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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/31377-8.txt b/31377-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6890345 --- /dev/null +++ b/31377-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10853 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Weird Tales. Vol. I, by E. T. A. Hoffmann + +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: Weird Tales. Vol. I + +Author: E. T. A. Hoffmann + +Translator: J. T. Bealby + +Release Date: February 23, 2010 [EBook #31377] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEIRD TALES. VOL. I *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from scans obtained from The +Internet Archive. + + + + + +Web Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/weirdtales00unkngoog + + + + + + + WEIRD TALES + + + + BY + E. T. W. HOFFMANN + + + + A NEW TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN + + + + WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR + + + + By J. T. BEALBY, B.A. + FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE + + + + IN TWO VOLUMES + VOL. I. + + + + NEW YORK + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + 1885 + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. + + + PAGE + +THE CREMONA VIOLIN, 1 + +THE FERMATA, 32 + +SIGNOR FORMICA, 59 + +THE SAND-MAN, 168 + +THE ENTAIL, 216 + +ARTHUR'S HALL, 322 + + + + + THE CREMONA VIOLIN. + + +Councillor Krespel was one of the strangest, oddest men I ever met with +in my life. When I went to live in H---- for a time the whole town was +full of talk about him, as he happened to be just then in the midst of +one of the very craziest of his schemes. Krespel had the reputation +of being both a clever, learn lawyer and a skilful diplomatist. One of +the reigning princes of Germany--not, however, one of the most +powerful--had appealed to him for assistance in drawing up a memorial, +which he was desirous of presenting at the Imperial Court with the view +of furthering his legitimate claims upon a certain strip of territory. +The project was crowned with the happiest success; and as Krespel had +once complained that he could never find a dwelling sufficiently +comfortable to suit him, the prince, to reward him for the memorial, +undertook to defray the cost of building a house which Krespel might +erect just as he pleased. Moreover, the prince was willing to purchase +any site that he should fancy. This offer, however, the Councillor +would not accept; he insisted that the house should be built in his +garden, situated in a very beautiful neighbourhood outside the +town-walls. So he bought all kinds of materials and had them carted +out. Then he might have been seen day after day, attired in his curious +garments (which he had made himself according to certain fixed rules of +his own), slacking the lime, riddling the sand, packing up the bricks +and stones in regular heaps, and so on. All this he did without once +consulting an architect or thinking about a plan. One fine day, +however, he went to an experienced builder of the town and requested +him to be in his garden at daybreak the next morning, with all his +journeymen and apprentices, and a large body of labourers, &c., to +build him his house. Naturally the builder asked for the architect's +plan, and was not a little astonished when Krespel replied that none +was needed, and that things would turn out all right in the end, just +as he wanted them. Next morning, when the builder and his men came to +the place, they found a trench drawn out in the shape of an exact +square; and Krespel said, "Here's where you must lay the foundations; +then carry up the walls until I say they are high enough." "Without +windows and doors, and without partition walls?" broke in the builder, +as if alarmed at Krespel's mad folly. "Do what I tell you, my dear +sir," replied the Councillor quite calmly; "leave the rest to me; it +will be all right." It was only the promise of high pay that could +induce the builder to proceed with the ridiculous building; but none +has ever been erected under merrier circumstances. As there was an +abundant supply of food and drink, the workmen never left their work; +and amidst their continuous laughter the four walls were run up with +incredible quickness, until one day Krespel cried, "Stop!" Then the +workmen, laying down trowel and hammer, came down from the scaffoldings +and gathered round Krespel in a circle, whilst every laughing face was +asking, "Well, and what now?" "Make way!" cried Krespel; and then +running to one end of the garden, he strode slowly towards the square +of brick-work. When he came close to the wall he shook his head in a +dissatisfied manner, ran to the other end of the garden, again strode +slowly towards the brick-work square, and proceeded to act as before. +These tactics he pursued several times, until at length, running his +sharp nose hard against the wall, he cried, "Come here, come here, men! +break me a door in here! Here's where I want a door made!" He gave the +exact dimensions in feet and inches, and they did as he bid them. Then +he stepped inside the structure, and smiled with satisfaction as the +builder remarked that the walls were just the height of a good +two-storeyed house. Krespel walked thoughtfully backwards and forwards +across the space within, the bricklayers behind him with hammers and +picks, and wherever he cried, "Make a window here, six feet high by +four feet broad!" "There a little window, three feet by two!" a hole +was made in a trice. + +It was at this stage of the proceedings that I came to H----; and it +was highly amusing to see how hundreds of people stood round about the +garden and raised a loud shout whenever the stones flew out and a new +window appeared where nobody had for a moment expected it. And in the +same manner Krespel proceeded with the buildings and fittings of the +rest of the house, and with all the work necessary to that end; +everything had to be done on the spot in accordance with the +instructions which the Councillor gave from time to time. However, the +absurdity of the whole business, the growing conviction that things +would in the end turn out better than might have been expected, but +above all, Krespel's generosity--which indeed cost him nothing--kept +them all in good-humour. Thus were the difficulties overcome which +necessarily arose out of this eccentric way of building, and in a short +time there was a completely finished house, its outside, indeed, +presenting a most extraordinary appearance, no two windows, &c., being +alike, but on the other hand the interior arrangements suggested a +peculiar feeling of comfort. All who entered the house bore witness to +the truth of this; and I too experienced it myself when I was taken in +by Krespel after I had become more intimate with him. For hitherto I +had not exchanged a word with this eccentric man; his building had +occupied him so much that he had not even once been to Professor +M----'s to dinner, as he was in the habit of going on Tuesdays. Indeed, +in reply to a special invitation, he sent word that he should not set +foot over the threshold before the house-warming of his new building +took place. All his friends and acquaintances, therefore, confidently +looked forward to a great banquet; but Krespel invited nobody except +the masters, journeymen, apprentices, and labourers who had built the +house. He entertained them with the choicest viands: bricklayer's +apprentices devoured partridge pies regardless of consequences; young +joiners polished off roast pheasants with the greatest success; whilst +hungry labourers helped themselves for once to the choicest morsels of +_truffes fricassées_. In the evening their wives and daughters came, +and there was a great ball. After waltzing a short while with the wives +of the masters, Krespel sat down amongst the town-musicians, took a +violin in his hand, and directed the orchestra until daylight. + +On the Tuesday after this festival, which exhibited Councillor Krespel +in the character of a friend of the people, I at length saw him appear, +to my no little joy, at Professor M----'s. Anything more strange and +fantastic than Krespel's behaviour it would be impossible to find. He +was so stiff and awkward in his movements, that he looked every moment +as if he would run up against something or do some damage. But he did +not; and the lady of the house seemed to be well aware that he would +not, for she did not grow a shade paler when he rushed with heavy steps +round a table crowded with beautiful cups, or when he man[oe]uvred near +a large mirror that reached down to the floor, or even when he seized a +flower-pot of beautifully painted porcelain and swung it round in the +air as if desirous of making its colours play. Moreover, before dinner +he subjected everything in the Professor's room to a most minute +examination; he also took down a picture from the wall and hung it up +again, standing on one of the cushioned chairs to do so. At the same +time he talked a good deal and vehemently; at one time his thoughts +kept leaping, as it were, from one subject to another (this was most +conspicuous during dinner); at another, he was unable to have done with +an idea; seizing upon it again and again, he gave it all sorts of +wonderful twists and turns, and couldn't get back into the ordinary +track until something else took hold of his fancy. Sometimes his voice +was rough and harsh and screeching, and sometimes it was low and +drawling and singing; but at no time did it harmonize with what he was +talking about. Music was the subject of conversation; the praises of a +new composer were being sung, when Krespel, smiling, said in his low +singing tones, "I wish the devil with his pitchfork would hurl that +atrocious garbler of music millions of fathoms down to the bottomless +pit of hell!" Then he burst out passionately and wildly, "She is an +angel of heaven, nothing but pure God-given music!--the paragon and +queen of song!"--and tears stood in his eyes. To understand this, we +had to go back to a celebrated _artiste_, who had been the subject of +conversation an hour before. + +Just at this time a roast hare was on the table; I noticed that Krespel +carefully removed every particle of meat from the bones on his plate, +and was most particular in his inquiries after the hare's feet; these +the Professor's little five-year-old daughter now brought to him with a +very pretty smile. Besides, the children had cast many friendly glances +towards Krespel during dinner; now they rose and drew nearer to him, +but not without signs of timorous awe. What's the meaning of that? +thought I to myself. Dessert was brought in; then the Councillor took a +little box from his pocket, in which he had a miniature lathe of steel. +This he immediately screwed fast to the table, and turning the bones +with incredible skill and rapidity, he made all sorts of little fancy +boxes and balls, which the children received with cries of delight. +Just as we were rising from table, the Professor's niece asked, "And +what is our Antonia doing?" Krespel's face was like that of one who has +bitten of a sour orange and wants to look as if it were a sweet one; +but this expression soon changed into the likeness of a hideous mask, +whilst he laughed behind it with downright bitter, fierce, and as it +seemed to me, satanic scorn. "Our Antonia? our dear Antonia?" he asked +in his drawling, disagreeable singing way. The Professor hastened to +intervene; in the reproving glance which he gave his niece I read that +she had touched a point likely to stir up unpleasant memories in +Krespel's heart. "How are you getting on with your violins?" interposed +the Professor in a jovial manner, taking the Councillor by both hands. +Then Krespel's countenance cleared up, and with a firm voice he +replied, "Capitally, Professor; you recollect my telling you of the +lucky chance which threw that splendid Amati[1] into my hands. Well, +I've only cut it open to-day--not before to-day. I hope Antonia has +carefully taken the rest of it to pieces." "Antonia is a good child," +remarked the Professor. "Yes, indeed, that she is," cried the +Councillor, whisking himself round; then, seizing his hat and stick, he +hastily rushed out of the room. I saw in the mirror how that tears were +standing in his eyes. + +As soon as the Councillor was gone, I at once urged the Professor to +explain to me what Krespel had to do with violins, and particularly +with Antonia. "Well," replied the Professor, "not only is the +Councillor a remarkably eccentric fellow altogether, but he practises +violin-making in his own crack-brained way." "Violin-making!" I +exclaimed, perfectly astonished. "Yes," continued the Professor, +"according to the judgment of men who understand the thing, Krespel +makes the very best violins that can be found nowadays; formerly he +would frequently let other people play on those in which he had been +especially successful, but that's been all over and done with now for a +long time. As soon as he has finished a violin he plays on it himself +for one or two hours, with very remarkable power and with the most +exquisite expression, then he hangs it up beside the rest, and never +touches it again or suffers anybody else to touch it. If a violin by +any of the eminent old masters is hunted up anywhere, the Councillor +buys it immediately, no matter what the price put upon it. But he plays +it as he does his own violins, only once; then he takes it to pieces in +order to examine closely its inner structure, and should he fancy he +hasn't found exactly what he sought for, he in a pet throws the pieces +into a big chest, which is already full of the remains of broken +violins." "But who and what is Antonia?" I inquired, hastily and +impetuously. "Well, now, that," continued the Professor, "that is a +thing which might very well make me conceive an unconquerable aversion +to the Councillor, were I not convinced that there is some peculiar +secret behind it, for he is such a good-natured fellow at bottom as to +be sometimes guilty of weakness. When he came to H---- several years +ago, he led the life of an anchorite, along with an old housekeeper, in +---- Street. Soon, by his oddities, he excited the curiosity of his +neighbours; and immediately he became aware of this, he sought and made +acquaintances. Not only in my house but everywhere we became so +accustomed to him that he grew to be indispensable. In spite of his +rude exterior, even the children liked him, without ever proving a +nuisance to him; for notwithstanding all their friendly passages +together, they always retained a certain timorous awe of him, which +secured him against all over-familiarity. You have to-day had an +example of the way in which he wins their hearts by his ready skill in +various things. We all took him at first for a crusty old bachelor, and +he never contradicted us. After he had been living here some time, he +went away, nobody knew where, and returned at the end of some months. +The evening following his return his windows were lit up to an unusual +extent! this alone was sufficient to arouse his neighbours' attention, +and they soon heard the surpassingly beautiful voice of a female +singing to the accompaniment of a piano. Then the music of a violin was +heard chiming in and entering upon a keen ardent contest with the +voice. They knew at once that the player was the Councillor. I myself +mixed in the large crowd which had gathered in front of his house to +listen to this extraordinary concert; and I must confess that, beside +this voice and the peculiar, deep, soul-stirring impression which the +execution made upon me, the singing of the most celebrated _artistes_ +whom I had ever heard seemed to me feeble and void of expression. Until +then I had had no conception of such long-sustained notes, of such +nightingale trills, of such undulations of musical sound, of such +swelling up to the strength of organ-notes, of such dying away to the +faintest whisper. There was not one whom the sweet witchery did not +enthral; and when the singer ceased, nothing but soft sighs broke the +impressive silence. Somewhere about midnight the Councillor was heard +talking violently, and another male voice seemed, to judge from the +tones, to be reproaching him, whilst at intervals the broken words of a +sobbing girl could be detected. The Councillor continued to shout with +increasing violence, until he fell into that drawling, singing way that +you know. He was interrupted by a loud scream from the girl, and then +all was as still as death. Suddenly a loud racket was heard on the +stairs; a young man rushed out sobbing, threw himself into a +post-chaise which stood below, and drove rapidly away. The next day the +Councillor was very cheerful, and nobody had the courage to question +him about the events of the previous night. But on inquiring of the +housekeeper, we gathered that the Councillor had brought home with him +an extraordinarily pretty young lady whom he called Antonia, and she it +was who had sung so beautifully. A young man also had come along with +them; he had treated Antonia very tenderly, and must evidently have +been her betrothed. But he, since the Councillor peremptorily insisted +on it, had had to go away again in a hurry. What the relations between +Antonia and the Councillor are has remained until now a secret, but +this much is certain, that he tyrannises over the poor girl in the most +hateful fashion. He watches her as Doctor Bartholo watches his ward in +the _Barber of Seville_; she hardly dare show herself at the window; +and if, yielding now and again to her earnest entreaties, he takes her +into society, he follows her with Argus' eyes, and will on no account +suffer a musical note to be sounded, far less let Antonia sing--indeed, +she is not permitted to sing in his own house. Antonia's singing on +that memorable night, has, therefore, come to be regarded by the +townspeople in the light of a tradition of some marvellous wonder that +suffices to stir the heart and the fancy; and even those who did not +hear it often exclaim, whenever any other singer attempts to display +her powers in the place, 'What sort of a wretched squeaking do you call +that? Nobody but Antonia knows how to sing.'" + +Having a singular weakness for such like fantastic histories, I found +it necessary, as may easily be imagined, to make Antonia's +acquaintance. I had myself often enough heard the popular sayings about +her singing, but had never imagined that that exquisite _artiste_ was +living in the place, held a captive in the bonds of this eccentric +Krespel like the victim of a tyrannous sorcerer. Naturally enough I +heard in my dreams on the following night Antonia's marvellous voice, +and as she besought me in the most touching manner in a glorious +_adagio_ movement (very ridiculously it seemed to me, as if I had +composed it myself) to save her, I soon resolved, like a second +Astolpho,[2] to penetrate into Krespel's house, as if into another +Alcina's magic castle, and deliver the queen of song from her +ignominious fetters. + +It all came about in a different way from what I had expected; I had +seen the Councillor scarcely more than two or three times, and eagerly +discussed with him the best method of constructing violins, when he +invited me to call and see him. I did so; and he showed me his +treasures of violins. There were fully thirty of them hanging up in a +closet; one amongst them bore conspicuously all the marks of great +antiquity (a carved lion's head, &c.), and, hung up higher than the +rest and surmounted by a crown of flowers, it seemed to exercise a +queenly supremacy over them. "This violin," said Krespel, on my making +some inquiry relative to it, "this violin is a very remarkable and +curious specimen of the work of some unknown master, probably of +Tartini's[3] age. I am perfectly convinced that there is something +especially exceptional in its inner construction, and that, if I took +it to pieces, a secret would be revealed to me which I have long been +seeking to discover, but--laugh at me if you like--this senseless thing +which only gives signs of life and sound as I make it, often speaks to +me in a strange way of itself. The first time I played upon it I +somehow fancied that I was only the magnetiser who has the power of +moving his subject to reveal of his own accord in words the visions of +his inner nature. Don't go away with the belief that I am such a fool +as to attach even the slightest importance to such fantastic notions, +and yet it's certainly strange that I could never prevail upon myself +to cut open that dumb lifeless thing there. I am very pleased now that +I have not cut it open, for since Antonia has been with me I sometimes +play to her upon this violin. For Antonia is fond of it--very fond of +it." As the Councillor uttered these words with visible signs of +emotion, I felt encouraged to hazard the question, "Will you not play +it to me, Councillor." Krespel made a wry face, and falling into his +drawling, singing way, said, "No, my good sir!" and that was an end of +the matter. Then I had to look at all sorts of rare curiosities, the +greater part of them childish trifles; at last thrusting his arm into a +chest, he brought out a folded piece of paper, which he pressed into my +hand, adding solemnly, "You are a lover of art; take this present as a +priceless memento, which you must value at all times above everything +else." Therewith he took me by the shoulders and gently pushed me +towards the door, embracing me on the threshold. That is to say, I was +in a symbolical manner virtually kicked out of doors. Unfolding the +paper, I found a piece of a first string of a violin about an eighth of +an inch in length, with the words, "A piece of the treble string with +which the deceased Staraitz[4] strung his violin for the last concert +at which he ever played." + +This summary dismissal at mention of Antonia's name led me to infer +that I should never see her; but I was mistaken, for on my second visit +to the Councillor's I found her in his room, assisting him to put a +violin together. At first sight Antonia did not make a strong +impression; but soon I found it impossible to tear myself away from her +blue eyes, her sweet rosy lips, her uncommonly graceful, lovely form. +She was very pale; but a shrewd remark or a merry sally would call up a +winning smile on her face and suffuse her cheeks with a deep burning +flush, which, however, soon faded away to a faint rosy glow. My +conversation with her was quite unconstrained, and yet I saw nothing +whatever of the Argus-like watchings on Krespel's part which the +Professor had imputed to him; on the contrary, his behaviour moved +along the customary lines, nay, he even seemed to approve of my +conversation with Antonia. So I often stepped in to see the Councillor; +and as we became accustomed to each other's society, a singular feeling +of homeliness, taking possession of our little circle of three, filled +our hearts with inward happiness. I still continued to derive exquisite +enjoyment from the Councillor's strange crotchets and oddities; but it +was of course Antonia's irresistible charms alone which attracted me, +and led me to put up with a good deal which I should otherwise, in the +frame of mind in which I then was, have impatiently shunned. For it +only too often happened that in the Councillor's characteristic +extravagance there was mingled much that was dull and tiresome; and it +was in a special degree irritating to me that, as often as I turned the +conversation upon music, and particularly upon singing, he was sure to +interrupt me, with that sardonic smile upon his face and those +repulsive singing tones of his, by some remark of a quite opposite +tendency, very often of a commonplace character. From the great +distress which at such times Antonia's glances betrayed, I perceived +that he only did it to deprive me of a pretext for calling upon her for +a song. But I didn't relinquish my design. The hindrances which the +Councillor threw in my way only strengthened my resolution to overcome +them; I must hear Antonia sing if I was not to pine away in reveries +and dim aspirations for want of hearing her. + +One evening Krespel was in an uncommonly good humour; he had been +taking an old Cremona violin to pieces, and had discovered that the +sound-post was fixed half a line more obliquely than usual--an +important discovery! one of incalculable advantage in the practical +work of making violins! I succeeded in setting him off at full speed on +his hobby of the true art of violin-playing. Mention of the way in +which the old masters picked up their dexterity in execution from +really great singers (which was what Krespel happened just then to be +expatiating upon), naturally paved the way for the remark that now the +practice was the exact opposite of this, the vocal score erroneously +following the affected and abrupt transitions and rapid scaling of the +instrumentalists. "What is more nonsensical," I cried, leaping from my +chair, running to the piano, and opening it quickly, "what is more +nonsensical than such an execrable style as this, which, far from being +music, is much more like the noise of peas rolling across the floor?" +At the same time I sang several of the modern _fermatas_, which rush up +and down and hum like a well-spun peg-top, striking a few villanous +chords by way of accompaniment Krespel laughed outrageously and +screamed, "Ha! ha! methinks I hear our German-Italians or our +Italian-Germans struggling with an aria from Pucitta,[5] or +Portogallo,[6] or some other _Maestro di capella_, or rather _schiavo +d'un primo uomo_."[7] Now, thought I, now's the time; so turning to +Antonia, I remarked, "Antonia knows nothing of such singing as that, I +believe?" At the same time I struck up one of old Leonardo Leo's[8] +beautiful soul-stirring songs. Then Antonia's cheeks glowed; heavenly +radiance sparkled in her eyes, which grew full of reawakened +inspiration; she hastened to the piano; she opened her lips; but at +that very moment Krespel pushed her away, grasped me by the shoulders, +and with a shriek that rose up to a tenor pitch, cried, "My son--my +son--my son!" And then he immediately went on, singing very softly, and +grasping my hand with a bow that was the pink of politeness, "In very +truth, my esteemed and honourable student-friend, in very truth it +would be a violation of the codes of social intercourse, as well as of +all good manners, were I to express aloud and in a stirring way my wish +that here, on this very spot, the devil from hell would softly break +your neck with his burning claws, and so in a sense make short work of +you; but, setting that aside, you must acknowledge, my dearest friend, +that it is rapidly growing dark, and there are no lamps burning +to-night so that, even though I did not kick you downstairs at once, +your darling limbs might still run a risk of suffering damage. Go home +by all means; and cherish a kind remembrance of your faithful friend, +if it should happen that you never,--pray, understand me,--if you +should never see him in his own house again." Therewith he embraced +me, and, still keeping fast hold of me, turned with me slowly towards +the door, so that I could not get another single look at Antonia. Of +course it is plain enough that in my position I couldn't thrash the +Councillor, though that is what he really deserved. The Professor +enjoyed a good laugh at my expense, and assured me that I had ruined +for ever all hopes of retaining the Councillor's friendship. Antonia +was too dear to me, I might say too holy, for me to go and play the +part of the languishing lover and stand gazing up at her window, or to +fill the _rôle_ of the lovesick adventurer. Completely upset, I went +away from H----; but, as is usual in such cases, the brilliant colours +of the picture of my fancy faded, and the recollection of Antonia, as +well as of Antonia's singing (which I had never heard), often fell upon +my heart like a soft faint trembling light, comforting me. + +Two years afterwards I received an appointment in B----, and set out on +a journey to the south of Germany. The towers of M---- rose before me +in the red vaporous glow of the evening; the nearer I came the more was +I oppressed by an indescribable feeling of the most agonising distress; +it lay upon me like a heavy burden; I could not breathe; I was obliged +to get out of my carriage into the open air. But my anguish continued +to increase until it became actual physical pain. Soon I seemed to hear +the strains of a solemn chorale floating in the air; the sounds +continued to grow more distinct; I realised the fact that they were +men's voices chanting a church chorale. "What's that? what's that?" I +cried, a burning stab darting as it were through my breast "Don't you +see?" replied the coachman, who was driving along beside me, "why, +don't you see? they're burying somebody up yonder in yon churchyard." +And indeed we were near the churchyard; I saw a circle of men clothed +in black standing round a grave, which was on the point of being +closed. Tears started to my eyes; I somehow fancied they were burying +there all the joy and all the happiness of life. Moving on rapidly down +the hill, I was no longer able to see into the churchyard; the chorale +came to an end, and I perceived not far distant from the gate some of +the mourners returning from the funeral. The Professor, with his niece +on his arm, both in deep mourning, went close past me without noticing +me. The young lady had her handkerchief pressed close to her eyes, and +was weeping bitterly. In the frame of mind in which I then was I could +not possibly go into the town, so I sent on my servant with the +carriage to the hotel where I usually put up, whilst I took a turn in +the familiar neighbourhood, to get rid of a mood that was possibly only +due to physical causes, such as heating on the journey, &c. On arriving +at a well-known avenue, which leads to a pleasure resort, I came upon a +most extraordinary spectacle. Councillor Krespel was being conducted by +two mourners, from whom he appeared to be endeavouring to make his +escape by all sorts of strange twists and turns. As usual, he was +dressed in his own curious home-made grey coat; but from his little +cocked-hat, which he wore perched over one ear in military fashion, a +long narrow ribbon of black crape fluttered backwards and forwards in +the wind. Around his waist he had buckled a black sword-belt; but +instead of a sword he had stuck a long fiddle-bow into it. A creepy +shudder ran through my limbs: "He's insane," thought I, as I slowly +followed them. The Councillor's companions led him as far as his house, +where he embraced them, laughing loudly. They left him; and then +his glance fell upon me, for I now stood near him. He stared at me +fixedly for some time; then he cried in a hollow voice, "Welcome, my +student-friend! you also understand it!" Therewith he took me by the +arm and pulled me into the house, up the steps, into the room where the +violins hung. They were all draped in black crape; the violin of the +old master was missing; in its place was a cypress wreath. I knew what +had happened. "Antonia! Antonia!" I cried in inconsolable grief. The +Councillor, with his arms crossed on his breast, stood beside me, as if +turned into stone. I pointed to the cypress wreath. "When she died," +said he in a very hoarse solemn voice, "when she died, the soundpost of +that violin broke into pieces with a ringing crack, and the sound-board +was split from end to end. The faithful instrument could only live with +her and in her; it lies beside her in the coffin, it has been buried +with her." Deeply agitated, I sank down upon a chair, whilst the +Councillor began to sing a gay song in a husky voice; it was truly +horrible to see him hopping about on one foot, and the crape strings +(he still had his hat on) flying about the room and up to the violins +hanging on the walls. Indeed, I could not repress a loud cry that rose +to my lips when, on the Councillor making an abrupt turn, the crape +came all over me; I fancied he wanted to envelop me in it and drag me +down into the horrible dark depths of insanity. Suddenly he stood still +and addressed me in his singing way, "My son! my son! why do you call +out? Have you espied the angel of death? That always precedes the +ceremony." Stepping into the middle of the room, he took the violin-bow +out of his sword-belt and, holding it over his head with both hands, +broke it into a thousand pieces. Then, with a loud laugh, he cried, +"Now you imagine my sentence is pronounced, don't you, my son? but it's +nothing of the kind--not at all! not at all! Now I'm free--free--free-- +hurrah! I'm free! Now I shall make no more violins--no more +violins--Hurrah! no more violins!" This he sang to a horrible mirthful +tune, again spinning round on one foot. Perfectly aghast, I was making +the best of my way to the door, when he held me fast, saying quite +calmly, "Stay, my student friend, pray don't think from this outbreak +of grief, which is torturing me as if with the agonies of death, that +I am insane; I only do it because a short time ago I made myself a +dressing-gown in which I wanted to look like Fate or like God!" The +Councillor then went on with a medley of silly and awful rubbish, until +he fell down utterly exhausted; I called up the old housekeeper, and +was very pleased to find myself in the open air again. + +I never doubted for a moment that Krespel had become insane; the +Professor, however, asserted the contrary. "There are men," he +remarked, "from whom nature or a special destiny has taken away the +cover behind which the mad folly of the rest of us runs its course +unobserved. They are like thin-skinned insects, which, as we watch the +restless play of their muscles, seem to be misshapen, while +nevertheless everything soon comes back into its proper form again. All +that with us remains thought, passes over with Krespel into action. +That bitter scorn which the spirit that is wrapped up in the doings and +dealings of the earth often has at hand, Krespel gives vent to in +outrageous gestures and agile caprioles. But these are his lightning +conductor. What comes up out of the earth he gives again to the earth, +but what is divine, that he keeps; and so I believe that his inner +consciousness, in spite of the apparent madness which springs from it +to the surface, is as right as a trivet. To be sure, Antonia's sudden +death grieves him sore, but I warrant that tomorrow will see him going +along in his old jog-trot way as usual." And the Professor's prediction +was almost literally filled. Next day the Councillor appeared to be +just as he formerly was, only he averred that he would never make +another violin, nor yet ever play on another. And, as I learned later, +he kept his word. + +Hints which the Professor let fall confirmed my own private conviction +that the so carefully guarded secret of the Councillor's relations to +Antonia, nay, that even her death, was a crime which must weigh heavily +upon him, a crime that could not be atoned for. I determined that I +would not leave H---- without taxing him with the offence which I +conceived him to be guilty of; I determined to shake his heart down to +its very roots, and so compel him to make open confession of the +terrible deed. The more I reflected upon the matter the clearer it grew +in my own mind that Krespel must be a villain, and in the same +proportion did my intended reproach, which assumed of itself the form +of a real rhetorical masterpiece, wax more fiery and more impressive. +Thus equipped and mightily incensed, I hurried to his house. I found +him with a calm smiling countenance making playthings. "How can peace," +I burst out, "how can peace find lodgment even for a single moment in +your breast, so long as the memory of your horrible deed preys like a +serpent upon you?" He gazed at me in amazement, and laid his chisel +aside. "What do you mean, my dear sir?" he asked; "pray take a seat." +But my indignation chafing me more and more, I went on to accuse him +directly of having murdered Antonia, and to threaten him with the +vengeance of the Eternal. + +Further, as a newly full-fledged lawyer, full of my profession, I went +so far as to give him to understand that I would leave no stone +unturned to get a clue to the business, and so deliver him here in this +world into the hands of an earthly judge. I must confess that I was +considerably disconcerted when, at the conclusion of my violent and +pompous harangue, the Councillor, without answering so much as a +single word, calmly fixed his eyes upon me as though expecting me +to go on again. And this I did indeed attempt to do, but it sounded so +ill-founded and so stupid as well that I soon grew silent again. +Krespel gloated over my embarrassment, whilst a malicious ironical +smile flitted across his face. Then he grew very grave, and addressed +me in solemn tones. "Young man, no doubt you think I am foolish, +insane; that I can pardon you, since we are both confined in the same +madhouse; and you only blame me for deluding myself with the idea that +I am God the Father because you imagine yourself to be God the Son. But +how do you dare desire to insinuate yourself into the secrets and lay +bare the hidden motives of a life that is strange to you and that must +continue so? She has gone and the mystery is solved." He ceased +speaking, rose, and traversed the room backwards and forwards several +times. I ventured to ask for an explanation; he fixed his eyes upon me, +grasped me by the hand, and led me to the window, which he threw wide +open. Propping himself upon his arms, he leaned out, and, looking down +into the garden, told me the history of his life. When he finished I +left him, touched and ashamed. + +In a few words, his relations with Antonia rose in the following way. +Twenty years before, the Councillor had been led into Italy by his +favourite engrossing passion of hunting up and buying the best violins +of the old masters. At that time he had not yet begun to make them +himself, and so of course he had not begun to take to pieces those +which he bought. In Venice he heard the celebrated singer Angela ----i, +who at that time was playing with splendid success as _prima donna_ at +St. Benedict's Theatre. His enthusiasm was awakened, not only in her +art--which Signora Angela had indeed brought to a high pitch of +perfection--but in her angelic beauty as well. He sought her +acquaintance; and in spite of all his rugged manners he succeeded in +winning her heart, principally through his bold and yet at the same +time masterly violin-playing. Close intimacy led in a few weeks to +marriage, which, however, was kept a secret, because Angela was +unwilling to sever her connection with the theatre, neither did she +wish to part with her professional name, that by which she was +celebrated, nor to add to it the cacophonous "Krespel." With the most +extravagant irony he described to me what a strange life of worry and +torture Angela led him as soon as she became his wife. Krespel was of +opinion that more capriciousness and waywardness were concentrated in +Angela's little person than in all the rest of the _prima donnas_ in +the world put together. If he now and again presumed to stand up in his +own defence, she let loose a whole army of abbots, musical composers, +and students upon him, who, ignorant of his true connection with +Angela, soundly rated him as a most intolerable, ungallant lover for +not submitting to all the Signora's caprices. It was just after one of +these stormy scenes that Krespel fled to Angela's country seat to try +and forget in playing fantasias on his Cremona, violin the annoyances +of the day. But he had not been there long before the Signora, who had +followed hard after him, stepped into the room. She was in an +affectionate humour; she embraced her husband, overwhelmed him with +sweet and languishing glances, and rested her pretty head on his +shoulder. But Krespel, carried away into the world of music, continued +to play on until the walls echoed again; thus he chanced to touch the +Signora somewhat ungently with his arm and the fiddle-bow. She leapt +back full of fury, shrieking that he was a "German brute," snatched the +violin from his hands, and dashed it on the marble table into a +thousand pieces. Krespel stood like a statue of stone before her; but +then, as if awakening out of a dream, he seized her with the strength +of a giant and threw her out of the window of her own house, and, +without troubling himself about anything more, fled back to Venice--to +Germany. It was not, however, until some time had elapsed that he had a +clear recollection of what he had done; although he knew that the +window was scarcely five feet from the ground, and although he was +fully cognisant of the necessity, under the above-mentioned +circumstances, of throwing the Signora out of the window, he yet felt +troubled by a sense of painful uneasiness, and the more so since she +had imparted to him in no ambiguous terms an interesting secret as to +her condition. He hardly dared to make inquiries; and he was not a +little surprised about eight months afterwards at receiving a tender +letter from his beloved wife, in which she made not the slightest +allusion to what had taken place in her country house, only adding to +the intelligence that she had been safely delivered of a sweet little +daughter the heartfelt prayer that her dear husband and now a happy +father would come at once to Venice. That however Krespel did not do; +rather he appealed to a confidential friend for a more circumstantial +account of the details, and learned that the Signora had alighted upon +the soft grass as lightly as a bird, and that the sole consequences of +the fall or shock had been psychic. That is to say, after Krespel's +heroic deed she had become completely altered; she never showed a trace +of caprice, of her former freaks, or of her teasing habits; and the +composer who wrote for the next carnival was the happiest fellow under +the sun, since the Signora was willing to sing his music without the +scores and hundreds of changes which she at other times had insisted +upon. "To be sure," added his friend, "there was every reason for +preserving the secret of Angela's cure, else every day would see lady +singers flying through windows." The Councillor was not a little +excited at this news; he engaged horses; he took his seat in the +carriage. "Stop!" he cried suddenly. "Why, there's not a shadow of +doubt," he murmured to himself, "that as soon as Angela sets eyes upon +me again the evil spirit will recover his power and once more take +possession of her. And since I have already thrown her out of the +window, what could I do if a similar case were to occur again? What +would there be left for me to do?" He got out of the carriage, and +wrote an affectionate letter to his wife, making graceful allusion to +her tenderness in especially dwelling upon the fact that his tiny +daughter had like him a little mole behind the ear, and--remained in +Germany. Now ensued an active correspondence between them. Assurances +of unchanged affection--invitations--laments over the absence of the +beloved one--thwarted wishes--hopes, &c.--flew backwards and forwards +from Venice to H----, from H---- to Venice. At length Angela came to +Germany, and, as is well known, sang with brilliant success as _prima +donna_ at the great theatre in F----. Despite the fact that she was no +longer young, she won all hearts by the irresistible charm of her +wonderfully splendid singing. At that time she had not lost her voice +in the least degree. Meanwhile, Antonia had been growing up; and her +mother never tired of writing to tell her father how that a singer of +the first rank was developing in her. Krespel's friends in F---- also +confirmed this intelligence, and urged him to come for once to F---- to +see and admire this uncommon sight of two such glorious singers. They +had not the slightest suspicion of the close relations in which Krespel +stood to the pair. Willingly would he have seen with his own eyes the +daughter who occupied so large a place in his heart, and who moreover +often appeared to him in his dreams; but as often as he thought upon +his wife he felt very uncomfortable, and so he remained at home amongst +his broken violins. There was a certain promising young composer, +B---- of F----, who was found to have suddenly disappeared, nobody knew +where. This young man fell so deeply in love with Antonia that, as she +returned his love, he earnestly besought her mother to consent to an +immediate union, sanctified as it would further be by art. Angela had +nothing to urge against his suit; and the Councillor the more readily +gave his consent that the young composer's productions had found +favour before his rigorous critical judgment. Krespel was expecting +to hear of the consummation of the marriage, when he received +instead a black-sealed envelope addressed in a strange hand. Doctor +R---- conveyed to the Councillor the sad intelligence that Angela had +fallen seriously ill in consequence of a cold caught at the theatre, +and that during the night immediately preceding what was to have been +Antonia's wedding-day, she had died. To him, the Doctor, Angela had +disclosed the fact that she was Krespel's wife, and that Antonia was +his daughter; he, Krespel, had better hasten therefore to take charge +of the orphan. Notwithstanding that the Councillor was a good deal +upset by this news of Angela's death, he soon began to feel that an +antipathetic, disturbing influence had departed out of his life, and +that now for the first time he could begin to breathe freely. The very +same day he set out for F----. You could not credit how heartrending +was the Councillor's description of the moment when he first saw +Antonia. Even in the fantastic oddities of his expression there was +such a marvellous power of description that I am unable to give even so +much as a faint indication of it. Antonia inherited all her mother's +amiability and all her mother's charms, but not the repellent reverse +of the medal. There was no chronic moral ulcer, which might break out +from time to time. Antonia's betrothed put in an appearance, whilst +Antonia herself, fathoming with happy instinct the deeper-lying +character of her wonderful father, sang one of old Padre Martini's[9] +motets, which, she knew, Krespel in the heyday of his courtship had +never grown tired of hearing her mother sing. The tears ran in streams +down Krespel's cheeks; even Angela he had never heard sing like that. +Antonia's voice was of a very remarkable and altogether peculiar +timbre, at one time it was like the sighing of an Æolian harp, at +another like the warbled gush of the nightingale. It seemed as if there +was not room for such notes in the human breast. Antonia, blushing with +joy and happiness, sang on and on--all her most beautiful songs, +B---- playing between whiles as only enthusiasm that is intoxicated +with delight can play. Krespel was at first transported with rapture, +then he grew thoughtful--still--absorbed in reflection. At length +he leapt to his feet, pressed Antonia to his heart, and begged +her in a low husky voice, "Sing no more if you love me--my heart +is bursting--I fear--I fear--don't sing again." + +"No!" remarked the Councillor next day to Doctor R----, "when, as she +sang, her blushes gathered into two dark red spots on her pale cheeks, +I knew it had nothing to do with your nonsensical family likenesses, I +knew it was what I dreaded." The Doctor, whose countenance had shown +signs of deep distress from the very beginning of the conversation, +replied, "Whether it arises from a too early taxing of her powers of +song, or whether the fault is Nature's--enough, Antonia labours under +an organic failure in the chest, while it is from it too that her voice +derives its wonderful power and its singular timbre, which I might +almost say transcend the limits of human capabilities of song. But it +bears the announcement of her early death; for, if she continues to +sing, I wouldn't give her at the most more than six months longer to +live." Krespel's heart was lacerated as if by the stabs of hundreds of +stinging knives. It was as though his life had been for the first time +overshadowed by a beautiful tree full of the most magnificent blossoms, +and now it was to be sawn to pieces at the roots, so that it could not +grow green and blossom any more. His resolution was taken. He told +Antonia all; he put the alternatives before her--whether she would +follow her betrothed and yield to his and the world's seductions, but +with the certainty of dying early, or whether she would spread round +her father in his old days that joy and peace which had hitherto been +unknown to him, and so secure a long life. She threw herself sobbing +into his arms, and he, knowing the heartrending trial that was before +her, did not press for a more explicit declaration. He talked the +matter over with her betrothed; but, notwithstanding that the latter +averred that no note should ever cross Antonia's lips, the Councillor +was only too well aware that even B---- could not resist the temptation +of hearing her sing, at any rate arias of his own composition. And the +world, the musical public, even though acquainted with the nature of +the singer's affliction, would certainly not relinquish its claims to +hear her, for in cases where pleasure is concerned people of this class +are very selfish and cruel. The Councillor disappeared from F---- along +with Antonia, and came to H----. B---- was in despair when he learnt +that they had gone. He set out on their track, overtook them, and +arrived at H---- at the same time that they did. "Let me see him only +once, and then die!" entreated Antonia "Die! die!" cried Krespel, wild +with anger, an icy shudder running through him. His daughter, the only +creature in the wide world who had awakened in him the springs of +unknown joy, who alone had reconciled him to life, tore herself away +from his heart, and he--he suffered the terrible trial to take place. +B---- sat down to the piano; Antonia sang; Krespel fiddled away +merrily, until the two red spots showed themselves on Antonia's cheeks. +Then he bade her stop; and as B was taking leave of his betrothed, she +suddenly fell to the floor with a loud scream. "I thought," continued +Krespel in his narration, "I thought that she was, as I had +anticipated, really dead; but as I had prepared myself for the worst, +my calmness did not leave me, nor my self-command desert me. I grasped +B----, who stood like a silly sheep in his dismay, by the shoulders, +and said (here the Councillor fell into his singing tone), 'Now that +you, my estimable pianoforte-player, have, as you wished and desired, +really murdered your betrothed, you may quietly take your departure; at +least have the goodness to make yourself scarce before I run my bright +hanger through your heart. My daughter, who, as you see, is rather +pale, could very well do with some colour from your precious blood. +Make haste and run, for I might also hurl a nimble knife or two after +you.' I must, I suppose, have looked rather formidable as I uttered +these words, for, with a cry of the greatest terror, B---- tore himself +loose from my grasp, rushed out of the room, and down the steps." +Directly after B---- was gone, when the Councillor tried to lift up his +daughter, who lay unconscious on the floor, she opened her eyes with a +deep sigh, but soon closed them again as if about to die. Then +Krespel's grief found vent aloud, and would not be comforted. The +Doctor, whom the old housekeeper had called in, pronounced Antonia's +case a somewhat serious but by no means dangerous attack; and she did +indeed recover more quickly than her father had dared to hope. She now +clung to him with the most confiding childlike affection; she entered +into his favourite hobbies--into his mad schemes and whims. She helped +him take old violins to pieces and glue new ones together. "I won't +sing again any more, but live for you," she often said, sweetly smiling +upon him, after she had been asked to sing and had refused. Such +appeals however the Councillor was anxious to spare her as much as +possible; therefore it was that he was unwilling to take her into +society, and solicitously shunned all music. He well understood how +painful it must be for her to forego altogether the exercise of that +art which she had brought to such a pitch of perfection. When the +Councillor bought the wonderful violin that he had buried with Antonia, +and was about to take it to pieces, she met him with such sadness in +her face and softly breathed the petition, "What! this as well?" By +some power, which he could not explain, he felt impelled to leave this +particular instrument unbroken, and to play upon it. Scarcely had he +drawn the first few notes from it than Antonia cried aloud with joy, +"Why, that's me!--now I shall sing again." And, in truth, there was +something remarkably striking about the clear, silvery, bell-like tones +of the violin; they seemed to have been engendered in the human soul. +Krespel's heart was deeply moved; he played, too, better than ever. As +he ran up and down the scale, playing bold passages with consummate +power and expression, she clapped her hands together and cried with +delight, "I did that well! I did that well!" + +From this time onwards her life was filled with peace and cheerfulness. +She often said to the Councillor, "I should like to sing something, +father." Then Krespel would take his violin down from the wall and play +her most beautiful songs, and her heart was right glad and happy. +Shortly before my arrival in H----, the Councillor fancied one night +that he heard somebody playing the piano in the adjoining room, and he +soon made out distinctly that B---- was flourishing on the instrument +in his usual style. He wished to get up, but felt himself held down as +if by a dead weight, and lying as if fettered in iron bonds; he was +utterly unable to move an inch. Then Antonia's voice was heard singing +low and soft; soon, however, it began to rise and rise in volume until +it became an ear-splitting fortissimo; and at length she passed over +into a powerfully impressive song which B---- had once composed for her +in the devotional style of the old masters. Krespel described his +condition as being incomprehensible, for terrible anguish was mingled +with a delight he had never experienced before. All at once he was +surrounded by a dazzling brightness, in which he beheld B---- and +Antonia locked in a close embrace, and gazing at each other in a +rapture of ecstasy. The music of the song and of the pianoforte +accompanying it went on without any visible signs that Antonia sang or +that B---- touched the instrument. Then the Councillor fell into a sort +of dead faint, whilst the images vanished away. On awakening he still +felt the terrible anguish of his dream. He rushed into Antonia's room. +She lay on the sofa, her eyes closed, a sweet angelic smile on her +face, her hands devoutly folded, and looking as if asleep and dreaming +of the joys and raptures of heaven. But she was--dead. + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "THE CREMONA VIOLIN": + +[Footnote 1: The Amati were a celebrated family of violin-makers of +the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, belonging to Cremona in Italy. +They form the connecting-link between the Brescian school of makers and +the greatest of all makers, Straduarius and Guanerius.] + +[Footnote 2: A reference to Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_. Astolpho, an +English cousin of Orlando, was a great boaster, but generous, +courteous, gay, and remarkably handsome; he was carried to Alcina's +island on the back of a whale.] + +[Footnote 3: Giuseppe Tartini, born in 1692, died in 1770; was one of +the most celebrated violinists of the eighteenth century, and the +discoverer (in 1714) of "resultant tones," or "Tartini's tones" as they +are frequently called. Most of his life was spent at Padua. He did much +to advance the art of the violinist, both by his compositions for that +instrument as well as by his treatise on its capabilities.] + +[Footnote 4: This was the name of a well-known musical family from +Bohemia. Karl Stamitz is the one here possibly meant, since he died +about eighteen or twenty years previous to the publication of this +tale.] + +[Footnote 5: Vincenzo Pucitta (1778-1861) was an Italian opera +composer, whose music "shows great facility, but no invention." He also +wrote several songs.] + +[Footnote 6: Il Portogallo was the Italian sobriquet of a Portuguese +musician named Mark Anthony Simâo (1763-1829). He lived alternately in +Italy and Portugal, and wrote several operas.] + +[Footnote 7: Literally, "The slave of a _primo uomo_," _primo uomo_ +being the masculine form corresponding to _prima donna_, that is, a +singer of hero's parts in operatic music. At one time also female parts +were sung and acted by men or boys.] + +[Footnote 8: Leonardo Leo, the chief Neapolitan representative of +Italian music in the first part of the eighteenth century, and author +of more than forty operas and nearly one hundred compositions for the +Church.] + +[Footnote 9: Giambattista Martini, more commonly called Padre Martini, +of Bologna, formed an influential school of music there in the latter +half of the eighteenth century. He wrote vocal and instrumental pieces +both for the church and for the theatre. He was also a learned +historian of music. He has the merit of having discerned and encouraged +the genius of Mozart when, a boy of fourteen, he visited Bologna in +1770.] + + + + + THE FERMATA. + + +Hummel's[1] amusing, vivacious picture, "Company in an Italian Inn," +became known by the Art Exhibition at Berlin in the autumn of 1814, +where it appeared, to the delight of all who saw and studied it An +arbour almost hidden in foliage--a table covered with wine-flasks and +fruits--two Italian ladies sitting at it opposite each other, one +singing, the other playing a guitar; between them, more in the +background, stands an abbot, acting as music-director. With his baton +raised, he is awaiting the moment when the Signora shall end, in a long +trill, the cadence which, with her eyes directed heavenwards, she is +just in the midst of; then down will come his hand, whilst the +guitarist gaily dashes off the dominant chord. The abbot is filled with +admiration--with exquisite delight--and at the same time his attention +is painfully on the stretch. He wouldn't miss the proper downward beat +for the world. He hardly dare breathe. He would like to stop the mouth +and wings of every buzzing bee and midge. So much the more therefore is +he annoyed at the bustling host who must needs come and bring the wine +just at this supreme, delicious moment. An outlook upon an avenue, +patterned by brilliant strips of light! There a horseman has pulled up, +and a glass of something refreshing to drink is being handed up to him +on horseback. + +Before this picture stood the two friends Edward and Theodore. "The +more I look at this singer," said Edward, "in her gay attire, who, +though rather oldish, is yet full of the true inspiration of her art, +and the more I am delighted with the grave but genuine Roman profile +and lovely form of the guitarist, and the more my estimable friend the +abbot amuses me, the more does the whole picture seem to me instinct +with free, strong, vital power. It is plainly a caricature in the +higher sense of the term, but rich in grace and vivacity. I should just +like to step into that arbour and open one of those dainty little +flasks which are ogling me from the table. I tell you what, I fancy I +can already smell something of the sweet fragrance of the noble wine. +Come, it were a sin for this solicitation to be wasted on the cold +senseless atmosphere that is about us here. Let us go and drain a flask +of Italian wine in honour of this fine picture, of art, and of merry +Italy, where life is exhilarating and given for pleasure." + +Whilst Edward was running on thus in disconnected sentences, Theodore +stood silent and deeply absorbed in reflection. "Ay, that we will, come +along," he said, starting up as if awakening out of a dream; but +nevertheless he had some difficulty in tearing himself away from the +picture, and as he mechanically followed his friend, he had to stop at +the door to cast another longing lingering look back upon the singer +and guitarist and abbot. Edward's proposal easily admitted of being +carried into execution. They crossed the street diagonally, and very +soon a flask exactly like those in the picture stood before them in +Sala Tarone's[2] little blue room. "It seems to me," said Edward, as +Theodore still continued very silent and thoughtful, even after several +glasses had been drunk, "it seems to me that the picture has made a +deeper impression upon you than upon me, and not such an agreeable +impression either." "I assure you," replied Theodore, "that I lost +nothing of the brightness and grace of that animated composition; yet +it is very singular,--it is a faithful representation of a scene out of +my own life, reproducing the portraits of the parties concerned in it +in a manner startlingly lifelike. You will, however, agree with me that +diverting memories also have the power of strangely moving the mind +when they suddenly spring up in this extraordinary and unexpected way, +as if awakened by the wave of a magician's wand. That's the case with +me just now." "What! a scene out of your own life!" exclaimed Edward, +quite astonished. "Do you mean to say the picture represents an episode +in your own life? I saw at once that the two ladies and the priest were +eminently successful portraits, but I never for a moment dreamed that +you had ever come across them in the course of your life. Come now, +tell me all about it, how it all came about; we are quite alone, nobody +else will come at this time o' day." "Willingly," answered Theodore, +"but unfortunately I must go a long way back--to my early youth in +fact." "Never mind; fire away," rejoined Edward; "I don't know over +much about your early days. If it lasts a good while, nothing worse +will happen than that we shall have to empty a bottle more than we at +first bargained for; and to that nobody will have any objection, +neither we, nor Mr. Tarone." + +"That, throwing everything else aside, I at length devoted myself +entirely to the noble art of music," began Theodore, "need excite +nobody's astonishment, for whilst still a boy I would hardly do +anything else but play, and spent hours and hours strumming on my +uncle's old creaking, jarring piano. The little town was very badly +provided for music; there was nobody who could give me instruction +except an old opinionated organist; he, however, was merely a dry +arithmetician, and plagued me to death with obscure, unmelodious +toccatas and fugues. But I held on bravely, without letting myself be +daunted. The old fellow was crabby, and often found a good deal of +fault, but he had only to play a good piece in his own powerful style, +and I was at once reconciled both with him and with his art. I was then +often in a curious state of mind; many pieces particularly of old +Sebastian Bach were almost like a fearful ghost-story, and I yielded +myself up to that feeling of pleasurable awe to which we are so prone +in the days of our fantastic youth. But I entered into a veritable Eden +when, as sometimes happened in winter, the bandmaster of the town and +his colleagues, supported by a few other moderate dilettante players, +gave a concert, and I, owing to the strict time I always kept, was +permitted to play the kettledrum in the symphony. It was not until +later that I perceived how ridiculous and extravagant these concerts +were. My teacher generally played two concertos on the piano by Wolff +or Emanuel Bach,[3] a member of the town band struggled with +Stamitz,[4] while the receiver of excise duties worked away hard at the +flute, and took in such an immense supply of breath that he blew out +both lights on his music-stand, and always had to have them relighted +again. Singing wasn't thought about; my uncle, a great friend and +patron of music, always disparaged the local talent in this line. He +still dwelt with exuberant delight upon the days gone by, when the four +choristers of the four churches of the town agreed together to give +_Lottchen am Hofe_.[5] Above all, he was wont to extol the toleration +which united the singers in the production of this work of art, for not +only the Catholic and the Evangelical but also the Reformed community +was split into two bodies--those speaking German and those speaking +French. The French chorister was not daunted by the _Lottchen_, but, as +my uncle maintained, sang his part, spectacles on nose, in the finest +falsetto that ever proceeded forth from a human breast. Now there was +amongst us (I mean in the town) a spinster named Meibel, aged about +fifty-five, who subsisted upon the scanty pension which she received as +a retired court singer of the metropolis, and my uncle was rightly of +opinion that Miss Meibel might still do something for her money in the +concert hall. She assumed airs of importance, required a good deal of +coaxing, but at last consented, so that we came to have _bravuras_ in +our concerts. She was a singular creature this Miss Meibel. I still +retain a lively recollection of her lean little figure. Dressed in a +many-coloured gown, she was wont to step forward with her roll of music +in her hand, looking very grave and solemn, and to acknowledge the +audience with a slight inclination of the upper part of her body. Her +head-dress was a most remarkable head-dress. In front was fastened a +nosegay of Italian flowers of porcelain, which kept up a strange +trembling and tottering as she sang. At the end, after the audience had +greeted her with no stinted measure of applause, she proudly handed the +music-roll to my uncle, and permitted him to dip his thumb and finger +into a little porcelain snuff-box, fashioned in the shape of a pug dog, +out of which she took a pinch herself with evident relish. She had a +horrible squeaky voice, indulged in all sorts of ludicrous flourishes +and roulades, and so you may imagine what an effect all this, combined +with her ridiculous manners and style of dress, could not fail to have +upon me. My uncle overflowed with panegyrics; that I could not +understand, and so turned the more readily to my organist, who, looking +with contempt upon vocal efforts in general, delighted me down to the +ground as in his hypochondriac malicious way he parodied the ludicrous +old spinster. + +"The more decidedly I came to share with my master his contempt for +singing, the higher did he rate my musical genius. He took a great and +zealous interest in instructing me in counterpoint, so that I soon came +to write the most ingenious toccatas and fugues. I was once playing one +of these ingenious specimens of my skill to my uncle on my birthday (I +was nineteen years old), when the waiter of our first hotel stepped +into the room to announce the visit of two foreign ladies who +had just arrived in the town. Before my uncle could throw off his +dressing-gown--it was of a large flower pattern--and don his coat and +vest, his visitors were already in the room. You know what an electric +effect every strange event has upon those who are brought up in the +narrow seclusion of a small country town; this in particular, which +crossed my path so unexpectedly, was pre-eminently fitted to work a +complete revolution within me. Picture to yourself two tall, slender +Italian ladies, dressed fantastically and in bright colours, quite up +to the latest fashion, meeting my uncle with the freedom of +professional _artistes_, and yet with considerable charms of manner, +and addressing him in firm and sonorous voices. What the deuce of a +strange tongue they speak! Only now and then does it sound at all like +German. My uncle doesn't understand a word; embarrassed, mute as a +maggot, he steps back and points to the sofa. They sit down, talk +together--it sounds like music itself. At length they succeed in making +my good uncle comprehend that they are singers on a tour; they would +like to give a concert in the place, and have come to him, as he is the +man to conduct such musical negotiations. + +"Whilst they were talking together I picked up their Christian names, +and I fancied that I could now more easily and more distinctly +distinguish the one from the other, for their both making their +appearance together had at first confused me. Lauretta, apparently the +elder of the two, looked about her with sparkling eyes, and talked away +at my embarrassed old uncle with gushing vivacity and with +demonstrative gestures. She was not too tall, and of a voluptuous +build, so that my eyes wandered amid many charms that hitherto had been +strangers to them. Teresina, taller, more slender, with a long grave +face, spoke but seldom, but what she did say was more intelligible. Now +and then a peculiar smile flitted across her features; it almost seemed +as if she were highly amused at my good uncle, who had withdrawn into +his silken dressing-gown like a snail into its shell, and was vainly +endeavouring to push out of sight a treacherous yellow string, with +which he fastened his night-jacket together, and which would keep +tumbling out of his bosom yards and yards long. At length they rose to +depart; my uncle promised to arrange everything for the concert for the +third day following; then the sisters gave him and me, whom he +introduced to them as a young musician, a most polite invitation to +take chocolate with them in the afternoon. + +"We mounted the steps with a solemn air and awkward gait; we both felt +very peculiar, as if we were going to meet some adventure to which we +were not equal. In consequence of due previous preparation my uncle had +a good many fine things to say about art, which nobody understood, +neither he himself nor any of the rest of us. This done, and after I +had thrice burned my tongue with the scalding hot chocolate, but with +the stoical fortitude of a Scævola had smiled under the fiery +infliction, Lauretta at length said that she would sing to us. Teresina +took her guitar, tuned it, and struck a few full chords. It was the +first time I had heard the instrument, and the characteristic +mysterious sounds of the trembling strings made a deep and wonderful +impression upon me. Lauretta began very softly and held on, the note +rising to _fortissimo_, and then quickly broke into a crisp complicated +run through an octave and a half. I can still remember the words of the +beginning, '_Sento l'amica speme_.' My heart was oppressed; I had never +had an idea of anything of the kind. But as Lauretta continued to soar +in bolder and higher flights, and as the musical notes poured upon me +like sparkling rays, thicker and thicker, then was the music that had +so long lain mute and lifeless within me enkindled, rising up in +strong, grand flames. Ah! I had never heard what music was in my life +before! Then the sisters sang one of those grand impressive duets of +Abbot Steffani[6] which confine themselves to notes of a low register. +My soul was stirred at the sound of Teresina's alto, it was so +sonorous, and as pure as silver bells. I couldn't for the life of me +restrain my emotion; tears started to my eyes. My uncle coughed +warningly, and cast angry glances upon me; it was all of no use, I was +really quite beside myself. This seemed to please the sisters; they +began to inquire into the nature and extent of my musical studies; I +was ashamed of my performances in that line, and with the hardihood +born of enthusiastic admiration, I bluntly declared that that day was +the first time I had ever heard music. 'The dear good boy!' lisped +Lauretta, so sweetly and bewitchingly. + +"On reaching home again, I was seized with a sort of fury: I pounced +upon all the toccatas and fugues that I had hammered out, as well as a +beautiful copy of forty-five variations of a canonical theme that the +organist had written and done me the honour of presenting to me,--all +these I threw into the fire, and laughed with spiteful glee as the +double counterpoint smoked and crackled. Then I sat down at the piano +and tried first to imitate the tones of the guitar, then to play the +sisters' melodies, and finished by attempting to sing them. At length +about midnight my uncle emerged from his bedroom and greeted me with, +'My boy, you'd better just stop that screeching and troop off to bed;' +and he put out both candles and went back to his own room. I had no +other alternative but to obey. The mysterious power of song came to me +in my dreams--at least I thought so--for I sang '_Sento l'amica speme_' +in excellent style. + +"The next morning my uncle had hunted up everybody who could fiddle +and blow for the rehearsal. He was proud to show what good musicians +the town possessed; but everything seemed to go perversely wrong. +Lauretta set to work at a fine scene; but very soon in the recitative +the orchestra was all at sixes and sevens, not one of them had any idea +of accompaniment Lauretta screamed--raved--wept with impatience and +anger. The organist was presiding at the piano; she attacked him with +the bitterest reproaches. He got up and in silent obduracy marched out +of the hall. The bandmaster of the town, whom Lauretta had dubbed a +'German ass!' took his violin under his arm, and, banging his hat on +his head with an air of defiance, likewise made for the door. The +members of his company, sticking their bows under the strings of their +violins, and unscrewing the mouthpieces of their brass instruments, +followed him. There was nobody but the dilettanti left, and they gazed +about them with disconsolate looks, whilst the receiver of excise +duties exclaimed, with a tragic air, 'O heaven! how mortified I feel!' +All my diffidence was gone,--I threw myself in the bandmaster's way, I +begged, I prayed, in my distress I promised him six new minuets with +double trios for the annual ball. I succeeded in appeasing him. He went +back to his place, his companions followed suit, and soon the orchestra +was reconstituted, except that the organist was wanting. He was slowly +making his way across the market-place, no shouting or beckoning could +make him turn back. Teresina had looked on at the whole scene with +smothered laughter, while Lauretta was now as full of glee as before +she had been of anger. She was unstinted in her praise of my efforts; +she asked me if I played the piano, and ere I knew what I was about, I +sat in the organist's place with the music before me. Never before had +I accompanied a singer, still less directed an orchestra. Teresina sat +down beside me at the piano and gave me every time; Lauretta encouraged +me with repeated 'Bravos!' the orchestra proved manageable, and things +continued to improve. Everything was worked out successfully at the +second rehearsal; and the effect of the sisters' singing at the concert +is not to be described. + +"The sovereign's return to his capital was to be celebrated there with +several festive demonstrations; the sisters were summoned to sing in +the theatre and at concerts. Until the time that their presence was +required they resolved to remain in our little town, and thus it came +to pass that they gave us a few more concerts. The admiration of the +public rose to a kind of madness. Old Miss Meibel, however, took with a +deliberate air a pinch of snuff out of her porcelain pug and gave her +opinion that 'such impudent caterwauling was not singing; singing +should be low and melodious.' My friend, the organist, never showed +himself again, and, in truth, I did not miss him in the least I was +the happiest fellow in the world. The whole day long I spent with +the sisters, copying out the vocal scores of what they were to +sing in the capital. Lauretta was my ideal; her vile caprices, her +terribly passionate violence, the torments she inflicted upon me at the +piano--all these I bore with patience. She alone had unsealed for me +the springs of true music. I began to study Italian, and try my hand at +a few canzonets. In what heavenly rapture was I plunged when Lauretta +sang my compositions, or even praised them. Often it seemed to me as if +it was not I who had thought out and set what she sang, but that the +thought first shone forth in her singing of it. With Teresina I could +not somehow get on familiar terms; she sang but seldom, and didn't seem +to make much account of all that I was doing, and sometimes I even +fancied that she was laughing at me behind my back. At length the time +came for them to leave the town. And now I felt for the first time how +dear Lauretta had become to me, and how impossible it would be for me +to separate from her. Often, when she was in a tender, playful mood, +she had caressed me, although always in a perfectly artless fashion; +nevertheless, my blood was excited, and it was nothing but the strange +coolness with which she was more usually wont to treat me that +restrained me from giving reins to my ardour and clasping her in my +arms in a delirium of passion. I possessed a tolerably good tenor +voice, which, however, I had never practised, but now I began to +cultivate it assiduously. I frequently sang with Lauretta one of those +tender Italian duets of which there exists such an endless number. We +were just singing one of these pieces, the hour of departure was close +at hand--'_Senza di te ben mio, vivere non poss' io_' ('Without thee, +my own, I cannot live!') Who could resist that? I threw myself at her +feet--I was in despair. She raised me up--'But, my friend, need we then +part?' I pricked up my ears with amazement. She proposed that I should +accompany her and Teresina to the capital, for if I intended to devote +myself wholly to music I must leave this wretched little town some time +or other. Picture to yourself one struggling in the dark depths of +boundless despair, who has given up all hopes of life, and who, in the +moment in which he expects to receive the blow that is to crush him for +ever, suddenly finds himself sitting in a glorious bright arbour of +roses, where hundreds of unseen but loving voices whisper, 'You are +still alive, dear,--still alive'--and you will know how I felt then. +Along with them to the capital! that had seized upon my heart as an +ineradicable resolution. But I won't tire you with the details of how I +set to work to convince my uncle that I ought now by all means to go to +the capital, which, moreover, was not very far away. He at length gave +his consent, and announced his intention of going with me. Here was a +tricksy stroke of fortune! I dare not give utterance to my purpose of +travelling in company with the sisters. A violent cold, which my uncle +caught, proved my saviour. + +"I left the town by the stage-coach, but only went as far as the first +stopping-station, where I awaited my divinity. A well-lined purse +enabled me to make all due and fitting preparations. I was seized with +the romantic idea of accompanying the ladies in the character of a +protecting paladin--on horseback; I secured a horse, which, though not +particularly handsome, was, its owner assured me, quiet, and I rode +back at the appointed time to meet the two fair singers. I soon saw the +little carriage, which had two seats, coming towards me. Lauretta and +Teresina sat on the principal seat, whilst on the other, with her back +to the driver, sat their maid, the fat little Gianna, a brown-cheeked +Neapolitan. Besides this living freight, the carriage was packed full +of boxes, satchels, and baskets of all sizes and shapes, such as +invariably accompany ladies when they travel. Two little pug-dogs which +Gianna was nursing in her lap began to bark when I gaily saluted the +company. + +"All was going on very nicely; we were traversing the last stage of the +journey, when my steed all at once conceived the idea that it was high +time to be returning homewards. Being aware that stern measures were +not always blessed with a remarkable degree of success in such cases, I +felt advised to have recourse to milder means of persuasion; but the +obstinate brute remained insensible to all my well-meant exhortations. +I wanted to go forwards, he backwards, and all the advantage that my +efforts gave me over him was that instead of taking to his heels for +home, he continued to run round in circles. Teresina leaned forward out +of the carriage and had a hearty laugh; Lauretta, holding her hands +before her face, screamed out as if I were in imminent danger. This +gave me the courage of despair, I drove the spurs into the brute's +ribs, but that very same moment I was roughly hurled off and found +myself sprawling on the ground. The horse stood perfectly still, and, +stretching out his long neck, regarded me with what I took to be +nothing else than derision. I was not able to rise to my feet; the +driver had to come and help me; Lauretta had jumped out and was weeping +and lamenting; Teresina did nothing but laugh without ceasing. I had +sprained my foot, and couldn't possibly mount again. How was I to get +on? My steed was fastened to the carriage, whilst I crept into it. Just +picture us all--two rather robust females, a fat servant-girl, two +pug-dogs, a dozen boxes, satchels, and baskets, and me as well, all +packed into a little carriage. Picture Lauretta's complaints at the +uncomfortableness of her seat, the howling of the pups, the chattering +of the Neapolitan, Teresina's sulks, the unspeakable pain I felt in my +foot, and you will have some idea of my enviable situation! Teresina +averred that she could not endure it any longer. We stopped; in a trice +she was out of the carriage, had untied my horse, and was up in the +saddle, prancing and curvetting around us. I must indeed admit that she +cut a fine figure. The dignity and elegance which marked her carriage +and bearing were still more prominent on horseback. She asked for her +guitar, then dropping the reins on her arm, she began to sing proud +Spanish ballads with a full-toned accompaniment. Her light silk dress +fluttered in the wind, its folds and creases giving rise to a sheeny +play of light, whilst the white feathers of her hat quivered and shook, +like the prattling spirits of the air which we heard in her voice. +Altogether she made such a romantic figure that I could not keep my +eyes off her, notwithstanding that Lauretta reproached her for making +herself such a fantastic simpleton, and predicted that she would suffer +for her audacity. But no accident happened; either the horse had lost +all his stubbornness or he liked the fair singer better than the +paladin; at any rate, Teresina did not creep back into the carriage +again until we had almost reached the gates of the town. + +"If you had seen me then at concerts and operas, if you had seen me +revelling in all sorts of music, and as a diligent accompanist studying +arias, duets, and I don't know what besides at the piano, you would +have perceived, by the complete change in my behaviour, that I was +filled with a new and wonderful spirit. I had cast off all my rustic +shyness, and sat at the pianoforte with my score before me like an +experienced professional, directing the performances of my _prima +donna_. All my mind--all my thoughts--were sweet melodies. Utterly +regardless of all the rules of counterpoint, I composed all sorts of +canzonets and arias, which Lauretta sang, though only in her own room. +Why would she never sing any of my pieces at a concert? I could not +understand it. Teresina also arose before my imagination curvetting on +her proud steed with the lute in her hands, like Art herself disguised +in romance. Without thinking of it consciously, I wrote several songs +of a high and serious nature. Lauretta, it is true, played with her +notes like a capricious fairy queen. There was nothing upon which she +ventured in which she had not success. But never did a roulade cross +Teresina's lips; nothing more than a simple interpolated note, at most +a _mordent_; but her long-sustained tones gleamed like meteors through +the darkness of night, awakening strange spirits, who came and gazed +with earnest eyes into the depths of my heart. I know not how I +remained ignorant of them so long! + +"The sisters were granted a benefit concert; I sang with Lauretta a +long scena from Anfossi.[7] As usual I presided at the piano. We came +to the last _fermata_. Lauretta exerted all her skill and art; she +warbled trill after trill like a nightingale, executed sustained notes, +then long elaborate roulades--a whole _solfeggio_. In fact, I thought +she was almost carrying the thing too far this time; I felt a soft +breath on my cheek; Teresina stood behind me. At this moment Lauretta +took a good start with the intention of swelling up to a 'harmonic +shake,' and so passing back into _a tempo_. The devil entered into me; +I jammed down the keys with both hands; the orchestra followed suit; +and it was all over with Lauretta's trill, just at the supreme moment +when she was to excite everybody's astonishment. Almost annihilating me +with a look of fury, she crushed her roll of music together, tore it +up, and hurled it at my head, so that the pieces flew all over me. Then +she rushed like a madwoman through the orchestra into the adjoining +room; as soon as we had concluded the piece, I followed her. She wept; +she raved. 'Out of my sight, villain,' she screamed as soon as she saw +me. 'You devil, you've completely ruined me--my fame, my honour--and +oh! my trill. Out of my sight, you devil's own!' She made a rush +at me; I escaped through the door. Whilst some one else was performing, +Teresina and the music-director at length succeeded in so far pacifying +her rage, that she resolved to appear again; but I was not to be +allowed to touch the piano. In the last duet that the sisters sang, +Lauretta did contrive to introduce the swelling 'harmonic shake,' was +rewarded with a storm of applause, and settled down into the best of +humours. + +"But I could not get over the vile treatment which I had received at +her hands in the presence of so many people, and I was firmly resolved +to set off home next morning for my native town. I was actually engaged +in packing my things together when Teresina came into my room. +Observing what I was about, she exclaimed, astonished, 'Are you going +to leave us?' I gave her to understand that after the affront which had +been put upon me by Lauretta I could not think of remaining any longer +in her society. 'And so,' replied Teresina, 'you're going to let +yourself be driven away by the extravagant conduct of a little fool, +who is now heartily sorry for what she has done and said. Where else +can you better live in your art than with us? Let me tell you, it only +depends upon yourself and your own behaviour to keep her from such +pranks as this. You are too compliant, too tender, too gentle. Besides, +you rate her powers too highly. Her voice is indeed not bad, and it has +a wide compass; but what else are all these fantastic warblings and +flourishes, these preposterous runs, these never-ending shakes, but +delusive artifices of style, which people admire in the same way that +they admire the foolhardy agility of a rope-dancer? Do you imagine that +such things can make any deep impression upon us and stir the heart? +The 'harmonic shake' which you spoilt I cannot tolerate; I always feel +anxious and pained when she attempts it. And then this scaling up into +the region of the third line above the stave, what is it but a violent +straining of the natural voice, which after all is the only thing that +really moves the heart? I like the middle notes and the low notes. A +sound that penetrates to the heart, a real quiet, easy transition from +note to note, are what I love above all things. No useless +ornamentation--a firm, clear, strong note--a definite expression, which +carries away the mind and soul--that's real true singing, and that's +how I sing. If you can't be reconciled to Lauretta again, then think of +Teresina, who indeed likes you so much that you shall in your own way +be her musical composer. Don't be cross--but all your elegant canzonets +and arias can't be matched with this single ----,' she sang in her +sonorous way a simple devotional sort of canzona which I had set a few +days before. I had never dreamed that it could sound like that I felt +the power of the music going through and through me; tears of joy and +rapture stood in my eyes; I seized Teresina's hand, and pressing it to +my lips a thousand times, swore I would never leave her. + +"Lauretta looked upon my intimacy with her sister with envious but +suppressed vexation, and she could not do without me, for, in spite of +her skill, she was unable to study a new piece without help; she read +badly, and was rather uncertain in her time. Teresina, on the contrary, +sang everything at sight, and her ear for time was unparalleled. Never +did Lauretta give such free rein to her caprice and violence as when +her accompaniments were being practised. They were never right for her; +she looked upon them as a necessary evil; the piano ought not to be +heard at all, it should always be _pianissimo_; so there was nothing +but giving way to her again and again, and altering the time just as +the whim happened to come into her head at the moment But now I took a +firm stand against her; I combated her impertinences; I taught her that +an accompaniment devoid of energy was not conceivable, and that there +was a marked difference between supporting and carrying along the song +and letting it run to riot, without form and without time. Teresina +faithfully lent me her assistance. I composed nothing but pieces for +the Church, writing all the solos for a voice of low register. +Teresina, too, tyrannised over me not a little, to which I submitted +with a good grace, since she had more knowledge of, and (so at least I +thought) more appreciation for, German seriousness than her sister. + +"We were touring in South Germany. In a little town we met an Italian +tenor who was making his way from Milan to Berlin. My fair companions +went in ecstasies over their countryman; he stuck close to them, +cultivating in particular Teresina's acquaintance, so that to my great +vexation I soon came to play rather a secondary part. Once, just as I +was about to enter the room with a roll of music under my arm, the +voices of my companions and the tenor, engaged in an animated +conversation, fell upon my ear. My name was mentioned; I pricked up my +ears; I listened. I now understood Italian so well that not a word +escaped me. Lauretta was describing the tragical occurrence of the +concert when I cut short her trill by prematurely striking down the +concluding notes of the bar. 'A German ass!' exclaimed the tenor. I +felt as if I must rush in and hurl the flighty hero of the boards out +of the window, but I restrained myself. She then went on to say that +she had been minded to send me about my business at once, but, moved by +my clamorous entreaties, she had so far had compassion upon me as to +tolerate me some time longer, since I was studying singing under her. +This, to my utter amazement, Teresina confirmed. 'Yes, he's a good +child,' she added; 'he's in love with me now and sets everything for +the alto. He is not without talent, but he must rub off that stiffness +and awkwardness which is so characteristic of the Germans. I hope to +make a good composer out of him; then he shall write me some good +things--for there's very little written as yet for the alto voice--and +afterwards I shall let him go his own way. He's very tiresome with his +billing and cooing and love-sick sighing, and he worries me too much +with his wearisome compositions, which have been but poor stuff up to +the present.' 'I at least have now got rid of him,' interrupted +Lauretta; 'and Teresina, how the fellow pestered me with his arias and +duets you know very well.' And now she began to sing a duet of my +composing, which formerly she had praised very highly. The other sister +took up the second voice, and they parodied me both in voice and in +execution in the most shameful manner. The tenor laughed till the walls +rang again. My limbs froze; at once I formed an irrevocable resolve. I +quietly slipped away from the door back into my own room, the windows +of which looked upon a side street. Opposite was the post-office; the +post-coach for Bamberg had just driven up to take in the mails and +passengers. The latter were all standing ready waiting in the gateway, +but I had still an hour to spare. Hastily packing up my things, I +generously paid the whole of the bill at the hotel, and hurried across +to the post-office. As I crossed the broad street I saw the fair +sisters and the Italian still standing at the window, and looking out +to catch the sound of the post-horn. I leaned back in the corner, and +dwelt with a good deal of satisfaction upon the crushing effect of the +bitter scathing letter that I had left behind for them in the hotel." + + * * * * * * * + +With evident gratification Theodore tossed off the rest of the fiery +Aleatico[8] that Edward had poured into his glass. The latter, opening +a new flask and skilfully shaking off the drops of oil[9] which swam at +the top, remarked, "I should not have deemed Teresina capable of such +falseness and artfulness. I cannot banish from my mind the recollection +of what a charming figure she made as she sat on horseback singing +Spanish ballads, whilst the horse pranced along in graceful curvets." +"That was her culminating point," interrupted Theodore; "I still +remember the strange impression which the scene made upon me. I forgot +my pain; she seemed to me like a creature of a higher race. It is +indeed very true that such moments are turning-points in one's life, +and that in them many images arise which time does not avail to dim. +Whenever I have succeeded with any fine _romance_, it has always been +when Teresina's image has stepped forth from the treasure-house of my +mind in clear bright colours at the moment of writing it." + +"But," said Edward, "but let us not forget the artistic Lauretta; and, +scattering all rancour to the winds, let us drink to the health of the +two sisters." They did so. "Oh," exclaimed Theodore, "how the fragrant +breezes of Italy arise out of this wine and fan my cheeks,--my blood +rolls with quickened energy in my veins. Oh! why must I so soon leave +that glorious land again!" "As yet," interrupted Edward, "as yet in all +that you have told me I can see no connection with the beautiful +picture, and so I believe that you still have something more to tell me +about the sisters. Of course I perceive plainly that the ladies in the +picture are none other than Lauretta and Teresina themselves." "You are +right, they are," replied Theodore; "and my ejaculations and sighs, and +my longings after the glorious land of Italy, will form a fitting +introduction to what I still have to say. A short time ago, perhaps +about two years since, just before leaving Rome, I made a little +excursion on horseback. Before an inn stood a charming girl; the idea +struck me how nice it would be to receive a cup of wine at the hands of +the pretty child. I pulled up before the door, in a walk so thickly +planted on each side with shrubs that the sunlight could only make its +way through in patches. In the distance I heard sounds of singing and +the tinkling of a guitar. I pricked up my ears and listened, for the +two female voices affected me somehow in a singular fashion; strangely +enough dim recollections began to stir within my mind, but they refused +to take definite shape. I dismounted and slowly drew near to the +vine-clad arbour whence the music seemed to proceed, eagerly catching +up every sound in the meantime. The second voice had ceased to sing. +The first sang a canzonet alone. As I came nearer and nearer that which +had at first seemed familiar to me, and which had at first attracted my +attention, gradually faded away. The singer was now in the midst of a +florid, elaborate _fermata_. Up and down she warbled, up and down; at +length she stopped, holding a note on for some time. But all at once a +female voice began to let off a torrent of abuse, maledictions, curses, +vituperations! A man protested; a second laughed. The other female +voice took part in the altercation. The quarrel continued to wax louder +and more violent, with true Italian fury. At length I stood immediately +in front of the arbour; an abbot rushes out and almost runs over me; he +turns his head to look at me; I recognise my good friend Signor +Lodovico, my musical news-monger from Rome. 'What in the name of +wonder'--I exclaim. 'Oh, sir! sir!' he screams, 'save me, protect me +from this mad fury, from this crocodile, this tiger, this hyæna, this +devil of a woman. Yes, I did, I did; I was beating time to Anfossi's +canzonet, and brought down my baton too soon whilst she was in the +midst of the _fermata_; I cut short her trill; but why did I meet her +eyes, the devilish divinity! The deuce take all _fermatas_, I say!' In +a most curious state of mind I hastened into the arbour along with the +priest, and recognised at the first glance the sisters Lauretta and +Teresina. The former was still shrieking and raging, and her sister +still seriously remonstrating with her. Mine host, his bare arms +crossed over his chest, was looking on laughing, whilst a girl was +placing fresh flasks on the table. No sooner did the sisters catch +sight of me than they threw themselves upon me exclaiming, 'Ah! Signor +Teodoro!' and covered me with caresses. The quarrel was forgotten. +'Here you have a composer,' said Lauretta to the abbot, 'as charming as +an Italian and as strong as a German.' Both sisters, continually +interrupting each other, began to recount the happy days we had spent +together, to speak of my musical abilities whilst still a youth, of our +practisings together, of the excellence of my compositions; never did +they like singing anything else but what I had set. Teresina at length +informed me that a manager had engaged her as his first singer in +tragic casts for the next carnival; but she would give him to +understand that she would only sing on condition that the composition +of at least one tragic opera was intrusted to me. The tragic was above +all others my special department, and so on, and so on. Lauretta on her +part maintained that it would be a pity if I did not follow my bent for +the light and the graceful, in a word, for _opera buffa_. She had been +engaged as first lady singer for this species of composition; and that +nobody but I should write the piece in which she was to appear was +simply a matter of course. You may fancy what my feelings were as I +stood between the two. In a word, you perceive that the company which I +had joined was the same as that which Hummel painted, and that just at +the moment when the priest is on the point of cutting short Lauretta's +_fermata_." "But did they not make any allusion," asked Edward, "to +your departure from them, or to the scathing letter?" "Not with a +single syllable," answered Theodore, "and you may be sure I didn't, for +I had long before banished all animosity from my heart, and come to +look back upon my adventure with the sisters as a merry prank. I did, +however, so far revert to the subject that I related to the priest how +that, several years before, exactly the same sort of mischance befell +me in one of Anfossi's arias as had just befallen him. I painted the +period of my connection with the sisters in tragi-comical colours, and, +distributing many a keen side-blow, I let them feel the superiority, +which the ripe experiences, both of life and of art, of the years that +had elapsed in the interval had given me over them. 'And a good thing +it was,' I concluded, 'that I did cut short that _fermata_, for it was +evidently meant to last through eternity, and I am firmly of opinion +that if I had left the singer alone, I should be sitting at the piano +now.' 'But, signor,' replied the priest, 'what director is there who +would dare to prescribe laws to the _prima donna_? Your offence was +much more heinous than mine, you in the concert hall, and I here in the +leafy arbour. Besides, I was only director in imagination; nobody need +attach any importance to that, and if the sweet fiery glances of these +heavenly eyes had not fascinated me, I should not have made an ass of +myself.' The priest's last words proved tranquillising, for, although +Lauretta's eyes had begun to flash with anger as the priest spoke, +before he had finished she was quite appeased. + +"We spent the evening together. Many changes take place in fourteen +years, which was the interval that had passed since I had seen my fair +friends. Lauretta, although looking somewhat older, was still not +devoid of charms. Teresina had worn better, without losing her graceful +form. Both were dressed in rather gay colours, and their manners were +just the same as before, that is, fourteen years younger than the +ladies themselves. At my request Teresina sang some of the serious +songs that had once so deeply affected me, but I fancied that they +sounded differently from what they did when I first heard them; and +Lauretta's singing too, although her voice had not appreciably lost +anything, either in power or in compass, seemed to me to be quite +different from my recollection of it of former times The sisters' +behaviour towards me, their feigned ecstasies, their rude admiration, +which, however, took the shape of gracious patronage, had done much to +put me in a bad humour, and now the obtrusiveness of this comparison +between the images in my mind and the not over and above pleasing +reality, tended to put me in a still worse. The droll priest, who in +all the sweetest words you can imagine was playing the _amoroso_ to +both sisters at once, as well as frequent applications to the good +wine, at length restored me to good humour, so that we spent a very +pleasant evening in perfect concord and gaiety. The sisters were most +pressing in their invitations to me to go home with them, that we might +at once talk over the parts which I was to set for them and so concert +measures accordingly. I left Rome without taking any further steps to +find out their place of abode." + +"And yet, after all," said Edward, "it is to them that you owe the +awakening of your genius for music." "That I admit," replied Theodore, +"I owed them that and a host of good melodies besides, and that is just +the reason why I did not want to see them again. Every composer can +recall certain impressions which time does not obliterate. The spirit +of music spake, and his voice was the creative word which suddenly +awakened the kindred spirit slumbering in the breast of the artist; +then the latter rose like a sun which can nevermore set. Thus it is +unquestionably true that all melodies which, stirred up in this way, +proceed from the depths of the composer's being, seem to us to belong +to the singer alone who fanned the first spark within us. We hear her +voice and record only what she has sung. It is, however, the +inheritance of us weak mortals that, clinging to the clods, we are only +too fain to draw down what is above the earth into the miserable +narrowness characteristic of things of the earth. Thus it comes to pass +that the singer becomes our lover--or even our wife. The spell is +broken, and the melody of her nature, which formerly revealed glorious +things, is now prostituted to complaints about broken soup-plates or +ink-stains in new linen. Happy is the composer who never again so long +as he lives sets eyes upon the woman who by virtue of some mysterious +power enkindled in him the flame of music. Even though the young +artist's heart may be rent by pain and despair when the moment comes +for parting from his lovely enchantress, nevertheless her form will +continue to exist as a divinely beautiful strain which lives on and on +in the pride of youth and beauty, engendering melodies in which time +after time he perceives the lady of his love. But what is she else if +not the Highest Ideal which, working its way from within outwards, is +at length reflected in the external independent form?" + +"A strange theory, but yet plausible," was Edward's comment, as the two +friends, arm in arm, passed out from Sala Tarone's into the street. + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "THE FERMATA": + +[Footnote 1: Johann Erdmann Hummel, born 1769, died 1852, a German +painter, studied in Italy, painted various kinds of pieces, and also +wrote treatises on perspective and kindred subjects. The picture here +referred to became perhaps almost as much celebrated from the fact of +its having suggested this amusing sketch to Hoffmann as for its +intrinsic merits as a work of art.] + +[Footnote 2: The keeper of a well-known tavern in Berlin, at about the +time when this tale was written, 1817 to 1820.] + +[Footnote 3: The third son of the Sebastian Bach--_the_ Bach--just +mentioned above. He was sometimes called "the Berlin Bach," or "the +Hamburg Bach."] + +[Footnote 4: See note, p. 12 above.] + +[Footnote 5: This was one of a species of musical composition called +_Singspiele_, a development of the simple song or _Lied_, by Johann +Adam Hiller, (properly Hüller), born 1728, died 1804.] + +[Footnote 6: Agostino Steffani, an Italian by birth (1655), spent +nearly all his life in Germany at the courts of Munich and Hanover. He +wrote several operas, and was renowned for his duets, motets, &c.] + +[Footnote 7: Pasquale Anfossi, an Italian operatic composer of the +eighteenth century. He was for a time the fashion of the day at Rome, +but occupies now only a subordinate rank amongst musicians.] + +[Footnote 8: A red, aromatic, sweet Italian wine, made chiefly at +Florence.] + +[Footnote 9: The wine was presumably in flasks of the usual Italian +kind, bottles encased in straw or reed, &c., with oil on the top of the +wine instead of a cork in the neck of the bottle.] + + + + + SIGNOR FORMICA.[1.1] + + I. + +_The celebrated painter Salvator Rosa comes to Rome, and is attacked by +a dangerous illness. What befalls him in this illness._ + +Celebrated people commonly have many ill things said of them, whether +well-founded or not And no exception was made in the case of that +admirable painter Salvator Rosa, whose living pictures cannot fail to +impart a keen and characteristic delight to those who look upon them. + +At the time that Salvator's fame was ringing through Naples, Rome, and +Tuscany--nay, through all Italy, and painters who were desirous of +gaining applause were striving to imitate his peculiar and unique +style, his malicious and envious rivals were laboring to spread abroad +all sorts of evil reports intended to sully with ugly black stains the +glorious splendor of his artistic fame. They affirmed that he had at a +former period of his life belonged to a company of banditti,[1.2] and +that it was to his experiences during this lawless time that he owed +all the wild, fierce, fantastically-attired figures which he introduced +into his pictures, just as the gloomy fearful wildernesses of his +landscapes--the _selve selvagge_ (savage woods)--to use Dante's +expression, were faithful representations of the haunts where they lay +hidden. What was worse still, they openly charged him with having been +concerned in the atrocious and bloody revolt which had been set on foot +by the notorious Masaniello[1.3] in Naples. They even described the +share he had taken in it, down to the minutest details. + +The rumor ran that Aniello Falcone,[1.4] the painter of battle-pieces, +one of the best of Salvator's masters, had been stung into fury and +filled with bloodthirsty vengeance because the Spanish soldiers had +slain one of his relatives in a hand-to-hand encounter. Without delay +he leagued together a band of daring spirits, mostly young painters, +put arms into their hands, and gave them the name of the "Company of +Death." And in truth this band inspired all the fear and consternation +suggested by its terrible name. At all hours of the day they traversed +the streets of Naples in little companies, and cut down without mercy +every Spaniard whom they met. They did more--they forced their way into +the holy sanctuaries, and relentlessly murdered their unfortunate foes +whom terror had driven to seek refuge there. At night they gathered +round their chief, the bloody-minded madman Masaniello,[1.5] and +painted him by torchlight, so that in a short time there were hundreds +of these little pictures[1.6] circulating in Naples and the +neighbourhood. + +This is the ferocious band of which Salvator Rosa was alleged to have +been a member, working hard at butchering his fellow-men by day, and by +night working just as hard at painting. The truth about him has however +been stated by a celebrated art-critic, Taillasson,[1.7] I believe. His +works are characterised by defiant originality, and by fantastic energy +both of conception and of execution. He delighted to study Nature, not +in the lovely attractiveness of green meadows, flourishing fields, +sweet-smelling groves, murmuring springs, but in the sublime as seen in +towering masses of rock, in the wild sea-shore, in savage inhospitable +forests; and the voices that he loved to hear were not the whisperings +of the evening breeze or the musical rustle of leaves, but the roaring +of the hurricane and the thunder of the cataract. To one viewing his +desolate landscapes, with the strange savage figures stealthily moving +about in them, here singly, there in troops, the uncomfortable thoughts +arise unbidden, "Here's where a fearful murder took place, there's +where the bloody corpse was hurled into the ravine," etc. + +Admitting all this, and even that Taillasson is further right when he +maintains that Salvator's "Plato," nay, that even his "Holy St. John +proclaiming the Advent of the Saviour in the Wilderness," look just a +little like highway robbers--admitting this, I say, it is nevertheless +unjust to argue from the character of the works to the character of the +artist himself, and to assume that he, who represents with lifelike +fidelity what is savage and terrible, must himself have been a savage, +terrible man. He who prates most about the sword is often he who wields +it the worst; he who feels in the depths of his soul all the horrors of +a bloody deed, so that, taking the palette or the pencil or the pen in +his hand, he is able to give living form to his feelings, is often the +one least capable of practising similar deeds. Enough! I don't believe +a single word of all those evil reports, by which men sought to brand +the excellent Salvator an abandoned murderer and robber, and I hope +that you, kindly reader, will share my opinion. Otherwise, I see +grounds for fearing that you might perhaps entertain some doubts +respecting what I am about to tell you of this artist; the Salvator I +wish to put before you in this tale--that is, according to my +conception of him--is a man bubbling over with the exuberance of life +and fiery energy, but at the same time a man endowed with the noblest +and most loyal character--a character, which, like that of all men who +think and feel deeply, is able even to control that bitter irony which +arises from a clear view of the significance of life. I need scarcely +add that Salvator was no less renowned as a poet and musician than as a +painter. His genius was revealed in magnificent refractions. I repeat +again, I do not believe that Salvator had any share in Masaniello's +bloody deeds; on the contrary, I think it was the horrors of that +fearful time which drove him from Naples to Rome, where he arrived a +poor poverty-stricken fugitive, just at the time that Masaniello fell. + +Not over well dressed, and with a scanty purse containing not more than +a few bright sequins[1.8] in his pocket, he crept through the gate just +after nightfall. Somehow or other, he didn't exactly know how, he +wandered as far as the Piazza Navona. In better times he had once lived +there in a large house near the Pamfili Palace. With an ill-tempered +growl, he gazed up at the large plate-glass windows glistening and +glimmering in the moonlight "Hm!" he exclaimed peevishly, "it'll cost +me dozens of yards of coloured canvas before I can open my studio up +there again." But all at once he felt as if paralysed in every limb, +and at the same moment more weak and feeble than he had ever felt in +his life before. "But shall I," he murmured between his teeth as he +sank down upon the stone steps leading up to the house door, "shall I +really be able to finish canvas enough in the way the fools want it +done? Hm! I have a notion that that will be the end of it!" + +A cold cutting night wind blew down the street. Salvator recognised +the necessity of seeking a shelter. Rising with difficulty, he +staggered on into the Corso,[1.9] and then turned into the Via +Bergognona. At length he stopped before a little house with only a +couple of windows, inhabited by a poor widow and her two daughters. +This women had taken him in for little pay the first time he came to +Rome, an unknown stranger noticed of nobody; and so he hoped again to +find a lodging with her, such as would be best suited to the sad +condition in which he then was. + +He knocked confidently at the door, and several times called out his +name aloud. At last he heard the old woman slowly and reluctantly +wakening up out of her sleep. She shuffled to the window in her +slippers, and began to rain down a shower of abuse upon the knave who +was come to worry her in this way in the middle of the night; her +house was not a wine-shop, &c., &c. Then there ensued a good deal of +cross-questioning before she recognised her former lodger's voice; but +on Salvator's complaining that he had fled from Naples and was unable +to find a shelter in Rome, the old dame cried, "By all the blessed +saints of Heaven! Is that you, Signor Salvator? Well now, your little +room up above, that looks on to the court, is still standing empty, and +the old fig-tree has pushed its branches right through the window and +into the room, so that you can sit and work like as if you was in a +beautiful cool arbour. Ay, and how pleased my girls will be that you +have come back again, Signor Salvator. But, d'ye know, my Margarita's +grown a big girl and fine-looking? You won't give her any more rides on +your knee now. And--and your little pussy, just fancy, three months ago +she choked herself with a fish-bone. Ah well, we all shall come to the +grave at last. But, d'ye know, my fat neighbour, who you so often +laughed at and so often painted in such funny ways--d'ye know, she +_did_ marry that young fellow, Signor Luigi, after all. Ah well! _nozze +e magistrati sono da dio destinati_ (marriages and magistrates are made +in heaven) they say." + +"But," cried Salvator, interrupting the old woman, "but, Signora +Caterina, I entreat you by the blessed saints, do, pray, let me in, and +then tell me all about your fig-tree and your daughters, your cat and +your fat neighbour--I am perishing of weariness and cold." + +"Bless me, how impatient we are," rejoined the old dame; "_Chi va piano +va sano, chi va presto more lesto_ (more haste less speed, take things +cool and live longer), I tell you. But you are tired, you are cold; +where are the keys? quick with the keys!" + +But the old woman still had to wake up her daughters and kindle a +fire--but oh! she was such a long time about it--such a long, long +time. At last she opened the door and let poor Salvator in; but +scarcely had he crossed the threshold than, overcome by fatigue and +illness, he dropped on the floor as if dead. Happily the widow's son, +who generally lived at Tivoli, chanced to be at his mother's that night +He was at once turned out of his bed to make room for the sick guest, +which he willingly submitted to. + +The old woman was very fond of Salvator, putting him, as far as his +artistic powers went, above all the painters in the world; and in +everything that he did she also took the greatest pleasure. She was +therefore quite beside herself to see him in this lamentable condition, +and wanted to run off to the neighbouring monastery to fetch her father +confessor, that he might come and fight against the adverse power of +the disease with consecrated candles or some powerful amulet or other. +On the other hand, her son thought it would be almost better to see +about getting an experienced physician at once, and off he ran there +and then to the Spanish Square, where he knew the distinguished Doctor +Splendiano Accoramboni dwelt. No sooner did the doctor learn that the +painter Salvator Rosa lay ill in the Via Bergognona than he at once +declared himself ready to call early and see the patient. + +Salvator lay unconscious, struck down by a most severe attack of fever. +The old dame had hung up two or three pictures of saints above his bed, +and was praying fervently. The girls, though bathed in tears, exerted +themselves from time to time to get the sick man to swallow a few drops +of the cooling lemonade which they had made, whilst their brother, who +had taken his place at the head of the bed, wiped the cold sweat from +his brow. And so morning found them, when with a loud creak the door +opened, and the distinguished Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni entered the +room. + +If Salvator had not been so seriously ill that the two girls' hearts +were melted in grief, they would, I think, for they were in general +frolicsome and saucy, have enjoyed a hearty laugh at the Doctor's +extraordinary appearance, instead of retiring shyly, as they did, into +the corner, greatly alarmed. It will indeed be worth while to describe +the outward appearance of the little man who presented himself at Dame +Caterina's in the Via Bergognona in the grey of the morning. In spite +of all his excellent capabilities for growth, Doctor Splendiano +Accoramboni had not been able to advance beyond the respectable stature +of four feet Moreover, in the days of his youth, he had been +distinguished for his elegant figure, so that, before his head, always +indeed somewhat ill-shaped, and his big cheeks, and his stately double +chin had put on too much fat, before his nose had grown bulky and +spread owing to overmuch indulgence in Spanish snuff, and before his +little belly had assumed the shape of a wine-tub from too much +fattening on macaroni, the priestly cut of garments, which he at that +time had affected, had suited him down to the ground. He was then in +truth a pretty little man, and accordingly the Roman ladies had styled +him their _caro puppazetto_ (sweet little pet). + +That however was now a thing of the past. A German painter, seeing +Doctor Splendiano walking across the Spanish Square, said--and he was +perhaps not far wrong--that it looked as if some strapping fellow of +six feet or so had walked away from his own head, which had fallen +on the shoulders of a little marionette clown, who now had to +carry it about as his own. This curious little figure walked about in +patchwork--an immense quantity of pieces of Venetian damask of a large +flower pattern that had been cut up in making a dressing-gown; high up +round his waist he had buckled a broad leather belt, from which an +excessively long rapier hung; whilst his snow-white wig was surmounted +by a high conical cap, not unlike the obelisk in St. Peter's Square. +Since the said wig, like a piece of texture all tumbled and tangled, +spread out thick and wide all over his back, it might very well be +taken for the cocoon out of which the fine silkworm had crept. + +The worthy Splendiano Accoramboni stared through his big, bright +spectacles, with his eyes wide open, first at his patient, then at Dame +Caterina. Calling her aside, he croaked with bated breath, "There lies +our talented painter Salvator Rosa, and he's lost if my skill doesn't +save him, Dame Caterina. Pray tell me when he came to lodge with you? +Did he bring many beautiful large pictures with him?" + +"Ah! my dear Doctor," replied Dame Caterina, "the poor fellow only came +last night. And as for pictures--why, I don't know nothing about them; +but there's a big box below, and Salvator begged me to take very good +care of it, before he became senseless like what he now is. I daresay +there's a fine picture packed in it, as he painted in Naples." + +What Dame Caterina said was, however, a falsehood; but we shall soon +see that she had good reasons for imposing upon the Doctor in this way. + +"Good! Very good!" said the Doctor, simpering and stroking his beard; +then, with as much solemnity as his long rapier, which kept catching in +all the chairs and tables he came near, would allow, he approached the +sick man and felt his pulse, snorting and wheezing, so that it had a +most curious effect in the midst of the reverential silence which had +fallen upon all the rest. Then he ran over in Greek and Latin the names +of a hundred and twenty diseases that Salvator had not, then almost as +many which he might have had, and concluded by saying that on the spur +of the moment he didn't recollect the name of his disease, but that he +would within a short time find a suitable one for it, and along +therewith, the proper remedies as well. Then he took his departure with +the same solemnity with which he had entered, leaving them all full of +trouble and anxiety. + +At the bottom of the steps the Doctor requested to see Salvator's box; +Dame Caterina showed him one--in which were two or three of her +deceased husband's cloaks now laid aside, and some old worn-out shoes. +The Doctor smilingly tapped the box, on this side and on that, and +remarked in a tone of satisfaction "We shall see! we shall see!" Some +hours later he returned with a very beautiful name for his patient's +disease, and brought with him some big bottles of an evil-smelling +potion, which he directed to be given to the patient constantly. This +was a work of no little trouble, for Salvator showed the greatest +aversion for--utter loathing of the stuff, which looked, and smelt, and +tasted, as if it had been concocted from Acheron itself. Whether it was +that the disease, since it had now received a name, and in consequence +really signified something, had only just begun to put forth its +virulence, or whether it was that Splendiano's potion made too much of +a disturbance inside the patient--it is at any rate certain that the +poor painter grew weaker and weaker from day to day, from hour to hour. +And notwithstanding Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni's assurance that, +after the vital process had reached a state of perfect equilibrium, he +would give it a new start like the pendulum of a clock, they were all +very doubtful as to Salvator's recovery, and thought that the Doctor +had perhaps already given the pendulum such a violent start that the +mechanism was quite impaired. + +Now it happened one day that when Salvator seemed scarcely able to move +a finger he was suddenly seized with the paroxysm of fever; in a +momentary accession of fictitious strength he leapt out of bed, seized +the full medicine bottles, and hurled them fiercely out of the window. +Just at this moment Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni was entering the +house, when two or three bottles came bang upon his head, smashing all +to pieces, whilst the brown liquid ran in streams all down his face, +and wig, and ruff. Hastily rushing into the house, he screamed like a +madman, "Signer Salvator has gone out of his mind, he's become insane; +no skill can save him now, he'll be dead in ten minutes. Give me the +picture, Dame Caterina, give me the picture--it's mine, the scanty +reward of all my trouble. Give me the picture, I say." + +But when Dame Caterina opened the box, and Doctor Splendiano saw +nothing but the old cloaks and torn shoes, his eyes spun round in his +head like a pair of fire-wheels; he gnashed his teeth; he stamped; he +consigned poor Salvator, the widow, and all the family to the devil; +then he rushed out of the house like an arrow from a bow, or as if he +had been shot from a cannon. + +After the violence of the paroxysm had spent itself, Salvator again +relapsed into a death-like condition. Dame Caterina was fully persuaded +that his end was really come, and away she sped as fast as she could to +the monastery, to fetch Father Boniface, that he might come and +administer the sacrament to the dying man. Father Boniface came and +looked at the sick man; he said he was well acquainted with the +peculiar signs which approaching death is wont to stamp upon the human +countenance, but that for the present there were no indications of them +on the face of the insensible Salvator. Something might still be done, +and he would procure help at once, only Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni +with his Greek names and infernal medicines was not to be allowed to +cross the threshold again. The good Father set out at once, and we +shall see later that he kept his word about sending the promised help. + +Salvator recovered consciousness again; he fancied he was lying in a +beautiful flower-scented arbour, for green boughs and leaves were +interlacing above his head. He felt a salutary warmth glowing in his +veins, but it seemed to him as if somehow his left arm was bound fast +"Where am I?" he asked in a faint voice. Then a handsome young man, who +had stood at his bedside, but whom he had not noticed until just now, +threw himself upon his knees, and grasping Salvator's right hand, +kissed it and bathed it with tears, as he cried again and again, "Oh! +my dear sir! my noble master! now it's all right; you are saved, you'll +get better." + +"But do tell me"--began Salvator, when the young man begged him not to +exert himself, for he was too weak to talk; he would tell him all that +had happened. "You see, my esteemed and excellent sir," began the young +man, "you see, you were very ill when you came from Naples, but your +condition was not, I warrant, by any means so dangerous but that a few +simple remedies would soon have set you, with your strong constitution, +on your legs again, had you not through Carlos's well-intentioned +blunder in running off for the nearest physician fallen into the hands +of the redoubtable Pyramid Doctor, who was making all preparations for +bringing you to your grave." + +"What do you say?" exclaimed Salvator, laughing heartily, +notwithstanding the feeble state he was in. "What do you say?--the +Pyramid Doctor? Ay, ay, although I was very ill, I saw that the little +knave in damask patchwork, who condemned me to drink his horrid, +loathsome devil's brew, wore on his head the obelisk from St. Peter's +Square--and so that's why you call him the Pyramid Doctor?" + +"Why, good heavens!" said the young man, likewise laughing, "why, +Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni must have come to see you in his ominous +conical nightcap; and, do you know, you may see it flashing every +morning from his window in the Spanish Square like a portentous meteor. +But it's not by any means owing to this cap that he's called the +Pyramid Doctor; for that there's quite another reason. Doctor +Splendiano is a great lover of pictures, and possesses in truth quite a +choice collection, which he has gained by a practice of a peculiar +nature. With eager cunning he lies in wait for painters and their +illnesses. More especially he loves to get foreign artists into his +toils; let them but eat an ounce or two of macaroni too much, or drink +a glass more Syracuse than is altogether good for them, he will afflict +them with first one and then the other disease, designating it by a +formidable name, and proceeding at once to cure them of it. He +generally bargains for a picture as the price of his attendance; and as +it is only specially obstinate constitutions which are able to +withstand his powerful remedies, it generally happens that he gets his +picture out of the chattels left by the poor foreigner, who meanwhile +has been carried to the Pyramid of Cestius, and buried there. It need +hardly be said that Signor Splendiano always picks out the best of the +pictures the painter has finished, and also does not forget to bid the +men take several others along with it. The cemetery near the Pyramid of +Cestius is Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni's corn-field, which he +diligently cultivates, and for that reason he is called the Pyramid +Doctor. Dame Caterina had taken great pains, of course with the best +intentions, to make the Doctor believe that you had brought a fine +picture with you; you may imagine therefore with what eagerness he +concocted his potions for you. It was a fortunate thing that in the +paroxysm of fever you threw the Doctor's bottles at his head, it was +also a fortunate thing that he left you in anger, and no less fortunate +was it that Dame Caterina, who believed you were in the agonies of +death, fetched Father Boniface to come and administer to you the +sacrament. Father Boniface understands something of the art of healing; +he formed a correct diagnosis of your condition and fetched me"---- + +"Then you also are a doctor?" asked Salvator in a faint whining tone. + +"No," replied the young man, a deep blush mantling his cheeks, "no, my +estimable and worthy sir, I am not in the least a doctor like Signor +Splendiano Accoramboni; I am however a chirurgeon. I felt as if I +should sink into the earth with fear--with joy--when Father Boniface +came and told me that Salvator Rosa lay sick unto death in the Via +Bergognona, and required my help. I hastened here, opened a vein in +your left arm, and you were saved. Then we brought you up into this +cool airy room that you formerly occupied. Look, there's the easel +which you left behind you; yonder are a few sketches which Dame +Caterina has treasured up as if they were relics. The virulence of your +disease is subdued; simple remedies such as Father Boniface can prepare +is all that you want, except good nursing, to bring back your strength +again. And now permit me once more to kiss this hand--this creative +hand that charms from Nature her deepest secrets and clothes them in +living form. Permit poor Antonio Scacciati to pour out all the +gratitude and immeasurable joy of his heart that Heaven has granted him +to save the life of our great and noble painter, Salvator Rosa." +Therewith the young surgeon threw himself on his knees again, and, +seizing Salvator's hand, kissed it and bathed it in tears as before. + +"I don't understand," said the artist, raising himself up a little, +though with considerable difficulty, "I don't understand, my dear +Antonio, what it is that is so especially urging you to show me all +this respect. You are, you say, a chirurgeon, and we don't in a general +way find this trade going hand in hand with art----" + +"As soon," replied the young man, casting down his eyes, "as soon as +you have picked up your strength again, my dear sir, I have a good deal +to tell you that now lies heavy on my heart." + +"Do so," said Salvator; "you may have every confidence in me--that you +may, for I don't know that any man's face has made a more direct appeal +to my heart than yours. The more I look at you the more plainly I seem +to trace in your features a resemblance to that incomparable young +painter--I mean Sanzio."[1.10] Antonio's eyes were lit up with a proud, +radiant light--he vainly struggled for words with which to express his +feelings. + +At this moment Dame Caterina appeared, followed by Father Boniface, +who brought Salvator a medicine which he had mixed scientifically +according to prescription, and which the patient swallowed with more +relish and felt to have a more beneficial effect upon him than the +Acheronian waters of the Pyramid Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni. + + + + II. + +_By Salvator Rosa's intervention Antonio Scacciati attains to a high +honour. Antonio discloses the cause of his persistent trouble to +Salvator, who consoles him and promises to help him._ + +And Antonio's words proved true. The simple but salutary remedies of +Father Boniface, the careful nursing of good Dame Caterina and her +daughters, the warmer weather which now came--all co-operated so well +together with Salvator's naturally robust constitution that he soon +felt sufficiently well to think about work again; first of all he +designed a few sketches which he thought of working out afterwards. + +Antonio scarcely ever left Salvator's room; he was all eyes when the +painter drew out his sketches; whilst his judgment in respect to many +points showed that he must have been initiated into the secrets of art. + +"See here," said Salvator to him one day, "see here, Antonio, you +understand art matters so well that I believe you have not merely +cultivated your excellent judgment as a critic, but must have wielded +the brush as well." + +"You will remember," rejoined Antonio, "how I told you, my dear sir, +when you were just about coming to yourself again after your long +unconsciousness, that I had several things to tell you which lay heavy +on my mind. Now is the time for me to unfold all my heart to you. You +must know then, that though I am called Antonio Scacciati, the +chirurgeon, who opened the vein in your arm for you, I belong also +entirely to art--to the art which, after bidding eternal farewell to my +hateful trade, I intend to devote myself for once and for all." + +"Ho! ho!" exclaimed Salvator, "Ho! ho! Antonio, weigh well what you are +about to do. You are a clever chirurgeon, and perhaps will never be +anything more than a bungling painter all your life long; for, with +your permission, as young as you are, you are decidedly too old to +begin to use the charcoal now. Believe me, a man's whole lifetime is +scarce long enough to acquire a knowledge of the True--still less the +practical ability to represent it." + +"Ah! but, my dear sir," replied Antonio, smiling blandly, "don't +imagine that I should now have come to entertain the foolish idea of +taking up the difficult art of painting had I not practised it already +on every possible occasion from my very childhood. In spite of the fact +that my father obstinately kept me away from everything connected with +art, yet Heaven was graciously pleased to throw me in the way of some +celebrated artists. I must tell you that the great Annibal[2.1] +interested himself in the orphan boy, and also that I may with justice +call myself Guido Reni's[2.2] pupil." + +"Well then," said Salvator somewhat sharply, a way of speaking he +sometimes had, "well then, my good Antonio, you have indeed had great +masters, and so it cannot fail but that, without detriment to your +surgical practice, you must have been a great pupil. Only I don't +understand how you, a faithful disciple of the gentle, elegant Guido, +whom you perhaps outdo in elegance in your own pictures--for pupils do +do those sort of things in their enthusiasm--how you can find any +pleasure in my productions, and can really regard me as a master in the +Art." + +At these words, which indeed sounded a good deal like derisive mockery, +the hot blood rushed into the young man's face. + +"Oh, let me lay aside all the diffidence which generally keeps my lips +closed," he said, "and let me frankly lay bare the thoughts I have in +my mind. I tell you, Salvator, I have never honoured any master from +the depths of my soul as I do you. What I am amazed at in your works is +the sublime greatness of conception which is often revealed You grasp +the deepest secrets of Nature: you comprehend the mysterious +hieroglyphics of her rocks, of her trees, and of her waterfalls, you +hear her sacred voice, you understand her language, and possess the +power to write down what she has said to you. Verily I can call your +bold free style of painting nothing else than writing down. Man alone +and his doings does not suffice you; you behold him only in the midst +of Nature, and in so far as his essential character is conditioned by +natural phenomena; and in these facts I see the reason why you are only +truly great in landscapes, Salvator, with their wonderful figures. +Historical painting confines you within limits which clog your +imagination to the detriment of your genius for reproducing your higher +intuitions of Nature." + +"That's talk you've picked up from envious historical painters," said +Salvator, interrupting his young companion; "like them, Antonio, you +throw me the choice bone of landscape-painting that I may gnaw away at +it, and so spare their own good flesh. Perhaps I do understand the +human figure and all that is dependent upon it. But this senseless +repetition of others' words"---- + +"Don't be angry," continued Antonio, "don't be angry, my good sir; I am +not blindly repeating anybody's words, and I should not for a moment +think of trusting to the judgment of our painters here in Rome at any +rate. Who can help greatly admiring the bold draughtsmanship, the +powerful expression, but above all the living movement of your fingers? +It's plain to see that you don't work from a stiff, inflexible model, +or even from a dead skeleton form; it is evident that you yourself are +your own breathing, living model, and that when you sketch or paint, +you have the figure you want to put on your canvas reflected in a great +mirror opposite to you." + +"The devil! Antonio," exclaimed Salvator, laughing, "I believe you must +often have had a peep into my studio when I was not aware of it, since +you have such an accurate knowledge of what goes on within." + +"Perhaps I may," replied Antonio; "but let me go on. I am not by a long +way so anxious to classify, the pictures which your powerful mind +suggests to you as are those pedantic critics who take such great pains +in this line. In fact, I think that the word 'landscape,' as generally +employed, has but an indifferent application to your productions; I +should prefer to call them historical representations in the highest +sense of the word. If we fancy that this or the other rock or this or +the other tree is gazing at us like a gigantic being with thoughtful +earnest eyes, so again, on the other hand, this or the other group of +fantastically attired men resembles some remarkable stone which has +been endowed with life; all Nature, breathing and moving in harmonious +unity, lends accents to the sublime thought which leapt into existence +in your mind. This is the spirit in which I have studied your pictures, +and so in this way it is, my grand and noble master, that I owe to you +my truer perceptions in matters of art. But pray don't imagine that I +have fallen into childish imitation. However much I would like to +possess the free bold pencil that you possess, I do not attempt to +conceal the fact that Nature's colours appear to me different from what +I see them in your pictures. Although it is useful, I think, for the +sake of acquiring technique, for the pupil to imitate the style of this +or that master, yet, so soon as he comes to stand in any sense on his +own feet, he ought to aim at representing Nature as he himself sees +her. Nothing but this true method of perception, this unity with +oneself, can give rise to character and truth. Guido shared these +sentiments; and that fiery man Preti,[2.3] who, as you are aware, is +called _Il Calabrese_--a painter who certainly, more than any other +man, has reflected upon his art--also warned me against all imitation. +Now you know, Salvator, why I so much respect you, without imitating +you." + +Whilst the young man had been speaking, Salvator had kept his eyes +fixed unchangeably upon him; he now clasped him tumultuously to his +heart. + +"Antonio," he then said, "what you have just now said are wise and +thoughtful words. Young as you are, you are nevertheless, so far as the +true perception of art is concerned, a long way ahead of many of our +old and much vaunted masters, who have a good deal of stupid foolish +twaddle about their painting, but never get at the true root of the +matter. Body alive, man! When you were talking about my pictures, I +then began to understand myself for the first time, I believe; and +because you do not imitate my style,--do not, like a good many others, +take a tube of black paint in your hand, or dab on a few glaring +colours, or even make two or three crippled figures with repulsive +faces look up from the midst of filth and dirt, and then say, 'There's +a Salvator for you!'--just for these very reasons I think a good deal +of you. I tell you, my lad, you'll not find a more faithful friend than +I am--that I can promise you with all my heart and soul." + +Antonio was beside himself with joy at the kind way in which the great +painter thus testified to his interest in him. Salvator expressed an +earnest desire to see his pictures. Antonio took him there and then to +his studio. + +Salvator had in truth expected to find something fairly good from the +young man who spoke so intelligently about art, and who, it appeared, +had a good deal in him; but nevertheless he was greatly surprised at +the sight of Antonio's fine pictures. Everywhere he found boldness in +conception, and correctness in drawing; and the freshness of the +colouring, the good taste in the arrangement of the drapery, the +uncommon delicacy of the extremities, the exquisite grace of the heads, +were all so many evidences that he was no unworthy pupil of the great +Reni. But Antonio had avoided this master's besetting sin of an +endeavour, only too conspicuous, to sacrifice expression to beauty. It +was plain that Antonio was aiming to reach Annibal's strength, without +having as yet succeeded. + +Salvator spent some considerable time of thoughtful silence in the +examination of each of the pictures. Then he said, "Listen, Antonio: it +is indeed undeniable that you were born to follow the noble art of +painting. For not only has Nature endowed you with the creative spirit +from which the finest thoughts pour forth in an inexhaustible stream, +but she has also granted you the rare ability to surmount in a short +space of time the difficulties of technique. It would only be false +flattery if I were to tell you that you had yet advanced to the level +of your masters, that you are yet equal to Guido's exquisite grace or +to Annibal's strength; but certain I am that you excel by a long way +all the painters who hold up their heads so proudly in the Academy of +St. Luke[2.4] here--Tiarini,[2.5] Gessi,[2.6] Sementa,[2.7] and all +the rest of them, not even excepting Lanfranco[2.8] himself, for he +only understands fresco-painting. And yet, Antonio, and yet, if I were +in your place, I should deliberate awhile before throwing away the +lancet altogether, and confining myself entirely to the pencil That +sounds rather strange, but listen to me. Art seems to be having a bad +time of it just now, or rather the devil seems to be very busy amongst +our painters now-a-days, bravely setting them together by the ears. If +you cannot make up your mind to put up with all sorts of annoyances, to +endure more and more scorn and contumely in proportion as you advance +in art, and as your fame spreads to meet with malicious scoundrels +everywhere, who with a friendly face will force themselves upon you in +order to ruin you the more surely afterwards,--if you cannot, I say, +make up your mind to endure all this--let painting alone. Think of the +fate of your teacher, the great Annibal, whom a rascally band of rivals +malignantly persecuted in Naples, so that he did not receive one single +commission for a great work, being everywhere rejected with contempt; +and this is said to have been instrumental in bringing about his early +death. Think of what happened to Domenichino[2.9] when he was painting +the dome of the chapel of St. Januarius. Didn't the villains of +painters--I won't mention a single name, not even the rascals +Belisario[2.10] and Ribera[2.11]--didn't they bribe Domenichino's +servant to strew ashes in the lime? So the plaster wouldn't stick fast +on the walls, and the painting had no stability. Think of all that, and +examine yourself well whether your spirit is strong enough to endure +things like that, for if not, your artistic power will be broken, and +along with the resolute courage for work you will also lose your +ability." + +"But, Salvator," replied Antonio, "it would hardly be possible for me +to have more scorn and contumely to endure, supposing I took up +painting entirely and exclusively, then I have already endured whilst +merely a chirurgeon. You have been pleased with my pictures, you have +indeed! and at the same time declared from inner conviction that I am +capable of doing better things than several of our painters of the +Academy. But these are just the men who turn up their noses at all that +I have industriously produced, and say contemptuously, 'Do look, here's +our chirurgeon wants to be a painter!' And for this very reason my +resolve is only the more unshaken; I will sever myself from a trade +that grows with every day more hateful. Upon you, my honoured master, I +now stake all my hopes. Your word is powerful; if you would speak a +good word for me, you might overthrow my envious persecutors at a +single blow, and put me in the place where I ought to be." + +"You repose great confidence in me," rejoined Salvator. "But now that +we thoroughly understand each other's views on painting, and I have +seen your works, I don't really know that there is anybody for whom I +would rather take up the cudgels than for you." + +Salvator once more inspected Antonio's pictures, and stopped before one +representing a "Magdalene at the Saviour's feet," which he especially +praised. + +"In this Magdalene," he said, "you have deviated from the usual mode of +representation. Your Magdalene is not a thoughtful virgin, but a lovely +artless child rather, and yet she is such a marvellous child that +hardly anybody else but Guido could have painted her. There is a unique +charm in her dainty figure; you must have painted with inspiration; +and, if I mistake not, the original of this Magdalene is alive and to +be found in Rome. Come, confess, Antonio, you are in love!" + +Antonio's eyes sought the ground, whilst he said in a low shy voice, +"Nothing escapes your penetration, my dear sir; perhaps it is as you +say, but do not blame me for it. That picture I set the highest store +by, and hitherto I have guarded it as a holy secret from all men's +eyes." + +"What do you say?" interrupted Salvator. "None of the painters here +have seen your picture?" + +"No, not one," was Antonio's reply. + +"All right then, Antonio," continued Salvator, his eyes sparkling with +delight "Very well then, you may rely upon it, I will overwhelm your +envious overweening persecutors, and get you the honour you deserve. +Intrust your picture to me; bring it to my studio secretly by night, +and then leave all the rest to me. Will you do so?" + +"Gladly, with all my heart," replied Antonio. "And now I should very +much like to talk to you about my love-troubles as well; but I feel as +if I ought not to do so to-day, after we have opened our minds to each +other on the subject of art. I also entreat you to grant me your +assistance both in word and deed later on in this matter of my love." + +"I am at your service," said Salvator, "for both, both when and where +you require me." Then as he was going away, he once more turned round +and said, smiling, "See here, Antonio, when you disclosed to me the +fact that you were a painter, I was very sorry that I had spoken about +your resemblance to Sanzio. I took it for granted that you were as +silly as most of our young folk, who, if they bear but the slightest +resemblance in the face to any great master, at once trim their beard +or hair as he does, and from this cause fancy it is their business to +imitate the style of the master in their art achievements, even though +it is a manifest violation of their natural talents to do so. Neither +of us has mentioned Raphael's name, but I assure you that I have +discerned in your pictures clear indications that you have grasped the +full significance of the inimitable thoughts which are reflected in the +works of this the greatest of the painters of the age. You understand +Raphael, and would give me a different answer from what Velasquez[2.12] +did when I asked him not long ago what he thought of Sanzio. 'Titian,' +he replied, 'is the greatest painter; Raphael knows nothing about +carnation.' This Spaniard, methinks, understands flesh but not +criticism; and yet these men in St. Luke elevate him to the clouds +because he once painted cherries which the sparrows picked at."[2.13] + +It happened not many days afterwards that the Academicians of St. Luke +met together in their church to prove the works which had been +announced for exhibition. There too Salvator had sent Scacciati's fine +picture. In spite of themselves the painters were greatly struck with +its grace and power; and from all lips there was heard nothing but the +most extravagant praise when Salvator informed them that he had brought +the picture with him from Naples, as the legacy of a young painter who +had been cut off in the pride of his days. + +It was not long before all Rome was crowding to see and admire the +picture of the young unknown painter who had died so young; it was +unanimously agreed that no such work had been done since Guido Reni's +time; some even went so far in their just enthusiasm as to place this +exquisitely lovely Magdalene before Guido's creations of a similar +kind. Amongst the crowd of people who were always gathered round +Scacciati's picture, Salvator one day observed a man who, besides +presenting a most extraordinary appearance, behaved as if he were +crazy. Well advanced in years, he was tall, thin as a spindle, with a +pale face, a long sharp nose, a chin equally as long, ending moreover +in a little pointed beard, and with grey, gleaming eyes. On the top of +his light sand-coloured wig he had set a high hat with a magnificent +feather; he wore a short dark red mantle or cape with many bright +buttons, a sky-blue doublet slashed in the Spanish style, immense +leather gauntlets with silver fringes, a long rapier at his side, light +grey stockings drawn up above his bony knees and gartered with yellow +ribbons, whilst he had bows of the same sort of yellow ribbon on his +shoes. + +This remarkable figure was standing before the picture like one +enraptured: he raised himself on tiptoe; he stooped down till he became +quite small; then he jumped up with both feet at once, heaved deep +sighs, groaned, nipped his eyes so close together that the tears began +to trickle down his cheeks, opened them wide again, fixed his gaze +immovably upon the charming Magdalene, sighed again, lisped in a thin, +querulous, mutilated voice, "_Ah! carissima--benedettissima! Ah! +Marianna--Mariannina--bellissima_," &c. ("Oh! dearest--most adored! Ah! +Marianna--sweet Marianna! my most beautiful!") Salvator, who had a mad +fancy for such oddities, drew near to the old fellow, intending to +engage him in conversation about Scacciati's work, which seemed to +afford him so much exquisite delight Without paying any particular heed +to Salvator, the old gentleman stood cursing his poverty, because he +could not give a million sequins for the picture, and place it under +lock and key where nobody could set their infernal eyes upon it. Then, +hopping up and down again, he blessed the Virgin and all the holy +saints that the reprobate artist who had painted the heavenly picture +which was driving him to despair and madness was dead. + +Salvator concluded that the man either was out of his mind, or was an +Academician of St. Luke with whom he was unacquainted. + +All Rome was full of Scacciati's wonderful picture; people could +scarcely talk about anything else, and this of course was convincing +proof of the excellence of the work. And when the painters were again +assembled in the church of St. Luke, to decide about the admission of +certain other pictures which had been announced for exhibition, +Salvator Rosa all at once asked, whether the painter of the "Magdalene +at the Saviour's Feet" was not worthy of being admitted a member of the +Academy. They all with one accord, including even that hairsplitter in +criticism, Baron Josépin,[2.14] declared that such a great artist would +have been an ornament to the Academy, and expressed their sorrow at his +death in the choicest phrases, although, like the crazy old man, they +were praising Heaven in their hearts that he was dead. Still more, they +were so far carried away by their enthusiasm that they passed a +resolution to the effect that the admirable young painter whom death +had snatched away from art so early should be nominated a member of the +Academy in his grave, and that masses should be read for the benefit of +his soul in the church of St. Luke. They therefore begged Salvator to +inform them what was the full name of the deceased, the date of his +birth, the place where he was born, &c. + +Then Salvator rose and said in a loud voice, "Signors, the honour you +are anxious to render to a dead man you can more easily bestow upon a +living man who walks in your midst. Learn that the 'Magdalene at the +Saviour's Feet'--the picture which you so justly exalt above all other +artistic productions that the last few years have given us, is not the +work of a dead Neapolitan painter as I pretended (this I did simply to +get an unbiassed judgment from you); that painting, that masterpiece, +which all Rome is admiring, is from the hand of Signor Antonio +Scacciati, the chirurgeon." + +The painters sat staring at Salvator as if suddenly thunderstruck, +incapable of either moving or uttering a single sound. He, however, +after quietly exulting over their embarrassment for some minutes, +continued, "Well now, signors, you would not tolerate the worthy +Antonio amongst you because he is a chirurgeon; but I think that the +illustrious Academy of St. Luke has great need of a surgeon to set the +limbs of the many crippled figures which emerge from the studios of a +good many amongst your number. But of course you will no longer scruple +to do what you ought to have done long ago, namely, elect that +excellent painter Antonio Scacciati a member of the Academy." + +The Academicians, swallowing Salvator's bitter pill, feigned to be +highly delighted that Antonio had in this way given such incontestable +proofs of his talent, and with all due ceremony nominated him a member +of the Academy. + +As soon as it became known in Rome that Antonio was the author of the +wonderful picture he was overwhelmed with congratulations, and even +with commissions for great works, which poured in upon him from all +sides. Thus by Salvator's shrewd and cunning stratagem the young man +emerged all at once out of his obscurity, and with the first real step +he took on his artistic career rose to great honour. + +Antonio revelled in ecstasies of delight. So much the more therefore +did Salvator wonder to see him, some days later, appear with his face +pale and distorted, utterly miserable and woebegone. "Ah! Salvator!" +said Antonio, "what advantage has it been to me that you have helped me +to rise to a level far beyond my expectations, that I am now +overwhelmed with praise and honour, that the prospect of a most +successful artistic career is opening out before me? Oh! I am utterly +miserable, for the picture to which, next to you, my dear sir, I owe my +great triumph, has proved the source of my lasting misfortune." + +"Stop!" replied Salvator, "don't sin against either your art or your +picture. I don't believe a word about the terrible misfortune which, +you say, has befallen you. You are in love, and I presume you can't get +all your wishes gratified at once, on the spur of the moment; that's +all it is. Lovers are like children; they scream and cry if anybody +only just touches their doll. Have done, I pray you, with that +lamentation, for I tell you I can't do with it. Come now, sit yourself +down there and quietly tell me all about your fair Magdalene, and give +me the history of your love affair, and let me know what are the stones +of offence that we have to remove, for I promise you my help +beforehand. The more adventurous the schemes are which we shall have to +undertake, the more I shall like them. In fact, my blood is coursing +hotly in my veins again, and my regimen requires that I engage in a few +wild pranks. But go on with your story, Antonio, and as I said, let's +have it quietly without any sighs and lamentations, without any Ohs! +and Ahs!" + +Antonio took his seat on the stool which Salvator had pushed up to the +easel at which he was working, and began as follows:-- + +"There is a high house in the Via Ripetta,[2.15] with a balcony which +projects far over the street so as at once to strike the eye of any one +entering through the Porta del Popolo, and there dwells perhaps the +most whimsical oddity in all Rome,--an old bachelor with every fault +that belongs to that class of persons--avaricious, vain, anxious to +appear young, amorous, foppish. He is tall, as thin as a switch, wears +a gay Spanish costume, a sandy wig, a conical hat, leather gauntlets, a +rapier at his side"---- + +"Stop, stop!" cried Salvator, interrupting him, "excuse me a minute or +two, Antonio." Then, turning about the picture at which he was +painting, he seized his charcoal and in a few free bold strokes +sketched on the back side of the canvas the eccentric old gentleman +whom he had seen behaving like a crazed man in front of Antonio's +picture. + +"By all the saints!" cried Antonio, as he leapt to his feet, and, +forgetful of his unhappiness, burst out into a loud laugh, "by all the +saints! that's he! That's Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, whom I was just +describing, that's he to the very T." + +"So you see," said Salvator calmly, "that I am already acquainted with +the worthy gentleman who most probably is your bitter enemy. But go +on." + +"Signor Pasquale Capuzzi," continued Antonio, "is as rich as Cr[oe]sus, +but at the same time, as I just told you, a sordid miser and an +incurable coxcomb. The best thing about him is that he loves art, +particularly music and painting; but he mixes up so much folly with it +all that even in these things there's no getting on with him. He +considers himself the greatest musical composer in the world, and that +there's not a singer in the Papal choir who can at all approach him. +Accordingly he looks down upon our old Frescobaldi[2.16] with contempt; +and when the Romans talk about the wonderful charm of Ceccarelli's +voice, he informs them that Ceccarelli knows as much about singing as a +pair of top-boots, and that he, Capuzzi, knows which is the right way +to fascinate the public. But as the first singer of the Pope bears the +proud name of Signor Odoardo Ceccarelli di Merania, so our Capuzzi is +greatly delighted when anybody calls him Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di +Senigaglia; for it was in Senigaglia[2.17] that he was born, and the +popular rumour goes that his mother, being startled at sight of a +sea-dog (seal) suddenly rising to the surface, gave birth to him in a +fisherman's boat, and that accounts, it is said, for a good deal of the +sea-cur in his nature. Several years ago he brought out an opera on the +stage, which was fearfully hissed; but that hasn't cured him of his +mania for writing execrable music. Indeed, when he heard Francesco +Cavalli's[2.18] opera _Le Nozze di Feti e di Peleo_, he swore that the +composer had filched the sublimest of the thoughts from his own +immortal works, for which he was near being thrashed and even stabbed. +He still has a craze for singing arias, and accompanies his hideous +squalling on a wretched jarring, jangling guitar, all out of tune. His +faithful Pylades is an ill-bred dwarfish eunuch, whom the Romans call +Pitichinaccio. There is a third member of the company--guess who it +is?--Why, none other than the Pyramid Doctor, who kicks up a noise like +a melancholy ass and yet fancies he's singing an excellent bass, quite +as good as Martinelli of the Papal choir. Now these three estimable +people are in the habit of meeting in the evening on the balcony of +Capuzzi's house, where they sing Carissimi's[2.19] motets, until all +the dogs and cats in the neighbourhood round break out into dirges of +miawing and howling, and all their neighbours heartily wish the devil +would run away with all the blessed three. + +"With this whimsical old fellow, Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, of whom my +description will have enabled you to form a tolerably adequate idea, my +father lived on terms of intimacy, since he trimmed his wig and beard. +When my father died, I undertook this business; and Capuzzi was in the +highest degree satisfied with me, because, as he once affirmed, I knew +better than anybody else how to give his moustaches a bold upward +twirl; but the real reason was because I was satisfied with the few +pence with which he rewarded me for my pains. But he firmly believed +that he more than richly indemnified me, since, whilst I was trimming +his beard, he always closed his eyes and croaked through an aria from +his own compositions, which, however, almost split my ears; and yet the +old fellow's crazy gestures afforded me a good deal of amusement, so +that I continued to attend him. One day when I went, I quietly ascended +the stairs, knocked at the door, and opened it, when lo, there was a +girl--an angel of light, who came to meet me. You know my Magdalene; it +was she. I stood stock still, rooted to the spot. No, Salvator, you +shall have no Ohs! and Ahs! Well, the first sight of this, the most +lovely maiden of her sex, enkindled in me the most ardent passionate +love. The old man informed me with a smirk that the young lady was the +daughter of his brother Pietro, who had died at Senigaglia, that her +name was Marianna, and that she was quite an orphan; being her uncle +and guardian, he had taken her into his house. You can easily imagine +that henceforward Capuzzi's house was my Paradise. But no matter +what devices I had recourse to, I could never succeed in getting a +_téte-à-téte_ with Marianna, even for a single moment. Her glances, +however, and many a stolen sigh, and many a soft pressure of the hand, +resolved all doubts as to my good fortune. The old man divined what I +was after,--which was not a very difficult thing for him to do. He +informed me that my behaviour towards his niece was not such as to +please him altogether, and he asked me what was the real purport of my +attentions. Then I frankly confessed that I loved Marianna with all my +heart, and that the greatest earthly happiness I could conceive was a +union with her. Whereupon Capuzzi, after measuring me from top to toe, +burst out in a guffaw of contempt, and declared that he never had any +idea that such lofty thoughts could haunt the brain of a paltry barber. +I was almost boiling with rage; I said he knew very well that I was no +paltry barber but rather a good surgeon, and, moreover, in so far as +concerned the noble art of painting, a faithful pupil of the great +Annibal Caracci and of the unrivalled Guido Reni. But the infamous +Capuzzi only replied by a still louder guffaw of laughter, and in his +horrible falsetto squeaked, 'See here, my sweet Signor barber, my +excellent Signor surgeon, my honoured Annibal Caracci, my beloved Guido +Reni, be off to the devil, and don't ever show yourself here again, if +you don't want your legs broken.' Therewith the cranky, knock-kneed old +fool laid hold of me with no less an intention than to kick me out of +the room, and hurl me down the stairs. But that, you know, was past +everything. With ungovernable fury I seized the old fellow and tripped +him up, so that his legs stuck uppermost in the air; and there I left +him screaming aloud, whilst I ran down the stairs and out of the +house-door; which, I need hardly say, has been closed to me ever since. + +"And that's how matters stood when you came to Rome and when Heaven +inspired Father Boniface with the happy idea of bringing me to you. +Then so soon as your clever trick had brought me the success for which +I had so long been vainly striving, that is, when I was accepted by the +Academy of St. Luke, and all Rome was heaping up praise and honour upon +me to a lavish extent, I went straightway to the old gentleman and +suddenly presented myself before him in his own room, like a +threatening apparition. Such at least he must have thought me, for he +grew as pale as a corpse, and retreated behind a great table, trembling +in every limb. And in a firm and earnest way I represented to him that +it was not now a paltry barber or a surgeon, but a celebrated painter +and Academician of St. Luke, Antonio Scacciati, to whom he would not, T +hoped, refuse the hand of his niece Marianna. You should have seen into +what a passion the old fellow flew. He screamed; he flourished his arms +about like one possessed of devils; he yelled that I, a ruffianly +murderer, was seeking his life, that I had stolen his Marianna from him +since I had portrayed her in my picture, and it was driving him mad, +driving him to despair, for all the world, all the world, were fixing +their covetous, lustful eyes upon his Marianna, his life, his hope, his +all; but I had better take care, he would burn my house over my head, +and me and my picture in it. And therewith he kicked up such a din, +shouting, 'Fire! Murder! Thieves! Help!' that I was perfectly +confounded, and only thought of making the best of my way out of the +house. + +"The crackbrained old fool is over head and ears in love with his +niece; he keeps her under lock and key; and as soon as he succeeds in +getting dispensation from the Pope, he will compel her to a shameful +alliance with himself. All hope for me is lost!" + +"Nay, nay, not quite," said Salvator, laughing, "I am of opinion that +things could not be in a better form for you, Marianna loves you, of +that you are convinced; and all we have to do is to get her out of the +power of that fantastic old gentleman, Signor Pasquale Capuzzi. I +should like to know what there is to hinder a couple of stout +enterprising fellows like you and me from accomplishing this. Pluck up +your courage, Antonio. Instead of bewailing, and sighing, and fainting +like a lovesick swain, it would be better to set to work to think out +some plan for rescuing your Marianna. You just wait and see, Antonio, +how finely we'll circumvent the old dotard; in such like emprises, the +wildest extravagance hardly seems to me wild enough. I'll set about it +at once, and learn what I can about the old man, and about his usual +habits of life. But you must not be seen in this affair, Antonio. Go +away quietly home, and come back to me early to-morrow morning, then +we'll consider our first plan of attack." + +Herewith Salvator shook the paint out of his brush, threw on his +mantle, and hurried to the Corso, whilst Antonio betook himself home as +Salvator had bidden him--his heart comforted and full of lusty hope +again. + + * * * * * * + + III. + +_Signor Pasquale Capuzzi turns up at Salvator Rosa's studio. What takes +place there. The cunning scheme which Rosa and Scacciati carry out, and +the consequences of the same._ + +Next morning Salvator, having in the meantime inquired into Capuzzi's +habits of life, very greatly surprised Antonio by a description of +them, even down to the minutest details. + +"Poor Marianna," said Salvator, "leads a sad life of it with the crazy +old fellow. There he sits sighing and ogling the whole day long, and, +what is worse still, in order to soften her heart towards him, he sings +her all and sundry love ditties that he has ever composed or intends to +compose. At the same time he is so monstrously jealous that he will not +even permit the poor young girl to have the usual female attendance, +for fear of intrigues and amours, which the maid might be induced to +engage in. Instead, a hideous little apparition with hollow eyes and +pale flabby cheeks appears every morning and evening to perform for +sweet Marianna the services of a tiring-maid. And this little +apparition is nobody else but that tiny Tomb Thumb of a Pitichinaccio, +who has to don female attire. Capuzzi, whenever he leaves home, +carefully locks and bolts every door; besides which there is always a +confounded fellow keeping watch below, who was formerly a bravo, and +then a gendarme, and now lives under Capuzzi's rooms. It seems, +therefore, a matter almost impossible to effect an entrance into his +house, but nevertheless I promise you, Antonio, that this very night +you shall be in Capuzzi's own room and shall see your Marianna, though +this time it will only be in Capuzzi's presence." + +"What do you say?" cried Antonio, quite excited; "what do you say? We +shall manage it to-night? I thought it was impossible." + +"There, there," continued Salvator, "keep still, Antonio, and let us +quietly consider how we may with safety carry out the plan which I have +conceived. But in the first place I must tell you that I have already +scraped an acquaintance with Signor Pasquale Capuzzi without knowing +it. That wretched spinet, which stands in the comer there, belongs to +the old fellow, and he wants me to pay him the preposterous sum of ten +ducats[3.1] for it. When I was convalescent I longed for some music, +which always comforts me and does me a deal of good, so I begged my +landlady to get me some such an instrument as that Dame Caterina soon +ascertained that there was an old gentleman living in the Via Ripetta +who had a fine spinet to sell I got the instrument brought here. I did +not trouble myself either about the price or about the owner. It was +only yesterday evening that I learned quite by chance that the +gentleman who intended to cheat me with this rickety old thing was +Signor Pasquale Capuzzi. Dame Caterina had enlisted the services of an +acquaintance living in the same house, and indeed on the same floor as +Capuzzi,--and now you can easily guess whence I have got all my budget +of news." + +"Yes," replied Antonio, "then the way to get in is found; your +landlady"---- + +"I know very well, Antonio," said Salvator, cutting him short, "I know +what you're going to say. You think you can find a way to your Marianna +through Dame Caterina. But you'll find that we can't do anything of +that sort; the good dame is far too talkative; she can't keep the least +secret, and so we can't for a single moment think of employing her in +this business. Now just quietly listen to me. Every evening when it's +dark Signor Pasquale, although it's very hard work for him owing to his +being knock-kneed, carries his little friend the eunuch home in his +arms, as soon as he has finished his duties as maid. Nothing in the +world could induce the timid Pitichinaccio to set foot on the pavement +at that time of night. So that when"---- + +At this moment somebody knocked at Salvator's door, and to the +consternation of both, Signor Pasquale stepped in in all the splendour +of his gala attire. On catching sight of Scacciati he stood stock still +as if paralysed, and then, opening his eyes wide, he gasped for air as +though he had some difficulty in breathing. But Salvator hastily ran to +meet him, and took him by both hands, saying, "My dear Signor Pasquale, +your presence in my humble dwelling is, I feel, a very great honour. +May I presume that it is your love for art which brings you to me? You +wish to see the newest things I have done, perchance to give me a +commission for some work. Pray in what, my dear Signor Pasquale, can I +serve you?" + +"I have a word or two to say to you, my dear Signor Salvator," +stammered Capuzzi painfully, "but--alone--when you are alone. With your +leave I will withdraw and come again at a more seasonable time." + +"By no means," said Salvator, holding the old gentleman fast, "by no +means, my dear sir. You need not stir a step; you could not have come +at a more seasonable time, for, since you are a great admirer of the +noble art of painting, and the patron of all good painters, I am sure +you will be greatly pleased for me to introduce to you Antonio +Scacciati here, the first painter of our time, whose glorious work--the +wonderful 'Magdalene at the Saviour's Feet'--has excited throughout all +Rome the most enthusiastic admiration. _You_ too, I need hardly say, +have also formed a high opinion of the work, and must be very anxious +to know the great artist himself." + +The old man was seized with a violent trembling; he shook as if he had +a shivering fit of the ague, and shot fiery wrathful looks at poor +Antonio. He however approached the old gentleman, and, bowing with +polished courtesy, assured him that he esteemed himself happy at +meeting in such an unexpected way with Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, whose +great learning in music as well as in painting was a theme for wonder +not only in Rome but throughout all Italy, and he concluded by +requesting the honour of his patronage. + +This behaviour of Antonio, in pretending to meet the old gentleman for +the first time in his life, and in addressing him in such flattering +phrases, soon brought him round again. He forced his features into a +simpering smile, and, as Salvator now let his hands loose, gave his +moustache an elegant upward curl, at the same time stammering out a few +unintelligible words. Then, turning to Salvator, he requested payment +of the ten ducats for the spinet he had sold him. + +"Oh! that trifling little matter we can settle afterwards, my good +sir," was Salvator's answer. "First have the goodness to look at this +sketch of a picture which I have drawn, and drink a glass of good +Syracuse whilst you do so." Salvator meanwhile placed his sketch on the +easel and moved up a chair for the old gentleman, and then, when he had +taken his seat, he presented him with a large and handsome wine-cup +full of good Syracuse--the little pearl-like bubbles rising gaily to +the top. + +Signor Pasquale was very fond of a glass of good wine--when he had +nothing to pay for it; and now he ought to have been in an especially +happy frame of mind, for, besides nourishing his heart with the hope of +getting ten ducats for a rotten, worn-out spinet, he was sitting before +a splendid, boldly-designed picture, the rare beauty of which he was +quite capable of estimating at its full worth. And that he was in this +happy frame of mind he evidenced in divers way; he simpered most +charmingly; he half closed his little eyes; he assiduously stroked his +chin and moustache; and lisped time after time, "Splendid! delicious!" +but they did not know to which he was referring, the picture or the +wine. + +When he had thus worked himself round into a quiet cheerful humour, +Salvator suddenly began--"They tell me, my dear sir, that you have a +most beautiful and amiable niece, named Marianna--is it so? All the +young men of the city are so smitten with love that they stupidly do +nothing but run up and down the Via Ripetta, almost dislocating their +necks in their efforts to look up at your balcony for a sight of your +sweet Marianna, to snatch a single glance from her heavenly eyes." + +Suddenly all the charming simpers, all the good humour which had been +called up into the old gentleman's face by the good wine, were gone. +Looking gloomily before him, he said sharply, "Ah! that's an instance +of the corruption of our abandoned young men. They fix their infernal +eyes, there probate seducers, upon mere children. For I tell you, my +good sir, that my niece Marianna is quite a child, quite a child, only +just outgrown her nurse's care." + +Salvator turned the conversation upon something else; the old gentleman +recovered himself. But just as he, his face again radiant with +sunshine, was on the point of putting the full wine-cup to his lips, +Salvator began anew. "But pray tell me, my dear sir, if it is indeed +true that your niece, with her sixteen summers, really has such +beautiful auburn hair, and eyes so full of heaven's own loveliness and +joy, as has Antonio's 'Magdalene?' It is generally maintained that she +has." + +"I don't know," replied the old gentleman, still more sharply than +before, "I don't know. But let us leave my niece in peace; rather let +us exchange a few instructive words on the noble subject of art, as +your fine picture here of itself invites me to do." + +Always when Capuzzi raised the wine-cup to his lips to take a good +draught, Salvator began anew to talk about the beautiful Marianna, so +that at last the old gentleman leapt from his chair in a perfect +passion, banged the cup down upon the table and almost broke it, +screaming in a high shrill voice, "By the infernal pit of Pluto! by all +the furies! you will turn my wine into poison--into poison I tell you. +But I see through you, you and your fine friend Signor Antonio, you +think to make sport of me. But you'll find yourselves deceived Pay me +the ten ducats you owe me immediately, and then I will leave you and +your associate, that barber-fellow Antonio, to make your way to the +devil." + +Salvator shouted, as if mastered by the most violent rage, "What! you +have the audacity to treat me in this way in my own house! Do you think +I'm going to pay you ten ducats for that rotten box; the woodworms +have long ago eaten all the goodness and all the music out of it? Not +ten--not five--not three--not one ducat shall you have for it, it's +scarcely worth a farthing. Away with the tumbledown thing!" and he +kicked over the little instrument again and again, till the strings +were all jarring and jangling together. + +"Ha!" screeched Capuzzi, "justice is still to be had in Rome; I will +have you arrested, sir,--arrested and cast into the deepest dungeon +there is," and off he was rushing out of the room, blustering like a +hailstorm. But Salvator took fast hold of him with both hands, and drew +him down into the chair again, softly murmuring in his ear, "My dear +Signor Pasquale, don't you perceive that I was only jesting with you? +You shall have for your spinet, not ten, but _thirty_ ducats cash +down." And he went on repeating, "thirty bright ducats in ready money," +until Capuzzi said in a faint and feeble voice, "What do you say, my +dear sir? Thirty ducats for the spinet without its being repaired?" +Then Salvator released his hold of the old gentleman, and asserted +on his honour that within an hour the instrument should be worth +thirty--nay, forty ducats, and that Signor Pasquale should receive as +much for it. + +Taking in a fresh supply of breath, and sighing deeply, the old +gentleman murmured, "Thirty--forty ducats!" Then he began, "But you +have greatly offended me, Signor Salvator"---- "Thirty ducats," +repeated Salvator. Capuzzi simpered, but then began again, "But you +have grossly wounded my feelings, Signor Salvator"---- "Thirty ducats," +exclaimed Salvator, cutting him short; and he continued to repeat, +"Thirty ducats! thirty ducats!" as long as the old gentleman continued +to sulk--till at length Capuzzi said, radiant with delight, "If you +will give me thirty,--I mean forty ducats for the spinet, all shall be +forgiven and forgotten, my dear sir." + +"But," began Salvator, "before I can fulfil my promise, I still have +one little condition to make, which you, my honoured Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi di Senigaglia, can easily grant. You are the first musical +composer in all Italy, besides being the foremost singer of the day. +When I heard in the opera _Le Nozze di Teti e Peleo_ the great scene +which that shameless Francesco Cavalli has thievishly taken from your +works, I was enraptured. If you would only sing me that aria whilst I +put the spinet to rights you would confer upon me a pleasure than which +I can conceive of none more enjoyable." + +Puckering up his mouth into the most winning of smiles, and blinking +his little grey eyes, the old gentleman replied, "I perceive, my good +sir, that you are yourself a clever musician, for you possess taste and +know how to value the deserving better than these ungrateful Romans. +Listen--listen--to the aria of all arias." + +Therewith he rose to his feet, and, stretching himself up to his full +height, spread out his arms and closed both eyes, so that he looked +like a cock preparing to crow; and he at once began to screech in such +a way that the walls rang again, and Dame Caterina and her two +daughters soon came running in, fully under the impression that such +lamentable sounds must betoken some accident or other. At sight of the +crowing old gentleman they stopped on the threshold utterly astonished; +and thus they formed the audience of the incomparable musician Capuzzi. + +Meanwhile Salvator, having picked up the spinet and thrown back the +lid, had taken his palette in hand, and in bold firm strokes had begun +on the lid of the instrument the most remarkable piece of painting that +ever was seen. The central idea was a scene from Cavalli's opera _Le +Nozze di Teti_, but there was a multitude of other personages mixed up +with it in the most fantastic way. Amongst them were the recognisable +features of Capuzzi, Antonio, Marianna (faithfully reproduced from +Antonio's picture), Salvator himself, Dame Caterina and her two +daughters,--and even the Pyramid Doctor was not wanting,--and all +grouped so intelligently, judiciously, and ingeniously, that Antonio +could not conceal his astonishment, both at the artist's intellectual +power as well as at his technique. + +Meanwhile old Capuzzi had not been content with the aria which Salvator +had requested him to give, but, carried away by his musical madness, he +went on singing or rather screeching without intermission, working his +way through the most awful recitatives from one execrable scene to +another. He must have been going on for nearly two hours when he sank +back in his chair, breathless, and with his face as red as a cherry. +And just at this same time also Salvator had so far worked out his +sketch that the figures began to wear a look of vitality, and the +whole, viewed at a little distance, had the appearance of a finished +work. + +"I have kept my word with respect to the spinet, my dear Signer +Pasquale," breathed Salvator in the old man's ear. He started up as if +awakening out of a deep sleep. Immediately his glance fell upon the +painted instrument, which stood directly opposite him. Then, opening +his eyes wide as if he saw a miracle, and jauntily throwing his conical +hat on the top of his wig, he took his crutch-stick under his arm, made +one bound to the spinet, tore the lid off the hinges, and holding it +above his head, ran like a madman out of the room, down the stairs, and +away, away out of the house altogether, followed by the hearty laughter +of Dame Caterina and both her daughters. + +"The old miser," said Salvator, "knows very well that he has only to +take yon painted lid to Count Colonna or to my friend Rossi and he will +at once get forty ducats for it, or even more." + +Salvator and Antonio then both deliberated how they should carry out +the plan of attack which was to be made when night came. We shall soon +see what the two adventurers resolved upon, and what success they had +in their adventure. + +As soon as it was dark, Signer Pasquale, after locking and bolting the +door of his house, carried the little monster of an eunuch home as +usual. The whole way the little wretch was whining and growling, +complaining that not only did he sing Capuzzi's arias till he got +catarrh in the throat and burn his fingers cooking the macaroni, but he +had now to lend himself to duties which brought him nothing but sharp +boxes of the ear and rough kicks, which Marianna lavishly distributed +to him as soon as ever he came near her. Old Capuzzi consoled him as +well as he could, promising to provide him an ampler supply of +sweetmeats than he had hitherto done; indeed, as the little man would +nohow cease his growling and querulous complaining, Pasquale even laid +himself under the obligation to get a natty abbot's coat made for the +little torment out of an old black plush waistcoat which he (the dwarf) +had often set covetous eyes upon. He demanded a wig and a sword as +well. Parleying upon these points they arrived at the Via Bergognona, +for that was where Pitichinaccio dwelt, only four doors from Salvator. + +The old man set the dwarf cautiously down and opened the street door; +and then, the dwarf on in front, they both began to climb up the narrow +stairs, which were more like a rickety ladder for hens and chickens +than steps for respectable people. But they had hardly mounted half way +up when a terrible racket began up above, and the coarse voice of some +wild drunken fellow was heard cursing and swearing, and demanding to be +shown the way out of the damned house. Pitichinaccio squeezed himself +close to the wall, and entreated Capuzzi, in the name of all the +saints, to go on first. But before Capuzzi had ascended two steps, the +fellow who was up above came tumbling headlong downstairs, caught hold +of the old man, and whisked him away like a whirlwind out through +the open door below into the middle of the street. There they both +lay,--Capuzzi at bottom and the drunken brute like a heavy sack on top +of him. The old gentleman screamed piteously for help; two men came up +at once and with considerable difficulty freed him from the heavy +weight lying upon him; the other fellow, as soon as he was lifted up, +reeled away cursing. + +"Good God! what's happened to you, Signor Pasquale? What are you doing +here at this time of night? What big quarrel have you been getting +mixed up in in that house there?" thus asked Salvator and Antonio, for +that is who the two men were. + +"Oh, I shall die!" groaned Capuzzi; "that son of the devil has crushed +all my limbs; I can't move." + +"Let me look," said Antonio, feeling all over the old gentleman's body, +and suddenly he pinched his right leg so sharply that Capuzzi screamed +out aloud. + +"By all the saints!" cried Antonio in consternation, "by all the +saints! my dear Signer Pasquale, you've broken your right leg in the +most dangerous place. If you don't get speedy help you will within a +short time be a dead man, or at any rate be lame all your life long." + +A terrible scream escaped the old man's breast. "Calm yourself, my dear +sir," continued Antonio, "although I'm now a painter, I haven't +altogether forgotten my surgical practice. We will carry you to +Salvator's house and I will at once bind up"---- + +"My dear Signor Antonio," whined Capuzzi, "you nourish hostile feelings +towards me, I know." "But," broke in Salvator, "this is now no longer +the time to talk about enmity; you are in danger, and that is enough +for honest Antonio to exert all his skill on your behalf. Lay hold, +friend Antonio." + +Gently and cautiously they lifted up the old man between them, him +screaming with the unspeakable pain caused by his broken leg, and +carried him to Salvator's dwelling. + +Dame Caterina said that she had had a foreboding that something was +going to happen, and so she had not gone to bed. As soon as she caught +sight of the old gentleman and heard what had befallen him, she began +to heap reproaches upon him for his bad conduct. "I know," she said, "I +know very well, Signor Pasquale, who you've been taking home again. Now +that you've got your beautiful niece Marianna in the house with you, +you think you've no further call to have women-folk about you, and you +treat that poor Pitichinaccio most shameful and infamous, putting him +in petticoats. But look to it. _Ogni carne ha il suo osso_ (Every house +has its skeleton). Why if you have a girl about you, don't you need +women-folk? _Fate il passo secondo la gamba_ (Cut your clothes +according to your cloth), and don't you require anything either more or +less from your Marianna than what is right. Don't lock her up as if she +were a prisoner, nor make your house a dungeon. _Asino punto convien +che trotti_ (If you are in the stream, you had better swim with it); +you have a beautiful niece and you must alter your ways to suit her, +that is, you must only do what she wants you to do. But you are an +ungallant and hard-hearted man, ay, and even in love, and jealous as +well, they say, which I hope at your years is not true. Your pardon for +telling you it all straight out, but _chi ha nel petto fiele non puo +sputar miele_ (when there's bile in the heart there can't be honey in +the mouth). So now, if you don't die of your broken leg, which at your +great age is not at all unlikely, let this be a warning to you; and +leave your niece free to do what she likes, and let her marry the fine +young gentleman as I know very well." + +And so the stream went on uninterruptedly, whilst Salvator and Antonio +cautiously undressed the old gentleman and put him to bed. Dame +Caterina's words were like knives cutting deeply into his breast; but +whenever he attempted to intervene, Antonio signed to him that all +speaking was dangerous, and so he had to swallow his bitter gall. At +length Salvator sent Dame Caterina away, to fetch some ice-cold water +that Antonio wanted. + +Salvator and Antonio satisfied themselves that the fellow who had been +sent to Pitichinaccio's house had done his duty well. Notwithstanding +the apparently terrible fall, Capuzzi had not received the slightest +damage beyond a slight bruise or two. Antonio put the old gentleman's +right foot in splints and bandaged it up so tight that he could not +move. Then they wrapped him up in cloths that had been soaked in +ice-cold water, as a precaution, they alleged, against inflammation, so +that the old gentleman shook as if with the ague. + +"My good Signor Antonio," he groaned feebly, "tell me if it is all over +with me. Must I die?" + +"Compose yourself," replied Antonio. "If you will only compose +yourself, Signor Pasquale! As you have come through the first dressing +with so much nerve and without fainting, I think we may say that the +danger is past; but you will require the most attentive nursing. At +present we mustn't let you out of the doctor's sight." + +"Oh! Antonio," whined the old gentleman, "you know how I like you, +how highly I esteem your talents. Don't leave me. Give me your dear +hand--so! You won't leave me, will you, my dear good Antonio?" + +"Although I am now no longer a surgeon," said Antonio, "although I've +quite given up that hated trade, yet I will in your case, Signor +Pasquale, make an exception, and will undertake to attend you, for +which I shall ask nothing except that you give me your friendship, your +confidence again. You were a little hard upon me"---- + +"Say no more," lisped the old gentleman, "not another word, my dear +Antonio"---- + +"Your niece will be half dead with anxiety," said Antonio again, "at +your not returning home. You are, considering your condition, brisk and +strong enough, and so as soon as day dawns we'll carry you home to your +own house. There I will again look at your bandage, and arrange your +bed as it ought to be, and give your niece her instructions, so that +you may soon get well again." + +The old gentleman heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes, remaining +some minutes without speaking. Then, stretching out his hand towards +Antonio, he drew him down close beside him, and whispered, "It was only +a jest that you had with Marianna, was it not, my dear sir?--one of +those merry conceits that young folks have"---- + +"Think no more about that, Signor Pasquale," replied Antonio. "Your +niece did, it is true, strike my fancy; but I have now quite different +things in my head, and--to confess honestly to it--I am very pleased +that you did return a sharp answer to my foolish suit. I thought I was +in love with your Marianna, but what I really saw in her was only a +fine model for my 'Magdalene.' And this probably explains how it is +that, now that my picture is finished, I feel quite indifferent towards +her." + +"Antonio," cried the old man, in a strong voice, "Antonio, you glorious +fellow! What comfort you give me--what help--what consolation! Now that +you don't love Marianna I feel as if all my pain had gone." + +"Why, I declare, Signor Pasquale," said Salvator, "if we didn't know +you to be a grave and sensible man, with a true perception of what is +becoming to your years, we might easily believe that you were yourself +by some infatuation in love with your niece of sixteen summers." + +Again the old gentleman closed his eyes, and groaned and moaned at the +horrible pain, which now returned with redoubled violence. + +The first red streaks of morning came shining in through the window. +Antonio announced to the old gentleman that it was now time to take him +to his own house in the Via Ripetta. Signor Pasquale's reply was a deep +and piteous sigh. Salvator and Antonio lifted him out of bed and +wrapped him in a wide mantle which had belonged to Dame Caterina's +husband, and which she lent them for this purpose. The old gentleman +implored them by all the saints to take off the villainous cold +bandages in which his bald head was swathed, and to give him his wig +and plumed hat. And also, if it were possible, Antonio was to put his +moustache a little in order, that Marianna might not be too much +frightened at sight of him. + +Two porters with a litter were standing all ready before the door. Dame +Caterina, still storming at the old man, and mixing a great many +proverbs in her abuse, carried down the bed, in which they then +carefully packed him; and so, accompanied by Salvator and Antonio, he +was taken home to his own house. + +No sooner did Marianna see her uncle in this wretched plight than she +began to scream, whilst a torrent of tears gushed from her eyes; +without noticing her lover, who had come along with him, she grasped +the old man's hands and pressed them to her lips, bewailing the +terrible accident that had befallen him--so much pity had the good +child for the old man who plagued and tormented her with his amorous +folly. Yet at this same moment the inherent nature of woman asserted +itself in her; for it only required a few significant glances from +Salvator to put her in full possession of all the facts of the case. +Now, for the first time, she stole a glance at the happy Antonio, +blushing hotly as she did so; and a pretty sight it was to see how a +roguish smile gradually routed and broke through her tears. Salvator, +at any rate, despite the "Magdalene," had not expected to find the +little maiden half so charming, or so sweetly pretty as he now really +discovered her to be; and, whilst almost feeling inclined to envy +Antonio his good fortune, he felt that it was all the more necessary to +get poor Marianna away from her hateful uncle, let the cost be what it +might. + +Signor Pasquale forgot his trouble in being received so affectionately +by his lovely niece, which was indeed more than he deserved. He +simpered and pursed up his lips so that his moustache was all of a +totter, and groaned and whined, not with pain, but simply and solely +with amorous longing. + +Antonio arranged his bed professionally, and, after Capuzzi had been +laid on it, tightened the bandage still more, at the same time so +muffling up his left leg as well that he had to lay there motionless +like a log of wood. Salvator withdrew and left the lovers alone with +their happiness. + +The old gentleman lay buried in cushions; moreover, as an extra +precaution, Antonio had bound a thick piece of cloth well steeped in +water round his head, so that he might not hear the lovers whispering +together. This was the first time they unburdened all their hearts to +each other, swearing eternal fidelity in the midst of tears and +rapturous kisses. The old gentleman could have no idea of what was +going on, for Marianna ceased not, frequently from time to time, to ask +him how he felt, and even permitted him to press her little white hand +to his lips. + +When the morning began to be well advanced, Antonio hastened away to +procure, as he said, all the things that the old gentleman required, +but in reality to invent some means for putting him, at any rate for +some hours, in a still more helpless condition, as well as to consult +with Salvator what further steps were then to be taken. + + + + IV. + +_Of the new attack made by Salvator Rosa and Antonio Scacciati upon +Signer Pasquale Capuzzi and upon his company, and of what further +happens in consequence._ + +Next morning Antonio came to Salvator, melancholy and dejected. + +"Well, what's the matter?" cried Salvator when he saw him coming, "what +are you hanging your head about? What's happened to you now, you happy +dog? can you not see your mistress every day, and kiss her and press +her to your heart?" + +"Oh! Salvator, it's all over with my happiness, it's gone for ever," +cried Antonio. "The devil is making sport of me. Our stratagem has +failed, and we now stand on a footing of open enmity with that cursed +Capuzzi." + +"So much the better," said Salvator; "so much the better. But come, +Antonio, tell me what's happened." + +"Just imagine, Salvator," began Antonio, "yesterday when I went back to +the Via Ripetta after an absence of at the most two hours, with all +sorts of medicines, whom should I see but the old gentleman standing in +his own doorway fully dressed. Behind him was the Pyramid Doctor and +the deuced ex-gendarme, whilst a confused something was bobbing about +round their legs. It was, I believe, that little monster Pitichinaccio. +No sooner did the old man get sight of me than he shook his fist at me, +and began to heap the most fearful curses and imprecations upon me, +swearing that if I did but approach his door he would have all my bones +broken. 'Be off to the devil, you infamous barber-fellow,' he shrieked; +'you think to outwit me with your lying and knavery. Like the very +devil himself, you lie in wait for my poor innocent Marianna, and fancy +you are going to get her into your toils--but stop a moment! I will +spend my last ducat to have the vital spark stamped out of you, ere +you're aware of it. And your fine patron, Signor Salvator, the +murderer--bandit--who's escaped the halter--he shall be sent to join +his captain Masaniello in hell--I'll have him out of Rome; that won't +cost me much trouble.' + +"Thus the old fellow raged, and as the damned ex-gendarme, incited by +the Pyramid Doctor, was making preparations to bear down upon me, and a +crowd of curious onlookers began to assemble, what could I do but quit +the field with all speed? I didn't like to come to you in my great +trouble, for I know you would only have laughed at me and my +inconsolable complaints. Why, you can hardly keep back your laughter +now." + +As Antonio ceased speaking, Salvator did indeed burst out laughing +heartily. + +"Now," he cried, "now the thing is beginning to be rather interesting. +And now, my worthy Antonio, I will tell you in detail all that took +place at Capuzzi's after you had gone. You had hardly left the house +when Signor Splendiano Accoramboni, who had learned--God knows in what +way--that his bosom-friend, Capuzzi, had broken his right leg in the +night, drew near in all solemnity, with a surgeon. Your bandage and the +entire method of treatment you have adopted with Signor Pasquale could +not fail to excite suspicion. The surgeon removed the splints and +bandages, and they discovered, what we both very well know, that there +was not even so much as an ossicle of the worthy Capuzzi's right foot +dislocated, still less broken. It didn't require any uncommon sagacity +to understand all the rest." + +"But," said Antonio, utterly astonished, "but my dear, good sir, do +tell me how you have learned all that; tell me how you get into +Capuzzi's house and know everything that takes place there." + +"I have already told you," replied Salvator, "that an acquaintance of +Dame Caterina lives in the same house, and moreover, on the same floor +as Capuzzi. This acquaintance, the widow of a wine-dealer, has a +daughter whom my little Margaret often goes to see. Now girls have a +special instinct for finding out their fellows, and so it came about +that Rose--that's the name of the wine-dealer's daughter--and Margaret +soon discovered in the living-room a small vent-hole, leading into a +dark closet that adjoins Marianna's apartment. Marianna had been by no +means inattentive to the whispering and murmuring of the two girls, nor +had she failed to notice the vent-hole, and so the way to a mutual +exchange of communications was soon opened and made use of. Whenever +old Capuzzi takes his afternoon nap the girls gossip away to their +heart's content. You will have observed that little Margaret, Dame +Caterina's and my favourite, is not so serious and reserved as her +elder sister, Anna, but is an arch, frolicsome, droll little thing. +Without expressly making mention of your love-affair I have instructed +her to get Marianna to tell her everything that takes place in +Capuzzi's house. She has proved a very apt pupil in the matter; and if +I laughed at your pain and despondency just now it was because I knew +what would comfort you, knew I could prove to you that the affair has +now taken a most favourable turn. I have quite a big budget full of +excellent news for you." + +"Salvator!" cried Antonio, his eyes sparkling with joy, "how you cause +my hopes to rise! Heaven be praised for the vent-hole. I will write to +Marianna; Margaret shall take the letter with her"---- + +"Nay, nay, we can have none of that, Antonio," replied Salvator. +"Margaret can be useful to us without being your love-messenger +exactly. Besides, accident, which often plays many fine tricks, might +carry your amorous confessions into old Capuzzi's hands, and so bring +an endless amount of fresh trouble upon Marianna, just at the very +moment when she is on the point of getting the lovesick old fool under +her thumb. For listen to what then happened. The way in which Marianna +received the old fellow when we took him home has quite reformed him. +He is fully convinced that she no longer loves you, but that she has +given him at least one half of her heart, and that all he has to do is +to win the other half. And Marianna, since she imbibed the poison of +your kisses, has advanced three years in shrewdness, artfulness, and +experience. She has convinced the old man, not only that she had no +share in our trick, but that she hates our goings-on, and will meet +with scorn every device on your part to approach her. In his excessive +delight the old man was too hasty, and swore that if he could do +anything to please his adored Marianna he would do it immediately, she +had only to give utterance to her wish. Whereupon Marianna modestly +asked for nothing except that her _zio carissimo_ (dearest uncle) would +take her to see Signor Formica in the theatre outside the Porta del +Popolo. This rather posed Capuzzi; there were consultations with the +Pyramid Doctor and with Pitichinaccio; at last Signor Pasquale and +Signor Splendiano came to the resolution that they really would take +Marianna to this theatre to-morrow. Pitichinaccio, it was resolved, +should accompany them in the disguise of a handmaiden, to which he only +gave his consent on condition that Signor Pasquale would make him a +present, not only of the plush waistcoat, but also of a wig, and at +night would, alternately with the Pyramid Doctor, carry him home. That +bargain they finally made; and so the curious leash will certainly go +along with pretty Marianna to see Signor Formica to-morrow, in the +theatre outside the Porta del Popolo." + +It is now necessary to say who Signor Formica was, and what he had to +do with the theatre outside the Porta del Popolo. + +At the time of the Carnival in Rome, nothing is more sad than when the +theatre-managers have been unlucky in their choice of a musical +composer, or when the first tenor at the Argentina theatre has lost +his voice on the way, or when the male prima donna[4.1] of the Valle +theatre is laid up with a cold,--in brief, when the chief source of +recreation which the Romans were hoping to find proves abortive, and +then comes Holy Thursday and all at once cuts off all the hopes which +might perhaps have been realized It was just after one of these unlucky +Carnivals--almost before the strict fast-days were past, when a certain +Nicolo Musso opened a theatre outside the Porta del Popolo, where he +stated his intention of putting nothing but light impromptu comic +sketches on the boards. The advertisement was drawn up in an ingenious +and witty style, and consequently the Romans formed a favourable +preconception of Musso's enterprise; but independently of this they +would in their longing to still their dramatic hunger have greedily +snatched at any the poorest pabulum of this description. The interior +arrangements of the theatre, or rather of the small booth, did not say +much for the pecuniary resources of the enterprising manager. There was +no orchestra, nor were there boxes. Instead, a gallery was put up at +the back, where the arms of the house of Colonna were conspicuous--a +sign that Count Colonna had taken Musso and his theatre under his +especial protection. A platform of slight elevation, covered with +carpets and hung round with curtains, which, according to the +requirements of the piece, had to represent a wood or a room or a +street--this was the stage. Add to this that the spectators had to +content themselves with hard uncomfortable wooden benches, and it was +no wonder that Signor Musso's patrons on first entering were pretty +loud in their grumblings at him for calling a paltry wooden booth a +theatre. But no sooner had the first two actors who appeared exchanged +a few words together than the attention of the audience was arrested; +as the piece proceeded their interest took the form of applause, their +applause grew to admiration, their admiration to the wildest pitch of +enthusiastic excitement, which found vent in loud and continuous +laughter, clapping of hands, and screams of "Bravo! Bravo!" + +And indeed it would not have been very easy to find anything more +perfect than these extemporised representations of Nicolo Musso; they +overflowed with wit, humour, and genius, and lashed the follies of the +day with an unsparing scourge. The audience were quite carried away by +the incomparable characterisation which distinguished all the actors, +but particularly by the inimitable mimicry of Pasquarello,[4.2] by his +marvellously natural imitations of the voice, gait, and postures of +well-known personages. By his inexhaustible humour, and the point and +appositeness of his impromptus, he quite carried his audience away. The +man who played the _rôle_ of Pasquarello, and who called himself Signor +Formica, seemed to be animated by a spirit of singular originality; +often there was something so strange in either tone or gesture, that +the audience, even in the midst of the most unrestrained burst of +laughter, felt a cold shiver run through them. He was excellently +supported by Dr. Gratiano,[4.3] who in pantomimic action, in voice, and +in his talent for saying the most delightful things mixed up with +apparently the most extravagant nonsense, had perhaps no equal in the +world. This _rôle_ was played by an old Bolognese named Maria Agli. +Thus in a short time all educated Rome was seen hastening in a +continuous stream to Nicolo Musso's little theatre outside the Porta +del Popolo, whilst Formica's name was on everybody's lips, and people +shouted with wild enthusiasm, "_Oh! Formica! Formica benedetto! Oh! +Formicissimo!_"--not only in the theatre but also in the streets. They +regarded him as a supernatural visitant, and many an old lady who had +split her sides with laughing in the theatre, would suddenly look grave +and say solemnly, "_Scherza coi fanti e lascia star santi_" (Jest with +children but let the saints alone), if anybody ventured to say the +least thing in disparagement of Formica's acting. This arose from the +fact that outside the theatre Signor Formica was an inscrutable +mystery. Never was he seen anywhere, and all efforts to discover traces +of him were vain, whilst Nicolo Musso on his part maintained an +inexorable silence respecting his retreat. + +And this was the theatre that Marianna was anxious to go to. + +"Let us make a decisive onslaught upon our foes," said Salvator; "we +couldn't have a finer opportunity than when they're returning home from +the theatre." Then he imparted to Antonio the details of a plan, which, +though appearing adventurous and daring, Antonio nevertheless embraced +with joy, since it held out to him a prospect that he should be able to +carry off his Marianna from the hated old Capuzzi. He also heard with +approbation that Salvator was especially concerned to chastise the +Pyramid Doctor. + +When night came, Salvator and Antonio each took a guitar and went to +the Via Ripetta, where, with the express view of causing old Capuzzi +annoyance, they complimented lovely Marianna with the finest serenade +that ever was heard. For Salvator played and sang in masterly style, +whilst Antonio, as far as the capabilities of his fine tenor would +allow him, almost rivalled Odoardo Ceccarelli. Although Signor Pasquale +appeared on the balcony and tried to silence the singers with abuse, +his neighbours, attracted to their windows by the good singing, shouted +to him that he and his companions howled and screamed like so many cats +and dogs, and yet he wouldn't listen to good music when it did come +into the street; he might just go inside and stop up his ears if he +didn't want to listen to good singing. And so Signor Pasquale had to +bear nearly all night long the torture of hearing Salvator and Antonio +sing songs which at one time were the sweetest of love-songs and at +another mocked at the folly of amorous old fools. They plainly saw +Marianna standing at the window, notwithstanding that Signor Pasquale +besought her in the sweetest phrases and protestations not to expose +herself to the noxious night air. + +Next evening the most remarkable company that ever was seen proceeded +down the Via Ripetta towards the Porta del Popolo. All eyes were turned +upon them, and people asked each other if these were maskers left from +the Carnival. Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, spruce and smug, all elegance +and politeness, wearing his gay Spanish suit well brushed, parading a +new yellow feather in his conical hat, and stepping along in shoes too +little for him, as if he were walking amongst eggs, was leading pretty +Marianna on his arm; her slender figure could not be seen, still less +her face, since she was smothered up to an unusual extent in her veil +and wraps. On the other side marched Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni in +his great wig, which covered the whole of his back, so that to look at +him from behind there appeared to be a huge head walking along on +two little legs. Close behind Marianna, and almost clinging to her, +waddled the little monster Pitichinaccio, dressed in fiery red +petticoats, and having his head covered all over in hideous fashion +with bright-coloured flowers. + +This evening Signor Formica outdid himself even, and, what he had never +done before, introduced short songs into his performance, burlesquing +the style of certain well-known singers. Old Capuzzi's passion for the +stage, which in his youth had almost amounted to infatuation, was now +stirred up in him anew. In a rapture of delight he kissed Marianna's +hand time after time, and protested that he would not miss an evening +visiting Nicolo Musso's theatre with her. Signor Formica he extolled to +the very skies, and joined hand and foot in the boisterous applause of +the rest of the spectators. Signor Splendiano was less satisfied, and +kept continually admonishing Signor Capuzzi and lovely Marianna not to +laugh so immoderately. In a single breath he ran over the names of +twenty or more diseases which might arise from splitting the sides with +laughing. But neither Marianna nor Capuzzi heeded him in the least. As +for Pitichinaccio, he felt very uncomfortable. He had been obliged to +sit behind the Pyramid Doctor, whose great wig completely overshadowed +him. Not a single thing could he see on the stage, nor any of the +actors, and was, moreover, repeatedly bothered and annoyed by two +forward women who had placed themselves near him. They called him a +dear, comely little lady, and asked him if he was married, though to be +sure, he was very young, and whether he had any children, who they dare +be bound were sweet little creatures, and so forth. The cold sweat +stood in beads on poor Pitichinaccio's brow; he whined and whimpered, +and cursed the day he was born. + +After the conclusion of the performance, Signor Pasquale waited until +the spectators had withdrawn from the theatre. The last light was +extinguished just as Signor Splendiano had lit a small piece of a wax +torch at it; and then Capuzzi, with his worthy friends and Marianna, +slowly and circumspectly set out on their return journey. + +Pitichinaccio wept and screamed; Capuzzi, greatly to his vexation, had +to take him on his left arm, whilst with the right he led Marianna. +Doctor Splendiano showed the way with his miserable little bit of +torch, which only burned with difficulty, and even then in a feeble +sort of a way, so that the wretched light it cast merely served to +reveal to them the thick darkness of the night. + +Whilst they were still a good distance from the Porta del Popolo they +all at once saw themselves surrounded by several tall figures closely +enveloped in mantles. At this moment the torch was knocked out of the +Doctor's hand, and went out on the ground. Capuzzi, as well as the +Doctor, stood still without uttering a sound. Then, without their +knowing where it came from, a pale reddish light fell upon the muffled +figures, and four grisly skulls riveted their hollow ghastly eyes upon +the Pyramid Doctor. "Woe--woe--woe betide thee, Splendiano +Accoramboni!" thus the terrible spectres shrieked in deep, sepulchral +tones. Then one of them wailed, "Do you know me? do you know me, +Splendiano? I am Cordier, the French painter, who was buried last week, +and whom your medicaments brought to his grave." Then the second, "Do +you know me, Splendiano? I am Küfner, the German painter, whom you +poisoned with your infernal electuary." Then the third, "Do you know +me, Splendiano? I am Liers, the Fleming, whom you killed with your +pills, and whose brother you defrauded of a picture." Then the fourth, +"Do you know me, Splendiano? I am Ghigi, the Neapolitan painter, +whom you despatched with your powders." And lastly all four together, +"Woe--woe--woe upon thee, Splendiano Accoramboni, cursed Pyramid +Doctor! We bid you come--come down to us beneath the earth. +Away--away--away with you! Hallo! hallo!" and so saying they threw +themselves upon the unfortunate Doctor, and, raising him in their +arms, whisked him away like a whirlwind. + +Now, although Signor Pasquale was a good deal overcome by terror, yet +it is surprising with what remarkable promptitude he recovered courage +so soon as he saw that it was only his friend Accoramboni with whom the +spectres were concerned. Pitichinaccio had stuck his head, with the +flower-bed that was on it, under Capuzzi's mantle, and clung so fast +round his neck that all efforts to shake him off proved futile. + +"Pluck up your spirits," Capuzzi exhorted Marianna, when nothing more +was to be seen of the spectres or of the Pyramid Doctor; "pluck up your +spirits, and come to me, my sweet little ducky bird! As for my worthy +friend Splendiano, it's all over with him. May St. Bernard, who also +was an able physician and gave many a man a lift on the road to +happiness, may he help him, if the revengeful painters whom he hastened +to get to his Pyramid break his neck! But who'll sing the bass of my +canzonas now? And this booby, Pitichinaccio, is squeezing my throat so, +that, adding in the fright caused by Splendiano's abduction, I fear I +shall not be able to produce a pure note for perhaps six weeks to come. +Don't be alarmed, my Marianna, my darling! It's all over now." + +She assured him that she had quite recovered from her alarm, and begged +him to let her walk alone without support, so that he could free +himself from his troublesome pet. But Signor Pasquale only took faster +hold of her, saying that he wouldn't suffer her to leave his side a +yard in that pitch darkness for anything in the world. + +In the very same moment as Signor Pasquale, now at his ease again, was +about to proceed on his road, four frightful fiend-like figures rose up +just in front of him as if out of the earth; they wore short flaring +red mantles and fixed their keen glittering eyes upon him, at the same +time making horrible noises--yelling and whistling. "Ugh! ugh! Pasquale +Capuzzi! You cursed fool! You amorous old devil! We belong to your +fraternity; we are the evil spirits of love, and have come to carry you +off to hell--to hell-fire--you and your crony Pitichinaccio." Thus +screaming, the Satanic figures fell upon the old man. Capuzzi fell +heavily to the ground and Pitichinaccio along with him, both raising a +shrill piercing cry of distress and fear, like that of a whole troop of +cudgelled asses. + +Marianna had meanwhile torn herself away from the old man and leapt +aside. Then one of the devils clasped her softly in his arms, +whispering the sweet glad words, "O Marianna! my Marianna! At last +we've managed it! My friends will carry the old man a long, long way +from here, whilst we seek a better place of safety." + +"O my Antonio!" whispered Marianna softly. + +But suddenly the scene was illuminated by the light of several torches, +and Antonio felt a stab in his shoulder. Quick as lightning he turned +round, drew his sword, and attacked the fellow, who with his stiletto +upraised was just preparing to aim a second blow. He perceived that his +three companions were defending themselves against a superior number of +gendarmes. He managed to beat off the fellow who had attacked him, and +joined his friends. Although they were maintaining their ground +bravely, the contest was yet too unequal; the gendarmes would +infallibly have proved victorious had not two others suddenly ranged +themselves with a shout on the side of the young men, one of them +immediately cutting down the fellow who was pressing Antonio the +hardest. + +In a few minutes more the contest was decided against the police. +Several lay stretched on the ground seriously wounded; the rest fled +with loud shouts towards the Porta del Popolo. + +Salvator Rosa (for he it was who had hastened to Antonio's assistance +and cut down his opponent) wanted to take Antonio and the young +painters who were disguised in the devils' masks and there and then +pursue the gendarmes into the city. + +Maria Agli, however, who had come along with him, and, notwithstanding +his advanced age, had tackled the police as stoutly as any of the rest, +urged that this would be imprudent, for the guard at the Porta del +Popolo would be certain to have intelligence of the affair and would +arrest them. So they all betook themselves to Nicolo Musso, who gladly +received them into his narrow little house not far from the theatre. +The artists took off their devils' masks and laid aside their mantles, +which had been rubbed over with phosphorus, whilst Antonio, who, +beyond the insignificant scratch on his shoulder, was not wounded +at all, exercised his surgical skill in binding up the wounds of the +rest--Salvator, Agli, and his young comrades--for they had none of them +got off without being wounded, though none of them in the least degree +dangerously. + +The adventure, notwithstanding its wildness and audacity, would +undoubtedly have been successful, had not Salvator and Antonio +overlooked one person, who upset everything. The _ci-devant_ bravo and +gendarme Michele, who dwelt below in Capuzzi's house, and was in a +certain sort his general servant, had, in accordance with Capuzzi's +directions, followed them to the theatre, but at some distance off, for +the old gentleman was ashamed of the tattered reprobate. In the same +way Michele was following them homewards. And when the spectres +appeared, Michele who, be it remarked, feared neither death nor devil, +suspecting that something was wrong, hurried back as fast as he could +run in the darkness to the Porta del Popolo, raised an alarm, and +returned with all the gendarmes he could find, just at the moment when, +as we know, the devils fell upon Signor Pasquale, and were about to +carry him off as the dead men had the Pyramid Doctor. + +In the very hottest moment of the fight, one of the young painters +observed distinctly how one of the fellows, taking Marianna in his arms +(for she had fainted), made off to the gate, whilst Signor Pasquale ran +after him with incredible swiftness, as if he had got quicksilver in +his legs. At the same time, by the light of the torches, he caught a +glimpse of something gleaming, clinging to his mantle and whimpering; +no doubt it was Pitichinaccio. + +Next morning Doctor Splendiano was found near the Pyramid of Cestius, +fast asleep, doubled up like a ball and squeezed into his wig, as if +into a warm soft nest. When he was awakened, he rambled in his talk, +and there was some difficulty in convincing him that he was still on +the surface of the earth, and in Rome to boot. And when at length he +reached his own house, he returned thanks to the Virgin and all the +saints for his rescue, threw all his tinctures, essences, electuaries, +and powders out of the window, burnt his prescriptions, and vowed to +heal his patients in the future by no other means than by anointing and +laying on of hands, as some celebrated physician of former ages, who +was at the same time a saint (his name I cannot recall just at this +moment), had with great success done before him. For his patients died +as well as the patients of other people, and then they already saw the +gates of heaven open before them ere they died, and in fact everything +else that the saint wanted them to see. + +"I can't tell you," said Antonio next day to Salvator, "how my heart +boils with rage since my blood has been spilled. Death and destruction +overtake that villain Capuzzi! I tell you, Salvator, that I am +determined to _force_ my way into his house. I will cut him down if he +opposes me and carry off Marianna." + +"An excellent plan!" replied Salvator, laughing. "An excellent plan! +Splendidly contrived! Of course I presume you have also found some +means for transporting Marianna through the air to the Spanish Square, +so that they shall not seize you and hang you before you can reach that +place of refuge. No, my dear Antonio, violence can do nothing for you +this time. You may lay your life on it too that Signor Pasquale will +now take steps to guard against any open attack. Moreover, our +adventure has made a good deal of noise, and the irrepressible laughter +of the people at the absurd way in which we have read a lesson to +Splendiano and Capuzzi has roused the police out of their light +slumber, and they, you may be sure, will now exert all their feeble +efforts to entrap us. No, Antonio, let us have recourse to craft. _Con +arte e con inganno si vive mezzo l'anno, con inganno e con arte si vive +l'altra parte_ (If cunning and scheming will help us six months +through, scheming and cunning will help us the other six too), says +Dame Caterina, nor is she far wrong. Besides, I can't help laughing to +see how we've gone and acted for all the world like thoughtless boys, +and I shall have to bear most of the blame, for I am a good bit older +than you. Tell me now, Antonio, supposing our scheme had been +successful, and you had actually carried off Marianna from the old man, +where would you have fled to, where would you have hidden her, and how +would you have managed to get united to her by the priest before the +old man could interfere to prevent it? You shall, however, in a few +days, really and truly run away with your Marianna. I have let Nicolo +Musso as well as Signor Formica into all the secret, and in common with +them devised a plan which can scarcely fail. So cheer up, Antonio; +Signor Formica will help you." + +"Signor Formica?" replied Antonio in a tone of indifference which +almost amounted to contempt. "Signor Formica! In what way can that +buffoon help me?" + +"Ho! ho!" laughed Salvator. "Please to bear in mind, I beg you, that +Signor Formica is worthy of your respect. Don't you know that he is a +sort of magician who in secret is master of the most mysterious arts? I +tell you, Signor Formica will help you. Old Maria Agli, the clever +Bolognese Doctor Gratiano, is also a sharer in the plot, and will, +moreover, have an important part to play in it. You shall abduct your +Marianna, Antonio, from Musso's theatre." + +"You are flattering me with false hopes, Salvator," said Antonio. "You +have just now said yourself that Signor Pasquale will take care to +avoid all open attacks. How can you suppose then, after his recent +unpleasant experience, that he can possibly make up his mind to visit +Musso's theatre again?" + +"It will not be such a difficult thing as you imagine to entice the old +man there," replied Salvator. "What will be more difficult to effect, +will be, to get him in the theatre without his satellites. But, be that +as it may, what you have now got to do, Antonio, is to have everything +prepared and arranged with Marianna, so as to flee from Rome the moment +the favourable opportunity comes. You must go to Florence; your skill +as a painter will, after your arrival, in itself recommend you there; +and you shall have no lack of acquaintances, nor of honourable +patronage and assistance--that you may leave to me to provide for. +After we have had a few days' rest, we will then see what is to be done +further. Once more, Antonio--live in hope; Formica will help you." + + + + V. + +_Of the new mishap which befalls Signor Pasquale Capussi. Antonio +Scacciati successfully carries out his plan in Nicolo Musso's theatre, +and flees to Florence._ + +Signor Pasquale was only too well aware who had been at the bottom of +the mischief that had happened to him and the poor Pyramid Doctor near +the Porta del Popolo, and so it may be imagined how enraged he was +against Antonio, and against Salvator Rosa, whom he rightly judged to +be the ringleader in it all. He was untiring in his efforts to comfort +poor Marianna, who was quite ill from fear,--so she said; but in +reality she was mortified that the scoundrel Michele with his gendarmes +had come up, and torn her from her Antonio's arms. Meanwhile Margaret +was very active in bringing her tidings of her lover; and she based all +her hopes upon the enterprising mind of Salvator. With impatience she +waited from day to day for something fresh to happen, and by a thousand +petty tormenting ways let the old gentleman feel the effects of this +impatience; but though she thus tamed his amorous folly and made him +humble enough, she failed to reach the evil spirit of love that haunted +his heart. After she had made him experience to the full all the +tricksy humours of the most wayward girl, and then suffered him just +once to press his withered lips upon her tiny hand, he would swear in +his excessive delight that he would never cease fervently kissing the +Pope's toe until he had obtained dispensation to wed his niece, the +paragon of beauty and amiability. Marianna was particularly careful not +to interrupt him in these outbreaks of passion, for by encouraging +these gleams of hope in the old man's breast she fanned the flame of +hope in her own, for the more he could be lulled into the belief that +he held her fast in the indissoluble chains of love, the more easy it +would be for her to escape him. + +Some time passed, when one day at noon Michele came stamping upstairs, +and, after he had had to knock a good many times to induce Signor +Pasquale to open the door, announced with considerable prolixity that +there was a gentleman below who urgently requested to see Signor +Pasquale Capuzzi, who he knew lived there. + +"By all the blessed saints of Heaven!" cried the old gentleman, +exasperated; "doesn't the knave know that on no account do I receive +strangers in my own house?" + +But the gentleman was of very respectable appearance, reported Michele, +rather oldish, talked well, and called himself Nicolo Musso. + +"Nicolo Musso," murmured Capuzzi reflectively; "Nicolo Musso, who owns +the theatre beyond the Porta del Popolo; what can he want with me?" +Whereupon, carefully locking and bolting the door, he went downstairs +with Michele, in order to converse with Nicolo in the street before the +house. + +"My dear Signor Pasquale," began Nicolo, approaching to meet him, and +bowing with polished ease, "that you deign to honour me with your +acquaintance affords me great pleasure. You lay me under a very great +obligation. Since the Romans saw you in my theatre--you, a man of the +most approved taste, of the soundest knowledge, and a master in art, +not only has my fame increased, but my receipts have doubled. I am +therefore all the more deeply pained to learn that certain wicked +wanton boys made a murderous attack upon you and your friends as you +were returning from my theatre at night. But I pray you, Signor +Pasquale, by all the saints, don't cherish any grudge against me or my +theatre on account of this outrage, which shall be severely punished. +Don't deprive me of the honour of your company at my performances!" + +"My dear Signor Nicolo," replied the old man, simpering, "be assured +that I never enjoyed myself more than I did when I visited your +theatre. Your Formica and your Agli--why, they are actors who cannot be +matched anywhere. But the fright almost killed my friend Signor +Splendiano Accoramboni, nay, it almost proved the death of me--no, it +was too great; and though it has not made me averse from your theatre, +it certainly has from the road there. If you will put up your theatre +in the Piazza del Popolo, or in the Via Babuina, or in the Via Ripetta, +I certainly will not fail to visit you a single evening; but there's +no power on earth shall ever get me outside the Porta del Popolo at +night-time again." + +Nicolo sighed deeply, as if greatly troubled. "That is very hard upon +me," said he then, "harder perhaps than you will believe, Signor +Pasquale. For unfortunately--I had based all my hopes upon you. I came +to solicit your assistance." + +"My assistance?" asked the old gentleman in astonishment "My +assistance, Signor Nicolo? In what way could it profit you?" + +"My dear Signor Pasquale," replied Nicolo, drawing his handkerchief +across his eyes, as if brushing away the trickling tears, "my most +excellent Signor Pasquale, you will remember that my actors are in the +habit of interspersing songs through their performances. This practice +I was thinking of extending imperceptibly more and more, then to get +together an orchestra, and, in a word, at last, eluding all +prohibitions to the contrary, to establish an opera-house. You, Signor +Capuzzi, are the first composer in all Italy; and we can attribute it +to nothing but the inconceivable frivolity of the Romans and the +malicious envy of your rivals that we hear anything else but your +pieces exclusively at all the theatres. Signor Pasquale, I came to +request you on my bended knees to allow me to put your immortal works, +as far as circumstances will admit, on my humble stage." + +"My dear Signor Nicolo," said the old gentleman, his face all sunshine, +"what are we about to be talking here in the public street? Pray deign +to have the goodness to climb up one or two rather steep flights of +stairs. Come along with me up to my poor dwelling." + +Almost before Nicolo got into the room, the old gentleman brought +forward a great pile of dusty music manuscript, opened it, and, taking +his guitar in his hands, began to deliver himself of a series of +frightful high-pitched screams which he denominated singing. + +Nicolo behaved like one in raptures. He sighed; he uttered extravagant +expressions of approval; he exclaimed at intervals, "_Bravo! +Bravissimo! Benedettissimo Capuzzi!_" until at last he threw himself at +the old man's feet as if utterly beside himself with ecstatic delight, +and grasped his knees. But he nipped them so hard that the old +gentleman jumped off his seat, calling out with pain, and saying to +Nicolo, "By the saints! Let me go, Signor Nicolo; you'll kill me." + +"Nay," replied Nicolo, "nay, Signor Pasquale, I will not rise until +you have promised that Formica may sing in my theatre the day after +to-morrow the divine arias which you have just executed." + +"You are a man of taste," groaned Pasquale,--"a man of deep insight. To +whom could I better intrust my compositions than to you? You shall take +all my arias with you. Only let me go. But, good God! I shall not hear +them--my divine masterpieces! Oh! let me go, Signor Nicolo." + +"No," cried Nicolo, still on his knees, and tightly pressing the old +gentleman's thin spindle-shanks together, "no, Signor Pasquale, I will +not let you go until you give me your word that you will be present in +my theatre the night after to-morrow. You need not fear any new attack! +Why, don't you think that the Romans, once they have heard your work, +will bring you home in triumph by the light of hundreds of torches? But +in case that does not happen, I myself and my faithful comrades will +take our arms and accompany you home ourselves." + +"You yourself will accompany me home, with your comrades?" asked +Pasquale; "and how many may that be?" + +"Eight or ten persons will be at your command, Signor Pasquale. Do +yield to my intercession and resolve to come." + +"Formica has a fine voice," lisped Pasquale. "How finely he will +execute my arias." + +"Do come, oh! do come!" exhorted Nicolo again, giving the old +gentleman's knees an extra grip. + +"You will pledge yourself that I shall reach my own house without being +molested?" asked the old gentleman. + +"I pledge my honour and my life," was Nicolo's reply, as he gave the +knees a still sharper grip. + +"Agreed!" cried the old gentleman; "I will be in your theatre the day +after to-morrow." + +Then Nicolo leapt to his feet and pressed Pasquale in so close an +embrace that he gasped and panted quite out of breath. + +At this moment Marianna entered the room. Signor Pasquale tried to +frighten her away again by the look of resentment which he hurled at +her; she, however, took not the slightest notice of it, but going +straight up to Musso, addressed him as if in anger,--"It is in vain for +you, Signor Nicolo, to attempt to entice my dear uncle to go to your +theatre. You are forgetting that the infamous trick lately played by +some reprobate seducers, who were lying in wait for me, almost cost the +life of my dearly beloved uncle, and of his worthy friend Splendiano; +nay, that it almost cost my life too. Never will I give my consent to +my uncle's again exposing himself to such danger. Desist from your +entreaties, Nicolo. And you, my dearest uncle, you will stay quietly at +home, will you not, and not venture out beyond the Porta del Popolo +again at night-time, which is a friend to nobody?" + +Signor Pasquale was thunderstruck. He opened his eyes wide and stared +at his niece. Then he rewarded her with the sweetest endearments, and +set forth at considerable length how that Signor Nicolo had pledged +himself so to arrange matters as to avoid every danger on the return +home. + +"None the less," said Marianna, "I stick to my word, and beg you most +earnestly, my dearest uncle, not to go to the theatre outside the Porta +del Popolo. I ask your pardon, Signor Nicolo, for speaking out frankly +in your presence the dark suspicion that lurks in my mind. You are, I +know, acquainted with Salvator Rosa and also with Antonio Scacciati. +What if you are acting in concert with our enemies? What if you are +only trying with evil intent to entice my dear uncle into your theatre +in order that they may the more safely carry out some fresh villainous +scheme, for I know that my uncle will not go without me?" + +"What a suspicion!" cried Nicolo, quite alarmed. "What a terrible +suspicion, Signora! Have you such a bad opinion of me? Have I such an +ill reputation that you conceive I could be guilty of this the basest +treachery? But if you think so unfavourably of me, if you mistrust the +assistance I have promised you, why then let Michele, who I know +rescued you out of the hands of the robbers--let Michele accompany you, +and let him take a large body of gendarmes with him, who can wait for +you outside the theatre, for you cannot of course expect me to fill my +auditorium with police." + +Marianna fixed her eyes steadily upon Nicolo's, and then said, +earnestly and gravely, "What do you say? That Michele and gendarmes +shall accompany us? Now I see plainly, Signor Nicolo, that you mean +honestly by us, and that my nasty suspicion is unfounded. Pray forgive +me my thoughtless words. And yet I cannot banish my nervousness and +anxiety about my dear uncle; I must still beg him not to take this +dangerous step." + +Signor Pasquale had listened to all this conversation with such curious +looks as plainly served to indicate the nature of the struggle that was +going on within him. But now he could no longer contain himself; he +threw himself on his knees before his beautiful niece, seized her +hands, kissed them, bathed them with the tears which ran down his +cheeks, exclaiming as if beside himself, "My adored, my angelic +Marianna! Fierce and devouring are the flames of the passion which +burns at my heart Oh! this nervousness, this anxiety--it is indeed the +sweetest confession that you love me." And then he besought her not to +give way to fear, but to go and listen in the theatre to the finest +arias which the most divine of composers had ever written. + +Nicolo too abated not in his entreaties, plainly showing his +disappointment, until Marianna permitted her scruples to be overcome; +and she promised to lay all fear aside and accompany the best and +dearest of uncles to the theatre outside the Porta del Popolo. Signor +Pasquale was in ectasies, was in the seventh heaven of delight. He was +convinced that Marianna loved him; and he now might hope to hear his +music on the stage, and win the laurel wreath which had so long been +the vain object of his desires; he was on the point of seeing his +dearest dreams fulfilled. Now he would let his light shine in perfect +glory before his true and faithful friends, for he never thought for a +moment but that Signor Splendiano and little Pitichinaccio would go +with him as on the first occasion. + +The night that Signor Splendiano had slept in his wig near the Pyramid +of Cestius he had had, besides the spectres who ran away with him, all +sorts of sinister apparitions to visit him. The whole cemetery was +alive, and hundreds of corpses had stretched out their skeleton arms +towards him, moaning and wailing that even in their graves they could +not get over the torture caused by his essences and electuaries. +Accordingly the Pyramid Doctor, although he could not contradict Signor +Pasquale that it was only a wild freakish trick played upon him by a +parcel of godless boys, grew melancholy; and, albeit not ordinarily +superstitiously inclined, he yet now saw spectres everywhere, and was +tormented by forebodings and bad dreams. + +As for Pitichinaccio, he could not be convinced that they were not real +devils come straight from the flames of hell who had fallen upon Signor +Pasquale and upon himself, and the bare mention of that dreadful night +was enough to make him scream. All the asseverations of Signor Pasquale +that there had been nobody behind the masks but Antonio Scacciati and +Salvator Rosa were of none effect, for Pitichinaccio wept and swore +that in spite of his terror and apprehension he had clearly recognised +both the voice and the behaviour of the devil Fanfarelli in the one who +had pinched his belly black and blue. + +It may therefore be imagined what an almost endless amount of trouble +it cost Signor Pasquale to persuade the two to go with him once more to +Nicolo Musso's theatre. Splendiano was the first to make the resolve to +go,--after he had procured from a monk of St. Bernard's order a small +consecrated bag of musk, the perfume of which neither dead man nor +devil could endure; with this he intended to arm himself against all +assaults. Pitichinaccio could not resist the temptation of a promised +box of candied grapes, but Signor Pasquale had besides expressly to +give his consent that he might wear his new abbot's coat, instead of +his petticoats, which he affirmed had proved an immediate source of +attraction to the devil. + +What Salvator feared seemed therefore as if it would really take place; +and yet his plan depended entirely, he continued to repeat, upon Signor +Pasquale's being in Nicolo's theatre alone with Marianna, without his +faithful satellites. Both Antonio and Salvator greatly racked their +brains how they should prevent Splendiano and Pitichinaccio from going +along with Signor Pasquale. Every scheme that occurred to them for the +accomplishment of this desideratum had to be given up owing to want of +time, for the principal plan in Nicolo's theatre had to be carried out +on the evening of the following day. + +But Providence, which often employs the most unlikely instruments for +the chastisement of fools, interposed on behalf of the distressed +lovers, and put it into Michele's head to practise some of his +blundering, thus accomplishing what Salvator and Antonio's craft was +unable to accomplish. + +That same night there was heard in the Via Ripetta before Signor +Pasquale's house such a chorus of fearful screams and of cursing and +raving and abuse that all the neighbours were startled up out of their +sleep, and a body of gendarmes, who had been pursuing a murderer as far +as the Spanish Square, hastened up with torches, supposing that some +fresh deed of violence was being committed. But when they, and a crowd +of other people whom the noise had attracted, came upon the anticipated +scene of murder, they found poor little Pitichinaccio lying as if dead +on the ground, whilst Michele was thrashing the Pyramid Doctor with a +formidable bludgeon. And they saw the Doctor reel to the floor just at +the moment when Signor Pasquale painfully scrambled to his feet, drew +his rapier, and furiously attacked Michele. Round about were lying +pieces of broken guitars. Had not several people grasped the old man's +arm he would assuredly have run Michele right through the heart. The +ex-bravo, on now becoming aware by the light of the torches whom he had +been molesting, stood as if petrified, his eyes almost starting out of +his heady "a painted desperado, on the balance between will and power," +as it is said somewhere. Then, uttering a fearful scream, he tore his +hair and begged for pardon and mercy. Neither the Pyramid Doctor nor +Pitichinaccio was seriously injured, but they had been so soundly +cudgelled that they could neither move nor stir, and had to be carried +home. + +Signor Pasquale had himself brought this mishap upon his own shoulders. + +We know that Salvator and Antonio complimented Marianna with the finest +serenade that could be heard; but I have forgotten to say that to the +old gentleman's very exceeding indignation they repeated it during +several successive nights. At length Signor Pasquale whose rage was +kept in check by his neighbours, was foolish enough to have recourse to +the authorities of the city, urging them to forbid the two painters to +sing in the Via Ripetta. The authorities, however, replied that it +would be a thing unheard of in Rome to prevent anybody from singing and +playing the guitar where he pleased, and it was irrational to ask such +a thing. So Signor Pasquale determined to put an end to the nuisance +himself, and promised Michele a large reward if he seized the first +opportunity to fall upon the singers and give them a good sound +drubbing. Michele at once procured a stout bludgeon, and lay in wait +every night behind the door. But it happened that Salvator and Antonio +judged it prudent to omit their serenading in the Via Ripetta for some +nights preceding the carrying into execution of their plan, so as not +to remind the old gentleman of his adversaries. Marianna remarked quite +innocently that though she hated Antonio and Salvator, yet she liked +their singing, for nothing was so nice as to hear music floating +upwards in the night air. + +This Signor Pasquale made a mental note of, and as the essence of +gallantry purposed to surprise his love with a serenade on his part, +which he had himself composed and carefully practised up with his +faithful friends. On the very night preceding that in which he was +hoping to celebrate his greatest triumph in Nicolo Musso's theatre, he +stealthily slipped out of the house and went and fetched his +associates, with whom he had previously arranged matters. But no sooner +had they sounded the first few notes on their guitars than Michele, +whom Signor Pasquale had thoughtlessly forgotten to apprise of his +design, burst forth from behind the door, highly delighted at finding +that the opportunity which was to bring him in the promised reward had +at last come, and began to cudgel the musicians most unmercifully, with +the results of which we are already acquainted. Of course there was no +further mention made of either Splendiano or Pitichinaccio's +accompanying Signor Pasquale to Nicolo's theatre, for they were both +confined to their bed beplastered all over. Signor Pasquale, however, +was unable to stay away, although his back and shoulders were smarting +not a little from the drubbing he had himself received; every note in +his arias was a cord which drew him thither with irresistible power. + +"Well now," said Salvator to Antonio, "since the obstacle which we took +to be insurmountable has been removed out of our way of itself, it all +depends now entirely upon your address not to let the favourable moment +slip for carrying off your Marianna from Nicolo's theatre. But I +needn't talk, you'll not fail; I will greet you now as the betrothed of +Capuzzi's lovely niece, who in a few days will be your wife. I wish you +happiness, Antonio, and yet I feel a shiver run through me when I think +upon your marriage." + +"What do you mean, Salvator?" asked Antonio, utterly astounded. + +"Call it a crotchet, call it a foolish fancy, or what you will, +Antonio," rejoined Salvator,--"at any rate I love the fair sex; but +there is not one, not even she on whom I foolishly dote, for whom I +would gladly die, but what excites in my heart, so soon as I think of a +union with her such as marriage is, a suspicion that makes me tremble +with a most unpleasant feeling of awe. That which is inscrutable in the +nature of woman mocks all the weapons of man. She whom we believe to +have surrendered herself to us entirely, heart and soul, whom we +believe to have unfolded all her character to us, is the first to +deceive us, and along with the sweetest of her kisses we imbibe the +most pernicious of poisons." + +"And my Marianna?" asked Antonio, amazed. + +"Pardon me, Antonio," continued Salvator, "even your Marianna, who is +loveliness and grace personified, has given me a fresh proof of how +dangerous the mysterious nature of woman is to us. Just call to mind +what was the behavior of that innocent, inexperienced child when we +carried her uncle home, how at a single glance from me she divined +everything--everything, I tell you, and, as you yourself admitted, +proceeded to play her part with the utmost sagacity. But that is not to +be at all compared with what took place on the occasion of Musso's +visit to the old gentleman. The most practised address, the most +impenetrable cunning,--in short, all the inventive arts of the most +experienced woman of the world could not have done more than little +Marianna did, in order to deceive the old gentleman with perfect +success. She could not have acted in any better way to prepare the +road for us for any kind of enterprise. Our feud with the cranky old +fool--any sort of cunning scheme seems justified, but--come, my dear +Antonio, never mind my fanciful crotchets, but be happy with your +Marianna; as happy as you can." + +If a monk had taken his place beside Signor Pasquale when he set out +along with his niece to go to Nicolo Musso's theatre, everybody would +have thought that the strange pair were being led to execution. First +went valiant Michele, repulsive in appearance, and armed to the teeth; +then came Signor Pasquale and Marianna, followed by fully twenty +gendarmes. + +Nicolo received the old gentleman and his lady with every mark of +respect at the entrance to the theatre, and conducted them to the seats +which had been reserved for them, immediately in front of the stage. +Signor Pasquale felt highly flattered by this mark of honour, and gazed +about him with proud and sparkling eyes, whilst his pleasure, his +joy, was greatly enhanced to find that all the seats near and behind +Marianna were occupied by women alone. A couple of violins and a +bass-fiddle were being tuned behind the curtains of the stage; the old +gentleman's heart beat with expectation; and when all at once the +orchestra struck up the _ritornello_ of his work, he felt an electric +thrill tingling in every nerve. + +Formica came forward in the character of Pasquarello, and sang--sang in +Capuzzi's own voice, and with all his characteristic gestures, the most +hopeless aria that ever was heard. The theatre shook with the loud and +boisterous laughter of the audience. They shouted; they screamed +wildly, "O Pasquale Capuzzi! Our most illustrious composer and artist! +Bravo! Bravissimo!" The old gentleman, not perceiving the ridicule and +irony of the laughter, was in raptures of delight. The aria came to an +end, and the people cried "Sh! sh!" for Doctor Gratiano, played on this +occasion by Nicolo Musso himself, appeared on the stage, holding his +hands over his ears and shouting to Pasquarello for goodness' sake to +stop his ridiculous screeching. + +Then the Doctor asked Pasquarello how long he had taken to the +confounded habit of singing, and where he had got that execrable piece +from. + +Whereupon Pasquarello replied, that he didn't know what the Doctor +would have; he was like the Romans, and had no taste for real music, +since he failed to recognise the most talented of musicians. The aria +had been written by the greatest of living composers, in whose service +he had the good fortune to be, receiving instruction in both music and +singing from the master himself. + +Gratiano then began guessing, and mentioned the names of a great number +of well-known composers and musicians, but at every distinguished name +Pasquarello only shook his head contemptuously. + +At length Pasquarello said that the Doctor was only exposing gross +ignorance, since he did not know the name of the greatest composer of +the time. It was no other than Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, who had done +him the honour of taking him into his service. Could he not see that he +was the friend and servant of Signor Pasquale? + +Then the Doctor broke out into a loud long roar of laughter, and cried. +What! Had he (Pasquarello) after running away from him (the Doctor), +with whom, besides getting his wages and food, he had had his palm +tickled with many a copper, had he gone and taken service with the +biggest and most inveterate old coxcomb who ever stuffed himself with +macaroni, to the patched Carnival fool who strutted about like a +satisfied old hen after a shower of rain, to the snarling skinflint, +the love-sick old poltroon, who infected the air of the Via Ripetta +with the disgusting bleating which he called singing? &c., &c. + +To which Pasquarello, quite incensed, made reply that it was nothing +but envy which spoke in the Doctor's words; he (Pasquarello) was of +course speaking with his heart in his mouth (_parla col cuore in +mano_); the Doctor was not at all the man to pass an opinion upon +Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di Senigaglia; he was speaking with his heart +in his mouth. The Doctor himself had a strong tang of all that he +blamed in the excellent Signor Pasquale; but he was speaking with his +heart in his mouth; he (Pasquarello) had himself often heard fully six +hundred people at once laugh most heartily at Doctor Gratiano, and so +forth. Then Pasquarello spoke a long panegyric upon his new master, +Signor Pasquale, attributing to him all the virtues under the sun; and +he concluded with a description of his character, which he portrayed as +being the very essence of amiability and grace. + +"Heaven bless you, Formica!" lisped Signor Capuzzi to himself; "Heaven +bless you, Formica! I perceive you have designed to make my triumph +perfect, since you are upbraiding the Romans for all their envious and +ungrateful persecution of me, and are letting them know _who_ I really +am." + +"Ha! here comes my master himself," cried Pasquarello at this moment, +and there entered on the stage--Signor Pasquale Capuzzi himself, just +as he breathed and walked, his very clothes, face, gestures, gait, +postures, in fact so perfectly like Signor Capuzzi in the auditorium, +that the latter, quite aghast, let go Marianna's hand, which hitherto +he had held fast in his own, and tapped himself, his nose, his wig, in +order to discover whether he was not dreaming, or seeing double, +whether he was really sitting in Nicolo Musso's theatre and dare credit +the miracle. + +Capuzzi on the stage embraced Doctor Gratiano with great kindness, and +asked how he was. The Doctor replied that he had a good appetite, +and slept soundly, at his service (_per servirlo_); and as for his +purse--well, it was suffering from a galloping consumption. Only +yesterday he had spent his last ducat for a pair of rosemary-coloured +stockings for his sweetheart, and was just going to walk round to one +or two bankers to see if he could borrow thirty ducats"---- + +"But how can you pass over your best friends?" said Capuzzi. "Here, my +dear sir, here are fifty ducats, come take them." + +"Pasquale, what are you about?" said the real Capuzzi in an undertone. + +Dr. Gratiano began to talk about a bond and about interest; but Signor +Capuzzi declared that he could not think of asking for either from such +a friend as the Doctor was. + +"Pasquale, have you gone out of your senses?" exclaimed the real +Capuzzi a little louder. + +After many grateful embraces Doctor Gratiano took his leave. Now +Pasquarello drew near with a good many bows, and extolled Signor +Capuzzi to the skies, adding, however, that his purse was suffering +from the same complaint as Gratiano's, and he begged for some of the +same excellent medicine that had cured his. Capuzzi on the stage +laughed, and said he was pleased to find that Pasquarello knew how to +turn his good humour to advantage, and threw him several glittering +ducats. + +"Pasquale, you must be mad, possessed of the devil," cried the real +Capuzzi aloud. He was bidden be still. + +Pasquarello went still further in his eulogy of Capuzzi, and came at +last to speak, of the aria which he (Capuzzi) had composed, and with +which he (Pasquarello) hoped to enchant everybody. The fictitious +Capuzzi clapped Pasquarello heartily on the back, and went on to say +that he might venture to tell him (Pasquarello), his faithful servant, +in confidence, that in reality he knew nothing whatever of the science +of music, and in respect to the aria of which he had just spoken, as +well as all pieces that he had ever composed, why, he had stolen them +out of Frescobaldi's canzonas and Carissimi's motets. + +"I tell you you're lying in your throat, you knave," shouted the +Capuzzi off the stage, rising from his seat. Again he was bidden keep +still, and the woman who sat next him drew him down on the bench. + +"It's now time to think about other and more important matters," +continued Capuzzi on the stage. He was going to give a grand banquet +the next day, and Pasquarello must look alive and have everything that +was necessary prepared. Then he produced and read over a list of all +the rarest and most expensive dishes, making Pasquarello tell him how +much each would cost, and at the same time giving him the money for +them. + +"Pasquale! You're insane! You've gone mad! You good-for-nothing scamp! +You spendthrift!" shouted the real Capuzzi at intervals, growing more +and more enraged the higher the cost of this the most nonsensical of +dinners rose. + +At length, when the list was finished, Pasquarello asked what had +induced him to give such a splendid banquet. + +"To-morrow will be the happiest and most joyous day of my life," +replied the fictitious Capuzzi. "For know, my good Pasquarello, that I +am going to celebrate to-morrow the auspicious marriage of my dear +niece Marianna. I am going to give her hand to that brave young fellow, +the best of all artists, Scacciati." + +Hardly had the words fallen from his lips when the real Capuzzi leapt +to his feet, utterly beside himself, quite out of his mind, his face +all aflame with the most fiendish rage, and doubling his fists and +shaking them at his counterpart on the stage, he yelled at the top of +his voice, "No, you won't, no, you won't, you rascal! you scoundrel, +you,--Pasquale! Do you mean to cheat yourself out of your Marianna, you +hound? Are you going to throw her in the arms of that scoundrel,--sweet +Marianna, thy life, thy hope, thy all? Ah! look to it! Look to it! you +infatuated fool. Just remember what sort of a reception you will meet +with from yourself. You shall beat yourself black and blue with your +own hands, so that you will have no relish to think about banquets and +weddings!" + +But the Capuzzi on the stage doubled his fists like the Capuzzi +below, and shouted in exactly the same furious way, and in the same +high-pitched voice, "May all the spirits of hell sit at your heart, you +abominable nonsensical Pasquale, you atrocious skinflint--you love-sick +old fool--you gaudy tricked-out ass with the cap and bells dangling +about your ears. Take care lest I snuff out the candle of your life, +and so at length put an end to the infamous tricks which you try to +foist upon the good, honest, modest Pasquale Capuzzi." + +Amidst the most fearful cursing and swearing of the real Capuzzi, the +one on the stage dished up one fine anecdote after the other about him. + +"You'd better attempt," shouted at last the fictitious Capuzzi, "you +only dare, Pasquale, you amorous old ape, to interfere with the +happiness of these two young people, whom Heaven has destined for each +other." + +At this moment there appeared at the back of the stage Antonio +Scacciati and Marianna locked in each other's arms. Albeit the old +gentleman was at other times somewhat feeble on his legs, yet now fury +gave him strength and agility. With a single bound he was on the stage, +had drawn his sword, and was charging upon the pretended Antonio. He +found, however, that he was held fast behind. An officer of the Papal +guard had stopped him, and said in a serious voice, "Recollect where +you are, Signor Pasquale; you are in Nicolo Musso's theatre. Without +intending it, you have today played a most ridiculous _rôle_. You will +not find either Antonio or Marianna here." The two persons whom Capuzzi +had taken for his niece and her lover now drew near, along with the +rest of the actors. The faces were all completely strange to him. His +rapier escaped from his trembling hand; he took a deep breath as if +awakening out of a bad dream; he grasped his brow with both hands; he +opened his eyes wide. The presentiment of what had happened suddenly +struck him, and he shouted, "Marianna!" in such a stentorian voice that +the walls rang again. + +But she was beyond reach of his shouts. Antonio had taken advantage of +the opportunity whilst Pasquale, oblivious of all about him and even of +himself, was quarrelling with his double, to make his way to Marianna, +and back with her through the audience, and out at a side door, where a +carriage stood ready waiting; and away they went as fast as their +horses could gallop towards Florence. + +"Marianna!" screamed the old man again, "Marianna! she is gone. She has +fled. That knave Antonio has stolen her from me. Away! after them! Have +pity on me, good people, and take torches and help me to look for my +little darling. Oh! you serpent!" + +And he tried to make for the door. But the officer held him fast, +saying, "Do you mean that pretty young lady who sat beside you? +I believe I saw her slip out with a young man--I think Antonio +Scacciati--a long time ago, when you began your idle quarrel with one +of the actors who wore a mask like your face. You needn't make a +trouble of it; every inquiry shall at once be set on foot, and Marianna +shall be brought back to you as soon as she is found. But as for +yourself, Signor Pasquale, your behaviour here and your murderous +attempt upon the life of that actor compel me to arrest you." + +Signor Pasquale, his face as pale as death, incapable of uttering a +single word or even a sound, was led away by the very same gendarmes +who were to have protected him against masked devils and spectres. Thus +it came to pass that on the selfsame night on which he had hoped to +celebrate his triumph, he was plunged into the midst of trouble and of +all the frantic despondency which amorous old fools feel when they are +deceived. + + + + VI. + +_Salvator Rosa leaves Rome and goes to Florence. Conclusion of the +history._ + +Everything here below beneath the sun is subject to continual change; +and perhaps there is nothing which can be called more inconstant than +human opinion, which turns round in an everlasting circle like the +wheel of fortune. He who reaps great praise to-day is overwhelmed with +biting censure to-morrow; to-day we trample under foot the man who +to-morrow will be raised far above us. + +Of all those who in Rome had ridiculed and mocked at old Pasquale +Capuzzi, with his sordid avarice, his foolish amorousness, his insane +jealousy, who did not wish poor tormented Marianna her liberty? But now +that Antonio had successfully carried off his mistress, all their +ridicule and mockery was suddenly changed into pity for the old fool, +whom they saw wandering about the streets of Rome with his head hanging +on his breast, utterly disconsolate. Misfortunes seldom come singly; +and so it happened that Signor Pasquale, soon after Marianna had been +taken from him, lost his best bosom-friends also. Little Pitichinaccio +choked himself in foolishly trying to swallow an almond-kernel in the +middle of a cadenza; but a sudden stop was put to the life of the +illustrious Pyramid Doctor Signor Splendiano Accoramboni by a slip of +the pen, for which he had only himself to blame. Michele's drubbing +made such work with him that he fell into a fever. He determined to +make use of a remedy which he claimed to have discovered, so, calling +for pen and ink, he wrote down a prescription in which, by employing a +wrong sign, he increased the quantity of a powerful substance to a +dangerous extent. But scarcely had he swallowed the medicine than he +sank back on the pillows and died, establishing, however, by his own +death in the most splendid and satisfactory manner the efficacy of the +last tincture which he ever prescribed. + +As already remarked, all those whose laughter had been the loudest, and +who had repeatedly wished Antonio success in his schemes, had now +nothing but pity for the old gentleman; and the bitterest blame was +heaped, not so much upon Antonio, as upon Salvator Rosa, whom, to be +sure, they regarded as the instigator of the whole plan. + +Salvator's enemies, of whom he had a goodly number, exerted all their +efforts to fan the flame. "See you," they said, "he was one of +Masaniello's doughty partisans, and is ready to turn his hand to any +deed of mischief, to any disreputable enterprise; we shall be the next +to suffer from his presence in the city; he is a dangerous man." + +And the jealous faction who had leagued together against Salvator did +actually succeed in stemming the tide of his prosperous career. He sent +forth from his studio one picture after the other, all bold in +conception, and splendidly executed; but the so-called critics shrugged +their shoulders, now pointing out that the hills were too blue, the +trees too green, the figures now too long, now too broad, finding fault +everywhere where there was no fault to be found, and seeking to detract +from his hard-earned reputation in all the ways they could think of. +Especially bitter in their persecution of him were the Academicians of +St. Luke, who could not forget how he took them in about the surgeon; +they even went beyond the limits of their own profession, and decried +the clever stanzas which Salvator at that time wrote, hinting very +plainly that he did not cultivate his fruit on his own garden soil, but +plundered that of his neighbours. For these reasons, therefore, +Salvator could not manage to surround himself with the splendour which +he had lived amidst formerly in Rome. Instead of being visited by the +most eminent of the Romans in a large studio, he had to remain with +Dame Caterina and his green fig-tree; but amid these poor surroundings +he frequently found both consolation and tranquillity of mind. + +Salvator took the malicious machinations of his enemies to heart more +than he ought to have done; he even began to feel that an insidious +disease, resulting from chagrin and dejection, was gnawing at his +vitals. In this unhappy frame of mind he designed and executed two +large pictures which excited quite an uproar in Rome. Of these one +represented the transitoriness of all earthly things, and in the +principal figure, that of a wanton female bearing all the indications +of her degrading calling about her, was recognised the mistress of one +of the cardinals; the other portrayed the Goddess of Fortune dispensing +her rich gifts. But cardinals' hats, bishops' mitres, gold medals, +decorations of orders, were falling upon bleating sheep, braying asses, +and other such like contemptible animals, whilst well-made men in +ragged clothes were vainly straining their eyes upwards to get even the +smallest gift. Salvator had given free rein to his embittered mood, and +the animals' heads bore the closest resemblance to the features of +various eminent persons. It is easy to imagine, therefore, how the tide +of hatred against him rose, and that he was more bitterly persecuted +than ever. + +Dame Caterina warned him, with tears in her eyes, that as soon as it +began to be dark she had observed suspicious characters lurking about +the house and apparently dogging his every footstep. Salvator saw that +it was time to leave Rome; and Dame Caterina and her beloved daughters +were the only people whom it caused him pain to part from. In response +to the repeated invitations of the Duke of Tuscany,[6.1] he went to +Florence; and here at length he was richly indemnified for all the +mortification and worry which he had had to struggle against in Rome, +and here all the honour and all the fame which he so truly deserved +were freely conferred upon him. The Duke's presents and the high prices +which he received for his pictures soon enabled him to remove into a +large house and to furnish it in the most magnificent style. There he +was wont to gather round him the most illustrious authors and scholars +of the day, amongst whom it will be sufficient to mention Evangelista +Toricelli,[6.2] Valerio Chimentelli, Battista Ricciardi, Andrea +Cavalcanti, Pietro Salvati, Filippo Apolloni, Volumnio Bandelli, +Francesco Rovai. They formed an association for the prosecution of +artistic and scientific pursuits, whilst Salvator was able to +contribute an element of whimsicality to the meetings, which had a +singular effect in animating and enlivening the mind. The +banqueting-hall was like a beautiful grove with fragrant bushes and +flowers and splashing fountains; and the dishes even, which were served +up by pages in eccentric costumes, were very wonderful to look at, as +if they came from some distant land of magic. These meetings of writers +and savans in Salvator Rosa's house were called at that time the +Accademia de' Percossi. + +Though Salvator's mind was in this way devoted to science and art, yet +his real true nature came to life again when he was with his friend +Antonio Scacciati, who, along with his lovely Marianna, led the +pleasant _sans souci_ life of an artist. They often recalled poor old +Signor Pasquale whom they had deceived, and all that had taken place in +Nicolo Musso's theatre. Antonio asked Salvator how he had contrived to +enlist in his cause the active interest not only of Musso but of the +excellent Formica, and of Agli too. Salvator replied that it had been +very easy, for Formica was his most intimate friend in Rome, so that it +had been a work of both pleasure and love to him to arrange everything +on the stage in accordance with the instructions Salvator gave him. +Antonio protested that, though still he could not help laughing over +the scene which had paved the way to his happiness, he yet wished with +all his heart to be reconciled to the old gentleman, even if he should +never touch a penny of Marianna's fortune, which the old gentleman had +confiscated; the practice of his art brought him in a sufficient +income. Marianna too was often unable to restrain her tears when she +thought that her father's brother might go down to his grave without +having forgiven her the trick which she had played upon him; and so +Pasquale's hatred overshadowed like a dark cloud the brightness of +their happiness. Salvator comforted them both--Antonio and Marianna--by +saying that time had adjusted still worse difficulties, and that chance +would perhaps bring the old gentleman near them in some less dangerous +way than if they had remained in Rome, or were to return there now. + +We shall see that a prophetic spirit spoke in Salvator. + +A considerable time elapsed, when one day Antonio burst into Salvator's +studio breathless and pale as death. "Salvator!" he cried, "Salvator, +my friend, my protector! I am lost if you do not help me. Pasquale +Capuzzi is here; he has procured a warrant for my arrest for the +seduction of his niece." + +"But what can Signor Pasquale do against you now?" asked Salvator. +"Have you not been united to Marianna by the Church?" + +"Oh!" replied Antonio, giving way completely to despair, "the blessing +of the Church herself cannot save me from ruin. Heaven knows by what +means the old man has been able to approach the Pope's nephew.[6.3] At +any rate the Pope's nephew has taken the old man under his protection, +and has infused into him the hope that the Holy Father will declare my +marriage with Marianna to be null and void; nay, yet further, that he +will grant him (the old man) dispensation to marry his niece." + +"Stop!" cried Salvator, "now I see it all; now I see it all. What +threatens to be your ruin, Antonio, is this man's hatred against me. +For I must tell you that this nephew of the Pope's, a proud, coarse, +boorish clown, was amongst the animals in my picture to whom the +Goddess of Fortune is dispensing her gifts. That it was I who helped +you to win your Marianna, though indirectly, is well known, not only to +this man, but to all Rome,--which is quite reason enough to persecute +you since they cannot do anything to me. And so, Antonio, having +brought this misfortune upon you, I must make every effort to assist +you, and all the more that you are my dearest and most intimate friend. +But, by the saints! I don't see in what way I can frustrate your +enemies' little game"---- + +Therewith Salvator, who had continued to paint at a picture all the +time, laid aside brush, palette, and maulstick, and, rising up from his +easel, began to pace the room backwards and forwards, his arms crossed +over his breast, Antonio meanwhile being quite wrapt up in his own +thoughts, and with his eyes fixed unchangeably upon the floor. + +At length Salvator paused before him and said with a smile, "See here, +Antonio, I cannot do anything myself against your powerful enemies, but +I know one who can help you, and who will help you, and that is--Signor +Formica." + +"Oh!" said Antonio, "don't jest with an unhappy man, whom nothing can +save." + +"What! you are despairing again?" exclaimed Salvator, who was now all +at once in the merriest humour, and he laughed aloud. "I tell you, +Antonio, my friend Formica shall help you in Florence as he helped you +in Rome. Go away quietly home and comfort your Marianna, and calmly +wait and see how things will turn out. I trust you will be ready at the +shortest notice to do what Signor Formica, who is really here in +Florence at the present time, shall require of you." This Antonio +promised most faithfully, and hope revived in him again, and +confidence. + +Signor Pasquale Capuzzi was not a little astonished at receiving a +formal invitation from the Accademia de' Percossi. "Ah!" he exclaimed, +"Florence is the place then where a man's merits are recognised, where +Pasquale Capuzzi di Senigaglia, a man gifted with the most excellent +talents, is known and valued." Thus the thought of his knowledge and +his art, and the honour that was shown him on their account, overcame +the repugnance which he would otherwise have felt against a society at +the head of which stood Salvator Rosa. His Spanish gala-dress was more +carefully brushed than ever; his conical hat was equipped with a new +feather; his shoes were provided with new ribbons; and so Signor +Pasquale appeared at Salvator's as brilliant as a rose-chafer,[6.4] and +his face all sunshine. The magnificence which he saw on all sides of +him, even Salvator himself, who had received him dressed in the richest +apparel, inspired him with deep respect, and, after the manner of +little souls, who, though at first proud and puffed up, at once grovel +in the dust whenever they come into contact with what they feel to be +superior to themselves, Pasquale's behaviour towards Salvator, whom he +would gladly have done a mischief to in Rome, was nothing but humility +and submissive deference. + +So much attention was paid to Signor Pasquale from all sides, his +judgment was appealed to so unconditionally, and so much was said about +his services to art, that he felt new life infused into his veins; and +an unusual spirit was awakened within him, so that his utterances on +many points were more sensible than might have been expected. If it be +added that never in his life before had he been so splendidly +entertained, and never had he drunk such inspiriting wine, it will +readily be conceived that his pleasure was intensified from moment to +moment, and that he forgot all the wrong which had been done him at +Rome as well as the unpleasant business which had brought him to +Florence. Often after their banquets the Academicians were wont to +amuse themselves with short impromptu dramatic representations, and so +this evening the distinguished playwright and poet Filippo Apolloni +called upon those who generally took part in them to bring the +festivities to a fitting conclusion with one of their usual +performances. Salvator at once withdrew to make all the necessary +preparations. + +Not long afterwards the bushes at the farther end of the +banqueting-hall began to move, the branches with their foliage were +parted, and a little theatre provided with seats for the spectators +became visible. + +"By the saints!" exclaimed Pasquale Capuzzi, terrified, "where am I? +Surely that's Nicolo Musso's theatre." + +Without heeding his exclamation, Evangelista Toricelli and Andrea +Cavalcanti--both of them grave, respectable, venerable men--took him by +the arm and led him to a seat immediately in front of the stage, taking +their places on each side of him. + +This was no sooner done than there appeared on the boards--Formica in +the character of Pasquarello. + +"You reprobate, Formica!" shouted Pasquale, leaping to his feet and +shaking his doubled fist at the stage. Toricelli and Cavalcanti's +stern, reproving glances bade him sit still and keep quiet. + +Pasquarello wept and sobbed, and cursed his destiny, which brought him +nothing but grief and heart-breaking, declared he didn't know how he +should ever set about it if he wanted to laugh again, and concluded by +saying that if he could look upon blood without fainting, he should +certainly cut his throat, or should throw himself in the Tiber if he +could only let that cursed swimming alone when he got into the water. + +Doctor Gratiano now joined him, and inquired what was the cause of his +trouble. + +Whereupon Pasquarello asked him whether he did not know anything about +what had taken place in the house of his master, Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi di Senigaglia, whether he did not know that an infamous +scoundrel had carried off pretty Marianna, his master's niece? + +"Ah!" murmured Capuzzi, "I see you want to make your excuses to me, +Formica; you wish for my pardon--well, we shall see." + +Doctor Gratiano expressed his sympathy, and observed that the scoundrel +must have gone to work very cunningly to have eluded all the inquiries +which had been instituted by Capuzzi. + +"Ho! ho!" rejoined Pasquarello. "The Doctor need not imagine that the +scoundrel, Antonio Scacciati, had succeeded in escaping the sharpness +of Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, supported as he was, moreover, by powerful +friends. Antonio had been arrested, his marriage with Marianna +annulled, and Marianna herself had again come into Capuzzi's power. + +"Has he got her again?" shouted Capuzzi, beside himself; "has he got +her again, good Pasquale? Has he got his little darling, his Marianna? +Is the knave Antonio arrested? Heaven bless you, Formica!" + +"You take a too keen interest in the play, Signor Pasquale," said +Cavalcanti, quite seriously. "Pray permit the actors to proceed with +their parts without interrupting them in this disturbing fashion." + +Ashamed of himself, Signor Pasquale resumed his seat, for he had again +risen to his feet. + +Doctor Gratiano asked what had taken place then. + +A wedding, continued Pasquarello, a wedding had taken place. Marianna +had repented of what she had done; Signor Pasquale had obtained the +desired dispensation from the Holy Father, and had married his niece. + +"Yes, yes," murmured Pasquale Capuzzi to himself, whilst his eyes +sparkled with delight, "yes, yes, my dear, good Formica; he will marry +his sweet Marianna, the happy Pasquale. He knew that the dear little +darling had always loved him, and that it was only Satan who had led +her astray." + +"Why then, everything is all right," said Doctor Gratiano, "and there's +no cause for lamentation." + +Pasquarello began, however, to weep and sob more violently than before, +till at length, as if overcome by the terrible nature of his pain, he +fainted away. Doctor Gratiano ran backwards and forwards in great +distress, was so sorry he had no smelling-bottle with him, felt in all +his pockets, and at last produced a roasted chestnut, and put it under +the insensible Pasquarello's nose. He at once recovered, sneezing +violently, and begging him to attribute his faintness to his weak +nerves, he related how that, immediately after the marriage, Marianna +had been afflicted with the saddest melancholy, continually calling +upon Antonio, and treating the old gentleman with contempt and +aversion. But the old fellow, quite infatuated by his passion and +jealousy, had not ceased to torment the poor girl with his folly in the +most abominable way. And here Pasquarello mentioned a host of mad +tricks which Pasquale had done, and which were really current in Rome +about him. Signor Capuzzi sat on thorns; he murmured at intervals, +"Curse you, Formica! You are lying! What evil spirit is in you?" He was +only prevented from bursting out into a violent passion by Toricelli +and Cavalcanti, who sat watching him with an earnest gaze. + +Pasquarello concluded his narration by telling that Marianna had at +length succumbed to her unsatisfied longing for her lover, her great +distress of mind, and the innumerable tortures which were inflicted +upon her by the execrable old fellow, and had died in the flower of her +youth. + +At this moment was heard a mournful _De profundis_ sung by hollow, +husky voices, and men clad in long black robes appeared on the stage, +bearing an open coffin, within which was seen the corpse of lovely +Marianna wrapped in white shrouds. Behind it came Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi in the deepest mourning, feebly staggering along and wailing +aloud, beating his breast, and crying in a voice of despair, "O +Marianna! Marianna!" + +So soon as the real Capuzzi caught sight of his niece's corpse he broke +out into loud lamentations, and both Capuzzis, the one on the stage and +the one off, gave vent to their grief in the most heartrending wails +and groans, "O Marianna! O Marianna! O unhappy me! Alas! Alas for me!" + +Let the reader picture to himself the open coffin with the corpse of +the lovely child, surrounded by the hired mourners singing their dismal +_De profundis_ in hoarse voices, and then the comical masks of +Pasquarello and Dr. Gratiano, who were expressing their grief in the +most ridiculous gestures, and lastly the two Capuzzis, wailing and +screeching in despair. Indeed, all who were witnesses of the +extraordinary spectacle could not help feeling, even in the midst of +the unrestrained laughter they had burst out into at sight of the +wonderful old gentleman, that their hearts were chilled by a most +uncomfortable feeling of awe. + +Now the stage grew dark, and it thundered and lightened, and there rose +up from below a pale ghostly figure, which bore most unmistakably the +features of Capuzzi's dead brother, Pietro of Senigaglia, Marianna's +father. + +"O you infamous brother, Pasquale! what have you done with my daughter? +what have you done with my daughter?" wailed the figure, in a dreadful +and hollow voice. "Despair, you atrocious murderer of my child. You +shall find your reward in hell." + +Capuzzi on the stage dropped on the floor as if struck by lightning, +and at the same moment the real Capuzzi reeled from his seat +unconscious. The bushes rustled together again, and the stage was gone, +and also Marianna and Capuzzi and the ghastly spectre Pietro. Signor +Pasquale Capuzzi lay in such a dead faint that it cost a good deal of +trouble to revive him. + +At length he came to himself with a deep sigh, and, stretching out both +hands before him as if to ward off the horror that had seized him, he +cried in a husky voice, "Leave me alone, Pietro." Then a torrent of +tears ran down his cheeks, and he sobbed and cried, "Oh! Marianna, my +darling child--my--my Marianna." "But recollect yourself," said now +Cavalcanti, "recollect yourself, Signor Pasquale, it was only on the +stage that you saw your niece dead. She is alive; she is here to crave +pardon for the thoughtless step which love and also your own +inconsiderate conduct drove her to take." + +And Marianna, and behind her Antonio Scacciati, now ran forward from +the back part of the hall and threw themselves at the old gentleman's +feet,--for he had meanwhile been placed in an easy chair. Marianna, +looking most charming and beautiful, kissed his hands and bathed them +with scalding tears, beseeching him to pardon both her and Antonio, to +whom she had been united by the blessing of the Church. + +Suddenly the hot blood surged into the old man's pallid face, fury +flashed from his eyes, and he cried in a half-choked voice, "Oh! you +abominable scoundrel! You poisonous serpent whom I nourished in my +bosom!" Then old Toricelli, with grave and thoughtful dignity, put +himself in front of Capuzzi, and told him that he (Capuzzi) had seen a +representation of the fate that would inevitably and irremediably +overtake him if he had the hardihood to carry out his wicked purpose +against Antonio and Marianna's peace and happiness. He depicted in +startling colours the folly and madness of amorous old men, who call +down upon their own heads the most ruinous mischief which Heaven can +inflict upon a man, since all the love which might have fallen to their +share is lost, and instead hatred and contempt shoot their fatal darts +at them from every side. + +At intervals lovely Marianna cried in a tone that went to everybody's +heart, "O my uncle, I will love and honour you as my own father; you +will kill me by a cruel death if you rob me of my Antonio." And all the +eminent men by whom the old gentleman was surrounded cried with one +accord that it would not be possible for a man like Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi di Senigaglia, a patron of art and himself an artist, not to +forgive the young people, and assume the part of father to the most +lovely of ladies, not possible that he could refuse to accept with joy +as his son-in-law such an artist as Antonio Scacciati, who was highly +esteemed throughout all Italy and richly crowned with fame and honour. + +Then it was patent to see that a violent struggle went on within the +old gentleman. He sighed, moaned, clasped his hands before his face, +and, whilst Toricelli was continuing to speak in a most impressive +manner, and Marianna was appealing to him in the most touching accents, +and the rest were extolling Antonio all they knew how, he kept looking +down--now upon his niece, now upon Antonio, whose splendid clothes and +rich chains of honour bore testimony to the truth of what was said +about the artistic fame he had earned. + +Gone was all rage out of Capuzzi's countenance; he sprang up with +radiant eyes, and pressed Marianna to his heart, saying, "Yes, I +forgive you, my dear child; I forgive you, Antonio. Far be it from me +to disturb your happiness. You are right, my worthy Signor Toricelli; +Formica has shown me in the tableau on the stage all the mischief and +ruin that would have befallen me had I carried out my insane design. I +am cured, quite cured of my folly. But where is Signor Formica, where +is my good physician? let me thank him a thousand times for my cure; it +is he alone who has accomplished it. The terror that he has caused me +to feel has brought about a complete revolution within me." + +Pasquarello stepped forward. Antonio threw himself upon his neck, +crying, "O Signor Formica, you to whom I owe my life, my all--oh! take +off this disfiguring mask, that I may see your face, that Formica may +not be any longer a mystery to me." + +Pasquarello took off his cap and his artificial mask, which looked like +a natural face, since it offered not the slightest hindrance to the +play of countenance, and this Formica, this Pasquarello, was +transformed into--Salvator Rosa.[6.5] + +"Salvator!" exclaimed Marianna, Antonio, and Capuzzi, utterly +astounded. + +"Yes," said that wonderful man, "it is Salvator Rosa, whom the Romans +would not recognise as painter and poet, but who in the character of +Formica drew from them, without their being aware of it, almost every +evening for more than a year, in Nicolo Musso's wretched little +theatre, the most noisy and most demonstrative storms of applause, from +whose mouth they willingly took all the scorn, and all the satiric +mockery of what is bad, which they would on no account listen to and +see in Salvator's poems and pictures. It is Salvator Formica who has +helped you, dear Antonio." + +"Salvator," began old Capuzzi, "Salvator Rosa, albeit I have always +regarded you as my worst enemy, yet I have always prized your artistic +skill very highly, and now I love you as the worthiest friend I have, +and beg you to accept my friendship in return." + +"Tell me," replied Salvator, "tell me, my worthy Signor Pasquale, what +service I can render you, and accept my assurances beforehand, that I +will leave no stone unturned to accomplish whatever you may ask of me." + +And now the genial smile which had not been seen upon Capuzzi's face +since Marianna had been carried off, began to steal back again. Taking +Salvator's hand he lisped in a low voice, "My dear Signor Salvator, you +possess an unlimited influence over good Antonio; beseech him in my +name to permit me to spend the short rest of my days with him, and my +dear daughter Marianna, and to accept at my hands the inheritance left +her by her mother, as well as the good dowry which I was thinking of +adding to it. And he must not look jealous if I occasionally kiss the +dear sweet child's little white hand; and ask him--every Sunday at +least when I go to Mass, to trim up my rough moustache, for there's +nobody in all the wide world understands it so well as he does." + +It cost Salvator an effort to repress his laughter at the strange old +man; but before he could make any reply, Antonio and Marianna, +embracing the old gentleman, assured him that they should not believe +he was fully reconciled to them, and should not be really happy, until +he came to live with them as their dear father, never to leave them +again. Antonio added that not only on Sunday, but every other day, he +would trim Capuzzi's moustache as elegantly as he knew how, and +accordingly the old gentleman was perfectly radiant with delight. +Meanwhile a splendid supper had been prepared, to which the entire +company now turned in the best of spirits. + +In taking my leave of you, beloved reader, I wish with all my heart +that, whilst you have been reading the story of the wonderful Signor +Formica, you have derived as much pure pleasure from it as Salvator and +all his friends felt on sitting down to their supper. + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "SIGNOR FORMICA": + + PART I. + +[Footnote 1.1: This tale was written for the Leipsic _Taschenbuch zum +geselligen Vergnügen_ for the year 1820.] + +[Footnote 1.2: Respecting the facts of Salvator Rosa's life there +exists more than one disputed statement; and of these perhaps the most +disputed is his share of complicity (if any) in the evil doings of +Calabrian banditti. Poor, and of a wild and self-willed disposition, +but with a strong and independent character, he was unable to find a +suitable master in Naples, so, at the age of eighteen, he set out to +study the lineaments of nature face to face, and spent some time amidst +the grand and savage scenery of Calabria. Here it is certain that he +came into contact with the banditti who haunted those wild regions. He +is alleged to have been taken prisoner by a band, and to have become a +member of the troop. Accepting this as true, we may perhaps charitably +believe that he was prompted not so much by a regard for his own +safety, as by the wish to secure a rare opportunity for studying his +art unhindered, and also charitably hope that the accusations of his +enemies, that he actively participated in the deeds of his companions, +are unfounded, or, at any rate, exaggerations. It may be remarked that +the "Life and Times of Salvator Rosa" by Lady Morgan (1824) is +admittedly a romance rather than an accurate and faithful biography.] + +[Footnote 1.3: Masaniello, a poor fisherman of Naples, was for a week +in July, 1647, absolute king of his native city. At that time Naples +was subject to the crown of Spain. The people, provoked by the +exasperating rapacity and extortion of the Viceroy of the King of +Spain, rose in rebellion, choosing Masaniello as their captain and +leader.] + + +[Footnote 1.4: Aniello Falcone (1600-65), teacher of Salvator Rosa and +founder of the _Compagnia della Morte_, painted battle-pieces which +bear a high reputation. His works are said to be scarce and much sought +after.] + +[Footnote 1.5: At first the young fisherman administered stern but +impartial justice; but afterwards his mind seems to have reeled under +the intense excitement and strain of his position, and he began to act +the part of an arbitrary and cruel tyrant. Several hundreds of persons +are said to have been put to death by his order during the few days he +held power.] + +[Footnote 1.6: Amongst them more than one by Salvator himself.] + +[Footnote 1.7: A French painter and writer on painting; was born near +Bordeaux in 1746, and died at Paris in 1809. Besides other works he +wrote _Observations sur quelques grands peintres_ (1807).] + +[Footnote 1.8: The sequin was a gold coin of Venice and Tuscany, worth +about 9s. 3d. It is sometimes used as equivalent to ducat (see note p. +98).] + +[Footnote 1.9: The Corso is a wide thoroughfare running almost north +and south from the Piazza del Popolo, a square on the north side +of Rome, to the centre of the city. It is in the Corso that the +horse-races used to take place during the Carnival.] + +[Footnote 1.10: The great painter Sanzio Raphael.] + + + + PART II. + + +[Footnote 2.1: Annabale Caracci, a painter of Bologna of the latter +half of the sixteenth century. His most celebrated work is a series of +frescoes on mythological subjects in the Farnese Palace at Rome. Along +with his cousin Lodovico and his brother Agostino he founded the +so-called Eclectic School of Painting; their maxim was that "accurate +observation of Nature should be combined with judicious imitation of +the best masters." The Caracci enjoyed the highest reputation amongst +their contemporaries as teachers of their art. Annibale died in 1609; +Masaniello's revolt occurred, as already mentioned, in 1647; Antonio +must therefore have been at least fifty years of age. This however is +not the only anachronism that Hoffmann is guilty of.] + +[Footnote 2.2: The well-known painter Guido, born in 1575 and died in +1642. He early excited the envy of Annibale Caracci.] + +[Footnote 2.3: Mattia Preti, known as _Il Cavaliere Calabrese_, from +his having been born in Calabria. He was a painter of the Neapolitan +school and a pupil of Lanfranco, and lived during the greater part of +the seventeenth century. Owing to his many disputes and quarrels he was +more than once compelled to flee for his life.] + +[Footnote 2.4: The Accademia di San Luca, a school of art, founded at +Rome about 1595, Federigo Zuccaro being its first director.] + +[Footnote 2.5: Alessandro Tiarini (1577-1668) of Bologna, was a pupil +of the Caracci.] + +[Footnote 2.6: Giovanni Francesco Gessi (1588-1649), sometimes called +"The second Guido," was a pupil of Guido.] + +[Footnote 2.7: Sementi or Semenza (1580-1638), also a pupil of Guido.] + +[Footnote 2.8: Giovanni Lanfranco (1581-1647), studied first under +Agostino Caracci. He was the first to encourage the early genius of +Salvator Rosa.] + +[Footnote 2.9: Zampieri Domenichino (1581-1641) was a pupil of the +Caracci. The work here referred to is a series of frescoes, which he +did not live to quite finish, representing the events of the life of +St. Januarius, in the chapel of the Tesoro of the cathedral at Naples, +which he began in 1630. + +The malicious spite which the text attributes to the rivals of +Domenichino is not at all exaggerated. There did really exist a +so-called "Cabal of Naples," consisting chiefly of the painters +Corenzio, Ribera, and Caracciolo, who leagued together to shut out all +competition from other artists; and their persecution of the Bolognese +Domenichino is well known. Often on returning to his work in the +morning he found that some one had obliterated what he had done on the +previous day. + +Not only have we a faithful picture of the Italian artist's life in the +middle of the seventeenth century depicted in this tale, but the actual +facts of the lives of Salvator Rosa, of Preti, of the Caracci, as well +as the existence of Falcone's _Compagnia della Morte_, furnish ample +materials and illustrations of the wild lives they did lead, of their +jealousies and heartburnings, of their quarrelsomeness and +revengefulness. They seem to have been ready on all occasions to +exchange the brush for the sword. They were filled to overflowing with +restless energy. The atmosphere of the age they lived in was highly +charged with vigour of thought and an irrepressible vitality for +artistic production. Under the conditions which these things suppose +the artists of that age could not well have been otherwise than what +they were.] + +[Footnote 2.10: Belisario Corenzio, a Greek (1558-1643). "Envious, +jealous, cunning, treacherous, quarrelsome, he looked upon all other +painters as his enemies."] + +[Footnote 2.11: Giuseppe Ribera, called _Il Spagnoletto_, a Spaniard by +birth (1589), was a painter of the Neapolitan school, and delighted in +horrible and gloomy subjects. He died in 1656.] + +[Footnote 2.12: Don Diego Velazquez de Silva, the great Spanish +painter, born in 1599, died in 1660. He twice visited Italy and Naples, +in 1629-31 and in 1648-51, and was for a time intimate with Ribera.] + +[Footnote 2.13: This suggests the legend of Quentin Massys of Antwerp +and the fly, or the still older, but perhaps not more historical story +of the Greek painters, Zeuxis and the bunch of grapes, which the birds +came to peck at, and Parrhasius, whose curtain deceived even Zeuxis +himself.] + +[Footnote 2.14: Giuseppe Cesari, colled Josépin or the Chevalier +d'Arpin, a painter of the Roman school, born in 1560 or 1568, died in +1640. He posed as an artistic critic in Rome during the later years of +his life, and his judgment was claimed by his friends to be +authoritative and final in all matters connected with art.] + +[Footnote 2.15: In a previous note it was stated that the Via del Corse +ran from the Piazza del Popolo southwards to the centre of the city of +Rome. Besides this street there are two others which run from the same +square in almost the same direction, the Via di Ripetta and the Via del +Babuino, the former being to the west of the Via del Corso and the +latter to the east, and each gradually gets more distant from the Via +del Corso the farther it recedes from the Square. On the opposite side +of the Piazza del Popolo is the Porta del Popolo.] + +[Footnote 2.16: Girolamo Frescobaldi, the most distinguished organist +of the seventeenth century, born about 1587 or 1588. He early won a +reputation both as a singer and as an organist.] + +[Footnote 2.17: Senigaglia or Senigallia, a town on the Adriatic, in +the province of Ancona.] + +[Footnote 2.18: Pietro Francesco Cavalli, whose real name was +Caletti-Bruni. He was organist at St. Mark's at Venice for about +thirty-six years (1640-1676). He composed both for the Church and for +the stage.] + +[Footnote 2.19: Giacomo Carissimi, attached during the greater part of +his life to the church of San Apollinaris at Rome. He died in 1674. He +did much for musical art, perfecting recitative and advancing the +development of the sacred cantata. His accompaniments are generally +distinguished for "lightness and variety."] + + + + PART III. + + +[Footnote 3.1: The first silver ducat is believed to have been struck +in 1140 by Roger II., Norman king of Sicily; and ducats have been +struck constantly since the twelfth century, especially at Venice (see +_Merchant of Venice_). They have varied considerably both in weight and +fineness, and consequently in value, at different times and places. +Ducats have been struck in both gold and silver. The early Venetian +silver ducat was worth about five shillings. The name is said, +according to one account, to have been derived from the last word of +the Latin legend found on the earliest Venetian gold coins:--_Sit tibi, +Christe, datus, quem tu regis, ducatus_ (duchy); according to another +account it is taken from "_il ducato_," the name generally applied to +the duchy of Apulia.] + + + + PART IV. + + +[Footnote 4.1: Female parts continued to be played by boys in England +down to the Restoration (1660). The practice of women playing in female +parts was introduced somewhat earlier in Italy, but only in certain +kinds of performances.] + +[Footnote 4.2: This word is undoubtedly connected with _Pasquillo_ (a +satire), or with _Pasquino_, a Roman cobbler of the fifteenth century, +whose shop stood near the Braschi Palace, near the Piazza Navona. He +lashed the follies of his day, particularly the vices of the clergy, +with caustic satire, scathing wit, and bitter stinging irony. After his +death his name was transferred to a mutilated statue, upon which such +satiric effusions continued to be fastened. + +Pasquarello would thus combine the characteristics of the English clown +with those of the Roman Pasquino.] + +[Footnote 4.3: Doctor Gratiano, a character in the popular Italian +theatre called _Commedia dell' Arte_, was represented as a Bolognese +doctor, and wore a mask with black nose and forehead and red cheeks. +His _rôle_ was that of a "pedantic and tedious poser."] + + + + PART VI. + +[Footnote 6.1: This was Ferdinand II., a member of the illustrious +Florentine family of the Medici. He upheld the family tradition by his +liberal patronage of science and letters.] + +[Footnote 6.2: Evangelista Torricelli, the successor of the great +Galileo in the chair of philosophy and mathematics at Florence, is +inseparably associated with the discovery that water in a suction-pump +will only rise to the height of about thirty-two feet. This paved the +way to his invention of the barometer in 1643. + +Other members of the Accademia de' Percossi were Dati, Lippi, Viviani, +Bandinelli, &c.] + +[Footnote 6.3: An allusion to the well-known nepotism of the Popes. The +man here mentioned is one of the Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII.] + +[Footnote 6.4: _Cetonia aurata_, L., called also the gold-chafer; it is +coloured green and gold.] + +[Footnote 6.5: The painter Salvator Rosa did really play at Rome the +_rôle_ of Pasquarello here attributed to him; but it was on the +occasion of his second visit to the Eternal City about 1639. On the +other hand, it was after 1647 (the year of Masaniello's revolt at +Naples) that Salvator again came to Rome (the third visit), where he +stayed until he was obliged to flee farther, namely, to Florence, in +consequence of the two pictures already mentioned. It seems evident +therefore that Hoffmann has not troubled himself about his dates, or +strict historical fidelity, but seems rather to have combined the +incidents of the painter's two visits to Rome--_i.e._, his second and +his third visit.] + + + + + THE SAND-MAN.[1] + + + NATHANAEL TO LOTHAIR. + +I know you are all very uneasy because I have not written for such a +long, long time. Mother, to be sure, is angry, and Clara, I dare say, +believes I am living here in riot and revelry, and quite forgetting my +sweet angel, whose image is so deeply engraved upon my heart and mind. +But that is not so; daily and hourly do I think of you all, and my +lovely Clara's form comes to gladden me in my dreams, and smiles upon +me with her bright eyes, as graciously as she used to do in the days +when I went in and out amongst you. Oh! how could I write to you in the +distracted state of mind in which I have been, and which, until now, +has quite bewildered me! A terrible thing has happened to me. Dark +forebodings of some awful fate threatening me are spreading themselves +out over my head like black clouds, impenetrable to every friendly ray +of sunlight. I must now tell you what has taken place; I must, that I +see well enough, but only to think upon it makes the wild laughter +burst from my lips. Oh! my dear, dear Lothair, what shall I say to make +you feel, if only in an inadequate way, that that which happened to me +a few days ago could thus really exercise such a hostile and disturbing +influence upon my life? Oh that you were here to see for yourself! but +now you will, I suppose, take me for a superstitious ghost-seer. In a +word, the terrible thing which I have experienced, the fatal effect of +which I in vain exert every effort to shake off, is simply that some +days ago, namely, on the 30th October, at twelve o'clock at noon, a +dealer in weather-glasses came into my room and wanted to sell me one +of his wares. I bought nothing, and threatened to kick him downstairs, +whereupon he went away of his own accord. + +You will conclude that it can only be very peculiar relations-- +relations intimately intertwined with my life--that can give +significance to this event, and that it must be the person of this +unfortunate hawker which has had such a very inimical effect upon me. +And so it really is. I will summon up all my faculties in order to +narrate to you calmly and patiently as much of the early days of my +youth as will suffice to put matters before you in such a way that your +keen sharp intellect may grasp everything clearly and distinctly, in +bright and living pictures. Just as I am beginning, I hear you laugh +and Clara say, "What's all this childish nonsense about!" Well, laugh +at me, laugh heartily at me, pray do. But, good God! my hair is +standing on end, and I seem to be entreating you to laugh at me in the +same sort of frantic despair in which Franz Moor entreated Daniel to +laugh him to scorn.[2] But to my story. + +Except at dinner we, _i.e._, I and my brothers and sisters, saw but +little of our father all day long. His business no doubt took up most +of his time. After our evening meal, which, in accordance with an old +custom, was served at seven o'clock, we all went, mother with us, into +father's room, and took our places around a round table. My father +smoked his pipe, drinking a large glass of beer to it. Often he told us +many wonderful stories, and got so excited over them that his pipe +always went out; I used then to light it for him with a spill, and this +formed my chief amusement. Often, again, he would give us picture-books +to look at, whilst he sat silent and motionless in his easy-chair, +puffing out such dense clouds of smoke that we were all as it were +enveloped in mist. On such evenings mother was very sad; and directly +it struck nine she said, "Come, children! off to bed! Come! The +'Sand-man' is come I see." And I always did seem to hear something +trampling upstairs with slow heavy steps; that must be the Sand-man. +Once in particular I was very much frightened at this dull trampling +and knocking; as mother was leading us out of the room I asked her, "O +mamma! but who is this nasty Sand-man who always sends us away from +papa? What does he look like?" "There is no Sand-man, my dear child," +mother answered; "when I say the Sand-man is come, I only mean that you +are sleepy and can't keep your eyes open, as if somebody had put sand +in them." This answer of mother's did not satisfy me; nay, in my +childish mind the thought clearly unfolded itself that mother denied +there was a Sand-man only to prevent us being afraid,--why, I always +heard him come upstairs. Full of curiosity to learn something more +about this Sand-man and what he had to do with us children, I at length +asked the old woman who acted as my youngest sister's attendant, what +sort of a man he was--the Sand-man? "Why, 'thanael, darling, don't you +know?" she replied. "Oh! he's a wicked man, who comes to little +children when they won't go to bed and throws handfuls of sand in their +eyes, so that they jump out of their heads all bloody; and he puts them +into a bag and takes them to the half-moon as food for his little ones; +and they sit there in the nest and have hooked beaks like owls, and +they pick naughty little boys' and girls' eyes out with them." After +this I formed in my own mind a horrible picture of the cruel Sand-man. +When anything came blundering upstairs at night I trembled with fear +and dismay; and all that my mother could get out of me were the +stammered words "The Sandman! the Sand-man!" whilst the tears coursed +down my cheeks. Then I ran into my bedroom, and the whole night through +tormented myself with the terrible apparition of the Sand-man. I +was quite old enough to perceive that the old woman's tale about the +Sand-man and his little ones' nest in the half-moon couldn't be +altogether true; nevertheless the Sand-man continued to be for me a +fearful incubus, and I was always seized with terror--my blood always +ran cold, not only when I heard anybody come up the stairs, but when I +heard anybody noisily open my father's room door and go in. Often he +stayed away for a long season altogether; then he would come several +times in close succession. + +This went on for years, without my being able to accustom myself to +this fearful apparition, without the image of the horrible Sand-man +growing any fainter in my imagination. His intercourse with my father +began to occupy my fancy ever more and more; I was restrained from +asking my father about him by an unconquerable shyness; but as the +years went on the desire waxed stronger and stronger within me to +fathom the mystery myself and to see the fabulous Sand-man. He had been +the means of disclosing to me the path of the wonderful and the +adventurous, which so easily find lodgment in the mind of the child. I +liked nothing better than to hear or read horrible stories of goblins, +witches, Tom Thumbs, and so on; but always at the head of them all +stood the Sand-man, whose picture I scribbled in the most extraordinary +and repulsive forms with both chalk and coal everywhere, on the tables, +and cupboard doors, and walls. When I was ten years old my mother +removed me from the nursery into a little chamber off the corridor not +far from my father's room. We still had to withdraw hastily whenever, +on the stroke of nine, the mysterious unknown was heard in the house. +As I lay in my little chamber I could hear him go into father's room, +and soon afterwards I fancied there was a fine and peculiar smelling +steam spreading itself through the house. As my curiosity waxed +stronger, my resolve to make somehow or other the Sand-man's +acquaintance took deeper root. Often when my mother had gone past, I +slipped quickly out of my room into the corridor, but I could never see +anything, for always before I could reach the place where I could get +sight of him, the Sand-man was well inside the door. At last, unable to +resist the impulse any longer, I determined to conceal myself in +father's room and there wait for the Sand-man. + +One evening I perceived from my father's silence and mother's sadness +that the Sand-man would come; accordingly, pleading that I was +excessively tired, I left the room before nine o'clock and concealed +myself in a hiding-place close beside the door. The street door +creaked, and slow, heavy, echoing steps crossed the passage towards +the stairs. Mother hurried past me with my brothers and sisters. +Softly--softly--I opened father's room door. He sat as usual, silent +and motionless, with his back towards it; he did not hear me; and in a +moment I was in and behind a curtain drawn before my father's open +wardrobe, which stood just inside the room. Nearer and nearer and +nearer came the echoing footsteps. There was a strange coughing and +shuffling and mumbling outside. My heart beat with expectation and +fear. A quick step now close, close beside the door, a noisy rattle of +the handle, and the door flies open with a bang. Recovering my courage +with an effort, I take a cautious peep out. In the middle of the room +in front of my father stands the Sand-man, the bright light of the lamp +falling full upon his face. The Sand-man, the terrible Sand-man, is the +old advocate _Coppelius_ who often comes to dine with us. + +But the most hideous figure could not have awakened greater trepidation +in my heart than this Coppelius did. Picture to yourself a large +broad-shouldered man, with an immensely big head, a face the colour of +yellow-ochre, grey bushy eyebrows, from beneath which two piercing, +greenish, cat-like eyes glittered, and a prominent Roman nose hanging +over his upper lip. His distorted mouth was often screwed up into a +malicious smile; then two dark-red spots appeared on his cheeks, and a +strange hissing noise proceeded from between his tightly clenched +teeth. He always wore an ash-grey coat of an old-fashioned cut, a +waistcoat of the same, and nether extremities to match, but black +stockings and buckles set with stones on his shoes. His little wig +scarcely extended beyond the crown of his head, his hair was curled +round high up above his big red ears, and plastered to his temples with +cosmetic, and a broad closed hair-bag stood out prominently from his +neck, so that you could see the silver buckle that fastened his folded +neck-cloth. Altogether he was a most disagreeable and horribly ugly +figure; but what we children detested most of all was his big coarse +hairy hands; we could never fancy anything that he had once touched. +This he had noticed; and so, whenever our good mother quietly placed a +piece of cake or sweet fruit on our plates, he delighted to touch it +under some pretext or other, until the bright tears stood in our eyes, +and from disgust and loathing we lost the enjoyment of the tit-bit that +was intended to please us. And he did just the same thing when father +gave us a glass of sweet wine on holidays. Then he would quickly pass +his hand over it, or even sometimes raise the glass to his blue lips, +and he laughed quite sardonically when all we dared do was to express +our vexation in stifled sobs. He habitually called us the "little +brutes;" and when he was present we might not utter a sound; and we +cursed the ugly spiteful man who deliberately and intentionally spoilt +all our little pleasures. Mother seemed to dislike this hateful +Coppelius as much as we did; for as soon as he appeared her +cheerfulness and bright and natural manner were transformed into sad, +gloomy seriousness. Father treated him as if he were a being of some +higher race, whose ill-manners were to be tolerated, whilst no efforts +ought to be spared to keep him in good-humour. He had only to give a +slight hint, and his favourite dishes were cooked for him and rare wine +uncorked. + +As soon as I saw this Coppelius, therefore, the fearful and hideous +thought arose in my mind that he, and he alone, must be the Sand-man; +but I no longer conceived of the Sand-man as the bugbear in the +old nurse's fable, who fetched children's eyes and took them to the +half-moon as food for his little ones--no! but as an ugly spectre-like +fiend bringing trouble and misery and ruin, both temporal and +everlasting, everywhere wherever he appeared. + +I was spell-bound on the spot. At the risk of being discovered, and, as +I well enough knew, of being severely punished, I remained as I was, +with my head thrust through the curtains listening. My father received +Coppelius in a ceremonious manner. "Come, to work!" cried the latter, +in a hoarse snarling voice, throwing off his coat. Gloomily and +silently my father took off his dressing-gown, and both put on long +black smock-frocks. Where they took them from I forgot to notice. +Father opened the folding-doors of a cupboard in the wall; but I saw +that what I had so long taken to be a cupboard was really a dark +recess, in which was a little hearth. Coppelius approached it, and a +blue flame crackled upwards from it. Round about were all kinds of +strange utensils. Good God! as my old father bent down over the fire +how different he looked! His gentle and venerable features seemed to be +drawn up by some dreadful convulsive pain into an ugly, repulsive +Satanic mask. He looked like Coppelius. Coppelius plied the red-hot +tongs and drew bright glowing masses out of the thick smoke and began +assiduously to hammer them. I fancied that there were men's faces +visible round about, but without eyes, having ghastly deep black holes +where the eyes should have been. "Eyes here! Eyes here!" cried +Coppelius, in a hollow sepulchral voice. My blood ran cold with horror; +I screamed and tumbled out of my hiding-place into the floor. Coppelius +immediately seized upon me. "You little brute! You little brute!" he +bleated, grinding his teeth. Then, snatching me up, he threw me on +the hearth, so that the flames began to singe my hair. "Now we've got +eyes--eyes--a beautiful pair of children's eyes," he whispered, and, +thrusting his hands into the flames he took out some red-hot grains and +was about to strew them into my eyes. Then my father clasped his hands +and entreated him, saying, "Master, master, let my Nathanael keep his +eyes--oh! do let him keep them." Coppelius laughed shrilly and replied, +"Well then, the boy may keep his eyes and whine and pule his way +through the world; but we will now at any rate observe the mechanism of +the hand and the foot." And therewith he roughly laid hold upon me, so +that my joints cracked, and twisted my hands and my feet, pulling them +now this way, and now that, "That's not quite right altogether! It's +better as it was!--the old fellow knew what he was about." Thus lisped +and hissed Coppelius; but all around me grew black and dark; a sudden +convulsive pain shot through all my nerves and bones; I knew nothing +more. + +I felt a soft warm breath fanning my cheek; I awakened as if out of the +sleep of death; my mother was bending over me. "Is the Sand-man still +there?" I stammered. "No, my dear child; he's been gone a long, long +time; he'll not hurt you." Thus spoke my mother, as she kissed her +recovered darling and pressed him to her heart. But why should I tire +you, my dear Lothair? why do I dwell at such length on these details, +when there's so much remains to be said? Enough--I was detected in my +eavesdropping, and roughly handled by Coppelius. Fear and terror had +brought on a violent fever, of which I lay ill several weeks. "Is the +Sand-man still there?" these were the first words I uttered on coming +to myself again, the first sign of my recovery, of my safety. Thus, you +see, I have only to relate to you the most terrible moment of my youth +for you to thoroughly understand that it must not be ascribed to the +weakness of my eyesight if all that I see is colourless, but to the +fact that a mysterious destiny has hung a dark veil of clouds about my +life, which I shall perhaps only break through when I die. + +Coppelius did not show himself again; it was reported he had left the +town. + +It was about a year later when, in pursuance of the old unchanged +custom, we sat around the round table in the evening. Father was in +very good spirits, and was telling us amusing tales about his youthful +travels. As it was striking nine we all at once heard the street door +creak on its hinges, and slow ponderous steps echoed across the passage +and up the stairs. "That is Coppelius," said my mother, turning pale. +"Yes, it is Coppelius," replied my father in a faint broken voice. The +tears started from my mother's eyes. "But, father, father," she cried, +"must it be so?" "This is the last time," he replied; "this is the +last time he will come to me, I promise you. Go now, go and take the +children. Go, go to bed--good-night." + +As for me, I felt as if I were converted into cold, heavy stone; I +could not get my breath. As I stood there immovable my mother seized me +by the arm. "Come, Nathanael! do come along!" I suffered myself to be +led away; I went into my room. "Be a good boy and keep quiet," mother +called after me; "get into bed and go to sleep." But, tortured by +indescribable fear and uneasiness, I could not close my eyes. That +hateful, hideous Coppelius stood before me with his glittering eyes, +smiling maliciously down upon me; in vain did I strive to banish the +image. Somewhere about midnight there was a terrific crack, as if a +cannon were being fired off. The whole house shook; something went +rustling and clattering past my door; the house-door was pulled to with +a bang. "That is Coppelius," I cried, terror-struck, and leapt out of +bed. Then I heard a wild heartrending scream; I rushed into my father's +room; the door stood open, and clouds of suffocating smoke came rolling +towards me. The servant-maid shouted, "Oh! my master! my master!" On +the floor in front of the smoking hearth lay my father, dead, his face +burned black and fearfully distorted, my sisters weeping and moaning +around him, and my mother lying near them in a swoon. "Coppelius, you +atrocious fiend, you've killed my father," I shouted. My senses left +me. Two days later, when my father was placed in his coffin, his +features were mild and gentle again as they had been when he was alive. +I found great consolation in the thought that his association with the +diabolical Coppelius could not have ended in his everlasting ruin. + +Our neighbours had been awakened by the explosion; the affair got +talked about, and came before the magisterial authorities, who wished +to cite Coppelius to clear himself. But he had disappeared from the +place, leaving no traces behind him. + +Now when I tell you, my dear friend, that the weather-glass hawker I +spoke of was the villain Coppelius, you will not blame me for seeing +impending mischief in his inauspicious reappearance. He was differently +dressed; but Coppelius's figure and features are too deeply impressed +upon my mind for me to be capable of making a mistake in the matter. +Moreover, he has not even changed his name. He proclaims himself here, +I learn, to be a Piedmontese mechanician, and styles himself Giuseppe +Coppola. + +I am resolved to enter the lists against him and revenge my father's +death, let the consequences be what they may. + +Don't say a word to mother about the reappearance of this odious +monster. Give my love to my darling Clara; I will write to her when I +am in a somewhat calmer frame of mind. Adieu, &c. + + * * * * * * + + CLARA TO NATHANAEL. + +You are right, you have not written to me for a very long time, but +nevertheless I believe that I still retain a place in your mind and +thoughts. It is a proof that you were thinking a good deal about me +when you were sending off your last letter to brother Lothair, for +instead of directing it to him you directed it to me. With joy I tore +open the envelope, and did not perceive the mistake until I read the +words, "Oh! my dear, dear Lothair." Now I know I ought not to have read +any more of the letter, but ought to have given it to my brother. But +as you have so often in innocent raillery made it a sort of reproach +against me that I possessed such a calm, and, for a woman, cool-headed +temperament that I should be like the woman we read of--if the house +was threatening to tumble down, I should, before hastily fleeing, stop +to smooth down a crumple in the window-curtains--I need hardly tell you +that the beginning of your letter quite upset me. I could scarcely +breathe; there was a bright mist before my eyes. Oh! my darling +Nathanael! what could this terrible thing be that had happened? +Separation from you--never to see you again, the thought was like a +sharp knife in my heart. I read on and on. Your description of that +horrid Coppelius made my flesh creep. I now learnt for the first time +what a terrible and violent death your good old father died. Brother +Lothair, to whom I handed over his property, sought to comfort me, but +with little success. That horrid weather-glass hawker Giuseppe Coppola +followed me everywhere; and I am almost ashamed to confess it, but he +was able to disturb my sound and in general calm sleep with all sorts +of wonderful dream-shapes. But soon--the next day--I saw everything in +a different light. Oh! do not be angry with me, my best-beloved, if, +despite your strange presentiment that Coppelius will do you some +mischief, Lothair tells you I am in quite as good spirits, and just the +same as ever. + +I will frankly confess, it seems to me that all that was fearsome and +terrible of which you speak, existed only in your own self, and that +the real true outer world had but little to do with it. I can quite +admit that old Coppelius may have been highly obnoxious to you +children, but your real detestation of him arose from the fact that he +hated children. + +Naturally enough the gruesome Sand-man of the old nurse's story was +associated in your childish mind with old Coppelius, who, even though +you had not believed in the Sand-man, would have been to you a ghostly +bugbear, especially dangerous to children. His mysterious labours along +with your father at night-time were, I daresay, nothing more than +secret experiments in alchemy, with which your mother could not be over +well pleased, owing to the large sums of money that most likely were +thrown away upon them; and besides, your father, his mind full of the +deceptive striving after higher knowledge, may probably have become +rather indifferent to his family, as so often happens in the case of +such experimentalists. So also it is equally probable that your father +brought about his death by his own imprudence, and that Coppelius is +not to blame for it. I must tell you that yesterday I asked our +experienced neighbour, the chemist, whether in experiments of this kind +an explosion could take place which would have a momentarily fatal +effect. He said, "Oh, certainly!" and described to me in his prolix and +circumstantial way how it could be occasioned, mentioning at the same +time so many strange and funny words that I could not remember them at +all. Now I know you will be angry at your Clara, and will say, "Of the +Mysterious which often clasps man in its invisible arms there's not a +ray can find its way into this cold heart. She sees only the varied +surface of the things of the world, and, like the little child, is +pleased with the golden glittering fruit; at the kernel of which lies +the fatal poison." + +Oh! my beloved Nathanael, do you believe then that the intuitive +prescience of a dark power working within us to our own ruin cannot +exist also in minds which are cheerful, natural, free from care? But +please forgive me that I, a simple girl, presume in any way to indicate +to you what I really think of such an inward strife. After all, I +should not find the proper words, and you would only laugh at me, not +because my thoughts were stupid, but because I was so foolish as to +attempt to tell them to you. + +If there is a dark and hostile power which traitorously fixes a thread +in our hearts in order that, laying hold of it and drawing us by means +of it along a dangerous road to ruin, which otherwise we should not +have trod--if, I say, there is such a power, it must assume within us a +form like ourselves, nay, it must be ourselves; for only in that way +can we believe in it, and only so understood do we yield to it so far +that it is able to accomplish its secret purpose. So long as we have +sufficient firmness, fortified by cheerfulness, to always acknowledge +foreign hostile influences for what they really are, whilst we quietly +pursue the path pointed out to us by both inclination and calling, then +this mysterious power perishes in its futile struggles to attain the +form which is to be the reflected image of ourselves. It is also +certain, Lothair adds, that if we have once voluntarily given ourselves +up to this dark physical power, it often reproduces within us the +strange forms which the outer world throws in our way, so that thus it +is we ourselves who engender within ourselves the spirit which by some +remarkable delusion we imagine to speak in that outer form. It is the +phantom of our own self whose intimate relationship with, and whose +powerful influence upon our soul either plunges us into hell or +elevates us to heaven. Thus you will see, my beloved Nathanael, that I +and brother Lothair have well talked over the subject of dark powers +and forces; and now, after I have with some difficulty written down the +principal results of our discussion, they seem to me to contain many +really profound thoughts. Lothair's last words, however, I don't quite +understand altogether; I only dimly guess what he means; and yet I +cannot help thinking it is all very true, I beg you, dear, strive to +forget the ugly advocate Coppelius as well as the weather-glass hawker +Giuseppe Coppola. Try and convince yourself that these foreign +influences can have no power over you, that it is only the belief in +their hostile power which can in reality make them dangerous to you. If +every line of your letter did not betray the violent excitement of your +mind, and if I did not sympathise with your condition from the bottom +of my heart, I could in truth jest about the advocate Sand-man and +weather-glass hawker Coppelius. Pluck up your spirits! Be cheerful! I +have resolved to appear to you as your guardian-angel if that ugly man +Coppola should dare take it into his head to bother you in your dreams, +and drive him away with a good hearty laugh. I'm not afraid of him and +his nasty hands, not the least little bit; I won't let him either as +advocate spoil any dainty tit-bit I've taken, or as Sand-man rob me of +my eyes. + My darling, darling Nathanael, + Eternally your, &c. &c. + + + * * * * * * + + NATHANAEL TO LOTHAIR. + +I am very sorry that Clara opened and read my last letter to you; of +course the mistake is to be attributed to my own absence of mind. She +has written me a very deep philosophical letter, proving conclusively +that Coppelius and Coppola only exist in my own mind and are phantoms +of my own self, which will at once be dissipated, as soon as I look +upon them in that light. In very truth one can hardly believe that the +mind which so often sparkles in those bright, beautifully smiling, +childlike eyes of hers like a sweet lovely dream could draw such subtle +and scholastic distinctions. She also mentions your name. You have been +talking about me. I suppose you have been giving her lectures, since +she sifts and refines everything so acutely. But enough of this! +I must now tell you it is most certain that the weather-glass hawker +Giuseppe Coppola is not the advocate Coppelius. I am attending the +lectures of our recently appointed Professor of Physics, who, like the +distinguished naturalist,[3] is called Spalanzani, and is of Italian +origin. He has known Coppola for many years; and it is also easy to +tell from his accent that he really is a Piedmontese. Coppelius was a +German, though no honest German, I fancy. Nevertheless I am not quite +satisfied. You and Clara will perhaps take me for a gloomy dreamer, but +nohow can I get rid of the impression which Coppelius's cursed face +made upon me. I am glad to learn from Spalanzani that he has left the +town. This Professor Spalanzani is a very queer fish. He is a little +fat man, with prominent cheek-bones, thin nose, projecting lips, and +small piercing eyes. You cannot get a better picture of him than by +turning over one of the Berlin pocket-almanacs[4] and looking at +Cagliostro's[5] portrait engraved by Chodowiecki;[6] Spalanzani looks +just like him. + +Once lately, as I went up the steps to his house, I perceived that +beside the curtain which generally covered a glass door there was a +small chink. What it was that excited my curiosity I cannot explain; +but I looked through. In the room I saw a female, tall, very slender, +but of perfect proportions, and splendidly dressed, sitting at a little +table, on which she had placed both her arms, her hands being folded +together. She sat opposite the door, so that I could easily see her +angelically beautiful face. She did not appear to notice me, and there +was moreover a strangely fixed look about her eyes, I might almost say +they appeared as if they had no power of vision; I thought she was +sleeping with her eyes open. I felt quite uncomfortable, and so I +slipped away quietly into the Professor's lecture-room, which was close +at hand. Afterwards I learnt that the figure which I had seen was +Spalanzani's daughter, Olimpia, whom he keeps locked in a most wicked +and unaccountable way, and no man is ever allowed to come near her. +Perhaps, however, there is after all, something peculiar about her; +perhaps she's an idiot or something of that sort. But why am I telling +you all this? I could have told you it all better and more in detail +when I see you. For in a fortnight I shall be amongst you. I must +see my dear sweet angel, my Clara, again. Then the little bit of +ill-temper, which, I must confess, took possession of me after her +fearfully sensible letter, will be blown away. And that is the reason +why I am not writing to her as well to-day. With all best wishes, &c. + + * * * * * * + +Nothing more strange and extraordinary can be imagined, gracious +reader, than what happened to my poor friend, the young student +Nathanael, and which I have undertaken to relate to you. Have you ever +lived to experience anything that completely took possession of your +heart and mind and thoughts to the utter exclusion of everything else? +All was seething and boiling within you; your blood, heated to fever +pitch, leapt through your veins and inflamed your cheeks. Your gaze was +so peculiar, as if seeking to grasp in empty space forms not seen of +any other eye, and all your words ended in sighs betokening some +mystery. Then your friends asked you, "What is the matter with you, my +dear friend? What do you see?" And, wishing to describe the inner +pictures in all their vivid colours, with their lights and their +shades, you in vain struggled to find words with which to express +yourself. But you felt as if you must gather up all the events that had +happened, wonderful, splendid, terrible, jocose, and awful, in the very +first word, so that the whole might be revealed by a single electric +discharge, so to speak. Yet every word and all that partook of the +nature of communication by intelligible sounds seemed to be +colourless, cold, and dead. Then you try and try again, and stutter and +stammer, whilst your friends' prosy questions strike like icy winds +upon your heart's hot fire until they extinguish it. But if, like a +bold painter, you had first sketched in a few audacious strokes the +outline of the picture you had in your soul, you would then easily have +been able to deepen and intensify the colours one after the other, +until the varied throng of living figures carried your friends away, +and they, like you, saw themselves in the midst of the scene that had +proceeded out of your own soul. + +Strictly speaking, indulgent reader, I must indeed confess to you, +nobody has asked me for the history of young Nathanael; but you are +very well aware that I belong to that remarkable class of authors who, +when they are bearing anything about in their minds in the manner I +have just described, feel as if everybody who comes near them, and also +the whole world to boot, were asking, "Oh! what is it? Oh! do tell us, +my good sir?" Hence I was most powerfully impelled to narrate to you +Nathanael's ominous life. My soul was full of the elements of wonder +and extraordinary peculiarity in it; but, for this very reason, and +because it was necessary in the very beginning to dispose you, +indulgent reader, to bear with what is fantastic--and that is not a +little thing--I racked my brain to find a way of commencing the story +in a significant and original manner, calculated to arrest your +attention. To begin with "Once upon a time," the best beginning for a +story, seemed to me too tame; with "In the small country town S---- +lived," rather better, at any rate allowing plenty of room to work up +to the climax; or to plunge at once _in medias res_, "'Go to the +devil!' cried the student Nathanael, his eyes blazing wildly with rage +and fear, when the weather-glass hawker Giuseppe Coppola"--well, that +is what I really had written, when I thought I detected something of +the ridiculous in Nathanael's wild glance; and the history is anything +but laughable. I could not find any words which seemed fitted to +reflect in even the feeblest degree the brightness of the colours of my +mental vision. I determined not to begin at all. So I pray you, +gracious reader, accept the three letters which my friend Lothair has +been so kind as to communicate to me as the outline of the picture, +into which I will endeavour to introduce more and more colour as I +proceed with my narrative. Perhaps, like a good portrait-painter, I may +succeed in depicting more than one figure in such wise that you will +recognise it as a good likeness without being acquainted with the +original, and feel as if you had very often seen the original with your +own bodily eyes. Perhaps, too, you will then believe that nothing is +more wonderful, nothing more fantastic than real life, and that all +that a writer can do is to present it as a dark reflection from a dim +cut mirror. + +In order to make the very commencement more intelligible, it is +necessary to add to the letters that, soon after the death of +Nathanael's father, Clara and Lothair, the children of a distant +relative, who had likewise died, leaving them orphans, were taken by +Nathanael's mother into her own house. Clara and Nathanael conceived a +warm affection for each other, against which not the slightest +objection in the world could be urged. When therefore Nathanael left +home to prosecute his studies in G----, they were betrothed. It is from +G---- that his last letter is written, where he is attending the +lectures of Spalanzani, the distinguished Professor of Physics. + +I might now proceed comfortably with my narration, did not at this +moment Clara's image rise up so vividly before my eyes that I cannot +turn them away from it, just as I never could when she looked upon me +and smiled so sweetly. Nowhere would she have passed for beautiful; +that was the unanimous opinion of all who professed to have any +technical knowledge of beauty. But whilst architects praised the pure +proportions of her figure and form, painters averred that her neck, +shoulders, and bosom were almost too chastely modelled, and yet, on the +other hand, one and all were in love with her glorious Magdalene hair, +and talked a good deal of nonsense about Battoni-like[7] colouring. One +of them, a veritable romanticist, strangely enough likened her eyes to +a lake by Ruisdael,[8] in which is reflected the pure azure of the +cloudless sky, the beauty of woods and flowers, and all the bright and +varied life of a living landscape. Poets and musicians went still +further and said, "What's all this talk about seas and reflections? How +can we look upon the girl without feeling that wonderful heavenly songs +and melodies beam upon us from her eyes, penetrating deep down into our +hearts, till all becomes awake and throbbing with emotion? And if we +cannot sing anything at all passable then, why, we are not worth much; +and this we can also plainly read in the rare smile which flits around +her lips when we have the hardihood to squeak out something in her +presence which we pretend to call singing, in spite of the fact that it +is nothing more than a few single notes confusedly linked together." +And it really was so. Clara had the powerful fancy of a bright, +innocent, unaffected child, a woman's deep and sympathetic heart, and +an understanding clear, sharp, and discriminating. Dreamers and +visionaries had but a bad time of it with her; for without saying very +much--she was not by nature of a talkative disposition--she plainly +asked, by her calm steady look, and rare ironical smile, "How can you +imagine, my dear friends, that I can take these fleeting shadowy images +for true living and breathing forms?" For this reason many found fault +with her as being cold, prosaic, and devoid of feeling; others, +however, who had reached a clearer and deeper conception of life, were +extremely fond of the intelligent, childlike, large-hearted girl But +none had such an affection for her as Nathanael, who was a zealous and +cheerful cultivator of the fields of science and art. Clara clung to +her lover with all her heart; the first clouds she encountered in life +were when he had to separate from her. With what delight did she fly +into his arms when, as he had promised in his last letter to Lothair, +he really came back to his native town and entered his mother's room! +And as Nathanael had foreseen, the moment he saw Clara again he no +longer thought about either the advocate Coppelius or her sensible +letter; his ill-humour had quite disappeared. + +Nevertheless Nathanael was right when he told his friend Lothair that +the repulsive vendor of weather-glasses, Coppola, had exercised a fatal +and disturbing influence upon his life. It was quite patent to all; for +even during the first few days he showed that he was completely and +entirely changed. He gave himself up to gloomy reveries, and moreover +acted so strangely; they had never observed anything at all like it in +him before. Everything, even his own life, was to him but dreams and +presentiments. His constant theme was that every man who delusively +imagined himself to be free was merely the plaything of the cruel sport +of mysterious powers, and it was vain for man to resist them; he must +humbly submit to whatever destiny had decreed for him. He went so far +as to maintain that it was foolish to believe that a man could do +anything in art or science of his own accord; for the inspiration in +which alone any true artistic work could be done did not proceed from +the spirit within outwards, but was the result of the operation +directed inwards of some Higher Principle existing without and beyond +ourselves. + +This mystic extravagance was in the highest degree repugnant to Clara's +clear intelligent mind, but it seemed vain to enter upon any attempt at +refutation. Yet when Nathanael went on to prove that Coppelius was the +Evil Principle which had entered into him and taken possession of him +at the time he was listening behind the curtain, and that this hateful +demon would in some terrible way ruin their happiness, then Clara grew +grave and said, "Yes, Nathanael. You are right; Coppelius is an Evil +Principle; he can do dreadful things, as bad as could a Satanic power +which should assume a living physical form, but only--only if you do +not banish him from your mind and thoughts. So long as you believe in +him he exists and is at work; your belief in him is his only power." +Whereupon Nathanael, quite angry because Clara would only grant the +existence of the demon in his own mind, began to dilate at large upon +the whole mystic doctrine of devils and awful powers, but Clara +abruptly broke off the theme by making, to Nathanael's very great +disgust, some quite commonplace remark. Such deep mysteries are sealed +books to cold, unsusceptible characters, he thought, without being +clearly conscious to himself that he counted Clara amongst these +inferior natures, and accordingly he did not remit his efforts to +initiate her into these mysteries. In the morning, when she was helping +to prepare breakfast, he would take his stand beside her, and read all +sorts of mystic books to her, until she begged him--"But, my dear +Nathanael, I shall have to scold you as the Evil Principle which +exercises a fatal influence upon my coffee. For if I do as you wish, +and let things go their own way, and look into your eyes whilst you +read, the coffee will all boil over into the fire, and you will none of +you get any breakfast." Then Nathanael hastily banged the book to and +ran away in great displeasure to his own room. + +Formerly he had possessed a peculiar talent for writing pleasing, +sparkling tales, which Clara took the greatest delight in listening to; +but now his productions were gloomy, unintelligible, and wanting in +form, so that, although Clara out of forbearance towards him did not +say so, he nevertheless felt how very little interest she took in them. +There was nothing that Clara disliked so much as what was tedious; at +such times her intellectual sleepiness was not to be overcome; it was +betrayed both in her glances and in her words. Nathanael's effusions +were, in truth, exceedingly tedious. His ill-humour at Clara's cold +prosaic temperament continued to increase; Clara could not conceal her +distaste of his dark, gloomy, wearying mysticism; and thus both began +to be more and more estranged from each other without exactly being +aware of it themselves. The image of the ugly Coppelius had, as +Nathanael was obliged to confess to himself, faded considerably in his +fancy, and it often cost him great pains to present him in vivid +colours in his literary efforts, in which he played the part of the +ghoul of Destiny. At length it entered into his head to make his dismal +presentiment that Coppelius would ruin his happiness the subject of a +poem. He made himself and Clara, united by true love, the central +figures, but represented a black hand as being from time to time thrust +into their life and plucking out a joy that had blossomed for them. At +length, as they were standing at the altar, the terrible Coppelius +appeared and touched Clara's lovely eyes, which leapt into Nathanael's +own bosom, burning and hissing like bloody sparks. Then Coppelius laid +hold upon him, and hurled him into a blazing circle of fire, which spun +round with the speed of a whirlwind, and, storming and blustering, +dashed away with him. The fearful noise it made was like a furious +hurricane lashing the foaming sea-waves until they rise up like black, +white-headed giants in the midst of the raging struggle. But through +the midst of the savage fury of the tempest he heard Clara's voice +calling, "Can you not see me, dear? Coppelius has deceived you; they +were not my eyes which burned so in your bosom; they were fiery drops +of your own heart's blood. Look at me, I have got my own eyes still." +Nathanael thought, "Yes, that is Clara, and I am hers for ever." Then +this thought laid a powerful grasp upon the fiery circle so that it +stood still, and the riotous turmoil died away rumbling down a dark +abyss. Nathanael looked into Clara's eyes; but it was death whose gaze +rested so kindly upon him. + +Whilst Nathanael was writing this work he was very quiet and +sober-minded; he filed and polished every line, and as he had chosen to +submit himself to the limitations of metre, he did not rest until all +was pure and musical. When, however, he had at length finished it and +read it aloud to himself he was seized with horror and awful dread, and +he screamed, "Whose hideous voice is this?" But he soon came to see in +it again nothing beyond a very successful poem, and he confidently +believed it would enkindle Clara's cold temperament, though to what end +she should be thus aroused was not quite clear to his own mind, nor yet +what would be the real purpose served by tormenting her with these +dreadful pictures, which prophesied a terrible and ruinous end to her +affection. + +Nathanael and Clara sat in his mother's little garden. Clara was bright +and cheerful, since for three entire days her lover, who had been busy +writing his poem, had not teased her with his dreams or forebodings. +Nathanael, too, spoke in a gay and vivacious way of things of merry +import, as he formerly used to do, so that Clara said, "Ah! now I have +you again. We have driven away that ugly Coppelius, you see." Then it +suddenly occurred to him that he had got the poem in his pocket which +he wished to read to her. He at once took out the manuscript and began +to read. Clara, anticipating something tedious as usual, prepared to +submit to the infliction, and calmly resumed her knitting. But as the +sombre clouds rose up darker and darker she let her knitting fall on +her lap and sat with her eyes fixed in a set stare upon Nathanael's +face. He was quite carried away by his own work, the fire of enthusiasm +coloured his cheeks a deep red, and tears started from his eyes. At +length he concluded, groaning and showing great lassitude; grasping +Clara's hand, he sighed as if he were being utterly melted in +inconsolable grief, "Oh! Clara! Clara!" She drew him softly to her +heart and said in a low but very grave and impressive tone, "Nathanael, +my darling Nathanael, throw that foolish, senseless, stupid thing into +the fire." Then Nathanael leapt indignantly to his feet, crying, as he +pushed Clara from him, "You damned lifeless automaton!" and rushed +away. Clara was cut to the heart, and wept bitterly. "Oh! he has never +loved me, for he does not understand me," she sobbed. + +Lothair entered the arbour. Clara was obliged to tell him all that had +taken place. He was passionately fond of his sister; and every word of +her complaint fell like a spark upon his heart, so that the displeasure +which he had long entertained against his dreamy friend Nathanael was +kindled into furious anger. He hastened to find Nathanael, and +upbraided him in harsh words for his irrational behaviour towards his +beloved sister. The fiery Nathanael answered him in the same style. "A +fantastic, crack-brained fool," was retaliated with, "A miserable, +common, everyday sort of fellow." A meeting was the inevitable +consequence. They agreed to meet on the following morning behind the +garden-wall, and fight, according to the custom of the students of the +place, with sharp rapiers. They went about silent and gloomy; Clara +had both heard and seen the violent quarrel, and also observed the +fencing-master bring the rapiers in the dusk of the evening. She had a +presentiment of what was to happen. They both appeared at the appointed +place wrapped up in the same gloomy silence, and threw off their coats. +Their eyes flaming with the bloodthirsty light of pugnacity, they were +about to begin their contest when Clara burst through the garden door. +Sobbing, she screamed, "You savage, terrible men! Cut me down before +you attack each other; for how can I live when my lover has slain my +brother, or my brother slain my lover?" Lothair let his weapon fall and +gazed silently upon the ground, whilst Nathanael's heart was rent with +sorrow, and all the affection which he had felt for his lovely Clara in +the happiest days of her golden youth was awakened within him. His +murderous weapon, too, fell from his hand; he threw himself at Clara's +feet. "Oh! can you ever forgive me, my only, my dearly loved Clara? Can +you, my dear brother Lothair, also forgive me?" Lothair was touched by +his friend's great distress; the three young people embraced each other +amidst endless tears, and swore never again to break their bond of love +and fidelity. + +Nathanael felt as if a heavy burden that had been weighing him down to +the earth was now rolled from off him, nay, as if by offering +resistance to the dark power which had possessed him, he had rescued +his own self from the ruin which had threatened him. Three happy days +he now spent amidst the loved ones, and then returned to G----, where +he had still a year to stay before settling down in his native town for +life. + +Everything having reference to Coppelius had been concealed from the +mother, for they knew she could not think of him without horror, since +she as well as Nathanael believed him to be guilty of causing her +husband's death. + + * * * * * * * + +When Nathanael came to the house where he lived he was greatly +astonished to find it burnt down to the ground, so that nothing but the +bare outer walls were left standing amidst a heap of ruins. Although +the fire had broken out in the laboratory of the chemist who lived on +the ground-floor, and had therefore spread upwards, some of Nathanael's +bold, active friends had succeeded in time in forcing a way into his +room in the upper storey and saving his books and manuscripts and +instruments. They had carried them all uninjured into another house, +where they engaged a room for him; this he now at once took possession +of. That he lived opposite Professor Spalanzani did not strike him +particularly, nor did it occur to him as anything more singular that he +could, as he observed, by looking out of his window, see straight into +the room where Olimpia often sat alone. Her figure he could plainly +distinguish, although her features were uncertain and confused. It did +at length occur to him, however, that she remained for hours together +in the same position in which he had first discovered her through the +glass door, sitting at a little table without any occupation whatever, +and it was evident that she was constantly gazing across in his +direction. He could not but confess to himself that he had never seen a +finer figure. However, with Clara mistress of his heart, he remained +perfectly unaffected by Olimpia's stiffness and apathy; and it was only +occasionally that he sent a fugitive glance over his compendium across +to her--that was all. + +He was writing to Clara; a light tap came at the door. At his summons +to "Come in," Coppola's repulsive face appeared peeping in. Nathanael +felt his heart beat with trepidation; but, recollecting what Spalanzani +had told him about his fellow-countryman Coppola, and what he had +himself so faithfully promised his beloved in respect to the Sand-man +Coppelius, he was ashamed at himself for this childish fear of +spectres. Accordingly, he controlled himself with an effort, and said, +as quietly and as calmly as he possibly could, "I don't want to buy any +weather-glasses, my good friend; you had better go elsewhere." Then +Coppola came right into the room, and said in a hoarse voice, screwing +up his wide mouth into a hideous smile, whilst his little eyes flashed +keenly from beneath his long grey eyelashes, "What! Nee weather-gless? +Nee weather-gless? 've got foine oyes as well--foine oyes!" Affrighted, +Nathanael cried, "You stupid man, how can you have eyes?--eyes--eyes?" +But Coppola, laying aside his weather-glasses, thrust his hands into +his big coat-pockets and brought out several spy-glasses and +spectacles, and put them on the table. "Theer! Theer! Spect'cles! +Spect'cles to put 'n nose! Them's my oyes--foine oyes." And he +continued to produce more and more spectacles from his pockets until +the table began to gleam and flash all over. Thousands of eyes were +looking and blinking convulsively, and staring up at Nathanael; he +could not avert his gaze from the table. Coppola went on heaping up his +spectacles, whilst wilder and ever wilder burning flashes crossed +through and through each other and darted their blood-red rays into +Nathanael's breast. Quite overcome, and frantic with terror, he +shouted, "Stop! stop! you terrible man!" and he seized Coppola by the +arm, which he had again thrust into his pocket in order to bring out +still more spectacles, although the whole table was covered all over +with them. With a harsh disagreeable laugh Coppola gently freed +himself; and with the words "So! went none! Well, here foine gless!" +he swept all his spectacles together, and put them back into his +coat-pockets, whilst from a breast-pocket he produced a great number of +larger and smaller perspectives. As soon as the spectacles were gone +Nathanael recovered his equanimity again; and, bending his thoughts +upon Clara, he clearly discerned that the gruesome incubus had +proceeded only from himself, as also that Coppola was a right honest +mechanician and optician, and far from being Coppelius's dreaded double +and ghost And then, besides, none of the glasses which Coppola now +placed on the table had anything at all singular about them, at least +nothing so weird as the spectacles; so, in order to square accounts +with himself, Nathanael now really determined to buy something of the +man. He took up a small, very beautifully cut pocket perspective, and +by way of proving it looked through the window. Never before in his +life had he had a glass in his hands that brought out things so clearly +and sharply and distinctly. Involuntarily he directed the glass upon +Spalanzani's room; Olimpia sat at the little table as usual, her arms +laid upon it and her hands folded. Now he saw for the first time the +regular and exquisite beauty of her features. The eyes, however, seemed +to him to have a singular look of fixity and lifelesness. But as he +continued to look closer and more carefully through the glass he +fancied a light like humid moonbeams came into them. It seemed as if +their power of vision was now being enkindled; their glances shone with +ever-increasing vivacity. Nathanael remained standing at the window as +if glued to the spot by a wizard's spell, his gaze rivetted +unchangeably upon the divinely beautiful Olimpia. A coughing and +shuffling of the feet awakened him out of his enchaining dream, as it +were. Coppola stood behind him, "Tre zechini" (three ducats). Nathanael +had completely forgotten the optician; he hastily paid the sum +demanded. "Ain't 't? Foine gless? foine gless?" asked Coppola in his +harsh unpleasant voice, smiling sardonically. "Yes, yes, yes," rejoined +Nathanael impatiently; "adieu, my good friend." But Coppola did not +leave the room without casting many peculiar side-glances upon +Nathanael; and the young student heard him laughing loudly on the +stairs. "Ah well!" thought he, "he's laughing at me because I've paid +him too much for this little perspective--because I've given him too +much money--that's it" As he softly murmured these words he fancied he +detected a gasping sigh as of a dying man stealing awfully through the +room; his heart stopped beating with fear. But to be sure he had heaved +a deep sigh himself; it was quite plain. "Clara is quite right," said +he to himself, "in holding me to be an incurable ghost-seer; and yet +it's very ridiculous--ay, more than ridiculous, that the stupid thought +of having paid Coppola too much for his glass should cause me this +strange anxiety; I can't see any reason for it." + +Now he sat down to finish his letter to Clara; but a glance through the +window showed him Olimpia still in her former posture. Urged by an +irresistible impulse he jumped up and seized Coppola's perspective; nor +could he tear himself away from the fascinating Olimpia until his +friend and brother Siegmund called for him to go to Professor +Spalanzani's lecture. The curtains before the door of the all-important +room were closely drawn, so that he could not see Olimpia. Nor could he +even see her from his own room during the two following days, +notwithstanding that he scarcely ever left his window, and maintained a +scarce interrupted watch through Coppola's perspective upon her room. +On the third day curtains even were drawn across the window. Plunged +into the depths of despair,--goaded by longing and ardent desire, he +hurried outside the walls of the town. Olimpia's image hovered about +his path in the air and stepped forth out of the bushes, and peeped up +at him with large and lustrous eyes from the bright surface of the +brook. Clara's image was completely faded from his mind; he had no +thoughts except for Olimpia. He uttered his love-plaints aloud and in a +lachrymose tone, "Oh! my glorious, noble star of love, have you only +risen to vanish again, and leave me in the darkness and hopelessness of +night?" + +Returning home, he became aware that there was a good deal of noisy +bustle going on in Spalanzani's house. All the doors stood wide open; +men were taking in all kinds of gear and furniture; the windows of the +first floor were all lifted off their hinges; busy maid-servants with +immense hair-brooms were driving backwards and forwards dusting and +sweeping, whilst within could be heard the knocking and hammering of +carpenters and upholsterers. Utterly astonished, Nathanael stood still +in the street; then Siegmund joined him, laughing, and said, "Well, +what do you say to our old Spalanzani?" Nathanael assured him that he +could not say anything, since he knew not what it all meant; to his +great astonishment, he could hear, however, that they were turning the +quiet gloomy house almost inside out with their dusting and cleaning +and making of alterations. Then he learned from Siegmund that +Spalanzani intended giving a great concert and ball on the following +day, and that half the university was invited. It was generally +reported that Spalanzani was going to let his daughter Olimpia, whom he +had so long so jealously guarded from every eye, make her first +appearance. + +Nathanael received an invitation. At the appointed hour, when the +carriages were rolling up and the lights were gleaming brightly in the +decorated halls, he went across to the Professor's, his heart beating +high with expectation. The company was both numerous and brilliant. +Olimpia was richly and tastefully dressed. One could not but admire her +figure and the regular beauty of her features. The striking inward +curve of her back, as well as the wasp-like smallness of her waist, +appeared to be the result of too-tight lacing. There was something +stiff and measured in her gait and bearing that made an unfavourable +impression upon many; it was ascribed to the constraint imposed upon +her by the company. The concert began. Olimpia played on the piano with +great skill; and sang as skilfully an _aria di bravura_, in a voice +which was, if anything, almost too sharp, but clear as glass bells. +Nathanael was transported with delight; he stood in the background +farthest from her, and owing to the blinding lights could not quite +distinguish her features. So, without being observed, he took Coppola's +glass out of his pocket, and directed it upon the beautiful Olimpia. +Oh! then he perceived how her yearning eyes sought him, how every note +only reached its full purity in the loving glance which penetrated to +and inflamed his heart. Her artificial _roulades_ seemed to him to be +the exultant cry towards heaven of the soul refined by love; and when +at last, after the _cadenza_, the long trill rang shrilly and loudly +through the hall, he felt as if he were suddenly grasped by burning +arms and could no longer control himself,--he could not help shouting +aloud in his mingled pain and delight, "Olimpia!" All eyes were turned +upon him; many people laughed. The face of the cathedral organist wore +a still more gloomy look than it had done before, but all he said was, +"Very well!" + +The concert came to an end, and the ball began. Oh! to dance with +her--with her--that was now the aim of all Nathanael's wishes, of all +his desires. But how should he have courage to request her, the queen +of the ball, to grant him the honour of a dance? And yet he couldn't +tell how it came about, just as the dance began, he found himself +standing close beside her, nobody having as yet asked her to be his +partner; so, with some difficulty stammering out a few words, he +grasped her hand. It was cold as ice; he shook with an awful, frosty +shiver. But, fixing his eyes upon her face, he saw that her glance was +beaming upon him with love and longing, and at the same moment he +thought that the pulse began to beat in her cold hand, and the warm +life-blood to course through her veins. And passion burned more +intensely in his own heart also; he threw his arm round her beautiful +waist and whirled her round the hall. He had always thought that he +kept good and accurate time in dancing, but from the perfectly +rhythmical evenness with which Olimpia danced, and which frequently put +him quite out, he perceived how very faulty his own time really was. +Notwithstanding, he would not dance with any other lady; and everybody +else who approached Olimpia to call upon her for a dance, he would have +liked to kill on the spot. This, however, only happened twice; to his +astonishment Olimpia remained after this without a partner, and he +failed not on each occasion to take her out again. If Nathanael had +been able to see anything else except the beautiful Olimpia, there +would inevitably have been a good deal of unpleasant quarrelling and +strife; for it was evident that Olimpia was the object of the smothered +laughter only with difficulty suppressed, which was heard in various +corners amongst the young people; and they followed her with very +curious looks, but nobody knew for what reason. Nathanael, excited by +dancing and the plentiful supply of wine he had consumed, had laid +aside the shyness which at other times characterised him. He sat beside +Olimpia, her hand in his own, and declared his love enthusiastically +and passionately in words which neither of them understood, neither he +nor Olimpia. And yet she perhaps did, for she sat with her eyes fixed +unchangeably upon his, sighing repeatedly, "Ach! Ach! Ach!" Upon this +Nathanael would answer, "Oh, you glorious heavenly lady! You ray from +the promised paradise of love! Oh! what a profound soul you have! my +whole being is mirrored in it!" and a good deal more in the same +strain. But Olimpia only continued to sigh "Ach! Ach!" again and again. + +Professor Spalanzani passed by the two happy lovers once or twice, and +smiled with a look of peculiar satisfaction. All at once it seemed to +Nathanael, albeit he was far away in a different world, as if it were +growing perceptibly darker down below at Professor Spalanzani's. He +looked about him, and to his very great alarm became aware that there +were only two lights left burning in the hall, and they were on the +point of going out. The music and dancing had long ago ceased. "We must +part--part!" he cried, wildly and despairingly; he kissed Olimpia's +hand; he bent down to her mouth, but ice-cold lips met his burning +ones. As he touched her cold hand, he felt his heart thrilled with awe; +the legend of "The Dead Bride"[9] shot suddenly through his mind. But +Olimpia had drawn him closer to her, and the kiss appeared to warm her +lips into vitality. Professor Spalanzani strode slowly through the +empty apartment, his footsteps giving a hollow echo; and his figure +had, as the flickering shadows played about him, a ghostly, awful +appearance. "Do you love me? Do you love me, Olimpia? Only one little +word--Do you love me?" whispered Nathanael, but she only sighed, "Ach! +Ach!" as she rose to her feet. "Yes, you are my lovely, glorious star +of love," said Nathanael, "and will shine for ever, purifying and +ennobling my heart" "Ach! Ach!" replied Olimpia, as she moved along. +Nathanael followed her; they stood before the Professor. "You have had +an extraordinarily animated conversation with my daughter," said he, +smiling; "well, well, my dear Mr. Nathanael, if you find pleasure in +talking to the stupid girl, I am sure I shall be glad for you to come +and do so." Nathanael took his leave, his heart singing and leaping in +a perfect delirium of happiness. + +During the next few days Spalanzani's ball was the general topic of +conversation. Although the Professor had done everything to make the +thing a splendid success, yet certain gay spirits related more than one +thing that had occurred which was quite irregular and out of order. +They were especially keen in pulling Olimpia to pieces for her +taciturnity and rigid stiffness; in spite of her beautiful form they +alleged that she was hopelessly stupid, and in this fact they discerned +the reason why Spalanzani had so long kept her concealed from +publicity. Nathanael heard all this with inward wrath, but nevertheless +he held his tongue; for, thought he, would it indeed be worth while to +prove to these fellows that it is their own stupidity which prevents +them from appreciating Olimpia's profound and brilliant parts? One day +Siegmund said to him, "Pray, brother, have the kindness to tell me +how you, a sensible fellow, came to lose your head over that Miss +Wax-face--that wooden doll across there?" Nathanael was about to fly +into a rage, but he recollected himself and replied, "Tell me, +Siegmund, how came it that Olimpia's divine charms could escape your +eye, so keenly alive as it always is to beauty, and your acute +perception as well? But Heaven be thanked for it, otherwise I should +have had you for a rival, and then the blood of one of us would have +had to be spilled." Siegmund, perceiving how matters stood with his +friend, skilfully interposed and said, after remarking that all +argument with one in love about the object of his affections was out of +place, "Yet it's very strange that several of us have formed pretty +much the same opinion about Olimpia. We think she is--you won't take it +ill, brother?--that she is singularly statuesque and soulless. Her +figure is regular, and so are her features, that can't be gainsaid; and +if her eyes were not so utterly devoid of life, I may say, of the power +of vision, she might pass for a beauty. She is strangely measured in +her movements, they all seem as if they were dependent upon some +wound-up clock-work. Her playing and singing has the disagreeably +perfect, but insensitive time of a singing machine, and her dancing is +the same. We felt quite afraid of this Olimpia, and did not like to +have anything to do with her; she seemed to us to be only acting _like_ +a living creature, and as if there was some secret at the bottom of it +all." Nathanael did not give way to the bitter feelings which +threatened to master him at these words of Siegmund's; he fought down +and got the better of his displeasure, and merely said, very earnestly, +"You cold prosaic fellows may very well be afraid of her. It is only to +its like that the poetically organised spirit unfolds itself. Upon me +alone did her loving glances fall, and through my mind and thoughts +alone did they radiate; and only in her love can I find my own self +again. Perhaps, however, she doesn't do quite right not to jabber a lot +of nonsense and stupid talk like other shallow people. It is true, she +speaks but few words; but the few words she docs speak are genuine +hieroglyphs of the inner world of Love and of the higher cognition of +the intellectual life revealed in the intuition of the Eternal beyond +the grave. But you have no understanding for all these things, and I am +only wasting words." "God be with you, brother," said Siegmund very +gently, almost sadly, "but it seems to me that you are in a very bad +way. You may rely upon me, if all--No, I can't say any more." It all at +once dawned upon Nathanael that his cold prosaic friend Siegmund really +and sincerely wished him well, and so he warmly shook his proffered +hand. + +Nathanael had completely forgotten that there was a Clara in the world, +whom he had once loved--and his mother and Lothair. They had all +vanished from his mind; he lived for Olimpia alone. He sat beside her +every day for hours together, rhapsodising about his love and sympathy +enkindled into life, and about psychic elective affinity[10]--all of +which Olimpia listened to with great reverence. He fished up from the +very bottom of his desk all the things that he had ever written--poems, +fancy sketches, visions, romances, tales, and the heap was increased +daily with all kinds of aimless sonnets, stanzas, canzonets. All these +he read to Olimpia hour after hour without growing tired; but then he +had never had such an exemplary listener. She neither embroidered, nor +knitted; she did not look out of the window, or feed a bird, or play +with a little pet dog or a favourite cat, neither did she twist a piece +of paper or anything of that kind round her finger; she did not +forcibly convert a yawn into a low affected cough--in short, she sat +hour after hour with her eyes bent unchangeably upon her lover's face, +without moving or altering her position, and her gaze grew more ardent +and more ardent still. And it was only when at last Nathanael rose +and kissed her lips or her hand that she said, "Ach! Ach!" and then +"Good-night, dear." Arrived in his own room, Nathanael would break out +with, "Oh! what a brilliant--what a profound mind! Only you--you alone +understand me." And his heart trembled with rapture when he reflected +upon the wondrous harmony which daily revealed itself between his own +and his Olimpia's character; for he fancied that she had expressed in +respect to his works and his poetic genius the identical sentiments +which he himself cherished deep down in his own heart in respect to the +same, and even as if it was his own heart's voice speaking to him. And +it must indeed have been so; for Olimpia never uttered any other words +than those already mentioned. And when Nathanael himself in his clear +and sober moments, as, for instance, directly after waking in a +morning, thought about her utter passivity and taciturnity, he only +said, "What are words--but words? The glance of her heavenly eyes says +more than any tongue of earth. And how can, anyway, a child of heaven +accustom herself to the narrow circle which the exigencies of a +wretched mundane life demand?" + +Professor Spalanzani appeared to be greatly pleased at the intimacy +that had sprung up between his daughter Olimpia and Nathanael, and +showed the young man many unmistakable proofs of his good feeling +towards him; and when Nathanael ventured at length to hint very +delicately at an alliance with Olimpia, the Professor smiled all over +his face at once, and said he should allow his daughter to make a +perfectly free choice. Encouraged by these words, and with the fire of +desire burning in his heart, Nathanael resolved the very next day to +implore Olimpia to tell him frankly, in plain words, what he had long +read in her sweet loving glances,--that she would be his for ever. He +looked for the ring which his mother had given him at parting; he would +present it to Olimpia as a symbol of his devotion, and of the happy +life he was to lead with her from that time onwards. Whilst looking for +it he came across his letters from Clara and Lothair; he threw them +carelessly aside, found the ring, put it in his pocket, and ran across +to Olimpia. Whilst still on the stairs, in the entrance-passage, he +heard an extraordinary hubbub; the noise seemed to proceed from +Spalanzani's study. There was a stamping--a rattling--pushing--knocking +against the door, with curses and oaths intermingled. "Leave +hold--leave hold--you monster--you rascal--staked your life and honour +upon it?--Ha! ha! ha! ha!--That was not our wager--I, I made the +eyes--I the clock-work.--Go to the devil with your clock-work--you +damned dog of a watch-maker--be off--Satan--stop--you paltry +turner--you infernal beast!--stop--begone--let me go." The voices which +were thus making all this racket and rumpus were those of Spalanzani +and the fearsome Coppelius. Nathanael rushed in, impelled by some +nameless dread. The Professor was grasping a female figure by the +shoulders, the Italian Coppola held her by the feet; and they were +pulling and dragging each other backwards and forwards, fighting +furiously to get possession of her. Nathanael recoiled with horror on +recognising that the figure was Olimpia. Boiling with rage, he was +about to tear his beloved from the grasp of the madmen, when Coppola by +an extraordinary exertion of strength twisted the figure out of the +Professor's hands and gave him such a terrible blow with her, that he +reeled backwards and fell over the table all amongst the phials and +retorts, the bottles and glass cylinders, which covered it: all these +things were smashed into a thousand pieces. But Coppola threw the +figure across his shoulder, and, laughing shrilly and horribly, ran +hastily down the stairs, the figure's ugly feet hanging down and +banging and rattling like wood against the steps. Nathanael was +stupefied;--he had seen only too distinctly that in Olimpia's pallid +waxed face there were no eyes, merely black holes in their stead; she +was an inanimate puppet. Spalanzani was rolling on the floor; the +pieces of glass had cut his head and breast and arm; the blood was +escaping from him in streams. But he gathered his strength together by +an effort. + +"After him--after him! What do you stand staring there for? +Coppelius--Coppelius--he's stolen my best automaton--at which I've +worked for twenty years--staked my life upon it--the clock-work-- +speech--movement--mine--your eyes--stolen your eyes--damn him--curse +him--after him--fetch me back Olimpia--there are the eyes." And now +Nathanael saw a pair of bloody eyes lying on the floor staring at him; +Spalanzani seized them with his uninjured hand and threw them at him, +so that they hit his breast Then madness dug her burning talons into +him and swept down into his heart, rending his mind and thoughts to +shreds. "Aha! aha! aha! Fire-wheel--fire-wheel! Spin round, fire-wheel! +merrily, merrily! Aha! wooden doll! spin round, pretty wooden doll!" +and he threw himself upon the Professor, clutching him fast by the +throat. He would certainly have strangled him had not several people, +attracted by the noise, rushed in and torn away the madman; and so they +saved the Professor, whose wounds were immediately dressed. Siegmund, +with all his strength, was not able to subdue the frantic lunatic, who +continued to scream in a dreadful way, "Spin round, wooden doll!" and +to strike out right and left with his doubled fists. At length the +united strength of several succeeded in overpowering him by throwing +him on the floor and binding him. His cries passed into a brutish +bellow that was awful to hear; and thus raging with the harrowing +violence of madness, he was taken away to the madhouse. + +Before continuing my narration of what happened further to the +unfortunate Nathanael, I will tell you, indulgent reader, in case you +take any interest in that skilful mechanician and fabricator of +automata, Spalanzani, that he recovered completely from his wounds. He +had, however, to leave the university, for Nathanael's fate had created +a great sensation; and the opinion was pretty generally expressed that +it was an imposture altogether unpardonable to have smuggled a wooden +puppet instead of a living person into intelligent tea-circles,--for +Olimpia had been present at several with success. Lawyers called it a +cunning piece of knavery, and all the harder to punish since it was +directed against the public; and it had been so craftily contrived that +it had escaped unobserved by all except a few preternaturally acute +students, although everybody was very wise now and remembered to have +thought of several facts which occurred to them as suspicious. But +these latter could not succeed in making out any sort of a consistent +tale. For was it, for instance, a thing likely to occur to any one as +suspicious that, according to the declaration of an elegant beau of +these tea-parties, Olimpia had, contrary to all good manners, sneezed +oftener than she had yawned? The former must have been, in the opinion +of this elegant gentleman, the winding up of the concealed clock-work; +it had always been accompanied by an observable creaking, and so on. +The Professor of Poetry and Eloquence took a pinch of snuff, and, +slapping the lid to and clearing his throat, said solemnly, "My most +honourable ladies and gentlemen, don't you see then where the rub is? +The whole thing is an allegory, a continuous metaphor. You understand +me? _Sapienti sat._" But several most honourable gentlemen did not rest +satisfied with this explanation; the history of this automaton had sunk +deeply into their souls, and an absurd mistrust of human figures began +to prevail. Several lovers, in order to be fully convinced that they +were not paying court to a wooden puppet, required that their mistress +should sing and dance a little out of time, should embroider or knit or +play with her little pug, &c., when being read to, but above all things +else that she should do something more than merely listen--that she +should frequently speak in such a way as to really show that her words +presupposed as a condition some thinking and feeling. The bonds of love +were in many cases drawn closer in consequence, and so of course became +more engaging; in other instances they gradually relaxed and fell away. +"I cannot really be made responsible for it," was the remark of more +than one young gallant. At the tea-gatherings everybody, in order to +ward off suspicion, yawned to an incredible extent and never sneezed. +Spalanzani was obliged, as has been said, to leave the place in order +to escape a criminal charge of having fraudulently imposed an automaton +upon human society. Coppola, too, had also disappeared. + +When Nathanael awoke he felt as if he had been oppressed by a terrible +nightmare; he opened his eyes and experienced an indescribable +sensation of mental comfort, whilst a soft and most beautiful sensation +of warmth pervaded his body. He lay on his own bed in his own room at +home; Clara was bending over him, and at a little distance stood his +mother and Lothair. "At last, at last, O my darling Nathanael; now we +have you again; now you are cured of your grievous illness, now you are +mine again." And Clara's words came from the depths of her heart; and +she clasped him in her arms. The bright scalding tears streamed from +his eyes, he was so overcome with mingled feelings of sorrow and +delight; and he gasped forth, "My Clara, my Clara!" Siegmund, who had +staunchly stood by his friend in his hour of need, now came into the +room. Nathanael gave him his hand--"My faithful brother, you have not +deserted me." Every trace of insanity had left him, and in the tender +hands of his mother and his beloved, and his friends, he quickly +recovered his strength again. Good fortune had in the meantime visited +the house; a niggardly old uncle, from whom they had never expected to +get anything, had died, and left Nathanael's mother not only a +considerable fortune, but also a small estate, pleasantly situated not +far from the town. There they resolved to go and live, Nathanael and +his mother, and Clara, to whom he was now to be married, and Lothair. +Nathanael was become gentler and more childlike than he had ever been +before, and now began really to understand Clara's supremely pure and +noble character. None of them ever reminded him, even in the remotest +degree, of the past. But when Siegmund took leave of him, he said, "By +heaven, brother! I was in a bad way, but an angel came just at the +right moment and led me back upon the path of light. Yes, it was +Clara." Siegmund would not let him speak further, fearing lest the +painful recollections of the past might arise too vividly and too +intensely in his mind. + +The time came for the four happy people to move to their little +property. At noon they were going through the streets. After making +several purchases they found that the lofty tower of the town-house was +throwing its giant shadows across the market-place. "Come," said Clara, +"let us go up to the top once more and have a look at the distant +hills." No sooner said than done. Both of them, Nathanael and Clara, +went up the tower; their mother, however, went on with the servant-girl +to her new home, and Lothair, not feeling inclined to climb up all the +many steps, waited below. There the two lovers stood arm-in-arm on the +topmost gallery of the tower, and gazed out into the sweet-scented +wooded landscape, beyond which the blue hills rose up like a giant's +city. + +"Oh! do look at that strange little grey bush, it looks as if it were +actually walking towards us," said Clara. Mechanically he put his hand +into his sidepocket; he found Coppola's perspective and looked for the +bush; Clara stood in front of the glass. Then a convulsive thrill shot +through his pulse and veins; pale as a corpse, he fixed his staring +eyes upon her; but soon they began to roll, and a fiery current flashed +and sparkled in them, and he yelled fearfully, like a hunted animal. +Leaping up high in the air and laughing horribly at the same time, he +began to shout, in a piercing voice, "Spin round, wooden doll! Spin +round, wooden doll!" With the strength of a giant he laid hold upon +Clara and tried to hurl her over, but in an agony of despair she +clutched fast hold of the railing that went round the gallery. Lothair +heard the madman raging and Clara's scream of terror: a fearful +presentiment flashed across his mind. He ran up the steps; the door of +the second flight was locked. Clara's scream for help rang out more +loudly. Mad with rage and fear, he threw himself against the door, +which at length gave way. Clara's cries were growing fainter and +fainter,--"Help! save me! save me!" and her voice died away in the air. +"She is killed--murdered by that madman," shouted Lothair. The door to +the gallery was also locked. Despair gave him the strength of a giant; +he burst the door off its hinges. Good God! there was Clara in the +grasp of the madman Nathanael, hanging over the gallery in the air; she +only held to the iron bar with one hand. Quick as lightning, Lothair +seized his sister and pulled her back, at the same time dealing the +madman a blow in the face with his doubled fist, which sent him reeling +backwards, forcing him to let go his victim. + +Lothair ran down with his insensible sister in his arms. She was saved. +But Nathanael ran round and round the gallery, leaping up in the air +and shouting, "Spin round, fire-wheel! Spin round, fire-wheel!" The +people heard the wild shouting, and a crowd began to gather. In the +midst of them towered the advocate Coppelius, like a giant; he had only +just arrived in the town, and had gone straight to the market-place. +Some were going up to overpower and take charge of the madman, but +Coppelius laughed and said, "Ha! ha! wait a bit; he'll come down of his +own accord;" and he stood gazing upwards along with the rest. All at +once Nathanael stopped as if spell-bound; he bent down over the +railing, and perceived Coppelius. With a piercing scream, "Ha! foine +oyes! foine oyes!" he leapt over. + +When Nathanael lay on the stone pavement with a broken head, Coppelius +had disappeared in the crush and confusion. + +Several years afterwards it was reported that, outside the door of a +pretty country house in a remote district, Clara had been seen sitting +hand in hand with a pleasant gentleman, whilst two bright boys were +playing at her feet. From this it may be concluded that she eventually +found that quiet domestic happiness which her cheerful, blithesome +character required, and which Nathanael, with his tempest-tossed soul, +could never have been able to give her. + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "THE SAND-MAN": + + +[Footnote 1: "The Sand-man" forms the first of a series of tales +called "The Night-pieces," and was published in 1817.] + +[Footnote 2: See Schiller's _Räuber_ Act V., Scene 1. Franz Moor, +seeing that the failure of all his villainous schemes is inevitable, +and that his own ruin is close upon him, is at length overwhelmed with +the madness of despair, and unburdens the terrors of his conscience to +the old servant Daniel, bidding him laugh him to scorn.] + +[Footnote 3: Lazaro Spallanzani, a celebrated anatomist and naturalist +(1729-1799), filled for several years the chair of Natural History at +Pavia, and travelled extensively for scientific purposes in Italy, +Turkey, Sicily, Switzerland, &c.] + +[Footnote 4: Or Almanacs of the Muses, as they were also sometimes +called, were periodical, mostly yearly publications, containing all +kinds of literary effusions; mostly, however, lyrical. They originated +in the eighteenth century. Schiller, A. W. and F. Schlegel, Tieck, and +Chamisso, amongst others, conducted undertakings of this nature.] + +[Footnote 5: Joseph Balsamo, a Sicilian by birth, calling himself Count +Cagliostro, one of the greatest impostors of modern times, lived during +the latter part of the eighteenth century. See Carlyle's "Miscellanies" +for an account of his life and character.] + +[Footnote 6: Daniel Nikolas Chodowiecki, painter and engraver, of +Polish descent, was born at Dantzic in 1726. For some years he was so +popular an artist that few books were published in Prussia without +plates or vignettes by him. The catalogue of his works is said to +include 3000 items.] + +[Footnote 7: Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, an Italian painter of the +eighteenth century, whose works were at one time greatly +over-estimated.] + +[Footnote 8: Jakob Ruysdael (_c._ 1625-1682), a painter of Haarlem, in +Holland. His favourite subjects were remote farms, lonely stagnant +water, deep-shaded woods with marshy paths, the sea-coast--subjects of +a dark melancholy kind. His sea-pieces are greatly admired.] + +[Footnote 9: Phlegon, the freedman of Hadrian, relates that a young +maiden, Philemium, the daughter of Philostratus and Charitas, became +deeply enamoured of a young man, named Machates, a guest in the house +of her father. This did not meet with the approbation of her parents, +and they turned Machates away. The young maiden took this so much to +heart that she pined away and died. Some time afterwards Machates +returned to his old lodgings, when he was visited at night by his +beloved, who came from the grave to see him again. The story may be +read in Heywood's (Thos.) "Hierarchie of Blessed Angels," Book vii., p. +479 (London, 1637). Goethe has made this story the foundation of his +beautiful poem _Die Braut von Korinth_, with which form of it Hoffmann +was most likely familiar.] + +[Footnote 10: This phrase (_Die Wahlverwandschaft_ in German) has been +made celebrated as the title of one of Goethe's works.] + + + + + THE ENTAIL. + + +Not far from the shore of the Baltic Sea is situated the ancestral +castle of the noble family Von R----, called R--sitten. It is a wild +and desolate neighbourhood, hardly anything more than a single blade of +grass shooting up here and there from the bottomless drift-sand; and +instead of the garden that generally ornaments a baronial residence, +the bare walls are approached on the landward side by a thin forest of +firs, that with their never-changing vesture of gloom despise the +bright garniture of Spring, and where, instead of the joyous carolling +of little birds awakened anew to gladness, nothing is heard but the +ominous croak of the raven and the whirring scream of the storm-boding +sea-gull. A quarter of a mile distant Nature suddenly changes. As if by +the wave of a magician's wand you are transported into the midst of +thriving fields, fertile arable land, and meadows. You see, too, the +large and prosperous village, with the land-steward's spacious +dwelling-house; and at the angle of a pleasant thicket of alders you +may observe the foundations of a large castle, which one of the former +proprietors had intended to erect. His successors, however, living on +their property in Courland, left the building in its unfinished state; +nor would Freiherr[1] Roderick von R---- proceed with the structure +when he again took up his residence on the ancestral estate, since the +lonely old castle was more suitable to his temperament, which was +morose and averse to human society. He had its ruinous walls repaired +as well as circumstances would admit, and then shut himself up +within them along with a cross-grained house-steward and a slender +establishment of servants. + +He was seldom seen in the village, but on the other hand he often +walked and rode along the sea-beach; and people claimed to have heard +him from a distance, talking to the waves and listening to the rolling +and hissing of the surf, as though he could hear the answering voice of +the spirit of the sea. Upon the topmost summit of the watch-tower he +had a sort of study fitted up and supplied with telescopes--with a +complete set of astronomical apparatus, in fact. Thence during the +daytime he frequently watched the ships sailing past on the distant +horizon like white-winged sea-gulls; and there he spent the starlight +nights engaged in astronomical, or, as some professed to know, with +astrological labours, in which the old house-steward assisted him. At +any rate the rumour was current during his own lifetime that he was +devoted to the occult sciences or the so-called Black Art, and that he +had been driven out of Courland in consequence of the failure of an +experiment by which an august princely house had been most seriously +offended. The slightest allusion to his residence in Courland filled +him with horror; but for all the troubles which had there unhinged the +tenor of his life he held his predecessors entirely to blame, in that +they had wickedly deserted the home of their ancestors. In order to +fetter, for the future, at least the head of the family to the +ancestral castle, he converted it into a property of entail. The +sovereign was the more willing to ratify this arrangement since by its +means he would secure for his country a family distinguished for all +chivalrous virtues, and which had already begun to ramify into foreign +countries. + +Neither Roderick's son Hubert, nor the next Roderick, who was so called +after his grandfather, would live in their ancestral castle; both +preferred Courland. It is conceivable, too, that, being more cheerful +and fond of life than the gloomy astrologer, they were repelled by the +grim loneliness of the place. Freiherr Roderick had granted shelter and +subsistence on the property to two old maids, sisters of his father, +who were living in indigence, having been but niggardly provided for. +They, together with an aged serving-woman, occupied the small warm +rooms of one of the wings; besides them and the cook, who had a large +apartment on the ground floor adjoining the kitchen, the only other +person was a worn-out _chasseur_, who tottered about through the lofty +rooms and halls of the main building, and discharged the duties of +castellan. The rest of the servants lived in the village with the +land-steward. The only time at which the desolated and deserted castle +became the scene of life and activity was late in autumn, when the snow +first began to fall and the season for wolf-hunting and boar-hunting +arrived. Then came Freiherr Roderick with his wife, attended by +relatives and friends and a numerous retinue, from Courland. The +neighbouring nobility, and even amateur lovers of the chase who lived +in the town hard by, came down in such numbers that the main building, +together with the wings, barely sufficed to hold the crowd of guests. +Well-served fires roared in all the stoves and fireplaces, while the +spits were creaking from early dawn until late at night, and hundreds +of light-hearted people, masters and servants, were running up and down +stairs; here was heard the jingling and rattling of drinking glasses +and jovial hunting choruses, there the footsteps of those dancing to +the sound of the shrill music,--everywhere loud mirth and jollity; +so that for four or five weeks together the castle was more like a +first-rate hostelry situated on a main highroad than the abode of a +country gentleman. This time Freiherr Roderick devoted, as well as he +was able, to serious business, for, withdrawing from the revelry of his +guests, he discharged the duties attached to his position as lord of +the entail. He not only had a complete statement of the revenues laid +before him, but he listened to every proposal for improvement and to +every the least complaint of his tenants, endeavouring to establish +order in everything, and check all wrongdoing and injustice as far as +lay in his power. + +In these matters of business he was honestly assisted by the old +advocate V----, who had been law agent of the R---- family and +Justitiarius[2] of their estates in P---- from father to son for many +years; accordingly, V---- was wont to set out for the estate at least a +week before the day fixed for the arrival of the Freiherr. In the year +179- the time came round again when old V---- was to start on his +journey for R--sitten. However strong and healthy the old man, now +seventy years of age, might feel, he was yet quite assured that a +helping hand would prove beneficial to him in his business. So he said +to me one day as if in jest, "Cousin!" (I was his great-nephew, but he +called me "cousin," owing to the fact that his own Christian name and +mine were both the same)--"Cousin, I was thinking it would not be amiss +if you went along with me to R--sitten and felt the sea-breezes blow +about your ears a bit. Besides giving me good help in my often +laborious work, you may for once in a while see how you like the +rollicking life of a hunter, and how, after drawing up a neatly-written +protocol one morning, you will frame the next when you come to look in +the glaring eyes of such a sturdy brute as a grim shaggy wolf or a wild +boar gnashing his teeth, and whether you know how to bring him down +with a well-aimed shot." Of course I could not have heard such strange +accounts of the merry hunting parties at R--sitten, or entertain such a +true heartfelt affection for my excellent old great-uncle as I did, +without being highly delighted that he wanted to take me with him this +time. As I was already pretty well skilled in the sort of business he +had to transact, I promised to work with unwearied industry, so as to +relieve him of all care and trouble. + +Next day we sat in the carriage on our way to R--sitten, well wrapped +up in good fur coats, driving through a thick snowstorm, the first +harbinger of the coming winter. On the journey the old gentleman told +me many remarkable stories about the Freiherr Roderick, who had +established the estate-tail and appointed him (V----), in spite of his +youth, to be his Justitiarius and executor. He spoke of the harsh and +violent character of the old nobleman, which seemed to be inherited by +all the family, since even the present master of the estate, whom he +had known as a mild-tempered and almost effeminate youth, acquired more +and more as the years went by the same disposition. He therefore +recommended me strongly to behave with as much resolute self-reliance +and as little embarrassment as possible, if I desired to possess any +consideration in the Freiherr's eyes; and at length he began to +describe the apartments in the castle which he had selected to be his +own once for all, since they were warm and comfortable, and so +conveniently retired that we could withdraw from the noisy +convivialities of the hilarious company whenever we pleased. The rooms, +namely, which were on every visit reserved for him, were two small +ones, hung with warm tapestry, close beside the large hall of justice, +in the wing opposite that in which the two old maids resided. + +At last, after a rapid but wearying journey, we arrived at R--sitten, +late at night. We drove through the village; it was Sunday, and from +the alehouse proceeded the sounds of music, and dancing, and +merrymaking; the steward's house was lit up from basement to garret, +and music and song were there too. All the more striking therefore was +the inhospitable desolation into which we now drove. The sea-wind +howled in sharp cutting dirges as it were about us, whilst the sombre +firs, as if they had been roused by the wind from a deep magic trance, +groaned hoarsely in a responsive chorus. The bare black walls of the +castle towered above the snow-covered ground; we drew up at the gates, +which were fast locked. But no shouting or cracking of whips, no +knocking or hammering, was of any avail; the whole castle seemed to be +dead; not a single light was visible at any of the windows. The old +gentleman shouted in his strong stentorian voice, "Francis, Francis, +where the deuce are you? In the devil's name rouse yourself; we are all +freezing here outside the gates. The snow is cutting our faces till +they bleed. Why the devil don't you stir yourself?" Then the watch-dog +began to whine, and a wandering light was visible on the ground floor. +There was a rattling of keys, and soon the ponderous wings of the gate +creaked back on their hinges. "Ha! a hearty welcome, a hearty welcome, +Herr Justitiarius. Ugh! it's rough weather!" cried old Francis, holding +the lantern above his head, so that the light fell full upon his +withered face, which was drawn up into a curious grimace, that was +meant for a friendly smile. The carriage drove into the court, and we +got out; then I obtained a full view of the old servant's extraordinary +figure, almost hidden in his wide old-fashioned chasseur livery, with +its many extraordinary lace decorations. Whilst there were only a few +grey locks on his broad white forehead, the lower part of his face wore +the ruddy hue of health; and, notwithstanding that the cramped muscles +of his face gave it something of the appearance of a whimsical mask, +yet the rather stupid good-nature which beamed from his eyes and played +about his mouth compensated for all the rest. + +"Now, old Francis," began my great-uncle, knocking the snow from his +fur coat in the entrance hall, "now, old man, is everything prepared? +Have you had the hangings in my room well dusted, and the beds carried +in? and have you had a big roaring fire both yesterday and to-day?" +"No," replied Francis, quite calmly, "no, my worshipful Herr +Justitiarius, we've got none of that done." "Good Heavens!" burst out +my great-uncle, "I wrote to you in proper time; you know that I always +come at the time I fix. Here's a fine piece of stupid carelessness! I +shall have to sleep in rooms as cold as ice." "But you see, worshipful +Herr Justitiarius," continued Francis, most carefully clipping a +burning thief from the wick of the candle with the snuffers and +stamping it out with his foot, "but, you see, sir, all that would not +have been of much good, especially the fires, for the wind and the snow +have taken up their quarters too much in the rooms, driving in through +the broken windows, and then"---- "What!" cried my uncle, interrupting +him as he spread out his fur coat and placing his arms akimbo, "do you +mean to tell me the windows are broken, and you, the castellan of the +house, have done nothing to get them mended?" "But, worshipful Herr +Justitiarius," resumed the old servant calmly and composedly, "but we +can't very well get at them owing to the great masses of stones and +rubbish lying all over the room." "Damn it all, how come there to be +stones and rubbish in my room?" cried my uncle. "Your lasting health +and good luck, young gentleman!" said the old man, bowing politely to +me, as I happened to sneeze;[3] but he immediately added, "They are the +stones and plaster of the partition wall which fell in at the great +shock." "Have you had an earthquake?" blazed up my uncle, now fairly in +a rage. "No, not an earthquake, worshipful Herr Justitiarius," replied +the old man, grinning all over his face, "but three days ago the heavy +wainscot ceiling of the justice-hall fell in with a tremendous crash." +"Then may the"---- My uncle was about to rip out a terrific oath in his +violent passionate manner, but jerking up his right arm above his head +and taking off his fox-skin cap with his left, he suddenly checked +himself; and turning to me, he said with a hearty laugh, "By my troth, +cousin, we must hold our tongues; we mustn't ask any more questions, or +else we shall hear of some still worse misfortune, or have the whole +castle tumbling to pieces about our ears." "But," he continued, +wheeling round again to the old servant, "but, bless me, Francis, could +you not have had the common sense to get me another room cleaned and +warmed? Could you not have quickly fitted up a room in the main +building for the court-day?" "All that has been already done," said the +old man, pointing to the staircase with a gesture that invited us to +follow him, and at once beginning to ascend them. "Now there's a most +curious noodle for you!" exclaimed my uncle as we followed old Francis. +The way led through long lofty vaulted corridors, in the dense darkness +of which Francis's flickering light threw a strange reflection. The +pillars, capitals, and vari-coloured arches seemed as if they were +floating before us in the air; our own shadows stalked along beside us +in gigantic shape, and the grotesque paintings on the walls over which +they glided seemed all of a tremble and shake; whilst their voices, we +could imagine, were whispering in the sound of our echoing footsteps, +"Wake us not, oh! wake us not--us whimsical spirits who sleep here in +these old stones." At last, after we had traversed a long suite of cold +and gloomy apartments, Francis opened the door of a hall in which a +fire blazing brightly in the grate offered us as it were a home-like +welcome with its pleasant crackling. I felt quite comfortable the +moment I entered, but my uncle, standing still in the middle of the +hall, looked round him and said in a tone which was so very grave as to +be almost solemn, "And so this is to be the justice-hall!" Francis held +his candle above his head, so that my eye fell upon a light spot in the +wide dark wall about the size of a door; then he said in a pained and +muffled voice, "Justice has been already dealt out here." "What +possesses you, old man?" asked my uncle, quickly throwing aside his fur +coat and drawing near to the fire. "It slipped over my lips, I couldn't +help it," said Francis; then he lit the great candles and opened the +door of the adjoining room, which was very snugly fitted up for our +reception. In a short time a table was spread for us before the fire, +and the old man served us with several well-dressed dishes, which +were followed by a brimming bowl of punch, prepared in true Northern +style,--a very acceptable sight to two weary travellers like my uncle +and myself. My uncle then, tired with his journey, went to bed as soon +as he had finished supper; but my spirits were too much excited by the +novelty and strangeness of the place, as well as by the punch, for me +to think of sleep. Meanwhile, Francis cleared the table, stirred up the +fire, and bowing and scraping politely, left me to myself. + +Now I sat alone in the lofty spacious _Rittersaal_ or Knight's Hall. +The snow-flakes had ceased to beat against the lattice, and the storm +had ceased to whistle; the sky was clear, and the bright full moon +shone in through the wide oriel-windows, illuminating with magical +effect all the dark corners of the curious room into which the dim +light of my candles and the fire could not penetrate. As one often +finds in old castles, the walls and ceiling of the hall were ornamented +in a peculiar antique fashion, the former with fantastic paintings and +carvings, gilded and coloured in gorgeous tints, the latter with heavy +wainscoting. Standing out conspicuously from the great pictures, which +represented for the most part wild bloody scenes in bear-hunts and +wolf-hunts, were the heads of men and animals carved in wood and joined +on to the painted bodies, so that the whole, especially in the +flickering light of the fire and the soft beams of the moon, had an +effect as if all were alive and instinct with terrible reality. Between +these pictures reliefs of knights had been inserted, of life size, +walking along in hunting costume; probably they were the ancestors of +the family who had delighted in the chase. Everything, both in the +paintings and in the carved work, bore the dingy hue of extreme old +age; so much the more conspicuous therefore was the bright bare place +on that one of the walls through which were two doors leading into +adjoining apartments. I soon concluded that there too there must have +been a door, that had been bricked up later; and hence it was that this +new part of the wall, which had neither been painted like the rest, nor +yet ornamented with carvings, formed such a striking contrast with the +others. Who does not know with what mysterious power the mind is +enthralled in the midst of unusual and singularly strange +circumstances? Even the dullest imagination is aroused when it comes +into a valley girt around by fantastic rocks, or within the gloomy +walls of a church or an abbey, and it begins to have glimpses of things +it has never yet experienced. When I add that I was twenty years of +age, and had drunk several glasses of strong punch, it will easily be +conceived that as I sat thus in the _Rittersaal_ I was in a more +exceptional frame of mind than I had ever been before. Let the reader +picture to himself the stillness of the night within, and without the +rumbling roar of the sea--the peculiar piping of the wind, which rang +upon my ears like the tones of a mighty organ played upon by spectral +hands--the passing scudding clouds which, shining bright and white, +often seemed to peep in through the rattling oriel-windows like giants +sailings past--in very truth, I felt, from the slight shudder which +shook me, that possibly a new sphere of existences might now be +revealed to me visibly and perceptibly. But this feeling was like the +shivery sensations that one has on hearing a graphically narrated ghost +story, such as we all like. At this moment it occurred to me that I +should never be in a more seasonable mood for reading the book which, +in common with every one who had the least leaning towards the +romantic, I at that time carried about in my pocket,--I mean Schiller's +"Ghost-seer." I read and read, and my imagination grew ever more and +more excited. I came to the marvellously enthralling description of the +wedding feast at Count Von V----'s. + +Just as I was reading of the entrance of Jeronimo's bloody figure,[4] +the door leading from the gallery into the antechamber flew open with a +tremendous bang. I started to my feet in terror; the book fell from my +hands. In the very same moment, however, all was still again, and I +began to be ashamed of my childish fears. The door must have been burst +open by a strong gust of wind or in some other natural manner. It is +nothing; my over-strained fancy converts every ordinary occurrence into +the supernatural. Having thus calmed my fears, I picked up my book from +the ground, and again threw myself in the arm-chair; but there came a +sound of soft, slow, measured footsteps moving diagonally across the +hall, whilst there was a sighing and moaning at intervals, and in this +sighing and moaning there was expressed the deepest trouble, the most +hopeless grief, that a human being can know. "Ha! it must be some sick +animal locked up somewhere in the basement storey. Such acoustic +deceptions at night time, making distant sounds appear close at hand, +are well known to everybody. Who will suffer himself to be terrified at +such a thing as that?" Thus I calmed my fears again. But now there was +a scratching at the new portion of the wall, whilst louder and deeper +sighs were audible, as if gasped out by some one in the last throes of +mortal anguish. "Yes, yes; it is some poor animal locked up somewhere; +I will shout as loudly as I can, I will stamp violently on the floor, +then all will be still, or else the animal below will make itself heard +more distinctly, and in its natural cries," I thought. But the blood +ran cold in my veins; the cold sweat, too, stood upon my forehead, and +I remained sitting in my chair as if transfixed, quite unable to rise, +still less to cry out. At length the abominable scratching ceased, and +I again heard the footsteps. Life and motion seemed to be awakened in +me; I leapt to my feet, and went two or three steps forward. But then +there came an ice-cold draught of wind through the hall, whilst at the +same moment the moon cast her bright light upon the statue of a grave +if not almost terrible-looking man; and then, as though his warning +voice rang through the louder thunders of the waves and the shriller +piping of the wind, I heard distinctly, "No further, no further! or you +will sink beneath all the fearful horrors of the world of spectres." +Then the door was slammed too with the same violent bang as before, and +I plainly heard the footsteps in the anteroom, then going down the +stairs. The main door of the castle was opened with a creaking noise, +and afterwards closed again. Then it seemed as if a horse were brought +out of the stable, and after a while taken back again, and finally all +was still. + +At that same moment my attention was attracted to my old uncle in the +adjoining room; he was groaning and moaning painfully. This brought me +fully to consciousness again; I seized the candles and hurried into the +room to him. He appeared to be struggling with an ugly, unpleasant +dream. "Wake up, wake up!" I cried loudly, taking him gently by the +hand, and letting the full glare of the light fall upon his face. He +started up with a stifled shout, and then, looking kindly at me, said, +"Ay, you have done quite right--that you have, cousin, to wake me. I +have had a very ugly dream, and it's all solely owing to this room and +that hall, for they made me think of past times and many wonderful +things that have happened here. But now let us turn to and have a +good sound sleep." Therewith the old gentleman rolled himself in the +bed-covering and appeared to fall asleep at once. But when I had +extinguished the candles and likewise crept into bed, I heard him +praying in a low tone to himself. + +Next morning we began work in earnest; the land-steward brought his +account-books, and various other people came, some to get a dispute +settled, some to get arrangements made about other matters. At noon my +uncle took me with him to the wing where the two old Baronesses lived, +that we might pay our respects to them with all due form. Francis +having announced us, we had to wait some time before a little old dame, +bent with the weight of her sixty years, and attired in gay-coloured +silks, who styled herself the noble ladies' lady-in-waiting, appeared +and led us into the sanctuary. There we were received with comical +ceremony by the old ladies, whose curious style of dress had gone out +of fashion years and years before. I especially was an object of +astonishment to them when my uncle, with considerable humour, +introduced me as a young lawyer who had come to assist him in his +business. Their countenances plainly indicated their belief that, owing +to my youth, the welfare of the tenants of R--sitten was placed in +jeopardy. Although there was a good deal that was truly ridiculous +during the whole of this interview with the old ladies, I was +nevertheless still shivering from the terror of the preceding night; I +felt as if I had come in contact with an unknown power, or rather as if +I had grazed against the outer edge of a circle, one step across which +would be enough to plunge me irretrievably into destruction, as though +it were only by the exertion of all the power of my will that I should +be able to guard myself against _that_ awful dread which never slackens +its hold upon you until it ends in incurable insanity. Hence it was +that the old Baronesses, with their remarkable towering head-dresses, +and their peculiar stuff gowns, tricked off with gay flowers and +ribbons, instead of striking me as merely ridiculous, had an appearance +that was both ghostly and awe-inspiring. My fancy seemed to glean from +their yellow withered faces and blinking eyes, ocular proof of the fact +that they had succeeded in establishing themselves on at least a good +footing with the ghosts who haunted the castle, as it derived auricular +confirmation of the same fact from the wretched French which they +croaked, partly between their tightly-closed blue lips and partly +through their long thin noses, and also that they themselves possessed +the power of setting trouble and dire mischief at work. My uncle, who +always had a keen eye for a bit of fun, entangled the old dames in his +ironical way in such a mish-mash of nonsensical rubbish that, had I +been in any other mood, I should not have known how to swallow down my +immoderate laughter; but, as I have just said, the Baronesses and their +twaddle were, and continued to be, in my regard, ghostly, so that my +old uncle, who was aiming at affording me an especial diversion, +glanced across at me time after time utterly astonished. So after +dinner, when we were alone together in our room, he burst out, "But in +Heaven's name, cousin, tell me what is the matter with you? You don't +laugh; you don't talk; you don't eat; and you don't drink. Are you ill, +or is anything else the matter with you?" I now hesitated not a moment +to tell him circumstantially all my terrible, awful experiences of the +previous night I did not conceal anything, and above all I did not +conceal that I had drunk a good deal of punch, and had been reading +Schiller's "Ghostseer." "This I must confess to," I add, "for only so +can I credibly explain how it was that my over-strained and active +imagination could create all those ghostly spirits, which only exist +within the sphere of my own brain." I fully expected that my uncle +would now pepper me well with the stinging pellets of his wit for this +my fanciful ghost-seeing; but, on the contrary, he grew very grave, and +his eyes became riveted in a set stare upon the floor, until he jerked +up his head and said, fixing me with his keen fiery eyes, "Your book I +am not acquainted with, cousin; but your ghostly visitants were due +neither to it nor to the fumes of the punch. I must tell you that I +dreamt exactly the same things that you saw and heard. Like you, I sat +in the easy-chair beside the fire (at least I dreamt so); but what was +only revealed to you as slight noises I saw and distinctly comprehended +with the eye of my mind. Yes, I beheld that foul fiend come in, +stealthily and feebly step across to the bricked-up door, and scratch +at the wall in hopeless despair until the blood gushed out from beneath +his torn finger-nails; then he went downstairs, took a horse out of the +stable, and finally put him back again. Did you also hear the cock +crowing in a distant farmyard up at the village? You came and awoke me, +and I soon resisted the baneful ghost of that terrible man, who is +still able to disturb in this fearful way the quiet lives of the +living." The old gentleman stopped; and I did not like to ask him +further questions, being well aware that he would explain everything to +me when he deemed that the proper time was come for doing so. After +sitting for a while, deeply absorbed in his own thoughts, he went on, +"Cousin, do you think you have courage enough to encounter the ghost +again now that you know all that happens,--that is to say, along with +me?" Of course I declared that I now felt quite strong enough, and +ready for what he wished. "Then let us watch together during the coming +night," the old gentleman went on to say. "There is a voice within me +telling me that this evil spirit must fly, not so much before the power +of my will as before my courage, which rests upon a basis of firm +conviction. I feel that it is not at all presumption in me, but rather +a good and pious deed, if I venture life and limb to exorcise this foul +fiend that is banishing the sons from the old castle of their +ancestors. But what am I thinking about? There can be no risk in the +case at all, for with such a firm, honest mind and pious trust that I +feel I possess, I and everybody cannot fail to be, now and always, +victorious over such ghostly antagonists. And yet if, after all, it +should be God's will that this evil power be enabled to work me +mischief, then you must bear witness, cousin, that I fell in honest +Christian fight against the spirit of hell which was here busy about +its fiendish work. As for yourself, keep at a distance; no harm will +happen to you then." + +Our attention was busily engaged with divers kinds of business until +evening came. As on the day before, Francis had cleared away the +remains of the supper, and brought us our punch. The full moon shone +brightly through the gleaming clouds, the sea-waves roared, and the +night-wind howled and shook the oriel window till the panes rattled. +Although inwardly excited, we forced ourselves to converse on +indifferent topics. The old gentleman had placed his striking watch on +the table; it struck twelve. Then the door flew open with a terrific +bang, and, just as on the preceding night, soft slow footsteps moved +stealthily across the hall in a diagonal direction, whilst there were +the same sounds of sighing and moaning. My uncle turned pale, but his +eyes shone with an unusual brilliance. He rose from his arm-chair, +stretching his tall figure up to its full height, so that as he stood +there with his left arm propped against his side and with his right +stretched out towards the middle of the hall, he had the appearance of +a hero issuing his commands. But the sighing and moaning were growing +every moment louder and more perceptible, and then the scratching at +the wall began more horribly even than on the previous night. My uncle +strode forwards straight towards the walled-up door, and his steps were +so firm that they echoed along the floor. He stopped immediately in +front of the place, where the scratching noise continued to grow worse +and worse, and said in a strong solemn voice, such as I had never +before heard from his lips, "Daniel, Daniel! what are you doing here at +this hour?" Then there was a horrible unearthly scream, followed by a +dull thud as if a heavy weight had fallen to the ground. "Seek for +pardon and mercy at the throne of the Almighty; that is your place. +Away with you from the scenes of this life, in which you can nevermore +have part." And as the old gentleman uttered these words in a tone +still stronger than before, a feeble wail seemed to pass through the +air and die away in the blustering of the storm, which was just +beginning to rage. Crossing over to the door, the old gentleman slammed +it to, so that the echo rang loudly through the empty anteroom. There +was something so supernatural almost in both his language and his +gestures that I was deeply struck with awe. On resuming his seat in his +arm-chair his face was as if transfigured; he folded his hands and +prayed inwardly. In this way several minutes passed, when he asked me +in that gentle tone which always went right to my heart, and which he +always had so completely at his command, "Well, cousin?" Agitated and +shaken by awe, terror, fear, and pious respect and love, I threw myself +upon my knees and rained down my warm tears upon the hand he offered +me. He clasped me in his arms, and pressing me fervently to his heart +said very tenderly, "Now we will go and have a good quiet sleep, good +cousin;" and we did so. And as nothing of an unusual nature occurred on +the following night, we soon recovered our former cheerfulness, to the +prejudice of the old Baronesses; for though there did still continue to +be something ghostly about them and their odd manners, yet it emanated +from a diverting ghost which the old gentleman knew how to call up in a +droll fashion. + +At length, after the lapse of several days, the Baron put in his +appearance, along with his wife and a numerous train of servants for +the hunting; the guests who had been invited also arrived, and the +castle, now suddenly awakened to animation, became the scene of the +noisy life and revelry which have been before described. When the Baron +came into our hall soon after his arrival, he seemed to be disagreeably +surprised at the change in our quarters. Casting an ill-tempered glance +towards the bricked-up door, he turned abruptly round and passed his +hand across his forehead, as if desirous of banishing some disagreeable +recollection. My great-uncle mentioned the damage done to the +justice-hall and the adjoining apartments; but the Baron found fault +with Francis for not accommodating us with better lodgings, and he +good-naturedly requested the old gentleman to order anything he might +want to make his new room comfortable; for it was much less +satisfactory in this respect than that which he had usually occupied. +On the whole, the Baron's bearing towards my old uncle was not merely +cordial, but largely coloured by a certain deferential respect, as if +the relation in which he stood towards him was that of a younger +relative. But this was the sole trait that could in any way reconcile +me to his harsh, imperious character, which was now developed more and +more every day. As for me, he seemed to notice me but little; if he did +notice me at all, he saw in me nothing more than the usual secretary or +clerk. On the occasion of the very first important memorandum that I +drew up, he began to point out mistakes, as he conceived, in the +wording. My blood boiled, and I was about to make a caustic reply, when +my uncle interposed, informing him briefly that I did my work exactly +in the way he wished, and that in legal matters of this kind he alone +was responsible. When we were left alone, I complained bitterly of the +Baron, who would, I said, always inspire me with growing aversion. "I +assure you, cousin," replied the old gentleman, "that the Baron, +notwithstanding his unpleasant manner, is really one of the most +excellent and kind-hearted men in the world. As I have already told +you, he did not assume these manners until the time he became lord of +the entail; previous to then he was a modest, gentle youth. Besides, he +is not, after all, so bad as you make him out to be; and further, I +should like to know why you are so averse to him." As my uncle said +these words he smiled mockingly, and the blood rushed hotly and +furiously into my face. I could not pretend to hide from myself--I saw +it only too clearly, and felt it too unmistakably--that my peculiar +antipathy to the Baron sprang out of the fact that I loved, even to +madness, a being who appeared to me to be the loveliest and most +fascinating of her sex who had ever trod the earth. This lady was none +other than the Baroness herself. Her appearance exercised a powerful +and irresistible charm upon me at the very moment of her arrival, when +I saw her traversing the apartments in her Russian sable cloak, which +fitted close to the exquisite symmetry of her shape, and with a rich +veil wrapped about her head. Moreover, the circumstance that the +two old aunts, with still more extraordinary gowns and be-ribboned +head-dresses than I had yet seen them wear, were sweeping along one on +each side of her and cackling their welcomes in French, whilst the +Baroness was looking about her in a way so gentle as to baffle all +description, nodding graciously first to one and then to another, and +then adding in her flute-like voice a few German words in the pure +sonorous dialect of Courland--all this formed a truly remarkable and +unusual picture, and my imagination involuntarily connected it with the +ghostly midnight visitant,--the Baroness being the angel of light who +was to break the ban of the spectral powers of evil. This wondrously +lovely lady stood forth in startling reality before my mind's eye. At +that time she could hardly be nineteen years of age, and her face, as +delicately beautiful as her form, bore the impression of the most +angelic good-nature; but what I especially noticed was the +indescribable fascination of her dark eyes, for a soft melancholy gleam +of aspiration shone in them like dewy moonshine, whilst a perfect +elysium of rapture and delight was revealed in her sweet and beautiful +smile. She often seemed completely lost in her own thoughts, and at +such moments her lovely face was swept by dark and fleeting shadows. +Many observers would have concluded that she was affected by some +distressing pain; but it rather seemed to me that she was struggling +with gloomy apprehensions of a future pregnant with dark misfortunes; +and with these, strangely enough, I connected the apparition of the +castle, though I could not give the least explanation of why I did so. + +On the morning following the Baron's arrival, when the company +assembled to breakfast, my old uncle introduced me to the Baroness; +and, as usually happens with people in the frame of mind in which I +then was, I behaved with indescribable absurdity. In answer to the +beautiful lady's simple inquiries how I liked the castle, &c., I +entangled myself in the most extraordinary and nonsensical phrases, so +that the old aunts ascribed my embarrassment simply and solely to my +profound respect for the noble lady, and thought they were called +upon condescendingly to take my part, which they did by praising +me in French as a very nice and clever young man, as a _garçon très +joli_ (handsome lad). This vexed me; so suddenly recovering my +self-possession, I threw out a _bonmot_ in better French than the old +dames were mistresses of; whereupon they opened their eyes wide in +astonishment, and pampered their long thin noses with a liberal supply +of snuff. From the Baroness's turning from me with a more serious air +to talk to some other lady, I perceived that my _bonmot_ bordered +closely upon folly; this vexed me still more, and I wished the two old +ladies to the devil. My old uncle's irony had long before brought me +through the stage of the languishing love-sick swain, who in childish +infatuation coddles his love-troubles; but I knew very well that the +Baroness had made a deeper and more powerful impression upon my heart +than any other woman had hitherto done. I saw and heard nothing but +her; nevertheless I had a most explicit and unequivocal consciousness +that it would be not only absurd, but even utter madness to dream of an +amour, albeit I perceived no less clearly the impossibility of gazing +and adoring at a distance like a love-lorn boy. Of such conduct I +should have been perfectly ashamed. But what I could do, and what I +resolved to do, was to become more intimate with this beautiful girl +without allowing her to get any glimpse of my real feelings, to drink +the sweet poison of her looks and words, and then, when far away from +her, to bear her image in my heart for many, many days, perhaps for +ever. I was excited by this romantic and chivalric attachment to such a +degree, that, as I pondered over it during sleepless nights, I was +childish enough to address myself in pathetic monologues, and even to +sigh lugubriously, "Seraphina! O Seraphina!" till at last my old uncle +woke up and cried, "Cousin, cousin! I believe you are dreaming aloud. +Do it by daytime, if you can possibly contrive it, but at night have +the goodness to let me sleep." I was very much afraid that the old +gentleman, who had not failed to remark my excitement on the Baroness's +arrival, had heard the name, and would overwhelm me with his sarcastic +wit. But next morning all he said, as we went into the justice-hall, +was, "God grant every man the proper amount of common sense, and +sufficient watchfulness to keep it well under hand. It's a bad look-out +when a man becomes converted into a fantastic coxcomb without so much +as a word of warning." Then he took his seat at the great table and +added, "Write neatly and distinctly, good cousin, that I may be able to +read it without any trouble." + +The respect, nay, the almost filial veneration which the Baron +entertained towards my uncle, was manifested on all occasions. +Thus, at the dinner-table he had to occupy the seat--which many envied +him--beside the Baroness; as for me, chance threw me first in one place +and then in another; but for the most part, two or three officers from +the neighbouring capital were wont to attach me to them, in order that +they might empty to their own satisfaction their budget of news and +amusing anecdotes, whilst diligently passing the wine about. Thus it +happened that for several days in succession I sat at the bottom of the +table at a great distance from the Baroness. At length, however, chance +brought me nearer to her. Just as the doors of the dining-hall were +thrown open for the assembled company, I happened to be in the midst of +a conversation with the Baroness's companion and confidante,--a lady no +longer in the bloom of youth, but by no means ill-looking, and not +without intelligence,--and she seemed to take some interest in my +remarks. According to etiquette, it was my duty to offer her my arm, +and I was not a little pleased when she took her place quite close to +the Baroness, who gave her a friendly nod. It may be readily imagined +that all that I now said was intended not only for my fair neighbour, +but also mainly for the Baroness. Whether it was that the inward +tension of my feelings imparted an especial animation to all I said, at +any rate my companion's attention became more riveted with every +succeeding moment; in fact, she was at last entirely absorbed in the +visions of the kaleidoscopic world which I unfolded to her gaze. As +remarked, she was not without intelligence, and it soon came to pass +that our conversation, completely independent of the multitude of words +spoken by the other guests (which rambled about first to this subject +and then to that), maintained its own free course, launching an +effective word now and again whither I wanted it. For I did not fail to +observe that my companion shot a significant glance or two across to +the Baroness, and that the latter took pains to listen to us. And this +was particularly the case when the conversation turned upon music and I +began to speak with enthusiasm of this glorious and sacred art; nor did +I conceal that, despite the fact of my having devoted myself to the dry +tedious study of the law, I possessed tolerable skill on the +harpsichord, could sing, and had even set several songs to music. + +The majority of the company had gone into another room to take coffee +and liqueurs; but, unawares, without knowing how it came about, I found +myself near the Baroness, who was talking with her confidante. She at +once addressed me, repeating in a still more cordial manner and in the +tone in which one talks to an acquaintance, her inquiries as to how I +liked living in the castle, &c. I assured her that for the first few +days, not only the dreary desolation of the situation, but the ancient +castle itself had affected me strangely, but even in this mood I had +found much of deep interest, and that now my only wish was to be +excused from the stirring scenes of the hunt, for I had not been +accustomed to them. The Baroness smiled and said, "I can readily +believe that this wild life in our fir forests cannot be very congenial +to you. You are a musician, and, unless I am utterly mistaken, a poet +as well. I am passionately fond of both arts. I can also play the harp +a little, but I have to do without it here in R--sitten, for my husband +does not like me to bring it with me. Its soft strains would harmonize +but ill with the wild shouts of the hunters and the ringing blare of +their bugles, which are the only sounds that ought to be heard here. +And O heaven! how I should like to hear a little music!" I protested +that I would exert all the skill I had at my command to fulfil her +wish, for there must surely without doubt be an instrument of some kind +in the castle, even though it were only an old harpsichord. Then the +Lady Adelheid (the Baroness's confidante) burst out into a silvery +laugh and asked, did I not know that within the memory of man no other +instrument had ever been heard in the castle except cracked trumpets, +and hunting-horns which in the midst of joy would only sound lugubrious +notes, and the twanging fiddles, untuned violoncellos, and braying +oboes of itinerant musicians. The Baroness reiterated her wish that she +should like to have some music, and especially should like to hear me; +and both she and Adelheid racked their brains all to no purpose to +devise some scheme by which they could get a decent pianoforte brought +to the Castle. At this moment old Francis crossed the room. "Here's the +man who always can give the best advice, and can procure everything, +even things before unheard of and unseen." With these words the Lady +Adelheid called him to her, and as she endeavoured to make him +comprehend what it was that was wanted, the Baroness listened with her +hands clasped and her head bent forward, looking upon the old man's +face with a gentle smile. She made a most attractive picture, like some +lovely, winsome child that is all eagerness to have a wished-for toy in +its hands. Francis, after having adduced in his prolix manner several +reasons why it would be downright impossible to procure such a +wonderful instrument in such a big hurry, finally stroked his beard +with an air of self-flattery and said, "But the land-steward's lady up +at the village performs on the manichord, or whatever is the outlandish +name they now call it, with uncommon skill, and sings to it so fine and +mournful-like that it makes your eyes red, just like onions do, and +makes you feel as if you would like to dance with both legs at once." +"And you say she has a pianoforte?" interposed Lady Adelheid. "Aye, +to be sure," continued the old man; "it comed straight from Dresden; +a"--("Oh, that's fine!" interrupted the Baroness)--"a beautiful +instrument," went on the old man, "but a little weakly; for not long +ago, when the organist began to play on it the hymn 'In all Thy +works,'[5] he broke it all to pieces, so that"--("Good gracious!" +exclaimed both the Baroness and Lady Adelheid)--"so that," went on the +old man again, "it had to be taken to R---- to be mended, and cost a +lot of money." "But has it come back again?" asked Lady Adelheid +impatiently. "Aye, to be sure, my lady, and the steward's lady will +reckon it a high honour----" At this moment the Baron chanced to pass. +He looked across at our group rather astonished, and whispered with a +sarcastic smile to the Baroness, "So you have to take counsel of +Francis again, I see?" The Baroness cast down her eyes blushing, whilst +old Francis breaking off terrified, suddenly threw himself into +military posture, his head erect, and his arms close and straight down +his side. The old aunts came sailing down upon us in their stuff gowns +and carried off the Baroness. Lady Adelheid followed her, and I was +left alone as if spell-bound. A struggle began to rage within me +between my rapturous anticipations of now being able to be near her +whom I adored, who completely swayed all my thoughts and feelings, and +my sulky ill-humour and annoyance at the Baron, whom I regarded as a +barbarous tyrant. If he were not, would the grey-haired old servant +have assumed such a slavish attitude? + +"Do you hear? Can you see, I say?" cried my great-uncle, tapping me on +the shoulder;--we were going upstairs to our own apartments. "Don't +force yourself so on the Baroness's attention," he said when we reached +the room. "What good can come of it? Leave that to the young fops who +like to pay court to ladies; there are plenty of them to do it." I +related how it had all come about, and challenged him to say if I had +deserved his reproof. His only reply to this, however, was, "Humph! +humph!" as he drew on his dressing-gown. Then, having lit his pipe, he +took his seat in his easy-chair and began to talk about the adventures +of the hunt on the preceding day, bantering me on my bad shots. All was +quiet in the castle; all the visitors, both gentlemen and ladies, were +busy in their own rooms dressing for the evening. For the musicians +with the twanging fiddles, untuned violoncellos, and braying oboes, of +whom Lady Adelheid had spoken, were come, and a merrymaking of no less +importance than a ball, to be given in the best possible style, was in +anticipation. My old uncle, preferring a quiet sleep to such foolish +pastimes, stayed in his chamber. I, however, had just finished dressing +when there came a light tap at our door, and Francis entered. Smiling +in his self-satisfied way, he announced to me that the manichord had +just arrived from the land-steward's lady in a sledge, and had been +carried into the Baroness's apartments. Lady Adelheid sent her +compliments and would I go over at once. It may be conceived how my +pulse beat, and also with what a delicious tremor at heart I opened the +door of the room in which I was to find _her_. Lady Adelheid came to +meet me with a joyful smile. The Baroness, already in full dress for +the ball, was sitting in a meditative attitude beside the mysterious +case or box, in which slumbered the music that I was called upon to +awaken. When she rose, her beauty shone upon me with such glorious +splendour that I stood staring at her unable to utter a word. "Come, +Theodore"--(for, according to the kindly custom of the North, which is +found again farther south, she addressed everybody by his or her +Christian name)--"Come, Theodore," she said pleasantly, "here's the +instrument come. Heaven grant it be not altogether unworthy of your +skill!" As I opened the lid I was greeted by the rattling of a score of +broken strings, and when I attempted to strike a chord, the effect was +hideous and abominable, for all the strings which were not broken were +completely out of tune. "I doubt not our friend the organist has been +putting his delicate little hands upon it again," said Lady Adelheid +laughing; but the Baroness was very much annoyed and said, "Oh, it +really is a slice of bad luck! I am doomed, I see, never to have any +pleasure here." I searched in the case of the instrument, and +fortunately found some coils of strings, but no tuning-key anywhere. +Hence fresh laments. "Any key will do if the ward will fit on the +pegs," I explained; then both Lady Adelheid and the Baroness ran +backwards and forwards in gay spirits, and before long a whole magazine +of bright keys lay before me on the sounding-board. + +Then I set to work diligently, and both the ladies assisted me all they +could, trying first one peg and then another. At length one of the +tiresome keys fitted, and they exclaimed joyfully, "This will do! it +will do!" But when I had drawn the first creaking string up to just +proper pitch, it suddenly snapped, and the ladies recoiled in alarm. +The Baroness, handling the brittle wires with her delicate little +fingers, gave me the numbers as I wanted them, and carefully held the +coil whilst I unrolled it. Suddenly one of them coiled itself up again +with a whirr, making the Baroness utter an impatient "Oh!" Lady +Adelheid enjoyed a hearty laugh, whilst I pursued the tangled coil to +the corner of the room. After we had all united our efforts to extract +a perfectly straight string from it, and had tried it again, to our +mortification it again broke; but at last--at last we found some good +coils; the strings began to hold, and gradually the discordant jangling +gave place to pure melodious chords. "Ha! it will go! it will go! The +instrument is getting in tune!" exclaimed the Baroness, looking at me +with her lovely smile. How quickly did this common interest banish all +the strangeness and shyness which the artificial manners of social +intercourse impose. A kind of confidential familiarity arose between +us, which, burning through me like an electric current, consumed the +timorous nervousness and constraint which had lain like ice upon my +heart. That peculiar mood of diffused melting sadness which is +engendered of such love as mine was had quite left me; and accordingly, +when the pianoforte was brought into something like tune, instead of +interpreting my deeper feelings in dreamy improvisations, as I had +intended, I began with those sweet and charming canzonets which have +reached us from the South. During this or the other _Senza di te_ +(Without thee), or _Sentimi idol mio_ (Hear me, my darling), or _Almen +se nonpos'io_ (At least if I cannot), with numberless _Morir mi sentos_ +(I feel I am dying), and _Addios_ (Farewell), and _O dios!_ (O +Heaven!), a brighter and brighter brilliancy shone in Seraphina's +eyes. She had seated herself close beside me at the instrument; I felt +her breath fanning my cheek; and as she placed her arm behind me +on the chair-back, a white ribbon, getting disengaged from her +beautiful ball-dress, fell across my shoulder, where by my singing and +Seraphina's soft sighs it was kept in a continual flutter backwards and +forwards, like a true love-messenger. It is a wonder how I kept from +losing my head. + +As I was running my fingers aimlessly over the keys, thinking of a new +song, Lady Adelheid, who had been sitting in one of the corners of the +room, ran across to us, and, kneeling down before the Baroness, begged +her, as she took both her hands and clasped them to her bosom, "Oh, +dear Baroness! darling Seraphina! now you must sing too." To this she +replied, "Whatever are you thinking about, Adelheid? How could I dream +of letting our virtuoso friend hear such poor singing as mine?" And she +looked so lovely, as, like a shy good child, she cast down her eyes and +blushed, timidly contending with the desire to sing. That I too added +my entreaties can easily be imagined; nor, upon her making mention of +some little Courland _Volkslieder_ or popular songs, did I desist from +my entreaties until she stretched out her left hand towards the +instrument and tried a few notes by way of introduction. I rose to make +way for her at the piano, but she would not permit me to do so, +asserting that she could not play a single chord, and for that reason, +since she would have to sing without accompaniment, her performance +would be poor and uncertain. She began in a sweet voice, pure as a +bell, that came straight from her heart, and sang a song whose simple +melody bore all the characteristics of those _Volkslieder_ which +proceed from the lips with such a lustrous brightness, so to speak, +that we cannot help perceiving in the glad light which surrounds us our +own higher poetic nature. There lies a mysterious charm in the +insignificant words of the text which converts them into a hieroglyphic +scroll representative of the unutterable emotions which throng our +hearts. Who does not know that Spanish canzonet the substance of which +is in words little more than, "With my maiden I embarked on the sea; a +storm came on, and my timid maiden was tossed up and down: nay, I will +never again embark on the sea with my maiden?" And the Baroness's +little song contained nothing more than, "Lately I was dancing with my +sweetheart at a wedding; a flower fell out of my hair; he picked it up +and gave it me, and said, 'When, sweetheart mine, shall we go to a +wedding again?'" When, on her beginning the second verse of the song, I +played an _arpeggio_ accompaniment, and further when, in the +inspiration which now took possession of me, I at once stole from the +Baroness's own lips the melodies of the other songs she sang, I +doubtless appeared in her eyes, and in those of the Lady Adelheid, to +be one of the greatest of masters in the art of music, for they +overwhelmed me with enthusiastic praise. The lights and illuminations +from the ball-room, situated in one of the wings of the castle, now +shone across into the Baroness's chamber, whilst a discordant bleating +of trumpets and French horns announced that it was time to gather for +the ball. "Oh, now I must go," said the Baroness. I started up from the +pianoforte. "You have afforded me a delightful hour; these have been +the pleasantest moments I have ever spent in R--sitten," she added, +offering me her hand; and as in the extreme intoxication of delight I +pressed it to my lips, I felt her fingers close upon my hand with a +sudden convulsive tremor. I do not know how I managed to reach my +uncle's chamber, and still less how I got into the ball-room. There was +a certain Gascon who was afraid to go into battle since he was all +heart, and every wound would be fatal to him. I might be compared to +him; and so might everybody else who is in the same mood that I +was in; every touch was then fatal. The Baroness's hand--her tremulous +fingers--had affected me like a poisoned arrow; my blood was burning in +my veins. + +On the following morning my old uncle, without asking any direct +questions, had soon drawn from me a full account of the hour I had +spent in the Baroness's society, and I was not a little abashed when +the smile vanished from his lips and the jocular note from his words, +and he grew serious all at once, saying, "Cousin, I beg you will resist +this folly which is taking such a powerful hold upon you. Let me tell +you that your present conduct, as harmless as it now appears, may lead +to the most terrible consequences. In your thoughtless fatuity you are +standing on a thin crust of ice, which may break under you ere you are +aware of it, and let you in with a plunge. I shall take good care not +to hold you fast by the coat-tails, for I know you will scramble out +again pretty quick, and then, when you are lying sick unto death, you +will say, 'I got this little bit of a cold in a dream.' But I warn you +that a malignant fever will gnaw at your vitals, and years will pass +before you recover yourself, and are a man again. The deuce take your +music if you can put it to no better use than to cozen sentimental +young women out of their quiet peace of mind." "But," I began, +interrupting the old gentleman, "but have I ever thought of insinuating +myself as the Baroness's lover?" "You puppy!" cried the old gentleman, +"if I thought so I would pitch you out of this window." At this +juncture the Baron entered, and put an end to the painful conversation; +and the business to which I now had to turn my attention brought me +back from my love-sick reveries, in which I saw and thought of nothing +but Seraphina. + +In general society the Baroness only occasionally interchanged a few +friendly words with me; but hardly an evening passed in which a secret +message was not brought to me from Lady Adelheid, summoning me to +Seraphina. It soon came to pass that our music alternated with +conversations on divers topics. Whenever I and Seraphina began to get +too absorbed in sentimental dreams and vague aspirations, the Lady +Adelheid, though now hardly young enough to be so naïve and droll as +she once was, yet intervened with all sorts of merry and somewhat +chaotic nonsense. From several hints she let fall, I soon discovered +that the Baroness really had something preying upon her mind, even as I +thought I had read in her eyes the very first moment I saw her; and I +clearly discerned the hostile influence of the apparition of the +castle. Something terrible had happened or was to happen. Although I +was often strongly impelled to tell Seraphina in what way I had come in +contact with the invisible enemy, and how my old uncle had banished +him, undoubtedly for ever, I yet felt my tongue fettered by a +hesitation which was inexplicable to myself even, whenever I opened my +mouth to speak. + +One day the Baroness failed to appear at the dinner table; it was said +that she was a little unwell, and could not leave her room. Sympathetic +inquiries were addressed to the Baron as to whether her illness was of +a grave nature. He smiled in a very disagreeable way, in fact, it was +almost like bitter irony, and said, "Nothing more than a slight +catarrh, which she has got from our blustering sea-breezes. They can't +tolerate any sweet voices; the only sounds they will endure are the +hoarse 'Halloos' of the chase." At these words the Baron hurled a keen +searching look at me across the table, for I sat obliquely opposite to +him. He had not spoken to his neighbour, but to me. Lady Adelheid, who +sat beside me, blushed a scarlet red. Fixing her eyes upon the plate in +front of her, and scribbling about on it with her fork, she whispered, +"And yet you must see Seraphina to-day; your sweet songs shall to-day +also bring soothing and comfort to her poor heart." Adelheid addressed +these words to me; but at this moment it struck me that I was almost +apparently entangled in a base and forbidden intrigue with the +Baroness, which could only end in some terrible crime. My old uncle's +warning fell heavily upon my heart. What should I do? Not see her +again? That was impossible so long as I remained in the castle; and +even if I might leave the castle and return to K----, I had not the +will to do it Oh! I felt only too deeply that I was not strong enough +to shake myself out of this dream, which was mocking one with delusive +hopes of happiness. Adelheid I almost regarded in the light of a common +go-between; I would despise her, and yet, upon second thoughts, I could +not help being ashamed of my folly. Had anything ever happened during +those blissful evening hours which could in the least degree lead to +any nearer relation with Seraphina than was permissible by propriety +and morality? How dare I let the thought enter my mind that the +Baroness would ever entertain any warm feeling for me? And yet I was +convinced of the danger of my situation. + +We broke up from dinner earlier than usual, in order to go again after +some wolves which had been seen in the fir-wood close by the castle. A +little hunting was just the thing I wanted in the excited frame of mind +in which I then was. I expressed to my uncle my resolve to accompany +the party; he gave me an approving smile and said, "That's right; I am +glad you are going out with them for once. I shall stay at home, so you +can take my firelock with you, and buckle my whinger round your waist; +in case of need it is a good and trusty weapon, if you only keep your +presence of mind." That part of the wood in which the wolves were +supposed to lie was surrounded by the huntsmen. It was bitterly cold; +the wind howled through the firs, and drove the light snow-flakes right +in my face, so that when at length it came on to be dusk I could +scarcely see six paces before me. Quite benumbed by the cold, I left +the place that had been assigned to me and sought shelter deeper in the +wood. There, leaning against a tree, with my firelock under my arm, I +forgot the wolf-hunt entirely; my thoughts had travelled back to +Seraphina's cosy room. After a time shots were heard in the far +distance; but at the same moment there was a rustling in the reed-bank, +and I saw not ten paces from me a huge wolf about to run past me. I +took aim, and fired, but missed. The brute sprang towards me with +glaring eyes; I should have been lost had I not had sufficient presence +of mind to draw my hunting-knife, and, just as the brute was flying at +me, to drive it deep into his throat, so that the blood spurted out +over my hand and arm. One of the Baron's keepers, who had stood not far +from me, came running up with a loud shout, and at his repeated +"Halloo!" all the rest soon gathered round us. The Baron hastened up to +me, saying, "For God's sake, you are bleeding--you are bleeding. Are +you wounded?" I assured him that I was not Then he turned to the keeper +who had stood nearest to me, and overwhelmed him with reproaches for +not having shot after me when I missed. And notwithstanding that the +man maintained this to have been perfectly impossible, since in the +very same moment the wolf had rushed upon me, and any shot would have +been at the risk of hitting me, the Baron persisted in saying that he +ought to have taken especial care of me as a less experienced hunter. +Meanwhile the keepers had lifted up the dead animal; it was one of the +largest that had been seen for a long time; and everybody admired my +courage and resolution, although to myself what I had done appeared +quite natural I had not for a moment thought of the danger I had run. +The Baron in particular seemed to take very great interest in the +matter; I thought he would never be done asking me whether, though I +was not wounded by the brute, I did not fear the ill effects that would +follow from the fright As we went back to the castle, the Baron took me +by the arm like a friend, and I had to give my firelock to a keeper to +carry. He still continued to talk about my heroic deed, so that +eventually I came to believe in my own heroism, and lost all my +constraint and embarrassment, and felt that I had established myself +in the Baron's eyes as a man of courage and uncommon resolution. The +schoolboy had passed his examination successfully, was now no longer a +schoolboy, and all the submissive nervousness of the schoolboy had left +him. I now conceived I had earned a right to try and gain Seraphina's +favour. Everybody knows of course what ridiculous combinations the +fancy of a love-sick youth is capable of. In the castle, over the +smoking punchbowl, by the fireside, I was the hero of the hour. Besides +myself the Baron was the only one of the party who had killed a +wolf--also a formidable one; the rest had to be content with ascribing +their bad shots to the weather and the darkness, and with relating +thrilling stories of their former exploits in hunting and the dangers +they had escaped. I thought, too, that I might reap an especial share +of praise and admiration from my old uncle as well; and so, with a view +to this end, I related to him my adventure at pretty considerable +length, nor did I forget to paint the savage brute's wild and +bloodthirsty appearance in very startling colours. The old gentleman, +however, only laughed in my face and said, "God is powerful even in the +weak." + +Tired of drinking and of the company, I was going quietly along the +corridor towards the justice-hall when I saw a figure with a light slip +in before me. On entering the hall I saw it was Lady Adelheid. "This is +the way we have to wander about like ghosts or night-walkers in order +to catch you, my brave slayer of wolves," she whispered, taking my arm. +The words "ghosts" and "sleep-walkers," pronounced in the place where +we were, fell like lead upon my heart; they immediately brought to my +recollection the ghostly apparitions of those two awful nights. As +then, so now, the wind came howling in from the sea in deep organ-like +cadences, rattling the oriel windows again and again and whistling +fearfully through them, whilst the moon cast her pale gleams exactly +upon the mysterious part of the wall where the scratching had been +heard. I fancied I discerned stains of blood upon it. Doubtless Lady +Adelheid, who still had hold of my hand, must have felt the cold icy +shiver which ran through me. "What's the matter with you?" she +whispered softly; "what's the matter with you? You are as cold as +marble. Come, I will call you back into life. Do you know how very +impatient the Baroness is to see you? And until she does see you she +will not believe that the ugly wolf has not really bitten you. She is +in a terrible state of anxiety about you. Why, my friend,--oh! how have +you awakened this interest in the little Seraphina? I have never seen +her like this. Ah!--so now the pulse is beginning to prickle; see how +quickly the dead man comes to life! Well, come along--but softly, +still! Come, we must go to the little Baroness." I suffered myself to +be led away in silence. The way in which Adelheid spoke of the Baroness +seemed to me undignified, and the innuendo of an understanding between +us positively shameful. When I entered the room along with Adelheid, +Seraphina, with a low-breathed "Oh!" advanced three or four paces +quickly to meet me; but then, as if recollecting herself, she stood +still in the middle of the room. I ventured to take her hand and press +it to my lips. Allowing it to rest in mine, she asked, "But, for +Heaven's sake! is it your business to meddle with wolves? Don't you +know that the fabulous days of Orpheus and Amphion are long past, and +that wild beasts have quite lost all respect for even the most +admirable of singers?" But this gleeful turn, by which the Baroness at +once effectually guarded against all misinterpretation of her warm +interest in me, I was put immediately into the proper key and the +proper mood. Why I did not take my usual place at the pianoforte I +cannot explain, even to myself, nor why I sat down beside the Baroness +on the sofa. Her question, "And what were you doing then to get into +danger?" was an indication of our tacit agreement that conversation, +not music, was to engage our attention for that evening. After I had +narrated my adventure in the wood, and mentioned the warm interest +which the Baron had taken in it, delicately hinting that I had not +thought him capable of so much feeling, the Baroness began in a tender +and almost melancholy tone, "Oh! how violent and rude you must think +the Baron; but I assure you it is only whilst we are living within +these gloomy, ghostly walls, and during the time there is hunting going +on in the dismal fir-forests, that his character completely changes, at +least his outward behaviour does. What principally disquiets him in +this unpleasant way is the thought, which constantly haunts him, that +something terrible will happen here. And that undoubtedly accounts for +the fact of his being so greatly agitated by your adventure, which +fortunately has had no ill consequences. He won't have the meanest of +his servants exposed to danger, if he knows it, still less a new-won +friend whom he has come to like; and I am perfectly certain that +Gottlieb, whom he blames for having left you in the lurch, will be +punished; even if he escapes being locked up in a dungeon, he will yet +have to suffer the punishment, so mortifying to a hunter, of going out +the next time there is a hunt with only a club in his hand instead of a +rifle. The circumstance that hunts like those which are held here are +always attended with danger, and the fact that the Baron, though always +fearing some sad accident, is yet so fond of hunting that he cannot +desist from provoking the demon of mischief, make his existence here a +kind of conflict, the ill effects of which I also have to feel. Many +queer stories are current about his ancestor who established the +entail; and I know myself that there is some dark family secret locked +within these walls like a horrible ghost which drives away the +owners, and makes it impossible for them to bear with it longer than a +few weeks at a time--and that only amid a tumult of jovial guests. But +I--Oh! how lonely I am in the midst of this noisy, merry company! And +how the ghostly influences which breathe upon me from the walls stir +and excite my very heart! You, my dear friend, have given me, through +your musical skill, the first cheerful moments I have spent here. How +can I thank you sufficiently for your kindness!" I kissed the hand she +offered to me, saying, that even on the very first day, or rather +during the very first night, I had experienced the ghostliness of the +place in all its horrors. The Baroness fixed her staring eyes upon my +face, as I went on to describe the ghostly character of the building, +discernible everywhere throughout the castle, particularly in the +decorations of the justice-hall, and to speak of the roaring of the +wind from the sea, &c. Possibly my voice and my expressions indicated +that I had something more in my mind than what I said; at any rate when +I concluded, the Baroness cried vehemently, "No, no; something dreadful +has happened to you in that hall, which I never enter without +shuddering. I beg you--pray, pray, tell me all." + +Seraphina's face had grown deadly pale; and I saw plainly that it would +be more advisable to give her a faithful account of all that I had +experienced than to leave her excited imagination to conjure up some +apparition that might perhaps, in a way I could not foresee, be far +more horrible than what I had actually encountered. As she listened to +me her fear and strained anxiety increased from moment to moment; and +when I mentioned the scratching on the wall she screamed, "It's +horrible! Yes, yes, it's in that wall that the awful secret is +concealed!" But as I went on to describe with what spiritual power and +superiority of will my old uncle had banished the ghost, she sighed +deeply, as though she had shaken off a heavy burden that had weighed +oppressively upon her. She leaned back in the sofa and held her hands +before her face. Now I first noticed that Adelheid had left us. A +considerable pause ensued, and as Seraphina still continued silent, I +softly rose, and going to the pianoforte, endeavoured in swelling +chords to invoke the bright spirits of consolation to come and deliver +Seraphina from the dark influence to which my narration had subjected +her. Then I soon began to sing as softly as I was able one of the Abbé +Steffani's[6] canzonas. The melancholy strains of the _Ochi, perchè +piangete_ (O eyes, why weep you?) roused Seraphina out of her reverie, +and she listened to me with a gentle smile upon her face, and bright +pearl-like tears in her eyes. How am I to account for it that I kneeled +down before her, that she bent over towards me, that I threw my arms +about her, that a long ardent kiss was imprinted on my lips? How am I +to account for it that I did not lose my senses when she drew me softly +towards her, how that I tore myself from her arms, and, quickly rising +to my feet, hurried to the pianoforte? Turning from me, the Baroness +took a few steps towards the window, then she turned round again and +approached me with an air of almost proud dignity, which was not at all +usual with her. Looking me straight in the face, she said, "Your uncle +is the most worthy old man I know; he is the guardian-angel of our +family. May he include me in his pious prayers!" I was unable to utter +a word; the subtle poison that I had imbibed with her kiss burned and +boiled in every pulse and nerve. Lady Adelheid came in. The violence of +my inward conflict burst out at length in a passionate flood of tears, +which I was unable to repress. Adelheid looked at me with wonder and +smiled dubiously;--I could have murdered her. The Baroness gave me her +hand, and said with inexpressible gentleness, "Farewell, my dear +friend. Fare you right well; and remember that nobody perhaps has ever +understood your music better than I have. Oh! these notes! they will +echo long, long in my heart." I forced myself to utter a few stupid, +disconnected words, and hurried up to my uncle's room. The old +gentleman had already gone to bed. I stayed in the hall, and falling +upon my knees, I wept aloud; I called upon my beloved by name, I gave +myself up completely and regardlessly to all the absurd folly of a +love-sick lunatic, until at last the extravagant noise I made awoke my +uncle. But his loud call, "Cousin, I believe you have gone cranky, or +else you're having another tussle with a wolf. Be off to bed with you +if you will be so very kind"--these words compelled me to enter his +room, where I got into bed with the fixed resolve to dream only of +Seraphina. + +It would be somewhere past midnight when I thought I heard distant +voices, a running backwards and forwards, and an opening and banging of +doors--for I had not yet fallen asleep. I listened attentively; I heard +footsteps approaching the corridor; the hall door was opened, and soon +there came a knock at our door. "Who is there?" I cried. A voice from +without answered, "Herr Justitiarius, Herr Justitiarius, wake up, wake +up!" I recognised Francis's voice, and as I asked, "Is the castle on +fire?" the old gentleman woke up in his turn and asked, "Where--where +is there a fire? Is it that cursed apparition again? where is it?" "Oh! +please get up, Herr Justitiarius," said Francis, "Please get up; the +Baron wants you." "What does the Baron want me for?" inquired my uncle +further; "what does he want me for at this time of night? does he not +know that all law business goes to bed along with the lawyer, and +sleeps as soundly as he does?" "Oh!" cried Francis, now anxiously; +"please, Herr Justitiarius, good sir, please get up. My lady the +Baroness is dying." I started up with a cry of dismay. "Open the door +for Francis," said the old gentleman to me. I stumbled about the room +almost distracted, and could find neither door nor lock; my uncle had +to come and help me. Francis came in, his face pale and troubled, and +lit the candles. We had scarcely thrown on our clothes when we heard +the Baron calling in the hall, "Can I speak to you, good V----?" "But +what have you dressed for, cousin? the Baron only wanted me," asked the +old gentleman, on the point of going out. "I must go down--I must see +her and then die," I replied tragically, and as if my heart were rent +by hopeless grief. "Ay, just so; you are right, cousin," he said, +banging the door to in my face, so that the hinges creaked, and locking +it on the outside. At the first moment, deeply incensed at this +restraint, I thought of bursting the door open; but quickly reflecting +that this would entail the disagreeable consequences of a piece of +outrageous insanity, I resolved to await the old gentleman's return; +then however, let the cost be what it might, I would escape his +watchfulness. I heard him talking vehemently with the Baron, and +several times distinguished my own name, but could not make out +anything further. Every moment my position grew more intolerable. At +length I heard that some one brought a message to the Baron, who +immediately hurried off. My old uncle entered the room again. "She is +dead!" I cried, running towards him, "And you are a stupid fool," he +interrupted coolly; then he laid hold upon me and forced me into a +chair. "I must go down," I cried, "I must go down and see her, even +though it cost me my life." "Do so, good cousin," said he, locking the +door, taking out the key, and putting it in his pocket. I now flew into +a perfectly frantic rage; stretching out my hand towards the rifle, I +screamed, "If you don't instantly open the door I will send this bullet +through my brains." Then the old gentleman planted himself immediately +in front of me, and fixing his keen piercing eyes upon me said, "Boy, +do you think you can frighten me with your idle threats? Do you think I +should set much value on your life if you can go and throw it away in +childish folly like a broken plaything? What have you to do with the +Baron's wife? who has given you the right to insinuate yourself, like a +tiresome puppy, where you have no claim to be, and where you are not +wanted? do you wish to go and act the love-sick swain at the solemn +hour of death?" I sank back in my chair utterly confounded After a +while the old gentleman went on more gently, "And now let me tell you +that this pretended illness of the Baroness is in all probability +nothing. Lady Adelheid always loses her head at the least little thing. +If a rain-drop falls upon her nose, she screams, 'What fearful weather +it is!' Unfortunately the noise penetrated to the old aunts, and they, +in the midst of unseasonable floods of tears, put in an appearance +armed with an entire arsenal of strengthening drops, elixirs of life, +and the deuce knows what. A sharp fainting-fit"---- The old gentleman +checked himself; doubtless he observed the struggle that was going on +within me. He took a few turns through the room; then again planting +himself in front of me, he had a good hearty laugh and said, "Cousin, +cousin, what nonsensical folly have you now got in your head? Ah well! +I suppose it can't be helped; the devil is to play his pretty games +here in divers sorts of ways. You have tumbled very nicely into his +clutches, and now he's making you dance to a sweet tune," He again took +a few turns up and down, and again went on, "It's no use to think of +sleep now; and it occurred to me that we might have a pipe, and so +spend the few hours that are left of the darkness and the night." With +these words he took a clay pipe from the cupboard, and proceeded to +fill it slowly and carefully, humming a song to himself; then he +rummaged about amongst a heap of papers, until he found a sheet, +which he picked out and rolled into a spill and lighted. Blowing the +tobacco-smoke from him in thick clouds, he said, speaking between his +teeth, "Well, cousin, what was that story about the wolf?" + +I know not how it was, but this calm, quiet behaviour of the old +gentleman operated strangely upon me. I seemed to be no longer in +R--sitten, and the Baroness was so far, far distant from me that I +could only reach her on the wings of thought. The old gentleman's last +question, however, annoyed me. "But do you find my hunting exploit so +amusing?" I broke in,--"so well fitted for banter?" "By no means," he +rejoined, "by no means, cousin mine; but you've no idea what a comical +face such a whipper-snapper as you cuts, and how ludicrously he acts as +well, when Providence for once in a while honours him by putting him in +the way to meet with something out of the usual run of things. I once +had a college friend who was a quiet, sober fellow, and always on good +terms with himself. By accident he became entangled in an affair of +honour,--I say by accident, because he himself was never in any way +aggressive; and although most of the fellows looked upon him as a poor +thing, as a poltroon, he yet showed so much firm and resolute courage +in this affair as greatly to excite everybody's admiration. But from +that time onwards he was also completely changed. The sober and +industrious youth became a bragging, insufferable bully. He was always +drinking and rioting, and fighting about all sorts of childish trifles, +until he was run through in a duel by the Senior[7] of an exclusive +corps. I merely tell you the story, cousin; you are at liberty to think +what you please about it But to return to the Baroness and her +illness"---- At this moment light footsteps were heard in the hall; I +fancied, too, there was an unearthly moaning in the air. "She is dead!" +the thought shot through me like a fatal flash of lightning. The old +gentleman quickly rose to his feet and called out, "Francis, Francis!" +"Yes, my good Herr Justitiarius," he replied from without. "Francis," +went on my uncle, "rake the fire together a bit in the grate, and if +you can manage it, you had better make us a good cup or two of tea." +"It is devilish cold," and he turned to me, "and I think we had better +go and sit round the fire and talk a little." He opened the door, and I +followed him mechanically. "How are things going on below?" he asked. +"Oh!" replied Francis; "there was not much the matter. The Lady +Baroness is all right again, and ascribes her bit of a fainting-fit to +a bad dream." I was going to break out into an extravagant +manifestation of joy and gladness, but a stern glance from my uncle +kept me quiet "And yet, after all, I think it would be better if we lay +down for an hour or two. You need not mind about the tea, Francis." "As +you think well, Herr Justitiarius," replied Francis, and he left the +room with the wish that we might have a good night's rest, albeit the +cocks were already crowing. "See here, cousin," said the old gentleman, +knocking the ashes out of his pipe on the grate, "I think, cousin, that +it's a very good thing no harm has happened to you either from wolves +or from loaded rifles." I now saw things in the right light, and was +ashamed at myself to have thus given the old gentleman good grounds for +treating me like a spoiled child. + +Next morning he said to me, "Be so good as to step down, good cousin, +and inquire how the Baroness is. You need only ask for Lady Adelheid; +she will supply you with a full budget, I have no doubt" You may +imagine how eagerly I hastened downstairs. But just as I was about to +give a gentle knock at the door of the Baroness's anteroom, the Baron +came hurriedly out of the same. He stood still in astonishment, and +scrutinised me with a gloomy searching look. "What do you want here?" +burst from his lips. Notwithstanding that my heart beat, I controlled +myself and replied in a firm tone, "To inquire on my uncle's behalf how +my lady, the Baroness, is?" "Oh! it was nothing--one of her usual +nervous attacks. She is now having a quiet sleep, and will, I am sure, +make her appearance at the dinner-table quite well and cheerful. Tell +him that--tell him that." This the Baron said with a certain degree of +passionate vehemence, which seemed to me to imply that he was more +concerned about the Baroness than he was willing to show. I turned to +go back to my uncle, when the Baron suddenly seized my arm and said, +whilst his eyes flashed fire, "I have a word or two to say to you, +young man." Here I saw the deeply injured husband before me, and feared +there would be a scene which would perhaps end ignominiously for me. I +was unarmed; but at that moment I remembered I had in my pocket the +ingeniously-made hunting-knife which my uncle had presented to me after +we got to R--sitten. I now followed the Baron, who led the way rapidly, +with the determination not even to spare his life if I ran any risk of +being treated dishonourably. + +We entered the Baron's own room, the door of which he locked behind +him. Now he began to pace restlessly backwards and forwards, with his +arms folded one over the other; then he stopped in front of me and +repeated, "I have a word or two to say to you, young man." I had wound +myself up to a pitch of most daring courage, and I replied, raising my +voice, "I hope they will be words which I may hear without resentment." +He stared hard at me in astonishment, as though he had failed to +understand me. Then, fixing his eyes gloomily upon the floor, he threw +his arms behind his back, and again began to stride up and down the +room. He took down a rifle and put the ramrod down the barrel to see +whether it were loaded or not. My blood boiled in my veins; grasping my +knife, I stepped close up to him, so as to make it impossible for him +to take aim at me. "That's a handsome weapon," he said, replacing the +rifle in the corner. I retired a few paces, the Baron following me. +Slapping me on the shoulder, perhaps a little more violently than was +necessary, he said, "I daresay I seem to you, Theodore, to be excited +and irritable; and I really am so, owing to the anxieties of a +sleepless night. My wife's nervous attack was not in the least +dangerous; that I now see plainly. But here--here in this castle, which +is haunted by an evil spirit, I always dread something terrible +happening; and then it's the first time she has been ill here. And +you--you alone were to blame for it." "How that can possibly be I have +not the slightest conception," I replied calmly. "I wish," continued +the Baron, "I wish that damned piece of mischief, my steward's wife's +instrument, were chopped up into a thousand pieces, and that you--but +no, no; it was to be so, it was inevitably to be so, and I alone am to +blame for all. I ought to have told you, the moment you began to play +music in my wife's room, of the whole state of the case, and to have +informed you of my wife's temper of mind." I was about to speak; "Let +me go on," said the Baron, "I must prevent your forming any rash +judgment. You probably regard me as an uncultivated fellow, averse to +the arts; but I am not so by any means. There is a particular +consideration, however, based upon deep conviction, which constrains me +to forbid the introduction here as far as possible of such music as can +powerfully affect any person's mind, and to this I of course am no +exception. Know that my wife suffers from a morbid excitability, which +will finally destroy all the happiness of her life. Within these +strange walls she is never quit of that strained over-excited +condition, which at other times occurs but temporarily, and then +generally as the forerunner of a serious illness. You will ask me, and +quite reasonably too, why I do not spare my delicate wife the necessity +of coming to live in this weird castle, and mix amongst the wild +confusion of a hunting-party. Well, call it weakness--be it so; in a +word, I cannot bring myself to leave her behind. I should be tortured +by a thousand fears, and quite incapable of any serious business, +for I am perfectly sure that I should be haunted everywhere, in the +justice-hall as well as in the forest, by the most horrid ideas of all +kinds of fatal mischief happening to her. And, on the other hand, I +believe that the sort of life led here cannot fail to operate upon the +weakly woman like strengthening chalybeate waters. By my soul, the +sea-breezes, sweeping keenly after their peculiar fashion through the +fir-trees, and the deep baying of the hounds, and the merry ringing +notes of our hunting-horns _must_ get the better of all your sickly +languishing sentimentalisings at the piano, which no man ought play in +_that way_. I tell you, you are deliberately torturing my wife to +death." These words he uttered with great emphasis, whilst his eyes +flashed with a restless fire. The blood mounted to my head; I made a +violent gesture against the Baron with my hand; I was about to speak, +but he cut me short "I know what you are going to say," he began, "I +know what you are going to say, and I repeat that you are going the +right road to kill my wife. But that you intended this I cannot of +course for a moment maintain; and yet you will understand that I must +put a stop to the thing. In short, by your playing and singing you work +her up to a high pitch of excitement, and then, when she drifts without +anchor and rudder on the boundless sea of dreams and visions and vague +aspirations which your music, like some vile charm, has summoned into +existence, you plunge her down into the depths of horror with a tale +about a fearful apparition which you say came and played pranks with +you up in the justice-hall. Your great-uncle has told me everything; +but, pray, repeat to me all you saw, or did not see, heard, felt, +divined by instinct." + +I braced myself up and narrated calmly how everything had happened from +beginning to end, the Baron merely interposing at intervals a few words +expressive of his astonishment. When I came to the part where my old +uncle had met the ghost with trustful courage and had exorcised him +with a few powerful words, the Baron clasped his hands, raised them +folded towards Heaven, and said with deep emotion, "Yes, he is the +guardian-angel of the family. His mortal remains shall rest in the +vault of my ancestors." When I finished my narration, the Baron +murmured to himself, "Daniel, Daniel, what are you doing here at this +hour?" as he folded his arms and strode up and down the room. "And was +that all, Herr Baron?" I asked, making a movement as though I would +retire. Starting up as if out of a dream, the Baron took me kindly by +the hand and said, "Yes, my good friend, my wife, whom you have dealt +so hardly by without intending it--you must cure her again; you alone +can do so." I felt I was blushing, and had I stood opposite a mirror +should undoubtedly have seen in it a very blank and absurd face. The +Baron seemed to exult in my embarrassment; he kept his eyes fixed +intently upon my face, smiling with perfectly galling irony. "How in +the world can I cure her?" I managed to stammer out at length with an +effort "Well," he said, interrupting me, "you have no dangerous patient +to deal with at any rate. I now make an express claim upon your skill. +Since the Baroness has been drawn into the enchanted circle of your +music, it would be both foolish and cruel to drag her out of it all of +a sudden. Go on with your music therefore. You will always be welcome +during the evening hours in my wife's apartments. But gradually select +a more energetic kind of music, and effect a clever alternation of the +cheerful sort with the serious; and above all things, repeat your story +of the fearful ghost very very often. The Baroness will grow familiar +with it; she will forget that a ghost haunts this castle; and the story +will have no stronger effect upon her than any other tale of +enchantment which is put before her in a romance or a ghost-story book. +Pray, do this, my good friend." With these words the Baron left me. I +went away. I felt as if I were annihilated, to be thus humiliated to +the level of a foolish and insignificant child. Fool that I was to +suppose that jealousy was stirring his heart! He himself sends me to +Seraphina; he sees in me only the blind instrument which, after he has +made use of it, he can throw away if he thinks well. A few minutes +previously I had really feared the Baron; deep down within my heart +lurked the consciousness of guilt; but it was a consciousness which +allowed me to feel distinctly the beauty of the higher life for which I +was ripe. Now all had disappeared in the blackness of night; and I saw +only the stupid boy who in childish obstinacy had persisted in taking +the paper crown which he had put on his hot temples for a real golden +one. I hurried away to my uncle, who was waiting for me. "Well, cousin, +why have you been so long? Where have you been staying?" he cried as +soon as he saw me. "I have been having some words with the Baron!" I +quickly replied, carelessly and in a low voice, without being able to +look at the old gentleman. "God damn it all," said he, feigning +astonishment "Good gracious, boy! that's just what I thought. I suppose +the Baron has challenged you, cousin?" The ringing peal of laughter +which the old gentleman immediately afterwards broke out into taught me +that this time too, as always, he had seen me through and through. I +bit my lip, and durst not speak a word, for I knew very well that it +would only be the signal for the old gentleman to overwhelm me beneath +the torrent of teasing which was already hovering on the tip of his +tongue. + +The Baroness appeared at the dinner-table in an elegant morning-robe, +the dazzling whiteness of which exceeded that of fresh-fallen snow. She +looked worn and low-spirited; but she began to speak in her soft and +melodious accents, and on raising her dark eyes there shone a sweet and +yearning look full of aspiration in their voluptuous glow, and a +fugitive blush flitted across her lily-white cheeks. She was more +beautiful than ever. But who can fathom the follies of a young man who +has got too hot blood in his head and heart? The bitter pique which the +Baron had stirred up within me I transferred to the Baroness. The +entire business seemed to me like a foul mystification; and I would now +show that I was possessed of alarmingly good common-sense and also of +extraordinary sagacity. Like a petulant child, I shunned the Baroness +and escaped Adelheid when she pursued me, and found a place where I +wished, right at the bottom end of the table between the two officers, +with whom I began to carouse right merrily. We kept our glasses going +gaily during dessert, and I was, as so frequently is the case in moods +like mine, extremely noisy and loud in my joviality. A servant brought +me a plate with some bonbons on it, with the words, "From Lady +Adelheid." I took them; and observed on one of them, scribbled in +pencil, "and Seraphina." My blood coursed tumultuously in my veins. I +sent a glance in Adelheid's direction, which she met with a most sly +and archly cunning look; and taking her glass in her hand, she gave me +a slight nod. Almost mechanically I murmured to myself, "Seraphina!" +then taking up my glass in my turn, I drained it at a single draught. +My glance fell across in _her_ direction; I perceived that she also had +drunk at the very same moment and was setting down her glass. Our eyes +met, and a malignant demon whispered in my ear, "Unhappy wretch, she +does love you!" One of the guests now rose, and, in conformity with the +custom of the North, proposed the health of the lady of the house. Our +glasses rang in the midst of a tumult of joy. My heart was torn with +rapture and despair; the wine burned like fire within me; everything +spun round in circles; I felt as if I must hasten and throw myself at +her feet and there sigh out my life. "What's the matter with you, my +friend?" asked my neighbour, thus recalling me to myself; but Seraphina +had left the hall. We rose from the table. I was making for the door, +but Adelheid held me fast, and began to talk about divers matters; I +neither heard nor understood a single word. She grasped both my hands +and, laughing, shouted something in my ear. I remained dumb and +motionless, as though affected by catalepsy. All I remember is that I +finally took a glass of liqueur out of Adelheid's hand in a mechanical +way and drank it off, and then I recollect being alone in a window, and +after that I rushed out of the hall, down the stairs, and ran out into +the wood. The snow was falling in thick flakes; the fir-trees were +moaning as they waved to and fro in the wind. Like a maniac I ran round +and round in wide circles, laughing and screaming loudly, "Look, look +and see. Aha! Aha! The devil is having a fine dance with the boy who +thought he would taste of strictly forbidden fruit!" Who can tell what +would have been the end of my mad prank if I had not heard my name +called loudly from the outside of the wood? The storm had abated; the +moon shone out brightly through the broken clouds; I heard dogs +barking, and perceived a dark figure approaching me. It was the old man +Francis. "Why, why, my good Herr Theodore," he began, "you have quite +lost your way in the rough snow-storm. The Herr Justitiarius is +awaiting you with much impatience." I followed the old man in silence. +I found my great-uncle working in the justice-hall. "You have done +well," he cried, on seeing me, "you have done a very wise thing to go +out in the open air a little and get cool. But don't drink quite so +much wine; you are far too young, and it's not good for you." I did not +utter a word in reply, and also took my place at the table in silence. +"But now tell me, good cousin, what it was the Baron really wanted you +for?" I told him all, and concluded by stating that I would not lend +myself for the doubtful cure which the Baron had proposed. "And +it would not be practicable," the old gentleman interrupted, "for +to-morrow morning early we set off home, cousin." And so it was that I +never saw Seraphina again. + +As soon as we arrived in K---- my old uncle complained that he felt +the effects of the wearying journey this time more than ever. His +moody silence, broken only by violent outbreaks of the worst possible +ill-humour, announced the return of his attacks of gout. One day I was +suddenly called in; I found the old gentleman confined to his bed and +unable to speak, suffering from a paralytic stroke. He held a letter in +his hand, which he had crumpled up tightly in a spasmodic fit. I +recognised the hand-writing of the land-steward of R--sitten; but, +quite upset by my trouble, I did not venture to take the letter out of +the old gentleman's hand. I did not doubt that his end was near. But +his pulse began to beat again, even before the physician arrived; the +old gentleman's remarkably tough constitution resisted the mortal +attack, although he was in his seventieth year. That selfsame day the +doctor pronounced him out of danger. + +We had a more severe winter than usual; this was followed by a rough +and stormy spring; and hence it was more the gout--a consequence of the +inclemency of the season--than his previous accident which kept him for +a long time confined to his bed. During this period he made up his mind +to retire altogether from all kinds of business. He transferred his +office of Justitiarius to others; and so I was cut off from all hope of +ever again going to R--sitten. The old gentleman would allow no one to +attend him but me; and it was to me alone that he looked for all +amusement and every cheerful diversion. And though, in the hours when +he was free from pain, his good spirits returned, and he had no lack of +broad jests, even making mention of hunting exploits, so that I fully +expected every minute to hear him make a butt of my heroic deed, when I +had killed the wolf with my whinger, yet never once did he allude to +our visit to R--sitten, and as may well be imagined, I was very +careful, from natural shyness, not to lead him directly up to the +subject. My harassing anxiety and continual attendance upon the old +gentleman had thrust Seraphina's image into the background. But as soon +as his sickness abated somewhat, my thoughts returned with more +liveliness to that moment in the Baroness's room, which I now looked +upon as a star--a bright star--that had set, for me at least, for ever. +An occurrence which now happened, by making me shudder with an ice-cold +thrill as at sight of a visitant from the world of spirits, revived +all the pain I had formerly felt. One evening, as I was opening the +pocket-book which I had carried whilst at R--sitten, there fell out of +the papers I was unfolding a dark curl, wrapped about with a white +ribbon; I immediately recognised it as Seraphina's hair. But, on +examining the ribbon more closely, I distinctly perceived the mark of a +spot of blood on it! Perhaps Adelheid had skilfully contrived to +secrete it about me during the moments of conscious insanity by which I +had been affected during the last days of our visit; but why was the +spot of blood there? It excited forebodings of something terrible in my +mind, and almost converted this too pastoral love-token into an awful +admonition, pointing to a passion which might entail the expenditure of +precious blood. It was the same white ribbon that had fluttered about +me in light wanton sportiveness as it were the first time I sat near +Seraphina, and which Mysterious Night had stamped as an emblem of +mortal injury. Boys ought not to play with weapons with the dangerous +properties of which they are not familiar. + +At last the storms of spring had ceased to bluster, and summer asserted +her rights; and if the cold had formerly been unbearable, so now too +was the heat when July came in. The old gentleman visibly gathered +strength, and following his usual custom, went out to a garden in the +suburbs. One still, warm evening, as we sat in the sweet-smelling +jasmine arbour, he was in unusually good spirits, and not, as was +generally the case, overflowing with sarcasm and irony, but in a gentle +and almost soft and melting mood. "Cousin," he began, "I don't know how +it is, but I feel so nice and warm and comfortable all over to-day; I +have not felt like it for many years. I believe it is an augury that I +shall die soon." I exerted myself to drive these gloomy thoughts from +his mind. "Never mind, cousin," he said, "in any case I'm not long for +this world; and so I will now discharge a debt I owe you. Do you still +remember our autumn in R--sitten?" This question thrilled through me +like a lightning-flash, so before I was able to make any reply he +continued, "It was Heaven's will that your entrance into that castle +should be signalised by memorable circumstances, and that you should +become involved against your own will in the deepest secrets of the +house. The time has now come when you must learn all. We have often +enough talked about things which you, cousin, rather dimly guessed at +than really understood. In the alternation of the seasons nature +represents symbolically the cycle of human life. That is a trite +remark; but I interpret it differently from everybody else. The dews of +spring fall, summer's vapours fade away, and it is the pure atmosphere +of autumn which clearly reveals the distant landscape, and then finally +earthly existence is swallowed in the night of winter. I mean that the +government of the Power Inscrutable is more plainly revealed in the +clear-sightedness of old age. It is granted glimpses of the promised +land, the pilgrimage to which begins with the death on earth. How +clearly do I see at this moment the dark destiny of that house, to +which I am knit by firmer ties than blood relationship can weave! +Everything lies disclosed to the eyes of my spirit. And yet the things +which I now see, in the form in which I see them--the essential +substance of them, that is--this I cannot tell you in words; for no +man's tongue is able to do so. But listen, my son, I will tell you +as well as I am able, and do you think it is some remarkable story +that might really happen; and lay up carefully in your soul the +knowledge that the mysterious relations into which you ventured to +enter, not perhaps without being summoned, might have ended in your +destruction--but--that's all over now." + +The history of the R---- entail, which my old uncle told me, I retain +so faithfully in my memory even now that I can almost repeat it in his +own words (he spoke of himself in the third person). + +One stormy night in the autumn of 1760 the servants of R--sitten were +startled out of the midst of their sleep by a terrific crash, as if the +whole of the spacious castle had tumbled into a thousand pieces. In a +moment everybody was on his legs; lights were lit; the house-steward, +his face deadly pale with fright and terror, came up panting with his +keys; but as they proceeded through the passages and halls and rooms, +suite after suite, and found all safe, and heard in the appalling +silence nothing except the creaking rattle of the locks, which +occasioned some difficulty in opening, and the ghost-like echo of their +own footsteps, they began one and all to be utterly astounded. Nowhere +was there the least trace of damage. The old house-steward was +impressed by an ominous feeling of apprehension. He went up into the +great Knight's Hall, which had a small cabinet adjoining where Freiherr +Roderick von R---- used to sleep when engaged in making his +astronomical observations. Between the door of this cabinet and +that of a second was a postern, leading through a narrow passage +immediately into the astronomical tower. But directly Daniel (that was +the house-steward's name) opened this postern, the storm, blustering +and howling terrifically, drove a heap of rubbish and broken pieces of +stones all over him, which made him recoil in terror; and, dropping +the candles, which went out with a hiss on the floor, he screamed, "O +God! O God! The Baron! he's miserably dashed to pieces!" At the same +moment he heard sounds of lamentation proceeding from the Freiherr's +sleeping-cabinet, and on entering it he saw the servants gathered +around their master's corpse. They had found him fully dressed and more +magnificently than on any previous occasion, and with a calm earnest +look upon his unchanged countenance, sitting in his large and richly +decorated arm-chair as though resting after severe study. But his rest +was the rest of death. When day dawned it was seen that the crowning +turret of the tower had fallen in. The huge square stones had broken +through the ceiling and floor of the observatory-room, and then, +carrying down in front of them a powerful beam that ran across the +tower, they had dashed in with redoubled impetus the lower vaulted +roof, and dragged down a portion of the castle walls and of the narrow +connecting-passage. Not a single step could be taken beyond the postern +threshold without risk of falling at least eighty feet into a deep +chasm. + +The old Freiherr had foreseen the very hour of his death, and had sent +intelligence of it to his sons. Hence it happened that the very next +day saw the arrival of Wolfgang, Freiherr von R----, eldest son of the +deceased, and now lord of the entail. Relying confidently upon the +probable truth of the old man's foreboding, he had left Vienna, which +city he chanced to have reached in his travels, immediately he received +the ominous letter, and hastened to R--sitten as fast as he could +travel. The house-steward had draped the great hall in black, and had +had the old Freiherr laid out in the clothes in which he had been +found, on a magnificent state-bed, and this he had surrounded with tall +silver candlesticks with burning wax-candles. Wolfgang ascended the +stairs, entered the hall, and approached close to his father's corpse, +without speaking a word. There he stood with his arms folded on his +chest, gazing with a fixed and gloomy look and with knitted brows, into +his father's pale countenance. He was like a statue; not a tear came +from his eyes. At length, with an almost convulsive movement of the +right arm towards the corpse, he murmured hoarsely, "Did the stars +compel you to make the son whom you loved miserable?" Throwing his +hands behind his back and stepping a short pace backwards, the Baron +raised his eyes upwards and said in a low and well-nigh broken voice, +"Poor, infatuated old man! Your carnival farce with its shallow +delusions is now over. Now you no doubt see that the possessions which +are so niggardly dealt out to us here on earth have nothing in common +with Hereafter beyond the stars. What will--what power can reach over +beyond the grave?" The Baron was silent again for some seconds, then he +cried passionately, "No, your perversity shall not rob me of a grain of +my earthly happiness, which you strove so hard to destroy," and +therewith he took a folded paper out of his pocket and held it up +between two fingers to one of the burning candles that stood close +beside the corpse. The paper was caught by the flame and blazed up +high; and as the reflection flickered and played upon the face of the +corpse, it was as though its muscles moved and as though the old man +uttered toneless words, so that the servants who stood some distance +off were filled with great horror and awe. The Baron calmly finished +what he was doing by carefully stamping out with his foot the last +fragment of paper that fell on the floor blazing. Then, casting yet +another moody glance upon his father, he hurriedly left the hall. + +On the following day Daniel reported to the Freiherr the damage that +had been done to the tower, and described at great length all that had +taken place on the night when their dear dead master died; and he +concluded by saying that it would be a very wise thing to have the +tower repaired at once, for, if a further fall were to take place, +there would be some danger of the whole castle--well, if not tumbling +down, at any rate suffering serious damage. + +"Repair the tower?" the Freiherr interrupted the old servant curtly, +whilst his eyes flashed with anger, "Repair the tower? Never, never! +Don't you see, old man," he went on more calmly, "don't you see that +the tower could not fall in this way without some special cause? How if +it was my father's own wish that the place where he carried on his +unhallowed astrological labours should be destroyed--how if he had +himself made certain preparations by which he was enabled to bring down +the turret whenever he pleased and so occasion the ruin of the interior +of the tower! But be that as it may. And if the whole castle tumbles +down, I shan't care; I shall be glad. Do you imagine I am going to +dwell in this weird owls' nest? No; my wise ancestor who had the +foundations of a new castle laid in the beautiful valley yonder--he has +begun a work which I intend to finish." Daniel said crestfallen, "Then +will all your faithful old servants have to take up their bundles and +go?" "That I am not going to be waited upon by helpless, weak-kneed old +fellows like you is quite certain; but for all that I shall turn none +away. You may all enjoy the bread of charity without working for it." +"And am I," cried the old man, greatly hurt, "am I, the house-steward, +to be forced to lead such a life of inactivity?" Then the Freiherr, who +had turned his back upon the old man and was about to leave the room, +wheeled suddenly round, his face perfectly ablaze with passion, strode +up to the old man as he stretched out his doubled fist towards him, and +shouted in a thundering voice, "You, you hypocritical old villain, it's +you who helped my old father in his unearthly practices up yonder; you +lay upon his heart like a vampire; and perhaps it was you who basely +took advantage of the old man's mad folly to plant in his mind those +diabolical ideas which brought me to the brink of ruin. I ought, I tell +you, to kick you out like a mangy cur." The old man was so terrified at +these harsh terrible words that he threw himself upon his knees beside +the Freiherr; but the Baron, as he spoke these last words, threw +forward his right foot, perhaps quite unintentionally (as is frequently +the case in anger, when the body mechanically obeys the mind, and what +is in the thought is imitatively realised in action) and hit the old +man so hard on the chest that he rolled over with a stifled scream. +Rising painfully to his feet and uttering a most singular sound, like +the howling whimper of an animal wounded to death, he looked the +Freiherr through and through with a look that glared with mingled rage +and despair. The purse of money which the Freiherr threw down as he +went out of the room, the old man left lying on the floor where it +fell. + +Meanwhile all the nearest relatives of the family who lived in the +neighbourhood had arrived, and the old Freiherr was interred with much +pomp in the family vault in the church at R--sitten; and now, after the +invited guests had departed, the new lord of the entail appeared to +shake off his gloomy mood, and to be prepared to duly enjoy the +property that had fallen to him. Along with V----, the old Freiherr's +Justitiarius, who won his full confidence in the very first interview +they had, and who was at once confirmed in his office, the Baron made +an exact calculation of his sources of income, and considered how large +a part he could devote to making improvements and how large a part to +building a new castle. V---- was of opinion that the old Freiherr could +not possibly have spent all his income every year, and that there must +certainly be money concealed somewhere, since he had found nothing +amongst his papers except one or two bank-notes for insignificant +sums, and the ready-money in the iron safe was but very little more +than a thousand thalers, or about £150. Who would be so likely to +know anything about it as Daniel, who in his obstinate self-willed way +was perhaps only waiting to be asked about it? The Baron was now +not a little concerned at the thought that Daniel, whom he had so +grossly insulted, might let large sums moulder somewhere sooner +than discover them to him, not so much, of course, from any motives of +self-interest,--for of what use could even the largest sum of money be +to him, a childless old man, whose only wish was to end his days in the +castle of R--sitten?--as from a desire to take vengeance for the +affront put upon him. He gave V---- a circumstantial account of the +entire scene with Daniel, and concluded by saying that from several +items of information communicated to him he had learned that it was +Daniel alone who had contrived to nourish in the old Freiherr's mind +such an inexplicable aversion to ever seeing his sons in R--sitten. The +Justitiarius declared that this information was perfectly false, since +there was not a human creature on the face of the earth who would have +been able to guide the Freiherr's thoughts in any way, far less +determine them for him; and he undertook finally to draw from Daniel +the secret, if he had one, as to the place in which they would be +likely to find money concealed. His task proved far easier than he had +anticipated, for no sooner did he begin, "But how comes it, Daniel, +that your old master has left so little ready-money?" than Daniel +replied, with a repulsive smile, "Do you mean the few trifling +thalers, Herr Justitiarius, which you found in the little strong box? +Oh! the rest is lying in the vault beside our gracious master's +sleeping-cabinet. But the best," he went on to say, whilst his +smile passed over into an abominable grin, and his eyes flashed +with malicious fire, "but the best of all--several thousand gold +pieces--lies buried at the bottom of the chasm beneath the ruins." The +Justitiarius at once summoned the Freiherr; they proceeded there, and +then into the sleeping-cabinet, where Daniel pushed aside the wainscot +in one of the corners, and a small lock became visible. Whilst the +Freiherr was regarding the polished lock with covetous eyes, and making +preparations to try and unlock it with the keys of the great bunch +which he dragged with some difficulty out of his pocket, Daniel drew +himself up to his full height, and looked down with almost malignant +pride upon his master, who had now stooped down in order to see the +lock better. Daniel's face was deadly pale, and he said, his voice +trembling, "If I am a dog, my lord Freiherr, I have also at least a +dog's fidelity." Therewith he held out a bright steel key to his +master, who greedily snatched it out of his hand, and with it he +easily succeeded in opening the door. They stepped into a small and +low-vaulted apartment, in which stood a large iron coffer with the +lid open, containing many money-bags, upon which lay a strip of +parchment, written in the old Freiherr's familiar handwriting, large +and old-fashioned. + + One hundred and fifty thousand Imperial thalers in old _Fredericks + d'or_,[8] money saved from the revenues of the estate-tail of + R--sitten; this sum has been set aside for the building of the + castle. Further, the lord of the entail who succeeds me in the + possession of this money shall, upon the highest hill situated + eastward from the old tower of the castle (which he will find in + ruins), erect a high beacon tower for the benefit of mariners, and + cause a fire to be kindled on it every night. R--sitten, on + Michaelmas Eve of the year 1760. + RODERICK, FREIHERR von R. + +The Freiherr lifted up the bags one after the other and let them fall +again into the coffer, delighted at the ringing clink of so much gold +coin; then he turned round abruptly to the old house-steward, thanked +him for the fidelity he had shown, and assured him that they were only +vile tattling calumnies which had induced him to treat him so harshly +in the first instance. He should not only remain in the castle, but +should also continue to discharge his duties, uncurtailed in any way, +as house-steward, and at double the wages he was then having. "I owe +you a large compensation; if you will take money, help yourself to one +of these bags." As he concluded with these words, the Baron stood +before the old man, with his eyes bent upon the ground, and pointed to +the coffer; then, approaching it again, he once more ran his eyes over +the bags. A burning flush suddenly mounted into the old house-steward's +cheeks, and he uttered that awful howling whimper--a noise as of an +animal wounded to death, according to the Freiherr's previous +description of it to the Justitiarius. The latter shuddered, for the +words which the old man murmured between his teeth sounded like, "Blood +for gold." Of all this the Freiherr, absorbed in the contemplation of +the treasure before him, had heard not the least. Daniel tottered in +every limb, as if shaken by an ague fit; approaching the Freiherr with +bowed head in a humble attitude, he kissed his hand, and drawing his +handkerchief across his eyes under the pretence of wiping away his +tears, said in a whining voice, "Alas! my good and gracious master, +what am I, a poor childless old man, to do with money? But the doubled +wages I accept with gladness, and will continue to do my duty +faithfully and zealously." + +The Freiherr, who had paid no particular heed to the old man's words, +now let the heavy lid of the coffer fall to with a bang, so that the +whole room shook and cracked, and then, locking the coffer and +carefully withdrawing the key, he said carelessly, "Very well, very +well, old man." But after they entered the hall he went on talking to +Daniel, "But you said something about a quantity of gold pieces buried +underneath the ruins of the tower?" Silently the old man stepped +towards the postern, and after some difficulty unlocked it. But so soon +as he threw it open the storm drove a thick mass of snow-flakes into +the hall; a raven was disturbed and flew in croaking and screaming and +dashed with its black wings against the window, but regaining the open +postern it disappeared downwards into the chasm. The Freiherr stepped +out into the corridor; but one single glance downwards, and he started +back trembling. "A fearful sight!--I'm giddy!" he stammered as he sank +almost fainting into the Justitiarius' arms. But quickly recovering +himself by an effort, he fixed a sharp look upon the old man and asked, +"Down there, you say?" Meanwhile the old man had been locking the +postern, and was now leaning against it with all his bodily strength, +and was gasping and grunting to get the great key out of the rusty +lock. This at last accomplished, he turned round to the Baron, +and, changing the huge key about backwards and forwards in his +hands, replied with a peculiar smile, "Yes, there are thousands +and thousands down there--all my dear dead master's beautiful +instruments--telescopes, quadrants, globes, dark mirrors, they all lie +smashed to atoms underneath the ruins between the stones and the big +balk." "But money--coined money," interrupted the Baron, "you spoke of +gold pieces, old man?" "I only meant things which had cost several +thousand gold pieces," he replied; and not another word could be got +out of him. + +The Baron appeared highly delighted to have all at once come into +possession of all the means requisite for carrying out his favourite +plan, namely, that of building a new and magnificent castle. The +Justitiarius indeed stated it as his opinion that, according to the +will of the deceased, the money could only be applied to the repair and +complete finishing of the interior of the old castle, and further, any +new erection would hardly succeed in equalling the commanding size and +the severe and simple character of the old ancestral castle. The +Freiherr, however, persisted in his intention, and maintained that in +the disposal of property respecting which nothing was stated in the +deeds of the entail the irregular will of the deceased could have no +validity. He at the same time led V---- to understand that he should +conceive it to be his duty to embellish R--sitten as far as the +climate, soil, and environs would permit, for it was his intention to +bring home shortly as his dearly loved wife a lady who was in every +respect worthy of the greatest sacrifices. + +The air of mystery with which the Freiherr spoke of this alliance, +which possibly had been already consummated in secret, cut short all +further questions from the side of the Justitiarius. Nevertheless he +found in it to some extent a redeeming feature, for the Freiherr's +eager grasping after riches now appeared to be due not so much to +avarice strictly speaking as to the desire to make one dear to him +forget the more beautiful country she was relinquishing for his sake. +Otherwise he could not acquit the Baron of being avaricious, or at any +rate insufferably close-fisted, seeing that, even though rolling in +money and even when gloating over the old _Fredericks d'or_, he could +not help bursting out with the peevish grumble, "I know the old rascal +has concealed from us the greatest part of his wealth, but next spring +I will have the ruins of the tower turned over under my own eyes." + +The Freiherr had architects come, and discussed with them at great +length what would be the most convenient way to proceed with his +castle-building. He rejected one drawing after another; in none of them +was the style of architecture sufficiently rich and grandiose. He now +began to draw plans himself, and, inspirited by this employment, which +constantly placed before his eyes a sunny picture of the happiest +future, brought himself into such a genial humour that it often +bordered on wild exuberance of spirits, and even communicated itself to +all about him. His generosity and profuse hospitality belied all +imputations of avarice at any rate. Daniel also seemed to have now +forgotten the insult that had been put upon him. Towards the Freiherr, +although often followed by him with mistrustful eyes on account of the +treasure buried in the chasm, his bearing was both quiet and humble. +But what struck everybody as extraordinary was that the old man +appeared to grow younger from day to day. Possibly this might be, +because he had begun to forget his grief for his old master, which had +stricken him sore, and possibly also because he had not now, as he once +had, to spend the cold nights in the tower without sleep, and got +better food and good wine such as he liked; but whatever the cause +might be, the old greybeard seemed to be growing into a vigorous man +with red cheeks and well-nourished body, who could walk firmly and +laugh loudly whenever he heard a jest to laugh at. + +The pleasant tenor of life at R--sitten was disturbed by the arrival of +a man whom one would have judged to be quite in his element there. This +was Wolfgang's younger brother Hubert, at the sight of whom Wolfgang +had screamed out, with his face as pale as a corpse's, "Unhappy wretch, +what do you want here?" Hubert threw himself into his brother's arms, +but Wolfgang took him and led him away up to a retired room, where he +locked himself in with him. They remained closeted several hours, at +the end of which time Hubert came down, greatly agitated, and called +for his horses. The Justitiarius intercepted him; Hubert tried to pass +him; but V----, inspired by the hope that he might perhaps stifle in +the bud what might else end in a bitter life-long quarrel between the +brothers, besought him to stay, at least a few hours, and at the same +moment the Freiherr came down calling, "Stay here, Hubert! you will +think better of it." Hubert's countenance cleared up; he assumed an air +of composure, and quickly pulling off his costly fur coat, and throwing +it to a servant behind him, he grasped V----'s hand and went with him +into the room, saying with a scornful smile, "So the lord of the entail +will tolerate my presence here, it seems." V---- thought that the +unfortunate misunderstanding would assuredly be smoothed away now, for +it was only separation and existence apart from each other that would, +he conceived, be able to foster it. Hubert took up the steel tongs +which stood near the fire-grate, and as he proceeded to break up a +knotty piece of wood that would only sweal, not burn, and to rake the +fire together better, he said to V----, "You see what a good-natured +fellow I am, Herr Justitiarius, and that I am skilful in all domestic +matters. But Wolfgang is full of the most extraordinary prejudices, +and--a bit of a miser." V---- did not deem it advisable to attempt to +fathom further the relations between the brothers, especially as +Wolfgang's face and conduct and voice plainly showed that he was shaken +to the very depths of his nature by diverse violent passions. + +Late in the evening V---- had occasion to go up to the Freiherr's room +in order to learn his decision about some matter or other connected +with the estate-tail. He found him pacing up and down the room with +long strides, his arms crossed on his back, and much perturbation in +his manner. On perceiving the Justitiarius he stood still, and then, +taking him by both hands and looking him gloomily in the face, he said +in a broken voice, "My brother is come. I know what you are going to +say," he proceeded almost before V---- had opened his mouth to put a +question. "Unfortunately you know nothing. You don't know that my +unfortunate brother--yes, I will not call him anything worse than +unfortunate--that, like a spirit of evil, he crosses my path +everywhere, ruining my peace of mind. It is not his fault that I have +not been made unspeakably miserable; he did his best to make me so, but +Heaven willed it otherwise. Ever since he has known of the conversion +of the property into an entail, he has persecuted me with deadly +hatred. He envies me this property, which in his hands would only be +scattered like chaff. He is the wildest spendthrift I ever heard of. +His load of debt exceeds by a long way the half of the unentailed +property in Courland that fell to him, and now, pursued by his +creditors, who fail not to worry him for payment, he hurries here to me +to beg for money." "And you, his brother, refuse to give him any?" +V---- was about to interrupt him; but the Freiherr, letting V----'s +hands fall, and taking a long step backwards, went on in a loud and +vehement tone. "Stop! yes; I refuse. I neither can nor will give away a +single thaler of the revenues of the entail. But listen, and I will +tell you what was the proposal which I made the insane fellow a few +hours ago, and made in vain, and then pass judgment upon the feelings +of duty by which I am actuated. Our unentailed possessions in Courland +are, as you are aware, considerable; the half that falls to me I am +willing to renounce, but in favour of his family. For Hubert has +married, in Courland, a beautiful lady, but poor. She and the children +she has borne him are starving. The estates should be put under trust; +sufficient should be set aside out of the revenues to support him, and +his creditors be paid by arrangement. But what does he care for a quiet +life--a life free of anxiety?--what does he care for wife and child? +Money, ready-money, and large quantities, is what he will have, that he +may squander it in infamous folly. Some demon has made him acquainted +with the secret of the hundred and fifty thousand thalers, half of +which he in his mad way demands, maintaining that this money is movable +property and quite apart from the entailed portion. This, however, I +must and will refuse him, but the feeling haunts me that he is plotting +my destruction in his heart." + +No matter how great the efforts which V---- made to persuade the +Freiherr out of this suspicion against his brother, in which, of +course, not being initiated into the more circumstantial details of the +disagreement, he could only appeal to broad and somewhat superficial +moral principles, he yet could not boast of the smallest success. The +Freiherr commissioned him to treat with his hostile and avaricious +brother Hubert. V---- proceeded to do so with all the circumspection he +was master of, and was not a little gratified when Hubert at length +declared, "Be it so then; I will accept my brother's proposals, but +upon condition that he will now, since I am on the point of losing both +my honour and my good name for ever through the severity of my +creditors, make me an advance of a thousand _Fredericks d'or_ in hard +cash, and further grant that in time to come I may take up my +residence, at least for a short time occasionally, in our beautiful +R--sitten, along with my good brother." "Never, never!" exclaimed +the Freiherr violently, when V---- laid his brother's amended +counter-proposals before him. "I will never consent that Hubert stay +in my house even a single minute after I have brought home my wife. Go, +my good friend, tell this mar-peace that he shall have two thousand +_Fredericks d'or_, not as an advance, but as a gift--only, bid him go, +bid him go." V---- now learned at one and the same time that the ground +of the quarrel between the two brothers must be sought for in this +marriage. Hubert listened to the Justitiarius proudly and calmly, and +when he finished speaking replied in a hoarse and hollow tone, "I will +think it over; but for the present I shall stay a few days in the +castle." V---- exerted himself to prove to the discontented Hubert that +the Freiherr, by making over his share of their unentailed property, +was really doing all he possibly could do to indemnify him, and that on +the whole he had no cause for complaint against his brother, although +at the same time he admitted that all institutions of the nature +of primogeniture, which vested such preponderant advantages in the +eldest-born to the prejudice of the remaining children, were in many +respects hateful. Hubert tore his waistcoat open from top to bottom +like a man whose breast was cramped and he wanted to relieve it by +fresh air. Thrusting one hand into his open shirt-frill and planting +the other in his side, he spun round on one foot in a quick pirouette +and cried in a sharp voice, "Pshaw! What is hateful is born of hatred." +Then bursting out into a shrill fit of laughter, he said, "What +condescension my lord of the entail shows in being thus willing to +throw his gold pieces to the poor beggar!" V---- saw plainly that all +idea of a complete reconciliation between the brothers was quite out of +the question. + +To the Freiherr's annoyance, Hubert established himself in the rooms +that had been appointed for him in one of the side wings of the castle +as if with the view to a very long stay. He was observed to hold +frequent and long conversations with the house-steward; nay, the latter +was sometimes even seen to accompany him when he went out wolf-hunting. +Otherwise he was very little seen, and studiously avoided meeting his +brother alone, at which the latter was very glad. V---- felt how +strained and unpleasant this state of things was, and was obliged to +confess to himself that the peculiar uneasiness which marked all that +Hubert both said and did was such as to destroy intentionally and +effectually all the pleasure of the place. He now perfectly understood +why the Freiherr had manifested so much alarm on seeing his brother. + +One day as V---- was sitting by himself in the justice-room amongst his +law-papers, Hubert came in with a grave and more composed manner than +usual, and said in a voice that bordered upon melancholy, "I will +accept my brother's last proposals. If you will contrive that I have +the two thousand _Fredericks d'or_ today, I will leave the castle this +very night--on horseback--alone." "With the money?" asked V----. "You +are right," replied Hubert; "I know what you would say--the weight! +Give it me in bills on Isaac Lazarus of K----. For to K---- I am going +this very night. Something is driving me away from this place. The old +fellow has bewitched it with evil spirits." "Do you mean your father, +Herr Baron?" asked V---- sternly. Hubert's lips trembled; he had to +cling to the chair to keep from falling; but then suddenly recovering +himself, he cried, "To-day then, please, Herr Justitiarius," and +staggered to the door, not, however, without some exertion. "He now +sees that no deceptions are any longer of avail, that he can do nothing +against my firm will," said the Freiherr whilst drawing up the bills on +Isaac Lazarus in K----. A burden was lifted off his heart by the +departure of his inimical brother; and for a long time he had not been +in such cheerful spirits as he was at supper. Hubert had sent his +excuses; and there was not one who regretted his absence. + +The room which V---- occupied was somewhat retired, and its windows +looked upon the castle-yard. In the night he was suddenly startled up +out of his sleep, and was under the impression that he had been +awakened by a distant and pitiable moan. But listen as he would, all +remained still as the grave, and so he was obliged to conclude that the +sound which had fallen upon his ears was the delusion of a dream. But +at the same time he was seized with such a peculiar feeling of +breathless anxiety and terror that he could not stay in bed. He got up +and approached the window. It was not long, however, before the castle +door was opened, and a figure with a blazing torch came out of the +castle and went across the court-yard. V---- recognised the figure as +that of old Daniel, and saw him open the stable-door and go in, and +soon afterwards bring out a saddle horse. Now a second figure came into +view out of the darkness, well wrapped in furs, and with a fox-skin cap +on his head. V---- perceived that it was Hubert; but after he had +spoken excitedly with Daniel for some minutes, he returned into the +castle. Daniel led back the horse into the stable and locked the +door, and also that of the castle, after he had returned across the +court-yard in the same way in which he crossed it before. It was +evident Hubert had intended to go away on horseback, but had suddenly +changed his mind; and no less evident was it that there was a dangerous +understanding of some sort between Hubert and the old house-steward. +V---- looked forward to the morning with burning impatience; he would +acquaint the Freiherr with the occurrences of the night. Really it was +now time to take precautionary measures against the attacks of Hubert's +malice, which V---- was now convinced, had been betrayed in his +agitated behaviour of the day before. + +Next morning, at the hour when the Freiherr was in the habit of rising, +V---- heard people running backwards and forwards, doors opened and +slammed to, and a tumultuous confusion of voices talking and shouting. +On going out of his room he met servants everywhere, who, without +heeding him, ran past him with ghastly pale faces, upstairs, +downstairs, in and out the rooms. At length he ascertained that the +Freiherr was missing, and that they had been looking for him for hours +in vain. As he had gone to bed in the presence of his personal +attendant, he must have afterwards got up and gone away somewhere in +his dressing-gown and slippers, taking the large candlestick with him, +for these articles were also missed. V----, his mind agitated with dark +forebodings, ran up to the ill-fated hall, the cabinet adjoining which +Wolfgang had chosen, like his father, for his own bedroom. The postern +leading to the tower stood wide open, with a cry of horror V---- +shouted, "There--he lies dashed to pieces at the bottom of the ravine." +And it was so. There had been a fall of snow, so that all they could +distinctly make out from above was the rigid arm of the unfortunate man +protruding from between the stones. Many hours passed before the +workmen succeeded, at great risk of life, in descending by means of +ladders bound together, and drawing up the corpse by the aid of ropes. +In the last agonies of death the Baron had kept a tight hold upon the +silver candlestick; the hand in which it was clenched was the only +uninjured part of his whole body, which had been shattered in the most +hideous way by rebounding on the sharp stones. + +Just as the corpse was drawn up and carried into the hall, and laid +upon the very same spot on the large table where a few weeks before old +Roderick had lain dead, Hubert burst in, his face distorted by the +frenzy of despair. Quite overpowered by the fearful sight he wailed, +"Brother! O my poor brother! No; this I never prayed for from the +demons who had entered into me." This suspicious self-exculpation made +V---- tremble; he felt impelled to proceed against Hubert as the +murderer of his brother. Hubert, however, had fallen on the floor +senseless; they carried him to bed; but on taking strong restoratives +he soon recovered. Then he appeared in V----'s room, pale and +sorrow-stricken, and with his eyes half clouded with grief; and unable +to stand owing to his weakness, he slowly sank down into an easy-chair, +saying, "I have wished for my brother's death, because my father had +made over to him the best part of the property through the foolish +conversion of it into an entail. He has now found a fearful death. I am +now lord of the estate-tail, but my heart is rent with pain--I can--I +shall never be happy. I confirm you in your office; you shall be +invested with the most extensive powers in respect to the management of +the estate, upon which I cannot bear to live." Hubert left the room, +and in two or three hours was on his way to K----. + +It appeared that the unfortunate Wolfgang had got up in the night, +probably with the intention of going into the other cabinet where there +was a library. In the stupor of sleep he had mistaken the door, and had +opened the postern, taken a step out, and plunged headlong down. But +after all had been said, there was nevertheless a good deal that was +strained and unlikely in this explanation. If the Baron was unable to +sleep and wanted to get a book out of the library, this of itself +excluded all idea of sleep-stupor; but this condition alone could +account for any mistaking of the postern for the door of the cabinet. +Then again, the former was fast locked, and required a good deal of +exertion to unlock it. These improbabilities V---- accordingly put +before the domestics, who had gathered round him, and at length the +Freiherr's body-servant, Francis by name, said, "Nay, nay, my good Herr +Justitiarius; it couldn't have happened in that way." "Well, how then?" +asked V---- abruptly and sharply. But Francis, a faithful, honest +fellow, who would have followed his master into his grave, was +unwilling to speak out before the rest; he stipulated that what he had +to say about the event should be confided to the Justitiarius alone in +private. V---- now learned that the Freiherr used often to talk to +Francis about the vast treasure which he believed lay buried beneath +the ruins of the tower, and also that frequently at night, as if goaded +by some malicious fiend, he would open the postern, the key of which +Daniel had been obliged to give him, and would gaze with longing eyes +down into the chasm where the supposed riches lay. There was now no +doubt about it; on that ill-omened night the Freiherr, after his +servant had left him, must have taken one of his usual walks to the +postern, where he had been most likely suddenly seized with dizziness, +and had fallen over. Daniel, who also seemed much upset by the +Freiherr's terrible end, thought it would be a good thing to have the +dangerous postern walled up; and this was at once done. + +Freiherr Hubert von R----, who had then succeeded to the entail, went +back to Courland without once showing himself at R--sitten again. +V---- was invested with full powers for the absolute management of the +property. The building of the new castle was not proceeded with; but +on the other hand the old structure was put in as good a state of +repair as possible. Several years passed before Hubert came again to +R--sitten, late in the autumn, but after he had remained shut up in his +room with V---- for several days, he went back to Courland. Passing on +his way through K----, he deposited his will with the government +authorities there. + +The Freiherr, whose character appeared to have undergone a complete +revolution, spoke more than once during his stay at R--sitten of +presentiments of his approaching death. And these apprehensions were +really not unfounded, for he died in the very next year. His son, +named, like the deceased Baron, Hubert, soon came over from Courland to +take possession of the rich inheritance; and was followed by his mother +and his sister. The youth seemed to unite in his own person all the bad +qualities of his ancestors: he proved himself to be proud, arrogant, +impetuous, avaricious, in the very first moments after his arrival at +R--sitten. He wanted to have several things which did not suit his +notions of what was right and proper altered there and then: the cook +he kicked out of doors; and he attempted to thrash the coachman, in +which, however, he did not succeed, for the big brawny fellow had the +impudence not to submit to it. In fact, he was on the high road to +assuming the _rôle_ of a harsh and severe lord of the entail, when +V---- interposed in his firm earnest manner, declaring most explicitly +that not a single chair should be moved, that not even a cat should +leave the house if she liked to stay in it, until after the will had +been opened. "You have the presumption to tell me, the lord of the +entail," began the Baron. V----, however, cut short the young man, who +was foaming with rage, and said, whilst he measured him with a keen +searching glance, "Don't be in too great a hurry, Herr Baron. At all +events, you have no right to exercise authority here until after the +opening of your father's will. It is I--I alone--who am now master +here; and I shall know how to meet violence with violent measures. +Please to recollect that by virtue of my powers as executor of your +father's will, as well as by virtue of the arrangements which have been +made by the court, I am empowered to forbid your remaining in R--sitten +if I think fit to do so; and so, if you wish to spare me this +disagreeable step, I would advise you to go away quietly to K----." The +lawyer's earnestness, and the resolute tone in which he spoke, lent the +proper emphasis to his words. Hence the young Baron, who was charging +with far two sharp-pointed horns, felt the weakness of his weapons +against the firm bulwark, and found it convenient to cover the shame of +his retreat with a burst of scornful laughter. + +Three months passed and the day was come on which, in accordance with +the expressed wish of the deceased, his will was to be opened at K----, +where it had been deposited. In the chambers there was, besides the +officers of the court, the Baron, and V----, a young man of noble +appearance, whom V---- had brought with him, and who was taken to be +V----'s clerk, since he had a parchment deed sticking out from the +breast of his buttoned-up coat. Him the Baron treated as he did nearly +all the rest, with scornful contempt; and he demanded with noisy +impetuosity that they should make haste and get done with all their +tiresome needless ceremonies as quickly as possible and without over +many words and scribblings. He couldn't for the life of him make out +why any will should be wanted at all with respect to the inheritance, +and especially in the case of entailed property; and no matter what +provisions were made in the will, it would depend entirely upon his +decision as to whether they should be observed or not. After casting a +hasty and surly glance at the handwriting and the seal, the Baron +acknowledged them to be those of his dead father. Upon the clerk of the +court preparing to read the will aloud, the young Baron, throwing his +right arm carelessly over the back of his chair and leaning his left on +the table, whilst he drummed with his fingers on its green cover, sat +staring with an air of indifference out of the window. After a short +preamble the deceased Freiherr Hubert von R---- declared that he had +never possessed the estate-tail as its lawful owner, but that he had +only managed it in the name of the deceased Freiherr Wolfgang von +R----'s only son, called Roderick after his grandfather; and he it was +to whom, according to the rights of family priority, the estate had +fallen on his father's death. Amongst Hubert's papers would be found an +exact account of all revenues and expenditure, as well as of existing +movable property, &c. The will went on to relate that Wolfgang von +R---- had, during his travels, made the acquaintance of Mdlle. Julia de +St. Val in Geneva, and had fallen so deeply in love with her that he +resolved never to leave her side again. She was very poor; and her +family, although noble and of good repute, did not, however, rank +amongst the most illustrious, for which reason Wolfgang dared not +expect to receive the consent of old Roderick to a union with her, for +the old Freiherr's aim and ambition was to promote by all possible +means the establishment of a powerful family. Nevertheless he ventured +to write from Paris to his father, acquainting him with the fact that +his affections were engaged. But what he had foreseen was actually +realised; the old Baron declared categorically that he had himself +chosen the future mistress of the entail, and therefore there could +never be any mention made of any other. Wolfgang, instead of crossing +the Channel into England, as he was to have done, returned into Geneva +under the assumed name of Born, and married Julia, who after the lapse +of a year bore him a son, and this son became on Wolfgang's death the +real lord of the entail. In explanation of the facts why Hubert, though +acquainted with all this, had kept silent so long and had represented +himself as lord of the entail, various reasons were assigned, based +upon agreements formerly made with Wolfgang, but they seemed for the +most part insufficient and devoid of real foundation. + +The Baron sat staring at the clerk of the court as if thunderstruck, +whilst the latter went on proclaiming all this bad news in a +provokingly monotonous and jarring tone. When he finished, V---- rose, +and taking the young man whom he had brought with him by the hand, +said, as he bowed to the assembled company, "Here I have the honour to +present to you, gentlemen, Freiherr Roderick von R----, lord of the +entail of R--sitten." Baron Hubert looked at the youth, who had, as it +were, fallen from the clouds to deprive him of the rich inheritance +together with half the unentailed Courland estates, with suppressed +fury in his gleaming eyes; then, threatening him with his doubled fist, +he ran out of the court without uttering a word. Baron Roderick, on +being challenged by the court-officers, produced the documents by which +he was to establish his identity as the person whom he represented +himself to be. He handed in an attested extract from the register of +the church where his father was married, which certified that on such +and such a day Wolfgang Born, merchant, born in K----, had been united +in marriage with the blessing of the Church to Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, +in the presence of certain witnesses, who were named. Further, he +produced his own baptismal certificate (he had been baptized in Geneva +as the son of the merchant Born and his wife Julia, _née_ De St. Val, +begotten in lawful wedlock), and various letters from his father to his +mother, who was long since dead, but they none of them had any other +signature than W. + +V---- looked through all these papers with a cloud upon his face; and +as he put them together again, he said, somewhat troubled, "Ah well! +God will help us!" + +The very next morning Freiherr Hubert von R---- presented, through an +advocate whose services he had succeeded in enlisting in his cause, a +statement of protest to the government authorities in K----, actually +calling upon them to effectuate the immediate surrender to him of the +entail of R--sitten. It was incontestable, maintained the advocate, +that the deceased Freiherr Hubert Von R---- had not had the power to +dispose of entailed property either by testament or in any other way. +The testament in question, therefore, was nothing more than an +evidential statement, written down and deposited with the court, to the +effect that Freiherr Wolfgang von R---- had bequeathed the estate-tail +to a son who was at that time still living; and accordingly it had as +evidence no greater weight than that of any other witness, and so could +not by any possibility legitimately establish the claims of the person +who had announced himself to be Freiherr Roderick von R----. Hence it +was rather the duty of this new claimant to prove by action at law his +alleged rights of inheritance, which were hereby expressly disputed and +denied, and so also to take proper steps to maintain his claim to the +estate-tail, which now, according to the laws of succession, fell to +Baron Hubert von R----. By the father's death the property came at once +immediately into the hands of the son. There was no need for any +formal declaration to be made of his entering into possession of the +inheritance, since the succession could not be alienated; at any rate, +the present owner of the estate was not going to be disturbed in his +possession by claims which were perfectly groundless. Whatever reasons +the deceased might have had for bringing forward another heir of entail +were quite irrelevant. And it might be remarked that he had himself had +an intrigue in Switzerland, as could be proved if necessary from the +papers he had left behind him; and it was quite possible that the +person whom he alleged to be his brother's son was his own son, the +fruit of an unlawful love, for whom in a momentary fit of remorse he +had wished to secure the entail. + +However great was the balance of probability in favour of the truth of +the circumstances as stated in the will, and however revolted the +judges were, particularly by the last clauses of the protest, in which +the son felt no compunction at accusing his dead father of a crime, yet +the views of the case there stated were after all the right ones; and +it was only due to V----'s restless exertions, and his explicit and +solemn assurance that the proofs which were necessary to establish +legitimately the identity of Freiherr Roderick von R---- should be +produced in a very short time, that the surrender of the estate to the +young Baron was deferred, and the contrivance of the administration of +it in trust agreed to, until after the case should be settled. + +V---- was only too well aware how difficult it would be for him to keep +his promise. He had turned over all old Roderick's papers without +finding the slightest trace of a letter or any kind of a statement +bearing upon Wolfgang's relation to Mdlle. de St. Val. He was sitting +wrapt in thought in old Roderick's sleeping-cabinet, every hole and +comer of which he had searched, and was working at a long statement of +the case that he intended despatching to a certain notary in Geneva, +who had been recommended to him as a shrewd and energetic man, to +request him to procure and forward certain documents which would +establish the young Freiherr's cause on firm ground. It was midnight; +the full moon shone in through the windows of the adjoining hall, the +door of which stood open. Then V---- fancied he heard a noise as of +some one coming slowly and heavily up the stairs, and also at the same +time a jingling and rattling of keys. His attention was arrested; he +rose to his feet and went into the hall, where he plainly made out that +there was some one crossing the ante-room and approaching the door of +the hall where he was. Soon afterwards the door was opened and a man +came slowly in, dressed in night-clothes, his face ghastly pale and +distorted; in the one hand he bore a candle-stick with the candles +burning, and in the other a huge bunch of keys. V---- at once +recognised the house-steward, and was on the point of addressing him +and inquiring what he wanted so late at night, when he was arrested by +an icy shiver; there was something so unearthly and ghost-like in the +old man's manner and bearing as well as in his set, pallid face. He +perceived that he was in presence of a somnambulist. Crossing the hall +obliquely with measured strides, the old man went straight to the +walled-up postern that had formerly led to the tower. He came to a halt +immediately in front of it, and uttered a wailing sound that seemed to +come from the bottom of his heart, and was so awful and so loud that +the whole apartment rang again, making V---- tremble with dread. Then, +setting the candlestick down on the floor and hanging the keys on his +belt, Daniel began to scratch at the wall with both hands, so that the +blood soon burst out from beneath his finger-nails, and all the while +he was moaning and groaning as if tortured by nameless agony. After +placing his ear against the wall in a listening attitude, he waved his +hand as if hushing some one, stooped down and picked up the +candlestick, and finally stole back to the door with soft measured +footsteps. V---- took his own candle in his hand and cautiously +followed him. They both went downstairs; the old man unlocked the great +main door of the castle, V---- slipped cleverly through. Then they went +to the stable, where old Daniel, to V----'s perfect astonishment, +placed his candlestick so skilfully that the entire interior of the +building was sufficiently lighted without the least danger. Having +fetched a saddle and bridle, he put them on one of the horses which he +had loosed from the manger, carefully tightening the girth and taking +up the stirrup-straps. Pulling the tuft of hair on the horse's forehead +outside the front strap, he took him by the bridle and led him out of +the stable, clicking with his tongue and patting his neck with one +hand. On getting outside in the courtyard he stood several seconds in +the attitude of one receiving commands, which he promised by sundry +nods to carry out. Then he led the horse back into the stable, +unsaddled him, and tied him to the manger. This done, he took his +candlestick, locked the stable, and returned to the castle, finally +disappearing in his own room, the door of which he carefully bolted. +V---- was deeply agitated by this scene; the presentiment of some +fearful deed rose up before him like a black and fiendish spectre, and +refused to leave him. Being so keenly alive as he was to the precarious +position of his _protégé_, he felt that it would at least be his duty +to turn what he had seen to his account. + +Next day, just as it was beginning to be dusk, Daniel came into the +Justitiarius's room to receive some instructions relating to his +department of the household. V---- took him by the arms, and forcing +him into a chair, in a confidential way began, "See you here, my old +friend Daniel, I have long been wishing to ask you what you think of +all this confused mess into which Hubert's peculiar will has tumbled +us. Do you really think that the young man is Wolfgang's son, begotten +in lawful marriage?" The old man, leaning over the arm of his chair, +and avoiding V----'s eyes, for V---- was watching him most intently, +replied doggedly, "Bah! Maybe he is; maybe he is not. What does it +matter to me? It's all the same to me who's master here now." "But I +believe," went on V----, moving nearer to the old man and placing his +hand on his shoulder, "but I believed you possessed the old Freiherr's +full confidence, and in that case he assuredly would not conceal from +you the real state of affairs with regard to his sons. He told you, I +dare say, about the marriage which Wolfgang had made against his will, +did he not?" "I don't remember to have ever heard him say anything of +that sort," replied the old man, yawning with the most ill-mannered +loudness. "You are sleepy, old man," said V----; "perhaps you have had +a restless night?" "Not that I am aware," he rejoined coldly; "but I +must go and order supper." Whereupon he rose heavily from his chair and +rubbed his bent back, yawning again, and that still more loudly than +before. "Stay a little while, old man," cried V----, taking hold of his +hand and endeavouring to force him to resume his seat; but Daniel +preferred to stand in front of the study-table; propping himself upon +it with both hands, and leaning across towards V----, he asked +sullenly, "Well, what do you want? What have I to do with the will? +What do I care about the quarrel over the estate?" "Well, well," +interposed V----, "we'll say no more about that now. Let us turn to +some other topic, Daniel. You are out of humour and yawning, and all +that is a sign of great weariness, and I am almost inclined to believe +that it really was _you_ last night, who"---- "Well, what did I do last +night?" asked the old man without changing his position. V---- went +on, "Last night, when I was sitting up above in your old master's +sleeping-cabinet next the great hall, you came in at the door, your +face pale and rigid; and you went across to the bricked-up postern and +scratched at the wall with both your hands, groaning as if in very +great pain. Do you walk in your sleep, Daniel?" The old man dropped +back into the chair which V---- quickly managed to place for him; but +not a sound escaped his lips. His face could not be seen, owing to the +gathering dusk of the evening; V---- only noticed that he took his +breath short and that his teeth were rattling together. "Yes," + continued V---- after a short pause, "there is one thing that is very +strange about sleep-walkers. On the day after they have been in this +peculiar state in which they have acted as if they were perfectly wide +awake, they don't remember the least thing, that they did." Daniel did +not move. "I have come across something like what your condition was +yesterday once before in the course of my experience," proceeded V----. +"I had a friend who regularly began to wander about at night as you do +whenever it was full moon,--nay, he often sat down and wrote letters. +But what was most extraordinary was that if I began to whisper softly +in his ear I could soon manage to make him speak; and he would answer +correctly all the questions I put to him; and even things that he would +most jealously have concealed when awake now fell from his lips +unbidden, as though he were unable to offer any resistance to the power +that was exerting its influence over him. Deuce take it! I really +believe that, if a man who's given to walking in his sleep had ever +committed any crime, and hoarded it up as a secret ever so long, it +could be extracted from him by questioning when he was in this peculiar +state. Happy are they who have a clean conscience like you and me, +Daniel! We may walk as much as we like in our sleep; there's no fear of +anybody extorting the confession of a crime from us. But come now, +Daniel! when you scratch so hideously at the bricked-up postern, you +want, I dare say, to go up the astronomical tower, don't you? I suppose +you want to go and experiment like old Roderick--eh? Well, next time +you come, I shall ask you what you want to do." Whilst V---- was +speaking, the old man was shaken with continually increasing agitation; +but now his whole frame seemed to heave and rock convulsively past all +hope of cure, and in a shrill voice he began to utter a string of +unmeaning gibberish. V---- rang for the servants. They brought lights; +but as the old man's fit did not abate, they lifted him up as though he +had been a mere automaton, not possessed of the power of voluntary +movement, and carried him to bed. After continuing in this frightful +state for about an hour, he fell into a profound sleep resembling a +dead faint When he awoke he asked for wine; and, after he had got what +he wanted, he sent away the man who was going to sit with him, and +locked himself in his room as usual. + +V---- had indeed really resolved to make the attempt he spoke of to +Daniel, although at the same time he could not forget two facts. In the +first place, Daniel, having now been made aware of his propensity to +walk in his sleep, would probably adopt every measure of precaution to +avoid him; and on the other hand, confessions made whilst in this +condition would not be exactly fitted to serve as a basis for further +proceedings. In spite of this, however, he repaired to the hall on the +approach of midnight, hoping that Daniel, as frequently happens to +those afflicted in this way, would be constrained to act involuntarily. +About midnight there arose a great noise in the courtyard. V---- +plainly heard a window broken in; then he went downstairs, and as he +traversed the passages he was met by rolling clouds of suffocating +smoke, which, he soon perceived were pouring out of the open door of +the house-steward's room. The steward himself was just being carried +out, to all appearance dead, in order to be taken and put to bed in +another room. The servants related that about midnight one of the +under-grooms had been awakened by a strange hollow knocking; he thought +something had befallen the old man, and was preparing to get up and go +and see if he could help him, when the night watchman in the court +shouted, "Fire! Fire! The Herr House-Steward's room is all of a bright +blaze!" At this outcry several servants at once appeared on the scene; +but all their efforts to burst open the room door were unavailing. +Whereupon they hurried out into the court, but the resolute watchman +had already broken in the window, for the room was low and on the +basement story, had torn down the burning curtains, and by pouring a +few buckets of water on them had at once extinguished the fire. The +house-steward they found lying on the floor in the middle of the room +in a swoon. In his hand he still held the candlestick tightly clenched, +the burning candles of which had caught the curtains, and so occasioned +the fire. Some of the blazing rags had fallen upon the old man, burning +his eyebrows and a large portion of the hair of his head. If the +watchman had not seen the fire the old man must have been helplessly +burned to death. The servants, moreover, to their no little +astonishment found the room door secured on the inside by two quite new +bolts, which had been fastened on since the previous evening, for they +had not been there then. V---- perceived that the old man had wished to +make it impossible for him to get out of his room; for the blind +impulse which urged him to wander in his sleep he could not resist. The +old man became seriously ill; he did not speak; he took but little +nourishment; and lay staring before him with the reflection of death in +his set eyes, just as if he were clasped in the vice-like grip of some +hideous thought. V---- believed he would never rise from his bed again. + +V---- had done all that could be done for his client; and he could now +only await the result in patience; and so he resolved to return to +K----. His departure was fixed for the following morning. As he was +packing his papers together late at night, he happened to lay his hand +upon a little sealed packet which Freiherr Hubert von R---- had given +him, bearing the inscription, "To be read after my will has been +opened," and which by some unaccountable means had hitherto escaped his +notice. He was on the point of breaking the seal when the door opened +and Daniel came in with still, ghostlike step. Placing upon the table a +black portfolio which he carried under his arm, he sank upon his knees +with a deep groan, and grasping V----'s hands with a convulsive clutch +he said, in a voice so hollow and hoarse that it seemed to come from +the bottom of a grave, "I should not like to die on the scaffold! There +is One above who judges!" Then, rising with some trouble and with many +painful gasps, he left the room as he had come. + +V---- spent the whole of the night in reading what the black portfolio +and Hubert's packet contained. Both agreed in all circumstantial +particulars, and suggested naturally what further steps were to be +taken. On arriving at K----, V---- immediately repaired to Freiherr +Hubert von R----, who received him with ill-mannered pride. But the +remarkable result of the interview, which began at noon and lasted on +without interruption until late at night, was that the next day the +Freiherr made a declaration before the court to the effect that he +acknowledged the claimant to be, agreeably to his father's will, the +son of Wolfgang von R----, eldest son of Freiherr Roderick von R----, +and begotten in lawful wedlock with Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, and +furthermore acknowledged him as rightful and legitimate heir to the +entail. On leaving the court he found his carriage, with post-horses, +standing before the door; he stepped in and was driven off at a rapid +rate, leaving his mother and his sister behind him. They would perhaps +never see him again, he wrote, along with other perplexing statements. +Roderick's astonishment at this unexpected turn which the case had +taken was very great; he pressed V---- to explain to him how this +wonder had been brought about, what mysterious power was at work in the +matter. V----, however, evaded his questions by giving him hopes of +telling him all at some future time, and when he should have come into +possession of the estate. For the surrender of the entail to him could +not be effected immediately, since the court, not content with Hubert's +declaration, required that Roderick should also first prove his own +identity to their satisfaction. V---- proposed to the Baron that he +should go and live at R--sitten, adding that Hubert's mother and +sister, momentarily embarrassed by his sudden departure, would prefer +to go and live quietly on the ancestral property rather than stay in +the dear and noisy town. The glad delight with which Roderick welcomed +the prospect of dwelling, at least for a time, under the same roof with +the Baroness and her daughter, betrayed the deep impression which the +lovely and graceful Seraphina had made upon him. In fact, the Freiherr +made such good use of his time in R--sitten that, at the end of a few +weeks, he had won Seraphina's love as well as her mother's cordial +approval of her marriage with him. All this was for V---- rather too +quick work, since Roderick's claims to be lord of the entail still +continued to be rather doubtful. The life of idyllic happiness at the +castle was interrupted by letters from Courland. Hubert had not shown +himself at all at the estates, but had travelled direct to St +Petersburg, where he had taken military service and was now in the +field against the Persians, with whom Russia happened to be just then +waging war. This obliged the Baroness and her daughter to set off +immediately for their Courland estates, where everything was in +confusion and disorder. Roderick, who regarded himself in the light of +an accepted son-in-law, insisted upon accompanying his beloved; and +hence, since V---- likewise returned to K----, the castle was left in +its previous loneliness. The house-steward's malignant complaint grew +worse and worse, so that he gave up all hopes of ever getting about +again; and his office was conferred upon an old _chasseur_, Francis by +name, Wolfgang's faithful servant. + +At last, after long waiting, V---- received from Switzerland +information of the most favourable character. The priest who had +married Roderick was long since dead; but there was found in the church +register a memorandum in his hand writing, to the effect that the man +of the name of Born, whom he had joined in the bonds of wedlock with +Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, had established completely to his satisfaction +his identity as Freiherr Wolfgang von R----, eldest son of Freiherr +Roderick von R---- of R--Sitten. Besides this, two witnesses of the +marriage had been discovered, a merchant of Geneva and an old French +captain, who had moved to Lyons; to them also Wolfgang had in +confidence stated his real name; and their affidavits confirmed the +priest's notice in the church register. With these memoranda in his +hands, drawn up with proper legal formalities, V---- now succeeded in +securing his client in the complete possession of his rights; and as +there was now no longer any hindrance to the surrender to him of the +entail, it was to be put into his hands in the ensuing autumn. Hubert +had fallen in his very first engagement, thus sharing the fate of his +younger brother, who had likewise been slain in battle a year before +his father's death. Thus the Courland estates fell to Baroness +Seraphina von R----, and made a handsome dowry for her to take to the +too happy Roderick. + +November had already come in when the Baroness, along with Roderick and +his betrothed, arrived at R--sitten. The formal surrender of the +estate-tail to the young Baron took place, and then his marriage with +Seraphina was solemnised. Many weeks passed amid a continual whirl of +pleasure; but at length the wearied guests began gradually to depart +from the castle, to V----'s great satisfaction, for he had made up his +mind not to take his leave of R--sitten until he had initiated the +young lord of the entail in all the relations and duties connected with +his new position down to the minutest particulars. Roderick's uncle had +kept an account of all revenues and disbursements with the most +detailed accuracy; hence, since Hubert had only retained a small sum +annually for his own support, the surplus revenues had all gone to +swell the capital left by the old Freiherr, till the total now amounted +to a considerable sum. Hubert had only employed the income of the +entail for his own purposes during the first three years, but to cover +this he had given a mortgage on the security of his share of the +Courland property. + +From the time when old Daniel had revealed himself to V---- as a +somnambulist, V---- had chosen old Roderick's bed-room for his own +sitting-room, in order that he might the more securely gather from the +old man what he afterwards voluntarily disclosed. Hence it was in this +room and in the adjoining great hall that the Freiherr transacted +business with V----. Once they were both sitting at the great table by +the bright blazing fire; V---- had his pen in his hand, and was noting +down various totals and calculating the riches of the lord of the +entail, whilst the latter, leaning his head on his hand, was blinking +at the open account-books and formidable-looking documents. Neither of +them heard the hollow roar of the sea, nor the anxious cries of the +sea-gulls as they dashed against the windowpanes, flapping their wings +and flying backwards and forwards, announcing the oncoming storm. +Neither of them heeded the storm, which arose about midnight, and was +now roaring and raging with wild fury round the castle walls, so that +all the sounds of ill omen in the fire-grates and narrow passages +awoke, and began to whistle and shriek in a weird, unearthly way. At +length, after a terrific blast, which made the whole castle shake, the +hall was completely lit up by the murky glare of the full moon, and +V---- exclaimed, "Awful weather!" The Freiherr, quite absorbed in the +consideration of the wealth which had fallen to him, replied +indifferently, as he turned over a page of the receipt-book with a +satisfied smile, "It is indeed; very stormy!" But, as if clutched by +the icy hand of Dread, he started to his feet as the door of the hall +flew open and a pale spectral figure became visible, striding in with +the stamp of death upon its face. It was Daniel, who, lying helpless +under the power of disease, was deemed in the opinion of V---- as of +everybody else incapable of the ability to move a single limb; but, +again coming under the influence of his propensity to wander in his +sleep at full moon, he had, it appeared, been unable to resist it. The +Freiherr stared at the old man without uttering a sound; and when +Daniel began to scratch at the wall, and moan as though in the painful +agonies of death, Roderick's heart was filled with horrible dread. With +his face ashy pale and his hair standing straight on end, he leapt to +his feet and strode towards the old man in a threatening attitude and +cried in a loud firm voice, so that the hall rang again, "Daniel, +Daniel, what are you doing here at this hour?" Then the old man uttered +that same unearthly howling whimper, like the death-cry of a wounded +animal, which he had uttered when Wolfgang had offered to reward his +fidelity with gold; and he fell down on the floor. V---- summoned the +servants; they raised the old man up; but all attempts to restore +animation proved fruitless. Then the Freiherr cried, almost beside +himself, "Good God! Good God! Now I remember to have heard that a +sleepwalker may die on the spot if anybody calls him by his name. Oh! +oh! unfortunate wretch that I am! I have killed the poor old man! I +shall never more have a peaceful moment so long as I live." When the +servants had carried the corpse away and the hall was again empty, +V---- took the Freiherr, who was still continuing his self-reproaches, +by the hand and led him in impressive silence to the walled-up postern, +and said, "The man who fell down dead at your feet, Freiherr Roderick, +was the atrocious murderer of your father." The Freiherr fixed his +staring eyes upon V---- as though he saw the foul fiends of hell. But +V---- went on, "The time has come now for me to reveal to you the +hideous secret which, weighing upon the conscience of this monster and +burthening him with curses, compelled him to roam abroad in his sleep. +The Eternal Power has seen fit to make the son take vengeance upon the +murderer of his father. The words which you thundered in the ears of +that fearful night-walker were the last words which your unhappy father +spoke." V---- sat down in front of the fire, and the Freiherr, +trembling and unable to utter a word, took his seat beside him. +V---- began to tell him the contents of the document which Hubert had +left behind him, and the seal of which he (V----) was not to break +until after the opening of the will Hubert lamented, in expressions +testifying to the deepest remorse, the implacable hatred against his +elder brother which took root in him from the moment that old Roderick +established the entail. He was deprived of all weapons; for, even if he +succeeded in maliciously setting the son at variance with the father, +it would serve no purpose, since even Roderick himself had not the +power to deprive his eldest son of his birth-right, nor would he on +principle have ever done so, no matter how his affections had been +alienated from him. It was only when Wolfgang formed his connection +with Julia de St. Val in Geneva that Hubert saw his way to effecting +his brother's ruin. And that was the time when he came to an +understanding with Daniel, to provoke the old man by villainous devices +to take measures which should drive his son to despair. + +He was well aware of old Roderick's opinion that the only way to ensure +an illustrious future for the family to all subsequent time was by +means of an alliance with one of the oldest families in the country. +The old man had read this alliance in the stars, and any pernicious +derangement of the constellation would only entail destruction upon the +family he had founded. In this way it was that Wolfgang's union with +Julia seemed to the old man like a sinful crime, committed against the +ordinances of the Power which had stood by him in all his worldly +undertakings; and any means that might be employed for Julia's ruin he +would have regarded as justified for the same reason, for Julia had, he +conceived, ranged herself against him like some demoniacal principle. +Hubert knew that his brother loved Julia passionately, almost to +madness in fact, and that the loss of her would infallibly make him +miserable, perhaps kill him. And Hubert was all the more ready to +assist the old man in his plans as he had himself conceived an unlawful +affection for Julia, and hoped to win her for himself. It was, however, +determined by a special dispensation of Providence that all attacks, +even the most virulent, were to be thwarted by Wolfgang's resoluteness; +nay, that he should contrive to deceive his brother: the fact that his +marriage was actually solemnised and that of the birth of a son were +kept secret from Hubert In Roderick's mind also there occurred, along +with the presentiment of his approaching death, the idea that Wolfgang +had really married the Julia who was so hostile to him. In the letter +which commanded his son to appear at R--sitten on a given day to take +possession of the entail, he cursed him if he did not sever his +connection with her. This was the letter that Wolfgang burnt beside his +father's corpse. To Hubert the old man wrote, saying that Wolfgang had +married Julia, but that he would part from her. This Hubert took to be +a fancy of his visionary father's; accordingly he was not a little +dismayed when on reaching R--sitten Wolfgang with perfect frankness not +only confirmed the old man's supposition, but also went on to add that +Julia had borne him a son, and that he hoped in a short time to +surprise her with the pleasant intelligence of his high rank and great +wealth, for she had hitherto taken him for Born, a merchant from M----. +He intended going to Geneva himself to fetch his beloved wife. But +before he could carry out this plan he was overtaken by death. Hubert +carefully concealed what he knew about the existence of a son born to +Wolfgang in lawful wedlock with Julia, and so usurped the property that +really belonged to his nephew. But only a few years passed before he +became a prey to bitter remorse. He was reminded of his guilt in +terrible wise by destiny, in the hatred which grew up and developed +more and more between his two sons. "You are a poor starving beggar!" +said the elder, a boy of twelve, to the younger, "but I shall be lord +of R--sitten when father dies, and then you will have to be humble and +kiss my hand when you want me to give you money to buy a new coat." The +younger, goaded to ungovernable fury by his brother's proud and +scornful words, threw the knife at him which he happened to have in his +hand, and almost killed him. Hubert, for fear of some dire misfortune, +sent the younger away to St. Petersburg; and he served afterwards as +officer under Suwaroff, and fell fighting against the French. Hubert +was prevented revealing to the world the dishonest and deceitful way in +which he had acquired possession of the estate-tail by the shame and +disgrace which would have come upon him; but he would not rob the +rightful owner of a single penny more. He caused inquiries to be set on +foot in Geneva, and learned that Madame Born had died of grief at the +incomprehensible disappearance of her husband, but that young Roderick +Born was being brought up by a worthy man who had adopted him. Hubert +then caused himself to be introduced under an assumed name as a +relative of Born the merchant, who had perished at sea, and he +forwarded at given times sufficient sums of money to give the young +heir of entail a good and respectable education. How he carefully +treasured up the surplus revenues from the estate, and how he drew up +the terms of his will, we already know. Respecting his brother's death, +Hubert spoke in strangely obscure terms, but they allowed this much to +be inferred, that there must be some mystery about it, and that he had +taken part, indirectly, at least, in some heinous crime. + +The contents of the black portfolio made everything clear. Along with +Hubert's traitorous correspondence with Daniel was a sheet of paper +written and signed by Daniel. V---- read a confession at which his very +soul trembled, appalled. It was at Daniel's instigation that Hubert had +come to R--sitten; and it was Daniel again who had written and told him +about the one hundred and fifty thousand thalers that had been found. +It has been already described how Hubert was received by his brother, +and how, deceived in all his hopes and wishes, he was about to go off +when he was prevented by V----, Daniel's heart was tortured by an +insatiable thirst for vengeance, which he was determined to take on the +young man who had proposed to kick him out like a mangy cur. He it was +who relentlessly and incessantly fanned the flame of passion by which +Hubert's desperate heart was consumed. Whilst in the fir forests +hunting wolves, out in the midst of a blinding snowstorm, they agreed +to effect his destruction. "Make away with him!" murmured Hubert, +looking askance and taking aim with his rifle. "Yes, make away with +him," snarled Daniel, "but not in _that way_, not in _that way!_" And +he made the most solemn asseverations that he would murder the Freiherr +and not a soul in the world should be the wiser. When, however, Hubert +had got his money, he repented of the plot; he determined to go away in +order to shun all further temptation. Daniel himself saddled his horse +and brought it out of the stable; but as the Baron was about to mount, +Daniel said to him in a sharp, strained voice, "I thought you would +stay on the entail, Freiherr Hubert, now that it has just fallen to +you, for the proud lord of the entail lies dashed to pieces at the +bottom of the ravine, below the tower." The steward had observed that +Wolfgang, tormented by his thirst for gold, often used to rise in the +night, go to the postern which formerly led to the tower, and stand +gazing with longing eyes down into the chasm, where, according to his +(Daniel's) testimony, vast treasures lay buried. Relying upon this +habit, Daniel waited near the hall-door on that ill-omened night; and +as soon as he heard the Freiherr open the postern leading to the tower, +he entered the hall and proceeded to where the Freiherr was standing, +close by the brink of the chasm. On becoming aware of the presence of +his villainous servant, in whose eyes the gleam of murder shone, the +Freiherr turned round and said with a cry of terror, "Daniel, Daniel, +what are you doing here at this hour?" But then Daniel shrieked wildly, +"Down with you, you mangy cur!" and with a powerful push of his foot he +hurled the unhappy man over into the deep chasm. + +Terribly agitated by this awful deed, Freiherr Roderick found no peace +in the castle where his father had been murdered. He went to his +Courland estates, and only visited R--sitten once a year, in autumn. +Francis--old Francis--who had strong suspicions as to Daniel's guilt, +maintained that he often haunted the place at full moon, and described +the nature of the apparition much as V--- afterwards experienced it for +himself when he exorcised it. It was the disclosure of these +circumstances, also, which stamped his father's memory with dishonour, +that had driven young Freiherr Hubert out into the world. + +This was my old great-uncle's story. Now he took my hand, and whilst +his eyes filled with tears, he said, in a broken voice, "Cousin, +cousin! And she too--the beautiful lady--has fallen a victim to the +dark destiny, the grim, mysterious power which has established itself +in that old ancestral castle. Two days after we left R--sitten the +Freiherr arranged an excursion on sledges as the concluding event of +the visit. He drove his wife himself; but as they were going down the +valley the horses, for some unexplained reason, suddenly taking fright, +began to snort and kick and plunge most savagely. 'The old man! The old +man is after us!' screamed the Baroness in a shrill, terrified voice. +At this same moment the sledge was overturned with a violent jerk, and +the Baroness was hurled to a considerable distance. They picked her up +lifeless--she was quite dead. The Freiherr is perfectly inconsolable, +and has settled down into a state of passivity that will kill him. We +shall never go to R--sitten again, cousin!" + +Here my uncle paused. As I left him my heart was rent by emotion; and +nothing but the all-soothing hand of Time could assuage the deep pain +which I feared would cost me my life. + +Years passed. V---- was resting in his grave, and I had left my native +country. Then I was driven northwards, as far as St. Petersburg, by the +devastating war which was sweeping over all Germany. On my return +journey, not far from K----, I was driving one dark summer night along +the shore of the Baltic, when I perceived in the sky before me a +remarkably large bright star. On coming nearer I saw by the red +flickering flame that what I had taken for a star must be a large fire, +but could not understand how it could be so high up in the air. +"Postilion, what fire is that before us yonder?" I asked the man +who was driving me. "Oh! why, that's not a fire; it's the beacon +tower of R--sitten." "R--sitten!" Directly the postilion mentioned +the name all the experiences of the eventful autumn days which I had +spent there recurred to my mind with lifelike reality. I saw the +Baron--Seraphina--and also the remarkably eccentric old aunts--myself +as well, with my bare milk-white face, my hair elegantly curled and +powdered, and wearing a delicate sky-blue coat--nay, I saw myself in my +love-sick folly, sighing like a furnace, and making lugubrious odes on +my mistress's eyebrows. The sombre, melancholy mood into which these +memories plunged me was relieved by the bright recollection of V----'s +genial jokes, shooting up like flashes of coloured light, and I found +them now still more entertaining than they had been so long ago. +Thus agitated by pain mingled with much peculiar pleasure, I reached +R--sitten early in the morning and got out of the coach in front of the +post-house, where it had stopped I recognised the house as that of the +land-steward; I inquired after him. "Begging your pardon," said the +clerk of the post-house, taking his pipe from his mouth and giving his +night-cap a tilt, "begging your pardon; there is no land-steward here; +this is a Royal Government office, and the Herr Administrator is still +asleep." On making further inquiries I learnt that Freiherr Roderick +von R----, the last lord of the entail, had died sixteen years before +without descendants, and that the entail in accordance with the terms +of the original deeds had now escheated to the state. I went up to the +castle; it was a mere heap of ruins. I was informed by an old peasant, +who came out of the fir-forest, and with whom I entered into +conversation, that a large portion of the stones had been employed in +the construction of the beacon-tower. He also could tell the story of +the ghost which was said to have haunted the castle, and he affirmed +that people often heard unearthly cries and lamentations amongst the +stones, especially at full moon. + +Poor short-sighted old Roderick! What a malignant destiny did you +conjure up to destroy with the breath of poison, in the first moments +of its growth, that race which you intended to plant with firm roots to +last on till eternity! + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "THE ENTAIL": + +[Footnote 1: Freiherr = Baron, though not exactly in the present +significance of the term in Germany. A Freiherr belongs to the +"superior nobility," and is a Baron of the older nobility of the Middle +Ages; and he ranks immediately after a Count (Graf). The title Baron is +now restricted to comparatively newer creations, and its bearer belongs +to the "lower nobility." In this tale "Freiherr" and "Baron" are used +indifferently.] + +[Footnote 2: The Justitiarius acted as justiciary in the seignorial +courts of justice, which were amongst the privileges accorded to the +nobility of certain ranks, in certain cases, by the feudal institutions +of the Middle Ages. This privilege the R---- family is represented as +exercising.] + +[Footnote 3: At the present time the Germans say _Prosit!_ under like +circumstances. This of coarse reminds one of the Greek custom of +regarding sneezing as an auspicious omen.] + +[Footnote 4: This refers to an episode in Schiller's work, related by a +Sicilian. The story is of a familiar type. Two brothers, Jeronymo and +Lorenzo, fall in love with the same Lady Antonia; the elder brother is +secretly killed by the younger. But on the marriage day of the murderer +the murdered man appears in the disguise of a monk, and proceeds to +reveal himself in his bloody habiliments and show his ghastly wounds.] + +[Footnote 5: By Paul Fleming (1609-1640); one of the pious but gloomy +religious songs of this leading spirit of the "first Silesian school."] + +[Footnote 6: See note, p. 40.] + +[Footnote 7: The reference is to a _Landsmannschaft_. These were +associations, at a university, of students from the same state or +country, bound to the observance of certain traditional customs, &c, +and under the control of certain self-elected officers (the _Senior_ +being one).] + +[Footnote 8: Imperial thalers varied in value at different times, but +estimating their value at three shillings, the sum here mentioned would +be equivalent to about £22,500. A _Frederick d'or_ was a gold coin +worth five thalers.] + + + + + ARTHUR'S HALL.[1] + + +You must of course, indulgent reader, have heard a good deal about the +remarkable old commercial town of Dantzic. Perhaps you may be +acquainted from abundant descriptions with all the sights to be seen +there; but I should like it best of all if you have ever been there +yourself in former times, and seen with your own eyes the wonderful +hall into which I will now take you--I mean Arthur's Hall.[2] + +At the hour of noon the hall was crammed full of men of the most +diverse nations, all pushing about and immersed to the eyes in +business, so that the ears were deafened by the confused din. But when +the exchange hours were over, and the merchants had gone to dinner, and +only a few odd individuals hurried through the hall on business (for it +served as a means of communication between two streets), that I dare +say was the time when you, gracious reader, liked to visit Arthur's +Hall best, whenever you were in Dantzic. For then a kind of magical +twilight fell through the dim windows, and all the strange reliefs and +carvings, with which the wall was too profusely decorated, became +instinct with life and motion. Stags with immense antlers, together +with other wonderful animals, gazed down upon you with their fiery eyes +till you could hardly look at them; and the marble statue of the king, +also in the midst of the hall, caused you to shiver more in proportion +as the dusk of evening deepened. The great picture representing an +assemblage of all the Virtues and Vices, with their respective names +attached, lost perceptibly in moral effect; for the Virtues, being +high up, were blended unrecognisably in a grey mist, whilst the +Vices--wondrously beautiful ladies in gay and brilliant costumes--stood +out prominently and very seductively, threatening to enchant you with +their sweet soft words. You preferred to turn your eyes upon the narrow +border which went almost all round the hall, and on which were +represented in pleasing style long processions of gay-uniformed militia +of the olden time, when Dantzic was an Imperial town. Honest +burgomasters, their features stamped with shrewdness and importance, +ride at the head on spirited horses with handsome trappings, whilst +the drummers, pipers, and halberdiers march along so jauntily and +life-like, that you soon begin to hear the merry music they play, and +look to see them all defile out of that great window up there into the +Langemarkt.[3] + +While, then, they are marching off, you, indulgent reader,--if you +were, that is, a tolerable sketcher,--would not be able to do otherwise +than copy with pen and ink yon magnificent burgomaster with his +remarkably handsome page. Pen and ink and paper, provided at public +cost, were always to be found lying about on the tables; accordingly +the material would be all ready at hand, and you would have felt the +temptation irresistible. This you would have been permitted to do, but +not so the young merchant Traugott, who, on beginning to do anything of +this kind, encountered a thousand difficulties and vexations. "Advise +our friend in Hamburg at once that that business has been settled, my +good Herr Traugott," said the wholesale and retail merchant, Elias +Roos, with whom Traugott was about to enter upon an immediate +partnership, besides marrying his only daughter, Christina. After a +little trouble, Traugott found a place at one of the crowded tables; he +took a sheet of paper, dipped his pen in the ink, and was about to +begin with a free caligraphic flourish, when, running over once more in +his mind what he wished to say, he cast his eyes upwards. Now it +happened that he sat directly opposite a procession of figures, at the +sight of which he was always, strangely enough, affected with an +inexplicable sadness. A grave man, with something of dark melancholy in +his face, and with a black curly beard and dressed in sumptuous +clothing, was riding a black horse, which was led by the bridle by a +marvellous youth: his rich abundance of hair and his gay and graceful +costume gave him almost a feminine appearance. The face and form of the +man made Traugott shudder inwardly, but a whole world of sweet vague +aspirations beamed upon him from the youth's countenance. He could +never tear himself away from looking at these two; and hence, on the +present occasion, instead of writing Herr Elias Roos's letter of advice +to Hamburg, he sat gazing at the wonderful picture, absently scribbling +all over his paper. After this had lasted some time, a hand clapped him +on the shoulder from behind, and a gruff voice said, "Nice--very nice; +that's what I like; something maybe made of that." Traugott, awakening +out of his dreamy reverie, whisked himself round; but, as if struck by +a lightning flash, he remained speechless with amazement and fright, +for he was staring up into the face of the dark melancholy man who was +depicted on the wall before him. He it was who uttered the words stated +above; at his side stood the delicate and wonderfully beautiful youth, +smiling upon him with indescribable affection. "Yes, it is they--the +very same!" was the thought that flashed across Traugott's mind. "I +expect they will at once throw off their unsightly mantles and stand +forth in all the splendours of their antique costume." The members of +the crowd pushed backwards and forwards amongst each other, and the +strangers had soon disappeared in the crush; but even after the hours +of 'Change were long over, and only a few odd individuals crossed the +hall, Traugott still remained in the self-same place with the letter of +advice in his hand, as though he were converted into a solid stone +statue. + +At length he perceived Herr Elias Roos coming towards him with two +strangers. "What are you about, cogitating here so long after noon, my +respected Herr Traugott?" asked Elias Roos; "have you sent off the +letter all right?" Mechanically Traugott handed him the paper; but Herr +Elias Roos struck his hands together above his head, stamping at first +gently, but then violently, with his right foot, as he cried, making +the hall ring again, "Good God! Good God! what childish tricks are +these? Nothing but sheer childishness, my respected Traugott,--my +good-for-nothing son-in-law--my imprudent partner. Why, the devil must +be in your honour! The letter--the letter! O God! the post!" Herr Elias +Roos was almost choking with vexation, whilst the two strangers were +laughing at the singular letter of advice, which could hardly be said +to be of much use. For, immediately after the words, "In reply to yours +of the 20th inst. respecting----" Traugott had sketched the two +extraordinary figures of the old man and the youth in neat bold +outlines. The two strangers sought to pacify Herr Elias Roos by +addressing him in the most affectionate manner; but Herr Elias Roos +tugged his round wig now on this side and now on that, struck his cane +against the floor, and cried, "The young devil!--was to write letter of +advice--makes drawings--ten thousand marks gone--dam!" He blew through +his fingers and then went on lamenting, "Ten thousand marks!" "Don't +make a trouble of it, my dear Herr Roos," said at length the elder of +the two strangers. "The post is of course gone; but I am sending off a +courier to Hamburg in an hour. Let me give him your letter, and it will +then reach its destination earlier than it would have done by the post" +"You incomparable man!" exclaimed Herr Elias, his face a perfect blaze +of sunshine. Traugott had recovered from his awkward embarrassment; he +was hastening to the table to write the letter, but Herr Elias pushed +him away, casting a right malicious look upon him, and murmuring +between his teeth, "No need for you, my good son!" + +Whilst Herr Elias was studiously busy writing, the elder gentleman +approached young Traugott, who was standing silent with shame, and said +to him, "You don't seem to be exactly in your place, my good sir. It +would never have come into a true merchant's head to make drawings +instead of writing a business letter as he ought" Traugott could not +help feeling that this reproach was only too well founded. Much +embarrassed, he replied, "By my soul, this hand has already written +many admirable letters of advice; it is only, occasionally that such +confoundedly odd ideas come into my mind." "But, my good sir," +continued the stranger smiling, "these are not confoundedly odd ideas +at all. I can really hardly believe that all your business letters +taken together have been so admirable as these sketches, outlined +so neatly and boldly and firmly. There is, I am sure, true genius +in them." With these words the stranger took out of Traugott's hand +the letter--or rather what was begun as a letter but had ended in +sketches--carefully folded it together, and put it in his pocket. This +awakened in Traugott's mind the firm conviction that he had done +something far more excellent than write a business letter. A strange +spirit took possession of him; so that, when Herr Elias Roos, who had +now finished writing, addressed him in an angry tone, "Your childish +folly might have cost me ten thousand marks," he replied louder and +with more decision than was his habit, "Will your worship please not to +behave in such an extraordinary way, else I will never write you +another letter of advice so long as I live, and we will separate." Herr +Elias pushed his wig right with both hands and stammered, as he stared +hard at Traugott, "My estimable colleague, my dear, dear son, what +proud words you are using!" The old gentleman again interposed, and a +few words sufficed to restore perfect peace; and so they all went to +Herr Elias's house to dinner, for he had invited the strangers home +with him. Fair Christina received them in holiday attire, all clean and +prim and proper; and soon she was wielding the excessively heavy silver +soup-ladle with a practised hand. + +Whilst these five persons are sitting at table, I could, gracious +reader, bring them pictorially before your eyes; but I shall only +manage to give a few general outlines, and those certainly worse than +the sketches which Traugott had the audacity to scribble in the +inauspicious letter; for the meal will soon be over; and besides, I am +urged by an impulse I cannot resist to go on with the remarkable +history of the excellent Traugott, which I have undertaken to relate to +you. + +That Herr Elias Roos wears a round wig you already know from what +has been stated above; and I have no need to add anything more; for +after what he has said, you can now see the round little man with his +liver-coloured coat, waistcoat, and trousers, with gilt buttons, quite +plainly before your eyes. Of Traugott I have a very great deal to say, +because this is his history which I am telling, and so of course he +occurs in it. If now it be true that a man's thoughts and feelings and +actions, making their influence felt from within him outwards, so model +and shape his bodily form as to give rise to that wonderful harmony of +the whole man, that is not to be explained but only felt, which we call +character, then my words will of themselves have already shown you +Traugott himself in the flesh. If this is not the case, then all my +gossip is wasted, and you may forthwith regard my story as unread. The +two strangers are uncle and nephew, formerly retail dealers, but now +merchants trading on their gains, and friends of Herr Elias Roos, that +is to say, they had a good many business transactions together. They +live at Königsberg, dress entirely in the English fashion, carry +about with them a mahogany boot-jack which has come from London, +possess considerable taste for art, and are, in a word, experienced, +well-educated people. The uncle has a gallery of art objects and +collects hand-sketches (witness the pilfered letter of advice). + +But properly my chief business was to give you, kindly reader, a true +and life-like description of Christina; for her nimble person will, I +observe, soon disappear; and it will be as well for me to get a few +traits jotted down at once. Then she may willingly go! Picture to +yourself a medium-sized stoutish female of from two to three and twenty +years of age, with a round face, a short and rather turned-up nose, and +friendly light-blue eyes, which smile most prettily upon everybody, +saying, "I shall soon be married now." Her skin is dazzling white, her +hair is not altogether of a too reddish tinge; she has lips which were +certainly made to be kissed, and a mouth which, though indeed rather +wide, she yet screws up small in some extraordinary way, but so as to +display then two rows of pearly teeth. If we were to suppose that the +flames from the next-door neighbour's burning house were to dart in at +her chamber-window, she would make haste to feed the canary and lock up +the clean linen from the wash, and then assuredly hasten down into the +office and inform Herr Elias Roos that by that time his house also was +on fire. She has never had an almond-cake spoilt, and her melted-butter +always thickens properly, owing to the fact that she never stirs the +spoon round towards the left, but always towards the right. But since +Herr Elias Roos has poured out the last bumper of old French wine, I +will only hasten to add that pretty Christina is uncommonly fond of +Traugott because he is going to marry her; for what in the name of +wonder should she do if she did not get married? + +After dinner Herr Elias Roos proposed to his friends to take a walk on +the ramparts. Although Traugott, whose mind had never been stirred by +so many wonderful and extraordinary things as to-day, would very much +have liked to escape the company, he could not contrive it; for, just +as he was going out of the door, without having even kissed his +betrothed's hand, Herr Elias caught him by the coat-tails, crying, "My +honoured son-in-law, my good colleague, but you're not going to leave +us?" And so he had to stay. + +A certain professor of physics once stated the theory that the _Anima +Mundi_, or Spirit of the World, had, as a skilful experimentalist, +constructed somewhere an excellent electric machine, and from it +proceed certain very mysterious wires, which pass through the lives of +us all; these we do our best to creep round and avoid, but at some +moment or other we must tread upon them, and then there passes a flash +and a shock through our souls, suddenly altering the forms of +everything within them. Upon this thread Traugott must surely have trod +in the moment that he was unconsciously sketching the two persons who +stood in living shape behind him, for the singular appearance of the +strangers had struck him with all the violence of a lightning-flash; +and he now felt as if he had very clear conceptions of all those things +which he had hitherto only dimly guessed at and dreamt about. The +shyness which at other times had always fettered his tongue so soon as +the conversation turned upon things which lay concealed like holy +secrets at the bottom of his heart had now left him; and hence it was +that, when the uncle attacked the curious half-painted, half-carved +pictures in Arthur's Hall as wanting in taste, and then proceeded more +particularly to condemn the little pictures representing the soldiers +as being whimsical, Traugott boldly maintained that, although it was +very likely true that all these things did not harmonize with the rules +of good taste, nevertheless he had experienced, what indeed several +others had also experienced, viz., a wonderful and fantastic world had +been unfolded to him in Arthur's Hall, and some few of the figures had +reminded him in even lifelike looks, nay, even in plain distinct words, +that he also was a great master, and could paint and wield the chisel +as well as the man out of whose unknown studio they themselves had +proceeded Herr Elias certainly looked more stupid than usual whilst the +young fellow was saying such grand things, but the uncle made answer in +a very malicious manner, "I repeat once more, I do not comprehend why +you want to be a merchant, why you haven't rather devoted yourself +altogether to art." + +Traugott conceived an extreme repugnance to the man, and accordingly he +joined the nephew for the walk, and found his manner very friendly and +confidential. "O Heaven!" said the latter, "how I envy you your +beautiful and glorious talent! I wish I could only sketch like you! I +am not at all wanting in genius; I have already sketched some deucedly +pretty eyes and noses and ears, ay, and even three or four entire +heads;--but, dash it all! the business, you know! the business!" "I +always thought," said Traugott, "that as soon as a man detected the +spark of true genius--of a genuine love for art--within him, he ought +not to know anything about any other business." "You mean he ought to +be an artist!" rejoined the nephew. "Ah! how can you say so? See you +here, my estimable friend! I have, I believe, reflected more upon these +things than many others; in fact, I am such a decided admirer of art, +and have gone into the real essential nature of the thing far deeper +than I am even able to express, and so I can only make use of hints and +suggestions." The nephew, as he expressed these opinions, looked so +learned and so profound that Traugott really began to feel in awe of +him. "You will agree with me," continued the nephew, after he had taken +a pinch of snuff and had sneezed twice, "you will agree with me that +art embroiders our life with flowers; amusement, recreation after +serious business--that is the praiseworthy end of all effort in art; +and the attainment of this end is the more perfect in proportion as the +art products assume a nearer approach to excellence. This end is very +clearly seen in life; for it is only the man who pursues art in the +spirit I have just mentioned who enjoys comfort and ease; whilst these +for ever and eternally flee away from the man who, directly contrary to +the nature of the case, regards art as a true end in itself--as the +highest aim in life. And so, my good friend, don't take to heart what +my uncle said to try and persuade you to turn aside from the serious +business of life, and rely upon a way of employing your energies which, +if without support, will only make you stagger about like a helpless +child." Here the nephew paused as if expecting Traugott's reply; but +Traugott did not know for the life of him what he ought to say. All +that the nephew had said struck him as indescribably stupid talk. He +contented himself with asking, "But what do you really mean by the +serious business of life?" The nephew looked at him somewhat taken +aback. "Well, by my soul, you can't help conceding to me that a man who +is alive must live, and that's what your artist by profession hardly +ever succeeds in doing, for he's always hard up." And he went on with a +long rigmarole of bosh, which he clothed in fine words and stereotyped +phrases. The end of it all appeared to be pretty much this--that by +living he meant little else than having no debts but plenty of money, +plenty to eat and drink, a beautiful wife, and also well-behaved +children, who never got any grease-stains on their nice Sunday-clothes, +and so on. This made Traugott feel a tightness in his throat, and he +was glad when the clever nephew left him, and he found himself alone in +his own room. + +"What a wretched miserable life I lead, to be sure!" he soliloquised. +"On beautiful mornings in the glorious golden spring-time, when into +even the obscure streets of the town the warm west wind finds its way, +and its faint murmurings and rustlings seem to be telling of all the +wonders which are to be seen blooming in the woods and fields, then I +have to crawl down sluggishly and in an ill-temper into Herr Elias +Roos's smoke-begrimed office. And there sit pale faces before huge +ugly-shaped desks; all are working on amidst gloomy silence, which is +only broken by the rustle of leaves turned over in the big books, by +the chink of money that is being counted, and by unintelligible sounds +at odd intervals. And then again what work it is! What is the good of +all this thinking and all this writing? Merely that the pile of gold +pieces may increase in the coffers, and that the Fafnir's[4] treasure, +which always brings mischief, may glitter and sparkle more and more! +Oh, how gladly a painter or a sculptor must go out into the air, and +with head erect imbibe all the refreshing influences of spring, until +they people the inner world of his mind with beautiful images pulsing +with glad and energetic life! Then from the dark bushes step forth +wonderful figures, which his own mind has created, and which continue +to be his own, for within him dwells the mysterious wizard power of +light, of colour, of form; hence he is able to give abiding shape to +what he has seen with the eye of his mind, in that he represents it in +a material substitute. What is there to prevent me tearing myself loose +from this hated mode of life? That remarkable old man assured me that I +am called to be an artist, and still more so did the nice handsome +youth. For although he did not speak a word, it yet somehow struck me +that his glance said plainly what I had for such a long time felt like +a vague emotional pulsation within me, and what, oppressed by a +multitude of doubts, has hitherto been unable to rise to the level of +consciousness. Instead of going on in this miserable way, could I not +make myself a good painter?" + +Traugott took out all the things that he had ever drawn and examined +them with critical eyes. Several things looked quite different to-day +from what they had ever done before, and that not worse, but better. +His attention was especially attracted by one of his childish attempts, +of the time when he was quite a boy; it was a sketch of the old +burgomaster and the handsome page, the outlines very much wanting in +firmness, of course, but nevertheless recognisable. And he remembered +quite well that these figures had made a strange impression upon him +even at that time, and how one evening at dusk they enticed him with +such an irresistible power of attraction, that he had to leave his +playmates and go into Arthur's Hall, where he took almost endless pains +to copy the picture. The contemplation of this drawing filled him with +a feeling of very deep yearning sadness. According to his usual habit, +he ought to go and work a few hours in the office; but he could not do +it; he went out to the Carlsberg[5] instead. There he stood and gazed +out over the heaving sea, striving to decipher in the waves and in the +grey misty clouds which had gathered in wonderful shapes over Hela,[6] +as in a magic mirror, his own destiny in days to come. + +Don't you too believe, kindly reader, that the sparks which fall into +our hearts from the higher regions of Love are first made visible to us +in the hours of hopeless pain? And so it is with the doubts that storm +the artist's mind. He sees the Ideal and feels how impotent are his +efforts to reach it; it will flee before him, he thinks, always +unattainable. But then again he is once more animated by a divine +courage; he strives and struggles, and his despair is dissolved into a +sweet yearning, which both strengthens him and spurs him on to strain +after his beloved idol, so that he begins to see it continually nearer +and nearer, but never reaches it. + +Traugott was now tortured to excess by this state of hopeless pain. +Early next morning, on again looking over his drawings, which he had +left lying on the table he thought them all paltry and foolish, and he +now called to mind the oft-repeated words of one of his artistic +friends, "A great deal of the mischief done by dabblers in art of +moderate abilities arises from the fact that so many people take a +somewhat keen superficial excitement for a real essential vocation to +pursue art." Traugott felt strongly urged to look upon Arthur's Hall +and his adventure with the two mysterious personages, the old man and +the young one, for one of these states of superficial excitement; so he +condemned himself to go back to the office again; and he worked so +assiduously at Herr Elias Roos's, without heeding the disgust which +frequently so far overcame him that he had to break off suddenly and +rush off out into the open air. With sympathetic concern, Herr Elias +Roos set this down to the indisposition which, according to his +opinion, the fearfully pale young man must be suffering from. + +Some time passed; Dominic's Fair[7] came, after which Traugott was to +marry Christina and be introduced to the mercantile world as Herr Elias +Roos's partner. This period he regarded as that of a sad leave-taking +from all his high hopes and aspirations; and his heart grew heavy +whenever he saw dear Christina as busy as a bee superintending the +scrubbing and polishing that was going on everywhere in the middle +story, folding curtains with her own hands, and giving the final polish +to the brass pots and pans, &c. + +One day, in the thick of the surging crowd of strangers in Arthur's +Hall, Traugott heard close behind him a voice whose well-known tones +made his heart jump. "And do you really mean to say that this stock +stands at such a low figure?" Traugott whisked himself quickly round, +and saw, as he had expected, the remarkable old man, who had appealed +to a broker to get him to buy some stock, the price of which had at +that moment fallen to an extremely low figure. Behind the old man stood +the youth, who greeted Traugott with a friendly but melancholy smile. +Then Traugott hastened to address the old man. "Excuse me, sir; the +price of the stock which you are desirous of selling is really no +higher than what you have been told; nevertheless, it may with +confidence be anticipated that in a few days the price will rise +considerably. If, therefore, you take my advice, you will postpone the +conversion of your stock for a little time longer." "Eh! sir?" replied +the old man rather coldly and roughly, "what have you to do with my +business? How do you know that just now a silly bit of paper like this +is of no use at all to me, whilst ready money is what I have great need +of?" Traugott, not a little abashed because the old man had taken his +well-meant intention in such ill part, was on the point of retiring, +when the youth looked at him with tears in his eyes, as if in entreaty. +"My advice was well meant, sir," he replied quickly; "I cannot suffer +you to inflict upon yourself an important loss. Let me have your stock, +but on the condition that I afterwards pay for it the higher price +which it will be worth in a few day's time." "Well, you are an +extraordinary man," said the old man. "Be it so then; although I can't +understand what induces you to want to enrich me." So saying, he shot a +keen flashing glance at the youth, who cast down his beautiful blue +eyes in shy confusion. They both followed Traugott to the office, where +the money was paid over to the old man, whose face was dark and sullen +as he put it in his purse. Whilst he was doing so, the youth whispered +softly to Traugott, "Are you not the gentleman who was sketching such +pretty figures several weeks ago in Arthur's Hall?" "Certainly I am," +replied Traugott, and he felt how the remembrance of the ridiculous +episode of the letter of advice drove the hot blood into his face. "Oh +then, I don't at all wonder," the youth was continuing, when the old +man gave him an angry look, which at once made him silent. In the +presence of these strangers Traugott could not get rid of a certain +feeling of awkward constraint; and so they went away before he could +muster courage enough to inquire further into their circumstances and +mode of life. + +In fact there was something so quite out of the ordinary in the +appearance of these two persons that even the clerks and others in the +office were struck by it. The surly book-keeper had stuck his pen +behind his ear, and leaning on his arms, which he clasped behind his +head, he sat watching the old man with keen glittering eyes. "God +forgive me," he said when the strangers had left the office, "if he +didn't look like an old picture of the year 1400 in St. John's parish +church, with his curly beard and black mantle." Herr Elias set him down +without more ado as a Polish Jew, notwithstanding his noble bearing and +his extremely grave old-German face, and cried with a simper, "Silly +fellow! sells his stock now; might make at least ten per cent, more in +a week." Of course he knew nothing about the additional price which had +been agreed upon, and which Traugott intended to pay out of his own +pocket. And this he really did do when some days later he again met the +old man and the youth in Arthur's Hall. + +The old man said, "My son has reminded me that you are an artist also, +and so I will accept what I should have otherwise refused." They were +standing close beside one of the four granite pillars which support the +vaulted roof of the hall, and immediately in front of the two painted +figures which Traugott had formerly sketched in the letter of advice. +Without reserve he spoke of the great resemblance between these figures +and the old man himself and the youth. The old man smiled a peculiar +smile, and laying his hand on Traugott's shoulder, said in a low and +deliberate tone, "Then you didn't know that I am the German painter +Godofredus Berklinger, and that it was I who painted the pictures which +seem to give you so much pleasure, a long time ago, whilst still a +learner in art. That burgomaster I copied in commemoration of myself, +and that the page who is leading the horse is my son you can of course +very easily see by comparing the faces and figures of the two." +Traugott was struck dumb with astonishment. But he very soon came to +the conclusion that the old man, who took himself to be the artist of a +picture more than two hundred years old must be labouring under some +peculiar delusion. The old man went on, lifting up his head and looking +proudly about him, "Ay, that was an artistic age if you like--glorious, +vigorous, flourishing, when I decorated this hall with all these gay +pictures in honour of the wise King Arthur and his Round Table. I +verily believe that the tall stately figure who once came to me as I +was working here, and exhorted me to go on and gain my mastership--for +at that time I had not reached that dignity,--was King Arthur himself." +Here the young man interposed, "My father is an artist, sir, who has +few equals; and you would have no cause to be sorry if he would allow +you to inspect his works." Meanwhile the old man was taking a turn +through the hall, which had now become empty; he now called to the +youth to go, and then Traugott begged him to show him his pictures. The +old man fixed his eyes upon him and regarded him for some time with a +keen and searching glance, and at length said with much gravity, "You +are, I must say, rather audacious to be wanting to enter the inner +shrine before you have begun your probationary years. But--be it so! If +your eyes are still too dull to see, you may at least dimly feel. Come +and see me early to-morrow morning," and he indicated where he lived. +Next morning Traugott did not fail to get away from business early and +hasten to the retired street where the remarkable old man lived. The +youth, dressed in old-German style, opened the door to receive him +and led him into a spacious room, in the centre of which he found +the old man sitting on a little stool in front of a large piece of +outstretched grey primed canvas. "You have come exactly at the right +time, sir," the old man cried by way of greeting, "for I have just put +the finishing-touch to yon large picture, which has occupied me more +than a year and cost me no small amount of trouble. It is the fellow of +a picture of the same size, representing 'Paradise Lost,' which I +completed last year and which I can also show you here. This, as you +will observe, is 'Paradise Regained,' and I should be very sorry for +you if you begin to put on critical airs and try to get some allegory +out of it Allegorical pictures are only painted by duffers and +bunglers; my picture is not to _signify_ but to _be_. You perceive how +all these varied groups of men and animals and fruits and flowers and +stones unite to form one harmonic whole, whose loud and excellent music +is the divinely pure chord of glorification." And the old man began to +dwell more especially upon the individual groups; he called Traugott's +attention to the secrets of the division of light and shade, to the +glitter of the flowers and the metals, to the singular shapes which, +rising up out of the calyx of the lilies, entwined themselves about +the forms of the divinely beautiful youths and maidens who were dancing +to the strains of music, and he called his attention to the bearded men +who, with all the strong pride of youth in their eyes and movements, +were apparently talking to various kinds of curious animals. The old +man's words, whilst they grew continually more emphatic, grew also +continually more incomprehensible and confused. "That's right, old +greybeard, let thy diamond crown flash and sparkle," he cried at last, +riveting a fixed but fiery glance upon the canvas. "Throw off the Isis +veil which thou didst put over thy head when the profane approached +thee. What art thou folding thy dark robe so carefully over thy breast +for? I want to see thy heart; that is the philosopher's stone through +which the mystery is revealed. Art thou not I? Why dost thou put on +such a bold and mighty air before me? Wilt thou contend with thy +master? Thinkest thou that the ruby, thy heart, which sparkles so, can +crush my breast? Up then--step forward--come here! I have created thee, +for I am"---- Here the old man suddenly fell on the floor like one +struck by lightning. Whilst Traugott lifted him up, the youth quickly +wheeled up a small arm-chair, into which they placed the old man, who +soon appeared to have fallen into a gentle sleep. + +"Now you know, my kind sir, what is the matter with my good old +father," said the youth softly and gently. "A cruel destiny has +stripped off all the blossoms of his life; and for several years past +he has been insensible to the art for which he once lived. He spends +days and days sitting in front of a piece of outstretched primed +canvas, with his eyes fixed upon it in a stare; that he calls painting. +Into what an overwrought condition the description of such a picture +brings him, you have just seen for yourself. Besides this he is haunted +by another unhappy thought, which makes my life to be a sad and +agitated one; but I regard it as a fatality by which I am swept along +in the same stream that has caught him. You would like something to +help you to recover from this extraordinary scene; please follow me +then into the adjoining room, where you will find several pictures of +my father's early days, when he was still a productive artist." + +And great was Traugott's astonishment to find a row of pictures +apparently painted by the most illustrious masters of the Netherlands +School. For the most part they represented scenes taken from real life; +for example, a company returning from hunting, another amusing +themselves with singing and playing, and such like subjects. They bore +evidences of great thought, and particularly the expression of the +heads, which were realised with especially vigorous life-like power. +Just as Traugott was about to return into the former room, he noticed +another picture close beside the door, which held him fascinated to the +spot. It was a remarkably pretty maiden dressed in old-German style, +but her face was exactly like the youth's, only fuller and with a +little more colour in it, and she seemed to be somewhat taller too. A +tremor of nameless delight ran through Traugott at the sight of this +beautiful girl. In strength and vitality the picture was quite equal to +anything by Van Dyk. The dark eyes were looking down upon Traugott with +a soft yearning look, whilst her sweet lips appeared to be half opened +ready to whisper loving words. "O heaven! Good heaven!" sighed +Traugott with a sigh that came from the very bottom of his heart; +"where--oh! where can I find her?" "Let us go," said the youth. +Then Traugott cried in a sort of rapturous frenzy, "Oh! it is indeed +she!--the beloved of my soul, whom I have so long carried about in my +heart, but whom I only knew in vague stirrings of emotion. Where--oh! +where is she?" The tears started from young Berklinger's eyes; he +appeared to be shaken by a convulsive and sudden attack of pain, and to +control himself with difficulty. "Come along," he at length said, in a +firm voice, "that is a portrait of my unhappy sister Felicia.[8] She +has gone for ever. You will never see her." + +Like one in a dream, Traugott suffered himself to be led into the +other room. The old man was still sleeping; but all at once he started +up, and staring at Traugott with eyes flashing with anger, he cried, +"What do you want? What do you want, sir?" Then the youth stepped +forward and reminded him that he had just been showing his new picture +to Traugott, had he forgotten? At this Berklinger appeared to recollect +all that had passed; it was evident that he was much affected; and he +replied in an undertone, "Pardon an old man's forgetfulness, my good +sir." "Your new piece is an admirable--an excellent work. Master +Berklinger," Traugott proceeded; "I have never seen anything equal to +it. I am sure it must cost a great deal of study and an immense amount +of labour before a man can advance so far as to turn out a work like +that. I discern that I have an inextinguishable propensity for art, and +I earnestly entreat you, my good old master, to accept me as your +pupil; you will find me industrious." The old man grew quite cheerful +and amiable; and embracing Traugott, he promised that he would be a +faithful master to him. + +Thus it came to pass that Traugott visited the old painter every day +that came, and made very rapid progress in his studies. He now +conceived an unconquerable disgust of business, and was so careless +that Herr Elias Roos had to speak out and openly find fault with him; +and finally he was very glad when Traugott kept away from the office +altogether, on the pretext that he was suffering from a lingering +illness. For this same reason the wedding, to Christina's no little +annoyance, was indefinitely postponed. "Your Herr Traugott seems to be +suffering from some secret trouble," said one of Herr Elias Roos's +merchant-friends to him one day; "perhaps it's the balance of some old +love-affair that he's anxious to settle before the wedding-day. He +looks very pale and distracted." "And why shouldn't he then?" rejoined +Herr Elias. "I wonder now," he continued after a pause,--"I wonder +now if that little rogue Christina has been having words with him? My +book-keeper--the love-smitten old ass--he is always kissing and +squeezing her hand. Traugott's devilishly in love with my little girl, +I know. Can there be any jealousy? Well, I'll sound my young +gentleman." + +But however carefully he sounded he could find no satisfactory bottom, +and he said to his merchant-friend, "That Traugott is a most peculiar +fellow; well, I must just let him go his own way; though if he had not +fifty thousand thalers in my business I know what I should do, since +now he never does a stroke of anything." + +Traugott, absorbed in art, would now have led a real bright sunshiny +life, had his heart not been torn with passionate love for the +beautiful Felicia, whom he often saw in wonderful dreams. The picture +had disappeared; the old man had taken it away; and Traugott durst not +ask him about it without risk of seriously offending him. On the whole, +old Berklinger continued to grow more confidential; and instead of +taking any honorarium for his instruction, he permitted Traugott to +help out his narrow house-keeping in many ways. From young Berklinger +Traugott learned that the old man had been obviously taken in in the +sale of a little cabinet, and that the stock which Traugott had +realised for them was all that they had left of the price received for +it, as well as all the money they possessed. But it was only seldom +that Traugott was allowed to have any confidential conversation with +the youth; the old man watched over him with the most singular +jealousy, and at once scolded him sharply if he began to converse +freely and cheerfully with their friend. This Traugott felt all the +more painfully since he had conceived a deep and heart-felt affection +for the youth, owing to his striking likeness to Felicia. Indeed he +often fancied, when he stood near the young man, that he was standing +beside the picture he loved so much, now alive and breathing, and that +he could feel her soft breath on his cheek; and then he would like to +have drawn the youth, as if he really were his darling Felicia herself, +to his swelling heart. + +Winter was past; beautiful spring was filling the woods and fields with +brightness and blossoms. Herr Elias Roos advised Traugott either to +drink whey for his health's sake or to go somewhere to take the baths. +Fair Christina was again looking forward with joy to the wedding, +although Traugott seldom showed himself--and thought still less of his +relations with her. + +Once Traugott was confined to the office the whole day long, making a +requisite squaring up of his accounts, &c.; he had been obliged to +neglect his meals, and it was beginning to get very dark when he +reached Berklinger's remote dwelling. He found nobody in the first +room, but from the one adjoining he heard the music of a lute. He had +never heard the instrument there before. He listened; a song, from time +to time interrupted, accompanied the music like a low soft sigh. He +opened the door. O Heaven! with her back towards him sat a female +figure, dressed in old-German style with a high lace ruff, exactly like +the picture. At the noise which Traugott unavoidably made on entering, +the figure rose, laid the lute on the table, and turned round. It was +she, Felicia herself! "Felicia!" cried Traugott enraptured; and he was +about to throw himself at the feet of his beloved divinity when he felt +a powerful hand laid upon his collar behind, and himself dragged out of +the room by some one with the strength of a giant. "You abandoned +wretch! you incomparable villain!" screamed old Berklinger, pushing him +on before him, "so that was your love for art? Do you mean to murder +me?" And therewith he hurled him out at the door, whilst a knife +glittered in his hand. Traugott flew downstairs and hurried back home +stupefied; nay, half crazy with mingled delight and terror. + +He tossed restlessly on his couch, unable to sleep. "Felicia! Felicia!" +he exclaimed time after time, distracted with pain and the pangs of +love. "You are there, you are there, and I may not see you, may not +clasp you in my arms! You love me, oh yes! that I know. From the pain +which pierces my breast so savagely I feel that you love me." + +The morning sun shone brightly into Traugott's chamber; then he got up, +and determined, let the cost be what it might, that he would solve the +mystery of Berklinger's house. He hurried off to the old man's, but his +feelings may not be described when he saw all the windows wide open and +the maid-servants busy sweeping out the rooms. He was struck with a +presentiment of what had happened. Berklinger had left the house late +on the night before along with his son, and was gone nobody knew where. +A carriage drawn by two horses had fetched away the box of paintings +and the two little trunks which contained all Berklinger's scanty +property. He and his son had followed half an hour later. All inquiries +as to where they had gone remained fruitless: no livery-stable keeper +had let out horses and carriage to persons such as Traugott described, +and even at the town gates he could learn nothing for certain;--in +short, Berklinger had disappeared as if he had flown away on the +mantle[9] of Mephistopheles. + +Traugott went back home prostrated by despair. "She is gone! She is +gone! The beloved of my soul! All--all is lost!" Thus he cried as he +rushed past Herr Elias Roos (for he happened to be just at that moment +in the entrance hall) towards his own room. "God bless my soul!" cried +Herr Elias, pulling and tugging at his wig. "Christina! Christina!" he +shouted, till the whole house echoed. "Christina! You disgraceful girl! +My good-for-nothing daughter!" The clerks and others in the office +rushed out with terrified faces; the book-keeper asked amazed, "But +Herr Roos?" Herr Roos, however, continued to scream without stopping, +"Christina! Christina!" At this point Miss Christina stepped in through +the house-door, and raising her broad-brimmed straw-hat just a little +and smiling, asked what her good father was bawling in this outrageous +way for. "I strictly beg you will let such unnecessary running away +alone," Herr Elias began to storm at her. "My son-in-law is a +melancholy fellow and as jealous as a Turk. You'd better stay quietly +at home, or else there'll be some mischief done. My partner is in there +screaming and crying about his betrothed, because she will gad about +so." Christina looked at the book-keeper astounded; but he gave a +significant glance in the direction of the cupboard in the office where +Herr Roos was in the habit of keeping his cinnamon water. "You'd better +go in and console your betrothed," he said as he strode away. Christina +went up to her own room, only to make a slight change in her dress, and +give out the clean linen, and discuss with the cook what would have to +be done about the Sunday roast-joint, and at the same time pick up a +few items of town-gossip, then she would go at once and see what really +was the matter with her betrothed. + +You know, kindly, reader, that we all of us, when in Traugott's case, +have to go through our appointed stages; we can't help ourselves. +Despair is succeeded by a dull dazed sort of moody reverie, in which +the crisis is wont to occur; and this then passes over into a milder +pain, in which Nature is able to apply her remedies with effect. + +It was in this stage of sad but beneficial pain that, some days later, +Traugott again sat on the Carlsberg, gazing out as before upon the +sea-waves and the grey misty clouds which had gathered over Hela; but +he was not seeking as before to discover the destiny reserved for him +in days to come; no, for all that he had hoped for, all that he had +dimly dreamt of, had vanished. "Oh!" said he, "my call to art was a +bitter, bitter deception. Felicia was the phantom who deluded me into +the belief in that which never had any other existence but in the +insane fancy of a fever-stricken mind. It's all over. I will give it +all up, and go back--into my dungeon. I have made up my mind; I will go +back." Traugott again went back to his work in the office, whilst the +wedding-day with Christina was once more fixed. On the day before the +wedding was to come off, Traugott was standing in Arthur's Hall, +looking, not without a good deal of heart-rending sadness, at the +fateful figures of the old burgomaster and his page, when his eye fell +upon the broker to whom Berklinger was trying to sell his stock. +Without pausing to think, almost mechanically in fact, he walked up to +him and asked, "Did you happen to know the strikingly curious old man +with the black curly beard who some time ago frequently used to be seen +here along with a handsome youth?" "Why, to be sure I did," answered +the broker; "that was the crack-brained old painter Gottfried +Berklinger." "Then don't you know where he has gone to and where he is +now living?" asked Traugott again. "Ay, that I do," replied the broker; +"he has now for a long time been living quietly at Sorrento along with +his daughter." "With his daughter Felicia?" asked Traugott so +vehemently and so loudly that everybody turned round to look at him. +"Why, yes," went on the broker calmly, "that was, you know, the pretty +youth who always followed the old man about everywhere. Half Dantzic +knew that he was a girl, notwithstanding that the crazy old fellow +thought there was not a single soul could guess it. It had been +prophesied to him that if his daughter were ever to get married he +would die a shameful death; and accordingly he determined never to let +anybody know anything about her, and so he passed her off everywhere +as his son." Traugott stood like a statue; then he ran off through +the streets--away out of the town-gates--into the open country, into +the woods, loudly lamenting, "Oh! miserable wretch that I am! It was +she--she, herself; I have sat beside her scores and hundreds of +times--have breathed her breath--pressed her delicate hands--looked +into her beautiful eyes--heard her sweet words--and now I have lost +her! No; not lost I will follow her into the land of art. I acknowledge +the finger of destiny. Away--away to Sorrento." + +He hurried back home. Herr Elias Roos got in his way; Traugott laid +hold of him and carried him along with him into the room. "I shall +never marry Christina, never!" he screamed. "She looks like _Voluptas_ +(Pleasure) and _Luxuries_ (Wantonness), and her hair is like that of +_Ira_ (Wrath), in the picture in Arthur's Hall. O Felicia! Felicia! My +beautiful darling! Why do you stretch out your arms so longingly +towards me? I am coming, I am coming. And now let me tell you, Herr +Elias," he continued, again laying hold of the pale merchant, "you +will never see me in your damned office again. What do I care for +your cursed ledgers and day-books? I am a painter, ay, and a good +painter too. Berklinger is my master, my father, my all, and you are +nothing--nothing at all." And therewith he gave Herr Elias a good +shaking. Herr Elias, however, began to shout at the top of his voice, +"Help! help! Come here, folks! Help! My son-in-law's gone mad. My +partner's in a raging fit Help! help!" Everybody came running out of +the office. Traugott had released his hold upon Elias and now sank down +exhausted in a chair. They all gathered round him; but when he suddenly +leapt to his feet and cried with a wild look, "What do you all want?" +they all hurried off out of the room in a string, Herr Elias in the +middle. + +Soon afterwards there was a rustling of a silk dress, and a voice +asked, "Have you really gone crazed, my dear Herr Traugott, or are you +only jesting?" It was Christina. "I am not the least bit crazed, my +angel," replied Traugott, "nor is it one whit truer that I am jesting. +Pray compose yourself, my dear, but our wedding won't come off +to-morrow; I shall never marry you, neither to-morrow, nor at any other +time." "There is not the least need of it," said Christina very calmly. +"I have not been particularly pleased with you for some time, and some +one I know will value it far differently if he may only lead home as +his bride the rich and pretty Miss Christina Roos. Adieu!" Therewith +she rustled off. "She means the book-keeper," thought Traugott. As soon +as he had calmed down somewhat he went to Herr Elias and explained to +him in convincing terms that he need not expect to have him either as +his son-in-law or as his partner in the business. Herr Elias reconciled +himself to the inevitable; and repeated with downright honest joy in +the office again and again that he thanked God to have got rid of that +crazy-headed Traugott--even after the latter was a long, long way +distant from Dantzic. + +On at length arriving at the longed-for country, Traugott found a new +life awaiting him, bright and brilliant. At Rome he was introduced to +the circle of the German colony of painters and shared in their +studies. Thus it came to pass that he stayed there longer than would +seem to have been permissible in the face of his longing to find +Felicia again, by which he had hitherto been so restlessly urged +onwards. But his longing was now grown weaker; it shaped itself in his +heart like a fascinating dream, whose misty shimmer enveloped his life +on all sides, so that he believed that all he did and thought, and all +his artistic practice, were turned towards the higher supernatural +regions of blissful intuitions. All the female figures which his now +experienced artistic skill enabled him to create bore lovely Felicia's +features. The young painters were greatly struck by the exquisitely +beautiful face, the original of which they in vain sought to find in +Rome; they overwhelmed Traugott with multitudes of questions as to +where he had seen the beauty. Traugott however was very shy of telling +of his singular adventure in Dantzic, until at last, after the lapse of +several months, an old Königsberg friend, Matuszewski by name, who had +come to Rome to devote himself entirely to art, declared joyfully that +he had seen there--in Rome, the girl whom Traugott copied in all his +pictures. Traugott's wild delight may be imagined. He no longer +concealed what it was that had attracted him so strongly to art, and +urged him on with such irresistible power into Italy; and his Dantzic +adventure proved so singular and so attractive that they all promised +to search eagerly for the lost loved one. + +Matuszewski's efforts were the most successful. He had soon found out +where the girl lived, and discovered moreover that she really was the +daughter of a poor old painter, who just at that period was busy +putting a new coat on the walls of the church Trinita del Monte. All +these things agreed nicely. Traugott at once hastened to the church in +question along with Matuszewski; and in the painter, whom he saw +working up on a very high scaffolding, he really thought he recognised +old Berklinger. Thence the two friends hurried off to the old man's +dwelling, without having been noticed by him. "It is she," cried +Traugott, when he saw the painter's daughter standing on the balcony, +occupied with some sort of feminine work. "Felicia, my Felicia!" he +exclaimed aloud in his joy, as he burst into the room. The girl looked +up very much alarmed. She had Felicia's features; but it was not +Felicia. In his bitter disappointment poor Traugott's wounded heart was +rent as if from innumerable dagger-thrusts. In a few words Matuszewski +explained all to the girl. In her pretty shy confusion, with her cheeks +deep crimson, and her eyes cast down upon the ground, she made a +marvellously attractive picture to look at; and Traugott, whose first +impulse had been quickly to retire, nevertheless, after casting but a +single pained glance at her, remained standing where he was, as though +held fast by silken bonds. His friend was not backward in saying all +sorts of complimentary things to pretty Dorina, and so helped her to +recover from the constraint and embarrassment into which she had been +thrown by the extraordinary manner of their entrance. Dorina raised the +"dark fringed curtains of her eyes" and regarded the stranger with a +sweet smile, and said that her father would soon come home from his +work, and would be very pleased to see some German painters, for he +esteemed them very highly. Traugott was obliged to confess that, +exclusive of Felicia, no girl had ever excited such a warm interest in +him as Dorina did. She was in fact almost a second Felicia; the only +differences were that Dorina's features seemed to him less delicate and +more sharply cut, and her hair was darker. It was the same picture, +only painted by Raphael instead of by Rubens. + +It was not long before the old gentleman came in; and Traugott now +plainly saw that he had been greatly misled by the height of the +scaffolding in the church, on which the old man had stood. Instead of +his being the strong Berklinger, he was a thin, mean-looking little old +man, timid and crushed by poverty. A deceptive accidental light in the +church had given his clean-shaved chin an appearance similar to +Berklinger's black curly beard. In conversing about art matters the old +man unfolded considerable ripe practical knowledge; and Traugott made +up his mind to cultivate his acquaintance; for though his introduction +to the family had been so painful, their society now began to exercise +a more and more agreeable influence upon him. + +Dorina, the incarnation of grace and child-like ingenuousness, plainly +allowed her preference for the young German painter to be seen. And +Traugott warmly returned her affection. He grew so accustomed to the +society of the pretty child (she was but fifteen), that he often spent +the whole day with the little family; his studio he transferred to the +spacious apartment which stood empty next their rooms; and finally he +established himself in the family itself. Hence he was able of his +prosperity to do much in a delicate way to relieve their straitened +circumstances; and the old man could not very well think otherwise than +that Traugott would marry Dorina; and he even said so to him without +reservation. This put Traugott in no little consternation: for he now +distinctly recollected the object of his journey, and perceived where +it seemed likely to end. Felicia again stood before his eyes instinct +with life; but, on the other hand, he felt that he could not leave +Dorina. His vanished darling he could not, for some extraordinary +reason, conceive of as being his wife. She was pictured in his +imagination as an intellectual vision, that he could neither lose nor +win. Oh! to be immanent in his beloved intellectually for ever! never +to have her and own her physically! But Dorina was often in his +thoughts as his dearly loved wife; and as often as he contemplated the +idea of again binding himself in the indissoluble bonds of +betrothal,[10] he felt a delicious tremor run through him and a gentle +warmth pervade his veins; and yet he regarded it as unfaithfulness to +his first love. Thus Traugott's heart was the scene of contest between +the most contradictory feelings; he could not make up his mind what to +do. He avoided the old painter; and _he_ accordingly feared Traugott +intended to receive his dear child. He had moreover already spoken of +Traugott's wedding as a settled thing; and it was only under this +impression that he had tolerated Dorina's familiar intimacy with +Traugott, which otherwise would have given the girl an ill name. The +blood of the Italian boiled within him, and one day he roundly declared +to Traugott that he must either marry Dorina or leave him, for he would +not tolerate this familiar intercourse an hour longer. Traugott was +tormented by the keenest annoyance as well as by the bitterest +vexation. The old man he viewed in the light of a vile match-maker; his +own actions and behaviour were contemptible; and that he had ever +deserted Felicia he now judged to be sinful and abominable. His heart +was sore wounded at parting from Dorina; but with a violent effort he +tore himself free from the sweet bonds. He hastened away to Naples, to +Sorrento. + +He spent a whole year in making the strictest inquiries after +Berklinger and Felicia; but all was in vain; nobody knew anything about +them. The sole gleam of intelligence that he could find was a vague +sort of presumption, which was founded merely upon the tradition +that an old German painter had been seen in Sorrento several years +before--and that was all. After being driven backwards and forwards +like a boat on the restless sea, Traugott at length came to a stand in +Naples; and in proportion as his industry in art pursuits again +awakened, the longing for Felicia which he cherished in his bosom grew +softer and milder. But he never saw any pretty girl, if she was the +least like Dorina in figure, movement, or bearing, without feeling most +bitterly the loss of the dear sweet child. Yet when he was painting he +never thought of Dorina, but always of Felicia; she continued to be his +constant ideal. + +At length he received letters from his native town. Herr Elias Roos had +departed this life, his business agent wrote, and Traugott's presence +was required in order to settle matters with the book-keeper, who had +married Miss Christina and undertaken the business. Traugott hurried +back to Dantzic by the shortest route. + +Again he was standing in Arthur's Hall, leaning against the granite +pillar, opposite the burgomaster and the page; he dwelt upon the +wonderful adventure which had had such a painful influence upon his +life; and, a prey to deep and hopeless sadness, he stood and looked +with a set fixed gaze upon the youth, who greeted him with living eyes, +as it were, and whispered in a sweet and charming voice, "And so you +could not desert me then after all?" + +"Can I believe my eyes? Is it really your own respected self come back +again safe and sound, and quite cured of your unpleasant melancholy?" +croaked a voice near Traugott. It was the well-known broker. "I have +not found her," escaped Traugott involuntarily. "Whom do you mean? Whom +has your honour not found?" asked the broker. "The painter Godofredus +Berklinger and his daughter Felicia," rejoined Traugott. "I have +searched all Italy for them; not a soul knew anything about them in +Sorrento." This made the broker open his eyes and stare at him, and he +stammered, "Where do you say you have searched for Berklinger and +Felicia? In Italy? in Naples? in Sorrento?" "Why, yes; to be sure," +replied Traugott, very testily. Whereupon the broker struck his hands +together several times in succession, crying as he did so, "Did you +ever now? Did you ever hear tell of such a thing? But Herr Traugott! +Herr Traugott!" "Well, what is there to be so much astonished at?" +rejoined Traugott, "don't behave in such a foolish fashion, pray. Of +course a man will travel as far as Sorrento for his sweetheart's sake. +Yes, yes; I loved Felicia and followed her." But the broker skipped +about on one foot, and continued to say, "Well, now, did you ever? did +you ever?" until Traugott placed his hand earnestly upon his arm and +asked, "Come, tell me then, in heaven's name! what is it that you find +so extraordinary?" The broker began, "But, my good Herr Traugott, do +you mean to say you don't know that Herr Aloysius Brandstetter, our +respected town-councillor and the senior of our guild, calls his little +villa, in that small fir-wood at the foot of Carlsberg, in the +direction of Conrad's Hammer, by the name of Sorrento? He bought +Berklinger's pictures of him and took the old man and his daughter into +his house, that is, out to Sorrento. And there they lived for several +years; and if you, my respected Herr Traugott, had only gone and +planted your own two feet on the middle of the Carlsberg, you could +have had a view right into the garden, and could have seen Miss Felicia +walking about there dressed in curious old-German style, like the women +in those pictures--there was no need for you to go to Italy. Afterwards +the old man--but that is a sad story" "Never mind; go on," said +Traugott, hoarsely. "Yes," continued the broker. "Young Brandstetter +came back from England, saw Miss Felicia, and fell in love with her. +Coming unexpectedly upon the young lady in the garden, he fell upon his +knees before her in romantic fashion, and swore that he would wed her +and deliver her from the tyrannical slavery in which her father kept +her. Close behind the young people, without their having observed it, +stood the old man; and the very self-same moment in which Felicia said, +'I will be yours,' he fell down with a stifled scream, and was dead as +a door nail. It's said he looked very very hideous--all blue and +bloody, because he had by some inexplicable means burst an artery. +After that Miss Felicia could not bear young Brandstetter at all, and +at last she married Mathesius, criminal and aulic counsellor, of +Marienwerder. Your honour, as an old flame, should go and see the _Frau +Kriminalräthin_. Marienwerder is not so far, you know, as your real +Italian Sorrento. The good lady is said to be very comfortable and to +have enriched the world with divers children." + +Silent and crushed, Traugott hastened from the Hall. This issue of his +adventure filled him with awe and dread. "No, it is not she--it is not +she!" he cried. "It is not Felicia, that divine image which enkindled +an infinite longing in my bosom, whom I followed into yon distant land, +seeing her before me everywhere where I went like my star of fortune, +twinkling and glittering with sweet hopes. Felicia--_Kriminalräthin_ +Mathesius! Ha! Ha! Ha!--_Kriminalräthin_ Mathesius!" Traugott, shaken +by extreme sensations of misery, laughed aloud and hastened in his +usual way through the Oliva Gate along the Langfuhr[11] to the +Carlsberg. He looked down into Sorrento, and the tears gushed from his +eyes. "Oh!" he cried, "Oh! how deep, how incurably deep an injury, O +thou eternal ruling Power, does thy bitter irony inflict upon poor +man's soft heart! But no, no! But why should the child cry over the +incurable pain when instead of enjoying the light and warmth he thrusts +his hand into the flames? Destiny visibly laid its hand upon me, but my +dimmed vision did not recognise the higher nature at work; and I had +the presumption to delude myself with the idea that the forms, created +by the old master and mysteriously awakened to life, which stepped down +to meet me, were my own equals, and that I could draw them down into +the miserable transitoriness of earthly existence. No, no, Felicia, I +have never lost you; you are and will be mine for ever, for you +yourself are the creative artistic power dwelling within me. Now,--and +only now have I first come to know you. What have you--what have I to +do with the _Kriminalräthin_ Mathesius? I fancy, nothing at all." + +"Neither did I know what you should have to do with her, my respected +Herr Traugott," a voice broke in. Traugott awakened out of his dream. +Strange to say, he found himself, without knowing how he got there, +again leaning against the granite pillar in Arthur's Hall. The person +who had spoken the abovementioned words was Christina's husband. He +handed to Traugott a letter that had just arrived from Rome. +Matuszewski wrote:-- + +"Dorina is prettier and more charming than ever, only pale with longing +for you, my dear friend. She is expecting you every hour, for she is +most firmly convinced that you could never be untrue to her. She loves +you with all her heart. When shall we see you again?" + +"I am very pleased that we settled all our business this morning," said +Traugott to Christina's husband after he had read this, "for to-morrow +I set out for Rome, where my bride is most anxiously longing for me." + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "ARTHUR'S HALL": + + +[Footnote 1: Written for the _Urania_ for 1817.] + +[Footnote 2: The _Artushof_ or _Junkerhof_ derives its names from its +connection with the Arthurian cycle of legends, and from the fact that +there the _Stadtjunker_, or wealthy merchants of Dantzic, used formerly +to meet both to transact business and for the celebration of festive +occasions. It has been used as an exchange since 1742. The site of the +present building was occupied by a still older one down to 1552, and to +this the hall, which is vaulted and supported on four slender pillars +of granite, belongs architecturally. It was very quaintly decorated +with pictures, statues, reliefs, &&, both of Christian and Pagan +traditions.] + +[Footnote 3: A broad street crossing Dantzic in an east-to-west +direction.] + +[Footnote 4: In Scandinavian mythology, Fafnir, the worm, became +the owner of the treasure which his father, Hreidmar, had exacted as +blood-money from Loki, because he had slain Hreidmar's son Otur, the +sea-otter. This treasure Loki had taken by violence from its rightful +owner, a dwarf, who in revenge prophesied that the possession of the +treasure should henceforward be fraught with dire mischief to every +successive owner of it.] + +[Footnote 5: A hill to the north-west of Dantzic, affording a splendid +view of the Gulf of Dantzic.] + +[Footnote 6: A long narrow spit of land projecting from the coast at a +point north of Dantzic in a south-south-east direction into the Gulf of +Dantzic.] + +[Footnote 7: August 4th.] + +[Footnote 8: The name in the text is _Felizitas_--Felicity; Felicia +has been adopted in the translation as being the nearest approach to +it. Felicity would in all probability be extremely strange to English +ears, besides being liable to lead to ambiguities.] + +[Footnote 9: A mode of aërial conveyance made use of on occasion by +the personage named, in the popular Faust legend.] + +[Footnote 10: In Germany the betrothal is a more significant act than +in England, and by some regarded as more sacred and binding than the +actual marriage ceremony.] + +[Footnote 11: A suburb of Dantzic, on the N. W., 3-1/2 miles nearer +than Carlsberg; it is connected with the city by a double avenue of +fine limes.] + + + + + END OF VOLUME I. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Weird Tales. Vol. I, by E. T. A. Hoffmann + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEIRD TALES. VOL. 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Vol. I.</title> +<meta name="Author" content="E. T. W. Hoffmann"> +<meta name="Translator" content="J. T. Bealby"> +<meta name="Publisher" content="Charles Scribner's Sons"> +<meta name="Date" content="1885"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { + line-height:150%; + font-size: 110%; + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + background-color:#FFFFFF; +} +i {color:green;} + +p.normal { + text-indent:.25in; + text-align: justify; +} +p.center { + text-align:center; + margin-top:9pt; +} + +p.hang1 { margin-left:1.5em; + text-indent:-1.5em; + text-align: justify; +} +p.hang2 { margin-left:1.5em; + text-indent:0em; + text-align: justify; +} +p.hang3 {margin-left:7em; + text-indent:-7em} +p.hang4 {margin-left:7em; +} +p.hang5 {margin-left:9.5em; + text-indent:-1em} + + +p.right { + text-align:right; + margin-top: 9pt; + margin-right:5%;} + + +p.continue { + text-indent: 0in; + margin-top:9pt; +} + + + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} + +span.sc {font-variant: small-caps;} +span.space {letter-spacing: 2pt; } + +hr.ftn { text-align:left; width:30%; margin-top:48pt; color:black; } +div.ftn { font-size: 100%; margin-top:9pt; color:#000000} +sup.ftnRef {font-size:100%; color:black; } +p.ftnText { margin-left: 3em; text-indent: -1em; margin-top:14pt; text-align:justify; } +div.ftnlast { font-size: 90%; margin-top:9pt; margin-bottom:64pt; color:#000000} + + + +hr.W10 { + width:10%; + margin-top:12pt; + margin-bottom:12pt; + color:black; +} +hr.W20 { + width:20%; + margin-top:12pt; + margin-bottom:12pt; + color:black; +} +</style> +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Weird Tales. Vol. I, by E. T. A. Hoffmann + +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: Weird Tales. Vol. I + +Author: E. T. A. Hoffmann + +Translator: J. T. Bealby + +Release Date: February 23, 2010 [EBook #31377] +Most recently updated: April 16, 2021 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEIRD TALES. VOL. I *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from scans obtained from The +Internet Archive. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="continue">Transcriber's Notes: The source of this document is found in +the Web Archive at http://www.archive.org/details/weirdtales00unkngoog</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="center"><img src="images/hoffmann.png" alt="E.T.A. Hoffmann"></p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1><span class="space">W<span class="sc">EIRD</span> T<span class="sc">ALES</span></span></h1> +<br> +<br> +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>E. T. W. HOFFMANN</h2> +<br> +<br> +<h2><i>A NEW TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN</i></h2> +<br> + + +<h2>WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR</h2> +<br> +<h2>By J. T. BEALBY, B.A.</h2> +<h4>FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE</h4> +<br> + + +<h2>IN TWO VOLUMES</h2> +<h2>VOL. I.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<h3>NEW YORK</h3> +<h2>CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS<br> +1885</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>TROW'S<br> +PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY,<br> +NEW YORK.</h4> +<br> +<br> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><i>CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.</i></h2> + +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:90%; margin-left:5%; font-size:14pt"> +<colgroup><col style="width:90%; vertical-align:top"> +<col style="width:10%; vertical-align:bottom; text-align:right"></colgroup> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" style="text-align:right; font-size:90%">PAGE</td> +</tr><tr> +<td><span class="sc"><a name="div1Ref_violin" href="#div1_violin">The Cremona Violin</a></span>,</td> +<td></td> +</tr><tr> +<td><span class="sc"><a name="div1Ref_fermata" href="#div1_fermata">The Fermata</a></span>,</td> +<td></td> +</tr><tr> +<td><span class="sc"><a name="div1Ref_formica" href="#div1_formica">Signor Formica</a></span>,</td> +<td></td> +</tr><tr> +<td><span class="sc"><a name="div1Ref_sand_man" href="#div1_sand_man">The Sand-man</a></span>,</td> +<td></td> +</tr><tr> +<td><span class="sc"><a name="div1Ref_entail" href="#div1_entail">The Entail</a></span>,</td> +<td></td> +</tr><tr> +<td><span class="sc"><a name="div1Ref_hall" href="#div1_hall">Arthur's Hall</a></span>,</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +</table> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><span class="space"><i><a name="div1_violin" href="#div1Ref_violin">THE CREMONA VIOLIN</a></i></span>.</h2> + + +<p class="normal">Councillor Krespel was one of the strangest, oddest men I ever met with +in my life. When I went to live in H—— for a time the whole town was +full of talk about him, as he happened to be just then in the midst of +one of the very craziest of his schemes. Krespel had the reputation +of being both a clever, learn lawyer and a skilful diplomatist. One of +the reigning princes of Germany—not, however, one of the most +powerful—had appealed to him for assistance in drawing up a memorial, +which he was desirous of presenting at the Imperial Court with the view +of furthering his legitimate claims upon a certain strip of territory. +The project was crowned with the happiest success; and as Krespel had +once complained that he could never find a dwelling sufficiently +comfortable to suit him, the prince, to reward him for the memorial, +undertook to defray the cost of building a house which Krespel might +erect just as he pleased. Moreover, the prince was willing to purchase +any site that he should fancy. This offer, however, the Councillor +would not accept; he insisted that the house should be built in his +garden, situated in a very beautiful neighbourhood outside the +town-walls. So he bought all kinds of materials and had them carted +out. Then he might have been seen day after day, attired in his curious +garments (which he had made himself according to certain fixed rules of +his own), slacking the lime, riddling the sand, packing up the bricks +and stones in regular heaps, and so on. All this he did without once +consulting an architect or thinking about a plan. One fine day, +however, he went to an experienced builder of the town and requested +him to be in his garden at daybreak the next morning, with all his +journeymen and apprentices, and a large body of labourers, &c., to +build him his house. Naturally the builder asked for the architect's +plan, and was not a little astonished when Krespel replied that none +was needed, and that things would turn out all right in the end, just +as he wanted them. Next morning, when the builder and his men came to +the place, they found a trench drawn out in the shape of an exact +square; and Krespel said, "Here's where you must lay the foundations; +then carry up the walls until I say they are high enough." "Without +windows and doors, and without partition walls?" broke in the builder, +as if alarmed at Krespel's mad folly. "Do what I tell you, my dear +sir," replied the Councillor quite calmly; "leave the rest to me; it +will be all right." It was only the promise of high pay that could +induce the builder to proceed with the ridiculous building; but none +has ever been erected under merrier circumstances. As there was an +abundant supply of food and drink, the workmen never left their work; +and amidst their continuous laughter the four walls were run up with +incredible quickness, until one day Krespel cried, "Stop!" Then the +workmen, laying down trowel and hammer, came down from the scaffoldings +and gathered round Krespel in a circle, whilst every laughing face was +asking, "Well, and what now?" "Make way!" cried Krespel; and then +running to one end of the garden, he strode slowly towards the square +of brick-work. When he came close to the wall he shook his head in a +dissatisfied manner, ran to the other end of the garden, again strode +slowly towards the brick-work square, and proceeded to act as before. +These tactics he pursued several times, until at length, running his +sharp nose hard against the wall, he cried, "Come here, come here, men! +break me a door in here! Here's where I want a door made!" He gave the +exact dimensions in feet and inches, and they did as he bid them. Then +he stepped inside the structure, and smiled with satisfaction as the +builder remarked that the walls were just the height of a good +two-storeyed house. Krespel walked thoughtfully backwards and forwards +across the space within, the bricklayers behind him with hammers and +picks, and wherever he cried, "Make a window here, six feet high by +four feet broad!" "There a little window, three feet by two!" a hole +was made in a trice.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was at this stage of the proceedings that I came to H——; and it +was highly amusing to see how hundreds of people stood round about the +garden and raised a loud shout whenever the stones flew out and a new +window appeared where nobody had for a moment expected it. And in the +same manner Krespel proceeded with the buildings and fittings of the +rest of the house, and with all the work necessary to that end; +everything had to be done on the spot in accordance with the +instructions which the Councillor gave from time to time. However, the +absurdity of the whole business, the growing conviction that things +would in the end turn out better than might have been expected, but +above all, Krespel's generosity—which indeed cost him nothing—kept +them all in good-humour. Thus were the difficulties overcome which +necessarily arose out of this eccentric way of building, and in a short +time there was a completely finished house, its outside, indeed, +presenting a most extraordinary appearance, no two windows, &c., being +alike, but on the other hand the interior arrangements suggested a +peculiar feeling of comfort. All who entered the house bore witness to +the truth of this; and I too experienced it myself when I was taken in +by Krespel after I had become more intimate with him. For hitherto I +had not exchanged a word with this eccentric man; his building had +occupied him so much that he had not even once been to Professor M——'s to dinner, as he was in the habit of going on Tuesdays. Indeed, +in reply to a special invitation, he sent word that he should not set +foot over the threshold before the house-warming of his new building +took place. All his friends and acquaintances, therefore, confidently +looked forward to a great banquet; but Krespel invited nobody except +the masters, journeymen, apprentices, and labourers who had built the +house. He entertained them with the choicest viands: bricklayer's +apprentices devoured partridge pies regardless of consequences; young +joiners polished off roast pheasants with the greatest success; whilst +hungry labourers helped themselves for once to the choicest morsels of +<i>truffes fricassées</i>. In the evening their wives and daughters came, +and there was a great ball. After waltzing a short while with the wives +of the masters, Krespel sat down amongst the town-musicians, took a +violin in his hand, and directed the orchestra until daylight.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the Tuesday after this festival, which exhibited Councillor Krespel +in the character of a friend of the people, I at length saw him appear, +to my no little joy, at Professor M——'s. Anything more strange and +fantastic than Krespel's behaviour it would be impossible to find. He +was so stiff and awkward in his movements, that he looked every moment +as if he would run up against something or do some damage. But he did +not; and the lady of the house seemed to be well aware that he would +not, for she did not grow a shade paler when he rushed with heavy steps +round a table crowded with beautiful cups, or when he manœuvred near +a large mirror that reached down to the floor, or even when he seized a +flower-pot of beautifully painted porcelain and swung it round in the +air as if desirous of making its colours play. Moreover, before dinner +he subjected everything in the Professor's room to a most minute +examination; he also took down a picture from the wall and hung it up +again, standing on one of the cushioned chairs to do so. At the same +time he talked a good deal and vehemently; at one time his thoughts +kept leaping, as it were, from one subject to another (this was most +conspicuous during dinner); at another, he was unable to have done with +an idea; seizing upon it again and again, he gave it all sorts of +wonderful twists and turns, and couldn't get back into the ordinary +track until something else took hold of his fancy. Sometimes his voice +was rough and harsh and screeching, and sometimes it was low and +drawling and singing; but at no time did it harmonize with what he was +talking about. Music was the subject of conversation; the praises of a +new composer were being sung, when Krespel, smiling, said in his low +singing tones, "I wish the devil with his pitchfork would hurl that +atrocious garbler of music millions of fathoms down to the bottomless +pit of hell!" Then he burst out passionately and wildly, "She is an +angel of heaven, nothing but pure God-given music!—the paragon and +queen of song!"—and tears stood in his eyes. To understand this, we +had to go back to a celebrated <i>artiste</i>, who had been the subject of +conversation an hour before.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at this time a roast hare was on the table; I noticed that Krespel +carefully removed every particle of meat from the bones on his plate, +and was most particular in his inquiries after the hare's feet; these +the Professor's little five-year-old daughter now brought to him with a +very pretty smile. Besides, the children had cast many friendly glances +towards Krespel during dinner; now they rose and drew nearer to him, +but not without signs of timorous awe. What's the meaning of that? +thought I to myself. Dessert was brought in; then the Councillor took a +little box from his pocket, in which he had a miniature lathe of steel. +This he immediately screwed fast to the table, and turning the bones +with incredible skill and rapidity, he made all sorts of little fancy +boxes and balls, which the children received with cries of delight. +Just as we were rising from table, the Professor's niece asked, "And +what is our Antonia doing?" Krespel's face was like that of one who has +bitten of a sour orange and wants to look as if it were a sweet one; +but this expression soon changed into the likeness of a hideous mask, +whilst he laughed behind it with downright bitter, fierce, and as it +seemed to me, satanic scorn. "Our Antonia? our dear Antonia?" he asked +in his drawling, disagreeable singing way. The Professor hastened to +intervene; in the reproving glance which he gave his niece I read that +she had touched a point likely to stir up unpleasant memories in +Krespel's heart. "How are you getting on with your violins?" interposed +the Professor in a jovial manner, taking the Councillor by both hands. +Then Krespel's countenance cleared up, and with a firm voice he +replied, "Capitally, Professor; you recollect my telling you of the +lucky chance which threw that splendid Amati<sup><a name="div2_violin1" href="#div2Ref_violin1">1</a></sup> into my hands. Well, +I've only cut it open to-day—not before to-day. I hope Antonia has +carefully taken the rest of it to pieces." "Antonia is a good child," +remarked the Professor. "Yes, indeed, that she is," cried the +Councillor, whisking himself round; then, seizing his hat and stick, he +hastily rushed out of the room. I saw in the mirror how that tears were +standing in his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as the Councillor was gone, I at once urged the Professor to +explain to me what Krespel had to do with violins, and particularly +with Antonia. "Well," replied the Professor, "not only is the +Councillor a remarkably eccentric fellow altogether, but he practises +violin-making in his own crack-brained way." "Violin-making!" I +exclaimed, perfectly astonished. "Yes," continued the Professor, +"according to the judgment of men who understand the thing, Krespel +makes the very best violins that can be found nowadays; formerly he +would frequently let other people play on those in which he had been +especially successful, but that's been all over and done with now for a +long time. As soon as he has finished a violin he plays on it himself +for one or two hours, with very remarkable power and with the most +exquisite expression, then he hangs it up beside the rest, and never +touches it again or suffers anybody else to touch it. If a violin by +any of the eminent old masters is hunted up anywhere, the Councillor +buys it immediately, no matter what the price put upon it. But he plays +it as he does his own violins, only once; then he takes it to pieces in +order to examine closely its inner structure, and should he fancy he +hasn't found exactly what he sought for, he in a pet throws the pieces +into a big chest, which is already full of the remains of broken +violins." "But who and what is Antonia?" I inquired, hastily and +impetuously. "Well, now, that," continued the Professor, "that is a +thing which might very well make me conceive an unconquerable aversion +to the Councillor, were I not convinced that there is some peculiar +secret behind it, for he is such a good-natured fellow at bottom as to +be sometimes guilty of weakness. When he came to H—— several years +ago, he led the life of an anchorite, along with an old housekeeper, in +—— Street. Soon, by his oddities, he excited the curiosity of his +neighbours; and immediately he became aware of this, he sought and made +acquaintances. Not only in my house but everywhere we became so +accustomed to him that he grew to be indispensable. In spite of his +rude exterior, even the children liked him, without ever proving a +nuisance to him; for notwithstanding all their friendly passages +together, they always retained a certain timorous awe of him, which +secured him against all over-familiarity. You have to-day had an +example of the way in which he wins their hearts by his ready skill in +various things. We all took him at first for a crusty old bachelor, and +he never contradicted us. After he had been living here some time, he +went away, nobody knew where, and returned at the end of some months. +The evening following his return his windows were lit up to an unusual +extent! this alone was sufficient to arouse his neighbours' attention, +and they soon heard the surpassingly beautiful voice of a female +singing to the accompaniment of a piano. Then the music of a violin was +heard chiming in and entering upon a keen ardent contest with the +voice. They knew at once that the player was the Councillor. I myself +mixed in the large crowd which had gathered in front of his house to +listen to this extraordinary concert; and I must confess that, beside +this voice and the peculiar, deep, soul-stirring impression which the +execution made upon me, the singing of the most celebrated <i>artistes</i> +whom I had ever heard seemed to me feeble and void of expression. Until +then I had had no conception of such long-sustained notes, of such +nightingale trills, of such undulations of musical sound, of such +swelling up to the strength of organ-notes, of such dying away to the +faintest whisper. There was not one whom the sweet witchery did not +enthral; and when the singer ceased, nothing but soft sighs broke the +impressive silence. Somewhere about midnight the Councillor was heard +talking violently, and another male voice seemed, to judge from the +tones, to be reproaching him, whilst at intervals the broken words of a +sobbing girl could be detected. The Councillor continued to shout with +increasing violence, until he fell into that drawling, singing way that +you know. He was interrupted by a loud scream from the girl, and then +all was as still as death. Suddenly a loud racket was heard on the +stairs; a young man rushed out sobbing, threw himself into a +post-chaise which stood below, and drove rapidly away. The next day the +Councillor was very cheerful, and nobody had the courage to question +him about the events of the previous night. But on inquiring of the +housekeeper, we gathered that the Councillor had brought home with him +an extraordinarily pretty young lady whom he called Antonia, and she it +was who had sung so beautifully. A young man also had come along with +them; he had treated Antonia very tenderly, and must evidently have +been her betrothed. But he, since the Councillor peremptorily insisted +on it, had had to go away again in a hurry. What the relations between +Antonia and the Councillor are has remained until now a secret, but +this much is certain, that he tyrannises over the poor girl in the most +hateful fashion. He watches her as Doctor Bartholo watches his ward in +the <i>Barber of Seville</i>; she hardly dare show herself at the window; +and if, yielding now and again to her earnest entreaties, he takes her +into society, he follows her with Argus' eyes, and will on no account +suffer a musical note to be sounded, far less let Antonia sing—indeed, +she is not permitted to sing in his own house. Antonia's singing on +that memorable night, has, therefore, come to be regarded by the +townspeople in the light of a tradition of some marvellous wonder that +suffices to stir the heart and the fancy; and even those who did not +hear it often exclaim, whenever any other singer attempts to display +her powers in the place, 'What sort of a wretched squeaking do you call +that? Nobody but Antonia knows how to sing.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Having a singular weakness for such like fantastic histories, I found +it necessary, as may easily be imagined, to make Antonia's +acquaintance. I had myself often enough heard the popular sayings about +her singing, but had never imagined that that exquisite <i>artiste</i> was +living in the place, held a captive in the bonds of this eccentric +Krespel like the victim of a tyrannous sorcerer. Naturally enough I +heard in my dreams on the following night Antonia's marvellous voice, +and as she besought me in the most touching manner in a glorious +<i>adagio</i> movement (very ridiculously it seemed to me, as if I had +composed it myself) to save her, I soon resolved, like a second +Astolpho,<sup><a name="div2_violin2" href="#div2Ref_violin2">2</a></sup> to penetrate into Krespel's house, as if into another +Alcina's magic castle, and deliver the queen of song from her +ignominious fetters.</p> + +<p class="normal">It all came about in a different way from what I had expected; I had +seen the Councillor scarcely more than two or three times, and eagerly +discussed with him the best method of constructing violins, when he +invited me to call and see him. I did so; and he showed me his +treasures of violins. There were fully thirty of them hanging up in a +closet; one amongst them bore conspicuously all the marks of great +antiquity (a carved lion's head, &c.), and, hung up higher than the +rest and surmounted by a crown of flowers, it seemed to exercise a +queenly supremacy over them. "This violin," said Krespel, on my making +some inquiry relative to it, "this violin is a very remarkable and +curious specimen of the work of some unknown master, probably of +Tartini's<sup><a name="div2_violin3" href="#div2Ref_violin3">3</a></sup> age. I am perfectly convinced that there is something +especially exceptional in its inner construction, and that, if I took +it to pieces, a secret would be revealed to me which I have long been +seeking to discover, but—laugh at me if you like—this senseless thing +which only gives signs of life and sound as I make it, often speaks to +me in a strange way of itself. The first time I played upon it I +somehow fancied that I was only the magnetiser who has the power of +moving his subject to reveal of his own accord in words the visions of +his inner nature. Don't go away with the belief that I am such a fool +as to attach even the slightest importance to such fantastic notions, +and yet it's certainly strange that I could never prevail upon myself +to cut open that dumb lifeless thing there. I am very pleased now that +I have not cut it open, for since Antonia has been with me I sometimes +play to her upon this violin. For Antonia is fond of it—very fond of +it." As the Councillor uttered these words with visible signs of +emotion, I felt encouraged to hazard the question, "Will you not play +it to me, Councillor." Krespel made a wry face, and falling into his +drawling, singing way, said, "No, my good sir!" and that was an end of +the matter. Then I had to look at all sorts of rare curiosities, the +greater part of them childish trifles; at last thrusting his arm into a +chest, he brought out a folded piece of paper, which he pressed into my +hand, adding solemnly, "You are a lover of art; take this present as a +priceless memento, which you must value at all times above everything +else." Therewith he took me by the shoulders and gently pushed me +towards the door, embracing me on the threshold. That is to say, I was +in a symbolical manner virtually kicked out of doors. Unfolding the +paper, I found a piece of a first string of a violin about an eighth of +an inch in length, with the words, "A piece of the treble string with +which the deceased Staraitz<sup><a name="div2_violin4" href="#div2Ref_violin4">4</a></sup> strung his violin for the last concert +at which he ever played."</p> + +<p class="normal">This summary dismissal at mention of Antonia's name led me to infer +that I should never see her; but I was mistaken, for on my second visit +to the Councillor's I found her in his room, assisting him to put a +violin together. At first sight Antonia did not make a strong +impression; but soon I found it impossible to tear myself away from her +blue eyes, her sweet rosy lips, her uncommonly graceful, lovely form. +She was very pale; but a shrewd remark or a merry sally would call up a +winning smile on her face and suffuse her cheeks with a deep burning +flush, which, however, soon faded away to a faint rosy glow. My +conversation with her was quite unconstrained, and yet I saw nothing +whatever of the Argus-like watchings on Krespel's part which the +Professor had imputed to him; on the contrary, his behaviour moved +along the customary lines, nay, he even seemed to approve of my +conversation with Antonia. So I often stepped in to see the Councillor; +and as we became accustomed to each other's society, a singular feeling +of homeliness, taking possession of our little circle of three, filled +our hearts with inward happiness. I still continued to derive exquisite +enjoyment from the Councillor's strange crotchets and oddities; but it +was of course Antonia's irresistible charms alone which attracted me, +and led me to put up with a good deal which I should otherwise, in the +frame of mind in which I then was, have impatiently shunned. For it +only too often happened that in the Councillor's characteristic +extravagance there was mingled much that was dull and tiresome; and it +was in a special degree irritating to me that, as often as I turned the +conversation upon music, and particularly upon singing, he was sure to +interrupt me, with that sardonic smile upon his face and those +repulsive singing tones of his, by some remark of a quite opposite +tendency, very often of a commonplace character. From the great +distress which at such times Antonia's glances betrayed, I perceived +that he only did it to deprive me of a pretext for calling upon her for +a song. But I didn't relinquish my design. The hindrances which the +Councillor threw in my way only strengthened my resolution to overcome +them; I must hear Antonia sing if I was not to pine away in reveries +and dim aspirations for want of hearing her.</p> + +<p class="normal">One evening Krespel was in an uncommonly good humour; he had been +taking an old Cremona violin to pieces, and had discovered that the +sound-post was fixed half a line more obliquely than usual—an +important discovery! one of incalculable advantage in the practical +work of making violins! I succeeded in setting him off at full speed on +his hobby of the true art of violin-playing. Mention of the way in +which the old masters picked up their dexterity in execution from +really great singers (which was what Krespel happened just then to be +expatiating upon), naturally paved the way for the remark that now the +practice was the exact opposite of this, the vocal score erroneously +following the affected and abrupt transitions and rapid scaling of the +instrumentalists. "What is more nonsensical," I cried, leaping from my +chair, running to the piano, and opening it quickly, "what is more +nonsensical than such an execrable style as this, which, far from being +music, is much more like the noise of peas rolling across the floor?" +At the same time I sang several of the modern <i>fermatas</i>, which rush up +and down and hum like a well-spun peg-top, striking a few villanous +chords by way of accompaniment Krespel laughed outrageously and +screamed, "Ha! ha! methinks I hear our German-Italians or our +Italian-Germans struggling with an aria from Pucitta,<sup><a name="div2_violin5" href="#div2Ref_violin5">5</a></sup> or +Portogallo,<sup><a name="div2_violin6" href="#div2Ref_violin6">6</a></sup> or some other <i>Maestro di capella</i>, or rather <i>schiavo +d'un primo uomo</i>."<sup><a name="div2_violin7" href="#div2Ref_violin7">7</a></sup> Now, thought I, now's the time; so turning to +Antonia, I remarked, "Antonia knows nothing of such singing as that, I +believe?" At the same time I struck up one of old Leonardo Leo's<sup><a name="div2_violin8" href="#div2Ref_violin8">8</a></sup> +beautiful soul-stirring songs. Then Antonia's cheeks glowed; heavenly +radiance sparkled in her eyes, which grew full of reawakened +inspiration; she hastened to the piano; she opened her lips; but at +that very moment Krespel pushed her away, grasped me by the shoulders, +and with a shriek that rose up to a tenor pitch, cried, "My son—my +son—my son!" And then he immediately went on, singing very softly, and +grasping my hand with a bow that was the pink of politeness, "In very +truth, my esteemed and honourable student-friend, in very truth it +would be a violation of the codes of social intercourse, as well as of +all good manners, were I to express aloud and in a stirring way my wish +that here, on this very spot, the devil from hell would softly break +your neck with his burning claws, and so in a sense make short work of +you; but, setting that aside, you must acknowledge, my dearest friend, +that it is rapidly growing dark, and there are no lamps burning +to-night so that, even though I did not kick you downstairs at once, +your darling limbs might still run a risk of suffering damage. Go home +by all means; and cherish a kind remembrance of your faithful friend, +if it should happen that you never,—pray, understand me,—if you +should never see him in his own house again." Therewith he embraced +me, and, still keeping fast hold of me, turned with me slowly towards +the door, so that I could not get another single look at Antonia. Of +course it is plain enough that in my position I couldn't thrash the +Councillor, though that is what he really deserved. The Professor +enjoyed a good laugh at my expense, and assured me that I had ruined +for ever all hopes of retaining the Councillor's friendship. Antonia +was too dear to me, I might say too holy, for me to go and play the +part of the languishing lover and stand gazing up at her window, or to +fill the <i>rôle</i> of the lovesick adventurer. Completely upset, I went +away from H——; but, as is usual in such cases, the brilliant colours +of the picture of my fancy faded, and the recollection of Antonia, as +well as of Antonia's singing (which I had never heard), often fell upon +my heart like a soft faint trembling light, comforting me.</p> + +<p class="normal">Two years afterwards I received an appointment in B——, and set out on +a journey to the south of Germany. The towers of M—— rose before me +in the red vaporous glow of the evening; the nearer I came the more was +I oppressed by an indescribable feeling of the most agonising distress; +it lay upon me like a heavy burden; I could not breathe; I was obliged +to get out of my carriage into the open air. But my anguish continued +to increase until it became actual physical pain. Soon I seemed to hear +the strains of a solemn chorale floating in the air; the sounds +continued to grow more distinct; I realised the fact that they were +men's voices chanting a church chorale. "What's that? what's that?" I +cried, a burning stab darting as it were through my breast "Don't you +see?" replied the coachman, who was driving along beside me, "why, +don't you see? they're burying somebody up yonder in yon churchyard." +And indeed we were near the churchyard; I saw a circle of men clothed +in black standing round a grave, which was on the point of being +closed. Tears started to my eyes; I somehow fancied they were burying +there all the joy and all the happiness of life. Moving on rapidly down +the hill, I was no longer able to see into the churchyard; the chorale +came to an end, and I perceived not far distant from the gate some of +the mourners returning from the funeral. The Professor, with his niece +on his arm, both in deep mourning, went close past me without noticing +me. The young lady had her handkerchief pressed close to her eyes, and +was weeping bitterly. In the frame of mind in which I then was I could +not possibly go into the town, so I sent on my servant with the +carriage to the hotel where I usually put up, whilst I took a turn in +the familiar neighbourhood, to get rid of a mood that was possibly only +due to physical causes, such as heating on the journey, &c. On arriving +at a well-known avenue, which leads to a pleasure resort, I came upon a +most extraordinary spectacle. Councillor Krespel was being conducted by +two mourners, from whom he appeared to be endeavouring to make his +escape by all sorts of strange twists and turns. As usual, he was +dressed in his own curious home-made grey coat; but from his little +cocked-hat, which he wore perched over one ear in military fashion, a +long narrow ribbon of black crape fluttered backwards and forwards in +the wind. Around his waist he had buckled a black sword-belt; but +instead of a sword he had stuck a long fiddle-bow into it. A creepy +shudder ran through my limbs: "He's insane," thought I, as I slowly +followed them. The Councillor's companions led him as far as his house, +where he embraced them, laughing loudly. They left him; and then +his glance fell upon me, for I now stood near him. He stared at me +fixedly for some time; then he cried in a hollow voice, "Welcome, my +student-friend! you also understand it!" Therewith he took me by the +arm and pulled me into the house, up the steps, into the room where the +violins hung. They were all draped in black crape; the violin of the +old master was missing; in its place was a cypress wreath. I knew what +had happened. "Antonia! Antonia!" I cried in inconsolable grief. The +Councillor, with his arms crossed on his breast, stood beside me, as if +turned into stone. I pointed to the cypress wreath. "When she died," +said he in a very hoarse solemn voice, "when she died, the soundpost of +that violin broke into pieces with a ringing crack, and the sound-board +was split from end to end. The faithful instrument could only live with +her and in her; it lies beside her in the coffin, it has been buried +with her." Deeply agitated, I sank down upon a chair, whilst the +Councillor began to sing a gay song in a husky voice; it was truly +horrible to see him hopping about on one foot, and the crape strings +(he still had his hat on) flying about the room and up to the violins +hanging on the walls. Indeed, I could not repress a loud cry that rose +to my lips when, on the Councillor making an abrupt turn, the crape +came all over me; I fancied he wanted to envelop me in it and drag me +down into the horrible dark depths of insanity. Suddenly he stood still +and addressed me in his singing way, "My son! my son! why do you call +out? Have you espied the angel of death? That always precedes the +ceremony." Stepping into the middle of the room, he took the violin-bow +out of his sword-belt and, holding it over his head with both hands, +broke it into a thousand pieces. Then, with a loud laugh, he cried, +"Now you imagine my sentence is pronounced, don't you, my son? but it's +nothing of the kind—not at all! not at all! Now I'm free—free—free— +hurrah! I'm free! Now I shall make no more violins—no more +violins—Hurrah! no more violins!" This he sang to a horrible mirthful +tune, again spinning round on one foot. Perfectly aghast, I was making +the best of my way to the door, when he held me fast, saying quite +calmly, "Stay, my student friend, pray don't think from this outbreak +of grief, which is torturing me as if with the agonies of death, that +I am insane; I only do it because a short time ago I made myself a +dressing-gown in which I wanted to look like Fate or like God!" The +Councillor then went on with a medley of silly and awful rubbish, until +he fell down utterly exhausted; I called up the old housekeeper, and +was very pleased to find myself in the open air again.</p> + +<p class="normal">I never doubted for a moment that Krespel had become insane; the +Professor, however, asserted the contrary. "There are men," he +remarked, "from whom nature or a special destiny has taken away the +cover behind which the mad folly of the rest of us runs its course +unobserved. They are like thin-skinned insects, which, as we watch the +restless play of their muscles, seem to be misshapen, while +nevertheless everything soon comes back into its proper form again. All +that with us remains thought, passes over with Krespel into action. +That bitter scorn which the spirit that is wrapped up in the doings and +dealings of the earth often has at hand, Krespel gives vent to in +outrageous gestures and agile caprioles. But these are his lightning +conductor. What comes up out of the earth he gives again to the earth, +but what is divine, that he keeps; and so I believe that his inner +consciousness, in spite of the apparent madness which springs from it +to the surface, is as right as a trivet. To be sure, Antonia's sudden +death grieves him sore, but I warrant that tomorrow will see him going +along in his old jog-trot way as usual." And the Professor's prediction +was almost literally filled. Next day the Councillor appeared to be +just as he formerly was, only he averred that he would never make +another violin, nor yet ever play on another. And, as I learned later, +he kept his word.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hints which the Professor let fall confirmed my own private conviction +that the so carefully guarded secret of the Councillor's relations to +Antonia, nay, that even her death, was a crime which must weigh heavily +upon him, a crime that could not be atoned for. I determined that I +would not leave H—— without taxing him with the offence which I +conceived him to be guilty of; I determined to shake his heart down to +its very roots, and so compel him to make open confession of the +terrible deed. The more I reflected upon the matter the clearer it grew +in my own mind that Krespel must be a villain, and in the same +proportion did my intended reproach, which assumed of itself the form +of a real rhetorical masterpiece, wax more fiery and more impressive. +Thus equipped and mightily incensed, I hurried to his house. I found +him with a calm smiling countenance making playthings. "How can peace," +I burst out, "how can peace find lodgment even for a single moment in +your breast, so long as the memory of your horrible deed preys like a +serpent upon you?" He gazed at me in amazement, and laid his chisel +aside. "What do you mean, my dear sir?" he asked; "pray take a seat." +But my indignation chafing me more and more, I went on to accuse him +directly of having murdered Antonia, and to threaten him with the +vengeance of the Eternal.</p> + +<p class="normal">Further, as a newly full-fledged lawyer, full of my profession, I went +so far as to give him to understand that I would leave no stone +unturned to get a clue to the business, and so deliver him here in this +world into the hands of an earthly judge. I must confess that I was +considerably disconcerted when, at the conclusion of my violent and +pompous harangue, the Councillor, without answering so much as a +single word, calmly fixed his eyes upon me as though expecting me +to go on again. And this I did indeed attempt to do, but it sounded so +ill-founded and so stupid as well that I soon grew silent again. +Krespel gloated over my embarrassment, whilst a malicious ironical +smile flitted across his face. Then he grew very grave, and addressed +me in solemn tones. "Young man, no doubt you think I am foolish, +insane; that I can pardon you, since we are both confined in the same +madhouse; and you only blame me for deluding myself with the idea that +I am God the Father because you imagine yourself to be God the Son. But +how do you dare desire to insinuate yourself into the secrets and lay +bare the hidden motives of a life that is strange to you and that must +continue so? She has gone and the mystery is solved." He ceased +speaking, rose, and traversed the room backwards and forwards several +times. I ventured to ask for an explanation; he fixed his eyes upon me, +grasped me by the hand, and led me to the window, which he threw wide +open. Propping himself upon his arms, he leaned out, and, looking down +into the garden, told me the history of his life. When he finished I +left him, touched and ashamed.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a few words, his relations with Antonia rose in the following way. +Twenty years before, the Councillor had been led into Italy by his +favourite engrossing passion of hunting up and buying the best violins +of the old masters. At that time he had not yet begun to make them +himself, and so of course he had not begun to take to pieces those +which he bought. In Venice he heard the celebrated singer Angela ——i, +who at that time was playing with splendid success as <i>prima donna</i> at +St. Benedict's Theatre. His enthusiasm was awakened, not only in her +art—which Signora Angela had indeed brought to a high pitch of +perfection—but in her angelic beauty as well. He sought her +acquaintance; and in spite of all his rugged manners he succeeded in +winning her heart, principally through his bold and yet at the same +time masterly violin-playing. Close intimacy led in a few weeks to +marriage, which, however, was kept a secret, because Angela was +unwilling to sever her connection with the theatre, neither did she +wish to part with her professional name, that by which she was +celebrated, nor to add to it the cacophonous "Krespel." With the most +extravagant irony he described to me what a strange life of worry and +torture Angela led him as soon as she became his wife. Krespel was of +opinion that more capriciousness and waywardness were concentrated in +Angela's little person than in all the rest of the <i>prima donnas</i> in +the world put together. If he now and again presumed to stand up in his +own defence, she let loose a whole army of abbots, musical composers, +and students upon him, who, ignorant of his true connection with +Angela, soundly rated him as a most intolerable, ungallant lover for +not submitting to all the Signora's caprices. It was just after one of +these stormy scenes that Krespel fled to Angela's country seat to try +and forget in playing fantasias on his Cremona, violin the annoyances +of the day. But he had not been there long before the Signora, who had +followed hard after him, stepped into the room. She was in an +affectionate humour; she embraced her husband, overwhelmed him with +sweet and languishing glances, and rested her pretty head on his +shoulder. But Krespel, carried away into the world of music, continued +to play on until the walls echoed again; thus he chanced to touch the +Signora somewhat ungently with his arm and the fiddle-bow. She leapt +back full of fury, shrieking that he was a "German brute," snatched the +violin from his hands, and dashed it on the marble table into a +thousand pieces. Krespel stood like a statue of stone before her; but +then, as if awakening out of a dream, he seized her with the strength +of a giant and threw her out of the window of her own house, and, +without troubling himself about anything more, fled back to Venice—to +Germany. It was not, however, until some time had elapsed that he had a +clear recollection of what he had done; although he knew that the +window was scarcely five feet from the ground, and although he was +fully cognisant of the necessity, under the above-mentioned +circumstances, of throwing the Signora out of the window, he yet felt +troubled by a sense of painful uneasiness, and the more so since she +had imparted to him in no ambiguous terms an interesting secret as to +her condition. He hardly dared to make inquiries; and he was not a +little surprised about eight months afterwards at receiving a tender +letter from his beloved wife, in which she made not the slightest +allusion to what had taken place in her country house, only adding to +the intelligence that she had been safely delivered of a sweet little +daughter the heartfelt prayer that her dear husband and now a happy +father would come at once to Venice. That however Krespel did not do; +rather he appealed to a confidential friend for a more circumstantial +account of the details, and learned that the Signora had alighted upon +the soft grass as lightly as a bird, and that the sole consequences of +the fall or shock had been psychic. That is to say, after Krespel's +heroic deed she had become completely altered; she never showed a trace +of caprice, of her former freaks, or of her teasing habits; and the +composer who wrote for the next carnival was the happiest fellow under +the sun, since the Signora was willing to sing his music without the +scores and hundreds of changes which she at other times had insisted +upon. "To be sure," added his friend, "there was every reason for +preserving the secret of Angela's cure, else every day would see lady +singers flying through windows." The Councillor was not a little +excited at this news; he engaged horses; he took his seat in the +carriage. "Stop!" he cried suddenly. "Why, there's not a shadow of +doubt," he murmured to himself, "that as soon as Angela sets eyes upon +me again the evil spirit will recover his power and once more take +possession of her. And since I have already thrown her out of the +window, what could I do if a similar case were to occur again? What +would there be left for me to do?" He got out of the carriage, and +wrote an affectionate letter to his wife, making graceful allusion to +her tenderness in especially dwelling upon the fact that his tiny +daughter had like him a little mole behind the ear, and—remained in +Germany. Now ensued an active correspondence between them. Assurances +of unchanged affection—invitations—laments over the absence of the +beloved one—thwarted wishes—hopes, &c.—flew backwards and forwards +from Venice to H——, from H—— to Venice. At length Angela came to +Germany, and, as is well known, sang with brilliant success as <i>prima +donna</i> at the great theatre in F——. Despite the fact that she was no +longer young, she won all hearts by the irresistible charm of her +wonderfully splendid singing. At that time she had not lost her voice +in the least degree. Meanwhile, Antonia had been growing up; and her +mother never tired of writing to tell her father how that a singer of +the first rank was developing in her. Krespel's friends in F—— also +confirmed this intelligence, and urged him to come for once to F—— to +see and admire this uncommon sight of two such glorious singers. They +had not the slightest suspicion of the close relations in which Krespel +stood to the pair. Willingly would he have seen with his own eyes the +daughter who occupied so large a place in his heart, and who moreover +often appeared to him in his dreams; but as often as he thought upon +his wife he felt very uncomfortable, and so he remained at home amongst +his broken violins. There was a certain promising young composer, B—— of F——, who was found to have suddenly disappeared, nobody knew +where. This young man fell so deeply in love with Antonia that, as she +returned his love, he earnestly besought her mother to consent to an +immediate union, sanctified as it would further be by art. Angela had +nothing to urge against his suit; and the Councillor the more readily +gave his consent that the young composer's productions had found +favour before his rigorous critical judgment. Krespel was expecting +to hear of the consummation of the marriage, when he received +instead a black-sealed envelope addressed in a strange hand. Doctor R—— conveyed to the Councillor the sad intelligence that Angela had +fallen seriously ill in consequence of a cold caught at the theatre, +and that during the night immediately preceding what was to have been +Antonia's wedding-day, she had died. To him, the Doctor, Angela had +disclosed the fact that she was Krespel's wife, and that Antonia was +his daughter; he, Krespel, had better hasten therefore to take charge +of the orphan. Notwithstanding that the Councillor was a good deal +upset by this news of Angela's death, he soon began to feel that an +antipathetic, disturbing influence had departed out of his life, and +that now for the first time he could begin to breathe freely. The very +same day he set out for F——. You could not credit how heartrending +was the Councillor's description of the moment when he first saw +Antonia. Even in the fantastic oddities of his expression there was +such a marvellous power of description that I am unable to give even so +much as a faint indication of it. Antonia inherited all her mother's +amiability and all her mother's charms, but not the repellent reverse +of the medal. There was no chronic moral ulcer, which might break out +from time to time. Antonia's betrothed put in an appearance, whilst +Antonia herself, fathoming with happy instinct the deeper-lying +character of her wonderful father, sang one of old Padre Martini's<sup><a name="div2_violin9" href="#div2Ref_violin9">9</a></sup> +motets, which, she knew, Krespel in the heyday of his courtship had +never grown tired of hearing her mother sing. The tears ran in streams +down Krespel's cheeks; even Angela he had never heard sing like that. +Antonia's voice was of a very remarkable and altogether peculiar +timbre, at one time it was like the sighing of an Æolian harp, at +another like the warbled gush of the nightingale. It seemed as if there +was not room for such notes in the human breast. Antonia, blushing with +joy and happiness, sang on and on—all her most beautiful songs, B—— playing between whiles as only enthusiasm that is intoxicated +with delight can play. Krespel was at first transported with rapture, +then he grew thoughtful—still—absorbed in reflection. At length +he leapt to his feet, pressed Antonia to his heart, and begged +her in a low husky voice, "Sing no more if you love me—my heart +is bursting—I fear—I fear—don't sing again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" remarked the Councillor next day to Doctor R——, "when, as she +sang, her blushes gathered into two dark red spots on her pale cheeks, +I knew it had nothing to do with your nonsensical family likenesses, I +knew it was what I dreaded." The Doctor, whose countenance had shown +signs of deep distress from the very beginning of the conversation, +replied, "Whether it arises from a too early taxing of her powers of +song, or whether the fault is Nature's—enough, Antonia labours under +an organic failure in the chest, while it is from it too that her voice +derives its wonderful power and its singular timbre, which I might +almost say transcend the limits of human capabilities of song. But it +bears the announcement of her early death; for, if she continues to +sing, I wouldn't give her at the most more than six months longer to +live." Krespel's heart was lacerated as if by the stabs of hundreds of +stinging knives. It was as though his life had been for the first time +overshadowed by a beautiful tree full of the most magnificent blossoms, +and now it was to be sawn to pieces at the roots, so that it could not +grow green and blossom any more. His resolution was taken. He told +Antonia all; he put the alternatives before her—whether she would +follow her betrothed and yield to his and the world's seductions, but +with the certainty of dying early, or whether she would spread round +her father in his old days that joy and peace which had hitherto been +unknown to him, and so secure a long life. She threw herself sobbing +into his arms, and he, knowing the heartrending trial that was before +her, did not press for a more explicit declaration. He talked the +matter over with her betrothed; but, notwithstanding that the latter +averred that no note should ever cross Antonia's lips, the Councillor +was only too well aware that even B—— could not resist the temptation +of hearing her sing, at any rate arias of his own composition. And the +world, the musical public, even though acquainted with the nature of +the singer's affliction, would certainly not relinquish its claims to +hear her, for in cases where pleasure is concerned people of this class +are very selfish and cruel. The Councillor disappeared from F—— along +with Antonia, and came to H——. B—— was in despair when he learnt +that they had gone. He set out on their track, overtook them, and +arrived at H—— at the same time that they did. "Let me see him only +once, and then die!" entreated Antonia "Die! die!" cried Krespel, wild +with anger, an icy shudder running through him. His daughter, the only +creature in the wide world who had awakened in him the springs of +unknown joy, who alone had reconciled him to life, tore herself away +from his heart, and he—he suffered the terrible trial to take place. B—— sat down to the piano; Antonia sang; Krespel fiddled away +merrily, until the two red spots showed themselves on Antonia's cheeks. +Then he bade her stop; and as B was taking leave of his betrothed, she +suddenly fell to the floor with a loud scream. "I thought," continued +Krespel in his narration, "I thought that she was, as I had +anticipated, really dead; but as I had prepared myself for the worst, +my calmness did not leave me, nor my self-command desert me. I grasped +B——, who stood like a silly sheep in his dismay, by the shoulders, +and said (here the Councillor fell into his singing tone), 'Now that +you, my estimable pianoforte-player, have, as you wished and desired, +really murdered your betrothed, you may quietly take your departure; at +least have the goodness to make yourself scarce before I run my bright +hanger through your heart. My daughter, who, as you see, is rather +pale, could very well do with some colour from your precious blood. +Make haste and run, for I might also hurl a nimble knife or two after +you.' I must, I suppose, have looked rather formidable as I uttered +these words, for, with a cry of the greatest terror, B—— tore himself +loose from my grasp, rushed out of the room, and down the steps." +Directly after B—— was gone, when the Councillor tried to lift up his +daughter, who lay unconscious on the floor, she opened her eyes with a +deep sigh, but soon closed them again as if about to die. Then +Krespel's grief found vent aloud, and would not be comforted. The +Doctor, whom the old housekeeper had called in, pronounced Antonia's +case a somewhat serious but by no means dangerous attack; and she did +indeed recover more quickly than her father had dared to hope. She now +clung to him with the most confiding childlike affection; she entered +into his favourite hobbies—into his mad schemes and whims. She helped +him take old violins to pieces and glue new ones together. "I won't +sing again any more, but live for you," she often said, sweetly smiling +upon him, after she had been asked to sing and had refused. Such +appeals however the Councillor was anxious to spare her as much as +possible; therefore it was that he was unwilling to take her into +society, and solicitously shunned all music. He well understood how +painful it must be for her to forego altogether the exercise of that +art which she had brought to such a pitch of perfection. When the +Councillor bought the wonderful violin that he had buried with Antonia, +and was about to take it to pieces, she met him with such sadness in +her face and softly breathed the petition, "What! this as well?" By +some power, which he could not explain, he felt impelled to leave this +particular instrument unbroken, and to play upon it. Scarcely had he +drawn the first few notes from it than Antonia cried aloud with joy, +"Why, that's me!—now I shall sing again." And, in truth, there was +something remarkably striking about the clear, silvery, bell-like tones +of the violin; they seemed to have been engendered in the human soul. +Krespel's heart was deeply moved; he played, too, better than ever. As +he ran up and down the scale, playing bold passages with consummate +power and expression, she clapped her hands together and cried with +delight, "I did that well! I did that well!"</p> + +<p class="normal">From this time onwards her life was filled with peace and cheerfulness. +She often said to the Councillor, "I should like to sing something, +father." Then Krespel would take his violin down from the wall and play +her most beautiful songs, and her heart was right glad and happy. +Shortly before my arrival in H——, the Councillor fancied one night +that he heard somebody playing the piano in the adjoining room, and he +soon made out distinctly that B—— was flourishing on the instrument +in his usual style. He wished to get up, but felt himself held down as +if by a dead weight, and lying as if fettered in iron bonds; he was +utterly unable to move an inch. Then Antonia's voice was heard singing +low and soft; soon, however, it began to rise and rise in volume until +it became an ear-splitting fortissimo; and at length she passed over +into a powerfully impressive song which B—— had once composed for her +in the devotional style of the old masters. Krespel described his +condition as being incomprehensible, for terrible anguish was mingled +with a delight he had never experienced before. All at once he was +surrounded by a dazzling brightness, in which he beheld B—— and +Antonia locked in a close embrace, and gazing at each other in a +rapture of ecstasy. The music of the song and of the pianoforte +accompanying it went on without any visible signs that Antonia sang or +that B—— touched the instrument. Then the Councillor fell into a sort +of dead faint, whilst the images vanished away. On awakening he still +felt the terrible anguish of his dream. He rushed into Antonia's room. +She lay on the sofa, her eyes closed, a sweet angelic smile on her +face, her hands devoutly folded, and looking as if asleep and dreaming +of the joys and raptures of heaven. But she was—dead.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * * *</span></p> + +<p class="continue">FOOTNOTES TO "THE CREMONA VIOLIN":</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_violin1" href="#div2_violin1">1</a></sup> The Amati were a celebrated family of violin-makers of +the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, belonging to Cremona in Italy. +They form the connecting-link between the Brescian school of makers and +the greatest of all makers, Straduarius and Guanerius.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_violin2" href="#div2_violin2">2</a></sup> A reference to Ariosto's <i>Orlando Furioso</i>. Astolpho, an +English cousin of Orlando, was a great boaster, but generous, +courteous, gay, and remarkably handsome; he was carried to Alcina's +island on the back of a whale.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_violin3" href="#div2_violin3">3</a></sup> Giuseppe Tartini, born in 1692, died in 1770; was one of +the most celebrated violinists of the eighteenth century, and the +discoverer (in 1714) of "resultant tones," or "Tartini's tones" as they +are frequently called. Most of his life was spent at Padua. He did much +to advance the art of the violinist, both by his compositions for that +instrument as well as by his treatise on its capabilities.]</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_violin4" href="#div2_violin4">4</a></sup> This was the name of a well-known musical family from +Bohemia. Karl Stamitz is the one here possibly meant, since he died +about eighteen or twenty years previous to the publication of this +tale.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_violin5" href="#div2_violin5">5</a></sup> Vincenzo Pucitta (1778-1861) was an Italian opera +composer, whose music "shows great facility, but no invention." He also +wrote several songs.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_violin6" href="#div2_violin6">6</a></sup> Il Portogallo was the Italian sobriquet of a Portuguese +musician named Mark Anthony Simâo (1763-1829). He lived alternately in +Italy and Portugal, and wrote several operas.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_violin7" href="#div2_violin7">7</a></sup> Literally, "The slave of a <i>primo uomo</i>," <i>primo uomo</i> +being the masculine form corresponding to <i>prima donna</i>, that is, a +singer of hero's parts in operatic music. At one time also female parts +were sung and acted by men or boys.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_violin8" href="#div2_violin8">8</a></sup> Leonardo Leo, the chief Neapolitan representative of +Italian music in the first part of the eighteenth century, and author +of more than forty operas and nearly one hundred compositions for the +Church.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_violin9" href="#div2_violin9">9</a></sup> Giambattista Martini, more commonly called Padre Martini, +of Bologna, formed an influential school of music there in the latter +half of the eighteenth century. He wrote vocal and instrumental pieces +both for the church and for the theatre. He was also a learned +historian of music. He has the merit of having discerned and encouraged +the genius of Mozart when, a boy of fourteen, he visited Bologna in +1770.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><span class="space"><i><a name="div1_fermata" href="#div1Ref_fermata">THE FERMATA</a></i></span>.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Hummel's<sup><a name="div2_fermata1" href="#div2Ref_fermata1">1</a></sup> amusing, vivacious picture, "Company in an Italian Inn," +became known by the Art Exhibition at Berlin in the autumn of 1814, +where it appeared, to the delight of all who saw and studied it An +arbour almost hidden in foliage—a table covered with wine-flasks and +fruits—two Italian ladies sitting at it opposite each other, one +singing, the other playing a guitar; between them, more in the +background, stands an abbot, acting as music-director. With his baton +raised, he is awaiting the moment when the Signora shall end, in a long +trill, the cadence which, with her eyes directed heavenwards, she is +just in the midst of; then down will come his hand, whilst the +guitarist gaily dashes off the dominant chord. The abbot is filled with +admiration—with exquisite delight—and at the same time his attention +is painfully on the stretch. He wouldn't miss the proper downward beat +for the world. He hardly dare breathe. He would like to stop the mouth +and wings of every buzzing bee and midge. So much the more therefore is +he annoyed at the bustling host who must needs come and bring the wine +just at this supreme, delicious moment. An outlook upon an avenue, +patterned by brilliant strips of light! There a horseman has pulled up, +and a glass of something refreshing to drink is being handed up to him +on horseback.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before this picture stood the two friends Edward and Theodore. "The +more I look at this singer," said Edward, "in her gay attire, who, +though rather oldish, is yet full of the true inspiration of her art, +and the more I am delighted with the grave but genuine Roman profile +and lovely form of the guitarist, and the more my estimable friend the +abbot amuses me, the more does the whole picture seem to me instinct +with free, strong, vital power. It is plainly a caricature in the +higher sense of the term, but rich in grace and vivacity. I should just +like to step into that arbour and open one of those dainty little +flasks which are ogling me from the table. I tell you what, I fancy I +can already smell something of the sweet fragrance of the noble wine. +Come, it were a sin for this solicitation to be wasted on the cold +senseless atmosphere that is about us here. Let us go and drain a flask +of Italian wine in honour of this fine picture, of art, and of merry +Italy, where life is exhilarating and given for pleasure."</p> + +<p class="normal">Whilst Edward was running on thus in disconnected sentences, Theodore +stood silent and deeply absorbed in reflection. "Ay, that we will, come +along," he said, starting up as if awakening out of a dream; but +nevertheless he had some difficulty in tearing himself away from the +picture, and as he mechanically followed his friend, he had to stop at +the door to cast another longing lingering look back upon the singer +and guitarist and abbot. Edward's proposal easily admitted of being +carried into execution. They crossed the street diagonally, and very +soon a flask exactly like those in the picture stood before them in +Sala Tarone's<sup><a name="div2_fermata2" href="#div2Ref_fermata2">2</a></sup> little blue room. "It seems to me," said Edward, as +Theodore still continued very silent and thoughtful, even after several +glasses had been drunk, "it seems to me that the picture has made a +deeper impression upon you than upon me, and not such an agreeable +impression either." "I assure you," replied Theodore, "that I lost +nothing of the brightness and grace of that animated composition; yet +it is very singular,—it is a faithful representation of a scene out of +my own life, reproducing the portraits of the parties concerned in it +in a manner startlingly lifelike. You will, however, agree with me that +diverting memories also have the power of strangely moving the mind +when they suddenly spring up in this extraordinary and unexpected way, +as if awakened by the wave of a magician's wand. That's the case with +me just now." "What! a scene out of your own life!" exclaimed Edward, +quite astonished. "Do you mean to say the picture represents an episode +in your own life? I saw at once that the two ladies and the priest were +eminently successful portraits, but I never for a moment dreamed that +you had ever come across them in the course of your life. Come now, +tell me all about it, how it all came about; we are quite alone, nobody +else will come at this time o' day." "Willingly," answered Theodore, +"but unfortunately I must go a long way back—to my early youth in +fact." "Never mind; fire away," rejoined Edward; "I don't know over +much about your early days. If it lasts a good while, nothing worse +will happen than that we shall have to empty a bottle more than we at +first bargained for; and to that nobody will have any objection, +neither we, nor Mr. Tarone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That, throwing everything else aside, I at length devoted myself +entirely to the noble art of music," began Theodore, "need excite +nobody's astonishment, for whilst still a boy I would hardly do +anything else but play, and spent hours and hours strumming on my +uncle's old creaking, jarring piano. The little town was very badly +provided for music; there was nobody who could give me instruction +except an old opinionated organist; he, however, was merely a dry +arithmetician, and plagued me to death with obscure, unmelodious +toccatas and fugues. But I held on bravely, without letting myself be +daunted. The old fellow was crabby, and often found a good deal of +fault, but he had only to play a good piece in his own powerful style, +and I was at once reconciled both with him and with his art. I was then +often in a curious state of mind; many pieces particularly of old +Sebastian Bach were almost like a fearful ghost-story, and I yielded +myself up to that feeling of pleasurable awe to which we are so prone +in the days of our fantastic youth. But I entered into a veritable Eden +when, as sometimes happened in winter, the bandmaster of the town and +his colleagues, supported by a few other moderate dilettante players, +gave a concert, and I, owing to the strict time I always kept, was +permitted to play the kettledrum in the symphony. It was not until +later that I perceived how ridiculous and extravagant these concerts +were. My teacher generally played two concertos on the piano by Wolff +or Emanuel Bach,<sup><a name="div2_fermata3" href="#div2Ref_fermata3">3</a></sup> a member of the town band struggled with +Stamitz,<sup><a name="div2_fermata4" href="#div2Ref_fermata4">4</a></sup> while the receiver of excise duties worked away hard at the +flute, and took in such an immense supply of breath that he blew out +both lights on his music-stand, and always had to have them relighted +again. Singing wasn't thought about; my uncle, a great friend and +patron of music, always disparaged the local talent in this line. He +still dwelt with exuberant delight upon the days gone by, when the four +choristers of the four churches of the town agreed together to give +<i>Lottchen am Hofe</i>.<sup><a name="div2_fermata5" href="#div2Ref_fermata5">5</a></sup> Above all, he was wont to extol the toleration +which united the singers in the production of this work of art, for not +only the Catholic and the Evangelical but also the Reformed community +was split into two bodies—those speaking German and those speaking +French. The French chorister was not daunted by the <i>Lottchen</i>, but, as +my uncle maintained, sang his part, spectacles on nose, in the finest +falsetto that ever proceeded forth from a human breast. Now there was +amongst us (I mean in the town) a spinster named Meibel, aged about +fifty-five, who subsisted upon the scanty pension which she received as +a retired court singer of the metropolis, and my uncle was rightly of +opinion that Miss Meibel might still do something for her money in the +concert hall. She assumed airs of importance, required a good deal of +coaxing, but at last consented, so that we came to have <i>bravuras</i> in +our concerts. She was a singular creature this Miss Meibel. I still +retain a lively recollection of her lean little figure. Dressed in a +many-coloured gown, she was wont to step forward with her roll of music +in her hand, looking very grave and solemn, and to acknowledge the +audience with a slight inclination of the upper part of her body. Her +head-dress was a most remarkable head-dress. In front was fastened a +nosegay of Italian flowers of porcelain, which kept up a strange +trembling and tottering as she sang. At the end, after the audience had +greeted her with no stinted measure of applause, she proudly handed the +music-roll to my uncle, and permitted him to dip his thumb and finger +into a little porcelain snuff-box, fashioned in the shape of a pug dog, +out of which she took a pinch herself with evident relish. She had a +horrible squeaky voice, indulged in all sorts of ludicrous flourishes +and roulades, and so you may imagine what an effect all this, combined +with her ridiculous manners and style of dress, could not fail to have +upon me. My uncle overflowed with panegyrics; that I could not +understand, and so turned the more readily to my organist, who, looking +with contempt upon vocal efforts in general, delighted me down to the +ground as in his hypochondriac malicious way he parodied the ludicrous +old spinster.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The more decidedly I came to share with my master his contempt for +singing, the higher did he rate my musical genius. He took a great and +zealous interest in instructing me in counterpoint, so that I soon came +to write the most ingenious toccatas and fugues. I was once playing one +of these ingenious specimens of my skill to my uncle on my birthday (I +was nineteen years old), when the waiter of our first hotel stepped +into the room to announce the visit of two foreign ladies who +had just arrived in the town. Before my uncle could throw off his +dressing-gown—it was of a large flower pattern—and don his coat and +vest, his visitors were already in the room. You know what an electric +effect every strange event has upon those who are brought up in the +narrow seclusion of a small country town; this in particular, which +crossed my path so unexpectedly, was pre-eminently fitted to work a +complete revolution within me. Picture to yourself two tall, slender +Italian ladies, dressed fantastically and in bright colours, quite up +to the latest fashion, meeting my uncle with the freedom of +professional <i>artistes</i>, and yet with considerable charms of manner, +and addressing him in firm and sonorous voices. What the deuce of a +strange tongue they speak! Only now and then does it sound at all like +German. My uncle doesn't understand a word; embarrassed, mute as a +maggot, he steps back and points to the sofa. They sit down, talk +together—it sounds like music itself. At length they succeed in making +my good uncle comprehend that they are singers on a tour; they would +like to give a concert in the place, and have come to him, as he is the +man to conduct such musical negotiations.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whilst they were talking together I picked up their Christian names, +and I fancied that I could now more easily and more distinctly +distinguish the one from the other, for their both making their +appearance together had at first confused me. Lauretta, apparently the +elder of the two, looked about her with sparkling eyes, and talked away +at my embarrassed old uncle with gushing vivacity and with +demonstrative gestures. She was not too tall, and of a voluptuous +build, so that my eyes wandered amid many charms that hitherto had been +strangers to them. Teresina, taller, more slender, with a long grave +face, spoke but seldom, but what she did say was more intelligible. Now +and then a peculiar smile flitted across her features; it almost seemed +as if she were highly amused at my good uncle, who had withdrawn into +his silken dressing-gown like a snail into its shell, and was vainly +endeavouring to push out of sight a treacherous yellow string, with +which he fastened his night-jacket together, and which would keep +tumbling out of his bosom yards and yards long. At length they rose to +depart; my uncle promised to arrange everything for the concert for the +third day following; then the sisters gave him and me, whom he +introduced to them as a young musician, a most polite invitation to +take chocolate with them in the afternoon.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We mounted the steps with a solemn air and awkward gait; we both felt +very peculiar, as if we were going to meet some adventure to which we +were not equal. In consequence of due previous preparation my uncle had +a good many fine things to say about art, which nobody understood, +neither he himself nor any of the rest of us. This done, and after I +had thrice burned my tongue with the scalding hot chocolate, but with +the stoical fortitude of a Scævola had smiled under the fiery +infliction, Lauretta at length said that she would sing to us. Teresina +took her guitar, tuned it, and struck a few full chords. It was the +first time I had heard the instrument, and the characteristic +mysterious sounds of the trembling strings made a deep and wonderful +impression upon me. Lauretta began very softly and held on, the note +rising to <i>fortissimo</i>, and then quickly broke into a crisp complicated +run through an octave and a half. I can still remember the words of the +beginning, '<i>Sento l'amica speme</i>.' My heart was oppressed; I had never +had an idea of anything of the kind. But as Lauretta continued to soar +in bolder and higher flights, and as the musical notes poured upon me +like sparkling rays, thicker and thicker, then was the music that had +so long lain mute and lifeless within me enkindled, rising up in +strong, grand flames. Ah! I had never heard what music was in my life +before! Then the sisters sang one of those grand impressive duets of +Abbot Steffani<sup><a name="div2_fermata6" href="#div2Ref_fermata6">6</a></sup> which confine themselves to notes of a low register. +My soul was stirred at the sound of Teresina's alto, it was so +sonorous, and as pure as silver bells. I couldn't for the life of me +restrain my emotion; tears started to my eyes. My uncle coughed +warningly, and cast angry glances upon me; it was all of no use, I was +really quite beside myself. This seemed to please the sisters; they +began to inquire into the nature and extent of my musical studies; I +was ashamed of my performances in that line, and with the hardihood +born of enthusiastic admiration, I bluntly declared that that day was +the first time I had ever heard music. 'The dear good boy!' lisped +Lauretta, so sweetly and bewitchingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"On reaching home again, I was seized with a sort of fury: I pounced +upon all the toccatas and fugues that I had hammered out, as well as a +beautiful copy of forty-five variations of a canonical theme that the +organist had written and done me the honour of presenting to me,—all +these I threw into the fire, and laughed with spiteful glee as the +double counterpoint smoked and crackled. Then I sat down at the piano +and tried first to imitate the tones of the guitar, then to play the +sisters' melodies, and finished by attempting to sing them. At length +about midnight my uncle emerged from his bedroom and greeted me with, +'My boy, you'd better just stop that screeching and troop off to bed;' +and he put out both candles and went back to his own room. I had no +other alternative but to obey. The mysterious power of song came to me +in my dreams—at least I thought so—for I sang '<i>Sento l'amica speme</i>' +in excellent style.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The next morning my uncle had hunted up everybody who could fiddle +and blow for the rehearsal. He was proud to show what good musicians +the town possessed; but everything seemed to go perversely wrong. +Lauretta set to work at a fine scene; but very soon in the recitative +the orchestra was all at sixes and sevens, not one of them had any idea +of accompaniment Lauretta screamed—raved—wept with impatience and +anger. The organist was presiding at the piano; she attacked him with +the bitterest reproaches. He got up and in silent obduracy marched out +of the hall. The bandmaster of the town, whom Lauretta had dubbed a +'German ass!' took his violin under his arm, and, banging his hat on +his head with an air of defiance, likewise made for the door. The +members of his company, sticking their bows under the strings of their +violins, and unscrewing the mouthpieces of their brass instruments, +followed him. There was nobody but the dilettanti left, and they gazed +about them with disconsolate looks, whilst the receiver of excise +duties exclaimed, with a tragic air, 'O heaven! how mortified I feel!' +All my diffidence was gone,—I threw myself in the bandmaster's way, I +begged, I prayed, in my distress I promised him six new minuets with +double trios for the annual ball. I succeeded in appeasing him. He went +back to his place, his companions followed suit, and soon the orchestra +was reconstituted, except that the organist was wanting. He was slowly +making his way across the market-place, no shouting or beckoning could +make him turn back. Teresina had looked on at the whole scene with +smothered laughter, while Lauretta was now as full of glee as before +she had been of anger. She was unstinted in her praise of my efforts; +she asked me if I played the piano, and ere I knew what I was about, I +sat in the organist's place with the music before me. Never before had +I accompanied a singer, still less directed an orchestra. Teresina sat +down beside me at the piano and gave me every time; Lauretta encouraged +me with repeated 'Bravos!' the orchestra proved manageable, and things +continued to improve. Everything was worked out successfully at the +second rehearsal; and the effect of the sisters' singing at the concert +is not to be described.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The sovereign's return to his capital was to be celebrated there with +several festive demonstrations; the sisters were summoned to sing in +the theatre and at concerts. Until the time that their presence was +required they resolved to remain in our little town, and thus it came +to pass that they gave us a few more concerts. The admiration of the +public rose to a kind of madness. Old Miss Meibel, however, took with a +deliberate air a pinch of snuff out of her porcelain pug and gave her +opinion that 'such impudent caterwauling was not singing; singing +should be low and melodious.' My friend, the organist, never showed +himself again, and, in truth, I did not miss him in the least I was +the happiest fellow in the world. The whole day long I spent with +the sisters, copying out the vocal scores of what they were to +sing in the capital. Lauretta was my ideal; her vile caprices, her +terribly passionate violence, the torments she inflicted upon me at the +piano—all these I bore with patience. She alone had unsealed for me +the springs of true music. I began to study Italian, and try my hand at +a few canzonets. In what heavenly rapture was I plunged when Lauretta +sang my compositions, or even praised them. Often it seemed to me as if +it was not I who had thought out and set what she sang, but that the +thought first shone forth in her singing of it. With Teresina I could +not somehow get on familiar terms; she sang but seldom, and didn't seem +to make much account of all that I was doing, and sometimes I even +fancied that she was laughing at me behind my back. At length the time +came for them to leave the town. And now I felt for the first time how +dear Lauretta had become to me, and how impossible it would be for me +to separate from her. Often, when she was in a tender, playful mood, +she had caressed me, although always in a perfectly artless fashion; +nevertheless, my blood was excited, and it was nothing but the strange +coolness with which she was more usually wont to treat me that +restrained me from giving reins to my ardour and clasping her in my +arms in a delirium of passion. I possessed a tolerably good tenor +voice, which, however, I had never practised, but now I began to +cultivate it assiduously. I frequently sang with Lauretta one of those +tender Italian duets of which there exists such an endless number. We +were just singing one of these pieces, the hour of departure was close +at hand—'<i>Senza di te ben mio, vivere non poss' io</i>' ('Without thee, +my own, I cannot live!') Who could resist that? I threw myself at her +feet—I was in despair. She raised me up—'But, my friend, need we then +part?' I pricked up my ears with amazement. She proposed that I should +accompany her and Teresina to the capital, for if I intended to devote +myself wholly to music I must leave this wretched little town some time +or other. Picture to yourself one struggling in the dark depths of +boundless despair, who has given up all hopes of life, and who, in the +moment in which he expects to receive the blow that is to crush him for +ever, suddenly finds himself sitting in a glorious bright arbour of +roses, where hundreds of unseen but loving voices whisper, 'You are +still alive, dear,—still alive'—and you will know how I felt then. +Along with them to the capital! that had seized upon my heart as an +ineradicable resolution. But I won't tire you with the details of how I +set to work to convince my uncle that I ought now by all means to go to +the capital, which, moreover, was not very far away. He at length gave +his consent, and announced his intention of going with me. Here was a +tricksy stroke of fortune! I dare not give utterance to my purpose of +travelling in company with the sisters. A violent cold, which my uncle +caught, proved my saviour.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I left the town by the stage-coach, but only went as far as the first +stopping-station, where I awaited my divinity. A well-lined purse +enabled me to make all due and fitting preparations. I was seized with +the romantic idea of accompanying the ladies in the character of a +protecting paladin—on horseback; I secured a horse, which, though not +particularly handsome, was, its owner assured me, quiet, and I rode +back at the appointed time to meet the two fair singers. I soon saw the +little carriage, which had two seats, coming towards me. Lauretta and +Teresina sat on the principal seat, whilst on the other, with her back +to the driver, sat their maid, the fat little Gianna, a brown-cheeked +Neapolitan. Besides this living freight, the carriage was packed full +of boxes, satchels, and baskets of all sizes and shapes, such as +invariably accompany ladies when they travel. Two little pug-dogs which +Gianna was nursing in her lap began to bark when I gaily saluted the +company.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All was going on very nicely; we were traversing the last stage of the +journey, when my steed all at once conceived the idea that it was high +time to be returning homewards. Being aware that stern measures were +not always blessed with a remarkable degree of success in such cases, I +felt advised to have recourse to milder means of persuasion; but the +obstinate brute remained insensible to all my well-meant exhortations. +I wanted to go forwards, he backwards, and all the advantage that my +efforts gave me over him was that instead of taking to his heels for +home, he continued to run round in circles. Teresina leaned forward out +of the carriage and had a hearty laugh; Lauretta, holding her hands +before her face, screamed out as if I were in imminent danger. This +gave me the courage of despair, I drove the spurs into the brute's +ribs, but that very same moment I was roughly hurled off and found +myself sprawling on the ground. The horse stood perfectly still, and, +stretching out his long neck, regarded me with what I took to be +nothing else than derision. I was not able to rise to my feet; the +driver had to come and help me; Lauretta had jumped out and was weeping +and lamenting; Teresina did nothing but laugh without ceasing. I had +sprained my foot, and couldn't possibly mount again. How was I to get +on? My steed was fastened to the carriage, whilst I crept into it. Just +picture us all—two rather robust females, a fat servant-girl, two +pug-dogs, a dozen boxes, satchels, and baskets, and me as well, all +packed into a little carriage. Picture Lauretta's complaints at the +uncomfortableness of her seat, the howling of the pups, the chattering +of the Neapolitan, Teresina's sulks, the unspeakable pain I felt in my +foot, and you will have some idea of my enviable situation! Teresina +averred that she could not endure it any longer. We stopped; in a trice +she was out of the carriage, had untied my horse, and was up in the +saddle, prancing and curvetting around us. I must indeed admit that she +cut a fine figure. The dignity and elegance which marked her carriage +and bearing were still more prominent on horseback. She asked for her +guitar, then dropping the reins on her arm, she began to sing proud +Spanish ballads with a full-toned accompaniment. Her light silk dress +fluttered in the wind, its folds and creases giving rise to a sheeny +play of light, whilst the white feathers of her hat quivered and shook, +like the prattling spirits of the air which we heard in her voice. +Altogether she made such a romantic figure that I could not keep my +eyes off her, notwithstanding that Lauretta reproached her for making +herself such a fantastic simpleton, and predicted that she would suffer +for her audacity. But no accident happened; either the horse had lost +all his stubbornness or he liked the fair singer better than the +paladin; at any rate, Teresina did not creep back into the carriage +again until we had almost reached the gates of the town.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you had seen me then at concerts and operas, if you had seen me +revelling in all sorts of music, and as a diligent accompanist studying +arias, duets, and I don't know what besides at the piano, you would +have perceived, by the complete change in my behaviour, that I was +filled with a new and wonderful spirit. I had cast off all my rustic +shyness, and sat at the pianoforte with my score before me like an +experienced professional, directing the performances of my <i>prima +donna</i>. All my mind—all my thoughts—were sweet melodies. Utterly +regardless of all the rules of counterpoint, I composed all sorts of +canzonets and arias, which Lauretta sang, though only in her own room. +Why would she never sing any of my pieces at a concert? I could not +understand it. Teresina also arose before my imagination curvetting on +her proud steed with the lute in her hands, like Art herself disguised +in romance. Without thinking of it consciously, I wrote several songs +of a high and serious nature. Lauretta, it is true, played with her +notes like a capricious fairy queen. There was nothing upon which she +ventured in which she had not success. But never did a roulade cross +Teresina's lips; nothing more than a simple interpolated note, at most +a <i>mordent</i>; but her long-sustained tones gleamed like meteors through +the darkness of night, awakening strange spirits, who came and gazed +with earnest eyes into the depths of my heart. I know not how I +remained ignorant of them so long!</p> + +<p class="normal">"The sisters were granted a benefit concert; I sang with Lauretta a +long scena from Anfossi.<sup><a name="div2_fermata7" href="#div2Ref_fermata7">7</a></sup> As usual I presided at the piano. We came +to the last <i>fermata</i>. Lauretta exerted all her skill and art; she +warbled trill after trill like a nightingale, executed sustained notes, +then long elaborate roulades—a whole <i>solfeggio</i>. In fact, I thought +she was almost carrying the thing too far this time; I felt a soft +breath on my cheek; Teresina stood behind me. At this moment Lauretta +took a good start with the intention of swelling up to a 'harmonic +shake,' and so passing back into <i>a tempo</i>. The devil entered into me; +I jammed down the keys with both hands; the orchestra followed suit; +and it was all over with Lauretta's trill, just at the supreme moment +when she was to excite everybody's astonishment. Almost annihilating me +with a look of fury, she crushed her roll of music together, tore it +up, and hurled it at my head, so that the pieces flew all over me. Then +she rushed like a madwoman through the orchestra into the adjoining +room; as soon as we had concluded the piece, I followed her. She wept; +she raved. 'Out of my sight, villain,' she screamed as soon as she saw +me. 'You devil, you've completely ruined me—my fame, my honour—and +oh! my trill. Out of my sight, you devil's own!' She made a rush +at me; I escaped through the door. Whilst some one else was performing, +Teresina and the music-director at length succeeded in so far pacifying +her rage, that she resolved to appear again; but I was not to be +allowed to touch the piano. In the last duet that the sisters sang, +Lauretta did contrive to introduce the swelling 'harmonic shake,' was +rewarded with a storm of applause, and settled down into the best of +humours.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I could not get over the vile treatment which I had received at +her hands in the presence of so many people, and I was firmly resolved +to set off home next morning for my native town. I was actually engaged +in packing my things together when Teresina came into my room. +Observing what I was about, she exclaimed, astonished, 'Are you going +to leave us?' I gave her to understand that after the affront which had +been put upon me by Lauretta I could not think of remaining any longer +in her society. 'And so,' replied Teresina, 'you're going to let +yourself be driven away by the extravagant conduct of a little fool, +who is now heartily sorry for what she has done and said. Where else +can you better live in your art than with us? Let me tell you, it only +depends upon yourself and your own behaviour to keep her from such +pranks as this. You are too compliant, too tender, too gentle. Besides, +you rate her powers too highly. Her voice is indeed not bad, and it has +a wide compass; but what else are all these fantastic warblings and +flourishes, these preposterous runs, these never-ending shakes, but +delusive artifices of style, which people admire in the same way that +they admire the foolhardy agility of a rope-dancer? Do you imagine that +such things can make any deep impression upon us and stir the heart? +The 'harmonic shake' which you spoilt I cannot tolerate; I always feel +anxious and pained when she attempts it. And then this scaling up into +the region of the third line above the stave, what is it but a violent +straining of the natural voice, which after all is the only thing that +really moves the heart? I like the middle notes and the low notes. A +sound that penetrates to the heart, a real quiet, easy transition from +note to note, are what I love above all things. No useless +ornamentation—a firm, clear, strong note—a definite expression, which +carries away the mind and soul—that's real true singing, and that's +how I sing. If you can't be reconciled to Lauretta again, then think of +Teresina, who indeed likes you so much that you shall in your own way +be her musical composer. Don't be cross—but all your elegant canzonets +and arias can't be matched with this single ——,' she sang in her +sonorous way a simple devotional sort of canzona which I had set a few +days before. I had never dreamed that it could sound like that I felt +the power of the music going through and through me; tears of joy and +rapture stood in my eyes; I seized Teresina's hand, and pressing it to +my lips a thousand times, swore I would never leave her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lauretta looked upon my intimacy with her sister with envious but +suppressed vexation, and she could not do without me, for, in spite of +her skill, she was unable to study a new piece without help; she read +badly, and was rather uncertain in her time. Teresina, on the contrary, +sang everything at sight, and her ear for time was unparalleled. Never +did Lauretta give such free rein to her caprice and violence as when +her accompaniments were being practised. They were never right for her; +she looked upon them as a necessary evil; the piano ought not to be +heard at all, it should always be <i>pianissimo</i>; so there was nothing +but giving way to her again and again, and altering the time just as +the whim happened to come into her head at the moment But now I took a +firm stand against her; I combated her impertinences; I taught her that +an accompaniment devoid of energy was not conceivable, and that there +was a marked difference between supporting and carrying along the song +and letting it run to riot, without form and without time. Teresina +faithfully lent me her assistance. I composed nothing but pieces for +the Church, writing all the solos for a voice of low register. +Teresina, too, tyrannised over me not a little, to which I submitted +with a good grace, since she had more knowledge of, and (so at least I +thought) more appreciation for, German seriousness than her sister.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We were touring in South Germany. In a little town we met an Italian +tenor who was making his way from Milan to Berlin. My fair companions +went in ecstasies over their countryman; he stuck close to them, +cultivating in particular Teresina's acquaintance, so that to my great +vexation I soon came to play rather a secondary part. Once, just as I +was about to enter the room with a roll of music under my arm, the +voices of my companions and the tenor, engaged in an animated +conversation, fell upon my ear. My name was mentioned; I pricked up my +ears; I listened. I now understood Italian so well that not a word +escaped me. Lauretta was describing the tragical occurrence of the +concert when I cut short her trill by prematurely striking down the +concluding notes of the bar. 'A German ass!' exclaimed the tenor. I +felt as if I must rush in and hurl the flighty hero of the boards out +of the window, but I restrained myself. She then went on to say that +she had been minded to send me about my business at once, but, moved by +my clamorous entreaties, she had so far had compassion upon me as to +tolerate me some time longer, since I was studying singing under her. +This, to my utter amazement, Teresina confirmed. 'Yes, he's a good +child,' she added; 'he's in love with me now and sets everything for +the alto. He is not without talent, but he must rub off that stiffness +and awkwardness which is so characteristic of the Germans. I hope to +make a good composer out of him; then he shall write me some good +things—for there's very little written as yet for the alto voice—and +afterwards I shall let him go his own way. He's very tiresome with his +billing and cooing and love-sick sighing, and he worries me too much +with his wearisome compositions, which have been but poor stuff up to +the present.' 'I at least have now got rid of him,' interrupted +Lauretta; 'and Teresina, how the fellow pestered me with his arias and +duets you know very well.' And now she began to sing a duet of my +composing, which formerly she had praised very highly. The other sister +took up the second voice, and they parodied me both in voice and in +execution in the most shameful manner. The tenor laughed till the walls +rang again. My limbs froze; at once I formed an irrevocable resolve. I +quietly slipped away from the door back into my own room, the windows +of which looked upon a side street. Opposite was the post-office; the +post-coach for Bamberg had just driven up to take in the mails and +passengers. The latter were all standing ready waiting in the gateway, +but I had still an hour to spare. Hastily packing up my things, I +generously paid the whole of the bill at the hotel, and hurried across +to the post-office. As I crossed the broad street I saw the fair +sisters and the Italian still standing at the window, and looking out +to catch the sound of the post-horn. I leaned back in the corner, and +dwelt with a good deal of satisfaction upon the crushing effect of the +bitter scathing letter that I had left behind for them in the hotel."</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * * *</span></p> + +<p class="normal">With evident gratification Theodore tossed off the rest of the fiery +Aleatico<sup><a name="div2_fermata8" href="#div2Ref_fermata8">8</a></sup> that Edward had poured into his glass. The latter, opening +a new flask and skilfully shaking off the drops of oil<sup><a name="div2_fermata9" href="#div2Ref_fermata9">9</a></sup> which swam at +the top, remarked, "I should not have deemed Teresina capable of such +falseness and artfulness. I cannot banish from my mind the recollection +of what a charming figure she made as she sat on horseback singing +Spanish ballads, whilst the horse pranced along in graceful curvets." +"That was her culminating point," interrupted Theodore; "I still +remember the strange impression which the scene made upon me. I forgot +my pain; she seemed to me like a creature of a higher race. It is +indeed very true that such moments are turning-points in one's life, +and that in them many images arise which time does not avail to dim. +Whenever I have succeeded with any fine <i>romance</i>, it has always been +when Teresina's image has stepped forth from the treasure-house of my +mind in clear bright colours at the moment of writing it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," said Edward, "but let us not forget the artistic Lauretta; and, +scattering all rancour to the winds, let us drink to the health of the +two sisters." They did so. "Oh," exclaimed Theodore, "how the fragrant +breezes of Italy arise out of this wine and fan my cheeks,—my blood +rolls with quickened energy in my veins. Oh! why must I so soon leave +that glorious land again!" "As yet," interrupted Edward, "as yet in all +that you have told me I can see no connection with the beautiful +picture, and so I believe that you still have something more to tell me +about the sisters. Of course I perceive plainly that the ladies in the +picture are none other than Lauretta and Teresina themselves." "You are +right, they are," replied Theodore; "and my ejaculations and sighs, and +my longings after the glorious land of Italy, will form a fitting +introduction to what I still have to say. A short time ago, perhaps +about two years since, just before leaving Rome, I made a little +excursion on horseback. Before an inn stood a charming girl; the idea +struck me how nice it would be to receive a cup of wine at the hands of +the pretty child. I pulled up before the door, in a walk so thickly +planted on each side with shrubs that the sunlight could only make its +way through in patches. In the distance I heard sounds of singing and +the tinkling of a guitar. I pricked up my ears and listened, for the +two female voices affected me somehow in a singular fashion; strangely +enough dim recollections began to stir within my mind, but they refused +to take definite shape. I dismounted and slowly drew near to the +vine-clad arbour whence the music seemed to proceed, eagerly catching +up every sound in the meantime. The second voice had ceased to sing. +The first sang a canzonet alone. As I came nearer and nearer that which +had at first seemed familiar to me, and which had at first attracted my +attention, gradually faded away. The singer was now in the midst of a +florid, elaborate <i>fermata</i>. Up and down she warbled, up and down; at +length she stopped, holding a note on for some time. But all at once a +female voice began to let off a torrent of abuse, maledictions, curses, +vituperations! A man protested; a second laughed. The other female +voice took part in the altercation. The quarrel continued to wax louder +and more violent, with true Italian fury. At length I stood immediately +in front of the arbour; an abbot rushes out and almost runs over me; he +turns his head to look at me; I recognise my good friend Signor +Lodovico, my musical news-monger from Rome. 'What in the name of +wonder'—I exclaim. 'Oh, sir! sir!' he screams, 'save me, protect me +from this mad fury, from this crocodile, this tiger, this hyæna, this +devil of a woman. Yes, I did, I did; I was beating time to Anfossi's +canzonet, and brought down my baton too soon whilst she was in the +midst of the <i>fermata</i>; I cut short her trill; but why did I meet her +eyes, the devilish divinity! The deuce take all <i>fermatas</i>, I say!' In +a most curious state of mind I hastened into the arbour along with the +priest, and recognised at the first glance the sisters Lauretta and +Teresina. The former was still shrieking and raging, and her sister +still seriously remonstrating with her. Mine host, his bare arms +crossed over his chest, was looking on laughing, whilst a girl was +placing fresh flasks on the table. No sooner did the sisters catch +sight of me than they threw themselves upon me exclaiming, 'Ah! Signor +Teodoro!' and covered me with caresses. The quarrel was forgotten. +'Here you have a composer,' said Lauretta to the abbot, 'as charming as +an Italian and as strong as a German.' Both sisters, continually +interrupting each other, began to recount the happy days we had spent +together, to speak of my musical abilities whilst still a youth, of our +practisings together, of the excellence of my compositions; never did +they like singing anything else but what I had set. Teresina at length +informed me that a manager had engaged her as his first singer in +tragic casts for the next carnival; but she would give him to +understand that she would only sing on condition that the composition +of at least one tragic opera was intrusted to me. The tragic was above +all others my special department, and so on, and so on. Lauretta on her +part maintained that it would be a pity if I did not follow my bent for +the light and the graceful, in a word, for <i>opera buffa</i>. She had been +engaged as first lady singer for this species of composition; and that +nobody but I should write the piece in which she was to appear was +simply a matter of course. You may fancy what my feelings were as I +stood between the two. In a word, you perceive that the company which I +had joined was the same as that which Hummel painted, and that just at +the moment when the priest is on the point of cutting short Lauretta's +<i>fermata</i>." "But did they not make any allusion," asked Edward, "to +your departure from them, or to the scathing letter?" "Not with a +single syllable," answered Theodore, "and you may be sure I didn't, for +I had long before banished all animosity from my heart, and come to +look back upon my adventure with the sisters as a merry prank. I did, +however, so far revert to the subject that I related to the priest how +that, several years before, exactly the same sort of mischance befell +me in one of Anfossi's arias as had just befallen him. I painted the +period of my connection with the sisters in tragi-comical colours, and, +distributing many a keen side-blow, I let them feel the superiority, +which the ripe experiences, both of life and of art, of the years that +had elapsed in the interval had given me over them. 'And a good thing +it was,' I concluded, 'that I did cut short that <i>fermata</i>, for it was +evidently meant to last through eternity, and I am firmly of opinion +that if I had left the singer alone, I should be sitting at the piano +now.' 'But, signor,' replied the priest, 'what director is there who +would dare to prescribe laws to the <i>prima donna</i>? Your offence was +much more heinous than mine, you in the concert hall, and I here in the +leafy arbour. Besides, I was only director in imagination; nobody need +attach any importance to that, and if the sweet fiery glances of these +heavenly eyes had not fascinated me, I should not have made an ass of +myself.' The priest's last words proved tranquillising, for, although +Lauretta's eyes had begun to flash with anger as the priest spoke, +before he had finished she was quite appeased.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We spent the evening together. Many changes take place in fourteen +years, which was the interval that had passed since I had seen my fair +friends. Lauretta, although looking somewhat older, was still not +devoid of charms. Teresina had worn better, without losing her graceful +form. Both were dressed in rather gay colours, and their manners were +just the same as before, that is, fourteen years younger than the +ladies themselves. At my request Teresina sang some of the serious +songs that had once so deeply affected me, but I fancied that they +sounded differently from what they did when I first heard them; and +Lauretta's singing too, although her voice had not appreciably lost +anything, either in power or in compass, seemed to me to be quite +different from my recollection of it of former times The sisters' +behaviour towards me, their feigned ecstasies, their rude admiration, +which, however, took the shape of gracious patronage, had done much to +put me in a bad humour, and now the obtrusiveness of this comparison +between the images in my mind and the not over and above pleasing +reality, tended to put me in a still worse. The droll priest, who in +all the sweetest words you can imagine was playing the <i>amoroso</i> to +both sisters at once, as well as frequent applications to the good +wine, at length restored me to good humour, so that we spent a very +pleasant evening in perfect concord and gaiety. The sisters were most +pressing in their invitations to me to go home with them, that we might +at once talk over the parts which I was to set for them and so concert +measures accordingly. I left Rome without taking any further steps to +find out their place of abode."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet, after all," said Edward, "it is to them that you owe the +awakening of your genius for music." "That I admit," replied Theodore, +"I owed them that and a host of good melodies besides, and that is just +the reason why I did not want to see them again. Every composer can +recall certain impressions which time does not obliterate. The spirit +of music spake, and his voice was the creative word which suddenly +awakened the kindred spirit slumbering in the breast of the artist; +then the latter rose like a sun which can nevermore set. Thus it is +unquestionably true that all melodies which, stirred up in this way, +proceed from the depths of the composer's being, seem to us to belong +to the singer alone who fanned the first spark within us. We hear her +voice and record only what she has sung. It is, however, the +inheritance of us weak mortals that, clinging to the clods, we are only +too fain to draw down what is above the earth into the miserable +narrowness characteristic of things of the earth. Thus it comes to pass +that the singer becomes our lover—or even our wife. The spell is +broken, and the melody of her nature, which formerly revealed glorious +things, is now prostituted to complaints about broken soup-plates or +ink-stains in new linen. Happy is the composer who never again so long +as he lives sets eyes upon the woman who by virtue of some mysterious +power enkindled in him the flame of music. Even though the young +artist's heart may be rent by pain and despair when the moment comes +for parting from his lovely enchantress, nevertheless her form will +continue to exist as a divinely beautiful strain which lives on and on +in the pride of youth and beauty, engendering melodies in which time +after time he perceives the lady of his love. But what is she else if +not the Highest Ideal which, working its way from within outwards, is +at length reflected in the external independent form?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A strange theory, but yet plausible," was Edward's comment, as the two +friends, arm in arm, passed out from Sala Tarone's into the street.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * * *</span></p> + +<p class="continue">FOOTNOTES TO "THE FERMATA":</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_fermata1" href="#div2_fermata1">1</a></sup> +Johann Erdmann Hummel, born 1769, died 1852, a German painter, studied in Italy, +painted various kinds of pieces, and also wrote treatises on perspective and +kindred subjects. The picture here referred to became perhaps almost as much +celebrated from the fact of its having suggested this amusing sketch to Hoffmann +as for its intrinsic merits as a work of art.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_fermata2" href="#div2_fermata2">2</a></sup> The keeper of a well-known tavern in Berlin, at about the +time when this tale was written, 1817 to 1820.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_fermata3" href="#div2_fermata3">3</a></sup> +The third son of the Sebastian Bach—<i>the</i> Bach—just +mentioned above. He was sometimes called "the Berlin Bach," or "the +Hamburg Bach."</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_fermata4" href="#div2_fermata4">4</a></sup> See note, p. 12 above.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_fermata5" href="#div2_fermata5">5</a></sup> This was one of a species of musical composition called +<i>Singspiele</i>, a development of the simple song or <i>Lied</i>, by Johann +Adam Hiller, (properly Hüller), born 1728, died 1804.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_fermata6" href="#div2_fermata6">6</a></sup> Agostino Steffani, an Italian by birth (1655), spent +nearly all his life in Germany at the courts of Munich and Hanover. He +wrote several operas, and was renowned for his duets, motets, &c.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_fermata7" href="#div2_fermata7">7</a></sup> Pasquale Anfossi, an Italian operatic composer of the +eighteenth century. He was for a time the fashion of the day at Rome, +but occupies now only a subordinate rank amongst musicians.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_fermata8" href="#div2_fermata8">8</a></sup> A red, aromatic, sweet Italian wine, made chiefly at +Florence.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_fermata9" href="#div2_fermata9">9</a></sup> The wine was presumably in flasks of the usual Italian +kind, bottles encased in straw or reed, &c., with oil on the top of the +wine instead of a cork in the neck of the bottle.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><span class="space"><i><a name="div1_formica" href="#div1Ref_formica">SIGNOR FORMICA</a></i></span>.<sup><a name="div2_formica1.1" href="#div2Ref_formica1.1">1.1</a></sup></h2> +<br> +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p class="hang1"><i>The celebrated painter Salvator Rosa comes to Rome, and is attacked by +a dangerous illness. What befalls him in this illness.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">Celebrated people commonly have many ill things said of them, whether +well-founded or not And no exception was made in the case of that +admirable painter Salvator Rosa, whose living pictures cannot fail to +impart a keen and characteristic delight to those who look upon them.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the time that Salvator's fame was ringing through Naples, Rome, and +Tuscany—nay, through all Italy, and painters who were desirous of +gaining applause were striving to imitate his peculiar and unique +style, his malicious and envious rivals were laboring to spread abroad +all sorts of evil reports intended to sully with ugly black stains the +glorious splendor of his artistic fame. They affirmed that he had at a +former period of his life belonged to a company of banditti,<sup><a name="div2_formica1.2" href="#div2Ref_formica1.2">1.2</a></sup> and +that it was to his experiences during this lawless time that he owed +all the wild, fierce, fantastically-attired figures which he introduced +into his pictures, just as the gloomy fearful wildernesses of his +landscapes—the <i>selve selvagge</i> (savage woods)—to use Dante's +expression, were faithful representations of the haunts where they lay +hidden. What was worse still, they openly charged him with having been +concerned in the atrocious and bloody revolt which had been set on foot +by the notorious Masaniello<sup><a name="div2_formica1.3" href="#div2Ref_formica1.3">1.3</a></sup> in Naples. They even described the +share he had taken in it, down to the minutest details.</p> + +<p class="normal">The rumor ran that Aniello Falcone,<sup><a name="div2_formica1.4" href="#div2Ref_formica1.4">1.4</a></sup> the painter of battle-pieces, +one of the best of Salvator's masters, had been stung into fury and +filled with bloodthirsty vengeance because the Spanish soldiers had +slain one of his relatives in a hand-to-hand encounter. Without delay +he leagued together a band of daring spirits, mostly young painters, +put arms into their hands, and gave them the name of the "Company of +Death." And in truth this band inspired all the fear and consternation +suggested by its terrible name. At all hours of the day they traversed +the streets of Naples in little companies, and cut down without mercy +every Spaniard whom they met. They did more—they forced their way into +the holy sanctuaries, and relentlessly murdered their unfortunate foes +whom terror had driven to seek refuge there. At night they gathered +round their chief, the bloody-minded madman Masaniello,<sup><a name="div2_formica1.5" href="#div2Ref_formica1.5">1.5</a></sup> and +painted him by torchlight, so that in a short time there were hundreds +of these little pictures<sup><a name="div2_formica1.6" href="#div2Ref_formica1.6">1.6</a></sup> circulating in Naples and the +neighbourhood.</p> + +<p class="normal">This is the ferocious band of which Salvator Rosa was alleged to have +been a member, working hard at butchering his fellow-men by day, and by +night working just as hard at painting. The truth about him has however +been stated by a celebrated art-critic, Taillasson,<sup><a name="div2_formica1.7" href="#div2Ref_formica1.7">1.7</a></sup> I believe. His +works are characterised by defiant originality, and by fantastic energy +both of conception and of execution. He delighted to study Nature, not +in the lovely attractiveness of green meadows, flourishing fields, +sweet-smelling groves, murmuring springs, but in the sublime as seen in +towering masses of rock, in the wild sea-shore, in savage inhospitable +forests; and the voices that he loved to hear were not the whisperings +of the evening breeze or the musical rustle of leaves, but the roaring +of the hurricane and the thunder of the cataract. To one viewing his +desolate landscapes, with the strange savage figures stealthily moving +about in them, here singly, there in troops, the uncomfortable thoughts +arise unbidden, "Here's where a fearful murder took place, there's +where the bloody corpse was hurled into the ravine," etc.</p> + +<p class="normal">Admitting all this, and even that Taillasson is further right when he +maintains that Salvator's "Plato," nay, that even his "Holy St. John +proclaiming the Advent of the Saviour in the Wilderness," look just a +little like highway robbers—admitting this, I say, it is nevertheless +unjust to argue from the character of the works to the character of the +artist himself, and to assume that he, who represents with lifelike +fidelity what is savage and terrible, must himself have been a savage, +terrible man. He who prates most about the sword is often he who wields +it the worst; he who feels in the depths of his soul all the horrors of +a bloody deed, so that, taking the palette or the pencil or the pen in +his hand, he is able to give living form to his feelings, is often the +one least capable of practising similar deeds. Enough! I don't believe +a single word of all those evil reports, by which men sought to brand +the excellent Salvator an abandoned murderer and robber, and I hope +that you, kindly reader, will share my opinion. Otherwise, I see +grounds for fearing that you might perhaps entertain some doubts +respecting what I am about to tell you of this artist; the Salvator I +wish to put before you in this tale—that is, according to my +conception of him—is a man bubbling over with the exuberance of life +and fiery energy, but at the same time a man endowed with the noblest +and most loyal character—a character, which, like that of all men who +think and feel deeply, is able even to control that bitter irony which +arises from a clear view of the significance of life. I need scarcely +add that Salvator was no less renowned as a poet and musician than as a +painter. His genius was revealed in magnificent refractions. I repeat +again, I do not believe that Salvator had any share in Masaniello's +bloody deeds; on the contrary, I think it was the horrors of that +fearful time which drove him from Naples to Rome, where he arrived a +poor poverty-stricken fugitive, just at the time that Masaniello fell.</p> + +<p class="normal">Not over well dressed, and with a scanty purse containing not more than +a few bright sequins<sup><a name="div2_formica1.8" href="#div2Ref_formica1.8">1.8</a></sup> in his pocket, he crept through the gate just +after nightfall. Somehow or other, he didn't exactly know how, he +wandered as far as the Piazza Navona. In better times he had once lived +there in a large house near the Pamfili Palace. With an ill-tempered +growl, he gazed up at the large plate-glass windows glistening and +glimmering in the moonlight "Hm!" he exclaimed peevishly, "it'll cost +me dozens of yards of coloured canvas before I can open my studio up +there again." But all at once he felt as if paralysed in every limb, +and at the same moment more weak and feeble than he had ever felt in +his life before. "But shall I," he murmured between his teeth as he +sank down upon the stone steps leading up to the house door, "shall I +really be able to finish canvas enough in the way the fools want it +done? Hm! I have a notion that that will be the end of it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A cold cutting night wind blew down the street. Salvator recognised +the necessity of seeking a shelter. Rising with difficulty, he +staggered on into the Corso,<sup><a name="div2_formica1.9" href="#div2Ref_formica1.9">1.9</a></sup> and then turned into the Via +Bergognona. At length he stopped before a little house with only a +couple of windows, inhabited by a poor widow and her two daughters. +This women had taken him in for little pay the first time he came to +Rome, an unknown stranger noticed of nobody; and so he hoped again to +find a lodging with her, such as would be best suited to the sad +condition in which he then was.</p> + +<p class="normal">He knocked confidently at the door, and several times called out his +name aloud. At last he heard the old woman slowly and reluctantly +wakening up out of her sleep. She shuffled to the window in her +slippers, and began to rain down a shower of abuse upon the knave who +was come to worry her in this way in the middle of the night; her +house was not a wine-shop, &c., &c. Then there ensued a good deal of +cross-questioning before she recognised her former lodger's voice; but +on Salvator's complaining that he had fled from Naples and was unable +to find a shelter in Rome, the old dame cried, "By all the blessed +saints of Heaven! Is that you, Signor Salvator? Well now, your little +room up above, that looks on to the court, is still standing empty, and +the old fig-tree has pushed its branches right through the window and +into the room, so that you can sit and work like as if you was in a +beautiful cool arbour. Ay, and how pleased my girls will be that you +have come back again, Signor Salvator. But, d'ye know, my Margarita's +grown a big girl and fine-looking? You won't give her any more rides on +your knee now. And—and your little pussy, just fancy, three months ago +she choked herself with a fish-bone. Ah well, we all shall come to the +grave at last. But, d'ye know, my fat neighbour, who you so often +laughed at and so often painted in such funny ways—d'ye know, she +<i>did</i> marry that young fellow, Signor Luigi, after all. Ah well! <i>nozze +e magistrati sono da dio destinati</i> (marriages and magistrates are made +in heaven) they say."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," cried Salvator, interrupting the old woman, "but, Signora +Caterina, I entreat you by the blessed saints, do, pray, let me in, and +then tell me all about your fig-tree and your daughters, your cat and +your fat neighbour—I am perishing of weariness and cold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bless me, how impatient we are," rejoined the old dame; "<i>Chi va piano +va sano, chi va presto more lesto</i> (more haste less speed, take things +cool and live longer), I tell you. But you are tired, you are cold; +where are the keys? quick with the keys!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the old woman still had to wake up her daughters and kindle a +fire—but oh! she was such a long time about it—such a long, long +time. At last she opened the door and let poor Salvator in; but +scarcely had he crossed the threshold than, overcome by fatigue and +illness, he dropped on the floor as if dead. Happily the widow's son, +who generally lived at Tivoli, chanced to be at his mother's that night +He was at once turned out of his bed to make room for the sick guest, +which he willingly submitted to.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old woman was very fond of Salvator, putting him, as far as his +artistic powers went, above all the painters in the world; and in +everything that he did she also took the greatest pleasure. She was +therefore quite beside herself to see him in this lamentable condition, +and wanted to run off to the neighbouring monastery to fetch her father +confessor, that he might come and fight against the adverse power of +the disease with consecrated candles or some powerful amulet or other. +On the other hand, her son thought it would be almost better to see +about getting an experienced physician at once, and off he ran there +and then to the Spanish Square, where he knew the distinguished Doctor +Splendiano Accoramboni dwelt. No sooner did the doctor learn that the +painter Salvator Rosa lay ill in the Via Bergognona than he at once +declared himself ready to call early and see the patient.</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator lay unconscious, struck down by a most severe attack of fever. +The old dame had hung up two or three pictures of saints above his bed, +and was praying fervently. The girls, though bathed in tears, exerted +themselves from time to time to get the sick man to swallow a few drops +of the cooling lemonade which they had made, whilst their brother, who +had taken his place at the head of the bed, wiped the cold sweat from +his brow. And so morning found them, when with a loud creak the door +opened, and the distinguished Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni entered the +room.</p> + +<p class="normal">If Salvator had not been so seriously ill that the two girls' hearts +were melted in grief, they would, I think, for they were in general +frolicsome and saucy, have enjoyed a hearty laugh at the Doctor's +extraordinary appearance, instead of retiring shyly, as they did, into +the corner, greatly alarmed. It will indeed be worth while to describe +the outward appearance of the little man who presented himself at Dame +Caterina's in the Via Bergognona in the grey of the morning. In spite +of all his excellent capabilities for growth, Doctor Splendiano +Accoramboni had not been able to advance beyond the respectable stature +of four feet Moreover, in the days of his youth, he had been +distinguished for his elegant figure, so that, before his head, always +indeed somewhat ill-shaped, and his big cheeks, and his stately double +chin had put on too much fat, before his nose had grown bulky and +spread owing to overmuch indulgence in Spanish snuff, and before his +little belly had assumed the shape of a wine-tub from too much +fattening on macaroni, the priestly cut of garments, which he at that +time had affected, had suited him down to the ground. He was then in +truth a pretty little man, and accordingly the Roman ladies had styled +him their <i>caro puppazetto</i> (sweet little pet).</p> + +<p class="normal">That however was now a thing of the past. A German painter, seeing +Doctor Splendiano walking across the Spanish Square, said—and he was +perhaps not far wrong—that it looked as if some strapping fellow of +six feet or so had walked away from his own head, which had fallen +on the shoulders of a little marionette clown, who now had to +carry it about as his own. This curious little figure walked about in +patchwork—an immense quantity of pieces of Venetian damask of a large +flower pattern that had been cut up in making a dressing-gown; high up +round his waist he had buckled a broad leather belt, from which an +excessively long rapier hung; whilst his snow-white wig was surmounted +by a high conical cap, not unlike the obelisk in St. Peter's Square. +Since the said wig, like a piece of texture all tumbled and tangled, +spread out thick and wide all over his back, it might very well be +taken for the cocoon out of which the fine silkworm had crept.</p> + +<p class="normal">The worthy Splendiano Accoramboni stared through his big, bright +spectacles, with his eyes wide open, first at his patient, then at Dame +Caterina. Calling her aside, he croaked with bated breath, "There lies +our talented painter Salvator Rosa, and he's lost if my skill doesn't +save him, Dame Caterina. Pray tell me when he came to lodge with you? +Did he bring many beautiful large pictures with him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! my dear Doctor," replied Dame Caterina, "the poor fellow only came +last night. And as for pictures—why, I don't know nothing about them; +but there's a big box below, and Salvator begged me to take very good +care of it, before he became senseless like what he now is. I daresay +there's a fine picture packed in it, as he painted in Naples."</p> + +<p class="normal">What Dame Caterina said was, however, a falsehood; but we shall soon +see that she had good reasons for imposing upon the Doctor in this way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good! Very good!" said the Doctor, simpering and stroking his beard; +then, with as much solemnity as his long rapier, which kept catching in +all the chairs and tables he came near, would allow, he approached the +sick man and felt his pulse, snorting and wheezing, so that it had a +most curious effect in the midst of the reverential silence which had +fallen upon all the rest. Then he ran over in Greek and Latin the names +of a hundred and twenty diseases that Salvator had not, then almost as +many which he might have had, and concluded by saying that on the spur +of the moment he didn't recollect the name of his disease, but that he +would within a short time find a suitable one for it, and along +therewith, the proper remedies as well. Then he took his departure with +the same solemnity with which he had entered, leaving them all full of +trouble and anxiety.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the bottom of the steps the Doctor requested to see Salvator's box; +Dame Caterina showed him one—in which were two or three of her +deceased husband's cloaks now laid aside, and some old worn-out shoes. +The Doctor smilingly tapped the box, on this side and on that, and +remarked in a tone of satisfaction "We shall see! we shall see!" Some +hours later he returned with a very beautiful name for his patient's +disease, and brought with him some big bottles of an evil-smelling +potion, which he directed to be given to the patient constantly. This +was a work of no little trouble, for Salvator showed the greatest +aversion for—utter loathing of the stuff, which looked, and smelt, and +tasted, as if it had been concocted from Acheron itself. Whether it was +that the disease, since it had now received a name, and in consequence +really signified something, had only just begun to put forth its +virulence, or whether it was that Splendiano's potion made too much of +a disturbance inside the patient—it is at any rate certain that the +poor painter grew weaker and weaker from day to day, from hour to hour. +And notwithstanding Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni's assurance that, +after the vital process had reached a state of perfect equilibrium, he +would give it a new start like the pendulum of a clock, they were all +very doubtful as to Salvator's recovery, and thought that the Doctor +had perhaps already given the pendulum such a violent start that the +mechanism was quite impaired.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now it happened one day that when Salvator seemed scarcely able to move +a finger he was suddenly seized with the paroxysm of fever; in a +momentary accession of fictitious strength he leapt out of bed, seized +the full medicine bottles, and hurled them fiercely out of the window. +Just at this moment Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni was entering the +house, when two or three bottles came bang upon his head, smashing all +to pieces, whilst the brown liquid ran in streams all down his face, +and wig, and ruff. Hastily rushing into the house, he screamed like a +madman, "Signer Salvator has gone out of his mind, he's become insane; +no skill can save him now, he'll be dead in ten minutes. Give me the +picture, Dame Caterina, give me the picture—it's mine, the scanty +reward of all my trouble. Give me the picture, I say."</p> + +<p class="normal">But when Dame Caterina opened the box, and Doctor Splendiano saw +nothing but the old cloaks and torn shoes, his eyes spun round in his +head like a pair of fire-wheels; he gnashed his teeth; he stamped; he +consigned poor Salvator, the widow, and all the family to the devil; +then he rushed out of the house like an arrow from a bow, or as if he +had been shot from a cannon.</p> + +<p class="normal">After the violence of the paroxysm had spent itself, Salvator again +relapsed into a death-like condition. Dame Caterina was fully persuaded +that his end was really come, and away she sped as fast as she could to +the monastery, to fetch Father Boniface, that he might come and +administer the sacrament to the dying man. Father Boniface came and +looked at the sick man; he said he was well acquainted with the +peculiar signs which approaching death is wont to stamp upon the human +countenance, but that for the present there were no indications of them +on the face of the insensible Salvator. Something might still be done, +and he would procure help at once, only Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni +with his Greek names and infernal medicines was not to be allowed to +cross the threshold again. The good Father set out at once, and we +shall see later that he kept his word about sending the promised help.</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator recovered consciousness again; he fancied he was lying in a +beautiful flower-scented arbour, for green boughs and leaves were +interlacing above his head. He felt a salutary warmth glowing in his +veins, but it seemed to him as if somehow his left arm was bound fast +"Where am I?" he asked in a faint voice. Then a handsome young man, who +had stood at his bedside, but whom he had not noticed until just now, +threw himself upon his knees, and grasping Salvator's right hand, +kissed it and bathed it with tears, as he cried again and again, "Oh! +my dear sir! my noble master! now it's all right; you are saved, you'll +get better."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But do tell me"—began Salvator, when the young man begged him not to +exert himself, for he was too weak to talk; he would tell him all that +had happened. "You see, my esteemed and excellent sir," began the young +man, "you see, you were very ill when you came from Naples, but your +condition was not, I warrant, by any means so dangerous but that a few +simple remedies would soon have set you, with your strong constitution, +on your legs again, had you not through Carlos's well-intentioned +blunder in running off for the nearest physician fallen into the hands +of the redoubtable Pyramid Doctor, who was making all preparations for +bringing you to your grave."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you say?" exclaimed Salvator, laughing heartily, +notwithstanding the feeble state he was in. "What do you say?—the +Pyramid Doctor? Ay, ay, although I was very ill, I saw that the little +knave in damask patchwork, who condemned me to drink his horrid, +loathsome devil's brew, wore on his head the obelisk from St. Peter's +Square—and so that's why you call him the Pyramid Doctor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, good heavens!" said the young man, likewise laughing, +"why, Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni must have come to see you in his ominous +conical nightcap; and, do you know, you may see it flashing every morning from +his window in the Spanish Square like a portentous meteor. But it's not by any +means owing to this cap that he's called the Pyramid Doctor; for that there's +quite another reason. Doctor Splendiano is a great lover of pictures, and +possesses in truth quite a choice collection, which he has gained by a practice +of a peculiar nature. With eager cunning he lies in wait for painters and their +illnesses. More especially he loves to get foreign artists into his toils; let +them but eat an ounce or two of macaroni too much, or drink a glass more +Syracuse than is altogether good for them, he will afflict them with first one +and then the other disease, designating it by a formidable name, and proceeding +at once to cure them of it. He generally bargains for a picture as the price of +his attendance; and as it is only specially obstinate constitutions which are +able to withstand his powerful remedies, it generally happens that he gets his +picture out of the chattels left by the poor foreigner, who meanwhile has been +carried to the Pyramid of Cestius, and buried there. It need hardly be said that +Signor Splendiano always picks out the best of the pictures the painter has +finished, and also does not forget to bid the men take several others along with +it. The cemetery near the Pyramid of Cestius is Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni's +corn-field, which he diligently cultivates, and for that reason he is called the +Pyramid Doctor. Dame Caterina had taken great pains, of course with the best +intentions, to make the Doctor believe that you had brought a fine picture with +you; you may imagine therefore with what eagerness he concocted his potions for +you. It was a fortunate thing that in the paroxysm of fever you threw the +Doctor's bottles at his head, it was also a fortunate thing that he left you in +anger, and no less fortunate was it that Dame Caterina, who believed you were in +the agonies of death, fetched Father Boniface to come and administer to you the +sacrament. Father Boniface understands something of the art of healing; he +formed a correct diagnosis of your condition and fetched me"——</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you also are a doctor?" asked Salvator in a faint whining tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," replied the young man, a deep blush mantling his cheeks, "no, my +estimable and worthy sir, I am not in the least a doctor like Signor +Splendiano Accoramboni; I am however a chirurgeon. I felt as if I +should sink into the earth with fear—with joy—when Father Boniface +came and told me that Salvator Rosa lay sick unto death in the Via +Bergognona, and required my help. I hastened here, opened a vein in +your left arm, and you were saved. Then we brought you up into this +cool airy room that you formerly occupied. Look, there's the easel +which you left behind you; yonder are a few sketches which Dame +Caterina has treasured up as if they were relics. The virulence of your +disease is subdued; simple remedies such as Father Boniface can prepare +is all that you want, except good nursing, to bring back your strength +again. And now permit me once more to kiss this hand—this creative +hand that charms from Nature her deepest secrets and clothes them in +living form. Permit poor Antonio Scacciati to pour out all the +gratitude and immeasurable joy of his heart that Heaven has granted him +to save the life of our great and noble painter, Salvator Rosa." +Therewith the young surgeon threw himself on his knees again, and, +seizing Salvator's hand, kissed it and bathed it in tears as before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't understand," said the artist, raising himself up a little, +though with considerable difficulty, "I don't understand, my dear +Antonio, what it is that is so especially urging you to show me all +this respect. You are, you say, a chirurgeon, and we don't in a general +way find this trade going hand in hand with art——"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As soon," replied the young man, casting down his eyes, "as soon as +you have picked up your strength again, my dear sir, I have a good deal +to tell you that now lies heavy on my heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do so," said Salvator; "you may have every confidence in me—that you +may, for I don't know that any man's face has made a more direct appeal +to my heart than yours. The more I look at you the more plainly I seem +to trace in your features a resemblance to that incomparable young +painter—I mean Sanzio."<sup><a name="div2_formica1.10" href="#div2Ref_formica1.10">1.10</a></sup> Antonio's eyes were lit up with a proud, +radiant light—he vainly struggled for words with which to express his +feelings.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment Dame Caterina appeared, followed by Father Boniface, +who brought Salvator a medicine which he had mixed scientifically +according to prescription, and which the patient swallowed with more +relish and felt to have a more beneficial effect upon him than the +Acheronian waters of the Pyramid Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni.</p> + +<br> +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p class="hang1"><i>By Salvator Rosa's intervention Antonio Scacciati attains to a high +honour. Antonio discloses the cause of his persistent trouble to +Salvator, who consoles him and promises to help him.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">And Antonio's words proved true. The simple but salutary remedies of +Father Boniface, the careful nursing of good Dame Caterina and her +daughters, the warmer weather which now came—all co-operated so well +together with Salvator's naturally robust constitution that he soon +felt sufficiently well to think about work again; first of all he +designed a few sketches which he thought of working out afterwards.</p> + +<p class="normal">Antonio scarcely ever left Salvator's room; he was all eyes when the +painter drew out his sketches; whilst his judgment in respect to many +points showed that he must have been initiated into the secrets of art.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See here," said Salvator to him one day, "see here, Antonio, you +understand art matters so well that I believe you have not merely +cultivated your excellent judgment as a critic, but must have wielded +the brush as well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will remember," rejoined Antonio, "how I told you, my dear sir, +when you were just about coming to yourself again after your long +unconsciousness, that I had several things to tell you which lay heavy +on my mind. Now is the time for me to unfold all my heart to you. You +must know then, that though I am called Antonio Scacciati, the +chirurgeon, who opened the vein in your arm for you, I belong also +entirely to art—to the art which, after bidding eternal farewell to my +hateful trade, I intend to devote myself for once and for all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho! ho!" exclaimed Salvator, "Ho! ho! Antonio, weigh well what you are +about to do. You are a clever chirurgeon, and perhaps will never be +anything more than a bungling painter all your life long; for, with +your permission, as young as you are, you are decidedly too old to +begin to use the charcoal now. Believe me, a man's whole lifetime is +scarce long enough to acquire a knowledge of the True—still less the +practical ability to represent it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! but, my dear sir," replied Antonio, smiling blandly, "don't +imagine that I should now have come to entertain the foolish idea of +taking up the difficult art of painting had I not practised it already +on every possible occasion from my very childhood. In spite of the fact +that my father obstinately kept me away from everything connected with +art, yet Heaven was graciously pleased to throw me in the way of some +celebrated artists. I must tell you that the great Annibal<sup><a name="div2_formica2.1" href="#div2Ref_formica2.1">2.1</a></sup> +interested himself in the orphan boy, and also that I may with justice +call myself Guido Reni's<sup><a name="div2_formica2.2" href="#div2Ref_formica2.2">2.2</a></sup> pupil."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then," said Salvator somewhat sharply, a way of speaking he +sometimes had, "well then, my good Antonio, you have indeed had great +masters, and so it cannot fail but that, without detriment to your +surgical practice, you must have been a great pupil. Only I don't +understand how you, a faithful disciple of the gentle, elegant Guido, +whom you perhaps outdo in elegance in your own pictures—for pupils do +do those sort of things in their enthusiasm—how you can find any +pleasure in my productions, and can really regard me as a master in the +Art."</p> + +<p class="normal">At these words, which indeed sounded a good deal like derisive mockery, +the hot blood rushed into the young man's face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, let me lay aside all the diffidence which generally keeps my lips +closed," he said, "and let me frankly lay bare the thoughts I have in +my mind. I tell you, Salvator, I have never honoured any master from +the depths of my soul as I do you. What I am amazed at in your works is +the sublime greatness of conception which is often revealed You grasp +the deepest secrets of Nature: you comprehend the mysterious +hieroglyphics of her rocks, of her trees, and of her waterfalls, you +hear her sacred voice, you understand her language, and possess the +power to write down what she has said to you. Verily I can call your +bold free style of painting nothing else than writing down. Man alone +and his doings does not suffice you; you behold him only in the midst +of Nature, and in so far as his essential character is conditioned by +natural phenomena; and in these facts I see the reason why you are only +truly great in landscapes, Salvator, with their wonderful figures. +Historical painting confines you within limits which clog your +imagination to the detriment of your genius for reproducing your higher +intuitions of Nature."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's talk you've picked up from envious historical +painters," said Salvator, interrupting his young companion; "like them, Antonio, +you throw me the choice bone of landscape-painting that I may gnaw away at it, +and so spare their own good flesh. Perhaps I do understand the human figure and +all that is dependent upon it. But this senseless repetition of others' words"——</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't be angry," continued Antonio, "don't be angry, my good sir; I am +not blindly repeating anybody's words, and I should not for a moment +think of trusting to the judgment of our painters here in Rome at any +rate. Who can help greatly admiring the bold draughtsmanship, the +powerful expression, but above all the living movement of your fingers? +It's plain to see that you don't work from a stiff, inflexible model, +or even from a dead skeleton form; it is evident that you yourself are +your own breathing, living model, and that when you sketch or paint, +you have the figure you want to put on your canvas reflected in a great +mirror opposite to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The devil! Antonio," exclaimed Salvator, laughing, "I believe you must +often have had a peep into my studio when I was not aware of it, since +you have such an accurate knowledge of what goes on within."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps I may," replied Antonio; "but let me go on. I am not by a long +way so anxious to classify, the pictures which your powerful mind +suggests to you as are those pedantic critics who take such great pains +in this line. In fact, I think that the word 'landscape,' as generally +employed, has but an indifferent application to your productions; I +should prefer to call them historical representations in the highest +sense of the word. If we fancy that this or the other rock or this or +the other tree is gazing at us like a gigantic being with thoughtful +earnest eyes, so again, on the other hand, this or the other group of +fantastically attired men resembles some remarkable stone which has +been endowed with life; all Nature, breathing and moving in harmonious +unity, lends accents to the sublime thought which leapt into existence +in your mind. This is the spirit in which I have studied your pictures, +and so in this way it is, my grand and noble master, that I owe to you +my truer perceptions in matters of art. But pray don't imagine that I +have fallen into childish imitation. However much I would like to +possess the free bold pencil that you possess, I do not attempt to +conceal the fact that Nature's colours appear to me different from what +I see them in your pictures. Although it is useful, I think, for the +sake of acquiring technique, for the pupil to imitate the style of this +or that master, yet, so soon as he comes to stand in any sense on his +own feet, he ought to aim at representing Nature as he himself sees +her. Nothing but this true method of perception, this unity with +oneself, can give rise to character and truth. Guido shared these +sentiments; and that fiery man Preti,<sup><a name="div2_formica2.3" href="#div2Ref_formica2.3">2.3</a></sup> who, as you are aware, is +called <i>Il Calabrese</i>—a painter who certainly, more than any other +man, has reflected upon his art—also warned me against all imitation. +Now you know, Salvator, why I so much respect you, without imitating +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Whilst the young man had been speaking, Salvator had kept his eyes +fixed unchangeably upon him; he now clasped him tumultuously to his +heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Antonio," he then said, "what you have just now said are wise and +thoughtful words. Young as you are, you are nevertheless, so far as the +true perception of art is concerned, a long way ahead of many of our +old and much vaunted masters, who have a good deal of stupid foolish +twaddle about their painting, but never get at the true root of the +matter. Body alive, man! When you were talking about my pictures, I +then began to understand myself for the first time, I believe; and +because you do not imitate my style,—do not, like a good many others, +take a tube of black paint in your hand, or dab on a few glaring +colours, or even make two or three crippled figures with repulsive +faces look up from the midst of filth and dirt, and then say, 'There's +a Salvator for you!'—just for these very reasons I think a good deal +of you. I tell you, my lad, you'll not find a more faithful friend than +I am—that I can promise you with all my heart and soul."</p> + +<p class="normal">Antonio was beside himself with joy at the kind way in which the great +painter thus testified to his interest in him. Salvator expressed an +earnest desire to see his pictures. Antonio took him there and then to +his studio.</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator had in truth expected to find something fairly good from the +young man who spoke so intelligently about art, and who, it appeared, +had a good deal in him; but nevertheless he was greatly surprised at +the sight of Antonio's fine pictures. Everywhere he found boldness in +conception, and correctness in drawing; and the freshness of the +colouring, the good taste in the arrangement of the drapery, the +uncommon delicacy of the extremities, the exquisite grace of the heads, +were all so many evidences that he was no unworthy pupil of the great +Reni. But Antonio had avoided this master's besetting sin of an +endeavour, only too conspicuous, to sacrifice expression to beauty. It +was plain that Antonio was aiming to reach Annibal's strength, without +having as yet succeeded.</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator spent some considerable time of thoughtful silence in the +examination of each of the pictures. Then he said, "Listen, Antonio: it +is indeed undeniable that you were born to follow the noble art of +painting. For not only has Nature endowed you with the creative spirit +from which the finest thoughts pour forth in an inexhaustible stream, +but she has also granted you the rare ability to surmount in a short +space of time the difficulties of technique. It would only be false +flattery if I were to tell you that you had yet advanced to the level +of your masters, that you are yet equal to Guido's exquisite grace or +to Annibal's strength; but certain I am that you excel by a long way +all the painters who hold up their heads so proudly in the Academy of +St. Luke<sup><a name="div2_formica2.4" href="#div2Ref_formica2.4">2.4</a></sup> here—Tiarini,<sup><a name="div2_formica2.5" href="#div2Ref_formica2.5">2.5</a></sup> +Gessi,<sup><a name="div2_formica2.6" href="#div2Ref_formica2.6">2.6</a></sup> Sementa,<sup><a name="div2_formica2.7" href="#div2Ref_formica2.7">2.7</a></sup> and all +the rest of them, not even excepting Lanfranco<sup><a name="div2_formica2.8" href="#div2Ref_formica2.8">2.8</a></sup> himself, for he +only understands fresco-painting. And yet, Antonio, and yet, if I were +in your place, I should deliberate awhile before throwing away the +lancet altogether, and confining myself entirely to the pencil That +sounds rather strange, but listen to me. Art seems to be having a bad +time of it just now, or rather the devil seems to be very busy amongst +our painters now-a-days, bravely setting them together by the ears. If +you cannot make up your mind to put up with all sorts of annoyances, to +endure more and more scorn and contumely in proportion as you advance +in art, and as your fame spreads to meet with malicious scoundrels +everywhere, who with a friendly face will force themselves upon you in +order to ruin you the more surely afterwards,—if you cannot, I say, +make up your mind to endure all this—let painting alone. Think of the +fate of your teacher, the great Annibal, whom a rascally band of rivals +malignantly persecuted in Naples, so that he did not receive one single +commission for a great work, being everywhere rejected with contempt; +and this is said to have been instrumental in bringing about his early +death. Think of what happened to Domenichino<sup><a name="div2_formica2.9" href="#div2Ref_formica2.9">2.9</a></sup> when he was painting +the dome of the chapel of St. Januarius. Didn't the villains of +painters—I won't mention a single name, not even the rascals +Belisario<sup><a name="div2_formica2.10" href="#div2Ref_formica2.10">2.10</a></sup> and Ribera<sup><a name="div2_formica2.11" href="#div2Ref_formica2.11">2.11</a></sup>—didn't they bribe Domenichino's +servant to strew ashes in the lime? So the plaster wouldn't stick fast +on the walls, and the painting had no stability. Think of all that, and +examine yourself well whether your spirit is strong enough to endure +things like that, for if not, your artistic power will be broken, and +along with the resolute courage for work you will also lose your +ability."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Salvator," replied Antonio, "it would hardly be possible for me +to have more scorn and contumely to endure, supposing I took up +painting entirely and exclusively, then I have already endured whilst +merely a chirurgeon. You have been pleased with my pictures, you have +indeed! and at the same time declared from inner conviction that I am +capable of doing better things than several of our painters of the +Academy. But these are just the men who turn up their noses at all that +I have industriously produced, and say contemptuously, 'Do look, here's +our chirurgeon wants to be a painter!' And for this very reason my +resolve is only the more unshaken; I will sever myself from a trade +that grows with every day more hateful. Upon you, my honoured master, I +now stake all my hopes. Your word is powerful; if you would speak a +good word for me, you might overthrow my envious persecutors at a +single blow, and put me in the place where I ought to be."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You repose great confidence in me," rejoined Salvator. "But now that +we thoroughly understand each other's views on painting, and I have +seen your works, I don't really know that there is anybody for whom I +would rather take up the cudgels than for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator once more inspected Antonio's pictures, and stopped before one +representing a "Magdalene at the Saviour's feet," which he especially +praised.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In this Magdalene," he said, "you have deviated from the usual mode of +representation. Your Magdalene is not a thoughtful virgin, but a lovely +artless child rather, and yet she is such a marvellous child that +hardly anybody else but Guido could have painted her. There is a unique +charm in her dainty figure; you must have painted with inspiration; +and, if I mistake not, the original of this Magdalene is alive and to +be found in Rome. Come, confess, Antonio, you are in love!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Antonio's eyes sought the ground, whilst he said in a low shy voice, +"Nothing escapes your penetration, my dear sir; perhaps it is as you +say, but do not blame me for it. That picture I set the highest store +by, and hitherto I have guarded it as a holy secret from all men's +eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you say?" interrupted Salvator. "None of the painters here +have seen your picture?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, not one," was Antonio's reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right then, Antonio," continued Salvator, his eyes sparkling with +delight "Very well then, you may rely upon it, I will overwhelm your +envious overweening persecutors, and get you the honour you deserve. +Intrust your picture to me; bring it to my studio secretly by night, +and then leave all the rest to me. Will you do so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gladly, with all my heart," replied Antonio. "And now I should very +much like to talk to you about my love-troubles as well; but I feel as +if I ought not to do so to-day, after we have opened our minds to each +other on the subject of art. I also entreat you to grant me your +assistance both in word and deed later on in this matter of my love."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am at your service," said Salvator, "for both, both when and where +you require me." Then as he was going away, he once more turned round +and said, smiling, "See here, Antonio, when you disclosed to me the +fact that you were a painter, I was very sorry that I had spoken about +your resemblance to Sanzio. I took it for granted that you were as +silly as most of our young folk, who, if they bear but the slightest +resemblance in the face to any great master, at once trim their beard +or hair as he does, and from this cause fancy it is their business to +imitate the style of the master in their art achievements, even though +it is a manifest violation of their natural talents to do so. Neither +of us has mentioned Raphael's name, but I assure you that I have +discerned in your pictures clear indications that you have grasped the +full significance of the inimitable thoughts which are reflected in the +works of this the greatest of the painters of the age. You understand +Raphael, and would give me a different answer from what Velasquez<sup><a name="div2_formica2.12" href="#div2Ref_formica2.12">2.12</a></sup> +did when I asked him not long ago what he thought of Sanzio. 'Titian,' +he replied, 'is the greatest painter; Raphael knows nothing about +carnation.' This Spaniard, methinks, understands flesh but not +criticism; and yet these men in St. Luke elevate him to the clouds +because he once painted cherries which the sparrows picked at."<sup><a name="div2_formica2.13" href="#div2Ref_formica2.13">2.13</a></sup></p> + +<p class="normal">It happened not many days afterwards that the Academicians of St. Luke +met together in their church to prove the works which had been +announced for exhibition. There too Salvator had sent Scacciati's fine +picture. In spite of themselves the painters were greatly struck with +its grace and power; and from all lips there was heard nothing but the +most extravagant praise when Salvator informed them that he had brought +the picture with him from Naples, as the legacy of a young painter who +had been cut off in the pride of his days.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was not long before all Rome was crowding to see and admire the +picture of the young unknown painter who had died so young; it was +unanimously agreed that no such work had been done since Guido Reni's +time; some even went so far in their just enthusiasm as to place this +exquisitely lovely Magdalene before Guido's creations of a similar +kind. Amongst the crowd of people who were always gathered round +Scacciati's picture, Salvator one day observed a man who, besides +presenting a most extraordinary appearance, behaved as if he were +crazy. Well advanced in years, he was tall, thin as a spindle, with a +pale face, a long sharp nose, a chin equally as long, ending moreover +in a little pointed beard, and with grey, gleaming eyes. On the top of +his light sand-coloured wig he had set a high hat with a magnificent +feather; he wore a short dark red mantle or cape with many bright +buttons, a sky-blue doublet slashed in the Spanish style, immense +leather gauntlets with silver fringes, a long rapier at his side, light +grey stockings drawn up above his bony knees and gartered with yellow +ribbons, whilst he had bows of the same sort of yellow ribbon on his +shoes.</p> + +<p class="normal">This remarkable figure was standing before the picture like one +enraptured: he raised himself on tiptoe; he stooped down till he became +quite small; then he jumped up with both feet at once, heaved deep +sighs, groaned, nipped his eyes so close together that the tears began +to trickle down his cheeks, opened them wide again, fixed his gaze +immovably upon the charming Magdalene, sighed again, lisped in a thin, +querulous, mutilated voice, "<i>Ah! carissima—benedettissima! Ah! +Marianna—Mariannina—bellissima</i>," &c. ("Oh! dearest—most adored! Ah! +Marianna—sweet Marianna! my most beautiful!") Salvator, who had a mad +fancy for such oddities, drew near to the old fellow, intending to +engage him in conversation about Scacciati's work, which seemed to +afford him so much exquisite delight Without paying any particular heed +to Salvator, the old gentleman stood cursing his poverty, because he +could not give a million sequins for the picture, and place it under +lock and key where nobody could set their infernal eyes upon it. Then, +hopping up and down again, he blessed the Virgin and all the holy +saints that the reprobate artist who had painted the heavenly picture +which was driving him to despair and madness was dead.</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator concluded that the man either was out of his mind, or was an +Academician of St. Luke with whom he was unacquainted.</p> + +<p class="normal">All Rome was full of Scacciati's wonderful picture; people could +scarcely talk about anything else, and this of course was convincing +proof of the excellence of the work. And when the painters were again +assembled in the church of St. Luke, to decide about the admission of +certain other pictures which had been announced for exhibition, +Salvator Rosa all at once asked, whether the painter of the "Magdalene +at the Saviour's Feet" was not worthy of being admitted a member of the +Academy. They all with one accord, including even that hairsplitter in +criticism, Baron Josépin,<sup><a name="div2_formica2.14" href="#div2Ref_formica2.14">2.14</a></sup> declared that such a great artist would +have been an ornament to the Academy, and expressed their sorrow at his +death in the choicest phrases, although, like the crazy old man, they +were praising Heaven in their hearts that he was dead. Still more, they +were so far carried away by their enthusiasm that they passed a +resolution to the effect that the admirable young painter whom death +had snatched away from art so early should be nominated a member of the +Academy in his grave, and that masses should be read for the benefit of +his soul in the church of St. Luke. They therefore begged Salvator to +inform them what was the full name of the deceased, the date of his +birth, the place where he was born, &c.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Salvator rose and said in a loud voice, "Signors, the honour you +are anxious to render to a dead man you can more easily bestow upon a +living man who walks in your midst. Learn that the 'Magdalene at the +Saviour's Feet'—the picture which you so justly exalt above all other +artistic productions that the last few years have given us, is not the +work of a dead Neapolitan painter as I pretended (this I did simply to +get an unbiassed judgment from you); that painting, that masterpiece, +which all Rome is admiring, is from the hand of Signor Antonio +Scacciati, the chirurgeon."</p> + +<p class="normal">The painters sat staring at Salvator as if suddenly thunderstruck, +incapable of either moving or uttering a single sound. He, however, +after quietly exulting over their embarrassment for some minutes, +continued, "Well now, signors, you would not tolerate the worthy +Antonio amongst you because he is a chirurgeon; but I think that the +illustrious Academy of St. Luke has great need of a surgeon to set the +limbs of the many crippled figures which emerge from the studios of a +good many amongst your number. But of course you will no longer scruple +to do what you ought to have done long ago, namely, elect that +excellent painter Antonio Scacciati a member of the Academy."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Academicians, swallowing Salvator's bitter pill, feigned to be +highly delighted that Antonio had in this way given such incontestable +proofs of his talent, and with all due ceremony nominated him a member +of the Academy.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as it became known in Rome that Antonio was the author of the +wonderful picture he was overwhelmed with congratulations, and even +with commissions for great works, which poured in upon him from all +sides. Thus by Salvator's shrewd and cunning stratagem the young man +emerged all at once out of his obscurity, and with the first real step +he took on his artistic career rose to great honour.</p> + +<p class="normal">Antonio revelled in ecstasies of delight. So much the more therefore +did Salvator wonder to see him, some days later, appear with his face +pale and distorted, utterly miserable and woebegone. "Ah! Salvator!" +said Antonio, "what advantage has it been to me that you have helped me +to rise to a level far beyond my expectations, that I am now +overwhelmed with praise and honour, that the prospect of a most +successful artistic career is opening out before me? Oh! I am utterly +miserable, for the picture to which, next to you, my dear sir, I owe my +great triumph, has proved the source of my lasting misfortune."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop!" replied Salvator, "don't sin against either your art or your +picture. I don't believe a word about the terrible misfortune which, +you say, has befallen you. You are in love, and I presume you can't get +all your wishes gratified at once, on the spur of the moment; that's +all it is. Lovers are like children; they scream and cry if anybody +only just touches their doll. Have done, I pray you, with that +lamentation, for I tell you I can't do with it. Come now, sit yourself +down there and quietly tell me all about your fair Magdalene, and give +me the history of your love affair, and let me know what are the stones +of offence that we have to remove, for I promise you my help +beforehand. The more adventurous the schemes are which we shall have to +undertake, the more I shall like them. In fact, my blood is coursing +hotly in my veins again, and my regimen requires that I engage in a few +wild pranks. But go on with your story, Antonio, and as I said, let's +have it quietly without any sighs and lamentations, without any Ohs! +and Ahs!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Antonio took his seat on the stool which Salvator had pushed +up to the easel at which he was working, and began as follows:—</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is a high house in the Via Ripetta,<sup><a name="div2_formica2.15" href="#div2Ref_formica2.15">2.15</a></sup> +with a balcony which projects far over the street so as at once to strike the +eye of any one entering through the Porta del Popolo, and there dwells perhaps +the most whimsical oddity in all Rome,—an old bachelor with every fault that +belongs to that class of persons—avaricious, vain, anxious to appear young, +amorous, foppish. He is tall, as thin as a switch, wears a gay Spanish costume, +a sandy wig, a conical hat, leather gauntlets, a rapier at his side"——</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop, stop!" cried Salvator, interrupting him, "excuse me a minute or +two, Antonio." Then, turning about the picture at which he was +painting, he seized his charcoal and in a few free bold strokes +sketched on the back side of the canvas the eccentric old gentleman +whom he had seen behaving like a crazed man in front of Antonio's +picture.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By all the saints!" cried Antonio, as he leapt to his feet, and, +forgetful of his unhappiness, burst out into a loud laugh, "by all the +saints! that's he! That's Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, whom I was just +describing, that's he to the very T."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you see," said Salvator calmly, "that I am already acquainted with +the worthy gentleman who most probably is your bitter enemy. But go +on."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Signor Pasquale Capuzzi," continued Antonio, "is as rich as Crœsus, +but at the same time, as I just told you, a sordid miser and an +incurable coxcomb. The best thing about him is that he loves art, +particularly music and painting; but he mixes up so much folly with it +all that even in these things there's no getting on with him. He +considers himself the greatest musical composer in the world, and that +there's not a singer in the Papal choir who can at all approach him. +Accordingly he looks down upon our old Frescobaldi<sup><a name="div2_formica2.16" href="#div2Ref_formica2.16">2.16</a></sup> with contempt; +and when the Romans talk about the wonderful charm of Ceccarelli's +voice, he informs them that Ceccarelli knows as much about singing as a +pair of top-boots, and that he, Capuzzi, knows which is the right way +to fascinate the public. But as the first singer of the Pope bears the +proud name of Signor Odoardo Ceccarelli di Merania, so our Capuzzi is +greatly delighted when anybody calls him Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di +Senigaglia; for it was in Senigaglia<sup><a name="div2_formica2.17" href="#div2Ref_formica2.17">2.17</a></sup> that he was born, and the +popular rumour goes that his mother, being startled at sight of a +sea-dog (seal) suddenly rising to the surface, gave birth to him in a +fisherman's boat, and that accounts, it is said, for a good deal of the +sea-cur in his nature. Several years ago he brought out an opera on the +stage, which was fearfully hissed; but that hasn't cured him of his +mania for writing execrable music. Indeed, when he heard Francesco +Cavalli's<sup><a name="div2_formica2.18" href="#div2Ref_formica2.18">2.18</a></sup> opera <i>Le Nozze di Feti e di Peleo</i>, he swore that the +composer had filched the sublimest of the thoughts from his own +immortal works, for which he was near being thrashed and even stabbed. +He still has a craze for singing arias, and accompanies his hideous +squalling on a wretched jarring, jangling guitar, all out of tune. His +faithful Pylades is an ill-bred dwarfish eunuch, whom the Romans call +Pitichinaccio. There is a third member of the company—guess who it +is?—Why, none other than the Pyramid Doctor, who kicks up a noise like +a melancholy ass and yet fancies he's singing an excellent bass, quite +as good as Martinelli of the Papal choir. Now these three estimable +people are in the habit of meeting in the evening on the balcony of +Capuzzi's house, where they sing Carissimi's<sup><a name="div2_formica2.19" href="#div2Ref_formica2.19">2.19</a></sup> motets, until all +the dogs and cats in the neighbourhood round break out into dirges of +miawing and howling, and all their neighbours heartily wish the devil +would run away with all the blessed three.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With this whimsical old fellow, Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, of whom my +description will have enabled you to form a tolerably adequate idea, my +father lived on terms of intimacy, since he trimmed his wig and beard. +When my father died, I undertook this business; and Capuzzi was in the +highest degree satisfied with me, because, as he once affirmed, I knew +better than anybody else how to give his moustaches a bold upward +twirl; but the real reason was because I was satisfied with the few +pence with which he rewarded me for my pains. But he firmly believed +that he more than richly indemnified me, since, whilst I was trimming +his beard, he always closed his eyes and croaked through an aria from +his own compositions, which, however, almost split my ears; and yet the +old fellow's crazy gestures afforded me a good deal of amusement, so +that I continued to attend him. One day when I went, I quietly ascended +the stairs, knocked at the door, and opened it, when lo, there was a +girl—an angel of light, who came to meet me. You know my Magdalene; it +was she. I stood stock still, rooted to the spot. No, Salvator, you +shall have no Ohs! and Ahs! Well, the first sight of this, the most +lovely maiden of her sex, enkindled in me the most ardent passionate +love. The old man informed me with a smirk that the young lady was the +daughter of his brother Pietro, who had died at Senigaglia, that her +name was Marianna, and that she was quite an orphan; being her uncle +and guardian, he had taken her into his house. You can easily imagine +that henceforward Capuzzi's house was my Paradise. But no matter +what devices I had recourse to, I could never succeed in getting a +<i>téte-à-téte</i> with Marianna, even for a single moment. Her glances, +however, and many a stolen sigh, and many a soft pressure of the hand, +resolved all doubts as to my good fortune. The old man divined what I +was after,—which was not a very difficult thing for him to do. He +informed me that my behaviour towards his niece was not such as to +please him altogether, and he asked me what was the real purport of my +attentions. Then I frankly confessed that I loved Marianna with all my +heart, and that the greatest earthly happiness I could conceive was a +union with her. Whereupon Capuzzi, after measuring me from top to toe, +burst out in a guffaw of contempt, and declared that he never had any +idea that such lofty thoughts could haunt the brain of a paltry barber. +I was almost boiling with rage; I said he knew very well that I was no +paltry barber but rather a good surgeon, and, moreover, in so far as +concerned the noble art of painting, a faithful pupil of the great +Annibal Caracci and of the unrivalled Guido Reni. But the infamous +Capuzzi only replied by a still louder guffaw of laughter, and in his +horrible falsetto squeaked, 'See here, my sweet Signor barber, my +excellent Signor surgeon, my honoured Annibal Caracci, my beloved Guido +Reni, be off to the devil, and don't ever show yourself here again, if +you don't want your legs broken.' Therewith the cranky, knock-kneed old +fool laid hold of me with no less an intention than to kick me out of +the room, and hurl me down the stairs. But that, you know, was past +everything. With ungovernable fury I seized the old fellow and tripped +him up, so that his legs stuck uppermost in the air; and there I left +him screaming aloud, whilst I ran down the stairs and out of the +house-door; which, I need hardly say, has been closed to me ever since.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that's how matters stood when you came to Rome and when Heaven +inspired Father Boniface with the happy idea of bringing me to you. +Then so soon as your clever trick had brought me the success for which +I had so long been vainly striving, that is, when I was accepted by the +Academy of St. Luke, and all Rome was heaping up praise and honour upon +me to a lavish extent, I went straightway to the old gentleman and +suddenly presented myself before him in his own room, like a +threatening apparition. Such at least he must have thought me, for he +grew as pale as a corpse, and retreated behind a great table, trembling +in every limb. And in a firm and earnest way I represented to him that +it was not now a paltry barber or a surgeon, but a celebrated painter +and Academician of St. Luke, Antonio Scacciati, to whom he would not, T +hoped, refuse the hand of his niece Marianna. You should have seen into +what a passion the old fellow flew. He screamed; he flourished his arms +about like one possessed of devils; he yelled that I, a ruffianly +murderer, was seeking his life, that I had stolen his Marianna from him +since I had portrayed her in my picture, and it was driving him mad, +driving him to despair, for all the world, all the world, were fixing +their covetous, lustful eyes upon his Marianna, his life, his hope, his +all; but I had better take care, he would burn my house over my head, +and me and my picture in it. And therewith he kicked up such a din, +shouting, 'Fire! Murder! Thieves! Help!' that I was perfectly +confounded, and only thought of making the best of my way out of the +house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The crackbrained old fool is over head and ears in love with his +niece; he keeps her under lock and key; and as soon as he succeeds in +getting dispensation from the Pope, he will compel her to a shameful +alliance with himself. All hope for me is lost!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, not quite," said Salvator, laughing, "I am of opinion that +things could not be in a better form for you, Marianna loves you, of +that you are convinced; and all we have to do is to get her out of the +power of that fantastic old gentleman, Signor Pasquale Capuzzi. I +should like to know what there is to hinder a couple of stout +enterprising fellows like you and me from accomplishing this. Pluck up +your courage, Antonio. Instead of bewailing, and sighing, and fainting +like a lovesick swain, it would be better to set to work to think out +some plan for rescuing your Marianna. You just wait and see, Antonio, +how finely we'll circumvent the old dotard; in such like emprises, the +wildest extravagance hardly seems to me wild enough. I'll set about it +at once, and learn what I can about the old man, and about his usual +habits of life. But you must not be seen in this affair, Antonio. Go +away quietly home, and come back to me early to-morrow morning, then +we'll consider our first plan of attack."</p> + +<p class="normal">Herewith Salvator shook the paint out of his brush, threw on his +mantle, and hurried to the Corso, whilst Antonio betook himself home as +Salvator had bidden him—his heart comforted and full of lusty hope +again.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * *</span></p> +<br> +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p class="hang1"><i>Signor Pasquale Capuzzi turns up at Salvator Rosa's studio. What takes +place there. The cunning scheme which Rosa and Scacciati carry out, and +the consequences of the same.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">Next morning Salvator, having in the meantime inquired into Capuzzi's +habits of life, very greatly surprised Antonio by a description of +them, even down to the minutest details.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poor Marianna," said Salvator, "leads a sad life of it with the crazy +old fellow. There he sits sighing and ogling the whole day long, and, +what is worse still, in order to soften her heart towards him, he sings +her all and sundry love ditties that he has ever composed or intends to +compose. At the same time he is so monstrously jealous that he will not +even permit the poor young girl to have the usual female attendance, +for fear of intrigues and amours, which the maid might be induced to +engage in. Instead, a hideous little apparition with hollow eyes and +pale flabby cheeks appears every morning and evening to perform for +sweet Marianna the services of a tiring-maid. And this little +apparition is nobody else but that tiny Tomb Thumb of a Pitichinaccio, +who has to don female attire. Capuzzi, whenever he leaves home, +carefully locks and bolts every door; besides which there is always a +confounded fellow keeping watch below, who was formerly a bravo, and +then a gendarme, and now lives under Capuzzi's rooms. It seems, +therefore, a matter almost impossible to effect an entrance into his +house, but nevertheless I promise you, Antonio, that this very night +you shall be in Capuzzi's own room and shall see your Marianna, though +this time it will only be in Capuzzi's presence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you say?" cried Antonio, quite excited; "what do you say? We +shall manage it to-night? I thought it was impossible."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There, there," continued Salvator, "keep still, Antonio, and let us +quietly consider how we may with safety carry out the plan which I have +conceived. But in the first place I must tell you that I have already +scraped an acquaintance with Signor Pasquale Capuzzi without knowing +it. That wretched spinet, which stands in the comer there, belongs to +the old fellow, and he wants me to pay him the preposterous sum of ten +ducats<sup><a name="div2_formica3.1" href="#div2Ref_formica3.1">3.1</a></sup> for it. When I was convalescent I longed for some music, +which always comforts me and does me a deal of good, so I begged my +landlady to get me some such an instrument as that Dame Caterina soon +ascertained that there was an old gentleman living in the Via Ripetta +who had a fine spinet to sell I got the instrument brought here. I did +not trouble myself either about the price or about the owner. It was +only yesterday evening that I learned quite by chance that the +gentleman who intended to cheat me with this rickety old thing was +Signor Pasquale Capuzzi. Dame Caterina had enlisted the services of an +acquaintance living in the same house, and indeed on the same floor as +Capuzzi,—and now you can easily guess whence I have got all my budget +of news."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," replied Antonio, "then the way to get in is found; your +landlady"——</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know very well, Antonio," said Salvator, cutting him short, +"I know what you're going to say. You think you can find a way to your Marianna +through Dame Caterina. But you'll find that we can't do anything of that sort; +the good dame is far too talkative; she can't keep the least secret, and so we +can't for a single moment think of employing her in this business. Now just +quietly listen to me. Every evening when it's dark Signor Pasquale, although +it's very hard work for him owing to his being knock-kneed, carries his little +friend the eunuch home in his arms, as soon as he has finished his duties as +maid. Nothing in the world could induce the timid Pitichinaccio to set foot on +the pavement at that time of night. So that when"——</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment somebody knocked at Salvator's door, and to the +consternation of both, Signor Pasquale stepped in in all the splendour +of his gala attire. On catching sight of Scacciati he stood stock still +as if paralysed, and then, opening his eyes wide, he gasped for air as +though he had some difficulty in breathing. But Salvator hastily ran to +meet him, and took him by both hands, saying, "My dear Signor Pasquale, +your presence in my humble dwelling is, I feel, a very great honour. +May I presume that it is your love for art which brings you to me? You +wish to see the newest things I have done, perchance to give me a +commission for some work. Pray in what, my dear Signor Pasquale, can I +serve you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have a word or two to say to you, my dear Signor Salvator," +stammered Capuzzi painfully, "but—alone—when you are alone. With your +leave I will withdraw and come again at a more seasonable time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"By no means," said Salvator, holding the old gentleman fast, "by no +means, my dear sir. You need not stir a step; you could not have come +at a more seasonable time, for, since you are a great admirer of the +noble art of painting, and the patron of all good painters, I am sure +you will be greatly pleased for me to introduce to you Antonio +Scacciati here, the first painter of our time, whose glorious work—the +wonderful 'Magdalene at the Saviour's Feet'—has excited throughout all +Rome the most enthusiastic admiration. <i>You</i> too, I need hardly say, +have also formed a high opinion of the work, and must be very anxious +to know the great artist himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man was seized with a violent trembling; he shook as if he had +a shivering fit of the ague, and shot fiery wrathful looks at poor +Antonio. He however approached the old gentleman, and, bowing with +polished courtesy, assured him that he esteemed himself happy at +meeting in such an unexpected way with Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, whose +great learning in music as well as in painting was a theme for wonder +not only in Rome but throughout all Italy, and he concluded by +requesting the honour of his patronage.</p> + +<p class="normal">This behaviour of Antonio, in pretending to meet the old gentleman for +the first time in his life, and in addressing him in such flattering +phrases, soon brought him round again. He forced his features into a +simpering smile, and, as Salvator now let his hands loose, gave his +moustache an elegant upward curl, at the same time stammering out a few +unintelligible words. Then, turning to Salvator, he requested payment +of the ten ducats for the spinet he had sold him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! that trifling little matter we can settle afterwards, my good +sir," was Salvator's answer. "First have the goodness to look at this +sketch of a picture which I have drawn, and drink a glass of good +Syracuse whilst you do so." Salvator meanwhile placed his sketch on the +easel and moved up a chair for the old gentleman, and then, when he had +taken his seat, he presented him with a large and handsome wine-cup +full of good Syracuse—the little pearl-like bubbles rising gaily to +the top.</p> + +<p class="normal">Signor Pasquale was very fond of a glass of good wine—when he had +nothing to pay for it; and now he ought to have been in an especially +happy frame of mind, for, besides nourishing his heart with the hope of +getting ten ducats for a rotten, worn-out spinet, he was sitting before +a splendid, boldly-designed picture, the rare beauty of which he was +quite capable of estimating at its full worth. And that he was in this +happy frame of mind he evidenced in divers way; he simpered most +charmingly; he half closed his little eyes; he assiduously stroked his +chin and moustache; and lisped time after time, "Splendid! delicious!" +but they did not know to which he was referring, the picture or the +wine.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he had thus worked himself round into a quiet cheerful humour, +Salvator suddenly began—"They tell me, my dear sir, that you have a +most beautiful and amiable niece, named Marianna—is it so? All the +young men of the city are so smitten with love that they stupidly do +nothing but run up and down the Via Ripetta, almost dislocating their +necks in their efforts to look up at your balcony for a sight of your +sweet Marianna, to snatch a single glance from her heavenly eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly all the charming simpers, all the good humour which had been +called up into the old gentleman's face by the good wine, were gone. +Looking gloomily before him, he said sharply, "Ah! that's an instance +of the corruption of our abandoned young men. They fix their infernal +eyes, there probate seducers, upon mere children. For I tell you, my +good sir, that my niece Marianna is quite a child, quite a child, only +just outgrown her nurse's care."</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator turned the conversation upon something else; the old gentleman +recovered himself. But just as he, his face again radiant with +sunshine, was on the point of putting the full wine-cup to his lips, +Salvator began anew. "But pray tell me, my dear sir, if it is indeed +true that your niece, with her sixteen summers, really has such +beautiful auburn hair, and eyes so full of heaven's own loveliness and +joy, as has Antonio's 'Magdalene?' It is generally maintained that she +has."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know," replied the old gentleman, still more sharply than +before, "I don't know. But let us leave my niece in peace; rather let +us exchange a few instructive words on the noble subject of art, as +your fine picture here of itself invites me to do."</p> + +<p class="normal">Always when Capuzzi raised the wine-cup to his lips to take a good +draught, Salvator began anew to talk about the beautiful Marianna, so +that at last the old gentleman leapt from his chair in a perfect +passion, banged the cup down upon the table and almost broke it, +screaming in a high shrill voice, "By the infernal pit of Pluto! by all +the furies! you will turn my wine into poison—into poison I tell you. +But I see through you, you and your fine friend Signor Antonio, you +think to make sport of me. But you'll find yourselves deceived Pay me +the ten ducats you owe me immediately, and then I will leave you and +your associate, that barber-fellow Antonio, to make your way to the +devil."</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator shouted, as if mastered by the most violent rage, "What! you +have the audacity to treat me in this way in my own house! Do you think +I'm going to pay you ten ducats for that rotten box; the woodworms +have long ago eaten all the goodness and all the music out of it? Not +ten—not five—not three—not one ducat shall you have for it, it's +scarcely worth a farthing. Away with the tumbledown thing!" and he +kicked over the little instrument again and again, till the strings +were all jarring and jangling together.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha!" screeched Capuzzi, "justice is still to be had in Rome; I will +have you arrested, sir,—arrested and cast into the deepest dungeon +there is," and off he was rushing out of the room, blustering like a +hailstorm. But Salvator took fast hold of him with both hands, and drew +him down into the chair again, softly murmuring in his ear, "My dear +Signor Pasquale, don't you perceive that I was only jesting with you? +You shall have for your spinet, not ten, but <i>thirty</i> ducats cash +down." And he went on repeating, "thirty bright ducats in ready money," +until Capuzzi said in a faint and feeble voice, "What do you say, my +dear sir? Thirty ducats for the spinet without its being repaired?" +Then Salvator released his hold of the old gentleman, and asserted +on his honour that within an hour the instrument should be worth +thirty—nay, forty ducats, and that Signor Pasquale should receive as +much for it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Taking in a fresh supply of breath, and sighing deeply, the old +gentleman murmured, "Thirty—forty ducats!" Then he began, "But you +have greatly offended me, Signor Salvator"—— "Thirty ducats," +repeated Salvator. Capuzzi simpered, but then began again, "But you +have grossly wounded my feelings, Signor Salvator"—— "Thirty ducats," +exclaimed Salvator, cutting him short; and he continued to repeat, +"Thirty ducats! thirty ducats!" as long as the old gentleman continued +to sulk—till at length Capuzzi said, radiant with delight, "If you +will give me thirty,—I mean forty ducats for the spinet, all shall be +forgiven and forgotten, my dear sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," began Salvator, "before I can fulfil my promise, I still have +one little condition to make, which you, my honoured Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi di Senigaglia, can easily grant. You are the first musical +composer in all Italy, besides being the foremost singer of the day. +When I heard in the opera <i>Le Nozze di Teti e Peleo</i> the great scene +which that shameless Francesco Cavalli has thievishly taken from your +works, I was enraptured. If you would only sing me that aria whilst I +put the spinet to rights you would confer upon me a pleasure than which +I can conceive of none more enjoyable."</p> + +<p class="normal">Puckering up his mouth into the most winning of smiles, and blinking +his little grey eyes, the old gentleman replied, "I perceive, my good +sir, that you are yourself a clever musician, for you possess taste and +know how to value the deserving better than these ungrateful Romans. +Listen—listen—to the aria of all arias."</p> + +<p class="normal">Therewith he rose to his feet, and, stretching himself up to his full +height, spread out his arms and closed both eyes, so that he looked +like a cock preparing to crow; and he at once began to screech in such +a way that the walls rang again, and Dame Caterina and her two +daughters soon came running in, fully under the impression that such +lamentable sounds must betoken some accident or other. At sight of the +crowing old gentleman they stopped on the threshold utterly astonished; +and thus they formed the audience of the incomparable musician Capuzzi.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Salvator, having picked up the spinet and thrown back the +lid, had taken his palette in hand, and in bold firm strokes had begun +on the lid of the instrument the most remarkable piece of painting that +ever was seen. The central idea was a scene from Cavalli's opera <i>Le +Nozze di Teti</i>, but there was a multitude of other personages mixed up +with it in the most fantastic way. Amongst them were the recognisable +features of Capuzzi, Antonio, Marianna (faithfully reproduced from +Antonio's picture), Salvator himself, Dame Caterina and her two +daughters,—and even the Pyramid Doctor was not wanting,—and all +grouped so intelligently, judiciously, and ingeniously, that Antonio +could not conceal his astonishment, both at the artist's intellectual +power as well as at his technique.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile old Capuzzi had not been content with the aria which Salvator +had requested him to give, but, carried away by his musical madness, he +went on singing or rather screeching without intermission, working his +way through the most awful recitatives from one execrable scene to +another. He must have been going on for nearly two hours when he sank +back in his chair, breathless, and with his face as red as a cherry. +And just at this same time also Salvator had so far worked out his +sketch that the figures began to wear a look of vitality, and the +whole, viewed at a little distance, had the appearance of a finished +work.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have kept my word with respect to the spinet, my dear Signer +Pasquale," breathed Salvator in the old man's ear. He started up as if +awakening out of a deep sleep. Immediately his glance fell upon the +painted instrument, which stood directly opposite him. Then, opening +his eyes wide as if he saw a miracle, and jauntily throwing his conical +hat on the top of his wig, he took his crutch-stick under his arm, made +one bound to the spinet, tore the lid off the hinges, and holding it +above his head, ran like a madman out of the room, down the stairs, and +away, away out of the house altogether, followed by the hearty laughter +of Dame Caterina and both her daughters.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The old miser," said Salvator, "knows very well that he has only to +take yon painted lid to Count Colonna or to my friend Rossi and he will +at once get forty ducats for it, or even more."</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator and Antonio then both deliberated how they should carry out +the plan of attack which was to be made when night came. We shall soon +see what the two adventurers resolved upon, and what success they had +in their adventure.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as it was dark, Signer Pasquale, after locking and bolting the +door of his house, carried the little monster of an eunuch home as +usual. The whole way the little wretch was whining and growling, +complaining that not only did he sing Capuzzi's arias till he got +catarrh in the throat and burn his fingers cooking the macaroni, but he +had now to lend himself to duties which brought him nothing but sharp +boxes of the ear and rough kicks, which Marianna lavishly distributed +to him as soon as ever he came near her. Old Capuzzi consoled him as +well as he could, promising to provide him an ampler supply of +sweetmeats than he had hitherto done; indeed, as the little man would +nohow cease his growling and querulous complaining, Pasquale even laid +himself under the obligation to get a natty abbot's coat made for the +little torment out of an old black plush waistcoat which he (the dwarf) +had often set covetous eyes upon. He demanded a wig and a sword as +well. Parleying upon these points they arrived at the Via Bergognona, +for that was where Pitichinaccio dwelt, only four doors from Salvator.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man set the dwarf cautiously down and opened the street door; +and then, the dwarf on in front, they both began to climb up the narrow +stairs, which were more like a rickety ladder for hens and chickens +than steps for respectable people. But they had hardly mounted half way +up when a terrible racket began up above, and the coarse voice of some +wild drunken fellow was heard cursing and swearing, and demanding to be +shown the way out of the damned house. Pitichinaccio squeezed himself +close to the wall, and entreated Capuzzi, in the name of all the +saints, to go on first. But before Capuzzi had ascended two steps, the +fellow who was up above came tumbling headlong downstairs, caught hold +of the old man, and whisked him away like a whirlwind out through +the open door below into the middle of the street. There they both +lay,—Capuzzi at bottom and the drunken brute like a heavy sack on top +of him. The old gentleman screamed piteously for help; two men came up +at once and with considerable difficulty freed him from the heavy +weight lying upon him; the other fellow, as soon as he was lifted up, +reeled away cursing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God! what's happened to you, Signor Pasquale? What are you doing +here at this time of night? What big quarrel have you been getting +mixed up in in that house there?" thus asked Salvator and Antonio, for +that is who the two men were.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I shall die!" groaned Capuzzi; "that son of the devil has crushed +all my limbs; I can't move."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me look," said Antonio, feeling all over the old gentleman's body, +and suddenly he pinched his right leg so sharply that Capuzzi screamed +out aloud.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By all the saints!" cried Antonio in consternation, "by all the +saints! my dear Signer Pasquale, you've broken your right leg in the +most dangerous place. If you don't get speedy help you will within a +short time be a dead man, or at any rate be lame all your life long."</p> + +<p class="normal">A terrible scream escaped the old man's breast. "Calm +yourself, my dear sir," continued Antonio, "although I'm now a painter, I +haven't altogether forgotten my surgical practice. We will carry you to +Salvator's house and I will at once bind up"——</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Signor Antonio," whined Capuzzi, "you nourish hostile feelings +towards me, I know." "But," broke in Salvator, "this is now no longer +the time to talk about enmity; you are in danger, and that is enough +for honest Antonio to exert all his skill on your behalf. Lay hold, +friend Antonio."</p> + +<p class="normal">Gently and cautiously they lifted up the old man between them, him +screaming with the unspeakable pain caused by his broken leg, and +carried him to Salvator's dwelling.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dame Caterina said that she had had a foreboding that something was +going to happen, and so she had not gone to bed. As soon as she caught +sight of the old gentleman and heard what had befallen him, she began +to heap reproaches upon him for his bad conduct. "I know," she said, "I +know very well, Signor Pasquale, who you've been taking home again. Now +that you've got your beautiful niece Marianna in the house with you, +you think you've no further call to have women-folk about you, and you +treat that poor Pitichinaccio most shameful and infamous, putting him +in petticoats. But look to it. <i>Ogni carne ha il suo osso</i> (Every house +has its skeleton). Why if you have a girl about you, don't you need +women-folk? <i>Fate il passo secondo la gamba</i> (Cut your clothes +according to your cloth), and don't you require anything either more or +less from your Marianna than what is right. Don't lock her up as if she +were a prisoner, nor make your house a dungeon. <i>Asino punto convien +che trotti</i> (If you are in the stream, you had better swim with it); +you have a beautiful niece and you must alter your ways to suit her, +that is, you must only do what she wants you to do. But you are an +ungallant and hard-hearted man, ay, and even in love, and jealous as +well, they say, which I hope at your years is not true. Your pardon for +telling you it all straight out, but <i>chi ha nel petto fiele non puo +sputar miele</i> (when there's bile in the heart there can't be honey in +the mouth). So now, if you don't die of your broken leg, which at your +great age is not at all unlikely, let this be a warning to you; and +leave your niece free to do what she likes, and let her marry the fine +young gentleman as I know very well."</p> + +<p class="normal">And so the stream went on uninterruptedly, whilst Salvator and Antonio +cautiously undressed the old gentleman and put him to bed. Dame +Caterina's words were like knives cutting deeply into his breast; but +whenever he attempted to intervene, Antonio signed to him that all +speaking was dangerous, and so he had to swallow his bitter gall. At +length Salvator sent Dame Caterina away, to fetch some ice-cold water +that Antonio wanted.</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator and Antonio satisfied themselves that the fellow who had been +sent to Pitichinaccio's house had done his duty well. Notwithstanding +the apparently terrible fall, Capuzzi had not received the slightest +damage beyond a slight bruise or two. Antonio put the old gentleman's +right foot in splints and bandaged it up so tight that he could not +move. Then they wrapped him up in cloths that had been soaked in +ice-cold water, as a precaution, they alleged, against inflammation, so +that the old gentleman shook as if with the ague.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My good Signor Antonio," he groaned feebly, "tell me if it is all over +with me. Must I die?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Compose yourself," replied Antonio. "If you will only compose +yourself, Signor Pasquale! As you have come through the first dressing +with so much nerve and without fainting, I think we may say that the +danger is past; but you will require the most attentive nursing. At +present we mustn't let you out of the doctor's sight."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! Antonio," whined the old gentleman, "you know how I like you, +how highly I esteem your talents. Don't leave me. Give me your dear +hand—so! You won't leave me, will you, my dear good Antonio?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Although I am now no longer a surgeon," said Antonio, +"although I've quite given up that hated trade, yet I will in your case, Signor +Pasquale, make an exception, and will undertake to attend you, for which I shall +ask nothing except that you give me your friendship, your confidence again. You +were a little hard upon me"——</p> + +<p class="normal">"Say no more," lisped the old gentleman, "not another word, my +dear Antonio"——</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your niece will be half dead with anxiety," said Antonio again, "at +your not returning home. You are, considering your condition, brisk and +strong enough, and so as soon as day dawns we'll carry you home to your +own house. There I will again look at your bandage, and arrange your +bed as it ought to be, and give your niece her instructions, so that +you may soon get well again."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old gentleman heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes, +remaining some minutes without speaking. Then, stretching out his hand towards +Antonio, he drew him down close beside him, and whispered, "It was only a jest +that you had with Marianna, was it not, my dear sir?—one of those merry conceits +that young folks have"——</p> + +<p class="normal">"Think no more about that, Signor Pasquale," replied Antonio. "Your +niece did, it is true, strike my fancy; but I have now quite different +things in my head, and—to confess honestly to it—I am very pleased +that you did return a sharp answer to my foolish suit. I thought I was +in love with your Marianna, but what I really saw in her was only a +fine model for my 'Magdalene.' And this probably explains how it is +that, now that my picture is finished, I feel quite indifferent towards +her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Antonio," cried the old man, in a strong voice, "Antonio, you glorious +fellow! What comfort you give me—what help—what consolation! Now that +you don't love Marianna I feel as if all my pain had gone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, I declare, Signor Pasquale," said Salvator, "if we didn't know +you to be a grave and sensible man, with a true perception of what is +becoming to your years, we might easily believe that you were yourself +by some infatuation in love with your niece of sixteen summers."</p> + +<p class="normal">Again the old gentleman closed his eyes, and groaned and moaned at the +horrible pain, which now returned with redoubled violence.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first red streaks of morning came shining in through the window. +Antonio announced to the old gentleman that it was now time to take him +to his own house in the Via Ripetta. Signor Pasquale's reply was a deep +and piteous sigh. Salvator and Antonio lifted him out of bed and +wrapped him in a wide mantle which had belonged to Dame Caterina's +husband, and which she lent them for this purpose. The old gentleman +implored them by all the saints to take off the villainous cold +bandages in which his bald head was swathed, and to give him his wig +and plumed hat. And also, if it were possible, Antonio was to put his +moustache a little in order, that Marianna might not be too much +frightened at sight of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Two porters with a litter were standing all ready before the door. Dame +Caterina, still storming at the old man, and mixing a great many +proverbs in her abuse, carried down the bed, in which they then +carefully packed him; and so, accompanied by Salvator and Antonio, he +was taken home to his own house.</p> + +<p class="normal">No sooner did Marianna see her uncle in this wretched plight than she +began to scream, whilst a torrent of tears gushed from her eyes; +without noticing her lover, who had come along with him, she grasped +the old man's hands and pressed them to her lips, bewailing the +terrible accident that had befallen him—so much pity had the good +child for the old man who plagued and tormented her with his amorous +folly. Yet at this same moment the inherent nature of woman asserted +itself in her; for it only required a few significant glances from +Salvator to put her in full possession of all the facts of the case. +Now, for the first time, she stole a glance at the happy Antonio, +blushing hotly as she did so; and a pretty sight it was to see how a +roguish smile gradually routed and broke through her tears. Salvator, +at any rate, despite the "Magdalene," had not expected to find the +little maiden half so charming, or so sweetly pretty as he now really +discovered her to be; and, whilst almost feeling inclined to envy +Antonio his good fortune, he felt that it was all the more necessary to +get poor Marianna away from her hateful uncle, let the cost be what it +might.</p> + +<p class="normal">Signor Pasquale forgot his trouble in being received so affectionately +by his lovely niece, which was indeed more than he deserved. He +simpered and pursed up his lips so that his moustache was all of a +totter, and groaned and whined, not with pain, but simply and solely +with amorous longing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Antonio arranged his bed professionally, and, after Capuzzi had been +laid on it, tightened the bandage still more, at the same time so +muffling up his left leg as well that he had to lay there motionless +like a log of wood. Salvator withdrew and left the lovers alone with +their happiness.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old gentleman lay buried in cushions; moreover, as an extra +precaution, Antonio had bound a thick piece of cloth well steeped in +water round his head, so that he might not hear the lovers whispering +together. This was the first time they unburdened all their hearts to +each other, swearing eternal fidelity in the midst of tears and +rapturous kisses. The old gentleman could have no idea of what was +going on, for Marianna ceased not, frequently from time to time, to ask +him how he felt, and even permitted him to press her little white hand +to his lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the morning began to be well advanced, Antonio hastened away to +procure, as he said, all the things that the old gentleman required, +but in reality to invent some means for putting him, at any rate for +some hours, in a still more helpless condition, as well as to consult +with Salvator what further steps were then to be taken.</p> +<br> + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p class="hang1"><i>Of the new attack made by Salvator Rosa and Antonio Scacciati upon +Signer Pasquale Capuzzi and upon his company, and of what further +happens in consequence.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">Next morning Antonio came to Salvator, melancholy and dejected.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what's the matter?" cried Salvator when he saw him coming, "what +are you hanging your head about? What's happened to you now, you happy +dog? can you not see your mistress every day, and kiss her and press +her to your heart?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! Salvator, it's all over with my happiness, it's gone for ever," +cried Antonio. "The devil is making sport of me. Our stratagem has +failed, and we now stand on a footing of open enmity with that cursed +Capuzzi."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So much the better," said Salvator; "so much the better. But come, +Antonio, tell me what's happened."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just imagine, Salvator," began Antonio, "yesterday when I went back to +the Via Ripetta after an absence of at the most two hours, with all +sorts of medicines, whom should I see but the old gentleman standing in +his own doorway fully dressed. Behind him was the Pyramid Doctor and +the deuced ex-gendarme, whilst a confused something was bobbing about +round their legs. It was, I believe, that little monster Pitichinaccio. +No sooner did the old man get sight of me than he shook his fist at me, +and began to heap the most fearful curses and imprecations upon me, +swearing that if I did but approach his door he would have all my bones +broken. 'Be off to the devil, you infamous barber-fellow,' he shrieked; +'you think to outwit me with your lying and knavery. Like the very +devil himself, you lie in wait for my poor innocent Marianna, and fancy +you are going to get her into your toils—but stop a moment! I will +spend my last ducat to have the vital spark stamped out of you, ere +you're aware of it. And your fine patron, Signor Salvator, the +murderer—bandit—who's escaped the halter—he shall be sent to join +his captain Masaniello in hell—I'll have him out of Rome; that won't +cost me much trouble.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thus the old fellow raged, and as the damned ex-gendarme, incited by +the Pyramid Doctor, was making preparations to bear down upon me, and a +crowd of curious onlookers began to assemble, what could I do but quit +the field with all speed? I didn't like to come to you in my great +trouble, for I know you would only have laughed at me and my +inconsolable complaints. Why, you can hardly keep back your laughter +now."</p> + +<p class="normal">As Antonio ceased speaking, Salvator did indeed burst out laughing +heartily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now," he cried, "now the thing is beginning to be rather interesting. +And now, my worthy Antonio, I will tell you in detail all that took +place at Capuzzi's after you had gone. You had hardly left the house +when Signor Splendiano Accoramboni, who had learned—God knows in what +way—that his bosom-friend, Capuzzi, had broken his right leg in the +night, drew near in all solemnity, with a surgeon. Your bandage and the +entire method of treatment you have adopted with Signor Pasquale could +not fail to excite suspicion. The surgeon removed the splints and +bandages, and they discovered, what we both very well know, that there +was not even so much as an ossicle of the worthy Capuzzi's right foot +dislocated, still less broken. It didn't require any uncommon sagacity +to understand all the rest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," said Antonio, utterly astonished, "but my dear, good sir, do +tell me how you have learned all that; tell me how you get into +Capuzzi's house and know everything that takes place there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have already told you," replied Salvator, "that an acquaintance of +Dame Caterina lives in the same house, and moreover, on the same floor +as Capuzzi. This acquaintance, the widow of a wine-dealer, has a +daughter whom my little Margaret often goes to see. Now girls have a +special instinct for finding out their fellows, and so it came about +that Rose—that's the name of the wine-dealer's daughter—and Margaret +soon discovered in the living-room a small vent-hole, leading into a +dark closet that adjoins Marianna's apartment. Marianna had been by no +means inattentive to the whispering and murmuring of the two girls, nor +had she failed to notice the vent-hole, and so the way to a mutual +exchange of communications was soon opened and made use of. Whenever +old Capuzzi takes his afternoon nap the girls gossip away to their +heart's content. You will have observed that little Margaret, Dame +Caterina's and my favourite, is not so serious and reserved as her +elder sister, Anna, but is an arch, frolicsome, droll little thing. +Without expressly making mention of your love-affair I have instructed +her to get Marianna to tell her everything that takes place in +Capuzzi's house. She has proved a very apt pupil in the matter; and if +I laughed at your pain and despondency just now it was because I knew +what would comfort you, knew I could prove to you that the affair has +now taken a most favourable turn. I have quite a big budget full of +excellent news for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Salvator!" cried Antonio, his eyes sparkling with joy, "how +you cause my hopes to rise! Heaven be praised for the vent-hole. I will write to +Marianna; Margaret shall take the letter with her"——</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, we can have none of that, Antonio," replied Salvator. +"Margaret can be useful to us without being your love-messenger +exactly. Besides, accident, which often plays many fine tricks, might +carry your amorous confessions into old Capuzzi's hands, and so bring +an endless amount of fresh trouble upon Marianna, just at the very +moment when she is on the point of getting the lovesick old fool under +her thumb. For listen to what then happened. The way in which Marianna +received the old fellow when we took him home has quite reformed him. +He is fully convinced that she no longer loves you, but that she has +given him at least one half of her heart, and that all he has to do is +to win the other half. And Marianna, since she imbibed the poison of +your kisses, has advanced three years in shrewdness, artfulness, and +experience. She has convinced the old man, not only that she had no +share in our trick, but that she hates our goings-on, and will meet +with scorn every device on your part to approach her. In his excessive +delight the old man was too hasty, and swore that if he could do +anything to please his adored Marianna he would do it immediately, she +had only to give utterance to her wish. Whereupon Marianna modestly +asked for nothing except that her <i>zio carissimo</i> (dearest uncle) would +take her to see Signor Formica in the theatre outside the Porta del +Popolo. This rather posed Capuzzi; there were consultations with the +Pyramid Doctor and with Pitichinaccio; at last Signor Pasquale and +Signor Splendiano came to the resolution that they really would take +Marianna to this theatre to-morrow. Pitichinaccio, it was resolved, +should accompany them in the disguise of a handmaiden, to which he only +gave his consent on condition that Signor Pasquale would make him a +present, not only of the plush waistcoat, but also of a wig, and at +night would, alternately with the Pyramid Doctor, carry him home. That +bargain they finally made; and so the curious leash will certainly go +along with pretty Marianna to see Signor Formica to-morrow, in the +theatre outside the Porta del Popolo."</p> + +<p class="normal">It is now necessary to say who Signor Formica was, and what he had to +do with the theatre outside the Porta del Popolo.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the time of the Carnival in Rome, nothing is more sad than when the +theatre-managers have been unlucky in their choice of a musical +composer, or when the first tenor at the Argentina theatre has lost +his voice on the way, or when the male prima donna<sup><a name="div2_formica4.1" href="#div2Ref_formica4.1">4.1</a></sup> of the Valle +theatre is laid up with a cold,—in brief, when the chief source of +recreation which the Romans were hoping to find proves abortive, and +then comes Holy Thursday and all at once cuts off all the hopes which +might perhaps have been realized It was just after one of these unlucky +Carnivals—almost before the strict fast-days were past, when a certain +Nicolo Musso opened a theatre outside the Porta del Popolo, where he +stated his intention of putting nothing but light impromptu comic +sketches on the boards. The advertisement was drawn up in an ingenious +and witty style, and consequently the Romans formed a favourable +preconception of Musso's enterprise; but independently of this they +would in their longing to still their dramatic hunger have greedily +snatched at any the poorest pabulum of this description. The interior +arrangements of the theatre, or rather of the small booth, did not say +much for the pecuniary resources of the enterprising manager. There was +no orchestra, nor were there boxes. Instead, a gallery was put up at +the back, where the arms of the house of Colonna were conspicuous—a +sign that Count Colonna had taken Musso and his theatre under his +especial protection. A platform of slight elevation, covered with +carpets and hung round with curtains, which, according to the +requirements of the piece, had to represent a wood or a room or a +street—this was the stage. Add to this that the spectators had to +content themselves with hard uncomfortable wooden benches, and it was +no wonder that Signor Musso's patrons on first entering were pretty +loud in their grumblings at him for calling a paltry wooden booth a +theatre. But no sooner had the first two actors who appeared exchanged +a few words together than the attention of the audience was arrested; +as the piece proceeded their interest took the form of applause, their +applause grew to admiration, their admiration to the wildest pitch of +enthusiastic excitement, which found vent in loud and continuous +laughter, clapping of hands, and screams of "Bravo! Bravo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And indeed it would not have been very easy to find anything more +perfect than these extemporised representations of Nicolo Musso; they +overflowed with wit, humour, and genius, and lashed the follies of the +day with an unsparing scourge. The audience were quite carried away by +the incomparable characterisation which distinguished all the actors, +but particularly by the inimitable mimicry of Pasquarello,<sup><a name="div2_formica4.2" href="#div2Ref_formica4.2">4.2</a></sup> by his +marvellously natural imitations of the voice, gait, and postures of +well-known personages. By his inexhaustible humour, and the point and +appositeness of his impromptus, he quite carried his audience away. The +man who played the <i>rôle</i> of Pasquarello, and who called himself Signor +Formica, seemed to be animated by a spirit of singular originality; +often there was something so strange in either tone or gesture, that +the audience, even in the midst of the most unrestrained burst of +laughter, felt a cold shiver run through them. He was excellently +supported by Dr. Gratiano,<sup><a name="div2_formica4.3" href="#div2Ref_formica4.3">4.3</a></sup> who in pantomimic action, in voice, and +in his talent for saying the most delightful things mixed up with +apparently the most extravagant nonsense, had perhaps no equal in the +world. This <i>rôle</i> was played by an old Bolognese named Maria Agli. +Thus in a short time all educated Rome was seen hastening in a +continuous stream to Nicolo Musso's little theatre outside the Porta +del Popolo, whilst Formica's name was on everybody's lips, and people +shouted with wild enthusiasm, "<i>Oh! Formica! Formica benedetto! Oh! +Formicissimo!</i>"—not only in the theatre but also in the streets. They +regarded him as a supernatural visitant, and many an old lady who had +split her sides with laughing in the theatre, would suddenly look grave +and say solemnly, "<i>Scherza coi fanti e lascia star santi</i>" (Jest with +children but let the saints alone), if anybody ventured to say the +least thing in disparagement of Formica's acting. This arose from the +fact that outside the theatre Signor Formica was an inscrutable +mystery. Never was he seen anywhere, and all efforts to discover traces +of him were vain, whilst Nicolo Musso on his part maintained an +inexorable silence respecting his retreat.</p> + +<p class="normal">And this was the theatre that Marianna was anxious to go to.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us make a decisive onslaught upon our foes," said Salvator; "we +couldn't have a finer opportunity than when they're returning home from +the theatre." Then he imparted to Antonio the details of a plan, which, +though appearing adventurous and daring, Antonio nevertheless embraced +with joy, since it held out to him a prospect that he should be able to +carry off his Marianna from the hated old Capuzzi. He also heard with +approbation that Salvator was especially concerned to chastise the +Pyramid Doctor.</p> + +<p class="normal">When night came, Salvator and Antonio each took a guitar and went to +the Via Ripetta, where, with the express view of causing old Capuzzi +annoyance, they complimented lovely Marianna with the finest serenade +that ever was heard. For Salvator played and sang in masterly style, +whilst Antonio, as far as the capabilities of his fine tenor would +allow him, almost rivalled Odoardo Ceccarelli. Although Signor Pasquale +appeared on the balcony and tried to silence the singers with abuse, +his neighbours, attracted to their windows by the good singing, shouted +to him that he and his companions howled and screamed like so many cats +and dogs, and yet he wouldn't listen to good music when it did come +into the street; he might just go inside and stop up his ears if he +didn't want to listen to good singing. And so Signor Pasquale had to +bear nearly all night long the torture of hearing Salvator and Antonio +sing songs which at one time were the sweetest of love-songs and at +another mocked at the folly of amorous old fools. They plainly saw +Marianna standing at the window, notwithstanding that Signor Pasquale +besought her in the sweetest phrases and protestations not to expose +herself to the noxious night air.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next evening the most remarkable company that ever was seen proceeded +down the Via Ripetta towards the Porta del Popolo. All eyes were turned +upon them, and people asked each other if these were maskers left from +the Carnival. Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, spruce and smug, all elegance +and politeness, wearing his gay Spanish suit well brushed, parading a +new yellow feather in his conical hat, and stepping along in shoes too +little for him, as if he were walking amongst eggs, was leading pretty +Marianna on his arm; her slender figure could not be seen, still less +her face, since she was smothered up to an unusual extent in her veil +and wraps. On the other side marched Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni in +his great wig, which covered the whole of his back, so that to look at +him from behind there appeared to be a huge head walking along on +two little legs. Close behind Marianna, and almost clinging to her, +waddled the little monster Pitichinaccio, dressed in fiery red +petticoats, and having his head covered all over in hideous fashion +with bright-coloured flowers.</p> + +<p class="normal">This evening Signor Formica outdid himself even, and, what he had never +done before, introduced short songs into his performance, burlesquing +the style of certain well-known singers. Old Capuzzi's passion for the +stage, which in his youth had almost amounted to infatuation, was now +stirred up in him anew. In a rapture of delight he kissed Marianna's +hand time after time, and protested that he would not miss an evening +visiting Nicolo Musso's theatre with her. Signor Formica he extolled to +the very skies, and joined hand and foot in the boisterous applause of +the rest of the spectators. Signor Splendiano was less satisfied, and +kept continually admonishing Signor Capuzzi and lovely Marianna not to +laugh so immoderately. In a single breath he ran over the names of +twenty or more diseases which might arise from splitting the sides with +laughing. But neither Marianna nor Capuzzi heeded him in the least. As +for Pitichinaccio, he felt very uncomfortable. He had been obliged to +sit behind the Pyramid Doctor, whose great wig completely overshadowed +him. Not a single thing could he see on the stage, nor any of the +actors, and was, moreover, repeatedly bothered and annoyed by two +forward women who had placed themselves near him. They called him a +dear, comely little lady, and asked him if he was married, though to be +sure, he was very young, and whether he had any children, who they dare +be bound were sweet little creatures, and so forth. The cold sweat +stood in beads on poor Pitichinaccio's brow; he whined and whimpered, +and cursed the day he was born.</p> + +<p class="normal">After the conclusion of the performance, Signor Pasquale waited until +the spectators had withdrawn from the theatre. The last light was +extinguished just as Signor Splendiano had lit a small piece of a wax +torch at it; and then Capuzzi, with his worthy friends and Marianna, +slowly and circumspectly set out on their return journey.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pitichinaccio wept and screamed; Capuzzi, greatly to his vexation, had +to take him on his left arm, whilst with the right he led Marianna. +Doctor Splendiano showed the way with his miserable little bit of +torch, which only burned with difficulty, and even then in a feeble +sort of a way, so that the wretched light it cast merely served to +reveal to them the thick darkness of the night.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whilst they were still a good distance from the Porta del Popolo they +all at once saw themselves surrounded by several tall figures closely +enveloped in mantles. At this moment the torch was knocked out of the +Doctor's hand, and went out on the ground. Capuzzi, as well as the +Doctor, stood still without uttering a sound. Then, without their +knowing where it came from, a pale reddish light fell upon the muffled +figures, and four grisly skulls riveted their hollow ghastly eyes upon +the Pyramid Doctor. "Woe—woe—woe betide thee, Splendiano +Accoramboni!" thus the terrible spectres shrieked in deep, sepulchral +tones. Then one of them wailed, "Do you know me? do you know me, +Splendiano? I am Cordier, the French painter, who was buried last week, +and whom your medicaments brought to his grave." Then the second, "Do +you know me, Splendiano? I am Küfner, the German painter, whom you +poisoned with your infernal electuary." Then the third, "Do you know +me, Splendiano? I am Liers, the Fleming, whom you killed with your +pills, and whose brother you defrauded of a picture." Then the fourth, +"Do you know me, Splendiano? I am Ghigi, the Neapolitan painter, +whom you despatched with your powders." And lastly all four together, +"Woe—woe—woe upon thee, Splendiano Accoramboni, cursed Pyramid +Doctor! We bid you come—come down to us beneath the earth. +Away—away—away with you! Hallo! hallo!" and so saying they threw +themselves upon the unfortunate Doctor, and, raising him in their +arms, whisked him away like a whirlwind.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now, although Signor Pasquale was a good deal overcome by terror, yet +it is surprising with what remarkable promptitude he recovered courage +so soon as he saw that it was only his friend Accoramboni with whom the +spectres were concerned. Pitichinaccio had stuck his head, with the +flower-bed that was on it, under Capuzzi's mantle, and clung so fast +round his neck that all efforts to shake him off proved futile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pluck up your spirits," Capuzzi exhorted Marianna, when nothing more +was to be seen of the spectres or of the Pyramid Doctor; "pluck up your +spirits, and come to me, my sweet little ducky bird! As for my worthy +friend Splendiano, it's all over with him. May St. Bernard, who also +was an able physician and gave many a man a lift on the road to +happiness, may he help him, if the revengeful painters whom he hastened +to get to his Pyramid break his neck! But who'll sing the bass of my +canzonas now? And this booby, Pitichinaccio, is squeezing my throat so, +that, adding in the fright caused by Splendiano's abduction, I fear I +shall not be able to produce a pure note for perhaps six weeks to come. +Don't be alarmed, my Marianna, my darling! It's all over now."</p> + +<p class="normal">She assured him that she had quite recovered from her alarm, and begged +him to let her walk alone without support, so that he could free +himself from his troublesome pet. But Signor Pasquale only took faster +hold of her, saying that he wouldn't suffer her to leave his side a +yard in that pitch darkness for anything in the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the very same moment as Signor Pasquale, now at his ease again, was +about to proceed on his road, four frightful fiend-like figures rose up +just in front of him as if out of the earth; they wore short flaring +red mantles and fixed their keen glittering eyes upon him, at the same +time making horrible noises—yelling and whistling. "Ugh! ugh! Pasquale +Capuzzi! You cursed fool! You amorous old devil! We belong to your +fraternity; we are the evil spirits of love, and have come to carry you +off to hell—to hell-fire—you and your crony Pitichinaccio." Thus +screaming, the Satanic figures fell upon the old man. Capuzzi fell +heavily to the ground and Pitichinaccio along with him, both raising a +shrill piercing cry of distress and fear, like that of a whole troop of +cudgelled asses.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marianna had meanwhile torn herself away from the old man and leapt +aside. Then one of the devils clasped her softly in his arms, +whispering the sweet glad words, "O Marianna! my Marianna! At last +we've managed it! My friends will carry the old man a long, long way +from here, whilst we seek a better place of safety."</p> + +<p class="normal">"O my Antonio!" whispered Marianna softly.</p> + +<p class="normal">But suddenly the scene was illuminated by the light of several torches, +and Antonio felt a stab in his shoulder. Quick as lightning he turned +round, drew his sword, and attacked the fellow, who with his stiletto +upraised was just preparing to aim a second blow. He perceived that his +three companions were defending themselves against a superior number of +gendarmes. He managed to beat off the fellow who had attacked him, and +joined his friends. Although they were maintaining their ground +bravely, the contest was yet too unequal; the gendarmes would +infallibly have proved victorious had not two others suddenly ranged +themselves with a shout on the side of the young men, one of them +immediately cutting down the fellow who was pressing Antonio the +hardest.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a few minutes more the contest was decided against the police. +Several lay stretched on the ground seriously wounded; the rest fled +with loud shouts towards the Porta del Popolo.</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator Rosa (for he it was who had hastened to Antonio's assistance +and cut down his opponent) wanted to take Antonio and the young +painters who were disguised in the devils' masks and there and then +pursue the gendarmes into the city.</p> + +<p class="normal">Maria Agli, however, who had come along with him, and, notwithstanding +his advanced age, had tackled the police as stoutly as any of the rest, +urged that this would be imprudent, for the guard at the Porta del +Popolo would be certain to have intelligence of the affair and would +arrest them. So they all betook themselves to Nicolo Musso, who gladly +received them into his narrow little house not far from the theatre. +The artists took off their devils' masks and laid aside their mantles, +which had been rubbed over with phosphorus, whilst Antonio, who, +beyond the insignificant scratch on his shoulder, was not wounded +at all, exercised his surgical skill in binding up the wounds of the +rest—Salvator, Agli, and his young comrades—for they had none of them +got off without being wounded, though none of them in the least degree +dangerously.</p> + +<p class="normal">The adventure, notwithstanding its wildness and audacity, would +undoubtedly have been successful, had not Salvator and Antonio +overlooked one person, who upset everything. The <i>ci-devant</i> bravo and +gendarme Michele, who dwelt below in Capuzzi's house, and was in a +certain sort his general servant, had, in accordance with Capuzzi's +directions, followed them to the theatre, but at some distance off, for +the old gentleman was ashamed of the tattered reprobate. In the same +way Michele was following them homewards. And when the spectres +appeared, Michele who, be it remarked, feared neither death nor devil, +suspecting that something was wrong, hurried back as fast as he could +run in the darkness to the Porta del Popolo, raised an alarm, and +returned with all the gendarmes he could find, just at the moment when, +as we know, the devils fell upon Signor Pasquale, and were about to +carry him off as the dead men had the Pyramid Doctor.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the very hottest moment of the fight, one of the young painters +observed distinctly how one of the fellows, taking Marianna in his arms +(for she had fainted), made off to the gate, whilst Signor Pasquale ran +after him with incredible swiftness, as if he had got quicksilver in +his legs. At the same time, by the light of the torches, he caught a +glimpse of something gleaming, clinging to his mantle and whimpering; +no doubt it was Pitichinaccio.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next morning Doctor Splendiano was found near the Pyramid of Cestius, +fast asleep, doubled up like a ball and squeezed into his wig, as if +into a warm soft nest. When he was awakened, he rambled in his talk, +and there was some difficulty in convincing him that he was still on +the surface of the earth, and in Rome to boot. And when at length he +reached his own house, he returned thanks to the Virgin and all the +saints for his rescue, threw all his tinctures, essences, electuaries, +and powders out of the window, burnt his prescriptions, and vowed to +heal his patients in the future by no other means than by anointing and +laying on of hands, as some celebrated physician of former ages, who +was at the same time a saint (his name I cannot recall just at this +moment), had with great success done before him. For his patients died +as well as the patients of other people, and then they already saw the +gates of heaven open before them ere they died, and in fact everything +else that the saint wanted them to see.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can't tell you," said Antonio next day to Salvator, "how my heart +boils with rage since my blood has been spilled. Death and destruction +overtake that villain Capuzzi! I tell you, Salvator, that I am +determined to <i>force</i> my way into his house. I will cut him down if he +opposes me and carry off Marianna."</p> + +<p class="normal">"An excellent plan!" replied Salvator, laughing. "An excellent plan! +Splendidly contrived! Of course I presume you have also found some +means for transporting Marianna through the air to the Spanish Square, +so that they shall not seize you and hang you before you can reach that +place of refuge. No, my dear Antonio, violence can do nothing for you +this time. You may lay your life on it too that Signor Pasquale will +now take steps to guard against any open attack. Moreover, our +adventure has made a good deal of noise, and the irrepressible laughter +of the people at the absurd way in which we have read a lesson to +Splendiano and Capuzzi has roused the police out of their light +slumber, and they, you may be sure, will now exert all their feeble +efforts to entrap us. No, Antonio, let us have recourse to craft. <i>Con +arte e con inganno si vive mezzo l'anno, con inganno e con arte si vive +l'altra parte</i> (If cunning and scheming will help us six months +through, scheming and cunning will help us the other six too), says +Dame Caterina, nor is she far wrong. Besides, I can't help laughing to +see how we've gone and acted for all the world like thoughtless boys, +and I shall have to bear most of the blame, for I am a good bit older +than you. Tell me now, Antonio, supposing our scheme had been +successful, and you had actually carried off Marianna from the old man, +where would you have fled to, where would you have hidden her, and how +would you have managed to get united to her by the priest before the +old man could interfere to prevent it? You shall, however, in a few +days, really and truly run away with your Marianna. I have let Nicolo +Musso as well as Signor Formica into all the secret, and in common with +them devised a plan which can scarcely fail. So cheer up, Antonio; +Signor Formica will help you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Signor Formica?" replied Antonio in a tone of indifference which +almost amounted to contempt. "Signor Formica! In what way can that +buffoon help me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho! ho!" laughed Salvator. "Please to bear in mind, I beg you, that +Signor Formica is worthy of your respect. Don't you know that he is a +sort of magician who in secret is master of the most mysterious arts? I +tell you, Signor Formica will help you. Old Maria Agli, the clever +Bolognese Doctor Gratiano, is also a sharer in the plot, and will, +moreover, have an important part to play in it. You shall abduct your +Marianna, Antonio, from Musso's theatre."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are flattering me with false hopes, Salvator," said Antonio. "You +have just now said yourself that Signor Pasquale will take care to +avoid all open attacks. How can you suppose then, after his recent +unpleasant experience, that he can possibly make up his mind to visit +Musso's theatre again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will not be such a difficult thing as you imagine to entice the old +man there," replied Salvator. "What will be more difficult to effect, +will be, to get him in the theatre without his satellites. But, be that +as it may, what you have now got to do, Antonio, is to have everything +prepared and arranged with Marianna, so as to flee from Rome the moment +the favourable opportunity comes. You must go to Florence; your skill +as a painter will, after your arrival, in itself recommend you there; +and you shall have no lack of acquaintances, nor of honourable +patronage and assistance—that you may leave to me to provide for. +After we have had a few days' rest, we will then see what is to be done +further. Once more, Antonio—live in hope; Formica will help you."</p> + + +<h2>V.</h2> + +<p class="hang1"><i>Of the new mishap which befalls Signor Pasquale Capussi. Antonio +Scacciati successfully carries out his plan in Nicolo Musso's theatre, +and flees to Florence.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">Signor Pasquale was only too well aware who had been at the bottom of +the mischief that had happened to him and the poor Pyramid Doctor near +the Porta del Popolo, and so it may be imagined how enraged he was +against Antonio, and against Salvator Rosa, whom he rightly judged to +be the ringleader in it all. He was untiring in his efforts to comfort +poor Marianna, who was quite ill from fear,—so she said; but in +reality she was mortified that the scoundrel Michele with his gendarmes +had come up, and torn her from her Antonio's arms. Meanwhile Margaret +was very active in bringing her tidings of her lover; and she based all +her hopes upon the enterprising mind of Salvator. With impatience she +waited from day to day for something fresh to happen, and by a thousand +petty tormenting ways let the old gentleman feel the effects of this +impatience; but though she thus tamed his amorous folly and made him +humble enough, she failed to reach the evil spirit of love that haunted +his heart. After she had made him experience to the full all the +tricksy humours of the most wayward girl, and then suffered him just +once to press his withered lips upon her tiny hand, he would swear in +his excessive delight that he would never cease fervently kissing the +Pope's toe until he had obtained dispensation to wed his niece, the +paragon of beauty and amiability. Marianna was particularly careful not +to interrupt him in these outbreaks of passion, for by encouraging +these gleams of hope in the old man's breast she fanned the flame of +hope in her own, for the more he could be lulled into the belief that +he held her fast in the indissoluble chains of love, the more easy it +would be for her to escape him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some time passed, when one day at noon Michele came stamping upstairs, +and, after he had had to knock a good many times to induce Signor +Pasquale to open the door, announced with considerable prolixity that +there was a gentleman below who urgently requested to see Signor +Pasquale Capuzzi, who he knew lived there.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By all the blessed saints of Heaven!" cried the old gentleman, +exasperated; "doesn't the knave know that on no account do I receive +strangers in my own house?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the gentleman was of very respectable appearance, reported Michele, +rather oldish, talked well, and called himself Nicolo Musso.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nicolo Musso," murmured Capuzzi reflectively; "Nicolo Musso, who owns +the theatre beyond the Porta del Popolo; what can he want with me?" +Whereupon, carefully locking and bolting the door, he went downstairs +with Michele, in order to converse with Nicolo in the street before the +house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Signor Pasquale," began Nicolo, approaching to meet him, and +bowing with polished ease, "that you deign to honour me with your +acquaintance affords me great pleasure. You lay me under a very great +obligation. Since the Romans saw you in my theatre—you, a man of the +most approved taste, of the soundest knowledge, and a master in art, +not only has my fame increased, but my receipts have doubled. I am +therefore all the more deeply pained to learn that certain wicked +wanton boys made a murderous attack upon you and your friends as you +were returning from my theatre at night. But I pray you, Signor +Pasquale, by all the saints, don't cherish any grudge against me or my +theatre on account of this outrage, which shall be severely punished. +Don't deprive me of the honour of your company at my performances!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Signor Nicolo," replied the old man, simpering, "be assured +that I never enjoyed myself more than I did when I visited your +theatre. Your Formica and your Agli—why, they are actors who cannot be +matched anywhere. But the fright almost killed my friend Signor +Splendiano Accoramboni, nay, it almost proved the death of me—no, it +was too great; and though it has not made me averse from your theatre, +it certainly has from the road there. If you will put up your theatre +in the Piazza del Popolo, or in the Via Babuina, or in the Via Ripetta, +I certainly will not fail to visit you a single evening; but there's +no power on earth shall ever get me outside the Porta del Popolo at +night-time again."</p> + +<p class="normal">Nicolo sighed deeply, as if greatly troubled. "That is very hard upon +me," said he then, "harder perhaps than you will believe, Signor +Pasquale. For unfortunately—I had based all my hopes upon you. I came +to solicit your assistance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My assistance?" asked the old gentleman in astonishment "My +assistance, Signor Nicolo? In what way could it profit you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Signor Pasquale," replied Nicolo, drawing his handkerchief +across his eyes, as if brushing away the trickling tears, "my most +excellent Signor Pasquale, you will remember that my actors are in the +habit of interspersing songs through their performances. This practice +I was thinking of extending imperceptibly more and more, then to get +together an orchestra, and, in a word, at last, eluding all +prohibitions to the contrary, to establish an opera-house. You, Signor +Capuzzi, are the first composer in all Italy; and we can attribute it +to nothing but the inconceivable frivolity of the Romans and the +malicious envy of your rivals that we hear anything else but your +pieces exclusively at all the theatres. Signor Pasquale, I came to +request you on my bended knees to allow me to put your immortal works, +as far as circumstances will admit, on my humble stage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Signor Nicolo," said the old gentleman, his face all sunshine, +"what are we about to be talking here in the public street? Pray deign +to have the goodness to climb up one or two rather steep flights of +stairs. Come along with me up to my poor dwelling."</p> + +<p class="normal">Almost before Nicolo got into the room, the old gentleman brought +forward a great pile of dusty music manuscript, opened it, and, taking +his guitar in his hands, began to deliver himself of a series of +frightful high-pitched screams which he denominated singing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nicolo behaved like one in raptures. He sighed; he uttered extravagant +expressions of approval; he exclaimed at intervals, "<i>Bravo! +Bravissimo! Benedettissimo Capuzzi!</i>" until at last he threw himself at +the old man's feet as if utterly beside himself with ecstatic delight, +and grasped his knees. But he nipped them so hard that the old +gentleman jumped off his seat, calling out with pain, and saying to +Nicolo, "By the saints! Let me go, Signor Nicolo; you'll kill me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay," replied Nicolo, "nay, Signor Pasquale, I will not rise until +you have promised that Formica may sing in my theatre the day after +to-morrow the divine arias which you have just executed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a man of taste," groaned Pasquale,—"a man of deep insight. To +whom could I better intrust my compositions than to you? You shall take +all my arias with you. Only let me go. But, good God! I shall not hear +them—my divine masterpieces! Oh! let me go, Signor Nicolo."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," cried Nicolo, still on his knees, and tightly pressing the old +gentleman's thin spindle-shanks together, "no, Signor Pasquale, I will +not let you go until you give me your word that you will be present in +my theatre the night after to-morrow. You need not fear any new attack! +Why, don't you think that the Romans, once they have heard your work, +will bring you home in triumph by the light of hundreds of torches? But +in case that does not happen, I myself and my faithful comrades will +take our arms and accompany you home ourselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You yourself will accompany me home, with your comrades?" asked +Pasquale; "and how many may that be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eight or ten persons will be at your command, Signor Pasquale. Do +yield to my intercession and resolve to come."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Formica has a fine voice," lisped Pasquale. "How finely he will +execute my arias."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do come, oh! do come!" exhorted Nicolo again, giving the old +gentleman's knees an extra grip.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will pledge yourself that I shall reach my own house without being +molested?" asked the old gentleman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I pledge my honour and my life," was Nicolo's reply, as he gave the +knees a still sharper grip.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Agreed!" cried the old gentleman; "I will be in your theatre the day +after to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Nicolo leapt to his feet and pressed Pasquale in so close an +embrace that he gasped and panted quite out of breath.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment Marianna entered the room. Signor Pasquale tried to +frighten her away again by the look of resentment which he hurled at +her; she, however, took not the slightest notice of it, but going +straight up to Musso, addressed him as if in anger,—"It is in vain for +you, Signor Nicolo, to attempt to entice my dear uncle to go to your +theatre. You are forgetting that the infamous trick lately played by +some reprobate seducers, who were lying in wait for me, almost cost the +life of my dearly beloved uncle, and of his worthy friend Splendiano; +nay, that it almost cost my life too. Never will I give my consent to +my uncle's again exposing himself to such danger. Desist from your +entreaties, Nicolo. And you, my dearest uncle, you will stay quietly at +home, will you not, and not venture out beyond the Porta del Popolo +again at night-time, which is a friend to nobody?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Signor Pasquale was thunderstruck. He opened his eyes wide and stared +at his niece. Then he rewarded her with the sweetest endearments, and +set forth at considerable length how that Signor Nicolo had pledged +himself so to arrange matters as to avoid every danger on the return +home.</p> + +<p class="normal">"None the less," said Marianna, "I stick to my word, and beg you most +earnestly, my dearest uncle, not to go to the theatre outside the Porta +del Popolo. I ask your pardon, Signor Nicolo, for speaking out frankly +in your presence the dark suspicion that lurks in my mind. You are, I +know, acquainted with Salvator Rosa and also with Antonio Scacciati. +What if you are acting in concert with our enemies? What if you are +only trying with evil intent to entice my dear uncle into your theatre +in order that they may the more safely carry out some fresh villainous +scheme, for I know that my uncle will not go without me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What a suspicion!" cried Nicolo, quite alarmed. "What a terrible +suspicion, Signora! Have you such a bad opinion of me? Have I such an +ill reputation that you conceive I could be guilty of this the basest +treachery? But if you think so unfavourably of me, if you mistrust the +assistance I have promised you, why then let Michele, who I know +rescued you out of the hands of the robbers—let Michele accompany you, +and let him take a large body of gendarmes with him, who can wait for +you outside the theatre, for you cannot of course expect me to fill my +auditorium with police."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marianna fixed her eyes steadily upon Nicolo's, and then said, +earnestly and gravely, "What do you say? That Michele and gendarmes +shall accompany us? Now I see plainly, Signor Nicolo, that you mean +honestly by us, and that my nasty suspicion is unfounded. Pray forgive +me my thoughtless words. And yet I cannot banish my nervousness and +anxiety about my dear uncle; I must still beg him not to take this +dangerous step."</p> + +<p class="normal">Signor Pasquale had listened to all this conversation with such curious +looks as plainly served to indicate the nature of the struggle that was +going on within him. But now he could no longer contain himself; he +threw himself on his knees before his beautiful niece, seized her +hands, kissed them, bathed them with the tears which ran down his +cheeks, exclaiming as if beside himself, "My adored, my angelic +Marianna! Fierce and devouring are the flames of the passion which +burns at my heart Oh! this nervousness, this anxiety—it is indeed the +sweetest confession that you love me." And then he besought her not to +give way to fear, but to go and listen in the theatre to the finest +arias which the most divine of composers had ever written.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nicolo too abated not in his entreaties, plainly showing his +disappointment, until Marianna permitted her scruples to be overcome; +and she promised to lay all fear aside and accompany the best and +dearest of uncles to the theatre outside the Porta del Popolo. Signor +Pasquale was in ectasies, was in the seventh heaven of delight. He was +convinced that Marianna loved him; and he now might hope to hear his +music on the stage, and win the laurel wreath which had so long been +the vain object of his desires; he was on the point of seeing his +dearest dreams fulfilled. Now he would let his light shine in perfect +glory before his true and faithful friends, for he never thought for a +moment but that Signor Splendiano and little Pitichinaccio would go +with him as on the first occasion.</p> + +<p class="normal">The night that Signor Splendiano had slept in his wig near the Pyramid +of Cestius he had had, besides the spectres who ran away with him, all +sorts of sinister apparitions to visit him. The whole cemetery was +alive, and hundreds of corpses had stretched out their skeleton arms +towards him, moaning and wailing that even in their graves they could +not get over the torture caused by his essences and electuaries. +Accordingly the Pyramid Doctor, although he could not contradict Signor +Pasquale that it was only a wild freakish trick played upon him by a +parcel of godless boys, grew melancholy; and, albeit not ordinarily +superstitiously inclined, he yet now saw spectres everywhere, and was +tormented by forebodings and bad dreams.</p> + +<p class="normal">As for Pitichinaccio, he could not be convinced that they were not real +devils come straight from the flames of hell who had fallen upon Signor +Pasquale and upon himself, and the bare mention of that dreadful night +was enough to make him scream. All the asseverations of Signor Pasquale +that there had been nobody behind the masks but Antonio Scacciati and +Salvator Rosa were of none effect, for Pitichinaccio wept and swore +that in spite of his terror and apprehension he had clearly recognised +both the voice and the behaviour of the devil Fanfarelli in the one who +had pinched his belly black and blue.</p> + +<p class="normal">It may therefore be imagined what an almost endless amount of trouble +it cost Signor Pasquale to persuade the two to go with him once more to +Nicolo Musso's theatre. Splendiano was the first to make the resolve to +go,—after he had procured from a monk of St. Bernard's order a small +consecrated bag of musk, the perfume of which neither dead man nor +devil could endure; with this he intended to arm himself against all +assaults. Pitichinaccio could not resist the temptation of a promised +box of candied grapes, but Signor Pasquale had besides expressly to +give his consent that he might wear his new abbot's coat, instead of +his petticoats, which he affirmed had proved an immediate source of +attraction to the devil.</p> + +<p class="normal">What Salvator feared seemed therefore as if it would really take place; +and yet his plan depended entirely, he continued to repeat, upon Signor +Pasquale's being in Nicolo's theatre alone with Marianna, without his +faithful satellites. Both Antonio and Salvator greatly racked their +brains how they should prevent Splendiano and Pitichinaccio from going +along with Signor Pasquale. Every scheme that occurred to them for the +accomplishment of this desideratum had to be given up owing to want of +time, for the principal plan in Nicolo's theatre had to be carried out +on the evening of the following day.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Providence, which often employs the most unlikely instruments for +the chastisement of fools, interposed on behalf of the distressed +lovers, and put it into Michele's head to practise some of his +blundering, thus accomplishing what Salvator and Antonio's craft was +unable to accomplish.</p> + +<p class="normal">That same night there was heard in the Via Ripetta before Signor +Pasquale's house such a chorus of fearful screams and of cursing and +raving and abuse that all the neighbours were startled up out of their +sleep, and a body of gendarmes, who had been pursuing a murderer as far +as the Spanish Square, hastened up with torches, supposing that some +fresh deed of violence was being committed. But when they, and a crowd +of other people whom the noise had attracted, came upon the anticipated +scene of murder, they found poor little Pitichinaccio lying as if dead +on the ground, whilst Michele was thrashing the Pyramid Doctor with a +formidable bludgeon. And they saw the Doctor reel to the floor just at +the moment when Signor Pasquale painfully scrambled to his feet, drew +his rapier, and furiously attacked Michele. Round about were lying +pieces of broken guitars. Had not several people grasped the old man's +arm he would assuredly have run Michele right through the heart. The +ex-bravo, on now becoming aware by the light of the torches whom he had +been molesting, stood as if petrified, his eyes almost starting out of +his heady "a painted desperado, on the balance between will and power," +as it is said somewhere. Then, uttering a fearful scream, he tore his +hair and begged for pardon and mercy. Neither the Pyramid Doctor nor +Pitichinaccio was seriously injured, but they had been so soundly +cudgelled that they could neither move nor stir, and had to be carried +home.</p> + +<p class="normal">Signor Pasquale had himself brought this mishap upon his own shoulders.</p> + +<p class="normal">We know that Salvator and Antonio complimented Marianna with the finest +serenade that could be heard; but I have forgotten to say that to the +old gentleman's very exceeding indignation they repeated it during +several successive nights. At length Signor Pasquale whose rage was +kept in check by his neighbours, was foolish enough to have recourse to +the authorities of the city, urging them to forbid the two painters to +sing in the Via Ripetta. The authorities, however, replied that it +would be a thing unheard of in Rome to prevent anybody from singing and +playing the guitar where he pleased, and it was irrational to ask such +a thing. So Signor Pasquale determined to put an end to the nuisance +himself, and promised Michele a large reward if he seized the first +opportunity to fall upon the singers and give them a good sound +drubbing. Michele at once procured a stout bludgeon, and lay in wait +every night behind the door. But it happened that Salvator and Antonio +judged it prudent to omit their serenading in the Via Ripetta for some +nights preceding the carrying into execution of their plan, so as not +to remind the old gentleman of his adversaries. Marianna remarked quite +innocently that though she hated Antonio and Salvator, yet she liked +their singing, for nothing was so nice as to hear music floating +upwards in the night air.</p> + +<p class="normal">This Signor Pasquale made a mental note of, and as the essence of +gallantry purposed to surprise his love with a serenade on his part, +which he had himself composed and carefully practised up with his +faithful friends. On the very night preceding that in which he was +hoping to celebrate his greatest triumph in Nicolo Musso's theatre, he +stealthily slipped out of the house and went and fetched his +associates, with whom he had previously arranged matters. But no sooner +had they sounded the first few notes on their guitars than Michele, +whom Signor Pasquale had thoughtlessly forgotten to apprise of his +design, burst forth from behind the door, highly delighted at finding +that the opportunity which was to bring him in the promised reward had +at last come, and began to cudgel the musicians most unmercifully, with +the results of which we are already acquainted. Of course there was no +further mention made of either Splendiano or Pitichinaccio's +accompanying Signor Pasquale to Nicolo's theatre, for they were both +confined to their bed beplastered all over. Signor Pasquale, however, +was unable to stay away, although his back and shoulders were smarting +not a little from the drubbing he had himself received; every note in +his arias was a cord which drew him thither with irresistible power.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well now," said Salvator to Antonio, "since the obstacle which we took +to be insurmountable has been removed out of our way of itself, it all +depends now entirely upon your address not to let the favourable moment +slip for carrying off your Marianna from Nicolo's theatre. But I +needn't talk, you'll not fail; I will greet you now as the betrothed of +Capuzzi's lovely niece, who in a few days will be your wife. I wish you +happiness, Antonio, and yet I feel a shiver run through me when I think +upon your marriage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean, Salvator?" asked Antonio, utterly astounded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Call it a crotchet, call it a foolish fancy, or what you will, +Antonio," rejoined Salvator,—"at any rate I love the fair sex; but +there is not one, not even she on whom I foolishly dote, for whom I +would gladly die, but what excites in my heart, so soon as I think of a +union with her such as marriage is, a suspicion that makes me tremble +with a most unpleasant feeling of awe. That which is inscrutable in the +nature of woman mocks all the weapons of man. She whom we believe to +have surrendered herself to us entirely, heart and soul, whom we +believe to have unfolded all her character to us, is the first to +deceive us, and along with the sweetest of her kisses we imbibe the +most pernicious of poisons."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And my Marianna?" asked Antonio, amazed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me, Antonio," continued Salvator, "even your Marianna, who is +loveliness and grace personified, has given me a fresh proof of how +dangerous the mysterious nature of woman is to us. Just call to mind +what was the behavior of that innocent, inexperienced child when we +carried her uncle home, how at a single glance from me she divined +everything—everything, I tell you, and, as you yourself admitted, +proceeded to play her part with the utmost sagacity. But that is not to +be at all compared with what took place on the occasion of Musso's +visit to the old gentleman. The most practised address, the most +impenetrable cunning,—in short, all the inventive arts of the most +experienced woman of the world could not have done more than little +Marianna did, in order to deceive the old gentleman with perfect +success. She could not have acted in any better way to prepare the +road for us for any kind of enterprise. Our feud with the cranky old +fool—any sort of cunning scheme seems justified, but—come, my dear +Antonio, never mind my fanciful crotchets, but be happy with your +Marianna; as happy as you can."</p> + +<p class="normal">If a monk had taken his place beside Signor Pasquale when he set out +along with his niece to go to Nicolo Musso's theatre, everybody would +have thought that the strange pair were being led to execution. First +went valiant Michele, repulsive in appearance, and armed to the teeth; +then came Signor Pasquale and Marianna, followed by fully twenty +gendarmes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nicolo received the old gentleman and his lady with every mark of +respect at the entrance to the theatre, and conducted them to the seats +which had been reserved for them, immediately in front of the stage. +Signor Pasquale felt highly flattered by this mark of honour, and gazed +about him with proud and sparkling eyes, whilst his pleasure, his +joy, was greatly enhanced to find that all the seats near and behind +Marianna were occupied by women alone. A couple of violins and a +bass-fiddle were being tuned behind the curtains of the stage; the old +gentleman's heart beat with expectation; and when all at once the +orchestra struck up the <i>ritornello</i> of his work, he felt an electric +thrill tingling in every nerve.</p> + +<p class="normal">Formica came forward in the character of Pasquarello, and sang—sang in +Capuzzi's own voice, and with all his characteristic gestures, the most +hopeless aria that ever was heard. The theatre shook with the loud and +boisterous laughter of the audience. They shouted; they screamed +wildly, "O Pasquale Capuzzi! Our most illustrious composer and artist! +Bravo! Bravissimo!" The old gentleman, not perceiving the ridicule and +irony of the laughter, was in raptures of delight. The aria came to an +end, and the people cried "Sh! sh!" for Doctor Gratiano, played on this +occasion by Nicolo Musso himself, appeared on the stage, holding his +hands over his ears and shouting to Pasquarello for goodness' sake to +stop his ridiculous screeching.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the Doctor asked Pasquarello how long he had taken to the +confounded habit of singing, and where he had got that execrable piece +from.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whereupon Pasquarello replied, that he didn't know what the Doctor +would have; he was like the Romans, and had no taste for real music, +since he failed to recognise the most talented of musicians. The aria +had been written by the greatest of living composers, in whose service +he had the good fortune to be, receiving instruction in both music and +singing from the master himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gratiano then began guessing, and mentioned the names of a great number +of well-known composers and musicians, but at every distinguished name +Pasquarello only shook his head contemptuously.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length Pasquarello said that the Doctor was only exposing gross +ignorance, since he did not know the name of the greatest composer of +the time. It was no other than Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, who had done +him the honour of taking him into his service. Could he not see that he +was the friend and servant of Signor Pasquale?</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the Doctor broke out into a loud long roar of laughter, and cried. +What! Had he (Pasquarello) after running away from him (the Doctor), +with whom, besides getting his wages and food, he had had his palm +tickled with many a copper, had he gone and taken service with the +biggest and most inveterate old coxcomb who ever stuffed himself with +macaroni, to the patched Carnival fool who strutted about like a +satisfied old hen after a shower of rain, to the snarling skinflint, +the love-sick old poltroon, who infected the air of the Via Ripetta +with the disgusting bleating which he called singing? &c., &c.</p> + +<p class="normal">To which Pasquarello, quite incensed, made reply that it was nothing +but envy which spoke in the Doctor's words; he (Pasquarello) was of +course speaking with his heart in his mouth (<i>parla col cuore in +mano</i>); the Doctor was not at all the man to pass an opinion upon +Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di Senigaglia; he was speaking with his heart +in his mouth. The Doctor himself had a strong tang of all that he +blamed in the excellent Signor Pasquale; but he was speaking with his +heart in his mouth; he (Pasquarello) had himself often heard fully six +hundred people at once laugh most heartily at Doctor Gratiano, and so +forth. Then Pasquarello spoke a long panegyric upon his new master, +Signor Pasquale, attributing to him all the virtues under the sun; and +he concluded with a description of his character, which he portrayed as +being the very essence of amiability and grace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heaven bless you, Formica!" lisped Signor Capuzzi to himself; "Heaven +bless you, Formica! I perceive you have designed to make my triumph +perfect, since you are upbraiding the Romans for all their envious and +ungrateful persecution of me, and are letting them know <i>who</i> I really +am."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha! here comes my master himself," cried Pasquarello at this moment, +and there entered on the stage—Signor Pasquale Capuzzi himself, just +as he breathed and walked, his very clothes, face, gestures, gait, +postures, in fact so perfectly like Signor Capuzzi in the auditorium, +that the latter, quite aghast, let go Marianna's hand, which hitherto +he had held fast in his own, and tapped himself, his nose, his wig, in +order to discover whether he was not dreaming, or seeing double, +whether he was really sitting in Nicolo Musso's theatre and dare credit +the miracle.</p> + +<p class="normal">Capuzzi on the stage embraced Doctor Gratiano with great kindness, and +asked how he was. The Doctor replied that he had a good appetite, +and slept soundly, at his service (<i>per servirlo</i>); and as for his +purse—well, it was suffering from a galloping consumption. Only yesterday he had +spent his last ducat for a pair of rosemary-coloured stockings for his +sweetheart, and was just going to walk round to one or two bankers to see if he +could borrow thirty ducats"——</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how can you pass over your best friends?" said Capuzzi. "Here, my +dear sir, here are fifty ducats, come take them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pasquale, what are you about?" said the real Capuzzi in an undertone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dr. Gratiano began to talk about a bond and about interest; but Signor +Capuzzi declared that he could not think of asking for either from such +a friend as the Doctor was.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pasquale, have you gone out of your senses?" exclaimed the real +Capuzzi a little louder.</p> + +<p class="normal">After many grateful embraces Doctor Gratiano took his leave. Now +Pasquarello drew near with a good many bows, and extolled Signor +Capuzzi to the skies, adding, however, that his purse was suffering +from the same complaint as Gratiano's, and he begged for some of the +same excellent medicine that had cured his. Capuzzi on the stage +laughed, and said he was pleased to find that Pasquarello knew how to +turn his good humour to advantage, and threw him several glittering +ducats.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pasquale, you must be mad, possessed of the devil," cried the real +Capuzzi aloud. He was bidden be still.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pasquarello went still further in his eulogy of Capuzzi, and came at +last to speak, of the aria which he (Capuzzi) had composed, and with +which he (Pasquarello) hoped to enchant everybody. The fictitious +Capuzzi clapped Pasquarello heartily on the back, and went on to say +that he might venture to tell him (Pasquarello), his faithful servant, +in confidence, that in reality he knew nothing whatever of the science +of music, and in respect to the aria of which he had just spoken, as +well as all pieces that he had ever composed, why, he had stolen them +out of Frescobaldi's canzonas and Carissimi's motets.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I tell you you're lying in your throat, you knave," shouted the +Capuzzi off the stage, rising from his seat. Again he was bidden keep +still, and the woman who sat next him drew him down on the bench.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's now time to think about other and more important matters," +continued Capuzzi on the stage. He was going to give a grand banquet +the next day, and Pasquarello must look alive and have everything that +was necessary prepared. Then he produced and read over a list of all +the rarest and most expensive dishes, making Pasquarello tell him how +much each would cost, and at the same time giving him the money for +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pasquale! You're insane! You've gone mad! You good-for-nothing scamp! +You spendthrift!" shouted the real Capuzzi at intervals, growing more +and more enraged the higher the cost of this the most nonsensical of +dinners rose.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length, when the list was finished, Pasquarello asked what had +induced him to give such a splendid banquet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-morrow will be the happiest and most joyous day of my life," +replied the fictitious Capuzzi. "For know, my good Pasquarello, that I +am going to celebrate to-morrow the auspicious marriage of my dear +niece Marianna. I am going to give her hand to that brave young fellow, +the best of all artists, Scacciati."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hardly had the words fallen from his lips when the real Capuzzi leapt +to his feet, utterly beside himself, quite out of his mind, his face +all aflame with the most fiendish rage, and doubling his fists and +shaking them at his counterpart on the stage, he yelled at the top of +his voice, "No, you won't, no, you won't, you rascal! you scoundrel, +you,—Pasquale! Do you mean to cheat yourself out of your Marianna, you +hound? Are you going to throw her in the arms of that scoundrel,—sweet +Marianna, thy life, thy hope, thy all? Ah! look to it! Look to it! you +infatuated fool. Just remember what sort of a reception you will meet +with from yourself. You shall beat yourself black and blue with your +own hands, so that you will have no relish to think about banquets and +weddings!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Capuzzi on the stage doubled his fists like the Capuzzi +below, and shouted in exactly the same furious way, and in the same +high-pitched voice, "May all the spirits of hell sit at your heart, you +abominable nonsensical Pasquale, you atrocious skinflint—you love-sick +old fool—you gaudy tricked-out ass with the cap and bells dangling +about your ears. Take care lest I snuff out the candle of your life, +and so at length put an end to the infamous tricks which you try to +foist upon the good, honest, modest Pasquale Capuzzi."</p> + +<p class="normal">Amidst the most fearful cursing and swearing of the real Capuzzi, the +one on the stage dished up one fine anecdote after the other about him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You'd better attempt," shouted at last the fictitious Capuzzi, "you +only dare, Pasquale, you amorous old ape, to interfere with the +happiness of these two young people, whom Heaven has destined for each +other."</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment there appeared at the back of the stage Antonio +Scacciati and Marianna locked in each other's arms. Albeit the old +gentleman was at other times somewhat feeble on his legs, yet now fury +gave him strength and agility. With a single bound he was on the stage, +had drawn his sword, and was charging upon the pretended Antonio. He +found, however, that he was held fast behind. An officer of the Papal +guard had stopped him, and said in a serious voice, "Recollect where +you are, Signor Pasquale; you are in Nicolo Musso's theatre. Without +intending it, you have today played a most ridiculous <i>rôle</i>. You will +not find either Antonio or Marianna here." The two persons whom Capuzzi +had taken for his niece and her lover now drew near, along with the +rest of the actors. The faces were all completely strange to him. His +rapier escaped from his trembling hand; he took a deep breath as if +awakening out of a bad dream; he grasped his brow with both hands; he +opened his eyes wide. The presentiment of what had happened suddenly +struck him, and he shouted, "Marianna!" in such a stentorian voice that +the walls rang again.</p> + +<p class="normal">But she was beyond reach of his shouts. Antonio had taken advantage of +the opportunity whilst Pasquale, oblivious of all about him and even of +himself, was quarrelling with his double, to make his way to Marianna, +and back with her through the audience, and out at a side door, where a +carriage stood ready waiting; and away they went as fast as their +horses could gallop towards Florence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marianna!" screamed the old man again, "Marianna! she is gone. She has +fled. That knave Antonio has stolen her from me. Away! after them! Have +pity on me, good people, and take torches and help me to look for my +little darling. Oh! you serpent!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he tried to make for the door. But the officer held him fast, +saying, "Do you mean that pretty young lady who sat beside you? +I believe I saw her slip out with a young man—I think Antonio +Scacciati—a long time ago, when you began your idle quarrel with one +of the actors who wore a mask like your face. You needn't make a +trouble of it; every inquiry shall at once be set on foot, and Marianna +shall be brought back to you as soon as she is found. But as for +yourself, Signor Pasquale, your behaviour here and your murderous +attempt upon the life of that actor compel me to arrest you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Signor Pasquale, his face as pale as death, incapable of uttering a +single word or even a sound, was led away by the very same gendarmes +who were to have protected him against masked devils and spectres. Thus +it came to pass that on the selfsame night on which he had hoped to +celebrate his triumph, he was plunged into the midst of trouble and of +all the frantic despondency which amorous old fools feel when they are +deceived.</p> +<br> +<br> +<h2>VI.</h2> + +<p class="hang1"><i>Salvator Rosa leaves Rome and goes to Florence. Conclusion of the +history.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">Everything here below beneath the sun is subject to continual change; +and perhaps there is nothing which can be called more inconstant than +human opinion, which turns round in an everlasting circle like the +wheel of fortune. He who reaps great praise to-day is overwhelmed with +biting censure to-morrow; to-day we trample under foot the man who +to-morrow will be raised far above us.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of all those who in Rome had ridiculed and mocked at old Pasquale +Capuzzi, with his sordid avarice, his foolish amorousness, his insane +jealousy, who did not wish poor tormented Marianna her liberty? But now +that Antonio had successfully carried off his mistress, all their +ridicule and mockery was suddenly changed into pity for the old fool, +whom they saw wandering about the streets of Rome with his head hanging +on his breast, utterly disconsolate. Misfortunes seldom come singly; +and so it happened that Signor Pasquale, soon after Marianna had been +taken from him, lost his best bosom-friends also. Little Pitichinaccio +choked himself in foolishly trying to swallow an almond-kernel in the +middle of a cadenza; but a sudden stop was put to the life of the +illustrious Pyramid Doctor Signor Splendiano Accoramboni by a slip of +the pen, for which he had only himself to blame. Michele's drubbing +made such work with him that he fell into a fever. He determined to +make use of a remedy which he claimed to have discovered, so, calling +for pen and ink, he wrote down a prescription in which, by employing a +wrong sign, he increased the quantity of a powerful substance to a +dangerous extent. But scarcely had he swallowed the medicine than he +sank back on the pillows and died, establishing, however, by his own +death in the most splendid and satisfactory manner the efficacy of the +last tincture which he ever prescribed.</p> + +<p class="normal">As already remarked, all those whose laughter had been the loudest, and +who had repeatedly wished Antonio success in his schemes, had now +nothing but pity for the old gentleman; and the bitterest blame was +heaped, not so much upon Antonio, as upon Salvator Rosa, whom, to be +sure, they regarded as the instigator of the whole plan.</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator's enemies, of whom he had a goodly number, exerted all their +efforts to fan the flame. "See you," they said, "he was one of +Masaniello's doughty partisans, and is ready to turn his hand to any +deed of mischief, to any disreputable enterprise; we shall be the next +to suffer from his presence in the city; he is a dangerous man."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the jealous faction who had leagued together against Salvator did +actually succeed in stemming the tide of his prosperous career. He sent +forth from his studio one picture after the other, all bold in +conception, and splendidly executed; but the so-called critics shrugged +their shoulders, now pointing out that the hills were too blue, the +trees too green, the figures now too long, now too broad, finding fault +everywhere where there was no fault to be found, and seeking to detract +from his hard-earned reputation in all the ways they could think of. +Especially bitter in their persecution of him were the Academicians of +St. Luke, who could not forget how he took them in about the surgeon; +they even went beyond the limits of their own profession, and decried +the clever stanzas which Salvator at that time wrote, hinting very +plainly that he did not cultivate his fruit on his own garden soil, but +plundered that of his neighbours. For these reasons, therefore, +Salvator could not manage to surround himself with the splendour which +he had lived amidst formerly in Rome. Instead of being visited by the +most eminent of the Romans in a large studio, he had to remain with +Dame Caterina and his green fig-tree; but amid these poor surroundings +he frequently found both consolation and tranquillity of mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">Salvator took the malicious machinations of his enemies to heart more +than he ought to have done; he even began to feel that an insidious +disease, resulting from chagrin and dejection, was gnawing at his +vitals. In this unhappy frame of mind he designed and executed two +large pictures which excited quite an uproar in Rome. Of these one +represented the transitoriness of all earthly things, and in the +principal figure, that of a wanton female bearing all the indications +of her degrading calling about her, was recognised the mistress of one +of the cardinals; the other portrayed the Goddess of Fortune dispensing +her rich gifts. But cardinals' hats, bishops' mitres, gold medals, +decorations of orders, were falling upon bleating sheep, braying asses, +and other such like contemptible animals, whilst well-made men in +ragged clothes were vainly straining their eyes upwards to get even the +smallest gift. Salvator had given free rein to his embittered mood, and +the animals' heads bore the closest resemblance to the features of +various eminent persons. It is easy to imagine, therefore, how the tide +of hatred against him rose, and that he was more bitterly persecuted +than ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dame Caterina warned him, with tears in her eyes, that as soon as it +began to be dark she had observed suspicious characters lurking about +the house and apparently dogging his every footstep. Salvator saw that +it was time to leave Rome; and Dame Caterina and her beloved daughters +were the only people whom it caused him pain to part from. In response +to the repeated invitations of the Duke of Tuscany,<sup><a name="div2_formica6.1" href="#div2Ref_formica6.1">6.1</a></sup> he went to +Florence; and here at length he was richly indemnified for all the +mortification and worry which he had had to struggle against in Rome, +and here all the honour and all the fame which he so truly deserved +were freely conferred upon him. The Duke's presents and the high prices +which he received for his pictures soon enabled him to remove into a +large house and to furnish it in the most magnificent style. There he +was wont to gather round him the most illustrious authors and scholars +of the day, amongst whom it will be sufficient to mention Evangelista +Toricelli,<sup><a name="div2_formica6.2" href="#div2Ref_formica6.2">6.2</a></sup> Valerio Chimentelli, Battista Ricciardi, Andrea +Cavalcanti, Pietro Salvati, Filippo Apolloni, Volumnio Bandelli, +Francesco Rovai. They formed an association for the prosecution of +artistic and scientific pursuits, whilst Salvator was able to +contribute an element of whimsicality to the meetings, which had a +singular effect in animating and enlivening the mind. The +banqueting-hall was like a beautiful grove with fragrant bushes and +flowers and splashing fountains; and the dishes even, which were served +up by pages in eccentric costumes, were very wonderful to look at, as +if they came from some distant land of magic. These meetings of writers +and savans in Salvator Rosa's house were called at that time the +Accademia de' Percossi.</p> + +<p class="normal">Though Salvator's mind was in this way devoted to science and art, yet +his real true nature came to life again when he was with his friend +Antonio Scacciati, who, along with his lovely Marianna, led the +pleasant <i>sans souci</i> life of an artist. They often recalled poor old +Signor Pasquale whom they had deceived, and all that had taken place in +Nicolo Musso's theatre. Antonio asked Salvator how he had contrived to +enlist in his cause the active interest not only of Musso but of the +excellent Formica, and of Agli too. Salvator replied that it had been +very easy, for Formica was his most intimate friend in Rome, so that it +had been a work of both pleasure and love to him to arrange everything +on the stage in accordance with the instructions Salvator gave him. +Antonio protested that, though still he could not help laughing over +the scene which had paved the way to his happiness, he yet wished with +all his heart to be reconciled to the old gentleman, even if he should +never touch a penny of Marianna's fortune, which the old gentleman had +confiscated; the practice of his art brought him in a sufficient +income. Marianna too was often unable to restrain her tears when she +thought that her father's brother might go down to his grave without +having forgiven her the trick which she had played upon him; and so +Pasquale's hatred overshadowed like a dark cloud the brightness of +their happiness. Salvator comforted them both—Antonio and Marianna—by +saying that time had adjusted still worse difficulties, and that chance +would perhaps bring the old gentleman near them in some less dangerous +way than if they had remained in Rome, or were to return there now.</p> + +<p class="normal">We shall see that a prophetic spirit spoke in Salvator.</p> + +<p class="normal">A considerable time elapsed, when one day Antonio burst into Salvator's +studio breathless and pale as death. "Salvator!" he cried, "Salvator, +my friend, my protector! I am lost if you do not help me. Pasquale +Capuzzi is here; he has procured a warrant for my arrest for the +seduction of his niece."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what can Signor Pasquale do against you now?" asked Salvator. +"Have you not been united to Marianna by the Church?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh!" replied Antonio, giving way completely to despair, "the blessing +of the Church herself cannot save me from ruin. Heaven knows by what +means the old man has been able to approach the Pope's nephew.<sup><a name="div2_formica6.3" href="#div2Ref_formica6.3">6.3</a></sup> At +any rate the Pope's nephew has taken the old man under his protection, +and has infused into him the hope that the Holy Father will declare my +marriage with Marianna to be null and void; nay, yet further, that he +will grant him (the old man) dispensation to marry his niece."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop!" cried Salvator, "now I see it all; now I see it all. +What threatens to be your ruin, Antonio, is this man's hatred against me. For I +must tell you that this nephew of the Pope's, a proud, coarse, boorish clown, +was amongst the animals in my picture to whom the Goddess of Fortune is +dispensing her gifts. That it was I who helped you to win your Marianna, though +indirectly, is well known, not only to this man, but to all Rome,—which is quite +reason enough to persecute you since they cannot do anything to me. And so, +Antonio, having brought this misfortune upon you, I must make every effort to +assist you, and all the more that you are my dearest and most intimate friend. +But, by the saints! I don't see in what way I can frustrate your enemies' little +game"——</p> + +<p class="normal">Therewith Salvator, who had continued to paint at a picture all the +time, laid aside brush, palette, and maulstick, and, rising up from his +easel, began to pace the room backwards and forwards, his arms crossed +over his breast, Antonio meanwhile being quite wrapt up in his own +thoughts, and with his eyes fixed unchangeably upon the floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length Salvator paused before him and said with a smile, "See here, +Antonio, I cannot do anything myself against your powerful enemies, but +I know one who can help you, and who will help you, and that is—Signor +Formica."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh!" said Antonio, "don't jest with an unhappy man, whom nothing can +save."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What! you are despairing again?" exclaimed Salvator, who was now all +at once in the merriest humour, and he laughed aloud. "I tell you, +Antonio, my friend Formica shall help you in Florence as he helped you +in Rome. Go away quietly home and comfort your Marianna, and calmly +wait and see how things will turn out. I trust you will be ready at the +shortest notice to do what Signor Formica, who is really here in +Florence at the present time, shall require of you." This Antonio +promised most faithfully, and hope revived in him again, and +confidence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Signor Pasquale Capuzzi was not a little astonished at receiving a +formal invitation from the Accademia de' Percossi. "Ah!" he exclaimed, +"Florence is the place then where a man's merits are recognised, where +Pasquale Capuzzi di Senigaglia, a man gifted with the most excellent +talents, is known and valued." Thus the thought of his knowledge and +his art, and the honour that was shown him on their account, overcame +the repugnance which he would otherwise have felt against a society at +the head of which stood Salvator Rosa. His Spanish gala-dress was more +carefully brushed than ever; his conical hat was equipped with a new +feather; his shoes were provided with new ribbons; and so Signor +Pasquale appeared at Salvator's as brilliant as a rose-chafer,<sup><a name="div2_formica6.4" href="#div2Ref_formica6.4">6.4</a></sup> and +his face all sunshine. The magnificence which he saw on all sides of +him, even Salvator himself, who had received him dressed in the richest +apparel, inspired him with deep respect, and, after the manner of +little souls, who, though at first proud and puffed up, at once grovel +in the dust whenever they come into contact with what they feel to be +superior to themselves, Pasquale's behaviour towards Salvator, whom he +would gladly have done a mischief to in Rome, was nothing but humility +and submissive deference.</p> + +<p class="normal">So much attention was paid to Signor Pasquale from all sides, his +judgment was appealed to so unconditionally, and so much was said about +his services to art, that he felt new life infused into his veins; and +an unusual spirit was awakened within him, so that his utterances on +many points were more sensible than might have been expected. If it be +added that never in his life before had he been so splendidly +entertained, and never had he drunk such inspiriting wine, it will +readily be conceived that his pleasure was intensified from moment to +moment, and that he forgot all the wrong which had been done him at +Rome as well as the unpleasant business which had brought him to +Florence. Often after their banquets the Academicians were wont to +amuse themselves with short impromptu dramatic representations, and so +this evening the distinguished playwright and poet Filippo Apolloni +called upon those who generally took part in them to bring the +festivities to a fitting conclusion with one of their usual +performances. Salvator at once withdrew to make all the necessary +preparations.</p> + +<p class="normal">Not long afterwards the bushes at the farther end of the +banqueting-hall began to move, the branches with their foliage were +parted, and a little theatre provided with seats for the spectators +became visible.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By the saints!" exclaimed Pasquale Capuzzi, terrified, "where am I? +Surely that's Nicolo Musso's theatre."</p> + +<p class="normal">Without heeding his exclamation, Evangelista Toricelli and Andrea +Cavalcanti—both of them grave, respectable, venerable men—took him by +the arm and led him to a seat immediately in front of the stage, taking +their places on each side of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was no sooner done than there appeared on the boards—Formica in +the character of Pasquarello.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You reprobate, Formica!" shouted Pasquale, leaping to his feet and +shaking his doubled fist at the stage. Toricelli and Cavalcanti's +stern, reproving glances bade him sit still and keep quiet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pasquarello wept and sobbed, and cursed his destiny, which brought him +nothing but grief and heart-breaking, declared he didn't know how he +should ever set about it if he wanted to laugh again, and concluded by +saying that if he could look upon blood without fainting, he should +certainly cut his throat, or should throw himself in the Tiber if he +could only let that cursed swimming alone when he got into the water.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doctor Gratiano now joined him, and inquired what was the cause of his +trouble.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whereupon Pasquarello asked him whether he did not know anything about +what had taken place in the house of his master, Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi di Senigaglia, whether he did not know that an infamous +scoundrel had carried off pretty Marianna, his master's niece?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" murmured Capuzzi, "I see you want to make your excuses to me, +Formica; you wish for my pardon—well, we shall see."</p> + +<p class="normal">Doctor Gratiano expressed his sympathy, and observed that the scoundrel +must have gone to work very cunningly to have eluded all the inquiries +which had been instituted by Capuzzi.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho! ho!" rejoined Pasquarello. "The Doctor need not imagine that the +scoundrel, Antonio Scacciati, had succeeded in escaping the sharpness +of Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, supported as he was, moreover, by powerful +friends. Antonio had been arrested, his marriage with Marianna +annulled, and Marianna herself had again come into Capuzzi's power.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has he got her again?" shouted Capuzzi, beside himself; "has he got +her again, good Pasquale? Has he got his little darling, his Marianna? +Is the knave Antonio arrested? Heaven bless you, Formica!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You take a too keen interest in the play, Signor Pasquale," said +Cavalcanti, quite seriously. "Pray permit the actors to proceed with +their parts without interrupting them in this disturbing fashion."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ashamed of himself, Signor Pasquale resumed his seat, for he had again +risen to his feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doctor Gratiano asked what had taken place then.</p> + +<p class="normal">A wedding, continued Pasquarello, a wedding had taken place. Marianna +had repented of what she had done; Signor Pasquale had obtained the +desired dispensation from the Holy Father, and had married his niece.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," murmured Pasquale Capuzzi to himself, whilst his eyes +sparkled with delight, "yes, yes, my dear, good Formica; he will marry +his sweet Marianna, the happy Pasquale. He knew that the dear little +darling had always loved him, and that it was only Satan who had led +her astray."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why then, everything is all right," said Doctor Gratiano, "and there's +no cause for lamentation."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pasquarello began, however, to weep and sob more violently than before, +till at length, as if overcome by the terrible nature of his pain, he +fainted away. Doctor Gratiano ran backwards and forwards in great +distress, was so sorry he had no smelling-bottle with him, felt in all +his pockets, and at last produced a roasted chestnut, and put it under +the insensible Pasquarello's nose. He at once recovered, sneezing +violently, and begging him to attribute his faintness to his weak +nerves, he related how that, immediately after the marriage, Marianna +had been afflicted with the saddest melancholy, continually calling +upon Antonio, and treating the old gentleman with contempt and +aversion. But the old fellow, quite infatuated by his passion and +jealousy, had not ceased to torment the poor girl with his folly in the +most abominable way. And here Pasquarello mentioned a host of mad +tricks which Pasquale had done, and which were really current in Rome +about him. Signor Capuzzi sat on thorns; he murmured at intervals, +"Curse you, Formica! You are lying! What evil spirit is in you?" He was +only prevented from bursting out into a violent passion by Toricelli +and Cavalcanti, who sat watching him with an earnest gaze.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pasquarello concluded his narration by telling that Marianna had at +length succumbed to her unsatisfied longing for her lover, her great +distress of mind, and the innumerable tortures which were inflicted +upon her by the execrable old fellow, and had died in the flower of her +youth.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment was heard a mournful <i>De profundis</i> sung by hollow, +husky voices, and men clad in long black robes appeared on the stage, +bearing an open coffin, within which was seen the corpse of lovely +Marianna wrapped in white shrouds. Behind it came Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi in the deepest mourning, feebly staggering along and wailing +aloud, beating his breast, and crying in a voice of despair, "O +Marianna! Marianna!"</p> + +<p class="normal">So soon as the real Capuzzi caught sight of his niece's corpse he broke +out into loud lamentations, and both Capuzzis, the one on the stage and +the one off, gave vent to their grief in the most heartrending wails +and groans, "O Marianna! O Marianna! O unhappy me! Alas! Alas for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Let the reader picture to himself the open coffin with the corpse of +the lovely child, surrounded by the hired mourners singing their dismal +<i>De profundis</i> in hoarse voices, and then the comical masks of +Pasquarello and Dr. Gratiano, who were expressing their grief in the +most ridiculous gestures, and lastly the two Capuzzis, wailing and +screeching in despair. Indeed, all who were witnesses of the +extraordinary spectacle could not help feeling, even in the midst of +the unrestrained laughter they had burst out into at sight of the +wonderful old gentleman, that their hearts were chilled by a most +uncomfortable feeling of awe.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now the stage grew dark, and it thundered and lightened, and there rose +up from below a pale ghostly figure, which bore most unmistakably the +features of Capuzzi's dead brother, Pietro of Senigaglia, Marianna's +father.</p> + +<p class="normal">"O you infamous brother, Pasquale! what have you done with my daughter? +what have you done with my daughter?" wailed the figure, in a dreadful +and hollow voice. "Despair, you atrocious murderer of my child. You +shall find your reward in hell."</p> + +<p class="normal">Capuzzi on the stage dropped on the floor as if struck by lightning, +and at the same moment the real Capuzzi reeled from his seat +unconscious. The bushes rustled together again, and the stage was gone, +and also Marianna and Capuzzi and the ghastly spectre Pietro. Signor +Pasquale Capuzzi lay in such a dead faint that it cost a good deal of +trouble to revive him.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length he came to himself with a deep sigh, and, stretching out both +hands before him as if to ward off the horror that had seized him, he +cried in a husky voice, "Leave me alone, Pietro." Then a torrent of +tears ran down his cheeks, and he sobbed and cried, "Oh! Marianna, my +darling child—my—my Marianna." "But recollect yourself," said now +Cavalcanti, "recollect yourself, Signor Pasquale, it was only on the +stage that you saw your niece dead. She is alive; she is here to crave +pardon for the thoughtless step which love and also your own +inconsiderate conduct drove her to take."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Marianna, and behind her Antonio Scacciati, now ran forward from +the back part of the hall and threw themselves at the old gentleman's +feet,—for he had meanwhile been placed in an easy chair. Marianna, +looking most charming and beautiful, kissed his hands and bathed them +with scalding tears, beseeching him to pardon both her and Antonio, to +whom she had been united by the blessing of the Church.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly the hot blood surged into the old man's pallid face, fury +flashed from his eyes, and he cried in a half-choked voice, "Oh! you +abominable scoundrel! You poisonous serpent whom I nourished in my +bosom!" Then old Toricelli, with grave and thoughtful dignity, put +himself in front of Capuzzi, and told him that he (Capuzzi) had seen a +representation of the fate that would inevitably and irremediably +overtake him if he had the hardihood to carry out his wicked purpose +against Antonio and Marianna's peace and happiness. He depicted in +startling colours the folly and madness of amorous old men, who call +down upon their own heads the most ruinous mischief which Heaven can +inflict upon a man, since all the love which might have fallen to their +share is lost, and instead hatred and contempt shoot their fatal darts +at them from every side.</p> + +<p class="normal">At intervals lovely Marianna cried in a tone that went to everybody's +heart, "O my uncle, I will love and honour you as my own father; you +will kill me by a cruel death if you rob me of my Antonio." And all the +eminent men by whom the old gentleman was surrounded cried with one +accord that it would not be possible for a man like Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi di Senigaglia, a patron of art and himself an artist, not to +forgive the young people, and assume the part of father to the most +lovely of ladies, not possible that he could refuse to accept with joy +as his son-in-law such an artist as Antonio Scacciati, who was highly +esteemed throughout all Italy and richly crowned with fame and honour.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then it was patent to see that a violent struggle went on within the +old gentleman. He sighed, moaned, clasped his hands before his face, +and, whilst Toricelli was continuing to speak in a most impressive +manner, and Marianna was appealing to him in the most touching accents, +and the rest were extolling Antonio all they knew how, he kept looking +down—now upon his niece, now upon Antonio, whose splendid clothes and +rich chains of honour bore testimony to the truth of what was said +about the artistic fame he had earned.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gone was all rage out of Capuzzi's countenance; he sprang up with +radiant eyes, and pressed Marianna to his heart, saying, "Yes, I +forgive you, my dear child; I forgive you, Antonio. Far be it from me +to disturb your happiness. You are right, my worthy Signor Toricelli; +Formica has shown me in the tableau on the stage all the mischief and +ruin that would have befallen me had I carried out my insane design. I +am cured, quite cured of my folly. But where is Signor Formica, where +is my good physician? let me thank him a thousand times for my cure; it +is he alone who has accomplished it. The terror that he has caused me +to feel has brought about a complete revolution within me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pasquarello stepped forward. Antonio threw himself upon his neck, +crying, "O Signor Formica, you to whom I owe my life, my all—oh! take +off this disfiguring mask, that I may see your face, that Formica may +not be any longer a mystery to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pasquarello took off his cap and his artificial mask, which looked like +a natural face, since it offered not the slightest hindrance to the +play of countenance, and this Formica, this Pasquarello, was +transformed into—Salvator Rosa.<sup><a name="div2_formica6.5" href="#div2Ref_formica6.5">6.5</a></sup></p> + +<p class="normal">"Salvator!" exclaimed Marianna, Antonio, and Capuzzi, utterly +astounded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said that wonderful man, "it is Salvator Rosa, whom the Romans +would not recognise as painter and poet, but who in the character of +Formica drew from them, without their being aware of it, almost every +evening for more than a year, in Nicolo Musso's wretched little +theatre, the most noisy and most demonstrative storms of applause, from +whose mouth they willingly took all the scorn, and all the satiric +mockery of what is bad, which they would on no account listen to and +see in Salvator's poems and pictures. It is Salvator Formica who has +helped you, dear Antonio."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Salvator," began old Capuzzi, "Salvator Rosa, albeit I have always +regarded you as my worst enemy, yet I have always prized your artistic +skill very highly, and now I love you as the worthiest friend I have, +and beg you to accept my friendship in return."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell me," replied Salvator, "tell me, my worthy Signor Pasquale, what +service I can render you, and accept my assurances beforehand, that I +will leave no stone unturned to accomplish whatever you may ask of me."</p> + +<p class="normal">And now the genial smile which had not been seen upon Capuzzi's face +since Marianna had been carried off, began to steal back again. Taking +Salvator's hand he lisped in a low voice, "My dear Signor Salvator, you +possess an unlimited influence over good Antonio; beseech him in my +name to permit me to spend the short rest of my days with him, and my +dear daughter Marianna, and to accept at my hands the inheritance left +her by her mother, as well as the good dowry which I was thinking of +adding to it. And he must not look jealous if I occasionally kiss the +dear sweet child's little white hand; and ask him—every Sunday at +least when I go to Mass, to trim up my rough moustache, for there's +nobody in all the wide world understands it so well as he does."</p> + +<p class="normal">It cost Salvator an effort to repress his laughter at the strange old +man; but before he could make any reply, Antonio and Marianna, +embracing the old gentleman, assured him that they should not believe +he was fully reconciled to them, and should not be really happy, until +he came to live with them as their dear father, never to leave them +again. Antonio added that not only on Sunday, but every other day, he +would trim Capuzzi's moustache as elegantly as he knew how, and +accordingly the old gentleman was perfectly radiant with delight. +Meanwhile a splendid supper had been prepared, to which the entire +company now turned in the best of spirits.</p> + +<p class="normal">In taking my leave of you, beloved reader, I wish with all my heart +that, whilst you have been reading the story of the wonderful Signor +Formica, you have derived as much pure pleasure from it as Salvator and +all his friends felt on sitting down to their supper.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * * *</span></p> + +<p class="continue">FOOTNOTES TO "SIGNOR FORMICA":</p> + +<h3>PART I.</h3> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica1.1" href="#div2_formica1.1">1.1</a></sup> This tale was written for the Leipsic <i>Taschenbuch zum +geselligen Vergnügen</i> for the year 1820.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica1.2" href="#div2_formica1.2">1.2</a></sup> Respecting the facts of Salvator Rosa's life there +exists more than one disputed statement; and of these perhaps the most +disputed is his share of complicity (if any) in the evil doings of +Calabrian banditti. Poor, and of a wild and self-willed disposition, +but with a strong and independent character, he was unable to find a +suitable master in Naples, so, at the age of eighteen, he set out to +study the lineaments of nature face to face, and spent some time amidst +the grand and savage scenery of Calabria. Here it is certain that he +came into contact with the banditti who haunted those wild regions. He +is alleged to have been taken prisoner by a band, and to have become a +member of the troop. Accepting this as true, we may perhaps charitably +believe that he was prompted not so much by a regard for his own +safety, as by the wish to secure a rare opportunity for studying his +art unhindered, and also charitably hope that the accusations of his +enemies, that he actively participated in the deeds of his companions, +are unfounded, or, at any rate, exaggerations. It may be remarked that +the "Life and Times of Salvator Rosa" by Lady Morgan (1824) is +admittedly a romance rather than an accurate and faithful biography.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica1.3" href="#div2_formica1.3">1.3</a></sup> Masaniello, a poor fisherman of Naples, was for a week +in July, 1647, absolute king of his native city. At that time Naples +was subject to the crown of Spain. The people, provoked by the +exasperating rapacity and extortion of the Viceroy of the King of +Spain, rose in rebellion, choosing Masaniello as their captain and +leader.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica1.4" href="#div2_formica1.4">1.4</a></sup> Aniello Falcone (1600-65), teacher of Salvator Rosa and +founder of the <i>Compagnia della Morte</i>, painted battle-pieces which +bear a high reputation. His works are said to be scarce and much sought +after.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica1.5" href="#div2_formica1.5">1.5</a></sup> At first the young fisherman administered stern but +impartial justice; but afterwards his mind seems to have reeled under +the intense excitement and strain of his position, and he began to act +the part of an arbitrary and cruel tyrant. Several hundreds of persons +are said to have been put to death by his order during the few days he +held power.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica1.6" href="#div2_formica1.6">1.6</a></sup> Amongst them more than one by Salvator himself.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica1.7" href="#div2_formica1.7">1.7</a></sup> A French painter and writer on painting; was born near +Bordeaux in 1746, and died at Paris in 1809. Besides other works he +wrote <i>Observations sur quelques grands peintres</i> (1807).</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica1.8" href="#div2_formica1.8">1.8</a></sup> The sequin was a gold coin of Venice and Tuscany, worth +about 9s. 3d. It is sometimes used as equivalent to ducat (see note p. 98).</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica1.9" href="#div2_formica1.9">1.9</a></sup> The Corso is a wide thoroughfare running almost north +and south from the Piazza del Popolo, a square on the north side +of Rome, to the centre of the city. It is in the Corso that the +horse-races used to take place during the Carnival.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica1.10" href="#div2_formica1.10">1.10</a></sup> The great painter Sanzio Raphael.]</p> + +<br> + +<h3>PART II.</h3> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.1" href="#div2_formica2.1">2.1</a></sup> Annabale Caracci, a painter of Bologna of the latter +half of the sixteenth century. His most celebrated work is a series of +frescoes on mythological subjects in the Farnese Palace at Rome. Along +with his cousin Lodovico and his brother Agostino he founded the +so-called Eclectic School of Painting; their maxim was that "accurate +observation of Nature should be combined with judicious imitation of +the best masters." The Caracci enjoyed the highest reputation amongst +their contemporaries as teachers of their art. Annibale died in 1609; +Masaniello's revolt occurred, as already mentioned, in 1647; Antonio +must therefore have been at least fifty years of age. This however is +not the only anachronism that Hoffmann is guilty of.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.2" href="#div2_formica2.2">2.2</a></sup> The well-known painter Guido, born in 1575 and died in +1642. He early excited the envy of Annibale Caracci.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.3" href="#div2_formica2.3">2.3</a></sup> Mattia Preti, known as <i>Il Cavaliere Calabrese</i>, from +his having been born in Calabria. He was a painter of the Neapolitan +school and a pupil of Lanfranco, and lived during the greater part of +the seventeenth century. Owing to his many disputes and quarrels he was +more than once compelled to flee for his life.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.4" href="#div2_formica2.4">2.4</a></sup> The Accademia di San Luca, a school of art, founded at +Rome about 1595, Federigo Zuccaro being its first director.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.5" href="#div2_formica2.5">2.5</a></sup> Alessandro Tiarini (1577-1668) of Bologna, was a pupil +of the Caracci.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.6" href="#div2_formica2.6">2.6</a></sup> Giovanni Francesco Gessi (1588-1649), sometimes called +"The second Guido," was a pupil of Guido.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.7" href="#div2_formica2.7">2.7</a></sup> Sementi or Semenza (1580-1638), also a pupil of Guido.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.8" href="#div2_formica2.8">2.8</a></sup> Giovanni Lanfranco (1581-1647), studied first under +Agostino Caracci. He was the first to encourage the early genius of +Salvator Rosa.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.9" href="#div2_formica2.9">2.9</a></sup> Zampieri Domenichino (1581-1641) was a pupil of the +Caracci. The work here referred to is a series of frescoes, which he +did not live to quite finish, representing the events of the life of +St. Januarius, in the chapel of the Tesoro of the cathedral at Naples, +which he began in 1630.</p> + +<p class="hang2">The malicious spite which the text attributes to the rivals of +Domenichino is not at all exaggerated. There did really exist a +so-called "Cabal of Naples," consisting chiefly of the painters +Corenzio, Ribera, and Caracciolo, who leagued together to shut out all +competition from other artists; and their persecution of the Bolognese +Domenichino is well known. Often on returning to his work in the +morning he found that some one had obliterated what he had done on the +previous day.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Not only have we a faithful picture of the Italian artist's life in the +middle of the seventeenth century depicted in this tale, but the actual +facts of the lives of Salvator Rosa, of Preti, of the Caracci, as well +as the existence of Falcone's <i>Compagnia della Morte</i>, furnish ample +materials and illustrations of the wild lives they did lead, of their +jealousies and heartburnings, of their quarrelsomeness and +revengefulness. They seem to have been ready on all occasions to +exchange the brush for the sword. They were filled to overflowing with +restless energy. The atmosphere of the age they lived in was highly +charged with vigour of thought and an irrepressible vitality for +artistic production. Under the conditions which these things suppose +the artists of that age could not well have been otherwise than what +they were.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.10" href="#div2_formica2.10">2.10</a></sup> Belisario Corenzio, a Greek (1558-1643). "Envious, +jealous, cunning, treacherous, quarrelsome, he looked upon all other +painters as his enemies."</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.11" href="#div2_formica2.11">2.11</a></sup> Giuseppe Ribera, called <i>Il Spagnoletto</i>, a Spaniard by +birth (1589), was a painter of the Neapolitan school, and delighted in +horrible and gloomy subjects. He died in 1656.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.12" href="#div2_formica2.12">2.12</a></sup> Don Diego Velazquez de Silva, the great Spanish +painter, born in 1599, died in 1660. He twice visited Italy and Naples, +in 1629-31 and in 1648-51, and was for a time intimate with Ribera.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.13" href="#div2_formica2.13">2.13</a></sup> This suggests the legend of Quentin Massys of Antwerp +and the fly, or the still older, but perhaps not more historical story +of the Greek painters, Zeuxis and the bunch of grapes, which the birds +came to peck at, and Parrhasius, whose curtain deceived even Zeuxis +himself.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.14" href="#div2_formica2.14">2.14</a></sup> Giuseppe Cesari, colled Josépin or the Chevalier +d'Arpin, a painter of the Roman school, born in 1560 or 1568, died in +1640. He posed as an artistic critic in Rome during the later years of +his life, and his judgment was claimed by his friends to be +authoritative and final in all matters connected with art.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.15" href="#div2_formica2.15">2.15</a></sup> In a previous note it was stated that the Via del Corse +ran from the Piazza del Popolo southwards to the centre of the city of +Rome. Besides this street there are two others which run from the same +square in almost the same direction, the Via di Ripetta and the Via del +Babuino, the former being to the west of the Via del Corso and the +latter to the east, and each gradually gets more distant from the Via +del Corso the farther it recedes from the Square. On the opposite side +of the Piazza del Popolo is the Porta del Popolo.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.16" href="#div2_formica2.16">2.16</a></sup> Girolamo Frescobaldi, the most distinguished organist +of the seventeenth century, born about 1587 or 1588. He early won a +reputation both as a singer and as an organist.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.17" href="#div2_formica2.17">2.17</a></sup> Senigaglia or Senigallia, a town on the Adriatic, in +the province of Ancona.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.18" href="#div2_formica2.18">2.18</a></sup> Pietro Francesco Cavalli, whose real name was +Caletti-Bruni. He was organist at St. Mark's at Venice for about +thirty-six years (1640-1676). He composed both for the Church and for +the stage.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica2.19" href="#div2_formica2.19">2.19</a></sup> Giacomo Carissimi, attached during the greater part of +his life to the church of San Apollinaris at Rome. He died in 1674. He +did much for musical art, perfecting recitative and advancing the +development of the sacred cantata. His accompaniments are generally +distinguished for "lightness and variety."</p> + +<br> + + +<h3>PART III.</h3> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica3.1" href="#div2_formica3.1">3.1</a></sup> The first silver ducat is believed to have been struck +in 1140 by Roger II., Norman king of Sicily; and ducats have been +struck constantly since the twelfth century, especially at Venice (see +<i>Merchant of Venice</i>). They have varied considerably both in weight and +fineness, and consequently in value, at different times and places. Ducats have +been struck in both gold and silver. The early Venetian silver ducat was worth +about five shillings. The name is said, according to one account, to have been +derived from the last word of the Latin legend found on the earliest Venetian +gold coins:—<i>Sit tibi, +Christe, datus, quem tu regis, ducatus</i> (duchy); according to another +account it is taken from "<i>il ducato</i>," the name generally applied to +the duchy of Apulia.</p> + + +<br> +<h3>PART IV.</h3> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica4.1" href="#div2_formica4.1">4.1</a></sup> Female parts continued to be played by boys in England +down to the Restoration (1660). The practice of women playing in female +parts was introduced somewhat earlier in Italy, but only in certain +kinds of performances.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica4.2" href="#div2_formica4.2">4.2</a></sup> This word is undoubtedly connected with <i>Pasquillo</i> (a +satire), or with <i>Pasquino</i>, a Roman cobbler of the fifteenth century, +whose shop stood near the Braschi Palace, near the Piazza Navona. He +lashed the follies of his day, particularly the vices of the clergy, +with caustic satire, scathing wit, and bitter stinging irony. After his +death his name was transferred to a mutilated statue, upon which such +satiric effusions continued to be fastened.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Pasquarello would thus combine the characteristics of the English clown +with those of the Roman Pasquino.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica4.3" href="#div2_formica4.3">4.3</a></sup> Doctor Gratiano, a character in the popular Italian +theatre called <i>Commedia dell' Arte</i>, was represented as a Bolognese +doctor, and wore a mask with black nose and forehead and red cheeks. +His <i>rôle</i> was that of a "pedantic and tedious poser."</p> + + +<br> +<h3>PART VI.</h3> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica6.1" href="#div2_formica6.1">6.1</a></sup> This was Ferdinand II., a member of the illustrious +Florentine family of the Medici. He upheld the family tradition by his +liberal patronage of science and letters.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica6.2" href="#div2_formica6.2">6.2</a></sup> Evangelista Torricelli, the successor of the great +Galileo in the chair of philosophy and mathematics at Florence, is +inseparably associated with the discovery that water in a suction-pump +will only rise to the height of about thirty-two feet. This paved the +way to his invention of the barometer in 1643.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Other members of the Accademia de' Percossi were Dati, Lippi, Viviani, +Bandinelli, &c.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica6.3" href="#div2_formica6.3">6.3</a></sup> An allusion to the well-known nepotism of the Popes. The +man here mentioned is one of the Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica6.4" href="#div2_formica6.4">6.4</a></sup> <i>Cetonia aurata</i>, L., called also the gold-chafer; it is +coloured green and gold.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_formica6.5" href="#div2_formica6.5">6.5</a></sup> The painter Salvator Rosa did really play at Rome the +<i>rôle</i> of Pasquarello here attributed to him; but it was on the occasion of +his second visit to the Eternal City about 1639. On the other hand, it was after +1647 (the year of Masaniello's revolt at Naples) that Salvator again came to +Rome (the third visit), where he stayed until he was obliged to flee farther, +namely, to Florence, in consequence of the two pictures already mentioned. It +seems evident therefore that Hoffmann has not troubled himself about his dates, +or strict historical fidelity, but seems rather to have combined the incidents +of the painter's two visits to Rome—<i>i.e.</i>, his second and +his third visit.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><i><a name="div1_sand_man" href="#div1Ref_sand_man">THE SAND-MAN</a></i>.<sup><a name="div2_sand_man1" href="#div2Ref_sand_man1">1</a></sup></h2> +<br> +<h3>NATHANAEL TO LOTHAIR.</h3> + +<p class="normal">I know you are all very uneasy because I have not written for such a +long, long time. Mother, to be sure, is angry, and Clara, I dare say, +believes I am living here in riot and revelry, and quite forgetting my +sweet angel, whose image is so deeply engraved upon my heart and mind. +But that is not so; daily and hourly do I think of you all, and my +lovely Clara's form comes to gladden me in my dreams, and smiles upon +me with her bright eyes, as graciously as she used to do in the days +when I went in and out amongst you. Oh! how could I write to you in the +distracted state of mind in which I have been, and which, until now, +has quite bewildered me! A terrible thing has happened to me. Dark +forebodings of some awful fate threatening me are spreading themselves +out over my head like black clouds, impenetrable to every friendly ray +of sunlight. I must now tell you what has taken place; I must, that I +see well enough, but only to think upon it makes the wild laughter +burst from my lips. Oh! my dear, dear Lothair, what shall I say to make +you feel, if only in an inadequate way, that that which happened to me +a few days ago could thus really exercise such a hostile and disturbing +influence upon my life? Oh that you were here to see for yourself! but +now you will, I suppose, take me for a superstitious ghost-seer. In a +word, the terrible thing which I have experienced, the fatal effect of +which I in vain exert every effort to shake off, is simply that some +days ago, namely, on the 30th October, at twelve o'clock at noon, a +dealer in weather-glasses came into my room and wanted to sell me one +of his wares. I bought nothing, and threatened to kick him downstairs, +whereupon he went away of his own accord.</p> + +<p class="normal">You will conclude that it can only be very peculiar relations— +relations intimately intertwined with my life—that can give +significance to this event, and that it must be the person of this +unfortunate hawker which has had such a very inimical effect upon me. +And so it really is. I will summon up all my faculties in order to +narrate to you calmly and patiently as much of the early days of my +youth as will suffice to put matters before you in such a way that your +keen sharp intellect may grasp everything clearly and distinctly, in +bright and living pictures. Just as I am beginning, I hear you laugh +and Clara say, "What's all this childish nonsense about!" Well, laugh +at me, laugh heartily at me, pray do. But, good God! my hair is +standing on end, and I seem to be entreating you to laugh at me in the +same sort of frantic despair in which Franz Moor entreated Daniel to +laugh him to scorn.<sup><a name="div2_sand_man2" href="#div2Ref_sand_man2">2</a></sup> But to my story.</p> + +<p class="normal">Except at dinner we, <i>i.e.</i>, I and my brothers and sisters, saw but +little of our father all day long. His business no doubt took up most +of his time. After our evening meal, which, in accordance with an old +custom, was served at seven o'clock, we all went, mother with us, into +father's room, and took our places around a round table. My father +smoked his pipe, drinking a large glass of beer to it. Often he told us +many wonderful stories, and got so excited over them that his pipe +always went out; I used then to light it for him with a spill, and this +formed my chief amusement. Often, again, he would give us picture-books +to look at, whilst he sat silent and motionless in his easy-chair, +puffing out such dense clouds of smoke that we were all as it were +enveloped in mist. On such evenings mother was very sad; and directly +it struck nine she said, "Come, children! off to bed! Come! The +'Sand-man' is come I see." And I always did seem to hear something +trampling upstairs with slow heavy steps; that must be the Sand-man. +Once in particular I was very much frightened at this dull trampling +and knocking; as mother was leading us out of the room I asked her, "O +mamma! but who is this nasty Sand-man who always sends us away from +papa? What does he look like?" "There is no Sand-man, my dear child," +mother answered; "when I say the Sand-man is come, I only mean that you +are sleepy and can't keep your eyes open, as if somebody had put sand +in them." This answer of mother's did not satisfy me; nay, in my +childish mind the thought clearly unfolded itself that mother denied +there was a Sand-man only to prevent us being afraid,—why, I always +heard him come upstairs. Full of curiosity to learn something more +about this Sand-man and what he had to do with us children, I at length +asked the old woman who acted as my youngest sister's attendant, what +sort of a man he was—the Sand-man? "Why, 'thanael, darling, don't you +know?" she replied. "Oh! he's a wicked man, who comes to little +children when they won't go to bed and throws handfuls of sand in their +eyes, so that they jump out of their heads all bloody; and he puts them +into a bag and takes them to the half-moon as food for his little ones; +and they sit there in the nest and have hooked beaks like owls, and +they pick naughty little boys' and girls' eyes out with them." After +this I formed in my own mind a horrible picture of the cruel Sand-man. +When anything came blundering upstairs at night I trembled with fear +and dismay; and all that my mother could get out of me were the +stammered words "The Sandman! the Sand-man!" whilst the tears coursed +down my cheeks. Then I ran into my bedroom, and the whole night through +tormented myself with the terrible apparition of the Sand-man. I +was quite old enough to perceive that the old woman's tale about the +Sand-man and his little ones' nest in the half-moon couldn't be +altogether true; nevertheless the Sand-man continued to be for me a +fearful incubus, and I was always seized with terror—my blood always +ran cold, not only when I heard anybody come up the stairs, but when I +heard anybody noisily open my father's room door and go in. Often he +stayed away for a long season altogether; then he would come several +times in close succession.</p> + +<p class="normal">This went on for years, without my being able to accustom myself to +this fearful apparition, without the image of the horrible Sand-man +growing any fainter in my imagination. His intercourse with my father +began to occupy my fancy ever more and more; I was restrained from +asking my father about him by an unconquerable shyness; but as the +years went on the desire waxed stronger and stronger within me to +fathom the mystery myself and to see the fabulous Sand-man. He had been +the means of disclosing to me the path of the wonderful and the +adventurous, which so easily find lodgment in the mind of the child. I +liked nothing better than to hear or read horrible stories of goblins, +witches, Tom Thumbs, and so on; but always at the head of them all +stood the Sand-man, whose picture I scribbled in the most extraordinary +and repulsive forms with both chalk and coal everywhere, on the tables, +and cupboard doors, and walls. When I was ten years old my mother +removed me from the nursery into a little chamber off the corridor not +far from my father's room. We still had to withdraw hastily whenever, +on the stroke of nine, the mysterious unknown was heard in the house. +As I lay in my little chamber I could hear him go into father's room, +and soon afterwards I fancied there was a fine and peculiar smelling +steam spreading itself through the house. As my curiosity waxed +stronger, my resolve to make somehow or other the Sand-man's +acquaintance took deeper root. Often when my mother had gone past, I +slipped quickly out of my room into the corridor, but I could never see +anything, for always before I could reach the place where I could get +sight of him, the Sand-man was well inside the door. At last, unable to +resist the impulse any longer, I determined to conceal myself in +father's room and there wait for the Sand-man.</p> + +<p class="normal">One evening I perceived from my father's silence and mother's sadness +that the Sand-man would come; accordingly, pleading that I was +excessively tired, I left the room before nine o'clock and concealed +myself in a hiding-place close beside the door. The street door +creaked, and slow, heavy, echoing steps crossed the passage towards +the stairs. Mother hurried past me with my brothers and sisters. +Softly—softly—I opened father's room door. He sat as usual, silent +and motionless, with his back towards it; he did not hear me; and in a +moment I was in and behind a curtain drawn before my father's open +wardrobe, which stood just inside the room. Nearer and nearer and +nearer came the echoing footsteps. There was a strange coughing and +shuffling and mumbling outside. My heart beat with expectation and +fear. A quick step now close, close beside the door, a noisy rattle of +the handle, and the door flies open with a bang. Recovering my courage +with an effort, I take a cautious peep out. In the middle of the room +in front of my father stands the Sand-man, the bright light of the lamp +falling full upon his face. The Sand-man, the terrible Sand-man, is the +old advocate <i>Coppelius</i> who often comes to dine with us.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the most hideous figure could not have awakened greater trepidation +in my heart than this Coppelius did. Picture to yourself a large +broad-shouldered man, with an immensely big head, a face the colour of +yellow-ochre, grey bushy eyebrows, from beneath which two piercing, +greenish, cat-like eyes glittered, and a prominent Roman nose hanging +over his upper lip. His distorted mouth was often screwed up into a +malicious smile; then two dark-red spots appeared on his cheeks, and a +strange hissing noise proceeded from between his tightly clenched +teeth. He always wore an ash-grey coat of an old-fashioned cut, a +waistcoat of the same, and nether extremities to match, but black +stockings and buckles set with stones on his shoes. His little wig +scarcely extended beyond the crown of his head, his hair was curled +round high up above his big red ears, and plastered to his temples with +cosmetic, and a broad closed hair-bag stood out prominently from his +neck, so that you could see the silver buckle that fastened his folded +neck-cloth. Altogether he was a most disagreeable and horribly ugly +figure; but what we children detested most of all was his big coarse +hairy hands; we could never fancy anything that he had once touched. +This he had noticed; and so, whenever our good mother quietly placed a +piece of cake or sweet fruit on our plates, he delighted to touch it +under some pretext or other, until the bright tears stood in our eyes, +and from disgust and loathing we lost the enjoyment of the tit-bit that +was intended to please us. And he did just the same thing when father +gave us a glass of sweet wine on holidays. Then he would quickly pass +his hand over it, or even sometimes raise the glass to his blue lips, +and he laughed quite sardonically when all we dared do was to express +our vexation in stifled sobs. He habitually called us the "little +brutes;" and when he was present we might not utter a sound; and we +cursed the ugly spiteful man who deliberately and intentionally spoilt +all our little pleasures. Mother seemed to dislike this hateful +Coppelius as much as we did; for as soon as he appeared her +cheerfulness and bright and natural manner were transformed into sad, +gloomy seriousness. Father treated him as if he were a being of some +higher race, whose ill-manners were to be tolerated, whilst no efforts +ought to be spared to keep him in good-humour. He had only to give a +slight hint, and his favourite dishes were cooked for him and rare wine +uncorked.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as I saw this Coppelius, therefore, the fearful and hideous +thought arose in my mind that he, and he alone, must be the Sand-man; +but I no longer conceived of the Sand-man as the bugbear in the +old nurse's fable, who fetched children's eyes and took them to the +half-moon as food for his little ones—no! but as an ugly spectre-like +fiend bringing trouble and misery and ruin, both temporal and +everlasting, everywhere wherever he appeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">I was spell-bound on the spot. At the risk of being discovered, and, as +I well enough knew, of being severely punished, I remained as I was, +with my head thrust through the curtains listening. My father received +Coppelius in a ceremonious manner. "Come, to work!" cried the latter, +in a hoarse snarling voice, throwing off his coat. Gloomily and +silently my father took off his dressing-gown, and both put on long +black smock-frocks. Where they took them from I forgot to notice. +Father opened the folding-doors of a cupboard in the wall; but I saw +that what I had so long taken to be a cupboard was really a dark +recess, in which was a little hearth. Coppelius approached it, and a +blue flame crackled upwards from it. Round about were all kinds of +strange utensils. Good God! as my old father bent down over the fire +how different he looked! His gentle and venerable features seemed to be +drawn up by some dreadful convulsive pain into an ugly, repulsive +Satanic mask. He looked like Coppelius. Coppelius plied the red-hot +tongs and drew bright glowing masses out of the thick smoke and began +assiduously to hammer them. I fancied that there were men's faces +visible round about, but without eyes, having ghastly deep black holes +where the eyes should have been. "Eyes here! Eyes here!" cried +Coppelius, in a hollow sepulchral voice. My blood ran cold with horror; +I screamed and tumbled out of my hiding-place into the floor. Coppelius +immediately seized upon me. "You little brute! You little brute!" he +bleated, grinding his teeth. Then, snatching me up, he threw me on +the hearth, so that the flames began to singe my hair. "Now we've got +eyes—eyes—a beautiful pair of children's eyes," he whispered, and, +thrusting his hands into the flames he took out some red-hot grains and +was about to strew them into my eyes. Then my father clasped his hands +and entreated him, saying, "Master, master, let my Nathanael keep his +eyes—oh! do let him keep them." Coppelius laughed shrilly and replied, +"Well then, the boy may keep his eyes and whine and pule his way +through the world; but we will now at any rate observe the mechanism of +the hand and the foot." And therewith he roughly laid hold upon me, so +that my joints cracked, and twisted my hands and my feet, pulling them +now this way, and now that, "That's not quite right altogether! It's +better as it was!—the old fellow knew what he was about." Thus lisped +and hissed Coppelius; but all around me grew black and dark; a sudden +convulsive pain shot through all my nerves and bones; I knew nothing +more.</p> + +<p class="normal">I felt a soft warm breath fanning my cheek; I awakened as if out of the +sleep of death; my mother was bending over me. "Is the Sand-man still +there?" I stammered. "No, my dear child; he's been gone a long, long +time; he'll not hurt you." Thus spoke my mother, as she kissed her +recovered darling and pressed him to her heart. But why should I tire +you, my dear Lothair? why do I dwell at such length on these details, +when there's so much remains to be said? Enough—I was detected in my +eavesdropping, and roughly handled by Coppelius. Fear and terror had +brought on a violent fever, of which I lay ill several weeks. "Is the +Sand-man still there?" these were the first words I uttered on coming +to myself again, the first sign of my recovery, of my safety. Thus, you +see, I have only to relate to you the most terrible moment of my youth +for you to thoroughly understand that it must not be ascribed to the +weakness of my eyesight if all that I see is colourless, but to the +fact that a mysterious destiny has hung a dark veil of clouds about my +life, which I shall perhaps only break through when I die.</p> + +<p class="normal">Coppelius did not show himself again; it was reported he had left the +town.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was about a year later when, in pursuance of the old unchanged +custom, we sat around the round table in the evening. Father was in +very good spirits, and was telling us amusing tales about his youthful +travels. As it was striking nine we all at once heard the street door +creak on its hinges, and slow ponderous steps echoed across the passage +and up the stairs. "That is Coppelius," said my mother, turning pale. +"Yes, it is Coppelius," replied my father in a faint broken voice. The +tears started from my mother's eyes. "But, father, father," she cried, +"must it be so?" "This is the last time," he replied; "this is the +last time he will come to me, I promise you. Go now, go and take the +children. Go, go to bed—good-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">As for me, I felt as if I were converted into cold, heavy stone; I +could not get my breath. As I stood there immovable my mother seized me +by the arm. "Come, Nathanael! do come along!" I suffered myself to be +led away; I went into my room. "Be a good boy and keep quiet," mother +called after me; "get into bed and go to sleep." But, tortured by +indescribable fear and uneasiness, I could not close my eyes. That +hateful, hideous Coppelius stood before me with his glittering eyes, +smiling maliciously down upon me; in vain did I strive to banish the +image. Somewhere about midnight there was a terrific crack, as if a +cannon were being fired off. The whole house shook; something went +rustling and clattering past my door; the house-door was pulled to with +a bang. "That is Coppelius," I cried, terror-struck, and leapt out of +bed. Then I heard a wild heartrending scream; I rushed into my father's +room; the door stood open, and clouds of suffocating smoke came rolling +towards me. The servant-maid shouted, "Oh! my master! my master!" On +the floor in front of the smoking hearth lay my father, dead, his face +burned black and fearfully distorted, my sisters weeping and moaning +around him, and my mother lying near them in a swoon. "Coppelius, you +atrocious fiend, you've killed my father," I shouted. My senses left +me. Two days later, when my father was placed in his coffin, his +features were mild and gentle again as they had been when he was alive. +I found great consolation in the thought that his association with the +diabolical Coppelius could not have ended in his everlasting ruin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Our neighbours had been awakened by the explosion; the affair got +talked about, and came before the magisterial authorities, who wished +to cite Coppelius to clear himself. But he had disappeared from the +place, leaving no traces behind him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now when I tell you, my dear friend, that the weather-glass hawker I +spoke of was the villain Coppelius, you will not blame me for seeing +impending mischief in his inauspicious reappearance. He was differently +dressed; but Coppelius's figure and features are too deeply impressed +upon my mind for me to be capable of making a mistake in the matter. +Moreover, he has not even changed his name. He proclaims himself here, +I learn, to be a Piedmontese mechanician, and styles himself Giuseppe +Coppola.</p> + +<p class="normal">I am resolved to enter the lists against him and revenge my father's +death, let the consequences be what they may.</p> + +<p class="normal">Don't say a word to mother about the reappearance of this odious +monster. Give my love to my darling Clara; I will write to her when I +am in a somewhat calmer frame of mind. Adieu, &c.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * *</span></p> + +<h3>CLARA TO NATHANAEL.</h3> + +<p class="normal">You are right, you have not written to me for a very long time, but +nevertheless I believe that I still retain a place in your mind and +thoughts. It is a proof that you were thinking a good deal about me +when you were sending off your last letter to brother Lothair, for +instead of directing it to him you directed it to me. With joy I tore +open the envelope, and did not perceive the mistake until I read the +words, "Oh! my dear, dear Lothair." Now I know I ought not to have read +any more of the letter, but ought to have given it to my brother. But +as you have so often in innocent raillery made it a sort of reproach +against me that I possessed such a calm, and, for a woman, cool-headed +temperament that I should be like the woman we read of—if the house +was threatening to tumble down, I should, before hastily fleeing, stop +to smooth down a crumple in the window-curtains—I need hardly tell you +that the beginning of your letter quite upset me. I could scarcely +breathe; there was a bright mist before my eyes. Oh! my darling +Nathanael! what could this terrible thing be that had happened? +Separation from you—never to see you again, the thought was like a +sharp knife in my heart. I read on and on. Your description of that +horrid Coppelius made my flesh creep. I now learnt for the first time +what a terrible and violent death your good old father died. Brother +Lothair, to whom I handed over his property, sought to comfort me, but +with little success. That horrid weather-glass hawker Giuseppe Coppola +followed me everywhere; and I am almost ashamed to confess it, but he +was able to disturb my sound and in general calm sleep with all sorts +of wonderful dream-shapes. But soon—the next day—I saw everything in +a different light. Oh! do not be angry with me, my best-beloved, if, +despite your strange presentiment that Coppelius will do you some +mischief, Lothair tells you I am in quite as good spirits, and just the +same as ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">I will frankly confess, it seems to me that all that was fearsome and +terrible of which you speak, existed only in your own self, and that +the real true outer world had but little to do with it. I can quite +admit that old Coppelius may have been highly obnoxious to you +children, but your real detestation of him arose from the fact that he +hated children.</p> + +<p class="normal">Naturally enough the gruesome Sand-man of the old nurse's story was +associated in your childish mind with old Coppelius, who, even though +you had not believed in the Sand-man, would have been to you a ghostly +bugbear, especially dangerous to children. His mysterious labours along +with your father at night-time were, I daresay, nothing more than +secret experiments in alchemy, with which your mother could not be over +well pleased, owing to the large sums of money that most likely were +thrown away upon them; and besides, your father, his mind full of the +deceptive striving after higher knowledge, may probably have become +rather indifferent to his family, as so often happens in the case of +such experimentalists. So also it is equally probable that your father +brought about his death by his own imprudence, and that Coppelius is +not to blame for it. I must tell you that yesterday I asked our +experienced neighbour, the chemist, whether in experiments of this kind +an explosion could take place which would have a momentarily fatal +effect. He said, "Oh, certainly!" and described to me in his prolix and +circumstantial way how it could be occasioned, mentioning at the same +time so many strange and funny words that I could not remember them at +all. Now I know you will be angry at your Clara, and will say, "Of the +Mysterious which often clasps man in its invisible arms there's not a +ray can find its way into this cold heart. She sees only the varied +surface of the things of the world, and, like the little child, is +pleased with the golden glittering fruit; at the kernel of which lies +the fatal poison."</p> + +<p class="normal">Oh! my beloved Nathanael, do you believe then that the intuitive +prescience of a dark power working within us to our own ruin cannot +exist also in minds which are cheerful, natural, free from care? But +please forgive me that I, a simple girl, presume in any way to indicate +to you what I really think of such an inward strife. After all, I +should not find the proper words, and you would only laugh at me, not +because my thoughts were stupid, but because I was so foolish as to +attempt to tell them to you.</p> + +<p class="normal">If there is a dark and hostile power which traitorously fixes a thread +in our hearts in order that, laying hold of it and drawing us by means +of it along a dangerous road to ruin, which otherwise we should not +have trod—if, I say, there is such a power, it must assume within us a +form like ourselves, nay, it must be ourselves; for only in that way +can we believe in it, and only so understood do we yield to it so far +that it is able to accomplish its secret purpose. So long as we have +sufficient firmness, fortified by cheerfulness, to always acknowledge +foreign hostile influences for what they really are, whilst we quietly +pursue the path pointed out to us by both inclination and calling, then +this mysterious power perishes in its futile struggles to attain the +form which is to be the reflected image of ourselves. It is also +certain, Lothair adds, that if we have once voluntarily given ourselves +up to this dark physical power, it often reproduces within us the +strange forms which the outer world throws in our way, so that thus it +is we ourselves who engender within ourselves the spirit which by some +remarkable delusion we imagine to speak in that outer form. It is the +phantom of our own self whose intimate relationship with, and whose +powerful influence upon our soul either plunges us into hell or +elevates us to heaven. Thus you will see, my beloved Nathanael, that I +and brother Lothair have well talked over the subject of dark powers +and forces; and now, after I have with some difficulty written down the +principal results of our discussion, they seem to me to contain many +really profound thoughts. Lothair's last words, however, I don't quite +understand altogether; I only dimly guess what he means; and yet I +cannot help thinking it is all very true, I beg you, dear, strive to +forget the ugly advocate Coppelius as well as the weather-glass hawker +Giuseppe Coppola. Try and convince yourself that these foreign +influences can have no power over you, that it is only the belief in +their hostile power which can in reality make them dangerous to you. If +every line of your letter did not betray the violent excitement of your +mind, and if I did not sympathise with your condition from the bottom +of my heart, I could in truth jest about the advocate Sand-man and +weather-glass hawker Coppelius. Pluck up your spirits! Be cheerful! I +have resolved to appear to you as your guardian-angel if that ugly man +Coppola should dare take it into his head to bother you in your dreams, +and drive him away with a good hearty laugh. I'm not afraid of him and +his nasty hands, not the least little bit; I won't let him either as +advocate spoil any dainty tit-bit I've taken, or as Sand-man rob me of +my eyes.</p> +<p class="right" style="margin-right:5%">My darling, darling Nathanael,</p> +<p class="right">Eternally your, &c. &c.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * *</span></p> + +<h3>NATHANAEL TO LOTHAIR.</h3> + +<p class="normal">I am very sorry that Clara opened and read my last letter to you; of +course the mistake is to be attributed to my own absence of mind. She +has written me a very deep philosophical letter, proving conclusively +that Coppelius and Coppola only exist in my own mind and are phantoms +of my own self, which will at once be dissipated, as soon as I look +upon them in that light. In very truth one can hardly believe that the +mind which so often sparkles in those bright, beautifully smiling, +childlike eyes of hers like a sweet lovely dream could draw such subtle +and scholastic distinctions. She also mentions your name. You have been +talking about me. I suppose you have been giving her lectures, since +she sifts and refines everything so acutely. But enough of this! +I must now tell you it is most certain that the weather-glass hawker +Giuseppe Coppola is not the advocate Coppelius. I am attending the +lectures of our recently appointed Professor of Physics, who, like the +distinguished naturalist,<sup><a name="div2_sand_man3" href="#div2Ref_sand_man3">3</a></sup> is called Spalanzani, and is of Italian +origin. He has known Coppola for many years; and it is also easy to +tell from his accent that he really is a Piedmontese. Coppelius was a +German, though no honest German, I fancy. Nevertheless I am not quite +satisfied. You and Clara will perhaps take me for a gloomy dreamer, but +nohow can I get rid of the impression which Coppelius's cursed face +made upon me. I am glad to learn from Spalanzani that he has left the +town. This Professor Spalanzani is a very queer fish. He is a little +fat man, with prominent cheek-bones, thin nose, projecting lips, and +small piercing eyes. You cannot get a better picture of him than by +turning over one of the Berlin pocket-almanacs<sup><a name="div2_sand_man4" href="#div2Ref_sand_man4">4</a></sup> and looking at +Cagliostro's<sup><a name="div2_sand_man5" href="#div2Ref_sand_man5">5</a></sup> portrait engraved by Chodowiecki;<sup><a name="div2_sand_man6" href="#div2Ref_sand_man6">6</a></sup> Spalanzani looks +just like him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once lately, as I went up the steps to his house, I perceived that +beside the curtain which generally covered a glass door there was a +small chink. What it was that excited my curiosity I cannot explain; +but I looked through. In the room I saw a female, tall, very slender, +but of perfect proportions, and splendidly dressed, sitting at a little +table, on which she had placed both her arms, her hands being folded +together. She sat opposite the door, so that I could easily see her +angelically beautiful face. She did not appear to notice me, and there +was moreover a strangely fixed look about her eyes, I might almost say +they appeared as if they had no power of vision; I thought she was +sleeping with her eyes open. I felt quite uncomfortable, and so I +slipped away quietly into the Professor's lecture-room, which was close +at hand. Afterwards I learnt that the figure which I had seen was +Spalanzani's daughter, Olimpia, whom he keeps locked in a most wicked +and unaccountable way, and no man is ever allowed to come near her. +Perhaps, however, there is after all, something peculiar about her; +perhaps she's an idiot or something of that sort. But why am I telling +you all this? I could have told you it all better and more in detail +when I see you. For in a fortnight I shall be amongst you. I must +see my dear sweet angel, my Clara, again. Then the little bit of +ill-temper, which, I must confess, took possession of me after her +fearfully sensible letter, will be blown away. And that is the reason +why I am not writing to her as well to-day. With all best wishes, &c.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * *</span></p> + +<p class="normal">Nothing more strange and extraordinary can be imagined, gracious +reader, than what happened to my poor friend, the young student +Nathanael, and which I have undertaken to relate to you. Have you ever +lived to experience anything that completely took possession of your +heart and mind and thoughts to the utter exclusion of everything else? +All was seething and boiling within you; your blood, heated to fever +pitch, leapt through your veins and inflamed your cheeks. Your gaze was +so peculiar, as if seeking to grasp in empty space forms not seen of +any other eye, and all your words ended in sighs betokening some +mystery. Then your friends asked you, "What is the matter with you, my +dear friend? What do you see?" And, wishing to describe the inner +pictures in all their vivid colours, with their lights and their +shades, you in vain struggled to find words with which to express +yourself. But you felt as if you must gather up all the events that had +happened, wonderful, splendid, terrible, jocose, and awful, in the very +first word, so that the whole might be revealed by a single electric +discharge, so to speak. Yet every word and all that partook of the +nature of communication by intelligible sounds seemed to be +colourless, cold, and dead. Then you try and try again, and stutter and +stammer, whilst your friends' prosy questions strike like icy winds +upon your heart's hot fire until they extinguish it. But if, like a +bold painter, you had first sketched in a few audacious strokes the +outline of the picture you had in your soul, you would then easily have +been able to deepen and intensify the colours one after the other, +until the varied throng of living figures carried your friends away, +and they, like you, saw themselves in the midst of the scene that had +proceeded out of your own soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">Strictly speaking, indulgent reader, I must indeed confess to you, +nobody has asked me for the history of young Nathanael; but you are +very well aware that I belong to that remarkable class of authors who, +when they are bearing anything about in their minds in the manner I +have just described, feel as if everybody who comes near them, and also +the whole world to boot, were asking, "Oh! what is it? Oh! do tell us, +my good sir?" Hence I was most powerfully impelled to narrate to you +Nathanael's ominous life. My soul was full of the elements of wonder +and extraordinary peculiarity in it; but, for this very reason, and +because it was necessary in the very beginning to dispose you, +indulgent reader, to bear with what is fantastic—and that is not a +little thing—I racked my brain to find a way of commencing the story +in a significant and original manner, calculated to arrest your +attention. To begin with "Once upon a time," the best beginning for a +story, seemed to me too tame; with "In the small country town S—— +lived," rather better, at any rate allowing plenty of room to work up +to the climax; or to plunge at once <i>in medias res</i>, "'Go to the +devil!' cried the student Nathanael, his eyes blazing wildly with rage +and fear, when the weather-glass hawker Giuseppe Coppola"—well, that +is what I really had written, when I thought I detected something of +the ridiculous in Nathanael's wild glance; and the history is anything +but laughable. I could not find any words which seemed fitted to +reflect in even the feeblest degree the brightness of the colours of my +mental vision. I determined not to begin at all. So I pray you, +gracious reader, accept the three letters which my friend Lothair has +been so kind as to communicate to me as the outline of the picture, +into which I will endeavour to introduce more and more colour as I +proceed with my narrative. Perhaps, like a good portrait-painter, I may +succeed in depicting more than one figure in such wise that you will +recognise it as a good likeness without being acquainted with the +original, and feel as if you had very often seen the original with your +own bodily eyes. Perhaps, too, you will then believe that nothing is +more wonderful, nothing more fantastic than real life, and that all +that a writer can do is to present it as a dark reflection from a dim +cut mirror.</p> + +<p class="normal">In order to make the very commencement more intelligible, it is +necessary to add to the letters that, soon after the death of +Nathanael's father, Clara and Lothair, the children of a distant +relative, who had likewise died, leaving them orphans, were taken by +Nathanael's mother into her own house. Clara and Nathanael conceived a +warm affection for each other, against which not the slightest +objection in the world could be urged. When therefore Nathanael left +home to prosecute his studies in G——, they were betrothed. It is from +G—— that his last letter is written, where he is attending the +lectures of Spalanzani, the distinguished Professor of Physics.</p> + +<p class="normal">I might now proceed comfortably with my narration, did not at this +moment Clara's image rise up so vividly before my eyes that I cannot +turn them away from it, just as I never could when she looked upon me +and smiled so sweetly. Nowhere would she have passed for beautiful; +that was the unanimous opinion of all who professed to have any +technical knowledge of beauty. But whilst architects praised the pure +proportions of her figure and form, painters averred that her neck, +shoulders, and bosom were almost too chastely modelled, and yet, on the +other hand, one and all were in love with her glorious Magdalene hair, +and talked a good deal of nonsense about Battoni-like<sup><a name="div2_sand_man7" href="#div2Ref_sand_man7">7</a></sup> colouring. One +of them, a veritable romanticist, strangely enough likened her eyes to +a lake by Ruisdael,<sup><a name="div2_sand_man8" href="#div2Ref_sand_man8">8</a></sup> in which is reflected the pure azure of the +cloudless sky, the beauty of woods and flowers, and all the bright and +varied life of a living landscape. Poets and musicians went still +further and said, "What's all this talk about seas and reflections? How +can we look upon the girl without feeling that wonderful heavenly songs +and melodies beam upon us from her eyes, penetrating deep down into our +hearts, till all becomes awake and throbbing with emotion? And if we +cannot sing anything at all passable then, why, we are not worth much; +and this we can also plainly read in the rare smile which flits around +her lips when we have the hardihood to squeak out something in her +presence which we pretend to call singing, in spite of the fact that it +is nothing more than a few single notes confusedly linked together." +And it really was so. Clara had the powerful fancy of a bright, +innocent, unaffected child, a woman's deep and sympathetic heart, and +an understanding clear, sharp, and discriminating. Dreamers and +visionaries had but a bad time of it with her; for without saying very +much—she was not by nature of a talkative disposition—she plainly +asked, by her calm steady look, and rare ironical smile, "How can you +imagine, my dear friends, that I can take these fleeting shadowy images +for true living and breathing forms?" For this reason many found fault +with her as being cold, prosaic, and devoid of feeling; others, +however, who had reached a clearer and deeper conception of life, were +extremely fond of the intelligent, childlike, large-hearted girl But +none had such an affection for her as Nathanael, who was a zealous and +cheerful cultivator of the fields of science and art. Clara clung to +her lover with all her heart; the first clouds she encountered in life +were when he had to separate from her. With what delight did she fly +into his arms when, as he had promised in his last letter to Lothair, +he really came back to his native town and entered his mother's room! +And as Nathanael had foreseen, the moment he saw Clara again he no +longer thought about either the advocate Coppelius or her sensible +letter; his ill-humour had quite disappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nevertheless Nathanael was right when he told his friend Lothair that +the repulsive vendor of weather-glasses, Coppola, had exercised a fatal +and disturbing influence upon his life. It was quite patent to all; for +even during the first few days he showed that he was completely and +entirely changed. He gave himself up to gloomy reveries, and moreover +acted so strangely; they had never observed anything at all like it in +him before. Everything, even his own life, was to him but dreams and +presentiments. His constant theme was that every man who delusively +imagined himself to be free was merely the plaything of the cruel sport +of mysterious powers, and it was vain for man to resist them; he must +humbly submit to whatever destiny had decreed for him. He went so far +as to maintain that it was foolish to believe that a man could do +anything in art or science of his own accord; for the inspiration in +which alone any true artistic work could be done did not proceed from +the spirit within outwards, but was the result of the operation +directed inwards of some Higher Principle existing without and beyond +ourselves.</p> + +<p class="normal">This mystic extravagance was in the highest degree repugnant to Clara's +clear intelligent mind, but it seemed vain to enter upon any attempt at +refutation. Yet when Nathanael went on to prove that Coppelius was the +Evil Principle which had entered into him and taken possession of him +at the time he was listening behind the curtain, and that this hateful +demon would in some terrible way ruin their happiness, then Clara grew +grave and said, "Yes, Nathanael. You are right; Coppelius is an Evil +Principle; he can do dreadful things, as bad as could a Satanic power +which should assume a living physical form, but only—only if you do +not banish him from your mind and thoughts. So long as you believe in +him he exists and is at work; your belief in him is his only power." +Whereupon Nathanael, quite angry because Clara would only grant the +existence of the demon in his own mind, began to dilate at large upon +the whole mystic doctrine of devils and awful powers, but Clara +abruptly broke off the theme by making, to Nathanael's very great +disgust, some quite commonplace remark. Such deep mysteries are sealed +books to cold, unsusceptible characters, he thought, without being +clearly conscious to himself that he counted Clara amongst these +inferior natures, and accordingly he did not remit his efforts to +initiate her into these mysteries. In the morning, when she was helping +to prepare breakfast, he would take his stand beside her, and read all +sorts of mystic books to her, until she begged him—"But, my dear +Nathanael, I shall have to scold you as the Evil Principle which +exercises a fatal influence upon my coffee. For if I do as you wish, +and let things go their own way, and look into your eyes whilst you +read, the coffee will all boil over into the fire, and you will none of +you get any breakfast." Then Nathanael hastily banged the book to and +ran away in great displeasure to his own room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Formerly he had possessed a peculiar talent for writing pleasing, +sparkling tales, which Clara took the greatest delight in listening to; +but now his productions were gloomy, unintelligible, and wanting in +form, so that, although Clara out of forbearance towards him did not +say so, he nevertheless felt how very little interest she took in them. +There was nothing that Clara disliked so much as what was tedious; at +such times her intellectual sleepiness was not to be overcome; it was +betrayed both in her glances and in her words. Nathanael's effusions +were, in truth, exceedingly tedious. His ill-humour at Clara's cold +prosaic temperament continued to increase; Clara could not conceal her +distaste of his dark, gloomy, wearying mysticism; and thus both began +to be more and more estranged from each other without exactly being +aware of it themselves. The image of the ugly Coppelius had, as +Nathanael was obliged to confess to himself, faded considerably in his +fancy, and it often cost him great pains to present him in vivid +colours in his literary efforts, in which he played the part of the +ghoul of Destiny. At length it entered into his head to make his dismal +presentiment that Coppelius would ruin his happiness the subject of a +poem. He made himself and Clara, united by true love, the central +figures, but represented a black hand as being from time to time thrust +into their life and plucking out a joy that had blossomed for them. At +length, as they were standing at the altar, the terrible Coppelius +appeared and touched Clara's lovely eyes, which leapt into Nathanael's +own bosom, burning and hissing like bloody sparks. Then Coppelius laid +hold upon him, and hurled him into a blazing circle of fire, which spun +round with the speed of a whirlwind, and, storming and blustering, +dashed away with him. The fearful noise it made was like a furious +hurricane lashing the foaming sea-waves until they rise up like black, +white-headed giants in the midst of the raging struggle. But through +the midst of the savage fury of the tempest he heard Clara's voice +calling, "Can you not see me, dear? Coppelius has deceived you; they +were not my eyes which burned so in your bosom; they were fiery drops +of your own heart's blood. Look at me, I have got my own eyes still." +Nathanael thought, "Yes, that is Clara, and I am hers for ever." Then +this thought laid a powerful grasp upon the fiery circle so that it +stood still, and the riotous turmoil died away rumbling down a dark +abyss. Nathanael looked into Clara's eyes; but it was death whose gaze +rested so kindly upon him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whilst Nathanael was writing this work he was very quiet and +sober-minded; he filed and polished every line, and as he had chosen to +submit himself to the limitations of metre, he did not rest until all +was pure and musical. When, however, he had at length finished it and +read it aloud to himself he was seized with horror and awful dread, and +he screamed, "Whose hideous voice is this?" But he soon came to see in +it again nothing beyond a very successful poem, and he confidently +believed it would enkindle Clara's cold temperament, though to what end +she should be thus aroused was not quite clear to his own mind, nor yet +what would be the real purpose served by tormenting her with these +dreadful pictures, which prophesied a terrible and ruinous end to her +affection.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nathanael and Clara sat in his mother's little garden. Clara was bright +and cheerful, since for three entire days her lover, who had been busy +writing his poem, had not teased her with his dreams or forebodings. +Nathanael, too, spoke in a gay and vivacious way of things of merry +import, as he formerly used to do, so that Clara said, "Ah! now I have +you again. We have driven away that ugly Coppelius, you see." Then it +suddenly occurred to him that he had got the poem in his pocket which +he wished to read to her. He at once took out the manuscript and began +to read. Clara, anticipating something tedious as usual, prepared to +submit to the infliction, and calmly resumed her knitting. But as the +sombre clouds rose up darker and darker she let her knitting fall on +her lap and sat with her eyes fixed in a set stare upon Nathanael's +face. He was quite carried away by his own work, the fire of enthusiasm +coloured his cheeks a deep red, and tears started from his eyes. At +length he concluded, groaning and showing great lassitude; grasping +Clara's hand, he sighed as if he were being utterly melted in +inconsolable grief, "Oh! Clara! Clara!" She drew him softly to her +heart and said in a low but very grave and impressive tone, "Nathanael, +my darling Nathanael, throw that foolish, senseless, stupid thing into +the fire." Then Nathanael leapt indignantly to his feet, crying, as he +pushed Clara from him, "You damned lifeless automaton!" and rushed +away. Clara was cut to the heart, and wept bitterly. "Oh! he has never +loved me, for he does not understand me," she sobbed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothair entered the arbour. Clara was obliged to tell him all that had +taken place. He was passionately fond of his sister; and every word of +her complaint fell like a spark upon his heart, so that the displeasure +which he had long entertained against his dreamy friend Nathanael was +kindled into furious anger. He hastened to find Nathanael, and +upbraided him in harsh words for his irrational behaviour towards his +beloved sister. The fiery Nathanael answered him in the same style. "A +fantastic, crack-brained fool," was retaliated with, "A miserable, +common, everyday sort of fellow." A meeting was the inevitable +consequence. They agreed to meet on the following morning behind the +garden-wall, and fight, according to the custom of the students of the +place, with sharp rapiers. They went about silent and gloomy; Clara +had both heard and seen the violent quarrel, and also observed the +fencing-master bring the rapiers in the dusk of the evening. She had a +presentiment of what was to happen. They both appeared at the appointed +place wrapped up in the same gloomy silence, and threw off their coats. +Their eyes flaming with the bloodthirsty light of pugnacity, they were +about to begin their contest when Clara burst through the garden door. +Sobbing, she screamed, "You savage, terrible men! Cut me down before +you attack each other; for how can I live when my lover has slain my +brother, or my brother slain my lover?" Lothair let his weapon fall and +gazed silently upon the ground, whilst Nathanael's heart was rent with +sorrow, and all the affection which he had felt for his lovely Clara in +the happiest days of her golden youth was awakened within him. His +murderous weapon, too, fell from his hand; he threw himself at Clara's +feet. "Oh! can you ever forgive me, my only, my dearly loved Clara? Can +you, my dear brother Lothair, also forgive me?" Lothair was touched by +his friend's great distress; the three young people embraced each other +amidst endless tears, and swore never again to break their bond of love +and fidelity.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nathanael felt as if a heavy burden that had been weighing him down to +the earth was now rolled from off him, nay, as if by offering +resistance to the dark power which had possessed him, he had rescued +his own self from the ruin which had threatened him. Three happy days +he now spent amidst the loved ones, and then returned to G——, where +he had still a year to stay before settling down in his native town for +life.</p> + +<p class="normal">Everything having reference to Coppelius had been concealed from the +mother, for they knew she could not think of him without horror, since +she as well as Nathanael believed him to be guilty of causing her +husband's death.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * * *</span></p> + +<p class="normal">When Nathanael came to the house where he lived he was greatly +astonished to find it burnt down to the ground, so that nothing but the +bare outer walls were left standing amidst a heap of ruins. Although +the fire had broken out in the laboratory of the chemist who lived on +the ground-floor, and had therefore spread upwards, some of Nathanael's +bold, active friends had succeeded in time in forcing a way into his +room in the upper storey and saving his books and manuscripts and +instruments. They had carried them all uninjured into another house, +where they engaged a room for him; this he now at once took possession +of. That he lived opposite Professor Spalanzani did not strike him +particularly, nor did it occur to him as anything more singular that he +could, as he observed, by looking out of his window, see straight into +the room where Olimpia often sat alone. Her figure he could plainly +distinguish, although her features were uncertain and confused. It did +at length occur to him, however, that she remained for hours together +in the same position in which he had first discovered her through the +glass door, sitting at a little table without any occupation whatever, +and it was evident that she was constantly gazing across in his +direction. He could not but confess to himself that he had never seen a +finer figure. However, with Clara mistress of his heart, he remained +perfectly unaffected by Olimpia's stiffness and apathy; and it was only +occasionally that he sent a fugitive glance over his compendium across +to her—that was all.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was writing to Clara; a light tap came at the door. At his summons +to "Come in," Coppola's repulsive face appeared peeping in. Nathanael +felt his heart beat with trepidation; but, recollecting what Spalanzani +had told him about his fellow-countryman Coppola, and what he had +himself so faithfully promised his beloved in respect to the Sand-man +Coppelius, he was ashamed at himself for this childish fear of +spectres. Accordingly, he controlled himself with an effort, and said, +as quietly and as calmly as he possibly could, "I don't want to buy any +weather-glasses, my good friend; you had better go elsewhere." Then +Coppola came right into the room, and said in a hoarse voice, screwing +up his wide mouth into a hideous smile, whilst his little eyes flashed +keenly from beneath his long grey eyelashes, "What! Nee weather-gless? +Nee weather-gless? 've got foine oyes as well—foine oyes!" Affrighted, +Nathanael cried, "You stupid man, how can you have eyes?—eyes—eyes?" +But Coppola, laying aside his weather-glasses, thrust his hands into +his big coat-pockets and brought out several spy-glasses and +spectacles, and put them on the table. "Theer! Theer! Spect'cles! +Spect'cles to put 'n nose! Them's my oyes—foine oyes." And he +continued to produce more and more spectacles from his pockets until +the table began to gleam and flash all over. Thousands of eyes were +looking and blinking convulsively, and staring up at Nathanael; he +could not avert his gaze from the table. Coppola went on heaping up his +spectacles, whilst wilder and ever wilder burning flashes crossed +through and through each other and darted their blood-red rays into +Nathanael's breast. Quite overcome, and frantic with terror, he +shouted, "Stop! stop! you terrible man!" and he seized Coppola by the +arm, which he had again thrust into his pocket in order to bring out +still more spectacles, although the whole table was covered all over +with them. With a harsh disagreeable laugh Coppola gently freed +himself; and with the words "So! went none! Well, here foine gless!" +he swept all his spectacles together, and put them back into his +coat-pockets, whilst from a breast-pocket he produced a great number of +larger and smaller perspectives. As soon as the spectacles were gone +Nathanael recovered his equanimity again; and, bending his thoughts +upon Clara, he clearly discerned that the gruesome incubus had +proceeded only from himself, as also that Coppola was a right honest +mechanician and optician, and far from being Coppelius's dreaded double +and ghost And then, besides, none of the glasses which Coppola now +placed on the table had anything at all singular about them, at least +nothing so weird as the spectacles; so, in order to square accounts +with himself, Nathanael now really determined to buy something of the +man. He took up a small, very beautifully cut pocket perspective, and +by way of proving it looked through the window. Never before in his +life had he had a glass in his hands that brought out things so clearly +and sharply and distinctly. Involuntarily he directed the glass upon +Spalanzani's room; Olimpia sat at the little table as usual, her arms +laid upon it and her hands folded. Now he saw for the first time the +regular and exquisite beauty of her features. The eyes, however, seemed +to him to have a singular look of fixity and lifelesness. But as he +continued to look closer and more carefully through the glass he +fancied a light like humid moonbeams came into them. It seemed as if +their power of vision was now being enkindled; their glances shone with +ever-increasing vivacity. Nathanael remained standing at the window as +if glued to the spot by a wizard's spell, his gaze rivetted +unchangeably upon the divinely beautiful Olimpia. A coughing and +shuffling of the feet awakened him out of his enchaining dream, as it +were. Coppola stood behind him, "Tre zechini" (three ducats). Nathanael +had completely forgotten the optician; he hastily paid the sum +demanded. "Ain't 't? Foine gless? foine gless?" asked Coppola in his +harsh unpleasant voice, smiling sardonically. "Yes, yes, yes," rejoined +Nathanael impatiently; "adieu, my good friend." But Coppola did not +leave the room without casting many peculiar side-glances upon +Nathanael; and the young student heard him laughing loudly on the +stairs. "Ah well!" thought he, "he's laughing at me because I've paid +him too much for this little perspective—because I've given him too +much money—that's it" As he softly murmured these words he fancied he +detected a gasping sigh as of a dying man stealing awfully through the +room; his heart stopped beating with fear. But to be sure he had heaved +a deep sigh himself; it was quite plain. "Clara is quite right," said +he to himself, "in holding me to be an incurable ghost-seer; and yet +it's very ridiculous—ay, more than ridiculous, that the stupid thought +of having paid Coppola too much for his glass should cause me this +strange anxiety; I can't see any reason for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now he sat down to finish his letter to Clara; but a glance through the +window showed him Olimpia still in her former posture. Urged by an +irresistible impulse he jumped up and seized Coppola's perspective; nor +could he tear himself away from the fascinating Olimpia until his +friend and brother Siegmund called for him to go to Professor +Spalanzani's lecture. The curtains before the door of the all-important +room were closely drawn, so that he could not see Olimpia. Nor could he +even see her from his own room during the two following days, +notwithstanding that he scarcely ever left his window, and maintained a +scarce interrupted watch through Coppola's perspective upon her room. +On the third day curtains even were drawn across the window. Plunged +into the depths of despair,—goaded by longing and ardent desire, he +hurried outside the walls of the town. Olimpia's image hovered about +his path in the air and stepped forth out of the bushes, and peeped up +at him with large and lustrous eyes from the bright surface of the +brook. Clara's image was completely faded from his mind; he had no +thoughts except for Olimpia. He uttered his love-plaints aloud and in a +lachrymose tone, "Oh! my glorious, noble star of love, have you only +risen to vanish again, and leave me in the darkness and hopelessness of +night?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Returning home, he became aware that there was a good deal of noisy +bustle going on in Spalanzani's house. All the doors stood wide open; +men were taking in all kinds of gear and furniture; the windows of the +first floor were all lifted off their hinges; busy maid-servants with +immense hair-brooms were driving backwards and forwards dusting and +sweeping, whilst within could be heard the knocking and hammering of +carpenters and upholsterers. Utterly astonished, Nathanael stood still +in the street; then Siegmund joined him, laughing, and said, "Well, +what do you say to our old Spalanzani?" Nathanael assured him that he +could not say anything, since he knew not what it all meant; to his +great astonishment, he could hear, however, that they were turning the +quiet gloomy house almost inside out with their dusting and cleaning +and making of alterations. Then he learned from Siegmund that +Spalanzani intended giving a great concert and ball on the following +day, and that half the university was invited. It was generally +reported that Spalanzani was going to let his daughter Olimpia, whom he +had so long so jealously guarded from every eye, make her first +appearance.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nathanael received an invitation. At the appointed hour, when the +carriages were rolling up and the lights were gleaming brightly in the +decorated halls, he went across to the Professor's, his heart beating +high with expectation. The company was both numerous and brilliant. +Olimpia was richly and tastefully dressed. One could not but admire her +figure and the regular beauty of her features. The striking inward +curve of her back, as well as the wasp-like smallness of her waist, +appeared to be the result of too-tight lacing. There was something +stiff and measured in her gait and bearing that made an unfavourable +impression upon many; it was ascribed to the constraint imposed upon +her by the company. The concert began. Olimpia played on the piano with +great skill; and sang as skilfully an <i>aria di bravura</i>, in a voice +which was, if anything, almost too sharp, but clear as glass bells. +Nathanael was transported with delight; he stood in the background +farthest from her, and owing to the blinding lights could not quite +distinguish her features. So, without being observed, he took Coppola's +glass out of his pocket, and directed it upon the beautiful Olimpia. +Oh! then he perceived how her yearning eyes sought him, how every note +only reached its full purity in the loving glance which penetrated to +and inflamed his heart. Her artificial <i>roulades</i> seemed to him to be +the exultant cry towards heaven of the soul refined by love; and when +at last, after the <i>cadenza</i>, the long trill rang shrilly and loudly +through the hall, he felt as if he were suddenly grasped by burning +arms and could no longer control himself,—he could not help shouting +aloud in his mingled pain and delight, "Olimpia!" All eyes were turned +upon him; many people laughed. The face of the cathedral organist wore +a still more gloomy look than it had done before, but all he said was, +"Very well!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The concert came to an end, and the ball began. Oh! to dance with +her—with her—that was now the aim of all Nathanael's wishes, of all +his desires. But how should he have courage to request her, the queen +of the ball, to grant him the honour of a dance? And yet he couldn't +tell how it came about, just as the dance began, he found himself +standing close beside her, nobody having as yet asked her to be his +partner; so, with some difficulty stammering out a few words, he +grasped her hand. It was cold as ice; he shook with an awful, frosty +shiver. But, fixing his eyes upon her face, he saw that her glance was +beaming upon him with love and longing, and at the same moment he +thought that the pulse began to beat in her cold hand, and the warm +life-blood to course through her veins. And passion burned more +intensely in his own heart also; he threw his arm round her beautiful +waist and whirled her round the hall. He had always thought that he +kept good and accurate time in dancing, but from the perfectly +rhythmical evenness with which Olimpia danced, and which frequently put +him quite out, he perceived how very faulty his own time really was. +Notwithstanding, he would not dance with any other lady; and everybody +else who approached Olimpia to call upon her for a dance, he would have +liked to kill on the spot. This, however, only happened twice; to his +astonishment Olimpia remained after this without a partner, and he +failed not on each occasion to take her out again. If Nathanael had +been able to see anything else except the beautiful Olimpia, there +would inevitably have been a good deal of unpleasant quarrelling and +strife; for it was evident that Olimpia was the object of the smothered +laughter only with difficulty suppressed, which was heard in various +corners amongst the young people; and they followed her with very +curious looks, but nobody knew for what reason. Nathanael, excited by +dancing and the plentiful supply of wine he had consumed, had laid +aside the shyness which at other times characterised him. He sat beside +Olimpia, her hand in his own, and declared his love enthusiastically +and passionately in words which neither of them understood, neither he +nor Olimpia. And yet she perhaps did, for she sat with her eyes fixed +unchangeably upon his, sighing repeatedly, "Ach! Ach! Ach!" Upon this +Nathanael would answer, "Oh, you glorious heavenly lady! You ray from +the promised paradise of love! Oh! what a profound soul you have! my +whole being is mirrored in it!" and a good deal more in the same +strain. But Olimpia only continued to sigh "Ach! Ach!" again and again.</p> + +<p class="normal">Professor Spalanzani passed by the two happy lovers once or twice, and +smiled with a look of peculiar satisfaction. All at once it seemed to +Nathanael, albeit he was far away in a different world, as if it were +growing perceptibly darker down below at Professor Spalanzani's. He +looked about him, and to his very great alarm became aware that there +were only two lights left burning in the hall, and they were on the +point of going out. The music and dancing had long ago ceased. "We must +part—part!" he cried, wildly and despairingly; he kissed Olimpia's +hand; he bent down to her mouth, but ice-cold lips met his burning +ones. As he touched her cold hand, he felt his heart thrilled with awe; +the legend of "The Dead Bride"<sup><a name="div2_sand_man9" href="#div2Ref_sand_man9">9</a></sup> shot suddenly through his mind. But +Olimpia had drawn him closer to her, and the kiss appeared to warm her +lips into vitality. Professor Spalanzani strode slowly through the +empty apartment, his footsteps giving a hollow echo; and his figure +had, as the flickering shadows played about him, a ghostly, awful +appearance. "Do you love me? Do you love me, Olimpia? Only one little +word—Do you love me?" whispered Nathanael, but she only sighed, "Ach! +Ach!" as she rose to her feet. "Yes, you are my lovely, glorious star +of love," said Nathanael, "and will shine for ever, purifying and +ennobling my heart" "Ach! Ach!" replied Olimpia, as she moved along. +Nathanael followed her; they stood before the Professor. "You have had +an extraordinarily animated conversation with my daughter," said he, +smiling; "well, well, my dear Mr. Nathanael, if you find pleasure in +talking to the stupid girl, I am sure I shall be glad for you to come +and do so." Nathanael took his leave, his heart singing and leaping in +a perfect delirium of happiness.</p> + +<p class="normal">During the next few days Spalanzani's ball was the general topic of +conversation. Although the Professor had done everything to make the +thing a splendid success, yet certain gay spirits related more than one +thing that had occurred which was quite irregular and out of order. +They were especially keen in pulling Olimpia to pieces for her +taciturnity and rigid stiffness; in spite of her beautiful form they +alleged that she was hopelessly stupid, and in this fact they discerned +the reason why Spalanzani had so long kept her concealed from +publicity. Nathanael heard all this with inward wrath, but nevertheless +he held his tongue; for, thought he, would it indeed be worth while to +prove to these fellows that it is their own stupidity which prevents +them from appreciating Olimpia's profound and brilliant parts? One day +Siegmund said to him, "Pray, brother, have the kindness to tell me +how you, a sensible fellow, came to lose your head over that Miss +Wax-face—that wooden doll across there?" Nathanael was about to fly +into a rage, but he recollected himself and replied, "Tell me, +Siegmund, how came it that Olimpia's divine charms could escape your +eye, so keenly alive as it always is to beauty, and your acute +perception as well? But Heaven be thanked for it, otherwise I should +have had you for a rival, and then the blood of one of us would have +had to be spilled." Siegmund, perceiving how matters stood with his +friend, skilfully interposed and said, after remarking that all +argument with one in love about the object of his affections was out of +place, "Yet it's very strange that several of us have formed pretty +much the same opinion about Olimpia. We think she is—you won't take it +ill, brother?—that she is singularly statuesque and soulless. Her +figure is regular, and so are her features, that can't be gainsaid; and +if her eyes were not so utterly devoid of life, I may say, of the power +of vision, she might pass for a beauty. She is strangely measured in +her movements, they all seem as if they were dependent upon some +wound-up clock-work. Her playing and singing has the disagreeably +perfect, but insensitive time of a singing machine, and her dancing is +the same. We felt quite afraid of this Olimpia, and did not like to +have anything to do with her; she seemed to us to be only acting <i>like</i> +a living creature, and as if there was some secret at the bottom of it +all." Nathanael did not give way to the bitter feelings which +threatened to master him at these words of Siegmund's; he fought down +and got the better of his displeasure, and merely said, very earnestly, +"You cold prosaic fellows may very well be afraid of her. It is only to +its like that the poetically organised spirit unfolds itself. Upon me +alone did her loving glances fall, and through my mind and thoughts +alone did they radiate; and only in her love can I find my own self +again. Perhaps, however, she doesn't do quite right not to jabber a lot +of nonsense and stupid talk like other shallow people. It is true, she +speaks but few words; but the few words she docs speak are genuine +hieroglyphs of the inner world of Love and of the higher cognition of +the intellectual life revealed in the intuition of the Eternal beyond +the grave. But you have no understanding for all these things, and I am +only wasting words." "God be with you, brother," said Siegmund very +gently, almost sadly, "but it seems to me that you are in a very bad +way. You may rely upon me, if all—No, I can't say any more." It all at +once dawned upon Nathanael that his cold prosaic friend Siegmund really +and sincerely wished him well, and so he warmly shook his proffered +hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nathanael had completely forgotten that there was a Clara in the world, +whom he had once loved—and his mother and Lothair. They had all +vanished from his mind; he lived for Olimpia alone. He sat beside her +every day for hours together, rhapsodising about his love and sympathy +enkindled into life, and about psychic elective affinity<sup><a name="div2_sand_man10" href="#div2Ref_sand_man10">10</a></sup>—all of +which Olimpia listened to with great reverence. He fished up from the +very bottom of his desk all the things that he had ever written—poems, +fancy sketches, visions, romances, tales, and the heap was increased +daily with all kinds of aimless sonnets, stanzas, canzonets. All these +he read to Olimpia hour after hour without growing tired; but then he +had never had such an exemplary listener. She neither embroidered, nor +knitted; she did not look out of the window, or feed a bird, or play +with a little pet dog or a favourite cat, neither did she twist a piece +of paper or anything of that kind round her finger; she did not +forcibly convert a yawn into a low affected cough—in short, she sat +hour after hour with her eyes bent unchangeably upon her lover's face, +without moving or altering her position, and her gaze grew more ardent +and more ardent still. And it was only when at last Nathanael rose +and kissed her lips or her hand that she said, "Ach! Ach!" and then +"Good-night, dear." Arrived in his own room, Nathanael would break out +with, "Oh! what a brilliant—what a profound mind! Only you—you alone +understand me." And his heart trembled with rapture when he reflected +upon the wondrous harmony which daily revealed itself between his own +and his Olimpia's character; for he fancied that she had expressed in +respect to his works and his poetic genius the identical sentiments +which he himself cherished deep down in his own heart in respect to the +same, and even as if it was his own heart's voice speaking to him. And +it must indeed have been so; for Olimpia never uttered any other words +than those already mentioned. And when Nathanael himself in his clear +and sober moments, as, for instance, directly after waking in a +morning, thought about her utter passivity and taciturnity, he only +said, "What are words—but words? The glance of her heavenly eyes says +more than any tongue of earth. And how can, anyway, a child of heaven +accustom herself to the narrow circle which the exigencies of a +wretched mundane life demand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Professor Spalanzani appeared to be greatly pleased at the intimacy +that had sprung up between his daughter Olimpia and Nathanael, and +showed the young man many unmistakable proofs of his good feeling +towards him; and when Nathanael ventured at length to hint very +delicately at an alliance with Olimpia, the Professor smiled all over +his face at once, and said he should allow his daughter to make a +perfectly free choice. Encouraged by these words, and with the fire of +desire burning in his heart, Nathanael resolved the very next day to +implore Olimpia to tell him frankly, in plain words, what he had long +read in her sweet loving glances,—that she would be his for ever. He +looked for the ring which his mother had given him at parting; he would +present it to Olimpia as a symbol of his devotion, and of the happy +life he was to lead with her from that time onwards. Whilst looking for +it he came across his letters from Clara and Lothair; he threw them +carelessly aside, found the ring, put it in his pocket, and ran across +to Olimpia. Whilst still on the stairs, in the entrance-passage, he +heard an extraordinary hubbub; the noise seemed to proceed from +Spalanzani's study. There was a stamping—a rattling—pushing—knocking +against the door, with curses and oaths intermingled. "Leave +hold—leave hold—you monster—you rascal—staked your life and honour +upon it?—Ha! ha! ha! ha!—That was not our wager—I, I made the +eyes—I the clock-work.—Go to the devil with your clock-work—you +damned dog of a watch-maker—be off—Satan—stop—you paltry +turner—you infernal beast!—stop—begone—let me go." The voices which +were thus making all this racket and rumpus were those of Spalanzani +and the fearsome Coppelius. Nathanael rushed in, impelled by some +nameless dread. The Professor was grasping a female figure by the +shoulders, the Italian Coppola held her by the feet; and they were +pulling and dragging each other backwards and forwards, fighting +furiously to get possession of her. Nathanael recoiled with horror on +recognising that the figure was Olimpia. Boiling with rage, he was +about to tear his beloved from the grasp of the madmen, when Coppola by +an extraordinary exertion of strength twisted the figure out of the +Professor's hands and gave him such a terrible blow with her, that he +reeled backwards and fell over the table all amongst the phials and +retorts, the bottles and glass cylinders, which covered it: all these +things were smashed into a thousand pieces. But Coppola threw the +figure across his shoulder, and, laughing shrilly and horribly, ran +hastily down the stairs, the figure's ugly feet hanging down and +banging and rattling like wood against the steps. Nathanael was +stupefied;—he had seen only too distinctly that in Olimpia's pallid +waxed face there were no eyes, merely black holes in their stead; she +was an inanimate puppet. Spalanzani was rolling on the floor; the +pieces of glass had cut his head and breast and arm; the blood was +escaping from him in streams. But he gathered his strength together by +an effort.</p> + +<p class="normal">"After him—after him! What do you stand staring there for? +Coppelius—Coppelius—he's stolen my best automaton—at which I've +worked for twenty years—staked my life upon it—the clock-work— +speech—movement—mine—your eyes—stolen your eyes—damn him—curse +him—after him—fetch me back Olimpia—there are the eyes." And now +Nathanael saw a pair of bloody eyes lying on the floor staring at him; +Spalanzani seized them with his uninjured hand and threw them at him, +so that they hit his breast Then madness dug her burning talons into +him and swept down into his heart, rending his mind and thoughts to +shreds. "Aha! aha! aha! Fire-wheel—fire-wheel! Spin round, fire-wheel! +merrily, merrily! Aha! wooden doll! spin round, pretty wooden doll!" +and he threw himself upon the Professor, clutching him fast by the +throat. He would certainly have strangled him had not several people, +attracted by the noise, rushed in and torn away the madman; and so they +saved the Professor, whose wounds were immediately dressed. Siegmund, +with all his strength, was not able to subdue the frantic lunatic, who +continued to scream in a dreadful way, "Spin round, wooden doll!" and +to strike out right and left with his doubled fists. At length the +united strength of several succeeded in overpowering him by throwing +him on the floor and binding him. His cries passed into a brutish +bellow that was awful to hear; and thus raging with the harrowing +violence of madness, he was taken away to the madhouse.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before continuing my narration of what happened further to the +unfortunate Nathanael, I will tell you, indulgent reader, in case you +take any interest in that skilful mechanician and fabricator of +automata, Spalanzani, that he recovered completely from his wounds. He +had, however, to leave the university, for Nathanael's fate had created +a great sensation; and the opinion was pretty generally expressed that +it was an imposture altogether unpardonable to have smuggled a wooden +puppet instead of a living person into intelligent tea-circles,—for +Olimpia had been present at several with success. Lawyers called it a +cunning piece of knavery, and all the harder to punish since it was +directed against the public; and it had been so craftily contrived that +it had escaped unobserved by all except a few preternaturally acute +students, although everybody was very wise now and remembered to have +thought of several facts which occurred to them as suspicious. But +these latter could not succeed in making out any sort of a consistent +tale. For was it, for instance, a thing likely to occur to any one as +suspicious that, according to the declaration of an elegant beau of +these tea-parties, Olimpia had, contrary to all good manners, sneezed +oftener than she had yawned? The former must have been, in the opinion +of this elegant gentleman, the winding up of the concealed clock-work; +it had always been accompanied by an observable creaking, and so on. +The Professor of Poetry and Eloquence took a pinch of snuff, and, +slapping the lid to and clearing his throat, said solemnly, "My most +honourable ladies and gentlemen, don't you see then where the rub is? +The whole thing is an allegory, a continuous metaphor. You understand +me? <i>Sapienti sat.</i>" But several most honourable gentlemen did not rest +satisfied with this explanation; the history of this automaton had sunk +deeply into their souls, and an absurd mistrust of human figures began +to prevail. Several lovers, in order to be fully convinced that they +were not paying court to a wooden puppet, required that their mistress +should sing and dance a little out of time, should embroider or knit or +play with her little pug, &c., when being read to, but above all things +else that she should do something more than merely listen—that she +should frequently speak in such a way as to really show that her words +presupposed as a condition some thinking and feeling. The bonds of love +were in many cases drawn closer in consequence, and so of course became +more engaging; in other instances they gradually relaxed and fell away. +"I cannot really be made responsible for it," was the remark of more +than one young gallant. At the tea-gatherings everybody, in order to +ward off suspicion, yawned to an incredible extent and never sneezed. +Spalanzani was obliged, as has been said, to leave the place in order +to escape a criminal charge of having fraudulently imposed an automaton +upon human society. Coppola, too, had also disappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Nathanael awoke he felt as if he had been oppressed by a terrible +nightmare; he opened his eyes and experienced an indescribable +sensation of mental comfort, whilst a soft and most beautiful sensation +of warmth pervaded his body. He lay on his own bed in his own room at +home; Clara was bending over him, and at a little distance stood his +mother and Lothair. "At last, at last, O my darling Nathanael; now we +have you again; now you are cured of your grievous illness, now you are +mine again." And Clara's words came from the depths of her heart; and +she clasped him in her arms. The bright scalding tears streamed from +his eyes, he was so overcome with mingled feelings of sorrow and +delight; and he gasped forth, "My Clara, my Clara!" Siegmund, who had +staunchly stood by his friend in his hour of need, now came into the +room. Nathanael gave him his hand—"My faithful brother, you have not +deserted me." Every trace of insanity had left him, and in the tender +hands of his mother and his beloved, and his friends, he quickly +recovered his strength again. Good fortune had in the meantime visited +the house; a niggardly old uncle, from whom they had never expected to +get anything, had died, and left Nathanael's mother not only a +considerable fortune, but also a small estate, pleasantly situated not +far from the town. There they resolved to go and live, Nathanael and +his mother, and Clara, to whom he was now to be married, and Lothair. +Nathanael was become gentler and more childlike than he had ever been +before, and now began really to understand Clara's supremely pure and +noble character. None of them ever reminded him, even in the remotest +degree, of the past. But when Siegmund took leave of him, he said, "By +heaven, brother! I was in a bad way, but an angel came just at the +right moment and led me back upon the path of light. Yes, it was +Clara." Siegmund would not let him speak further, fearing lest the +painful recollections of the past might arise too vividly and too +intensely in his mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">The time came for the four happy people to move to their little +property. At noon they were going through the streets. After making +several purchases they found that the lofty tower of the town-house was +throwing its giant shadows across the market-place. "Come," said Clara, +"let us go up to the top once more and have a look at the distant +hills." No sooner said than done. Both of them, Nathanael and Clara, +went up the tower; their mother, however, went on with the servant-girl +to her new home, and Lothair, not feeling inclined to climb up all the +many steps, waited below. There the two lovers stood arm-in-arm on the +topmost gallery of the tower, and gazed out into the sweet-scented +wooded landscape, beyond which the blue hills rose up like a giant's +city.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! do look at that strange little grey bush, it looks as if it were +actually walking towards us," said Clara. Mechanically he put his hand +into his sidepocket; he found Coppola's perspective and looked for the +bush; Clara stood in front of the glass. Then a convulsive thrill shot +through his pulse and veins; pale as a corpse, he fixed his staring +eyes upon her; but soon they began to roll, and a fiery current flashed +and sparkled in them, and he yelled fearfully, like a hunted animal. +Leaping up high in the air and laughing horribly at the same time, he +began to shout, in a piercing voice, "Spin round, wooden doll! Spin +round, wooden doll!" With the strength of a giant he laid hold upon +Clara and tried to hurl her over, but in an agony of despair she +clutched fast hold of the railing that went round the gallery. Lothair +heard the madman raging and Clara's scream of terror: a fearful +presentiment flashed across his mind. He ran up the steps; the door of +the second flight was locked. Clara's scream for help rang out more +loudly. Mad with rage and fear, he threw himself against the door, +which at length gave way. Clara's cries were growing fainter and +fainter,—"Help! save me! save me!" and her voice died away in the air. +"She is killed—murdered by that madman," shouted Lothair. The door to +the gallery was also locked. Despair gave him the strength of a giant; +he burst the door off its hinges. Good God! there was Clara in the +grasp of the madman Nathanael, hanging over the gallery in the air; she +only held to the iron bar with one hand. Quick as lightning, Lothair +seized his sister and pulled her back, at the same time dealing the +madman a blow in the face with his doubled fist, which sent him reeling +backwards, forcing him to let go his victim.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothair ran down with his insensible sister in his arms. She was saved. +But Nathanael ran round and round the gallery, leaping up in the air +and shouting, "Spin round, fire-wheel! Spin round, fire-wheel!" The +people heard the wild shouting, and a crowd began to gather. In the +midst of them towered the advocate Coppelius, like a giant; he had only +just arrived in the town, and had gone straight to the market-place. +Some were going up to overpower and take charge of the madman, but +Coppelius laughed and said, "Ha! ha! wait a bit; he'll come down of his +own accord;" and he stood gazing upwards along with the rest. All at +once Nathanael stopped as if spell-bound; he bent down over the +railing, and perceived Coppelius. With a piercing scream, "Ha! foine +oyes! foine oyes!" he leapt over.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Nathanael lay on the stone pavement with a broken head, Coppelius +had disappeared in the crush and confusion.</p> + +<p class="normal">Several years afterwards it was reported that, outside the door of a +pretty country house in a remote district, Clara had been seen sitting +hand in hand with a pleasant gentleman, whilst two bright boys were +playing at her feet. From this it may be concluded that she eventually +found that quiet domestic happiness which her cheerful, blithesome +character required, and which Nathanael, with his tempest-tossed soul, +could never have been able to give her.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * * *</span></p> + +<p class="continue">FOOTNOTES TO "THE SAND-MAN":</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_sand_man1" href="#div2_sand_man1">1</a></sup> "The Sand-man" forms the first of a series of tales +called "The Night-pieces," and was published in 1817.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_sand_man2" href="#div2_sand_man2">2</a></sup> See Schiller's <i>Räuber</i> Act V., Scene 1. Franz Moor, +seeing that the failure of all his villainous schemes is inevitable, +and that his own ruin is close upon him, is at length overwhelmed with +the madness of despair, and unburdens the terrors of his conscience to +the old servant Daniel, bidding him laugh him to scorn.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_sand_man3" href="#div2_sand_man3">3</a></sup> Lazaro Spallanzani, a celebrated anatomist and naturalist +(1729-1799), filled for several years the chair of Natural History at +Pavia, and travelled extensively for scientific purposes in Italy, +Turkey, Sicily, Switzerland, &c.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_sand_man4" href="#div2_sand_man4">4</a></sup> Or Almanacs of the Muses, as they were also sometimes +called, were periodical, mostly yearly publications, containing all +kinds of literary effusions; mostly, however, lyrical. They originated +in the eighteenth century. Schiller, A. W. and F. Schlegel, Tieck, and +Chamisso, amongst others, conducted undertakings of this nature.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_sand_man5" href="#div2_sand_man5">5</a></sup> Joseph Balsamo, a Sicilian by birth, calling himself Count +Cagliostro, one of the greatest impostors of modern times, lived during +the latter part of the eighteenth century. See Carlyle's "Miscellanies" +for an account of his life and character.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_sand_man6" href="#div2_sand_man6">6</a></sup> Daniel Nikolas Chodowiecki, painter and engraver, of +Polish descent, was born at Dantzic in 1726. For some years he was so +popular an artist that few books were published in Prussia without +plates or vignettes by him. The catalogue of his works is said to +include 3000 items.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_sand_man7" href="#div2_sand_man7">7</a></sup> Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, an Italian painter of the +eighteenth century, whose works were at one time greatly +over-estimated.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_sand_man8" href="#div2_sand_man8">8</a></sup> Jakob Ruysdael (<i>c.</i> 1625-1682), a painter of Haarlem, in +Holland. His favourite subjects were remote farms, lonely stagnant +water, deep-shaded woods with marshy paths, the sea-coast—subjects of +a dark melancholy kind. His sea-pieces are greatly admired.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_sand_man9" href="#div2_sand_man9">9</a></sup> Phlegon, the freedman of Hadrian, relates that a young +maiden, Philemium, the daughter of Philostratus and Charitas, became +deeply enamoured of a young man, named Machates, a guest in the house +of her father. This did not meet with the approbation of her parents, +and they turned Machates away. The young maiden took this so much to +heart that she pined away and died. Some time afterwards Machates +returned to his old lodgings, when he was visited at night by his +beloved, who came from the grave to see him again. The story may be +read in Heywood's (Thos.) "Hierarchie of Blessed Angels," Book vii., p. +479 (London, 1637). Goethe has made this story the foundation of his +beautiful poem <i>Die Braut von Korinth</i>, with which form of it Hoffmann +was most likely familiar.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_sand_man10" href="#div2_sand_man10">10</a></sup> This phrase (<i>Die Wahlverwandschaft</i> in German) has been +made celebrated as the title of one of Goethe's works.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><span class="space"><i><a name="div1_entail" href="#div1Ref_entail">THE ENTAIL</a></i></span>.</h2> + +<p class="normal"> +Not far from the shore of the Baltic Sea is situated the ancestral +castle of the noble family Von R——, called R—sitten. It is a wild +and desolate neighbourhood, hardly anything more than a single blade of +grass shooting up here and there from the bottomless drift-sand; and +instead of the garden that generally ornaments a baronial residence, +the bare walls are approached on the landward side by a thin forest of +firs, that with their never-changing vesture of gloom despise the +bright garniture of Spring, and where, instead of the joyous carolling +of little birds awakened anew to gladness, nothing is heard but the +ominous croak of the raven and the whirring scream of the storm-boding +sea-gull. A quarter of a mile distant Nature suddenly changes. As if by +the wave of a magician's wand you are transported into the midst of +thriving fields, fertile arable land, and meadows. You see, too, the +large and prosperous village, with the land-steward's spacious +dwelling-house; and at the angle of a pleasant thicket of alders you +may observe the foundations of a large castle, which one of the former +proprietors had intended to erect. His successors, however, living on +their property in Courland, left the building in its unfinished state; +nor would Freiherr<sup><a name="div2_entail1" href="#div2Ref_entail1">1</a></sup> Roderick von +R—— proceed with the structure +when he again took up his residence on the ancestral estate, since the +lonely old castle was more suitable to his temperament, which was +morose and averse to human society. He had its ruinous walls repaired +as well as circumstances would admit, and then shut himself up +within them along with a cross-grained house-steward and a slender +establishment of servants.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was seldom seen in the village, but on the other hand he often +walked and rode along the sea-beach; and people claimed to have heard +him from a distance, talking to the waves and listening to the rolling +and hissing of the surf, as though he could hear the answering voice of +the spirit of the sea. Upon the topmost summit of the watch-tower he +had a sort of study fitted up and supplied with telescopes—with a +complete set of astronomical apparatus, in fact. Thence during the +daytime he frequently watched the ships sailing past on the distant +horizon like white-winged sea-gulls; and there he spent the starlight +nights engaged in astronomical, or, as some professed to know, with +astrological labours, in which the old house-steward assisted him. At +any rate the rumour was current during his own lifetime that he was +devoted to the occult sciences or the so-called Black Art, and that he +had been driven out of Courland in consequence of the failure of an +experiment by which an august princely house had been most seriously +offended. The slightest allusion to his residence in Courland filled +him with horror; but for all the troubles which had there unhinged the +tenor of his life he held his predecessors entirely to blame, in that +they had wickedly deserted the home of their ancestors. In order to +fetter, for the future, at least the head of the family to the +ancestral castle, he converted it into a property of entail. The +sovereign was the more willing to ratify this arrangement since by its +means he would secure for his country a family distinguished for all +chivalrous virtues, and which had already begun to ramify into foreign +countries.</p> + +<p class="normal">Neither Roderick's son Hubert, nor the next Roderick, who was so called +after his grandfather, would live in their ancestral castle; both +preferred Courland. It is conceivable, too, that, being more cheerful +and fond of life than the gloomy astrologer, they were repelled by the +grim loneliness of the place. Freiherr Roderick had granted shelter and +subsistence on the property to two old maids, sisters of his father, +who were living in indigence, having been but niggardly provided for. +They, together with an aged serving-woman, occupied the small warm +rooms of one of the wings; besides them and the cook, who had a large +apartment on the ground floor adjoining the kitchen, the only other +person was a worn-out <i>chasseur</i>, who tottered about through the lofty +rooms and halls of the main building, and discharged the duties of +castellan. The rest of the servants lived in the village with the +land-steward. The only time at which the desolated and deserted castle +became the scene of life and activity was late in autumn, when the snow +first began to fall and the season for wolf-hunting and boar-hunting +arrived. Then came Freiherr Roderick with his wife, attended by +relatives and friends and a numerous retinue, from Courland. The +neighbouring nobility, and even amateur lovers of the chase who lived +in the town hard by, came down in such numbers that the main building, +together with the wings, barely sufficed to hold the crowd of guests. +Well-served fires roared in all the stoves and fireplaces, while the +spits were creaking from early dawn until late at night, and hundreds +of light-hearted people, masters and servants, were running up and down +stairs; here was heard the jingling and rattling of drinking glasses +and jovial hunting choruses, there the footsteps of those dancing to +the sound of the shrill music,—everywhere loud mirth and jollity; +so that for four or five weeks together the castle was more like a +first-rate hostelry situated on a main highroad than the abode of a +country gentleman. This time Freiherr Roderick devoted, as well as he +was able, to serious business, for, withdrawing from the revelry of his +guests, he discharged the duties attached to his position as lord of +the entail. He not only had a complete statement of the revenues laid +before him, but he listened to every proposal for improvement and to +every the least complaint of his tenants, endeavouring to establish +order in everything, and check all wrongdoing and injustice as far as +lay in his power.</p> + +<p class="normal">In these matters of business he was honestly assisted by the old +advocate V——, who had been law agent of the R—— family and +Justitiarius<sup><a name="div2_entail2" href="#div2Ref_entail2">2</a></sup> of their estates in P—— from father to son for many +years; accordingly, V—— was wont to set out for the estate at least a +week before the day fixed for the arrival of the Freiherr. In the year +179- the time came round again when old V—— was to start on his +journey for R—sitten. However strong and healthy the old man, now +seventy years of age, might feel, he was yet quite assured that a +helping hand would prove beneficial to him in his business. So he said +to me one day as if in jest, "Cousin!" (I was his great-nephew, but he +called me "cousin," owing to the fact that his own Christian name and +mine were both the same)—"Cousin, I was thinking it would not be amiss +if you went along with me to R—sitten and felt the sea-breezes blow +about your ears a bit. Besides giving me good help in my often +laborious work, you may for once in a while see how you like the +rollicking life of a hunter, and how, after drawing up a neatly-written +protocol one morning, you will frame the next when you come to look in +the glaring eyes of such a sturdy brute as a grim shaggy wolf or a wild +boar gnashing his teeth, and whether you know how to bring him down +with a well-aimed shot." Of course I could not have heard such strange +accounts of the merry hunting parties at R—sitten, or entertain such a +true heartfelt affection for my excellent old great-uncle as I did, +without being highly delighted that he wanted to take me with him this +time. As I was already pretty well skilled in the sort of business he +had to transact, I promised to work with unwearied industry, so as to +relieve him of all care and trouble.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next day we sat in the carriage on our way to R—sitten, well wrapped +up in good fur coats, driving through a thick snowstorm, the first +harbinger of the coming winter. On the journey the old gentleman told +me many remarkable stories about the Freiherr Roderick, who had +established the estate-tail and appointed him (V——), in spite of his +youth, to be his Justitiarius and executor. He spoke of the harsh and +violent character of the old nobleman, which seemed to be inherited by +all the family, since even the present master of the estate, whom he +had known as a mild-tempered and almost effeminate youth, acquired more +and more as the years went by the same disposition. He therefore +recommended me strongly to behave with as much resolute self-reliance +and as little embarrassment as possible, if I desired to possess any +consideration in the Freiherr's eyes; and at length he began to +describe the apartments in the castle which he had selected to be his +own once for all, since they were warm and comfortable, and so +conveniently retired that we could withdraw from the noisy +convivialities of the hilarious company whenever we pleased. The rooms, +namely, which were on every visit reserved for him, were two small +ones, hung with warm tapestry, close beside the large hall of justice, +in the wing opposite that in which the two old maids resided.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last, after a rapid but wearying journey, we arrived at +R—sitten, +late at night. We drove through the village; it was Sunday, and from +the alehouse proceeded the sounds of music, and dancing, and +merrymaking; the steward's house was lit up from basement to garret, +and music and song were there too. All the more striking therefore was +the inhospitable desolation into which we now drove. The sea-wind +howled in sharp cutting dirges as it were about us, whilst the sombre +firs, as if they had been roused by the wind from a deep magic trance, +groaned hoarsely in a responsive chorus. The bare black walls of the +castle towered above the snow-covered ground; we drew up at the gates, +which were fast locked. But no shouting or cracking of whips, no +knocking or hammering, was of any avail; the whole castle seemed to be +dead; not a single light was visible at any of the windows. The old +gentleman shouted in his strong stentorian voice, "Francis, Francis, +where the deuce are you? In the devil's name rouse yourself; we are all +freezing here outside the gates. The snow is cutting our faces till +they bleed. Why the devil don't you stir yourself?" Then the watch-dog +began to whine, and a wandering light was visible on the ground floor. +There was a rattling of keys, and soon the ponderous wings of the gate +creaked back on their hinges. "Ha! a hearty welcome, a hearty welcome, +Herr Justitiarius. Ugh! it's rough weather!" cried old Francis, holding +the lantern above his head, so that the light fell full upon his +withered face, which was drawn up into a curious grimace, that was +meant for a friendly smile. The carriage drove into the court, and we +got out; then I obtained a full view of the old servant's extraordinary +figure, almost hidden in his wide old-fashioned chasseur livery, with +its many extraordinary lace decorations. Whilst there were only a few +grey locks on his broad white forehead, the lower part of his face wore +the ruddy hue of health; and, notwithstanding that the cramped muscles +of his face gave it something of the appearance of a whimsical mask, +yet the rather stupid good-nature which beamed from his eyes and played +about his mouth compensated for all the rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, old Francis," began my great-uncle, knocking the snow from his +fur coat in the entrance hall, "now, old man, is everything prepared? +Have you had the hangings in my room well dusted, and the beds carried +in? and have you had a big roaring fire both yesterday and to-day?" +"No," replied Francis, quite calmly, "no, my worshipful Herr +Justitiarius, we've got none of that done." "Good Heavens!" burst out +my great-uncle, "I wrote to you in proper time; you know that I always +come at the time I fix. Here's a fine piece of stupid carelessness! I +shall have to sleep in rooms as cold as ice." "But you see, worshipful +Herr Justitiarius," continued Francis, most carefully clipping a +burning thief from the wick of the candle with the snuffers and +stamping it out with his foot, "but, you see, sir, all that would not +have been of much good, especially the fires, for the wind and the snow +have taken up their quarters too much in the rooms, driving in through +the broken windows, and then"—— "What!" cried my uncle, interrupting +him as he spread out his fur coat and placing his arms akimbo, "do you +mean to tell me the windows are broken, and you, the castellan of the +house, have done nothing to get them mended?" "But, worshipful Herr +Justitiarius," resumed the old servant calmly and composedly, "but we +can't very well get at them owing to the great masses of stones and +rubbish lying all over the room." "Damn it all, how come there to be +stones and rubbish in my room?" cried my uncle. "Your lasting health +and good luck, young gentleman!" said the old man, bowing politely to +me, as I happened to sneeze;<sup><a name="div2_entail3" href="#div2Ref_entail3">3</a></sup> but he immediately added, "They are the +stones and plaster of the partition wall which fell in at the great +shock." "Have you had an earthquake?" blazed up my uncle, now fairly in +a rage. "No, not an earthquake, worshipful Herr Justitiarius," replied +the old man, grinning all over his face, "but three days ago the heavy +wainscot ceiling of the justice-hall fell in with a tremendous crash." +"Then may the"—— My uncle was about to rip out a terrific oath in his +violent passionate manner, but jerking up his right arm above his head +and taking off his fox-skin cap with his left, he suddenly checked +himself; and turning to me, he said with a hearty laugh, "By my troth, +cousin, we must hold our tongues; we mustn't ask any more questions, or +else we shall hear of some still worse misfortune, or have the whole +castle tumbling to pieces about our ears." "But," he continued, +wheeling round again to the old servant, "but, bless me, Francis, could +you not have had the common sense to get me another room cleaned and +warmed? Could you not have quickly fitted up a room in the main +building for the court-day?" "All that has been already done," said the +old man, pointing to the staircase with a gesture that invited us to +follow him, and at once beginning to ascend them. "Now there's a most +curious noodle for you!" exclaimed my uncle as we followed old Francis. +The way led through long lofty vaulted corridors, in the dense darkness +of which Francis's flickering light threw a strange reflection. The +pillars, capitals, and vari-coloured arches seemed as if they were +floating before us in the air; our own shadows stalked along beside us +in gigantic shape, and the grotesque paintings on the walls over which +they glided seemed all of a tremble and shake; whilst their voices, we +could imagine, were whispering in the sound of our echoing footsteps, +"Wake us not, oh! wake us not—us whimsical spirits who sleep here in +these old stones." At last, after we had traversed a long suite of cold +and gloomy apartments, Francis opened the door of a hall in which a +fire blazing brightly in the grate offered us as it were a home-like +welcome with its pleasant crackling. I felt quite comfortable the +moment I entered, but my uncle, standing still in the middle of the +hall, looked round him and said in a tone which was so very grave as to +be almost solemn, "And so this is to be the justice-hall!" Francis held +his candle above his head, so that my eye fell upon a light spot in the +wide dark wall about the size of a door; then he said in a pained and +muffled voice, "Justice has been already dealt out here." "What +possesses you, old man?" asked my uncle, quickly throwing aside his fur +coat and drawing near to the fire. "It slipped over my lips, I couldn't +help it," said Francis; then he lit the great candles and opened the +door of the adjoining room, which was very snugly fitted up for our +reception. In a short time a table was spread for us before the fire, +and the old man served us with several well-dressed dishes, which +were followed by a brimming bowl of punch, prepared in true Northern +style,—a very acceptable sight to two weary travellers like my uncle +and myself. My uncle then, tired with his journey, went to bed as soon +as he had finished supper; but my spirits were too much excited by the +novelty and strangeness of the place, as well as by the punch, for me +to think of sleep. Meanwhile, Francis cleared the table, stirred up the +fire, and bowing and scraping politely, left me to myself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now I sat alone in the lofty spacious <i>Rittersaal</i> or Knight's Hall. +The snow-flakes had ceased to beat against the lattice, and the storm +had ceased to whistle; the sky was clear, and the bright full moon +shone in through the wide oriel-windows, illuminating with magical +effect all the dark corners of the curious room into which the dim +light of my candles and the fire could not penetrate. As one often +finds in old castles, the walls and ceiling of the hall were ornamented +in a peculiar antique fashion, the former with fantastic paintings and +carvings, gilded and coloured in gorgeous tints, the latter with heavy +wainscoting. Standing out conspicuously from the great pictures, which +represented for the most part wild bloody scenes in bear-hunts and +wolf-hunts, were the heads of men and animals carved in wood and joined +on to the painted bodies, so that the whole, especially in the +flickering light of the fire and the soft beams of the moon, had an +effect as if all were alive and instinct with terrible reality. Between +these pictures reliefs of knights had been inserted, of life size, +walking along in hunting costume; probably they were the ancestors of +the family who had delighted in the chase. Everything, both in the +paintings and in the carved work, bore the dingy hue of extreme old +age; so much the more conspicuous therefore was the bright bare place +on that one of the walls through which were two doors leading into +adjoining apartments. I soon concluded that there too there must have +been a door, that had been bricked up later; and hence it was that this +new part of the wall, which had neither been painted like the rest, nor +yet ornamented with carvings, formed such a striking contrast with the +others. Who does not know with what mysterious power the mind is +enthralled in the midst of unusual and singularly strange +circumstances? Even the dullest imagination is aroused when it comes +into a valley girt around by fantastic rocks, or within the gloomy +walls of a church or an abbey, and it begins to have glimpses of things +it has never yet experienced. When I add that I was twenty years of +age, and had drunk several glasses of strong punch, it will easily be +conceived that as I sat thus in the <i>Rittersaal</i> I was in a more +exceptional frame of mind than I had ever been before. Let the reader +picture to himself the stillness of the night within, and without the +rumbling roar of the sea—the peculiar piping of the wind, which rang +upon my ears like the tones of a mighty organ played upon by spectral +hands—the passing scudding clouds which, shining bright and white, +often seemed to peep in through the rattling oriel-windows like giants +sailings past—in very truth, I felt, from the slight shudder which +shook me, that possibly a new sphere of existences might now be +revealed to me visibly and perceptibly. But this feeling was like the +shivery sensations that one has on hearing a graphically narrated ghost +story, such as we all like. At this moment it occurred to me that I +should never be in a more seasonable mood for reading the book which, +in common with every one who had the least leaning towards the +romantic, I at that time carried about in my pocket,—I mean Schiller's +"Ghost-seer." I read and read, and my imagination grew ever more and +more excited. I came to the marvellously enthralling description of the +wedding feast at Count Von V——'s.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just as I was reading of the entrance of Jeronimo's bloody figure,<sup><a name="div2_entail4" href="#div2Ref_entail4">4</a></sup> +the door leading from the gallery into the antechamber flew open with a +tremendous bang. I started to my feet in terror; the book fell from my +hands. In the very same moment, however, all was still again, and I +began to be ashamed of my childish fears. The door must have been burst +open by a strong gust of wind or in some other natural manner. It is +nothing; my over-strained fancy converts every ordinary occurrence into +the supernatural. Having thus calmed my fears, I picked up my book from +the ground, and again threw myself in the arm-chair; but there came a +sound of soft, slow, measured footsteps moving diagonally across the +hall, whilst there was a sighing and moaning at intervals, and in this +sighing and moaning there was expressed the deepest trouble, the most +hopeless grief, that a human being can know. "Ha! it must be some sick +animal locked up somewhere in the basement storey. Such acoustic +deceptions at night time, making distant sounds appear close at hand, +are well known to everybody. Who will suffer himself to be terrified at +such a thing as that?" Thus I calmed my fears again. But now there was +a scratching at the new portion of the wall, whilst louder and deeper +sighs were audible, as if gasped out by some one in the last throes of +mortal anguish. "Yes, yes; it is some poor animal locked up somewhere; +I will shout as loudly as I can, I will stamp violently on the floor, +then all will be still, or else the animal below will make itself heard +more distinctly, and in its natural cries," I thought. But the blood +ran cold in my veins; the cold sweat, too, stood upon my forehead, and +I remained sitting in my chair as if transfixed, quite unable to rise, +still less to cry out. At length the abominable scratching ceased, and +I again heard the footsteps. Life and motion seemed to be awakened in +me; I leapt to my feet, and went two or three steps forward. But then +there came an ice-cold draught of wind through the hall, whilst at the +same moment the moon cast her bright light upon the statue of a grave +if not almost terrible-looking man; and then, as though his warning +voice rang through the louder thunders of the waves and the shriller +piping of the wind, I heard distinctly, "No further, no further! or you +will sink beneath all the fearful horrors of the world of spectres." +Then the door was slammed too with the same violent bang as before, and +I plainly heard the footsteps in the anteroom, then going down the +stairs. The main door of the castle was opened with a creaking noise, +and afterwards closed again. Then it seemed as if a horse were brought +out of the stable, and after a while taken back again, and finally all +was still.</p> + +<p class="normal">At that same moment my attention was attracted to my old uncle in the +adjoining room; he was groaning and moaning painfully. This brought me +fully to consciousness again; I seized the candles and hurried into the +room to him. He appeared to be struggling with an ugly, unpleasant +dream. "Wake up, wake up!" I cried loudly, taking him gently by the +hand, and letting the full glare of the light fall upon his face. He +started up with a stifled shout, and then, looking kindly at me, said, +"Ay, you have done quite right—that you have, cousin, to wake me. I +have had a very ugly dream, and it's all solely owing to this room and +that hall, for they made me think of past times and many wonderful +things that have happened here. But now let us turn to and have a +good sound sleep." Therewith the old gentleman rolled himself in the +bed-covering and appeared to fall asleep at once. But when I had +extinguished the candles and likewise crept into bed, I heard him +praying in a low tone to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next morning we began work in earnest; the land-steward brought his +account-books, and various other people came, some to get a dispute +settled, some to get arrangements made about other matters. At noon my +uncle took me with him to the wing where the two old Baronesses lived, +that we might pay our respects to them with all due form. Francis +having announced us, we had to wait some time before a little old dame, +bent with the weight of her sixty years, and attired in gay-coloured +silks, who styled herself the noble ladies' lady-in-waiting, appeared +and led us into the sanctuary. There we were received with comical +ceremony by the old ladies, whose curious style of dress had gone out +of fashion years and years before. I especially was an object of +astonishment to them when my uncle, with considerable humour, +introduced me as a young lawyer who had come to assist him in his +business. Their countenances plainly indicated their belief that, owing +to my youth, the welfare of the tenants of R—sitten was placed in +jeopardy. Although there was a good deal that was truly ridiculous +during the whole of this interview with the old ladies, I was +nevertheless still shivering from the terror of the preceding night; I +felt as if I had come in contact with an unknown power, or rather as if +I had grazed against the outer edge of a circle, one step across which +would be enough to plunge me irretrievably into destruction, as though +it were only by the exertion of all the power of my will that I should +be able to guard myself against <i>that</i> awful dread which never slackens +its hold upon you until it ends in incurable insanity. Hence it was +that the old Baronesses, with their remarkable towering head-dresses, +and their peculiar stuff gowns, tricked off with gay flowers and +ribbons, instead of striking me as merely ridiculous, had an appearance +that was both ghostly and awe-inspiring. My fancy seemed to glean from +their yellow withered faces and blinking eyes, ocular proof of the fact +that they had succeeded in establishing themselves on at least a good +footing with the ghosts who haunted the castle, as it derived auricular +confirmation of the same fact from the wretched French which they +croaked, partly between their tightly-closed blue lips and partly +through their long thin noses, and also that they themselves possessed +the power of setting trouble and dire mischief at work. My uncle, who +always had a keen eye for a bit of fun, entangled the old dames in his +ironical way in such a mish-mash of nonsensical rubbish that, had I +been in any other mood, I should not have known how to swallow down my +immoderate laughter; but, as I have just said, the Baronesses and their +twaddle were, and continued to be, in my regard, ghostly, so that my +old uncle, who was aiming at affording me an especial diversion, +glanced across at me time after time utterly astonished. So after +dinner, when we were alone together in our room, he burst out, "But in +Heaven's name, cousin, tell me what is the matter with you? You don't +laugh; you don't talk; you don't eat; and you don't drink. Are you ill, +or is anything else the matter with you?" I now hesitated not a moment +to tell him circumstantially all my terrible, awful experiences of the +previous night I did not conceal anything, and above all I did not +conceal that I had drunk a good deal of punch, and had been reading +Schiller's "Ghostseer." "This I must confess to," I add, "for only so +can I credibly explain how it was that my over-strained and active +imagination could create all those ghostly spirits, which only exist +within the sphere of my own brain." I fully expected that my uncle +would now pepper me well with the stinging pellets of his wit for this +my fanciful ghost-seeing; but, on the contrary, he grew very grave, and +his eyes became riveted in a set stare upon the floor, until he jerked +up his head and said, fixing me with his keen fiery eyes, "Your book I +am not acquainted with, cousin; but your ghostly visitants were due +neither to it nor to the fumes of the punch. I must tell you that I +dreamt exactly the same things that you saw and heard. Like you, I sat +in the easy-chair beside the fire (at least I dreamt so); but what was +only revealed to you as slight noises I saw and distinctly comprehended +with the eye of my mind. Yes, I beheld that foul fiend come in, +stealthily and feebly step across to the bricked-up door, and scratch +at the wall in hopeless despair until the blood gushed out from beneath +his torn finger-nails; then he went downstairs, took a horse out of the +stable, and finally put him back again. Did you also hear the cock +crowing in a distant farmyard up at the village? You came and awoke me, +and I soon resisted the baneful ghost of that terrible man, who is +still able to disturb in this fearful way the quiet lives of the +living." The old gentleman stopped; and I did not like to ask him +further questions, being well aware that he would explain everything to +me when he deemed that the proper time was come for doing so. After +sitting for a while, deeply absorbed in his own thoughts, he went on, +"Cousin, do you think you have courage enough to encounter the ghost +again now that you know all that happens,—that is to say, along with +me?" Of course I declared that I now felt quite strong enough, and +ready for what he wished. "Then let us watch together during the coming +night," the old gentleman went on to say. "There is a voice within me +telling me that this evil spirit must fly, not so much before the power +of my will as before my courage, which rests upon a basis of firm +conviction. I feel that it is not at all presumption in me, but rather +a good and pious deed, if I venture life and limb to exorcise this foul +fiend that is banishing the sons from the old castle of their +ancestors. But what am I thinking about? There can be no risk in the +case at all, for with such a firm, honest mind and pious trust that I +feel I possess, I and everybody cannot fail to be, now and always, +victorious over such ghostly antagonists. And yet if, after all, it +should be God's will that this evil power be enabled to work me +mischief, then you must bear witness, cousin, that I fell in honest +Christian fight against the spirit of hell which was here busy about +its fiendish work. As for yourself, keep at a distance; no harm will +happen to you then."</p> + +<p class="normal">Our attention was busily engaged with divers kinds of business until +evening came. As on the day before, Francis had cleared away the +remains of the supper, and brought us our punch. The full moon shone +brightly through the gleaming clouds, the sea-waves roared, and the +night-wind howled and shook the oriel window till the panes rattled. +Although inwardly excited, we forced ourselves to converse on +indifferent topics. The old gentleman had placed his striking watch on +the table; it struck twelve. Then the door flew open with a terrific +bang, and, just as on the preceding night, soft slow footsteps moved +stealthily across the hall in a diagonal direction, whilst there were +the same sounds of sighing and moaning. My uncle turned pale, but his +eyes shone with an unusual brilliance. He rose from his arm-chair, +stretching his tall figure up to its full height, so that as he stood +there with his left arm propped against his side and with his right +stretched out towards the middle of the hall, he had the appearance of +a hero issuing his commands. But the sighing and moaning were growing +every moment louder and more perceptible, and then the scratching at +the wall began more horribly even than on the previous night. My uncle +strode forwards straight towards the walled-up door, and his steps were +so firm that they echoed along the floor. He stopped immediately in +front of the place, where the scratching noise continued to grow worse +and worse, and said in a strong solemn voice, such as I had never +before heard from his lips, "Daniel, Daniel! what are you doing here at +this hour?" Then there was a horrible unearthly scream, followed by a +dull thud as if a heavy weight had fallen to the ground. "Seek for +pardon and mercy at the throne of the Almighty; that is your place. +Away with you from the scenes of this life, in which you can nevermore +have part." And as the old gentleman uttered these words in a tone +still stronger than before, a feeble wail seemed to pass through the +air and die away in the blustering of the storm, which was just +beginning to rage. Crossing over to the door, the old gentleman slammed +it to, so that the echo rang loudly through the empty anteroom. There +was something so supernatural almost in both his language and his +gestures that I was deeply struck with awe. On resuming his seat in his +arm-chair his face was as if transfigured; he folded his hands and +prayed inwardly. In this way several minutes passed, when he asked me +in that gentle tone which always went right to my heart, and which he +always had so completely at his command, "Well, cousin?" Agitated and +shaken by awe, terror, fear, and pious respect and love, I threw myself +upon my knees and rained down my warm tears upon the hand he offered +me. He clasped me in his arms, and pressing me fervently to his heart +said very tenderly, "Now we will go and have a good quiet sleep, good +cousin;" and we did so. And as nothing of an unusual nature occurred on +the following night, we soon recovered our former cheerfulness, to the +prejudice of the old Baronesses; for though there did still continue to +be something ghostly about them and their odd manners, yet it emanated +from a diverting ghost which the old gentleman knew how to call up in a +droll fashion.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length, after the lapse of several days, the Baron put in his +appearance, along with his wife and a numerous train of servants for +the hunting; the guests who had been invited also arrived, and the +castle, now suddenly awakened to animation, became the scene of the +noisy life and revelry which have been before described. When the Baron +came into our hall soon after his arrival, he seemed to be disagreeably +surprised at the change in our quarters. Casting an ill-tempered glance +towards the bricked-up door, he turned abruptly round and passed his +hand across his forehead, as if desirous of banishing some disagreeable +recollection. My great-uncle mentioned the damage done to the +justice-hall and the adjoining apartments; but the Baron found fault +with Francis for not accommodating us with better lodgings, and he +good-naturedly requested the old gentleman to order anything he might +want to make his new room comfortable; for it was much less +satisfactory in this respect than that which he had usually occupied. +On the whole, the Baron's bearing towards my old uncle was not merely +cordial, but largely coloured by a certain deferential respect, as if +the relation in which he stood towards him was that of a younger +relative. But this was the sole trait that could in any way reconcile +me to his harsh, imperious character, which was now developed more and +more every day. As for me, he seemed to notice me but little; if he did +notice me at all, he saw in me nothing more than the usual secretary or +clerk. On the occasion of the very first important memorandum that I +drew up, he began to point out mistakes, as he conceived, in the +wording. My blood boiled, and I was about to make a caustic reply, when +my uncle interposed, informing him briefly that I did my work exactly +in the way he wished, and that in legal matters of this kind he alone +was responsible. When we were left alone, I complained bitterly of the +Baron, who would, I said, always inspire me with growing aversion. "I +assure you, cousin," replied the old gentleman, "that the Baron, +notwithstanding his unpleasant manner, is really one of the most +excellent and kind-hearted men in the world. As I have already told +you, he did not assume these manners until the time he became lord of +the entail; previous to then he was a modest, gentle youth. Besides, he +is not, after all, so bad as you make him out to be; and further, I +should like to know why you are so averse to him." As my uncle said +these words he smiled mockingly, and the blood rushed hotly and +furiously into my face. I could not pretend to hide from myself—I saw +it only too clearly, and felt it too unmistakably—that my peculiar +antipathy to the Baron sprang out of the fact that I loved, even to +madness, a being who appeared to me to be the loveliest and most +fascinating of her sex who had ever trod the earth. This lady was none +other than the Baroness herself. Her appearance exercised a powerful +and irresistible charm upon me at the very moment of her arrival, when +I saw her traversing the apartments in her Russian sable cloak, which +fitted close to the exquisite symmetry of her shape, and with a rich +veil wrapped about her head. Moreover, the circumstance that the +two old aunts, with still more extraordinary gowns and be-ribboned +head-dresses than I had yet seen them wear, were sweeping along one on +each side of her and cackling their welcomes in French, whilst the +Baroness was looking about her in a way so gentle as to baffle all +description, nodding graciously first to one and then to another, and +then adding in her flute-like voice a few German words in the pure +sonorous dialect of Courland—all this formed a truly remarkable and +unusual picture, and my imagination involuntarily connected it with the +ghostly midnight visitant,—the Baroness being the angel of light who +was to break the ban of the spectral powers of evil. This wondrously +lovely lady stood forth in startling reality before my mind's eye. At +that time she could hardly be nineteen years of age, and her face, as +delicately beautiful as her form, bore the impression of the most +angelic good-nature; but what I especially noticed was the +indescribable fascination of her dark eyes, for a soft melancholy gleam +of aspiration shone in them like dewy moonshine, whilst a perfect +elysium of rapture and delight was revealed in her sweet and beautiful +smile. She often seemed completely lost in her own thoughts, and at +such moments her lovely face was swept by dark and fleeting shadows. +Many observers would have concluded that she was affected by some +distressing pain; but it rather seemed to me that she was struggling +with gloomy apprehensions of a future pregnant with dark misfortunes; +and with these, strangely enough, I connected the apparition of the +castle, though I could not give the least explanation of why I did so.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the morning following the Baron's arrival, when the company +assembled to breakfast, my old uncle introduced me to the Baroness; +and, as usually happens with people in the frame of mind in which I +then was, I behaved with indescribable absurdity. In answer to the +beautiful lady's simple inquiries how I liked the castle, &c., I +entangled myself in the most extraordinary and nonsensical phrases, so +that the old aunts ascribed my embarrassment simply and solely to my +profound respect for the noble lady, and thought they were called +upon condescendingly to take my part, which they did by praising +me in French as a very nice and clever young man, as a <i>garçon très +joli</i> (handsome lad). This vexed me; so suddenly recovering my +self-possession, I threw out a <i>bonmot</i> in better French than the old +dames were mistresses of; whereupon they opened their eyes wide in +astonishment, and pampered their long thin noses with a liberal supply +of snuff. From the Baroness's turning from me with a more serious air +to talk to some other lady, I perceived that my <i>bonmot</i> bordered +closely upon folly; this vexed me still more, and I wished the two old +ladies to the devil. My old uncle's irony had long before brought me +through the stage of the languishing love-sick swain, who in childish +infatuation coddles his love-troubles; but I knew very well that the +Baroness had made a deeper and more powerful impression upon my heart +than any other woman had hitherto done. I saw and heard nothing but +her; nevertheless I had a most explicit and unequivocal consciousness +that it would be not only absurd, but even utter madness to dream of an +amour, albeit I perceived no less clearly the impossibility of gazing +and adoring at a distance like a love-lorn boy. Of such conduct I +should have been perfectly ashamed. But what I could do, and what I +resolved to do, was to become more intimate with this beautiful girl +without allowing her to get any glimpse of my real feelings, to drink +the sweet poison of her looks and words, and then, when far away from +her, to bear her image in my heart for many, many days, perhaps for +ever. I was excited by this romantic and chivalric attachment to such a +degree, that, as I pondered over it during sleepless nights, I was +childish enough to address myself in pathetic monologues, and even to +sigh lugubriously, "Seraphina! O Seraphina!" till at last my old uncle +woke up and cried, "Cousin, cousin! I believe you are dreaming aloud. +Do it by daytime, if you can possibly contrive it, but at night have +the goodness to let me sleep." I was very much afraid that the old +gentleman, who had not failed to remark my excitement on the Baroness's +arrival, had heard the name, and would overwhelm me with his sarcastic +wit. But next morning all he said, as we went into the justice-hall, +was, "God grant every man the proper amount of common sense, and +sufficient watchfulness to keep it well under hand. It's a bad look-out +when a man becomes converted into a fantastic coxcomb without so much +as a word of warning." Then he took his seat at the great table and +added, "Write neatly and distinctly, good cousin, that I may be able to +read it without any trouble."</p> + +<p class="normal">The respect, nay, the almost filial veneration which the Baron +entertained towards my uncle, was manifested on all occasions. +Thus, at the dinner-table he had to occupy the seat—which many envied +him—beside the Baroness; as for me, chance threw me first in one place +and then in another; but for the most part, two or three officers from +the neighbouring capital were wont to attach me to them, in order that +they might empty to their own satisfaction their budget of news and +amusing anecdotes, whilst diligently passing the wine about. Thus it +happened that for several days in succession I sat at the bottom of the +table at a great distance from the Baroness. At length, however, chance +brought me nearer to her. Just as the doors of the dining-hall were +thrown open for the assembled company, I happened to be in the midst of +a conversation with the Baroness's companion and confidante,—a lady no +longer in the bloom of youth, but by no means ill-looking, and not +without intelligence,—and she seemed to take some interest in my +remarks. According to etiquette, it was my duty to offer her my arm, +and I was not a little pleased when she took her place quite close to +the Baroness, who gave her a friendly nod. It may be readily imagined +that all that I now said was intended not only for my fair neighbour, +but also mainly for the Baroness. Whether it was that the inward +tension of my feelings imparted an especial animation to all I said, at +any rate my companion's attention became more riveted with every +succeeding moment; in fact, she was at last entirely absorbed in the +visions of the kaleidoscopic world which I unfolded to her gaze. As +remarked, she was not without intelligence, and it soon came to pass +that our conversation, completely independent of the multitude of words +spoken by the other guests (which rambled about first to this subject +and then to that), maintained its own free course, launching an +effective word now and again whither I wanted it. For I did not fail to +observe that my companion shot a significant glance or two across to +the Baroness, and that the latter took pains to listen to us. And this +was particularly the case when the conversation turned upon music and I +began to speak with enthusiasm of this glorious and sacred art; nor did +I conceal that, despite the fact of my having devoted myself to the dry +tedious study of the law, I possessed tolerable skill on the +harpsichord, could sing, and had even set several songs to music.</p> + +<p class="normal">The majority of the company had gone into another room to take coffee +and liqueurs; but, unawares, without knowing how it came about, I found +myself near the Baroness, who was talking with her confidante. She at +once addressed me, repeating in a still more cordial manner and in the +tone in which one talks to an acquaintance, her inquiries as to how I +liked living in the castle, &c. I assured her that for the first few +days, not only the dreary desolation of the situation, but the ancient +castle itself had affected me strangely, but even in this mood I had +found much of deep interest, and that now my only wish was to be +excused from the stirring scenes of the hunt, for I had not been +accustomed to them. The Baroness smiled and said, "I can readily +believe that this wild life in our fir forests cannot be very congenial +to you. You are a musician, and, unless I am utterly mistaken, a poet +as well. I am passionately fond of both arts. I can also play the harp +a little, but I have to do without it here in R—sitten, for my husband +does not like me to bring it with me. Its soft strains would harmonize +but ill with the wild shouts of the hunters and the ringing blare of +their bugles, which are the only sounds that ought to be heard here. +And O heaven! how I should like to hear a little music!" I protested +that I would exert all the skill I had at my command to fulfil her +wish, for there must surely without doubt be an instrument of some kind +in the castle, even though it were only an old harpsichord. Then the +Lady Adelheid (the Baroness's confidante) burst out into a silvery +laugh and asked, did I not know that within the memory of man no other +instrument had ever been heard in the castle except cracked trumpets, +and hunting-horns which in the midst of joy would only sound lugubrious +notes, and the twanging fiddles, untuned violoncellos, and braying +oboes of itinerant musicians. The Baroness reiterated her wish that she +should like to have some music, and especially should like to hear me; +and both she and Adelheid racked their brains all to no purpose to +devise some scheme by which they could get a decent pianoforte brought +to the Castle. At this moment old Francis crossed the room. "Here's the +man who always can give the best advice, and can procure everything, +even things before unheard of and unseen." With these words the Lady +Adelheid called him to her, and as she endeavoured to make him +comprehend what it was that was wanted, the Baroness listened with her +hands clasped and her head bent forward, looking upon the old man's +face with a gentle smile. She made a most attractive picture, like some +lovely, winsome child that is all eagerness to have a wished-for toy in +its hands. Francis, after having adduced in his prolix manner several +reasons why it would be downright impossible to procure such a +wonderful instrument in such a big hurry, finally stroked his beard +with an air of self-flattery and said, "But the land-steward's lady up +at the village performs on the manichord, or whatever is the outlandish +name they now call it, with uncommon skill, and sings to it so fine and +mournful-like that it makes your eyes red, just like onions do, and +makes you feel as if you would like to dance with both legs at once." +"And you say she has a pianoforte?" interposed Lady Adelheid. "Aye, +to be sure," continued the old man; "it comed straight from Dresden; +a"—("Oh, that's fine!" interrupted the Baroness)—"a beautiful +instrument," went on the old man, "but a little weakly; for not long +ago, when the organist began to play on it the hymn 'In all Thy +works,'<sup><a name="div2_entail5" href="#div2Ref_entail5">5</a></sup> he broke it all to pieces, so that"—("Good gracious!" +exclaimed both the Baroness and Lady Adelheid)—"so that," went on the +old man again, "it had to be taken to R—— to be mended, and cost a +lot of money." "But has it come back again?" asked Lady Adelheid +impatiently. "Aye, to be sure, my lady, and the steward's lady will +reckon it a high honouR——" At this moment the Baron chanced to pass. +He looked across at our group rather astonished, and whispered with a +sarcastic smile to the Baroness, "So you have to take counsel of +Francis again, I see?" The Baroness cast down her eyes blushing, whilst +old Francis breaking off terrified, suddenly threw himself into +military posture, his head erect, and his arms close and straight down +his side. The old aunts came sailing down upon us in their stuff gowns +and carried off the Baroness. Lady Adelheid followed her, and I was +left alone as if spell-bound. A struggle began to rage within me +between my rapturous anticipations of now being able to be near her +whom I adored, who completely swayed all my thoughts and feelings, and +my sulky ill-humour and annoyance at the Baron, whom I regarded as a +barbarous tyrant. If he were not, would the grey-haired old servant +have assumed such a slavish attitude?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you hear? Can you see, I say?" cried my great-uncle, tapping me on +the shoulder;—we were going upstairs to our own apartments. "Don't +force yourself so on the Baroness's attention," he said when we reached +the room. "What good can come of it? Leave that to the young fops who +like to pay court to ladies; there are plenty of them to do it." I +related how it had all come about, and challenged him to say if I had +deserved his reproof. His only reply to this, however, was, "Humph! +humph!" as he drew on his dressing-gown. Then, having lit his pipe, he +took his seat in his easy-chair and began to talk about the adventures +of the hunt on the preceding day, bantering me on my bad shots. All was +quiet in the castle; all the visitors, both gentlemen and ladies, were +busy in their own rooms dressing for the evening. For the musicians +with the twanging fiddles, untuned violoncellos, and braying oboes, of +whom Lady Adelheid had spoken, were come, and a merrymaking of no less +importance than a ball, to be given in the best possible style, was in +anticipation. My old uncle, preferring a quiet sleep to such foolish +pastimes, stayed in his chamber. I, however, had just finished dressing +when there came a light tap at our door, and Francis entered. Smiling +in his self-satisfied way, he announced to me that the manichord had +just arrived from the land-steward's lady in a sledge, and had been +carried into the Baroness's apartments. Lady Adelheid sent her +compliments and would I go over at once. It may be conceived how my +pulse beat, and also with what a delicious tremor at heart I opened the +door of the room in which I was to find <i>her</i>. Lady Adelheid came to +meet me with a joyful smile. The Baroness, already in full dress for +the ball, was sitting in a meditative attitude beside the mysterious +case or box, in which slumbered the music that I was called upon to +awaken. When she rose, her beauty shone upon me with such glorious +splendour that I stood staring at her unable to utter a word. "Come, +Theodore"—(for, according to the kindly custom of the North, which is +found again farther south, she addressed everybody by his or her +Christian name)—"Come, Theodore," she said pleasantly, "here's the +instrument come. Heaven grant it be not altogether unworthy of your +skill!" As I opened the lid I was greeted by the rattling of a score of +broken strings, and when I attempted to strike a chord, the effect was +hideous and abominable, for all the strings which were not broken were +completely out of tune. "I doubt not our friend the organist has been +putting his delicate little hands upon it again," said Lady Adelheid +laughing; but the Baroness was very much annoyed and said, "Oh, it +really is a slice of bad luck! I am doomed, I see, never to have any +pleasure here." I searched in the case of the instrument, and +fortunately found some coils of strings, but no tuning-key anywhere. +Hence fresh laments. "Any key will do if the ward will fit on the +pegs," I explained; then both Lady Adelheid and the Baroness ran +backwards and forwards in gay spirits, and before long a whole magazine +of bright keys lay before me on the sounding-board.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then I set to work diligently, and both the ladies assisted me all they +could, trying first one peg and then another. At length one of the +tiresome keys fitted, and they exclaimed joyfully, "This will do! it +will do!" But when I had drawn the first creaking string up to just +proper pitch, it suddenly snapped, and the ladies recoiled in alarm. +The Baroness, handling the brittle wires with her delicate little +fingers, gave me the numbers as I wanted them, and carefully held the +coil whilst I unrolled it. Suddenly one of them coiled itself up again +with a whirr, making the Baroness utter an impatient "Oh!" Lady +Adelheid enjoyed a hearty laugh, whilst I pursued the tangled coil to +the corner of the room. After we had all united our efforts to extract +a perfectly straight string from it, and had tried it again, to our +mortification it again broke; but at last—at last we found some good +coils; the strings began to hold, and gradually the discordant jangling +gave place to pure melodious chords. "Ha! it will go! it will go! The +instrument is getting in tune!" exclaimed the Baroness, looking at me +with her lovely smile. How quickly did this common interest banish all +the strangeness and shyness which the artificial manners of social +intercourse impose. A kind of confidential familiarity arose between +us, which, burning through me like an electric current, consumed the +timorous nervousness and constraint which had lain like ice upon my +heart. That peculiar mood of diffused melting sadness which is +engendered of such love as mine was had quite left me; and accordingly, +when the pianoforte was brought into something like tune, instead of +interpreting my deeper feelings in dreamy improvisations, as I had +intended, I began with those sweet and charming canzonets which have +reached us from the South. During this or the other <i>Senza di te</i> +(Without thee), or <i>Sentimi idol mio</i> (Hear me, my darling), or <i>Almen +se nonpos'io</i> (At least if I cannot), with numberless <i>Morir mi sentos</i> +(I feel I am dying), and <i>Addios</i> (Farewell), and <i>O dios!</i> (O +Heaven!), a brighter and brighter brilliancy shone in Seraphina's +eyes. She had seated herself close beside me at the instrument; I felt +her breath fanning my cheek; and as she placed her arm behind me +on the chair-back, a white ribbon, getting disengaged from her +beautiful ball-dress, fell across my shoulder, where by my singing and +Seraphina's soft sighs it was kept in a continual flutter backwards and +forwards, like a true love-messenger. It is a wonder how I kept from +losing my head.</p> + +<p class="normal">As I was running my fingers aimlessly over the keys, thinking of a new +song, Lady Adelheid, who had been sitting in one of the corners of the +room, ran across to us, and, kneeling down before the Baroness, begged +her, as she took both her hands and clasped them to her bosom, "Oh, +dear Baroness! darling Seraphina! now you must sing too." To this she +replied, "Whatever are you thinking about, Adelheid? How could I dream +of letting our virtuoso friend hear such poor singing as mine?" And she +looked so lovely, as, like a shy good child, she cast down her eyes and +blushed, timidly contending with the desire to sing. That I too added +my entreaties can easily be imagined; nor, upon her making mention of +some little Courland <i>Volkslieder</i> or popular songs, did I desist from +my entreaties until she stretched out her left hand towards the +instrument and tried a few notes by way of introduction. I rose to make +way for her at the piano, but she would not permit me to do so, +asserting that she could not play a single chord, and for that reason, +since she would have to sing without accompaniment, her performance +would be poor and uncertain. She began in a sweet voice, pure as a +bell, that came straight from her heart, and sang a song whose simple +melody bore all the characteristics of those <i>Volkslieder</i> which +proceed from the lips with such a lustrous brightness, so to speak, +that we cannot help perceiving in the glad light which surrounds us our +own higher poetic nature. There lies a mysterious charm in the +insignificant words of the text which converts them into a hieroglyphic +scroll representative of the unutterable emotions which throng our +hearts. Who does not know that Spanish canzonet the substance of which +is in words little more than, "With my maiden I embarked on the sea; a +storm came on, and my timid maiden was tossed up and down: nay, I will +never again embark on the sea with my maiden?" And the Baroness's +little song contained nothing more than, "Lately I was dancing with my +sweetheart at a wedding; a flower fell out of my hair; he picked it up +and gave it me, and said, 'When, sweetheart mine, shall we go to a +wedding again?'" When, on her beginning the second verse of the song, I +played an <i>arpeggio</i> accompaniment, and further when, in the +inspiration which now took possession of me, I at once stole from the +Baroness's own lips the melodies of the other songs she sang, I +doubtless appeared in her eyes, and in those of the Lady Adelheid, to +be one of the greatest of masters in the art of music, for they +overwhelmed me with enthusiastic praise. The lights and illuminations +from the ball-room, situated in one of the wings of the castle, now +shone across into the Baroness's chamber, whilst a discordant bleating +of trumpets and French horns announced that it was time to gather for +the ball. "Oh, now I must go," said the Baroness. I started up from the +pianoforte. "You have afforded me a delightful hour; these have been +the pleasantest moments I have ever spent in R—sitten," she added, +offering me her hand; and as in the extreme intoxication of delight I +pressed it to my lips, I felt her fingers close upon my hand with a +sudden convulsive tremor. I do not know how I managed to reach my +uncle's chamber, and still less how I got into the ball-room. There was +a certain Gascon who was afraid to go into battle since he was all +heart, and every wound would be fatal to him. I might be compared to +him; and so might everybody else who is in the same mood that I +was in; every touch was then fatal. The Baroness's hand—her tremulous +fingers—had affected me like a poisoned arrow; my blood was burning in +my veins.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the following morning my old uncle, without asking any direct +questions, had soon drawn from me a full account of the hour I had +spent in the Baroness's society, and I was not a little abashed when +the smile vanished from his lips and the jocular note from his words, +and he grew serious all at once, saying, "Cousin, I beg you will resist +this folly which is taking such a powerful hold upon you. Let me tell +you that your present conduct, as harmless as it now appears, may lead +to the most terrible consequences. In your thoughtless fatuity you are +standing on a thin crust of ice, which may break under you ere you are +aware of it, and let you in with a plunge. I shall take good care not +to hold you fast by the coat-tails, for I know you will scramble out +again pretty quick, and then, when you are lying sick unto death, you +will say, 'I got this little bit of a cold in a dream.' But I warn you +that a malignant fever will gnaw at your vitals, and years will pass +before you recover yourself, and are a man again. The deuce take your +music if you can put it to no better use than to cozen sentimental +young women out of their quiet peace of mind." "But," I began, +interrupting the old gentleman, "but have I ever thought of insinuating +myself as the Baroness's lover?" "You puppy!" cried the old gentleman, +"if I thought so I would pitch you out of this window." At this +juncture the Baron entered, and put an end to the painful conversation; +and the business to which I now had to turn my attention brought me +back from my love-sick reveries, in which I saw and thought of nothing +but Seraphina.</p> + +<p class="normal">In general society the Baroness only occasionally interchanged a few +friendly words with me; but hardly an evening passed in which a secret +message was not brought to me from Lady Adelheid, summoning me to +Seraphina. It soon came to pass that our music alternated with +conversations on divers topics. Whenever I and Seraphina began to get +too absorbed in sentimental dreams and vague aspirations, the Lady +Adelheid, though now hardly young enough to be so naïve and droll as +she once was, yet intervened with all sorts of merry and somewhat +chaotic nonsense. From several hints she let fall, I soon discovered +that the Baroness really had something preying upon her mind, even as I +thought I had read in her eyes the very first moment I saw her; and I +clearly discerned the hostile influence of the apparition of the +castle. Something terrible had happened or was to happen. Although I +was often strongly impelled to tell Seraphina in what way I had come in +contact with the invisible enemy, and how my old uncle had banished +him, undoubtedly for ever, I yet felt my tongue fettered by a +hesitation which was inexplicable to myself even, whenever I opened my +mouth to speak.</p> + +<p class="normal">One day the Baroness failed to appear at the dinner table; it was said +that she was a little unwell, and could not leave her room. Sympathetic +inquiries were addressed to the Baron as to whether her illness was of +a grave nature. He smiled in a very disagreeable way, in fact, it was +almost like bitter irony, and said, "Nothing more than a slight +catarrh, which she has got from our blustering sea-breezes. They can't +tolerate any sweet voices; the only sounds they will endure are the +hoarse 'Halloos' of the chase." At these words the Baron hurled a keen +searching look at me across the table, for I sat obliquely opposite to +him. He had not spoken to his neighbour, but to me. Lady Adelheid, who +sat beside me, blushed a scarlet red. Fixing her eyes upon the plate in +front of her, and scribbling about on it with her fork, she whispered, +"And yet you must see Seraphina to-day; your sweet songs shall to-day +also bring soothing and comfort to her poor heart." Adelheid addressed +these words to me; but at this moment it struck me that I was almost +apparently entangled in a base and forbidden intrigue with the +Baroness, which could only end in some terrible crime. My old uncle's +warning fell heavily upon my heart. What should I do? Not see her +again? That was impossible so long as I remained in the castle; and +even if I might leave the castle and return to K——, I had not the +will to do it Oh! I felt only too deeply that I was not strong enough +to shake myself out of this dream, which was mocking one with delusive +hopes of happiness. Adelheid I almost regarded in the light of a common +go-between; I would despise her, and yet, upon second thoughts, I could +not help being ashamed of my folly. Had anything ever happened during +those blissful evening hours which could in the least degree lead to +any nearer relation with Seraphina than was permissible by propriety +and morality? How dare I let the thought enter my mind that the +Baroness would ever entertain any warm feeling for me? And yet I was +convinced of the danger of my situation.</p> + +<p class="normal">We broke up from dinner earlier than usual, in order to go again after +some wolves which had been seen in the fir-wood close by the castle. A +little hunting was just the thing I wanted in the excited frame of mind +in which I then was. I expressed to my uncle my resolve to accompany +the party; he gave me an approving smile and said, "That's right; I am +glad you are going out with them for once. I shall stay at home, so you +can take my firelock with you, and buckle my whinger round your waist; +in case of need it is a good and trusty weapon, if you only keep your +presence of mind." That part of the wood in which the wolves were +supposed to lie was surrounded by the huntsmen. It was bitterly cold; +the wind howled through the firs, and drove the light snow-flakes right +in my face, so that when at length it came on to be dusk I could +scarcely see six paces before me. Quite benumbed by the cold, I left +the place that had been assigned to me and sought shelter deeper in the +wood. There, leaning against a tree, with my firelock under my arm, I +forgot the wolf-hunt entirely; my thoughts had travelled back to +Seraphina's cosy room. After a time shots were heard in the far +distance; but at the same moment there was a rustling in the reed-bank, +and I saw not ten paces from me a huge wolf about to run past me. I +took aim, and fired, but missed. The brute sprang towards me with +glaring eyes; I should have been lost had I not had sufficient presence +of mind to draw my hunting-knife, and, just as the brute was flying at +me, to drive it deep into his throat, so that the blood spurted out +over my hand and arm. One of the Baron's keepers, who had stood not far +from me, came running up with a loud shout, and at his repeated +"Halloo!" all the rest soon gathered round us. The Baron hastened up to +me, saying, "For God's sake, you are bleeding—you are bleeding. Are +you wounded?" I assured him that I was not Then he turned to the keeper +who had stood nearest to me, and overwhelmed him with reproaches for +not having shot after me when I missed. And notwithstanding that the +man maintained this to have been perfectly impossible, since in the +very same moment the wolf had rushed upon me, and any shot would have +been at the risk of hitting me, the Baron persisted in saying that he +ought to have taken especial care of me as a less experienced hunter. +Meanwhile the keepers had lifted up the dead animal; it was one of the +largest that had been seen for a long time; and everybody admired my +courage and resolution, although to myself what I had done appeared +quite natural I had not for a moment thought of the danger I had run. +The Baron in particular seemed to take very great interest in the +matter; I thought he would never be done asking me whether, though I +was not wounded by the brute, I did not fear the ill effects that would +follow from the fright As we went back to the castle, the Baron took me +by the arm like a friend, and I had to give my firelock to a keeper to +carry. He still continued to talk about my heroic deed, so that +eventually I came to believe in my own heroism, and lost all my +constraint and embarrassment, and felt that I had established myself +in the Baron's eyes as a man of courage and uncommon resolution. The +schoolboy had passed his examination successfully, was now no longer a +schoolboy, and all the submissive nervousness of the schoolboy had left +him. I now conceived I had earned a right to try and gain Seraphina's +favour. Everybody knows of course what ridiculous combinations the +fancy of a love-sick youth is capable of. In the castle, over the +smoking punchbowl, by the fireside, I was the hero of the hour. Besides +myself the Baron was the only one of the party who had killed a +wolf—also a formidable one; the rest had to be content with ascribing +their bad shots to the weather and the darkness, and with relating +thrilling stories of their former exploits in hunting and the dangers +they had escaped. I thought, too, that I might reap an especial share +of praise and admiration from my old uncle as well; and so, with a view +to this end, I related to him my adventure at pretty considerable +length, nor did I forget to paint the savage brute's wild and +bloodthirsty appearance in very startling colours. The old gentleman, +however, only laughed in my face and said, "God is powerful even in the +weak."</p> + +<p class="normal">Tired of drinking and of the company, I was going quietly along the +corridor towards the justice-hall when I saw a figure with a light slip +in before me. On entering the hall I saw it was Lady Adelheid. "This is +the way we have to wander about like ghosts or night-walkers in order +to catch you, my brave slayer of wolves," she whispered, taking my arm. +The words "ghosts" and "sleep-walkers," pronounced in the place where +we were, fell like lead upon my heart; they immediately brought to my +recollection the ghostly apparitions of those two awful nights. As +then, so now, the wind came howling in from the sea in deep organ-like +cadences, rattling the oriel windows again and again and whistling +fearfully through them, whilst the moon cast her pale gleams exactly +upon the mysterious part of the wall where the scratching had been +heard. I fancied I discerned stains of blood upon it. Doubtless Lady +Adelheid, who still had hold of my hand, must have felt the cold icy +shiver which ran through me. "What's the matter with you?" she +whispered softly; "what's the matter with you? You are as cold as +marble. Come, I will call you back into life. Do you know how very +impatient the Baroness is to see you? And until she does see you she +will not believe that the ugly wolf has not really bitten you. She is +in a terrible state of anxiety about you. Why, my friend,—oh! how have +you awakened this interest in the little Seraphina? I have never seen +her like this. Ah!—so now the pulse is beginning to prickle; see how +quickly the dead man comes to life! Well, come along—but softly, +still! Come, we must go to the little Baroness." I suffered myself to +be led away in silence. The way in which Adelheid spoke of the Baroness +seemed to me undignified, and the innuendo of an understanding between +us positively shameful. When I entered the room along with Adelheid, +Seraphina, with a low-breathed "Oh!" advanced three or four paces +quickly to meet me; but then, as if recollecting herself, she stood +still in the middle of the room. I ventured to take her hand and press +it to my lips. Allowing it to rest in mine, she asked, "But, for +Heaven's sake! is it your business to meddle with wolves? Don't you +know that the fabulous days of Orpheus and Amphion are long past, and +that wild beasts have quite lost all respect for even the most +admirable of singers?" But this gleeful turn, by which the Baroness at +once effectually guarded against all misinterpretation of her warm +interest in me, I was put immediately into the proper key and the +proper mood. Why I did not take my usual place at the pianoforte I +cannot explain, even to myself, nor why I sat down beside the Baroness +on the sofa. Her question, "And what were you doing then to get into +danger?" was an indication of our tacit agreement that conversation, +not music, was to engage our attention for that evening. After I had +narrated my adventure in the wood, and mentioned the warm interest +which the Baron had taken in it, delicately hinting that I had not +thought him capable of so much feeling, the Baroness began in a tender +and almost melancholy tone, "Oh! how violent and rude you must think +the Baron; but I assure you it is only whilst we are living within +these gloomy, ghostly walls, and during the time there is hunting going +on in the dismal fir-forests, that his character completely changes, at +least his outward behaviour does. What principally disquiets him in +this unpleasant way is the thought, which constantly haunts him, that +something terrible will happen here. And that undoubtedly accounts for +the fact of his being so greatly agitated by your adventure, which +fortunately has had no ill consequences. He won't have the meanest of +his servants exposed to danger, if he knows it, still less a new-won +friend whom he has come to like; and I am perfectly certain that +Gottlieb, whom he blames for having left you in the lurch, will be +punished; even if he escapes being locked up in a dungeon, he will yet +have to suffer the punishment, so mortifying to a hunter, of going out +the next time there is a hunt with only a club in his hand instead of a +rifle. The circumstance that hunts like those which are held here are +always attended with danger, and the fact that the Baron, though always +fearing some sad accident, is yet so fond of hunting that he cannot +desist from provoking the demon of mischief, make his existence here a +kind of conflict, the ill effects of which I also have to feel. Many +queer stories are current about his ancestor who established the +entail; and I know myself that there is some dark family secret locked +within these walls like a horrible ghost which drives away the +owners, and makes it impossible for them to bear with it longer than a +few weeks at a time—and that only amid a tumult of jovial guests. But +I—Oh! how lonely I am in the midst of this noisy, merry company! And +how the ghostly influences which breathe upon me from the walls stir +and excite my very heart! You, my dear friend, have given me, through +your musical skill, the first cheerful moments I have spent here. How +can I thank you sufficiently for your kindness!" I kissed the hand she +offered to me, saying, that even on the very first day, or rather +during the very first night, I had experienced the ghostliness of the +place in all its horrors. The Baroness fixed her staring eyes upon my +face, as I went on to describe the ghostly character of the building, +discernible everywhere throughout the castle, particularly in the +decorations of the justice-hall, and to speak of the roaring of the +wind from the sea, &c. Possibly my voice and my expressions indicated +that I had something more in my mind than what I said; at any rate when +I concluded, the Baroness cried vehemently, "No, no; something dreadful +has happened to you in that hall, which I never enter without +shuddering. I beg you—pray, pray, tell me all."</p> + +<p class="normal">Seraphina's face had grown deadly pale; and I saw plainly that it would +be more advisable to give her a faithful account of all that I had +experienced than to leave her excited imagination to conjure up some +apparition that might perhaps, in a way I could not foresee, be far +more horrible than what I had actually encountered. As she listened to +me her fear and strained anxiety increased from moment to moment; and +when I mentioned the scratching on the wall she screamed, "It's +horrible! Yes, yes, it's in that wall that the awful secret is +concealed!" But as I went on to describe with what spiritual power and +superiority of will my old uncle had banished the ghost, she sighed +deeply, as though she had shaken off a heavy burden that had weighed +oppressively upon her. She leaned back in the sofa and held her hands +before her face. Now I first noticed that Adelheid had left us. A +considerable pause ensued, and as Seraphina still continued silent, I +softly rose, and going to the pianoforte, endeavoured in swelling +chords to invoke the bright spirits of consolation to come and deliver +Seraphina from the dark influence to which my narration had subjected +her. Then I soon began to sing as softly as I was able one of the Abbé +Steffani's<sup><a name="div2_entail6" href="#div2Ref_entail6">6</a></sup> canzonas. The melancholy strains of the <i>Ochi, perchè +piangete</i> (O eyes, why weep you?) roused Seraphina out of her reverie, +and she listened to me with a gentle smile upon her face, and bright +pearl-like tears in her eyes. How am I to account for it that I kneeled +down before her, that she bent over towards me, that I threw my arms +about her, that a long ardent kiss was imprinted on my lips? How am I +to account for it that I did not lose my senses when she drew me softly +towards her, how that I tore myself from her arms, and, quickly rising +to my feet, hurried to the pianoforte? Turning from me, the Baroness +took a few steps towards the window, then she turned round again and +approached me with an air of almost proud dignity, which was not at all +usual with her. Looking me straight in the face, she said, "Your uncle +is the most worthy old man I know; he is the guardian-angel of our +family. May he include me in his pious prayers!" I was unable to utter +a word; the subtle poison that I had imbibed with her kiss burned and +boiled in every pulse and nerve. Lady Adelheid came in. The violence of +my inward conflict burst out at length in a passionate flood of tears, +which I was unable to repress. Adelheid looked at me with wonder and +smiled dubiously;—I could have murdered her. The Baroness gave me her +hand, and said with inexpressible gentleness, "Farewell, my dear +friend. Fare you right well; and remember that nobody perhaps has ever +understood your music better than I have. Oh! these notes! they will +echo long, long in my heart." I forced myself to utter a few stupid, +disconnected words, and hurried up to my uncle's room. The old +gentleman had already gone to bed. I stayed in the hall, and falling +upon my knees, I wept aloud; I called upon my beloved by name, I gave +myself up completely and regardlessly to all the absurd folly of a +love-sick lunatic, until at last the extravagant noise I made awoke my +uncle. But his loud call, "Cousin, I believe you have gone cranky, or +else you're having another tussle with a wolf. Be off to bed with you +if you will be so very kind"—these words compelled me to enter his +room, where I got into bed with the fixed resolve to dream only of +Seraphina.</p> + +<p class="normal">It would be somewhere past midnight when I thought I heard distant +voices, a running backwards and forwards, and an opening and banging of +doors—for I had not yet fallen asleep. I listened attentively; I heard +footsteps approaching the corridor; the hall door was opened, and soon +there came a knock at our door. "Who is there?" I cried. A voice from +without answered, "Herr Justitiarius, Herr Justitiarius, wake up, wake +up!" I recognised Francis's voice, and as I asked, "Is the castle on +fire?" the old gentleman woke up in his turn and asked, "Where—where +is there a fire? Is it that cursed apparition again? where is it?" "Oh! +please get up, Herr Justitiarius," said Francis, "Please get up; the +Baron wants you." "What does the Baron want me for?" inquired my uncle +further; "what does he want me for at this time of night? does he not +know that all law business goes to bed along with the lawyer, and +sleeps as soundly as he does?" "Oh!" cried Francis, now anxiously; +"please, Herr Justitiarius, good sir, please get up. My lady the +Baroness is dying." I started up with a cry of dismay. "Open the door +for Francis," said the old gentleman to me. I stumbled about the room +almost distracted, and could find neither door nor lock; my uncle had +to come and help me. Francis came in, his face pale and troubled, and +lit the candles. We had scarcely thrown on our clothes when we heard +the Baron calling in the hall, "Can I speak to you, good V——?" "But +what have you dressed for, cousin? the Baron only wanted me," asked the +old gentleman, on the point of going out. "I must go down—I must see +her and then die," I replied tragically, and as if my heart were rent +by hopeless grief. "Ay, just so; you are right, cousin," he said, +banging the door to in my face, so that the hinges creaked, and locking +it on the outside. At the first moment, deeply incensed at this +restraint, I thought of bursting the door open; but quickly reflecting +that this would entail the disagreeable consequences of a piece of +outrageous insanity, I resolved to await the old gentleman's return; +then however, let the cost be what it might, I would escape his +watchfulness. I heard him talking vehemently with the Baron, and +several times distinguished my own name, but could not make out +anything further. Every moment my position grew more intolerable. At +length I heard that some one brought a message to the Baron, who +immediately hurried off. My old uncle entered the room again. "She is +dead!" I cried, running towards him, "And you are a stupid fool," he +interrupted coolly; then he laid hold upon me and forced me into a +chair. "I must go down," I cried, "I must go down and see her, even +though it cost me my life." "Do so, good cousin," said he, locking the +door, taking out the key, and putting it in his pocket. I now flew into +a perfectly frantic rage; stretching out my hand towards the rifle, I +screamed, "If you don't instantly open the door I will send this bullet +through my brains." Then the old gentleman planted himself immediately +in front of me, and fixing his keen piercing eyes upon me said, "Boy, +do you think you can frighten me with your idle threats? Do you think I +should set much value on your life if you can go and throw it away in +childish folly like a broken plaything? What have you to do with the +Baron's wife? who has given you the right to insinuate yourself, like a +tiresome puppy, where you have no claim to be, and where you are not +wanted? do you wish to go and act the love-sick swain at the solemn +hour of death?" I sank back in my chair utterly confounded After a +while the old gentleman went on more gently, "And now let me tell you +that this pretended illness of the Baroness is in all probability +nothing. Lady Adelheid always loses her head at the least little thing. +If a rain-drop falls upon her nose, she screams, 'What fearful weather +it is!' Unfortunately the noise penetrated to the old aunts, and they, +in the midst of unseasonable floods of tears, put in an appearance +armed with an entire arsenal of strengthening drops, elixirs of life, +and the deuce knows what. A sharp fainting-fit"—— The old gentleman +checked himself; doubtless he observed the struggle that was going on +within me. He took a few turns through the room; then again planting +himself in front of me, he had a good hearty laugh and said, "Cousin, +cousin, what nonsensical folly have you now got in your head? Ah well! +I suppose it can't be helped; the devil is to play his pretty games +here in divers sorts of ways. You have tumbled very nicely into his +clutches, and now he's making you dance to a sweet tune," He again took +a few turns up and down, and again went on, "It's no use to think of +sleep now; and it occurred to me that we might have a pipe, and so +spend the few hours that are left of the darkness and the night." With +these words he took a clay pipe from the cupboard, and proceeded to +fill it slowly and carefully, humming a song to himself; then he +rummaged about amongst a heap of papers, until he found a sheet, +which he picked out and rolled into a spill and lighted. Blowing the +tobacco-smoke from him in thick clouds, he said, speaking between his +teeth, "Well, cousin, what was that story about the wolf?"</p> + +<p class="normal">I know not how it was, but this calm, quiet behaviour of the old +gentleman operated strangely upon me. I seemed to be no longer in +R—sitten, and the Baroness was so far, far distant from me that I +could only reach her on the wings of thought. The old gentleman's last +question, however, annoyed me. "But do you find my hunting exploit so +amusing?" I broke in,—"so well fitted for banter?" "By no means," he +rejoined, "by no means, cousin mine; but you've no idea what a comical +face such a whipper-snapper as you cuts, and how ludicrously he acts as +well, when Providence for once in a while honours him by putting him in +the way to meet with something out of the usual run of things. I once +had a college friend who was a quiet, sober fellow, and always on good +terms with himself. By accident he became entangled in an affair of +honour,—I say by accident, because he himself was never in any way +aggressive; and although most of the fellows looked upon him as a poor +thing, as a poltroon, he yet showed so much firm and resolute courage +in this affair as greatly to excite everybody's admiration. But from +that time onwards he was also completely changed. The sober and +industrious youth became a bragging, insufferable bully. He was always +drinking and rioting, and fighting about all sorts of childish trifles, +until he was run through in a duel by the Senior<sup><a name="div2_entail7" href="#div2Ref_entail7">7</a></sup> of an exclusive +corps. I merely tell you the story, cousin; you are at liberty to think +what you please about it But to return to the Baroness and her +illness"—— At this moment light footsteps were heard in the hall; I +fancied, too, there was an unearthly moaning in the air. "She is dead!" +the thought shot through me like a fatal flash of lightning. The old +gentleman quickly rose to his feet and called out, "Francis, Francis!" +"Yes, my good Herr Justitiarius," he replied from without. "Francis," +went on my uncle, "rake the fire together a bit in the grate, and if +you can manage it, you had better make us a good cup or two of tea." +"It is devilish cold," and he turned to me, "and I think we had better +go and sit round the fire and talk a little." He opened the door, and I +followed him mechanically. "How are things going on below?" he asked. +"Oh!" replied Francis; "there was not much the matter. The Lady +Baroness is all right again, and ascribes her bit of a fainting-fit to +a bad dream." I was going to break out into an extravagant +manifestation of joy and gladness, but a stern glance from my uncle +kept me quiet "And yet, after all, I think it would be better if we lay +down for an hour or two. You need not mind about the tea, Francis." "As +you think well, Herr Justitiarius," replied Francis, and he left the +room with the wish that we might have a good night's rest, albeit the +cocks were already crowing. "See here, cousin," said the old gentleman, +knocking the ashes out of his pipe on the grate, "I think, cousin, that +it's a very good thing no harm has happened to you either from wolves +or from loaded rifles." I now saw things in the right light, and was +ashamed at myself to have thus given the old gentleman good grounds for +treating me like a spoiled child.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next morning he said to me, "Be so good as to step down, good cousin, +and inquire how the Baroness is. You need only ask for Lady Adelheid; +she will supply you with a full budget, I have no doubt" You may +imagine how eagerly I hastened downstairs. But just as I was about to +give a gentle knock at the door of the Baroness's anteroom, the Baron +came hurriedly out of the same. He stood still in astonishment, and +scrutinised me with a gloomy searching look. "What do you want here?" +burst from his lips. Notwithstanding that my heart beat, I controlled +myself and replied in a firm tone, "To inquire on my uncle's behalf how +my lady, the Baroness, is?" "Oh! it was nothing—one of her usual +nervous attacks. She is now having a quiet sleep, and will, I am sure, +make her appearance at the dinner-table quite well and cheerful. Tell +him that—tell him that." This the Baron said with a certain degree of +passionate vehemence, which seemed to me to imply that he was more +concerned about the Baroness than he was willing to show. I turned to +go back to my uncle, when the Baron suddenly seized my arm and said, +whilst his eyes flashed fire, "I have a word or two to say to you, +young man." Here I saw the deeply injured husband before me, and feared +there would be a scene which would perhaps end ignominiously for me. I +was unarmed; but at that moment I remembered I had in my pocket the +ingeniously-made hunting-knife which my uncle had presented to me after +we got to R—sitten. I now followed the Baron, who led the way rapidly, +with the determination not even to spare his life if I ran any risk of +being treated dishonourably.</p> + +<p class="normal">We entered the Baron's own room, the door of which he locked behind +him. Now he began to pace restlessly backwards and forwards, with his +arms folded one over the other; then he stopped in front of me and +repeated, "I have a word or two to say to you, young man." I had wound +myself up to a pitch of most daring courage, and I replied, raising my +voice, "I hope they will be words which I may hear without resentment." +He stared hard at me in astonishment, as though he had failed to +understand me. Then, fixing his eyes gloomily upon the floor, he threw +his arms behind his back, and again began to stride up and down the +room. He took down a rifle and put the ramrod down the barrel to see +whether it were loaded or not. My blood boiled in my veins; grasping my +knife, I stepped close up to him, so as to make it impossible for him +to take aim at me. "That's a handsome weapon," he said, replacing the +rifle in the corner. I retired a few paces, the Baron following me. +Slapping me on the shoulder, perhaps a little more violently than was +necessary, he said, "I daresay I seem to you, Theodore, to be excited +and irritable; and I really am so, owing to the anxieties of a +sleepless night. My wife's nervous attack was not in the least +dangerous; that I now see plainly. But here—here in this castle, which +is haunted by an evil spirit, I always dread something terrible +happening; and then it's the first time she has been ill here. And +you—you alone were to blame for it." "How that can possibly be I have +not the slightest conception," I replied calmly. "I wish," continued +the Baron, "I wish that damned piece of mischief, my steward's wife's +instrument, were chopped up into a thousand pieces, and that you—but +no, no; it was to be so, it was inevitably to be so, and I alone am to +blame for all. I ought to have told you, the moment you began to play +music in my wife's room, of the whole state of the case, and to have +informed you of my wife's temper of mind." I was about to speak; "Let +me go on," said the Baron, "I must prevent your forming any rash +judgment. You probably regard me as an uncultivated fellow, averse to +the arts; but I am not so by any means. There is a particular +consideration, however, based upon deep conviction, which constrains me +to forbid the introduction here as far as possible of such music as can +powerfully affect any person's mind, and to this I of course am no +exception. Know that my wife suffers from a morbid excitability, which +will finally destroy all the happiness of her life. Within these +strange walls she is never quit of that strained over-excited +condition, which at other times occurs but temporarily, and then +generally as the forerunner of a serious illness. You will ask me, and +quite reasonably too, why I do not spare my delicate wife the necessity +of coming to live in this weird castle, and mix amongst the wild +confusion of a hunting-party. Well, call it weakness—be it so; in a +word, I cannot bring myself to leave her behind. I should be tortured +by a thousand fears, and quite incapable of any serious business, +for I am perfectly sure that I should be haunted everywhere, in the +justice-hall as well as in the forest, by the most horrid ideas of all +kinds of fatal mischief happening to her. And, on the other hand, I +believe that the sort of life led here cannot fail to operate upon the +weakly woman like strengthening chalybeate waters. By my soul, the +sea-breezes, sweeping keenly after their peculiar fashion through the +fir-trees, and the deep baying of the hounds, and the merry ringing +notes of our hunting-horns <i>must</i> get the better of all your sickly +languishing sentimentalisings at the piano, which no man ought play in +<i>that way</i>. I tell you, you are deliberately torturing my wife to +death." These words he uttered with great emphasis, whilst his eyes +flashed with a restless fire. The blood mounted to my head; I made a +violent gesture against the Baron with my hand; I was about to speak, +but he cut me short "I know what you are going to say," he began, "I +know what you are going to say, and I repeat that you are going the +right road to kill my wife. But that you intended this I cannot of +course for a moment maintain; and yet you will understand that I must +put a stop to the thing. In short, by your playing and singing you work +her up to a high pitch of excitement, and then, when she drifts without +anchor and rudder on the boundless sea of dreams and visions and vague +aspirations which your music, like some vile charm, has summoned into +existence, you plunge her down into the depths of horror with a tale +about a fearful apparition which you say came and played pranks with +you up in the justice-hall. Your great-uncle has told me everything; +but, pray, repeat to me all you saw, or did not see, heard, felt, +divined by instinct."</p> + +<p class="normal">I braced myself up and narrated calmly how everything had happened from +beginning to end, the Baron merely interposing at intervals a few words +expressive of his astonishment. When I came to the part where my old +uncle had met the ghost with trustful courage and had exorcised him +with a few powerful words, the Baron clasped his hands, raised them +folded towards Heaven, and said with deep emotion, "Yes, he is the +guardian-angel of the family. His mortal remains shall rest in the +vault of my ancestors." When I finished my narration, the Baron +murmured to himself, "Daniel, Daniel, what are you doing here at this +hour?" as he folded his arms and strode up and down the room. "And was +that all, Herr Baron?" I asked, making a movement as though I would +retire. Starting up as if out of a dream, the Baron took me kindly by +the hand and said, "Yes, my good friend, my wife, whom you have dealt +so hardly by without intending it—you must cure her again; you alone +can do so." I felt I was blushing, and had I stood opposite a mirror +should undoubtedly have seen in it a very blank and absurd face. The +Baron seemed to exult in my embarrassment; he kept his eyes fixed +intently upon my face, smiling with perfectly galling irony. "How in +the world can I cure her?" I managed to stammer out at length with an +effort "Well," he said, interrupting me, "you have no dangerous patient +to deal with at any rate. I now make an express claim upon your skill. +Since the Baroness has been drawn into the enchanted circle of your +music, it would be both foolish and cruel to drag her out of it all of +a sudden. Go on with your music therefore. You will always be welcome +during the evening hours in my wife's apartments. But gradually select +a more energetic kind of music, and effect a clever alternation of the +cheerful sort with the serious; and above all things, repeat your story +of the fearful ghost very very often. The Baroness will grow familiar +with it; she will forget that a ghost haunts this castle; and the story +will have no stronger effect upon her than any other tale of +enchantment which is put before her in a romance or a ghost-story book. +Pray, do this, my good friend." With these words the Baron left me. I +went away. I felt as if I were annihilated, to be thus humiliated to +the level of a foolish and insignificant child. Fool that I was to +suppose that jealousy was stirring his heart! He himself sends me to +Seraphina; he sees in me only the blind instrument which, after he has +made use of it, he can throw away if he thinks well. A few minutes +previously I had really feared the Baron; deep down within my heart +lurked the consciousness of guilt; but it was a consciousness which +allowed me to feel distinctly the beauty of the higher life for which I +was ripe. Now all had disappeared in the blackness of night; and I saw +only the stupid boy who in childish obstinacy had persisted in taking +the paper crown which he had put on his hot temples for a real golden +one. I hurried away to my uncle, who was waiting for me. "Well, cousin, +why have you been so long? Where have you been staying?" he cried as +soon as he saw me. "I have been having some words with the Baron!" I +quickly replied, carelessly and in a low voice, without being able to +look at the old gentleman. "God damn it all," said he, feigning +astonishment "Good gracious, boy! that's just what I thought. I suppose +the Baron has challenged you, cousin?" The ringing peal of laughter +which the old gentleman immediately afterwards broke out into taught me +that this time too, as always, he had seen me through and through. I +bit my lip, and durst not speak a word, for I knew very well that it +would only be the signal for the old gentleman to overwhelm me beneath +the torrent of teasing which was already hovering on the tip of his +tongue.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Baroness appeared at the dinner-table in an elegant morning-robe, +the dazzling whiteness of which exceeded that of fresh-fallen snow. She +looked worn and low-spirited; but she began to speak in her soft and +melodious accents, and on raising her dark eyes there shone a sweet and +yearning look full of aspiration in their voluptuous glow, and a +fugitive blush flitted across her lily-white cheeks. She was more +beautiful than ever. But who can fathom the follies of a young man who +has got too hot blood in his head and heart? The bitter pique which the +Baron had stirred up within me I transferred to the Baroness. The +entire business seemed to me like a foul mystification; and I would now +show that I was possessed of alarmingly good common-sense and also of +extraordinary sagacity. Like a petulant child, I shunned the Baroness +and escaped Adelheid when she pursued me, and found a place where I +wished, right at the bottom end of the table between the two officers, +with whom I began to carouse right merrily. We kept our glasses going +gaily during dessert, and I was, as so frequently is the case in moods +like mine, extremely noisy and loud in my joviality. A servant brought +me a plate with some bonbons on it, with the words, "From Lady +Adelheid." I took them; and observed on one of them, scribbled in +pencil, "and Seraphina." My blood coursed tumultuously in my veins. I +sent a glance in Adelheid's direction, which she met with a most sly +and archly cunning look; and taking her glass in her hand, she gave me +a slight nod. Almost mechanically I murmured to myself, "Seraphina!" +then taking up my glass in my turn, I drained it at a single draught. +My glance fell across in <i>her</i> direction; I perceived that she also had +drunk at the very same moment and was setting down her glass. Our eyes +met, and a malignant demon whispered in my ear, "Unhappy wretch, she +does love you!" One of the guests now rose, and, in conformity with the +custom of the North, proposed the health of the lady of the house. Our +glasses rang in the midst of a tumult of joy. My heart was torn with +rapture and despair; the wine burned like fire within me; everything +spun round in circles; I felt as if I must hasten and throw myself at +her feet and there sigh out my life. "What's the matter with you, my +friend?" asked my neighbour, thus recalling me to myself; but Seraphina +had left the hall. We rose from the table. I was making for the door, +but Adelheid held me fast, and began to talk about divers matters; I +neither heard nor understood a single word. She grasped both my hands +and, laughing, shouted something in my ear. I remained dumb and +motionless, as though affected by catalepsy. All I remember is that I +finally took a glass of liqueur out of Adelheid's hand in a mechanical +way and drank it off, and then I recollect being alone in a window, and +after that I rushed out of the hall, down the stairs, and ran out into +the wood. The snow was falling in thick flakes; the fir-trees were +moaning as they waved to and fro in the wind. Like a maniac I ran round +and round in wide circles, laughing and screaming loudly, "Look, look +and see. Aha! Aha! The devil is having a fine dance with the boy who +thought he would taste of strictly forbidden fruit!" Who can tell what +would have been the end of my mad prank if I had not heard my name +called loudly from the outside of the wood? The storm had abated; the +moon shone out brightly through the broken clouds; I heard dogs +barking, and perceived a dark figure approaching me. It was the old man +Francis. "Why, why, my good Herr Theodore," he began, "you have quite +lost your way in the rough snow-storm. The Herr Justitiarius is +awaiting you with much impatience." I followed the old man in silence. +I found my great-uncle working in the justice-hall. "You have done +well," he cried, on seeing me, "you have done a very wise thing to go +out in the open air a little and get cool. But don't drink quite so +much wine; you are far too young, and it's not good for you." I did not +utter a word in reply, and also took my place at the table in silence. +"But now tell me, good cousin, what it was the Baron really wanted you +for?" I told him all, and concluded by stating that I would not lend +myself for the doubtful cure which the Baron had proposed. "And +it would not be practicable," the old gentleman interrupted, "for +to-morrow morning early we set off home, cousin." And so it was that I +never saw Seraphina again.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as we arrived in K—— my old uncle complained that he felt +the effects of the wearying journey this time more than ever. His +moody silence, broken only by violent outbreaks of the worst possible +ill-humour, announced the return of his attacks of gout. One day I was +suddenly called in; I found the old gentleman confined to his bed and +unable to speak, suffering from a paralytic stroke. He held a letter in +his hand, which he had crumpled up tightly in a spasmodic fit. I +recognised the hand-writing of the land-steward of R—sitten; but, +quite upset by my trouble, I did not venture to take the letter out of +the old gentleman's hand. I did not doubt that his end was near. But +his pulse began to beat again, even before the physician arrived; the +old gentleman's remarkably tough constitution resisted the mortal +attack, although he was in his seventieth year. That selfsame day the +doctor pronounced him out of danger.</p> + +<p class="normal">We had a more severe winter than usual; this was followed by a rough +and stormy spring; and hence it was more the gout—a consequence of the +inclemency of the season—than his previous accident which kept him for +a long time confined to his bed. During this period he made up his mind +to retire altogether from all kinds of business. He transferred his +office of Justitiarius to others; and so I was cut off from all hope of +ever again going to R—sitten. The old gentleman would allow no one to +attend him but me; and it was to me alone that he looked for all +amusement and every cheerful diversion. And though, in the hours when +he was free from pain, his good spirits returned, and he had no lack of +broad jests, even making mention of hunting exploits, so that I fully +expected every minute to hear him make a butt of my heroic deed, when I +had killed the wolf with my whinger, yet never once did he allude to +our visit to R—sitten, and as may well be imagined, I was very +careful, from natural shyness, not to lead him directly up to the +subject. My harassing anxiety and continual attendance upon the old +gentleman had thrust Seraphina's image into the background. But as soon +as his sickness abated somewhat, my thoughts returned with more +liveliness to that moment in the Baroness's room, which I now looked +upon as a star—a bright star—that had set, for me at least, for ever. +An occurrence which now happened, by making me shudder with an ice-cold +thrill as at sight of a visitant from the world of spirits, revived +all the pain I had formerly felt. One evening, as I was opening the +pocket-book which I had carried whilst at R—sitten, there fell out of +the papers I was unfolding a dark curl, wrapped about with a white +ribbon; I immediately recognised it as Seraphina's hair. But, on +examining the ribbon more closely, I distinctly perceived the mark of a +spot of blood on it! Perhaps Adelheid had skilfully contrived to +secrete it about me during the moments of conscious insanity by which I +had been affected during the last days of our visit; but why was the +spot of blood there? It excited forebodings of something terrible in my +mind, and almost converted this too pastoral love-token into an awful +admonition, pointing to a passion which might entail the expenditure of +precious blood. It was the same white ribbon that had fluttered about +me in light wanton sportiveness as it were the first time I sat near +Seraphina, and which Mysterious Night had stamped as an emblem of +mortal injury. Boys ought not to play with weapons with the dangerous +properties of which they are not familiar.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the storms of spring had ceased to bluster, and summer asserted +her rights; and if the cold had formerly been unbearable, so now too +was the heat when July came in. The old gentleman visibly gathered +strength, and following his usual custom, went out to a garden in the +suburbs. One still, warm evening, as we sat in the sweet-smelling +jasmine arbour, he was in unusually good spirits, and not, as was +generally the case, overflowing with sarcasm and irony, but in a gentle +and almost soft and melting mood. "Cousin," he began, "I don't know how +it is, but I feel so nice and warm and comfortable all over to-day; I +have not felt like it for many years. I believe it is an augury that I +shall die soon." I exerted myself to drive these gloomy thoughts from +his mind. "Never mind, cousin," he said, "in any case I'm not long for +this world; and so I will now discharge a debt I owe you. Do you still +remember our autumn in R—sitten?" This question thrilled through me +like a lightning-flash, so before I was able to make any reply he +continued, "It was Heaven's will that your entrance into that castle +should be signalised by memorable circumstances, and that you should +become involved against your own will in the deepest secrets of the +house. The time has now come when you must learn all. We have often +enough talked about things which you, cousin, rather dimly guessed at +than really understood. In the alternation of the seasons nature +represents symbolically the cycle of human life. That is a trite +remark; but I interpret it differently from everybody else. The dews of +spring fall, summer's vapours fade away, and it is the pure atmosphere +of autumn which clearly reveals the distant landscape, and then finally +earthly existence is swallowed in the night of winter. I mean that the +government of the Power Inscrutable is more plainly revealed in the +clear-sightedness of old age. It is granted glimpses of the promised +land, the pilgrimage to which begins with the death on earth. How +clearly do I see at this moment the dark destiny of that house, to +which I am knit by firmer ties than blood relationship can weave! +Everything lies disclosed to the eyes of my spirit. And yet the things +which I now see, in the form in which I see them—the essential +substance of them, that is—this I cannot tell you in words; for no +man's tongue is able to do so. But listen, my son, I will tell you +as well as I am able, and do you think it is some remarkable story +that might really happen; and lay up carefully in your soul the +knowledge that the mysterious relations into which you ventured to +enter, not perhaps without being summoned, might have ended in your +destruction—but—that's all over now."</p> + +<p class="normal">The history of the R—— entail, which my old uncle told me, I retain +so faithfully in my memory even now that I can almost repeat it in his +own words (he spoke of himself in the third person).</p> + +<p class="normal">One stormy night in the autumn of 1760 the servants of +R—sitten were +startled out of the midst of their sleep by a terrific crash, as if the +whole of the spacious castle had tumbled into a thousand pieces. In a +moment everybody was on his legs; lights were lit; the house-steward, +his face deadly pale with fright and terror, came up panting with his +keys; but as they proceeded through the passages and halls and rooms, +suite after suite, and found all safe, and heard in the appalling +silence nothing except the creaking rattle of the locks, which +occasioned some difficulty in opening, and the ghost-like echo of their +own footsteps, they began one and all to be utterly astounded. Nowhere +was there the least trace of damage. The old house-steward was +impressed by an ominous feeling of apprehension. He went up into the +great Knight's Hall, which had a small cabinet adjoining where Freiherr +Roderick von R—— used to sleep when engaged in making his +astronomical observations. Between the door of this cabinet and +that of a second was a postern, leading through a narrow passage +immediately into the astronomical tower. But directly Daniel (that was +the house-steward's name) opened this postern, the storm, blustering +and howling terrifically, drove a heap of rubbish and broken pieces of +stones all over him, which made him recoil in terror; and, dropping +the candles, which went out with a hiss on the floor, he screamed, "O +God! O God! The Baron! he's miserably dashed to pieces!" At the same +moment he heard sounds of lamentation proceeding from the Freiherr's +sleeping-cabinet, and on entering it he saw the servants gathered +around their master's corpse. They had found him fully dressed and more +magnificently than on any previous occasion, and with a calm earnest +look upon his unchanged countenance, sitting in his large and richly +decorated arm-chair as though resting after severe study. But his rest +was the rest of death. When day dawned it was seen that the crowning +turret of the tower had fallen in. The huge square stones had broken +through the ceiling and floor of the observatory-room, and then, +carrying down in front of them a powerful beam that ran across the +tower, they had dashed in with redoubled impetus the lower vaulted +roof, and dragged down a portion of the castle walls and of the narrow +connecting-passage. Not a single step could be taken beyond the postern +threshold without risk of falling at least eighty feet into a deep +chasm.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old Freiherr had foreseen the very hour of his death, and had sent +intelligence of it to his sons. Hence it happened that the very next +day saw the arrival of Wolfgang, Freiherr von R——, eldest son of the +deceased, and now lord of the entail. Relying confidently upon the +probable truth of the old man's foreboding, he had left Vienna, which +city he chanced to have reached in his travels, immediately he received +the ominous letter, and hastened to R—sitten as fast as he could +travel. The house-steward had draped the great hall in black, and had +had the old Freiherr laid out in the clothes in which he had been +found, on a magnificent state-bed, and this he had surrounded with tall +silver candlesticks with burning wax-candles. Wolfgang ascended the +stairs, entered the hall, and approached close to his father's corpse, +without speaking a word. There he stood with his arms folded on his +chest, gazing with a fixed and gloomy look and with knitted brows, into +his father's pale countenance. He was like a statue; not a tear came +from his eyes. At length, with an almost convulsive movement of the +right arm towards the corpse, he murmured hoarsely, "Did the stars +compel you to make the son whom you loved miserable?" Throwing his +hands behind his back and stepping a short pace backwards, the Baron +raised his eyes upwards and said in a low and well-nigh broken voice, +"Poor, infatuated old man! Your carnival farce with its shallow +delusions is now over. Now you no doubt see that the possessions which +are so niggardly dealt out to us here on earth have nothing in common +with Hereafter beyond the stars. What will—what power can reach over +beyond the grave?" The Baron was silent again for some seconds, then he +cried passionately, "No, your perversity shall not rob me of a grain of +my earthly happiness, which you strove so hard to destroy," and +therewith he took a folded paper out of his pocket and held it up +between two fingers to one of the burning candles that stood close +beside the corpse. The paper was caught by the flame and blazed up +high; and as the reflection flickered and played upon the face of the +corpse, it was as though its muscles moved and as though the old man +uttered toneless words, so that the servants who stood some distance +off were filled with great horror and awe. The Baron calmly finished +what he was doing by carefully stamping out with his foot the last +fragment of paper that fell on the floor blazing. Then, casting yet +another moody glance upon his father, he hurriedly left the hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the following day Daniel reported to the Freiherr the damage that +had been done to the tower, and described at great length all that had +taken place on the night when their dear dead master died; and he +concluded by saying that it would be a very wise thing to have the +tower repaired at once, for, if a further fall were to take place, +there would be some danger of the whole castle—well, if not tumbling +down, at any rate suffering serious damage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Repair the tower?" the Freiherr interrupted the old servant curtly, +whilst his eyes flashed with anger, "Repair the tower? Never, never! +Don't you see, old man," he went on more calmly, "don't you see that +the tower could not fall in this way without some special cause? How if +it was my father's own wish that the place where he carried on his +unhallowed astrological labours should be destroyed—how if he had +himself made certain preparations by which he was enabled to bring down +the turret whenever he pleased and so occasion the ruin of the interior +of the tower! But be that as it may. And if the whole castle tumbles +down, I shan't care; I shall be glad. Do you imagine I am going to +dwell in this weird owls' nest? No; my wise ancestor who had the +foundations of a new castle laid in the beautiful valley yonder—he has +begun a work which I intend to finish." Daniel said crestfallen, "Then +will all your faithful old servants have to take up their bundles and +go?" "That I am not going to be waited upon by helpless, weak-kneed old +fellows like you is quite certain; but for all that I shall turn none +away. You may all enjoy the bread of charity without working for it." +"And am I," cried the old man, greatly hurt, "am I, the house-steward, +to be forced to lead such a life of inactivity?" Then the Freiherr, who +had turned his back upon the old man and was about to leave the room, +wheeled suddenly round, his face perfectly ablaze with passion, strode +up to the old man as he stretched out his doubled fist towards him, and +shouted in a thundering voice, "You, you hypocritical old villain, it's +you who helped my old father in his unearthly practices up yonder; you +lay upon his heart like a vampire; and perhaps it was you who basely +took advantage of the old man's mad folly to plant in his mind those +diabolical ideas which brought me to the brink of ruin. I ought, I tell +you, to kick you out like a mangy cur." The old man was so terrified at +these harsh terrible words that he threw himself upon his knees beside +the Freiherr; but the Baron, as he spoke these last words, threw +forward his right foot, perhaps quite unintentionally (as is frequently +the case in anger, when the body mechanically obeys the mind, and what +is in the thought is imitatively realised in action) and hit the old +man so hard on the chest that he rolled over with a stifled scream. +Rising painfully to his feet and uttering a most singular sound, like +the howling whimper of an animal wounded to death, he looked the +Freiherr through and through with a look that glared with mingled rage +and despair. The purse of money which the Freiherr threw down as he +went out of the room, the old man left lying on the floor where it +fell.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile all the nearest relatives of the family who lived in the +neighbourhood had arrived, and the old Freiherr was interred with much pomp in +the family vault in the church at R—sitten; and now, after the +invited guests had departed, the new lord of the entail appeared to +shake off his gloomy mood, and to be prepared to duly enjoy the +property that had fallen to him. Along with V——, the old Freiherr's +Justitiarius, who won his full confidence in the very first interview +they had, and who was at once confirmed in his office, the Baron made +an exact calculation of his sources of income, and considered how large +a part he could devote to making improvements and how large a part to +building a new castle. V—— was of opinion that the old Freiherr could +not possibly have spent all his income every year, and that there must +certainly be money concealed somewhere, since he had found nothing +amongst his papers except one or two bank-notes for insignificant +sums, and the ready-money in the iron safe was but very little more +than a thousand thalers, or about £150. Who would be so likely to know anything +about it as Daniel, who in his obstinate self-willed way was perhaps only +waiting to be asked about it? The Baron was now not a little concerned at the +thought that Daniel, whom he had so grossly insulted, might let large sums +moulder somewhere sooner than discover them to him, not so much, of course, from +any motives of self-interest,—for of what use could even the largest sum of +money be to him, a childless old man, whose only wish was to end his days in the +castle of R—sitten?—as from a desire to take vengeance for the +affront put upon him. He gave V—— a circumstantial account of the +entire scene with Daniel, and concluded by saying that from several +items of information communicated to him he had learned that it was +Daniel alone who had contrived to nourish in the old Freiherr's mind such an +inexplicable aversion to ever seeing his sons in R—sitten. The +Justitiarius declared that this information was perfectly false, since +there was not a human creature on the face of the earth who would have +been able to guide the Freiherr's thoughts in any way, far less +determine them for him; and he undertook finally to draw from Daniel +the secret, if he had one, as to the place in which they would be +likely to find money concealed. His task proved far easier than he had +anticipated, for no sooner did he begin, "But how comes it, Daniel, +that your old master has left so little ready-money?" than Daniel +replied, with a repulsive smile, "Do you mean the few trifling +thalers, Herr Justitiarius, which you found in the little strong box? +Oh! the rest is lying in the vault beside our gracious master's +sleeping-cabinet. But the best," he went on to say, whilst his +smile passed over into an abominable grin, and his eyes flashed +with malicious fire, "but the best of all—several thousand gold +pieces—lies buried at the bottom of the chasm beneath the ruins." The Justitiarius at once summoned the Freiherr; they proceeded there, and +then into the sleeping-cabinet, where Daniel pushed aside the wainscot +in one of the corners, and a small lock became visible. Whilst the +Freiherr was regarding the polished lock with covetous eyes, and making +preparations to try and unlock it with the keys of the great bunch +which he dragged with some difficulty out of his pocket, Daniel drew +himself up to his full height, and looked down with almost malignant +pride upon his master, who had now stooped down in order to see the +lock better. Daniel's face was deadly pale, and he said, his voice +trembling, "If I am a dog, my lord Freiherr, I have also at least a +dog's fidelity." Therewith he held out a bright steel key to his +master, who greedily snatched it out of his hand, and with it he +easily succeeded in opening the door. They stepped into a small and +low-vaulted apartment, in which stood a large iron coffer with the +lid open, containing many money-bags, upon which lay a strip of +parchment, written in the old Freiherr's familiar handwriting, large +and old-fashioned.</p> + +<p class="hang2">One hundred and fifty thousand Imperial thalers in old <i>Fredericks +d'or</i>,<sup><a name="div2_entail8" href="#div2Ref_entail8">8</a></sup> money +saved from the revenues of the estate-tail of R—sitten; this sum has been set +aside for the building of the castle. Further, the lord of the entail who +succeeds me in the possession of this money shall, upon the highest hill +situated eastward from the old tower of the castle (which he will find in +ruins), erect a high beacon tower for the benefit of mariners, and cause a fire +to be kindled on it every night. R—sitten, on +Michaelmas Eve of the year 1760.</p> +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Roderick, Freiherr von R.</span></p> + +<p class="normal">The Freiherr lifted up the bags one after the other and let them fall +again into the coffer, delighted at the ringing clink of so much gold +coin; then he turned round abruptly to the old house-steward, thanked +him for the fidelity he had shown, and assured him that they were only +vile tattling calumnies which had induced him to treat him so harshly +in the first instance. He should not only remain in the castle, but +should also continue to discharge his duties, uncurtailed in any way, +as house-steward, and at double the wages he was then having. "I owe +you a large compensation; if you will take money, help yourself to one +of these bags." As he concluded with these words, the Baron stood +before the old man, with his eyes bent upon the ground, and pointed to +the coffer; then, approaching it again, he once more ran his eyes over +the bags. A burning flush suddenly mounted into the old house-steward's +cheeks, and he uttered that awful howling whimper—a noise as of an +animal wounded to death, according to the Freiherr's previous +description of it to the Justitiarius. The latter shuddered, for the +words which the old man murmured between his teeth sounded like, "Blood +for gold." Of all this the Freiherr, absorbed in the contemplation of +the treasure before him, had heard not the least. Daniel tottered in +every limb, as if shaken by an ague fit; approaching the Freiherr with +bowed head in a humble attitude, he kissed his hand, and drawing his +handkerchief across his eyes under the pretence of wiping away his +tears, said in a whining voice, "Alas! my good and gracious master, +what am I, a poor childless old man, to do with money? But the doubled +wages I accept with gladness, and will continue to do my duty +faithfully and zealously."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Freiherr, who had paid no particular heed to the old man's words, +now let the heavy lid of the coffer fall to with a bang, so that the +whole room shook and cracked, and then, locking the coffer and +carefully withdrawing the key, he said carelessly, "Very well, very +well, old man." But after they entered the hall he went on talking to +Daniel, "But you said something about a quantity of gold pieces buried +underneath the ruins of the tower?" Silently the old man stepped +towards the postern, and after some difficulty unlocked it. But so soon +as he threw it open the storm drove a thick mass of snow-flakes into +the hall; a raven was disturbed and flew in croaking and screaming and +dashed with its black wings against the window, but regaining the open +postern it disappeared downwards into the chasm. The Freiherr stepped +out into the corridor; but one single glance downwards, and he started +back trembling. "A fearful sight!—I'm giddy!" he stammered as he sank +almost fainting into the Justitiarius' arms. But quickly recovering +himself by an effort, he fixed a sharp look upon the old man and asked, +"Down there, you say?" Meanwhile the old man had been locking the +postern, and was now leaning against it with all his bodily strength, +and was gasping and grunting to get the great key out of the rusty +lock. This at last accomplished, he turned round to the Baron, +and, changing the huge key about backwards and forwards in his +hands, replied with a peculiar smile, "Yes, there are thousands +and thousands down there—all my dear dead master's beautiful +instruments—telescopes, quadrants, globes, dark mirrors, they all lie +smashed to atoms underneath the ruins between the stones and the big +balk." "But money—coined money," interrupted the Baron, "you spoke of +gold pieces, old man?" "I only meant things which had cost several +thousand gold pieces," he replied; and not another word could be got +out of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Baron appeared highly delighted to have all at once come into +possession of all the means requisite for carrying out his favourite +plan, namely, that of building a new and magnificent castle. The +Justitiarius indeed stated it as his opinion that, according to the +will of the deceased, the money could only be applied to the repair and +complete finishing of the interior of the old castle, and further, any +new erection would hardly succeed in equalling the commanding size and +the severe and simple character of the old ancestral castle. The +Freiherr, however, persisted in his intention, and maintained that in +the disposal of property respecting which nothing was stated in the +deeds of the entail the irregular will of the deceased could have no +validity. He at the same time led V—— to understand that he should +conceive it to be his duty to embellish R—sitten as far as the +climate, soil, and environs would permit, for it was his intention to +bring home shortly as his dearly loved wife a lady who was in every +respect worthy of the greatest sacrifices.</p> + +<p class="normal">The air of mystery with which the Freiherr spoke of this alliance, +which possibly had been already consummated in secret, cut short all +further questions from the side of the Justitiarius. Nevertheless he +found in it to some extent a redeeming feature, for the Freiherr's +eager grasping after riches now appeared to be due not so much to +avarice strictly speaking as to the desire to make one dear to him +forget the more beautiful country she was relinquishing for his sake. +Otherwise he could not acquit the Baron of being avaricious, or at any +rate insufferably close-fisted, seeing that, even though rolling in +money and even when gloating over the old <i>Fredericks d'or</i>, he could +not help bursting out with the peevish grumble, "I know the old rascal +has concealed from us the greatest part of his wealth, but next spring +I will have the ruins of the tower turned over under my own eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Freiherr had architects come, and discussed with them at great +length what would be the most convenient way to proceed with his +castle-building. He rejected one drawing after another; in none of them +was the style of architecture sufficiently rich and grandiose. He now +began to draw plans himself, and, inspirited by this employment, which +constantly placed before his eyes a sunny picture of the happiest +future, brought himself into such a genial humour that it often +bordered on wild exuberance of spirits, and even communicated itself to +all about him. His generosity and profuse hospitality belied all +imputations of avarice at any rate. Daniel also seemed to have now +forgotten the insult that had been put upon him. Towards the Freiherr, +although often followed by him with mistrustful eyes on account of the +treasure buried in the chasm, his bearing was both quiet and humble. +But what struck everybody as extraordinary was that the old man +appeared to grow younger from day to day. Possibly this might be, +because he had begun to forget his grief for his old master, which had +stricken him sore, and possibly also because he had not now, as he once +had, to spend the cold nights in the tower without sleep, and got +better food and good wine such as he liked; but whatever the cause +might be, the old greybeard seemed to be growing into a vigorous man +with red cheeks and well-nourished body, who could walk firmly and +laugh loudly whenever he heard a jest to laugh at.</p> + +<p class="normal">The pleasant tenor of life at R—sitten was disturbed by the arrival of +a man whom one would have judged to be quite in his element there. This +was Wolfgang's younger brother Hubert, at the sight of whom Wolfgang +had screamed out, with his face as pale as a corpse's, "Unhappy wretch, +what do you want here?" Hubert threw himself into his brother's arms, +but Wolfgang took him and led him away up to a retired room, where he +locked himself in with him. They remained closeted several hours, at +the end of which time Hubert came down, greatly agitated, and called +for his horses. The Justitiarius intercepted him; Hubert tried to pass +him; but V——, inspired by the hope that he might perhaps stifle in +the bud what might else end in a bitter life-long quarrel between the +brothers, besought him to stay, at least a few hours, and at the same +moment the Freiherr came down calling, "Stay here, Hubert! you will +think better of it." Hubert's countenance cleared up; he assumed an air +of composure, and quickly pulling off his costly fur coat, and throwing +it to a servant behind him, he grasped V——'s hand and went with him +into the room, saying with a scornful smile, "So the lord of the entail +will tolerate my presence here, it seems." V—— thought that the +unfortunate misunderstanding would assuredly be smoothed away now, for +it was only separation and existence apart from each other that would, +he conceived, be able to foster it. Hubert took up the steel tongs +which stood near the fire-grate, and as he proceeded to break up a +knotty piece of wood that would only sweal, not burn, and to rake the +fire together better, he said to V——, "You see what a good-natured +fellow I am, Herr Justitiarius, and that I am skilful in all domestic +matters. But Wolfgang is full of the most extraordinary prejudices, +and—a bit of a miser." V—— did not deem it advisable to attempt to +fathom further the relations between the brothers, especially as +Wolfgang's face and conduct and voice plainly showed that he was shaken +to the very depths of his nature by diverse violent passions.</p> + +<p class="normal">Late in the evening V—— had occasion to go up to the Freiherr's room +in order to learn his decision about some matter or other connected +with the estate-tail. He found him pacing up and down the room with +long strides, his arms crossed on his back, and much perturbation in +his manner. On perceiving the Justitiarius he stood still, and then, +taking him by both hands and looking him gloomily in the face, he said +in a broken voice, "My brother is come. I know what you are going to +say," he proceeded almost before V—— had opened his mouth to put a +question. "Unfortunately you know nothing. You don't know that my +unfortunate brother—yes, I will not call him anything worse than +unfortunate—that, like a spirit of evil, he crosses my path +everywhere, ruining my peace of mind. It is not his fault that I have +not been made unspeakably miserable; he did his best to make me so, but +Heaven willed it otherwise. Ever since he has known of the conversion +of the property into an entail, he has persecuted me with deadly +hatred. He envies me this property, which in his hands would only be +scattered like chaff. He is the wildest spendthrift I ever heard of. +His load of debt exceeds by a long way the half of the unentailed +property in Courland that fell to him, and now, pursued by his +creditors, who fail not to worry him for payment, he hurries here to me +to beg for money." "And you, his brother, refuse to give him any?" +V—— was about to interrupt him; but the Freiherr, letting V——'s +hands fall, and taking a long step backwards, went on in a loud and +vehement tone. "Stop! yes; I refuse. I neither can nor will give away a +single thaler of the revenues of the entail. But listen, and I will +tell you what was the proposal which I made the insane fellow a few +hours ago, and made in vain, and then pass judgment upon the feelings +of duty by which I am actuated. Our unentailed possessions in Courland +are, as you are aware, considerable; the half that falls to me I am +willing to renounce, but in favour of his family. For Hubert has +married, in Courland, a beautiful lady, but poor. She and the children +she has borne him are starving. The estates should be put under trust; +sufficient should be set aside out of the revenues to support him, and +his creditors be paid by arrangement. But what does he care for a quiet +life—a life free of anxiety?—what does he care for wife and child? +Money, ready-money, and large quantities, is what he will have, that he +may squander it in infamous folly. Some demon has made him acquainted +with the secret of the hundred and fifty thousand thalers, half of +which he in his mad way demands, maintaining that this money is movable +property and quite apart from the entailed portion. This, however, I +must and will refuse him, but the feeling haunts me that he is plotting +my destruction in his heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">No matter how great the efforts which V—— made to persuade the +Freiherr out of this suspicion against his brother, in which, of +course, not being initiated into the more circumstantial details of the +disagreement, he could only appeal to broad and somewhat superficial +moral principles, he yet could not boast of the smallest success. The +Freiherr commissioned him to treat with his hostile and avaricious +brother Hubert. V—— proceeded to do so with all the circumspection he +was master of, and was not a little gratified when Hubert at length +declared, "Be it so then; I will accept my brother's proposals, but +upon condition that he will now, since I am on the point of losing both +my honour and my good name for ever through the severity of my +creditors, make me an advance of a thousand <i>Fredericks d'or</i> in hard +cash, and further grant that in time to come I may take up my +residence, at least for a short time occasionally, in our beautiful +R—sitten, along with my good brother." "Never, never!" exclaimed +the Freiherr violently, when V—— laid his brother's amended +counter-proposals before him. "I will never consent that Hubert stay +in my house even a single minute after I have brought home my wife. Go, +my good friend, tell this mar-peace that he shall have two thousand +<i>Fredericks d'or</i>, not as an advance, but as a gift—only, bid him go, +bid him go." V—— now learned at one and the same time that the ground +of the quarrel between the two brothers must be sought for in this +marriage. Hubert listened to the Justitiarius proudly and calmly, and +when he finished speaking replied in a hoarse and hollow tone, "I will +think it over; but for the present I shall stay a few days in the +castle." V—— exerted himself to prove to the discontented Hubert that +the Freiherr, by making over his share of their unentailed property, +was really doing all he possibly could do to indemnify him, and that on +the whole he had no cause for complaint against his brother, although +at the same time he admitted that all institutions of the nature +of primogeniture, which vested such preponderant advantages in the +eldest-born to the prejudice of the remaining children, were in many +respects hateful. Hubert tore his waistcoat open from top to bottom +like a man whose breast was cramped and he wanted to relieve it by +fresh air. Thrusting one hand into his open shirt-frill and planting +the other in his side, he spun round on one foot in a quick pirouette +and cried in a sharp voice, "Pshaw! What is hateful is born of hatred." +Then bursting out into a shrill fit of laughter, he said, "What +condescension my lord of the entail shows in being thus willing to +throw his gold pieces to the poor beggar!" V—— saw plainly that all +idea of a complete reconciliation between the brothers was quite out of +the question.</p> + +<p class="normal">To the Freiherr's annoyance, Hubert established himself in the rooms +that had been appointed for him in one of the side wings of the castle +as if with the view to a very long stay. He was observed to hold +frequent and long conversations with the house-steward; nay, the latter +was sometimes even seen to accompany him when he went out wolf-hunting. +Otherwise he was very little seen, and studiously avoided meeting his +brother alone, at which the latter was very glad. V—— felt how +strained and unpleasant this state of things was, and was obliged to +confess to himself that the peculiar uneasiness which marked all that +Hubert both said and did was such as to destroy intentionally and +effectually all the pleasure of the place. He now perfectly understood +why the Freiherr had manifested so much alarm on seeing his brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">One day as V—— was sitting by himself in the justice-room amongst his +law-papers, Hubert came in with a grave and more composed manner than +usual, and said in a voice that bordered upon melancholy, "I will +accept my brother's last proposals. If you will contrive that I have +the two thousand <i>Fredericks d'or</i> today, I will leave the castle this +very night—on horseback—alone." "With the money?" asked V——. "You +are right," replied Hubert; "I know what you would say—the weight! +Give it me in bills on Isaac Lazarus of K——. For to K—— I am going +this very night. Something is driving me away from this place. The old +fellow has bewitched it with evil spirits." "Do you mean your father, +Herr Baron?" asked V—— sternly. Hubert's lips trembled; he had to +cling to the chair to keep from falling; but then suddenly recovering +himself, he cried, "To-day then, please, Herr Justitiarius," and +staggered to the door, not, however, without some exertion. "He now +sees that no deceptions are any longer of avail, that he can do nothing +against my firm will," said the Freiherr whilst drawing up the bills on +Isaac Lazarus in K——. A burden was lifted off his heart by the +departure of his inimical brother; and for a long time he had not been +in such cheerful spirits as he was at supper. Hubert had sent his +excuses; and there was not one who regretted his absence.</p> + +<p class="normal">The room which V—— occupied was somewhat retired, and its windows +looked upon the castle-yard. In the night he was suddenly startled up +out of his sleep, and was under the impression that he had been +awakened by a distant and pitiable moan. But listen as he would, all +remained still as the grave, and so he was obliged to conclude that the +sound which had fallen upon his ears was the delusion of a dream. But +at the same time he was seized with such a peculiar feeling of +breathless anxiety and terror that he could not stay in bed. He got up +and approached the window. It was not long, however, before the castle +door was opened, and a figure with a blazing torch came out of the +castle and went across the court-yard. V—— recognised the figure as +that of old Daniel, and saw him open the stable-door and go in, and +soon afterwards bring out a saddle horse. Now a second figure came into +view out of the darkness, well wrapped in furs, and with a fox-skin cap +on his head. V—— perceived that it was Hubert; but after he had +spoken excitedly with Daniel for some minutes, he returned into the +castle. Daniel led back the horse into the stable and locked the +door, and also that of the castle, after he had returned across the +court-yard in the same way in which he crossed it before. It was +evident Hubert had intended to go away on horseback, but had suddenly +changed his mind; and no less evident was it that there was a dangerous +understanding of some sort between Hubert and the old house-steward. +V—— looked forward to the morning with burning impatience; he would +acquaint the Freiherr with the occurrences of the night. Really it was +now time to take precautionary measures against the attacks of Hubert's +malice, which V—— was now convinced, had been betrayed in his +agitated behaviour of the day before.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next morning, at the hour when the Freiherr was in the habit of rising, +V—— heard people running backwards and forwards, doors opened and +slammed to, and a tumultuous confusion of voices talking and shouting. +On going out of his room he met servants everywhere, who, without +heeding him, ran past him with ghastly pale faces, upstairs, +downstairs, in and out the rooms. At length he ascertained that the +Freiherr was missing, and that they had been looking for him for hours +in vain. As he had gone to bed in the presence of his personal +attendant, he must have afterwards got up and gone away somewhere in +his dressing-gown and slippers, taking the large candlestick with him, +for these articles were also missed. V——, his mind agitated with dark +forebodings, ran up to the ill-fated hall, the cabinet adjoining which +Wolfgang had chosen, like his father, for his own bedroom. The postern +leading to the tower stood wide open, with a cry of horror V—— +shouted, "There—he lies dashed to pieces at the bottom of the ravine." +And it was so. There had been a fall of snow, so that all they could +distinctly make out from above was the rigid arm of the unfortunate man +protruding from between the stones. Many hours passed before the +workmen succeeded, at great risk of life, in descending by means of +ladders bound together, and drawing up the corpse by the aid of ropes. +In the last agonies of death the Baron had kept a tight hold upon the +silver candlestick; the hand in which it was clenched was the only +uninjured part of his whole body, which had been shattered in the most +hideous way by rebounding on the sharp stones.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just as the corpse was drawn up and carried into the hall, and laid +upon the very same spot on the large table where a few weeks before old +Roderick had lain dead, Hubert burst in, his face distorted by the +frenzy of despair. Quite overpowered by the fearful sight he wailed, +"Brother! O my poor brother! No; this I never prayed for from the +demons who had entered into me." This suspicious self-exculpation made +V—— tremble; he felt impelled to proceed against Hubert as the +murderer of his brother. Hubert, however, had fallen on the floor +senseless; they carried him to bed; but on taking strong restoratives +he soon recovered. Then he appeared in V——'s room, pale and +sorrow-stricken, and with his eyes half clouded with grief; and unable +to stand owing to his weakness, he slowly sank down into an easy-chair, +saying, "I have wished for my brother's death, because my father had +made over to him the best part of the property through the foolish +conversion of it into an entail. He has now found a fearful death. I am +now lord of the estate-tail, but my heart is rent with pain—I can—I +shall never be happy. I confirm you in your office; you shall be +invested with the most extensive powers in respect to the management of +the estate, upon which I cannot bear to live." Hubert left the room, +and in two or three hours was on his way to K——.</p> + +<p class="normal">It appeared that the unfortunate Wolfgang had got up in the night, +probably with the intention of going into the other cabinet where there +was a library. In the stupor of sleep he had mistaken the door, and had +opened the postern, taken a step out, and plunged headlong down. But +after all had been said, there was nevertheless a good deal that was +strained and unlikely in this explanation. If the Baron was unable to +sleep and wanted to get a book out of the library, this of itself +excluded all idea of sleep-stupor; but this condition alone could +account for any mistaking of the postern for the door of the cabinet. +Then again, the former was fast locked, and required a good deal of +exertion to unlock it. These improbabilities V—— accordingly put +before the domestics, who had gathered round him, and at length the +Freiherr's body-servant, Francis by name, said, "Nay, nay, my good Herr +Justitiarius; it couldn't have happened in that way." "Well, how then?" +asked V—— abruptly and sharply. But Francis, a faithful, honest +fellow, who would have followed his master into his grave, was +unwilling to speak out before the rest; he stipulated that what he had +to say about the event should be confided to the Justitiarius alone in +private. V—— now learned that the Freiherr used often to talk to +Francis about the vast treasure which he believed lay buried beneath +the ruins of the tower, and also that frequently at night, as if goaded +by some malicious fiend, he would open the postern, the key of which +Daniel had been obliged to give him, and would gaze with longing eyes +down into the chasm where the supposed riches lay. There was now no +doubt about it; on that ill-omened night the Freiherr, after his +servant had left him, must have taken one of his usual walks to the +postern, where he had been most likely suddenly seized with dizziness, +and had fallen over. Daniel, who also seemed much upset by the +Freiherr's terrible end, thought it would be a good thing to have the +dangerous postern walled up; and this was at once done.</p> + +<p class="normal">Freiherr Hubert von R——, who had then succeeded to the entail, went +back to Courland without once showing himself at R—sitten again. +V—— was invested with full powers for the absolute management of the +property. The building of the new castle was not proceeded with; but +on the other hand the old structure was put in as good a state of +repair as possible. Several years passed before Hubert came again to R—sitten, late in the autumn, but after he had remained shut up in his +room with V—— for several days, he went back to Courland. Passing on +his way through K——, he deposited his will with the government +authorities there.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Freiherr, whose character appeared to have undergone a complete +revolution, spoke more than once during his stay at R—sitten of +presentiments of his approaching death. And these apprehensions were +really not unfounded, for he died in the very next year. His son, +named, like the deceased Baron, Hubert, soon came over from Courland to +take possession of the rich inheritance; and was followed by his mother +and his sister. The youth seemed to unite in his own person all the bad +qualities of his ancestors: he proved himself to be proud, arrogant, +impetuous, avaricious, in the very first moments after his arrival at +R—sitten. He wanted to have several things which did not suit his +notions of what was right and proper altered there and then: the cook +he kicked out of doors; and he attempted to thrash the coachman, in +which, however, he did not succeed, for the big brawny fellow had the +impudence not to submit to it. In fact, he was on the high road to +assuming the <i>rôle</i> of a harsh and severe lord of the entail, when +V—— interposed in his firm earnest manner, declaring most explicitly +that not a single chair should be moved, that not even a cat should +leave the house if she liked to stay in it, until after the will had +been opened. "You have the presumption to tell me, the lord of the +entail," began the Baron. V——, however, cut short the young man, who +was foaming with rage, and said, whilst he measured him with a keen +searching glance, "Don't be in too great a hurry, Herr Baron. At all +events, you have no right to exercise authority here until after the +opening of your father's will. It is I—I alone—who am now master +here; and I shall know how to meet violence with violent measures. +Please to recollect that by virtue of my powers as executor of your +father's will, as well as by virtue of the arrangements which have been +made by the court, I am empowered to forbid your remaining in R—sitten +if I think fit to do so; and so, if you wish to spare me this +disagreeable step, I would advise you to go away quietly to K——." The +lawyer's earnestness, and the resolute tone in which he spoke, lent the +proper emphasis to his words. Hence the young Baron, who was charging +with far two sharp-pointed horns, felt the weakness of his weapons +against the firm bulwark, and found it convenient to cover the shame of +his retreat with a burst of scornful laughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Three months passed and the day was come on which, in accordance with +the expressed wish of the deceased, his will was to be opened at K——, +where it had been deposited. In the chambers there was, besides the +officers of the court, the Baron, and V——, a young man of noble +appearance, whom V—— had brought with him, and who was taken to be +V——'s clerk, since he had a parchment deed sticking out from the +breast of his buttoned-up coat. Him the Baron treated as he did nearly +all the rest, with scornful contempt; and he demanded with noisy +impetuosity that they should make haste and get done with all their +tiresome needless ceremonies as quickly as possible and without over +many words and scribblings. He couldn't for the life of him make out +why any will should be wanted at all with respect to the inheritance, +and especially in the case of entailed property; and no matter what +provisions were made in the will, it would depend entirely upon his +decision as to whether they should be observed or not. After casting a +hasty and surly glance at the handwriting and the seal, the Baron +acknowledged them to be those of his dead father. Upon the clerk of the +court preparing to read the will aloud, the young Baron, throwing his +right arm carelessly over the back of his chair and leaning his left on +the table, whilst he drummed with his fingers on its green cover, sat +staring with an air of indifference out of the window. After a short +preamble the deceased Freiherr Hubert von R—— declared that he had +never possessed the estate-tail as its lawful owner, but that he had +only managed it in the name of the deceased Freiherr Wolfgang von +R——'s only son, called Roderick after his grandfather; and he it was +to whom, according to the rights of family priority, the estate had +fallen on his father's death. Amongst Hubert's papers would be found an +exact account of all revenues and expenditure, as well as of existing +movable property, &c. The will went on to relate that Wolfgang von +R—— had, during his travels, made the acquaintance of Mdlle. Julia de +St. Val in Geneva, and had fallen so deeply in love with her that he +resolved never to leave her side again. She was very poor; and her +family, although noble and of good repute, did not, however, rank +amongst the most illustrious, for which reason Wolfgang dared not +expect to receive the consent of old Roderick to a union with her, for +the old Freiherr's aim and ambition was to promote by all possible +means the establishment of a powerful family. Nevertheless he ventured +to write from Paris to his father, acquainting him with the fact that +his affections were engaged. But what he had foreseen was actually +realised; the old Baron declared categorically that he had himself +chosen the future mistress of the entail, and therefore there could +never be any mention made of any other. Wolfgang, instead of crossing +the Channel into England, as he was to have done, returned into Geneva +under the assumed name of Born, and married Julia, who after the lapse +of a year bore him a son, and this son became on Wolfgang's death the +real lord of the entail. In explanation of the facts why Hubert, though +acquainted with all this, had kept silent so long and had represented +himself as lord of the entail, various reasons were assigned, based +upon agreements formerly made with Wolfgang, but they seemed for the +most part insufficient and devoid of real foundation.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Baron sat staring at the clerk of the court as if thunderstruck, +whilst the latter went on proclaiming all this bad news in a +provokingly monotonous and jarring tone. When he finished, V—— rose, +and taking the young man whom he had brought with him by the hand, +said, as he bowed to the assembled company, "Here I have the honour to +present to you, gentlemen, Freiherr Roderick von R——, lord of the +entail of R—sitten." Baron Hubert looked at the youth, who had, as it +were, fallen from the clouds to deprive him of the rich inheritance +together with half the unentailed Courland estates, with suppressed +fury in his gleaming eyes; then, threatening him with his doubled fist, +he ran out of the court without uttering a word. Baron Roderick, on +being challenged by the court-officers, produced the documents by which +he was to establish his identity as the person whom he represented +himself to be. He handed in an attested extract from the register of +the church where his father was married, which certified that on such +and such a day Wolfgang Born, merchant, born in K——, had been united +in marriage with the blessing of the Church to Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, +in the presence of certain witnesses, who were named. Further, he +produced his own baptismal certificate (he had been baptized in Geneva +as the son of the merchant Born and his wife Julia, <i>née</i> De St. Val, +begotten in lawful wedlock), and various letters from his father to his +mother, who was long since dead, but they none of them had any other +signature than W.</p> + +<p class="normal">V—— looked through all these papers with a cloud upon his face; and +as he put them together again, he said, somewhat troubled, "Ah well! +God will help us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The very next morning Freiherr Hubert von R—— presented, through an +advocate whose services he had succeeded in enlisting in his cause, a +statement of protest to the government authorities in K——, actually +calling upon them to effectuate the immediate surrender to him of the +entail of R—sitten. It was incontestable, maintained the advocate, +that the deceased Freiherr Hubert Von R—— had not had the power to +dispose of entailed property either by testament or in any other way. +The testament in question, therefore, was nothing more than an +evidential statement, written down and deposited with the court, to the +effect that Freiherr Wolfgang von R—— had bequeathed the estate-tail +to a son who was at that time still living; and accordingly it had as +evidence no greater weight than that of any other witness, and so could +not by any possibility legitimately establish the claims of the person +who had announced himself to be Freiherr Roderick von R——. Hence it +was rather the duty of this new claimant to prove by action at law his +alleged rights of inheritance, which were hereby expressly disputed and +denied, and so also to take proper steps to maintain his claim to the +estate-tail, which now, according to the laws of succession, fell to +Baron Hubert von R——. By the father's death the property came at once +immediately into the hands of the son. There was no need for any +formal declaration to be made of his entering into possession of the +inheritance, since the succession could not be alienated; at any rate, +the present owner of the estate was not going to be disturbed in his +possession by claims which were perfectly groundless. Whatever reasons +the deceased might have had for bringing forward another heir of entail +were quite irrelevant. And it might be remarked that he had himself had +an intrigue in Switzerland, as could be proved if necessary from the +papers he had left behind him; and it was quite possible that the +person whom he alleged to be his brother's son was his own son, the +fruit of an unlawful love, for whom in a momentary fit of remorse he +had wished to secure the entail.</p> + +<p class="normal">However great was the balance of probability in favour of the truth of +the circumstances as stated in the will, and however revolted the +judges were, particularly by the last clauses of the protest, in which +the son felt no compunction at accusing his dead father of a crime, yet +the views of the case there stated were after all the right ones; and +it was only due to V——'s restless exertions, and his explicit and +solemn assurance that the proofs which were necessary to establish +legitimately the identity of Freiherr Roderick von R—— should be +produced in a very short time, that the surrender of the estate to the +young Baron was deferred, and the contrivance of the administration of +it in trust agreed to, until after the case should be settled.</p> + +<p class="normal">V—— was only too well aware how difficult it would be for him to keep +his promise. He had turned over all old Roderick's papers without +finding the slightest trace of a letter or any kind of a statement +bearing upon Wolfgang's relation to Mdlle. de St. Val. He was sitting +wrapt in thought in old Roderick's sleeping-cabinet, every hole and +comer of which he had searched, and was working at a long statement of +the case that he intended despatching to a certain notary in Geneva, +who had been recommended to him as a shrewd and energetic man, to +request him to procure and forward certain documents which would +establish the young Freiherr's cause on firm ground. It was midnight; +the full moon shone in through the windows of the adjoining hall, the +door of which stood open. Then V—— fancied he heard a noise as of +some one coming slowly and heavily up the stairs, and also at the same +time a jingling and rattling of keys. His attention was arrested; he +rose to his feet and went into the hall, where he plainly made out that +there was some one crossing the ante-room and approaching the door of +the hall where he was. Soon afterwards the door was opened and a man +came slowly in, dressed in night-clothes, his face ghastly pale and +distorted; in the one hand he bore a candle-stick with the candles +burning, and in the other a huge bunch of keys. V—— at once +recognised the house-steward, and was on the point of addressing him +and inquiring what he wanted so late at night, when he was arrested by +an icy shiver; there was something so unearthly and ghost-like in the +old man's manner and bearing as well as in his set, pallid face. He +perceived that he was in presence of a somnambulist. Crossing the hall +obliquely with measured strides, the old man went straight to the +walled-up postern that had formerly led to the tower. He came to a halt +immediately in front of it, and uttered a wailing sound that seemed to +come from the bottom of his heart, and was so awful and so loud that +the whole apartment rang again, making V—— tremble with dread. Then, +setting the candlestick down on the floor and hanging the keys on his +belt, Daniel began to scratch at the wall with both hands, so that the +blood soon burst out from beneath his finger-nails, and all the while +he was moaning and groaning as if tortured by nameless agony. After +placing his ear against the wall in a listening attitude, he waved his +hand as if hushing some one, stooped down and picked up the +candlestick, and finally stole back to the door with soft measured +footsteps. V—— took his own candle in his hand and cautiously +followed him. They both went downstairs; the old man unlocked the great +main door of the castle, V—— slipped cleverly through. Then they went +to the stable, where old Daniel, to V——'s perfect astonishment, +placed his candlestick so skilfully that the entire interior of the +building was sufficiently lighted without the least danger. Having +fetched a saddle and bridle, he put them on one of the horses which he +had loosed from the manger, carefully tightening the girth and taking +up the stirrup-straps. Pulling the tuft of hair on the horse's forehead +outside the front strap, he took him by the bridle and led him out of +the stable, clicking with his tongue and patting his neck with one +hand. On getting outside in the courtyard he stood several seconds in +the attitude of one receiving commands, which he promised by sundry +nods to carry out. Then he led the horse back into the stable, +unsaddled him, and tied him to the manger. This done, he took his +candlestick, locked the stable, and returned to the castle, finally +disappearing in his own room, the door of which he carefully bolted. +V—— was deeply agitated by this scene; the presentiment of some +fearful deed rose up before him like a black and fiendish spectre, and +refused to leave him. Being so keenly alive as he was to the precarious +position of his <i>protégé</i>, he felt that it would at least be his duty +to turn what he had seen to his account.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next day, just as it was beginning to be dusk, Daniel came into the +Justitiarius's room to receive some instructions relating to his +department of the household. V—— took him by the arms, and forcing +him into a chair, in a confidential way began, "See you here, my old +friend Daniel, I have long been wishing to ask you what you think of +all this confused mess into which Hubert's peculiar will has tumbled +us. Do you really think that the young man is Wolfgang's son, begotten +in lawful marriage?" The old man, leaning over the arm of his chair, +and avoiding V——'s eyes, for V—— was watching him most intently, +replied doggedly, "Bah! Maybe he is; maybe he is not. What does it +matter to me? It's all the same to me who's master here now." "But I +believe," went on V——, moving nearer to the old man and placing his +hand on his shoulder, "but I believed you possessed the old Freiherr's +full confidence, and in that case he assuredly would not conceal from +you the real state of affairs with regard to his sons. He told you, I +dare say, about the marriage which Wolfgang had made against his will, +did he not?" "I don't remember to have ever heard him say anything of +that sort," replied the old man, yawning with the most ill-mannered +loudness. "You are sleepy, old man," said V——; "perhaps you have had +a restless night?" "Not that I am aware," he rejoined coldly; "but I +must go and order supper." Whereupon he rose heavily from his chair and +rubbed his bent back, yawning again, and that still more loudly than +before. "Stay a little while, old man," cried V——, taking hold of his +hand and endeavouring to force him to resume his seat; but Daniel +preferred to stand in front of the study-table; propping himself upon +it with both hands, and leaning across towards V——, he asked +sullenly, "Well, what do you want? What have I to do with the will? +What do I care about the quarrel over the estate?" "Well, well," +interposed V——, "we'll say no more about that now. Let us turn to +some other topic, Daniel. You are out of humour and yawning, and all +that is a sign of great weariness, and I am almost inclined to believe +that it really was <i>you</i> last night, who"—— "Well, what did I do last +night?" asked the old man without changing his position. V—— went +on, "Last night, when I was sitting up above in your old master's +sleeping-cabinet next the great hall, you came in at the door, your +face pale and rigid; and you went across to the bricked-up postern and +scratched at the wall with both your hands, groaning as if in very +great pain. Do you walk in your sleep, Daniel?" The old man dropped +back into the chair which V—— quickly managed to place for him; but +not a sound escaped his lips. His face could not be seen, owing to the +gathering dusk of the evening; V—— only noticed that he took his +breath short and that his teeth were rattling together. "Yes," +continued V—— after a short pause, "there is one thing that is very +strange about sleep-walkers. On the day after they have been in this +peculiar state in which they have acted as if they were perfectly wide +awake, they don't remember the least thing, that they did." Daniel did +not move. "I have come across something like what your condition was +yesterday once before in the course of my experience," proceeded V——. +"I had a friend who regularly began to wander about at night as you do +whenever it was full moon,—nay, he often sat down and wrote letters. +But what was most extraordinary was that if I began to whisper softly +in his ear I could soon manage to make him speak; and he would answer +correctly all the questions I put to him; and even things that he would +most jealously have concealed when awake now fell from his lips +unbidden, as though he were unable to offer any resistance to the power +that was exerting its influence over him. Deuce take it! I really +believe that, if a man who's given to walking in his sleep had ever +committed any crime, and hoarded it up as a secret ever so long, it +could be extracted from him by questioning when he was in this peculiar +state. Happy are they who have a clean conscience like you and me, +Daniel! We may walk as much as we like in our sleep; there's no fear of +anybody extorting the confession of a crime from us. But come now, +Daniel! when you scratch so hideously at the bricked-up postern, you +want, I dare say, to go up the astronomical tower, don't you? I suppose +you want to go and experiment like old Roderick—eh? Well, next time +you come, I shall ask you what you want to do." Whilst V—— was +speaking, the old man was shaken with continually increasing agitation; +but now his whole frame seemed to heave and rock convulsively past all +hope of cure, and in a shrill voice he began to utter a string of +unmeaning gibberish. V—— rang for the servants. They brought lights; +but as the old man's fit did not abate, they lifted him up as though he +had been a mere automaton, not possessed of the power of voluntary +movement, and carried him to bed. After continuing in this frightful +state for about an hour, he fell into a profound sleep resembling a +dead faint When he awoke he asked for wine; and, after he had got what +he wanted, he sent away the man who was going to sit with him, and +locked himself in his room as usual.</p> + +<p class="normal">V—— had indeed really resolved to make the attempt he spoke of to +Daniel, although at the same time he could not forget two facts. In the +first place, Daniel, having now been made aware of his propensity to +walk in his sleep, would probably adopt every measure of precaution to +avoid him; and on the other hand, confessions made whilst in this +condition would not be exactly fitted to serve as a basis for further +proceedings. In spite of this, however, he repaired to the hall on the +approach of midnight, hoping that Daniel, as frequently happens to +those afflicted in this way, would be constrained to act involuntarily. +About midnight there arose a great noise in the courtyard. V—— +plainly heard a window broken in; then he went downstairs, and as he +traversed the passages he was met by rolling clouds of suffocating +smoke, which, he soon perceived were pouring out of the open door of +the house-steward's room. The steward himself was just being carried +out, to all appearance dead, in order to be taken and put to bed in +another room. The servants related that about midnight one of the +under-grooms had been awakened by a strange hollow knocking; he thought +something had befallen the old man, and was preparing to get up and go +and see if he could help him, when the night watchman in the court +shouted, "Fire! Fire! The Herr House-Steward's room is all of a bright +blaze!" At this outcry several servants at once appeared on the scene; +but all their efforts to burst open the room door were unavailing. +Whereupon they hurried out into the court, but the resolute watchman +had already broken in the window, for the room was low and on the +basement story, had torn down the burning curtains, and by pouring a +few buckets of water on them had at once extinguished the fire. The +house-steward they found lying on the floor in the middle of the room +in a swoon. In his hand he still held the candlestick tightly clenched, +the burning candles of which had caught the curtains, and so occasioned +the fire. Some of the blazing rags had fallen upon the old man, burning +his eyebrows and a large portion of the hair of his head. If the +watchman had not seen the fire the old man must have been helplessly +burned to death. The servants, moreover, to their no little +astonishment found the room door secured on the inside by two quite new +bolts, which had been fastened on since the previous evening, for they +had not been there then. V—— perceived that the old man had wished to +make it impossible for him to get out of his room; for the blind +impulse which urged him to wander in his sleep he could not resist. The +old man became seriously ill; he did not speak; he took but little +nourishment; and lay staring before him with the reflection of death in +his set eyes, just as if he were clasped in the vice-like grip of some +hideous thought. V—— believed he would never rise from his bed again.</p> + +<p class="normal">V—— had done all that could be done for his client; and he could now +only await the result in patience; and so he resolved to return to +K——. His departure was fixed for the following morning. As he was +packing his papers together late at night, he happened to lay his hand +upon a little sealed packet which Freiherr Hubert von R—— had given +him, bearing the inscription, "To be read after my will has been +opened," and which by some unaccountable means had hitherto escaped his +notice. He was on the point of breaking the seal when the door opened +and Daniel came in with still, ghostlike step. Placing upon the table a +black portfolio which he carried under his arm, he sank upon his knees +with a deep groan, and grasping V——'s hands with a convulsive clutch +he said, in a voice so hollow and hoarse that it seemed to come from +the bottom of a grave, "I should not like to die on the scaffold! There +is One above who judges!" Then, rising with some trouble and with many +painful gasps, he left the room as he had come.</p> + +<p class="normal">V—— spent the whole of the night in reading what the black portfolio +and Hubert's packet contained. Both agreed in all circumstantial +particulars, and suggested naturally what further steps were to be +taken. On arriving at K——, V—— immediately repaired to Freiherr +Hubert von R——, who received him with ill-mannered pride. But the +remarkable result of the interview, which began at noon and lasted on +without interruption until late at night, was that the next day the +Freiherr made a declaration before the court to the effect that he +acknowledged the claimant to be, agreeably to his father's will, the +son of Wolfgang von R——, eldest son of Freiherr Roderick von R——, +and begotten in lawful wedlock with Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, and +furthermore acknowledged him as rightful and legitimate heir to the +entail. On leaving the court he found his carriage, with post-horses, +standing before the door; he stepped in and was driven off at a rapid +rate, leaving his mother and his sister behind him. They would perhaps +never see him again, he wrote, along with other perplexing statements. +Roderick's astonishment at this unexpected turn which the case had +taken was very great; he pressed V—— to explain to him how this +wonder had been brought about, what mysterious power was at work in the +matter. V——, however, evaded his questions by giving him hopes of +telling him all at some future time, and when he should have come into +possession of the estate. For the surrender of the entail to him could +not be effected immediately, since the court, not content with Hubert's +declaration, required that Roderick should also first prove his own +identity to their satisfaction. V—— proposed to the Baron that he +should go and live at R—sitten, adding that Hubert's mother and +sister, momentarily embarrassed by his sudden departure, would prefer +to go and live quietly on the ancestral property rather than stay in +the dear and noisy town. The glad delight with which Roderick welcomed +the prospect of dwelling, at least for a time, under the same roof with +the Baroness and her daughter, betrayed the deep impression which the +lovely and graceful Seraphina had made upon him. In fact, the Freiherr +made such good use of his time in R—sitten that, at the end of a few +weeks, he had won Seraphina's love as well as her mother's cordial +approval of her marriage with him. All this was for V—— rather too +quick work, since Roderick's claims to be lord of the entail still +continued to be rather doubtful. The life of idyllic happiness at the +castle was interrupted by letters from Courland. Hubert had not shown +himself at all at the estates, but had travelled direct to St +Petersburg, where he had taken military service and was now in the +field against the Persians, with whom Russia happened to be just then +waging war. This obliged the Baroness and her daughter to set off +immediately for their Courland estates, where everything was in +confusion and disorder. Roderick, who regarded himself in the light of +an accepted son-in-law, insisted upon accompanying his beloved; and +hence, since V—— likewise returned to K——, the castle was left in +its previous loneliness. The house-steward's malignant complaint grew +worse and worse, so that he gave up all hopes of ever getting about +again; and his office was conferred upon an old <i>chasseur</i>, Francis by +name, Wolfgang's faithful servant.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last, after long waiting, V—— received from Switzerland +information of the most favourable character. The priest who had +married Roderick was long since dead; but there was found in the church +register a memorandum in his hand writing, to the effect that the man +of the name of Born, whom he had joined in the bonds of wedlock with +Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, had established completely to his satisfaction +his identity as Freiherr Wolfgang von R——, eldest son of Freiherr +Roderick von R—— of R—sitten. Besides this, two witnesses of the +marriage had been discovered, a merchant of Geneva and an old French +captain, who had moved to Lyons; to them also Wolfgang had in +confidence stated his real name; and their affidavits confirmed the +priest's notice in the church register. With these memoranda in his +hands, drawn up with proper legal formalities, V—— now succeeded in +securing his client in the complete possession of his rights; and as +there was now no longer any hindrance to the surrender to him of the +entail, it was to be put into his hands in the ensuing autumn. Hubert +had fallen in his very first engagement, thus sharing the fate of his +younger brother, who had likewise been slain in battle a year before +his father's death. Thus the Courland estates fell to Baroness +Seraphina von R——, and made a handsome dowry for her to take to the +too happy Roderick.</p> + +<p class="normal">November had already come in when the Baroness, along with Roderick and +his betrothed, arrived at R—sitten. The formal surrender of the +estate-tail to the young Baron took place, and then his marriage with +Seraphina was solemnised. Many weeks passed amid a continual whirl of +pleasure; but at length the wearied guests began gradually to depart +from the castle, to V——'s great satisfaction, for he had made up his +mind not to take his leave of R—sitten until he had initiated the +young lord of the entail in all the relations and duties connected with +his new position down to the minutest particulars. Roderick's uncle had +kept an account of all revenues and disbursements with the most +detailed accuracy; hence, since Hubert had only retained a small sum +annually for his own support, the surplus revenues had all gone to +swell the capital left by the old Freiherr, till the total now amounted +to a considerable sum. Hubert had only employed the income of the +entail for his own purposes during the first three years, but to cover +this he had given a mortgage on the security of his share of the +Courland property.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the time when old Daniel had revealed himself to V—— as a +somnambulist, V—— had chosen old Roderick's bed-room for his own +sitting-room, in order that he might the more securely gather from the +old man what he afterwards voluntarily disclosed. Hence it was in this +room and in the adjoining great hall that the Freiherr transacted +business with V——. Once they were both sitting at the great table by +the bright blazing fire; V—— had his pen in his hand, and was noting +down various totals and calculating the riches of the lord of the +entail, whilst the latter, leaning his head on his hand, was blinking +at the open account-books and formidable-looking documents. Neither of +them heard the hollow roar of the sea, nor the anxious cries of the +sea-gulls as they dashed against the windowpanes, flapping their wings +and flying backwards and forwards, announcing the oncoming storm. +Neither of them heeded the storm, which arose about midnight, and was +now roaring and raging with wild fury round the castle walls, so that +all the sounds of ill omen in the fire-grates and narrow passages +awoke, and began to whistle and shriek in a weird, unearthly way. At +length, after a terrific blast, which made the whole castle shake, the +hall was completely lit up by the murky glare of the full moon, and +V—— exclaimed, "Awful weather!" The Freiherr, quite absorbed in the +consideration of the wealth which had fallen to him, replied +indifferently, as he turned over a page of the receipt-book with a +satisfied smile, "It is indeed; very stormy!" But, as if clutched by +the icy hand of Dread, he started to his feet as the door of the hall +flew open and a pale spectral figure became visible, striding in with +the stamp of death upon its face. It was Daniel, who, lying helpless +under the power of disease, was deemed in the opinion of V—— as of +everybody else incapable of the ability to move a single limb; but, +again coming under the influence of his propensity to wander in his +sleep at full moon, he had, it appeared, been unable to resist it. The +Freiherr stared at the old man without uttering a sound; and when +Daniel began to scratch at the wall, and moan as though in the painful +agonies of death, Roderick's heart was filled with horrible dread. With +his face ashy pale and his hair standing straight on end, he leapt to +his feet and strode towards the old man in a threatening attitude and +cried in a loud firm voice, so that the hall rang again, "Daniel, +Daniel, what are you doing here at this hour?" Then the old man uttered +that same unearthly howling whimper, like the death-cry of a wounded +animal, which he had uttered when Wolfgang had offered to reward his +fidelity with gold; and he fell down on the floor. V—— summoned the +servants; they raised the old man up; but all attempts to restore +animation proved fruitless. Then the Freiherr cried, almost beside +himself, "Good God! Good God! Now I remember to have heard that a +sleepwalker may die on the spot if anybody calls him by his name. Oh! +oh! unfortunate wretch that I am! I have killed the poor old man! I +shall never more have a peaceful moment so long as I live." When the +servants had carried the corpse away and the hall was again empty, +V—— took the Freiherr, who was still continuing his self-reproaches, +by the hand and led him in impressive silence to the walled-up postern, +and said, "The man who fell down dead at your feet, Freiherr Roderick, +was the atrocious murderer of your father." The Freiherr fixed his +staring eyes upon V—— as though he saw the foul fiends of hell. But +V—— went on, "The time has come now for me to reveal to you the +hideous secret which, weighing upon the conscience of this monster and +burthening him with curses, compelled him to roam abroad in his sleep. +The Eternal Power has seen fit to make the son take vengeance upon the +murderer of his father. The words which you thundered in the ears of +that fearful night-walker were the last words which your unhappy father +spoke." V—— sat down in front of the fire, and the Freiherr, +trembling and unable to utter a word, took his seat beside him. +V—— began to tell him the contents of the document which Hubert had +left behind him, and the seal of which he (V——) was not to break +until after the opening of the will Hubert lamented, in expressions +testifying to the deepest remorse, the implacable hatred against his +elder brother which took root in him from the moment that old Roderick +established the entail. He was deprived of all weapons; for, even if he +succeeded in maliciously setting the son at variance with the father, +it would serve no purpose, since even Roderick himself had not the +power to deprive his eldest son of his birth-right, nor would he on +principle have ever done so, no matter how his affections had been +alienated from him. It was only when Wolfgang formed his connection +with Julia de St. Val in Geneva that Hubert saw his way to effecting +his brother's ruin. And that was the time when he came to an +understanding with Daniel, to provoke the old man by villainous devices +to take measures which should drive his son to despair.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was well aware of old Roderick's opinion that the only way to ensure +an illustrious future for the family to all subsequent time was by +means of an alliance with one of the oldest families in the country. +The old man had read this alliance in the stars, and any pernicious +derangement of the constellation would only entail destruction upon the +family he had founded. In this way it was that Wolfgang's union with +Julia seemed to the old man like a sinful crime, committed against the +ordinances of the Power which had stood by him in all his worldly +undertakings; and any means that might be employed for Julia's ruin he +would have regarded as justified for the same reason, for Julia had, he +conceived, ranged herself against him like some demoniacal principle. +Hubert knew that his brother loved Julia passionately, almost to +madness in fact, and that the loss of her would infallibly make him +miserable, perhaps kill him. And Hubert was all the more ready to +assist the old man in his plans as he had himself conceived an unlawful +affection for Julia, and hoped to win her for himself. It was, however, +determined by a special dispensation of Providence that all attacks, +even the most virulent, were to be thwarted by Wolfgang's resoluteness; +nay, that he should contrive to deceive his brother: the fact that his +marriage was actually solemnised and that of the birth of a son were +kept secret from Hubert In Roderick's mind also there occurred, along +with the presentiment of his approaching death, the idea that Wolfgang +had really married the Julia who was so hostile to him. In the letter +which commanded his son to appear at R—sitten on a given day to take +possession of the entail, he cursed him if he did not sever his +connection with her. This was the letter that Wolfgang burnt beside his +father's corpse. To Hubert the old man wrote, saying that Wolfgang had +married Julia, but that he would part from her. This Hubert took to be +a fancy of his visionary father's; accordingly he was not a little +dismayed when on reaching R—sitten Wolfgang with perfect frankness not +only confirmed the old man's supposition, but also went on to add that +Julia had borne him a son, and that he hoped in a short time to +surprise her with the pleasant intelligence of his high rank and great +wealth, for she had hitherto taken him for Born, a merchant from M——. +He intended going to Geneva himself to fetch his beloved wife. But +before he could carry out this plan he was overtaken by death. Hubert +carefully concealed what he knew about the existence of a son born to +Wolfgang in lawful wedlock with Julia, and so usurped the property that +really belonged to his nephew. But only a few years passed before he +became a prey to bitter remorse. He was reminded of his guilt in +terrible wise by destiny, in the hatred which grew up and developed +more and more between his two sons. "You are a poor starving beggar!" +said the elder, a boy of twelve, to the younger, "but I shall be lord +of R—sitten when father dies, and then you will have to be humble and +kiss my hand when you want me to give you money to buy a new coat." The +younger, goaded to ungovernable fury by his brother's proud and +scornful words, threw the knife at him which he happened to have in his +hand, and almost killed him. Hubert, for fear of some dire misfortune, +sent the younger away to St. Petersburg; and he served afterwards as +officer under Suwaroff, and fell fighting against the French. Hubert +was prevented revealing to the world the dishonest and deceitful way in +which he had acquired possession of the estate-tail by the shame and +disgrace which would have come upon him; but he would not rob the +rightful owner of a single penny more. He caused inquiries to be set on +foot in Geneva, and learned that Madame Born had died of grief at the +incomprehensible disappearance of her husband, but that young Roderick +Born was being brought up by a worthy man who had adopted him. Hubert +then caused himself to be introduced under an assumed name as a +relative of Born the merchant, who had perished at sea, and he +forwarded at given times sufficient sums of money to give the young +heir of entail a good and respectable education. How he carefully +treasured up the surplus revenues from the estate, and how he drew up +the terms of his will, we already know. Respecting his brother's death, +Hubert spoke in strangely obscure terms, but they allowed this much to +be inferred, that there must be some mystery about it, and that he had +taken part, indirectly, at least, in some heinous crime.</p> + +<p class="normal">The contents of the black portfolio made everything clear. Along with +Hubert's traitorous correspondence with Daniel was a sheet of paper +written and signed by Daniel. V—— read a confession at which his very +soul trembled, appalled. It was at Daniel's instigation that Hubert had +come to R—sitten; and it was Daniel again who had written and told him +about the one hundred and fifty thousand thalers that had been found. +It has been already described how Hubert was received by his brother, +and how, deceived in all his hopes and wishes, he was about to go off +when he was prevented by V——, Daniel's heart was tortured by an +insatiable thirst for vengeance, which he was determined to take on the +young man who had proposed to kick him out like a mangy cur. He it was +who relentlessly and incessantly fanned the flame of passion by which +Hubert's desperate heart was consumed. Whilst in the fir forests +hunting wolves, out in the midst of a blinding snowstorm, they agreed +to effect his destruction. "Make away with him!" murmured Hubert, +looking askance and taking aim with his rifle. "Yes, make away with +him," snarled Daniel, "but not in <i>that way</i>, not in <i>that way!</i>" And +he made the most solemn asseverations that he would murder the Freiherr +and not a soul in the world should be the wiser. When, however, Hubert +had got his money, he repented of the plot; he determined to go away in +order to shun all further temptation. Daniel himself saddled his horse +and brought it out of the stable; but as the Baron was about to mount, +Daniel said to him in a sharp, strained voice, "I thought you would +stay on the entail, Freiherr Hubert, now that it has just fallen to +you, for the proud lord of the entail lies dashed to pieces at the +bottom of the ravine, below the tower." The steward had observed that +Wolfgang, tormented by his thirst for gold, often used to rise in the +night, go to the postern which formerly led to the tower, and stand +gazing with longing eyes down into the chasm, where, according to his +(Daniel's) testimony, vast treasures lay buried. Relying upon this +habit, Daniel waited near the hall-door on that ill-omened night; and +as soon as he heard the Freiherr open the postern leading to the tower, +he entered the hall and proceeded to where the Freiherr was standing, +close by the brink of the chasm. On becoming aware of the presence of +his villainous servant, in whose eyes the gleam of murder shone, the +Freiherr turned round and said with a cry of terror, "Daniel, Daniel, +what are you doing here at this hour?" But then Daniel shrieked wildly, +"Down with you, you mangy cur!" and with a powerful push of his foot he +hurled the unhappy man over into the deep chasm.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terribly agitated by this awful deed, Freiherr Roderick found no peace +in the castle where his father had been murdered. He went to his +Courland estates, and only visited R—sitten once a year, in autumn. +Francis—old Francis—who had strong suspicions as to Daniel's guilt, +maintained that he often haunted the place at full moon, and described +the nature of the apparition much as V—- afterwards experienced it for +himself when he exorcised it. It was the disclosure of these +circumstances, also, which stamped his father's memory with dishonour, +that had driven young Freiherr Hubert out into the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was my old great-uncle's story. Now he took my hand, and whilst +his eyes filled with tears, he said, in a broken voice, "Cousin, +cousin! And she too—the beautiful lady—has fallen a victim to the +dark destiny, the grim, mysterious power which has established itself +in that old ancestral castle. Two days after we left R—sitten the +Freiherr arranged an excursion on sledges as the concluding event of +the visit. He drove his wife himself; but as they were going down the +valley the horses, for some unexplained reason, suddenly taking fright, +began to snort and kick and plunge most savagely. 'The old man! The old +man is after us!' screamed the Baroness in a shrill, terrified voice. +At this same moment the sledge was overturned with a violent jerk, and +the Baroness was hurled to a considerable distance. They picked her up +lifeless—she was quite dead. The Freiherr is perfectly inconsolable, +and has settled down into a state of passivity that will kill him. We +shall never go to R—sitten again, cousin!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here my uncle paused. As I left him my heart was rent by emotion; and +nothing but the all-soothing hand of Time could assuage the deep pain +which I feared would cost me my life.</p> + +<p class="normal">Years passed. V—— was resting in his grave, and I had left my native +country. Then I was driven northwards, as far as St. Petersburg, by the +devastating war which was sweeping over all Germany. On my return +journey, not far from K——, I was driving one dark summer night along +the shore of the Baltic, when I perceived in the sky before me a +remarkably large bright star. On coming nearer I saw by the red +flickering flame that what I had taken for a star must be a large fire, +but could not understand how it could be so high up in the air. +"Postilion, what fire is that before us yonder?" I asked the man +who was driving me. "Oh! why, that's not a fire; it's the beacon +tower of R—sitten." "R—sitten!" Directly the postilion mentioned +the name all the experiences of the eventful autumn days which I had +spent there recurred to my mind with lifelike reality. I saw the +Baron—Seraphina—and also the remarkably eccentric old aunts—myself +as well, with my bare milk-white face, my hair elegantly curled and +powdered, and wearing a delicate sky-blue coat—nay, I saw myself in my +love-sick folly, sighing like a furnace, and making lugubrious odes on +my mistress's eyebrows. The sombre, melancholy mood into which these +memories plunged me was relieved by the bright recollection of V——'s +genial jokes, shooting up like flashes of coloured light, and I found +them now still more entertaining than they had been so long ago. +Thus agitated by pain mingled with much peculiar pleasure, I reached R—sitten early in the morning and got out of the coach in front of the +post-house, where it had stopped I recognised the house as that of the +land-steward; I inquired after him. "Begging your pardon," said the +clerk of the post-house, taking his pipe from his mouth and giving his +night-cap a tilt, "begging your pardon; there is no land-steward here; +this is a Royal Government office, and the Herr Administrator is still +asleep." On making further inquiries I learnt that Freiherr Roderick +von R——, the last lord of the entail, had died sixteen years before +without descendants, and that the entail in accordance with the terms +of the original deeds had now escheated to the state. I went up to the +castle; it was a mere heap of ruins. I was informed by an old peasant, +who came out of the fir-forest, and with whom I entered into +conversation, that a large portion of the stones had been employed in +the construction of the beacon-tower. He also could tell the story of +the ghost which was said to have haunted the castle, and he affirmed +that people often heard unearthly cries and lamentations amongst the +stones, especially at full moon.</p> + +<p class="normal">Poor short-sighted old Roderick! What a malignant destiny did you +conjure up to destroy with the breath of poison, in the first moments +of its growth, that race which you intended to plant with firm roots to +last on till eternity!</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * * *</span></p> + +<p class="continue">FOOTNOTES TO "THE ENTAIL":</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_entail1" href="#div2_entail1">1</a></sup> Freiherr = Baron, though not exactly in the present +significance of the term in Germany. A Freiherr belongs to the +"superior nobility," and is a Baron of the older nobility of the Middle +Ages; and he ranks immediately after a Count (Graf). The title Baron is +now restricted to comparatively newer creations, and its bearer belongs +to the "lower nobility." In this tale "Freiherr" and "Baron" are used +indifferently.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_entail2" href="#div2_entail2">2</a></sup> The Justitiarius acted as justiciary in the seignorial +courts of justice, which were amongst the privileges accorded to the +nobility of certain ranks, in certain cases, by the feudal institutions +of the Middle Ages. This privilege the R—— family is represented as +exercising.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_entail3" href="#div2_entail3">3</a></sup> At the present time the Germans say <i>Prosit!</i> under like +circumstances. This of coarse reminds one of the Greek custom of +regarding sneezing as an auspicious omen.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_entail4" href="#div2_entail4">4</a></sup> This refers to an episode in Schiller's work, related by a +Sicilian. The story is of a familiar type. Two brothers, Jeronymo and +Lorenzo, fall in love with the same Lady Antonia; the elder brother is +secretly killed by the younger. But on the marriage day of the murderer +the murdered man appears in the disguise of a monk, and proceeds to +reveal himself in his bloody habiliments and show his ghastly wounds.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_entail5" href="#div2_entail5">5</a></sup> By Paul Fleming (1609-1640); one of the pious but gloomy +religious songs of this leading spirit of the "first Silesian school."</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_entail6" href="#div2_entail6">6</a></sup> See note, p. 40.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_entail7" href="#div2_entail7">7</a></sup> The reference is to a <i>Landsmannschaft</i>. These were +associations, at a university, of students from the same state or +country, bound to the observance of certain traditional customs, &c, +and under the control of certain self-elected officers (the <i>Senior</i> +being one).</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_entail8" href="#div2_entail8">8</a></sup> Imperial thalers varied in value at different times, but +estimating their value at three shillings, the sum here mentioned would +be equivalent to about £22,500. A <i>Frederick d'or</i> was a gold coin +worth five thalers.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><span class="space"><i><a name="div1_hall" href="#div1Ref_hall">ARTHUR'S HALL</a></i></span>.<sup><a name="div2_hall1" href="#div2Ref_hall1">1</a></sup></h2> + +<p class="normal"> +You must of course, indulgent reader, have heard a good deal about the +remarkable old commercial town of Dantzic. Perhaps you may be +acquainted from abundant descriptions with all the sights to be seen +there; but I should like it best of all if you have ever been there +yourself in former times, and seen with your own eyes the wonderful +hall into which I will now take you—I mean Arthur's Hall.<sup><a name="div2_hall2" href="#div2Ref_hall2">2</a></sup></p> + +<p class="normal">At the hour of noon the hall was crammed full of men of the most +diverse nations, all pushing about and immersed to the eyes in +business, so that the ears were deafened by the confused din. But when +the exchange hours were over, and the merchants had gone to dinner, and +only a few odd individuals hurried through the hall on business (for it +served as a means of communication between two streets), that I dare +say was the time when you, gracious reader, liked to visit Arthur's +Hall best, whenever you were in Dantzic. For then a kind of magical +twilight fell through the dim windows, and all the strange reliefs and +carvings, with which the wall was too profusely decorated, became +instinct with life and motion. Stags with immense antlers, together +with other wonderful animals, gazed down upon you with their fiery eyes +till you could hardly look at them; and the marble statue of the king, +also in the midst of the hall, caused you to shiver more in proportion +as the dusk of evening deepened. The great picture representing an +assemblage of all the Virtues and Vices, with their respective names +attached, lost perceptibly in moral effect; for the Virtues, being +high up, were blended unrecognisably in a grey mist, whilst the +Vices—wondrously beautiful ladies in gay and brilliant costumes—stood +out prominently and very seductively, threatening to enchant you with +their sweet soft words. You preferred to turn your eyes upon the narrow +border which went almost all round the hall, and on which were +represented in pleasing style long processions of gay-uniformed militia +of the olden time, when Dantzic was an Imperial town. Honest +burgomasters, their features stamped with shrewdness and importance, +ride at the head on spirited horses with handsome trappings, whilst +the drummers, pipers, and halberdiers march along so jauntily and +life-like, that you soon begin to hear the merry music they play, and +look to see them all defile out of that great window up there into the +Langemarkt.<sup><a name="div2_hall3" href="#div2Ref_hall3">3</a></sup></p> + +<p class="normal">While, then, they are marching off, you, indulgent reader,—if you +were, that is, a tolerable sketcher,—would not be able to do otherwise +than copy with pen and ink yon magnificent burgomaster with his +remarkably handsome page. Pen and ink and paper, provided at public +cost, were always to be found lying about on the tables; accordingly +the material would be all ready at hand, and you would have felt the +temptation irresistible. This you would have been permitted to do, but +not so the young merchant Traugott, who, on beginning to do anything of +this kind, encountered a thousand difficulties and vexations. "Advise +our friend in Hamburg at once that that business has been settled, my +good Herr Traugott," said the wholesale and retail merchant, Elias +Roos, with whom Traugott was about to enter upon an immediate +partnership, besides marrying his only daughter, Christina. After a +little trouble, Traugott found a place at one of the crowded tables; he +took a sheet of paper, dipped his pen in the ink, and was about to +begin with a free caligraphic flourish, when, running over once more in +his mind what he wished to say, he cast his eyes upwards. Now it +happened that he sat directly opposite a procession of figures, at the +sight of which he was always, strangely enough, affected with an +inexplicable sadness. A grave man, with something of dark melancholy in +his face, and with a black curly beard and dressed in sumptuous +clothing, was riding a black horse, which was led by the bridle by a +marvellous youth: his rich abundance of hair and his gay and graceful +costume gave him almost a feminine appearance. The face and form of the +man made Traugott shudder inwardly, but a whole world of sweet vague +aspirations beamed upon him from the youth's countenance. He could +never tear himself away from looking at these two; and hence, on the +present occasion, instead of writing Herr Elias Roos's letter of advice +to Hamburg, he sat gazing at the wonderful picture, absently scribbling +all over his paper. After this had lasted some time, a hand clapped him +on the shoulder from behind, and a gruff voice said, "Nice—very nice; +that's what I like; something maybe made of that." Traugott, awakening +out of his dreamy reverie, whisked himself round; but, as if struck by +a lightning flash, he remained speechless with amazement and fright, +for he was staring up into the face of the dark melancholy man who was +depicted on the wall before him. He it was who uttered the words stated +above; at his side stood the delicate and wonderfully beautiful youth, +smiling upon him with indescribable affection. "Yes, it is they—the +very same!" was the thought that flashed across Traugott's mind. "I +expect they will at once throw off their unsightly mantles and stand +forth in all the splendours of their antique costume." The members of +the crowd pushed backwards and forwards amongst each other, and the +strangers had soon disappeared in the crush; but even after the hours +of 'Change were long over, and only a few odd individuals crossed the +hall, Traugott still remained in the self-same place with the letter of +advice in his hand, as though he were converted into a solid stone +statue.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length he perceived Herr Elias Roos coming towards him with two +strangers. "What are you about, cogitating here so long after noon, my +respected Herr Traugott?" asked Elias Roos; "have you sent off the +letter all right?" Mechanically Traugott handed him the paper; but Herr +Elias Roos struck his hands together above his head, stamping at first +gently, but then violently, with his right foot, as he cried, making +the hall ring again, "Good God! Good God! what childish tricks are +these? Nothing but sheer childishness, my respected Traugott,—my +good-for-nothing son-in-law—my imprudent partner. Why, the devil must +be in your honour! The letter—the letter! O God! the post!" Herr Elias +Roos was almost choking with vexation, whilst the two strangers were +laughing at the singular letter of advice, which could hardly be said +to be of much use. For, immediately after the words, "In reply to yours +of the 20th inst. respecting——" Traugott had sketched the two +extraordinary figures of the old man and the youth in neat bold +outlines. The two strangers sought to pacify Herr Elias Roos by +addressing him in the most affectionate manner; but Herr Elias Roos +tugged his round wig now on this side and now on that, struck his cane +against the floor, and cried, "The young devil!—was to write letter of +advice—makes drawings—ten thousand marks gone—dam!" He blew through +his fingers and then went on lamenting, "Ten thousand marks!" "Don't +make a trouble of it, my dear Herr Roos," said at length the elder of +the two strangers. "The post is of course gone; but I am sending off a +courier to Hamburg in an hour. Let me give him your letter, and it will +then reach its destination earlier than it would have done by the post" +"You incomparable man!" exclaimed Herr Elias, his face a perfect blaze +of sunshine. Traugott had recovered from his awkward embarrassment; he +was hastening to the table to write the letter, but Herr Elias pushed +him away, casting a right malicious look upon him, and murmuring +between his teeth, "No need for you, my good son!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Whilst Herr Elias was studiously busy writing, the elder gentleman +approached young Traugott, who was standing silent with shame, and said +to him, "You don't seem to be exactly in your place, my good sir. It +would never have come into a true merchant's head to make drawings +instead of writing a business letter as he ought" Traugott could not +help feeling that this reproach was only too well founded. Much +embarrassed, he replied, "By my soul, this hand has already written +many admirable letters of advice; it is only, occasionally that such +confoundedly odd ideas come into my mind." "But, my good sir," +continued the stranger smiling, "these are not confoundedly odd ideas +at all. I can really hardly believe that all your business letters +taken together have been so admirable as these sketches, outlined +so neatly and boldly and firmly. There is, I am sure, true genius +in them." With these words the stranger took out of Traugott's hand +the letter—or rather what was begun as a letter but had ended in +sketches—carefully folded it together, and put it in his pocket. This +awakened in Traugott's mind the firm conviction that he had done +something far more excellent than write a business letter. A strange +spirit took possession of him; so that, when Herr Elias Roos, who had +now finished writing, addressed him in an angry tone, "Your childish +folly might have cost me ten thousand marks," he replied louder and +with more decision than was his habit, "Will your worship please not to +behave in such an extraordinary way, else I will never write you +another letter of advice so long as I live, and we will separate." Herr +Elias pushed his wig right with both hands and stammered, as he stared +hard at Traugott, "My estimable colleague, my dear, dear son, what +proud words you are using!" The old gentleman again interposed, and a +few words sufficed to restore perfect peace; and so they all went to +Herr Elias's house to dinner, for he had invited the strangers home +with him. Fair Christina received them in holiday attire, all clean and +prim and proper; and soon she was wielding the excessively heavy silver +soup-ladle with a practised hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whilst these five persons are sitting at table, I could, gracious +reader, bring them pictorially before your eyes; but I shall only +manage to give a few general outlines, and those certainly worse than +the sketches which Traugott had the audacity to scribble in the +inauspicious letter; for the meal will soon be over; and besides, I am +urged by an impulse I cannot resist to go on with the remarkable +history of the excellent Traugott, which I have undertaken to relate to +you.</p> + +<p class="normal">That Herr Elias Roos wears a round wig you already know from what +has been stated above; and I have no need to add anything more; for +after what he has said, you can now see the round little man with his +liver-coloured coat, waistcoat, and trousers, with gilt buttons, quite +plainly before your eyes. Of Traugott I have a very great deal to say, +because this is his history which I am telling, and so of course he +occurs in it. If now it be true that a man's thoughts and feelings and +actions, making their influence felt from within him outwards, so model +and shape his bodily form as to give rise to that wonderful harmony of +the whole man, that is not to be explained but only felt, which we call +character, then my words will of themselves have already shown you +Traugott himself in the flesh. If this is not the case, then all my +gossip is wasted, and you may forthwith regard my story as unread. The +two strangers are uncle and nephew, formerly retail dealers, but now +merchants trading on their gains, and friends of Herr Elias Roos, that +is to say, they had a good many business transactions together. They +live at Königsberg, dress entirely in the English fashion, carry +about with them a mahogany boot-jack which has come from London, +possess considerable taste for art, and are, in a word, experienced, +well-educated people. The uncle has a gallery of art objects and +collects hand-sketches (witness the pilfered letter of advice).</p> + +<p class="normal">But properly my chief business was to give you, kindly reader, a true +and life-like description of Christina; for her nimble person will, I +observe, soon disappear; and it will be as well for me to get a few +traits jotted down at once. Then she may willingly go! Picture to +yourself a medium-sized stoutish female of from two to three and twenty +years of age, with a round face, a short and rather turned-up nose, and +friendly light-blue eyes, which smile most prettily upon everybody, +saying, "I shall soon be married now." Her skin is dazzling white, her +hair is not altogether of a too reddish tinge; she has lips which were +certainly made to be kissed, and a mouth which, though indeed rather +wide, she yet screws up small in some extraordinary way, but so as to +display then two rows of pearly teeth. If we were to suppose that the +flames from the next-door neighbour's burning house were to dart in at +her chamber-window, she would make haste to feed the canary and lock up +the clean linen from the wash, and then assuredly hasten down into the +office and inform Herr Elias Roos that by that time his house also was +on fire. She has never had an almond-cake spoilt, and her melted-butter +always thickens properly, owing to the fact that she never stirs the +spoon round towards the left, but always towards the right. But since +Herr Elias Roos has poured out the last bumper of old French wine, I +will only hasten to add that pretty Christina is uncommonly fond of +Traugott because he is going to marry her; for what in the name of +wonder should she do if she did not get married?</p> + +<p class="normal">After dinner Herr Elias Roos proposed to his friends to take a walk on +the ramparts. Although Traugott, whose mind had never been stirred by +so many wonderful and extraordinary things as to-day, would very much +have liked to escape the company, he could not contrive it; for, just +as he was going out of the door, without having even kissed his +betrothed's hand, Herr Elias caught him by the coat-tails, crying, "My +honoured son-in-law, my good colleague, but you're not going to leave +us?" And so he had to stay.</p> + +<p class="normal">A certain professor of physics once stated the theory that the <i>Anima +Mundi</i>, or Spirit of the World, had, as a skilful experimentalist, +constructed somewhere an excellent electric machine, and from it +proceed certain very mysterious wires, which pass through the lives of +us all; these we do our best to creep round and avoid, but at some +moment or other we must tread upon them, and then there passes a flash +and a shock through our souls, suddenly altering the forms of +everything within them. Upon this thread Traugott must surely have trod +in the moment that he was unconsciously sketching the two persons who +stood in living shape behind him, for the singular appearance of the +strangers had struck him with all the violence of a lightning-flash; +and he now felt as if he had very clear conceptions of all those things +which he had hitherto only dimly guessed at and dreamt about. The +shyness which at other times had always fettered his tongue so soon as +the conversation turned upon things which lay concealed like holy +secrets at the bottom of his heart had now left him; and hence it was +that, when the uncle attacked the curious half-painted, half-carved +pictures in Arthur's Hall as wanting in taste, and then proceeded more +particularly to condemn the little pictures representing the soldiers +as being whimsical, Traugott boldly maintained that, although it was +very likely true that all these things did not harmonize with the rules +of good taste, nevertheless he had experienced, what indeed several +others had also experienced, viz., a wonderful and fantastic world had +been unfolded to him in Arthur's Hall, and some few of the figures had +reminded him in even lifelike looks, nay, even in plain distinct words, +that he also was a great master, and could paint and wield the chisel +as well as the man out of whose unknown studio they themselves had +proceeded Herr Elias certainly looked more stupid than usual whilst the +young fellow was saying such grand things, but the uncle made answer in +a very malicious manner, "I repeat once more, I do not comprehend why +you want to be a merchant, why you haven't rather devoted yourself +altogether to art."</p> + +<p class="normal">Traugott conceived an extreme repugnance to the man, and accordingly he +joined the nephew for the walk, and found his manner very friendly and +confidential. "O Heaven!" said the latter, "how I envy you your +beautiful and glorious talent! I wish I could only sketch like you! I +am not at all wanting in genius; I have already sketched some deucedly +pretty eyes and noses and ears, ay, and even three or four entire +heads;—but, dash it all! the business, you know! the business!" "I +always thought," said Traugott, "that as soon as a man detected the +spark of true genius—of a genuine love for art—within him, he ought +not to know anything about any other business." "You mean he ought to +be an artist!" rejoined the nephew. "Ah! how can you say so? See you +here, my estimable friend! I have, I believe, reflected more upon these +things than many others; in fact, I am such a decided admirer of art, +and have gone into the real essential nature of the thing far deeper +than I am even able to express, and so I can only make use of hints and +suggestions." The nephew, as he expressed these opinions, looked so +learned and so profound that Traugott really began to feel in awe of +him. "You will agree with me," continued the nephew, after he had taken +a pinch of snuff and had sneezed twice, "you will agree with me that +art embroiders our life with flowers; amusement, recreation after +serious business—that is the praiseworthy end of all effort in art; +and the attainment of this end is the more perfect in proportion as the +art products assume a nearer approach to excellence. This end is very +clearly seen in life; for it is only the man who pursues art in the +spirit I have just mentioned who enjoys comfort and ease; whilst these +for ever and eternally flee away from the man who, directly contrary to +the nature of the case, regards art as a true end in itself—as the +highest aim in life. And so, my good friend, don't take to heart what +my uncle said to try and persuade you to turn aside from the serious +business of life, and rely upon a way of employing your energies which, +if without support, will only make you stagger about like a helpless +child." Here the nephew paused as if expecting Traugott's reply; but +Traugott did not know for the life of him what he ought to say. All +that the nephew had said struck him as indescribably stupid talk. He +contented himself with asking, "But what do you really mean by the +serious business of life?" The nephew looked at him somewhat taken +aback. "Well, by my soul, you can't help conceding to me that a man who +is alive must live, and that's what your artist by profession hardly +ever succeeds in doing, for he's always hard up." And he went on with a +long rigmarole of bosh, which he clothed in fine words and stereotyped +phrases. The end of it all appeared to be pretty much this—that by +living he meant little else than having no debts but plenty of money, +plenty to eat and drink, a beautiful wife, and also well-behaved +children, who never got any grease-stains on their nice Sunday-clothes, +and so on. This made Traugott feel a tightness in his throat, and he +was glad when the clever nephew left him, and he found himself alone in +his own room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What a wretched miserable life I lead, to be sure!" he soliloquised. +"On beautiful mornings in the glorious golden spring-time, when into +even the obscure streets of the town the warm west wind finds its way, +and its faint murmurings and rustlings seem to be telling of all the +wonders which are to be seen blooming in the woods and fields, then I +have to crawl down sluggishly and in an ill-temper into Herr Elias +Roos's smoke-begrimed office. And there sit pale faces before huge +ugly-shaped desks; all are working on amidst gloomy silence, which is +only broken by the rustle of leaves turned over in the big books, by +the chink of money that is being counted, and by unintelligible sounds +at odd intervals. And then again what work it is! What is the good of +all this thinking and all this writing? Merely that the pile of gold +pieces may increase in the coffers, and that the Fafnir's<sup><a name="div2_hall4" href="#div2Ref_hall4">4</a></sup> treasure, +which always brings mischief, may glitter and sparkle more and more! +Oh, how gladly a painter or a sculptor must go out into the air, and +with head erect imbibe all the refreshing influences of spring, until +they people the inner world of his mind with beautiful images pulsing +with glad and energetic life! Then from the dark bushes step forth +wonderful figures, which his own mind has created, and which continue +to be his own, for within him dwells the mysterious wizard power of +light, of colour, of form; hence he is able to give abiding shape to +what he has seen with the eye of his mind, in that he represents it in +a material substitute. What is there to prevent me tearing myself loose +from this hated mode of life? That remarkable old man assured me that I +am called to be an artist, and still more so did the nice handsome +youth. For although he did not speak a word, it yet somehow struck me +that his glance said plainly what I had for such a long time felt like +a vague emotional pulsation within me, and what, oppressed by a +multitude of doubts, has hitherto been unable to rise to the level of +consciousness. Instead of going on in this miserable way, could I not +make myself a good painter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Traugott took out all the things that he had ever drawn and examined +them with critical eyes. Several things looked quite different to-day +from what they had ever done before, and that not worse, but better. +His attention was especially attracted by one of his childish attempts, +of the time when he was quite a boy; it was a sketch of the old +burgomaster and the handsome page, the outlines very much wanting in +firmness, of course, but nevertheless recognisable. And he remembered +quite well that these figures had made a strange impression upon him +even at that time, and how one evening at dusk they enticed him with +such an irresistible power of attraction, that he had to leave his +playmates and go into Arthur's Hall, where he took almost endless pains +to copy the picture. The contemplation of this drawing filled him with +a feeling of very deep yearning sadness. According to his usual habit, +he ought to go and work a few hours in the office; but he could not do +it; he went out to the Carlsberg<sup><a name="div2_hall5" href="#div2Ref_hall5">5</a></sup> instead. There he stood and gazed +out over the heaving sea, striving to decipher in the waves and in the +grey misty clouds which had gathered in wonderful shapes over Hela,<sup><a name="div2_hall6" href="#div2Ref_hall6">6</a></sup> +as in a magic mirror, his own destiny in days to come.</p> + +<p class="normal">Don't you too believe, kindly reader, that the sparks which fall into +our hearts from the higher regions of Love are first made visible to us +in the hours of hopeless pain? And so it is with the doubts that storm +the artist's mind. He sees the Ideal and feels how impotent are his +efforts to reach it; it will flee before him, he thinks, always +unattainable. But then again he is once more animated by a divine +courage; he strives and struggles, and his despair is dissolved into a +sweet yearning, which both strengthens him and spurs him on to strain +after his beloved idol, so that he begins to see it continually nearer +and nearer, but never reaches it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Traugott was now tortured to excess by this state of hopeless pain. +Early next morning, on again looking over his drawings, which he had +left lying on the table he thought them all paltry and foolish, and he +now called to mind the oft-repeated words of one of his artistic +friends, "A great deal of the mischief done by dabblers in art of +moderate abilities arises from the fact that so many people take a +somewhat keen superficial excitement for a real essential vocation to +pursue art." Traugott felt strongly urged to look upon Arthur's Hall +and his adventure with the two mysterious personages, the old man and +the young one, for one of these states of superficial excitement; so he +condemned himself to go back to the office again; and he worked so +assiduously at Herr Elias Roos's, without heeding the disgust which +frequently so far overcame him that he had to break off suddenly and +rush off out into the open air. With sympathetic concern, Herr Elias +Roos set this down to the indisposition which, according to his +opinion, the fearfully pale young man must be suffering from.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some time passed; Dominic's Fair<sup><a name="div2_hall7" href="#div2Ref_hall7">7</a></sup> came, after which Traugott was to +marry Christina and be introduced to the mercantile world as Herr Elias +Roos's partner. This period he regarded as that of a sad leave-taking +from all his high hopes and aspirations; and his heart grew heavy +whenever he saw dear Christina as busy as a bee superintending the +scrubbing and polishing that was going on everywhere in the middle +story, folding curtains with her own hands, and giving the final polish +to the brass pots and pans, &c.</p> + +<p class="normal">One day, in the thick of the surging crowd of strangers in Arthur's +Hall, Traugott heard close behind him a voice whose well-known tones +made his heart jump. "And do you really mean to say that this stock +stands at such a low figure?" Traugott whisked himself quickly round, +and saw, as he had expected, the remarkable old man, who had appealed +to a broker to get him to buy some stock, the price of which had at +that moment fallen to an extremely low figure. Behind the old man stood +the youth, who greeted Traugott with a friendly but melancholy smile. +Then Traugott hastened to address the old man. "Excuse me, sir; the +price of the stock which you are desirous of selling is really no +higher than what you have been told; nevertheless, it may with +confidence be anticipated that in a few days the price will rise +considerably. If, therefore, you take my advice, you will postpone the +conversion of your stock for a little time longer." "Eh! sir?" replied +the old man rather coldly and roughly, "what have you to do with my +business? How do you know that just now a silly bit of paper like this +is of no use at all to me, whilst ready money is what I have great need +of?" Traugott, not a little abashed because the old man had taken his +well-meant intention in such ill part, was on the point of retiring, +when the youth looked at him with tears in his eyes, as if in entreaty. +"My advice was well meant, sir," he replied quickly; "I cannot suffer +you to inflict upon yourself an important loss. Let me have your stock, +but on the condition that I afterwards pay for it the higher price +which it will be worth in a few day's time." "Well, you are an +extraordinary man," said the old man. "Be it so then; although I can't +understand what induces you to want to enrich me." So saying, he shot a +keen flashing glance at the youth, who cast down his beautiful blue +eyes in shy confusion. They both followed Traugott to the office, where +the money was paid over to the old man, whose face was dark and sullen +as he put it in his purse. Whilst he was doing so, the youth whispered +softly to Traugott, "Are you not the gentleman who was sketching such +pretty figures several weeks ago in Arthur's Hall?" "Certainly I am," +replied Traugott, and he felt how the remembrance of the ridiculous +episode of the letter of advice drove the hot blood into his face. "Oh +then, I don't at all wonder," the youth was continuing, when the old +man gave him an angry look, which at once made him silent. In the +presence of these strangers Traugott could not get rid of a certain +feeling of awkward constraint; and so they went away before he could +muster courage enough to inquire further into their circumstances and +mode of life.</p> + +<p class="normal">In fact there was something so quite out of the ordinary in the +appearance of these two persons that even the clerks and others in the +office were struck by it. The surly book-keeper had stuck his pen +behind his ear, and leaning on his arms, which he clasped behind his +head, he sat watching the old man with keen glittering eyes. "God +forgive me," he said when the strangers had left the office, "if he +didn't look like an old picture of the year 1400 in St. John's parish +church, with his curly beard and black mantle." Herr Elias set him down +without more ado as a Polish Jew, notwithstanding his noble bearing and +his extremely grave old-German face, and cried with a simper, "Silly +fellow! sells his stock now; might make at least ten per cent, more in +a week." Of course he knew nothing about the additional price which had +been agreed upon, and which Traugott intended to pay out of his own +pocket. And this he really did do when some days later he again met the +old man and the youth in Arthur's Hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man said, "My son has reminded me that you are an artist also, +and so I will accept what I should have otherwise refused." They were +standing close beside one of the four granite pillars which support the +vaulted roof of the hall, and immediately in front of the two painted +figures which Traugott had formerly sketched in the letter of advice. +Without reserve he spoke of the great resemblance between these figures +and the old man himself and the youth. The old man smiled a peculiar +smile, and laying his hand on Traugott's shoulder, said in a low and +deliberate tone, "Then you didn't know that I am the German painter +Godofredus Berklinger, and that it was I who painted the pictures which +seem to give you so much pleasure, a long time ago, whilst still a +learner in art. That burgomaster I copied in commemoration of myself, +and that the page who is leading the horse is my son you can of course +very easily see by comparing the faces and figures of the two." +Traugott was struck dumb with astonishment. But he very soon came to +the conclusion that the old man, who took himself to be the artist of a +picture more than two hundred years old must be labouring under some +peculiar delusion. The old man went on, lifting up his head and looking +proudly about him, "Ay, that was an artistic age if you like—glorious, +vigorous, flourishing, when I decorated this hall with all these gay +pictures in honour of the wise King Arthur and his Round Table. I +verily believe that the tall stately figure who once came to me as I +was working here, and exhorted me to go on and gain my mastership—for +at that time I had not reached that dignity,—was King Arthur himself." +Here the young man interposed, "My father is an artist, sir, who has +few equals; and you would have no cause to be sorry if he would allow +you to inspect his works." Meanwhile the old man was taking a turn +through the hall, which had now become empty; he now called to the +youth to go, and then Traugott begged him to show him his pictures. The +old man fixed his eyes upon him and regarded him for some time with a +keen and searching glance, and at length said with much gravity, "You +are, I must say, rather audacious to be wanting to enter the inner +shrine before you have begun your probationary years. But—be it so! If +your eyes are still too dull to see, you may at least dimly feel. Come +and see me early to-morrow morning," and he indicated where he lived. +Next morning Traugott did not fail to get away from business early and +hasten to the retired street where the remarkable old man lived. The +youth, dressed in old-German style, opened the door to receive him +and led him into a spacious room, in the centre of which he found +the old man sitting on a little stool in front of a large piece of +outstretched grey primed canvas. "You have come exactly at the right +time, sir," the old man cried by way of greeting, "for I have just put +the finishing-touch to yon large picture, which has occupied me more +than a year and cost me no small amount of trouble. It is the fellow of +a picture of the same size, representing 'Paradise Lost,' which I +completed last year and which I can also show you here. This, as you +will observe, is 'Paradise Regained,' and I should be very sorry for +you if you begin to put on critical airs and try to get some allegory +out of it Allegorical pictures are only painted by duffers and +bunglers; my picture is not to <i>signify</i> but to <i>be</i>. You perceive how +all these varied groups of men and animals and fruits and flowers and +stones unite to form one harmonic whole, whose loud and excellent music +is the divinely pure chord of glorification." And the old man began to +dwell more especially upon the individual groups; he called Traugott's +attention to the secrets of the division of light and shade, to the +glitter of the flowers and the metals, to the singular shapes which, +rising up out of the calyx of the lilies, entwined themselves about +the forms of the divinely beautiful youths and maidens who were dancing +to the strains of music, and he called his attention to the bearded men +who, with all the strong pride of youth in their eyes and movements, +were apparently talking to various kinds of curious animals. The old +man's words, whilst they grew continually more emphatic, grew also +continually more incomprehensible and confused. "That's right, old +greybeard, let thy diamond crown flash and sparkle," he cried at last, +riveting a fixed but fiery glance upon the canvas. "Throw off the Isis +veil which thou didst put over thy head when the profane approached +thee. What art thou folding thy dark robe so carefully over thy breast +for? I want to see thy heart; that is the philosopher's stone through +which the mystery is revealed. Art thou not I? Why dost thou put on +such a bold and mighty air before me? Wilt thou contend with thy +master? Thinkest thou that the ruby, thy heart, which sparkles so, can +crush my breast? Up then—step forward—come here! I have created thee, +for I am"—— Here the old man suddenly fell on the floor like one +struck by lightning. Whilst Traugott lifted him up, the youth quickly +wheeled up a small arm-chair, into which they placed the old man, who +soon appeared to have fallen into a gentle sleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now you know, my kind sir, what is the matter with my good old +father," said the youth softly and gently. "A cruel destiny has +stripped off all the blossoms of his life; and for several years past +he has been insensible to the art for which he once lived. He spends +days and days sitting in front of a piece of outstretched primed +canvas, with his eyes fixed upon it in a stare; that he calls painting. +Into what an overwrought condition the description of such a picture +brings him, you have just seen for yourself. Besides this he is haunted +by another unhappy thought, which makes my life to be a sad and +agitated one; but I regard it as a fatality by which I am swept along +in the same stream that has caught him. You would like something to +help you to recover from this extraordinary scene; please follow me +then into the adjoining room, where you will find several pictures of +my father's early days, when he was still a productive artist."</p> + +<p class="normal">And great was Traugott's astonishment to find a row of pictures +apparently painted by the most illustrious masters of the Netherlands +School. For the most part they represented scenes taken from real life; +for example, a company returning from hunting, another amusing +themselves with singing and playing, and such like subjects. They bore +evidences of great thought, and particularly the expression of the +heads, which were realised with especially vigorous life-like power. +Just as Traugott was about to return into the former room, he noticed +another picture close beside the door, which held him fascinated to the +spot. It was a remarkably pretty maiden dressed in old-German style, +but her face was exactly like the youth's, only fuller and with a +little more colour in it, and she seemed to be somewhat taller too. A +tremor of nameless delight ran through Traugott at the sight of this +beautiful girl. In strength and vitality the picture was quite equal to +anything by Van Dyk. The dark eyes were looking down upon Traugott with +a soft yearning look, whilst her sweet lips appeared to be half opened +ready to whisper loving words. "O heaven! Good heaven!" sighed +Traugott with a sigh that came from the very bottom of his heart; +"where—oh! where can I find her?" "Let us go," said the youth. +Then Traugott cried in a sort of rapturous frenzy, "Oh! it is indeed +she!—the beloved of my soul, whom I have so long carried about in my +heart, but whom I only knew in vague stirrings of emotion. Where—oh! +where is she?" The tears started from young Berklinger's eyes; he +appeared to be shaken by a convulsive and sudden attack of pain, and to +control himself with difficulty. "Come along," he at length said, in a +firm voice, "that is a portrait of my unhappy sister Felicia.<sup><a name="div2_hall8" href="#div2Ref_hall8">8</a></sup> She +has gone for ever. You will never see her."</p> + +<p class="normal">Like one in a dream, Traugott suffered himself to be led into the +other room. The old man was still sleeping; but all at once he started +up, and staring at Traugott with eyes flashing with anger, he cried, +"What do you want? What do you want, sir?" Then the youth stepped +forward and reminded him that he had just been showing his new picture +to Traugott, had he forgotten? At this Berklinger appeared to recollect +all that had passed; it was evident that he was much affected; and he +replied in an undertone, "Pardon an old man's forgetfulness, my good +sir." "Your new piece is an admirable—an excellent work. Master +Berklinger," Traugott proceeded; "I have never seen anything equal to +it. I am sure it must cost a great deal of study and an immense amount +of labour before a man can advance so far as to turn out a work like +that. I discern that I have an inextinguishable propensity for art, and +I earnestly entreat you, my good old master, to accept me as your +pupil; you will find me industrious." The old man grew quite cheerful +and amiable; and embracing Traugott, he promised that he would be a +faithful master to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus it came to pass that Traugott visited the old painter every day +that came, and made very rapid progress in his studies. He now +conceived an unconquerable disgust of business, and was so careless +that Herr Elias Roos had to speak out and openly find fault with him; +and finally he was very glad when Traugott kept away from the office +altogether, on the pretext that he was suffering from a lingering +illness. For this same reason the wedding, to Christina's no little +annoyance, was indefinitely postponed. "Your Herr Traugott seems to be +suffering from some secret trouble," said one of Herr Elias Roos's +merchant-friends to him one day; "perhaps it's the balance of some old +love-affair that he's anxious to settle before the wedding-day. He +looks very pale and distracted." "And why shouldn't he then?" rejoined +Herr Elias. "I wonder now," he continued after a pause,—"I wonder +now if that little rogue Christina has been having words with him? My +book-keeper—the love-smitten old ass—he is always kissing and +squeezing her hand. Traugott's devilishly in love with my little girl, +I know. Can there be any jealousy? Well, I'll sound my young +gentleman."</p> + +<p class="normal">But however carefully he sounded he could find no satisfactory bottom, +and he said to his merchant-friend, "That Traugott is a most peculiar +fellow; well, I must just let him go his own way; though if he had not +fifty thousand thalers in my business I know what I should do, since +now he never does a stroke of anything."</p> + +<p class="normal">Traugott, absorbed in art, would now have led a real bright sunshiny +life, had his heart not been torn with passionate love for the +beautiful Felicia, whom he often saw in wonderful dreams. The picture +had disappeared; the old man had taken it away; and Traugott durst not +ask him about it without risk of seriously offending him. On the whole, +old Berklinger continued to grow more confidential; and instead of +taking any honorarium for his instruction, he permitted Traugott to +help out his narrow house-keeping in many ways. From young Berklinger +Traugott learned that the old man had been obviously taken in in the +sale of a little cabinet, and that the stock which Traugott had +realised for them was all that they had left of the price received for +it, as well as all the money they possessed. But it was only seldom +that Traugott was allowed to have any confidential conversation with +the youth; the old man watched over him with the most singular +jealousy, and at once scolded him sharply if he began to converse +freely and cheerfully with their friend. This Traugott felt all the +more painfully since he had conceived a deep and heart-felt affection +for the youth, owing to his striking likeness to Felicia. Indeed he +often fancied, when he stood near the young man, that he was standing +beside the picture he loved so much, now alive and breathing, and that +he could feel her soft breath on his cheek; and then he would like to +have drawn the youth, as if he really were his darling Felicia herself, +to his swelling heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">Winter was past; beautiful spring was filling the woods and fields with +brightness and blossoms. Herr Elias Roos advised Traugott either to +drink whey for his health's sake or to go somewhere to take the baths. +Fair Christina was again looking forward with joy to the wedding, +although Traugott seldom showed himself—and thought still less of his +relations with her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once Traugott was confined to the office the whole day long, making a +requisite squaring up of his accounts, &c.; he had been obliged to +neglect his meals, and it was beginning to get very dark when he +reached Berklinger's remote dwelling. He found nobody in the first +room, but from the one adjoining he heard the music of a lute. He had +never heard the instrument there before. He listened; a song, from time +to time interrupted, accompanied the music like a low soft sigh. He +opened the door. O Heaven! with her back towards him sat a female +figure, dressed in old-German style with a high lace ruff, exactly like +the picture. At the noise which Traugott unavoidably made on entering, +the figure rose, laid the lute on the table, and turned round. It was +she, Felicia herself! "Felicia!" cried Traugott enraptured; and he was +about to throw himself at the feet of his beloved divinity when he felt +a powerful hand laid upon his collar behind, and himself dragged out of +the room by some one with the strength of a giant. "You abandoned +wretch! you incomparable villain!" screamed old Berklinger, pushing him +on before him, "so that was your love for art? Do you mean to murder +me?" And therewith he hurled him out at the door, whilst a knife +glittered in his hand. Traugott flew downstairs and hurried back home +stupefied; nay, half crazy with mingled delight and terror.</p> + +<p class="normal">He tossed restlessly on his couch, unable to sleep. "Felicia! Felicia!" +he exclaimed time after time, distracted with pain and the pangs of +love. "You are there, you are there, and I may not see you, may not +clasp you in my arms! You love me, oh yes! that I know. From the pain +which pierces my breast so savagely I feel that you love me."</p> + +<p class="normal">The morning sun shone brightly into Traugott's chamber; then he got up, +and determined, let the cost be what it might, that he would solve the +mystery of Berklinger's house. He hurried off to the old man's, but his +feelings may not be described when he saw all the windows wide open and +the maid-servants busy sweeping out the rooms. He was struck with a +presentiment of what had happened. Berklinger had left the house late +on the night before along with his son, and was gone nobody knew where. +A carriage drawn by two horses had fetched away the box of paintings +and the two little trunks which contained all Berklinger's scanty +property. He and his son had followed half an hour later. All inquiries +as to where they had gone remained fruitless: no livery-stable keeper +had let out horses and carriage to persons such as Traugott described, +and even at the town gates he could learn nothing for certain;—in +short, Berklinger had disappeared as if he had flown away on the +mantle<sup><a name="div2_hall9" href="#div2Ref_hall9">9</a></sup> of Mephistopheles.</p> + +<p class="normal">Traugott went back home prostrated by despair. "She is gone! She is +gone! The beloved of my soul! All—all is lost!" Thus he cried as he +rushed past Herr Elias Roos (for he happened to be just at that moment +in the entrance hall) towards his own room. "God bless my soul!" cried +Herr Elias, pulling and tugging at his wig. "Christina! Christina!" he +shouted, till the whole house echoed. "Christina! You disgraceful girl! +My good-for-nothing daughter!" The clerks and others in the office +rushed out with terrified faces; the book-keeper asked amazed, "But +Herr Roos?" Herr Roos, however, continued to scream without stopping, +"Christina! Christina!" At this point Miss Christina stepped in through +the house-door, and raising her broad-brimmed straw-hat just a little +and smiling, asked what her good father was bawling in this outrageous +way for. "I strictly beg you will let such unnecessary running away +alone," Herr Elias began to storm at her. "My son-in-law is a +melancholy fellow and as jealous as a Turk. You'd better stay quietly +at home, or else there'll be some mischief done. My partner is in there +screaming and crying about his betrothed, because she will gad about +so." Christina looked at the book-keeper astounded; but he gave a +significant glance in the direction of the cupboard in the office where +Herr Roos was in the habit of keeping his cinnamon water. "You'd better +go in and console your betrothed," he said as he strode away. Christina +went up to her own room, only to make a slight change in her dress, and +give out the clean linen, and discuss with the cook what would have to +be done about the Sunday roast-joint, and at the same time pick up a +few items of town-gossip, then she would go at once and see what really +was the matter with her betrothed.</p> + +<p class="normal">You know, kindly, reader, that we all of us, when in Traugott's case, +have to go through our appointed stages; we can't help ourselves. +Despair is succeeded by a dull dazed sort of moody reverie, in which +the crisis is wont to occur; and this then passes over into a milder +pain, in which Nature is able to apply her remedies with effect.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was in this stage of sad but beneficial pain that, some days later, +Traugott again sat on the Carlsberg, gazing out as before upon the +sea-waves and the grey misty clouds which had gathered over Hela; but +he was not seeking as before to discover the destiny reserved for him +in days to come; no, for all that he had hoped for, all that he had +dimly dreamt of, had vanished. "Oh!" said he, "my call to art was a +bitter, bitter deception. Felicia was the phantom who deluded me into +the belief in that which never had any other existence but in the +insane fancy of a fever-stricken mind. It's all over. I will give it +all up, and go back—into my dungeon. I have made up my mind; I will go +back." Traugott again went back to his work in the office, whilst the +wedding-day with Christina was once more fixed. On the day before the +wedding was to come off, Traugott was standing in Arthur's Hall, +looking, not without a good deal of heart-rending sadness, at the +fateful figures of the old burgomaster and his page, when his eye fell +upon the broker to whom Berklinger was trying to sell his stock. +Without pausing to think, almost mechanically in fact, he walked up to +him and asked, "Did you happen to know the strikingly curious old man +with the black curly beard who some time ago frequently used to be seen +here along with a handsome youth?" "Why, to be sure I did," answered +the broker; "that was the crack-brained old painter Gottfried +Berklinger." "Then don't you know where he has gone to and where he is +now living?" asked Traugott again. "Ay, that I do," replied the broker; +"he has now for a long time been living quietly at Sorrento along with +his daughter." "With his daughter Felicia?" asked Traugott so +vehemently and so loudly that everybody turned round to look at him. +"Why, yes," went on the broker calmly, "that was, you know, the pretty +youth who always followed the old man about everywhere. Half Dantzic +knew that he was a girl, notwithstanding that the crazy old fellow +thought there was not a single soul could guess it. It had been +prophesied to him that if his daughter were ever to get married he +would die a shameful death; and accordingly he determined never to let +anybody know anything about her, and so he passed her off everywhere +as his son." Traugott stood like a statue; then he ran off through +the streets—away out of the town-gates—into the open country, into +the woods, loudly lamenting, "Oh! miserable wretch that I am! It was +she—she, herself; I have sat beside her scores and hundreds of +times—have breathed her breath—pressed her delicate hands—looked +into her beautiful eyes—heard her sweet words—and now I have lost +her! No; not lost I will follow her into the land of art. I acknowledge +the finger of destiny. Away—away to Sorrento."</p> + +<p class="normal">He hurried back home. Herr Elias Roos got in his way; Traugott laid +hold of him and carried him along with him into the room. "I shall +never marry Christina, never!" he screamed. "She looks like <i>Voluptas</i> +(Pleasure) and <i>Luxuries</i> (Wantonness), and her hair is like that of +<i>Ira</i> (Wrath), in the picture in Arthur's Hall. O Felicia! Felicia! My +beautiful darling! Why do you stretch out your arms so longingly +towards me? I am coming, I am coming. And now let me tell you, Herr +Elias," he continued, again laying hold of the pale merchant, "you +will never see me in your damned office again. What do I care for +your cursed ledgers and day-books? I am a painter, ay, and a good +painter too. Berklinger is my master, my father, my all, and you are +nothing—nothing at all." And therewith he gave Herr Elias a good +shaking. Herr Elias, however, began to shout at the top of his voice, +"Help! help! Come here, folks! Help! My son-in-law's gone mad. My +partner's in a raging fit Help! help!" Everybody came running out of +the office. Traugott had released his hold upon Elias and now sank down +exhausted in a chair. They all gathered round him; but when he suddenly +leapt to his feet and cried with a wild look, "What do you all want?" +they all hurried off out of the room in a string, Herr Elias in the +middle.</p> + +<p class="normal">Soon afterwards there was a rustling of a silk dress, and a voice +asked, "Have you really gone crazed, my dear Herr Traugott, or are you +only jesting?" It was Christina. "I am not the least bit crazed, my +angel," replied Traugott, "nor is it one whit truer that I am jesting. +Pray compose yourself, my dear, but our wedding won't come off +to-morrow; I shall never marry you, neither to-morrow, nor at any other +time." "There is not the least need of it," said Christina very calmly. +"I have not been particularly pleased with you for some time, and some +one I know will value it far differently if he may only lead home as +his bride the rich and pretty Miss Christina Roos. Adieu!" Therewith +she rustled off. "She means the book-keeper," thought Traugott. As soon +as he had calmed down somewhat he went to Herr Elias and explained to +him in convincing terms that he need not expect to have him either as +his son-in-law or as his partner in the business. Herr Elias reconciled +himself to the inevitable; and repeated with downright honest joy in +the office again and again that he thanked God to have got rid of that +crazy-headed Traugott—even after the latter was a long, long way +distant from Dantzic.</p> + +<p class="normal">On at length arriving at the longed-for country, Traugott found a new +life awaiting him, bright and brilliant. At Rome he was introduced to +the circle of the German colony of painters and shared in their +studies. Thus it came to pass that he stayed there longer than would +seem to have been permissible in the face of his longing to find +Felicia again, by which he had hitherto been so restlessly urged +onwards. But his longing was now grown weaker; it shaped itself in his +heart like a fascinating dream, whose misty shimmer enveloped his life +on all sides, so that he believed that all he did and thought, and all +his artistic practice, were turned towards the higher supernatural +regions of blissful intuitions. All the female figures which his now +experienced artistic skill enabled him to create bore lovely Felicia's +features. The young painters were greatly struck by the exquisitely +beautiful face, the original of which they in vain sought to find in +Rome; they overwhelmed Traugott with multitudes of questions as to +where he had seen the beauty. Traugott however was very shy of telling +of his singular adventure in Dantzic, until at last, after the lapse of +several months, an old Königsberg friend, Matuszewski by name, who had +come to Rome to devote himself entirely to art, declared joyfully that +he had seen there—in Rome, the girl whom Traugott copied in all his +pictures. Traugott's wild delight may be imagined. He no longer +concealed what it was that had attracted him so strongly to art, and +urged him on with such irresistible power into Italy; and his Dantzic +adventure proved so singular and so attractive that they all promised +to search eagerly for the lost loved one.</p> + +<p class="normal">Matuszewski's efforts were the most successful. He had soon found out +where the girl lived, and discovered moreover that she really was the +daughter of a poor old painter, who just at that period was busy +putting a new coat on the walls of the church Trinita del Monte. All +these things agreed nicely. Traugott at once hastened to the church in +question along with Matuszewski; and in the painter, whom he saw +working up on a very high scaffolding, he really thought he recognised +old Berklinger. Thence the two friends hurried off to the old man's +dwelling, without having been noticed by him. "It is she," cried +Traugott, when he saw the painter's daughter standing on the balcony, +occupied with some sort of feminine work. "Felicia, my Felicia!" he +exclaimed aloud in his joy, as he burst into the room. The girl looked +up very much alarmed. She had Felicia's features; but it was not +Felicia. In his bitter disappointment poor Traugott's wounded heart was +rent as if from innumerable dagger-thrusts. In a few words Matuszewski +explained all to the girl. In her pretty shy confusion, with her cheeks +deep crimson, and her eyes cast down upon the ground, she made a +marvellously attractive picture to look at; and Traugott, whose first +impulse had been quickly to retire, nevertheless, after casting but a +single pained glance at her, remained standing where he was, as though +held fast by silken bonds. His friend was not backward in saying all +sorts of complimentary things to pretty Dorina, and so helped her to +recover from the constraint and embarrassment into which she had been +thrown by the extraordinary manner of their entrance. Dorina raised the +"dark fringed curtains of her eyes" and regarded the stranger with a +sweet smile, and said that her father would soon come home from his +work, and would be very pleased to see some German painters, for he +esteemed them very highly. Traugott was obliged to confess that, +exclusive of Felicia, no girl had ever excited such a warm interest in +him as Dorina did. She was in fact almost a second Felicia; the only +differences were that Dorina's features seemed to him less delicate and +more sharply cut, and her hair was darker. It was the same picture, +only painted by Raphael instead of by Rubens.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was not long before the old gentleman came in; and Traugott now +plainly saw that he had been greatly misled by the height of the +scaffolding in the church, on which the old man had stood. Instead of +his being the strong Berklinger, he was a thin, mean-looking little old +man, timid and crushed by poverty. A deceptive accidental light in the +church had given his clean-shaved chin an appearance similar to +Berklinger's black curly beard. In conversing about art matters the old +man unfolded considerable ripe practical knowledge; and Traugott made +up his mind to cultivate his acquaintance; for though his introduction +to the family had been so painful, their society now began to exercise +a more and more agreeable influence upon him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dorina, the incarnation of grace and child-like ingenuousness, plainly +allowed her preference for the young German painter to be seen. And +Traugott warmly returned her affection. He grew so accustomed to the +society of the pretty child (she was but fifteen), that he often spent +the whole day with the little family; his studio he transferred to the +spacious apartment which stood empty next their rooms; and finally he +established himself in the family itself. Hence he was able of his +prosperity to do much in a delicate way to relieve their straitened +circumstances; and the old man could not very well think otherwise than +that Traugott would marry Dorina; and he even said so to him without +reservation. This put Traugott in no little consternation: for he now +distinctly recollected the object of his journey, and perceived where +it seemed likely to end. Felicia again stood before his eyes instinct +with life; but, on the other hand, he felt that he could not leave +Dorina. His vanished darling he could not, for some extraordinary +reason, conceive of as being his wife. She was pictured in his +imagination as an intellectual vision, that he could neither lose nor +win. Oh! to be immanent in his beloved intellectually for ever! never +to have her and own her physically! But Dorina was often in his +thoughts as his dearly loved wife; and as often as he contemplated the +idea of again binding himself in the indissoluble bonds of +betrothal,<sup><a name="div2_hall10" href="#div2Ref_hall10">10</a></sup> he felt a delicious tremor run through him and a gentle +warmth pervade his veins; and yet he regarded it as unfaithfulness to +his first love. Thus Traugott's heart was the scene of contest between +the most contradictory feelings; he could not make up his mind what to +do. He avoided the old painter; and <i>he</i> accordingly feared Traugott +intended to receive his dear child. He had moreover already spoken of +Traugott's wedding as a settled thing; and it was only under this +impression that he had tolerated Dorina's familiar intimacy with +Traugott, which otherwise would have given the girl an ill name. The +blood of the Italian boiled within him, and one day he roundly declared +to Traugott that he must either marry Dorina or leave him, for he would +not tolerate this familiar intercourse an hour longer. Traugott was +tormented by the keenest annoyance as well as by the bitterest +vexation. The old man he viewed in the light of a vile match-maker; his +own actions and behaviour were contemptible; and that he had ever +deserted Felicia he now judged to be sinful and abominable. His heart +was sore wounded at parting from Dorina; but with a violent effort he +tore himself free from the sweet bonds. He hastened away to Naples, to +Sorrento.</p> + +<p class="normal">He spent a whole year in making the strictest inquiries after +Berklinger and Felicia; but all was in vain; nobody knew anything about +them. The sole gleam of intelligence that he could find was a vague +sort of presumption, which was founded merely upon the tradition +that an old German painter had been seen in Sorrento several years +before—and that was all. After being driven backwards and forwards +like a boat on the restless sea, Traugott at length came to a stand in +Naples; and in proportion as his industry in art pursuits again +awakened, the longing for Felicia which he cherished in his bosom grew +softer and milder. But he never saw any pretty girl, if she was the +least like Dorina in figure, movement, or bearing, without feeling most +bitterly the loss of the dear sweet child. Yet when he was painting he +never thought of Dorina, but always of Felicia; she continued to be his +constant ideal.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length he received letters from his native town. Herr Elias Roos had +departed this life, his business agent wrote, and Traugott's presence +was required in order to settle matters with the book-keeper, who had +married Miss Christina and undertaken the business. Traugott hurried +back to Dantzic by the shortest route.</p> + +<p class="normal">Again he was standing in Arthur's Hall, leaning against the granite +pillar, opposite the burgomaster and the page; he dwelt upon the +wonderful adventure which had had such a painful influence upon his +life; and, a prey to deep and hopeless sadness, he stood and looked +with a set fixed gaze upon the youth, who greeted him with living eyes, +as it were, and whispered in a sweet and charming voice, "And so you +could not desert me then after all?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can I believe my eyes? Is it really your own respected self come back +again safe and sound, and quite cured of your unpleasant melancholy?" +croaked a voice near Traugott. It was the well-known broker. "I have +not found her," escaped Traugott involuntarily. "Whom do you mean? Whom +has your honour not found?" asked the broker. "The painter Godofredus +Berklinger and his daughter Felicia," rejoined Traugott. "I have +searched all Italy for them; not a soul knew anything about them in +Sorrento." This made the broker open his eyes and stare at him, and he +stammered, "Where do you say you have searched for Berklinger and +Felicia? In Italy? in Naples? in Sorrento?" "Why, yes; to be sure," +replied Traugott, very testily. Whereupon the broker struck his hands +together several times in succession, crying as he did so, "Did you +ever now? Did you ever hear tell of such a thing? But Herr Traugott! +Herr Traugott!" "Well, what is there to be so much astonished at?" +rejoined Traugott, "don't behave in such a foolish fashion, pray. Of +course a man will travel as far as Sorrento for his sweetheart's sake. +Yes, yes; I loved Felicia and followed her." But the broker skipped +about on one foot, and continued to say, "Well, now, did you ever? did +you ever?" until Traugott placed his hand earnestly upon his arm and +asked, "Come, tell me then, in heaven's name! what is it that you find +so extraordinary?" The broker began, "But, my good Herr Traugott, do +you mean to say you don't know that Herr Aloysius Brandstetter, our +respected town-councillor and the senior of our guild, calls his little +villa, in that small fir-wood at the foot of Carlsberg, in the +direction of Conrad's Hammer, by the name of Sorrento? He bought +Berklinger's pictures of him and took the old man and his daughter into +his house, that is, out to Sorrento. And there they lived for several +years; and if you, my respected Herr Traugott, had only gone and +planted your own two feet on the middle of the Carlsberg, you could +have had a view right into the garden, and could have seen Miss Felicia +walking about there dressed in curious old-German style, like the women +in those pictures—there was no need for you to go to Italy. Afterwards +the old man—but that is a sad story" "Never mind; go on," said +Traugott, hoarsely. "Yes," continued the broker. "Young Brandstetter +came back from England, saw Miss Felicia, and fell in love with her. +Coming unexpectedly upon the young lady in the garden, he fell upon his +knees before her in romantic fashion, and swore that he would wed her +and deliver her from the tyrannical slavery in which her father kept +her. Close behind the young people, without their having observed it, +stood the old man; and the very self-same moment in which Felicia said, +'I will be yours,' he fell down with a stifled scream, and was dead as +a door nail. It's said he looked very very hideous—all blue and +bloody, because he had by some inexplicable means burst an artery. +After that Miss Felicia could not bear young Brandstetter at all, and +at last she married Mathesius, criminal and aulic counsellor, of +Marienwerder. Your honour, as an old flame, should go and see the <i>Frau +Kriminalräthin</i>. Marienwerder is not so far, you know, as your real +Italian Sorrento. The good lady is said to be very comfortable and to +have enriched the world with divers children."</p> + +<p class="normal">Silent and crushed, Traugott hastened from the Hall. This issue of his +adventure filled him with awe and dread. "No, it is not she—it is not she!" +he cried. "It is not Felicia, that divine image which enkindled an infinite +longing in my bosom, whom I followed into yon distant land, seeing her before me +everywhere where I went like my star of fortune, twinkling and glittering with +sweet hopes. Felicia—<i>Kriminalräthin</i> +Mathesius! Ha! Ha! Ha!—<i>Kriminalräthin</i> Mathesius!" Traugott, shaken +by extreme sensations of misery, laughed aloud and hastened in his +usual way through the Oliva Gate along the Langfuhr<sup><a name="div2_hall11" href="#div2Ref_hall11">11</a></sup> to the +Carlsberg. He looked down into Sorrento, and the tears gushed from his +eyes. "Oh!" he cried, "Oh! how deep, how incurably deep an injury, O +thou eternal ruling Power, does thy bitter irony inflict upon poor +man's soft heart! But no, no! But why should the child cry over the +incurable pain when instead of enjoying the light and warmth he thrusts +his hand into the flames? Destiny visibly laid its hand upon me, but my +dimmed vision did not recognise the higher nature at work; and I had +the presumption to delude myself with the idea that the forms, created +by the old master and mysteriously awakened to life, which stepped down +to meet me, were my own equals, and that I could draw them down into +the miserable transitoriness of earthly existence. No, no, Felicia, I +have never lost you; you are and will be mine for ever, for you +yourself are the creative artistic power dwelling within me. Now,—and +only now have I first come to know you. What have you—what have I to +do with the <i>Kriminalräthin</i> Mathesius? I fancy, nothing at all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Neither did I know what you should have to do with her, my +respected Herr Traugott," a voice broke in. Traugott awakened out of his dream. +Strange to say, he found himself, without knowing how he got there, again +leaning against the granite pillar in Arthur's Hall. The person who had spoken +the abovementioned words was Christina's husband. He handed to Traugott a letter +that had just arrived from Rome. Matuszewski wrote:—</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dorina is prettier and more charming than ever, only pale with longing +for you, my dear friend. She is expecting you every hour, for she is +most firmly convinced that you could never be untrue to her. She loves +you with all her heart. When shall we see you again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am very pleased that we settled all our business this morning," said +Traugott to Christina's husband after he had read this, "for to-morrow +I set out for Rome, where my bride is most anxiously longing for me."</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="space">* * * * * * *</span></p> + +<p class="continue">FOOTNOTES TO "ARTHUR'S HALL":</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall1" href="#div2_hall1">1</a></sup> Written for the <i>Urania</i> for 1817.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall2" href="#div2_hall2">2</a></sup> The <i>Artushof</i> or <i>Junkerhof</i> derives its names from its +connection with the Arthurian cycle of legends, and from the fact that +there the <i>Stadtjunker</i>, or wealthy merchants of Dantzic, used formerly +to meet both to transact business and for the celebration of festive +occasions. It has been used as an exchange since 1742. The site of the +present building was occupied by a still older one down to 1552, and to +this the hall, which is vaulted and supported on four slender pillars +of granite, belongs architecturally. It was very quaintly decorated +with pictures, statues, reliefs, &&, both of Christian and Pagan +traditions.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall3" href="#div2_hall3">3</a></sup> A broad street crossing Dantzic in an east-to-west +direction.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall4" href="#div2_hall4">4</a></sup> In Scandinavian mythology, Fafnir, the worm, became +the owner of the treasure which his father, Hreidmar, had exacted as +blood-money from Loki, because he had slain Hreidmar's son Otur, the +sea-otter. This treasure Loki had taken by violence from its rightful +owner, a dwarf, who in revenge prophesied that the possession of the +treasure should henceforward be fraught with dire mischief to every +successive owner of it.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall5" href="#div2_hall5">5</a></sup> A hill to the north-west of Dantzic, affording a splendid +view of the Gulf of Dantzic.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall6" href="#div2_hall6">6</a></sup> A long narrow spit of land projecting from the coast at a +point north of Dantzic in a south-south-east direction into the Gulf of +Dantzic.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall7" href="#div2_hall7">7</a></sup> August 4th.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall8" href="#div2_hall8">8</a></sup> The name in the text is <i>Felizitas</i>—Felicity; Felicia +has been adopted in the translation as being the nearest approach to +it. Felicity would in all probability be extremely strange to English +ears, besides being liable to lead to ambiguities.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall9" href="#div2_hall9">9</a></sup> A mode of aërial conveyance made use of on occasion by +the personage named, in the popular Faust legend.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall10" href="#div2_hall10">10</a></sup> In Germany the betrothal is a more significant act than +in England, and by some regarded as more sacred and binding than the +actual marriage ceremony.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Footnote <sup><a name="div2Ref_hall11" href="#div2_hall11">11</a></sup> A suburb of Dantzic, on the N. W., 3-1/2 miles nearer +than Carlsberg; it is connected with the city by a double avenue of +fine limes.</p> + +<br> + +<br> +<h3>END OF VOLUME I.</h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Weird Tales. Vol. I, by E. T. A. 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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: Weird Tales. Vol. I + +Author: E. T. A. Hoffmann + +Translator: J. T. Bealby + +Release Date: February 23, 2010 [EBook #31377] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEIRD TALES. VOL. I *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from scans obtained from The +Internet Archive. + + + + + +Web Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/weirdtales00unkngoog + + + + + + + WEIRD TALES + + + + BY + E. T. W. HOFFMANN + + + + A NEW TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN + + + + WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR + + + + By J. T. BEALBY, B.A. + FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE + + + + IN TWO VOLUMES + VOL. I. + + + + NEW YORK + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + 1885 + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. + + + PAGE + +THE CREMONA VIOLIN, 1 + +THE FERMATA, 32 + +SIGNOR FORMICA, 59 + +THE SAND-MAN, 168 + +THE ENTAIL, 216 + +ARTHUR'S HALL, 322 + + + + + THE CREMONA VIOLIN. + + +Councillor Krespel was one of the strangest, oddest men I ever met with +in my life. When I went to live in H---- for a time the whole town was +full of talk about him, as he happened to be just then in the midst of +one of the very craziest of his schemes. Krespel had the reputation +of being both a clever, learn lawyer and a skilful diplomatist. One of +the reigning princes of Germany--not, however, one of the most +powerful--had appealed to him for assistance in drawing up a memorial, +which he was desirous of presenting at the Imperial Court with the view +of furthering his legitimate claims upon a certain strip of territory. +The project was crowned with the happiest success; and as Krespel had +once complained that he could never find a dwelling sufficiently +comfortable to suit him, the prince, to reward him for the memorial, +undertook to defray the cost of building a house which Krespel might +erect just as he pleased. Moreover, the prince was willing to purchase +any site that he should fancy. This offer, however, the Councillor +would not accept; he insisted that the house should be built in his +garden, situated in a very beautiful neighbourhood outside the +town-walls. So he bought all kinds of materials and had them carted +out. Then he might have been seen day after day, attired in his curious +garments (which he had made himself according to certain fixed rules of +his own), slacking the lime, riddling the sand, packing up the bricks +and stones in regular heaps, and so on. All this he did without once +consulting an architect or thinking about a plan. One fine day, +however, he went to an experienced builder of the town and requested +him to be in his garden at daybreak the next morning, with all his +journeymen and apprentices, and a large body of labourers, &c., to +build him his house. Naturally the builder asked for the architect's +plan, and was not a little astonished when Krespel replied that none +was needed, and that things would turn out all right in the end, just +as he wanted them. Next morning, when the builder and his men came to +the place, they found a trench drawn out in the shape of an exact +square; and Krespel said, "Here's where you must lay the foundations; +then carry up the walls until I say they are high enough." "Without +windows and doors, and without partition walls?" broke in the builder, +as if alarmed at Krespel's mad folly. "Do what I tell you, my dear +sir," replied the Councillor quite calmly; "leave the rest to me; it +will be all right." It was only the promise of high pay that could +induce the builder to proceed with the ridiculous building; but none +has ever been erected under merrier circumstances. As there was an +abundant supply of food and drink, the workmen never left their work; +and amidst their continuous laughter the four walls were run up with +incredible quickness, until one day Krespel cried, "Stop!" Then the +workmen, laying down trowel and hammer, came down from the scaffoldings +and gathered round Krespel in a circle, whilst every laughing face was +asking, "Well, and what now?" "Make way!" cried Krespel; and then +running to one end of the garden, he strode slowly towards the square +of brick-work. When he came close to the wall he shook his head in a +dissatisfied manner, ran to the other end of the garden, again strode +slowly towards the brick-work square, and proceeded to act as before. +These tactics he pursued several times, until at length, running his +sharp nose hard against the wall, he cried, "Come here, come here, men! +break me a door in here! Here's where I want a door made!" He gave the +exact dimensions in feet and inches, and they did as he bid them. Then +he stepped inside the structure, and smiled with satisfaction as the +builder remarked that the walls were just the height of a good +two-storeyed house. Krespel walked thoughtfully backwards and forwards +across the space within, the bricklayers behind him with hammers and +picks, and wherever he cried, "Make a window here, six feet high by +four feet broad!" "There a little window, three feet by two!" a hole +was made in a trice. + +It was at this stage of the proceedings that I came to H----; and it +was highly amusing to see how hundreds of people stood round about the +garden and raised a loud shout whenever the stones flew out and a new +window appeared where nobody had for a moment expected it. And in the +same manner Krespel proceeded with the buildings and fittings of the +rest of the house, and with all the work necessary to that end; +everything had to be done on the spot in accordance with the +instructions which the Councillor gave from time to time. However, the +absurdity of the whole business, the growing conviction that things +would in the end turn out better than might have been expected, but +above all, Krespel's generosity--which indeed cost him nothing--kept +them all in good-humour. Thus were the difficulties overcome which +necessarily arose out of this eccentric way of building, and in a short +time there was a completely finished house, its outside, indeed, +presenting a most extraordinary appearance, no two windows, &c., being +alike, but on the other hand the interior arrangements suggested a +peculiar feeling of comfort. All who entered the house bore witness to +the truth of this; and I too experienced it myself when I was taken in +by Krespel after I had become more intimate with him. For hitherto I +had not exchanged a word with this eccentric man; his building had +occupied him so much that he had not even once been to Professor +M----'s to dinner, as he was in the habit of going on Tuesdays. Indeed, +in reply to a special invitation, he sent word that he should not set +foot over the threshold before the house-warming of his new building +took place. All his friends and acquaintances, therefore, confidently +looked forward to a great banquet; but Krespel invited nobody except +the masters, journeymen, apprentices, and labourers who had built the +house. He entertained them with the choicest viands: bricklayer's +apprentices devoured partridge pies regardless of consequences; young +joiners polished off roast pheasants with the greatest success; whilst +hungry labourers helped themselves for once to the choicest morsels of +_truffes fricassees_. In the evening their wives and daughters came, +and there was a great ball. After waltzing a short while with the wives +of the masters, Krespel sat down amongst the town-musicians, took a +violin in his hand, and directed the orchestra until daylight. + +On the Tuesday after this festival, which exhibited Councillor Krespel +in the character of a friend of the people, I at length saw him appear, +to my no little joy, at Professor M----'s. Anything more strange and +fantastic than Krespel's behaviour it would be impossible to find. He +was so stiff and awkward in his movements, that he looked every moment +as if he would run up against something or do some damage. But he did +not; and the lady of the house seemed to be well aware that he would +not, for she did not grow a shade paler when he rushed with heavy steps +round a table crowded with beautiful cups, or when he man[oe]uvred near +a large mirror that reached down to the floor, or even when he seized a +flower-pot of beautifully painted porcelain and swung it round in the +air as if desirous of making its colours play. Moreover, before dinner +he subjected everything in the Professor's room to a most minute +examination; he also took down a picture from the wall and hung it up +again, standing on one of the cushioned chairs to do so. At the same +time he talked a good deal and vehemently; at one time his thoughts +kept leaping, as it were, from one subject to another (this was most +conspicuous during dinner); at another, he was unable to have done with +an idea; seizing upon it again and again, he gave it all sorts of +wonderful twists and turns, and couldn't get back into the ordinary +track until something else took hold of his fancy. Sometimes his voice +was rough and harsh and screeching, and sometimes it was low and +drawling and singing; but at no time did it harmonize with what he was +talking about. Music was the subject of conversation; the praises of a +new composer were being sung, when Krespel, smiling, said in his low +singing tones, "I wish the devil with his pitchfork would hurl that +atrocious garbler of music millions of fathoms down to the bottomless +pit of hell!" Then he burst out passionately and wildly, "She is an +angel of heaven, nothing but pure God-given music!--the paragon and +queen of song!"--and tears stood in his eyes. To understand this, we +had to go back to a celebrated _artiste_, who had been the subject of +conversation an hour before. + +Just at this time a roast hare was on the table; I noticed that Krespel +carefully removed every particle of meat from the bones on his plate, +and was most particular in his inquiries after the hare's feet; these +the Professor's little five-year-old daughter now brought to him with a +very pretty smile. Besides, the children had cast many friendly glances +towards Krespel during dinner; now they rose and drew nearer to him, +but not without signs of timorous awe. What's the meaning of that? +thought I to myself. Dessert was brought in; then the Councillor took a +little box from his pocket, in which he had a miniature lathe of steel. +This he immediately screwed fast to the table, and turning the bones +with incredible skill and rapidity, he made all sorts of little fancy +boxes and balls, which the children received with cries of delight. +Just as we were rising from table, the Professor's niece asked, "And +what is our Antonia doing?" Krespel's face was like that of one who has +bitten of a sour orange and wants to look as if it were a sweet one; +but this expression soon changed into the likeness of a hideous mask, +whilst he laughed behind it with downright bitter, fierce, and as it +seemed to me, satanic scorn. "Our Antonia? our dear Antonia?" he asked +in his drawling, disagreeable singing way. The Professor hastened to +intervene; in the reproving glance which he gave his niece I read that +she had touched a point likely to stir up unpleasant memories in +Krespel's heart. "How are you getting on with your violins?" interposed +the Professor in a jovial manner, taking the Councillor by both hands. +Then Krespel's countenance cleared up, and with a firm voice he +replied, "Capitally, Professor; you recollect my telling you of the +lucky chance which threw that splendid Amati[1] into my hands. Well, +I've only cut it open to-day--not before to-day. I hope Antonia has +carefully taken the rest of it to pieces." "Antonia is a good child," +remarked the Professor. "Yes, indeed, that she is," cried the +Councillor, whisking himself round; then, seizing his hat and stick, he +hastily rushed out of the room. I saw in the mirror how that tears were +standing in his eyes. + +As soon as the Councillor was gone, I at once urged the Professor to +explain to me what Krespel had to do with violins, and particularly +with Antonia. "Well," replied the Professor, "not only is the +Councillor a remarkably eccentric fellow altogether, but he practises +violin-making in his own crack-brained way." "Violin-making!" I +exclaimed, perfectly astonished. "Yes," continued the Professor, +"according to the judgment of men who understand the thing, Krespel +makes the very best violins that can be found nowadays; formerly he +would frequently let other people play on those in which he had been +especially successful, but that's been all over and done with now for a +long time. As soon as he has finished a violin he plays on it himself +for one or two hours, with very remarkable power and with the most +exquisite expression, then he hangs it up beside the rest, and never +touches it again or suffers anybody else to touch it. If a violin by +any of the eminent old masters is hunted up anywhere, the Councillor +buys it immediately, no matter what the price put upon it. But he plays +it as he does his own violins, only once; then he takes it to pieces in +order to examine closely its inner structure, and should he fancy he +hasn't found exactly what he sought for, he in a pet throws the pieces +into a big chest, which is already full of the remains of broken +violins." "But who and what is Antonia?" I inquired, hastily and +impetuously. "Well, now, that," continued the Professor, "that is a +thing which might very well make me conceive an unconquerable aversion +to the Councillor, were I not convinced that there is some peculiar +secret behind it, for he is such a good-natured fellow at bottom as to +be sometimes guilty of weakness. When he came to H---- several years +ago, he led the life of an anchorite, along with an old housekeeper, in +---- Street. Soon, by his oddities, he excited the curiosity of his +neighbours; and immediately he became aware of this, he sought and made +acquaintances. Not only in my house but everywhere we became so +accustomed to him that he grew to be indispensable. In spite of his +rude exterior, even the children liked him, without ever proving a +nuisance to him; for notwithstanding all their friendly passages +together, they always retained a certain timorous awe of him, which +secured him against all over-familiarity. You have to-day had an +example of the way in which he wins their hearts by his ready skill in +various things. We all took him at first for a crusty old bachelor, and +he never contradicted us. After he had been living here some time, he +went away, nobody knew where, and returned at the end of some months. +The evening following his return his windows were lit up to an unusual +extent! this alone was sufficient to arouse his neighbours' attention, +and they soon heard the surpassingly beautiful voice of a female +singing to the accompaniment of a piano. Then the music of a violin was +heard chiming in and entering upon a keen ardent contest with the +voice. They knew at once that the player was the Councillor. I myself +mixed in the large crowd which had gathered in front of his house to +listen to this extraordinary concert; and I must confess that, beside +this voice and the peculiar, deep, soul-stirring impression which the +execution made upon me, the singing of the most celebrated _artistes_ +whom I had ever heard seemed to me feeble and void of expression. Until +then I had had no conception of such long-sustained notes, of such +nightingale trills, of such undulations of musical sound, of such +swelling up to the strength of organ-notes, of such dying away to the +faintest whisper. There was not one whom the sweet witchery did not +enthral; and when the singer ceased, nothing but soft sighs broke the +impressive silence. Somewhere about midnight the Councillor was heard +talking violently, and another male voice seemed, to judge from the +tones, to be reproaching him, whilst at intervals the broken words of a +sobbing girl could be detected. The Councillor continued to shout with +increasing violence, until he fell into that drawling, singing way that +you know. He was interrupted by a loud scream from the girl, and then +all was as still as death. Suddenly a loud racket was heard on the +stairs; a young man rushed out sobbing, threw himself into a +post-chaise which stood below, and drove rapidly away. The next day the +Councillor was very cheerful, and nobody had the courage to question +him about the events of the previous night. But on inquiring of the +housekeeper, we gathered that the Councillor had brought home with him +an extraordinarily pretty young lady whom he called Antonia, and she it +was who had sung so beautifully. A young man also had come along with +them; he had treated Antonia very tenderly, and must evidently have +been her betrothed. But he, since the Councillor peremptorily insisted +on it, had had to go away again in a hurry. What the relations between +Antonia and the Councillor are has remained until now a secret, but +this much is certain, that he tyrannises over the poor girl in the most +hateful fashion. He watches her as Doctor Bartholo watches his ward in +the _Barber of Seville_; she hardly dare show herself at the window; +and if, yielding now and again to her earnest entreaties, he takes her +into society, he follows her with Argus' eyes, and will on no account +suffer a musical note to be sounded, far less let Antonia sing--indeed, +she is not permitted to sing in his own house. Antonia's singing on +that memorable night, has, therefore, come to be regarded by the +townspeople in the light of a tradition of some marvellous wonder that +suffices to stir the heart and the fancy; and even those who did not +hear it often exclaim, whenever any other singer attempts to display +her powers in the place, 'What sort of a wretched squeaking do you call +that? Nobody but Antonia knows how to sing.'" + +Having a singular weakness for such like fantastic histories, I found +it necessary, as may easily be imagined, to make Antonia's +acquaintance. I had myself often enough heard the popular sayings about +her singing, but had never imagined that that exquisite _artiste_ was +living in the place, held a captive in the bonds of this eccentric +Krespel like the victim of a tyrannous sorcerer. Naturally enough I +heard in my dreams on the following night Antonia's marvellous voice, +and as she besought me in the most touching manner in a glorious +_adagio_ movement (very ridiculously it seemed to me, as if I had +composed it myself) to save her, I soon resolved, like a second +Astolpho,[2] to penetrate into Krespel's house, as if into another +Alcina's magic castle, and deliver the queen of song from her +ignominious fetters. + +It all came about in a different way from what I had expected; I had +seen the Councillor scarcely more than two or three times, and eagerly +discussed with him the best method of constructing violins, when he +invited me to call and see him. I did so; and he showed me his +treasures of violins. There were fully thirty of them hanging up in a +closet; one amongst them bore conspicuously all the marks of great +antiquity (a carved lion's head, &c.), and, hung up higher than the +rest and surmounted by a crown of flowers, it seemed to exercise a +queenly supremacy over them. "This violin," said Krespel, on my making +some inquiry relative to it, "this violin is a very remarkable and +curious specimen of the work of some unknown master, probably of +Tartini's[3] age. I am perfectly convinced that there is something +especially exceptional in its inner construction, and that, if I took +it to pieces, a secret would be revealed to me which I have long been +seeking to discover, but--laugh at me if you like--this senseless thing +which only gives signs of life and sound as I make it, often speaks to +me in a strange way of itself. The first time I played upon it I +somehow fancied that I was only the magnetiser who has the power of +moving his subject to reveal of his own accord in words the visions of +his inner nature. Don't go away with the belief that I am such a fool +as to attach even the slightest importance to such fantastic notions, +and yet it's certainly strange that I could never prevail upon myself +to cut open that dumb lifeless thing there. I am very pleased now that +I have not cut it open, for since Antonia has been with me I sometimes +play to her upon this violin. For Antonia is fond of it--very fond of +it." As the Councillor uttered these words with visible signs of +emotion, I felt encouraged to hazard the question, "Will you not play +it to me, Councillor." Krespel made a wry face, and falling into his +drawling, singing way, said, "No, my good sir!" and that was an end of +the matter. Then I had to look at all sorts of rare curiosities, the +greater part of them childish trifles; at last thrusting his arm into a +chest, he brought out a folded piece of paper, which he pressed into my +hand, adding solemnly, "You are a lover of art; take this present as a +priceless memento, which you must value at all times above everything +else." Therewith he took me by the shoulders and gently pushed me +towards the door, embracing me on the threshold. That is to say, I was +in a symbolical manner virtually kicked out of doors. Unfolding the +paper, I found a piece of a first string of a violin about an eighth of +an inch in length, with the words, "A piece of the treble string with +which the deceased Staraitz[4] strung his violin for the last concert +at which he ever played." + +This summary dismissal at mention of Antonia's name led me to infer +that I should never see her; but I was mistaken, for on my second visit +to the Councillor's I found her in his room, assisting him to put a +violin together. At first sight Antonia did not make a strong +impression; but soon I found it impossible to tear myself away from her +blue eyes, her sweet rosy lips, her uncommonly graceful, lovely form. +She was very pale; but a shrewd remark or a merry sally would call up a +winning smile on her face and suffuse her cheeks with a deep burning +flush, which, however, soon faded away to a faint rosy glow. My +conversation with her was quite unconstrained, and yet I saw nothing +whatever of the Argus-like watchings on Krespel's part which the +Professor had imputed to him; on the contrary, his behaviour moved +along the customary lines, nay, he even seemed to approve of my +conversation with Antonia. So I often stepped in to see the Councillor; +and as we became accustomed to each other's society, a singular feeling +of homeliness, taking possession of our little circle of three, filled +our hearts with inward happiness. I still continued to derive exquisite +enjoyment from the Councillor's strange crotchets and oddities; but it +was of course Antonia's irresistible charms alone which attracted me, +and led me to put up with a good deal which I should otherwise, in the +frame of mind in which I then was, have impatiently shunned. For it +only too often happened that in the Councillor's characteristic +extravagance there was mingled much that was dull and tiresome; and it +was in a special degree irritating to me that, as often as I turned the +conversation upon music, and particularly upon singing, he was sure to +interrupt me, with that sardonic smile upon his face and those +repulsive singing tones of his, by some remark of a quite opposite +tendency, very often of a commonplace character. From the great +distress which at such times Antonia's glances betrayed, I perceived +that he only did it to deprive me of a pretext for calling upon her for +a song. But I didn't relinquish my design. The hindrances which the +Councillor threw in my way only strengthened my resolution to overcome +them; I must hear Antonia sing if I was not to pine away in reveries +and dim aspirations for want of hearing her. + +One evening Krespel was in an uncommonly good humour; he had been +taking an old Cremona violin to pieces, and had discovered that the +sound-post was fixed half a line more obliquely than usual--an +important discovery! one of incalculable advantage in the practical +work of making violins! I succeeded in setting him off at full speed on +his hobby of the true art of violin-playing. Mention of the way in +which the old masters picked up their dexterity in execution from +really great singers (which was what Krespel happened just then to be +expatiating upon), naturally paved the way for the remark that now the +practice was the exact opposite of this, the vocal score erroneously +following the affected and abrupt transitions and rapid scaling of the +instrumentalists. "What is more nonsensical," I cried, leaping from my +chair, running to the piano, and opening it quickly, "what is more +nonsensical than such an execrable style as this, which, far from being +music, is much more like the noise of peas rolling across the floor?" +At the same time I sang several of the modern _fermatas_, which rush up +and down and hum like a well-spun peg-top, striking a few villanous +chords by way of accompaniment Krespel laughed outrageously and +screamed, "Ha! ha! methinks I hear our German-Italians or our +Italian-Germans struggling with an aria from Pucitta,[5] or +Portogallo,[6] or some other _Maestro di capella_, or rather _schiavo +d'un primo uomo_."[7] Now, thought I, now's the time; so turning to +Antonia, I remarked, "Antonia knows nothing of such singing as that, I +believe?" At the same time I struck up one of old Leonardo Leo's[8] +beautiful soul-stirring songs. Then Antonia's cheeks glowed; heavenly +radiance sparkled in her eyes, which grew full of reawakened +inspiration; she hastened to the piano; she opened her lips; but at +that very moment Krespel pushed her away, grasped me by the shoulders, +and with a shriek that rose up to a tenor pitch, cried, "My son--my +son--my son!" And then he immediately went on, singing very softly, and +grasping my hand with a bow that was the pink of politeness, "In very +truth, my esteemed and honourable student-friend, in very truth it +would be a violation of the codes of social intercourse, as well as of +all good manners, were I to express aloud and in a stirring way my wish +that here, on this very spot, the devil from hell would softly break +your neck with his burning claws, and so in a sense make short work of +you; but, setting that aside, you must acknowledge, my dearest friend, +that it is rapidly growing dark, and there are no lamps burning +to-night so that, even though I did not kick you downstairs at once, +your darling limbs might still run a risk of suffering damage. Go home +by all means; and cherish a kind remembrance of your faithful friend, +if it should happen that you never,--pray, understand me,--if you +should never see him in his own house again." Therewith he embraced +me, and, still keeping fast hold of me, turned with me slowly towards +the door, so that I could not get another single look at Antonia. Of +course it is plain enough that in my position I couldn't thrash the +Councillor, though that is what he really deserved. The Professor +enjoyed a good laugh at my expense, and assured me that I had ruined +for ever all hopes of retaining the Councillor's friendship. Antonia +was too dear to me, I might say too holy, for me to go and play the +part of the languishing lover and stand gazing up at her window, or to +fill the _role_ of the lovesick adventurer. Completely upset, I went +away from H----; but, as is usual in such cases, the brilliant colours +of the picture of my fancy faded, and the recollection of Antonia, as +well as of Antonia's singing (which I had never heard), often fell upon +my heart like a soft faint trembling light, comforting me. + +Two years afterwards I received an appointment in B----, and set out on +a journey to the south of Germany. The towers of M---- rose before me +in the red vaporous glow of the evening; the nearer I came the more was +I oppressed by an indescribable feeling of the most agonising distress; +it lay upon me like a heavy burden; I could not breathe; I was obliged +to get out of my carriage into the open air. But my anguish continued +to increase until it became actual physical pain. Soon I seemed to hear +the strains of a solemn chorale floating in the air; the sounds +continued to grow more distinct; I realised the fact that they were +men's voices chanting a church chorale. "What's that? what's that?" I +cried, a burning stab darting as it were through my breast "Don't you +see?" replied the coachman, who was driving along beside me, "why, +don't you see? they're burying somebody up yonder in yon churchyard." +And indeed we were near the churchyard; I saw a circle of men clothed +in black standing round a grave, which was on the point of being +closed. Tears started to my eyes; I somehow fancied they were burying +there all the joy and all the happiness of life. Moving on rapidly down +the hill, I was no longer able to see into the churchyard; the chorale +came to an end, and I perceived not far distant from the gate some of +the mourners returning from the funeral. The Professor, with his niece +on his arm, both in deep mourning, went close past me without noticing +me. The young lady had her handkerchief pressed close to her eyes, and +was weeping bitterly. In the frame of mind in which I then was I could +not possibly go into the town, so I sent on my servant with the +carriage to the hotel where I usually put up, whilst I took a turn in +the familiar neighbourhood, to get rid of a mood that was possibly only +due to physical causes, such as heating on the journey, &c. On arriving +at a well-known avenue, which leads to a pleasure resort, I came upon a +most extraordinary spectacle. Councillor Krespel was being conducted by +two mourners, from whom he appeared to be endeavouring to make his +escape by all sorts of strange twists and turns. As usual, he was +dressed in his own curious home-made grey coat; but from his little +cocked-hat, which he wore perched over one ear in military fashion, a +long narrow ribbon of black crape fluttered backwards and forwards in +the wind. Around his waist he had buckled a black sword-belt; but +instead of a sword he had stuck a long fiddle-bow into it. A creepy +shudder ran through my limbs: "He's insane," thought I, as I slowly +followed them. The Councillor's companions led him as far as his house, +where he embraced them, laughing loudly. They left him; and then +his glance fell upon me, for I now stood near him. He stared at me +fixedly for some time; then he cried in a hollow voice, "Welcome, my +student-friend! you also understand it!" Therewith he took me by the +arm and pulled me into the house, up the steps, into the room where the +violins hung. They were all draped in black crape; the violin of the +old master was missing; in its place was a cypress wreath. I knew what +had happened. "Antonia! Antonia!" I cried in inconsolable grief. The +Councillor, with his arms crossed on his breast, stood beside me, as if +turned into stone. I pointed to the cypress wreath. "When she died," +said he in a very hoarse solemn voice, "when she died, the soundpost of +that violin broke into pieces with a ringing crack, and the sound-board +was split from end to end. The faithful instrument could only live with +her and in her; it lies beside her in the coffin, it has been buried +with her." Deeply agitated, I sank down upon a chair, whilst the +Councillor began to sing a gay song in a husky voice; it was truly +horrible to see him hopping about on one foot, and the crape strings +(he still had his hat on) flying about the room and up to the violins +hanging on the walls. Indeed, I could not repress a loud cry that rose +to my lips when, on the Councillor making an abrupt turn, the crape +came all over me; I fancied he wanted to envelop me in it and drag me +down into the horrible dark depths of insanity. Suddenly he stood still +and addressed me in his singing way, "My son! my son! why do you call +out? Have you espied the angel of death? That always precedes the +ceremony." Stepping into the middle of the room, he took the violin-bow +out of his sword-belt and, holding it over his head with both hands, +broke it into a thousand pieces. Then, with a loud laugh, he cried, +"Now you imagine my sentence is pronounced, don't you, my son? but it's +nothing of the kind--not at all! not at all! Now I'm free--free--free-- +hurrah! I'm free! Now I shall make no more violins--no more +violins--Hurrah! no more violins!" This he sang to a horrible mirthful +tune, again spinning round on one foot. Perfectly aghast, I was making +the best of my way to the door, when he held me fast, saying quite +calmly, "Stay, my student friend, pray don't think from this outbreak +of grief, which is torturing me as if with the agonies of death, that +I am insane; I only do it because a short time ago I made myself a +dressing-gown in which I wanted to look like Fate or like God!" The +Councillor then went on with a medley of silly and awful rubbish, until +he fell down utterly exhausted; I called up the old housekeeper, and +was very pleased to find myself in the open air again. + +I never doubted for a moment that Krespel had become insane; the +Professor, however, asserted the contrary. "There are men," he +remarked, "from whom nature or a special destiny has taken away the +cover behind which the mad folly of the rest of us runs its course +unobserved. They are like thin-skinned insects, which, as we watch the +restless play of their muscles, seem to be misshapen, while +nevertheless everything soon comes back into its proper form again. All +that with us remains thought, passes over with Krespel into action. +That bitter scorn which the spirit that is wrapped up in the doings and +dealings of the earth often has at hand, Krespel gives vent to in +outrageous gestures and agile caprioles. But these are his lightning +conductor. What comes up out of the earth he gives again to the earth, +but what is divine, that he keeps; and so I believe that his inner +consciousness, in spite of the apparent madness which springs from it +to the surface, is as right as a trivet. To be sure, Antonia's sudden +death grieves him sore, but I warrant that tomorrow will see him going +along in his old jog-trot way as usual." And the Professor's prediction +was almost literally filled. Next day the Councillor appeared to be +just as he formerly was, only he averred that he would never make +another violin, nor yet ever play on another. And, as I learned later, +he kept his word. + +Hints which the Professor let fall confirmed my own private conviction +that the so carefully guarded secret of the Councillor's relations to +Antonia, nay, that even her death, was a crime which must weigh heavily +upon him, a crime that could not be atoned for. I determined that I +would not leave H---- without taxing him with the offence which I +conceived him to be guilty of; I determined to shake his heart down to +its very roots, and so compel him to make open confession of the +terrible deed. The more I reflected upon the matter the clearer it grew +in my own mind that Krespel must be a villain, and in the same +proportion did my intended reproach, which assumed of itself the form +of a real rhetorical masterpiece, wax more fiery and more impressive. +Thus equipped and mightily incensed, I hurried to his house. I found +him with a calm smiling countenance making playthings. "How can peace," +I burst out, "how can peace find lodgment even for a single moment in +your breast, so long as the memory of your horrible deed preys like a +serpent upon you?" He gazed at me in amazement, and laid his chisel +aside. "What do you mean, my dear sir?" he asked; "pray take a seat." +But my indignation chafing me more and more, I went on to accuse him +directly of having murdered Antonia, and to threaten him with the +vengeance of the Eternal. + +Further, as a newly full-fledged lawyer, full of my profession, I went +so far as to give him to understand that I would leave no stone +unturned to get a clue to the business, and so deliver him here in this +world into the hands of an earthly judge. I must confess that I was +considerably disconcerted when, at the conclusion of my violent and +pompous harangue, the Councillor, without answering so much as a +single word, calmly fixed his eyes upon me as though expecting me +to go on again. And this I did indeed attempt to do, but it sounded so +ill-founded and so stupid as well that I soon grew silent again. +Krespel gloated over my embarrassment, whilst a malicious ironical +smile flitted across his face. Then he grew very grave, and addressed +me in solemn tones. "Young man, no doubt you think I am foolish, +insane; that I can pardon you, since we are both confined in the same +madhouse; and you only blame me for deluding myself with the idea that +I am God the Father because you imagine yourself to be God the Son. But +how do you dare desire to insinuate yourself into the secrets and lay +bare the hidden motives of a life that is strange to you and that must +continue so? She has gone and the mystery is solved." He ceased +speaking, rose, and traversed the room backwards and forwards several +times. I ventured to ask for an explanation; he fixed his eyes upon me, +grasped me by the hand, and led me to the window, which he threw wide +open. Propping himself upon his arms, he leaned out, and, looking down +into the garden, told me the history of his life. When he finished I +left him, touched and ashamed. + +In a few words, his relations with Antonia rose in the following way. +Twenty years before, the Councillor had been led into Italy by his +favourite engrossing passion of hunting up and buying the best violins +of the old masters. At that time he had not yet begun to make them +himself, and so of course he had not begun to take to pieces those +which he bought. In Venice he heard the celebrated singer Angela ----i, +who at that time was playing with splendid success as _prima donna_ at +St. Benedict's Theatre. His enthusiasm was awakened, not only in her +art--which Signora Angela had indeed brought to a high pitch of +perfection--but in her angelic beauty as well. He sought her +acquaintance; and in spite of all his rugged manners he succeeded in +winning her heart, principally through his bold and yet at the same +time masterly violin-playing. Close intimacy led in a few weeks to +marriage, which, however, was kept a secret, because Angela was +unwilling to sever her connection with the theatre, neither did she +wish to part with her professional name, that by which she was +celebrated, nor to add to it the cacophonous "Krespel." With the most +extravagant irony he described to me what a strange life of worry and +torture Angela led him as soon as she became his wife. Krespel was of +opinion that more capriciousness and waywardness were concentrated in +Angela's little person than in all the rest of the _prima donnas_ in +the world put together. If he now and again presumed to stand up in his +own defence, she let loose a whole army of abbots, musical composers, +and students upon him, who, ignorant of his true connection with +Angela, soundly rated him as a most intolerable, ungallant lover for +not submitting to all the Signora's caprices. It was just after one of +these stormy scenes that Krespel fled to Angela's country seat to try +and forget in playing fantasias on his Cremona, violin the annoyances +of the day. But he had not been there long before the Signora, who had +followed hard after him, stepped into the room. She was in an +affectionate humour; she embraced her husband, overwhelmed him with +sweet and languishing glances, and rested her pretty head on his +shoulder. But Krespel, carried away into the world of music, continued +to play on until the walls echoed again; thus he chanced to touch the +Signora somewhat ungently with his arm and the fiddle-bow. She leapt +back full of fury, shrieking that he was a "German brute," snatched the +violin from his hands, and dashed it on the marble table into a +thousand pieces. Krespel stood like a statue of stone before her; but +then, as if awakening out of a dream, he seized her with the strength +of a giant and threw her out of the window of her own house, and, +without troubling himself about anything more, fled back to Venice--to +Germany. It was not, however, until some time had elapsed that he had a +clear recollection of what he had done; although he knew that the +window was scarcely five feet from the ground, and although he was +fully cognisant of the necessity, under the above-mentioned +circumstances, of throwing the Signora out of the window, he yet felt +troubled by a sense of painful uneasiness, and the more so since she +had imparted to him in no ambiguous terms an interesting secret as to +her condition. He hardly dared to make inquiries; and he was not a +little surprised about eight months afterwards at receiving a tender +letter from his beloved wife, in which she made not the slightest +allusion to what had taken place in her country house, only adding to +the intelligence that she had been safely delivered of a sweet little +daughter the heartfelt prayer that her dear husband and now a happy +father would come at once to Venice. That however Krespel did not do; +rather he appealed to a confidential friend for a more circumstantial +account of the details, and learned that the Signora had alighted upon +the soft grass as lightly as a bird, and that the sole consequences of +the fall or shock had been psychic. That is to say, after Krespel's +heroic deed she had become completely altered; she never showed a trace +of caprice, of her former freaks, or of her teasing habits; and the +composer who wrote for the next carnival was the happiest fellow under +the sun, since the Signora was willing to sing his music without the +scores and hundreds of changes which she at other times had insisted +upon. "To be sure," added his friend, "there was every reason for +preserving the secret of Angela's cure, else every day would see lady +singers flying through windows." The Councillor was not a little +excited at this news; he engaged horses; he took his seat in the +carriage. "Stop!" he cried suddenly. "Why, there's not a shadow of +doubt," he murmured to himself, "that as soon as Angela sets eyes upon +me again the evil spirit will recover his power and once more take +possession of her. And since I have already thrown her out of the +window, what could I do if a similar case were to occur again? What +would there be left for me to do?" He got out of the carriage, and +wrote an affectionate letter to his wife, making graceful allusion to +her tenderness in especially dwelling upon the fact that his tiny +daughter had like him a little mole behind the ear, and--remained in +Germany. Now ensued an active correspondence between them. Assurances +of unchanged affection--invitations--laments over the absence of the +beloved one--thwarted wishes--hopes, &c.--flew backwards and forwards +from Venice to H----, from H---- to Venice. At length Angela came to +Germany, and, as is well known, sang with brilliant success as _prima +donna_ at the great theatre in F----. Despite the fact that she was no +longer young, she won all hearts by the irresistible charm of her +wonderfully splendid singing. At that time she had not lost her voice +in the least degree. Meanwhile, Antonia had been growing up; and her +mother never tired of writing to tell her father how that a singer of +the first rank was developing in her. Krespel's friends in F---- also +confirmed this intelligence, and urged him to come for once to F---- to +see and admire this uncommon sight of two such glorious singers. They +had not the slightest suspicion of the close relations in which Krespel +stood to the pair. Willingly would he have seen with his own eyes the +daughter who occupied so large a place in his heart, and who moreover +often appeared to him in his dreams; but as often as he thought upon +his wife he felt very uncomfortable, and so he remained at home amongst +his broken violins. There was a certain promising young composer, +B---- of F----, who was found to have suddenly disappeared, nobody knew +where. This young man fell so deeply in love with Antonia that, as she +returned his love, he earnestly besought her mother to consent to an +immediate union, sanctified as it would further be by art. Angela had +nothing to urge against his suit; and the Councillor the more readily +gave his consent that the young composer's productions had found +favour before his rigorous critical judgment. Krespel was expecting +to hear of the consummation of the marriage, when he received +instead a black-sealed envelope addressed in a strange hand. Doctor +R---- conveyed to the Councillor the sad intelligence that Angela had +fallen seriously ill in consequence of a cold caught at the theatre, +and that during the night immediately preceding what was to have been +Antonia's wedding-day, she had died. To him, the Doctor, Angela had +disclosed the fact that she was Krespel's wife, and that Antonia was +his daughter; he, Krespel, had better hasten therefore to take charge +of the orphan. Notwithstanding that the Councillor was a good deal +upset by this news of Angela's death, he soon began to feel that an +antipathetic, disturbing influence had departed out of his life, and +that now for the first time he could begin to breathe freely. The very +same day he set out for F----. You could not credit how heartrending +was the Councillor's description of the moment when he first saw +Antonia. Even in the fantastic oddities of his expression there was +such a marvellous power of description that I am unable to give even so +much as a faint indication of it. Antonia inherited all her mother's +amiability and all her mother's charms, but not the repellent reverse +of the medal. There was no chronic moral ulcer, which might break out +from time to time. Antonia's betrothed put in an appearance, whilst +Antonia herself, fathoming with happy instinct the deeper-lying +character of her wonderful father, sang one of old Padre Martini's[9] +motets, which, she knew, Krespel in the heyday of his courtship had +never grown tired of hearing her mother sing. The tears ran in streams +down Krespel's cheeks; even Angela he had never heard sing like that. +Antonia's voice was of a very remarkable and altogether peculiar +timbre, at one time it was like the sighing of an AEolian harp, at +another like the warbled gush of the nightingale. It seemed as if there +was not room for such notes in the human breast. Antonia, blushing with +joy and happiness, sang on and on--all her most beautiful songs, +B---- playing between whiles as only enthusiasm that is intoxicated +with delight can play. Krespel was at first transported with rapture, +then he grew thoughtful--still--absorbed in reflection. At length +he leapt to his feet, pressed Antonia to his heart, and begged +her in a low husky voice, "Sing no more if you love me--my heart +is bursting--I fear--I fear--don't sing again." + +"No!" remarked the Councillor next day to Doctor R----, "when, as she +sang, her blushes gathered into two dark red spots on her pale cheeks, +I knew it had nothing to do with your nonsensical family likenesses, I +knew it was what I dreaded." The Doctor, whose countenance had shown +signs of deep distress from the very beginning of the conversation, +replied, "Whether it arises from a too early taxing of her powers of +song, or whether the fault is Nature's--enough, Antonia labours under +an organic failure in the chest, while it is from it too that her voice +derives its wonderful power and its singular timbre, which I might +almost say transcend the limits of human capabilities of song. But it +bears the announcement of her early death; for, if she continues to +sing, I wouldn't give her at the most more than six months longer to +live." Krespel's heart was lacerated as if by the stabs of hundreds of +stinging knives. It was as though his life had been for the first time +overshadowed by a beautiful tree full of the most magnificent blossoms, +and now it was to be sawn to pieces at the roots, so that it could not +grow green and blossom any more. His resolution was taken. He told +Antonia all; he put the alternatives before her--whether she would +follow her betrothed and yield to his and the world's seductions, but +with the certainty of dying early, or whether she would spread round +her father in his old days that joy and peace which had hitherto been +unknown to him, and so secure a long life. She threw herself sobbing +into his arms, and he, knowing the heartrending trial that was before +her, did not press for a more explicit declaration. He talked the +matter over with her betrothed; but, notwithstanding that the latter +averred that no note should ever cross Antonia's lips, the Councillor +was only too well aware that even B---- could not resist the temptation +of hearing her sing, at any rate arias of his own composition. And the +world, the musical public, even though acquainted with the nature of +the singer's affliction, would certainly not relinquish its claims to +hear her, for in cases where pleasure is concerned people of this class +are very selfish and cruel. The Councillor disappeared from F---- along +with Antonia, and came to H----. B---- was in despair when he learnt +that they had gone. He set out on their track, overtook them, and +arrived at H---- at the same time that they did. "Let me see him only +once, and then die!" entreated Antonia "Die! die!" cried Krespel, wild +with anger, an icy shudder running through him. His daughter, the only +creature in the wide world who had awakened in him the springs of +unknown joy, who alone had reconciled him to life, tore herself away +from his heart, and he--he suffered the terrible trial to take place. +B---- sat down to the piano; Antonia sang; Krespel fiddled away +merrily, until the two red spots showed themselves on Antonia's cheeks. +Then he bade her stop; and as B was taking leave of his betrothed, she +suddenly fell to the floor with a loud scream. "I thought," continued +Krespel in his narration, "I thought that she was, as I had +anticipated, really dead; but as I had prepared myself for the worst, +my calmness did not leave me, nor my self-command desert me. I grasped +B----, who stood like a silly sheep in his dismay, by the shoulders, +and said (here the Councillor fell into his singing tone), 'Now that +you, my estimable pianoforte-player, have, as you wished and desired, +really murdered your betrothed, you may quietly take your departure; at +least have the goodness to make yourself scarce before I run my bright +hanger through your heart. My daughter, who, as you see, is rather +pale, could very well do with some colour from your precious blood. +Make haste and run, for I might also hurl a nimble knife or two after +you.' I must, I suppose, have looked rather formidable as I uttered +these words, for, with a cry of the greatest terror, B---- tore himself +loose from my grasp, rushed out of the room, and down the steps." +Directly after B---- was gone, when the Councillor tried to lift up his +daughter, who lay unconscious on the floor, she opened her eyes with a +deep sigh, but soon closed them again as if about to die. Then +Krespel's grief found vent aloud, and would not be comforted. The +Doctor, whom the old housekeeper had called in, pronounced Antonia's +case a somewhat serious but by no means dangerous attack; and she did +indeed recover more quickly than her father had dared to hope. She now +clung to him with the most confiding childlike affection; she entered +into his favourite hobbies--into his mad schemes and whims. She helped +him take old violins to pieces and glue new ones together. "I won't +sing again any more, but live for you," she often said, sweetly smiling +upon him, after she had been asked to sing and had refused. Such +appeals however the Councillor was anxious to spare her as much as +possible; therefore it was that he was unwilling to take her into +society, and solicitously shunned all music. He well understood how +painful it must be for her to forego altogether the exercise of that +art which she had brought to such a pitch of perfection. When the +Councillor bought the wonderful violin that he had buried with Antonia, +and was about to take it to pieces, she met him with such sadness in +her face and softly breathed the petition, "What! this as well?" By +some power, which he could not explain, he felt impelled to leave this +particular instrument unbroken, and to play upon it. Scarcely had he +drawn the first few notes from it than Antonia cried aloud with joy, +"Why, that's me!--now I shall sing again." And, in truth, there was +something remarkably striking about the clear, silvery, bell-like tones +of the violin; they seemed to have been engendered in the human soul. +Krespel's heart was deeply moved; he played, too, better than ever. As +he ran up and down the scale, playing bold passages with consummate +power and expression, she clapped her hands together and cried with +delight, "I did that well! I did that well!" + +From this time onwards her life was filled with peace and cheerfulness. +She often said to the Councillor, "I should like to sing something, +father." Then Krespel would take his violin down from the wall and play +her most beautiful songs, and her heart was right glad and happy. +Shortly before my arrival in H----, the Councillor fancied one night +that he heard somebody playing the piano in the adjoining room, and he +soon made out distinctly that B---- was flourishing on the instrument +in his usual style. He wished to get up, but felt himself held down as +if by a dead weight, and lying as if fettered in iron bonds; he was +utterly unable to move an inch. Then Antonia's voice was heard singing +low and soft; soon, however, it began to rise and rise in volume until +it became an ear-splitting fortissimo; and at length she passed over +into a powerfully impressive song which B---- had once composed for her +in the devotional style of the old masters. Krespel described his +condition as being incomprehensible, for terrible anguish was mingled +with a delight he had never experienced before. All at once he was +surrounded by a dazzling brightness, in which he beheld B---- and +Antonia locked in a close embrace, and gazing at each other in a +rapture of ecstasy. The music of the song and of the pianoforte +accompanying it went on without any visible signs that Antonia sang or +that B---- touched the instrument. Then the Councillor fell into a sort +of dead faint, whilst the images vanished away. On awakening he still +felt the terrible anguish of his dream. He rushed into Antonia's room. +She lay on the sofa, her eyes closed, a sweet angelic smile on her +face, her hands devoutly folded, and looking as if asleep and dreaming +of the joys and raptures of heaven. But she was--dead. + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "THE CREMONA VIOLIN": + +[Footnote 1: The Amati were a celebrated family of violin-makers of +the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, belonging to Cremona in Italy. +They form the connecting-link between the Brescian school of makers and +the greatest of all makers, Straduarius and Guanerius.] + +[Footnote 2: A reference to Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_. Astolpho, an +English cousin of Orlando, was a great boaster, but generous, +courteous, gay, and remarkably handsome; he was carried to Alcina's +island on the back of a whale.] + +[Footnote 3: Giuseppe Tartini, born in 1692, died in 1770; was one of +the most celebrated violinists of the eighteenth century, and the +discoverer (in 1714) of "resultant tones," or "Tartini's tones" as they +are frequently called. Most of his life was spent at Padua. He did much +to advance the art of the violinist, both by his compositions for that +instrument as well as by his treatise on its capabilities.] + +[Footnote 4: This was the name of a well-known musical family from +Bohemia. Karl Stamitz is the one here possibly meant, since he died +about eighteen or twenty years previous to the publication of this +tale.] + +[Footnote 5: Vincenzo Pucitta (1778-1861) was an Italian opera +composer, whose music "shows great facility, but no invention." He also +wrote several songs.] + +[Footnote 6: Il Portogallo was the Italian sobriquet of a Portuguese +musician named Mark Anthony Simao (1763-1829). He lived alternately in +Italy and Portugal, and wrote several operas.] + +[Footnote 7: Literally, "The slave of a _primo uomo_," _primo uomo_ +being the masculine form corresponding to _prima donna_, that is, a +singer of hero's parts in operatic music. At one time also female parts +were sung and acted by men or boys.] + +[Footnote 8: Leonardo Leo, the chief Neapolitan representative of +Italian music in the first part of the eighteenth century, and author +of more than forty operas and nearly one hundred compositions for the +Church.] + +[Footnote 9: Giambattista Martini, more commonly called Padre Martini, +of Bologna, formed an influential school of music there in the latter +half of the eighteenth century. He wrote vocal and instrumental pieces +both for the church and for the theatre. He was also a learned +historian of music. He has the merit of having discerned and encouraged +the genius of Mozart when, a boy of fourteen, he visited Bologna in +1770.] + + + + + THE FERMATA. + + +Hummel's[1] amusing, vivacious picture, "Company in an Italian Inn," +became known by the Art Exhibition at Berlin in the autumn of 1814, +where it appeared, to the delight of all who saw and studied it An +arbour almost hidden in foliage--a table covered with wine-flasks and +fruits--two Italian ladies sitting at it opposite each other, one +singing, the other playing a guitar; between them, more in the +background, stands an abbot, acting as music-director. With his baton +raised, he is awaiting the moment when the Signora shall end, in a long +trill, the cadence which, with her eyes directed heavenwards, she is +just in the midst of; then down will come his hand, whilst the +guitarist gaily dashes off the dominant chord. The abbot is filled with +admiration--with exquisite delight--and at the same time his attention +is painfully on the stretch. He wouldn't miss the proper downward beat +for the world. He hardly dare breathe. He would like to stop the mouth +and wings of every buzzing bee and midge. So much the more therefore is +he annoyed at the bustling host who must needs come and bring the wine +just at this supreme, delicious moment. An outlook upon an avenue, +patterned by brilliant strips of light! There a horseman has pulled up, +and a glass of something refreshing to drink is being handed up to him +on horseback. + +Before this picture stood the two friends Edward and Theodore. "The +more I look at this singer," said Edward, "in her gay attire, who, +though rather oldish, is yet full of the true inspiration of her art, +and the more I am delighted with the grave but genuine Roman profile +and lovely form of the guitarist, and the more my estimable friend the +abbot amuses me, the more does the whole picture seem to me instinct +with free, strong, vital power. It is plainly a caricature in the +higher sense of the term, but rich in grace and vivacity. I should just +like to step into that arbour and open one of those dainty little +flasks which are ogling me from the table. I tell you what, I fancy I +can already smell something of the sweet fragrance of the noble wine. +Come, it were a sin for this solicitation to be wasted on the cold +senseless atmosphere that is about us here. Let us go and drain a flask +of Italian wine in honour of this fine picture, of art, and of merry +Italy, where life is exhilarating and given for pleasure." + +Whilst Edward was running on thus in disconnected sentences, Theodore +stood silent and deeply absorbed in reflection. "Ay, that we will, come +along," he said, starting up as if awakening out of a dream; but +nevertheless he had some difficulty in tearing himself away from the +picture, and as he mechanically followed his friend, he had to stop at +the door to cast another longing lingering look back upon the singer +and guitarist and abbot. Edward's proposal easily admitted of being +carried into execution. They crossed the street diagonally, and very +soon a flask exactly like those in the picture stood before them in +Sala Tarone's[2] little blue room. "It seems to me," said Edward, as +Theodore still continued very silent and thoughtful, even after several +glasses had been drunk, "it seems to me that the picture has made a +deeper impression upon you than upon me, and not such an agreeable +impression either." "I assure you," replied Theodore, "that I lost +nothing of the brightness and grace of that animated composition; yet +it is very singular,--it is a faithful representation of a scene out of +my own life, reproducing the portraits of the parties concerned in it +in a manner startlingly lifelike. You will, however, agree with me that +diverting memories also have the power of strangely moving the mind +when they suddenly spring up in this extraordinary and unexpected way, +as if awakened by the wave of a magician's wand. That's the case with +me just now." "What! a scene out of your own life!" exclaimed Edward, +quite astonished. "Do you mean to say the picture represents an episode +in your own life? I saw at once that the two ladies and the priest were +eminently successful portraits, but I never for a moment dreamed that +you had ever come across them in the course of your life. Come now, +tell me all about it, how it all came about; we are quite alone, nobody +else will come at this time o' day." "Willingly," answered Theodore, +"but unfortunately I must go a long way back--to my early youth in +fact." "Never mind; fire away," rejoined Edward; "I don't know over +much about your early days. If it lasts a good while, nothing worse +will happen than that we shall have to empty a bottle more than we at +first bargained for; and to that nobody will have any objection, +neither we, nor Mr. Tarone." + +"That, throwing everything else aside, I at length devoted myself +entirely to the noble art of music," began Theodore, "need excite +nobody's astonishment, for whilst still a boy I would hardly do +anything else but play, and spent hours and hours strumming on my +uncle's old creaking, jarring piano. The little town was very badly +provided for music; there was nobody who could give me instruction +except an old opinionated organist; he, however, was merely a dry +arithmetician, and plagued me to death with obscure, unmelodious +toccatas and fugues. But I held on bravely, without letting myself be +daunted. The old fellow was crabby, and often found a good deal of +fault, but he had only to play a good piece in his own powerful style, +and I was at once reconciled both with him and with his art. I was then +often in a curious state of mind; many pieces particularly of old +Sebastian Bach were almost like a fearful ghost-story, and I yielded +myself up to that feeling of pleasurable awe to which we are so prone +in the days of our fantastic youth. But I entered into a veritable Eden +when, as sometimes happened in winter, the bandmaster of the town and +his colleagues, supported by a few other moderate dilettante players, +gave a concert, and I, owing to the strict time I always kept, was +permitted to play the kettledrum in the symphony. It was not until +later that I perceived how ridiculous and extravagant these concerts +were. My teacher generally played two concertos on the piano by Wolff +or Emanuel Bach,[3] a member of the town band struggled with +Stamitz,[4] while the receiver of excise duties worked away hard at the +flute, and took in such an immense supply of breath that he blew out +both lights on his music-stand, and always had to have them relighted +again. Singing wasn't thought about; my uncle, a great friend and +patron of music, always disparaged the local talent in this line. He +still dwelt with exuberant delight upon the days gone by, when the four +choristers of the four churches of the town agreed together to give +_Lottchen am Hofe_.[5] Above all, he was wont to extol the toleration +which united the singers in the production of this work of art, for not +only the Catholic and the Evangelical but also the Reformed community +was split into two bodies--those speaking German and those speaking +French. The French chorister was not daunted by the _Lottchen_, but, as +my uncle maintained, sang his part, spectacles on nose, in the finest +falsetto that ever proceeded forth from a human breast. Now there was +amongst us (I mean in the town) a spinster named Meibel, aged about +fifty-five, who subsisted upon the scanty pension which she received as +a retired court singer of the metropolis, and my uncle was rightly of +opinion that Miss Meibel might still do something for her money in the +concert hall. She assumed airs of importance, required a good deal of +coaxing, but at last consented, so that we came to have _bravuras_ in +our concerts. She was a singular creature this Miss Meibel. I still +retain a lively recollection of her lean little figure. Dressed in a +many-coloured gown, she was wont to step forward with her roll of music +in her hand, looking very grave and solemn, and to acknowledge the +audience with a slight inclination of the upper part of her body. Her +head-dress was a most remarkable head-dress. In front was fastened a +nosegay of Italian flowers of porcelain, which kept up a strange +trembling and tottering as she sang. At the end, after the audience had +greeted her with no stinted measure of applause, she proudly handed the +music-roll to my uncle, and permitted him to dip his thumb and finger +into a little porcelain snuff-box, fashioned in the shape of a pug dog, +out of which she took a pinch herself with evident relish. She had a +horrible squeaky voice, indulged in all sorts of ludicrous flourishes +and roulades, and so you may imagine what an effect all this, combined +with her ridiculous manners and style of dress, could not fail to have +upon me. My uncle overflowed with panegyrics; that I could not +understand, and so turned the more readily to my organist, who, looking +with contempt upon vocal efforts in general, delighted me down to the +ground as in his hypochondriac malicious way he parodied the ludicrous +old spinster. + +"The more decidedly I came to share with my master his contempt for +singing, the higher did he rate my musical genius. He took a great and +zealous interest in instructing me in counterpoint, so that I soon came +to write the most ingenious toccatas and fugues. I was once playing one +of these ingenious specimens of my skill to my uncle on my birthday (I +was nineteen years old), when the waiter of our first hotel stepped +into the room to announce the visit of two foreign ladies who +had just arrived in the town. Before my uncle could throw off his +dressing-gown--it was of a large flower pattern--and don his coat and +vest, his visitors were already in the room. You know what an electric +effect every strange event has upon those who are brought up in the +narrow seclusion of a small country town; this in particular, which +crossed my path so unexpectedly, was pre-eminently fitted to work a +complete revolution within me. Picture to yourself two tall, slender +Italian ladies, dressed fantastically and in bright colours, quite up +to the latest fashion, meeting my uncle with the freedom of +professional _artistes_, and yet with considerable charms of manner, +and addressing him in firm and sonorous voices. What the deuce of a +strange tongue they speak! Only now and then does it sound at all like +German. My uncle doesn't understand a word; embarrassed, mute as a +maggot, he steps back and points to the sofa. They sit down, talk +together--it sounds like music itself. At length they succeed in making +my good uncle comprehend that they are singers on a tour; they would +like to give a concert in the place, and have come to him, as he is the +man to conduct such musical negotiations. + +"Whilst they were talking together I picked up their Christian names, +and I fancied that I could now more easily and more distinctly +distinguish the one from the other, for their both making their +appearance together had at first confused me. Lauretta, apparently the +elder of the two, looked about her with sparkling eyes, and talked away +at my embarrassed old uncle with gushing vivacity and with +demonstrative gestures. She was not too tall, and of a voluptuous +build, so that my eyes wandered amid many charms that hitherto had been +strangers to them. Teresina, taller, more slender, with a long grave +face, spoke but seldom, but what she did say was more intelligible. Now +and then a peculiar smile flitted across her features; it almost seemed +as if she were highly amused at my good uncle, who had withdrawn into +his silken dressing-gown like a snail into its shell, and was vainly +endeavouring to push out of sight a treacherous yellow string, with +which he fastened his night-jacket together, and which would keep +tumbling out of his bosom yards and yards long. At length they rose to +depart; my uncle promised to arrange everything for the concert for the +third day following; then the sisters gave him and me, whom he +introduced to them as a young musician, a most polite invitation to +take chocolate with them in the afternoon. + +"We mounted the steps with a solemn air and awkward gait; we both felt +very peculiar, as if we were going to meet some adventure to which we +were not equal. In consequence of due previous preparation my uncle had +a good many fine things to say about art, which nobody understood, +neither he himself nor any of the rest of us. This done, and after I +had thrice burned my tongue with the scalding hot chocolate, but with +the stoical fortitude of a Scaevola had smiled under the fiery +infliction, Lauretta at length said that she would sing to us. Teresina +took her guitar, tuned it, and struck a few full chords. It was the +first time I had heard the instrument, and the characteristic +mysterious sounds of the trembling strings made a deep and wonderful +impression upon me. Lauretta began very softly and held on, the note +rising to _fortissimo_, and then quickly broke into a crisp complicated +run through an octave and a half. I can still remember the words of the +beginning, '_Sento l'amica speme_.' My heart was oppressed; I had never +had an idea of anything of the kind. But as Lauretta continued to soar +in bolder and higher flights, and as the musical notes poured upon me +like sparkling rays, thicker and thicker, then was the music that had +so long lain mute and lifeless within me enkindled, rising up in +strong, grand flames. Ah! I had never heard what music was in my life +before! Then the sisters sang one of those grand impressive duets of +Abbot Steffani[6] which confine themselves to notes of a low register. +My soul was stirred at the sound of Teresina's alto, it was so +sonorous, and as pure as silver bells. I couldn't for the life of me +restrain my emotion; tears started to my eyes. My uncle coughed +warningly, and cast angry glances upon me; it was all of no use, I was +really quite beside myself. This seemed to please the sisters; they +began to inquire into the nature and extent of my musical studies; I +was ashamed of my performances in that line, and with the hardihood +born of enthusiastic admiration, I bluntly declared that that day was +the first time I had ever heard music. 'The dear good boy!' lisped +Lauretta, so sweetly and bewitchingly. + +"On reaching home again, I was seized with a sort of fury: I pounced +upon all the toccatas and fugues that I had hammered out, as well as a +beautiful copy of forty-five variations of a canonical theme that the +organist had written and done me the honour of presenting to me,--all +these I threw into the fire, and laughed with spiteful glee as the +double counterpoint smoked and crackled. Then I sat down at the piano +and tried first to imitate the tones of the guitar, then to play the +sisters' melodies, and finished by attempting to sing them. At length +about midnight my uncle emerged from his bedroom and greeted me with, +'My boy, you'd better just stop that screeching and troop off to bed;' +and he put out both candles and went back to his own room. I had no +other alternative but to obey. The mysterious power of song came to me +in my dreams--at least I thought so--for I sang '_Sento l'amica speme_' +in excellent style. + +"The next morning my uncle had hunted up everybody who could fiddle +and blow for the rehearsal. He was proud to show what good musicians +the town possessed; but everything seemed to go perversely wrong. +Lauretta set to work at a fine scene; but very soon in the recitative +the orchestra was all at sixes and sevens, not one of them had any idea +of accompaniment Lauretta screamed--raved--wept with impatience and +anger. The organist was presiding at the piano; she attacked him with +the bitterest reproaches. He got up and in silent obduracy marched out +of the hall. The bandmaster of the town, whom Lauretta had dubbed a +'German ass!' took his violin under his arm, and, banging his hat on +his head with an air of defiance, likewise made for the door. The +members of his company, sticking their bows under the strings of their +violins, and unscrewing the mouthpieces of their brass instruments, +followed him. There was nobody but the dilettanti left, and they gazed +about them with disconsolate looks, whilst the receiver of excise +duties exclaimed, with a tragic air, 'O heaven! how mortified I feel!' +All my diffidence was gone,--I threw myself in the bandmaster's way, I +begged, I prayed, in my distress I promised him six new minuets with +double trios for the annual ball. I succeeded in appeasing him. He went +back to his place, his companions followed suit, and soon the orchestra +was reconstituted, except that the organist was wanting. He was slowly +making his way across the market-place, no shouting or beckoning could +make him turn back. Teresina had looked on at the whole scene with +smothered laughter, while Lauretta was now as full of glee as before +she had been of anger. She was unstinted in her praise of my efforts; +she asked me if I played the piano, and ere I knew what I was about, I +sat in the organist's place with the music before me. Never before had +I accompanied a singer, still less directed an orchestra. Teresina sat +down beside me at the piano and gave me every time; Lauretta encouraged +me with repeated 'Bravos!' the orchestra proved manageable, and things +continued to improve. Everything was worked out successfully at the +second rehearsal; and the effect of the sisters' singing at the concert +is not to be described. + +"The sovereign's return to his capital was to be celebrated there with +several festive demonstrations; the sisters were summoned to sing in +the theatre and at concerts. Until the time that their presence was +required they resolved to remain in our little town, and thus it came +to pass that they gave us a few more concerts. The admiration of the +public rose to a kind of madness. Old Miss Meibel, however, took with a +deliberate air a pinch of snuff out of her porcelain pug and gave her +opinion that 'such impudent caterwauling was not singing; singing +should be low and melodious.' My friend, the organist, never showed +himself again, and, in truth, I did not miss him in the least I was +the happiest fellow in the world. The whole day long I spent with +the sisters, copying out the vocal scores of what they were to +sing in the capital. Lauretta was my ideal; her vile caprices, her +terribly passionate violence, the torments she inflicted upon me at the +piano--all these I bore with patience. She alone had unsealed for me +the springs of true music. I began to study Italian, and try my hand at +a few canzonets. In what heavenly rapture was I plunged when Lauretta +sang my compositions, or even praised them. Often it seemed to me as if +it was not I who had thought out and set what she sang, but that the +thought first shone forth in her singing of it. With Teresina I could +not somehow get on familiar terms; she sang but seldom, and didn't seem +to make much account of all that I was doing, and sometimes I even +fancied that she was laughing at me behind my back. At length the time +came for them to leave the town. And now I felt for the first time how +dear Lauretta had become to me, and how impossible it would be for me +to separate from her. Often, when she was in a tender, playful mood, +she had caressed me, although always in a perfectly artless fashion; +nevertheless, my blood was excited, and it was nothing but the strange +coolness with which she was more usually wont to treat me that +restrained me from giving reins to my ardour and clasping her in my +arms in a delirium of passion. I possessed a tolerably good tenor +voice, which, however, I had never practised, but now I began to +cultivate it assiduously. I frequently sang with Lauretta one of those +tender Italian duets of which there exists such an endless number. We +were just singing one of these pieces, the hour of departure was close +at hand--'_Senza di te ben mio, vivere non poss' io_' ('Without thee, +my own, I cannot live!') Who could resist that? I threw myself at her +feet--I was in despair. She raised me up--'But, my friend, need we then +part?' I pricked up my ears with amazement. She proposed that I should +accompany her and Teresina to the capital, for if I intended to devote +myself wholly to music I must leave this wretched little town some time +or other. Picture to yourself one struggling in the dark depths of +boundless despair, who has given up all hopes of life, and who, in the +moment in which he expects to receive the blow that is to crush him for +ever, suddenly finds himself sitting in a glorious bright arbour of +roses, where hundreds of unseen but loving voices whisper, 'You are +still alive, dear,--still alive'--and you will know how I felt then. +Along with them to the capital! that had seized upon my heart as an +ineradicable resolution. But I won't tire you with the details of how I +set to work to convince my uncle that I ought now by all means to go to +the capital, which, moreover, was not very far away. He at length gave +his consent, and announced his intention of going with me. Here was a +tricksy stroke of fortune! I dare not give utterance to my purpose of +travelling in company with the sisters. A violent cold, which my uncle +caught, proved my saviour. + +"I left the town by the stage-coach, but only went as far as the first +stopping-station, where I awaited my divinity. A well-lined purse +enabled me to make all due and fitting preparations. I was seized with +the romantic idea of accompanying the ladies in the character of a +protecting paladin--on horseback; I secured a horse, which, though not +particularly handsome, was, its owner assured me, quiet, and I rode +back at the appointed time to meet the two fair singers. I soon saw the +little carriage, which had two seats, coming towards me. Lauretta and +Teresina sat on the principal seat, whilst on the other, with her back +to the driver, sat their maid, the fat little Gianna, a brown-cheeked +Neapolitan. Besides this living freight, the carriage was packed full +of boxes, satchels, and baskets of all sizes and shapes, such as +invariably accompany ladies when they travel. Two little pug-dogs which +Gianna was nursing in her lap began to bark when I gaily saluted the +company. + +"All was going on very nicely; we were traversing the last stage of the +journey, when my steed all at once conceived the idea that it was high +time to be returning homewards. Being aware that stern measures were +not always blessed with a remarkable degree of success in such cases, I +felt advised to have recourse to milder means of persuasion; but the +obstinate brute remained insensible to all my well-meant exhortations. +I wanted to go forwards, he backwards, and all the advantage that my +efforts gave me over him was that instead of taking to his heels for +home, he continued to run round in circles. Teresina leaned forward out +of the carriage and had a hearty laugh; Lauretta, holding her hands +before her face, screamed out as if I were in imminent danger. This +gave me the courage of despair, I drove the spurs into the brute's +ribs, but that very same moment I was roughly hurled off and found +myself sprawling on the ground. The horse stood perfectly still, and, +stretching out his long neck, regarded me with what I took to be +nothing else than derision. I was not able to rise to my feet; the +driver had to come and help me; Lauretta had jumped out and was weeping +and lamenting; Teresina did nothing but laugh without ceasing. I had +sprained my foot, and couldn't possibly mount again. How was I to get +on? My steed was fastened to the carriage, whilst I crept into it. Just +picture us all--two rather robust females, a fat servant-girl, two +pug-dogs, a dozen boxes, satchels, and baskets, and me as well, all +packed into a little carriage. Picture Lauretta's complaints at the +uncomfortableness of her seat, the howling of the pups, the chattering +of the Neapolitan, Teresina's sulks, the unspeakable pain I felt in my +foot, and you will have some idea of my enviable situation! Teresina +averred that she could not endure it any longer. We stopped; in a trice +she was out of the carriage, had untied my horse, and was up in the +saddle, prancing and curvetting around us. I must indeed admit that she +cut a fine figure. The dignity and elegance which marked her carriage +and bearing were still more prominent on horseback. She asked for her +guitar, then dropping the reins on her arm, she began to sing proud +Spanish ballads with a full-toned accompaniment. Her light silk dress +fluttered in the wind, its folds and creases giving rise to a sheeny +play of light, whilst the white feathers of her hat quivered and shook, +like the prattling spirits of the air which we heard in her voice. +Altogether she made such a romantic figure that I could not keep my +eyes off her, notwithstanding that Lauretta reproached her for making +herself such a fantastic simpleton, and predicted that she would suffer +for her audacity. But no accident happened; either the horse had lost +all his stubbornness or he liked the fair singer better than the +paladin; at any rate, Teresina did not creep back into the carriage +again until we had almost reached the gates of the town. + +"If you had seen me then at concerts and operas, if you had seen me +revelling in all sorts of music, and as a diligent accompanist studying +arias, duets, and I don't know what besides at the piano, you would +have perceived, by the complete change in my behaviour, that I was +filled with a new and wonderful spirit. I had cast off all my rustic +shyness, and sat at the pianoforte with my score before me like an +experienced professional, directing the performances of my _prima +donna_. All my mind--all my thoughts--were sweet melodies. Utterly +regardless of all the rules of counterpoint, I composed all sorts of +canzonets and arias, which Lauretta sang, though only in her own room. +Why would she never sing any of my pieces at a concert? I could not +understand it. Teresina also arose before my imagination curvetting on +her proud steed with the lute in her hands, like Art herself disguised +in romance. Without thinking of it consciously, I wrote several songs +of a high and serious nature. Lauretta, it is true, played with her +notes like a capricious fairy queen. There was nothing upon which she +ventured in which she had not success. But never did a roulade cross +Teresina's lips; nothing more than a simple interpolated note, at most +a _mordent_; but her long-sustained tones gleamed like meteors through +the darkness of night, awakening strange spirits, who came and gazed +with earnest eyes into the depths of my heart. I know not how I +remained ignorant of them so long! + +"The sisters were granted a benefit concert; I sang with Lauretta a +long scena from Anfossi.[7] As usual I presided at the piano. We came +to the last _fermata_. Lauretta exerted all her skill and art; she +warbled trill after trill like a nightingale, executed sustained notes, +then long elaborate roulades--a whole _solfeggio_. In fact, I thought +she was almost carrying the thing too far this time; I felt a soft +breath on my cheek; Teresina stood behind me. At this moment Lauretta +took a good start with the intention of swelling up to a 'harmonic +shake,' and so passing back into _a tempo_. The devil entered into me; +I jammed down the keys with both hands; the orchestra followed suit; +and it was all over with Lauretta's trill, just at the supreme moment +when she was to excite everybody's astonishment. Almost annihilating me +with a look of fury, she crushed her roll of music together, tore it +up, and hurled it at my head, so that the pieces flew all over me. Then +she rushed like a madwoman through the orchestra into the adjoining +room; as soon as we had concluded the piece, I followed her. She wept; +she raved. 'Out of my sight, villain,' she screamed as soon as she saw +me. 'You devil, you've completely ruined me--my fame, my honour--and +oh! my trill. Out of my sight, you devil's own!' She made a rush +at me; I escaped through the door. Whilst some one else was performing, +Teresina and the music-director at length succeeded in so far pacifying +her rage, that she resolved to appear again; but I was not to be +allowed to touch the piano. In the last duet that the sisters sang, +Lauretta did contrive to introduce the swelling 'harmonic shake,' was +rewarded with a storm of applause, and settled down into the best of +humours. + +"But I could not get over the vile treatment which I had received at +her hands in the presence of so many people, and I was firmly resolved +to set off home next morning for my native town. I was actually engaged +in packing my things together when Teresina came into my room. +Observing what I was about, she exclaimed, astonished, 'Are you going +to leave us?' I gave her to understand that after the affront which had +been put upon me by Lauretta I could not think of remaining any longer +in her society. 'And so,' replied Teresina, 'you're going to let +yourself be driven away by the extravagant conduct of a little fool, +who is now heartily sorry for what she has done and said. Where else +can you better live in your art than with us? Let me tell you, it only +depends upon yourself and your own behaviour to keep her from such +pranks as this. You are too compliant, too tender, too gentle. Besides, +you rate her powers too highly. Her voice is indeed not bad, and it has +a wide compass; but what else are all these fantastic warblings and +flourishes, these preposterous runs, these never-ending shakes, but +delusive artifices of style, which people admire in the same way that +they admire the foolhardy agility of a rope-dancer? Do you imagine that +such things can make any deep impression upon us and stir the heart? +The 'harmonic shake' which you spoilt I cannot tolerate; I always feel +anxious and pained when she attempts it. And then this scaling up into +the region of the third line above the stave, what is it but a violent +straining of the natural voice, which after all is the only thing that +really moves the heart? I like the middle notes and the low notes. A +sound that penetrates to the heart, a real quiet, easy transition from +note to note, are what I love above all things. No useless +ornamentation--a firm, clear, strong note--a definite expression, which +carries away the mind and soul--that's real true singing, and that's +how I sing. If you can't be reconciled to Lauretta again, then think of +Teresina, who indeed likes you so much that you shall in your own way +be her musical composer. Don't be cross--but all your elegant canzonets +and arias can't be matched with this single ----,' she sang in her +sonorous way a simple devotional sort of canzona which I had set a few +days before. I had never dreamed that it could sound like that I felt +the power of the music going through and through me; tears of joy and +rapture stood in my eyes; I seized Teresina's hand, and pressing it to +my lips a thousand times, swore I would never leave her. + +"Lauretta looked upon my intimacy with her sister with envious but +suppressed vexation, and she could not do without me, for, in spite of +her skill, she was unable to study a new piece without help; she read +badly, and was rather uncertain in her time. Teresina, on the contrary, +sang everything at sight, and her ear for time was unparalleled. Never +did Lauretta give such free rein to her caprice and violence as when +her accompaniments were being practised. They were never right for her; +she looked upon them as a necessary evil; the piano ought not to be +heard at all, it should always be _pianissimo_; so there was nothing +but giving way to her again and again, and altering the time just as +the whim happened to come into her head at the moment But now I took a +firm stand against her; I combated her impertinences; I taught her that +an accompaniment devoid of energy was not conceivable, and that there +was a marked difference between supporting and carrying along the song +and letting it run to riot, without form and without time. Teresina +faithfully lent me her assistance. I composed nothing but pieces for +the Church, writing all the solos for a voice of low register. +Teresina, too, tyrannised over me not a little, to which I submitted +with a good grace, since she had more knowledge of, and (so at least I +thought) more appreciation for, German seriousness than her sister. + +"We were touring in South Germany. In a little town we met an Italian +tenor who was making his way from Milan to Berlin. My fair companions +went in ecstasies over their countryman; he stuck close to them, +cultivating in particular Teresina's acquaintance, so that to my great +vexation I soon came to play rather a secondary part. Once, just as I +was about to enter the room with a roll of music under my arm, the +voices of my companions and the tenor, engaged in an animated +conversation, fell upon my ear. My name was mentioned; I pricked up my +ears; I listened. I now understood Italian so well that not a word +escaped me. Lauretta was describing the tragical occurrence of the +concert when I cut short her trill by prematurely striking down the +concluding notes of the bar. 'A German ass!' exclaimed the tenor. I +felt as if I must rush in and hurl the flighty hero of the boards out +of the window, but I restrained myself. She then went on to say that +she had been minded to send me about my business at once, but, moved by +my clamorous entreaties, she had so far had compassion upon me as to +tolerate me some time longer, since I was studying singing under her. +This, to my utter amazement, Teresina confirmed. 'Yes, he's a good +child,' she added; 'he's in love with me now and sets everything for +the alto. He is not without talent, but he must rub off that stiffness +and awkwardness which is so characteristic of the Germans. I hope to +make a good composer out of him; then he shall write me some good +things--for there's very little written as yet for the alto voice--and +afterwards I shall let him go his own way. He's very tiresome with his +billing and cooing and love-sick sighing, and he worries me too much +with his wearisome compositions, which have been but poor stuff up to +the present.' 'I at least have now got rid of him,' interrupted +Lauretta; 'and Teresina, how the fellow pestered me with his arias and +duets you know very well.' And now she began to sing a duet of my +composing, which formerly she had praised very highly. The other sister +took up the second voice, and they parodied me both in voice and in +execution in the most shameful manner. The tenor laughed till the walls +rang again. My limbs froze; at once I formed an irrevocable resolve. I +quietly slipped away from the door back into my own room, the windows +of which looked upon a side street. Opposite was the post-office; the +post-coach for Bamberg had just driven up to take in the mails and +passengers. The latter were all standing ready waiting in the gateway, +but I had still an hour to spare. Hastily packing up my things, I +generously paid the whole of the bill at the hotel, and hurried across +to the post-office. As I crossed the broad street I saw the fair +sisters and the Italian still standing at the window, and looking out +to catch the sound of the post-horn. I leaned back in the corner, and +dwelt with a good deal of satisfaction upon the crushing effect of the +bitter scathing letter that I had left behind for them in the hotel." + + * * * * * * * + +With evident gratification Theodore tossed off the rest of the fiery +Aleatico[8] that Edward had poured into his glass. The latter, opening +a new flask and skilfully shaking off the drops of oil[9] which swam at +the top, remarked, "I should not have deemed Teresina capable of such +falseness and artfulness. I cannot banish from my mind the recollection +of what a charming figure she made as she sat on horseback singing +Spanish ballads, whilst the horse pranced along in graceful curvets." +"That was her culminating point," interrupted Theodore; "I still +remember the strange impression which the scene made upon me. I forgot +my pain; she seemed to me like a creature of a higher race. It is +indeed very true that such moments are turning-points in one's life, +and that in them many images arise which time does not avail to dim. +Whenever I have succeeded with any fine _romance_, it has always been +when Teresina's image has stepped forth from the treasure-house of my +mind in clear bright colours at the moment of writing it." + +"But," said Edward, "but let us not forget the artistic Lauretta; and, +scattering all rancour to the winds, let us drink to the health of the +two sisters." They did so. "Oh," exclaimed Theodore, "how the fragrant +breezes of Italy arise out of this wine and fan my cheeks,--my blood +rolls with quickened energy in my veins. Oh! why must I so soon leave +that glorious land again!" "As yet," interrupted Edward, "as yet in all +that you have told me I can see no connection with the beautiful +picture, and so I believe that you still have something more to tell me +about the sisters. Of course I perceive plainly that the ladies in the +picture are none other than Lauretta and Teresina themselves." "You are +right, they are," replied Theodore; "and my ejaculations and sighs, and +my longings after the glorious land of Italy, will form a fitting +introduction to what I still have to say. A short time ago, perhaps +about two years since, just before leaving Rome, I made a little +excursion on horseback. Before an inn stood a charming girl; the idea +struck me how nice it would be to receive a cup of wine at the hands of +the pretty child. I pulled up before the door, in a walk so thickly +planted on each side with shrubs that the sunlight could only make its +way through in patches. In the distance I heard sounds of singing and +the tinkling of a guitar. I pricked up my ears and listened, for the +two female voices affected me somehow in a singular fashion; strangely +enough dim recollections began to stir within my mind, but they refused +to take definite shape. I dismounted and slowly drew near to the +vine-clad arbour whence the music seemed to proceed, eagerly catching +up every sound in the meantime. The second voice had ceased to sing. +The first sang a canzonet alone. As I came nearer and nearer that which +had at first seemed familiar to me, and which had at first attracted my +attention, gradually faded away. The singer was now in the midst of a +florid, elaborate _fermata_. Up and down she warbled, up and down; at +length she stopped, holding a note on for some time. But all at once a +female voice began to let off a torrent of abuse, maledictions, curses, +vituperations! A man protested; a second laughed. The other female +voice took part in the altercation. The quarrel continued to wax louder +and more violent, with true Italian fury. At length I stood immediately +in front of the arbour; an abbot rushes out and almost runs over me; he +turns his head to look at me; I recognise my good friend Signor +Lodovico, my musical news-monger from Rome. 'What in the name of +wonder'--I exclaim. 'Oh, sir! sir!' he screams, 'save me, protect me +from this mad fury, from this crocodile, this tiger, this hyaena, this +devil of a woman. Yes, I did, I did; I was beating time to Anfossi's +canzonet, and brought down my baton too soon whilst she was in the +midst of the _fermata_; I cut short her trill; but why did I meet her +eyes, the devilish divinity! The deuce take all _fermatas_, I say!' In +a most curious state of mind I hastened into the arbour along with the +priest, and recognised at the first glance the sisters Lauretta and +Teresina. The former was still shrieking and raging, and her sister +still seriously remonstrating with her. Mine host, his bare arms +crossed over his chest, was looking on laughing, whilst a girl was +placing fresh flasks on the table. No sooner did the sisters catch +sight of me than they threw themselves upon me exclaiming, 'Ah! Signor +Teodoro!' and covered me with caresses. The quarrel was forgotten. +'Here you have a composer,' said Lauretta to the abbot, 'as charming as +an Italian and as strong as a German.' Both sisters, continually +interrupting each other, began to recount the happy days we had spent +together, to speak of my musical abilities whilst still a youth, of our +practisings together, of the excellence of my compositions; never did +they like singing anything else but what I had set. Teresina at length +informed me that a manager had engaged her as his first singer in +tragic casts for the next carnival; but she would give him to +understand that she would only sing on condition that the composition +of at least one tragic opera was intrusted to me. The tragic was above +all others my special department, and so on, and so on. Lauretta on her +part maintained that it would be a pity if I did not follow my bent for +the light and the graceful, in a word, for _opera buffa_. She had been +engaged as first lady singer for this species of composition; and that +nobody but I should write the piece in which she was to appear was +simply a matter of course. You may fancy what my feelings were as I +stood between the two. In a word, you perceive that the company which I +had joined was the same as that which Hummel painted, and that just at +the moment when the priest is on the point of cutting short Lauretta's +_fermata_." "But did they not make any allusion," asked Edward, "to +your departure from them, or to the scathing letter?" "Not with a +single syllable," answered Theodore, "and you may be sure I didn't, for +I had long before banished all animosity from my heart, and come to +look back upon my adventure with the sisters as a merry prank. I did, +however, so far revert to the subject that I related to the priest how +that, several years before, exactly the same sort of mischance befell +me in one of Anfossi's arias as had just befallen him. I painted the +period of my connection with the sisters in tragi-comical colours, and, +distributing many a keen side-blow, I let them feel the superiority, +which the ripe experiences, both of life and of art, of the years that +had elapsed in the interval had given me over them. 'And a good thing +it was,' I concluded, 'that I did cut short that _fermata_, for it was +evidently meant to last through eternity, and I am firmly of opinion +that if I had left the singer alone, I should be sitting at the piano +now.' 'But, signor,' replied the priest, 'what director is there who +would dare to prescribe laws to the _prima donna_? Your offence was +much more heinous than mine, you in the concert hall, and I here in the +leafy arbour. Besides, I was only director in imagination; nobody need +attach any importance to that, and if the sweet fiery glances of these +heavenly eyes had not fascinated me, I should not have made an ass of +myself.' The priest's last words proved tranquillising, for, although +Lauretta's eyes had begun to flash with anger as the priest spoke, +before he had finished she was quite appeased. + +"We spent the evening together. Many changes take place in fourteen +years, which was the interval that had passed since I had seen my fair +friends. Lauretta, although looking somewhat older, was still not +devoid of charms. Teresina had worn better, without losing her graceful +form. Both were dressed in rather gay colours, and their manners were +just the same as before, that is, fourteen years younger than the +ladies themselves. At my request Teresina sang some of the serious +songs that had once so deeply affected me, but I fancied that they +sounded differently from what they did when I first heard them; and +Lauretta's singing too, although her voice had not appreciably lost +anything, either in power or in compass, seemed to me to be quite +different from my recollection of it of former times The sisters' +behaviour towards me, their feigned ecstasies, their rude admiration, +which, however, took the shape of gracious patronage, had done much to +put me in a bad humour, and now the obtrusiveness of this comparison +between the images in my mind and the not over and above pleasing +reality, tended to put me in a still worse. The droll priest, who in +all the sweetest words you can imagine was playing the _amoroso_ to +both sisters at once, as well as frequent applications to the good +wine, at length restored me to good humour, so that we spent a very +pleasant evening in perfect concord and gaiety. The sisters were most +pressing in their invitations to me to go home with them, that we might +at once talk over the parts which I was to set for them and so concert +measures accordingly. I left Rome without taking any further steps to +find out their place of abode." + +"And yet, after all," said Edward, "it is to them that you owe the +awakening of your genius for music." "That I admit," replied Theodore, +"I owed them that and a host of good melodies besides, and that is just +the reason why I did not want to see them again. Every composer can +recall certain impressions which time does not obliterate. The spirit +of music spake, and his voice was the creative word which suddenly +awakened the kindred spirit slumbering in the breast of the artist; +then the latter rose like a sun which can nevermore set. Thus it is +unquestionably true that all melodies which, stirred up in this way, +proceed from the depths of the composer's being, seem to us to belong +to the singer alone who fanned the first spark within us. We hear her +voice and record only what she has sung. It is, however, the +inheritance of us weak mortals that, clinging to the clods, we are only +too fain to draw down what is above the earth into the miserable +narrowness characteristic of things of the earth. Thus it comes to pass +that the singer becomes our lover--or even our wife. The spell is +broken, and the melody of her nature, which formerly revealed glorious +things, is now prostituted to complaints about broken soup-plates or +ink-stains in new linen. Happy is the composer who never again so long +as he lives sets eyes upon the woman who by virtue of some mysterious +power enkindled in him the flame of music. Even though the young +artist's heart may be rent by pain and despair when the moment comes +for parting from his lovely enchantress, nevertheless her form will +continue to exist as a divinely beautiful strain which lives on and on +in the pride of youth and beauty, engendering melodies in which time +after time he perceives the lady of his love. But what is she else if +not the Highest Ideal which, working its way from within outwards, is +at length reflected in the external independent form?" + +"A strange theory, but yet plausible," was Edward's comment, as the two +friends, arm in arm, passed out from Sala Tarone's into the street. + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "THE FERMATA": + +[Footnote 1: Johann Erdmann Hummel, born 1769, died 1852, a German +painter, studied in Italy, painted various kinds of pieces, and also +wrote treatises on perspective and kindred subjects. The picture here +referred to became perhaps almost as much celebrated from the fact of +its having suggested this amusing sketch to Hoffmann as for its +intrinsic merits as a work of art.] + +[Footnote 2: The keeper of a well-known tavern in Berlin, at about the +time when this tale was written, 1817 to 1820.] + +[Footnote 3: The third son of the Sebastian Bach--_the_ Bach--just +mentioned above. He was sometimes called "the Berlin Bach," or "the +Hamburg Bach."] + +[Footnote 4: See note, p. 12 above.] + +[Footnote 5: This was one of a species of musical composition called +_Singspiele_, a development of the simple song or _Lied_, by Johann +Adam Hiller, (properly Hueller), born 1728, died 1804.] + +[Footnote 6: Agostino Steffani, an Italian by birth (1655), spent +nearly all his life in Germany at the courts of Munich and Hanover. He +wrote several operas, and was renowned for his duets, motets, &c.] + +[Footnote 7: Pasquale Anfossi, an Italian operatic composer of the +eighteenth century. He was for a time the fashion of the day at Rome, +but occupies now only a subordinate rank amongst musicians.] + +[Footnote 8: A red, aromatic, sweet Italian wine, made chiefly at +Florence.] + +[Footnote 9: The wine was presumably in flasks of the usual Italian +kind, bottles encased in straw or reed, &c., with oil on the top of the +wine instead of a cork in the neck of the bottle.] + + + + + SIGNOR FORMICA.[1.1] + + I. + +_The celebrated painter Salvator Rosa comes to Rome, and is attacked by +a dangerous illness. What befalls him in this illness._ + +Celebrated people commonly have many ill things said of them, whether +well-founded or not And no exception was made in the case of that +admirable painter Salvator Rosa, whose living pictures cannot fail to +impart a keen and characteristic delight to those who look upon them. + +At the time that Salvator's fame was ringing through Naples, Rome, and +Tuscany--nay, through all Italy, and painters who were desirous of +gaining applause were striving to imitate his peculiar and unique +style, his malicious and envious rivals were laboring to spread abroad +all sorts of evil reports intended to sully with ugly black stains the +glorious splendor of his artistic fame. They affirmed that he had at a +former period of his life belonged to a company of banditti,[1.2] and +that it was to his experiences during this lawless time that he owed +all the wild, fierce, fantastically-attired figures which he introduced +into his pictures, just as the gloomy fearful wildernesses of his +landscapes--the _selve selvagge_ (savage woods)--to use Dante's +expression, were faithful representations of the haunts where they lay +hidden. What was worse still, they openly charged him with having been +concerned in the atrocious and bloody revolt which had been set on foot +by the notorious Masaniello[1.3] in Naples. They even described the +share he had taken in it, down to the minutest details. + +The rumor ran that Aniello Falcone,[1.4] the painter of battle-pieces, +one of the best of Salvator's masters, had been stung into fury and +filled with bloodthirsty vengeance because the Spanish soldiers had +slain one of his relatives in a hand-to-hand encounter. Without delay +he leagued together a band of daring spirits, mostly young painters, +put arms into their hands, and gave them the name of the "Company of +Death." And in truth this band inspired all the fear and consternation +suggested by its terrible name. At all hours of the day they traversed +the streets of Naples in little companies, and cut down without mercy +every Spaniard whom they met. They did more--they forced their way into +the holy sanctuaries, and relentlessly murdered their unfortunate foes +whom terror had driven to seek refuge there. At night they gathered +round their chief, the bloody-minded madman Masaniello,[1.5] and +painted him by torchlight, so that in a short time there were hundreds +of these little pictures[1.6] circulating in Naples and the +neighbourhood. + +This is the ferocious band of which Salvator Rosa was alleged to have +been a member, working hard at butchering his fellow-men by day, and by +night working just as hard at painting. The truth about him has however +been stated by a celebrated art-critic, Taillasson,[1.7] I believe. His +works are characterised by defiant originality, and by fantastic energy +both of conception and of execution. He delighted to study Nature, not +in the lovely attractiveness of green meadows, flourishing fields, +sweet-smelling groves, murmuring springs, but in the sublime as seen in +towering masses of rock, in the wild sea-shore, in savage inhospitable +forests; and the voices that he loved to hear were not the whisperings +of the evening breeze or the musical rustle of leaves, but the roaring +of the hurricane and the thunder of the cataract. To one viewing his +desolate landscapes, with the strange savage figures stealthily moving +about in them, here singly, there in troops, the uncomfortable thoughts +arise unbidden, "Here's where a fearful murder took place, there's +where the bloody corpse was hurled into the ravine," etc. + +Admitting all this, and even that Taillasson is further right when he +maintains that Salvator's "Plato," nay, that even his "Holy St. John +proclaiming the Advent of the Saviour in the Wilderness," look just a +little like highway robbers--admitting this, I say, it is nevertheless +unjust to argue from the character of the works to the character of the +artist himself, and to assume that he, who represents with lifelike +fidelity what is savage and terrible, must himself have been a savage, +terrible man. He who prates most about the sword is often he who wields +it the worst; he who feels in the depths of his soul all the horrors of +a bloody deed, so that, taking the palette or the pencil or the pen in +his hand, he is able to give living form to his feelings, is often the +one least capable of practising similar deeds. Enough! I don't believe +a single word of all those evil reports, by which men sought to brand +the excellent Salvator an abandoned murderer and robber, and I hope +that you, kindly reader, will share my opinion. Otherwise, I see +grounds for fearing that you might perhaps entertain some doubts +respecting what I am about to tell you of this artist; the Salvator I +wish to put before you in this tale--that is, according to my +conception of him--is a man bubbling over with the exuberance of life +and fiery energy, but at the same time a man endowed with the noblest +and most loyal character--a character, which, like that of all men who +think and feel deeply, is able even to control that bitter irony which +arises from a clear view of the significance of life. I need scarcely +add that Salvator was no less renowned as a poet and musician than as a +painter. His genius was revealed in magnificent refractions. I repeat +again, I do not believe that Salvator had any share in Masaniello's +bloody deeds; on the contrary, I think it was the horrors of that +fearful time which drove him from Naples to Rome, where he arrived a +poor poverty-stricken fugitive, just at the time that Masaniello fell. + +Not over well dressed, and with a scanty purse containing not more than +a few bright sequins[1.8] in his pocket, he crept through the gate just +after nightfall. Somehow or other, he didn't exactly know how, he +wandered as far as the Piazza Navona. In better times he had once lived +there in a large house near the Pamfili Palace. With an ill-tempered +growl, he gazed up at the large plate-glass windows glistening and +glimmering in the moonlight "Hm!" he exclaimed peevishly, "it'll cost +me dozens of yards of coloured canvas before I can open my studio up +there again." But all at once he felt as if paralysed in every limb, +and at the same moment more weak and feeble than he had ever felt in +his life before. "But shall I," he murmured between his teeth as he +sank down upon the stone steps leading up to the house door, "shall I +really be able to finish canvas enough in the way the fools want it +done? Hm! I have a notion that that will be the end of it!" + +A cold cutting night wind blew down the street. Salvator recognised +the necessity of seeking a shelter. Rising with difficulty, he +staggered on into the Corso,[1.9] and then turned into the Via +Bergognona. At length he stopped before a little house with only a +couple of windows, inhabited by a poor widow and her two daughters. +This women had taken him in for little pay the first time he came to +Rome, an unknown stranger noticed of nobody; and so he hoped again to +find a lodging with her, such as would be best suited to the sad +condition in which he then was. + +He knocked confidently at the door, and several times called out his +name aloud. At last he heard the old woman slowly and reluctantly +wakening up out of her sleep. She shuffled to the window in her +slippers, and began to rain down a shower of abuse upon the knave who +was come to worry her in this way in the middle of the night; her +house was not a wine-shop, &c., &c. Then there ensued a good deal of +cross-questioning before she recognised her former lodger's voice; but +on Salvator's complaining that he had fled from Naples and was unable +to find a shelter in Rome, the old dame cried, "By all the blessed +saints of Heaven! Is that you, Signor Salvator? Well now, your little +room up above, that looks on to the court, is still standing empty, and +the old fig-tree has pushed its branches right through the window and +into the room, so that you can sit and work like as if you was in a +beautiful cool arbour. Ay, and how pleased my girls will be that you +have come back again, Signor Salvator. But, d'ye know, my Margarita's +grown a big girl and fine-looking? You won't give her any more rides on +your knee now. And--and your little pussy, just fancy, three months ago +she choked herself with a fish-bone. Ah well, we all shall come to the +grave at last. But, d'ye know, my fat neighbour, who you so often +laughed at and so often painted in such funny ways--d'ye know, she +_did_ marry that young fellow, Signor Luigi, after all. Ah well! _nozze +e magistrati sono da dio destinati_ (marriages and magistrates are made +in heaven) they say." + +"But," cried Salvator, interrupting the old woman, "but, Signora +Caterina, I entreat you by the blessed saints, do, pray, let me in, and +then tell me all about your fig-tree and your daughters, your cat and +your fat neighbour--I am perishing of weariness and cold." + +"Bless me, how impatient we are," rejoined the old dame; "_Chi va piano +va sano, chi va presto more lesto_ (more haste less speed, take things +cool and live longer), I tell you. But you are tired, you are cold; +where are the keys? quick with the keys!" + +But the old woman still had to wake up her daughters and kindle a +fire--but oh! she was such a long time about it--such a long, long +time. At last she opened the door and let poor Salvator in; but +scarcely had he crossed the threshold than, overcome by fatigue and +illness, he dropped on the floor as if dead. Happily the widow's son, +who generally lived at Tivoli, chanced to be at his mother's that night +He was at once turned out of his bed to make room for the sick guest, +which he willingly submitted to. + +The old woman was very fond of Salvator, putting him, as far as his +artistic powers went, above all the painters in the world; and in +everything that he did she also took the greatest pleasure. She was +therefore quite beside herself to see him in this lamentable condition, +and wanted to run off to the neighbouring monastery to fetch her father +confessor, that he might come and fight against the adverse power of +the disease with consecrated candles or some powerful amulet or other. +On the other hand, her son thought it would be almost better to see +about getting an experienced physician at once, and off he ran there +and then to the Spanish Square, where he knew the distinguished Doctor +Splendiano Accoramboni dwelt. No sooner did the doctor learn that the +painter Salvator Rosa lay ill in the Via Bergognona than he at once +declared himself ready to call early and see the patient. + +Salvator lay unconscious, struck down by a most severe attack of fever. +The old dame had hung up two or three pictures of saints above his bed, +and was praying fervently. The girls, though bathed in tears, exerted +themselves from time to time to get the sick man to swallow a few drops +of the cooling lemonade which they had made, whilst their brother, who +had taken his place at the head of the bed, wiped the cold sweat from +his brow. And so morning found them, when with a loud creak the door +opened, and the distinguished Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni entered the +room. + +If Salvator had not been so seriously ill that the two girls' hearts +were melted in grief, they would, I think, for they were in general +frolicsome and saucy, have enjoyed a hearty laugh at the Doctor's +extraordinary appearance, instead of retiring shyly, as they did, into +the corner, greatly alarmed. It will indeed be worth while to describe +the outward appearance of the little man who presented himself at Dame +Caterina's in the Via Bergognona in the grey of the morning. In spite +of all his excellent capabilities for growth, Doctor Splendiano +Accoramboni had not been able to advance beyond the respectable stature +of four feet Moreover, in the days of his youth, he had been +distinguished for his elegant figure, so that, before his head, always +indeed somewhat ill-shaped, and his big cheeks, and his stately double +chin had put on too much fat, before his nose had grown bulky and +spread owing to overmuch indulgence in Spanish snuff, and before his +little belly had assumed the shape of a wine-tub from too much +fattening on macaroni, the priestly cut of garments, which he at that +time had affected, had suited him down to the ground. He was then in +truth a pretty little man, and accordingly the Roman ladies had styled +him their _caro puppazetto_ (sweet little pet). + +That however was now a thing of the past. A German painter, seeing +Doctor Splendiano walking across the Spanish Square, said--and he was +perhaps not far wrong--that it looked as if some strapping fellow of +six feet or so had walked away from his own head, which had fallen +on the shoulders of a little marionette clown, who now had to +carry it about as his own. This curious little figure walked about in +patchwork--an immense quantity of pieces of Venetian damask of a large +flower pattern that had been cut up in making a dressing-gown; high up +round his waist he had buckled a broad leather belt, from which an +excessively long rapier hung; whilst his snow-white wig was surmounted +by a high conical cap, not unlike the obelisk in St. Peter's Square. +Since the said wig, like a piece of texture all tumbled and tangled, +spread out thick and wide all over his back, it might very well be +taken for the cocoon out of which the fine silkworm had crept. + +The worthy Splendiano Accoramboni stared through his big, bright +spectacles, with his eyes wide open, first at his patient, then at Dame +Caterina. Calling her aside, he croaked with bated breath, "There lies +our talented painter Salvator Rosa, and he's lost if my skill doesn't +save him, Dame Caterina. Pray tell me when he came to lodge with you? +Did he bring many beautiful large pictures with him?" + +"Ah! my dear Doctor," replied Dame Caterina, "the poor fellow only came +last night. And as for pictures--why, I don't know nothing about them; +but there's a big box below, and Salvator begged me to take very good +care of it, before he became senseless like what he now is. I daresay +there's a fine picture packed in it, as he painted in Naples." + +What Dame Caterina said was, however, a falsehood; but we shall soon +see that she had good reasons for imposing upon the Doctor in this way. + +"Good! Very good!" said the Doctor, simpering and stroking his beard; +then, with as much solemnity as his long rapier, which kept catching in +all the chairs and tables he came near, would allow, he approached the +sick man and felt his pulse, snorting and wheezing, so that it had a +most curious effect in the midst of the reverential silence which had +fallen upon all the rest. Then he ran over in Greek and Latin the names +of a hundred and twenty diseases that Salvator had not, then almost as +many which he might have had, and concluded by saying that on the spur +of the moment he didn't recollect the name of his disease, but that he +would within a short time find a suitable one for it, and along +therewith, the proper remedies as well. Then he took his departure with +the same solemnity with which he had entered, leaving them all full of +trouble and anxiety. + +At the bottom of the steps the Doctor requested to see Salvator's box; +Dame Caterina showed him one--in which were two or three of her +deceased husband's cloaks now laid aside, and some old worn-out shoes. +The Doctor smilingly tapped the box, on this side and on that, and +remarked in a tone of satisfaction "We shall see! we shall see!" Some +hours later he returned with a very beautiful name for his patient's +disease, and brought with him some big bottles of an evil-smelling +potion, which he directed to be given to the patient constantly. This +was a work of no little trouble, for Salvator showed the greatest +aversion for--utter loathing of the stuff, which looked, and smelt, and +tasted, as if it had been concocted from Acheron itself. Whether it was +that the disease, since it had now received a name, and in consequence +really signified something, had only just begun to put forth its +virulence, or whether it was that Splendiano's potion made too much of +a disturbance inside the patient--it is at any rate certain that the +poor painter grew weaker and weaker from day to day, from hour to hour. +And notwithstanding Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni's assurance that, +after the vital process had reached a state of perfect equilibrium, he +would give it a new start like the pendulum of a clock, they were all +very doubtful as to Salvator's recovery, and thought that the Doctor +had perhaps already given the pendulum such a violent start that the +mechanism was quite impaired. + +Now it happened one day that when Salvator seemed scarcely able to move +a finger he was suddenly seized with the paroxysm of fever; in a +momentary accession of fictitious strength he leapt out of bed, seized +the full medicine bottles, and hurled them fiercely out of the window. +Just at this moment Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni was entering the +house, when two or three bottles came bang upon his head, smashing all +to pieces, whilst the brown liquid ran in streams all down his face, +and wig, and ruff. Hastily rushing into the house, he screamed like a +madman, "Signer Salvator has gone out of his mind, he's become insane; +no skill can save him now, he'll be dead in ten minutes. Give me the +picture, Dame Caterina, give me the picture--it's mine, the scanty +reward of all my trouble. Give me the picture, I say." + +But when Dame Caterina opened the box, and Doctor Splendiano saw +nothing but the old cloaks and torn shoes, his eyes spun round in his +head like a pair of fire-wheels; he gnashed his teeth; he stamped; he +consigned poor Salvator, the widow, and all the family to the devil; +then he rushed out of the house like an arrow from a bow, or as if he +had been shot from a cannon. + +After the violence of the paroxysm had spent itself, Salvator again +relapsed into a death-like condition. Dame Caterina was fully persuaded +that his end was really come, and away she sped as fast as she could to +the monastery, to fetch Father Boniface, that he might come and +administer the sacrament to the dying man. Father Boniface came and +looked at the sick man; he said he was well acquainted with the +peculiar signs which approaching death is wont to stamp upon the human +countenance, but that for the present there were no indications of them +on the face of the insensible Salvator. Something might still be done, +and he would procure help at once, only Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni +with his Greek names and infernal medicines was not to be allowed to +cross the threshold again. The good Father set out at once, and we +shall see later that he kept his word about sending the promised help. + +Salvator recovered consciousness again; he fancied he was lying in a +beautiful flower-scented arbour, for green boughs and leaves were +interlacing above his head. He felt a salutary warmth glowing in his +veins, but it seemed to him as if somehow his left arm was bound fast +"Where am I?" he asked in a faint voice. Then a handsome young man, who +had stood at his bedside, but whom he had not noticed until just now, +threw himself upon his knees, and grasping Salvator's right hand, +kissed it and bathed it with tears, as he cried again and again, "Oh! +my dear sir! my noble master! now it's all right; you are saved, you'll +get better." + +"But do tell me"--began Salvator, when the young man begged him not to +exert himself, for he was too weak to talk; he would tell him all that +had happened. "You see, my esteemed and excellent sir," began the young +man, "you see, you were very ill when you came from Naples, but your +condition was not, I warrant, by any means so dangerous but that a few +simple remedies would soon have set you, with your strong constitution, +on your legs again, had you not through Carlos's well-intentioned +blunder in running off for the nearest physician fallen into the hands +of the redoubtable Pyramid Doctor, who was making all preparations for +bringing you to your grave." + +"What do you say?" exclaimed Salvator, laughing heartily, +notwithstanding the feeble state he was in. "What do you say?--the +Pyramid Doctor? Ay, ay, although I was very ill, I saw that the little +knave in damask patchwork, who condemned me to drink his horrid, +loathsome devil's brew, wore on his head the obelisk from St. Peter's +Square--and so that's why you call him the Pyramid Doctor?" + +"Why, good heavens!" said the young man, likewise laughing, "why, +Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni must have come to see you in his ominous +conical nightcap; and, do you know, you may see it flashing every +morning from his window in the Spanish Square like a portentous meteor. +But it's not by any means owing to this cap that he's called the +Pyramid Doctor; for that there's quite another reason. Doctor +Splendiano is a great lover of pictures, and possesses in truth quite a +choice collection, which he has gained by a practice of a peculiar +nature. With eager cunning he lies in wait for painters and their +illnesses. More especially he loves to get foreign artists into his +toils; let them but eat an ounce or two of macaroni too much, or drink +a glass more Syracuse than is altogether good for them, he will afflict +them with first one and then the other disease, designating it by a +formidable name, and proceeding at once to cure them of it. He +generally bargains for a picture as the price of his attendance; and as +it is only specially obstinate constitutions which are able to +withstand his powerful remedies, it generally happens that he gets his +picture out of the chattels left by the poor foreigner, who meanwhile +has been carried to the Pyramid of Cestius, and buried there. It need +hardly be said that Signor Splendiano always picks out the best of the +pictures the painter has finished, and also does not forget to bid the +men take several others along with it. The cemetery near the Pyramid of +Cestius is Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni's corn-field, which he +diligently cultivates, and for that reason he is called the Pyramid +Doctor. Dame Caterina had taken great pains, of course with the best +intentions, to make the Doctor believe that you had brought a fine +picture with you; you may imagine therefore with what eagerness he +concocted his potions for you. It was a fortunate thing that in the +paroxysm of fever you threw the Doctor's bottles at his head, it was +also a fortunate thing that he left you in anger, and no less fortunate +was it that Dame Caterina, who believed you were in the agonies of +death, fetched Father Boniface to come and administer to you the +sacrament. Father Boniface understands something of the art of healing; +he formed a correct diagnosis of your condition and fetched me"---- + +"Then you also are a doctor?" asked Salvator in a faint whining tone. + +"No," replied the young man, a deep blush mantling his cheeks, "no, my +estimable and worthy sir, I am not in the least a doctor like Signor +Splendiano Accoramboni; I am however a chirurgeon. I felt as if I +should sink into the earth with fear--with joy--when Father Boniface +came and told me that Salvator Rosa lay sick unto death in the Via +Bergognona, and required my help. I hastened here, opened a vein in +your left arm, and you were saved. Then we brought you up into this +cool airy room that you formerly occupied. Look, there's the easel +which you left behind you; yonder are a few sketches which Dame +Caterina has treasured up as if they were relics. The virulence of your +disease is subdued; simple remedies such as Father Boniface can prepare +is all that you want, except good nursing, to bring back your strength +again. And now permit me once more to kiss this hand--this creative +hand that charms from Nature her deepest secrets and clothes them in +living form. Permit poor Antonio Scacciati to pour out all the +gratitude and immeasurable joy of his heart that Heaven has granted him +to save the life of our great and noble painter, Salvator Rosa." +Therewith the young surgeon threw himself on his knees again, and, +seizing Salvator's hand, kissed it and bathed it in tears as before. + +"I don't understand," said the artist, raising himself up a little, +though with considerable difficulty, "I don't understand, my dear +Antonio, what it is that is so especially urging you to show me all +this respect. You are, you say, a chirurgeon, and we don't in a general +way find this trade going hand in hand with art----" + +"As soon," replied the young man, casting down his eyes, "as soon as +you have picked up your strength again, my dear sir, I have a good deal +to tell you that now lies heavy on my heart." + +"Do so," said Salvator; "you may have every confidence in me--that you +may, for I don't know that any man's face has made a more direct appeal +to my heart than yours. The more I look at you the more plainly I seem +to trace in your features a resemblance to that incomparable young +painter--I mean Sanzio."[1.10] Antonio's eyes were lit up with a proud, +radiant light--he vainly struggled for words with which to express his +feelings. + +At this moment Dame Caterina appeared, followed by Father Boniface, +who brought Salvator a medicine which he had mixed scientifically +according to prescription, and which the patient swallowed with more +relish and felt to have a more beneficial effect upon him than the +Acheronian waters of the Pyramid Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni. + + + + II. + +_By Salvator Rosa's intervention Antonio Scacciati attains to a high +honour. Antonio discloses the cause of his persistent trouble to +Salvator, who consoles him and promises to help him._ + +And Antonio's words proved true. The simple but salutary remedies of +Father Boniface, the careful nursing of good Dame Caterina and her +daughters, the warmer weather which now came--all co-operated so well +together with Salvator's naturally robust constitution that he soon +felt sufficiently well to think about work again; first of all he +designed a few sketches which he thought of working out afterwards. + +Antonio scarcely ever left Salvator's room; he was all eyes when the +painter drew out his sketches; whilst his judgment in respect to many +points showed that he must have been initiated into the secrets of art. + +"See here," said Salvator to him one day, "see here, Antonio, you +understand art matters so well that I believe you have not merely +cultivated your excellent judgment as a critic, but must have wielded +the brush as well." + +"You will remember," rejoined Antonio, "how I told you, my dear sir, +when you were just about coming to yourself again after your long +unconsciousness, that I had several things to tell you which lay heavy +on my mind. Now is the time for me to unfold all my heart to you. You +must know then, that though I am called Antonio Scacciati, the +chirurgeon, who opened the vein in your arm for you, I belong also +entirely to art--to the art which, after bidding eternal farewell to my +hateful trade, I intend to devote myself for once and for all." + +"Ho! ho!" exclaimed Salvator, "Ho! ho! Antonio, weigh well what you are +about to do. You are a clever chirurgeon, and perhaps will never be +anything more than a bungling painter all your life long; for, with +your permission, as young as you are, you are decidedly too old to +begin to use the charcoal now. Believe me, a man's whole lifetime is +scarce long enough to acquire a knowledge of the True--still less the +practical ability to represent it." + +"Ah! but, my dear sir," replied Antonio, smiling blandly, "don't +imagine that I should now have come to entertain the foolish idea of +taking up the difficult art of painting had I not practised it already +on every possible occasion from my very childhood. In spite of the fact +that my father obstinately kept me away from everything connected with +art, yet Heaven was graciously pleased to throw me in the way of some +celebrated artists. I must tell you that the great Annibal[2.1] +interested himself in the orphan boy, and also that I may with justice +call myself Guido Reni's[2.2] pupil." + +"Well then," said Salvator somewhat sharply, a way of speaking he +sometimes had, "well then, my good Antonio, you have indeed had great +masters, and so it cannot fail but that, without detriment to your +surgical practice, you must have been a great pupil. Only I don't +understand how you, a faithful disciple of the gentle, elegant Guido, +whom you perhaps outdo in elegance in your own pictures--for pupils do +do those sort of things in their enthusiasm--how you can find any +pleasure in my productions, and can really regard me as a master in the +Art." + +At these words, which indeed sounded a good deal like derisive mockery, +the hot blood rushed into the young man's face. + +"Oh, let me lay aside all the diffidence which generally keeps my lips +closed," he said, "and let me frankly lay bare the thoughts I have in +my mind. I tell you, Salvator, I have never honoured any master from +the depths of my soul as I do you. What I am amazed at in your works is +the sublime greatness of conception which is often revealed You grasp +the deepest secrets of Nature: you comprehend the mysterious +hieroglyphics of her rocks, of her trees, and of her waterfalls, you +hear her sacred voice, you understand her language, and possess the +power to write down what she has said to you. Verily I can call your +bold free style of painting nothing else than writing down. Man alone +and his doings does not suffice you; you behold him only in the midst +of Nature, and in so far as his essential character is conditioned by +natural phenomena; and in these facts I see the reason why you are only +truly great in landscapes, Salvator, with their wonderful figures. +Historical painting confines you within limits which clog your +imagination to the detriment of your genius for reproducing your higher +intuitions of Nature." + +"That's talk you've picked up from envious historical painters," said +Salvator, interrupting his young companion; "like them, Antonio, you +throw me the choice bone of landscape-painting that I may gnaw away at +it, and so spare their own good flesh. Perhaps I do understand the +human figure and all that is dependent upon it. But this senseless +repetition of others' words"---- + +"Don't be angry," continued Antonio, "don't be angry, my good sir; I am +not blindly repeating anybody's words, and I should not for a moment +think of trusting to the judgment of our painters here in Rome at any +rate. Who can help greatly admiring the bold draughtsmanship, the +powerful expression, but above all the living movement of your fingers? +It's plain to see that you don't work from a stiff, inflexible model, +or even from a dead skeleton form; it is evident that you yourself are +your own breathing, living model, and that when you sketch or paint, +you have the figure you want to put on your canvas reflected in a great +mirror opposite to you." + +"The devil! Antonio," exclaimed Salvator, laughing, "I believe you must +often have had a peep into my studio when I was not aware of it, since +you have such an accurate knowledge of what goes on within." + +"Perhaps I may," replied Antonio; "but let me go on. I am not by a long +way so anxious to classify, the pictures which your powerful mind +suggests to you as are those pedantic critics who take such great pains +in this line. In fact, I think that the word 'landscape,' as generally +employed, has but an indifferent application to your productions; I +should prefer to call them historical representations in the highest +sense of the word. If we fancy that this or the other rock or this or +the other tree is gazing at us like a gigantic being with thoughtful +earnest eyes, so again, on the other hand, this or the other group of +fantastically attired men resembles some remarkable stone which has +been endowed with life; all Nature, breathing and moving in harmonious +unity, lends accents to the sublime thought which leapt into existence +in your mind. This is the spirit in which I have studied your pictures, +and so in this way it is, my grand and noble master, that I owe to you +my truer perceptions in matters of art. But pray don't imagine that I +have fallen into childish imitation. However much I would like to +possess the free bold pencil that you possess, I do not attempt to +conceal the fact that Nature's colours appear to me different from what +I see them in your pictures. Although it is useful, I think, for the +sake of acquiring technique, for the pupil to imitate the style of this +or that master, yet, so soon as he comes to stand in any sense on his +own feet, he ought to aim at representing Nature as he himself sees +her. Nothing but this true method of perception, this unity with +oneself, can give rise to character and truth. Guido shared these +sentiments; and that fiery man Preti,[2.3] who, as you are aware, is +called _Il Calabrese_--a painter who certainly, more than any other +man, has reflected upon his art--also warned me against all imitation. +Now you know, Salvator, why I so much respect you, without imitating +you." + +Whilst the young man had been speaking, Salvator had kept his eyes +fixed unchangeably upon him; he now clasped him tumultuously to his +heart. + +"Antonio," he then said, "what you have just now said are wise and +thoughtful words. Young as you are, you are nevertheless, so far as the +true perception of art is concerned, a long way ahead of many of our +old and much vaunted masters, who have a good deal of stupid foolish +twaddle about their painting, but never get at the true root of the +matter. Body alive, man! When you were talking about my pictures, I +then began to understand myself for the first time, I believe; and +because you do not imitate my style,--do not, like a good many others, +take a tube of black paint in your hand, or dab on a few glaring +colours, or even make two or three crippled figures with repulsive +faces look up from the midst of filth and dirt, and then say, 'There's +a Salvator for you!'--just for these very reasons I think a good deal +of you. I tell you, my lad, you'll not find a more faithful friend than +I am--that I can promise you with all my heart and soul." + +Antonio was beside himself with joy at the kind way in which the great +painter thus testified to his interest in him. Salvator expressed an +earnest desire to see his pictures. Antonio took him there and then to +his studio. + +Salvator had in truth expected to find something fairly good from the +young man who spoke so intelligently about art, and who, it appeared, +had a good deal in him; but nevertheless he was greatly surprised at +the sight of Antonio's fine pictures. Everywhere he found boldness in +conception, and correctness in drawing; and the freshness of the +colouring, the good taste in the arrangement of the drapery, the +uncommon delicacy of the extremities, the exquisite grace of the heads, +were all so many evidences that he was no unworthy pupil of the great +Reni. But Antonio had avoided this master's besetting sin of an +endeavour, only too conspicuous, to sacrifice expression to beauty. It +was plain that Antonio was aiming to reach Annibal's strength, without +having as yet succeeded. + +Salvator spent some considerable time of thoughtful silence in the +examination of each of the pictures. Then he said, "Listen, Antonio: it +is indeed undeniable that you were born to follow the noble art of +painting. For not only has Nature endowed you with the creative spirit +from which the finest thoughts pour forth in an inexhaustible stream, +but she has also granted you the rare ability to surmount in a short +space of time the difficulties of technique. It would only be false +flattery if I were to tell you that you had yet advanced to the level +of your masters, that you are yet equal to Guido's exquisite grace or +to Annibal's strength; but certain I am that you excel by a long way +all the painters who hold up their heads so proudly in the Academy of +St. Luke[2.4] here--Tiarini,[2.5] Gessi,[2.6] Sementa,[2.7] and all +the rest of them, not even excepting Lanfranco[2.8] himself, for he +only understands fresco-painting. And yet, Antonio, and yet, if I were +in your place, I should deliberate awhile before throwing away the +lancet altogether, and confining myself entirely to the pencil That +sounds rather strange, but listen to me. Art seems to be having a bad +time of it just now, or rather the devil seems to be very busy amongst +our painters now-a-days, bravely setting them together by the ears. If +you cannot make up your mind to put up with all sorts of annoyances, to +endure more and more scorn and contumely in proportion as you advance +in art, and as your fame spreads to meet with malicious scoundrels +everywhere, who with a friendly face will force themselves upon you in +order to ruin you the more surely afterwards,--if you cannot, I say, +make up your mind to endure all this--let painting alone. Think of the +fate of your teacher, the great Annibal, whom a rascally band of rivals +malignantly persecuted in Naples, so that he did not receive one single +commission for a great work, being everywhere rejected with contempt; +and this is said to have been instrumental in bringing about his early +death. Think of what happened to Domenichino[2.9] when he was painting +the dome of the chapel of St. Januarius. Didn't the villains of +painters--I won't mention a single name, not even the rascals +Belisario[2.10] and Ribera[2.11]--didn't they bribe Domenichino's +servant to strew ashes in the lime? So the plaster wouldn't stick fast +on the walls, and the painting had no stability. Think of all that, and +examine yourself well whether your spirit is strong enough to endure +things like that, for if not, your artistic power will be broken, and +along with the resolute courage for work you will also lose your +ability." + +"But, Salvator," replied Antonio, "it would hardly be possible for me +to have more scorn and contumely to endure, supposing I took up +painting entirely and exclusively, then I have already endured whilst +merely a chirurgeon. You have been pleased with my pictures, you have +indeed! and at the same time declared from inner conviction that I am +capable of doing better things than several of our painters of the +Academy. But these are just the men who turn up their noses at all that +I have industriously produced, and say contemptuously, 'Do look, here's +our chirurgeon wants to be a painter!' And for this very reason my +resolve is only the more unshaken; I will sever myself from a trade +that grows with every day more hateful. Upon you, my honoured master, I +now stake all my hopes. Your word is powerful; if you would speak a +good word for me, you might overthrow my envious persecutors at a +single blow, and put me in the place where I ought to be." + +"You repose great confidence in me," rejoined Salvator. "But now that +we thoroughly understand each other's views on painting, and I have +seen your works, I don't really know that there is anybody for whom I +would rather take up the cudgels than for you." + +Salvator once more inspected Antonio's pictures, and stopped before one +representing a "Magdalene at the Saviour's feet," which he especially +praised. + +"In this Magdalene," he said, "you have deviated from the usual mode of +representation. Your Magdalene is not a thoughtful virgin, but a lovely +artless child rather, and yet she is such a marvellous child that +hardly anybody else but Guido could have painted her. There is a unique +charm in her dainty figure; you must have painted with inspiration; +and, if I mistake not, the original of this Magdalene is alive and to +be found in Rome. Come, confess, Antonio, you are in love!" + +Antonio's eyes sought the ground, whilst he said in a low shy voice, +"Nothing escapes your penetration, my dear sir; perhaps it is as you +say, but do not blame me for it. That picture I set the highest store +by, and hitherto I have guarded it as a holy secret from all men's +eyes." + +"What do you say?" interrupted Salvator. "None of the painters here +have seen your picture?" + +"No, not one," was Antonio's reply. + +"All right then, Antonio," continued Salvator, his eyes sparkling with +delight "Very well then, you may rely upon it, I will overwhelm your +envious overweening persecutors, and get you the honour you deserve. +Intrust your picture to me; bring it to my studio secretly by night, +and then leave all the rest to me. Will you do so?" + +"Gladly, with all my heart," replied Antonio. "And now I should very +much like to talk to you about my love-troubles as well; but I feel as +if I ought not to do so to-day, after we have opened our minds to each +other on the subject of art. I also entreat you to grant me your +assistance both in word and deed later on in this matter of my love." + +"I am at your service," said Salvator, "for both, both when and where +you require me." Then as he was going away, he once more turned round +and said, smiling, "See here, Antonio, when you disclosed to me the +fact that you were a painter, I was very sorry that I had spoken about +your resemblance to Sanzio. I took it for granted that you were as +silly as most of our young folk, who, if they bear but the slightest +resemblance in the face to any great master, at once trim their beard +or hair as he does, and from this cause fancy it is their business to +imitate the style of the master in their art achievements, even though +it is a manifest violation of their natural talents to do so. Neither +of us has mentioned Raphael's name, but I assure you that I have +discerned in your pictures clear indications that you have grasped the +full significance of the inimitable thoughts which are reflected in the +works of this the greatest of the painters of the age. You understand +Raphael, and would give me a different answer from what Velasquez[2.12] +did when I asked him not long ago what he thought of Sanzio. 'Titian,' +he replied, 'is the greatest painter; Raphael knows nothing about +carnation.' This Spaniard, methinks, understands flesh but not +criticism; and yet these men in St. Luke elevate him to the clouds +because he once painted cherries which the sparrows picked at."[2.13] + +It happened not many days afterwards that the Academicians of St. Luke +met together in their church to prove the works which had been +announced for exhibition. There too Salvator had sent Scacciati's fine +picture. In spite of themselves the painters were greatly struck with +its grace and power; and from all lips there was heard nothing but the +most extravagant praise when Salvator informed them that he had brought +the picture with him from Naples, as the legacy of a young painter who +had been cut off in the pride of his days. + +It was not long before all Rome was crowding to see and admire the +picture of the young unknown painter who had died so young; it was +unanimously agreed that no such work had been done since Guido Reni's +time; some even went so far in their just enthusiasm as to place this +exquisitely lovely Magdalene before Guido's creations of a similar +kind. Amongst the crowd of people who were always gathered round +Scacciati's picture, Salvator one day observed a man who, besides +presenting a most extraordinary appearance, behaved as if he were +crazy. Well advanced in years, he was tall, thin as a spindle, with a +pale face, a long sharp nose, a chin equally as long, ending moreover +in a little pointed beard, and with grey, gleaming eyes. On the top of +his light sand-coloured wig he had set a high hat with a magnificent +feather; he wore a short dark red mantle or cape with many bright +buttons, a sky-blue doublet slashed in the Spanish style, immense +leather gauntlets with silver fringes, a long rapier at his side, light +grey stockings drawn up above his bony knees and gartered with yellow +ribbons, whilst he had bows of the same sort of yellow ribbon on his +shoes. + +This remarkable figure was standing before the picture like one +enraptured: he raised himself on tiptoe; he stooped down till he became +quite small; then he jumped up with both feet at once, heaved deep +sighs, groaned, nipped his eyes so close together that the tears began +to trickle down his cheeks, opened them wide again, fixed his gaze +immovably upon the charming Magdalene, sighed again, lisped in a thin, +querulous, mutilated voice, "_Ah! carissima--benedettissima! Ah! +Marianna--Mariannina--bellissima_," &c. ("Oh! dearest--most adored! Ah! +Marianna--sweet Marianna! my most beautiful!") Salvator, who had a mad +fancy for such oddities, drew near to the old fellow, intending to +engage him in conversation about Scacciati's work, which seemed to +afford him so much exquisite delight Without paying any particular heed +to Salvator, the old gentleman stood cursing his poverty, because he +could not give a million sequins for the picture, and place it under +lock and key where nobody could set their infernal eyes upon it. Then, +hopping up and down again, he blessed the Virgin and all the holy +saints that the reprobate artist who had painted the heavenly picture +which was driving him to despair and madness was dead. + +Salvator concluded that the man either was out of his mind, or was an +Academician of St. Luke with whom he was unacquainted. + +All Rome was full of Scacciati's wonderful picture; people could +scarcely talk about anything else, and this of course was convincing +proof of the excellence of the work. And when the painters were again +assembled in the church of St. Luke, to decide about the admission of +certain other pictures which had been announced for exhibition, +Salvator Rosa all at once asked, whether the painter of the "Magdalene +at the Saviour's Feet" was not worthy of being admitted a member of the +Academy. They all with one accord, including even that hairsplitter in +criticism, Baron Josepin,[2.14] declared that such a great artist would +have been an ornament to the Academy, and expressed their sorrow at his +death in the choicest phrases, although, like the crazy old man, they +were praising Heaven in their hearts that he was dead. Still more, they +were so far carried away by their enthusiasm that they passed a +resolution to the effect that the admirable young painter whom death +had snatched away from art so early should be nominated a member of the +Academy in his grave, and that masses should be read for the benefit of +his soul in the church of St. Luke. They therefore begged Salvator to +inform them what was the full name of the deceased, the date of his +birth, the place where he was born, &c. + +Then Salvator rose and said in a loud voice, "Signors, the honour you +are anxious to render to a dead man you can more easily bestow upon a +living man who walks in your midst. Learn that the 'Magdalene at the +Saviour's Feet'--the picture which you so justly exalt above all other +artistic productions that the last few years have given us, is not the +work of a dead Neapolitan painter as I pretended (this I did simply to +get an unbiassed judgment from you); that painting, that masterpiece, +which all Rome is admiring, is from the hand of Signor Antonio +Scacciati, the chirurgeon." + +The painters sat staring at Salvator as if suddenly thunderstruck, +incapable of either moving or uttering a single sound. He, however, +after quietly exulting over their embarrassment for some minutes, +continued, "Well now, signors, you would not tolerate the worthy +Antonio amongst you because he is a chirurgeon; but I think that the +illustrious Academy of St. Luke has great need of a surgeon to set the +limbs of the many crippled figures which emerge from the studios of a +good many amongst your number. But of course you will no longer scruple +to do what you ought to have done long ago, namely, elect that +excellent painter Antonio Scacciati a member of the Academy." + +The Academicians, swallowing Salvator's bitter pill, feigned to be +highly delighted that Antonio had in this way given such incontestable +proofs of his talent, and with all due ceremony nominated him a member +of the Academy. + +As soon as it became known in Rome that Antonio was the author of the +wonderful picture he was overwhelmed with congratulations, and even +with commissions for great works, which poured in upon him from all +sides. Thus by Salvator's shrewd and cunning stratagem the young man +emerged all at once out of his obscurity, and with the first real step +he took on his artistic career rose to great honour. + +Antonio revelled in ecstasies of delight. So much the more therefore +did Salvator wonder to see him, some days later, appear with his face +pale and distorted, utterly miserable and woebegone. "Ah! Salvator!" +said Antonio, "what advantage has it been to me that you have helped me +to rise to a level far beyond my expectations, that I am now +overwhelmed with praise and honour, that the prospect of a most +successful artistic career is opening out before me? Oh! I am utterly +miserable, for the picture to which, next to you, my dear sir, I owe my +great triumph, has proved the source of my lasting misfortune." + +"Stop!" replied Salvator, "don't sin against either your art or your +picture. I don't believe a word about the terrible misfortune which, +you say, has befallen you. You are in love, and I presume you can't get +all your wishes gratified at once, on the spur of the moment; that's +all it is. Lovers are like children; they scream and cry if anybody +only just touches their doll. Have done, I pray you, with that +lamentation, for I tell you I can't do with it. Come now, sit yourself +down there and quietly tell me all about your fair Magdalene, and give +me the history of your love affair, and let me know what are the stones +of offence that we have to remove, for I promise you my help +beforehand. The more adventurous the schemes are which we shall have to +undertake, the more I shall like them. In fact, my blood is coursing +hotly in my veins again, and my regimen requires that I engage in a few +wild pranks. But go on with your story, Antonio, and as I said, let's +have it quietly without any sighs and lamentations, without any Ohs! +and Ahs!" + +Antonio took his seat on the stool which Salvator had pushed up to the +easel at which he was working, and began as follows:-- + +"There is a high house in the Via Ripetta,[2.15] with a balcony which +projects far over the street so as at once to strike the eye of any one +entering through the Porta del Popolo, and there dwells perhaps the +most whimsical oddity in all Rome,--an old bachelor with every fault +that belongs to that class of persons--avaricious, vain, anxious to +appear young, amorous, foppish. He is tall, as thin as a switch, wears +a gay Spanish costume, a sandy wig, a conical hat, leather gauntlets, a +rapier at his side"---- + +"Stop, stop!" cried Salvator, interrupting him, "excuse me a minute or +two, Antonio." Then, turning about the picture at which he was +painting, he seized his charcoal and in a few free bold strokes +sketched on the back side of the canvas the eccentric old gentleman +whom he had seen behaving like a crazed man in front of Antonio's +picture. + +"By all the saints!" cried Antonio, as he leapt to his feet, and, +forgetful of his unhappiness, burst out into a loud laugh, "by all the +saints! that's he! That's Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, whom I was just +describing, that's he to the very T." + +"So you see," said Salvator calmly, "that I am already acquainted with +the worthy gentleman who most probably is your bitter enemy. But go +on." + +"Signor Pasquale Capuzzi," continued Antonio, "is as rich as Cr[oe]sus, +but at the same time, as I just told you, a sordid miser and an +incurable coxcomb. The best thing about him is that he loves art, +particularly music and painting; but he mixes up so much folly with it +all that even in these things there's no getting on with him. He +considers himself the greatest musical composer in the world, and that +there's not a singer in the Papal choir who can at all approach him. +Accordingly he looks down upon our old Frescobaldi[2.16] with contempt; +and when the Romans talk about the wonderful charm of Ceccarelli's +voice, he informs them that Ceccarelli knows as much about singing as a +pair of top-boots, and that he, Capuzzi, knows which is the right way +to fascinate the public. But as the first singer of the Pope bears the +proud name of Signor Odoardo Ceccarelli di Merania, so our Capuzzi is +greatly delighted when anybody calls him Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di +Senigaglia; for it was in Senigaglia[2.17] that he was born, and the +popular rumour goes that his mother, being startled at sight of a +sea-dog (seal) suddenly rising to the surface, gave birth to him in a +fisherman's boat, and that accounts, it is said, for a good deal of the +sea-cur in his nature. Several years ago he brought out an opera on the +stage, which was fearfully hissed; but that hasn't cured him of his +mania for writing execrable music. Indeed, when he heard Francesco +Cavalli's[2.18] opera _Le Nozze di Feti e di Peleo_, he swore that the +composer had filched the sublimest of the thoughts from his own +immortal works, for which he was near being thrashed and even stabbed. +He still has a craze for singing arias, and accompanies his hideous +squalling on a wretched jarring, jangling guitar, all out of tune. His +faithful Pylades is an ill-bred dwarfish eunuch, whom the Romans call +Pitichinaccio. There is a third member of the company--guess who it +is?--Why, none other than the Pyramid Doctor, who kicks up a noise like +a melancholy ass and yet fancies he's singing an excellent bass, quite +as good as Martinelli of the Papal choir. Now these three estimable +people are in the habit of meeting in the evening on the balcony of +Capuzzi's house, where they sing Carissimi's[2.19] motets, until all +the dogs and cats in the neighbourhood round break out into dirges of +miawing and howling, and all their neighbours heartily wish the devil +would run away with all the blessed three. + +"With this whimsical old fellow, Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, of whom my +description will have enabled you to form a tolerably adequate idea, my +father lived on terms of intimacy, since he trimmed his wig and beard. +When my father died, I undertook this business; and Capuzzi was in the +highest degree satisfied with me, because, as he once affirmed, I knew +better than anybody else how to give his moustaches a bold upward +twirl; but the real reason was because I was satisfied with the few +pence with which he rewarded me for my pains. But he firmly believed +that he more than richly indemnified me, since, whilst I was trimming +his beard, he always closed his eyes and croaked through an aria from +his own compositions, which, however, almost split my ears; and yet the +old fellow's crazy gestures afforded me a good deal of amusement, so +that I continued to attend him. One day when I went, I quietly ascended +the stairs, knocked at the door, and opened it, when lo, there was a +girl--an angel of light, who came to meet me. You know my Magdalene; it +was she. I stood stock still, rooted to the spot. No, Salvator, you +shall have no Ohs! and Ahs! Well, the first sight of this, the most +lovely maiden of her sex, enkindled in me the most ardent passionate +love. The old man informed me with a smirk that the young lady was the +daughter of his brother Pietro, who had died at Senigaglia, that her +name was Marianna, and that she was quite an orphan; being her uncle +and guardian, he had taken her into his house. You can easily imagine +that henceforward Capuzzi's house was my Paradise. But no matter +what devices I had recourse to, I could never succeed in getting a +_tete-a-tete_ with Marianna, even for a single moment. Her glances, +however, and many a stolen sigh, and many a soft pressure of the hand, +resolved all doubts as to my good fortune. The old man divined what I +was after,--which was not a very difficult thing for him to do. He +informed me that my behaviour towards his niece was not such as to +please him altogether, and he asked me what was the real purport of my +attentions. Then I frankly confessed that I loved Marianna with all my +heart, and that the greatest earthly happiness I could conceive was a +union with her. Whereupon Capuzzi, after measuring me from top to toe, +burst out in a guffaw of contempt, and declared that he never had any +idea that such lofty thoughts could haunt the brain of a paltry barber. +I was almost boiling with rage; I said he knew very well that I was no +paltry barber but rather a good surgeon, and, moreover, in so far as +concerned the noble art of painting, a faithful pupil of the great +Annibal Caracci and of the unrivalled Guido Reni. But the infamous +Capuzzi only replied by a still louder guffaw of laughter, and in his +horrible falsetto squeaked, 'See here, my sweet Signor barber, my +excellent Signor surgeon, my honoured Annibal Caracci, my beloved Guido +Reni, be off to the devil, and don't ever show yourself here again, if +you don't want your legs broken.' Therewith the cranky, knock-kneed old +fool laid hold of me with no less an intention than to kick me out of +the room, and hurl me down the stairs. But that, you know, was past +everything. With ungovernable fury I seized the old fellow and tripped +him up, so that his legs stuck uppermost in the air; and there I left +him screaming aloud, whilst I ran down the stairs and out of the +house-door; which, I need hardly say, has been closed to me ever since. + +"And that's how matters stood when you came to Rome and when Heaven +inspired Father Boniface with the happy idea of bringing me to you. +Then so soon as your clever trick had brought me the success for which +I had so long been vainly striving, that is, when I was accepted by the +Academy of St. Luke, and all Rome was heaping up praise and honour upon +me to a lavish extent, I went straightway to the old gentleman and +suddenly presented myself before him in his own room, like a +threatening apparition. Such at least he must have thought me, for he +grew as pale as a corpse, and retreated behind a great table, trembling +in every limb. And in a firm and earnest way I represented to him that +it was not now a paltry barber or a surgeon, but a celebrated painter +and Academician of St. Luke, Antonio Scacciati, to whom he would not, T +hoped, refuse the hand of his niece Marianna. You should have seen into +what a passion the old fellow flew. He screamed; he flourished his arms +about like one possessed of devils; he yelled that I, a ruffianly +murderer, was seeking his life, that I had stolen his Marianna from him +since I had portrayed her in my picture, and it was driving him mad, +driving him to despair, for all the world, all the world, were fixing +their covetous, lustful eyes upon his Marianna, his life, his hope, his +all; but I had better take care, he would burn my house over my head, +and me and my picture in it. And therewith he kicked up such a din, +shouting, 'Fire! Murder! Thieves! Help!' that I was perfectly +confounded, and only thought of making the best of my way out of the +house. + +"The crackbrained old fool is over head and ears in love with his +niece; he keeps her under lock and key; and as soon as he succeeds in +getting dispensation from the Pope, he will compel her to a shameful +alliance with himself. All hope for me is lost!" + +"Nay, nay, not quite," said Salvator, laughing, "I am of opinion that +things could not be in a better form for you, Marianna loves you, of +that you are convinced; and all we have to do is to get her out of the +power of that fantastic old gentleman, Signor Pasquale Capuzzi. I +should like to know what there is to hinder a couple of stout +enterprising fellows like you and me from accomplishing this. Pluck up +your courage, Antonio. Instead of bewailing, and sighing, and fainting +like a lovesick swain, it would be better to set to work to think out +some plan for rescuing your Marianna. You just wait and see, Antonio, +how finely we'll circumvent the old dotard; in such like emprises, the +wildest extravagance hardly seems to me wild enough. I'll set about it +at once, and learn what I can about the old man, and about his usual +habits of life. But you must not be seen in this affair, Antonio. Go +away quietly home, and come back to me early to-morrow morning, then +we'll consider our first plan of attack." + +Herewith Salvator shook the paint out of his brush, threw on his +mantle, and hurried to the Corso, whilst Antonio betook himself home as +Salvator had bidden him--his heart comforted and full of lusty hope +again. + + * * * * * * + + III. + +_Signor Pasquale Capuzzi turns up at Salvator Rosa's studio. What takes +place there. The cunning scheme which Rosa and Scacciati carry out, and +the consequences of the same._ + +Next morning Salvator, having in the meantime inquired into Capuzzi's +habits of life, very greatly surprised Antonio by a description of +them, even down to the minutest details. + +"Poor Marianna," said Salvator, "leads a sad life of it with the crazy +old fellow. There he sits sighing and ogling the whole day long, and, +what is worse still, in order to soften her heart towards him, he sings +her all and sundry love ditties that he has ever composed or intends to +compose. At the same time he is so monstrously jealous that he will not +even permit the poor young girl to have the usual female attendance, +for fear of intrigues and amours, which the maid might be induced to +engage in. Instead, a hideous little apparition with hollow eyes and +pale flabby cheeks appears every morning and evening to perform for +sweet Marianna the services of a tiring-maid. And this little +apparition is nobody else but that tiny Tomb Thumb of a Pitichinaccio, +who has to don female attire. Capuzzi, whenever he leaves home, +carefully locks and bolts every door; besides which there is always a +confounded fellow keeping watch below, who was formerly a bravo, and +then a gendarme, and now lives under Capuzzi's rooms. It seems, +therefore, a matter almost impossible to effect an entrance into his +house, but nevertheless I promise you, Antonio, that this very night +you shall be in Capuzzi's own room and shall see your Marianna, though +this time it will only be in Capuzzi's presence." + +"What do you say?" cried Antonio, quite excited; "what do you say? We +shall manage it to-night? I thought it was impossible." + +"There, there," continued Salvator, "keep still, Antonio, and let us +quietly consider how we may with safety carry out the plan which I have +conceived. But in the first place I must tell you that I have already +scraped an acquaintance with Signor Pasquale Capuzzi without knowing +it. That wretched spinet, which stands in the comer there, belongs to +the old fellow, and he wants me to pay him the preposterous sum of ten +ducats[3.1] for it. When I was convalescent I longed for some music, +which always comforts me and does me a deal of good, so I begged my +landlady to get me some such an instrument as that Dame Caterina soon +ascertained that there was an old gentleman living in the Via Ripetta +who had a fine spinet to sell I got the instrument brought here. I did +not trouble myself either about the price or about the owner. It was +only yesterday evening that I learned quite by chance that the +gentleman who intended to cheat me with this rickety old thing was +Signor Pasquale Capuzzi. Dame Caterina had enlisted the services of an +acquaintance living in the same house, and indeed on the same floor as +Capuzzi,--and now you can easily guess whence I have got all my budget +of news." + +"Yes," replied Antonio, "then the way to get in is found; your +landlady"---- + +"I know very well, Antonio," said Salvator, cutting him short, "I know +what you're going to say. You think you can find a way to your Marianna +through Dame Caterina. But you'll find that we can't do anything of +that sort; the good dame is far too talkative; she can't keep the least +secret, and so we can't for a single moment think of employing her in +this business. Now just quietly listen to me. Every evening when it's +dark Signor Pasquale, although it's very hard work for him owing to his +being knock-kneed, carries his little friend the eunuch home in his +arms, as soon as he has finished his duties as maid. Nothing in the +world could induce the timid Pitichinaccio to set foot on the pavement +at that time of night. So that when"---- + +At this moment somebody knocked at Salvator's door, and to the +consternation of both, Signor Pasquale stepped in in all the splendour +of his gala attire. On catching sight of Scacciati he stood stock still +as if paralysed, and then, opening his eyes wide, he gasped for air as +though he had some difficulty in breathing. But Salvator hastily ran to +meet him, and took him by both hands, saying, "My dear Signor Pasquale, +your presence in my humble dwelling is, I feel, a very great honour. +May I presume that it is your love for art which brings you to me? You +wish to see the newest things I have done, perchance to give me a +commission for some work. Pray in what, my dear Signor Pasquale, can I +serve you?" + +"I have a word or two to say to you, my dear Signor Salvator," +stammered Capuzzi painfully, "but--alone--when you are alone. With your +leave I will withdraw and come again at a more seasonable time." + +"By no means," said Salvator, holding the old gentleman fast, "by no +means, my dear sir. You need not stir a step; you could not have come +at a more seasonable time, for, since you are a great admirer of the +noble art of painting, and the patron of all good painters, I am sure +you will be greatly pleased for me to introduce to you Antonio +Scacciati here, the first painter of our time, whose glorious work--the +wonderful 'Magdalene at the Saviour's Feet'--has excited throughout all +Rome the most enthusiastic admiration. _You_ too, I need hardly say, +have also formed a high opinion of the work, and must be very anxious +to know the great artist himself." + +The old man was seized with a violent trembling; he shook as if he had +a shivering fit of the ague, and shot fiery wrathful looks at poor +Antonio. He however approached the old gentleman, and, bowing with +polished courtesy, assured him that he esteemed himself happy at +meeting in such an unexpected way with Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, whose +great learning in music as well as in painting was a theme for wonder +not only in Rome but throughout all Italy, and he concluded by +requesting the honour of his patronage. + +This behaviour of Antonio, in pretending to meet the old gentleman for +the first time in his life, and in addressing him in such flattering +phrases, soon brought him round again. He forced his features into a +simpering smile, and, as Salvator now let his hands loose, gave his +moustache an elegant upward curl, at the same time stammering out a few +unintelligible words. Then, turning to Salvator, he requested payment +of the ten ducats for the spinet he had sold him. + +"Oh! that trifling little matter we can settle afterwards, my good +sir," was Salvator's answer. "First have the goodness to look at this +sketch of a picture which I have drawn, and drink a glass of good +Syracuse whilst you do so." Salvator meanwhile placed his sketch on the +easel and moved up a chair for the old gentleman, and then, when he had +taken his seat, he presented him with a large and handsome wine-cup +full of good Syracuse--the little pearl-like bubbles rising gaily to +the top. + +Signor Pasquale was very fond of a glass of good wine--when he had +nothing to pay for it; and now he ought to have been in an especially +happy frame of mind, for, besides nourishing his heart with the hope of +getting ten ducats for a rotten, worn-out spinet, he was sitting before +a splendid, boldly-designed picture, the rare beauty of which he was +quite capable of estimating at its full worth. And that he was in this +happy frame of mind he evidenced in divers way; he simpered most +charmingly; he half closed his little eyes; he assiduously stroked his +chin and moustache; and lisped time after time, "Splendid! delicious!" +but they did not know to which he was referring, the picture or the +wine. + +When he had thus worked himself round into a quiet cheerful humour, +Salvator suddenly began--"They tell me, my dear sir, that you have a +most beautiful and amiable niece, named Marianna--is it so? All the +young men of the city are so smitten with love that they stupidly do +nothing but run up and down the Via Ripetta, almost dislocating their +necks in their efforts to look up at your balcony for a sight of your +sweet Marianna, to snatch a single glance from her heavenly eyes." + +Suddenly all the charming simpers, all the good humour which had been +called up into the old gentleman's face by the good wine, were gone. +Looking gloomily before him, he said sharply, "Ah! that's an instance +of the corruption of our abandoned young men. They fix their infernal +eyes, there probate seducers, upon mere children. For I tell you, my +good sir, that my niece Marianna is quite a child, quite a child, only +just outgrown her nurse's care." + +Salvator turned the conversation upon something else; the old gentleman +recovered himself. But just as he, his face again radiant with +sunshine, was on the point of putting the full wine-cup to his lips, +Salvator began anew. "But pray tell me, my dear sir, if it is indeed +true that your niece, with her sixteen summers, really has such +beautiful auburn hair, and eyes so full of heaven's own loveliness and +joy, as has Antonio's 'Magdalene?' It is generally maintained that she +has." + +"I don't know," replied the old gentleman, still more sharply than +before, "I don't know. But let us leave my niece in peace; rather let +us exchange a few instructive words on the noble subject of art, as +your fine picture here of itself invites me to do." + +Always when Capuzzi raised the wine-cup to his lips to take a good +draught, Salvator began anew to talk about the beautiful Marianna, so +that at last the old gentleman leapt from his chair in a perfect +passion, banged the cup down upon the table and almost broke it, +screaming in a high shrill voice, "By the infernal pit of Pluto! by all +the furies! you will turn my wine into poison--into poison I tell you. +But I see through you, you and your fine friend Signor Antonio, you +think to make sport of me. But you'll find yourselves deceived Pay me +the ten ducats you owe me immediately, and then I will leave you and +your associate, that barber-fellow Antonio, to make your way to the +devil." + +Salvator shouted, as if mastered by the most violent rage, "What! you +have the audacity to treat me in this way in my own house! Do you think +I'm going to pay you ten ducats for that rotten box; the woodworms +have long ago eaten all the goodness and all the music out of it? Not +ten--not five--not three--not one ducat shall you have for it, it's +scarcely worth a farthing. Away with the tumbledown thing!" and he +kicked over the little instrument again and again, till the strings +were all jarring and jangling together. + +"Ha!" screeched Capuzzi, "justice is still to be had in Rome; I will +have you arrested, sir,--arrested and cast into the deepest dungeon +there is," and off he was rushing out of the room, blustering like a +hailstorm. But Salvator took fast hold of him with both hands, and drew +him down into the chair again, softly murmuring in his ear, "My dear +Signor Pasquale, don't you perceive that I was only jesting with you? +You shall have for your spinet, not ten, but _thirty_ ducats cash +down." And he went on repeating, "thirty bright ducats in ready money," +until Capuzzi said in a faint and feeble voice, "What do you say, my +dear sir? Thirty ducats for the spinet without its being repaired?" +Then Salvator released his hold of the old gentleman, and asserted +on his honour that within an hour the instrument should be worth +thirty--nay, forty ducats, and that Signor Pasquale should receive as +much for it. + +Taking in a fresh supply of breath, and sighing deeply, the old +gentleman murmured, "Thirty--forty ducats!" Then he began, "But you +have greatly offended me, Signor Salvator"---- "Thirty ducats," +repeated Salvator. Capuzzi simpered, but then began again, "But you +have grossly wounded my feelings, Signor Salvator"---- "Thirty ducats," +exclaimed Salvator, cutting him short; and he continued to repeat, +"Thirty ducats! thirty ducats!" as long as the old gentleman continued +to sulk--till at length Capuzzi said, radiant with delight, "If you +will give me thirty,--I mean forty ducats for the spinet, all shall be +forgiven and forgotten, my dear sir." + +"But," began Salvator, "before I can fulfil my promise, I still have +one little condition to make, which you, my honoured Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi di Senigaglia, can easily grant. You are the first musical +composer in all Italy, besides being the foremost singer of the day. +When I heard in the opera _Le Nozze di Teti e Peleo_ the great scene +which that shameless Francesco Cavalli has thievishly taken from your +works, I was enraptured. If you would only sing me that aria whilst I +put the spinet to rights you would confer upon me a pleasure than which +I can conceive of none more enjoyable." + +Puckering up his mouth into the most winning of smiles, and blinking +his little grey eyes, the old gentleman replied, "I perceive, my good +sir, that you are yourself a clever musician, for you possess taste and +know how to value the deserving better than these ungrateful Romans. +Listen--listen--to the aria of all arias." + +Therewith he rose to his feet, and, stretching himself up to his full +height, spread out his arms and closed both eyes, so that he looked +like a cock preparing to crow; and he at once began to screech in such +a way that the walls rang again, and Dame Caterina and her two +daughters soon came running in, fully under the impression that such +lamentable sounds must betoken some accident or other. At sight of the +crowing old gentleman they stopped on the threshold utterly astonished; +and thus they formed the audience of the incomparable musician Capuzzi. + +Meanwhile Salvator, having picked up the spinet and thrown back the +lid, had taken his palette in hand, and in bold firm strokes had begun +on the lid of the instrument the most remarkable piece of painting that +ever was seen. The central idea was a scene from Cavalli's opera _Le +Nozze di Teti_, but there was a multitude of other personages mixed up +with it in the most fantastic way. Amongst them were the recognisable +features of Capuzzi, Antonio, Marianna (faithfully reproduced from +Antonio's picture), Salvator himself, Dame Caterina and her two +daughters,--and even the Pyramid Doctor was not wanting,--and all +grouped so intelligently, judiciously, and ingeniously, that Antonio +could not conceal his astonishment, both at the artist's intellectual +power as well as at his technique. + +Meanwhile old Capuzzi had not been content with the aria which Salvator +had requested him to give, but, carried away by his musical madness, he +went on singing or rather screeching without intermission, working his +way through the most awful recitatives from one execrable scene to +another. He must have been going on for nearly two hours when he sank +back in his chair, breathless, and with his face as red as a cherry. +And just at this same time also Salvator had so far worked out his +sketch that the figures began to wear a look of vitality, and the +whole, viewed at a little distance, had the appearance of a finished +work. + +"I have kept my word with respect to the spinet, my dear Signer +Pasquale," breathed Salvator in the old man's ear. He started up as if +awakening out of a deep sleep. Immediately his glance fell upon the +painted instrument, which stood directly opposite him. Then, opening +his eyes wide as if he saw a miracle, and jauntily throwing his conical +hat on the top of his wig, he took his crutch-stick under his arm, made +one bound to the spinet, tore the lid off the hinges, and holding it +above his head, ran like a madman out of the room, down the stairs, and +away, away out of the house altogether, followed by the hearty laughter +of Dame Caterina and both her daughters. + +"The old miser," said Salvator, "knows very well that he has only to +take yon painted lid to Count Colonna or to my friend Rossi and he will +at once get forty ducats for it, or even more." + +Salvator and Antonio then both deliberated how they should carry out +the plan of attack which was to be made when night came. We shall soon +see what the two adventurers resolved upon, and what success they had +in their adventure. + +As soon as it was dark, Signer Pasquale, after locking and bolting the +door of his house, carried the little monster of an eunuch home as +usual. The whole way the little wretch was whining and growling, +complaining that not only did he sing Capuzzi's arias till he got +catarrh in the throat and burn his fingers cooking the macaroni, but he +had now to lend himself to duties which brought him nothing but sharp +boxes of the ear and rough kicks, which Marianna lavishly distributed +to him as soon as ever he came near her. Old Capuzzi consoled him as +well as he could, promising to provide him an ampler supply of +sweetmeats than he had hitherto done; indeed, as the little man would +nohow cease his growling and querulous complaining, Pasquale even laid +himself under the obligation to get a natty abbot's coat made for the +little torment out of an old black plush waistcoat which he (the dwarf) +had often set covetous eyes upon. He demanded a wig and a sword as +well. Parleying upon these points they arrived at the Via Bergognona, +for that was where Pitichinaccio dwelt, only four doors from Salvator. + +The old man set the dwarf cautiously down and opened the street door; +and then, the dwarf on in front, they both began to climb up the narrow +stairs, which were more like a rickety ladder for hens and chickens +than steps for respectable people. But they had hardly mounted half way +up when a terrible racket began up above, and the coarse voice of some +wild drunken fellow was heard cursing and swearing, and demanding to be +shown the way out of the damned house. Pitichinaccio squeezed himself +close to the wall, and entreated Capuzzi, in the name of all the +saints, to go on first. But before Capuzzi had ascended two steps, the +fellow who was up above came tumbling headlong downstairs, caught hold +of the old man, and whisked him away like a whirlwind out through +the open door below into the middle of the street. There they both +lay,--Capuzzi at bottom and the drunken brute like a heavy sack on top +of him. The old gentleman screamed piteously for help; two men came up +at once and with considerable difficulty freed him from the heavy +weight lying upon him; the other fellow, as soon as he was lifted up, +reeled away cursing. + +"Good God! what's happened to you, Signor Pasquale? What are you doing +here at this time of night? What big quarrel have you been getting +mixed up in in that house there?" thus asked Salvator and Antonio, for +that is who the two men were. + +"Oh, I shall die!" groaned Capuzzi; "that son of the devil has crushed +all my limbs; I can't move." + +"Let me look," said Antonio, feeling all over the old gentleman's body, +and suddenly he pinched his right leg so sharply that Capuzzi screamed +out aloud. + +"By all the saints!" cried Antonio in consternation, "by all the +saints! my dear Signer Pasquale, you've broken your right leg in the +most dangerous place. If you don't get speedy help you will within a +short time be a dead man, or at any rate be lame all your life long." + +A terrible scream escaped the old man's breast. "Calm yourself, my dear +sir," continued Antonio, "although I'm now a painter, I haven't +altogether forgotten my surgical practice. We will carry you to +Salvator's house and I will at once bind up"---- + +"My dear Signor Antonio," whined Capuzzi, "you nourish hostile feelings +towards me, I know." "But," broke in Salvator, "this is now no longer +the time to talk about enmity; you are in danger, and that is enough +for honest Antonio to exert all his skill on your behalf. Lay hold, +friend Antonio." + +Gently and cautiously they lifted up the old man between them, him +screaming with the unspeakable pain caused by his broken leg, and +carried him to Salvator's dwelling. + +Dame Caterina said that she had had a foreboding that something was +going to happen, and so she had not gone to bed. As soon as she caught +sight of the old gentleman and heard what had befallen him, she began +to heap reproaches upon him for his bad conduct. "I know," she said, "I +know very well, Signor Pasquale, who you've been taking home again. Now +that you've got your beautiful niece Marianna in the house with you, +you think you've no further call to have women-folk about you, and you +treat that poor Pitichinaccio most shameful and infamous, putting him +in petticoats. But look to it. _Ogni carne ha il suo osso_ (Every house +has its skeleton). Why if you have a girl about you, don't you need +women-folk? _Fate il passo secondo la gamba_ (Cut your clothes +according to your cloth), and don't you require anything either more or +less from your Marianna than what is right. Don't lock her up as if she +were a prisoner, nor make your house a dungeon. _Asino punto convien +che trotti_ (If you are in the stream, you had better swim with it); +you have a beautiful niece and you must alter your ways to suit her, +that is, you must only do what she wants you to do. But you are an +ungallant and hard-hearted man, ay, and even in love, and jealous as +well, they say, which I hope at your years is not true. Your pardon for +telling you it all straight out, but _chi ha nel petto fiele non puo +sputar miele_ (when there's bile in the heart there can't be honey in +the mouth). So now, if you don't die of your broken leg, which at your +great age is not at all unlikely, let this be a warning to you; and +leave your niece free to do what she likes, and let her marry the fine +young gentleman as I know very well." + +And so the stream went on uninterruptedly, whilst Salvator and Antonio +cautiously undressed the old gentleman and put him to bed. Dame +Caterina's words were like knives cutting deeply into his breast; but +whenever he attempted to intervene, Antonio signed to him that all +speaking was dangerous, and so he had to swallow his bitter gall. At +length Salvator sent Dame Caterina away, to fetch some ice-cold water +that Antonio wanted. + +Salvator and Antonio satisfied themselves that the fellow who had been +sent to Pitichinaccio's house had done his duty well. Notwithstanding +the apparently terrible fall, Capuzzi had not received the slightest +damage beyond a slight bruise or two. Antonio put the old gentleman's +right foot in splints and bandaged it up so tight that he could not +move. Then they wrapped him up in cloths that had been soaked in +ice-cold water, as a precaution, they alleged, against inflammation, so +that the old gentleman shook as if with the ague. + +"My good Signor Antonio," he groaned feebly, "tell me if it is all over +with me. Must I die?" + +"Compose yourself," replied Antonio. "If you will only compose +yourself, Signor Pasquale! As you have come through the first dressing +with so much nerve and without fainting, I think we may say that the +danger is past; but you will require the most attentive nursing. At +present we mustn't let you out of the doctor's sight." + +"Oh! Antonio," whined the old gentleman, "you know how I like you, +how highly I esteem your talents. Don't leave me. Give me your dear +hand--so! You won't leave me, will you, my dear good Antonio?" + +"Although I am now no longer a surgeon," said Antonio, "although I've +quite given up that hated trade, yet I will in your case, Signor +Pasquale, make an exception, and will undertake to attend you, for +which I shall ask nothing except that you give me your friendship, your +confidence again. You were a little hard upon me"---- + +"Say no more," lisped the old gentleman, "not another word, my dear +Antonio"---- + +"Your niece will be half dead with anxiety," said Antonio again, "at +your not returning home. You are, considering your condition, brisk and +strong enough, and so as soon as day dawns we'll carry you home to your +own house. There I will again look at your bandage, and arrange your +bed as it ought to be, and give your niece her instructions, so that +you may soon get well again." + +The old gentleman heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes, remaining +some minutes without speaking. Then, stretching out his hand towards +Antonio, he drew him down close beside him, and whispered, "It was only +a jest that you had with Marianna, was it not, my dear sir?--one of +those merry conceits that young folks have"---- + +"Think no more about that, Signor Pasquale," replied Antonio. "Your +niece did, it is true, strike my fancy; but I have now quite different +things in my head, and--to confess honestly to it--I am very pleased +that you did return a sharp answer to my foolish suit. I thought I was +in love with your Marianna, but what I really saw in her was only a +fine model for my 'Magdalene.' And this probably explains how it is +that, now that my picture is finished, I feel quite indifferent towards +her." + +"Antonio," cried the old man, in a strong voice, "Antonio, you glorious +fellow! What comfort you give me--what help--what consolation! Now that +you don't love Marianna I feel as if all my pain had gone." + +"Why, I declare, Signor Pasquale," said Salvator, "if we didn't know +you to be a grave and sensible man, with a true perception of what is +becoming to your years, we might easily believe that you were yourself +by some infatuation in love with your niece of sixteen summers." + +Again the old gentleman closed his eyes, and groaned and moaned at the +horrible pain, which now returned with redoubled violence. + +The first red streaks of morning came shining in through the window. +Antonio announced to the old gentleman that it was now time to take him +to his own house in the Via Ripetta. Signor Pasquale's reply was a deep +and piteous sigh. Salvator and Antonio lifted him out of bed and +wrapped him in a wide mantle which had belonged to Dame Caterina's +husband, and which she lent them for this purpose. The old gentleman +implored them by all the saints to take off the villainous cold +bandages in which his bald head was swathed, and to give him his wig +and plumed hat. And also, if it were possible, Antonio was to put his +moustache a little in order, that Marianna might not be too much +frightened at sight of him. + +Two porters with a litter were standing all ready before the door. Dame +Caterina, still storming at the old man, and mixing a great many +proverbs in her abuse, carried down the bed, in which they then +carefully packed him; and so, accompanied by Salvator and Antonio, he +was taken home to his own house. + +No sooner did Marianna see her uncle in this wretched plight than she +began to scream, whilst a torrent of tears gushed from her eyes; +without noticing her lover, who had come along with him, she grasped +the old man's hands and pressed them to her lips, bewailing the +terrible accident that had befallen him--so much pity had the good +child for the old man who plagued and tormented her with his amorous +folly. Yet at this same moment the inherent nature of woman asserted +itself in her; for it only required a few significant glances from +Salvator to put her in full possession of all the facts of the case. +Now, for the first time, she stole a glance at the happy Antonio, +blushing hotly as she did so; and a pretty sight it was to see how a +roguish smile gradually routed and broke through her tears. Salvator, +at any rate, despite the "Magdalene," had not expected to find the +little maiden half so charming, or so sweetly pretty as he now really +discovered her to be; and, whilst almost feeling inclined to envy +Antonio his good fortune, he felt that it was all the more necessary to +get poor Marianna away from her hateful uncle, let the cost be what it +might. + +Signor Pasquale forgot his trouble in being received so affectionately +by his lovely niece, which was indeed more than he deserved. He +simpered and pursed up his lips so that his moustache was all of a +totter, and groaned and whined, not with pain, but simply and solely +with amorous longing. + +Antonio arranged his bed professionally, and, after Capuzzi had been +laid on it, tightened the bandage still more, at the same time so +muffling up his left leg as well that he had to lay there motionless +like a log of wood. Salvator withdrew and left the lovers alone with +their happiness. + +The old gentleman lay buried in cushions; moreover, as an extra +precaution, Antonio had bound a thick piece of cloth well steeped in +water round his head, so that he might not hear the lovers whispering +together. This was the first time they unburdened all their hearts to +each other, swearing eternal fidelity in the midst of tears and +rapturous kisses. The old gentleman could have no idea of what was +going on, for Marianna ceased not, frequently from time to time, to ask +him how he felt, and even permitted him to press her little white hand +to his lips. + +When the morning began to be well advanced, Antonio hastened away to +procure, as he said, all the things that the old gentleman required, +but in reality to invent some means for putting him, at any rate for +some hours, in a still more helpless condition, as well as to consult +with Salvator what further steps were then to be taken. + + + + IV. + +_Of the new attack made by Salvator Rosa and Antonio Scacciati upon +Signer Pasquale Capuzzi and upon his company, and of what further +happens in consequence._ + +Next morning Antonio came to Salvator, melancholy and dejected. + +"Well, what's the matter?" cried Salvator when he saw him coming, "what +are you hanging your head about? What's happened to you now, you happy +dog? can you not see your mistress every day, and kiss her and press +her to your heart?" + +"Oh! Salvator, it's all over with my happiness, it's gone for ever," +cried Antonio. "The devil is making sport of me. Our stratagem has +failed, and we now stand on a footing of open enmity with that cursed +Capuzzi." + +"So much the better," said Salvator; "so much the better. But come, +Antonio, tell me what's happened." + +"Just imagine, Salvator," began Antonio, "yesterday when I went back to +the Via Ripetta after an absence of at the most two hours, with all +sorts of medicines, whom should I see but the old gentleman standing in +his own doorway fully dressed. Behind him was the Pyramid Doctor and +the deuced ex-gendarme, whilst a confused something was bobbing about +round their legs. It was, I believe, that little monster Pitichinaccio. +No sooner did the old man get sight of me than he shook his fist at me, +and began to heap the most fearful curses and imprecations upon me, +swearing that if I did but approach his door he would have all my bones +broken. 'Be off to the devil, you infamous barber-fellow,' he shrieked; +'you think to outwit me with your lying and knavery. Like the very +devil himself, you lie in wait for my poor innocent Marianna, and fancy +you are going to get her into your toils--but stop a moment! I will +spend my last ducat to have the vital spark stamped out of you, ere +you're aware of it. And your fine patron, Signor Salvator, the +murderer--bandit--who's escaped the halter--he shall be sent to join +his captain Masaniello in hell--I'll have him out of Rome; that won't +cost me much trouble.' + +"Thus the old fellow raged, and as the damned ex-gendarme, incited by +the Pyramid Doctor, was making preparations to bear down upon me, and a +crowd of curious onlookers began to assemble, what could I do but quit +the field with all speed? I didn't like to come to you in my great +trouble, for I know you would only have laughed at me and my +inconsolable complaints. Why, you can hardly keep back your laughter +now." + +As Antonio ceased speaking, Salvator did indeed burst out laughing +heartily. + +"Now," he cried, "now the thing is beginning to be rather interesting. +And now, my worthy Antonio, I will tell you in detail all that took +place at Capuzzi's after you had gone. You had hardly left the house +when Signor Splendiano Accoramboni, who had learned--God knows in what +way--that his bosom-friend, Capuzzi, had broken his right leg in the +night, drew near in all solemnity, with a surgeon. Your bandage and the +entire method of treatment you have adopted with Signor Pasquale could +not fail to excite suspicion. The surgeon removed the splints and +bandages, and they discovered, what we both very well know, that there +was not even so much as an ossicle of the worthy Capuzzi's right foot +dislocated, still less broken. It didn't require any uncommon sagacity +to understand all the rest." + +"But," said Antonio, utterly astonished, "but my dear, good sir, do +tell me how you have learned all that; tell me how you get into +Capuzzi's house and know everything that takes place there." + +"I have already told you," replied Salvator, "that an acquaintance of +Dame Caterina lives in the same house, and moreover, on the same floor +as Capuzzi. This acquaintance, the widow of a wine-dealer, has a +daughter whom my little Margaret often goes to see. Now girls have a +special instinct for finding out their fellows, and so it came about +that Rose--that's the name of the wine-dealer's daughter--and Margaret +soon discovered in the living-room a small vent-hole, leading into a +dark closet that adjoins Marianna's apartment. Marianna had been by no +means inattentive to the whispering and murmuring of the two girls, nor +had she failed to notice the vent-hole, and so the way to a mutual +exchange of communications was soon opened and made use of. Whenever +old Capuzzi takes his afternoon nap the girls gossip away to their +heart's content. You will have observed that little Margaret, Dame +Caterina's and my favourite, is not so serious and reserved as her +elder sister, Anna, but is an arch, frolicsome, droll little thing. +Without expressly making mention of your love-affair I have instructed +her to get Marianna to tell her everything that takes place in +Capuzzi's house. She has proved a very apt pupil in the matter; and if +I laughed at your pain and despondency just now it was because I knew +what would comfort you, knew I could prove to you that the affair has +now taken a most favourable turn. I have quite a big budget full of +excellent news for you." + +"Salvator!" cried Antonio, his eyes sparkling with joy, "how you cause +my hopes to rise! Heaven be praised for the vent-hole. I will write to +Marianna; Margaret shall take the letter with her"---- + +"Nay, nay, we can have none of that, Antonio," replied Salvator. +"Margaret can be useful to us without being your love-messenger +exactly. Besides, accident, which often plays many fine tricks, might +carry your amorous confessions into old Capuzzi's hands, and so bring +an endless amount of fresh trouble upon Marianna, just at the very +moment when she is on the point of getting the lovesick old fool under +her thumb. For listen to what then happened. The way in which Marianna +received the old fellow when we took him home has quite reformed him. +He is fully convinced that she no longer loves you, but that she has +given him at least one half of her heart, and that all he has to do is +to win the other half. And Marianna, since she imbibed the poison of +your kisses, has advanced three years in shrewdness, artfulness, and +experience. She has convinced the old man, not only that she had no +share in our trick, but that she hates our goings-on, and will meet +with scorn every device on your part to approach her. In his excessive +delight the old man was too hasty, and swore that if he could do +anything to please his adored Marianna he would do it immediately, she +had only to give utterance to her wish. Whereupon Marianna modestly +asked for nothing except that her _zio carissimo_ (dearest uncle) would +take her to see Signor Formica in the theatre outside the Porta del +Popolo. This rather posed Capuzzi; there were consultations with the +Pyramid Doctor and with Pitichinaccio; at last Signor Pasquale and +Signor Splendiano came to the resolution that they really would take +Marianna to this theatre to-morrow. Pitichinaccio, it was resolved, +should accompany them in the disguise of a handmaiden, to which he only +gave his consent on condition that Signor Pasquale would make him a +present, not only of the plush waistcoat, but also of a wig, and at +night would, alternately with the Pyramid Doctor, carry him home. That +bargain they finally made; and so the curious leash will certainly go +along with pretty Marianna to see Signor Formica to-morrow, in the +theatre outside the Porta del Popolo." + +It is now necessary to say who Signor Formica was, and what he had to +do with the theatre outside the Porta del Popolo. + +At the time of the Carnival in Rome, nothing is more sad than when the +theatre-managers have been unlucky in their choice of a musical +composer, or when the first tenor at the Argentina theatre has lost +his voice on the way, or when the male prima donna[4.1] of the Valle +theatre is laid up with a cold,--in brief, when the chief source of +recreation which the Romans were hoping to find proves abortive, and +then comes Holy Thursday and all at once cuts off all the hopes which +might perhaps have been realized It was just after one of these unlucky +Carnivals--almost before the strict fast-days were past, when a certain +Nicolo Musso opened a theatre outside the Porta del Popolo, where he +stated his intention of putting nothing but light impromptu comic +sketches on the boards. The advertisement was drawn up in an ingenious +and witty style, and consequently the Romans formed a favourable +preconception of Musso's enterprise; but independently of this they +would in their longing to still their dramatic hunger have greedily +snatched at any the poorest pabulum of this description. The interior +arrangements of the theatre, or rather of the small booth, did not say +much for the pecuniary resources of the enterprising manager. There was +no orchestra, nor were there boxes. Instead, a gallery was put up at +the back, where the arms of the house of Colonna were conspicuous--a +sign that Count Colonna had taken Musso and his theatre under his +especial protection. A platform of slight elevation, covered with +carpets and hung round with curtains, which, according to the +requirements of the piece, had to represent a wood or a room or a +street--this was the stage. Add to this that the spectators had to +content themselves with hard uncomfortable wooden benches, and it was +no wonder that Signor Musso's patrons on first entering were pretty +loud in their grumblings at him for calling a paltry wooden booth a +theatre. But no sooner had the first two actors who appeared exchanged +a few words together than the attention of the audience was arrested; +as the piece proceeded their interest took the form of applause, their +applause grew to admiration, their admiration to the wildest pitch of +enthusiastic excitement, which found vent in loud and continuous +laughter, clapping of hands, and screams of "Bravo! Bravo!" + +And indeed it would not have been very easy to find anything more +perfect than these extemporised representations of Nicolo Musso; they +overflowed with wit, humour, and genius, and lashed the follies of the +day with an unsparing scourge. The audience were quite carried away by +the incomparable characterisation which distinguished all the actors, +but particularly by the inimitable mimicry of Pasquarello,[4.2] by his +marvellously natural imitations of the voice, gait, and postures of +well-known personages. By his inexhaustible humour, and the point and +appositeness of his impromptus, he quite carried his audience away. The +man who played the _role_ of Pasquarello, and who called himself Signor +Formica, seemed to be animated by a spirit of singular originality; +often there was something so strange in either tone or gesture, that +the audience, even in the midst of the most unrestrained burst of +laughter, felt a cold shiver run through them. He was excellently +supported by Dr. Gratiano,[4.3] who in pantomimic action, in voice, and +in his talent for saying the most delightful things mixed up with +apparently the most extravagant nonsense, had perhaps no equal in the +world. This _role_ was played by an old Bolognese named Maria Agli. +Thus in a short time all educated Rome was seen hastening in a +continuous stream to Nicolo Musso's little theatre outside the Porta +del Popolo, whilst Formica's name was on everybody's lips, and people +shouted with wild enthusiasm, "_Oh! Formica! Formica benedetto! Oh! +Formicissimo!_"--not only in the theatre but also in the streets. They +regarded him as a supernatural visitant, and many an old lady who had +split her sides with laughing in the theatre, would suddenly look grave +and say solemnly, "_Scherza coi fanti e lascia star santi_" (Jest with +children but let the saints alone), if anybody ventured to say the +least thing in disparagement of Formica's acting. This arose from the +fact that outside the theatre Signor Formica was an inscrutable +mystery. Never was he seen anywhere, and all efforts to discover traces +of him were vain, whilst Nicolo Musso on his part maintained an +inexorable silence respecting his retreat. + +And this was the theatre that Marianna was anxious to go to. + +"Let us make a decisive onslaught upon our foes," said Salvator; "we +couldn't have a finer opportunity than when they're returning home from +the theatre." Then he imparted to Antonio the details of a plan, which, +though appearing adventurous and daring, Antonio nevertheless embraced +with joy, since it held out to him a prospect that he should be able to +carry off his Marianna from the hated old Capuzzi. He also heard with +approbation that Salvator was especially concerned to chastise the +Pyramid Doctor. + +When night came, Salvator and Antonio each took a guitar and went to +the Via Ripetta, where, with the express view of causing old Capuzzi +annoyance, they complimented lovely Marianna with the finest serenade +that ever was heard. For Salvator played and sang in masterly style, +whilst Antonio, as far as the capabilities of his fine tenor would +allow him, almost rivalled Odoardo Ceccarelli. Although Signor Pasquale +appeared on the balcony and tried to silence the singers with abuse, +his neighbours, attracted to their windows by the good singing, shouted +to him that he and his companions howled and screamed like so many cats +and dogs, and yet he wouldn't listen to good music when it did come +into the street; he might just go inside and stop up his ears if he +didn't want to listen to good singing. And so Signor Pasquale had to +bear nearly all night long the torture of hearing Salvator and Antonio +sing songs which at one time were the sweetest of love-songs and at +another mocked at the folly of amorous old fools. They plainly saw +Marianna standing at the window, notwithstanding that Signor Pasquale +besought her in the sweetest phrases and protestations not to expose +herself to the noxious night air. + +Next evening the most remarkable company that ever was seen proceeded +down the Via Ripetta towards the Porta del Popolo. All eyes were turned +upon them, and people asked each other if these were maskers left from +the Carnival. Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, spruce and smug, all elegance +and politeness, wearing his gay Spanish suit well brushed, parading a +new yellow feather in his conical hat, and stepping along in shoes too +little for him, as if he were walking amongst eggs, was leading pretty +Marianna on his arm; her slender figure could not be seen, still less +her face, since she was smothered up to an unusual extent in her veil +and wraps. On the other side marched Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni in +his great wig, which covered the whole of his back, so that to look at +him from behind there appeared to be a huge head walking along on +two little legs. Close behind Marianna, and almost clinging to her, +waddled the little monster Pitichinaccio, dressed in fiery red +petticoats, and having his head covered all over in hideous fashion +with bright-coloured flowers. + +This evening Signor Formica outdid himself even, and, what he had never +done before, introduced short songs into his performance, burlesquing +the style of certain well-known singers. Old Capuzzi's passion for the +stage, which in his youth had almost amounted to infatuation, was now +stirred up in him anew. In a rapture of delight he kissed Marianna's +hand time after time, and protested that he would not miss an evening +visiting Nicolo Musso's theatre with her. Signor Formica he extolled to +the very skies, and joined hand and foot in the boisterous applause of +the rest of the spectators. Signor Splendiano was less satisfied, and +kept continually admonishing Signor Capuzzi and lovely Marianna not to +laugh so immoderately. In a single breath he ran over the names of +twenty or more diseases which might arise from splitting the sides with +laughing. But neither Marianna nor Capuzzi heeded him in the least. As +for Pitichinaccio, he felt very uncomfortable. He had been obliged to +sit behind the Pyramid Doctor, whose great wig completely overshadowed +him. Not a single thing could he see on the stage, nor any of the +actors, and was, moreover, repeatedly bothered and annoyed by two +forward women who had placed themselves near him. They called him a +dear, comely little lady, and asked him if he was married, though to be +sure, he was very young, and whether he had any children, who they dare +be bound were sweet little creatures, and so forth. The cold sweat +stood in beads on poor Pitichinaccio's brow; he whined and whimpered, +and cursed the day he was born. + +After the conclusion of the performance, Signor Pasquale waited until +the spectators had withdrawn from the theatre. The last light was +extinguished just as Signor Splendiano had lit a small piece of a wax +torch at it; and then Capuzzi, with his worthy friends and Marianna, +slowly and circumspectly set out on their return journey. + +Pitichinaccio wept and screamed; Capuzzi, greatly to his vexation, had +to take him on his left arm, whilst with the right he led Marianna. +Doctor Splendiano showed the way with his miserable little bit of +torch, which only burned with difficulty, and even then in a feeble +sort of a way, so that the wretched light it cast merely served to +reveal to them the thick darkness of the night. + +Whilst they were still a good distance from the Porta del Popolo they +all at once saw themselves surrounded by several tall figures closely +enveloped in mantles. At this moment the torch was knocked out of the +Doctor's hand, and went out on the ground. Capuzzi, as well as the +Doctor, stood still without uttering a sound. Then, without their +knowing where it came from, a pale reddish light fell upon the muffled +figures, and four grisly skulls riveted their hollow ghastly eyes upon +the Pyramid Doctor. "Woe--woe--woe betide thee, Splendiano +Accoramboni!" thus the terrible spectres shrieked in deep, sepulchral +tones. Then one of them wailed, "Do you know me? do you know me, +Splendiano? I am Cordier, the French painter, who was buried last week, +and whom your medicaments brought to his grave." Then the second, "Do +you know me, Splendiano? I am Kuefner, the German painter, whom you +poisoned with your infernal electuary." Then the third, "Do you know +me, Splendiano? I am Liers, the Fleming, whom you killed with your +pills, and whose brother you defrauded of a picture." Then the fourth, +"Do you know me, Splendiano? I am Ghigi, the Neapolitan painter, +whom you despatched with your powders." And lastly all four together, +"Woe--woe--woe upon thee, Splendiano Accoramboni, cursed Pyramid +Doctor! We bid you come--come down to us beneath the earth. +Away--away--away with you! Hallo! hallo!" and so saying they threw +themselves upon the unfortunate Doctor, and, raising him in their +arms, whisked him away like a whirlwind. + +Now, although Signor Pasquale was a good deal overcome by terror, yet +it is surprising with what remarkable promptitude he recovered courage +so soon as he saw that it was only his friend Accoramboni with whom the +spectres were concerned. Pitichinaccio had stuck his head, with the +flower-bed that was on it, under Capuzzi's mantle, and clung so fast +round his neck that all efforts to shake him off proved futile. + +"Pluck up your spirits," Capuzzi exhorted Marianna, when nothing more +was to be seen of the spectres or of the Pyramid Doctor; "pluck up your +spirits, and come to me, my sweet little ducky bird! As for my worthy +friend Splendiano, it's all over with him. May St. Bernard, who also +was an able physician and gave many a man a lift on the road to +happiness, may he help him, if the revengeful painters whom he hastened +to get to his Pyramid break his neck! But who'll sing the bass of my +canzonas now? And this booby, Pitichinaccio, is squeezing my throat so, +that, adding in the fright caused by Splendiano's abduction, I fear I +shall not be able to produce a pure note for perhaps six weeks to come. +Don't be alarmed, my Marianna, my darling! It's all over now." + +She assured him that she had quite recovered from her alarm, and begged +him to let her walk alone without support, so that he could free +himself from his troublesome pet. But Signor Pasquale only took faster +hold of her, saying that he wouldn't suffer her to leave his side a +yard in that pitch darkness for anything in the world. + +In the very same moment as Signor Pasquale, now at his ease again, was +about to proceed on his road, four frightful fiend-like figures rose up +just in front of him as if out of the earth; they wore short flaring +red mantles and fixed their keen glittering eyes upon him, at the same +time making horrible noises--yelling and whistling. "Ugh! ugh! Pasquale +Capuzzi! You cursed fool! You amorous old devil! We belong to your +fraternity; we are the evil spirits of love, and have come to carry you +off to hell--to hell-fire--you and your crony Pitichinaccio." Thus +screaming, the Satanic figures fell upon the old man. Capuzzi fell +heavily to the ground and Pitichinaccio along with him, both raising a +shrill piercing cry of distress and fear, like that of a whole troop of +cudgelled asses. + +Marianna had meanwhile torn herself away from the old man and leapt +aside. Then one of the devils clasped her softly in his arms, +whispering the sweet glad words, "O Marianna! my Marianna! At last +we've managed it! My friends will carry the old man a long, long way +from here, whilst we seek a better place of safety." + +"O my Antonio!" whispered Marianna softly. + +But suddenly the scene was illuminated by the light of several torches, +and Antonio felt a stab in his shoulder. Quick as lightning he turned +round, drew his sword, and attacked the fellow, who with his stiletto +upraised was just preparing to aim a second blow. He perceived that his +three companions were defending themselves against a superior number of +gendarmes. He managed to beat off the fellow who had attacked him, and +joined his friends. Although they were maintaining their ground +bravely, the contest was yet too unequal; the gendarmes would +infallibly have proved victorious had not two others suddenly ranged +themselves with a shout on the side of the young men, one of them +immediately cutting down the fellow who was pressing Antonio the +hardest. + +In a few minutes more the contest was decided against the police. +Several lay stretched on the ground seriously wounded; the rest fled +with loud shouts towards the Porta del Popolo. + +Salvator Rosa (for he it was who had hastened to Antonio's assistance +and cut down his opponent) wanted to take Antonio and the young +painters who were disguised in the devils' masks and there and then +pursue the gendarmes into the city. + +Maria Agli, however, who had come along with him, and, notwithstanding +his advanced age, had tackled the police as stoutly as any of the rest, +urged that this would be imprudent, for the guard at the Porta del +Popolo would be certain to have intelligence of the affair and would +arrest them. So they all betook themselves to Nicolo Musso, who gladly +received them into his narrow little house not far from the theatre. +The artists took off their devils' masks and laid aside their mantles, +which had been rubbed over with phosphorus, whilst Antonio, who, +beyond the insignificant scratch on his shoulder, was not wounded +at all, exercised his surgical skill in binding up the wounds of the +rest--Salvator, Agli, and his young comrades--for they had none of them +got off without being wounded, though none of them in the least degree +dangerously. + +The adventure, notwithstanding its wildness and audacity, would +undoubtedly have been successful, had not Salvator and Antonio +overlooked one person, who upset everything. The _ci-devant_ bravo and +gendarme Michele, who dwelt below in Capuzzi's house, and was in a +certain sort his general servant, had, in accordance with Capuzzi's +directions, followed them to the theatre, but at some distance off, for +the old gentleman was ashamed of the tattered reprobate. In the same +way Michele was following them homewards. And when the spectres +appeared, Michele who, be it remarked, feared neither death nor devil, +suspecting that something was wrong, hurried back as fast as he could +run in the darkness to the Porta del Popolo, raised an alarm, and +returned with all the gendarmes he could find, just at the moment when, +as we know, the devils fell upon Signor Pasquale, and were about to +carry him off as the dead men had the Pyramid Doctor. + +In the very hottest moment of the fight, one of the young painters +observed distinctly how one of the fellows, taking Marianna in his arms +(for she had fainted), made off to the gate, whilst Signor Pasquale ran +after him with incredible swiftness, as if he had got quicksilver in +his legs. At the same time, by the light of the torches, he caught a +glimpse of something gleaming, clinging to his mantle and whimpering; +no doubt it was Pitichinaccio. + +Next morning Doctor Splendiano was found near the Pyramid of Cestius, +fast asleep, doubled up like a ball and squeezed into his wig, as if +into a warm soft nest. When he was awakened, he rambled in his talk, +and there was some difficulty in convincing him that he was still on +the surface of the earth, and in Rome to boot. And when at length he +reached his own house, he returned thanks to the Virgin and all the +saints for his rescue, threw all his tinctures, essences, electuaries, +and powders out of the window, burnt his prescriptions, and vowed to +heal his patients in the future by no other means than by anointing and +laying on of hands, as some celebrated physician of former ages, who +was at the same time a saint (his name I cannot recall just at this +moment), had with great success done before him. For his patients died +as well as the patients of other people, and then they already saw the +gates of heaven open before them ere they died, and in fact everything +else that the saint wanted them to see. + +"I can't tell you," said Antonio next day to Salvator, "how my heart +boils with rage since my blood has been spilled. Death and destruction +overtake that villain Capuzzi! I tell you, Salvator, that I am +determined to _force_ my way into his house. I will cut him down if he +opposes me and carry off Marianna." + +"An excellent plan!" replied Salvator, laughing. "An excellent plan! +Splendidly contrived! Of course I presume you have also found some +means for transporting Marianna through the air to the Spanish Square, +so that they shall not seize you and hang you before you can reach that +place of refuge. No, my dear Antonio, violence can do nothing for you +this time. You may lay your life on it too that Signor Pasquale will +now take steps to guard against any open attack. Moreover, our +adventure has made a good deal of noise, and the irrepressible laughter +of the people at the absurd way in which we have read a lesson to +Splendiano and Capuzzi has roused the police out of their light +slumber, and they, you may be sure, will now exert all their feeble +efforts to entrap us. No, Antonio, let us have recourse to craft. _Con +arte e con inganno si vive mezzo l'anno, con inganno e con arte si vive +l'altra parte_ (If cunning and scheming will help us six months +through, scheming and cunning will help us the other six too), says +Dame Caterina, nor is she far wrong. Besides, I can't help laughing to +see how we've gone and acted for all the world like thoughtless boys, +and I shall have to bear most of the blame, for I am a good bit older +than you. Tell me now, Antonio, supposing our scheme had been +successful, and you had actually carried off Marianna from the old man, +where would you have fled to, where would you have hidden her, and how +would you have managed to get united to her by the priest before the +old man could interfere to prevent it? You shall, however, in a few +days, really and truly run away with your Marianna. I have let Nicolo +Musso as well as Signor Formica into all the secret, and in common with +them devised a plan which can scarcely fail. So cheer up, Antonio; +Signor Formica will help you." + +"Signor Formica?" replied Antonio in a tone of indifference which +almost amounted to contempt. "Signor Formica! In what way can that +buffoon help me?" + +"Ho! ho!" laughed Salvator. "Please to bear in mind, I beg you, that +Signor Formica is worthy of your respect. Don't you know that he is a +sort of magician who in secret is master of the most mysterious arts? I +tell you, Signor Formica will help you. Old Maria Agli, the clever +Bolognese Doctor Gratiano, is also a sharer in the plot, and will, +moreover, have an important part to play in it. You shall abduct your +Marianna, Antonio, from Musso's theatre." + +"You are flattering me with false hopes, Salvator," said Antonio. "You +have just now said yourself that Signor Pasquale will take care to +avoid all open attacks. How can you suppose then, after his recent +unpleasant experience, that he can possibly make up his mind to visit +Musso's theatre again?" + +"It will not be such a difficult thing as you imagine to entice the old +man there," replied Salvator. "What will be more difficult to effect, +will be, to get him in the theatre without his satellites. But, be that +as it may, what you have now got to do, Antonio, is to have everything +prepared and arranged with Marianna, so as to flee from Rome the moment +the favourable opportunity comes. You must go to Florence; your skill +as a painter will, after your arrival, in itself recommend you there; +and you shall have no lack of acquaintances, nor of honourable +patronage and assistance--that you may leave to me to provide for. +After we have had a few days' rest, we will then see what is to be done +further. Once more, Antonio--live in hope; Formica will help you." + + + + V. + +_Of the new mishap which befalls Signor Pasquale Capussi. Antonio +Scacciati successfully carries out his plan in Nicolo Musso's theatre, +and flees to Florence._ + +Signor Pasquale was only too well aware who had been at the bottom of +the mischief that had happened to him and the poor Pyramid Doctor near +the Porta del Popolo, and so it may be imagined how enraged he was +against Antonio, and against Salvator Rosa, whom he rightly judged to +be the ringleader in it all. He was untiring in his efforts to comfort +poor Marianna, who was quite ill from fear,--so she said; but in +reality she was mortified that the scoundrel Michele with his gendarmes +had come up, and torn her from her Antonio's arms. Meanwhile Margaret +was very active in bringing her tidings of her lover; and she based all +her hopes upon the enterprising mind of Salvator. With impatience she +waited from day to day for something fresh to happen, and by a thousand +petty tormenting ways let the old gentleman feel the effects of this +impatience; but though she thus tamed his amorous folly and made him +humble enough, she failed to reach the evil spirit of love that haunted +his heart. After she had made him experience to the full all the +tricksy humours of the most wayward girl, and then suffered him just +once to press his withered lips upon her tiny hand, he would swear in +his excessive delight that he would never cease fervently kissing the +Pope's toe until he had obtained dispensation to wed his niece, the +paragon of beauty and amiability. Marianna was particularly careful not +to interrupt him in these outbreaks of passion, for by encouraging +these gleams of hope in the old man's breast she fanned the flame of +hope in her own, for the more he could be lulled into the belief that +he held her fast in the indissoluble chains of love, the more easy it +would be for her to escape him. + +Some time passed, when one day at noon Michele came stamping upstairs, +and, after he had had to knock a good many times to induce Signor +Pasquale to open the door, announced with considerable prolixity that +there was a gentleman below who urgently requested to see Signor +Pasquale Capuzzi, who he knew lived there. + +"By all the blessed saints of Heaven!" cried the old gentleman, +exasperated; "doesn't the knave know that on no account do I receive +strangers in my own house?" + +But the gentleman was of very respectable appearance, reported Michele, +rather oldish, talked well, and called himself Nicolo Musso. + +"Nicolo Musso," murmured Capuzzi reflectively; "Nicolo Musso, who owns +the theatre beyond the Porta del Popolo; what can he want with me?" +Whereupon, carefully locking and bolting the door, he went downstairs +with Michele, in order to converse with Nicolo in the street before the +house. + +"My dear Signor Pasquale," began Nicolo, approaching to meet him, and +bowing with polished ease, "that you deign to honour me with your +acquaintance affords me great pleasure. You lay me under a very great +obligation. Since the Romans saw you in my theatre--you, a man of the +most approved taste, of the soundest knowledge, and a master in art, +not only has my fame increased, but my receipts have doubled. I am +therefore all the more deeply pained to learn that certain wicked +wanton boys made a murderous attack upon you and your friends as you +were returning from my theatre at night. But I pray you, Signor +Pasquale, by all the saints, don't cherish any grudge against me or my +theatre on account of this outrage, which shall be severely punished. +Don't deprive me of the honour of your company at my performances!" + +"My dear Signor Nicolo," replied the old man, simpering, "be assured +that I never enjoyed myself more than I did when I visited your +theatre. Your Formica and your Agli--why, they are actors who cannot be +matched anywhere. But the fright almost killed my friend Signor +Splendiano Accoramboni, nay, it almost proved the death of me--no, it +was too great; and though it has not made me averse from your theatre, +it certainly has from the road there. If you will put up your theatre +in the Piazza del Popolo, or in the Via Babuina, or in the Via Ripetta, +I certainly will not fail to visit you a single evening; but there's +no power on earth shall ever get me outside the Porta del Popolo at +night-time again." + +Nicolo sighed deeply, as if greatly troubled. "That is very hard upon +me," said he then, "harder perhaps than you will believe, Signor +Pasquale. For unfortunately--I had based all my hopes upon you. I came +to solicit your assistance." + +"My assistance?" asked the old gentleman in astonishment "My +assistance, Signor Nicolo? In what way could it profit you?" + +"My dear Signor Pasquale," replied Nicolo, drawing his handkerchief +across his eyes, as if brushing away the trickling tears, "my most +excellent Signor Pasquale, you will remember that my actors are in the +habit of interspersing songs through their performances. This practice +I was thinking of extending imperceptibly more and more, then to get +together an orchestra, and, in a word, at last, eluding all +prohibitions to the contrary, to establish an opera-house. You, Signor +Capuzzi, are the first composer in all Italy; and we can attribute it +to nothing but the inconceivable frivolity of the Romans and the +malicious envy of your rivals that we hear anything else but your +pieces exclusively at all the theatres. Signor Pasquale, I came to +request you on my bended knees to allow me to put your immortal works, +as far as circumstances will admit, on my humble stage." + +"My dear Signor Nicolo," said the old gentleman, his face all sunshine, +"what are we about to be talking here in the public street? Pray deign +to have the goodness to climb up one or two rather steep flights of +stairs. Come along with me up to my poor dwelling." + +Almost before Nicolo got into the room, the old gentleman brought +forward a great pile of dusty music manuscript, opened it, and, taking +his guitar in his hands, began to deliver himself of a series of +frightful high-pitched screams which he denominated singing. + +Nicolo behaved like one in raptures. He sighed; he uttered extravagant +expressions of approval; he exclaimed at intervals, "_Bravo! +Bravissimo! Benedettissimo Capuzzi!_" until at last he threw himself at +the old man's feet as if utterly beside himself with ecstatic delight, +and grasped his knees. But he nipped them so hard that the old +gentleman jumped off his seat, calling out with pain, and saying to +Nicolo, "By the saints! Let me go, Signor Nicolo; you'll kill me." + +"Nay," replied Nicolo, "nay, Signor Pasquale, I will not rise until +you have promised that Formica may sing in my theatre the day after +to-morrow the divine arias which you have just executed." + +"You are a man of taste," groaned Pasquale,--"a man of deep insight. To +whom could I better intrust my compositions than to you? You shall take +all my arias with you. Only let me go. But, good God! I shall not hear +them--my divine masterpieces! Oh! let me go, Signor Nicolo." + +"No," cried Nicolo, still on his knees, and tightly pressing the old +gentleman's thin spindle-shanks together, "no, Signor Pasquale, I will +not let you go until you give me your word that you will be present in +my theatre the night after to-morrow. You need not fear any new attack! +Why, don't you think that the Romans, once they have heard your work, +will bring you home in triumph by the light of hundreds of torches? But +in case that does not happen, I myself and my faithful comrades will +take our arms and accompany you home ourselves." + +"You yourself will accompany me home, with your comrades?" asked +Pasquale; "and how many may that be?" + +"Eight or ten persons will be at your command, Signor Pasquale. Do +yield to my intercession and resolve to come." + +"Formica has a fine voice," lisped Pasquale. "How finely he will +execute my arias." + +"Do come, oh! do come!" exhorted Nicolo again, giving the old +gentleman's knees an extra grip. + +"You will pledge yourself that I shall reach my own house without being +molested?" asked the old gentleman. + +"I pledge my honour and my life," was Nicolo's reply, as he gave the +knees a still sharper grip. + +"Agreed!" cried the old gentleman; "I will be in your theatre the day +after to-morrow." + +Then Nicolo leapt to his feet and pressed Pasquale in so close an +embrace that he gasped and panted quite out of breath. + +At this moment Marianna entered the room. Signor Pasquale tried to +frighten her away again by the look of resentment which he hurled at +her; she, however, took not the slightest notice of it, but going +straight up to Musso, addressed him as if in anger,--"It is in vain for +you, Signor Nicolo, to attempt to entice my dear uncle to go to your +theatre. You are forgetting that the infamous trick lately played by +some reprobate seducers, who were lying in wait for me, almost cost the +life of my dearly beloved uncle, and of his worthy friend Splendiano; +nay, that it almost cost my life too. Never will I give my consent to +my uncle's again exposing himself to such danger. Desist from your +entreaties, Nicolo. And you, my dearest uncle, you will stay quietly at +home, will you not, and not venture out beyond the Porta del Popolo +again at night-time, which is a friend to nobody?" + +Signor Pasquale was thunderstruck. He opened his eyes wide and stared +at his niece. Then he rewarded her with the sweetest endearments, and +set forth at considerable length how that Signor Nicolo had pledged +himself so to arrange matters as to avoid every danger on the return +home. + +"None the less," said Marianna, "I stick to my word, and beg you most +earnestly, my dearest uncle, not to go to the theatre outside the Porta +del Popolo. I ask your pardon, Signor Nicolo, for speaking out frankly +in your presence the dark suspicion that lurks in my mind. You are, I +know, acquainted with Salvator Rosa and also with Antonio Scacciati. +What if you are acting in concert with our enemies? What if you are +only trying with evil intent to entice my dear uncle into your theatre +in order that they may the more safely carry out some fresh villainous +scheme, for I know that my uncle will not go without me?" + +"What a suspicion!" cried Nicolo, quite alarmed. "What a terrible +suspicion, Signora! Have you such a bad opinion of me? Have I such an +ill reputation that you conceive I could be guilty of this the basest +treachery? But if you think so unfavourably of me, if you mistrust the +assistance I have promised you, why then let Michele, who I know +rescued you out of the hands of the robbers--let Michele accompany you, +and let him take a large body of gendarmes with him, who can wait for +you outside the theatre, for you cannot of course expect me to fill my +auditorium with police." + +Marianna fixed her eyes steadily upon Nicolo's, and then said, +earnestly and gravely, "What do you say? That Michele and gendarmes +shall accompany us? Now I see plainly, Signor Nicolo, that you mean +honestly by us, and that my nasty suspicion is unfounded. Pray forgive +me my thoughtless words. And yet I cannot banish my nervousness and +anxiety about my dear uncle; I must still beg him not to take this +dangerous step." + +Signor Pasquale had listened to all this conversation with such curious +looks as plainly served to indicate the nature of the struggle that was +going on within him. But now he could no longer contain himself; he +threw himself on his knees before his beautiful niece, seized her +hands, kissed them, bathed them with the tears which ran down his +cheeks, exclaiming as if beside himself, "My adored, my angelic +Marianna! Fierce and devouring are the flames of the passion which +burns at my heart Oh! this nervousness, this anxiety--it is indeed the +sweetest confession that you love me." And then he besought her not to +give way to fear, but to go and listen in the theatre to the finest +arias which the most divine of composers had ever written. + +Nicolo too abated not in his entreaties, plainly showing his +disappointment, until Marianna permitted her scruples to be overcome; +and she promised to lay all fear aside and accompany the best and +dearest of uncles to the theatre outside the Porta del Popolo. Signor +Pasquale was in ectasies, was in the seventh heaven of delight. He was +convinced that Marianna loved him; and he now might hope to hear his +music on the stage, and win the laurel wreath which had so long been +the vain object of his desires; he was on the point of seeing his +dearest dreams fulfilled. Now he would let his light shine in perfect +glory before his true and faithful friends, for he never thought for a +moment but that Signor Splendiano and little Pitichinaccio would go +with him as on the first occasion. + +The night that Signor Splendiano had slept in his wig near the Pyramid +of Cestius he had had, besides the spectres who ran away with him, all +sorts of sinister apparitions to visit him. The whole cemetery was +alive, and hundreds of corpses had stretched out their skeleton arms +towards him, moaning and wailing that even in their graves they could +not get over the torture caused by his essences and electuaries. +Accordingly the Pyramid Doctor, although he could not contradict Signor +Pasquale that it was only a wild freakish trick played upon him by a +parcel of godless boys, grew melancholy; and, albeit not ordinarily +superstitiously inclined, he yet now saw spectres everywhere, and was +tormented by forebodings and bad dreams. + +As for Pitichinaccio, he could not be convinced that they were not real +devils come straight from the flames of hell who had fallen upon Signor +Pasquale and upon himself, and the bare mention of that dreadful night +was enough to make him scream. All the asseverations of Signor Pasquale +that there had been nobody behind the masks but Antonio Scacciati and +Salvator Rosa were of none effect, for Pitichinaccio wept and swore +that in spite of his terror and apprehension he had clearly recognised +both the voice and the behaviour of the devil Fanfarelli in the one who +had pinched his belly black and blue. + +It may therefore be imagined what an almost endless amount of trouble +it cost Signor Pasquale to persuade the two to go with him once more to +Nicolo Musso's theatre. Splendiano was the first to make the resolve to +go,--after he had procured from a monk of St. Bernard's order a small +consecrated bag of musk, the perfume of which neither dead man nor +devil could endure; with this he intended to arm himself against all +assaults. Pitichinaccio could not resist the temptation of a promised +box of candied grapes, but Signor Pasquale had besides expressly to +give his consent that he might wear his new abbot's coat, instead of +his petticoats, which he affirmed had proved an immediate source of +attraction to the devil. + +What Salvator feared seemed therefore as if it would really take place; +and yet his plan depended entirely, he continued to repeat, upon Signor +Pasquale's being in Nicolo's theatre alone with Marianna, without his +faithful satellites. Both Antonio and Salvator greatly racked their +brains how they should prevent Splendiano and Pitichinaccio from going +along with Signor Pasquale. Every scheme that occurred to them for the +accomplishment of this desideratum had to be given up owing to want of +time, for the principal plan in Nicolo's theatre had to be carried out +on the evening of the following day. + +But Providence, which often employs the most unlikely instruments for +the chastisement of fools, interposed on behalf of the distressed +lovers, and put it into Michele's head to practise some of his +blundering, thus accomplishing what Salvator and Antonio's craft was +unable to accomplish. + +That same night there was heard in the Via Ripetta before Signor +Pasquale's house such a chorus of fearful screams and of cursing and +raving and abuse that all the neighbours were startled up out of their +sleep, and a body of gendarmes, who had been pursuing a murderer as far +as the Spanish Square, hastened up with torches, supposing that some +fresh deed of violence was being committed. But when they, and a crowd +of other people whom the noise had attracted, came upon the anticipated +scene of murder, they found poor little Pitichinaccio lying as if dead +on the ground, whilst Michele was thrashing the Pyramid Doctor with a +formidable bludgeon. And they saw the Doctor reel to the floor just at +the moment when Signor Pasquale painfully scrambled to his feet, drew +his rapier, and furiously attacked Michele. Round about were lying +pieces of broken guitars. Had not several people grasped the old man's +arm he would assuredly have run Michele right through the heart. The +ex-bravo, on now becoming aware by the light of the torches whom he had +been molesting, stood as if petrified, his eyes almost starting out of +his heady "a painted desperado, on the balance between will and power," +as it is said somewhere. Then, uttering a fearful scream, he tore his +hair and begged for pardon and mercy. Neither the Pyramid Doctor nor +Pitichinaccio was seriously injured, but they had been so soundly +cudgelled that they could neither move nor stir, and had to be carried +home. + +Signor Pasquale had himself brought this mishap upon his own shoulders. + +We know that Salvator and Antonio complimented Marianna with the finest +serenade that could be heard; but I have forgotten to say that to the +old gentleman's very exceeding indignation they repeated it during +several successive nights. At length Signor Pasquale whose rage was +kept in check by his neighbours, was foolish enough to have recourse to +the authorities of the city, urging them to forbid the two painters to +sing in the Via Ripetta. The authorities, however, replied that it +would be a thing unheard of in Rome to prevent anybody from singing and +playing the guitar where he pleased, and it was irrational to ask such +a thing. So Signor Pasquale determined to put an end to the nuisance +himself, and promised Michele a large reward if he seized the first +opportunity to fall upon the singers and give them a good sound +drubbing. Michele at once procured a stout bludgeon, and lay in wait +every night behind the door. But it happened that Salvator and Antonio +judged it prudent to omit their serenading in the Via Ripetta for some +nights preceding the carrying into execution of their plan, so as not +to remind the old gentleman of his adversaries. Marianna remarked quite +innocently that though she hated Antonio and Salvator, yet she liked +their singing, for nothing was so nice as to hear music floating +upwards in the night air. + +This Signor Pasquale made a mental note of, and as the essence of +gallantry purposed to surprise his love with a serenade on his part, +which he had himself composed and carefully practised up with his +faithful friends. On the very night preceding that in which he was +hoping to celebrate his greatest triumph in Nicolo Musso's theatre, he +stealthily slipped out of the house and went and fetched his +associates, with whom he had previously arranged matters. But no sooner +had they sounded the first few notes on their guitars than Michele, +whom Signor Pasquale had thoughtlessly forgotten to apprise of his +design, burst forth from behind the door, highly delighted at finding +that the opportunity which was to bring him in the promised reward had +at last come, and began to cudgel the musicians most unmercifully, with +the results of which we are already acquainted. Of course there was no +further mention made of either Splendiano or Pitichinaccio's +accompanying Signor Pasquale to Nicolo's theatre, for they were both +confined to their bed beplastered all over. Signor Pasquale, however, +was unable to stay away, although his back and shoulders were smarting +not a little from the drubbing he had himself received; every note in +his arias was a cord which drew him thither with irresistible power. + +"Well now," said Salvator to Antonio, "since the obstacle which we took +to be insurmountable has been removed out of our way of itself, it all +depends now entirely upon your address not to let the favourable moment +slip for carrying off your Marianna from Nicolo's theatre. But I +needn't talk, you'll not fail; I will greet you now as the betrothed of +Capuzzi's lovely niece, who in a few days will be your wife. I wish you +happiness, Antonio, and yet I feel a shiver run through me when I think +upon your marriage." + +"What do you mean, Salvator?" asked Antonio, utterly astounded. + +"Call it a crotchet, call it a foolish fancy, or what you will, +Antonio," rejoined Salvator,--"at any rate I love the fair sex; but +there is not one, not even she on whom I foolishly dote, for whom I +would gladly die, but what excites in my heart, so soon as I think of a +union with her such as marriage is, a suspicion that makes me tremble +with a most unpleasant feeling of awe. That which is inscrutable in the +nature of woman mocks all the weapons of man. She whom we believe to +have surrendered herself to us entirely, heart and soul, whom we +believe to have unfolded all her character to us, is the first to +deceive us, and along with the sweetest of her kisses we imbibe the +most pernicious of poisons." + +"And my Marianna?" asked Antonio, amazed. + +"Pardon me, Antonio," continued Salvator, "even your Marianna, who is +loveliness and grace personified, has given me a fresh proof of how +dangerous the mysterious nature of woman is to us. Just call to mind +what was the behavior of that innocent, inexperienced child when we +carried her uncle home, how at a single glance from me she divined +everything--everything, I tell you, and, as you yourself admitted, +proceeded to play her part with the utmost sagacity. But that is not to +be at all compared with what took place on the occasion of Musso's +visit to the old gentleman. The most practised address, the most +impenetrable cunning,--in short, all the inventive arts of the most +experienced woman of the world could not have done more than little +Marianna did, in order to deceive the old gentleman with perfect +success. She could not have acted in any better way to prepare the +road for us for any kind of enterprise. Our feud with the cranky old +fool--any sort of cunning scheme seems justified, but--come, my dear +Antonio, never mind my fanciful crotchets, but be happy with your +Marianna; as happy as you can." + +If a monk had taken his place beside Signor Pasquale when he set out +along with his niece to go to Nicolo Musso's theatre, everybody would +have thought that the strange pair were being led to execution. First +went valiant Michele, repulsive in appearance, and armed to the teeth; +then came Signor Pasquale and Marianna, followed by fully twenty +gendarmes. + +Nicolo received the old gentleman and his lady with every mark of +respect at the entrance to the theatre, and conducted them to the seats +which had been reserved for them, immediately in front of the stage. +Signor Pasquale felt highly flattered by this mark of honour, and gazed +about him with proud and sparkling eyes, whilst his pleasure, his +joy, was greatly enhanced to find that all the seats near and behind +Marianna were occupied by women alone. A couple of violins and a +bass-fiddle were being tuned behind the curtains of the stage; the old +gentleman's heart beat with expectation; and when all at once the +orchestra struck up the _ritornello_ of his work, he felt an electric +thrill tingling in every nerve. + +Formica came forward in the character of Pasquarello, and sang--sang in +Capuzzi's own voice, and with all his characteristic gestures, the most +hopeless aria that ever was heard. The theatre shook with the loud and +boisterous laughter of the audience. They shouted; they screamed +wildly, "O Pasquale Capuzzi! Our most illustrious composer and artist! +Bravo! Bravissimo!" The old gentleman, not perceiving the ridicule and +irony of the laughter, was in raptures of delight. The aria came to an +end, and the people cried "Sh! sh!" for Doctor Gratiano, played on this +occasion by Nicolo Musso himself, appeared on the stage, holding his +hands over his ears and shouting to Pasquarello for goodness' sake to +stop his ridiculous screeching. + +Then the Doctor asked Pasquarello how long he had taken to the +confounded habit of singing, and where he had got that execrable piece +from. + +Whereupon Pasquarello replied, that he didn't know what the Doctor +would have; he was like the Romans, and had no taste for real music, +since he failed to recognise the most talented of musicians. The aria +had been written by the greatest of living composers, in whose service +he had the good fortune to be, receiving instruction in both music and +singing from the master himself. + +Gratiano then began guessing, and mentioned the names of a great number +of well-known composers and musicians, but at every distinguished name +Pasquarello only shook his head contemptuously. + +At length Pasquarello said that the Doctor was only exposing gross +ignorance, since he did not know the name of the greatest composer of +the time. It was no other than Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, who had done +him the honour of taking him into his service. Could he not see that he +was the friend and servant of Signor Pasquale? + +Then the Doctor broke out into a loud long roar of laughter, and cried. +What! Had he (Pasquarello) after running away from him (the Doctor), +with whom, besides getting his wages and food, he had had his palm +tickled with many a copper, had he gone and taken service with the +biggest and most inveterate old coxcomb who ever stuffed himself with +macaroni, to the patched Carnival fool who strutted about like a +satisfied old hen after a shower of rain, to the snarling skinflint, +the love-sick old poltroon, who infected the air of the Via Ripetta +with the disgusting bleating which he called singing? &c., &c. + +To which Pasquarello, quite incensed, made reply that it was nothing +but envy which spoke in the Doctor's words; he (Pasquarello) was of +course speaking with his heart in his mouth (_parla col cuore in +mano_); the Doctor was not at all the man to pass an opinion upon +Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di Senigaglia; he was speaking with his heart +in his mouth. The Doctor himself had a strong tang of all that he +blamed in the excellent Signor Pasquale; but he was speaking with his +heart in his mouth; he (Pasquarello) had himself often heard fully six +hundred people at once laugh most heartily at Doctor Gratiano, and so +forth. Then Pasquarello spoke a long panegyric upon his new master, +Signor Pasquale, attributing to him all the virtues under the sun; and +he concluded with a description of his character, which he portrayed as +being the very essence of amiability and grace. + +"Heaven bless you, Formica!" lisped Signor Capuzzi to himself; "Heaven +bless you, Formica! I perceive you have designed to make my triumph +perfect, since you are upbraiding the Romans for all their envious and +ungrateful persecution of me, and are letting them know _who_ I really +am." + +"Ha! here comes my master himself," cried Pasquarello at this moment, +and there entered on the stage--Signor Pasquale Capuzzi himself, just +as he breathed and walked, his very clothes, face, gestures, gait, +postures, in fact so perfectly like Signor Capuzzi in the auditorium, +that the latter, quite aghast, let go Marianna's hand, which hitherto +he had held fast in his own, and tapped himself, his nose, his wig, in +order to discover whether he was not dreaming, or seeing double, +whether he was really sitting in Nicolo Musso's theatre and dare credit +the miracle. + +Capuzzi on the stage embraced Doctor Gratiano with great kindness, and +asked how he was. The Doctor replied that he had a good appetite, +and slept soundly, at his service (_per servirlo_); and as for his +purse--well, it was suffering from a galloping consumption. Only +yesterday he had spent his last ducat for a pair of rosemary-coloured +stockings for his sweetheart, and was just going to walk round to one +or two bankers to see if he could borrow thirty ducats"---- + +"But how can you pass over your best friends?" said Capuzzi. "Here, my +dear sir, here are fifty ducats, come take them." + +"Pasquale, what are you about?" said the real Capuzzi in an undertone. + +Dr. Gratiano began to talk about a bond and about interest; but Signor +Capuzzi declared that he could not think of asking for either from such +a friend as the Doctor was. + +"Pasquale, have you gone out of your senses?" exclaimed the real +Capuzzi a little louder. + +After many grateful embraces Doctor Gratiano took his leave. Now +Pasquarello drew near with a good many bows, and extolled Signor +Capuzzi to the skies, adding, however, that his purse was suffering +from the same complaint as Gratiano's, and he begged for some of the +same excellent medicine that had cured his. Capuzzi on the stage +laughed, and said he was pleased to find that Pasquarello knew how to +turn his good humour to advantage, and threw him several glittering +ducats. + +"Pasquale, you must be mad, possessed of the devil," cried the real +Capuzzi aloud. He was bidden be still. + +Pasquarello went still further in his eulogy of Capuzzi, and came at +last to speak, of the aria which he (Capuzzi) had composed, and with +which he (Pasquarello) hoped to enchant everybody. The fictitious +Capuzzi clapped Pasquarello heartily on the back, and went on to say +that he might venture to tell him (Pasquarello), his faithful servant, +in confidence, that in reality he knew nothing whatever of the science +of music, and in respect to the aria of which he had just spoken, as +well as all pieces that he had ever composed, why, he had stolen them +out of Frescobaldi's canzonas and Carissimi's motets. + +"I tell you you're lying in your throat, you knave," shouted the +Capuzzi off the stage, rising from his seat. Again he was bidden keep +still, and the woman who sat next him drew him down on the bench. + +"It's now time to think about other and more important matters," +continued Capuzzi on the stage. He was going to give a grand banquet +the next day, and Pasquarello must look alive and have everything that +was necessary prepared. Then he produced and read over a list of all +the rarest and most expensive dishes, making Pasquarello tell him how +much each would cost, and at the same time giving him the money for +them. + +"Pasquale! You're insane! You've gone mad! You good-for-nothing scamp! +You spendthrift!" shouted the real Capuzzi at intervals, growing more +and more enraged the higher the cost of this the most nonsensical of +dinners rose. + +At length, when the list was finished, Pasquarello asked what had +induced him to give such a splendid banquet. + +"To-morrow will be the happiest and most joyous day of my life," +replied the fictitious Capuzzi. "For know, my good Pasquarello, that I +am going to celebrate to-morrow the auspicious marriage of my dear +niece Marianna. I am going to give her hand to that brave young fellow, +the best of all artists, Scacciati." + +Hardly had the words fallen from his lips when the real Capuzzi leapt +to his feet, utterly beside himself, quite out of his mind, his face +all aflame with the most fiendish rage, and doubling his fists and +shaking them at his counterpart on the stage, he yelled at the top of +his voice, "No, you won't, no, you won't, you rascal! you scoundrel, +you,--Pasquale! Do you mean to cheat yourself out of your Marianna, you +hound? Are you going to throw her in the arms of that scoundrel,--sweet +Marianna, thy life, thy hope, thy all? Ah! look to it! Look to it! you +infatuated fool. Just remember what sort of a reception you will meet +with from yourself. You shall beat yourself black and blue with your +own hands, so that you will have no relish to think about banquets and +weddings!" + +But the Capuzzi on the stage doubled his fists like the Capuzzi +below, and shouted in exactly the same furious way, and in the same +high-pitched voice, "May all the spirits of hell sit at your heart, you +abominable nonsensical Pasquale, you atrocious skinflint--you love-sick +old fool--you gaudy tricked-out ass with the cap and bells dangling +about your ears. Take care lest I snuff out the candle of your life, +and so at length put an end to the infamous tricks which you try to +foist upon the good, honest, modest Pasquale Capuzzi." + +Amidst the most fearful cursing and swearing of the real Capuzzi, the +one on the stage dished up one fine anecdote after the other about him. + +"You'd better attempt," shouted at last the fictitious Capuzzi, "you +only dare, Pasquale, you amorous old ape, to interfere with the +happiness of these two young people, whom Heaven has destined for each +other." + +At this moment there appeared at the back of the stage Antonio +Scacciati and Marianna locked in each other's arms. Albeit the old +gentleman was at other times somewhat feeble on his legs, yet now fury +gave him strength and agility. With a single bound he was on the stage, +had drawn his sword, and was charging upon the pretended Antonio. He +found, however, that he was held fast behind. An officer of the Papal +guard had stopped him, and said in a serious voice, "Recollect where +you are, Signor Pasquale; you are in Nicolo Musso's theatre. Without +intending it, you have today played a most ridiculous _role_. You will +not find either Antonio or Marianna here." The two persons whom Capuzzi +had taken for his niece and her lover now drew near, along with the +rest of the actors. The faces were all completely strange to him. His +rapier escaped from his trembling hand; he took a deep breath as if +awakening out of a bad dream; he grasped his brow with both hands; he +opened his eyes wide. The presentiment of what had happened suddenly +struck him, and he shouted, "Marianna!" in such a stentorian voice that +the walls rang again. + +But she was beyond reach of his shouts. Antonio had taken advantage of +the opportunity whilst Pasquale, oblivious of all about him and even of +himself, was quarrelling with his double, to make his way to Marianna, +and back with her through the audience, and out at a side door, where a +carriage stood ready waiting; and away they went as fast as their +horses could gallop towards Florence. + +"Marianna!" screamed the old man again, "Marianna! she is gone. She has +fled. That knave Antonio has stolen her from me. Away! after them! Have +pity on me, good people, and take torches and help me to look for my +little darling. Oh! you serpent!" + +And he tried to make for the door. But the officer held him fast, +saying, "Do you mean that pretty young lady who sat beside you? +I believe I saw her slip out with a young man--I think Antonio +Scacciati--a long time ago, when you began your idle quarrel with one +of the actors who wore a mask like your face. You needn't make a +trouble of it; every inquiry shall at once be set on foot, and Marianna +shall be brought back to you as soon as she is found. But as for +yourself, Signor Pasquale, your behaviour here and your murderous +attempt upon the life of that actor compel me to arrest you." + +Signor Pasquale, his face as pale as death, incapable of uttering a +single word or even a sound, was led away by the very same gendarmes +who were to have protected him against masked devils and spectres. Thus +it came to pass that on the selfsame night on which he had hoped to +celebrate his triumph, he was plunged into the midst of trouble and of +all the frantic despondency which amorous old fools feel when they are +deceived. + + + + VI. + +_Salvator Rosa leaves Rome and goes to Florence. Conclusion of the +history._ + +Everything here below beneath the sun is subject to continual change; +and perhaps there is nothing which can be called more inconstant than +human opinion, which turns round in an everlasting circle like the +wheel of fortune. He who reaps great praise to-day is overwhelmed with +biting censure to-morrow; to-day we trample under foot the man who +to-morrow will be raised far above us. + +Of all those who in Rome had ridiculed and mocked at old Pasquale +Capuzzi, with his sordid avarice, his foolish amorousness, his insane +jealousy, who did not wish poor tormented Marianna her liberty? But now +that Antonio had successfully carried off his mistress, all their +ridicule and mockery was suddenly changed into pity for the old fool, +whom they saw wandering about the streets of Rome with his head hanging +on his breast, utterly disconsolate. Misfortunes seldom come singly; +and so it happened that Signor Pasquale, soon after Marianna had been +taken from him, lost his best bosom-friends also. Little Pitichinaccio +choked himself in foolishly trying to swallow an almond-kernel in the +middle of a cadenza; but a sudden stop was put to the life of the +illustrious Pyramid Doctor Signor Splendiano Accoramboni by a slip of +the pen, for which he had only himself to blame. Michele's drubbing +made such work with him that he fell into a fever. He determined to +make use of a remedy which he claimed to have discovered, so, calling +for pen and ink, he wrote down a prescription in which, by employing a +wrong sign, he increased the quantity of a powerful substance to a +dangerous extent. But scarcely had he swallowed the medicine than he +sank back on the pillows and died, establishing, however, by his own +death in the most splendid and satisfactory manner the efficacy of the +last tincture which he ever prescribed. + +As already remarked, all those whose laughter had been the loudest, and +who had repeatedly wished Antonio success in his schemes, had now +nothing but pity for the old gentleman; and the bitterest blame was +heaped, not so much upon Antonio, as upon Salvator Rosa, whom, to be +sure, they regarded as the instigator of the whole plan. + +Salvator's enemies, of whom he had a goodly number, exerted all their +efforts to fan the flame. "See you," they said, "he was one of +Masaniello's doughty partisans, and is ready to turn his hand to any +deed of mischief, to any disreputable enterprise; we shall be the next +to suffer from his presence in the city; he is a dangerous man." + +And the jealous faction who had leagued together against Salvator did +actually succeed in stemming the tide of his prosperous career. He sent +forth from his studio one picture after the other, all bold in +conception, and splendidly executed; but the so-called critics shrugged +their shoulders, now pointing out that the hills were too blue, the +trees too green, the figures now too long, now too broad, finding fault +everywhere where there was no fault to be found, and seeking to detract +from his hard-earned reputation in all the ways they could think of. +Especially bitter in their persecution of him were the Academicians of +St. Luke, who could not forget how he took them in about the surgeon; +they even went beyond the limits of their own profession, and decried +the clever stanzas which Salvator at that time wrote, hinting very +plainly that he did not cultivate his fruit on his own garden soil, but +plundered that of his neighbours. For these reasons, therefore, +Salvator could not manage to surround himself with the splendour which +he had lived amidst formerly in Rome. Instead of being visited by the +most eminent of the Romans in a large studio, he had to remain with +Dame Caterina and his green fig-tree; but amid these poor surroundings +he frequently found both consolation and tranquillity of mind. + +Salvator took the malicious machinations of his enemies to heart more +than he ought to have done; he even began to feel that an insidious +disease, resulting from chagrin and dejection, was gnawing at his +vitals. In this unhappy frame of mind he designed and executed two +large pictures which excited quite an uproar in Rome. Of these one +represented the transitoriness of all earthly things, and in the +principal figure, that of a wanton female bearing all the indications +of her degrading calling about her, was recognised the mistress of one +of the cardinals; the other portrayed the Goddess of Fortune dispensing +her rich gifts. But cardinals' hats, bishops' mitres, gold medals, +decorations of orders, were falling upon bleating sheep, braying asses, +and other such like contemptible animals, whilst well-made men in +ragged clothes were vainly straining their eyes upwards to get even the +smallest gift. Salvator had given free rein to his embittered mood, and +the animals' heads bore the closest resemblance to the features of +various eminent persons. It is easy to imagine, therefore, how the tide +of hatred against him rose, and that he was more bitterly persecuted +than ever. + +Dame Caterina warned him, with tears in her eyes, that as soon as it +began to be dark she had observed suspicious characters lurking about +the house and apparently dogging his every footstep. Salvator saw that +it was time to leave Rome; and Dame Caterina and her beloved daughters +were the only people whom it caused him pain to part from. In response +to the repeated invitations of the Duke of Tuscany,[6.1] he went to +Florence; and here at length he was richly indemnified for all the +mortification and worry which he had had to struggle against in Rome, +and here all the honour and all the fame which he so truly deserved +were freely conferred upon him. The Duke's presents and the high prices +which he received for his pictures soon enabled him to remove into a +large house and to furnish it in the most magnificent style. There he +was wont to gather round him the most illustrious authors and scholars +of the day, amongst whom it will be sufficient to mention Evangelista +Toricelli,[6.2] Valerio Chimentelli, Battista Ricciardi, Andrea +Cavalcanti, Pietro Salvati, Filippo Apolloni, Volumnio Bandelli, +Francesco Rovai. They formed an association for the prosecution of +artistic and scientific pursuits, whilst Salvator was able to +contribute an element of whimsicality to the meetings, which had a +singular effect in animating and enlivening the mind. The +banqueting-hall was like a beautiful grove with fragrant bushes and +flowers and splashing fountains; and the dishes even, which were served +up by pages in eccentric costumes, were very wonderful to look at, as +if they came from some distant land of magic. These meetings of writers +and savans in Salvator Rosa's house were called at that time the +Accademia de' Percossi. + +Though Salvator's mind was in this way devoted to science and art, yet +his real true nature came to life again when he was with his friend +Antonio Scacciati, who, along with his lovely Marianna, led the +pleasant _sans souci_ life of an artist. They often recalled poor old +Signor Pasquale whom they had deceived, and all that had taken place in +Nicolo Musso's theatre. Antonio asked Salvator how he had contrived to +enlist in his cause the active interest not only of Musso but of the +excellent Formica, and of Agli too. Salvator replied that it had been +very easy, for Formica was his most intimate friend in Rome, so that it +had been a work of both pleasure and love to him to arrange everything +on the stage in accordance with the instructions Salvator gave him. +Antonio protested that, though still he could not help laughing over +the scene which had paved the way to his happiness, he yet wished with +all his heart to be reconciled to the old gentleman, even if he should +never touch a penny of Marianna's fortune, which the old gentleman had +confiscated; the practice of his art brought him in a sufficient +income. Marianna too was often unable to restrain her tears when she +thought that her father's brother might go down to his grave without +having forgiven her the trick which she had played upon him; and so +Pasquale's hatred overshadowed like a dark cloud the brightness of +their happiness. Salvator comforted them both--Antonio and Marianna--by +saying that time had adjusted still worse difficulties, and that chance +would perhaps bring the old gentleman near them in some less dangerous +way than if they had remained in Rome, or were to return there now. + +We shall see that a prophetic spirit spoke in Salvator. + +A considerable time elapsed, when one day Antonio burst into Salvator's +studio breathless and pale as death. "Salvator!" he cried, "Salvator, +my friend, my protector! I am lost if you do not help me. Pasquale +Capuzzi is here; he has procured a warrant for my arrest for the +seduction of his niece." + +"But what can Signor Pasquale do against you now?" asked Salvator. +"Have you not been united to Marianna by the Church?" + +"Oh!" replied Antonio, giving way completely to despair, "the blessing +of the Church herself cannot save me from ruin. Heaven knows by what +means the old man has been able to approach the Pope's nephew.[6.3] At +any rate the Pope's nephew has taken the old man under his protection, +and has infused into him the hope that the Holy Father will declare my +marriage with Marianna to be null and void; nay, yet further, that he +will grant him (the old man) dispensation to marry his niece." + +"Stop!" cried Salvator, "now I see it all; now I see it all. What +threatens to be your ruin, Antonio, is this man's hatred against me. +For I must tell you that this nephew of the Pope's, a proud, coarse, +boorish clown, was amongst the animals in my picture to whom the +Goddess of Fortune is dispensing her gifts. That it was I who helped +you to win your Marianna, though indirectly, is well known, not only to +this man, but to all Rome,--which is quite reason enough to persecute +you since they cannot do anything to me. And so, Antonio, having +brought this misfortune upon you, I must make every effort to assist +you, and all the more that you are my dearest and most intimate friend. +But, by the saints! I don't see in what way I can frustrate your +enemies' little game"---- + +Therewith Salvator, who had continued to paint at a picture all the +time, laid aside brush, palette, and maulstick, and, rising up from his +easel, began to pace the room backwards and forwards, his arms crossed +over his breast, Antonio meanwhile being quite wrapt up in his own +thoughts, and with his eyes fixed unchangeably upon the floor. + +At length Salvator paused before him and said with a smile, "See here, +Antonio, I cannot do anything myself against your powerful enemies, but +I know one who can help you, and who will help you, and that is--Signor +Formica." + +"Oh!" said Antonio, "don't jest with an unhappy man, whom nothing can +save." + +"What! you are despairing again?" exclaimed Salvator, who was now all +at once in the merriest humour, and he laughed aloud. "I tell you, +Antonio, my friend Formica shall help you in Florence as he helped you +in Rome. Go away quietly home and comfort your Marianna, and calmly +wait and see how things will turn out. I trust you will be ready at the +shortest notice to do what Signor Formica, who is really here in +Florence at the present time, shall require of you." This Antonio +promised most faithfully, and hope revived in him again, and +confidence. + +Signor Pasquale Capuzzi was not a little astonished at receiving a +formal invitation from the Accademia de' Percossi. "Ah!" he exclaimed, +"Florence is the place then where a man's merits are recognised, where +Pasquale Capuzzi di Senigaglia, a man gifted with the most excellent +talents, is known and valued." Thus the thought of his knowledge and +his art, and the honour that was shown him on their account, overcame +the repugnance which he would otherwise have felt against a society at +the head of which stood Salvator Rosa. His Spanish gala-dress was more +carefully brushed than ever; his conical hat was equipped with a new +feather; his shoes were provided with new ribbons; and so Signor +Pasquale appeared at Salvator's as brilliant as a rose-chafer,[6.4] and +his face all sunshine. The magnificence which he saw on all sides of +him, even Salvator himself, who had received him dressed in the richest +apparel, inspired him with deep respect, and, after the manner of +little souls, who, though at first proud and puffed up, at once grovel +in the dust whenever they come into contact with what they feel to be +superior to themselves, Pasquale's behaviour towards Salvator, whom he +would gladly have done a mischief to in Rome, was nothing but humility +and submissive deference. + +So much attention was paid to Signor Pasquale from all sides, his +judgment was appealed to so unconditionally, and so much was said about +his services to art, that he felt new life infused into his veins; and +an unusual spirit was awakened within him, so that his utterances on +many points were more sensible than might have been expected. If it be +added that never in his life before had he been so splendidly +entertained, and never had he drunk such inspiriting wine, it will +readily be conceived that his pleasure was intensified from moment to +moment, and that he forgot all the wrong which had been done him at +Rome as well as the unpleasant business which had brought him to +Florence. Often after their banquets the Academicians were wont to +amuse themselves with short impromptu dramatic representations, and so +this evening the distinguished playwright and poet Filippo Apolloni +called upon those who generally took part in them to bring the +festivities to a fitting conclusion with one of their usual +performances. Salvator at once withdrew to make all the necessary +preparations. + +Not long afterwards the bushes at the farther end of the +banqueting-hall began to move, the branches with their foliage were +parted, and a little theatre provided with seats for the spectators +became visible. + +"By the saints!" exclaimed Pasquale Capuzzi, terrified, "where am I? +Surely that's Nicolo Musso's theatre." + +Without heeding his exclamation, Evangelista Toricelli and Andrea +Cavalcanti--both of them grave, respectable, venerable men--took him by +the arm and led him to a seat immediately in front of the stage, taking +their places on each side of him. + +This was no sooner done than there appeared on the boards--Formica in +the character of Pasquarello. + +"You reprobate, Formica!" shouted Pasquale, leaping to his feet and +shaking his doubled fist at the stage. Toricelli and Cavalcanti's +stern, reproving glances bade him sit still and keep quiet. + +Pasquarello wept and sobbed, and cursed his destiny, which brought him +nothing but grief and heart-breaking, declared he didn't know how he +should ever set about it if he wanted to laugh again, and concluded by +saying that if he could look upon blood without fainting, he should +certainly cut his throat, or should throw himself in the Tiber if he +could only let that cursed swimming alone when he got into the water. + +Doctor Gratiano now joined him, and inquired what was the cause of his +trouble. + +Whereupon Pasquarello asked him whether he did not know anything about +what had taken place in the house of his master, Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi di Senigaglia, whether he did not know that an infamous +scoundrel had carried off pretty Marianna, his master's niece? + +"Ah!" murmured Capuzzi, "I see you want to make your excuses to me, +Formica; you wish for my pardon--well, we shall see." + +Doctor Gratiano expressed his sympathy, and observed that the scoundrel +must have gone to work very cunningly to have eluded all the inquiries +which had been instituted by Capuzzi. + +"Ho! ho!" rejoined Pasquarello. "The Doctor need not imagine that the +scoundrel, Antonio Scacciati, had succeeded in escaping the sharpness +of Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, supported as he was, moreover, by powerful +friends. Antonio had been arrested, his marriage with Marianna +annulled, and Marianna herself had again come into Capuzzi's power. + +"Has he got her again?" shouted Capuzzi, beside himself; "has he got +her again, good Pasquale? Has he got his little darling, his Marianna? +Is the knave Antonio arrested? Heaven bless you, Formica!" + +"You take a too keen interest in the play, Signor Pasquale," said +Cavalcanti, quite seriously. "Pray permit the actors to proceed with +their parts without interrupting them in this disturbing fashion." + +Ashamed of himself, Signor Pasquale resumed his seat, for he had again +risen to his feet. + +Doctor Gratiano asked what had taken place then. + +A wedding, continued Pasquarello, a wedding had taken place. Marianna +had repented of what she had done; Signor Pasquale had obtained the +desired dispensation from the Holy Father, and had married his niece. + +"Yes, yes," murmured Pasquale Capuzzi to himself, whilst his eyes +sparkled with delight, "yes, yes, my dear, good Formica; he will marry +his sweet Marianna, the happy Pasquale. He knew that the dear little +darling had always loved him, and that it was only Satan who had led +her astray." + +"Why then, everything is all right," said Doctor Gratiano, "and there's +no cause for lamentation." + +Pasquarello began, however, to weep and sob more violently than before, +till at length, as if overcome by the terrible nature of his pain, he +fainted away. Doctor Gratiano ran backwards and forwards in great +distress, was so sorry he had no smelling-bottle with him, felt in all +his pockets, and at last produced a roasted chestnut, and put it under +the insensible Pasquarello's nose. He at once recovered, sneezing +violently, and begging him to attribute his faintness to his weak +nerves, he related how that, immediately after the marriage, Marianna +had been afflicted with the saddest melancholy, continually calling +upon Antonio, and treating the old gentleman with contempt and +aversion. But the old fellow, quite infatuated by his passion and +jealousy, had not ceased to torment the poor girl with his folly in the +most abominable way. And here Pasquarello mentioned a host of mad +tricks which Pasquale had done, and which were really current in Rome +about him. Signor Capuzzi sat on thorns; he murmured at intervals, +"Curse you, Formica! You are lying! What evil spirit is in you?" He was +only prevented from bursting out into a violent passion by Toricelli +and Cavalcanti, who sat watching him with an earnest gaze. + +Pasquarello concluded his narration by telling that Marianna had at +length succumbed to her unsatisfied longing for her lover, her great +distress of mind, and the innumerable tortures which were inflicted +upon her by the execrable old fellow, and had died in the flower of her +youth. + +At this moment was heard a mournful _De profundis_ sung by hollow, +husky voices, and men clad in long black robes appeared on the stage, +bearing an open coffin, within which was seen the corpse of lovely +Marianna wrapped in white shrouds. Behind it came Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi in the deepest mourning, feebly staggering along and wailing +aloud, beating his breast, and crying in a voice of despair, "O +Marianna! Marianna!" + +So soon as the real Capuzzi caught sight of his niece's corpse he broke +out into loud lamentations, and both Capuzzis, the one on the stage and +the one off, gave vent to their grief in the most heartrending wails +and groans, "O Marianna! O Marianna! O unhappy me! Alas! Alas for me!" + +Let the reader picture to himself the open coffin with the corpse of +the lovely child, surrounded by the hired mourners singing their dismal +_De profundis_ in hoarse voices, and then the comical masks of +Pasquarello and Dr. Gratiano, who were expressing their grief in the +most ridiculous gestures, and lastly the two Capuzzis, wailing and +screeching in despair. Indeed, all who were witnesses of the +extraordinary spectacle could not help feeling, even in the midst of +the unrestrained laughter they had burst out into at sight of the +wonderful old gentleman, that their hearts were chilled by a most +uncomfortable feeling of awe. + +Now the stage grew dark, and it thundered and lightened, and there rose +up from below a pale ghostly figure, which bore most unmistakably the +features of Capuzzi's dead brother, Pietro of Senigaglia, Marianna's +father. + +"O you infamous brother, Pasquale! what have you done with my daughter? +what have you done with my daughter?" wailed the figure, in a dreadful +and hollow voice. "Despair, you atrocious murderer of my child. You +shall find your reward in hell." + +Capuzzi on the stage dropped on the floor as if struck by lightning, +and at the same moment the real Capuzzi reeled from his seat +unconscious. The bushes rustled together again, and the stage was gone, +and also Marianna and Capuzzi and the ghastly spectre Pietro. Signor +Pasquale Capuzzi lay in such a dead faint that it cost a good deal of +trouble to revive him. + +At length he came to himself with a deep sigh, and, stretching out both +hands before him as if to ward off the horror that had seized him, he +cried in a husky voice, "Leave me alone, Pietro." Then a torrent of +tears ran down his cheeks, and he sobbed and cried, "Oh! Marianna, my +darling child--my--my Marianna." "But recollect yourself," said now +Cavalcanti, "recollect yourself, Signor Pasquale, it was only on the +stage that you saw your niece dead. She is alive; she is here to crave +pardon for the thoughtless step which love and also your own +inconsiderate conduct drove her to take." + +And Marianna, and behind her Antonio Scacciati, now ran forward from +the back part of the hall and threw themselves at the old gentleman's +feet,--for he had meanwhile been placed in an easy chair. Marianna, +looking most charming and beautiful, kissed his hands and bathed them +with scalding tears, beseeching him to pardon both her and Antonio, to +whom she had been united by the blessing of the Church. + +Suddenly the hot blood surged into the old man's pallid face, fury +flashed from his eyes, and he cried in a half-choked voice, "Oh! you +abominable scoundrel! You poisonous serpent whom I nourished in my +bosom!" Then old Toricelli, with grave and thoughtful dignity, put +himself in front of Capuzzi, and told him that he (Capuzzi) had seen a +representation of the fate that would inevitably and irremediably +overtake him if he had the hardihood to carry out his wicked purpose +against Antonio and Marianna's peace and happiness. He depicted in +startling colours the folly and madness of amorous old men, who call +down upon their own heads the most ruinous mischief which Heaven can +inflict upon a man, since all the love which might have fallen to their +share is lost, and instead hatred and contempt shoot their fatal darts +at them from every side. + +At intervals lovely Marianna cried in a tone that went to everybody's +heart, "O my uncle, I will love and honour you as my own father; you +will kill me by a cruel death if you rob me of my Antonio." And all the +eminent men by whom the old gentleman was surrounded cried with one +accord that it would not be possible for a man like Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi di Senigaglia, a patron of art and himself an artist, not to +forgive the young people, and assume the part of father to the most +lovely of ladies, not possible that he could refuse to accept with joy +as his son-in-law such an artist as Antonio Scacciati, who was highly +esteemed throughout all Italy and richly crowned with fame and honour. + +Then it was patent to see that a violent struggle went on within the +old gentleman. He sighed, moaned, clasped his hands before his face, +and, whilst Toricelli was continuing to speak in a most impressive +manner, and Marianna was appealing to him in the most touching accents, +and the rest were extolling Antonio all they knew how, he kept looking +down--now upon his niece, now upon Antonio, whose splendid clothes and +rich chains of honour bore testimony to the truth of what was said +about the artistic fame he had earned. + +Gone was all rage out of Capuzzi's countenance; he sprang up with +radiant eyes, and pressed Marianna to his heart, saying, "Yes, I +forgive you, my dear child; I forgive you, Antonio. Far be it from me +to disturb your happiness. You are right, my worthy Signor Toricelli; +Formica has shown me in the tableau on the stage all the mischief and +ruin that would have befallen me had I carried out my insane design. I +am cured, quite cured of my folly. But where is Signor Formica, where +is my good physician? let me thank him a thousand times for my cure; it +is he alone who has accomplished it. The terror that he has caused me +to feel has brought about a complete revolution within me." + +Pasquarello stepped forward. Antonio threw himself upon his neck, +crying, "O Signor Formica, you to whom I owe my life, my all--oh! take +off this disfiguring mask, that I may see your face, that Formica may +not be any longer a mystery to me." + +Pasquarello took off his cap and his artificial mask, which looked like +a natural face, since it offered not the slightest hindrance to the +play of countenance, and this Formica, this Pasquarello, was +transformed into--Salvator Rosa.[6.5] + +"Salvator!" exclaimed Marianna, Antonio, and Capuzzi, utterly +astounded. + +"Yes," said that wonderful man, "it is Salvator Rosa, whom the Romans +would not recognise as painter and poet, but who in the character of +Formica drew from them, without their being aware of it, almost every +evening for more than a year, in Nicolo Musso's wretched little +theatre, the most noisy and most demonstrative storms of applause, from +whose mouth they willingly took all the scorn, and all the satiric +mockery of what is bad, which they would on no account listen to and +see in Salvator's poems and pictures. It is Salvator Formica who has +helped you, dear Antonio." + +"Salvator," began old Capuzzi, "Salvator Rosa, albeit I have always +regarded you as my worst enemy, yet I have always prized your artistic +skill very highly, and now I love you as the worthiest friend I have, +and beg you to accept my friendship in return." + +"Tell me," replied Salvator, "tell me, my worthy Signor Pasquale, what +service I can render you, and accept my assurances beforehand, that I +will leave no stone unturned to accomplish whatever you may ask of me." + +And now the genial smile which had not been seen upon Capuzzi's face +since Marianna had been carried off, began to steal back again. Taking +Salvator's hand he lisped in a low voice, "My dear Signor Salvator, you +possess an unlimited influence over good Antonio; beseech him in my +name to permit me to spend the short rest of my days with him, and my +dear daughter Marianna, and to accept at my hands the inheritance left +her by her mother, as well as the good dowry which I was thinking of +adding to it. And he must not look jealous if I occasionally kiss the +dear sweet child's little white hand; and ask him--every Sunday at +least when I go to Mass, to trim up my rough moustache, for there's +nobody in all the wide world understands it so well as he does." + +It cost Salvator an effort to repress his laughter at the strange old +man; but before he could make any reply, Antonio and Marianna, +embracing the old gentleman, assured him that they should not believe +he was fully reconciled to them, and should not be really happy, until +he came to live with them as their dear father, never to leave them +again. Antonio added that not only on Sunday, but every other day, he +would trim Capuzzi's moustache as elegantly as he knew how, and +accordingly the old gentleman was perfectly radiant with delight. +Meanwhile a splendid supper had been prepared, to which the entire +company now turned in the best of spirits. + +In taking my leave of you, beloved reader, I wish with all my heart +that, whilst you have been reading the story of the wonderful Signor +Formica, you have derived as much pure pleasure from it as Salvator and +all his friends felt on sitting down to their supper. + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "SIGNOR FORMICA": + + PART I. + +[Footnote 1.1: This tale was written for the Leipsic _Taschenbuch zum +geselligen Vergnuegen_ for the year 1820.] + +[Footnote 1.2: Respecting the facts of Salvator Rosa's life there +exists more than one disputed statement; and of these perhaps the most +disputed is his share of complicity (if any) in the evil doings of +Calabrian banditti. Poor, and of a wild and self-willed disposition, +but with a strong and independent character, he was unable to find a +suitable master in Naples, so, at the age of eighteen, he set out to +study the lineaments of nature face to face, and spent some time amidst +the grand and savage scenery of Calabria. Here it is certain that he +came into contact with the banditti who haunted those wild regions. He +is alleged to have been taken prisoner by a band, and to have become a +member of the troop. Accepting this as true, we may perhaps charitably +believe that he was prompted not so much by a regard for his own +safety, as by the wish to secure a rare opportunity for studying his +art unhindered, and also charitably hope that the accusations of his +enemies, that he actively participated in the deeds of his companions, +are unfounded, or, at any rate, exaggerations. It may be remarked that +the "Life and Times of Salvator Rosa" by Lady Morgan (1824) is +admittedly a romance rather than an accurate and faithful biography.] + +[Footnote 1.3: Masaniello, a poor fisherman of Naples, was for a week +in July, 1647, absolute king of his native city. At that time Naples +was subject to the crown of Spain. The people, provoked by the +exasperating rapacity and extortion of the Viceroy of the King of +Spain, rose in rebellion, choosing Masaniello as their captain and +leader.] + + +[Footnote 1.4: Aniello Falcone (1600-65), teacher of Salvator Rosa and +founder of the _Compagnia della Morte_, painted battle-pieces which +bear a high reputation. His works are said to be scarce and much sought +after.] + +[Footnote 1.5: At first the young fisherman administered stern but +impartial justice; but afterwards his mind seems to have reeled under +the intense excitement and strain of his position, and he began to act +the part of an arbitrary and cruel tyrant. Several hundreds of persons +are said to have been put to death by his order during the few days he +held power.] + +[Footnote 1.6: Amongst them more than one by Salvator himself.] + +[Footnote 1.7: A French painter and writer on painting; was born near +Bordeaux in 1746, and died at Paris in 1809. Besides other works he +wrote _Observations sur quelques grands peintres_ (1807).] + +[Footnote 1.8: The sequin was a gold coin of Venice and Tuscany, worth +about 9s. 3d. It is sometimes used as equivalent to ducat (see note p. +98).] + +[Footnote 1.9: The Corso is a wide thoroughfare running almost north +and south from the Piazza del Popolo, a square on the north side +of Rome, to the centre of the city. It is in the Corso that the +horse-races used to take place during the Carnival.] + +[Footnote 1.10: The great painter Sanzio Raphael.] + + + + PART II. + + +[Footnote 2.1: Annabale Caracci, a painter of Bologna of the latter +half of the sixteenth century. His most celebrated work is a series of +frescoes on mythological subjects in the Farnese Palace at Rome. Along +with his cousin Lodovico and his brother Agostino he founded the +so-called Eclectic School of Painting; their maxim was that "accurate +observation of Nature should be combined with judicious imitation of +the best masters." The Caracci enjoyed the highest reputation amongst +their contemporaries as teachers of their art. Annibale died in 1609; +Masaniello's revolt occurred, as already mentioned, in 1647; Antonio +must therefore have been at least fifty years of age. This however is +not the only anachronism that Hoffmann is guilty of.] + +[Footnote 2.2: The well-known painter Guido, born in 1575 and died in +1642. He early excited the envy of Annibale Caracci.] + +[Footnote 2.3: Mattia Preti, known as _Il Cavaliere Calabrese_, from +his having been born in Calabria. He was a painter of the Neapolitan +school and a pupil of Lanfranco, and lived during the greater part of +the seventeenth century. Owing to his many disputes and quarrels he was +more than once compelled to flee for his life.] + +[Footnote 2.4: The Accademia di San Luca, a school of art, founded at +Rome about 1595, Federigo Zuccaro being its first director.] + +[Footnote 2.5: Alessandro Tiarini (1577-1668) of Bologna, was a pupil +of the Caracci.] + +[Footnote 2.6: Giovanni Francesco Gessi (1588-1649), sometimes called +"The second Guido," was a pupil of Guido.] + +[Footnote 2.7: Sementi or Semenza (1580-1638), also a pupil of Guido.] + +[Footnote 2.8: Giovanni Lanfranco (1581-1647), studied first under +Agostino Caracci. He was the first to encourage the early genius of +Salvator Rosa.] + +[Footnote 2.9: Zampieri Domenichino (1581-1641) was a pupil of the +Caracci. The work here referred to is a series of frescoes, which he +did not live to quite finish, representing the events of the life of +St. Januarius, in the chapel of the Tesoro of the cathedral at Naples, +which he began in 1630. + +The malicious spite which the text attributes to the rivals of +Domenichino is not at all exaggerated. There did really exist a +so-called "Cabal of Naples," consisting chiefly of the painters +Corenzio, Ribera, and Caracciolo, who leagued together to shut out all +competition from other artists; and their persecution of the Bolognese +Domenichino is well known. Often on returning to his work in the +morning he found that some one had obliterated what he had done on the +previous day. + +Not only have we a faithful picture of the Italian artist's life in the +middle of the seventeenth century depicted in this tale, but the actual +facts of the lives of Salvator Rosa, of Preti, of the Caracci, as well +as the existence of Falcone's _Compagnia della Morte_, furnish ample +materials and illustrations of the wild lives they did lead, of their +jealousies and heartburnings, of their quarrelsomeness and +revengefulness. They seem to have been ready on all occasions to +exchange the brush for the sword. They were filled to overflowing with +restless energy. The atmosphere of the age they lived in was highly +charged with vigour of thought and an irrepressible vitality for +artistic production. Under the conditions which these things suppose +the artists of that age could not well have been otherwise than what +they were.] + +[Footnote 2.10: Belisario Corenzio, a Greek (1558-1643). "Envious, +jealous, cunning, treacherous, quarrelsome, he looked upon all other +painters as his enemies."] + +[Footnote 2.11: Giuseppe Ribera, called _Il Spagnoletto_, a Spaniard by +birth (1589), was a painter of the Neapolitan school, and delighted in +horrible and gloomy subjects. He died in 1656.] + +[Footnote 2.12: Don Diego Velazquez de Silva, the great Spanish +painter, born in 1599, died in 1660. He twice visited Italy and Naples, +in 1629-31 and in 1648-51, and was for a time intimate with Ribera.] + +[Footnote 2.13: This suggests the legend of Quentin Massys of Antwerp +and the fly, or the still older, but perhaps not more historical story +of the Greek painters, Zeuxis and the bunch of grapes, which the birds +came to peck at, and Parrhasius, whose curtain deceived even Zeuxis +himself.] + +[Footnote 2.14: Giuseppe Cesari, colled Josepin or the Chevalier +d'Arpin, a painter of the Roman school, born in 1560 or 1568, died in +1640. He posed as an artistic critic in Rome during the later years of +his life, and his judgment was claimed by his friends to be +authoritative and final in all matters connected with art.] + +[Footnote 2.15: In a previous note it was stated that the Via del Corse +ran from the Piazza del Popolo southwards to the centre of the city of +Rome. Besides this street there are two others which run from the same +square in almost the same direction, the Via di Ripetta and the Via del +Babuino, the former being to the west of the Via del Corso and the +latter to the east, and each gradually gets more distant from the Via +del Corso the farther it recedes from the Square. On the opposite side +of the Piazza del Popolo is the Porta del Popolo.] + +[Footnote 2.16: Girolamo Frescobaldi, the most distinguished organist +of the seventeenth century, born about 1587 or 1588. He early won a +reputation both as a singer and as an organist.] + +[Footnote 2.17: Senigaglia or Senigallia, a town on the Adriatic, in +the province of Ancona.] + +[Footnote 2.18: Pietro Francesco Cavalli, whose real name was +Caletti-Bruni. He was organist at St. Mark's at Venice for about +thirty-six years (1640-1676). He composed both for the Church and for +the stage.] + +[Footnote 2.19: Giacomo Carissimi, attached during the greater part of +his life to the church of San Apollinaris at Rome. He died in 1674. He +did much for musical art, perfecting recitative and advancing the +development of the sacred cantata. His accompaniments are generally +distinguished for "lightness and variety."] + + + + PART III. + + +[Footnote 3.1: The first silver ducat is believed to have been struck +in 1140 by Roger II., Norman king of Sicily; and ducats have been +struck constantly since the twelfth century, especially at Venice (see +_Merchant of Venice_). They have varied considerably both in weight and +fineness, and consequently in value, at different times and places. +Ducats have been struck in both gold and silver. The early Venetian +silver ducat was worth about five shillings. The name is said, +according to one account, to have been derived from the last word of +the Latin legend found on the earliest Venetian gold coins:--_Sit tibi, +Christe, datus, quem tu regis, ducatus_ (duchy); according to another +account it is taken from "_il ducato_," the name generally applied to +the duchy of Apulia.] + + + + PART IV. + + +[Footnote 4.1: Female parts continued to be played by boys in England +down to the Restoration (1660). The practice of women playing in female +parts was introduced somewhat earlier in Italy, but only in certain +kinds of performances.] + +[Footnote 4.2: This word is undoubtedly connected with _Pasquillo_ (a +satire), or with _Pasquino_, a Roman cobbler of the fifteenth century, +whose shop stood near the Braschi Palace, near the Piazza Navona. He +lashed the follies of his day, particularly the vices of the clergy, +with caustic satire, scathing wit, and bitter stinging irony. After his +death his name was transferred to a mutilated statue, upon which such +satiric effusions continued to be fastened. + +Pasquarello would thus combine the characteristics of the English clown +with those of the Roman Pasquino.] + +[Footnote 4.3: Doctor Gratiano, a character in the popular Italian +theatre called _Commedia dell' Arte_, was represented as a Bolognese +doctor, and wore a mask with black nose and forehead and red cheeks. +His _role_ was that of a "pedantic and tedious poser."] + + + + PART VI. + +[Footnote 6.1: This was Ferdinand II., a member of the illustrious +Florentine family of the Medici. He upheld the family tradition by his +liberal patronage of science and letters.] + +[Footnote 6.2: Evangelista Torricelli, the successor of the great +Galileo in the chair of philosophy and mathematics at Florence, is +inseparably associated with the discovery that water in a suction-pump +will only rise to the height of about thirty-two feet. This paved the +way to his invention of the barometer in 1643. + +Other members of the Accademia de' Percossi were Dati, Lippi, Viviani, +Bandinelli, &c.] + +[Footnote 6.3: An allusion to the well-known nepotism of the Popes. The +man here mentioned is one of the Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII.] + +[Footnote 6.4: _Cetonia aurata_, L., called also the gold-chafer; it is +coloured green and gold.] + +[Footnote 6.5: The painter Salvator Rosa did really play at Rome the +_role_ of Pasquarello here attributed to him; but it was on the +occasion of his second visit to the Eternal City about 1639. On the +other hand, it was after 1647 (the year of Masaniello's revolt at +Naples) that Salvator again came to Rome (the third visit), where he +stayed until he was obliged to flee farther, namely, to Florence, in +consequence of the two pictures already mentioned. It seems evident +therefore that Hoffmann has not troubled himself about his dates, or +strict historical fidelity, but seems rather to have combined the +incidents of the painter's two visits to Rome--_i.e._, his second and +his third visit.] + + + + + THE SAND-MAN.[1] + + + NATHANAEL TO LOTHAIR. + +I know you are all very uneasy because I have not written for such a +long, long time. Mother, to be sure, is angry, and Clara, I dare say, +believes I am living here in riot and revelry, and quite forgetting my +sweet angel, whose image is so deeply engraved upon my heart and mind. +But that is not so; daily and hourly do I think of you all, and my +lovely Clara's form comes to gladden me in my dreams, and smiles upon +me with her bright eyes, as graciously as she used to do in the days +when I went in and out amongst you. Oh! how could I write to you in the +distracted state of mind in which I have been, and which, until now, +has quite bewildered me! A terrible thing has happened to me. Dark +forebodings of some awful fate threatening me are spreading themselves +out over my head like black clouds, impenetrable to every friendly ray +of sunlight. I must now tell you what has taken place; I must, that I +see well enough, but only to think upon it makes the wild laughter +burst from my lips. Oh! my dear, dear Lothair, what shall I say to make +you feel, if only in an inadequate way, that that which happened to me +a few days ago could thus really exercise such a hostile and disturbing +influence upon my life? Oh that you were here to see for yourself! but +now you will, I suppose, take me for a superstitious ghost-seer. In a +word, the terrible thing which I have experienced, the fatal effect of +which I in vain exert every effort to shake off, is simply that some +days ago, namely, on the 30th October, at twelve o'clock at noon, a +dealer in weather-glasses came into my room and wanted to sell me one +of his wares. I bought nothing, and threatened to kick him downstairs, +whereupon he went away of his own accord. + +You will conclude that it can only be very peculiar relations-- +relations intimately intertwined with my life--that can give +significance to this event, and that it must be the person of this +unfortunate hawker which has had such a very inimical effect upon me. +And so it really is. I will summon up all my faculties in order to +narrate to you calmly and patiently as much of the early days of my +youth as will suffice to put matters before you in such a way that your +keen sharp intellect may grasp everything clearly and distinctly, in +bright and living pictures. Just as I am beginning, I hear you laugh +and Clara say, "What's all this childish nonsense about!" Well, laugh +at me, laugh heartily at me, pray do. But, good God! my hair is +standing on end, and I seem to be entreating you to laugh at me in the +same sort of frantic despair in which Franz Moor entreated Daniel to +laugh him to scorn.[2] But to my story. + +Except at dinner we, _i.e._, I and my brothers and sisters, saw but +little of our father all day long. His business no doubt took up most +of his time. After our evening meal, which, in accordance with an old +custom, was served at seven o'clock, we all went, mother with us, into +father's room, and took our places around a round table. My father +smoked his pipe, drinking a large glass of beer to it. Often he told us +many wonderful stories, and got so excited over them that his pipe +always went out; I used then to light it for him with a spill, and this +formed my chief amusement. Often, again, he would give us picture-books +to look at, whilst he sat silent and motionless in his easy-chair, +puffing out such dense clouds of smoke that we were all as it were +enveloped in mist. On such evenings mother was very sad; and directly +it struck nine she said, "Come, children! off to bed! Come! The +'Sand-man' is come I see." And I always did seem to hear something +trampling upstairs with slow heavy steps; that must be the Sand-man. +Once in particular I was very much frightened at this dull trampling +and knocking; as mother was leading us out of the room I asked her, "O +mamma! but who is this nasty Sand-man who always sends us away from +papa? What does he look like?" "There is no Sand-man, my dear child," +mother answered; "when I say the Sand-man is come, I only mean that you +are sleepy and can't keep your eyes open, as if somebody had put sand +in them." This answer of mother's did not satisfy me; nay, in my +childish mind the thought clearly unfolded itself that mother denied +there was a Sand-man only to prevent us being afraid,--why, I always +heard him come upstairs. Full of curiosity to learn something more +about this Sand-man and what he had to do with us children, I at length +asked the old woman who acted as my youngest sister's attendant, what +sort of a man he was--the Sand-man? "Why, 'thanael, darling, don't you +know?" she replied. "Oh! he's a wicked man, who comes to little +children when they won't go to bed and throws handfuls of sand in their +eyes, so that they jump out of their heads all bloody; and he puts them +into a bag and takes them to the half-moon as food for his little ones; +and they sit there in the nest and have hooked beaks like owls, and +they pick naughty little boys' and girls' eyes out with them." After +this I formed in my own mind a horrible picture of the cruel Sand-man. +When anything came blundering upstairs at night I trembled with fear +and dismay; and all that my mother could get out of me were the +stammered words "The Sandman! the Sand-man!" whilst the tears coursed +down my cheeks. Then I ran into my bedroom, and the whole night through +tormented myself with the terrible apparition of the Sand-man. I +was quite old enough to perceive that the old woman's tale about the +Sand-man and his little ones' nest in the half-moon couldn't be +altogether true; nevertheless the Sand-man continued to be for me a +fearful incubus, and I was always seized with terror--my blood always +ran cold, not only when I heard anybody come up the stairs, but when I +heard anybody noisily open my father's room door and go in. Often he +stayed away for a long season altogether; then he would come several +times in close succession. + +This went on for years, without my being able to accustom myself to +this fearful apparition, without the image of the horrible Sand-man +growing any fainter in my imagination. His intercourse with my father +began to occupy my fancy ever more and more; I was restrained from +asking my father about him by an unconquerable shyness; but as the +years went on the desire waxed stronger and stronger within me to +fathom the mystery myself and to see the fabulous Sand-man. He had been +the means of disclosing to me the path of the wonderful and the +adventurous, which so easily find lodgment in the mind of the child. I +liked nothing better than to hear or read horrible stories of goblins, +witches, Tom Thumbs, and so on; but always at the head of them all +stood the Sand-man, whose picture I scribbled in the most extraordinary +and repulsive forms with both chalk and coal everywhere, on the tables, +and cupboard doors, and walls. When I was ten years old my mother +removed me from the nursery into a little chamber off the corridor not +far from my father's room. We still had to withdraw hastily whenever, +on the stroke of nine, the mysterious unknown was heard in the house. +As I lay in my little chamber I could hear him go into father's room, +and soon afterwards I fancied there was a fine and peculiar smelling +steam spreading itself through the house. As my curiosity waxed +stronger, my resolve to make somehow or other the Sand-man's +acquaintance took deeper root. Often when my mother had gone past, I +slipped quickly out of my room into the corridor, but I could never see +anything, for always before I could reach the place where I could get +sight of him, the Sand-man was well inside the door. At last, unable to +resist the impulse any longer, I determined to conceal myself in +father's room and there wait for the Sand-man. + +One evening I perceived from my father's silence and mother's sadness +that the Sand-man would come; accordingly, pleading that I was +excessively tired, I left the room before nine o'clock and concealed +myself in a hiding-place close beside the door. The street door +creaked, and slow, heavy, echoing steps crossed the passage towards +the stairs. Mother hurried past me with my brothers and sisters. +Softly--softly--I opened father's room door. He sat as usual, silent +and motionless, with his back towards it; he did not hear me; and in a +moment I was in and behind a curtain drawn before my father's open +wardrobe, which stood just inside the room. Nearer and nearer and +nearer came the echoing footsteps. There was a strange coughing and +shuffling and mumbling outside. My heart beat with expectation and +fear. A quick step now close, close beside the door, a noisy rattle of +the handle, and the door flies open with a bang. Recovering my courage +with an effort, I take a cautious peep out. In the middle of the room +in front of my father stands the Sand-man, the bright light of the lamp +falling full upon his face. The Sand-man, the terrible Sand-man, is the +old advocate _Coppelius_ who often comes to dine with us. + +But the most hideous figure could not have awakened greater trepidation +in my heart than this Coppelius did. Picture to yourself a large +broad-shouldered man, with an immensely big head, a face the colour of +yellow-ochre, grey bushy eyebrows, from beneath which two piercing, +greenish, cat-like eyes glittered, and a prominent Roman nose hanging +over his upper lip. His distorted mouth was often screwed up into a +malicious smile; then two dark-red spots appeared on his cheeks, and a +strange hissing noise proceeded from between his tightly clenched +teeth. He always wore an ash-grey coat of an old-fashioned cut, a +waistcoat of the same, and nether extremities to match, but black +stockings and buckles set with stones on his shoes. His little wig +scarcely extended beyond the crown of his head, his hair was curled +round high up above his big red ears, and plastered to his temples with +cosmetic, and a broad closed hair-bag stood out prominently from his +neck, so that you could see the silver buckle that fastened his folded +neck-cloth. Altogether he was a most disagreeable and horribly ugly +figure; but what we children detested most of all was his big coarse +hairy hands; we could never fancy anything that he had once touched. +This he had noticed; and so, whenever our good mother quietly placed a +piece of cake or sweet fruit on our plates, he delighted to touch it +under some pretext or other, until the bright tears stood in our eyes, +and from disgust and loathing we lost the enjoyment of the tit-bit that +was intended to please us. And he did just the same thing when father +gave us a glass of sweet wine on holidays. Then he would quickly pass +his hand over it, or even sometimes raise the glass to his blue lips, +and he laughed quite sardonically when all we dared do was to express +our vexation in stifled sobs. He habitually called us the "little +brutes;" and when he was present we might not utter a sound; and we +cursed the ugly spiteful man who deliberately and intentionally spoilt +all our little pleasures. Mother seemed to dislike this hateful +Coppelius as much as we did; for as soon as he appeared her +cheerfulness and bright and natural manner were transformed into sad, +gloomy seriousness. Father treated him as if he were a being of some +higher race, whose ill-manners were to be tolerated, whilst no efforts +ought to be spared to keep him in good-humour. He had only to give a +slight hint, and his favourite dishes were cooked for him and rare wine +uncorked. + +As soon as I saw this Coppelius, therefore, the fearful and hideous +thought arose in my mind that he, and he alone, must be the Sand-man; +but I no longer conceived of the Sand-man as the bugbear in the +old nurse's fable, who fetched children's eyes and took them to the +half-moon as food for his little ones--no! but as an ugly spectre-like +fiend bringing trouble and misery and ruin, both temporal and +everlasting, everywhere wherever he appeared. + +I was spell-bound on the spot. At the risk of being discovered, and, as +I well enough knew, of being severely punished, I remained as I was, +with my head thrust through the curtains listening. My father received +Coppelius in a ceremonious manner. "Come, to work!" cried the latter, +in a hoarse snarling voice, throwing off his coat. Gloomily and +silently my father took off his dressing-gown, and both put on long +black smock-frocks. Where they took them from I forgot to notice. +Father opened the folding-doors of a cupboard in the wall; but I saw +that what I had so long taken to be a cupboard was really a dark +recess, in which was a little hearth. Coppelius approached it, and a +blue flame crackled upwards from it. Round about were all kinds of +strange utensils. Good God! as my old father bent down over the fire +how different he looked! His gentle and venerable features seemed to be +drawn up by some dreadful convulsive pain into an ugly, repulsive +Satanic mask. He looked like Coppelius. Coppelius plied the red-hot +tongs and drew bright glowing masses out of the thick smoke and began +assiduously to hammer them. I fancied that there were men's faces +visible round about, but without eyes, having ghastly deep black holes +where the eyes should have been. "Eyes here! Eyes here!" cried +Coppelius, in a hollow sepulchral voice. My blood ran cold with horror; +I screamed and tumbled out of my hiding-place into the floor. Coppelius +immediately seized upon me. "You little brute! You little brute!" he +bleated, grinding his teeth. Then, snatching me up, he threw me on +the hearth, so that the flames began to singe my hair. "Now we've got +eyes--eyes--a beautiful pair of children's eyes," he whispered, and, +thrusting his hands into the flames he took out some red-hot grains and +was about to strew them into my eyes. Then my father clasped his hands +and entreated him, saying, "Master, master, let my Nathanael keep his +eyes--oh! do let him keep them." Coppelius laughed shrilly and replied, +"Well then, the boy may keep his eyes and whine and pule his way +through the world; but we will now at any rate observe the mechanism of +the hand and the foot." And therewith he roughly laid hold upon me, so +that my joints cracked, and twisted my hands and my feet, pulling them +now this way, and now that, "That's not quite right altogether! It's +better as it was!--the old fellow knew what he was about." Thus lisped +and hissed Coppelius; but all around me grew black and dark; a sudden +convulsive pain shot through all my nerves and bones; I knew nothing +more. + +I felt a soft warm breath fanning my cheek; I awakened as if out of the +sleep of death; my mother was bending over me. "Is the Sand-man still +there?" I stammered. "No, my dear child; he's been gone a long, long +time; he'll not hurt you." Thus spoke my mother, as she kissed her +recovered darling and pressed him to her heart. But why should I tire +you, my dear Lothair? why do I dwell at such length on these details, +when there's so much remains to be said? Enough--I was detected in my +eavesdropping, and roughly handled by Coppelius. Fear and terror had +brought on a violent fever, of which I lay ill several weeks. "Is the +Sand-man still there?" these were the first words I uttered on coming +to myself again, the first sign of my recovery, of my safety. Thus, you +see, I have only to relate to you the most terrible moment of my youth +for you to thoroughly understand that it must not be ascribed to the +weakness of my eyesight if all that I see is colourless, but to the +fact that a mysterious destiny has hung a dark veil of clouds about my +life, which I shall perhaps only break through when I die. + +Coppelius did not show himself again; it was reported he had left the +town. + +It was about a year later when, in pursuance of the old unchanged +custom, we sat around the round table in the evening. Father was in +very good spirits, and was telling us amusing tales about his youthful +travels. As it was striking nine we all at once heard the street door +creak on its hinges, and slow ponderous steps echoed across the passage +and up the stairs. "That is Coppelius," said my mother, turning pale. +"Yes, it is Coppelius," replied my father in a faint broken voice. The +tears started from my mother's eyes. "But, father, father," she cried, +"must it be so?" "This is the last time," he replied; "this is the +last time he will come to me, I promise you. Go now, go and take the +children. Go, go to bed--good-night." + +As for me, I felt as if I were converted into cold, heavy stone; I +could not get my breath. As I stood there immovable my mother seized me +by the arm. "Come, Nathanael! do come along!" I suffered myself to be +led away; I went into my room. "Be a good boy and keep quiet," mother +called after me; "get into bed and go to sleep." But, tortured by +indescribable fear and uneasiness, I could not close my eyes. That +hateful, hideous Coppelius stood before me with his glittering eyes, +smiling maliciously down upon me; in vain did I strive to banish the +image. Somewhere about midnight there was a terrific crack, as if a +cannon were being fired off. The whole house shook; something went +rustling and clattering past my door; the house-door was pulled to with +a bang. "That is Coppelius," I cried, terror-struck, and leapt out of +bed. Then I heard a wild heartrending scream; I rushed into my father's +room; the door stood open, and clouds of suffocating smoke came rolling +towards me. The servant-maid shouted, "Oh! my master! my master!" On +the floor in front of the smoking hearth lay my father, dead, his face +burned black and fearfully distorted, my sisters weeping and moaning +around him, and my mother lying near them in a swoon. "Coppelius, you +atrocious fiend, you've killed my father," I shouted. My senses left +me. Two days later, when my father was placed in his coffin, his +features were mild and gentle again as they had been when he was alive. +I found great consolation in the thought that his association with the +diabolical Coppelius could not have ended in his everlasting ruin. + +Our neighbours had been awakened by the explosion; the affair got +talked about, and came before the magisterial authorities, who wished +to cite Coppelius to clear himself. But he had disappeared from the +place, leaving no traces behind him. + +Now when I tell you, my dear friend, that the weather-glass hawker I +spoke of was the villain Coppelius, you will not blame me for seeing +impending mischief in his inauspicious reappearance. He was differently +dressed; but Coppelius's figure and features are too deeply impressed +upon my mind for me to be capable of making a mistake in the matter. +Moreover, he has not even changed his name. He proclaims himself here, +I learn, to be a Piedmontese mechanician, and styles himself Giuseppe +Coppola. + +I am resolved to enter the lists against him and revenge my father's +death, let the consequences be what they may. + +Don't say a word to mother about the reappearance of this odious +monster. Give my love to my darling Clara; I will write to her when I +am in a somewhat calmer frame of mind. Adieu, &c. + + * * * * * * + + CLARA TO NATHANAEL. + +You are right, you have not written to me for a very long time, but +nevertheless I believe that I still retain a place in your mind and +thoughts. It is a proof that you were thinking a good deal about me +when you were sending off your last letter to brother Lothair, for +instead of directing it to him you directed it to me. With joy I tore +open the envelope, and did not perceive the mistake until I read the +words, "Oh! my dear, dear Lothair." Now I know I ought not to have read +any more of the letter, but ought to have given it to my brother. But +as you have so often in innocent raillery made it a sort of reproach +against me that I possessed such a calm, and, for a woman, cool-headed +temperament that I should be like the woman we read of--if the house +was threatening to tumble down, I should, before hastily fleeing, stop +to smooth down a crumple in the window-curtains--I need hardly tell you +that the beginning of your letter quite upset me. I could scarcely +breathe; there was a bright mist before my eyes. Oh! my darling +Nathanael! what could this terrible thing be that had happened? +Separation from you--never to see you again, the thought was like a +sharp knife in my heart. I read on and on. Your description of that +horrid Coppelius made my flesh creep. I now learnt for the first time +what a terrible and violent death your good old father died. Brother +Lothair, to whom I handed over his property, sought to comfort me, but +with little success. That horrid weather-glass hawker Giuseppe Coppola +followed me everywhere; and I am almost ashamed to confess it, but he +was able to disturb my sound and in general calm sleep with all sorts +of wonderful dream-shapes. But soon--the next day--I saw everything in +a different light. Oh! do not be angry with me, my best-beloved, if, +despite your strange presentiment that Coppelius will do you some +mischief, Lothair tells you I am in quite as good spirits, and just the +same as ever. + +I will frankly confess, it seems to me that all that was fearsome and +terrible of which you speak, existed only in your own self, and that +the real true outer world had but little to do with it. I can quite +admit that old Coppelius may have been highly obnoxious to you +children, but your real detestation of him arose from the fact that he +hated children. + +Naturally enough the gruesome Sand-man of the old nurse's story was +associated in your childish mind with old Coppelius, who, even though +you had not believed in the Sand-man, would have been to you a ghostly +bugbear, especially dangerous to children. His mysterious labours along +with your father at night-time were, I daresay, nothing more than +secret experiments in alchemy, with which your mother could not be over +well pleased, owing to the large sums of money that most likely were +thrown away upon them; and besides, your father, his mind full of the +deceptive striving after higher knowledge, may probably have become +rather indifferent to his family, as so often happens in the case of +such experimentalists. So also it is equally probable that your father +brought about his death by his own imprudence, and that Coppelius is +not to blame for it. I must tell you that yesterday I asked our +experienced neighbour, the chemist, whether in experiments of this kind +an explosion could take place which would have a momentarily fatal +effect. He said, "Oh, certainly!" and described to me in his prolix and +circumstantial way how it could be occasioned, mentioning at the same +time so many strange and funny words that I could not remember them at +all. Now I know you will be angry at your Clara, and will say, "Of the +Mysterious which often clasps man in its invisible arms there's not a +ray can find its way into this cold heart. She sees only the varied +surface of the things of the world, and, like the little child, is +pleased with the golden glittering fruit; at the kernel of which lies +the fatal poison." + +Oh! my beloved Nathanael, do you believe then that the intuitive +prescience of a dark power working within us to our own ruin cannot +exist also in minds which are cheerful, natural, free from care? But +please forgive me that I, a simple girl, presume in any way to indicate +to you what I really think of such an inward strife. After all, I +should not find the proper words, and you would only laugh at me, not +because my thoughts were stupid, but because I was so foolish as to +attempt to tell them to you. + +If there is a dark and hostile power which traitorously fixes a thread +in our hearts in order that, laying hold of it and drawing us by means +of it along a dangerous road to ruin, which otherwise we should not +have trod--if, I say, there is such a power, it must assume within us a +form like ourselves, nay, it must be ourselves; for only in that way +can we believe in it, and only so understood do we yield to it so far +that it is able to accomplish its secret purpose. So long as we have +sufficient firmness, fortified by cheerfulness, to always acknowledge +foreign hostile influences for what they really are, whilst we quietly +pursue the path pointed out to us by both inclination and calling, then +this mysterious power perishes in its futile struggles to attain the +form which is to be the reflected image of ourselves. It is also +certain, Lothair adds, that if we have once voluntarily given ourselves +up to this dark physical power, it often reproduces within us the +strange forms which the outer world throws in our way, so that thus it +is we ourselves who engender within ourselves the spirit which by some +remarkable delusion we imagine to speak in that outer form. It is the +phantom of our own self whose intimate relationship with, and whose +powerful influence upon our soul either plunges us into hell or +elevates us to heaven. Thus you will see, my beloved Nathanael, that I +and brother Lothair have well talked over the subject of dark powers +and forces; and now, after I have with some difficulty written down the +principal results of our discussion, they seem to me to contain many +really profound thoughts. Lothair's last words, however, I don't quite +understand altogether; I only dimly guess what he means; and yet I +cannot help thinking it is all very true, I beg you, dear, strive to +forget the ugly advocate Coppelius as well as the weather-glass hawker +Giuseppe Coppola. Try and convince yourself that these foreign +influences can have no power over you, that it is only the belief in +their hostile power which can in reality make them dangerous to you. If +every line of your letter did not betray the violent excitement of your +mind, and if I did not sympathise with your condition from the bottom +of my heart, I could in truth jest about the advocate Sand-man and +weather-glass hawker Coppelius. Pluck up your spirits! Be cheerful! I +have resolved to appear to you as your guardian-angel if that ugly man +Coppola should dare take it into his head to bother you in your dreams, +and drive him away with a good hearty laugh. I'm not afraid of him and +his nasty hands, not the least little bit; I won't let him either as +advocate spoil any dainty tit-bit I've taken, or as Sand-man rob me of +my eyes. + My darling, darling Nathanael, + Eternally your, &c. &c. + + + * * * * * * + + NATHANAEL TO LOTHAIR. + +I am very sorry that Clara opened and read my last letter to you; of +course the mistake is to be attributed to my own absence of mind. She +has written me a very deep philosophical letter, proving conclusively +that Coppelius and Coppola only exist in my own mind and are phantoms +of my own self, which will at once be dissipated, as soon as I look +upon them in that light. In very truth one can hardly believe that the +mind which so often sparkles in those bright, beautifully smiling, +childlike eyes of hers like a sweet lovely dream could draw such subtle +and scholastic distinctions. She also mentions your name. You have been +talking about me. I suppose you have been giving her lectures, since +she sifts and refines everything so acutely. But enough of this! +I must now tell you it is most certain that the weather-glass hawker +Giuseppe Coppola is not the advocate Coppelius. I am attending the +lectures of our recently appointed Professor of Physics, who, like the +distinguished naturalist,[3] is called Spalanzani, and is of Italian +origin. He has known Coppola for many years; and it is also easy to +tell from his accent that he really is a Piedmontese. Coppelius was a +German, though no honest German, I fancy. Nevertheless I am not quite +satisfied. You and Clara will perhaps take me for a gloomy dreamer, but +nohow can I get rid of the impression which Coppelius's cursed face +made upon me. I am glad to learn from Spalanzani that he has left the +town. This Professor Spalanzani is a very queer fish. He is a little +fat man, with prominent cheek-bones, thin nose, projecting lips, and +small piercing eyes. You cannot get a better picture of him than by +turning over one of the Berlin pocket-almanacs[4] and looking at +Cagliostro's[5] portrait engraved by Chodowiecki;[6] Spalanzani looks +just like him. + +Once lately, as I went up the steps to his house, I perceived that +beside the curtain which generally covered a glass door there was a +small chink. What it was that excited my curiosity I cannot explain; +but I looked through. In the room I saw a female, tall, very slender, +but of perfect proportions, and splendidly dressed, sitting at a little +table, on which she had placed both her arms, her hands being folded +together. She sat opposite the door, so that I could easily see her +angelically beautiful face. She did not appear to notice me, and there +was moreover a strangely fixed look about her eyes, I might almost say +they appeared as if they had no power of vision; I thought she was +sleeping with her eyes open. I felt quite uncomfortable, and so I +slipped away quietly into the Professor's lecture-room, which was close +at hand. Afterwards I learnt that the figure which I had seen was +Spalanzani's daughter, Olimpia, whom he keeps locked in a most wicked +and unaccountable way, and no man is ever allowed to come near her. +Perhaps, however, there is after all, something peculiar about her; +perhaps she's an idiot or something of that sort. But why am I telling +you all this? I could have told you it all better and more in detail +when I see you. For in a fortnight I shall be amongst you. I must +see my dear sweet angel, my Clara, again. Then the little bit of +ill-temper, which, I must confess, took possession of me after her +fearfully sensible letter, will be blown away. And that is the reason +why I am not writing to her as well to-day. With all best wishes, &c. + + * * * * * * + +Nothing more strange and extraordinary can be imagined, gracious +reader, than what happened to my poor friend, the young student +Nathanael, and which I have undertaken to relate to you. Have you ever +lived to experience anything that completely took possession of your +heart and mind and thoughts to the utter exclusion of everything else? +All was seething and boiling within you; your blood, heated to fever +pitch, leapt through your veins and inflamed your cheeks. Your gaze was +so peculiar, as if seeking to grasp in empty space forms not seen of +any other eye, and all your words ended in sighs betokening some +mystery. Then your friends asked you, "What is the matter with you, my +dear friend? What do you see?" And, wishing to describe the inner +pictures in all their vivid colours, with their lights and their +shades, you in vain struggled to find words with which to express +yourself. But you felt as if you must gather up all the events that had +happened, wonderful, splendid, terrible, jocose, and awful, in the very +first word, so that the whole might be revealed by a single electric +discharge, so to speak. Yet every word and all that partook of the +nature of communication by intelligible sounds seemed to be +colourless, cold, and dead. Then you try and try again, and stutter and +stammer, whilst your friends' prosy questions strike like icy winds +upon your heart's hot fire until they extinguish it. But if, like a +bold painter, you had first sketched in a few audacious strokes the +outline of the picture you had in your soul, you would then easily have +been able to deepen and intensify the colours one after the other, +until the varied throng of living figures carried your friends away, +and they, like you, saw themselves in the midst of the scene that had +proceeded out of your own soul. + +Strictly speaking, indulgent reader, I must indeed confess to you, +nobody has asked me for the history of young Nathanael; but you are +very well aware that I belong to that remarkable class of authors who, +when they are bearing anything about in their minds in the manner I +have just described, feel as if everybody who comes near them, and also +the whole world to boot, were asking, "Oh! what is it? Oh! do tell us, +my good sir?" Hence I was most powerfully impelled to narrate to you +Nathanael's ominous life. My soul was full of the elements of wonder +and extraordinary peculiarity in it; but, for this very reason, and +because it was necessary in the very beginning to dispose you, +indulgent reader, to bear with what is fantastic--and that is not a +little thing--I racked my brain to find a way of commencing the story +in a significant and original manner, calculated to arrest your +attention. To begin with "Once upon a time," the best beginning for a +story, seemed to me too tame; with "In the small country town S---- +lived," rather better, at any rate allowing plenty of room to work up +to the climax; or to plunge at once _in medias res_, "'Go to the +devil!' cried the student Nathanael, his eyes blazing wildly with rage +and fear, when the weather-glass hawker Giuseppe Coppola"--well, that +is what I really had written, when I thought I detected something of +the ridiculous in Nathanael's wild glance; and the history is anything +but laughable. I could not find any words which seemed fitted to +reflect in even the feeblest degree the brightness of the colours of my +mental vision. I determined not to begin at all. So I pray you, +gracious reader, accept the three letters which my friend Lothair has +been so kind as to communicate to me as the outline of the picture, +into which I will endeavour to introduce more and more colour as I +proceed with my narrative. Perhaps, like a good portrait-painter, I may +succeed in depicting more than one figure in such wise that you will +recognise it as a good likeness without being acquainted with the +original, and feel as if you had very often seen the original with your +own bodily eyes. Perhaps, too, you will then believe that nothing is +more wonderful, nothing more fantastic than real life, and that all +that a writer can do is to present it as a dark reflection from a dim +cut mirror. + +In order to make the very commencement more intelligible, it is +necessary to add to the letters that, soon after the death of +Nathanael's father, Clara and Lothair, the children of a distant +relative, who had likewise died, leaving them orphans, were taken by +Nathanael's mother into her own house. Clara and Nathanael conceived a +warm affection for each other, against which not the slightest +objection in the world could be urged. When therefore Nathanael left +home to prosecute his studies in G----, they were betrothed. It is from +G---- that his last letter is written, where he is attending the +lectures of Spalanzani, the distinguished Professor of Physics. + +I might now proceed comfortably with my narration, did not at this +moment Clara's image rise up so vividly before my eyes that I cannot +turn them away from it, just as I never could when she looked upon me +and smiled so sweetly. Nowhere would she have passed for beautiful; +that was the unanimous opinion of all who professed to have any +technical knowledge of beauty. But whilst architects praised the pure +proportions of her figure and form, painters averred that her neck, +shoulders, and bosom were almost too chastely modelled, and yet, on the +other hand, one and all were in love with her glorious Magdalene hair, +and talked a good deal of nonsense about Battoni-like[7] colouring. One +of them, a veritable romanticist, strangely enough likened her eyes to +a lake by Ruisdael,[8] in which is reflected the pure azure of the +cloudless sky, the beauty of woods and flowers, and all the bright and +varied life of a living landscape. Poets and musicians went still +further and said, "What's all this talk about seas and reflections? How +can we look upon the girl without feeling that wonderful heavenly songs +and melodies beam upon us from her eyes, penetrating deep down into our +hearts, till all becomes awake and throbbing with emotion? And if we +cannot sing anything at all passable then, why, we are not worth much; +and this we can also plainly read in the rare smile which flits around +her lips when we have the hardihood to squeak out something in her +presence which we pretend to call singing, in spite of the fact that it +is nothing more than a few single notes confusedly linked together." +And it really was so. Clara had the powerful fancy of a bright, +innocent, unaffected child, a woman's deep and sympathetic heart, and +an understanding clear, sharp, and discriminating. Dreamers and +visionaries had but a bad time of it with her; for without saying very +much--she was not by nature of a talkative disposition--she plainly +asked, by her calm steady look, and rare ironical smile, "How can you +imagine, my dear friends, that I can take these fleeting shadowy images +for true living and breathing forms?" For this reason many found fault +with her as being cold, prosaic, and devoid of feeling; others, +however, who had reached a clearer and deeper conception of life, were +extremely fond of the intelligent, childlike, large-hearted girl But +none had such an affection for her as Nathanael, who was a zealous and +cheerful cultivator of the fields of science and art. Clara clung to +her lover with all her heart; the first clouds she encountered in life +were when he had to separate from her. With what delight did she fly +into his arms when, as he had promised in his last letter to Lothair, +he really came back to his native town and entered his mother's room! +And as Nathanael had foreseen, the moment he saw Clara again he no +longer thought about either the advocate Coppelius or her sensible +letter; his ill-humour had quite disappeared. + +Nevertheless Nathanael was right when he told his friend Lothair that +the repulsive vendor of weather-glasses, Coppola, had exercised a fatal +and disturbing influence upon his life. It was quite patent to all; for +even during the first few days he showed that he was completely and +entirely changed. He gave himself up to gloomy reveries, and moreover +acted so strangely; they had never observed anything at all like it in +him before. Everything, even his own life, was to him but dreams and +presentiments. His constant theme was that every man who delusively +imagined himself to be free was merely the plaything of the cruel sport +of mysterious powers, and it was vain for man to resist them; he must +humbly submit to whatever destiny had decreed for him. He went so far +as to maintain that it was foolish to believe that a man could do +anything in art or science of his own accord; for the inspiration in +which alone any true artistic work could be done did not proceed from +the spirit within outwards, but was the result of the operation +directed inwards of some Higher Principle existing without and beyond +ourselves. + +This mystic extravagance was in the highest degree repugnant to Clara's +clear intelligent mind, but it seemed vain to enter upon any attempt at +refutation. Yet when Nathanael went on to prove that Coppelius was the +Evil Principle which had entered into him and taken possession of him +at the time he was listening behind the curtain, and that this hateful +demon would in some terrible way ruin their happiness, then Clara grew +grave and said, "Yes, Nathanael. You are right; Coppelius is an Evil +Principle; he can do dreadful things, as bad as could a Satanic power +which should assume a living physical form, but only--only if you do +not banish him from your mind and thoughts. So long as you believe in +him he exists and is at work; your belief in him is his only power." +Whereupon Nathanael, quite angry because Clara would only grant the +existence of the demon in his own mind, began to dilate at large upon +the whole mystic doctrine of devils and awful powers, but Clara +abruptly broke off the theme by making, to Nathanael's very great +disgust, some quite commonplace remark. Such deep mysteries are sealed +books to cold, unsusceptible characters, he thought, without being +clearly conscious to himself that he counted Clara amongst these +inferior natures, and accordingly he did not remit his efforts to +initiate her into these mysteries. In the morning, when she was helping +to prepare breakfast, he would take his stand beside her, and read all +sorts of mystic books to her, until she begged him--"But, my dear +Nathanael, I shall have to scold you as the Evil Principle which +exercises a fatal influence upon my coffee. For if I do as you wish, +and let things go their own way, and look into your eyes whilst you +read, the coffee will all boil over into the fire, and you will none of +you get any breakfast." Then Nathanael hastily banged the book to and +ran away in great displeasure to his own room. + +Formerly he had possessed a peculiar talent for writing pleasing, +sparkling tales, which Clara took the greatest delight in listening to; +but now his productions were gloomy, unintelligible, and wanting in +form, so that, although Clara out of forbearance towards him did not +say so, he nevertheless felt how very little interest she took in them. +There was nothing that Clara disliked so much as what was tedious; at +such times her intellectual sleepiness was not to be overcome; it was +betrayed both in her glances and in her words. Nathanael's effusions +were, in truth, exceedingly tedious. His ill-humour at Clara's cold +prosaic temperament continued to increase; Clara could not conceal her +distaste of his dark, gloomy, wearying mysticism; and thus both began +to be more and more estranged from each other without exactly being +aware of it themselves. The image of the ugly Coppelius had, as +Nathanael was obliged to confess to himself, faded considerably in his +fancy, and it often cost him great pains to present him in vivid +colours in his literary efforts, in which he played the part of the +ghoul of Destiny. At length it entered into his head to make his dismal +presentiment that Coppelius would ruin his happiness the subject of a +poem. He made himself and Clara, united by true love, the central +figures, but represented a black hand as being from time to time thrust +into their life and plucking out a joy that had blossomed for them. At +length, as they were standing at the altar, the terrible Coppelius +appeared and touched Clara's lovely eyes, which leapt into Nathanael's +own bosom, burning and hissing like bloody sparks. Then Coppelius laid +hold upon him, and hurled him into a blazing circle of fire, which spun +round with the speed of a whirlwind, and, storming and blustering, +dashed away with him. The fearful noise it made was like a furious +hurricane lashing the foaming sea-waves until they rise up like black, +white-headed giants in the midst of the raging struggle. But through +the midst of the savage fury of the tempest he heard Clara's voice +calling, "Can you not see me, dear? Coppelius has deceived you; they +were not my eyes which burned so in your bosom; they were fiery drops +of your own heart's blood. Look at me, I have got my own eyes still." +Nathanael thought, "Yes, that is Clara, and I am hers for ever." Then +this thought laid a powerful grasp upon the fiery circle so that it +stood still, and the riotous turmoil died away rumbling down a dark +abyss. Nathanael looked into Clara's eyes; but it was death whose gaze +rested so kindly upon him. + +Whilst Nathanael was writing this work he was very quiet and +sober-minded; he filed and polished every line, and as he had chosen to +submit himself to the limitations of metre, he did not rest until all +was pure and musical. When, however, he had at length finished it and +read it aloud to himself he was seized with horror and awful dread, and +he screamed, "Whose hideous voice is this?" But he soon came to see in +it again nothing beyond a very successful poem, and he confidently +believed it would enkindle Clara's cold temperament, though to what end +she should be thus aroused was not quite clear to his own mind, nor yet +what would be the real purpose served by tormenting her with these +dreadful pictures, which prophesied a terrible and ruinous end to her +affection. + +Nathanael and Clara sat in his mother's little garden. Clara was bright +and cheerful, since for three entire days her lover, who had been busy +writing his poem, had not teased her with his dreams or forebodings. +Nathanael, too, spoke in a gay and vivacious way of things of merry +import, as he formerly used to do, so that Clara said, "Ah! now I have +you again. We have driven away that ugly Coppelius, you see." Then it +suddenly occurred to him that he had got the poem in his pocket which +he wished to read to her. He at once took out the manuscript and began +to read. Clara, anticipating something tedious as usual, prepared to +submit to the infliction, and calmly resumed her knitting. But as the +sombre clouds rose up darker and darker she let her knitting fall on +her lap and sat with her eyes fixed in a set stare upon Nathanael's +face. He was quite carried away by his own work, the fire of enthusiasm +coloured his cheeks a deep red, and tears started from his eyes. At +length he concluded, groaning and showing great lassitude; grasping +Clara's hand, he sighed as if he were being utterly melted in +inconsolable grief, "Oh! Clara! Clara!" She drew him softly to her +heart and said in a low but very grave and impressive tone, "Nathanael, +my darling Nathanael, throw that foolish, senseless, stupid thing into +the fire." Then Nathanael leapt indignantly to his feet, crying, as he +pushed Clara from him, "You damned lifeless automaton!" and rushed +away. Clara was cut to the heart, and wept bitterly. "Oh! he has never +loved me, for he does not understand me," she sobbed. + +Lothair entered the arbour. Clara was obliged to tell him all that had +taken place. He was passionately fond of his sister; and every word of +her complaint fell like a spark upon his heart, so that the displeasure +which he had long entertained against his dreamy friend Nathanael was +kindled into furious anger. He hastened to find Nathanael, and +upbraided him in harsh words for his irrational behaviour towards his +beloved sister. The fiery Nathanael answered him in the same style. "A +fantastic, crack-brained fool," was retaliated with, "A miserable, +common, everyday sort of fellow." A meeting was the inevitable +consequence. They agreed to meet on the following morning behind the +garden-wall, and fight, according to the custom of the students of the +place, with sharp rapiers. They went about silent and gloomy; Clara +had both heard and seen the violent quarrel, and also observed the +fencing-master bring the rapiers in the dusk of the evening. She had a +presentiment of what was to happen. They both appeared at the appointed +place wrapped up in the same gloomy silence, and threw off their coats. +Their eyes flaming with the bloodthirsty light of pugnacity, they were +about to begin their contest when Clara burst through the garden door. +Sobbing, she screamed, "You savage, terrible men! Cut me down before +you attack each other; for how can I live when my lover has slain my +brother, or my brother slain my lover?" Lothair let his weapon fall and +gazed silently upon the ground, whilst Nathanael's heart was rent with +sorrow, and all the affection which he had felt for his lovely Clara in +the happiest days of her golden youth was awakened within him. His +murderous weapon, too, fell from his hand; he threw himself at Clara's +feet. "Oh! can you ever forgive me, my only, my dearly loved Clara? Can +you, my dear brother Lothair, also forgive me?" Lothair was touched by +his friend's great distress; the three young people embraced each other +amidst endless tears, and swore never again to break their bond of love +and fidelity. + +Nathanael felt as if a heavy burden that had been weighing him down to +the earth was now rolled from off him, nay, as if by offering +resistance to the dark power which had possessed him, he had rescued +his own self from the ruin which had threatened him. Three happy days +he now spent amidst the loved ones, and then returned to G----, where +he had still a year to stay before settling down in his native town for +life. + +Everything having reference to Coppelius had been concealed from the +mother, for they knew she could not think of him without horror, since +she as well as Nathanael believed him to be guilty of causing her +husband's death. + + * * * * * * * + +When Nathanael came to the house where he lived he was greatly +astonished to find it burnt down to the ground, so that nothing but the +bare outer walls were left standing amidst a heap of ruins. Although +the fire had broken out in the laboratory of the chemist who lived on +the ground-floor, and had therefore spread upwards, some of Nathanael's +bold, active friends had succeeded in time in forcing a way into his +room in the upper storey and saving his books and manuscripts and +instruments. They had carried them all uninjured into another house, +where they engaged a room for him; this he now at once took possession +of. That he lived opposite Professor Spalanzani did not strike him +particularly, nor did it occur to him as anything more singular that he +could, as he observed, by looking out of his window, see straight into +the room where Olimpia often sat alone. Her figure he could plainly +distinguish, although her features were uncertain and confused. It did +at length occur to him, however, that she remained for hours together +in the same position in which he had first discovered her through the +glass door, sitting at a little table without any occupation whatever, +and it was evident that she was constantly gazing across in his +direction. He could not but confess to himself that he had never seen a +finer figure. However, with Clara mistress of his heart, he remained +perfectly unaffected by Olimpia's stiffness and apathy; and it was only +occasionally that he sent a fugitive glance over his compendium across +to her--that was all. + +He was writing to Clara; a light tap came at the door. At his summons +to "Come in," Coppola's repulsive face appeared peeping in. Nathanael +felt his heart beat with trepidation; but, recollecting what Spalanzani +had told him about his fellow-countryman Coppola, and what he had +himself so faithfully promised his beloved in respect to the Sand-man +Coppelius, he was ashamed at himself for this childish fear of +spectres. Accordingly, he controlled himself with an effort, and said, +as quietly and as calmly as he possibly could, "I don't want to buy any +weather-glasses, my good friend; you had better go elsewhere." Then +Coppola came right into the room, and said in a hoarse voice, screwing +up his wide mouth into a hideous smile, whilst his little eyes flashed +keenly from beneath his long grey eyelashes, "What! Nee weather-gless? +Nee weather-gless? 've got foine oyes as well--foine oyes!" Affrighted, +Nathanael cried, "You stupid man, how can you have eyes?--eyes--eyes?" +But Coppola, laying aside his weather-glasses, thrust his hands into +his big coat-pockets and brought out several spy-glasses and +spectacles, and put them on the table. "Theer! Theer! Spect'cles! +Spect'cles to put 'n nose! Them's my oyes--foine oyes." And he +continued to produce more and more spectacles from his pockets until +the table began to gleam and flash all over. Thousands of eyes were +looking and blinking convulsively, and staring up at Nathanael; he +could not avert his gaze from the table. Coppola went on heaping up his +spectacles, whilst wilder and ever wilder burning flashes crossed +through and through each other and darted their blood-red rays into +Nathanael's breast. Quite overcome, and frantic with terror, he +shouted, "Stop! stop! you terrible man!" and he seized Coppola by the +arm, which he had again thrust into his pocket in order to bring out +still more spectacles, although the whole table was covered all over +with them. With a harsh disagreeable laugh Coppola gently freed +himself; and with the words "So! went none! Well, here foine gless!" +he swept all his spectacles together, and put them back into his +coat-pockets, whilst from a breast-pocket he produced a great number of +larger and smaller perspectives. As soon as the spectacles were gone +Nathanael recovered his equanimity again; and, bending his thoughts +upon Clara, he clearly discerned that the gruesome incubus had +proceeded only from himself, as also that Coppola was a right honest +mechanician and optician, and far from being Coppelius's dreaded double +and ghost And then, besides, none of the glasses which Coppola now +placed on the table had anything at all singular about them, at least +nothing so weird as the spectacles; so, in order to square accounts +with himself, Nathanael now really determined to buy something of the +man. He took up a small, very beautifully cut pocket perspective, and +by way of proving it looked through the window. Never before in his +life had he had a glass in his hands that brought out things so clearly +and sharply and distinctly. Involuntarily he directed the glass upon +Spalanzani's room; Olimpia sat at the little table as usual, her arms +laid upon it and her hands folded. Now he saw for the first time the +regular and exquisite beauty of her features. The eyes, however, seemed +to him to have a singular look of fixity and lifelesness. But as he +continued to look closer and more carefully through the glass he +fancied a light like humid moonbeams came into them. It seemed as if +their power of vision was now being enkindled; their glances shone with +ever-increasing vivacity. Nathanael remained standing at the window as +if glued to the spot by a wizard's spell, his gaze rivetted +unchangeably upon the divinely beautiful Olimpia. A coughing and +shuffling of the feet awakened him out of his enchaining dream, as it +were. Coppola stood behind him, "Tre zechini" (three ducats). Nathanael +had completely forgotten the optician; he hastily paid the sum +demanded. "Ain't 't? Foine gless? foine gless?" asked Coppola in his +harsh unpleasant voice, smiling sardonically. "Yes, yes, yes," rejoined +Nathanael impatiently; "adieu, my good friend." But Coppola did not +leave the room without casting many peculiar side-glances upon +Nathanael; and the young student heard him laughing loudly on the +stairs. "Ah well!" thought he, "he's laughing at me because I've paid +him too much for this little perspective--because I've given him too +much money--that's it" As he softly murmured these words he fancied he +detected a gasping sigh as of a dying man stealing awfully through the +room; his heart stopped beating with fear. But to be sure he had heaved +a deep sigh himself; it was quite plain. "Clara is quite right," said +he to himself, "in holding me to be an incurable ghost-seer; and yet +it's very ridiculous--ay, more than ridiculous, that the stupid thought +of having paid Coppola too much for his glass should cause me this +strange anxiety; I can't see any reason for it." + +Now he sat down to finish his letter to Clara; but a glance through the +window showed him Olimpia still in her former posture. Urged by an +irresistible impulse he jumped up and seized Coppola's perspective; nor +could he tear himself away from the fascinating Olimpia until his +friend and brother Siegmund called for him to go to Professor +Spalanzani's lecture. The curtains before the door of the all-important +room were closely drawn, so that he could not see Olimpia. Nor could he +even see her from his own room during the two following days, +notwithstanding that he scarcely ever left his window, and maintained a +scarce interrupted watch through Coppola's perspective upon her room. +On the third day curtains even were drawn across the window. Plunged +into the depths of despair,--goaded by longing and ardent desire, he +hurried outside the walls of the town. Olimpia's image hovered about +his path in the air and stepped forth out of the bushes, and peeped up +at him with large and lustrous eyes from the bright surface of the +brook. Clara's image was completely faded from his mind; he had no +thoughts except for Olimpia. He uttered his love-plaints aloud and in a +lachrymose tone, "Oh! my glorious, noble star of love, have you only +risen to vanish again, and leave me in the darkness and hopelessness of +night?" + +Returning home, he became aware that there was a good deal of noisy +bustle going on in Spalanzani's house. All the doors stood wide open; +men were taking in all kinds of gear and furniture; the windows of the +first floor were all lifted off their hinges; busy maid-servants with +immense hair-brooms were driving backwards and forwards dusting and +sweeping, whilst within could be heard the knocking and hammering of +carpenters and upholsterers. Utterly astonished, Nathanael stood still +in the street; then Siegmund joined him, laughing, and said, "Well, +what do you say to our old Spalanzani?" Nathanael assured him that he +could not say anything, since he knew not what it all meant; to his +great astonishment, he could hear, however, that they were turning the +quiet gloomy house almost inside out with their dusting and cleaning +and making of alterations. Then he learned from Siegmund that +Spalanzani intended giving a great concert and ball on the following +day, and that half the university was invited. It was generally +reported that Spalanzani was going to let his daughter Olimpia, whom he +had so long so jealously guarded from every eye, make her first +appearance. + +Nathanael received an invitation. At the appointed hour, when the +carriages were rolling up and the lights were gleaming brightly in the +decorated halls, he went across to the Professor's, his heart beating +high with expectation. The company was both numerous and brilliant. +Olimpia was richly and tastefully dressed. One could not but admire her +figure and the regular beauty of her features. The striking inward +curve of her back, as well as the wasp-like smallness of her waist, +appeared to be the result of too-tight lacing. There was something +stiff and measured in her gait and bearing that made an unfavourable +impression upon many; it was ascribed to the constraint imposed upon +her by the company. The concert began. Olimpia played on the piano with +great skill; and sang as skilfully an _aria di bravura_, in a voice +which was, if anything, almost too sharp, but clear as glass bells. +Nathanael was transported with delight; he stood in the background +farthest from her, and owing to the blinding lights could not quite +distinguish her features. So, without being observed, he took Coppola's +glass out of his pocket, and directed it upon the beautiful Olimpia. +Oh! then he perceived how her yearning eyes sought him, how every note +only reached its full purity in the loving glance which penetrated to +and inflamed his heart. Her artificial _roulades_ seemed to him to be +the exultant cry towards heaven of the soul refined by love; and when +at last, after the _cadenza_, the long trill rang shrilly and loudly +through the hall, he felt as if he were suddenly grasped by burning +arms and could no longer control himself,--he could not help shouting +aloud in his mingled pain and delight, "Olimpia!" All eyes were turned +upon him; many people laughed. The face of the cathedral organist wore +a still more gloomy look than it had done before, but all he said was, +"Very well!" + +The concert came to an end, and the ball began. Oh! to dance with +her--with her--that was now the aim of all Nathanael's wishes, of all +his desires. But how should he have courage to request her, the queen +of the ball, to grant him the honour of a dance? And yet he couldn't +tell how it came about, just as the dance began, he found himself +standing close beside her, nobody having as yet asked her to be his +partner; so, with some difficulty stammering out a few words, he +grasped her hand. It was cold as ice; he shook with an awful, frosty +shiver. But, fixing his eyes upon her face, he saw that her glance was +beaming upon him with love and longing, and at the same moment he +thought that the pulse began to beat in her cold hand, and the warm +life-blood to course through her veins. And passion burned more +intensely in his own heart also; he threw his arm round her beautiful +waist and whirled her round the hall. He had always thought that he +kept good and accurate time in dancing, but from the perfectly +rhythmical evenness with which Olimpia danced, and which frequently put +him quite out, he perceived how very faulty his own time really was. +Notwithstanding, he would not dance with any other lady; and everybody +else who approached Olimpia to call upon her for a dance, he would have +liked to kill on the spot. This, however, only happened twice; to his +astonishment Olimpia remained after this without a partner, and he +failed not on each occasion to take her out again. If Nathanael had +been able to see anything else except the beautiful Olimpia, there +would inevitably have been a good deal of unpleasant quarrelling and +strife; for it was evident that Olimpia was the object of the smothered +laughter only with difficulty suppressed, which was heard in various +corners amongst the young people; and they followed her with very +curious looks, but nobody knew for what reason. Nathanael, excited by +dancing and the plentiful supply of wine he had consumed, had laid +aside the shyness which at other times characterised him. He sat beside +Olimpia, her hand in his own, and declared his love enthusiastically +and passionately in words which neither of them understood, neither he +nor Olimpia. And yet she perhaps did, for she sat with her eyes fixed +unchangeably upon his, sighing repeatedly, "Ach! Ach! Ach!" Upon this +Nathanael would answer, "Oh, you glorious heavenly lady! You ray from +the promised paradise of love! Oh! what a profound soul you have! my +whole being is mirrored in it!" and a good deal more in the same +strain. But Olimpia only continued to sigh "Ach! Ach!" again and again. + +Professor Spalanzani passed by the two happy lovers once or twice, and +smiled with a look of peculiar satisfaction. All at once it seemed to +Nathanael, albeit he was far away in a different world, as if it were +growing perceptibly darker down below at Professor Spalanzani's. He +looked about him, and to his very great alarm became aware that there +were only two lights left burning in the hall, and they were on the +point of going out. The music and dancing had long ago ceased. "We must +part--part!" he cried, wildly and despairingly; he kissed Olimpia's +hand; he bent down to her mouth, but ice-cold lips met his burning +ones. As he touched her cold hand, he felt his heart thrilled with awe; +the legend of "The Dead Bride"[9] shot suddenly through his mind. But +Olimpia had drawn him closer to her, and the kiss appeared to warm her +lips into vitality. Professor Spalanzani strode slowly through the +empty apartment, his footsteps giving a hollow echo; and his figure +had, as the flickering shadows played about him, a ghostly, awful +appearance. "Do you love me? Do you love me, Olimpia? Only one little +word--Do you love me?" whispered Nathanael, but she only sighed, "Ach! +Ach!" as she rose to her feet. "Yes, you are my lovely, glorious star +of love," said Nathanael, "and will shine for ever, purifying and +ennobling my heart" "Ach! Ach!" replied Olimpia, as she moved along. +Nathanael followed her; they stood before the Professor. "You have had +an extraordinarily animated conversation with my daughter," said he, +smiling; "well, well, my dear Mr. Nathanael, if you find pleasure in +talking to the stupid girl, I am sure I shall be glad for you to come +and do so." Nathanael took his leave, his heart singing and leaping in +a perfect delirium of happiness. + +During the next few days Spalanzani's ball was the general topic of +conversation. Although the Professor had done everything to make the +thing a splendid success, yet certain gay spirits related more than one +thing that had occurred which was quite irregular and out of order. +They were especially keen in pulling Olimpia to pieces for her +taciturnity and rigid stiffness; in spite of her beautiful form they +alleged that she was hopelessly stupid, and in this fact they discerned +the reason why Spalanzani had so long kept her concealed from +publicity. Nathanael heard all this with inward wrath, but nevertheless +he held his tongue; for, thought he, would it indeed be worth while to +prove to these fellows that it is their own stupidity which prevents +them from appreciating Olimpia's profound and brilliant parts? One day +Siegmund said to him, "Pray, brother, have the kindness to tell me +how you, a sensible fellow, came to lose your head over that Miss +Wax-face--that wooden doll across there?" Nathanael was about to fly +into a rage, but he recollected himself and replied, "Tell me, +Siegmund, how came it that Olimpia's divine charms could escape your +eye, so keenly alive as it always is to beauty, and your acute +perception as well? But Heaven be thanked for it, otherwise I should +have had you for a rival, and then the blood of one of us would have +had to be spilled." Siegmund, perceiving how matters stood with his +friend, skilfully interposed and said, after remarking that all +argument with one in love about the object of his affections was out of +place, "Yet it's very strange that several of us have formed pretty +much the same opinion about Olimpia. We think she is--you won't take it +ill, brother?--that she is singularly statuesque and soulless. Her +figure is regular, and so are her features, that can't be gainsaid; and +if her eyes were not so utterly devoid of life, I may say, of the power +of vision, she might pass for a beauty. She is strangely measured in +her movements, they all seem as if they were dependent upon some +wound-up clock-work. Her playing and singing has the disagreeably +perfect, but insensitive time of a singing machine, and her dancing is +the same. We felt quite afraid of this Olimpia, and did not like to +have anything to do with her; she seemed to us to be only acting _like_ +a living creature, and as if there was some secret at the bottom of it +all." Nathanael did not give way to the bitter feelings which +threatened to master him at these words of Siegmund's; he fought down +and got the better of his displeasure, and merely said, very earnestly, +"You cold prosaic fellows may very well be afraid of her. It is only to +its like that the poetically organised spirit unfolds itself. Upon me +alone did her loving glances fall, and through my mind and thoughts +alone did they radiate; and only in her love can I find my own self +again. Perhaps, however, she doesn't do quite right not to jabber a lot +of nonsense and stupid talk like other shallow people. It is true, she +speaks but few words; but the few words she docs speak are genuine +hieroglyphs of the inner world of Love and of the higher cognition of +the intellectual life revealed in the intuition of the Eternal beyond +the grave. But you have no understanding for all these things, and I am +only wasting words." "God be with you, brother," said Siegmund very +gently, almost sadly, "but it seems to me that you are in a very bad +way. You may rely upon me, if all--No, I can't say any more." It all at +once dawned upon Nathanael that his cold prosaic friend Siegmund really +and sincerely wished him well, and so he warmly shook his proffered +hand. + +Nathanael had completely forgotten that there was a Clara in the world, +whom he had once loved--and his mother and Lothair. They had all +vanished from his mind; he lived for Olimpia alone. He sat beside her +every day for hours together, rhapsodising about his love and sympathy +enkindled into life, and about psychic elective affinity[10]--all of +which Olimpia listened to with great reverence. He fished up from the +very bottom of his desk all the things that he had ever written--poems, +fancy sketches, visions, romances, tales, and the heap was increased +daily with all kinds of aimless sonnets, stanzas, canzonets. All these +he read to Olimpia hour after hour without growing tired; but then he +had never had such an exemplary listener. She neither embroidered, nor +knitted; she did not look out of the window, or feed a bird, or play +with a little pet dog or a favourite cat, neither did she twist a piece +of paper or anything of that kind round her finger; she did not +forcibly convert a yawn into a low affected cough--in short, she sat +hour after hour with her eyes bent unchangeably upon her lover's face, +without moving or altering her position, and her gaze grew more ardent +and more ardent still. And it was only when at last Nathanael rose +and kissed her lips or her hand that she said, "Ach! Ach!" and then +"Good-night, dear." Arrived in his own room, Nathanael would break out +with, "Oh! what a brilliant--what a profound mind! Only you--you alone +understand me." And his heart trembled with rapture when he reflected +upon the wondrous harmony which daily revealed itself between his own +and his Olimpia's character; for he fancied that she had expressed in +respect to his works and his poetic genius the identical sentiments +which he himself cherished deep down in his own heart in respect to the +same, and even as if it was his own heart's voice speaking to him. And +it must indeed have been so; for Olimpia never uttered any other words +than those already mentioned. And when Nathanael himself in his clear +and sober moments, as, for instance, directly after waking in a +morning, thought about her utter passivity and taciturnity, he only +said, "What are words--but words? The glance of her heavenly eyes says +more than any tongue of earth. And how can, anyway, a child of heaven +accustom herself to the narrow circle which the exigencies of a +wretched mundane life demand?" + +Professor Spalanzani appeared to be greatly pleased at the intimacy +that had sprung up between his daughter Olimpia and Nathanael, and +showed the young man many unmistakable proofs of his good feeling +towards him; and when Nathanael ventured at length to hint very +delicately at an alliance with Olimpia, the Professor smiled all over +his face at once, and said he should allow his daughter to make a +perfectly free choice. Encouraged by these words, and with the fire of +desire burning in his heart, Nathanael resolved the very next day to +implore Olimpia to tell him frankly, in plain words, what he had long +read in her sweet loving glances,--that she would be his for ever. He +looked for the ring which his mother had given him at parting; he would +present it to Olimpia as a symbol of his devotion, and of the happy +life he was to lead with her from that time onwards. Whilst looking for +it he came across his letters from Clara and Lothair; he threw them +carelessly aside, found the ring, put it in his pocket, and ran across +to Olimpia. Whilst still on the stairs, in the entrance-passage, he +heard an extraordinary hubbub; the noise seemed to proceed from +Spalanzani's study. There was a stamping--a rattling--pushing--knocking +against the door, with curses and oaths intermingled. "Leave +hold--leave hold--you monster--you rascal--staked your life and honour +upon it?--Ha! ha! ha! ha!--That was not our wager--I, I made the +eyes--I the clock-work.--Go to the devil with your clock-work--you +damned dog of a watch-maker--be off--Satan--stop--you paltry +turner--you infernal beast!--stop--begone--let me go." The voices which +were thus making all this racket and rumpus were those of Spalanzani +and the fearsome Coppelius. Nathanael rushed in, impelled by some +nameless dread. The Professor was grasping a female figure by the +shoulders, the Italian Coppola held her by the feet; and they were +pulling and dragging each other backwards and forwards, fighting +furiously to get possession of her. Nathanael recoiled with horror on +recognising that the figure was Olimpia. Boiling with rage, he was +about to tear his beloved from the grasp of the madmen, when Coppola by +an extraordinary exertion of strength twisted the figure out of the +Professor's hands and gave him such a terrible blow with her, that he +reeled backwards and fell over the table all amongst the phials and +retorts, the bottles and glass cylinders, which covered it: all these +things were smashed into a thousand pieces. But Coppola threw the +figure across his shoulder, and, laughing shrilly and horribly, ran +hastily down the stairs, the figure's ugly feet hanging down and +banging and rattling like wood against the steps. Nathanael was +stupefied;--he had seen only too distinctly that in Olimpia's pallid +waxed face there were no eyes, merely black holes in their stead; she +was an inanimate puppet. Spalanzani was rolling on the floor; the +pieces of glass had cut his head and breast and arm; the blood was +escaping from him in streams. But he gathered his strength together by +an effort. + +"After him--after him! What do you stand staring there for? +Coppelius--Coppelius--he's stolen my best automaton--at which I've +worked for twenty years--staked my life upon it--the clock-work-- +speech--movement--mine--your eyes--stolen your eyes--damn him--curse +him--after him--fetch me back Olimpia--there are the eyes." And now +Nathanael saw a pair of bloody eyes lying on the floor staring at him; +Spalanzani seized them with his uninjured hand and threw them at him, +so that they hit his breast Then madness dug her burning talons into +him and swept down into his heart, rending his mind and thoughts to +shreds. "Aha! aha! aha! Fire-wheel--fire-wheel! Spin round, fire-wheel! +merrily, merrily! Aha! wooden doll! spin round, pretty wooden doll!" +and he threw himself upon the Professor, clutching him fast by the +throat. He would certainly have strangled him had not several people, +attracted by the noise, rushed in and torn away the madman; and so they +saved the Professor, whose wounds were immediately dressed. Siegmund, +with all his strength, was not able to subdue the frantic lunatic, who +continued to scream in a dreadful way, "Spin round, wooden doll!" and +to strike out right and left with his doubled fists. At length the +united strength of several succeeded in overpowering him by throwing +him on the floor and binding him. His cries passed into a brutish +bellow that was awful to hear; and thus raging with the harrowing +violence of madness, he was taken away to the madhouse. + +Before continuing my narration of what happened further to the +unfortunate Nathanael, I will tell you, indulgent reader, in case you +take any interest in that skilful mechanician and fabricator of +automata, Spalanzani, that he recovered completely from his wounds. He +had, however, to leave the university, for Nathanael's fate had created +a great sensation; and the opinion was pretty generally expressed that +it was an imposture altogether unpardonable to have smuggled a wooden +puppet instead of a living person into intelligent tea-circles,--for +Olimpia had been present at several with success. Lawyers called it a +cunning piece of knavery, and all the harder to punish since it was +directed against the public; and it had been so craftily contrived that +it had escaped unobserved by all except a few preternaturally acute +students, although everybody was very wise now and remembered to have +thought of several facts which occurred to them as suspicious. But +these latter could not succeed in making out any sort of a consistent +tale. For was it, for instance, a thing likely to occur to any one as +suspicious that, according to the declaration of an elegant beau of +these tea-parties, Olimpia had, contrary to all good manners, sneezed +oftener than she had yawned? The former must have been, in the opinion +of this elegant gentleman, the winding up of the concealed clock-work; +it had always been accompanied by an observable creaking, and so on. +The Professor of Poetry and Eloquence took a pinch of snuff, and, +slapping the lid to and clearing his throat, said solemnly, "My most +honourable ladies and gentlemen, don't you see then where the rub is? +The whole thing is an allegory, a continuous metaphor. You understand +me? _Sapienti sat._" But several most honourable gentlemen did not rest +satisfied with this explanation; the history of this automaton had sunk +deeply into their souls, and an absurd mistrust of human figures began +to prevail. Several lovers, in order to be fully convinced that they +were not paying court to a wooden puppet, required that their mistress +should sing and dance a little out of time, should embroider or knit or +play with her little pug, &c., when being read to, but above all things +else that she should do something more than merely listen--that she +should frequently speak in such a way as to really show that her words +presupposed as a condition some thinking and feeling. The bonds of love +were in many cases drawn closer in consequence, and so of course became +more engaging; in other instances they gradually relaxed and fell away. +"I cannot really be made responsible for it," was the remark of more +than one young gallant. At the tea-gatherings everybody, in order to +ward off suspicion, yawned to an incredible extent and never sneezed. +Spalanzani was obliged, as has been said, to leave the place in order +to escape a criminal charge of having fraudulently imposed an automaton +upon human society. Coppola, too, had also disappeared. + +When Nathanael awoke he felt as if he had been oppressed by a terrible +nightmare; he opened his eyes and experienced an indescribable +sensation of mental comfort, whilst a soft and most beautiful sensation +of warmth pervaded his body. He lay on his own bed in his own room at +home; Clara was bending over him, and at a little distance stood his +mother and Lothair. "At last, at last, O my darling Nathanael; now we +have you again; now you are cured of your grievous illness, now you are +mine again." And Clara's words came from the depths of her heart; and +she clasped him in her arms. The bright scalding tears streamed from +his eyes, he was so overcome with mingled feelings of sorrow and +delight; and he gasped forth, "My Clara, my Clara!" Siegmund, who had +staunchly stood by his friend in his hour of need, now came into the +room. Nathanael gave him his hand--"My faithful brother, you have not +deserted me." Every trace of insanity had left him, and in the tender +hands of his mother and his beloved, and his friends, he quickly +recovered his strength again. Good fortune had in the meantime visited +the house; a niggardly old uncle, from whom they had never expected to +get anything, had died, and left Nathanael's mother not only a +considerable fortune, but also a small estate, pleasantly situated not +far from the town. There they resolved to go and live, Nathanael and +his mother, and Clara, to whom he was now to be married, and Lothair. +Nathanael was become gentler and more childlike than he had ever been +before, and now began really to understand Clara's supremely pure and +noble character. None of them ever reminded him, even in the remotest +degree, of the past. But when Siegmund took leave of him, he said, "By +heaven, brother! I was in a bad way, but an angel came just at the +right moment and led me back upon the path of light. Yes, it was +Clara." Siegmund would not let him speak further, fearing lest the +painful recollections of the past might arise too vividly and too +intensely in his mind. + +The time came for the four happy people to move to their little +property. At noon they were going through the streets. After making +several purchases they found that the lofty tower of the town-house was +throwing its giant shadows across the market-place. "Come," said Clara, +"let us go up to the top once more and have a look at the distant +hills." No sooner said than done. Both of them, Nathanael and Clara, +went up the tower; their mother, however, went on with the servant-girl +to her new home, and Lothair, not feeling inclined to climb up all the +many steps, waited below. There the two lovers stood arm-in-arm on the +topmost gallery of the tower, and gazed out into the sweet-scented +wooded landscape, beyond which the blue hills rose up like a giant's +city. + +"Oh! do look at that strange little grey bush, it looks as if it were +actually walking towards us," said Clara. Mechanically he put his hand +into his sidepocket; he found Coppola's perspective and looked for the +bush; Clara stood in front of the glass. Then a convulsive thrill shot +through his pulse and veins; pale as a corpse, he fixed his staring +eyes upon her; but soon they began to roll, and a fiery current flashed +and sparkled in them, and he yelled fearfully, like a hunted animal. +Leaping up high in the air and laughing horribly at the same time, he +began to shout, in a piercing voice, "Spin round, wooden doll! Spin +round, wooden doll!" With the strength of a giant he laid hold upon +Clara and tried to hurl her over, but in an agony of despair she +clutched fast hold of the railing that went round the gallery. Lothair +heard the madman raging and Clara's scream of terror: a fearful +presentiment flashed across his mind. He ran up the steps; the door of +the second flight was locked. Clara's scream for help rang out more +loudly. Mad with rage and fear, he threw himself against the door, +which at length gave way. Clara's cries were growing fainter and +fainter,--"Help! save me! save me!" and her voice died away in the air. +"She is killed--murdered by that madman," shouted Lothair. The door to +the gallery was also locked. Despair gave him the strength of a giant; +he burst the door off its hinges. Good God! there was Clara in the +grasp of the madman Nathanael, hanging over the gallery in the air; she +only held to the iron bar with one hand. Quick as lightning, Lothair +seized his sister and pulled her back, at the same time dealing the +madman a blow in the face with his doubled fist, which sent him reeling +backwards, forcing him to let go his victim. + +Lothair ran down with his insensible sister in his arms. She was saved. +But Nathanael ran round and round the gallery, leaping up in the air +and shouting, "Spin round, fire-wheel! Spin round, fire-wheel!" The +people heard the wild shouting, and a crowd began to gather. In the +midst of them towered the advocate Coppelius, like a giant; he had only +just arrived in the town, and had gone straight to the market-place. +Some were going up to overpower and take charge of the madman, but +Coppelius laughed and said, "Ha! ha! wait a bit; he'll come down of his +own accord;" and he stood gazing upwards along with the rest. All at +once Nathanael stopped as if spell-bound; he bent down over the +railing, and perceived Coppelius. With a piercing scream, "Ha! foine +oyes! foine oyes!" he leapt over. + +When Nathanael lay on the stone pavement with a broken head, Coppelius +had disappeared in the crush and confusion. + +Several years afterwards it was reported that, outside the door of a +pretty country house in a remote district, Clara had been seen sitting +hand in hand with a pleasant gentleman, whilst two bright boys were +playing at her feet. From this it may be concluded that she eventually +found that quiet domestic happiness which her cheerful, blithesome +character required, and which Nathanael, with his tempest-tossed soul, +could never have been able to give her. + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "THE SAND-MAN": + + +[Footnote 1: "The Sand-man" forms the first of a series of tales +called "The Night-pieces," and was published in 1817.] + +[Footnote 2: See Schiller's _Raeuber_ Act V., Scene 1. Franz Moor, +seeing that the failure of all his villainous schemes is inevitable, +and that his own ruin is close upon him, is at length overwhelmed with +the madness of despair, and unburdens the terrors of his conscience to +the old servant Daniel, bidding him laugh him to scorn.] + +[Footnote 3: Lazaro Spallanzani, a celebrated anatomist and naturalist +(1729-1799), filled for several years the chair of Natural History at +Pavia, and travelled extensively for scientific purposes in Italy, +Turkey, Sicily, Switzerland, &c.] + +[Footnote 4: Or Almanacs of the Muses, as they were also sometimes +called, were periodical, mostly yearly publications, containing all +kinds of literary effusions; mostly, however, lyrical. They originated +in the eighteenth century. Schiller, A. W. and F. Schlegel, Tieck, and +Chamisso, amongst others, conducted undertakings of this nature.] + +[Footnote 5: Joseph Balsamo, a Sicilian by birth, calling himself Count +Cagliostro, one of the greatest impostors of modern times, lived during +the latter part of the eighteenth century. See Carlyle's "Miscellanies" +for an account of his life and character.] + +[Footnote 6: Daniel Nikolas Chodowiecki, painter and engraver, of +Polish descent, was born at Dantzic in 1726. For some years he was so +popular an artist that few books were published in Prussia without +plates or vignettes by him. The catalogue of his works is said to +include 3000 items.] + +[Footnote 7: Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, an Italian painter of the +eighteenth century, whose works were at one time greatly +over-estimated.] + +[Footnote 8: Jakob Ruysdael (_c._ 1625-1682), a painter of Haarlem, in +Holland. His favourite subjects were remote farms, lonely stagnant +water, deep-shaded woods with marshy paths, the sea-coast--subjects of +a dark melancholy kind. His sea-pieces are greatly admired.] + +[Footnote 9: Phlegon, the freedman of Hadrian, relates that a young +maiden, Philemium, the daughter of Philostratus and Charitas, became +deeply enamoured of a young man, named Machates, a guest in the house +of her father. This did not meet with the approbation of her parents, +and they turned Machates away. The young maiden took this so much to +heart that she pined away and died. Some time afterwards Machates +returned to his old lodgings, when he was visited at night by his +beloved, who came from the grave to see him again. The story may be +read in Heywood's (Thos.) "Hierarchie of Blessed Angels," Book vii., p. +479 (London, 1637). Goethe has made this story the foundation of his +beautiful poem _Die Braut von Korinth_, with which form of it Hoffmann +was most likely familiar.] + +[Footnote 10: This phrase (_Die Wahlverwandschaft_ in German) has been +made celebrated as the title of one of Goethe's works.] + + + + + THE ENTAIL. + + +Not far from the shore of the Baltic Sea is situated the ancestral +castle of the noble family Von R----, called R--sitten. It is a wild +and desolate neighbourhood, hardly anything more than a single blade of +grass shooting up here and there from the bottomless drift-sand; and +instead of the garden that generally ornaments a baronial residence, +the bare walls are approached on the landward side by a thin forest of +firs, that with their never-changing vesture of gloom despise the +bright garniture of Spring, and where, instead of the joyous carolling +of little birds awakened anew to gladness, nothing is heard but the +ominous croak of the raven and the whirring scream of the storm-boding +sea-gull. A quarter of a mile distant Nature suddenly changes. As if by +the wave of a magician's wand you are transported into the midst of +thriving fields, fertile arable land, and meadows. You see, too, the +large and prosperous village, with the land-steward's spacious +dwelling-house; and at the angle of a pleasant thicket of alders you +may observe the foundations of a large castle, which one of the former +proprietors had intended to erect. His successors, however, living on +their property in Courland, left the building in its unfinished state; +nor would Freiherr[1] Roderick von R---- proceed with the structure +when he again took up his residence on the ancestral estate, since the +lonely old castle was more suitable to his temperament, which was +morose and averse to human society. He had its ruinous walls repaired +as well as circumstances would admit, and then shut himself up +within them along with a cross-grained house-steward and a slender +establishment of servants. + +He was seldom seen in the village, but on the other hand he often +walked and rode along the sea-beach; and people claimed to have heard +him from a distance, talking to the waves and listening to the rolling +and hissing of the surf, as though he could hear the answering voice of +the spirit of the sea. Upon the topmost summit of the watch-tower he +had a sort of study fitted up and supplied with telescopes--with a +complete set of astronomical apparatus, in fact. Thence during the +daytime he frequently watched the ships sailing past on the distant +horizon like white-winged sea-gulls; and there he spent the starlight +nights engaged in astronomical, or, as some professed to know, with +astrological labours, in which the old house-steward assisted him. At +any rate the rumour was current during his own lifetime that he was +devoted to the occult sciences or the so-called Black Art, and that he +had been driven out of Courland in consequence of the failure of an +experiment by which an august princely house had been most seriously +offended. The slightest allusion to his residence in Courland filled +him with horror; but for all the troubles which had there unhinged the +tenor of his life he held his predecessors entirely to blame, in that +they had wickedly deserted the home of their ancestors. In order to +fetter, for the future, at least the head of the family to the +ancestral castle, he converted it into a property of entail. The +sovereign was the more willing to ratify this arrangement since by its +means he would secure for his country a family distinguished for all +chivalrous virtues, and which had already begun to ramify into foreign +countries. + +Neither Roderick's son Hubert, nor the next Roderick, who was so called +after his grandfather, would live in their ancestral castle; both +preferred Courland. It is conceivable, too, that, being more cheerful +and fond of life than the gloomy astrologer, they were repelled by the +grim loneliness of the place. Freiherr Roderick had granted shelter and +subsistence on the property to two old maids, sisters of his father, +who were living in indigence, having been but niggardly provided for. +They, together with an aged serving-woman, occupied the small warm +rooms of one of the wings; besides them and the cook, who had a large +apartment on the ground floor adjoining the kitchen, the only other +person was a worn-out _chasseur_, who tottered about through the lofty +rooms and halls of the main building, and discharged the duties of +castellan. The rest of the servants lived in the village with the +land-steward. The only time at which the desolated and deserted castle +became the scene of life and activity was late in autumn, when the snow +first began to fall and the season for wolf-hunting and boar-hunting +arrived. Then came Freiherr Roderick with his wife, attended by +relatives and friends and a numerous retinue, from Courland. The +neighbouring nobility, and even amateur lovers of the chase who lived +in the town hard by, came down in such numbers that the main building, +together with the wings, barely sufficed to hold the crowd of guests. +Well-served fires roared in all the stoves and fireplaces, while the +spits were creaking from early dawn until late at night, and hundreds +of light-hearted people, masters and servants, were running up and down +stairs; here was heard the jingling and rattling of drinking glasses +and jovial hunting choruses, there the footsteps of those dancing to +the sound of the shrill music,--everywhere loud mirth and jollity; +so that for four or five weeks together the castle was more like a +first-rate hostelry situated on a main highroad than the abode of a +country gentleman. This time Freiherr Roderick devoted, as well as he +was able, to serious business, for, withdrawing from the revelry of his +guests, he discharged the duties attached to his position as lord of +the entail. He not only had a complete statement of the revenues laid +before him, but he listened to every proposal for improvement and to +every the least complaint of his tenants, endeavouring to establish +order in everything, and check all wrongdoing and injustice as far as +lay in his power. + +In these matters of business he was honestly assisted by the old +advocate V----, who had been law agent of the R---- family and +Justitiarius[2] of their estates in P---- from father to son for many +years; accordingly, V---- was wont to set out for the estate at least a +week before the day fixed for the arrival of the Freiherr. In the year +179- the time came round again when old V---- was to start on his +journey for R--sitten. However strong and healthy the old man, now +seventy years of age, might feel, he was yet quite assured that a +helping hand would prove beneficial to him in his business. So he said +to me one day as if in jest, "Cousin!" (I was his great-nephew, but he +called me "cousin," owing to the fact that his own Christian name and +mine were both the same)--"Cousin, I was thinking it would not be amiss +if you went along with me to R--sitten and felt the sea-breezes blow +about your ears a bit. Besides giving me good help in my often +laborious work, you may for once in a while see how you like the +rollicking life of a hunter, and how, after drawing up a neatly-written +protocol one morning, you will frame the next when you come to look in +the glaring eyes of such a sturdy brute as a grim shaggy wolf or a wild +boar gnashing his teeth, and whether you know how to bring him down +with a well-aimed shot." Of course I could not have heard such strange +accounts of the merry hunting parties at R--sitten, or entertain such a +true heartfelt affection for my excellent old great-uncle as I did, +without being highly delighted that he wanted to take me with him this +time. As I was already pretty well skilled in the sort of business he +had to transact, I promised to work with unwearied industry, so as to +relieve him of all care and trouble. + +Next day we sat in the carriage on our way to R--sitten, well wrapped +up in good fur coats, driving through a thick snowstorm, the first +harbinger of the coming winter. On the journey the old gentleman told +me many remarkable stories about the Freiherr Roderick, who had +established the estate-tail and appointed him (V----), in spite of his +youth, to be his Justitiarius and executor. He spoke of the harsh and +violent character of the old nobleman, which seemed to be inherited by +all the family, since even the present master of the estate, whom he +had known as a mild-tempered and almost effeminate youth, acquired more +and more as the years went by the same disposition. He therefore +recommended me strongly to behave with as much resolute self-reliance +and as little embarrassment as possible, if I desired to possess any +consideration in the Freiherr's eyes; and at length he began to +describe the apartments in the castle which he had selected to be his +own once for all, since they were warm and comfortable, and so +conveniently retired that we could withdraw from the noisy +convivialities of the hilarious company whenever we pleased. The rooms, +namely, which were on every visit reserved for him, were two small +ones, hung with warm tapestry, close beside the large hall of justice, +in the wing opposite that in which the two old maids resided. + +At last, after a rapid but wearying journey, we arrived at R--sitten, +late at night. We drove through the village; it was Sunday, and from +the alehouse proceeded the sounds of music, and dancing, and +merrymaking; the steward's house was lit up from basement to garret, +and music and song were there too. All the more striking therefore was +the inhospitable desolation into which we now drove. The sea-wind +howled in sharp cutting dirges as it were about us, whilst the sombre +firs, as if they had been roused by the wind from a deep magic trance, +groaned hoarsely in a responsive chorus. The bare black walls of the +castle towered above the snow-covered ground; we drew up at the gates, +which were fast locked. But no shouting or cracking of whips, no +knocking or hammering, was of any avail; the whole castle seemed to be +dead; not a single light was visible at any of the windows. The old +gentleman shouted in his strong stentorian voice, "Francis, Francis, +where the deuce are you? In the devil's name rouse yourself; we are all +freezing here outside the gates. The snow is cutting our faces till +they bleed. Why the devil don't you stir yourself?" Then the watch-dog +began to whine, and a wandering light was visible on the ground floor. +There was a rattling of keys, and soon the ponderous wings of the gate +creaked back on their hinges. "Ha! a hearty welcome, a hearty welcome, +Herr Justitiarius. Ugh! it's rough weather!" cried old Francis, holding +the lantern above his head, so that the light fell full upon his +withered face, which was drawn up into a curious grimace, that was +meant for a friendly smile. The carriage drove into the court, and we +got out; then I obtained a full view of the old servant's extraordinary +figure, almost hidden in his wide old-fashioned chasseur livery, with +its many extraordinary lace decorations. Whilst there were only a few +grey locks on his broad white forehead, the lower part of his face wore +the ruddy hue of health; and, notwithstanding that the cramped muscles +of his face gave it something of the appearance of a whimsical mask, +yet the rather stupid good-nature which beamed from his eyes and played +about his mouth compensated for all the rest. + +"Now, old Francis," began my great-uncle, knocking the snow from his +fur coat in the entrance hall, "now, old man, is everything prepared? +Have you had the hangings in my room well dusted, and the beds carried +in? and have you had a big roaring fire both yesterday and to-day?" +"No," replied Francis, quite calmly, "no, my worshipful Herr +Justitiarius, we've got none of that done." "Good Heavens!" burst out +my great-uncle, "I wrote to you in proper time; you know that I always +come at the time I fix. Here's a fine piece of stupid carelessness! I +shall have to sleep in rooms as cold as ice." "But you see, worshipful +Herr Justitiarius," continued Francis, most carefully clipping a +burning thief from the wick of the candle with the snuffers and +stamping it out with his foot, "but, you see, sir, all that would not +have been of much good, especially the fires, for the wind and the snow +have taken up their quarters too much in the rooms, driving in through +the broken windows, and then"---- "What!" cried my uncle, interrupting +him as he spread out his fur coat and placing his arms akimbo, "do you +mean to tell me the windows are broken, and you, the castellan of the +house, have done nothing to get them mended?" "But, worshipful Herr +Justitiarius," resumed the old servant calmly and composedly, "but we +can't very well get at them owing to the great masses of stones and +rubbish lying all over the room." "Damn it all, how come there to be +stones and rubbish in my room?" cried my uncle. "Your lasting health +and good luck, young gentleman!" said the old man, bowing politely to +me, as I happened to sneeze;[3] but he immediately added, "They are the +stones and plaster of the partition wall which fell in at the great +shock." "Have you had an earthquake?" blazed up my uncle, now fairly in +a rage. "No, not an earthquake, worshipful Herr Justitiarius," replied +the old man, grinning all over his face, "but three days ago the heavy +wainscot ceiling of the justice-hall fell in with a tremendous crash." +"Then may the"---- My uncle was about to rip out a terrific oath in his +violent passionate manner, but jerking up his right arm above his head +and taking off his fox-skin cap with his left, he suddenly checked +himself; and turning to me, he said with a hearty laugh, "By my troth, +cousin, we must hold our tongues; we mustn't ask any more questions, or +else we shall hear of some still worse misfortune, or have the whole +castle tumbling to pieces about our ears." "But," he continued, +wheeling round again to the old servant, "but, bless me, Francis, could +you not have had the common sense to get me another room cleaned and +warmed? Could you not have quickly fitted up a room in the main +building for the court-day?" "All that has been already done," said the +old man, pointing to the staircase with a gesture that invited us to +follow him, and at once beginning to ascend them. "Now there's a most +curious noodle for you!" exclaimed my uncle as we followed old Francis. +The way led through long lofty vaulted corridors, in the dense darkness +of which Francis's flickering light threw a strange reflection. The +pillars, capitals, and vari-coloured arches seemed as if they were +floating before us in the air; our own shadows stalked along beside us +in gigantic shape, and the grotesque paintings on the walls over which +they glided seemed all of a tremble and shake; whilst their voices, we +could imagine, were whispering in the sound of our echoing footsteps, +"Wake us not, oh! wake us not--us whimsical spirits who sleep here in +these old stones." At last, after we had traversed a long suite of cold +and gloomy apartments, Francis opened the door of a hall in which a +fire blazing brightly in the grate offered us as it were a home-like +welcome with its pleasant crackling. I felt quite comfortable the +moment I entered, but my uncle, standing still in the middle of the +hall, looked round him and said in a tone which was so very grave as to +be almost solemn, "And so this is to be the justice-hall!" Francis held +his candle above his head, so that my eye fell upon a light spot in the +wide dark wall about the size of a door; then he said in a pained and +muffled voice, "Justice has been already dealt out here." "What +possesses you, old man?" asked my uncle, quickly throwing aside his fur +coat and drawing near to the fire. "It slipped over my lips, I couldn't +help it," said Francis; then he lit the great candles and opened the +door of the adjoining room, which was very snugly fitted up for our +reception. In a short time a table was spread for us before the fire, +and the old man served us with several well-dressed dishes, which +were followed by a brimming bowl of punch, prepared in true Northern +style,--a very acceptable sight to two weary travellers like my uncle +and myself. My uncle then, tired with his journey, went to bed as soon +as he had finished supper; but my spirits were too much excited by the +novelty and strangeness of the place, as well as by the punch, for me +to think of sleep. Meanwhile, Francis cleared the table, stirred up the +fire, and bowing and scraping politely, left me to myself. + +Now I sat alone in the lofty spacious _Rittersaal_ or Knight's Hall. +The snow-flakes had ceased to beat against the lattice, and the storm +had ceased to whistle; the sky was clear, and the bright full moon +shone in through the wide oriel-windows, illuminating with magical +effect all the dark corners of the curious room into which the dim +light of my candles and the fire could not penetrate. As one often +finds in old castles, the walls and ceiling of the hall were ornamented +in a peculiar antique fashion, the former with fantastic paintings and +carvings, gilded and coloured in gorgeous tints, the latter with heavy +wainscoting. Standing out conspicuously from the great pictures, which +represented for the most part wild bloody scenes in bear-hunts and +wolf-hunts, were the heads of men and animals carved in wood and joined +on to the painted bodies, so that the whole, especially in the +flickering light of the fire and the soft beams of the moon, had an +effect as if all were alive and instinct with terrible reality. Between +these pictures reliefs of knights had been inserted, of life size, +walking along in hunting costume; probably they were the ancestors of +the family who had delighted in the chase. Everything, both in the +paintings and in the carved work, bore the dingy hue of extreme old +age; so much the more conspicuous therefore was the bright bare place +on that one of the walls through which were two doors leading into +adjoining apartments. I soon concluded that there too there must have +been a door, that had been bricked up later; and hence it was that this +new part of the wall, which had neither been painted like the rest, nor +yet ornamented with carvings, formed such a striking contrast with the +others. Who does not know with what mysterious power the mind is +enthralled in the midst of unusual and singularly strange +circumstances? Even the dullest imagination is aroused when it comes +into a valley girt around by fantastic rocks, or within the gloomy +walls of a church or an abbey, and it begins to have glimpses of things +it has never yet experienced. When I add that I was twenty years of +age, and had drunk several glasses of strong punch, it will easily be +conceived that as I sat thus in the _Rittersaal_ I was in a more +exceptional frame of mind than I had ever been before. Let the reader +picture to himself the stillness of the night within, and without the +rumbling roar of the sea--the peculiar piping of the wind, which rang +upon my ears like the tones of a mighty organ played upon by spectral +hands--the passing scudding clouds which, shining bright and white, +often seemed to peep in through the rattling oriel-windows like giants +sailings past--in very truth, I felt, from the slight shudder which +shook me, that possibly a new sphere of existences might now be +revealed to me visibly and perceptibly. But this feeling was like the +shivery sensations that one has on hearing a graphically narrated ghost +story, such as we all like. At this moment it occurred to me that I +should never be in a more seasonable mood for reading the book which, +in common with every one who had the least leaning towards the +romantic, I at that time carried about in my pocket,--I mean Schiller's +"Ghost-seer." I read and read, and my imagination grew ever more and +more excited. I came to the marvellously enthralling description of the +wedding feast at Count Von V----'s. + +Just as I was reading of the entrance of Jeronimo's bloody figure,[4] +the door leading from the gallery into the antechamber flew open with a +tremendous bang. I started to my feet in terror; the book fell from my +hands. In the very same moment, however, all was still again, and I +began to be ashamed of my childish fears. The door must have been burst +open by a strong gust of wind or in some other natural manner. It is +nothing; my over-strained fancy converts every ordinary occurrence into +the supernatural. Having thus calmed my fears, I picked up my book from +the ground, and again threw myself in the arm-chair; but there came a +sound of soft, slow, measured footsteps moving diagonally across the +hall, whilst there was a sighing and moaning at intervals, and in this +sighing and moaning there was expressed the deepest trouble, the most +hopeless grief, that a human being can know. "Ha! it must be some sick +animal locked up somewhere in the basement storey. Such acoustic +deceptions at night time, making distant sounds appear close at hand, +are well known to everybody. Who will suffer himself to be terrified at +such a thing as that?" Thus I calmed my fears again. But now there was +a scratching at the new portion of the wall, whilst louder and deeper +sighs were audible, as if gasped out by some one in the last throes of +mortal anguish. "Yes, yes; it is some poor animal locked up somewhere; +I will shout as loudly as I can, I will stamp violently on the floor, +then all will be still, or else the animal below will make itself heard +more distinctly, and in its natural cries," I thought. But the blood +ran cold in my veins; the cold sweat, too, stood upon my forehead, and +I remained sitting in my chair as if transfixed, quite unable to rise, +still less to cry out. At length the abominable scratching ceased, and +I again heard the footsteps. Life and motion seemed to be awakened in +me; I leapt to my feet, and went two or three steps forward. But then +there came an ice-cold draught of wind through the hall, whilst at the +same moment the moon cast her bright light upon the statue of a grave +if not almost terrible-looking man; and then, as though his warning +voice rang through the louder thunders of the waves and the shriller +piping of the wind, I heard distinctly, "No further, no further! or you +will sink beneath all the fearful horrors of the world of spectres." +Then the door was slammed too with the same violent bang as before, and +I plainly heard the footsteps in the anteroom, then going down the +stairs. The main door of the castle was opened with a creaking noise, +and afterwards closed again. Then it seemed as if a horse were brought +out of the stable, and after a while taken back again, and finally all +was still. + +At that same moment my attention was attracted to my old uncle in the +adjoining room; he was groaning and moaning painfully. This brought me +fully to consciousness again; I seized the candles and hurried into the +room to him. He appeared to be struggling with an ugly, unpleasant +dream. "Wake up, wake up!" I cried loudly, taking him gently by the +hand, and letting the full glare of the light fall upon his face. He +started up with a stifled shout, and then, looking kindly at me, said, +"Ay, you have done quite right--that you have, cousin, to wake me. I +have had a very ugly dream, and it's all solely owing to this room and +that hall, for they made me think of past times and many wonderful +things that have happened here. But now let us turn to and have a +good sound sleep." Therewith the old gentleman rolled himself in the +bed-covering and appeared to fall asleep at once. But when I had +extinguished the candles and likewise crept into bed, I heard him +praying in a low tone to himself. + +Next morning we began work in earnest; the land-steward brought his +account-books, and various other people came, some to get a dispute +settled, some to get arrangements made about other matters. At noon my +uncle took me with him to the wing where the two old Baronesses lived, +that we might pay our respects to them with all due form. Francis +having announced us, we had to wait some time before a little old dame, +bent with the weight of her sixty years, and attired in gay-coloured +silks, who styled herself the noble ladies' lady-in-waiting, appeared +and led us into the sanctuary. There we were received with comical +ceremony by the old ladies, whose curious style of dress had gone out +of fashion years and years before. I especially was an object of +astonishment to them when my uncle, with considerable humour, +introduced me as a young lawyer who had come to assist him in his +business. Their countenances plainly indicated their belief that, owing +to my youth, the welfare of the tenants of R--sitten was placed in +jeopardy. Although there was a good deal that was truly ridiculous +during the whole of this interview with the old ladies, I was +nevertheless still shivering from the terror of the preceding night; I +felt as if I had come in contact with an unknown power, or rather as if +I had grazed against the outer edge of a circle, one step across which +would be enough to plunge me irretrievably into destruction, as though +it were only by the exertion of all the power of my will that I should +be able to guard myself against _that_ awful dread which never slackens +its hold upon you until it ends in incurable insanity. Hence it was +that the old Baronesses, with their remarkable towering head-dresses, +and their peculiar stuff gowns, tricked off with gay flowers and +ribbons, instead of striking me as merely ridiculous, had an appearance +that was both ghostly and awe-inspiring. My fancy seemed to glean from +their yellow withered faces and blinking eyes, ocular proof of the fact +that they had succeeded in establishing themselves on at least a good +footing with the ghosts who haunted the castle, as it derived auricular +confirmation of the same fact from the wretched French which they +croaked, partly between their tightly-closed blue lips and partly +through their long thin noses, and also that they themselves possessed +the power of setting trouble and dire mischief at work. My uncle, who +always had a keen eye for a bit of fun, entangled the old dames in his +ironical way in such a mish-mash of nonsensical rubbish that, had I +been in any other mood, I should not have known how to swallow down my +immoderate laughter; but, as I have just said, the Baronesses and their +twaddle were, and continued to be, in my regard, ghostly, so that my +old uncle, who was aiming at affording me an especial diversion, +glanced across at me time after time utterly astonished. So after +dinner, when we were alone together in our room, he burst out, "But in +Heaven's name, cousin, tell me what is the matter with you? You don't +laugh; you don't talk; you don't eat; and you don't drink. Are you ill, +or is anything else the matter with you?" I now hesitated not a moment +to tell him circumstantially all my terrible, awful experiences of the +previous night I did not conceal anything, and above all I did not +conceal that I had drunk a good deal of punch, and had been reading +Schiller's "Ghostseer." "This I must confess to," I add, "for only so +can I credibly explain how it was that my over-strained and active +imagination could create all those ghostly spirits, which only exist +within the sphere of my own brain." I fully expected that my uncle +would now pepper me well with the stinging pellets of his wit for this +my fanciful ghost-seeing; but, on the contrary, he grew very grave, and +his eyes became riveted in a set stare upon the floor, until he jerked +up his head and said, fixing me with his keen fiery eyes, "Your book I +am not acquainted with, cousin; but your ghostly visitants were due +neither to it nor to the fumes of the punch. I must tell you that I +dreamt exactly the same things that you saw and heard. Like you, I sat +in the easy-chair beside the fire (at least I dreamt so); but what was +only revealed to you as slight noises I saw and distinctly comprehended +with the eye of my mind. Yes, I beheld that foul fiend come in, +stealthily and feebly step across to the bricked-up door, and scratch +at the wall in hopeless despair until the blood gushed out from beneath +his torn finger-nails; then he went downstairs, took a horse out of the +stable, and finally put him back again. Did you also hear the cock +crowing in a distant farmyard up at the village? You came and awoke me, +and I soon resisted the baneful ghost of that terrible man, who is +still able to disturb in this fearful way the quiet lives of the +living." The old gentleman stopped; and I did not like to ask him +further questions, being well aware that he would explain everything to +me when he deemed that the proper time was come for doing so. After +sitting for a while, deeply absorbed in his own thoughts, he went on, +"Cousin, do you think you have courage enough to encounter the ghost +again now that you know all that happens,--that is to say, along with +me?" Of course I declared that I now felt quite strong enough, and +ready for what he wished. "Then let us watch together during the coming +night," the old gentleman went on to say. "There is a voice within me +telling me that this evil spirit must fly, not so much before the power +of my will as before my courage, which rests upon a basis of firm +conviction. I feel that it is not at all presumption in me, but rather +a good and pious deed, if I venture life and limb to exorcise this foul +fiend that is banishing the sons from the old castle of their +ancestors. But what am I thinking about? There can be no risk in the +case at all, for with such a firm, honest mind and pious trust that I +feel I possess, I and everybody cannot fail to be, now and always, +victorious over such ghostly antagonists. And yet if, after all, it +should be God's will that this evil power be enabled to work me +mischief, then you must bear witness, cousin, that I fell in honest +Christian fight against the spirit of hell which was here busy about +its fiendish work. As for yourself, keep at a distance; no harm will +happen to you then." + +Our attention was busily engaged with divers kinds of business until +evening came. As on the day before, Francis had cleared away the +remains of the supper, and brought us our punch. The full moon shone +brightly through the gleaming clouds, the sea-waves roared, and the +night-wind howled and shook the oriel window till the panes rattled. +Although inwardly excited, we forced ourselves to converse on +indifferent topics. The old gentleman had placed his striking watch on +the table; it struck twelve. Then the door flew open with a terrific +bang, and, just as on the preceding night, soft slow footsteps moved +stealthily across the hall in a diagonal direction, whilst there were +the same sounds of sighing and moaning. My uncle turned pale, but his +eyes shone with an unusual brilliance. He rose from his arm-chair, +stretching his tall figure up to its full height, so that as he stood +there with his left arm propped against his side and with his right +stretched out towards the middle of the hall, he had the appearance of +a hero issuing his commands. But the sighing and moaning were growing +every moment louder and more perceptible, and then the scratching at +the wall began more horribly even than on the previous night. My uncle +strode forwards straight towards the walled-up door, and his steps were +so firm that they echoed along the floor. He stopped immediately in +front of the place, where the scratching noise continued to grow worse +and worse, and said in a strong solemn voice, such as I had never +before heard from his lips, "Daniel, Daniel! what are you doing here at +this hour?" Then there was a horrible unearthly scream, followed by a +dull thud as if a heavy weight had fallen to the ground. "Seek for +pardon and mercy at the throne of the Almighty; that is your place. +Away with you from the scenes of this life, in which you can nevermore +have part." And as the old gentleman uttered these words in a tone +still stronger than before, a feeble wail seemed to pass through the +air and die away in the blustering of the storm, which was just +beginning to rage. Crossing over to the door, the old gentleman slammed +it to, so that the echo rang loudly through the empty anteroom. There +was something so supernatural almost in both his language and his +gestures that I was deeply struck with awe. On resuming his seat in his +arm-chair his face was as if transfigured; he folded his hands and +prayed inwardly. In this way several minutes passed, when he asked me +in that gentle tone which always went right to my heart, and which he +always had so completely at his command, "Well, cousin?" Agitated and +shaken by awe, terror, fear, and pious respect and love, I threw myself +upon my knees and rained down my warm tears upon the hand he offered +me. He clasped me in his arms, and pressing me fervently to his heart +said very tenderly, "Now we will go and have a good quiet sleep, good +cousin;" and we did so. And as nothing of an unusual nature occurred on +the following night, we soon recovered our former cheerfulness, to the +prejudice of the old Baronesses; for though there did still continue to +be something ghostly about them and their odd manners, yet it emanated +from a diverting ghost which the old gentleman knew how to call up in a +droll fashion. + +At length, after the lapse of several days, the Baron put in his +appearance, along with his wife and a numerous train of servants for +the hunting; the guests who had been invited also arrived, and the +castle, now suddenly awakened to animation, became the scene of the +noisy life and revelry which have been before described. When the Baron +came into our hall soon after his arrival, he seemed to be disagreeably +surprised at the change in our quarters. Casting an ill-tempered glance +towards the bricked-up door, he turned abruptly round and passed his +hand across his forehead, as if desirous of banishing some disagreeable +recollection. My great-uncle mentioned the damage done to the +justice-hall and the adjoining apartments; but the Baron found fault +with Francis for not accommodating us with better lodgings, and he +good-naturedly requested the old gentleman to order anything he might +want to make his new room comfortable; for it was much less +satisfactory in this respect than that which he had usually occupied. +On the whole, the Baron's bearing towards my old uncle was not merely +cordial, but largely coloured by a certain deferential respect, as if +the relation in which he stood towards him was that of a younger +relative. But this was the sole trait that could in any way reconcile +me to his harsh, imperious character, which was now developed more and +more every day. As for me, he seemed to notice me but little; if he did +notice me at all, he saw in me nothing more than the usual secretary or +clerk. On the occasion of the very first important memorandum that I +drew up, he began to point out mistakes, as he conceived, in the +wording. My blood boiled, and I was about to make a caustic reply, when +my uncle interposed, informing him briefly that I did my work exactly +in the way he wished, and that in legal matters of this kind he alone +was responsible. When we were left alone, I complained bitterly of the +Baron, who would, I said, always inspire me with growing aversion. "I +assure you, cousin," replied the old gentleman, "that the Baron, +notwithstanding his unpleasant manner, is really one of the most +excellent and kind-hearted men in the world. As I have already told +you, he did not assume these manners until the time he became lord of +the entail; previous to then he was a modest, gentle youth. Besides, he +is not, after all, so bad as you make him out to be; and further, I +should like to know why you are so averse to him." As my uncle said +these words he smiled mockingly, and the blood rushed hotly and +furiously into my face. I could not pretend to hide from myself--I saw +it only too clearly, and felt it too unmistakably--that my peculiar +antipathy to the Baron sprang out of the fact that I loved, even to +madness, a being who appeared to me to be the loveliest and most +fascinating of her sex who had ever trod the earth. This lady was none +other than the Baroness herself. Her appearance exercised a powerful +and irresistible charm upon me at the very moment of her arrival, when +I saw her traversing the apartments in her Russian sable cloak, which +fitted close to the exquisite symmetry of her shape, and with a rich +veil wrapped about her head. Moreover, the circumstance that the +two old aunts, with still more extraordinary gowns and be-ribboned +head-dresses than I had yet seen them wear, were sweeping along one on +each side of her and cackling their welcomes in French, whilst the +Baroness was looking about her in a way so gentle as to baffle all +description, nodding graciously first to one and then to another, and +then adding in her flute-like voice a few German words in the pure +sonorous dialect of Courland--all this formed a truly remarkable and +unusual picture, and my imagination involuntarily connected it with the +ghostly midnight visitant,--the Baroness being the angel of light who +was to break the ban of the spectral powers of evil. This wondrously +lovely lady stood forth in startling reality before my mind's eye. At +that time she could hardly be nineteen years of age, and her face, as +delicately beautiful as her form, bore the impression of the most +angelic good-nature; but what I especially noticed was the +indescribable fascination of her dark eyes, for a soft melancholy gleam +of aspiration shone in them like dewy moonshine, whilst a perfect +elysium of rapture and delight was revealed in her sweet and beautiful +smile. She often seemed completely lost in her own thoughts, and at +such moments her lovely face was swept by dark and fleeting shadows. +Many observers would have concluded that she was affected by some +distressing pain; but it rather seemed to me that she was struggling +with gloomy apprehensions of a future pregnant with dark misfortunes; +and with these, strangely enough, I connected the apparition of the +castle, though I could not give the least explanation of why I did so. + +On the morning following the Baron's arrival, when the company +assembled to breakfast, my old uncle introduced me to the Baroness; +and, as usually happens with people in the frame of mind in which I +then was, I behaved with indescribable absurdity. In answer to the +beautiful lady's simple inquiries how I liked the castle, &c., I +entangled myself in the most extraordinary and nonsensical phrases, so +that the old aunts ascribed my embarrassment simply and solely to my +profound respect for the noble lady, and thought they were called +upon condescendingly to take my part, which they did by praising +me in French as a very nice and clever young man, as a _garcon tres +joli_ (handsome lad). This vexed me; so suddenly recovering my +self-possession, I threw out a _bonmot_ in better French than the old +dames were mistresses of; whereupon they opened their eyes wide in +astonishment, and pampered their long thin noses with a liberal supply +of snuff. From the Baroness's turning from me with a more serious air +to talk to some other lady, I perceived that my _bonmot_ bordered +closely upon folly; this vexed me still more, and I wished the two old +ladies to the devil. My old uncle's irony had long before brought me +through the stage of the languishing love-sick swain, who in childish +infatuation coddles his love-troubles; but I knew very well that the +Baroness had made a deeper and more powerful impression upon my heart +than any other woman had hitherto done. I saw and heard nothing but +her; nevertheless I had a most explicit and unequivocal consciousness +that it would be not only absurd, but even utter madness to dream of an +amour, albeit I perceived no less clearly the impossibility of gazing +and adoring at a distance like a love-lorn boy. Of such conduct I +should have been perfectly ashamed. But what I could do, and what I +resolved to do, was to become more intimate with this beautiful girl +without allowing her to get any glimpse of my real feelings, to drink +the sweet poison of her looks and words, and then, when far away from +her, to bear her image in my heart for many, many days, perhaps for +ever. I was excited by this romantic and chivalric attachment to such a +degree, that, as I pondered over it during sleepless nights, I was +childish enough to address myself in pathetic monologues, and even to +sigh lugubriously, "Seraphina! O Seraphina!" till at last my old uncle +woke up and cried, "Cousin, cousin! I believe you are dreaming aloud. +Do it by daytime, if you can possibly contrive it, but at night have +the goodness to let me sleep." I was very much afraid that the old +gentleman, who had not failed to remark my excitement on the Baroness's +arrival, had heard the name, and would overwhelm me with his sarcastic +wit. But next morning all he said, as we went into the justice-hall, +was, "God grant every man the proper amount of common sense, and +sufficient watchfulness to keep it well under hand. It's a bad look-out +when a man becomes converted into a fantastic coxcomb without so much +as a word of warning." Then he took his seat at the great table and +added, "Write neatly and distinctly, good cousin, that I may be able to +read it without any trouble." + +The respect, nay, the almost filial veneration which the Baron +entertained towards my uncle, was manifested on all occasions. +Thus, at the dinner-table he had to occupy the seat--which many envied +him--beside the Baroness; as for me, chance threw me first in one place +and then in another; but for the most part, two or three officers from +the neighbouring capital were wont to attach me to them, in order that +they might empty to their own satisfaction their budget of news and +amusing anecdotes, whilst diligently passing the wine about. Thus it +happened that for several days in succession I sat at the bottom of the +table at a great distance from the Baroness. At length, however, chance +brought me nearer to her. Just as the doors of the dining-hall were +thrown open for the assembled company, I happened to be in the midst of +a conversation with the Baroness's companion and confidante,--a lady no +longer in the bloom of youth, but by no means ill-looking, and not +without intelligence,--and she seemed to take some interest in my +remarks. According to etiquette, it was my duty to offer her my arm, +and I was not a little pleased when she took her place quite close to +the Baroness, who gave her a friendly nod. It may be readily imagined +that all that I now said was intended not only for my fair neighbour, +but also mainly for the Baroness. Whether it was that the inward +tension of my feelings imparted an especial animation to all I said, at +any rate my companion's attention became more riveted with every +succeeding moment; in fact, she was at last entirely absorbed in the +visions of the kaleidoscopic world which I unfolded to her gaze. As +remarked, she was not without intelligence, and it soon came to pass +that our conversation, completely independent of the multitude of words +spoken by the other guests (which rambled about first to this subject +and then to that), maintained its own free course, launching an +effective word now and again whither I wanted it. For I did not fail to +observe that my companion shot a significant glance or two across to +the Baroness, and that the latter took pains to listen to us. And this +was particularly the case when the conversation turned upon music and I +began to speak with enthusiasm of this glorious and sacred art; nor did +I conceal that, despite the fact of my having devoted myself to the dry +tedious study of the law, I possessed tolerable skill on the +harpsichord, could sing, and had even set several songs to music. + +The majority of the company had gone into another room to take coffee +and liqueurs; but, unawares, without knowing how it came about, I found +myself near the Baroness, who was talking with her confidante. She at +once addressed me, repeating in a still more cordial manner and in the +tone in which one talks to an acquaintance, her inquiries as to how I +liked living in the castle, &c. I assured her that for the first few +days, not only the dreary desolation of the situation, but the ancient +castle itself had affected me strangely, but even in this mood I had +found much of deep interest, and that now my only wish was to be +excused from the stirring scenes of the hunt, for I had not been +accustomed to them. The Baroness smiled and said, "I can readily +believe that this wild life in our fir forests cannot be very congenial +to you. You are a musician, and, unless I am utterly mistaken, a poet +as well. I am passionately fond of both arts. I can also play the harp +a little, but I have to do without it here in R--sitten, for my husband +does not like me to bring it with me. Its soft strains would harmonize +but ill with the wild shouts of the hunters and the ringing blare of +their bugles, which are the only sounds that ought to be heard here. +And O heaven! how I should like to hear a little music!" I protested +that I would exert all the skill I had at my command to fulfil her +wish, for there must surely without doubt be an instrument of some kind +in the castle, even though it were only an old harpsichord. Then the +Lady Adelheid (the Baroness's confidante) burst out into a silvery +laugh and asked, did I not know that within the memory of man no other +instrument had ever been heard in the castle except cracked trumpets, +and hunting-horns which in the midst of joy would only sound lugubrious +notes, and the twanging fiddles, untuned violoncellos, and braying +oboes of itinerant musicians. The Baroness reiterated her wish that she +should like to have some music, and especially should like to hear me; +and both she and Adelheid racked their brains all to no purpose to +devise some scheme by which they could get a decent pianoforte brought +to the Castle. At this moment old Francis crossed the room. "Here's the +man who always can give the best advice, and can procure everything, +even things before unheard of and unseen." With these words the Lady +Adelheid called him to her, and as she endeavoured to make him +comprehend what it was that was wanted, the Baroness listened with her +hands clasped and her head bent forward, looking upon the old man's +face with a gentle smile. She made a most attractive picture, like some +lovely, winsome child that is all eagerness to have a wished-for toy in +its hands. Francis, after having adduced in his prolix manner several +reasons why it would be downright impossible to procure such a +wonderful instrument in such a big hurry, finally stroked his beard +with an air of self-flattery and said, "But the land-steward's lady up +at the village performs on the manichord, or whatever is the outlandish +name they now call it, with uncommon skill, and sings to it so fine and +mournful-like that it makes your eyes red, just like onions do, and +makes you feel as if you would like to dance with both legs at once." +"And you say she has a pianoforte?" interposed Lady Adelheid. "Aye, +to be sure," continued the old man; "it comed straight from Dresden; +a"--("Oh, that's fine!" interrupted the Baroness)--"a beautiful +instrument," went on the old man, "but a little weakly; for not long +ago, when the organist began to play on it the hymn 'In all Thy +works,'[5] he broke it all to pieces, so that"--("Good gracious!" +exclaimed both the Baroness and Lady Adelheid)--"so that," went on the +old man again, "it had to be taken to R---- to be mended, and cost a +lot of money." "But has it come back again?" asked Lady Adelheid +impatiently. "Aye, to be sure, my lady, and the steward's lady will +reckon it a high honour----" At this moment the Baron chanced to pass. +He looked across at our group rather astonished, and whispered with a +sarcastic smile to the Baroness, "So you have to take counsel of +Francis again, I see?" The Baroness cast down her eyes blushing, whilst +old Francis breaking off terrified, suddenly threw himself into +military posture, his head erect, and his arms close and straight down +his side. The old aunts came sailing down upon us in their stuff gowns +and carried off the Baroness. Lady Adelheid followed her, and I was +left alone as if spell-bound. A struggle began to rage within me +between my rapturous anticipations of now being able to be near her +whom I adored, who completely swayed all my thoughts and feelings, and +my sulky ill-humour and annoyance at the Baron, whom I regarded as a +barbarous tyrant. If he were not, would the grey-haired old servant +have assumed such a slavish attitude? + +"Do you hear? Can you see, I say?" cried my great-uncle, tapping me on +the shoulder;--we were going upstairs to our own apartments. "Don't +force yourself so on the Baroness's attention," he said when we reached +the room. "What good can come of it? Leave that to the young fops who +like to pay court to ladies; there are plenty of them to do it." I +related how it had all come about, and challenged him to say if I had +deserved his reproof. His only reply to this, however, was, "Humph! +humph!" as he drew on his dressing-gown. Then, having lit his pipe, he +took his seat in his easy-chair and began to talk about the adventures +of the hunt on the preceding day, bantering me on my bad shots. All was +quiet in the castle; all the visitors, both gentlemen and ladies, were +busy in their own rooms dressing for the evening. For the musicians +with the twanging fiddles, untuned violoncellos, and braying oboes, of +whom Lady Adelheid had spoken, were come, and a merrymaking of no less +importance than a ball, to be given in the best possible style, was in +anticipation. My old uncle, preferring a quiet sleep to such foolish +pastimes, stayed in his chamber. I, however, had just finished dressing +when there came a light tap at our door, and Francis entered. Smiling +in his self-satisfied way, he announced to me that the manichord had +just arrived from the land-steward's lady in a sledge, and had been +carried into the Baroness's apartments. Lady Adelheid sent her +compliments and would I go over at once. It may be conceived how my +pulse beat, and also with what a delicious tremor at heart I opened the +door of the room in which I was to find _her_. Lady Adelheid came to +meet me with a joyful smile. The Baroness, already in full dress for +the ball, was sitting in a meditative attitude beside the mysterious +case or box, in which slumbered the music that I was called upon to +awaken. When she rose, her beauty shone upon me with such glorious +splendour that I stood staring at her unable to utter a word. "Come, +Theodore"--(for, according to the kindly custom of the North, which is +found again farther south, she addressed everybody by his or her +Christian name)--"Come, Theodore," she said pleasantly, "here's the +instrument come. Heaven grant it be not altogether unworthy of your +skill!" As I opened the lid I was greeted by the rattling of a score of +broken strings, and when I attempted to strike a chord, the effect was +hideous and abominable, for all the strings which were not broken were +completely out of tune. "I doubt not our friend the organist has been +putting his delicate little hands upon it again," said Lady Adelheid +laughing; but the Baroness was very much annoyed and said, "Oh, it +really is a slice of bad luck! I am doomed, I see, never to have any +pleasure here." I searched in the case of the instrument, and +fortunately found some coils of strings, but no tuning-key anywhere. +Hence fresh laments. "Any key will do if the ward will fit on the +pegs," I explained; then both Lady Adelheid and the Baroness ran +backwards and forwards in gay spirits, and before long a whole magazine +of bright keys lay before me on the sounding-board. + +Then I set to work diligently, and both the ladies assisted me all they +could, trying first one peg and then another. At length one of the +tiresome keys fitted, and they exclaimed joyfully, "This will do! it +will do!" But when I had drawn the first creaking string up to just +proper pitch, it suddenly snapped, and the ladies recoiled in alarm. +The Baroness, handling the brittle wires with her delicate little +fingers, gave me the numbers as I wanted them, and carefully held the +coil whilst I unrolled it. Suddenly one of them coiled itself up again +with a whirr, making the Baroness utter an impatient "Oh!" Lady +Adelheid enjoyed a hearty laugh, whilst I pursued the tangled coil to +the corner of the room. After we had all united our efforts to extract +a perfectly straight string from it, and had tried it again, to our +mortification it again broke; but at last--at last we found some good +coils; the strings began to hold, and gradually the discordant jangling +gave place to pure melodious chords. "Ha! it will go! it will go! The +instrument is getting in tune!" exclaimed the Baroness, looking at me +with her lovely smile. How quickly did this common interest banish all +the strangeness and shyness which the artificial manners of social +intercourse impose. A kind of confidential familiarity arose between +us, which, burning through me like an electric current, consumed the +timorous nervousness and constraint which had lain like ice upon my +heart. That peculiar mood of diffused melting sadness which is +engendered of such love as mine was had quite left me; and accordingly, +when the pianoforte was brought into something like tune, instead of +interpreting my deeper feelings in dreamy improvisations, as I had +intended, I began with those sweet and charming canzonets which have +reached us from the South. During this or the other _Senza di te_ +(Without thee), or _Sentimi idol mio_ (Hear me, my darling), or _Almen +se nonpos'io_ (At least if I cannot), with numberless _Morir mi sentos_ +(I feel I am dying), and _Addios_ (Farewell), and _O dios!_ (O +Heaven!), a brighter and brighter brilliancy shone in Seraphina's +eyes. She had seated herself close beside me at the instrument; I felt +her breath fanning my cheek; and as she placed her arm behind me +on the chair-back, a white ribbon, getting disengaged from her +beautiful ball-dress, fell across my shoulder, where by my singing and +Seraphina's soft sighs it was kept in a continual flutter backwards and +forwards, like a true love-messenger. It is a wonder how I kept from +losing my head. + +As I was running my fingers aimlessly over the keys, thinking of a new +song, Lady Adelheid, who had been sitting in one of the corners of the +room, ran across to us, and, kneeling down before the Baroness, begged +her, as she took both her hands and clasped them to her bosom, "Oh, +dear Baroness! darling Seraphina! now you must sing too." To this she +replied, "Whatever are you thinking about, Adelheid? How could I dream +of letting our virtuoso friend hear such poor singing as mine?" And she +looked so lovely, as, like a shy good child, she cast down her eyes and +blushed, timidly contending with the desire to sing. That I too added +my entreaties can easily be imagined; nor, upon her making mention of +some little Courland _Volkslieder_ or popular songs, did I desist from +my entreaties until she stretched out her left hand towards the +instrument and tried a few notes by way of introduction. I rose to make +way for her at the piano, but she would not permit me to do so, +asserting that she could not play a single chord, and for that reason, +since she would have to sing without accompaniment, her performance +would be poor and uncertain. She began in a sweet voice, pure as a +bell, that came straight from her heart, and sang a song whose simple +melody bore all the characteristics of those _Volkslieder_ which +proceed from the lips with such a lustrous brightness, so to speak, +that we cannot help perceiving in the glad light which surrounds us our +own higher poetic nature. There lies a mysterious charm in the +insignificant words of the text which converts them into a hieroglyphic +scroll representative of the unutterable emotions which throng our +hearts. Who does not know that Spanish canzonet the substance of which +is in words little more than, "With my maiden I embarked on the sea; a +storm came on, and my timid maiden was tossed up and down: nay, I will +never again embark on the sea with my maiden?" And the Baroness's +little song contained nothing more than, "Lately I was dancing with my +sweetheart at a wedding; a flower fell out of my hair; he picked it up +and gave it me, and said, 'When, sweetheart mine, shall we go to a +wedding again?'" When, on her beginning the second verse of the song, I +played an _arpeggio_ accompaniment, and further when, in the +inspiration which now took possession of me, I at once stole from the +Baroness's own lips the melodies of the other songs she sang, I +doubtless appeared in her eyes, and in those of the Lady Adelheid, to +be one of the greatest of masters in the art of music, for they +overwhelmed me with enthusiastic praise. The lights and illuminations +from the ball-room, situated in one of the wings of the castle, now +shone across into the Baroness's chamber, whilst a discordant bleating +of trumpets and French horns announced that it was time to gather for +the ball. "Oh, now I must go," said the Baroness. I started up from the +pianoforte. "You have afforded me a delightful hour; these have been +the pleasantest moments I have ever spent in R--sitten," she added, +offering me her hand; and as in the extreme intoxication of delight I +pressed it to my lips, I felt her fingers close upon my hand with a +sudden convulsive tremor. I do not know how I managed to reach my +uncle's chamber, and still less how I got into the ball-room. There was +a certain Gascon who was afraid to go into battle since he was all +heart, and every wound would be fatal to him. I might be compared to +him; and so might everybody else who is in the same mood that I +was in; every touch was then fatal. The Baroness's hand--her tremulous +fingers--had affected me like a poisoned arrow; my blood was burning in +my veins. + +On the following morning my old uncle, without asking any direct +questions, had soon drawn from me a full account of the hour I had +spent in the Baroness's society, and I was not a little abashed when +the smile vanished from his lips and the jocular note from his words, +and he grew serious all at once, saying, "Cousin, I beg you will resist +this folly which is taking such a powerful hold upon you. Let me tell +you that your present conduct, as harmless as it now appears, may lead +to the most terrible consequences. In your thoughtless fatuity you are +standing on a thin crust of ice, which may break under you ere you are +aware of it, and let you in with a plunge. I shall take good care not +to hold you fast by the coat-tails, for I know you will scramble out +again pretty quick, and then, when you are lying sick unto death, you +will say, 'I got this little bit of a cold in a dream.' But I warn you +that a malignant fever will gnaw at your vitals, and years will pass +before you recover yourself, and are a man again. The deuce take your +music if you can put it to no better use than to cozen sentimental +young women out of their quiet peace of mind." "But," I began, +interrupting the old gentleman, "but have I ever thought of insinuating +myself as the Baroness's lover?" "You puppy!" cried the old gentleman, +"if I thought so I would pitch you out of this window." At this +juncture the Baron entered, and put an end to the painful conversation; +and the business to which I now had to turn my attention brought me +back from my love-sick reveries, in which I saw and thought of nothing +but Seraphina. + +In general society the Baroness only occasionally interchanged a few +friendly words with me; but hardly an evening passed in which a secret +message was not brought to me from Lady Adelheid, summoning me to +Seraphina. It soon came to pass that our music alternated with +conversations on divers topics. Whenever I and Seraphina began to get +too absorbed in sentimental dreams and vague aspirations, the Lady +Adelheid, though now hardly young enough to be so naive and droll as +she once was, yet intervened with all sorts of merry and somewhat +chaotic nonsense. From several hints she let fall, I soon discovered +that the Baroness really had something preying upon her mind, even as I +thought I had read in her eyes the very first moment I saw her; and I +clearly discerned the hostile influence of the apparition of the +castle. Something terrible had happened or was to happen. Although I +was often strongly impelled to tell Seraphina in what way I had come in +contact with the invisible enemy, and how my old uncle had banished +him, undoubtedly for ever, I yet felt my tongue fettered by a +hesitation which was inexplicable to myself even, whenever I opened my +mouth to speak. + +One day the Baroness failed to appear at the dinner table; it was said +that she was a little unwell, and could not leave her room. Sympathetic +inquiries were addressed to the Baron as to whether her illness was of +a grave nature. He smiled in a very disagreeable way, in fact, it was +almost like bitter irony, and said, "Nothing more than a slight +catarrh, which she has got from our blustering sea-breezes. They can't +tolerate any sweet voices; the only sounds they will endure are the +hoarse 'Halloos' of the chase." At these words the Baron hurled a keen +searching look at me across the table, for I sat obliquely opposite to +him. He had not spoken to his neighbour, but to me. Lady Adelheid, who +sat beside me, blushed a scarlet red. Fixing her eyes upon the plate in +front of her, and scribbling about on it with her fork, she whispered, +"And yet you must see Seraphina to-day; your sweet songs shall to-day +also bring soothing and comfort to her poor heart." Adelheid addressed +these words to me; but at this moment it struck me that I was almost +apparently entangled in a base and forbidden intrigue with the +Baroness, which could only end in some terrible crime. My old uncle's +warning fell heavily upon my heart. What should I do? Not see her +again? That was impossible so long as I remained in the castle; and +even if I might leave the castle and return to K----, I had not the +will to do it Oh! I felt only too deeply that I was not strong enough +to shake myself out of this dream, which was mocking one with delusive +hopes of happiness. Adelheid I almost regarded in the light of a common +go-between; I would despise her, and yet, upon second thoughts, I could +not help being ashamed of my folly. Had anything ever happened during +those blissful evening hours which could in the least degree lead to +any nearer relation with Seraphina than was permissible by propriety +and morality? How dare I let the thought enter my mind that the +Baroness would ever entertain any warm feeling for me? And yet I was +convinced of the danger of my situation. + +We broke up from dinner earlier than usual, in order to go again after +some wolves which had been seen in the fir-wood close by the castle. A +little hunting was just the thing I wanted in the excited frame of mind +in which I then was. I expressed to my uncle my resolve to accompany +the party; he gave me an approving smile and said, "That's right; I am +glad you are going out with them for once. I shall stay at home, so you +can take my firelock with you, and buckle my whinger round your waist; +in case of need it is a good and trusty weapon, if you only keep your +presence of mind." That part of the wood in which the wolves were +supposed to lie was surrounded by the huntsmen. It was bitterly cold; +the wind howled through the firs, and drove the light snow-flakes right +in my face, so that when at length it came on to be dusk I could +scarcely see six paces before me. Quite benumbed by the cold, I left +the place that had been assigned to me and sought shelter deeper in the +wood. There, leaning against a tree, with my firelock under my arm, I +forgot the wolf-hunt entirely; my thoughts had travelled back to +Seraphina's cosy room. After a time shots were heard in the far +distance; but at the same moment there was a rustling in the reed-bank, +and I saw not ten paces from me a huge wolf about to run past me. I +took aim, and fired, but missed. The brute sprang towards me with +glaring eyes; I should have been lost had I not had sufficient presence +of mind to draw my hunting-knife, and, just as the brute was flying at +me, to drive it deep into his throat, so that the blood spurted out +over my hand and arm. One of the Baron's keepers, who had stood not far +from me, came running up with a loud shout, and at his repeated +"Halloo!" all the rest soon gathered round us. The Baron hastened up to +me, saying, "For God's sake, you are bleeding--you are bleeding. Are +you wounded?" I assured him that I was not Then he turned to the keeper +who had stood nearest to me, and overwhelmed him with reproaches for +not having shot after me when I missed. And notwithstanding that the +man maintained this to have been perfectly impossible, since in the +very same moment the wolf had rushed upon me, and any shot would have +been at the risk of hitting me, the Baron persisted in saying that he +ought to have taken especial care of me as a less experienced hunter. +Meanwhile the keepers had lifted up the dead animal; it was one of the +largest that had been seen for a long time; and everybody admired my +courage and resolution, although to myself what I had done appeared +quite natural I had not for a moment thought of the danger I had run. +The Baron in particular seemed to take very great interest in the +matter; I thought he would never be done asking me whether, though I +was not wounded by the brute, I did not fear the ill effects that would +follow from the fright As we went back to the castle, the Baron took me +by the arm like a friend, and I had to give my firelock to a keeper to +carry. He still continued to talk about my heroic deed, so that +eventually I came to believe in my own heroism, and lost all my +constraint and embarrassment, and felt that I had established myself +in the Baron's eyes as a man of courage and uncommon resolution. The +schoolboy had passed his examination successfully, was now no longer a +schoolboy, and all the submissive nervousness of the schoolboy had left +him. I now conceived I had earned a right to try and gain Seraphina's +favour. Everybody knows of course what ridiculous combinations the +fancy of a love-sick youth is capable of. In the castle, over the +smoking punchbowl, by the fireside, I was the hero of the hour. Besides +myself the Baron was the only one of the party who had killed a +wolf--also a formidable one; the rest had to be content with ascribing +their bad shots to the weather and the darkness, and with relating +thrilling stories of their former exploits in hunting and the dangers +they had escaped. I thought, too, that I might reap an especial share +of praise and admiration from my old uncle as well; and so, with a view +to this end, I related to him my adventure at pretty considerable +length, nor did I forget to paint the savage brute's wild and +bloodthirsty appearance in very startling colours. The old gentleman, +however, only laughed in my face and said, "God is powerful even in the +weak." + +Tired of drinking and of the company, I was going quietly along the +corridor towards the justice-hall when I saw a figure with a light slip +in before me. On entering the hall I saw it was Lady Adelheid. "This is +the way we have to wander about like ghosts or night-walkers in order +to catch you, my brave slayer of wolves," she whispered, taking my arm. +The words "ghosts" and "sleep-walkers," pronounced in the place where +we were, fell like lead upon my heart; they immediately brought to my +recollection the ghostly apparitions of those two awful nights. As +then, so now, the wind came howling in from the sea in deep organ-like +cadences, rattling the oriel windows again and again and whistling +fearfully through them, whilst the moon cast her pale gleams exactly +upon the mysterious part of the wall where the scratching had been +heard. I fancied I discerned stains of blood upon it. Doubtless Lady +Adelheid, who still had hold of my hand, must have felt the cold icy +shiver which ran through me. "What's the matter with you?" she +whispered softly; "what's the matter with you? You are as cold as +marble. Come, I will call you back into life. Do you know how very +impatient the Baroness is to see you? And until she does see you she +will not believe that the ugly wolf has not really bitten you. She is +in a terrible state of anxiety about you. Why, my friend,--oh! how have +you awakened this interest in the little Seraphina? I have never seen +her like this. Ah!--so now the pulse is beginning to prickle; see how +quickly the dead man comes to life! Well, come along--but softly, +still! Come, we must go to the little Baroness." I suffered myself to +be led away in silence. The way in which Adelheid spoke of the Baroness +seemed to me undignified, and the innuendo of an understanding between +us positively shameful. When I entered the room along with Adelheid, +Seraphina, with a low-breathed "Oh!" advanced three or four paces +quickly to meet me; but then, as if recollecting herself, she stood +still in the middle of the room. I ventured to take her hand and press +it to my lips. Allowing it to rest in mine, she asked, "But, for +Heaven's sake! is it your business to meddle with wolves? Don't you +know that the fabulous days of Orpheus and Amphion are long past, and +that wild beasts have quite lost all respect for even the most +admirable of singers?" But this gleeful turn, by which the Baroness at +once effectually guarded against all misinterpretation of her warm +interest in me, I was put immediately into the proper key and the +proper mood. Why I did not take my usual place at the pianoforte I +cannot explain, even to myself, nor why I sat down beside the Baroness +on the sofa. Her question, "And what were you doing then to get into +danger?" was an indication of our tacit agreement that conversation, +not music, was to engage our attention for that evening. After I had +narrated my adventure in the wood, and mentioned the warm interest +which the Baron had taken in it, delicately hinting that I had not +thought him capable of so much feeling, the Baroness began in a tender +and almost melancholy tone, "Oh! how violent and rude you must think +the Baron; but I assure you it is only whilst we are living within +these gloomy, ghostly walls, and during the time there is hunting going +on in the dismal fir-forests, that his character completely changes, at +least his outward behaviour does. What principally disquiets him in +this unpleasant way is the thought, which constantly haunts him, that +something terrible will happen here. And that undoubtedly accounts for +the fact of his being so greatly agitated by your adventure, which +fortunately has had no ill consequences. He won't have the meanest of +his servants exposed to danger, if he knows it, still less a new-won +friend whom he has come to like; and I am perfectly certain that +Gottlieb, whom he blames for having left you in the lurch, will be +punished; even if he escapes being locked up in a dungeon, he will yet +have to suffer the punishment, so mortifying to a hunter, of going out +the next time there is a hunt with only a club in his hand instead of a +rifle. The circumstance that hunts like those which are held here are +always attended with danger, and the fact that the Baron, though always +fearing some sad accident, is yet so fond of hunting that he cannot +desist from provoking the demon of mischief, make his existence here a +kind of conflict, the ill effects of which I also have to feel. Many +queer stories are current about his ancestor who established the +entail; and I know myself that there is some dark family secret locked +within these walls like a horrible ghost which drives away the +owners, and makes it impossible for them to bear with it longer than a +few weeks at a time--and that only amid a tumult of jovial guests. But +I--Oh! how lonely I am in the midst of this noisy, merry company! And +how the ghostly influences which breathe upon me from the walls stir +and excite my very heart! You, my dear friend, have given me, through +your musical skill, the first cheerful moments I have spent here. How +can I thank you sufficiently for your kindness!" I kissed the hand she +offered to me, saying, that even on the very first day, or rather +during the very first night, I had experienced the ghostliness of the +place in all its horrors. The Baroness fixed her staring eyes upon my +face, as I went on to describe the ghostly character of the building, +discernible everywhere throughout the castle, particularly in the +decorations of the justice-hall, and to speak of the roaring of the +wind from the sea, &c. Possibly my voice and my expressions indicated +that I had something more in my mind than what I said; at any rate when +I concluded, the Baroness cried vehemently, "No, no; something dreadful +has happened to you in that hall, which I never enter without +shuddering. I beg you--pray, pray, tell me all." + +Seraphina's face had grown deadly pale; and I saw plainly that it would +be more advisable to give her a faithful account of all that I had +experienced than to leave her excited imagination to conjure up some +apparition that might perhaps, in a way I could not foresee, be far +more horrible than what I had actually encountered. As she listened to +me her fear and strained anxiety increased from moment to moment; and +when I mentioned the scratching on the wall she screamed, "It's +horrible! Yes, yes, it's in that wall that the awful secret is +concealed!" But as I went on to describe with what spiritual power and +superiority of will my old uncle had banished the ghost, she sighed +deeply, as though she had shaken off a heavy burden that had weighed +oppressively upon her. She leaned back in the sofa and held her hands +before her face. Now I first noticed that Adelheid had left us. A +considerable pause ensued, and as Seraphina still continued silent, I +softly rose, and going to the pianoforte, endeavoured in swelling +chords to invoke the bright spirits of consolation to come and deliver +Seraphina from the dark influence to which my narration had subjected +her. Then I soon began to sing as softly as I was able one of the Abbe +Steffani's[6] canzonas. The melancholy strains of the _Ochi, perche +piangete_ (O eyes, why weep you?) roused Seraphina out of her reverie, +and she listened to me with a gentle smile upon her face, and bright +pearl-like tears in her eyes. How am I to account for it that I kneeled +down before her, that she bent over towards me, that I threw my arms +about her, that a long ardent kiss was imprinted on my lips? How am I +to account for it that I did not lose my senses when she drew me softly +towards her, how that I tore myself from her arms, and, quickly rising +to my feet, hurried to the pianoforte? Turning from me, the Baroness +took a few steps towards the window, then she turned round again and +approached me with an air of almost proud dignity, which was not at all +usual with her. Looking me straight in the face, she said, "Your uncle +is the most worthy old man I know; he is the guardian-angel of our +family. May he include me in his pious prayers!" I was unable to utter +a word; the subtle poison that I had imbibed with her kiss burned and +boiled in every pulse and nerve. Lady Adelheid came in. The violence of +my inward conflict burst out at length in a passionate flood of tears, +which I was unable to repress. Adelheid looked at me with wonder and +smiled dubiously;--I could have murdered her. The Baroness gave me her +hand, and said with inexpressible gentleness, "Farewell, my dear +friend. Fare you right well; and remember that nobody perhaps has ever +understood your music better than I have. Oh! these notes! they will +echo long, long in my heart." I forced myself to utter a few stupid, +disconnected words, and hurried up to my uncle's room. The old +gentleman had already gone to bed. I stayed in the hall, and falling +upon my knees, I wept aloud; I called upon my beloved by name, I gave +myself up completely and regardlessly to all the absurd folly of a +love-sick lunatic, until at last the extravagant noise I made awoke my +uncle. But his loud call, "Cousin, I believe you have gone cranky, or +else you're having another tussle with a wolf. Be off to bed with you +if you will be so very kind"--these words compelled me to enter his +room, where I got into bed with the fixed resolve to dream only of +Seraphina. + +It would be somewhere past midnight when I thought I heard distant +voices, a running backwards and forwards, and an opening and banging of +doors--for I had not yet fallen asleep. I listened attentively; I heard +footsteps approaching the corridor; the hall door was opened, and soon +there came a knock at our door. "Who is there?" I cried. A voice from +without answered, "Herr Justitiarius, Herr Justitiarius, wake up, wake +up!" I recognised Francis's voice, and as I asked, "Is the castle on +fire?" the old gentleman woke up in his turn and asked, "Where--where +is there a fire? Is it that cursed apparition again? where is it?" "Oh! +please get up, Herr Justitiarius," said Francis, "Please get up; the +Baron wants you." "What does the Baron want me for?" inquired my uncle +further; "what does he want me for at this time of night? does he not +know that all law business goes to bed along with the lawyer, and +sleeps as soundly as he does?" "Oh!" cried Francis, now anxiously; +"please, Herr Justitiarius, good sir, please get up. My lady the +Baroness is dying." I started up with a cry of dismay. "Open the door +for Francis," said the old gentleman to me. I stumbled about the room +almost distracted, and could find neither door nor lock; my uncle had +to come and help me. Francis came in, his face pale and troubled, and +lit the candles. We had scarcely thrown on our clothes when we heard +the Baron calling in the hall, "Can I speak to you, good V----?" "But +what have you dressed for, cousin? the Baron only wanted me," asked the +old gentleman, on the point of going out. "I must go down--I must see +her and then die," I replied tragically, and as if my heart were rent +by hopeless grief. "Ay, just so; you are right, cousin," he said, +banging the door to in my face, so that the hinges creaked, and locking +it on the outside. At the first moment, deeply incensed at this +restraint, I thought of bursting the door open; but quickly reflecting +that this would entail the disagreeable consequences of a piece of +outrageous insanity, I resolved to await the old gentleman's return; +then however, let the cost be what it might, I would escape his +watchfulness. I heard him talking vehemently with the Baron, and +several times distinguished my own name, but could not make out +anything further. Every moment my position grew more intolerable. At +length I heard that some one brought a message to the Baron, who +immediately hurried off. My old uncle entered the room again. "She is +dead!" I cried, running towards him, "And you are a stupid fool," he +interrupted coolly; then he laid hold upon me and forced me into a +chair. "I must go down," I cried, "I must go down and see her, even +though it cost me my life." "Do so, good cousin," said he, locking the +door, taking out the key, and putting it in his pocket. I now flew into +a perfectly frantic rage; stretching out my hand towards the rifle, I +screamed, "If you don't instantly open the door I will send this bullet +through my brains." Then the old gentleman planted himself immediately +in front of me, and fixing his keen piercing eyes upon me said, "Boy, +do you think you can frighten me with your idle threats? Do you think I +should set much value on your life if you can go and throw it away in +childish folly like a broken plaything? What have you to do with the +Baron's wife? who has given you the right to insinuate yourself, like a +tiresome puppy, where you have no claim to be, and where you are not +wanted? do you wish to go and act the love-sick swain at the solemn +hour of death?" I sank back in my chair utterly confounded After a +while the old gentleman went on more gently, "And now let me tell you +that this pretended illness of the Baroness is in all probability +nothing. Lady Adelheid always loses her head at the least little thing. +If a rain-drop falls upon her nose, she screams, 'What fearful weather +it is!' Unfortunately the noise penetrated to the old aunts, and they, +in the midst of unseasonable floods of tears, put in an appearance +armed with an entire arsenal of strengthening drops, elixirs of life, +and the deuce knows what. A sharp fainting-fit"---- The old gentleman +checked himself; doubtless he observed the struggle that was going on +within me. He took a few turns through the room; then again planting +himself in front of me, he had a good hearty laugh and said, "Cousin, +cousin, what nonsensical folly have you now got in your head? Ah well! +I suppose it can't be helped; the devil is to play his pretty games +here in divers sorts of ways. You have tumbled very nicely into his +clutches, and now he's making you dance to a sweet tune," He again took +a few turns up and down, and again went on, "It's no use to think of +sleep now; and it occurred to me that we might have a pipe, and so +spend the few hours that are left of the darkness and the night." With +these words he took a clay pipe from the cupboard, and proceeded to +fill it slowly and carefully, humming a song to himself; then he +rummaged about amongst a heap of papers, until he found a sheet, +which he picked out and rolled into a spill and lighted. Blowing the +tobacco-smoke from him in thick clouds, he said, speaking between his +teeth, "Well, cousin, what was that story about the wolf?" + +I know not how it was, but this calm, quiet behaviour of the old +gentleman operated strangely upon me. I seemed to be no longer in +R--sitten, and the Baroness was so far, far distant from me that I +could only reach her on the wings of thought. The old gentleman's last +question, however, annoyed me. "But do you find my hunting exploit so +amusing?" I broke in,--"so well fitted for banter?" "By no means," he +rejoined, "by no means, cousin mine; but you've no idea what a comical +face such a whipper-snapper as you cuts, and how ludicrously he acts as +well, when Providence for once in a while honours him by putting him in +the way to meet with something out of the usual run of things. I once +had a college friend who was a quiet, sober fellow, and always on good +terms with himself. By accident he became entangled in an affair of +honour,--I say by accident, because he himself was never in any way +aggressive; and although most of the fellows looked upon him as a poor +thing, as a poltroon, he yet showed so much firm and resolute courage +in this affair as greatly to excite everybody's admiration. But from +that time onwards he was also completely changed. The sober and +industrious youth became a bragging, insufferable bully. He was always +drinking and rioting, and fighting about all sorts of childish trifles, +until he was run through in a duel by the Senior[7] of an exclusive +corps. I merely tell you the story, cousin; you are at liberty to think +what you please about it But to return to the Baroness and her +illness"---- At this moment light footsteps were heard in the hall; I +fancied, too, there was an unearthly moaning in the air. "She is dead!" +the thought shot through me like a fatal flash of lightning. The old +gentleman quickly rose to his feet and called out, "Francis, Francis!" +"Yes, my good Herr Justitiarius," he replied from without. "Francis," +went on my uncle, "rake the fire together a bit in the grate, and if +you can manage it, you had better make us a good cup or two of tea." +"It is devilish cold," and he turned to me, "and I think we had better +go and sit round the fire and talk a little." He opened the door, and I +followed him mechanically. "How are things going on below?" he asked. +"Oh!" replied Francis; "there was not much the matter. The Lady +Baroness is all right again, and ascribes her bit of a fainting-fit to +a bad dream." I was going to break out into an extravagant +manifestation of joy and gladness, but a stern glance from my uncle +kept me quiet "And yet, after all, I think it would be better if we lay +down for an hour or two. You need not mind about the tea, Francis." "As +you think well, Herr Justitiarius," replied Francis, and he left the +room with the wish that we might have a good night's rest, albeit the +cocks were already crowing. "See here, cousin," said the old gentleman, +knocking the ashes out of his pipe on the grate, "I think, cousin, that +it's a very good thing no harm has happened to you either from wolves +or from loaded rifles." I now saw things in the right light, and was +ashamed at myself to have thus given the old gentleman good grounds for +treating me like a spoiled child. + +Next morning he said to me, "Be so good as to step down, good cousin, +and inquire how the Baroness is. You need only ask for Lady Adelheid; +she will supply you with a full budget, I have no doubt" You may +imagine how eagerly I hastened downstairs. But just as I was about to +give a gentle knock at the door of the Baroness's anteroom, the Baron +came hurriedly out of the same. He stood still in astonishment, and +scrutinised me with a gloomy searching look. "What do you want here?" +burst from his lips. Notwithstanding that my heart beat, I controlled +myself and replied in a firm tone, "To inquire on my uncle's behalf how +my lady, the Baroness, is?" "Oh! it was nothing--one of her usual +nervous attacks. She is now having a quiet sleep, and will, I am sure, +make her appearance at the dinner-table quite well and cheerful. Tell +him that--tell him that." This the Baron said with a certain degree of +passionate vehemence, which seemed to me to imply that he was more +concerned about the Baroness than he was willing to show. I turned to +go back to my uncle, when the Baron suddenly seized my arm and said, +whilst his eyes flashed fire, "I have a word or two to say to you, +young man." Here I saw the deeply injured husband before me, and feared +there would be a scene which would perhaps end ignominiously for me. I +was unarmed; but at that moment I remembered I had in my pocket the +ingeniously-made hunting-knife which my uncle had presented to me after +we got to R--sitten. I now followed the Baron, who led the way rapidly, +with the determination not even to spare his life if I ran any risk of +being treated dishonourably. + +We entered the Baron's own room, the door of which he locked behind +him. Now he began to pace restlessly backwards and forwards, with his +arms folded one over the other; then he stopped in front of me and +repeated, "I have a word or two to say to you, young man." I had wound +myself up to a pitch of most daring courage, and I replied, raising my +voice, "I hope they will be words which I may hear without resentment." +He stared hard at me in astonishment, as though he had failed to +understand me. Then, fixing his eyes gloomily upon the floor, he threw +his arms behind his back, and again began to stride up and down the +room. He took down a rifle and put the ramrod down the barrel to see +whether it were loaded or not. My blood boiled in my veins; grasping my +knife, I stepped close up to him, so as to make it impossible for him +to take aim at me. "That's a handsome weapon," he said, replacing the +rifle in the corner. I retired a few paces, the Baron following me. +Slapping me on the shoulder, perhaps a little more violently than was +necessary, he said, "I daresay I seem to you, Theodore, to be excited +and irritable; and I really am so, owing to the anxieties of a +sleepless night. My wife's nervous attack was not in the least +dangerous; that I now see plainly. But here--here in this castle, which +is haunted by an evil spirit, I always dread something terrible +happening; and then it's the first time she has been ill here. And +you--you alone were to blame for it." "How that can possibly be I have +not the slightest conception," I replied calmly. "I wish," continued +the Baron, "I wish that damned piece of mischief, my steward's wife's +instrument, were chopped up into a thousand pieces, and that you--but +no, no; it was to be so, it was inevitably to be so, and I alone am to +blame for all. I ought to have told you, the moment you began to play +music in my wife's room, of the whole state of the case, and to have +informed you of my wife's temper of mind." I was about to speak; "Let +me go on," said the Baron, "I must prevent your forming any rash +judgment. You probably regard me as an uncultivated fellow, averse to +the arts; but I am not so by any means. There is a particular +consideration, however, based upon deep conviction, which constrains me +to forbid the introduction here as far as possible of such music as can +powerfully affect any person's mind, and to this I of course am no +exception. Know that my wife suffers from a morbid excitability, which +will finally destroy all the happiness of her life. Within these +strange walls she is never quit of that strained over-excited +condition, which at other times occurs but temporarily, and then +generally as the forerunner of a serious illness. You will ask me, and +quite reasonably too, why I do not spare my delicate wife the necessity +of coming to live in this weird castle, and mix amongst the wild +confusion of a hunting-party. Well, call it weakness--be it so; in a +word, I cannot bring myself to leave her behind. I should be tortured +by a thousand fears, and quite incapable of any serious business, +for I am perfectly sure that I should be haunted everywhere, in the +justice-hall as well as in the forest, by the most horrid ideas of all +kinds of fatal mischief happening to her. And, on the other hand, I +believe that the sort of life led here cannot fail to operate upon the +weakly woman like strengthening chalybeate waters. By my soul, the +sea-breezes, sweeping keenly after their peculiar fashion through the +fir-trees, and the deep baying of the hounds, and the merry ringing +notes of our hunting-horns _must_ get the better of all your sickly +languishing sentimentalisings at the piano, which no man ought play in +_that way_. I tell you, you are deliberately torturing my wife to +death." These words he uttered with great emphasis, whilst his eyes +flashed with a restless fire. The blood mounted to my head; I made a +violent gesture against the Baron with my hand; I was about to speak, +but he cut me short "I know what you are going to say," he began, "I +know what you are going to say, and I repeat that you are going the +right road to kill my wife. But that you intended this I cannot of +course for a moment maintain; and yet you will understand that I must +put a stop to the thing. In short, by your playing and singing you work +her up to a high pitch of excitement, and then, when she drifts without +anchor and rudder on the boundless sea of dreams and visions and vague +aspirations which your music, like some vile charm, has summoned into +existence, you plunge her down into the depths of horror with a tale +about a fearful apparition which you say came and played pranks with +you up in the justice-hall. Your great-uncle has told me everything; +but, pray, repeat to me all you saw, or did not see, heard, felt, +divined by instinct." + +I braced myself up and narrated calmly how everything had happened from +beginning to end, the Baron merely interposing at intervals a few words +expressive of his astonishment. When I came to the part where my old +uncle had met the ghost with trustful courage and had exorcised him +with a few powerful words, the Baron clasped his hands, raised them +folded towards Heaven, and said with deep emotion, "Yes, he is the +guardian-angel of the family. His mortal remains shall rest in the +vault of my ancestors." When I finished my narration, the Baron +murmured to himself, "Daniel, Daniel, what are you doing here at this +hour?" as he folded his arms and strode up and down the room. "And was +that all, Herr Baron?" I asked, making a movement as though I would +retire. Starting up as if out of a dream, the Baron took me kindly by +the hand and said, "Yes, my good friend, my wife, whom you have dealt +so hardly by without intending it--you must cure her again; you alone +can do so." I felt I was blushing, and had I stood opposite a mirror +should undoubtedly have seen in it a very blank and absurd face. The +Baron seemed to exult in my embarrassment; he kept his eyes fixed +intently upon my face, smiling with perfectly galling irony. "How in +the world can I cure her?" I managed to stammer out at length with an +effort "Well," he said, interrupting me, "you have no dangerous patient +to deal with at any rate. I now make an express claim upon your skill. +Since the Baroness has been drawn into the enchanted circle of your +music, it would be both foolish and cruel to drag her out of it all of +a sudden. Go on with your music therefore. You will always be welcome +during the evening hours in my wife's apartments. But gradually select +a more energetic kind of music, and effect a clever alternation of the +cheerful sort with the serious; and above all things, repeat your story +of the fearful ghost very very often. The Baroness will grow familiar +with it; she will forget that a ghost haunts this castle; and the story +will have no stronger effect upon her than any other tale of +enchantment which is put before her in a romance or a ghost-story book. +Pray, do this, my good friend." With these words the Baron left me. I +went away. I felt as if I were annihilated, to be thus humiliated to +the level of a foolish and insignificant child. Fool that I was to +suppose that jealousy was stirring his heart! He himself sends me to +Seraphina; he sees in me only the blind instrument which, after he has +made use of it, he can throw away if he thinks well. A few minutes +previously I had really feared the Baron; deep down within my heart +lurked the consciousness of guilt; but it was a consciousness which +allowed me to feel distinctly the beauty of the higher life for which I +was ripe. Now all had disappeared in the blackness of night; and I saw +only the stupid boy who in childish obstinacy had persisted in taking +the paper crown which he had put on his hot temples for a real golden +one. I hurried away to my uncle, who was waiting for me. "Well, cousin, +why have you been so long? Where have you been staying?" he cried as +soon as he saw me. "I have been having some words with the Baron!" I +quickly replied, carelessly and in a low voice, without being able to +look at the old gentleman. "God damn it all," said he, feigning +astonishment "Good gracious, boy! that's just what I thought. I suppose +the Baron has challenged you, cousin?" The ringing peal of laughter +which the old gentleman immediately afterwards broke out into taught me +that this time too, as always, he had seen me through and through. I +bit my lip, and durst not speak a word, for I knew very well that it +would only be the signal for the old gentleman to overwhelm me beneath +the torrent of teasing which was already hovering on the tip of his +tongue. + +The Baroness appeared at the dinner-table in an elegant morning-robe, +the dazzling whiteness of which exceeded that of fresh-fallen snow. She +looked worn and low-spirited; but she began to speak in her soft and +melodious accents, and on raising her dark eyes there shone a sweet and +yearning look full of aspiration in their voluptuous glow, and a +fugitive blush flitted across her lily-white cheeks. She was more +beautiful than ever. But who can fathom the follies of a young man who +has got too hot blood in his head and heart? The bitter pique which the +Baron had stirred up within me I transferred to the Baroness. The +entire business seemed to me like a foul mystification; and I would now +show that I was possessed of alarmingly good common-sense and also of +extraordinary sagacity. Like a petulant child, I shunned the Baroness +and escaped Adelheid when she pursued me, and found a place where I +wished, right at the bottom end of the table between the two officers, +with whom I began to carouse right merrily. We kept our glasses going +gaily during dessert, and I was, as so frequently is the case in moods +like mine, extremely noisy and loud in my joviality. A servant brought +me a plate with some bonbons on it, with the words, "From Lady +Adelheid." I took them; and observed on one of them, scribbled in +pencil, "and Seraphina." My blood coursed tumultuously in my veins. I +sent a glance in Adelheid's direction, which she met with a most sly +and archly cunning look; and taking her glass in her hand, she gave me +a slight nod. Almost mechanically I murmured to myself, "Seraphina!" +then taking up my glass in my turn, I drained it at a single draught. +My glance fell across in _her_ direction; I perceived that she also had +drunk at the very same moment and was setting down her glass. Our eyes +met, and a malignant demon whispered in my ear, "Unhappy wretch, she +does love you!" One of the guests now rose, and, in conformity with the +custom of the North, proposed the health of the lady of the house. Our +glasses rang in the midst of a tumult of joy. My heart was torn with +rapture and despair; the wine burned like fire within me; everything +spun round in circles; I felt as if I must hasten and throw myself at +her feet and there sigh out my life. "What's the matter with you, my +friend?" asked my neighbour, thus recalling me to myself; but Seraphina +had left the hall. We rose from the table. I was making for the door, +but Adelheid held me fast, and began to talk about divers matters; I +neither heard nor understood a single word. She grasped both my hands +and, laughing, shouted something in my ear. I remained dumb and +motionless, as though affected by catalepsy. All I remember is that I +finally took a glass of liqueur out of Adelheid's hand in a mechanical +way and drank it off, and then I recollect being alone in a window, and +after that I rushed out of the hall, down the stairs, and ran out into +the wood. The snow was falling in thick flakes; the fir-trees were +moaning as they waved to and fro in the wind. Like a maniac I ran round +and round in wide circles, laughing and screaming loudly, "Look, look +and see. Aha! Aha! The devil is having a fine dance with the boy who +thought he would taste of strictly forbidden fruit!" Who can tell what +would have been the end of my mad prank if I had not heard my name +called loudly from the outside of the wood? The storm had abated; the +moon shone out brightly through the broken clouds; I heard dogs +barking, and perceived a dark figure approaching me. It was the old man +Francis. "Why, why, my good Herr Theodore," he began, "you have quite +lost your way in the rough snow-storm. The Herr Justitiarius is +awaiting you with much impatience." I followed the old man in silence. +I found my great-uncle working in the justice-hall. "You have done +well," he cried, on seeing me, "you have done a very wise thing to go +out in the open air a little and get cool. But don't drink quite so +much wine; you are far too young, and it's not good for you." I did not +utter a word in reply, and also took my place at the table in silence. +"But now tell me, good cousin, what it was the Baron really wanted you +for?" I told him all, and concluded by stating that I would not lend +myself for the doubtful cure which the Baron had proposed. "And +it would not be practicable," the old gentleman interrupted, "for +to-morrow morning early we set off home, cousin." And so it was that I +never saw Seraphina again. + +As soon as we arrived in K---- my old uncle complained that he felt +the effects of the wearying journey this time more than ever. His +moody silence, broken only by violent outbreaks of the worst possible +ill-humour, announced the return of his attacks of gout. One day I was +suddenly called in; I found the old gentleman confined to his bed and +unable to speak, suffering from a paralytic stroke. He held a letter in +his hand, which he had crumpled up tightly in a spasmodic fit. I +recognised the hand-writing of the land-steward of R--sitten; but, +quite upset by my trouble, I did not venture to take the letter out of +the old gentleman's hand. I did not doubt that his end was near. But +his pulse began to beat again, even before the physician arrived; the +old gentleman's remarkably tough constitution resisted the mortal +attack, although he was in his seventieth year. That selfsame day the +doctor pronounced him out of danger. + +We had a more severe winter than usual; this was followed by a rough +and stormy spring; and hence it was more the gout--a consequence of the +inclemency of the season--than his previous accident which kept him for +a long time confined to his bed. During this period he made up his mind +to retire altogether from all kinds of business. He transferred his +office of Justitiarius to others; and so I was cut off from all hope of +ever again going to R--sitten. The old gentleman would allow no one to +attend him but me; and it was to me alone that he looked for all +amusement and every cheerful diversion. And though, in the hours when +he was free from pain, his good spirits returned, and he had no lack of +broad jests, even making mention of hunting exploits, so that I fully +expected every minute to hear him make a butt of my heroic deed, when I +had killed the wolf with my whinger, yet never once did he allude to +our visit to R--sitten, and as may well be imagined, I was very +careful, from natural shyness, not to lead him directly up to the +subject. My harassing anxiety and continual attendance upon the old +gentleman had thrust Seraphina's image into the background. But as soon +as his sickness abated somewhat, my thoughts returned with more +liveliness to that moment in the Baroness's room, which I now looked +upon as a star--a bright star--that had set, for me at least, for ever. +An occurrence which now happened, by making me shudder with an ice-cold +thrill as at sight of a visitant from the world of spirits, revived +all the pain I had formerly felt. One evening, as I was opening the +pocket-book which I had carried whilst at R--sitten, there fell out of +the papers I was unfolding a dark curl, wrapped about with a white +ribbon; I immediately recognised it as Seraphina's hair. But, on +examining the ribbon more closely, I distinctly perceived the mark of a +spot of blood on it! Perhaps Adelheid had skilfully contrived to +secrete it about me during the moments of conscious insanity by which I +had been affected during the last days of our visit; but why was the +spot of blood there? It excited forebodings of something terrible in my +mind, and almost converted this too pastoral love-token into an awful +admonition, pointing to a passion which might entail the expenditure of +precious blood. It was the same white ribbon that had fluttered about +me in light wanton sportiveness as it were the first time I sat near +Seraphina, and which Mysterious Night had stamped as an emblem of +mortal injury. Boys ought not to play with weapons with the dangerous +properties of which they are not familiar. + +At last the storms of spring had ceased to bluster, and summer asserted +her rights; and if the cold had formerly been unbearable, so now too +was the heat when July came in. The old gentleman visibly gathered +strength, and following his usual custom, went out to a garden in the +suburbs. One still, warm evening, as we sat in the sweet-smelling +jasmine arbour, he was in unusually good spirits, and not, as was +generally the case, overflowing with sarcasm and irony, but in a gentle +and almost soft and melting mood. "Cousin," he began, "I don't know how +it is, but I feel so nice and warm and comfortable all over to-day; I +have not felt like it for many years. I believe it is an augury that I +shall die soon." I exerted myself to drive these gloomy thoughts from +his mind. "Never mind, cousin," he said, "in any case I'm not long for +this world; and so I will now discharge a debt I owe you. Do you still +remember our autumn in R--sitten?" This question thrilled through me +like a lightning-flash, so before I was able to make any reply he +continued, "It was Heaven's will that your entrance into that castle +should be signalised by memorable circumstances, and that you should +become involved against your own will in the deepest secrets of the +house. The time has now come when you must learn all. We have often +enough talked about things which you, cousin, rather dimly guessed at +than really understood. In the alternation of the seasons nature +represents symbolically the cycle of human life. That is a trite +remark; but I interpret it differently from everybody else. The dews of +spring fall, summer's vapours fade away, and it is the pure atmosphere +of autumn which clearly reveals the distant landscape, and then finally +earthly existence is swallowed in the night of winter. I mean that the +government of the Power Inscrutable is more plainly revealed in the +clear-sightedness of old age. It is granted glimpses of the promised +land, the pilgrimage to which begins with the death on earth. How +clearly do I see at this moment the dark destiny of that house, to +which I am knit by firmer ties than blood relationship can weave! +Everything lies disclosed to the eyes of my spirit. And yet the things +which I now see, in the form in which I see them--the essential +substance of them, that is--this I cannot tell you in words; for no +man's tongue is able to do so. But listen, my son, I will tell you +as well as I am able, and do you think it is some remarkable story +that might really happen; and lay up carefully in your soul the +knowledge that the mysterious relations into which you ventured to +enter, not perhaps without being summoned, might have ended in your +destruction--but--that's all over now." + +The history of the R---- entail, which my old uncle told me, I retain +so faithfully in my memory even now that I can almost repeat it in his +own words (he spoke of himself in the third person). + +One stormy night in the autumn of 1760 the servants of R--sitten were +startled out of the midst of their sleep by a terrific crash, as if the +whole of the spacious castle had tumbled into a thousand pieces. In a +moment everybody was on his legs; lights were lit; the house-steward, +his face deadly pale with fright and terror, came up panting with his +keys; but as they proceeded through the passages and halls and rooms, +suite after suite, and found all safe, and heard in the appalling +silence nothing except the creaking rattle of the locks, which +occasioned some difficulty in opening, and the ghost-like echo of their +own footsteps, they began one and all to be utterly astounded. Nowhere +was there the least trace of damage. The old house-steward was +impressed by an ominous feeling of apprehension. He went up into the +great Knight's Hall, which had a small cabinet adjoining where Freiherr +Roderick von R---- used to sleep when engaged in making his +astronomical observations. Between the door of this cabinet and +that of a second was a postern, leading through a narrow passage +immediately into the astronomical tower. But directly Daniel (that was +the house-steward's name) opened this postern, the storm, blustering +and howling terrifically, drove a heap of rubbish and broken pieces of +stones all over him, which made him recoil in terror; and, dropping +the candles, which went out with a hiss on the floor, he screamed, "O +God! O God! The Baron! he's miserably dashed to pieces!" At the same +moment he heard sounds of lamentation proceeding from the Freiherr's +sleeping-cabinet, and on entering it he saw the servants gathered +around their master's corpse. They had found him fully dressed and more +magnificently than on any previous occasion, and with a calm earnest +look upon his unchanged countenance, sitting in his large and richly +decorated arm-chair as though resting after severe study. But his rest +was the rest of death. When day dawned it was seen that the crowning +turret of the tower had fallen in. The huge square stones had broken +through the ceiling and floor of the observatory-room, and then, +carrying down in front of them a powerful beam that ran across the +tower, they had dashed in with redoubled impetus the lower vaulted +roof, and dragged down a portion of the castle walls and of the narrow +connecting-passage. Not a single step could be taken beyond the postern +threshold without risk of falling at least eighty feet into a deep +chasm. + +The old Freiherr had foreseen the very hour of his death, and had sent +intelligence of it to his sons. Hence it happened that the very next +day saw the arrival of Wolfgang, Freiherr von R----, eldest son of the +deceased, and now lord of the entail. Relying confidently upon the +probable truth of the old man's foreboding, he had left Vienna, which +city he chanced to have reached in his travels, immediately he received +the ominous letter, and hastened to R--sitten as fast as he could +travel. The house-steward had draped the great hall in black, and had +had the old Freiherr laid out in the clothes in which he had been +found, on a magnificent state-bed, and this he had surrounded with tall +silver candlesticks with burning wax-candles. Wolfgang ascended the +stairs, entered the hall, and approached close to his father's corpse, +without speaking a word. There he stood with his arms folded on his +chest, gazing with a fixed and gloomy look and with knitted brows, into +his father's pale countenance. He was like a statue; not a tear came +from his eyes. At length, with an almost convulsive movement of the +right arm towards the corpse, he murmured hoarsely, "Did the stars +compel you to make the son whom you loved miserable?" Throwing his +hands behind his back and stepping a short pace backwards, the Baron +raised his eyes upwards and said in a low and well-nigh broken voice, +"Poor, infatuated old man! Your carnival farce with its shallow +delusions is now over. Now you no doubt see that the possessions which +are so niggardly dealt out to us here on earth have nothing in common +with Hereafter beyond the stars. What will--what power can reach over +beyond the grave?" The Baron was silent again for some seconds, then he +cried passionately, "No, your perversity shall not rob me of a grain of +my earthly happiness, which you strove so hard to destroy," and +therewith he took a folded paper out of his pocket and held it up +between two fingers to one of the burning candles that stood close +beside the corpse. The paper was caught by the flame and blazed up +high; and as the reflection flickered and played upon the face of the +corpse, it was as though its muscles moved and as though the old man +uttered toneless words, so that the servants who stood some distance +off were filled with great horror and awe. The Baron calmly finished +what he was doing by carefully stamping out with his foot the last +fragment of paper that fell on the floor blazing. Then, casting yet +another moody glance upon his father, he hurriedly left the hall. + +On the following day Daniel reported to the Freiherr the damage that +had been done to the tower, and described at great length all that had +taken place on the night when their dear dead master died; and he +concluded by saying that it would be a very wise thing to have the +tower repaired at once, for, if a further fall were to take place, +there would be some danger of the whole castle--well, if not tumbling +down, at any rate suffering serious damage. + +"Repair the tower?" the Freiherr interrupted the old servant curtly, +whilst his eyes flashed with anger, "Repair the tower? Never, never! +Don't you see, old man," he went on more calmly, "don't you see that +the tower could not fall in this way without some special cause? How if +it was my father's own wish that the place where he carried on his +unhallowed astrological labours should be destroyed--how if he had +himself made certain preparations by which he was enabled to bring down +the turret whenever he pleased and so occasion the ruin of the interior +of the tower! But be that as it may. And if the whole castle tumbles +down, I shan't care; I shall be glad. Do you imagine I am going to +dwell in this weird owls' nest? No; my wise ancestor who had the +foundations of a new castle laid in the beautiful valley yonder--he has +begun a work which I intend to finish." Daniel said crestfallen, "Then +will all your faithful old servants have to take up their bundles and +go?" "That I am not going to be waited upon by helpless, weak-kneed old +fellows like you is quite certain; but for all that I shall turn none +away. You may all enjoy the bread of charity without working for it." +"And am I," cried the old man, greatly hurt, "am I, the house-steward, +to be forced to lead such a life of inactivity?" Then the Freiherr, who +had turned his back upon the old man and was about to leave the room, +wheeled suddenly round, his face perfectly ablaze with passion, strode +up to the old man as he stretched out his doubled fist towards him, and +shouted in a thundering voice, "You, you hypocritical old villain, it's +you who helped my old father in his unearthly practices up yonder; you +lay upon his heart like a vampire; and perhaps it was you who basely +took advantage of the old man's mad folly to plant in his mind those +diabolical ideas which brought me to the brink of ruin. I ought, I tell +you, to kick you out like a mangy cur." The old man was so terrified at +these harsh terrible words that he threw himself upon his knees beside +the Freiherr; but the Baron, as he spoke these last words, threw +forward his right foot, perhaps quite unintentionally (as is frequently +the case in anger, when the body mechanically obeys the mind, and what +is in the thought is imitatively realised in action) and hit the old +man so hard on the chest that he rolled over with a stifled scream. +Rising painfully to his feet and uttering a most singular sound, like +the howling whimper of an animal wounded to death, he looked the +Freiherr through and through with a look that glared with mingled rage +and despair. The purse of money which the Freiherr threw down as he +went out of the room, the old man left lying on the floor where it +fell. + +Meanwhile all the nearest relatives of the family who lived in the +neighbourhood had arrived, and the old Freiherr was interred with much +pomp in the family vault in the church at R--sitten; and now, after the +invited guests had departed, the new lord of the entail appeared to +shake off his gloomy mood, and to be prepared to duly enjoy the +property that had fallen to him. Along with V----, the old Freiherr's +Justitiarius, who won his full confidence in the very first interview +they had, and who was at once confirmed in his office, the Baron made +an exact calculation of his sources of income, and considered how large +a part he could devote to making improvements and how large a part to +building a new castle. V---- was of opinion that the old Freiherr could +not possibly have spent all his income every year, and that there must +certainly be money concealed somewhere, since he had found nothing +amongst his papers except one or two bank-notes for insignificant +sums, and the ready-money in the iron safe was but very little more +than a thousand thalers, or about L150. Who would be so likely to +know anything about it as Daniel, who in his obstinate self-willed way +was perhaps only waiting to be asked about it? The Baron was now +not a little concerned at the thought that Daniel, whom he had so +grossly insulted, might let large sums moulder somewhere sooner +than discover them to him, not so much, of course, from any motives of +self-interest,--for of what use could even the largest sum of money be +to him, a childless old man, whose only wish was to end his days in the +castle of R--sitten?--as from a desire to take vengeance for the +affront put upon him. He gave V---- a circumstantial account of the +entire scene with Daniel, and concluded by saying that from several +items of information communicated to him he had learned that it was +Daniel alone who had contrived to nourish in the old Freiherr's mind +such an inexplicable aversion to ever seeing his sons in R--sitten. The +Justitiarius declared that this information was perfectly false, since +there was not a human creature on the face of the earth who would have +been able to guide the Freiherr's thoughts in any way, far less +determine them for him; and he undertook finally to draw from Daniel +the secret, if he had one, as to the place in which they would be +likely to find money concealed. His task proved far easier than he had +anticipated, for no sooner did he begin, "But how comes it, Daniel, +that your old master has left so little ready-money?" than Daniel +replied, with a repulsive smile, "Do you mean the few trifling +thalers, Herr Justitiarius, which you found in the little strong box? +Oh! the rest is lying in the vault beside our gracious master's +sleeping-cabinet. But the best," he went on to say, whilst his +smile passed over into an abominable grin, and his eyes flashed +with malicious fire, "but the best of all--several thousand gold +pieces--lies buried at the bottom of the chasm beneath the ruins." The +Justitiarius at once summoned the Freiherr; they proceeded there, and +then into the sleeping-cabinet, where Daniel pushed aside the wainscot +in one of the corners, and a small lock became visible. Whilst the +Freiherr was regarding the polished lock with covetous eyes, and making +preparations to try and unlock it with the keys of the great bunch +which he dragged with some difficulty out of his pocket, Daniel drew +himself up to his full height, and looked down with almost malignant +pride upon his master, who had now stooped down in order to see the +lock better. Daniel's face was deadly pale, and he said, his voice +trembling, "If I am a dog, my lord Freiherr, I have also at least a +dog's fidelity." Therewith he held out a bright steel key to his +master, who greedily snatched it out of his hand, and with it he +easily succeeded in opening the door. They stepped into a small and +low-vaulted apartment, in which stood a large iron coffer with the +lid open, containing many money-bags, upon which lay a strip of +parchment, written in the old Freiherr's familiar handwriting, large +and old-fashioned. + + One hundred and fifty thousand Imperial thalers in old _Fredericks + d'or_,[8] money saved from the revenues of the estate-tail of + R--sitten; this sum has been set aside for the building of the + castle. Further, the lord of the entail who succeeds me in the + possession of this money shall, upon the highest hill situated + eastward from the old tower of the castle (which he will find in + ruins), erect a high beacon tower for the benefit of mariners, and + cause a fire to be kindled on it every night. R--sitten, on + Michaelmas Eve of the year 1760. + RODERICK, FREIHERR von R. + +The Freiherr lifted up the bags one after the other and let them fall +again into the coffer, delighted at the ringing clink of so much gold +coin; then he turned round abruptly to the old house-steward, thanked +him for the fidelity he had shown, and assured him that they were only +vile tattling calumnies which had induced him to treat him so harshly +in the first instance. He should not only remain in the castle, but +should also continue to discharge his duties, uncurtailed in any way, +as house-steward, and at double the wages he was then having. "I owe +you a large compensation; if you will take money, help yourself to one +of these bags." As he concluded with these words, the Baron stood +before the old man, with his eyes bent upon the ground, and pointed to +the coffer; then, approaching it again, he once more ran his eyes over +the bags. A burning flush suddenly mounted into the old house-steward's +cheeks, and he uttered that awful howling whimper--a noise as of an +animal wounded to death, according to the Freiherr's previous +description of it to the Justitiarius. The latter shuddered, for the +words which the old man murmured between his teeth sounded like, "Blood +for gold." Of all this the Freiherr, absorbed in the contemplation of +the treasure before him, had heard not the least. Daniel tottered in +every limb, as if shaken by an ague fit; approaching the Freiherr with +bowed head in a humble attitude, he kissed his hand, and drawing his +handkerchief across his eyes under the pretence of wiping away his +tears, said in a whining voice, "Alas! my good and gracious master, +what am I, a poor childless old man, to do with money? But the doubled +wages I accept with gladness, and will continue to do my duty +faithfully and zealously." + +The Freiherr, who had paid no particular heed to the old man's words, +now let the heavy lid of the coffer fall to with a bang, so that the +whole room shook and cracked, and then, locking the coffer and +carefully withdrawing the key, he said carelessly, "Very well, very +well, old man." But after they entered the hall he went on talking to +Daniel, "But you said something about a quantity of gold pieces buried +underneath the ruins of the tower?" Silently the old man stepped +towards the postern, and after some difficulty unlocked it. But so soon +as he threw it open the storm drove a thick mass of snow-flakes into +the hall; a raven was disturbed and flew in croaking and screaming and +dashed with its black wings against the window, but regaining the open +postern it disappeared downwards into the chasm. The Freiherr stepped +out into the corridor; but one single glance downwards, and he started +back trembling. "A fearful sight!--I'm giddy!" he stammered as he sank +almost fainting into the Justitiarius' arms. But quickly recovering +himself by an effort, he fixed a sharp look upon the old man and asked, +"Down there, you say?" Meanwhile the old man had been locking the +postern, and was now leaning against it with all his bodily strength, +and was gasping and grunting to get the great key out of the rusty +lock. This at last accomplished, he turned round to the Baron, +and, changing the huge key about backwards and forwards in his +hands, replied with a peculiar smile, "Yes, there are thousands +and thousands down there--all my dear dead master's beautiful +instruments--telescopes, quadrants, globes, dark mirrors, they all lie +smashed to atoms underneath the ruins between the stones and the big +balk." "But money--coined money," interrupted the Baron, "you spoke of +gold pieces, old man?" "I only meant things which had cost several +thousand gold pieces," he replied; and not another word could be got +out of him. + +The Baron appeared highly delighted to have all at once come into +possession of all the means requisite for carrying out his favourite +plan, namely, that of building a new and magnificent castle. The +Justitiarius indeed stated it as his opinion that, according to the +will of the deceased, the money could only be applied to the repair and +complete finishing of the interior of the old castle, and further, any +new erection would hardly succeed in equalling the commanding size and +the severe and simple character of the old ancestral castle. The +Freiherr, however, persisted in his intention, and maintained that in +the disposal of property respecting which nothing was stated in the +deeds of the entail the irregular will of the deceased could have no +validity. He at the same time led V---- to understand that he should +conceive it to be his duty to embellish R--sitten as far as the +climate, soil, and environs would permit, for it was his intention to +bring home shortly as his dearly loved wife a lady who was in every +respect worthy of the greatest sacrifices. + +The air of mystery with which the Freiherr spoke of this alliance, +which possibly had been already consummated in secret, cut short all +further questions from the side of the Justitiarius. Nevertheless he +found in it to some extent a redeeming feature, for the Freiherr's +eager grasping after riches now appeared to be due not so much to +avarice strictly speaking as to the desire to make one dear to him +forget the more beautiful country she was relinquishing for his sake. +Otherwise he could not acquit the Baron of being avaricious, or at any +rate insufferably close-fisted, seeing that, even though rolling in +money and even when gloating over the old _Fredericks d'or_, he could +not help bursting out with the peevish grumble, "I know the old rascal +has concealed from us the greatest part of his wealth, but next spring +I will have the ruins of the tower turned over under my own eyes." + +The Freiherr had architects come, and discussed with them at great +length what would be the most convenient way to proceed with his +castle-building. He rejected one drawing after another; in none of them +was the style of architecture sufficiently rich and grandiose. He now +began to draw plans himself, and, inspirited by this employment, which +constantly placed before his eyes a sunny picture of the happiest +future, brought himself into such a genial humour that it often +bordered on wild exuberance of spirits, and even communicated itself to +all about him. His generosity and profuse hospitality belied all +imputations of avarice at any rate. Daniel also seemed to have now +forgotten the insult that had been put upon him. Towards the Freiherr, +although often followed by him with mistrustful eyes on account of the +treasure buried in the chasm, his bearing was both quiet and humble. +But what struck everybody as extraordinary was that the old man +appeared to grow younger from day to day. Possibly this might be, +because he had begun to forget his grief for his old master, which had +stricken him sore, and possibly also because he had not now, as he once +had, to spend the cold nights in the tower without sleep, and got +better food and good wine such as he liked; but whatever the cause +might be, the old greybeard seemed to be growing into a vigorous man +with red cheeks and well-nourished body, who could walk firmly and +laugh loudly whenever he heard a jest to laugh at. + +The pleasant tenor of life at R--sitten was disturbed by the arrival of +a man whom one would have judged to be quite in his element there. This +was Wolfgang's younger brother Hubert, at the sight of whom Wolfgang +had screamed out, with his face as pale as a corpse's, "Unhappy wretch, +what do you want here?" Hubert threw himself into his brother's arms, +but Wolfgang took him and led him away up to a retired room, where he +locked himself in with him. They remained closeted several hours, at +the end of which time Hubert came down, greatly agitated, and called +for his horses. The Justitiarius intercepted him; Hubert tried to pass +him; but V----, inspired by the hope that he might perhaps stifle in +the bud what might else end in a bitter life-long quarrel between the +brothers, besought him to stay, at least a few hours, and at the same +moment the Freiherr came down calling, "Stay here, Hubert! you will +think better of it." Hubert's countenance cleared up; he assumed an air +of composure, and quickly pulling off his costly fur coat, and throwing +it to a servant behind him, he grasped V----'s hand and went with him +into the room, saying with a scornful smile, "So the lord of the entail +will tolerate my presence here, it seems." V---- thought that the +unfortunate misunderstanding would assuredly be smoothed away now, for +it was only separation and existence apart from each other that would, +he conceived, be able to foster it. Hubert took up the steel tongs +which stood near the fire-grate, and as he proceeded to break up a +knotty piece of wood that would only sweal, not burn, and to rake the +fire together better, he said to V----, "You see what a good-natured +fellow I am, Herr Justitiarius, and that I am skilful in all domestic +matters. But Wolfgang is full of the most extraordinary prejudices, +and--a bit of a miser." V---- did not deem it advisable to attempt to +fathom further the relations between the brothers, especially as +Wolfgang's face and conduct and voice plainly showed that he was shaken +to the very depths of his nature by diverse violent passions. + +Late in the evening V---- had occasion to go up to the Freiherr's room +in order to learn his decision about some matter or other connected +with the estate-tail. He found him pacing up and down the room with +long strides, his arms crossed on his back, and much perturbation in +his manner. On perceiving the Justitiarius he stood still, and then, +taking him by both hands and looking him gloomily in the face, he said +in a broken voice, "My brother is come. I know what you are going to +say," he proceeded almost before V---- had opened his mouth to put a +question. "Unfortunately you know nothing. You don't know that my +unfortunate brother--yes, I will not call him anything worse than +unfortunate--that, like a spirit of evil, he crosses my path +everywhere, ruining my peace of mind. It is not his fault that I have +not been made unspeakably miserable; he did his best to make me so, but +Heaven willed it otherwise. Ever since he has known of the conversion +of the property into an entail, he has persecuted me with deadly +hatred. He envies me this property, which in his hands would only be +scattered like chaff. He is the wildest spendthrift I ever heard of. +His load of debt exceeds by a long way the half of the unentailed +property in Courland that fell to him, and now, pursued by his +creditors, who fail not to worry him for payment, he hurries here to me +to beg for money." "And you, his brother, refuse to give him any?" +V---- was about to interrupt him; but the Freiherr, letting V----'s +hands fall, and taking a long step backwards, went on in a loud and +vehement tone. "Stop! yes; I refuse. I neither can nor will give away a +single thaler of the revenues of the entail. But listen, and I will +tell you what was the proposal which I made the insane fellow a few +hours ago, and made in vain, and then pass judgment upon the feelings +of duty by which I am actuated. Our unentailed possessions in Courland +are, as you are aware, considerable; the half that falls to me I am +willing to renounce, but in favour of his family. For Hubert has +married, in Courland, a beautiful lady, but poor. She and the children +she has borne him are starving. The estates should be put under trust; +sufficient should be set aside out of the revenues to support him, and +his creditors be paid by arrangement. But what does he care for a quiet +life--a life free of anxiety?--what does he care for wife and child? +Money, ready-money, and large quantities, is what he will have, that he +may squander it in infamous folly. Some demon has made him acquainted +with the secret of the hundred and fifty thousand thalers, half of +which he in his mad way demands, maintaining that this money is movable +property and quite apart from the entailed portion. This, however, I +must and will refuse him, but the feeling haunts me that he is plotting +my destruction in his heart." + +No matter how great the efforts which V---- made to persuade the +Freiherr out of this suspicion against his brother, in which, of +course, not being initiated into the more circumstantial details of the +disagreement, he could only appeal to broad and somewhat superficial +moral principles, he yet could not boast of the smallest success. The +Freiherr commissioned him to treat with his hostile and avaricious +brother Hubert. V---- proceeded to do so with all the circumspection he +was master of, and was not a little gratified when Hubert at length +declared, "Be it so then; I will accept my brother's proposals, but +upon condition that he will now, since I am on the point of losing both +my honour and my good name for ever through the severity of my +creditors, make me an advance of a thousand _Fredericks d'or_ in hard +cash, and further grant that in time to come I may take up my +residence, at least for a short time occasionally, in our beautiful +R--sitten, along with my good brother." "Never, never!" exclaimed +the Freiherr violently, when V---- laid his brother's amended +counter-proposals before him. "I will never consent that Hubert stay +in my house even a single minute after I have brought home my wife. Go, +my good friend, tell this mar-peace that he shall have two thousand +_Fredericks d'or_, not as an advance, but as a gift--only, bid him go, +bid him go." V---- now learned at one and the same time that the ground +of the quarrel between the two brothers must be sought for in this +marriage. Hubert listened to the Justitiarius proudly and calmly, and +when he finished speaking replied in a hoarse and hollow tone, "I will +think it over; but for the present I shall stay a few days in the +castle." V---- exerted himself to prove to the discontented Hubert that +the Freiherr, by making over his share of their unentailed property, +was really doing all he possibly could do to indemnify him, and that on +the whole he had no cause for complaint against his brother, although +at the same time he admitted that all institutions of the nature +of primogeniture, which vested such preponderant advantages in the +eldest-born to the prejudice of the remaining children, were in many +respects hateful. Hubert tore his waistcoat open from top to bottom +like a man whose breast was cramped and he wanted to relieve it by +fresh air. Thrusting one hand into his open shirt-frill and planting +the other in his side, he spun round on one foot in a quick pirouette +and cried in a sharp voice, "Pshaw! What is hateful is born of hatred." +Then bursting out into a shrill fit of laughter, he said, "What +condescension my lord of the entail shows in being thus willing to +throw his gold pieces to the poor beggar!" V---- saw plainly that all +idea of a complete reconciliation between the brothers was quite out of +the question. + +To the Freiherr's annoyance, Hubert established himself in the rooms +that had been appointed for him in one of the side wings of the castle +as if with the view to a very long stay. He was observed to hold +frequent and long conversations with the house-steward; nay, the latter +was sometimes even seen to accompany him when he went out wolf-hunting. +Otherwise he was very little seen, and studiously avoided meeting his +brother alone, at which the latter was very glad. V---- felt how +strained and unpleasant this state of things was, and was obliged to +confess to himself that the peculiar uneasiness which marked all that +Hubert both said and did was such as to destroy intentionally and +effectually all the pleasure of the place. He now perfectly understood +why the Freiherr had manifested so much alarm on seeing his brother. + +One day as V---- was sitting by himself in the justice-room amongst his +law-papers, Hubert came in with a grave and more composed manner than +usual, and said in a voice that bordered upon melancholy, "I will +accept my brother's last proposals. If you will contrive that I have +the two thousand _Fredericks d'or_ today, I will leave the castle this +very night--on horseback--alone." "With the money?" asked V----. "You +are right," replied Hubert; "I know what you would say--the weight! +Give it me in bills on Isaac Lazarus of K----. For to K---- I am going +this very night. Something is driving me away from this place. The old +fellow has bewitched it with evil spirits." "Do you mean your father, +Herr Baron?" asked V---- sternly. Hubert's lips trembled; he had to +cling to the chair to keep from falling; but then suddenly recovering +himself, he cried, "To-day then, please, Herr Justitiarius," and +staggered to the door, not, however, without some exertion. "He now +sees that no deceptions are any longer of avail, that he can do nothing +against my firm will," said the Freiherr whilst drawing up the bills on +Isaac Lazarus in K----. A burden was lifted off his heart by the +departure of his inimical brother; and for a long time he had not been +in such cheerful spirits as he was at supper. Hubert had sent his +excuses; and there was not one who regretted his absence. + +The room which V---- occupied was somewhat retired, and its windows +looked upon the castle-yard. In the night he was suddenly startled up +out of his sleep, and was under the impression that he had been +awakened by a distant and pitiable moan. But listen as he would, all +remained still as the grave, and so he was obliged to conclude that the +sound which had fallen upon his ears was the delusion of a dream. But +at the same time he was seized with such a peculiar feeling of +breathless anxiety and terror that he could not stay in bed. He got up +and approached the window. It was not long, however, before the castle +door was opened, and a figure with a blazing torch came out of the +castle and went across the court-yard. V---- recognised the figure as +that of old Daniel, and saw him open the stable-door and go in, and +soon afterwards bring out a saddle horse. Now a second figure came into +view out of the darkness, well wrapped in furs, and with a fox-skin cap +on his head. V---- perceived that it was Hubert; but after he had +spoken excitedly with Daniel for some minutes, he returned into the +castle. Daniel led back the horse into the stable and locked the +door, and also that of the castle, after he had returned across the +court-yard in the same way in which he crossed it before. It was +evident Hubert had intended to go away on horseback, but had suddenly +changed his mind; and no less evident was it that there was a dangerous +understanding of some sort between Hubert and the old house-steward. +V---- looked forward to the morning with burning impatience; he would +acquaint the Freiherr with the occurrences of the night. Really it was +now time to take precautionary measures against the attacks of Hubert's +malice, which V---- was now convinced, had been betrayed in his +agitated behaviour of the day before. + +Next morning, at the hour when the Freiherr was in the habit of rising, +V---- heard people running backwards and forwards, doors opened and +slammed to, and a tumultuous confusion of voices talking and shouting. +On going out of his room he met servants everywhere, who, without +heeding him, ran past him with ghastly pale faces, upstairs, +downstairs, in and out the rooms. At length he ascertained that the +Freiherr was missing, and that they had been looking for him for hours +in vain. As he had gone to bed in the presence of his personal +attendant, he must have afterwards got up and gone away somewhere in +his dressing-gown and slippers, taking the large candlestick with him, +for these articles were also missed. V----, his mind agitated with dark +forebodings, ran up to the ill-fated hall, the cabinet adjoining which +Wolfgang had chosen, like his father, for his own bedroom. The postern +leading to the tower stood wide open, with a cry of horror V---- +shouted, "There--he lies dashed to pieces at the bottom of the ravine." +And it was so. There had been a fall of snow, so that all they could +distinctly make out from above was the rigid arm of the unfortunate man +protruding from between the stones. Many hours passed before the +workmen succeeded, at great risk of life, in descending by means of +ladders bound together, and drawing up the corpse by the aid of ropes. +In the last agonies of death the Baron had kept a tight hold upon the +silver candlestick; the hand in which it was clenched was the only +uninjured part of his whole body, which had been shattered in the most +hideous way by rebounding on the sharp stones. + +Just as the corpse was drawn up and carried into the hall, and laid +upon the very same spot on the large table where a few weeks before old +Roderick had lain dead, Hubert burst in, his face distorted by the +frenzy of despair. Quite overpowered by the fearful sight he wailed, +"Brother! O my poor brother! No; this I never prayed for from the +demons who had entered into me." This suspicious self-exculpation made +V---- tremble; he felt impelled to proceed against Hubert as the +murderer of his brother. Hubert, however, had fallen on the floor +senseless; they carried him to bed; but on taking strong restoratives +he soon recovered. Then he appeared in V----'s room, pale and +sorrow-stricken, and with his eyes half clouded with grief; and unable +to stand owing to his weakness, he slowly sank down into an easy-chair, +saying, "I have wished for my brother's death, because my father had +made over to him the best part of the property through the foolish +conversion of it into an entail. He has now found a fearful death. I am +now lord of the estate-tail, but my heart is rent with pain--I can--I +shall never be happy. I confirm you in your office; you shall be +invested with the most extensive powers in respect to the management of +the estate, upon which I cannot bear to live." Hubert left the room, +and in two or three hours was on his way to K----. + +It appeared that the unfortunate Wolfgang had got up in the night, +probably with the intention of going into the other cabinet where there +was a library. In the stupor of sleep he had mistaken the door, and had +opened the postern, taken a step out, and plunged headlong down. But +after all had been said, there was nevertheless a good deal that was +strained and unlikely in this explanation. If the Baron was unable to +sleep and wanted to get a book out of the library, this of itself +excluded all idea of sleep-stupor; but this condition alone could +account for any mistaking of the postern for the door of the cabinet. +Then again, the former was fast locked, and required a good deal of +exertion to unlock it. These improbabilities V---- accordingly put +before the domestics, who had gathered round him, and at length the +Freiherr's body-servant, Francis by name, said, "Nay, nay, my good Herr +Justitiarius; it couldn't have happened in that way." "Well, how then?" +asked V---- abruptly and sharply. But Francis, a faithful, honest +fellow, who would have followed his master into his grave, was +unwilling to speak out before the rest; he stipulated that what he had +to say about the event should be confided to the Justitiarius alone in +private. V---- now learned that the Freiherr used often to talk to +Francis about the vast treasure which he believed lay buried beneath +the ruins of the tower, and also that frequently at night, as if goaded +by some malicious fiend, he would open the postern, the key of which +Daniel had been obliged to give him, and would gaze with longing eyes +down into the chasm where the supposed riches lay. There was now no +doubt about it; on that ill-omened night the Freiherr, after his +servant had left him, must have taken one of his usual walks to the +postern, where he had been most likely suddenly seized with dizziness, +and had fallen over. Daniel, who also seemed much upset by the +Freiherr's terrible end, thought it would be a good thing to have the +dangerous postern walled up; and this was at once done. + +Freiherr Hubert von R----, who had then succeeded to the entail, went +back to Courland without once showing himself at R--sitten again. +V---- was invested with full powers for the absolute management of the +property. The building of the new castle was not proceeded with; but +on the other hand the old structure was put in as good a state of +repair as possible. Several years passed before Hubert came again to +R--sitten, late in the autumn, but after he had remained shut up in his +room with V---- for several days, he went back to Courland. Passing on +his way through K----, he deposited his will with the government +authorities there. + +The Freiherr, whose character appeared to have undergone a complete +revolution, spoke more than once during his stay at R--sitten of +presentiments of his approaching death. And these apprehensions were +really not unfounded, for he died in the very next year. His son, +named, like the deceased Baron, Hubert, soon came over from Courland to +take possession of the rich inheritance; and was followed by his mother +and his sister. The youth seemed to unite in his own person all the bad +qualities of his ancestors: he proved himself to be proud, arrogant, +impetuous, avaricious, in the very first moments after his arrival at +R--sitten. He wanted to have several things which did not suit his +notions of what was right and proper altered there and then: the cook +he kicked out of doors; and he attempted to thrash the coachman, in +which, however, he did not succeed, for the big brawny fellow had the +impudence not to submit to it. In fact, he was on the high road to +assuming the _role_ of a harsh and severe lord of the entail, when +V---- interposed in his firm earnest manner, declaring most explicitly +that not a single chair should be moved, that not even a cat should +leave the house if she liked to stay in it, until after the will had +been opened. "You have the presumption to tell me, the lord of the +entail," began the Baron. V----, however, cut short the young man, who +was foaming with rage, and said, whilst he measured him with a keen +searching glance, "Don't be in too great a hurry, Herr Baron. At all +events, you have no right to exercise authority here until after the +opening of your father's will. It is I--I alone--who am now master +here; and I shall know how to meet violence with violent measures. +Please to recollect that by virtue of my powers as executor of your +father's will, as well as by virtue of the arrangements which have been +made by the court, I am empowered to forbid your remaining in R--sitten +if I think fit to do so; and so, if you wish to spare me this +disagreeable step, I would advise you to go away quietly to K----." The +lawyer's earnestness, and the resolute tone in which he spoke, lent the +proper emphasis to his words. Hence the young Baron, who was charging +with far two sharp-pointed horns, felt the weakness of his weapons +against the firm bulwark, and found it convenient to cover the shame of +his retreat with a burst of scornful laughter. + +Three months passed and the day was come on which, in accordance with +the expressed wish of the deceased, his will was to be opened at K----, +where it had been deposited. In the chambers there was, besides the +officers of the court, the Baron, and V----, a young man of noble +appearance, whom V---- had brought with him, and who was taken to be +V----'s clerk, since he had a parchment deed sticking out from the +breast of his buttoned-up coat. Him the Baron treated as he did nearly +all the rest, with scornful contempt; and he demanded with noisy +impetuosity that they should make haste and get done with all their +tiresome needless ceremonies as quickly as possible and without over +many words and scribblings. He couldn't for the life of him make out +why any will should be wanted at all with respect to the inheritance, +and especially in the case of entailed property; and no matter what +provisions were made in the will, it would depend entirely upon his +decision as to whether they should be observed or not. After casting a +hasty and surly glance at the handwriting and the seal, the Baron +acknowledged them to be those of his dead father. Upon the clerk of the +court preparing to read the will aloud, the young Baron, throwing his +right arm carelessly over the back of his chair and leaning his left on +the table, whilst he drummed with his fingers on its green cover, sat +staring with an air of indifference out of the window. After a short +preamble the deceased Freiherr Hubert von R---- declared that he had +never possessed the estate-tail as its lawful owner, but that he had +only managed it in the name of the deceased Freiherr Wolfgang von +R----'s only son, called Roderick after his grandfather; and he it was +to whom, according to the rights of family priority, the estate had +fallen on his father's death. Amongst Hubert's papers would be found an +exact account of all revenues and expenditure, as well as of existing +movable property, &c. The will went on to relate that Wolfgang von +R---- had, during his travels, made the acquaintance of Mdlle. Julia de +St. Val in Geneva, and had fallen so deeply in love with her that he +resolved never to leave her side again. She was very poor; and her +family, although noble and of good repute, did not, however, rank +amongst the most illustrious, for which reason Wolfgang dared not +expect to receive the consent of old Roderick to a union with her, for +the old Freiherr's aim and ambition was to promote by all possible +means the establishment of a powerful family. Nevertheless he ventured +to write from Paris to his father, acquainting him with the fact that +his affections were engaged. But what he had foreseen was actually +realised; the old Baron declared categorically that he had himself +chosen the future mistress of the entail, and therefore there could +never be any mention made of any other. Wolfgang, instead of crossing +the Channel into England, as he was to have done, returned into Geneva +under the assumed name of Born, and married Julia, who after the lapse +of a year bore him a son, and this son became on Wolfgang's death the +real lord of the entail. In explanation of the facts why Hubert, though +acquainted with all this, had kept silent so long and had represented +himself as lord of the entail, various reasons were assigned, based +upon agreements formerly made with Wolfgang, but they seemed for the +most part insufficient and devoid of real foundation. + +The Baron sat staring at the clerk of the court as if thunderstruck, +whilst the latter went on proclaiming all this bad news in a +provokingly monotonous and jarring tone. When he finished, V---- rose, +and taking the young man whom he had brought with him by the hand, +said, as he bowed to the assembled company, "Here I have the honour to +present to you, gentlemen, Freiherr Roderick von R----, lord of the +entail of R--sitten." Baron Hubert looked at the youth, who had, as it +were, fallen from the clouds to deprive him of the rich inheritance +together with half the unentailed Courland estates, with suppressed +fury in his gleaming eyes; then, threatening him with his doubled fist, +he ran out of the court without uttering a word. Baron Roderick, on +being challenged by the court-officers, produced the documents by which +he was to establish his identity as the person whom he represented +himself to be. He handed in an attested extract from the register of +the church where his father was married, which certified that on such +and such a day Wolfgang Born, merchant, born in K----, had been united +in marriage with the blessing of the Church to Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, +in the presence of certain witnesses, who were named. Further, he +produced his own baptismal certificate (he had been baptized in Geneva +as the son of the merchant Born and his wife Julia, _nee_ De St. Val, +begotten in lawful wedlock), and various letters from his father to his +mother, who was long since dead, but they none of them had any other +signature than W. + +V---- looked through all these papers with a cloud upon his face; and +as he put them together again, he said, somewhat troubled, "Ah well! +God will help us!" + +The very next morning Freiherr Hubert von R---- presented, through an +advocate whose services he had succeeded in enlisting in his cause, a +statement of protest to the government authorities in K----, actually +calling upon them to effectuate the immediate surrender to him of the +entail of R--sitten. It was incontestable, maintained the advocate, +that the deceased Freiherr Hubert Von R---- had not had the power to +dispose of entailed property either by testament or in any other way. +The testament in question, therefore, was nothing more than an +evidential statement, written down and deposited with the court, to the +effect that Freiherr Wolfgang von R---- had bequeathed the estate-tail +to a son who was at that time still living; and accordingly it had as +evidence no greater weight than that of any other witness, and so could +not by any possibility legitimately establish the claims of the person +who had announced himself to be Freiherr Roderick von R----. Hence it +was rather the duty of this new claimant to prove by action at law his +alleged rights of inheritance, which were hereby expressly disputed and +denied, and so also to take proper steps to maintain his claim to the +estate-tail, which now, according to the laws of succession, fell to +Baron Hubert von R----. By the father's death the property came at once +immediately into the hands of the son. There was no need for any +formal declaration to be made of his entering into possession of the +inheritance, since the succession could not be alienated; at any rate, +the present owner of the estate was not going to be disturbed in his +possession by claims which were perfectly groundless. Whatever reasons +the deceased might have had for bringing forward another heir of entail +were quite irrelevant. And it might be remarked that he had himself had +an intrigue in Switzerland, as could be proved if necessary from the +papers he had left behind him; and it was quite possible that the +person whom he alleged to be his brother's son was his own son, the +fruit of an unlawful love, for whom in a momentary fit of remorse he +had wished to secure the entail. + +However great was the balance of probability in favour of the truth of +the circumstances as stated in the will, and however revolted the +judges were, particularly by the last clauses of the protest, in which +the son felt no compunction at accusing his dead father of a crime, yet +the views of the case there stated were after all the right ones; and +it was only due to V----'s restless exertions, and his explicit and +solemn assurance that the proofs which were necessary to establish +legitimately the identity of Freiherr Roderick von R---- should be +produced in a very short time, that the surrender of the estate to the +young Baron was deferred, and the contrivance of the administration of +it in trust agreed to, until after the case should be settled. + +V---- was only too well aware how difficult it would be for him to keep +his promise. He had turned over all old Roderick's papers without +finding the slightest trace of a letter or any kind of a statement +bearing upon Wolfgang's relation to Mdlle. de St. Val. He was sitting +wrapt in thought in old Roderick's sleeping-cabinet, every hole and +comer of which he had searched, and was working at a long statement of +the case that he intended despatching to a certain notary in Geneva, +who had been recommended to him as a shrewd and energetic man, to +request him to procure and forward certain documents which would +establish the young Freiherr's cause on firm ground. It was midnight; +the full moon shone in through the windows of the adjoining hall, the +door of which stood open. Then V---- fancied he heard a noise as of +some one coming slowly and heavily up the stairs, and also at the same +time a jingling and rattling of keys. His attention was arrested; he +rose to his feet and went into the hall, where he plainly made out that +there was some one crossing the ante-room and approaching the door of +the hall where he was. Soon afterwards the door was opened and a man +came slowly in, dressed in night-clothes, his face ghastly pale and +distorted; in the one hand he bore a candle-stick with the candles +burning, and in the other a huge bunch of keys. V---- at once +recognised the house-steward, and was on the point of addressing him +and inquiring what he wanted so late at night, when he was arrested by +an icy shiver; there was something so unearthly and ghost-like in the +old man's manner and bearing as well as in his set, pallid face. He +perceived that he was in presence of a somnambulist. Crossing the hall +obliquely with measured strides, the old man went straight to the +walled-up postern that had formerly led to the tower. He came to a halt +immediately in front of it, and uttered a wailing sound that seemed to +come from the bottom of his heart, and was so awful and so loud that +the whole apartment rang again, making V---- tremble with dread. Then, +setting the candlestick down on the floor and hanging the keys on his +belt, Daniel began to scratch at the wall with both hands, so that the +blood soon burst out from beneath his finger-nails, and all the while +he was moaning and groaning as if tortured by nameless agony. After +placing his ear against the wall in a listening attitude, he waved his +hand as if hushing some one, stooped down and picked up the +candlestick, and finally stole back to the door with soft measured +footsteps. V---- took his own candle in his hand and cautiously +followed him. They both went downstairs; the old man unlocked the great +main door of the castle, V---- slipped cleverly through. Then they went +to the stable, where old Daniel, to V----'s perfect astonishment, +placed his candlestick so skilfully that the entire interior of the +building was sufficiently lighted without the least danger. Having +fetched a saddle and bridle, he put them on one of the horses which he +had loosed from the manger, carefully tightening the girth and taking +up the stirrup-straps. Pulling the tuft of hair on the horse's forehead +outside the front strap, he took him by the bridle and led him out of +the stable, clicking with his tongue and patting his neck with one +hand. On getting outside in the courtyard he stood several seconds in +the attitude of one receiving commands, which he promised by sundry +nods to carry out. Then he led the horse back into the stable, +unsaddled him, and tied him to the manger. This done, he took his +candlestick, locked the stable, and returned to the castle, finally +disappearing in his own room, the door of which he carefully bolted. +V---- was deeply agitated by this scene; the presentiment of some +fearful deed rose up before him like a black and fiendish spectre, and +refused to leave him. Being so keenly alive as he was to the precarious +position of his _protege_, he felt that it would at least be his duty +to turn what he had seen to his account. + +Next day, just as it was beginning to be dusk, Daniel came into the +Justitiarius's room to receive some instructions relating to his +department of the household. V---- took him by the arms, and forcing +him into a chair, in a confidential way began, "See you here, my old +friend Daniel, I have long been wishing to ask you what you think of +all this confused mess into which Hubert's peculiar will has tumbled +us. Do you really think that the young man is Wolfgang's son, begotten +in lawful marriage?" The old man, leaning over the arm of his chair, +and avoiding V----'s eyes, for V---- was watching him most intently, +replied doggedly, "Bah! Maybe he is; maybe he is not. What does it +matter to me? It's all the same to me who's master here now." "But I +believe," went on V----, moving nearer to the old man and placing his +hand on his shoulder, "but I believed you possessed the old Freiherr's +full confidence, and in that case he assuredly would not conceal from +you the real state of affairs with regard to his sons. He told you, I +dare say, about the marriage which Wolfgang had made against his will, +did he not?" "I don't remember to have ever heard him say anything of +that sort," replied the old man, yawning with the most ill-mannered +loudness. "You are sleepy, old man," said V----; "perhaps you have had +a restless night?" "Not that I am aware," he rejoined coldly; "but I +must go and order supper." Whereupon he rose heavily from his chair and +rubbed his bent back, yawning again, and that still more loudly than +before. "Stay a little while, old man," cried V----, taking hold of his +hand and endeavouring to force him to resume his seat; but Daniel +preferred to stand in front of the study-table; propping himself upon +it with both hands, and leaning across towards V----, he asked +sullenly, "Well, what do you want? What have I to do with the will? +What do I care about the quarrel over the estate?" "Well, well," +interposed V----, "we'll say no more about that now. Let us turn to +some other topic, Daniel. You are out of humour and yawning, and all +that is a sign of great weariness, and I am almost inclined to believe +that it really was _you_ last night, who"---- "Well, what did I do last +night?" asked the old man without changing his position. V---- went +on, "Last night, when I was sitting up above in your old master's +sleeping-cabinet next the great hall, you came in at the door, your +face pale and rigid; and you went across to the bricked-up postern and +scratched at the wall with both your hands, groaning as if in very +great pain. Do you walk in your sleep, Daniel?" The old man dropped +back into the chair which V---- quickly managed to place for him; but +not a sound escaped his lips. His face could not be seen, owing to the +gathering dusk of the evening; V---- only noticed that he took his +breath short and that his teeth were rattling together. "Yes," + continued V---- after a short pause, "there is one thing that is very +strange about sleep-walkers. On the day after they have been in this +peculiar state in which they have acted as if they were perfectly wide +awake, they don't remember the least thing, that they did." Daniel did +not move. "I have come across something like what your condition was +yesterday once before in the course of my experience," proceeded V----. +"I had a friend who regularly began to wander about at night as you do +whenever it was full moon,--nay, he often sat down and wrote letters. +But what was most extraordinary was that if I began to whisper softly +in his ear I could soon manage to make him speak; and he would answer +correctly all the questions I put to him; and even things that he would +most jealously have concealed when awake now fell from his lips +unbidden, as though he were unable to offer any resistance to the power +that was exerting its influence over him. Deuce take it! I really +believe that, if a man who's given to walking in his sleep had ever +committed any crime, and hoarded it up as a secret ever so long, it +could be extracted from him by questioning when he was in this peculiar +state. Happy are they who have a clean conscience like you and me, +Daniel! We may walk as much as we like in our sleep; there's no fear of +anybody extorting the confession of a crime from us. But come now, +Daniel! when you scratch so hideously at the bricked-up postern, you +want, I dare say, to go up the astronomical tower, don't you? I suppose +you want to go and experiment like old Roderick--eh? Well, next time +you come, I shall ask you what you want to do." Whilst V---- was +speaking, the old man was shaken with continually increasing agitation; +but now his whole frame seemed to heave and rock convulsively past all +hope of cure, and in a shrill voice he began to utter a string of +unmeaning gibberish. V---- rang for the servants. They brought lights; +but as the old man's fit did not abate, they lifted him up as though he +had been a mere automaton, not possessed of the power of voluntary +movement, and carried him to bed. After continuing in this frightful +state for about an hour, he fell into a profound sleep resembling a +dead faint When he awoke he asked for wine; and, after he had got what +he wanted, he sent away the man who was going to sit with him, and +locked himself in his room as usual. + +V---- had indeed really resolved to make the attempt he spoke of to +Daniel, although at the same time he could not forget two facts. In the +first place, Daniel, having now been made aware of his propensity to +walk in his sleep, would probably adopt every measure of precaution to +avoid him; and on the other hand, confessions made whilst in this +condition would not be exactly fitted to serve as a basis for further +proceedings. In spite of this, however, he repaired to the hall on the +approach of midnight, hoping that Daniel, as frequently happens to +those afflicted in this way, would be constrained to act involuntarily. +About midnight there arose a great noise in the courtyard. V---- +plainly heard a window broken in; then he went downstairs, and as he +traversed the passages he was met by rolling clouds of suffocating +smoke, which, he soon perceived were pouring out of the open door of +the house-steward's room. The steward himself was just being carried +out, to all appearance dead, in order to be taken and put to bed in +another room. The servants related that about midnight one of the +under-grooms had been awakened by a strange hollow knocking; he thought +something had befallen the old man, and was preparing to get up and go +and see if he could help him, when the night watchman in the court +shouted, "Fire! Fire! The Herr House-Steward's room is all of a bright +blaze!" At this outcry several servants at once appeared on the scene; +but all their efforts to burst open the room door were unavailing. +Whereupon they hurried out into the court, but the resolute watchman +had already broken in the window, for the room was low and on the +basement story, had torn down the burning curtains, and by pouring a +few buckets of water on them had at once extinguished the fire. The +house-steward they found lying on the floor in the middle of the room +in a swoon. In his hand he still held the candlestick tightly clenched, +the burning candles of which had caught the curtains, and so occasioned +the fire. Some of the blazing rags had fallen upon the old man, burning +his eyebrows and a large portion of the hair of his head. If the +watchman had not seen the fire the old man must have been helplessly +burned to death. The servants, moreover, to their no little +astonishment found the room door secured on the inside by two quite new +bolts, which had been fastened on since the previous evening, for they +had not been there then. V---- perceived that the old man had wished to +make it impossible for him to get out of his room; for the blind +impulse which urged him to wander in his sleep he could not resist. The +old man became seriously ill; he did not speak; he took but little +nourishment; and lay staring before him with the reflection of death in +his set eyes, just as if he were clasped in the vice-like grip of some +hideous thought. V---- believed he would never rise from his bed again. + +V---- had done all that could be done for his client; and he could now +only await the result in patience; and so he resolved to return to +K----. His departure was fixed for the following morning. As he was +packing his papers together late at night, he happened to lay his hand +upon a little sealed packet which Freiherr Hubert von R---- had given +him, bearing the inscription, "To be read after my will has been +opened," and which by some unaccountable means had hitherto escaped his +notice. He was on the point of breaking the seal when the door opened +and Daniel came in with still, ghostlike step. Placing upon the table a +black portfolio which he carried under his arm, he sank upon his knees +with a deep groan, and grasping V----'s hands with a convulsive clutch +he said, in a voice so hollow and hoarse that it seemed to come from +the bottom of a grave, "I should not like to die on the scaffold! There +is One above who judges!" Then, rising with some trouble and with many +painful gasps, he left the room as he had come. + +V---- spent the whole of the night in reading what the black portfolio +and Hubert's packet contained. Both agreed in all circumstantial +particulars, and suggested naturally what further steps were to be +taken. On arriving at K----, V---- immediately repaired to Freiherr +Hubert von R----, who received him with ill-mannered pride. But the +remarkable result of the interview, which began at noon and lasted on +without interruption until late at night, was that the next day the +Freiherr made a declaration before the court to the effect that he +acknowledged the claimant to be, agreeably to his father's will, the +son of Wolfgang von R----, eldest son of Freiherr Roderick von R----, +and begotten in lawful wedlock with Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, and +furthermore acknowledged him as rightful and legitimate heir to the +entail. On leaving the court he found his carriage, with post-horses, +standing before the door; he stepped in and was driven off at a rapid +rate, leaving his mother and his sister behind him. They would perhaps +never see him again, he wrote, along with other perplexing statements. +Roderick's astonishment at this unexpected turn which the case had +taken was very great; he pressed V---- to explain to him how this +wonder had been brought about, what mysterious power was at work in the +matter. V----, however, evaded his questions by giving him hopes of +telling him all at some future time, and when he should have come into +possession of the estate. For the surrender of the entail to him could +not be effected immediately, since the court, not content with Hubert's +declaration, required that Roderick should also first prove his own +identity to their satisfaction. V---- proposed to the Baron that he +should go and live at R--sitten, adding that Hubert's mother and +sister, momentarily embarrassed by his sudden departure, would prefer +to go and live quietly on the ancestral property rather than stay in +the dear and noisy town. The glad delight with which Roderick welcomed +the prospect of dwelling, at least for a time, under the same roof with +the Baroness and her daughter, betrayed the deep impression which the +lovely and graceful Seraphina had made upon him. In fact, the Freiherr +made such good use of his time in R--sitten that, at the end of a few +weeks, he had won Seraphina's love as well as her mother's cordial +approval of her marriage with him. All this was for V---- rather too +quick work, since Roderick's claims to be lord of the entail still +continued to be rather doubtful. The life of idyllic happiness at the +castle was interrupted by letters from Courland. Hubert had not shown +himself at all at the estates, but had travelled direct to St +Petersburg, where he had taken military service and was now in the +field against the Persians, with whom Russia happened to be just then +waging war. This obliged the Baroness and her daughter to set off +immediately for their Courland estates, where everything was in +confusion and disorder. Roderick, who regarded himself in the light of +an accepted son-in-law, insisted upon accompanying his beloved; and +hence, since V---- likewise returned to K----, the castle was left in +its previous loneliness. The house-steward's malignant complaint grew +worse and worse, so that he gave up all hopes of ever getting about +again; and his office was conferred upon an old _chasseur_, Francis by +name, Wolfgang's faithful servant. + +At last, after long waiting, V---- received from Switzerland +information of the most favourable character. The priest who had +married Roderick was long since dead; but there was found in the church +register a memorandum in his hand writing, to the effect that the man +of the name of Born, whom he had joined in the bonds of wedlock with +Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, had established completely to his satisfaction +his identity as Freiherr Wolfgang von R----, eldest son of Freiherr +Roderick von R---- of R--Sitten. Besides this, two witnesses of the +marriage had been discovered, a merchant of Geneva and an old French +captain, who had moved to Lyons; to them also Wolfgang had in +confidence stated his real name; and their affidavits confirmed the +priest's notice in the church register. With these memoranda in his +hands, drawn up with proper legal formalities, V---- now succeeded in +securing his client in the complete possession of his rights; and as +there was now no longer any hindrance to the surrender to him of the +entail, it was to be put into his hands in the ensuing autumn. Hubert +had fallen in his very first engagement, thus sharing the fate of his +younger brother, who had likewise been slain in battle a year before +his father's death. Thus the Courland estates fell to Baroness +Seraphina von R----, and made a handsome dowry for her to take to the +too happy Roderick. + +November had already come in when the Baroness, along with Roderick and +his betrothed, arrived at R--sitten. The formal surrender of the +estate-tail to the young Baron took place, and then his marriage with +Seraphina was solemnised. Many weeks passed amid a continual whirl of +pleasure; but at length the wearied guests began gradually to depart +from the castle, to V----'s great satisfaction, for he had made up his +mind not to take his leave of R--sitten until he had initiated the +young lord of the entail in all the relations and duties connected with +his new position down to the minutest particulars. Roderick's uncle had +kept an account of all revenues and disbursements with the most +detailed accuracy; hence, since Hubert had only retained a small sum +annually for his own support, the surplus revenues had all gone to +swell the capital left by the old Freiherr, till the total now amounted +to a considerable sum. Hubert had only employed the income of the +entail for his own purposes during the first three years, but to cover +this he had given a mortgage on the security of his share of the +Courland property. + +From the time when old Daniel had revealed himself to V---- as a +somnambulist, V---- had chosen old Roderick's bed-room for his own +sitting-room, in order that he might the more securely gather from the +old man what he afterwards voluntarily disclosed. Hence it was in this +room and in the adjoining great hall that the Freiherr transacted +business with V----. Once they were both sitting at the great table by +the bright blazing fire; V---- had his pen in his hand, and was noting +down various totals and calculating the riches of the lord of the +entail, whilst the latter, leaning his head on his hand, was blinking +at the open account-books and formidable-looking documents. Neither of +them heard the hollow roar of the sea, nor the anxious cries of the +sea-gulls as they dashed against the windowpanes, flapping their wings +and flying backwards and forwards, announcing the oncoming storm. +Neither of them heeded the storm, which arose about midnight, and was +now roaring and raging with wild fury round the castle walls, so that +all the sounds of ill omen in the fire-grates and narrow passages +awoke, and began to whistle and shriek in a weird, unearthly way. At +length, after a terrific blast, which made the whole castle shake, the +hall was completely lit up by the murky glare of the full moon, and +V---- exclaimed, "Awful weather!" The Freiherr, quite absorbed in the +consideration of the wealth which had fallen to him, replied +indifferently, as he turned over a page of the receipt-book with a +satisfied smile, "It is indeed; very stormy!" But, as if clutched by +the icy hand of Dread, he started to his feet as the door of the hall +flew open and a pale spectral figure became visible, striding in with +the stamp of death upon its face. It was Daniel, who, lying helpless +under the power of disease, was deemed in the opinion of V---- as of +everybody else incapable of the ability to move a single limb; but, +again coming under the influence of his propensity to wander in his +sleep at full moon, he had, it appeared, been unable to resist it. The +Freiherr stared at the old man without uttering a sound; and when +Daniel began to scratch at the wall, and moan as though in the painful +agonies of death, Roderick's heart was filled with horrible dread. With +his face ashy pale and his hair standing straight on end, he leapt to +his feet and strode towards the old man in a threatening attitude and +cried in a loud firm voice, so that the hall rang again, "Daniel, +Daniel, what are you doing here at this hour?" Then the old man uttered +that same unearthly howling whimper, like the death-cry of a wounded +animal, which he had uttered when Wolfgang had offered to reward his +fidelity with gold; and he fell down on the floor. V---- summoned the +servants; they raised the old man up; but all attempts to restore +animation proved fruitless. Then the Freiherr cried, almost beside +himself, "Good God! Good God! Now I remember to have heard that a +sleepwalker may die on the spot if anybody calls him by his name. Oh! +oh! unfortunate wretch that I am! I have killed the poor old man! I +shall never more have a peaceful moment so long as I live." When the +servants had carried the corpse away and the hall was again empty, +V---- took the Freiherr, who was still continuing his self-reproaches, +by the hand and led him in impressive silence to the walled-up postern, +and said, "The man who fell down dead at your feet, Freiherr Roderick, +was the atrocious murderer of your father." The Freiherr fixed his +staring eyes upon V---- as though he saw the foul fiends of hell. But +V---- went on, "The time has come now for me to reveal to you the +hideous secret which, weighing upon the conscience of this monster and +burthening him with curses, compelled him to roam abroad in his sleep. +The Eternal Power has seen fit to make the son take vengeance upon the +murderer of his father. The words which you thundered in the ears of +that fearful night-walker were the last words which your unhappy father +spoke." V---- sat down in front of the fire, and the Freiherr, +trembling and unable to utter a word, took his seat beside him. +V---- began to tell him the contents of the document which Hubert had +left behind him, and the seal of which he (V----) was not to break +until after the opening of the will Hubert lamented, in expressions +testifying to the deepest remorse, the implacable hatred against his +elder brother which took root in him from the moment that old Roderick +established the entail. He was deprived of all weapons; for, even if he +succeeded in maliciously setting the son at variance with the father, +it would serve no purpose, since even Roderick himself had not the +power to deprive his eldest son of his birth-right, nor would he on +principle have ever done so, no matter how his affections had been +alienated from him. It was only when Wolfgang formed his connection +with Julia de St. Val in Geneva that Hubert saw his way to effecting +his brother's ruin. And that was the time when he came to an +understanding with Daniel, to provoke the old man by villainous devices +to take measures which should drive his son to despair. + +He was well aware of old Roderick's opinion that the only way to ensure +an illustrious future for the family to all subsequent time was by +means of an alliance with one of the oldest families in the country. +The old man had read this alliance in the stars, and any pernicious +derangement of the constellation would only entail destruction upon the +family he had founded. In this way it was that Wolfgang's union with +Julia seemed to the old man like a sinful crime, committed against the +ordinances of the Power which had stood by him in all his worldly +undertakings; and any means that might be employed for Julia's ruin he +would have regarded as justified for the same reason, for Julia had, he +conceived, ranged herself against him like some demoniacal principle. +Hubert knew that his brother loved Julia passionately, almost to +madness in fact, and that the loss of her would infallibly make him +miserable, perhaps kill him. And Hubert was all the more ready to +assist the old man in his plans as he had himself conceived an unlawful +affection for Julia, and hoped to win her for himself. It was, however, +determined by a special dispensation of Providence that all attacks, +even the most virulent, were to be thwarted by Wolfgang's resoluteness; +nay, that he should contrive to deceive his brother: the fact that his +marriage was actually solemnised and that of the birth of a son were +kept secret from Hubert In Roderick's mind also there occurred, along +with the presentiment of his approaching death, the idea that Wolfgang +had really married the Julia who was so hostile to him. In the letter +which commanded his son to appear at R--sitten on a given day to take +possession of the entail, he cursed him if he did not sever his +connection with her. This was the letter that Wolfgang burnt beside his +father's corpse. To Hubert the old man wrote, saying that Wolfgang had +married Julia, but that he would part from her. This Hubert took to be +a fancy of his visionary father's; accordingly he was not a little +dismayed when on reaching R--sitten Wolfgang with perfect frankness not +only confirmed the old man's supposition, but also went on to add that +Julia had borne him a son, and that he hoped in a short time to +surprise her with the pleasant intelligence of his high rank and great +wealth, for she had hitherto taken him for Born, a merchant from M----. +He intended going to Geneva himself to fetch his beloved wife. But +before he could carry out this plan he was overtaken by death. Hubert +carefully concealed what he knew about the existence of a son born to +Wolfgang in lawful wedlock with Julia, and so usurped the property that +really belonged to his nephew. But only a few years passed before he +became a prey to bitter remorse. He was reminded of his guilt in +terrible wise by destiny, in the hatred which grew up and developed +more and more between his two sons. "You are a poor starving beggar!" +said the elder, a boy of twelve, to the younger, "but I shall be lord +of R--sitten when father dies, and then you will have to be humble and +kiss my hand when you want me to give you money to buy a new coat." The +younger, goaded to ungovernable fury by his brother's proud and +scornful words, threw the knife at him which he happened to have in his +hand, and almost killed him. Hubert, for fear of some dire misfortune, +sent the younger away to St. Petersburg; and he served afterwards as +officer under Suwaroff, and fell fighting against the French. Hubert +was prevented revealing to the world the dishonest and deceitful way in +which he had acquired possession of the estate-tail by the shame and +disgrace which would have come upon him; but he would not rob the +rightful owner of a single penny more. He caused inquiries to be set on +foot in Geneva, and learned that Madame Born had died of grief at the +incomprehensible disappearance of her husband, but that young Roderick +Born was being brought up by a worthy man who had adopted him. Hubert +then caused himself to be introduced under an assumed name as a +relative of Born the merchant, who had perished at sea, and he +forwarded at given times sufficient sums of money to give the young +heir of entail a good and respectable education. How he carefully +treasured up the surplus revenues from the estate, and how he drew up +the terms of his will, we already know. Respecting his brother's death, +Hubert spoke in strangely obscure terms, but they allowed this much to +be inferred, that there must be some mystery about it, and that he had +taken part, indirectly, at least, in some heinous crime. + +The contents of the black portfolio made everything clear. Along with +Hubert's traitorous correspondence with Daniel was a sheet of paper +written and signed by Daniel. V---- read a confession at which his very +soul trembled, appalled. It was at Daniel's instigation that Hubert had +come to R--sitten; and it was Daniel again who had written and told him +about the one hundred and fifty thousand thalers that had been found. +It has been already described how Hubert was received by his brother, +and how, deceived in all his hopes and wishes, he was about to go off +when he was prevented by V----, Daniel's heart was tortured by an +insatiable thirst for vengeance, which he was determined to take on the +young man who had proposed to kick him out like a mangy cur. He it was +who relentlessly and incessantly fanned the flame of passion by which +Hubert's desperate heart was consumed. Whilst in the fir forests +hunting wolves, out in the midst of a blinding snowstorm, they agreed +to effect his destruction. "Make away with him!" murmured Hubert, +looking askance and taking aim with his rifle. "Yes, make away with +him," snarled Daniel, "but not in _that way_, not in _that way!_" And +he made the most solemn asseverations that he would murder the Freiherr +and not a soul in the world should be the wiser. When, however, Hubert +had got his money, he repented of the plot; he determined to go away in +order to shun all further temptation. Daniel himself saddled his horse +and brought it out of the stable; but as the Baron was about to mount, +Daniel said to him in a sharp, strained voice, "I thought you would +stay on the entail, Freiherr Hubert, now that it has just fallen to +you, for the proud lord of the entail lies dashed to pieces at the +bottom of the ravine, below the tower." The steward had observed that +Wolfgang, tormented by his thirst for gold, often used to rise in the +night, go to the postern which formerly led to the tower, and stand +gazing with longing eyes down into the chasm, where, according to his +(Daniel's) testimony, vast treasures lay buried. Relying upon this +habit, Daniel waited near the hall-door on that ill-omened night; and +as soon as he heard the Freiherr open the postern leading to the tower, +he entered the hall and proceeded to where the Freiherr was standing, +close by the brink of the chasm. On becoming aware of the presence of +his villainous servant, in whose eyes the gleam of murder shone, the +Freiherr turned round and said with a cry of terror, "Daniel, Daniel, +what are you doing here at this hour?" But then Daniel shrieked wildly, +"Down with you, you mangy cur!" and with a powerful push of his foot he +hurled the unhappy man over into the deep chasm. + +Terribly agitated by this awful deed, Freiherr Roderick found no peace +in the castle where his father had been murdered. He went to his +Courland estates, and only visited R--sitten once a year, in autumn. +Francis--old Francis--who had strong suspicions as to Daniel's guilt, +maintained that he often haunted the place at full moon, and described +the nature of the apparition much as V--- afterwards experienced it for +himself when he exorcised it. It was the disclosure of these +circumstances, also, which stamped his father's memory with dishonour, +that had driven young Freiherr Hubert out into the world. + +This was my old great-uncle's story. Now he took my hand, and whilst +his eyes filled with tears, he said, in a broken voice, "Cousin, +cousin! And she too--the beautiful lady--has fallen a victim to the +dark destiny, the grim, mysterious power which has established itself +in that old ancestral castle. Two days after we left R--sitten the +Freiherr arranged an excursion on sledges as the concluding event of +the visit. He drove his wife himself; but as they were going down the +valley the horses, for some unexplained reason, suddenly taking fright, +began to snort and kick and plunge most savagely. 'The old man! The old +man is after us!' screamed the Baroness in a shrill, terrified voice. +At this same moment the sledge was overturned with a violent jerk, and +the Baroness was hurled to a considerable distance. They picked her up +lifeless--she was quite dead. The Freiherr is perfectly inconsolable, +and has settled down into a state of passivity that will kill him. We +shall never go to R--sitten again, cousin!" + +Here my uncle paused. As I left him my heart was rent by emotion; and +nothing but the all-soothing hand of Time could assuage the deep pain +which I feared would cost me my life. + +Years passed. V---- was resting in his grave, and I had left my native +country. Then I was driven northwards, as far as St. Petersburg, by the +devastating war which was sweeping over all Germany. On my return +journey, not far from K----, I was driving one dark summer night along +the shore of the Baltic, when I perceived in the sky before me a +remarkably large bright star. On coming nearer I saw by the red +flickering flame that what I had taken for a star must be a large fire, +but could not understand how it could be so high up in the air. +"Postilion, what fire is that before us yonder?" I asked the man +who was driving me. "Oh! why, that's not a fire; it's the beacon +tower of R--sitten." "R--sitten!" Directly the postilion mentioned +the name all the experiences of the eventful autumn days which I had +spent there recurred to my mind with lifelike reality. I saw the +Baron--Seraphina--and also the remarkably eccentric old aunts--myself +as well, with my bare milk-white face, my hair elegantly curled and +powdered, and wearing a delicate sky-blue coat--nay, I saw myself in my +love-sick folly, sighing like a furnace, and making lugubrious odes on +my mistress's eyebrows. The sombre, melancholy mood into which these +memories plunged me was relieved by the bright recollection of V----'s +genial jokes, shooting up like flashes of coloured light, and I found +them now still more entertaining than they had been so long ago. +Thus agitated by pain mingled with much peculiar pleasure, I reached +R--sitten early in the morning and got out of the coach in front of the +post-house, where it had stopped I recognised the house as that of the +land-steward; I inquired after him. "Begging your pardon," said the +clerk of the post-house, taking his pipe from his mouth and giving his +night-cap a tilt, "begging your pardon; there is no land-steward here; +this is a Royal Government office, and the Herr Administrator is still +asleep." On making further inquiries I learnt that Freiherr Roderick +von R----, the last lord of the entail, had died sixteen years before +without descendants, and that the entail in accordance with the terms +of the original deeds had now escheated to the state. I went up to the +castle; it was a mere heap of ruins. I was informed by an old peasant, +who came out of the fir-forest, and with whom I entered into +conversation, that a large portion of the stones had been employed in +the construction of the beacon-tower. He also could tell the story of +the ghost which was said to have haunted the castle, and he affirmed +that people often heard unearthly cries and lamentations amongst the +stones, especially at full moon. + +Poor short-sighted old Roderick! What a malignant destiny did you +conjure up to destroy with the breath of poison, in the first moments +of its growth, that race which you intended to plant with firm roots to +last on till eternity! + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "THE ENTAIL": + +[Footnote 1: Freiherr = Baron, though not exactly in the present +significance of the term in Germany. A Freiherr belongs to the +"superior nobility," and is a Baron of the older nobility of the Middle +Ages; and he ranks immediately after a Count (Graf). The title Baron is +now restricted to comparatively newer creations, and its bearer belongs +to the "lower nobility." In this tale "Freiherr" and "Baron" are used +indifferently.] + +[Footnote 2: The Justitiarius acted as justiciary in the seignorial +courts of justice, which were amongst the privileges accorded to the +nobility of certain ranks, in certain cases, by the feudal institutions +of the Middle Ages. This privilege the R---- family is represented as +exercising.] + +[Footnote 3: At the present time the Germans say _Prosit!_ under like +circumstances. This of coarse reminds one of the Greek custom of +regarding sneezing as an auspicious omen.] + +[Footnote 4: This refers to an episode in Schiller's work, related by a +Sicilian. The story is of a familiar type. Two brothers, Jeronymo and +Lorenzo, fall in love with the same Lady Antonia; the elder brother is +secretly killed by the younger. But on the marriage day of the murderer +the murdered man appears in the disguise of a monk, and proceeds to +reveal himself in his bloody habiliments and show his ghastly wounds.] + +[Footnote 5: By Paul Fleming (1609-1640); one of the pious but gloomy +religious songs of this leading spirit of the "first Silesian school."] + +[Footnote 6: See note, p. 40.] + +[Footnote 7: The reference is to a _Landsmannschaft_. These were +associations, at a university, of students from the same state or +country, bound to the observance of certain traditional customs, &c, +and under the control of certain self-elected officers (the _Senior_ +being one).] + +[Footnote 8: Imperial thalers varied in value at different times, but +estimating their value at three shillings, the sum here mentioned would +be equivalent to about L22,500. A _Frederick d'or_ was a gold coin +worth five thalers.] + + + + + ARTHUR'S HALL.[1] + + +You must of course, indulgent reader, have heard a good deal about the +remarkable old commercial town of Dantzic. Perhaps you may be +acquainted from abundant descriptions with all the sights to be seen +there; but I should like it best of all if you have ever been there +yourself in former times, and seen with your own eyes the wonderful +hall into which I will now take you--I mean Arthur's Hall.[2] + +At the hour of noon the hall was crammed full of men of the most +diverse nations, all pushing about and immersed to the eyes in +business, so that the ears were deafened by the confused din. But when +the exchange hours were over, and the merchants had gone to dinner, and +only a few odd individuals hurried through the hall on business (for it +served as a means of communication between two streets), that I dare +say was the time when you, gracious reader, liked to visit Arthur's +Hall best, whenever you were in Dantzic. For then a kind of magical +twilight fell through the dim windows, and all the strange reliefs and +carvings, with which the wall was too profusely decorated, became +instinct with life and motion. Stags with immense antlers, together +with other wonderful animals, gazed down upon you with their fiery eyes +till you could hardly look at them; and the marble statue of the king, +also in the midst of the hall, caused you to shiver more in proportion +as the dusk of evening deepened. The great picture representing an +assemblage of all the Virtues and Vices, with their respective names +attached, lost perceptibly in moral effect; for the Virtues, being +high up, were blended unrecognisably in a grey mist, whilst the +Vices--wondrously beautiful ladies in gay and brilliant costumes--stood +out prominently and very seductively, threatening to enchant you with +their sweet soft words. You preferred to turn your eyes upon the narrow +border which went almost all round the hall, and on which were +represented in pleasing style long processions of gay-uniformed militia +of the olden time, when Dantzic was an Imperial town. Honest +burgomasters, their features stamped with shrewdness and importance, +ride at the head on spirited horses with handsome trappings, whilst +the drummers, pipers, and halberdiers march along so jauntily and +life-like, that you soon begin to hear the merry music they play, and +look to see them all defile out of that great window up there into the +Langemarkt.[3] + +While, then, they are marching off, you, indulgent reader,--if you +were, that is, a tolerable sketcher,--would not be able to do otherwise +than copy with pen and ink yon magnificent burgomaster with his +remarkably handsome page. Pen and ink and paper, provided at public +cost, were always to be found lying about on the tables; accordingly +the material would be all ready at hand, and you would have felt the +temptation irresistible. This you would have been permitted to do, but +not so the young merchant Traugott, who, on beginning to do anything of +this kind, encountered a thousand difficulties and vexations. "Advise +our friend in Hamburg at once that that business has been settled, my +good Herr Traugott," said the wholesale and retail merchant, Elias +Roos, with whom Traugott was about to enter upon an immediate +partnership, besides marrying his only daughter, Christina. After a +little trouble, Traugott found a place at one of the crowded tables; he +took a sheet of paper, dipped his pen in the ink, and was about to +begin with a free caligraphic flourish, when, running over once more in +his mind what he wished to say, he cast his eyes upwards. Now it +happened that he sat directly opposite a procession of figures, at the +sight of which he was always, strangely enough, affected with an +inexplicable sadness. A grave man, with something of dark melancholy in +his face, and with a black curly beard and dressed in sumptuous +clothing, was riding a black horse, which was led by the bridle by a +marvellous youth: his rich abundance of hair and his gay and graceful +costume gave him almost a feminine appearance. The face and form of the +man made Traugott shudder inwardly, but a whole world of sweet vague +aspirations beamed upon him from the youth's countenance. He could +never tear himself away from looking at these two; and hence, on the +present occasion, instead of writing Herr Elias Roos's letter of advice +to Hamburg, he sat gazing at the wonderful picture, absently scribbling +all over his paper. After this had lasted some time, a hand clapped him +on the shoulder from behind, and a gruff voice said, "Nice--very nice; +that's what I like; something maybe made of that." Traugott, awakening +out of his dreamy reverie, whisked himself round; but, as if struck by +a lightning flash, he remained speechless with amazement and fright, +for he was staring up into the face of the dark melancholy man who was +depicted on the wall before him. He it was who uttered the words stated +above; at his side stood the delicate and wonderfully beautiful youth, +smiling upon him with indescribable affection. "Yes, it is they--the +very same!" was the thought that flashed across Traugott's mind. "I +expect they will at once throw off their unsightly mantles and stand +forth in all the splendours of their antique costume." The members of +the crowd pushed backwards and forwards amongst each other, and the +strangers had soon disappeared in the crush; but even after the hours +of 'Change were long over, and only a few odd individuals crossed the +hall, Traugott still remained in the self-same place with the letter of +advice in his hand, as though he were converted into a solid stone +statue. + +At length he perceived Herr Elias Roos coming towards him with two +strangers. "What are you about, cogitating here so long after noon, my +respected Herr Traugott?" asked Elias Roos; "have you sent off the +letter all right?" Mechanically Traugott handed him the paper; but Herr +Elias Roos struck his hands together above his head, stamping at first +gently, but then violently, with his right foot, as he cried, making +the hall ring again, "Good God! Good God! what childish tricks are +these? Nothing but sheer childishness, my respected Traugott,--my +good-for-nothing son-in-law--my imprudent partner. Why, the devil must +be in your honour! The letter--the letter! O God! the post!" Herr Elias +Roos was almost choking with vexation, whilst the two strangers were +laughing at the singular letter of advice, which could hardly be said +to be of much use. For, immediately after the words, "In reply to yours +of the 20th inst. respecting----" Traugott had sketched the two +extraordinary figures of the old man and the youth in neat bold +outlines. The two strangers sought to pacify Herr Elias Roos by +addressing him in the most affectionate manner; but Herr Elias Roos +tugged his round wig now on this side and now on that, struck his cane +against the floor, and cried, "The young devil!--was to write letter of +advice--makes drawings--ten thousand marks gone--dam!" He blew through +his fingers and then went on lamenting, "Ten thousand marks!" "Don't +make a trouble of it, my dear Herr Roos," said at length the elder of +the two strangers. "The post is of course gone; but I am sending off a +courier to Hamburg in an hour. Let me give him your letter, and it will +then reach its destination earlier than it would have done by the post" +"You incomparable man!" exclaimed Herr Elias, his face a perfect blaze +of sunshine. Traugott had recovered from his awkward embarrassment; he +was hastening to the table to write the letter, but Herr Elias pushed +him away, casting a right malicious look upon him, and murmuring +between his teeth, "No need for you, my good son!" + +Whilst Herr Elias was studiously busy writing, the elder gentleman +approached young Traugott, who was standing silent with shame, and said +to him, "You don't seem to be exactly in your place, my good sir. It +would never have come into a true merchant's head to make drawings +instead of writing a business letter as he ought" Traugott could not +help feeling that this reproach was only too well founded. Much +embarrassed, he replied, "By my soul, this hand has already written +many admirable letters of advice; it is only, occasionally that such +confoundedly odd ideas come into my mind." "But, my good sir," +continued the stranger smiling, "these are not confoundedly odd ideas +at all. I can really hardly believe that all your business letters +taken together have been so admirable as these sketches, outlined +so neatly and boldly and firmly. There is, I am sure, true genius +in them." With these words the stranger took out of Traugott's hand +the letter--or rather what was begun as a letter but had ended in +sketches--carefully folded it together, and put it in his pocket. This +awakened in Traugott's mind the firm conviction that he had done +something far more excellent than write a business letter. A strange +spirit took possession of him; so that, when Herr Elias Roos, who had +now finished writing, addressed him in an angry tone, "Your childish +folly might have cost me ten thousand marks," he replied louder and +with more decision than was his habit, "Will your worship please not to +behave in such an extraordinary way, else I will never write you +another letter of advice so long as I live, and we will separate." Herr +Elias pushed his wig right with both hands and stammered, as he stared +hard at Traugott, "My estimable colleague, my dear, dear son, what +proud words you are using!" The old gentleman again interposed, and a +few words sufficed to restore perfect peace; and so they all went to +Herr Elias's house to dinner, for he had invited the strangers home +with him. Fair Christina received them in holiday attire, all clean and +prim and proper; and soon she was wielding the excessively heavy silver +soup-ladle with a practised hand. + +Whilst these five persons are sitting at table, I could, gracious +reader, bring them pictorially before your eyes; but I shall only +manage to give a few general outlines, and those certainly worse than +the sketches which Traugott had the audacity to scribble in the +inauspicious letter; for the meal will soon be over; and besides, I am +urged by an impulse I cannot resist to go on with the remarkable +history of the excellent Traugott, which I have undertaken to relate to +you. + +That Herr Elias Roos wears a round wig you already know from what +has been stated above; and I have no need to add anything more; for +after what he has said, you can now see the round little man with his +liver-coloured coat, waistcoat, and trousers, with gilt buttons, quite +plainly before your eyes. Of Traugott I have a very great deal to say, +because this is his history which I am telling, and so of course he +occurs in it. If now it be true that a man's thoughts and feelings and +actions, making their influence felt from within him outwards, so model +and shape his bodily form as to give rise to that wonderful harmony of +the whole man, that is not to be explained but only felt, which we call +character, then my words will of themselves have already shown you +Traugott himself in the flesh. If this is not the case, then all my +gossip is wasted, and you may forthwith regard my story as unread. The +two strangers are uncle and nephew, formerly retail dealers, but now +merchants trading on their gains, and friends of Herr Elias Roos, that +is to say, they had a good many business transactions together. They +live at Koenigsberg, dress entirely in the English fashion, carry +about with them a mahogany boot-jack which has come from London, +possess considerable taste for art, and are, in a word, experienced, +well-educated people. The uncle has a gallery of art objects and +collects hand-sketches (witness the pilfered letter of advice). + +But properly my chief business was to give you, kindly reader, a true +and life-like description of Christina; for her nimble person will, I +observe, soon disappear; and it will be as well for me to get a few +traits jotted down at once. Then she may willingly go! Picture to +yourself a medium-sized stoutish female of from two to three and twenty +years of age, with a round face, a short and rather turned-up nose, and +friendly light-blue eyes, which smile most prettily upon everybody, +saying, "I shall soon be married now." Her skin is dazzling white, her +hair is not altogether of a too reddish tinge; she has lips which were +certainly made to be kissed, and a mouth which, though indeed rather +wide, she yet screws up small in some extraordinary way, but so as to +display then two rows of pearly teeth. If we were to suppose that the +flames from the next-door neighbour's burning house were to dart in at +her chamber-window, she would make haste to feed the canary and lock up +the clean linen from the wash, and then assuredly hasten down into the +office and inform Herr Elias Roos that by that time his house also was +on fire. She has never had an almond-cake spoilt, and her melted-butter +always thickens properly, owing to the fact that she never stirs the +spoon round towards the left, but always towards the right. But since +Herr Elias Roos has poured out the last bumper of old French wine, I +will only hasten to add that pretty Christina is uncommonly fond of +Traugott because he is going to marry her; for what in the name of +wonder should she do if she did not get married? + +After dinner Herr Elias Roos proposed to his friends to take a walk on +the ramparts. Although Traugott, whose mind had never been stirred by +so many wonderful and extraordinary things as to-day, would very much +have liked to escape the company, he could not contrive it; for, just +as he was going out of the door, without having even kissed his +betrothed's hand, Herr Elias caught him by the coat-tails, crying, "My +honoured son-in-law, my good colleague, but you're not going to leave +us?" And so he had to stay. + +A certain professor of physics once stated the theory that the _Anima +Mundi_, or Spirit of the World, had, as a skilful experimentalist, +constructed somewhere an excellent electric machine, and from it +proceed certain very mysterious wires, which pass through the lives of +us all; these we do our best to creep round and avoid, but at some +moment or other we must tread upon them, and then there passes a flash +and a shock through our souls, suddenly altering the forms of +everything within them. Upon this thread Traugott must surely have trod +in the moment that he was unconsciously sketching the two persons who +stood in living shape behind him, for the singular appearance of the +strangers had struck him with all the violence of a lightning-flash; +and he now felt as if he had very clear conceptions of all those things +which he had hitherto only dimly guessed at and dreamt about. The +shyness which at other times had always fettered his tongue so soon as +the conversation turned upon things which lay concealed like holy +secrets at the bottom of his heart had now left him; and hence it was +that, when the uncle attacked the curious half-painted, half-carved +pictures in Arthur's Hall as wanting in taste, and then proceeded more +particularly to condemn the little pictures representing the soldiers +as being whimsical, Traugott boldly maintained that, although it was +very likely true that all these things did not harmonize with the rules +of good taste, nevertheless he had experienced, what indeed several +others had also experienced, viz., a wonderful and fantastic world had +been unfolded to him in Arthur's Hall, and some few of the figures had +reminded him in even lifelike looks, nay, even in plain distinct words, +that he also was a great master, and could paint and wield the chisel +as well as the man out of whose unknown studio they themselves had +proceeded Herr Elias certainly looked more stupid than usual whilst the +young fellow was saying such grand things, but the uncle made answer in +a very malicious manner, "I repeat once more, I do not comprehend why +you want to be a merchant, why you haven't rather devoted yourself +altogether to art." + +Traugott conceived an extreme repugnance to the man, and accordingly he +joined the nephew for the walk, and found his manner very friendly and +confidential. "O Heaven!" said the latter, "how I envy you your +beautiful and glorious talent! I wish I could only sketch like you! I +am not at all wanting in genius; I have already sketched some deucedly +pretty eyes and noses and ears, ay, and even three or four entire +heads;--but, dash it all! the business, you know! the business!" "I +always thought," said Traugott, "that as soon as a man detected the +spark of true genius--of a genuine love for art--within him, he ought +not to know anything about any other business." "You mean he ought to +be an artist!" rejoined the nephew. "Ah! how can you say so? See you +here, my estimable friend! I have, I believe, reflected more upon these +things than many others; in fact, I am such a decided admirer of art, +and have gone into the real essential nature of the thing far deeper +than I am even able to express, and so I can only make use of hints and +suggestions." The nephew, as he expressed these opinions, looked so +learned and so profound that Traugott really began to feel in awe of +him. "You will agree with me," continued the nephew, after he had taken +a pinch of snuff and had sneezed twice, "you will agree with me that +art embroiders our life with flowers; amusement, recreation after +serious business--that is the praiseworthy end of all effort in art; +and the attainment of this end is the more perfect in proportion as the +art products assume a nearer approach to excellence. This end is very +clearly seen in life; for it is only the man who pursues art in the +spirit I have just mentioned who enjoys comfort and ease; whilst these +for ever and eternally flee away from the man who, directly contrary to +the nature of the case, regards art as a true end in itself--as the +highest aim in life. And so, my good friend, don't take to heart what +my uncle said to try and persuade you to turn aside from the serious +business of life, and rely upon a way of employing your energies which, +if without support, will only make you stagger about like a helpless +child." Here the nephew paused as if expecting Traugott's reply; but +Traugott did not know for the life of him what he ought to say. All +that the nephew had said struck him as indescribably stupid talk. He +contented himself with asking, "But what do you really mean by the +serious business of life?" The nephew looked at him somewhat taken +aback. "Well, by my soul, you can't help conceding to me that a man who +is alive must live, and that's what your artist by profession hardly +ever succeeds in doing, for he's always hard up." And he went on with a +long rigmarole of bosh, which he clothed in fine words and stereotyped +phrases. The end of it all appeared to be pretty much this--that by +living he meant little else than having no debts but plenty of money, +plenty to eat and drink, a beautiful wife, and also well-behaved +children, who never got any grease-stains on their nice Sunday-clothes, +and so on. This made Traugott feel a tightness in his throat, and he +was glad when the clever nephew left him, and he found himself alone in +his own room. + +"What a wretched miserable life I lead, to be sure!" he soliloquised. +"On beautiful mornings in the glorious golden spring-time, when into +even the obscure streets of the town the warm west wind finds its way, +and its faint murmurings and rustlings seem to be telling of all the +wonders which are to be seen blooming in the woods and fields, then I +have to crawl down sluggishly and in an ill-temper into Herr Elias +Roos's smoke-begrimed office. And there sit pale faces before huge +ugly-shaped desks; all are working on amidst gloomy silence, which is +only broken by the rustle of leaves turned over in the big books, by +the chink of money that is being counted, and by unintelligible sounds +at odd intervals. And then again what work it is! What is the good of +all this thinking and all this writing? Merely that the pile of gold +pieces may increase in the coffers, and that the Fafnir's[4] treasure, +which always brings mischief, may glitter and sparkle more and more! +Oh, how gladly a painter or a sculptor must go out into the air, and +with head erect imbibe all the refreshing influences of spring, until +they people the inner world of his mind with beautiful images pulsing +with glad and energetic life! Then from the dark bushes step forth +wonderful figures, which his own mind has created, and which continue +to be his own, for within him dwells the mysterious wizard power of +light, of colour, of form; hence he is able to give abiding shape to +what he has seen with the eye of his mind, in that he represents it in +a material substitute. What is there to prevent me tearing myself loose +from this hated mode of life? That remarkable old man assured me that I +am called to be an artist, and still more so did the nice handsome +youth. For although he did not speak a word, it yet somehow struck me +that his glance said plainly what I had for such a long time felt like +a vague emotional pulsation within me, and what, oppressed by a +multitude of doubts, has hitherto been unable to rise to the level of +consciousness. Instead of going on in this miserable way, could I not +make myself a good painter?" + +Traugott took out all the things that he had ever drawn and examined +them with critical eyes. Several things looked quite different to-day +from what they had ever done before, and that not worse, but better. +His attention was especially attracted by one of his childish attempts, +of the time when he was quite a boy; it was a sketch of the old +burgomaster and the handsome page, the outlines very much wanting in +firmness, of course, but nevertheless recognisable. And he remembered +quite well that these figures had made a strange impression upon him +even at that time, and how one evening at dusk they enticed him with +such an irresistible power of attraction, that he had to leave his +playmates and go into Arthur's Hall, where he took almost endless pains +to copy the picture. The contemplation of this drawing filled him with +a feeling of very deep yearning sadness. According to his usual habit, +he ought to go and work a few hours in the office; but he could not do +it; he went out to the Carlsberg[5] instead. There he stood and gazed +out over the heaving sea, striving to decipher in the waves and in the +grey misty clouds which had gathered in wonderful shapes over Hela,[6] +as in a magic mirror, his own destiny in days to come. + +Don't you too believe, kindly reader, that the sparks which fall into +our hearts from the higher regions of Love are first made visible to us +in the hours of hopeless pain? And so it is with the doubts that storm +the artist's mind. He sees the Ideal and feels how impotent are his +efforts to reach it; it will flee before him, he thinks, always +unattainable. But then again he is once more animated by a divine +courage; he strives and struggles, and his despair is dissolved into a +sweet yearning, which both strengthens him and spurs him on to strain +after his beloved idol, so that he begins to see it continually nearer +and nearer, but never reaches it. + +Traugott was now tortured to excess by this state of hopeless pain. +Early next morning, on again looking over his drawings, which he had +left lying on the table he thought them all paltry and foolish, and he +now called to mind the oft-repeated words of one of his artistic +friends, "A great deal of the mischief done by dabblers in art of +moderate abilities arises from the fact that so many people take a +somewhat keen superficial excitement for a real essential vocation to +pursue art." Traugott felt strongly urged to look upon Arthur's Hall +and his adventure with the two mysterious personages, the old man and +the young one, for one of these states of superficial excitement; so he +condemned himself to go back to the office again; and he worked so +assiduously at Herr Elias Roos's, without heeding the disgust which +frequently so far overcame him that he had to break off suddenly and +rush off out into the open air. With sympathetic concern, Herr Elias +Roos set this down to the indisposition which, according to his +opinion, the fearfully pale young man must be suffering from. + +Some time passed; Dominic's Fair[7] came, after which Traugott was to +marry Christina and be introduced to the mercantile world as Herr Elias +Roos's partner. This period he regarded as that of a sad leave-taking +from all his high hopes and aspirations; and his heart grew heavy +whenever he saw dear Christina as busy as a bee superintending the +scrubbing and polishing that was going on everywhere in the middle +story, folding curtains with her own hands, and giving the final polish +to the brass pots and pans, &c. + +One day, in the thick of the surging crowd of strangers in Arthur's +Hall, Traugott heard close behind him a voice whose well-known tones +made his heart jump. "And do you really mean to say that this stock +stands at such a low figure?" Traugott whisked himself quickly round, +and saw, as he had expected, the remarkable old man, who had appealed +to a broker to get him to buy some stock, the price of which had at +that moment fallen to an extremely low figure. Behind the old man stood +the youth, who greeted Traugott with a friendly but melancholy smile. +Then Traugott hastened to address the old man. "Excuse me, sir; the +price of the stock which you are desirous of selling is really no +higher than what you have been told; nevertheless, it may with +confidence be anticipated that in a few days the price will rise +considerably. If, therefore, you take my advice, you will postpone the +conversion of your stock for a little time longer." "Eh! sir?" replied +the old man rather coldly and roughly, "what have you to do with my +business? How do you know that just now a silly bit of paper like this +is of no use at all to me, whilst ready money is what I have great need +of?" Traugott, not a little abashed because the old man had taken his +well-meant intention in such ill part, was on the point of retiring, +when the youth looked at him with tears in his eyes, as if in entreaty. +"My advice was well meant, sir," he replied quickly; "I cannot suffer +you to inflict upon yourself an important loss. Let me have your stock, +but on the condition that I afterwards pay for it the higher price +which it will be worth in a few day's time." "Well, you are an +extraordinary man," said the old man. "Be it so then; although I can't +understand what induces you to want to enrich me." So saying, he shot a +keen flashing glance at the youth, who cast down his beautiful blue +eyes in shy confusion. They both followed Traugott to the office, where +the money was paid over to the old man, whose face was dark and sullen +as he put it in his purse. Whilst he was doing so, the youth whispered +softly to Traugott, "Are you not the gentleman who was sketching such +pretty figures several weeks ago in Arthur's Hall?" "Certainly I am," +replied Traugott, and he felt how the remembrance of the ridiculous +episode of the letter of advice drove the hot blood into his face. "Oh +then, I don't at all wonder," the youth was continuing, when the old +man gave him an angry look, which at once made him silent. In the +presence of these strangers Traugott could not get rid of a certain +feeling of awkward constraint; and so they went away before he could +muster courage enough to inquire further into their circumstances and +mode of life. + +In fact there was something so quite out of the ordinary in the +appearance of these two persons that even the clerks and others in the +office were struck by it. The surly book-keeper had stuck his pen +behind his ear, and leaning on his arms, which he clasped behind his +head, he sat watching the old man with keen glittering eyes. "God +forgive me," he said when the strangers had left the office, "if he +didn't look like an old picture of the year 1400 in St. John's parish +church, with his curly beard and black mantle." Herr Elias set him down +without more ado as a Polish Jew, notwithstanding his noble bearing and +his extremely grave old-German face, and cried with a simper, "Silly +fellow! sells his stock now; might make at least ten per cent, more in +a week." Of course he knew nothing about the additional price which had +been agreed upon, and which Traugott intended to pay out of his own +pocket. And this he really did do when some days later he again met the +old man and the youth in Arthur's Hall. + +The old man said, "My son has reminded me that you are an artist also, +and so I will accept what I should have otherwise refused." They were +standing close beside one of the four granite pillars which support the +vaulted roof of the hall, and immediately in front of the two painted +figures which Traugott had formerly sketched in the letter of advice. +Without reserve he spoke of the great resemblance between these figures +and the old man himself and the youth. The old man smiled a peculiar +smile, and laying his hand on Traugott's shoulder, said in a low and +deliberate tone, "Then you didn't know that I am the German painter +Godofredus Berklinger, and that it was I who painted the pictures which +seem to give you so much pleasure, a long time ago, whilst still a +learner in art. That burgomaster I copied in commemoration of myself, +and that the page who is leading the horse is my son you can of course +very easily see by comparing the faces and figures of the two." +Traugott was struck dumb with astonishment. But he very soon came to +the conclusion that the old man, who took himself to be the artist of a +picture more than two hundred years old must be labouring under some +peculiar delusion. The old man went on, lifting up his head and looking +proudly about him, "Ay, that was an artistic age if you like--glorious, +vigorous, flourishing, when I decorated this hall with all these gay +pictures in honour of the wise King Arthur and his Round Table. I +verily believe that the tall stately figure who once came to me as I +was working here, and exhorted me to go on and gain my mastership--for +at that time I had not reached that dignity,--was King Arthur himself." +Here the young man interposed, "My father is an artist, sir, who has +few equals; and you would have no cause to be sorry if he would allow +you to inspect his works." Meanwhile the old man was taking a turn +through the hall, which had now become empty; he now called to the +youth to go, and then Traugott begged him to show him his pictures. The +old man fixed his eyes upon him and regarded him for some time with a +keen and searching glance, and at length said with much gravity, "You +are, I must say, rather audacious to be wanting to enter the inner +shrine before you have begun your probationary years. But--be it so! If +your eyes are still too dull to see, you may at least dimly feel. Come +and see me early to-morrow morning," and he indicated where he lived. +Next morning Traugott did not fail to get away from business early and +hasten to the retired street where the remarkable old man lived. The +youth, dressed in old-German style, opened the door to receive him +and led him into a spacious room, in the centre of which he found +the old man sitting on a little stool in front of a large piece of +outstretched grey primed canvas. "You have come exactly at the right +time, sir," the old man cried by way of greeting, "for I have just put +the finishing-touch to yon large picture, which has occupied me more +than a year and cost me no small amount of trouble. It is the fellow of +a picture of the same size, representing 'Paradise Lost,' which I +completed last year and which I can also show you here. This, as you +will observe, is 'Paradise Regained,' and I should be very sorry for +you if you begin to put on critical airs and try to get some allegory +out of it Allegorical pictures are only painted by duffers and +bunglers; my picture is not to _signify_ but to _be_. You perceive how +all these varied groups of men and animals and fruits and flowers and +stones unite to form one harmonic whole, whose loud and excellent music +is the divinely pure chord of glorification." And the old man began to +dwell more especially upon the individual groups; he called Traugott's +attention to the secrets of the division of light and shade, to the +glitter of the flowers and the metals, to the singular shapes which, +rising up out of the calyx of the lilies, entwined themselves about +the forms of the divinely beautiful youths and maidens who were dancing +to the strains of music, and he called his attention to the bearded men +who, with all the strong pride of youth in their eyes and movements, +were apparently talking to various kinds of curious animals. The old +man's words, whilst they grew continually more emphatic, grew also +continually more incomprehensible and confused. "That's right, old +greybeard, let thy diamond crown flash and sparkle," he cried at last, +riveting a fixed but fiery glance upon the canvas. "Throw off the Isis +veil which thou didst put over thy head when the profane approached +thee. What art thou folding thy dark robe so carefully over thy breast +for? I want to see thy heart; that is the philosopher's stone through +which the mystery is revealed. Art thou not I? Why dost thou put on +such a bold and mighty air before me? Wilt thou contend with thy +master? Thinkest thou that the ruby, thy heart, which sparkles so, can +crush my breast? Up then--step forward--come here! I have created thee, +for I am"---- Here the old man suddenly fell on the floor like one +struck by lightning. Whilst Traugott lifted him up, the youth quickly +wheeled up a small arm-chair, into which they placed the old man, who +soon appeared to have fallen into a gentle sleep. + +"Now you know, my kind sir, what is the matter with my good old +father," said the youth softly and gently. "A cruel destiny has +stripped off all the blossoms of his life; and for several years past +he has been insensible to the art for which he once lived. He spends +days and days sitting in front of a piece of outstretched primed +canvas, with his eyes fixed upon it in a stare; that he calls painting. +Into what an overwrought condition the description of such a picture +brings him, you have just seen for yourself. Besides this he is haunted +by another unhappy thought, which makes my life to be a sad and +agitated one; but I regard it as a fatality by which I am swept along +in the same stream that has caught him. You would like something to +help you to recover from this extraordinary scene; please follow me +then into the adjoining room, where you will find several pictures of +my father's early days, when he was still a productive artist." + +And great was Traugott's astonishment to find a row of pictures +apparently painted by the most illustrious masters of the Netherlands +School. For the most part they represented scenes taken from real life; +for example, a company returning from hunting, another amusing +themselves with singing and playing, and such like subjects. They bore +evidences of great thought, and particularly the expression of the +heads, which were realised with especially vigorous life-like power. +Just as Traugott was about to return into the former room, he noticed +another picture close beside the door, which held him fascinated to the +spot. It was a remarkably pretty maiden dressed in old-German style, +but her face was exactly like the youth's, only fuller and with a +little more colour in it, and she seemed to be somewhat taller too. A +tremor of nameless delight ran through Traugott at the sight of this +beautiful girl. In strength and vitality the picture was quite equal to +anything by Van Dyk. The dark eyes were looking down upon Traugott with +a soft yearning look, whilst her sweet lips appeared to be half opened +ready to whisper loving words. "O heaven! Good heaven!" sighed +Traugott with a sigh that came from the very bottom of his heart; +"where--oh! where can I find her?" "Let us go," said the youth. +Then Traugott cried in a sort of rapturous frenzy, "Oh! it is indeed +she!--the beloved of my soul, whom I have so long carried about in my +heart, but whom I only knew in vague stirrings of emotion. Where--oh! +where is she?" The tears started from young Berklinger's eyes; he +appeared to be shaken by a convulsive and sudden attack of pain, and to +control himself with difficulty. "Come along," he at length said, in a +firm voice, "that is a portrait of my unhappy sister Felicia.[8] She +has gone for ever. You will never see her." + +Like one in a dream, Traugott suffered himself to be led into the +other room. The old man was still sleeping; but all at once he started +up, and staring at Traugott with eyes flashing with anger, he cried, +"What do you want? What do you want, sir?" Then the youth stepped +forward and reminded him that he had just been showing his new picture +to Traugott, had he forgotten? At this Berklinger appeared to recollect +all that had passed; it was evident that he was much affected; and he +replied in an undertone, "Pardon an old man's forgetfulness, my good +sir." "Your new piece is an admirable--an excellent work. Master +Berklinger," Traugott proceeded; "I have never seen anything equal to +it. I am sure it must cost a great deal of study and an immense amount +of labour before a man can advance so far as to turn out a work like +that. I discern that I have an inextinguishable propensity for art, and +I earnestly entreat you, my good old master, to accept me as your +pupil; you will find me industrious." The old man grew quite cheerful +and amiable; and embracing Traugott, he promised that he would be a +faithful master to him. + +Thus it came to pass that Traugott visited the old painter every day +that came, and made very rapid progress in his studies. He now +conceived an unconquerable disgust of business, and was so careless +that Herr Elias Roos had to speak out and openly find fault with him; +and finally he was very glad when Traugott kept away from the office +altogether, on the pretext that he was suffering from a lingering +illness. For this same reason the wedding, to Christina's no little +annoyance, was indefinitely postponed. "Your Herr Traugott seems to be +suffering from some secret trouble," said one of Herr Elias Roos's +merchant-friends to him one day; "perhaps it's the balance of some old +love-affair that he's anxious to settle before the wedding-day. He +looks very pale and distracted." "And why shouldn't he then?" rejoined +Herr Elias. "I wonder now," he continued after a pause,--"I wonder +now if that little rogue Christina has been having words with him? My +book-keeper--the love-smitten old ass--he is always kissing and +squeezing her hand. Traugott's devilishly in love with my little girl, +I know. Can there be any jealousy? Well, I'll sound my young +gentleman." + +But however carefully he sounded he could find no satisfactory bottom, +and he said to his merchant-friend, "That Traugott is a most peculiar +fellow; well, I must just let him go his own way; though if he had not +fifty thousand thalers in my business I know what I should do, since +now he never does a stroke of anything." + +Traugott, absorbed in art, would now have led a real bright sunshiny +life, had his heart not been torn with passionate love for the +beautiful Felicia, whom he often saw in wonderful dreams. The picture +had disappeared; the old man had taken it away; and Traugott durst not +ask him about it without risk of seriously offending him. On the whole, +old Berklinger continued to grow more confidential; and instead of +taking any honorarium for his instruction, he permitted Traugott to +help out his narrow house-keeping in many ways. From young Berklinger +Traugott learned that the old man had been obviously taken in in the +sale of a little cabinet, and that the stock which Traugott had +realised for them was all that they had left of the price received for +it, as well as all the money they possessed. But it was only seldom +that Traugott was allowed to have any confidential conversation with +the youth; the old man watched over him with the most singular +jealousy, and at once scolded him sharply if he began to converse +freely and cheerfully with their friend. This Traugott felt all the +more painfully since he had conceived a deep and heart-felt affection +for the youth, owing to his striking likeness to Felicia. Indeed he +often fancied, when he stood near the young man, that he was standing +beside the picture he loved so much, now alive and breathing, and that +he could feel her soft breath on his cheek; and then he would like to +have drawn the youth, as if he really were his darling Felicia herself, +to his swelling heart. + +Winter was past; beautiful spring was filling the woods and fields with +brightness and blossoms. Herr Elias Roos advised Traugott either to +drink whey for his health's sake or to go somewhere to take the baths. +Fair Christina was again looking forward with joy to the wedding, +although Traugott seldom showed himself--and thought still less of his +relations with her. + +Once Traugott was confined to the office the whole day long, making a +requisite squaring up of his accounts, &c.; he had been obliged to +neglect his meals, and it was beginning to get very dark when he +reached Berklinger's remote dwelling. He found nobody in the first +room, but from the one adjoining he heard the music of a lute. He had +never heard the instrument there before. He listened; a song, from time +to time interrupted, accompanied the music like a low soft sigh. He +opened the door. O Heaven! with her back towards him sat a female +figure, dressed in old-German style with a high lace ruff, exactly like +the picture. At the noise which Traugott unavoidably made on entering, +the figure rose, laid the lute on the table, and turned round. It was +she, Felicia herself! "Felicia!" cried Traugott enraptured; and he was +about to throw himself at the feet of his beloved divinity when he felt +a powerful hand laid upon his collar behind, and himself dragged out of +the room by some one with the strength of a giant. "You abandoned +wretch! you incomparable villain!" screamed old Berklinger, pushing him +on before him, "so that was your love for art? Do you mean to murder +me?" And therewith he hurled him out at the door, whilst a knife +glittered in his hand. Traugott flew downstairs and hurried back home +stupefied; nay, half crazy with mingled delight and terror. + +He tossed restlessly on his couch, unable to sleep. "Felicia! Felicia!" +he exclaimed time after time, distracted with pain and the pangs of +love. "You are there, you are there, and I may not see you, may not +clasp you in my arms! You love me, oh yes! that I know. From the pain +which pierces my breast so savagely I feel that you love me." + +The morning sun shone brightly into Traugott's chamber; then he got up, +and determined, let the cost be what it might, that he would solve the +mystery of Berklinger's house. He hurried off to the old man's, but his +feelings may not be described when he saw all the windows wide open and +the maid-servants busy sweeping out the rooms. He was struck with a +presentiment of what had happened. Berklinger had left the house late +on the night before along with his son, and was gone nobody knew where. +A carriage drawn by two horses had fetched away the box of paintings +and the two little trunks which contained all Berklinger's scanty +property. He and his son had followed half an hour later. All inquiries +as to where they had gone remained fruitless: no livery-stable keeper +had let out horses and carriage to persons such as Traugott described, +and even at the town gates he could learn nothing for certain;--in +short, Berklinger had disappeared as if he had flown away on the +mantle[9] of Mephistopheles. + +Traugott went back home prostrated by despair. "She is gone! She is +gone! The beloved of my soul! All--all is lost!" Thus he cried as he +rushed past Herr Elias Roos (for he happened to be just at that moment +in the entrance hall) towards his own room. "God bless my soul!" cried +Herr Elias, pulling and tugging at his wig. "Christina! Christina!" he +shouted, till the whole house echoed. "Christina! You disgraceful girl! +My good-for-nothing daughter!" The clerks and others in the office +rushed out with terrified faces; the book-keeper asked amazed, "But +Herr Roos?" Herr Roos, however, continued to scream without stopping, +"Christina! Christina!" At this point Miss Christina stepped in through +the house-door, and raising her broad-brimmed straw-hat just a little +and smiling, asked what her good father was bawling in this outrageous +way for. "I strictly beg you will let such unnecessary running away +alone," Herr Elias began to storm at her. "My son-in-law is a +melancholy fellow and as jealous as a Turk. You'd better stay quietly +at home, or else there'll be some mischief done. My partner is in there +screaming and crying about his betrothed, because she will gad about +so." Christina looked at the book-keeper astounded; but he gave a +significant glance in the direction of the cupboard in the office where +Herr Roos was in the habit of keeping his cinnamon water. "You'd better +go in and console your betrothed," he said as he strode away. Christina +went up to her own room, only to make a slight change in her dress, and +give out the clean linen, and discuss with the cook what would have to +be done about the Sunday roast-joint, and at the same time pick up a +few items of town-gossip, then she would go at once and see what really +was the matter with her betrothed. + +You know, kindly, reader, that we all of us, when in Traugott's case, +have to go through our appointed stages; we can't help ourselves. +Despair is succeeded by a dull dazed sort of moody reverie, in which +the crisis is wont to occur; and this then passes over into a milder +pain, in which Nature is able to apply her remedies with effect. + +It was in this stage of sad but beneficial pain that, some days later, +Traugott again sat on the Carlsberg, gazing out as before upon the +sea-waves and the grey misty clouds which had gathered over Hela; but +he was not seeking as before to discover the destiny reserved for him +in days to come; no, for all that he had hoped for, all that he had +dimly dreamt of, had vanished. "Oh!" said he, "my call to art was a +bitter, bitter deception. Felicia was the phantom who deluded me into +the belief in that which never had any other existence but in the +insane fancy of a fever-stricken mind. It's all over. I will give it +all up, and go back--into my dungeon. I have made up my mind; I will go +back." Traugott again went back to his work in the office, whilst the +wedding-day with Christina was once more fixed. On the day before the +wedding was to come off, Traugott was standing in Arthur's Hall, +looking, not without a good deal of heart-rending sadness, at the +fateful figures of the old burgomaster and his page, when his eye fell +upon the broker to whom Berklinger was trying to sell his stock. +Without pausing to think, almost mechanically in fact, he walked up to +him and asked, "Did you happen to know the strikingly curious old man +with the black curly beard who some time ago frequently used to be seen +here along with a handsome youth?" "Why, to be sure I did," answered +the broker; "that was the crack-brained old painter Gottfried +Berklinger." "Then don't you know where he has gone to and where he is +now living?" asked Traugott again. "Ay, that I do," replied the broker; +"he has now for a long time been living quietly at Sorrento along with +his daughter." "With his daughter Felicia?" asked Traugott so +vehemently and so loudly that everybody turned round to look at him. +"Why, yes," went on the broker calmly, "that was, you know, the pretty +youth who always followed the old man about everywhere. Half Dantzic +knew that he was a girl, notwithstanding that the crazy old fellow +thought there was not a single soul could guess it. It had been +prophesied to him that if his daughter were ever to get married he +would die a shameful death; and accordingly he determined never to let +anybody know anything about her, and so he passed her off everywhere +as his son." Traugott stood like a statue; then he ran off through +the streets--away out of the town-gates--into the open country, into +the woods, loudly lamenting, "Oh! miserable wretch that I am! It was +she--she, herself; I have sat beside her scores and hundreds of +times--have breathed her breath--pressed her delicate hands--looked +into her beautiful eyes--heard her sweet words--and now I have lost +her! No; not lost I will follow her into the land of art. I acknowledge +the finger of destiny. Away--away to Sorrento." + +He hurried back home. Herr Elias Roos got in his way; Traugott laid +hold of him and carried him along with him into the room. "I shall +never marry Christina, never!" he screamed. "She looks like _Voluptas_ +(Pleasure) and _Luxuries_ (Wantonness), and her hair is like that of +_Ira_ (Wrath), in the picture in Arthur's Hall. O Felicia! Felicia! My +beautiful darling! Why do you stretch out your arms so longingly +towards me? I am coming, I am coming. And now let me tell you, Herr +Elias," he continued, again laying hold of the pale merchant, "you +will never see me in your damned office again. What do I care for +your cursed ledgers and day-books? I am a painter, ay, and a good +painter too. Berklinger is my master, my father, my all, and you are +nothing--nothing at all." And therewith he gave Herr Elias a good +shaking. Herr Elias, however, began to shout at the top of his voice, +"Help! help! Come here, folks! Help! My son-in-law's gone mad. My +partner's in a raging fit Help! help!" Everybody came running out of +the office. Traugott had released his hold upon Elias and now sank down +exhausted in a chair. They all gathered round him; but when he suddenly +leapt to his feet and cried with a wild look, "What do you all want?" +they all hurried off out of the room in a string, Herr Elias in the +middle. + +Soon afterwards there was a rustling of a silk dress, and a voice +asked, "Have you really gone crazed, my dear Herr Traugott, or are you +only jesting?" It was Christina. "I am not the least bit crazed, my +angel," replied Traugott, "nor is it one whit truer that I am jesting. +Pray compose yourself, my dear, but our wedding won't come off +to-morrow; I shall never marry you, neither to-morrow, nor at any other +time." "There is not the least need of it," said Christina very calmly. +"I have not been particularly pleased with you for some time, and some +one I know will value it far differently if he may only lead home as +his bride the rich and pretty Miss Christina Roos. Adieu!" Therewith +she rustled off. "She means the book-keeper," thought Traugott. As soon +as he had calmed down somewhat he went to Herr Elias and explained to +him in convincing terms that he need not expect to have him either as +his son-in-law or as his partner in the business. Herr Elias reconciled +himself to the inevitable; and repeated with downright honest joy in +the office again and again that he thanked God to have got rid of that +crazy-headed Traugott--even after the latter was a long, long way +distant from Dantzic. + +On at length arriving at the longed-for country, Traugott found a new +life awaiting him, bright and brilliant. At Rome he was introduced to +the circle of the German colony of painters and shared in their +studies. Thus it came to pass that he stayed there longer than would +seem to have been permissible in the face of his longing to find +Felicia again, by which he had hitherto been so restlessly urged +onwards. But his longing was now grown weaker; it shaped itself in his +heart like a fascinating dream, whose misty shimmer enveloped his life +on all sides, so that he believed that all he did and thought, and all +his artistic practice, were turned towards the higher supernatural +regions of blissful intuitions. All the female figures which his now +experienced artistic skill enabled him to create bore lovely Felicia's +features. The young painters were greatly struck by the exquisitely +beautiful face, the original of which they in vain sought to find in +Rome; they overwhelmed Traugott with multitudes of questions as to +where he had seen the beauty. Traugott however was very shy of telling +of his singular adventure in Dantzic, until at last, after the lapse of +several months, an old Koenigsberg friend, Matuszewski by name, who had +come to Rome to devote himself entirely to art, declared joyfully that +he had seen there--in Rome, the girl whom Traugott copied in all his +pictures. Traugott's wild delight may be imagined. He no longer +concealed what it was that had attracted him so strongly to art, and +urged him on with such irresistible power into Italy; and his Dantzic +adventure proved so singular and so attractive that they all promised +to search eagerly for the lost loved one. + +Matuszewski's efforts were the most successful. He had soon found out +where the girl lived, and discovered moreover that she really was the +daughter of a poor old painter, who just at that period was busy +putting a new coat on the walls of the church Trinita del Monte. All +these things agreed nicely. Traugott at once hastened to the church in +question along with Matuszewski; and in the painter, whom he saw +working up on a very high scaffolding, he really thought he recognised +old Berklinger. Thence the two friends hurried off to the old man's +dwelling, without having been noticed by him. "It is she," cried +Traugott, when he saw the painter's daughter standing on the balcony, +occupied with some sort of feminine work. "Felicia, my Felicia!" he +exclaimed aloud in his joy, as he burst into the room. The girl looked +up very much alarmed. She had Felicia's features; but it was not +Felicia. In his bitter disappointment poor Traugott's wounded heart was +rent as if from innumerable dagger-thrusts. In a few words Matuszewski +explained all to the girl. In her pretty shy confusion, with her cheeks +deep crimson, and her eyes cast down upon the ground, she made a +marvellously attractive picture to look at; and Traugott, whose first +impulse had been quickly to retire, nevertheless, after casting but a +single pained glance at her, remained standing where he was, as though +held fast by silken bonds. His friend was not backward in saying all +sorts of complimentary things to pretty Dorina, and so helped her to +recover from the constraint and embarrassment into which she had been +thrown by the extraordinary manner of their entrance. Dorina raised the +"dark fringed curtains of her eyes" and regarded the stranger with a +sweet smile, and said that her father would soon come home from his +work, and would be very pleased to see some German painters, for he +esteemed them very highly. Traugott was obliged to confess that, +exclusive of Felicia, no girl had ever excited such a warm interest in +him as Dorina did. She was in fact almost a second Felicia; the only +differences were that Dorina's features seemed to him less delicate and +more sharply cut, and her hair was darker. It was the same picture, +only painted by Raphael instead of by Rubens. + +It was not long before the old gentleman came in; and Traugott now +plainly saw that he had been greatly misled by the height of the +scaffolding in the church, on which the old man had stood. Instead of +his being the strong Berklinger, he was a thin, mean-looking little old +man, timid and crushed by poverty. A deceptive accidental light in the +church had given his clean-shaved chin an appearance similar to +Berklinger's black curly beard. In conversing about art matters the old +man unfolded considerable ripe practical knowledge; and Traugott made +up his mind to cultivate his acquaintance; for though his introduction +to the family had been so painful, their society now began to exercise +a more and more agreeable influence upon him. + +Dorina, the incarnation of grace and child-like ingenuousness, plainly +allowed her preference for the young German painter to be seen. And +Traugott warmly returned her affection. He grew so accustomed to the +society of the pretty child (she was but fifteen), that he often spent +the whole day with the little family; his studio he transferred to the +spacious apartment which stood empty next their rooms; and finally he +established himself in the family itself. Hence he was able of his +prosperity to do much in a delicate way to relieve their straitened +circumstances; and the old man could not very well think otherwise than +that Traugott would marry Dorina; and he even said so to him without +reservation. This put Traugott in no little consternation: for he now +distinctly recollected the object of his journey, and perceived where +it seemed likely to end. Felicia again stood before his eyes instinct +with life; but, on the other hand, he felt that he could not leave +Dorina. His vanished darling he could not, for some extraordinary +reason, conceive of as being his wife. She was pictured in his +imagination as an intellectual vision, that he could neither lose nor +win. Oh! to be immanent in his beloved intellectually for ever! never +to have her and own her physically! But Dorina was often in his +thoughts as his dearly loved wife; and as often as he contemplated the +idea of again binding himself in the indissoluble bonds of +betrothal,[10] he felt a delicious tremor run through him and a gentle +warmth pervade his veins; and yet he regarded it as unfaithfulness to +his first love. Thus Traugott's heart was the scene of contest between +the most contradictory feelings; he could not make up his mind what to +do. He avoided the old painter; and _he_ accordingly feared Traugott +intended to receive his dear child. He had moreover already spoken of +Traugott's wedding as a settled thing; and it was only under this +impression that he had tolerated Dorina's familiar intimacy with +Traugott, which otherwise would have given the girl an ill name. The +blood of the Italian boiled within him, and one day he roundly declared +to Traugott that he must either marry Dorina or leave him, for he would +not tolerate this familiar intercourse an hour longer. Traugott was +tormented by the keenest annoyance as well as by the bitterest +vexation. The old man he viewed in the light of a vile match-maker; his +own actions and behaviour were contemptible; and that he had ever +deserted Felicia he now judged to be sinful and abominable. His heart +was sore wounded at parting from Dorina; but with a violent effort he +tore himself free from the sweet bonds. He hastened away to Naples, to +Sorrento. + +He spent a whole year in making the strictest inquiries after +Berklinger and Felicia; but all was in vain; nobody knew anything about +them. The sole gleam of intelligence that he could find was a vague +sort of presumption, which was founded merely upon the tradition +that an old German painter had been seen in Sorrento several years +before--and that was all. After being driven backwards and forwards +like a boat on the restless sea, Traugott at length came to a stand in +Naples; and in proportion as his industry in art pursuits again +awakened, the longing for Felicia which he cherished in his bosom grew +softer and milder. But he never saw any pretty girl, if she was the +least like Dorina in figure, movement, or bearing, without feeling most +bitterly the loss of the dear sweet child. Yet when he was painting he +never thought of Dorina, but always of Felicia; she continued to be his +constant ideal. + +At length he received letters from his native town. Herr Elias Roos had +departed this life, his business agent wrote, and Traugott's presence +was required in order to settle matters with the book-keeper, who had +married Miss Christina and undertaken the business. Traugott hurried +back to Dantzic by the shortest route. + +Again he was standing in Arthur's Hall, leaning against the granite +pillar, opposite the burgomaster and the page; he dwelt upon the +wonderful adventure which had had such a painful influence upon his +life; and, a prey to deep and hopeless sadness, he stood and looked +with a set fixed gaze upon the youth, who greeted him with living eyes, +as it were, and whispered in a sweet and charming voice, "And so you +could not desert me then after all?" + +"Can I believe my eyes? Is it really your own respected self come back +again safe and sound, and quite cured of your unpleasant melancholy?" +croaked a voice near Traugott. It was the well-known broker. "I have +not found her," escaped Traugott involuntarily. "Whom do you mean? Whom +has your honour not found?" asked the broker. "The painter Godofredus +Berklinger and his daughter Felicia," rejoined Traugott. "I have +searched all Italy for them; not a soul knew anything about them in +Sorrento." This made the broker open his eyes and stare at him, and he +stammered, "Where do you say you have searched for Berklinger and +Felicia? In Italy? in Naples? in Sorrento?" "Why, yes; to be sure," +replied Traugott, very testily. Whereupon the broker struck his hands +together several times in succession, crying as he did so, "Did you +ever now? Did you ever hear tell of such a thing? But Herr Traugott! +Herr Traugott!" "Well, what is there to be so much astonished at?" +rejoined Traugott, "don't behave in such a foolish fashion, pray. Of +course a man will travel as far as Sorrento for his sweetheart's sake. +Yes, yes; I loved Felicia and followed her." But the broker skipped +about on one foot, and continued to say, "Well, now, did you ever? did +you ever?" until Traugott placed his hand earnestly upon his arm and +asked, "Come, tell me then, in heaven's name! what is it that you find +so extraordinary?" The broker began, "But, my good Herr Traugott, do +you mean to say you don't know that Herr Aloysius Brandstetter, our +respected town-councillor and the senior of our guild, calls his little +villa, in that small fir-wood at the foot of Carlsberg, in the +direction of Conrad's Hammer, by the name of Sorrento? He bought +Berklinger's pictures of him and took the old man and his daughter into +his house, that is, out to Sorrento. And there they lived for several +years; and if you, my respected Herr Traugott, had only gone and +planted your own two feet on the middle of the Carlsberg, you could +have had a view right into the garden, and could have seen Miss Felicia +walking about there dressed in curious old-German style, like the women +in those pictures--there was no need for you to go to Italy. Afterwards +the old man--but that is a sad story" "Never mind; go on," said +Traugott, hoarsely. "Yes," continued the broker. "Young Brandstetter +came back from England, saw Miss Felicia, and fell in love with her. +Coming unexpectedly upon the young lady in the garden, he fell upon his +knees before her in romantic fashion, and swore that he would wed her +and deliver her from the tyrannical slavery in which her father kept +her. Close behind the young people, without their having observed it, +stood the old man; and the very self-same moment in which Felicia said, +'I will be yours,' he fell down with a stifled scream, and was dead as +a door nail. It's said he looked very very hideous--all blue and +bloody, because he had by some inexplicable means burst an artery. +After that Miss Felicia could not bear young Brandstetter at all, and +at last she married Mathesius, criminal and aulic counsellor, of +Marienwerder. Your honour, as an old flame, should go and see the _Frau +Kriminalraethin_. Marienwerder is not so far, you know, as your real +Italian Sorrento. The good lady is said to be very comfortable and to +have enriched the world with divers children." + +Silent and crushed, Traugott hastened from the Hall. This issue of his +adventure filled him with awe and dread. "No, it is not she--it is not +she!" he cried. "It is not Felicia, that divine image which enkindled +an infinite longing in my bosom, whom I followed into yon distant land, +seeing her before me everywhere where I went like my star of fortune, +twinkling and glittering with sweet hopes. Felicia--_Kriminalraethin_ +Mathesius! Ha! Ha! Ha!--_Kriminalraethin_ Mathesius!" Traugott, shaken +by extreme sensations of misery, laughed aloud and hastened in his +usual way through the Oliva Gate along the Langfuhr[11] to the +Carlsberg. He looked down into Sorrento, and the tears gushed from his +eyes. "Oh!" he cried, "Oh! how deep, how incurably deep an injury, O +thou eternal ruling Power, does thy bitter irony inflict upon poor +man's soft heart! But no, no! But why should the child cry over the +incurable pain when instead of enjoying the light and warmth he thrusts +his hand into the flames? Destiny visibly laid its hand upon me, but my +dimmed vision did not recognise the higher nature at work; and I had +the presumption to delude myself with the idea that the forms, created +by the old master and mysteriously awakened to life, which stepped down +to meet me, were my own equals, and that I could draw them down into +the miserable transitoriness of earthly existence. No, no, Felicia, I +have never lost you; you are and will be mine for ever, for you +yourself are the creative artistic power dwelling within me. Now,--and +only now have I first come to know you. What have you--what have I to +do with the _Kriminalraethin_ Mathesius? I fancy, nothing at all." + +"Neither did I know what you should have to do with her, my respected +Herr Traugott," a voice broke in. Traugott awakened out of his dream. +Strange to say, he found himself, without knowing how he got there, +again leaning against the granite pillar in Arthur's Hall. The person +who had spoken the abovementioned words was Christina's husband. He +handed to Traugott a letter that had just arrived from Rome. +Matuszewski wrote:-- + +"Dorina is prettier and more charming than ever, only pale with longing +for you, my dear friend. She is expecting you every hour, for she is +most firmly convinced that you could never be untrue to her. She loves +you with all her heart. When shall we see you again?" + +"I am very pleased that we settled all our business this morning," said +Traugott to Christina's husband after he had read this, "for to-morrow +I set out for Rome, where my bride is most anxiously longing for me." + + * * * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES TO "ARTHUR'S HALL": + + +[Footnote 1: Written for the _Urania_ for 1817.] + +[Footnote 2: The _Artushof_ or _Junkerhof_ derives its names from its +connection with the Arthurian cycle of legends, and from the fact that +there the _Stadtjunker_, or wealthy merchants of Dantzic, used formerly +to meet both to transact business and for the celebration of festive +occasions. It has been used as an exchange since 1742. The site of the +present building was occupied by a still older one down to 1552, and to +this the hall, which is vaulted and supported on four slender pillars +of granite, belongs architecturally. It was very quaintly decorated +with pictures, statues, reliefs, &&, both of Christian and Pagan +traditions.] + +[Footnote 3: A broad street crossing Dantzic in an east-to-west +direction.] + +[Footnote 4: In Scandinavian mythology, Fafnir, the worm, became +the owner of the treasure which his father, Hreidmar, had exacted as +blood-money from Loki, because he had slain Hreidmar's son Otur, the +sea-otter. This treasure Loki had taken by violence from its rightful +owner, a dwarf, who in revenge prophesied that the possession of the +treasure should henceforward be fraught with dire mischief to every +successive owner of it.] + +[Footnote 5: A hill to the north-west of Dantzic, affording a splendid +view of the Gulf of Dantzic.] + +[Footnote 6: A long narrow spit of land projecting from the coast at a +point north of Dantzic in a south-south-east direction into the Gulf of +Dantzic.] + +[Footnote 7: August 4th.] + +[Footnote 8: The name in the text is _Felizitas_--Felicity; Felicia +has been adopted in the translation as being the nearest approach to +it. Felicity would in all probability be extremely strange to English +ears, besides being liable to lead to ambiguities.] + +[Footnote 9: A mode of aerial conveyance made use of on occasion by +the personage named, in the popular Faust legend.] + +[Footnote 10: In Germany the betrothal is a more significant act than +in England, and by some regarded as more sacred and binding than the +actual marriage ceremony.] + +[Footnote 11: A suburb of Dantzic, on the N. W., 3-1/2 miles nearer +than Carlsberg; it is connected with the city by a double avenue of +fine limes.] + + + + + END OF VOLUME I. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Weird Tales. Vol. I, by E. T. A. Hoffmann + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEIRD TALES. VOL. 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