trifles, which never failed to delight him. Mrs. von Briest +undertook to carry on the correspondence with her future son-in-law +whenever there was any serious matter to be discussed, as, for +example, the settling of the details of the wedding, and questions of +the dowry and the furnishing of the new home. Innstetten was now +nearly three years in office, and his house in Kessin, while not +splendidly furnished, was nevertheless very well suited to his +station, and it seemed advisable to gain from correspondence with him +some idea of what he already had, in order not to buy anything +superfluous. When Mrs. von Briest was finally well enough informed +concerning all these details it was decided that the mother and +daughter should go to Berlin, in order, as Briest expressed himself, +to buy up the trousseau for Princess Effi. + +Effi looked forward to the sojourn in Berlin with great pleasure, the +more so because her father had consented that they should take +lodgings in the Hotel du Nord. "Whatever it costs can be deducted from +the dowry, you know, for Innstetten already has everything." Mrs. von +Briest forbade such "mesquineries" in the future, once for all, but +Effi, on the other hand, joyously assented to her father's plan, +without so much as stopping to think whether he had meant it as a jest +or in earnest, for her thoughts were occupied far, far more with the +impression she and her mother should make by their appearance at the +table d'hote, than with Spinn and Mencke, Goschenhofer, and other such +firms, whose names had been provisionally entered in her memorandum +book. And her demeanor was entirely in keeping with these frivolous +fancies, when the great Berlin week had actually come. + +Cousin von Briest of the Alexander regiment, an uncommonly jolly young +lieutenant, who took the _Fliegende Blatter_ and kept a record of the +best jokes, placed himself at the disposal of the ladies for every +hour he should be off duty, and so they would sit with him at the +corner window of Kranzler's, or perhaps in the Cafe Bauer, when +permissible, or would drive out in the afternoon to the Zoological +Garden, to see the giraffes, of which Cousin von Briest, whose name, +by the way, was Dagobert, was fond of saying: "They look like old +maids of noble birth." Every day passed according to program, and on +the third or fourth day they went, as directed, to the National +Gallery, because Dagobert wished to show his cousin the "Isle of the +Blessed." "To be sure, Cousin Effi is on the point of marrying, and +yet it may perhaps be well to have made the acquaintance of the 'Isle +of the Blessed' beforehand." His aunt gave him a slap with her fan, +but accompanied the blow with such a gracious look that he saw no +occasion to change the tone. + +These were heavenly days for all three, no less for Cousin Dagobert +than for the ladies, for he was a past master in the art of escorting +and always knew how quickly to compromise little differences. Of the +differences of opinion to be expected between mother and daughter +there was never any lack during the whole time, but fortunately they +never came out in connection with the purchases to be made. Whether +they bought a half dozen or three dozen of a particular thing, Effi +was uniformly satisfied, and when they talked, on the way home, about +the prices of the articles bought, she regularly confounded the +figures. Mrs. von Briest, ordinarily so critical, even toward her own +beloved child, not only took this apparent lack of interest lightly, +she even recognized in it an advantage. "All these things," said she +to herself, "do not mean much to Effi. Effi is unpretentious; she +lives in her own ideas and dreams, and when one of the Hohenzollern +princesses drives by and bows a friendly greeting from her carriage +that means more to Effi than a whole chest full of linen." + +That was all correct enough, and yet only half the truth. Effi cared +but little for the possession of more or less commonplace things, but +when she walked up and down Unter den Linden with her mother, and, +after inspecting the most beautiful show-windows, went into Demuth's +to buy a number of things for the honeymoon tour of Italy, her true, +character showed itself. Only the most elegant articles found favor in +her sight, and, if she could not have the best, she forewent the +second-best, because this second meant nothing to her. Beyond +question, she was able to forego,--in that her mother was right,--and +in this ability to forego there was a certain amount of +unpretentiousness. But when, by way of exception, it became a question +of really possessing a thing, it always had to be something out of the +ordinary. In this regard she was pretentious. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Cousin Dagobert was at the station when the ladies took the train for +Hohen-Cremmen. The Berlin sojourn had been a succession of happy days, +chiefly because there had been no suffering from disagreeable and, one +might almost say, inferior relatives. Immediately after their arrival +Effi had said: "This time we must remain incognito, so far as Aunt +Therese is concerned. It will not do for her to come to see us here in +the hotel. Either Hotel du Nord or Aunt Therese; the two would not go +together at all." The mother had finally agreed to this, had, in fact, +sealed the agreement with a kiss on her daughter's forehead. + +With Cousin Dagobert, of course, it was an entirely different matter. +Not only did he have the social grace of the Guards, but also, what is +more, the peculiarly good humor now almost a tradition with the +officers of the Alexander regiment, and this enabled him from the +outset to draw out both the mother and the daughter and keep them in +good spirits to the end of their stay. "Dagobert," said Effi at the +moment of parting, "remember that you are to come to my nuptial-eve +celebration; that you are to bring a cortege goes without saying. But +don't you bring any porter or mousetrap seller. For after the +theatrical performances there will be a ball, and you must take into +consideration that my first grand ball will probably be also my last. +Fewer than six companions--superb dancers, that goes without +saying--will not be approved. And you can return by the early morning +train." Her cousin promised everything she asked and so they bade each +other farewell. + +Toward noon the two women arrived at their Havelland station in the +middle of the marsh and after a drive of half an hour were at +Hohen-Cremmen. Von Briest was very happy to have his wife and daughter +at home again, and asked questions upon questions, but in most cases +did not wait for the answers. Instead of that he launched out into a +long account of what he had experienced in the meantime. "A while ago +you were telling me about the National Gallery and the 'Isle of the +Blessed.' Well, while you were away, there was something going on +here, too. It was our overseer Pink and the gardener's wife. Of +course, I had to dismiss Pink, but it went against the grain to do it. +It is very unfortunate that such affairs almost always occur in the +harvest season. And Pink was otherwise an uncommonly efficient man, +though here, I regret to say, in the wrong place. But enough of that; +Wilke is showing signs of restlessness too." + +At dinner von Briest listened better. The friendly intercourse with +Cousin Dagobert, of whom he heard a good deal, met with his approval, +less so the conduct toward Aunt Therese. But one could see plainly +that, at the same time that he was declaring his disapproval, he was +rejoicing; for a little mischievous trick just suited his taste, and +Aunt Therese was unquestionably a ridiculous figure. He raised his +glass and invited his wife and daughter to join him in a toast. After +dinner, when some of the handsomest purchases were unpacked and laid +before him for his judgment, he betrayed a great deal of interest, +which still remained alive, or, at least did not die out entirely, +even after he had glanced over the bills. "A little bit dear, or let +us say, rather, very dear; however, it makes no difference. Everything +has so much style about it, I might almost say, so much inspiration, +that I feel in my bones, if you give me a trunk like that and a +traveling rug like this for Christmas, I shall be ready to take our +wedding journey after a delay of eighteen years, and we, too, shall be +in Rome for Easter. What do you think, Luise? Shall we make up what we +are behind? Better late than never." + +Mrs. von Briest made a motion with her hand, as if to say: +"Incorrigible," and then left him to his own humiliation, which, +however, was not very deep. + + * * * * * + +The end of August had come, the wedding day (October the 3d) was +drawing nearer, and in the manor house, as well as at the parsonage +and the schoolhouse, all hands were incessantly occupied with the +preparations for the pre-nuptial eve. Jahnke, faithful to his passion +for Fritz Reuter, had fancied it would be particularly "ingenious" to +have Bertha and Hertha appear as Lining and Mining, speaking Low +German, of course, whereas Hulda was to present the elder-tree scene +of _Kaethchen von Heilbronn_, with Lieutenant Engelbrecht of the +Hussars as Wetter vom Strahl. Niemeyer, who by rights was the father +of the idea, had felt no hesitation to compose additional lines +containing a modest application to Innstetten and Effi. He himself was +satisfied with his effort and at the end of the first rehearsal heard +only very favorable criticisms of it, with one exception, to be sure, +viz., that of his patron lord, and old friend, Briest, who, when he +had heard the admixture of Kleist and Niemeyer, protested vigorously, +though not on literary grounds. "High Lord, and over and over, High +Lord--what does that mean? That is misleading and it distorts the +whole situation. Innstetten is unquestionably a fine specimen of the +race, a man of character and energy, but, when it comes to that, the +Briests are not of base parentage either. We are indisputably a +historic family--let me add: 'Thank God'--and the Innstettens are not. +The Innstettens are merely old, belong to the oldest nobility, if you +like; but what does oldest nobility mean? I will not permit that a von +Briest, or even a figure in the wedding-eve performance, whom +everybody must recognize as the counterpart of our Effi--I will not +permit, I say, that a Briest either in person or through a +representative speak incessantly of 'High Lord.' Certainly not, unless +Innstetten were at least a disguised Hohenzollern; there are some, you +know. But he is not one and hence I can only repeat that it distorts +the whole situation." + +For a long time von Briest really held fast to this view with +remarkable tenacity. But after the second rehearsal, at which Kaethchen +was half in costume, wearing a tight-fitting velvet bodice, he was so +carried away as to remark: "Kaethchen lies there beautifully," which +turn was pretty much the equivalent of a surrender, or at least +prepared the way for one. That all these things were kept secret from +Effi goes without saying. With more curiosity on her part, however, it +would have been wholly impossible. But she had so little desire to +find out about the preparations made and the surprises planned that +she declared to her mother with all emphasis: "I can wait and see," +and, when Mrs. von Briest still doubted her, Effi closed the +conversation with repeated assurances that it was really true and her +mother might just as well believe it. And why not? It was all just a +theatrical performance, and prettier and more poetical than +_Cinderella_, which she had seen on the last evening in Berlin--no, on +second thought, it couldn't be prettier and more poetical. In this +play she herself would have been glad to take a part, even if only for +the purpose of making a chalk mark on the back of the ridiculous +boarding-school teacher. "And how charming in the last act is +'Cinderella's awakening as a princess,' or at least as a countess! +Really, it was just like a fairy tale." She often spoke in this way, +was for the most part more exuberant than before, and was vexed only +at the constant whisperings and mysterious conduct of her girl +friends. "I wish they felt less important and paid more attention to +me. When the time comes they will only forget their lines and I shall +have to be in suspense on their account and be ashamed that they are +my friends." + +Thus ran Effi's scoffing remarks and there was no mistaking the fact +that she was not troubling herself any too much about the pre-nuptial +exercises and the wedding day. Mrs. von Briest had her own ideas on +the subject, but did not permit herself to worry about it, as Effi's +mind was, to a considerable extent, occupied with the future, which +after all was a good sign. Furthermore Effi, by virtue of her wealth +of imagination, often launched out into descriptions of her future +life in Kessin for a quarter of an hour at a time,--descriptions +which, incidentally, and much to the amusement of her mother, revealed +a remarkable conception of Further Pomerania, or, perhaps it would be +more correct to say, they embodied this conception, with clever +calculation and definite purpose. For Effi delighted to think of +Kessin as a half-Siberian locality, where the ice and snow never fully +melted. + +"Today Goschenhofer has sent the last thing," said Mrs. von Briest, +sitting, as was her custom, out in front of the wing of the mansion +with Effi at the work-table, upon which the supplies of linen and +underclothing kept increasing, whereas the newspapers, which merely +took up space, were constantly decreasing. "I hope you have everything +now, Effi. But if you still cherish little wishes you must speak them +out, if possible, this very hour. Papa has sold the rape crop at a +good price and is in an unusually good humor." + +"Unusually? He is always in a good humor." + +"In an unusually good humor," repeated the mother. "And it must be +taken advantage of. So speak. Several times during our stay in Berlin +I had the feeling that you had a very special desire for something or +other more." + +"Well, dear mama, what can I say? As a matter of fact I have +everything that one needs, I mean that one needs _here_. But as it is +once for all decided that I am to go so far north--let me say in +passing that I have no objections; on the contrary I look forward with +pleasure to it, to the northern lights and the brighter splendor of +the stars--as this has been definitely decided, I should like to have +a set of furs." + +"Why, Effi, child, that is empty folly. You are not going to St. +Petersburg or Archangel." + +"No, but I am a part of the way." + +"Certainly, child, you are a part of the way; but what does that mean? +If you go from here to Nauen you are, by the same train of reasoning, +a part of the way to Russia. However, if you want some furs you shall +have them. But let me tell you beforehand, I advise you not to buy +them. Furs are proper for elderly people; even your old mother is +still too young for them, and if you, in your seventeenth year, come +out in mink or marten the people of Kessin will consider it a +masquerade." + +It was on the second of September that these words were spoken, and +the conversation would doubtless have been continued, if it had not +happened to be the anniversary of the battle of Sedan. But because of +the day they were interrupted by the sound of drum and fife, and Effi, +who had heard before of the proposed parade, but had meanwhile +forgotten about it, rushed suddenly away from the work-table, past the +circular plot and the pond, in the direction of a balcony built on the +churchyard wall, to which one could climb by six steps not much +broader than the rungs of a ladder. In an instant she was at the top +and, surely enough, there came all the school children marching along, +Jahnke strutting majestically beside the right flank, while a little +drum major marched at the head of the procession, several paces in +advance, with an expression on his countenance as though it were +incumbent upon him to fight the battle of Sedan all over again. Effi +waved her handkerchief and he promptly returned the greeting by a +salute with his shining baton. + +A week later mother and daughter were again sitting in the same +place, busy, as before, with their work. It was an exceptionally +beautiful day; the heliotrope growing in a neat bed around the sundial +was still in bloom, and the soft breeze that was stirring bore its +fragrance over to them. + +"Oh, how well I feel," said Effi, "so well and so happy! I can't think +of heaven as more beautiful. And, after all, who knows whether they +have such wonderful heliotrope in heaven?" + +"Why, Effi, you must not talk like that. You get that from your +father, to whom nothing is sacred. Not long ago he even said: +'Niemeyer looks like Lot.' Unheard of. And what in the world can he +mean by it? In the first place he doesn't know how Lot looked, and +secondly it shows an absolute lack of consideration for Hulda. +Luckily, Niemeyer has only the one daughter, and for this reason the +comparison really falls to the ground. In one regard, to be sure, he +was only too right, viz., in each and every thing that he said about +'Lot's wife,' our good pastor's better half, who again this year, as +was to be expected, simply ruined our Sedan celebration by her folly +and presumption. By the by it just occurs to me that we were +interrupted in our conversation when Jahnke came by with the school. +At least I cannot imagine that the furs, of which you were speaking at +that time, should have been your only wish. So let me know, darling, +what further things you have set your heart upon." + +"None, mama." + +"Truly, none?" + +"No, none, truly; perfectly in earnest. But, on second thought, if +there were anything--" + +"Well?" + +"It would be a Japanese bed screen, black, with gold birds on it, all +with long crane bills. And then perhaps, besides, a hanging lamp for +our bedroom, with a red shade." + +Mrs. von Briest remained silent. + +"Now you see, mama, you are silent and look as though I had said +something especially improper." + +"No, Effi, nothing improper. Certainly not in the presence of your +mother, for I know you so well. You are a fantastic little person, +you like nothing better than to paint fanciful pictures of the future, +and the richer their coloring the more beautiful and desirable they +appear to you. I saw that when we were buying the traveling articles. +And now you fancy it would be altogether adorable to have a bed screen +with a variety of fabulous beasts on it, all in the dim light of a red +hanging lamp. It appeals to you as a fairy tale and you would like to +be a princess." + +Effi took her mother's hand and kissed it. "Yes, mama, that is my +nature." + +"Yes, that is your nature. I know it only too well. But, my dear Effi, +we must be circumspect in life, and we women especially. Now when you +go to Kessin, a small place, where hardly a streetlamp is lit at +night, the people will laugh at such things. And if they would only +stop with laughing! Those who are ill-disposed toward you--and there +are always some--will speak of your bad bringing-up, and many will +doubtless say even worse things." + +"Nothing Japanese, then, and no hanging lamp either. But I confess I +had thought it would be so beautiful and poetical to see everything in +a dim red light." + +Mrs. von Briest was moved. She got up and kissed Effi. "You are a +child. Beautiful and poetical. Nothing but fancies. The reality is +different, and often it is well that there should be dark instead of +light and shimmer." + +Effi seemed on the point of answering, but at this moment Wilke came +and brought some letters. One was from Kessin, from Innstetten. "Ah, +from Geert," said Effi, and putting the letter in her pocket, she +continued in a calm tone: "But you surely will allow me to set the +grand piano across one corner of the room. I care more for that than +for the open fireplace that Geert has promised me. And then I am going +to put your portrait on an easel. I can't be entirely without you. Oh, +how I shall be homesick to see you, perhaps even on the wedding tour, +and most certainly in Kessin. Why, they say the place has no garrison, +not even a staff surgeon, and how fortunate it is that it is at least +a watering place. Cousin von Briest, upon whom I shall rely as my +chief support, always goes with his mother and sister to Warnemunde. +Now I really do not see why he should not, for a change, some day +direct our dear relatives toward Kessin. Besides, 'direct' seems to +suggest a position on the staff, to which, I believe, he aspires. And +then, of course, he will come along and live at our house. Moreover +Kessin, as somebody just recently told me, has a rather large steamer, +which runs over to Sweden twice a week. And on the ship there is +dancing (of course they have a band on board), and he dances very +well." + +"Who?" + +"Why, Dagobert." + +"I thought you meant Innstetten. In any case the time has now come to +know what he writes. You still have the letter in your pocket, you +know." + +"That's right. I had almost forgotten it." She opened the letter and +glanced over it. + +"Well, Effi, not a word? You are not beaming and not even smiling. And +yet he always writes such bright and entertaining letters, and not a +word of fatherly wisdom in them." + +"That I should not allow. He has his age and I have my youth. I should +shake my finger at him and say: 'Geert, consider which is better.'" + +"And then he would answer: 'You have what is better.' For he is not +only a man of most refined manners, he is at the same time just and +sensible and knows very well what youth means. He is always reminding +himself of that and adapting himself to youthful ways, and if he +remains the same after marriage you will lead a model married life." + +"Yes, I think so, too, mama. But just imagine--and I am almost ashamed +to say it--I am not so very much in favor of what is called a model +married life." + +"That is just like you. And now tell me, pray, what are you really in +favor of?" + +"I am--well, I am in favor of like and like and naturally also of +tenderness and love. And if tenderness and love are out of the +question, because, as papa says, love is after all only fiddle-faddle, +which I, however, do not believe, well, then I am in favor of wealth +and an aristocratic house, a really aristocratic one, to which Prince +Frederick Charles will come for an elk or grouse hunt, or where the +old Emperor will call and have a gracious word for every lady, even +for the younger ones. And then when we are in Berlin I am for court +balls and gala performances at the Opera, with seats always close by +the grand central box." + +"Do you say that out of pure sauciness and caprice?" + +"No, mama, I am fully in earnest. Love comes first, but right after +love come splendor and honor, and then comes amusement--yes, +amusement, always something new, always something to make me laugh or +weep. The thing I cannot endure is _ennui_." + +"If that is the case, how in the world have you managed to get along +with us?" + +"Why, mama, I am amazed to hear you say such a thing. To be sure, in +the winter time, when our dear relatives come driving up to see us and +stay for six hours, or perhaps even longer, and Aunt Gundel and Aunt +Olga eye me from head to foot and find me impertinent--and Aunt Gundel +once told me that I was--well, then occasionally it is not very +pleasant, that I must admit. But otherwise I have always been happy +here, so happy--" + +As she said the last words she fell, sobbing convulsively, at her +mother's feet and kissed her hands. + +"Get up, Effi. Such emotions as these overcome one, when one is as +young as you and facing her wedding and the uncertain future. But now +read me the letter, unless it contains something very special, or +perhaps secrets." + +"Secrets," laughed Effi and sprang to her feet in a suddenly changed +mood. "Secrets! Yes, yes, he is always coming to the point of telling +me some, but the most of what he writes might with perfect propriety +be posted on the bulletin board at the mayor's office, where the +ordinances of the district council are posted. But then, you know, +Geert is one of the councillors." + +"Read, read." + +"Dear Effi: The nearer we come to our wedding day, the more scanty +your letters grow. When the mail arrives I always look first of all +for your handwriting, but, as you know, all in vain, as a rule, and +yet I did not ask to have it otherwise. The workmen are now in the +house who are to prepare the rooms, few in number, to be sure, for +your coming. The best part of the work will doubtless not be done till +we are on our journey. Paper-hanger Madelung, who is to furnish +everything, is an odd original. I shall tell you about him the next +time. Now I must tell you first of all how happy I am over you, over +my sweet little Effi. The very ground beneath my feet here is on fire, +and yet our good city is growing more and more quiet and lonesome. The +last summer guest left yesterday. Toward the end he went swimming at +nine degrees above zero (Centigrade), and the attendants were always +rejoiced when he came out alive. For they feared a stroke of apoplexy, +which would give the baths a bad reputation, as though the water were +worse here than elsewhere. I rejoice when I think that in four weeks I +shall row with you from the Piazzetta out to the Lido or to Murano, +where they make glass beads and beautiful jewelry. And the most +beautiful shall be yours. Many greetings to your parents and the +tenderest kiss for yourself from your Geert." + +Effi folded the letter and put it back into the envelope. + +"That is a very pretty letter," said Mrs. von Briest, "and that it +observes due moderation throughout is a further merit." + +"Yes, due moderation it surely does observe." + +"My dear Effi, let me ask a question. Do you wish that the letter did +not observe due moderation? Do you wish that it were more +affectionate, perhaps gushingly affectionate?" + +"No, no, mama. Honestly and truly no, I do not wish that. So it is +better as it is." + +"So it is better as it is. There you go again. You are so queer. And +by the by, a moment ago you were weeping. Is something troubling you? +It is not yet too late. Don't you love Geert?" + +"Why shouldn't I love him? I love Hulda, and I love Bertha, and I love +Hertha. And I love old Mr. Niemeyer, too. And that I love you and papa +I don't even need to mention. I love all who mean well by me and are +kind to me and humor me. No doubt Geert will humor me, too. To be +sure, in his own way. You see he is already thinking of giving me +jewelry in Venice. He hasn't the faintest suspicion that I care +nothing for jewelry. I care more for climbing and swinging and am +always happiest when I expect every moment that something will give +way or break and cause me to tumble. It will not cost me my head the +first time, you know." + +"And perhaps you also love your Cousin von Briest?" + +"Yes, very much. He always cheers me." + +"And would you have liked to marry Cousin von Briest?" + +"Marry? For heaven's sake no. Why, he is still half a boy. Geert is a +man, a handsome man, a man with whom I can shine and he will make +something of himself in the world. What are you thinking of, mama?" + +"Well, that is all right, Effi, I am glad to hear it. But there is +something else troubling you." + +"Perhaps." + +"Well, speak." + +"You see, mama, the fact that he is older than I does no harm. Perhaps +that is a very good thing. After all he is not old and is well and +strong and is so soldierly and so keen. And I might almost say I am +altogether in favor of him, if he only--oh, if he were only a little +bit different." + +"How, pray, Effi." + +"Yes, how? Well, you must not laugh at me. It is something that I +only very recently overheard, over at the parsonage. We were talking +about Innstetten and all of a sudden old Mr. Niemeyer wrinkled his +forehead, in wrinkles of respect and admiration, of course, and said: +'Oh yes, the Baron. He is a man of character, a man of principles." + +"And that he is, Effi." + +"Certainly. And later, I believe, Niemeyer said he is even a man of +convictions. Now that, it seems to me, is something more. Alas, and +I--I have none. You see, mama, there is something about this that +worries me and makes me uneasy. He is so dear and good to me and so +considerate, but I am afraid of him." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The days of festivity at Hohen-Cremmen were past; all the guests had +departed, likewise the newly married couple, who left the evening of +the wedding day. + +The nuptial-eve performance had pleased everybody, especially the +players, and Hulda had been the delight of all the young officers, not +only the Rathenow Hussars, but also their more critically inclined +comrades of the Alexander regiment. Indeed everything had gone well +and smoothly, almost better than expected. The only thing to be +regretted was that Bertha and Hertha had sobbed so violently that +Jahnke's Low German verses had been virtually lost. But even that had +made but little difference. A few fine connoisseurs had even expressed +the opinion that, "to tell the truth, forgetting what to say, sobbing, +and unintelligibility, together form the standard under which the most +decided victories are won, particularly in the case of pretty, curly +red heads." Cousin von Briest had won a signal triumph in his +self-composed role. He had appeared as one of Demuth's clerks, who had +found out that the young bride was planning to go to Italy immediately +after the wedding, for which reason he wished to deliver to her a +traveling trunk. This trunk proved, of course, to be a giant box of +bonbons from Hoevel's. The dancing had continued till three o'clock, +with the effect that Briest, who had been gradually talking himself +into the highest pitch of champagne excitement, had made various +remarks about the torch dance, still in vogue at many courts, and the +remarkable custom of the garter dance. Since these remarks showed no +signs of coming to an end, and kept getting worse and worse, they +finally reached the point where they simply had to be choked off. +"Pull yourself together, Briest," his wife had whispered to him in a +rather earnest tone; "you are not here for the purpose of making +indecent remarks, but of doing the honors of the house. We are having +at present a wedding and not a hunting party." Whereupon von Briest +answered: "I see no difference between the two; besides, I am happy." + +The wedding itself had also gone well, Niemeyer had conducted the +service in an exquisite fashion, and on the way home from the church +one of the old men from Berlin, who half-way belonged to the court +circle, made a remark to the effect that it was truly wonderful how +thickly talents are distributed in a state like ours. "I see therein a +triumph of our schools, and perhaps even more of our philosophy. When +I consider how this Niemeyer, an old village preacher, who at first +looked like a hospitaler--why, friend, what do you say? Didn't he +speak like a court preacher? Such tact, and such skill in antithesis, +quite the equal of Koegel, and in feeling even better. Koegel is too +cold. To be sure, a man in his position has to be cold. Generally +speaking, what is it that makes wrecks of the lives of men? Always +warmth, and nothing else." It goes without saying that these remarks +were assented to by the dignitary to whom they were addressed, a +gentleman as yet unmarried, who doubtless for this very reason was, at +the time being, involved in his fourth "relation." "Only too true, +dear friend," said he. "Too much warmth--most excellent--Besides, I +must tell you a story, later." + +The day after the wedding was a clear October day. The morning sun +shone bright, yet there was a feeling of autumn chilliness in the air, +and von Briest, who had just taken breakfast in company with his wife, +arose from his seat and stood, with his hands behind his back, before +the slowly dying open fire. Mrs. von Briest, with her fancy work in +her hands, moved likewise closer to the fireplace and said to Wilke, +who entered just at this point to clear away the breakfast table: "And +now, Wilke, when you have everything in order in the dining hall--but +that comes first--then see to it that the cakes are taken over to the +neighbors, the nutcake to the pastor's and the dish of small cakes to +the Jahnkes'. And be careful with the goblets. I mean the thin cut +glasses." + +Briest had already lighted his third cigarette, and, looking in the +best of health, declared that "nothing agrees with one so well as a +wedding, excepting one's own, of course." + +"I don't know why you should make that remark, Briest. It is +absolutely news to me that you suffered at your wedding. I can't +imagine why you should have, either." + +"Luise, you are a wet blanket, so to speak. But I take nothing amiss, +not even a thing like that. Moreover, why should we be talking about +ourselves, we who have never even taken a wedding tour? Your father +was opposed to it. But Effi is taking a wedding tour now. To be +envied. Started on the ten o'clock train. By this time they must be +near Ratisbon, and I presume he is enumerating to her the chief art +treasures of the Walhalla, without getting off the train--that goes +without saying. Innstetten is a splendid fellow, but he is pretty much +of an art crank, and Effi, heaven knows, our poor Effi is a child of +nature. I am afraid he will annoy her somewhat with his enthusiasm for +art." + +"Every man annoys his wife, and enthusiasm for art is not the worst +thing by a good deal." + +"No, certainly not. At all events we will not quarrel about that; it +is a wide field. Then, too, people are so different. Now you, you +know, would have been the right person for that. Generally speaking, +you would have been better suited to Innstetten than Effi. What a +pity! But it is too late now." + +"Extremely gallant remark, except for the fact that it is not apropos. +However, in any case, what has been has been. Now he is my son-in-law, +and it can accomplish nothing to be referring back all the while to +the affairs of youth." + +"I wished merely to rouse you to an animated humor." + +"Very kind of you, but it was not necessary. I am in an animated +humor." + +"Likewise a good one?" + +"I might almost say so. But you must not spoil it.--Well, what else is +troubling you? I see there is something on your mind." + +"Were you pleased with Effi? Were you satisfied with the whole affair? +She was so peculiar, half naive, and then again very self-conscious +and by no means as demure as she ought to be toward such a husband. +That surely must be due solely to the fact that she does not yet fully +know what she has in him. Or is it simply that she does not love him +very much? That would be bad. For with all his virtues he is not the +man to win her love with an easy grace." + +Mrs. von Briest kept silent and counted the stitches of her fancy +work. Finally she said: "What you just said, Briest, is the most +sensible thing I have heard from you for the last three days, +including your speech at dinner. I, too, have had my misgivings. But I +believe we have reason to feel satisfied." + +"Has she poured out her heart to you?" + +"I should hardly call it that. True, she cannot help talking, but she +is not disposed to tell everything she has in her heart, and she +settles a good many things for herself. She is at once communicative +and reticent, almost secretive; in general, a very peculiar mixture." + +"I am entirely of your opinion. But how do you know about this if she +didn't tell you?" + +"I only said she did not pour out her heart to me. Such a general +confession, such a complete unburdening of the soul, it is not in her +to make. It all came out of her by sudden jerks, so to speak, and then +it was all over. But just because it came from her soul so +unintentionally and accidentally, as it were, it seemed to me for that +very reason so significant." + +"When was this, pray, and what was the occasion?" + +"Unless I am mistaken, it was just three weeks ago, and we were +sitting in the garden, busied with all sorts of things belonging to +her trousseau, when Wilke brought a letter from Innstetten. She put it +in her pocket and a quarter of an hour later had wholly forgotten +about it, till I reminded her that she had a letter. Then she read it, +but the expression of her face hardly changed. I confess to you that +an anxious feeling came over me, so intense that I felt a strong +desire to have all the light on the matter that it is possible to have +under the circumstances." + +"Very true, very true." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Well, I mean only--But that is wholly immaterial. Go on with your +story; I am all ears." + +"So I asked her straight out how matters stood, and as I wished to +avoid anything bordering on solemnity, in view of her peculiar +character, and sought to take the whole matter as lightly as possible, +almost as a joke, in fact, I threw out the question, whether she would +perhaps prefer to marry Cousin von Briest, who had showered his +attentions upon her in Berlin." + +"And?" + +"You ought to have seen her then. Her first answer was a saucy laugh. +Why, she said, her cousin was really only a big cadet in lieutenant's +uniform. And she could not even love a cadet, to saying nothing of +marrying one. Then she spoke of Innstetten, who suddenly became for +her a paragon of manly virtues." + +"How do you explain that?" + +"It's quite simple. Lively, emotional, I might almost say, passionate +as she is, or perhaps just because she is so constituted, she is not +one of those who are so particularly dependent upon love, at least not +upon what truly deserves the name. To be sure, she speaks of love, +even with emphasis and a certain tone of conviction, but only because +she has somewhere read that love is indisputably the most exalted, +most beautiful, most glorious thing in the world. And it may be, +perhaps, that she has merely heard it from that sentimental person, +Hulda, and repeats it after her. But she does not feel it very deeply. +It is barely possible that it will come later. God forbid. But it is +not yet at hand." + +"Then what is at hand? What ails her?" + +"In my judgment, and according to her own testimony, she has two +things: mania for amusement and ambition." + +"Well, those things can pass away. They do not disturb me." + +"They do me. Innstetten is the kind of a man who makes his own career. +I will not call him pushing, for he is not, he has too much of the +real gentleman in him for that. Let us say, then, he is a man who will +make his own career. That will satisfy Effi's ambition." + +"Very well. I call that good." + +"Yes, it is good. But that is only the half. Her ambition will be +satisfied, but how about her inclination for amusement and adventure? +I have my doubts. For the little entertainment and awakening of +interest, demanded every hour, for the thousand things that overcome +ennui, the mortal enemy of a spiritual little person, for these +Innstetten will make poor provision. He will not leave her in the +midst of an intellectual desert; he is too wise and has had too much +experience in the world for that, but he will not specially amuse her +either. And, most of all, he will not even bother to ask himself +seriously how to go about it. Things can go on thus for a while +without doing much harm, but she will finally become aware of the +situation and be offended. And then I don't know what will happen. For +gentle and yielding as she is, she has, along with these qualities, a +certain inclination to fly into a fury, and at such times she hazards +everything." + +At this point Wilke came in from the dining hall and reported that he +had counted everything and found everything there, except that one of +the fine wine glasses was broken, but that had occurred yesterday when +the toast was drunk. Miss Hulda had clinked her glass too hard against +Lieutenant Nienkerk's. + +"Of course, half asleep and always has been, and lying under the elder +tree has obviously not improved matters. A silly person, and I don't +understand Nienkerk." + +"I understand him perfectly." + +"But he can't marry her." + +"No." + +"His purpose, then?" + +"A wide field, Luise." + +This was the day after the wedding. Three days later came a scribbled +little card from Munich, with all the names on it indicated by two +letters only. "Dear mama: This morning we visited the Pinakothek. +Geert wanted to go over to the other museum, too, the name of which I +will not mention here, because I am in doubt about the right way to +spell it, and I dislike to ask him. I must say, he is angelic to me +and explains everything. Generally speaking, everything is very +beautiful, but it's a strain. In Italy it will probably slacken +somewhat and get better. We are lodging at the 'Four Seasons,' which +fact gave Geert occasion to remark to me, that 'outside it was autumn, +but in me he was having spring.' I consider that a very graceful +compliment. He is really very attentive. To be sure, I have to be +attentive, too, especially when he says something or is giving me an +explanation. Besides, he knows everything so well that he doesn't even +need to consult a guide book. He delights to talk of you two, +especially mama. He considers Hulda somewhat affected, but old Mr. +Niemeyer has completely captivated him. A thousand greetings from your +thoroughly entranced, but somewhat weary Effi." + +Similar cards now arrived daily, from Innsbruck, from Vicenza, from +Padua. Every one began: "We visited the famous gallery here this +morning," or, if it was not the gallery, it was an arena or some +church of "St. Mary" with a surname. From Padua came, along with the +card, a real letter. "Yesterday we were in Vicenza. One must see +Vicenza on account of Palladio. Geert told me that everything modern +had its roots in him. Of course, with reference only to architecture. +Here in Padua, where we arrived this morning, he said to himself +several times in the hotel omnibus, 'He lies in Padua interred,' and +was surprised when he discovered that I had never heard these words. +But finally he said it was really very well and in my favor that I +knew nothing about them. He is very just, I must say. And above all he +is angelic to me and not a bit overbearing and not at all old, either. +I still have pains in my feet, and the consulting of guide books and +standing so long before pictures wears me out. But it can't be helped, +you know. I am looking forward to Venice with much pleasure. We shall +stay there five days, perhaps even a whole week. Geert has already +begun to rave about the pigeons in St. Mark's Square, and the fact +that one can buy there little bags of peas and feed them to the pretty +birds. There are said to be paintings representing this scene, with +beautiful blonde maidens, 'a type like Hulda,' as he said. And that +reminds me of the Jahnke girls. I would give a good deal if I could be +sitting with them on a wagon tongue in our yard and feeding _our_ +pigeons. Now, you must not kill the fan tail pigeon with the big +breast; I want to see it again. Oh, it is so beautiful here. This is +even said to be the most beautiful of all. Your happy, but somewhat +weary Effi." + +When Mrs. von Briest had finished reading the letter she said: "The +poor child. She is homesick." + +"Yes," said von Briest, "she is homesick. This accursed traveling--" + +"Why do you say that now! You might have hindered it, you know. But it +is just your way to play the wise man after a thing is all over. After +a child has fallen into the well the aldermen cover up the well." + +"Ah, Luise, don't bother me with that kind of stuff. Effi is our +child, but since the 3d of October she has been the Baroness of +Innstetten. And if her husband, our son-in-law, desires to take a +wedding tour and use it as an occasion for making a new catalogue of +every gallery, I can't keep him from doing it. That is what it means +to get married." + +"So now you admit it. In talking with me you have always denied, yes, +always denied that the wife is in a condition of restraint." + +"Yes, Luise, I have. But what is the use of discussing that now? It is +really too wide a field." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Innstetten's leave of absence was to expire the 15th of November, and +so when they had reached Capri and Sorrento he felt morally bound to +follow his usual habit of returning to his duties on the day and at +the hour designated. So on the morning of the 14th they arrived by the +fast express in Berlin, where Cousin von Briest met them and proposed +that they should make use of the two hours before the departure of the +Stettin train to pay a visit to the Panorama and then have a little +luncheon together. Both proposals were accepted with thanks. At noon +they returned to the station, shook hands heartily and said good-by, +after both Effi and her husband had extended the customary invitation, +"Do come to see us some day," which fortunately is never taken +seriously. As the train started Effi waved a last farewell from her +compartment. Then she leaned back and made herself comfortable, but +from time to time sat up and held out her hand to Innstetten. + +It was a pleasant journey, and the train arrived on time at the +Klein-Tantow station, from which a turnpike led to Kessin, ten miles +away. In the summer time, especially during the tourist season, +travelers were accustomed to avoid the turnpike and take the water +route, going by an old sidewheel steamer down the Kessine, the river +from which Kessin derived its name. But the "Phoenix"--about which the +wish had long been vainly cherished, that, at some time when there +were no passengers on board, it might justify its name and burn to +ashes--regularly stopped running on the 1st of October. For this +reason Innstetten had telegraphed from Stettin to his coachman Kruse: +"Five o'clock, Klein-Tantow station. Open carriage, if good weather." + +It certainly was good weather, and there sat Kruse in the open +carriage at the station. He greeted the newly arrived couple with all +the prescribed dignity of a first-class coachman. + +"Well, Kruse, everything in order?" + +"At your service, Sir Councillor." + +"Then, Effi, please get in." As Effi was doing as bid, and one of the +station porters was finding a place for a small satchel by the +coachman, in front, Innstetten left orders to send the rest of the +luggage by the omnibus. Then he, too, took his seat and after +condescendingly asking one of the bystanders for a light called to +Kruse: "Drive on, Kruse." The carriage rolled quickly over the rails +of the many tracks at the crossing, then slantingly down the slope of +the embankment, and on the turnpike past an inn called "The Prince +Bismarck." At this point the road forked, one branch leading to the +right to Kessin, the other to the left to Varzin. In front of the inn +stood a moderately tall, broad-shouldered man in a fur coat and a fur +cap. The cap he took off with great deference as the District +Councillor drove by. "Pray, who was that?" said Effi, who was +extremely interested in all she saw and consequently in the best of +humor. "He looked like a starost, though I am forced to confess I +never saw a starost before." + +"Which is no loss, Effi. You guessed very well just the same. He does +really look like a starost and is something of the sort, too. I mean +by that, he is half Polish. His name is Golchowski, and whenever we +have an election or a hunt here, he is at the top of the list. In +reality he is a very unsafe fellow, whom I would not trust across the +road, and he doubtless has a great deal on his conscience. But he +assumes an air of loyalty, and when the quality of Varzin go by here +he would like nothing better than to throw himself before their +carriages. I know that at the same time he is hostile to the Prince. +But what is the use? We must not have any misunderstandings with him, +for we need him. He has this whole region in his pocket and +understands electioneering better than any one else. Besides, he is +considered well-to-do and lends out money at usury which is contrary +to the ordinary practice of the Poles." + +"But he was good-looking." + +"Yes, good-looking he is. Most of the people here are good-looking. A +handsome strain of human beings. But that is the best that can be said +of them. Your Brandenburg people look more unostentatious and more +ill-humored, and in their conduct they are less respectful, in fact, +are not at all respectful, but their yes is yes and no is no, and one +can depend upon them. Here everybody is uncertain." + +"Why do you tell me that, since I am obliged to live here among them +now?" + +"Not you. You will not hear or see much of them. For city and country +are here very different, and you will become acquainted with our city +people only, our good people of Kessin." + +"Our good people of Kessin. Is that sarcasm, or are they really so +good?" + +"That they are really good is not exactly what I mean to say, but they +are different from the others; in fact, they have no similarity +whatever to the country inhabitants here." + +"How does that come?" + +"Because they are entirely different human beings, by ancestry and +association. The people you find in the country here are the so-called +Cassubians, of whom you may have heard, a Slavic race, who have been +living here for a thousand years and probably much longer. But all the +inhabitants of our seaports, and the commercial cities near the coast, +have moved here from a distance and trouble themselves very little +about the Cassubian backwoods, because they derive little profit from +that source and are dependent upon entirely different sources. The +sources upon which they are dependent are the regions with which they +have commercial relations, and as their commerce brings them into +touch with the whole world you will find among them people from every +nook and corner of the earth, even here in our good Kessin, in spite +of the fact that it is nothing but a miserable hole." + +"Why, that is perfectly charming, Geert. You are always talking about +the miserable hole, but I shall find here an entirely new world, if +you have not exaggerated. All kinds of exotics. That is about what you +meant, isn't it?" + +He nodded his head. + +"An entirely new world, I say, perhaps a negro, or a Turk, or perhaps +even a Chinaman." + +"Yes, a Chinaman, too. How well you can guess! It may be that we still +have one. He is dead now and buried in a little fenced-in plot of +ground close by the churchyard. If you are not easily frightened I +will show you his grave some day. It is situated among the dunes, with +nothing but lyme grass around it, and here and there a few +immortelles, and one always hears the sea. It is very beautiful and +very uncanny." + +"Oh, uncanny? I should like to know more about it. But I would better +not. Such stories make me have visions and dreams, and if, as I hope, +I sleep well tonight, I should certainly not like to see a Chinaman +come walking up to my bed the first thing." + +"You will not, either." + +"Not, either? Upon my word, that sounds strange, as though, after all, +it were possible. You seek to make Kessin interesting to me, but you +carry it a trifle too far. And have you many such foreigners in +Kessin?" + +"A great many. The whole population is made up of such foreigners, +people whose parents and grandparents lived in an entirely different +region." + +"Most remarkable. Please tell me more about them. But no more creepy +stories. I feel that there is always something creepy about a +Chinaman." + +"Yes, there is," laughed Geert, "but the rest, thank heaven, are of an +entirely different sort, all mannerly people, perhaps a little bit too +commercial, too thoughtful of their own advantage, and always on hand +with bills of questionable value. In fact, one must be cautious with +them. But otherwise they are quite agreeable. And to let you see that +I have not been deceiving you I will just give you a little sample, a +sort of index or list of names." + +"Please do, Geert." + +"For example, we have, not fifty paces from our house, and our gardens +are even adjoining, the master machinist and dredger Macpherson, a +real Scotchman and a Highlander." + +"And he still wears the native costume?" + +"No, thank heaven, he doesn't, for he is a shriveled up little man, of +whom neither his clan nor Walter Scott would be particularly proud. +And then we have, further, in the same house where this Macpherson +lives, an old surgeon by the name of Beza, in reality only a barber. +He comes from Lisbon, the same place that the famous general De Meza +comes from. Meza, Beza; you can hear the national relationship. And +then we have, up the river by the quay, where the ships lie, a +goldsmith by the name of Stedingk, who is descended from an old +Swedish family; indeed, I believe there are counts of the empire by +that name. Further, and with this man I will close for the present, we +have good old Dr. Hannemann, who of course is a Dane, and was a long +time in Iceland, has even written a book on the last eruption of +Hekla, or Krabla." + +"Why, that is magnificent, Geert. It is like having six novels that +one can never finish reading. At first it sounds commonplace, but +afterward seems quite out of the ordinary. And then you must also have +people, simply because it is a seaport, who are not mere surgeons or +barbers or anything of the sort. You must also have captains, some +flying Dutchman or other, or--" + +"You are quite right. We even have a captain who was once a pirate +among the Black Flags." + +"I don't know what you mean. What are Black Flags?" + +"They are people away off in Tonquin and the South Sea--But since he +has been back among men he has resumed the best kind of manners and is +quite entertaining." + +"I should be afraid of him nevertheless." + +"You don't need to be, at any time, not even when I am out in the +country or at the Prince's for tea, for along with everything else +that we have, we have, thank heaven, also Rollo." + +"Rollo?" + +"Yes, Bollo. The name makes you think of the Norman Duke, provided you +have ever heard Niemeyer or Jahnke speak of him. Our Rollo has +somewhat the same character. But he is only a Newfoundland dog, a most +beautiful animal, that loves me and will love you, too. For Rollo is a +connoisseur. So long as you have him about you, you are safe, and +nothing can get at you, neither a live man nor a dead one. But just +see the moon over yonder. Isn't it beautiful?" + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann A -G, Munich_ +DIVINE SERVICE IN THE WOODS AT KOSEN ADOLPH VON MENZEL] + +Effi, who had been leaning back quietly absorbed, drinking in every +word, half timorously, half eagerly, now sat erect and looked out to +the right, where the moon had just risen behind a white mass of +clouds, which quickly floated by. Copper-colored hung the great disk +behind a clump of alders and shed its light upon the expanse of water +into which the Kessine here widens out. Or perhaps it might be looked +upon as one of the fresh-water lakes connected with the Baltic Sea. + +Effi was stupefied. "Yes, you are right, Geert, how beautiful! But at +the same time there is something uncanny about it. In Italy I never +had such a sensation, not even when we were going over from Mestre to +Venice. There, too, we had water and swamps and moonlight, and I +thought the bridge would break. But it was not so spooky. What is the +cause of it, I wonder? Can it be the northern latitude?" + +Innstetten laughed. "We are here seventy-five miles further north than +in Hohen-Cremmen, and you have still a while to wait before we come to +the first polar bear. I think you are nervous from the long journey +and the Panorama, not to speak of the story of the Chinaman." + +"Why, you didn't tell me any story." + +"No, I only mentioned him. But a Chinaman is in himself a story." + +"Yes," she laughed. + +"In any case you will soon recover. Do you see the little house yonder +with the light? It is a blacksmith's shop. There the road bends. And +when we have passed the bend you will be able to see the tower of +Kessin, or to be more exact, the two." + +"Has it two?" + +"Yes, Kessin is picking up. It now has a Catholic church also." + +A half hour later the carriage stopped at the district councillor's +residence, which stood clear at the opposite end of the city. It was a +simple, rather old-fashioned, frame-house with plaster between the +timbers, and stood facing the main street, which led to the sea-baths, +while its gable looked down upon a grove, between the city limits and +the dunes, which was called the "Plantation." Furthermore this +old-fashioned frame-house was only Innstetten's private residence, +not the real district councillor's office. The latter stood diagonally +across the street. + +It was not necessary for Kruse to announce their arrival with three +cracks of his whip. The servants had long been watching at the doors +and windows for their master and mistress, and even before the +carriage stopped all the inmates of the house were grouped upon the +stone doorstep, which took up the whole width of the sidewalk. In +front of them was Rollo, who, the moment the carriage stopped, began +to circle around it. Innstetten first of all helped his young wife to +alight. Then, offering her his arm, he walked with a friendly bow past +the servants, who promptly turned and followed him into the +entrance-hall, which was furnished with splendid old wardrobes and +cases standing around the walls. The housemaid, a pretty girl, no +longer very young, whose stately plumpness was almost as becoming to +her as the neat little cap on her blonde head, helped her mistress +take off her muff and cloak, and was just stooping down to take off +her fur-lined rubber shoes. But before she had time to make a +beginning, Innstetten said: "I suppose the best thing will be for me +to introduce to you right here all the occupants of our house, with +the exception of Mrs. Kruse, who does not like to be seen, and who, I +presume, is holding her inevitable black chicken again." Everybody +smiled. "But never mind Mrs. Kruse. Here is my old Frederick, who was +with me when I was at the university. Good times then, weren't they, +Frederick?--This is Johanna, a fellow countrywoman of yours, if you +count those who come from the region of Pasewalk as full-fledged +Brandenburgians; and this is Christel, to whom we trust our bodily +welfare every noon and evening, and who knows how to cook, I can +assure you.--And this is Rollo. Well, Rollo, how goes it?" + +Rollo seemed only to have waited for this special greeting, for the +moment he heard his name he gave a bark for joy, stood up on his hind +legs and laid his forepaws on his master's shoulders. + +"That will do, Rollo, that will do. But look here; this is my wife. I +have told her about you and said that you were a beautiful animal and +would protect her." Hereupon Rollo ceased fawning and sat down in +front of Innstetten, looking up curiously at the young wife. And when +she held out her hand to him he frisked around her. + +During this introduction scene Effi had found time to look about. She +was enchanted, so to speak, by everything she saw, and at the same +time dazzled by the abundant light. In the forepart of the hall were +burning four or five wall lights, the reflectors themselves very +primitive, simply of tin-plate, which, however, only improved the +light and heightened the splendor. Two astral lamps with red shades, a +wedding present from Niemeyer, stood on a folding table between two +oak cupboards. On the front of the table was the tea service, with the +little lamp under the kettle already lighted. There were, beside +these, many, many other things, some of them very queer. From one side +of the hall to the other ran three beams, dividing the ceiling into +sections. From the front one was suspended a ship under full sail, +high quarter-deck, and cannon ports, while farther toward the front +door a gigantic fish seemed to be swimming in the air. Effi took her +umbrella, which she still held in her hand, and pushed gently against +the monster, so that it set up a slow rocking motion. + +"What is that, Geert?" she asked. + +"That is a shark." + +"And that thing, clear at the end of the hall, that looks like a huge +cigar in front of a tobacco store?" + +"That is a young crocodile. But you can look at all these things +better and more in detail tomorrow. Come now and let us take a cup of +tea. For in spite of shawls and rugs you must have been chilled. +Toward the last it was bitter cold." + +He offered Effi his arm and the two maids retired. Only Frederick and +Rollo followed the master of the house as he took his wife into his +sitting room and study. Effi was as much surprised here as she had +been in the hall, but before she had time to say anything, Innstetten +drew back a portiere, which disclosed a second, larger room looking +out on the court and garden. "Now this, Effi, is your room. Frederick +and Johanna have tried to arrange it the best they could in accordance +with my orders. I find it quite tolerable and should be happy if you +liked it, too." + +She withdrew her arm from his and stood up on her tip-toes to give him +a hearty kiss. "Poor little thing that I am, how you do spoil me! This +grand piano! and this rug! Why, I believe it is Turkish. And the bowl +with the little fishes, and the flower table besides! Luxuries, +everywhere I look." + +"Ah, my dear Effi, you will have to put up with that. It is to be +expected when one is young and pretty and amiable. And I presume the +inhabitants of Kessin have already found out about you, heaven knows +from what source. For of the flower table, at least, I am innocent. +Frederick, where did the flower table come from?" + +"Apothecary Gieshuebler. There is a card on it." + +"Ah, Gieshuebler, Alonzo Gieshuebler," said Innstetten, laughingly and +almost boisterously handing the card with the foreign-sounding first +name to Effi. "Gieshuebler. I forgot to tell you about him. Let me say +in passing that he bears the doctor's title, but does not like to be +addressed by it. He says it only vexes the real doctors, and I presume +he is right about that. Well, I think you will become acquainted with +him and that soon. He is our best number here, a bel-esprit and an +original, but especially a man of soul, which is after all the chief +thing. But enough of these things; let us sit down and drink our tea. +Where shall it be? Here in your room or over there in mine! There is +no other choice. Snug and tiny is my cabin." + +Without hesitating she sat down on a little corner sofa. "Let us stay +here today; you will be my guest today. Or let us say, rather: Tea +regularly in my room, breakfast in yours. Then each will secure his +rights, and I am curious to know where I shall like it best." + +"That will be a morning and evening question." + +"Certainly. But the way it is put, or better, our attitude toward it, +is the important thing." + +With that she laughed and cuddled up to him and was about to kiss his +hand. + +"No, Effi, for heaven's sake, don't do that. It is not my desire to be +a person looked up to with awe and respect. I am, for the inhabitants +of Kessin, but for you I am--" + +"What, pray?" + +"Ah, let that pass. Far be it from me to say what." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The sun was shining brightly when Effi awoke the next morning. It was +hard for her to get her bearings. Where was she? Correct, in Kessin, +in the house of District Councillor von Innstetten, and she was his +wife, Baroness Innstetten. Sitting up she looked around with +curiosity. During the evening before she had been too tired to examine +very carefully all the half-foreign, half-old-fashioned things that +surrounded her. Two pillars supported the ceiling beam, and green +curtains shut off from the rest of the room the alcove-like sleeping +apartment in which the beds stood. But in the middle a curtain was +either lacking or pulled back, and this afforded her a comfortable +orientation from her bed. There between the two windows stood the +narrow, but very high, pier-glass, while a little to the right, along +the hall wall, towered the tile stove, the door of which, as she had +discovered the evening before, opened into the hall in the +old-fashioned way. She now felt its warmth radiating toward her. How +fine it was to be in her own home! At no time during the whole tour +had she enjoyed so much comfort, not even in Sorrento. + +But where was Innstetten? All was still round about her, nobody was +there. She heard only the tick-tock of a small clock and now and then +a low sound in the stove, from which she inferred that a few new +sticks of wood were being shoved in from the hall. Gradually she +recalled that Geert had spoken the evening before of an electric bell, +for which she did not have to search long. Close by her pillows was +the little white ivory button, and she now pressed softly upon it. + +Johanna appeared at once. "At your Ladyship's service." + +"Oh, Johanna, I believe I have overslept myself. It must be late." + +"Just nine." + +"And my--" She couldn't make herself speak straightway of her +"husband." "His Lordship, he must have kept very quiet. I didn't hear +anything." + +"I'm sure he did. And your Ladyship has slept soundly. After the long +journey--" + +"Yes, I have. And his Lordship, is he always up so early?" + +"Always, your Ladyship. On that point he is strict; he cannot endure +late sleeping, and when he enters his room across the hall the stove +must be warm, and the coffee must not be late." + +"So he has already had his breakfast?" + +"Oh, no, your Ladyship--His Lordship--" + +Effi felt that she ought not to have asked the question and would +better have kept to herself the suspicion that Innstetten might not +have waited for her. So she was very eager to correct her mistake the +best she could, and when she had got up and taken a seat before the +pier-glass she resumed the conversation, saying: "Moreover, his +Lordship is quite right. Always to be up early was likewise the rule +in my parents' home. When people sleep away the morning, everything is +out of gear the rest of the day. But his Lordship will not be so +strict with me. For a long time last night I couldn't sleep, and was +even frightened a little bit." + +"What must I hear, your Ladyship? What was it, pray?" + +"There was a very strange noise overhead, not loud, but very +penetrating. At first it sounded as though gowns with long trains were +dragging over the floor, and in my excitement it seemed a few times as +though I heard little white satin slippers. It seemed as though they +were dancing overhead, but quite softly." + +As the conversation ran on thus Johanna glanced over the shoulder of +the young wife at the tall narrow mirror in order the better to +observe Effi's facial expressions. In reply she said: "Oh, yes, that +is up in the social room. We used to hear it in the kitchen, too. But +now we don't hear it any more; we have become accustomed to it." + +"Is there anything unusual about it?" + +"God forbid, not in the least. For a while no one knew for sure what +it came from, and even the preacher looked embarrassed, in spite of +the fact that Dr. Gieshuebler always simply laughed at it. But now we +know that it comes from the curtains. The room is inclined to be musty +and damp, and for that reason the windows are always left open, except +when there is a storm. And so, as there is nearly always a strong +draft upstairs, the wind sweeps the old white curtains, which I think +are much too long, back and forth over the floor. That makes a sound +like silk dresses, or even satin slippers, as your Ladyship just +said." + +"That is it, of course. But what I cannot understand is why the +curtains are not taken down. Or they might be made shorter. It is such +a queer noise that it gets on one's nerves. And now, Johanna, give me +the little cape and put just a little dab of powder on my forehead. +Or, better still, take the 'refresher' from my traveling bag--Ah, that +is fine and refreshes me. Now I am ready to go over. He is still +there, isn't he, or has he been out?" + +"His Lordship went out earlier; I believe he was over at the office. +But he has been back for a quarter of an hour. I will tell Frederick +to bring the breakfast." + +With that Johanna left the room. Effi took one more look into the +mirror and then walked across the hall, which in the daylight lost +much of its charm of the evening before, and stepped into Geert's +room. + +He was sitting at his secretary, a rather clumsy cylindrical desk, +which, however, he did not care to part with, as it was an heirloom. +Effi was standing behind him, and had embraced and kissed him before +he could rise from his chair. + +"So early?" + +"So early, you say. Of course, to mock me." + +Innstetten shook his head. "How can I?" Effi took pleasure in accusing +herself, however, and refused to listen to the assurances of her +husband that his "so early" had been meant in all seriousness. "You +must know from our journey that I have never kept you waiting in the +morning. In the course of the day--well, that is a different matter. +It is true, I am not very punctual, but I am not a late sleeper. In +that respect my parents have given me good training, I think." + +"In that respect? In everything, my sweet Effi." + +"You say that just because we are still on our honeymoon,--why no, we +are past that already. For heaven's sake, Geert, I hadn't given it a +single thought, and--why, we have been married for over six weeks, six +weeks and a day. Yes, that alters the case. So I shall not take it as +flattery, I shall take it as the truth." + +At this moment Frederick came in and brought the coffee. The breakfast +table stood across the corner of the sitting room in front of a sofa +made just in the right shape and size to fill that corner. They both +sat down upon the sofa. + +"The coffee is simply delicious," said Effi, as she looked at the +room and its furnishings. "This is as good as hotel coffee or that we +had at Bottegone's--you remember, don't you, in Florence, with the +view of the cathedral? I must write mama about it. We don't have such +coffee in Hohen-Cremmen. On the whole, Geert, I am just beginning to +realize what a distinguished husband I married. In our home everything +was just barely passable." + +"Nonsense, Effi. I never saw better house-keeping than in your home." + +"And then how well your house is furnished. When papa had bought his +new weapon cabinet and hung above his writing desk the head of a +buffalo, and beneath that a picture of old general Wrangel, under whom +he had once served as an adjutant, he was very proud of what he had +done. But when I see these things here, all our Hohen-Cremmen elegance +seems by the side of them merely commonplace and meagre. I don't know +what to compare them with. Even last night, when I took but a cursory +look at them, a world of ideas occurred to me." + +"And what were they, if I may ask?" + +"What they were? Certainly. But you must not laugh at them. I once had +a picture book, in which a Persian or Indian prince (for he wore a +turban) sat with his feet under him on a silk cushion, and at his back +there was a great red silk bolster, which could be seen bulging out to +the right and left of him, and the wall behind the Indian prince +bristled with swords and daggers and panther skins and shields and +long Turkish guns. And see, it looks just like that here in your +house, and if you will cross your legs and sit down on them the +similarity will be complete." + +"Effi, you are a charming, dear creature. You don't know how deeply I +feel that and how much I should like to show you every moment that I +do feel it." + +"Well, there will be plenty of time for that. I am only seventeen, you +know, and have not yet made up my mind to die." + +"At least not before I do. To be sure, if I should die first, I should +like to take you with me. I do not want to leave you to any other man. +What do you say to that?" + +"Oh, I must have some time to think about it. Or, rather, let us not +think about it at all. I don't like to talk about death; I am for +life. And now tell me, how shall we live here? On our travels you told +me all sorts of queer things about the city and the country, but not a +word about how we shall live here. That here nothing is the same as in +Hohen-Cremmen and Schwantikow, I see plainly, and yet we must be able +to have something like intercourse and society in 'good Kessin,' as +you are always calling it. Have you any people of family in the city?" + +"No, my dear Effi. In this regard you are going to meet with great +disappointments. We have in the neighborhood a few noble families with +which you will become acquainted, but here in the city there is nobody +at all." + +"Nobody at all? That I can't believe. Why, you are upward of three +thousand people, and among three thousand people there certainly must +be, beside such inferior individuals as Barber Beza (I believe that +was his name), a certain elite, officials and the like." + +Innstetten laughed. "Yes, officials there are. But when you examine +them narrowly it doesn't mean much. Of course, we have a preacher and +a judge and a school principal and a commander of pilots, and of such +people in official positions I presume there may be as many as a dozen +altogether, but they are for the most part, as the proverb says, good +men, but poor fiddlers. And all the others are nothing but consuls." + +"Nothing but consuls! I beg you, Geert, how can you say 'nothing but +consuls?' Why, they are very high and grand, and, I might almost say, +awe-inspiring individuals. Consuls, I thought, were the men with the +bundles of rods, out of which an ax blade projected." + +"Not quite, Effi. Those men are called lictors." + +"Right, they are called lictors. But consuls are also men of very high +rank and authority. Brutus was a consul, was he not?" + +"Yes, Brutus was a consul. But ours are not very much like him and are +content to handle sugar and coffee, or open a case of oranges and sell +them to you at ten pfennigs apiece." + +"Not possible." + +"Indeed it is certain. They are tricky little tradesmen, who are +always at hand with their advice on any question of business, when +foreign vessels put in here and are at a loss to know what to do. And +when they have given advice and rendered service to some Dutch or +Portuguese vessel, they are likely in the end to become accredited +representatives of such foreign states, and so we have just as many +consuls in Kessin as we have ambassadors and envoys in Berlin. Then +whenever there is a holiday, and we have many holidays here, all the +flags are hoisted, and, if we happen to have a bright sunny morning, +on such days you can see all Europe flying flags from our roofs, and +the star-spangled banner and the Chinese dragon besides." + +"You are in a scoffing mood, Geert, and yet you may be right. But I +for my part, insignificant though I be, must confess, that I consider +all this charming and that our Havelland cities are nothing in +comparison. When the Emperor's birthday is celebrated in our region +the only flags hoisted are just the black and white, with perhaps a +bit of red here and there, but that is not to be compared with the +world of flags you speak of. Generally speaking, I find over and over +again, as I have already said, that everything here has a certain +foreign air about it, and I have not yet seen or heard a thing that +has not more or less amazed me. Yesterday evening, for example, there +was that remarkable ship out in the hall, and behind it the shark and +the crocodile. And here your own room. Everything so oriental and, I +cannot help repeating, everything as in the palace of an Indian +prince." + +"Well and good! I congratulate you, Princess." + +"And then upstairs the social room with its long curtains, which sweep +over the floor." + +"Now what, pray, do you know about that room?" + +"Nothing beyond what I just told you. For about an hour while I lay +awake in the night it seemed to me as though I heard shoes gliding +over the floor, and as though there were dancing, and something almost +like music, too. But all very quiet. I told Johanna about it this +morning, merely in order to excuse myself for sleeping so long +afterwards. She told me that it came from the long curtains up in the +social room. I think we shall put a stop to that by cutting off a +piece of the curtains or at least closing the windows. The weather +will soon turn stormy enough, anyhow. The middle of November is the +time, you know." + +Innstetten was a trifle embarrassed and sat with a puzzled look on his +face, seemingly undecided whether or not he should attempt to allay +all these fears. Finally he made up his mind to ignore them. "You are +quite right, Effi, we can shorten the long curtains upstairs. But +there is no hurry about it, especially as it is not certain whether it +will do any good. It may be something else, in the chimney, or a worm +in the wood, or a polecat. For we have polecats here. But, in any +case, before we undertake any changes you must first examine our whole +house, under my guidance; that goes without saying. We can do it in a +quarter of an hour. Then you make your toilette, dress up just a +little bit, for in reality you are most charming as you are now. You +must get ready for our friend Gieshuebler. It is now past ten, and I +should be very much mistaken in him if he did not put in his +appearance here at eleven, or at twelve at the very latest, in order +most devotedly to lay his homage at your feet. This, by the way, is +the kind of language he indulges in. Otherwise he is, as I have +already said, a capital man, who will become your friend, if I know +him and you aright." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +It was long after eleven, but nothing had been seen of Gieshuebler as +yet. "I can't wait any longer," Geert had said, whose duties called +him away. "If Gieshuebler comes while I am gone, receive him as kindly +as possible and the call will go especially well. He must not become +embarrassed. When he is ill at ease he cannot find a word to say, or +says the queerest kind of things. But if you can win his confidence +and put him in a good humor he will talk like a book. Well, you will +do that easily enough. Don't expect me before three; there is a great +deal to do over across the way. And the matter of the room upstairs we +will consider further. Doubtless, the best thing will be to leave it +as it is." + +With that Innstetten went away and left his young wife alone. She sat, +leaning back, in a quiet, snug corner by the window, and, as she +looked out, rested her left arm on a small side leaf drawn out of the +cylindrical desk. The street was the chief thoroughfare leading to the +beach, for which reason there was a great deal of traffic here in the +summer time, but now, in the middle of November, it was all empty and +quiet, and only a few poor children, whose parents lived in thatched +cottages clear at the further edge of the "Plantation" came clattering +by in their wooden shoes. But Effi felt none of this loneliness, for +her fancy was still engaged with the strange things she had seen a +short time before during her examination of the house. + +This examination began with the kitchen, which had a range of modern +make, while an electric wire ran along the ceiling and into the maids' +room. These two improvements had only recently been made, and Effi was +pleased when Innstetten told her about them. Next they went from the +kitchen back into the hall and from there out into the court, the +first half of which was little more than a narrow passage-way running +along between the two side wings of the house. In these wings were to +be found all the other rooms set apart for house-keeping purposes. In +the right the maids' room, the manservant's room, and the mangling +room; to the left the coachman's quarters, situated between the stable +and the carriage shed and occupied by the Kruse family. Over this room +was the chicken house, while a trap door in the roof of the stable +furnished ingress and egress for the pigeons. Effi had inspected all +these parts of the house with a great deal of interest, but this +interest was exceeded by far when, upon returning from the court to +the front of the house, she followed Innstetten's leading and climbed +the stairway to the upper story. The stairs were askew, ramshackly, +and dark; but the hall, to which they led, almost gave one a cheerful +sensation, because it had a great deal of light and a good view of the +surrounding landscape. In one direction it looked out over the roofs +of the outskirts of the city and the "Plantation," toward a Dutch +windmill standing high up on a dune; in the other it looked out upon +the Kessine, which here, just above its mouth, was rather broad and +stately. It was a striking view and Effi did not hesitate to give +lively expression to her pleasure. "Yes, very beautiful, very +picturesque," answered Innstetten, without going more into detail, and +then opened a double door to the right, with leaves hanging somewhat +askew, which led into the so-called social room. This room ran clear +across the whole story. Both front and back windows were open and the +oft-mentioned curtains swung back and forth in the strong draft. From +the middle of one side wall projected an open fireplace with a large +stone mantlepiece, while on the opposite wall there hung a few tin +candlesticks, each with two candle sockets, just like those downstairs +in the hall, except that everything looked dingy and neglected. Effi +was somewhat disappointed and frankly said so. Then she remarked that +she would rather look at the rooms across the hall than at this +miserable, deserted social room. "To tell the truth, there is +absolutely nothing over there," answered Innstetten, but he opened the +doors nevertheless. Here were four rooms with one window each, all +tinted yellow, to match the social room, and all completely empty, +except that in one there stood three rush-bottomed chairs, with seats +broken through. On the back of one was pasted a little picture, only +half a finger long, representing a Chinaman in blue coat and wide +yellow trousers, with a low-crowned hat on his head. Effi saw it and +said: "What is the Chinaman doing here?" Innstetten himself seemed +surprised at the picture and assured her that he did not know. "Either +Christel or Johanna has pasted it there. Child's play. You can see it +is cut out of a primer." Effi agreed with that and was only surprised +that Innstetten took everything so seriously, as though it meant +something after all. + +Then she cast another glance into the social room and said, in effect, +that it was really a pity all that room should stand empty. "We have +only three rooms downstairs and if anybody comes to visit us we shall +not know whither to turn. Don't you think one could make two handsome +guest rooms out of the social room? This would just suit mama. She +could sleep in the back room and would have the view of the river and +the two moles, and from the front room she could see the city and the +Dutch windmill. In Hohen-Cremmen we have even to this day only a +German windmill. Now say, what do you think of it? Next May mama will +surely come." + +Innstetten agreed to everything, only he said finally: "That is all +very well. But after all it will be better if we give your mama rooms +over in the district councillor's office building. The whole second +story is vacant there, just as it is here, and she will have more +privacy there." + +That was the result, so to speak, which the first walk around through +the house accomplished. Effi then made her toilette, but not so +quickly as Innstetten had supposed, and now she was sitting in her +husband's room, turning her thoughts first to the little Chinaman +upstairs, then to Gieshuebler, who still did not come. To be sure, a +quarter of an hour before, a stoop-shouldered and almost deformed +little gentleman in an elegant short fur coat and a very +smooth-brushed silk hat, too tall for his proportions, had walked +past on the other side of the street and had glanced over at her +window. But that could hardly have been Gieshuebler. No, this +stoop-shouldered man, who had such a distinguished air about him, must +have been the presiding judge, and she recalled then that she had once +seen such a person at a reception given by Aunt Therese, but it +suddenly occurred to her that Kessin had only a lower court judge. + +While she was still following out this chain of thought the object of +her reflections, who had apparently been taking a morning stroll, or +perhaps a promenade around the "Plantation" to bolster up his courage, +came in sight again, and a minute later Frederick entered to announce +Apothecary Gieshuebler. + +"Ask him kindly to come in." + +The poor young wife's heart fluttered, for it was the first time that +she had to appear as a housewife, to say nothing of the first woman of +the city. + +Frederick helped Gieshuebler take off his fur coat and then opened the +door. + +Effi extended her hand to the timidly entering caller, who kissed it +with a certain amount of fervor. The young wife seemed to have made a +great impression upon him immediately. + +"My husband has already told me--But I am receiving you here in my +husband's room,--he is over at the office and may be back any moment. +May I ask you to step into my room?" + +Gieshuebler followed Effi, who led the way into the adjoining room, +where she pointed to one of the arm chairs, as she herself sat down on +the sofa. "I wish I could tell you what a great pleasure it was +yesterday to receive the beautiful flowers with your card. I +straightway ceased to feel myself a stranger here and when I mentioned +the fact to Innstetten he told me we should unquestionably be good +friends." + +"Did he say that? The good councillor. In the councillor and you, most +gracious Lady,--I beg your permission to say it--two dear people have +been united. For what kind of a man your husband is, I know, and what +kind of a woman you are, most gracious Lady, I see." + +"Provided only you do not look at me with too friendly eyes. I am so +very young. And youth--" + +"Ah, most gracious Lady, say nothing against youth. Youth, even with +all its mistakes, is still beautiful and lovable, and age, even with +its virtues, is not good for much. Personally I have, it is true, no +right to say anything about this subject. About age I might have, +perhaps, but not about youth, for, to be frank, I was never young. +Persons with my misfortune are never young. That, it may as well be +said, is the saddest feature of the case. One has no true spirit, one +has no self-confidence, one hardly ventures to ask a lady for the +honor of a dance, because one does not desire to cause her an +embarrassment, and thus the years go by and one grows old, and life +has been poor and empty." + +Effi gave him her hand. "Oh, you must not say such things. We women +are by no means so bad." + +"Oh, no, certainly not." + +"And when I recall," continued Effi, "what all I have experienced--it +is not much, for I have gone out but little, and have almost always +lived in the country--but when I recall it, I find that, after all, we +always love what is worthy of love. And then I see, too, at once that +you are different from other men. We women have sharp eyes in such +matters. Perhaps in your case the name has something to do with it. +That was always a favorite assertion of our old pastor Niemeyer. The +name, he loved to say, especially the forename, has a certain +mysterious determining influence; and Alonzo Gieshuebler, in my +opinion, opens to one a whole new world, indeed I feel almost tempted +to say, Alonzo is a romantic name, a fastidious name." + +Gieshuebler smiled with a very unusual degree of satisfaction and +mustered up the courage to lay aside his silk hat, which up to this +time he had been turning in his hand. "Yes, most gracious Lady, you +hit the nail on the head that time." + +Oh, I understand. I have heard about the consuls, of Kessin is said to +have so many, and at the home of the Spanish consul your father +presumably made the acquaintance of the daughter of a sea-captain, a +beautiful Andalusian girl, I suppose; Andalusian girls are always +beautiful." + +"Precisely as you suppose, most gracious Lady. And my mother really +was a beautiful woman, ill as it behooves me personally to undertake +to prove it. But when your husband came here three years ago she was +still alive and still had the same fiery eyes as in her youth. He will +confirm my statement. I personally take more after the Gieshueblers, +who are people of little account, so far as external features are +concerned, but otherwise tolerably well favored. We have been living +here now for four generations, a full hundred years, and if there were +an apothecary nobility--" + +"You would have a right to claim it. And I, for my part, accept your +claim as proved, and that beyond question. For us who come of old +families it is a very easy matter, because we gladly recognize every +sort of noble-mindedness, no matter from what source it may come. At +least that is the way I was brought up by my father, as well as by my +mother. I am a Briest by birth and am descended from the Briest, who, +the day before the battle of Fehrbellin, led the sudden attack on +Rathenow, of which you may perhaps have heard." + +"Oh, certainly, most gracious Lady, that, you know, is my specialty." + +"Well then I am a von Briest. And my father has said to me more than +a hundred times: Effi,--for that is my name--Effi, here is our +beginning, and here only. When Froben traded the horse, he was that +moment a nobleman, and when Luther said, 'here I stand,' he was more +than ever a nobleman. And I think, Mr. Gieshuebler, Innstetten was +quite right when he assured me you and I should be good friends." + +Gieshuebler would have liked nothing better than to make her a +declaration of love then and there, and to ask that he might fight and +die for her as a Cid or some other campeador. But as that was out of +the question, and his heart could no longer endure the situation, he +arose from his seat, looked for his hat, which he fortunately found at +once, and, after again kissing the young wife's hand, withdrew quickly +from her presence without saying another word. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Such was Effi's first day in Kessin. Innstetten gave her half a week +further time to become settled and write letters to her mother, Hulda, +and the twins. Then the city calls began, some of which were made in a +closed carriage, for the rains came just right to make this unusual +procedure seem the sensible thing to do. When all the city calls had +been made the country nobility came next in order. These took longer, +as in most cases the distances were so great that it was not possible +to make more than one visit on any one day. First they went to the +Borckes' in Rothenmoor, then to Morgnitz, Dabergotz, and Kroschentin, +where they made their duty call at the Ahlemanns', the Jatzkows', and +the Grasenabbs'. Further down the list came, among other families, +that of Baron von Gueldenklee in Papenhagen. The impression that Effi +received was everywhere the same. Mediocre people, whose friendliness +was for the most part of an uncertain character, and who, while +pretending to speak of Bismarck and the Crown Princess, were in +reality merely scrutinizing Effi's dress, which some considered too +pretentious for so youthful a woman, while others looked upon it as +too little suited to a lady of social position. Everything about her, +they said, betrayed the Berlin school,--sense in external matters and +a remarkable degree of uncertainty and embarrassment in the discussion +of great problems. At the Borckes', and also at the homes in Morgnitz +and Dabergotz, she had been declared "infected with rationalism," but +at the Grasenabbs' she was pronounced point-blank an "atheist." To be +sure, the elderly Mrs. Grasenabb, _nee_ Stiefel, of Stiefelstein in +South Germany, had made a weak attempt to save Effi at least for +deism. But Sidonie von Grasenabb, an old maid of forty-three, had +gruffly interjected the remark: "I tell you, mother, simply an +atheist, and nothing short of an atheist, and that settles it." After +this outburst the old woman, who was afraid of her own daughter, had +observed discreet silence. + +The whole round had taken just about two weeks, and at a late hour on +the second day of December the Innstettens were returning home from +their last visit. At the Gueldenklees' Innstetten had met with the +inevitable fate of having to argue politics with old Mr. Gueldenklee. +"Yes, dearest district councillor, when I consider how times have +changed! A generation ago today, or about that long, there was, you +know, another second of December, and good Louis, the nephew of +Napoleon--_if_ he was his nephew, and not in reality of entirely +different extraction--was firing grape and canister at the Parisian +mob. Oh well, let him be forgiven for that; he was just the man to do +it, and I hold to the theory that every man fares exactly as well and +as ill as he deserves. But when he later lost all appreciation and in +the year seventy, without any provocation, was determined to have a +bout with us, you see, Baron, that was--well, what shall I say?--that +was a piece of insolence. But he was repaid for it in his own coin. +Our Ancient of Days up there is not to be trifled with and He is on +our side." + +"Yes," said Innstetten, who was wise enough to appear to be entering +seriously into such Philistine discussions, "the hero and conqueror of +Saarbruecken did not know what he was doing. But you must not be too +strict in your judgment of him personally. After all, who is master in +his own house? Nobody. I myself am already making preparations to put +the reins of government into other hands, and Louis Napoleon, you +know, was simply a piece of wax in the hands of his Catholic wife, or +let us say, rather, of his Jesuit wife." + +"Wax in the hands of his wife, who proceeded to bamboozle him. +Certainly, Innstetten, that is just what he was. But you don't think, +do you, that that is going to save him? He is forever condemned. +Moreover it has never yet been shown conclusively"--at these words his +glance sought rather timorously the eye of his better half--"that +petticoat government is not really to be considered an advantage. +Only, of course, it must be the right sort of a wife. But who was this +wife? She was not a wife at all. The most charitable thing to call her +is a 'dame,' and that tells the whole story. 'Dame' almost always +leaves an after-taste. This Eugenie--whose relation to the Jewish +banker I gladly ignore here, for I hate the 'I-am-holier-than-thou' +attitude--had a streak of the _cafe-chantant_ in her, and, if the city +in which she lived was a Babylon, she was a wife of Babylon. I don't +care to express myself more plainly, for I know"--and he bowed toward +Effi--"what I owe to German wives. Your pardon, most gracious Lady, +that I have so much as touched upon these things within your hearing." + +Such had been the trend of the conversation, after they had talked +about the election, the assassin Nobiling, and the rape crop, and when +Innstetten and Effi reached home they sat down to chat for half an +hour. The two housemaids were already in bed, for it was nearly +midnight. + +Innstetten put on his short house coat and morocco slippers, and began +to walk up and down in the room; Effi was still dressed in her society +gown, and her fan and gloves lay beside her. + +"Now," said Innstetten, standing still, "we really ought to celebrate +this day, but I don't know as yet how. Shall I play you a triumphal +march, or set the shark going out there, or carry you in triumph +across the hall? Something must be done, for I would have you know, +this visit today was the last one." + +"Thank heaven, if it was," said Effi. "But the feeling that we now +have peace and quiet is, I think, celebration enough in itself. Only +you might give me a kiss. But that doesn't occur to you. On that whole +long road not a touch, frosty as a snow-man. And never a thing but +your cigar." + +"Forget that, I am going to reform, but at present I merely want to +know your attitude toward this whole question of friendly relations +and social intercourse. Do you feel drawn to one or another of these +new acquaintances? Have the Borckes won the victory over the +Grasenabbs, or vice versa, or do you side with old Mr. Gueldenklee? +What he said about Eugenie made a very noble and pure impression, +don't you think so?" + +"Aha, behold! Sir Geert von Innstetten is a gossip. I am learning to +know you from an entirely new side." + +"And if our nobility will not do," continued Innstetten, without +allowing himself to be interrupted, "what do you think of the city +officials of Kessin? What do you think of the club? After all, life +and death depend upon your answer. Recently I saw you talking with our +judge, who is a lieutenant of the reserves, a neat little man that one +might perhaps get along with, if he could only rid himself of the +notion that he accomplished the recapture of Le Bourget by attacking +him on the flank. And his wife! She is considered our best Boston +player and has, besides, the prettiest counters. So once more, Effi, +how is it going to be in Kessin? Will you become accustomed to the +place? Will you be popular and assure me a majority when I want to go +to the Imperial Diet? Or do you favor a life of seclusion, holding +yourself aloof from the people of Kessin, in the city as well as in +the country?" + +"I shall probably decide in favor of a secluded life, unless the +Apothecary at the sign of the Moor draws me out. To be sure, that will +make me fall still lower in Sidonie's estimation, but I shall have to +take the risk. This fight will simply have to be fought. I shall stand +or fall with Gieshuebler. It sounds rather comical, but he is actually +the only person with whom it is possible to carry on a conversation, +the only real human being here." + +"That he is," said Innstetten. "How well you choose!" + +"Should I have _you_ otherwise?" said Effi and leaned upon his arm. + +That was on the 2d of December. A week later Bismarck was in Varzin, +and Innstetten now knew that until Christmas, and perhaps even for a +longer time, quiet days for him were not to be thought of. The Prince +had cherished a fondness for him ever since the days in Versailles, +and would often invite him to dinner, along with other guests, but +also alone, for the youthful district councillor, distinguished alike +for his bearing and his wisdom, enjoyed the favor of the Princess +also. + +The first invitation came for the 14th. As there was snow on the +ground Innstetten planned to take a sleigh for the two hours' drive to +the station, from which he had another hour's ride by train. "Don't +wait for me, Effi. I can't be back before midnight; it will probably +be two o'clock or even later. But I'll not disturb you. Good-by, I'll +see you in the morning." With that he climbed into the sleigh and away +the Isabella-colored span flew through the city and across the country +toward the station. + +That was the first long separation, for almost twelve hours. Poor +Effi! How was she to pass the evening? To go to bed early would be +inadvisable, for she would wake up and not be able to go to sleep +again, and would listen for every sound. No, it would be best to wait +till she was very tired and then enjoy a sound sleep. She wrote a +letter to her mother and then went to see Mrs. Kruse, whose condition +aroused her sympathy. This poor woman had the habit of sitting till +late at night with the black chicken in her lap. The friendliness the +visit was meant to show was by no means returned by Mrs. Kruse, who +sat in her overheated room quietly brooding away the time. So when +Effi perceived that her coming was felt as a disturbance rather than a +pleasure she went away, staying merely long enough to ask whether +there was anything the invalid would like to have. But all offers of +assistance were declined. + +Meanwhile it had become evening and the lamp was already burning. Effi +walked over to the window of her room and looked out at the grove, +whose trees were covered with glistening snow. She was completely +absorbed in the picture and took no notice of what was going on behind +her in the room. When she turned around she observed that Frederick +had quietly put the coffee tray on the table before the sofa and set a +place for her. "Why, yes, supper. I must sit down, I suppose." But she +could not make herself eat. So she got up from the table and reread +the letter she had written to her mother. If she had had a feeling of +loneliness before, it was doubly intense now. What would she not have +given if the two sandy-haired Jahnkes had just stepped in, or even +Hulda? The latter, to be sure, was always so sentimental and as a +usual thing occupied solely with her own triumphs. But doubtful and +insecure as these triumphs were, nevertheless Effi would be very happy +to be told about them at this moment. Finally she opened the grand +piano to play some music, but she could not play. "No, this will make +me hopelessly melancholy; I will read, rather." She looked for a book, +and the first to fall into her hands was a thick red tourist's +handbook, an old edition, perhaps from the days when Innstetten was a +lieutenant. "Yes, I will read in this book; there is nothing more +quieting than books like this. Only the maps should always be avoided. +But I shall guard against this source of sand in the eyes, which I +hate." + +She opened the book at random at page 153. In the adjoining room she +heard the tick-tock of the clock, and out of doors Rollo, who at +nightfall had left his place in the shed, as was his custom every +evening, and had stretched himself out on the large woven mat just +outside the bedroom door. The consciousness that he was near at hand +decreased Effi's feeling that she was forsaken. In fact, it almost put +her in a cheerful mood, and so she began, without further delay, to +read. On the page lying open before her there was something about the +"Hermitage," the well country-seat of the Margrave in the neighborhood +of Beireuth. It attracted her attention. Beireuth, Richard Wagner. So +she read: "Among the pictures in the 'Hermitage' let us mention one +more, which not because of its beauty, but because of its age and the +person it represents, may well claim our interest. It is a woman's +portrait, which has grown dark with age. The head is small, the face +has harsh, rather uncanny features, and she wears a ruff which seems +to support her head. Some think it is an old margravine from the end +of the 15th century, others are of the opinion that it is the Countess +of Orlamunde. All are agreed that it is the picture of the Lady who +since that time has achieved a certain notoriety in the history of the +Hohenzollern dynasty under the name of the 'Lady in white.'" + +"That was a lucky accident!" said Effi, as she shoved the book aside. +"I seek to quiet my nerves, and the first thing I run into is the +story of the 'Lady in white,' of whom I have been afraid as long as I +can remember. But inasmuch as I already have a creepy feeling I might +as well finish the story." + +She opened the book again and read further: "This old portrait itself, +the original of which plays such a role in Hohenzollern history, has +likewise a significance as a picture in the special history of the +Hermitage. No doubt, one circumstance that has something to do with +this is the fact that the picture hangs on a papered door, which is +invisible to the stranger and behind which there is a stairway leading +down into the cellar. It is said that when Napoleon spent the night +here the 'Lady in white' stepped out of the frame and walked up to his +bed. The Emperor, starting with fright, the story continues, called +for his adjutant, and to the end of his life always spoke with +exasperation of this 'cursed palace.'" + +"I must give up trying to calm myself by reading," said Effi. "If I +read further, I shall certainly come to a vaulted cellar that the +devil once rode out of on a wine cask. There are several of these in +Germany, I believe, and in a tourist's handbook all such things have +to be collected; that goes without saying. So I will close my eyes, +rather, and recall my wedding-eve celebration as well as I can,--how +the twins could not get any farther because of their tears, and how, +when everybody looked at everybody else with embarrassment, Cousin von +Briest declared that such tears opened the gate to Paradise. He was +truly charming and always in such exuberant spirits. And look at me +now! Here, of all places! Oh, I am not at all suited to be a grand +Lady. Now mama, she would have fitted this position, she would have +sounded the key-note, as behooves the wife of a district councillor, +and Sidonie Grasenabb would have been all homage toward her and would +not have been greatly disturbed about her belief or unbelief. But I--I +am a child and shall probably remain one, too. I once heard that it is +a good fortune. But I don't know whether that is true. Obviously a +wife ought always to adapt herself to the position in which she is +placed." + +At this moment Frederick came to clear off the table. + +"How late is it, Frederick?" + +"It is going on nine, your Ladyship." + +"Well, that is worth listening to. Send Johanna to me." + + * * * * * + +"Your Ladyship sent for me." + +"Yes, Johanna; I want to go to bed. It is still early, to be sure, but +I am so alone. Please go out first and post this letter, and when you +come back it will surely be time. And even if it isn't." + +Effi took the lamp and walked over to her bedroom. Just as she had +expected, there lay Rollo on the rush mat. When he saw her coming he +arose to make room for her to pass, and rubbed his ear against her +hand. Then he lay down again. + +Meanwhile Johanna had gone over to the office to post the letter. Over +there she had been in no particular hurry; on the contrary, she had +preferred to carry on a conversation with Mrs. Paaschen, the wife of +the janitor of the building. About the young wife, of course. + +"What kind of a woman is she anyhow?" asked Mrs. Paaschen. + +"She is very young." + +"Well, that is no misfortune, but rather the opposite. Young wives, +and that is just the good thing about them, never do anything but +stand before the mirror and pull at themselves and put on some +ornament. They don't see much or hear much and have not yet formed the +habit of counting the stubs of candles in the kitchen, and they don't +begrudge a maid a kiss if she gets one, simply because she herself no +longer gets any." + +"Yes," said Johanna, "that was the way with my former madame, and +wholly without occasion. But there is nothing of that kind about our +mistress." + +"Is he very affectionate?" + +"Oh very. That you can easily imagine." + +"But the fact that he leaves her thus alone--" + +"Yes, dear Mrs. Paaschen, but you must not forget--the Prince. After +all, you know, he is a district councillor, and perhaps he wants to +rise still higher." + +"Certainly he wants to, and he will, too. It's in him. Paaschen always +says so and he knows." + +This walk over to the office had consumed perhaps a quarter of an +hour, and when Johanna returned, Effi was already sitting before the +pier-glass, waiting. + +"You were gone a long time, Johanna." + +"Yes, your Ladyship--I beg your Ladyship's pardon--I met Mrs. Paaschen +over there and was delayed a bit. It is so quiet here. One is always +glad to meet a person with whom one can speak a word. Christel is a +very good person, but she doesn't talk, and Frederick is such a +sleepy-head. Besides, he is so cautious and never comes right out with +what he has to say. True, one must be able to hold one's tongue when +necessary, and Mrs. Paaschen, who is so inquisitive, is really not at +all according to my taste. Yet one likes to see and hear something +once in a while." + +Effi sighed. "Yes, Johanna, it is better so." + +"Your Ladyship has such beautiful hair, so long, and soft as silk." + +"Yes, it is very soft. But that is not a good thing, Johanna. As the +hair is, so is the character." + +"Certainly, your Ladyship. And a soft character is better than a hard +one. I have soft hair, too." + +"Yes, Johanna. And you have blonde hair, too. That the men like best." + +"Oh, there is a great difference, your Ladyship. There are many who +prefer black." + +"To be sure," laughed Effi, "that has been my experience, too. But it +must be because of something else entirely. Now, those who are blonde +always have a white complexion. You have, too, Johanna, and I would +wager my last pfennig that you have a good deal of attention paid to +you. I am still very young, but I know that much. Besides, I have a +girl friend, who was also so blonde, a regular flaxen blonde, even +blonder than you, and she was a preacher's daughter." + +"Oh, yes." + +"I beg you, Johanna, what do you mean by 'oh yes?' It sounds very +sarcastic and strange, and you have nothing against preachers' +daughters, have you?--She was a very pretty girl, as even our +officers thought, without exception, for we had officers, red hussars, +too. At the same time she knew very well how to dress herself. A black +velvet bodice and a flower, a rose or sometimes heliotrope, and if she +had not had such large protruding eyes--Oh you ought to have seen +them, Johanna, at least this large--" Effi laughingly pulled down her +right eye-lid--"she would have been simply a beauty. Her name was +Hulda, Hulda Niemeyer, and we were not even so very intimate. But if I +had her here now, and she were sitting there, yonder in the corner of +the little sofa, I would chat with her till midnight, or even longer. +I am so homesick"--in saying this she drew Johanna's head close to her +breast--"I am so much afraid." + +"Oh, that will soon be overcome, your Ladyship, we were all that way." + +"You were all that way? What does that mean, Johanna?" + +"If your Ladyship is really so much afraid, why, I can make a bed for +myself here. I can take the straw mattress and turn down a chair, so +that I have something to lean my head against, and then I can sleep +here till morning, or till his Lordship comes home." + +"He doesn't intend to disturb me. He promised me that specially." + +"Or I can merely sit down in the corner of the sofa." + +"Yes, that might do perhaps. No, it will not, either. His Lordship +must not know that I am afraid, he would not like it. He always wants +me to be brave and determined, as he is. And I can't be. I was always +somewhat easily influenced.--But, of course, I see plainly, I must +conquer myself and subject myself to his will in such particulars, as +well as in general. And then I have Rollo, you know. He is lying just +outside the threshold." + +Johanna nodded at each statement and finally lit the candle on Effi's +bedroom stand. Then she took the lamp. "Does your Ladyship wish +anything more?" + +"No, Johanna. The shutters are closed tight, are they not?" + +"Merely drawn to, your Ladyship. Otherwise it would be so dark and +stuffy." + +"Very well." + +Johanna withdrew, and Effi went to bed and wrapped herself up in the +covers. + +She left the candle burning, because she was determined not to go to +sleep at once. On the contrary, she planned to recapitulate her +wedding tour, as she had her wedding-eve celebration a short time +before, and let everything pass before her mind's eye in review. But +it turned out otherwise than she had expected, for when she had +reached Verona and was looking for the house of Juliet Capulet, her +eyes fell shut. The stub of candle in the little silver holder +gradually burned down, flickered once or twice, and went out. + +Effi had slept quite soundly for a while, when all of a sudden she +started up out of her sleep with a loud scream, indeed, she was able +to hear the scream, as she awoke, and she also noticed Rollo's barking +outside. His "bow-wow" went echoing down the hall, muffled and almost +terrifying. She felt as though her heart stood still, and was unable +to call out. At this moment something whisked past her, and the door +into the hall sprang open. But the moment of extreme fright was also +the moment of her rescue, for, instead of something terrible, Rollo +now came up to her, sought her hand with his head, and, when he had +found it, lay down upon the rug before her bed. With her other hand +Effi had pressed three times on the button of the bell and in less +than half a minute Johanna was there, in her bare feet, her skirt +hanging over her arm and a large checkered cloth thrown over her head +and shoulders. + +"Thank heaven, Johanna, that you are here." + +"What was the matter, your Ladyship? Your Ladyship has had a dream." + +"Yes, a dream. It must have been something of the sort, but it was +something else besides." + +"Pray, what, your Ladyship?" + +"I was sleeping quite soundly and suddenly I started up and +screamed--perhaps it was a nightmare--they have nightmares in our +family--My father has them, too, and frightens us with them. Mama +always says he ought not to humor himself so--But that is easy to +say--Well, I started up out of my sleep and screamed, and when I +looked around, as well as I could in the dark, something slipped past +my bed, right there where you are standing now, Johanna, and then it +was gone. And if I ask myself seriously, what it was--" + +"Well, your Ladyship?" + +"And if I ask myself seriously--I don't like to say it, Johanna--but I +believe it was the Chinaman." + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann, A.-G. Munich_ +A STREET SCENE AT PARIS Adolph von Menzel] + +"The one from upstairs?" said Johanna, trying to laugh, "our little +Chinaman that we pasted on the back of the chair, Christel and I? Oh, +your Ladyship has been dreaming, and even if your Ladyship was awake, +it all came from a dream." + +"I should believe that, if it had not been exactly the moment when +Rollo began to bark outside. So he must have seen it too. Then the +door flew open and the good faithful animal sprang toward me, as +though he were coming to my rescue. Oh, my dear Johanna, it was +terrible. And I so alone and so young. Oh, if I only had some one here +with whom I could weep. But so far from home--alas, from home." + +"The master may come any hour." + +"No, he shall not come. He shall not see me thus. He would probably +laugh at me and I could never pardon him for that. For it was so +fearful, Johanna--You must stay here now--But let Christel sleep and +Frederick too. Nobody must know about it." + +"Or perhaps I may fetch Mrs. Kruse to join us. She doesn't sleep +anyhow; she sits there all night long." + +"No, no, she is a kindred spirit. That black chicken has something to +do with it, too. She must not come. No, Johanna, you just stay here +yourself. And how fortunate that you merely drew the shutters to. Push +them open, make a loud noise, so that I may hear a human sound, a +human sound--I have to call it that, even if it seems queer--and then +open the window a little bit, that I may have air and light." + +Johanna did as ordered and Effi leaned back upon her pillows and soon +thereafter fell into a lethargic sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +It was six o'clock in the morning when Innstetten returned home from +Varzin. He made Rollo omit all demonstrations of affection and then +retired as quietly as possible to his room. Here he lay down in a +comfortable position, but would not allow Frederick to do more than +cover him up with a traveling rug. "Wake me at nine." And at this hour +he was wakened. He arose quickly and said: "Bring my breakfast." + +"Her Ladyship is still asleep." + +"But it is late. Has anything happened?" + +"I don't know. I only know that Johanna had to sleep all night in her +Ladyship's room." + +"Well, send Johanna to me then." + +She came. She had the same rosy complexion as ever, and so seemed not +to have been specially upset by the events of the night. + +"What is this I hear about her Ladyship? Frederick tells me something +happened and you slept in her room." + +"Yes, Sir Baron. Her Ladyship rang three times in very quick +succession, and I thought at once it meant something. And it did, too. +She probably had a dream, or it may perhaps have been the other +thing." + +"What other thing?" + +"Oh, your Lordship knows, I believe." + +"I know nothing. In any case we must put an end to it. And how did you +find her Ladyship?" + +"She was beside herself and clung to Rollo's collar with all her +might. The dog was standing beside her Ladyship's bed and was +frightened also." + +"And what had she dreamed, or, if you prefer, what had she heard or +seen? What did she say?" + +"That it just slipped along close by her." + +"What? Who?" + +"The man from upstairs. The one from the social hall or from the small +chamber." + +"Nonsense, I say. Over and over that same silly stuff. I don't want to +hear any more about it. And then you stayed with her Ladyship?" + +"Yes, your Lordship. I made a bed on the floor close by her. And I had +to hold her hand, and then she went to sleep." + +"And she is still sleeping?" + +"Very soundly." + +"I am worried about that, Johanna. One can sleep one's self well, but +also ill. We must waken her, cautiously, of course, so that she will +not be startled again. And tell Frederick not to bring the breakfast. +I will wait till her Ladyship is here. Now let me see how clever you +can be." + +Half an hour later Effi came. She looked charming, but quite pale, and +was leaning on Johanna. The moment she caught sight of Innstetten she +rushed up to him and embraced and kissed him, while the tears streamed +down her face. "Oh, Geert, thank heaven, you are here. All is well +again now. You must not go away again, you must not leave me alone +again." + +"My dear Effi--Just put it down, Frederick, I will do the rest--my +dear Effi, I am not leaving you alone from lack of consideration or +from caprice, but because it is necessary. I have no choice. I am a +man in office and cannot say to the Prince, or even to the Princess: +Your Highness, I cannot come; my wife is so alone, or, my wife is +afraid. If I said that it would put us in a rather comical light, me +certainly, and you, too. But first take a cup of coffee." + +Effi drank her coffee and its stimulating effect was plainly to be +seen. Then she took her husband's hand again and said: "You shall have +your way. I see, it is impossible. And then, you know, we aspire to +something higher. I say we, for I am really more eager for it than +you." + +"All wives are," laughed Innstetten. + +"So it is settled. You will accept invitations as heretofore, and I +will stay here and wait for my 'High Lord,' which reminds me of Hulda +under the elder tree. I wonder how she is getting along?" + +"Young ladies like Hulda always get along well. But what else were you +going to say?" + +"I was going to say, I will stay here, and even alone, if necessary. +But not in this house. Let us move out. There are such handsome houses +along the quay, one between Consul Martens and Consul Gruetzmacher, and +one on the Market, just opposite Gieshuebler. Why can't we live there? +Why here, of all places? When we have had friends and relatives as +guests in our house I have often heard that in Berlin families move +out on account of piano playing, or on account of cockroaches, or on +account of an unfriendly concierge. If it is done on account of such a +trifle--" + +"Trifle? Concierge? Don't say that." + +"If it is possible because of such things it must also be possible +here, where you are district councillor and the people are obliged to +do your bidding and many even owe you a debt of gratitude. Gieshuebler +would certainly help us, even if only for my sake, for he will +sympathize with me. And now say, Geert, shall we give up this +abominable house, this house with the--" + +"Chinaman, you mean. You see, Effi, one can pronounce the fearful word +without his appearing. What you saw or what, as you think, slipped +past your bed, was the little Chinaman that the maids pasted on the +back of the chair upstairs. I'll wager he had a blue coat on and a +very flat-crowned hat, with a shining button on top." + +She nodded. + +"Now you see, a dream, a hallucination. And then, I presume, Johanna +told you something last night, about the wedding upstairs." + +"No." + +"So much the better." + +"She didn't tell me a word. But from all this I can see that there is +something queer here. And then the crocodile; everything is so uncanny +here." + +"The first evening, when you saw the crocodile, you considered it +fairy-like--" + +"Yes, then." + +"And then, Effi, I can't well leave here now, even if it were possible +to sell the house or make an exchange. It is with this exactly as with +declining an invitation to Varzin. I can't have the people here in the +city saying that District Councillor Innstetten is selling his house +because his wife saw the little pasted-up picture of a Chinaman as a +ghost by her bed. I should be lost, Effi. One can never recover from +such ridiculousness." + +"But, Geert, are you so sure that there is nothing of the kind?" + +"That I will not affirm. It is a thing that one can believe or, +better, not believe. But supposing there were such things, what harm +do they do? The fact that bacilli are flying around in the air, of +which you have doubtless heard, is much worse and more dangerous than +all this scurrying about of ghosts, assuming that they do scurry +about, and that such a thing really exists. Then I am particularly +surprised to see _you_ show such fear and such an aversion, you a +Briest. Why, it is as though you came from a low burgher family. +Ghosts are a distinction, like the family tree and the like, and I +know families that would as lief give up their coat of arms as their +'Lady in white,' who may even be in black, for that matter." + +Effi remained silent. + +"Well, Effi; no answer?" + +"What do you expect me to answer? I have given in to you and shown +myself docile, but I think you in turn might be more sympathetic. If +you knew how I long for sympathy. I have suffered a great deal, really +a very great deal, and when I saw you I thought I should now be rid of +my fear. But you merely told me you had no desire to make yourself +ridiculous in the eyes either of the Prince or of the city. That is +small comfort. I consider it small, and so much the smaller, since, to +cap the climax, you contradict yourself, and not only seem to believe +in these things yourself, but even expect me to have a nobleman's +pride in ghosts. Well, I haven't. When you talk about families that +value their ghosts as highly as their coat of arms, all I have to say +is, that is a matter of taste, and I count my coat of arms worth more. +Thank heaven, we Briests have no ghosts. The Briests were always very +good people and that probably accounts for it." + +The dispute would doubtless have gone on longer and might perhaps have +led to a first serious misunderstanding if Frederick had not entered +to hand her Ladyship a letter. "From Mr. Gieshuebler. The messenger is +waiting for an answer." + +All the ill-humor on Effi's countenance vanished immediately. It did +her good merely to hear Gieshuebler's name, and her cheerful feeling +was further heightened when she examined the letter. In the first +place it was not a letter at all, but a note, the address "Madame the +Baroness von Innstetten, _nee_ Briest," in a beautiful court hand, and +instead of a seal a little round picture pasted on, a lyre with a +staff sticking in it. But the staff might also be an arrow. She handed +the note to her husband, who likewise admired it. + +"Now read it." + +Effi broke open the wafer and read: "Most highly esteemed Lady, most +gracious Baroness: Permit me to join to my most respectful forenoon +greeting a most humble request. By the noon train a dear friend of +mine for many years past, a daughter of our good city of Kessin, Miss +Marietta Trippelli, will arrive here to sojourn in our midst +till tomorrow morning. On the 17th she expects to be in St. +Petersburg, where she will give concerts till the middle of January. +Prince Kotschukoff is again opening his hospitable house to her. In +her immutable kindness to me, Miss Trippelli has promised to spend +this evening at my house and sing some songs, leaving the choice +entirely to me, for she knows no such thing as difficulty. Could +Madame the Baroness consent to attend this soiree musicale, at seven +o'clock? Your husband, upon whose appearance I count with certainty, +will support my most humble request. The only other guests are Pastor +Lindequist, who will accompany, and the widow Trippel, of course. +Your most obedient servant. A. Gieshuebler." + +"Well," said Innstetten, "yes or no?" + +"Yes, of course. That will pull me through. Besides, I cannot decline +my dear Gieshuebler's very first invitation." + +"Agreed. So, Frederick, tell Mirambo, for I take it for granted he +brought the letter, that we shall have the honor." + +Frederick went out. When he was gone Effi asked: "Who is Mirambo?" + +"The genuine Mirambo is a robber chief in Africa,--Lake Tanganyika, if +your geography extends that far--but ours is merely Gieshuebler's +charcoal dispenser and factotum, and will this evening, in all +probability, serve as a waiter in dress coat and cotton gloves." + +It was quite apparent that the little incident had had a favorable +effect on Effi and had restored to her a good share of her +light-heartedness. But Innstetten wished to do what he could to hasten +the convalescence. "I am glad you said yes, so quickly and without +hesitation, and now I should like to make a further proposal to you to +restore you entirely to your normal condition. I see plainly, you are +still annoyed by something from last night foreign to my Effi and it +must be got rid of absolutely. There is nothing better for that than +fresh air. The weather is splendid, cool and mild at the same time, +with hardly a breeze stirring. How should you like to take a drive +with me? A long one, not merely out through the "Plantation." In the +sleigh, of course, with the sleigh-bells on and the white snow +blankets. Then if we are back by four you can take a rest, and at +seven we shall be at Gieshuebler's and hear Trippelli." + +Effi took his hand. "How good you are, Geert, and how indulgent! For I +must have seemed to you very childish, or at least very childlike, +first in the episode of fright and then, later, when I asked you to +sell the house, but worst of all in what I said about the Prince. I +urged you to break off all connection with him, and that would be +ridiculous. For after all he is the one man who has to decide our +destiny. Mine, too. You don't know how ambitious I am. To tell the +truth, it was only out of ambition that I married you. Oh, you must +not put on such a serious expression. I love you, you know. What is it +we say when we pluck a blossom and tear off the petals? 'With all my +heart, with grief and pain, beyond compare.'" She burst out laughing. +"And now tell me," she continued, as Innstetten still kept silent, +"whither shall we go?" + +"I thought, to the railway station, by a roundabout way, and then back +by the turnpike. We can dine at the station or, better, at +Golchowski's, at the Prince Bismarck Hotel, which we passed on the day +of our return home, as you perhaps remember. Such a visit always has a +good effect, and then I can have a political conversation with the +Starost by the grace of Effi, and even if he does not amount to much +personally he keeps his hotel in good condition and his cuisine in +still better. The people here are connoisseurs when it comes to eating +and drinking." + +It was about eleven when they had this conversation. At twelve Kruse +drove the sleigh up to the door and Effi got in. Johanna was going to +bring a foot bag and furs, but Effi, after all that she had juat +passed through, felt so strongly the need of fresh air that she took +only a double blanket and refused everything else. Innstetten said to +Kruse: "Now, Kruse, we want to drive to the station where you and I +were this morning. The people will wonder at it, but that doesn't +matter. Say, we drive here past the 'Plantation,' and then to the left +toward the Kroschentin church tower. Make the horses fly. We must be +at the station at one." + +Thus began the drive. Over the white roofs of the city hung a bank of +smoke, for there was little stir in the air. They flew past Utpatel's +mill, which turned very slowly, and drove so close to the churchyard +that the tips of the barberry bushes which hung out over the lattice +brushed against Effi, and showered snow upon her blanket. On the other +side of the road was a fenced-in plot, not much larger than a garden +bed, and with nothing to be seen inside except a young pine tree, +which rose out of the centre. + +"Is anybody buried there?" asked Effi. + +"Yes, the Chinaman." + +Effi was startled; it came to her like a stab. But she had strength +enough to control herself and ask with apparent composure: "Ours?" + +"Yes, ours. Of course, he could not be accommodated in the community +graveyard and so Captain Thomsen, who was what you might call his +friend, bought this patch and had him buried here. There is also a +stone with an inscription. It all happened before my time, of course, +but it is still talked about." + +"So there is something in it after all. A story. You said something of +the kind this morning. And I suppose it would be best for me to hear +what it is. So long as I don't know, I shall always be a victim of my +imaginations, in spite of all my good resolutions. Tell me the real +story. The reality cannot worry me so much as my fancy." + +"Good for you, Effi. I didn't intend to speak about it. But now it +comes in naturally, and that is well. Besides, to tell the truth, it +is nothing at all." + +"All the same to me: nothing at all or much or little. Only begin." + +"Yes, that is easy to say. The beginning is always the hardest part, +even with stories. Well, I think I shall begin with Captain Thomsen." + +"Very well." + +"Now Thomsen, whom I have already mentioned, was for many years a +so-called China-voyager, always on the way between Shanghai and +Singapore with a cargo of rice, and may have been about sixty when he +arrived here. I don't know whether he was born here or whether he had +other relations here. To make a long story short, now that he was here +he sold his ship, an old tub that he disposed of for very little, and +bought a house, the same that we are now living in. For out in the +world he had become a wealthy man. This accounts for the crocodile and +the shark and, of course, the ship. Thomsen was a very adroit man, as +I have been told, and well liked, even by Mayor Kirstein, but above +all by the man who was at that time the pastor in Kessin, a native of +Berlin, who had come here shortly before Thomsen and had met with a +great deal of opposition." + +"I believe it. I notice the same thing. They are so strict and +self-righteous here. I believe that is Pomeranian." + +"Yes and no, depending. There are other regions where they are not at +all strict and where things go topsy-turvy--But just see, Effi, there +we have the Kroschentin church tower right close in front of us. Shall +we not give up the station and drive over to see old Mrs. von +Grasenabb? Sidonie, if I am rightly informed, is not at home. So we +might risk it." + +"I beg you, Geert, what are you thinking of? Why, it is heavenly to +fly along thus, and I can simply feel myself being restored and all my +fear falling from me. And now you ask me to sacrifice all that merely +to pay these old people a flying visit and very likely cause them +embarrassment. For heaven's sake let us not. And then I want above all +to hear the story. We were talking about Captain Thomsen, whom I +picture to myself as a Dane or an Englishman, very clean, with white +stand-up collar, and perfectly white linen." + +"Quite right. So he is said to have looked. And with him lived a young +person of about twenty, whom some took for his niece, but most people +for his grand-daughter. The latter, however, considering their ages, +was hardly possible. Beside the grand-daughter or the niece, there was +also a Chinaman living with him, the same one who lies there among the +dunes and whose grave we have just passed." + +"Fine, fine." + +"This Chinaman was a servant at Thomsen's and Thomsen thought a great +deal of him, so that he was really more a friend than a servant. And +it remained so for over a year. Then suddenly it was rumored that +Thomsen's grand-daughter, who, I believe, was called Nina, was to be +married to a captain, in accordance with the old man's wish. And so +indeed it came about. There was a grand wedding at the house, the +Berlin pastor married them. The miller Utpatel, a Scottish Covenanter, +and Gieshuebler, a feeble light in church matters, were invited, but +the more prominent guests were a number of captains with their wives +and daughters. And, as you can imagine, there was a lively time. In +the evening there was dancing, and the bride danced with every man and +finally with the Chinaman. Then all of a sudden the report spread that +she had vanished. And she was really gone, somewhere, but nobody knew +just what had happened. A fortnight later the Chinaman died. Thomsen +bought the plot I have shown you and had him buried in it. The Berlin +Pastor is said to have remarked: 'The Chinaman might just as well have +been buried in the Christian churchyard, for he was a very good man +and exactly as good as the rest.' Whom he really meant by the rest, +Gieshuebler says nobody quite knew." + +"Well, in this matter I am absolutely against the pastor. Nobody ought +to say such things, for they are dangerous and unbecoming. Even +Niemeyer would not have said that." + +"The poor pastor, whose name, by the way, was Trippel, was very +seriously criticised for it, and it was truly a blessing that he soon +afterward died, for he would have lost his position otherwise. The +city was opposed to him, just as you are, in spite of the fact that +they had called him, and the Consistory, of course, was even more +antagonistic." + +"Trippel, you say? Then, I presume, there is some connection between +him and the pastor's widow, Mrs. Trippel, whom we are to see this +evening." + +"Certainly there is a connection. He was her husband, and the father +of Miss Trippelli." + +Effi laughed. "Of Miss Trippelli! At last I see the whole affair in a +clear light. That she was born in Kessin, Gieshuebler wrote me, you +remember. But I thought she was the daughter of an Italian consul. We +have so many foreign names here, you know. And now I find she is good +German and a descendant of Trippel. Is she so superior that she could +venture to Italianize her name in this fashion?" + +"The daring shall inherit the earth. Moreover she is quite good. She +spent a few years in Paris with the famous Madame Viardot, and there +made the acquaintance of the Russian Prince. Russian Princes, you +know, are very enlightened, are above petty class prejudices, and +Kotschukoff and Gieshuebler--whom she calls uncle, by the way, and one +might almost call him a born uncle--it is, strictly speaking, these +two who have made little Marie Trippel what she is. It was Gieshuebler +who induced her to go to Paris and Kotschukoff made her over into +Marietta Trippelli." + +"Ah, Geert, what a charming story this is and what a humdrum life I +have led in Hohen-Cremmen! Never a thing out of the ordinary." + +Innstetten took her hand and said: "You must not speak thus, Effi. +With respect to ghosts one may take whatever attitude one likes. But +beware of 'out of the ordinary' things, or what is loosely called out +of the ordinary. That which appears to you so enticing, even a life +such as Miss Trippelli leads, is as a rule bought at the price of +happiness. I know quite well how you love Hohen-Cremmen and are +attached to it, but you often make sport of it, too, and have no +conception of how much quiet days like those in Hohen-Cremmen mean." + +"Yes I have," she said. "I know very well. Only I like to hear about +something else once in a while, and then the desire comes over me to +have a similar experience. But you are quite right, and, to tell the +truth, I long for peace and quiet." + +Innstetten shook his finger at her. "My dear, dear Effi, that again +you only imagine. Always fancies, first one thing, then another." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +[Innstetten and Effi stopped at the Prince Bismarck Hotel for dinner +and heard some of Golchowski's gossip. All three went out near the +tracks, when they heard a fast express coming, and as it passed in the +direction of Effi's old home, it filled her heart with longing. The +soiree musicale at Gieshuebler's was particularly enlivened by the +bubbling humor of Miss Trippelli, whose singing was excellent, but did +not overshadow her talent as a conversationalist. Effi admired her +ability to sing dramatic pieces with composure. An uncanny ballad led +to a discussion of haunted houses and ghosts, in both of which Miss +Trippelli believed.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +The guests did not go home till late. Soon after ten Effi remarked to +Gieshuebler that it was about time to leave, as Miss Trippelli must not +miss her train and would have to leave Kessin at six in order to catch +it. But Miss Trippelli overheard the remark and, in her own peculiar +unabashed way, protested against such thoughtful consideration. "Ah, +most gracious Lady, you think that one following my career needs +regular sleep, but you are mistaken. What we need regularly is +applause and high prices. Oh, laugh if you like. Besides, I can sleep +in my compartment on the train--for one learns to do such things--in +any position and even on my left side, and I don't even need to +unfasten my dress. To be sure, I am never laced tight; chest and lungs +must always be free, and, above all, the heart. Yes, most gracious +Lady, that is the prime essential. And then, speaking of sleep in +general, it is not the quantity that tells; it is the quality. A good +nap of five minutes is better than five hours of restless turning over +and over, first one way, then the other. Besides, one sleeps +marvelously in Russia, in spite of the strong tea. It must be the air +that causes it, or late dinners, or because one is so pampered. There +are no cares in Russia; in that regard Russia is better than America. +In the matter of money the two are equal." After this explanation on +the part of Miss Trippelli, Effi desisted from further warnings that +it was time to go. When twelve o'clock came, the guests, who had +meanwhile developed a certain degree of intimacy, bade their host a +merry and hearty good night. + + * * * * * + +Three days later Gieshuebler's friend brought herself once more to +Effi's attention by a telegram in French, from St. Petersburg: "Madame +the Baroness von Innstetten, nee von Briest. Arrived safe. Prince K. +at station. More taken with me than ever. Thousand thanks for your +good reception. Kindest regards to Monsieur the Baron. Marietta +Trippelli." + +Innstetten was delighted and gave more enthusiastic expression to his +delight than Effi was able to understand. + +"I don't understand you, Geert." + +"Because you don't understand Miss Trippelli. It's her true self in +the telegram, perfect to a dot." + +"So you take it all as a bit of comedy." + +"As what else could I take it, pray? All calculated for friends there +and here, for Kotschukoff and Gieshuebler. Gieshuebler will probably +found something for Miss Trippelli, or maybe just leave her a legacy." + +Gieshuebler's party had occurred in the middle of December. +Immediately thereafter began the preparations for Christmas. Effi, who +might otherwise have found it hard to live through these days, +considered it a blessing to have a household with demands that had to +be satisfied. It was a time for pondering, deciding, and buying, and +this left no leisure for gloomy thoughts. The day before Christmas +gifts arrived from her parents, and in the parcels were packed a +variety of trifles from the precentor's family: beautiful queenings +from a tree grafted by Effi and Jahnke several years ago, beside brown +pulse-warmers and knee-warmers from Bertha and Hertha. Hulda only +wrote a few lines, because, as she pretended, she had still to knit a +traveling shawl for X. "That is simply not true," said Effi, "I'll +wager, there is no X in existence. What a pity she cannot cease +surrounding herself with admirers who do not exist!" + +When the evening came Innstetten himself arranged the presents for his +young wife. The tree was lit, and a small angel hung at the top. On +the tree was discovered a cradle with pretty transparencies and +inscriptions, one of which referred to an event looked forward to in +the Innstetten home the following year. Effi read it and blushed. Then +she started toward Innstetten to thank him, but before she had time to +carry out her design a Yule gift was thrown into the hall with a +shout, in accordance with the old Pomeranian custom. It proved to be a +box filled with a world of things. At the bottom they found the most +important gift of all, a neat little lozenge box, with a number of +Japanese pictures pasted on it, and inside of it a note, running,-- + + + "Three kings once came on a Christmas eve, + The king of the Moors was one, I believe;-- + The druggist at the sign of the Moor + Today with spices raps at your door; + Regretting no incense or myrrh to have found, + He throws pistachio and almonds around." + + +Effi read the note two or three times and was pleased. "The homage of +a good man has something very comforting about it. Don't you think so, +Geert?" + +"Certainly I do. It is the only thing that can afford real pleasure, +or at least ought to. Every one is otherwise so encumbered with stupid +obligations--I am myself. But, after all, one is what one is." + +The first holiday was church day, on the second they went to the +Borckes'. Everybody was there, except the Grasenabbs, who declined to +come, "because Sidonie was not at home." This excuse struck everybody +as rather strange. Some even whispered: "On the contrary, this is the +very reason they ought to have come." + +New Year's eve there was to be a club ball, which Effi could not well +miss, nor did she wish to, for it would give her an opportunity to see +the cream of the city all at once. Johanna had her hands full with the +preparation of the ball dress. Gieshuebler, who, in addition to his +other hobbies, owned a hothouse, had sent Effi some camelias. +Innstetten, in spite of the little time at his disposal, had to drive +in the afternoon to Papenhagen, where three barns had burned. + +It became very quiet in the house. Christel, not having anything to +do, sleepily shoved a footstool up to the stove, and Effi retired into +her bedroom, where she sat down at a small writing desk between the +mirror and the sofa, to write to her mother. She had already written a +postal card, acknowledging receipt of the Christmas letter and +presents, but had written no other news for weeks. + +/# + "Kessin, Dec. 31. + + "_My dear mama_: + + "This will probably be a long letter, as I have not let you + hear from me for a long time. The card doesn't count. The last + time I wrote, I was in the midst of Christmas preparations; now + the Christmas holidays are past and gone. Innstetten and my + good friend Gieshuebler left nothing undone to make Holy Night + as agreeable for me as possible, but I felt a little lonely and + homesick for you. Generally speaking, much as I have cause to + be grateful and happy, I cannot rid myself entirely of a + feeling of loneliness, and if I formerly made more fun than + necessary, perhaps, of Hulda's eternal tears of emotion, I am + now being punished for it and have to fight against such tears + myself, for Innstetten must not see them. However, I am sure + that it will all be better when our household is more + enlivened, which is soon to be the case, my dear mama. What I + recently hinted at is now a certainty and Innstetten gives me + daily proof of his joy on account of it. It is not necessary to + assure you how happy I myself am when I think of it, for the + simple reason that I shall then have life and entertainment at + home, or, as Geert says, 'a dear little plaything.' This word + of his is doubtless proper, but I wish he would not use it, + because it always give me a little shock and reminds me how + young I am and that I still half belong in the nursery. This + notion never leaves me (Geert says it is pathological) and, as + a result, the thing that should be my highest happiness is + almost the contrary, a constant embarrassment for me. Recently, + dear mama, when the good Flemming damsels plied me with all + sorts of questions imaginable, it seemed as though I were + undergoing an examination poorly prepared, and I think I must + have answered very stupidly. I was out of sorts, too, for often + what looks like sympathy is mere inquisitiveness, and theirs + impressed me as the more meddlesome, since I have a long while + yet to wait for the happy event. Some time in the summer, early + in July, I think. You must come then, or better still, so soon + as I am at all able to get about, I'll take a vacation and set + out for Hohen-Cremmen to see you. Oh, how happy it makes me to + think of it and of the Havelland air! Here it is almost always + cold and raw. There I shall drive out upon the marsh every day + and see red and yellow flowers everywhere, and I can even now + see the baby stretching out its hands for them, for I know it + must feel really at home there. But I write this for you alone. + Innstetten must not know about it and I should excuse myself + even to you for wanting to come to Hohen-Cremmen with the baby, + and for announcing my visit so early, instead of inviting you + urgently and cordially to Kessin, which, you may know, has + fifteen hundred summer guests every year, and ships with all + kinds of flags, and even a hotel among the dunes. But if I show + so little hospitality it is not because I am inhospitable. I am + not so degenerate as that. It is simply because our residence, + with all its handsome and unusual features, is in reality not a + suitable house at all; it is only a lodging for two people, and + hardly that, for we haven't even a dining room, which, as you + can well imagine, is embarrassing when people come to visit us. + True, we have other rooms upstairs, a large social hall and + four small rooms, but there is something uninviting about them, + and I should call them lumber rooms, if there were any lumber + in them. But they are entirely empty, except for a few + rush-bottomed chairs, and leave a very queer impression, to say + the least. You no doubt think this very easy to change, but the + house we live in is--is haunted. Now it is out. I beseech you, + however, not to make any reference to this in your answer, for + I always show Innstetten your letters and he would be beside + himself if he found out what I have written to you. I ought not + to have done it either, especially as I have been undisturbed + for a good many weeks and have ceased to be afraid; but Johanna + tells me it will come back again, especially if some new person + appears in the house. I couldn't think of exposing you to such + a danger, or--if that is too harsh an expression--to such a + peculiar and uncomfortable disturbance. I will not trouble you + with the matter itself today, at least not in detail. They tell + the story of an old captain, a so-called China-voyager, and + his grand-daughter, who after a short engagement to a young + captain here suddenly vanished on her wedding day. That might + pass, but there is something of greater moment. A young + Chinaman, whom her father had brought back from China and who + was at first the servant and later the friend of the old man, + died shortly afterward and was buried in a lonely spot near the + churchyard. Not long ago I drove by there, but turned my face + away quickly and looked in the other direction, because I + believe I should otherwise have seen him sitting on the grave. + For oh, my dear mama, I have really seen him once, or it at + least seemed so, when I was sound asleep and Innstetten was + away from home visiting the Prince. It was terrible. I should + not like to experience anything like it again. I can't well + invite you to such a house, handsome as it is otherwise, for, + strange to say, it is both uncanny and cozy. Innstetten did not + do exactly the right thing about it either, if you will allow + me to say so, in spite of the fact that I finally agreed with + him in many particulars. He expected me to consider it nothing + but old wives' nonsense and laugh about it, but all of a sudden + he himself seemed to believe in it, at the very time when he + was making the queer demand of me to consider such hauntings a + mark of blue blood and old nobility. But I can't do it and I + won't, either. Kind as he is in other regards, in this + particular he is not kind and considerate enough toward me. + That there is something in it I know from Johanna and also from + Mrs. Kruse. The latter is our coachman's wife and always sits + holding a black chicken in an overheated room. This alone is + enough to scare one. Now you know why _I_ want to come when the + time arrives. Oh, if it were only time now! There are so many + reasons for this wish. Tonight we have a New Year's eve ball, + and Gieshuebler, the only amiable man here, in spite of the fact + that he has one shoulder higher than the other, or, to tell the + truth, has even a greater deformity--Gieshuebler has sent me + some camelias. Perhaps I shall dance after all. Our doctor says + it would not hurt me; on the contrary. Innstetten has also + given his consent, which almost surprised me. And now remember + me to papa and kiss him for me, and all the other dear friends. + Happy New Year! + + Your Effi." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +The New Year's eve ball lasted till the early morning and Effi was +generously admired, not quite so unhesitatingly, to be sure, as the +bouquet of camelias, which was known to have come from Gieshuebler's +greenhouse. After the ball everybody fell back into the same old +routine, and hardly any attempt was made to establish closer social +relations. Hence the winter seemed very long. Visits from the noble +families of the neighborhood were rare, and when Effi was reminded of +her duty to return the visits she always remarked in a half-sorrowful +tone: "Yes, Geert, if it is absolutely necessary, but I shall be bored +to death." Innstetten never disputed the statement. What was said, +during these afternoon calls, about families, children, and +agriculture, was bearable, but when church questions were discussed +and the pastors present were treated like little popes, even looked +upon themselves as such, then Effi lost her patience and her mind +wandered sadly back to Niemeyer, who was always modest and +unpretentious, in spite of the fact that on every important occasion +it was said he had the stuff in him to be called to the cathedral. +Seemingly friendly as were the Borcke, Flemming, and Grasenabb +families, with the exception of Sidonie Grasenabb, real friendship was +out of the question, and often there would have been very little of +pleasure and amusement, or even of reasonably agreeable association, +if it had not been for Gieshuebler. + +He looked out for Effi as though he were a special Providence, and she +was grateful to him for it. In addition to his many other interests he +was a faithful and attentive reader of the newspapers. He was, in +fact, the head of the Journal Club, and so scarcely a day passed that +Mirambo did not bring to Effi a large white envelope full of separate +sheets and whole papers, in which particular passages were marked, +usually with a fine lead pencil, but occasionally with a heavy blue +pencil and an exclamation or interrogation point. And that was not +all. He also sent figs and dates, and chocolate drops done up in satin +paper and tied with a little red ribbon. Whenever any specially +beautiful flower was blooming in his greenhouse he would bring some of +the blossoms himself and spend a happy hour chatting with his adored +friend. He cherished in his heart, both separately and combined, all +the beautiful emotions of love--that of a father and an uncle, a +teacher and an admirer. Effi was affected by all these attentions and +wrote to Hohen-Cremmen about them so often that her mother began to +tease her about her "love for the alchymist." But this well-meant +teasing failed of its purpose; it was almost painful to her, in fact, +because it made her conscious, even though but dimly, of what was +really lacking in her married life, viz., outspoken admiration, +helpful suggestions, and little attentions. + +Innstetten was kind and good, but he was not a lover. He felt that he +loved Effi; hence his clear conscience did not require him to make any +special effort to show it. It had almost become a rule with him to +retire from his wife's room to his own when Frederick brought the +lamp. "I have a difficult matter yet to attend to." With that he went. +To be sure, the portiere was left thrown back, so that Effi could hear +the turning of the pages of the document or the scratching of his pen, +but that was all. Then Rollo would often come and lie down before her +upon the fireplace rug, as much as to say: "Must just look after you +again; nobody else does." Then she would stoop down and say softly: +"Yes, Rollo, we are alone." At nine Innstetten would come back for +tea, usually with the newspaper in his hand, and would talk about the +Prince, who was having so much annoyance again, especially because of +that Eugen Richter, whose conduct and language beggared all +description. Then he would read over the list of appointments made and +orders conferred, to the most of which he objected. Finally he would +talk about the election and how fortunate it was to preside over a +district in which there was still some feeling of respect. When he had +finished with this he asked Effi to play something, either from +_Lohengrin_ or the _Walkuere_, for he was a Wagner enthusiast. What had +won him over to this composer nobody quite knew. Some said, his +nerves, for matter-of-fact as he seemed, he was in reality nervous. +Others ascribed it to Wagner's position on the Jewish question. +Probably both sides were right. At ten Innstetten relaxed and indulged +in a few well-meant, but rather tired caresses, which Effi accepted, +without genuinely returning them. + +Thus passed the winter. April came and Effi was glad when the garden +behind the court began to show green. + +She could hardly wait for summer to come with its walks along the +beach and its guests at the baths. * * * The months had been so +monotonous that she once wrote: "Can you imagine, mama, that I have +almost become reconciled to our ghost? Of course, that terrible night, +when Geert was away at the Prince's house, I should not like to live +through again, no, certainly not; but this being always alone, with +nothing whatever happening, is hard, too, and when I wake up in the +night I occasionally listen to see if I can hear the shoes, shuffling +up above, and when all is quiet I am almost disappointed and say to +myself: If only it would come back, but not too bad and not too +close!" + +It was in February that Effi wrote these words and now it was almost +May. The "Plantation" was beginning to take on new life again and one +could hear the song of the finches. During this same week the storks +returned, and one of them soared slowly over her house and alighted +upon a barn near Utpatel's mill, its old resting place. Effi, who now +wrote to her mother more frequently than heretofore, reported this +happening, and at the conclusion of her letter said: "I had almost +forgotten one thing, my dear mama, viz., the new district commander of +the landwehr, who has been here now for almost four weeks. But shall +we really have him? That is the question, and a question of +importance, too, much as my statement will make you laugh, because you +do not know how we are suffering here from social famine. At least I +am, for I am at a loss to know what to make of the nobility here. My +fault, perhaps, but that is immaterial. The fact remains, there has +been a famine, and for this reason I have looked forward, through all +the winter months, to the new district commander as a bringer of +comfort and deliverance. His predecessor was an abominable combination +of bad manners and still worse morals and, as though that were not +enough, was always in financial straits. We have suffered under him +all this time, Innstetten more than I, and when we heard early in +April that Major von Crampas was here--for that is the name of the new +man--we rushed into each other's arms, as though no further harm could +befall us in our dear Kessin. But, as already mentioned, it seems as +though there will be nothing going on, now that he is here. He is +married, has two children, one eight, the other ten years old, and +his wife is a year older than he--say, forty-five. That of itself +would make little difference, and why shouldn't I find a motherly +friend delightfully entertaining? Miss Trippelli was nearly thirty, +and I got along with her quite well. But Mrs. Crampas, who by the way +was not a _von_, is impossible. She is always out of sorts, almost +melancholy, much like our Mrs. Kruse, of whom she reminds me not a +little, and it all comes from jealousy. Crampas himself is said to be +a man of many 'relations,' a ladies' man, which always sounds +ridiculous to me and would in this case, if he had not had a duel with +a comrade on account of just such a thing. His left arm was shattered +just below the shoulder and it is noticeable at first sight, in spite +of the operation, which was heralded abroad as a masterpiece of +surgical art. It was performed by Wilms and I believe they call it +resection. + +"Both Mr. and Mrs. Crampas were at our house a fortnight ago to pay us +a visit. The situation was painful, for Mrs. Crampas watched her +husband so closely that he became half-embarrassed, and I wholly. That +he can be different, even jaunty and in high spirits, I was convinced +three days ago, when, he sat alone with Innstetten, and I was able to +follow their conversation from my room. I afterward talked with him +myself and found him a perfect gentleman and extraordinarily clever. +Innstetten was in the same brigade with him during the war and they +often saw each other at Count Groeben's to the north of Paris. Yes, my +dear mama, he is just the man to instill new life into Kessin. +Besides, he has none of the Pomeranian prejudices, even though he is +said to have come from Swedish Pomerania. But his wife! Nothing can be +done without her, of course, and still less with her." + +Effi was quite right. As a matter of fact no close friendship was +established with the Crampas family. They met once at the Borckes', +again quite casually at the station, and a few days later on a steamer +excursion up the "Broad" to a large beech and oak forest called "The +Chatter-man." But they merely exchanged short greetings, and Effi was +glad when the bathing season opened early in June. To be sure, there +was still a lack of summer visitors, who as a rule did not come in +numbers before St. John's Day. But even the preparations afforded +entertainment. In the "Plantation" a merry-go-round and targets were +set up, the boatmen calked and painted their boats, every little +apartment put up new curtains, and rooms with damp exposure and +subject to dry-rot were fumigated and aired. + +In Effi's own home everybody was also more or less excited, not +because of summer visitors, however, but of another expected arrival. +Even Mrs. Kruse wished to help as much as she could. But Effi was +alarmed at the thought of it and said: "Geert, don't let Mrs. Kruse +touch anything. It would do no good, and I have enough to worry about +without that." Innstetten promised all she asked, adding that Christel +and Johanna would have plenty of time, anyhow. + + * * * * * + +[An elderly widow and her maid arrived and took rooms for the season +opposite the Innstetten house. The widow died and was buried in the +cemetery. After watching the funeral from her window Effi walked out +to the hotel among the dunes and on her way home turned into the +cemetery, where she found the widow's maid sitting in the burning +sun.] + + * * * * * + +"It is a hot place you have picked out," said Effi, "much too hot. And +if you are not cautious you may have a sun-stroke." + +"That would be a blessing." + +"How so?" + +"Then I should be out of the world." + +"I don't think you ought to say that, even if you had bad luck or lost +a dear friend. I presume you loved her very dearly?" + +"I? Her? Oh, heaven forbid!" + +"You are very sad, however, and there must be some cause." + +"There is, too, your Ladyship." + +"Do you know me?" + +"Yes. You are the wife of the district councillor across the street +from us. I was always talking with the old woman about you. But the +time came when she could talk no more, because she could not draw a +good breath. There was something the matter with her here, dropsy, +perhaps. But so long as she could speak she spoke incessantly. She was +a genuine Berlin--" + +"Good woman?" + +"No. If I said that it would be a lie. She is in her grave now and we +ought not to say anything bad about the dead, especially as even they +hardly have peace. Oh well, I suppose she has found peace. But she was +good for nothing and was quarrelsome and stingy and made no provision +for me. The relatives who came yesterday from Berlin * * * were very +rude and unkind to me and raised all sorts of objections when they +paid me my wages, merely because they had to and because there are +only six more days before the beginning of a new quarter. Otherwise I +should have received nothing, or only half, or only a quarter--nothing +with their good will. And they gave me a torn five-mark note to pay my +fare back to Berlin. Well, it is just enough for a fourth-class ticket +and I suppose I shall have to sit on my luggage. But I won't do it. I +will sit here and wait till I die--Heavens, I thought I should have +peace here and I could have stood it with the old woman, too. But now +this has come to nothing and I shall have to be knocked around again. +Besides, I am a Catholic. Oh, I have had enough of it and I wish I lay +where the old woman lies. She might go on living for all of me. * * *" + + + +Rollo, who had accompanied Effi, had meanwhile sat down before the +maid, with his tongue away out, and looked at her. When she stopped +talking he arose, stepped forward, and laid his head upon her knees. +Suddenly she was transformed. "My, this means something for me. Why, +here is a creature that can endure me, that looks at me like a friend +and lays its head on my knees. My, it has been a long time since +anything like that has happened to me. Well, old boy, what's your +name? My, but you are a splendid fellow!" + +"Rollo," said Effi. + +"Rollo; that is strange. But the name makes no difference. I have a +strange name, too, that is, forename. And the likes of me have no +other, you know." + +"What is your name?" + +"I am called Roswitha." + +"Yes, that is strange; why, that is--" + +"Yes, quite right, your Ladyship, it is a Catholic name. And that is +another trouble, that I am a Catholic. From Eichsfeld. Being a +Catholic makes it harder and more disagreeable for me. Many won't have +Catholics, because they run to the church so much. * * *" + +"Roswitha," said Effi, sitting down by her on the bench. "What are you +going to do now?" + +"Ah, your Ladyship, what could I be going to do? Nothing. Honestly and +truly, I should like to sit here and wait till I fall over dead. * * +*" + +"I want to ask you something, Roswitha. Are you fond of children? Have +you ever taken care of little children?" + +"Indeed I have. That is the best and finest thing about me. * * * When +a dear little thing stands up in one's lap, a darling little creature +like a doll, and looks at one with its little peepers, that, I tell +you, is something that opens up one's heart. * * *" + +"Now let me tell you, Roswitha, you are a good true person; I can +tell it by your looks. A little bit unceremonious, but that doesn't +hurt; it is often true of the best people, and I have had confidence +in you from the beginning. Will you come along to my house? It seems +as though God had sent you to me. I am expecting a little one soon, +and may God help me at the time. When the child comes it must be cared +for and waited upon and perhaps even fed from a bottle, though I hope +not. But one can never tell. What do you say? Will you come?" + +Roswitha sprang up, seized the hand of the young wife and kissed it +fervently. "Oh, there is indeed a God in heaven, and when our need is +greatest help is nearest. Your Ladyship shall see, I can do it. I am +an orderly person and have good references. You can see for yourself +when I bring you my book. The very first time I saw your Ladyship I +thought: 'Oh, if I only had such a mistress!' And now I am to have +her. O, dear God, O, holy Virgin Mary, who would have thought it +possible, when we had put the old woman in her grave and the relatives +made haste to get away and left me sitting here?" + +"Yes, it is the unexpected that often happens, Roswitha, and +occasionally for our good. Let us go now. Rollo is getting impatient +and keeps running down to the gate." + +Roswitha was ready at once, but went back to the grave, mumbled a few +words and crossed herself. Then they walked down the shady path and +back to the churchyard gate. * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +In less than a quarter of an hour the house was reached. As they +stepped into the cool hall * * * Effi said: "Now, Roswitha, you go in +there. That is our bedroom. I am going over to the district +councillor's office to tell my husband that I should like to have you +as a nurse for the baby. He will doubtless agree to it, but I must +have his consent. Then when I have it we must find other quarters for +him and you will sleep with me in the alcove * * *" + +When Innstetten learned the situation he said with alacrity: "You did +the right thing, Effi, and if her testimonials are not too bad we will +take her on her good face * * *" + +Effi was very happy to have encountered so little difficulty, and +said: "Now it will be all right. Now I am no longer afraid * * *" + +That same hour Roswitha moved into the house with her few possessions +and established herself in the little alcove. When the day was over +she went to bed early and, tired as she was, fell asleep instantly. + +The next morning Effi inquired how she had slept and whether she had +heard anything. + +"What?" asked Roswitha. + +"Oh, nothing. I just meant some sound as though a broom were sweeping +or some one were sliding over the floor." + +Roswitha laughed and that made an especially good impression upon her +young mistress. Effi had been brought up a Protestant and would have +been very much alarmed if any Catholic traits had been discovered in +her. And yet she believed that Catholicism affords the better +protection against such things as "that upstairs" * * * + +All soon began to feel at home with one another, for Effi, like most +country noblewomen of Brandenburg, had the amiable characteristic of +liking to listen to such little stories as those for which the +deceased widow, with her avarice, her nephews and their wives, +afforded Roswitha an inexhaustible fund of material. Johanna was also +an appreciative listener. + +Often, when Effi laughed aloud at the drastic passages, Johanna would +deign to smile, but inwardly she was surprised that her Ladyship found +pleasure in such stupid stuff. This feeling of surprise, along with +her sense of superiority, proved on the whole very fortunate and +helped to avoid quarrels with Johanna about their relative positions. +Roswitha was simply the comic figure, and for Johanna to be jealous of +her would have been as bad as to envy Rollo his position of +friendship. + +Thus passed a week, chatty and almost jolly, for Effi looked forward +with less anxiety than heretofore to the important coming event. Nor +did she think that it was so near. On the ninth day the chattering and +jollity came to an end. Running and hurrying took their place, and +Innstetten himself laid aside his customary reserve entirely. On the +morning of the 3d of July a cradle was standing by Effi's bed. Dr. +Hannemann joyously grasped the young mother's hand and said: "We have +today the anniversary of Koeniggraetz; a pity, that it is a girl. But +the other may come yet, and the Prussians have many anniversaries of +victories." Roswitha doubtless had some similar idea, but for the +present her joy over the new arrival knew no bounds. Without further +ado she called the child "little Annie," which the young mother took +as a sign. "It must have been an inspiration," she said, "that +Roswitha hit upon this particular name." Even Innstetten had nothing +to say against it, and so they began to talk about "little Annie" long +before the christening day arrived. + +Effi, who expected to be with her parents in Hohen-Cremmen from the +middle of August on, would have liked to postpone the baptism till +then. But it was not feasible. Innstetten could not take a vacation +and so the 15th of August * * * was set for the ceremony, which of +course was to take place in the church. The accompanying banquet was +held in the large clubhouse on the quay, because the district +councillor's house had no dining hall. All the nobles of the +neighborhood were invited and all came. Pastor Lindequist delivered +the toast to the mother and the child in a charming way that was +admired on all sides. But Sidonie von Grasenabb took occasion to +remark to her neighbor, an assessor of the strict type: "Yes, his +occasional addresses will pass. But he cannot justify his sermons +before God or man. He is a half-way man, one of those who are +rejected because they are lukewarm. I don't care to quote the Bible +here literally." Immediately thereafter old Mr. von Borcke took the +floor to drink to the health of Innstetten: "Ladies and Gentlemen: +These are hard times in which we live; rebellion, defiance, lack of +discipline, whithersoever we look. But * * * so long as we still have +men like Baron von Innstetten, whom I am proud to call my friend, just +so long we can endure it, and our old Prussia will hold out. Indeed, +my friends, with Pomerania and Brandenburg we can conquer this foe and +set our foot upon the head of the poisonous dragon of revolution. Firm +and true, thus shall we gain the victory. The Catholics, our brethren, +whom we must respect, even though we fight them, have the 'rock of +Peter,' but our rock is of bronze. Three cheers for Baron Innstetten!" +Innstetten thanked him briefly. Effi said to Major von Crampas, who +sat beside her, that the 'rock of Peter' was probably a compliment to +Roswitha, and she would later approach old Councillor of Justice +Gadebusch and ask him if he were not of her opinion. For some +unaccountable reason Crampas took this remark seriously and advised +her not to ask the Councillor's opinion, which amused Effi +exceedingly. "Why, I thought you were a better mind-reader." + +"Ah, your Ladyship, in the case of beautiful young women who are not +yet eighteen the art of mind-reading fails utterly." + +"You are defeating your cause completely, Major. You may call me a +grandmother, but you can never be pardoned for alluding to the fact +that I am not yet eighteen." + +When they left the table the late afternoon steamer came down the +Kessine and called at the landing opposite the clubhouse. Effi sat by +an open window with Crampas and Gieshuebler, drinking coffee and +watching the scene below. "Tomorrow morning at nine the same boat will +take me up the river, and at noon I shall be in Berlin, and in the +evening I shall be in Hohen-Cremmen, and Roswitha will walk beside me +and carry the child in her arms. I hope it will not cry. Ah, what a +feeling it gives me even today! Dear Gieshuebler, were you ever so +happy to see again your parental home?" + +[Illustation: _Permission F. Bruckmann A.-G. Munich_ PROCESSION AT +GASTEIN Adolph von Menzel] "Yes, the feeling is not new to me, most +gracious Lady, excepting only that I have never taken any little Annie +with me, for I have none to take." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +Effi left home in the middle of August and was back in Kessin at the +end of September. During the six weeks' visit she had often longed to +return, but when she now reached the house and entered the dark hall +into which no light could enter except the little from the stairway, +she had a sudden feeling of fear and said to herself: "There is no +such pale, yellow light in Hohen-Cremmen." + +A few times during the days in Hohen-Cremmen she had longed for the +"Haunted house," but on the whole her life there had been full of +happiness and contentment. To be sure, she had not known what to +make of Hulda, who was not taking kindly to her role of waiting +for a husband or fiance to turn up. With the twins, however, she +got along much better, and more than once when she played ball or +croquet with them she entirely forgot that she was married. Those +were happy moments. Her chief delight was, as in former days, to +stand on the swing board as it flew through the air and gave her +a tingling sensation, a shudder of sweet danger, when she felt she +would surely fall the next moment. When she finally sprang out of +the swing, she went with the two girls to sit on the bench in front +of the schoolhouse and there told old Mr. Jahnke, who joined them, +about her life in Kessin, which she said was half-hanseatic and +half-Scandinavian, and anything but a replica of Schwantikow and +Hohen-Cremmen. + +Such were the little daily amusements, to which were added occasional +drives into the summery marsh, usually in the dog-cart. But Effi liked +above everything else the chats she had almost every morning with her +mother, as they sat upstairs in the large airy room, while Roswitha +rocked the baby and sang lullabies in a Thuringian dialect which +nobody fully understood, perhaps not even Roswitha. Effi and her +mother would move over to the open window and look out upon the park, +the sundial, or the pond with the dragon flies hovering almost +motionless above it, or the tile walk, where von Briest sat beside the +porch steps reading the newspapers. Every time he turned a page he +took off his nose glasses and greeted his wife and daughter. When he +came to his last paper, usually the _Havelland Advertiser_, Effi went +down either to sit beside him or stroll with him through the garden +and park. On one such occasion they stepped from the gravel walk over +to a little monument standing to one side, which Briest's grandfather +had erected in memory of the battle of Waterloo. It was a rusty +pyramid with a bronze cast of Bluecher in front and one of Wellington +in the rear. + +"Have you any such walks in Kessin?" said von Briest, "and does +Innstetten accompany you and tell you stories?" + +"No, papa, I have no such walks. It is out of the question, for we +have only a small garden behind the house, in reality hardly a garden +at all, just a few box-bordered plots and vegetable beds with three or +four fruit trees. Innstetten has no appreciation of such things and, I +fancy, does not expect to stay much longer in Kessin." + +"But, child, you must have exercise and fresh air, for you are +accustomed to them." + +"Oh, I have both. Our house is situated near a grove, which they call +the 'Plantation,' and I walk there a great deal and Rollo with me." + +"Always Rollo," laughed von Briest. "If I didn't know better, I should +be tempted to think that you cared more for Rollo than for your +husband and child." + +"Ah, papa, that would be terrible, even if I am forced to admit that +there was a time when I could not have gotten along without Rollo. +That was--oh, you know when--On that occasion he virtually saved my +life, or I at least fancied he did, and since then he has been my good +friend and my chief dependence. But he is only a dog, and of course +human beings come first." + +"Yes, that is what they always say, but I have my doubts. There is +something peculiar about brute creatures and a correct understanding +of them has not yet been arrived at. Believe me, Effi, this is another +wide field. When I think how a person has an accident on the water or +on the slippery ice, and some dog, say, one like your Rollo, is at +hand, he will not rest till he has brought the unfortunate person to +the shore. And if the victim is already dead, the dog will lie down +beside him and bark and whine till somebody comes, and if nobody +comes he will stay by the corpse till he himself is dead. That is what +such an animal always does. And now take mankind on the other hand. +God forgive me for saying it, but it sometimes seems to me as though +the brute creature were better than man." + +"But, papa, if I said that to Innstetten--" + +"No, Effi, you would better not." + +"Rollo would rescue me, of course, but Innstetten would, too. He is a +man of honor, you know." + +"That he is." + +"And loves me." + +"That goes without saying. And where there is love it is reciprocated. +That is the way of the world. I am only surprised that he didn't take +a vacation and flit over here. When one has such a young wife--" + +Effi blushed, for she thought exactly the same thing. But she did not +care to admit it. "Innstetten is so conscientious and he desires to be +thought well of, I believe, and has his own plans for the future. +Kessin, you know, is only a stepping stone. And, after all, I am not +going to run away from him. He has me, you see. If he were too +affectionate--beside the difference between our ages--people would +merely smile." + +"Yes, they would, Effi. But one must not mind that. Now, don't say +anything about it, not even to mama. It is so hard to say what to do +and what not. That is also a wide field." + +More than once during Effi's visit with her parents such conversations +as the above had occurred, but fortunately their effect had not lasted +long. Likewise the melancholy impression made upon her by the Kessin +house at the moment of her return quickly faded away. Innstetten was +full of little attentions, and when tea had been taken and the news +of the city and the gossip about lovers had been talked over in a +merry mood Effi took his arm affectionately and went into the other +room with him to continue their chat and hear some anecdotes about +Miss Trippelli, who had recently had another lively correspondence +with Gieshuebler. This always meant a new debit on her never settled +account. During this conversation Effi was very jolly, enjoying to the +full the emotions of a young wife, and was glad to be rid of Roswitha, +who had been transferred to the servants' quarters for an indefinite +period. + +The next morning she said: "The weather is beautiful and mild and I +hope the veranda on the side toward the 'Plantation' is in good order, +so that we can move out of doors and take breakfast there. We shall be +shut up in our rooms soon enough, at best, for the Kessin winters are +really four weeks too long." + +Innstetten agreed heartily. The veranda Effi spoke of, which might +perhaps better be called a tent, had been put up in the summer, three +or four weeks before Effi's departure for Hohen-Cremmen. It consisted +of a large platform, with the side in front open, an immense awning +overhead, while to the right and left there were broad canvas +curtains, which could be shoved back and forth by means of rings on an +iron rod. It was a charming spot and all summer long was admired by +the visitors who passed by on their way to the baths. + +Effi had leaned back in a rocking chair and said, as she pushed the +coffee tray toward her husband: "Geert, you might play the amiable +host today. I for my part find this rocker so comfortable that I do +not care to get up. So exert yourself and if you are right glad to +have me back again I shall easily find some way to get even." As she +said this she straightened out the white damask cloth and laid her +hand upon it. Innstetten took her hand and kissed it. + +"Well, how did you get on without me?" + +"Badly enough, Effi." + +"You just say so and try to look gloomy, but in reality there is not a +word of truth in it." + +"Why, Effi--" + +"As I will prove to you, If you had had the least bit of longing for +your child--I will not speak of myself, for, after all, what is a +woman to such a high lord, who was a bachelor for so many years and +was in no hurry--" + +"Well?" + +"Yes, Geert, if you had had just the least bit of longing, you would +not have left me for six weeks to enjoy widow-like my own sweet +society in Hohen-Cremmen, with nobody about but Niemeyer and Jahnke, +and now and then our friends in Schwantikow. Nobody at all came from +Rathenow, which looked as though they were afraid of me, or I had +grown too old." + +"Ah, Effi, how you do talk! Do you know that you are a little +coquette?" + +"Thank heaven that you say so. You men consider a coquette the best +thing a woman can be. And you yourself are not different from the +rest, even if you do put on such a solemn and honorable air. I know +very well, Geert--To tell the truth, you are--" + +"Well, what?" + +"Well, I prefer not to say. But I know you very well. To tell the +truth, you are, as my Schwantikow uncle once said, an affectionate +man, and were born under the star of love, and Uncle Belling was quite +right when he said so. You merely do not like to show it and think it +is not proper and spoils one's career. Have I struck it?" + +Innstetten laughed. "You have struck it a little bit. And let me tell +you, Effi, you seem to me entirely changed. Before little Annie came +you were a child, but all of a sudden--" + +"Well?" + +"All of a sudden you are like another person. But it is becoming to +you and I like you very much. Shall I tell you further?" + +"What?" + +"There is something alluring about you." + +"Oh, my only Geert, why, what you say is glorious. Now my heart is +gladder than ever--Give me another half a cup--Do you know that that +is what I have always desired? We women must be alluring, or we are +nothing whatever." + +"Is that your own idea?" + +"I might have originated it, but I got it from Niemeyer." + +"From Niemeyer! My, oh my, what a fine pastor he is! Well, I just tell +you, there are none like him here. But how did he come by it? Why, it +seems as though some Don Juan, some regular heart smasher had said +it." + +"Ah, who knows?" laughed Effi. "But isn't that Crampas coming there? +And from the beach! You don't suppose he has been swimming? On the +27th of September!" + +"He often does such things, purely to make an impression." + +Crampas had meanwhile come up quite near and greeted them. + +"Good morning," cried Innstetten. "Come closer, come closer." + +Crampas, in civilian dress, approached and kissed Effi's hand. She +went on rocking, and Innstetten said: "Excuse me, Major, for doing the +honors of the house so poorly; but the veranda is not a house and, +strictly speaking, ten o'clock in the morning is no time. At this hour +we omit formalities, or, if you like, we all make ourselves at home. +So sit down and give an account of your actions. For by your hair,--I +wish for your sake there were more of it--I see plainly you have been +swimming." + +He nodded. + +"Inexcusable," said Innstetten, half in earnest and half joking. "Only +four weeks ago you yourself witnessed Banker Heinersdorf's calamity. +He too thought the sea and the magnificent waves would respect him on +account of his millions. But the gods are jealous of each other, and +Neptune, without any apparent cause, took sides against Pluto, or at +least against Heinersdorf." + +Crampas laughed. "Yes, a million marks! If I had that much, my dear +Innstetten, I should not have risked it, I presume; for beautiful as +the weather is, the water was only 9 deg. centigrade. But a man like me, +with his million deficit,--permit me this little bit of boasting--a +man like me can take such liberties without fearing the jealousy of +the gods. Besides, there is comfort in the proverb, 'Whoever is born +for the noose cannot perish in the water.'" + +"Why, Major," said Effi, "you don't mean to talk your neck +into--excuse me!--such an unprosaic predicament, do you? To be sure, +many believe--I refer to what you just said--that every man more or +less deserves to be hanged. And yet, Major--for a major--" + +"It is not the traditional way of dying. I admit it, your Ladyship. +Not traditional and, in my case, not even very probable. So it was +merely a quotation, or, to be more accurate, a common expression. +Still, there is some sincerity back of it when I say the sea will not +harm me, for I firmly expect to die a regular, and I hope honorable, +soldier's death. Originally it was only a gypsy's prophesy, but with +an echo in my own conscience." + +Innstetten laughed. "There will be a few obstacles, Crampas, unless +you plan to serve under the Sublime Porte or the Chinese dragon. There +the soldiers are knocking each other around now. Take my word for it, +that kind of business is all over here for the next thirty years, and +if anybody has the desire to meet his death as a soldier--" + +"He must first order a war of Bismarck. I know all about it, +Innstetten. But that is a mere bagatelle for you. It is now the end of +September. In ten weeks at the latest the Prince will be in Varzin +again, and as he has a liking for you--I will refrain from using the +more vulgar term, to avoid facing the barrel of your pistol--you will +be able, won't you, to provide a little war for an old Vionville +comrade? The Prince is only a human being, like the rest of us, and a +kind word never comes amiss." + +During this conversation Effi had been wadding bread and tossing it on +the table, then making figures out of the little balls, to indicate +that a change of topic was desirable. But Innstetten seemed bent on +answering Crampas's joking remarks, for which reason Effi decided it +would be better for her simply to interrupt. "I can't see, Major, why +we should trouble ourselves about your way of dying. Life lies nearer +to us and is for the time being a more serious matter." + +Crampas nodded. + +"I am glad you agree with me. How are we to live here? That is the +question right now. That is more important than anything else. +Gieshuebler has written me a letter on the subject and I would show it +to you if it did not seem indiscreet or vain, for there are a lot of +other things besides in the letter. Innstetten doesn't need to read +it; he has no appreciation of such things. Incidentally, the +handwriting is like engraving, and the style is what one would expect +if our Kessin friend had been brought up at an Old French court. The +fact that he is humpbacked and wears white jabots such as no other +human being wears--I can't imagine where he has them ironed--all this +fits so well. Now Gieshuebler has written to me about plans for the +evenings at the club, and about a manager by the name of Crampas. You +see, Major, I like that better than the soldier's death, let alone the +other." + +"And I, personally, no less than you. It will surely be a splendid +winter if we may feel assured of the support of your Ladyship. Miss +Trippelli is coming--" + +"Trippelli? Then I am superfluous." + +"By no means, your Ladyship. Miss Trippelli cannot sing from one +Sunday till the next; it would be too much for her and for us. Variety +is the spice of life, a truth which, to be sure, every happy marriage +seems to controvert." + +"If there are any happy marriages, mine excepted," and she held out +her hand to Innstetten. + +"Variety then," continued Crampas. "To secure it for ourselves and our +club, of which for the time being I have the honor to be the +vice-president, we need the help of everybody who can be depended +upon. If we put our heads together we can turn this whole place upside +down. The theatrical pieces have already been selected--_War in Peace, +Mr. Hercules, Youthful Love,_ by Wilbrandt, and perhaps _Euphrosyne_, +by Gensichen. You as Euphrosyne and I middle-aged Goethe. You will be +astonished to see how well I can act the prince of poets, if act is +the right word." + +"No doubt. In the meantime I have learned from the letter of my +alchemistic correspondent that, in addition to your other +accomplishments, you are an occasional poet. At first I was +surprised." + +"You couldn't see that I looked the part." + +"No. But since I have found out that you go swimming at 9 deg. I have +changed my mind. Nine degrees in the Baltic Sea beats the Castalian +Fountain." + +"The temperature of which is unknown." + +"Not to me; at least nobody will contradict me. But now I must get up. +There comes Roswitha with little Annie." + +She arose and went toward Roswitha, took the child, and tossed it up +with pride and joy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +[For the next few weeks Crampas came regularly every morning to gossip +a while with Effi on the veranda and then ride horseback with her +husband. Finally she desired to ride with them and, although +Innstetten did not approve of the idea, Crampas secured a horse for +her. On one of their rides Crampas let fall a remark about how it +bored him to have to observe such a multitude of petty laws. Effi +applauded the sentiment. Innstetten took the Major to task and +reminded him that one of his frivolous escapades had cost him an arm. +When the election campaign began Innstetten; could no longer take the +time for the horseback rides, and so Effi went out with Crampas, +accompanied by two lackeys. One day, while riding slowly through the +woods, Crampas spoke at length of Innstetten's character, telling how +in earlier life the councillor was more respected than loved, how he +had a mystical tendency and was inclined to make sport of his +comrades. He referred also to Innstetten's fondness for ghost +stories, which led Effi to tell her experience with the Chinaman. +Crampas said that because of an unusual ambition Innstetten had to +have an unusual residence; hence the haunted house. He further +poisoned Effi's mind by telling her that her husband was a born +pedagogue and in the education of his wife was employing the haunted +house in accordance with a definite pedagogical plan.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The clock struck two as they reached the house. Crampas bade Effi +adieu, rode into the city, and dismounted at his residence on the +market square. Effi changed her dress and tried to take a nap, but +could not go to sleep, for she was less weary than out of humor. That +Innstetten should keep his ghosts, in order to live in an +extraordinary house, that she could endure; it harmonized with his +inclination to be different from the great mass. But the other thing, +that he should use his ghosts for pedagogical purposes, that was +annoying, almost insulting. It was clear to her mind that "pedagogical +purposes" told less than half the story. What Crampas had meant was +far, far worse, was a kind of instrument designed to instill fear. It +was wholly lacking in goodness of heart and bordered almost on +cruelty. The blood rushed to her head, she clenched her little fist, +and was on the point of laying plans, but suddenly she had to laugh. +"What a child I am!" she exclaimed. "Who can assure me that Crampas is +right? Crampas is entertaining, because he is a gossip, but he is +unreliable, a mere braggart, and cannot hold a candle to Innstetten." + +At this moment Innstetten drove up, having decided to come home +earlier today than usual. Effi sprang from her seat to greet him in +the hall and was the more affectionate, the more she felt she had +something to make amends for. But she could not entirely ignore what +Crampas had said, and in the midst of her caresses, while she was +listening with apparent interest, there was the ever recurring echo +within: "So the ghost is part of a design, a ghost to keep me in my +place." + +Finally she forgot it, however, and listened artlessly to what he had +to tell her. + + * * * * * + +About the middle of November the north wind blew up a gale, which for +a day and a half swept over the moles so violently that the Kessine, +more and more dammed back, finally overflowed the quay and ran into +the streets. But after the storm had spent its rage the weather +cleared and a few sunny autumn days followed. "Who knows how long they +will last," said Effi to Crampas, and they decided to ride out once +more on the following morning. Innstetten, who had a free day, was to +go too. They planned to ride to the mole and dismount there, then take +a little walk along the beach and finally have luncheon at a sheltered +spot behind the dunes. + +At the appointed hour Crampas rode up before the house. Kruse was +holding the horse for her Ladyship, who quickly lifted herself into +the saddle, saying that Innstetten had been prevented from going and +wished to be excused. There had been another big fire in Morgenitz the +night before, the third in three weeks, pointing to incendiarism, and +he had been obliged to go there, much to his sorrow, for he had looked +forward with real pleasure to this ride, thinking it would probably be +the last of the season. + +Crampas expressed his regret, perhaps just to say something, but +perhaps with sincerity, for inconsiderate as he was in chivalrous love +affairs, he was, on the other hand, equally a hale fellow well met. To +be sure, only superficially. To help a friend and five minutes later +deceive him were things that harmonized very well with his sense of +honor. He could do both with incredible bonhomie. + +The ride followed the usual route through the "Plantation." Rollo went +ahead, then came Crampas and Effi, and Kruse followed. Crampas's +lackey was not along. + +"Where did you leave Knut?" + +"He has the mumps." + +"Remarkable," laughed Effi. "To tell the truth, he always looked as +though he had something of the sort." + +"Quite right. But you ought to see him now. Or rather not, for you can +take the mumps from merely seeing a case." + +"I don't believe it." + +"There is a great deal that young wives don't believe." + +"And again they believe many things they would better not believe." + +"Do you say that for my benefit?" + +"No." + +"Sorry." + +"How becoming this 'sorry' is to you! I really believe, Major, you +would consider it entirely proper, if I were to make a declaration of +love to you." + +"I will not go quite that far. But I should like to see the fellow who +would not desire such a thing. Thoughts and wishes go free of duty." + +"There is some question about that. Besides, there is a difference +between thoughts and wishes. Thoughts, as a rule, keep in the +background, but wishes, for the most part, hover on the lips." + +"I wish you wouldn't say that." + +"Ah, Crampas, you are--you are--" + +"A fool." + +"No. That is another exaggeration. But you are something else. In +Hohen-Cremmen we always said, I along with the rest, that the most +conceited person in the world was a hussar ensign at eighteen." + +"And now?" + +"Now I say, the most conceited person in the world is a district +major of the landwehr at forty-two." + +"Incidentally, my other two years that you most graciously ignore make +amends for the remark. Kiss the hand" (--My respects to you). + +"Yes, 'kiss the hand.' That is just the expression that fits you. It +is Viennese. And the Viennese--I made their acquaintance four years +ago in Carlsbad, where they courted me, a fourteen-year-old slip of a +girl. What a lot of things I had to listen to!" + +"Certainly nothing more than was right." + +"If that were true, the intended compliment would be rather rude--But +see the buoys yonder, how they swim and dance. The little red flags +are hauled in. Every time I have seen the red flags this summer, the +few times that I have ventured to go down to the beach, I have said to +myself: there lies Vineta, it must lie there, those are the tops of +the towers." + +"That is because you know Heine's poem." + +"Which one?" + +"Why, the one about Vineta." + +"No, I don't know that one; indeed I know very few, to my sorrow." + +"And yet you have Gieshuebler and the Journal Club. However, Heine gave +the poem a different name, 'Sea Ghosts,' I believe, or something of +the sort. But he meant Vineta. As he himself--pardon me, if I proceed +to tell you here the contents of the poem--as the poet, I was about to +say, is passing the place, he is lying on the ship's deck and looking +down into the water, and there he sees narrow, medieval streets, and +women tripping along in hoodlike hats. All have songbooks in their +hands and are going to church, and all the bells are ringing. When he +hears the bells he is seized with a longing to go to church himself, +even though only for the sake of the hoodlike hats, and in the heat of +desire he screams aloud and is about to plunge in. But at that moment +the captain seizes him by the leg and exclaims: 'Doctor, are you +crazy?'" + +"Why, that is delicious! I'd like to read it. Is it long?" + +"No, it is really short, somewhat longer than 'Thou hast diamonds and +pearls,' or 'Thy soft lily fingers,'" and he gently touched her hand. +"But long or short, what descriptive power, what objectivity! He is my +favorite poet and I know him by heart, little as I care in general for +this poetry business, in spite of the jingles I occasionally +perpetrate myself. But with Heine's poetry it is different. It is all +life, and above everything else he is a connoisseur of love, which, +you know, is the highest good. Moreover, he is not one-sided." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean he is not all for love." + +"Well, even if he had this one-sidedness it would not be the worst +thing in the world. What else does he favor?" + +"He is also very much in favor of romance, which, to be sure, follows +closely after love and, in the opinion of some people, coincides with +it. But I don't believe it does. In his later poems, which have been +called 'romantic'--as a matter of fact, he called them that +himself--in these romantic poems there is no end of killing. Often on +account of love, to be sure, but usually for other, more vulgar +reasons, among which I include politics, which is almost always +vulgar. Charles Stuart, for example, carries his head under his arm in +one of these romances, and still more gruesome is the story of +Vitzliputzli." + +"Of whom?" + +"Vitzliputzli. He is a Mexican god, and when the Mexicans had taken +twenty or thirty Spaniards prisoners, these twenty or thirty had to be +sacrificed to Vitzliputzli. There was no help for it, it was a +national custom, a cult, and it all took place in the turn of a +hand--belly open, heart out--" + +"Stop, Crampas, no more of that. It is indecent, and disgusting +besides. And all this when we are just about on the point of eating +lunch!" + +"I for my part am not affected by it, as I make it my rule to let my +appetite depend only upon the menu." + +During this conversation they had come from the beach, according to +program, to a bench built in the lee of the dunes, with an extremely +primitive table in front of it, simply a board on top of two posts. +Kruse, who had ridden ahead, had the lunch already served--tea rolls, +slices of cold roast meat, and red wine, and beside the bottle stood +two pretty little gold-rimmed glasses, such as one buys in watering +places or takes home as souvenirs from glass works. + +They dismounted. Kruse, who had tied the reins of his own horse around +a stunted pine, walked up and down with the other two horses, while +Crampas and Effi sat down at the table and enjoyed the clear view of +beach and mole afforded by a narrow cut through the dunes. + +The half-wintery November sun shed its fallow light upon the still +agitated sea and the high-running surf. Now and then a puff of wind +came and carried the spray clear up to the table. There was lyme grass +all around, and the bright yellow of the immortelles stood out sharply +against the yellow sand they were growing in, despite the kinship of +colors. Effi played the hostess. "I am sorry, Major, to have to pass +you the rolls in a basket lid." + +"I don't mind the platter, so long as it holds a favor." + +"But this is Kruse's arrangement--Why, there you are too, Rollo. But +our lunch does not take you into account. What shall we do with +Rollo?" + +"I say, give him everything--I for my part out of gratitude. For, you +see, dearest Effi--" + +Effi looked at him. + +"For, you see, most gracious Lady, Rollo reminds me of what I was +about to tell you as a continuation or counterpart of the Vitzliputzli +story, only much more racy, because a love story. Have you ever heard +of a certain Pedro the Cruel?" + +"I have a faint recollection." + +"A kind of Bluebeard king." + +"That is fine. That is the kind girls like best to hear about, and I +still remember we always said of my friend Hulda Niemeyer, whose name +you have heard, I believe, that she knew no history, except the six +wives of Henry the Eighth, that English Bluebeard, if the word is +strong enough for him. And, really, she knew these six by heart. You +ought to have heard her when she pronounced the names, especially that +of the mother of queen Elizabeth,--so terribly embarrassed, as though +it were her turn next--But now, please, the story of Don Pedro." + +"Very well. At Don Pedro's court there was a handsome black Spanish +knight, who wore on his breast the cross of Calatrava, which is about +the equivalent of the Black Eagle and the _Pour le Merite_ together. +This cross was essential, they always had to wear it, and this +Calatrava knight, whom the queen secretly loved, of course--" + +"Why of course?" + +"Because we are in Spain." + +"So we are." + +"And this Calatrava knight, I say, had a very beautiful dog, a +Newfoundland dog, although there were none as yet, for it was just a +hundred years before the discovery of America. A very beautiful dog, +let us call him Rollo." + +When Rollo heard his name he barked and wagged his tail. + +"It went on thus for many a day. But the secret love, which probably +did not remain entirely secret, soon became too much for the king, who +cared very little for the Calatrava knight anyhow; for he was not only +a cruel king, but also a jealous old wether--or, if that word is not +just suited for a king, and still less for my amiable listener, Mrs. +Effi, call him at least a jealous creature. Well, he resolved to have +the Calatrava knight secretly beheaded for his secret love." + +"I can't blame him." + +"I don't know, most gracious Lady. You must hear further. In part it +was all right, but it was too much. The king, in my judgment, went +altogether too far. He pretended he was going to arrange a feast for +the knight in honor of his deeds as a warrior and hero, and there was +a long table and all the grandees of the realm sat at this table, and +in the middle sat the king, and opposite him was the place of honor +for the Calatrava knight. But the knight failed to appear, and when +they had waited a long while for him, they finally had to begin the +feast without him, and his place remained vacant. A vacant place just +opposite the king!" + +"And then?" + +"And then, fancy, most gracious Lady, as the king, this Pedro, is +about to rise in order dissemblingly to express his regret that his +'dear guest' has not yet appeared, the horrified servants are heard +screaming on the stairway, and before anybody knows what has happened, +something flies along the table, springs upon the chair, and places a +severed head upon the empty plate. Over this very head Rollo stares at +the one sitting face to face with him, viz., the king. Rollo had +accompanied his master on his last journey, and the moment the ax fell +the faithful animal snatched the falling head, and here he was now, +our friend Rollo, at the long festal board, accusing the royal +murderer." + +Effi was rapt with attention. After a few moments she said: "Crampas, +that is in its way very beautiful, and because it is very beautiful I +will forgive you. But you might do better, and please me more, if you +would tell stories of another kind, even from Heine. Certainly Heine +has not written exclusively of Vitzliputzli and Don Pedro and _your_ +Rollo. I say _your_, for mine would not have done such a thing. Come, +Rollo. Poor creature, I can't look at you any more without thinking of +the Calatrava knight, whom the queen secretly loved--Call Kruse, +please, that he may put these things back in the saddle bag, and, as +we ride home, you must tell me something different, something entirely +different." + +Kruse came. As he was about to take the glasses Crampas said: "Kruse, +leave the one glass, this one here. I'll take it myself." + +"Your servant, Major." + +Effi, who had overheard this, shook her head. Then she laughed. +"Crampas, what in the world are you thinking of? Kruse is stupid +enough not to think a second time about anything, and even if he did +he fortunately would arrive at no conclusion. But that does not +justify you in keeping this thirty-pfennig glass from the Joseph Glass +Works." + +"Your scornful reference to its price makes me feel its value all the +more deeply." + +"Always the same story. You are such a humorist, but a very queer one. +If I understand you rightly you are going to--it is ridiculous and I +almost hesitate to say it--you are going to perform now the act of the +King of Thule." + +He nodded with a touch of roguishness. + +"Very well, for all I care. Everybody wears his right cap; you know +which one. But I must be permitted to say that the role you are +assigning to me in this connection is far from flattering. I don't +care to figure as a rhyme to your King of Thule. Keep the glass, but +please draw no conclusions that would compromise me. I shall tell +Innstetten about it." + +"That you will not do, most gracious Lady." + +"Why not?" + +"Innstetten is not the man to see such things in their proper light." + +She eyed him sharply for a moment, then lowered her eyes confused and +almost embarrassed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +[Effi's peace was disturbed, but the prospect of a quiet winter, with +few occasions to meet Crampas, reassured her. She and her husband +began to spend their evenings reviewing their Italian journey. +Gieshuebler joined them and soon announced that Crampas was planning an +amateur performance of _A Step out of the Way_, with Effi as the +heroine. She felt the danger, but was eager to act, as Crampas was +only the coach. Her playing won enthusiastic applause and Innstetten +raved over his captivating wife. A casual remark about Mrs. Crampas +led him to assert that she was insanely jealous of Effi, and to tell +how Crampas had wheedled her into agreeing to stay at home the second +day after Christmas, while he himself joined the Innstettens and +others on a sleighing party. Innstetten then said, in a way suggesting +the strict pedagogue, that Crampas was not to be trusted, particularly +in his relations to women. On Christmas day Effi was happy till she +discovered she had received no greeting from Crampas. That put her out +of sorts and made her conscious that all was not well. Innstetten +noticed her troubled state and, when she told him she felt unworthy of +the kindness showered upon her, he said that people get only what they +deserve, but she was not sure of his meaning. The proposed sleighing +party was carried out. After coffee at Forester Ring's lodge all went +out for a walk. Crampas remarked to Effi that they were in danger of +being snowed in. She replied with the story of a poem entitled _God's +Wall_, which she had learned from her pastor. During a war an aged +widow prayed God to build a wall to protect her from the enemy. God +caused her cottage to be snowed under, and the enemy passed by. +Crampas changed the subject.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +[At seven o'clock dinner was served. At the table Sidonie Grasenabb +had much to say against the loose modern way of bringing up girls, +with particular reference to the Forester's frivolous daughters. After +a toast to Ring, in which Gueldenklee indulged in various puns on the +name, the Prussian song was sung and the company made ready to start +home. Gieshuebler's coachman had meanwhile been kicked in the shin by +one of the horses and the doctor ordered him to stay at the Forester's +for the present. Innstetten undertook to drive home in his place. +Sidonie Grasenabb rode part of the way with Effi and Crampas, till a +small stream with a quicksand bottom was encountered, when she left +the sleigh and joined her family in their carriage. Crampas who had +been sent by Innstetten to look after the ladies in his sleigh, was +now alone with Effi. When she saw that the roundabout way was bringing +them to a dark forest, through which they would have to pass, she +sought to steady her nerves by clasping her hands together with all +her might. Then she recalled the poem about _God's Wall_ and tried two +or three times to repeat the widow's prayer for protection, but was +conscious that her words were dead. She was afraid, and yet felt as +though she were under a spell, which she did not care to cast off. +When the sleigh entered the dark woods Crampas spoke her name softly, +with trembling voice, took her hand, loosened the clenched fingers, +and covered them with fervent kisses. She felt herself fainting. When +she again opened her eyes the sleigh had passed out of the woods and +it soon drove up before her home in Kessin.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +Innstetten, who had observed Effi sharply as he lifted her from the +sleigh, but had avoided speaking to her in private about the strange +drive, arose early the following morning and sought to overcome his +ill-humor, from the effects of which he still suffered. + +"Did you sleep well?" he asked, as Effi came to breakfast. + +"Yes." + +"How fortunate! I can't say the same of myself. I dreamed you met with +an accident in the sleigh, in the quicksand, and Crampas tried to +rescue you--I must call it that--, but he sank out of sight with you." + +"You say all this so queerly, Geert. Your words contain a covert +reproach, and I can guess why." + +"Very remarkable." + +"You do not approve of Crampas's coming and offering us his +assistance." + +"Us?" + +"Yes, us. Sidonie and me. You seem to have forgotten entirely that the +Major came at your request. At first he sat opposite me, and I may +say, incidentally, that it was indeed an uncomfortable seat on that +miserable narrow strip, but when the Grasenabbs came up and took +Sidonie, and our sleigh suddenly drove on, I suppose you expected that +I should ask him to get out? That would have made a laughing stock of +me, and you know how sensitive you are on that point. Remember, we +have ridden horseback many times together, with your consent, and now +you don't think I should ride in the same vehicle with him. It is +wrong, we used to say at home, to mistrust a nobleman." + +"A nobleman," said Innstetten with emphasis. + +"Isn't he one? You yourself called him a cavalier, a perfect cavalier, +in fact." + +"Yes," continued Innstetten, his tone growing more friendly, though it +still betrayed a slight shade of sarcasm. "A cavalier he is, and a +perfect cavalier, that is beyond dispute. But nobleman? My dear Effi, +a nobleman has a different look. Have you ever noticed anything noble +about him? Not I." + +Effi stared at the ground and kept silent. + +"It seems we are of the same opinion. But, as you said, I myself am to +blame. I don't care to speak of a _faux pas_; it is not the right word +in this connection. I assume the blame, and it shall not occur again, +if I can prevent it. But you will be on your guard, too, if you heed +my advice. He is coarse and has designs of his own on young women. I +knew him of old." + +"I shall remember what you say. But just one thing--I believe you +misunderstand him." + +"I do _not_ misunderstand him." + +"Or me," she said, with all the force at her command, and attempted to +meet his gaze. + +"Nor you either, my dear Effi. You are a charming little woman, but +persistence is not exactly your specialty." + +He arose to go. When he had got as far as the door Frederick entered +to deliver a note from Gieshuebler, addressed, of course, to her +Ladyship. + +Effi took it. "A secret correspondence with Gieshuebler," she said. +"Material for another fit of jealousy on the part of my austere Lord. +Or isn't it?" + +"No, not quite, my dear Effi. I am so foolish as to make a distinction +between Crampas and Gieshuebler. They are not the same number of carats +fine, so to speak. You know, the value of gold is estimated by carats, +in certain circumstances that of men also. And I must add that I +personally have a considerably higher regard for Gieshuebler's white +jabot, in spite of the fact that jabots are no longer worn, than I +have for Crampas's red sapper whiskers. But I doubt if that is +feminine taste." + +"You think we are weaker than we are." + +"A consolation of extraordinarily little practical application. But +enough of that. Read your note." + +Effi read: "May I inquire about the health of my gracious Lady? I know +only that you luckily escaped the quicksand. But there was still +plenty of danger lurking along the road through the woods. Dr. +Hannemann has just returned and reassures me concerning Mirambo, +saying that yesterday he considered the case more serious than he +cared to let us know, but not so today. It was a charming +sleigh-ride.--In three days we shall celebrate New Year's eve. We +shall have to forego a festivity like last year's, but we shall have a +ball, of course, and to see you present would delight the dancers and, +by no means least, Yours most respectfully, Alonzo G." + +Effi laughed. "Well, what do you say?" + +"The same as before, simply that I should rather see you with +Gieshuebler than with Crampas." + +"Because you take Crampas too seriously and Gieshuebler too lightly." + +Innstetten jokingly shook his finger at her. + +Three days later was New Year's eve. Effi appeared in a charming ball +gown, a gift that the Christmas table had brought her. But she did not +dance. She took her seat among the elderly dames, for whom easy chairs +were placed near the orchestra gallery. Of the particular noble +families with which the Innstettens associated there was nobody +present, because, shortly before, there had occurred a slight +disagreement with the city faction in the management of the club, +which had been accused of "destructive tendencies," especially by old +Mr. Gueldenklee. However, three or four other noble families from over +the Kessine, who were not members of the club, but only invited +guests, had crossed over the ice on the river, some of them from a +great distance, and were happy to take part in the festivity. Effi sat +between the elderly wife of baronial councillor von Padden and a +somewhat younger Mrs. von Titzewitz. The former, an excellent old +lady, was in every way an original, and sought by means of orthodox +German Christianity to counteract the tendency toward Wendish +heathenism, with which nature had endowed her, especially in the +prominent structure of her cheek bones. In her orthodoxy she went so +far that even Sidonie von Grasenabb was in comparison a sort of +_esprit fort_. The elderly dame, having sprung from a union of the +Radegast and the Schwantikow branches of the family, had inherited the +old Padden humor, which had for years rested like a blessing upon the +family and had heartily rejoiced everybody who came into touch with +them, even though enemies in politics or religion. + +"Well, child," said the baronial councillor's wife, "how are you +getting on, anyhow?" + +"Quite well, most gracious Lady. I have a very excellent husband." + +"I know. But that does not always suffice. I, too, had an excellent +husband. How do matters actually stand? No temptations?" + +Effi was startled and touched at the same time. There was something +uncommonly refreshing about the free and natural tone in which the old +lady spoke, and the fact that she was such a pious woman made it even +more refreshing. + +"Ah, most gracious Lady--" + +"There it comes. Nothing new, the same old story. Time makes no change +here, and perhaps it is just as well. The essential thing, my dear +young woman, is struggle. One must always wrestle with the natural +man. And when one has conquered self and feels almost like screaming +out, because it hurts so, then the dear angels shout for joy." + +"Ah, most gracious Lady, it is often very hard." + +"To be sure, it is hard. But the harder the better. You must be glad +of that. The weakness of the flesh is lasting. I have grandsons and +granddaughters and see it every day. But the conquering of self in the +faith, my dear Lady, that is the essential thing, that is the true +way. This was brought to our knowledge by our old man of God, Martin +Luther. Do you know his _Table Talks_?" + +"No, most gracious Lady." + +"I am going to send them to you." + +At this moment Major von Crampas stepped up to Effi and inquired about +her health. Effi was red as blood. Before she had time to reply he +said: "May I ask you, most gracious Lady, to present me to these +Ladies?" + +Effi introduced Crampas, who had already got his bearings perfectly +and in the course of his small talk mentioned all the von Paddens and +von Titzewitzes he had ever heard of. At the same time he excused +himself for not yet having made his call and presented his wife to the +people beyond the Kessine. "But it is strange what a separating power +water has. It is the same way with the English Channel." + +"How?" asked old Mrs. von Titzewitz. + +Crampas, considering it inadvisable to give explanations which would +have been to no purpose, continued: "To twenty Germans who go to +France there is not one who goes to England. That is because of the +water. I repeat, water has a dividing power." + +Mrs. von Padden, whose fine instinct scented some insinuation in this +remark, was about to take up the cudgels for water, but Crampas spoke +on with increasing fluency and turned the attention of the ladies to a +beautiful Miss von Stojentin, "without question the queen of the +ball," he said, incidentally casting an admiring glance at Effi. Then +he bowed quickly to the three ladies and walked away. + +"Handsome man," said Mrs. von Padden. "Does he ever come to your +house?" + +"Casually." + +"Truly a handsome man," repeated Mrs. von Padden. "A little bit too +self-assured. Pride will have a fall. But just see, there he is, +taking his place with Grete Stojentin. Why, really, he is too old, he +is at least in the middle of the forties." + +"He is going on forty-four." + +"Aha, you seem to be well acquainted with him." + + * * * * * + +It was very opportune for Effi that the new year, from the very +beginning, brought a variety of diversions. New Year's eve a sharp +northeast wind began to blow and during the next few days it increased +in velocity till it amounted almost to a hurricane. On the 3d of +January in the afternoon it was reported that a ship which had not +been able to make its way into port had been wrecked a hundred yards +from the mole. It was said to be an English ship from Sunderland +and, so far as could be ascertained, had seven men on board. In spite +of strenuous efforts the pilots were unable to row around the mole, +and the launching of a boat from the beach was out of the question, as +the surf was too heavy. That sounded sad enough. But Johanna, who +brought the news, had a word of comfort. Consul Eschrich, she said, +was hastening to the scene with the life-saving apparatus and the +rocket battery, and success was certain. The distance was not quite as +great as in the year '75, and that time all lives had been saved; even +the poodle had been rescued. "It was very touching to see how the dog +rejoiced and again and again licked with his red tongue both the +Captain's wife and the dear little child, not much larger than little +Annie." + +"Geert, I must go there, I must see it," Effi declared, and both set +out at once in order not to be too late. They chose just the right +moment, for as they reached the beach beyond the "Plantation" the +first shot was fired and they saw plainly how the rocket with the life +line sailed beneath the storm cloud and fell down beyond the ship. +Immediately all hands were astir on board and they used the small line +to haul in the heavier hawser with the basket. Before long the basket +returned and one of the sailors, a very handsome, slender man, with an +oilcloth hood, was safe on land. He was plied with questions by the +inquisitive spectators, while the basket made another trip to fetch +the second man, then the third, and so on. All were rescued, and as +Effi walked home with her husband a half hour later she felt like +throwing herself on the sand and having a good cry. A beautiful +emotion had again found lodgment in her heart and she was immeasurably +happy that it was so. + +This occurred on the 3d. On the 5th a new excitement was experienced, +of an entirely different kind, to be sure. On his way out of the +council house Innstetten had met Gieshuebler, who, by the way, was an +alderman and a member of the magistracy. In conversation with him +Innstetten had learned that the ministry of war had inquired what +attitude the city authorities would assume in case the question of a +garrison were raised. If they showed their willingness to meet the +necessary conditions, viz., to build stables and barracks, they might +be granted two squadrons of hussars. "Well, Effi, what do you say +about it?" Effi looked as though struck dumb. All the innocent +happiness of her childhood years was suddenly brought back to her and +for a moment it seemed as though red hussars--for these were to be red +hussars, like those at home in Hohen-Cremmen--were the true guardians +of Paradise and innocence. Still she remained silent. + +"Why, you aren't saying anything, Effi." + +"Strangely, I'm not, Geert. But it makes me so happy that I cannot +speak for joy. Is it really going to be? Are they truly going to +come?" + +"It is a long way off yet. In fact, Gieshuebler said the city fathers, +his colleagues, didn't deserve it at all. Instead of simply being +unanimous and happy over the honor, or if not over the honor, at least +over the advantage, they had brought forward all sorts of 'ifs' and +'buts,' and had been niggardly about the buildings. In fact, +Confectioner Michelsen had gone so far as to say it would corrupt the +morals of the city, and whoever had a daughter would better be +forehanded and secure iron grills for his windows." + +"That is incredible. I have never seen more mannerly people than our +hussars. Really, Geert. Well, you know so yourself. And so this +Michelsen wants to protect everything with iron bars. Has he any +daughters?" + +"Certainly. Three, in fact. But they are all out of the race." + +Effi laughed more heartily than she had for a long time. But the mood +was of short duration and when Innstetten went away and left her alone +she sat down by the baby's cradle, and tears fell on the pillows. The +old feeling came over her again that she was a prisoner without hope +of escape. + +She suffered intensely from the feeling and longed more than ever for +liberty. But while she was capable of strong emotions she had not a +strong character. She lacked steadfastness and her good desires soon +passed away. Thus she drifted on, one day, because she could not help +it, the next, because she did not care to try to help it. She seemed +to be in the power of the forbidden and the mysterious. + +So it came about that she, who by nature was frank and open, +accustomed herself more and more to play an underhand part. At times +she was startled at the ease with which she could do it. Only in one +respect she remained unchanged--she saw everything clearly and glossed +nothing. Late one evening she stepped before the mirror in her +bedroom. The lights and shadows flitted to and fro and Rollo began to +bark outside. That moment it seemed to her as though somebody were +looking over her shoulder. But she quickly bethought herself. "I know +well enough what it is. It was not _he_," and she pointed her finger +toward the haunted room upstairs. "It was something else--my +conscience--Effi, you are lost." + +Yet things continued on this course; the ball was rolling, and what +happened one day made the actions of the next a necessity. + +About the middle of the month there came invitations from the four +families with which the Innstettens associated most. They had agreed +upon the order in which they would entertain. The Borckes were to +begin, the Flemmings and Grasenabbs followed, the Gueldenklees came +last. Each time a week intervened. All four invitations came on the +same day. They were evidently intended to leave an impression of +orderliness and careful planning, and probably also of special +friendliness and congeniality. + +"I shall not go, Geert, and you must excuse me in advance on the +ground of the treatment which I have been undergoing for weeks past." + +Innstetten laughed. "Treatment. I am to blame it on the treatment. +That is the pretext. The real reason is you don't care to." + +"No, I am more honest than you are willing to admit. It was your own +suggestion that I consult the doctor. I did so and now I must follow +his advice. The good doctor thinks I am anaemic, strangely enough, and +you know that I drink chalybeate water every day. If you combine this +in imagination with a dinner at the Borckes', with, say, brawn and eel +aspic, you can't help feeling that it would be the death of me. And +certainly you would not think of asking such a thing of your Effi. To +be sure, I feel at times--" + +"I beg you, Effi." + +"However, the one good thing about it is that I can look forward with +pleasure to accompanying you each time a part of the way in the +carriage, as far as the mill, certainly, or the churchyard, or even to +the corner of the forest, where the crossroad to Morgnitz comes in. +Then I can alight and saunter back. It is always very beautiful among +the dunes." + +Innstetten was agreed, and when the carriage drove up three days later +Effi got in with her husband and accompanied him to the corner of the +forest. "Stop here, Geert. You drive on to the left now, but I am +going to the right, down to the beach and back through the +'Plantation.' It is rather far, but not too far. Dr. Hannemann tells +me every day that exercise is everything, exercise and fresh air. And +I almost believe he is right. Give my regards to all the company, only +you needn't say anything to Sidonie." + +The drives on which Effi accompanied her husband as far as the corner +of the forest were repeated every week, but even on the intervening +days she insisted that she should strictly observe the doctor's +orders. Not a day passed that she did not take her prescribed walk, +usually in the afternoon, when Innstetten began to become absorbed in +his newspapers. The weather was beautiful, the air soft and fresh, the +sky cloudy. As a rule she went out alone, after saying to Roswitha: +"Roswitha, I am going down the turnpike now and then to the right to +the place with the merrygo-round. There I shall wait for you, meet me +there. Then we can walk back by the avenue of birches or through the +ropewalk. But do not come unless Annie is asleep. If she is not +asleep send Johanna. Or, rather, just let it go. It is not necessary; +I can easily find the way." + +The first day they met as planned. Effi sat on a bench by a long shed, +looking over at a low yellow plaster house with exposed timbers +painted black, an inn at which the lower middle classes drank their +glass of beer or played at ombre. It was hardly dusk, but the windows +were already bright, and their gleams of light fell upon the piles of +snow and the few trees standing at one side. "See, Roswitha, how +beautiful that looks." + +This was repeated for a few days. But usually, when Roswitha reached +the merry-go-round and the shed, nobody was there, and when she came +back home and entered the hall Effi came to meet her, saying: "Where +in the world have you been, Roswitha? I have been back a long time." + +Thus it went on for weeks. The matter of the hussars was about given +up, on account of objections made by the citizens. But as the +negotiations were not yet definitely closed and had recently been +referred to the office of the commander in chief, Crampas was called +to Stettin to give his opinion to the authorities. + +From there he wrote the second day to Innstetten: "Pardon me, +Innstetten, for taking French leave. It all came so quickly. Here, +however, I shall seek to draw the matter out long, for it is a +pleasure to be out in the world again. My regards to your gracious +wife, my amiable patroness." + +He read it to Effi, who remained silent. Finally she said: + +"It is very well thus." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"That he is gone. To tell the truth, he always says the same things. +When he is back he will at least for a time have something new to +say." + +[Illustration: HIGH ALTAR AT SALZBURG +_From the Painting by Adolph von Menzel_] + +Innstetten gave her a sharp scrutinizing glance, but he saw nothing, +and his suspicion was allayed. "I am going away, too," he said after +a while, "and to Berlin at that. Perhaps I, too, can bring back +something new, as well as Crampas. My dear Effi always wants to hear +something new. She is bored to death in our good Kessin. I shall be +away about a week, perhaps a day or two longer. But don't be +alarmed--I don't think it will come back--You know, that thing +upstairs--But even if it should, you have Rollo and Roswitha." + +Effi smiled to herself and felt at the same time a mingling of +sadness. She could not help recalling the day when Crampas had told +her for the first time that her husband was acting out a play with the +ghost and her fear. The great pedagogue! But was he not right? Was not +the play in place? All kinds of contradicting thoughts, good and bad, +shot through her head. + +The third day Innstetten went away. He had not said anything about his +business in Berlin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Innstetten had been gone but four days when Crampas returned from +Stettin with the news that the higher authorities had definitely +dropped the plan of detailing two squadrons to Kessin. There were so +many small cities that were applying for a garrison of cavalry, +particularly for Bluecher hussars, that as a rule, he said, an offer of +such troops met with a hearty reception, and not a halting one. When +Crampas made this report the magistracy looked quite badly +embarrassed. Only Gieshuebler was triumphant, because he thought the +discomfiture served his narrow-minded colleagues exactly right. When +the news reached the common people a certain amount of depression +spread among them, indeed even some of the consuls with eligible +daughters were for the time being dissatisfied. But on the whole they +soon forgot about it, perhaps because the question of the day, "What +was Innstetten's business in Berlin?" was more interesting to the +people of Kessin, or at least to the dignitaries of the city. They +did not care to lose their unusually popular district councillor, and +yet very exaggerated rumors about him were in circulation, rumors +which, if not started by Gieshuebler, were at least supported and +further spread by him. Among other things it was said that Innstetten +would go to Morocco as an ambassador with a suite, bearing gifts, +including not only the traditional vase with a picture of Sans Souci +and the New Palace, but above all a large refrigerator. The latter +seemed so probable in view of the temperature in Morocco, that the +whole story was believed. + +In time Effi heard about it. The days when the news would have cheered +her were not yet so very far distant. But in the frame of mind in +which she had been since the end of the year she was no longer capable +of laughing artlessly and merrily. Her face had taken on an entirely +new expression, and her half-pathetic, half-roguish childishness, +which she had preserved as a woman, was gone. The walks to the beach +and the "Plantation," which she had given up while Crampas was in +Stettin, she resumed after his return and would not allow them to be +interfered with by unfavorable weather. It was arranged as formerly +that Roswitha should come to meet her at the end of the ropewalk, or +near the churchyard, but they missed each other oftener than before. +"I could scold you, Roswitha, for never finding me. But it doesn't +matter; I am no longer afraid, not even by the churchyard, and in the +forest I have never yet met a human soul." + +It was on the day before Innstetten's return from Berlin that Effi +said this. Roswitha paid little attention to the remarks, as she was +absorbed in hanging up garlands over the doors. Even the shark was +decorated with a fir bough and looked more remarkable than usual. Effi +said: "That is right, Roswitha. He will be pleased with all the green +when he comes back tomorrow. I wonder whether I should go out again +today? Dr. Hannemann insists upon it and is continually saying I do +not take it seriously enough, otherwise I should certainly be looking +better. But I have no real desire today; it is drizzling and the sky +is so gray." + +"I will fetch her Ladyship's raincoat." + +"Do so, but don't come for me today; we should not meet anyhow," and +she laughed. "Really, Roswitha, you are not a bit good at finding. And +I don't want to have you catch a cold all for nothing." + +So Roswitha remained at home and, as Annie was sleeping, went over to +chat with Mrs. Kruse. "Dear Mrs. Kruse," she said, "you were going to +tell me about the Chinaman. Yesterday Johanna interrupted you. She +always puts on such airs, and such a story would not interest her. But +I believe there was, after all, something in it, I mean the story of +the Chinaman and Thomsen's niece, if she was not his granddaughter." + +Mrs. Kruse nodded. + +Roswitha continued: "Either it was an unhappy love"--Mrs. Kruse nodded +again--"or it may have been a happy one, and the Chinaman was simply +unable to endure the sudden termination of it. For the Chinese are +human, like the rest of us, and everything is doubtless the same with +them as with us." + +"Everything," assured Mrs. Kruse, who was about to corroborate it by +her story, when her husband entered and said: "Mother, you might give +me the bottle of leather varnish. I must have the harness shining when +his Lordship comes home tomorrow. He sees everything, and even if he +says nothing, one can tell that he has seen it all." + +"I'll bring it out to you, Kruse," said Roswitha. "Your wife is just +going to tell me something more; but it will soon be finished and then +I'll come and bring it." + +A few minutes later Roswitha came out into the yard with the bottle of +varnish in her hand and stood by the harness which Kruse had just hung +over the garden fence. "By George!" he said, as he took the bottle +from her hand, "it will not do much good; it keeps drizzling all the +time and the shine will come off. But I am one of those who think +everything must be kept in order." + +"Indeed it must. Besides, Kruse, that is good varnish, as I can see at +a glance, and first-class varnish doesn't stay sticky very long, it +must dry immediately. Even if it is foggy tomorrow, or dewy, it will +be too late then to hurt it. But, I must say, that is a remarkable +story about the Chinaman." + +Kruse laughed. "It is nonsense, Roswitha. My wife, instead of paying +attention to proper things, is always telling such tales, and when I +go to put on a clean shirt there is a button off. It has been so ever +since we came here. She always had just such stories in her head and +the black hen besides. And the black hen doesn't even lay eggs. After +all, what can she be expected to lay eggs out of? She never goes out, +and such things as eggs can't come from mere cock-a-doodle-dooing. It +is not to be expected of any hen." + +"See here, Kruse, I am going to repeat that to your wife. I have +always considered you a respectable man and now you say things like +that about the cock-a-doodle-dooing. Men are always worse than we +think. Really I ought to take this brush right now and paint a black +moustache on your face." + +"Well, Roswitha, one could put up with that from you," and Kruse, who +was usually on his dignity, seemed about to change to a more flirting +tone, when he suddenly caught sight of her Ladyship, who today came +from the other side of the "Plantation" and just at this moment was +passing along the garden fence. + +"Good day, Roswitha, my, but you are merry. What is Annie doing?" + +"She is asleep, your Ladyship." + +As Roswitha said this she turned red and quickly breaking off the +conversation, started toward the house to help her Ladyship change her +clothes. For it was doubtful whether Johanna was there. She hung +around a good deal over at the "office" nowadays, because there was +less to do at home and Frederick and Christel were too tedious for her +and never knew anything. + +Annie was still asleep. Effi leaned over the cradle, then had her hat +and raincoat taken off and sat down upon the little sofa in her +bedroom. She slowly stroked back her moist hair, laid her feet on a +stool, which Roswitha drew up to her, and said, as she evidently +enjoyed the comfort of resting after a rather long walk: "Roswitha, I +must remind you that Kruse is married." + +"I know it, your Ladyship." + +"Yes, what all doesn't one know, and yet one acts as though one did +_not_ know. Nothing can ever come of this." + +"Nothing is supposed to come of it, your Ladyship." + +"If you think she is an invalid you are reckoning without your host. +Invalids live the longest. Besides she has the black chicken. Beware +of it. It knows everything and tattles everything. I don't know, it +makes me shudder. And I'll wager all that business upstairs has some +connection with this chicken." + +"Oh, I don't believe it. But it is terrible just the same, and Kruse, +who always sides himself against his wife, cannot talk me out of it." + +"What did he say?" + +"He said it was nothing but mice." + +"Well, mice are quite bad enough. I can't bear mice. But, to change +the subject, I saw you chatting with Kruse, plainly, also your +familiar actions, and in fact I think you were going to paint a +moustache on his lip. That I call pretty far advanced. A little later +you will be jilted. You are still a smug person and have your charms. +But beware, that is all I have to say to you. Just what was your +experience the first time? Was it such that you can tell me about it?" + +"Oh, I can tell you. But it was terrible. And because it was so +terrible, your Ladyship's mind can be perfectly easy with regard to +Kruse. A girl who has gone through what I did has enough of it and +takes care. I still dream of it occasionally and then I am all knocked +to pieces the next day. Such awful fright." + +Effi sat up and leaned her head on her arm. "Tell me about it, and how +it came about. I know from my observations at home that it is always +the same story with you girls." + +"Yes, no doubt it is always the same at first, and I am determined not +to think that there was anything special about my case. But when the +time came that they threw it into my face and I was suddenly forced to +say: 'yes, it is so,' oh, _that_ was terrible. Mother--well, I could +get along with her, but father, who had the village blacksmith's shop, +he was severe and quick to fly into a rage. When he heard it, he came +at me with a pair of tongs which he had just taken from the fire and +was going to kill me. I screamed and ran up to the attic and hid +myself and there I lay and trembled, and did not come down till they +called me and told me to come. Besides, I had a younger sister, who +always pointed at me and said: 'Ugh!' Then when the child was about to +come I went into a barn near by, because I was afraid to stay in the +house. There strangers found me half dead and carried me into the +house and laid me in my bed. The third day they took the child away +and when I asked where it was they said it was well taken care of. Oh, +your Ladyship, may the holy mother of God protect you from such +distress!" + +Effi was startled and stared at Roswitha with wide-opened eyes. But +she was more frightened than vexed. "The things you do say! Why, I am +a married woman. You must not say such things; it is improper, it is +not fitting." + +"Oh, your Ladyship." + +"Tell me rather what became of you. They had robbed you of your baby. +You told me that." + +"And then, a few days later, somebody from Erfurt drove up to the +mayor's office and asked whether there was not a wet nurse there, and +the mayor said 'yes,' God bless him! So the strange gentleman took me +away with him and from that day I was better off. Even with the old +widow my life was tolerable, and finally I came to your Ladyship. That +was the best, the best of all." As she said this she stepped to the +sofa and kissed Effi's hand. + +"Roswitha, you must not always be kissing my hand, I don't like it. +And do beware of Kruse. Otherwise you are a good and sensible +person--With a married man--it is never well." + +"Ah, your Ladyship, God and his saints lead us wondrously, and the +bad fortune that befalls us has also its good side. If one is not made +better by it there is no help for him--Really, I like the men." + +"You see, Roswitha, you see." + +"But if the same feeling should come over me again--the affair with +Kruse, there is nothing in that--and I could not control myself, I +should run straight into the water. It was too terrible. Everything. +And I wonder what ever became of the poor baby? I don't think it is +still living; they had it killed, but I am to blame." She threw +herself down by Annie's cradle, and rocked the child and sang her +favorite lullaby over and over again without stopping. + +"Stop," said Effi, "don't sing any more; I have a headache. Bring in +the newspapers. Or has Gieshuebler sent the journals?" + +"He did, and the fashion paper was on top. We were turning over the +leaves, Johanna and I, before she went across the street. Johanna +always gets angry that she cannot have such things. Shall I fetch the +fashion paper?" + +"Yes, fetch it and bring me the lamp, too." + +Roswitha went out and when Effi was alone she said: "What things they +do have to help one out! One pretty woman with a muff and another with +a half veil--fashion puppets. But it is the best thing for turning my +thoughts in some other direction." + +In the course of the following morning a telegram came from +Innstetten, in which he said he would come by the second train, which +meant that he would not arrive in Kessin before evening. The day +proved one of never ending restlessness. Fortunately Gieshuebler came +in the afternoon and helped pass an hour. Finally, at seven o'clock, +the carriage drove up. Effi went out and greeted her husband. +Innstetten was in a state of excitement that was unusual for him and +so it came about that he did not notice the embarrassment mingled with +Effi's heartiness. In the hall the lamps and candles were burning, and +the tea service, which Frederick had placed on one of the tables +between the cabinets, reflected the brilliant light. + +"Why, this looks exactly as it did when we first arrived here. Do you +remember, Effi?" + +She nodded. + +"Only the shark with his fir bough behaves more calmly today, and even +Rollo pretends to be reticent and does not put his paws on my +shoulders. What is the matter with you, Rollo?" + +Rollo rubbed past his master and wagged his tail. + +"He is not exactly satisfied; either it is with me or with others. +Well, I'll assume, with me. At all events let us go in." He entered +his room and as he sat down on the sofa asked Effi to take a seat +beside him. "It was so fine in Berlin, beyond expectation, but in the +midst of all my pleasure I always felt a longing to be back. And how +well you look! A little bit pale and also a little bit changed, but it +is all becoming to you." + +Effi turned red. + +"And now you even turn red. But it is as I tell you. You used to have +something of the spoiled child about you; now all of a sudden you look +like a wife." + +"I like to hear that, Geert, but I think you are just saying it." + +"No, no, you can credit yourself with it, if it is something +creditable." + +"I should say it is." + +"Now guess who sent you his regards." + +"That is not hard, Geert. Besides, we wives, for I can count myself +one since you are back"--and she reached out her hand and laughed--"we +wives guess easily. We are not so obtuse as you." + +"Well, who was it?" + +"Why, Cousin von Briest, of course. He is the only person I know in +Berlin, not counting my aunts, whom you no doubt failed to look up, +and who are far too envious to send me their regards. Haven't you +found, too, that all old aunts are envious?" + +"Yes, Effi, that is true. And to hear you say it reminds me that you +are my same old Effi. For you must know that the old Effi, who looked +like a child, also suited my taste. Just exactly as does your Ladyship +at present." + +"Do you think so? And if you had to decide between the two"-- + +"That is a question for scholars; I shall not talk about it. But there +comes Frederick with the tea. How I have longed for this hour! And I +said so, too, even to your Cousin Briest, as we were sitting at +Dressel's and drinking Champagne to your health--Your ears must have +rung--And do you know what your cousin said?" + +"Something silly, certainly. He is great at that." + +"That is the blackest ingratitude I have ever heard of in all my life. +'Let us drink to the health of Effi,' he said, 'my beautiful +cousin--Do you know, Innstetten, that I should like nothing better +than to challenge you and shoot you dead? For Effi is an angel, and +you robbed me of this angel.' And he looked so serious and sad, as he +said it, that one might almost have believed him." + +"Oh, I know that mood of his. The how-manieth were you drinking?" + +"I don't recall now and perhaps could not have told you then. But this +I do believe, that he was wholly in earnest. And perhaps it would have +been the right match. Don't you think you could have lived with him?" + +"Could have lived? That is little, Geert. But I might almost say, I +could not even have lived with him." + +"Why not? He is really a fine amiable fellow and quite sensible, +besides." + +"Yes, he is that." + +"But--" + +"But he is a tomfool. And that is not the kind of a man we women love, +not even when we are still half children, as you have always thought +me and perhaps still do, in spite of my progress. Tomfoolery is not +what we want. Men must be men." + +"It's well you say so. My, a man surely has to mind his p's and q's. +Fortunately I can say I have just had an experience that looks as +though I had minded my p's and q's, or at least I shall be expected to +in the future--Tell me, what is your idea of a ministry?" + +"A ministry? Well, it may be one of two things. It may be people, wise +men of high rank, who rule the state; and it may be merely a house, a +palace, a Palazzo Strozzi or Pitti, or, if these are not fitting, any +other. You see I have not taken my Italian journey in vain." + +"And could you make up your mind to live in such a palace? I mean in +such a ministry?" + +"For heaven's sake, Geert, they have not made you a minister, have +they? Gieshuebler said something of the sort. And the Prince is +all-powerful. Heavens, he has accomplished it at last and I am only +eighteen." + +Innstetten laughed. "No, Effi, not a minister; we have not risen to +that yet. But perhaps I may yet develop a variety of gifts that would +make such a thing not impossible." + +"So not just yet, not yet a minister?" + +"No. And, to tell the truth, we are not even to live in the ministry, +but I shall go daily to the ministry, as I now go to our district +council office, and I shall make reports to the minister and travel +with him, when he inspects the provincial offices. And you will be the +wife of a head clerk of a ministerial department and live in Berlin, +and in six months you will hardly remember that you have been here in +Kessin, where you have had nothing but Gieshuebler and the dunes and +the 'Plantation.'" + +Effi did not say a word, but her eyes kept getting larger and larger. +About the corners of her mouth there was a nervous twitching and her +whole slender body trembled. Suddenly she slid from her seat down to +Innstetten's feet, clasped her arms around his knees and said in a +tone, as though she were praying: "Thank God!" + +Innstetten turned pale. What was that? Something that had come over +him weeks before, but had swiftly passed away, only to come back from +time to time, returned again now and spoke so plainly out of his eyes +that it startled Effi. She had allowed herself to be carried away by a +beautiful feeling, differing but little from a confession of her +guilt, and had told more than she dared. She must offset it, must find +some way of escape, at whatever cost. + +"Get up, Effi. What is the matter with you?" + +Effi arose quickly. However, she did not sit down on the sofa again, +but drew up a high-backed chair, apparently because she did not feel +strong enough to hold herself up without support. + +"What is the matter with you?" repeated Innstetten. "I thought you had +spent happy days here. And now you cry out, 'Thank God!' as though +your whole life here had been one prolonged horror. Have I been a +horror to you? Or is it something else? Speak!" + +"To think that you can ask such a question!" said Effi, seeking by a +supreme effort to suppress the trembling of her voice. "Happy days! +Yes, certainly, happy days, but others, too. Never have I been +entirely free from fear here, never. Never yet a fortnight that it did +not look over my shoulder again, that same face, the same sallow +complexion. And these last nights while you were away, it came back +again, not the face, but there was shuffling of feet again, and Rollo +set up his barking again, and Roswitha, who also heard it, came to my +bed and sat down by me and we did not go to sleep till day began to +dawn. This is a haunted house and I was expected to believe in the +ghost, for you are a pedagogue. Yes, Geert, that you are. But be that +as it may, thus much I know, I have been afraid in this house for a +whole year and longer, and when I go away from here the fear will +leave me, I think, and I shall be free again." + +Innstetten had not taken his eyes off her and had followed every word. +What could be the meaning of "You are a pedagogue," and the other +statement that preceded, "And I was expected to believe in the ghost?" +What was all that about? Where did it come from? And he felt a slight +suspicion arising and becoming more firmly fixed. But he had lived +long enough to know that all signs deceive, and that in our jealousy, +in spite of its hundred eyes, we often go farther astray than in the +blindness of our trust. Possibly it was as she said, and, if it was, +why should she not cry out: "Thank God!" + +And so, quickly looking at the matter from all possible sides, he +overcame his suspicion and held out his hand to her across the table: +"Pardon me, Effi, but I was so much surprised by it all. I suppose, of +course, it is my fault. I have always been too much occupied with +myself. We men are all egoists. But it shall be different from now on. +There is one good thing about Berlin, that is certain: there are no +haunted houses there. How could there be! Now let us go into the other +room and see Annie; otherwise Roswitha will accuse me of being an +unaffectionate father." + +During these words Effi had gradually become more composed, and the +consciousness of having made a felicitous escape from a danger of her +own creation restored her countenance and buoyancy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +The next morning the two took their rather late breakfast together. +Innstetten had overcome his ill-humor and something worse, and Effi +was so completely taken up with her feeling of liberation that not +only had her power of feigning a certain amount of good humor +returned, but she had almost regained her former artlessness. She was +still in Kessin, and yet she already felt as though it lay far behind +her. + +"I have been thinking it over, Effi," said Innstetten, "you are not +entirely wrong in all you have said against our house here. For +Captain Thomsen it was quite good enough, but not for a spoiled young +wife. Everything old-fashioned and no room. You shall have a better +house in Berlin, with a dining hall, but different from the one here, +and in the hall and on the stairway colored-glass windows, Emperor +William with sceptre and crown, or some religious picture, a St. +Elizabeth or a Virgin Mary. Let us say a Virgin Mary; we owe that to +Roswitha." + +Effi laughed. "So shall it be. But who will select an apartment for +us? I couldn't think of sending Cousin von Briest to look for one, to +say nothing of my aunts. They would consider anything good enough." + +"When it comes to selecting an apartment, nobody can do that to the +satisfaction of any one else. I think you will have to go yourself." + +"And when do you think?" + +"The middle of March." + +"Oh, that is much too late, Geert; everything will be gone then. The +good apartments will hardly wait for us." + +"All right. But it was only yesterday that I came home and I can't +well say: 'go tomorrow.' That would not look right and it would not +suit me very well either. I am happy to have you with me once more." + +"No," she said, as she gathered together the breakfast dishes rather +noisily to hide a rising embarrassment, "no, and it shall not be +either, neither today nor tomorrow, but before very long, however. And +if I find anything I shall soon be back again. But one thing more, +Roswitha and Annie must go with me. It would please me most if you +went too. But, I see, that is out of the question. And I think the +separation will not last long. I already know, too, where I shall +rent." + +"Where?" + +"That must remain my secret. I want to have a secret myself. I want to +surprise you later." + +At this point Frederick entered to bring the mail. The most of the +pieces were official and newspapers. "Ah, there is also a letter for +you," said Innstetten. "And, if I am not mistaken, mama's +handwriting." + +Effi took the letter. "Yes, from mama. But that is not the Friesack +postmark. Just see, why, it is plainly Berlin." + +"Certainly," laughed Innstetten. "You act as though it were a miracle. +Mama is doubtless in Berlin and has written her darling a letter from +her hotel." + +"Yes," said Effi, "that is probably it. But I almost have fears, and +can find no real consolation in what Hulda Niemeyer always said: that +when one has fears it is better than when one has hopes. What do you +think about it?" + +"For a pastor's daughter not quite up to the standard. But now read +the letter. Here is a paper knife." + +Effi cut open the envelope and read: "My dear Effi: For the last +twenty-four hours I have been here in Berlin--Consultations with +Schweigger. As soon as he saw me he congratulated me, and when I asked +him, astonished, what occasion there was, I learned that a director of +a ministerial department by the name of Wuellersdorf had just been at +his office and told him that Innstetten had been called to a position +with the ministry. I am a little vexed to have to learn a thing like +that from a third person. But in my pride and joy I forgive you. +Moreover, I always knew, even when I was at Rathenow, that he would +make something of himself. Now you are to profit by it. Of course you +must have an apartment and new furniture. If, my dear Effi, you think +you can make use of my advice, come as soon as your time will permit. +I shall remain here a week for treatment, and if it is not effective, +perhaps somewhat longer. Schweigger is rather indefinite on the +subject. I have taken a private room on Schadow St. Adjoining my room +there are others vacant. What the matter is with my eye I will tell +you when I see you. The thing that occupies me at present is your +future. Briest will be unspeakably happy. He always pretends to be so +indifferent about such things, but in reality he thinks more of them +than I do. My regards to Innstetten, and a kiss for Annie, whom you +will perhaps bring along. As ever your tenderly loving mother, Louise +von B." + +Effi laid the letter on the table and said nothing. Her mind was +firmly made up as to what she should do, but she did not want to say +it herself. She wanted Innstetten to speak the first word and then she +would hesitatingly say, "yes." + +Innstetten actually fell into the trap. "Well, Effi, you remain so +calm." + +"Ah, Geert, everything has its two sides. On the one hand I shall be +happy to see mother again, and maybe even in a few days. But there are +so many reasons for delaying." + +"What are they?" + +"Mama, as you know, is very determined and recognizes only her own +will. With papa she has been able to have her way in everything. But I +should like to have an apartment to suit _my_ taste, and new furniture +that _I_ like." + +Innstetten laughed. "Is that all?" + +"Well, that is enough, I should think. But it is not all." Then she +summoned up her courage, looked at him, and said: "And then, Geert, I +should not like to be separated from you again so soon." + +"You rogue, you just say that because you know my weakness. But we are +all vain, and I will believe it. I will believe it and yet, at the +same time, play the hero who foregoes his own desires. Go as soon as +you think it necessary and can justify it before your own heart." + +"You must not talk like that, Geert. What do you mean by 'justifying +it before my own heart?' By saying that you force me, half +tyrannically, to assume a role of affection, and I am compelled to +say from sheer coquetry: 'Ah, Geert, then I shall never go.' Or +something of the sort." + +Innstetten shook his finger at her. "Effi, you are too clever for me. +I always thought you were a child, and now I see that you are on a par +with all the rest. But enough of that, or, as your papa always said, +'that is too wide a field.' Say, rather, when you are going?" + +"Today is Tuesday. Let us say, then, Friday noon by the boat. Then I +shall be in Berlin in the evening." + +"Settled. And when will you be back?" + +"Well, let us gay Monday evening. That will make three days." + +"Impossible. That is too soon. You can't accomplish everything in +three days. Your mama will not let you go so soon, either." + +"Then leave it to my discretion." + +"All right," and Innstetten arose from his seat to go over to the +district councillor's office. + + * * * * * + +The days before Effi's departure flew by quickly. Roswitha was very +happy. "Ah, your Ladyship, Kessin, oh yes--but it is not Berlin. And +the street cars. And then when the gong rings and one does not know +whether to turn to the right or the left, and it has sometimes seemed +to me as though everything would run right over me. Oh, there is +nothing like that here. Many a day I doubt if we see six people, and +never anything else but the dunes and the sea outside. And it roars +and roars, but that is all." + +"Yes, Roswitha, you are right. It roars and roars all the time, but +this is not the right kind of life. Besides, one has all sorts of +stupid ideas. That you cannot deny, and your conduct with Kruse was +not in accord with propriety." + +"Ah, your Ladyship--" + +"Well, I will not make any further inquiries. You would not admit +anything, of course. Only be sure not to take too few things with you. +In fact, you may take all your things along, and Annie's too." + +"I thought we were coming back." + +"Yes, I am. It is his Lordship's desire. But you may perhaps stay +there, with my mother. Only see to it that she does not spoil little +Annie too badly. She was often strict with me, but a grandchild--" + +"And then, too, you know, little Annie is so sweet, one is tempted to +take a bite of her. Nobody can help being fond of her." + +That was on Thursday, the day before the departure. Innstetten had +driven into the country and was not expected home till toward evening. +In the afternoon Effi went down town, as far as the market square, and +there entered the apothecary's shop and asked for a bottle of _sal +volatile_. "One never knows with whom one is to travel," she said to +the old clerk, with whom she was accustomed to chat, and who adored +her as much as Gieshuebler himself. + +"Is the doctor in?" she asked further, when she had put the little +bottle in her pocket. + +"Certainly, your Ladyship, he is in the adjoining room reading the +papers." + +"I shall not disturb him, shall I?" + +"Oh, never." + +Effi stepped in. It was a small room with a high ceiling and shelves +around the walls, on which stood alembics and retorts. Along one wall +were filing cases arranged alphabetically and provided with iron rings +on the front ends. They contained the prescriptions. + +Gieshuebler was delighted and embarrassed. "What an honor! Here among +my retorts! May I invite her Ladyship to be seated for a moment?" + +"Certainly, dear Gieshuebler. But really only for a moment. I want to +bid you farewell." + +"But, most gracious Lady, you are coming back, aren't you? I heard it +was only for three or four days." + +"Yes, dear friend, I am supposed to come back, and it is even arranged +that I shall be back in Kessin in a week at the latest. But it is +possible that I may _not_ come back. I don't need to tell you all the +thousand possibilities--I see you are about to tell me I am still too +young to--but young people sometimes die. And then there are so many +other things. So I prefer to take leave of you as though it were for +ever." + +"But, most gracious Lady--" + +"As though it were for ever. And I want to thank you, dear Gieshuebler. +For you were the best thing here; naturally, because you were the best +man. If I live to be a hundred years old I shall not forget you. I +have felt lonely here at times, and at times my heart was so heavy, +heavier than you can ever know. I have not always managed rightly. But +whenever I have seen you, from the very first day, I have always felt +happier, and better, too." + +"Oh, most gracious Lady." + +"And I wished to thank you for it. I have just bought a small bottle +of _sal volatile_. There are often such remarkable people in the +compartment, who will not even permit a window to be opened. If I shed +any tears--for, you know, it goes right up into one's head, the salts, +I mean--then I will think of you. Adieu, dear friend, and give my +regards to your friend, Miss Trippelli. During these last weeks I have +often thought of her and of Prince Kotschukoff. After all is said and +done it remains a peculiar relation. But I can understand it--and let +me hear from you some day. Or I shall write." + +With these words Effi went out. Gieshuebler accompanied her out upon +the square. He was dumbfounded, so completely that he entirely +overlooked many enigmatical things she said. + +Effi went back home. "Bring me the lamp, Johanna," she said, "but into +my bedroom. And then a cup of tea. I am so cold and cannot wait till +his Lordship returns." + +The lamp and the tea came. Effi was already sitting at her little +writing desk, with a sheet of letter paper before her and the pen in +her hand. "Please, Johanna, put the tea on the table there." + +When Johanna had left the room Effi locked her door, looked into the +mirror for a moment and then sat down again, and wrote: "I leave +tomorrow by the boat, and these are farewell lines. Innstetten expects +me back in a few days, but I am _not_ coming back--why I am not coming +back, you know--it would have been better if I had never seen this +corner of the earth. I implore you not to take this as a reproach. All +the fault is mine. If I look at your house--_your_ conduct may be +excusable, not mine. My fault is very grievous, but perhaps I can +overcome it. The fact that we were called away from here is to me, so +to speak, a sign that I may yet be restored to favor. Forget the past, +forget me. Your Effi." + +She ran hastily over the lines once more. The strangest thing to her +was the avoidance of the familiar "Du," but that had to be. It was +meant to convey the idea that there was no bridge left. Then she put +the letter into an envelope and walked toward a house between the +churchyard and the corner of the forest. A thin column of smoke arose +from the half tumbled down chimney. There she delivered the letter. + +When she reached home Innstetten was already there and she sat down by +him and told him about Gieshuebler and the _sal volatile_. Innstetten +laughed. "Where did you get your Latin, Effi?" + +The boat, a light sailing vessel (the steamers ran only in the summer) +left at twelve. A quarter of an hour before, Effi and Innstetten were +on board; likewise Roswitha and Annie. + +The baggage was bulkier than seemed necessary for a journey of so few +days. Innstetten talked with the captain. Effi, in a raincoat and +light gray traveling hat, stood on the after deck, near the tiller, +and looked out upon the quay and the pretty row of houses that +followed the line of the quay. Just opposite the landing stood the +Hoppensack Hotel, a three-story building, from whose gable a yellow +flag, with a cross and a crown on it, hung down limp in the quiet +foggy air. Effi looked up at the flag for a while, then let her eyes +sink slowly until they finally rested on a number of people who stood +about inquisitively on the quay. At this moment the bell rang. Effi +had a very peculiar sensation. The boat slowly began to move, and as +she once more looked closely at the landing bridge she saw that +Crampas was standing in the front row. She was startled to see him, +but at the same time was glad. He, on the other hand, with his whole +bearing changed, was obviously agitated, and waved an earnest adieu to +her. She returned his greeting in like spirit, but also with great +friendliness, and there was pleading in her eyes. Then she walked +quickly to the cabin, where Roswitha had already made herself at home +with Annie. She remained here in the rather close rooms till they +reached the point where the river spreads out into a sheet of water +called the "Broad." Then Innstetten came and called to her to come up +on deck and enjoy the glorious landscape. She went up. Over the +surface of the water hung gray clouds and only now and then could one +catch a half-veiled glimpse of the sun through a rift in the dense +mass. Effi thought of the day, just a year and a quarter ago, when she +had driven in an open carriage along the shore of this same "Broad." A +brief span, and life often so quiet and lonely. Yet how much had +happened since then! + +Thus they sailed up the fairway and at two o'clock were at the station +or very near it. As they, a moment later, passed the Prince Bismarck +Hotel, Golchowski, who was again standing at the door, joined them and +accompanied them to the steps leading up the embankment. At the +station they found the train was not yet signaled, so they walked up +and down on the platform. Their conversation turned about the question +of an apartment. They agreed on the quarter of the city, that it must +be between the Tiergarten and the Zoological Garden. "I want to hear +the finches sing and the parrots scream," said Innstetten, and Effi +was willing. + +Then they heard the signal and the train ran into the station. The +station master was full of attentions and Effi received a compartment +to herself. + +Another handshake, a wave of her handkerchief, and the train began +again to move. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +[Effi was met at the Berlin station by her mother and Cousin von +Briest. While drinking tea in the mother's room Cousin von Briest was +asked to tell a joke, and propounded a Bible conundrum, which Effi +took as an omen that no more sorrow was to befall her. The following +day began the search for an apartment, and one was found on Keith +street, which exactly suited, except that the house was not finished +and the walls not yet dried out. Effi kept it in mind, however, and +looked further, being as long about it as possible. After two weeks +Innstetten began to insist on her return and to make pointed +allusions. She saw there was nothing left but to sham illness. Then +she rented the apartment on Keith street, wrote a card saying she +would be home the next day, and had the trunks packed. The next +morning she stayed in bed and feigned illness, but preferred not to +call a doctor. She telegraphed about her delay to her husband. After +three days of the farce she yielded to her mother and called an old +ladies' doctor by the name of Rummschuettel ('Shake 'em around'). After +a few questions he prescribed a mixture of bitter almond water and +orange blossom syrup and told her to keep quiet. Later he called every +third day, noticing that his calls embarrassed her. She felt he had +seen through her from the start, but the farce had to be kept up till +Innstetten had closed his house and shipped his things. Four days +before he was due in Berlin she suddenly got well and wrote him she +could now travel, but thought it best to await him in Berlin. As soon +as she received his favorable telegram she hastened to the new +apartment, where she raised her eyes, folded her hands, and said: +"Now, with God's help, a new life, and a different one!"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +Three days later, at nine o 'clock in the evening, Innstetten arrived +in Berlin. Effi, her mother, and Cousin Briest were at the station. +The reception was hearty, particularly on the part of Effi, and a +world of things had been talked about when the carriage they had taken +stopped before their new residence on Keith street. "Well, you have +made a good choice, Effi," said Innstetten, as he entered the +vestibule; "no shark, no crocodile, and, I hope, no spooks." + +"No, Geert, that is all past. A new era has dawned and I am no longer +afraid. I am also going to be better than heretofore and live more +according to your will." This she whispered to him as they climbed the +carpeted stairs to the third story. Cousin von Briest escorted the +mother. + +In their apartment there was still a great deal to be done, but enough +had been accomplished to make a homelike impression and Innstetten +exclaimed out of the joy of his heart: "Effi, you are a little +genius." But she declined the praise, pointing to her mother, saying +she really deserved the credit. Her mother had issued inexorable +commands, such as, "It must stand here," and had always been right, +with the natural result that much time had been saved and their good +humor had never been disturbed. Finally Roswitha came in to welcome +her master. She took advantage of the opportunity to say: "Miss Annie +begs to be excused for today,"--a little joke, of which she was proud, +and which accomplished her purpose perfectly. + +They took seats around the table, already set, and when Innstetten had +poured himself a glass of wine and all had joined him in a toast to +"happy days," he took Effi's hand and said: "Now tell me, Effi, what +was the nature of your illness?" + +"Oh, let us not talk about that; it would be a waste of breath--A +little painful and a real disturbance, because it cancelled our plans. +But that was all, and now it is past. Rummschuettel justified his +reputation; he is a fine, amiable old man, as I believe I wrote you. +He is said not to be a particularly brilliant scholar, but mama says +that is an advantage. And she is doubtless right, as usual. Our good +Dr. Hannemann was no luminary either, and yet he was always +successful. Now tell me, how are Gieshuebler and all the others?" + +"Let me see, who are all the others? Crampas sends his regards to her +Ladyship." + +"Ah, very polite." + +"And the pastor also wishes to be remembered to you. But the people in +the country were rather cool and seemed inclined to hold me +responsible for your departure without formally taking leave. Our +friend Sidonie spoke quite pointedly, but good Mrs. von Padden, whom I +called on specially the day before yesterday, was genuinely pleased to +receive your regards and your declaration of love for her. She said +you were a charming woman, but I ought to guard you well. When I +replied that you considered me more of a pedagogue than a husband, she +said in an undertone and almost as though speaking from another world: +'A young lamb as white as snow!' Then she stopped." + +Cousin von Briest laughed. "'A young lamb as white as snow.' Hear +that, cousin?" He was going to continue teasing her, but gave it up +when he saw that she turned pale. + +The conversation dragged on a while longer, dealing chiefly with +former relations, and Effi finally learned, from various things +Innstetten said, that of all their Kessin household Johanna alone had +declared a willingness to move with them to Berlin. She had remained +behind, to be sure, but would arrive in two or three days with the +rest of the things. Innstetten was glad of her decision, for she had +always been their most useful servant and possessed an unusual amount +of the style demanded in a large city, perhaps a bit too much. Both +Christel and Frederick had said they were too old, and Kruse had not +even been asked. "What do we want with a coachman here?" concluded +Innstetten, "private horses and carriages are things of the past; that +luxury is seen no more in Berlin. We could not even have found a place +for the black chicken. Or do I underestimate the apartment?" + +Effi shook her head, and as a short pause ensued the mother arose, +saying it was half past ten and she had still a long way to go, but +nobody should accompany her, as the carriage stand was quite near. +Cousin Briest declined, of course, to accede to this request. +Thereupon they bade each other good night, after arranging to meet the +following morning. + +Effi was up rather early and, as the air was almost as warm as in the +summer, had ordered the breakfast table moved close to the open +balcony door. When Innstetten appeared she stepped out upon the +balcony with him and said: "Well, what do you say? You wished to hear +the finches singing in the Tiergarten and the parrots calling in the +Zoological Garden. I don't know whether both will do you the favor, +but it is possible. Do you hear that? It came from the little park +over yonder. It is not the real Tiergarten, but near it." + +Innstetten was delighted and as grateful as though Effi herself had +conjured up all these things for him. Then they sat down and Annie +came in. Roswitha expected Innstetten to find a great change in the +child, and he did. They went on chatting, first about the people of +Kessin, then about the visits to be made in Berlin, and finally about +a summer journey. They had to stop in the middle of their conversation +in order to be at the rendezvous on time. + +They met, as agreed, at Helms's, opposite the Red Palace, went to +various stores, lunched at Hiller's, and were home again in good +season. It was a capital day together, and Innstetten was very glad to +be able once more to share in the life of a great city and feel its +influence upon him. The following day, the 1st of April, he went to +the Chancellor's Palace to register, considerately foregoing a +personal call, and then went to the Ministry to report for duty. He +was received, in spite of the rush of business and social obligations, +in fact he was favored with a particularly friendly reception by his +chief, who said: "I know what a valuable man you are and am certain +nothing can ever disturb our harmony." + +Likewise at home everything assumed a good aspect. Effi truly +regretted to see her mother return to Hohen-Cremmen, even after her +treatment had been prolonged to nearly six weeks, as she had predicted +in the beginning. But the loss was partly offset by Johanna's arrival +in Berlin on the same day. That was at least something, and even if +the pretty blonde was not so near to Effi's heart as the wholly +unselfish and infinitely good-natured Roswitha, nevertheless she was +treated on an equality with her, both by Innstetten and her young +mistress, because she was very clever and useful and showed a decided, +self-conscious reserve toward the men. According to a Kessin rumor the +roots of her existence could be traced to a long-retired officer of +the Pasewalk garrison, which was said to explain her aristocratic +temperament, her beautiful blonde hair, and the special shapeliness of +her appearance. Johanna shared the joy displayed on all hands at her +arrival and was perfectly willing to resume her former duties as house +servant and lady's maid, whereas Roswitha, who after an experience of +nearly a year had acquired about all of Christel's cookery art, was to +superintend the culinary department. The care and nurture of Annie +fell to Effi herself, at which Roswitha naturally laughed, for she +knew young wives. + +Innstetten was wholly devoted to his office and his home. He was +happier than formerly in Kessin, because he could not fail to observe +that Effi manifested more artlessness and cheerfulness. She could do +so because she felt freer. True, the past still cast a shadow over her +life, but it no longer worried her, or at least much more rarely and +transiently, and all such after-effects served but to give her bearing +a peculiar charm. In everything she did there was an element of +sadness, of confession, so to speak, and it would have made her happy +if she could have shown it still more plainly. But, of course, she +dared not. + +When they made their calls, during the first weeks of April, the +social season of the great city was not yet past, but it was about to +end, so they were unable to share in it to any great extent. During +the latter half of May it expired completely and they were more than +ever happy to be able to meet at the noon hour in the Tiergarten, when +Innstetten came from his office, or to take a walk in the afternoon to +the garden of the Palace in Charlottenburg. As Effi walked up and down +the long front, between the Palace and the orange trees, she studied +time and again the many Roman emperors standing there, found a +remarkable resemblance between Nero and Titus, gathered pine cones +that had fallen from the trees, and then walked arm in arm with her +husband toward the Spree till they came to the lonely Belvedere +Palace. + +"They say this palace was also once haunted," she remarked. + +"No, merely ghostly apparitions." + +"That is the same thing." + +"Yes, sometimes," said Innstetten. "As a matter of fact, however, +there is a difference. Ghostly apparitions are always artificial, or +at least that is said to have been the case in the Belvedere, as +Cousin von Briest told me only yesterday, but hauntings are never +artificial; hauntings are natural." + +"So you do believe in them?" + +"Certainly I believe in them. There are such things. But I don't quite +believe in those we had in Kessin. Has Johanna shown you her Chinaman +yet?" + +"What Chinaman?" + +"Why, ours. Before she left our old house she pulled him off the back +of the chair upstairs and put him in her purse. I caught a glimpse of +him not long ago when she was changing a mark for me. She was +embarrassed, but confessed." + +"Oh, Geert, you ought not to have told me that. Now there is such a +thing in our house again." + +"Tell her to burn it up." + +"No, I don't want to; it would not do any good anyhow. But I will ask +Roswitha--" + +"What? Oh, I understand, I can imagine what you are thinking of. You +will ask her to buy a picture of a saint and put it also in the purse. +Is that about it?" + +Effi nodded. + +"Well, do what you like, but do not tell anybody." + + * * * * * + +Effi finally said she would rather not do it, and they went on talking +about all sorts of little things, till the plans for their summer +journey gradually crowded out other interests. They rode back to the +"Great Star" and then walked home by the Korso Boulevard and the broad +Frederick William Street. + +They planned to take their vacation at the end of July and go to the +Bavarian Alps, as the Passion Play was to be given again this year at +Oberammergau. But it could not be done, as Privy Councillor von +Wuellersdorf, whom Innstetten had known for some time and who was now +his special colleague, fell sick suddenly and Innstetten had to stay +and take his place. Not until the middle of August was everything +again running smoothly and a vacation journey possible. It was too +late then to go to Oberammergau, so they fixed upon a sojourn on the +island of Ruegen. "First, of course, Stralsund, with Schill, whom you +know, and with Scheele, whom you don't know. Scheele discovered +oxygen, but you don't need to know that. Then from Stralsund to Bergen +and the Rugard, where Wuellersdorf said one can get a good view of the +whole island, and thence between the Big and the Little Jasmund Bodden +to Sassnitz. Going to Ruegen means going to Sassnitz. Binz might +perhaps be possible, too, but, to quote Wuellersdorf again, there are +so many small pebbles and shells on the beach, and we want to go +bathing." + +Effi agreed to everything planned by Innstetten, especially that the +whole household should be broken up for four weeks, Roswitha going +with Annie to Hohen-Cremmen, and Johanna visiting her younger +half-brother, who had a sawmill near Pasewalk. Thus everybody was well +provided for. + +At the beginning of the following week they set out and the same +evening were in Sassnitz. Over the hostelry was the sign, "Hotel +Fahrenheit." "I hope the prices are according to Reaumur," added +Innstetten, as he read the name, and the two took an evening walk +along the beach cliffs in the best of humor. From a projecting rock +they looked out upon the bay quivering in the moonlight. Effi was +entranced. "Ah, Geert, why, this is Capri, it is Sorrento. Yes, let us +stay here, but not in the hotel, of course. The waiters are too +aristocratic for me and I feel ashamed to ask for a bottle of soda +water." + +"Yes, everybody is an employee. But, I think, we can find private +quarters." + +"I think so too. And we will look for them the first thing in the +morning." + +The next morning was as beautiful as the evening had been, and they +took coffee out of doors. Innstetten received a few letters, which had +to be attended to promptly, and so Effi decided at once to employ the +hour thus left free for her in looking for quarters. She first walked +past an inclosed meadow, then past groups of houses and fields of +oats, finally turning into a road which ran through a kind of gully to +the sea. Where this gully road struck the beach there stood an inn +shaded by tall beech trees, not so aristocratic as the "Fahrenheit," a +mere restaurant, in fact, which because of the early hour was entirely +empty. Effi sat down at a point with a good view and hardly had she +taken a sip of the sherry she had ordered when the inn-keeper stepped +up to engage her in conversation, half out of curiosity and half out +of politeness. + +"We like it very well here," she said, "my husband and I. What a +splendid view of the bay! Our only worry is about a place to stay." + +"Well, most gracious Lady, that will be hard." + +"Why, it is already late in the season." + +"In spite of that. Here in Sassnitz there is surely nothing to be +found, I can guarantee you. But farther along the shore, where the +next village begins--you can see the shining roofs from here--there +you might perhaps find something." + +"What is the name of the village?" + +"Crampas." + +Effi thought she had misunderstood him. "Crampas," she repeated, with +an effort. "I never heard the word as the name of a place. Nothing +else in the neighborhood?" + +"No, most gracious Lady, nothing around here. But farther up, toward +the north, you will come to other villages, and in the hotel near +Stubbenkammer they will surely be able to give you information. +Addresses are always left there by people who would be willing to rent +rooms." + +Effi was glad to have had the conversation alone and when she reported +it a few moments later to her husband, keeping back only the name of +the village adjoining Sassnitz, he said: "Well, if there is nothing +around here the best thing will be to take a carriage, which, +incidentally, is always the way to take leave of a hotel, and without +any ado move farther up toward Stubbenkammer. We can doubtless find +there some idyllic spot with a honeysuckle arbor, and, if we find +nothing, there is still left the hotel, and they are all alike." + +Effi was willing, and about noon they reached the hotel near +Stubbenkammer, of which Innstetten had just spoken, and there ordered +a lunch. "But not until half an hour from now. We intend to take a +walk first and view the Hertha Lake. I presume you have a guide?" + +Following the affirmative answer a middle-aged man approached our +travelers. He looked as important and solemn as though he had been at +least an adjunct of the ancient Hertha worship. + +The lake, which was only a short distance away, had a border of tall +trees and a hem of rushes, while on its quiet black surface there swam +hundreds of water lilies. + +"It really looks like something of the sort," said Effi, "like Hertha +worship." + +"Yes, your Ladyship, and the stones are further evidences of it." + +"What stones?" + +"The sacrificial stones." + +While the conversation continued in this way they stepped from the +lake to a perpendicular wall of gravel and clay, against which leaned +a few smooth polished stones, with a shallow hollow in each drained by +a few grooves. + +"What is the purpose of these?" + +"To make it drain better, your Ladyship." + +"Let us go," said Effi, and, taking her husband's arm, she walked back +with him to the hotel, where the breakfast already ordered was served +at a table with a view far out upon the sea. Before them lay the bay +in the sunshine, with sail boats here and there gliding across its +surface and sea gulls pursuing each other about the neighboring +cliffs. It was very beautiful and Effi said so; but, when she looked +across the glittering surface, she saw again, toward the south, the +brightly shining roofs of the long-stretched-out village, whose name +had given her such a start earlier in the morning. + +Even without any knowledge or suspicion of what was occupying her, +Innstetten saw clearly that she was having no joy or satisfaction. "I +am sorry, Effi, that you derive no real pleasure from these things +here. You cannot forget the Hertha Lake, and still less the +stones." + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann A.-G. Munich_ +BATHING BOYS Adolph von Menzel] + +She nodded. "It is as you say, and I must confess that I have seen +nothing in my life that made me feel so sad. Let us give up entirely +our search for rooms. I can't stay here." + +"And yesterday it seemed to you a Gulf of Naples and everything +beautiful you could think of." + +"Yes, yesterday." + +"And today? No longer a trace of Sorrento?" + +"Still one trace, but only one. It is Sorrento on the point of dying." + +"Very well, then, Effi," said Innstetten, reaching her his hand. "I do +not want to worry you with Ruegen and so let us give it up. Settled. It +is not necessary for us to tie ourselves up to Stubbenkammer or +Sassnitz or farther down that way. But whither?" + +"I suggest that we stay a day longer and wait for the steamer that +comes from Stettin tomorrow on its way to Copenhagen. It is said to be +so pleasurable there and I can't tell you how I long for something +pleasurable. Here I feel as though I could never laugh again in all my +life and had never laughed at all, and you know how I like to laugh." + +Innstetten showed himself full of sympathy with her state, the more +readily, as he considered her right in many regards. Really +everything, though beautiful, was melancholy. + +They waited for the Stettin boat and in the very early morning of the +third day they landed in Copenhagen. Two hours later they were in the +Thorwaldsen Museum, and Effi said: "Yes, Geert, this is beautiful and +I am glad we set out for here." Soon thereafter they went to dinner +and at the table made the acquaintance of a Jutland family, opposite +them, whose daughter, Thora von Penz, was as pretty as a picture and +attracted immediately the attention and admiration of both Innstetten +and Effi. Effi could not stop looking at her large blue eyes and +flaxen blonde hair, and when they left the table an hour and a half +later the Penz family, who unfortunately had to leave Copenhagen the +same day, expressed the hope that they might have the privilege of +entertaining the young Prussian couple in the near future at Aggerhuus +Castle, some two miles from the Lym-Fiord. The invitation was accepted +by the Innstettens with little hesitation. + +Thus passed the hours in the hotel. But that was not yet enough of a +good thing for this memorable day, which Effi enthusiastically +declared ought to be a red-letter day in the calendar. To fill her +measure of happiness to the full the evening brought a performance at +the Tivoli Theatre, an Italian pantomime, _Arlequin and Columbine_. +She was completely captivated by the little roguish tricks, and when +they returned to their hotel late in the evening she said: "Do you +know, Geert, I now feel that I am gradually coming to again. I will +not even mention beautiful Thora, but when I consider that this +morning Thorwaldsen and this evening Columbine--" + +"Whom at bottom you liked better than Thorwaldsen--" + +"To be frank, yes. I have a natural appreciation of such things. Our +good Kessin was a misfortune for me. Everything got on my nerves +there. Ruegen too, almost. I suggest we stay here in Copenhagen a few +days longer, including an excursion to Fredericksborg and Helsingor, +of course, and then go over to Jutland. I anticipate real pleasure +from seeing beautiful Thora again, and if I were a man I should fall +in love with her." + +Innstetten laughed. "You don't know what I am going to do." + +"I shouldn't object. That will create a rivalry and I shall show you +that I still have my powers, too." + +"You don't need to assure me of that." + +The journey was made according to this plan. Over in Jutland they went +up the Lym-Fiord as far as Aggerhuus Castle, where they spent three +days with the Penz family, and then returned home, making many stops +on the way, for sojourns of various lengths, in Viborg, Flensburg, +Kiel, and Hamburg. From Hamburg, which they liked uncommonly well, +they did not go direct to Keith St. in Berlin, but first to +Hohen-Cremmen, where they wished to enjoy a well-earned rest. For +Innstetten it meant but a few days, as his leave of absence expired, +but Effi remained a week longer and declared her desire not to arrive +at home till the 3d of October, their wedding anniversary. + +Annie had flourished splendidly in the country air and Roswitha's plan +of having her walk to meet her mother succeeded perfectly. Briest +proved himself an affectionate grandfather, warned them against too +much love, and even more strongly against too much severity, and was +in every way the same as always. But in reality all his affection was +bestowed upon Effi, who occupied his emotional nature continually, +particularly when he was alone with his wife. + +"How do you find Effi?" + +"Dear and good as ever. We cannot thank God enough that we have such a +lovely daughter. How thankful she is for everything, and always so +happy to be under our rooftree again." + +"Yes," said Briest, "she has more of this virtue than I like. To tell +the truth, it seems as though this were still her home. Yet she has +her husband and child, and her husband is a jewel and her child an +angel, and still she acts as though Hohen-Cremmen were her favorite +abode, and her husband and child were nothing in comparison with you +and me. She is a splendid daughter, but she is too much of a daughter +to suit me. It worries me a little bit. She is also unjust to +Innstetten. How do matters really stand between them?" + +"Why, Briest, what do you mean?" + +"Well, I mean what I mean and you know what, too. Is she happy? Or is +there something or other in the way? From the very beginning it has +seemed to me as though she esteemed him more than she loved him, and +that to my mind is a bad thing. Even love may not last forever, and +esteem will certainly not. In fact women become angry when they have +to esteem a man; first they become angry, then bored, and in the end +they laugh." + +"Have you had any such experience?" + +"I will not say that I have. I did not stand high enough in esteem. +But let us not get wrought up any further. Tell me how matters stand." + +"Pshaw! Briest, you always come back to the same things. We have +talked about and exchanged our views on this question more than a +dozen times, and yet you always come back and, in spite of your +pretended omniscience, ask me about it with the most dreadful naivete, +as though my eyes could penetrate any depth. What kind of notions have +you, anyhow, of a young wife, and more especially of your daughter? Do +you think that the whole situation is so plain? Or that I am an +oracle--I can't just recall the name of the person--or that I hold the +truth cut and dried in my hands, when Effi has poured out her heart to +me?--at least what is so designated. For what does pouring out one's +heart mean? After all, the real thing is kept back. She will take care +not to initiate me into her secrets. Besides, I don't know from whom +she inherited it, but she is--well, she is a very sly little person +and this slyness in her is the more dangerous because she is so very +lovable." + +"So you do admit that--lovable. And good, too?" + +"Good, too. That is, full of goodness of heart. I am not quite certain +about anything further. I believe she has an inclination to let +matters take their course and to console herself with the hope that +God will not call her to a very strict account." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Yes, I do. Furthermore I think she has improved in many ways. Her +character is what it is, but the conditions since she moved to Berlin +are much more favorable and they are becoming more and more devoted to +each other. She told me something to that effect and, what is more +convincing to me, I found it confirmed by what I saw with my own +eyes." + +"Well, what did she say?" + +"She said: 'Mama, things are going better now. Innstetten was always +an excellent husband, and there are not many like him, but I couldn't +approach him easily, there was something distant about him. He was +reserved even in his affectionate moments, in fact, more reserved then +than ever. There have been times when I feared him.'" + +"I know, I know." + +"What do you mean, Briest? That I have feared you, or that you have +feared me? I consider the one as ridiculous as the other." + +"You were going to tell me about Effi." + +"Well, then, she confessed to me that this feeling of strangeness had +left her and that had made her very happy. Kessin had not been the +right place for her, the haunted house and the people there, some too +pious, others too dull; but since she had moved to Berlin she felt +entirely in her place. He was the best man in the world, somewhat too +old for her and too good for her, but she was now 'over the mountain.' +She used this expression, which, I admit, astonished me." + +"How so? It is not quite up to par, I mean the expression. But--" + +"There is something behind it, and she wanted to give me an inkling." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Yes, Briest. You always seem to think she could never be anything but +innocent. But you are mistaken. She likes to drift with the waves, and +if the wave is good she is good, too. Fighting and resisting are not +her affair." + +Roswitha came in with Annie and interrupted the conversation. + +This conversation occurred on the day that Innstetten departed from +Hohen-Cremmen for Berlin, leaving Effi behind for at least a week. He +knew she liked nothing better than whiling away her time, care-free, +with sweet dreams, always hearing friendly words and assurances of her +loveliness. Indeed that was the thing which pleased her above +everything else, and here she enjoyed it again to the full and most +gratefully, even though diversions were utterly lacking. Visitors +seldom came, because after her marriage there was no real attraction, +at least for the young people. * * * + +On her wedding anniversary, the 3d of October, Effi was to be back in +Berlin. On the evening before, under the pretext of desiring to pack +her things and prepare for the journey, she retired to her room +comparatively early. As a matter of fact, her only desire was to be +alone. Much as she liked to chat, there were times when she longed for +repose. + +Her rooms were in the upper story on the side toward the garden. In +the smaller one Roswitha was sleeping with Annie and their door was +standing ajar. She herself walked to and fro in the larger one, which +she occupied. The lower casements of the windows were open and the +little white curtains were blown by the draft and slowly fell over the +back of the chair, till another puff of wind came and raised them +again. It was so light that she could read plainly the titles of the +pictures hanging in narrow gilt frames over the sofa: "The Storming of +Dueppel, Fort No. 5," and "King William and Count Bismarck on the +Heights of Lipa." Effi shook her head and smiled. "When I come back +again I am going to ask for different pictures; I don't like such +warlike sights." Then she closed one window and sat down by the other, +which she left open. How she enjoyed the whole scene! Almost behind +the church tower was the moon, which shed its light upon the grassy +plot with the sundial and the heliotrope beds. Everything was covered +with a silvery sheen. Beside the strips of shadow lay white strips of +light, as white as linen on the bleaching ground. Farther on stood the +tall rhubarb plants with their leaves an autumnal yellow, and she +thought of the day, only a little over two years before, when she had +played there with Hulda and the Jahnke girls. On that occasion, when +the visitor came she ascended the little stone steps by the bench and +an hour later was betrothed. + +She arose, went toward the door, and listened. Roswitha was asleep and +Annie also. + +Suddenly, as the child lay there before her, a throng of pictures of +the days in Kessin came back to her unbidden. There was the district +councillor's dwelling with its gable, and the veranda with the view of +the "Plantation," and she was sitting in the rocking chair, rocking. +Soon Crampas stepped up to her to greet her, and then came Roswitha +with the child, and she took it, held it up, and kissed it. + +"That was the first day, there is where it began." In the midst of her +revery she left the room the two were sleeping in and sat down again +at the open window and gazed out into the quiet night. + +"I cannot get rid of it," she said. "But worst of all, and the thing +that makes me lose faith in myself--" Just then the tower clock began +to strike and Effi counted the strokes. "Ten--Tomorrow at this time I +shall be in Berlin. We shall speak about our wedding anniversary and +he will say pleasing and friendly things to me and perhaps words of +affection. I shall sit there and listen and have a sense of guilt in +my heart." She leaned her head upon her hand and stared silently into +the night. + +"And have a sense of guilt in my heart," she repeated. "Yes, the sense +is there. But is it a burden upon my heart? No. That is why I am +alarmed at myself. The burden there is quite a different thing--dread, +mortal dread, and eternal fear that it may some day be found out. And, +besides the dread, shame. I am ashamed of myself. But as I do not feel +true repentance, neither do I true shame. I am ashamed only on account +of my continual lying and deceiving. It was always my pride that I +could not lie and did not need to--lying is so mean, and now I have +had to lie all the time, to him and to everybody, big lies and little +lies. Even Rummschuettel noticed it and shrugged his shoulders, and +who knows what he thinks of me? Certainly not the best things. Yes, +dread tortures me, and shame on account of my life of lies. But not +shame on account of my guilt--that I do not feel, or at least not +truly, or not enough, and the knowledge that I do not is killing me. +If all women are like this it is terrible, if they are not--which I +hope--then _I_ am in a bad predicament; there is something out of +order in my heart, I lack proper feeling. Old Mr. Niemeyer once told +me, in his best days, when I was still half a child, that proper +feeling is the essential thing, and if we have that the worst cannot +befall us, but if we have it not, we are in eternal danger, and what +is called the Devil has sure power over us. For the mercy of God, is +this my state?" + +She laid her head upon her arms and wept bitterly. When she +straightened up again, calmed, she gazed out into the garden. All was +so still, and her ear could detect a low sweet sound, as of falling +rain, coming from the plane trees. This continued for a while. Then +from the village street came the sound of a human voice. The old +nightwatchman Kulicke was calling out the hour. When at last he was +silent she heard in the distance the rattling of the passing train, +some two miles away. This noise gradually became fainter and finally +died away entirely--Still the moonlight lay upon the grass plot and +there was still the low sound, as of falling rain upon the plane +trees. But it was only the gentle playing of the night air. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +[The following evening Innstetten met Effi at the station in Berlin +and said he had thought she would not keep her word, as she had not +when she came to Berlin to select their apartment. In a short time he +began to bestir himself to make a place for his wife in Berlin +society. At a small party early in the season he tactlessly twitted +her about Crampas and for days thereafter she felt haunted by the +Major's spirit. But once the Empress had selected her to be a lady of +honor at an important function, and the Emperor had addressed a few +gracious remarks to her at a court ball, the past began to seem to her +a mere dream, and her cheerfulness was restored. After about seven +years in Berlin Dr. Rummschuettel was one day called to see her for +various reasons and prescribed treatment at Schwalbach and Ems. She +was to be accompanied by the wife of Privy Councillor Zwicker, who in +spite of her forty odd years seemed to need a protectress more than +Effi did. While Roswitha was helping with the preparations for the +journey Effi called her to account for never going, as a good Catholic +should, to a priest to confess her sins, particularly her great sin, +and promised to talk the matter over with her seriously after +returning from Ems.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +[Innstetten could see by Effi's letters from Ems that Mrs. Zwicker was +not the right kind of a companion for her and he longed for her to +come back to him. As the end of her sojourn at the watering place +approached, preparations were made to welcome her on her return home. +A "W," made of forget-me-nots, was to be hung up and some verses +composed by a friend of the family were to be spoken by Annie. One day +when Annie was returning from school Roswitha went out to meet her and +was challenged by her to a race up the stairs. When Annie reached the +top she stumbled and fell upon a scraper, cutting an ugly gash in her +forehead. Roswitha and Johanna washed the wound with cold water and +decided to tie it up with the long bandage once used to bind the +mother's sprained ankle. In their search for the bandage they broke +open the lock to the sewing table drawers, which they began to empty +of their contents. Among other things they took out a small package of +letters tied up with a red silk cord. Before they had ended the search +Innstetten came home. He examined the wound and sent for Dr. +Rummschuettel. After scolding Annie and telling her what she must do +till her mother came home, he sat down with her to dine and promised +to read her a letter just received from her mother.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +For a while Innstetten sat at the table with Annie in silence. +Finally, when the stillness became painful to him, he asked her a few +questions about the school superintendent and which teacher she liked +best. She answered rather listlessly, because she felt he was not +paying much attention. The situation was not improved till Johanna +whispered to little Annie, after the second course, that there was +something else to come. And surely enough, good Roswitha, who felt +under obligation to her pet on this unlucky day, had prepared +something extra. She had risen to an omelet with sliced apple filling. + +The sight of it made Annie somewhat more talkative. Innstetten's frame +of mind was likewise bettered when the doorbell rang a moment later +and Dr. Rummschuettel entered, quite accidentally. He had just dropped +in, without any suspicion that he had been sent for. He approved of +the compresses. "Send for some Goulard water and keep Annie at home +tomorrow. Quiet is the best remedy." Then he asked further about her +Ladyship and what kind of news had been received from Ems, and said he +would come again the next day to see the patient. + +When they got up from the table and went into the adjoining room, +where the bandage had been searched for so zealously, albeit in vain, +Annie was again laid upon the sofa. Johanna came and sat down beside +her, while Innstetten began to put back into the sewing table the +countless things that still lay in gay confusion upon the window sill. +Now and then he was at a loss to know what to do and was obliged to +ask. + +"Where do these letters belong, Johanna?" + +"Clear at the bottom," said she, "here in this drawer." + +During the question and answer Innstetten examined more closely than +before the little package tied up with a red cord. It seemed to +consist of a number of notes, rather than letters. Bending it between +his thumb and forefinger, like a pack of cards, he slowly let the +edges slip off one at a time, and a few lines, in reality only +disconnected words, darted past his eyes. It was impossible to +distinguish them clearly, yet it seemed to him as though he had +somewhere seen the handwriting before. Should he look into the +matter? + +"Johanna, you might bring us the coffee. Annie will also take half a +cup. The doctor has not forbidden it, and what is not forbidden is +allowed." + +As he said this he untied the red cord, and while Johanna was going to +the kitchen he quickly ran over the whole contents of the package. +Only two or three letters were addressed to Mrs. District Councillor +von Innstetten. He now recognized the handwriting; it was that of the +Major. Innstetten had known nothing about a correspondence between +Crampas and Effi. His brain began to grow dizzy. He put the package in +his pocket and returned to his room. A few moments later Johanna +rapped softly on his door to let him know that the coffee was served. +He answered, but that was all. Otherwise the silence was complete. Not +until a quarter of an hour later was he heard walking to and fro on +the rug. "I wonder what ails papa?" said Johanna to Annie. "The doctor +said it was nothing, didn't he?" + +The walking to and fro in the adjoining room showed no signs of +ending, but Innstetten finally came out and said: "Johanna, keep an +eye on Annie and make her remain quiet on the sofa. I am going out to +walk for an hour or two." Then he gazed fixedly at the child and left +the room. + +"Did you notice, Johanna, how papa looked?" + +"Yes, Annie. He must have had a great vexation. He was all pale. I +never saw him like that." + +Hours passed. The sun was already down and only a red glow was visible +above the roofs across the street, when Innstetten came back. He took +Annie's hand and asked her how she was. Then he ordered Johanna to +bring the lamp into his room. The lamp came. In its green shade were +half-transparent ovals with photographs, various pictures of his wife +that had been made in Kessin for the other members of the cast when +they played Wichert's _A Step out of the Way_. Innstetten turned the +shade slowly from left to right and studied each individual picture. +Then he gave that up and, as the air was so sultry, opened the balcony +door and finally took up the package of letters again. He seemed to +have picked out a few and laid them on top the first time he looked +them over. These he now read once more in a half audible voice: + +"Come again this afternoon to the dunes behind the mill. At old Mrs. +Adermann's we can see each other without fear, as the house is far +enough off the road. You must not worry so much about everything. We +have our rights, too. If you will say that to yourself emphatically, I +think all fear will depart from you. Life would not be worth the +living if everything that applies in certain specific cases should be +made to apply in all. All the best things lie beyond that. Learn to +enjoy them." + +"'Away from here,' you write, 'flight.' Impossible. I cannot leave my +wife in the lurch, in poverty, along with everything else. It is out +of the question, and we must take life lightly, otherwise we are poor +and lost. Light-heartedness is our best possession. All is fate; it +was not so to be. And would you have it otherwise--that we had never +seen each other?" + +Then came the third letter: + +"Be at the old place again today. How are my days to be spent without +you here in this dreary hole? I am beside myself, and yet thus much of +what you say is right; it is salvation, and we must in the end bless +the hand that inflicts this separation on us." + +Innstetten had hardly shoved the letters aside when the doorbell rang. +In a moment Johanna announced Privy Councillor Wuellersdorf. +Wuellersdorf entered and saw at a glance that something must have +happened. + +"Pardon me, Wuellersdorf," said Innstetten, receiving him, "for having +asked you to come at once to see me. I dislike to disturb anybody in +his evening's repose, most of all a hard-worked department chief. But +it could not be helped. I beg you, make yourself comfortable, and +here is a cigar." + +Wuellersdorf sat down. Innstetten again walked to and fro and would +gladly have gone on walking, because of his consuming restlessness, +but he saw it would not do. So he took a cigar himself, sat down face +to face with Wuellersdorf, and tried to be calm. + +"It is for two reasons," he began, "that I have sent for you. Firstly, +to deliver a challenge, and, secondly, to be my second in the +encounter itself. The first is not agreeable and the second still +less. And now your answer?" + +"You know, Innstetten, I am at your disposal. But before I know about +the case, pardon me the naive question, must it be? We are beyond the +age, you know--you to take a pistol in your hand, and I to have a +share in it. However, do not misunderstand me; this is not meant to be +a refusal. How could I refuse you anything? But tell me now what it +is." + +"It is a question of a gallant of my wife, who at the same time was my +friend, or almost a friend." + +Wuellersdorf looked at Innstetten. "Instetten, that is not possible." + +"It is more than possible, it is certain. Read." + +Wuellersdorf ran over the letters hastily. "These are addressed to your +wife?" + +"Yes. I found them today in her sewing table." + +"And who wrote them?" + +"Major von Crampas." + +"So, things that occurred when you were still in Kessin?" + +Innstetten nodded. + +"So, it was six years ago, or half a year longer?" + +"Yes." + +Wuellersdorf kept silent. After a while Innstetten said: "It almost +looks, Wuellersdorf, as though the six or seven years made an +impression on you. There is a theory of limitation, of course, but I +don't know whether we have here a case to which the theory can be +applied." + +"I don't know, either," said Wuellersdorf. "And I confess frankly, the +whole case seems to turn upon that question." + +Innstetten looked at him amazed. "You say that in all seriousness?" + +"In all seriousness. It is no time for trying one's skill at +pleasantry or dialectic hair-splitting." + +"I am curious to know what you mean. Tell me frankly what you think +about it." + +"Innstetten, your situation is awful and your happiness in life is +destroyed. But if you kill the lover your happiness in life is, so to +speak, doubly destroyed, and to your sorrow over a wrong suffered will +be added the sorrow over a wrong done. Everything hinges on the +question, do you feel absolutely compelled to do it? Do you feel so +injured, insulted, so indignant that one of you must go, either he or +you? Is that the way the matter stands?" + +"I don't know." + +"You must know." + +Innstetten sprang up, walked to the window, and tapped on the panes, +full of nervous excitement. Then he turned quickly, stepped toward +Wuellersdorf and said: "No, that is not the way the matter stands." + +"How does it stand then?" + +"It amounts to this--that I am unspeakably unhappy. I am mortified, +infamously deceived, and yet I have no feeling of hatred or even of +thirst for revenge. If I ask myself 'why not?' on the spur of the +moment, I am unable to assign any other reason than the intervening +years. People are always talking about inexpiable guilt. That is +undeniably wrong in the sight of God, but I say it is also in the +sight of man. I never should have believed that time, purely as time, +could so affect one. Then, in the second place, I love my wife, yes, +strange to say, I love her still, and dreadful as I consider all that +has happened, I am so completely under the spell of her loveliness, +the bright charm peculiarly her own, that in spite of myself I feel in +the innermost recesses of my heart inclined to forgive." + +Wuellersdorf nodded. "I fully understand your attitude, Innstetten, I +should probably feel the same way about it. But if that is your +feeling and you say to me: 'I love this woman so much that I can +forgive her everything,' and if we consider, further, that it all +happened so long, long ago that it seems like an event in some other +world, why, if that is the situation, Innstetten, I feel like asking, +wherefore all this fuss?" + +"Because it must be, nevertheless. I have thought it over from every +point of view. We are not merely individuals, we belong to a whole, +and have always to take the whole into consideration. We are +absolutely dependent. If it were possible to live in solitude I could +let it pass. I should then bear the burden heaped upon me, though real +happiness would be gone. But so many people are forced to live without +real happiness, and I should have to do it too, and I could. We don't +need to be happy, least of all have we any claim on happiness, and it +is not absolutely necessary to put out of existence the one who has +taken our happiness away. We can let him go, if we desire to live on +apart from the world. But in the social life of the world a certain +something has been worked out that is now in force, and in accordance +with the principles of which we have been accustomed to judge +everybody, ourselves as well as others. It would never do to run +counter to it. Society would despise us and in the end we should +despise ourselves and, not being able to bear the strain, we should +fire a bullet into our brains. Pardon me for delivering such a +discourse, which after all is only a repetition of what every man has +said to himself a hundred times. But who can say anything now? Once +more then, no hatred or anything of the kind, and I do not care to +have blood on my hands for the sake of the happiness taken away from +me. But that social something, let us say, which tyrannizes us, takes +no account of charm, or love, or limitation. I have no choice. I +must." + +"I don't know, Innstetten." + +Innstetten smiled. "You shall decide yourself, Wuellersdorf. It is now +ten o 'clock. Six hours ago, I will concede, I still had control of +the situation, I could do the one thing or the other, there was still +a way out. Not so now; now I am in a blind alley. You may say, I have +nobody to blame but myself; I ought to have guarded and controlled +myself better, ought to have hid it all in my own heart and fought it +out there. But it came upon me too suddenly, with too much force, and +so I can hardly reproach myself for not having held my nerves in check +more successfully. I went to your room and wrote you a note and +thereby lost the control of events. From that very moment the secret +of my unhappiness and, what is of greater moment, the smirch on my +honor was half revealed to another, and after the first words we +exchanged here it was wholly revealed. Now, inasmuch as there is +another who knows my secret, I can no longer turn back." + +"I don't know," repeated Wuellersdorf. "I don't like to resort to the +old worn-out phrase, but still I can do no better than to say: +Innstetten, it will all rest in my bosom as in a grave." + +"Yes, Wuellersdorf, that is what they all say. But there is no such +thing as secrecy. Even if you remain true to your word and are secrecy +personified toward others, still _you_ know it and I shall not be +saved from your judgment by the fact that you have just expressed to +me your approval and have even said you fully understood my attitude. +It is unalterably settled that from this moment on I should be an +object of your sympathy, which in itself is not very agreeable, and +every word you might hear me exchange with my wife would be subject to +your check, whether you would or no, and if my wife should speak of +fidelity or should pronounce judgment upon another woman, as women +have a way of doing, I should not know which way to look. Moreover, if +it came to pass that I counseled charitable consideration in some +wholly commonplace affair of honor, 'because of the apparent lack of +deception,' or something of the sort, a smile would pass over your +countenance, or at least a twitch would be noticeable, and in your +heart you would say: 'poor Innstetten, he has a real passion for +analyzing all insults chemically, in order to determine their +insulting contents, and he _never_ finds the proper quantity of the +suffocating element. He has never yet been suffocated by an affair.' +Am I right, Wuellersdorf, or not?" + +Wuellersdorf had risen to his feet. "I think it is awful that you +should be right, but you _are_ right. I shall no longer trouble you +with my 'must it be.' The world is simply as it is, and things do not +take the course _we_ desire, but the one _others_ desire. This talk +about the 'ordeal,' with which many pompous orators seek to assure us, +is sheer nonsense, there is nothing in it. On the contrary, our cult +of honor is idolatry, but we must submit to it so long as the idol is +honored." + +Innstetten nodded. + +They remained together a quarter of an hour longer and it was decided +that Wuellersdorf should set out that same evening. A night train left +at twelve. They parted with a brief "Till we meet again in Kessin." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +According to the agreement Innstetten set out the following evening. +He took the same train Wuellersdorf had taken the day before and +shortly after five o'clock in the morning was at the station, from +which the road branched off to the left for Kessin. The steamer +referred to several times before was scheduled to leave daily, during +the season, immediately after the arrival of this train, and +Innstetten heard its first signal for departure as he reached the +bottom step of the stairway leading down the embankment. The walk to +the landing took less than three minutes. After greeting the captain, +who was somewhat embarrassed and hence must have heard of the whole +affair the day before, he took a seat near the tiller. In a moment the +boat pulled away from the foot bridge; the weather was glorious, the +morning sun bright, and but few passengers on board. Innstetten +thought of the day when, returning here from his wedding tour, he had +driven along the shore of the Kessine with Effi in an open carriage. +That was a gray November day, but his heart was serene. Now it was the +reverse: all was serene without, and the November day was within. +Many, many a time had he come this way afterward, and the peace +hovering over the fields, the horses in harness pricking up their ears +as he drove by, the men at work, the fertility of the soil--all these +things had done his soul good, and now, in harsh contrast with that, +he was glad when clouds came up and began slightly to overcast the +laughing blue sky. They steamed down the river and soon after they had +passed the splendid sheet of water called the "Broad" the Kessin +church tower hove in sight and a moment later the quay and the long +row of houses with ships and boats in front of them. Soon they were at +the landing. Innstetten bade the captain goodbye and approached the +bridge that had been rolled out to facilitate the disembarkation. +Wuellersdorf was there. The two greeted each other, without speaking a +word at first, and then walked across the levee to the Hoppensack +Hotel, where they sat down under an awning. + +"I took a room here yesterday," said Wuellersdorf, who did not wish to +begin with the essentials. "When we consider what a miserable hole +Kessin is, it is astonishing to find such a good hotel here. I have no +doubt that my friend the head waiter speaks three languages. Judging +by the parting of his hair and his low-cut vest we can safely count on +four--Jean, please bring us some coffee and cognac." + +Innstetten understood perfectly why Wuellersdorf assumed this tone, and +approved of it, but he could not quite master his restlessness and +kept taking out his watch involuntarily. "We have time," said +Wuellersdorf. "An hour and a half yet, or almost. I ordered the +carriage at a quarter after eight; we have not more than ten minutes +to drive." + +"Where?" + +"Crampas first proposed a corner of the woods, just behind the +churchyard. Then he interrupted himself and said: 'No, not there.' +Then we agreed upon a place among the dunes, close by the beach. The +outer dune has a cut through it and one can look out upon the sea." + +Innstetten smiled. "Crampas seems to have selected a beautiful spot. +He always had a way of doing that. How did he behave?" + +"Marvelously." + +"Haughtily? frivolously?" + +"Neither the one nor the other. I confess frankly, Innstetten, it +staggered me. When I mentioned your name he turned as pale as death, +but tried hard to compose himself, and I saw a twitching about the +corners of his mouth. But it was only a moment till he had regained +his composure and after that he was all sorrowful resignation. I am +quite certain he feels that he will not come out of the affair alive, +and he doesn't care to. If I judge him correctly he is fond of living +and at the same time indifferent about it. He takes life as it comes +and knows that it amounts to but little." + +"Who is his second? Or let me say, rather, whom will he bring along?" + +"That was what worried him most after he had recovered himself. He +mentioned two or three noblemen of the vicinity, but dropped their +names, saying they were too old and too pious, and that he would +telegraph to Treptow for his friend Buddenbrook. Buddenbrook came and +is a capital man, at once resolute and childlike. He was unable to +calm himself, and paced back and forth in the greatest excitement. But +when I had told him all he said exactly as you and I: 'You are right, +it must be.'" + +The coffee came. They lighted their cigars and Wuellersdorf again +sought to turn the conversation to more indifferent things. "I am +surprised that nobody from Kessin has come to greet you. I know you +were very popular. What is the matter with your friend Gieshuebler?" + +Innstetten smiled. "You don't know the people here on the coast. They +are half Philistines and half wiseacres, not much to my taste. But +they have one virtue, they are all very mannerly, and none more so +than my old Gieshuebler. Everybody knows, of course, what it is about, +and for that very reason they take pains not to appear inquisitive." + +At this moment there came into view to the left a chaise-like carriage +with the top down, which, as it was ahead of time, drove up very +slowly. + +"Is that ours?" asked Innstetten. + +"Presumably." + +A moment later the carriage stopped in front of the hotel and +Innstetten and Wuellersdorf arose to their feet. Wuellersdorf stepped +over to the coachman and said: "To the mole." + +The mole lay in the wrong direction of the beach, to the right instead +of the left, and the false orders were given merely to avoid any +possible interference. Besides, whether they intended to keep to the +right or to the left after they were beyond the city limits, they had +to pass through the "Plantation" in either case, and so their course +led unavoidably past Innstetten's old residence. The house seemed more +quiet than formerly. If the rooms on the ground floor looked rather +neglected, what must have been the state upstairs! The uncanny feeling +that Innstetten had so often combatted in Effi, or had at least +laughed at, now came over him, and he was glad when they had driven +past. + +"That is where I used to live," he said to Wuellersdorf. + +"It looks strange, rather deserted and abandoned." + +"It may be. In the city it was called a haunted house and from the way +it stands there today I cannot blame people for thinking so." + +"What did they tell about it?" + +"Oh, stupid nonsense. An old ship's captain with a granddaughter or a +niece, who one fine day disappeared, and then a Chinaman, who was +probably her lover. In the hall a small shark and a crocodile, both +hung up by strings and always in motion, wonderful to relate, but now +is no time for that, when my head is full of all sorts of other +phantoms." + +"You forget that it may all turn out well yet." + +"It must not. A while ago, Wuellersdorf, when you were speaking about +Crampas, you yourself spoke differently." + +Soon thereafter they had passed through the "Plantation" and the +coachman was about to turn to the right toward the mole. "Drive to the +left, rather. The mole can wait." + +The coachman turned to the left into the broad driveway, which ran +behind the men's bathhouse toward the forest. When they were within +three hundred paces of the forest Wuellersdorf ordered the coachman to +stop. Then the two walked through grinding sand down a rather broad +driveway, which here cut at right angles through the three rows of +dunes. All along the sides of the road stood thick clumps of lyme +grass, and around them immortelles and a few blood-red pinks. +Innstetten stooped down and put one of the pinks in his buttonhole. +"The immortelles later." + +They walked on thus for five minutes. When they had come to the rather +deep depression which ran along between the two outer rows of dunes +they saw their opponents off to the left, Crampas and Buddenbrook, and +with them good Dr. Hannemann, who held his hat in his hand, so that +his white hair was waving in the wind. + +Innstetten and Wuellersdorf walked up the sand defile; Buddenbrook came +to meet them. They exchanged greetings and then the two seconds +stepped aside for a brief conference. They agreed that the opponents +should advance _a tempo_ and shoot when ten paces apart. Then +Buddenbrook returned to his place. Everything was attended to quickly, +and the shots were fired. Crampas fell. + +Innstetten stepped back a few paces and turned his face away from the +scene. Wuellersdorf walked over to Buddenbrook and the two awaited the +decision of the doctor, who shrugged his shoulders. At the same time +Crampas indicated by a motion of his hand that he wished to say +something. Wuellersdorf bowed down to him, nodded his assent to the few +words, which could scarcely be heard as they came from the lips of the +dying man, and then went toward Innstetten. + +"Crampas wishes to speak to you, Innstetten. You must comply with his +wish. He hasn't three minutes more to live." + +Innstetten walked over to Crampas. + +"Will you--" were the dying man's last words. Then a painful, yet +almost friendly expression in his eyes, and all was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + +In the evening of the same day Innstetten was back again in Berlin. He +had taken the carriage, which he had left by the crossroad behind the +dunes, directly for the railway station, without returning to Kessin, +and had left to the seconds the duty of reporting to the authorities. +On the train he had a compartment to himself, which enabled him to +commune with his own mind and live the event all over again. He had +the same thoughts as two days before, except that they ran in the +opposite direction, beginning with conviction as to his rights and his +duty and ending in doubt. "Guilt, if it is anything at all, is not +limited by time and place and cannot pass away in a night. Guilt +requires expiation; there is some sense in that. Limitation, on the +other hand, only half satisfies; it is weak, or at least it is +prosaic." He found comfort in this thought and said to himself over +and over that what had happened was inevitable. But the moment he +reached this conclusion he rejected it. "There must be a limitation; +limitation is the only sensible solution. Whether or not it is prosaic +is immaterial. What is sensible is usually prosaic. I am now +forty-five. If I had found the letters twenty-five years later I +should have been seventy. Then Wuellersdorf would have said: +'Innstetten, don't be a fool.' And if Wuellersdorf didn't say it, +Buddenbrook would, and if _he_ didn't, either, I myself should. That +is clear. When we carry a thing to extremes we carry it too far and +make ourselves ridiculous. No doubt about it. But where does it begin? +Where is the limit? Within ten years a duel is required and we call it +an affair of honor. After eleven years, or perhaps ten and a half, we +call it nonsense. The limit, the limit. Where is it? Was it reached? +Was it passed? When I recall his last look, resigned and yet smiling +in his misery, that look said: 'Innstetten, this is stickling for +principle. You might have spared me this, and yourself, too.' Perhaps +he was right. I hear some such voice in my soul. Now if I had been +full of deadly hatred, if a deep feeling of revenge had found a place +in my heart--Revenge is not a thing of beauty, but a human trait and +has naturally a human right to exist. But this affair was all for the +sake of an idea, a conception, was artificial, half comedy. And now I +must continue this comedy, must send Effi away and ruin her, and +myself, too--I ought to have burned the letters, and the world should +never have been permitted to hear about them. And then when she came, +free from suspicion, I ought to have said to her: 'Here is your +place,' and ought to have parted from her inwardly, not before the +eyes of the world. There are so many marriages that are not marriages. +Then happiness would have been gone, but I should not have had the +eye staring at me with its searching look and its mild, though mute, +accusation." + +Shortly before ten o'clock Innstetten alighted in front of his +residence. He climbed the stairs and rang the bell. Johanna came and +opened the door. + +"How is Annie?" + +"Very well, your Lordship. She is not yet asleep--If your Lordship--" + +"No, no, it would merely excite her. It would be better to wait till +morning to see her. Bring me a glass of tea, Johanna. Who has been +here?" + +"Nobody but the doctor." + +Innstetten was again alone. He walked to and fro as he loved to do. +"They know all about it. Roswitha is stupid, but Johanna is a clever +person. If they don't know accurate details, they have made up a story +to suit themselves and so they know anyhow. It is remarkable how many +things become indications and the basis for tales, as though the whole +world had been present." + +Johanna brought the tea, and Innstetten drank it. He was tired to +death from the overexertion and went to sleep. + +The next morning he was up in good season. He saw Annie, spoke a few +words with her, praised her for being a good patient, and then went to +the Ministry to make a report to his chief of all that had happened. +The minister was very gracious. "Yes, Innstetten, happy is the man who +comes out of all that life may bring to us whole. It has gone hard +with you." He approved all that had taken place and left the rest to +Innstetten. + +It was late in the afternoon when Innstetten returned home and found +there a few lines from Wuellersdorf. "Returned this morning. A world of +experiences--painful, touching--Gieshuebler particularly. The most +amiable humpback I ever saw. About you he did not say so very much, +but the wife, the wife! He could not calm himself and finally the +little man broke out in tears. What strange things happen! It would be +better if we had more Gieshueblers. But there are more of the other +sort--Then the scene at the home of the major--dreadful. Excuse me +from speaking about it. I have learned once more to be on my guard. I +shall see you tomorrow. Yours, W." + +Innstetten was completely staggered when he read the note. He sat down +and wrote a few words in reply. When he had finished he rang the bell. +"Johanna, put these letters in the box." + +Johanna took the letters and was on the point of going. + +"And then, Johanna, one thing more. My wife is not coming back. You +will hear from others why. Annie must not know anything about it, at +least not now. The poor child. You must break the news to her +gradually that she has no mother any more. I can't do it. But be wise +about it, and don't let Roswitha spoil it all." + +Johanna stood there a moment quite stupefied, and then went up to +Innstetten and kissed his hand. + +By the time she had reached the kitchen her heart was overflowing with +pride and superiority, indeed almost with happiness. His Lordship had +not only told her everything, he had even added the final injunction, +"and don't let Roswitha spoil it all." That was the most important +point. And although she had a kindly feeling and even sympathy for her +mistress, nevertheless the thing that above all else occupied her was +the triumph of a certain intimate relation to her gracious master. + +Under ordinary conditions it would have been easy for her to display +and assert this triumph, but today it so happened that her rival, +without having been made a confidante, was nevertheless destined to +appear the better informed of the two. Just about at the same time as +the above conversation was taking place the porter had called +Roswitha into his little lodge downstairs and handed her as she +entered a newspaper to read. "There, Roswitha, is something that will +interest you. You can bring it back to me later. It is only the +_Foreigners' Gazette_, but Lena has already gone out to get the _Minor +Journal_. There will probably be more in it. They always know +everything. Say, Roswitha, who would have thought such a thing!" + +Roswitha, who was ordinarily none too curious, had, however, after +these words betaken herself as quickly as possible up the back stairs +and had just finished reading the account when Johanna came to her. + +Johanna laid the letters Innstetten had given her upon the table, +glanced over the addresses, or at least pretended to, for she knew +very well to whom they were directed, and said with feigned composure: +"One goes to Hohen-Cremmen." + +"I understand that," said Roswitha. + +Johanna was not a little astonished at this remark. "His Lordship does +not write to Hohen-Cremmen ordinarily." + +"Oh, ordinarily? But now--Just think, the porter gave me _this_ +downstairs only a moment ago." + +Johanna took the paper and read in an undertone a passage marked with +a heavy ink line: "As we learn from a well informed source, shortly +before going to press, there occurred yesterday morning in the +watering place Kessin, in Hither Pomerania, a duel between Department +Chief von Innstetten of Keith St. and Major von Crampas. Major von +Crampas fell. According to rumors, relations are said to have existed +between him and the Department Chief's wife, who is beautiful and +still very young." + +"What don't such papers write?" said Johanna, who was vexed at seeing +her news anticipated. "Yes," said Roswitha, "and now the people will +read this and say disgraceful things about my poor dear mistress. And +the poor major! Now he is dead!" + +"Why, Roswitha, what are you thinking of anyhow? Ought he _not_ to be +dead? Or ought our dear gracious master to be dead?" + +"No, Johanna, our gracious master, let him live, let everybody live. I +am not for shooting people and can't even bear the report of the +pistol. But take into consideration, Johanna, that was half an +eternity ago, and the letters, which struck me as so strange the +moment I saw them, because they had a red cord, not a ribbon, wrapped +around them three or four times and tied--why, they were beginning to +look quite yellow, it was so long ago. You see, we have been here now +for over six years, and how can a man, just because of such old +things--" + +"Ah, Roswitha, you speak according to your understanding. If we +examine the matter narrowly, you are to blame. It comes from the +letters. Why did you come with the chisel and break open the sewing +table, which is never permissible? One must never break open a lock in +which another has turned a key." + +"Why, Johanna, it is really too cruel of you to say such a thing to my +face, and you know that _you_ are to blame, and that you rushed half +crazy into the kitchen and told me the sewing table must be opened, +the bandage was in it, and then I came with the chisel, and now you +say I am to blame. No, I say--" + +"Well, I will take it back, Roswitha. But you must not come to me and +say: 'the poor major!' What do you mean by the 'poor major?' The poor +major was altogether good for nothing. A man who has such a red +moustache and twirls it all the time is never good for anything, he +does nothing but harm. When one has always been employed in +aristocratic homes--but you haven't been, Roswitha, that's where you +are lacking--one knows what is fitting and proper and what honor is, +and knows that when such a thing comes up there is no way to get +around it, and then comes what is called a challenge and one of the +men is shot." + +"Oh, I know that, too; I am not so stupid as you always try to make me +appear. But since it happened so long ago--" + +"Oh, Roswitha, that everlasting 'so long ago!' It shows plainly enough +that you don't know anything about it. You are always telling the same +old story about your father with the red-hot tongs and how he came at +you with them, and every time I put a red-hot heater in the iron I see +him about to kill you on account of the child that died so long ago. +Indeed, Roswitha, you talk about it all the time, and all there is +left for you to do now is to tell little Annie the story, and as soon +as little Annie has been confirmed she will be sure to hear it, +perhaps the same day. I am grieved that you should have had all that +experience, and yet your father was only a village blacksmith who shod +horses and put tires on wheels, and now you come forward and expect +our gracious master calmly to put up with all this, merely because it +happened so long ago. What do you mean by long ago? Six years is not +long ago. And our gracious mistress, who, by the way, is not coming +back--his Lordship just told me so--her Ladyship is not yet twenty-six +and her birthday is in August, and yet you come to me with the plea of +'long ago.' If she were thirty-six, for at thirty-six, I tell you, one +must be particularly cautious, and if his Lordship had done nothing, +then aristocratic people would have 'cut' him. But you are not +familiar with that word, Roswitha, you know nothing about it." + +"No, I know nothing about it and care less, but what I do know is that +you are in love with his Lordship." + +Johanna struck up a convulsive laugh. + +"Well, laugh. I have noticed it for a long time. I don't put it past +you, but fortunately his Lordship takes no note of it. The poor wife, +the poor wife!" + +Johanna was anxious to declare peace. "That will do now, Roswitha. You +are mad again, but, I know, all country girls get mad." + +"May be." + +"I am just going to post these letters now and see whether the porter +has got the other paper. I understood you to say, didn't I, that he +sent Lena to get one? There must be more in it; this is as good as +nothing at all." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + +[After Effi and Mrs. Zwicker had been in Ems for nearly three weeks +they took breakfast one morning in the open air. The postman was late +and Effi was impatient, as she had received no letter from Innstetten +for four days. The coming of a pretty waitress to clear away the +breakfast dishes started a conversation about pretty housemaids, and +Effi spoke enthusiastically of her Johanna's unusual abundance of +beautiful flaxen hair. This led to a discussion of painful +experiences, in the course of which Effi admitted that she knew what +sin meant, but she distinguished between an occasional sin and a +habitual sin. Mrs. Zwicker was indulging in a tirade against the +pleasure resorts and the ill-sounding names of places in the environs +of Berlin, when the postman came. There was nothing from Innstetten, +but a large registered letter from Hohen-Cremmen. Effi felt an +unaccountable hesitation to open it. Overcoming this she found in the +envelope a long letter from her mother and a package of banknotes, +upon which her father had written with a red pencil the sum they +represented. She leaned back in the rocking chair and began to read. +Before she had got very far, the letter fell out of her hands and all +the blood left her face. With an effort she picked up the letter and +started to go to her room, asking Mrs. Zwicker to send the maid. By +holding to the furniture as she dragged herself along she was able to +reach her bed, where she fell in a swoon.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + +Minutes passed. When Effi came to she got up and sat on a chair by the +window and gazed out into the quiet street. Oh, if there had only been +turmoil and strife outside! But there was only the sunshine on the +macadam road and the shadows of the lattice and the trees. The feeling +that she was alone in the world came over her with all its might. An +hour ago she was a happy woman, the favorite of all who knew her, and +now an outcast. She had read only the beginning of the letter, but +enough to have the situation clearly before her. Whither? She had no +answer to this question, and yet she was full of deep longing to +escape from her present environment, to get away from this Zwicker +woman, to whom the whole affair was merely "an interesting case," and +whose sympathy, if she had any such thing in her make-up, would +certainly not equal her curiosity. + +"Whither?" + +On the table before her lay the letter, but she lacked the courage to +read any more of it. Finally she said: "What have I further to fear? +What else can be said that I have not already said to myself? The man +who was the cause of it all is dead, a return to my home is out of the +question, in a few weeks the divorce will be decreed, and the child +will be left with the father. Of course. I am guilty, and a guilty +woman cannot bring up her child. Besides, wherewith? I presume I can +make my own way. I will see what mama writes about it, how she +pictures my life." + +With these words she took up the letter again to finish reading it. + +"--And now your future, my dear Effi. You will have to rely upon +yourself and, so far as outward means are concerned, may count upon +our support. You will do best to live in Berlin, for the best place to +live such things down is a large city. There you will be one of the +many who have robbed themselves of free air and bright sunshine. You +will lead a lonely life. If you refuse to, you will probably have to +step down out of your sphere. The world in which you have lived will +be closed to you. The saddest thing for us and for you--yes, for you, +as we know you--is that your parental home will also be closed to you. +We can offer you no quiet place in Hohen-Cremmen, no refuge in our +house, for it would mean the shutting off of our house from all the +world, and we are decidedly not inclined to do that. Not because we +are too much attached to the world or that it would seem to us +absolutely unbearable to bid farewell to what is called 'society.' No, +not for that reason, but simply because we stand by our colors and are +going to declare to the whole world our--I cannot spare you the +word--our condemnation of your actions, of the actions of our only and +so dearly beloved child--" + +[Illustration: _Permission F Bruckmann A.-G., Munich_ +FRAU VON SCHLEINITZ AT HOME Adolph von Menzel] + +Effi could read no further. Her eyes filled with tears and after +seeking in vain to fight them back she burst into convulsive sobs and +wept till her pain was alleviated. + +Half an hour later there was a knock at the door and when Effi called: +"Come in!" Mrs. Zwicker appeared. + +"May I come in?" + +"Certainly, my dear," said Effi, who now lay upon the sofa under a +light covering and with her hands folded. "I am exhausted and have +made myself as comfortable here as I could. Won't you please take a +seat?" + +Mrs. Zwicker sat down where the table with the bowl of flowers would +be between her and Effi. Effi showed no sign of embarrassment and made +no change in her position; she did not even unfold her hands. It +suddenly became immaterial to her what the woman thought. All she +wanted was to get away. + +"You have received sad news, dear, gracious Lady?" + +"Worse than sad," said Effi. "At any rate sad enough to bring our +association here quickly to an end. I must leave today." + +"I should not like to appear obtrusive, but has the news anything to +do with Annie?" + +"No, not with Annie. The news did not come from Berlin at all, it was +a letter from my mother. She is worried about me and I am anxious to +divert her, or, if I can't do that, at least to be near at hand." + +"I appreciate that only too well, much as I lament the necessity of +spending these last days in Ems without you. May I offer you my +services?" + +Before Effi had time to answer, the pretty waitress entered and +announced that the guests were just gathering for lunch, and everybody +was greatly excited, for the Emperor was probably coming for three +weeks and at the end of his stay there would be grand manoeuvres and +the hussars from her home town would be there, too. + +Mrs. Zwicker discussed immediately the question, whether it would be +worth while to stay till then, arrived at a decided answer in the +affirmative, and then went to excuse Effi's absence from lunch. + +A moment later, as the waitress was about to leave, Effi said: "And +then, Afra, when you are free, I hope you can come back to me for a +quarter of an hour to help me pack. I am leaving by the seven o'clock +train." + +"Today? Oh, your Ladyship, what a pity! Why, the beautiful days are +just going to begin." + +Effi smiled. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + +Three years had passed and for almost that length of time Effi had +been living in a small apartment on Koeniggraetz Street--a front room +and back room, behind which was the kitchen with a servant's bedroom, +everything as ordinary and commonplace as possible. And yet it was an +unusually pretty apartment, that made an agreeable impression on +everybody who saw it, the most agreeable perhaps on old Dr. +Rummschuettel, who called now and then and had long ago forgiven the +poor young wife, not only for the rheumatism and neuralgia farce of +bygone years, but also for everything else that had happened in the +meantime--if there was any need of forgiveness on his part, +considering the very different cases he knew about. He was now far +along in the seventies, but whenever Effi, who had been ailing +considerably for some time, wrote a letter asking him to call, he came +the following forenoon and would not listen to any excuses for the +number of steps he had to climb. "No excuse, please, dear, most +gracious Lady; for in the first place it is my calling, and in the +second I am happy and almost proud that I am still able to climb the +three flights so well. If I were not afraid of inconveniencing +you,--since, after all, I come as a physician and not as a friend of +nature or a landscape enthusiast,--I should probably come oftener, +merely to see you and sit down for a few minutes at your back window. +I don't believe you fully appreciate the view." + +"Oh, yes I do," said Effi; but Rummschuettel, not allowing himself to +be interrupted, continued: "Please, most gracious Lady, step here just +for a moment, or allow me to escort you to the window. Simply +magnificent again today! Just see the various railroad embankments, +three, no, four, and how the trains glide back and forth continually, +and now that train yonder disappears again behind a group of trees. +Really magnificent! And how the sun shines through the white smoke! If +St. Matthew's Churchyard were not immediately behind it it would be +ideal." + +"I like to look at churchyards." + +"Yes, you dare say that. But how about us? We physicians are +unavoidably confronted with the question, might there, perhaps, not +have been some fewer graves here? However, most gracious Lady, I am +satisfied with you and my only complaint is that you will not listen +to anything about Ems. For your catarrhal affections--" + +Effi remained silent. + +"Ems would work miracles. But as you don't care to go there--and I +understand your reasons--drink the water here. In three minutes you +can be in the Prince Albrecht Garden, and even if the music and the +costumes and all the diversions of a regular watering-place promenade +are lacking, the water itself, you know, is the important thing." + +Effi was agreed, and Rummschuettel took his hat and cane, but stepped +once more to the window. "I hear people talking about a plan to +terrace the Hill of the Holy Cross. God bless the city government! +Once that bare spot yonder is greener--A charming apartment! I could +almost envy you--By the way, gracious Lady, I have been wanting for a +long time to say to you, you always write me such a lovely letter. +Well, who wouldn't enjoy that? But it requires an effort each time. +Just send Roswitha for me." + +"Just send Roswitha for me," Rummschuettel had said. Why, was Roswitha +at Effi's? Instead of being on Keith Street was she on Koeniggraetz +Street? Certainly she was, and had been for a long time, just as long +as Effi herself had been living on Koeniggraetz Street. Three days +before they moved Roswitha had gone to see her dear mistress and that +was a great day for both of them, so great that we must go back and +tell about it. + +The day that the letter of renunciation came from Hohen-Cremmen and +Effi returned from Ems to Berlin she did not take a separate apartment +at once, but tried living in a boarding house, which suited her +tolerably well. The two women who kept the boarding house were +educated and considerate and had long ago ceased to be inquisitive. +Such a variety of people met there that it would have been too much of +an undertaking to pry into the secrets of each individual. Such things +only interfered with business. Effi, who still remembered the +cross-questionings to which the eyes of Mrs. Zwicker had subjected +her, was very agreeably impressed with the reserve of the boarding +house keepers. But after two weeks had passed she felt plainly that +she could not well endure the prevailing atmosphere of the place, +either the physical or the moral. There were usually seven persons at +the table. Beside Effi and one of the landladies--the other looked +after the kitchen--there were two Englishwomen, who were attending the +university, a noblewoman from Saxony, a very pretty Galician Jewess, +whose real occupation nobody knew, and a precentor's daughter from +Polzin in Pomerania, who wished to become a painter. That was a bad +combination, and the attempts of each to show her superiority to the +others were unrefreshing. Remarkable to relate, the Englishwomen were +not absolutely the worst offenders, but competed for the palm with the +girl from Polzin, who was filled with the highest regard for her +mission as a painter. Nevertheless Effi, who assumed a passive +attitude, could have withstood the pressure of this intellectual +atmosphere if it had not been combined with the air of the boarding +house, speaking from a purely physical and objective point of view. +What this air was actually composed of was perhaps beyond the +possibility of determination, but that it took away sensitive Effi's +breath was only too certain, and she saw herself compelled for this +external reason to go out in search of other rooms, which she found +comparatively near by, in the above-described apartment on Koeniggraetz +St. She was to move in at the beginning of the autumn quarter, had +made the necessary purchases, and during the last days of September +counted the hours till her liberation from the boarding house. On one +of these last days, a quarter of an hour after she had retired from +the dining room, planning to enjoy a rest on a sea grass sofa covered +with some large-figured woolen material, there was a gentle rap at her +door. + +"Come in!" + +One of the housemaids, a sickly looking person in the middle thirties, +who by virtue of always being in the hall of the boarding house +carried the atmosphere stored there with her everywhere, in her +wrinkles, entered the room and said: "I beg your pardon, gracious +Lady, but somebody wishes to speak to you." + +"Who?" + +"A woman." + +"Did she tell you her name?" + +"Yes. Roswitha." + +Before Effi had hardly heard this name she shook off her drowsiness, +sprang up, ran out into the corridor, grasped Roswitha by both hands +and drew her into her room. + +"Roswitha! You! Oh, what joy! What do you bring? Something good, of +course. Such a good old face can bring only good things. Oh, how happy +I am! I could give a kiss. I should not have thought such joy could +ever come to me again. You good old soul, how are you anyhow? Do you +still remember how the ghost of the Chinaman used to stalk about? +Those were happy times. I thought then they were unhappy, because I +did not yet know the hardness of life. Since then I have come to know +it. Oh, there are far worse things than ghosts. Come, my good +Roswitha, come, sit down by me and tell me--Oh, I have such a longing. +How is Annie?" + +Roswitha was unable to speak, and so she let her eyes wander around +the strange room, whose gray and dusty-looking walls were bordered +with narrow gilt molding. Finally she found herself and said that his +Lordship was back from Glatz. That the old Emperor had said, "six +weeks were quite sufficient (imprisonment) in such a case," and she +had only waited for his Lordship's return, on Annie's account, who had +to have some supervision. Johanna was no doubt a proper person, but +she was still too pretty and too much occupied with herself, and God +only knows what all she was thinking about. But now that his Lordship +could again keep an eye on Annie and see that everything was right, +she herself wanted to try to find out how her Ladyship was getting on. + +"That is right, Roswitha." + +"And I wanted to see whether your Ladyship lacked anything, and +whether you might need me. If so I would stay right here and pitch in +and do everything and see to it that your Ladyship was getting on well +again." + +Effi had been leaning back in the corner of the sofa with her eyes +closed, but suddenly she sat up and said: "Yes, Roswitha, what you +were saying there is an idea, there is something in it. For I must +tell you that I am not going to stay in this boarding house. I have +rented an apartment farther down the street and have bought furniture, +and in three more days I shall move in. And if, when I arrive there, I +could say to you: 'No, Roswitha, not there, the wardrobe must stand +here and the mirror there,' why, that would be worth while, and I +should like it. Then when we got tired of all the drudgery I should +say: 'Now, Roswitha, go over there and get us a decanter of Munich +beer, for when one has been working one is thirsty for a drink, and, +if you can, bring us also something good from the Habsburg Restaurant. +You can return the dishes later.' Yes, Roswitha, when I think of that +it makes my heart feel a great deal lighter. But I must ask you +whether you have thought it all over? I will not speak of Annie, to +whom you are so attached, for she is almost your own child; +nevertheless Annie will be provided for, and Johanna is also attached +to her, you know. So leave her out of the consideration. But if you +want to come to me remember how everything has changed. I am no longer +as I used to be. I have now taken a very small apartment, and the +porter will doubtless pay but little attention to you and me. We shall +have to be very economical, always have what we used to call our +Thursday meal, because that was cleaning day. Do you remember? And do +you remember how good Mr. Gieshuebler once came in and was urged to sit +down with us, and how he said he had never eaten such a delicate dish? +You probably remember he was always so frightfully polite, but really +he was the only human being in the city who was a connoisseur in +matters of eating. The others called everything fine." + +Roswitha was enjoying every word and could already see everything +running smoothly, when Effi again said: "Have you considered all this? +For, while it is my own household, I must not overlook the fact that +you have been spoiled these many years, and formerly no questions were +ever asked, for we did not need to be saving; but now I must be +saving, for I am poor and have only what is given me, you know, +remittances from Hohen-Cremmen. My parents are very good to me, so far +as they are able, but they are not rich. And now tell me what you +think." + +"That I shall come marching along with my trunk next Saturday, not in +the evening, but early in the morning, and that I shall be there when +the settling process begins. For I can take hold quite differently +from your Ladyship." + +"Don't say that, Roswitha. I can work too. One can do anything when +obliged to." + +"And then your Ladyship doesn't need to worry about me, as though I +might think: 'that is not good enough for Roswitha.' For Roswitha +anything is good that she has to share with your Ladyship, and most to +her liking would be something sad. Yes, I look forward to that with +real pleasure. Your Ladyship shall see I know what sadness is. Even if +I didn't know, I should soon find out. I have not forgotten how I was +sitting there in the churchyard, all alone in the world, thinking to +myself it would probably be better if I were lying there in a row with +the others. Who came along? Who saved my life? Oh, I have had so much +to endure. That day when my father came at me with the red-hot +tongs--" + +"I remember, Roswitha." + +"Well, that was bad enough. But when I sat there in the churchyard, so +completely poverty stricken and forsaken, that was worse still. Then +your Ladyship came. I hope I shall never go to heaven if I forget +that." + +As she said this she arose and went toward the window. "Oh, your +Ladyship must see _him_ too." + +Effi stepped to the window. Over on the other side of the street sat +Rollo, looking up at the windows of the boarding house. + +A few days later Effi, with the aid of Roswitha, moved into the +apartment on Koeniggraetz St., and liked it there from the beginning. +To be sure, there was no society, but during her boarding house days +she had derived so little pleasure from intercourse with people that +it was not hard for her to be alone, at least not in the beginning. +With Roswitha it was impossible, of course, to carry on an esthetic +conversation, or even to discuss what was in the paper, but when it +was simply a question of things human and Effi began her sentence +with, "Oh, Roswitha, I am again afraid," then the faithful soul always +had a good answer ready, always comfort and usually advice. + +Until Christmas they got on excellently, but Christmas eve was rather +sad and when New Year's Day came Effi began to grow quite melancholy. +It was not cold, only grizzly and rainy, and if the days were short, +the evenings were so much the longer. What was she to do! She read, +she embroidered, she played solitaire, she played Chopin, but +nocturnes were not calculated to bring much light into her life, and +when Roswitha came with the tea tray and placed on the table, beside +the tea service, two small plates with an egg and a Vienna cutlet +carved in small slices, Effi said, as she closed the piano: "Move up, +Roswitha. Keep me company." + +Roswitha joined her. "I know, your Ladyship has been playing too much +again. Your Ladyship always looks like that and has red spots. The +doctor forbade it, didn't he?" + +"Ah, Roswitha, it is easy for the doctor to forbid, and also easy for +you to repeat everything he says. But what shall I do? I can't sit all +day long at the window and look over toward Christ's Church. Sundays, +during the evening service, when the windows are lighted up, I always +look over that way; but it does me no good, it always makes my heart +feel heavier." + +"Well, then, your Ladyship ought to go to church. Your Ladyship has +been there once." + +"Oh, many a time. But I have derived little benefit from it. He +preaches quite well and is a very wise man, and I should be happy if I +knew the hundredth part of it all. But it seems as though I were +merely reading a book. Then when he speaks so loud and saws the air +and shakes his long black locks I am drawn, entirely out of my +attitude of worship." + +"Out of?" + +Effi laughed. "You think I hadn't yet got into such an attitude. That +is probably true. But whose fault is it? Certainly not mine. He always +talks so much about the Old Testament. Even if that is very good it +doesn't edify me. Anyhow, this everlasting listening is not the right +thing. You see, I ought to have so much to do that I should not know +whither to turn. That would suit me. Now there are societies where +young girls learn housekeeping, or sewing, or to be kindergarten +teachers. Have you ever heard of these?" + +"Yes, I once heard of them. Once upon a time little Annie was to go to +a kindergarten." + +"Now you see, you know better than I do. I should like to join some +such society where I can make myself useful. But it is not to be +thought of. The women in charge wouldn't take me, they couldn't. That +is the most terrible thing of all, that the world is so closed to one, +that it even forbids one to take a part in charitable work. I can't +even give poor children a lesson after hours to help them catch up." + +"That would not do for your Ladyship. The children always have such +greasy shoes on, and in wet weather there is so much steam and smoke, +your Ladyship could never stand it." + +Effi smiled. "You are probably right, Roswitha, but it is a bad sign +that you should be right, and it shows me that I still have too much +of the old Effi in me and that I am still too well off." + +Roswitha would not agree to that. "Anybody as good as your Ladyship +can't be too well off. Now you must not always play such sad music. +Sometimes I think all will be well yet, something will surely turn +up." + +And something did turn up. Effi desired to become a painter, in spite +of the precentor's daughter from Polzin, whose conceit as an artist +she still remembered as exceedingly disagreeable. Although she laughed +about the plan herself, because she was conscious she could never +rise above the lowest grade of dilettantism, nevertheless she went at +her work with zest, because she at last had an occupation and that, +too, one after her own heart, because it was quiet and peaceful. She +applied for instruction to a very old professor of painting, who was +well-informed concerning the Brandenburgian aristocracy, and was, at +the same time, very pious, so that Effi seemed to be his heart's +delight from the outset. He probably thought, here was a soul to be +saved, and so he received her with extraordinary friendliness, as +though she had been his daughter. This made Effi very happy, and the +day of her first painting lesson marked for her a turning point toward +the good. Her poor life was now no longer so poor, and Roswitha was +triumphant when she saw that she had been right and something had +turned up after all. + +Thus things went on for considerably over a year. Coming again in +contact with people made Effi happy, but it also created within her +the desire to renew and extend associations. Longing for Hohen-Cremmen +came over her at times with the force of a true passion, and she +longed still more passionately to see Annie. After all she was her +child, and when she began to turn this thought over in her mind and, +at the same time, recalled what Miss Trippelli had once said, to wit: +"The world is so small that one could be certain of coming suddenly +upon some old acquaintance in Central Africa," she had a reason for +being surprised that she had never met Annie. But the time finally +arrived when a change was to occur. She was coming from her painting +lesson, close by the Zoological Garden, and near the station stepped +into a horse car. It was very hot and it did her good to see the +lowered curtains blown out and back by the strong current of air +passing through the car. She leaned back in the corner toward the +front platform and was studying several pictures of blue tufted and +tasseled sofas on a stained window pane, when the car began to move +more slowly and she saw three school children spring up with school +bags on their backs and little pointed hats on their heads. Two of +them were blonde and merry, the third brunette and serious. This one +was Annie. Effi was badly startled, and the thought of a meeting with +the child, for which she had so often longed, filled her now with +deadly fright. What was to be done? With quick determination she +opened the door to the front platform, on which nobody was standing +but the driver, whom she asked to let her get off in front at the next +station. "It is forbidden, young lady," said the driver. But she gave +him a coin and looked at him so appealingly that the good-natured man +changed his mind and mumbled to himself: "I really am not supposed to, +but perhaps once will not matter." When the car stopped he took out +the lattice and Effi sprang off. + +She was still greatly excited when she reached the house. + +"Just think, Roswitha, I have seen Annie." Then she told of the +meeting in the tram car. Roswitha was displeased that the mother and +daughter had not been rejoiced to see each other again, and was very +hard to convince that it would not have looked well in the presence of +so many people. Then Effi had to tell how Annie looked and when she +had done so with motherly pride Roswitha said: "Yes, she is what one +might call half and half. Her pretty features and, if I may be +permitted to say it, her strange look she gets from her mother, but +her seriousness is exactly her father. When I come to think about it, +she is more like his Lordship." + +"Thank God!" said Effi. + +"Now, your Ladyship, there is some question about that. No doubt there +is many a person who would take the side of the mother." + +"Do you think so, Roswitha? I don't." + +"Oh, oh, I am not so easily fooled, and I think your Ladyship knows +very well, too, how matters really stand and what the men like best." + +"Oh, don't speak of that, Roswitha." + +The conversation ended here and was never afterward resumed. But even +though Effi avoided speaking to Roswitha about Annie, down deep in her +heart she was unable to get over that meeting and suffered from the +thought of having fled from her own child. It troubled her till she +was ashamed, and her desire to meet Annie grew till it became +pathological. It was not possible to write to Innstetten and ask his +permission. She was fully conscious of her guilt, indeed she nurtured +the sense of it with almost zealous care; but, on the other hand, at +the same time that she was conscious of guilt, she was also filled +with a certain spirit of rebellion against Innstetten. She said to +herself, he was right, again and again, and yet in the end he was +wrong. All had happened so long before, a new life had begun--he might +have let it die; instead poor Crampas died. + +No, it would not do to write to Innstetten; but she wanted to see +Annie and speak to her and press her to her heart, and after she had +thought it over for days she was firmly convinced as to the best way +to go about it. + +The very next morning she carefully put on a decent black dress and +set out for Unter den Linden to call on the minister's wife. She sent +in her card with nothing on it but "Effi von Innstetten, _nee_ von +Briest." Everything else was left off, even "Baroness." When the man +servant returned and said, "Her Excellency begs you to enter," Effi +followed him into an anteroom, where she sat down and, in spite of her +excitement, looked at the pictures on the walls. First of all there +was Guido Reni's _Aurora_, while opposite it hung English etchings of +pictures by Benjamin West, made by the well known aquatint process. +One of the pictures was King Lear in the storm on the heath. + +Effi had hardly finished looking at the pictures when the door of the +adjoining room opened and a tall slender woman of unmistakably +prepossessing appearance stepped toward the one who had come to +request a favor of her and held out her hand. "My dear most gracious +Lady," she said, "what a pleasure it is for me to see you again." As +she said this she walked toward the sofa and sat down, drawing Effi to +a seat beside her. + +Effi was touched by the goodness of heart revealed in every word and +movement. Not a trace of haughtiness or reproach, only beautiful human +sympathy. "In what way can I be of service to you?" asked the +minister's wife. + +Effi's lips quivered. Finally she said: "The thing that brings me here +is a request, the fulfillment of which your Excellency may perhaps +make possible. I have a ten-year-old daughter whom I have not seen for +three years and should like to see again." + +The minister's wife took Effi's hand and looked at her in a friendly +way. + +"When I say, 'not seen for three years,' that is not quite right. +Three days ago I saw her again." Then Effi described with great +vividness how she had met Annie. "Fleeing from my own child. I know +very well that as we sow we shall reap and I do not wish to change +anything in my life. It is all right as it is, and I have not wished +to have it otherwise. But this separation from my child is really too +hard and I have a desire to be permitted to see her now and then, not +secretly and clandestinely, but with the knowledge and consent of all +concerned." + +"With the knowledge and consent of all concerned," repeated the +minister's wife. "So that means with the consent of your husband. I +see that his bringing up of the child is calculated to estrange her +from her mother, a method which I do not feel at liberty to judge. +Perhaps he is right. Pardon me for this remark, gracious Lady." + +Effi nodded. + +"You yourself appreciate the attitude of your husband, and your only +desire is that proper respect be shown to a natural impulse, indeed, I +may say, the most beautiful of our impulses, at least we women all +think so. Am I right?" + +"In every particular." + +"So you want me to secure permission for occasional meetings, in your +home, where you can attempt to win back the heart of your child." + +Effi expressed again her acquiescence, and the minister's wife +continued: "Then, most gracious Lady, I shall do what I can. But we +shall not have an easy task. Your husband--pardon me for calling him +by that name now as before--is a man who is not governed by moods and +fancies, but by principles, and it will be hard for him to discard +them or even give them up temporarily. Otherwise he would have begun +long ago to pursue a different method of action and education. What to +your heart seems hard he considers right." + +"Then your Excellency thinks, perhaps, it would be better to take back +my request!" + +"Oh, no. I wished only to explain the actions of your husband, not to +say justify them, and wished at the same time to indicate the +difficulties we shall in all probability encounter. But I think we +shall overcome them nevertheless. We women are able to accomplish a +great many things if we go about them wisely and do not make too great +pretensions. Besides, your husband is one of my special admirers and +he cannot well refuse to grant what I request of him. Tomorrow we have +a little circle meeting at which I shall see him and the day after +tomorrow morning you will receive a few lines from me telling you +whether or not I have approached him wisely, that is to say, +successfully. I think we shall come off victorious, and you will see +your child again and enjoy her. She is said to be a very pretty girl. +No wonder." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + +Two days later the promised lines arrived and Effi read: "I am glad, +dear gracious Lady, to be able to give you good news. Everything +turned out as desired. Your husband is too much a man of the world to +refuse a Lady a request that she makes of him. But I must not keep +from you the fact that I saw plainly his consent was not in accord +with what he considers wise and right. But let us not pick faults +where we ought to be glad. We have arranged that Annie is to come some +time on Monday and may good fortune attend your meeting." + +It was on the postman's second round that Effi received these lines +and it would presumably be less than two hours till Annie appeared. +That was a short time and yet too long. Effi walked restlessly about +the two rooms and then back to the kitchen, where she talked with +Roswitha about everything imaginable: about the ivy over on Christ's +Church and the probability that next year the windows would be +entirely overgrown; about the porter, who had again turned off the gas +so poorly that they were likely to be blown up; and about buying their +lamp oil again at the large lamp store on Unter den Linden instead of +on Anhalt St. She talked about everything imaginable, except Annie, +because she wished to keep down the fear lurking in her soul, in spite +of the letter from the minister's wife, or perhaps because of it. + +Finally, at noon, the bell was rung timidly and Roswitha went to look +through the peephole. Surely enough, it was Annie. Roswitha gave the +child a kiss, but said nothing, and then led her very quietly, as +though some one were ill in the house, from the corridor into the back +room and then to the door opening into the front room. + +"Go in there, Annie." With these words she left the child and returned +to the kitchen, for she did not wish to be in the way. + +Effi was standing at the other end of the room with her back against +the post of the mirror when the child entered. "Annie!" But Annie +stood still by the half opened door, partly out of embarrassment, but +partly on purpose. Effi rushed to her, lifted her up, and kissed her. + +"Annie, my sweet child, how glad I am! Come, tell me." She took Annie +by the hand and went toward the sofa to sit down. Annie stood and +looked shyly at her mother, at the same time reaching her left hand +toward the corner of the table cloth, hanging down near her. "Did you +know, Annie, that I saw you one day?" + +"Yes, I thought you did." + +"Now tell me a great deal. How tall you have grown! And that is the +scar there. Roswitha told me about it. You were always so wild and +hoidenish in your playing. You get that from your mother. She was the +same way. And at school? I fancy you are always at the head, you look +to me as though you ought to be a model pupil and always bring home +the best marks. I have heard also that Miss von Wedelstaedt praises +you. That is right. I was likewise ambitious, but I had no such good +school. Mythology was always my best study. In what are you best?" + +"I don't know." + +"Oh, you know well enough. Pupils always know that. In what do you +have the best marks?" + +"In religion." + +"Now, you see, you do know after all. Well, that is very fine. I was +not so good in it, but it was probably due to the instruction. We had +only a young man licensed to preach." + +"We had, too." + +"Has he gone away?" + +Annie nodded. + +"Why did he leave?" + +"I don't know. Now we have the preacher again." + +"And you all love him dearly?" + +"Yes, and two of the girls in the highest class are going to change +their religion." + +"Oh, I understand; that is fine. And how is Johanna?" + +"Johanna brought me to the door of the house." + +"Why didn't you bring her up with you?" + +"She said she would rather stay downstairs and wait over at the +church." + +"And you are to meet her there?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, I hope she will not get impatient. There is a little front yard +over there and the windows are half overgrown with ivy, as though it +were an old church." + +"But I should not like to keep her waiting." + +"Oh, I see, you are very considerate, and I presume I ought to be glad +of it. We need only to make the proper division of the time--Tell me +now how Rollo is." + +"Rollo is very well, but papa says he is getting so lazy. He lies in +the sun all the time." + +"That I can readily believe. He was that way when you were quite +small. And now, Annie, today we have just seen each other, you know; +will you visit me often?" + +"Oh, certainly, if I am allowed to." + +"We can take a walk in the Prince Albrecht Garden." + +"Oh, certainly, if I am allowed to." + +"Or we may go to Schilling's and eat ice cream, pineapple or vanilla +ice cream. I always liked vanilla best." + +"Oh, certainly, if I am allowed to." + +At this third "if I am allowed to" the measure was full. Effi sprang +up and flashed the child a look of indignation. + +"I believe it is high time you were going, Annie. Otherwise Johanna +will get impatient." She rang the bell and Roswitha, who was in the +next room, entered immediately. "Roswitha, take Annie over to the +church. Johanna is waiting there. I hope she has not taken cold. I +should be sorry. Remember me to Johanna." + +The two went out. + +Hardly had Roswitha closed the door behind her when Effi tore open her +dress, because she was threatened with suffocation, and fell to +laughing convulsively. "So that is the way it goes to meet after a +long separation." She rushed forward, opened the window and looked for +something to support her. In the distress of her heart she found it. +There beside the window was a bookshelf with a few volumes of Schiller +and Koerner on it, and on top of the volumes of poems, which were of +equal height, lay a Bible and a songbook. She reached for them, +because she had to have something before which she could kneel down +and pray. She laid both Bible and songbook on the edge of the table +where Annie had been standing, and threw herself violently down before +them and spoke in a half audible tone: "O God in Heaven, forgive me +what I have done. I was a child--No, no, I was not a child, I was old +enough to know what I was doing. I _did_ know, too, and I will not +minimize my guilt. But this is too much. This action of the child is +not the work of my God who would punish me, it is the work of _him_, +and _him_ alone. I thought he had a noble heart and have always felt +small beside him, but now I know that it is he who is small. And +because he is small he is cruel. Everything that is small is cruel. +_He_ taught the child to say that. He always was a school-master, +Crampas called him one, scoffingly at the time, but he was right. 'Oh, +certainly if I am allowed to!' You don't _have_ to be allowed to. I +don't want you any more, I hate you both, even my own child. Too much +is too much. He was ambitious, but nothing more. Honor, honor, honor. +And then he shot the poor fellow whom I never even loved and whom I +had forgotten, because I didn't love him. It was all stupidity in the +first place, but then came blood and murder, with me to blame. And now +he sends me the child, because he cannot refuse a minister's wife +anything, and before he sends the child he trains it like a parrot and +teaches it the phrase, 'if I am allowed to.' I am disgusted at what I +did; but the thing that disgusts me most is your virtue. Away with +you! I must live, but I doubt if it will be long." + +When Roswitha came back Effi lay on the floor seemingly lifeless, with +her face turned away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + + +Rummschuettel was called and pronounced Effi's condition serious. He +saw that the hectic flush he had noticed for over a year was more +pronounced than ever, and, what was worse, she showed the first +symptoms of nervous fever. But his quiet, friendly manner, to which he +added a dash of humor, did Effi good, and she was calm so long as +Rummschuettel was with her. When he left, Roswitha accompanied him as +far as the outer hall and said: "My, how I am scared, Sir Councillor; +if it ever comes back, and it may--oh, I shall never have another +quiet hour. But it was too, too much, the way the child acted. Her +poor Ladyship! And still so young; at her age many are only beginning +life." + +"Don't worry, Roswitha. It may all come right again. But she must get +away. We will see to that. Different air, different people." + +Two days later there arrived in Hohen-Cremmen a letter which ran: +"Most gracious Lady: My long-standing friendly relations to the houses +of Briest and Belling, and above all the hearty love I cherish for +your daughter, will justify these lines. Things cannot go on any +longer as they are. Unless something is done to rescue your daughter +from the loneliness and sorrow of the life she has been leading for +years she will soon pine away. She always had a tendency to +consumption, for which reason I sent her to Ems years ago. This old +trouble is now aggravated by a new one; her nerves are giving out. +Nothing but a change of air can check this. But whither shall I send +her? It would not be hard to make a proper choice among the watering +places of Silesia. Salzbrunn is good, and Reinerz still better, on +account of the nervous complication. But no place except Hohen-Cremmen +will do. For, most gracious Lady, air alone cannot restore your +daughter's health. She is pining away because she has nobody but +Roswitha. The fidelity of a servant is beautiful, but parental love is +better. Pardon an old man for meddling in affairs that lie outside of +his calling as a physician. No, not outside, either, for after all it +is the physician who is here speaking and making demands--pardon the +word--in accordance with his duty. I have seen so much of life--But +enough on this topic. With kindest regards to your husband, your +humble servant, Dr. Rummschuettel." + +Mrs. von Briest had read the letter to her husband. They were sitting +on the shady tile walk, with their backs to the drawing room and +facing the circular bed and the sundial. The wild grapevine twining +around the windows was rustling gently in the breeze and over the +water a few dragon-flies were hovering in the bright sunshine. + +Briest sat speechless, drumming on the tea-tray. + +"Please don't drum, I had rather you would talk." + +"Ah, Luise, what shall I say? My drumming says quite enough. You have +known for over a year what I think about it. At the time when +Innstetten's letter came, a flash from a clear sky, I was of your +opinion. But that was half an eternity ago. Am I to play the grand +inquisitor till the end of my days? I tell you, I have had my fill of +it for a long time." + +"Don't reproach me, Briest. I love her as much as you, perhaps more; +each in his own way. But it is not our only purpose in life to be weak +and affectionate and to tolerate things that are contrary to the law +and the commandments, things that men condemn, and in the present +instance rightly." + +"Hold on! One thing comes first." + +"Of course, one thing comes first; but what is the one thing?" + +"The love of parents for their children, especially when they have +only one child." + +"Then good-by catechism, morality, and the claims of 'society.'" + +"Ah, Luise, talk to me about the catechism as much as you like, but +don't speak to me about 'society.'" + +"It is very hard to get along without 'society."' + +"Also without a child. Believe me, Luise,'society' can shut one eye +when it sees fit. Here is where I stand in the matter: If the people +of Rathenow come, all right, if they don't come, all right too. I am +simply going to telegraph: 'Effi, come.' Are you agreed?" + +She got up and kissed him on the forehead. "Of course I am. Only you +must not find fault with me. An easy step it is not, and from now on +our life will be different." + +"I can stand it. There is a good rape crop and in the autumn I can +hunt an occasional hare. I still have a taste for red wine, and it +will taste even better when we have the child back in the house. Now I +am going to send the telegram." + + * * * * * + +Effi had been in Hohen-Cremmen for over six months. She occupied the +two rooms on the second floor which she had formerly had when there +for a visit. The larger one was furnished for her personally, and +Roswitha slept in the other. What Rummschuettel had expected from this +sojourn and the good that went with it, was realized, so far as it +could be realized. The coughing diminished, the bitter expression that +had robbed Effi's unusually kind face of a good part of its charm +disappeared, and there came days when she could laugh again. About +Kessin and everything back there little was said, with the single +exception of Mrs. von Padden--and Gieshuebler, of course, for whom old +Mr. von Briest had a very tender spot in his heart. "This Alonzo, this +fastidious Spaniard, who harbors a Mirambo and brings up a +Trippelli--well, he must be a genius, and you can't make me believe +he isn't." Then Effi had to yield and act for him the part of +Gieshuebler, with hat in hand and endless bows of politeness. By virtue +of her peculiar talent for mimicry, she could do the bows very well, +although it went against the grain, because she always felt that it +was an injustice to the dear good man.--They never talked about +Innstetten and Annie, but it was settled that Annie was to inherit +Hohen-Cremmen. + +Effi took a new lease on life, and her mother, who in true womanly +fashion was not altogether averse to regarding the affair, painful +though it was, as merely an interesting case, vied with her father in +expressions of love and devotion. + +"Such a good winter we have not had for a long time," said Briest. +Then Effi arose from her seat and stroked back the sparse hairs from +his forehead. But beautiful as everything seemed from the point of +view of Effi's health, it was all illusion, for in reality the disease +was gaining ground and quietly consuming her vitality. Effi again +wore, as on the day of her betrothal to Innstetten, a blue and white +striped smock with a loose belt, and when she walked up to her parents +with a quick elastic step, to bid them good morning, they looked at +each other with joyful surprise--with joyful surprise and yet at the +same time with sadness, for they could not fail to see that it was not +the freshness of youth, but a transformation, that gave her slender +form and beaming eyes this peculiar appearance. All who observed her +closely saw this, but Effi herself did not. Her whole attention was +engaged by the happy feeling at being back in this place, to her so +charmingly peaceful, and living reconciled with those whom she had +always loved and who had always loved her, even during the years of +her misery and exile. + +She busied herself with all sorts of things about the home and +attended to the decorations and little improvements in the household. +Her appreciation of the beautiful enabled her always to make the right +choice. Reading and, above all, study of the arts she had given up +entirely. "I have had so much of it that I am happy to be able to lay +my hands in my lap." Besides, it doubtless reminded her too much of +her days of sadness. She cultivated instead the art of contemplating +nature with calmness and delight, and when the leaves fell from the +plane trees, or the sunbeams glistened on the ice of the little pond, +or the first crocuses blossomed in the circular plot, still half in +the grip of winter--it did her good, and she could gaze on all these +things for hours, forgetting what life had denied her, or, to be more +accurate, what she had robbed herself of. + +Callers were not altogether a minus quantity, not everybody shunned +her; but her chief associates were the families at the schoolhouse and +the parsonage. + +It made little difference that the Jahnke daughters had left home; +there could have been no very cordial friendship with them anyhow. But +she found a better friend than ever in old Mr. Jahnke himself, who +considered not only all of Swedish Pomerania, but also the Kessin +region as Scandinavian outposts, and was always asking questions about +them. "Why, Jahnke, we had a steamer, and, as I wrote to you, I +believe, or may perhaps have told you, I came very near going over to +Wisby. Just think, I almost went to Wisby. It is comical, but I can +say 'almost' with reference to many things in my life." + +"A pity, a pity," said Jahnke. + +"Yes, indeed, a pity. But I actually did make a tour of Ruegen. You +would have enjoyed that, Jahnke. Just think, Arcona with its great +camping place of the Wends, that is said still to be visible. I myself +did not go there, but not very far away is the Hertha Lake with white +and yellow water lilies. The place made one think a great deal of your +Hertha." + +"Yes, yes, Hertha. But you were about to speak of the Hertha Lake." + +"Yes, I was. And just think, Jahnke, close by the lake stood two large +shining sacrificial stones, with the grooves still showing, in which +the blood used to run off. Ever since then I have had an aversion for +the Wends." + +"Oh, pardon me, gracious Lady, but they were not Wends. The legends of +the sacrificial stones and the Hertha Lake go back much, much farther, +clear back before the birth of Christ. They were the pure Germans, +from whom we are all descended." + +"Of course," laughed Effi, "from whom we are all descended, the +Jahnkes certainly, and perhaps the Briests, too." + +Then she dropped the subject of Ruegen and the Hertha Lake and asked +about his grandchildren and which of them he liked best, Bertha's or +Hertha's. + +Indeed Effi was on a very friendly footing with Jahnke. But in spite +of his intimate relation to Hertha Lake, Scandinavia, and Wisby, he +was only a simple man and so the lonely young woman could not fail to +value her chats with Niemeyer much higher. In the autumn, so long as +promenades in the park were possible, she had an abundance of such +chats, but with the beginning of winter came an interruption for +several months, because she did not like to go to the parsonage. Mrs. +Niemeyer had always been a very disagreeable woman, but she pitched +her voice higher than ever now, in spite of the fact that in the +opinion of the parish she herself was not altogether above reproach. + +The situation remained the same throughout the winter, much to Effi's +sorrow. But at the beginning of April when the bushes showed a fringe +of green and the park paths dried off, the walks were resumed. + +Once when they were sauntering along they heard a cuckoo in the +distance, and Effi began to count to see how many times it called. She +was leaning on Niemeyer's arm. Suddenly she said: "The cuckoo is +calling yonder, but I don't want to consult him about the length of my +life. Tell me, friend, what do you think of life?" + +"Ah, dear Effi, you must not lay such doctors' questions before me. +You must apply to a philosopher or offer a prize to a faculty. What do +I think of life? Much and little. Sometimes it is very much and +sometimes very little." + +"That is right, friend, I like that; I don't need to know anymore." As +she said this they came to the swing. She sprang into it as nimbly as +in her earliest girlhood days, and before the old man, who watched +her, could recover from his fright, she crouched down between the two +ropes and set the swing board in motion by a skillful lifting and +dropping of the weight of her body. In a few seconds she was flying +through the air. Then, holding on with only one hand, she tore a +little silk handkerchief from around her neck and waved it happily and +haughtily. Soon she let the swing stop, sprang out, and took +Niemeyer's arm again. + +"Effi, you are just as you always were." + +"No, I wish I were. But I am too old for this; I just wanted to try it +once more. Oh, how fine it was and how much good the air did me! It +seemed as though I were flying up to heaven. I wonder if I shall go to +heaven? Tell me, friend, you ought to know. Please, please." + +Niemeyer took her hand into his two wrinkled ones and gave her a kiss +on the forehead, saying: "Yes, Effi, you will." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + + +Effi spent the whole day out in the park, because she needed to take +the air. Old Dr. Wiesike of Friesack approved of it, but in his +instructions gave her too much liberty to do what she liked, and +during the cold days in May she took a severe cold. She became +feverish, coughed a great deal, and the doctor, who had been calling +every third day, now came daily. He was put to it to know what to do, +for the sleeping powders and cough medicines Effi asked for could not +be given, because of the fever. + +"Doctor," said old von Briest, "what is going to come of this? You +have known her since she was a little thing, in fact you were here at +her birth. I don't like all these symptoms: her noticeable falling +away, the red spots, and the gleam of her eyes when she suddenly turns +to me with a pleading look. What do you think it will amount to? Must +she die?" + +Wiesike shook his head gravely. "I will not say that, von Briest, but +I don't like the way her fever keeps up. However, we shall bring it +down soon, for she must go to Switzerland or Mentone for pure air and +agreeable surroundings that will make her forget the past." + +"Lethe, Lethe." + +"Yes, Lethe," smiled Wiesike. "It's a pity that while the ancient +Swedes, the Greeks, were leaving us the name they did not leave us +also the spring itself." + +"Or at least the formula for it. Waters are imitated now, you know. +My, Wiesike, what a business we could build up here if we could only +start such a sanatorium! Friesack the spring of forgetfulness! Well, +let us try the Riviera for the present. Mentone is the Riviera, is it +not? To be sure, the price of grain is low just now, but what must be +must be. I shall talk with my wife about it." + +That he did, and his wife consented immediately, influenced in part by +her own ardent desire to see the south, particularly since she had +felt like one retired from the world. But Effi would not listen to it. +"How good you are to me! And I am selfish enough to accept the +sacrifice, if I thought it would do any good. But I am certain it +would only harm me." + +"You try to make yourself think that, Effi." + +"No. I have become so irritable that everything annoys me. Not here at +home, for you humor me and clear everything out of my way. But when +traveling that is impossible, the disagreeable element cannot be +eliminated so easily. It begins with the conductor and ends with the +waiter. Even when I merely think of their self-satisfied countenances +my temperature runs right up. No, no, keep me here. I don't care to +leave Hohen-Cremmen any more; my place is here. The heliotrope around +the sundial is dearer to me than Mentone." + +After this conversation the plan was dropped and in spite of the great +benefit Wiesike had expected from the Riviera he said: "We must +respect these wishes, for they are not mere whims. Such patients have +a very fine sense and know with remarkable certainty what is good for +them and what not. What Mrs. Effi has said about the conductor and the +waiter is really quite correct, and there is no air with healing power +enough to counterbalance hotel annoyances, if one is at all affected +by them. So let us keep her here. If that is not the best thing, it is +certainly not the worst." + +This proved to be true. Effi got better, gained a little in weight +(old von Briest belonged to the weight fanatics), and lost much of her +irritability. But her need of fresh air kept growing steadily, and +even when the west wind blew and the sky was overcast with gray +clouds, she spent many hours out of doors. On such days she would +usually go out into the fields or the marsh, often as far as two +miles, and when she grew tired would sit down on the hurdle fence, +where, lost in dreams, she would watch the ranunculi and red sorrel +waving in the wind. + +"You go out so much alone," said Mrs. von Briest. "Among our people +you are safe, but there are so many strange vagabonds prowling +around." + +That made an impression on Effi, who had never thought of danger, and +when she was alone with Roswitha, she said: "I can't well take you +with me, Roswitha; you are too fat and no longer sure-footed." + +"Oh, your Ladyship, it is hardly yet as bad as that. Why, I could +still be married." + +"Of course," laughed Effi. "One is never too old for that. But let me +tell you, Roswitha, if I had a dog to accompany me--Papa's hunting dog +has no attachment for me--hunting dogs are so stupid--and he never +stirs till the hunter or the gardener takes the gun from the rack. I +often have to think of Rollo." + +"True," said Roswitha, "they have nothing like Rollo here. But I don't +mean anything against 'here.' Hohen-Cremmen is very good." + +Three or four days after this conversation between Effi and Roswitha, +Innstetten entered his office an hour earlier than usual. The morning +sun, which shone very brightly, had wakened him and as he had +doubtless felt he could not go to sleep again he had got out of bed to +take up a piece of work that had long been waiting to be attended to. + +At a quarter past eight he rang. Johanna brought the breakfast tray, +on which, beside the morning papers, there were two letters. He +glanced at the addresses and recognized by the handwriting that one +was from the minister. But the other? The postmark could not be read +plainly and the address, "Baron von Innstetten, Esq.," showed a happy +lack of familiarity with the customary use of titles. In keeping with +this was the very primitive character of the writing. But the address +was remarkably accurate: "W., Keith St. 1c, third story." + +Innstetten was enough of an official to open first the letter from +"His Excellency." "My dear Innstetten: I am happy to be able to +announce to you that His Majesty has deigned to sign your appointment +and I congratulate you sincerely." Innstetten was pleased at the +friendly lines from the minister, almost more than at the appointment +itself, for, since the morning in Kessin, when Crampas had bidden him +farewell with that look which still haunted him, he had grown somewhat +sceptical of such things as climbing higher on the ladder. Since then +he had measured with a different measure and viewed things in a +different light. Distinction--what did that amount to in the end? As +the days passed by with less and less of joy for him, he more than +once recalled a half-forgotten minister's anecdote from the time of +the elder Ladenberg, who, upon receiving the Order of the Red Eagle, +for which he had long been waiting, threw it down in a rage and +exclaimed: "Lie there till you turn black." It probably did turn into +a black one subsequently, but many days too late and certainly without +real satisfaction for the receiver. Everything that is to give us +pleasure must come at the right time and in the right circumstances, +for what delights us today may be valueless tomorrow. Innstetten felt +this deeply, and as certainly as he had formerly laid store by honors +and distinctions coming from his highest superiors, just so certainly +was he now firmly convinced that the glittering appearance of things +amounted to but little, and that what is called happiness, if it +existed at all, is something other than this appearance. "Happiness, +if I am right, lies in two things: being exactly where one +belongs--but what official can say that of himself?--and, especially, +performing comfortably the most commonplace functions, that is, +getting enough sleep and not having new boots that pinch. When the 720 +minutes of a twelve-hour day pass without any special annoyance that +can be called a happy day." + +Innstetten was today in the mood for such gloomy reflections. When he +took up the second letter and read it he ran his hand over his +forehead, with the painful feeling that there is such a thing as +happiness, that he had once possessed it, but had lost it and could +never again recover it. Johanna entered and announced Privy Councillor +Wuellersdorf, who was already standing on the threshold and said: +"Congratulations, Innstetten." + +"I believe you mean what you say; the others will be vexed. However--" + +"However. You are surely not going to be pessimistic at a moment like +this." + +"No. The graciousness of His Majesty makes me feel ashamed, and the +friendly feeling of the minister, to whom I owe all this, almost +more." + +"But--" + +[Illustration: SUPPER AT A COURT BALL +_From the Painting by Adolph van Menzel_] + +"But I have forgotten how to rejoice. If I said that to anybody but +you my words would be considered empty phrases. But you understand me. +Just look around you. How empty and deserted everything is! When +Johanna comes in, a so-called jewel, she startles me and frightens me. +Her stage entry," continued Innstetten, imitating Johanna's pose, "the +half comical shapeliness of her bust, which comes forward claiming +special attention, whether of mankind or me, I don't know--all this +strikes me as so sad and pitiable, and if it were not so ridiculous, +it might drive me to suicide." + +"Dear Innstetten, are you going to assume the duties of a permanent +secretary in this frame of mind?" + +"Oh, bah! How can I help it? Read these lines I have just received." + +Wuellersdorf took the second letter with the illegible postmark, was +amused at the "Esq.," and stepped to the window that he might read +more easily. + +"Gracious Sir: I suppose you will be surprised that I am writing to +you, but it is about Rollo. Little Annie told us last year Rollo was +so lazy now, but that doesn't matter here. He can be as lazy as he +likes here, the lazier the better. And her Ladyship would like it so +much. She always says, when she walks upon the marsh or over the +fields: 'I am really afraid, Roswitha, because I am so alone; but who +is there to accompany me? Rollo, oh yes, he would do. He bears no +grudge against me either. That is the advantage, that animals do not +trouble themselves so much about such things.' These are her +Ladyship's words and I will say nothing further, and merely ask your +Lordship to remember me to my little Annie. Also to Johanna. From your +faithful, most obedient servant, Roswitha Gellenbagen." + +"Well," said Wuellersdorf, as he folded the letter again, "she is ahead +of us." + +"I think so, too." + +"This is also the reason why everything else seems so doubtful to +you." + +"You are right. It has been going through my head for a long time, and +these simple words with their intended, or perhaps unintended +complaint, have put me completely beside myself again. It has been +troubling me for over a year and I should like to get clear out of +here. Nothing pleases me any more. The more distinctions I receive the +more I feel that it is all vanity. My life is bungled, and so I have +thought to myself I ought to have nothing more to do with strivings +and vanities, and ought to be able to employ my pedagogical +inclinations, which after all are my most characteristic quality, as a +superintendent of public morals. It would not be anything new. If the +plan were feasible I should surely become a very famous character, +such as Dr. Wichern of the Rough House in Hamburg, for example, that +man of miracles, who tamed all criminals with his glance and his +piety." + +"Hm, there is nothing to be said against that; it would be possible." + +"No, it is not possible either. Not even _that_. Absolutely every +avenue is closed to me. How could I touch the soul of a murderer? To +do that one must be intact himself. And if one no longer is, but has a +like spot on his own hands, then he must at least be able to play the +crazy penitent before his confreres, who are to be converted, and +entertain them with a scene of gigantic contrition." + +Wuellersdorf nodded. + +"Now you see, you agree. But I can't do any of these things any more. +I can no longer play the man in the hair shirt, let alone the dervish +or the fakir, who dances himself to death in the midst of his +self-accusations. And inasmuch as all such things are impossible I +have puzzled out, as the best thing for me, to go away from here and +off to the coal black fellows who know nothing of culture and honor. +Those fortunate creatures! For culture and honor and such rubbish are +to blame for all my trouble. We don't do such things out of passion, +which might be an acceptable excuse. We do them for the sake of mere +notions--notions! And then the one fellow collapses and later the +other collapses, too, only in a worse way." + +"Oh pshaw! Innstetten, those are whims, mere fancies. Go to Africa! +What does that mean! It will do for a lieutenant who is in debt. But a +man like you! Are you thinking of presiding over a palaver, in a red +fez, or of entering into blood relationship with a son-in-law of King +Mtesa? Or will you feel your way along the Congo in a tropical helmet, +with six holes in the top of it, until you come out again at Kamerun +or thereabouts? Impossible!" + +"Impossible? Why? If _that_ is impossible, what then?" + +"Simply stay here and practice resignation. Who, pray, is unoppressed! +Who could not say every day: 'Really a very questionable affair.' You +know, I have also a small burden to bear, not the same as yours, but +not much lighter. That talk about creeping around in the primeval +forest or spending the night in an ant hill is folly. Whoever cares +to, may, but it is not the thing for us. The best thing is to stand in +the gap and hold out till one falls, but, until then, to get as much +out of life as possible in the small and even the smallest things, +keeping one eye open for the violets when they bloom, or the Luise +monument when it is decorated with flowers, or the little girls with +high lace shoes when they skip the rope. Or drive out to Potsdam and +go into the Church of Peace, where Emperor Frederick lies, and where +they are just beginning to build him a tomb. As you stand there +consider the life of that man, and if you are not pacified then, there +is no help for you, I should say." + +"Good, good! But the year is long and every single day--and then the +evening." + +"That is always the easiest part of the day to know what to do with. +Then we have _Sardanapal_, or _Coppelia_, with Del Era, and when that +is out we have Siechen's, which is not to be despised. Three steins +will calm you every time. There are always many, a great many others, +who are in exactly the same general situation as we are, and one of +them who had had a great deal of misfortune once said to me: 'Believe +me, Wuellersdorf, we cannot get along without "false work."' The man +who said it was an architect and must have known about it. His +statement is correct. Never a day passes but I am reminded of the +'false work.'" + +After Wuellersdorf had thus expressed himself he took his hat and cane. +During these words Innstetten may have recalled his own earlier +remarks about little happiness, for he nodded his head half agreeing, +and smiled to himself. + +"Where are you going now, Wuellersdorf? It is too early yet for the +Ministry." + +"I am not going there at all today. First I shall take an hour's walk +along the canal to the Charlottenburg lock and then back again. And +then make a short call at Huth's on Potsdam St., going cautiously up +the little wooden stairway. Below there is a flower store." + +"And that affords you pleasure? That satisfies you?" + +"I should not say that exactly, but it will help a bit. I shall find +various regular guests there drinking their morning glass, but their +names I wisely keep secret. One will tell about the Duke of Ratibor, +another about the Prince-Bishop Kopp, and a third perhaps about +Bismarck. There is always a little something to be learned. +Three-fourths of what is said is inaccurate, but if it is only witty I +do not waste much time criticising it and always listen gratefully." + +With that he went out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + +May was beautiful, June more beautiful, and after Effi had happily +overcome the first painful feeling aroused in her by Rollo's arrival, +she was full of joy at having the faithful dog about her again. +Roswitha was praised and old von Briest launched forth into words of +recognition for Innstetten, who, he said, was a cavalier, never petty, +but always stout-hearted. "What a pity that the stupid affair had to +come between them! As a matter of fact, they were a model couple." The +only one who remained calm during the welcoming scene was Rollo +himself, who either had no appreciation of time or considered the +separation as an irregularity which was now simply removed. The fact +that he had grown old also had something to do with it, no doubt. He +remained sparing with his demonstrations of affection as he had been +with his evidences of joy, during the welcoming scene. But he had +grown in fidelity, if such a thing were possible. He never left the +side of his mistress. The hunting dog he treated benevolently, but as +a being of a lower order. At night he lay on the rush mat before +Effi's door; in the morning, when breakfast was served out of doors by +the sundial, he was always quiet, always sleepy, and only when Effi +arose from the breakfast table and walked toward the hall to take her +straw hat and umbrella from the rack, did his youth return. Then, +without troubling himself about whether his strength was to be put to +a hard or easy test, he ran up the village road and back again and did +not calm down till they were out in the fields. Effi, who cared more +for fresh air than for landscape beauty, avoided the little patches of +forest and usually kept to the main road, which 'at first was bordered +with very old elms and then, where the turnpike began, with poplars. +This road led to the railway station about an hour's walk away. She +enjoyed everything, breathing in with delight the fragrance wafted to +her from the rape and clover fields, or watching the soaring of the +larks, and counting the draw-wells and troughs, to which the cattle +went to drink. She could hear a soft ringing of bells that made her +feel as though she must close her eyes and pass away in sweet +forgetfulness. Near the station, close by the turnpike, lay a road +roller. This was her daily resting place, from which she could observe +what took place on the railroad. Trains came and went and sometimes +she could see two columns of smoke which for a moment seemed to blend +into one and then separated, one going to the right, the other to the +left, till they disappeared behind the village and the grove. Rollo +sat beside her, sharing her lunch, and when he had caught the last +bite, he would run like mad along some plowed furrow, doubtless to +show his gratitude, and stop only when a pair of pheasants scared from +their nest flew up from a neighboring furrow close by him. + +"How beautiful this summer is! A year ago, dear mama, I should not +have thought I could ever again be so happy," said Effi every day as +she walked with her mother around the pond or picked an early apple +from a tree and bit into it vigorously, for she had beautiful teeth. +Mrs. von Briest would stroke her hand and say: "Just wait till you are +well again, Effi, quite well, and then we shall find happiness, not +that of the past, but a new kind. Thank God, there are several kinds +of happiness. And you shall see, we shall find something for you." + +"You are so good. Really I have changed your lives and made you +prematurely old." + +"Oh, my dear Effi, don't speak of it. I thought the same about it, +when the change came. Now I know that our quiet is better than the +noise and loud turmoil of earlier years. If you keep on as you are we +can go away yet. When Wiesike proposed Mentone you were ill and +irritable, and because you were ill, you were right in saying what you +did about conductors and waiters. When you have steadier nerves again +you can stand that. You will no longer be offended, but will laugh at +the grand manners and the curled hair. Then the blue sea and white +sails and the rocks all overgrown with red cactus--I have never seen +them, to be sure, but that is how I imagine them. I should like to +become acquainted with them." + +Thus the summer went by and the meteoric showers were also past. +During these evenings Effi had sat at her window till after midnight +and yet never grew tired of watching. "I always was a weak Christian, +but I wonder whether we ever came from up there and whether, when all +is over here, we shall return to our heavenly home, to the stars above +or further beyond. I don't know and don't care to know. I just have +the longing." + +Poor Effi! She had looked up at the wonders of the sky and thought +about them too long, with the result that the night air, and the fog +rising from the pond, made her so ill she had to stay in bed again. +When Wiesike was summoned and had examined her he took Briest aside +and said: "No more hope; be prepared for an early end." + +What he said was only too true, and a few days later, comparatively +early in the evening, it was not yet ten o'clock, Roswitha came down +stairs and said to Mrs. von Briest: "Most gracious Lady, her Ladyship +upstairs is very ill. She talks continually to herself in a soft voice +and sometimes it seems as though she were praying, but she says she is +not, and I don't know, it seems to me as though the end might come any +hour." + +"Does she wish to speak to me?" + +"She hasn't said so, but I believe she does. You know how she is; she +doesn't want to disturb you and make you anxious. But I think it would +be well." + +"All right, Roswitha, I will come." + +Before the clock began to strike Mrs. von Briest mounted the stairway +and entered Effi's room. Effi lay on a reclining chair near the open +window. Mrs. von Briest drew up a small black chair with three gilt +spindles in its ebony back, took Effi's hand and said: "How are you, +Effi! Roswitha says you are so feverish." + +"Oh, Roswitha worries so much about everything. I could see by her +looks she thought I was dying. Well, I don't know. She thinks +everybody ought to be as much worried as she is." + +"Are you so calm about dying, dear Effi?" + +"Entirely calm, mama." + +"Aren't you deceiving yourself? Everybody clings to life, especially +the young, and you are still so young, dear Effi." + +Effi remained silent for a while. Then she said: "You know, I haven't +read much. Innstetten was often surprised at it, and he didn't like +it." + +This was the first time she had mentioned Innstetten's name, and it +made a deep impression on her mother and showed clearly that the end +was come. + +"But I thought," said Mrs. von Briest, "you were going to tell me +something." + +"Yes, I was, because you spoke of my still being so young. Certainly I +am still young; but that makes no difference. During our happy days +Innstetten used to read aloud to me in the evening. He had very good +books, and in one of them there was a story about a man who had been +called away from a merry table. The following morning he asked how it +had been after he left. Somebody answered: 'Oh, there were all sorts +of things, but you really didn't miss anything.' You see, mama, these +words have impressed themselves upon my memory--It doesn't signify +very much if one is called away from the table a little early." + +Mrs. von Briest remained silent. Effi lifted herself up a little +higher and said: "Now that I have talked to you about old times and +also about Innstetten, I must tell you something else, dear mama." + +"You are getting excited, Effi." + +"No, no, to tell about the burden of my heart will not excite me, it +will quiet me. And so I wanted to tell you that I am dying reconciled +to God and men, reconciled also to _him_." + +"Did you cherish in your heart such great bitterness against him? +Really--pardon me, my dear Effi, for mentioning it now--really it was +you who brought down sorrow upon yourself and your husband." + +Effi assented. "Yes, mama, and how sad that it should be so. But when +all the terrible things happened, and finally the scene with +Annie--you know what I mean--I turned the tables on him, mentally, if +I may use the ridiculous comparison, and came to believe seriously +that he was to blame, because he was prosaic and calculating, and +toward the end cruel. Then curses upon him crossed my lips." + +"Does that trouble you now?" + +"Yes. And I am anxious that he shall know how, during my days of +illness here, which have been almost my happiest, how it has become +clear to my mind that he was right in his every act. In the affair +with poor Crampas--well, after all, what else could he have done? Then +the act by which he wounded me most deeply, the teaching of my own +child to shun me, even in that he was right, hard and painful as it is +for me to admit it. Let him know that I died in this conviction. It +will comfort and console him, and may reconcile him. He has much that +is good in his nature and was as noble as anybody can be who is not +truly in love." + +Mrs. von Briest saw that Effi was exhausted and seemed to be either +sleeping or about to go to sleep. She rose quietly from her chair and +went out. Hardly had she gone when Effi also got up, and sat at the +open window to breathe in the cool night air once more. The stars +glittered and not a leaf stirred in the park. But the longer she +listened the more plainly she again heard something like soft rain +falling on the plane trees. A feeling of liberation came over her. +"Rest, rest." + + * * * * * + +It was a month later and September was drawing to an end. The weather +was beautiful, but the foliage in the park began to show a great deal +of read and yellow and since the equinox, which had brought three +stormy days, the leaves lay scattered in every direction. In the +circular plot a slight change had been made. The sundial was gone and +in the place where it had stood there lay since yesterday a white +marble slab with nothing on it but "Effi Briest" and a cross beneath. +This had been Em's last request. "I should like to have back my old +name on my stone; I brought no honor to the other." This had been +promised her. + +The marble slab had arrived and been placed in position yesterday, and +Briest and his wife were sitting in view of it, looking at it and the +heliotrope, which had been spared, and which now bordered the stone. +Rollo lay beside them with his head on his paws. + +Wilke, whose spats were growing wider and wider, brought the breakfast +and the mail, and old Mr. von Briest said: "Wilke, order the little +carriage. I am going to drive across the country with my wife." + +Mrs. von Briest had meanwhile poured the coffee and was looking at the +circle and its flower bed. "See, Briest, Rollo is lying by the stone +again. He is really taking it harder than we. He wont eat any more, +either." + +"Well, Luise, it is the brute creature. That is just what I have +always said. We don't amount to as much as we think. But here we +always talk about instinct. In the end I think it is the best." + +"Don't speak that way. When you begin to philosophize--don't take +offense--Briest, you show your incompetence. You have a good +understanding, but you can't tackle such questions." + +"That's true." + +"And if it is absolutely necessary to discuss questions there are +entirely different ones, Briest, and I can tell you that not a day +passes, since the poor child has been lying here, but such questions +press themselves on me." + +"What questions?" + +"Whether after all we are perhaps not to blame?" + +"Nonsense, Luise. What do you mean?" + +"Whether we ought not to have disciplined her differently. You and I +particularly, for Niemeyer is only a cipher; he leaves everything in +doubt. And then, Briest, sorry as I am--your continual use of +ambiguous expressions--and finally, and here I accuse myself too, for +I do not desire to come off innocent in this matter, I wonder if she +was not too young, perhaps?" + +Rollo, who awoke at these words, shook his head gravely and Briest +said calmly: "Oh, Luise, don't--that is _too_ wide a field." + + * * * * * + + + + +EXTRACTS FROM "MY CHILDHOOD YEARS" (1894) + +By THEODOR FONTANE + +TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M. + +Associate Professor of German, Leland Stanford Jr. University + + +On one of the last days of March, in the year 1819, a chaise drove up +before the apothecary's shop at the sign of the Lion, in Neu-Ruppin, +and a young couple, who a short time before had jointly purchased the +shop, alighted from the carriage and were received by the servants of +the house. The husband was only twenty-three years of age--for people +married very young in those days, just after the war. The wife was +twenty-one. They Were my parents.... + +I was born there on the 30th of December that same year. With my +mother it was a matter of life and death, for which reason, whenever +she was twitted with favoring me, she was accustomed simply to reply: +"That is because I suffered most for him." In this favored position I +remained a long time, some eighteen years, till the birth of a late +child, my youngest sister, for whom I stood sponsor and whom I even +held during the christening. This was a great honor for me, but with +it went hand in hand my dethronement by this very sister. It goes +without saying that as the youngest child she straightway became the +darling of the family. + +At Easter, 1819, my father took possession of the apothecary's shop in +Neu-Ruppin, which he had acquired at a most favorable price, for a +song, so to speak; at Easter, 1826, after three of my four brothers +and sisters had been born there, he disposed of the property. Whenever +this early sale of the business became a topic of conversation, it +was always characterized as disastrous for my father and the whole +family. But unjustly. The disastrous feature, which revealed itself +many years later--and fortunately even then in a bearable form, for my +papa was truly a lucky man--lay not in the particular act of the sale, +but in the character of my father, who always spent more than his +income, and would not have given up the habit, even if he had remained +in Neu-Ruppin. That he confessed to me with his peculiar frankness +many, many times, when he had grown old and I was no longer young. "I +was still half a boy when I married," he was wont to say, "and my too +early independence explains everything." Whether or not he was right, +this is not the place to say. Generally speaking, his habits were +anything but businesslike; he took his dreams of good fortune for +realities and applied himself to the cultivation of "noble passions," +without ever stopping to think that at best he had but modest means at +his disposal. His first extravagance was a horse and carriage; then he +soon acquired a passion for gaming, and, during the seven years from +1819 to 1826, he gambled away a small fortune. The chief winner was +the lord of a neighboring manor. When, thirty years later, the son of +this lord loaned me a small sum of money, my father said to me: "Don't +hesitate to take the money; his father took ten thousand thalers from +me at dummy whist, a little at a time." Perhaps this figure was too +high, but however that may be, the sum was at all events large enough +to throw his credit and debit out of balance and to make him, among +other things, a very tardy payer of interest. Now in ordinary +circumstances, if, for example, he could have had recourse to +mortgages and the like, this would not have been, for a time at least, +a wholly unbearable situation; but unfortunately it so happened that +my father's chief creditor was his own father, who now took occasion +to give expression to his only too justified displeasure, both in +letters and in personal interviews. To make the situation even more +oppressive, these reproaches were approved, and hence made doubly +severe, by my mother, who stood wholly on her father-in-law's side. In +short, the further matters went, the more my father was placed between +two fires, and for no other reason than to extricate himself from a +position which continually injured his pride he resolved to sell the +property and business, the exceptional productiveness of which was as +well known to him as to anybody else, in spite of the fact that he was +the very opposite of a business man. After all, his whole plan proved +to be, at least in the beginning and from his point of view, +thoroughly proper and advantageous. He received for the apothecary's +shop double the original purchase price, and saw himself thereby all +at once put in a position to satisfy his creditors, who were at the +same time his accusers. And he did it, too. He paid back the sum his +father had advanced him, asked his wife, half jokingly, half +scoffingly, whether perchance she wished to invest her money "more +safely and more advantageously," and thereby achieved what for seven +years he had been longing for, namely, freedom and independence. +Relieved from all irksome tutelage, he found himself suddenly at the +point where it was "no longer necessary to take orders from anybody." +And with him that was a specially vital matter his whole life long. +From youth to old age he thirsted for that state; but as he did not +know well how to attain it, he never enjoyed his longed-for liberty +and independence for more than a few days or weeks at a time. To use +one of his favorite expressions, he was always in the "lurch," was +always financially embarrassed, and for that reason recalled to the +end of his life with special pleasure the short period, now reached, +between Easter, 1826, and Midsummer day, 1827. With him this was the +only time when the "lurch" was lacking.... + +During this time we lived near the Rheinsberg Gate, in a capacious +rented apartment, which included all the rooms on the main floor. So +far as home comforts are concerned, my parents were both very well +satisfied with the change; so were the other children, who found here +ample room for their games; but I could not become reconciled to it, +and have even to this day unpleasant memories of the rented residence. +There was a butcher's shop in the building, and that did not suit my +fancy. Through the long dark court ran a gutter, with blood always +standing in it, while at the end of one of the side wings a beef, +killed the night before, hung on a broad ladder leaning against the +house. Fortunately I never had to witness the preceding scenes, except +when pigs were slaughtered. Then it was sometimes unavoidable. One day +is still fresh in my memory. I was standing in the hall and gazing out +through the open back door into the court, where it just happened that +several persons were down on the ground struggling with a pig that was +squealing its last. I was paralyzed with horror. As soon as I +recovered control of myself I took to my heels, running down the +street, through the town gate, and out to the "Vineyard," a favorite +resort of the Ruppiners. But before I had finally reached that place I +sat down on the top of a hummock to rest and catch my breath. I stayed +away the whole forenoon. At dinner I was called upon to give an +account of myself. "For heaven's sake, boy, where have you been so +long?" I made a clean breast of the matter, saying that I had been put +to flight by the spectacle down in the court and that half way to the +"Vineyard" I had rested on a hummock and leaned my back against a +crumbling pillar. "Why, there you sat in perfect composure on Gallows +Hill," said my father, laughing. Feeling as though the noose were +being laid about my neck, I begged permission to leave the table. + +It was also at this time that I entered the primary school, which was +nothing unusual, inasmuch as I was going on seven years of age. I was +quick to learn and made progress, but my mother considered it her duty +to help me on, now and then, especially in reading, and so every +afternoon I stood by her little sewing table and read to her all sorts +of little stories out of the _Brandenburg Children's Friend_, a good +book, but illustrated, alas, with frightful pictures. My performance +was probably quite tolerable, for the ability to read and write +well--by the way, a very important thing in life--is a sort of +inheritance in the family. But my mother was not easy to satisfy; +furthermore she acted on the assumption that recognition and praise +spoil character, a point of view which even now I do not consider +right. At the slightest mistake she brought into play the "quick hand" +always at her service. But she displayed no temper in doing it; she +was always merely proceeding in accordance with her principle, +"anything but coddling." One blow too many could never do any harm +and, if it turned out that I had really not deserved any particular +one, it was reckoned as offsetting some of my naughty pranks that had +happened to escape discovery. "Anything but coddling." That is indeed +a very good principle, and I do not care to criticise it, in spite of +the fact that its application did not help me, not even as a hardening +process; but whatever one may think of it, my mother now and then +carried her harsh treatment too far. + +I had long blond hair, less to my own delight than to my mother's; for +to keep it in its would-be state of beauty I was subjected to the most +interminable and occasionally the most painful combing ordeals, +especially those with the fine comb. If I had been called upon at the +time to name the medieval instruments of torture, the "fine comb" +would have stood among those at the head of my list. Until the blood +came there was no thought of stopping. The following day the scarcely +healed spot was again scrutinized with suspicious eye, and thus one +torture was followed by another. To be sure, if, as may be possible, I +owe it to this procedure that I still have a fairly good head of hair, +I did not suffer in vain, and I humbly apologize. + +This careful treatment of my scalp was accompanied by an equally +painstaking treatment of my complexion, and this painful care also +showed a tendency to apply too drastic remedies. If my skin was +chapped by the east wind or the severe heat of the sun, my mother was +immediately at hand with a slice of lemon as an unfailing remedy. And +it always helped. Cold cream and such things would have been more to +my fancy and would doubtless have accomplished the same end. But my +mother showed the same relentlessness toward herself, and one who +valiantly leads the way into the battle may properly command others to +follow. + +During the time that we occupied the rented apartment I became seven +years of age, just old enough to retain all sorts of things; and yet I +remember exceedingly little from that period, in fact but two events. +These I probably recall because a vivid color impression helped me to +retain them. One of the events was a great fire, in which the barns +outside the Eheinsberg Gate burned down. However, I must state in +advance that it was not the burning of the barns that impressed itself +upon my memory, but a scene that took place immediately before my +eyes, one only incidentally occasioned by the fire, which I did not +see at all. On that day my parents were at a small dinner party, clear +at the other end of the city. When the company was suddenly apprised +of the news that all the barns were on fire, my mother, who was a very +nervous person, immediately felt certain that her children could not +escape death in the flames, or were at least in grave danger of losing +their lives. Being completely carried away by this idea she rushed +from the table, down the long Frederick William street, and without +hat or cloak, and with her hair half tumbled down in her mad chase, +burst into our large front room and found us, snatched out of bed and +wrapped in blankets, sitting around on cushions and footstools. On +catching sight of us she screamed aloud for joy and then fell in a +swoon. When, the next moment, various people, the landlord's family +among others, came in with candles in their hands, the whole picture +which the room presented received a dazzling light, especially the +dark red brocade dress of my mother and the black hair that fell down +over it, and this red and black with the flickering candles round +about--all this I have retained to the present hour. + +The other picture, or let me say, rather, the second little occurrence +that still lives in my memory, was entirely devoid of dramatic +elements, but color again came to my assistance. This time it was +yellow, instead of red. During the interim year my father made +frequent journeys to Berlin. Once, say, in the month of November, the +sunset colors were already gleaming through the trees on the city +ramparts, as I stood down in our doorway watching my father as he put +on his driving gloves with a certain aplomb and then suddenly sprang +upon the front seat of his small calash. My mother was there also. +"Really the boy might go along," said my father. I pricked up my ears, +rejoiced in my little soul, which even then longed eagerly for +anything a little out of the ordinary and likely to give me the +shivers. My mother consented immediately, a thing which can be +explained only on the assumption that she expected her darling child +with the beautiful blond locks to make a good impression upon my +grandfather, whose home was the goal of the journey. "Very well," she +said, "take the boy along. But first I will put a warm coat on him." +"Not necessary; I'll put him in the footbag." And, surely enough, I +was hauled up into the carriage and put just as I was into the footbag +lying on the front of the carriage, which was entirely open, with not +even a leather apron stretched across it. If a stone got in our way or +we received a jolt there was nothing to keep me from being thrown out. +But this notion did not for a single moment disturb my pleasure. At a +quick trot we rolled along through Alt-Ruppin toward Cremmen, and long +before we reached this place, which was about half way along the +journey, the stars came out and grew brighter and brighter and more +and more sparkling. I gazed enraptured at this splendor and no sleep +came to my eyes. Never since have I traveled with such delight; it +seemed as though we were journeying to heaven. Toward eight o 'clock +in the morning our carriage drove up before my grandfather's house. +Let me here insert the remark that my grandfather, with the help of +his three wives, whom he had married a number of years apart, had +risen first from a drawing teacher to a private secretary, and then, +what was still more significant, had recently advanced to the dignity +of a well-to-do property owner in Berlin. To be sure, only in the +Little Hamburg street. The art of living implied in this achievement +was not transmitted to any of his sons or grandsons. + +We climbed the stairs and entered the door. Here we were greeted by a +homely idyl. Pierre Barthelemy and his third wife--an excellent woman, +whom I later learned to esteem very highly--were just sitting at +breakfast. Everything looked very cozy. On the table was a service of +Dresden china, and among the cups and pitchers I noticed a neat blue +and white figured open-work bread basket with Berlin milk rolls in it. +The rolls then were different from now, much larger and circular in +shape, baked a light brown and yet crisp. Over the sofa hung a large +oil portrait of my grandfather, just recently painted, by Professor +Wachs. It was very good and full of life, but I should have forgotten +the expressive face and perhaps the whole scene of the visit, if it +had not been for the black and sulphur-yellow striped vest, which +Pierre Barthelemy, as I was later informed, regularly wore, and which, +in consequence, occupied a considerable portion of the picture hanging +above his head. + +It goes without saying that we shared in the breakfast, and the +grandparents, well-bred people that they were, did not show so very +plainly that, on the whole, the visit, with its to-be-expected +business negotiations, was for them in reality a disturbance. True, +there was all day long not a sign of tenderness toward me, so that I +was heartily glad when we started back home in the evening. Not until +a great deal later was I able to see that the coolness with which I +was received was not meant for poor little me, but, as already +indicated, for my father. I merely had to suffer with him. To such an +extremely solid character as my grandfather the self-assured, +man-of-the-world tone of his son, who by a clever business stroke had +acquired a feeling of independence and comfortable circumstances, was +so disagreeable and oppressive, that my blond locks, on whose +impression my mother had counted with such certainty, failed utterly +to exert their charm. + +I have already remarked that such excursions to Berlin occurred +frequently in those days, but still more frequent were journeys into +the provinces, because it was incumbent upon my father to look about +for a new apothecary's shop to buy. If he had had his way about it he +doubtless would never have changed this state of affairs and would +have declared the interim permanent. For, whereas his passion for +gaming was in reality forced upon him by his need to kill time, he had +by nature a genuine passion for his horse and carriage, and to drive +around in the world the whole of life in search of an apothecary's +shop, without being able to find one, would have been, I presume, just +the ideal occupation for him. But he saw that it was out of the +question; a few years of travel would have consumed his means. So he +only took great care to guard against too hasty purchases, and that +answered the same purpose. The more critically he proceeded the longer +he could continue his journeys and provide new quarters every evening +for his beloved white horse, which, by the way, was a charming animal. +I say "his white horse," for he was more concerned about good quarters +for the horse than for himself. And so, for three-fourths of a year, +till Christmas, 1826, he was on the road a great deal, not to say +most, of the time, covering, to be sure, quite an extensive territory, +which, beside the Province of Brandenburg, included Saxony, Thuringia, +and finally Pomerania. + +In later life this period of travel was a favorite topic of +conversation with my father, and likewise with my mother, who +ordinarily assumed a rather indifferent attitude toward the favorite +themes of my father. That she made an exception in this case was due +in part to the fact that during his journeyings my father had written +to his young wife many "love letters," which as letters it was my +mother's chief delight to ridicule, so long as she lived. "For I would +have you know, children," she was wont to say, "I still have your +father's love letters; one always keeps such charming things. One of +these I even know by heart, at least the beginning. The letter came +from Eisleben, and in it your father wrote to me: 'I arrived here this +afternoon and have found very good quarters. Also for the horse, whose +neck and shoulders are somewhat galled. However, I will not write you +today about that, but about the fact that this is the place where +Martin Luther was born on the 10th of November, 1483, nine years +before the discovery of America.' There you have your father as a +lover. You see, he would have been qualified to publish a _Letter +Writer_." + +All this was said by my mother not only with considerable seriousness, +but also, unfortunately, with bitterness. It always grieved her that +my father, much as he loved her, had never shown the slightest +familiarity with the ways of tenderness. + +The travels, which were kept up for nine months, were finally directed +eastward toward the mouth of the Oder. Shortly before Christmas my +father set out by stage coach, to save his horse from the hardships of +winter travel, and when he arrived in Swinemuende the thermometer stood +at 15 deg. below zero, Fahrenheit. The cognac in his bottle was frozen to +a lump of ice. He was so much the more warmly received by the widow +Geisler, who, inasmuch as her husband had died the previous year, +desired to sell her apothecary's shop as quickly as possible. And the +sale was made. In the letter announcing the conclusion of the +transaction was this passage: "We now have a new home in the province +of Pomerania, Pomerania, of which false notions are frequently held; +for it is really a splendid province and much richer than the Mark. +And where the people are rich is the best place to live. Swinemuende +itself is, to be sure, unpaved, but sand is better than bad pavement, +where the horses are always having something the matter with their +insteps. Unfortunately the transfer is not to be made for six months, +which I regret. But I must be doing something again, must have an +occupation once more." + +Three days after the arrival of this letter he was home again himself. +We were dragged out of bed, heavy with sleep, and called upon to +rejoice that we were to go to Swinemuende. + +To me the word represented but a strange sound.... + +When we arrived in Swinemuende, in the summer of 1827, it seemed an +ugly hole, and yet, on the other hand, a place of very rare charm, +for, in spite of the dullness of the majority of its streets, it had +that peculiar liveliness that commerce and navigation produce. It +depended altogether upon what part of the city one chose as a point of +observation, whether one's judgment was one thing or its opposite, +favorable or unfavorable. If one chose the Church Square, surrounded +by houses, among which was our apothecary's shop, one could find +little of good to say, although the chief street ran past there. But +if one forsook the inner city and went down to the "River," as the +Swine was regularly called, his hitherto unfavorable opinion was +converted into its opposite. Here ran along the river, for nearly a +mile, the "Bulwark," as poetic a riverside street as one could +imagine. The very fact that here everything was kept to medium +proportions, and there was nowhere anything to recall the grandeur of +the really great commercial centres, these very medium dimensions gave +everything an exceedingly attractive appearance, to which only a +hypochondriac, or a person wholly unappreciative of the charms of form +and color, could fail to respond. To be sure, this "Bulwark" street +was not everywhere the same, indeed some parts of it left much to be +desired, especially those up the river; but from the cross street +which began at the corner of our house and led off at right angles +one could find refreshment of spirit in the pictures that presented +themselves, step by step, as one followed the course of the river. +Here ran out from the sloping bank into the river a number of board +rafts, some smaller, some larger, floating benches upon which, from +early morning on, one saw maids at work washing clothes, always in +cheerful conversation with one another, or with the sailors who leaned +lazily over the street wall watching them. These rafts, which with the +figures upon them produced a most picturesque effect, were called +"clappers," and were used, especially by strangers and summer guests, +for orientation and description of location. E.g. "He lives down by +Klempin's clapper," or "opposite Jahnke's clapper." Between the rafts +or wash benches were regular spaces devoted to piers, and here the +majority of the ships were moored, in the winter often three or four +rows. The crews were on shore at this time, and the only evidence that +the vessels were not wholly unguarded was a column of smoke rising +from the kitchen stovepipes, or, more often, a spitz-dog sitting on a +mound of sailcloth, if not on the top of his kennel, and barking at +the passersby. Then in the spring, when the Swine was again free from +ice, everything began at once, as though by magic, to show signs of +life, and the activity along the river indicated that the time for +sailing was again near. Then the ships' hulls were laid on their +sides, the better to examine them for possible injuries, and if any +were found, one could see the following day, at corresponding places +along the wharf, little fires made of chips of wood and raveled-out +bits of old hawsers, and over them tar was simmering in three-legged +iron pots. Beside these lay whole piles of oakum. And now the process +of calking began. Then, as noon approached, another pot, filled with +potatoes and bacon, was shoved into the fire, and many, many a time, +as I passed by here on my way, at this hour, I eagerly inhaled the +appetizing vapors, not in the least disturbed by the admixture of +pitch. Even in my old age I am still fond of regaling myself, or at +least my nerves, with the bitumen smoke that floats through our Berlin +streets, when they are being newly asphalted. + +In the spring and summer time activity was also resumed by the English +steam dredger, which lay in the middle of the river, and upon which it +was incumbent to clear the channel. The quantities of earth and slime +drawn up from the bottom were emptied at a shallow place in the river +and piled up so as to cause a little artificial island to come into +existence. A few years later this island was covered with a rank +growth of reeds and sedges, and in all probability it now supports +houses and establishments of the marine station, as evidence to all +those who saw the first third of the century, that times have changed +and we have been growing as a world power. + +For half an hour at a time, when possible, I watched the work of the +English dredger, whose engineer, an old Scotchman by the name of +Macdonald, was a special friend of mine. Who could have told then +that, a generation later, I should make a tour of his Scottish clan +and, under the guidance of a Maedonald, should visit the spot on the +island of Icolmkill, where, according to an old fiction, King Macbeth +lies buried. + +I watched also, with as much interest as the dredging, the mooring of +ships, when they came home from long voyages, some of them, such as +the Queen Luise, a marine trading vessel, from their voyages around +the world, which signified something in those days. My main vessel, +however, was the Mentor, which was said to have won the victory in a +fight with Chinese pirates. The pirates carried a long-barreled bronze +cannon which shot better than the rough cast-iron cannons of which the +Mentor had a few on board. Besides, the pirate boat was much swifter, +so that our Swinemuende trader soon found itself in a bad position. But +the captain was equal to the emergency. He had all his heavy cannons +moved to one side of the ship, then purposely moderated his speed, in +order to make it easier for his pursuers to catch up with him. And now +their boat was really alongside, and the pirates were already +preparing to climb over the side of the ship, when the captain of the +Mentor gave the preconcerted signal and the cannons rolled with all +force and swiftness from the one side of the ship to the other and the +weight of the heavy guns, carrying the thin wall before them, crushed +to pieces the boat lying below, already certain of victory, so that +every soul on board was lost. + +Such stories were always in the air and were associated, not only with +the ships lying along the "Bulwark," but occasionally also with the +houses on the opposite side. Further down the river both the houses +and the stories lost their charm, until, at the very end of the city, +one came to a large building standing back from the street, which +again aroused interest. This was the recently erected "Society House," +the meeting place not only for the summer bathers, but also, during +the season, for the leading people of the city, of whom no one, +perhaps, was more often seen there than my father. To be sure, his +frequent visits were really not made on account of the "Society House" +itself, least of all on account of the concerts and theatrical +performances given in it, to say nothing of the occasional balls,--no, +what attracted him and took him out there now and then even Lor his +morning glass, was a pavilion standing close by the "Society House," +in which a major with a historical name and most affable manners, +dressed in a faultless blue frock coat with gold buttons, kept the +bank. This was only too often the resort of my father, who, when he +had lost a considerable sum and had correspondingly enriched the pot +of the bank keeper, instead of being out of sorts over it, simply drew +the inference that the keeping of the bank was a business that +produced sure gain, and the old major with the high white neckcloth +and the diamond pin was an extremely enviable man and, above all, one +very worthy of emulation. In such a career one got something out of +life. My father expressed such opinions, too, when he came home and +sat down late to dinner. This he did once in the presence of a +recently married sister of my mother, who was visiting in our home +during the bathing season. + +"But you are not going to-do that," she replied to his remarks. + +"Why not?" + +"Because there is no honor in it." + +"Hm, honor," he ejaculated, and began to drum upon the table with his +fingers; but, not having the courage to argue the question, he merely +turned his face away and left the table. + + * * * * * + +The city was very ugly and very handsome, and an equal contrast was, +to be observed in its inhabitants, at least with respect to their +moral qualities. Here, as in all seaports, there was a broad stratum +of human beings day in and day out under the influence of rum and +arrack, and they composed the main body of the population; but there +was also, as is quite general in seaports, a society of a materially +higher type spiritually, which overshadowed by far what one usually +met with in those days in the small cities of the inland provinces, +especially the Mark of Brandenburg, where the narrowest philistinism +held sway. That these inhabitants were so thoroughly free from +narrow-mindedness was without doubt due to a variety of causes, but +chiefly, perhaps, to the fact that the whole population was of a +pronounced international character. In the villages of the environs +there still lived presumably a certain number of the descendants of +the Wendic Pomeranian: aborigines of the days of Julin and Vineta. In +Swinemuende itself, especially in the upper stratum of society, there +was such a confusion of races that one came in contact with +representatives from all the nations of Northern Europe, Swedes, +Danes, Dutchmen, and Scotchmen, who had settled here at one time or +another, most of them, no doubt, at the beginning of the century, the +period when the hitherto unimportant city first began to grow and +prosper. + +The number of inhabitants, at the time of our arrival, was about four +thousand, of whom hardly a tenth were citizens of the city, and a +still very much smaller fraction entered into consideration socially. +What could be called, with more or less justice, the society of the +city was composed of not more than twenty families. These twenty +families, together with a few of the nobility, who came in from the +country to spend the winter, formed a private club, with headquarters +in the Olthoff Hall, and the club's membership was further enlarged, +as was the society of the city in general, by the dependents, or +retinue, of a few of the richest and most respected houses. These +proteges, half of them poor relatives, half bankrupt merchants, +were not always invited, but were, on all important convivial +occasions, designed to produce a deep impression, and their function +then was to submit to what the Englishmen call practical jokes, +during the second half of the banquet, the first half being, as a +usual thing, conspicuous for the remarkably proper conduct of the +company. When the time arrived for this part of the program all +bonds of pious awe were loosed and they proceeded with most daring +experiments, which my pen hesitates to record. On one occasion one of +these unfortunates--unfortunate because poor and dependent--had to +suffer a jaw tooth to be pulled out with the first pair of tongs that +could be found; but it must not be inferred that those who undertook +the operation were necessarily rough men. It was only a case where the +socially arrogant, who made themselves so generally conspicuous in +those days, especially under the stimulation of wine, did not hesitate +to take such liberties. In rich aristocratic houses in the country +they occasionally went to even greater extremes.... + +How did we live at our house? On the whole, well, far beyond our +station and our means. So far as the culinary department was +concerned, there were, to be sure, occasional strange periods; for +example, in the summer time, when, on account of the superabundant +yield of milk, the star of milk soup reigned supreme. Then everybody +struck, feigning lack of appetite. + +But these were only exceptional conditions, of short duration. +Ordinarily we were well and very sensibly fed, a thing which we owed +less to our mother than to our housekeeper, a Miss Schroeder. Before +going any further I must tell about her. When we reached Swinemuende my +mother was still in Berlin taking treatment for her nerves, so that my +father was immediately confronted with the question, who should manage +the household in the interim. There were no local newspapers, so he +had to inquire around orally. After a few days a letter was brought by +messenger from the head forester's lodge at Pudagla, inquiring whether +the head forester's sister might offer us her services. She had +learned housekeeping in her brother's home. My father answered +immediately in the affirmative and for two days rejoiced in the +thought of being able to take into his home as housekeeper a sister of +a head forester, and from Pudagla, to boot. That afforded relief; he +felt honored. On the third day the Schroeder girl drove up to our house +and was received by my father. He declared later that he had kept his +countenance, but I am not quite sure of it, in spite of the +possibility that his good heart and his politeness may have made the +victory over himself easier. The good Schroeder girl, be it said, was a +pendant to the "princess with the death's head," who came to notice in +Berlin at about this time. What had caused the misfortune of the +latter (who was restored to her original appearance by Dieffenbach, by +a plastic surgical treatment, since become famous), I do not know. In +the case of the Schroeder girl, however, it was the smallpox. Now what +is smallpox? Everybody has seen persons who have been afflicted with +smallpox, and has considered the expression, "the devil has threshed +peas on his or her face," more or less apt. At least the expression +has become proverbial. In this case, however, the proverbial phrase, +if applied, would have been mere glossing over, for the Schroeder girl +had, not pits the size of peas, but scars half as broad as your hand, +a spectacle, the like of which I have never again encountered. Yet, as +already said, a contract was entered into, and a happier one was never +closed. The Schroeder girl was a treasure, and when my mother came home +six weeks later she said: "You did well to take her, Louis; disfigured +as she is, her eyes have been spared, and they tell one that she is +faithful and reliable. And she is safe from love affairs, and we with +her. With her we shall have only pleasant experiences." + +And so it proved. So long as we remained in Swinemuende the Schroeder +girl remained in our house, loved and respected by old and young, not +least of all by my father, who gave her particular credit for her +sense of justice and her candor, in spite of the fact that he +occasionally had to suffer severely because of these two qualities. +She was always waging war against him. In the first place, out of love +for my mother, for whom she came to be an eloquent advocate, in spite +of the fact that my mother was thoroughly able to defend herself, in +accordance with her maxim, "The best defense is a blow." In the second +place, she was the mistress of the pantry, which was intrusted to her +with most plenary powers, and my father was always undertaking +pillaging expeditions against it, not only to satisfy his own personal +wants, which she might have tolerated, even though he was capable of +consuming half a veal roast for his breakfast, without thinking +anything about it; but she objected strenuously to his raids for the +benefit of his pet chickens, dogs, and cats. We had two cats, Peter +and Petrine. Peter, also called Peter the Great, who might have been +mistaken for a young jaguar, was his special pet, and when this +beautiful animal followed him, purring, into the pantry, and he always +followed, there was no end to the dainty morsels given him. The best +was none too good. This wanton waste made the Schroeder girl, faithful +soul that she was, fly into a rage, for she often saw her plans for +dinner completely upset. + +In the house she was indeed a treasure, but for us children, +especially me, she was even more than that, she was a real blessing. +The training we received from our parents advanced by fits and starts; +sometimes there was training and again there was none, and never any +thought of continuity. But the Schroeder girl supplied the continuity. +She had no favorites, never allowed herself to be outwitted, and knew +just how to handle each one of us. As for me, she knew that I was +good-natured, but sensitive, proud, and under the control of a certain +degree of megalomania. These bad inclinations she wished to hold in +check, and so said to me times without number: "Yes, you think you are +a marvelous fellow, but you are only a childish boy, just like the +rest of them, only at times a bit worse. You always want to play the +young gentleman, but young gentlemen don't lick honey from their +plates, or at least don't deny it if they have done so, in fact they +never tell lies. Not long ago I heard you prating about honor, but I +want to tell you, _that_ doesn't look to me like honor." She insisted +upon truthfulness, treated boasting with fine ridicule, and was chary +of compliments. But when she did praise it was effective. She did me +many a good turn, and not until late in life, when I was past fifty, +did I meet another woman, this time an elderly lady, who exerted such +an educational influence upon me. Even now I am still taking lessons +and learn from people who are young enough to be my grandchildren. + +Thus much about the good Schroeder girl, and after this digression in +memory of her I ask once more: "Well, how did we live?" I propose to +show how we lived, by means of a series of pictures, and in order to +introduce order and clarity into the description it will be well to +divide our life as we lived it into two halves, a summer life and a +winter life. + +First, then, there was the summer life. About the middle of June we +regularly had the house full of visitors; for my mother, in accordance +with the old custom, still kept in touch with her relatives, a trait +which we children only very imperfectly inherited from her. But let it +be understood, she kept in touch with her relatives, not to derive +advantages from them, but to bestow advantages. She was incredibly +generous, and there were times when we, after we had grown up, asked +ourselves the question, which passion really threatened us most, the +gaming passion of our father, or the giving and presenting passion of +our mother. But we finally discovered the answer to the question. What +our father did was simply money thrown away, whereas the excessive +amounts given away by our mother were always unselfishly given and +carried with them a quiet blessing. No doubt a certain desire to be, +so far as possible, a _grande dame_, if only in a very small degree, +had something to do with it, but then all our doings show some +elements of human weakness. Later in life, when we talked with her +about these things, she said: "Certainly, I might have refrained from +doing many things. We spent far more than our income. But I said to +myself: 'What there is will be spent anyhow, and so it is better for +it to go my way than the other.'" + +These summer months, from the middle of June on, were often made +especially charming by the numbers of visitors in our home, mostly +young women relatives from Berlin, who were both cheerful and +talkative. The household was then completely changed, for weeks at a +time, and, the hatchet being temporarily buried, merriment and playing +of sly tricks, with occasional boisterous pranks, became the order of +the day. The most brilliant performer in the fun-making competitions +that frequently arose was always my father himself. He was, as +handsome men often are, the absolute opposite of Don Juan, and proud +of his virtue. But by as much as he was unlike Don Juan, he was +charming as a Gascon, when it came to a spirited discussion of pert +and often most daring themes, with young ladies, of whom he made but +one requirement, that they be handsome, otherwise it was not worth his +while. I inherited from him this inclination to enter into subtle +discussions with ladies, in a jesting tone; indeed I have ever carried +this inclination over into my style of writing, and when I read +corresponding scenes in my novels and short stories it once in awhile +seems to me as though I heard my father speaking. Except with this +difference, that I fall far short of his felicitousness, as people who +had known him in his prime often told me, when he was over severity +and I was correspondingly along in years. I have frequently been +addressed in some such way as this: "Now see here, you do very well, +when you have your good days, but you can't compete with your father." +And that was certainly true. His small talk, born of bonhomie and at +the same time enlivened with fantastic lawyerly artifice, was simply +irresistible, even when dealing with business matters, in which as a +rule heartiness has no place. And yet his remarks on money matters had +a lasting effect, so that none of us children ever cherished the +slightest feeling of bitterness on account of his most remarkable +financial operations. My mother, however, was of too different a +nature to be easily converted or carried away by his social graces. +These matters were to her most repugnant when treated lightly and +jestingly. "Whatever is serious is not funny, that's all." But she +never disputed the fact that, as a happy humorist, he always succeeded +in drawing people over to his side, though she never failed to add: +"unfortunately." + +And now let us return to the summer visitors in our home. At times it +was rather difficult to furnish continual rounds of entertainment for +the young women, and would perhaps have proved impossible, if it had +not been for the horses. Almost every afternoon, when the weather was +good, the carriage drove up to our door, and such days during the +bathing season, when we were often almost completely overwhelmed with +visitors, were probably the only times when my mother, without in the +least sacrificing her fundamental convictions, was temporarily +reconciled to the existence of horse and carriage. Whoever knows +Swinemuende, and there are many who do know the place, is aware of the +fact that one is never embarrassed there for a beautiful spot to visit +on afternoon drives, and even in those days this was as true as it is +today. There was the trip along the beach to Heringsdorf, or, on the +other side, out to the moles; but the most popular drives, because +they afforded protection from the sun, were those back into the +country, either through the dense beech forest toward Corswant, or +better still to the village of Camminke, situated near the Haff of +Stettin and the Golm (mountain). There was a much frequented +skittle-alley there, where women played as well as men. I myself liked +to stand by the splintery lath trough, in which the skittle-boy rolled +back the balls. My only reason for choosing this position was because +I had heard a short time before that one of the players at this very +alley, in catching a ball as it rolled to him, had run a long lath +splinter under the nail of his index finger. That had made such an +impression on me that I always stood there shuddering for fear of a +repetition of the accident, which fortunately did not occur. When I +finally grew tired of waiting I stepped through a lattice gate, always +hanging aslant and always creaky, into a garden plot running along +close by the skittle-alley and parallel with it. It was a genuine +peasant's garden, with touch-me-nots and mignonette in bloom, and in +one place the mallows grew so tall that they formed a lane. Then when +the sun went down behind the forest the Golm, which lay to the west, +was bathed in red light, and the metal ball on its tall pillar looked +down, like a sphere of gold, upon the village and the skittle-garden. +Myriads of mosquitoes hung in the air, and the bumble bees flew back +and forth between the box-edged beds. + +Our visitors usually left at the beginning of August, and when +September came the last of the hotel guests departed from the city. +If anybody chose to remain longer it was inconvenient for the +landlords, in which connection the following scene occurred. A man, a +Berliner of course, on returning to his hotel, after accompanying some +departing friends to their steamer, sat down leisurely by his host and +hostess, rubbed his hands together, and said: "Well, Hoppensack, at +last the Berliners are all gone, or at least nearly all of them; now +we shall have a good time, now it will be cozy." He expected, of +course, that the host and hostess would agree with him most heartily. +But instead of that he found himself looking into long faces. Finally +he screwed up his courage and asked why they were so indifferent. +"Why, good heavens, Mr. Schuenemann," said Hoppensack, "a recorder and +his wife came to us the last of May and now it is almost the middle of +September. We want to be alone again, you see." As Mrs. Hoppensack +nodded approvingly, there was nothing left for Schuenemann to do but to +depart himself the next day. + +Not long after the last summer guests had gone the equinoctial storms +set in, and, if it was a bad year, they lasted on into November. First +the chestnuts fell, then the tiles rattled down from the roof, and +from the eaves-troughs, always placed with their outlets close by +bedroom windows, the rain splashed noisily down into the yard. In the +course of time, scattered clouds sailed across the clearing sky and +the air turned cold. Everybody felt the chilliness, and all day long +there was an old woodchopper at work in the shed. My father would +often go down to see him, take the ax and split wood for him a +half-hour at a time. + +Social activities were at a standstill during these late autumn days. +People were recovering from the strain of the summer season and +storing up strength for winter entertainments. Before these began +there was an interregnum of several weeks, the slaughtering and baking +times, the latter coinciding with the Christmas period. First came +the slaughtering of geese. A regular household without a goose-killing +time could hardly have been thought of. Many things had to be taken +into account. First of all, perhaps, were the feathers to make new +beds, which were always needed for guest chambers; but the chief +concern were the smoked goose-breasts, almost as important articles as +the hams and sides of bacon hanging in the chimney. Shortly before St. +Martin's day, if enough geese had been collected to supply the needs, +they were penned up for fattening, in the court, which gave rise to a +horrible cackling, well calculated to rob us of our night's rest for a +whole week. But a day was straightway set for the beginning of the +feast, about the middle of November. In the court, in a lean-to built +near the end of the house, and, strange to say, with a dove-cote over +it, was the servants' room, in which, beside the cook, two house-maids +slept, provided always they did any sleeping. The coachman was +supposed, according to a rule of the house, to occupy the straw-loft, +but was happy to forego the independence of these quarters, which went +with his position, preferring by his presence to crowd still worse the +already crowded space of the servants' room, in full accord with +Schiller's lines, + + + "Room is in the smallest hovel + For a happy, loving pair." + + +But when goose-killing time came it meant a very considerable further +overcrowding, for on the evening that the massacring was to begin +there was added to the number of persons usually quartered in the +servants' room a special force of old women, four or five in number, +who at other times earned a living at washing or weeding. + +Then the sacrificial festivities began, always late in the evening. +Through the wide-open door--open, because otherwise it would not have +been possible to endure the stifling air--the stars shone into the +smoky room, which was dimly lighted by a tallow candle, with always a +thief in the candle. Near the door stood in a semi-circle the five +slaughter priestesses, each with a goose between her knees, and as +they bored holes through the skullcaps of the poor fowls, with sharp +kitchen knives--a procedure, the necessity of which I have never +understood--they sang all sorts of folk-songs, the text of which +formed a strange contrast, as well to the murderous act as to the +mournful melody. At least one had to suppose this to be the case, for +the maids, who sat on the edge of the bed with their guest from the +straw-loft between them, followed the folksongs with never-ending +merriment, and at the passages that sounded specially mournful they +even burst into cheers. Both my parents were morally strict, and they +often discussed the question, whether there were not some way to put a +stop to this insolent conduct, but they finally gave it up. My father +had a lurking suspicion that such a custom had existed in antiquity, +and, after he-had looked the matter up, said: "It is a repetition of +ancient conditions, the Roman saturnalia, or, what amounts to the same +thing, a case where the servants temporarily lord it over the +so-called lords." When he had thus classified the occurrence +historically he was satisfied, the more so as the maids always amused +him the following morning by lowering their eyes in a most unusually +modest fashion. Then he would make fantastically extravagant remarks, +as though _Gil Blas_ had been his favorite book. That was not the +case, however. He read Walter Scott exclusively, for which I am +grateful to him even to this day, since, even then, a few crumbs fell +from his table for me. His favorite among all the works was _Quintin +Durward_, probably on account of its French subject. + +I have here further to add that the terrors of this goose-killing time +were by no means ended with the slaughter night and the mournful +melodies. On the contrary, they lasted at least three or four days +longer, for the slaughtering time was also the time when the giblets +dressed with goose-blood were served daily at our table, a dish which, +according to the Pomeranian view, stands unrivaled in the realm of +cookery. Furthermore my father considered it his duty to support the +view peculiar to this region, and, when the great steaming platter +appeared, would say: "Ah, that is fine! Just eat some of this; it is +the black soup of the Spartans, full of strength and stamina." But I +observed that he, along with the rest of us, picked out the dried +fruit and almond dumplings, leaving the nourishing gravy for the +servants outside, above all for the slaughtering and mourning women, +who by their boring operations had established the most legitimate +claim to it. + +About a fortnight later came the pig-killing, toward which my feeling +remained exactly the same as on that occasion when, hardly seven +years of age, I had fled from the city toward Alt-Ruppin, in +order to escape, not only the spectacle, but a whole gamut of +ear-and-heart-rending sounds. But I had meanwhile grown out of +childhood into boyhood, and a boy, whether he will or no, feels +honor-bound manfully to take everything that comes along, even if his +own deepest nature revolts against it. That the prospect of rice +pudding with raisins in it was a contributing factor in this comedy of +bravery, I am unable to say, for fond as I am of good things to eat, I +was always, during the weeks just preceding Christmas, half upset by +the smell of hot grease that drifted through the house. At least I +never had what could be called a really good appetite during this +period, despite the fact that it would have been particularly worth +while just then. Especially would such have been the case when, as +usually happened about the first of December, a stag was sent in from +the chief forester's and was hung up, eviscerated, as game usually is, +against the gable end of the servants' house. Day after day the cook +would go to this horrible gable ornament and cut out, first the +haunch, then the shoulders and legs, with the result that we always +heaved a sigh of relief when the glory of this venison was a thing of +the past. + +A far happier time was the baking week, which began with spice-nuts +and sugar cookies, and ended with bretzels, wreath-cakes, and cakes +baked on tins. Not only were we admitted to the bakeroom, where there +was a most alluring odor of bitter almonds and grated lemons; we also +received, as a foretaste of Christmas, a bountiful supply of little +cake-rolls, baked especially for us children. "I know," said my +mother, "that the children will upset their stomachs eating them, but +even that is better than that they should be restricted to too low a +diet. They shall have joyful holiday feeling during all these days, +and nothing can give it to them better than holiday cakes." There is +something in that view, and it may be absolutely right if the children +are thoroughly robust. But we were not so robust that the principle +could be applied to us without modification. And so, about Christmas +time, I was always much given to crying. + +On New Year's Eve there was a club ball, which I, being the oldest +child, was allowed to witness. I took my position in one corner of the +hall and looked on with vacillating feelings. When the dancing couples +whirled past me I was happy, on the one hand, because I was permitted +to stand there as a sort of guest and share in the pleasure with my +eyes, and yet, on the other hand, I was unhappy, because I was merely +an onlooker instead of a participator in the dance. My personal +insignificance weighed heavy upon me, doubly heavy because of the +gastric condition I was regularly in at this reason, and it continued +so until the nightwatchman, wrapped in his long blue cloak, came into +the hall at midnight and, after blowing a preliminary signal on his +horn, wished everybody a happy New Year. Then, as if by magic, my +feeling of sentimentality vanished entirely, and I was carried away by +the comic grotesqueness of the scene, and soon regained my freedom and +buoyancy of spirit. + +Just about this time social activities began, taking the form of a +series of weekly feasts, many of which resembled that of Belshazzar, +in so far as a spirit hand was at the very time writing the bankruptcy +of the host upon the wall. However, my knowledge of the details of +these feasts was derived only from hearsay. But any special banquets, +whether great or small, that fell to the lot of our own house I saw +with my own eyes and it is about these that I now propose to tell. + +When it came our turn to entertain, the whole house was pervaded with +a feeling of solemnity, which had a certain similarity to the feeling +at the time of a wedding. Furthermore, a parallel to the tripartite +division into wedding-eve celebration, wedding day, and the day after, +appeared in the form of preparation day, real feast-day, and eating of +the remnants. Which of these three days deserved the prize may remain +an open question, but I am inclined to believe I liked the first the +best. To be sure, it was unepicurean and called for much +self-restraint, but it was rich in anticipation of glorious things to +come. + +On this day of preparation the widow Gaster, a celebrated cook, came +to our house, as she did to all other houses on similar occasions. Her +personal appearance united complacence with dignity, and by virtue of +this latter quality she was received with respect and unlimited +confidence. Because of a dislike, easily understood, for all the +things she had to prepare day in and day out, especially sweets, she +lived-almost exclusively on red wine, deriving the little other +sustenance she needed from the vapors of hot grease, with which she +was continually surrounded. Her arrival at our house was always a +signal for me to plant myself near the kitchen, where everything that +took place could be observed and, incidentally, admired. It was always +her first task to bake a tree-cake on a spit. She kept a record of all +the tree-cakes she baked, and when the number reached a thousand the +housewives of Swinemuende gave her a well-deserved feast in celebration +of the achievement. To be sure, tree-cakes are to be had even today, +but they are degenerations, weak, spongy, and pale-cheeked, whereas in +those days they had a happy firmness, which in the most successful +specimens rose to crispness, accompanied by a scale of colors running +from the darkest ocher to the brightest yellow. It always gave me +great pleasure to watch a tree-cake come into being. Toward the back +wall of a huge fireplace stood a low half-dome, built of bricks, the +top projecting forward like a roof, the bottom slanting toward the +back. Along this slanting part was built a narrow charcoal fire about +four feet long and by it were placed two small iron supports, upon +which a roasting spit was laid, with a contrivance for turning it. +However, the spit resting upon the supports proved to be something +more than a mere rod. In fact the spit itself was run lengthwise +through a hollow wooden cone, which had a covering of greased paper +over its outer surface, and the purpose of which was to form a core +for the tree-cake. Then, with a tin spoon fastened upon a long stick, +the cook began to pour on a thin batter, which at first dripped off in +a way that made the method of application appear futile, and this +continued for a considerable length of time. But from the moment that +the batter became more consistent, and the dripping slower, hope began +to revive, and in a few hours the splendidly browned and copiously +jagged tree-cake was taken off the wooden cone. All this had a +symbolical significance. The successful completion of this _piece de +resistance_ inspired confidence in the success of the feast itself. +The tree-cake cast the horoscope, so to speak, of the whole affair. + +I shall pass over the kitchen activities on the day of the +entertainment and describe instead the feast itself. Along extension +table was moved into my mother's parlor--the only room available for +the purpose--and soon stood well set in front of the moire sofa with +the three hundred silver studs. The guests were not seated at the +table till the candles were lit. The man who presided over the banquet +always sat with his back toward the Schinkel mirror, whereas all the +other guests could, with little or no inconvenience, observe +themselves in the glass. + +So far as I can recall they were always gentlemen's dinner parties, +with twelve or fourteen persons, and only on rare occasions did my +mother appear at the table, then usually accompanied by her sister, +who often visited us for months at a time in the winter season and was +in those days still very young and handsome. It was always a specially +difficult matter to assign her a suitable place, and only when old Mr. +von Flemming and Privy Councillor Kind were present was she in any +degree safe from extremely ardent attentions. It was almost impossible +to protect her from such attentions. The men had respect for virtue, +perhaps, though I have my doubts even about that, but virtuous airs +were considered in bad taste, and where was the line to be drawn +between reality and appearance? That the ladies retired from the table +toward the end of the meal and appeared again only for a brief quarter +of an hour to do the honors at coffee, goes without saying. + +I have spoken above of the culinary art of good Mrs. Gaster, but in +spite of that art the bill of fare was really simple, especially in +comparison with the luxury prevalent nowadays at dinner parties. +Simple, I say, and yet stable. No man was willing to fall behind a set +standard, nor did he care to go beyond it. The soup was followed by a +fish course, and that, without fail, by French turnips and smoked +goose-breast. Then came a huge roast, and finally a sweet dish, with +fruits, spice-cakes, and Koenigsberg marchpane. An almost greater +simplicity prevailed with respect to the wines. After the soup sherry +was passed. Then a red wine of moderate price and moderate quality +gained the ascendant and held sway till coffee was served. So the +peculiar feature of these festivities did not lie in the materials +consumed, but, strange to say, in a certain spiritual element, in the +tone that prevailed. This varied considerably, when we take into +account the beginning and the end. The beginning was marked by toasts +in fine style, and occasionally, especially if the feast was at the +same time a family party--a birthday celebration or something of the +sort--there were even verses, which from the point of view of +regularity of form and cleverness of ideas left nothing to be desired. +Only recently I found among my father's papers some of these literary +efforts and was astonished to see how good they were. Humor, wit, and +playing on words were never lacking. There were special occasions when +even deep emotion, was expressed and then those who were farthest from +having a proper feeling, but nearest to a state of delirium, arose +regularly from their seats and marched up to the speaker to embrace +and kiss him. This kissing scene always denoted the beginning of the +second half of the feast. The further the dinner advanced the freer +became the conversation, and, when it had reached the stage where all +feeling of restraint was cast aside, the most insolent and often the +rudest badgering was indulged in, or, if for any reason this was not +allowed, the company began to rally certain individuals, or, as we +might say, began to poke fun at them. One of the choicest victims of +this favorite occupation of the whole round table was my papa. It had +long been known that when it was a question of conversation he had +three hobbies, viz., personal ranks and decorations in the Prussian +State, the population of all cities and hamlets according to the +latest census, and the names and ducal titles of the French marshals, +including an unlimited number of Napoleonic anecdotes, the latter +usually in the original. Occasionally this original version was +disputed from the point of view of sentence structure and grammar, +whereupon my father, when driven into a corner, would reply with +imperturbable repose: "My French feeling tells me that it must be +thus, thus and not otherwise," a declaration which naturally served +but to increase the hilarity. + +Yes, indeed, Napoleon and his marshals! My father's knowledge in this +field was simply stupendous, and I wager there was not in that day a +single historian, nor is there any now, who, so far as French war +stories and personal anecdotes of the period from Marengo to Waterloo +are concerned, would have been in any sense of the word qualified to +enter into competition with him. Where he got all his material is an +enigma to me. The only explanation I can offer is that he had in his +memory a pigeonhole, into which fell naturally everything he found +that appealed to his passion, in his constant reading of journals and +miscellanies. + + * * * * * + +When we had been safely lodged, at Midsummer, 1827, in the house with +the gigantic roof and the wooden eavestrough, into which my father +could easily lay his hand, this question immediately presented itself: +"What is to become of the children now? To what school shall we send +them?" If my mother had been there a solution of the problem would +doubtless have been found, one that would have had due regard for what +was befitting our station, at least, if not for what we should learn. +But since my mama, as already stated, had remained in Berlin to +receive treatment for her nerves, the decision rested with my father, +and he settled the matter in short order, presumably after some such +characteristic soliloquy as follows: "The city has only one school, +the city school, and as the city school is the only one, it is +consequently the best." No sooner thought than done. Before a week was +passed I was a pupil of the city school. About the school I remember +very little, only that there was a large room with a blackboard, +stifling air in spite of the fact that the windows were always open, +and an endless number of boys in baize and linen jackets, unkempt and +barefoot, or in wooden shoes, which made a fearful noise. It was very +sad. But even then, as unfortunately in later years, I had so few +pleasing illusions about going to school that the conditions +previously described to me did not appear specially dreadful when I +became personally acquainted with them. I simply supposed that things +had to be thus. But toward autumn, when my mother arrived on the scene +and saw me coming home from school with the wooden-shoe boys, she was +beside herself and cast an anxious glance at my hair, which she +doubtless thought she could not well trust in such company. She then +had one of her heart-to-heart talks with my father, who was probably +told that he had again taken only himself into consideration. That +same day my withdrawal from school was announced to Rector Beda, who +lived diagonally across the street from us. He was not angry at the +announcement, declared, on the contrary, to my mother that "he had +really been surprised. * * *" Thus far all was well. Just criticism +had been exercised and action had been taken in accord with it. But +now that it was necessary to find something better to substitute for +the school, even my mother was at her wits' end. Teachers seemed to +be, or were in fact, lacking, and as it had been impossible in so +short a time to establish relations to the good families of the city, +it was decided for the present to let me grow up wild and calmly to +wait till something turned up. But to prevent my lapsing into dense +ignorance I was to read an hour daily to my mother and learn some +Latin and French words from my father, in addition to geography and +history. + +"Will you be equal to that, Louis?" my mother had asked. + +"Equal to? What do you mean by 'equal to?' Of course I am equal to it. +Your same old lack of confidence in me." + +"Not twenty-four hours ago you yourself were full of doubt about it." + +"I presume the plan did not appeal to me then. But if it must be, I +understand the Prussian pharmacopoeia as well as anybody, and in my +parents' house French was spoken. As for the rest, to speak of it +would be ridiculous. You know that in such things I am more than a +match for ten graduates." + +As a matter of fact he really gave me lessons, which, I may say in +advance, were kept up even after the need of them no longer existed, +and, peculiar as these lessons were, I learned more from them than +from many a famous teacher. My father picked out quite arbitrarily the +things he had long known by heart or, perhaps, had just read the same +day, and vitalized geography with history, always, of course, in such +a way that in the end his favorite themes were given due prominence. +For example: + +"Do you know about East and West Prussia?" + +"Yes, papa; that is the country after which Prussia is called Prussia +and after which we are all called Prussians." + +"Very good, very good; a little too much Prussia, but that doesn't +matter. And do you also know the capitals of the two provinces?" + +"Yes, papa; Koenigsberg and Danzig." + +"Very good. I myself have been in Danzig, and came near going to +Koenigsberg, too, but something intervened. Have you ever heard +perchance who it was that finally captured Danzig after the brave +defense of our General Kalckreuth?" + +"No, papa." + +"Well, it is not to be expected. Very few people do know it, and the +so-called higher educated never know it. Well, it was General Lefevre, +a man of rare bravery, upon whom Napoleon later bestowed the title of +_Duc de Dantzic_, spelled with a final c, in which regard the +languages differ. That was in the year 1807." + +"After the battle of Jena?" + +"Yes, it may be put that way; but only in the same sense as if you +were to say, it was after the Seven Years' War." + +"I don't understand, papa." + +"Doesn't matter. I mean, Jena was too long ago. But one might say it +was after the battle of Prussian Eylau, a fearfully bloody battle, in +which the Russian Guard was almost annihilated, and in which Napoleon, +before surrendering, said to his favorite Duroc: 'Duroc, today I have +made the acquaintance of the sixth great power of Europe, _la boue_.'" + +"What does that mean?" + +"_La boue_ means the mud. But one can express it more strongly in +German, and I am inclined to think that Napoleon, who, when he felt +like it, had something cynical about him, really meant this stronger +expression." + +"What is cynical?" + +"Cynical--hm, cynical--it is a word often used, and one might say, +cynical is the same as rough or brutal. But I presume it may be +defined more accurately. We will look it up later in the encyclopedia. +It is well to be informed about such things, but one does not need to +know everything on the spur of the moment." + +Such was the character of the geography lessons, always ending with +historical anecdotes. But he preferred to begin at once with history, +or what seemed to him history. And here I must mention his pronounced +fondness for all the events and the persons concerned in them between +the siege of Toulon and the imprisonment on the island of St. Helena. +He was always reverting to these persons and things. I have elsewhere +named his favorites, with Ney and Lannes at the head of the list, but +in that enumeration I forgot to mention one man, who stood perhaps +nearer to his heart than these, namely, Latour d'Auvergne, of whom he +had told me any number of anecdotes back in our Ruppin days. These +were now repeated. According to the new stories Latour d'Auvergne bore +the title of the "First Grenadier of France," because in spite of his +rank of general he always stood in the rank and file, next to the +right file-leader of the Old Guard. Then when he fell, in the battle +of Neuburg, Napoleon gave orders that the heart of the "First +Grenadier" be placed in an urn and carried along with the troop, and +that his name, Latour d'Auvergne, be regularly called at every +roll-call, and the soldier serving as file-leader be instructed to +answer in his stead and tell where he was. This was about what I had +long ago learned by heart from my father's stories; but his fondness +for this hero was so great that, whenever it was at all possible, he +returned to him and asked the same questions. Or, to be more accurate, +the same scene was enacted, for it was a scene. + +"Do you know Latour d'Auvergne?" he usually began. + +"Certainly. He was the First Grenadier of France." + +"Good. And do you also know how he was honored after he was dead?" + +"Certainly." + +"Then tell me how it was." + +"Very well; but you must first stand up, papa, and be file-leader, or +I can't do it." + +Then he would actually rise from his seat on the sofa and in true +military fashion take his position before me as file-leader of the Old +Guard, while I myself, little stick-in-the-mud that I was, assumed the +part of the roll-calling officer. Then I began to call the names: + +"Latour d'Auvergne!" + +"He is not here," answered my father in a basso profundo voice. + +"Where is he, pray?" + +"He died on the field of honor." + +Once in awhile my mother attended these peculiar lessons--the one +about Latour, however, was never ventured in her presence--and she did +not fail to give us to understand, by her looks, that she considered +this whole method, which my father with an inimitable expression of +countenance called his "Socratic method," exceedingly dubious. But +she, by nature wholly conventional, not only in this particular, but +in others, was absolutely wrong, for, to repeat, I owe in fact to +these lessons, and the similar conversations growing out of them, all +the best things, at least all the most practical things, I know. Of +all that my father was able to teach me nothing has been forgotten and +nothing has proved useless for my purposes. Not only have these +stories been of hundredfold benefit to me socially throughout my long +life, they have also, in my writing, been ever at hand as a Golden +Treasury, and if I were asked, to what teacher I felt most deeply +indebted, I should have to reply: to my father, my father, who knew +nothing at all, so to speak, but, with his wealth of anecdotes picked +up from newspapers and magazines, and covering every variety of theme, +gave me infinitely more help than all my _Gymnasium_ and _Realschule_ +teachers put together. What information these men offered me, even if +it was good, has been for the most part forgotten; but the stories of +Ney and Rapp have remained fresh in my memory to the present hour. + +My father's method, which, much as I feel indebted to it, was after +all somewhat peculiar and utterly devoid of logic and consistency, +would in all probability have led to violent quarrels between my +parents, if my critical mother, who saw only its weaknesses and none +of its virtues, had attached any special significance to it in +general. But that was not the case. She only felt that my father's way +of teaching was totally different from the usual way, in that it would +not lead to many practical results, i.e., would not give me much +preparation for an examination, and in this respect she was perfectly +right. However, as she herself attached so little value to knowledge +in general, she contented herself with smiling at the "Socratic +method," as she saw no reason for becoming seriously wrought up over +it. According to her honest conviction there were other things in life +of far greater importance than knowledge, to say nothing of erudition, +and these other things were: a good appearance and good manners. That +her children should all present a good appearance was with her an +article of faith, so to speak, and she considered it a natural +consequence of their good appearance that they either already had or +would acquire good manners. So the only essential was to present a +good appearance. Serious studies seemed to her not a help, but, on the +contrary, a hindrance to happiness, that is to say, real happiness, +which she looked upon as inseparable from money and property. A +hundred-thousand-dollar man _was_ something, and she respected, even +honored him, whereas chief judges and councillors of the chancery +commanded very little respect from her, and would have commanded even +less, if the State, which she did respect, had not stood behind them. +She was incapable of bowing in good faith to any so-called spiritual +authority, not because she cherished too exalted an opinion of +herself--she was, on the contrary, entirely without vanity and +arrogance--but solely because, constituted as she was, she could not +recognize an authority of knowledge, much less of erudition, in a +practical field of life--and with her the non-practical fields never +entered into consideration. + +I still remember the time, some twenty years after the events just +narrated, when my parents were thinking of separating and of +eventually being divorced. A separation actually came about, the +divorce idea was dropped. But the latter was for a time considered in +all seriousness, and a friend of our family, Pastor Schultz, the then +preacher at Bethany, who made a specialty of divorce questions--it was +in the reign of Frederick William IV., when such problems were treated +with revived dogmatic severity--Pastor Schultz, I say, opposed the +plan, as soon as he heard of it, with all his power and eloquence. My +mother had a great deal of admiration for him and knew, besides, the +respect he enjoyed of "those highest in authority," and "those highest +in authority" meant something to her; nevertheless his severe +presentation of the matter made not the slightest impression upon her; +in fact his argument was so fruitless that, as soon as he finished, +she said with a reposeful air of superiority: "My dear Schultz, you +understand this question thoroughly; but whether or not I have a right +to secure a divorce is a question which no human being in the whole +world can answer so well as I myself." With that she closed the +conversation. + +She was similarly skeptical of every kind of authority, and had no +confidence whatever in the ability of the three university faculties. +For example, since patriarchal conditions were her ideal, she +questioned whether mankind derived any material advantages from +jurisprudence. It settled everything, as she thought, by favoritism or +personal advantage, or at least in a mechanical way. Riches, property, +especially landed property, accompanied if possible by the airs of a +legation attache--_that_ was something that unlocked the world and +the hearts of men, that was real power. Everything else was comedy, +illusion, a soap-bubble, that threatened to burst any moment. And then +nothing was left. One can readily understand why my mother, with such +views, insisted upon taking me out of the barefoot school, and did not +consider an interim, with no regular school instruction, any special +misfortune. The evil in it was that it violated the rule. As for the +rest, the little bit of learning lost could be made up at any time. +And if not, then not.... + +It is a pretty saying that every child has its angel, and one does not +need to be very credulous to believe it. For the little tots this +angel is a fairy, enveloped in a long white lily veil, which stands +smiling at the foot of a cradle and either wards off danger or helps +out of it when it is really at hand. That is the fairy for the little +ones. But when one has outgrown the cradle or crib, and has begun to +sleep in a regular bed, in other words, when one has become a robust +boy, one still needs his angel just the same, indeed the need is all +the greater. But instead of the lily angel it needs to be a sort of +archangel, a strong, manly angel, with shield and spear, otherwise his +strength will not suffice for his growing tasks. + +As a matter of fact, I was not wild and venturesome, and all my +escapades that were attributed to me as of such a nature were always +undertaken after a wise estimate of my strength. Nevertheless I have, +with respect to that period, a feeling that I was constantly being +rescued, a feeling in which I can hardly be in error. When I left home +at the age of twelve, the age at which, as a usual thing, real dangers +begin, there was doubtless a sudden change in my case, for it now +seems to me as though my angel had had a vacation from that time on. +All dangers ceased entirely or shrank into such insignificance that +they left no impression upon me. In view of the fact that the two +periods were so close together, there must have been this difference, +otherwise I should not have retained such entirely different feelings +about them. + +It was one of our chief sports to fire off so-called shooting-keys. +That the children of large cities know anything about shooting-keys is +hardly probable, hence I may be permitted to describe them here. They +were hollow keys with very thin walls, consequently of enormous bore, +so to speak, and were used to lock trunks, especially the trunks of +servant girls. It was our constant endeavor to gain possession of such +keys and at times our expeditions were nothing short of piracy. Woe be +unto the poor servant girl who forgot to take a key out of its lock! +She never saw it again. We took possession of it, and the simple +procedure of filing out a touchhole produced a finished firearm. As +these keys were always rusty, and occasionally split, it not +infrequently happened that they burst; but we always escaped injury. +The angel helped. + +Much more dangerous was the art of making fireworks, which I was +always practicing. With the help of sulphur and saltpeter, which we +kept in a convenient place in the apothecary's shop, I had made of +myself a full-fledged pyrotechnician, in which process I was very +materially aided by my skill in the manipulation of cardboard and +paste. All sorts of shells were easily made, and so I produced +Catherine-wheels, revolving suns, and flower-pots. Often these +creations refused to perform the duty expected of them, and then we +piled them up and, by means of a sulphurated match, touched off the +whole heap of miscarried glory and waited to see what it would do. +This was all done with comparatively little danger. Fraught with all +the more danger for us was the thing which was considered the simplest +and lowest product of the art of pyrotechnics, and was so rated by us, +viz., the serpent. Very often the serpents I made would not burn +properly, because I had not used the right mixture, no doubt, and that +always vexed me greatly. When a Catherine-wheel refused to turn, that +could at least be tolerated, for a Catherine-wheel is a comparatively +difficult thing to make. A serpent, on the other hand, could not well +help burning, and when, for all that, one simply would not burn, that +was a humiliation that could not be suffered. So I would bend over the +shells as they stuck in the pile of sand and begin to blow, in order +to give new life to the dying tinder fire. When it went out entirely, +that was really the best thing for me. But if it went off suddenly, my +hair was singed or my forehead burned. Nothing worse ever happened, +for the angel was protecting me with his shield. + +That was the element of fire. But we also came in contact with water, +which was not to be wondered at in a seaport. + +In the autumn of 1831 a Berlin relative made me a present of a cannon, +not just an ordinary child's plaything, such as can be bought of any +coppersmith or tinner, but a so-called pattern-cannon, such as is seen +only in arsenals,--a splendid specimen, of great beauty and elegance, +the carriage firm and neat, the barrel highly polished and about a +foot and a half long. I was more than delighted, and determined to +proceed at once to a bombardment of Swinemuende. Two boys of my age and +my younger brother climbed with me into a boat lying at Klempin's +Clapper, and we rowed down-stream, with the cannon in the bow. When we +were about opposite the Society House I considered that the time had +arrived for the beginning of the bombardment, and fired three shots, +waiting after each shot to see whether the people on the "Bulwark" +took notice of us, and whether they showed due respect for the +seriousness of our actions. But neither of these things happened. A +thing that did happen, however, was that we meanwhile got out into the +current, were caught by it and carried away, and when we suddenly saw +ourselves between the embankments of the moles, I was suddenly seized +with a terrible fright. I realized that, if we kept on in this way, in +ten minutes more we should be out at sea and might drift away toward +Bornholm and the Swedish coast. It was a desperate situation, and we +finally resorted to the least brave, but most sensible, means +imaginable, and began to scream with all our might, all the time +beckoning and waving various objects, showing on the whole +considerable cleverness in the invention of distress signals. At last +we attracted the attention of some pilots standing on the West mole, +who shook their fingers threateningly at us, but finally, with smiling +countenances, threw us a rope. That rescued us from danger. One of the +pilots knew me; his son was one of my playmates. This doubtless +accounts for the fact that the seamen dismissed us with a few +epithets, which might have been worse. I took my cannon under my arm, +but not without having the satisfaction of seeing it admired. Then I +went home, after promising to send out Hans Ketelboeter, a lusty +sailor-boy who lived quite near our home, to row back the boat, which +was meanwhile moored to a pile. + +This was the most unique among my adventures with water, but by no +means the most dangerous. The most dangerous was at the same time the +most ordinary, because it recurred every time I went swimming in the +sea. Any one who knows the Baltic seaside resorts, knows the so-called +"reffs." By "reffs" are meant the sandbanks running parallel to the +beach, out a hundred or two hundred paces, and often with very little +water washing over them. Upon these the swimmers can stand and rest, +when, they have crossed the deep places lying between them and the +shore. In order that they may know exactly where these shallow places +are, little red banners are hoisted over the sandbanks. Here lay for +me a daily temptation. When the sea was calm and everything normal, my +skill as a swimmer was just sufficient to carry me safely over the +deep places to the nearest sandbank. But if the conditions were less +favorable, or if by chance I let myself down too soon, so that I had +no solid ground beneath my feet, I was frightened, sometimes almost to +death. Luckily I always managed to get out, though not by myself. +Strength and help came from some other source. + +Another danger of water which I was destined to undergo had no +connection with the sea, but occurred on the river, close by the +"Bulwark," not five hundred paces from our house. I shall tell about +it later; but first I wish to insert here another little occurrence, +in which no help of an angel was needed. + +I was not good at swimming, nor at steering or rowing; but one of the +things I could do well, very well indeed, was walking on stilts. +According to our family tradition we came from the region of +Montpelier, whereas I personally ought by rights to be able, in view +of my virtuosity as a stilt-walker, to trace my ancestry back to the +Landes, where the inhabitants are, so to speak, grown fast to their +stilts, and hardly take them off when they go to bed. To make a long +story short, I was a brilliant stilt-walker, and in comparison with +those of the western Garonne region, the home of the very low stilts, +I had the advantage that I could not get my buskins high enough to +suit me, for the little blocks of wood fastened on the inner side of +my stilts were some three feet high. By taking a quick start and +running the ends of the two poles slantingly into the ground I was +able to swing myself without fail upon the stilt-blocks and to begin +immediately my giant stride. Ordinarily this was an unremunerative +art, but on a few occasions I derived real profit from it, when my +stilts enabled me to escape storms that were about to break over my +head. That was in the days just after Captain Ferber, who had served +out his time with the "Neufchatellers," retired on a pension and moved +to Swinemuende. Ferber, whom the Swinemuenders called Teinturier, the +French translation of his name, because of his relation to Neufchatel, +came of a very good family, was, if I mistake not, the son of a high +official in the ministry of finance, who could boast of long-standing +relations to the Berlin Court, dating back to the war times of the +year 1813. This was no doubt the reason why the son, in spite of the +fact that he did not belong to the nobility and was of German +extraction--the Neufchatel officers were in those days still for the +most part French-Swiss--was permitted to serve with the elite +battalion, where he was well liked, because he was clever, a good +comrade, and an author besides. He wrote novelettes after the fashions +then in vogue. But in spite of his popularity he could not hold his +position, because his fondness for coffee and cognac, which soon +became restricted to the latter, grew upon him so rapidly that he was +forced to retire. His removal to Swinemuende was doubtless due to the +fact that seaports are better suited for such passions than are inland +cities. Fondness for cognac attracts less attention. + +Whatever his reason may have been, however, Ferber was soon as popular +in his new place of residence as previously in Berlin, for he had that +kindliness of character which is the "dearest child of the +dram-bottle." He was very fond of my father, who reciprocated the +sentiment. But this friendship did not spring up at the very beginning +of their acquaintance. In fact it developed out of a little +controversy between them, that is to say, a defeat sustained by my +father, one of whose amiable peculiarities it was, within twenty-four +hours at the latest to convert his anger at being put to flight, into +approbation bordering on homage for the victor. + +His defeat came about thus. One day the assertion was made by Ferber, +that, whether we liked it or not, a German must be looked upon as the +"father of the French Revolution," for Minister Necker, though born in +Geneva, was the son or grandson of a Kuestrin postmaster. This seemed +to my father a perfectly preposterous assertion, and he combated it +with a rather supercilious mien, till it was finally shown to be +substantially correct. Then my father's arrogance, growing out of a +conviction of his superior knowledge, was transformed first into +respect and later into friendship, and even twenty years after, +whenever we drove from our Oderbruch village to the neighboring city +of Kuestrin, he never had much to say about Crown Prince Fritz, or +Katte's decapitation, but regularly remarked: "Oh yes, Necker, who may +be called the father of the French Revolution, traced his ancestry +back to this city of Kuestrin. I owe the information to Ferber, Captain +Ferber, whom we called Teinturier. It is a pity he could not give up +his _aqua vitae_. At times it was pitiable." + +Yes, pitiable it was, but not to us children, who, on the contrary, +always broke out into cheers whenever the captain, usually in rather +desolate costume, came staggering up the Great Church Street to find a +place to continue his breakfast. We used to follow close behind him +and tease and taunt him till he would try to catch and thrash one or +the other of us. Occasionally he succeeded; but I always escaped with +ease, because I chose for my teasings only days when it had rained a +short time before. Then there stood in the street between our house +and the church on the other side a huge pool of water, which became my +harbor of refuge. Holding my stilts at the proper angle, I sprang +quickly upon them as soon as I saw that Teinturier, in spite of his +condition, was close on my heels, and then I marched triumphantly into +the pool of water. There I stood like a stork on one stilt and +presented arms with the other, as I continued scoffing at him. Cursing +and threatening he marched away, the poor captain. But he took care +not to make good his threats, because in his good moments he did not +like to be reminded of the bad ones. + +We had several playgrounds. The one we liked best perhaps was along +the "Bulwark," at the point where the side street branched off from +our house. The whole surroundings were very picturesque, especially in +the winter time, when the ships, stripped of their topmasts, lay at +their moorings, often in three rows, the last pretty far out in the +river. We were allowed to play along the "Bulwark" and practice our +rope-walking art on the stretched hawsers as far as they hung close to +the ground. Only one thing was prohibited. We were not allowed to go +on board the ships, much less to climb the rope ladders to the +mastheads. A very sensible prohibition. But the more sensible it was, +the greater was our desire to disregard it, and in the game of "robber +and wayfarer," of which we were all very fond, disregarding of this +prohibition was almost a matter of course. Furthermore, discovery lay +beyond the range of probability; our parents were either at their +"party" or invited to dine out. "So let's go ahead. If anybody tells +on us, he will be worse off than we." + +So we thought one Sunday in April, 1831. It must have been about that +time of year, for I can still recall the clear, cold tone of the +atmosphere. On the ship there was not a sign of life, and on the +"Bulwark" not a human soul to be seen, which further proves to me that +it was a Sunday. + +I, being the oldest and strongest, was the robber, of course. Of the +eight or ten smaller boys only one was in any measure able to compete +with me. That was an illegitimate child, called Fritz Ehrlich +(Honorable), as though to compensate him for his birth. These boys had +set out from the Church Square, the usual starting-point of the chase, +and were already close after me. I arrived at the "Bulwark" exhausted, +and, as there was no other way of escape, ran over a firm broad plank +walk toward the nearest ship, with the whole pack after me. This +naturally forced me to go on from the first ship to the second and +from the second to the third. There was no going any further, and if I +wished, in spite of this dilemma, to escape my enemies, there was +nothing left for me but to seek a hiding-place on the ship itself, or +at least a spot difficult of access. I found such a place and climbed +up about the height of a man to the top of the superstructure near the +cabin. In this superstructure was usually to be found, among other +rooms, the ship's cuisine. My climbing was facilitated by steps built +in the perpendicular wall. And there I stood then, temporarily safe, +gazing down as a victor at my pursuers. But the sense of victory did +not last long; the steps were there for others as well as for me, and +an instant later Fritz Ehrlich was also on the roof. Now I was indeed +lost if I foiled to find another way of escape. So, summoning all my +strength, I took as long a running start as the narrow space would +permit and sprang from the roof of the kitchen over the intervening +strip of water back to the second ship and then ran for the shore, as +though chased by all the furies. When I had reached the shore it was +nothing to run to the base in front of our house and be free. But I +was destined not to enjoy my happiness very long, for almost the very +moment I once more had solid ground beneath my feet I heard cries of +distress coming from the third and second ships, and my name called +repeatedly, which made me think something must have happened. Swiftly +as I had made for the shore over the noisy plank walk, I now hastened +back over it. There was no time to lose. Fritz Ehrlich had tried to +imitate my leap from the kitchen, but, failing to equal my distance, +had fallen into the water between the ships. And there the poor boy +was, digging his nails into the cracks in the ship's hull. Swimming +was out of the question, even if he knew anything about it. Besides, +the water was icy cold. To reach him from the deck with the means at +hand was impossible. So I grasped a piece of rope hanging from a rope +ladder and, letting myself down the side of the ship, tried every way +I could think of to lengthen my body as much as possible, till finally +Fritz was barely able to catch hold of my left foot, which reached +furthest down, while I held on above with my right hand. "Take hold, +Fritz!" But the doughty fellow, who may have realized that we should +both be lost if he really took a firm hold, contented himself with +laying his hand lightly upon the toe of my boot, and little as that +was, it nevertheless sufficed to keep his head above water. To be +sure, he may have been by natural endowment a "water treader," as they +are called; or he may have had the traditional luck of the +illegitimate, which seems to me on second thought more probable. In +any case he kept afloat till some people came from the shore and +reached a punt-pole down to him, while some others untied a boat +lying at Hannemann's Clapper and rowed it into the space between the +ships to fish him out. The moment that the saving punt-pole arrived +some man unknown to me reached down from the ladder, seized me by the +collar, and with a vigorous jerk hoisted me back on deck. + +On this occasion not a word of reproach was uttered, though I could +not say as much of any other occasion of the kind. The people took +Fritz Ehrlich, drenched and freezing, to a house in the immediate +neighborhood, while the rest of us started home in a very humble frame +of mind. To be sure, I had also a feeling of elation, despite the fact +that my prospects for the future were not of the pleasantest. But my +fears were not realized. Quite the contrary. The following morning, as +I was starting to school, my father met me in the hall and stopped me. +Neighbor Pietzker, the good man with the nightcap, had been tattling +again, though with better intentions than usual. + +"I've heard the whole business," said my father. "Why, in the name of +heaven, can't you be obedient! But we'll let it pass, since you +acquitted yourself so well. I know all the details. Pietzker across +the street ..." + +Hereupon I was allowed to go to school. + + + + +SIR RIBBECK OF RIBBECK[3] + +By THEODOR FONTANE + + + + Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck in Havelland-- + A pear-tree in his yard did stand, + And in the golden autumn-tide, + When pears were shining far and wide, + Sir Ribbeck, when barely the bells struck noon, + Would stuff both his pockets with pears right soon. + If a boy in clogs would come his way, + He would call: "My boy, have a pear today?" + To a girl he'd call: "Little maid over there, + Now come here to me, and I'll give you a pear." + And thus he did ever, as years went by, + Till Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck came to die. + He felt his end coming, 'twas autumn-tide, + And the pears were laughing, far and wide, + Then spoke Sir Ribbeck: "And now I must die. + Lay a pear in my grave, beside me to lie!" + From the double-roofed house in three days more, + Sir Ribbeck to his grave they bore. + All the peasants and cotters with solemn face, + Did sing: "Lord Jesus, in Thy Grace"-- + And the children moaned with hearts of lead: + "Who will give us a pear? Now he is dead." + Thus moaned the children--that was not good-- + Not knowing old Ribbeck as they should. + The new, to be sure, is a miser hard; + Over park and pear-tree he keeps stern guard. + But the old, who this doubtless could foretell, + Distrusting his son, he knew right well + What he was about when he bade them lay + A pear in his grave, on his dying day: + + Out of his silent haunt, in the third year, + A little pear-tree shoot did soon appear. + And many a year now comes and goes, + But a pear-tree on the grave there grows, + And in the golden autumn-tide, + The pears are shining far and wide. + When a boy o'er the grave-yard wends his way, + The tree whispers: "Boy, have a pear today?" + To a girl it says: "Little maid over there, + Come here to me and I'll give you a pear." + So there are blessings still from the hand + Of Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck in Havelland. + + +[Footnote 3: Translator: Margarete Muensterberg.] + + +THE BRIDGE BY THE TAY[4] (1879) + +/# +"_When shall we three meet again_".--Macbeth +#/ + + + "When shall we three meet again?" + "The dam of the bridge at seven attain!" + "By the pier in the middle. I'll put out amain + "The flames." + "I too." + "I'll come from the north." + "And I from the south." + "From the sea I'll soar forth." + + "Ha, that will be a merry-go-round, + The bridge must sink into the ground." + "And with the train what shall we do + That crosses the bridge at seven?" + "That too." + "That must go too!" + "A bawble, a naught, + What the hand of man hath wrought!" + + The bridgekeeper's house that stands in the north-- + All windows to the south look forth, + And the inmates there without peace or rest + Are gazing southward with anxious zest; + They gaze and wait a light to spy + That over the water "I'm coming!" should cry, + "I'm coming--night and storm are vain-- + I from Edinburg the train!" + + And the bridgekeeper says: "I see a gleam + On the other shore. That's it, I deem. + Now mother, away with bad dreams, for see, + Our Johnnie is coming--he'll want his tree, + And what is left of candles, light + As if it were on Christmas night. + Twice we shall have our Christmas cheer-- + In eleven minutes he must be here." + + It is the train, with the gale it vies + And panting by the south tower flies. + "There's the bridge still," says Johnnie. "But that's all right, + We'll make it surely out of spite! + A solid boiler and double steam + Should win in such a fight, 'twould seem, + Let it rave and rage and run at its bent, + We'll put it down: this element! + + And our bridge is our pride. I must laugh always + When I think back of the olden days, + And all the trouble and misery + That with the wretched boat would be; + And many cheerful Christmas nights + I spent at the ferryman's house--the lights + From our windows I'd watch and count them o'er, + And could not reach the other shore." + + The bridgekeeper's house that stands in the north-- + All windows to the south look forth, + And the inmates there without peace or rest + Are gazing southward with anxious zest: + More furious grew the winds' wild games, + And now, as if the sky poured flames, + Comes shooting down a radiance bright + O'er the water below.--Now again all is night. + + "When shall we three meet again?" + "At midnight the top of the mountain attain!" + "By the alder-stem on the high moorland plain!" + "I'll come." + "And I too." + "And the number I'll tell." + "And I the names." + "I the torture right well." + "Whoo! + Like splinters the woodwork crashed in two." + "A bawble,--a naught, + What the hand of man hath wrought!" + + +[Footnote 4: Translator: Margarete Muensterberg.] + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics Of The Nineteenth +And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GERMAN CLASSICS, V12 *** + +***** This file should be named 14470.txt or 14470.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/4/7/14470/ + +Produced by Stan Goodman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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