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diff --git a/31668.txt b/31668.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6fabee9 --- /dev/null +++ b/31668.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20107 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Serapion Brethren., by +Ernst Theordor Wilhelm 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: The Serapion Brethren. + Vol. II + +Author: Ernst Theordor Wilhelm Hoffmann + +Translator: Alex. Ewing + +Release Date: March 16, 2010 [EBook #31668] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SERAPION BRETHREN. *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from scans provided by Google Books + + + + +Transcriber's notes: + +Source of scans: Google Books: +"http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA2&dq=editions:UCALB4287293&id=ZYQFAQ +AAIAAJ&as_brr=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false" + +Diacritical marks: + 1.found in the word D[=a]-l[ve]s + [=a] = a macron; [=A] = A macron. + [ve] = e caron; [vE] = E caron. + + 2. [oe] = diphthong oe. + + + + + + + THE SERAPION BRETHREN. + + VOLUME II. + + + + + + + THE SERAPION BRETHREN. + + BY + ERNST THEODOR WILHELM HOFFMANN + + + Translated from the German + BY + LIEUT.-COLONEL ALEX. EWING, + A.P.D., + TRANSLATOR OF J. P. RICHTER'S "FLOWER, FRUIT, AND THORN PIECES," + ETC. + + VOLUME II. + + + + + LONDON: + GEORGE BELL & SONS, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, + AND NEW YORK. + 1892. + + + + + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, + STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + SECTION V. + PAGE +THE LIFE OF A WELL-KNOWN CHARACTER +ALBERTINE'S WOOERS +THE UNCANNY GUEST + + SECTION VI. +MADEMOISELLE SCUDERI +GAMBLERS' FORTUNE + + SECTION VII. +SIGNOR FORMICA +PHENOMENA + + SECTION VIII. + +THE MUTUAL INTERDEPENDENCE OF THINGS +THE KING'S BETHROTHED + + + + + THE SERAPION BRETHREN. + + + + + SECTION V. + +The ever-fluctuating vicissitudes of human life had once more scattered +our little group of friends asunder. Sylvester had gone back to his +country home; Ottmar had travelled away on business, and so had +Cyprian; Vincent was still in the town, but (after his accustomed +fashion) he had disappeared in the turmoil, and was nowhere to be seen; +Lothair was nursing Theodore, who had been laid on a bed of sickness by +a malady long struggled against, which was destined to keep him there +for a considerable time. + +Indeed, several months had gone by, when Ottmar (whose sudden and +unlooked-for departure had been the chief cause of the breaking up of +the "Club") came back, to find, in place of the full-fledged "Serapion +Brotherhood," one friend, barely convalescent, and bearing the traces +of a severe illness in his pale face, abandoned by the Brethren, with +the exception of one, who was tasking him severely by constant +outbreaks of a grim and capricious "humour." + +For Lothair was once more finding himself in one of those strange and +peculiar moods of mind in which all life seemed to him to have become +weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, by reason of the everlasting +mockery ("chaff" might be the modern expression of this idea) of the +inimical daemonic power which, like a pedantic tutor, ignores and +contemns the _nature_ of men; giving man (as a tutor of the sort would +do) bitter drugs and nauseous medicines, instead of sweet and delicious +macaroons, to the end that his said pupil, man, may take a distaste at +his own nature, enjoy it no more, and thus keep his digestion in good +order. + +"What an unfortunate idea it was," Lothair cried out, in the gloomiest +ill-humour, when Ottmar came in and found him sitting with +Theodore--"what an unfortunate idea it was of ours to insist on binding +ourselves together again so closely, jumping over all the clefts which +time had split between us! It is Cyprian whom we have to thank for +laying the foundation-stone of Saint Serapion, on which we built an +edifice which seemed destined to last a lifetime, and tumbled down into +ruin in a few moons. One ought not to hang one's heart on to anything, +or give one's mind over to the impressions of excitements from without; +and I was a fool to do so, for I must confess to you that the way in +which we came together on those Serapion evenings took such a hold on +my whole being that, when the brethren so suddenly dispersed themselves +over the world, my life felt to me as weary, stale, flat and +unprofitable as the melancholy Prince Hamlet's did to him." + +"Forasmuch as no spirit has arisen from the grave, revisiting the +glimpses of the moon, to incite you to revenge," said Ottmar, with a +laugh, "and as you are not called upon to send your sweetheart +to a nunnery, or to thrust a poisoned rapier into the heart of a +murderer-king, I think you ought not to give way to Prince Hamlet's +melancholy, and should consider that it would be the grossest +selfishness to renounce every league of alliance into which +congenially-minded people enter because the storms of life possess the +power of interfering with it. Human beings ought not to draw in their +antennas at every ungentle touch, like supersensitive insects. Is the +remembrance of hours passed in gladsome kindly intercourse nothing to +you? All through my journeyings I have thought of you continually. On +the evenings of the meetings of the Serapion Club (which, of course, I +supposed to be still in full swing) I always took my place amongst you, +in spirit; assimilated all the delightful and entertaining things going +on amongst you (entertaining you, at the same time, with whatever the +spirit moved me to contribute to you). But it is absurd to continue in +this vein. Is there, in Lothair's mind, really the slightest trace of +that which his momentary 'out-of-tuneness' has made him say? Does he +not himself admit that the cause of his being out of tune is merely the +fact of our having been dispersed?" + +"Theodore's illness," said Lothair, "which nearly sent him to his +grave, was not a matter, either, calculated to put me into a happy +state of mind." + +"No," said Ottmar, "but Theodore is well again; and as to the Serapion +Club, I cannot see why it should not be considered to be in full +working order, now that three of the Brethren are met together." + +"Ottmar is perfectly right," said Theodore; "it is a matter of +indisputable necessity that we should have a meeting, in true +Serapiontic fashion, as early as possible. The germ which we form will +sprout into a tree full of fresh life and vigour, bearing flowers and +fruit--I mean that that bird of passage, Cyprian, will come back: +Sylvester will soon be unhappy, there where he is, away; and when the +nightingales cease singing, he will long for music of another kind; and +Vincent will emerge from the billows again, no doubt, and chirp his +little song." + +"Have it your own way," said Lothair, rather more gently than before; +"only don't expect _me_ to have anything to do with it. However, I +promise that I will be present when you assemble Serapiontically; and, +as Theodore ought to be in the open air as much as possible, I suggest +that we hold our meeting out of doors." + +So they fixed upon the last day of May--which was only a few days +off--for the time; and on a pretty public-garden in the neighbourhood, +not too much frequented, for the place, of their next Serapiontic +meeting. + + +A thunderstorm, passing quickly over, and merely sprinkling the trees +and bushes with a few drops of Heaven's balsam, had relieved the sultry +oppressiveness of the day. The beautiful garden was lying all still, in +the most exquisite brightness. The delicious perfume of leaves and +flowers streamed through it, while the birds, twittering and trilling +in happiness, went rustling amongst the branches, and bathed themselves +in the bedewed leafage. + +"How refreshed I feel, through and through!" Theodore cried, when the +friends had sate themselves down in the shade of some thickly-foliaged +lime-trees; "every trace of illness, down to the most infinitesimal, +has left me. I feel as if a redoubled life had dawned on me, in my +active consciousness of reciprocity of action between me and the +external. A man must have been as ill as I have been to be capable of +this sensation, which, strengthening mind and body, must surely be (as +I feel it to be) the true life-elixir which the Eternal Power, the +ruling World-spirit, administers to us, directly and without +intermediation. The vivifying breath of Nature is breathing out of my +own breast. I seem to be floating in that glorious blue Heaven which is +vaulted over us, with every burden lifted away from me!" + +"This," said Ottmar, "shows that you are quite well again, beloved +friend; and all glory to the Eternal Power which fitted you out with an +organisation strong enough to survive an illness like that which you +have gone through. It is a marvel that you recovered at all, and still +a greater that you recovered so quickly." + +"For my part," said Lothair, "I am not surprised that he got well so +soon, because I never had a moment's doubt that he would. You may +believe me, Ottmar, when I tell you that, wretched as the state in +which his physical condition appeared to be, he was never really ill, +mentally; and so long as the spirit keeps sound--well! it was really +enough to vex one to death that Theodore, ill as he was, was always in +better spirits than I was, although I was a perfectly well and sound +man; and that, so soon as his bodily sufferings gave him an interval of +rest, he delighted in the wildest fun and jests. At the same time, he +has the rare power of remembering his feverish illusions. The doctor +had forbidden him to talk; but when _I_ wished to tell him this, that +and the other in quiet moments, he would motion me to be silent and not +disturb his thoughts, which were busy over some important composition, +or other matter of the kind." + +"Yes," said Theodore, laughing, "I can assure you that Lothair's +communications were of a very peculiar kidney at that time. Directly +after the dispersion of the Serapion Brethren he became possessed by a +foul fiend of evil humours. This you probably have gathered; but you +cannot, by any possibility, divine the extraordinary ideas which he got +into his head at this period of gloom and dejection. One day he came +to my bedside (for I had taken to my bed by that time) stating +that the old Chronicle Books were the grandest and richest mines and +treasure-houses of tales, legends, novels and dramas. Cyprian said the +same long ago, and it is true. Next day I noticed, although my malady +was besetting me sorely, that Lothair was sitting immersed in an old +folio. Moreover, he went every day to the public library and got +together all the old Chronicles he could lay his hands upon. _That_ was +all very well; but, besides, he got his head filled with the strange +old legends which are contained in those venerable books; and when, in +my hours of comparative quiet, he bestirred himself to talk to me on +'entertaining' subjects, what I heard of was war and pestilence, +monstrous abortions, hurricanes, comets, fires and floods, witches, +auto-da-fe's, enchantments, miracles, and, above all other subjects, +his talk was of the manifold works and devices of the Devil--who, as we +know, plays such an important part in all those old stories that one +can hardly imagine what has become of him _now_, when he seems to keep +so quietly in the background, unless he may perhaps have put on some +new dress which renders him unrecognizable. Now tell me, Ottmar, don't +you think such subjects of conversation well suited for a man in my +then state of health?" + +"Don't condemn me unheard," cried Lothair. "It is true, and I will +maintain it fearlessly, that, for writers of tales, there is an immense +amount of splendid material in those ancient Chronicles. But you know +that _I_ have never taken much interest in them, and least of all in +their _diablerie_. However, the evening before Cyprian went away I had +a great argument with him as to his having far too much to do with the +Devil and his family; and I told him candidly that my present opinion +of his tale, 'The Singers' Contest,' is that it is a thoroughly faulty +and bungling piece of work, although when he read it to us I approved +of it, for many specious reasons. Upon this he attacked me in the +character of a real _advocatum diaboli_, and told me such a quantity of +things, out of old Chronicles and from other sources, that my head +fairly reeled. And then, when Theodore fell ill, I was seized upon and +overmastered by real, bitter gloom and misery. Somehow, I scarce know +how or why, Cyprian's 'Singers' Contest' came back to my mind again. +Nay, the Devil himself appeared to me in person one night when I +couldn't sleep; and although I was a good deal frightened by the evil +fellow, still I could not help respecting him, and paying him my duty +as an ever helpful aide-de-camp of tale-writers in lack of help; and, +by way of spiting you all, I determined to set to work and surpass even +Cyprian himself in the line of the fearsome and the terrible." + +"_You_, Lothair, undertake the fearful and terrible!" said Ottmar, +laughing--"you, whose bright and fanciful genius would seem expressly +adapted to wave the wand of comedy!" + +"Even so," said Lothair; "such was my idea. And as a first step towards +carrying it out, I set to work to rummage in those old Chronicles which +Cyprian had told me were the very treasure-houses of the diabolical; +but I admit that it all turned out quite differently from what I had +expected." + +"I can fully confirm that," said Theodore. "I can assure you it is +astonishing, and most delicious, the way in which the Devil and the +gruesomest witch-trials adapt themselves to the mental bent and style +of the author of 'Nutcracker and the King of Mice.' Just let me tell +you, dear Ottmar, how I chanced to lay my hands upon an experimental +essay on this subject of our doughty Lothair's. He had just left me one +day when I was getting to be strong enough to creep about the room a +little, and I found, upon the table where he had been writing, the +truly remarkable book entitled 'Haftitii Michrochronicon Berlinense,' +open at the page where, _inter alia_, occurs what follows:-- + +"'Ye Divell, in this year of Grace, appeared bodily in ye streets of +Berlin, and attended funerals, conducting himself thereat +sorrowfullie,' &c., &c., &c. + +"You will see, my dear Ottmar, that this entertaining piece of +intelligence was of a nature to delight me immensely; but some pages in +Lothair's handwriting delighted me still more. In those he had welded +up the accounts of this curious conduct of the Devil with a horrible +case of misbirth, and a gruesome trial for witchcraft, into an +_ensemble_ of the most delightful and entertaining description. I have +got those pages here; I brought them in my pocket to amuse you with +them." + +He took them out of his pocket and handed them to Ottmar. + +"What!" cried Lothair, "the affair which I styled 'Some Account of the +Life of a Well-known Character,' which I thought was torn up and +destroyed long ago--the abortive product of a fit of capricious fancy; +can it be that you have captured _that_ from me and kept it, to bring +me into discredit with persons of taste and culture? Here with the +wretched piece of scribbling, that I may tear it up and scatter it to +the winds of heaven." + +"No, no," cried Theodore; "you must read it to Ottmar, as a penance for +what you inflicted on me in my illness with your horrible weird +Chronicle matter." + +"Well," said Lothair, "I suppose I can't refuse, though I shall cut a +strange figure before this very grave and carefully-behaved gentleman. +However, here goes." So Lothair took the papers, and read as follows:-- + + + THE LIFE OF A WELL-KNOWN CHARACTER. + +In the year one thousand five hundred and fifty-one there was to be +seen in the streets of Berlin, particularly in the evening twilight, a +gentleman of fine and distinguished appearance. He wore a rich and +beautiful doublet, trimmed with sable, white galligaskins, and slashed +shoes; on his head was a satin barret cap with a red feather. His +manners were charming, and highly polished. He bowed politely to +everybody, particularly to ladies, both married and single; and to +_them_ he was wont to address civil and complimentary speeches. He +would say: "Donna! if you have any wish or desire in the depths of your +heart, pray command your most humble servant, who will devote his +humble powers to the utmost to be entirely at your disposal and +service." This was what he said to married ladies of position. To the +unmarried he said: "Heaven grant you a nice husband, worthy of your +loveliness and virtues." To the men he behaved just as charmingly, and +it was no wonder that everybody was fond of this stranger, and came to +his assistance when he would stand hesitating, in doubt and difficulty, +at some crossing, apparently not knowing how to get over it; for though +a well-grown and handsomely-proportioned person in most respects, he +had one lame foot, and was obliged to go about with a crutch. But as +soon as anybody gave him a hand to help him at a crossing, he would +instantly jump up with him some six ells or so into the air, and not +come to the ground again within a distance of some twelve paces on the +other side of the crossing. This rather astonished people, it need not +be said, and one or two sprained their legs slightly in the process. +But the stranger excused himself by saying that, before his leg was +lame, he had been principal dancer at the Court of the King of Hungary; +so that, when he felt himself called upon to take a jump, the old habit +came back upon him, and, willy-nilly, he could not help springing up +into the air as he used to do in the exercise of his profession. The +people were satisfied with this explanation, and even took much delight +in seeing some privy councillor, clergyman, or other person of position +and respectability, taking a great jump of this sort hand-in-hand with +the stranger. + +But, merry and cheerful as he seemed to be, his behaviour changed at +times in a most extraordinary manner; for he would often go about the +streets at night and knock at people's doors; and when they opened to +him, he would be standing there in white grave clothes, raising a +terrible crying and howling, at which they were fearfully frightened; +but he would apologize the following day, saying that he was compelled +to do this to remind the citizens and himself of the perishableness of +the body, and the imperishableness of the soul, to which their minds +ought always to be carefully directed. He would weep a little as he +said this, which touched the folks very much. He went to all the +funerals, following the coffin with reverent step, and conducting +himself like one overwhelmed with sorrow, so that he could not join in +the hymns for sobbing and lamenting. But, overcome with grief as he was +on those occasions, he was just as delighted and happy at marriages, +which in those days were celebrated in a very splendid style at the +town-hall. There he would sing all sorts of songs in a loud and +delightful voice, and dance for hours on end with the bride and the +young ladies (on his sound leg, adroitly drawing the lame one out of +the way), behaving and evincing himself on those occasions as a man of +the most delightful manners and bearing. But the best of it was that he +always gave the marrying couples delightful presents, so that of course +he was always a most welcome guest. He gave them gold chains, +bracelets, and other valuable things; so that the goodness, the +liberality, and the superior morality of this stranger became bruited +abroad throughout the city of Berlin, and even reached the ears of the +Elector himself. The Elector thought that a person of this sort would +be a great ornament at his own Court, and caused him to be sounded as +to his willingness to accept an appointment there. The stranger, +however, wrote back an answer (in vermilion letters, on a piece of +parchment a yard and a half in length, and the same in breadth) to the +effect that he was most submissively grateful for the honour offered to +him, but implored his Serene Highness to permit him to remain in the +enjoyment of the citizenesque life which was so wholly conformed to all +his sentiments, in peace; adding that he had selected Berlin, in +preference to many other cities, as his residence, because he had +nowhere else met with such charming people, persons of such +truthfulness and uprightness, of so much "feeling," of such a sense for +fine and delightful "manners" so exquisitely after his own heart in +every respect. The Elector, and his whole Court along with him, much +admired and wondered at the beautiful style in which this reply of the +stranger was conceived, and the matter was allowed to rest there. + +It happened that just then the lady of Councillor Walter Luetkens was, +for the first time, "as ladies wish to be who love their lords"; and +the old _accoucheuse_, Mistress Barbara Roloffin, predicted that this +fine, grand lady, overflowing with health and strength, would +undoubtedly bring into the world a grand and vigorous son, so that Herr +Walter Luetkens was all hope and gladness. Our "stranger," who had been +a guest at Luetkens's wedding, was in the habit of calling at his house +now and then; and it chanced that he made one of those calls of his on +an evening when Barbara Roloffin was there. + +As soon as old Barbara set eyes on the stranger she gave a marvellous +loud ejaculation of delight, and it appeared as though all the deep +wrinkles of her face smoothed themselves out in an instant. Her pale +lips and cheeks grew red, and the youth and beauty to which she had +long said "good-bye" came back to her again. She cried out, "Ah, ah, +Herr Junker! Is this you that I see here really and truly? Is this you, +yourself? Oh, I welcome you! I am so delighted to see you!" and she was +nearly falling down at his feet. + +But he answered this demonstration in words of anger, whilst his eyes +flashed fire. Nobody could understand what it was that he said to her. +But the old woman shrunk into a corner, as pale and wrinkled as she had +been at first, and whimpering faintly and unintelligibly. + +"My dear Mr. Luetkens," the stranger said to the master of the house, "I +hope you will take great care lest something annoying may happen in +your house here. I really hope, with all my heart, that everything will +go well on this auspicious occasion. But this old creature, Barbara +Roloffin, is by no means so well up to her business as perhaps you +suppose. She is an old acquaintance of mine, and I am sorry to say that +she has on many occasions not paid proper attention to her patients." + + +Both Luetkens and his wife had been very anxious, and had felt most eery +and uncanny about this whole business, and full of suspicion as to old +Barbara Roloffin, particularly when they remembered the extraordinary +transfiguration which took place in her when she saw the stranger. They +had very great suspicions that she was in the practice of black and +unholy arts, so that they forbade her to cross the threshold of their +house any more, and they made arrangements with another _accoucheuse_. + +On this, old Barbara was very angry, and said that Luetkens and his wife +would pay very dearly for what they had done to her. + +Luetkens's hope and gladness were turned into bitter heart-sorrow and +deep grief, when his wife brought into the world a horrible changeling +in place of the beautiful boy predicted by Barbara Roloffin. It was a +creature all chestnut brown, with two horns on its head, great fat +eyes, no nose whatever, a big wide mouth with a white tongue sticking +out of it upside down, and no neck. Its head was down between its +shoulders; its body was wrinkled and swollen; its arms came out just +above its hips, and it had long, thin shanks. + +Mr. Luetkens wept and lamented terribly. "Oh, just heavens!" he cried; +"what in the name of goodness is going to be the outcome of this? Can +this little one ever be expected to tread in his father's steps? Was +there ever such a thing known as a Member of Council with a couple of +horns on his head, and chestnut brown all over?" + +The stranger consoled Luetkens as much as ever he could. He pointed out +to him that a good education does a great deal; that though, as +concerned form and appearance, the new-born thing was really to be +characterized as a most arrant schismatic, still he ventured to say +that it looked about it very understandingly with its fat eyes, and +that there was room for a deal of wisdom between the two horns on its +forehead. Also that though it might, perhaps, never be fit to be a +Member of Council, it was perfectly capable of becoming a distinguished +_savant_, inasmuch as excessive ugliness is often a characteristic of +_savants_, and even causes them to be highly respected and much looked +up to. + +However, Luetkens could not but ascribe his misfortune in the depths of +his heart to old Barbara Roloffin, particularly when he learned that +she had been sitting at the door of the room during his wife's +_accouchement_; and Frau Luetkens had declared, with many tears, that +the old woman's face had been before her eyes all the time of it, and +that she had not been able to get rid of the sight of her. + +Now Mr. Luetkens's suspicions were not, it is true, enough to base any +legal proceedings upon in the matter; but Heaven so ordered things that +in a very short time all the infamous deeds which old Barbara had +committed were brought into the clear light of day. + +For it happened that shortly after those events there came on one day, +about twelve at noon, a terrible storm, and a most violent wind, and +the people in the streets saw Barbara Roloffin (who was on her way to +attend a lady in need of her professional services) borne, rushing away +on the wings of a blast, high up through the air, over the housetops +and the church steeples, and set down, none the worse for the trip, in +a meadow close to Berlin. + +After this, of course, there could be no more doubt about the "black +art" of Barbara Roloffin. Luetkens lodged his plaint before the proper +tribunal, and the woman was taken into custody. She denied everything +obstinately, till she was put to the rack. Upon that, unable to endure +the agony, she confessed that she had been in league with the Devil, +and had practised magical arts for a very long time. She admitted that +she had bewitched poor Frau Luetkens, and foisted off the vile abortion +upon her; and that, over and above that, she had in company with two +other witches belonging to Blumber killed and boiled several children +of Christian parents, with the object of causing a famine in the land. + +Accordingly she was sentenced to be burnt alive in the market-place. So +when the appointed day arrived old Barbara was conducted there in +presence of a great concourse of people, and made to ascend the +scaffold which was there erected. When ordered to take off a fur cloak +which she was wearing, she would by no means obey, insisting that they +should tie her to the stake just as she was. This was done. The pile of +wood was already alight, and burning at all four corners, when suddenly +the stranger appeared, seemingly grown to gigantic dimensions, and +glaring over the heads of the populace at Barbara Roloffin with eyes of +flame. + +The clouds of black smoke were rolling on high, the crackling flames +were catching the woman's dress, she cried out, in a terrible screaming +voice, "Satan! Satan! is this how thou holdest the pact thou hast made +with me? Help, Satan! Help! my time is not out yet!" and the stranger, +it was found, had suddenly vanished. But from the spot where he had +been standing an enormous bat went fluttering up, darted into the thick +of the flames, and thence rose screaming into the air with the old +woman's fur cloak; and the burning pyre went crashing down into +extinction. + +Horror seized upon all the spectators; every one now saw clearly that +the distinguished stranger had been none other than the very Devil in +person. He must have had some special grudge against the folks of +Berlin, to whom he had so long behaved so smoothly and in such friendly +fashion, and with hellish deceit betrayed Councillor Luetkens and many +other sapient men and women. + +Such is the power of the Evil One; from whom and from all his snares +may Heaven in its mercy defend us all. + + +When Lothair had finished, he looked into Ottmar's face, in utter +self-irony, with the peculiar expression of bitter sweetness which he +had at his command on such occasions. + +"Well," said Theodore, "what think you of Lothair's pretty little +specimen of _diablerie_? One of the best points about it, I think, is +that there is not too much of it." + +Whilst Lothair had been reading, Ottmar had laughed a great deal, but +towards the close he had become grave and silent. "I must admit," he +said, "that in this little tale or 'prank'--for I don't know what else +to call it--of Lothair's there predominates an attempt, often more or +less successful, at a certain sort of amusing _naivete_, very +appropriate to the character of the German Devil. Also, that when he +talks about the Devil's jumping over the streets hand in hand with +respectable townfolk and of the 'chestnut brown schismatic,' who might +turn out a quaint and ugly _savant_, though never a nice, natty, +spick-and-span Member of Council, we see the curvets and the caprioles +of the same little Pegasus which was bestridden by the author of +'Nutcracker.' Still, I think that he ought to have got on the back of a +horse of a different colour; and, indeed, I cannot say what the reason +exactly is why the pleasantly comic impression which the earlier part +of the story produces vanishes away into nothingness; whilst, out of +this nothingness, there ultimately develops a certain something which +becomes most uncanny and unpleasant; and the concluding words, which +are intended to do away with this feeling, do not succeed in doing away +with it." + +"Oh, thou most sapient of all critics," Lothair cried, "who dost such +high honour to this most insignificant thing of all the insignificant +things which I have ever written down as to dissect it carefully with +magnifying glasses on nose, let me tell you that it served me as an +anatomical study long ago. Did I not style it a mere product of a mood +of caprice? Have I not anathematized it myself? However, I am glad that +I read it to you, because it gives me an opportunity of speaking my +mind concerning tales of this kind. And I am sure that my Serapion +Brethren will agree with me. In the first place, Ottmar, I should +like to trace out for you the germ of that unpleasant--or, better, +'uncanny'--feeling which you were conscious of when you were at first +beginning to see what you have called the 'amusing _naivete_' of it. +Whatever grounds the good old Hafftitz may have had for telling us that +the Devil passed a certain time leading the life of a townsman of +Berlin, this remains for us a wholly 'fanciful' or 'fantastic' +incident. And the quality of the 'supernatural'--the 'spookishness' (to +use an expression now not unfamiliar)--which is a leading +characteristic of that tremendous 'principle of negation'--that 'spirit +which eternally denies and destroys'--is, by reason of the (in a +manner) comic contrastedness in which it is presented, calculated to +cause in us the strange sensation, compounded of terror and irony, +which fetters our attention in a manner the reverse of unpleasant. But +the case is quite different as to the terrible witch stories. In them +actual life is brought on to the stage with all its reality of horror. +When I read about Barbara Roloffin's execution, I felt as though I saw +the funeral pyre smoking in the market-place. All the horror of the +terrible witchcraft-trials rose to my memory. A pair of sparkling red +eyes, and an attenuated weazened body, were enough to cause a poor old +creature to be assumed to be a witch, guilty of every description of +wicked and unholy arts and practices; to have legal process instituted +against her, and to be led to the scaffold. The application of the +rack, or other form of torture, confirmed the accusations against her, +and decided the case." + +"Still," said Theodore, "it is very remarkable that so many of those +supposititious witches of their own accord confessed their pact, and +other relations, with the Evil One, without any coercion whatever. Two +or three years ago it happened that a number of legal documents fell +into my hands relating to trials for witchcraft; and I could scarce +believe my eyes when I read in them confessions of things which made my +flesh creep. They told of ointments, the use of which turned human +beings into various animals; they spoke of riding on broomsticks, and, +in fact, of all the devilish practices which we read of in old legends. +Bat, first and foremost, and invariably, those supposititious witches +always openly and shamelessly avowed, and boasted--usually of their own +accord--as to their unchaste relations with the unclean and diabolical +'gallant' (as their term for him was). Now, how could such things be +possible?" + +"Because," Lothair said, "belief in a diabolical compact actually +brought such a compact about." + +"How do you mean? What do you say?" the two others cried together. + +"Understand me properly, that is all I ask," said Lothair, "It is +matter of certainty that, in the times when nobody doubted of the +direct and immediate influence of the Devil, or that he constantly +appeared visibly, those miserable creatures, who were hunted down and +put so mercilessly to fire and sword, actually and firmly believed in +all that they were accused of; and that many, in the wickedness of +their hearts, tried their utmost, by means of every description of +supposed arts of witchcraft, to enter into compact with the Devil, for +the sake of gain, or for the doing of evil deeds; and _then_, in +conditions of brain-excitement, produced by beverages affecting their +senses, and by terrible oaths and ceremonies of conjuration, _saw_ the +Evil One, and entered into those compacts which were to confer upon +them supernatural powers. The wildest of the fabrications of the brain +which those confessions contain--based upon inward conviction--do not +seem too wild when one considers what strange fancies--nay, what +terrible infatuations--even hysteria itself is capable of producing in +women. Thus the wickedness of the hearts of those putative witches was +often paid for by a fearful death. We cannot reasonably reject the +testimony of those old witch-trials, for they are supported by the +evidence of witnesses, or other clearly recorded facts; and there are +many instances of people who have committed crimes deserving of death. +Remember Tieck's magnificent tale, 'The Love-Spell.' There is a deed +mentioned in the papers I have been speaking of very analogous to the +crime of the horrible woman in Tieck's tale. So that a death on the +funeral pyre was often really the proper punishment for those fearful +misdoings." + +"There occurs to my remembrance," Theodore said, "an occasion when an +accursed crime of that description chanced to be brought vividly before +my own eyes, filling me with the profoundest pain and sorrow. When I +was living in W---- I went to see a certain charming country seat, +L----, which you know. It has been justly said of it that it seems to +float like some stately swan mirrored on the beautiful lake which lies +at its feet. I had heard, before, that there were dark rumours to the +effect that the unfortunate possessor of it, who had died but a short +time before, had carried on magical practices, with the help of an old +woman; and that the aged keeper of the chateau could tell a good deal +about this business, could one gain his confidence. As soon as I saw +this man he struck me as a very remarkable person. Imagine to +yourselves a hoary-headed old man with imprints of the profoundest +terror in his face, dressed poorly, like a peasant, but indicating, +by his manner, unusual cultivation. Remark that this man, whom you +would have taken for an ordinary labourer at the first glance, would +talk to you--if you did not happen to understand the patois of the +district--in the purest French, or in equally good Italian, just as you +chose. I managed to interest and to animate him by touching, as we +wandered through the great halls, on the troubles which his late master +had had to go through, and by showing that I was, to some extent, +acquainted with the subject, and with what had happened in those bygone +days. He explained the deeper meaning of many of the paintings and +adornments (which, to the uninitiated, seemed mere unmeaning +prettinesses), and grew more and more frank and confidential. At last +he opened a small closet, floored with slabs of white marble, in which +the only piece of furniture was a cauldron of brass. The walls seemed +to have been stripped of their former adornments. I knew, I felt, that +I was in the place where the former master of the house, blinded and +befooled by his lust for sensuous enjoyment, had descended to +diabolical practices. When I dropped a word or two hinting at this +subject, the old man raised his eyes to heaven with an expression of +the bitterest melancholy, and said, with a deep sigh, 'Ah! Holy Virgin! +hast thou forgiven him?' He then silently pointed to a large marble +slab embedded in the middle of the flooring. I looked at this slab with +much closeness of observation, and became aware that there were reddish +veins meandering about through the stone. And, as I fixed my attention +upon them more and more closely, heaven aid me! the features of a human +face grew more and more distinctly traceable and visible, just as when, +on looking at a distorted picture through a lens specially constructed, +all its lines and effects then, and not till then, grow clear and +sharp. + +"It was the face of a child that was looking at me out of that stone, +marked with the heartrending anguish of the agony of death. I could see +drops of blood welling from the breast; but the rest of the form of the +body seemed to flow vaguely into indistinctness, as if a stream of +water were carrying it away. It was with a hard struggle that I +overcame the horror which well-nigh overmastered me. I could not bring +myself to utter a word. We left that terrible, mysterious place in +silence. Not till I had walked about in the park and the lawns for some +time could I overcome the inexplicable feeling which had so annulled my +enjoyment of that little earthly paradise. From many things which I +gathered from the detached utterances of the old man, I was led to +conclude that the crazy being who had thrust herself into such intimate +relations with the last proprietor of the place (in other respects a +large-hearted and cultivated man) had worked upon him by promising him, +through the exercise of her accursed arts, the fulfilment of his +dearest wishes--unfailing and everlasting happiness in love--and so led +him on to unutterable crime." + +"This is an affair for Cyprian," Ottmar said. "He would be as delighted +over the bleeding baby in the marble, and in the old Castellan, as we." +"Well," Theodore went on to say, "although all this affair may be +traceable to foolish fancies--although it may be nothing but a fable +kept up by the people--still, if that strangely-veined slab of marble +is capable, even under the influence of a lively imagination, of +showing the lineaments of a bleeding baby when looked at closely and +carefully, something uncanny must have happened, or the faithful old +servant could not have felt his master's guilt so deeply in his heart, +nor would that strange stone give such a terrible evidence of it." + +Ottmar said, replying, "We will take an early opportunity of laying +this matter before Saint Serapion, that we may ascertain exactly how it +stands; but for the time, I think we ought to let witches alone, and go +back to our subject of the 'German Devil,' as to which I would fain say +a word or two. What I am driving at is--that the characteristic German +manner of treating this subject is seen in its truest colour when it is +a question of the Devil's manner of conducting himself in ordinary +everyday life. Whenever he takes part in that, he is thoroughly 'up' in +every description of evil and mischief--in everything that is terrible +and alarming. He is always on the alert to set traps for the good, so +as to lead as many of them as possible over to his own kingdom; but yet +he is a thoroughly fair and honourably-dealing personage, abiding by +his compacts and contracts in the most accurate and punctilious manner. +From this it results that he is often outwitted, so that he appears in +the character of a 'stupid' Devil (and this is not improbably the +origin of the common expression 'stupid devil'); but, besides all this, +the character of the German Satan has a strong tincture of the +burlesque mixed up with the more predominant quality of mind-disturbing +terror--that horror which oppresses the mind and disorganizes it. Now, +the art of portraying the Devil in this distinctively German fashion +seems to be very much lost. For this aforesaid amalgamation of his +characteristics does not seem to occur in any of the more recent +attempts at representing him. He is either shown as a mere buffoon, or +as a being so terrible that the mind is revolted by him." + +"I think," said Lothair, "you are forgetting one recent story in which +this said mingling of the brightly Intellectual (verging sometimes on +the comic) with the Terrific is very finely managed, and in which the +full effectiveness of the old-world sort of devil-spook-story is +carried out in a masterly manner. I mean Fouque's splendid tale, the +'Galgenmaennlein.'[1] The terribly vivacious little creature in the +phial--who comes out of it at night, and lays himself down on the +breast of that master of his, who has such awful dreams--the fearsome +man in the mountain glen, with his great coal-black steed which crawls +up the perpendicular cliffs like a fly on a wall--in short, all the +uncanny and supernatural elements which are present in the story in +such plentiful measure--together rivet and strain the attention to an +extent absolutely frightening; it affects one like some powerful drink, +which immensely excites the senses and at the same time sheds a +beneficent warmth through the heart. It is owing to the tone which +pervades it all through, and to the vividness of the separate pictures, +that, although at the end one is thoroughly delighted that the poor +wretch does get out of the Devil's clutches, still, the element of the +Intellectuality of the evil beings, and the scenes which touch upon the +realm of comedy (such as the part about the 'Half Heller') stand out +with the principal high-lights upon them. I scarcely can think of any +tale of _diablerie_ which has produced such an impression upon me." + + +[Footnote 1: Known in English as "The Bottle Imp."] + + +"There can't be much doubt," said Theodore, "that Fouque got the +materials for that story out of some old chronicle." + +"Even if he did," Lothair said, "I should hope you wouldn't detract +from the author's merit on that score, like the more common class of +critics, whose peculiar system obliges them always to try and find out +the fundamental materials from which a writer has 'taken' his work. +They make immense capital out of pointing out said source, and look +down with great contempt on the wretched author who merely kneads his +characters together out of a pre-existent dough. As if it mattered that +the author absorbed into himself germs from without him! The shaping of +the material is the important part of the business. We ought to think +of our Patron Saint Serapion. His stories were told out of his soul as +he had seen them with his eyes, not as he had read about them." + +"You do me much injustice, Lothair," said Theodore, "if you suppose I +am of any other opinion. And there is nobody who has shown more +admirably how a subject may be vividly represented than Heinrich Kleist +in his tale of Kohlhaas, the horse dealer." + +"However," said Lothair, "as we have been talking of Hafftitz's book, I +should like to read to you a story of which I took most of the leading +ideas from the Michrochronicon. I wrote it during an attack of a very +queer mood of mind, which beset me for a very considerable time. And I +hope, Ottmar, my dear friend, it will lead you to admit that the +'spleen,' which Theodore says I am suffering from, is not so very +serious as he would make it out to be." + +He took out a manuscript, and read: + + + + ALBERTINE'S WOOERS. + (A story in which many utterly improbable adventures happen.) + + + CHAPTER I. + +WHICH TREATS OF SWEETHEARTS, WEDDINGS, CLERKS OF THE PRIVY CHANCERY, + PERTURBATIONS, WITCHCRAFT TRIALS, AND OTHER DELECTABLE MATTERS. + +On the night of the autumnal equinox, Mr. Tussmann, a clerk in the +Privy Chancery, was making his way from the cafe, where he was in the +habit of passing an hour or two regularly every evening, towards his +lodgings in Spandau Street. The Clerk of the Privy Chancery was +excessively regular and punctilious in every action of his life. He +always had just done taking off his coat and his boots at the exact +moment when the clocks of St. Mary's and St. Nicholas's churches struck +eleven; so that, as the reverberating echo of the last stroke died +away, he always drew his nightcap over his ears, and placed his feet in +his roomy slippers. + +On the night we are speaking of he, in order not to be late in going +through those ceremonies (for the clocks were just going to strike +eleven), was just going to turn out of King Street, round the corner +of Spandau Street, with a rapid sweep--almost to be denominated a +jump--when the sound of a strange sort of knocking somewhere in his +immediate proximity rivetted him to the spot. + +And he became aware that, down at the bottom of the Town-house +Tower--rendered visible by the light of the neighbouring lamp--there +was a tall, meagre figure standing, wrapped in a dark cloak, knocking +louder and louder on the closed shutters of Mr. Warnatz, the +ironmonger's shop (which, as everybody knows, is therein situated); +knocking louder and louder, and then going back a few paces and sighing +profoundly, gazing up as he did so at the windows of the Tower, which +were shut. + +"My dear sir," said the Clerk of the Privy Chancery, addressing this +personage in a civil and courteous manner, "you are evidently under +some misapprehension. There is not a single human creature up in that +Tower; and indeed--if we except a certain number of rats and mice, and +a few little owls--not a living thing. If you wish to provide yourself +with something superior in the hardware line from Warnatz's celebrated +emporium here, you will have to take the trouble to come back in the +forenoon." + +"Respected Herr Tussmann----" the stranger began. + +And Tussmann chimed in with "Clerk of the Privy Chancery, of many +years seniority." He was a little annoyed, too--astonished, at all +events--that the stranger seemed to know him. But the latter did not +seem to mind that in the least, but recommenced: + +"Respected Herr Tussmann, you are kind enough to be making a complete +mistake as to the nature of my proceedings here. I do not want +ironmongery or hardware of any description; neither have I anything to +do with Mr. Warnatz. This is the night of the autumnal equinox, and I +want to see my future wife! She has heard my ardent and longing +summons, and my sighs of affection, and she will come and show herself +up at that window directly." + +The hollow tones in which the man spoke these words had about them +something so solemn--nay, so spectral and supernatural--that the Clerk +of the Privy Chancery felt an icy shudder run through his veins. The +first stroke of eleven rung down from the tower of St. Mary's, and as +it did so, there came a clattering and a clinking up at the broken old +window of the Tower, and a female form became visible at it. As the +bright light of the street lamps fell upon the face of this figure, +Tussmann whimpered out in lamentable tones, "Oh, ye just powers!--Oh, +ye heavenly hosts!--what--_what_ is this?" + +At the last stroke of eleven--that is, at the moment when Tussmann +generally put on his nightcap--the female figure vanished. + +This extraordinary apparition seemed to drive the Clerk of the Privy +Chancery completely out of his senses. He sighed, groaned, gazed up at +the window, and whispered "Tussmann! Tussmann! Clerk of the Privy +Chancery--bethink yourself, sir! Consider what you're about. Don't let +your heart be troubled. Be not deceived by Satan, good soul." + +"You seem to be put out by what you have seen, Mr. Tussmann," the +stranger said. "I only wanted to see my sweetheart--my wife, that is to +be. You must have seen something else, apparently." + +"Please, please," Tussmann said in a whimper, "I should be so much +obliged to you if you would be good enough to address me by my little +title. I am Clerk of the Privy Chancery, and truly, at this moment, a +greatly perturbed Clerk of the Privy Chancery--in fact, one almost out +of his senses. I beg you, with all due respect, my very dear sir +(though I regret that I am unable to style you by your proper title, as +I have not the honour to be in the least acquainted with you, having +never met you before--however, I shall address you as 'Herr Geheimer +Rath'--'Mr. Privy Councillor'--there are such an extraordinary number +of gentlemen here in Berlin bearing that title that one can scarcely be +in error in applying it)--I beg you, therefore, Herr Geheimer Rath, to +be so very kind as not to keep me longer in ignorance as to whom the +lady, your future wife, may be, whom you expected to see here at this +hour of the night." + +"You're a curious fellow, you and your 'titles,'" the stranger said, +raising his voice. "If a man who knows a number of secrets and +mysteries, and can give good counsel too, is one of your 'privy' or +'secret' councillors, I think _I_ may so style myself. I am surprised +that a gentleman who is so well versed in ancient writings and curious +manuscripts as you are, dear Mr. Tussmann, Clerk of the Privy Chancery, +should not know that when an expert--an _expert_, observe!--knocks at +the door of this Tower here--or even on the wall of it, on the night of +the autumnal equinox, there will appear to him, up at yonder window, +the girl who is to be the happiest and luckiest sweetheart in Berlin +till the spring equinox comes round." + +"Mr. Privy Councillor," Tussmann cried, as if in a sudden inspiration, +and with joyful rapture--"Most respected Mr. Privy Councillor! is that +really the case?" + +"It is," said the stranger. "But what's the good of our standing in the +street here any longer? It is past your bed time. Let us go to the +new wine-shop in Alexander Street; just that you may hear a little +more about this young lady, and recover your peace of mind, which +something--I have no idea what--has disturbed so tremendously." + +Tussmann was a most abstemious person. His sole recreation (for +"dissipation" we cannot term it) consisted in his spending an hour or +two every evening in a cafe; where, whilst he read assiduously +political and other articles in newspapers, as well as books which he +brought with him, he sipped a glass of good beer. Wine he seldom +touched, except that after service on Sundays he allowed himself a +small glass of Malaga with a biscuit, in a certain restaurant. To go +about dissipating at nights was an abomination in his eyes. So that it +seemed incomprehensible how, on this particular occasion, he allowed +the stranger, who hurried away towards Alexander Street with long +strides, resounding in the darkness, to carry him away with him without +a word of objection. + +When they came into the wine-shop there was nobody there but one single +customer, sitting by himself at a table, with a big glass of Rhine wine +before him. The depth of the wrinkled lines on his face indicated +extreme age. His eyes were sharp and piercing, and his grand beard +marked him as a Hebrew, faithful to the ancient laws and customs of his +people. Also his costume was very much in the old Frankish style, as +people dressed about the year 1720; and perhaps that was why he had the +effect of having come back to life out of a period of remote antiquity. + +But the stranger whom Tussmann had come across was still more +remarkable of aspect. + +A tall, meagre man, powerfully formed as to his limbs and muscles, +seemingly about fifty years of age. His face might once have passed for +handsome, and the great eyes still flashed out from under the black +bushy eyebrows with youthful fire and vigour. The brow was broad and +open; the nose strongly aquiline. All this would not have distinguished +him from a thousand others. But, whilst his coat and trousers were of +the fashion of the present day, his collar, his cloak, and his barret +cap belonged to the latter part of the sixteenth century. But it was +more especially the wonderful eyes of the man, and the blaze of them +(which seemed to come streaming out of deep mysterious night), and the +hollow tones of his voice, and his whole bearing--all in the most +absolute contrast with things of the present day--it was, we say, all +these things taken together which made everybody experience a strong +sense of eeriness in his proximity. + +He nodded to the man who was sitting at the table as if to an old +acquaintance. + +"Ha!" he cried, "here _you_ are again, after all this time. How do you +feel? Are you all alive and kicking?" + +"Just as you see," the old man growled. "Sound as a roach. All ready on +my legs at the proper time. All _there_--when there's anything up." + +"I'm not quite so sure about that," the stranger said, laughing loudly; +"we shall see!" And he ordered the waiter to bring a bottle of the +oldest claret in the cellar. + +"My good Mr. Privy Councillor," Tussmann began, deprecatingly. But the +stranger interrupted him hastily, saying: + +"Let us drop the 'titles,' Tussmann, for once and all! I am neither a +Privy Councillor nor a Clerk of the Privy Council. What I am is an +artist, a worker in the noble metals and the precious jewels; and my +name is Leonhard." + +"Oh, indeed!" Tussmann murmured to himself--"a goldsmith! a jeweller!" +And he bethought himself that he might have seen at the first glance +that the stranger could not possibly be an ordinary Privy Councillor, +seeing that he had on an antique mantle, collar, and barret cap, such +as Privy Councillors never went about in nowadays. Leonhard and +Tussmann sat down at the same table with the old Jew, who received them +with a grinning kind of smile. + +When Tussmann, at Leonhard's instigation, had taken two or three +glasses of the full-bodied wine, his pale cheeks began to glow, and as +he swallowed the liquor, he glanced about him with smirks and smiles, +as if the most delightful ideas were rising in his brain. + +"And now," Leonhard said, "tell me openly and candidly, Mr. Tussmann, +why you went on in such an extraordinary manner when the lady showed +herself at the Tower-window; and what it is that your head is so very +full of at the present moment. You and I are very old acquaintances, +whether you believe it or not; and as to this old gentleman here, you +need be on no ceremony with him." + +"Oh, heavens!" answered the Privy Chancery Clerk--"Oh, good heavens! +most respected Herr Professor--(I do beg you to allow me to address you +by that title; I am sure you are a most celebrated artist, and quite in +a position to be a professor in the Academy of Arts)--and so, most +respected Herr Professor, how can I hide from you that I am, as the +proverb puts it, 'walking on wooer's feet.' I am expecting to bring the +happiest of brides home about the vernal equinox. Could it be otherwise +than a rather startling thing, when you, most respected Herr Professor, +were so very kind as to let me see a fortunate bride that is to be?" + +"What!" the old Jew broke in, in a screaming voice--"What! are you +thinking of marrying? Why, you're as old as the hills, and as ugly as a +baboon into the bargain." + +"Never mind him," Leonbard said; for Tussmann was so startled by what +the old man said that he could not utter a syllable. "He means no harm, +dear Mr. Tussmann, though you may think he seems to do so. I must say, +candidly, that it seems to me, too, that it is a little too late in +life for you to be thinking about such a thing. You must be well on to +your fiftieth birthday; aren't you?" + +"I shall be forty-eight," said Tussman, with a certain amount of +irritability, "on the 9th of next October--St. Dionysius's day." + +"Very well," said Leonhard. "But it isn't only your age that's against +you--you have always been leading a simple, solitary, virginal +existence. You have no knowledge or experience of women. I can't see +what is to become of you in their hands!" + +"Knowledge of them--experience of them! Dear Herr Professor, you must +really take me for a most foolish and inconsiderate person if you think +I am going to plunge into matrimony without any counsel or reflection +or advice. I weigh, consider, and reflect upon every step most +maturely; and, having perceived myself to be pierced to the heart by +the dart of the wanton deity yclept 'Cupid' by the ancients, could I do +otherwise than bend all my thoughts upon the preparation of myself for +the matrimonial life? Would any one who was preparing for a difficult +examination not be careful to study all the subjects on which he is to +be interrogated? Very well, most respected Herr Professor, my marriage +is an examination, for which I have prepared myself, and I feel pretty +certain that I shall pass it admirably--with honours! Look here, at +this little book, which I have always carried about in my pocket, +studying it constantly, since the time when I made up my mind to fall +in love and get married. Look at it, my dear sir; and you will be +convinced that I am setting about this business in the most thorough +and fundamental manner possible, and that I shall certainly not be +found an ignoramus in it; although, as you say (and as I must admit), +the feminine sex is--so far, and up to the present date--to me a +complete _terra incognita_." + +With these words Tussmann produced from his pocket a little book in +parchment binding, and turned up its title-page, which ran as +follows:-- + +"Brief Tractate on Diplomatic Acumen. Embracing methods of Self-Counsel +for guidance in all Societies of our fellow-creatures, conducing to the +attainment of a proper system of Conduct. Of the utmost importance to +all Persons who deem themselves Wise, or wish to become Wiser. +Translated from the Latin of Herr Thomasius. With a complete Index. +Frankfurt and Leipzig. Johann Grossen's Successors. 1710." + +"Now just let me show you," said Tussmann, with a sweet smile, "what +this worthy author (in his seventh chapter, which deals with the +subjects 'Wedlock, and the Duties of the Father of a Family and Master +of a Household') says, in the seventh section of that chapter. You see, +what he says is this: + +"'Above all things, let there be no hurry about it. He who does not +marry till of mature age is so much the wiser, and the better able to +cope with the exigencies of the situation. Over-early marriages produce +shameless, subtle, and disingenuous people, and sacrifice the vigour of +both body and mind. Although the age of manhood is not the commencement +of youth, the one should not terminate before the other.'" + +"And then, with regard to the choice of the object of the +affections--her whom one is to love and to marry--this grand Thomasius +says, in his nineteenth section: + +"'The middle course is the safest. We should not select one too +beautiful or too ill-favoured, too rich nor too poor, too high-born or +too low-born, but of like social standing with one's self. And, +similarly, as regards the other qualities, the middle course will be +found always the safest to follow.'" + +"Very well, you see, this is what I have always guided myself by. And +(as directed by Thomasius--section seventeen), not only have I had +occasional conversations with the lady of my choice, but (inasmuch as, +in occasional interviews, misapprehensions may arise with respect to +peculiarities of character and modes of looking at matters, &c.) I have +taken opportunities to have very _frequent_ interviews and +conversations with her; because those frequent interviews necessarily +make it very difficult for people to conceal themselves from one +another, don't you see?" + +"My dear Mr. Tussmann," the goldsmith said, "it appears to me that all +this sort of intercourse, 'conversation,' or whatever you please to +call it, with women requires one to have a good deal of experience, +extending over a very considerable period of time, if one is to avoid +being befooled and made an ass of by it." + +"Even in this," said Tussmann, "our grand Thomasius comes to our aid, +giving us completely adequate instruction as to how we are to +'converse' with ladies, in the most rational and delightful style; even +telling us exactly how and when to introduce the due amount of +playfulness and wit, suitable to the occasion. My author says, in his +fifth chapter, that one ought to be careful to introduce such jocular +sayings sparingly--as a cook uses salt; and that pointed speeches +should never be employed as weapons against others, but altogether in +our own defence--just as a hedgehog uses his spines. And also, that it +is wise to rely more upon the actions than upon the words; because it +is often the case that what is hidden by words is made evident by +actions, and that words very often do not do so much to awaken liking +or disliking as actions do." + +"I see," the goldsmith said, "there is no getting anything like a rise +out of you. You are closed up in armour of proof. So I am prepared to +bet, heavily, that you have gained the affections of the lady of your +choice by means of those wonderfully deep diplomatic dodges of yours." + +Tussmann answered, "I study to direct all my endeavours (following +Thomasius's advice) to attain a deferential, though kindly, +agreeableness of demeanour, that being the most natural and usual +indication of affection, and what is most adapted to awaken liking in +reciprocation: just as if you yawn, you will set an entire company +gaping too, from sympathy. But, reverentially as I follow his +instructions, I don't go too far; I always recollect that (as Thomasius +says) women are neither good angels nor bad angels, but mere human +beings; and, in fact, as regards strength of mind and body, weaker than +we are, which, of course, is fully accounted for by the diversity which +exists between the sexes." + +"A black year come over you!" the old Jew cried wrathfully, "sitting +there chattering your cursed stuff and nonsense without a stop; +spoiling for me the good hour in which I hoped to enjoy myself a little +after all the hard work I've been going through." + +"Hold your tongue, old man," the goldsmith said. "You ought to be very +thankful that we put up with you here. I can tell you your company is +anything but pleasant; your manners are so abominable. You ought to be +kicked out of decent society, if you had your deserts. Don't let the +old man disturb you, dear Mr. Tussmann. You believe in the old times; +you're fond of old Thomasius. I go a good deal further back. What I +care about is the time to which, as you see, my dress partly belongs. +Aye! my good friend, those were the days! It is to them that that +little spell belongs which you saw me putting into practice to-night at +the Town-house Tower." + +"I don't quite understand you, Herr Professor,'' Tussmann said. + +"Well," said the goldsmith, "there used to be splendid weddings in +those old days in the Town-hall--very different affairs from the +weddings nowadays. Plenty of happy brides used to look out of those +Tower-windows in those days, so that it's a piece of pleasant glamour +when an aerial form comes and tells us what is going to happen now, +from knowledge of olden times. Let me tell you, this Berlin was a very +different place in those old days; nowadays everything is marked with +the same stamp of tediousness and _ennui_, and people _ennuyer_ one +another just because they are so _ennuyees_ and weary in themselves. In +those days there were entertainments, feastings, rejoicings worthy the +name, very different from the affairs that are so called now. I shall +only speak of what was done at Oculi, in the year 1581, when the +Elector Augustus of Saxony, with his Consort, and Don Christian, his +son, were escorted to Cologne by all the nobles and gentry. There were +over a hundred horse, and the citizens of both the cities--Berlin and +Cologne--and those of Spandau lined both sides of the road from the +gate to the palace in complete armour. Next day there was a splendid +running at the ring, at which the Elector of Saxony and Count Jost of +Barby appeared, with many nobles--in fine suits of gold embroidery, and +tall golden helms, golden lions' heads on their shoulders, knees, and +elbows, with flesh-coloured silk on the other parts of their arms and +legs, just as if they had been naked---exactly as you see the heathen +warriors painted in pictures. There were singers and musicians hidden +inside a gilt Noah's Ark, and on the top of it sat a little boy in +flesh-coloured silk tights, with his eyes bandaged, as Cupid is +represented. Two other boys, dressed as doves, with white ostrich +feathers, golden eyes and beaks, drew +-he ark along; and when the +prince had run at the ring and been successful, the music in the ark +played, and a number of pigeons were let fly from it. One of them +flapped its wings and sang a most delightful Italian _aria_, and did it +much better than our Court singer Bernard Pasquino Grosso from Mantua +did seventy years afterwards (but not so charmingly as our _prime +donne_ sing nowadays). Then there was a foot tournay, to which the +Elector and the Count went in a ship, which was all dressed over with +black and yellow cloth, and had a sail of gold taffeta; and behind His +Highness sate the little boy who had been Cupid the day before, in a +long coat of many colours, a peaked black and yellow hat, and a +long grey beard. The singers and musicians were dressed in the same +way; and nil round about the ship a number of gentlemen danced and +jumped--gentlemen of good family, mind you!--with heads and tails of +salmon, herrings, and fishes of other sorts: most delightful to behold. +In the evening, about ten, there was a grand display of fireworks, with +thousands of detonations; and the master-gunners played all sorts of +pranks--had combats; and there were explosions of fiery stars; and +fiery men and horses, strange birds and other creatures, went up into +the air with a terrible rushing and banging. They went on for more than +two hours, those fireworks." + +Whilst the goldsmith was narrating all this, the Clerk of the +Privy Chancery gave every sign of the liveliest interest and the +utmost enjoyment, crying, in a sympathizing and interested manner, +"Ey!--oh!--ah!"--smiling, rubbing his hands, moving backwards and +forwards on his chair, and gulping down glass after glass of the wine +the while. + +"Dearest Professor," he cried at last, in falsetto (always a mark in +him of intense enjoyment)--"My dearest, most respected Herr Professor! +what delightful things you have been having the kindness to tell me +about!--really _quite_ as though you had been there and seen them +yourself." + +"Well!" the goldsmith said, "and wasn't I there?" + +Tussmann, who didn't in the least understand this extraordinary +query, was going to try to get some further light thrown upon it, when +the old Jew came in with a growl, to the following effect: "Don't +forget those delightful entertainments when the pyres burned in the +market-place--the Berlin folks were much delighted with them, you know; +and the streets ran red with the blood of the wretched victims, slain +in the most terrific manner, after confessing whatever was imputed to +them by the wildest infatuation and the most idiotic superstition. +Don't, I merely say, forget to tell your friend about them!" + +"Yes, yes," Tussmann said; "of course you mean those terrible +witchcraft trials which took place in those old days. Ah! they were +atrocious businesses; fortunately the enlightenment of the present age +has altered all those things." + +The goldsmith cast strange looks at the old Jew and at Tussmann; and +presently asked the latter, with a mysterious smile, if he had ever +heard about the Jew-coiner, Lippold, and what had happened to him in +the year 1512. + +Ere Tussmann could answer, the goldsmith went on to say: "This +Jew-coiner, Lippold, was accused of an important imposture, and a +serious roguery. He had at one time been much in the confidence of the +Elector, and was at the head of all the affairs of the mints and the +coinage in the country; always ready to produce large sums of money, no +matter how large, when required. Whether because he was clever at +shifts, or that he had powers at his command which enabled him to clear +himself from all blame in the Elector's eyes, or that he was able to +'shoot with a silver bullet' (to use an expression of those times) +those who had influence over the Elector's proceedings, he was on the +very point of getting off scot free from the accusations brought +against him. But he was still kept under guard, by the town-watch, in +his little house in Stralau Street. And it so chanced that he had a +quarrel with his wife, in the course of which she said to him, in the +hearing of the guard, 'If our gracious lord the Elector only knew what +a villain you are, and what atrocities you manage to commit by the help +of that magic book of yours, you'd be in your coffin long ago.' This +was reported to the Elector, who had careful search made in Lippold's +house. The magic book was found, and, when it was examined by those who +understood it, Lippold's guilt was clearly established. He had +practised magical arts to give him power over the Elector, and to +enable him to rule the whole country; and it was only the piety and +Godfearingness of the Elector which had enabled him to withstand those +spells. Lippold was burned in the market-place. But when the fire was +taking effect on his body and upon the magic book, a great mouse came +out from under the scaffold, and leaped into the fire. Many supposed +that this was Lippold's familiar demon." + +Whilst the goldsmith had been relating this, the old Jew had sate +leaning his arms on the table, with his hands before his eyes, groaning +and sighing like one suffering unendurable tortures. On the other hand, +the Clerk of the Privy Chancery did not seem to be paying much +attention to what the goldsmith was saying. He was in high good-humour, +and his mind was full of quite other ideas and images; and, when the +goldsmith had ended, he asked, with many smiles, and in a lisping +manner: "Tell me, dear Herr Professor, if you will be so kind, was it +really Miss Albertine Bosswinkel who came and looked out of the window +of the Tower?" + +"What?" cried the goldsmith, furiously--"what business have _you_ with +Miss Albertine Bosswinkel?" + +"My dear sir!" said Tussmann, timidly--"good gracious! My dear friend, +she is the very lady whom I have made up my mind to marry!" + +"Good God, sir!" the goldsmith cried, with a face as red as a furnace, +and eyes glaring with anger; "you must be out of your reason +altogether. _You_, an old, worn-out pedant, to think of marrying that +beautiful young creature! _You_, who, with all your erudition, and your +'diplomatic acumen,' taken from the idiotic treatise of that old goose +Thomasius, can't see a quarter of an inch before that nose of yours! I +advise you to drive every idea of the kind out of your head as quickly +as you can, or you will probably find that you stand a good chance of +having that weazened neck of yours drawn, on this autumn equinoctial +night!" + +The Clerk of the Privy Chancery was a quiet, peaceable, nay, timorous +man, incapable of saying a hard word to anybody, even when attacked; +but what the goldsmith had said was just a trifle too infernally +insulting; and then, Tussmann had taken more strong wine than he was +accustomed to. Accordingly, there was no wonder that he did what he had +never done before in his life---that is, he burst into a fury, and +yelled out, right into the goldsmith's teeth: "Eh! What the devil +business have you with me, Mr. Goldsmith (whose acquaintance I haven't +the honour of); and how dare you talk to me in this sort of way? You +seem to me to be trying to make an ass of me, by all sorts of childish +delusions. I presume you have the effrontery to be paying your +addresses to Miss Bosswinkel yourself; you've got hold of a portrait of +her on glass, and shown it at the Town-hall in a magic-lantern held +under your cloak. My good sir, _I_ know something about these matters, +as well as _you_ do; you're going the wrong way to work if you think +you're going to frighten and bully _me_ in this sort of way." + +"Be careful what you're about," the goldsmith said, very quietly, and +with a strange smile. "Be very careful what you're about; you've got +strange sort of people to do with here." + +And as he so spake, lo! instead of the goldsmith's face, there was a +horrid-looking fox's face snarling and showing its teeth at Tussmann +from under the goldsmith's bonnet. + +The Clerk of the Privy Chancery fell back in his chair in the +profoundest terror. + +The old Jew did not seem to be in the least degree surprised by this +transformation; rather, he had suddenly lost his mood of ill-temper +altogether. He laughed, and cried, "Aha! capital sport! But there's +nothing to be _made_ by those arts. I know better ones. I can do things +which were always beyond _you_, Leonhard." + +"Let us see," said the goldsmith, who had assumed his human countenance +again--"let us see what you can do." + +The old man took from his pocket a large black radish, trimmed it and +scraped it with a little knife, which also came from his pocket, +shredded it into thin strips, and laid them in order on the table. Then +he struck each of them a blow with his clenched fist; when they sprung +up, one by one, ringing, in the shape of gold coins, which he took up +and threw across to the goldsmith. But as soon as the goldsmith took +hold of one of those coins, it fell to dust, in a little shower of +crackling sparks of fire. This infuriated the old man. He went on +striking the radish-shavings into gold pieces faster and faster, +hitting them harder and harder, and they crackled away in the +goldsmith's hand with fierier and fierier sparks. + +Tussmann was nearly out of his senses with fear and agitation. At last +he pulled himself together out of the swoon into which he was nearly +falling, and said, in trembling accents: "Really, I must beg, with all +due courtesy and respect, to say that I feel that I should much prefer +to bid 'Good-evening' on this occasion." And grasping his hat and +stick, he bolted out of the room as quickly as he could. When he +reached the street, he heard those two uncanny people setting up a +shout of screaming laughter after him, which made the blood run cold in +his veins. + + + CHAPTER II. + +IN WHICH IT IS RELATED HOW, BY THE INTERVENTION OF A CIGAR WHICH WOULD + NOT DRAW, A LOVE-AFFAIR WAS SET AGOING BETWEEN A LADY AND + GENTLEMAN WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY KNOCKED THEIR HEADS TOGETHER. + +The manner in which young Edmund Lehsen, the painter, made acquaintance +with the mysterious goldsmith, Leonhard, was somewhat different to that +in which Tussmann had done so. + +Edmund was one day sketching a beautiful group of trees in a lonely +part of the Thiergarten, when Leonhard came up, and, without any +ceremony, looked over his shoulder at what he was doing. Edmund did not +disturb himself, but went on with his sketch, till the goldsmith +cried-- + +"That is a most extraordinary picture, young gentleman. Those will come +to be something else than trees before you have done with them." + +"Do you see anything out of the way, sir?" Edmund said, with flashing +eyes. + +"I mean," said the goldsmith, "that there are all sorts of forms +and shapes peeping out from amongst those high leaves there, in +ever-changing variety: geniuses, strange animals, maidens, and flowers. +Yet the whole thing ought only to amount to that group of trees before +us there, through which the rays of the evening sun are streaming so +charmingly." + +"Sir!" Edmund answered, "either you have a very profound understanding, +and a most penetrating eye for matters of this kind, or I have been +unusually successful in portraying my inmost feelings. Don't you +perceive when, in looking at Nature, you abandon yourself to all your +feelings of longing, all kinds of wonderful shapes and forms come +looking at you through the trees with beautiful eyes? That was what I +was trying to represent to the senses in this sketch, and I see I have +succeeded." + +"I understand," Leonhard said, rather coldly and dryly. "You wanted to +drop study, and give yourself a rest, to refresh and strengthen your +fancy." + +"Not at all," Edmund answered. "I consider this way of working from +Nature is my best and most useful 'study.' Study of this sort enables +me to put the really poetic and imaginative element into my landscape. +Unless the landscape painter is every bit as much a poet as the +portrait painter, he will never be anything but a dauber." + +"Heaven help us!" cried the goldsmith. "So you, dear Edmund Lehsen, are +going to----" + +"You know me, then, sir, do you?" the painter cried. + +"Why shouldn't I?" said Leonhard. "I first made your acquaintance on an +occasion which you, probably, don't remember much about; that is to +say, when you were born. Considering the small experience which you had +at that time, you had behaved very well--had given your mamma little +trouble--and as soon as you came into the world, gave a very pretty cry +of pleasure and delight. Also, you showed a great love for the +daylight, which, by my advice, you were not kept away from. Because, +according to the most recent medical opinions, daylight is far from +having a bad effect on babies, but rather is beneficial to their bodies +and their minds. Your papa was so pleased that he hopped about the room +on one leg, singing + + 'The manly heart with love o'erflowing,' + +from Mozart's 'Flauto Magico.' + +"Presently he handed your little person over to me, and asked me to +draw your horoscope, which I did. Afterwards I often came to your +father's house, and you didn't disdain to suck at the little bags of +almonds and raisins which I used to bring you. Then, when you were +about six or eight, I went away on my peregrinations. When I got back +to Berlin I saw with satisfaction that your father had sent you here +from Muenchberg to study the noble art of painting; because there is not +a very large collection in Muenchberg of works adapted for fundamental +study, either in the shape of pictures, statues, bronzes, gems, or +other art-treasures of value. That good native town of yours can +scarcely vie with Rome, Florence, or Dresden in that respect; or +perhaps even with what Berlin will one day become, when bran-new +antiques, fished out of the Tiber, have been brought to it in some +considerable quantity." + +"Heavens!" Edmund cried, "the most vivid remembrances out of my +childhood are awaking themselves in my mind. You are Herr Leonhard, are +you not?" + +"Certainly!" Leonhard answered. "Leonhard is my name. Yet I am a little +astonished that you should remember me all this long time." + +"I do, though," Edmund answered. "I know that I was always glad when +you came to my father's, because you always brought me such delicious +things to eat, and petted me. But I always felt a sort of reverential +awe for you; in fact, more than that--a kind of oppressive anxiousness, +which often lasted after you were gone. But what makes the remembrance +of you remain so vividly in my mind is what my father used to say about +you. He set great store by your friendship, because you had got him out +of a number of troubles in the most wonderful way--out of some of those +difficulties which come upon people in this world so often. And he used +to speak in the most enthusiastic way about the extent to which you had +penetrated into deep and mysterious branches of science; how you +controlled many of the secret powers of Nature at your will. Not only +that, but (begging your pardon for saying so) he often went so far as +to give us to understand that you were really nobody other than +Ahasuerus, the Wandering Jew." + +"Why not the Pied Piper of Hamelin? or the King of the Kobolds?" +cried the goldsmith. "All the same, there is some foundation for the +idea that there is something a little out of the everyday line about +me--something which I don't care to talk about, for fear of giving rise +to 'unpleasantness.' I certainly did some good turns to your papa, by +means of my secret knowledge, or 'art.' He was particularly pleased +with the horoscope which I cast for you at your birth." + +"It wasn't so very clear, though," Edmund said. "My father often told +me you said I should be a great something--either a great Artist, or a +great Ass. At all events, I have to thank this utterance for my +father's having given consent to my wish to be a painter; and don't you +think your horoscope is going to turn out true?" + +"Oh, most certainly," the goldsmith answered, very dryly; "there can be +no doubt about that. At this moment you are in the fairest possible way +to turn out a very remarkable Ass." + +"What!" cried Edmund--"you tell me so to my face!--you----" + +"It rests altogether with yourself," the goldsmith said, "to avoid the +bad alternative of my horoscope, and turn out a very remarkable +Painter. Your drawings and sketches show that you have a rich and +lively imagination, much power of expression, and a great deal of +cleverness in execution. You may raise a grand edifice on those +foundations. Carefully keep away from all 'modish' exaggerations and +eccentricities, and apply yourself to serious study. I congratulate you +upon your efforts to imitate the grave, earnest simpleness of the old +German masters. But, even in that direction, you must carefully shun +the precipice which so many fall over. It needs a profound +intelligence, and a mind strong enough to resist the enervating +influence of the Modern School, to grasp, wholly, the true spirit of +the old German masters, and to penetrate completely into the +significance of their pictures. Without those qualifications, the true +spark will never kindle in an artist's heart, nor the genuine +inspiration produce works which, without being imitations, shall be +worthy of a better age. Nowadays young fellows think that when they +patch together something on a Biblical subject, with figures all skin +and bone, faces a yard long, stiff angular draperies, a perspective all +askew, they have painted a work in the style of the great old German +masters. Dead-minded imitators of that description are like the country +lad who holds his bonnet before his face while the Paternoster is being +sung in church, and says if he doesn't remember the words, he knows the +tune." + +The goldsmith said much more that was true and beautiful on the subject +of the noble art of painting, and gave Edmund a great many valuable +hints and lessons; so that the latter, much impressed, asked how it had +been possible for him to acquire so much knowledge on the subject +without being a painter himself; and why he went on living in such +seclusion, and never brought his influence to bear on artistic effort +of all descriptions. + +"I have told you already," the goldsmith said, in a gentle and serious +tone, "that my ways of looking at life, and at things in general, have +been rendered exceptionally acute by a long--aye, a marvellously +long--course of experience. As regards my living in seclusion, I know +that wherever I should appear, I should produce a rather extraordinary +effect, as a result, not only of my nature in general, but more +especially of a certain power which I possess; so that my living +quietly in Berlin here might not be a very easy matter. I keep thinking +of a certain person who, in many respects, might have been an ancestor +of mine: so marvellously like me in every respect, in body and mind +too, that there are times not a few when I almost believe (perhaps it +may be fancy) that I am that person. I mean a Swiss of the name of +Leonhard Turnhaeuser zum Thurm, who lived at the court of the Elector +Johann Georg, about the year 1582. In those days, as you know, every +chemist was supposed to be an alchemist, and every astronomer was +called an astrologer; so Turnhaeuser was very probably both. It is +certain, at all events, that he did most wonderful things, and, _inter +alia_, was a very marvellous doctor. Unfortunately, he had a trick of +putting his finger in every pie, and getting conspicuously mixed up in +all that was going on. This made him envied and hated; just as people +who have money and make a display with it, though it may be never so +well earned, bring enemies about their throats. Thus it came about that +people made the Elector believe that Turnhaeuser could make gold, and +that, if he did not do so, he had his reasons for so abstaining. Then +his enemies came to the Elector and said--'See what a cunning, +shameless rascal this is. He boasts of powers which he does not +possess, and carries on sorceries and Jewish deceptions, for which he +ought to be burned at the stake like Lippolt the Jew.' Turnhaeuser had +been a goldsmith by trade, and this came out. Then everybody said he +had none of the knowledge imputed to him, though he had given the most +incontrovertible proofs of it in open day. They even said that he had +never, himself, written any of the sage and clever books and important +prognostications which he published, but had paid others to do them. In +short, envy, hatred, and calumny brought matters so far that he was +obliged to leave Berlin in the most secret manner, to escape the fate +of the Jew Lippolt; then his enemies said he had gone to the Catholics +for protection. But "that is not true. He went to Saxony, and worked at +his trade there, though he did not give up the study and practice of +his science." + +Edmund was wonderfully attracted to this old goldsmith, who inspired in +him a reverential trustfulness and confidence. Not only was he a critic +of the most instructive quality, though severe; but he told Edmund +secrets concerning the preparation of colours and the combining of them +known to the old masters, and of the most precious importance when he +put them to the test of practice. Thus there was formed, between these +two, one of those alliances which come about when there is on the one +hand hopeful confidence, in a young disciple, and, on the other, +affectionate paternal friendship on the part of a teacher. + +About this time it happened, one fine summer evening, that Herr +Melchior Bosswinkel, Commissionsrath, who was taking his pleasure in +the Thiergarten, could not manage to get a single one of his cigars to +draw. He tried one after another, but every one of them was stopped up. +He threw them away, one after another, getting more and more vexed and +annoyed as he did so; at last he cried out: "Oh, God! and those are +supposed to be the very finest brands to be got in Hamburg. Damme! I've +spared neither trouble nor money, and here they play the very deuce +with every idea of enjoyment--not one of the infernal things will draw. +Can a man enjoy the beauties of nature, or take part in any sort of +rational conversation, when these damnable things won't burn? Oh, God! +it's terrible!" + +He had involuntarily addressed these remarks to Edmund Lehsen, who +happened to be close beside him with a cigar which was drawing +splendidly. + +Edmund, who had not the slightest idea who the Commissionsrath was, +took out his cigar-case and offered it politely to this desperate +person, saying that he could vouch for both the quality and the drawing +powers of his cigars, although he had not got them from Hamburg, but +out of a shop in Frederick Street. + +The Commissionsrath accepted, full of gratitude and pleasure, with a +"Much obliged, I'm sure." And as, the moment he touched the end of the +cigar which Edmund was smoking with the one just obtained from him, +this latter drew delightfully, and sent out the loveliest and most +delicious clouds of blue odoriferous smoke, he cried, enraptured: + +"Oh, my dear sir! you have really rescued me from the profoundest +depths of misery. Do please to accept a thousand thanks. In fact, I +would almost venture to ask you to let me have one more of those +magnificent cigars of yours, to be going on with when this one is +finished." + +Edmund said the contents of his cigar-case were quite at the +gentleman's disposal; and then they went on their several ways. + +Presently, when the twilight had fallen a little, and Edmund, with the +idea for a picture in his head, was making his way, rather absently, +not paying much attention to those about him, pushing through amongst +the chairs and tables so as to get out of the crowd, the +Commissionsrath suddenly appeared in front of him, asking him if he +would not come and sit down at his table. Just as he was going to +decline--because he was longing to get away into the open country--he +suddenly caught sight of a young lady, the very incarnation of youth, +beauty, and delightsomeness, who was seated at the Commissionsrath's +table. + +"My daughter, Albertine," the Commissionsrath said to Edmund, who was +gazing motionless at the lady, almost forgetting that it was incumbent +on him to bow to her. He recognised, at the first glance, in Albertine, +the beautiful creature whom he had come across at the last exhibition +as she was admiring one of his own pictures. She was describing and +pointing out the meaning of this fanciful picture to an old lady and +two girls who were with her; explaining the peculiarities of the +drawing and the grouping; applauding the painter, and saying that he +was quite a young artist, though so full of promise, and that she +wished she knew him. Edmund was standing close behind her, drinking in +the praise which flowed from her beautiful lips. His heart was so full +that he could not bring himself to go forward and say he was the +painter. And at this juncture Albertine happened to drop one of her +gloves, which she had taken off. Edmund stooped to pick it up, and as +Albertine did the same thing at the same instant, their heads banged +together with such a crash that it rang through the place. + +"Oh, good gracious!" Albertine cried, holding her hands to her head. + +Edmund started back in consternation and alarm. At his first step he +stamped on the old lady's pug, which yelled aloud; at his second he +trampled the gouty toe of a professor, who gave a tremendous shout, and +devoted poor Edmund to all the infernal deities. Then the people came +hurrying from the neighbouring rooms, and all the lorgnettes were fixed +upon Edmund, who made the best of his way out of the place, amid the +whimperings of the dog, the curses of the professor, the objurgations +of the old lady, and the tittering and laughter of the girls. He made, +we say, his escape in those circumstances, blushing over and over with +shame and discomfiture, in complete despair, whilst a number of young +ladies got out their essence-bottles and rubbed Albertine's forehead, +on which a great lump was rapidly rising. + +Even then, in the crisis of this ridiculous occurrence, Edmund had +fallen deeply in love, though he was scarcely aware of it himself. And +it was only a painful sense of his own stupidity that prevented him +from going to search for her all over the town. He could not think of +her otherwise than with a great red lump on her forehead, and the +bitterest reproach, the most distinct expression of anger, in her face +and in her whole being. + +There was not the faintest trace of this, however, about her as he saw +her now. She blushed indeed over and over again when she saw him, and +seemed unable to control herself. But when her father asked him his +name, &c., she said with a delightful smile, and in gentle accents, +"that she must be much mistaken if he were not Mr. Lehsen, the +celebrated painter, whose works she so immensely admired." + +Those words, we need not say, ran through Edmund's nerves like an +electric shock. In his emotion he was about to burst into flowers of +rhetoric, but the Commissionsrath would not let him get to that, +clasping him to his breast with fervour, and saying, "My dear sir, what +about the cigar you promised me?" And whilst he was lighting said cigar +at the ashes of the former one, he said, "So you are a painter? and a +great one, from what my daughter Albertine tells me--and she knows what +she is talking about in such matters, I can assure you. I'm very glad +you are. I love pictures, and, as my daughter Albertine says, 'Art' +altogether, most tremendously. I simply dote upon it. And I know +something about it, too. I'm a first-rate judge of a picture. My +daughter Albertine and I know what we're about there. We've got eyes in +our heads. Tell me, my dear painter, tell me without hesitation, wasn't +it you who painted those pictures which I stop and look at every day as +I pass them, because I cannot help standing to admire the colouring of +them? Oh, it is beautiful!" + +Edmund did not quite understand how the Commissionsrath managed to see +any pictures of his daily in passing them, seeing that he had never +painted any signboards, that he could remember. But after a good deal +of questioning, it turned out that Melchior Bosswinkel meant certain +lacquered tea-trays, stove-shades, and things of that sort, which he +saw and much admired in a shop-window as he went to business of a +morning, after two or three sardines and a glass of Dantziger at the +Sala Tarone. These productions constituted his highest ideal of the +pictorial art. This disgusted the painter not a little; and he cursed, +internally, Bosswinkel and his wretched chatter, which was preventing +him from making any approach to the young lady. At last there came up +an acquaintance, who engaged him in conversation, and Edmund took +advantage of this to go and sit down beside Albertine, who seemed to be +very much pleased at his doing so. + +Every one who knows Miss Albertine Bosswinkel is aware that, as has +been said, she is the very personification of youth, beauty, and +delightsomeness; that, like all other Berlin young ladies, she dresses +in the best possible taste in the latest fashions, sings in Zelter's +choir, has lessons on the piano from Herr Lauska, dances most +beautifully, sent a tulip charmingly embroidered and surrounded by +violets to the last exhibition, and though by nature of a bright, +lively temperament, is quite capable of displaying the proper amount of +sentimentality required at tea-parties, at all events. Also, that she +copies poetical extracts and sentences which have pleased her in the +writings of Goethe, Jean Paul, and other talented men and women, in the +loveliest little tiny handwriting into a nice little book with a gilt +morocco cover. + +Of course it was natural that, sitting beside the young painter, whose +heart was beaming with the bliss of a timid affection, she should +be several degrees more sentimental than was usual on the tea and +reading-aloud occasions; and she lisped in the prettiest manner about +such subjects as poetic feeling, depth of idea, childlike simplicity, +and so forth. + +The evening breeze had begun to sigh, breathing perfume from the +flowers and wafting their scents on its wings; and two nightingales +were singing a lovely duetto in among the thick darkling leafage, in +the tenderest accents of love-complaining. + +Albertine began, quoting from Fouque-- + + "A rustling, whisper'd singing + Breaks thro' the leaves of spring, + And over heart, and sense, and soul + A web of love doth fling." + +And Edmund, grown less timid now that the twilight was falling more +deeply, took her hand and laid it on his heart, whilst he went on, +continuing the quotation-- + + "Did I, in whispered music, sing + What my heart hears--aright-- + From that sweet lay would burst, in fire, + Love's own Eternal Light." + +Albertine withdrew her hand, but only to take off her glove, and then +give the hand back to this lucky youngster. He was just going to kiss +it fervently, when the Commissionsrath broke in with a + +"Oh! I say! How chilly it's getting! I wish I had brought my great +coat! Put on your shawl, Tiny! It's a fine Turkish shawl, my dear +painter--cost fifty ducats. Wrap yourself up in it, Tiny; we must be +getting home. Good-bye, my _dear_ sir." + +Edmund was here inspired by a happy thought. He took out his cigar case +and offered the Commissionsrath a third Havannah. + +"I really am excessively obliged to you," the Commissionsrath said, +delighted; "you really are most kind. The police don't let one smoke +walking about in the Thiergarten, for fear of the grass getting burnt; +one enjoys a pipe or a cigar more for that very reason." + +Bosswinkel went up to the lamp to light the cigar, and Edmund took +advantage of his doing so to whisper to Albertine, very shyly, that he +hoped she would let him walk home with her. She put her arm in his, +they went on together, and Bosswinkel, when he joined them, seemed to +consider it a matter of course that Edmund was going to walk with them +all the way to town. + +Anybody who has once been young, and in love--or who is both now at +this present time (there are many who have never been either the one or +the other)--will understand how Edmund, at Albertine's side, thought he +was hovering over the tops of the trees, rather than walking through +amongst them; up among the gleaming clouds, rather than down upon the +earth. + +Rosalind, in Shakespeare's 'As You Like It,' says that the "marks" +of a man in love are "a lean cheek, a blear eye and sunken, an +unquestionable spirit, a beard neglected, hose ungartered, bonnet +unhanded, sleeve unbuttoned, shoe untied, and everything demonstrating +a careless desolation." But those marks were as little seen in Edmund +as in Orlando. Like the latter, however, who marred all the trees of +the forest with carving his mistress's name on them, hung odes on the +whitethorns, and elegies on the bramble-bushes, Edmund spoilt +quantities of paper, parchment, canvas and colours, in besinging his +beloved in verses which were wretched enough, and in drawing her, and +painting her, without ever succeeding in making her in the least +like--so far did his fancy soar above his capability. When to this was +added the peculiar, unmistakable somnambulistic look of the love-sick, +and a fitting amount of sighing at all times and seasons, it was not to +be wondered at that the old goldsmith saw into his young friend's +condition. + +"H'm," he said; "you don't seem to think what an undesirable thing it +is to fall in love with a girl who is engaged. For Albertine Bosswinkel +is as good as engaged already to Tussmann, the Clerk of the Privy +Chancery." + +This terrible piece of news sent Edmund into the wildest despair. +Leonhard waited patiently till the first paroxysm was past, and then +asked if he really wanted to marry Albertine. Edmund declared that was +the dearest wish of his heart, and implored the goldsmith to help him +as much as ever he could to beat Tussmann out of the field, and win the +lovely lady himself. + +What the goldsmith thought and said was that a young artist might fall +in love as much as ever he liked, but to marry straight away was a very +different affair; and that was just why young Sternbald never cared to +marry, and, for all he knew, was still unmarried up to that hour. + +This thrust took effect, because Tieck's 'Sternbald' was Edmund's +favourite book, and he would have been only too glad to have been the +hero of that tale himself. So he then and there put on a very pitiful +face, and was very near bursting into tears. + +"Well," said the goldsmith, "whatever happens, I am going to take +Tussmann off your hands. What you have got to do is to get into +Bosswinkel's house, by hook or by crook, as often as you can, and +attract Albertine to you as much as you can manage to do. As for my +operations against the Clerk of the Privy Chancery, they can't be begun +till the night of the Autumnal Equinox." + + + CHAPTER III. + +CONTAINS A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF MR. TUSSMANN, CLERK OF THE PRIVY + CHANCERY; WITH THE REASON WHY HE HAD TO DISMOUNT THE ELECTOR'S + HORSE; AND OTHER MATTERS WORTHY TO BE READ. + +Dear reader! From what you have already learnt concerning Mr. Tussmann, +you can see the man before you, in all his works and ways. But, as +regards his outward man, I ought to add that he was short of stature, +very bald, a little bow-legged, and very grotesque in his dress. He +wore a coat of the most old-world cut, with endlessly long tails; a +waistcoat, also of enormous length; and long white trousers, with shoes +which, as he walked, made as loud a clatter as the boots of a courier. +Here it should be observed that he never walked in the streets with +regular steps, like most people, but jumped, so to speak, with great +irregular strides, and incredible rapidity, so that the aforesaid long +tails of his coat spread themselves out like wings, in the breeze which +he thus created around him. Although there was something excessively +comic about his face, yet there was a most kindly smile playing about +his mouth which impressed you in his favour; and everybody liked him, +though they laughed at the pedantry and awkwardness of his behaviour, +which estranged him from the world. His passion was reading. He never +went out but he had both his coat-pockets crammed full of books. He +read wherever he was, and in all circumstances; walking or standing, as +he took his exercise, in church and in the cafe. He read +indiscriminately everything that came to his hand: but only out of old +times, the present being hateful to him. Thus, to-day he would be +studying, in the cafe, a work on algebra; to-morrow, 'Frederick the +Great's Cavalry Regulations,' and next the remarkable book, 'Cicero +proved to be a Pettifogger and a Windbag: in Ten Discourses. Anno +1720.' Moreover, he had a most extraordinary memory; he marked all the +passages which particularly struck him in a book, then read all those +marked passages over again, after which he never forgot them any more. +Hence he was a polyhistor, and a walking encyclopaedia, and people +turned over the leaves of him when they wanted information on any +point. It was only on the rarest occasions that he was unable to supply +the information required on the spot, but, if he couldn't, he would go +rummaging in various libraries till he could get at it, and then emerge +with it, greatly delighted. It was remarkable that when (as usual) he +was reading in society, to all appearance completely absorbed in his +book, he heard, and took in, everything that was being said around him, +and would often strike in with some most apposite observation, or laugh +at anything witty in a high tenor laugh, without looking up from his +book. + +Commissionsrath Bosswinkel had been at school with Tussmann at the Grey +Friars, and from that period dated the intimate friendship which there +had always been between them. Tussmann saw Albertine grow up from +childhood; and, on her twelfth birthday, after presenting her with a +bouquet, the finest that money could procure from the first florist in +Berlin, kissed her hand for the first time with an amount of courtesy +and ceremonious deference which no one would have supposed him to be +capable of. Dating from that day there dawned in the breast of the +Commissionsrath an idea that it would be a very good thing if his old +schoolfellow were to marry Albertine. He wanted to get Albertine +married, and he thought this would be about the least troublesome way +of getting it done. Tussmann would be content with very little in the +shape of portion, and Bosswinkel hated bother of every kind, disliked +making new acquaintances, and, in his capacity of a Commissionsrath, +thought a great deal more of money than he ought to have done. On +Albertine's eighteenth birthday he propounded this scheme (which he had +previously kept to himself) to Tussmann. + +The Clerk of the Privy Chancery was at first alarmed at the suggestion. +The idea of entering the matrimonial estate, particularly with so +youthful a lady, was more than he could quite see his way to. But he +got accustomed to it by degrees, and one day, when Albertine, at her +father's instigation, gave him a little purse, worked by her own hands +in the prettiest of colours (addressing him by his much-prized "title" +as she did so), his heart blazed up in a sudden flame of affection. He +told the Commissionsrath at once that he had made up his mind to marry +Albertine, and as Bosswinkel immediately embraced him in the character +of his son-in-law, he, very naturally, considered himself engaged to +her. There was still one little point in the matter of some importance, +namely, that the young lady herself had not heard a syllable about the +affair, and could not possibly have the very faintest inkling what was +going forward. + +At an excessively early hour of the morning, after the strange +adventures which we have, in our first chapter, described as having +been met with by Tussmann at the foot of the Townhouse Tower, and in +the wineshop in Alexander Street, the said Clerk of the Privy Chancery +came bursting, pale and wild, with distorted features, into his friend +Bosswinkel's bedroom. The Commissionsrath was much alarmed and +exercised in his mind, for Tussmann had never come in upon him at such +an hour, and his manner and appearance clearly indicated that something +most remarkable had been happening. + +"What, in the name of Heaven, is the matter with you?" Bosswinkel +cried. "Where have you been? What have you been up to? You look like I +don't know what!" + +Tussmann threw himself feebly into an arm-chair, and it was not till he +had gasped for breath during several minutes that he was able to begin +to speak--which he did in a whimpering voice. + +"Bosswinkel! here, as you see me, in these self-same clothes, with +'Thomasius on Diplomatic Acumen' in my pocket, I come straight here +from Spandau Street, where I have been running up and down, and +backwards and forwards, ever since the clock struck twelve last night. +I have not set a foot across my own doorstep, or seen the sight of a +bed, nor have I closed an eye the whole livelong night!" + +And he told the Commissionsrath all that had happened to him from the +time when he first came across the mysterious and fabulous sort of +Goldsmith, till he had made his escape from the winehouse as fast as he +could, in his terror at the sorcery which was going on there. + +"Tussmann, old fellow," said Bosswinkel, "I see what it is, you're not +accustomed to liquoring up. You go to your bed every night at eleven +o'clock, after a couple of glasses of beer, and last night you went and +took more liquor than was good for you, long after you ought to have +been asleep; no wonder you had a lot of funny dreams." + +"What!" Tussmann cried; "you think I was asleep, do you, and dreaming? +Don't you know I'm pretty well up in the subject of sleep and dreams. +I'll prove to you out of Rudow's 'Theory of Sleep,' and explain to you, +what sleep really is, and that people can sleep without dreaming at +all; and as for what dreaming is, you will know as well as I do, if you +will read the 'Somnium Scipionis,' and Artimidorus's great work on +Dreams, and the Frankfort Dreambook; but, you see, you never read +_anything_ and that's why you are always making such a hash of +everything you have to do with." + +"Now, my dear old man," the Commissionsrath replied, "don't you go and +get yourself into a state of excitement. I can see, easily enough, how +you may have allowed yourself to break out of bounds a bit last night, +and then have got somehow into company with a set of mountebanks, who +got the better of you when you had more liquor than you could carry; +but what I cannot make out is, why, in all the earth, when you had once +got out of the place, you didn't go straight home to your bed, like a +reasonable man? Whatever for did you go wandering about the streets?" + +"Oh, Bosswinkel!" lamented Tussman, "my old friend! my chum at the Grey +Friars!--don't you go and insult me by base insinuations of that sort. +Let me tell you that the infernal, diabolical enchantment which was +practised upon me did not fairly commence till I got _into_ the street. +For, when I came to the Town-hall, every one of its windows was blazing +with light, and there was music playing inside--a brass band, playing +waltzes and so forth. How it came about I can't tell you; but, though +I'm not a particularly tall man, I found that I was able to reach up on +my tiptoes so that I could see in at the windows. And _what_ did I +see?--Oh, gracious powers of Heaven! _whom_ did I see? _Your daughter_, +Miss Albertine Bosswinkel, dressed as a bride, and waltzing like the +very deuce (if I may permit myself such an expression) with a young +gentleman! I thumped on the window; I cried out, 'Dearest Miss +Bosswinkel, what are you doing? What sort of goings-on are those, here, +at this time of the night?' But just as I was saying so, there came +some horrible beast of a fellow down King Street, pulled my legs away +from under me as he passed, and ran away from me, with them, in +peals of laughter. As for me, wretched Clerk of the Privy Chancery +that I am, I plumped down flat into the filthy mud of the gutter. +'Watchman!' I shouted, 'Police! patrol; guard, turn out! Come +here!--look sharp!--Stop the thief!--stop him!--he's got both my legs!' +But upstairs in the Town-hall everything had suddenly grown pitch-dark, +and my voice died away in the air. I was getting desperate, when the +man came back, and, as he flew by me like a mad creature, chucked my +legs back to me, throwing them right into my face. I then picked myself +up, as speedily as, in my state of discomfiture, I could, and ran to +Spandau Street. But when I got to my own door (with my latchkey in my +hand), there was _I_--_I_, myself, standing there already, staring at +_me_, with the same big black eyes which you see in my head at this +moment. Starting back in terror, I fell against a man, who seized me +with a strong grip of his arms. By the halbert he was carrying, I +thought he was the watchman; so I said, 'Dearest watchman!--worthy +man!--please to drive away that wraith of Clerk of the Privy Chancery +Tussmann from that door there, so that _I_, the _real_ Tussmann, may +get into my lodgings.' But the man growled out, 'Why, Tussmann! you're +surely out of your senses!' in a hollow voice; and I saw it wasn't the +watchman at all, but that terrible Goldsmith who had got me in his +arms. Drops of cold perspiration stood on my forehead. I said: 'Most +respected Herr Professor, pray do not take it ill that I should have +thought you were the watchman, in the dark. Oh, Heavens! call me +whatever you choose; call me in the most uncourteous manner 'Tussmann,' +without the faintest adumbration of a title at all; or even 'My dear +fellow!' I will overlook anything. Only rid me of this terrible +enchantment--as you can, if you choose. 'Tussmann!' he said, in that +awful hollow voice of his, 'nothing shall annoy you more, if you will +take your solemn oath, here where we stand, to give up all idea of +marrying Miss Albertine Bosswinkel.' Commissionsrath! you may fancy +what I felt when this atrocious proposition was made to me. I said: +'Dearest Herr Professor! you make my very heart bleed. Waltzing is a +horrible and improper thing; and Miss Albertine Bosswinkel was waltzing +upstairs there--in her wedding-dress as my bride into the bargain--with +some young gentleman or other (I don't know who he was), in a manner +that made my sight and my hearing abandon me, out and out. But still, +for all that, I cannot let that exquisite creature go. I must cleave to +her, whatever happens, come what will.' The words were scarcely out of +my mouth, when that awful, abominable Goldsmith gave me a sort of shove +which made me begin immediately to spin round and round, and, as if +impelled by some irresistible power, I went waltzing up and down +Spandau Street, with my arms clasped about a broom-handle--not a lady, +but a besom, which scratched my face. And all the time there were +invisible hands beating my back black and blue. More than that; all +round me, wherever I turned, the place was swarming with Tussmanns +waltzing with their arms round besoms. At last I fell down exhausted, +and lost my consciousness. When the light shone into my eyes in the +morning--oh, Bosswinkel, share my terror!--I found myself sitting up on +the horse of the Elector's statue, in front of him, with my head on his +cold, iron breast. Luckily the sentry must have been asleep, for I +managed to get down without being seen, at the risk of my life, and got +away. I ran to Spandau Street; but I got so terribly frightened again +that I was obliged to come on here to you." + +"Now, now, old fellow!" Bosswinkel said, "do you think I'm going to +believe all this rubbish? Did ever anybody hear of magical phenomena of +this sort happening in our enlightened city of Berlin?" + +"Now," said Tussmann, "don't you see what a quagmire of ignorance and +error the fact that you never _read_ anything plunges you into? If you +had read Hafftitz's Chronicon, you would have seen that much more +extraordinary things of the kind have happened here. Commissionsrath, I +go so far as to assert, and to feel quite convinced, that this +Goldsmith is the very Devil, in _propria persona_." + +"Pooh, pooh!" said Bosswinkel, "I wish you wouldn't talk such nonsense. +Think a little. Of course, what happened was that you got screwed, and +then went and climbed up on to the Elector's statue." + +The tears came to Tussmann's eyes as he strove to disabuse Bosswinkel's +mind of this idea; but Bosswinkel grew graver and graver, and at last +said: + +"The more I think of it, the more I feel convinced that those people +you met with were old Manasseh, the Jew, and Leonhard, the goldsmith, a +very clever hand at juggling tricks, who comes every now and then to +Berlin. I haven't read as many books as you have, I know; but, for all +that, I know well enough that they are good honest fellows, and have no +more to do with black art than you or I have. I'm astonished that you, +with your knowledge of law, shouldn't be aware that superstition is +illegal, and forbidden under severe penalties; no practitioner of the +black art could get a licence from the Government to carry it on, under +any circumstances. Look here, Tussmann. I hope there is no foundation +for the idea which has come into my head. No! I can't believe that +you've changed your mind about marrying my daughter; that you are +screening yourself behind all sorts of incredible nonsense and stuff +which nobody can believe a word of; that you are going to say to me, +'Commissionsrath: You and I are men of the world, and I can't marry +your daughter, because, if I do, the Devil will bolt away with my legs +and beat me black and blue!' It would be too bad, Tussmann, if you were +to try on a trick of that sort upon me." + +Tussmann could not find words to express his indignation at this notion +on the part of his old friend. He vowed, over and over again, that he +was most devotedly in love with Miss Albertine; that he would die for +her without the least hesitation, like a Leander or a Troilus, and that +the Devil might beat him black and blue, in his innocence, as a martyr, +rather than he should give Albertine up. + +As he was making these asseverations, there was heard a loud knocking +at the door, and in came that old Manasseh of whom Bosswinkel had been +speaking. + +As soon as Tussmann saw him he cried out: "Oh, gracious powers of +Heaven! That's the old Jew who made the gold pieces out of the radish, +and threw them in the Goldsmith's face! The dreadful Goldsmith will be +coming next, I suppose." + +And he was making for the door. But Bosswinkel held him fast, saying: +"Wait till we see what happens." And, turning to the old Jew, he told +him what Tussmann had said about him and the events of the previous +night in the wineshop and in Alexander Place. + +Manasseh looked at Tussmann with a malignant grin, and said: "I don't +know what the gentleman means. He came into the wineshop last night +with Leonhard, the goldsmith (where I happened to be taking a glass of +wine to refresh me after a quantity of hard work which had occupied me +till nearly midnight). The gentleman drank rather more than was good +for him: he couldn't keep on his legs, and went out to the street +staggering." + +"Don't you see," Bosswinkel said, "this is what comes of that terrible +habit of liquoring up? You'll have to leave it off, I can assure you, +if you're going to be my son-in-law." + +Tussmann, overwhelmed by this unmerited reproof, sank down into a chair +breathless, closed his eyes, and murmured something completely +unintelligible in whimpering accents. + +"Of course," said Bosswinkel, "dissipating all night, and now done up +and wretched." + +And, in spite of all his protestations, Tussmann had to submit to +Bosswinkel's wrapping a white handkerchief about his head, and sending +him home in a cab to Spandau Street. + +"And what's _your_ news, Manasseh?" the Commissionsrath inquired. +Manasseh simpered most deferentially, and with much amiability, and +said Mr. Bosswinkel would scarcely be prepared for the news he had to +tell him, which was that that splendid young fellow, his nephew +Benjamin Duemmerl, worth close upon a million of money, had just been +created a baron on account of his remarkable merits, was recently come +back from Italy, and had fallen desperately in love with Miss +Albertine, to whom he intended to offer his hand. + +We see this young. Baron Duemmerl continually in the theatres, where he +swaggers in a box of the first tier, and oftener still at concerts of +every description. So that we well know him to be tall, and as thin as +a broom-handle; that in his dusky yellow face, overshadowed by jetty +locks and whiskers, in his whole being, he is stamped with the most +distinctive and unmistakeable characteristics of the Oriental race to +which he belongs; that he dresses in the most extravagant style of +the very latest English fashion, speaks several languages, all in the +self-same twang (that of "our people"); scrapes on a violin, hammers on +the piano; is an art connoisseur without acknowledge of art, and would +fain play the part of a literary Mecaenas; tries to be witty without +wit, and _spirituel_ without _esprit_; is stupidly forward, noisy, and +pushing. In short, to use the concise and descriptive expression of +that numerous class of individuals amongst whom his desire is to shove +himself, an insufferable snob and boor. When we add to all this that he +is avaricious and dirtily mean in everything that he does, it cannot be +otherwise than that even those less elevated souls that fall down and +worship wealth very soon leave him to himself. + +When Manasseh mentioned this nephew, the thought of that approximation +to a million which "Benjie" possessed passed through the +Commissionsrath's mind; but along with that thought came the objection +which, in his opinion, made the idea of him as a son-in-law impossible. + +"My good Manasseh, you are forgetting that your nephew belongs to the +old religion, and that----" + +"Ho!" cried Manasseh, "what does _that_ matter? My nephew is in love +with your daughter, and wants to make her happy. A drop or two of water +more or less won't make much difference to him. He'll be the same man +still. You just think the matter over, Herr Commissionsrath; I shall +come back in a day or two with my little baron, and get your answer." +With which Manasseh took his departure. + +Bosswinkel began to think over the affair at once, but, spite of his +boundless avarice and his utter absence of conscience or character, he +could not endure the idea of Albertine's marrying that disgusting +Benjamin, and in a sudden attack of rectitude he determined that he +would keep his word to Tussmann. + + + CHAPTER IV. + + TREATS OF PORTRAITS, A GREEN FACE, JUMPING MICE, + AND ISRAELITISH CURSES. + +Albertine, soon after she made Edmund's acquaintance, came to the +conclusion that the big oil portrait of her father which hung in her +room was a horribly bad likeness of him, and dreadfully scratched into +the bargain. She pointed out to her father that though it was so many +years since the portrait was painted, he was really looking much +younger, and better in every way, than the painter had represented him. +Also, she particularly disliked the gloomy, sulky expression of the +face, the old-fashioned clothes, and a preposterous bunch of flowers +which he was holding between his fingers in a delicate manner, +displaying in so doing certain handsome diamond rings. + +She talked so much, and so long, on this subject, that at last her +father himself saw that the portrait was horrible, and couldn't +understand how the painter had managed to turn out such a caricature of +his well-looking person. And the more he thought the matter over and +looked at the picture, the more he was convinced that it was an +execrable daub. He determined to take it down, and stow it away in the +lumber room. + +Albertine said that was the best thing that could be done, but that, +all the same, she was accustomed to see dear papa's picture in her +room, that the bare space on the wall would be such a blank to her that +she should never feel comfortable; so that the only course was for dear +papa to have _another_ portrait painted, by some painter who knew what +he was about, and that _she_ could think of nobody but Edmund Lehsen, +so celebrated for his admirable portraits. + +"My dear," the Commissionsrath said, "you don't know what you're +talking about. Those young painters are so full of conceit, they don't +know where to turn themselves, don't care how much they ask for those +bits of scumblings of theirs, won't think of anything under gold +Fredericks." + +But Albertine declared that Edmund Lehsen painted for the love of the +thing much more than for money, and would be sure to charge very +little. And she kept on at her father so assiduously, that at last he +agreed to go to Edmund Lehsen, and see what he would say about a +portrait. + +We can imagine the delight with which Edmund expressed his readiness to +undertake the Commissionsrath's portrait; and his delight became +rapture when he heard that it was Albertine who put the idea in her +father's head. He saw, of course, that her notion was that this would +give him opportunities of seeing her. So that it was a matter of course +that when the Commissionsrath asked, rather anxiously, about the price, +Edmund said that the honour of being admitted, for the sake of Art, to +the house and society of a gentleman such as he, was more than +sufficient remuneration for any little effort of his. + +"Good Heavens! Can I believe my ears?" the Commissionsrath cried. "No +money, dearest Mr. Lehsen? No gold Fredericks for your trouble? Not +even the expense of your paints and canvas?" + +Edmund laughingly said all that was too insignificant to be taken into +account. + +"But," Bosswinkel said, "I'm afraid you don't know that I'm thinking of +having a three-quarters length life-size." + +"It doesn't matter in the slightest," the painter answered. + +The Commissionsrath pressed him warmly to his heart, and cried, while +tears of joy rose to his eyes, "Oh, heavenly powers! Are there human +souls of this degree of disinterestedness in this world which lieth in +wickedness? First his cigars, and now this picture. Marvellous man!--or +'youth' I ought to say. Dear Mr. Lehsen, within your soul dwell those +virtues, and that true German singleness of heart, which one reads of +more than enough, but which are rare in these times of ours. But let me +tell you, though I am a Commissionsrath, and dress in French fashions, +I am quite of the same way of thinking as yourself. I can appreciate +your large-mindedness, and am as unselfish, and as free with my money, +as anybody in the land." + +Crafty Miss Albertine had, of course, known exactly how Edmund would +proceed with her father's commission, and her object was attained. +Bosswinkel overflowed with laudation of this grand young fellow, so +entirely free from the least trace of that greediness which is such a +hateful quality in a man. And he ended by saying that young people, +especially the artistic, always have a turn for the romantic, and set +great store by withered flowers and the ribbons which some beloved girl +has worn, and go out of themselves altogether over any piece of work +done by the hands of those divinities; so that Albertine had better +knit a little purse for Edmund, and, if she saw no particular +objection, even put into it a little lock of her bonny nut-brown hair, +and thus get out of any little obligation they might be thought to be +under to him. To do this she had his full permission, and he undertook +to answer to Tussmann on the subject. Albertine, who was not yet taken +into her father's confidence as to his projects, had not the remotest +notion what Tussmann might have to say to the matter, and did not take +the trouble to inquire. + +That very evening Edmund had his painting gear taken to Bosswinkel's +house, and the next morning he made his appearance there for the first +sitting. + +He begged the Commissionsrath to think of the very happiest moment of +his life. For instance, when his dead wife first said she loved him, or +when Albertine was born, or when he unexpectedly saw some dear friend +whom he had thought to be lost to him; and to try and look as he had +done _then_. + +"Wait a moment, Mr. Lehsen," said Bosswinkel; "I know what to do. One +day, about three months ago, I got a letter from Hamburg telling me I +had drawn a big prize in the lottery. I ran to my daughter with the +letter open in my hand. That was the happiest moment I ever had in all +my life. Let's choose _that_ one; and, just to place the whole thing +more vividly before your eyes--and mine--I'll go and get the letter, +and be taken with it in my hand--just as I was when it came." + +So Edmund had no help but to paint Bosswinkel accordingly; and he +wouldn't be content, either, unless the writing on the letter was +rendered legibly and distinctly, word for word, as follows:-- + + "Honoured Sir, + "I have the honour to inform you----" + +and so forth; moreover, the envelope had to be portrayed lying on a +little table, so that the address on it, displaying all the +Commissionsrath's official titles written out at full length, could be +clearly read. The very postmark Edmund had to copy with the utmost +minuteness. + +For the rest, he made a portrait of a well-looking, good-tempered, +handsomely-dressed man, who _did_ display, in some of the features of +his face, a more or less distant resemblance to the Commissionsrath; so +that nobody who read what was on the envelope could make any mistake as +to whom the portrait was intended for. + +The Commissionsrath was delighted with it. "There," he said; "there you +see what a painter who knows his business can make of a more or less +well-looking fellow, though he _may_ be getting a little on in years! I +begin to understand now (I didn't before), a thing that the Professor +in the Humanity Class used to say, that a proper portrait ought to be a +regular historical picture. Whenever I look at that one, I remember +that delicious and happy moment when the news came of my prize in the +lottery, and I understand the meaning of that smile on my face--that +reflection of the happiness I felt within me then." + +Before Albertine could carry out the plans which she had formed in her +mind, her father took the initiative by begging Edmund to paint _her_, +as well. Edmund begun this work at once; but he did not find it so easy +to satisfy himself with her portrait as with her father's. He put in a +most careful outline, and then rubbed it out again; outlined once +more--carefully--begun to lay on some colour, and then threw the whole +thing aside; commenced again; altered the pose. There was always either +too much light in the room, or not enough. The Commissionsrath, who had +always been present at those sittings at first, got tired presently, +and betook himself elsewhere. + +Upon this, Edmund came forenoon and afternoon, and if the picture did +not make much progress, the love-affair made a great deal, and entwined +itself more and more firmly. I have no doubt, dear reader, that your +own experience has shown you that when one is in love, and wants to +give to all the fond, longing words and wishes, which one has got to +express, their due and proper effect, so that they may go to the +listener's very heart, it is a matter of absolute necessity that one +should take hold of the hand of the beloved object, press it, and kiss +it; upon which, as by the operation of some sudden development of +electrical force, lip goes into contact with lip; and the electricity +(if that is what we are to call it), arrives at a condition of +equilibrium by means of a fire-stream of sweetest kisses. Thus Edmund +was very often obliged to stop painting, and not only that, but he had +very frequently to get down from the scaffold upon which he and his +easel were placed. + +Thus it came about that, one forenoon, he was standing with Albertine +at the window, where the white curtains were drawn, and (on the +principle we have been explaining), in order to give more force to what +he was saying to her, was holding her in his arms, and kissing her +hand. + +At this particular hour and moment, Mr. Tussmann, Clerk of the Privy +Chancery, happened to be passing Bosswinkel's house, with the 'Treatise +on Diplomatic Acumen,' and sundry tractates and pamphlets (in which +the useful and the entertaining were combined in due measure) in his +pockets. And although he was bounding along as fast as ever he +could--according to his manner--because the clock was just on the very +stroke of the hour at which he used always to enter his office, still +he drew up for a moment, in order to cast a sentimental glance up at +the window of his love. + +There he saw, as in a cloud, Albertine with Edmund; and, although he +could not make out anything at all distinctly, his heart throbbed, he +knew not why. Some strange sense of anxious alarm impelled him to +undertake things previously unattempted, undreamt of, namely, to go +upstairs to Albertine's rooms, at this totally unprecedented hour of +the day. + +As he entered, Albertine was saying, quite distinctly: + +"Oh, yes, Edmund! I must always--always love you!" And she pressed +Edmund to her heart, whilst a whole battery of "restoration of +electrical equilibrium" began to go off, rushing and sparkling. + +The Clerk of the Privy Chancery walked mechanically forward into the +room, and then stood, dumb and speechless, like a man in a cataleptic +fit. In the height of their blissfulness the two lovers had not heard +the elephantine tread of Tussmann's peculiar boot-like shoes, nor his +opening of the door, nor his coming in, and striding into the middle of +the room. + +He now squeaked out, in his high falsetto: + +"But--Miss Albertine Bosswinkel!----" + +Edmund and Albertine fled apart like lightning--he to his easel, she to +the chair where she was supposed to be sitting for her portrait. +Tussmann, after a short pause, during which he tried to get back his +breath, resumed, saying-- + +"But, Miss Albertine Bosswinkel, what are you doing? What are you +after? First of all, you go and waltz with this young gentleman (I +haven't the honour of his acquaintance), in the Town-hall at twelve +o'clock at night, in a way that made me, your husband that is to be, +almost lose the faculties of seeing and hearing; and now--here--in +broad daylight, behind those curtains--Oh! Good gracious!--is this a +way for an engaged young lady to go on?" + +"Who's an engaged young lady?" Albertine cried out, in immense +indignation. "Whom are you talking about, Mr. Tussmann? Tell me, if you +will be so kind." + +"Oh, thou, my Creator," cried Tussmann, in the fulness of his heart. +"You ask, dearest Miss Albertine, who is an engaged young lady, and of +whom I am talking? To whom else can I be alluding but to yourself? Are +you not my future bride, whom I have so long adored in secret? Did not +your dear papa ever so long ago promise me your beautiful, white, _so_ +kissable little hand?" + +"Mr. Tussmann," said Albertine; "either you have been to a wineshop, +early as it is in the day--(my father says you go to them a great deal +more than you ought),--or you've gone out of your mind in some +extraordinary way. My father can never have had the slightest idea of +_your_ marrying _me_." + +"Dearest Miss Albertine," cried Tussmann; "consider for a moment. You +have known me for many long years. Have I not always been a man of the +strictest moderation and temperance? Have I ever been given to +dissipation? Can you suppose that I have taken to drinking and improper +conduct all at once? Dearest Miss Albertine, I shall be only too happy +to close my eyes to what I have seen going on here; not a syllable +concerning it shall ever pass my lips--we'll forget and forgive. But +remember, adored one, that you promised to marry me out of the tower +window of the Town-hall at twelve o'clock at night; and, although you +were waltzing in such a style with this young gentleman (whose +acquaintance, as I said, I have not the honour of), still I----" + +"Don't you see?" interrupted Albertine; "don't you know, that you're +talking all sorts of incoherent nonsense, like some lunatic out of the +asylum? Please go away. I feel quite unwell; do go away, for goodness' +sake." + +Tears started in Tussmann's eyes. + +"Oh, heavens!" he cried. "Treatment like this from the beloved Miss +Albertine! No; I shall not go. I shall remain here till you have +arrived at a truer opinion concerning my unworthy person, dearest Miss +Albertine." + +"Go; go!" reiterated Albertine, running into a corner of the room, and +covering her face with her handkerchief. + +"No, dearest Miss Albertine," answered Tussmann; "I shall not go +until, in compliance with the sapient advice of Thomasius, I endeavour +to----" and he made as if he would follow her into the corner. + +While this was going on, Edmund had been scumbling angrily at the +background of his picture. But at this point he could contain himself +no longer. + +"Damned, infernal scoundrel!" he cried, and flew at Tussmann, making +four dashes over his face with the brush, full of a greyish green tint, +which he had been working at his background with. Then he grasped him, +opened the door, and sent him out of it with a kick so forcible that he +went flying down stairs like an arrow out of a bow. + +Bosswinkel, who was just coming up, started back in much alarm as this +school-chum of his came bumping into his arms. + +"What in the name of all that's----" he cried; "what's going on? what +ails your face?" Tussmann, almost out of his mind, related all that had +happened, in broken phrases; how Albertine had behaved to him--how +Edmund had treated him. The Commissionsrath, brimful of rage and fury, +took Tussmann by the hand and led him back to the room. + +"What's all this?" he cried to Albertine. "This is very pretty +behaviour; is this the way you treat your husband that is to be?" + +"My husband that is to be?" echoed Albertine, in wild amazement. + +"Most undoubtedly!" the Commissionsrath answered. "I don't know why you +should pretend to be in a state of mind about a matter which has been +understood and arranged for such a long time. My dear old friend +Tussmann is your affianced husband, and the wedding will come off in a +week or two." + +"_Never!_" said Albertine. "Never will I marry him. Good heavens! how +could anybody have _that_ old creature; nobody could ever bear him." + +"I don't know about 'bearing' him, or whether he's an 'old creature' or +not," said her father. "What you have got to do is to marry him. +Certainly my friend Tussmann is not one of your giddy young fools. Like +myself, he has reached those years of discretion when a man is, very +properly, considered to be at his best; and into the bargain, he is a +fine, upright, straightforward, honourable fellow, most profoundly +learned, perfectly eligible, in every way, and my old schoolfellow." + +"No!" cried Albertine, in the utmost agitation, with the tears starting +to her eyes. "I can't endure him. He's insupportable to me. I hate him! +I abhor him! Oh, Edmund!" + +She sank, almost fainting, into Edmund's arms; and he pressed her to +his heart with the warmest affection. + +The Commissionsrath, utterly amazed, opened his eyes as wide as if he +were seeing spectres, and then cried--"What's all this? what do I see?" + +"Ah, yes! yes, indeed!" Tussmann said, in a lamentable tone. "It +appears, unfortunately, to be the fact that Miss Albertine doesn't care +to have anything to do with me, and seems to cherish a remarkable +partiality for this young gentleman--this painter (whose acquaintance I +have not the honour of, by the way)--inasmuch as she kisses him without +the slightest hesitation or shyness, though she will scarcely give +wretched _me_ her hand. And yet I hope to place the ring on her lovely +finger very shortly indeed." + +"Come away from one another, you two," the Commissionsrath cried out, +and forced Albertine out of Edmund's arms. But Edmund shouted that he +would never give her up, if it cost him his life. + +"Indeed, sir!" said the Commissionsrath, with scathing irony. "Nice +business, upon my word! A fine little love-affair going on behind my +back here! Excessively pretty! Very nice indeed, my young Mr. Lehsen! +This is the meaning of your liberality--your cigars and your pictures. +He comes sliding into my house--leads my daughter into all this sort of +thing. A charming idea, that I should go and hang her round the neck of +a miserable beggar of a dauber, without a rap to bless himself with!" + +Beyond himself with anger, Edmund had his mahlstick raised in the act +to strike, when the voice of Leonhard was heard crying, in tones of +thunder, as he burst in at the door-- + +"Stop, Edmund! don't be in a hurry. Bosswinkel is a terrible ass; he'll +think better of it presently." + +The Commissionsrath had run into a corner, frightened by the unexpected +arrival of Leonhard; and, from that corner, he cried--"I really do not +know, Mr. Leonhard, what business you have to----" + +But Tussmann had hidden himself behind the sofa as soon as he saw +Leonhard come in. He was crouching down there, and chirping out, in a +voice of terror--"Gracious powers! take care, Commissionsrath! Hold +your tongue; don't say a word, dearest schoolfellow. Good God! here's +the Herr Professor come, the Ball-Entrepreneur of Spandau Street." + +"Come along out, Tussmann," said the Goldsmith, laughing; "Don't be +frightened, nothing's going to happen to you. You've been punished +enough already for that foolish idea you had of wanting to marry. That +poor face of yours is going to be green all the rest of the days of +your life." + +"Oh Lord!" cried the Clerk of the Privy Chancery, almost out of his +mind, "my face green for ever and ever! What will people say? What will +His Excellency, the minister, say? His Excellency will think I have had +my face painted green from motives of mere worldly vanity! Ah! it's all +over with me. I shall be suspended from my official functions. The +Government will never hear of such a thing as a Clerk of the Privy +Chancery with a green face. Wretched man that I am; what's to become of +me?" + +"Come, come, Tussmann!" the Goldsmith said; "don't make such a fuss. I +have no doubt there's hope for you yet, if you pull yourself together, +and get rid of this idiotic notion of marrying Miss Bosswinkel." + +In answer to this, Tussmann and Bosswinkel cried out together, in what +is termed on the lyric stage "_ensemble_"-- + +"I can't." + +"He shan't." + +The Goldsmith fixed his sparkling, penetrating eyes on the two of them; +but just as he was going to burst out at them, the door opened, and in +came Manasseh, with his nephew, Baron Benjamin Duemmerl, from Vienna. +"Benjie" went straight up to Albertine--who had never seen him in her +life before--and said, in a disagreeable, drawling tone, as he took her +hand-- + +"I have come here in person, dear Miss Bosswinkel, to lay myself at +your feet. Of course you know that is a mere _facon de parler_. Baron +Duemmerl doesn't really lay himself at anybody's feet, not even at the +Emperor's. What I mean is--let me have a kiss." + +So saying, he went nearer to Albertine, and bent down towards her. + +But, at that moment, a something happened which neither he nor anybody +else--except the Goldsmith--anticipated, and which caused them all much +alarm. Benjie's rather sizeable nose suddenly shot forward to such a +length that, passing beyond Albertine's face, it struck the opposite +wall of the room with a tremendous, resounding bang. He started back a +step or two, and his nose at once drew in to its ordinary dimensions. +He approached Albertine again, with exactly the same result. To make a +long tale short, his nose kept on shooting in and out like a trombone. + +"Cursed necromancer!" Manasseh roared; and took a thin cord, fastened +in a sort of knot, out of his pocket, which he threw to the +Commissionsrath, crying--"Throw that about the brute's neck--the +Goldsmith, I mean--and then drag him out of the room. Never mind about +ceremony. Do as I tell you. All will be right then." + +The Commissionsrath took hold of the noose, but instead of throwing it +about the Goldsmith's neck, he threw it over the Jew's; and immediately +he and the Jew began flying up to the ceiling and then down again. And +so they went on, shooting up and down, while Benjie carried on his +nose-concerto, and Tussmann laughed like a mad creature, till the +Commissionsrath fell down nearly fainting in an arm-chair. + +"Now's the time! now's the time!" Manasseh cried. He slapped his +pocket, and out sprung an enormous, horrible-looking mouse, which made +a spring right at the Goldsmith. But as it was jumping at him, the +Goldsmith transfixed it with a sharp needle of gold, upon which it gave +a yell, and disappeared, none knew whither. + +Then Manasseh clenched his fists at the fainting Commissionsrath, and +cried, with rage and hatred blazing in his face-- + +"Ha! Melchior Bosswinkel! thou hast conspired against me. Thou art in +league with this accursed sorcerer, whom thou hast brought into thine +house. But cursed, cursed shalt thou be. Thou and all thy race shall be +swept away like the helpless brood of a bird. The grass shall grow on +thy doorstep, and all that thou settest thy hand to shall be as the +dream of the famishing, who sates himself, in dreams, with savoury +food. And the D[=a]-l[ve]s shall take up his dwelling in thine house, +and consume thy substance. And thou shalt beg thy bread, in rags, +before the doors of the despised people of God; and they shall drive +thee away like a mangy cur, and thou shalt be cast to the earth like a +rotten branch. And instead of the sound of the harp, moths shall be thy +fellows, and dogs shall make a divan of the tomb of thy mother! +Curses!--curses!--curses upon thee! Commissionsrath Melchior +Bosswinkel!" + +And, having thus delivered himself, this raging Manasseh seized hold of +his nephew, and went storming out of the house with him. + +Albertine, in her terror and horror, had taken refuge with Edmund, +hiding her face on his breast; and he held her closely to him, though +he had difficulty in mastering his own emotion. But the Goldsmith went +up to those two, and said, with a smile, and in a gentle voice: + +"Don't you be put out in the slightest by all this business: everything +will come right. I give you my word for it. But, just now, you must bid +each other good-bye, before Tussmann and Bosswinkel come back to their +senses." + +And he and Edmund left Bosswinkel's house. + + + CHAPTER V. + +WHEREIN THE READER LEARNS WHAT THE D[=A]-L[vE]S IS: ALSO HOW THE + GOLDSMITH SAVES THE CLERK OF THE PRIVY CHANCERY FROM A MISERABLE + DEATH, AND CONSOLES THE DESPAIRING COMMISSIONSRATH. + +Bosswinkel was utterly shaken; more by Manasseh's curse than by +the wild piece of spookery which, as he saw, the Goldsmith had been +carrying on. And indeed it was a terrible curse, for it set the +D[=a]-l[ve]s on to him. + +Dear reader, I don't know if you are aware what the D[=a]-l[ve]s of the +Jews is. + +One of the Talmudists says that the wife of a certain poor Jew, one day +on coming into her house, found a weazened, emaciated, naked stranger +there, who begged her to give him the shelter of her roof, and food and +drink. Being afraid, she went to her husband, and told him, in tones of +complaint: "A naked, starving man has come in, asking for food and +shelter. How are we to help him, when it is all we can do to keep body +and soul together ourselves?" The husband said: "I will go to this +stranger, and see how I can get him out of the house." + +"Why," he said to him, "hast thou come hither, I being so poor and +unable to help thee? Begone! Betake thee to the house of Riches, where +the cattle are fat, and the guests bidden to the feast!" + +"How," said the stranger, "canst thou drive me from this shelter which +I have found? Thou seest that I am bare and naked: how can I go to the +house of Riches? Have clothing made for me that shall be fitting, and I +will leave thee." "Better," thought the master of the house, "better +were it for me to spend all I possess in getting rid of him, than that +he should stay, and consume whatever I earn in the time to come, as +well." So he killed his last calf, on which he and his wife had thought +to live for many days; sold the meat, and with the price provided good +clothing for the stranger. But when he took the clothing to him, +behold! the stranger, who had before been lean, and short of stature, +was become tall and stout, so that the clothing was everywhere too +short for him and too narrow. At this the poor Jew was much afraid. But +the stranger said: "Give up the foolish idea of getting me out of thy +house. Know that I am the D[=a]-l[ve]s!" At this the poor Jew wrung his +hands and lamented, crying: "God of my fathers! I am scourged with the +rod of Thine anger, and poverty-smitten for ever and ever! For if thou +art the D[=a]-l[ve]s, thou wilt never leave us, but consume all that we +have, and always grow bigger and stronger. For the D[=a]-l[ve]s is +Poverty; which, when once it takes up its abode in a house, never +departs from it, but ever increases more and more." + +If, then, the Commissionsrath was terrified that Manasseh, by his +curse, had brought poverty into his house, on the other hand, he stood +in the utmost dread of Leonhard, who, to say nothing of the +extraordinary magical powers at his command, had a certain something +about him which created a decided sense of awe. The Commissionsrath +could not but feel that there was nothing (with respect to the two of +them) which one could "do;" and thus the full brunt of his anger was +discharged upon Edmund Lehsen, upon whom he laid all the blame of all +the "unpleasantness" which had come about. Over and above all this, +Albertine came to the front, and declared, of her own motion, having +evidently completely made up her mind on the subject--declared, we say, +with the utmost distinctness, that she loved Edmund more than words +could express, and would never marry either that insufferable and +unendurable old pedant of a Tussmann, or that equally not-to-be-heard-of +beast of a Baron Benjamin. So that the Commissionsrath got into the +most tremendous rage imaginable, and wished Edmund at (ahem!) Hong +Kong, or Jericho, or, to speak idiomatically, "where the pepper grows." +But inasmuch as he could not carry this wish into effect, as the late +French Government did (which actually _did_ send objectionable persons +to the place "where the pepper grows"), he had to be content with +writing Edmund a nice little note, into which he poured all the gall +and venom which was in him at the time (and that was not a little), and +which ended by telling him that if ever he crossed his, the +Commissionsrath's, threshold again, he had better--look out for +squalls. + +Of course we all know the state of inconsolable despair in which +Leonhard found Edmund, when he went to see him, at the fall of the +twilight, according to his wont. + +"What have _I_ to thank you for?" Edmund cried, indignantly. "Of what +service have your protection and all your efforts been to _me_? Your +attempts to send this cursed rival of mine out of my way--what has been +the result of them? Those damnable conjuring tricks of yours--all +that _they_ have done has been to send everybody into a state of +higgledy-piggledy, where nobody knows what to think of anything! Even +that darling girl of mine is in the same boat with all the rest of them. +It's just this stupid, nonsensical bosh of yours--that, and nothing +else,--which is blocking up _my_ way, and so I tell you. Oh Lord! the +only thing which I can see that I can do is to be off to Rome at once, +and, I can assure you, I mean to do it, too." + +"Just so," the Goldsmith said: "that is exactly what I want you to do. +Be good enough to remember what I said to you when you first told me +you were in love with Albertine. I said my idea was that a young artist +was right to be in love, but that he should not go and marry, all at +once, because that was most inadvisable. When I said that to you, I +brought to your mind, half in jest, the case of Sternbald; but now I +tell you, in the utmost seriousness, that, if you really wish to become +a great painter, you must put all ideas of marrying out of your head. +Go you away, free and glad, into the Father-land of Art; study, in the +most enthusiastic manner that ever you can, the inner-being of that +world of Art; and then, and only then, will the technical and practical +skill (which you might pick up here) be of the slightest real use to +you." + +"Good gracious!" Edmund cried, "what an idiot I was to say anything to +you about my love affairs. I see, now, that it was you--you, on whom I +relied for advice and help in them--who have been purposely throwing +difficulties in the way, playing Old Harry with my most special heart's +desires, out of mere nastiness and unkindness." + +"My good young sir!" the Goldsmith said, "just be good enough to keep a +rather quieter tongue in your head. Don't be quite so forcible in your +expressions. Please to remember that you have got one or two things to +learn, still, before you can quite see through _me_. _I_ can excuse +you, of course. I know very well what has upset your temper. This +insane spooniness of yours." + +"As regards Art," Edmund said, "I really can't see why I should not go +to Rome and study, though I do stand in this intimate relation with +Albertine. You say yourself that I have a certain amount of 'turn' for +painting, and some practical skill, already. What I was thinking of +was, that, as soon as I was quite sure that Albertine would be mine, +one day, I should be off to Italy; spend a year there, and then come +back to my darling girl, having some real knowledge of my work." + +"What, Edmund?" the Goldsmith cried; "was this really your idea, +arrived at after proper consideration?" + +"Yes," Edmund answered: "deeply as I love Albertine, my heart burns for +that grand country which is the home of my Art." + +"Will you give me your sacred word," the Goldsmith asked, "that if you +are sure that Albertine is yours you will be off at once to Italy?" + +"Why shouldn't I?" Edmund replied, "inasmuch as it is my firm +determination to do so? It always has been so, and would be so--if she +were to be mine (I have my doubts as to whether she over will or not"). + +"Well, Edmund," the Goldsmith said, "be of good courage. This firm +resolve of yours has gained you your sweetheart. I give you my word of +honour that in a very few days Albertine will be your affianced wife. +And you know well enough that you need have no doubt as to my having +the power to keep my word." + +Joy and rapture beamed from Edmund's eyes; and the mysterious Goldsmith +went quickly away, leaving him to all the sweet hopes and dreams which +had been awakened in his heart. + +In an out-of-the-way corner of the Thiergarten, under a shady tree, the +Clerk of the Privy Chancery, Mr. Tussmann, was lying "like a dropped +acorn," as Celia, in 'As You Like It,' expresses it, or like a wounded +knight, pouring forth his heart's complainings to the perfidious autumn +breeze. + +"Oh, God of justice!" he lamented. "Unhappy, pitiable Clerk of the +Privy Chancery that you are! how did you ever come to deserve all the +misery which has fallen to your share? Thomasius says that the estate +of matrimony in no wise hinders the acquisition of wisdom. And yet, +though you have only been _thinking_ of entering into that estate, you +have nearly lost that proportion of understanding (and it was not so +very small, neither,) which originally fell to your share. Whence comes +the aversion which dear Miss Bosswinkel displays towards your--not +particularly striking, but still, fairly well endowed--personality? Are +you a politician, who ought not to take a wife (as some have laid +down), or an expert in the laws, who (according to Cleobolus) ought to +give his wife a licking if she misbehaves herself? Am I either of +those, that this beautiful creature should be warranted in entertaining +some certain quantum of bashful repugnance to me? Why, oh, why, dearest +Clerk of the Privy Chancery, Tussmann, must you go and get mixed up +with a lot of horrible wizards, and raging painters, who took your face +for a stretched canvas, and painted a Salvator Rosa picture on it +without saying with your leave or by your leave? Aye! that's the worst +of the business! I put all my trust in my friend, Herr Seccius, whose +knowledge of chemistry is so extensive and so profound, and who can +help people out of every difficulty. But all in vain! The more I rub my +face with the liquid he gave me, the greener I get! though the green +does take on the most extraordinary variety of different tints and +shades that anybody could imagine. My face has been a face of spring, +of summer, and of autumn. Ah, yes! it's this greenness which is driving +me to my destruction. And if I don't attain to the whiteness of winter +(the proper colour for me), I shall run desperate, pitch myself into +this frog-pond here, and die a green death!" + +It was no wonder that Tussmann complained most bitterly, for the colour +of his countenance was a very great annoyance to him. It was not like +any ordinary oil-colour, but as if it were some cleverly compounded +tincture or dye, sunk into his skin, and not to be obliterated by any +human means. In the day-time the poor wretch dared not go about except +with his hat down over his eyes, and a pocket-handkerchief before his +face. And even when night came on he could only venture to go flitting +through the more out-of-the-way streets at a gallop. He dreaded the +street-boys, and he also was afraid that he might come across somebody +belonging to his office, as he had reported himself sick. + +We often feel any trouble that has befallen us more keenly in the +silent hours of night than during the more stirring daylight. And +so--as the clouds rolled blacker and blacker over the sky, as the +shadows of the trees fell deeper, and the autumn wind soughed louder +and louder through the branches--Tussmann, as he pondered over all his +wretchedness, got into a state of the profoundest despair. + +The terrible idea of jumping into the green frog-pond, and so +terminating a baffled career, assailed his mind so irresistibly that he +looked on it as an unmistakable hint of destiny, which he was bound to +obey. + +"Yes!" he cried, getting up from the grass, where he had been lying; +"yes!" he shouted; "it's all over with you, Clerk of the Privy +Chancery! Despair and die, good Tussmann; Thomasius can't help you! On, +to a green death! Farewell, terrible Miss Albertine Bosswinkel! Your +husband, that was to have been--whom you despised so cruelly--you will +never see again! Here he goes, into the frog-pond!" + +Like a mad creature he rushed to the edge of the basin (in the darkness +it looked like a fine, smooth, broad road, with trees on each side of +it), and there he remained standing for a time. + +Doubtless the notion of the nearness of death affected his mind; for he +sang, in a high-pitched, penetrating voice, that Scotch song, which has +the refrain-- + + "Green grow the rashes, oh! + Green grow the rashes!" + + +And he shied the 'Diplomatic Acumen,' and the 'Handbook for Court and +City,' and also 'Hufeland, on the Art of Prolonging Life,' into the +water, and was in the very act of jumping after them, when he felt +himself seized from behind by a pair of powerful arms. + +He at once recognized the well-known voice of the necromantic +Goldsmith. It said--"Tussmann, what are you after? I beg you not to +make an ass of yourself; don't go playing idiotic tricks of this sort." + +Tussmann strove with all his might to get out of the Goldsmith's grasp, +while, scarcely capable of utterance, he croaked out-- + +"Herr Professor! I am in a state of desperation, and all ordinary +considerations are in abeyance. Herr Professor, I sincerely trust +you will not take it ill if a Clerk of the Privy Chancery, who is +(as we have said) in a state of desperation, and who (in ordinary +circumstances) is well versed in the _convenances_ of official +etiquette--I say, I hope you won't take it ill, Herr Professor, if I +assert, openly and unceremoniously, that (under all the circumstances +of the case) I wish to heaven that you and all your magic tricks were +at the devil! along with your unendurable familiarity, your 'Tussmann! +Tussmann!' never giving me my official title!----there!" + +The Goldsmith let him go, and he tumbled down, exhausted, in the long, +wet grass. + +Believing himself to be in the basin, he cried out, "Oh, cold death! +oh, green rashes! oh, meadows! I bid ye farewell. I leave you my +kindest wishes, dearest Miss Albertine Bosswinkel. Commissionsrath, +good-bye! The unfortunate 'intended' is lying amongst the frogs that +praise God in the summer time." + +"Tussmann," cried the Goldsmith, in a powerful voice, "don't you see +that you're out of your senses, and worn out and wretched into the +bargain? You want to send me to the devil! What if I _were_ the Devil, +and should set to and twist that neck of yours, here on this spot, +where you think you're lying in the water?" + +Tussmann sighed, groaned, and shuddered as if in the most violent ague. + +"But I mean you kindly, Tussmann," the Goldsmith said; "and your +desperate condition excuses everything. Get up, and come along with +me." And he helped him to get on his legs. + +Tussmann, completely exhausted, said, in a whisper-- + +"I am completely in your power, most honoured Herr Professor. Do what +you will with my miserable body; but I most humbly beg you to spare my +immortal soul." + +"Do not talk such absurd nonsense," the Goldsmith said, "but come along +with me as fast as you can." He took hold of Tussmann by the arm, and +led him away. But when they came to where the walk which leads to the +Zelten crosses at right angles, he pulled up, and said-- + +"Wait a moment, Tussmann. You're wet through, and look like I don't +know what. Just let me wipe your face, at all events." + +The Goldsmith took a handkerchief of dazzling whiteness out of his +pocket, and wiped Tussmann's face with it. + +The bright lights of the Weberschen Zelt were visible, shining brightly +through the trees. Tussmann cried out, in alarm-- + +"For God's sake, Herr Professor, where are you taking me? Not into +town? not to my own lodgings? not (oh, heavens!) into society, amongst +my fellow-men? Good heavens! I can't be seen. Wherever I go I give rise +to unpleasantness--create a _scandalum_." + +"Tussmann," said the Goldsmith, "I cannot understand that ridiculous +shyness of yours. What do you mean by it? Don't be an ass. What you +want is a drop of something pretty strong. I should say a tumbler of +hot punch, else we shall be having you laid up with a feverish cold. +Come on!" + +Tussmann kept on lamenting as to his greenness, and his Salvator Rosa +face; but the Goldsmith paid not the slightest attention to him, merely +hurrying him along with him at a rapid rate. + +When they got into the brightly lighted coffee-room, Tussmann hid his +face in his handkerchief, as there were still some people there. + +"What's the matter with you, Tussmann?" the Goldsmith asked. "Why do +you keep hiding that good-looking face of yours, eh?" + +"Oh, dearest Herr Professor, you know all about this awful face of +mine," Tussmann answered. "You know how that terrible, passionate +painter young gentleman went and daubed it all over with green paint?" + +"Nonsense," said the Goldsmith, taking the Clerk of the Privy Chancery +by the shoulders and placing him right in front of the big mirror +at the top of the room, while he threw a strong light on to him +from a branched candlestick which he had taken up. Tussmann forced +himself--much against the grain--to look. He could not restrain a loud +cry of "Gracious heavens!" + +For not only had the terrible green tint of his face disappeared, but +he had a much more beautiful complexion than he ever had had in his +life, and was looking several years younger. In the excess of his +delight he jumped up and down with both feet together, and cried, in a +voice of sweet emotion--"Oh, just Heaven! what do I see? what do I +contemplate? Most honoured Herr Professor, I have no doubt that it is +to you that I am indebted for this great happiness!--to you alone! Ah! +now I feel little doubt that Miss Albertine Bosswinkel--for whose dear +sake I was so very nearly jumping into the frog-pond--won't make much +difficulty about accepting me. Really, dearest Professor, you have +rescued me from the very profoundest depths of misery. There is no +doubt that I did feel a certain sense of relief and well-being when you +were so kind as to pass that snow-white handkerchief of yours over my +face. You really were my benefactor, were you not?" + +"I won't deny, Tussmann," the Goldsmith answered, "that I wiped the +green colour away from your face; and, from that, you may gather that I +am not by any means so much your enemy as you have supposed me to be. +What I can't bear to think of is this ridiculous notion of yours (which +you have allowed the Commissionsrath to put in your head) that you are +going to go and marry a splendid young creature, bursting with life and +love. It is this, I say, which I can't bear to think about. And even +now--though you have scarcely got clear of the little trick which has +been played on you--you see, you go and begin at once to think about +this marriage again. I feel inclined to take away your appetite for it +in a very effectual style; and I could do so if I chose, without the +slightest difficulty. However, I don't want to go so far as that. But +what my advice to you would be is--that you should keep as quiet, and +as much out of the way as ever you can till Sunday next, at twelve +o'clock at noon, and then you will see more into things. If you dare to +go and see Albertine before that time, I will make you go on dancing in +her presence till your breath and senses abandon you. Then I will +transform you into the very greenest of frogs, and chuck you into the +basin of the Thiergarten, or into the River Spree itself, where you'll +go on croaking till the end of your days. Good-bye! I have something to +do in town which obliges me to get back there as quickly as possible. +You won't be able to follow me, or keep up with me. Good-bye!" + +The Goldsmith was right in saying that it would not be possible for +Tussmann, or anybody else, to keep up with him, for he was off through +the door and out of sight, as if he had Schlemihl's seven-leagued boots +on. + +Perhaps this was why, the next minute after he had disappeared from +Tussmann, he appeared suddenly, like a ghost, in the Commissionsrath's +room, and bade him good evening in a rough tone. + +The Commissionsrath was very frightened, but he pulled himself +together, and asked the Goldsmith, with some warmth, what he meant by +coming in at that time of the night, adding that he wished he would +take himself off, and not bother him any more with any of those +conjuring tricks of his, as he presumed he was about to do. + +"Ah!" said the Goldsmith very calmly, "that is how people are, +particularly Commissionsraths. Just the very people who come to them, +wishing to do them a service, into whose arms they ought to throw +themselves with a confident heart--just those are the people whom they +want to kick out of the door. My good Herr Commissionsrath, you are a +poor unfortunate man, a real object of pity and commiseration. I have +come here--I have _hastened_ here--at this late hour of the night, to +consult with you as to how this terrible blow which is hanging over you +may be averted--if averted it can be--and you----" + +"Oh, God," the Commissionsrath cried, "another bankruptcy in Hamburg, I +suppose, or in Bremen, or London, to ruin me out and out! That was all +that was wanted. Oh, I'm a ruined man!" + +"No," the Goldsmith said, "it's an affair of a different kind +altogether; you say that you won't allow young Edmund Lehsen to marry +Albertine, do you not?" + +"What's the good of talking about such a piece of absurdity?" the +Commissionsrath replied. "I to give my daughter to this beggar of a +penciller." + +"Well," said the Goldsmith, "he has painted a couple of magnificent +portraits of you and her." + +"Oh, oh," cried Bosswinkel, "a fine piece of business it would be to +hand over my daughter for a couple of daubs on canvas; I've sent the +trash back to him." + +"If you don't let Edmund have your daughter," the Goldsmith continued, +"he will have his revenge." + +"Pretty story!" answered Bosswinkel. "What revenge is this little bit +of a beggar, who dribbles paints on to canvas, and hasn't a farthing to +bless himself with, going to take upon Commissionsrath Melchior +Bosswinkel, I should like to know?" + +"I'll tell you that in a moment," said the Goldsmith. "Edmund is going +to alter your portrait in a way which you thoroughly deserve. The +kindly, smiling face he is going to turn into a sour, grumpy one, with +lowering brow, bleary eyes, and hanging lips. He will deepen the +wrinkles on the brow and cheeks, and he won't omit to indicate, in +proper colour, those grey hairs which the powder is intended to hide. +Before you, instead of the pleasant news about the lottery prize, he +will write, very legibly, the most unpleasant purport of the letter +which came to you the day before yesterday, telling you that Campbell +and Co. of London had stopped payment, addressed on the envelope to the +'Bankrupt Commissionsrath,' &c., &c. From the torn pockets of your +waistcoat he will show ducats, thalers, and treasury bills falling, to +indicate the losses you have had, and this picture will be put in the +window of the picture dealer next door to the bank in Hunter Street." + +"The demon, the blackguard," the Commissionsrath cried; "he shan't do +that, I'll send for the police, I'll appeal to the courts for an +interim interdict!" + +The Goldsmith said, with much tranquillity, "As soon as even fifty +people have seen this picture, that is to say, after it has been in the +window for a brief quarter of an hour, the tale will be all over the +town, with every description of addition and exaggeration. Every thing +in the least degree ridiculous which has ever been said about you, or +is being said now, will be brought up again, dressed in fresh and more +brilliant colours. Every one you meet will laugh in your face, and, +what is the worst of all, everybody will talk about your losses in the +Campbell bankruptcy, so your credit will be gone." + +"Oh, Lord," said Bosswinkel, "but he must let me have the picture back, +the scoundrel? Ay; that he must, the first thing in the morning." + +"And if he were to agree to do so," the Goldsmith said, ("of which I +have great doubts) how much the better would you be? He's making a +copper etching of you, as I have just described you. He'll have several +hundred copies thrown off, touch them up himself _con amore_, and send +them all over the world--to Hamburg, Bremen, Luebeck, London even." + +"Stop, stop," Bosswinkel cried; "go, as fast as you can, to this +terrible fellow; offer him fifty, yes, offer him a hundred thalers if +he will let this business about my portrait remain in _statu quo_." + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the Goldsmith; "you forget that Lehsen doesn't +care a fiddlestick about money. His people are well off. His +grand-aunt, Miss Lehsen, who lives in Broad Street, is going to leave +him all her money, L12,000 at the very least." + +"What," the Commissionsrath cried, pale with the suddenness of his +amazement, "L12,000. I tell you what it is. I believe Albertine is +crazy about young Lehsen, and I'm not a bad-hearted fellow. I am an +affectionate father; can't bear crying, and all that sort of thing. +When she sets her heart on a thing, I can't refuse her. Besides, I like +the fellow; he's a first-rate painter, you know; and where Art is +concerned I'm a perfect gaby. There are a great many capital points +about Lehsen. L12,000. I'll tell you what it is, Leonhard, just out of +mere goodheartedness, I shall let this nice young fellow have my +daughter." + +"Hm!" said the Goldsmith, "there's something queer, too, which I want +to speak to you about. I was at the Thiergarten just before I came +here, and I found your old friend and schoolfellow, Tussmann, going to +jump into the water because Albertine wouldn't have anything to say to +him. I had the greatest difficulty in preventing him from doing it; and +it was only by telling him that you would be quite certain to keep your +word, and make her marry him, that I did succeed in preventing him. +Now, if this is not so, if she doesn't marry him, and if you give her +to young Lehsen, there cannot be a doubt that the Clerk of the Privy +Chancery will carry out his idea of jumping into that basin. Think what +a sensation the suicide of a person of Tussmann's 'respectability' will +create. Everybody will consider that you, and no other, are responsible +for his death. You will be looked upon with horror and contempt. Nobody +will ask you to dinner, and if you go to a cafe to see what's in the +papers, you will be shown to the door, or kicked downstairs; and more +than that, Tussmann bears the very highest character in his profession. +All his superiors have a very high opinion of him; the Government +departments think him a most valuable official. If you are supposed to +be answerable for his death, you know that you need never expect to +find a single member of the Privy Legation, or of the Upper Chamber of +Finance, in when you go to see them. None of the offices which your +business affairs require you to be _en rapport_ with will have a word +to say to you. Your title of Commissionsrath will be taken from you, +blow will follow upon blow, your credit will be gone, your income will +fall away, things will go from bad to worse, till at last, in poverty, +misery and contempt, you will--" + +"For God's sake stop!" cried the Commissionsrath, "you are putting me +to a regular martyrdom. Who would have thought that Tussmann would have +been such a goose at his time of life? But you are quite right; +whatever happens, I must keep my word to him, or I'm a ruined man. Yes, +it is so ordained, Tussmann must marry Albertine." + +"You're forgetting all about Baron Duemmerl," said the Goldsmith, "and +Manasseh's terrible curse. In him, if you reject Baron Benjie, you have +the most fearful enemy. He will oppose you in all your speculations; +will stick at no means of injuring your credit, take every possible +opportunity of doing you an ill turn, and never rest till he has +brought you to shame and disgrace; till the D[=a]-l[ve]s, which he laid +upon you along with his curse, has actually taken up its abode in your +house; so that, you see, whatever you do with Albertine, to whichsoever +of her wooers you give her, you get into trouble, and that is why I +said at the beginning, that you are a poor, unfortunate man, an object +of pity and commiseration." + +Bosswinkel ran up and down the room like a lunatic, crying over and +over again, "It's all over with me; I am a miserable man, a ruined +Commissionsrath. O Lord, if I only could get the girl off my shoulders; +the devil take the whole lot of them, Lehsen, and Benjie, and my old +Tussmann into the bargain." + +"Now," said the Goldsmith, "there is one way of getting out of all this +mess." + +"What is it?" said Bosswinkel; "I'll adopt it, whatever it is." + +Leonhard said, "Did you ever see the play of 'The Merchant of Venice'?" + +"That's the piece," answered Bosswinkel, "where Devrient plays a +bloody-minded Jew of the name of Shylock, who wants a pound of a +merchant's flesh. Of course I've seen it, but what has that to do with +the matter?" + +"You will remember," the Goldsmith said, "that there is a certain +wealthy young lady in it of the name of Portia, whose father so +arranged matters in his will that her hand is made a species of prize +in a kind of lottery. Three caskets are set out, of which her wooers +have each to choose one, and open it. The one who finds Portia's +portrait in the casket which he chooses obtains her hand. Now do you, +Commissionsrath, as a living father, do what her dead father did. Tell +the three wooers that, inasmuch as one of them is exactly the same to +you as another, they must allow chance to decide between them. Set up +three caskets for them to choose amongst, and let the one who finds her +portrait in his casket be her husband." + +"What an extraordinary idea," said the Commissionsrath; "and even if I +were to go in for it, do you suppose, dear Mr. Leonhard, that I should +be one bit better off? When chance did decide the matter, I should +still have to deal with the rage and hatred of the unsuccessful two." + +"Wait a moment," the Goldsmith said; "it is just there that the +important part of the business lies. I promise that I will order and +arrange the affair of the caskets so that it shall turn out happily and +satisfactorily for all parties. The two who make mistakes shall find in +their caskets, not a scornful dismissal, like the Princes of Morocco +and Arragon, but something which shall so greatly please and delight +them that they will think no more of marrying Albertine, but will look +upon you as the author of unhoped, undreamt of happiness to them." + +"Oh, can it be possible!" the Commissionsrath cried. + +"Not only is it possible," the Goldsmith answered, "but it will, it +must happen, exactly as I have said it will; I give you my word for +it." + +The Commissionsrath made no further objection, and they arranged that +the Goldsmith's plan should be put in execution on the next Sunday at +noon. Leonhard undertook to provide the three caskets, all ready. + + + CHAPTER VI. + + WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CHOOSING OF THE CASKETS, AND THE + CONCLUSION OF THE TALE. + +As may be imagined, Albertine got into a condition of the most utter +despair when her father told her about the wretched lottery in which +her hand was to be the prize, and all her prayers and tears were +powerless to turn him from this idea, when he had once got it fairly +into his head. Then, besides this, Lehsen seemed indifferent and +indolent, in a way that nobody who really loved could be, not making +any attempt to see her privately, or even to send her a message. + +On the Saturday night before the fateful Sunday she was sitting alone +in her room, as the twilight was deepening into night, her mind full of +the misfortune which was threatening her. She was calculating whether +or not it would be better to come to a speedy determination to fly from +her father's roof, rather than wait till the most fearful destiny +conceivable should accomplish itself, that of marrying either the +pedantic old Tussmann, or the insufferable Baron Benjie, and then she +remembered the mysterious Goldsmith, and the strange, supernatural way +in which he had prevented the Baron from touching her. She felt quite +sure that he had been on Edmund's side then; wherefore a hope began to +dawn in her heart that it must be on him that she should rely for help +at this crisis of her affairs. Above all things she wished that she +only could just have a little talk with him then and there; and was +quite sure that she shouldn't be at all frightened, really, if he were +to appear to her suddenly, in some strange, spectral sort of manner. + +So that she really was not in the least frightened when she saw that +what she had been thinking was the stove was really Leonhard the +Goldsmith, who came up to her and said, in a gentle, harmonious +voice:-- + +"My dear child, lay aside all grief and anxiety. Edmund Lehsen, whom, +at present at all events, you believe you love, is a special _protege_ +of mine; and I am helping him with all the power at my command. Let me +further tell you that it was I who put the lottery idea into your +father's head; that I am going to provide and prepare the caskets, and, +of course, you see that no one but Edmund will find your portrait." + +Albertine felt inclined to shout for joy. The Goldsmith continued:-- + +"I could have brought about the giving of your hand to Edmund in other +ways; but I particularly wish to make the two rivals, Tussmann and the +Baron, completely contented at the same time. So that that is going to +be done, and you and your father will be quite sure to have no more +trouble on their part." + +Albertine poured forth the warmest expressions of gratitude. She almost +fell at his feet, she pressed his hand to her heart, she declared that, +notwithstanding all the magic tricks he had performed, nay, even after +the way he had come into her room, she wasn't in the least afraid of +him; and she concluded with the somewhat naive request that he would +tell her all about himself, and who he really was. + +"My dear child," he answered, "it would not be by any means an easy +matter for me to tell you exactly who I am. Like many others, I know +much better whom I take other people for than what I really and truly +am myself. But I may tell you, my dear, that many think I am none other +than that Leonhard Turnhaeuser the Goldsmith, who was such a famous +character at the court of the Elector Johann Georg, in the year 1580, +and who disappeared, none knew how or where, when envy and calumny +tried to ruin him; and if the members of the imaginative or romantic +school say that I am this Turnhaeuser, a spectral being, you may imagine +what I have to suffer at the hands of the solid and enlightened portion +of the community, the respectable citizens, and the men of business, +who think they have something better to do than to bother their heads +about poetry and romance. Then, even the aesthetic people want to watch +me and dog my steps, just as the doctors and the divines did in Johann +Georg's time, and try to embitter and spoil whatever little modicum of +an existence I am able to lay claim to, as much as ever they can. My +dear girl, I see well enough already, that though I take all this +tremendous interest in young Edmund Lehsen and you, and turn up at +every corner like a regular _deux ex machina_, there will be plenty of +people of the same way of thinking with those of the aesthetic school, +who will never be able to swallow me, historically speaking, who will +never be able to bring themselves to believe that I ever really existed +at all. So that, just that I might manage to get something like a more +or less firm footing, I have never ventured to say, in so many words, +that I am Leonard Turnhaeuser, the Goldsmith of the sixteenth century. +The folks in question are quite welcome to say, if they please, that I +am a clever conjurer, and find the explanations of every one of my +tricks (as they may style the phenomena and the results which I +produce) in Wieglieb's 'Natural Magic,' or some book of the kind. I +have still one more 'feat,' as they would call it, to perform, which +neither Philidor, nor Philadelphia, nor Cagliostro, nor any other +conjurer would be able to do, and which, being completely inexplicable, +must always remain a stumbling-block to the kind of people in question. +But I cannot help performing it, because it is indispensable to the +_denouement_ of this Berlinese tale of the Choice of a Bride by three +personages, suitors for the hand of Miss Albertine Bosswinkel. So keep +up your heart, my dear child, rise to-morrow morning in good time, put +on the dress which you like the best, because it is the most becoming +you happen to have; do your hair in the way you think suits you best, +and then await, as quietly and patiently as you can, what will happen." + +He disappeared exactly as he had come. + +On the next day--the Sunday--at eleven o'clock--the appointed +time--there arrived at the place of rendezvous old Manasseh with his +hopeful nephew--Tussmann--and Edmund Lehsen with the Goldsmith. The +wooers, not excepting the Baron, were almost frightened when they saw +Albertine, who had never seemed so lovely and taking. I am in a +position to assure every lady, married or otherwise, who attaches the +proper amount of importance to dress, that the way in which Albertine's +was trimmed, and the material of the trimmings, were most elegant; that +the frock itself was just the right length to show her pretty little +feet in their white satin shoes; that the arms of it (short, of +course), and the corsage were bordered with the richest Point; that her +white French gloves came up to just the least little bit above her +elbows, showing her beautiful arm; that the only thing she had on her +head was a lovely gold comb set with jewels; in short, that her dress +was quite that of a bride, except that she had no myrtle wreath in her +bonny brown hair. But the reason why she was so much more beautiful +than she ever had been before was that love and hope beamed in her eyes +and bloomed on her cheeks. + +Bosswinkel, in a burst of hospitality, had provided a splendid lunch. +Old Manasseh glowered at the table laid out for this repast with +malignant glances askance, and when the Commissionsrath begged him to +fall to, on his countenance could be read the answer of Shylock:-- + +"Yes, to smell pork, to eat of the habitation which your prophet, the +Nazarite, conjured the devil into. I will buy with you, sell with you, +talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with +you, drink with you, nor pray with you." + +The Baron was less conscientious, for he ate more beefsteak than was +seemly, and talked a great deal of stupid nonsense, as was his wont. + +The Commissionsrath behaved wholly contrarily to his nature on this +important occasion. Not only did he pour out bumpers of Port and +Madeira, regardless of expense, and even told the company that he had +some Madeira in his cellar a hundred years old; but when the luncheon +was over he explained to the suitors the method in which his daughter's +hand was to be disposed of in a speech much better put together than +anybody would ever have expected of him. They were given to understand +most clearly that the successful one must find her portrait in the +casket which he chose. + +When twelve o'clock struck the door of the hall opened, and there was +seen in the middle of it a table with a rich cover on it, bearing the +three caskets. + +One was of shining gold, with a circle of glittering ducats on its lid, +and the inscription inside them-- + + "Who chooseth me doth gain that which he much desires." + +The second was of silver, richly chased. On its lid were many words and +letters of foreign languages, encircling this inscription-- + + "Who chooseth me doth find more than he hopes." + +The third, plainly carved of ivory, was inscribed-- + + "Who chooseth me doth gain his dreamed-of bliss." + +Albertine took her place on a chair behind the table, her father by her +side. Manasseh and the Goldsmith drew away into the background. + +The lots were drawn, and, Tussmann having the first choice, the Baron +and Edmund had to go into the other room. + +The Clerk of the Privy Chancery went carefully and considerately up to +the table, looked at the caskets with much minuteness of observation, +read the inscriptions on them one after another. Soon he found himself +irresistibly attracted by the beautiful characters of foreign languages +so charmingly intertwined on the cover of the silver casket. + +"Good heavens!" he cried, "what beautiful lettering, with what skill +those Arabic characters are brought in amongst the Roman letters, and +'Who chooseth me doth gain more than he hopes.' Now have I gone on +cherishing the slightest hope that Miss Albertine would be so gracious +as to honour me with her hand? wasn't I going to throw myself into the +basin? Evidently here is comfort, here is good fortune. +Commissionsrath! Miss Albertine! I choose the silver one." + +Albertine rose and handed him a little key, with which he opened the +casket. Great was his consternation to find, not Albertine's portrait, +but a little book bound in parchment, which, when he opened it, +appeared to consist of blank white pages. Beside it lay a little scrap +of paper, with the words-- + + "Thy choice was, in a way, amiss, + But those few words do tell thee this-- + What thou hast won will never alter, + To use it thou needs't never falter. + What 'tis as yet thou dost not see, + An endless source of joy 'twill be. + _Ignorantiam_ 'twill enlighten, + _Sapientiam_ further brighten." + +"Good heavens!" cried Tussmann, "it's a book. Yet, no, it's not a book, +and there's nothing in the shape of a portrait. It's merely a lot of +paper bound up together; my hopes are dashed to earth, all is over with +me now. All I have got to do is to be off to the frog-pond as quickly +as I can." + +But as he was hurrying away the Goldsmith stopped him, and said-- + +"Tussmann, you're very foolish; you've got hold of the most priceless +treasure you could possibly have come across. Those lines of verse +ought to have told you so at once. Do me the favour to put that book +which you found in the casket into your pocket." + +Tussmann did so. + +"Now," said the Goldsmith, "think of some book or other which you would +wish that you had in your pocket at this moment." + +"Oh, my goodness," said Tussmann, "I went and shied Thomasius's little +treatise on 'Diplomatic Acumen' into the frog-pond, like an utter fool +as I was." + +"Put your hand in your pocket," said the Goldsmith, "and take out the +book." + +Tussmann did so, and lo, the book which he brought out was none other +than Thomasius's treatise! + +"Ha!" cried Tussmann, "what is this? Why it is Thomasius's treatise, my +beloved Thomasius, rescued from the congregation of frogs in the pond, +who would never have learned diplomatic acumen from him." + +"Keep yourself calm," the Goldsmith said; "put the book into your +pocket again." + +Tussmann did so. + +"Think of some other rare work," the Goldsmith said: "one which you +have never been able to come across in any library." + +"Oh, good gracious!" cried Tussmann in melancholy accents. "I have +been, you see, in the habit of sometimes going to the opera, so that I +have wanted, very much, to ground myself a little in the theory of +music, and I have been trying in vain hitherto to get hold of a copy of +a certain little treatise which explains the arts of the composer and +the performer, in an allegorical form. I mean Johann Beer's 'Musical +War,' an account of the contest between composition and harmony, which +are represented under the guise of two heroines, who do battle with +each other, and end by being completely reconciled." + +"Feel in your pocket," said the Goldsmith; and the Clerk of the Privy +Chancery shouted with joy when he found that his paper book now +consisted of Johann Beer's 'Musical War.' + +"You see now, do you not," said the Goldsmith, "that in the book which +you found in the casket you possess the finest and most complete +library that anybody ever had? and more than that, you take it about +with you in your pocket. For, while you have this remarkable book in +your pocket, it will always be whatever book you happen to want to +read, as soon as you take it out." + +Without wasting a thought on Albertine or the Commissionsrath, Tussmann +went and sat down in an armchair in a corner, stuck the book into his +pocket, pulled it out again, and it was easy to see, by the delight in +his countenance, how completely the Goldsmith's promise had been +fulfilled. + +It was the Baron's turn next. He came strolling up to the table in his +foolish, loutish manner, looked at the caskets through his eyeglass, +and murmured out the inscriptions one after the other. But soon a +natural, inborn, irresistible instinct drew him to the gold casket, +with the shining ducats on its lid. "Who chooseth me doth gain that +which he much desires." "Certainly ducats are what I much desire, and +Albertine is what I much desire. I don't see much good in bothering +over this." + +So he grasped the golden casket; took its key from Albertine, opened +it, and found a nice little English file! Beside it lay a piece of +paper with the words:-- + + "Now thou hast the thing thy heart + Longed for, with the keenest smart. + All besides is mere parade. + Onward--never retrograde-- + Moves a truly thriving Trade." + +"And what the Devil's the use of this thing?" Benjie cried, surveying +the file. "It isn't Albertine's picture, you know; however, I shall +hold on to the casket; it'll be a wedding-present to Albertine. Come to +me, dearest child!" With which he was making straight for Albertine; +but the Goldsmith held him back by the shoulders, saying-- + +"Stop, my good sir; that's not in the bargain: you must content +yourself with the file. And you will be content with it, when you find +out what a treasure it is. In fact, the paper tells you, if you can +understand it. Have you got a worn ducat in your pocket?" + +"Well," said Benjie, angrily, "and what then?" + +"Out with it," the Goldsmith said, "and try the file on the edge of +it." + +The Baron did so, with an amount of skill which told of much previous +practice; and the more ducats he filed at--for he tried a good many, +one after another--the fresher the edges of them came out. + +Up to this point Manasseh had been looking on in silence at what was +transpiring; but here he jumped up, with eyes sparkling wildly, and +dashed at his nephew, crying, in a hollow, terrible voice-- + +"God of my Fathers! what do I see? Give me that file!--here with it +instantly! It is the piece of magic-work for which I sold my soul more +than three hundred years ago. God of my Fathers!--hand it over to me!" + +And he made at his nephew to take it from him; but Benjie pushed him +back, crying, "Go to the Deuce, you old idiot! It was I who found the +file, not you!" + +To which Manasseh responded, in fury: "Viper! Worm-eaten fruit of my +race!--Here with that file! All the Demons of Hell be upon you, +accursed thief!" + +Manasseh clutched hold of the Baron, with a torrent of Hebrew curses, +and foaming and gnashing his teeth, he exerted all the strength at his +command to wrest the file from him. But Benjie fought for it as a +lioness does for her cubs, till at length Manasseh was worn out; on +which his nephew seized him by the shoulders and threw him out of the +door, with such force that all his limbs cracked again. Then, coming +back like a flash of lightning, he shoved a small table into a corner, +and sitting down there, opposite to the Clerk of the Privy Chancery, +took a handful of ducats from his pocket, and set to work to file away +at them as hard as he could. + +"Now," said the Goldsmith, "we have seen the last of that terrible +Manasseh. He is off our hands, for good and all. People say he is a +second Ahasuerus, and has been going spooking about since the year +1572. That was the year in which he was put to death for diabolical +practices and sorcery, under the name of Lippolt, the Jew-coiner. But +the Devil saved his body from death at the price of his immortal soul. +Many folk who understand those things say they have seen him in Berlin +in a good many forms; so that, if all tales are true, there are a good +number of Lippolts at the present time about. However, I, who have a +certain amount of experience in those mysterious matters, can assure +you that I have given him his quietus." + +It would weary you very needlessly, dear reader, were I to waste words +in telling you what you know quite well; namely, that Edmund Lehsen +chose the ivory casket, inscribed-- + + "Who chooseth me doth gain his dreamed-of bliss," + +and found in it a beautiful portrait of Albertine, with the lines-- + + "Yes--thou hast it--read thy chance + In thy darling's loving glance. + What has past returns no more-- + Earthly fate so willeth this. + All the joy which lies _before_ + Gather from thy sweetheart's kiss." + +And Edmund, like Bassanio, followed the counsel of the last line, and +pressed his blushing sweetheart to his breast, and kissed her glowing +lips; whilst the Commissionsrath greatly rejoiced, and was full +of happiness over this happy _denouement_ of this most involved +love-affair. + +Meanwhile the Baron had been filing at ducats quite as eagerly and +absorbedly as the Clerk of the Privy Chancery had been reading, neither +of them taking the slightest notice of what had been going on, till the +Commissionsrath announced, in a loud voice, that Edmund Lehsen had +chosen the casket containing Albertine's portrait, and was, +consequently, to be her husband. Tussmann seemed to be quite delighted +to hear it, and expressed his satisfaction in his usual manner, by +rubbing his hands, jumping a little way up and down for a moment or +two, and giving a delicate little laugh. The Baron seemed to feel no +further interest about the matter; but he embraced the Commissionsrath; +said he was a real "gentleman" and had made him most utterly happy by +his present of the file, and told him that he could always count upon +him, in all circumstances. With which he took his departure. + +Tussmann, too, thanked him, with tears of the most heartfelt emotion, +for making him the happiest of men by this most rare and wonderful of +all rare and wonderful books; and, after the most profuse expenditure +of politeness to Albertine, Edmund, and the old Goldsmith, he followed +the Baron as quickly as ever he could. + +Benjie ceased to torture the world of letters with literary abortions, +as he had formerly done, preferring to employ his time in filing +ducats; and Tussmann no longer made the booksellers' lives a burden to +them by pestering them to hunt out old forgotten books for him. + +But when a few weeks of rapture and happiness had passed, a great and +bitter sorrow took possession of the Commissionsrath's house. For the +Goldsmith urged, in the strongest terms, upon Edmund that for his own +sake, and for the sake of his art, he was bound to keep his solemn +promise and go to Italy. + +Edmund, notwithstanding the dreadful parting from Albertine, felt the +strongest possible impulse urging him towards the country of the arts; +and, although Albertine shed the bitterest tears, she could not help +thinking how very nice it would be to be able to take out letters from +her lover at Rome, and read them out--or extracts from them--at +aesthetic teas of an afternoon. + +Edmund has been in Rome now more than a year, and people do say that +his correspondence with Albertine languishes, and that the letters are +becoming rarer and colder. Who knows whether or not anything will ever +come, ultimately, of the engagement between those two people? Certainly +Albertine won't be long "in the market" in any case; she is so pretty, +and so well off. Just at present, there is young Mr. Gloria (just going +to be called to the bar), a very nice young gentleman indeed, with a +slim and tightly-girded waist, a couple of waistcoats on at once, and a +cravat tied in the English style; and he danced all last season with +Albertine, and is to be seen now going continually with her to the +Thiergarten, whilst the Commissionsrath trots very complacently after +them, looking like a satisfied father. Moreover, Mr. Gloria has passed +his second examination at the Supreme Court with flying colours. + +"So perhaps he and Albertine may make a match of it, should he get a +fairly good appointment. There's no telling. Let us see what happens." + + +"You have certainly written a wonderfully crack-brained thing in that," +Ottmar said, when Lothair had finished. "This 'Tale containing +improbable incidents,' as you have called it, appears to me to be a +kind of mosaic, composed of all kinds of stones put together at random, +which dazzles and confuses one's eyes so that they can't take firm hold +of any definite figure." + +"As far as I am concerned," Theodore said, "I must confess that I think +a great deal of it is exceedingly delightful, and that it might very +likely have been a very superior production, if Lothair hadn't, most +imprudently, gone and read Hafftitz. The consequence of this was that +those two practitioners of the black art, the Goldsmith and the +Jew-coiner, had to be brought into the story somehow, willy-nilly; and +thus those two unfortunate revenants make their appearance as +heterogeneous elements, working, with their sorceries, in an +unnaturally constrained manner among the incidents of the tale. It is +well your story hasn't been printed, or you would have been hauled over +the coals by the critics." + +"Wouldn't it do to light up the pages of a Berlin Almanack?" the Author +asked, with one of his ironical smiles. "Of course I should still more +localize the localities, and add a few names of celebrities, and so +gain a little applause from the literary-aesthetic, if from nobody +else.[2] + + +[Footnote 2: "This speech of Lothair's shows what the Author had in his +mind at the time. The tale _did_ appear in the Berlin Almanack of 1820, +with additional localities, and names of celebrities in the Art-World, +but the publishers told him he ought to try to keep within the bounds +of 'probability,' in future."--(Note of Editor of Collected Works.)] + + +"However, all the same, my dear friends, did you not laugh heartily +enough at times, as I was reading it? and ought that not to deprive +your criticism of some of its severity? If you, Ottmar, say my tale is +a mosaic, you might admit that it has something of a Kaleidoscope +character, in spite of its crackiness, and that its matters, though +most adventitiously shaken together, do ultimately form more or less +interesting combinations. At all events, you surely admit that there +are one or two good characters in my story, and at the head of them, +the love-stricken Baron Benjie, that worthy scion of the Jew-coiner +race of Lippolts; however, we've had far too much of my piece of +patchwork, which was only intended to amuse you for a moment as a +_bizarre_ jest. What I would have you notice is that I have been +faithful to my principle of welding on the Legendary to the every-day +life of the present day." + +"And," said Theodore, "I am a great adherent of that principle. It used +to be supposed to be necessary to localize everything of the legendary +kind in the remote East, taking Scheherezade as the model in so doing; +and, as soon as we touched upon the manners, the customs, the ways of +life of the East, we got into a world which was apparently hovering, +adrift, all in a sort of unreality, anchorless, before our eyes, on the +point of floating away and disappearing. This is why those tales so +often strike coldly on us, and have no power to kindle the inner +spirit--the fancy. What I think, and mean, is, that the foot of the +heavenly ladder, which we have got to mount in order to reach the +higher regions, has to be fixed firmly in every-day life, so that +everybody may be able to climb up it along with us. When people then +find that they have got climbed up higher and higher into a marvellous, +magical world, they will feel that that realm, too, belongs to their +ordinary, every-day life, and is, merely, the wonderful and most +glorious part thereof. For them it is the beautiful flower-garden +beyond the city-wall into which they can go, and in which they can +wander and enjoy themselves, if they have but made up their minds to +quit the gloomy walls of the city, for a time." + +"Don't forget, though, Theodore, my friend," said Ottmar, "that there +are quantities of people who won't go up the ladder at all, because it +isn't 'proper' or 'becoming.' And many turn giddy by the time they get +to the third rung of it. Many never see the ladder at all, though it is +facing them in the broad, daily path of their lives, and they pass by +it every day. As regards the tales of the 'Thousand and One Nights,' it +is remarkable enough that most of those who have tried to imitate them +have overlooked that which is just what gives them life and reality-- +exactly what Lothair's principle is. All the cobblers, tailors, +dervishes, merchants, and so forth, who appear as the characters in +those tales, are people who are to be met with every day in the +streets. And--inasmuch as life is independent of times and manners, but +is always the same affair--in its essential conditions (and always must +be so), it follows that we feel that all those folks--upon whom, in the +middle of their everyday lives, such extraordinary and magical +adventures came, and such spells wound themselves--are really the sort +of people who are actually walking about amongst us. Such is the +marvellous, mighty power of description, characterization, and +representation in that immortal book." + +As the evening was fast growing colder, it was thought advisable--on +account of Theodore's having but half recovered from his late +illness--that the friends should go to the great summer-house, and +indulge in a cup of refreshing tea, in place of anything more exciting. + +And when the urn was on the table, singing its usual little domestic +tune, Ottmar said-- + +"I don't think I could have a better opportunity for reading you a +tale which I wrote a long while ago, and which happens to begin with +tea-drinking. I mention, to begin with, that it is in Cyprian's style." + +Ottmar read-- + + + + THE UNCANNY GUEST. + +A storm was raging through the heavens, announcing the coming of +winter, whirling black clouds on its wings, which dashed down hissing, +rattling squall-showers of rain and hail. + +"Nobody will come to-night," said Madame von G. to her daughter +Angelica, as the clock struck seven. "They would never venture out in +such weather. If your father were but home!" + +Almost as she was speaking, in came Captain Moritz von E. (a cavalry +officer), followed by a young Barrister, whose brilliant and +inexhaustible fund of humour and wit was the life and soul of the +circle which was accustomed to assemble every Thursday evening in +Colonel von G.'s house. So that, as Angelica said, there was little +cause to be sorry that the less intimate members of the circle were +away, seeing that the more welcome ones had come. + +It felt very chilly in the drawing-room. The lady of the house had had +a fire lighted, and the tea-table brought. + +"I am sure," she said, "that you two gentlemen, who have been so +courageous as to come to see us tonight through such a storm, can +never be content with our wretched tea. Mademoiselle Marguerite shall +make you a brew of that good, northern beverage which can keep any +sort of weather out." Marguerite--a young French lady, who was +"companion" to Angelica, for the sake of her language, and other +lady-like accomplishments, but who was only about her own age, or +barely more--came, and performed the duty thus entrusted to her. So the +punch steamed, while the fire sparkled and blazed; and the company sate +down round the little tea-table. + +A shiver suddenly passed through them--through each and all of them; +and they felt chilled. Though they had been talking merrily before they +sat down, there fell now upon them a momentary silence, during which +the strange voices which the storm had called into life in the chimney +whistled and howled with marvellous distinctness. + +"There can be no doubt," said Dagobert (the young barrister), "that the +four ingredients, Autumn, a stormy Wind, a good fire, and a jorum of +punch, have, when taken together, a strange power of causing people to +experience a curious sense of awesomeness." + +"A very pleasant one, though," said Angelica. "At all events, I do not +know a more delightful sensation than the sort of strange shiveriness +which goes through one when one feels--heaven knows how, or why--as if +one were suddenly casting a glance, with one's eyes open, into some +strange, mystic dream-world." + +"Exactly," said Dagobert; "that delicious shiveriness was exactly what +came over all of us just now; and the glance into the dream-world, +which we were involuntarily making at that moment, made us all silent. +It is well for us that we have got it over, and that we have come back +so quickly from the dream-world to this charming reality, which +provides us with this grand liquid." He rose, and, bowing politely to +Madame von G., emptied the glass before him. + +"But," Moritz said, "if you felt all the deliciousness of that species +of shudder, and of the dreamy condition accompanying it (as Miss +Angelica and I did), why shouldn't you be glad to prolong it?" + +"Let me say, my dear friend," Dagobert answered, "that the kind of +dreaminess which we have to do with in this instance is not that in +which the mind, or spirit, goes losing and sinking itself in all kinds +of vague labyrinths of complexity of wondrous, calm enjoyment. The +storm-wind, the blazing fire, and the punch are only the predisposing +causes of the onsetting of that incomprehensible, mysterious +condition--deeply grounded in our human organism--which our minds +strive, in vain, to fight against, and which we ought to take great +care not to allow ourselves to yield to over much. What I mean is, the +fear of the supernatural. We all know that the uncanny race of ghosts, +the haunters, choose the night (and particularly in stormy weather), to +arise from their darksome dwellings, and set forth upon their +mysterious wanderings. So that we are right in expecting some of those +fearsome visitants just at a time like this." + +"You do not mean what you say, of course," Madame von G. answered; "and +I need not tell you that the sort of superstitious fear which we so +often, in a childish way, feel, is not in any degree inherent in our +organization as human beings. I am certain that it is chiefly traceable +to the foolish stories of ghosts, and so forth, which servants tell us +while we are children." + +"No, Madame," Dagobert answered; "those tales--which we enjoyed more +than any others which we heard as children--would never have raised up +such an enduring echo in us if the strings which re-echo them had not +existed within us to begin with. There is no denying the existence of +the mysterious spirit-world which lies all around us, and often gives +us note of its Being in wondrous, mystic sounds, and even in marvellous +sights. Most probably the shudder of awe with which we receive those +intimations of that spirit-world, and the involuntary fear which +they produce in us, are nothing but the result of our being hemmed +in--imprisoned--by our human organization. The awe and the fear are +merely the modes in which the spirit imprisoned within our bodies +expresses its sorrow thereat." + +"You are a spirit-seer, a believer in all those things--like all people +who have lively imaginations," said Madame von G. "But if I were to go +the length of admitting, and believing, that it is permitted that an +unknown spirit-world should reveal its existence to us by means of +sounds and sights, I should still have to say that I am unable to +comprehend why that mysterious realm, and its denizens, should stand in +such a relation to us that they bring merely paralyzing fear and horror +upon us." + +"Perhaps," Dagobert said, "it is the punishment inflicted on us by that +mother from whose care and discipline we have run away. I mean, that in +that golden age when our race was living in the most perfect union with +all nature, no dread or terror disturbed us, for the simple reason that +in the profound peace and perfect harmony of all created things, there +was nothing hostile that could cause us any such emotion. I was +mentioning strange spirit-sounds; but why is it that all the real +_nature_-tones--of whose origin and causes we can give the most +complete account--sound to us like the most piercing sorrow, and fill +our hearts with the profoundest dread? The most remarkable of those +nature-tones is the air-music, or, as it is called, the 'devil-voice,' +heard in Ceylon and the neighbouring countries, spoken of by Schubert +in his 'Glances at the Night-side of Natural Science.' This nature-tone +is heard on calm and bright nights, sounding like the wail of some +human creature lamenting in the deepest distress. It seems to come +sometimes from the most remote distance, and then again to be quite +close at hand. It affects the human intelligence so powerfully that the +most self-controlled cannot help feeling the deepest terror when they +hear it." + +"Yes," said Moritz, "it is so. I have never been in Ceylon, certainly, +or in any of the neighbouring countries; but I have heard that terrible +nature-sound; and not only I, but every one else who heard it, felt +just that precise effect which Dagobert alludes to." + +"I should be extremely obliged to you," said Dagobert, "and you would +probably convince Madame von G. also, if you would not mind telling us +what happened." + +"You know," Moritz said, "that I served the campaign in Spain under +Wellington, with a mixed force of English and Spanish cavalry against +the French. The night before the battle of Vittoria I was bivouacking +in the open country. Being wearied to death by the long march we had +made during the day, I had fallen into a deep sleep of exhaustion, when +I was awakened by a piercing cry of distress. I naturally thought--and +it was the only idea that came into my mind--that what I heard was the +death-cry of some wounded soldier near me; but the comrades who were +lying round me were all snoring, and there was no other sound to be +heard. The first gleams of the dawn were breaking through the deep +darkness, and I got up and strode away over the bodies of the sleepers, +thinking that I might perhaps come across the wounded man, whoever he +was, who had uttered that cry. It was a singularly calm night, and +only most gradually and imperceptibly did the morning breeze begin to +move, and to cause the leaves to tremble. Then a second cry, like the +former--a long wail of woe--came ringing through the air, and died away +in the remotest distance. It was as though the spirits of the slain +were rising up from the battlefield, and wailing their boundless sorrow +out into the wide heaven. My breast throbbed, was overwhelmed by an +inexpressible awe; all the sorrow which I had ever heard exhaled from +all human breasts was nothing in comparison with that heart-piercing +wail. Our comrades now awoke from their sleep, and, for the third time, +that terrible cry of sorrow arose, and filled the whole air, more +fearful and awful than before. We were all smitten with the profoundest +fear; even the horses were terrified; they snorted and stamped. Many of +the Spaniards fell on their knees and prayed aloud. One of the English +officers told us that he had several times met with this phenomenon in +southern countries; and that it was of electrical origin, and there +would probably be a change in the weather. The Spaniards, with their +bent towards the supernatural, heard in it the mighty voices of +supernatural beings, announcing great events about to happen. In this +they were confirmed when, next day, the battle came thundering in upon +them, with all its horrors." + +"Is there any occasion." Dagobert said, "to go to Ceylon, or to Spain, +to hear these marvellous Nature-tones of sorrow and complaining? Surely +the howling of the storm-wind, the rattling of the hail, the groanings +and creakings of the vanes are just as capable of filling us with +profound terror as are those other Nature-tones we have been speaking +of. Listen to that weird music which some hundreds of fearful voices +are organing down this chimney; or to the strange little spirit-like +ditty which the tea-urn is just beginning to sing." + +"Oh! most ingenious indeed!" cried Madame von G. "Even into the very +tea-urn Dagobert conjures spirits which render themselves cognisable to +us by fearful cries of woe." + +"But he is not far wrong, dear mother!" Angelica said. "I could very +soon be seriously frightened at the extraordinary way in which that +whistling, and rattling, and hissing is going on in the chimney; and +the little tune which the tea-urn is singing, in such a tone of +profound sorrow, is--to me--so eery and uncomfortable, that I shall go +and blow out the spirit lamp, that there may be an end of it at once." + +Angelica rose: her handkerchief fell. Moritz quickly picked it up and +handed it to her. She allowed a glance, full of soul, from her heavenly +eyes to rest upon him; he took her hand, and pressed it fervently to +his lips. + +At that moment Marguerite shuddered convulsively, as if touched by some +electric current, and allowed the glass of punch, which she had just +poured out for Dagobert, to drop from her hand. It shattered to atoms +on the floor. She cast herself down at Madame von G.'s feet sobbing +bitterly--said she was a stupid creature, and implored that she might +be allowed to go to her room. She said that what they had been talking +about had made her frightened and nervous--although she had not +understood it; that she felt frightened still--as if she could not stay +in the room--though she could not explain why; that she was feeling +unwell, and would like to get to bed. So saying, she kissed Madame von +G.'s hands, and bedewed them with the tears she was shedding. + +Dagobert felt the painfulness of the incident, and the necessity of +giving matters a different turn. He, too, fell at Madame von G.'s feet, +and in the most pathetic voice at his command, begged forgiveness for +the culprit. As regarded the stain of punch on the floor, he vowed that +he would put waxed brushes on his feet in the morning, and go figuring +athwart the boards in the most exquisite tours, and steps that ever +inspired the brain of a court dancing-master. + +Madame von G., who had at first been looking very grave over +Marguerite's mishap, strange as it seemed, and inexplicable, cleared up +a little at Dagobert's words. She gave each of them her hand with a +smile and said, "Rise, and wipe away your tears. You are forgiven, +Marguerite; you have this champion of yours to thank that I do not +inflict a very severe punishment upon you. But I can't let you go +altogether scot free. If you _are_ a little out of sorts, you must try +to forget it. I shall ordain you to stay here, be more assiduous than +before at filling the gentlemen's glasses with the punch, and, above +all things, you must reward your champion and defender with a kiss, in +token of your sincere gratitude." + +"So that Virtue is its own reward," Dagobert said, with a comic pathos, +as he took Marguerite's hand. "All I ask of you, beauteous lady," he +continued, "is to believe that the world contains (though you might be +sceptical on the subject) legal luminaries of such a heroic sort that +they do not hesitate a moment to offer themselves up a sacrifice at the +shrine of Innocence and Truth. But we must obey the commands of our +fair judge, from whose award there is no appeal." And he impressed a +fugitive kiss upon Marguerite's lips, and then led her back to her seat +with much solemnity. Marguerite, blushing like a rose, laughed very +heartily; but the bright tears still stood in her eyes. + +"Stupid fool that I am," she cried in French, "have I not got to do +whatever Madame von G. bids me? I will keep perfectly calm. I will go +on making their punch. I will listen to their ghost-stories without +being in the least afraid." + +"Bravo, angelic child," cried Dagobert. "My heroism has infected you, +and the sweetness of your lips has inspired _me_. My imagination has +unfolded new wings, and I feel ready to serve up the most awful events +and mysteries from the 'Regno di Pianto.'" + +"I thought we had done with this unpleasant subject," said Madame von +G. + +"Oh no, mother dear," cried Angelica eagerly; "please to let Dagobert +go on! I am exactly like a child about those things. I don't know +anything I so delight in as a nice ghost story--something that makes +all one's flesh creep." + +"Oh, how I _do_ like that!" Dagobert cried. "Nothing is so utterly +delightful in young ladies as their being tremendously superstitious, +and easily frightened; and I should never dream of marrying a woman who +was not terribly afraid of ghosts." + +"You were saying a little while ago, dear Dagobert," said Moritz, "that +we ought to guard ourselves against--or take care how we allow +ourselves to get into--that dreamy state of awe which is the +commencement of spirit-fear--the dread of the superhuman, the ghostly +world. You have still got to explain to us the _why_." + +"If there is, at the commencement of it, any real cause for that sense +of awesomeness--which is at first so thoroughly blended up with the +_dreamily_ pleasurable--it by no means remains at that stage. Soon +there supervenes a deadly fear--a horror which makes the hair stand on +end; so that the said pleasurable feeling at the commencement would +seem to be the fascination of temptation with which the Spirit World +lures us on and ensnares us. We were talking of certain Nature-tones +which are capable of explanation, and of their fearsome effect upon our +senses. But we at times hear sounds more extraordinary, of which the +origin and cause are indiscoverable by us, and which produce in us the +profoundest awe and terror. All reassuring ideas--such as that they +proceed from some animal in pain, or are produced by currents of air, +or other natural causes--are useless and of no avail. Every one, I +presume, has experienced that, in the night, the very faintest sound, +if only it occurs at regular intervals with pauses between, completely +drives away sleep, and goes on increasingly stirring up one's inward +disquiet till it reaches the point of complete disorganization of the +faculties. Not very long ago I had to spend a night, on a journey, at +an inn, where the landlord put me in a nice, comfortable, lofty, airy +bedroom. In the middle of the night I started up from my sleep, wide +awake. The moon was shining brightly in at the window, which was +uncurtained, so that I could see every article of the furniture, and +even the minutest objects in the room. There was a sound as of water +dropping into some metallic dish. I lay and listened. The drops went on +falling at regular, measured intervals, drip, drip, drip. My dog, who +was lying under the bed, crept out, and went about the room whimpering +and crying, scratching on the walls and on the floor. I felt as if +streams of icy water were running all through me, and the cold +perspiration dripped from my brow. However, I collected myself by a +great effort, and--after first of all giving a good loud shout--I got +out of bed, and went forward to the middle of the room. There the drops +seemed to be falling close in front of me, or rather I should say +_right through_ me into the metal, of which I heard the reverberation +ringing loud and clear as they fell. Then, overcome by terror, I crept +back, somehow, to the bed, and covered myself up with the bedclothes. +And then it seemed to me that the dropping--still going on at the same +regular intervals--grew gradually fainter and fainter, and died away as +if in the distance. I fell into a deep sleep, out of which I did not +wake till it was bright daylight in the morning. The dog had come and +lain down close beside me in bed, and did not move till I got up, when +he jumped up too, barking vigorously, as if he had got over his terror +of the previous night. It occurred to me that it might only be to me +that the (doubtless) natural cause or causes of this strange sound were +a mystery, and I told the landlord of my adventure--of which I still +felt the terror in all my frame. I ended by saying that he could, no +doubt, explain the whole affair to me, but that he ought to have told +me of it beforehand. He turned as pale as a sheet, and begged me never +to tell any one what had happened to me, as he would risk the loss of +his customers. He said many travellers had complained about that sound, +which they had heard on bright moonlight nights--that he had examined +everything with the utmost care and attention, and even had the floor +of that room and the adjoining one taken up, as well as making +inquisition into everything in the neighbourhood, without coming upon +the faintest trace of anything to account for this awe-inspiring noise. +It had not been heard for nearly a year before the night I speak of, +and he had been flattering himself that the Principle--whatever it +might be--which was haunting the room had ceased its operation. But +seeing, to his great alarm, that in this he was mistaken, he determined +that he would never, in any circumstances, allow anybody to pass the +night there again." + +"Oh! how terrible!" cried Angelica, shuddering like one in the cold +stage of an ague. "That is really most terrible! Oh! I am sure I should +have died if anything like that had happened to me! But I have often +woke up from sleep, suddenly, feeling an indescribable, inexplicable +alarm and anxiety, as if I had been going through something terrible +and alarming; and yet, I had not the slightest idea what it was that I +had been going through, nor the very faintest recollection of any +fearful dream, or anything of that kind. Rather I seemed to be waking +from some condition of complete unconsciousness, like death." + +"I know that feeling perfectly well," Dagobert said. "Perhaps it points +straight to the effect upon us of psychical influences external to us, +to which we are compelled to yield ourselves up, whether we choose or +not. Just as the mesmeric subject has no remembrance of the mesmeric +sleep, or of anything which happens in it. Perhaps that sense of fear +and anxiety which we feel on awaking (as we have said), of which the +cause is hidden from us, may be the lingering echo of some mighty spell +which has forced us out of ourselves." + +"I remember very distinctly," Angelica said, "some four years ago, the +night before my fourteenth birthday, awaking in a condition of that +kind. I could not shake off the terror of it for several days +afterwards. But I strove in vain to remember anything about my dream +(if dream it was, that had so terrified me). I knew, and I know quite +well, that in the very dream itself I had told several people--my own +dear mother amongst them--what the dream was, several times. But all I +could remember when I woke was that I had told the dream. I could not +recall the slightest trace of what the dream had been." + +"This strange psychical phenomenon," Dagobert said, "is closely +connected with the magnetic principle." + +"Our conversation is getting more and more dreadful," said Madame von +G. "We are getting deep, and losing ourselves in matters I can't bear +even to think about. Moritz, I must beg you to tell us something +entertaining--outrageous even--that we may get away from this terrible +region of the supernatural." + +"I should be very happy to try," said Moritz, "if you will just allow +me to tell one gruesome tale, which has been hovering on my lips for a +long time. At this moment all my being is so filled with it that I feel +that I could not talk about anything else." + +"Discharge yourself, then," said Madame von G., "from the load of +awesomeness which so weighs upon you. My husband will be home +immediately, and then I should be so delighted to work through some +battle or other with you and him, or to hear you talk in your absorbed +manner about horses, or anything, to get me out of this overstrained +condition into which all this supernatural stuff, I must admit, puts +me." + +"In my last campaign," said Moritz, "I made the acquaintance of a +Russian Lieutenant-Colonel, a Livonian by birth, scarcely thirty, who, +as chance willed it that we should be serving together before the +enemy for a considerable time, soon became my very intimate friend. +Bogislav--that was his Christian name--possessed every quality fitted +to gain for him, everywhere, the highest consideration and the most +sincere regard. He was tall and fine-looking, with an intellectual +face. He possessed masculine beauty, much mental cultivation, and was +kindliness itself, while brave as a lion. He could be particularly +cheerful and entertaining, especially over a glass of wine; but there +would often come over him, and overwhelm him, the thought of something +terrible which had happened to him, leaving traces of the most intense +horror and terror on his face. When this happened he would lapse into +silence, leave the company, and stroll about up and down, alone. In the +field, he used to ride all round the outposts at night, from one to +another, restlessly, only yielding to sleep when completely exhausted; +and as, in addition to this, he would often expose himself to the +extremest danger, without any special necessity, and seemed to seek, in +battle, death, which fled from him--for in the toughest hand-to-hand +engagement never a bullet touched him; no sword-cut came near him--it +seemed evident that his life had been marred by some irreparable +bereavement, or perhaps some rash deed. + +"We stormed, and captured, a fortified castle on the French territory, +and remained quartered there for a day or two, to give the men some +rest. The rooms where Bogislav was quartered were but a few steps from +mine. In the night I was awakened by a gentle knocking at my door. I +asked who was there. My name was called out: I recognised Bogislav's +voice, and went to let him in. There he stood in his night-dress, with +a branched candlestick in his hand, pale as death, with his face +distorted, trembling in every limb, unable to utter a word. + +"'For heaven's sake! what has happened?--what is the matter, dearest +Bogislav?' I cried. I took him to the arm-chair; made him swallow a +glass or two of the full-bodied wine which was on the table; held his +hand fast in mine, and spoke what comforting words I could, in my +ignorance of the cause of his strange condition. + +"He recovered himself by degrees, heaved a deep sigh, and then began, +in a hollow voice: 'No! no! I shall go mad, unless death takes me; God +knows I throw myself with eager longing into his arms. To you, my +faithful Moritz, I will confide my fearful secret. I told you once that +I was in Naples a good many years ago. There I met the daughter of one +of the most distinguished families, and fell deeply in love with her. +She returned my affection, and, as her parents gave their approval, I +saw the fulfilment of my brightest hopes at hand. The wedding-day was +fixed, when there appeared on the scene a Sicilian Count, who came +between us with a most eager suit to my beloved and betrothed. I took +him to task; he insulted me; we met, and I sent my sword through his +body. I hastened to my love; I found her bathed in tears. She called me +the accursed murderer of the man she had adored, and repelled me with +every mark of disgust; screamed and wept in inconsolable sorrow; fell +down fainting, as if stung by a scorpion, when I touched her hand. Who +can describe my amazement! Her parents could not give the slightest +explanation of the sudden change in her. She had never given any +favourable heed to the Count's attentions. + +"'Her father concealed me in his palazzo, and, with the most noble +zeal, took care that I should be enabled to leave Naples undiscovered. +Driven by all the furies, I pushed on to St. Petersburg without a halt. +It is not the faithlessness of my love which plays havoc with my life. +No! it is a terrible mystery. Since that unhappy day in Naples I have +been dogged and pursued by the terrors of hell itself. Often by day, +but still oftener by night, I hear--sometimes as if a long distance +away, sometimes as if quite close beside me--a deep death-groan. It is +the voice of the Count whom I killed! It makes my inmost soul quiver +with horror. I hear that horrible sound distinctly, close to my ear, in +the thick of the thunder of the heavy siege-guns, and the rattle of +musketry, and all the wild despair of madness awakes within me. This +very night----' Bogislav paused; and I, as well as he, was seized with +the wildest horror; for there came to our hearing a long-sustained, +heart-breaking wail of sorrow, as if proceeding from the stair outside. +Then it was as if some one raised himself, groaning and sighing, with +difficulty from the ground, and was coming towards us with heavy, +uncertain steps. + +"At this Bogislav started up from his seat, and, with a wild glow in +his eyes, cried out, in a voice of thunder: 'Appear to me, abominable +one, if you only will! I am more than a match for you, and all the +spirits of hell that are at your disposal!' + +"On this there came a tremendous crash, and----" + +Just then the door of the drawing-room flew open with a startling +noise. + +And just as Ottmar read those words, the door of the summer-house in +which the friends were sitting flew open, also with a startling noise, +and they saw a dark form, wrapped in a mantle, approaching slowly, with +noiseless footfalls, as of a spirit. They all gazed at this form, a +little startled, holding their breaths. + +"Is it right," said Lothair at length, when the full light of the +lamps, falling upon his face, displayed their friend Cyprian. "Is it +right to try to frighten good folks with foolish playing the ghost? +However, I know, Cyprian, that you don't content yourself with studying +spirits and all sorts of strange, visionary matters; you would often +fain be a spook or ghost yourself. But where have you appeared from so +suddenly? How did you find out that we were here?" + +"I came back to-day from my journey," Cyprian said. "I went at once to +see Theodore, Lothair, and Ottmar, but found none of them at home. In +the fullness of my annoyance I ran out here into the open; and chance +so willed it that, as I was returning to the town, I struck into the +walk which leads past this summer-house. Then I seemed to hear a +well-known voice; I peeped in at the window, and saw my worthy Serapion +Brethren, and heard Ottmar reading 'The Uncanny Guest.'" + +"What," interrupted Ottmar, "you know my tale?" + +"You forget," said Cyprian, "that it was from me that you got the +ingredients of the tale. It was I who told you of the 'Devil's Voice,' +the aerial music of Ceylon, who even gave you the idea of the sudden +appearing of the 'Uncanny Guest'; and I am curious to hear how you have +worked out this 'Thema' of mine. You see that it was a matter of course +that just when Ottmar had made the drawing-room door fly open I had +necessarily to do the like, and appear to you myself." + +"Not as an uncanny guest, though," said Theodore, "but as a true and +faithful Serapion Brother, who, although he frightened me not a little, +as I must perforce admit, is a thousand times welcome to me all the +same." + +"And," said Lothair, "if he insists on being a spirit, he must, at all +events, not be an unquiet spirit, but sit down and drink tea, without +making too much clattering with his cup, and listen to Ottmar, as to +whose tale I am all the more curious, that this time it is a working up +of a thema given to him by another." + +Theodore, who was still easily excited after his recent illness, had +been affected by Cyprian's proceedings rather more than was desirable. +He was deadly pale, and it was evident that he had to put some +constraint on himself to appear at his ease. + +Cyprian saw this, and was not a little concerned at what he had done. +"The truth is," he said, "that I had not thought about our friend's +having only recently recovered, and hardly that, from a severe illness. +I was acting contrarily to my own fundamental principle, which totally +prohibits the perpetration of jokes of this description, because it has +often happened that the terrible serious reality of the spirit-world +has come gripping in into jokes of this kind, resulting in very +terrific things. I remember, for instance----" + +"Stop! stop!" cried Lothair. "I can't have any more interruptions. +Cyprian is on the point of carrying us away, after his manner, into +that dark world of spells where he is at home. Please to go on with +your story, Ottmar." Ottmar went on reading. + +And in came a man, dressed in black from top to toe, with a pallid +face, and a set, serious expression. He went up to Madame von G. +with the most courtly bearing of a man of the highest rank, and in +well-selected terms, begged her to pardon him for having been so long +in arriving, though his invitation was of such old standing--but that, +to his regret, he had been detained by having to pay an unavoidable +visit first. Madame von G., unable to recover all in a moment from the +start which his entry had caused her, murmured a few indistinguishable +words, which seemed to amount to saying, would the stranger be kind +enough to take a seat. He drew a chair close to her, and opposite to +Angelica, sat down, and let his eyes pass over every member of the +company. Every one felt paralysed; none could utter a word. Then the +stranger began to speak, saying that he felt he stood doubly in need of +excuses; firstly, for arriving at such a time, and, secondly, for +having made his entrance in such a sudden manner, and so startlingly. +The latter, however, he was not to blame for, inasmuch as the door had +been thrown open in that violent manner by the servant whom he had +found in the hall. Madame von G., overcoming with difficulty the eery +feeling with which she was seized, inquired whom she had the honour of +welcoming. The stranger seemed not to notice this question, his +attention being fixed on Marguerite, who had suddenly become changed in +all her ways and bearing, kept tripping and dancing close up to the +stranger, and telling him, with constant tittering and laughter, and +with much volubility, in French, that they had all been in the very +thick of the most delightful ghost-stories, and that Captain Moritz had +just been saying that some evil spectre ought to make its appearance at +the very instant when he had come in. Madame von G., feeling all the +awkwardness of having to ask this stranger, who had said he came by +invitation, as to his name and so forth, but more distressed and +rendered uncomfortable by his presence, did not repeat her question, +but reprimanded Marguerite for her behaviour, which almost passed the +limits of the "_convenable_." The stranger put a stop to Marguerite's +chatter, turning to the others, and leading the conversation to some +event of indifference which had happened in the neighbourhood. Madame +von G. answered him. Dagobert tried to join in the conversation, which +soon dragged painfully along in detached, interrupted sentences; and +during this, Marguerite kept trilling couplets of French chansons, and +seemed to be trying steps, as if remembering the "tours" of the newest +gavotte, while the others were scarcely capable of moving. They all +felt their breasts oppressed; the presence of the stranger weighed upon +them like the sultry oppressiveness which precedes a thunderstorm. The +words died on their lips when they looked at the deathly pale face of +this uncanny guest. The markedly foreign accent with which he spoke +both French and German indicated that he was neither a German nor a +Frenchman. + +Madame von G. breathed freely, with an enormous sense of relief, when +at length horses were heard drawing up at the door, and the voice of +her husband, Colonel von G., was distinguishable. + +When the Colonel came in, and saw the stranger, he went up to him +quickly, saying, "Heartily welcome to my house, dear Count." Then +turning to his wife, he said, "This is Count S., a very dear friend of +mine; I made his acquaintance in the north, but met him afterwards in +the south." + +Madame von G., whose anxiety began to be relieved, assured the Count, +with pleasant smiles, that it was only because her husband had omitted +to tell her of his visit that he had been received perhaps a little +strangely, and not as a welcome friend ought to have been. Then she +told the Colonel how the conversation had been running all the evening +upon the supernatural; how Moritz had been telling a dreadful story of +events which had happened to him and a friend of his, and that, at the +very moment when he had been saying, "There came a tremendous crash," +the door had flown open, and the Count had come in. + +"Very good indeed," said the Colonel, laughing; "they thought you were +a ghost, dear Count! I fancy I see traces of alarm and nervousness +about Angelica's face still, and Moritz looks as though he had scarcely +shaken off the excitement of the story he was telling. Even Dagobert +does not seem quite in his ordinary spirits. Really, Count, it is a +little too bad to take you for a _revenant_; don't you think so?" + +"Perhaps," the Count replied; "I really may have something more or less +ghostly about me. A good deal is being said nowadays, about people who, +by virtue of some peculiar psychical quality, possess the power of +influencing others, so that they experience very remarkable effects. I +may be endowed with such a power." + +"You are not serious, my dear Count," said Madame von G. "But there is +no doubt that people are discovering very wonderful mysteries +nowadays." + +"People are pampering their curiosity, and weakening their minds over +nursery tales and absurd fancies," was the Count's reply. "We ought all +to take care not to allow ourselves to be infected by this curious +epidemic. However, I interrupted this gentleman at the most interesting +point of his story, and as none of his hearers would like to lose the +finale, the explanation of the mystery, I would beg him to go on with +it." + +To Captain Moritz this stranger Count was not only uncomfortable and +uncanny, but utterly repugnant, in all the depths of his being. In his +words he found--all the more that he gave them out with a most +irritating, self-satisfied smile--something indescribably contemptuous +and insulting; and he replied, in an irritated tone, and with flashing +eyes, that he feared his nursery tales might interfere with the +pleasantness--the sense of enjoyment--which the Count had introduced +into the circle, so that he would prefer to say no more. + +The Count seemed scarcely to notice what Moritz said. Playing with the +gold snuff-box which he had taken in his hand, he asked Madame von +G---- if the "lively" young lady was French. He meant Marguerite, who +kept dancing about the room, trilling. The Colonel went up to her and +asked her, half aloud, if she had gone out of her senses. Marguerite +slunk, abashed, to the tea-table, and sat down there quite quiet. The +Count now took up the conversation, and spoke, in an entertaining +manner, of this and the other events which had recently happened. +Dagobert was scarcely able to put in a word. Moritz stood, red as fire, +with gleaming eyes, as if waiting eagerly for the signal of attack. +Angelica appeared to be completely immersed in the piece of feminine +"work" at which she had set herself to labour. She did not raise an +eyelid. The company separated in complete discomfort. + +"You are a fortunate man," Dagobert cried, when he and Moritz were +alone together. "Doubt no longer that Angelica is much attached to you. +Clearly did I read in her eyes to-day that she is devotedly in love +with you. But the devil is always busy, and sows his poisonous tares +amongst the blooming wheat. Marguerite is on fire with an insane +passion. She loves you with all the wild, passionate pain which only a +fiery temperament is capable of feeling. The senseless way in which she +behaved tonight was the effect of an irresistible outbreak of the +wildest jealousy. When Angelica let fall the handkerchief--when you +took it up and gave it to her--when you kissed her hand--the furies of +hell possessed that poor Marguerite. And you are to blame for that. You +used formerly to take the greatest pains to pay every kind of attention +to that very beautiful French girl. I know well enough that it was only +Angelica whom you had in your mind. Still, those falsely directed +lightnings struck, and set on fire. And now the misfortune is there; +and I do not know how the matter will end without terrible tumult and +trouble." + +"Marguerite be hanged (if I may use such an expression)," said Moritz. +"If Angelica loves me--and ah! I can't believe, quite, that she does--I +am the happiest and the most blest of men, and care nothing about all +the Marguerites in the world, nor their foolishnesses neither. But +another fear has come into my mind. This uncanny, stranger Count, who +came in amongst us like some dark, gloomy mystery--doesn't he seem to +place himself, somehow, most hostilely between her and me? I feel, I +scarce know how, as if some reminiscence came forward out of the dark +background--I could almost describe it as a dream--which reminiscence, +or dream, whichever it may be, brings this Count to my memory under +terrible circumstances of some sort. I feel as though, wherever he +makes his appearance, some awful misfortune must come flashing out of +the depths of the darkness as a result of his conjurations. Did you +notice how often his eyes rested on Angelica, and how, when they did, a +feeble flush tinted his pallid cheeks, and disappeared again rapidly? +The monster has designs upon my darling; and that is why the words +which he addressed to me sounded so insulting. But I will oppose him +and resist him to the very death!" + +Dagobert said the Count was a supernatural sort of fellow, no doubt, +with something very eery and spectral about him, and that it would be +as well to keep a sharp look-out on his proceedings, though, perhaps, +he thought there was less in, or behind, him than one would suppose; +and that the uncanny feelings which everybody had experienced with +regard to him were chiefly attributable to the excited state in which +they had all been when he made his appearance. "Let us face all this +disquieting affair," said Dagobert, "with firm courage and unshakable +confidence. No dark power will bend the head which holds itself up with +true bravery and indomitable resolution." + +A considerable time had elapsed. The Count, whose visits to the +Colonel's house increased in frequency, had rendered himself almost +indispensable. It was universally agreed, now, that the accusation +against him of being uncanny recoiled on those who made it. "He might +very well have styled us uncanny people, with our white faces and odd +behaviour," as said Madame von G----. Everything he said evinced a +store of the most valuable and various information; and although, being +an Italian, he spoke with a foreign accent, his command of the German +language was most perfect and fluent. His narratives had a fire which +bore the hearers irresistibly along, so that even Moritz and Dagobert, +hostile as were their feelings to this stranger, forgot their +repugnance to him when he talked, and when a pleasant smile broke out +over his pale, but handsome and expressive face, and they hung upon his +lips, like Angelica and the others. + +The Colonel's friendship with him had arisen in a way which proved him +to be one of the noblest-minded of men. Chance had brought them +together in the far north, and there the Count, in the most unselfish +and disinterested manner, came to the Colonel's aid in a difficulty in +which he found himself involved, which might have had the most +disastrous consequences to his fortune, if not to his good name and +honour. Deeply sensible of all that he owed him, the Colonel hung on +him with all his soul. + +"It is time," the Colonel said to his wife one day when they were alone +together, "that I should tell you the principal reason why the Count is +here. You remember that he and I, when we were in P----, four years +ago, grew more and more intimate and inseparable, so that at last we +occupied two rooms which opened one into the other. He happened to come +into my room one morning early, and he saw the little miniature of +Angelica, which I had with me, lying on my writing-table. As he looked +more and more closely at it, he lost his self-command in a strange way. +Not able to answer me, he kept gazing at it. He could not take his eyes +from it. He cried out excitedly that he had never seen a more beautiful +creature--had never before known what love was--it was now blazing up +in the depths of his heart. I jested about the extraordinary effect of +the picture on him--called him a second Kalaf, and congratulated him on +the fact that my good Angelica was not a Turandot. At last I told him +pretty clearly that at his time of life--for, though not exactly +elderly, he could not be said to be a very young man--this romantic way +of falling in love with a portrait rather astonished me. But he vowed +most vehemently--nay, with every mark of that passionate excitement, +almost verging on insanity, which belongs to his country--that he loved +Angelica inexpressibly, and, if he were not to be dashed into the +profoundest depths of despair, I must allow him to gain her affection +and her hand. It is for this that the Count has come here to our house. +He fancies he is certain that she is not ill-disposed to him, and he +yesterday laid his formal proposal before me. What do you think of the +affair?" + +Madame von G---- could not explain why his latter words shot through +her being like some sudden shock. "Good heavens," she cried, "_that_ +Count for our Angelica! that utter stranger!" + +"Stranger!" echoed the Colonel with darkened brow; "the Count a +stranger! the man to whom I owe my honour, my freedom, nay, perhaps my +life! I know he is not quite so young as he has been, and perhaps is +not altogether suited to Angelica in point of age; but he is of high +lineage, and rich, very rich." + +"And without asking Angelica," said Madame von G----. "Very likely she +may not have any such liking for him as he, in his fondness, imagines." + +The Colonel started from his chair, and placed himself in front of her +with gleaming eyes. "Have I ever given you cause to imagine," he said, +"that I am one of those idiotic, tyrannical fathers who force their +daughters to marry against their inclinations, in a disgraceful way? +Spare me your absurd romanticisms and sentimentalities. Marriages may +be made without any such extraordinary, fanciful love at first sight, +and so forth. Angelica is all ears when he talks; she looks at him with +most kindly favour; she blushes like a rose when he kisses her hand, +which she willingly leaves in his. And that is how an innocent girl +expresses that inclination which truly blesses a man. There is no +occasion for any of that romantic love which so often runs in your +sex's heads in such a disturbing fashion." + +"I have an idea," said Madame von G----, "that Angelica's heart is not +so free as, perhaps, she herself imagines it is." + +"Nonsense," cried the Colonel, and was on the point of breaking out in +a passion, when the door opened, and Angelica came in, with the +loveliest smile of the most ingenuous simplicity. The Colonel, at once +losing all his irritation, went to her, took her hand, kissed her on +the brow, and sat down close beside her. He spoke of the Count, +praising his noble exterior, intellectual superiority, character, and +disposition; and then asked her if she thought she could care for him. +She answered that at first he had appeared very strange and eery to +her, but that now those feelings had quite disappeared, and that she +liked him very much. + +"Heaven be thanked then!" cried the Colonel. "Thus it was ordained to +turn out, for my comfort, for my happiness. Count S--- loves you, my +darling child, with all his heart. He asks for your hand, and you won't +refuse him." But scarcely had he uttered those words when Angelica, +with a deep sigh, sank back as if insensible. Her mother caught her in +her arms, casting a significant glance at the Colonel, who gazed +speechless at the poor child, who was as pale as death. But she +recovered herself; a burst of tears ran down her cheeks, and she cried, +in a heart-breaking voice, "The Count! the terrible Count! oh, no, no; +never, never!" + +As gently as possible the Colonel asked her why it was that the Count +was so terrible to her. Then Angelica told him that at the instant when +he had said that the Count loved her, that dream which she dreamt four +years before, on the night before her fourteenth birthday--from which +she awoke in such deadly terror without being able to remember the +images or incidents of it in the very slightest--had come back to her +memory quite clearly. + +"I thought," she said, "I was walking in a beautiful garden where there +were strange bushes and flowers which I had never seen the like of +before. Suddenly I found myself close before a wonderful tree with dark +leaves, large flowers, and a curious perfume something like that of the +elder. Its branches were swaying and making a delicious rustling, and +it seemed to be making signs inviting me to rest under its shade. +Irresistibly impelled by some invisible power, I sank down on the grass +which was under the tree. Then strange tones of complaint or lamenting +seemed to come through the air, stirring the tree like the touch of +some breeze; and it began to utter sighs and moans. And I was seized by +an indescribable pain and sorrow; a deep compassion arose in my heart, +I could not tell why. Then, suddenly, a burning beam of light darted +into my breast, and seemed to break my heart in two. I tried to cry +out, but the cry could not make its way from my heart, oppressed with a +nameless anguish--it became a faint sigh. But the beam which had +pierced my heart was the gleam of a pair of eyes which were gazing on +me from under the shade of the branches. Just then the eyes were quite +close to me; and a snow-white hand became visible, describing circles +all round me. And those circles kept getting narrower and narrower, +winding round me like threads of fire, so that, at last, the web of +them was so dense and so close that I could not move. At the same time +I felt that the frightful gaze of those terrible eyes was assuming the +mastery over my inmost being, and utterly possessing my whole existence +and personality. The one idea to which it now clung, as if to a feeble +thread, was, to me, a martyrdom of death-anguish. But the tree bent +down its blossoms towards me, and out of them spoke the beautiful +voice of a youth, which said, 'Angelica! I will save you--I will save +you--but----'" + +Angelica was interrupted. Captain von P---- was announced. He came to +see the Colonel on some matter of duty. As soon as Angelica heard his +name she cried out with the bitterest sorrow, in such a voice as bursts +only from a breast wounded with the deepest love-anguish--while tears +fell down her cheeks--"Moritz! oh, Moritz!" + +Captain von P---- heard those words as he came in; he saw Angelica, +bathed in tears, stretch out her hands to him. Like a man beside +himself he dashed his forage cap to the ground, fell at Angelica's +feet, caught her in his arms, as she sank down overwhelmed with rapture +and sorrow, and pressed her fervently to his heart. + +The Colonel contemplated this little scene in speechless amazement. +Madame von G---- said: "I thought this was how it was; but I was not +sure!" + +"Captain von P----," said the Colonel angrily, "what is there between +you and my daughter?" + +Moritz, quickly recovering himself, placed Angelica--more dead than +alive--gently down on the couch, picked up his cap, advanced to the +Colonel with a face red as fire, and eyes fixed on the ground, and +declared that he loved Angelica unutterably; but that, upon his honour, +until that moment, not a word approaching to a declaration of his +feelings had crossed his lips. He had been but too seriously doubtful +as to its being possible that Angelica could return his love. He said +it was only at this moment--which he could not possibly have +anticipated--that the bliss accorded to him by heaven had been fully +disclosed to him; and that he trusted he should not be repulsed by the +noblest hearted of mankind, the tenderest of fathers, when he implored +him to bestow his blessing on a union sealed by the purest and +sincerest affection. + +The Colonel gazed at Moritz, and then at Angelica, with looks of gloom; +then he paced up and down with folded arms like one who strives to +arrive at a resolution. He paused before his wife, who had taken +Angelica in her arms and was whispering to her words of consolation. + +"What," he inquired, "has this silly dream of yours to do with +Count----?" + +Angelica threw herself at his feet, kissed his hands, bathed them in +her tears, and said, half-audibly, "Oh, father! dearest father! those +terrible eyes which mastered my whole being were the Count's eyes. It +was his spectral hand which wove round me those meshes of fire. But the +voice of comfort which spoke to me out of the perfumed blossoms of the +wondrous tree, was the voice of Moritz--my Moritz!" + +"Your Moritz!" cried the Colonel, turning so quickly that he nearly +threw Angelica down. He continued, speaking to himself in a lower tone: +"Thus a father's wise resolve, and the offer of a grand and noble +gentleman, are to be cast to the winds, for the sake of childish +imaginations, and a clandestine love affair." And he walked up and down +as before. At last, addressing Moritz, he said-- + +"Captain von P----, you know very well what a high opinion of you I +have. I could not have wished for a better son-in-law. But I have +promised my daughter to Count S----, to whom I am bound by the deepest +obligations by which one man can be bound to another. At the same time, +please do not suppose that I am going to play the part of the obstinate +and tyrannical father. I shall hasten to the Count at once. I shall +tell him everything. Your love will be the cause of a cruel difference +between me and this gentleman. It may cost me my life. No matter; it +can't be helped. Wait here till I come back." + +Moritz warmly declared that he would sooner face death a hundred times +than that the Colonel should run the very slightest risk; but the +Colonel hurried away without reply. + +As soon as he had gone, the lovers fell into each other's arms, and +vowed unalterable fidelity. Angelica said that it was not until her +father told her of the Count's views with regard to her, that she felt, +in the depths of her soul, how unspeakably precious and dear Moritz was +to her, and that she would rather die than marry any one else. Also +that she had felt certain for a long time, that he loved her just as +deeply. Then they both bethought themselves of all the occasions when +they had given any betrayal of their love for each other; and, in +short, were in a condition of the highest enjoyment and blissfulness, +like two children, forgetting all about the Colonel and his anger and +opposition. Madame von G----, who had long watched the growth of this +affection, and approved of Angelica's choice with all her heart, +promised, with deep emotion, to leave no stone unturned to prevent the +Colonel from entering into an alliance which she abhorred, without +precisely knowing why. + +When an hour or so had passed, the door opened and, to the surprise of +all, Count S---- came in, followed by the Colonel, whose eyes were +gleaming. The Count went up to Angelica, took her hand, and looked at +her with a smile of bitter pain. Angelica shrank, and murmured almost +inaudibly, "Oh! those eyes!" + +"You turn pale, Mademoiselle," said the Count, "just as you did when +first I came into this house. Do you truly look upon me as a terrible +spectre? No, no; do not be afraid of me, Angelica. I do but love you +with all the fervour and passion of a younger man. I had no knowledge +that you had given away your heart, when I was foolish enough to make +an offer for your hand. Even your father's promise does not give me the +slightest claim to a happiness which it is yours alone to bestow. You +are free, Mademoiselle. Even the sight of me shall no longer remind +you of the moments of sadness which I have caused you. Soon, perhaps +to-morrow, I shall go back to my own country." + +"Moritz! My Moritz!" Angelica cried in the utmost joy and delight, and +threw herself on her lover's breast. The Count trembled in every limb; +his eyes gleamed with an unwonted fire, his lips twitched convulsively; +he uttered a low inarticulate sound. But turning quickly to Madame von +G---- with some indifferent question, he succeeded in mastering his +emotion. + +But the Colonel cried, again and again, "What nobility of mind! What +loftiness of character! Who is there like this man of men--my heart's +own friend for ever!" Then he pressed Moritz, Angelica, and his own +wife, to his heart, and said laughingly, that he did not care to hear +another syllable about the wicked plot they had been laying against +him, and hoped, too, that Angelica would have no more trouble with +spectral eyes. + +It being now well on in the day, the Colonel begged Moritz and the +Count to remain and have dinner. Dagobert was sent for, and arrived in +high spirits. + +When they sat down to table, Marguerite was missing. It appeared she +had shut herself up in her room, saying she was unwell and unable to +join the company. "I do not know," said Madame von G----, "what has +been the matter with Marguerite for some time; she has been full of the +strangest fancies, laughing and crying without apparent reason. Really, +she is at times almost unendurable." + +"Your happiness is Marguerite's death," Dagobert whispered to Moritz. + +"Spirit-seer!" answered Moritz in the same tone, "do not mar my joy." + +The Colonel had never been in better spirits or happier, and Madame von +G---- had never been so pleased in the depths of her heart, relieved as +she was from anxieties which had often been present with her before. +When, in addition to this, Dagobert was revelling in the most brilliant +high-spirits, and the Count, forgetting his pain, suffered the stores +of his much experienced mind to stream forth in rich abundance. It will +be seen that our couple of lovers were encircled by a rich garland of +gladness. + +Evening was coming on, the noblest wines were pearling in the glasses, +toasts to the health of the betrothed pair were drunk enthusiastically; +when suddenly the door opened and Marguerite came tottering in, in +white night-gear, with her hair down, pale, and distorted, like death +itself. + +"Marguerite, what extraordinary conduct!" the Colonel cried. + +But, paying no heed to him, she dragged herself up to Moritz, placed +her ice-cold hand on his breast, laid a gentle kiss on his brow, +murmured in a faint, hollow voice, "The kiss of the dying brings luck +to the happy bridegroom," and sank on the floor. + +"This poor foolish girl is in love with Moritz," Dagobert whispered to +the Count, who answered-- + +"I know. I suppose she has carried her foolishness so far as to take +poison." + +"Good heavens!" cried Dagobert, starting up and hurrying to the +arm-chair where they had placed poor Marguerite. Angelica and her +mother were busy besprinkling her and rubbing her forehead with +essences. When Dagobert went up she opened her eyes. + +"Keep yourself quiet, my dear child," said Madame von G----; "you are +not very well, but you will soon be better--you will soon be better!" + +Marguerite answered in a feeble, hollow voice, "Yes; it will soon be +over. I have taken poison." + +Angelica and her mother screamed aloud. + +"Thousand devils!" cried the Colonel. "The mad creature! Run for the +doctor! Quick! The first and best that's to be found; bring him here +instantly!" + +The servants, Dagobert himself, were setting off in all haste. + +"Stop!" cried the Count, who had been sitting very quietly hitherto, +calmly and leisurely emptying a beaker of his favourite wine--the fiery +Syracuse. "If Marguerite has taken poison, there is no need to send for +a doctor, for, in this case, I am the very best doctor that could +possibly be called in. Leave matters to me." + +He went to Marguerite, who was lying profoundly insensible, only giving +an occasional convulsive twitch. He bent over her, and was seen to take +a small box out of his pocket, from which he took something between his +fingers, and this he gently rubbed over Marguerite's neck and the +region of her heart. Then coming away from her, he said to the others, +"She has taken opium; but she can be saved by means which I can +employ." + +By the Count's directions Marguerite was taken upstairs to her room, +where he remained with her alone. Meanwhile, Madame von G---- had found +the phial which had contained the opium-drops prescribed some time +previously for herself. The unfortunate girl had taken the whole of the +contents of the phial. + +"The Count is really a wonderful man," Dagobert said, with a slight +touch of irony. "He divines everything. The moment he saw Marguerite he +knew she had taken poison, and next he knew exactly the name and colour +of it." + +In half-an-hour the Count came and assured the company that Marguerite +was out of danger, as far as her life was concerned. With a side-glance +at Moritz, he added that he hoped to remove all cause of mischief from +her mind as well. He desired that a maid should sit up with the +patient, whilst he himself would spend the night in the next room, to +be at hand in case anything fresh should transpire; but he wished to +prepare and strengthen himself for this by a few more glasses of wine; +for which end he sat down at table with the other gentlemen, whilst +Angelica and her mother, being upset by what had happened, withdrew. + +The Colonel was greatly annoyed at this silly trick, as he called it, +of Marguerite's, and Moritz and Dagobert felt very eery and uncanny +over the whole affair; but the more out of tune they were the more did +the Count give the rein to a joviality which had never been seen in him +before, and which, in sober truth, had a certain amount of gruesomeness +about it. + +"This Count," Dagobert said to Moritz, as they walked away, "has a +something most eerily repugnant to me about him, in some strange +inexplicable way. I cannot help a feeling that there must be something +exceedingly mysterious connected with him." + +"Ah!" said Moritz, "there is a weight as of lead on my heart. I am +filled with a dim foreboding that some dark mischance threatens my +love." + +That night the Colonel was aroused from sleep by a courier from the +Residenz. Next morning he came to his wife, looking rather pale, and +constraining himself to a calmness which he was far from feeling, said, +"We have to be parted again, dearest child. There's going to be another +campaign, after this little bit of a rest. I shall have to march off +with the regiment as soon as ever I can, perhaps this evening." + +Madame von G---- was greatly startled; she broke out into bitter +weeping. The Colonel said, by way of consolation, that he felt sure +this campaign would end as gloriously as the last--that he felt in such +admirable spirits about it that he was certain nothing could go amiss. +"What you had better do," he said, "is, take Angelica with you to the +country-house, and stay there till we send the enemy to the rightabout +again. I am providing you with a companion who will keep you amused, +and prevent your feeling lonely. Count S---- is going with you." + +"What!" cried Madame von G----. "Good heavens! the Count to go with +us!--Angelica's rejected lover--that deceitful Italian, who is hiding +his annoyance in the bottom of his heart, only to bring it out in +fullest force at the first proper opportunity; this Count who--I cannot +say why--seems more intensely antipathetic to me since yesterday than +ever?" + +"Good God!" the Colonel cried; "there really is no bearing with the +nonsensical ideas--the silly dreams--which your sex gets into its head. +The magnanimity of soul of a man of his firmness and fineness of +character is too much for you to comprehend. The Count passed the whole +night in the room next to Marguerite's, as he said he should do. He was +the first person I told the news of the fresh campaign to. It would +scarcely be possible for him to go home now. This was very annoying to +him, and I gave him the option of going to our country-place and +staying there. He accepted my offer, after much hesitation, and gave me +his word of honour that he would do everything in his power to take +care of you, and make the time of our separation pass as quickly as +possible. You know what obligations I am under to him. My country-place +is, just now, a real asylum for him; could I refuse him that?" + +Madame von G---- could say nothing further. The Colonel did as he had +said he would. In the course of the evening the trumpets sounded boot +and saddle, and every description of nameless pain and heart-breaking +sorrow came upon the loving ones. + +A few days after, when Marguerite had recovered, the three ladies went +off to the country-house. The Count followed, with a number of +servants. + +And at first, the Count, showing the utmost delicacy of feeling, was +careful never to enter the ladies' presence except when they sent for +him specially; at all other times he remained in his own rooms, or went +for solitary walks. + +At first the campaign seemed to go rather in favour of the enemy, but +important successes were soon scored against him, and the Count was +always the very first to hear the news of those operations, and +particularly the most accurate and minute intelligence of what was +happening to the regiment which the Colonel commanded. In the bloodiest +engagements neither the Colonel nor Moritz had met with so much as a +scratch; and the despatches from headquarters confirmed this. + +Thus the Count always appeared to the ladies in the character of a +heavenly messenger of victory and good-fortune; besides this, all his +behaviour betokened the most deep and sincere attachment to Angelica, +which he exhibited to her as the tenderest of fathers might have done, +occupied constantly about her happiness. Both she and her mother were +compelled to admit to themselves that the Colonel's opinion of this +tried friend of his was the correct one, and that all their--and other +people's--prejudices against him had been the most preposterous +fancies. At the same time Marguerite seemed to be quite cured of her +foolish passion, and to have become the same gay, talkative, sprightly +French lady whom we saw at an earlier period. + +A letter from the Colonel to his wife, enclosing one from Moritz to +Angelica, dispelled the last remnant of anxiety. The enemy's capital +city was captured, and an armistice established. + +Angelica was floating in a sea of blissfulness; and always it was the +Count who spoke of the brave deeds of Moritz, and of the happiness +which was opening its blossoms for the lovely future bride. After such +speeches he would take Angelica's hand, press it to his heart, and ask +if he were still as hateful to her as ever. With blushes and tears she +would assure him that she had never hated him, but that she had loved +Moritz too deeply and exclusively not to dread the idea of any other +suitor for her hand. And the Count would say, very solemnly and +seriously, "Look on me as your true, sincere, fatherly friend, +Angelica," breathing a gentle kiss upon her forehead, which she +suffered without ill-will; for it felt much like one of her father's +kisses, which he used to apply about the same place. + +It was almost expected that the Colonel would very soon be home again, +when a letter from him arrived containing the terrible news that Moritz +had been set upon by some armed peasants, as he was passing with his +orderly through a village. Those peasants shot him down at the side of +the brave trooper, who managed to fight his way through; but the +peasants carried Moritz away. Thus the joy with which the house was +inspired was suddenly turned into the deepest and most inconsolable +sorrow. + + +The Colonel's household was all in busy movement from roof to ceiling. +Servants in gay liveries were hurrying to and fro; carriages filled +with guests were rattling into the courtyard, the Colonel in person +receiving them with his new order on his breast. + +In her room upstairs sate Angelica in wedding-dress, beaming in the +full pride of her loveliness: her mother was with her. + +"My dearest child," said the latter, "you have of your own free will +accepted Count S---- as your husband. Much as jour father desired this, +he has never at all insisted on it since poor Moritz's death; indeed, +it seems to me as though he had had much of the feeling which (I cannot +hide from you) I have had myself; it is utterly incomprehensible to me +how you can have forgotten poor Moritz so soon. However, the time has +come; you are giving your hand to the Count. Examine your own heart. It +is not yet too late. May the remembrance of him whom you have forgotten +never fall across your heart like some black shadow." + +"Never," cried Angelica, while the tears ran down her cheeks, "never +can I forget Moritz. Never; oh! never can I love as I loved _him_! What +I feel for the Count is something totally different. I cannot explain +how it is that the Count has made me feel this irresistible attachment +to him; but feel it I do, in every fibre of my being. It is not that I +love him: I do not; I cannot love him in the way I loved Moritz; but +I feel as if I could not, and cannot live apart from him--without +him--independently of him. That it is only through him that I can think +and feel. A spirit voice seems perpetually enjoining me to cleave to +him as a wife; telling me that I _must_ do so, and that unless I do +there is no further, or other life possible for me here below. And I +obey this voice, which I believe to be the mysterious prompting of +Providence." + +The maid here came in to say that Marguerite, who had been missing +since the early part of the morning, had not made her appearance yet, +but that the Gardener had just brought a little note which she had +given him, with instructions to deliver it when he had finished his +work and taken the last of the flowers to the Castle. It was as +follows:-- + +"You will never see me more; a dark mystery drives me from your house. +I implore you--you, who have been to me as a tender mother--not to have +me followed, or brought back by force. My second attempt to kill myself +will be more successful than the first. May Angelica enjoy to the full +that bliss, the idea of which pierces my heart. Farewell for ever! +Forget the unfortunate Marguerite." + +"What is this?" cried Madame von G----; "the poor soul seems to have +set her whole mind upon destroying our happiness. Must she always come +in your way just as you are going to give your hand to the man of your +choice? Let her go; the foolish, ungrateful thing, whom I treated and +cared for as if she had been my own daughter. I shall certainly never +trouble my head about her any more." + +Angelica cried bitterly at the loss of her whom she had looked on as a +sister; her mother implored her not to waste a thought on the foolish +creature at such an important time. + +The guests were assembled in the _salon_, ready, as soon as the +appointed hour should come, to go to the little chapel where a catholic +priest was to marry the couple. The Colonel led in the bride. Everyone +marvelled at her beauty, which was enhanced by the simple richness of +her dress. The Count had not arrived. One quarter of an hour succeeded +another, and still he did not make his appearance. The Colonel went to +the Count's rooms. There he found his valet, who said his master, just +when he was fully dressed for the ceremony, had suddenly felt unwell, +and had gone out for a turn in the park, hoping the fresh air would +revive him, and forbidding him, the valet, to follow him. + +The Colonel could not explain to himself why it was that this +proceeding of the Count's fell on him with such a weight--why it was +that an idea immediately came to him that something terrible had +happened. He sent back to the house to say that the Count would come +very shortly, and that a celebrated doctor, who was one of the guests, +was to be privately told to come out to him as quickly as possible. As +soon as he came, he, the Colonel and the valet, went to search for the +Count in the park. Striking out of the main alley, they went to an open +space surrounded by thick shrubberies, which the Colonel remembered to +have been a favourite resort of the Count's; and there they saw him +sitting on a mossy bank, dressed all in black, with his star sparkling +on his breast, and his hands folded, leaning his back against an +elder-tree in full blossom, staring, motionless, before him. They +shuddered at the sight, for his hollow, darkly-gleaming eyes were +evidently devoid of the faculty of vision. + +"Count S----! what has happened?" the Colonel cried; but there was no +answer, no movement, not the slightest appearance of respiration. The +doctor hurried forward; tore off the Count's coat, waistcoat, and +neckcloth, and rubbed his brow: turning then to the Colonel, he said in +hollow tones, "Human help is useless here. He is dead!--there has been +an attack of apoplexy!" + +The valet broke out into loud lamentations. The Colonel, mastering his +inward horror with all his soldierly self-control, ordered him to hold +his peace, saying, "If we are not careful what we are about, we shall +kill Angelica on the spot." He caused the body to be taken up and +carried by unfrequented paths to a pavilion at some distance, of which +he happened to have the key in his pocket. There he left it under the +valet's charge, and, with the doctor, went back to the chateau again. +Hovering between one resolve and another, he could not make up his mind +whether to conceal the whole matter from Angelica, or tell her, calmly +and quietly, the terrible truth. + +When he came into the house he found everything in the utmost confusion +and consternation. Angelica, in the middle of an animated conversation, +had suddenly closed her eyes, and fallen into a state of profound +insensibility. She was lying on a sofa in an adjoining room. Her face +was not pale, nor in the least distorted; the roses of her cheeks +bloomed brighter and fresher than ever, and her face shone with an +indescribable expression of happiness and delight. She was as one +penetrated with the highest blissfulness. The doctor, after observing +her with the minutest carefulness of examination for a long while, +declared that there was not the least cause for anxiety in her +condition, nor the slightest danger. He said she was (although it was +entirely inexplicable _how_ she was) in a magnetized condition, and +that he would not venture to awaken her from it: she would wake from it +of her own accord presently. + +Meanwhile mysterious whisperings arose amongst the guests. The sudden +death of the Count seemed to have somehow got wind, and they all +dispersed in gloomy silence. One could hear the carriages rolling away. + +Madame von G----, bending over Angelica, watched her every respiration. +She seemed to be whispering words, but none could hear or understand +them. The doctor would not allow her to be undressed; even her gloves +were not to be taken off; he said it would be hurtful even to touch +her. + +All at once she opened her eyes, started up from the sofa, and, with a +resounding cry of "Here he is!" "Here he is!" went rushing out of the +room, through the ante-chamber and down the stairs. + +"She is out of her mind," cried Madame von G----. "Oh, God of Heaven, +she is mad!" "No, no," the Doctor said, "this is not madness; there is +something altogether unheard of taking place," with which he hastened +after her down the steps. + +He saw her speeding like an arrow, with her arms lifted up above her +head, out of the gate and away along the broad high road, her rich +lace-ornamented dress fluttering, and her hair, which had come down, +streaming in the wind. + +A man on horseback was coming tearing up towards her; when he reached +her, he sprang from his horse and clasped her in his arms. Two other +riders who were following him drew rein and dismounted. + +The Colonel, who had followed the doctor in hot haste, stood gazing on +the group in speechless astonishment, rubbing his forehead, as if +striving to keep firm hold of his thoughts. + +It was Moritz who was holding Angelica fast pressed to his heart; +beside him stood Dagobert, and a fine-looking young man in the handsome +uniform of a Russian General. + +"No," cried Angelica over and over again, as the lovers embraced +one another, "I was never untrue to you, my beloved Moritz." And +Moritz cried, "Oh, I know that; I know that quite well, my darling +angel-child. He enchanted you by his satanic arts." + +And he more carried than led her back to the chateau, while the others +followed in silence. Not till he came to the castle did the Colonel +give a profound sigh, as if it was only then that he came fully to his +senses; and, looking round him with questioning glances, said, "What +miracles! what extraordinary events!" + +"Everything will be explained," said Moritz, presenting the stranger to +the Colonel as General Bogislav von Se----n, a Russian officer, his +most intimate friend. + +As soon as they came into the chateau, Moritz, with a wild look, and +unheeding the Colonel's alarmed amazement, cried out, "Where is Count +von S----i?" + +"Among the dead!" said the Colonel, in a hollow voice, "he was seized +with apoplexy an hour ago." + +Angelica shrank and shuddered. "Yes," she said, "that I know. At the +very instant when he died I felt as though some crystal thing within my +being shivered, and broke with a 'kling.' I fell into an extraordinary +state. I think I must have gone on carrying that frightful dream (which +I told you of) further, because, when I came to look at matters again, +I found that those terrible eyes had no more power over me; the web of +fire loosened and broke away. Heavenly blissfulness was all about me. I +saw Moritz, my own Moritz; he was coming to me. I flew to meet him," +and she clasped her arms round him as if she thought he was going to +escape from her again. + +"Praised be Heaven," said Madame von G----. "Now the weight has gone +from my heart which was stifling it. I am freed from that inexpressible +anxiety and alarm which came upon me at the instant when Angelica +promised to marry that terrible Count. I always felt as though she were +betrothing herself to mysterious, unholy powers with her betrothal +ring." + +General von Se----n expressed a desire to see the Count's remains, and +when the body was uncovered and he saw the pale countenance now fixed +in death, he cried, "By Heaven, it is he! It is none other than +himself." + +Angelica had fallen into a gentle sleep in Moritz's arms, and had been +carried to her bed, the doctor thinking that nothing more beneficial +could have happened to her than this slumber, which would rest the +life-spirits, overstrained as they had been. He considered that in this +manner a threatening illness would be naturally dispelled. + +"Now," said the Colonel, "it is time to solve all those riddles and +explain all those miraculous events. Tell us, Moritz, what angel of +Heaven has called you back to life?" + +"You know," said Moritz, "all about the murderous and treacherous +attack which was made upon me near S----, though the armistice had been +proclaimed. I was struck by a bullet, and fell from my horse. How long +I lay in that deathlike state I cannot tell. When I first awoke to a +dim consciousness, I was being moved somewhere, travelling. It was dark +night; several voices were whispering near me. They were speaking +French. Thus I knew that I was badly wounded and in the hands of the +enemy. This thought came upon me with all its horror, and I sank again +into a deep fainting fit. After that came a condition which has only +left me the recollection of a few hours of violent headache; but at +last, one morning, I awoke to complete consciousness. I found myself in +a comfortable, almost sumptuous bed, with silk curtains and great +cords and tassels. The room was lofty, and had silken hangings and +richly-gilt tables and chairs, in the old French style. A strange man +was bending over me and looking closely into my face. He hurried to a +bell-rope and pulled at it hard. Presently the doors opened, and two +men came in, the elder of whom had on an old-fashioned embroidered +coat, and the cross of Saint Louis. The younger came to me, felt my +pulse, and said to the elder, in French, 'All danger is over; he is +saved.' The elder gentleman now introduced himself to me as the +Chevalier de T----. The house was his in which I found myself. He said +he had chanced, on a journey, to be passing through the village at the +very moment when the treacherous attack was made upon me, and the +peasants were going to plunder me. He succeeded in rescuing me, had me +put into a conveyance, and brought to his chateau, which was quite +out of the way of the military routes of communication. Here his own +body-surgeon had applied himself to the arduous task of curing me of my +very serious wound in the head. He said, in conclusion, that he loved +my nation, which had shown him kindness in the stormy revolutionary +times, and was delighted to be able to be of service to me. Everything +in his chateau which could conduce to my comfort or amusement was +freely at my disposal, and he would not, on any pretence, allow me to +leave him until all risk, whether from my wound or the insecurity of +the routes, should be over. All that he regretted was the impossibility +of communicating with my friends for the moment, so as to let them know +where I was. + +"The Chevalier was a widower, and his sons were not with him, so that +there were no other occupants of the chateau but himself, the surgeon, +and a great retinue of servants. It would only weary you were I to tell +you at length how I grew better and better under the care of the +exceedingly able surgeon, and how the Chevalier did everything he +possibly could to make my hermit's life agreeable to me. His +conversation was more intellectual, and his views less shallow, than is +usually the case with his countrymen. He talked on arts and sciences, +but avoided the more novel and recent developments of them as much as +possible. I need not tell you that my sole thought was Angelica, that +it burned my soul to know that she was plunged in sorrow for my death. +I constantly urged the Chevalier to get letters conveyed to our +headquarters. He always declined to do so, on account of the +uncertainty of the attempt, as it seemed as good as certain that +fighting was going on again; but he consoled me by promising that as +soon as I was quite convalescent he would have me sent home safe and +sound, happen what might. From what he said I was led to suppose that +the campaign was going on again, and to the advantage of the allies, +and that he was avoiding telling me so in words from a wish to spare my +feelings. But I need only mention one or two little incidents to +justify the strange conjectures which Dagobert has formed in his mind. +I was nearly free from fever, when one night I suddenly fell into an +incomprehensible condition of dreaminess, the recollection of which +makes me shudder, though that recollection is of the dimmest and most +shadowy kind. I saw Angelica, but her form seemed to be dissolving away +indistinctly in a trembling radiance, and I strove in vain to hold it +fast before me. Another being pressed in between us, laid herself on my +breast, and grasped my heart within me, in the depths of my entity; and +while I was perishing in the most glowing torment, I was at the same +time penetrated with a strange miraculous sense of bliss. Next morning +my eyes fell on a picture hanging near the bed, which I had never seen +there before. I shuddered, for it was Marguerite beaming on me with her +black brilliant eyes. I asked the servant whose picture it was, and +where it came from. He said it was the Chevalier's niece, the Marquise +de T----, and had always been where it was now, only I had not noticed +it; it had been freshly dusted the day before. The Chevalier said the +same. So that, whilst--waking or dreaming--my sole desire was to see +Angelica, what was continually before me was Marguerite. It seemed to +me that I was alienated, estranged, from myself. Some exterior foreign +power seemed to have possession of me, ruling me, taking supreme +command of me. I felt that I could not get away from Marguerite. Never +shall I forget the torture of that condition. + +"One morning, as I was lying in a window seat, refreshing my whole +being by drinking in the perfume and the freshness which the morning +breeze was wafting to me, I heard trumpets in the distance, and +recognized a cheery march-tune of Russian cavalry. My heart throbbed +with rapture and delight. It was as if friendly spirits were coming to +me, wafted on the wings of the wind, speaking to me in lovely voices of +comfort, as if a newly-won life was stretching out hands to me to lift +me from the coffin in which some hostile power had nailed me up. One or +two horsemen came up with lightning speed, right into the castle +enclosure. I looked down, and saw Bogislav. In the excess of my joy I +shouted out his name; the Chevalier came in, pale and annoyed, +stammering out something about an unexpected billeting, and all sorts +of trouble and annoyance. Without attending to him, I ran downstairs +and threw myself into Bogislav's embrace. + +"To my astonishment, I now learned that peace had been proclaimed a +long time before, and that the greater part of the troops were on their +homeward march. All this the Chevalier had concealed from me, keeping +me on in the chateau as his prisoner. Neither Bogislav nor I knew +anything in the shape of a motive for this conduct. But each of us +dimly felt that there must be something in the nature of foul play +about it. The Chevalier was quite a different man from that moment, +sulky and peevish. Even to lack of good breeding, he wearied us with +continual exhibitions of self-will, and naggling about trifles. Nay, +when, in the purest gratitude, I spoke enthusiastically of his having +saved my life, he smiled malignantly; and, in fact, his whole conduct +was that of an incomprehensible eccentric. + +"After a halt of eight-and-forty hours for rest, Bogislav marched off +again, and I went with him. We were delighted when we turned our backs +on the strange old-world place, which now looked to me like some +gloomy, uncanny prison-house. But now, Dagobert, do you go on, for it +is quite your turn to continue the account of the rest of the strange +adventures which we have met with." + +"How," began Dagobert, "can we doubt, and hesitate to believe in, the +marvellous power of foreboding, and fore-knowing, events which lie so +deep in man's nature? I never believed that my friend was dead. That +Spirit or Intelligence (call it whatever you choose) which speaks to +us, comprehensibly, from out our own selves, in our dreams, told me +that Moritz was alive, and that, somehow and somewhere, he was being +held fast in bonds of some most mysterious nature. Angelica's relations +with the Count cut me to the heart; and when, some little time ago, I +came here and found her in a peculiar condition, which, I am obliged to +say, caused me an inward horror (because I seemed to see, as in a magic +mirror, some terrible mysterious secret), there ripened in me a resolve +that I would go on a pilgrimage, by land and water, until I should find +my friend Moritz. I say not a word of my delight when I found him, on +German ground, at A----, and in the company of General von S----en. + +"All the furies of hell awoke in his breast when he heard of Angelica's +betrothal to the Count; but all his execrations and heart-breaking +lamentations at her unfaithfulness to him were silenced when I told +him of certain ideas which I had formed, and assured him that it +was in his power to set the whole matter straight in a moment. General +von Se----en shuddered when I mentioned the Count's name to him, and +when, at his desire, I described his face, figure, and appearance, he +cried, 'Yes, there can be no further doubt. He is the very man!'" + +"You will be surprised," here interrupted the General, "to hear me say +that this Count S----i, many years ago, in Naples, carried away from +me, by means of diabolical arts, a lady whom I deeply and fondly loved. +At the very instant when I ran my sword through his body, both she and +I were seized upon by a hellish illusion which parted us for ever. I +have long known that the wounds which I gave him were not dangerous in +the slightest degree, that he became a suitor for the lady's hand, and, +alas! that on the very day when she was to have been married to him, +she fell down dead, stricken by what was said to be an attack of +apoplexy." + +"Good Heavens!" cried Madame von G----. "No doubt a similar fate was +hanging over my darling child! But how is it that I feel this is so?" + +"The voice of the boding Spirit tells you so, Madame," said Dagobert. + +"And then," said Madame von G----, "that terrible apparition which +Moritz was telling us of that evening when the Count came in in such a +mysterious way?" + +"As I was telling you then," said Moritz, "there fell a crashing blow. +An ice-cold deathly air blew upon me, and it seemed to me that a pale +indistinct form went hovering and rustling across the room, in +wavering, scarcely distinguishable outlines. I mastered my terror with +all the might of my reason. All I seemed to be conscious of was that +Bogislav was lying stiff, cold, and rigid, like a man dead. When he had +been brought back to consciousness, with great pains and trouble, by +the doctor who was summoned, he feebly reached out his hand to me, and +said, 'Soon, to-morrow at latest, all my sorrows will be over.' And it +really happened as he said, though it was the will of Providence that +it should come about in quite a different way to that which we +anticipated. In the thick of the fighting, next morning, a spent ball +struck him on the breast and knocked him out of his saddle. This kindly +ball shattered the portrait of his false love, which he wore next to +his heart, into a thousand splinters. His contusion soon healed, and +since that moment Bogislav has been quite free from everything of an +uncanny nature." + +"It is as he says," said the General, "and the very memory of her who +is lost to me does no more than produce in me that gentle sadness which +is so soothing to the heart. But I hope our friend Dagobert will go on +to tell you what happened to us further." + +"We made all haste away from A----," Dagobert resumed, "and this +morning, just as day was breaking, we reached the little town of P---, +about six miles from this place, meaning to rest there for an hour or +two, and then come on here. Imagine the feelings of Moritz and me when, +from one of the rooms in the inn, we saw Marguerite come bursting out +upon us, with insanity clearly written on her pallid face. She fell at +Moritz's feet and embraced his knees, weeping bitterly, calling herself +the blackest of criminals, worthy a thousand deaths. She implored him +to end her life on the spot. Moritz repulsed her with the deepest +abhorrence, and rushed away from the house." + +"Yes," said Moritz, "when I saw Marguerite at my feet, all the torments +of that terrible condition in which I had been at the Chevalier's came +back upon me, goading me into a state of fury such as I had never known +before. I could scarcely help running my sword through her heart; but I +succeeded in mastering myself, and I made my escape after a mighty +effort." + +"I lifted Marguerite up from the floor," Dagobert continued, "and +helped her to her room. I succeeded in calming her, and heard her tell +me, in broken sentences, exactly what I had expected and anticipated. +She gave me a letter from the Count, which had reached her the previous +midnight. I have it here." + +He produced it, and read it as follows:-- + +"Fly, Marguerite! All is lost! The detested one is coming quickly. All +my science, knowledge, and skill are of no avail to me as against the +dark fate and destiny about to overtake me at the very culminating +point of my career. + +"Marguerite, I have initiated you into mysteries which would have +annihilated any ordinary woman had she endeavoured to comprehend them. +But you, with your exceptional mental powers, and firm, strong will and +resolution, have been a worthy pupil to the deeply experienced master. +Your help has been most precious to me. It was through you that I +controlled Angelica's mind, and all her inner being. And, to reward +you, it was my desire to prepare for you the bliss of your life, +according to the manner in which your heart conceived it; and I dared +to enter within circles the most mysterious, the most perilous. I +undertook operations which often terrified even myself. In vain. Fly, +or your destruction is certain. Until the supreme moment comes I shall +battle bravely on against the hostile powers. But I know well that that +supreme moment brings to me instant death. But I will die all alone. +When the supreme moment comes I shall go to that mysterious tree, under +whose shadow I have so often spoken to you of the wondrous secrets +which were known to me, and at my command. + +"Marguerite, keep aloof from those secrets for evermore. Nature, +terrible mother, angry when her precocious children prematurely pry +into her secrets and pluck at the veil which covers her mysteries, +throws to them some glittering toy which lures them on until its +destroying power is directed against them. I myself once caused the +death of a woman, who perished at the very moment when I thought I was +going to take her to my heart with the most fervid affection; and this +paralysed my powers. Yet, dolt that I was, I still thought I should +find bliss here on earth. Farewell, Marguerite, farewell. Go back to +your own country. Go to S----. The Chevalier de T---- will charge +himself with your welfare and happiness. Farewell." + +As Dagobert read this letter, all the auditors felt an inward shudder, +and Madame von G---- said, "I shall be compelled to believe in things +which my whole heart and soul refuse to credit. However, I certainly +never could understand now it was that Angelica forgot Moritz so +quickly and devoted herself to the Count. At the same time I cannot but +remember that she was all the time in an extraordinary, unnatural +condition of excitement, and that was a circumstance which filled me +with the most torturing anxiety. I remember that her inclination for +the Count showed itself at first in a very strange way. She told me she +used to have the most vivid and delightful dreams of him nearly every +night." + +"Exactly," said Dagobert. "Marguerite told me that, by the Count's +directions, she used to sit whole nights by Angelica's bedside, +breathing the Count's name into her ear very, very softly. And the +Count would very often come into the room about midnight, fix a +steadfast gaze on Angelica for several minutes together, and then go +away again. But now that I have read you the Count's letter, is there +any need of commentary? His aim was to operate psychically upon the +Inner Principle by various mysterious processes and arts, and in this +he succeeded, by virtue of special qualifications of his nature. There +were most intimate relations between him and the Chevalier de T----, +both of them being members of that secret society or 'school' which has +a certain number of representatives in France and Italy, and is +supposed to be descended from, or a continuation of, the celebrated +P---- school. It was at the Count's instigation that the Chevalier kept +Moritz so long shut up in his chateau, and practised all sorts of +love-spells on him. I myself could go deeper into this subject, and say +more about the mysterious means by which the Count could influence the +Psychic Principle of others, as Marguerite divulged some of them to me. +I could explain many matters by a science which is not altogether +unknown to me, though I prefer not to call it by its name, for fear of +being misunderstood. However, I had rather avoid all those subjects, +to-day at all events." + +"Oh, pray avoid them for ever," cried Madame von G----. "No more +reference to the dark, unknown realm, the abode of fear and horror. I +thank the Eternal Power, which has rescued my beloved child, and freed +us from the uncanny guest who brought us such terrible trouble." + +It was arranged that they should go back to town the following day, +except the Colonel and Dagobert, who stayed behind to see to the burial +of the Count's remains. + +When Angelica had long been Moritz's happy wife, it chanced that one +stormy November evening the family, and Dagobert, were sitting round +the fire in the very room into which Count S---- had made his entry in +such a spectral fashion. Just as then, mysterious voices were piping, +awakened by the storm-wind in the chimney. + +"Do you remember?" said Madame von G----. + +"Come, come," cried the Colonel; "no ghost stories, I beg." But +Angelica and Moritz spoke of what their feelings had been on that +evening long ago; of their having been so devotedly in love with each +other, and unable to help attaching the most overweening importance to +every little incident which occurred: how the pure beam of that love of +theirs had been reflected by everything, and even the sweet bond of +alarm wove itself out of loving, longing hearts--and how the Uncanny +Guest, heralded by all the spectral voices of ill-omen, had brought +terror upon them. "Does it not seem to you, dearest Moritz," said +Angelica, "that the strange tones of the storm-wind, as we hear them +now, are speaking to us, only of our love, in the kindliest possible +tones?" + +"Yes! yes!" said Dagobert, "and the singing of the kettle sounds +to-night to _me_ much more like a little cradle song than anything +eerie." + +Angelica hid her blushing face on Moritz's breast. And _he_--for his +part--clasped his arm round his beautiful wife, and softly whispered, +"Is there, here below, a higher bliss than this?" + + +"I see very plainly," said Ottmar, when he had finished, and the +friends still sat in gloomy silence, "that my little story has not +pleased you particularly, so we had better not say much more about it, +but consign it to oblivion." + +"The very best thing we could do," said Lothair. + +"And yet," Cyprian said, "I must take up the cudgels for my friend. +Of course you will say that I am to some extent mixed up in the +matter--that Ottmar has taken a good many of the germs of the story +from me, and on this occasion has been cooking in my kitchen, so that +you won't be disposed to allow me to be a judge in the case. Yet, +unless you mean to condemn everything without the slightest remorse, +like so many Rhadamanthuses--you must admit, yourselves, that there is +much in Ottmar's story which must be allowed to pass as genuinely +Serapiontic; the beginning, for instance." + +"Quite right," said Theodore; "the party round the tea-table may pass +as from the life, as well as many other points during the course of the +tale. But, to speak candidly, we have had a very large assortment of +spectral characters such as the stranger Count, and it will soon be a +difficult matter to go on giving them novelty and originality. He is +too much like Alban in 'The Magnetizer.' You know the tale I mean, and +indeed that story and Ottmar's have both the same _motif_. Wherefore I +wish I might beg our Ottmar and you, Cyprian, to leave monsters of that +sort out of the game in future. For Ottmar this will be possible, but +for you, Cyprian, I am not so sure that it will. So that we shall have +to allow _you_ to serve us up a 'Spook' of the kind now and then, I +suppose, only stipulating that it shall be truly Serapiontic, _i.e._ +come out of the very inmost depths of your imagination. Moreover 'The +Magnetizer' _seems_ rhapsodical, but the 'Uncanny Guest' is rhapsodical +in very truth." + +"I must take up the cudgels for my friend in this respect too," said +Cyprian, "and tell you that, in the very neighbourhood of this place +where we are at this moment, there actually happened an event, not very +long ago, by no means unlike the incidents of this story. Into a quiet +happy group of friends, just when supernatural matters were forming the +subject of conversation, there suddenly came a stranger, who struck +every one as being uncanny and terrifying, notwithstanding his apparent +everydayness, and seeming belonging to the common level. By his arrival +this stranger not only spoiled the enjoyment of the evening in +question, but subsequently destroyed the peace and happiness of the +family for a long period. Even at this day deadly shudders seize a +happy wife when she thinks of the crafty wickedness with which this +person tried to entangle her in his nets. I told this at the time to +Ottmar, and nothing made a greater impression on him than the moment +when the stranger made his spectral entry, and the sense of the +propinquity of the hostile Spiritual Principle seized upon every one +present with a sudden terror. This moment came vividly to Ottmar's +mind, and formed the groundwork of his tale." + +"But," said Ottmar, "as a single incident is far from being a complete +story--which ought to spring perfect and complete from its author's +brain, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter--my tale is of course not +worth much as a whole, and it is little to my credit, I suppose, that I +took advantage of two or three incidents which really happened, weaving +them--not without some little success perhaps--into a network of the +imaginary." + +"Yes," said Lothair, "you are right, my friend. A single striking +incident is far from being a tale, just as one well-imagined theatrical +situation is a long way from constituting a play. This reminds me of +the way in which a certain playwright (who no longer walks this world, +and whose terrible death certainly atoned for any shortcomings of his +during his life, and reconciled his worst enemies to him) used to +construct his pieces. In a company where I was present, he said, +without any concealment, that he selected some one's good dramatic +situation which occurred to him, and then, solely for the sake of that, +hung a canvas round it and painted away upon it 'just whatever came in +his head,' or 'as best he could,' to use his own expressions. This +gave me a complete explanation of, and threw a dazzling flood of light +upon, the whole character and inner being of that writer's pieces, +particularly those of his later period. None of them is without some +very happily devised central situation, but all round this the scenes, +which he made up out of commonplace material, are woven like a loosely +knitted web, although the hand of that weaver, skilled as it is in +_technique_, is never to be mistaken." + +"Never, say you?" remarked Theodore. "I have been always waiting and +looking out for the points where that writer would abandon his +commonplaces, and rise into the region of romance and true poetry. The +most striking and melancholy instance of what I mean is the so-called +Romantic Drama, 'Deodata'; a strange nondescript production, on which a +clever composer ought not to have wasted capital music. There can be no +more striking proof of the utter want of infelt poetry, of any +conception of the higher dramatic life, than where the author of +'Deodata,' in his preface, finds fault with Opera because it is +unnatural that people should sing on the stage, and next goes on to +explain that he has been at pains to introduce the singing, which is +incidental to it, always in a natural manner." + +"_De mortuis nil nisi bonum_," said Cyprian, "let the dead repose in +peace." + +"And all the more," said Lothair, "that I see midnight is close at +hand, and he might avail himself of that circumstance to give us a box +or two on the ear (as he is said to have done to his critics in life) +with his invisible fist." + +Just then the carriage which Lothair had sent for on account of +Theodore's still invalid condition, came rolling up, and the friends +went back in it to town. + + + + + SECTION SIXTH. + + +It so happened that some irresistible psychic force had impelled +Sylvester back to town, although, as a rule, nothing in the world would +induce him to leave the country at the time of year when the weather +was at its pleasantest. A little theatrical piece which he had written +was going to be produced, and it seems an impossibility for an author +to miss a first performance of one of his pieces, even though he may +have to contend with a world of trouble and anxiety in connection with +it. Moreover, Vincent, too, had emerged from the crowd, so that, for +the time at least, the Serapion Brotherhood was fairly reestablished; +they held their meeting in the same pleasant public-garden where they +had last assembled. + +Sylvester was not like the same man; he was in better spirits and more +talkative than when he was last seen, and taking him all over, like one +who had experienced some piece of great good fortune. + +"Was it not well," said Lothair, "that we put off our meeting until our +friend's piece had been produced? otherwise we should have found our +good brother preoccupied, uninterested in our conversation, oppressed +as with a heavy burden. His piece would have been haunting him like +some distressful spectre, but now that it has burst its chrysalis and +fluttered away like a beautiful butterfly into the empyrean, and has +not sued for universal favour in vain, everything is clear and bright +within him. He stands glorified in the radiance of deserved applause +which has fallen so richly to his share, and we won't, for a moment, +take it ill of him that he looks down upon us with the least bit of +pardonable pride, seeing that not one of us can boast of having done +what he has; namely, electrified some six or eight hundred people with +one spark; but let everybody have his due. Your piece is good, +Sylvester; but you must admit that the admirable rendering was what +gave it its wings. You must really have been greatly satisfied with the +actors, were you not?" + +"I certainly was," said Sylvester, "although at the same time it is +very difficult to please the author of a play with the performance of +it. You see, he is himself each of the characters of the piece; and all +their most intimate peculiarities, with all their necessary conditions, +have taken their origin in his own brain; and it seems impossible to +him that any other person shall so appropriate, and make his own, those +intimate thoughts of his which are peculiar to and innate in the +character as to be able to bring them forth into actual life. The +author, however, insists in his own mind upon this being done; and the +more vividly he has conceived the character, the more is he +discontented with the very slightest shortcoming, or alteration in it, +which he can discover in the actor's rendering of it. Certain is it +that the author suffers an anxiety which destroys all his pleasure in +the representation, and it is only when he can manage to soar above +this anxiousness, and see his character, the character which he has +invented, portrayed before his eyes, just as he saw it rise before his +mental vision, that he is able to enjoy, to some extent, seeing his +piece represented." + +"Still," said Ottmar, "any annoyance which a playwright may feel, when +he sees other characters, quite dissimilar from his own, represented +instead of them, is richly compensated for by the applause of the +public, to which no author can, or should, be indifferent." + +"No doubt," said Sylvester; "and as it is to the actor who is playing +the part that the applause is, in the first instance, given, the +author, who from his distant seat is looking on with trembling and +anxiety, yea, often with anger and disgust, at last becomes convinced +that the character (not at all his character) which is speaking the +speeches of his one on the stage, is, at all events, not so very bad +after all as might have been. Also it is quite true, and no reasonable +author, who is not entirely shut up in himself, will deny it, that many +a clever actor, who has formed a vivid conception of a character, +develops features in that character which he himself did not think of, +at least not distinctly, and which he must nevertheless admit to be +good and appropriate. The author sees a character which was born in his +own most inmost elements, appearing before him in a shape new and +strange to him. Yet this shape is by no means foreign to the elements +of the genesis of the character, nay it does not seem now possible that +it could have assumed a different form; and he feels a glad +astonishment over this thing, which is really his own, although it +seems so different; just as if he had suddenly come upon a treasure in +his garret, whose existence he had not dreamt of." + +"There," said Ottmar, "spoke my dear kind-hearted Sylvester, who does +not know the meaning of the word 'vanity,' that vanity which has +stifled many a great and true talent. There is one writer for the stage +who once said, without the slightest hesitation, that there are no +actors capable of understanding the soul which dwells within him, or of +representing the characters which he creates. How wholly otherwise was +it with our grand and glorious Schiller, who once got into that state +of delighted surprise of which Sylvester speaks, when he saw his +Wallenstein performed, and declared that it was then, for the first +time, that he had seen his hero visibly in flesh and blood before his +eyes. It was Fleck, the for ever unforgettable hero of our stage, who +played Wallenstein then." + +"On the whole," said Lothair, "I am convinced, and the instance which +Ottmar has given confirms me, that the writer on whom, in the depths of +his soul, the true recognition and comprehension of art, and with them, +that worship which they give to the creating formative spirit of the +universe, have arisen in light, cannot lower himself to the degraded +idol-cult, which worships only its own self as being the Fetish that +created all things. It is very easy for a great talent to be mistaken +for real genius. But time dispels every illusion: talent succumbs to +the attacks of time, but they have no effect on true genius, which +lives on in invulnerable strength and beauty. But, to return to our +Sylvester, and his theatre-piece, I must declare to you that I cannot +understand how any one can come to the heroic decision to permit a +work, for which he is indebted to his imagination, and to fortunate +creative impulses, to be acted before him on the slippery, risky, +uncertain boards of the stage." + +The friends laughed, thinking that Lothair was, after his wont, going +to utter some quaint, out-of-the-way opinion. + +"Am I," asked he, "really a strange being who often thinks things which +other people are not very apt to think? Well, be that as it may; I say +again that when a fairly good writer, who has genuine talent, such as +our Sylvester, puts a piece upon the stage, it feels to me very much as +if he made up his mind to jump out of a third-floor window, and take +his chance of what might happen to him. I am going to make a +confession; when I told you I did not go to the theatre on the first +night of Sylvester's piece, I told you a lie. Of course I went; and sat +on a back seat, a second Sylvester, a second author of the piece, for +it is impossible that he can have felt the strain of anxiety, the +strange feeling compounded of pleasure and its opposite, the +restlessness amounting to real pain, in any greater degree than I did +myself. Every word of the players, every gesture of theirs, took my +breath away, and I kept saying to myself, 'Oh, gracious heavens, is it +possible that that will do, that it will go down with the audience? and +is the author responsible whether it does or not?'" + +"You make the thing worse than it is," said Sylvester. "I feel a +disagreeable oppression of the breath, particularly at the beginning; +but if matters are going on pretty well, and the public expresses +itself favourably, this gradually goes off, and makes room for a very +pleasant sensation, in which I think selfish satisfaction with one's +own production occupies the principal place." + +"Oh! you theatre-writers," cried out Vincent, "you are the most +conceited of all. The applause of the multitude is, to you, the very +honey of Hybla, and you sip and swallow it with the daintiest of faces +and the sweetest of smiles. But I am going to take up the role of +devil's advocate, and add that you are as little to be found fault +with, for your anxiousness and eagerness (which many folks think are +nothing but the pangs of your vanity), as anybody else who is playing a +great and risky game. You are staking yourselves; winning means +applause, but losing means not only deserved blame, but (if this +amounts to a distinct public expression of it) that besmirching of the +ludicrous which is the bitterest and (as the French think) the most +fearful and damnable condemnation which a man can' experience here +below. A virtuous Frenchman would, therefore, much rather be considered +a vile reprobate than be laughed at, and it is quite certain that a ban +of being ludicrous always falls on any playwright who has been +(theatrically speaking) 'damned'; and he never shakes it off in all his +lifetime. Even future success is a most questionable affair, and many a +man who has had this misfortune happen to him, has fled in his despair +to the doleful wilderness of those productions which possess the +outward appearance of theatrical pieces, but, as their authors solemnly +assure us, are not meant for representation." + +"I," said Theodore, "can corroborate you both most thoroughly from my +own experience, that it is a most hazardous matter to put a work on to +the stage. What it really amounts to is, that you are committing a +property of yours to the mercy of the winds and the waves. When one +remembers how many thousand accidental contingencies the effect of a +work depends upon, how very often the deeply considered and carefully +contrived effect of some passage is shipwrecked by the blunder, the +unskilfulness, or the mistake of a singer or instrumentalist; how +often--" + +Vincent here interrupted with a vigourous cry of "hear! hear!" + +"I cry 'hear! hear!'" he explained, "as the noble lords in the English +Parliament do when one of them is just going to let the cat out of the +bag. Theodore's head is full of nothing but the opera which he put upon +the stage a few years ago. At the time, he said, 'When I had attended a +dozen rehearsals which were more or less useless and pretty much +burked, and when the last one came, and the conductor evidently had +very little real idea of my score, or about the piece as a whole, I +gave things up, and felt quite calm in my mind as to the very dubious +destiny which was hanging over my production like a most threatening +thunder-cloud.' I said, 'If it is failure, a failure let it be; I am +far away aloft above all an author's anxieties and uneasinesses.' With +other pretty speeches of a like nature. But when I saw my friend on the +day of the performance, and when it came to be time to go to the +theatre, he suddenly turned as white as a sheet (though he smiled and +laughed a great deal, nobody quite knew at what), and gave us the most +eager assurances that he had almost forgotten that that was the night +when his opera was to be given--tried, when putting on his greatcoat, +to stick his right arm into the left sleeve, so that I had to help him +on with it--and then ran off across the street like one possessed, +without a word. And, as the first chords of his overture sounded just +as he was getting into his box, he tumbled into the arms of the +terrified boxkeeper. Then--" + +"There, there!" cried Theodore, "that's enough about my opera, and the +execution of it. I shall be very glad to tell you as much as you please +about them any time when we happen to be having a regular talk about +music; but not another word to-night." + +"We have said enough, and more than enough," said Lothair, "on this +particular subject, and by way of winding it up, I may just say that +there is a little anecdote of Voltaire which pleases me greatly. Once, +when one of his tragedies--I think it was Zaire--was going to be given +for the first time, he was in such a terror of anxiety about its fate, +that he did not dare to be present himself; but all the way between his +house and the theatre he had people posted to send him messages every +two or three minutes, by a code of signals, bow the piece was going; so +that he was able to suffer all the torments of the Author comfortably, +_en robe de chambre_, in his own room." + +"Now," cried Sylvester, "wouldn't that make a capital scene on the +stage? and what a splendid part it would be for a character actor. +Think of Voltaire on the boards. News comes that 'The public is +disturbed, uneasy.' 'Ha!' he cries, 'frivolous race! can any one +awaken your sympathy?' Next comes a message that 'the public is +applauding--shouting in delight.' 'Oh! great, grand, noble Frenchmen,' +he cries, 'you comprehend your Voltaire--you are worthy of him.' 'The +public is hissing, and there are one or two catcalls audible.' 'Ah! +traitors! this to me--to me!'" + +"Enough, enough," said Ottmar. "Sylvester is so inspired by his success +that he is favouring us with a scene of a comedy instead of--like a +proper Serapion Brother--reading us a tale, the most interesting +subject of which he told me of, in writing, and which I know he has +finished and brought with him." + +"Our having been talking of Voltaire," said Sylvester, "may lead us to +think of his 'Siecle de Louis XIV.,' and of that period itself, in +which I have laid the scenes of the story which I now venture, with all +modesty, to submit, hoping for your favourable opinion." + +He read:-- + + + + MADEMOISELLE SCUDERI: + A Tale Of The Times Of Louis The Fourteenth. + +Magdaleine Scuderi, so famous for her charming poetical and other +writings, lived in a small mansion in the Rue St. Honore, by favour of +Louis the 14th and Madame Maintenon. + +Late one night--about midnight--in the autumn of the year 1680, there +came a knocking at the door of this house, so loud and violent that it +shook the very ground. Baptiste, who filled the offices of cook, +butler, and doorkeeper in the lady's modest establishment, had gone, by +her leave, to the country to his sister's wedding, so that La +Martiniere, the _femme de chambre_, was the only person still awake in +the house. She heard this knocking, which went on without ceasing +almost, and she remembered that, as Baptiste was away, she and her +mistress were alone and unprotected. She thought of the housebreakings, +robberies, and murders which were so frequent in Paris at that time, +and felt convinced that some of the numerous bands of malefactors, +knowing the defenceless state of the house that night, were raising +this alarum at the door, and would commit some outrage if it was +opened; so she remained in her room, trembling and terrified, +anathematizing Baptiste, and his sister's marriage into the bargain. + +Meantime the thundering knocking went on at the door, and she thought +she heard a voice calling in the intervals, "Open, for the love of +Christ! Open!--open!" At last, her alarm increasing, she took her +candle and ran out on to the landing, where she distinctly heard the +voice crying, "Open the door, for the love of Christ!" + +"After all," she said to herself, "one knows that a robber would not be +crying out in that way. Perhaps it is somebody who is being pursued and +is come to my lady for refuge. She is known to be always ready to do a +kind action--but we must be very careful!" + +She opened a window, and called down into the street, asking who it was +who was making such a tremendous thundering at the door at that time of +the night, rousing everybody from their sleep. This she did in a voice +which she tried to make as like a man's as she could. By the glimmer of +the moon, which was beginning to break through dark clouds, she could +make out a tall figure, in a long grey cloak, with a broad hat drawn +down over the forehead. Then she cried, in a loud voice, so that this +person in the street should hear, "Baptiste! Claude! Pierre! Get up, +and see who this rascal is who is trying to get in at this time of +night." But a gentle, entreating voice spake from beneath, saying, "Ah, +La Martiniere, I know it is you, you kind soul, though you are trying +to alter your voice; and I know well enough that Baptiste is away in +the country, and that there is nobody in the house but your mistress +and yourself. Let me in. I _must_ speak with your lady this instant." + +"Do you imagine," asked La Martiniere, "that my lady is going to speak +to you in the middle of the night? Can't you understand that she has +been in bed ever so long, and that it is as much as my place is worth +to awaken her out of her first sweet sleep, which is so precious to a +person at her time of life?" + +"I know," answered the person beneath, "that she has just this moment +put away the manuscript of the novel 'Clelia,' at which she is working +so hard, and is writing some verses which she means to read to-morrow +at Madame de Maintenon's. I implore you, Madame La Martiniere, be so +compassionate as to open the door. Upon your doing so depends the +escape of an unfortunate creature from destruction. Nay, honour, +freedom, a human life, depend on this moment in which I _must_ speak +with your lady. Remember, her anger will rest upon you for ever when +she comes to know that it was you who cruelly drove away from her door +the unfortunate wretch who came to beg for her help." + +"But why should you come for her help at such an extraordinary time of +the night?" asked La Martiniere. "Come back in the morning at a +reasonable hour." But the reply came up, "Does destiny, when it strikes +like the destroying lightning, consider hours and times? When there is +but one moment when rescue is possible, is help to be put off? Open me +the door. Have no fear of a wretched being who is without defence, +hunted, under the pressure of a terrible fate, and flies to your lady +for succour from the most imminent peril." + +La Martiniere heard the stranger moaning and groaning as he uttered +those words in the deepest sorrow, and the tone of his voice was that +of a youth, soft and gentle, and going profoundly to the heart. She was +deeply touched, and without much more hesitation she went and fetched +the key. + +As soon as she opened the door, the form shrouded in the mantle burst +violently in, and passing La Martiniere, cried in a wild voice, "Take +me to your lady!" La Martiniere held up the light which she was +carrying, and the glimmer fell on the face of a very young man, +distorted and frightfully drawn, and as pale as death. She almost fell +down on the landing for terror when he opened his cloak and showed the +glittering hilt of a stiletto sticking in his doublet. He flashed his +gleaming eyes at her, and cried, more wildly than before, "Take me to +your lady, I tell you." + +La Martiniere saw that her mistress was in the utmost danger. All her +affection for her, who was to her as the kindest of mothers, flamed up +and created a courage which she herself would scarcely have thought +herself capable of. She quickly closed the door of her room, moved +rapidly in front of it, and said, in a brave, firm voice, "Your furious +behaviour, now that you have got into the house, is very different to +what might have been expected from the way you spoke down in the +street. I see now that I had pity on you a little too easily. My lady +you shall not see or speak with at this hour. If you have no bad +designs, and are not afraid to show yourself in daylight, come and tell +her your business to-morrow; but take yourself off out of this house +now." + +He heaved a hollow sigh, glared at La Martiniere with a terrible +expression, and grasped his dagger. She silently commended her soul to +God, but stood firm and looked him straight in the face, pressing +herself more firmly against the door through which he would have to +pass in order to reach her mistress. + +"Let me get to your lady, I tell you!" he cried once more. + +"Do what you will," said La Martiniere, "I shall not move from this +spot. Finish the crime which you have begun to commit. A shameful death +on the Place de Greve will overtake you, as it has your accursed +comrades in wickedness." + +"Ha! you are right, La Martiniere," he cried. "I am armed, and I look +as if I were an accursed robber and murderer. But my comrades are not +executed--are not executed," and he drew his dagger, advancing with +poisonous looks towards the terrified woman. + +"Jesus!" she cried, expecting her death-wound; but at that moment there +came up from the street below the clatter and the ring of arms, and the +hoof-tread of horses. + +"La Marechaussee! La Marechaussee! Help! help!" she cried. + +"Wretched woman, you will be my destruction," he cried. "All is over +now--all over! Here, take it; take it. Give this to your lady now, or +to-morrow if you like it better." As he said this in a whisper, he took +the candelabra from her, blew out the tapers, and placed a casket in +her hands. "As you prize your eternal salvation," he cried, "give this +to your lady." He dashed out of the door, and was gone. + +La Martiniere had sunk to the floor. She raised herself with +difficulty, and groped her way back in the darkness to her room, +where, wholly overcome and unable to utter a sound, she fell into an +arm-chair. Presently she heard the bolts rattle, which she had left +unfastened when she closed the house door. The house was therefore now +shut up, and soft unsteady steps were approaching her room. Like one +under a spell, unable to move, she was preparing for the very worst, +when, to her inexpressible joy, the door opened, and by the pale light +of the night-lamp she saw it was Baptiste. He was deadly pale, and much +upset. "For the love of all the saints," he exclaimed, "tell me what +has happened! Oh, what a state I am in! Something--I don't know what it +was--told me to come away from the wedding yesterday--forced me to come +away. So when I got to this street, I thought, Madame Martiniere isn't +a heavy sleeper; she'll hear me if I knock quietly at the door, and let +me in. Then up came a strong patrol meeting me, horsemen and foot, +armed to the teeth. They stopped me, and wouldn't let me go. Luckily +Desgrais was there, the lieutenant of the Marechaussee. He knows me, +and as they were holding their lanterns under my nose, he said, 'Ho, +Baptiste! How come you here in the streets at this time of the night? +You ought to be at home, taking care of the house. This is not a very +safe spot just at this moment. We're expecting to make a fine haul, an +important arrest, to-night.' You can't think, Madame La Martiniere, how +I felt when he said that. And when I got to the door, lo! and behold! a +man in a cloak comes bursting out with a drawn dagger in his hand, runs +round me, and makes off. The door was open, the keys in the lock. What, +in the name of all that's holy, is the meaning of it all?" + +La Martiniere, relieved from her alarm, told him all that had happened, +and both she and he went back to the hall, where they found the +candelabra on the floor, where the stranger had thrown it on taking his +flight. "There can't be the slightest doubt that our mistress was +within an ace of being robbed, and murdered too, very likely," Baptiste +said. "According to what you say, the scoundrel knew well enough that +there was nobody in the house but her and you, and even that she was +still sitting up at her writing. Of course he was one of those infernal +blackguards who pry into folks' houses and spy out everything that can +be of use to them in their devilish designs. And the little casket, +Madame Martiniere, that, I think, we'll throw into the Seine where it's +deepest. Who shall be our warrant that some monster or other isn't +lying in wait for our mistress's life? Very likely, if she opens the +casket, she may tumble down dead, as the old Marquis de Tournay did +when he opened a letter which came to him, he didn't know where from." + +After a long consultation, they came to the conclusion that they would, +next morning, tell their lady everything that had happened, and even +hand her the mysterious casket, which might, perhaps, be opened if +proper precautions were taken. On carefully weighing all the +circumstances connected with the apparition of the stranger, they +thought that there must be some special secret or mystery involved in +the affair, which they were not in a position to unravel, but must +leave to be elucidated by their superiors. + + +There were good grounds for Baptiste's fears. Paris, at the time in +question, was the scene of atrocious deeds of violence, and that just +at a period when the most diabolical inventions of hell provided the +most facile means for their execution. + +Glaser, a German apothecary, the most learned chemist of his day, +occupied himself--as people who cultivate his science often do--with +alchemical researches and experiments. He had set himself the task of +discovering the philosopher's stone. An Italian of the name of Exili +associated himself with him; but to him the art of goldmaking formed a +mere pretext. What he aimed at mastering was the blending, preparation, +and sublimation of the various poisonous substances which Glaser hoped +would give him the results he was in search of, and at length Exili +discovered how to prepare that delicate poison which has no odour nor +taste, and which, killing either slowly or in a moment, leaves not the +slightest trace in the human organism, and baffles the utmost skill of +the physician, who, not suspecting poison as the means of death, +ascribes it to natural causes. But cautiously as Exili went about this, +he fell under suspicion of dealing with poisons, and was thrown into +the Bastille. In the same cell with him there was presently quartered +an officer of the name of Godwin de Sainte-Croix, who had long lived +in relations with the Marquise de Brinvilliers which brought shame +upon all her family; and at length, as her husband cared nothing +about her conduct, her father (Dreux d'Aubray, Civil Lieutenant of +Paris) had to part the guilty pair by means of a _lettre de cachet_ +against Sainte-Croix. The latter, being a man of passionate nature, +characterless, affecting sanctity, but addicted from his youth to +every vice, jealous, envious even to fury, nothing could be more +welcome to him than Exili's devilish secret, which gave him the power +of destroying all his enemies. He became Exili's assiduous pupil, and +soon equalled his instructor, so that when he was released from prison +he was in a position to carry on operations by himself on his own +account. + +La Brinvilliers was a depraved woman, and Sainte-Croix made her a +monster. She managed, by degrees, to poison, first, her own father +(with whom she was living, on the hypocritical pretence of taking care +of him in his declining years), next her two brothers, and then her +sister; the father out of revenge, and the others for their fortunes. +The histories of more than one poisoner bear terrible evidence that +this description of crime assumes the form of an irresistible passion. +Just as a chemist makes experiments for the pleasure and the interest +of watching them, poisoners have often, without the smallest ulterior +object, killed persons whose living or dying was to them a matter of +complete indifference. The sudden deaths of a number of paupers, +patients at the Hotel Dieu, a little time after the events just alluded +to, led to suspicion that the bread which La Brinvilliers was in the +habit of giving them every week (by way of an example of piety and +benevolence) was poisoned. And it is certain that she poisoned pigeon +pasties which were served up to guests whom she had invited. The +Chevalier du Guet, and many more, were the victims of those diabolical +entertainments. Sainte-Croix, his accomplice La Chaussee, and La +Brinvilliers, managed to hide their crimes for a long while under a +veil of impenetrable secrecy. But, however the wicked may brazen +matters out, there comes a time when the Eternal Power of Heaven +punishes the criminal, even here on earth. The poisons which +Sainte-Croix prepared were so marvellously delicate that if the powder +(which the Parisians appositely named "_poudre de succession_") was +uncovered while being made, a single inhalation of it was sufficient to +cause immediate death. Therefore Sainte-Croix always wore a glass mask +when at work. This mask fell off one day just as he was shaking a +finished powder into a phial, and, having inhaled some of the powder, +he fell dead in an instant. As he had no heirs, the law courts at once +placed his property under seal, when the whole diabolical arsenal of +poison-murder which had been at the villain's disposal was discovered, +and also the letters of Madame de Brinvilliers, which left no doubt as +to her crimes. She fled to a convent at Liege. Desgrais, an officer of +the Marechaussee, was sent after her. Disguised as a priest, he got +admitted into the convent, and succeeded in involving the terrible +woman in a love-affair, and in getting her to grant him a clandestine +meeting in a sequestered garden outside the town. When she arrived +there she found herself surrounded by Desgrais' myrmidons; and her +ecclesiastical gallant speedily transformed himself into the officer of +the Marechaussee, and compelled her to get into the carriage which was +waiting outside the garden, and drove straight away to Paris, +surrounded by an ample guard. La Chaussee had been beheaded previously +to this, and La Brinvilliers suffered the same death. Her body was +burnt, and its ashes scattered to the winds. + +The Parisians breathed freely again when the world was freed from the +presence of this monster, who had so long wielded, with impunity, +unpunished, the weapon of secret murder against friend and foe. But it +soon became bruited abroad that the terrible art of the accursed La +Croix had been, somehow, handed down to a successor, who was carrying +it on triumphantly. Murder came gliding like an invisible, capricious +spectre into the narrowest and most intimate circles of relationship, +love, and friendship, pouncing securely and swiftly upon its unhappy +victims. Men who, to-day, were seen in robust health, were tottering +about on the morrow feeble and sick; and no skill of physicians could +restore them. Wealth, a good appointment or office, a nice-looking +wife, perhaps a little too young for her husband, were ample reasons +for a man's being dogged to death. The most frightful mistrust snapped +the most sacred ties. The husband trembled before his wife; the father +dreaded the son; the sister the brother. When your friend asked you to +dinner, you carefully avoided tasting the dishes and wines which he set +before you; and where joy and merriment used to reign, there were now +nothing but wild looks watching to detect the secret murderer. Fathers +of families were to be seen with anxious looks, buying supplies of food +in out-of-the-way places where they were not known, and cooking them +themselves in dirty cook-shops, for dread of treason in their own +homes. And yet often the most careful and ingenious precautions were +unavailing. + +For the repression of this ever-increasing disorder the King +constituted a fresh tribunal, to which he entrusted the special +investigation and punishment of those secret crimes. This was the +Chambre Ardente, which held its sittings near the Bastille. La Regnie +was its president. For a considerable time La Regnie's efforts, +assiduous as they were, were unsuccessful, and it was the lot of the +much overworked Desgrais to discover the most secret lurking-hole of +the crime. In the Faubourg Saint-Germain there lived an old woman, +named La Voisin, who followed the calling of a teller of fortunes and a +summoner of spirits, and, assisted by her accomplices Le Sage and Le +Vigoureux, managed to alarm and astonish people who were by no means to +be considered weak or superstitious. But she did more than this. She +was a pupil of Exili's, like La Croix, and, like him, prepared the +delicate, traceless poison, which helped wicked sons to speedy +inheritance and unprincipled wives to other, younger husbands. Desgrais +fathomed her secrets; she made full confession; the Chambre Ardente +sentenced her to be burned, and the sentence was carried out on the +Place de Greve. Amongst her effects was found a list of those who had +availed themselves of her services; whence it followed, not only that +execution succeeded execution, but that strong suspicion fell on +persons of high consideration. Thus it was believed that Cardinal Bonzy +had obtained from La Voisin the means of disembarrassing himself of all +the persons to whom, in his capacity of Archbishop of Narbonne, he was +bound to pay pensions. Similarly, the Duchess de Bouillon and the +Countess de Soissons (their names having been found in La Voisin's +list) were accused of having had relations with her; and even Francis +Henri de Montmorency, Boudebelle, Duke of Luxemburg, Peer and Marshal +of the realm, did not escape arraignment before the Chambre Ardente. He +surrendered himself to imprisonment in the Bastille, where the hatred +of Louvois and La Regnie immured him in a cell only six feet long. +Months elapsed before it was proved that his offences did not deserve +so severe a punishment. He had once gone to La Voisin to have his +horoscope drawn. + +What is certain is that an excess of inconsiderate zeal led President +La Regnie into violently illegal and barbarous measures. His Court +assumed the character of the Inquisition. The very slightest suspicion +rendered any one liable to severe imprisonment, and the establishment +of the innocence of a person tried for his life was often only a matter +of the merest chance. Besides, Regnie was repulsive to behold, and of +malicious disposition, so that he excited the hatred of those whose +avenger or protector he was called upon to be. When he asked the +Duchess de Bouillon if she had ever seen the devil, she answered, "I +think I see him at this moment." + +Whilst now, on the Place de Greve, the blood of the guilty and of the +merely suspected was flowing in streams, and secret deaths by poison +were, at last, becoming more and more rare, a trouble of another +description showed itself, spreading abroad fresh consternation. It +seemed that a gang of robbers had made up their minds to possess +themselves of all the jewels in the city. Whenever a valuable set of +ornaments was bought, it disappeared in an inexplicable manner, however +carefully preserved and protected. And everybody who dared to wear +precious stones in the evening was certain to be robbed, either in the +public streets or in the dark passages of houses. Very often they were +not only robbed, but murdered. Such of them as escaped with their lives +said they had been felled by the blow of a clenched fist on the head, +which came on them like a thunderbolt. And when they recovered their +senses they found that they had been robbed, and were in a totally +different place from that where they had been knocked down. Those +who were murdered--and they were found nearly every morning lying +in the streets or in houses--had all the selfsame mortal wound--a +dagger-thrust, right through the heart, which the surgeons said must +have been delivered with such swiftness and certainty that the victim +must have fallen dead without the power of uttering a sound. Now who, +in all the luxurious Court of Louis Quatorze, was there who was not +implicated in some secret love-affair, and, consequently, often gliding +about the streets late at night with valuable presents in his pockets? +Just as if this robber-gang were in intercourse with spirits, they +always knew perfectly well when anything of this kind was going on. +Often the fortunate lover wouldn't reach the house where his lady was +expecting him; often he would fall at her threshold, at her very door, +where, to her horror, she would discover his bleeding body lying. + +It was in vain that Argenson, the Minister of Police, arrested every +individual, in all Paris, who seemed to be touched by the very faintest +suspicion; in vain La Regnie raged, striving to compel confession; in +vain guards and patrols were reinforced. Not a trace of the +perpetrators of those outrages was to be discovered. The only thing +which was of a certain degree of use was to go about armed to the +teeth, and have a light carried before you; and yet there were cases in +which the servant who carried the light had his attention occupied by +having stones thrown at him, whilst at that very instant his master was +being robbed and murdered. + +It was a remarkable feature of this business that, notwithstanding all +search and investigation in every quarter where there seemed to be any +chance of dealing in jewels going on, not a trace of even the smallest +of the plundered precious stones ever came to light. Desgrais foamed in +fury that even his acumen and skill were powerless to prevent the +escape of those scoundrels. Whatever part of the town he happened to be +in for the time was let alone, whilst in some other quarter, robbery +and murder were lying in wait for their rich prey. + +Desgrais hit upon the clever idea of setting several facsimiles of +himself on foot--various Desgrais, exactly alike in gait, speech, +figure, face, &c.; so that his own men could not tell the one of them +from the other, or say which was the real Desgrais. Meanwhile he, at +the risk of his life, watched alone in the most secret hiding-places, +and followed, at a distance, this or the other person who seemed, by +the looks of him, to be likely to have jewels about him. But those whom +he was watching were unharmed, so that this artifice of his was as well +known, to the culprits as everything else seemed to be. Desgrais was in +utter despair. + +One morning he came to President La Regnie, pale, distorted, almost out +of his mind. + +"What is it--what news? Have you come upon the clue?" the President +cried to him as he came in. + +"Ah, Monsieur!" cried Desgrais, stammering in fury, "last night, near +the Louvre, the Marquis de la Fare was set upon under my very nose!" + +"Heaven and earth!" cried La Regnie, overjoyed, "we have got them!" + +"Wait a moment, listen," said Desgrais, with a bitter smile. "I was +standing near the Louvre, watching and waiting, with hell itself in my +heart, for those devils who have been baffling me for such a length of +time. There came a figure close by me--not seeing me--with careful +uncertain steps, always looking behind it. By the moonlight I +recognised the Marquis de la Fare. I expected that he would be passing. +I knew where he was gliding to. Scarcely had he got ten or twelve paces +beyond me, when, out of the ground apparently, springs a figure, dashes +the Marquis to the ground, falls down upon him. Losing my self-command +at this occurrence, which seemed to be likely to deliver the murderer +into my hands, I cried out aloud, and meant to spring from my +hiding-place with a great jump and seize hold of him. But I tripped up +in my cloak and fell down. I saw the fellow flee away as if on the +wings of the wind; I picked myself up, and made off after him as fast +as I could. As I ran, I sounded my horn. Out of the distance the +whistles of my men answered me. Things grew lively--clatter of arms, +tramp of horses on all sides. 'Here!--come to me!--Desgrais!' I cried, +till the streets re-echoed. All the time I saw the man before me in the +bright moonlight, turning off right--left--to get away from me. We came +to the Rue Nicaise. There his strength seemed to begin to fail. I +gathered mine up. He was not more than fifteen paces ahead of me." + +"You got hold of him!--your men came up!" cried La Regnie, with +flashing eyes, grasping Desgrais by the arm as if he were the fleeing +murderer himself. + +"Fifteen paces ahead of me," said Desgrais, in a hollow voice, and +drawing his breath hard, "this fellow, before my eyes, dodged to one +side, and vanished through the wall." + +"Vanished!--through the wall! Are you out of your senses?" La Regnie +cried, stepping three steps backwards, and striking his hands together. + +"Call me as great a madman as you please, Monsieur," said Desgrais, +rubbing his forehead like one tortured by evil thoughts. "Call me a +madman, or a silly spirit-seer; but what I have told you is the literal +truth. I stood staring at the wall, while several of my men came up out +of breath, and with them the Marquis de la Fare (who had picked himself +up), with his drawn sword in his hand. We lighted torches, we examined +the wall all over. There was not the trace of a door, a window, any +opening. It is a strong stone wall of a courtyard, belonging to a +house, in which people are living--against whom there is not the +slightest suspicion. I have looked into the whole thing again this +morning in broad daylight. It must be the very devil himself who is at +work befooling us in the matter." + +This story got bruited abroad through Paris, where all heads were full +of the witch-business, spirit conjuration, devil-covenants of La +Voisin, Vigoureux, and the wicked priest Le Sage; and as it does lie in +our eternal nature that the bent towards the supernatural and the +marvellous overpasses all reason, people soon believed nothing less +than that which Desgrais had only said in his impatience--namely, that +the very devil himself must protect those rascals, and that they had +sold their souls to him. We can readily understand that Desgrais's +story soon received many absurd embellishments. It was printed, and +hawked about the town, with a woodcut at the top representing a +horrible devil-form sinking into the ground before the terrified +Desgrais. Quite enough to frighten the people, and so terrify +Desgrais's men that they lost all courage, and went about the streets +behung with amulets, and sprinkled with holy water. + +Argenson, seeing that the Chambre Ardente was unsuccessful, applied to +the King to constitute--with special reference to this novel +description of crime--a tribunal armed with greater powers for tracking +and punishing offenders. The King, thinking he had already given powers +too ample to the Chambre Ardente, and shocked at the horrors of the +numberless executions, carried out by the bloodthirsty La Regnie, +refused. + +Then another method of influencing His Majesty was devised. + +In the apartments of Madame de Maintenon,--where the King was in the +habit of spending much of his time in the afternoons,--and also, very +often, would be at work with his Ministers till late at night--a +poetical petition was laid before him, on the part of the "Endangered +Lovers," who complained that when "galanterie" rendered it incumbent on +them to be the bearers of some valuable present to the ladies of their +hearts, they had always to do it at the risk of their lives. They said, +that, of course, it was honour and delight to pour out their blood for +the lady of their heart, in knightly encounter, but that the +treacherous attack of the assassin, against which it was impossible to +guard, was quite a different matter. They expressed their hope that +Louis, the bright pole-star of love and gallantry, might deign--arising +and shining in fullest splendour--to dispel the darkness of night, and +thus reveal the black mysteries hidden thereby; that the God-like hero, +who had hurled his foes to the dust, would now once more wave his +flashing faulchion, and, as did Hercules in the case of the Laernean +Hydra, and Theseus in that of the Minotaur, vanquish the threatening +monster who was eating up all love-delight, and darkening all joy into +deep sorrow and inconsolable mourning. + +Serious as the subject was, this poem was not deficient in most +wittily-turned phrases, particularly where it described the state of +watchful anxiety in which lovers had to glide to their lady-loves, and +how this mental strain necessarily destroyed all love-happiness, and +nipped all adventures of "galanterie" in the very bud. And, as it +wound up with a high-flown panegyric of Louis XIV., the King could not +but read it with visible satisfaction. When he perused it, he turned +to Madame de Maintenon--without taking his eyes from it--read it +again--aloud this time--and then asked, with a pleased smile, what she +thought of the petition of the 'Endangered Lovers.' Madame de +Maintenon, faithful to her serious turn, and ever wearing the garb of a +certain piousness, answered that hidden and forbidden ways did not +deserve much in the form of protection, but that the criminals probably +did require special laws for their punishment. The King, not satisfied +with this answer, folded the paper up, and was going back to the +Secretary of State, who was at work in the ante-room, when, happening +to glance sideways, his eyes rested on Mademoiselle Scuderi, who was +present, seated in a little arm-chair. He went straight to her; and the +pleased smile which had at first been playing about his mouth and +cheeks--but had disappeared--resumed the ascendency again. Standing +close before her, with his face unwrinkling itself, he said-- + +"The Marquise does not know, and has no desire to learn, anything about +the 'galanteries' of our enamoured gentlemen, and evades the subject in +ways which are nothing less than forbidden. But, Mademoiselle, what do +_you_ think of this poetical petition?" + +Mademoiselle Scuderi rose from her chair; a transient blush, like the +purple of the evening sky, passed across her pale cheeks, and, gently +bending forward, she answered, with downcast eyes-- + + "Un amant qui craint les voleurs. + N'est point digne d'amour." + +The King, surprised, and struck by admiration at the chivalrous spirit +of those few words--which completely took the wind out of the sails of +the poem, with all its ell-long tirades--cried, with flashing eyes-- + +"By Saint Denis, you are right, Mademoiselle! No blind laws, touching +the innocent and the guilty alike, shall shelter cowardice. Argenson +and La Regnie must do their best." + +Next morning La Martiniere enlarged upon the terrors of the time, +painting them in glowing colours to her lady, when she told her all +that had happened the previous night, and handed her the mysterious +casket, with much fear and trembling. Both she and Baptiste (who stood +in the corner as white as a sheet, kneading his cap in his hand from +agitation and anxiety) implored her, in the name of all the saints, to +take the greatest precautions in opening it. She, weighing and +examining the unopened mystery in her hand, said with a smile, "You are +a couple of bogies! The wicked scoundrels outside, who, as you say +yourselves, spy out all that goes on in every house, know, no doubt, +quite as well as you and I do, that I am not rich, and that there are +no treasures in this house worth committing a murder for. Is my life in +danger, do you think? Who could have any interest in the death of an +old woman of seventy-three, who never persecuted any evil-doers except +those in her own novels; who writes mediocre poetry, incapable of +exciting any one's envy; who has nothing to leave behind her but the +belongings of an old maid, who sometimes goes to Court, and two or +three dozen handsomely-bound books with gilt edges. And, alarming as +your account is, La Martiniere, of the apparition of this man, I cannot +believe that he meant me any harm, so----" + +La Martiniere sprang three paces backwards, and Baptiste fell on one +knee with a hollow, "Ah!" as Mademoiselle Scuderi pressed a projecting +steel knob, and the lid of the casket flew open with a certain amount +of noise. + +Great was her surprise to see that it contained a pair of bracelets, +and a necklace richly set in jewels. She took them out and as she spoke +in admiration of the marvellous workmanship of the necklace, La +Martiniere cast glances of wonder at the bracelets, and cried, again +and again, that Madame Montespan herself did not possess such jewelry. + +"But why is it brought to me?" cried Mademoiselle Scuderi. "What can +this mean?" She saw, however, a little folded note at the bottom of the +casket, and in this she rightly thought she would find the key to the +mystery. When she had read what was written in the note, it fell from +her trembling hands; she raised an appealing look to heaven, and then +sank down half fainting in her chair. Baptiste and La Martiniere +hurried to her, in alarm. "Oh!" she cried, in a voice stifled by tears, +"the mortification! The deep humiliation! Has it been reserved for me +to undergo this in my old age? Have I ever been frivolous, like some of +the foolish young creatures? Are words, spoken half in jest, to be +found capable of such a terrible interpretation? Am I, who have been +faithful to all that is pure and good from my childhood, to be made +virtually an accomplice in the crimes of this terrible confederation?" + +She held her handkerchief to her eyes, so that Baptiste and La +Martiniere, altogether at sea in their anxious conjectures, felt +powerless to set about helping her, who was so dear to them, as the +best and kindest of mistresses, in her bitter affliction. + +La Martiniere picked up the paper from the floor. On it was written-- + + "Un amant qui craint les voleurs + N'est point digne d'amour." + +"Your brilliant intellect, most honoured lady, has delivered us, who +exercise, on weakness and cowardice, the rights of the stronger, and +possess ourselves of treasures which would otherwise be unworthily +wasted, from much bitter persecution. As a proof of our gratitude, be +pleased to kindly accept this set of ornaments. It is the most valuable +that we have been enabled to lay hands on for many a day. Although far +more beautiful and precious jewels ought to adorn you, yet we pray you +not to deprive us of your future protection and remembrance.--THE +INVISIBLES." + +"Is it possible," cried Mademoiselle Scuderi, when she had partially +recovered herself, "that shameless wickedness and abandoned insult can +be carried further by human beings?" The sun was shining brightly +through the window curtains of crimson silk, and consequently the +brilliants, which were lying on the table beside the open casket, were +flashing a rosy radiance. Looking at them, Mademoiselle Scuderi covered +her face in horror, and ordered La Martiniere instantly to take those +terrible jewels away, steeped, as they seemed to be, in the blood of +the murdered. La Martiniere, having at once put the necklace and +bracelets back into their case, thought the best thing to do would be +to give them to the Minister of Police, and tell him all that had +happened. + +Mademoiselle Scuderi rose, and walked up and down slowly and in +silence, as if considering what it was best to do. Then she told +Baptiste to bring a sedan chair, and La Martiniere to dress her, as she +was going straight to the Marquise de Maintenon. + +She repaired thither at the hour when she knew Madame de Maintenon +would be alone, taking the casket and jewels with her. + +Madame de Maintenon might well wonder to see this dear old lady (who +was always kindness, sweetness and amiability personified), pale, +distressed, upset, coming in with uncertain steps. "In heaven's name, +what has happened to you?" she cried to her visitor, who was scarcely +able to stand upright, striving to reach the chair which the Marquise +drew forward for her. At last, when she could find words, she told her +what a deep, irremediable insult and outrage the thoughtless speech +which she had made in reply to the King had brought upon her. + +Madame de Maintenon, when she had heard the whole affair properly +related, thought Mademoiselle Scuderi was taking it far too much to +heart, strange as the occurrence was--that the insult of a pack of +wretched rabble could not hurt an upright, noble heart: and finally +begged that she might see the ornaments. + +Mademoiselle Scuderi handed her the open casket, and when she saw the +splendid and valuable stones, and the workmanship of them, she could +not repress a loud expression of admiration. She took the bracelets and +necklace to the window, letting the sunlight play on the jewels, and +holding the beautiful goldsmith's work close to her eyes, so as to see +with what wonderful skill each little link of the chains was formed. + +She turned suddenly to Mademoiselle Scuderi, and cried, "Do you know, +there is only one man who can have done this work--and that is Rene +Cardillac." + +Rene Cardillac was then the cleverest worker in gold in all Paris, one +of the most artistic, and at the same time extraordinary men of his +day. Short, rather than tall, but broad-shouldered, and of strong and +muscular build, Cardillac, now over fifty, had still the strength and +activity of a youth. To this vigour, which was to be called unusual, +testified also his thick, curling, reddish hair, and his massive, +shining face. Had he not been known to be the most upright and +honourable of men, unselfish, open, without reserve, always ready to +help, his altogether peculiar glance out of his grimly sparkling eyes +might have brought him under suspicion of being secretly ill-tempered +and wicked. In his art he was the most skilful worker, not only in +Paris, but probably in the world at that time. Intimately acquainted +with every kind of precious stones, versed in all their special +peculiarities, he could so handle and treat them that ornaments which +at a first glance promised to be poor and insignificant, came from his +workshop brilliant and splendid. He accepted every commission with +burning eagerness, and charged prices so moderate as to seem out of all +proportion to the work. And the work left him no rest. Day and night he +was to be heard hammering in his shop; and often, when a job was nearly +finished, he would suddenly be dissatisfied with the form--would have +doubts whether some of the settings were tender enough; some little +link would not be quite to his mind--in fine, the whole affair would be +thrown into the melting-pot, and begun all over again. Thus every one +of his works was a real, unsurpassable _chef-d'[oe]uvre_, which set the +person who had ordered it into amazement. But then, it was hardly +possible to get the finished work out of his hands. He would put the +customer off from one week to another, by a thousand excuses, ay, from +month to month. He might be offered twice the price he had agreed upon, +but it was useless; he would take no more; and when, ultimately, he was +obliged to yield to the customer's remonstrances, and deliver the work, +he could not conceal the vexation--nay, the rage--which seethed within +him. If he had to deliver some specially valuable and unusually rich +piece of workmanship, worth perhaps several thousand francs, he would +get into such a condition that he ran up and down like one demented, +cursing himself, his work, and every thing and person about him; but +should, then, some one come running up behind him, crying, "Rene +Cardillac, would you be so kind as to make me a beautiful necklace for +the lady I am going to marry?" or "a pair of bracelets for my girl?" or +the like, he would stop in a moment, flash his small eyes upon the +speaker, and say, "Let me see what you have got." The latter would take +out a little case, and say, "Here are jewels; they are not worth much; +only every-day affairs; but in your hands----." Cardillac would +interrupt him, snatch the casket from his hands, take out the stones +(really not very valuable), hold them up to the light, and cry, "Ho! +ho! common stones you say! Nothing of the kind!--very fine, splendid +stones! Just see what I shall make of them; and if a handful of Louis +are no object to you, I will put two or three others along with them +which will shine in your eyes like the sun himself!" The customer would +say: "I leave the matter entirely in your hands, Master Rene; make what +charge you please." Whether the customer were a rich burgher or a +gallant of quality, Cardillac would then throw himself violently on his +neck, embrace him and kiss him, and say he was perfectly happy again, +and that the work would be ready in eight days' time. Then he would run +home as fast as he could to his work-shop, where he would set to work +hammering away; and in eight days' time there would be a masterpiece +ready. But as soon as the customer would arrive, glad to pay the +moderate price demanded, and take away his prize, Cardillac would +become morose, ill-tempered, rude, and insolent. "But consider, Master +Cardillac," the customer would say, "to-morrow is my wedding-day." +"What do I care?" Cardillac would answer; "what is your wedding-day to +me? Come back in a fortnight." "But it is finished!--here is the money; +I must have it." "And I tell you that there are many alterations which +I must make before I let it leave my hands, and I am not going to let +you have it to-day." "And I tell you, that if you don't give me my +jewels--which I am ready to pay you for--quietly, you will see me come +back with a file of D'Argenson's men." "Now, may the devil seize you +with a hundred red-hot pincers, and hang three hundredweight on to the +necklace, that it may throttle your bride!" With which he would cram +the work into the customer's breast-pocket, seize him by the arm, push +him out of the door, so that he would go stumbling all the way +downstairs, and laugh like a fiend, out of window, when he saw the +poor wretch go limping out, holding his handkerchief to his bleeding +nose. It was not easy of explanation neither that Cardillac, when he +had undertaken a commission with alacrity and enthusiasm, would +sometimes suddenly implore the customer, with every sign of the +deepest emotion--with the most moving adjurations, even with sobs and +tears--not to ask him to go on with it. Many persons, amongst those +most highly considered by the King and nation, had in vain offered +large sums for the smallest specimen of Cardillac's work. He threw +himself at the King's feet, and supplicated that, of his mercy, he +would not command him to work for him; and he declined all orders of +Madame de Maintenon's: once, when she wished him to make a little ring, +with emblems of the arts on it, which she wanted to give to Racine, he +refused with expressions of abhorrence and terror. + +"I would wager," said Madame de Maintenon, "therefore, that even if I +were to send for Cardillac, to find out, at least, for whom he had made +those ornaments, he would somehow evade coming, for fear that I should +give him an order; nothing will induce him to work for me. Yet he does +seem to have been rather less obstinate of late, for I hear he is +working more than ever, and allows his customers to take away their +jewelry at once, though he does so with deep annoyance, and turns away +his face when he hands them over." + +Mademoiselle Scuderi, who was exceedingly anxious that the jewels which +came into her possession in such an extraordinary manner should be +restored to their owner as speedily as possible, thought that this +wondrous Rene Cardillac should be informed at once that no work was +required of him, but simply his opinion as to certain stones. The +Marquise agreed to this; he was sent for, and he came into the room in +a very brief space, almost as if he had been on the way when sent for. + +When he saw Mademoiselle Scuderi, he appeared perplexed, like one +confronted with the unexpected, who, for the time, loses sight of the +calls of courtesy; he first of all made a profound reverence to her, +and then turned, in the second place, to the Marquise. Madame de +Maintenon impetuously asked him if the jewelled ornaments--to which +she pointed as they lay sparkling on the dark-green cover of the +table--were his workmanship. Cardillac scarcely glanced at them, and, +fixedly staring in her face, he hastily packed the necklace and +bracelets into their case, and shoved them away with some violence. +Then he said, with an evil smile gleaming on his red face, "The truth +is, Madame la Marquise, that one must know Rene Cardillac's handiwork +very little to suppose, even for a moment, that any other goldsmith in +the world made those. Of course, I made them." "Then," continued the +Marquise, "say whom you made them for." "For myself alone," he +answered. "You may think this strange," he continued, as they both +gazed at him with amazement, Madame de Maintenon incredulous, and +Mademoiselle Scuderi all anxiety as to how the matter was going to turn +out, "but I tell you the truth, Madame la Marquise. Merely for the sake +of the beauty of the work, I collected some of my finest stones +together, and worked for the enjoyment of so doing, more carefully and +diligently than usual. Those ornaments disappeared from my workshop a +short time since, in an incomprehensible manner." "Heaven be thanked!" +cried Mademoiselle Scuderi, her eyes sparkling with joy. With a smile +she sprang up from her seat, and going up to Cardillac quickly and +actively as a young girl, she laid her hands on his shoulder, saying, +"Take back your treasure, Master Rene, which the villains have robbed +you of!" And she circumstantially related how the ornaments had come +into her possession. + +Cardillac listened in silence, with downcast eyes, merely from time to +time uttering a scarcely audible "Hm! Indeed! Ah! Ho, ho!" sometimes +placing his hands behind his back, again stroking his chin and cheeks. +When she had ended, he appeared to be struggling with strange thoughts +which had come to him during her story, and seemed unable to come to +any decision satisfactory to himself. He rubbed his brow, sighed, +passed his hand over his eyes--perhaps to keep back tears. At last he +seized the casket (which Mademoiselle Scuderi had been holding out to +him), sunk slowly on one knee, and said: "Esteemed lady! Fate destined +this casket for you; and I now feel, for the first time, that I was +thinking of you when I was at work upon it--nay, was making it +expressly for you. Do not disdain to accept this work, and to wear it; +it is the best I have done for a very long time." "Ah! Master Rene," +said Mademoiselle Scuderi, jesting pleasantly, "how think you it would +become me at my age to bedeck myself with those beautiful jewels?--and +what should put it in your mind to make me such a valuable present? +Come, come! If I were as beautiful and as rich as the Marquise de +Fontange, I should certainly not let them out of my hands; but what +have my withered arms, and my wrinkled neck, to do with all that +splendour?" + +Cardillac had risen, and said, with wild looks, like a man beside +himself, still holding the casket out towards her, "Do me the mercy to +take it, Mademoiselle! You have no notion how profound is the reverence +which I bear in my heart for your excellences, your high deserts. Do +but accept my little offering, as an attempt, on my part, to prove to +you the warmth of my regard." + +As Mademoiselle Scuderi was still hesitating, Madame de Maintenon took +the casket from Cardillac's hands, saying, "Now, by heaven, +Mademoiselle, you are always talking of your great age. What have you +and I to do with years and their burden? You are like some bashful +young thing who would fain long for forbidden fruit, if she could +gather it without hands or fingers. Do not hesitate to accept this good +Master Rene's present, which thousands of others could not obtain for +money or entreaty." + +As she spoke she continued to press the casket on Mademoiselle Scuderi; +and now Cardillac sank again on his knees, kissed her dress, her hands, +sighed, wept, sobbed, sprang up, and ran off in frantic haste, +upsetting chairs and tables, so that the glass and porcelain crashed +and clattered together. + +In much alarm, Mademoiselle Scuderi cried, "In the name of all the +saints, what is the matter with the man?" But the Marquise, in +particularly happy temper, laughed aloud, saying, "What it is, +Mademoiselle; that Master Rene is over head and ears in love with you, +and, according to the laws of _la galanterie_, begins to lay siege to +your heart with a valuable present." She carried this jest further, +begging Mademoiselle Scuderi not to be too obdurate towards this +despairing lover of hers; and Mademoiselle Scuderi, in her turn, borne +away on a current of merry fancies, said, "If things were so, she would +not be able to refrain from delighting the world with the unprecedented +spectacle of a goldsmith's bride of three-and-seventy summers, and +unexceptionable descent." Madame de Maintenon offered to twine the +bridal wreath herself, and give her a few hints as to the duties of a +housewife, a subject on which such a poor inexperienced little chit +could not be expected to know very much. + +But, notwithstanding all the jesting and the laughter, when +Mademoiselle Scuderi rose to depart, she became very grave again when +her hand rested upon the jewel casket. "Whatever happens," she said, "I +shall never be able to bring myself to wear these ornaments. They have, +at all events, been in the hands of one of those diabolical men, who +rob and slay with the audacity of the evil one himself, and are very +probably in league with him. I shudder at the thought of the blood +which seems to cling to those glittering stones--and even Cardillac's +behaviour had something about it which struck me as being singularly +wild and eery. I cannot drive away from me a gloomy foreboding that +there is some terrible and frightful mystery hidden behind all this; +and yet, when I bring the whole affair, with all the circumstances of +it, as clearly as I can before my mental vision, I cannot form the +slightest idea what that mystery can be--and, above all, how the good, +honourable Master Rene--the very model of what a good, well-behaved +citizen ought to be--can have anything to do with what is wicked or +condemnable. But, at all events, I distinctly feel that I never can +wear those jewels." + +The Marquise considered that this was carrying scruples rather too far; +yet, when Mademoiselle Scuderi asked her to say, on her honour, what +she would do in her place, she replied, firmly and earnestly, "Far +rather throw them into the Seine than ever put them on." + +The scene with Master Rene inspired Mademoiselle Scuderi to write some +pleasant verses, which she read to the King the following evening, at +Madame de Maintenon's. Perhaps, for the sake of the picturing of Master +Rene carrying off a bride of seventy-three--of unimpeachable +quarterings--it was that she succeeded in conquering her feelings of +the imminence of something mysterious and uncanny; but at all events +she did so, completely--and the King laughed with all his heart, and +vowed that Boileau Despreaux had met with his master. So La Scuderi's +poem was reckoned the very wittiest that ever was written. + +Several months had elapsed, when chance so willed it that Mlle. Scuderi +was crossing the Pont Neuf in the glass coach of the Duchesse de +Montpensier. The invention of those delightful glass coaches was then +so recent that the people came together in crowds whenever one of them +made its appearance in the streets, consequently, a gaping crowd +gathered about the Duchesse's carriage on the Pont Neuf, so that the +horses could hardly make their way along. Suddenly Mlle. Scuderi heard +a sound of quarrelling and curses, and saw a man making a way for +himself through the crowd, by means of fisticuffs and blows in the +ribs, and as he came near they were struck by the piercing eyes of a +young face, deadly pale, and drawn by sorrow. This young man, gazing +fixedly upon them, vigorously fought his way to them by help of fists +and elbows, till he reached the carriage-door, threw it open with much +violence, and flung a note into Mademoiselle Scuderi's lap; after +which, he disappeared as he had come, distributing and receiving blows +and fisticuffs. La Martiniere, who was with her mistress, fell back +fainting in the carriage with a shriek of terror as soon as she saw the +young man. In vain Mademoiselle Scuderi pulled the string, and called +out to the driver. He, as if urged by the foul fiend, kept lashing his +horses till, scattering the foam from their nostrils, they kicked, +plunged, and reared, finally thundering over the bridge at a rapid +trot. Mademoiselle Scuderi emptied the contents of her smelling-bottle +out over the fainting La Martiniere, who at last opened her eyes, and, +shuddering and quaking, clinging convulsively to her mistress, with +fear and horror in her pale face, groaned out with difficulty, "For the +love of the Virgin, what did that terrible man want? It was he who +brought you the jewels on that awful night." Mademoiselle Scuderi +calmed her, pointing out that nothing very dreadful had happened after +all, and that the immediate business in hand was to ascertain the +contents of the letter. She opened it, and read as follows:-- + +"A dark and cruel fatality, which _you_ could dispel, is driving me +into an abyss. I conjure you--as a son would a mother, in the glow of +filial affection--to send the necklace and bracelets to Master Rene +Cardillac, on some pretence or other--say, to have something altered, +or improved. Your welfare---your very life--depend on your doing this. +If you do not comply before the day after to-morrow, I will force my +way into your house, and kill myself before your eyes." + +"Thus much is certain, at all events," said Mademoiselle Scuderi, when +she had read this letter, "that, whether this mysterious man belongs to +the band of robbers and murderers, or not, he has no very evil designs +against me. If he had been able to see me and speak to me on that +night, who knows what strange events, what dark concatenation of +circumstances would have been made known to me, of which, at present, I +seek, in my soul, the very faintest inkling in vain. But, be the matter +as it may, that which I am enjoined in this letter to do, I certainly +_shall_ do, were it for nothing else than to be rid of those fatal +jewels, which seem to me as if they must be some diabolical talisman of +the Prince of Darkness's very own. Cardillac is not very likely to let +them out of his hands again, if once he gets hold of them." + +She intended to take them to him next day; but it seemed as if all the +_beaux esprits_ of Paris had entered into a league to assail and +besiege her with verses, dramas, and anecdotes. Scarce had La Chapelle +finished reading the scenes of a tragedy, and declared that he +considered he had now vanquished Racine, when the latter himself came +in, and discomfited him with the pathetic speech of one of his kings, +until Boileau sent some of his fireballs soaring up into the dark sky +of the tragedies, by way of changing the subject from that eternal one +of the colonnade of the Louvre, to which the architectural Dr. Perrault +was shackling him. + +When high noon arrived, Mademoiselle Scuderi had to go to Madame +Montansier, so the visit to Rene Cardillac had to be put off till the +following day. But the young man was always present to her mind, and a +species of dim remembrance seemed to be trying to arise in the depths +of her being that she had, somehow and somewhen, seen that face and +features before. Troubled dreams disturbed her broken slumbers. It +seemed to her that she had acted thoughtlessly, and delayed culpably to +take hold of the hands which the unfortunate man was holding out to her +for help--in fact, as if it had depended on her to prevent some +atrocious crime. As soon as it was fairly light, she had herself +dressed, and set off to the goldsmith's with the jewels in her hand. + +A crowd was streaming towards the Rue Nicaise (where Cardillac lived), +trooping together at the door, shouting, raging, surging, striving to +storm into the house, kept back with difficulty by the Marechaussee, +who were guarding the place. Amid the wild distracted uproar, voices +were heard crying, "Tear him in pieces! Drag him limb from limb, the +accursed murderer!" At length Desgrais came up with a number of his +men, and formed a lane through the thickest of the crowd. The door flew +open, and a man, loaded with irons, was brought out, and marched off +amid the most frightful imprecations of the raging populace. At the +moment when Mademoiselle Scuderi, half dead with terror and gloomy +foreboding, caught sight of him, a piercing shriek of lamentation +struck upon her ears. "Go forward!" she cried to the coachman, and he, +with a clever, rapid turn of his horses, scattered the thick masses +of the crowd aside, and pulled up close to Rene Cardillac's door. +Desgrais was there, and at his feet a young girl, beautiful as the day, +half-dressed, with dishevelled hair, and wild grief, inconsolable +despair in her face, holding his knees embraced, and crying in tones of +the bitterest and profoundest anguish, "He is innocent! he is +innocent!" Desgrais and his men tried in vain to shake her off, and +raise her from the ground, till at length a rough, powerful fellow, +gripping her arms with his strong hands, dragged her away from Desgrais +by sheer force. Stumbling awkwardly, he let the girl go, and she went +rolling down the stone steps, and lay like one dead on the pavement. + +Mademoiselle Scuderi could contain herself no longer. "In Christ's +name!" she cried, "what has happened? What is going forward here?" She +hastily opened the carriage-door and stepped out. The crowd made way +for her deferentially; and when she saw that one or two compassionate +women had lifted up the girl, laid her on the steps, and were rubbing +her brow with strong waters, she went up to Desgrais, and with +eagerness repeated her question. + +"A terrible thing has happened," said Desgrais. "Rene Cardillac was +found, this morning, killed by a dagger-thrust. His journeyman, +Olivier, is the murderer, and has just been taken to prison." + +"And the girl----" "Is Madelon," interrupted Desgrais, "Cardillac's +daughter. The wretched culprit was her sweetheart, and now she is +crying and howling, and screaming over and over again that Olivier is +innocent--quite innocent; but she knows all about this crime, and I +must have her taken to prison too." As he spoke he cast one of his +baleful, malignant looks at the girl, which made Mademoiselle Scuderi +shudder. The girl was now beginning to revive, and breathe again +faintly, though still incapable of speech or motion. There she lay with +closed eyes, and people did not know what to do, whether to take her +indoors, or leave her where she was a little longer till she recovered. +Mademoiselle Scuderi looked upon this innocent creature deeply moved, +with tears in her eyes. She felt a horror of Desgrais and his men. +Presently heavy footsteps came downstairs, those of the men bearing +Cardillac's body. Coming to a rapid decision, Mademoiselle Scuderi +cried out, "I shall take this girl home with me; the rest of the affair +concerns you, Desgrais." A murmur of approval ran through the crowd. +The women raised the girl; every one crowded up; a hundred hands were +proffered to help, and she was borne to the carriage like one hovering +in air, whilst from every lip broke blessings on the kind lady who had +saved her from arrest and criminal trial. + +Madelon lay for many hours in deep unconsciousness, but at length the +efforts of Seron---then the most celebrated physician in Paris--were +successful in restoring her. Mademoiselle Scuderi completed what Seron +had commenced, by letting many a gentle ray of hope stream into the +girl's heart, till at length a violent flood of tears, which started to +her eyes, brought her relief, and she was able to tell what had +befallen, with only occasional interruptions, when the overmastering +might of her sorrow turned her words into sobbing. + +She had been awakened at midnight by a soft knocking at her door, and +had recognised the voice of Olivier, imploring her to get up at once, +as her father lay dying. She sprung up, terrified, and opened the door. +Olivier, pale and distorted, bathed in perspiration, led the way, with +tottering steps, to the workshop; she followed. There her father was +lying with his eyes set, and the deathrattle in his throat. She threw +herself upon him, weeping wildly, and then observed that his shirt was +covered with blood. Olivier gently lifted her away, and then busied +himself in bathing a wound (which was on her father's left breast) with +wound-balsam, and in washing it. As he was so doing her father's +consciousness came back; the rattle in his throat ceased, and, looking +first on her, and then on Olivier with most expressive glances, he took +her hand and placed it in Olivier's, pressing them both together. She +and Olivier then knelt down beside her father's bed; he raised himself +with a piercing cry, immediately fell back again, and with a deep +inspiration, departed this life. On this they both wept and lamented. +Olivier told her how her father had been murdered in his presence +during an expedition on which he had accompanied him that night by his +order, and how he had with the utmost difficulty carried him home, not +supposing him to be mortally wounded. As soon as it was day, the people +of the house--who had heard the sounds of the footsteps, and of the +weeping and lamenting during the night--came up, and found them still +kneeling, inconsolable by the father's body. Then an uproar commenced, +the Marechaussee broke in and Olivier was taken to prison as her +father's murderer. Madelon added the most touching account of Olivier's +virtues, goodness, piety, and sincerity, telling how he had honoured +his master as if he had been his own father, and how the latter +returned his affection in the fullest measure, choosing him for his +son-in-law in spite of his poverty, because his skill and fidelity were +equal to the nobleness of his heart. All this Madelon spoke right out +of the fullness of her heart, and added that if Olivier had thrust a +dagger into her father's heart before her very eyes, she would rather +have thought it a delusion of Satan's than have believed that Olivier +was capable of such a terrible and awful crime. + +Mademoiselle Scuderi, most deeply touched by Madelon's nameless +sufferings, and quite disposed to believe in poor Olivier's innocence, +made inquiries, and found everything confirmed which Madelon had said +as to the domestic relations between the master and his workman. The +people of the house and the neighbours all gave Olivier the character +of being the very model of good, steady, exemplary behaviour. No one +knew anything whatever against him, and yet, when the crime was alluded +to, every one shrugged his shoulders, and thought there was something +incomprehensible about that. + +Olivier, brought before the Chambre Ardente, denied--as Mademoiselle +Scuderi learned--with the utmost steadfastness the crime of which he +was accused, and maintained that his master had been attacked in the +street in his presence, and borne down, and that he had carried him +home still alive, although he did not long survive. This agreed with +Madelon's statement. + +Over and over again Mademoiselle Scuderi had the very minutest +circumstances of the awful event related to her. She specially inquired +if there had ever been any quarrel between Olivier and the father, +whether Olivier was altogether exempt from that propensity to hastiness +which often attacks the best tempered people like a blind madness, and +leads them to commit deeds which seem to exclude all voluntariness of +action; but the more enthusiastically Madelon spoke of the peaceful +home-life which the three had led together, united in the most sincere +affection, the more did every vestige of suspicion against Olivier +disappear from her mind. Closely examining and considering everything, +starting from the assumption that, notwithstanding all that spoke so +loudly for his innocence, Olivier yet _had_ been Cardillac's murderer, +Mademoiselle Scuderi could find, in all the realm of possibility, no +motive for the terrible deed, which, in any case, was bound to destroy +his happiness. Poor, though skilful, he succeeds in gaining the good +will of the most renowned of masters; he loves the daughter--his master +favours his love. Happiness, good fortune for the rest of his life +are laid open before him. Supposing, then, that--God knows on what +impulse--overpowered by anger, he should have made this murderous +attack on his master, what diabolical hyprocrisy it required to +conduct himself after the deed as he had done. With the firmest +conviction of his innocence, Mademoiselle Scuderi came to the +resolution to save Olivier at whatever cost. + +It seemed to her most advisable, before perhaps appealing to the King +in person, to go to the President, La Regnie, point out for his +consideration all the circumstances which made for Olivier's innocence, +and so, perhaps, kindle in his mind a conviction favourable to the +accused which might communicate itself beneficially to the judges. + +La Regnie received her with all the consideration which was the due of +a lady of her worth, held in high esteem by His Majesty himself. He +listened in silence to all she had to say concerning Olivier's +circumstances, relationships, and character; and also concerning the +crime itself. A delicate, almost malignant, smile, however, was all the +token which he gave that the adjurations, the reminders (accompanied by +plentiful tears) that every judge ought to be, not the enemy of the +accused, but ready to attend, too, to whatever spoke in his favour were +not gliding by ears which were perfectly deaf. When at length +Mademoiselle Scuderi, quite exhausted and wiping the tears from her +cheeks, was silent, La Regnie began, saying:-- + +"It is quite characteristic of your excellent heart, Mademoiselle, +that, moved by the tears of a young girl who is in love, you should +credit all she says; nay, be incapable of grasping the idea of a +fearful crime such as this. But it is otherwise with the Judge, who is +accustomed to tear off the mask from vile and unblushing hyprocrisy +and deception. It is, of course, not incumbent on me to disclose the +course of a criminal process to every one who chooses to inquire. I do +my duty, Mademoiselle! The world's opinion troubles me not at all. +Evil-doers should tremble before the Chambre Ardente, which knows no +punishments save blood and fire. But by you, Mademoiselle, I would not +be looked upon as a monster of severity and barbarity; therefore, +permit me to place before your eyes in few words the bloodguilt of this +young criminal, upon whom, Heaven be thanked, vengeance has fallen. +Your acute intelligence will then despise the generous feeling and +kindliness which do honour to you, but in me would be out of place. Eh +bien! this morning Rene Cardillac is found murdered by a dagger-thrust, +no one is by him except his workman, Olivier Brusson and the daughter. +In Olivier's room there is found, amongst other things, a dagger +covered with fresh blood which exactly fits into the wound. Olivier +says, 'Cardillac was attacked in the street before my eyes.' 'Was the +intention to rob him?' 'I do not know.' 'You were walking with him and +you could not drive off the murderer or detain him?' 'My master was +walking fifteen or perhaps sixteen paces in front of me; I was +following him.' 'Why, in all the world, so far behind?' 'My master +wished it so.' 'And what had Master Cardillac to do in the streets so +late?' 'That I cannot say.' 'But he was never in the habit of being out +after nine o'clock at other times, was he?' At this Olivier hesitates, +becomes confused, sighs, shed tears, vows by all that is sacred that +Cardillac _did_ go out that night, and met with his death. Now observe, +Mademoiselle, it is proved to the most absolute certainty that +Cardillac did _not_ leave the house that night, consequently Olivier's +assertion that he went with him is a barefaced falsehood. The street +door of the house fastens with a heavy lock, which makes a penetrating +noise in opening and closing, also the door itself creaks and groans on +its hinges, so that, as experiments have proved, the noise is heard +quite distinctly in the upper stories of the house. Now, there lives in +the lower story, that is to say, close to the street door, old Maitre +Claude Patru with his housekeeper, a person of nearly eighty years of +age, but still hale and active. Both of them heard Cardillac, according +to his usual custom, come down stairs at nine o'clock exactly, close +and bolt the door with a great deal of noise, go upstairs again, read +evening prayer, and then (as was to be presumed by the shutting of the +door) go into his bedroom. Maitre Claude suffers from sleeplessness +like many other old people; and on the night in question he could not +close an eye, therefore, about half past nine the housekeeper struck a +light in the kitchen, which she reached by crossing the passage, and +sat down at the table beside her master with an old chronicle-book, +from which she read aloud, whilst the old man, fixing his thoughts on +the reading, sometimes sat in his arm-chair, sometimes walked slowly up +and down the room to try and bring on sleepiness. All was silence in +the house till nearly midnight; but then they heard overhead rapid +footsteps, a heavy fall, as of something on to the floor, and +immediately after that a hollow groaning. They both were struck by a +peculiar alarm and anxiety, the horror of the terrible deed which had +just been committed seemed to sweep past them. When day came what had +been done in the darkness was brought clearly to light." + +"But, in the name of all the Saints," cried Mademoiselle Scuderi, +"considering all the circumstances which I have told you at such +length, can you think of any _motive_ for this diabolical deed?" + +"Hm!" answered La Regnie. "Cardillac was anything but a poor man. He +had valuable jewels in his possession." "But all he had would go to the +daughter! You forget that Olivier was to be Cardillac's son-in-law." +"Perhaps he was compelled to share with others," said La Regnie, "or to +do the deed wholly for them!" "Share!--murder for others!" cried +Mademoiselle Scuderi, in utter amaze. + +"You must learn, Mademoiselle," continued La Regnie, "that Olivier's +blood would have been flowing on the Place de Greve before this time, +but that his crime is connected with that deeply-hidden mystery which +has so long brooded over Paris. It is clear that Olivier belongs to +that formidable band which, setting at defiance every attempt at +observation or discovery, carries on its nefarious practices with +perfect immunity. Through him everything will, must be discovered. +Cardillac's wound is precisely the same as all those of the persons who +have been robbed and murdered in the streets and houses; and most +conclusive of all, since Olivier's arrest, the robberies and murders +have ceased; the streets are as safe by night as by day. Proof enough +that Olivier was most probably the chief of the band. As yet he will +not confess; but there are means of making him speak against his will." + +"And Madelon!" cried Mademoiselle Scuderi, "that truthful, innocent +creature." + +"Ah!" cried La Regnie, with one of his venomous smiles, "who answers to +me that _she_ is not in the plot, too? She does not care so very much +about her father. Her tears are all for the murderer boy." + +"What?" cried Mademoiselle Scuderi, "not for her father?--that +girl--impossible!" "Oh!" continued La Regnie, "remember the +Brinvilliers! You must pardon me, if by-and-by I have to carry off +your _protegee_, and put her in the Conciergerie." + +Mademoiselle Scuderi shuddered at this grizly notion. It seemed to her +that no truth or virtue could endure before this terrible man; as if he +spied out murder and bloodguilt in the deepest and most hidden thoughts +of people's hearts. She rose. "Be human!" was all that in her state of +anxiety and oppression she was able, with difficulty, to say. As she +was just going to descend the stairs, to which the President had +attended her with ceremonious courtesy, a strange idea came to her--she +knew not how. "Might I be allowed to see this unfortunate Olivier +Brusson?" she inquired, turning round sharply. He scrutinised her +face with thoughtful looks, and then his face distorted itself +into the repulsive smile which was characteristic of him. "Doubtless, +Mademoiselle," he said, "your idea is that, trusting your own +feelings--the inward voice--more than that which happened before our +eyes, you would like to examine into Olivier's guilt or innocence for +yourself. If you do not fear that gloomy abode of crime--if it +is not hateful to you to see those types of depravity in all their +gradations--the doors of the Conciergerie shall be opened to you in two +hours time. Olivier, whose fate excites your sympathy, shall be brought +to you." + +In truth, Mademoiselle Scuderi could not bring herself to believe in +Olivier's guilt. Everything spoke against him. Indeed, no judge in the +world would have thought otherwise than La Regnie, in the face of what +had happened. But the picture of domestic happiness which Madelon had +placed before her eyes in such vivid colours, outweighed and outshone +all suspicion, so that she preferred to adopt the hypothesis of some +inscrutable mystery rather than believe what her whole nature revolted +against. + +She thought she would hear Olivier's narrative of the events of that +night of mystery, and in this manner, possibly, penetrate further into +a secret which the judges, perhaps, did not see into, because they +thought it unworthy of investigation. + +Arrived at the Conciergerie, she was taken into a large, well-lighted +room. Presently she heard the ring of fetters. Olivier Brusson was +brought in; but as soon as she saw him she fell down fainting. When she +recovered, he was gone. She demanded with impetuosity to be taken to +her carriage; she would not remain another moment in that place of +crime and wickedness. Alas! at the first glance she recognised in +Olivier Brusson the young man who had thrown the letter into her +carriage on the Pont Neuf, and who had brought her the casket with the +jewels. Now all doubt was gone, La Regnie's terrible suspicions +completely justified. Olivier belonged to the atrocious band, and had, +doubtless, murdered his master! And Madelon! Never before so bitterly +deceived by her kind feelings, Mademoiselle Scuderi, under this deadly +attack upon her by the power of the evil one here below--in whose very +existence she had not believed--doubted if there was such a thing as +truth. She gave admittance to the fearful suspicion that Madelon, too, +was forsworn, and might have a hand in the bloody deed. And as it is +the nature of the human mind that, when an idea has dawned upon it, it +eagerly seeks, and finds, colours in which to paint that idea more and +more vividly, she, as she weighed and considered all the circumstances +of the crime along with Madelon's behaviour, found a very great deal to +nourish suspicion. Many things which had hitherto been considered +proofs of innocence and purity, now became evidences of studied +hypocrisy and deep, corrupt wickedness. Those heartrending cries of +sorrow, and the bitter tears, might well have been pressed from her by +the deadly dread of her lover's bleeding--nay, of her own falling into +the executioner's hands. With a resolve at once to cast away the +serpent she had been cherishing, Mademoiselle Scuderi alighted +from her carriage. Madelon threw herself at her feet. Her heavenly +eyes--(no Angel of God's has them more truthful)--raised to her, her +hands pressed to her heaving breast, she wept, imploring help and +consolation. Mademoiselle Scuderi, controlling herself with difficulty, +giving to the tone of her voice as much calmness and gravity as +she could, said, "Go! go!--be thankful that the murderer awaits +the just punishment of his crime. May the Holy Virgin grant that +blood-guiltiness does not weigh heavily on your own head also." With a +bitter cry of "Alas! then all is over!" Madelon fell fainting to the +ground. Mademoiselle Scuderi left her to the care of La Martiniere, and +went to another room. + +Much distressed, and at variance with all earthly things, she longed to +depart from a world filled with diabolical treachery and falsehood. She +complained of the destiny which had granted her so many years in which +to strengthen her belief in truth and virtue, only to shatter in her +old days the beautiful fancies which had illumined her path. + +She heard Madelon, as La Martiniere was leading her away, murmur in +broken accents, "_Her_, too, have the terrible men deceived. Ah! +wretched me!--miserable Olivier!" The tones of the voice went to her +heart, and again there dawned within her the belief in the existence of +some mystery, in Olivier's innocence. Torn by the most contradictory +feelings, she cried, "What spirit of the pit has mixed _me_ up in this +terrible story, which will be my very death!" + +At this moment Baptiste came in pale and terrified, to say that +Desgrais was at the door. Since the dreadful La Voisin trial the +appearance of Desgrais in a house was the sure precursor of some +criminal accusation. Hence Baptiste's terror, as to which his mistress +asked him with a gentle smile, "What is the matter, Baptiste? Has the +name of Scuderi been found in La Voisin's lists?" "Ah! For Christ's +sake," cried Baptiste, trembling in every limb, "how can you say such a +thing; but Desgrais--the horrible Desgrais--is looking so mysterious, +and presses in so--he seems hardly able to wait till he can see you." +"Well, Baptiste," she said, "bring him in at once, this gentleman who +is so frightful to you, and who to _me_, at all events, can cause no +anxiety." + +"President La Regnie sends me to you, Mademoiselle," said Desgrais, +when he entered, "with a request which he scarce would dare to make if +he did not know your goodness and bravery, and if the last hope of +bringing to light an atrocious deed of blood did not lie in your hands, +had you not already taken such interest (as well as bearing a part), in +this case, which is keeping the Chambre Ardente, and all of us, in a +state of such breathless eagerness. Olivier Brusson, since he saw you, +has been almost out of his mind. He still swears by all that is sacred, +that he is completely innocent of Rene Cardillac's death, though he is +ready to suffer the punishment he has deserved. Observe, Mademoiselle, +that the latter admission clearly refers to other crimes of which he +has been guilty. But all attempts to get him to utter anything further +have been vain. He begs and implores to be allowed to have an interview +with you. To you alone will he divulge everything. Vouchsafe then, +Mademoiselle, to listen to Brusson's confession." + +"What?" cried Mademoiselle Scuderi, in indignation, "_I_ become an +organ of the criminal court, and abuse the confidence of this +unfortunate fellow to bring him to the scaffold! No! Desgrais. Ruffian +and murderer though he may be, I could never deceive and betray him +thus villainously. I will have nothing to do with his avowal. If I did, +it would be locked up in my heart, as if made to a priest under the +seal of the confessional." + +"Perhaps, Mademoiselle," said Desgrais, with a subtle smile, "you might +alter your opinion after hearing Brusson. Did you not beg the President +to be human? This he is, in yielding to Brusson's foolish desire, and +thus trying one more expedient--the last--before resorting to the rack, +for which Brusson is long since ripe." + +Mademoiselle Scuderi shuddered involuntarily. + +"Understand, Mademoiselle," he continued, "you would by no means be +expected to go again into those gloomy dungeons, which inspired you +with such horror and loathing. Olivier would be brought to your own +house, in the night, like a free man; what he should say would not be +listened to, though, of course, there would be a proper guard with him. +He could thus tell you freely and unconstrainedly all he had to say. As +regards any risk which you might run in seeing the wretched being, my +life shall answer for that. He speaks of you with the deepest +veneration; he vows that it is the dark mystery which prevented his +seeing you earlier which has brought him to destruction. Moreover, it +would rest with you entirely to repeat as much or as little as you +pleased of what Brusson confessed to you. How could you be constrained +to more?" + +Mademoiselle Scuderi sat with eyes fixed on the ground, in deep +reflection. It seemed to her that she could not but obey that Higher +Power which demanded of her the clearing up of this mystery--as if +there were no escape for her from the wondrous meshes in which she had +become inwound without her will. Coming to a rapid decision, she said +with solemnity, "God will give me self-command and firm resolution. +Bring Brusson here; I will see him." + +As on the night when the jewel-casket had been brought, so now, at +midnight, there came a knocking at the door. Baptiste, properly +instructed, opened. Mademoiselle Scuderi's blood ran cold when she +heard the heavy tread of the guard party which had brought Brusson +stationing themselves about the passages. + +At length the door opened, Desgrais came in, and after him, Olivier +Brusson, without irons, and respectably dressed. + +"Here is Brusson, Mademoiselle," said Desgrais, bowing courteously; he +then departed at once. + +Brusson sank down on both knees before Mademoiselle Scuderi. The pure, +clear expression of a most truthful soul beamed from his face, though +it was drawn and distorted by terror and bitter pain. The longer she +looked at him, the more vivid became a remembrance of some well-loved +person--she could not say whom. When the first feeling of shuddering +left her, she forgot that Cardillac's murderer was kneeling before her, +and, speaking in the pleasant tone of quiet goodwill which was natural +to her, said-- + +"Now, Brusson, what have you to say to me?" + +He--still on his knees--sighed deeply, from profound sorrow, and then +said-- + +"Oh, Mademoiselle, you whom I so honour and worship, is there no trace +of recollection of me left in your mind?" + +She, still looking at him attentively, answered that she had certainly +traced in his face a likeness to some one whom she had held in +affection, and it was to this that he owed it that she had overcome her +profound horror of a murderer so far as to be able to listen to him +quietly. Brusson, much pained by her words, rose quickly, and stepped +backwards a pace, with his gloomy glance fixed on the ground. Then, in +a hollow voice, he said-- + +"Have you quite forgotten Anne Guiot? Her son, Olivier, the boy whom +you used to dandle on your knee, is he who is now before you." + +"Oh! For the love of all the Saints!" she cried, as, covering her face +with both hands, she sank back in her chair. She had reason for being +thus horrified. Anne Guiot, the daughter of a citizen who had fallen +into poverty, had lived with Mademoiselle Scuderi from her childhood; +she had brought her up like a daughter, with all affection and care. +When she grew up, a handsome, well-conducted young man, named Claude +Brusson, fell in love with her. Being a first-rate workman at his trade +of a watchmaker, sure to make a capital living in Paris, and Anne being +very fond of him, Mademoiselle Scuderi saw no reason to object to their +marrying. They set up house accordingly, lived a most quiet and happy +domestic life, and the bond between them was knitted more closely still +by the birth of a most beautiful boy, the image of his pretty mother. + +Mademoiselle Scuderi made an idol of little Olivier, whom she would +take away from his mother for hours and days, to pet him and kiss him. +Hence he attached himself to her, and was as pleased to be with her as +with his mother. When three years passed, the depressed state of +Brusson's trade brought it about that job-work was scarcer every day, +so that at last it was all he could do to get bread to eat. In addition +to this came home-sickness for his beautiful native Geneva; so the +little household went there, spite of Mademoiselle Scuderi's +dissuasions and promises of all needful assistance. Anne wrote once or +twice to her foster-mother, and then ceased; so that Mademoiselle +Scuderi thought she was forgotten in the happiness of the Brusson's +life. + +It was now just three and twenty years since the Brusson's had left +Paris for Geneva. + +"Horrible!" cried Mademoiselle Scuderi, when she had to some extent +recovered herself. "You, Olivier! the son of my Anne! And now!----" + +"Mademoiselle!" said Olivier, quietly and composedly, "doubtless you +never thought that the boy whom you cherished like the tenderest of +mothers, whom you dandled on your knee, and to whom you gave +sweetmeats, would, when grown to manhood, stand before you accused of a +terrible murder. I am completely innocent! The Chambre Ardente charges +me with a crime; but, as I hope to die a Christian's death, though it +may be by the executioner's hand--I am free from all blood-guiltiness. +Not by my hand--not by any crime of my committing, was it that the +unfortunate Cardillac came to his end." + +As he said this, Olivier began to tremble and shake so, that +Mademoiselle Scuderi motioned him to a little seat which was near him. + +"I have had sufficient time," he went on, "to prepare myself for this +interview with you--which I look upon as the last favour of a +reconciled Heaven--and to acquire as much calmness and self-control as +are necessary to tell you the story of my terrible, unheard-of +misfortunes. Be so compassionate as to listen to me calmly, whatever +may be your horror at the disclosure of a mystery of which you +certainly have not the smallest inkling. Ah! would to Heaven my poor +father had never left Paris! As far as my recollections of Geneva carry +me, I remember myself as being always bedewed with tears by my +inconsolable parents, and weeping, myself, at their lamentations, which +I did not understand. Later, there came to me a clear sense--a full +comprehension--of the bitterest and most grinding poverty, want, and +privation in which they were living. My father was deceived in all his +expectations; bowed down and broken with sorrow, he died, just when he +had managed to place me as apprentice with a goldsmith. My mother spoke +much of you; she longed to tell you all her misfortunes, but the +despondency which springs from poverty prevented her. That, and also, +no doubt, false modesty, which often gnaws at a mortally wounded heart, +kept her from carrying out her idea. She followed my father to the +grave a few months after his death." + +"Poor Anne! Poor Anne!" said Mademoiselle Scuderi, overwhelmed by +sorrow. + +"I thank and praise the eternal power that she has gone where she +cannot see her beloved son fall, branded with disgrace, by the hand of +the executioner," cried Olivier, loudly, raising a wild and terrible +glance to the skies. Outside, things became unrestful; a sound of +people moving about made itself heard. "Ho, ho!" said he, with a bitter +laugh, "Desgrais is waking up his people, as if I could possibly +escape. But, let me go on. I was harshly treated by my master, though I +was very soon one of the best of workmen, and, indeed, much better than +himself. Once a stranger came to our workshop to buy some of our work. +When he saw a necklace of my making, he patted my shoulder in a kind +way, and said, looking with admiration at the necklace, 'Ah, ha! my +young friend, this is really first-class work, I don't know anybody who +could beat it but Rene Cardillac, who, of course, is the greatest of +all goldsmiths. You ought to go to him; he would be delighted to get +hold of you, for there's nobody but yourself who would be of such use +to him; and again, there's nobody but he who can teach you anything.' +The words of this stranger sunk deep into my heart. There was no more +peace for me in Geneva. I was powerfully impelled to leave it, and at +length I succeeded in getting free from my master. I came to Paris, +where Rene Cardillac received me coldly and harshly. But I stuck to my +point. He was obliged to give me something to try my hand at, however +trifling. So I got a ring to finish. When I took it back to him, +finished, he gazed at me with those sparkling eyes of his, as if he +would look me through and through. Then he said: 'You are a first-rate +man--a splendid fellow; you may come and work with me. I'll pay you +well; you'll be satisfied with me.' And he kept his word. I had been +several weeks with him before I saw Madelon, who, I think, had been +visiting an aunt of his in the country. At last she came home. O +eternal power of Heaven, how was it with me when I saw that angelic +creature! Has ever a man so loved as I! And now! Oh! Madelon!" + +Olivier could speak no more for sorrow. He held both hands over his +face, and sobbed violently. At last he conquered the wild pain with a +mighty effort, and went on-- + +"Madelon looked on me with favour, and came oftener and oftener into +the workshop. Her father watched closely, but many a stolen hand-clasp +marked our covenant. Cardillac did not seem to notice. My idea was, +that if I could gain his good-will, and attain Master's rank, I should +ask his consent to our marriage. One morning, when I was going in to +begin work, he came to me with anger and contempt in his face. 'I don't +want any more of your work,' he said. 'Get out of this house, and don't +let my eyes ever rest on you again. I have no need to tell you the +reason. The dainty fruit you are trying to gather is beyond the reach +of a beggar like you!' I tried to speak, but he seized me and pitched +me out of the door with such violence that I fell, and hurt my head and +my arm. Furious, and smarting with the pain, I went off, and at last +found a kind-hearted acquaintance in the Faubourg St. Germain, who gave +me quarters in his garret. I had no peace nor rest. At night I wandered +round Cardillac's house, hoping that Madelon would hear my sighs and +lamentings, and perhaps manage to speak to me at the window +undiscovered. All sorts of desperate plans, to which I thought I might +persuade her, jostled each other in my brain. Cardillac's house in the +Rue Nicaise abuts on to a high wall with niches, containing old, +partly-broken statues. One night I was standing close to one of those +figures, looking up at the windows of the house which open on the +courtyard which the wall encloses. Suddenly I saw light in Cardillac's +workshop. It was midnight, and he never was awake at that time, as he +always went to bed exactly at nine. My heart beat anxiously: I thought +something might be going on which would let me get into the Louse. But +the light disappeared again immediately. I pressed myself closely into +the niche, and against the statue; but I started back in alarm, feeling +a return of my pressure, as if the statue had come to life. In the +faint moonlight I saw that the stone was slowly turning, and behind it +appeared a dark form, which crept softly out, and went down the street +with stealthy tread. I sprang to the statue: it was standing close to +the wall again, as before. Involuntarily, as if impelled by some power +within me, I followed the receding dark figure. In passing an image of +the Virgin, this figure looked round, the light of the lamp before the +image falling upon his face. It was Cardillac! an indescribable alarm +fell upon me; an eery shudder came over me. As if driven by some spell, +I felt I must follow this spectre-like sleep-walker--for that was what +I thought my master was, though it was not full-moon, the time when +that kind of impulse falls upon sleepers. At length Cardillac +disappeared in a deep shadow; but, by a certain easily distinguishable +sound, I knew that he had gone into the entry of a house. What was the +meaning of this? I asked myself in amazement; what was he going to be +about? I pressed myself close to the wall. Presently there came up a +gentleman, trilling and singing, with a white plume distinct in the +darkness, and clanking spurs. Cardillac darted out upon him from the +darkness, like a tiger on his prey; he fell to the ground gasping. I +rushed up with a cry of terror. Cardillac was leaning over him as he +lay on the ground. 'Master Cardillac, what are you about?' I cried +aloud. 'Curses upon you!' he cried, and, running by me with lightning +speed, disappeared. Quite beyond myself--scarcely able to walk a +step--I went up to the gentleman on the ground, and knelt down beside +him, thinking it might still be possible to save him. But there was no +trace of life left in him. In my alarm I scarcely noticed that the +Marechaussee had come up and surrounded me. 'Another one laid low by +the demons!' they cried, all speaking at once. 'Ah, ha! youngster! what +are you doing here?--are _you_ one of the band?' and they seized me. I +stammered out in the best way I could that I was incapable of such a +terrible deed, and that they must let me go. Then one of them held a +lantern to my face, and said, with a laugh: 'This is Olivier Brusson; +the goldsmith who works with our worthy Master Rene Cardillac. _He_ +murder folks in the street!--very likely story! Who ever heard of a +murderer lamenting over the body, and letting himself be nabbed? Tell +us all about it, my lad; out with it straight.' 'Right before my eyes,' +I said, 'a man sprang out upon this one; stabbed him, and ran off like +lightning. I cried as loud as I could. I wanted to see if he could be +saved.' 'No, my son,' cried one of those who had lifted up the body, +'he's done for!--the dagger-stab right through his heart, as usual.' +'The deuce!' said another; 'just too late again, as we were the day +before yesterday.' And they went away with the body. + +"What _I_ thought of all this I really cannot tell you. I pinched +myself, to see if I were not in some horrible dream. I felt as if I +must wake up directly, and marvel at the absurdity of what I had been +dreaming. Cardillac--my Madelon's father--an atrocious murderer! I had +sunk down powerless on the stone steps of a house; the daylight was +growing brighter and brighter. An officer's hat with a fine plume was +lying before me on the pavement. Cardillac's deed of blood, committed +on the spot, came clearly back to my mental vision. I ran away in +horror. + +"With my mind in a whirl, almost unconscious, I was sitting in my +garret, when the door opened, and Rene Cardillac came in. 'For Christ's +sake! what do you want?' I cried. He, paying no heed to this, came up +to me, smiling at me with a calmness and urbanity which increased my +inward horror. He drew forward an old rickety stool, and sat down +beside me; for I was unable to rise from my straw bed, where I had +thrown myself. 'Well, Olivier,' he began, 'how is it with you, my poor +boy? I really was too hasty in turning you out of doors. I miss you at +every turn. Just now I have a job in hand which I shall never be able +to finish without you; won't you come back and work with me? You don't +answer. Yes, I know very well I insulted you. I don't hide from you +that I was angry about your little bit of love-business with my +Madelon; but I have been thinking matters well over, and I see that I +couldn't have a better son-in-law than you, with your abilities, your +skilfulness, diligence, trustworthiness. Come back with me, and see how +soon you and Madelon can make a match of it.' + +"His words pierced my heart; I shuddered at his wickedness; I could not +utter a syllable. 'You hesitate,' he said, in an acrid tone, while his +sparkling eyes transfixed me. 'Perhaps you can't come to-day. You have +other things to do. Perhaps you want to go and see Desgrais, or have an +interview with D'Argenson or La Regnie. Take care, my boy, that the +talons which you are thinking of drawing out to clutch others, don't +mangle yourself.' At this my deeply-tried spirit found vent. 'Those,' I +said, 'who are conscious of horrible crimes may dread those names which +you have mentioned, but I do not. I have nothing to do with them.' +'Remember, Olivier,' he resumed, 'that it is an honour to you to work +with me--the most renowned Master of his time, everywhere highly +esteemed for his truth and goodness; any foul calumny would fall back +on the head of its originator. As to Madelon, I must tell you that it +is her alone whom you have to thank for my yielding. She loves you with +a devotion that I should never have given her credit for being capable +of. As soon as you were gone, she fell at my feet, clasped my knees, +and vowed, with a thousand tears, that she could never live without +you. I thought this was mere imagination, for those young things always +think they're going to die of love whenever a young wheyface looks at +them a little kindly. But my Madelon really did fall quite sick and +ill; and when I tried to talk her out of the silly nonsense, she called +out your name a thousand times. Last evening I told her I gave in and +agreed to everything, and would go to-day to fetch you; so this morning +she is blooming again like any rose, and waiting for you, quite beyond +herself with love-longing.' May the eternal power of Heaven forgive me, +but--I don't know how it came about--I suddenly found myself in +Cardillac's house, where Madelon, with loud cries of 'Olivier!--my +Olivier!--my beloved! my husband!' clasped both her arms about me, and +pressed me to her heart; whilst I, in the plenitude of the supremest +bliss, swore by the Virgin and all the Saints never, never to leave +her." + +Overcome by the remembrance of this decisive moment, Olivier was +obliged to pause. Mademoiselle Scuderi, horrified at the crime of a man +whom she had looked on as the incarnation of probity and goodness, +cried-- + +"Dreadful!--Rene Cardillac a member of that band of murderers who have +so long made Paris into a robber's den!" "A member of the band, do you +say, Mademoiselle?" said Olivier. "There never was any band; it was +Rene Cardillac alone, who sought and found his victims with such an +amount of diabolical ingenuity and activity. It was in the fact of his +being alone that his impunity lay--the practical impossibility of +coming upon the murderer's track. But let me go on. What is coming will +clear up the mystery, and reveal the secrets of the most wicked, and at +the same time most wretched of all mankind. You at once see the +position in which I now stood towards my master. The step was taken, +and I could not go back. At times it seemed to me that I had rendered +myself Cardillac's accomplice in murder, and it was only in Madelon's +love that I forgot for a time the inward pain which tortured me; only +in her society could I drive away all outward traces of the nameless +horror. When I was at work with the old man in the workshop, I could +not look him in the face--could scarcely speak a word--for the horror +which pervaded me in the presence of this terrible being, who fulfilled +all the duties of the tender father and the good citizen, while the +night shrouded his atrocities. Madelon, pure and pious as an angel, +hung upon him with the most idolatrous affection. It pierced my heart +when I thought that, if ever vengeance should overtake this masked +criminal, she would be the victim of the most terrible despair. That, +of itself, closed my lips, though the consequence of my silence should +be a criminal's death for myself. Although much was to be gathered from +what the Marechaussee had said, still Cardillac's crimes, their motive, +and the manner in which he carried them out, were a riddle to me. The +solution of it soon came. One day Cardillac--who usually excited my +horror by laughing and jesting during our work, in the highest of +spirits--was very grave and thoughtful. Suddenly he threw the piece of +work he was engaged on aside, so that the pearls and other stones +rolled about the floor, started to his feet, and said: 'Olivier! things +cannot go on between us like this; the situation is unendurable. What +the ablest and most ingenious efforts of Desgrais and his myrmidons +failed to find out, chance has played into your hands. You saw me at my +nocturnal work, to which my Evil Star compels me, so that no resistance +is possible for me; and it was your own Evil Star, moreover, which led +you to follow me; wrapped and hid you in an impenetrable mantle; gave +that lightness to your foot-fall which enabled you to move along with +the noiselessness of the smaller animals, so that I--who see clear by +night, as doth the tiger, and hear the smallest sound, the humming of +the gnat, streets away--did not observe you. Your Evil Star brought you +to me, my comrade--my accomplice! You see, now, that you can't betray +me; therefore you shall know all.' + +"I would have cried out, 'Never, never shall I be your comrade, your +accomplice, you atrocious miscreant.' But the inward horror which I +felt at his words paralysed my tongue. Instead of words I could only +utter an unintelligible noise. Cardillac sat down in his working chair +again, wiped the perspiration from his brow, and seemed to find it +difficult to pull himself together, hard beset by the recollection of +the past. At length he began: 'Wise men have much to say of the strange +impulses which come to women when they are _enceinte_, and the strange +influence which those vivid, involuntary impulses exercise upon the +child. A wonderful tale is told of _my_ mother. When she was a month +gone with me she was looking on, with other women, at a court pageant +at the Trianon, and saw a certain cavalier in Spanish dress, with a +glittering chain of jewels about his neck, from which she could not +remove her eyes. Her whole being was longing for those sparkling +stones, which seemed to her more than earthly. This same cavalier had +at a previous time, before my mother was married, had designs on her +virtue, which she rejected with indignation. She recognized him, but +now, irradiated by the light of the gems, he seemed to her a creature +of a higher sphere, the very incarnation of beauty. The cavalier +noticed the longing, fiery looks which she was bending on him, and +thought he was in better luck now than of old. He managed to get near +her, and to separate her from her companions, and entice her to a +lonely place. There he clasped her eagerly in his arms. My mother +grasped at the beautiful chain; but at that moment he fell down, +dragging her with him. Whether it was apoplexy, or what, I do not know; +but he was dead. My mother struggled in vain to free herself from the +clasp of the arms, stiffened as they were in death. With the hollow +eyes, whence vision had departed, fixed on her, the corpse rolled with +her to the ground. Her shrieks at length reached people who were +passing at some distance; they hastened to her, and rescued her from +the embrace of this gruesome lover. Her fright laid her on a bed of +dangerous sickness. Her life was despaired of as well as mine; but she +recovered, and her confinement was more prosperous than had been +thought possible. But the terrors of that awful moment had set their +mark on _me_. My Evil Star had risen, and darted into me those rays +which kindled in me one of the strangest and most fatal of passions. +Even in my earliest childhood I thought there was nothing to compare +with glittering diamonds with gold settings. This was looked upon as a +childish fancy; but it was otherwise, for as a boy I stole gold and +jewels wherever I could lay hands on them, and I knew the difference +between good ones and bad, instinctively, like the most accomplished +connoisseur. Only the pure and valuable attracted me; I would not touch +alloyed or coined gold. Those inborn cravings were kept in check by my +father's severe chastisements; but, so that I might always have to do +with gold and precious stones, I took up the goldsmith's calling. I +worked at it with passion, and soon became the first living master of +that art. Then began a period when the natural bent within me, so long +restrained, shot forth in power, and waxed with might, bearing +everything away before it. As soon as I finished a piece of work and +delivered it, I fell into a state of restlessness and disconsolateness +which prevented my sleeping, ruined my health, and left me no enjoyment +in my life. The person for whom I made the work haunted me day and +night like a spectre--I saw that person continually before my mental +vision, with my beautiful jewels on, and a voice kept whispering to me: +'They belong to you! take them; what's the use of diamonds to the +dead?' At last I betook myself to thieving. I had access to the houses +of the great; I took advantage quickly of every opportunity. No locks +withstood my skill, and I soon had my work back in my hands again. But +this was not enough to calm my unrest. That mysterious voice made +itself heard again, jeering at me, and saying, 'Ho, ho! one of the dead +is wearing your jewels.' I did not know whence it came, but I had an +indescribable hatred for all those for whom I made jewelry. More than +that, in the depths of my heart I began to long to kill them; this +frightened me. Just then I bought this house. I had concluded the +bargain with the owner: here in this very room we were sitting, +drinking a bottle of wine in honour of the transaction. Night had come +on, he was going to leave when he said to me: 'Look here, Maitre Rene, +before I go I must let you into a secret about this house.' He opened +that cupboard, which is let into the wall there, and pushed the back of +it in; this let him into a little closet, where he bowed down and +raised a trap-door. This showed us a steep, narrow stair, which we went +down, and at the bottom of it was a little narrow door, which let us +out into the open courtyard. There he went up to the wall, pushed a +piece of iron which projected a very little, and immediately a piece of +the wall turned round, so that a person could get out through the +opening into the street. You must see this contrivance sometime, +Olivier; the sly old monks of the convent, which this house once was, +must have had it made so as to be able to slip out and in secretly. It +is wood but covered with lime and mortar on the outside, and to the +outer side of it is fitted a statue, also of wood, though _looking_ +exactly like stone, which turns on wooden hinges. When I saw this +arrangement, dark ideas surged up in my mind; it seemed to me that +deeds, as yet mysterious to myself, were here pre-arranged for. I had +just finished a splendid set of ornaments for a gentleman of the +court who, I knew, was going to give them to an opera dancer. My +death-torture soon was on me; the spectre dogged my steps, the whispering +devil was at my ear. I went back into the house, bathed in a sweat of +agony; I rolled about on my bed, sleepless. In my mind's eye I saw the +man gliding to his dancer with _my_ beautiful jewels. Full of fury I +sprang up, threw my cloak round me, went down the secret stair, out +through the wall into the Rue Nicaise. He came, I fell upon him, he +cried out; but, seizing him from behind, I plunged my dagger into his +heart. The jewels were mine. When this was done, I felt a peace, a +contentment within me which I had never known before. The spectre had +vanished--the voice of the demon was still. _Now_ I knew what was the +behest of my Evil Star, which I had to obey, or perish. You know all +now, Olivier. Don't think that, because I must do that which I cannot +avoid, I have clean renounced all sense of that mercy or kindly feeling +which are the portion of all humanity, and inherent in man's nature. +You know how hard I find it to let any of my work go out of my hands, +that there are many whom I would not have to die for whom nothing will +induce me to work; indeed, that in cases when I feel that, next day, my +spectre will have to be exorcised with blood, that day I settle the +business by a swashing blow, which lays the holder of my jewels on the +ground, so that I get them back into my own hands.' Having said all +this, Cardillac took me into his secret strong-room and showed me his +collection of jewels; the King does not possess such an one. To each +ornament was fastened a small label stating for whom it had been made, +and when taken back--by theft, robbery, or murder. + +"'On your wedding day, Olivier,' he said, in a solemn tone, 'you will +swear me a solemn oath, with your hand on the crucifix, that as soon as +I am dead you will at once convert all those treasures into dust, +by a process which I will tell you of. I will not have any human +being, least of all Madelon and you, come into possession of those +blood-bought stones.' + +"Shut up in this labyrinth of crime, torn in twain by love and +abhorrence, I was like one of the damned to whom a glorified angel +points, with gentle smile, the upward way, whilst Satan holds him down +with red-hot talons, and the angel's loving smile, reflecting all the +bliss of paradise, becomes, to him, the very keenest of his tortures. I +thought of flight, even of suicide, but Madelon! Blame me, blame me, +Mademoiselle, for having been too weak to overcome a passion which +fettered me to my destruction. I am going to atone for my weakness by a +shameful death. One day Cardillac came in in unusually fine spirits, he +kissed and caressed Madelon, cast most affectionate looks at me, drank, +at table, a bottle of good wine, which he only did on high-days and +holidays, sang, and made merry. Madelon had left us, and I was going to +the workshop 'Sit still, lad,' cried Cardillac, 'no more work to-day; +let's drink the health of the most worthy and charming lady in all +Paris.' When we had clinked our glasses, and he had emptied a bumper, +he said: 'Tell me, Olivier, how do you like those lines? + + 'Un amant qui craint les voleurs + N'est point digne d'amour.' + +And he told me what had happened between you and the King in Madam de +Maintenon's salon, adding that he had always worshipped you more than +any other human being, and that his reverence and esteem for your +qualities was such that his Evil Star paled before you, and he would +have no fear that, were you to wear the finest piece of his work that +ever he made, the spectre would ever prompt him to thoughts of murder. +'Listen, Olivier,' he said, 'to what I am going to do. A considerable +time ago I had to make a necklace and bracelets for Henrietta of +England, supplying the stones myself. I made of this the best piece of +work that ever I turned out, and it broke my heart to part with those +ornaments, which had become the very treasures of my soul. You know of +her unfortunate death by assassination. The things remained with me, +and now I shall send them to Mademoiselle Scuderi, in the name of the +dreaded band, as a token of respect and gratitude. Besides its being an +unmistakable mark of her triumph, it will be a richly deserved sign of +my contempt for Desgrais and his men. You shall take her the jewels.' +When he mentioned your name, Mademoiselle, dark veils seemed to be +taken away, revealing the bright image of my happy early childhood, +rising again in glowing colours before me. A wonderful comfort came +into my soul, a ray of hope, driving the dark shadows away. Cardillac +saw the effect his words had produced upon me, and gave it his own +interpretation. 'My idea seems to please you,' he said. 'I must declare +that a deep inward voice, very unlike that which cries for blood like a +raving wild beast, commanded me to do this thing. Many times I feel the +strangest ideas come into my mind--an inward fear, the dread of +something terrible, the awe whereof seems to come breathing into this +present time from some distant other world, seizes powerfully upon me. +I even feel, at such times, that the deeds which my Evil Star has +committed by means of me, may be charged to the account of my immortal +soul, though it has no part in them. In one of those moods I determined +that I would make a beautiful diamond crown for the Virgin in the +Church of St. Eustache. But the indescribable dread always came upon +me, stronger than ever, when I set to work at it, so that I left it off +altogether. Now it seems to me that, in presenting Mademoiselle Scuderi +with the finest work I have ever turned out, I am offering a humble +sacrifice to goodness and virtue personified, and imploring their +powerful intercession.' Cardillac, well acquainted with all the minutiae +of your manner of life, told me the how and the when to take the +ornaments to you. My whole Being rejoiced, for Heaven seemed to be +showing me, through the atrocious Cardillac, the way to escape from the +hell in which I was being tortured. Quite contrarily to Cardillac's +wish, I resolved that I would get access to you and speak with you. As +Anne Brusson's son, and your former pet, I thought I would throw myself +at your feet and tell you everything. Out of consideration for the +nameless misery which a disclosure of the secret would bring upon +Madelon, I knew that you would keep it, but that your grand and +brilliant intellect would have been sure to find means to put an end to +Cardillac's wickedness without disclosing it. Do not ask me what those +means were to have been; I cannot tell. But that you would rescue +Madelon and me I believed as firmly as I do in the intercession of the +Holy Virgin. You know, Mademoiselle, that my intention was frustrated +that night; but I did not lose hope of being more fortunate another +time. By-and-by Cardillac suddenly lost all his good spirits; he crept +moodily about, uttered unintelligible words, and worked his arms as if +warding off something hostile. His mind seemed full of evil thoughts. +For a whole morning he had been going on in this way. At last he sat +down at the work-table, sprang up again angrily, looked out of window, +and then said, gravely and gloomily, 'I wish Henrietta of England had +had my jewels.' Those words filled me with terror. I knew that his +diseased mind was possessed again by the terrible murder-spectre, that +the voice of the demon was loud again in his ears. I saw your life +threatened by the horrible murder-demon. If Cardillac could get his +jewels back again into his hands, you were safe. The danger grew +greater every instant. I met you on the Pont Neuf, made my way to your +carriage, threw you the note which implored you to give the jewels back +to Cardillac immediately. You did not come. My fear became despair, +when, next day, Cardillac spoke of nothing but the priceless jewels he +had seen before him in his dreams. I could only suppose that this +referred to _your_ jewels, and I felt sure he was brooding over some +murderous attack, which he had determined to carry out that night. Save +you I must, should it cost Cardillac's life. When, after the evening +prayer, he had shut himself up in his room as usual, I got into the +courtyard through a window, slipped out through the opening of the +wall, and stationed myself close at hand, in the deepest shadow. Very +soon Cardillac came out, and went gliding softly down the street. I +followed him. He took the direction of the Rue St. Honore. My heart +beat fast. All at once he disappeared from me. I determined to place +myself at your door. Just as fate had ordered matters on the first +occasion of my witnessing one of his crimes, there came along past me +an officer, trilling and singing; he did not see me. Instantly a dark +form sprang out and attacked him. Cardillac! I determined to prevent +this murder. I gave a loud shout, and was on the spot in a couple of +paces. Not the officer, but Cardillac, fell gasping to the ground, +mortally wounded. The officer let his dagger fall, drew his sword, and +stood on the defensive, thinking I was the murderer's accomplice. But +he hastened away when he saw that, instead of concerning myself about +_him_, I was examining the fallen man. Cardillac was still alive. I +took up the dagger dropped by the officer, stuck it in my belt, and, +lifting Cardillac on to my shoulders, carried him, with difficulty, to +the house, and up the secret stair to the workshop. The rest you know. +You perceive, Mademoiselle, that my only crime was that I refrained +from giving Madelon's father up to justice, thereby making an end of +his crimes. I am innocent of bloodguilt. No torture will draw from me +the secret of Cardillac's iniquities. Not through any action of mine +shall that Eternal Power, which hid from Madelon the gruesome +bloodguilt of her father all this time, break in upon her now, to her +destruction, nor shall earthly vengeance drag the corpse of Cardillac +out of the soil which covers it, and brand the mouldering bones with +infamy. No; the beloved of my soul shall mourn me as an innocent +victim. Time will mitigate her sorrow for me, but her grief for her +father's terrible crimes nothing would ever assuage." + +Olivier ceased, and then a torrent of tears fell down his cheeks. +He threw himself at Mademoiselle Scuderi's feet, saying imploringly, +"You are convinced that I am innocent; I know you are. Be merciful +to me. Tell me how Madelon is faring." Mademoiselle Scuderi summoned +La Martiniere, and in a few minutes Madelon was clinging to Olivier's +neck. "Now that you are here, all is well. I knew that this +noble-hearted lady would save you," Madelon cried over and over; and +Olivier forgot his fate, and all that threatened him. He was free and +happy. They bewailed, in the most touching manner, what each had +suffered for the other, and embraced afresh, and wept for joy at being +together again. + +Had Mademoiselle Scuderi not been convinced of Olivier's innocence +before, she must have been so when she saw those two lovers forgetting, +in the rapture of the time, the world, their sufferings, and their +indescribable sorrows. "None but a guiltless heart," she cried, "would +be capable of such blissful forgetfulness." + +The morning light came breaking into the room, and Desgrais knocked +gently at the door, reminding them that it was time to take Olivier +away, as it could not be done later without attracting attention. The +lovers had to part. + +The dim anticipations which Mademoiselle Scuderi had felt when Olivier +first came in had now embodied themselves in actual life--in a +terrible fashion. The son of her much-loved Anne was, though innocent, +implicated in a manner which apparently made it impossible to save him +from a shameful death. She admired his heroism, which led him to prefer +death loaded with the imputation of guilt to the betrayal of a secret +which would kill Madelon. In the whole realm of possibility, she could +see no mode of saving the unfortunate lad from the gruesome prison and +the dreadful trial. Yet it was firmly impressed on her mind that she +must not shrink from any sacrifice to prevent this most crying +injustice. + +She tortured herself with all kinds of plans and projects, which were +chiefly of the most impracticable and impossible kind--rejected as soon +as formed. Every glimmer of hope grew fainter and fainter, and she +well-nigh despaired. But Madelon's pious, absolute, childlike +confidence, the inspired manner in which she spoke of her lover, soon +to be free, and to take her to his heart as his wife, restored +Mademoiselle Scuderi's hopes to some extent. + +By way of beginning to do something, she wrote to La Regnie a long +letter, in which she said that Olivier Brusson had proved to her in the +most credible manner his entire innocence of Cardillac's murder, and +that nothing but a heroic resolution to carry to the grave with him a +secret, the disclosure of which would bring destruction upon an +innocent and virtuous person, withheld him from laying a statement +before the Court which would completely clear him from all guilt, and +show that he never belonged to the band at all. She said everything she +could think of, with the best eloquence at her command, which might be +expected to soften La Regnie's hard heart. + +He replied to this in a few hours, saying he was very glad that Olivier +had so thoroughly justified himself in the eyes of his kind patron and +protector; but, as regarded his heroic resolution to carry to the grave +with him a secret relating to the crime with which he was charged, he +regretted that the Chambre Ardente could feel no admiration for heroism +of that description, but must endeavour to dispel it by powerful means. +In three days time he had little doubt he would be in possession of the +wondrous secret, which would probably bring many strange matters to +light. + +Mademoiselle Scuderi knew well what the terrible La Regnie meant by the +"powerful means," which were to break down Olivier's heroism. It was +but too clear that the unfortunate wretch was threatened with the +torture. In her mortal anxiety it at last occurred to her that, were it +only to gain time, the advice of a lawyer would be of some service. +Pierre Arnaud d'Andilly was at that time the most celebrated advocate +in Paris. His goodness of heart, and his highly honourable character +were on a par with his professional skill and his comprehensive mind. +To him she repaired, and told him the whole tale, as far as it was +possible to do so without divulging Olivier's secret. She expected that +d'Andilly would warmly espouse the cause of this innocent man, but in +this she was wofully disappointed. He listened silently to what she had +to say, and then, with a quiet smile, answered in the words of Boileau, +"Le vrai peut quelquefois n'etre point vraisemblable." He showed her +that there were the most grave and marked suspicions against Olivier. +That La Regnie's action was by no means severe or premature, but wholly +regular; indeed, that to do otherwise would be to neglect his duty as a +Judge. He did not believe that he--d'Andilly--could save Brusson from +the rack, by the very ablest of pleading. Nobody could do that but +Brusson himself, either by making the fullest confession, or by +accurately relating the circumstances of Cardillac's murder, which +might lead to further discoveries. + +"Then I will throw myself at the King's feet and sue for mercy," cried +Mademoiselle Scuderi, her voice choked by weeping. + +"For Heaven's sake, do not do that," cried d'Andilly. "Keep it in +reserve for the last extremity. If it fails you once, it is lost for +ever. The King will not pardon a criminal such as Brusson; the people +would justly complain of the danger to them. Possibly Brusson, by +revealing his secret, or otherwise, may manage to dispel the suspicion +which is on him at present. Then would be the time to resort to the +King, who would not ask what was legally proved, but be guided by his +own conviction." + +Mademoiselle Scuderi could not but agree with what d'Andilly's great +experience dictated. She was sitting in her room, pondering as to +what--in the name of the Virgin and all the saints--she should try next +to do, when La Martiniere came to say that the Count de Miossens, +Colonel of the King's Body Guard, was most anxious to speak with her. + +"Pardon me, Mademoiselle," said the Colonel, bowing with a soldier's +courtesy, "for disturbing you, and breaking in upon you at such an +hour. Two words will be sufficient excuse for me. I come about Olivier +Brusson." + +"Olivier Brusson," cried Mademoiselle Scuderi, all excitement as to +what she was going to hear, "that most unfortunate of men! What have +you to say of him?" + +"I knew," said Miossens, laughing again, "that your _protege's_ name +would ensure me a favourable hearing. Everybody is convinced of +Brusson's guilt. I know you think otherwise, and, it is said, your +opinion rests on what he himself has told you. With me the case is +different. Nobody can be more certain than I that Brusson is innocent +of Cardillac's death." + +"Speak! Oh, speak!" cried Mademoiselle Scuderi. + +"I was the man who stabbed the old goldsmith, in the Rue St. Honore, +close to your door," said the Colonel. + +"_You_--_you!_" cried Mademoiselle Scuderi. "In the name of all the +Saints, how?" + +"And I vow to you, Mademoiselle, that I am very proud of my +achievement. Cardillac, I must tell you, was a most abandoned old +hypocritical ruffian, who went about at night robbing and murdering +people, and was never suspected of anything of the kind. I don't, +myself, know from whence it came, that I felt a suspicion of the old +scoundrel when he seemed so distressed at handing me over some work +which I had got him to do for me, when he carefully wormed out of me +for whom I designed it, and cross-questioned my valet as to the times +when I was in the habit of going to see a certain lady. It struck me +long ago, that all the people who were murdered by the unknown hands, +had the self-same wound, and I saw quite clearly, that the murderer had +practised to the utmost perfection of certainty that particular thrust, +which must kill instantaneously--and that he reckoned upon it; so that, +if it were to fail, the fight would be fair. This led me to employ a +precaution so very simple and obvious, that I cannot imagine how +somebody else did not think of it long ago. I wore a light breastplate +of steel under my dress. Cardillac set upon me from behind. He grasped +me with the strength of a giant, but his finely directed thrust glided +off the steel breast-plate. I then freed myself from his clutch, and +planted my dagger into his heart." + +"And you have said nothing?" said Mademoiselle Scuderi. "You have not +told the authorities anything about this?" + +"Allow me to point out to you, Mademoiselle," said he, "that to have +done that would have involved me in a most terrible legal +investigation, probably ending in my ruin. La Regnie, who scents out +crime everywhere, would not have been at all likely to believe me at +once, when I accused the good, respectable, exemplary Cardillac of +being an habitual murderer. The sword of Justice would, most probably, +have turned its point against me." + +"Impossible," said Mademoiselle Scuderi. "Your rank--your position----" + +"Oh!" interrupted Miossens, "remember the Marechal de Luxemburg; he +took it into his head to have his horoscope cast by Le Sage, and was +suspected of poisoning, and put in the Bastille. No; by Saint Dyonys! +not one moment of freedom--not the tip of one of my ears, would I trust +to that raging La Regnie, who would be delighted to put his knife to +all our throats." + +"But this brings an innocent man to the scaffold," said Mademoiselle +Scuderi. + +"Innocent, Mademoiselle!" cried Miossens. "Do you call Cardillac's +accomplice an innocent man? He who assisted him in his crimes, and has +deserved death a hundred times? No, in verity; _he_ suffers justly; +although I told you the true state of the case in the hope that you +might somehow make use of it in the interests of your _protege_, +without bringing me into the clutches of the Chambre Ardente." + +Mademoiselle Scuderi, delighted at having her conviction of Olivier's +innocence confirmed in such a decided manner, had no hesitation in +telling the Count the whole affair, since he already knew all about +Cardillac's crimes, and in begging him to go with her to d'Andilly, to +whom everything should be communicated under the seal of secrecy, and +who should advise what was next to be done. + +D'Andilly, when Mademoiselle Scuderi had told him at full length all +the circumstances, inquired again into the very minutest particulars. +He asked Count Miossens if he was quite positive as to its having been +Cardillac who attacked him, and if he would recognise Olivier as the +person who carried away the body. + +"Not only," said Miossens, "was the moon shining brightly, so that I +recognised the old goldsmith perfectly well, but this morning, at La +Regnie's, I saw the dagger with which he was stabbed. It is mine; I +know it by the ornamentation of the handle. And as I was within a pace +of the young man, I saw his face quite distinctly, all the more because +his hat had fallen off. As a matter of course I should know him in a +moment." + +D'Andilly looked before him in meditation for a few moments, and said: +"There is no way of getting Brusson out of the hands of justice by any +ordinary means. On Madelon's account, nothing will induce him to admit +that Cardillac was a robber and a murderer. And even were he to do so, +and succeed in proving the truth of it by pointing out the secret +entrance and the collection of the stolen jewels, death would be his +own lot, as an accomplice. The same consequence would follow if Count +Miossens related to the judges the adventure with Cardillac. Delay is +what we must aim at. Let Count Miossens go to the Conciergerie, be +confronted with Olivier, and recognise him as the person who carried +off Cardillac's body; let him then go to La Regnie, and say, 'I saw a +man stabbed in the Rue St. Honore, and was close to the body when +another man darted up, bent down over it, and finding life still in it, +took it on his shoulders and carried it away. I recognise Olivier +Brusson as that man.' This will lead to a further examination of +Brusson, to his being confronted with Count Miossens; the torture will +be postponed, and further investigations made. Then will be the time to +have recourse to the King. Your brilliant intellect, Mademoiselle, will +point out the most fitting way to do this. I think it would be best to +tell His Majesty the whole story. Count Miossen's statement will +support Olivier's. Perhaps, too, an examination of Cardillac's house +would help matters. The King might then follow the bent of his own +judgment--of his kind heart, which might pardon where justice could +only punish." Count Miossens closely followed D'Andilly's advice, and +everything fell out just as he had said it would. + +It was now time to repair to the King; and this was the chief +difficulty of all, as he had such an intense horror of Brusson--whom he +believed to be the man who had for so long kept Paris in a state of +terror--that the least allusion to him threw him at once into the most +violent anger. Madame de Maintenon, faithful to her system of never +mentioning unpleasant subjects to him, declined all intermediation; so +that Brusson's fate was entirely in Mademoiselle Scuderi's hands. After +long reflection, she hit upon a scheme which she put in execution at +once. She put on a heavy black silk dress, with Cardillac's jewels, and +a long black veil, and appeared at Madame de Maintenon's at the time +when she knew the King would be there. Her noble figure in this +mourning garb excited the reverential respect even of those frivolous +persons who pass their days in Court antechambers. They all made way +for her, and when she came into the presence, the King himself rose, +astonished, and came forward to meet her. The splendid diamonds of the +necklace and bracelets flashed in his eyes, and he cried: "By Heavens! +Cardillac's work!" Then, turning to Madame de Maintenon, he said, with +a pleasant smile, "See, Madame la Marquise, how our fair lady mourns +for her affianced husband." "Ah, Sire!" said Mademoiselle Scuderi, as +if keeping up the jest, "it would ill become a mourning bride to wear +such bravery. No; I have done with the goldsmith; nor would I remember +him, but that the gruesome spectacle of his corpse carried close by me +before my eyes keeps coming back to my memory." "What!" said the King, +"did you actually see him, poor fellow?" She then told him in few words +(not introducing Brusson into the business at all) how chance had +brought her to Cardillac's door just when the murder had been +discovered. She described Madelon's wild terror and sorrow; the +impression made upon her by the beautiful girl; how she had taken her +out of Desgrais's hands, and away with her, amid the applause of the +crowd. The scenes with La Regnie, with Desgrais, with Olivier Brusson +himself, now followed, the interest constantly increasing. The King, +carried away by the vividness with which Mademoiselle Scuderi told the +tale, did not notice that the Brusson case, which he so abominated, was +in question, listened breathlessly, occasionally expressing his +interest by an ejaculation. And ere he was well aware, still amazed by +the marvels which he was hearing, not yet able to arrange them all in +his mind, behold! Mademoiselle Scuderi was at his feet, imploring mercy +for Olivier Brusson. + +"What are you doing?" broke out the King, taking both her hands and +making her sit down. "You take us by storm in a marvellous fashion. It +is a most terrible story! Who is to answer for the truth of Brusson's +extraordinary tale?" "Miossen's deposition proves it," she cried; "the +searching of Cardillac's house; my own firm conviction, and, ah! +Madelon's pure heart, which recognises equal purity in poor Brusson." +The King, about to say something, was interrupted by a noise in the +direction of the door. Louvois, who was at work in the next room, put +his head in with an anxious expression. The King rose, and followed him +out. Both Madame de Maintenon and Mademoiselle Scuderi thought this +interruption of evil augury; for, though once surprised into interest, +the King might take care not to fall into the snare a second time. But +he came back in a few minutes, walked up and down the room two or three +times, quickly, and then, pausing with his hands behind his back before +Mademoiselle Scuderi, he said, in a half-whisper, without looking at +her: "I should like to see this Madelon of yours." On this Mademoiselle +Scuderi said: "Oh! gracious Sire! what a marvellous honour you +vouchsafe to the poor unfortunate child. She will be at your feet in an +instant." She tripped to the door as quickly as her heavy dress +allowed, and called to those in the anteroom that the King wished to +see Madelon Cardillac. She came back weeping and sobbing with delight +and emotion. Having expected this, she had brought Madelon with her, +leaving her to wait with the Marquise's maid, with a short petition in +her hand drawn up by D'Andilly. In a few moments she had prostrated +herself, speechless, at the King's feet. Awe, confusion, shyness, love, +and sorrow sent the blood coursing faster and faster through her veins; +her cheeks glowed, her eyes sparkled with the bright tear-drops, which +now and again fell from her silken lashes down to her beautiful lily +breast. The King was moved by the wonderful beauty of the girl. He +raised her gently, and stooped down as if about to kiss her hand, which +he had taken in his; but he let the hand go, and gazed at her with +tears in his eyes, evincing deep emotion. Madame de Maintenon whispered +to Mademoiselle Scuderi: "Is she not exactly like La Valliere, the +little thing? The King is sunk in the sweetest souvenirs: you have +gained the day." Though she spoke softly, the King seemed to hear. A +blush came to his cheek; he scanned Madame de Maintenon with a glance, +and then said, gently and kindly: "I am quite sure that you, my dear +child, think your lover is innocent; but we must hear what the Chambre +Ardente has to say." A gentle wave of his hand dismissed Madelon, +bathed in tears. Mademoiselle Scuderi saw, to her alarm, that the +resemblance to La Valliere, advantageous as it had seemed to be at +first, had nevertheless changed the King's intention as soon as Madame +de Maintenon had spoken of it. Perhaps he felt himself somewhat +ungently reminded that he was going to sacrifice strict justice to +beauty; or he may have been like a dreamer who, when loudly addressed +by his name, finds that the beautiful magic visions by which he thought +he was surrounded vanish away. Perhaps he no longer saw his La Valliere +before him, but thought only of S[oe]ur Louise de la Misericorde--La +Valliere's cloister name among the Carmelite nuns--paining him with her +piety and repentance. There was nothing for it now but to patiently +wait for the King's decision. + +Meanwhile Count Miossen's statement before the Chambre Ardente had +become known; and, as often happens, popular opinion soon flew from one +extreme to the other, so that the person whom it had stigmatized as the +most atrocious of murderers, and would fain have torn in pieces before +he reached the scaffold, was now bewailed as the innocent victim of a +barbarous sacrifice. His old neighbours only now remembered his +admirable character and behaviour, his love for Madelon, and the +faithfulness and devotion of soul and body with which he had served his +master. Crowds of people, in threatening temper, often collected before +La Regnie's Palais, crying, "Give us out Olivier Brusson!--he is +innocent!" even throwing stones at the windows, so that La Regnie had +to seek the protection of the Marechaussee. + +Many days elapsed without Mademoiselle Scuderi's hearing anything on +the subject of Olivier Brusson. In her disconsolateness she went to +Madame de Maintenon, who said the King was keeping silence on the +subject, and it was not advisable to remind him of it. When she then, +with a peculiar smile, asked after the "little La Valliere," +Mademoiselle Scuderi saw that this proud lady felt, in the depths of +her heart, some slight annoyance at a matter which had the power of +drawing the mobile King into a province whose charm was beyond her own +sphere. Consequently nothing was to be hoped from Madame de Maintenon. + +At length Mademoiselle Scuderi managed to find out, with D'Andilly's +help, that the King had had a long interview with Count Miossens; +further, that Bontems, the King's confidential groom of the chamber and +secret agent, had been to the Conciergerie, and spoken with Brusson; +that, finally, the said Bontems, with several other persons, had paid a +long visit to Cardillac's house. Claude Patru, who lived in the lower +story, said he had heard banging noises above his head in the night, +and that he had recognised Olivier's voice amongst others. So far it +was certain that the King was, himself, causing the matter to be +investigated; but what was puzzling was the long delay in coming to a +decision. La Regnie was most probably trying all in his power to +prevent his prey from slipping through his fingers; and this nipped all +hope in the bud. + +Nearly a month had elapsed, when Madame de Maintenon sent to tell +Mademoiselle Scuderi that the King wished to see her that evening in +her salon. + +Her heart beat fast. She knew that Olivier's fate would be decided that +night. She told Madelon so, and the latter prayed to the Virgin and all +the Saints that Mademoiselle Scuderi might succeed in convincing the +King of her lover's innocence. + +And yet it appeared as if he had forgotten the whole affair, for he +passed the time in chatting pleasantly with Madame de Maintenon and +Mademoiselle Scuderi, without a single word of poor Olivier Brusson. At +length Bontems appeared, approached the King, and spoke a few words so +softly that the ladies could not hear them. Mademoiselle Scuderi +trembled; but the King rose, went up to her, and said, with beaming +eyes, "I congratulate you, Mademoiselle. Your protege, Olivier Brusson, +is free." Mademoiselle Scuderi, with tears streaming down her cheeks, +unable to utter a word, would have cast herself at the King's feet; but +he prevented her, saying, "Va! Va! Mademoiselle, you ought to be my +Attorney-General and plead my causes, for nobody on earth can resist +your eloquence and powers of persuasion." He added, more gravely, "He +who is shielded by virtue may snap his fingers at every accusation, by +the Chambre Ardente, or any other tribunal on earth." + +Mademoiselle Scuderi, now finding words, poured forth a most glowing +tribute of gratitude. But the King interrupted her, saying there were +warmer thanks awaiting her at home than any he could expect from her, +as at that moment doubtless Olivier was embracing his Madelon. +"Bontems," added His Majesty, "will hand you 1000 Louis, which you will +give the little one from me as a wedding portion. Let her marry her +Brusson, who does not deserve such a treasure, and then they must both +leave Paris. This is my will." + +La Martiniere came to meet her mistress with eager steps, followed by +Baptiste, their faces beaming with joy, and both crying out, "He is +here! he is free! Oh, the dear young couple!" The happy pair fell at +Mademoiselle Scuderi's feet, and Madelon cried, "Ah! I knew that you, +and you only, would save my husband." "Mother," cried Olivier, "my +belief in you never wavered." They kissed her hands, and shed many +tears; and then they embraced again, and vowed that the super-earthly +bliss of the present time was worth all the nameless sufferings of the +days that were past. + +In a few days the priest pronounced his blessing upon them. Even had it +not been the King's command that they were to leave Paris, Brusson +could not have remained there, where everything reminded him of the +dreadful epoch of Cardillac's atrocities, and where any accident might +have disclosed the evil secret, already known to several persons, +destroying the peace of his life for ever. Immediately after the +wedding he started with his young wife for Geneva, sped on his way by +Mademoiselle Scuderi's blessings. Handsomely provided with Madelon's +portion, his own skill at his calling, and every civic virtue, he there +led a happy life, without a care. The hopes, whose frustration had sent +the father to his grave, were fulfilled to the son. + +A year after Brusson left Paris, a public proclamation, signed by +Harloy de Chauvalon, Archbishop of Paris, and by Pierre Arnaud +d'Andilly, Advocate of the Parliament, appeared, stating that a +repentant sinner had, under seal of confession, made over to the Church +a valuable stolen treasure of gold and jewels. All those who, up to +about the end of the year 1680, had been robbed of property of this +description, particularly if by murderous attack in the street, were +directed to apply to d'Andilly, when they would receive it back, +provided that anything in the said collection agreed with the +description to be by them given, and providing that there was no doubt +of the genuineness of the application. Many whose names occurred in +Cardillac's list as having been merely stunned, not murdered, came from +time to time to d'Andilly to reclaim their property, and received it +back, to their no small surprise. The remainder became the property of +the Church of St. Eustache." + + +Sylvester's tale was received by the Brethren with their full approval. +It was held to be truly Serapiontic, because, whilst founded on +historical fact, it yet soared into the region of the imaginative. + +Lothair said: "Our Sylvester has got very well out of a somewhat risky +undertaking, for that, I consider, was the representing of a literary +old maid who kept a sort of _bureau d'esprit_ in the Rue St. Honore, +which he lets us have a peep into. Our own authoresses (and if they +chance to be advanced in years, I hope they may all be genial, kind, +and dignified as the old lady in the black dress) would be much +delighted with you, my Sylvester, if they heard your story, and forgive +you your somewhat gruesome and terrible Cardillac, whom, I suppose, you +have altogether to thank your own imagination for." + +"At the same time," said Ottmar, "I remember having read, somewhere or +other, of an old shoemaker in Venice, whom the whole town looked upon +as a good, exemplary, industrious man, though he really was the most +atrocious robber and murderer. Just like Cardillac, he used to slip out +in the night-time and get into the palazzi of the great, where, in the +depths of darkness, his surely-dealt dagger-thrust pierced the hearts +of those whom he wanted to rob, so that they dropped down on the spot +without a cry. Every effort of the most clever and observant police to +detect this murderer, who kept all Venice in terror, was useless, until +a circumstance led to the shoemaker's being suspected. He fell sick, +and, strange to say, as long as he was confined to his bed there were +no murders. They began again as soon as he was well. On some pretext he +was put in prison, and, just as was expected, so long as he was shut up +the palaces were in security; but the moment he got out (there being no +proof of anything against him) the victims fell just as before. Finally +the rack extracted his secret, and he was executed. A strange thing was +that he had made no use whatever of the stolen property; it was all +found stowed away under the flooring of his room. He said, in the +naivest manner, that he had made a vow to St. Rochus, the patron of his +craft, that he would get together a certain, pretty considerable, sum +by robbery, and then stop; and complained of the hardship of having +been apprehended before the said sum was arrived at." + +"I never heard of the Venetian shoemaker," said Sylvester; "but if I am +truly to tell you the source from whence I drew, I must inform you that +the words spoken by Mademoiselle Scuderi, 'Un amant qui craint les +voleurs,' &c., were really made use of by her, in almost similar +circumstances to those of my story. Also the affair of the offering +from the band of robbers is by no means a creature of the brain of the +felicitously inspired writer. The account of that you will find in a +book where you certainly would not look for it, Wagenseil's 'Nuernberg +Chronicle.' The old gentleman speaks of a visit he made to Mademoiselle +Scuderi in Paris, and if I have succeeded in representing her as +charming and delightful, I am indebted solely to the distinguished +_courtoisie_ with which Wagenseil mentions her." + +"Verily," said Theodore, laughing, "to stumble upon Mademoiselle +Scuderi in the 'Nuernberg Chronicle' requires an author's lucky hand, +such as Sylvester is specially gifted with. In fact, he shines on us +to-night in his double capacity of playwright and story-teller, like +the constellation of the Dioscuri." + +"That is just where he seems to me so vain," said Vincenz. "A man who +writes a good play ought not to set to work to tell a good tale as +well." + +"Yet it is strange," said Cyprian, "that authors who can tell a story +well, who manage their characters and situations cleverly, often fail +altogether in drama for the stage." + +"But," said Lothair, "are not the conditions of drama and of narrative +so essentially different in their fundamental elements, that the +attempt to turn a story into a play is very often a complete failure? +You understand that I am speaking of true narrative, not of the novel, +so much, because that has often in it germs from which the drama can +grow up like a glorious, beautiful tree." + +"What do you think," asked Vincenz, "of the admirable idea of making a +story out of a play? Some years ago I read Iffland's 'Jaeger' turned +into a story, and you can't believe how delightful and touching little +Anton with the couteau de chasse, and Riekchen with the lost shoe, were +in this shape. It was delightful, too, that the author, or adapter, +preserved whole scenes unchanged, merely putting in the 'said he,' and +'answered she,' between the speeches. I assure you I did not wholly +realise the truly poetic imagination, and the deep sublimity which +there is in Iffland's 'Jaeger,' until I read it in this form. Moreover, +the scientific side of it struck me then, and I saw how properly it was +classed in a certain library under the head 'Science of Forestry.'" + +"Cease your funning," said Lothair, "and lend, with us, an attentive +ear to the worthy Serapion Brother who, as I perceive, has just pulled +a manuscript out of his pocket." + +"This time," said Theodore, "I have trespassed upon another's ground. +However, there is a real incident at the basis of my story, not taken +from any book, but told to me by another." + +He read:-- + + + + GAMBLERS' FORTUNE. + +In the summer of 18-- Pyrmont was more than usually frequented, and the +influx of visitors, rich and great, increased from day to day, exciting +the eager emulation of the various speculators and purveyors of their +wants. Particularly did the faro-table keepers heap up piles of gold in +unusual quantity, for the attraction of the noble game, which, like +experienced sportsmen, they set themselves to decoy. As we all know, at +watering-places especially--where people resolve to give themselves up, +at their own sweet will, to whatever amusements may be most to their +taste, to get through the time---the attractions of the play-table are +not easy to resist. We see people who never touch a card at other +times, absorbed at those tables; and, in fact, among the upper classes, +at all events, it is thought only a proper thing to stake something +every evening. + +There was but one exception to this otherwise universal rule, in the +person of a young German Baron, whom we shall call Siegfried. When +everybody else rushed to the tables, and there was no way left to him +to amuse himself in what he considered a rational manner, he preferred +taking a lonely walk, yielding to the play of his fancy, or would stay +at home, amusing himself with a book, or sometimes writing something +himself. + +He was young, independent, good-looking, well off, pleasant in manners, +so of course he was very popular, and his success with the other sex +was distinguished. But besides all this, there appeared to be a special +lucky star watching over everything he undertook. People talked of many +love-affairs, comprising risky adventures of which he had been the +hero, which, though certain to have proved disastrous to most men, he +had got out of with marvellous ease and facility. Old gentlemen who +knew him would speak, particularly, of the affair of a certain watch, +which had happened in his very early days. It chanced, before he came +to his majority, that, on a journey, he unexpectedly found himself in +such a strait for money that, to get on at all, he had to sell his +watch, a beautiful gold one set with brilliants. Seeing no alternative, +he had made up his mind to part with it much under its value; but +it so happened that, in the hotel where he was living, there was a +young prince who was on the look-out for just such a watch; so +that he got more for it than it was worth. Rather more than a year +afterwards--having come to his majority in the meantime--he read in the +newspaper, at another place where he was, that a watch was going to be +raffled. He took a ticket, costing only a trifle, and won the very +watch set in brilliants which he had sold. Soon afterwards, he swopped +this watch away for a valuable ring. Presently, having been for a time +in the service of the Prince of G----, as he was leaving, the Prince +gave him, as a souvenir, the self-same watch which he had twice got rid +of--and a handsome chain into the bargain. + +Then, people went on to talk about Siegfried's fancy of never touching +a card--which, considering his extraordinary luck, he ought to be just +the man to do; and everybody came to the conclusion that, in spite of +all his delightful qualities, the Baron was a screw; far too canny to +risk a little of his cash. That his whole conduct completely excluded +the idea of his being avaricious, didn't matter. People are always +anxious, and delighted to fasten an objectionable "but" on to a man of +gifts, and to find out this "but" wherever they can, be it only in +their own imaginations. So everybody was quite satisfied with this +explanation of Siegfried's hatred of the play-table. + +He very soon found out what he was accused of; and, being large-minded +and liberal--hating nothing so much as avarice--he determined to show +his calumniators how much they were mistaken, and--much as he detested +play--sacrifice a hundred Louis d'Ors or so--more if necessary--to +prove to them their error. He went to the faro-table with the firm +resolution to lose the rather considerable sum which he had in his +pocket. But the luck which accompanied him in everything he set about +was true to him here too. Everything he staked on won. His luck +shipwrecked the cabalistic calculations of the old, deeply experienced +gamblers. It was all the same whether he exchanged his cards, or stuck +to them; he always won. He furnished a unique instance of a _ponteur_ +wild with disgust because the cards favoured him. The by-standers, +watching him, shook their heads significantly at each other, implying +that the Baron might come to lose his head, carried along by this +concatenation of the unusual. For indeed, a man who was furious because +he was lucky, must surely be a _little_ off his head. + +The very circumstance that he had won a considerable sum necessitated +him to go on playing; and as this gain must, in all probability, be +followed by a still greater loss, he felt bound to carry out his +original plan. However, he found it not so easy; his extraordinary luck +continued to stick to him. + +Without his exactly noticing it himself, a love for the game of Faro +arose within him, and grew. In its very simpleness, Faro is, in truth, +the most mysterious of all games. + +He was not annoyed at being lucky _now_. The game fettered his +attention, and kept him absorbed in it, night after night, till +morning. As it was not the winning which interested him, but the game +itself, he was forced to admit the existence of that extraordinary +_spell_ connected with it which his friends had spoken of to him, but +which he had refused to believe in. + +One night when the banker had just finished a "taille," on looking up +he saw an elderly man, who had placed himself opposite to him, and was +keeping a grave, melancholy gaze fixed upon him. And every time +Siegfried looked up from his game, he found this grave, melancholy gaze +still fixed upon him, so that he could not divest himself of a strong, +rather eery sensation. The Stranger did not go away till the playing +was over for the night. Next evening he was there again, in his old +place opposite the Baron, gazing at him continually, with his gloomy, +spectral eves. The Baron restrained himself; but when, on the third +night, the Stranger was there again, gazing at him with eyes of +devouring fire, Siegfried broke out: "I must really beg you, sir, to +select some other place. You are interfering with my play." + +The stranger bowed, with a pained smile, and, without a word, left the +table, and the room. + +But the following night he was standing in his old place, opposite to +Siegfried, transfixing him with his gloomy, glowing eyes. The Baron +broke out more angrily than on the previous night. "If it is any +entertainment to you, sir, to glare at me in that sort of manner, I +must beg you to select another place and another time. But--for the +present"--a motion of the hand in the direction of the door took the +place of the hard words which the Baron had on the tip of his tongue. + +And, as on the previous night, the Stranger, bowing with the same +pained smile, left the room. Excited by the game, by the wine he had +taken, and by the encounter with the Stranger, Siegfried could not +sleep. When morning broke, the whole appearance of the Stranger rose to +his memory. He saw the expressive face, the well-cut features, marked +with sorrow, the hollow gloomy eyes which had gazed at him. He noticed +that though he was poorly dressed, his refined manners and bearing +spoke of good birth and up-bringing. And then the way in which he had +received the hard words with quiet resignation, and gone away, +swallowing the bitterness of his feelings with a power over himself. +"Oh!" said Siegfried, "I was wrong--I did him great injustice. Is it +like me to fly into a passion, and insult people without rhyme or +reason, like a foolish boy?" He came to the conclusion that the man had +been gazing at him with a bitter sense of the tremendous contrast +between them. At the moment when he--perhaps--was in the depths of +distress, the Baron was heaping gold on the top of gold, and carrying +all before him. He determined that the first thing in the morning he +would go and find out the Stranger, and do something to remedy his +condition. + +And, as fate would have it, the Stranger was the first person he met, +as he was taking a walk down the Allee. + +The Baron addressed him, apologised for his behaviour on the previous +night, and formally asked him to forgive him. The Stranger said there +was nothing to forgive. People who were much interested in their game +must have every consideration, and he quite deserved to be reminded +that he was obstinately planting himself in a place where he could not +but put the Baron out in his play. + +The Baron went further. He spoke of the circumstance that in life +temporary difficulties often come upon people of education in the most +trying manner, and he gave him pretty clearly to understand that he +was ready to pay him back the money he had won from him, or more, if +necessary, should that be likely to be of any assistance to him. + +"My dear sir," said the Stranger, "you suppose that I am pressed for +money. Strictly speaking, I am not. Although I am rather a poor man +than a rich, I have enough for my little requirements. And you will see +in a moment, if you consider, that if you should suppose you could +atone for an insult to me by offering me a sum of money, I could not +accept it, even as a mere ordinary man of honour. And I am a +Chevalier." + +"I think I understand you," said the Baron; "I am quite ready to give +you satisfaction in the way you mean." + +"Oh, good heavens!" the Stranger said; "what a very unequal affair a +fight would be between us. I feel sure that, like myself, you do not +look upon the duel as a mere piece of childish fanfaronade, nor +consider that a drop or two of blood--perhaps from a scratched +finger--can wash a stained honour white again. No, no! there are plenty +of causes which render it impossible for two men to go on existing on +this earth at the same time. Although one of them may be on the +Caucasus and the other on the Tiber, there is no separation between +them so long as the notion of the existence of the hated one subsists. +In a case like that the duel, which is to decide the question which of +those two is to make way on this earth for the other, is a positive +necessity. But between _us_ a duel, as I said, would be one-sided, +since my life is nothing like as valuable as yours. If I killed you I +should destroy a whole world of the fairest hopes. But if I fell, you +would end a miserable existence, marred by the most bitter and painful +memories. However, the chief point is that I do not consider myself in +the smallest degree offended. You told me to go, and I went." + +He spoke the latter words in a tone which betrayed his inward +mortification, which was sufficient reason for the Baron to apologise +to him once more, laying special weight on the circumstance that the +Stranger's gaze seemed somehow (he could not tell why) to go +penetrating into him to such an extent that he could bear it no longer. + +"If my gaze penetrated you, as you say it did," said the Stranger, +"would to God it had carried with it the conviction of the threatening +peril in which you stand. In your gladness of heart, with all your +youthful unknowingness, you are hovering on the very brink of a +terrible abyss. One single impulse, and into it you fall, without the +possibility of rescue. In one word, you are on the point of becoming a +passionate gambler, and of going to perdition." + +The Baron assured him that he was completely mistaken. He explained to +him how it was that he had been led at first to go to the tables, and +that the true love of play was completely absent from him--that all he +desired was to lose a few hundred louis, and, having accomplished that, +he would play no more; but that, up to this time, he had had the most +extraordinary luck. + +"Alas!" cried the Stranger, "it is just that very luck which is the +most terrible, mocking temptation of the Infernal Power. Just this very +luck of yours, Baron, the whole way in which you have been led on to +play, the whole style of your playing, and everything connected with +the matter, show but too plainly how your interest in it keeps on +increasing and increasing. Everything about it reminds me only too +clearly of the fate of an unfortunate fellow who begun exactly as you +have done. This was why I could not take my eyes from you, why I could +scarce refrain from telling you in words what my eyes intended to say +to you, namely, 'For heaven's sake look at the fiends that are +stretching out their talons to drag you down to perdition;' that is +what I longed to cry out to you. I wished to make your acquaintance, +and in that I have succeeded. Let me tell you the story of the +unfortunate man to whom I have referred, and then perhaps you will see +that it is no idle cobweb of my brain which makes me see you to be in +the most imminent peril, and that I give you fair warning." + +They sate down on a seat which was in a lonely place, and the Stranger +commenced as follows. "The same brilliant gifts which distinguish you, +Baron, procured for the Chevalier Menars the respect and admiration of +men, and rendered him the beloved of women. Only as far as wealth was +concerned fortune had not been so kind to him as to you. He was on the +confines of penury, and nothing but the most scrupulous economy enabled +him to keep up the decent appearance which his position as the +descendant of a family of condition demanded of him. Since the very +smallest loss of money would have been of much consequence to him, +upsetting all his course of life, he was precluded from everything in +the shape of play. But he had not the smallest inclination for it, so +that his avoidance of it involved not the slightest sacrifice on his +part. He was excessively lucky in whatever he undertook, so that his +good fortune became a species of proverb. + +"Contrarily to his habit he allowed himself to be persuaded one night +to go to a gambling-house, where the friends who were with him were +soon deep in the game. + +"Taking no interest in the game, with his mind fully occupied about +something else, he strolled up and down the room, just now and then +casting a glance at the table, where the gold was streaming in upon the +banquier from every side. All at once an elderly Colonel observed him, +and cried out, 'Oh, the devil! here's the Chevalier Menars, with his +luck, and none of us can win because he hasn't taken a side. This won't +do. He must stake for me instantly.' + +"The Chevalier tried his utmost to excuse himself, saying he knew +nothing about the game. But nothing would serve the Colonel but that he +must to the table willy nilly. + +"It happened to him exactly as it did to you, Baron. He won on every +card, so that he soon had hauled in a considerable sum for the Colonel, +who could not congratulate himself enough on the great idea he had been +inspired with of availing himself of the celebrated luck of the +Chevalier Menars. + +"On the Chevalier himself his luck, which so astonished all the others, +made not the slightest impression. Nay, he did not himself quite +understand how it came about that his detestation of play, if possible, +increased, so that the next morning, when he felt the languor and +listlessness consequent on having sat up so late, and gone through the +excitement, he made a firm resolution that nothing would ever induce +him to enter a gambling-house again. + +"This resolution was strengthened by the conduct of the old Colonel, +who had the most extraordinary ill-luck as soon as he took a card in +his hand, and attributed this, in the most absurd way, to the +Chevalier. And he insisted, in the most importunate manner, that Menars +should either play his cards for him, or at all events be at his side +when he played himself, by way of exorcising the demon who placed +in his hand the losing cards. We know that nowhere is there such +absurd superstition as amongst gamblers. It was only with the utmost +difficulty that Menars managed to shake the Colonel off. He had even to +go the length of telling him he would rather fight him than stake for +him; and the Colonel was by no means fond of fighting. The Chevalier +cursed himself for ever having yielded to the old ass at all. + +"Of course the story of the Chevalier's luck could not but be passed on +from one to another, with all sorts of mysterious, inexplicable +additions added on to it, representing him as a man in league with +supernatural powers. But that one who had his luck should go on +abstaining from touching cards was a thing which could not but give the +highest idea of the firmness of his character, and much increase the +consideration in which he was held. + +"A year after this the Chevalier found himself in the most pressing and +distressing embarrassment in consequence of the non-payment to him of +the trifling sum on which he managed by a struggle to live. He was +obliged to confide this to his most intimate friend, who, without a +moment's hesitation, helped him to what he required, at the same time +telling him he was the most extraordinary, eccentric individual the +world had ever probably contained. + +"'Destiny,' he said, 'gives us hints, indications of the direction in +which we have to seek and find our welfare, and it is only our +indolence which is to blame when we neglect those hints and fail to +understand them. The Power which rules over us has very distinctly +whispered into your ear, "If thou wouldest have money and possessions, +go and play; otherwise thou wilt for ever remain poor, needy, +dependent."' + +"Then, for the first time, the thought of the wonderful luck he had +had at the faro table rose vividly before his mind's eye, and, waking +and dreaming, he saw cards before him, and heard the monotonous +_gagne-perd_ of the banquier, and the clink of the gold pieces. + +"'It is true,' he said to himself, 'a single night like that one would +raise me out of poverty, and free me from the terrible necessity of +being a burden on my friends. It is simply a duty to follow the +promptings of Destiny.' + +"The same friend who advised him to take to playing went with him to +the table, and, to make him easy in his mind, presented him with twenty +louis d'or. + +"If his game had been an extraordinary one when he was staking for the +old Colonel, it was doubly so now. He drew out his cards by chance, by +accident, and staked on them, whatever they happened to be. And the +unseen hand of that higher Power, which is in league with that which we +term 'Chance'--nay, which _is_ that Chance--directed his play. When the +game was done he had won 1000 louis d'or. + +"Next morning he felt in a sort of stupor on awaking. The money was +lying on the table by his bed, just as he had shaken it out of his +pockets. At first he thought he was dreaming. He rubbed his eyes and +drew the table nearer to him. But as he gradually recollected what had +happened--when he sunk his hands well into the heap of gold money, and +counted the coins delightedly over and over again--suddenly there awoke +in him, and passed through his being like a poisoned breath, the love +of the vile mammon. The pureness of mind which had so long been his was +gone. + +"He could scarcely wait till evening came to get back to the +play-table. His luck continued to attend him, so that in a few weeks, +during which he played every night, he had won a very large sum. + +"There are two sorts of gamblers. To many the game in itself presents +an indescribable, mysterious joy, quite without any reference to +winning. The wonderful enchainments of the chances alternate in the +most marvellous variety; the influence of the Powers which govern the +issue displays itself, so that, inspired by this, our spirits stretch +their wings in an attempt to reach that darksome realm, that mysterious +laboratory, where the Power in question works, and there see it +working. I knew a man once who used to sit alone in his room for days +and nights keeping banque, and staking against himself. That man, I +consider, was a proper player. Others have only the gain in view, and +look upon the game as a means of winning money quickly. The Chevalier +belonged to the latter class, thereby proving the theory that the true +passion for play must exist in a person's nature, and be born with him. + +"For this reason the circle within which the mere ponteur is restricted +soon became too narrow for him. With the very large sum he had now won +he started a banque of his own; and here, too, fortune favoured him, so +that in a very short time his was the richest banque in Paris. As lies +in the nature of things, to him, as the luckiest, richest banquier, +resorted the greatest number of players. + +"The wild rugged life of a gambler soon blotted out in him all those +mental and bodily superiorities which had formerly brought him love and +consideration. He ceased to be a faithful friend, an open-hearted +pleasant companion, a chivalric and gallant honourer of ladies. His +love for art and science was extinguished, as well as all his wish to +make progress in knowledge of the desirable sort. In his deathly pale +countenance and gloomy eyes, sparkling with darksome fire, was +imprinted the plain expression of that devouring passion which held him +fast in its bands. It was not the love of play, it was the most +detestable avarice, the craving for money, which the Devil himself had +kindled within him. In one word, he was the most thorough specimen of a +banquier ever seen. + +"One night--though he had not, so to speak, lost very much--he found +that fortune had not been quite so favourable to him as usual. And just +at this juncture there came up to the table a little old weazened man, +in poverty-stricken clothes, and altogether of almost disgustingly +repulsive appearance. He drew a card, with shaking hand, and staked a +piece of gold on it. Several of those at the table looked at him with +deep amazement, and immediately behaved towards him with conspicuous +despite; but he took not the slightest notice, not even by a look, far +less by a word. + +"He lost--lost one piece of gold after another, and the more he lost +the better the other players were pleased. And when the old man, who +kept on doubling his stakes, at last staked five hundred louis on a +card, and lost it in a moment, one of them cried out, laughing loud, +'Well done, Signor Vertua; keep it up! Don't give in; keep up your +game! You seem to me as if you would certainly break the bank, your +luck is so splendid!' + +"The old man darted a basilisk look at him, and ran off out of the room +as quickly as he could; but only to come back in half an hour, with his +pockets crammed with gold. When the final _taille_ came he could not go +on, as he had lost all the money he brought with him the second time. + +"The Chevalier, who, notwithstanding all the atrocity of his ongoings, +still insisted on there being a certain observance of ordinary +_convenance_ amongst the frequenters of his establishment, had been in +the highest degree displeased at the derision and contempt with which +the old man had been treated, which was sufficient reason for his +talking very seriously, when the evening's play was over, to the man +who had jeered at him, and to one or two others whose contemptuous +behaviour to him had been the most striking, and whom the Chevalier had +begged to remain behind on purpose. + +"'That fellow,' one of them cried out. 'You don't know old Francesco +Vertua, Chevalier, or you wouldn't find fault with us for what we did. +You would rather thank us. This Vertua, by birth a Neapolitan, has been +for fifteen years here, in Paris, the most vile, foul, wicked miser and +usurer that could exist. He is lost to every feeling of humanity. If +his own brother were to drag himself to his door, writhing in the death +agony, and curl round about his feet, he wouldn't give a louis d'or to +help him. The curses and execrations of heaps of people, whole families, +whom he has driven to ruin by his infernal machinations, lie heavy on +him. There is nobody who does not pray that vengeance for what he has +done, and is always doing, may overtake him and finish his sin-spotted +life. He has never played, at all events since he has been in Paris, +and you need not be astonished at our surprise when we saw the old +skinflint come to the table. Of course we were just as delighted at +his losing, for it would have been altogether too bad if fortune had +favoured the scoundrel. The wealth of your banque has dazzled the old +noodle. He thought he was going to pluck you, but he has lost his own +feathers. But the thing I can't understand is how he can have made up +his miserly mind to play so high.' + +"This, however, did not prove well founded, for the next night Vertua +made his appearance, and staked and lost a great deal more than on the +night before. He was quite impassible all the time; in fact, he now and +then smiled with a bitter irony, as one who knew how utterly +differently everything would soon turn. But his losses swelled like a +mountain avalanche on each of the succeeding nights, so that at last it +was calculated that he had lost to the banque well on to thirty +thousand louis d'or. After this, he came one night, long after the play +had begun, pale as death, with his face all drawn, and stationed +himself at some distance from the table, with his eyes fixed on the +cards which the Chevalier was dealing. At last, when the Chevalier had +shuffled, had the cards cut, and was going to begin the deal, the old +man cried out, in a screaming voice, 'Stop!' Every one looked round, +almost terrified. The old man elbowed his way through the crowd close +up to the Chevalier, and whispered into his ear, 'Chevalier, my house +in the Rue St. Honore, with all its contents, in furniture, gold, +silver, and jewels, is valued at eighty thousand francs. I stake it! Do +you accept?' + +"'Yes,' said the Chevalier calmly, without looking at him, and began to +deal. + +"'Queen!' said the old man, and the queen lost. The old man fell back, +and leaned against the wall, motionless as a stone image. Nobody +troubled himself further about him. When the game was over for the +night, and the Chevalier and his croupiers were packing away the won +money in the strong box, Vertua came wavering like a spectre forward +out of his corner. In a hollow, faint voice, he said, 'One word, +Chevalier; one single word.' + +"'Well, what is it?' said the Chevalier, taking the key from the box +and putting it in his pocket, as he surveyed the old man contemptuously +from head to foot. + +"'I have lost all I possessed in the world to your banque, Chevalier. +I have nothing left--nothing. I don't know where I shall lay my head +to-morrow, or how I shall appease my hunger. I betake myself to you. +Lend me the tenth part of the sum you have won from me, that I may +recommence my business, and raise myself from the depths of poverty.' + +"'How can you be so absurd, Signor Vertua,' said the Chevalier. 'Don't +you know that a banquier never lends his winnings? It would be against +all the rules, and I abide by them.' + +"'You are right, Chevalier,' said Vertua. 'What I asked was absurd, +extravagant. Not a tenth part--lend me a twentieth part.' + +"'What I tell you is,' said the Chevalier, 'that I never lend any of my +winnings.' + +"'Quite right,' said Vertua, his face growing paler and paler, and his +looks more fixed and staring. 'Of course you can't lend. I never used +to do it myself. But give an alms to a beggar. Let him have one hundred +louis d'or out of the fortune which blind Chance threw to you tonight.' + +"'Well, really, Signor Vertua, you understand how to bother,' was the +Chevalier's answer. 'I tell you that not one hundred, nor fifty, nor +twenty, nor one single louis d'or will you get out of me. I should be a +lunatic to give you any help towards recommencing your shameful trade. +Fate has dashed you down into the dust like a venomous reptile, and it +would be a crime to lift you up. Be off with you, and die, as you +deserve to do.' + +"Vertua sank down, with both his hands before his face. The Chevalier +ordered his servants to take the Strong box down to the carriage, and +then cried out, in a domineering way, 'When are you going to make over +your house and effects to me, Signor Vertua?' + +"Vertua raised himself from the ground, saying, in a firm voice, 'At +once. This very moment, Chevalier. Come with me.' + +"'Good,' said the Chevalier, 'you may drive there with me. To-morrow +you must leave it for good and all.' + +"On the way neither of them spoke. When they came to the house in the +Rue St. Honore Vertua rang at the door, and a little old woman opened, +and cried, when she saw him, 'Oh, saviour of the world, is it you at +last, signor? Angela has been nearly dead with anxiety about you.' + +"'Hush!' said Vertua. 'Heaven grant that Angela has not heard the +unlucky bell. I don't want her to know that I have come.' He took the +candle-holder from the amazed old woman's hand, and lighted the +Chevalier up the staircase to the salon. + +"'I am ready for everything,' said Vertua. 'You detest me and despise +me. You ruin me for the gratification of yourself and others. But you +do not know me. I will tell you, then, that I was once a gambler like +yourself; that capricious fortune was as kind to me as to you; that I +travelled over the half of Europe, stopping wherever high play and the +expectation of large winnings attracted me to remain; that the gold in +the banque which I kept was heaped up as mountain high as in your own. +I had a devoted and beautiful wife, whom I neglected, who was miserable +in the midst of the most marvellous wealth. It happened once, in Genoa, +when I had started my banque there, that a young Roman lost all his +great fortune to me. As I begged of you to-day, he begged of me that I +would lend him as much money as would, at all events, take him to Rome. +I refused, with scornful laughter, and in his despair he thrust his +stiletto deep into my breast. The surgeons managed to cure me with +difficulty, and my illness was long and painful. My wife nursed me, +comforted me, supported me when I would have given in with the pain. +And with returning health there dawned within me, and grew stronger and +stronger, a feeling which I had never known before. The gambler is a +stranger to all the ordinary emotions of humanity, so that till then I +had no knowledge of love, and the faithful devotion of a wife. The debt +which my ungrateful heart owed to my wife burned in the depths of my +soul, as well as the sense of the wickedness of the occupation to which +I had sacrificed her. Like torturing spirits of vengeance appeared to +me all those whose happiness, whose very existence, I had ruined, +reproaching me, in hoarse and hollow voices, with the guilt and crime +of which _I_ had planted the germs. None but my wife could dispel the +nameless sorrow, the terror, which then took possession of me. I made a +solemn vow that I would never touch a card again. I tore myself away. +I burst the bonds which had held me. I withstood the enticements of +my croupiers, who could not get on when my luck was gone from the +enterprise. I had bought a small country house near Rome, and there I +fled with my wife as soon as I had recovered. Alas! for only one single +year was it that I was vouchsafed a peace, a happiness, a contentment, +such as I had never dreamt of. My wife bore me a daughter, and died a +few weeks afterwards. I was in despair. I accused heaven, and then +turned round and cursed myself and my sinful career, punished in this +way by the eternal power, by taking my wife from me, who saved me from +destruction--the only creature on earth who gave me comfort and hope. +Like the criminal whom the dreadfulness of solitude terrifies, I fled +from my country place to Paris. Angela blossomed up, the lovely +counterpart of her mother. My whole heart hung upon her. For her sake I +made it my business not only to keep a considerable fortune together, +but to increase it. It is true that I lent money at high rates of +interest. But it is a shameful calumny when I am accused of being a +fraudulent usurer. Who are my accusers? Light-minded creatures, who +torture and tease me till I lend them money, which they waste and +squander as if it were of no value, and then are furious when I get it +back from them with infallible strictness--the money which is not mine +but my daughter's, whose steward I consider myself to be. Not long ago +I rescued a young man from ruin and disgrace by lending him a +considerable sum. I knew he was very poor, and I said nothing about +repayment till I knew he had succeeded to a fortune. Then I asked him +to pay me. Would you credit it, Chevalier, this light-minded scoundrel, +who was indebted to me for his very existence, wanted to deny his +liability, and, when the law obliged him to pay me, he called me a vile +skinflint. I could tell you of plenty similar cases, which have made me +hard and unfeeling when I have been met with ingratitude and baseness. +More than that, I could tell you of many bitter tears which I have +wiped away, of many a prayer which has gone up to heaven for me and my +Angela; but you would look upon that as boasting, and besides, as you +are a gambler, you would care nothing about it. I hoped and believed +that the eternal power was appeased. All delusion, for Satan was freely +empowered to blind and deceive me in a more terrible manner than ever. +I heard of your luck, Chevalier. Every day I was told of this one and +the other having beggared himself at your banque. Then it came to me +that I was destined to pit my luck, which had never failed me, against +yours--that I was destined to put an end to your career. And this idea, +which nothing but madness of the most extraordinary kind could have +suggested to me, left me no further peace or rest. Thus I came to your +banque. Thus my terrible folly did not leave me until my fortune--no, +my Angela's fortune--was all yours. But you will let my daughter take +her clothes away with her, will you not?' + +"'I have nothing to do with your daughter's clothes,' answered the +Chevalier; 'and you may take away the beds and the ordinary household +things for cooking and so forth. What do I care for rubbish of that +sort? But take care that nothing of any value of that which is now my +property goes away amongst them.' + +"Old Vertua stared speechlessly at the Chevalier for a few seconds, +then a stream of tears burst from his eyes. Like a man annihilated, all +sorrow and despair, he sank down before the Chevalier with hands +uplifted. + +"'Have you any human feeling left in your heart?' he cried. 'Have some +mercy! Remember it is not me whom you are dashing into ruin and misery, +but my unoffending angel child--my Angela! Oh, have mercy upon her! +Lend her the twentieth part of the fortune you have robbed her of. I +know you will allow yourself to be implored. Oh! Angela, my daughter!' + +"And the old man moaned, sobbed, and called out the name of his child +in heart-breaking tones. + +"'I really don't think I can stand much more of this stage business of +yours,' the Chevalier said indifferently, and in a bored manner. But +the door opened, and a girl in a white night dress, with her hair +undone, and death in her face, rushed up to old Vertua, raised +him, took him in her arms, and cried, 'Oh, father, I have heard it +all--I know it all! Have you lost everything?--everything? You have +still your Angela. What would be the use of money if you had not Angela +to take care of you. Oh, father! don't humiliate yourself more before +this despicable, inhuman creature. It is not we, it is he who is poor +and miserable in all his despicable riches, for he stands there in the +most gruesome, comfortless loneliness. There is not one loving heart in +the wide world to cling to his breast, to open to him when he is like +to despair of life--of himself. Come, father, away from this house with +me; let us go as quickly as we can, that the horrible creature may not +gloat over our sorrow.' + +"Vertua sank half senseless into a chair, whilst Angela knelt down +before him, took his hands, kissed them and stroked them, and told +over, with childlike prolixity, all the accomplishments and +acquirements which she possessed, with which she would be able to +support him comfortably, imploring him with the warmest tears to have +no fear, inasmuch as life would, for the first time in her experience, +begin to possess a real value and delightsomeness for her when--not for +the enjoying of it, but for her father--she should stitch, sew, sing, +play the guitar. + +"What obdurate sinner could have remained indifferent at the sight of +Angela beaming in the fulness of her heavenly beauty, comforting her +old father with sweet, delicious words, the deepest affection, and the +most childlike purity and goodness streaming from the depths of her +heart? + +"Things were very different with the Chevalier. An entire pandemonium +of torture and pangs of conscience awoke within him. Angela seemed to +him to be the punishing angel of God, before whose shining glory the +cloud-shroud of sinful deception which had surrounded him vanished +away, so that with terror he clearly saw himself in all his repulsive +nakedness. + +"And through the midst of those hell-flames, which were consuming and +raging in his heart, there came piercing a heavenly, pure beam of +radiance, whose light was the sweetest bliss and the very joy of +heaven, though the brightness of this ray had the effect of rendering +the inexpressible torture more terrible. + +"The Chevalier had never known love before; and the instant he saw +Angela he was seized by the most passionate affection for her, and, at +the same time, with the destroying pain of complete hopelessness, for +surely there could be no hope for one who had appeared to her in the +light in which he had. + +"He longed to say something, but his tongue seemed to be paralysed. At +length he so far mastered himself as to say, stammering, and in a +trembling voice, 'Signor Vertua, listen. I have not won anything from +you--nothing of the kind. There is my strong box; take it, it is yours. +Yes; and I have to pay you more than that. I am in your debt. Take it, +take it!' + +"'Oh, my girl!' cried Vertua. But Angela went up to the Chevalier, +beamed a proud look upon him, and said, gravely and calmly, +'Learn, Chevalier, that there are higher things than money and +possessions--things which you have no knowledge of--which, while +filling our souls with the happiness of heaven, make us spurn your +gifts with compassion and contempt. Keep the mammon upon which lies the +curse which pursues you, heartless, accursed gambler.' + +"'Yes!' cried the Chevalier wildly; 'cursed, cursed in verity may I be, +if ever this hand of mine touches a card again. And if you repel me, +Angela, it will be you who will bring inevitable destruction upon me. +Oh, you don't understand me. You must think me mad; but you will know +it all when I lie before you with my skull shivered into fragments. +Angela, it is life or death with me. Adieu!' + +"With this he dashed away in utter desperation. Vertua thoroughly +understood him; he saw what had been passing in his heart, and tried to +make the lovely Angela comprehend how certain eventualities might arise +which would render it necessary to accept the Chevalier's offers. +Angela was afraid to allow herself to understand her father; she did +not think it would ever be possible to regard the Chevalier otherwise +than with contempt; but that mysterious chain of events which often +forms itself within the profundities of the human heart, without our +cognisance, brought to pass that which seemed unimagined--undreamt of. + +"The Chevalier felt as if suddenly awakened from a horrible dream. He +saw himself standing on the brink of the abyss of hell, stretching his +arms out in vain to the shining form of light which had appeared to +him, not to save him, but to tell him of his damnation. + +"To the surprise of all Paris his banque opened no more, and he himself +was no more seen, so that the most marvellous tales concerning him +became current, each of them a greater falsehood than the others. He +avoided all society; his love took the form of the profoundest, most +unconquerable melancholy. One day he met old Vertua and his daughter in +one of the lonely, shady walks of the garden at Malmaison. + +"Angela, who had believed she would never be able to look upon the +Chevalier again but with horror and contempt, felt strangely moved when +she saw him so pale and distressed, scarce able to lift his eyes to her +in the excess of his reverence for her. She knew that, since that +eventful night, he had given play up entirely, and completely altered +his mode of life, and that she--she alone--was the cause of this. She +had saved him from destruction; could anything flatter a woman more? + +"When old Vertua had exchanged the ordinary civilities with him, she +spoke to him in a tone of gentle pity, saying, 'What is the matter, +Chevalier? You look ill and unhappy. You ought to go and consult a +doctor.' + +"We can understand that her words filled him with comfort and hope. He +was a different man in a moment. He lifted his head, and managed to +talk once more in the manner which, when it welled from his very heart +in former days, used to attract and endear him to all who knew him. +Vertua reminded him that he had not come to take possession of the +house he had won. + +"'Very well, I will come,' he answered, with an inspiration breaking +upon him. 'I will come to-morrow; but we must discuss all the +conditions at proper length and leisure, even if it should take +months.' + +"'So be it, Chevalier,' said Vertua, with a smile. 'Perhaps we may come +to discuss matters which we do not quite see into at present.' + +"The Chevalier, inwardly comforted, resumed all the charm of manner and +all the delightful qualities which had distinguished him before he was +carried away by his devouring passion. His visits at Vertua's became +more and more frequent, and Angela grew more and more disposed towards +the man whose guardian angel she had been, till at last she believed +she loved him with all her heart, and promised him her hand, to the +great joy of old Vertua, who saw in this the settlement of his losses. + +"One day Angela, now the happy betrothed of the Chevalier Menars, was +sitting at a window, lost in all the sweet dreams and happy fancies +which young ladies in her position are believed to be wont to +entertain, when a regiment of Jaegers came marching along, with +trumpets sounding bravely, on their way to join in the Spanish +campaign. She was looking with pitiful sympathy at the men thus going +to face death in this war, when a very young officer, who was reining +his horse quickly to one side, looked up at her, and she fell back +fainting in her seat. + +"Alas! This young Jaeger, marching off to face death in the field, was +no other than young Duvernet, the son of a neighbour, with whom she had +grown up, who had been nearly daily in the house, and had only kept out +of the way since the Chevalier had made his appearance. In the look of +bitter reproach which the lad cast at her--and the bitterness of death +itself was in it--she now, for the first time, read not only how +unspeakably he loved her, but how boundlessly she loved him, without +having been aware, whilst dazzled by the Chevalier's brilliance. Now. +for the first time, she understood Duvernet's anxious sighs?--his +silent, unassuming, unobtrusive attentions; now, and now only, she read +her own embarrassed heart--what moved her disquiet breast when Duvernet +came, when she heard his voice. + +"'Too late! he is lost to me!' cried the voice in her heart. She had +the resolution to beat down and conquer the hopeless pain which would +have torn her heart; and just because she had this resolution she was +successful. + +"The Chevalier was too observant not to see that something had been +occurring to disturb her; but, tenderly enough, he refrained from +trying to unriddle a mystery which she thought herself bound to conceal +from him. He contented himself, by way of clearing anything hostile out +of the path, with hastening on the wedding. The arrangements connected +with it he ordered with such admirable consideration and such delicate +tact, that from his very care in this respect for her state of mind, +she could not but form a higher opinion of his amiability than even +before. + +"His conduct to her was marked with such observance of the most +trifling of her wishes, with the sincere courtesy which springs from +the truest and purest affection, that the remembrance of Duvernet +naturally faded more and more from her memory. So that the first +cloud-shadow which fell upon the brightness of their life was the +illness and death of old Vertua. + +"Since the night when he had lost all he possessed to the Chevalier, he +had never touched a card. But in the closing moments of his life all +his faculties seemed to be engrossed with the game. Whilst the priest, +who had come to administer the consolations of the Church to him on his +departure from this life, spoke to him of spiritual things, he lay with +closed eyes, murmuring between his teeth, '_Perd!_--_Gagne_,' and +making, with hands quivering in the spasms of death, the motions of +dealing and playing out cards. Angela and the Chevalier, bending over +him, called him by the tenderest names. He did not seem to hear them, +or to know they were there. With a faint sigh of '_Gagne!_' he gave up +the ghost. + +"In her deep sorrow, Angela could not help an eery shudder at the +manner of his departure. The remembrance of that night, when she had +first seen the Chevalier as the most hardened reprobate of a gambler, +came vividly to her mind, and the thought came into her soul that he +might some day throw off his angel's mask and, jeering at her in his +pristine devilishness, begin his old life again. + +"This fearful presentiment was to come but too true. + +"Deeply shocked as the Chevalier was at the notion of old Francesco +Vertua's having gone into the next world heedless of the consolations +of the Church, and unable to leave off thinking of the former sinful +life, still, somehow--he could not tell why--it brought the memory of +the game back to his mind again, so that every night in his dreams he +was presiding at the banque once more, heaping up fresh treasures. + +"Since, Angela, impressed by the remembrance how her husband had +appeared to her at first, found it impossible to maintain the trustful +affection of her earlier wedded days, mistrust, at the same time, came +into his soul of her, and he attributed her embarrassment to that +secret which at once disturbed her peace, and remained unrevealed to +him. This suspicion produced in him misery and annoyance, which he +expressed in utterances which pained Angela. By a natural psychical +reflex action, the remembrance of the unfortunate Duvernet revived in +her mind, and with it the miserable sense that the love which had +blossomed forth in her young heart was lost and bidden adieu to for +ever. The discord grew greater and greater, till it reached such a +pitch that the Chevalier came to the conclusion that the life of +retirement which he was leading was a complete mistake, and longed with +all his heart to be out into the world again. + +"In fact, his evil star began to get into the ascendant. And that which +inward dissatisfaction commenced, was completed by a wicked fellow who +had formerly been a croupier at his banque, and who, by various crafty +speeches, brought matters to such a point that the Chevalier came to +consider his present mode of existence childish and ridiculous, and +could not comprehend how, for the sake of a woman, he should be +abandoning a life which appeared to him the only one worth living. + +"So very soon the Chevalier's banque, with its heaps of gold, was going +on again more brilliantly than ever. His luck had not forsaken him; +victim after victim fell a prey, and money was amassed. But Angela's +happiness was a thing of the past--destroyed, in a terrible fashion, +like a brief, bright dream. The Chevalier treated her with +indifference--more than that, with contempt. Often she did not see him +for weeks and months. An old house-steward looked after the household +matters; the servants were changed according to the Chevalier's +caprice; so that Angela, a stranger in her own home, found no comfort +anywhere. Often, in sleepless nights, when she heard the Chevalier's +carriage draw up at the door, the heavy money-chest brought up the +stairs, and he himself come up, cursing and swearing in monosyllables, +and shut the door of his distant room with a bang, a torrent of tears +would burst from her eyes, and in the deepest, most heartbreaking tones +of misery, she would call a hundred times on the name Duvernet, and +implore the Eternal Power to make an end of her wretched existence. + +"One night a young gentleman of good family, after losing all he +possessed at the Chevalier's banque, sent a bullet through his head in +the gaming-house--and indeed in the very room where the banque was +established--so that the blood and brains besprinkled the players, who +scattered out of the way in alarm. The only person unaffected by this +was the Chevalier, who, when every one was about to leave the room, +asked whether it was according to rule and custom to leave the game +because a young fool had chosen to commit an absurdity, before the +regular time for closing. + +"This incident excited much comment. The most experienced, most +hardened gamblers were indignant at the Chevalier's unexampled +behaviour. Every one took part against him. The police ordered his +banque to be closed. He was accused of unfair play; and his +extraordinary luck spoke for the truth of this accusation. He was +unable to clear himself, and the fine inflicted on him ran away with a +considerable slice of his fortune. Finding himself robbed of his good +name, and despised by all, he betook himself back to the arms of the +wife whom he had ill-treated, who gladly welcomed him in his +repentance. The recollection that her father, too, had renounced the +miserable life of a gambler, allowed a gleam of hope to dawn upon her +mind that perhaps, as the Chevalier was advancing somewhat in years, +his alteration of life might be lasting. + +"He left Paris with her, and they went to Genoa, her birth-place. Here, +at first, he lived a sedate life; but it was impossible to re-establish +the old, peaceful, domestic existence with Angola which his evil angel +had destroyed. Very soon his inward restlessness and disquiet awoke +and drove him out, away from his house, in unsettled restlessness. His +ill-repute had followed him from Paris. He dared not establish a +banque, though he felt impelled to do so with the most irresistible +force. + +"About this time a French Colonel, obliged, by serious wounds, to +retire from active service, was keeping the most important banque in +Genoa. The Chevalier went to this banque, with envy and deep hatred in +his heart, expecting his usual luck to stand by him soon, so that he +might be the ruin of this rival. The Colonel hailed the Chevalier with +a merry humour (not at other times characteristic of him), saying that +now, when the Chevalier de Menars had appeared in the field, the game +was worth winning at last, since there was something in the nature of a +real contest to give some interest to the issues. + +"And, in fact, during the first few deals, the cards fell to the +Chevalier with just his old luck. But when, trusting to his invincible +fortune, he at last called out: 'Va, Banque!' he lost a very +considerable sum of money at one stroke. + +"The Colonel was, ordinarily, completely cool and impassive, whether +lucky or unlucky; but, this time, he drew in his winnings with the +liveliest marks of the utmost delight. + +"From that moment luck turned away from the Chevalier, utterly and +completely. He played every night, and lost every night, till he had +nothing left but two or three thousand ducats, in paper. + +"He had been on foot all day, converting this paper into cash, and only +went home to his house late in the evening. When night was coming on, +he was going out with his last gold coins in his pocket, when Angela +came to him (suspecting the truth, no doubt), threw herself at his feet +with a stream of tears, imploring him, by the Virgin and all the +saints, to abandon his evil courses, and not leave her in need and +poverty. + +"The Chevalier raised her, pressed her, with painful fervour, to his +heart, and said, in a hollow voice: 'Angela!--my sweet, beloved +Angela!--there is no help for it. I must do it. I cannot help it. But +to-morrow--to-morrow, all your cares will be over. For, by the Eternal +Destiny which is above us, I swear that I play this night for the very +last time. Do not distress yourself, my darling child. Go to sleep! +Dream of happy days!--of a better life which is coming speedily. That +will bring me luck.' + +"He kissed her, and ran off, not to be stopped. + +"In two deals he had lost everything--all that he possessed. He +remained standing motionless near the Colonel, staring, in a dazed +manner, at the gaming table. + +"'Won't you go on, Chevalier?' asked the Colonel, shuffling the cards +for the next deal. + +"'I have lost my all,' the Chevalier answered, powerfully constraining +himself to be calm. + +"'Do you mean to say you have nothing left?' the Colonel asked at the +next deal. + +"'I am a beggar,' the Chevalier cried, in a voice quivering with fury +and pain, as he continued to stare at the gaming table. He did not +notice that those who were staking were getting more and more the +better of the banquier. + +"The Colonel calmly continued the game. + +"As he shuffled the cards for the third deal, he said to the Chevalier +(without looking on him), 'You have a beautiful wife, you know!' + +"'What do you mean?' cried the Chevalier angrily. The Colonel turned +away a little without answering him. + +"'Ten thousand ducats--or Angela!' he said, half averting his face, as +the cards were being cut. + +"'You are out of your senses!' cried the Chevalier, who had, however, +now regained his composure a good deal, and began to observe that the +Colonel was losing at every deal. + +"'Twenty thousand ducats, or Angela!' the Colonel said almost in a +whisper, as he paused for a moment during the shuffling of the cards. +The Chevalier said not a word. The Colonel played again, and nearly all +the cards were in favour of the players--against him. + +"'Done!' the Chevalier whispered in the Colonel's ear when the next +deal began; and he threw the Queen on the table. + +"The Queen lost. + +"The Chevalier drew back, grinding his teeth, and leaned at the window +with despair and death in his white face. + +"The game ended, and, with a jeering 'Well! what next?' the Colonel +came up to the Chevalier. + +"'Oh, God!' cried the Chevalier, quite beside himself. 'You have made +me a beggar, but you must be a madman if you think you have won my +wife! Are we in the West Indies? Is my wife a slave--a chattel in her +husband's power, so that he can sell her, or gamble her away at faro? +It is true, of course, that you would have had to pay me twenty +thousand ducats if the Queen had won, so that I have lost the right to +make any objection if my wife chooses to leave me and go away with you. +Come home with me, and despair when my wife repulses with horror the +man whom she would have to follow as a dishonoured mistress.' + +"'Despair yourself, Chevalier!' said the Colonel with a scornful laugh, +'when Angela turns from you with horror---from you, the miserable +wretch who has brought her to beggary--and throws herself into my arms +with eager rapture; despair yourself, when you find that the Church's +benediction unites us--that fate crowns our most eager desires. You say +I must be mad!--Ha, ha! All I wanted was to gain power of veto. I knew +of a certainty that your wife belonged to me. Ho, ho, Chevalier! Let me +tell you that your wife loves me--me--unutterably, to my certain +knowledge. Let me tell you that I am that Duvernet, the neighbour's +son, brought up with Angela, united to her in the warmest affection, +which you, with your devilish artifices, dispelled. Alas! it was not +till I had to depart on field service that Angela knew what I was to +her. I know the whole matter. It was too late then. But the dark +spirit told me that I should succeed in ruining you at play--that was +why I devoted myself to it and followed you to Genoa. And I have done +it!--come now to your wife!' + +"The Chevalier stood like one annihilated, stricken by a thousand +burning lightnings. The mystery so long sealed to him was explained. +Now, for the first time, he saw the full extent of the misfortunes +which he had brought upon poor Angela. + +"'My wife shall make her decision,' he said in a hollow tone, and +followed the Colonel, who stormed away. + +"When they came to the house, and the Colonel seized the handle of +Angela's door, the Chevalier thrust him back, saying, 'My wife is in a +sweet sleep; would you awaken her?' + +"'Ha!' said the Colonel. 'Has Angela ever been in a sweet sleep since +you brought nameless misery upon her?' + +"He was about to enter the room, but the Chevalier prostrated himself +at his feet, and cried, in utter despair, 'Have some mercy! You have +made me a beggar! Leave me my wife!' + +"'So lay old Vertua at _your_ feet, unfeeling monster that you were, +and could not move your stony heart. Therefore, may the vengeance of +Heaven be upon you!' + +"So saying, the Colonel again turned towards Angela's room. + +"The Chevalier sprang to the door, burst it open, dashed up to the bed +where his wife was lying, drew the curtains aside, cried 'Angela! +Angela!'--bent over her--took her hand--shuddered like one convulsed in +the death agony, and cried out in a terrible voice-- + +"'See here! What you have won from me is my wife's corpse!' + +"The Colonel hurried to the bedside in terror. There was no trace of +life. Angela was dead. + +"The Colonel raised his clenched hands to heaven, and rushed away with +a hollow cry. He was no more seen." + +It was thus that the stranger finished his narrative, and having done +so, he went quickly away, before the Baron, much moved by it, was able +to utter any word. + +A day or two afterwards the stranger was found insensible in his room, +stricken by apoplexy. He was speechless till his death, which happened +in a few hours. His papers showed that, though he was known by the name +of Baudasson, he really was none other than the unfortunate Chevalier +Menars. + +The Baron recognized the warning of Heaven which had brought the +Chevalier Menars to him just when he was nearing the abyss, and he took +a solemn vow that he would resist all the temptations of the deceptive +Gambler's Fortune. Hitherto he has kept his vow. + + +"Would one not suppose," said Lothair, when Theodore had ended, "that +you were a man who knew all about gambling, and were great at all those +games yourself, though perhaps your conscience might now and then give +you a slap in the face? and yet I know very well that you never touch a +card." + +"That is quite the case," said Theodore. "And yet I derived much +assistance, in my story, from a strange experience which I had myself +once." + +"It would be the best _finale_ to your tale," said Ottmar, "to tell us +this said experience of yours." + +"You know," said Theodore, "that when I was finishing my education I +lived for some time with an old uncle of mine in G----. There was a +certain friend of this uncle's who, though our ages were very +different, took a great pleasure in my society, chiefly, perhaps, +because at that time I was always filled with a brilliant vein of +humour, sometimes amounting to the mischievous. This gentleman was, I +can assure you, one of the most extraordinary characters I ever came +across. Mean in all the relationships of life, ill-tempered, grumbling, +sulky, with a great tendency to miserliness, he had the utmost +appreciation for everything in the shape of fun and amusement. To use a +French expression, he was in the highest degree _amusable_, but not in +the least _amusant_. At the same time he was excessively vain, and one +form of his vanity was that he was always dressed in the utmost +extremity of the prevailing fashion, almost to a ludicrous extent. +And there was a similar absurdity about his manner of hunting after +every species of enjoyment in the very sweat of his brow, so to +speak--striving, with a comic eagerness, to gulp down as much of it as +he possibly could grasp. I remember so well three particular instances +of this vanity and struggle for enjoyment of his that I must tell them +to you. Picture to yourselves this man, being at a place among the +hills, and invited by some people (ladies being among them), to go on a +walking expedition to see some waterfalls in the neighbourhood, +dressing himself for the occasion in a bran new silk coat, never worn +before, with beautiful shining steel buttons, and white silk stockings, +shoes with steel buckles, and his finest rings on his fingers. In the +thickest part of the pine forest which had to be passed through, a +tremendous thunderstorm came on; the rain fell in torrents, the brooks, +swollen by the rain, came rushing over the paths. You can well imagine +the state my poor friend found himself in very soon. + +"It chanced that the tower of the Dominican Church at G---- was one +night struck by lightning. My friend was in raptures with the grand +fire-pillar which arose in the darkness, magically illuminating all the +country round; but he soon came to the conclusion that to get the real +picturesque effect of it in all its perfection, it would be the right +thing to go and look at it from a certain rising ground just outside +the town. So he set off as quickly as his carefulness in such matters +would permit him, not forgetting to put a packet of macaroons and a +flask of wine into certain of his pockets, or to carry a beautiful +bouquet of flowers in his hand, and a camp stool under his arm. Thus +equipped, he paced calmly out of the city gate and up on to the +eminence, where he sat himself down to enjoy the spectacle, smelling at +his bouquet, munching a macaroon, washing that down with a mouthful of +wine, in the most complete, beatific, quiescent state of enjoyment. +Really this fellow was--taking him all round----" + +"Stop! stop!" cried Lothair, "you were going to tell us the adventure +of your own which helped you in writing your 'Gamester's Fortune,' and +you cannot get away from a fellow who seems to have been as ludicrous +as repulsive to every ordinarily constituted person's feelings." + +"You must not blame me," said Theodore, "for lingering over this +personage who was so intimately brought into connection with my life. +But, to business!--this man whom I have been describing to you invited +me to make a trip with him to a certain watering place, and, although I +saw quite clearly that I was to play the _role_ of soother, calmer, +tranquilizer, and _maitre-de-plaisirs_ to him, I was quite satisfied to +make this charming excursion amongst the mountains at his expense. At +the watering-place there was some high play going on--a bank of several +thousand thalers. My companion eyed the heaps of gold with greedy +simpers, paced up and down the room, circled nearer and nearer to the +play table, dived into his pockets, brought out a Friedrich-d'or +between his finger and thumb, dropped it back again--in a word, lusted +for money. Only too glad would he have been to pocket a little haul +from that heaped-up treasure, but he had no belief in his star. At last +he put an end to this droll contest between his longings and his fears, +which brought the perspiration in drops on to his forehead, by begging +me to stake for him, to which end he put five or six Friedrichs-d'or +into my hand. However, I would have nothing to do with the arrangement +until he assured me that he had not the least belief that he would have +any luck whatever, but looked upon the sum which he staked as so much +lost cash. What happened was what I did not in the least degree expect. +To me, the unpractised, inexperienced player, fortune was propitious. +I won for my friend in a very short time something like thirty +Friedrichs-d'or, which he put in his pocket with much glee. Next +evening he wanted me to play for him again, but to this hour I cannot +explain how the idea came into my head that I should then play on my +own account. I had not had the slightest intention of playing any more, +nay, rather, I was on the very point of going away, out of the room, to +take a walk outside, when my friend came up to me with his request. +When I had plainly told him in set terms that I meant to play on my own +account (but not till then), I walked calmly up to the table and pulled +out of my little waistcoat pocket two Friedrichs-d'or, the only two +which I possessed. If fortune had been propitious to me the night +before, this time it seemed as if some Spirit of Might, at whose +command luck stood, was in covenant with me. Whatever I did, whatever I +staked upon, everything turned up in my favour---in fact, just as I +said in my story, what happened at first to Baron Siegfried happened to +me. My brain reeled! When a fresh haul of money was handed over to me I +often felt as if I were in a dream, and should be sure to wake up just +as I was pocketing my winnings. When the clock struck two the game came +to an end as usual. + +"Just as I was leaving the room, an old officer took me by the +shoulder, and said, transfixing me with a grave, powerful eye: + +"'Young man, if you had known what you were about, you would have +broken the banque. But if ever you do know about it, no doubt you will +go to the devil, like all the rest.' He left me, without waiting for my +answer. + +"The day was breaking when I got to my room, and emptied the money out +of all my pockets on to the table. Picture to yourselves the feelings +of a mere boy, entirely dependent on his relatives, restricted to a +miserable mite of an allowance of weekly pocket-money, who suddenly, as +if at the wave of a magic wand, finds himself in possession of a sum +which is, at all events, considerable enough to appear, in his eyes, a +fortune! But, as I gazed at the heaps of coin, all my mind was suddenly +filled with an anxiety, a strange, alarmed uneasiness, which put me +into a cold perspiration. The words of the old officer came back to me, +as they had not struck me before, in the most terrible significance. I +felt as though the coin which was blinking at me there on the table was +the earnest money of a bargain whereby I had sold my soul to the powers +of darkness, so that there was no escape more for it possible, and it +was destroyed for evermore. The blossoms of my life seemed to be gnawed +upon by a hidden worm, and I sank into inconsolable despair. The +morning dawn was flaming up behind the eastern hills. I lay down in the +window-seat. I gazed, with the most intense longing, for the rising of +the sun which should drive away the darksome spirits of night; and +when the woods and plains shone forth in his golden glory, it was day +in my soul once more, and there came to me the most inspiriting sense +of a power to resist all temptation, and shield my life from that +demoniacal impulse, which was full of the power of--somehow and +somewhere--impelling it to utter destruction. I made then a most sacred +vow that I would never touch a card again, and that vow I have kept +most strictly. And the first use I made of my money was to part from my +friend, to his immense surprise, and set out on that excursion to +Dresden, Prague, and Vienna, of which I have told you." + +"I can well imagine," said Sylvester, "the impression which your +unexpected, equivocal, most questionable luck must have made upon you. +It was greatly to your credit that you resisted the temptation, and +that you recognized how it was that the threatening danger lay in the +very luck itself. But, allow me to say, your own tale, the manner in +which you have, with such accuracy, characterized the real gambler in +it, must make it plain to yourself that you never had within you the +true love of gambling, and that, if you had, the courage which you +displayed would have been very difficult, perhaps impossible. Vincent, +who, I believe, knows a great deal more about such matters than the +rest of us, will agree with me here, I think." + +"As for me," said Vincent, "I was scarcely attending to Theodore's +account of his luck at the faro-table, because my mind was so full of +that delicious fellow who walked about the hills in silk stockings, and +admired burning buildings as if they were so many pictures, enjoying +his wine, his macaroons, and his bouquets all the time. In fact, it was +a pleasure and satisfaction to me to see one entertaining character at +last emerging out of the dark, dreadful background of the stories of +this evening, and I should have liked to have seen him as the hero of +some comic drama." + +"Ought not the mere suggestion of him to have been enough for us?" +said Lothair. "We Serapion Brethren ought always to remember that it is +our duty to set up, for each other's entertainment and refreshment, +unique characters which we may have come across in life, as a means of +refreshing us after the tales which may have strained our attention." + +"A good idea," said Vincent, "and I thoroughly agree with it. Rough +sketches of that description ought to serve as studies for more +finished pictures, which whoever chooses may elaborate after his +liking. Also, they may be considered as being charitable contributions +to the general fund of Serapionish fantasy. And to show that I am in +earnest, I shall at once proceed to describe to you a very great +'Curio' of a man whom I came across in the south of Germany. One day, +in B----, I chanced to be walking in a wood near the town, when I came +upon a number of countrymen hard at work in cutting down a quantity of +thick underwood, and snipping off the branches from the trees on either +side of it. I do not know what made me inquire of them if they were +making a new road, or what. They laughed, and told me that, if I went +on my way, I should find, outside the trees, upon a little rising +ground, a little gentleman who would answer my questions, and, +accordingly, I came there upon a little elderly gentleman, of pale +complexion, in a great-coat, and with a travelling-cap on his head and +a game-bag at his back, who was gazing fixedly through a telescope in +the direction of the men who were cutting down the trees. When he saw +me he shut up his telescope in a hurry, and said, eagerly, 'You have +come through the wood, sir? Have you observed how the work is getting +on?' I told him what I had seen. 'That's right, that's right,' he said; +'I've been here ever since three in the morning, and I was beginning to +be afraid that those asses (and I pay them well, too) were leaving me +in the lurch. But I have some hopes, now, that the view will come into +sight at the expected time.' He drew out his telescope again, and gazed +through it towards the wood. After a few minutes, some large branches +came rustling down, and, as at the stroke of a magic wand, there opened +up a prospect of distant mountains, a beautiful prospect, with the +ruins of an old castle glowing in the beams of the setting sun. The +gentleman gave expression to his extreme delight and gratification in +one or two detached broken phrases; but when he had enjoyed the +prospect for a good quarter of an hour, he put away his telescope and +set off as fast as he could, without bidding me goodbye or taking the +slightest notice of me. I afterwards heard that he was the Baron von +B----, one of the most extraordinary fellows in existence, who, like +the well-known Baron Grotthus, has been on a continual walking tour for +several years, and has a mania for hunting after beautiful views. When +he arrives at a place where, to get at a view, he thinks it is +necessary to have trees cut down, or openings made in woodlands, he +spares no cost to arrange matters with the proprietors, or to employ +labourers. In fact, it is said that he once tried his utmost to have a +set of farm buildings burned down, because he thought they interfered +with the beauty of a prospect, and interrupted the view of the +distance. He did not succeed in this particular undertaking. But +whenever he did attain his object, he would gaze at his newly-arranged +view for half an hour or so, at the outside, and then set off at such a +pace that nothing could stop him, never coming back to the place +again." + +The friends were of one mind in the opinion that there is no +possibility of imagining anything more marvellous or out of the common +than that which comes before us in actual life, of its own accord. + +"I am wonderfully delighted," said Cyprian, "that it chances to be in +my power to add to your two oddities a third character, of whom I was +told a short time ago by a well-known violinist, whom we all of us know +very well. This third character of mine is none other than the Baron +von B----, a man who lived in Berlin about the years 1789 and 1790, and +was acknowledged to be one of the most extraordinary phenomenons ever +met with in the world of music. For the sake of greater vividness, I +will tell you the tale in the first person, as if I were the violinist +concerned in it, and I hope my worthy Serapion brother Theodore won't +take it amiss that I encroach, on this occasion, into his peculiar +province. + +"At the time when the Baron was living in Berlin," the violinist said, +"I was a very young fellow, scarcely sixteen, and absorbed in the +most zealous study of my instrument, to which I was devoted with all +the powers and faculties of my body and soul. My worthy master, +Concert-Meister Haak, who was excessively strict with me, was much +content with my progress. He lauded the finish of my bowing, the +correctness of my intonation, and he allowed me to play in the +orchestra of the opera, and even in the King's chamber-concerts. On +those occasions I often heard Haak talking with young Duport, with +Ritter, and other great artists belonging to the orchestra, about the +musical evenings which Baron von B---- was in the habit of having in +his house. Such was the research and the taste connected with those +evenings that the King himself often deigned to take part in them. +Mention was made of magnificent works of the old, nearly forgotten +masters, which were nowhere else to be heard than at the Baron's, who, +as regarded music for stringed instruments, possessed, probably, +the most complete collection from the most ancient times down to +the present day, in existence. Then they spoke of the marvellous +hospitality which the Baron extended to artists, and they were all +unanimous in concluding that he was the most bright and shining star +which had ever risen in the musical horizon of Berlin. + +"All this excited my curiosity, and made my teeth water; and all the +more that, during these conversations, the artists drew their heads +nearer together, and I gathered, from mysterious whispers and detached +words and phrases, that there was talk of tuition in music, of giving +of lessons. I fancied that, on Duport's face especially, there appeared +a sarcastic smile, and that they all attacked Concert-Meister Haak with +some piece of chaff, and that he, for his part, only feebly defending +himself, could scarcely suppress a smile, until at last, turning +quickly away, and taking up his violin to tune, he cried out, 'All the +same, he is a first-rate fellow!' + +"All this was more than I could withstand, and although I was told, in +a pretty decided manner, to mind my own business, I begged Haak to +allow me, if in any manner possible, to go with him to the Baron's and +play in his concerts. + +"Haak surveyed me with great eyes, and I feared that a little +thunderstorm was going to burst out upon me. But his seriousness melted +into a strange smile, and he said: + +"'Well, well; perhaps you're right. There's a great deal to be picked +up at the Baron's. I'll talk to him about you, and I think it very +likely that he will accord you _les entrees_. He is very much +interested in young musicians.' + +"A short time afterwards, I had been playing some very difficult duetts +with Haak. As he laid his fiddle down, he said, 'Now, Carl, put your +Sunday coat on to-night, and your silk stockings. We will go together +to the Baron's. There won't be many there, and it will be a good +opportunity to introduce you to him.' + +"My heart throbbed with delight, for I expected to meet with things +unheard-of and extraordinary, though I did not know why this was my +expectation. + +"We arrived there. The Baron, a rather small gentleman, advanced in +age, wearing an old Frankish embroidered gala dress, came to meet us as +we entered the room, and shook my master cordially by the hand. Never +had I felt, at the sight of a man of rank, more sincere reverence, a +more infelt, sincere, pleasant attraction. His face expressed the most +genuine kindliness, whilst from his eyes flashed that darksome fire +which so often indicates the artist who is, in verity, penetrated by +his art. All that diffidence with which I, as an inexperienced +neophyte, would otherwise have had to contend, fled from me instantly. + +"'How are you, my dear Haak?' the Baron said. 'How are you getting on? +Have you been having a right good study at my concerto? Good, good; we +shall hear tomorrow. Oh, I suppose this is the young virtuoso you were +telling me about?' + +"I cast my eyes down bashfully. I felt that I blushed over and over +again. + +"Haak mentioned my name, praised my natural talent, and lauded the +rapid progress which I had made in a short time. + +"'And so you have chosen the violin as your instrument,' said the +Baron. 'Have you considered, my son, that the violin is the most +difficult of all instruments ever invented, and that it is one which, +whilst it seems, in its extreme simplicity, to comprehend in itself the +most luxuriant richness of music, is, in reality, an extraordinary +mystery, which only discloses itself to a rare few, specially organized +by nature to comprehend it? Do you know of a certainty, does your +spirit tell you with distinctness, that you will be the master of that +marvellous mystery? Many a one has thought this, and has remained a +miserable bungler all his days. I should not wish, my son, that you +should swell the ranks of those wretched creatures. However, at all +events, you can play me something, and then I will tell you what you +are like, what state you are in as regards this matter, and you will +follow my counsel. Perhaps it is with you as it was with Carl Staunitz, +who thought he was going to turn out a marvellous virtuoso. When I +opened his eyes, he threw his fiddle behind the stove, and took to the +Tenor and Viol d'Amour, and a very good job he made of them. On them he +could stamp about with those broad stretching fingers of his, and play +quite fairly well. But, however, just now I want to hear _you_, my +little son.' + +"This first somewhat extraordinary speech of the Baron's to me was +calculated to render me somewhat anxious and abashed. What he said went +deep into my soul, and I felt, not without inward sorrow, that in +devoting my life to the most difficult of all instruments I had, +perhaps undertaken a task beyond my powers. + +"Just then, four of the artists then present sat down to play the last +three quartettes of Haydn, which had just appeared in print. My master +took his violin out of its case; but scarcely had he passed his bow +over the strings, in tuning, when the Baron, stopping his ears with +both hands, cried out, like a man possessed, 'Haak, Haak, tell me, for +God's sake! how can you annihilate all your skill in playing by making +use of a miserable screaking, caterwauling fiddle like that?' + +"Now it happened that my master's violin was one of the most splendid +and glorious ever to be met with. It was a genuine Antonio Stradivari, +and nothing could enrage him more than when any one failed to render +due homage to this darling of his. However, knowing pretty well what +was going to happen, he put it back into its case with a smile. + +"Just as he was taking the key out of the lock of his fiddle-case, the +Baron, who had left the room for a moment, came in, bearing in both +arms (as if it had been a babe going to be baptized) a violin-case, +covered with scarlet velvet, and bound with gold cords. + +"'I wish to do you an honour, Haak,' he said; 'tonight you shall play +on my oldest, most precious violin. This is a genuine Granuelo. Your +Stradivarius, his pupil, is only a bungler in comparison with him. +Tartini would never put his fingers on any violin but a Granuelo. So +please to collect yourself, and pull yourself together, so that the +Granuelo may be pleased to allow itself to unfold all the gloriousness +which dwells within it.' + +"The Baron opened the violin-case, and I beheld an instrument whose +build bore witness to its immense antiquity. Beside it lay a most +marvellous-looking bow, whose exaggerated curvature seemed to indicate +rather that it was intended for shooting arrows from than for bringing +tone out of violin strings. With solemn carefulness the Baron took the +instrument out of its case and handed it to my master, who received it +with equal solemnity. + +"'I'm not going to give you the bow,' said the Baron, tapping my master +on the shoulder with a pleasant smile, 'you haven't the slightest idea +how to manage it; and that is why you will never, in all your life, +attain to a proper style of bowing. + +"'This was the sort of bow,' continued the Baron, taking it from the +case, and contemplating it with a gleaming glance of inspiration, +'which the grand, immortal Tartini made use of; and now that he is +gone there are only two of his pupils left in the whole wide world who +were fortunate enough to possess themselves of the secret of his +magnificent, marrowy, toneful manner of bowing, which affects the whole +being of people, and can only be accomplished with a bow of this kind. +One of those pupils is Narbini, who is now an old man of seventy, +capable only of inward music; and the other, as I think, gentlemen, you +are aware, is myself. Consequently, I am now the sole individual in +whom the true art of violin-playing survives; and my zealous endeavours +will, I trust and believe, not fail to perpetuate that art which found +its creator in Tartini. However, let us set to work, gentlemen.' + +"The Haydn quartettes were then played through, and with a degree of +perfection which, it need not be said, left nothing to be desired. The +Baron sat with closed eyes, swaying backwards and forwards; +occasionally he would get up from his chair, go closer to the players, +peer at the music with wrinkled brow, and then go very gently back to +his seat, lean his head on his hand, sigh, groan-- + +"'Stop, stop!' he cried suddenly at a melodious passage in one of the +adagios, 'by all the gods! that was Tartini-ish melody, or I know +nothing about it. Play it again, please.' + +"And the masters, smiling, repeated the passage, with a more sostenuto +and cantabile effect of bowing, while the Baron wept and sobbed like a +child. + +"When the quartettes were ended, the Baron said, 'A heavenly fellow, +this Haydn; he knows how to touch the heart; but he has not an idea of +writing for the violin. Perhaps he does not wish to do it; for if he +did, and wrote in the only true manner, as Tartini did, you would never +be able to play it.' + +"It was now my turn to play some variations which Haak had written for +me. + +"The Baron stood close behind me, looking at the notes. You may imagine +the agitation with which I commenced, having this severe critic at my +elbow. Presently, however, a stirring allegro movement carried me away. +I forgot all about the Baron, and managed to move about with all +freedom within the sphere of skill and power which stood then at my +command. + +"When I had finished, the Baron patted me on the shoulder, and said, +'You may stick to the violin, my son; but as yet you have not an idea +of bowing or expression, probably because, up to this time, you haven't +had a proper master.' + +"We then sat down to table, in another room, where there was a repast +laid out and served, which, especially as regarded the rare and +marvellous wines, was to be characterized as very extravagant. The +musicians dipped deeply into everything set before them. The talk, +which waxed more and more animated, was almost entirely on the subject +of music. The Baron emitted complete treasures of the most marvellous +information. His opinions and views, most keen and penetrating, proved +him to be not only the most instructed of connoisseurs, but also the +most accomplished, talented, and tasteful of artists. What was +specially striking to me was a sort of portrait gallery of violinists +which he went through to us in description. So much of it as I remember +I will tell you. + +"'Corelli,' said the Baron, 'was the first to break out the path. His +compositions can only be played in the real Tartini manner, and that is +sufficient to prove how well he knew the true art of violin-playing. +Pugnani is a passable player. He has tone, and plenty of brains, but, +although he has a tolerable amount of appogiamento, his bowing is too +feeble altogether. What have not people told me of Geminiani! and yet, +when I heard him last, some thirty years ago in Paris, he played like a +somnambulist striding about in a dream, and one felt as if one were in +a dream one's self. It was all mere tempo rubato; no sort of style or +delivery. That infernal tempo rubato is the ruin of the very best +players; they neglect their bowing over it. I played him my sonatas; he +saw his error, and asked me to give him some lessons, which I was very +glad to do. But he was too far sunk into his old method. He had grown +too old in it--he was ninety-one. May God forgive Giardini, and not +punish him for it in eternity; but he it was who first ate the apple of +the tree of knowledge, and brought sin upon all subsequent players. He +was the first of your tremolandoists and flourishers. All he thinks +about is his left hand, and those fingers of his that have the power of +jumping hither and thither. He has no idea of the important fact that +it is in the _right_ hand that the soul of melody lies--that from every +throb of its pulses stream forth the powers that awaken the feelings of +the heart. Oh! that every one of those "flourishers" had a stout old +Jomelli at his elbow to rouse him out of his craziness by a good sound +box on the ear--as Jomelli actually did--when Giardini, in his +presence, spoilt a glorious passage of melody by jumps, trills, and +"mordenti." Lulli, too, conducts himself in a preposterous way. He is +one of your damnable perpetrators of jumps. An adagio he can't play, +and his sole quality is that for which ignoramuses, without sense or +understanding, admire him with their stupid mouths agape. I say it +again: with Narbini and me will die the true art of the violinist. +Young Viotti is a fine fellow, full of promise. He is indebted to me +for what he knows, for he was a most industrious pupil of mine. But +what does it all amount to? No endurance! No patience! He wouldn't go +on studying with me. Now, Kreutzer I still hope to get hold of and make +something of. He has availed himself assiduously of my lessons, and +will again, when I get back to Paris. That concerto of mine which you +are studying, Haak, he played not at all badly a short time since. But +he hasn't the hand, yet, to wield my bow. Giarnovichi shall never cross +my doorstep again. There's a stupid coxcomb for you! A fellow who has +the effrontery to turn up his nose at the grand Tartini--master of all +masters--and despises my lessons. What I should like to know is, what +that boy Rhode will turn out after he has had lessons from me? He +promises well, and I have an idea that he will master my bow.' + +"The Baron turned to me, saying, 'He is about your age, little son, but +of a more serious, deep-thoughted nature. You appear to me--don't take +it ill if I say so--to be a little bit of a--well, I mean, you lack +purpose. However, no matter. Now you, dear Haak, I have great hopes of. +Since I have been teaching you you have become quite another man. Keep +up your unresting zeal and industry. Never waste a single hour. You +know that is what distresses me.' + +"I was turned to stone with amazement and admiration at what I heard. I +could not wait the necessary time to ask the concert-meister if it was +all true---if the Baron was, really, the greatest violinist of the +day--if he, my master himself, did actually take lessons from him. + +"'Undoubtedly,' Haak said, 'he had no hesitation in accepting the +profitable instruction which the Baron placed at his disposal; and he +told me that I should do well if I went, some morning, to him myself, +and asked him to let me have some lessons from him too.' + +"To all the questions which I then put to him concerning the Baron and +his artistic talent, Haak would give me no direct reply, but kept on +telling me that I ought to do as he advised me, and I should then find +out all about it myself. + +"The peculiar smile which passed over Haak's face as he said this did +not escape me. I did not understand the meaning of it, and it excited +my curiosity to the highest point. + +"When I bashfully made my request to the Baron, assuring him that the +most unbounded zeal, the most glowing enthusiasm for my art inspired +me, he looked at me seriously and fixedly. But soon his face put on +an expression of the most benevolent kindliness. 'Little son! little +son!' he said, 'that you have betaken yourself to me--the only real +violin-player now living--proves that you possess the true artistic +spirit, and that the ideal of the genuine violin-player has come into +existence within you. I should be delighted to give you lessons; but +the time--the time! where to find it? Haak occupies me a great deal, +and then I have got this young man Durand here just now, he wants to be +heard in public, and knows that he need not try that till he has had a +good course of lessons from me. However, wait a moment, between +breakfast and lunch, or at lunch time--yes. I have still an hour at +liberty then. Little son, come to me at twelve exactly every day, and I +will fiddle with you for an hour until one; then Durand comes.' + +"You can imagine how I hastened, with a throbbing heart, to the Baron's +the next forenoon at the appointed hour. + +"He would not let me play a single note on my own violin, which I had +brought with me, but placed in my hands a very old instrument by +Antonio Amati. Never had I had any experience of a violin like this. +The celestial tone which streamed from its strings altogether inspired +me. I let myself go, and abandoned myself to a stream of ingenious +'passages,' suffering the river of music to surge and swell, higher and +higher, in mighty waves and billows of sound, and then die down and +expire in murmuring whispers. My own belief is that I was playing +exceedingly well; much better than I often did afterwards. + +"When I had done, the Baron shook his head impatiently, and said: 'My +little son! my little son! you must forget all that. In the first +place, you hold your bow most abominably,' and he showed to me, +practically, how the bow ought to be held, according to the manner of +Tartini. I thought I should never be able to bring out a single tone +whilst so holding it; but great was my astonishment when I found that, +on repeating my 'passages' at the Baron's desire, the amazing advantage +of holding the bow as he told me to hold it was strikingly manifest, +after two or three seconds. + +"'Good!' said the Baron. 'Little son, let us begin the lesson. Commence +upon the note G, above the line, and hold out that note as long as you +can possibly hold it. Economize your bow; make the very utmost of it +that you possibly can. What the breath is to the singer, the bow is to +the violinist.' + +"I did as I was directed, and was greatly delighted to find that, in +this manner of dealing with matters, I was enabled to bring out a tone +of exceptional powerfulness; to swell it out to a marvellous +fortissimo, and make it die down to a very soft pianissimo, with an +excessively long stroke of the bow. + +"'You see, do you not, little son?' cried the Baron. 'You can play all +kinds of "passages," jumps, and new-fangled nonsense of that sort, but +you can't properly sustain a note as it ought to be done.' + +"He took the instrument from my hands, and laid the bow across the +strings, near the bridge--and the simple truth is, that words +completely fail me to describe to you what then came to pass. + +"Laying that trembling bow of his close to the bridge, he went sliding +with it up and down on the strings, as it quivered in his hands, +jarringly, whistlingly, squeakingly, mewingly; the tone he produced was +to be likened to that of some old woman, with spectacles on nose, +vainly attempting to hit the tune of a hymn. + +"And all the time he raised enraptured eyes to heaven, like a man +lost in the most celestial blissfulness; and when at length he left +off scraping with his bow up and down between the bridge and the +finger-board, and laid the violin down, his eyes were shining, and he +said, in deep emotion: 'That is tone! that is tone!' + +"I felt in a most extraordinary condition: although the inward impulse +to laugh was present with me, it was killed by the aspect of that +venerable man, glorified by his inspiration. At the same time the whole +affair had a most eery effect upon me, and I felt very much affected by +it, and could not utter a syllable. + +"'Don't you find, little son,' asked the Baron, 'that that goes to your +heart? Had you ever any idea that such magic could be conjured out of +that little thing there, with its four simple strings? Well, well! take +a glass of wine, little son.' He poured me out a glass of Madeira. I +had to drink it, and also to take some of the pastry and cakes which +were upon the table. Just then the clock struck one. + +"'This will have to do for to-day,' said the Baron. 'Go, go, little +son! Here, here! put that in your pocket.' + +"And he placed in my hand a little paper packet, in which I found a +beautiful, shining ducat. + +"In my amazement I ran to the concert-meister and told him all that had +happened. He, however, laughed aloud, and said: 'Now you know all about +our Baron and his violin lessons. He looks upon you as a mere beginner, +so that you only get a ducat per lesson; but as the mastership, in his +opinion, increases, so does the pay. He gives me a Louis, and I think +Durand gets a couple of ducats.' + +"I could not help expressing my opinion that it was anything but an +honourable style of going to work, to mystify this kind gentleman in +such a fashion, and pocket his money into the bargain. + +"'You ought to be told,' said Haak, 'that his whole enjoyment consists +in giving lessons--in the way which you now comprehend; and that if I +and the other artists were to show any symptoms of under-valuing him or +his lessons, he would proclaim to the whole artistic world, in which he +is looked upon as a most competent and valuable critic, that we were +nothing but a set of wretched scrapers; that, in fact, apart from his +craze of being a marvellous player, the Baron is a man whose vast +knowledge of music, and most cultivated judgment thereon, are matters +from which even a master can derive great benefit. So judge for +yourself whether I am to be blamed if I hold on to him, and now and +then pocket a few of his Louis. I advise you to go to him as often as +you can. Don't listen to the cracky nonsense he talks about his own +execution; but do listen to, and profit by, what this man--who is most +exceptionally versed in the musical art, and has immense and valuable +experience in it--has to say about it. It will be greatly to your +advantage to do so.' + +"I took his advice; but it was often hard to repress laughter when the +Baron would tap about with his fingers upon the belly of the fiddle +instead of on the finger-board, stroking his bow diagonally over the +strings the while, and asseverating that he was playing the most +beautiful of all Tartini's solos, and that he was the only person in +the world who could play it. + +"But soon he would lay the violin down, and pour forth sayings which +enriched me with the profoundest knowledge, and enflamed my heart +towards the most glorious of all arts. + +"If I then played something from one of his concertos with my utmost +_verve_, and happened to interpret this or the other passage of it +better than usual, the Baron would look round with a smile of +complacence, or of pride, and say: 'The boy has to thank me for that; +me, pupil of the great Tartini!' + +"Thus, you perceive, I derived both profit and pleasure from the +Baron's lessons; and from his ducats into the bargain." + +"Well, really," said Theodore, laughing, "I should think that the +greater part of the virtuosos of the present day--although they do +consider themselves far beyond any description of instruction or +advice--would be glad enough to have a few lessons such as the Baron +von S---- was in the habit of giving." + +"I render thanks to Heaven," said Vincenz, "that this meeting of our +Club has ended so happily. I never dared to hope that it would; and I +would fain entreat my worthy Serapion Brethren to see that proper +measures are taken, in future, that there be a due alternation between +the terrifying and the entertaining, which on this occasion has by no +means been the case." + +"This admonition of yours," Ottmar said, "is right and proper; but it +rested with yourself to rectify the error into which we have fallen +to-night by contributing something of your own, in your special style +of humour." + +"The truth is," said Lothair, "that you, my very fine fellow--and at +the same time my very lazy-as-to-writing fellow--have never yet paid +your entrance-money into the Serapion Guild, and the only mode of +payment is a Serapiontic story." + +"Hush!" cried Vincenz. "You don't know what has come glowing forth from +my heart, and is nestling in this breast-pocket of mine here; a quite +remarkable little creature of a story, which I specially commend to the +favour of our Lothair. I should have read it to you to-night. But don't +you see the landlord's pale face peeping in at the window every now and +then, just in the style in which the uncle Kuehleborn, in Fouque's +'Undine,' used to 'keek' in at the window of the fisherman's hut. +Haven't you noticed the irritated 'Oh, Jemini!' countenance of the +waiter? Was there not written on his forehead, legibly and distinctly +(when he snuffed the candles), 'Are you going to sit here for ever? Are +you never going to let an honest man get to his well-earned bed?' Those +people are right. It is past twelve: our parting hour has struck some +time ago." + +The friends agreed to have another Serapiontic meeting at an early +date, and dispersed. + + + + + SECTION VII. + +The dreary late autumn had arrived, and Theodore was sitting in his +room beside the crackling fire, waiting for the worthy Serapion +Brethren, who came dropping in, one by one, at the appointed hour. + +"What diabolical weather!" cried Cyprian, entering the last. "In spite +of my cloak I am nearly wet through, and a gust of wind all but carried +away my hat." + +"And it won't be better very soon," said Ottmar; "for our +meteorologist, who lives in the same street with me, has prognosticated +very fine weather at the end of this autumn." + +"Right; you are perfectly right, my friend Ottmar," Vincenz said. +"Whenever our great prophet consoles his neighbours with the +announcement that the winter is not going to be at all severe, but +principally of a southerly character, everybody rushes away in alarm, +and buys all the wood he can cram into his cellar. The weather-prophet +is a wise and highly-gifted man, whom we can thoroughly trust, so long +as we expect the exact reverse of what he predicts." + +"Those autumnal storms always make me thoroughly wretched," said +Sylvester; "I always feel depressed and ill whilst they are going on; +and I think you feel the same, Theodore." + +"Oh, indeed I do," answered Theodore; "this sort of weather always +makes----" + +"Splendid!--delightful beginning of a meeting of the Serapion Club!" +intercalated Lothair. "We set to work to discuss the weather, like a +parcel of old women round the coffee-table." + +"I don't see," said Ottmar, "why we should not talk about the weather; +the only reason you can object to it is that talking about it seems to +be an observance of a kind of rather slovenly old custom, which has +resulted from a necessity to say something or other when there happens +to be nothing else in people's minds to talk about. What I think is +that a few words about the weather and the wind make a very good +beginning of a conversation, whatsoever its nature may turn out to be, +and that the very universality of the applicability of this as the +beginning of a conversation prove how natural it really is." + +"As far as I am concerned," said Theodore, "I don't think it matters +a farthing how a conversation commences. But there is one thing +certain--that, if one wants to make some very striking and clever +beginning, that is enough to kill all the freedom and unconstraint +which may be termed the very soul of conversation. I know a young +man--I think he is known to you all, as well--who is by no means +deficient in that mobility of intellect which is absolutely necessary +for good conversation; but he is so tormented, particularly when ladies +are present, by that kind of eagerness to burst out with something +brilliant and striking at the very outset of a talk, that he walks +restlessly about the room; makes the most extraordinary faces in the +keenness of his inward torment; opens his lips, and--cannot manage to +utter a syllable." + +"Cease, cease, base wretch!" Cyprian cried, with comic pathos, "do not, +with murderous hand, tear open wounds which are barely healed. He is +speaking of me," he continued, laughing, "and he doesn't know that, a +few weeks ago, when I insisted on restraining that tendency of mine, +which I see the absurdity of, and falling into a conversation in the +ordinary style of other people, I had to pay for it by complete +annihilation. I prefer telling you all about this myself to letting +Ottmar do it, and add witty comments of his own. At a tea-party where +Ottmar and I were, there was present a certain pretty and clever lady, +as to whom you are in the habit of maintaining that she interests me +more than is right and proper. I went to talk to her, and I admit that +I was a little at a loss how exactly to begin, and she was wicked +enough to gaze at me with questioning eyes. I burst out with 'The new +moon has brought a nice change of weather.' She answered, very quietly: +'Oh, are you writing the Almanac this season?'" + +The friends laughed heartily. + +"On the other hand," said Ottmar, "I know another young man--and you +all know him--who, particularly with ladies, is never at a loss for the +first word of a talk; in fact, my belief is that he has severely +thought out, in private, a regular system, of the most comprehensive +kind, as to conversation with ladies, which is by no means likely ever +to find him left in the lurch. For instance, one of his dodges is to go +to the prettiest--one who scarce ventures to dip a sweet biscuit in her +tea; who, at the utmost, whispers into the ear of her who is sitting +next to her: 'It is very warm, dear;' to which the latter answers with +equal softness into her ear: 'Dreadfully, my love;' whose communication +goeth not beyond 'Yea, yea,' and 'Nay, nay,'--to go up to such an one, +I say, and, in an artful manner, startle her out of her wits, and +thereby so utterly revolutionize her very being, in such a sudden +manner, that she seems to herself to be no longer the same person: +'Good heavens! how very pale you are looking!' he cried out, recently, +to a pretty creature, as silent as a church, just in the act of +beginning a stitch of silver thread at a purse which she was working. +The young lady let her work fall on her lap in terror, said she was +feeling a little feverish that day. Feverish!--my friend was thoroughly +at home on that subject; could talk upon it in the most interesting +way, like a man who knows his ground; inquired minutely into all the +symptoms; gave advice, gave warnings,--and behold! there was a +delightful, interesting, confidential conversation spun out in a few +minutes." + +"I am much obliged to you," said Theodore, "for having so carefully +observed that talent of mine, and given it its due meed of approval." + +The friends laughed again at this. + +"There is no doubt," said Sylvester, "that society talk is, altogether, +a rather curious thing. The French say that a certain heaviness in our +nature always prevents us from hitting the precise tact and tone +necessary for it; and they may be right, to a certain extent, but I +must declare that the much-belauded _legerete_ and lightsomeness of +French Society puts me out of temper, and makes me feel stupid and +uncomfortable, and that I cannot look upon those _bon mots_ and +_calembours_ of theirs, which are continually being fired off in all +directions, as coming under the class of that 'Society wit' which gives +out constantly fresh sparks of new life of conversation. Moreover, that +peculiar style of wit to which the genuine French 'wit' belongs is, to +me, in the highest degree disagreeable." + +"That opinion," said Cyprian, "comes from the very depths of your +quiet, friendly spirit, my dearest Sylvester: but you are forgetting +that, besides the (generally utterly empty and insipid) _bon mots_, the +'Society wit' of the French is, in a great degree, founded on a mutual +contempt of, and jeering and scoffing at, each other (such as at the +present time we call 'chaff,' although it is less good-humoured than +that), which soon passes the bounds of what we consider courtesy and +consideration, and consequently would speedily deprive our intercourse +of all pleasure. Then the French have not the very slightest +comprehension of that wit whose basis is real humour, and it is almost +incomprehensible how often the point of some not very profound, but +superficially funny, little story escapes them." + +"Don't forget," said Ottmar, "that the point of a story is very often +completely untranslatable." + +"Or is badly translated," said Vincenz. "It so happens that I just +think of a very amusing thing which happened quite recently, and which +I will tell you, if you care to hear it." + +"Tell us, tell us! delightful fabulist! valued anecdotist!" cried the +friends. + +"A young man," related Vincenz, "whom nature had endowed with a +splendid bass voice, and who had gone upon the operatic stage, was +making his first appearance as Sarastro, in the 'Magic Flute.' As he +was mounting the car, in which he first comes on, he was seized with +such a terrible attack of stage-fright that he trembled and shook--nay, +when the car got into motion to come forward, he shrunk into himself, +and all the manager's efforts to induce him to reassure himself, and, +at all events, stand upright, were useless. Just then it happened that +one of the wheels got entangled in the long mantle which Sarastro +wears, so that the further he got on to the stage, the more this mantle +dragged him backwards; whilst he, struggling against this, and keeping +his feet firm, appeared in the centre of the stage with the nether +portion of his body projecting forwards, and his head and shoulders +held tremendously far back. The audience were immensely pleased at this +most regal attitude and appearance of the inexperienced neophyte, and +the manager offered him, and concluded with him, an engagement on very +liberal terms. Now, this simple little story was being told, lately, in +a company where there was a French lady who did not understand a word +of German. When everybody laughed, at the end of the story, she wanted +to know what the laughter was about, and our worthy D. (who, when he +speaks French, gives a most admirable, and very close, imitation of the +tones and actions of French people, but is continually at a loss for +the words) undertook to translate the story to her. When he came to the +wheel which had got entangled with Sarastro's cloak, constraining him +to his regal attitude, he called it 'Le rat,' instead of 'La roue.' The +French lady's brow clouded, her eyebrows drew together, and in her face +was plainly to be read the terror which the story had produced in her, +whereto conduced the circumstance that D. had 'let on' upon his face +the full power of tragi-comic muscular play which it was capable of. +When, at the end, we all laughed more than before at this amusing +misunderstanding (which we all took good care not to explain), she +murmured to herself, 'Ah! les barbares!' The good lady not unnaturally +looked upon us as barbarians for thinking it so amusing that an +abominable rat should have frightened the poor young man almost to +death, at the very commencement of his stage-career, by holding on to +his cloak." + +When the friends had done laughing, Vincenz said: "Suppose we now bid +adieu to the subject of French conversation, with all its _bon mots_, +_calembours_, and other ingredients, and come to the conclusion that it +really is an immense pleasure when, amongst intellectual Germans, a +conversation, inspired by their humour, rushes up skyward like a +coruscating firework, in a thousand hissing light-balls, crackling +serpents, and lightning-like rockets." + +"But it must be remembered," said Theodore, "that this pleasure is +possible only when the friends in question, besides being intellectual +and endowed with humour, possess the talent not only of talking, but of +listening, the principal ingredient of real conversation." + +"Of course," said Lothair; "those people who constitute themselves +'spokesmen' destroy all conversation--and so, in a lesser degree, +do the 'witty' folk, who go from one company to another with +anecdotes, crammed full of all sorts of shallow sayings; a kind of +self-constituted 'Society clowns.' I knew a man who, being clever and +witty, and at the same time a terribly talkative fellow, was invited +everywhere to amuse the company; so that, the moment he came into a +room, everybody looked in his face, waiting till he came out with +something witty. The wretch was compelled to put himself to the +torture, in order to fulfil the expectations entertained of him as +well as he could, so that he could not avoid soon becoming flat and +commonplace; and then he was thrown aside by every one, like a used-up +utensil. He now creeps about, spiritless and sad, and seems to be like +that dandy in Abener's 'Dream of Departed Souls,' who, brilliant as he +was in this life, is sorrowful and valueless in the other, because, on +his sudden and unexpected departure, he left behind him his snuff-box +of Spanish snuff, which was an integral part of him." + +"Then, too," said Ottmar, "there are certain extraordinary people +who, when entertaining company, keep up an unceasing stream of +talk; not from conceit in themselves, but from a strange, mistaken +well-meaningness, for fear that people shouldn't be enjoying +themselves; and keep asking if people are not 'finding it dull,' and so +forth, thereby nipping every description of enjoyment in the bud in a +moment."' + +"That is the very surest way to weary people," said Theodore, "and I +once saw it employed with the most brilliant success by my old +humourist of an uncle, who, I think, from what I have told you of him, +you know pretty intimately by this time. An old schoolfellow of his had +turned up--a man who was utterly tedious and unendurably wearisome in +all his works and ways--and he came to my uncle's house every forenoon, +disturbed him at his work, worried him to death, and then sat down to +dinner without being invited. My uncle was grumpy, snappish, silent, +giving his visitor most unmistakably to understand that his calls were +anything but a pleasure to him; but it was all of no use. Once, when +the old gentleman was complaining to me (in strong enough language, as +his manner was) on the subject of this schoolfellow, I said I thought +he should simply show him the door and have done with it. 'That +wouldn't do, boy,' said my uncle, puckering his face into a rather +pleased smile. 'You see, he is an old schoolfellow of mine, after all; +but there is another way of getting rid of him which I shall try; and +that will do it.' I was not a little surprised when, the next morning, +my uncle received the schoolfellow with open arms and talked to him +unceasingly, saying how delighted he was to see him, and go back +over the old days with him. All the old school-day stories which +the schoolfellow was incessantly in the habit of repeating, and +re-repeating, till they became intolerable to listen to, now poured +from my uncle's lips in a resistless cataract, no that the visitor +could not escape them. And all the while my uncle kept asking him, +'What is the matter with you to-day? You don't seem happy. You are so +monosyllabic. Do be jolly! Let us have a regular feast of old stories +to-day.' But the moment the schoolfellow opened his lips to speak my +uncle would cut him short with some interminable tale. At last the +affair became so unendurable to him that he wanted to cut and run. But +my uncle so pressed him to stay to lunch and dinner, that, unable to +resist the temptation of the good dishes, and better wine, he did stay. +But scarce had he swallowed a mouthful of soup when my uncle, in +extreme indignation, cried, 'What in the devil's name is this infernal +mess? Don't touch any more of it, brother, I beg you; there's something +better to come. Take those plates away, John!' Like a flash of +lightning the plate was swept away from under the school-friend's nose. +It was the same thing with all the dishes and courses, though they were +of a nature sufficiently to excite the appetite, till the 'something +better to come' resolved itself into Cheshire cheese, which of all +cheeses the school-friend hated the most, although he disliked all +cheese. From an apparently ardent endeavour to set before him an +unusually good dinner he had not been suffered to swallow two +mouthfuls; and it was much the same with the wine. Scarce had he put a +glass to his lips when my uncle cried, 'Old fellow, you're making a wry +face. Quite right, that isn't wine, it's vinegar. John, a better tap!' +And one kind after another came, French wines, Rhine wines, and still +the cry was, 'You don't care about that wine,' &c., till, when the +Cheshire cheese put the finishing stroke on things, the school-friend +jumped up from his chair in a fury. 'Dear old friend!' said my uncle +in the kindliest of tones, 'you are not at all like your usual self. +Come, as we are together here, let us crack a bottle of the real old +"care-killer."' The school-friend plumped into his chair again. The +hundred years' old Rhine wine pearled glorious and clear in the two +glasses which my uncle filled to the brim. 'The devil,' he cried, holding +his glass to the light, 'this wine has got muddy, on my hands. Don't +you see? No, no; I can't set that before anybody,' and he swallowed +the contents of both glasses himself, with evident delight. The +school-friend popped up again, and plumped into his chair once more on +my uncle's crying, 'John, Tokay!' The Tokay was brought, my uncle poured +it out, and handed the schoolfellow a glass, saying, 'There, my boy, +you shall be satisfied at last, in good earnest. That is nectar!' But +scarce had the school-friend set the glass to his lips when my uncle +cried, 'Thunder! there's been a cockroach at this bottle.' At this the +school-friend, in utter fury, dashed the glass into a thousand pieces +against the wall, ran out of the house like one possessed, and never +showed his face across the threshold again." + +"With all respect for your uncle's grim humour," said Sylvester, "I +think there was rather a systematic perseverance in the course of +mystification involved in such a process of getting rid of a +troublesome person. I should have much preferred to show him the door +and have done with it; though I admit that it was quite according to +your uncle's peculiar vein of humour to prearrange a theatrical scene +of this sort in place of the perhaps troublesome and unpleasant +consequences which might have arisen if he had kicked him out. I can +vividly picture to myself the old parasite as he suffered the torments +of Tantalus, as your uncle kept continually awakening fresh hopes in +his mind and instantly dashing them to the ground; and how, at last, +utter desperation took possession of him." + +"You can introduce the scene into your next comedy," said Theodore. + +"It reminds me," said Vincenz, "of that delightful meal in +Katzenberger's _Badereise_, and of the poor exciseman who has almost to +choke himself with the bites of food which are slid to him over the +'Trumpeter's muscle,' the Buccinator, although that scene would not be +of much service to Sylvester for a new piece." + +"The great Kazenberger," said Theodore, "whom women do not like on +account of the robustness of his cynicism, I formerly knew very well. +He was intimate with my uncle, and I could, at some future time, tell +you many delightful things concerning him." + +Cyprian had been sitting in profound thought, and seemed to have been +scarcely attending to what the others had been saying. Theodore tried +to arouse his attention and direct it to the hot punch which he had +brewed as the best corrective of the evil influence of the weather. + +"Beyond a doubt," said Cyprian, "this is the germ of insanity, if it is +not actually insanity itself." + +The friends looked questionably at each other. + +"Ha!" cried Cyprian, getting up from his chair and looking round him +with a smile, "I find I have spoken out, aloud, the conclusion of the +mental process which has been going on within me in silence. After I +have emptied this glass of punch and duly lauded Theodore's art of +preparing that liquid after its mystic proportions, and due relations +of the hot, strong and sweet, I will simply point out that there is a +certain amount of insanity, a certain dose of crackiness, so deeply +rooted in human nature, that there is no better mode of getting at the +knowledge of it than by carefully studying it in those madmen and +eccentrics whom we by no means have to go to madhouses to come across, +but whom we may meet with every hour of the day in our daily course; +and, in fact, best of all in the study of our own selves, in each of +whom these is present a sufficient quantum of that 'precipitate +resulting from the chemical process of life.'" + +"What has brought you back to the subject of insanity and the insane?" +asked Lothair, in a tone of vexation. + +"Do not lose your temper, dear Lothair," said Cyprian, "we were talking +on the subject of society conversation; and then I thought of two +mutually antagonistic classes of characters which are often fatal to +social talking. There are people who find it impossible to get away +from ideas which have come to occupy their minds; who go on repeating +the same things over and over again, for hours, no matter what turn the +conversation may have taken. All efforts to carry them along with the +stream of the conversation are vain; when one at last flatters oneself +that one has got them into the current of the talk, lo and behold, they +return _a leurs moutons_ again, just as before, and consequently dam up +the beautiful, rushing stream of conversation. In contradistinction to +them are those who forget one second what they said in the immediately +preceding one; who ask a question, and, without waiting for an answer, +introduce something completely irrelevant and heterogeneous; to whom +everything suggests everything else, and consequently nothing which has +any connection with the subject of the talk--who, in a few words, throw +together a many-tinted lumber of ideas in which nothing that can be +called distinct is discoverable. Those latter destroy everything like +agreeable conversation and drive us to a state of despair, and the +former produce intolerable tedium and annoyance. But, don't you think +there lies in those people the germ of real insanity in the one +case, and in the other of _folie_, whose character is very much, +if not exactly, what the psychological doctors term 'looseness' or +'incoherence' of ideas?" + +"There is no doubt," said Theodore, "that I should like to say a great +deal concerning the art of _relating_ in society, for there is much +which is mysterious about it, depending, as it does, on place, time, +and individual relationships, and difficult to be ranged under special +heads. But it seems to me that this matter might carry us too far, and +be opposed to the real tendency of the Serapion Club." + +"Most certainly," said Lothair. "We want to tranquillise ourselves with +the thought that we--neither madmen nor fools--are, on the contrary, +the most delightful companions to each other; who not only can talk, +but can listen; more than that, each of us can listen quite patiently +when another reads aloud, and that is saying a good deal. Friend Ottmar +told me a day or two ago that he had written a story in which the +celebrated poet-painter Salvator Rosa played a leading part. I hope he +will read it to us now." + +"I am a little afraid," said Ottmar, as he took the manuscript from his +pocket, "that you won't think my story Serapiontic. I had it in mind to +imitate that ease and genial liberty of breadth which predominates in +the 'Novelli' of the old Italians, particularly of Boccaccio; and over +this endeavour I acknowledge that I have grown prolix. Also you will +say, with justice, that it is only here and there that I have hit upon +the true 'Novella' tone--perhaps only in the headings of the chapters. +After this noble and candid confession I am sure you will not deal too +hardly with me, but think chiefly of anything which you may find +entertaining and lively." + +"What prefaces!" cried Lothair. "An unnecessary _Capitatio +Benevolentiae_; read us your Novella, my good friend Ottmar, and +if you succeed in vividly portraying to us your Salvator Rosa +in verisimilitude before our eyes, we will recognise you as a +true Serapion brother, and leave everything else to the grumbling, +fault-finding critics. Shall it not be so, my eminent Serapion +Brethren?" + +The friends acquiesced, and Ottmar began. + + + + SIGNOR FORMICA. + _A NOVELLA._ + +The renowned painter, Salvator Rosa, comes to Rome, and is attacked by + a dangerous malady.--What happened to him during this malady. + +People of renown generally have much evil spoken of them, whether +truthfully or otherwise, and this was the case with the doughty painter +Salvator Rosa, whose vivid, living pictures you, dear reader, have +certainly never looked upon without a most special and heartfelt +enjoyment. + +When his fame had pervaded and resounded through Rome, Naples, Tuscany, +nay, all Italy; when other painters, if they would please, were obliged +to imitate his peculiar style--just then, malignant men, envious of +him, invented all sorts of wicked reports concerning him, with +the view of casting foul spots of shadow upon the shining auriole +of his artistic fame. Salvator, they said, had, at an earlier +time of his life, belonged to a band of robbers, and it was to his +experiences at that time that he was indebted for all the wild, gloomy, +strangely-attired figures which he introduced into his pictures, just +as he copied into his landscape those darksome deserts, compounded of +lonesomeness, mystery, and terror--the _Selve Selvagge_ of Dante--where +he had been driven to lurk. The worst accusation brought against him +was that he had been involved in that terrible, bloody conspiracy which +"Mas' Aniello" of evil fame had set afoot in Naples. People told all +about that, with the minutest details. + +Aniello Falcone, the battle-painter (as he was called), blazed up in +fury and bloodthirsty revenge when the Spanish soldiers killed one of +his relations in a skirmish. On the spot he collected together a crowd +of desperate and foolhardy young men, principally painters, provided +them with arms, and styled them "the death-company"; and, in verity, +this band spread abroad a full measure of the terror and alarm which +its name indicated. Those young men pervaded Naples, in troop form, all +day long, killing every Spaniard they came across. More than this, they +stormed their way into all the sacred places of sanctuary, and there, +without compunction, murdered their wretched enemies who had taken +refuge there, driven by fear of death. At night they betook themselves +to their chief, the mad, bloodthirsty Mas' Aniello, and they painted +pictures of him by torchlight, so that in a short time hundreds of +those pictures of him were spread about Naples and the surrounding +neighbourhood. + +Now it was said that Salvator Rosa had been a member of this band, +robbing and murdering all day, but painting with equal assiduity all +night. What a celebrated art-critic--Taillasson, I think--said of our +master is true: "His works bear the impress of a wild haughtiness and +arrogance, of a bizarre energy, of the ideas and of their execution. +Nature displays herself to him not in the lovely peacefulness of green +meadows, flowery fields, perfumed groves, murmuring streams, but in the +awfulness of mighty up-towering cliffs, or sea-coasts, and wild, +inhospitable forests; the voice to which he listens is not the +whispering of the evening breeze, or the rustling of the leaves, but +the roar of the hurricane, the thunder of the cataract. When we look at +his deserts and the people of strange, wild appearance, who, sometimes +singly, sometimes in troops, prowl about them, the weirdest fancies +come to us of their own accord. Here there happened a terrible murder, +there the bleeding corpse was thrown hurriedly over the cliff, &c., +&c." + +Now this may all be the case, and although Taillasson may not be far +wrong when he says that Salvator's "Plato," and even his "St. John in +the Wilderness announcing the Birth of the Saviour," look just the +least little bit like brigands, still it is unfair to base any +conclusions drawn from the works upon the painter himself, and to +suppose that, though he represents the wild and the terrible in such +perfection, he must have been a wild and terrible person himself. He +who talks most of the sword often wields it the worst; he who so feels +in his heart the terror of bloody deeds that he is able to call them +into existence with palette, pencil or pen, may be the least capable of +practising them. Enough! of all the wicked calumnies which would +represent the doughty Salvator to have been a remorseless robber and +murderer, I do not believe a single word, and I hope you, dear reader, +maybe of the same opinion, or I should have to cherish a certain amount +of doubt whether you would quite believe what I am going to tell you +about him. + +For--as I hope--my Salvator will appear to you as a man burning and +coruscating with life and fire, but also endowed with the most charming +and delightful nature, and often capable of controlling that bitter +irony which--in him, as in all men of depth of character--takes form of +itself from observation of life. Moreover, it is known that Salvator +was as good a poet and musician as a painter, his inward genius +displaying itself in rays thrown in various directions. I repeat that I +have no belief in his having had anything to do with the crimes of Mas' +Aniello; I rather hold to the opinion that he was driven from Naples to +Rome by the terror of the time, and arrived there as a fugitive at the +very time of Mas' Aniello's fall. + +There was nothing very remarkable about his dress, and, with a little +purse containing a few zecchini in his pocket, he slipped in at the +gate just as night was falling. Without exactly knowing how, he came to +the Piazza Navoni, where, in happier days, he had formerly lived in a +fine house close to the Palazzo Pamphili. Looking up at the great +shining windows, glittering and sparkling in the moonbeams, he cried, +with some humour, "Ha! it will cost many a canvass ere I can establish +my studio there again." Just as he said so he suddenly felt as if +paralysed in all his limbs, and, at the same time, feeble and powerless +in a manner which he had never before experienced in all his life. As +he sank down on the stone steps of the portico of the house he murmured +between his teeth, "Shall I ever want canvasses? It seems to me that +_I_ have done with them." + +A cold, cutting night-wind was blowing through the streets; Salvator +felt he must try and get a shelter. He rose with difficulty, tottered +painfully forward, reached the Corso, and turned into Strada +Vergognona. There he stopped before a small house, only two windows +wide, where lived a widow with two daughters. They had taken him as a +lodger for a small sum when first he came to Rome, known and cared for +by nobody, and he hoped he would find a lodging with them now suited to +his reduced circumstances. + +He knocked familiarly at the door, and called his name in at it time +after time. At last he heard the old woman rousing herself with +difficulty from sleep. She came, dragging along her slippers, to the +window, scolding violently at the scoundrel who was disturbing her in +the middle of the night--her house not being an inn, &c. Then it took a +deal of up and down talking ere she recognised her former lodger by his +voice; and on Salvator's complaining that he had been obliged to flee +from Naples and could find no roof to cover him in Rome, she cried out, +"Ah! Christ and all the saints! Is it you, Signor Salvator? Your room +upstairs, looking upon the courtyard, is empty still, and the old +fig-tree has stretched its leaves and branches right into the window, +so that you can sit and work as if you were in a beautiful cool arbour. +Ah! how delighted my girls will be that you are here again, Signor +Salvator. But I must tell you Margerita has grown a big girl, and a +very _pretty_ girl--it won't do to take her on your knee now! Your cat, +only fancy, died three months ago--a fish bone stuck in its throat. +Aye, aye, poor thing! the grave is the common lot. And what do you +think? Our fat neighbour woman--she whom you so often laughed at and +drew the funny caricatures of--she has gone and got married to that +young lad, Signor Luigi. Well, well! _Nozze e magistrati sono da dio +destinati!_ Marriages are made in heaven, they say." + +"But, Signora Caterina," interrupted Salvator, "I implore you by all +the saints let me in to begin with, and then tell all about your +fig-tree, your daughters, the kitten, and the fat woman. I am dying of +cold and weariness." + +"Now, just see how impatient he is!" cried the old woman. "_Chi va +piano va sano; chi va presto muore lesto._ The more haste the less +speed, is what I always say. But you're tired, you're shivering; so +quick with the key, quick with the key." + +Before getting hold of the key, however, she had to awaken her +daughters, and then slowly, slowly strike a light. Ultimately she +opened the door to the exhausted Salvator; but as soon as he crossed +the threshold he fell down like a dead man, overcome by exhaustion and +illness. Fortunately the widow's son, who lived at Tivoli, happened to +have just come home, and he was at once turned out of his bed, which he +willingly gave up to this sick family friend. + +The old lady had a great fondness for Salvator, rated him, as regarded +his art, above all the painters in the world, and had the utmost +delight in everything he did. Therefore she was much distressed at his +deplorable condition, and wanted to run off at once to the neighbouring +monastery and bring her own Father Confessor, that he might do battle +with the powers of evil at once, with consecrated tapers, or some +powerful amulet or other. But the son thought it would be better almost +to send for a good doctor, and he set off on the instant to the Piazza +di Spagna, where he knew the celebrated doctor, Splendiano Accoramboni, +lived. As soon as he heard that the great painter Salvator Rosa was +lying sick in Strada Vergognona, he prepared to pay him a professional +visit. Salvator was lying unconscious in the most violent fever. The +old woman had hung up one or two images of saints over his bed, and was +praying fervently. The daughters, bathed in tears, were trying to +get him now and then to swallow a few drops of the cooling lemonade +which they had made, whilst the son, who had taken his station at the +bed-head, wiped the cold perspiration from his brow. In these +circumstances the morning had come, when the door opened with much +noise, and the celebrated doctor, Signor Splendiano Accoramboni, +entered. + +If it had not been for the great heart-sorrow over Salvator's mortal +sickness, the two girls, petulant and merry as they were, would have +laughed loud and long at the doctor's marvellous appearance. As it was, +they drew away into corners, frightened and shy. It is worth while to +describe the aspect of this extraordinary little fellow as he came into +Dame Caterina's in the grey of the morning. Although he had, +apparently, given early promise of reaching a most distinguished +stature, Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni had not managed to get beyond +the altitude of four feet. At the same time he had, in his early years, +been of most delicate formation as regarded his members--and, before +the head (which had always been somewhat shapeless) had acquired too +much increment of matter in the shape of his fat cheeks and his +stately double chin--ere the nose had assumed too much of a lateral +development, in consequence of being stuffed with Spanish snuff--ere +the stomach had assumed too great a rotundity by dint of maccaroni +fodder--the dress of an Abbate, which he had worn in those early days, +became him very well. He had a right to be styled a nice little fellow, +and the Roman ladies accordingly did speak of him as their _caro +puppazetto_. + +But now those days were over, and a German painter, who saw him +crossing the Piazza di Spagna, said of him, not without reason, that he +looked as if some stalwart fellow of six feet high had run away from +his own head and it had fallen on to the shoulders of a little +marionette Pulcinello, who had now to go about with it as his own. This +strange little figure had thrust itself into a great mass of Venetian +damask, all over great flowers, made into a dressing-gown, and girt +itself about, right under the breast, with a broad leather girdle, in +which was stuck a rapier three ells long; and above his snow-white +periwig there clung a high-peaked head-dress, not much unlike the +obelisk in the Piazza San Pietro. As the periwig went meandering like a +tangled web, thick and broad, over his back and shoulders, it might +well have been taken for the cocoon out of which the beautiful insect +had issued. + +The worthy Splendiano Accoramboni glared through his spectacles, first +at the sick Salvator, and then on Dame Caterina, whom he drew to one +side. "There," he said, in a scarce audible whisper, "lies the great +painter Salvator Rosa sick unto death in your house, Dame Caterina, and +nothing but my skill can save him! Tell me, though, how long it is +since he came to you? Has he plenty of grand, beautiful pictures with +him?" + +"Ah! dear Signor Dottore," answered the old woman, "this dear boy of +mine only came to-night, and, as concerns the pictures, I know nothing +about them as yet. But there's a large box downstairs, which he told +me, before he got to be unconscious as he is now, to take the greatest +care of. I should suppose there is a grand picture in it which he has +painted in Naples." + +Now this was a fib which Dame Caterina told; but we shall soon see what +good reason she had for telling it to the doctor. + +"Ah, ah! Yes, yes!" said the doctor, stroking his beard. Then he +solemnly strode up as close to the patient as his long rapier, which +banged against and entangled itself with the chairs and tables, +admitted of his doing, took his hand and felt his pulse, sighing and +groaning as he did so in a manner which sounded wonderful enough in the +deep silence of reverential awe which prevailed. He then named a +hundred and twenty diseases, in Latin and Greek, which Salvator +had not, then about the same number which he might possibly have +contracted, and ended by saying that although he could not just at that +moment exactly name the malady which Salvator was suffering from, he +would hit upon a name for it in a short time, and also the proper +remedies and treatment for its cure. He then took his departure with +the same amount of solemnity with which he had entered, leaving all +hands in the due condition of anxiety and alarm. He asked to see +Salvator's box downstairs, and Dame Caterina showed him a box, in which +were some old clothes of her deceased husband's, and some old boots and +shoes. He tapped the box with his hand here and there, saying, with a +smile, "We shall see! We shall see!" In an hour or two he came back +with a very grand name for what was the matter with Salvator, and +several large bottles of a potion with an evil smell, which he directed +that the patient should keep on swallowing. That was not such an easy +matter, for the patient resisted with might and main, and expressed, as +well as he could, his utter abhorrence of this stuff, which seemed to +be a brew from the very pit of Acheron. But whether it was that the +malady, now that it had got a name, exerted itself more powerfully, or +that Splendiano and medicine were working too energetically--enough, +with every day and nearly every hour, one might say, Salvator grew +weaker and weaker, so that, although Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni +asseverated that, the processes of life having come to a complete +standstill, he had given the machine an impetus towards renewed +activity (as if it had been the pendulum of a clock), all the +by-standers doubted of Salvator's recovery, and were disposed to think +that the Signor Dottore might, perhaps, have given the pendulum such a +rough impulse that it was put out of gear. + +But one day it happened that Salvator, who seemed scarcely able to move +a muscle, suddenly got into a paroxysm of tremendous fever, and, +regaining strength in an instant, jumped out of bed, seized all the +bottles of medicine, and in a fury sent the whole collection flying out +of the window. Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni was just in the act to +come into the house to pay a visit, and, as Fate would have it, two or +three of the phials hit him on the head, and breaking, sent the brown +liquid within them flowing in dark streams over his face, his periwig, +and his neckerchief. The doctor sprang nimbly into the house, and +cried, like a man possessed, "Signor Salvator is off his head! Delirium +has evidently set in--nothing can save him. He'll be a dead man in ten +minutes. Here with the picture, Dame Caterina; it belongs to me--all I +shall get for my services! Here with the picture, I tell you." + +But when Dame Caterina opened the box, and Doctor Splendiano +Accoramboni saw the old cloaks and the burst and tattered boots and +shoes which it contained, his eyes rolled in his head like fire wheels, +he gnashed his teeth, stamped with his feet, devoted Salvator, the +widow, and all the inmates of the house, to the demons of hell, and +bolted out of the door as if discharged from a cannon. + +When the paroxysm of excitement was over, Salvator again fell into a +deathlike condition, and Dame Caterina thought his last hour was +certainly come. So she ran as quickly as she could to the convent, and +brought Father Bonifazio to administer the sacraments to the dying man. +When Father Bonifazio came, he looked at the patient, said he very well +knew the peculiar signs which death imprints upon the face of one whom +he is going to carry off; but there was nothing of the sort to be seen +on the face of the unconscious Salvator in his faint, and that help was +still possible, and he himself would procure or bestow; only Doctor +Splendiano Accoramboni, with his Greek names and diabolical phials, +must never cross the doorstep again. The good father set to work, and +we shall find that he kept his word. + +Salvator came to his senses, and it seemed to him that he was lying in +a delightful, sweet-smelling arbour, for green branches and leaves were +stretching over him. He felt a delightful salutary warmth of life +permeating him, only, apparently, his left arm was fettered. + +"Where am I?" he cried, in a faint voice. Then a young man of handsome +appearance, whom he had not observed before, though he was standing by +his bed, fell down on his knees, seized Salvator's right hand, bathing +it in tears, and cried over and over again, "Oh, my beloved Signor, my +grand master! all is well now! You are saved; you will recover!" + +"Well," began Salvator, "but tell me----" + +The young man interrupted him, begging him not to talk in his weak +condition, and promising to tell him all that had been happening. "You +must know, my dear and great master, that you must have been +exceedingly ill when you arrived in Naples here; but your condition was +not probably very dangerous, and moderate measures, considering the +strength of your constitution, would doubtless have set you on your +legs again in a short time, if it had not happened, through Carlo's +well-meant mischance--as he ran for the nearest doctor at once--that +you fell into the clutches of the abominable Pyramid Doctor, who did +his very best to put you under the sod." + +"The Pyramid Doctor?" said Salvator, laughing most heartily, weak as he +was. "Yes, yes; ill as I was, I saw him well enough, the little damasky +creature, who condemned me to swallow all that diabolical stuff--hell +broth as it was--and had the obelisk of the Piazza San Pietro on the +top of his head, which is the reason you call him the Pyramid Doctor." + +"Oh, heavens!" cried the young man, laughing loudly too. "Yes, it was +Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni who appeared to you in that mysterious +high-pointed nightcap of his, in which he gleams out of his window in +the Piazza di Spagna every morning like some meteor of evil omen. But +it is not on account of the cap that he is called the Pyramid Doctor; +there is a very different reason for that. Doctor Splendiano is very +fond of pictures, and has a very fine collection, which he has got +together through a peculiar piece of technical practice. He keeps a +close and watchful eye upon painters and their illnesses, and +particularly he manages to throw his nets over stranger masters. +Suppose they have swallowed a little too much macaroni, or taken a cup +or two more syracuse than is good for them, he succeeds in throwing his +noose over them, and labels them with this or that disease, which he +christens by some monstrous name, and then sets to work to cure. As fee +he makes them promise him a picture, which, as it is only the strongest +constitutions which can resist the powerful drugs he administers, he +generally selects from the effects of the deceased, deposited at the +Pyramid of Cestius. He takes the best of them, and others into the +bargain. The refuse heap at the Pyramid of Cestius is the seedfield of +Doctor Splendiano Accoramboni, and he cultivates, dresses, and manures +it most assiduously. And that is why he is called the Pyramid Doctor. +Now Dame Caterina, with the best intentions, had given the doctor to +understand that you had brought a fine picture with you, and you can +imagine the ardour with which he set to work to brew potions for you. +It was lucky for you that in your paroxysm of fever you threw the stuff +at his head, that he left you in a fury, that Dame Caterina sent for +Father Bonifazio to administer the sacraments, believing you at death's +door. Father Bonifazio knows a great deal about doctoring; he formed a +correct opinion as to your condition, sent for me, and----" + +"Then you are a doctor too," said Salvator, in a faint, melancholy +tone. + +"No," answered the young gentleman, while a bright colour came to his +cheek, "my dear, renowned master, I am not a doctor like Signor +Splendiano Accoramboni; I am a surgeon. I thought I should have sunk +into the ground with terror--with joy--when Father Bonifazio told me +Salvator Rosa was lying sick to death in Strada Vergognona and +requiring my assistance. I hastened here, opened a vein in your left +arm, and you were saved. We brought you here to this cool, airy room, +where you used to live before. Look around you; there is the easel +which you left behind you; there are one or two sketches still, +preserved, like holy relics, by Dame Caterina. Your illness has had its +back broken. Simple remedies, which Father Bonifazio will give you, and +careful nursing will set you on your legs again. And now, permit me +once more to kiss this creative hand, which calls forth, as by magic, +the most hidden secrets of nature. Permit the poor Antonio Scacciati to +allow all his heart to stream forth in delight and fervent gratitude +that heaven vouchsafed to him the good fortune to save the life of the +glorious and renowned master, Salvator Rosa." + +He again knelt, seized Salvator's hand, kissed it, and bedewed it with +hot tears as before. + +"I cannot tell, dear Antonio," said Salvator, raising himself up a +little, "what strange spirit inspires you to exhibit such a profound +veneration for me. You say you are a surgeon, and that is a calling +which does not usually pair itself readily with art." + +"When you have got some strength back, dear master," answered Antonio, +"there are many matters lying heavy at my heart which I will tell you +of." + +"Do so," said Salvator; "place full confidence in me--you may, for I do +not know when a man's face went more truly to my very heart than does +yours. The more I look at you the more clear it becomes to me that +there is a great likeness in your face to that of the heavenly, godlike +lad--I mean the Sanzio." Antonio's eyes glowed with flashing fire; he +seemed to strive in vain to find words. + +Just then Dame Caterina came in with Father Bonifazio, bringing a +draught which he had skilfully compounded, and which the sick man took, +and relished better than the Acherontic liquids of the Pyramid Doctor, +Splendiano Accoramboni. + + * * * * * * + +Antonio Scacciati comes to high honour through the intervention of + Salvator Rosa.--He confides to Salvator the causes of his + continual sorrowfulness, and Salvator comforts him, and promises + him help. + +What Antonio promised came to pass. The simple, healing medicines of +Father Bonifazio, the careful nursing of Dame Caterina and her +daughters, the mild season of the year which just then came on, had +such a speedy effect on Salvator's strong constitution, that he soon +felt well enough to begin thinking of his art, and, as a beginning, +made some magnificent sketches for pictures which he intended to paint +at a future time. + +Antonio scarcely left Salvator's room. He was all eye when the master +was sketching, and his opinions on many matters showed him to be +initiated in the mysteries of art himself. + +"Antonio," said Salvator, one day, "you know so much about art that I +believe you have not only looked on at a great deal with correct +understanding, but have even wielded the pencil yourself!" + +"Remember, dear master," answered Antonio, "that when you were +recovering from unconsciousness, I told you there were many things +lying heavy on my heart. Perhaps it is time, now, for me to divulge my +secrets to you fully. Although I am the surgeon who opened a vein for +you, I belong to Art with all my heart and soul. I intend now to devote +myself to it altogether, and throw the hateful handicraft entirely to +the winds." + +"Ho, ho, Antonio!" said Salvator, "bethink you what you are going to +do. You are a clever surgeon, and perhaps will never be more than a +bungler at painting. Young as you are in years, you are too old to +begin with the crayon. A man's whole life is scarcely enough in which +to attain to one single perception of the True, still less to the power +of representing it poetically." + +"Ah, my dear master," said Antonio, smiling gently, "how should I +entertain the mad idea of beginning now to turn myself to the difficult +art of painting, had I not worked at it as hard as I could ever since I +was a child, had not heaven so willed it that, though I was kept away +from art, and everything in the shape of it, by my father's obstinacy +and folly, I made the acquaintance, and enjoyed the society, of masters +of renown. Even the great Annibale interested himself in the neglected +boy, and I have the happiness to be able to say I am a pupil of Guido +Reni." + +"Well, good Antonio," said Salvator, a little sharply, as his manner +sometimes was. "If that is so, you have had great teachers; so, no +doubt, in spite of your surgical skill, you may be a great pupil of +theirs too. Only what I do not understand is, how you, as a pupil of +the gentle and tender Guido (whom, perhaps, as pupils in their +enthusiasm sometimes do--you even outdo in tenderness, in your work), +how you can hold me to be a master in my art at all." + +Antonio coloured at those words of Salvator's; in fact, they had about +them a ring of jeering irony. + +Antonio answered: "Let me lay aside all bashfulness, which might close +my lips. Let me speak freely out exactly what is in my mind. Salvator, +I have never revered a master so wholly from out the very depths of my +being as I do you. It is the often superhuman grandeur of the ideas +which I admire in your works. You see, and comprehend, and grasp the +profoundest secrets of Nature. You read, and understand, the marvellous +hieroglyphs of her rocks, her trees, her waterfalls; you hear her +mighty voices; you interpret her language, and can transcribe what she +says to you. Yes, transcription is what I would call your bold and +vivid style of working. Man, with his doings, contents you not; you +look at him only as being in the lap of Nature, and in so far as his +inmost being is conditioned by her phenomena. Therefore, Salvator, it +is in marvellous combinations of landscape with figure that you are so +wondrous great. Historical painting places limits which hem your +flight, to your disadvantage." + +"You tell me this, Antonio," said Salvator, "as the envious historical +painters do, who throw landscape to me by way of a _bonne-bouche_, that +I may occupy myself in chewing it, and abstain from tearing their +flesh. Do I not know the human figure, and everything appertaining to +it? However, all those silly slanders, echoed from others----" + +"Do not be indignant, dear master," answered Antonio. "I do not repeat +things blindly after other folks, and least of all should I pay any +attention to the opinions of our masters here in Rome just now. Who +could help admiring the daring drawing, the marvellous expression, and +particularly the lively action, of your figures! One sees that you do +not work from the stiff, awkward model, or from the dead lay figure, +but that you are, yourself, your own living model, and that you draw +and paint the figure which you place on the canvas in front of a great +mirror." + +"Heyday, Antonio!" cried Salvator, laughing. "I believe you must have +been peeping into my studio without my knowledge, to know so well what +goes on there." + +"Might not that have been?" said Antonio. "But let me go on. The +pictures which your mighty genius inspires I should by no means narrow +into one class so strictly as the pedantic masters try to do. In fact, +the term 'landscape,' as generally understood, applies badly to your +paintings, which I should prefer to call 'historical representations.' +In a deeper sense, it often seems that this or the other rock, that or +the other tree, gazes on us with an earnest look: and that this and the +other group of strangely-attired people is like some wonderful crag +which has come to life. All Nature, moving in marvellous unity, speaks +out the sublime thought which glowed within you. This is how I have +looked at your pictures, and this is how I am indebted to you, my great +and glorious master, for a profound understanding of art. But do not +suppose that, on this account, I have fallen into a childishness of +imitation. Greatly as I wish I possessed your freedom and daring of +brush, I must confess that the colouring of Nature seems to me to be +different from what I see represented in your pictures. I hold that, +even for the sake of practice, it is helpful to a learner to imitate +the style of this or that master: but still, when once he stands on his +own feet, to a certain extent, he should strive to represent Nature as +he sees it himself. This true seeing, this being at unity with oneself, +is the only thing which can produce character and truth. Guido was of +this opinion, and the unresting Preti, whom, as you know, they call the +Calabrese, a painter who certainly reflected on his art more than any +other, warned me in the same way against slavish imitation. And now you +know, Salvator, why I reverence you more than all the others, without +being in the slightest degree your imitator, in any way." + +Salvator had been gazing fixedly into the young man's eyes as he spoke, +and he now clasped him stormily to his breast. + +"Antonio," he said, "you have spoken very wise words of deep +significance. Young as you are in years, you surpass, in knowledge of +art, many of our old, much belauded masters, who talk a great deal of +nonsense about their art, and never get to the bottom of the matter. +Truly, when you spoke of my pictures, it seemed that I was, for the +first time, beginning to come to a clear understanding of myself, and I +prize you very highly just because you do not imitate my style--that +you don't, like so many others, take a pot of black paint, lay on +staring high lights, make a few crippled-looking figures, in horrible +costumes, peep out of the dirty-looking ground, and then think 'There's +a Salvator.' You have found in me the truest of friends, and I devote +myself to you with all my soul." + +Antonio was beyond himself with joy at the good will which the master +thus charmingly displayed to him. Salvator expressed a strong desire to +see Antonio's pictures, and Antonio took him at once to his studio. + +Salvator had formed no small expectations of this youth who spoke so +understandingly about art, and in whom there seemed to be a peculiar +genius at work; and yet the master was most agreeably astonished by +Antonio's wealth of pictures. He found everywhere boldness of idea, +correctness of drawing; and the fresh colouring, the great tastefulness +of the breadth of the flow of folds, the unusual delicacy of the +extremities, and the high beauty of the heads evidenced the worthy +pupil of the great Reni; although Antonio's striving was not, like that +of his master (who was overapt to do this), to sacrifice expression to +beauty, often too visibly. One saw that Antonio aimed at Annibale's +strength, without, as yet, being able to attain to it. + +In his first silence Salvator had examined each of Antonio's pictures +for a long time. At length he said: "Listen, Antonio, there is not the +slightest doubt about it, you are born for the noble painter's art. For +not only has Nature given you the creative spirit, from which the most +glorious ideas flame forth in inexhaustible wealth, but she has further +endowed you with the rare talent, which, in a brief time, overcomes the +difficulties of technical practice. I should be a lying flatterer if I +said you had as yet equalled your teachers, that you had attained to +Guido's marvellous delightsomeness, or Annibale's power; but it is +certain that you far surpass our masters who give themselves such airs +here in the Academy of San Luca, your Tiarini, Gessi, Sementa, and +whatever they may call themselves, not excepting Lanfranco, who can +only draw in chalk; and yet, Antonio, were I in your place I should +consider long before I threw away the lancet altogether, and took up +the brush. This sounds strange; but hear me further. Just at present an +evil time for art has begun; or rather, the devil seems to be busy +amongst our masters, stirring them up pretty freely. If you have not +made up your mind to meet with mortifications and vexations of every +kind, to suffer the more hatred and contempt the higher you soar in +art, as your fame increases everywhere to meet with villains, who +will press round you with friendly mien, to destroy you all the more +surely--if, I say, you have not made up your mind for all this, keep +aloof from painting! Think of the fate of your teacher, the great +Annibale, whom a knavish crew of fellow-painters in Naples persecuted +so that he could not get a single great work to undertake, but was +everywhere shown the door with despite, which brought him to his +untimely grave. Think what happened to our Domenichino, when he was +painting the cupola of the chapel of St. Januarius. Didn't the villains +of painters there (I shall not mention any of their names, not +even that scoundrel Belisario's or Ribera's), did not they bribe +Domenichino's servant to put ashes into the lime, so that the +plastering would not bind? The painting could thus have no permanence. +Think on all those things, and prove yourself well, whether your spirit +is strong enough to withstand the like; for otherwise your power will +be broken, and when the firm courage to make is gone, the power to do +it is gone along with it." + +"Ah, Salvator," said Antonio, "it is scarcely possible that, had I once +devoted myself entirely to painting, I should have to undergo more +despite and contempt than I have had to suffer already, being still a +surgeon. You have found pleasure in my pictures, and you have said, +doubtless from inner conviction, that I have it in me to do better +things than many of our San Luca men. And yet it is just they who turn +up their noses at all that I have, with much industry, achieved, and +say, contemptuously, 'Ho, ho, the surgeon thinks he can paint a +picture!' But, for that very reason my decision is firmly come to, to +get clear of a calling which is more and more hateful to me every day. +It is on you, master, that I pin all my hopes. Your word is worth much. +If you chose to speak for me you could at once dash my envious +persecutors to the dust, and put me in the place which is mine by +right." + +"You have great confidence in me," said Salvator; "but now that we have +so thoroughly understood each other as to our art, and now that I have +seen your works, I do not know any one for whom I should take up the +cudgels, and that with all my might, so readily as I should for you." + +Salvator once more examined Antonio's pictures, and paused before one +representing a Magdalone at the Saviour's feet, which he specially +commended. + +"You have departed," he said, "from the style in which people generally +represent this Magdalene. Your Magdalene is not an earnest woman, but +rather an ingenuous, charming child, and such a wondrous one as nobody +else (except Guido) could have painted. There is a peculiar charm about +the beautiful creature. You have painted her with enthusiasm, and, if I +am not deceived, the original of this Magdalene is in life, and here in +Rome. Confess, Antonio, you are in love." + +Antonio cast his eyes down and said, softly and bashfully: "Nothing +escapes those sharp eyes of yours, my dear master. It may be as you +say, but don't blame me. I prize this picture most of all, and I have +kept it concealed from every one's sight, like a holy mystery." + +"What!" cried Salvator, "have none of the painters seen this picture?" + +"That is so," said Antonio. + +"Then," said Salvator, his eyes shining with joy, "be assured, Antonio, +that I will overthrow your envious, puffed-up enemies, and bring you to +merited honour. Entrust your picture to me--send it secretly in the +night to my lodgings, and leave the rest to me. Will you?" + +"A thousand times yes, with gladness," answered Antonio. "Ah! I should +like to tell you, at once, the troubles connected with my love-affair, +but somehow it seems to me that I do not dare, to-day, just when our +hearts have opened to one another in art; but some day I shall probably +ask you to advise and help me in that direction too." + +"Both my advice and my help shall be at your service wherever and +whenever they may be necessary," Salvator answered. As he was leaving +he turned round and said with a smile: "Antonio, when you told me you +were a painter, I was sorry I had mentioned your likeness to the +Sanzio. I thought you might be silly enough, as many of our young +fellows are, if they chance to have a passing likeness in the face to +this or that great master, they take to wearing their hair and beard as +he does, and find it necessary to imitate his style in art as well, +though it may be quite contrary to their character. We have neither of +us named the name of Raphael; but, believe me, in your pictures I find +distinct traces of the extent to which the whole heaven of godlike +ideas in the works of the greatest master of our time has been revealed +to you. You understand Raphael. You will not reply to me as did +Velasquez, whom I asked, the other day, what he thought of the Sanzio. +He said Titian was the greater master; Raphael knew nothing about flesh +colour. In that Spaniard is the Flesh, not the Word; yet they laud him +to the skies in San Luca, because he once painted cherries which the +birds came and tried to peck." + +A few days after the above conversation, it happened that the +Academists of San Luca assembled in their church to judge the pictures +of the painters who had applied for admission to the Academy. Salvator +had sent Scacciati's beautiful Magdalene picture. The painters were +amazed by the charm and the power of the work, and the most unstinted +praise resounded from every lip when Salvator explained that he had +brought the picture with him from Naples--the work of a young painter, +prematurely snatched away by death. + +In a very short time all Rome streamed to see and admire this work of +the young, unknown, dead master. Every one was unanimously of opinion +that no such picture had been painted since Guido Reni's time, and, +indeed, people carried their enthusiasm so far as to declare that this +work was even to be ranked above Guido Reni's creations of the same +kind. Among the crowd of people who were always collected before +Scacciati's picture, Salvator one day observed a man, who, besides +being of very remarkable exterior, was conducting himself like a +madman. He was advanced in years, tall, lean as a spindle, pale of +face, with a long, pointed nose, and an equally long chin, which +increased its pointedness by being tipped with a little beard, and +green, flashing eyes. Upon his thick, extremely fair peruke he had +stuck a tall hat with a fine feather. He had on a short, dark-red cloak +with many shining buttons, a sky-blue Spanish-slashed doublet, great +gauntlets trimmed with silver fringe, a long sword by his side, light +grey hose drawn over his bony knees, and bound with yellow ribbons, and +bows of the same ribbon on his shoes. This strange figure was standing, +as if enraptured, before the picture. He would stand up on his tiptoes, +then bob himself quite low down; then hop up, with both legs at once, +sigh, groan, close his eyes so tightly that the tears streamed from +them, and then open them as wide as they would go; gaze incessantly at +the beautiful Magdalene, sigh afresh, and lisp out in his mournful, +_castrato_ voice, "Ah, Carissima! Benedetissima! Ah, Marianna! +Marianna! Belissima!" &c. + +Salvator, always greedy after figures of this sort, got as near to him +as he could, and tried to enter into conversation with him about +Scacciati's picture, which seemed to delight him so much; but, without +taking much heed of Salvator, the old fellow cursed his poverty, which +would not allow him to buy this picture for a million, and so prevent +any one else from fixing his devilish glances upon it. And then he +hopped up and down again, and thanked the Virgin and all the saints +that the infernal painter who had painted this heavenly picture, which +drove him to madness and despair, was dead and gone. + +Salvator came to the conclusion that the man must be either a maniac, +or some Academician of San Luca whom he did not know. + +All Rome rang with the fame of Scacciati's wonderful picture. Scarce +anything else was talked of, and this ought to have been enough to show +its superiority. When the painters held their next meeting in San Luca +to decide as to the reception of sundry applicants for admission, +Salvator Rosa made a sudden inquiry whether the painter of the +Magdalene at the Saviour's feet would not have been worthy to be +admitted. All the members of the Academy, not excepting the excessively +critical Cavaliere Josepin, declared, with one voice, that such a great +master would have been an ornament to the Academy, and, in the most +studied forms of speech, expressed their regret that he was dead +(though in their hearts they thanked heaven that he was). Not only +this, but in their enthusiasm for art, they decided to elect this +marvellous young painter an Academician, notwithstanding that he had +been withdrawn from art by a premature death; directing masses to be +said for the repose of his soul in the church of San Luca. Wherefore +they requested Salvator to acquaint them with the full names of the +deceased, as well as the year and place of his birth, &c., &c. + +On this Salvator rose up and said: "Signori, the honours which you fain +would pay to a man in his grave are due to, and had better be bestowed +on, a living painter, who is walking to and fro in our midst. Know ye +that the Magdalene at the Saviour's feet--the picture which you have +such a high opinion of justly, and esteem so highly above anything +which living painters have produced--is not the work of a Neapolitan +painter no longer in life, as I pretended it was, that your verdict +might be unbiassed. This picture, this masterpiece, which all Rome +admires at this moment, is by the hand of Antonio Scacciati, the +surgeon." + +The painters glared dumb and motionless at Salvator, like men struck by +lightning. Salvator enjoyed their consternation for a short time, and +then went on to say: "Well, gentlemen, you would not allow Antonio to +come amongst you because he is a surgeon; but I think the Academy of +San Luca is in very great need of a surgeon to mend and set the +crippled arms and legs of the figures which come from the studios of +many of its members. However, I presume you will not longer delay to do +what you ought to have done long ago; that is, to admit this admirable +painter, Antonio Scacciati, a member of your Academy." + +The Academicians swallowed Salvator's bitter pill; they said they were +much overjoyed that Antonio had displayed his talent in such a striking +and decided manner, and they elected him a member of the Academy with +much ceremony. As soon as it was known in Rome that Antonio was the +painter of the wonderful picture, there streamed in upon him from all +sides congratulations, and commissions to undertake great and important +works. Thus was this young painter--thanks to Salvator's method of +setting to work--brought, in a moment, out of obscurity, and raised to +high honour, at the very juncture when he had made up his mind to start +upon his career as an artist. + +Floating and hovering, as he was, in an atmosphere of happiness and +bliss, it all the more surprised Salvator one day when Antonio came to +him, pale and upset, full of anger and despair. "Ah, Salvator," he +cried, "what does it avail me that you have set me up on a pinnacle, +where I could never have dreamt of being, that I am overwhelmed with +praise and honour, that the prospect of the most delightful and +glorious artistic career opens before me, when I am inexpressibly +unhappy, when the very picture, to which, next to yourself, dear +master, I am indebted for my victory, is the express cause of +irremediable misfortune to me?" + +"Silence!" cried Salvator. "Do not commit a sin against your art and +your picture. I don't believe a word as to your irremediable +misfortune. You are in love, and perhaps things are not going in all +respects exactly as you wish; but that is all, no doubt. Lovers are +like children, they cry and yell the moment anybody touches their toy. +Leave off lamenting, I beg of you; it is a thing which I cannot endure. +Sit down there, and tell me quietly how matters stand as regards your +beautiful Magdalene and your love-affair altogether, and where the +stumbling-blocks are which we must get out of the way, for I promise +you, to commence with, that I will help you. The more difficult and +arduous and adventurous the things are that we have to set about, the +better I shall be pleased, for the blood is running quick in my veins +again, and the state of my health calls upon me to set to work and play +a wild trick or two; so tell me all about it, Antonio, and, as +aforesaid, none of your 'Ohs' and your 'Ahs.'" + +Antonio sat down in the chair which Salvator had placed for him near +the easel where he was at work, and commenced as follows:-- + +"In Strada Ripetta, in the lofty house whose projecting balcony you see +as soon as you go through the Porta del Popolo, lives the greatest ass +and most idiotic donkey in all Rome. An old bachelor, with all the +faults of his class--vain, trying to be young, in love, and a coxcomb. +He is tall, thin as a whip-stalk, dresses in party-coloured Spanish +costume, with a blonde periwig, a steeple-crowned hat, gauntlets, and +long sword at his side----" + +"Stop, stop! wait a moment, Antonio," cried Salvator, and, turning +round the picture he was working at, he took a crayon, and, on the +reverse side of it, drew, in a few bold touches, the curious old fellow +who had been going on so absurdly in front of Antonio's picture. + +"By all the saints!" cried Antonio, jumping up from his chair, and +laughing loud and clear in spite of his despair, "that is the very +man--that is Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, of whom I am speaking, to the +very life." + +"There, you see," said Salvator quietly, "I know the gentleman who is +probably your bitter rival. But go on with your story." + +"Signor Pasquale Capuzzi," continued Antonio, "is as rich as Cr[oe]sus, +but, as I think I was telling you, a terrible miser, as well as a +perfect ass. His best quality is that he is devoted to the arts, +particularly to music and painting. But there is so much idiotic +absurdity mixed up with this, that, even in those directions, it is +impossible to put up with him. He believes himself to be the greatest +composer in the world, and a singer the like of whom is not to be found +in the Papal Chapel. Therefore he looks askance at our old Frescobaldi, +and when the Romans talk of the marvellous charm and spell which +Ceccarelli's voice possesses, he thinks Ceccarelli knows as much about +singing as an old slipper, and that he--Capuzzi--is the person to +enchant the world. But as the Pope's principal singer bears the proud +name of Edoardo Ceccarelli di Merania, our Capuzzi likes to be styled +'Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di Senegaglia,' for his mother bore him in +that place, and, in fact, people say, in a fishing-boat, from sudden +terror at the rising of a sea-calf, and there is, consequently, a great +deal of the sea-calf in his nature. In early life he put an opera on +the stage, and it was hissed off it in the completest manner possible; +but that did not cure him of his craze for writing diabolical music. On +the other hand, when he heard Francesco Cavalli's opera, 'Le Nozze di +Teti e di Peleo,' he said the Capellmeister had borrowed the most +sublime ideas from his own immortal works; for saying which he had a +narrow escape of cudgellings, or even of knife-thrusts. He is still +possessed with the idea of singing arias, accompanying himself by +torturing a wretched guitar, which has to groan and sigh in support of +his mewing and caterwauling. His faithful Pylades is a broken-down, +dwarfish Castrato, whom the Romans call Pitichinaccio; and guess who +completes the trio. Well, none other than the Pyramid Doctor, who emits +sounds like a melancholy jackass, and is under the impression that he +sings a magnificent bass, as good as Martinelli's, of the Papal Chapel. +Those three worthies meet together of evenings, and sit on the balcony, +singing motetts of Carissimi's till all the dogs and cats in the +neighbourhood yell and howl, and the human beings within earshot devote +the hellish trio to all the thousand devils. + +"My father," Antonio continued, "was in the habit of going in and out +of the house of this incomparable idiot, Signor Pasquale Capuzzi (whom +you know sufficiently well from my description), because he used to +dress his wig and his beard. When he died, I undertook those offices, +and Capuzzi was greatly pleased with me, firstly, because he considered +that I was able to give his moustaches a bold upward twist in a manner +which nobody else could, and further, doubtless, because I was +satisfied with the two or three quattrinos which he gave me for my +trouble. But he thought he was over-paying me, inasmuch as, every +time I dressed his beard he would croak out to me, with closed eyes, +an aria of his own composing, which flayed the skin off my ears, +although the remarkable antics of this creature afforded me much +entertainment--which was the reason I continued to go back to him. I on +one occasion walked gently up the stairs, knocked at the door, and +opened it, when there met me a girl--an angel of light! You know my +Magdalene!--it was she. I stood rooted to the spot. No, no, Salvator, I +won't treat you to any 'Ohs' or 'Ahs.' I need but say that on the +instant, when I saw the loveliest of all ladies, I fell into the +deepest, fondest affection for her. The old fellow said, with simpers, +that she was the daughter of his brother Pietro, who had died in +Senegaglia, that her name was Marianna, and that, as she had no mother, +and neither brothers nor sisters, he had taken her into his house. You +may imagine that from that time forth Capuzzi's dwelling was my +paradise. But, scheme as I might, I could never be alone with Marianna +for a single instant; yet her eyes, as well as many a stolen sigh, and +even many a pressure of the hand, left me in no doubt of my happiness. +The old man found this out, and it was not a very difficult matter. He +told me that he was by no means pleased with my behaviour to his niece, +and asked me what I meant by it. I candidly confessed that I loved her +with all my soul, and could imagine no more perfect bliss on earth than +to make her my wife. On this, Capuzzi eyed me up and down, broke into +sneering laughter, and said that he could not have imagined that ideas +of the kind could have haunted the brain of a wretched hairdresser. My +blood got up: I said he knew very well that I was by no means a mere +wretched hairdresser, but a skilled surgeon, and, more than that, as +concerned the glorious art of painting, a faithful scholar and pupil of +the grand Annibale Caracci, and the unsurpassed Guido Reni. On this the +despicable Capuzzi broke out into louder laughter, and squeaked out, in +his abominable falsetto: 'Very good, my sweet Signor Beard-curler, my +talented Signor Surgeon, my charming Annibale Caracci, my most beloved +Guido Reni, _go to all the devils_, and don't show that nose of yours +inside my door again, unless you want every bone in your body broken.' +And the demented old totterer actually took hold of me with no less +an idea in his head than that of chucking me out of the door and +downstairs. But this was rather more than could be endured. I was +furious, and I seized hold of the fellow, turned him topsy-turvy, with +his toes pointing to the ceiling (screaming at the top of his lungs), +and ran downstairs and out of the door, which was from thenceforth +closed against me. + +"Matters were in this position when you came to Rome, and Heaven +inspired the good Father Bonifazio to conduct me to you; and then, when +that had happened, through your cleverness, which I had striven after +in vain, when the Academy of San Luca had admitted me, and all Rome +was praising and honouring me above my desert, I went straight away to +the old man, and appeared suddenly before him in his room like a +threatening spectre. That is what I must have seemed like to him, for +he turned as pale as death, and drew back behind a table, trembling in +every limb. In a grave, firm voice, I told him that I was not now the +Beard-curler and Surgeon, but the celebrated Painter, and Member of the +Academy of San Luca, Antonio Scacciati, to whom he could not refuse his +niece's hand. You should have seen the fury into which the old man +fell. He yelled, he beat about him with his arms, he cried out that I +was a remorseless murderer, seeking to take his life, that I had stolen +his Marianna away from him, as I had counterfeited her in the picture +which drove him to madness and despair. That now all the world--all the +world--was looking at his Marianna, his life, his hope, his everything, +with longing, coveting eyes; but that I had better be careful, for he +would burn the house down about my ears, and make an end of me and my +picture together. And on this he began to vociferate, and scream out so +loudly, 'Fire!--murder!--thieves!--help!' that I thought of nothing but +getting out of the house as speedily as possible. + +"You see that this old lunatic Capuzzi is over head and ears in +love with his niece. He keeps her shut up, and, if he can get a +dispensation, he will force her to the most horrible marriage +conceivable. All hope is at an end." + +"Why not, indeed?" said Salvator, laughing. "For my part, I think, +rather, that your affairs could not possibly be in a better position. +Marianna loves you--you know that well enough--and all that has to be +done is to get her out of the clutches of this old lunatic. Now I +really do not see what should prevent two adventurous, sturdy fellows, +like you and me, from accomplishing this. Keep up your heart, Antonio! +Instead of lamenting, and getting to be love-sick and powerless, the +thing to do is to keep thinking on Marianna's rescue. Just watch, +Antonio, how we will lead the old donkey by the nose. The very wildest +undertakings are not wild enough for me, in circumstances like those. +This very moment I shall set to work to see what more I can find out +about the old fellow and all his ways of life. You must not let +yourself be seen in this, Antonio. Go you quietly home, and come to me +to-morrow as early as you can, that we may consider the plan for our +first attack." + +With that Salvator washed his brushes, threw on his cloak, and hastened +to the Corso; whilst Antonio, comforted, and with fresh hope in his +heart, went home, as Salvator had enjoined him. + + * * * * * * + +Signor Pasquale Capuzzi makes his appearance in Salvator Rosa's + abode.--What happened there.--Rosa and Scacciati's artful + stratagem, and its consequences. + +Antonio was not a little surprised, the next morning, when Salvator +gave him the most minute account of Capuzzi's whole manner of life, +which, in the interval, he had found out all about. Salvator said the +miserable Marianna was tortured by the crack-brained old scoundrel in +the most fiendish manner. That he sighed, and made love to her all day +long; and, what was worse, by way of touching her heart, sang to her +all sorts of amorous ditties and arias which he had composed, or +attempted to compose. Moreover, he was so madly jealous that he would +not allow this much-to-be-compassionated girl even the usual female +attendance, for fear of love-intrigues to which the Abigail might +possibly be corrupted. "Instead of that," Salvator went on, "there +comes, every morning and evening, a little horrible, ghastly spectre of +a creature, with hollow eyes, and pale, flabby, hanging cheeks, to do +what a maid-servant ought to do for the beautiful Marianna. And this +spectre is none other than that tiny hop-o-my-thumb Pitichinaccio, +dressed in woman's clothes. When Capuzzi is away, he carefully locks +and bars all the doors; and besides that, watch and ward is kept by +that infernal fellow who was once a Bravo, afterwards a Sbirro, who +lives downstairs in Capuzzi's house. Therefore it seems impossible to +get inside the door. But I promise you, Antonio, that to-morrow night +you shall be in the room with Capuzzi, and see your Marianna, though, +this time, only in Capuzzi's presence." + +"What!" cried Antonio, "is that which appears to me an impossibility +going to come to pass to-morrow night?" + +"Hush, Antonio!" said Salvator; "let us calmly reflect how the plan +which I have hit upon is to be carried out. To begin with, I must tell +you that I have a certain connection with Signor Capuzzi which I was +not aware of. That wretched spinett standing in the corner there is his +property, and I am supposed to be going to pay him the exorbitant price +of ten ducats for it. When I had got somewhat better after my illness, +I had a longing for music, which is consolation and recreation to me. I +asked my landlady to get hold of an instrument of that sort for me. +Dame Caterina soon found out that a certain old fellow in Strada +Ripetta had an old spinett for sale. It was brought here, and I +troubled myself neither about the price nor about the owner. It was +only last night that I discovered that it was our honourable Signor +Capuzzi who was going to swindle me with his old, broken-down +instrument. Dame Caterina had applied to an acquaintance who lives in +the house with Capuzzi, and, in fact, on the same storey; so that now +you see where I got all my information from." + +"Ha!" cried Antonio; "thus is the means of admission discovered. Your +landlady----" + +"I know what you are going to say," said Salvator. "You think the way +to your Marianna is through Dame Caterina. That would never do at all. +Dame Caterina is much too talkative; she can't keep the most trifling +secret, and is therefore by no means to be made use of in our +undertaking. Listen to me, quietly. Every evening, when the little +Castrato has done the maid-servant work, Signor Pasquale Capuzzi +carries him home in his arms, difficult as that job is, considering the +shakiness of his own old knees. Not for all the world would the +timorous Pitichinaccio set foot on the pavement at that time of the +night. Very good; when----" + +At this moment a knock came to Salvator's door, and, to the no small +astonishment of both, in came Signor Pasquale Capuzzi in all his glory. +As soon as he saw Scacciati he stood still, as if paralysed in every +limb, opened his eyes wide, and panted for air as if his breath would +fail him. But Salvator hurried up to him, took him by both hands, and +cried out: "My dear Signor Pasquale! how highly honoured I am that you +should visit me in my humble lodging. Doubtless it is the love of art +that brings you. You wish to look at what I have been doing lately; +perhaps you are even going to honour me with a commission. Tell me, +dear Signor Pasquale, wherein I can do you a pleasure." + +"I have to speak with you," stammered Capuzzi, with difficulty, "dear +Signor Salvator; but, alone; when you are by yourself. Allow me to take +my departure for the present, and come back at a more convenient time." + +"By no means, my dear Signor," said Salvator, holding the old man fast. +"You must not go. You could not possibly have come at a more convenient +time, for, as you are a great honourer of the noble art of painting, it +will give you no small joy when I present to you here Antonio +Scacciati, the greatest painter of our time, whose glorious picture, +the marvellous 'Magdalene at the Saviour's feet,' all Rome regards with +the utmost enthusiasm. No doubt you are full of the picture, like the +rest, and have been anxious to make the painter's acquaintance." + +The old man was seized by a violent trembling. He shook like one in the +cold stage of a fever, sending, the while, burning looks of rage at +Antonio; who, however, went up to him with easy courtesy, declaring +that he thought himself fortunate to meet Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, +whose profound knowledge of music, as well as of painting, not only +Rome, but all Italy admired, and he recommended himself to his +protection. + +It restored the old fellow to his self-control that Antonio treated him +as if he met him for the first time, and addressed him in such +flattering terms. He forced himself to a sort of simpering smile, and +(Salvator having let go his hands) softly stroked the points of his +moustaches heavenwards, stammered a few unintelligible words, and then +turned to Salvator, whom he attacked on the subject of the payment of +the ten ducats. "We will settle that every-day little affair +afterwards," said Salvator. "First let it please you to look at the +sketches which I have made for a picture, and, as you do so, to drink a +glass of good Syracuse." Salvator placed his sketches on the easel, +drew up a chair for the old gentleman, and, when he had seated himself, +handed him a large, beautiful goblet, in which the noble Syracuse was +sparkling. + +The old man was only too fond of a glass of good wine, when he had not +to pay for it; and, moreover, as he was expecting to receive ten ducats +for a worn-out, rickety spinett, and was seated before a boldly +sketched-in picture, whose wonderful beauty he was quite capable of +appreciating, he could not but feel exceedingly happy in his mind. This +satisfaction he gave expression to, smirking quite pleasantly, stroking +his chin and moustaches assiduously, half closing his eyes, and +whispering, time after time, "Glorious! Precious!" without its clearly +appearing whether he referred to the picture or to the wine. + +As he had now become quite friendly, Salvator said, suddenly: "Tell me, +my dear sir, is it not the case that-you have a most beautiful niece, +of the name of Marianna? All our young fellows are continually rushing +to the Strada Ripetta, impelled by love-craziness. They give themselves +cricks in the neck with gazing up at your balcony in the hope of seeing +her, and catching a glance from her heavenly eyes." + +The complacent smirk disappeared instantly from the old man's face, and +all the good humour with which the wine had inspired him vanished. +Gazing before him gloomily, he said, in a harsh voice: "See there the +profound corruption of our sinful youth, who fasten their diabolical +looks on children, detestable seducers that they are!--for I assure +you, my dear sir, my niece Marianna is a mere child--a mere child +scarce out of the nursery!" + +Salvator changed the subject. The old man recovered his composure; but +when, with new sunshine in his face, he placed the full goblet to his +lips, Salvator set on him again, with: "Tell me, my dear Signor, has +your niece (that young lady of sixteen), the lovely Marianna, really +that wonderful chestnut-brown hair, and those eyes, full of the rapture +and bliss of Heaven, which we see in Antonio's Magdalene? That is what +is everywhere said." + +"I can't say," cried the old man, in an angrier tone than before. +"Don't let us refer to my niece; we can exchange words of more +importance on the subject of the noble art to which your beautiful +picture itself leads us." + +But as, whenever the old man took up the goblet and placed it to his +lips to take a good draught, Salvator again began to speak of the +beautiful Marianna, Pasquale at last sprung from his chair in fury, +banged the goblet down on the table with such violence that it was +nearly being broken, and cried in a screaming voice: "By the black, +hellish Pluto, by all the Furies, you make the wine poison--poison to +me. But I see how it is. You, and your fine Signor Antonio along with +you, think you will make a fool of me; but you won't find it quite so +easy. Pay me this instant the ten ducats you owe me, and I will leave +you and your comrade, the beard-curler Antonio, to all the devils." + +Salvator cried out as if overcome by the most furious anger, "What! You +dare to treat me in this manner in my own lodging? Pay you ten ducats +for that rotten old box, out of which the worms have long since gnawed +all the marrow, all the sound! Not ten, not five, not three, not a +single ducat will I pay you for that spinett, which is scarcely worth a +quattrino. Away with the crippled old thing," and therewith Salvator +sent the little spinett spinning round and round with his foot, its +strings giving out a loud wail of sorrow. + +"Ha!" screamed Capuzzi, "there is still law in Rome. I will have +you put in prison, into the deepest dungeon;" and, growling like a +thunder-cloud, he was making for the door. But Salvator put both his +arms about him, set him down in the chair again, and whispered in his +ear in dulcet tones, "My dear Signor Pasquale, do you not see that I am +only joking? Not ten, thirteen ducats you shall have for your spinett," +and went on repeating into his ear, "thirteen bright ducats," so long +and so often that Capuzzi said, in a faint, feeble voice, "What say +you, dear sir? Thirteen ducats for the spinett, and nothing for the +repairs?" Then Salvator let him go, and assured him, on his honour, +that in an hour's time the spinett should be worth thirty--forty +ducats, and that he, Capuzzi, should get that sum for it. + +The old man, drawing breath, murmured: with a deep sigh, "Thirty--forty +ducats!" Then he added, "But you have greatly enraged me, Signor +Salvator." "Thirty ducats," reiterated Salvator. The old man blinked +his eyes. But then again, "You have wounded me to the heart, Signor +Salvator." "Thirty ducats," said Salvator again and again, till at +length the old man said, quite appeased, "If I can get thirty or forty +ducats for my spinett, all will be forgotten and forgiven, dear +Signor." + +"But before I fulfil my promise," said Salvator, "I have one little +stipulation to make which you, my worthy Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di +Senegaglia, can easily comply with. You are the first composer in all +Italy, and, into the bargain, the very finest singer that can possibly +be found. I have listened with rapture to the grand scena in the opera +'Le Nozze di Teti e di Peleo,' which the villain Francesco Cavalli has +cribbed from you and given out as his own. If you would be good enough +to sing me that aria during the time that I am setting the spinett to +rights, I cannot imagine anything more delightful that could happen to +me." + +The old fellow screwed his face up into the most sugary smile +imaginable, twitched his eyebrows, and said, "It is easy to see that +you are a fine musician yourself, Signor, for you have taste, and you +can value people better than the unthankful Romans. Listen, listen to +the aria of all arias." + +He rose up, stood on the extreme points of his tiptoes, stretched out +his arms, and closed both his eyes (so that he was exactly like a cock +making ready for a crow), and immediately began to utter such a +terrible screeching that the walls resounded again, and Dame Caterina +came rushing in with her two daughters, having no other idea than that +the terrible howling indicated the happening of some signal disaster. +They stood completely bewildered in the doorway when they became aware +of the old gentleman crooning in this manner, thus constituting +themselves the audience of this unheard-of virtuoso, Capuzzi. + +But as this was going on, Salvator had set the spinett to rights, shut +down the top of it, taken his palette and set to work to paint, in bold +touches, upon the very cover of the spinett, the most wonderful subject +imaginable. The principal theme of it was a scene from Cavalli's opera, +'Le Nozze di Teti;' but there was mingled with this, in utterly +fantastic fashion, a whole crowd of other characters, amongst whom were +Capuzzi, Antonio, Marianna (exactly as she appeared in Antonio's +picture), Salvator himself, Dame Caterina and her daughters, and even +the Pyramid Doctor, and all so genially and comprehendingly pourtrayed, +that Antonio could not conceal his delight at the Maestro's talent and +technique. + +The old fellow by no means restricted himself to the scena which +Salvator had asked him for, but went on singing, or rather crowing, +without cessation, working his way through the most terrible +recitatives from one diabolical aria to another. This may have +gone on for some two hours or so, till he sank down into an arm-chair, +cherry-brown of countenance. By that time, however, Salvator had got so +far with his sketch that everything in it appeared to be alive, and the +effect of it, when seen a little way off, was that of a finished +picture. + +"I have kept my promise as regards the spinett, dear Signor Capuzzi," +Salvator whispered into the old man's ear, and Capuzzi sprang up like +one awaking from sleep. His eyes fell on the painted spinett; he opened +them wide, as if looking upon a miracle, crammed his peaked hat down on +to his periwig, took his crook-headed stick under his arm, made one +jump to the spinett, wrenched the cover of it out of the hinges, and +ran, like one possessed, out of the door, down the steps, and off and +away out of the house, whilst Dame Caterina and her daughters +accompanied his exit with bursts of laughter. + +"The old skinflint knows very well," said Salvator, "that he has only +to take the painted top of the spinett to Count Colonna, or to my +friend Rossi, to get forty ducats, or more, for it in a moment." + +Salvator and Antonio now set about considering the plan of attack which +they were about to carry out on the following night. We shall presently +see what it was, and what was the success of their attempt. + +When night came, Pasquale, after carefully bolting and barring up his +house, carried the little monster of a Castrato home. The little +creature mewed and complained all the way, that not only was he +compelled to sing his lungs into a consumption over Capuzzi's arias, +and burn his hands with cooking of macaroons, but, into the bargain, +was employed in a service which brought him in nothing but cuffs on the +ears and sound kicks, which Marianna dealt out to him in ample measure +whenever he came into her vicinity. The old gentleman comforted him +as well as he could, promising to supply him more plentifully with +sugar-stuff than he had hitherto done, and even going so far as to enter +into a solemn undertaking (inasmuch as the little wretch would not cease +whining and lamenting) to have a little Abbate's coat made for him out +of an old black plush doublet, which he had often looked upon with +envious glances. He demanded, besides, a periwig and a sword. +Discussing those matters, they reached the Strada Vergognona, for that +was where Pitichinaccio lived, and, indeed, only four doors from +Salvator. + +The old man set the little creature carefully down, and opened the +door. Then they went up the narrow steps, more like a hen's ladder than +anything else; but scarcely had they got half-way up when they became +aware of a tremendous raging on the storey above, and a wild drunken +fellow made his voice heard, calling upon all the devils in hell to +show him the way out of this accursed, haunted house. Pitichinaccio, +who was in front, pressed himself close to the wall and implored +Capuzzi to go on first, for the love of all the saints. Scarcely, +however, had Capuzzi gone a step or two up when the fellow from above +came stumbling down the stairs, came upon Capuzzi like a whirlwind, +seized hold of him, and went floundering down with him through the open +door right into the middle of the street. There they remained lying +prostrate, Capuzzi nethermost, and the drunken fellow on the top of +him, like a heavy sack. Capuzzi screamed pitifully for help, and +immediately there appeared two men, who, with much pains, eased Capuzzi +of his burden, the drunken fellow, who went staggering away as they did +so. + +The two men were Salvator and Antonio, and they cried, "Jesus! what has +happened to you, Signor Capuzzi? What are you doing here at this time +of the night? You seem to have had some bad business going on in the +house." + +"It's all over with me," groaned Capuzzi; "the hellhound has broken +every bone in my body. I can't move a muscle." + +"Let us see--let us see!" said Antonio; and he felt him all over, +giving him, in the course of his examination, a pinch in the right leg +of such shrewdness that Capuzzi uttered a yell. + +"Saints and angels!" ejaculated Antonio, "your right leg is broken just +at the most dangerous place. If it is not attended to immediately, you +are a dead man; or, at the very least, lamed for life." + +Capuzzi uttered a frightful howl. "Calm yourself, my dear Signor," said +Antonio. "Although I am a painter now, I have not forgotten my surgery. +We will carry you into Salvator's lodgings, and I will bandage you +properly at once." + +"Dear Signor Antonio," whined Capuzzi, "you are inimically minded +towards me, I am aware." + +"Ah!" interposed Salvator, "there can be no question of enmity in a +case like this. You are in danger, and that is sufficient reason why +the honourable Antonio should devote all his skill to your service. +Take hold of him, friend Antonio." + +Together they lifted the old man up softly and carefully, and carried +him--crying out over the suffering which his broken leg caused him--to +Salvator's lodgings. + +Dame Caterina declared she had felt quite certain that something was +going to happen, and consequently hadn't been able to go to bed. And +when she saw the old gentleman and heard what had happened to him, she +broke out into reproaches as to his works and ways. "I know well +enough, Signor Pasquale, who it was that you were taking home, as +usual. You think, as long as you have your pretty niece Marianna at +home with you, you don't require any woman to do anything there, and +you most shamefully and God-defiantly misuse that poor creature of a +Pitichinaccio, whom you dress up in woman's clothes. But remember, +_ogni carne ha il mio osso_--every flesh has its own bones. If you have +a girl in the house, you can't do without women. _Fate il passo secondo +il gamba_--don't stretch your legs farther than the bedcover goes, and +don't do more, nor less, than what is right for your Marianna. Don't +shut her up like a prisoner. Don't turn your house into a gaol. _Asino +punto convien che trotti_--one who has started on the road must go +along. You have a pretty niece, and you must arrange your life +accordingly; that's to say, you mustn't do what she doesn't wish. But +you are an ungallant, hard-hearted man, and (I'm afraid I must say, at +your time of life), amorous and jealous into the bargain. You must +pardon me for saying all this straight out to your face, but you know +_chi ha nel petto fiele, non pu sputar miele_--what the heart is +full of comes out at the lips. If you don't die of this accident of +yours--as, at your time of life, it is to be feared you will--I hope it +will be a warning to you, and you'll leave your niece at liberty to do +what she wishes, and marry the charming young gentleman whom I think I +know about." + +Thus did the stream of Dame Caterina's words flow on, whilst Salvator +and Antonio carefully undressed the old gentleman and laid him on the +bed. Dame Caterina's words were dagger-thrusts, which went deep into +his heart; but, whenever he tried to get in a word between them, +Antonio impressed on him that anything in the nature of talking was +fraught with the utmost danger, so that he was obliged to swallow the +bitter pill of her utterances. Salvator at length sent her away to get +some iced water, which Antonio had ordered. + +Salvator and Antonio convinced themselves that the fellow whom they had +employed had done his business most admirably. Beyond one or two blue +marks, Capuzzi had not suffered the slightest damage, frightful as his +tumble had the appearance of being. Antonio carefully put splints and +bandages on his right foot and leg, so that he could not move; and at +the same time they wrapped him in cloths soaked in iced water, on the +pretext of keeping off fever, so that he shivered as if he were in an +ague. + +"My good Signor Antonio," he said, in faint accents, "tell me, is it +all over with me? Am I a dead man?" + +"Do not excite yourself, Signor Pasquale," said Antonio. + +"As you bore the first application of the bandages so well, and did not +fall into a faint, I hope all danger is over; but the most careful +nursing is absolutely essential. The most important point is that the +surgeon must not let you be out of his sight for a moment." + +"Ah, Antonio!" whined the old gentleman, "you know how fond I am of +you--what a high opinion I have of your talent! Don't leave me--give me +your dear hand! That is it! My dear, good son, you won't go away from +me, will you?" + +"Although I am no longer a surgeon," said Antonio, "although I have +cast away the abominable slavery of that calling to the four winds of +heaven, I do not mind making an exception in your case, Signor +Pasquale, and I undertake to cure you. The only thing which I ask of +you in return is, that you will give me back your friendship--your +confidence; you have been a little hard towards me." + +"Say nothing about that," whispered the old fellow; "do not let us +allude to it, dear Antonio." + +"Your niece," said Antonio, "will be half-dead with anxiety at your not +having come home. All things considered, you are wonderfully strong and +well, and we will move you to your own house as soon as it is daylight. +When we have got you there, I will have another look at your bandages, +and see to the bed upon which you are to be laid; and I will tell your +niece all that will be necessary to do in your case, so that you may +very soon be quite better." + +The old gentleman heaved a very deep sigh, closed his eyes, and +remained silent for some moments. He then stretched his hand out toward +Antonio, drew him close to him, and said, in a whisper: "Tell me, +dearest Antonio, I am right, am I not, in supposing that all that about +Marianna--my niece--was merely your fun--the sort of jesting which gets +into young fellows' heads?" + +"I beg you," said Antonio, "not to think about matters of that sort at +such a time as this. Put them out of your head altogether. It is +certainly true that your niece did attract my eyes a little; but I have +very different matters in my mind at present. And--I must tell you +quite candidly--I am very glad that you sent me and my foolish attempt +to the right about so speedily. I thought I was in love with Marianna, +but it was merely that I saw in her a splendid model for my Magdalene. +I presume that is why I have become completely indifferent to her since +my picture was finished. I have no longer the slightest interest in +her." + +"Antonio!" cried the old gentleman; "Antonio, blessed of heaven! you +are my comfort, my help, my consolation! If you are not in love with +Marianna, my troubles are at an end." + +"To tell you the truth, Signor Pasquale," said Salvator, "if one did +not know you to be a serious man, of great intelligence, very well +aware what is suitable to his advanced period of life, one would be +disposed to fancy that you were idiot enough to be in love with this +niece of yours (a child of sixteen) yourself." + +The old man closed his eyes again, and groaned and lamented over the +terrible sufferings he was enduring, which had returned with double +force. + +The morning-red came streaming through the window. Antonio told the old +gentleman it was time to take him to his own house in Strada Ripetta. +He answered with a deep, melancholy sigh. Salvator and Antonio lifted +him out of bed, and wrapped him in a large cloak of Dame Caterina's, +which had been her husband's. The old gentleman implored, for the love +of all the saints, that the shameful ice-cloths which were upon his +bald head should be taken away, and that he should wear his periwig and +plumed hat; also that Antonio should, as far as possible, arrange his +moustaches, so that Marianna should not be too much alarmed by his +appearance. Two bearers, with a litter, were waiting at the door. Dame +Caterina, continually scolding at the old gentleman, and quoting +proverbs plentifully, brought down bedding, in which, carefully packed, +and attended by Salvator and Antonio, he was got home to his own house. + +When Marianna saw her uncle in this terrible condition, she gave a loud +cry, and a flood of tears burst from her eyes. Without paying any +attention to her lover, who was present, she took the old man's hands, +pressed them to her lips, and lamented over the sad misfortune which +had befallen him. Such was this good girl's compassion for the old +fellow who tortured her with his insane fondness for her. All the same +the inborn nature of woman within her displayed itself, for a few +significant looks of Salvator's were amply sufficient to let her +understand the whole position of matters. It was only then that she +gave a stolen glance at the happy Antonio, blushing deeply as she did +so, and it was marvellous to see how a somewhat roguish smile +victoriously dispelled her tears. On the whole, Salvator had never +thought that she was so delightful, so wonderfully lovely +(notwithstanding the Magdalene picture) as he now found her actually to +be. And whilst he almost envied Antonio his good fortune, he felt +doubly the necessity of getting the poor girl out of the clutches of +the accursed Capuzzi, at whatever cost. + +The latter, welcomed in this charming manner (which he by no means +deserved) by his delightful niece, forgot his troubles; he smiled, and +ogled, working his lips so that his moustaches went up and down; and he +groaned and whined, not so much from pain as from amorousness. + +Antonio skilfully prepared the bed for his patient, and when he had +been laid down upon it, tightened the bandages--and did so to such an +extent on the left leg, that the old gentleman had, perforce, to lie as +motionless as a wooden doll. Salvator went away, leaving the lovers to +their happiness. + +The old gentleman was lying buried in cushions, and Antonio had, +moreover, so bound a thick cloth soaked in ice-water about his head, +that he could not hear a trace of what the lovers were whispering; so +they now, for the first time, uttered all that was in their hearts, and +vowed eternal fidelity, with tears and the sweetest kisses. The old man +could not possibly have any suspicion, as Marianna, every now and then, +kept asking him if there was anything he wanted, and even permitted him +to press her little white hand to his lips. When it was high day, +Antonio hastened away, according to his own statement, to order what +was further necessary for the patient, but, in reality, to consider how +he might possibly manage to keep him in a still more helpless state, if +he could, so that Salvator and he might reflect upon what steps were to +be taken in the next place. + + * * * * * * + +A fresh plot which Salvator and Antonio form, and carry out upon Signor + Pasquale Capuzzi and his associates; and the results thereof. + +On the following morning Antonio came to Salvator, all vexation and +anger. + +"Well, how goes it?" Salvator cried to him. "What are you hanging your +head for, superlatively happy man, who can kiss and caress his darling +every day?" + +"Ah, Salvator!" answered Antonio; "it is all over with my happiness. +The devil delights in making me the sport of his tricks. Our plots have +all come to nothing, and we are at open war with the accursed Capuzzi." + +"So much the better! so much the better!" said Salvator. "But tell me +what has been happening." + +"Just imagine, Salvator," said Antonio. "When, yesterday, I was going +back to Strada Ripetta, after I had been gone about two hours, bringing +all sorts of essences, &c., there I saw the old gentleman standing at +his door, completely dressed. At his back were the Pyramid Doctor, and +the accursed Sbirro, whilst there was some little many-coloured object +running in and out amongst their legs; this, I believe, was that little +abortion of a Pitichinaccio. As soon as the old fellow saw me he +menaced me with his fist, uttered the most gruesome curses and +maledictions, and swore he would have every bone in my body broken if I +dared to come to his door. 'Be off with you to all the devils in Hell, +cursed Beard-scratcher!' he croaked and screamed at me. 'You thought to +make a fool of me, with all sorts of infernal lies and deceptions; you +have striven like the very Satan himself to tempt and mislead my +Marianna. But wait a little. I will spend my last farthing, if +necessary, in getting your life-light snuffed out before you are aware +of it. And as for your fine patron, Signor Salvator--the murderer, the +robber, the cheat-the-gallows!--he shall to hell to join his leader, +Mas' Aniello. Him I'll get kicked out of Rome; that won't give me much +trouble.' Thus did the old man rave; and as the cursed Sbirro, egged on +by the Pyramid Doctor, made as if he would set on me and attack me, +whilst the curious populace began to crowd round, what could I do but +get off as quickly as possible? In my despair I thought I should not +come to you, for I felt certain you would only laugh--and in fact you +hardly can help doing so at this moment." + +Indeed, when Antonio ceased speaking, Salvator did laugh heartily. + +"Now," he cried, "now the affair is really beginning to become +most delightful. But I shall now tell you, circumstantially, my +dear Antonio, what happened in Capuzzi's house when you had gone +out. Scarcely had you got down-stairs, when Signor Splendiano +Accoramboni--who, heaven knows how, had found out that his bosom +friend Capuzzi had broken his leg in the night--came, in the most +solemn state, to see him, bringing a surgeon with him. Your bandagings, +and your whole treatment of Capuzzi, could not but excite some +suspicion; the surgeon took the splints and bandages off, and of course +found--what we know very well--that there was nothing whatever the +matter with Capuzzi's foot; not so much as a sprained ankle. Very well; +it did not require much acuteness to find out the rest." + +"My dearest Maestro," asked Antonio, full of amazement, "how on earth +did you manage to find out all this?--how could you get into Capuzzi's +house, and know all that went on?" + +"I told you," said Salvator, "that in Capuzzi's house--and in fact on +the same storey with him--there lives an acquaintance of Dame +Caterina's. This acquaintance, the widow of a wine-merchant, has a +daughter whom my little Margerita often goes to see. Girls have a +special faculty for finding out others like themselves, and in this way +Rosa (the wine-merchant's widow's daughter) and Margerita soon +discovered a little peep-hole in the dining-room, which is the next +room to a dark chamber which opens into Marianna's room. The +whisperings of the girls by no means escaped Marianna's notice, neither +did the peephole; so that the way to mutual communications was marked +out, and taken advantage of. When the old gentleman is having his +afternoon nap, the girls have a right good chatter to their heart's +content. You have no doubt noticed that little Margerita (her mother's +favourite, and mine) is by no means so grave and reserved as her elder +sister Anna, but a droll, merry creature. Without having exactly told +her about your love affair, I have asked her to get Marianna to let her +know all that goes on in the house. In this she has proved very clever; +and if I, just now, laughed a little at your pain and despair, it was +because I have it in my power to prove to you that your affairs have +just, for the first time, got into an exceedingly favourable groove. I +have a whole sackful of delightful news for you." + +"Salvator!" cried Antonio, his eyes bright with joy, "what hopes dawn +upon me! Blessings on the peephole in the dining-room. I can write to +Marianna--Margerita will take the note with her." + +"No, no, Antonio," said Salvator, "not quite that; Margerita shall +do us good service without being exactly your go-between. Besides, +chance--which often plays strange tricks--might place your love-prattle +in the hands of old Capuzzi, and bring a thousand new troubles upon +Marianna's head, just at the moment when she is on the point of getting +the amorous old goose properly and completely under her little satin +shoe. For just listen how affairs are progressing. The style in which +Marianna received him when he was taken home has turned him round +completely. He believes no less a thing than that Marianna has ceased +to care for you, but has given one half of her heart to him, so that +all he has to do is to get hold of the other half. Since she has +imbibed the poison of your kisses, she has all at once become some +three years cleverer and more experienced. She has not only convinced +the old gentleman that she had nothing to do with our escapade, but +that she abhors the idea of it, and would repel with the deepest scorn +any plot which should have the object of bringing you into her +proximity. In the excess of his delight at this, he vowed that if there +should be anything he could do to please her, he would set about it in +a moment; she had but to give her wish a name. On this she very quietly +said what she would like would be that her _zio carissima_ should take +her to the theatre outside the Porto del Popolo, to see Signor Formica. +The old fellow was somewhat startled by this, and consulted with the +Pyramid Doctor and Pitichinaccio; and the result is that Signor +Pasquale and Signor Splendiano are actually going to take Marianna to +the said theatre to-morrow. Pitichinaccio is to be dressed as a +waiting-maid; but he only consented to this on condition that Pasquale +should give him a periwig, over and above the plush doublet, and that +he and the Pyramid Doctor should relieve each other, from time to time, +of the task of carrying him home at night. This has been all agreed +upon; and this remarkable three-bladed-clover will really go, to-morrow +evening, with beautiful Marianna, to see Signor Formica, at the theatre +outside the Porto del Popolo." + +It is necessary now to say something as to this theatre, and Signor +Formica himself. + +Nothing can be sadder than when, at carnival time in Rome, the +_impressarii_ have been unfortunate in their composers--when the +_primo tenore_ of the Argentina has left his voice on the road--when +the _primo uomo da donna_ in the Teatro Valle is down with the +influenza--in short, when the chief pleasures to which the Romans have +been looking forward have proved disappointments, and Giovedi Grasso +has been shorn, at one fell swoop, of all the hoped-for flowers which +were expected to come at that time into blossom. Immediately alter a +melancholy carnival of this description (in fact, the fasts were +scarcely over) a certain Nicolo Musso opened a theatre outside the +Porto del Popolo, limiting himself to announcing the performance of +minor, improvised _buffonades_. His advertisement was couched in a +clever and witty style of wording, and from it the Romans formed in +advance a favourable opinion of Musso's undertaking, and would have +done so even had they not, in the unsatisfied state of their dramatic +appetites, been eager to snatch at anything of the kind that was +offered to them. The arrangements of the theatre--or rather of the +little booth--could not be said to give evidence of any very +flourishing state of finances on the manager's part. There was no +orchestra; there were no boxes. There was a sort of gallery at the back +of the audience part of the house, adorned with the arms of the +Colonnas--a mark that the Conte Colonna had taken Murso and his theatre +under his special protection. The stage was a raised platform covered +with carpets, and surrounded with gay-coloured paper-hangings which had +to serve for forests, interiors, or streets, according to the +requirements of the drama. As, moreover, the audience had to be content +with hard, uncomfortable wooden benches to sit upon, it is not matter +for wonder that the first set of spectators expressed themselves pretty +strongly on the subject of the audacity of Signor Musso in giving the +name of a theatre to this boarded booth. But scarcely had the two first +actors who appeared spoken a few words, when the audience became +attentive. As the piece went on, the attention became applause, the +applause astonishment, and the astonishment enthusiasm, which expressed +itself in the most prolonged and stormy laughter, hand-clapping, and +cries of bravo! + +And, in truth, nothing more perfect could have been seen than those +improvised representations of Nicolo Musso's which sparkled with wit, +fun, and _esprit_, castigating the follies of the day with unsparing +lash. The performers all rendered their parts with incomparable +distinctiveness of character, but the "Pasquarello" more particularly +carried the house away with him bodily, by his inimitable play of +gesture, and a talent for imitating well-known personages, in voice, +walk, and manner, by his inexhaustible drollery, and the extraordinary +originality of the ideas which struck him. This actor, who called +himself Signor Formica, seemed to be inspired by a very remarkable and +unusual spirit; often, in his tone and manner, there would be a +something so strange that the audience, while in the middle of a burst +of the heartiest laughter, would suddenly feel a species of cold +shiver. Almost on a par with him, and a worthy compeer, was the "Dr. +Graziano" of the troupe, who had a play of feature, a voice, a power of +saying the most delightful things in, apparently, the most foolish +manner, to which nothing in the world could be likened. This "Doctor +Graziano" was an old Bolognese, of the name of Maria Aglia. As a matter +of course, all the fashionable world of Rome soon came thronging to the +little theatre outside the Porto del Popolo. The name of Formica was on +everybody's lips; and in the streets as in the theatre, all voices were +crying, with the utmost enthusiasm, "Oh, Formica! Formica benedetto! +Oh, Formicisimo!" He was looked upon as a supernatural being; and many +an old woman, ashake with laughter in the theatre, would (if anybody +ventured to criticise Formica's action in the slightest degree) turn +grave, and say, with the utmost seriousness and solemnity-- + + "Scherza coi fanti e lascia star santi." + +This was because, out of the theatre, Formica was an unfathomable +mystery. No one ever saw him anywhere, and every attempt to come upon +his traces was vain. Nothing as to where he lived could be got out of +Musso. + +Such was the theatre to which Marianna wished to go. + +"Let us fly straight at our enemies' throats," Salvator said; "the walk +home from the theatre to the town offers us a most admirable +opportunity." + +He then communicated a plan to Antonio, which seemed very risky and +daring, but which the latter adopted with delight, thinking it would +enable him to rescue his Marianna from the abominable Capuzzi; +moreover, it pleased him well that Salvator made one great feature of +it the punishing of the Pyramid Doctor. + +When evening came, Salvator and Antonio each took a guitar, went to +Strada Ripetta, and (by way of annoying old Capuzzi) treated the lovely +Marianna to the most exquisite _serenata_ imaginable. For Salvator +played and sang like a master, and Antonio had a lovely tenor voice, +and was almost an Odoardo Ceccarelli. Signor Pasquale of course came +out on to the balcony, and scolded down at the singers, ordering them +to hold their peace; but the neighbours, whom the beautiful music had +brought to their windows, cried out to him, asking him whether, as he +and his friends were in the habit of howling and screaming like all the +demons in hell, he wouldn't suffer such a thing as a little _good_ +music in the street? Let him be off into the house, they said, and stop +his ears, if he didn't want to hear the beautiful singing. Thus Signor +Pasquale was obliged, to his torture, to endure Salvator and Antonio's +singing, all night long--songs which at times consisted of the sweetest +words of love, and at others ridiculed the folly of amorous old men. +They distinctly saw Marianna at the window, and heard Pasquale adjuring +her, in the most honeyed terms, not to expose herself to the night air. + +The next evening there passed along the street towards the Porto del +Popolo the strangest group of persons ever seen. They attracted all +eyes, and people asked each other if some strange survival of the +Carnival had preserved two or three mad maskers. Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi, in his many-coloured, well-brushed Spanish suit, a new yellow +feather in his steeple-crowned hat, tightly belted and buckled, all +tenderness and grace, tripping along on shoes too tight for him, as if +treading on eggs, conducted on his arm the lovely Marianna, whose +pretty figure, and still more beautiful face, could not be seen, in +consequence of the extraordinary manner in which she was wimpled and +wrapped up in a cloak and hood. On her other side tripped along Signor +Splendiano Accoramboni in his enormous wig, which covered the whole of +his back, so that, when seen from behind, he looked like some enormous +head moving along on two diminutive legs. Close behind Marianna, almost +clinging on to her, came, in crab-like fashion, the little hideosity of +a Pitichinaccio, in flame-coloured female dress, with his hair +bedecked, in the most repulsive style, with flowers of all the colours +of the rainbow. + +On this particular evening Signor Formica even surpassed himself; +and--what he had never done before--he introduced little snatches of +songs, imitating various well-known singers. In old Capuzzi this awoke +all the old delight in theatrical matters which in former days had been +a regular mania with him. He kissed Marianna's hands over and over +again, and vowed that he certainly would bring her to Nicolo Musso's +theatre every night without fail. He extolled Signor Formica to the +very skies, and joined most heartily in the uproarious applause of the +rest of the audience. Signor Splendiano was less content, and +repeatedly begged Signor Capuzzi and Marianna not to laugh so very +immoderately. He named, in one breadth, some twenty maladies which were +liable to be brought on by over-agitation of the diaphragm; but neither +the one nor the other gave themselves any trouble on the subject. +Pitichinaccio was thoroughly unhappy. He had been obliged to sit just +behind the Pyramid Doctor, who so overshadowed him with his enormous +wig that he could not see the smallest peep of the stage, nor of the +characters upon it; moreover, he was tortured by two facetious women +who were sitting beside him, and who kept on calling him "Charming, +pretty signora," and asking him whether he was married, for all he was +so young, and had nice little children, who must be the dearest little +things imaginable, &c., &c. Drops of cold perspiration stood on the +poor little creature's brow; he whimpered and whined, and cursed the +hour when he was born. + +When the acting was over, Signor Pasquale waited till every one had +left the house; and as the last of the lamps was being put out, Signor +Splendiano lighted at it the stump of a wax candle, and they set forth +on their homeward way. Pitichinaccio whined and cried; Capuzzi, to his +torment, had to take him on his left arm, having Marianna on his right; +before them went Doctor Splendiano with his candle-stump, whose feeble +rays made the darkness of the night seem deeper. + +While they were still some distance from the Porto del Popolo, they +found themselves suddenly surrounded by several tall figures, thickly +wrapped in cloaks. The Doctor's candle was instantly snatched from +his hand, and went out on the ground. Capuzzi and the Doctor stood +speechless and amazed. Then there fell (it was not clear from whence) +a faint reddish glimmer upon the cloaked figures, and four pale +death's-heads were seen staring at the Pyramid Doctor, with hollow, +fearful eyes. "Woe! woe! woe unto thee, Splendiano Accoramboni!" howled +the terrible spectres, in deep, hollow tones. Then one of them wailed +out, "Knowest thou me? knowest thou me, Splendiano? I am Cordier, the +French painter, buried last week; sent under-ground by thee, with thy +drugs!" Then the second: "Knowest thou _me_, Splendiano? I am Kueffner, +the German painter, whom thou didst poison with thy hellish +electuaries!" Then the third: "Knowest thou _me_, Splendiano? I am +Liers, the Fleming, whom thou didst murder with thy pills, cheating his +brother out of his pictures!" Then the fourth: "Knowest thou _me_, +Splendiano? I am Ghigi, the Neapolitan painter, whom thou didst slay +with thy powders!" Finally, all the four cried out in quartet, "Woe! +woe to thee, Splendiano Accoramboni, accursed Pyramid Doctor! Thou must +away!--away with us!--down, down under the earth! On!--on with thee! +Halloh!--halloh!" Therewith they seized the luckless Doctor, heaved him +up, and disappeared with him like the storm-wind. + +Sorely as terror was like to overcome Pasquale, he collected himself, +and took heart of grace with wonderful courage, when he saw that this +affair only concerned his friend Accoramboni. Pitichinaccio had put his +head, flowers and all, under Pasquale's cloak, and was clinging so +tightly about his neck that it was impossible to shake him off. + +"Recover yourself," said Capuzzi to Marianna, when nothing more was to +be seen of the spectres or of the Pyramid Doctor. "Recover yourself! +Come to me, my sweet, darling little dove! My good friend Splendiano is +gone. May Saint Bernard, who was a doctor himself, stand by him and +defend him, if those revengeful painters, whom he sent to that Pyramid +of his rather before their time, are going to twist his windpipe. Ah! +who will take the bass parts in my canzonet now, I should like to know? +And this creature here, Pitichinaccio, is squeezing my throat to that +extent that, what with that, and what with the fright at seeing +Splendiano spirited away, I dare say it'll be three months good before +I can get out a single note in tune! Don't you be frightened, my own +sweetest Marianna!--it is all over." + +Marianna declared that she had quite recovered from the fright, and +only begged him to let her walk by herself to enable him to get quit of +his troublesome lap-child; but he only held her the tighter, and vowed +that no consideration in the world would induce him to allow her to +venture a single step by herself in the terrible darkness. + +Just then, as Capuzzi was going to step courageously forward, there +suddenly rose before him, as if from the depths of the earth, four +terrible-looking figures of devils, in short cloaks of glittering +red, who glared at him with fearful eyes, and began making a +horrible croaking and squeaking. "Hup! hup!" they cried. "Pasquale +Capuzzi!--idiotic fool!--amorous old donkey! We are comrades of yours; +we are love-devils; and we have come to carry you down to the hottest +hell, you and your bosom-friend there, Pitichinaccio!" Thus screaming, +the devils fell upon Capuzzi, and he, with Pitichinaccio, went down, +both of them raising piercing yells of distress like those of a whole +herd of beaten donkeys. + +Marianna had forcibly torn herself away from the old fellow, and sprung +to one side, where one of the devils folded her softly in his arms, and +said, in a sweet voice of affection: "Oh, Marianna! my own Marianna! it +has all come right at last. My friends are taking the old man a long +distance off, while we find some place of safety to fly to." + +"My own Antonio!" Marianna whispered softly. + +Suddenly a bright glare of torches lightened up the place, and Antonio +felt himself stabbed on the shoulder-blade. Quick as lightning he +turned round, drew his sword, and attacked the fellow, who was aiming a +second stab with his stiletto. He saw that his three friends were +defending themselves against a much stronger force of Sbirri. He +managed to beat off the man who was attacking him, and to join his +friends; but, bravely as they fought, the struggle was too unequal, and +the Sbirri must unfailingly have had the best of it, had not two men +suddenly burst, with loud shouts, into the ranks of the young fellows, +one of whom immediately floored the Sbirro who was taxing Antonio the +hardest. + +The fight was now speedily decided to the disadvantage of the Sbirri, +and those of them who were not on the ground wounded, fled with loud +cries towards the Porto del Popolo. + +Salvator Rosa--for it was no other who had hastened to Antonio's help, +and struck down the Sbirro--was for starting off without more ado, with +Antonio and the young painters who were in the devils' dresses, after +the Sbirri to town. + +Maria Agli, who had come with him, and, notwithstanding his years, had +set to with the Sbirri like the others, thought this was not advisable, +as the guard at the Porto del Popolo, informed of the affair, would of +course arrest them all. So they betook themselves to Nicolo Musso, who +received them gladly in his small abode not far from the theatre. The +painters took off their devils' masks and their cloaks rubbed with +phosphorus; and Antonio--who, save for the unimportant prick in his +shoulder, was not at all hurt--brought his surgical skill into play, +all the others having wounds, though none of any importance. + +The plot, so daringly and skilfully contrived, would have succeeded had +not Salvator and Antonio left one person out of account; and that +person ruined it all. Michele, the ex-Bravo and Sbirro, who lived +downstairs in Capuzzi's house, and was a kind of servant to him, had, +by his wish, gone behind him to the theatre, but at some distance, as +the old man was ashamed of his tattered and scoundrelly appearance. In +the same way, Michele had followed on the homeward way; so that, when +the spectres appeared, Michele--who really did not fear death or +devil--smelt a rat, ran, in the darkness, straight away to the Porto +del Popolo, gave the alarm, and came back with the Sbirri, who, as we +know, arrived just at the moment when the devils fell upon Signor +Pasquale, and were going to take him away, as the dead men had taken +the Pyramid Doctor. + +Bat in the thick of the fight, one of the young painters had distinctly +seen a fellow hurrying away towards the gate with Marianna, in a +fainting state, in his arms, followed by Pasquale, who was rushing +along at an incredible rate, as if his veins were running quicksilver. +There was, moreover, some glimmering object visible by the torch-light +hanging on to his cloak, and whining, probably Pitichinaccio. + +Next morning Doctor Splendiano was discovered at the Pyramid of +Cestius, rolled up in a ball and immersed in his periwig, fast asleep, +as though in a warm, soft nest. When they woke him, he talked +incoherently, and it was hard to convince him that he was still in this +visible life and, moreover, in Rome. When, at length, he was taken to +his house, he thanked the Virgin and all the Saints for his rescue, +threw all his tinctures, essences, electuaries, and powders out of +window, made a bonfire of his recipes, and for the future healed his +patients in no other manner than by laying his hands upon them and +stroking them, as a celebrated physician used to do before him (who was +a Saint into the bargain, but whose name I cannot think of at the +moment), with much success, for his patients died as well as the +other's, and before their deaths saw heaven open, and anything that the +Saint pleased. + +"I do not know," said Antonio, next day, to Salvator, "what fury has +blazed up within me since some of my blood was spilt. Death and +destruction to the miserable, ignoble Capuzzi! Do you know, Salvator, +that I have made up my mind to get into his house by force; and if he +makes any resistance, I will run him through, and carry Marianna off." + +"Glorious idea!" exclaimed Salvator. "A truly happy inspiration. I have +no doubt you have also devised the means of carrying Marianna through +the air to the Piazza di Spagna, so that you may reach that place of +sanctuary before they have arrested you and hanged you! No, no, dear +Antonio, there is nothing to be done in this affair by violence, and +you may be quite certain that Signor Capuzzi will be too well prepared +for anything in the shape of an open attack. Besides this, our escapade +has attracted a great deal of attention; and more than that, the +laughable style in which we set about our little piece of entertainment +with Splendiano and Capuzzi has had the effect of waking the police up +from their gentle slumbers, so that they will now be on the watch for +us, as far as their feeble powers enable them. No, Antonio, we must +resort to stratagem: '_Con arte e con inganno si vive mezzo l'anno; con +inganno e con arte si vive l'altro parte._' That is what Dame Caterina +says, and she is quite right. I can't help laughing at our having set +to work just as if we were innocent boys; but it is my fault, chiefly, +seeing that I have the advantage of you in years. Tell me, Antonio, +if our plot had succeeded, and you had really carried Marianna off, +where should you have gone with her?--where could you have kept her +hidden?--how could you have got married by the priest so speedily that +the old man should not have managed to interfere? As it is, in a very +few days you shall actually carry her off. I have enlisted the aid of +Nicolo Musso and Formica, and in conjunction with them thought out a +plan which scarcely can break down. Comfort yourself, therefore, Signor +Formica is going to help you." + +"Signor Formica!" repeated Antonio, in an indifferent, almost +contemptuous tone; "and pray how can that 'funny-man' help me?" + +"Ho, ho!" cried Salvator, "I must beg you to treat Signor Formica with +a proper amount of respect. Don't you know that he is a kind of wizard, +and has all sorts of wondrous secret arts at his command? I tell you, +Signor Formica is going to help you. And old Maria Agli, our great and +grand 'Doctor Graziano,' of Bologna, has joined in our plot, and is +going to play a most important part in it. You shall carry your +Marianna off from Musso's theatre." + +"Salvator," said Antonio, "you are buoying me up with vain hopes. You +have said, yourself, that Capuzzi will be thoroughly on his guard +against any more open attacks; so, after what has happened to him +already, how can he possibly be induced to go to Musso's theatre +another time?" + +"It is not such a difficult matter as you suppose," answered Salvator, +"to get him to go back there again; the difficulty will be to induce +him to go without his companions, and to get him on to the stage. But +however that may be, you must now arrange matters with Marianna so as +to be ready to fly from Rome whenever the favourable moment arrives. +You will have to go to Florence. Your art will be an introduction to +you there to begin with, and I will take care that you shall not want +for friends, or for valuable support and assistance. We shall have to +rest on our oars for a few days, and then we shall see what more is to +be done. Keep up your courage. Formica will help." + + +A Fresh Misfortune Comes Upon Signor Pasquale Capuzzi. Antonio + Scacciati Carries Out A Plot At Musso's Theatre, And Flies To + Florence. + +Signor Pasquale knew but too well who were the authors of the trick +played upon him and the poor Pyramid Doctor near the Porto del Popolo; +and we can imagine his rage with Antonio and with Salvator Rosa, whom +he rightly considered to be the prime mover in the matter. He did his +utmost to console Marianna, who was quite ill, from the fright--as she +put it--but really from disappointment and vexation at the accursed +Michele's having carried her off, with his Sbirri, from Antonio. +Meanwhile, Margarita industriously brought her tidings of her lover, +and she based all her hopes and expectations upon the enterprising +Salvator. She waited most impatiently from day to day for anything in +the shape of fresh events, and vented her vexation upon the old +gentleman by a thousand teasings and naggings, which rendered him +humble and submissive in his foolish amourishness, but had not the +effect of in any degree casting out the love-devil by which he was +possessed. When Marianna had poured out upon his devoted head a full +measure of all the evil caprices of a selfish girl, she had only to +suffer him to press his withered lips a single time upon her little +hand, and he would vow, in the excess of his delight, that he would +never leave off kissing the Pope's slipper till he had obtained his +dispensation to marry his niece, quintessence as she was of all beauty +and loveliness. Marianna was careful to do nothing to disturb this +condition of delight, for those rays of hope of her uncle's made her +own to shine brighter--her hopes of being all the nearer escaping him, +the more firmly he believed himself to be united to her by bonds which +were indissoluble. + +Some time had elapsed when, one day, Michele came stumping upstairs and +announced to his master (who opened the door after a good deal of +knocking), with much prolixity, that there was a gentleman below who +insisted, most urgently, on speaking with Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, who, +he was aware, lived in that house. + +"Oh, all ye heavenly hosts!" cried the old gentleman, in a rage, +"doesn't this lubber know as well as possible that I never speak with +strangers in the house!" + +But Michele said the gentleman was very well-looking, rather elderly, +and spoke exceedingly nicely, saying his name was Nicolo Musso. + +"Nicolo Musso!" said Capuzzi, thoughtfully to himself; "Nicolo Musso, +who has the theatre outside the Porta del Popolo! What can he want with +me?" He carefully closed and bolted the door, and went down with +Michele to talk with Nicolo in the street. + +"My dear Signor Pasquale," said Nicolo, greeting him with an easy +courtesy, "how very much delighted I am that you honour me with +your acquaintance! How many thanks I owe you! Since the Romans saw +_you_--the man of the most acknowledged taste, of the most universal +knowledge, the virtuoso in art--in my theatre, my reputation, and my +receipts, have been doubled. All the more does it pain me that some +wicked, malicious fellows should have made a murderous attack upon you +and your party as you were going home from my theatre at night. For the +love of all the Saints, Signor Pasquale, do not form a prejudice +against me and my theatre on account of an affair of this sort, which +could scarcely have been anticipated. Do not deprive me of your +patronage." + +"My good Signor Nicolo," said Capuzzi, flattered, "let me assure you +that I never, anywhere, found more pleasure than in your theatre. +Your Formica, your Agli, are actors, whose equals have still to +be discovered; but the alarm which brought my friend Splendiano +Accoramboni--and indeed myself as well--nearly to death's door, was too +severe. It has closed to me for ever, not your theatre, but the road to +it. Open your theatre in the Piazza del Popolo, or in Strada Babuina, +or Strada Ripetta, and I shall never miss a single evening; but no +power on earth would induce me to set foot outside the Porto del Popolo +at night." + +Nicolo sighed as if possessed by profound sorrow. "That hits me hard," +he said; "harder than you perhaps may suppose, Signor Pasquale. I had +based all my hopes upon you. In fact, I came to implore your +assistance." + +"My assistance!" echoed the old gentleman; "my assistance! In what way +could that be of any use to you, Signor Nicolo?" + +"My dear Signor Pasquale," answered Nicolo, passing his handkerchief +over his eyes as if wiping away a tear or two, "you will have observed +that my actors occasionally introduce a little aria or so here and +there; and my idea was to carry that further gradually; bring a small +orchestra together, and finally evade prohibitions so far as to start +an opera. You, Signor Capuzzi, are the first composer in all Italy, and +it is only the incredible frivolity of the Romans, and the envy of the +_Maestri_, that are to blame for the circumstance that anything except +your compositions is to be heard on the stage. Signor Pasquale, I came +to beg you, on my knees, to allow me to represent your immortal works +in my theatre." + +"My good Signor Nicolo!" cried the old fellow, with bright sunshine in +his face, "why are we talking here in the public street? Will you be +kind enough to climb up a steep flight of stairs, and come with me into +my humble dwelling?" + +As soon as he got into the room with Nicolo, he hauled out a great +packet of dusty music-manuscript, opened it up, turned pages over, and +began that frightful yelling and screeching which he called "singing." +Nicolo demeaned himself like one enraptured. He sighed, he groaned; he +cried "bravo!" from time to time, and "Bravissimo! Benedetto Capuzzi!" +At length, as if in an excess of blissful enthusiasm, he fell at the +old man's feet, and clasped his knees, hugging them so very tightly, +however, that Capuzzi gave a great bound to try and shake him off, +screamed with the pain, and cried out: "All the Saints! let me go, +Signor Nicolo! you'll be the death of me!" + +"No!" cried Nicolo. "No, Signor Pasquale! I will not rise from this +spot till you promise to let me have that heavenly aria which you have +just rendered so magnificently, so that Formica may sing it two nights +hence on my stage." + +"You are a person of some taste," sighed Pasquale; "a man of insight; +to whom, rather than to you, should I intrust my compositions? You +shall take all my arias with you (Oh! oh! do let me go!) but, oh +heavens! I shall not hear them--my heavenly masterpieces! (Oh, oh! let +go my legs, Signor Nicolo!)" + +"No!" cried Nicolo, still on his knees, and firmly grasping the old +man's spindle-shanks like a vice. "No, Signor Pasquale! I will not let +you go till you give me your word that you will come to my theatre the +evening after to-morrow. Have no fear of being attacked again. You may +be certain that, when the Romans have heard those arias of yours, they +will carry you home triumphantly in a torchlight procession. But even +if they do not, I and my trusty comrades will arm, and escort you +safely home." + +"You and your comrades will escort me home, will you?" Pasquale +inquired; "how many of them might there be?" + +"Eight or ten people will be at your disposal, Signor Pasquale. Make up +your mind; decide upon coming, and yield to my earnest prayers." + +"Formica," lisped Pasquale, "has a capital voice; how he _would_ sing +my arias!" + +"Decide on it," cried Nicolo once more, grasping the old man's legs +tighter than ever. + +"You promise me," said Pasquale; "you undertake to be responsible that +I get safe home without being set upon?" + +"Upon my life and honour," said Nicolo, giving the legs an extra grip. + +"Done!" cried the old gentleman. "The evening after to-morrow I shall +be at your theatre." + +Nicolo jumped up, and pressed the old man to his heart with such +violence that he coughed and gasped for breath. + +At this juncture Marianna came in. Pasquale tried to restrain her by +casting a grim look at her, but in vain. She went straight to Musso, +and said angrily: "It is of no use your trying to entice my dear uncle +to go to your theatre again. Remember that the horrible trick played +upon me by abandoned villains who have a plot against me nearly cost my +darling uncle and his worthy friend Splendiano their lives, not to +mention myself. Never will I allow him to run such a risk again. Cease +your attempts, Nicolo. Dearest uncle! you will stay quietly at home, +will you not, and never venture outside the Porto del Popolo again in +the treacherous night, which is no one's friend?" + +This came upon Signor Pasquale like a clap of thunder. He gazed at his +niece with eyes widely opened; and presently addressed her in the +sweetest language, explaining to her at much length that Signor Nicolo +had taken the responsibility of making such arrangements that there +should be no possible risk of danger on the homeward way. + +"For all that," answered Marianna, "my opinion remains the same, and I +implore you most earnestly, dearest uncle, not to go. Excuse me, Signor +Nicolo, for speaking clearly in your presence, and uttering the dark +presentiment which I so strongly feel. I know that Salvator Rosa is a +friend of yours, and I have no doubt so is Antonio Scacciati. How if +you were in collusion with my enemies? How if you are tempting my uncle +(who, I know, will not go to your theatre unless I am with him) only to +have a surer opportunity of carrying out some fresh plot against him?" + +"What an idea!" cried Nicolo, as if horrified. "What a terrible +suspicion to entertain, Signora! Have you had such an evil experience +of me in the past? Is my reputation such that you believe me capable of +such a frightful piece of treachery? But if you _do_ think so badly of +me--if you have no confidence in the help I have promised--you can +bring Michele (who was so useful in rescuing you on the former +occasion), and let him bring a good force of Sbirri, who could be +waiting for you outside; as you could scarcely expect _me_ to fill my +house with Sbirri." + +Marianna, looking him steadfastly in the eyes, said earnestly: "Since +you suggest that, I see that you mean honourably, Signor Nicolo, and +that my evil suspicions of you were unfounded. Pray forgive my +thoughtless words. Yet I cannot overcome my anxiety, and my fear for my +dearest uncle, and I again beg him not to venture upon this dangerous +expedition." + +Signor Pasquale had listened to the conversation with strange looks, +which clearly testified to the contest within him. He could now +restrain himself no longer; he fell on his knees before Marianna, +seized her hands, kissed them, covered them with tears which streamed +from his eyes, and cried, as if beside himself: "Heavenly and adored +Marianna! the fire in my heart breaks forth into flame! Ah! this +anxiety, this fear on my account; what are they but the sweetest +admissions of your love for me?" He entreated her not to allow herself +to be alarmed in the very slightest degree, but to hear, on the stage, +the most lovely of the arias which the divinest of composers ever had +written. + +Nicolo, too, continued the most pathetic entreaties, until Marianna +declared she was persuaded, and promised to lay aside all fear, and go +with her dear uncle to the theatre outside the Porto del Popolo. + +Signor Pasquale was in the seventh heaven of bliss. He had the full +conviction that Marianna loved him, and he was going to hear his own +music on the stage, and gather the laurels which he had so long been +striving for in vain. He was on the very point of finding his fondest +dreams realized, and he wanted his light to shine in all its glory on +his faithful friends. His idea, therefore, was that Signor Splendiano +and little Pitichinaccio should go with him, just as they had done on +the former occasion. + +But in addition to the spectres who had carried him off, all manner of +direful apparitions had haunted Signor Splendiano on the night when he +slept in his periwig near the Pyramid of Cestius. The whole +burying-ground seemed to have come to life, and hundreds of the dead +had stretched their bony arms out at him, complaining loudly concerning +his essences and electuaries, the tortures of which were not abated +even in the tomb. Hence the Pyramid Doctor, though he could not +contradict Signor Pasquale when he held that the whole thing was only a +trick performed by a parcel of wicked young men, continued to be in a +melancholy mood; and though, formerly, he was not greatly prone to +anything in the nature of superstition, he now saw spectres everywhere, +and was sorely plagued with presentiments and evil dreams. + +As for Pitichinaccio, nothing would persuade him that those devils who +fell upon him and Signor Pasquale were not real and veritable demons +from the flames of hell, and he screamed aloud whenever any one so much +as alluded to that terrible night. All Pasquale's assurances that it +was only Antonio Scacciati and Salvator Rosa who were behind those +devil's masks were unavailing; for Pitichinaccio vowed, with many +tears, that, notwithstanding his terror, he distinctly recognized the +fiend Fanfarell, by his voice and appearance, and that said Fanfarell +had beaten his stomach black and blue. + +It may be imagined what trouble Signor Pasquale had to persuade the +Pyramid Doctor and Pitichinaccio to go with him again to Musso's +theatre. Splendiano did not agree to do so until he had succeeded in +getting from a monk of the Order of St. Bernard a consecrated bag of +musk (the smell whereof neither dead men nor devils can abide), with +which he was proof against all attacks. Pitichinaccio could not resist +the promise of a box of grapes in sugar, but Signor Pasquale had to +expressly agree that he was not to wear female attire (which, he +thought, was what had brought the devils upon him), but go in his +Abbate's costume. + +What Salvator had dreaded seemed thus to be about to insist on +happening, although, as he declared, his whole plot depended for +success upon Signor Pasquale and Marianna going by themselves, without +the faithful companions, to Musso's theatre. + +Both he and Antonio cudgelled their brains how to keep Splendiano and +Pitichinaccio away; but there was not time enough to carry out any plan +having that for its aim, as the great stroke itself had to be struck on +the evening of the next day. But heaven--which often employs the oddest +tools in the punishment of foolish folk--interposed, in this instance, +in favour of the lovers, and so guided Michele that he gave the rein to +his natural dunderheadedness, and by that means brought about what the +skill of Salvator and Antonio was powerless to accomplish. + +On that self-same night there suddenly arose, in Strada Ripetta before +Pasquale's house, such a terrible swearing, shouting, and quarrelling +that all the neighbours started from their sleep, and the Sbirri (who +had been after a murderer who took sanctuary in the Piazza di Spagna), +supposing there was another murder going on, came hurrying up with +their torches. When they, and a crowd of people attracted by the noise +who came with them, arrived on the scene of the supposed murder, what +was seen was poor little Pitichinaccio lying on the ground as if dead; +Michele belabouring the Pyramid Doctor with a frightful cudgel, and the +said Doctor in the act of falling down; whilst Signor Pasquale, picking +himself up with difficulty, drew his sword, and began furiously lunging +at Michele. All round lay fragments of shattered guitars. Several +people stopped the old gentleman's arm, or he would infallibly have run +Michele through the body. The latter (who, now that the torches had +come, saw, for the first time, who it was that he had to do with), +stood like a statue, with eyes staring out of his head. Presently He +emitted a terrific yell, tore his hair, and implored forgiveness and +mercy. Neither the Pyramid Doctor nor Pitichinaccio were seriously +hurt, but they were so stiff, and so black and blue, that they could +not move a muscle, and had to be carried home. + +Signor Pasquale had brought this trouble upon his own pate. We are +aware that Salvator and Antonio had favoured Marianna with the most +beautiful night-music imaginable, but I have forgotten to add that they +went on repeating it on succeeding nights, tremendously infuriating +Signor Pasquale; his anger was held in check by the neighbours, and he +was silly enough to apply to the authorities to prevent the two +painters from singing in Strada Ripetta. The authorities considered it +an unheard of thing in Rome to forbid anybody singing whenever he +chose, and said it was absurd to demand it. On this Signor Pasquale +determined to put an end to the thing himself, and promised Michele a +good sum of money if he would fall upon the singers and give them a +good cudgelling on the first opportunity. Michele at once provided +himself with a big stick, and kept watch every night behind the door. +However, it happened that Salvator and Antonio thought it advisable to +discontinue the night-music in Strada Ripetta on the nights immediately +preceding the execution of their plot, so that nothing might suggest +ideas of his enemies to the old man. And Marianna innocently remarked +that, much as she hated Salvator and Antonio, she would have been very +glad to hear their singing, for their music, soaring on the breeze in +the night, surpassed everything. + +Pasquale took mental note of this, and, as an exquisite piece of +gallantry, determined to delight and surprise his beloved with a +serenata, composed by himself, and carefully rehearsed with his +companions. So the very night before the projected visit to the theatre +he slipped secretly out and fetched his two associates, who were +prepared beforehand. But no sooner had they struck the first chords on +their guitars than Michele (whom his master had unfortunately forgotten +to warn of what was going to happen), in high glee at the near prospect +of earning the promised reward, burst out at the door, and set to work +unmercifully becudgelling the musicians. What happened afterwards we +know. Of course it was out of the question that either Splendiano or +Pitichinaccio could go with Pasquale to the theatre, as they were lying +in their beds covered all over with sticking-plaster. But Signor +Pasquale could not refrain from going himself, although his shoulders +and back smarted not a little from the licking he had had; every note +of his aria was a rope dragging him there irresistibly. + +"Now that the obstacle which we thought insurmountable has cleared +itself out of the way of its own accord," said Salvator to Antonio, +"everything depends upon your adroitness in not letting slip, when it +comes, the proper moment for carrying your Marianna off from Nicolo's +theatre. But you will not fail; and I greet you already as the +bridegroom of Capuzzi's beautiful niece, who will be your wife in a few +days. I wish you every happiness, Antonio, although it goes to my very +marrow when I think of your marriage." + +"What do you mean, Salvator?" asked Antonio. + +"Call it whim, or fanciful idea, Antonio," he answered; "the long and +the short of it is, I love women; but every one of them, even her whom +I am madly in love with, for whom I would gladly die, affects my mind +with an apprehension which raises in me the most inexplicable and +mysterious shudder the moment I think of a union with her such as +marriage would be. The unfathomable element in woman's nature mockingly +sets all the weapons of our sex at complete defiance. She whom we +believe to have devoted herself to us with her whole being--to have +opened to us the innermost recesses of her nature--is the first to +deceive us, and with the sweetest kisses we imbibe the most destroying +poison." + +"And my Marianna?" asked Antonio, aghast. + +"Pardon me, Antonio," answered Salvator; "even your Marianna, who is +sweetness and delightsomeness personified, has given me a fresh proof +how constantly we are menaced by the mysterious nature of woman. +Remember how that innocent, inexperienced child behaved when we took +her uncle home to her; how, at one glance of mine, she comprehended the +whole situation, and played her part, as you said yourself, with the +most amazing ability. But that was not to be named in the same day with +what happened when Musso went to see the old man. The most practised +skill, the most impenetrable craftiness--in short, every art of the +woman most accomplished and experienced in the ways of the world--could +suggest nothing more than what little Marianna did, in order to throw +dust in the old man's eyes with the most absolute assurance of success. +She could not possibly have acted with greater talent to make the road +clear for us, whatever our undertakings were to be. The campaign +against the insane old fool was legitimate--every kind of trick and +artifice seems justified; still, however, dear Antonio, don't let my +dreamer's fancies influence you too much, and be as happy with your +Marianna as ever you can." + +If only some monk had accompanied Signor Pasquale as he was on his way +to Musso's theatre with Marianna, everybody must have thought the +strange pair were being taken to the place of execution; for ahead of +them marched Michele, truculent in aspect, and armed to the teeth; and +he was followed by well on to twenty Sbirri, who were surrounding +Signor Pasquale and Marianna. + +Nicolo received the old gentleman and the lady with much solemnity of +ceremony, and conducted them to the places reserved for them close in +front of the stage. Much flattered at being thus honoured, Signor +Pasquale looked about him with proud, beaming glances; and his pleasure +was increased by the circumstance that there were none but women round +and behind Marianna. Behind the scenes, on the stage, one or two +violins and a bass were being tuned, and the old gentleman's heart beat +high with anticipation, and a sort of electric shock pierced through +his joints and marrow when all at once the ritornello of his aria +sounded. + +Formica came on as Pasquarello, and sang, with the gestures most +peculiarly characteristic of Capuzzi, and in his very voice, that most +atrocious of all arias. The theatre resounded with the audience's most +uproarious laughter. People shouted out: "Ah! Pasquale Capuzzi! +Compositore--Virtuoso celeberrimo! Bravo, bravissimo!" The old man, not +observing the tone of the laughter, was all delight. When the aria +ended, the audience called for silence; Doctor Graziano (played on this +occasion by Nicolo) came on, holding his ears, and calling out to +Pasquarello to cease his din, and not make such an insane crowing. He +proceeded to ask Pasquarello when he had taken to singing, and where he +had picked up that abominable tune. Pasquarello said he did not know +what the Doctor meant, and that he was just like the Romans, who had no +taste for real music, and left the finest talents in neglect. The aria, +he said, was by the greatest of living composers and virtuosi, whose +service it was his good fortune to be in, and who himself gave him +lessons in music and singing. Graziano went over the names of a number +of well-known composers and virtuosi, but at each renowned name +Pasquarello disdainfully shook his head. + +At length he said the Doctor showed gross ignorance in not knowing the +very greatest composer of the day--none other than Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi, who had done him the honour to take him into his service. +Could he not see that Pasquarello was the friend and servant of Signor +Pasquale? + +The Doctor broke into an immoderate fit of laughter and cried: "What! +had Pasquarello, after serving _him_, where, besides wages and food, +many a good _quattrino_ fell into his mouth, gone to the very greatest +and most accomplished skinflint and miser that ever swallowed +macaroni?--to the motley Carnival-fool, who strutted about like a +turkey-cock after a shower?--to that cur, that amorous old coxcomb, who +poisons the air in Strada Ripetta with that disgusting goat-bleating +which he calls 'singing?'" &c., &c. + +To this Pasquarello answered quite angrily, that it was mere envy on +the Doctor's part. To speak with his heart in his hand (_parla col +cuore in mano_) the Doctor was by no means in a position to pass a +judgment on Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di Senegaglia. To speak heart in +hand, the Doctor himself had a pretty good dash of all which he was +finding fault with in the admirable Signor Pasquale. Speaking, as he +was, heart in hand, he had often, himself, known some six hundred +people or so to laugh with all their throats at Doctor Graziano +himself. And then Pasquarello held forth at great length in praise of +his new master, Signor Pasquale, attributing to him all possible +excellences, and finishing with a description of his character, which +he made out to be absolutely perfect as regarded amiability and +lovableness. + +"Blessed Formica!" whispered Signor Capuzzi aside to himself, "I see +that you have determined to render my triumph complete, by rubbing the +noses of the Romans in all the envy and ingratitude with which they +have persecuted me, and showing them clearly whom and what I am." + +"Here comes my master himself," cried Pasquarello; and there came on to +the stage Signor Capuzzi, as he lived and moved, in dress, face, walk, +and manner--in all respects so exactly similar to the Capuzzi down in +the audience part of the house, that the latter, quite alarmed, let go +his hold of Marianna (whom he had been holding up to this time with one +hand), and rubbed his nose and periwig, as if to find out whether he +was awake or dreaming of seeing his own double, or really in Nicolo +Musso's theatre, obliged to believe his eyes, and infer that he did see +this miraculous appearance. + +The Capuzzi on the stage embraced Doctor Graziano with much amity, and +inquired after his welfare. The Doctor said his appetite was good, at +his service (_per servir-lo_), and his sleep sound; but that his purse +laboured under a complete depletion. Yesterday, in honour of his lady +love, he said, he had spent his last ducat in buying a pair of rosemary +stockings, and he was just going to certain bankers to see if they +would lend him thirty ducats. + +"How could you think of such a thing?" cried Capuzzi. "Why pass the +door of your best friend? Here, my dear sir, are fifty ducats; pray +accept them." + +"Pasquale, what are you doing?" cried the Capuzzi down in the audience, +half aloud. + +Doctor Graziano talked of giving a bill and paying interest; but the +stage Capuzzi vowed he could not think of taking either from such a +friend as the Doctor. "Pasquale! are you crazy?" cried the Capuzzi +below, louder. + +Doctor Graziano made his exit here, after many grateful embracings. +Pasquarello then went forward, with lowly reverences; lauded Signor +Capuzzi to the skies; said _his_ (Pasquarello's) purse was afflicted +with the same malady as the Doctor's, and begged for some of the same +medicine. The Capuzzi on the stage laughed, saying he was glad that +Pasquarello knew how to take advantage of his good dispositions, and +threw him two or three shining ducats. + +"Pasquale, you're mad! the devil's in you!" the audience-Capuzzi cried, +very loudly. The audience called him to order. Pasquarello waxed still +louder in Capuzzi's praise, and came, at length, on the subject of the +arias which he (Capuzzi) had composed, with which he (Pasquarello) was +in hopes of charming the world. Capuzzi on the stage patted Pasquarello +on the shoulder, and said he could confide to a faithful servant like +_him_, that the truth was that he really knew nothing whatever about +music, and that the aria he had been mentioning, like all the arias he +had ever written, was cribbed from Frescobaldi's canzone, and +Carissimi's motets. + +"You lie, you scoundrel, in your throat!" screamed the Capuzzi below, +rising from his seat. "Silence!--sit down!" cried the audience; the +women who were sitting near him dragged him down into his place. + +The stage-Capuzzi went on to say it was time, now, to come to matters +of more importance. He wanted to give a large dinner the next day, and +Pasquarello must set to work briskly to get together all the +requirements. He drew out of his pocket a list of the most expensive +and recherche dishes, and read it aloud; as each dish was mentioned, +Pasquarello had to say how much it would cost, and the money was handed +to him on the spot. + +"Pasquale!--idiotic fool!--madman!--spendthrift!--prodigal!" cried the +Capuzzi below, in crescendo, after the mention of the several dishes, +and grew more and more angry the higher the total bill for this most +unheard-of of all dinners became. + +When at length the list was gone through, Pasquarello asked Signor +Pasquale's reason for giving so grand a dinner; and Capuzzi (on the +stage) replied: "To-morrow will be the happiest day of all my life. Let +me tell you, my good Pasquarello, that to-morrow I celebrate the +wedding-day, rich in blessings, of my dear niece Marianna. I am giving +her hand to that fine young fellow, the greatest of all painters, +Scacciati." + +Scarce had the Capuzzi on the stage uttered those words, than he of the +audience, quite beside himself, and incapable of further self-control, +sprang up, with all the fury of a demon in his face of fire, clenched +both his fists at his counterfeit, and screamed out at him, in a +yelling voice: "That you shall not!--that you shall never! you +infernal scoundrel of a Pasquale! Will you defraud yourself of +your own Marianna, you dog? Are you going to throw her at that +diabolical rascal's head? The sweet Marianna--your life, your hope, +your all-in-all? Ah, beware! Have a care, deluded blockhead! These +fists shall beat you black and blue, and give you something else to +think about than dinners and marriages." + +But the Capuzzi on the stage clenched _his_ fists too, and cried out in +a similar fury, with the same yelling voice: "May all the devils enter +your body! you cursed, senseless Pasquale! Abominable skinflint!--old +amorous goose!--motley fool, with the cap and bells over your ears! +Have a care of yourself, or I will blow the breath of life out of you! +that the mean actions you want to father upon the shoulders of the +good, honourable, upright Pasquale may be put an end to at last." + +To an accompaniment of the most furious curses and maledictions of the +Capuzzi beneath, he on the stage proceeded to narrate one scurrilous +story of him after another, finishing off by crying out: "Try if you +dare, Pasquale--amorous old ape!--to interfere with the happiness of +those two young people, destined for each other by heaven." + +As he spoke, there appeared at the back of the stage Antonio Scacciati +and Marianna, with their arms about each other. Shaky as the old +gentleman was on his legs, fury gave him strength and agility. At a +bound he was on to the stage, where he drew his sword, and ran at +Antonio. But he felt himself seized from behind; an officer of the +Papal Guard was holding him, and said, in a serious tone: "Consider a +little, Signor Pasquale Capuzzi; you are on Nicolo Musso's stage. +Without being aware of it, you have been playing a most entertaining +part this evening. You will not find Antonio or Marianna here." The two +performers whom Capuzzi had taken to be them had come closer, with the +rest of the actors, and he did not know their faces at all. The sword +fell from his trembling hand; he drew a deep breath, like one waking +from a fearful dream, clasped his forehead, forced his eyes wide open. +The dreadful sense of what had really happened flashed upon him, and he +cried: "Marianna!" in a terrible voice, till the walls re-echoed. + +But his calling could no longer reach her ears; for Antonio had +carefully watched for the moment when Capuzzi, oblivious of everything, +even himself, was contending with his counterfeit on the stage, had +then cautiously made his way to Marianna, and taken her through the +audience to a side door, where the Vetturino was waiting with the +carriage; and away they were driven towards Florence as fast as they +could go. + +"Marianna!" the old man continued crying. "She has gone!--she has +flown!--the villain Antonio has robbed me of her! Away!--after her! +Good people, have pity! Get torches; search for my dove! Ha, the +serpent!" + +And the old man was making off; but the officer held him fast, saying: +"If you mean the pretty young girl who was sitting by you, I rather +fancy I saw her slip out with a young fellow--Antonio Scacciati, I +believe,--some considerable time ago, just as you were beginning that +useless, silly quarrel with the actor who had on a mask something like +you. Signor Pasquale, it is my duty to arrest you, on account of your +behaviour, and the murderous attack upon the actor." + +Signor Pasquale, with pale death in his face, incapable of uttering a +word or a sound, was marched off by the very Sbirri who had come there +to protect him from masquerading demons and spectres. Thus there fell +upon him deep distress and sorrow, and all the wild despair of a +foolish and deceived old amorous fool, on the very night when he looked +to celebrate his greatest triumph. + + + Salvator Rosa Quits Rome For Florence. The End Of This Story. + +All things here below under the sun are subject to constant change and +fluctuation, but there is nothing that more deserves to be called +fickle and fleeting than mankind's opinions, which keep rotating in an +eternal circle, like Fortune's wheel. Bitter censure falls to-day upon +him who yesterday gathered a grand harvest of praise; he who walks +to-day a-foot may to-morrow ride in a gilded chariot. + +Who was there in all Rome who did not scorn and mock at old Capuzzi, +with his mean avarice, his silly amorousness, his crazy jealousy?--or +who did not wish the poor tormented Marianna her freedom? Yet now that +Antonio had succeeded in carrying her off, all the scorn and mockery +suddenly turned to pity for the poor old fellow who was seen creeping +about the streets of Rome, with bowed head, inconsolable. + +Misfortunes rarely come singly. Soon after Marianna had been carried +off, Pasquale lost his dearest bosom friends. Little Pitichinaccio +choked himself with an almond, which he incautiously tried to swallow +as he was in the middle of a _cadenza_; and a slip of the pen (of +his own making) put a sudden period to the life of the renowned +Pyramid-Doctor, Signor Splendiano Accoramboni. Michele's cudgelling had +such an effect on him that he fell into a fever. He determined to cure +himself by a remedy which he believed he had discovered. He demanded +pen and ink, and wrote a recipe, in which, by putting down a wrong +fever, he enormously increased the quantity of a very powerful +ingredient; so that as soon as he swallowed the medicine he fell back +upon his pillow and was gone; proving, by his own death, the effect of +this final tincture of his prescribing in the most striking and heroic +manner. + +As we have said, all who had previously laughed the most heartily at +Capuzzi, and the most sincerely wished success to the brave Antonio in +his undertaking, were now all compassion for the old man; and the +bitterest blame was laid, not upon Antonio so much as upon Salvator +Rosa, whom they all, with very good reason, held to have been at the +bottom of the whole affair. + +Salvator's enemies (of whom there were a goodly band) were not slow to +stir up the fire to the best of their ability. "See!" they said; "this +is Masaniello's worthy comrade, always ready to lay his hand to any +evil trick, any robberish undertaking; if his dangerous stay in Rome is +prolonged, we shall soon feel the effects of it heavily." + +And, in fact, the ignoble herd of those who conspired against Salvator +succeeded in stemming the bold flight which his fame would otherwise +have taken. One picture after another came from his hand, bold of +conception, magnificent of execution, but the so-called "connoisseurs" +always shrugged the shoulder; said, now that the mountains were too +blue; now, that the trees were too green, the figures too tall, or +too stumpy; found fault with everything where there was no fault +to be found, and made it their business to detract from Salvator's +well-merited renown in every possible way. His chief persecutors were +the members of the Academia di San Luca, who could never get over the +affair of the surgeon, and went out of their own province to depreciate +the pretty verses which Salvator wrote about that time, even trying to +make out that he did not live upon the fruit of his own land, but +pilfered the property of other people. And this, too, led to Salvator's +being by no means in a position to surround himself with the splendour +and luxury which he had formerly displayed in Rome. Instead of the +grand, spacious studio, where all the celebrities of Rome used to visit +him, he went on living at Dame Caterina's, beside his green figtree. +And in this very restrictedness he, doubtless, soon found comfort and +ease of heart. + +But he laid the malignant conduct of his enemies more to heart than +there was any occasion for; nay, he felt as though some creeping +malady, engendered by annoyance and vexation, was gnawing at his inmost +marrow. In this evil mood, he conceived and executed the great pictures +which set all Rome in uproar. One of them represented the +transitoriness of all earthly things; and in the principal female +figure (which bore all the marks of a disreputable calling) it was easy +to recognize the lady-love of one of the Cardinals. In the other was +shown the Goddess of Fortune distributing her precious gifts. But +Cardinal's hats, Bishop's mitres, and decorations were falling down +upon bleating sheep, braying asses, and other despised creatures; +whilst well-favoured men, in tattered garments, looked up in vain +for the slightest favour. Salvator had given the rein to his bitter +mood, and those beasts' heads had very striking resemblances to sundry +well-known characters. It may be imagined how the hatred of him +increased, and how much more bitterly he was persecuted than before. + +Dame Caterina cautioned him with tears in her eyes. She had noticed +that as soon as it was dark, birds of evil omen--suspicious-looking +characters--came slinking about the house, watching Salvator's every +step. He saw that it was time to be gone; and Dame Caterina and her +dear daughters were the only people he felt any pain in parting from. +Remembering the Duke of Tuscany's repeated invitations, he went to +Florence; and there his mortification was richly compensated for, and +the annoyances of tome lost sight of in the honour and fame--so richly +merited--which were bestowed upon him in fullest measure. The Duke's +presents, and the large prices which he got for his pictures, soon +enabled him to occupy a large mansion, and furnish it in the most +magnificent style. There he collected round him all the most famous +poets and literati of the day; it is sufficient to mention amongst them +Evangelista Torricelli, Valerio Chimentelli, Battista Ricciardi, Andrea +Cavalcanti, Pietro Salviati, Filippo Apolloni, Volumnio Bandelli, +Francesco Rovai. Art and science were joined together in a charming +fusion, and Salvator Rosa had a manner of endowing the meetings with an +element of the fanciful, which in a peculiar manner gave a stimulus to +the thoughts and ideas of the company. Thus, the dining-hall had the +appearance of a beautiful shrubbery, containing sweet-smelling bushes +and flowers and gurgling springs; and the very dishes, served by +singularly-attired pages, had a wonderful appearance, as if they came +from some far-off enchanted land. These assemblages of poets and +_savants_ in Salvator Rosa's house were at the time known as the +Academia de' Percossi. + +But although Salvator occupied his mind in this manner with art and +science, his inmost heart was cheered by his friend Antonio Scacciati, +who was living a happy artistic life, free from care, with the +beautiful Marianna. They used to think, sometimes, of the old deceived +Signor Pasquale, and all that took place in Nicolo Musso's theatre. And +Antonio asked Salvator how he had managed to interest not only Musso, +but the wonderful Formica and Agli, in his affairs, to employ their +talents on his behalf as they had done. Salvator said it had been an +easy matter, inasmuch as Formica had been his most intimate friend in +Rome, and always delighted to carry out upon the stage anything that he +had suggested to him. Antonio declared that, much as he was unable +still to help laughing when he thought of the occurrence which had made +no happiness, he wished, from his heart, for a reconciliation with the +old man, even although he should never touch a farthing of Marianna's +fortune (which the old man had taken possession of), seeing that his +art brought him money enough. Marianna, too, could often not restrain +her tears at the thought that her father's brother would never till his +dying day forgive the trick that had been played upon him; and thus +Pasquale's hatred cast a sorrowful shadow upon her happy life. Salvator +comforted them both with the thought that time cures much harder +matters, and that chance might perhaps bring the old man to them in a +much less dangerous manner than if they had remained in Rome, or were +to go back there now. + +We shall find that a spirit of prophecy dwelt in Salvator. A +considerable time had elapsed, when one day Antonio burst into +Salvator's studio, breathless, and pale as death. "Salvator!" he cried; +"my friend! my protector!--I am lost unless you help me! Pasquale +Capuzzi is here, and has got a warrant to arrest me for carrying off +his niece." + +"But what can Pasquale do to you now?" asked Salvator. Has not the +Church united Marianna and you?" + +"Alas!" answered Antonio, in despair, "even the Church cannot save me +here. Heaven knows how he has accomplished it, but the old man has +managed to get the ear of the Pope's nephew; and it is this nephew who +has taken him under his protection, and given him hope that the Holy +Father will declare our marriage void; and not only that, but give him +a dispensation to enable _him_ to marry his niece." + +"Stop!" cried Salvator. "Now--_now_ I understand the whole matter. It +is that nephew's hatred for _me_, Antonio, which threatens to ruin +everything. This nephew--this conceited, raw, boorish fellow--is one of +those beasts which the Goddess of Fortune is overwhelming with her +gifts in that picture of mine. That it was I who helped you to your +Marianna--more or less indirectly, of course--is known not only to this +nephew, but to every one in Rome. Season enough to persecute you, since +they cannot specify anything against _me_. Even were it not for my +affection for you, Antonio, as my best and dearest friend, I could not +but stand by you if it were for nothing else than that it is I who have +brought this mischance upon you. But, by all the saints, I do not see +how I am to set about spoiling the game of your enemies." + +As he said this Salvator, who up to this point had been working away at +a picture without interrupting himself, laid his brushes, palette and +mahlstick down, got up from his easel, and, folding his arms across his +breast, strode 'several times up and down, whilst Antonio, in deepest +thought, contemplated the floor with fixed glance. + +Presently Salvator halted before him, and cried, laughing: "Antonio, +there is nothing that _I_ can accomplish as against your powerful +enemies; but there is _one_ who can, and will, help you; and that is +Signor Formica." + +"Alas!" cried Antonio; "do not jest with an unfortunate, for whom there +is no further salvation." + +"Still determined to despair?" cried Salvator, who had suddenly risen +into the highest spirits. He laughed aloud: "I tell you, Antonio, +friend Formica will help in Florence quite as well as he did in Rome. +Go quietly home. Comfort your Marianna, and await the course of events +quite tranquilly. All I expect of you is that you will be ready and +prepared to do whatever Signor Formica--who happens to be here at this +moment--may require of you." Antonio promised obedience with all his +heart, hope and confidence at once beginning to glimmer up within him. + +Signor Pasquale was not a little astonished to receive a formal +invitation from the Academia de' Percossi. "Ha!--indeed!" he cried. +"One sees that Florence is the place where they know how to esteem +merit; where a man endowed with such gifts as Signor Pasquale Capuzzi +di Senegalia chances to possess, is properly appreciated." + +Thus the thought of the amount of artistic knowledge which he +possessed, and of the honours which were being paid to him in +consequence, overcame the repugnance which he would otherwise have +entertained to an assemblage which had Salvator Rosa, at its head. The +Spanish state costume was brushed more carefully than usual; the +steeple-crowned hat adorned with a new feather; the shoes set off with +fresh bows of ribbon; and Signor Pasquale made his appearance in +Salvator's house glittering like a golden beetle, with a countenance of +radiant sunshine. The splendour around him--Salvator himself (who was +much more finely dressed than he had been wont to be)--inspired him +with reverence; and--as is usually the case with shallow souls, which +are puffed-up at first, but at once fall down into the dust when they +perceive any distinct superiority over them--Pasquale was all deference +and humility towards that Salvator whom he was for ever lording over in +Rome. + +So much attention was paid to Signor Pasquale on all hands; his +opinions were so unconditionally appealed to; so much was said as to +his artistic merits, that he felt himself a new man; nay, it seemed to +him that a special spirit came to life within him, so that he really +spoke much more sensibly on many subjects than might have been +expected. As, in addition to all this, he had never in all his life +partaken of such a splendid dinner, or tasted such inspiring wine, his +enjoyment necessarily mounted higher and higher, and he forgot all +about the wrongs done him in Rome, and the unpleasant business which +had brought him to Florence. + +In a short time the bushes at the bottom of the hall began to get in +motion, the leafy branches opened out apart, and a little theatre came +into view, with its stage, and some seats for an audience. + +"All ye saints!" cried Pasquale Capuzzi, in much alarm. "Where am I? +That is Nicolo Mussos's theatre!" + +Without paying attention to his outcry, two gentlemen of dignified +appearance--Evangelista Torricelli and Andrea Cavalcanti--took him by +the arms, one on each side, and conducted him to a seat in front of the +stage, taking their places on either side of him. + +No sooner were they seated than there entered on to the stage, Formica, +as Pasquarello! + +"Accursed Formica!" cried Pasquale, springing up and shaking his +clenched fist towards the stage. Torricelli's and Cavalcanti's grave +looks of disapproval, however, constrained him to silence and +quietness. + +Pasquarello sobbed, wept, and cursed his fate which brought him nothing +but grief and misery; declared he did not know how he should manage to +laugh, were it but ever so little, and concluded by saying that, in the +excess of his despair, he would most certainly cut his throat, were it +not that the sight of blood always made him faint; or throw himself +into the river, if he only could help swimming when in the water. + +Here Doctor Graziano entered and inquired the cause of his grief. + +Pasquarello asked him if he did not know what had been happening in his +master's, Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di Senegaglia's, house?--whether he +had heard that an abandoned ruffian had run off with his master's +niece, Marianna? + +"Ha!" murmured Capuzzi, "I see what it is, Signor Formica. You think +you will exculpate and excuse yourself; you desire my forgiveness. +Well, we shall see." + +Doctor Graziano expressed his sympathy, and thought the ruffian must +have been very clever to have evaded Capuzzi's search after him. +Pasquarello told the Doctor not to allow himself to imagine that the +rascal Antonio Scacciati succeeded in getting the better of the deep +and clever Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, supported as he was, moreover, by +influential friends. Antonio was in prison, his marriage declared void, +and Marianna again in her uncle's hands. + +"Has he got her?" cried Capuzzi, beyond himself; "has he got her again, +the good Capuzzi? Has he got his little dove again; his Marianna? Is +the scoundrel Antonio in prison? O most blessed Formica!" + +"You take too lively an interest in the piece, Signor Pasquale," said +Cavalcanti very seriously. "Pray allow the actors to speak, and do not +interrupt them." + +Signor Pasquale, abashed, sat down in his place again. + +Pasquarello went on to say that there had been a wedding. Marianna had +repented of what she had done; Signor Pasquale had obtained the +necessary dispensation from the Holy Father, and had married his niece. + +"Yes, yes," murmured Pasquale, aside, whilst his eyes shone with +delight; "yes, yes, my dearest Formica! He marries the sweet Marianna, +the lucky Pasquale! He always knew the little dove loved him; it was +but the devil that led her astray." + +In that case, Doctor Graziano said, everything was well, and there was +no cause for lamentation. + +But Pasquarello began to sob and cry more violently than before, and at +last fell down in a faint, as if overcome by his terrible sorrow. + +Doctor Graziano ran about anxiously; regretted that he had not a +smelling-bottle about him; searched in all his pockets, and at length +pulled out a roasted chestnut, which he held under the nose of the +insensible Pasquarello. The latter recovered at once, sneezing +violently, begged him to excuse the weak state of his nerves, and went +on to say that after the marriage Marianna had fallen into the deepest +melancholy, calling continually on Antonio's name, and regarding the +old man with loathing and contempt. But the latter, blinded by his love +and jealousy, had never ceased torturing her in the most terrible +manner with his foolishness. Then Pasquarello related a number of mad +tricks which Pasquale had been guilty of, and which were actually told +of him in Rome. Signor Pasquale jigged uneasily on his seat here and +there, murmuring, "Accursed Formica, you lie!--what devil inspires +you?" It was only the fact that Torricelli and Cavalcanti kept their +grave eyes fixed upon him that restrained a wild outburst of his anger. +Pasquarello ended by saying that the luckless Marianna had at last +fallen a victim to her unstilled love-longing, her bitter sorrow, and +the thousand-fold tortures which the accursed old man had inflicted +upon her, and had passed away from this world, in the flower of her +age. + +At this moment there was heard an awe-inspiring _De profundis_, chanted +by hoarse and hollow voices; and men in long white mantles appeared +upon the stage bearing a bier, on which lay the body of the beautiful +Marianna, shrouded in white grave-clothes. Signor Pasquale Capuzzi, in +the deepest mourning, tottered along behind it, moaning aloud, beating +his breast, and crying, in his despair, "Oh, Marianna! Marianna!" + +When the Capuzzi in the audience saw the body of his niece, both the +Capuzzis (him on the stage and he of the audience) howled, and cried in +the most heart-breaking tones: "Oh, Marianna! Oh, Marianna! Miserable +man that I am! Ah me! Ah me!" + +Imagine the corpse of the beautiful girl on the open tier, Surrounded +by the mourners, their solemn _De profundis_, and along with all +this, the comic masks, Doctor Graziano and Pasquarello, expressing +their grief in the most absurd gesticulations; and then the two +Capuzzis, howling and crying in despair. And in truth, all they who +were spectators of this strangest of dramatic representations, +notwithstanding the irrepressible laughter into which they could not +help breaking over the extraordinary old man, were penetrated by a deep +and eerie shudder of awe. + +The stage now suddenly grew dark. There was thunder and lightning; and +out of the depths arose a pale and spectral form, exactly alike in +every feature to Capuzzi's brother, Pietro, father of Marianna, who +died in Senegaglia. + +"Wicked Pasquale!" cried the spectre-form, in hollow, terrible tones; +"what have you done with my daughter? Despair and die, accursed +murderer of my child! Your reward awaits you in hell!" + +The Capuzzi on the stage fell down as if struck by lightning, and at +the same instant the Capuzzi down beneath fell senseless from his seat. +The branches rustling, closed into their former places; and the stage, +with Marianna and Capuzzi, and Pietro's grizzly ghost, disappeared from +view. Signor Pasquale was in such a deep faint that it cost some +trouble to bring him to himself again. + +At last he revived, with a deep sigh, stretched his hands out before +him as if to keep off the terror which seized upon him, and cried in +hollow tones: "Let me go, Pietro!" A stream of tears burst from his +eyes, and he cried, with sobs: "Ah, Marianna!--my darling beautiful +girl!--my own Marianna!" + +"Bethink you!" said Cavalcanti at last. "Consider Signor Pasquale! It +was only on the stage that you saw your niece dead. She is alive. She +is here, to implore your forgiveness for the thoughtless stratagem to +which love--and, perhaps, your own inconsiderate conduct--impelled +her." + +Here Marianna, with Antonio Scacciati behind her, rushed forward from +the back of the hall, and fell at the feet of the old gentleman, who +had been placed in an easy chair. Marianna, in the fullest lustre of +her beauty, kissed his hands, bedewed them with hot tears, and begged +forgiveness for herself and Antonio, united to her by the Church's +benediction. From the old man's deathly pale face flames suddenly +broke, fury flashed from his eyes, and he cried in a half-articulate +voice: "Ha! abandoned wretch!--venomous serpent! whom I nourished in my +bosom, for my destruction!" But the grave old Torricelli came up to +him, in all his dignity, and said that he (Capuzzi) had seen in a +figure the fate which would inevitably overtake him if he dared to +prosecute his evil design against the peace and happiness of Antonio +and Marianna. He painted, in the most brilliant colours, the folly--the +madness--of amorous old age yielding to love, which has the power of +bringing down upon its head the most destroying evil with which Heaven +can threaten man, since it annihilates all the affection which +might still be his portion, whilst hatred and contempt aim their +death-dealing arrows at him from every side. + +And Marianna cried out, in a tone which penetrated the heart: "Oh, my +uncle! I want to love and honour you as a father! You will bring me to +the bitter death if you take Antonio from me!" + +And all the poets who were surrounding the old man cried, with one +voice, that it was impossible that such an one as Signor Pasquale +Capuzzi di Senegaglia--a lover and patron of the arts, himself an +admirable and accomplished artist--should not forgive; that he, who +occupied the position of a father to the loveliest of women, should not +welcome with joy, as a son-in-law, a painter such as Antonio Scacciati, +prized by the whole of Italy, overwhelmed with honour and fame. + +It was easy to see that a mental process of some kind was going on +within the old man. He sighed; he groaned; he hid his face in his +hands, whilst Torricelli plied him with the most convincing arguments; +whilst Marianna implored him, in the most moving accents; whilst the +others extolled and belauded Antonio Scacciati to the utmost of their +skill. The old man looked, now at his niece, now at Antonio, whose fine +dress and rich chain of honour proved the truth of what was urged as to +his artistic position and success. + +All anger had disappeared from Capuzzi's countenance. He sprung up with +beaming glances, pressed Marianna to his heart, and cried: "Yes, I +forgive you, my beloved child! I forgive you, Antonio! Far be it from +mo to destroy your happiness. You are right, my worthy Signor +Torricelli. Signor Formica has shown me, in a figure, on the stage, all +the misery and destruction which would have come upon me if I had +carried out my insane idea. I am cured--completely cured--of my folly. +But where is Signor Formica?--where is my worthy physician, that I may +thank him a thousand times for my recovery, which he has brought about. +The terror which he knew how to cause me has transformed my whole +being." + +Pasquarello came forward. Antonio threw himself upon his breast, +crying: + +"Oh, Signor Formica! to whom I owe my life, my all! cast aside the mask +which disguises you, that I may see your face--that Formica may cease +to be a mystery to me." + +Pasquarello took off the cap, and the skilfully-constructed mask, which +seemed to be an actual, natural face, placing no obstacle in the way of +facial expression. And this Formica--this Pasquarello--was transformed +into--Salvator Rosa! + +"Salvator!" cried Marianna, Antonio, and Capuzzi, _ensemble_, all +amazement. + +"Yes," said that wondrous man. "Salvator Rosa; whom the Romans would +have none of, as painter, as poet; and who, as Formica, for more than a +year, on Nicolo Musso's poor little stage, moved them almost nightly to +the loudest and most immoderate applause; from whom they gladly +accepted all ridicule and mockery of what was bad, though they would +not swallow it in Salvator's poems and pictures. Salvator Formica it is +who has aided you, dear Antonio." + +"Salvator!" old Capuzzi began; "Salvator Rosa! I have looked upon you +as my worst enemy, but I have always held your art in highest honour; +and now I love you as the most valued of my friends, and I venture to +beg you to accept me as such." + +"Say, my worthy Signor Pasquale," answered Salvator, "in what I can be +of service to you, and be assured beforehand that I will employ all my +powers to fulfil your desires." + +There dawned in Capuzzi's face once more that sugary smile which had +vanished since Marianna's departure. He took Salvator's hand, and +whispered gently: "My dear Signor Salvator, you can do anything with +the good Antonio. Beg him, in my name, to allow me to spend the brief +remainder of my days with him and my dear daughter Marianna, and to +accept from me the fortune which she inherits from her mother, to which +I mean to add a liberal marriage-portion. And then, too, he mustn't +look askew if I now and then kiss the lovely child's little white hand; +and--at all events on Sundays when I go to mass--he must dress my +moustache for me; a thing which nobody in all the world can do as he +can." + +Salvator had difficulty in restraining his laughter; but before he +could make answer, Antonio and Marianna, embracing the old man, assured +him that they would not consider the reconciliation complete, or feel +thoroughly happy, until he took his place by their hearth as a beloved +father, never to leave them more. Antonio added that he would dress +Capuzzi's moustachios not only on Sundays, but every day of the week, +in the daintiest manner. And now the old man was all joy and happiness. +Meanwhile a splendid supper had been served, and to this they all sate +down, in the happiest mood of mind. + +In taking my leave of you, dear reader, I wish with all my heart that +the happiness which has now fallen to the lot of Salvator and all his +friends, may have glowed very brightly in your own breast, whilst you +have been reading the story of the marvellous Signor Formica. + + +"Now," began Lothair, when Ottmar had ended, "since our friend has +been fair and honourable enough to admit from the outset the lack of +vigour--the weakness of knee, so to speak, of his production, which it +has pleased him to call a 'Novella,' this appeal to our considerateness +does, certainly, draw the sting out of our criticisms, which were +formed up, in complete steel, to attack him. He bares his bosom to the +partizan-pike, and therefore, as magnanimous adversaries, we withhold +our thrust, and are bound to have mercy." + +"More than that," said Cyprian, "to console his pain, we feel ourselves +permitted to bestow a certain limited amount of praise. For my part, I +see a good deal in this work that is pleasant and Serapiontic. +Capuzzi's broken leg, for instance, and its consequences, his +mysterious serenade----" + +"Which," interrupted Vincenz, "has all the more of the real Spanish, or +the true Italian smack about it, just because it ends with a tremendous +cudgelling. No proper Novella of the kind would be complete without the +due amount of licking, and I prize it highly as, medically speaking, a +specially powerful stimulant, always employed by the best writers. In +Boccacio things hardly ever wind up without cudgelling; and where does +it rain more blows or thrusts than in the Romance of all Romances, 'Don +Quixote?' Cervantes himself considered it necessary to apologise to his +readers about it. Now-a-days intellectual ladies will have none of such +matters in connection with the mental 'teas' (which they enjoy along +with tea for the body); the honoured hide of a favourite poet--if he +would retain his footing at 'teas,' and in pocket-books--must, at +highest, be blackened by a tap or so on the nose, or the least little +box on an ear. But what of tea? What of cultivated ladies? Behold in +me, oh, Ottmar, your champion in complete armour, and cudgel soundly in +all the novels you may be thinking of writing. I praise you for the +cudgelling's sake." + +"And I," said Theodore, "for the delightful trio which Capuzzi, the +Pyramid-doctor, and the somewhat shudder-creating little abortion, +Pitichinaccio, form; and, moreover, for the wonderful way in which +Salvator Rosa--who never appears as the hero of the tale, but always as +an auxiliary--conforms to his character as it is described, and also as +it appears in his own works." + +"Ottmar," said Sylvester, "has held chiefly to the adventurous and +enterprising side of his character, and given us less of what was grave +and gloomy in him. _A propos_ of this, I think of the famous sonnet in +which, allegorising on his own name--Salvator--he utters his deep +indignation at his enemies and persecutors who accused him of +plundering from older writers in his poetry, which, indeed, is all +ruggedness, and deficient in interior connectedness." + +"But," said Lothair, "to return to Ottmar's Novella. The principal +fault which I have to find with it is that, instead of a story rounding +itself into a whole in all its parts, he has merely given us a series +of pictures, although they are often delightful enough." + +"Can I do otherwise than fully agree with you?" said Ottmar. "Still, +you will all admit that it requires very skilful navigation to keep +clear of the rocks upon which I have run." + +"Perhaps," said Sylvester, "the rocks in question are more dangerous to +dramatic writers. Nothing--at least in my opinion--is more annoying +than, instead of a Comedy, in which all that happens is necessarily and +closely attached to the thread which runs through the piece, and should +appear to be indispensably necessary to the picture represented, to see +merely a series of arbitrary incidents, or even unconnected, detached +situations; and indeed, the ablest dramatic author of recent times has +set the example of this thoughtless (or 'frivolous') treatment of +Comedy. Does the 'Pagen-streiche,' for example, consist of anything but +a series of ludicrous situations strung together apparently by chance, +and at random? In former days, when, on the whole (at all events as +regards the drama), one cannot complain of the want of due seriousness, +every writer of a Comedy took much pains to construct a regular plot, +and out of that plot all the comic element, the drollery, nay, the very +absurdity, duly evolved itself, of itself; because it seemed the +natural thing for it to do. Juenger (although he but too often seems +very 'flat') always did this, and even Brenner--utterly prosaic as he +was on the whole--was by no means deficient in the power of making the +comic element flow out from his plots, and his characters have often +real force and vividness of life, derived from actuality; as, for +instance, in his 'Eheprokurator.' Only those ladies of his, with their +grand phrases, are completely unenjoyablo by us nowadays. +Notwithstanding this, I have a very high opinion of him, for the +reasons I have given." + +"In my mind," said Theodore, "his Operas put him out of court +altogether. They may serve as examples how an opera ought not to be +written." + +"For the simple reason," said Vincenz, "that the departed (peace to his +ashes, as Sylvester very properly said) did not show many signs of +having much poetry in his constitution; so that in the romantic realm +of opera he could not find the slightest indication of a track to go +upon. However, as you are talking in this strain on the subject of +Comedy, I might do worse than point out that you are wasting your time +in discussing a nonentity--a thing which does not exist; and cry out to +you, as Romeo did to Mercutio-- + + 'Peace, peace, good people, peace, + Ye talk of nothing.' + +What I mean is that, taking them altogether, we never see a single +German Comedy presented on the stage, for the simple reason that the +old ones cannot be swallowed or digested (by reason of the weakness +of our stomachs), and new ones are no longer written. The reason +of the latter I might establish, very briefly, in a treatise of +some forty sheets or so; but, for the moment, I let you off with a +play-upon-words. What I say is, that we have no comic plays, because we +have none of the comic which plays with itself; nor the sense for it." + +"Dixi," cried Sylvester, laughing. "Dixi, and the name 'Vincenz' +thereunder, with due stamp and seal. I happened, at the moment, to be +thinking that in the lowest class of dramatic performances, or rather +of productions destined to be represented on the stage, perhaps those +should be included in which some clever _farceur_ mystifies and befools +some good uncle--a theatre director, or some such person. And yet it is +not so very long ago that shallow, stupid stuff of this description +constituted almost the daily bread of every stage. Just at present +there seems to be more or less an intermission in this." + +"It will never come to an end," said Theodore, "as long as there are +actors to whom nothing in the world can be more delightful than to let +themselves be wondered at and admired as chameleontic marvels, in +that they change their costume and appearance in the most varied +manner in the course of the same evening. Right out of the very +depths of my being have I been compelled to roar with laughter over +the self-apotheosis of self-sufficiency with which, after passing +through a marvellous series of soul-transmigrations, the true _ego_ of +the performer takes its enfranchised flight, like a beautiful insect. +Generally speaking, this is done in the shape of a pretty, elegant +night-moth, dressed in black, with silk stockings, and a three-cornered +hat under one arm, having, from the moment of its appearance as such, +only to deal with the admiring public, not troubling itself about that +which previously had been doing it soccage-service. As (_vide_ Wilhelm +Meister's 'Lehr-jahren') a special line of parts may so bind and +enslave to it some given actor, who, for instance, plays all the +characters who have to be cudgelled, or otherwise maltreated, every +stage must possess a _sujet_ who undertakes all the parts of the +character of _souffre douleur_, and consequently plays those +indispensable theatre managers, &c.; at all events, every starring +actor has a part of the kind in his pocket, by way of entrance-pass, or +letter of credit." + +"What you say," answered Lothair, "reminds me of a most extraordinary +fellow whom I met with in a theatrical troupe in a small town in the +south of Germany, who was the exact image of that 'pedant' (to speak +technically) in Wilhelm Meister. Insupportable as he now was on the +stage in his little minor parts, _praying_ them out in the most direful +monotony, it was said that formerly, in his younger days, he had been +a capital actor, and used to play, for instance, those sly, scampish +inn-keepers which, in older times, used to occur in almost every +comedy, and over whose total disappearance from the stage the host in +Tieck's 'Verkehrter Welt' complains. When I knew this man he seemed to +have completely accepted his fate, which truely had been a pretty hard +one, and, in complete apathy, to place no value on anything in the +world, least of all on himself. Nothing penetrated the crust which the +heaping up of the most complete wretchedness had formed over the +surface of his better self, and he was perfectly satisfied with himself +under it; and yet there often beamed out of his deep-set, clever eyes +the gleam of a higher intelligence, and there would rapidly jerk over +his face the expression of a bitter irony, so that the exaggerated +submissiveness with which he bore himself towards every one--and +more particularly towards his manager (a silly young man, full of +vanity)--took, in him, the form of an ironical contempt. On Sundays he +used to take his seat at the lower end of the _table d'hote_ of the +best hotel in the place, dressed in a good well-brushed suit of +clothes, whose cut and extraordinary pattern indicated the actor of a +long by-gone period; and there he enjoyed a hearty meal, never saying a +word to a soul, although he was exceptionally temperate, particularly +as regarded the wine, for he scarcely half-emptied the bottle which was +placed before him. At each filling of his glass he made a courteous bow +to the landlord, who gave him his Sunday dinner in return for his +teaching his children reading and writing. It happened that I was +dining one Sunday at this _table d'hote_, and found only one vacant +seat, which was at this old fellow's side. I hastened to occupy this +place, hoping that I might have the good fortune to bring to the +surface that better spirit which must be shut up within the man. It was +difficult, almost impossible, to get hold of that spirit. Just when one +thought one had him, he suddenly dived down, and slunk away in utter +humility of submissiveness. At length, after I had with difficulty +induced him to swallow a glass or two of good wine, he seemed to begin +to thaw a little, and spake with visible emotion of the fine old +theatrical times, now past and gone, apparently never to return. The +tables were being cleared; one or two of my friends joined themselves +to me; the player wanted to take his leave. I held him fast, though he +made the most touching protests. A poor superannuated actor, he said, +was no fit company for gentlemen such as we; it would be better that he +should not stay, it was not his place, and so forth. It was not so much +to my powers of persuasion as to the irresistible attractions of a cup +of coffee, and a pipe of the best Knaster, which I had in my pocket, +that I could attribute his remaining. He spoke with vividness and +_esprit_ of the old theatrical days. He had seen Eckhoff, and acted +with Schroeder. It came out that the untuned state in which he was now +so marred proceeded from the circumstance that those by-gone days had +been, for him, the world wherein he had breathed freely, and moved +unconstrainedly, and that, now that he was thrown forth out of that +period, he had no firm standing-point that he could get hold of. But +how marvellously did this man astonish us when, having become +thoroughly at his ease, and free from constraint with us, he spoke the +speech of the Ghost in Hamlet, as given in Schroeder's version +(Schlegel's translation he knew nothing about), with a power of +expression which touched our hearts; and we were all moved to +admiration at the manner in which he delivered several passages from +the part of Oldenhelm (for he would have nothing to say to the name +'Polonius'), rendering them in such a way that we distinctly saw before +our eyes the courtier, in his second childhood now, but who had clearly +not lacked worldly wisdom in former times, and still showed distinct +traces of it. This he brought before us in a manner very seldom seen on +the boards. All this, however, was but the prelude to a scene which I +never saw the parallel of, and which I can never forget. It is +here that I really, for the first time, come to what, during this +conversation of ours, brought to my remembrance the old actor in +question, and my worthy Serapion Brethren must pardon me if I have made +my introduction to this somewhat too long. This man was compelled to +undertake those wretched subordinate parts which we were talking of, +and thus it chanced that, some days after the occasion I have been +speaking of, he had to play the part of the 'Manager' in the piece 'The +Rehearsal,' which the _Impresario_ had altered to suit himself, +thinking he particularly excelled in it. Whether it was that the +conversation with us has stirred up his inner, better self, or that, +perhaps (as it was rumoured afterwards), on that day he had reinforced +his natural power with wine--contrary as that was to his usual custom-- +he had no sooner come upon the stage than he appeared to be a totally +different man from what he had been at other times. His eyes sparkled, +and the hollow wavering voice of the worn-out hypochondriac was +transformed into a clear, resonant bass, such as is employed by jovial +characters of the old style; for instance, the rich uncles who, in the +exercise of poetical justice, punish folly and reward virtue. The +beginning of the piece gave no indication of what was to come; but how +amazed was the audience when, after the first changes of dress had been +made, the strange creature turned upon the manager with sarcastic +smiles, and addressed him somewhat as follows: 'Would not the respected +audience have recognised our good So-and-so' (he mentioned the +manager's name here), 'just as readily as I did myself at the first +glance? Is it possible to base the power of deception on a coat cut in +a particular fashion, or on a more or less frizzled wig? and in this +way to stuff out a meagre talent, unsupported by any vigour of +intelligence, like a child deserted by its nurse? The young man who is +trying to pass himself off upon me, in this unskilled manner, as a +many-sided artist, a chameleontic genius, need not gesticulate so +immoderately with his hands, nor fold himself up like a pocketknife +after each of his speeches, nor roll his r's so fearfully; and if he +had not done so, I believe that a highly-prized audience (any more than +I myself) would not have recognised our little manager in one instant, +as has been the case now, to such an extent that it is pitiable. But, +inasmuch as the piece has got to go on for another half-hour, I shall +conduct myself, this once more, as if I didn't see it; although the +affair is terribly tedious and uncongenial to me.' Be it enough to say +that upon each fresh entrance of the manager, the old fellow ridiculed +his acting in the most delicious manner; and it may be fancied that +this was accompanied by the most ringing laughter of the audience; +whilst the best part of it all was that the manager, completely +absorbed in his numerous changes of costume, was absolutely unconscious +of what was going forward till the very last scene. Perhaps the old +fellow may have made a wicked compact with the theatre tailor; but it +is a fact that the wretched manager's wardrobe had got into the most +complete confusion, so that the intermediate scenes which the old man +had to fill out lasted much longer than usual, giving him time enough +to let the fulness of his bitter mockery of the poor manager stream +forth in all its glory, and even to imitate his manner of speaking, +saying many things with a wicked verity which sent the audience out of +itself. The whole piece was turned topsy-turvy, so that the stop-gap +intermediate scenes became the principal and important part of the +business. It was delightful, too, how the old fellow sometimes told the +audience beforehand how the manager was going to appear, mimicking his +gestures and attitudes; and that he attributed the ringing laughter, +which really belonged to the old fellow's admirable imitation of him, +to his own success in making up. At last, however, the manager could +not possibly help finding out what the old fellow was doing, and you +may suppose he flew at him like a raging wild boar, so that it was all +that he could do to escape mishandling. He did not dare to appear on +the stage again; but the audience and the public had got so fond of the +old actor, and took his side with so much zeal, that the manager +(burdened, moreover, since that celebrated evening, with the curse of +ludicrosity), found himself compelled to close his theatre, and betake +himself elsewhere. Several respectable townsmen, with the innkeeper at +their head, met, and collected a considerable sum of money for the old +actor, enough to enable him to have done for ever with the worries of +the stage, and end his days in comfort in the place. But marvellous, +nay, unfathomable, is the mind of an actor! Before a year was over he +suddenly disappeared, nobody knew whither, and presently he was +discovered travelling with a strolling company, quite in the same +subordinate position from which he had so recently shaken himself +clear." + +"With a very slight 'moral application,'" said Ottmar, "this tale of +the old actor belongs to the moral codex of all stage-players, and of +those who desire to become players." + +During this, Cyprian had risen silently, and, after walking once or +twice up and down the room, taken his position behind the window +curtain. Just when Ottmar ceased speaking, a blast of wind came +suddenly howling and raging in. The lights threatened to go out; +Theodore's writing-table seemed to become alive; hundreds of papers +flew up, and were wafted about the room; the strings of the old piano +groaned aloud. + +"Hey, hey!" cried Theodore, as he saw his literary notices, and who +knows what other written matter, at the mercy of the raging autumn +storm. "Hey, hey, Cyprianus, what are you about?" And they all set to +work to keep the lights in, and shield themselves from the thick +snowflakes which came swirling in. + +"It is true," said Cyprian, shutting the window, "the weather won't let +one look to see what it is." + +"Tell me," said Sylvester, taking the wholly absentminded and deeply +preoccupied Cyprian by both hands, and forcing him to sit down again in +the seat he had left, "only tell me--that is all I ask--where have you +been? In what distant region have you been wandering? for far, far away +from us has that restless spirit of yours been bearing you again." + +"Not so very far away from you as you may suppose," answered Cyprian. +"And, at all events, it was your own conversation which opened the door +for my departure. You had been saying so much about Comedy, and Vincenz +was stating his conclusion (justly resulting from experience), that +amongst us the fun which plays with itself is lost. It occurred to me +that, on the other hand, many real talents have displayed themselves in +tragedy, in more and most recent times, and along with this thought I +was struck by the remembrance of a writer who began, with genuine, +high-aspiring genius, but suddenly, as if carried away by some fatal +eddy, went under, so that his name is scarcely ever heard of." + +"There," said Ottmar, "you were going in exact opposition to Lothair's +principle--that true genius never goes under." + +"And Lothair is right," answered Cyprian, "if he holds that the +fiercest storms of life cannot blow out the flame which blazes forth +from the inner spirit,--that the bitterest adversities, the keenest +misfortunes fight in vain against the inner heavenly might of the soul, +which only bends the bow to deliver the arrow with the greater power. +But how were it if in the first inner germ of the embryo there lurked +the poisonous parasite larva, the worm, which, developing along with +the beautiful blossom, gnaws at its life, so that it bears its death +within itself? No storm is then needed for its destruction." + +"In that case," said Lothair, "your genius would be wanting in the +first condition indispensible to the tragic-poet who would enter upon +life free, and in possession of his powers. I mean that such a poet's +genius must be absolutely healthy--sound--free from the slightest +ailment, such as psychic weakness, or, to use your language, anything +such as congenital poison. Who could, and can, congratulate himself +more on such a soundness of mental constitution than our grand +G[oe]the, mighty father of us all? It is with such an unweakened +strength as his, with such an inward purity, that heroes are begotten, +such as Goetz von Berlichingen and Egmont! And if we cannot, perhaps, +admit such a heroic power (in quite the same degree) in our Schiller, +there is, on the other hand, that pure sun-glance of the inner soul +beaming round his heroes in which we, beneficently warmed, feel as +powerful and strong as their creator. And we must not forget the Robber +Moor, whom Ludwig Tieck, with perfect justice, calls the Titanic +creation of a young and daring imagination. But we are getting far from +the tragic poet whom you were speaking of, Cyprian, and I hope you will +tell us at once to whom you allude, although I fancy I have a strong +idea?" + +"I was very nearly breaking in upon your conversation, as I did once +before, with strange words and sayings," answered Cyprian, "which you +would not have understood, inasmuch as you were not seeing the images +of my waking-dream. Nevertheless, I cry out 'No! Since the days of +Shakespeare there never stalked such a Being across the stage as this +superhumanly terrible, gruesome old man!' And that you may not remain a +moment longer in doubt on the subject, I add at once that no modern +poet can congratulate himself on such a loftily tragic and powerful +creation as the author of the Soehne des Thales." + +The friends looked at each other in amazement. They made a rapid +pass-muster of the principal characters in Zacharias Werner's pieces, +and then came to the same conclusion--that in every case there was a +certain element of the strange and singular, and often of the +commonplace, mingled with the truly great, the grandly tragic which +seemed to indicate that the author had never come to any really clear +seeing of his heroes, and that he was doubtless deficient in that +absolute health and soundness of the inner mind which Lothair +considered indispensible to every writer of tragedy. + +Theodore alone had been laughing within himself, as if he were of +another opinion, and now began: + +"Halt! Halt! ye worthy Serapion Brethren. Don't be in too great a +hurry. I know very well, in fact, I am the only one of you who can +know, that Cyprian is speaking of a work which the writer never +finished, which is consequently unknown to the world, although friends +in the writer's neighbourhood, to whom he communicated sketches of +scenes from it, had ample reason to be convinced that it would rise to +the position of being amongst the grandest and most powerful, not only +that he ever produced, but which have been seen in modern days." + +"Of course," said Cyprian, "I was talking of the second part of the +'Kreuz an der Ostsee,' in which it is that the terrible, gruesome, +gigantic character to whom I was alluding occurs, the old King of +Prussia, Waidewuthis. It may be impossible for me to give you a +distinct idea of this character, which the poet, by virtue of some +mighty spell at his command, seems to have conjured up from the +mysterious depths of the subterranean kingdoms. It must suffice if I +enable you to look into the interior mechanism of the springs which the +poet has placed within it to set this production of his into due +activity of movement. According to historical tradition, the earliest +'culture' of the ancient Prussians was originated by their king, +Waidewuthis. He introduced the rights of property. The fields were +divided, and agriculture carried on. He also gave the nation a form of +religious worship, inasmuch as he himself carved three graven images, +to which sacrifices were offered beneath an ancient oak-tree, where +they were set up; but a terrible power grasped hold of him (though +himself all-powerful, the god of the nation which he ruled), those rude +graven images, carved by his own hands, that the people's force and +will might bow down before them as embodiments of a higher energy, +suddenly awoke into life. And what inflamed those senseless images thus +into life was the fire which the Satanic Prometheus stole from Hell. +Rebellious thralls of their Lord and Maker, those idols began to wield +against himself the weapons with which he had armed them. And thus +commences the monstrous conflict of the Superhuman principle with the +Human. I do not know if I have been intelligible to you--if I have +quite succeeded in representing to you the poet's colossal idea; but, +as Serapion Brethren, I would charge you to look deep down, as I have +done, into the terrible abyss which the poet has opened and disclosed, +and feel the terror and awe which overwhelms me even now as I think of +that Waidewuthis." + +"And in truth," said Theodore, "our Cyprian has turned quite white; +which of course proves how the whole grand sketch of the extraordinary +picture which the poet displayed before him--but from which he has +shown us only one of the principal groups--has stirred his inner soul. +But, as regards Waidewuthis, I think it would have been sufficient to +say that the poet, with astonishing power and originality, conceived +this Daemon with so much grandeur, power, and might, so gigantic a +figure, that he appears quite worthy of the contest, and that the +triumph, the glory of Christianity must beam forth all the brighter in +consequence. It is true that in many of his characteristics, the old +monarch appears to me as if he were--to speak with Dante--the Imperador +del Doloroso Regno in person, walking on earth. The catastrophe of his +overthrow, that triumph of Christianity, which is the final chord +towards which everything strives, in the whole work (which to me, at +all events, according to the design of the second part, seems to belong +to another world), I have never been able to form a conception of to +myself in dramatic form; although in quite other sounds, and in those +only, I did conceive the possibility of a conclusion which, in terrific +sublimity, would surpass everything else which could be conceived of. +But this only became apparent to me when I had read Calderon's great +'Magus.' Moreover, the poet has not uttered himself as to the mode in +which he would finish the work; at least nothing of the sort has +reached my ears." + +"It seems to me," said Vincent, "on the whole very much as though it +had gone with the poet, as to his work, as it did with old King +Waidewuthis and his graven images. It grew over his head; and that he +could not get control of his own power is proved by the very failure of +his inward energy, which, at length, does not allow anything sound, +healthy, vigorous, to come to the light of day. On the whole, even if +Cyprian is right in thinking that the old king had the best possible +dispositions for turning out a splendid and powerful Satan, I do not +see how he could have got into due relation with humanity again. The +Satan would have had to be, at the same time, a grand, powerful kingly +hero." + +"And that is exactly what he was," answered Cyprian. "But to prove this +to you, I should require to know whole scenes by heart, which the +author communicated to us. I remember one in particular, very vividly, +which seemed to me magnificent. King Waidewuthis knew that none of his +sons would succeed him in the crown, so he selected a boy--I think he +appeared about twelve years old--as his successor. In the night they +two--Waidewuthis and the boy--are lying by the fire, and Waidewuthis. +occupies himself in kindling the boy's courage towards the idea of the +godly-might of the Euler of a People. This address of Waidewuthis +seemed to me quite masterly, quite perfect. The boy, who has a young +tame wolf, his faithful playmate, in his arms, listens attentively to +the old man's words; and when the latter at last asks him if, for the +sake of power he would be capable of sacrificing even his wolf, the boy +looks him gravely in the face, and without a word, throws the wolf into +the flames." + +"I know," cried Theodore, as Vincent smiled strangely, and Lothair +seemed on the point of breaking out from inward impatience, "I know +what you are going to say--I hear the severe sentence of condemnation +with which you dismiss the author; and I will admit that I should have +perfectly agreed with you only a day or two ago, and been of the same +opinion, not so much from conviction, as from anger that the author +should have entered upon paths which must for ever carry him away from +me, Bo that a re-encounter between us must have appeared scarcely +conceivable, and moreover, almost not to be desired. It would have been +quite justifiable for the world, considering the manner in which the +author had commenced his career, to think that there was evidence of an +untruthful inconstancy--a weathercockiness--of mind, disposed to cast +over others the veil which self-deception had woven around him; +although, all this time, the truth had torn this veil asunder, with +rude vigour, so that the world could discern, in his heart, a wicked +spirit of self-seeking, endeavouring to gain the glitter of false fame +for purposes of self-beatification. But I am obliged to confess that +his preface to his sacred drama, 'The Mother of the Macabees,' has +completely disarmed me. And this preface can only be perfectly +understood by the few friends of his who were closely associated with +him in his most beautiful blossoming-time. It contains the most +affecting admissions of culpable weaknesses; the most pathetic +lamentations over powers for ever lost. Those things may have escaped +the writer involuntarily, and it is very likely that he did not, +himself, perceive that deeper significance which the friends whom he +had abandoned must have seen in those words. As I read this preface, I +seemed to see, through a dim, colourless ocean of cloud, rays feebly +piercing of a lofty, noble spirit, rising beyond the crack-brained +follies of immature perversity, and, if not fully conscious of its own +value, yet possessing a considerable inkling of its worth. The writer +seemed to me much like one of those who are victims of that form of +insanity of which the predominant symptom is 'fixed idea.' Those +unhappy people are, in their lucid intervals, aware of their delusions; +but, to soothe the comfortless horror of that consciousness, they +strive to convince themselves that in those very delusions their +highest and truest existence lives and moves. And this they do by the +most ingenious sophisms; striving also to induce themselves to believe +that their consciousness of their delusion is nothing but the sick +doubting of Humanity immeshed and enslaved in the Earthly. And in the +preface which I am speaking of, the writer touches upon the second part +of the 'Kreuz an der Ostsee,' admitting this." + +"Please don't make such horrible faces, Lothair! Sit still on your +chair, Ottmar; don't drum the Russian Grenadiers' March on the elbow of +your seat, Vincenz. I really think that the author of the 'Soehne des +Thales' deserves to be discussed rationally and quietly by us, and I +must confess that my heart is very full of this subject, and I cannot +help letting the froth which is seething there boil thoroughly over." + +"Ha!" cried Vincenz, very loudly and pathetically, "how the froth +seethes!--now that is a quotation from the 'Kreuz an der Ostsee,' where +the heathen priests sing it in fearful and horrible strains. My dear +Serapion-Brother Theodore, you may rage, revile, curse and blaspheme +as much as you please, but I must just introduce into this many-sided +discussion one little anecdote, which will throw, at all events, +a momentary glimpse of sunshine over all those corpse-watchers' +countenances. The author of whom we are speaking had got together a few +friends that he might read to them the 'Kreuz an der Ostsee' from the +manuscript. They had heard some passages from it before, which had +raised their expectations to the highest pitch. The author had, as +usual, seated himself in the centre of the circle, at a small table +where two candles were burning in tall candlesticks. He had taken his +manuscript out of his breast-pocket, and laid down before him his big +snuff-box, and his blue-and-white checked pocket-handkerchief. Profound +silence reigned. Not a breath was audible. The author, making one of +his extraordinary faces, which defy all description, began as +follows:-- + +"'Bankputtis!--Bankputtis!--Bankputtis!' + +"Of course you remember that, in the opening scene, at the rising of +the curtain, the Prussians are discovered, assembled by the seashore, +collecting amber; and they invoke the deities who preside over this. +Very well. The author, as I have said, began with the words-- + +"'Bankputtis! Bankputtis!" + +"Then there was a short pause; after which there came forth out of a +corner the soft voice of a member of the audience, saying: 'My dearest +and most beloved friend! Most glorious of all authors; if you have +written the whole of this most admirable poem of yours in that infernal +language, not one soul of us understands a single syllable of it. For +God's sake, be so kind as to start with a translation of it.'" + +The friends laughed; but Cyprian and Theodore remained silent and +grave. Before the latter could begin to speak, Ottmar said: "It is +impossible, in this connection, that I should forget the extraordinary, +nay, almost preposterously absurd, meeting of two men who were--at all +events as concerned their opinions upon Art and their views about +it--absolutely heterogeneous in their natures. Indisputable as it may +be that Werner carried the idea of the 'Kreuz an der Ostsee' about with +him for a long time, to the best of my knowledge the first impulse to +his writing it came to him from Iffland, who was anxious that he should +write a tragedy for the Berlin stage. The 'Soehne des Thales' was then +attracting much attention, and perhaps that dramatic writer may have +been interested in this newly-developed talent, or he may have thought +he saw that this young _debutant_ was capable of being trained to the +performance of the systematic round of theatre tricks, and would +acquire a skilled 'stage-hand.' However this may be, think of Iffland +with the manuscript of the 'Kreuz an der Ostsee' in his hands. +Iffland--to whom the tragedies of Schiller (which then, in spite of all +opposition, had made their way, chiefly through the great Fleck) were +really disgustful, in the depths of his soul; Iffland, who although he +did not dare, for dread of that sharp lash which he had felt already, +to speak out his real opinion, had put _this_ in print: 'Tragedies +which contain grand historical incidents, and a crowd of characters, +are the ruin of the stage;' adding, 'on account of the tremendous +expenses,' but thinking, in his heart, '_dixi et salvavi_.'--Iffland, +who would have been too pleased to put upon his privy-councillors, +secretaries, and so forth, tragic _cothurni_ made after his own +pattern--read the 'Kreuz an der Ostsee' in the light of its being a +tragedy expressly written for the Berlin stage, which he himself should +set out into scenes, and in which he should play nothing less than the +Ghost of Bishop Adalbert, murdered by the Pagan Prussians, very +frequently appearing on the stage as a terror-inspiring character not +sparing of partly edifying, partly mystic speeches, while at every +mention of the name of Christ a flame breaks out of his forehead, to +instantaneously disappear again. It was impossible to throw this piece +overboard (as would have been done in a moment in the case of the _dii +minores_), notwithstanding that it was one which was full of +improbabilities, and bristling with difficulties (much more real +difficulties from the stage-manager's point of view, than many +Shakesperian plays, in which those difficulties are more apparent than +real). What had to be done was to express great admiration of it; to +laud it up to the skies, and then to declare, with deep regret, that +the capabilities of the stage were not practically sufficient for the +production of a thing so great. It was this which had to be done; and +the letter in which Iffland stated all this to the author (the +construction of which was on the lines of the well-known form of +refusal of the Italians, '_ben parlato-ma_'), was, of course, a +classical master-piece of theatrical diplomacy. It was not from the +nature of the piece itself that the manager deduced the impossibility +of representing it on the stage; he merely, in a courteous manner, +complained of the stage-manager, the property-men, and the carpenters, +to whose magic there were such narrow limits that they were not even +capable of making a Saint's glory shine in the air. But, no more on the +subject. It is for Theodore to make such excuses as he can for the +errors of his friend." + +"To defend and excuse this friend of mine," said Theodore, "I fear +would be a very unsatisfactory thing to try to do. I should much prefer +to set you a psychical problem to solve, which ought, really, to lead +you to consider how peculiar influences may work upon the psychical +organism; or, indeed (to return to Cyprian's simile, the worm +engendered along with the most beautiful flower), on the worm which is +to poison and kill. We are told Hysterism in the mother is not +transmitted, by heredity, to the son, but that it does produce in him a +peculiarly lively imagination, even to the extent of eccentricity; and +I believe that there is one of ourselves in whose case the correctness +of this theory is confirmed. Now, how might it be with the effect of +actual _insanity_ of the mother upon the son, although he does not, as +a rule, inherit that either? I am not speaking of that weak, childish +sort of mental aberration in women, which is often the result of an +enfeebled nervous system; what I have in view is that abnormal mental +state in which the psychic principle, volatilized into a sublimate by +the operation of the furnace of imagination, has been converted into a +poison, which has attacked the vital spirits, so that they have become +sick unto death, and the human creature, in the delirium of this +malady, believes the dream of another life-condition to be actual +waking reality. Now, a woman highly gifted mentally, and largely +endowed with imagination and fancy, may in those circumstances be much +more like to a heavenly prophet than to an insane creature, and in the +excitement of her paroxysms may say things, which to many persons would +appear much more like the direct inspiration of higher intelligences +than the mere utterances of insanity. Suppose that the fixed idea of +such a woman consisted in her believing herself to be the Virgin Mary, +and her son Christ, and let this be repeated daily to the boy, who is +not taken away from her, whilst his powers of comprehension gradually +develop themselves. He is over-bountifully endowed with talent and +intelligence, and specially with a glowing imagination. Friends and +teachers whom he respects and believes all tell him that his poor +mother is out of her mind, and he himself sees the craziness of the +idea, which is not so much as new to him, since it exists in nearly +every lunatic asylum. But his mother's words sink deeply into his +heart; he thinks he is hearing announcements from another world, and +feels vividly the belief taking root within him upon which he bases his +system of thinking. Above all, he is very much struck and imbued with +what the maternal prophetess tells him regarding the trials of this +world; the scoffing and despite which the consecrated one must endure. +He finds this all realized, and in his boyish melancholy looks upon +himself as a Divine victim, when his schoolfellows make fun of him for +his quaint-looking clothes and his timid awkward manners. What follows? +Must there not arise in the breast of such a youth the belief that the +so-called insanity of his mother, which seems to _him_ lofty and +sublime beyond the comprehension of the common herd, is really neither +more nor less than a prophetic announcement, in metaphorical language, +of the high destiny in store for him, chosen by the powers of heaven! +Saint--prophet!--could there be stronger impulses to mysticism for a +youth fired with a glowing power of imagination? Let it be further +supposed that he is physically and psychically excitable to the most +destructive extent, and apt to fall a prey to and be carried away by +the most irresistible tendency to vice, and the wicked lusts of the +world.... I desire to pass in haste, and with averted face, by the +fearful abysses of human nature whence the germs of those tendencies +spring, which might take root and flourish in the heart of the +unfortunate youth without his being further to blame than in that +he had a hot blood, only too congenial a soil for the luxuriant +poison-plant.... I dare not go further; you feel the terrible nature of +the strife which tears the heart of the unhappy youth. Heaven and hell +are drawn up in battle array; and it is this mortal combat imprisoned +within him which gives rise to phenomena on the surface in utter +discord with everything else conditioned by mortal nature, and capable +of no interpretation whatever. How, then, if the glowing power of +imagination of this man (who in youth imbibed the germ of those +eccentricities from his mother's mental state) should subsequently, at +a time when Sin, bereft of all her adornments, accuses herself, in all +her repulsive nakedness, for the hellish deceptions of the past, lead +him, driven by the pain and remorse of his repentance, to take refuge +in the mysticism of some religious _cultus_, coming to meet him with +hymns of victory and perfume of incense? How when then, out of the most +hidden depths, the voice of some dark spirit within should become +audible, saying: 'It was but mortal blindness which led you to believe +that there was dissension in your heart. The veil has fallen, and you +perceive that sin is the stigma of your heavenly nature, of your +supernatural calling, wherewith the Eternal has marked the chosen one. +It was only when you set yourself to offer resistance to sinful +impulse, to contend with the Eternal Power, that you were abandoned in +your blindness and degeneracy. The purified fires of hell shine in the +glories of the Saints.' And thus does this terrible hypermysticism +impart to the lost one a consolation which completes the ruin of the +rotten walls of the edifice of his existence; just as it is when the +madman derives comfort and enjoyment from his madness, that his +recovery is known to be hopeless." + +"Oh, please go no further," cried Sylvester. "You hurried, with averted +face, past an abyss which you avoided looking into; but to me it seems +as if you were leading us along upon narrow, slippery paths, where +terrible and threatening gulfs yawn at us on either side. What you last +said reminded me of the horrible mysticism of Pater Molinos, the +dreadful doctrine of Quietism. I shuddered when I read the leading +theorem of that doctrine. 'Il ne faut avoir nul egard aux tentations, +ni leur opposer aucune resistance. Si la nature se meut, il faut la +laisser agir; ce n'est que la nature!'[1] This, of course, would +carry----" + + +[Footnote 1: "Toute operation active est absolument interdite par +Molinos. C'est meme offenser Dieu, que de ne pas tellement s'abandonner +a lui, que l'on soit comme un corps inanime. De-la vient, suivant cette +heresiarque, que le v[oe]u de faire quelque bonne [oe]uvre est un +obstacle a la perfection, parce que l'activite naturelle est ennemie de +la grace; c'est un obstacle aux operations de Dieu et a la vraie +perfection, parce que Dieu veut agir en nous sans nous. Il ne faut +connoitre ni lumiere, ni amour, ni resignation. Pour etre parfait, il +ne faut pas meme connoitre Dieu; il ne faut penser, ni au paradis, ni a +l'enfer, ni a la mort, ni a l'eternite. On ne doit point desirer de +scavoir si on marche dans la volonte de Dieu, si on est assez resigne +ou non. En un mot, il ne faut point que l'ame connoisse ni son etat ni +son neant; il faut qu'elle soit comme un corps inanime. Toute reflexion +est nuisible, meme celles qu'on fait sur ses propres actions, et sur +ses defauts. Ainsi on ne doit point s'embarrasser du scandale que l'on +peut causer, pourvu que l'on n'ait pas intention de scandaliser. Quand +une fois on a donne son libre arbitre a Dieu, on ne doit plus avoir +aucun desir de sa propre perfection, ni des vertus, ni de sa +sanctification, ni de son salut; il faut meme se defaire de +l'esperance, parce qu'il faut abandonner a Dieu tout le soin de ce que +nous regarde, meme celui de faire en nous et sans nous sa divine +volonte. Ainsi c'est une imperfection que de demander; c'est avoir une +volonte et vouloir que celle de Dieu s'y conforme. Par la meme raison +il ne faut lui rendre grace d'aucune chose; c'est le remercier d'avoir +fait notre volonte; et nous n'en devons point avoir." ('Causes +celebres,' par Richer. Tom. ii.: 'Histoire du Proces de la Cadiere.')] + + +"It would carry us a good deal too far," interrupted Lothair, "into the +realm of the most horrible dreams, and--to speak generally--of that +amount of crack-brainedness of which there can never be any question +amongst us Serapion Brethren. So let us abandon the subject of all that +sublimity of mental unhingedness which is the foster-mother of +religious mania." + +Ottmar and Vincenz agreed in this, and added that Theodore had +committed a breach of Serapiontic rule by speaking so fully on a +subject to some extent strange to the other brethren, in this manner +giving himself up to impulses of the moment, and damming up the flow of +other communications. + +Cyprian, however, look Theodore's part, maintaining that the subject on +which, for the most part, he had been speaking, might be thought to +possess such an amount of interest (though, as far as he himself was +concerned, he must say it was of an uncanny character) that even those +to whom the person to whom it had referred had never been known, could +not but feel themselves very much attracted and affected by it. + +Ottmar thought that he could have felt a certain amount of interest +about it if it had been written in a book. Cyprian said that the +_sapienti sat_, was enough as regarded it. + +In the meantime, Theodore had gone into the next room, and now came +back with a veiled picture, which he placed on a table against the +wall, setting two candles in front of it. All eyes were bent upon it, +and when Theodore quickly removed the cloth from before it an "Ah!" +came from all their lips. + +It was the author of the 'Soehne des Thales,' a life-size half-length, +a most speaking likeness, as if it had been stolen out of a +looking-glass. + +"Is it possible!" cried Ottmar, enthusiastically. "Yes, from under +those bushy eyebrows there gleams from the dark eyes the strange fire +of that unlucky mysticism which dragged the poet to his destruction. +But the goodness, the kindliness, the lovableness and the talents which +beam out of the rest of his features, and this charmingly 'roguish' +smile of real humour which plays about the lips, and seems to try +unsuccessfully to hide itself in the long, projecting chin, which the +hand is stroking so quietly. Of a truth I feel myself more and more +drawn to this mystic, who grows the more human the longer one looks at +him." + +"We all feel the same," cried Lothair and Vincenz. + +"Yes, yes," cried the latter, "those sorrowful, gloomy eyes get +brighter. You are right, Ottmar, he grows human--_homo factus est_. +See, he looks with his eyes--he smiles; presently he will say something +that will delight us; some heavenly jest; some fulminating sally of wit +is playing about his lips. Out with it, out with it, good Zacharias! +Stand on no ceremony! We are your friends, master of reserved irony! +Ha! Serapion Brethren! let us elect him, glasses in hand, an honorary +member of our Society; we will drink to our brotherhood, and I will +pour a libation before his picture, and bedew with a few glittering +drops my own varnished Parisian boots into the bargain." + +The friends took their filled glasses in hand to carry out Vincenz's +suggestion. + +"Stop!" cried Theodore. "Let me say a word or two first. To begin with, +I hope you will by no means apply that psychical problem of mine (which +I perhaps stated somewhat too forcibly) directly to our author here. +Rather take it that my object was to show you very vividly and +convincingly how dangerous it is to form conclusions about phenomena in +a man of which we know nothing as to their deep psychic origin; nay, +how heartless, as well as senseless, it is to persecute, with silly +scorn and childish derision, one who has been the victim of a +depressing influence, such as we ourselves would probably have resisted +less successfully. Who shall cast the first stone at one who has grown +defenceless because his strength has ebbed away with the heart's-blood +flowing from wounds inflicted by his own self-deception? My end is +gained now. Even you--Lothair, Ottmar, Vincenz, severe inflexible +critics and judges, have quite altered your opinions now that you have +seen my poet face to face. His face speaks truth. I must testify that, +in the happy days when he and I were friends, he was the most +delightful and charming of men in every relation of life. All the +oddities, and strange eccentricities of his exterior, and of his whole +being (which he himself, with delicate irony, tried to bring to light, +rather than to conceal) only produced the effect of rendering him, in +the most various surroundings and most diverse circumstances, always in +the most attractive manner, utterly delightful. Moreover, he was full +of a subtle humour which rendered him the worthy _confrere_ of Hamann, +Heppel, and Scheffner. It is impossible that all that blossom of +promise can be withered and dead, blighted by the poison breath of a +miserable infatuation. No! If that picture could come to life--if the +poet were to walk in and sit down actually amongst us here, life and +genius would coruscate out of his discourse as of yore. I fain would +hope that I see the dawn of a new and brilliant day! May the rays of +true wisdom break out more and more brightly; may recovered strength +and renewed power of labour produce work which shall show us the poet +in the pure glory of the verily inspired singer, even if it does not +happen before the late autumn of his days! And to this, ye Serapion +Brethren, let us drink in happy expectation." + +The friends, forming a semicircle round the picture, clinked their +glasses together. "And then," said Vincenz, "it won't matter whether he +is Private Secretary, Abbe, or Privy Councillor, Cardinal, or the very +Pope; or even a Bishop _in partibus infidelium_, that's to say, of +Paphos!" + +As was usually the case with Vincenz, he had without intending it, or +even being aware of it, stuck a comic tail on to a serious subject. But +the friends felt too strangely moved to pay particular attention to +this. They sat down again in silence at the table, while Theodore +carried the poet's picture back into the next room. + +"I had meant," said Sylvester, "to read you this evening a story, for +the idea of which I am indebted to a strange chance, or rather, to a +strange remembrance. But it is so late that Serapiontic hours would be +long over before I had finished it." + +"That is very much my case too," said Vincenz, "with my long-promised +tale, which I have got pressed against my heart here in the +breast-pocket of my coat (that usual _boudoir_ of literary productions) +like a pet child. It has sucked itself fat and lusty at the mother's +milk of my imagination, and has thereby got so forward and so talkative +that if I were to let it begin, it would go on till daybreak. So that +it must wait till the next meeting. To talk, I mean to converse, +appears dangerous to-night; for, before one knows where one is, some +heathen king, or Pater Molinos (or some _mauvais sujet_ or another of +the sort), suddenly sits in the midst of us, talking all kinds of +unintelligible nonsense. So that if either of us can out with a +manuscript with something amusing in it, I hope he will let us hear +it." + +"If anything which any one of us may be able to produce to-night," said +Cyprian, "must seem to be nothing more than a stop-gap, or an +intermezzo between other melodies, I may pluck up courage to read +to you a trifle which I wrote down many years ago, when I had been +passing through a period of much mystery and some danger. I had +completely forgotten the existence of the pages in question, until they +accidentally came into my hands a short time ago, vividly recalling +the times to which they relate. My belief is that what led to the +production of this rather chimerical story is much more interesting +than the thing itself; and I shall have more to say on that subject +when I have finished it." + +Cyprian read: + + + + PHENOMENA. + +When any allusion was made to the last siege of Dresden, Anselmus +turned even paler than he ordinarily was. He would fold his hands in +his lap--he would gaze before him, lost in melancholy memories--he +would murmur to himself, + +"God of Heaven, were I to put my legs into my new riding-boots at the +proper time, and run across the bridge towards Neustadt, paying no +attention to burning straw, and the bursting shells, I have no doubt +that this great personage and the other would, put his head out of his +carriage window and say, with a polite bow, 'Come along, my good sir, +without any ceremony. I have room for you.' But there was I shut up and +hemmed in in the middle of the accursed Marmot's-burrow, all ramparts, +embankments, trenches, star-batteries, covered ways, &c., suffering +hunger and misery as much as the best of them. Didn't it come to this, +that if one happened to turn over the pages of a Roux's dictionary by +way of passing the time, and came upon the word 'Eat,' one's exhausted +stomach cried out in utter amazement, 'Eat? Now what does that mean?' +People who had once on a time been fat buttoned their skin over them, +like a double-breasted coat, a natural Spencer! Oh, heavens, if only +that Master of the Rolls--that Lindhorst--hadn't been there! Popowicz +of course wanted to kill me, but the Dolphin sprinkled marvellous +life-balsam out of its silver-blue nostrils. And Agafia!" When he spoke +this name, Anselmus was wont to get up from his seat, jump just a little, +once, twice, three times; and then sit down again. It was always quite +useless to ask him what he really meant, on the whole, by those +extraordinary sayings and grimaces. He merely answered, "Can I possibly +describe what happened with Popowicz and Agafia without being supposed +to be out of my mind?" And every one would laugh gently, as much as to +say, "Well, my good fellow, we suppose that whether or not." + +One drear, cloudy October evening, Anselmus, who was understood to be +somewhere a long way off--came in at the door of a friend of his. He +seemed to be moved to the depths of his being, he was kindlier and +tenderer than at other times--almost pathetic. His humour (often +perhaps too wildly discursive, too universally antagonistic) was bowing +itself, tamed and bridled, before the mighty Spirit which had +possession of his inner soul. It had grown quite dark, the friend +wanted to send for lights. But Anselmus, taking hold of both his arms, +said: "If you would, for once, do me a real favour, don't have lights +brought. Let's be content with the dim shining of that Astral lamp +which is sending its glimmer from the closet there. You can do what you +please--drink tea, smoke tobacco, but don't smash any cups, or throw +lighted matches on to my new trousers. Either of those things would not +only pain me, but would make an unnecessary noise and disturbance in +the enchanted garden into which I have at last managed to get to-day, +and in which I am enjoying myself to my soul's content. I shall go and +lie on that sofa." + +He did so. After a considerable pause, he began: + +"To-morrow morning at eight o'clock it will be exactly two years since +Count von der Lobau marched out from Dresden with twelve thousand men +and four-and-twenty guns, to fight his way to the Meissner Hills." + +"Well," said his friend, "I have been sitting here on the stretch of an +expectation, almost of a devout description, thinking I was going to +hear of some celestial manifestation, coming hovering out of your +enchanted garden--and this is all? What interest do I take in Count von +der Lobau and his expedition? And fancy you remembering that there were +just twelve thousand men and four-and-twenty guns. When did military +details of the sort begin to effect a lodgment in that head of yours?" + +"Are those days of mystery and fatality," said Anselmus, "which we +passed through so short a time ago so completely forgotten by you that +you no longer recollect the manner in which the armed monster grasped +us and drove us? The _noli turbare_ no longer held in check our own +exertions of force, and we would not _be_ held in check or protected, +for in every heart the demon made deep wounds, and, driven by wild +torture, every hand grasped the unfamiliar sword, not for defence, +no--for attack, that the hateful ignominy might be atoned for, and +revenged, by Death! Even at this hour there comes upon me, in bodily +form of flesh and blood, that power which was active in those days +of darkness, and drove me forth from art and science into that +blood-stained tumult. Was it possible, do you think, for me to go on +sitting at my desk? I hurried up and down the streets, I followed the +troops when they marched out, as far as I dared, merely to see with my +own eyes as much as I could, and from what I Baw to gather some hope, +paying no heed to the miserable, deceptive, proclamations and news +'from the seat of war.' Very good. When at length that battle of all +battles was fought, when all round us every voice was shouting for joy +at new-won freedom, whilst we were still lying in chains of slavery, I +felt as if my heart would break. I felt as though I must gain air and +freedom, for myself and all who were chained to the stake along with +me, by means of some terrible deed. It may seem to you now, and with +the knowledge of me which you think you possess, incredible and +ludicrous; but I can assure you that I went about with the idea in my +mind, the insane idea, that I would set a match to some fort which I +knew the enemy had got well-stocked with powder, and blow it into the +air." + +The friend could not help smiling a little at the wild heroism of the +unwarlike Anselmus. The latter, however, could not see this, as it was +dark; and after a few moments' silence he proceeded as follows. "You +have all of you often said that a peculiar planet which presides over +me has a manner of bringing marvellous matters about my path on +occasions of importance, matters in which people do not believe and +which often seem to myself as if they proceeded out of my own inner +being, although there they are, outside of me also, taking form as +mystic symbols of that element of the marvellous which we find all +about us everywhere in life. It was so with me this day two years ago +in Dresden. That long day had dragged itself out in dull, mysterious +silence; everything was quiet outside the gate--not a shot to be heard. +Late in the evening--it might have been about ten o'clock, I slunk into +a coffee house in the old market, where, in an out-of-the-way back room +into which none of the hated foreigners were allowed to penetrate, +friends of like minds and opinions gave each other reassurance of +comfort and hope. It was there where, notwithstanding all the lies +which were current, the true news of the engagements at the Katzbach, +Culm, &c., were first received, where our R. told us of the victory at +Leipzig two days after it happened, though God knows how he obtained +his knowledge of it. My way had led me past the Bruehl Palace, where the +Field Marshal was quartered, and I had been struck by the unusual +lighting-up of the salons, as well as the stir going on all over the +house. I was just mentioning this to my friends, with the remark that +the enemy must have something in hand, when R. came hurrying in, +breathless, and in great excitement. 'Hear the latest thing,' he began +at once. 'There has been a Council of War at the Field Marshal's. +General Mouton (Count von der Lobau) is going to fight his way to +Meissen with twelve thousand men and four-and-twenty guns. He marches +out this morning.' After a good deal of discussion we at last adopted +R.'s opinion that this attack, which, from the unceasing watchfulness +of our friends outside, might very probably be disastrous to the enemy, +would very likely force the Field Marshal to capitulate, and so put a +period to our miseries. "How," thought I, as I was going home about +midnight, "can R. have found out what the decision come to was almost +at the very moment it was arrived at?" However, I was presently aware +of a hollow, rumbling sound making itself audible through the deathly +stillness of the night. Guns and ammunition waggons, well loaded up +with forage, began passing slowly by me in the direction of the Elbe +bridge. "R. was right then," I had to say to myself. I followed the +line of their march and got as far as the centre of the bridge, where +there was at that time a broken arch, temporarily repaired with wooden +beams and scaffolding. At each side of this construction was a species +of fortification, constructed of high palisading and earth-works. Here, +close to this fortification, I took up my position, pressing myself +close to the balustrade of the bridge so as not to be seen. It now +seemed to me that the tall palisades began moving backwards and +forwards, and bending over towards me, murmuring hollow, unintelligible +words. The deep darkness of the cloudy night prevented my seeing +anything clearly; but when the troops had crossed, and all was as still +as death on the bridge, I could make out that there was a deep, +oppressed breathing near me, and a faint, mysterious whimpering or +whining--one of the dark, scarcely distinguishable baulks of the timber +was rising into a higher position. An icy horror fell upon me, and, +like a man tortured in a nightmare dream, firmly fettered by leaded +clamps, I could not move a muscle. The night-breeze rose, wafting mists +about the hills: the moon sent feeble rays through rents in the clouds. +And I saw, not far from me, the figure of a tall old man with silvery +hair and a long beard. The mantle which fell over his haunches he had +cast across his breast in numerous heavy folds. With his long, white +naked arm he was stretching a staff far out over the river. It was from +him that the murmuring and whimpering proceeded. At that moment I heard +the sound of marching coming from the town, and I saw the sheen of +arms. The old man cowered down, and began to whimper and lament, in a +pitiful voice, holding out a cap to those who were coming over the +bridge, as if asking for alms. An officer, laughing, cried, "_Voila +St. Pierre, qui veut pecher!_" The one who came next stopped, and said +very gravely, "_Eh bien! Moi, pecheur, je lui aiderai a pecher._" +Several officers and soldiers, quitting the ranks, threw the old man +money, sometimes silently, sometimes with gentle sighs, like men in +expectation of death; and he, then, always nodded from side to side +with his head in a curious way, uttering a sort of hollow cry of a +singular description. At length an officer (in whom I recognized +General Mouton) came so very close to the old man that I thought his +foaming charger would tramp upon him; and, turning quickly to his +aide-de-camp, as he thrust his hat more firmly down on to his head, he +asked him, in a loud excited voice, "_Qui est cet homme?_" "The escort +which was in attendance on him stood motionless; but an old, bearded +sapper, who was passing with his axe on his shoulder, said, calmly and +gravely, "_C'est un pauvre maniaque bien connu ici. On l'appelle St. +Pierre Pecheur._" On that the force passed on across the bridge, not as +at other times, full of foolish jesting, but in dispirited ill-temper +and gloom. As the last sound of them died away, and the last gleam of +their arms disappeared, the old man slowly reared himself up, and stood +with uplifted head and staff outstretched, like some miraculous saint +ruling the stormy water. The waves of the river rose into mightier and +mightier billows, as if stirred from their depths. And I seemed to hear +a hollow voice, coming up from amidst those rushing waters, and saying +in the Russian language. + +"Michael Popowicz! Michael Popowicz! Do you not see the fireman?" + +The old man murmured to himself. He seemed to be praying. But suddenly +he cried out, "Agafia!" And at that moment his face glowed in blood-red +fire which seemed to be shooting up at him out of the Elbe. On the +Meissner Hills great fluttering flames blazed up into the sky; their +reflection shone into the river, and upon the old man's face. And now, +close beside me upon the bridge, there began to be audible a sort of +plashing and splashing, and I saw a dim form climbing up arduously, and +presently swing itself over the balustrade with marvellous dexterity. + +"Agafia?" the old man cried. + +"Girl! Dorothea! In the name of heaven," I was beginning, but in an +instant I felt myself clasped hold of, and forcibly drawn away. "Oh, +for Christ's sake keep silence, dearest Anselmus, or you are a dead +man," whispered the creature who was standing close to me, trembling +and shivering with cold. Her long black hair hung down dripping, her +sodden garments were clinging to her slender body. She sank down +exhausted, saying, in tones of gentle complaining, "Oh, it is so cold +down there! Do not say another word, Anselmus dearest, or we must +certainly die." + +The light of the flames was glowing upon her face, and I saw that she +was Dorothea, the pretty country girl who had taken asylum with my +landlord when her native village was plundered, and her father killed. +He employed her as a servant, and used to say that her troubles had +quite stupefied her, or otherwise she would have been a nice enough +little thing. And he was right there. She scarcely spoke, except to +utter a few words which sounded like incoherent nonsense, whilst her +face, which would otherwise have been beautiful, was marred by a +strange unmeaning smile. She used to bring my coffee into my room every +morning, and I remarked that her figure, complexion, &c., were not at +all those of a peasant girl. "Ah," my landlord used to say, "you see +she's a farmer's daughter, and a Saxon." + +As this girl was thus lying, rather than kneeling before me, half dead, +dripping, I quickly pulled off my cloak and wrapped her in it, +whispering to her, "Warm yourself, dear, oh, warm yourself, darling +Dorothea, or you will die! What were you doing in the cold river?" + +"Oh, keep silent!" she said, throwing back the hood of her mantle, and +combing her dripping hair back with her fingers. "What I implore you to +do is to keep silent. Come to that stone seat yonder. Father is +speaking with Saint Andrew, and can't hear us." + +We crept cautiously to the stone seat. Utterly carried away by the most +extraordinary sensations, overmastered by fear and rapture, I clasped +the creature in my arms. She sat down in my lap without hesitation, and +threw her arms about my neck. I felt the icy water from her hair +running down my neck; but as drops sprinkled on fire only increase its +flaming, love and longing only seethed up within me the more +vehemently. + +"Anselmus," she whispered, "I believe you are good and true. When you +sing it goes right through my heart, and you have charming ways. You +won't betray me. Who would get you your coffee if you did? And, listen, +when you are all starving (and you soon will be), I'll come to you at +night, all alone, when nobody can know, and bake you nice cakes. I have +flour, fine flour, hidden away in my little room. And we'll have +bridecake, white and lovely!" At this she began to laugh, but +immediately sobbed and wept. "Ah me! like those in Moskow. Oh! my +Alexei! my Alexei! Beautiful dolphin, swim! Swim through the waves! Am +I not waiting for you, your faithful love?" She drooped her little +head, her sobs grew fainter, and she seemed to sink into a slumber, her +bosom heaving and falling in sighs of longing. I looked at the old man. +He was standing with outstretched arms, and saying, in hollow tones, +"He gives the signal! See how he shakes his fiery locks of flame; how +eagerly he treads into the ground those fiery pillars on which he +traverses the land! Hear ye not his step of thunder? Feel ye not the +vivifying breath which wreathes before him like a gleaming incense +cloud? Hither! hither! mighty brethren!" + +The sound of the old man's words was like the hollow roar of the +approaching whirlwind, and while he spoke, the fire upon the Meissner +Hills blazed brighter and brighter. "Help, Saint Andrew!" the girl +cried in her sleep. And suddenly she sprung up as if possessed by some +terrible idea, and throwing her left arm more closely round me, +whispered into my ear, "Anselmus! it would be better that I killed +you," and I saw a knife gleaming in her right hand. I repulsed her in +terror, with a loud cry of, "Mad creature! What would you do?" Then she +screamed out, "Ah, I cannot do it! But all is over with you now!" At +that moment the old man cried, "Agafia, with whom are you speaking?" +And ere I could bethink me, he was close to me, aiming a stroke with +his swung staff at me which would have cleft my skull in two had not +Agafia seized me from behind and drawn me quickly away. The staff +splintered into a thousand pieces on the stone bench. The old man fell +on his knees. "Allons! allons!" resounded from all sides. I had to +collect my thoughts, and spring quickly to one side to avoid being +crushed by the guns and ammunition waggons which were again coming +across. + +Next morning the Russians drove this expeditionary force down from the +hills, and back into the fortifications, notwithstanding the +superiority of its numbers. "'Tis a strange thing," people said, "that +our friends outside were informed of the enemy's plans, for that signal +fire on the Meissner Hills had the effect of assembling the troops, so +that they might make a resistance in force, just at the very time and +place where he intended to concentrate his attacking bodies." + +For several days Dorothea did not come in the morning with my coffee; +and my landlord, pale with terror, told me had seen her, along with the +mad beggar of the Elbe bridge, marched off from the marshal's quarters +to Neustadt under a strong escort. + +"Oh, good heavens!" said Anselmus's friend, "they were discovered and +executed." + +But Anselmus gave a strange smile and said, "Agafia got away; and, +alter the Peace was signed, I received, from her own hands, a beautiful +white wedding-cake of her own making." + +The reticence of Anselmus was proof against every effort to induce him +to say anything more concerning this astonishing affair. + + +When Cyprian had finished, Lothair said, "You told us that the events +which suggested this sketch would be more interesting than it is +itself; so that I consider those suggesting circumstances are an +essential part of it, without which it is not complete. Therefore, I +think you ought at once to give us your why and wherefore, as a sort of +explanatory note." + +"Does it not seem to you to be as unusual as remarkable," said Cyprian, +"that all that I have read to you is literally true, and that even the +little 'wind up,' has its kernel of actuality?" + +"Let us hear!" the friends cried. + +"To begin with," said Cyprian, "I must tell you that the fate which +befell Anselmus in my sketch was actually my own, as well. My being ten +minutes late decided my destiny, so that I was shut up in Dresden just +as it was surrounded on all sides. It is a fact that after the battle +of Leipzig, when our condition became more painful and trying day by +day, certain friends, or mere acquaintances, whom a similar lot and a +like way of thinking had drawn together, used to assemble in the back +room of a coffee-house, much as the disciples did at Emmaus. The +landlord, one Eichelkraut, was a reliable, trustworthy man, who made no +secret of his hostility to the French, and always obliged them to treat +him with proper respect and keep their due distance from him when they +came in as customers. No Frenchman was allowed to make his way into +that backroom on any pretext, and if one did succeed in showing his +nose there, he could never get a morsel to eat, or a drop to drink, let +him implore, or swear, as much as he liked. Moreover, the room was +always as silent as the grave, and we all blew such stifling clouds out +of our pipes that the place soon became so full of the exhalation that +a Frenchman would be very soon smoked out, like a wasp, and usually +went growling and swearing out of the door like one. As soon as he did, +the window would be opened to let the reek out, and we would be +restored to our peace and comfort again. The life and soul of those +meetings was a well-known talented and charming writer: and I remember +with great pleasure how he and I used to get upstairs to the upper +story of the house, look out of the little garret window into the +night, and see the enemy's bivouac fires shining in the sky. We used to +say to each other all sorts of wonderful things which the shimmer of +those fires, combined with the moonlight, used to put into our heads, +and then go down and tell our friends what we imagined we had seen. It +is a fact that one night one of our number (an advocate) who was always +the first to hear any news, and whose reports were always reliable +(heaven knows whence he derived his information), came in and told us +the decision which had just been come to by the council of war +concerning the expedition of Count von der Lobau, exactly as I have +repeated it to you. It is likewise true that as I was going home about +midnight, while the French battalions were falling-in in profound +silence (no _generale_ being beaten) and beginning their march over the +bridge, I met ammunition waggons, so that I could have no doubt of the +accuracy of his information. And lastly, it is the fact that, on the +bridge, there was a grey old beggar lying, begging from the French +troops as they crossed, whom I could not remember having seen in +Dresden before. Last of all it is the fact, and the most wonderful of +all, that when, much interested and excited, I reached my own quarters, +on climbing up to the top story I _did_ see a fire on the Meissner +Hills, which was neither a watch fire nor a burning building. The +sequel showed that the Russians must have known that night all about +the attack intended to be made on the following morning, inasmuch as +they concentrated troops which had been at a considerable distance upon +the Meissner Hills, and it was principally Russian Landwehr which drove +the French back as a storm sweeps a field of stubble. When the remnant +of them fell back into the fortifications, the Russians quietly marched +off to their previous positions. So that at the very time when the +council of war was held at Gouvion de St. Cyr's, the decision which it +arrived at was communicated to, or, more probably, overheard by persons +who were not supposed to have this in their power. Strangely enough, +the advocate knew every detail of the deliberation; for instance, that +Gouvion was opposed to the expedition, and only yielded lest he might +be thought wanting in courage, in a case where rapidity of decision was +a desideratum. Count von der Lobau was determined to march out and +endeavour to cut his way to the emperor's army. But how did the +surrounding force know so soon of what was projected? For they knew of +it in the course of an hour. Not only was it apparently impossible to +get across the strongly fortified bridge; and if not, the river would +have had to be swum, and the various trenches and walls got over. +Moreover, the whole of Dresden was palisaded, and carefully guarded by +sentries, to a considerable distance round. Where was the possibility +of any human being surmounting all those obstacles in such a short +space of time! One might think of telegraphic signals, made by means of +lights from some tall tower or loftily situated house. But consider the +difficulty of carrying that out, and the risk of detection, for such +signals would have been easily seen. At all events it remains an +incomprehensible thing how what actually happened came to pass; and +that is enough to suggest to a lively imagination all sorts of +mysterious and sufficiently extraordinary hypotheses to account for +it." + +"I bow my knee in deep reverence before Saint Serapion," said Lothair; +"and before the most worthy of his disciples, and I am quite sure that +a Serapiontic account of the important incidents of the war, as seen by +him, if given in his characteristic style, would be exceedingly +interesting, as well as very instructive, to imaginative members of the +profession of arms. At the same time I have little doubt that the +incidents in question came about quite naturally, and in the ordinary +course of events. But you had to get your landlord's servant-girl, the +pleasing Dorothea, into the water, as a sort of deluding Nixie; and +she----" + +"Don't jest about that," Cyprian said, very solemnly. "Don't make jokes +on that subject, Lothair. At this moment I see that beautiful creature +before my eyes, that lovely terrible mystery (I do not know what other +name to call her by). It was I who had that bridecake sent to me; +glittering in diamonds, flashing like lightning, wrapped in priceless +sables----" + +"Listen," cried Vincenz. "We are getting at it now. The Saxon +maid-servant--the Russian Princess--Moskow--Dresden-- Has not Cyprian +always spoken in the most mysterious language, and with the most +recondite allusions, of a certain period of his life just after the +first French war? It is coming out now! Speak! Let all your heart +stream forth, my Cyprianic Serapion and Serpiontic Cyprian." + +"And how if I keep silence?" answered Cyprian, suddenly drawing in his +horns, and growing grave and gloomy. "And how if I am obliged to keep +silence? And I _shall_ keep silence!" + +He spoke those words in a strangely solemn and exalted tone, leaning +back in his chair, and fixing his eyes on the ceiling, as was his wont +when deeply moved. + +The friends looked at one another with questioning glances. + +"Well," said Lothair at last, "it seems that somehow our meeting of +to-night has fallen into a strange groove of ill-fortune, and it appears +to be hopeless to expect any comfort or enjoyment out of it. Suppose we +have a little music, and sing some absurd stuff or other as vilely as +we can." + +"Yes," said Theodore, "that is the thing." And he opened the piano. "If +we don't manage a canon--which, according to Junker Tobias is a thing +which can reel three souls out of a weaver's body--we will make it +awful enough to be worthy of Signor Capuzzi and his friends. Suppose we +sing an Italian _Terzetto buffo_ out of our own heads. I'll be the +prima donna, and begin. Ottmar will be the lover, and Lothair had +better be the comic old man, and come in, raging and swearing in rapid +notes." + +"But the words, the words," said Ottmar. + +"Sing whatever you please," said Theodore; "Oh Dio! Addio! Lasciami mia +Vita." + +"No, no," cried Vincenz. "If you won't let me take part in your +singing--although I feel that I possess a wonderful talent for it, +which only wants the voice of a Catalani to produce itself in the +work-a-day world with drastic effect, allow me at least to be your +librettist--your poet-laureate. And here I hand you your libretto at +once." + +He had found on Theodore's writing-table the 'Indice de Teatrali +Spettacoli' for 1791, and this he handed to Theodore. This indice, like +all which appear yearly in Italy, merely contained a list of the titles +of the operas performed, with the names of their composers, and of the +singers, scene-painters, &c., concerned in their production. They +opened the page which related to the opera in Milan, and it was decided +that the prima donna should sing the names of the lover-tenors (with a +due interspersing of Ah Dio's and Oh Cielo's), that the lover-tenor +should sing the names of the prima donnas in like manner, and that the +comic old man should come in, in his furious wrath, with the titles of +the operas which had been given and an occasional burst of invective, +appropriate to his character. + +Theodore played a _ritornello_ of the cut and pattern which occurs by +the hundred in the opera buffas of the Italians, and then began to sing +in sweet, tender strains "Lorenzo Coleoni! Gaspare Rossari! Oh Dio! +Giuseppo Marelli! Francesco Sedini!" &c. Ottmar followed with "Giuditta +Paracca! Teresa Ravini! Giovanna Velata--Oh Dio!" &c. And Lothair burst +duly in with rapid, angry quavers: "Le Gare Generose, del Maestro +Paesiello--Che vedo? La Donna di Spirito, del Maestro Mariella. +Briconaccio! Piro, Re di Epiro! Maledetti!--del Maestro Zingarelli," +&c. + +This singing, which Lothair and Ottmar accompanied with appropriate +gesticulations (Vincenz illustrating Theodore's impersonations with the +most preposterous grimaces imaginable), warmed up the friends more and +more. In a comic description of enthusiastic inspiration each seized +the drift of the other's ideas. All the passages, imitations, &c. (to +use musical expressions), usually employed in compositions of this +description, were reproduced with the utmost accuracy--so that any one +who had come in by accident would never have dreamt that this +performance was improvised on the spur of the moment, even if the +strange hotch-potch of names had struck him as curious. + +Louder and more unrestrainedly raged this outbreak of Italian _rabbia_, +until (as may be supposed), it culminated in a wild, universal burst of +laughter, in which even Cyprian joined. + +At their parting, on this evening, the friends were in a condition of +wild enjoyment, rather than (as was the case on other occasions), lull +of rational delight. + + + + + SECTION EIGHT. + +The Serapion Brethren had assembled for another meeting. + +"I must be greatly mistaken," said Lothair, "and be anything but the +possessor of a native genius (supplemented by assiduous practice) for +physiognomy--such as I believe that I do possess, if I do not read very +distinctly in the face of every one of us (not excepting my own, which +I see magically gleaming at me in yonder mirror), that our minds are +all fully charged with matter of importance, and only waiting for the +word of command to fire it off. I am rather afraid that more than one +of us may have got shut up in one or other of his productions one of +those eccentric little firework devils which may come fizzling out, +dart backwards and forwards about the room, banging and jumping, and +not manage to pop out of the window until it has managed to give us all +a good singeing. I even dread a continuation of our last conversation, +and may Saint Serapion avert that from us! But lest we should fall +immediately into those wild, seething waters, and that we may commence +our meeting in a duly calm and rational frame of mind, I move that +Sylvester begins by reading to us that story which we could not hear on +the last occasion because there was no time left." + +This proposal was unanimously agreed to. + +"The woof which I have spun," said Sylvester, producing a manuscript, +"is composed of many threads, of the most various shades, and the +question in my mind is whether--on the whole--you will think it has +proper colour and keeping. It was my idea that I should, perhaps, put +some flesh and blood into what I must admit, is a rather feeble body, +by contributing to it something out of a great, mysterious period--to +which it really does but serve as a sort of framework." + +Sylvester read:-- + + + + THE MUTUAL INTERDEPENDENCE OF THINGS. + +A tumble over a root as a portion of the system of the universe--Mignon + and the gypsy from Lorca, in connection with General Palafox--A + Paradise opened at Countess Walther Puck's. + +"No!" said Ludwig to his friend Euchar, "no! There is no such lubberly, +uncouth attendant on the goddess of Fortune as Herr Tieck has been +pleased to introduce in the prologue to his second part of 'Fortunat,' +who, in the course of his gyrations, upsets tables, smashes ink-bottles, +and goes blundering into the President's carriage, hurting his head and +his arm. No! For there is no such thing as chance. I hold to the opinion +that the entire universe, and all that it contains, and all that comes +to pass in it--the complete macrocosm--is like some large, very ingeniously +constructed piece of clockwork-mechanism, which would necessarily come +to a stop in a moment if any hostile principle, operating wholly +involuntarily, were permitted to come in contact--in an opposing +sense--with the very smallest of its wheels." + +"I don't know, friend Ludwig," said Euchar, laughing, "how it +is that you have come, all of a sudden, to adopt this wretched, +mechanical theory--which is as old as the hills, and out of date long +ago--disfiguring and distorting Goethe's beautiful notion of the red +thread which runs all through our lives--in which, when we think about +it in our more lucid moments, we recognize that higher Power which +works above, and in us." + +"I have the greatest objection to that simile," said Ludwig. "It is +taken from the British navy. All through the smallest rope in their +ships (I know this, of course, from the Wahlverwandschaften), runs a +small red thread, which shows that the rope is Government property. No, +my dear friend! Whatever happens is pre-ordained, from the beginning, +as an essential necessity, just because it does happen. And this is the +Mutual Interdependence of Things, upon which rests the principle of all +being, of all existence. Because, as soon as you----" + +However, it is necessary, at this point, to explain to the courteous +reader that as Ludwig and Euchar were thus talking together, they were +walking in an alley of the beautiful park at W----. It was a Sunday. +Twilight was beginning to fall, the evening breeze was whispering in +the branches which, reviving after the heat of the day, were exhaling +gentle sighs. Among the woods were sounding the happy voices of +townsfolk in their Sunday clothes, out for the afternoon, some of them +lying in the sweet grass enjoying their simple supper, and others +refreshing themselves in the various restaurants, in accordance with +the winnings of their week. + +Just as Ludwig was going on to explain more fully the profound theory +of the mutual interdependence of things, he stumbled over the thick +root of a tree, which (as he always wore spectacles) he had not seen; +and he measured his length on the ground. + +"_That_ was comprehended in the mutual interdependence of things," said +Euchar gravely and quietly, lifting up his friend's hat and stick, and +giving him his hand to help him on to his legs again. "If you had not +pitched over in that absurd manner the world would have come to a stop +at once." + +But Ludwig felt his right knee so stiff that he was obliged to limp, +and his nose was bleeding freely. This induced him to take his +friend's advice and go into the nearest restaurant, though he +generally avoided these places, particularly on Sundays. For the +jubilations of the Sunday townsfolk were exceptionally displeasing to +him, giving him a sensation of being in places which were not by any +means _convenable_--at all events for people of his position. + +In the front of this restaurant the people had formed a deep, +many-tinted ring, from the interior of which there Bounded the tones +of a guitar and a tambourine. Ludwig, assisted by his friend, went +limping into the house, holding his handkerchief to his face. And he +begged so pitifully for water, and a little drop of wine-vinegar, +that the landlady, much alarmed, thought he must be at the point of +death. Whilst he was being served with what he required, Euchar (on +whom the sounds of the guitar and tambourine exercised an irresistible +fascination) crept forth, and endeavoured to penetrate into the closed +circle. He belonged to that restricted class of Nature's favourites +whose exterior and whole being ensure a kindly reception everywhere, +and in all circumstances. So that on this occasion some journeymen +mechanics (people who are not usually much given to politeness of a +Sunday) at once made room for him when he asked what was going forward, +so that he as well as themselves might have a look at the strange +little creature who was dancing and playing so prettily and cleverly. +And a curious and delightful scene displayed itself to Euchar, which +fettered all his mind and attention. + +In the middle of the ring a girl with her eyes blindfolded was dancing +the fandango amongst nine eggs, arranged three by three behind each +other on the ground, and playing a tambourine as she danced. At one +side stood a little deformed man, with an ill-looking gypsy face, +playing the guitar. The girl who was dancing seemed to be about +fifteen. She was oddly dressed in a red bodice, gold-embroidered, and a +short white skirt trimmed with ribbons of various colours. Her figure +and all her motions were the very ideal of elegance and grace. She +brought the most marvellous variety of sounds out of her tambourine. +Sometimes she would raise it above her head, and then hold it out in +front of her or behind her, with her arms stretched out, in the most +picturesque attitudes. Now it would sound like a far-off drum; now like +the melancholy cooing of the turtle-dove, and presently like the +distant roar of the approaching storm. All this was accompanied in the +most delightful manner by the tinkling of the clear, harmonious bells. +And the little guitar-player by no means fell short of her in +virtuosity; for he, too, had quite a style of his own of treating his +instrument--making the dance melody (which was a most characteristic +one, wholly out of the common run of such things) predominate at times, +loud and clear, and hushing it down at other times into a mysterious +piano, striking the strings with the palms of his hand (as the +Spaniards do in producing that peculiar effect), and presently dashing +out bright-sounding, full harmonies. The tambourine went on +_crescendo_, as the guitar-strings clanged louder and louder, and the +girl's boundings increased in their scope in a similar ratio. She would +set down her foot within a hair's-breadth of the eggs with the most +complete certainty and confidence, so that the spectators could not +help crying out, thinking that one of those fragile things must +infallibly be broken. Her black hair had fallen down, and it flew about +her head, giving her much the effect of a Maenad. The little fellow +cried out to her in Spanish, "Stop!" And on this, while still going on +with her dance, she lightly touched each of the eggs, so that they +rolled together into a heap; upon which, with a loud beat on her +tambourine and a forcible chord on the guitar, she came to a sudden +standstill, as if banned there by some spell. The dance was done. + +The little fellow went up to her and undid the cloth which bound her +eyes. She rolled up her hair, took the tambourine, and went round +amongst the spectators, with downcast looks, to collect their +contributions. Not one had slunk off out of the way. Every one, with a +face of pleasure, put a piece of money into that tambourine. When she +came to Euchar, and as he was going to put something into it, she made +a sign of refusal. + +"May not I give you anything?" he said. + +She looked up at him, and the glowing fire of her loveliest of eyes +flashed through the night of her black silken lashes. + +"The old man," she said gravely--almost solemnly--in her deep voice, +and with her foreign accent, "told me that you, sir, did not come till +the best part of my dance was done; and so I ought not to take anything +from you." Thus speaking she made Euchar a pretty courtesy, and went to +the little man, taking the guitar from his hands, and going with him to +a table at some distance. + +When Euchar looked round him, he perceived Ludwig sitting not far off, +between two respectable townsfolk, with a great glass of beer before +him, making the most earnest signs. Euchar went to him, saying, with a +laugh, "Why, Ludwig, when did you take to drinking beer?" Ludwig, +however, made signals to him, and said, in meaning accents, "What do +you say? Beer is one of the most delicious of drinks, and I delight in +it above all things--when it is so magnificent as it is here." + +The citizens rose, and Ludwig shook hands with them most politely, +putting on a look which was half-pleased, half-annoyed, when they +expressed at parting their regret for his mishap. + +"You are always getting me into hot water with your want of tact," he +said. "If I hadn't allowed myself to be treated to a glass of beer, if +I hadn't managed to gulp the abominable trash down--those sturdy +counter-jumpers would probably have been offended, and would have +looked upon me as one of the profane. Then you must needs come and +bring me into discredit, when I had been playing my part so very +nicely." + +"Well," said Euchar, "if you had been bowed out of their company, or +even come in for a little touch of cudgelling, wouldn't it all have +been a part of the mutual interdependence of things? But just listen as +I tell you what a charming little drama your trip over the tree-root +(predestined, according to the conditions of the Macrocosmus, to occur) +gave me an opportunity of seeing." + +And he told him about the charming egg dance by the Spanish girl. +"Mignon!" cried Ludwig enthusiastically. "Heavenly, divine Mignon!" + +The guitarist was sitting not far off, at a table, counting the +receipts, and the girl was standing beside him, squeezing an orange +into a glass of water. Presently the old man put the money together, +and nodded to the girl with eyes sparkling with gladness, whilst she +handed him the orange-water, and stroked his wrinkled cheeks. He gave a +disagreeable, cackling laugh, and gulped down the liquid with every +indication of thirst. The girl sat down and began tinkling on the +guitar. "Oh Mignon!" cried Ludwig again. "Heavenly, divine Mignon! Ah, +I shall rescue her, like another Wilhelm Meister, from the thraldom of +this accursed miscreant who holds her in bondage!" "How do you know," +asked Euchar, "that this little hunchback is an accursed miscreant?" +"Cold creature!" answered Ludwig. "Cold, passionless creature, you +understand nothing, you have no sympathy with anything, no sense of the +genial, the imaginative. Don't you see--don't you comprehend how every +description of the most insulting contempt, envious feeling, +wickedness, ill-temper, and avarice of the vilest kind gleam out of the +green, cat's-eyes of that little gypsy abortion--are legible in every +wrinkle of his diabolical-looking face? Yes! I am going to rescue that +beautiful child out of the clutches--the Satanic clutches--of that +brown monster! If I could only have a talk with her, the little +charmer!" "Nothing is easier than that," said Euchar, and he signed to +her to come near. + +The girl put the instrument down, came near, and made a reverence, +casting her eyes modestly on the ground. "Mignon!" cried Ludwig. +"Mignon! Sweet, beautiful creature!" + +"I am called Emanuela," she said. + +"And that horrible ruffian there," Ludwig went on, "where did he steal +you from? How did you get into his clutches, poor thing?" + +The girl lifted her eyes, and sending a beaming, serious glance through +and through Ludwig, replied. "I don't understand you, sir. I don't know +what you mean--why you ask me this?" + +"You are a Spaniard, my child," Euchar began. + +"I am," she answered, her voice trembling. "I am, indeed. You see +me--you hear me. Why should I deny it?" + +"Then, of course, you can play the guitar and sing a song?" + +She covered her eyes with her hand, and said, in a scarce audible +whisper, "Ah! I should like to play and sing _you_ one. But my songs +are burning hot; and here it is so cold--so cold! + +"Do you know," said Euchar, speaking in Spanish, and in a heightened +tone, "the song _Laurel immortal_?" + +She clapped her hands, raised her glance to Heaven, tears filled her +eyes; she flew to the table, seized the guitar, sprang, rather than +walked back to the two friends, placed herself before Euchar, and began + + "Laurel immortal al gran Palafox, + Gloria da Espana, de Francia terror!" + +The expression which she put into this song was indescribable. +From the deepest pain of death there flamed forth the most fiery +enthusiasm--each note seemed to be a lightning flash which must shiver +every ice-covering of the chilled breast. As for Ludwig he was--to use +a familiar expression--ready to jump out of his skin with sheer +rapture. He interrupted her singing with boisterous "Bravas!" +"Bravissimas!" and a hundred other such expressions of approbation. + +"Do be so kind, my dear fellow, as to make a little less noise!" Euchar +said. "Oh, of course," he answered, "you unimpressionable people are +never in the least affected by music!" However he did what Euchar had +asked him to do. + +When she had finished, she went and leant on a tree, as if wearied. And +as she let the chords go on sounding more and more softly till they +died away in a _pianissimo_, great tears were falling upon the +instrument. + +"You are in some need, my poor, pretty child," said Euchar, in the tone +which comes only from a deeply moved heart. "Although I did not see the +beginning of your dance, you have more than made up for that by your +song, and you must not refuse to accept something from me." + +He had taken out a little purse in which bright ducats were shining, +and was handing it to her as she came closer to him. She fixed her gaze +upon his hand, seized it in both her own, and falling on her knees with +a loud cry of "_Oh, Dios!_" covered it with the warmest kisses. "Ah!" +cried Ludwig, "nothing but gold is worthy to touch that beautiful +little hand." And he asked Euchar if he could give him change for a +thaler, as he had no smaller money about him. + +Meanwhile the hunchback had come limping up, and he lifted the guitar, +which Emanuela had dropped on the ground, making many smiling +reverences to Euchar, supposing that he had been exceedingly generous +to the girl, from the motion with which she had thanked him. + +"Scoundrel--miscreant!" growled Ludwig. + +The man started in alarm, and said, in a lamentable tone, "Ah, sir, why +are you so angry? Don't condemn poor Biagio Cubas--a good, respectable, +honest man. Don't judge me by the colour of my skin, or by the ugliness +of my face. I know I _have_ an ugly face. I was born in Lorca, and am +every bit as good a Christian as you are yourself." + +The girl jumped up hastily, crying out to the old man in Spanish, "Come +away, little father, as quickly as you can." And they both hurried off, +Cubas continuing to make various odd reverences, and Emanuela fixing +upon Euchar the most soul-full gaze of which her beautiful eyes were +capable. + +When the strange couple were lost among the trees, Euchar said, "You +must see, do you not, that you were in much too great a hurry to +condemn that little cobold in your own mind? He _has_ a touch or so of +the gypsy about him. As he says himself, he comes from Lorca. And Lorca +is an old Moorish town, and the Lorcanese (good enough folks, all the +same) bear undeniable traces of their ancestry. So there is nothing +which they take in worse part than to have this imputed to them, which +is why they keep perpetually declaring that they are Christians of ever +so old standing. This was the case with this little fellow, in whose +face his Moorish origin is certainly reflected to the extent of +positive caricature." + +"No matter!" cried Ludwig. "I stick to my opinion; the man is a +tremendous scoundrel, and I will leave no stone unturned till I deliver +my charming, beautiful Mignon from his clutches." + +"If you insist on thinking the little fellow a scoundrel," said Euchar, +"I can't say that I have very much confidence, for my part, in the +charming beautiful Mignon." + +"What!" cried Ludwig. "Not have confidence in that divine little +creature, whose eyes beam with the purest, most innocent truth and +tenderness? However, there we see the icy, prosaic nature wholly devoid +of feeling for all such matters, distrustful of everything which +doesn't fit all in a moment into the compartments, the grooves of his +everyday business." + +"Well, don't get so excited about it, my dear, enthusiastic friend," +said Euchar quietly. "You will probably say that I have no tangible +reason for distrusting the beautiful Mignon. But my reason is that I +have this instant discovered that as she was kissing my hand she took +away that little ring with the curious stone (which you know I always +wear) from my finger. And I am greatly distressed to lose it, because +it is a souvenir of a period of my life which was full of intense +interest and importance." + +"In heaven's name," said Ludwig, in an awestruck whisper, "it is not +possible, surely! No, no!" he cried, loudly and excitedly, "it cannot +be possible! That lovely face could not deceive: that eye--that +glance--You must have dropped the ring--let it fall." + +"Well--" said Euchar, "we shall see. But it is getting dark: let us get +back to the town." + +All the way home, Ludwig did not cease talking of Emanuela, calling her +by the sweetest names, and declaring that he was quite certain--from a +peculiar glance which she had cast on him at parting--that he had made +a deep impression on her--a sort of event which generally happened to +him in similar cases--_i.e._ when the romantic element entered amongst +the circumstances of everyday life. Euchar did not interrupt him by so +much as a syllable; but he worked himself up more and more--till, just +at the town gate (where the drummer of the guard was beginning to beat +the tattoo), he screamed into his friend's ear (a process necessitated +by the row made by the military virtuoso on his instrument), as he cast +himself upon his bosom, that he was most deeply in love with the sweet +Mignon, and that the sole object of his life from thenceforth was to +find her again, and free her from the bondage of the atrocious old +monster. + +There was a servant in a handsome livery standing at Ludwig's door, +who handed him a card of invitation. As soon as he had read it, and +sent the servant away, he embraced his friend as frantically as he +had done at the town gate, and cried, "Oh, Euchar! call me the most +fortunate--the most enviable--of mortals. Open your heart! Form some +slight idea of my happiness! Mingle your tears of joy with mine!" + +"What can there be of such a marvellously fortunate description +announced to you on a card?" inquired Euchar. + +"Don't be startled," murmured Ludwig, "when I open to you the gates of +the magically brilliant Paradise of a thousand delights, which will +unfold itself to me by the virtue of this card here." + +"Well," said Euchar, "I am sure I shall be very glad indeed, to hear +what the piece of good fortune is which is coming to you." + +"Hear it," cried Ludwig; "learn it--understand it! Be amazed at +it--doubt of it--cry out--shriek--shout! I have got an invitation to +the supper and ball to-morrow evening at Countess Walther Puck's! +Victorine! Victorine! Sweet, lovely Victorine!" + +"And how about sweet, lovely Mignon?" asked Euchar. But Ludwig groaned +forth, in the most pathetic tones, "Victorine! My life!" and bolted +into his quarters. + + +THE FRIENDS, LUDWIG AND EUCHAR. EVIL DREAM OF THE LOSS, AT PIQUET, OF + A PAIR OF HANDSOME LEGS. WOES OF AN ENTHUSIASTIC DANCER. COMFORT, + HOPE, AND MONSIEUR COCHENILLE. + +It may be expedient to tell the courteous reader a little more +concerning this pair of friends, so that he may form, at all events, to +some extent, a well-grounded opinion as to each of them. + +Both had the title of Baron. Educated together, and having grown up in +the most intimate friendship, they could not part even when the lapse +of years brought to light most striking dissimilarities in their mental +characteristics, which became more and more developed as time went on. +In his childhood, Euchar belonged to the class of "good, well-behaved +children," so-called, because in "society" they will sit for hours in +the same spot, ask no questions, never want anything, and so forth, and +then in due course, develop into wooden blockheads. With Euchar the +case was different. If when, in his capacity of a "good, well-behaved" +boy he chanced to be sitting with bent head and downcast eyes, some one +spoke to him, he would start in alarm, stammer, and falter in his +speech, often even shed tears, and seem to have been awakened from a +deep dream. When alone, he appeared to be a totally different being. If +watched without his being aware of it, he would be talking loudly and +eagerly, as if with several people about him, and he would "act" whole +stories--which he had heard or read--as if they were dramas, so that +tables, cupboards, chairs, whatever happened to be in the room with +him, had to represent towns, forests, villages, and dramatis personae. +But when he had an opportunity of being alone in the open air, a +special ecstasy seemed to inspire him. Then he would jump, dance, and +shout through the woods, putting his arms about the trees, throwing +himself down into the grass--and so forth. In any sort of game played +by boys of his own standing, he was most unwilling to take part, and +was consequently looked upon as being "funky," and a creature who had +no "pluck," for he would never take his share in anything where there +was any chance of risk--such as a big jump, or a difficult piece of +climbing. But here, also, it was curious that, when at the end nobody +had had the pluck to do the thing, Euchar would wait till they were all +gone, and then, when he was by himself, would do with the utmost ease, +what they had all only _wanted_ to do. For instance, if the idea was to +get up a high, slender tree, and nobody had managed to do it, as soon +as all their backs were turned, and Euchar was alone, he would be at +the top of it in a few seconds. Seeming outwardly to be cold and +apathetic, he really threw himself into everything with all his soul, +and a persevering steadfastness such as only belongs to strong +characters. And when--as was often the case--that which he felt keenly +came to the surface, it did so with such irresistible force, that +everyone who had any knowledge of such matters was amazed at the depth +of feeling which lay hidden in the boy's nature. Many schoolmasters, +and tutors, who had to do with him, could make neither head nor tail of +him as a pupil, and there was only one of them--the last--who said the +boy was a poet: at which his papa was very much distressed, thinking +that the boy had inherited his mother's temperament, and she had always +had the most terrible headaches whenever she went to a party or +any social function. However, the papa's most intimate friend, a +smooth-spoken young chamberlain, assured him that the schoolmaster in +question was an ass to say what he did, and utterly mistaken, seeing +that the blood in the veins of young Euchar was noble, so that, being +by birth an aristocrat, he never could be in any danger of being +capable of poetry. And this was very consoling to the old gentleman. +How the lad developed with those dispositions may be readily inferred. +Nature had imprinted on his face the unmistakable signet with which she +stamps her prime favourites. But Mother Nature's favourites are those +who have the power of completely realising the illimitable love of +their kind mother, and of understanding the depths of her being: and +they are only understood by those who are favourites themselves. +Consequently Euchar was not understood by the general crowd--was +considered unimpressionable, cold, incapable of the due degree of +ecstasy on the subject of the newest tragedy at the theatre--and was +stigmatized as a prosaic creature. Above all, a whole coterie of ladies +of the most refined intellectual development and culture, who might +well be credited with the power of insight on this particular subject, +could by no means understand how it was possible that that Apollo's +brow, those sharply curving, masterful eyebrows, those eyes which +darted such a darksome fire, those softly pouting lips, should belong +to a mere lifeless image. And yet all this seemed to be the case. For +Euchar did not know in the least degree how to say nothing, about +nothing, in words which meant nothing, to pretty ladies, and look, +whilst so-doing, like a Rinaldo in bonds. + +Matters were quite different with Ludwig. He belonged to the race of +those wild, uncontrollable boys of whom people are in the habit of +predicting that the world will not be wide enough for them. It was he +who always invented the maddest and most adventurous features of all +games. It was naturally to be expected that he would be the one of all +others to "come to grief" on those occasions: but he was always the one +who came out of them safe and sound, because he had the knack of +keeping himself in a safe spot during the carrying out of the +adventure--if he did not manage to slip out of it altogether. He took +up every subject rapidly, with the utmost enthusiasm--and dropped it +again as quickly. So that he learned a great many things, but did not +learn much. When he came to young man's estate, he wrote very pretty +verses, played passably on several instruments, drew very nice +pictures, spoke with a certain degree of correctness and fluency +several languages, and was, consequently, a paragon of up-bringing. He +could get into the most surprising ecstasies about everything, and give +utterance to the same in the most magniloquent words. But it was with +him as with the drum--which gives forth a sound which is loud in +proportion to its emptiness. The impression made upon him by everything +grand, beautiful, sublime, resembled the outside tickling which excites +the skin without affecting the inner fibres. Ludwig belonged to that +class of people who say, "I want to do" so-and-so; but who never get +beyond this principle of "wanting to do" into action. But, as in this +world, those who announce, with the proper amount of loudness and +emphasis, what they "intend," or are "going" to do, are held in far +greater consideration than those who quietly go and "do" the things in +question, it of course happened that Ludwig was considered "capable" of +performing the grandest deeds, and was admired accordingly, people not +troubling themselves to ascertain whether he had "done" the deeds which +he had talked about so loudly. There were, it must be said, people who +"saw through" Ludwig, and, starting from what he said, took some pains +to find out what he had done, or if he had done anything at all. And +this grieved him all the more that, in solitary hours, he was sometimes +obliged to admit to himself that this everlasting "meaning" and +"intending" to do things, without ever doing them, was, in reality, a +miserable sort of business. Then he came upon a book--forgotten and out +of date--in which was set forth that mechanical theory of the mutual +interdependence of things. He eagerly adopted this theory, which +justified and accounted for his doings, or rather his "intentions" +of doing, in his own eyes, and in those of others. According with +this theory, if he did not carry out anything which he had intended +to do--what he had said he was going to do--it was not he who +was to blame: its not happening was simply a part of the mutual +interdependence of things. + +The courteous reader will, at all events, see the great convenience of +this theory. + +Moreover, as Ludwig was a very good-looking young fellow, with blooming +red cheeks, he would, by virtue of his qualities, have been the idol of +all elegant circles, had not his short-sight led to his committing +numerous "quid-pro-quos," which had often most annoying consequences. +However, he consoled himself with the thought of the "impression," +which was indescribable, which he believed himself to make upon all +female hearts: and, besides, there was a good deal in the habit he had, +just because he was so short-sighted, of placing himself in a closer +proximity to ladies with whom he was conversing, than might have been +considered altogether _convenable_, a species of innocent pushingness, +belonging to the "genial" character, so as to be sure not to make any +mistakes with reference to the person he was addressing; a matter which +had more than once been productive of annoyance. + +The morning after the ball at Count Walther Puck's, Euchar received a +note from Ludwig, running as follows: + +"Dearest and most beloved friend,--I am utterly miserable. I am +stricken by destiny. It is all over with me! I am dashed down from +the flowery summit of the fairest hope into the blackest and most +fathomless abyss of the deepest despair. That which was to have been +the source of my indescribable bliss constitutes my misery. Come to me +as speedily as you can, and give me some comfort, if such a thing be +possible." + +Euchar found him stretched on his sofa, with his head bound up, pale +and worn from sleeplessness. + +"Is it you?" he cried, in a feeble voice, stretching an arm towards +him: "is it you, my noble friend? Ah! _you_ have some sympathy for my +sufferings. At all events, let me tell you what I have gone through, +and then say whether you think all is over with me, or not." + +"Things did not turn out quite as you expected at the ball, I suppose," +said Euchar. + +Ludwig heaved a deep sigh. + +"Was the lovely Victorine a little unkind?" inquired Euchar. "Didn't +she behave to you quite as you expected?" + +"I offended her," answered Ludwig, in the most funereal tones, "to an +extent, and in a manner, which she can never forgive." + +"Good heavens!" cried Euchar; "this is very distressing. How did it +happen? Please to let me hear." + +Ludwig, after heaving a profound sigh, and quoting some verses of +appropriate poetry, went on, in a voice of profound melancholy: + +"Yes, Euchar. As the mysterious whirring of the wheels of a clock tells +me that it is going to strike the hour, warnings go before coming +misfortunes. On the very night before the ball I had an awful, a +horrible dream. I thought I was at the ball, and when I was going to +begin dancing, I suddenly found that I could not move my feet from the +floor. And I saw in the mirror, to my horror, that instead of the +well-looking nether extremities which nature has provided me with, +I was dragging about under my body, the gouty old legs of the +Consistorial President, with all their wrappings and bandages. And +while I had to stick to the floor in this terrible manner, lo and +behold! the Consistorial President, with Victorine in his arms, +whirling along in a Laendler, lightly and gracefully as any bird. But +the point of the thing was, that he sniggered at me, with the most +insulting style of sneering laughter, and said he had won my legs from +me at picquet. + +"I awoke, as you may imagine, bathed in a perspiration of anguish. +Still sunk in thought over this horrible vision of the night, I must +needs set the cup of almost boiling chocolate to my lips, and burn them +to that extent, that you may see the mark still, although I have rubbed +on as much pomade as I could. Now I know that you don't take much +interest in other people's troubles, so I shall say nothing about the +numerous fateful events which destiny dogged my steps with all day +yesterday, and merely tell you that when it came to be time to dress in +the evening, two stitches burst out of one of my silk stockings--two of +my waistcoat buttons came off--as I was getting into the carriage to go +to the ball, I let my Wellington get into the mud, and at last, in the +carriage itself, when I wanted to tighten the patent buckles of my +pumps, I found, to my intense annoyance, that my idiot of a servant had +put on two which we're not a pair! I was obliged to go home again, and +lost a good half hour. However, Victorine came to me in all the glory +of her beauty and delightsomeness. I asked her for the next dance. It +was a Laendler, we started off together. I was in heaven. But in a +moment I felt the spite of adverse fortune." + +"The mutual interdependence of things," said Euchar, interrupting. + +"Call it whatever you please," said Ludwig, "it doesn't matter to me +to-day. All I know is, that it was fate which made me fall over that +tree-stump yesterday. As I was dancing I felt the pain come on again in +my knee, and it grew more and more unendurable. Just at that moment +Victorine said, loud enough to be heard by the other people who were +dancing, "We seem all to be going to sleep." Signs were made to the +band, people clapped their hands to them, and the pace grew faster +and faster. With all my might I struggled with the diabolical pain, +and conquered it. I danced along daintily, and put on a delighted +expression of countenance; but for all I could do, Victorine kept +saying: 'What is the matter, Herr Baron? You are not one bit the +partner that you generally are.' Burning dagger thrusts into my heart!" + +"Poor, dear friend," said Euchar, laughing; "I see the full extent of +your sufferings!" + +"And yet," continued Ludwig, "all this was only the prelude to the most +terrible of all events. You know that I have been for a long time +applying my mind to arranging the figures of a '_seize_:' and you know +of your own experience, how little I have made of the very considerable +amount of china, glass, and stoneware that I have knocked off the +tables in my lodgings here, in my practice of the intricacies of those +'tours, or figures,' that I might attain to the perfection of +performance which was my dream. One of them is the most utterly +glorious that the mind of man has ever hit upon, of its kind. Four +couples stand, picturesquely grouped, the gentleman, balancing on his +right tip-toe, places his right-arm about his partner, raising, at the +same time, his left-arm in a graceful curve above his head--whilst the +other couples make the 'ronde.' Such an idea never entered the heads of +Vestris or Gardel. Very well. I had based my hopes of highest happiness +upon this particular '_seize_.' I had been destining it for Count +Walther Puck's birthday: I intended to whisper into Victorine's ear +during this more than earthly 'tour'--'Most divine countess, I love you +unutterably--I adore you! Be mine, angel of light!' that was the +reason, dear Euchar, why I was so overwhelmed with joy when I got the +invitation to the ball there, for I had had great doubts about it. +Count Walther Puck had appeared to be a good deal annoyed with me a +little while ago, one day when I was explaining to him the theory +of the mutual interdependence of things--the mechanism of the +macrocosm--when he took it into his head that I was making out that he +was a pendulum. He said it was a piece of chaff in very bad taste; but +that he would take no notice of it in consideration of my youth, and he +turned his back. Very well! The unfortunate Laendler came to an end. I +did not dance any more, I went into the ante-room, and who should +follow me but the good Cochenille, who at once opened a bottle of +champagne for me. The wine sent fresh life into my veins. I didn't feel +the pain any longer. The '_seize_' was just going to begin--I flew back +to the dancing-room, darted up to Victorine, kissed her hand fiercely, +and took my position in the 'ronde.' The 'tour,' which I have told you +of, came on; I outdid myself! I hovered--I balanced--the God of the +dance in person; I threw my arm round my partner. I whispered, 'Divine, +heavenly Countess,' just as I had arranged with myself that I should +do. My declaration of love went forth from my lips, I gazed ardently +into my partner's eyes. Ruler of heaven! It was not Victorine I had +been dancing with! It was somebody else altogether, some lady whom I +didn't know in the least, though she was the same sort of person as +Victorine in style and feature, and dressed exactly as she was. You may +imagine that I felt as if smitten by a flash of lightning. Everything +about me was swimming in a chaos. I didn't hear the music any longer; I +dashed wildly through amongst the rows of people, hearing cries of pain +here and there, till I found myself arrested and held tight by a pair +of powerful arms, whilst a voice of fury droned into my ear, 'Death and +damnation, Herr Baron, are you out of your senses? Have you nine devils +in you, or what?' 'Twas the very Consistorial President whom I had seen +in my dream. He was holding me tight in a remote corner of the room, +and he went on as follows: 'I was just getting up from the card-table, +when you came bursting like a hurricane out of the middle of the +dancing room, and jumped about like a creature possessed upon my +unfortunate feet, till I could have roared like a bull with the pain of +it, if I hadn't been a person of proper conduct. Don't you see what a +disturbance you've been making here?' And, in fact, the whole of the +'_seize_' was in confusion, the music had stopped, and I saw that some +of the dancers were going about limping, ladies were being led to their +seats, and people were holding smelling-bottles to their noses. I had +been dancing the 'tour' of despair upon the poor people's feet, till +the President, strong as a tree, had put a period to my fell career. +Victorine approached me with eyes sparkling with scorn: 'Verily, Herr +Baron, a charming performance!' she said. 'You ask me to dance with +you--you dance with another lady, and throw the whole room into +confusion.' You may picture to yourself my apologies and excuses. +'These practical jokes are a speciality of yours, Herr Baron,' +Victorine went on, scarcely containing her anger. 'I know you--but I +beg that you will not select _me_ as the object of that cutting irony +of yours in the future.' With that she left me standing. The lady I had +been dancing with then came up amiability--nay, I may say, even +affectionateness--personified. The poor child had taken fire. I cannot +wonder at it; but is it any fault of mine? Oh, Victorine! Victorine! +Oh, ill-starred '_seize_'--dance of the furies, which has consigned me +to the depths of Orcus!" + +Ludwig closed his eyes, groaned and sighed. His friend had the grace +not to break out into irrepressible laughter. + +When Ludwig had taken a cup or two of chocolate--without this time +burning his lips--he seemed to recover himself to some extent, and bear +his terrible fate with somewhat greater equanimity. Presently he said +to Euchar, who had been interesting himself in a book which he had +taken up. "You had an invitation to that accursed ball yourself, had +you not?" + +"I had," said Euchar, scarcely looking up from the page. + +"And you never came--and you never told me that you had one, at all." + +"I had another engagement," said Euchar, "as it happened, which +prevented me from going to the ball--an engagement of far greater +importance to me than any ball in the world, even had the Emperor of +Japan himself been the giver of it." + +"Countess Victorine," Ludwig continued, "made the most particular +inquiries as to why you didn't come. She was all anxiety, and kept +looking towards the door. I should have been really very jealous. I +should quite have thought that, for the first time in your career, you +had touched a lady's heart, if the matter had not been explained. The +fact is, I scarcely dare to tell you in what an unsparing manner the +lovely Victorine spoke of you. She even went the length of saying that +you were a cold-hearted piece of eccentricity, whose presence often +marred all enjoyment: so that she had been dreading that you would act +as her kill-joy on that evening as you so often had done before, and +was quite delighted when she found that you were not coming. To speak +candidly, my dear Euchar, I can't make out how it is that you, gifted +by the heavens with so many bodily and mental excellences, should +always be so unlucky with the other sex--why I should always cut the +ground from under your feet. Cold creature! I feel certain that you +have no conception of the heavenly bliss of love, and that is why you +are not beloved. Whereas I, on the other hand----Believe me when I tell +you that Victorine's fiery indignation itself was engendered by the +flames of love which blazed in her heart for me--the fortunate, the +blessed one." + +The door opened, and there came into the room a quaint little fellow, +in a red coat with big steel buttons, black silk breeches, heavily +powdered _frisure_, and a little round pigtail. + +"Good Cochenille!" Ludwig called out to him. "Dearest Monsieur +Cochenille, to what do I owe this pleasure?" + +Euchar, declaring that important engagements called him away, left his +friend alone with the confidential servant of Count Walther Puck. + +Cochenille, sweetly smiling, with downcast eyes, stated that their +Countly Excellencies were quite convinced that the most honoured Herr +Baron had been attacked, during the '_seize_,' by a malady which bore a +Latin name something like Raptus, and that he, Monsieur Cochenille, was +come to make inquiries as to his present state of welfare. + +"Raptus! Raptus! Nothing of the kind." And he related, and detailed at +length, how the whole matter had come about, ending by begging the +talented Kammerdiener to put affairs in order as far as he possibly +could. + +Ludwig learned that his partner was a cousin of Countess Victorine, +just arrived from the country for the occasion of the Count's +birthday--that she and the Countess Victorine were one heart and one +soul, and--inasmuch as the sympathies of young ladies often display +themselves in the form of silks and crapes--were often in the habit of +dressing exactly alike. Cochenille was further of opinion that the +vexation of Countess Victorine was not very genuine. He had handed her +an ice at the end of the ball, when she was standing talking to her +cousin, and had noticed that they were laughing tremendously, and had +heard them several times mention the honoured Baron's name. The truth +was, according to what he had been able to observe, that this cousin +was of a temperament exceedingly disposed to the tender passion, and +would only be too delighted if the Baron would carry further what he +had begun, namely, at once set to work to pay assiduous attentions to +her, and in due course put on _glace_ gloves, and lead her to the +altar: but that he, for his part, would do everything he could to +prevent such a course of events. The first thing in the morning, as he +would be having the honour to _friser_ his Countly Highness, he would +take an opportunity of laying the whole matter before him, and would +also take the liberty of begging him, as an uncle regardful of his +niece's best interests, to represent to her that the Herr Baron's +declaration of love was merely a species of "flourish" belonging to the +"tour" which he happened to be executing at the time--just as +declarations of the kind generally were. That, he thought, would be of +some service. Cochenille finally advised the Baron to go and see +Countess Victorine as soon as possible, and told him there would be an +opportunity of doing so that very day. Madame Bechs, the Consistorial +President's lady, was giving an aesthetic tea that afternoon, with tea +which (he had been told by the Russian Ambassador's valet) had come +direct overland from China through the Russian Embassy, and had an +extraordinarily delicious flavour and scent. There he would find +Victorine, and be enabled to put everything straight again. + +Ludwig saw that it was nothing but unworthy doubt which had had the +power of disturbing his love-happiness: and he resolved to make himself +so marvellously charming at the "the" of Madame Bech, the Consistorial +President's lady, that Victorine should never so much as dream of being +at all "grumpy." + + +THE AESTHETIC TEA. CHOKING COUGH OF A TRAGIC POET. THE STORY TAKES A + SERIOUS TURN, AND TELLS OF BLOODY BATTLE, SUICIDE, AND SIMILAR + MATTERS. + +The courteous reader must be good enough to accompany Ludwig and +Euchar to this aesthetic tea, which is now going forward at Madame +Bech's, the Consistorial President's lady. About a dozen of the fair +sex, appropriately attired, are seated in a semi-circle. One is +thoughtlessly laughing; another is immersed in a contemplation of the +tips of her shoes, with which she is managing to practise the "pas" of +a "Francaise," silently and unobserved; a third appears to be sweetly +sleeping (and dreaming more sweetly still); a fourth darts the fiery +beams from her eyes athwart the room in all directions, with the +intention that they shall impinge upon not one but all the men who are +present. A fifth lisps forth "Heavenly! Glorious! Sublime!" and those +utterances are for the behoof of a young poet, who is reading out with +all possible pathos a new tragedy of destiny, tedious and silly enough +even to be read aloud on such an occasion. A delightful feature of the +affair was, that one heard a species of _obbligato_ accompaniment going +on in the next room, a species of growling, like the rumble of distant +thunder. This was the voice of the Consistorial President, who was +playing piquet with Count Walther Puck, and making himself audible in +this manner. + +The poet read out, in the most dulcet accents at his command-- + + "Ah! but once more! once more only + Let me hear thee, voice of beauty, + Voice of rapture, voice of sweetness, + Voice from out the deep abysses, + Voice from out the heights of Heaven! + Hark! oh, listen----" + +Here the thunder which had been rumbling so long broke out into a peal: +"Hell and damnation!" roared the Consistorial President's voice, +re-echoing through the room, so that the people jumped up from their +chairs, alarmed. But it was pretty that the poet, not suffering himself +to be disturbed in the slightest, went on reading-- + + "Yea! it is the breath beloved, + Music of those lips of nectar." + +But a destiny higher than that which ruled in the poet's tragedy did +not permit him to finish his reading. Just as he was going to raise his +voice to the highest pitch of tragic power, to enunciate a terrible +execration which his hero was going to utter, something, heaven knows +what, got into his throat, so that he broke out into a frightful fit of +coughing, by no means to be assuaged, and had to be assisted out of the +room, more dead than alive. + +This sudden interruption appeared to be the reverse of disagreeable to +the lady of the house, who had for some time been giving indications of +weariness and annoyance. As soon as the tranquillity of the company was +restored, she pointed out that it was time that a vivid narrative of +something should take the place of reading, and thought Euchar ought +really to make it his duty to undertake this, seeing that, in general, +he was so obstinately silent, as to contribute little to the +entertainment of the company. + +Euchar said, modestly, that he was anything but a good story-teller, +and that the tale which he thought of telling was of a very serious, +perhaps even terrible description, and might be anything but enjoyable +by the company. But four very young ladies immediately cried out, with +one voice "Oh! something terrible, please! I do so love to be +terrified!" + +Euchar took his place in the chair of the narrator, and began as +follows:-- + +"We have been passing through a period in which events have swept +athwart the stage of the world like a series of raging hurricanes. +Humanity, shaken to its depths, has given birth to things portentous, +even as the storm-tossed ocean casts up to the surface of its seething +surges the terrible marvels of its abysses. Whatever could be +accomplished by lion-like courage, unconquerable valour, hatred, +revenge, fury, and despair, was achieved during the Spanish war of +independence. I should like to tell you of the adventures of a friend +of mine, whom I shall call Edgar, who served in that war, under the +banners of Wellington. He had left his native place in deep, bitter +irritation, at the shame of his Fatherland, and gone to Hamburg, where +he lived in a little room which he had taken, in a retired quarter. He +had a neighbour, who lived in the next room to him, with only a wall +between them, but he knew nothing more of him than that he was an old +man, in infirm health, who never went out. He often heard him groan, +and break out into gentle pathetic lamentations; but he did not +understand the words he spoke. After a time, this neighbour begun to +walk assiduously up and down in his room, and it appeared to indicate +returning health when he tuned a guitar one day, and began to sing in a +soft voice, songs which Edgar recognized to be Spanish romances. + +On being closely questioned, the landlady confided to Edgar, that his +neighbour was a French officer who had been invalided from the Romana +corps, that he was under secret espionage, and very seldom ventured to +go out. + +In the middle of the night Edgar heard this Spaniard play on his guitar +more loudly than before, and begin, in powerful strangely changing +melody, the 'Profecia del Pirineo of Don Juan Baptista de Arriaja.' +There came the stanzas commencing-- + + "Y oye que el gran rugido, + En ya trueno en los campos de Castilla," &c. + +The glowing enthusiasm with which the old gentleman's singing was +instinct, set Edgar's blood ablaze. A new world dawned on him. He knew, +now, how to arouse himself from out his sickly mood, and under an +impulse to deeds of valour, fight out the contest which was eating up +his heart. He could not resist an eager desire to make the acquaintance +of the man who had thus inspired him with new life. The door gave way +at the pressure of his hand, but the moment he entered the room, the +old man sprung from his bed with a cry of "Traeidor" (traitor), and made +straight at Edgar with a drawn dagger. Edgar succeeded in evading the +well-aimed thrust by a skilful movement, and in grasping the old man, +and holding him down on his bed. + +While he thus held him, for he had but little strength at the time, he +implored him in the most touching language, to forgive the stormy +fashion of his entrance: he assured him that he was no traitor; but +that on the contrary, what he had heard him sing had lighted up all the +rage, the inconsolable pain, which had been tearing his breast asunder +into an unslakeable desire for combat. He longed to hurry to Spain, +there to fight for the freedom of the country. The old man gazed +fixedly at him, and said, "Can it be possible?" and embraced Edgar, +who, naturally, continued his assurances that nothing could induce him +to forego his resolve, at the same time throwing his dagger down on the +ground. + +Edgar now learned that the old gentleman's name was Baldassare de Luna, +and that he belonged to one of the most noble families of Spain. He was +helpless and friendless, and had the prospect, unalleviated, of +dragging out a miserable existence, far from home, without a friend or +pecuniary resource. It was some time ere Edgar could succeed in +infusing any hope or comfort into his heart: but when, at length, he +most solemnly undertook to arrange for their escape to England +together, new life appeared to circulate in the Spaniard's veins. He +was no longer the old invalid, but an enthusiastic youth, breathing out +defiance to his oppressors. Edgar kept his word. He succeeded in +evading the vigilance of the spies, and in escaping with Baldassare de +Luna to England. But it was not the will of fate that this brave and +luckless man should see his native land again. He was prostrated by +another attack of illness, and died in London, in Edgar's arms. A +spirit of prophecy gave him to see the coming glory of his rescued +country. Amid the latest prayerful whisperings which issued with +difficulty from his lips stiffening in death, Edgar distinguished the +word "Vittoria," and an expression of heavenly beatitude glowed on de +Luna's countenance. + +At the time when Souchet's victorious force was threatening to bear +down all opposition and rivet the shameful foreign yoke more firmly +than ever, to all eternity, Edgar arrived before Tarragona with Colonel +Sterret's English brigade. It is matter of history that Colonel Sterret +considered the position so insecure, that he would not disembark his +troops. This our eager young soldier could not endure. He left the +English force, and betook himself to the Spanish general Contreras, who +was occupying the fortress with 8,000 Spanish soldiers. We are aware +that Souchet's force took Tarragona by storm, notwithstanding the most +heroic defence, and that Contreras himself, with a bayonet wound, fell +into the hands of the enemy. + +The scenes which passed before Edgar's eyes, displayed all the +terribleness of hell itself. Whether it was on account of shameful +treachery, or from incomprehensible carelessness on the part of those +whose duty it was to attend to the matter, the troops who had to defend +the principal _enceinte_ of the fort, soon ran short of ammunition. +They for a long time resisted with the bayonet the incoming of the +enemy through the gateway which had been forced: but when, ultimately, +they had to retire before the urgency of his fire, they rushed across +to the further gateway in wild disarray, and in confused masses: +and as this gate was too narrow to admit of their passage, they +had, therefore, to submit to a terrific massacre. Yet some 4,000 +Spaniards--Almeira's regiment, with which Edgar happened to be at the +time--managed to force their way through. With the courage of despair +they broke their passage through the enemy's battalions which were +there posted, and continued their flight towards Barcelona. They were +fancying that they were in safety, when they were assailed by a +terrible fire from some field-pieces, which the enemy had placed in +position behind a trench cut across the road, bringing inevitable +destruction into their ranks. Edgar was hit, and fell to the ground. + +A violent pain in the head was what he felt when he recovered +consciousness. It was dark night, and all the terrors of death +permeated him as he heard the hollow groans and the heart-piercing +cries which surrounded him. He managed to get upon his legs and creep +along. When at length the morning began to break he found himself close +to a deep ravine; but as he was about to go down into it a troop of the +enemy's cavalry came slowly up. It seemed an impossibility to avoid +being taken prisoner; but suddenly shots came dropping out of the +thickest part of the wood, emptying several saddles, and presently a +party of Guerillas made an attack on the remainder of the troop. He +shouted out to his deliverers in Spanish, and they welcomed him gladly. +He had only been struck by a spent ball, and soon recovered, so as to +be able to join Don Joachim Blake's force, and enter Valenzia with it, +after several engagements. + +Who does not know that the plain watered by the Guadalquivir, where +stands the beautiful Valenzia with her stately towers, is an earthly +paradise? All the heavenly delightsomeness of a sky for ever fair +penetrates and pervades the hearts and souls of the dwellers there, for +whom life is an unbroken festa. And this Valenzia was now the theatre +of a most bitter and bloody war. Instead of the dulcet tones of the +lute, stealing like the cooing of doves up in the nights to the +trellised windows, the place resounded with the hollow rolling of guns +and ammunition waggons, the wild challenge of sentries, and the weird, +mysterious murmur of soldiery marching through the streets. All joy was +driven into dumbness. All the white faces, drawn by grief and horror, +had written upon them the dread anticipation of terrible things +imminent. The most furious execrations, offspring of inward fury, were +showered upon the enemy. The Alameda--at other times the haunt of the +gay world--was now a parade ground for the troops. Here Edgar one day, +as he was standing alone, leaning against a tree, reflecting on the +dark, adverse destiny which seemed to weigh upon Spain, observed that a +man, far advanced in years, tall, and of haughty demeanour, who was +walking up and down near him with long steps, stopped and scrutinized +him keenly each time that he passed him. At last Edgar accosted him, +enquiring courteously what in him had attracted such a share of his +attention. "I see that I was not mistaken," he answered, whilst a +gloomy fire flashed from beneath his black, bushy eyebrows. "You are +not a Spaniard--and yet, if your coat does not belie you, I am bound to +look upon you as one who fights on our side. And that strikes me as +rather remarkable." Edgar, though nettled at the brusquerie of this +gentleman's address, told him, temperately enough, what had brought him +to Spain. + +But scarcely had he mentioned the name of Baldassare di Luna than the +old man cried out in much excitement, "Baldassare di Luna do you say? +My beloved cousin! the dearest and most intimate friend I have left in +the world." Edgar repeated all that had happened, not failing to +mention the heavenly hopes with which Baldassare had taken leave of +life. + +The old man clasped his hands, raised his eyes to heaven--his lips +moved--he seemed to be communing with his departed friend. "Forgive +me," he said, "if a gloomy mistrust, which is foreign to my character, +influenced me against you. Some time ago it was believed that the +accursed knavery of the enemy had gone so far as to introduce foreign +officers amongst our forces to act as spies. The incidents at Tarragona +but too much encouraged suspicions of this kind, and the Junta has now +determined to expel all foreigners. Don Joachim Blake, however, has +insisted that foreign engineers, at all events, are indispensable to +him, solemnly engaging, at the same time, to shoot down every foreigner +at once who is subject to the slightest ground of suspicion. If you are +a friend of my Baldassare you are undoubtedly a man of valour and +honour. At all events, I have told you everything, and you can act +accordingly." With this he took his departure. + +The fortune of arms appeared to have completely abandoned the +Spaniards, and the very courage of despair itself could avail nothing +against the rapidly-advancing foe. Valenzia was hemmed in more and more +closely on all sides, so that Blake, pushed to extremity, determined to +force his way out with twelve thousand chosen troops. It is known that +few succeeded in getting through, that the remainder were in part +killed, in part driven back into the town. It was here that Edgar, at +the head of the brave Ovihuela Rifle Regiment, managed to give a +momentary check to the enemy, thus rendering the wild confusion +of the flight less disastrous. But, as at Tarragona, a musket bullet +struck him down at the crisis of the engagement. He described his +condition from that moment till he regained clear consciousness as one +inexplicably strange. It often seemed to him that he was in the thick +of fighting. He would seem to hear the thunder of the cannon, the wild +cries of the combatants--the Spaniards would seem to be advancing +victorious, but as he was seized on by the joy of battle and starting +off to lead his battalion under fire, he would seem to become suddenly +paralysed, and sink down in unconscious insensibility. Then he would +become clearly aware that he was lying on some soft bed, that people +were giving him cool drink--he heard gentle voices speaking softly, and +yet could not arouse himself from his dreams. Once, when he thought he +was back in the thick of the battle, it seemed to him that he was +grasped firmly by the shoulder, whilst a rifleman of the enemy's +fired at him, striking him on the breast, where the bullet in an +incomprehensible manner went slowly boring its way into the flesh with +the most unspeakable torments till all sense of feeling sunk away into +a deep, deathlike sleep. + +Out of this death sleep Edgar awoke suddenly into full and clear +consciousness, but in such strange surroundings that he could not form +an idea as to where he might be. The soft luxurious bed with its silken +curtains, was quite out of keeping with the small, low-roofed, +dungeon-like vault of undressed stones in which it stood. A dim lamp +shed a feeble light around--neither door nor window was discernible. +Edgar raised himself with difficulty, and saw that there was a +Franciscan friar sitting in a corner, seemingly asleep. "Where am I?" +Edgar cried, with all the energy which he could concentrate. + +The monk started from his sleep, trimmed the lamp, took it up, looked +at Edgar's face by the light, felt his pulse, and murmured something +which Edgar could not understand. He was going to interrogate the monk +as to what had happened to him, when the wall opened noislessly, and a +man came in whom Edgar immediately recognized as the person who had +spoken to him on the Alameda. The monk called out to this person that +the crisis was over and all would now go well. "Praise be to God," said +the old gentleman, and approached nearer to Edgar's bed. + +Edgar wished to speak, but the old gentleman prevented him, assuring +him that the slightest exertion would be dangerous to him still. It was +natural that he should be surprised at finding himself in such +surroundings, but a few words would be sufficient, not only to put him +at his ease, but to explain why it had been necessary to place him in +this dreary prison. + +Edgar now learnt all. When he fell wounded in the breast the intrepid +"battle-brethren," in spite of the hotness of the fire, had taken him +up and transported him into the town. It happened that in the thick of +the confusion Don Rafaele Marchez (this was the old man's name) saw the +wounded Edgar, and instead of his being sent to the hospital he was +carried to Don Rafaele's own house at once, so that the friend of his +Baldassare might have every possible care. His wound was serious enough +in itself, but the peculiar danger of his condition was the violent +nervous fever, traces of which had previously displayed themselves, +which now broke out in all its fury. It is matter of notoriety that a +tremendous fire had been kept up on Valenzia for three days and nights +with the most terrible effect, that all the terror and horror of this +bombardment spread abroad in this city thronged to excess with +people--that the self-same populace, excited to fury by the Junta, +after insisting that Blake should keep up the defence to the very +utmost, turned round and demanded an immediate surrender under the most +violent threats--that Blake, with heroic self-command, drove the crowds +asunder by Walloon Guards, and then made an honourable capitulation to +Souchet. Don Rafaele Marchez would not allow Edgar, sick unto death, to +fall into the enemy's hands. As soon as the capitulation was arranged +and the enemy within the walls of Valenzia, Edgar was removed to the +vault, where he was safe against discovery. "Friend of my sainted +Baldassare," (thus he finished his narrative) "be _my_ friend too. Your +blood has flowed for my country--every drop of it has fallen seething +into my breast, and washed away every vestige of the mistrust which +cannot but arise in this fateful time. The same fire which enflames the +Spaniard to the most bitter hatred flashes up in his friendship too, +making him capable of every deed, every sacrifice, for his ally. My +house is occupied by the enemy, but you are in safety, for I swear to +you that whatever happens I will rather let myself be buried under the +ruins of Valenzia than betray you. Believe me in this." + +In the daytime a profound stillness as of the grave reigned around +Edgar's room, but in the night he often thought he heard in the +distance the echo of soft footfalls, the hollow murmur of many voices +together, the opening and shutting of doors, the clatter of weapons. +Some subterranean action seemed to be going on during the hours +of sleep. Edgar questioned the Franciscan, who only--and that +rarely--quitted him for an instant or two, tending him with the most +unwearied care. But the Franciscan was of opinion that as soon as Edgar +was well he would hear from Don Rafaele what it was that was going on. +And this was so. For when Edgar was well enough to leave his bed, Don +Rafaele came one night with a lighted torch and begged Edgar to dress +and follow him with Father Eusebio, which was the name of the +Franciscan, his doctor and nurse. + +Don Rafaele led him through a long and rather narrow passage till they +came to a closed door, which was opened on Don Rafaele's knocking. + +How amazed was Edgar to find himself in a spacious vaulted chamber +brilliantly lighted, in which there was a numerous assemblage of +persons for the most part of wild, dirty, sullen appearance. In the +middle stood a man who, though dressed like the commonest peasant, with +wild hair and all the marks of a homeless, nomadic life, had in all his +bearing something of the dauntless and the awe-aspiring. The features +of his face were noble, and from his eyes flashed a warlike fire which +bespoke the hero. To him Don Rafaele conducted his friend, announcing +him as the brave young German whom he had rescued from the enemy, and +who was prepared to take part in the grand contest for the freedom of +Spain. Then Don Rafaele, turning to Edgar, said, "You are here in the +heart of Valenzia, which is besieged by our enemies--the hearth on +which burns for ever that fire whose unquenchable flame, ever blazing +up with renewed vigour, is destined to destroy our accursed foe when +the moment comes when, misled by his fallacious successes, he shall +surpass himself in defiant arrogance. You are here in the subterranean +vaults of the Franciscan Monastery. Along a hundred bye-paths unknown +to betrayers the chiefs of the brave make their way to this spot, and +hence, as from a focus, they dart in all directions rays which carry +death and destruction to foreigners. Don Edgar, we look upon you as one +of ourselves. Take your part in the glory of our undertakings." + +Empecinado (for the man dressed as a peasant was none other than the +renowned Guerilla chieftain)--Empecinado, whose fearless daring formed +the theme of many a popular tale amounting to the miraculous--who set +at defiance all the efforts of the enemy, like some incarnation of the +spirit of vengeance, who when he had vanished without a trace would +suddenly burst forth with redoubled force--who at the very moment when +the enemy announced the utter annihilation of his bands would suddenly +appear at the very gates of Madrid, placing the Pretender's life in +danger--this Empecinado took Edgar by the hand, addressing him in +enthusiastic words. + +At this point in the proceedings a young man was brought in bound. His +face, of deathly pallor, wore all the signs of hopeless despair; he was +trembling, and appeared to find it difficult to stand upright when +placed in the presence of Empecinado. The latter pierced him through +and through with his glance of fire, and at length spoke to him, in a +tone of the most appalling calmness. "Antonio," he said, "you are in +league with the enemy. You have several times had interviews with +Souchet, at unusual hours. You endeavoured to hand over, by treachery, +our Place d'Armes at Cuenca."--"It is so," answered Antonio, with a +terrible sigh, not raising his bowed-down head. "Is it possible," cried +Empecinado, breaking out into the wildest anger, "is it possible that +you are a Spaniard--that the blood of your ancestors runs in your +veins? Was not your mother Virtue personified? Would not the slightest +suspicion that she was capable of betraying the honour of her house be +an atrocious outrage? But for this I should believe you to be a bastard +sprung from the most despicable race on earth. You have merited death. +Prepare yourself to die." + +Antonio threw himself at Empecinado's feet in anguish and despair, +crying, "Uncle! uncle! do you not know that all the furies of hell are +rending my breast. There are times--often--when the subtlety of Satan +can bring anything to pass. Yes, uncle, I am a Spaniard. Let me prove +it. Be merciful. Grant that I may blot out the disgrace which the most +abominable arts of hell have brought upon me--that I may appear to you +and to the Brethren purified from my offence. You understand me, uncle? +You know the reason of my so imploring you!" + +Empecinado seemed somewhat moved by the young man's entreaties. He +raised him, and said gently, "Your repentance is sincere. You are right +in saying that the cunning of Satan is able to accomplish much. I know +the reason of your entreaty. I pardon you. Son of my dear sister, come +to my heart!" Empecinado with his own hands untied his bonds, embraced +him, and at once handed to him the dagger from his own girdle. "My +thanks," the young man cried. He kissed Empecinado's hands, bedewing +them with his tears, then he raised his eyes to heaven in prayer, and +drove the dagger deep into his heart, falling dead without a sound. + +This occurrence so shook the invalid Edgar that he nearly fainted. +Father Eusebio took him back to his chamber. + +Some weeks afterwards Don Rafaele Marchez considered that it was safe +for him to liberate his friend from the prison in which he could not +recover his health. He took him, in the night, up to a room which had +windows looking out upon an unfrequented street, and warned him not to +cross the threshold--at all events in the daytime, by reason that the +French were quartered in the house. + +Edgar could not explain to himself the irresistible desire which one +day seized him to go out into the corridor. At the very instant that he +did so the door of the room opposite opened, and a French officer came +out meeting him. + +"Why how came _you_ here, friend Edgar!" cried the Frenchman. "Welcome +a thousand times!" Edgar had at once recognized him as Colonel la Combe +of the Imperial Guard. Chance had brought this Colonel, just at the +time of Germany's terrible degradation, to his uncle's house, where he +himself was living, having had to abandon his military career. La Combe +came from the south of France. Through the tenderness (by no means a +common characteristic of his nation) with which he dealt with those +who were so bitterly tried, he succeeded in overcoming the deep +dislike--nay, the irreconcilable hatred, which was so firmly rooted in +Edgar's soul against the arrogant foe, and finally, by virtue of +certain traits of character, which placed beyond all doubt the true +nobility of la Combe's nature, in gaming his friendship. + +"Edgar," cried the Colonel, "what has brought _you_ to Valenzia?" + +It may be imagined how sorely the question embarrassed Edgar. He could +make no reply. The Colonel gazed at him gravely, and said in a serious +tone. "Ah, I understand. You have given the rein to your animosity--you +have drawn your sword for the imagined freedom of a nation of madmen, +and I cannot blame you for it. I should be forming a very poor opinion +of your friendship if I could suppose you capable of imagining that I +could betray you. No, my friend; now that I have found you, you are in +absolute safety for the first time. From this moment you shall be +nobody but the commercial traveller of a German house of business in +Marseilles, an old acquaintance of mine. So no more about that." Much +as it distressed Edgar, la Combe did not rest until he quitted his +hermitage, and shared with him the better quarters provided for him by +Don Rafaele. + +Edgar hastened to acquaint the suspicious Spaniard with all the +circumstances of the case, and his previous relations with la Combe. +Don Rafaele restricted himself to the answer, delivered in a grave and +dry manner-- + +"Really; that is a very curious chance indeed!" + +The Colonel sympathized keenly with Edgar's position. At the same time +he could not divest himself of the characteristic temper of his nation, +which sees in liveliness of movement, and the eager pursuit of +pleasure, the best means of healing a wounded heart. Thus it happened +that the Colonel walked arm in arm with the Marseilles commercial +traveller in the Alameda, and drew him into the wild amusements of his +light-hearted comrades. + +Edgar noticed, clearly enough, that many strange forms dogged him +about, watching him with suspicious looks; and it went deeply to his +heart when, one day on entering a Posada with the Colonel, he heard +distinctly behind him a whisper of "Acqui esta el traidor!" ("That is +the traitor.") + +Don Rafaele grew daily more cold and monosyllabic towards Edgar, and at +last he saw him no more, and was given to understand by him that, +instead of taking his meals with him, he should take them with Colonel +la Combe. + +One day, when duty had called the Colonel elsewhere, and Edgar was +alone, there came a gentle knock at his door, and Father Eusebio +entered. He made enquiry after Edgar's welfare, and talked on all kinds +of indifferent subjects, but presently came to a pause, and after +looking fixedly into Edgar's eyes, cried with much emotion-- + +"No, Don Edgar, _you_ are not a traitor. It is in human nature that, in +that waking dream which constitutes the delirium of fever--when the +forces of life are in bitter combat with man's earthly envelope, and +the strong tension of the fibres cannot hem in the thoughts and fancies +which strive for utterance--it is, I say, in human nature that a man +can then no longer help revealing phases of his being which are secret +at other times. How often have I, Don Edgar, watched by your pillow +during long nights? How often have you, all unknowing, allowed me to +read the very depths of your soul? No, Don Edgar, it is impossible that +you can be a traitor. But have a care of yourself--have a care of +yourself!" + +Edgar implored Eusebio to tell him clearly what he was suspected of, +and what danger was threatening him. + +"I will not conceal from you," said Eusebio, "that your intimacy with +Colonel la Combe and his companions has caused suspicion to rest upon +you--that fears are entertained that you might, from no evil intention, +but out of mere lightheartedness, on some occasion when you may have +taken more of our strong Spanish wines than was advisable, perhaps +divulge some of the secrets of this house, into which Don Rafaele has +initiated you. There is no doubt that you are in a certain amount of +danger." + +"But," continued Eusebio, after having maintained a thoughtful silence, +with downcast eyes, for a time, "there _is_ one way of escaping all +risk. You have only to throw yourself into the arms of the Frenchmen. +They will get you out of Valenzia." + +"What are you talking about?" Edgar burst out. "Sooner death without +reproach, than escape coupled with miserable disgrace." + +"Don Edgar," cried the monk with enthusiasm, "you _are_ no traitor!" He +strained Edgar to his heart, and left the chamber with his eyes full of +tears. + +That night Edgar, happening to be alone (the Colonel chancing to be +from home), heard steps approaching, and Don Rafaele's voice calling, +"Open your door, Don Edgar." On opening it he saw Don Rafaele with a +torch in his hand, and Father Eusebio behind him. Don Rafaele begged +Edgar to accompany him, he having to attend an important meeting in the +vault of the Franciscan monastery. + +As they were passing along the subterranean passage, Don Rafaele being +in advance with the lighted torch, Eusebio whispered softly in his ear, + +"Oh, God, Don Edgar! you are going to your death! There is no escape +possible for you now." + +Edgar had ventured his life in many a fight with brave +lightheartedness; but here all the anxiousness, the uncertainty of the +manner of his assassination, could not but weigh heavily upon him, so +that Eusebio had some difficulty in supporting him. And yet, as the way +was still long, he managed to acquire a measure of self-control which +enabled him not only to command himself, but to resolve upon the line +of conduct which he should adopt in these circumstances. "When the door +of the vault opened, Edgar saw the terrible Empecinado, with rage and +fury flashing from his eyes. Behind him were standing several Guerillas +and one or two Franciscan friars. Having now quite recovered his calm +courage, Edgar walked firmly and fearlessly up to the Guerilla chief, +and, addressing him gravely and quietly, said-- + +"It happens very fortunately that I am brought face to face with you +to-day, Don Empecinado. I have been anxious to make a request to Don +Rafaele, and now I have the opportunity of laying it before yourself. +As Father Eusebio, my doctor and faithful guardian, will testify, I +have now quite recovered. I am well and strong, and find it impossible +to bear the tedious idleness of life among enemies whom I detest. I +therefore beseech you, Don Empecinado, let me be taken and placed upon +those secret paths known to you, that I may join your bands, and be +engaged in enterprises for which my soul yearns." + +"H'm!" said Empecinado, in a tone approaching mockery. "Do _you_ then +hold with the crack-brained populace, who prefer death to doing homage +to the Grand Nation? Have not your friends taught you better?" + +"Don Empecinado," said Edgar, "you do not understand the German mode of +looking at matters. It is not known to you that German courage, which +burns on for ever inextinguishably, like a pure naphtha flame, and +German faithfulness, firm as the primeval rock, form the most +impenetrable coat of mail, from which all the poisoned darts of +treachery and wickedness fall back harmlessly. I beg you once more, Don +Empecinado, to let me go out into the open country, that I may prove +myself deserving of the good opinion which I believe myself to have +already earned." + +Empecinado looked at Edgar in amazement, whilst a low murmur circulated +amongst the assemblage. Don Rafaele moved forward to speak to +Empecinado, but he motioned him back, and going to Edgar, took his hand +and said with emotion-- + +"Another fate was in store for you. You had another destiny reserved +for you to-day. However, Don Edgar, think of your own country. The +enemies who have covered it with shame are here to-day before you. +Remember that your German peoples, too, will raise their eyes to the +Phoenix which will soar, with shining plumage, from the flames which +are kindling here, and their despair give place to warm longing, the +parent of dauntless courage, of battle to the very death!" + +"I thought of all this," said Edgar, "before I left my own country, to +shed my blood for your freedom. All my being dissolved itself into lust +for vengeance, when Don Baldassare di Luna lay dying in my arms." + +"If you are serious in this," cried Empecinado, as one suddenly +breaking into fury, "you must set forth this very night, this very +moment. You must not enter Don Rafaele's house again." Edgar declared +that this was precisely what he desired, and was immediately conducted +away by a man named Isidor Mirr (who afterwards became a guerilla +chief), and Father Eusebio. + +As they went the good Eusebio could not sufficiently express his +delight at Edgar's escape. + +"Heaven!" he said, "seeing your goodness put courage into your heart--a +divine miracle, in my belief." + +It was much closer to Valenzia than he expected, or than the enemy +probably were aware, that Edgar met the first troop of Guerillas, and +to it he attached himself. + +I pass over in silence Edgar's warlike adventures, which often might +sound as if taken from some book of knightly fables, and I come to the +time when he unexpectedly encountered Don Rafaele Marchez among the +Guerillas. + +"You really had great injustice done to you, Don Edgar," said Don +Rafaele. Edgar turned his back upon him. + +When morning broke, Don Rafaele got into a state of anxiety which grew +every instant till it attained a pitch of the most intense anguish. He +ran up and down, sighed, clasped his hands, raised them to heaven, and +prayed. + +"What is the matter with the old fellow?" Edgar enquired. + +"He has managed," said Isidor Mirr, "to get safe out of Valenzia +himself, and to save the best of his belongings, and get them loaded up +upon mules. He has been expecting them all night, and has every reason +to anticipate evil." + +Edgar marvelled at Don Rafaele's avarice, which seemed to render him +oblivious of everything besides. It was midnight; the moon was shining +brightly among the hills; when musketry fire was heard from the ravine +beneath, and presently some rather seriously wounded Guerillas came +limping up, reporting that the troop which was escorting Don Rafaele's +mules had been unexpectedly attacked by some French Chasseurs, that +nearly all their comrades had fallen, and the mules been captured by +the enemy. + +"Great heavens, my child--my poor, unfortunate child," Don Rafaele +cried, and sank to the ground. + +"What is the matter here?" cried Edgar loudly. "Come on, come on, +brethren, down into the glen, to avenge our comrades, and snatch the +booty from the teeth of these pigs." + +"The good German is right," cried Isidor Mirr. "The good German is +right," re-echoed all around, and away they rushed down into the ravine +like a bursting thunderstorm. + +There were only a few Guerillas left, and they were fighting with the +courage of despair. With a cry of "Valenzia," Edgar rushed into the +thickest mass of the enemy, and with the death-announcing roar of +thirsting tigers the Guerillas dashed after him, planted their daggers +in the breasts of the foemen, and felled them with the butts of their +muskets. Well-directed bullets hit them in their headlong flight. These +were the Valenzia men who had overtaken General Moncey's Cuirassiers in +their march, dashed upon their flank, cut them down before they +gathered how they were situated, and retired into their lurking-places +masters of the arms and horses. + +All this was over and done when Edgar heard a piercing scream from the +densest part of the thicket. He made haste to the spot, and found a +little man struggling with a Frenchman, and holding the bridle of the +mule he was in charge of in his teeth. Just as Edgar came on the scene +the Frenchman struck down the little man with a dagger, which he seemed +to have taken from him, and was trying to drive the mule further into +the thicket. Edgar gave a loud shout; the Frenchman fired at him, +missed him, and Edgar ran him through with his bayonet. The little +fellow was whimpering. Edgar raised him up, undid with some difficulty +the bridle, which he had been convulsively biting, and noticed for the +first time as he was helping him on to the mule that there was a +shrouded form upon it already clinging to the creature's neck with its +arms, and softly lamenting. Behind this girl, for such, judging by her +voice, was the shrouded form, Edgar deposited the little wounded man, +took the mule by the bridle, and thus made his way back to the little +Place d'Armes, where, as no more of the enemy was visible, Isidor Mirr +and his men had again taken up their positions. + +The little man, who had fainted from loss of blood, though his wounds +did not seem to be dangerous, and the girl, were lifted from the mule. +At this moment Don Rafaele in a state of the most wild excitement +darted forward with cries of "My child, my sweet child!" and was in the +act to clasp the young creature, who did not seem to be more than about +eight or ten in years, in his arms, when, suddenly seeing the bright +torchlight shining on Edgar's face, he threw himself at his feet, +crying, "Oh Don Edgar, Don Edgar! this knee has never bent to mortal +man till now; but you are no mortal--you are an angel of light sent to +save me from deadly anxiety and inconsolable despair! Oh, Don Edgar, +fiendish mistrust was deeply rooted in my bosom, ever brooding upon +evil. It was an undertaking deserving the bitterest execration to plan +the destruction of one such as you with your true heart all honour +and valour---to devote you to a shameful death. Strike me down, Don +Edgar--execute a bloody vengeance upon me, vile wretch that I am! Never +can you forgive what I have done." + +Edgar, fully conscious that he had done nothing more than his duty and +honour demanded of him, was pained by Don Rafaele's behaviour, and +tried by all means to calm and silence him, at length with difficulty +succeeding. + +Don Rafaele said Colonel la Combe had been greatly distressed at +Edgar's disappearance, and suspecting foul play, he had been on the +point of ransacking the house and having him, Don Rafaele, arrested. +This was why it had been necessary for him to escape, and it had been +entirely owing to the Franciscan's help that he had been able to bring +away his daughter, his servant, and many things which he required. +Meanwhile the wounded servant and Don Rafaele's daughter had been taken +on some distance in advance, whilst Don Rafaele, too old to share in +the exploits of the Guerillas, was to follow them. At his sorrowful +parting with Edgar he gave him a certain talisman, which brought him +deliverance in many a serious danger. + + +Here Euchar ended his story, which had been listened to by the company +with the keenest interest. + +The Poet, who had got over his coughing fit and returned to the room, +expressed the opinion that in Edgar's Spanish adventures there was fine +material for a tragedy, all that he thought wanting being a due spice +of love-making and an effective _finale_, such as a striking case of +insanity, a good apoplexy, or something of the kind. + +"Oh, yes, love," said a young lady blushing at her own temerity. "The +only thing your delightful story wanted was some charmingly interesting +love affair!" + +"Dear Lady," said Euchar laughing, "I was not telling you the story of +a novel, but the adventures of my friend Edgar. His life amongst the +wild Spanish mountains was unfortunately poor in experiences of that +kind." + +"I have a strong belief," said Victorine in a low tone, "that I know +this same Edgar, who has remained in poverty, because he has despised +the most precious of gifts." + +But no one's enthusiasm equalled that of Ludwig, who cried out most +excitedly, "I know that mysterious Profecia del Pirineo by the glorious +Don Juan Baptista de Arriaza. Oh, it fired my very veins! I wanted to +be off to Spain to fight for that glorious cause--had it only been +comprehended in the system of the mutual interdependence of things. I +can quite put myself in Edgar's place. How I should have spoken to that +terrible Empecinado in that awful situation in the Franciscan +monastery!" And he began a harangue, which was so pathetic that +everybody was astonished, and could not sufficiently marvel at his +brave and heroic resolution. + +"But it was not a part of the mutual interdependence of things," said +the lady of the house, "although, perhaps, it does form a part of that +interdependence--or, at all events, fits into it--that, as it happens, +I have provided an entertainment for my visitors which forms a suitable +pendant to Euchar's story." + +The doors opened, and Emanuela came in followed by the stunted little +Biagio Cubas with his guitar in his hands, making all manner of quaint +obeisances and salutations. But Emanuela, with that indescribable charm +of manner which had so fascinated Euchar and Ludwig in the Park, came +into the circle curtseying, and said in a gentle voice that she was +going to exhibit a little piece of skilfulness, which would not have +much to recommend it except its being a little out of the common. + +During the short time which had elapsed since our two friends had seen +the girl she seemed to have grown taller, more beautiful, and more +developed in figure--moreover, she was admirably, almost expensively +dressed. "Now," Ludwig whispered into his friend's ear, as Cubas +with quaint and comical features was getting things ready for the +egg-fandago, "now is your chance to get back your ring." + +"My dear goose," said Euchar, "don't you see it is on my finger? I +found I had taken it off along with my glove; I discovered that on the +same evening when I thought I had lost it." + +Emanuela's dancing took everybody by storm, no one having ever seen +such a thing before. Euchar kept his gaze fixed upon her earnestly. +Ludwig broke out into exclamations of the utmost rapture. Victorine, +close to whom he was sitting, whispered to him, "Hypocrite! You dare to +pretend to speak of love to me while you are devoted to this brazen +little wretch of a Spanish egg-dancer! Don't dare to look at her again, +sir!" + +Ludwig was considerably discomposed on the whole by Victorine's passion +for him, with its tendency to flame out into jealousy without any +rational cause. He said to himself, "I really am one of the luckiest +fellows in the world; but all the same, this sort of thing rather bores +a man." + +When she had ended her dance Emanuela took the guitar and began singing +Spanish ballads of cheerful, happy character. Ludwig begged her to sing +that splendid thing which had so greatly delighted Euchar. She at once +began-- + + "Laurel immortal al gran Palafox," etc. + +Her enthusiastic delivery of these lines waxed in fervour as she went +on, her voice swelled into greater power, the chords of the instrument +clanged louder and louder. When she came to the Strophe, which speaks +of the liberation of the Fatherland, she fixed her beaming eyes on +Euchar, a river of tears rushed down her cheeks, and she fell on her +knees. The hostess hurried to her, raised her up, and said, "No more, +no more, sweet darling child," and, taking her to a sofa, kissed her on +the brow and stroked her cheeks. + +"She's out of her mind," Victorine whispered excitedly to Ludwig. "You +can't be in love with a mad creature! No, no. Tell me at once--on the +spot--that you can't possibly be in love with a maniac!" + +"Good gracious, no! Of course not," Ludwig cried, considerably alarmed. +He found the greatest possible difficulty in properly adapting himself +to the excessively passionate manifestation which Victorine's affection +had taken to displaying. + +While the hostess was refreshing Emanuela with sweet wine and biscuits +the valiant little guitarist, Biagio Cubas, who had sunk down in a +corner and was sobbing profusely, was served with a glass of genuine +Xeres, which he drained to the last drop with a gladsome "Donna, viva +hasta mil annos." + +It may readily be supposed that the ladies attacked Emanuela with a +string of enquiries as to her country, circumstances, and so forth. The +hostess felt the painfulness of her position too keenly not to so +contrive that the firmly-closed circle should disperse itself into +several subsidiary eddies, in which every one, the piquet players +included, soon began to revolve. The consistorial president considered +the little Spanish girl a delightful, natty little creature; the only +thing was that somehow her dancing got into his own legs and made his +head feel as giddy as if he were waltzing with the devil in person. The +singing struck him as something quite out of the common; it delighted +him immensely. + +Count Walther Puck was of quite a different opinion. Of her singing he +thought nothing at all; there was no such thing as a trillo in it all. +But he praised her dancing most warmly, and thought it quite delicious. +He said that his opinion on the subject was of some value, seeing that +at one time he had been as good a performer as the most celebrated +Maitres de ballet. + +"Will you believe me, brother Consistorial-President," he said, "when I +tell you that in my youthful days, when I was a perfect model specimen +of nimbleness and vigour, I used to be able to spring the fiocco and +knock down a tambourine hung up nine feet above the tip of my nose with +my toe! And as for this egg-fandago, why I have often smashed more eggs +in performing that dance than seven hens would lay in four-and-twenty +hours." + +"Bless my soul," said the Consistorial-President, "that was doing the +thing in a most stupendous style!" + +"Yes," said the Count. "And then I must tell you my good old Cochenille +plays the flageolet really very nicely indeed. And now and then I get +him to play for me in the dressing-room; and then I really give myself +full swing in the dancing line--of course, only there quite in private. +You see what I mean?" + +"Of course, of course," answered the Consistorial-President, "I quite +understand." + +Meanwhile Emanuela and her companion had disappeared. + +As the company were about dispersing the hostess said, "Friend Euchar, +I feel certain that you know a great deal more than you have told us +about your friend Edgar, We should be deeply interested to hear a great +deal more. "What you have told us was only a fragment of it, though it +has so excited and interested us that none of us will sleep a wink to +night. I can't accord you longer time than till to-morrow evening for +satisfying our curiosity. "We must hear more of Don Rafaele, and +Empecinado, and the Guerillas. And if it is possible that Edgar can get +into a love affair, please don't deprive us of the satisfaction of +that." + +"That would be delightful!" sounded from all sides; and Euchar had to +promise that he would be present with the matter necessary for the +completing of his story. + +As they were going home Ludwig could not say enough on the subject of +Victorine's passion for him, bordering, as it seemed to do, on +insanity. "All the same," he said, "that jealousy of hers has had the +effect of enabling me to read my own heart clearly. And I have read +there that my love for Emanuela is a thing unutterable. I am going to +find her out, declare my passionate adoration for her--and clasp her to +my heart." + +"Exactly, my dear child," said Euchar imperturbably. "That is, of +course, the proper thing for you to do." + +On the next evening when the company were assembled again _chez Madame +la Presidente_, she told them with much regret that Baron Euchar had +written to say that he was unexpectedly obliged to start immediately on +a journey, and must postpone the continuation of his story till he came +back. + + +EUCHAR'S RETURN. SCENES IN A TRULY HAPPY MENAGE. CONCLUSION OF THE + STORY. + +Two years had past away when one morning a handsome carriage well +loaded with baggage drew up at the door of the Golden Angel (principal +hotel in W----), and out of it got a young gentleman, a lady very +closely shrouded in wraps, and an old man. Ludwig happened to be +passing at the time, and naturally he had a look at the arrivals +through his eye-glass. The young gentleman happened to turn round, and +he immediately embraced Ludwig, crying out, "My dear old fellow!" + +The latter was not a little astonished to see his old friend Euchar, +for it was he who had got out of the carriage. "My dear fellow," he +said, "who is that terribly muffled-up lady?--and the old gentleman? +And, bless my soul, here comes a fourgon with baggage, and sitting on +the back of it--good gracious, do my eyes deceive me?" + +Euchar took Ludwig by the arm, led him a step or two across the street, +and said, "You shall hear all about everything in good time, dear +friend; but, to begin with, how have things been going with you? You +are terribly pale--the fire of your eyes has gone out. To tell you the +honest truth, you look about ten years older than when I saw you last. +Have you been having a bad illness or some serious trouble?" + +"Oh, dear no!" answered Ludwig. "Quite the contrary. I believe I am the +very happiest fellow under the sun, for I am living a life of utterly +ideal, Utopian love and bliss. The heavenly Victorine gave me that +exquisite, tender hand of hers--bestowed it, my dear fellow, upon +unworthy me rather more than a year ago! That pretty house which you +see there with its windows shining in the sun is my home, and you must +come there with me this moment and see that earthly paradise of mine. +How delighted my dear wife will be to see you again! Let us give her a +surprise." + +Euchar begged for a few minutes time just to change his dress, and +promised to come then at once and see with his own eyes how all things +had worked together for Ludwig's happiness. + +Ludwig came to meet his friend at the bottom of the stair, and begged +him to make as little noise as possible in coming up, explaining that +Victorine often suffered terribly from nervous headaches, and had a bad +one just then, which rendered her nervous system so sensitive that she +could hear the very softest footfall in any part of the house, although +her own rooms were in the most distant part of it. Consequently they +two now crept as softly as they could up the stairs, which were thickly +carpeted, into Ludwig's own room. After the heartiest outpourings of +gladness at seeing his old companion again, Ludwig rang the bell, but +immediately cried out, "Oh, Lord, what have I done, wretch that I am!" +putting both his hands before his face. And it was not long before a +snappish creature of a lady's maid came in screeching out to Ludwig in +a horrible, vulgar tone of voice, "Herr Baron, for heaven's sake what +are you doing? You'll kill my lady. She's in spasms now." + +"Good gracious! my good Nettie," said Ludwig in a lamentable voice, "I +really forgot all about it. I was so happy. Here is the greatest friend +I have in the world come to see me. We haven't met for years. He's an +old intimate friend of your mistress, too. Go and beg her--implore +her--to let me bring him to her." Ludwig put money into her hand, and +she made her exit with a vixenish "I'll see what I can do." + +Euchar, finding himself in presence of a situation which is but too +common in life, and is consequently served up to us _ad nauseam_ in +comedies and novels, had his own particular ideas as to his friend's +domestic happiness. He felt with Ludwig all the painfulness of the +position, and began to talk about indifferent subjects. But Ludwig +would not give in to this, saying that what had been happening to him +since they had been apart had been too remarkable and interesting that +he should delay for a moment to communicate it to Euchar. + +"Of course," he began, "you remember that evening when we were all at +Madame Veh's and you told the Story of your friend Edgar's adventures. +And, of course, you remember how Victorine flamed up into jealousy and +showed her heart, which was blazing with passion, without disguise. +Idiot that I was--I fully admit to you that I was an idiot--I fell +desperately in love with that little Spanish dancing girl, and thought +that I could read in her eyes that my love was not without some hope. +Perhaps you noticed that at the finish of her fandango, whim she made +the eggs into a pyramid the apex of that pyramid was directed towards +me. I was sitting just in the centre of the circle behind Madame Veh's +chair. Now could she have expressed more clearly how deep her interest +in me was? I wanted to find the dear little creature out the next +morning, but it was not a part of the mutual interdependence of things +that I should succeed in that. I had almost forgotten all about her +when chance----" + +"The mutual interdependence of things, you mean," interrupted Euchar. + +"Well, well," went on Ludwig. "But, at all events, a few days +afterwards I was going through the Park, and in front of that Cafe +where you and I saw that little Spanish girl for the first time, out +came the landlady rushing--oh, you have no idea what an interest that +good woman, who got the vinegar and water that day when I hurt my knee, +takes in me still--but that is not to the present purpose--to ask if I +knew what had become of the little Spanish girl and her companion, who +used to come there so often, and of whom nothing had been seen for +several weeks. Next day I took a great deal of trouble to find out +whether she was in the town or not, but it did not lie in the mutual +interdependence of things that I should succeed in this. And my heart +repented of the foolishness it had been so near committing, and turned +back again to the heavenly Victorine. But my crime of infidelity to her +had made such a profound impression upon that super-sensitive +organization of hers that she refused to see me or even to hear my name +mentioned. Good old Cochenille assured me that she had fallen into a +state of absolute melancholia; that she would often cry till the was +almost breathless, and wail in the most pathetic manner, saying 'He is +lost to me. I have lost him for ever.' You may imagine the effect which +all this produced upon me--how I was dissolved in sorrow over this +unfortunate misunderstanding. Cochenille proffered me his aid. He said +he would diplomatically convince the Countess that I was quite an +altered man, never dancing more than four times at the most at balls, +sitting at the theatre staring at the stage in an oblivious manner, and +paying not the smallest attention to my clothes. I sent a flowing +stream of gold pieces into his hands, and in return he gave me fresh +hopes every morning. At last Victorine allowed me to see her again. How +lovely she was! Oh, Victorine, my darling--beautiful, sweetest of +wives--amiability and kindness personified!" + +Here Nettchen came in and said that the Baroness was astonished at the +Baron's extraordinary conduct. First he rang the bell as if the house +were on fire, and then he asked her to receive a visitor in the +exceedingly critical state of her health. She most certainly could not +see anybody that day whoever it might be, and begged the strange +gentleman to excuse her. Nettchen looked Euchar straight in the eyes, +scanned him over carefully from head to foot, and left the room. + +Ludwig stared before him in silence, and then continued his tale in a +low voice and with bated breath, saying, "You can't imagine the degree +of almost contemptuous coldness with which Victorine received me. If it +hadn't been that her previous outbursts of burning affection had +convinced me that this coldness was merely put on to punish me, I +should really have had my doubts, and should have hesitated. But at +last this counterfeiting got too difficult for her, her behaviour grew +kindlier and kindlier, till all in a moment she gave me her shawl to +carry. And then my triumph was utterly brilliant. I rearranged that +'_seize_' of mine, which had played such an important part in my +destiny, danced it with her in the most heavenly manner, whispered in +her ear--at the proper moment, whilst balancing myself on tiptoe and +placing my arm about her--'Heavenly Countess, I love you unspeakably! +Angel of light, I implore you to be mine.' Victorine smiled into my +eyes; but that did not prevent me from paying the proper visit the next +morning, with the good help of my friend Cochenille, at the fitting +hour, about one o'clock, and making my formal proposal for her hand. +She gazed at me in silence. I threw myself at her feet, seized that +hand which was to be mine, and covered it with glowing kisses. She +allowed me to do this; but I really felt it a good deal, and thought it +was extremely queer, that all the time her eyes were fixed steadfastly +upon nothing that I could discover, staring before her as if she had +been a lifeless image. But at last a great tear or two came to her +eyes. She pressed my hand so vehemently that, as I happened to have a +sore finger, I could scarcely help crying out with the pain of it, rose +from her chair, and left the room with her handkerchief over her face. +I had no doubts as to my good fortune. I hastened to the Count and made +my formal proposal for his daughter. + +"'Good. Very good, indeed, my dear Baron,' said the Count, smiling +in the most affable manner. 'But have you given the Countess any +intimation of this? Have you given her any opportunity of inferring it +at all? Are you beloved? I admit that I am foolish enough to take the +greatest possible interest in love matters.' + +"I told him what had happened during the 'seize.' His eyes sparkled +with delight. 'That was delicious!' he cried over and over again. 'That +was most delicious, indeed, Herr Baron! Tell me what your "tour" +consisted of, dear Baronetto.' I danced this 'tour' for him, and +remained pausing in the position which I described to you long since. +'Charming; charming, indeed, my angelic friend!' he cried, and ringing +the bell, he shouted, 'Cochenille, Cochenille!' + +"When Cochenille came in I had to sing him the music of my 'seize,' +which was composed by myself. 'Get your flageolet, Cochenille,' said +the Count, 'and play what the Baron has been singing.' Cochenille did +so tolerably correctly. I had to dance with the Count, taking the +lady's part, and I should not have believed it of the old gentleman, +while poising himself on his right tiptoe he whispered into my ear, +'Most incomparable of barons, my daughter Victorine is yours.' + +"The lovely Victorine behaved rather coyly, as young ladies are apt to +do under such circumstances. She was reserved and silent, formal and +stiff, said neither 'Yes' nor 'No,' and on the whole behaved to me in +such a way that my hopes began to sink again. Besides, it so happened +that I just then, for the first time, found out that on the celebrated +occasion, when I put my arm round the cousin instead of Victorine in +the 'seize,' those two girls had planned this practical joke on purpose +just to make me the victim of a contemptible mystification. I really +was terribly distressed and annoyed, and could almost have cried, to +think that it had formed a part of the mutual interdependence of things +that I should be led about by the nose in this sort of way. But those +doubts were vain. Ere I knew where I was, wholly unexpectedly the +heavenly 'Yes' came trembling from her beautiful lips just when I had +fallen into the deepest dejection. It was only then that I found out +what a constraint Victorine had been putting upon herself before, for +she was now so wildly happy and in such amazing spirits that anything +like this condition had never been seen in her before. No doubt it was +only maidenly coyness that made her refuse to allow me to take her hand +or to kiss it, or to indulge in any kind of innocent little endearment. +Many of my friends did try to put a quantity of absurd nonsense into my +head. But the day before our wedding was destined to drive the last +shadow of doubt from my mind. Early on that morning I hastened to her. +Some papers were lying on her work-table. I glanced at them; they were +in her own handwriting. I began reading. It was a diary. Oh, heavens! +Oh, all ye Gods! Each day's entries gave me fresh proof how dearly, +with what unspeakable fondness Victorine had loved me all along. The +most trifling incidents were recorded, and always there came, 'You do +not comprehend this heart of mine. Cold and unfeeling, must I cast +aside all maidenly reserve in the wildness of my despair, throw myself +at your feet, and tell you that without your love life is only death to +me?' And it went on in this strain. On the night when I fancied myself +so wildly in love with the little Spanish girl she had written, 'All is +lost and done. He loves her; nothing can be, more certain. Mad +creature, don't you know that the eye of the woman who loves is +all-seeing?' Just as I was reading this aloud in came Victorine. I +threw myself at her feet with the diary in my hand, crying, 'No, no; I +never was in love with that strange child. You, you alone, were always +my idol!' + +"Victorine fixed a gaze on me, cried out in a screaming sort of tone, +which rings in my ears still, 'Unfortunate fellow, it was not you I +meant,' and rushed from the room. Now could you have imagined that +maidenly coyness would have been capable of being carried so far?" + +Here Nettchen came in to enquire on the Baroness's part why the +Baron did not bring the visitor to see her, inasmuch as she had been +expecting him for the last half hour. "A splendid model wife," cried +the Baron with much emotion, "always sacrificing herself to my wishes." +It astonished Euchar not a little to find the Baroness very much +dressed as if for company. + +"Here is our dear old Euchar!" the Baron cried. "We have got him back +again." But when Euchar approached and took her hand she was seized +with a violent trembling, and, with a faint cry of "Oh, God," fell back +on her couch fainting. + +Euchar could not bear the pain of the situation, and he left the room +as quickly as possible. "Unfortunate fellow," he cried, "it was, +indeed, not you she meant." He understood now the fathomless depth of +misery into which his friend's incredible vanity had plunged him--he +knew now upon whom Victorine's love had been bestowed, and felt himself +strangely moved and touched. He comprehended now, and only now, the +significance of many things which his own simple straightforwardness +had prevented him from seeing before. Now, and only now, he saw through +and through the impassioned Victorine, and could scarcely explain to +himself how he had failed to discover that it was with him she was in +love. The occasions on which her fondness for him had led her to give +expression to it, almost in defiance of all considerations, rose more +clearly before his mental sight, and he distinctly remembered that just +on those very occasions some strange unaccountable antipathy to her had +caused a curious, inexplicable irritation of feeling towards her. This +feeling of angry irritation he now brought to bear upon himself, filled +as he was by the profoundest pity for the poor girl, whose destiny +seemed to have been ruled by such an evil star. + +It so happened that on this very evening the self-same party to which +Euchar had told the story of Edgar's adventures in Spain, two years +previously, were assembled at Madame Veh's. He was greeted with the +greatest warmth, but an electric thrill went through him when he saw +Victorine, as he had not thought he would meet her there. There was no +trace of illness about her. Her eyes shone as brilliantly as of old, +and a carefully-chosen costume of great tastefulness enhanced her +loveliness and charm. Euchar, distressed by her presence, was depressed +and put out, contrary to his usual wont. Victorine so managed matters +as to be able to approach him, and suddenly seizing his hand, drew him +aside, saying gravely and calmly-- + +"You know my husband's pet theory of the mutual interdependence of +things? I believe what constitutes the real 'mutual interdependence of +things' in our lives to be the follies which we commit, repent of, and +commit again and again. So that our lives appear to consist of a +process of being wildly hunted hither and thither by a species of +enchantment beyond our control, which drives us on before it till it +mocks and dashes us into death. I know all, Euchar; I know whom I am +going to see this evening. It was not you who brought those bitter, +hopeless sorrows upon me; not you, but an evil fate. The demon was laid +and vanished at the moment when I saw you again. May peace and rest be +upon us, Euchar." + +"Yes, Victorine," Euchar answered, "may rest and peace be upon us. +However miscomprehended a life may be, the Eternal Power does not leave +it without hope." + +"All is ended--and well," said Victorine; and, wiping a tear away, she +turned to the company. + +Madame Veh had been observant of this pair, and now whispered to +Euchar-- + +"I told her everything. Was I right?" + +"I must go through with the whole business," Euchar answered. + +The company--as often happens in such circumstances--felt a fresh +impulse to festivity and enjoyment in Euchar's unexpected return, and +besieged him with enquiries as to where he had been and what had +happened to him during his absence. + +"What has really brought me here," said Euchar, "is the obligation +which I am under to keep my promise of two years ago that I would tell +you a good deal more of my friend Edgar's history, and put a copestone +upon it such as our friend the Poet thought it wanted. As I can now +assure you that no dark clouds have come over his path, that there have +been no deeds of violence, but that, on the contrary, as the ladies +wished, my story will be concerned with a rather romantic love-affair, +I feel sure that I may reckon upon a fair measure of approval." + +All applauded, and speedily formed into a narrower ring. Euchar at once +commenced as follows-- + + +I pass over in silence the warlike adventures which Edgar met with +while fighting in company with the Guerillas--although _they_ were +sufficiently romantic--contenting myself with explaining that the +talisman which Don Rafaele Marchez gave him when parting with him, was +a little ring inscribed with mystic characters, which showed that he +was an initiate in the most secret of the confederacies or societies; +thus assuring him, wherever he might be, of the most absolute and +unlimited confidence of those acquainted with those signs, and +rendering all danger such as he had been exposed to in Valenzia +impossible. + +Soon afterwards he joined the English forces, and served under +Wellington. He was never touched by a hostile bullet again, and when +the campaign was over he returned to his own country safe and sound. +Don Rafaele Marchez he had never seen again, nor had he heard anything +of his further fortunes. + +Edgar had been a long while back in his native town, when, one day, Don +Rafaele's little ring (which he always wore on his finger) disappeared +under peculiar circumstances. Early on the morning of the day following +this, a queer little fellow came into his room, held the missing ring +up to him, and asked him if it was his. When Edgar replied that it was, +the little man cried out excitedly in Spanish-- + +"Oh, _you are_ Don Edgar; there can be no doubt about it." And then +Edgar clearly remembered the face and figure of the little fellow, who +was Don Rafaele's faithful servant, the same who had displayed the lion +courage of despair in trying to save his master's daughter. + +"In the name of all the saints!" Edgar cried, "you must be Don +Rafaele's faithful servant! I recognise you. Where is _he_? My strange +presentiment is going to come true." + +The little man implored Edgar to go with him at once. + +He took him to one of the most distant suburbs, climbed with him to the +garret of a miserable house, and--what a spectacle! Sick, worn to a +shadow, with all the traces of the most mortal suffering upon his +deathlike face, Don Rafaele Marchez was lying upon a bed of straw, with +a girl praying by his side. When Edgar came in, the girl rushed up to +him, and drew him to the side of the old man, crying in a tone of the +warmest delight-- + +"Father, father! this is he, is it not?" + +"Yes," said the old man, his dim eyes brightening as he raised his +folded hands to heaven, "it is he--our preserver. Ah, Don Edgar, who +would have believed that the fire which burned within me for my country +and freedom would have turned upon me for my destruction." + +After the first outpourings of mingled delight and regret, Edgar +learned that Don Rafaele's enemies had managed, after the establishment +of peace, to bring charges against him causing him to be regarded with +suspicion by the government. He was sentenced to be banished, and his +property was confiscated. He fell into the deepest poverty. His devoted +daughter and his faithful servant supported him by dancing and playing. + +"Emanuela and Biagio Cubas, of course!" Ludwig cried out. And all the +others repeated after him, "Of course, of course--Emanuela and Biagio +Cubas!" + +The hostess enjoined silence on the ground that, although there might +be many things which could be gradually explained, the narrator ought +not to be interrupted until he had come to the end of his story. +Moreover she felt no doubt that as soon as Edgar saw the lovely +Emanuela he must, of course, have fallen desperately in love with her. + +"That, of course, is exactly what he did do," said Euchar, a slight +redness overspreading his cheeks. Even before this particular meeting +with her, on other occasions of his seeing that marvellously +beautifully child, he had felt the most distinct presentiments of what +would follow, and a sense of the deepest affection, like nothing which +he had ever experienced before. He immediately set to remedy the +condition of affairs. He took away Don Rafaele, Emanuela, and the +trusty Cubas, to a country estate belonging to his uncle. And in +arranging this I was of some assistance to him. It seemed as if Don +Rafaele's lucky star was going to rise again; for soon after this there +came a letter from good Father Eusebio to say that the brethren, well +acquainted with the secret corners of his house, had hidden away the +very considerable property (in the shape of gold and jewels) which he +possessed (and which he had walled up before his flight) in their own +convent; so that all that was necessary was to send some trustworthy +person to fetch them. Edgar set out at once for Valenzia with the +faithful Cubas. He saw his kind old nurse, Father Eusebio, again, and +Don Rafaele's treasure was handed over to him. But he knew that Don +Rafaele prized honour above everything, and he succeeded in Madrid in +completely re-establishing his innocence. The decree of banishment was +cancelled. + +The doors opened and there entered a beautifully dressed lady, followed +by an old gentleman of lofty bearing and aristocratic looks. The +hostess rose to receive them, and led the lady within the circle. The +other guests had all risen, and the host presented "Donna Emanuela +Marchez, our friend Euchar's bride. Ron Rafaele Marchez." + +"Yes," said Euchar, with the bliss of the happiness which he had +achieved radiating from his eyes, and glowing in brilliant roses on his +cheeks, "I have only now to tell you that he whom I spoke of to you as +Edgar was none other than myself." + +Victorine clasped the beautiful Emanuela in her arms, and pressed her +warmly to her heart. They seemed to know each other already. But +Ludwig, casting a glance of sorrow upon the group, said-- + +"All this was a part of the mutual interdependence of things." + + +The friends were pleased with Sylvester's tale, and were unanimous in +thinking that Edgar's adventures in Spain during the War of +Independence, although they might perhaps be considered to be +interwoven in merely an episodical form, really constituted the kernel +of the story, and that their happy effect was accounted for by their +being founded upon actual historical facts. + +"There is no doubt," said Lothair, "that matter which is absolutely +historical possesses a certain peculiar quality which the inventive +faculty, when it merely hovers about in empty space, with nothing to +anchor upon, cannot attain to. In the same way the skilful introduction +of truly historical customs, manners, habitudes and so forth, belonging +to any race, or people, or to any particular class of people, gives to +a work of fiction a life-like colouring which it is difficult otherwise +to attain. But I insist upon their being introduced _skilfully_. For +there is no doubt that it is not so easy to introduce historical +facts--things which have actually happened--into a work of which the +incidents belong to the domain of pure imagination, as many people +think it is. And it requires a peculiar skilfulness, which everybody is +not fortunate enough to possess. In the absence of it there appears +merely a pale, distorted simulacrum of life, instead of the freshness +of reality. I know works--particularly some by literary ladies--in +which one feels, at every instant, how the writer has gone dipping the +brush into the colour-box, bringing nothing out of it, after all, but a +sort of jumble of strokes of different colours, just where what was +wanted was a thoroughly life-like picture." + +"I quite agree with you," said Lothair. "And, having just chanced to +remember a particular novel, written by an otherwise fairly clever +woman (which, notwithstanding all the dippings of her brush into the +aforesaid paint-box, does not possess a single atom of real semblance +of life, or of poetic truth, from one end of it to the other, so that +one cannot remember it for a single moment), I merely wish to say that +this particular skill in producing an effect of reality and historical +truth, brilliantly distinguishes the works of a writer who has only +rather recently become known to us. I mean Walter Scott. I have only +read his 'Guy Mannering.' But _ex ungue leonem_. The 'exposition' of +this tale is based upon Scotch manners and customs, and matters +belonging peculiarly to the place in which the scene of it is laid. +But, without any acquaintance with them, one is carried away by the +vivid reality of the characters and incidents in an extraordinary +degree, and the 'exposition' is to be termed so utterly masterly just +because we are landed _in medias res_ in a moment, as if by the wave of +an enchanter's wand. Moreover, Scott has the power of drawing the +figures of his pictures with a few touches, in such a way that they +seem to come out of their frames, and move about before us in the most +living fashion imaginable. Scott is a splendid phenomenon appearing in +the literature of Great Britain. He is as vivid as Smollett, though far +more classic and noble. But I think he is wanting in that brilliant +lire of profound humour which coruscates in the writings of Sterne and +Swift." + +"I am just in your position, Ottmar," said Vincenz. "'Guy Mannering' is +the only work of Scott's which I have read. But I was much struck by +the originality of it, and the manner in which, in its methodical +progress, it gradually unwinds itself like a clue of thread, gently and +quietly, never breaking its firm-spun strands. My chief objection to it +is, that (no doubt in faithfulness to British manners) the female +characters are so tame and colourless, except that grand gipsy +woman--although she is scarcely so much to be called a woman as a kind +of spectral apparition. Both of the young ladies in 'Guy Mannering' +remind me of the English coloured engravings, which are all exactly +alike--_id est_, as pretty as they are meaningless and expressionless, +and as to which one sees distinctly that the originals of them would +never allow anything further than 'Yea, yea; nay, nay!' to cross those +pretty little delicate lips of theirs, as anything more might lead unto +evil. Hogarth's milkmaid is a prototype of all these creatures. Both of +the girls in 'Guy Mannering' lack reality--the god-like vivifying +breath of life." + +"Might not one wish," said Theodore, "in the case of some of the female +characters of one of our most talented writers (particularly in some of +his earlier works) that they had a little more flesh and blood, since +they are really all so very apt to melt into wreaths of mist when one +looks at them closely? Nevertheless, let us love and honour both of +those writers--the foreigner and our countryman, because of the true +and glorious things which they have bestowed upon us." + +"It is remarkable," said Sylvester, "that--unless I mistake--another +great writer appeared on the other side of the channel, about the same +time as Walter Scott, and has produced works of equal greatness and +splendour, but in a different direction. I mean Lord Byron, who appears +to me to be much more solid and powerful than Thomas Moore. His 'Siege +of Corinth' is a masterpiece, fall of genius. His predominant tendency +seems to be towards the gloomy, the mysterious and the terrible; and +his 'Vampire' I have avoided reading, for the bare idea of a vampire +makes my blood run cold. So far as I understand the matter, a vampire +is an animated corpse which sucks the blood of the living." + +"Ho! ho!" cried Lothair, laughing, "a writer such as you, my dear +friend, Sylvester, must of course have found it necessary to dip more +or less deeply into all kinds of accounts concerning magic, witches, +sorcery, enchantment, and other such works of the devil, because they +are necessary for your work, and part of your stock in trade. And I +should suppose you have gone into those subjects yourself with the view +of getting some personal experience of them as well. As regards +vampirism--that you may see how well read I am in these matters--I will +tell you the name of a delightful treatise in which you may study this +dark subject. The complete title of this little book is 'M. Michael +Ranft (Deacon of Nebra). Treatise on the Mastication and Sucking of the +Dead in their Graves; wherein the true nature and description of the +Hungarian vampires and bloodsuckers is clearly set forth, and all +previous writings on this subject are passed in review and subjected to +criticism.' This title in itself will convince you of the thoroughness +of this treatise, and you will learn from it that a vampire is nothing +other but an accursed creature who lets himself be buried as being +dead, and then rises out of the grave and sucks people's blood in their +sleep. And those people become vampires in their turn. So that, +according to the accounts received from Hungary and quoted by this +magister, the inhabitants of whole villages become vampires of the most +abominable description. To render those vampires harmless they must be +dug out of their graves, a stake driven through their hearts, and their +bodies burnt to ashes. Those horrible beings very often do not appear +in their own proper forms, but _en masque_. A certain officer, I happen +to remember, writing from Belgrade to a celebrated doctor in Leipzig +for information as to the true nature of vampires, expresses himself +thus: 'In a village called Kinklina it chanced that two brothers were +troubled by a vampire, so that one of them used to sit up by the other +at night whilst he slept. The one who was watching used to see +something like a dog opening the door, but this dog used to make off +when he cried out at it. At last one night they both were asleep at the +same time, and the vampire bit and sucked a place under the right ear +of one of them, leaving a red mark. The man died of this in three days' +time. In conclusion,' said the officer, 'as the people of this place +make all this out to be miraculous, I venture to take the liberty of +requesting you to tell me your private opinion as to whether it is +caused by the intervention of sympathetic, diabolical, or astral +spirits. And I remain, with much respect, &c.' Take example by this +officer of enquiring mind. As it happens his name occurs to me at this +moment. He was an ensign in the Prince Alexander regiment, Sigismund +Alexander Friedrich von Kottwitz. The military mind seems to have been +considerably exercised on the subject of vampirism about that time. +Magister Ranft quotes in his book an official declaration made by an +army surgeon before two of his brother officers concerning the +detection and destruction of a vampire. This declaration contains, +_inter alia_, the following passage: 'Inasmuch as they perceived, from +the aforesaid circumstances, that this was unmistakably a vampire, they +drove a stake through its heart, upon which it gave vent to a distinct +gasp, emitting a considerable quantity of blood.' Is that not both +interesting and instructive?" + +"All this of Magister Ranft's," said Sylvester, "may, no doubt, be +sufficiently absurd and even rather crack-brained; but, at the same +time, if we keep to the subject of vampirism itself, never minding in +what particular fashion it may be treated, it certainly is one of the +most horrible and terrible notions imaginable. I can conceive nothing +more ghastlily repulsive to the mind." + +"Still," said Cyprian, "it is capable of providing a material, when +dealt with by a writer of imagination possessed of some poetical tact, +which has the power of stirring within us that profound sense of awe +which is innate in our hearts, and when touched by the electric impulse +from an unseen spirit world causes our soul to thrill, not altogether +unpleasantly after a fashion. A due amount of poetic tact on the +author's part will prevent the horror of the subject from going so far +as to be loathsome; for it generally has such an element of the absurd +about it that it does not impress us so deeply as if that were not the +case. Why should not a writer be permitted to make use of the levers of +fear, terror, and horror because some feeble soul here and there finds +it more than it can bear? Shall there be no strong meat at table +because there happen to be some guests there whose stomachs are weak, +or who have spoiled their own digestions?" + +"My dear, fanciful Cyprian," Theodore said, "there was no occasion for +your vindication of the horrible. We all know how wonderfully great +writers have moved men's hearts to their very depths by means of that +lever. We have only to think of Shakespeare. Moreover, who knew better +how to use it than our own glorious Tieck in many of his tales? I need +only instance the 'Love-Spell.' The leading idea of that story cannot +but make everybody's blood run cold, and the end of it is full of the +utmost fear and horror; but still the colours are blended so admirably +that, in spite of all the terror and dismay, the mysterious magic charm +so seizes upon us that we yield ourselves up to it without an effort to +resist. How true is what Tieck puts in the mouth of his Manfred in +answer to women's objections to the element of the awe-inspiring in +fiction. Of course, what is the fact is that whatsoever of the terrible +encounters us in our daily life is just what tortures and tears our +hearts with irresistible pain. And, indeed, the cruelty of mankind, as +exercised by tyrants, great and small, without pity or mercy, and with +the diabolical malignity of hell itself, produces misery on a par with +anything told of in fiction. And how finely the author says: 'In those +imaginary legends the misery cannot reach the world with its rays until +they have been broken up into prismatic colours,' and I should have +supposed that in that condition they would have been endurable by eyes +even not very strong." + +"We have often spoken already," said Lothair, "of this most genial +writer; the full recognition of whom, in all his grand super-excellence +and variety, is reserved for posterity, whilst Wills o' the Wisp +rapidly scintillating into our ken and blinding the eye for a moment +with borrowed light, go out into darkness just as speedily. On the +whole, I believe that the imagination can be moved by very simple +means, and that it is often more the _idea_ of the thing than the thing +itself which causes our fear. Kleist's tale of the 'Beggar Woman of +Lucarno' has in it, at least to me, the most frightening idea that I +can think of, and yet how simple it is. A beggar woman is sent +contemptuously, as if she were a dog, to lie behind the stove, and dies +there. She is heard every night hobbling across the floor towards the +stove, but nothing is seen. It is, no doubt, the wonderful colouring of +the whole affair Which produces the effect. Not only could Kleist 'dip' +into the aforesaid colour-box, but he could lay the colours on, with +the power and the genius of the most finished master. He did not need +to raise a vampire out of the grave, all he needed was an old woman." + +"This discussion about vampirism," said Cyprian, "reminds me of a +ghastly story which I either heard or read a very long time ago. But I +think I heard it, because I seem to remember that the person who told +it said that the circumstances had actually happened, and mentioned the +name of the family and of their country seat where it took place. But +if this story is known to you as being in print, please to stop me and +prevent my going on with it, because there's nothing more wearisome +than to tell people things which they have known for ever so long." + +"I foresee," said Ottmar, "that you are going to give us something +unusually awful and terrible. But remember Saint Serapion and be as +concise as you can, so that Vincenz may have his turn; for I see that +he is waiting impatiently to read us that long-promised story of his." + +"Hush! hush!" said Vincenz. "I could not wish anything better than that +Cyprian should hang up a fine dark canvas by way of a background so as +to throw out the figures of my tale, which I think are brightly and +variedly coloured, and certainly excessively active. So begin, my +Cyprianus, and be as gloomy, as frightful, as terrible as the vampirish +Lord Byron himself, though I know nothing about him, as I have never +read a word of his writings." + + +Count Hyppolitus (began Cyprian) had just returned from a long time +spent in travelling to take possession of the rich inheritance which +his father, recently dead, had left to him. The ancestral home was +situated in the most beautiful and charming country imaginable, +and the income from the property was amply sufficient to defray +the cost of most extensive improvements. Whatever in the way of +architecture and landscape gardening had struck the Count during his +travels--particularly in England--as specially delightful and apposite, +he was going to reproduce in his own demesne. Architects, landscape +gardeners, and labourers of all sorts arrived on the scene as they were +wanted, and there commenced at once a complete reconstruction of the +place, whilst an extensive park was laid out on the grandest scale, +which involved the including within its boundaries of the church, the +parsonage, and the burial ground. All those improvements the Count, who +possessed the necessary knowledge, superintended himself, devoting +himself to this occupation body and soul; so that a year slipped away +without its ever having occurred to him to take an old uncle's advice +and let the light of his countenance shine in the Residenz before the +eyes of the young ladies, so that the most beautiful, the best, +and the most nobly born amongst them might fall to his share as wife. +One morning, as he was sitting at his drawing table sketching the +ground-plan of a new building, a certain elderly Baroness--distantly +related to his father--was announced as having come to call. When +Hyppolitus heard her name he remembered that his father had always +spoken of her with the greatest indignation--nay, with absolute +abhorrence, and had often warned people who were going to approach her +to keep aloof, without explaining what the danger connected with her +was. If he was questioned more closely, he said there were certain +matters as to which it was better to keep silence. Thus much was +certain, that there were rumours current in the Residenz of some most +remarkable and unprecedented criminal trial in which the Baroness had +been involved, which had led to her separation from her husband, driven +her from her home--which was at some considerable distance--and for the +suppression of the consequences of which she was indebted to the +prince's forbearance. Hyppolitus felt a very painful and disagreeable +impression at the coming of a person whom his father had so detested, +although the reasons for this detestation were not known to him. But +the laws of hospitality, more binding in the country than in town, +obliged him to receive this visit. + +Never had any one, without being at all ill-favoured in the usual +acceptation of that term, made by her exterior such a disagreeable +impression upon the Count as did this Baroness. When she came in she +looked him through and through with a glance of fire, and then she cast +her eyes down and apologized for her coming in terms which were almost +over humble. She expressed her sorrow that his father, influenced by +prejudices against her with which her enemies had impregnated his mind, +had formed a mortal hatred to her, and though she was almost starving, +in the depths of her poverty he had never given her the smallest help +or support. As she had now, unexpectedly as she said, come into +possession of a small sum of money she had found it possible to leave +the Residenz and go to a small country town a short distance off. +However, as she was engaged in this journey she had not found it +possible to resist the desire to see the son of the man whom, +notwithstanding his irreconcilable hatred, she had never ceased to +regard with feelings of the highest esteem. The tone in which all this +was spoken had the moving accents of sincerity, and the Count was all +the more affected by it that, having turned his eyes away from her +repulsive face, he had fixed them upon a marvellously charming and +beautiful creature who was with her. The Baroness finished her speech. +The Count did not seem to be aware that she had done so. He remained +silent. She begged him to pardon--and attribute to her embarrassment at +being where she was--her having neglected to explain that her companion +was her daughter Aurelia. On this the Count found words, and blushing +up to the eyes implored the Baroness, with the agitation of a young man +overpowered by love, to let him atone in some degree for his lather's +shortcomings--the result of misunderstandings--and to favour him by +paying him a long visit. In warmly enforcing this request he took her +hand. But the words and the breath died away on his lips and his blood +ran cold. For he felt his hand grasped as if in a vice by fingers cold +and stiff as death, and the tall bony form of the Baroness, who was +staring at him with eyes evidently deprived of the faculty of sight, +seemed to him in its gay many tinted attire like some bedizened corpse. + +"Oh, good heavens! how unfortunate just at this moment," Aurelia cried +out, and went on to lament in a gentle heart-penetrating voice that her +mother was now and then suddenly seized by a tetanic spasm, but that it +generally passed off very quickly without its being necessary to take +any measures with regard to it. + +Hyppolitus disengaged himself with some difficulty from the Baroness, +and all the glowing life of sweetest love delight came back to him as +he took Aurelia's hand and pressed it warmly to his lips. Although he +had almost come to man's estate it was the first time that he felt the +full force of passion, so that it was impossible for him to hide what +he felt, and the manner in which Aurelia received his avowal in a +noble, simple, child-like delight, kindled the fairest of hopes within +him. The Baroness recovered in a few minutes, and, seemingly quite +unaware of what had been happening, expressed her gratitude to the +Count for his invitation to pay a visit of some duration at the Castle, +saying she would be but too happy to forget the injustice with which +his father had treated her. + +Thus the Count's household arrangements and domestic position were +completely changed, and he could not but believe that some special +favour of fortune had brought to him the only woman in all the world +who, as a warmly beloved and deeply adored wife, was capable of +bestowing upon him the highest conceivable happiness. + +The Baroness's manner of conduct underwent little alteration. She +continued to be silent, grave, much wrapped up in herself, and when +opportunity offered, evinced a gentle disposition, and a heart disposed +towards any innocent enjoyment. The Count had become accustomed to the +death-like whiteness of her face, to the very remarkable network of +wrinkles which covered it, and to the generally spectral appearance +which she displayed; but all this he set down to the invalid condition +of her health, and also, in some measure, to a disposition which she +evinced to gloomy romanticism. The servants told him that she often +went out for walks in the night-time, through the park to the +churchyard. He was much annoyed that his father's prejudices had +influenced him to the extent that they had; and the most earnest +recommendations of his uncle that he should conquer the feeling which +had taken possession of him, and give up a relationship which must +sooner or later drive him to his ruin, had no effect upon him. + +In complete certainty of Aurelia's sincere affection, he asked for her +hand; and it may be imagined with what joy the Baroness received this +proposal, which transferred her into the lap of luxury from a position +of the deepest poverty. The pallor and the strange expression, which +spoke of some invincible inward pain or trouble, had disappeared from +Aurelia's face. The blissfulness of love beamed in her eyes, and +shimmered in roses on her cheeks. + +On the morning of the wedding-day a terrible event shattered the +Count's hopes. The Baroness was found lying on her face dead, not far +from the churchyard: and when the Count was looking out of his window +on getting up, full of the bliss of the happiness which he had +attained, her body was being brought back to the Castle. He supposed +she was only in one of her usual attacks; but all efforts to bring her +back to life were ineffectual. She was dead. Aurelia, instead of giving +way to violent grief, seemed rather to be struck dumb and tearless by +this blow, which appeared to have a paralyzing effect on her. + +The Count was much distressed for her, and only ventured--most +cautiously and most gently--to remind her that her orphaned condition +rendered it necessary that conventionalities should be disregarded, and +that the most essential matter in the circumstances was to hasten on +the marriage as much as possible, notwithstanding the loss of her +mother. At this Aurelia fell into the Count's arms, and, whilst a flood +of tears ran down her cheeks, cried in a most eager manner, and in a +voice which was shrill with urgency: + +"Yes, yes! For the love of all the saints. For the sake of my soul's +salvation--yes!" + +The Count ascribed this burst of emotion to the bitter sense that, in +her orphaned condition, she did not know whither to betake herself, +seeing that she could not go on staying in the Castle. He took pains to +procure a worthy matron as a companion for her, till in a few weeks, +the wedding-day again came round. And this time no mischance interfered +with it, and it crowned the bliss of Aurelia and Hyppolitus. But +Aurelia had all this while been in a curiously strained and excited +condition. It was not grief for her mother, but she seemed to be +unceasingly, and without cessation, tortured by some inward anxiety. In +the midst of the most delicious love-passage she would suddenly clasp +the Count in her arms, pale as death, and like a person suddenly seized +by some terror--just as if she were trying her very utmost to resist +some extraneous power which was threatening to force her to +destruction--and would cry, "Oh, no--no! Never, never!" Now that she +was married, however, it seemed that this strange, overstrained, +excited condition in which she had been, abated and left her, and the +terrible inward anxiety and disturbance under which she had been +labouring seemed to disappear. + +The Count could not but suspect the existence of some secret evil +mystery by which Aurelia's inner being was tormented, but he very +properly thought it would be unkind and unfeeling to ask her about it +whilst her excitement lasted, and she herself avoided any explanation +on the subject. However, a time came when he thought he might venture +to hint gently, that perhaps it would lie well if she indicated to him +the cause of the strange condition of her mind. She herself at once +said it would be a satisfaction to her to open her mind to him, her +beloved husband. And great was his amazement to learn that what was at +the bottom of the mystery, was the atrociously wicked life which her +mother had led, that was so perturbing her mind. + +"Can there be anything more terrible," she said, "than to have to hate, +detest, and abhor one's own mother?" + +Thus the prejudices (as they were called) of his father and uncle had +not been unfounded, and the Baroness had deceived him in the most +deliberate manner. He was obliged to confess to himself--and he made no +secret of it--that it was a fortunate circumstance that the Baroness +had died on the morning of his wedding-day. But Aurelia declared that +as soon as her mother was dead she had been seized by dark and terrible +terrors, and could not help thinking that her mother would rise from +her grave, and drag her from her husband's arms into perdition. + +She said she dimly remembered, one morning when she was a mere child, +being awakened by a frightful commotion in the house. Doors opened and +shut; strangers' voices cried out in confusion. At last, things +becoming quieter, her nurse took her in her arms, and carried her into +a large room where there were many people, and the man who had often +played with her, and given her sweetmeats, lying stretched on a long +table. This man she had always called "Papa," and she stretched her +hands out to him, and wanted to kiss him. But his lips, always warm +before, were cold as ice, and Aurelia broke into violent weeping, +without knowing why. The nurse took her to a strange house, where she +remained a long while, till at last a lady came and took her away in a +carriage. This was her mother, who soon after took her to the Residenz. + +When Aurelia got to be about sixteen, a man came to the house whom her +mother welcomed joyfully, and treated with much confidentiality, +receiving him with much intimacy of friendship, as being a dear old +friend. He came more and more frequently, and the Baroness's style of +existence was soon greatly altered for the better. Instead of living in +an attic, and subsisting on the poorest of fare, and wearing the most +wretched old clothes, she took a fine lodging in the most fashionable +quarter, wore fine dresses, ate and drank with this stranger of the +best and most expensive food and drink daily (he was her daily guest), +and took her part in all the public pleasurings which the Residenz had +to offer. + +Aurelia was the person upon whom this bettering of her mother's +circumstances (evidently attributable solely to the stranger) exercised +no influence whatever. She remained shut up in her room when her mother +went out to enjoy herself in the stranger's company, and was obliged to +live just as miserably as before. This man, though about forty, had a +very fresh and youthful appearance, a tall, handsome person, and a face +by no means devoid of a certain amount of manly good looks. +Notwithstanding this, he was repugnant to Aurelia on account of his +style of behaviour. He seemed to try to constrain himself, to conduct +himself like a gentleman and person of some cultivation, but there was +constantly, and most evidently, piercing through this exterior veneer +the unmistakable evidence of his really being a totally uncultured +person, whose manners and habits were those of the very lowest ranks of +the people. And the way in which he began to look at Aurelia filled her +with terror--nay, with an abhorrence of which she could not explain the +reason to herself. + +Up to this point the Baroness had never taken the trouble to say a +single word to Aurelia about this stranger. But now she told her his +name, adding that this Baron was a man of great wealth, and a distant +relation. She lauded his good looks, and his various delightful +qualities, and ended by asking Aurelia if she thought she could bring +herself to take a liking to him. Aurelia made no secret of the inward +detestation which she felt for him. The Baroness darted a glance of +lightning at her, which terrified her excessively, and told her she was +a foolish, ignorant creature. After this she was kinder to her than she +had ever been before. She was provided with grand dresses in the height +of the fashion, and taken to share in all the public pleasures. The man +now strove to gain her favour in a manner which rendered him more and +more abhorrent to her. But her delicate, maidenly instincts were +wounded in the most mortal manner, when an unfortunate accident +rendered her an unwilling, secret witness of an abominable atrocity +between her abandoned and depraved mother and him. When, a few days +after this, this man, after having taken a good deal of wine, clasped +Aurelia in his arms in a way which left no doubt as to his intention, +her desperation gave her strength, and she pushed him from her so that +he fell down on his back. She rushed away and bolted herself in her own +room. The Baroness told her, very calmly and deliberately, that, +inasmuch as the Baron paid all the household expenses, and she had not +the slightest intention of going back to the old poverty of their +previous life, this was a case in which any absurd coyness would be +both ludicrous and inconvenient, and that she would really have to make +up her mind to comply with the Baron's wishes, because, if not, he had +threatened to part company at once. Instead of being affected by +Aurelia's bitter tears and agonized intreaties, the old woman, breaking +into the most brazen and shameless laughter, talked in the most +depraved manner of a state of matters which would cause Aurelia to bid, +for ever, farewell to every feeling of enjoyment of life in such +unrestrained and detestable depravity, defying and insulting all sense +of ordinary propriety, so that her shame and terror were undescribable +at what she was obliged to hear. In fact she gave herself up for lost, +and her only means of salvation appeared to her to be immediate flight. + +She had managed to possess herself of the key of the hall door, had got +together the few little necessaries which she absolutely required, and, +just after midnight, was moving softly through the dimly-lighted front +hall, at a time when she thought her mother was sure to be last asleep. +She was on the point of stepping quietly out into the street, when the +door opened with a clang, and heavy footsteps came noisily up the +steps. The Baroness came staggering and stumbling into the hall, right +up to Aurelia's feet, nothing upon her but a kind of miserable wrapper +all covered with dirt, her breast and her arms naked, her grey hair all +hanging down and dishevelled. And close after her came the stranger, +who seized her by the hair, and dragged her into the middle of the +hall, crying out in a yelling voice-- + +"Wait, you old devil, you witch of hell! I'll serve you up a wedding +breakfast!" And with a good thick cudgel which he had in his hand he +set to and belaboured and maltreated her in the most shameful manner. +She made a terrible screaming and outcry, whilst Aurelia, scarcely +knowing what she was about, screamed aloud out of the window for help. + +It chanced that there was a patrol of armed police just passing. The +men came at once into the house. + +"Seize him!" cried the Baroness, writhing in convulsions of rage and +pain. "Seize him--hold him fast! Look at his bare back. He's----" + +When the police sergeant heard the Baroness speak the name he shouted +out in the greatest delight-- + +"Hoho! We've got you at last, Devil Alias, have we?" And in spite of +his violent resistance, they marched him off. + +But notwithstanding all this which had been happening, the Baroness had +understood well enough what Aurelia's idea had been. She contented +herself with taking her somewhat roughly by the arm, pushing her into +her room, and locking her up in it, without saying a word. She went out +early the next morning, and did not come back till late in the evening. +And during this time Aurelia remained a prisoner in her room, never +seeing nor hearing a creature, and having nothing to eat or drink. This +went on for several days. The Baroness often glared at her with eyes +flashing with anger, and seemed to be wrestling with some decision, +until, one evening, letters came which seemed to cause her +satisfaction. + +"Silly creature! all this is your fault. However, it seems to be all +coming right now, and all I hope is that the terrible punishment which +the Evil Spirit was threatening you with may not come upon you." This +was what the Baroness said to Aurelia, and then she became more kind +and friendly, and Aurelia, no longer distressed by the presence of the +horrible man, and having given up the idea of escaping, was allowed a +little more freedom. + +Some time had elapsed, when one day, as Aurelia was sitting alone in +her room, she heard a great clamour approaching in the street. The maid +came running in, and said that they were taking the hangman's son +of ---- to prison, that he had been branded on the back there for +robbery and murder, and had escaped, and was now retaken. + +Aurelia, full of anxious presentiment, tottered to the window. Her +presentiment was not fallacious. It _was_ the stranger (as we have +styled him), and he was being brought along, firmly bound upon a +tumbril, surrounded by a strong guard. He was being taken back to +undergo his sentence. Aurelia, nearly fainting, sank back into her +chair, as his frightfully wild look fell upon her, while he shook his +clenched fist up at the window with the most threatening gestures. + +After this the Baroness was still a great deal away from the house; but +she never took Aurelia with her, so that the latter led a sorrowful, +miserable existence--occupied in thinking many thoughts as to destiny, +and the threatening future which might unexpectedly come upon her. + +From the maidservant (who had only come into the house subsequently to +the nocturnal adventure which has been described, and who had probably +only quite recently heard about the intimacy of the terms in which the +Baroness had been living with this criminal), Aurelia learned that the +folks in the Residenz were very much grieved at the Baroness's having +been so deceived and imposed upon by a scoundrel of this description. +But Aurelia knew only too well how differently the matter had really +stood; and it seemed to her impossible that, at all events, the men of +the police, who had apprehended the fellow in the Baroness's very +house, should not have known all about the intimacy of the relations +between them, inasmuch as she herself had told them his name, and +directed their attention to the brand-marks on his back, as proofs of +his identity. Moreover, this loquacious maid sometimes talked in a very +ambiguous way about that which people were, here and there, thinking +and saying; and, for that matter, would like very much to know better +about--as to the courts having been making careful investigations, and +having gone so far as to threaten the Baroness with arrest, on account +of strange disclosures which the hangman's son had made concerning her. + +Aurelia was obliged to admit, in her own mind, that it was another +proof of her mother's depraved way of looking at things that, even +after this terrible affair, she should have found it possible to +go on living in the Residenz. But at last she felt herself constrained +to leave the place where she knew she was the object of but too +well-founded, shameful suspicion, and fly to a more distant spot. On +this journey she came to the Count's Castle, and there ensued what has +been related. + +Aurelia could not but consider herself marvellously fortunate to have +got clear of all these troubles. But how profound was her horror when, +speaking to her mother in this blessed sense of the merciful +intervention of Heaven in her regard, the latter, with fires of hell in +her eyes, cried out in a yelling voice-- + +"You are my misfortune, horrible creature that you are! But in the +midst of your imagined happiness vengeance will overtake you, if I +should be carried away by a sudden death. In those tetanic spasms, +which your birth cost me, the subtle craft of the devil----" + +Here Aurelia suddenly stopped. She threw herself upon her husband's +breast, and implored him to spare her the complete recital of what the +Baroness had said to her in the delirium of her insanity. She said she +felt her inmost heart and soul crushed to pieces at the bare idea of +the frightful threatenings--far beyond the wildest imagination's +conception of the terrible--uttered to her by her mother, possessed, as +she was at the time, by the most diabolical powers. + +The Count comforted his bride to the best of his ability, although he +felt himself permeated by the coldest and most deathly shuddering +horror. Even when he had regained some calmness, he could not but +confess to himself that the profound horribleness of the Baroness, even +now that she was dead, cast a deep shadow over his life, sun-bright as +it otherwise seemed to be. + +In a very short time Aurelia began to alter very perceptibly. Whilst +the deathly paleness of her face, and the fatigued appearance of +her eyes, seemed to point to sortie bodily ailment, her mental +state--confused, variable, restless, as if she were constantly +frightened at something--led to the conclusion that there was some +fresh mystery perturbing her system. She shunned her husband. She shut +herself up in her rooms, sought the most solitary walks in the park. +And when she then allowed herself to be seen, her eyes, red with +weeping, her contorted features, gave unmistakable evidence of some +terrible suffering which she had been undergoing. It was in vain that +the Count took every possible pains to discover the cause of this +condition of hers, and the only thing which had any effect in bringing +him out of the hopeless state into which those remarkable symptoms of +his wife's had plunged him, was the deliberate opinion of a celebrated +doctor, that this strangely excited condition of the Countess was +nothing other than the natural result of a bodily state which indicated +the happy result of a fortunate marriage. This doctor, on one occasion +when he was at table with the Count and Countess, permitted himself +sundry allusions to this presumed state of what the German nation +calls "good hope." The Countess seemed to listen to all this with +indifference for some time. But suddenly her attention became vividly +awakened when the doctor spoke of the wonderful longings which women in +that condition become possessed by, and which they cannot resist +without the most injurious effects supervening upon their own health, +and even upon that of the child. The Countess overwhelmed the doctor +with questions, and the latter did not weary of quoting the strangest +and most entertaining cases of this description from his own practice +and experience. + +"Moreover," he said, "there are cases on record in which women have +been led, by these strange, abnormal longings, to commit most terrible +crimes. There was a certain blacksmith's wife, who had such an +irresistible longing for her husband's flesh that, one night, when he +came home the worse for liquor, she set upon him with a large knife, +and cut him about so frightfully that he died in a few hours' time." + +Scarcely had the doctor said these words, when the Countess fell back +in her chair fainting, and was with much difficulty recovered from the +succession of hysterical attacks which supervened. The doctor then saw +that he had acted very thoughtlessly in alluding to such a frightful +occurrence in the presence of a lady whose nervous system was in such a +delicate condition. + +However, this crisis seemed to have a beneficial effect upon her, for +she became calmer; although, soon afterwards there came upon her a very +remarkable condition of rigidity, as of benumbedness. There was a +darksome fire in her eyes, and her deathlike pallor increased to such +an extent, that the Count was driven into new and most tormenting +doubts as to her condition. The most inexplicable thing was that she +never took the smallest morsel of anything to eat, evincing the utmost +repugnance at the sight of all food, particularly meat. This repugnance +was so invincible that she was constantly obliged to get up and leave +the table, with the most marked indications of loathing. The doctor's +skill was in vain, and the Count's most urgent and affectionate +entreaties were powerless to induce her to take even a single drop of +medicine of any kind. And, inasmuch as weeks, nay, months, had passed +without her having taken so much as a morsel of food, and it had become +an unfathomable mystery how she managed to keep alive, the doctor came +to the conclusion that there was something in the case which lay beyond +the domain of ordinary human science. He made some pretext for leaving +the Castle, but the Count saw clearly enough that this doctor, whose +skilfulness was well approved, and who had a high reputation to +maintain, felt that the Countess's condition was too unintelligible, +and, in fact, too strangely mysterious, for him to stay on there, +witness of an illness impossible to be understood--as to which he felt +he had no power to render assistance. + +It may be readily imagined into what a state of mind all this put the +Count. But there was more to come. Just at this juncture an old, +privileged servant took an opportunity, when he found the Count alone, +of telling him that the Countess went out every night, and did not come +home till daybreak. + +The Count's blood ran cold. It struck him, as a matter which he had not +quite realized before, that, for a short time back, there had fallen +upon him, regularly about midnight, a curiously unnatural sleepiness, +which he now believed to be caused by some narcotic administered to him +by the Countess, to enable her to get away unobserved. The darkest +suspicions and forebodings came into his mind. He thought of the +diabolical mother, and that, perhaps, her instincts had begun to awake +in her daughter. He thought of some possibility of a conjugal +infidelity. He remembered the terrible hangman's son. + +It was so ordained that the very next night was to explain this +terrible mystery to him--that which alone could be the key to the +Countess's strange condition. + +She herself used, every evening, to make the tea which the Count always +took before going to bed. This evening he did not take a drop of it, +and when he went to bed he had not the slightest symptom of the +sleepiness which generally came upon him as it got towards midnight. +However, he lay back on his pillows, and had all the appearance of +being fast asleep as usual. + +And then the Countess rose up very quietly, with the utmost +precautions, came up to his bedside, held a lamp to his eyes, and then, +convinced that he was sound asleep, went softly out of the room. + +His heart throbbed fast. He got up, put on a cloak, and went after the +Countess. It was a fine moonlight night, so that, though Aurelia had +got a considerable start of him, he could see her distinctly going +along in the distance in her white dress. She went through the park, +right on to the burying-ground, and there she disappeared at the +wall. The Count ran quickly after her in through the gate of the +burying-ground, which he found open. There, in the bright moonlight, he +saw a circle of frightful, spectral-looking creatures. Old women, half +naked, were cowering down upon the ground, and in the midst of them lay +the corpse of a man, which they were tearing at with wolfish appetite. + +Aurelia was amongst them. + +The Count took flight in the wildest horror, and ran, without any idea +where he was going or what he was doing, impelled by the deadliest +terror, all about the walks in the park, till he found himself at the +door of his own Castle as the day was breaking, bathed in cold +perspiration. Involuntarily, without the capability of taking hold of a +thought, he dashed up the steps, and went bursting through the passages +and into his own bedroom. There lay the Countess, to all appearance in +the deepest and sweetest of sleeps. And the Count would fain have +persuaded himself that some deceptive dream-image, or (inasmuch as his +cloak, wet with dew, was a proof, if any had been needed, that he had +really been to the burying-ground in the night) some soul-deceiving +phantom had been the cause of his deathly horror. He did not wait for +Aurelia's waking, but left the room, dressed, and got on to a horse. +His ride, in the exquisite morning, amid sweet-scented trees and +shrubs, whence the happy songs of the newly-awakened birds greeted him, +drove from his memory for a time the terrible images of the night. He +went back to the Castle comforted and gladdened in heart. + +But when he and the Countess sate down alone together at table, and, +the dishes being brought and handed, she rose to hurry away, with +loathing, at the sight of the food as usual, the terrible conviction +that what he had seen was true, was reality, impressed itself +irresistibly on his mind. In the wildest fury he rose from his seat, +crying-- + +"Accursed misbirth of hell! I understand your hatred of the food of +mankind. You get your sustenance out of the burying-ground, damnable +creature that you are!" + +As soon as those words had passed his lips, the Countess flew at him, +uttering a sound between a snarl and a howl, and bit him on the breast +with the fury of a hyena. He dashed her from him on to the ground, +raving fiercely as she was, and she gave up the ghost in the most +terrible convulsions. + +The Count became a maniac. + + +"Well," said Lothair, after there had been a few minutes of silence +amongst the friends, "you have certainly kept your word, my +incomparable Cyprianus, most thoroughly and magnificently. In +comparison with this story of yours, vampirism is the merest children's +tale--a funny Christmas story, to be laughed at. Oh, truly, everything +in it is fearfully interesting, and so highly seasoned with +asaf[oe]tida that an unnaturally excited palate, which has lost its +relish for healthy, natural food, might immensely enjoy it." + +"And yet," said Theodore, "our friend has discreetly thrown a veil +over a great many things, and has passed so rapidly over others, +that his story has merely caused us a passing feeling of the eery and +shuddery--for which we are duly grateful to him. I remember very well +having read this story in an old book, where everything was told with +the most prolix enumeration of all the details; and the old woman's +atrocities in particular were set forth in all their minutiae, truly +_con amore_, so that the whole affair produced, and left behind it, a +most repulsive impression, which it took a long while to get over. I +was delighted when I had forgotten the horrible thing, and Cyprian +ought not to have recalled it to my memory; although I must admit that +he has acted in accordance with the principles of our patron saint +Serapion, and caused us a sufficient thrill of horror, particularly +towards the end. It made us all turn pale, particularly the narrator +himself!" + +"We cannot hurry away too quickly from this gruesome picture," Ottmar +said. "And it will not serve as a dark background (as Vincenz expected +it would), because the figures of it are in too glaring colours. Allow +me, by way of a grand change of subject--a sort of sideways spring away +from the hell-broth which Cyprian has served up to us--to say a word or +two (merely to give Vincenz time to clear his throat, as I hear him +doing) concerning a certain aesthetic tea society, which was brought +to my memory by a little paper which accidentally came into my hand +to-day. Have I your permission, Vincenz?" + +"Strictly speaking," said Vincenz, "it is a breach of all Serapiontic +rule to keep chattering in this sort of style; and not only that, but, +moreover, without any especial motive or inducement, the most unseemly +things about gruesome vampires, and other such matters, are brought +forward, so that I am obliged to shut my mouth just as I have got it +opened. But go on, my Ottmar. The hours are flying, and I shall have +the last word, like a quarrelsome woman, in spite of you. So go on, my +Ottmar, go on." + +"Chance," began Ottmar, "or rather, a kindly-intentioned introduction, +brought me into the aesthetic tea society which I mentioned; and there +were circumstances which induced me, or rendered it incumbent on me, to +attend its meetings regularly for a time, although heaven knows they +were tedious and wearisome enough. It greatly vexed me that, on an +occasion when a really talented man read something which was full of +true wit, and admirably appropriate to the occasion, all the people +yawned, and grew impatient of it; whilst they were charmed and +delighted by the marrowless, spiritless trash of a conceited young +poetaster. This latter was all in the line of the gushing and the +exuberant, but he also thought very highly of his epigrams. As what +they were chiefly remarkable for was the absence of the sting in their +tails, he always gave the signal for the laugh himself by beginning it +at the proper time; and everybody then joined in it. One evening I +asked, modestly, if I might be allowed to read out a few little verses +which had occurred to me in moments of a certain amount of inspiration. +And as people were good enough to credit me with the possession of a +certain amount of brains, my request was received with a good deal of +applause. I took out my manuscript and read, with great solemnity-- + + "'ITALY'S MARVELS. + + 'When tow'rds the orient heav'n my gaze I bend, + The western sun shines warm upon my back; + Whilst, when I turn me to the beauteous west, + The golden glory strikes upon mine eyeballs. + Oh, sacred land! where nature thus displays + Such mighty marvels to the sight of men, + All adoration, quite compact of love.' + +"'Ah! glorious! heavenly! dear Ottmar, and so deeply felt, Bo +sensitively expressed, right out of the fulness of your heart, so rich +in emotions!' cried the lady of the house, whilst several white ladies +and black gentlemen (I only mean black-dressed ones, with great hearts +under their jabots) followed her by crying, 'Glorious! heavenly!' and +one young lady sighed profoundly, weeping away a scalding tear. Being +asked to read something more, I gave to my voice the expression of a +deeply moved heart, and read-- + + "'LIFE DEPTHS. + 'A little lad at Yarrow + Had a pretty little sparrow. + The other day he let it fly, + And now 'tis gone, alas! we sigh, + Heigho! the little lad at Yarrow + He hath no more the pretty sparrow.' + +"There was a fresh tumult of applause. They begged for more; but I +said, modestly, that I could not but feel that stanzas of this kind, +grasping as they did comprehensively at the bases of all life, have, in +the long run, a tendency to impress the hearts of delicate, impassioned +women too strongly, so that I should prefer to quote a pair of +epigrams, in which the distinctive feature of the epigram--the sudden +flashing out of the species of squib which constitutes the tail--would +not fail to be duly appreciated. I read-- + + "'WIT. + 'The pudgy Master Schrein + Drank many a glass of wine, + But death cut short his thread. + Then quoth his neighbour Spry + (A gossip, deep and sly), + "Our pudgy Master Schrein + No longer drinks his wine, + And, why?--because he's dead."' + +"When the sparkling wit of this roguish epigram had been sufficiently +admired, I treated them to the following one in addition-- + + "'STINGING REPLY. + 'Of Hans's book the folks make much ado; + "Say, neighbour Hamm, hast read the wonder yet?" + Thus Humm to Hamm: and Hamm (a joker he) + Said, "Faith, good Humm, I have not read it yet."' + +"Everybody laughed heartily, but the lady of the house shook a minatory +forefinger at me, saying, 'Ah, wicked scoffer! Is nothing to escape +that scathing wit of yours?' + +"The clever man shook hands with me as he passed me, saying-- + +"'Admirably done. Much obliged to you.' + +"The young poet turned his back upon me with much contempt. But the +young lady who had shed a few tears over 'Italia's Marvels,' came to +me, and blushing, as she cast down her eyes, said the maidenly, +virginal heart was more disposed to open to the sense of sweet sadness +than to the comic; and she begged me to give her a copy of the first +poem I had read. She said she had felt so curiously happy and creepy +when she heard it. I promised to give it to her, and I kissed the +charming young lady's sufficiently pretty hand with all the appropriate +rapture of a bard duly appreciated by beauty, with the sole intention +of angering the poet, who cast upon me glances as of an infuriated +basilisk." + +"It is strange enough," said Vincenz, "that, without being in the +smallest degree aware of it, you have spoken what may be called a +Goldsmith's prologue to my story. Of course you notice my pretty +allusion to Shakespeare's Hamlet, and his question, 'Is this a +prologue, or the posy of a ring?' What I mean is, that your prologue +consists of what you have said about the irritated poet; for I am +greatly mistaken if a poet of that kind is not one of the principal +characters in my story; which story I am now going to begin, and I +don't intend to stop it until the last word of it is out. And that last +word is just as hard to speak as the first." + +Vincenz read-- + + + + THE KING'S BETROTHED. + (A Story Sketched from Life.) + + + CHAPTER I. + +WHICH GIVES AN ACCOUNT OF THE VARIOUS CHARACTERS, AND THEIR MUTUAL + RELATIONS TO EACH OTHER, AND PREPARES THE WAY, PLEASANTLY, FOR + THE MANY MARVELLOUS AND MOST ENTERTAINING MATTERS OF WHICH THE + SUCCEEDING CHAPTERS TREAT. + +It was a blessed year. In the fields the corn, the wheat, and the +barley grew most gloriously. The boys waded in the grass, and the +cattle in the clover. The trees hung so full of cherries that, with +the best will in the world, the great army of the sparrows, though +determined to peck everything bare, were forced to leave half the fruit +for a future feast. Every creature filled itself full every day at the +great guest-table of nature. Above all, however, the vegetables in Herr +Dapsul von Zabelthau's kitchen-garden had turned out such a splendid +and beautiful crop that it was no wonder Fraeulein Aennchen was unable +to contain herself with joy on the subject. + +We may here explain who Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau and Aennchen were. + +Perhaps, dear reader, you may have at some time found yourself in that +beautiful country which is watered by the pleasant, kindly river Main. +Soft morning breezes, breathing their perfumed breath over the plain as +it shimmered in the golden splendour of the new-risen sun, you found it +impossible to sit cooped up in your stuffy carriage, and you alighted +and wandered into the little grove, through the trees of which, as you +descended towards the valley, you came in sight of a little village. +And as you were gazing, there would suddenly come towards you, through +the trees, a tall, lanky man, whose strange dress and appearance +riveted your attention. He had on a small grey felt hat on the top of a +black periwig: all his clothes were grey--coat, vest, and breeches, +grey stockings--even his walking-stick coloured grey. He would come up +to you with long strides, and staring at you with great sunken eyes, +seemingly not aware of your existence, would cry out, almost running +you down, "Good morning, sir!" And then, like one awaking from a dream, +he would add in a hollow, mournful voice, "Good morning! Oh, sir, +how thankful we ought to be that we have a good, fine morning. The +poor people at Santa Cruz just had two earthquakes, and now--at this +moment--rain falling in torrents." While you have been thinking what to +say to this strange creature, he, with an "Allow me, sir," has gently +passed his hand across your brow, and inspected the palm of your hand. +And saying, in the same hollow, melancholy accents as before, "God +bless you, sir! You have a good constellation," has gone striding on +his way. + +This odd personage was none other than Herr Dapsul Von Zabelthau, whose +sole--rather miserable--possession is the village, or hamlet, of +Dapsulheim, which lies before you in this most pleasant and smiling +country into which you now enter. You are looking forward to something +in the shape of breakfast, but in the little inn things have rather a +gloomy aspect. Its small store of provisions was cleared out at the +fair, and as you can't be expected to be content with nothing besides +milk, they tell you to go to the Manor House, where the gracious +Fraeulein Anna will entertain you hospitably with whatever may be +forthcoming there. Accordingly, thither you betake yourself without +further ceremony. + +Concerning this Manor House, there is nothing further to say than that +it has doors and windows, as of yore had that of Baron Tondertontonk in +Westphalia. But above the hall-door the family coat-of-arms makes a +fine show, carved there in wood with New Zealand skilfulness. And this +Manor House derives a peculiar character of its own from the +circumstance that its north side leans upon the enceinte, or outer line +of defence belonging to an old ruined castle, so that the back entrance +is what was formerly the castle gate, and through it one passes at once +into the courtyard of that castle, in the middle of which the tall +watch-tower still stands undamaged. From the hall door, which is +surmounted by the coat-of-arms, there comes meeting you a red-cheeked +young lady, who, with her clear blue eyes and fair hair, is to be +called very pretty indeed, although her figure may be considered just +the least bit too roundly substantial. A personification of friendly +kindness, she begs you to go in, and as soon as she ascertains your +wants, serves you up the most delicious milk, a liberal allowance of +first-rate bread and butter, uncooked ham--as good as you would find in +Bayonne--and a small glass of beetroot brandy. Meanwhile, this young +lady (who is none other than Fraeulein Anna von Zabelthau) talks to you +gaily and pleasantly of rural matters, displaying anything but a +limited knowledge of such subjects. Suddenly, however, there resounds a +loud and terrible voice, as if from the skies, crying "Anna, Anna, +Anna!" This rather startles you; but Fraeulein Anna says, pleasantly, +"There's papa back from his walk, calling for his breakfast from his +study." "Calling from his study," you repeat, or enquire, astonished. +"Yes," says Fraeulein Anna, or Fraeulein Aennchen, as the people call +her. "Yes; papa's study is up in the tower there, and he calls down +through the speaking trumpet." And you see Aennchen open the narrow +door of the old lower, with a similar _dejeuner a la fourchette_ to +that which you have had yourself, namely, a liberal helping of bread +and ham, not forgetting the beetroot brandy, and go briskly in at it. +But she is back directly, and taking you all over the charming +kitchen-garden, has so much to say about feather-sage, rapuntika, +English turnips, little greenheads, montrue, great yellow, and so +forth, that you have no idea that all these fine names merely mean +various descriptions of cabbages and salads. + +I think, dear reader, that this little glimpse which you have had of +Dapsulheim is sufficient to enable you to understand all the outs and +ins of the establishment, concerning which I have to narrate to you all +manner of extraordinary, barely comprehensible, matters and +occurrences. Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau had, during his youth, very +rarely left his parents' country place. They had been people of +considerable means. His tutor, after teaching him foreign languages, +particularly those of the East, fostered a natural inclination which he +possessed towards mysticism, or rather, occupying himself with the +mysterious. This tutor died, leaving as a legacy to young Dapsul a +whole library of occult science, into the very depths of which he +proceeded to plunge. His parents dying, he betook himself to long +journeyings, and (as his tutor had impressed him with the necessity of +doing) to Egypt and India. When he got home again, after many years, a +cousin had looked after his affairs with such zeal that there was +nothing left to him but the little hamlet of Dapsulheim. Herr Dapsul +was too eagerly occupied in the pursuit of the sun-born gold of a +higher sphere to trouble himself about that which was earthly. He +rather felt obliged to his cousin for preserving to him the pleasant, +friendly Dapsulheim, with the fine, tall tower, which might have been +built expressly on purpose for astrological operations, and in the +upper storey and topmost height of which he at once established his +study. And indeed he thanked his said cousin from the bottom of his +heart. + +This careful cousin now pointed out that Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau was +bound to marry. Dapsul immediately admitted the necessity, and, without +more ado, married at once the lady whom his cousin had selected for +him. This lady disappeared almost as quickly as she had appeared on the +scene. She died, after bearing him a daughter. The cousin attended to +the marriage, the baptism, and the funeral; so that Dapsul, up in his +tower, paid very little attention to either. For there was a very +remarkable comet visible during most of the time, and Dapsul, ever +melancholy and anticipative of evil, considered that he was involved in +its influence. + +The little daughter, under the careful up-bringing of an old +grand-aunt, developed a remarkable aptitude for rural affairs. She had +to begin at the very beginning, and, so to speak, rise from the ranks, +serving successively as goose-girl, maid-of-all-work, upper farm-maid, +housekeeper, and, finally, as mistress, so that Theory was all along +illustrated and impressed upon her mind by a salutary share of +Practice. She was exceedingly fond of ducks and geese, hens and +pigeons, and even the tender broods of well-shaped piglings she was by +no means indifferent to, though she did not put a ribbon and a bell +round a little white sucking-pig's neck and make it into a sort of +lap-dog, as a certain young lady, in another place, was once known to +do. But more than anything--more than even to the fruit trees--she was +devoted to the kitchen-garden. From her grand-aunt's attainments in +this line she had derived very remarkable theoretical knowledge of +vegetable culture (which the reader has seen for himself), as regarded +digging of the ground, sowing the seed, and setting the plants. +Fraeulein Aennchen not only superintended all these operations, but lent +most valuable manual aid. She wielded a most vigorous spade--her +bitterest enemy would have admitted this. So that while Herr Dapsul von +Zabelthau was immersed in astrological observations and other important +matters, Fraeulein Aennchen carried on the management of the place in +the ablest possible manner, Dapsul looking after the celestial part of +the business, and Aennchen managing the terrestrial side of things with +unceasing vigilance and care. + +As above said, it was small wonder that Aennchen was almost beside +herself with delight at the magnificence of the yield which this season +had produced in the kitchen-garden. But the carrot-bed was what +surpassed everything else in the garden in its promise. + +"Oh, my dear, beautiful carrots!" cried Anna over and over again, and +she clapped her hands, danced, and jumped about, and conducted herself +like a child who has been given a grand Christmas present. + +And indeed it seemed as though the carrot-children underground were +taking part in Aennchen's gladness, for some extremely delicate +laughter, which just made itself heard, was undoubtedly proceeding from +the carrot-bed. Aennchen didn't, however, pay much heed to it, but ran +to meet one of the farm-men who was coming, holding up a letter, and +calling out to her, "For you, Fraeulein Aennchen. Gottlieb brought it +from the town." + +Aennchen saw immediately, from the hand writing, that it was from none +other than young Herr Amandus von Nebelstern, the son of a neighbouring +proprietor, now at the university. During the time when he was living +at home, and in the habit of running over to Dapsulheim every day, +Amandus had arrived at the conviction that in all his life he never +could love anybody except Aennchen. Similarly, Aennchen was perfectly +certain that she could never really care the least bit about anybody +else but this brown-locked Amandus. Thus both Aennchen and Amandus had +come to the conclusion and arrangement that they were to be married as +soon as ever they could--the sooner the better--and be the very +happiest married couple in the wide world. + +Amandus had at one time been a bright, natural sort of lad enough, but +at the university he had got into the hands of God knows who, and had +been induced to fancy himself a marvellous poetical genius, as also to +betake himself to an extreme amount of absurd extravagance in +expression of ideas. He carried this so far that he soon soared far +away beyond everything which prosaic idiots term Sense and Reason +(maintaining at the same time, as they do, that both are perfectly +co-existent with the utmost liveliness of imagination). + +It was from this young Amandus that the letter came which Aennchen +opened and read, as follows:-- + +"HEAVENLY MAIDEN,-- + +"Dost thou see, dost thou feel, dost thou not image and figure to +thyself, thy Amandus, how, circumambiated by the orange-flower-laden +breath of the dewy evening, he is lying on his back in the grass, +gazing heavenward with eyes filled with the holiest love and the +most longing adoration? The thyme and the lavender, the rose +and the gilliflower, as also the yellow-eyed narcissus and the +shamefaced violet--he weaveth into garlands. And the flowers are +love-thoughts--thoughts of thee, oh, Anna! But doth feeble prose beseem +inspired lips? Listen! oh, listen how I can only love, and speak of my +love, sonnetically! + + "Love flames aloft in thousand eager sunspheres, + Joy wooeth joy within the heart so warmly: + Down from the darkling sky soft stars are shining. + Back-mirrored from the deep, still wells of love-tears. + + "Delight, alas! doth die of joy too burning-- + The sweetest fruit hath aye the bitt'rest kernel-- + While longing beckons from the violet distance, + In pain of love my heart to dust is turning. + + "In fiery billows rage the ocean surges, + Yet the bold swimmer dares the plunge full arduous, + And soon amid the waves his strong course urges. + + "And on the shore, now near, the jacinth shoots: + The faithful heart holds firm: 'twill bleed to death; + But heart's blood is the sweetest of all roots.[1] + +"Oh, Anna! when thou readest this sonnet of all sonnets, may all the +heavenly rapture permeate thee in which all my being was dissolved when +I wrote it down, and then read it out, to kindred minds, conscious, +like myself, of life's highest. Think, oh, think I sweet maiden of + + "Thy faithful, enraptured, + "AMANDUS VON NEBELSTERN. + +"P.S.--Don't forget, oh, sublime virgin! when answering this, to send a +pound or two of that Virginia tobacco which you grow yourself. It burns +splendidly, and has a far better flavour than the Porto Rico which the +Buerschen smoke when they go to the Kneipe." + + +[Footnote 1: The translator may point out that the original of this +nonsense is, itself, intentionally nonsense, and that he has done his +best to render it into English--not an easy task.--A. E.] + + +Fraeulein Aennchen pressed the letter to her lips, and said, "Oh, how +dear, how beautiful! And the darling verses, rhyming so beautifully. +Oh, if I were only clever enough to understand it all; but I suppose +nobody can do that but a student. I wonder what that about the 'roots' +means? I suppose it must be the long red English carrots, or, who +knows, it may be the rapuntica. Dear fellow!" + +That very day Fraeulein Aennchen made it her business to pack up the +tobacco, and she took a dozen of her finest goose-quills to the +schoolmaster, to get him to make them into pens. Her intention was to +sit down at once and begin her answer to the precious letter. As she +was going out of the kitchen-garden, she was again followed by a very +faint, almost imperceptible, sound of delicate laughter; and if she had +paid a little attention to what was going on, she would have been sure +to hear a little delicate voice saying, "Pull me, pull me! I am +ripe--ripe--ripe!" However, as we have said, she paid no attention, and +did not hear this. + + + CHAPTER II. + +WHICH CONTAINS AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST WONDERFUL EVENT, AND OTHER + MATTERS DESERVING OF PERUSAL, WITHOUT WHICH THIS TALE COULD HAVE + HAD NO EXISTENCE. + +Herr Dapsul Von Zabelthau generally came down from his astronomical +tower about noon, to partake of a frugal repast with his daughter, +which usually lasted a very short time, and during which there was +generally a great predominance of silence, for Dapsul did not like to +talk. And Aennchen did not trouble him by speaking much, and this all +the more for the reason that if her papa did actually begin to talk, he +would come out with all sorts of curious unintelligible nonsense, which +made a body's head giddy. This day, however, her head was so full, and +her mind so excited and taken up with the flourishing state of the +kitchen-garden, and the letter from her beloved Amandus, that she +talked of both subjects incessantly, mixed up, without leaving off. +At last Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau laid down his knife and fork, +stopped his ears with his hands, and cried out, "Oh, the dreary +higgledy-piggledy of chatter and gabble!" + +Aennchen stopped, alarmed, and he went on to say, in the melancholy +sustained tones which were characteristic of him, "With regard to the +vegetables, my dear daughter, I have long been cognizant that the +manner in which the stars have worked together this season has been +eminently favourable to those growths, and the earthly man will be +amply supplied with cabbage, radishes, and lettuce, so that the earthly +matter may duly increase and withstand the fire of the world-spirit, +like a properly kneaded pot. The gnomic principle will resist the +attacks of the salamander, and I shall have the enjoyment of eating the +parsnips which you cook so well. With regard to young Amandus von +Nebelstern, I have not the slightest objection to your marrying him as +soon as he comes back from the university. Simply send Gottlieb up to +tell me when your marriage is going to take place, so that I may go +with you to the church." + +Herr Dapsul kept silence for a few seconds, and then, without looking +at Aennchen, whose face was glowing with delight, he went on, smiling +and striking his glass with his fork (two things which he seldom did at +all, though he always did them together) to say, "Your Amandus has got +to be, and cannot help being, where and what he is. He is, in fact, a +gerund; and I shall merely tell you, my dear Aennchen, that I drew up +his horoscope a long while ago. His constellation is favourable enough +on the whole, for the matter of that. He has Jupiter in the ascending +node, Venus regarding in the sextile. The trouble is, that the path of +Sirius cuts across, and, just at the point of intersection, there +is a great danger from which Amandus delivers his betrothed. The +danger--what it is--is indiscoverable, because some strange being, +which appears to set at defiance all astrological science, seems to be +concerned in it. At the same time, it is evident and certain that it is +only the strange psychical condition which mankind terms craziness, or +mental derangement, which will enable Amandus to accomplish this +deliverance. Oh, my daughter!" (here Herr Dapsul fell again into his +usual pathetic tone), "may no mysterious power, which keeps itself +hidden from my seer-eyes, come suddenly across your path, so that young +Amandus von Nebelstern may not have to rescue you from any other danger +but that of being an old maid." He sighed several times consecutively, +and then continued, "But the path of Sirius breaks off abruptly after +this danger, and Venus and Jupiter, divided before, come together +again, reconciled." + +Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau had not spoken so much for years as on this +occasion. He arose exhausted, and went back up into his tower. + +Aennchen had her answer to Herr von Nebelstern ready in good time next +morning. It was as follows:-- + +"MY OWN DEAREST AMANDUS-- + +"You cannot believe what joy your letter has given me. I have told papa +about it, and he has promised to go to church with us when we're +married. Be sure to come back from the university as soon as ever you +can. Oh! if I only could _quite_ understand your darling verses, which +rhyme so beautifully. When I read them to myself aloud they sound +wonderful, and _then_ I think I _do_ understand them quite well. But +soon everything grows confused, and seems to get away from me, and I +feel as if I had been reading a lot of mere words that somehow don't +belong to each other at all. The schoolmaster says this must be so, and +that it's the new fashionable way of speaking. But, you see, I'm--oh, +well!--I'm only a stupid, foolish creature. Please to write and tell me +if I couldn't be a student for a little time, without neglecting my +housework. I suppose that couldn't be, though, could it? Well, well: +when once we're husband and wife, perhaps I may pick up a little of +your learning, and learn a little of this new, fashionable way of +speaking. + +"I send you the Virginian tobacco, my dearest Amandus. I've packed my +bonnet-box full of it, as much as ever I could get into it; and, in the +meantime, I've put my new straw hat on to Charles the Great's head--you +know he stands in the spare bedroom, although he has no feet, being +only a bust, as you remember. + +"Please don't laugh, Amandus dear; but I have made some poetry myself, +and it rhymes quite nicely, some of it. Write and tell me how a person, +without learning, can know so well what rhymes to what? Just listen, +now-- + + "I love you, dearest, as my life. + And long at once to be your wife. + The bright blue sky is full of light, + When evening comes the stars shine bright. + So you must love me always truly, + And never cause me pain unduly, + I pack up the 'baccy you asked me to send, + And I hope it will yield you enjoyment no end. + +"There! you must take the will for the deed, and when I learn the +fashionable way of speaking, I'll do some better poetry. The yellow +lettuces are promising splendidly this year--never was such a crop; so +are the French beans; but my little dachshund, Feldmann, gave the big +gander a terrible bite in the leg yesterday. However, we can't have +everything perfect in this world. A hundred kisses in imagination, my +dearest Amandus, from + + "Your most faithful fiancee, + "ANNA VON ZABELTHAU. + +"P.S.--I've been writing in an awful hurry, and that's the reason the +letters are rather crooked here and there. + +"P.S.--But you mustn't mind about that. Though I may write a little +crookedly, my heart is all straight, and I am + + "Always your faithful + "ANNA. + +"P.S.--Oh, good gracious! I had almost forgot--thoughtless thing that I +am. Papa sends you his kind regards, and says you have got to be, and +cannot help being, where and what you are; and that you are to rescue +me from a terrible danger some day. Now, I'm very glad of this, and +remain, once more, + + "Your most true and loving + "ANNA VON ZABELTHAU." + +It was a good weight off Fraeulein Aennchen's mind when she had written +this letter; it had cost her a considerable effort. So she felt +light-hearted and happy when she had put it in its envelope, sealed +it up without burning the paper or her own fingers, and given it, +together with the bonnet-boxful of tobacco, to Gottlieb to take to the +post-office in the town. When she had seen properly to the poultry in +the yard, she ran as fast as she could to the place she loved best--the +kitchen-garden. When she got to the carrot-bed she thought it was about +time to be thinking of the sweet-toothed people in the town, and be +palling the earliest of the carrots. The servant-girl was called in to +help in this process. Fraeulein Aennchen walked, gravely and seriously, +into the middle of the bed, and grasped a stately carrot-plant. But on +her pulling at it a strange sound made itself heard. Do not, reader, +think of the witches' mandrake-root, and the horrible whining and +howling which pierces the heart of man when it is drawn from the earth. +No; the tone which was heard on this occasion was like very delicate, +joyous laughter. But Fraeulein Aennchen let the carrot-plant go, and +cried out, rather frightened, "Eh! Who's that laughing at me?" But +there being nothing more to be heard she took hold of the carrot-plant +again--which seemed to be finer and better grown than any of the +rest--and, notwithstanding the laughing, which began again, pulled up +the very finest and most splendid carrot ever beheld by mortal eye. +When she looked at it more closely she gave a cry of joyful surprise, +so that the maid-servant came running up; and she also exclaimed aloud +at the beautiful miracle which disclosed itself to her eyes. For there +was a beautiful ring firmly attached to the carrot, with a shining +topaz mounted in it. + +"Oh," cried the maid, "that's for you! It's your wedding-ring. Put it +on directly." + +"Stupid nonsense!" said Fraeulein Aennchen. "I must get my +wedding-ring from Herr Amandus von Nebelstern, not from a carrot." + +However, the longer she looked at the ring the better she was pleased +with it; and, indeed, it was of such wonderfully fine workmanship that +it seemed to surpass anything ever produced by human skill. On the ring +part of it there were hundreds and hundreds of tiny little figures +twined together in the most manifold groupings, hardly to be made out +with the naked eye at first, so microscopically minute were they. But +when one looked at them closely for a little while they appeared to +grow bigger and more distinct, and to come to life, and dance in pretty +combinations. And the fire of the gem was of such a remarkable water +that the like of it could not have been found in the celebrated Dresden +collection. + +"Who knows," said the maid, "how long this beautiful ring may have been +underground? And it must have got shoved up somehow, and then the +carrot has grown right through it." + +Fraeulein Aennchen took the ring off the carrot, and it was strange how +the latter suddenly slipped through her fingers and disappeared in the +ground. But neither she nor the maid paid much heed to this +circumstance, being lost in admiration of the beautiful ring, which the +young lady immediately put on the little finger of the right hand +without more ado. As she did so, she felt a stinging pain all up her +finger, from the root of it to the point; but this pain went away again +as quickly as it had come. + +Of course she told her father, at mid-day, all about this strange +adventure at the carrot-bed, and showed him the beautiful ring which +had been sticking upon the carrot. She was going to take it off that he +might examine it the better, but felt the same stinging kind of pain as +when she put it on. And this pain lasted all the time she was trying to +get it off, so that she had to give up trying. Herr Dapsul scanned the +ring upon her finger with the most careful attention. He made her +stretch her finger out, and describe with it all sorts of circles in +all directions. After which he fell into a profound meditation, and +went up into his tower without uttering a syllable. Aennchen heard him +giving vent to a very considerable amount of groaning and sighing as he +went. + +Next morning, when she was chasing the big cock about the yard (he was +bent on all manner of mischief, and was skirmishing particularly with +the pigeons), Herr Dapsul began lamenting so fearfully down from the +tower through the speaking trumpet that she cried up to him through her +closed hand, "Oh papa dear, what are you making such a terrible howling +for? The fowls are all going out of their wits." + +Heir Dapsul hailed down to her through the speaking trumpet, saying, +"Anna, my daughter Anna, come up here to me immediately." + +Fraeulein Aennchen was much astonished at this command, for her papa had +never in all his life asked her to go into the tower, but rather had +kept the door of it carefully shut. So that she was conscious of a +certain sense of anxiety as she climbed the narrow winding stair, and +opened the heavy door which led into its one room. Herr Dapsul von +Zabelthau was seated upon a large armchair of singular form, surrounded +by curious instruments and dusty books. Before him was a kind of stand, +upon which there was a paper stretched in a frame, with a number of +lines drawn upon it. He had on a tall pointed cap, a wide mantle of +grey calimanco, and on his chin a long white beard, so that he had +quite the appearance of a magician. On account of his false beard, +Aennchen didn't know him a bit just at first, and looked curiously +about to see if her father were hidden away in some corner; but when +she saw that the man with the beard on was really papa, she laughed +most heartily, and asked if it was Yule-time, and he was going to act +Father Christmas. + +Paying no heed to this enquiry, Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau took a small +tool of iron in his hand, touched Aennchen's forehead with it, and then +stroked it along her right arm several times, from the armpit to the +tip of the little finger. While this was going on she had to sit in the +armchair, which he had quitted, and to lay the finger which had the +ring upon it on the paper which was in the frame, in such a position +that the topaz touched the central point where all the lines came +together. Yellow rays immediately shot out from the topaz all round, +colouring the paper all over with deep yellow light. Then the lines +went flickering and crackling up and down, and the little figures which +were on the ring seemed to be jumping merrily about all over the paper. +Herr Dapsul, without taking his eyes from the paper, had taken hold of +a thin plate of some metal, which he held up high over his head with +both arms, and was proceeding to press it down upon the paper; but ere +he could do so he slipped his foot on the smooth stone floor, and fell, +anything but softly, upon the sitting portion of his body; whilst the +metal plate, which he had dropped in an instinctive attempt to break +his fall, and save damage to his _Os Coccygis_, went clattering down +upon the stones. Fraeulein Aennchen awoke, with a gentle "Ah!" from a +strange dreamy condition in which she had been. Herr Dapsul with some +difficulty raised himself, put the grey sugar-loaf cap, which had +fallen off, on again, arranged the false beard, and sate himself down +opposite to Aennchen upon a pile of folio volumes. + +"My daughter," he said, "my daughter Anna; what were your sensations? +Describe your thoughts, your feelings? What were the forms seen by the +eye of the spirit within your inner being?" + +"Ah!" answered Anna, "I was so happy; I never was so happy in all my +life. And I thought of Amandus von Nebelstern. And I saw him quite +plainly before my eyes, but he was much better looking than he used to +be, and he was smoking a pipe of the Virginian tobacco that I sent him, +and seemed to be enjoying it tremendously. Then all at once I felt a +great appetite for young carrots with sausages; and lo and behold! +there the dishes were before me, and I was just going to help myself to +some when I woke up from the dream in a moment, with a sort of painful +start." + +"Amandus von Nebelstern, Virginia canaster, carrots, sausages," quoth +Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau to his daughter very reflectively. And he +signed to her to stay where she was, for she was preparing to go away. + +"Happy is it for you, innocent child," he began, in a tone much more +lamentable than even his usual one, "that you are as yet not initiated +into the profounder mysteries of the universe, and are unaware of the +threatening perils which surround you. You know nothing of the +supernatural science of the sacred cabbala. True, you will never +partake the celestial joy of those wise ones who, having attained the +highest step, need never eat or drink except for their pleasure, and +are exempt from human necessities. But then, you have not to endure and +suffer the pain of attainment to that step, like your unhappy father, +who is still far more liable to attacks of mere human giddiness, to +whom that which he laboriously discovers only causes terror and awe, +and who is still, from purely earthly necessities, obliged to eat and +drink and, in fact, submit to human requirements. Learn, my charming +child, blessed as you are with absence of knowledge, that the depths of +the earth, and the air, water, and fire, are filled with spiritual +beings of higher and yet of more restricted nature than mankind. It +seems unnecessary, my little unwise one, to explain to you the peculiar +nature and characteristics of the gnomes, the salamanders, sylphides, +and undines; you would not be able to understand them. To give you some +slight idea of the danger which you may be undergoing, it is sufficient +that I should tell you that these spirits are always striving eagerly +to enter into unions with human beings; and as they are well aware that +human beings are strongly adverse to those unions, they employ all +manner of subtle and crafty artifices to delude such of the latter as +they have fixed their affections upon. Often it is a twig, a flower, a +glass of water, a fire-steel, or something else, in appearance of no +importance, which they employ as a means of compassing their intent. It +is true that unions of this sort often turn out exceedingly happily, as +in the case of two priests, mentioned by Prince della Mirandola, who +spent forty years of the happiest possible wedlock with a spirit of +this description. It is true, moreover, that the most renowned sages +have been the offspring of such unions between human beings and +elementary spirits. Thus, the great Zoroaster was a son of the +salamander Oromasis; the great Apollonius, the sage Merlin, the valiant +Count of Cleve, and the great cabbalist, Ben-Syra, were the glorious +fruits of marriages of this description, and according to Paracelsus +the beautiful Melusina was no other than a sylphide. But yet, +notwithstanding, the peril of such a union is much too great, for not +only do the elementary spirits require of those on whom they confer +their favours that the clearest light of the profoundest wisdom shall +have arisen and shall shine upon them, but besides this they are +extraordinarily touchy and sensitive, and revenge offences with extreme +severity. Thus, it once happened that a sylphide, who was in union with +a philosopher, on an occasion when he was talking with friends about a +pretty woman--and perhaps rather too warmly--suddenly allowed her white +beautifully-formed limb to become visible in the air, as if to convince +the friends of her beauty, and then killed the poor philosopher +on the spot. But ah! why should I refer to others? Why don't I +speak of myself? I am aware that for the last twelve years I have +been beloved by a sylphide, but she is timorous and coy, and I am +tortured by the thought of the danger of fettering her to me more +closely by cabbalistic processes, inasmuch as I am still much too +dependent on earthly necessities, and consequently lack the necessary +degree of wisdom. Every morning I make up my mind to fast, and I +succeed in letting breakfast pass without touching any; but when +mid-day comes, oh! Anna, my daughter Anna, you know well that I eat +tremendously." + +These latter words Herr Dapsul uttered almost in a howl, while bitter +tears rolled down his lean chop-fallen cheeks. He then went on more +calmly-- + +"But I take the greatest of pains to behave towards the elementary +spirit who is thus favourably disposed towards me with the utmost +refinement of manners, the most exquisite _galanterie_. I never venture +to smoke a pipe of tobacco without employing the proper preliminary +cabbalistic precautions, for I cannot tell whether or not my tender +air-spirit may like the brand of the tobacco, and so be annoyed at the +defilement of her element. And I take the same precautions when I cut a +hazel twig, pluck a flower, eat a fruit, or strike fire, all my efforts +being directed to avoid giving offence to any elementary spirit. And +yet--there, you see that nutshell, which I slid upon, and, falling over +backwards, completely nullified the whole important experiment, which +would have revealed to me the whole mystery of the ring? I do not +remember that I have ever eaten a nut in this chamber, completely +devoted as it is to science (you know now why I have my breakfast on +the stairs), and it is all the clearer that some little gnome must have +been hidden away in that shell, very likely having come here to +prosecute his studies, and watch some of my experiments. For the +elementary spirits are fond of human science, particularly such kinds +of it as the uninitiated vulgar consider to be, if not foolish and +superstitious, at all events beyond the powers of the human mind to +comprehend, and for that reason style 'dangerous.' Thus, when I +accidentally trod upon this little student's head, I suppose he got in +a rage, and threw me down. But it is probable that he had a deeper +reason for preventing me from finding out the secret of the ring. Anna, +my dear Anna, listen to this. I had ascertained that there is a gnome +bestowing his favour upon you, and to judge by the ring he must be a +gnome of rank and distinction, as well as of superior cultivation. But, +my dear Anna, my most beloved little stupid girl, how do you suppose +you are going to enter into any kind of union with an elementary spirit +without running the most terrible risk? If you had read Cassiodorus +Remus you might, of course, reply that, according to his veracious +chronicle, the celebrated Magdalena de la Croix, abbess of a convent at +Cordova, in Spain, lived for thirty years in the happiest wedlock +imaginable with a little gnome, whilst a similar result followed in +the case of a sylph and the young Gertrude, a nun in Kloster Nazareth, +near Cologne. But, then, think of the learned pursuits of those +ecclesiastical ladies and of your own; what a mighty difference. +Instead of reading in learned books you are often employing your time +in feeding hens, geese, ducks, and other creatures, which simply molest +and annoy all cabbalists; instead of watching the course of the stars, +the heavens, you dig in the earth; instead of deciphering the traces of +the future in skilfully-constructed horoscopes you are churning milk +into butter, and putting sauerkraut up to pickle for mean everyday +winter use; although, really, I must say that for my own part I should +be very sorry to be without such articles of food. Say, is all this +likely, in the long run, to content a refined philosophic elementary +spirit? And then, oh Anna! it must be through you that the Dapsulheim +line must continue, which earthly demand upon your being you cannot +refuse to obey in any possible case. Yet, in connection with this ring, +you in your instinctive way felt a strange irreflective sense of +physical enjoyment. By means of the operation in which I was engaged, I +desired and intended to break the power of the ring, and free you +entirely from the gnome which is pursuing you. That operation failed, +in consequence of the trick played me by the little student in the +nut-shell. And yet, notwithstanding, I feel inspired by a courage such +as I never felt before to do battle with this elementary spirit. You +are my child, whom I begot, not indeed with a sylphide, salamandress, +or other elementary spirit, but of that poor country lady of a fine old +family, to whom the God-forgotten neighbours gave the nickname of the +'goat-girl' on account of her idyllic nature. For she used to go out +with a flock of pretty little white goats, and pasture them on the +green hillocks, I meanwhile blowing a reed-pipe on my tower, a +love-stricken young fool, by way of accompaniment. Yes, you are my own +child, my flesh and blood, and I mean to rescue you. Here, this mystic +file shall befree you from the pernicious ring." + +With this, Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau took up a small file and began +filing away with it at the ring. But scarcely had he passed it once or +twice backwards and forwards when Fraeulein Aennchen cried aloud in +pain, "Papa, papa, you're filing my finger off!" And actually there was +dark thick blood coming oozing from under the ring. Seeing this, Herr +Dapsul let the file fall upon the floor, sank half fainting into the +armchair, and cried, in utter despair, "Oh--oh--oh--oh! It is all over +with me! Perhaps the infuriated gnome may come this very hour and bite +my head off unless the sylphide saves me. Oh, Anna, Anna, +go--fly!" + +As her father's extraordinary talk had long made her wish herself far +enough away, she ran downstairs like the wind. + + + CHAPTER III. + +SOME ACCOUNT IS GIVEN OF THE ARRIVAL OF A REMARKABLE PERSONAGE IN + DAPSULHEIM, AND OF WHAT FOLLOWED FURTHER. + +Herr Dapsul Von Zabelthau had just embraced his daughter with many +tears, and was moving off to ascend his tower, where he dreaded every +moment the alarming visit of the incensed gnome, when the sound of a +horn, loud and clear, made itself heard, and into the courtyard came +bounding and curvetting a little cavalier of sufficiently strange and +amusing appearance. His yellow horse was not at all large, and was of +delicate build, so that the little rider, in spite of his large +shapeless head, did not look so dwarfish as might otherwise have been +the case, as he sate a considerable height above the horse's head. But +this was attributable to the length of his body, for what of him hung +over the saddle in the nature of legs and feet was hardly worth +mentioning. For the rest, the little fellow had on a very rich habit of +gold-yellow atlas, a fine high cap with a splendid grass-green plume, +and riding-boots of beautifully polished mahogany. With a resounding +"P-r-r-r-r-r-r!" he reined up before Herr von Zabelthau, and seemed to +be going to dismount. But he suddenly slipped under the horse's belly +as quick as lightning, and having got to the other side of him, threw +himself three times in succession some twelve ells up in the air, +turning six somersaults in every ell, and then alighted on his head in +the saddle. Standing on his head there, he galloped backwards, +forwards, and sideways in all sorts of extraordinary curves and ups and +downs, his feet meanwhile playing trochees, dactyls, pyrrhics, &c., in +the air. When this accomplished gymnast and trick-act rider at length +stood still, and politely saluted, there were to be seen on the ground +of the courtyard the words, "My most courteous greeting to you and your +lady daughter, most highly respected Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau." These +words he had ridden into the ground in handsome Roman uncial letters. +Thereupon, he sprang from his horse, turned three Catherine wheels, and +said that he was charged by his gracious master, the Herr Baron +Porphyrio von Ockerodastes, called "Cordovanspitz," to present his +compliments to Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau, and to say, that if the +latter had no objection, the Herr Baron proposed to pay him a friendly +visit of a day or two, as he was expecting presently to be his nearest +neighbour. + +Herr Dapsul looked more dead than alive, so pale and motionless did he +stand, leaning un his daughter. Scarcely had a half involuntary, +"It--will--give--me--much--pleasure," escaped his trembling lips, when +the little horseman departed with lightning speed, and similar +ceremonies to those with which he had arrived. + +"Ah, my daughter!" cried Herr Dapsul, weeping and lamenting, "alas! it +is but too certain that this is the gnome come to carry you off, and +twist my unfortunate neck. But we will pluck up the very last scrap of +courage which we can scrape together. Perhaps it may be still possible +to pacify this irritated elementary spirit. We must be as careful in +our conduct towards him as ever we can. I will at once read to you, my +dear child, a chapter or two of Lactantius or Thomas Aquinas concerning +the mode of dealing with elementary spirits, so that you mayn't make +some tremendous mistake or other." + +But before he could go and get hold of Lactantius or Thomas Aquinas, a +band was heard in the immediate proximity, sounding very much like the +kind of performance which children who are musical enough get up about +Christmas-time. And a fine long procession was coming up the street. +At the head of it rode some sixty or seventy little cavaliers on +little yellow horses, all dressed like the one who had arrived as +avant-courier at first, in yellow habits, pointed caps, and boots of +polished mahogany. They were followed by a couch of purest crystal, +drawn by eight yellow horses, and behind this came well on to forty +other less magnificent coaches, some with six horses, some with only +four. And there were swarms of pages, running footmen, and other +attendants, moving up and down amongst and around those coaches in +brilliant costumes, so that the whole thing formed a sight as charming +as uncommon. Herr Dapsul stood sunk in gloomy amazement. Aennchen, who +had never dreamt that the world could contain such lovely delightful +creatures as these little horses and people, was quite out of her +senses with delight, and forgot everything, even to shut her mouth, +which she had opened to emit a cry of joy. + +The coach and eight drew up before Herr Dapsul. Riders jumped from +their horses, pages and attendants came hurrying forward, and the +personage who was now lifted down the steps of the coach on their arms +was none other than the Herr Baron Porphyrio von Ockerodastes, +otherwise known as Cordovanspitz. Inasmuch as regarded his figure, the +Herr Baron was far from comparable to the Apollo of Belvedere, or even +the Dying Gladiator. For, besides the circumstances that he was +scarcely three feet high, one-third of his small body consisted of his +evidently too large and broad head, which was, moreover, adorned by a +tremendously long Roman nose and a pair of great round projecting +eyes. And as his body was disproportionately long for his height, +there was nothing left for his legs and feet to occupy but some four +inches or so. This small space was made the most of, however, +for the little Baron's feet were the neatest and prettiest little +things ever beheld. No doubt they seemed to be scarcely strong enough +to support the large, important head. For the Baron's gait was somewhat +tottery and uncertain, and he even toppled over altogether pretty +frequently, but got up upon his feet immediately, after the manner of a +jack-in-the-box. So that this toppling over had a considerable +resemblance to some rather eccentric dancing step more than to anything +else one could compare it to. He had on a close-fitting suit of some +shining gold fabric, and a headdress, which was almost like a crown, +with an enormous plume of green feathers in it. + +As soon as the Baron had alighted on the ground, he hastened up to Herr +Dapsul von Zabelthau, took hold of both his hands, swung himself up to +his neck, and cried out, in a voice wonderfully more powerful than his +shortness of stature would have led one to expect, "Oh, my Dapsul von +Zabelthau, my most beloved father!" He then lowered himself down from +Herr Dapsul's neck with the same deftness of skill with which he +had climbed up to it, sprang, or rather slung himself, to Fraeulein +Aennchen, took that hand of hers which had the ring on it, covered +it with loud resounding kisses, and cried out in the same almost +thundering voice as before, "Oh, my loveliest Fraeulein Anna von +Zabelthau, my most beloved bride-elect!" + +He then clapped his hands, and immediately that noisy clattering +child-like band struck up, and over a hundred little fellows, who +had got off their horses and out of the carriages, danced as the +avant-courier had done, sometimes on their heads, sometimes on their +feet, in the prettiest possible trochees, spondees, iambics, pyrrhics, +anapaests, tribrachs, bacchi, antibacchi, choriambs, and dactyls, so +that it was a joy to behold them. But as this was going on, Fraeulein +Aennchen recovered from the terrible fright which the little Baron's +speech to her had put her in, and entered into several important and +necessary economic questions and considerations. "How is it possible," +she asked herself, "that these little beings can find room in this +place of ours? Would it hold even their servants if they were to be put +to sleep in the big barn? Then what could I do with the swell folk who +came in the coaches, and of course expect to be put into fine bedrooms, +with soft beds, as they're accustomed to be? And even if the two plough +horses were to go out of the stable, and I were to be so hard hearted +as to turn the old lame chestnut out into the grass field, would there +be anything like room enough for all those little beasts of horses that +this nasty ugly Baron has brought? And just the same with the one and +forty coaches. But the worst of all comes after that. Oh, my gracious! +is the whole year's provender anything like enough to keep all these +little creatures going for even so much as a couple of days?" This last +was the climax of all. She saw in her mind's eye everything eaten +up--all the new vegetables, the sheep, the poultry, the salt meat--nay, +the very beetroot brandy gone. And this brought the salt tears to her +eyes. She thought she caught the Baron making a sort of wicked impudent +face at her, and that gave her courage to say to him (while his people +were keeping up their dancing with might and main), in the plainest +language possible, that however flattering his visit might be to her +father, it was impossible to think of such a thing as its lasting more +than a couple of hours or so, as there was neither room nor anything +else for the proper reception and entertainment of such a grand +gentleman and such a numerous retinue. But little Cordovanspitz +immediately looked as marvellously sweet and tender as any marsipan +tart, pressing with closed eyes Fraeulein Aennchen's hand (which was +rather rough, and not particularly white) to his lips, as he assured +her that the last thing he should think of was causing the dear papa +and his lovely daughter the slightest inconvenience. He said he had +brought everything in the kitchen and cellar department with him, and +as for the lodging, he needed nothing but a little bit of ground with +the open air above it, where his people could put up his ordinary +travelling palace, which would accommodate him, his whole retinue, and +the animals pertaining to them. + +Fraeulein Aennchen was so delighted with these words of the Baron +Porphyrio von Ockerodastes that, to show that she wasn't grudging a +little bit of hospitality, she was going to offer him the little +fritter cakes she had made for the last consecration day, and a small +glass of the beetroot brandy, unless he would have preferred double +bitters, which the maid had brought from the town and recommended as +strengthening to the stomach. But at this moment Cordovanspitz +announced that he had chosen the kitchen garden as the site of his +palace, and Aennchen's happiness was gone. But whilst the Baron's +retainers, in celebration of their lord's arrival at Dapsulheim, +continued their Olympian games, sometimes butting with their big heads +at each other's stomachs, knocking each other over backwards, sometimes +springing up in the air again, playing at skittles, being themselves in +turn skittles, balls, and players, and so forth, Baron Porphyrio von +Ockerodastes got into a very deep and interesting conversation with +Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau, which seemed to go on increasing in +importance till they went away together hand in hand, and up into the +astronomical tower. + +Full of alarm and anxiety, Fraeulein Aennchen now made haste to her +kitchen garden, with the view of trying to save whatever it might still +be possible to save. The maid-servant was there already, standing +staring before her with open mouth, motionless as a person turned like +Lot's wife into a pillar of salt. Aennchen at once fell into the same +condition beside her. At last they both cried out, making the welkin +ring, "Oh, Herr Gemini! What a terrible sort of thing!" For the whole +beautiful vegetable garden was turned into a wilderness. Not the trace +of a plant in it, it looked like a devastated country. + +"No," cried the maid, "there's no other way of accounting for it, these +cursed little creatures have done it. Coming here in their coaches, +forsooth! coaches, quotha! as if they were people of quality! Ha! ha! A +lot of kobolds, that's what _they_ are, trust _me_ for that, Miss. And +if I had a drop of holy water here I'd soon show you what all those +fine things of theirs would turn to. But if they come here, the little +brutes, I'll bash the heads of them with this spade here." And she +flourished this threatening spade over her head, whilst Anna wept +aloud. + +But at this point, four members of Cordovanspitz's suite came up with +such very pleasant ingratiating speeches and such courteous reverences, +being such wonderful creatures to behold, at the same time that the +maid, instead of attacking them with the spade, let it slowly sink, and +Fraeulein Aennchen ceased weeping. + +They announced themselves as being the four friends who were the most +immediately attached to their lord's person, saying that they belonged +to four different nationalities (as their dress indicated, +symbolically, at all events), and that their names were, respectively, +Pan Kapustowicz, from Poland; Herr von Schwartzrettig, from Pomerania; +Signor di Broccoli, from Italy; and Monsieur de Rocambolle, from +France. They said, moreover, that the builders would come directly, and +afford the beautiful lady the gratification of seeing them erect a +lovely palace, all of silk, in the shortest possible space of time. + +"What good will the silken palace be to me?" cried Fraeulein Aennchen, +weeping aloud in her bitter sorrow. "And what do I care about your +Baron Cordovanspitz, now that you have gone and destroyed my beautiful +vegetables, wretched creatures that you are. All my happy days are +over." + +But the polite interlocutors comforted her, and assured her that they +had not by any means had the blame of desolating the kitchen-garden, +and that, moreover, it would very soon be growing green and flourishing +in such luxuriance as she had never seen, or anybody else in the world +for that matter. + +The little building-people arrived, and then there began such a +confused-looking, higgledy-piggledy, and helter-skeltering on the plot +of ground that Fraeulein Anna and the maid ran away quite frightened, +and took shelter behind some thickets, whence they could see what would +be the end of it all. + +But though they couldn't explain to themselves how things perfectly +canny _could_ come about as they did, there certainly arose and formed +itself before their eyes, and in a few minutes' time, a lofty and +magnificent marquee, made of a golden-yellow material and ornamented +with many-coloured garlands and plumes, occupying the whole extent of +the vegetable garden, so that the cords of it went right away over the +village and into the wood beyond, where they were made fast to sturdy +trees. + +As soon as this marquee was ready, Baron Porphyrio came down with Herr +Dapsul from the astronomical tower, after profuse embraces resumed his +seat in the coach and eight, and in the same order in which they had +made their entry into Dapsulheim, he and his following went into the +silken palace, which, when the last of the procession was within it, +instantly closed itself up. + +Fraeulein Aennchen had never seen her papa as he was then. The very +faintest trace of the melancholy which had hitherto always so +distressed him had completely disappeared from his countenance. One +would really almost have said he smiled. There was a sublimity about +his facial expression such as sometimes indicates that some great and +unexpected happiness has come upon a person. He led his daughter by the +hand in silence into the house, embraced her three times consecutively, +and then broke out-- + +"Fortunate Anna! Thrice happy girl! Fortunate father! Oh, daughter, all +sorrow and melancholy, all solicitude and misgiving are over for ever! +Yours is a fate such as falls to the lot of few mortals. This Baron +Porphyrio von Ockerodastes, otherwise known as Cordovanspitz, is by no +means a hostile gnome, although he is descended from one of those +elementary spirits who, however, was so fortunate as to purify his +nature by the teaching of Oromasis the Salamander. The love of this +being was bestowed upon a daughter of the human race, with whom he +formed a union, and became founder of the most illustrious family whose +name ever adorned a parchment. I have an impression that I told you +before, beloved daughter Anna, that the pupil of the great Salamander +Oromasis, the noble gnome Tsilmenech (a Chaldean name, which +interpreted into our language has a somewhat similar significance to +our word 'Thickhead'), bestowed his affection on the celebrated +Magdalena de la Croix, abbess of a convent at Cordova in Spain, and +lived in happy wedlock with her for nearly thirty years. And a +descendant of the sublime family of higher intelligences which sprung +from this union is our dear Baron Porphyrio von Ockerodastes, who has +adopted the sobriquet of Cordovanspitz to indicate his ancestral +connection with Cordova in Spain, and to distinguish himself by it from +a more haughty but less worthy collateral line of the family, which +bears the title of 'Saffian.' That a 'spitz' has been added to the +'Cordovan' doubtless possesses its own elementary astrological causes; +I have not as yet gone into that subject. Following the example of his +illustrious ancestor the gnome Tsilmenech, this splendid Ockerodastes +of ours fell in love with you when you were only twelve years of age +(Tsilmenech had done precisely the same thing in the case of Magdalena +de la Croix). He was fortunate enough at that time to get a small gold +ring from you, and now you wear his, so that your betrothal is +indissoluble." + +"What?" cried Fraeulein Aennchen, in fear and amazement. "What? I +betrothed to _him_--I to marry that horrible little kobold? Haven't I +been engaged for ever so long to Herr Amandus von Nebelstern? No, never +will I have that hideous monster of a wizard for a husband. I don't +care whether he comes from Cordova or from Saffian." + +"There," said Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau more gravely, "there I +perceive, to my sorrow and distress, how impossible it is for celestial +wisdom to penetrate into your hardened, obdurate, earthly sense. You +stigmatize this noble, elementary, Porphyrio von Ockerodastes as +'horrible' and 'ugly,' probably, I presume, because he is only three +feet high, and, with the exception of his head, has very little worth +speaking of on his body in the shape of arms, legs, and other +appurtenances; and a foolish, earthly goose, such as you probably think +of as to be admired, can't have legs long enough, on account of coat +tails. Oh, my daughter, in what a terrible misapprehension you are +involved! All beauty lies in wisdom, in the thought; and the physical +symbol of thought is the head. The more head, the more beauty and +wisdom. And if mankind could but cast away all the other members of the +body as pernicious articles of luxury tending to evil, they would +reach the condition of a perfect ideal of the highest type. Whence +come all trouble and difficulty, vexation and annoyance, strife and +contention--in short, all the depravities and miseries of humanity, but +from the accursed luxury and voluptuousness of the members? Oh, what +joy, what peace, what blessedness there would be on earth if the +human race could exist without arms or legs, or the nether parts of +the body--in short, if we were nothing but busts! Therefore it is a +happy idea of the sculptors when they represent great statesmen, +or celebrated men of science and learning as busts, symbolically +indicating the higher nature within them. Wherefore, my daughter Anna, +no more of such words as 'ugly and abominable' applied to the noblest +of spirits, the grand Porphyrio von Ockerodastes, whose bride elect you +most indubitably are. I must just tell you, at the same time, that by +his important aid your father will soon attain that highest step of +bliss towards which he has so long been striving. Porphyrio von +Ockerodastes is in possession of authentic information that I am +beloved by the sylphide Nehabilah (which in Syriac has very much the +signification of our expression 'Peaky nose'), and he has promised to +assist me to the utmost of his power to render myself worthy of a union +with this higher spiritual nature. I have no doubt whatever, my dear +child, that you will be well satisfied with your future stepmother. All +I hope is, that a favourable destiny may so order matters that our +marriages may both take place at one and the same fortunate hour." + +Having thus spoken, Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau, casting a significant +glance at his daughter, very pathetically left the room. + +It was a great weight on Aennchen's heart that she remembered having, a +great while ago, really in some unaccountable way lost a little gold +ring, such as a child might wear, from her finger. So that it really +seemed too certain that this abominable little wizard of a creature had +indeed got her immeshed in his net, so that she couldn't see how she +was ever to get out of it. And over this she fell into the utmost grief +and bewilderment. She felt that her oppressed heart must obtain relief; +and this took place through the medium of a goose-quill, which she +seized, and at once wrote off to Herr Amandus von Nebelstern as +follows: + +"MY DEAREST AMANDUS-- + +"All is over with me completely. I am the most unfortunate creature in +the whole world, and I'm sobbing and crying for sheer misery so +terribly that the dear dumb animals themselves are sorry for me. And +_you'll_ be still sorrier than they are, because it's just as great a +misfortune for you as it is for me, and you can't help being quite as +much distressed about it as I am myself. You know that we love one +another as fondly as any two lovers possibly can, and that I am +betrothed to you, and that papa was going with us to the church. Very +well. All of a sudden a nasty little creature comes here in a coach and +eight, with a lot of people and servants, and says I have changed rings +with him, and that he and I are engaged. And--just fancy how awful! +papa says as well, that I must marry this little wretch, because he +belongs to a very grand family. I suppose be very likely does, judging +by his following and the splendid dresses they have on. But the +creature has such a horrible name that, for that alone if it were for +nothing else, I never would marry him. I can't even pronounce the +heathenish words of the name; but one of them is Cordovanspitz, +and it seems that is the family name. Write and tell me if these +Cordovanspitzes really _are_ so very great and aristocratic a +family--people in the town will be sure to know if they are. And the +things papa takes in his head at his time of life I really can't +understand; but he wants to marry again, and this nasty Cordovanspitz +is going to get him a wife that flies in the air. God protect us! Our +servant girl is looking over my shoulder, and says she hasn't much of +an opinion of ladies who can fly in the air and swim in the water, and +that she'll have to be looking out for another situation, and hopes, +for my sake, that my stepmother may break her neck the first time she +goes riding through the air to St. Walpurgis. Nice state of things, +isn't it? But all my hope is in _you_. For I know you are the person +who ought to be, and has got to be, just where and what you are, and +has to deliver me from a great danger. The danger has come, so be +quick, and rescue + + "Your grieved to death, but most true and loving _fiancee_, + "ANNA VON ZABELTHAU. + +"P.S.--Couldn't you call this yellow little Cordovanspitz out? I'm sure +you could settle his hash. He's feeble on his legs. + +"What I implore you to do is to put on your things as fast as you can +and hasten to + + "Your most unfortunate and miserable, + "But always most faithful _fiancee_. + "ANNA VON ZABELTHAU." + + + CHAPTER IV. + +IN WHICH THE HOUSEHOLD STATE OF A GREAT KING IS DESCRIBED; AND + AFTERWARDS A BLOODY DUEL AND OTHER REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES ARE + TREATED OF. + +Fraeulein Aennchen was so miserable and distressed that she felt +paralyzed in all her members. She was sitting at the window with folded +arms gazing straight before her, heedless of the cackling, crowing, and +queaking of the fowls, which couldn't understand why on earth she +didn't come and drive them into their roosts as usual, seeing that +the twilight was coming on fast. Nay, she sat there with perfect +indifference and allowed the maid to carry out this duty, and to hit +the big cock (who opposed himself to the state of things and evinced +decided resistance to her authority) a good sharp whang with her whip. +For the love-pain which was rending her own heart was making her +indifferent to the troubles of the dear pupils of her happier +hours--those which she devoted to their up-bringing, although she had +never studied Chesterfield or Knigge, or consulted Madame de Genlis, or +any of those other authorities on the mental culture of the young, who +know to a hair's-breadth exactly how they ought to be moulded. In this +respect she really had laid herself open to censure on the score of +lack of due seriousness. + +All that day Cordovanspitz had not shown himself, but had been shut up +in the tower with Herr Dapsul, no doubt assisting in the carrying on of +important operations. But now Fraeulein Aennchen caught sight of the +little creature coming tottering across the courtyard in the glowing +light of the setting sun. And it struck her that he looked more hideous +in that yellow habit of his than he had ever done before. The +ridiculous manner in which he went wavering about, jumping here and +there, seeming to topple over every minute and then pick himself up +again (at which anybody else would have died of laughing), only caused +her the bitterer distress. Indeed, she at last held her hands in front +of her eyes, that she mightn't so much as see the little horrid +creature at all. Suddenly she felt something tugging at her dress, and +cried "Down, Feldmann!" thinking it was the Dachshund. But it was not +the dog; and what Fraeulein Aennchen saw when she took her hands from +her eyes was the Herr Baron Porphyrio von Ockerodastes, who hoisted +himself into her lap with extraordinary deftness, and clasped both his +arms about her. She screamed aloud with fear and disgust, and started +up from her chair. But Cordovanspitz kept clinging on to her neck, and +instantly became so wonderfully heavy that he seemed to weigh a ton at +least, and he dragged the unfortunate Aennchen back again into her +chair. Having got her there, however, he slid down out of her lap, sank +on one knee as gracefully as possible, and as prettily as his weakness +in the direction of equilibrium permitted, and said, in a clear +voice--rather peculiar, but by no means unpleasing: "Adored Anna von +Zabelthau, most glorious of ladies, most choice of brides-elect; no +anger, I implore, no anger, no anger. I know you think my people laid +waste your beautiful vegetable garden to put up my palace. Oh, powers +of the universe, if you could but look into this little body of mine +which throbs with magnanimity and love; if you could but detect all the +cardinal virtues which are collected in my breast, under this yellow +Atlas habit. Oh, how guiltless am I of the shameful cruelty which you +attribute to me! How could a beneficent prince treat in such a way his +very own subjects. But hold--hold! What are words, phrases? You must +see with your own eyes, my betrothed, the splendours which attend you. +You must come with me at once. I will lead you to my palace, where a +joyful people await the arrival of her who is beloved by their lord." + +It may be imagined how terrified Fraeulein Aennchen was at this +proposition of Cordovanspitz's, and how hard she tried to avoid going +so much as a single step with the little monster. But he continued to +describe the extraordinary beauty and the marvellous richness of the +vegetable garden which was his palace, in such eloquent and persuasive +language, that at last she thought she would just have a peep into the +marquee, as that couldn't do her much harm. The little creature, in his +joy and delight, turned at least twelve Catherine wheels in succession, +and then took her hand with much courtesy, and led her through the +garden to the silken palace. + +With a loud "Ah!" Fraeulein Aennchen stood riveted to the ground with +delight when the curtains of the entrance drew apart, displaying a +vegetable garden stretching away further than the eye could reach, of +such marvellous beauty and luxuriance as was never seen in the +loveliest dreams. Here there was growing and flourishing every thing in +the nature of colewort, rape, lettuce, pease and beans, in such a +shimmer of light, and in such luxuriance that it is impossible to +describe it. A band of pipes, drums and cymbals sounded louder, and the +four gentlemen whose acquaintance she had previously made, viz. Herr +von Schwartzrettig, Monsieur de Rocambolle, Signor di Broccoli and Pan +Kapustowicz, approached with many ceremonious reverences. + +"My chamberlains," said Porphyrio von Ockerodastes, smiling; and, +preceded by them, he conducted Fraeulein Aennchen through between the +double ranks of the bodyguard of Red English Carrots to the centre of +the plain, where stood a splendid throne. And around this throne were +assembled the grandees of the realm; the Lettuce Princes with the Bean +Princesses, the Dukes of Cucumber with the Prince of Melon at their +head, the Cabbage Minister, the General Officer of Onions and Carrots, +the Colewort ladies, etc., etc., all in the gala dresses of their rank +and station. And amidst them moved up and down well on to a hundred of +the prettiest and most delightful Lavender and Fennel pages, diffusing +sweet perfume. When Ockerodastes had ascended the throne with Fraeulein +Aennchen, Chief Court-Marshal Turnip waved his long wand of office, and +immediately the band stopped playing, and the multitude listened in +reverential silence as Ockerodastes raised his voice and said, in +solemn accents, "My faithful and beloved subjects, you see by my side +the noble Fraeulein Anna von Zabelthau, whom I have chosen to be my +consort. Rich in beauty and virtues, she has long watched over you with +the eye of maternal affection, preparing soft and succulent beds for +you, caring for you and tending you with ceaseless ardour. She will +ever be a true and befitting mother of this realm. Wherefore I call +upon you to evince and give expression to the dutiful approval, and the +duly regulated rejoicing at the favour and benefit which I am about to +graciously confer upon you." + +At a signal given by Chief Court-Marshal Turnip there arose the shout +of a thousand voices, the Bulb Artillery fired their pieces, and the +band of the Carrot Guard played the celebrated National Anthem-- + + "Salad and lettuce, and parsley so green." + +It was a grand, a sublime moment, which drew tears from the eyes of the +grandees, particularly from those of the Colewort ladies. Fraeulein +Aennchen, too, nearly lost all her self-control when she noticed that +little Ockerodastes had a crown on his head all sparkling with +diamonds, and a golden sceptre in his hand. + +"Ah!" she cried clapping her hands. "Oh, Gemini! You seem to be +something much grander than we thought, my dear Herr von +Cordovanspitz." + +"My adored Anna," he replied, "the stars compelled me to appear before +your father under an assumed name. You must be told, dearest girl, that +I am one of the mightiest of kings, and rule over a realm whose +boundaries are not discoverable, as it has been omitted to lay them +down in the maps. Oh, sweetest Anna, he who offers you his hand and +crown is Daucus Carota the First, King of the Vegetables. All the +vegetable princes are my vassals, save that the King of the Beans +reigns for one single day in every year, in conformity to an ancient +usage." + +"Then I am to be a queen, am I?" cried Fraeulein Aennchen, overjoyed. +"And all this great splendid vegetable garden is to be mine?" + +King Daucus assured her that of course it was to be so, and added that +he and she would jointly rule over all the vegetables in the world. She +had never dreamt of anything of the kind, and thought little +Cordovanspitz wasn't anything like so nasty-looking as he used to be +now that he was transformed into King Daucus Carota the First, and that +the crown and sceptre were very becoming to him, and the kingly mantle +as well. When she reckoned into the bargain his delightful manners, and +the property this marriage would bring her, she felt certain that there +wasn't a country lady in all the world who could have made a better +match than she, who found herself betrothed to a king before she knew +where she was. So she was delighted beyond measure, and asked her royal +_fiance_ whether she could not take up her abode in the palace then and +there, and be married next day. But King Daucus answered that eagerly +as he longed for the time when he might call her his own, certain +constellations compelled him to postpone that happiness a little +longer. And that Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau, moreover, must be kept in +ignorance of his son-in-law's royal station, because otherwise the +operations necessary for bringing about the desired union with the +sylphide Nehabilah might be unsuccessful. Besides, he said, he had +promised that both the weddings should take place on the same day. So +Fraeulein Aennchen had to take a solemn vow not to mention one syllable +to Herr Dapsul of what had been happening to her. She therefore left +the silken palace amid long and loud rejoicings of the people, who were +in raptures with her beauty as well as with her affability and gracious +condescension of manners and behaviour. + +In her dreams she once more beheld the realms of the charming King +Daucus, and was lapped in Elysium. + +The letter which she had sent to Herr Amandus von Nebelstern made a +frightful impression on him. Ere long, Fraeulein Aennchen received the +following answer-- + +'IDOL OF MY HEART, HEAVENLY ANNA,-- + +"Daggers--sharp, glowing, poisoned, death-dealing daggers were to me +the words of your letter, which pierced my breast through and through. +Oh, Anna! _you_ to be torn from me. What a thought! I cannot, even now, +understand how it was that I did not go mad on the spot and commit some +terrible deed. But I fled the face of man, overpowered with rage at my +deadly destiny, after dinner--without the game of billiards which I +generally play--out into the woods, where I wrung my hands, and called +on your name a thousand times. It came on a tremendously heavy rain, +and I had on a new cap, red velvet, with a splendid gold tassel +(everybody says I never had anything so becoming). The rain was +spoiling it, and it was brand-new. But what are caps, what are velvet +and gold, to a despairing lover? I strode up and down till I was wet to +the skin and chilled to the bone, and had a terrible pain in my +stomach. This drove me into a restaurant near, where I got them to make +me some excellent mulled wine, and had a pipe of your heavenly Virginia +tobacco. I soon felt myself elevated on the wings of a celestial +inspiration, took out my pocket-book, and, oh!--wondrous gift of +poetry--the love-despair and the stomach-ache both disappeared at once. +I shall content myself with writing out for you only the last of these +poems; it will inspire you with heavenly hope, as it did myself. + + "Wrapped in darkest sorrow-- + In my heart, extinguished, + No love-tapers burning-- + Joy hath no to-morrow. + + "Ha! the Muse approaches, + Words and rhymes inspiring, + Little verse inscribing, + Joy returns apace. + + "New love-tapers blazing, + All the heart inspiring, + Fare thee well, my sorrow, + Joy thy place doth borrow. + +"Ay, my sweet Anna, soon shall I, thy champion, hasten to rescue you +from the miscreant who would carry you off from me. So, once more take +comfort, sweetest maid. Bear me ever in thy heart. He comes; he rescues +you; he clasps you to his bosom, which heaves in tumultuous emotion. + + "Your ever faithful + "AMANDUS VON NEBELSTERN. + +"P.S.--It would be quite impossible for me to call Herr von +Cordovanspitz out. For, oh Anna! every drop of blood drawn from your +Amandus by the weapon of a presumptuous adversary were glorious poet's +blood--ichor of the gods--which never ought to be shed. The world very +properly claims that such a spirit as mine has it imposed upon it as +public duty to take care of itself for the world's benefit, and +preserve itself by every possible means. The sword of the poet is the +word--the song. I will attack my rival with Tyrtaean battle-songs; +strike him to earth with sharp-pointed epigrams; hew him down with +dithyrambics full of lover's fury. Such are the weapons of a true, +genuine poet, powerful to shield him from every danger. And it is so +accoutred that I shall appear, and do battle--victorious battle--for +your hand, oh, Anna! + +"Farewell. I press you once more to my heart. Hope all things from my +love, and, especially, from my heroic courage, which will shun no +danger to set you free from the shameful nets of captivity in which, to +all appearance, you are entangled by a demoniacal monster." + +Fraeulein Aennchen received this letter at a time when she was playing a +game at "Catch-me-if-you-can" with her royal bridegroom elect, King +Daucus Carota the First, in the meadow at the back of the garden, and +immensely enjoying it when, as was often the case, she suddenly ducked +down in full career, and the little king would go shooting right away +over her head. Instead of reading the letter immediately (which she had +always done before), she put it in her pocket unopened, and we shall +presently see that it came too late. + +Herr Dapsul could not make out at all how Fraeulein Aennchen had changed +her mind so suddenly, and grown quite fond of Herr Porphyrio von +Ockerodastes, whom she had so cordially detested before. He consulted +the stars on the subject, but as they gave him no satisfactory +information, he was obliged to come to the conclusion that human hearts +are more mysterious and inscrutable than all the secrets of the +universe, and not to be thrown light upon by any constellation. He +could not think that what had produced love for the little creature in +Anna's heart was merely the highness of his nature; and personal beauty +he had none. If (as the reader knows) the canon of beauty, as laid down +by Herr Dapsul, is very unlike the ideas which young ladies form upon +that subject, he did, after all, possess sufficient knowledge of the +world to know that, although the said young women hold that good sense, +wit, cleverness and pleasant manners are very agreeable fellow-lodgers +in a comfortable house, still, a man who can't call himself the +possessor of a properly-made, fashionable coat--were he a Shakespeare, +a Goethe, a Tieck, or a Jean Paul Richter--would run a decided risk of +being beaten out of the field by any sufficiently well put-together +lieutenant of hussars in uniform, if he took it in his head to pay his +addresses to one of them. Now in Fraeulein Aennchen's case it was a +different matter altogether. It was neither good looks nor cleverness +that were in question; but it is not exactly every day that a poor +country lady becomes a queen all in a moment, and accordingly it was +not very likely that Herr Dapsul should hit upon the cause which had +been operating, particularly as the very stars had left him in the +lurch. + +As may be supposed, those three, Herr Porphyrio, Herr Dapsul and +Fraeulein Aennchen, were one heart and one soul. This went so far that +Herr Dapsul left his tower oftener than he had ever been known to do +before, to chat with his much-prized son-in-law on all sorts of +agreeable subjects; and not only this, but he now regularly took his +breakfast in the house. About this hour, too, Herr Porphyrio was wont +to come forth from his silken palace, and eat a good share of Fraeulein +Aennchen's bread and butter. + +"Ah, ah!" she would often whisper softly in his ear, "if papa only knew +that you are a real king, dearest Cordovanspitz!" + +"Be still, oh heart! Melt not away in rapture," Daucus Carota the First +would say. "Near, near is the joyful day!" + +It chanced that the schoolmaster had sent Fraeulein Aennchen a present +of some of the finest radishes from his garden. She was particularly +pleased at this, as Herr Dapsul was very fond of radishes, and she +could not get anything from the vegetable garden because it was covered +by the silk marquee. Besides this, it now occurred to her for the first +time that, among all the roots and vegetables she had seen in the +palace, radishes were conspicuous by their absence. + +So she speedily cleaned them and served them up for her father's +breakfast. He had ruthlessly shorn several of them of their leafy +crowns, dipped them in salt, and eaten them with much relish, when +Cordovanspitz came in. + +"Oh, my Ockerodastes," Herr Dapsul called to him, "are you fond of +radishes?" + +There was still a particularly fine and beautiful radish on the dish. +But the moment Cordovanspitz saw it his eves gleamed with fury, and he +cried in a resonant voice-- + +"What, unworthy duke, do you dare to appear in my presence again, and +to force your way, with the coolest of audacity, into a house which is +under my protection? Have I not pronounced sentence of perpetual +banishment upon you as a pretender to the imperial throne? Away, +treasonous vassal; begone from my sight for ever!" + +Two little legs had suddenly shot out beneath the radish's large head, +and with them he made a spring out of the plate, placed himself close +in front of Cordovanspitz, and addressed him as follows-- + +"Fierce and tyrannical Daucus Carota the First, you have striven in +vain to exterminate my race. Had ever any of your family a head as +large as mine, or that of my king? We are all gifted with talent, +common-sense, wisdom, sharpness, cultivated manners: and whilst _you_ +loaf about in kitchens and stables, and are of no use as soon as your +early youth is gone (so that in very truth it is nothing but the +_diable de la jeunesse_ that bestows upon you your brief, transitory, +little bit of good fortune), _we_ enjoy the friendship of, and the +intercourse with, people of position, and are greeted with acclamation +as soon as ever we lift up our green heads. But I despise you, Daucus +Carota. You're nothing but a low, uncultivated, ignorant Boor, like all +the lot of you. Let's see which of us two is the better man." + +With this the Duke of Radish, flourishing a long whip about his head, +proceeded, without more ado, to attack the person of King Daucus Carota +the First. The latter quickly drew his little sword, and defended +himself in the bravest manner. The two little creatures darted about in +the room, fighting fiercely, and executing the most wonderful leaps and +bounds, till Daucus Carota pressed the Duke of Radish so hard that the +latter found himself obliged to make a tremendous jump out of the +window and take to the open. But Daucus Carota--with whose remarkable +agility and dexterity the reader is already acquainted--bounded out +after him, and followed the Duke of Radish across country. + +Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau had looked on at this terrible encounter +rigid and speechless, but he now broke forth into loud and bitter +lamentation, crying, "Oh, daughter Anna! oh, my poor unfortunate +daughter Anna! Lost--I--you--both of us. All is over with us." With +which he left the room, and ascended the astronomical tower as fast as +his legs would carry him. + +Fraeulein Aennchen couldn't understand a bit, or form the very slightest +idea what in all the world had set her father into all this boundless +misery all of a sudden. The whole thing had caused her the greatest +pleasure; moreover, her heart was rejoiced that she had had an +opportunity of seeing that her future husband was brave, as well as +rich and great; for it would be difficult to find any woman in all the +world capable of loving a poltroon. And now that she had proof of the +bravery of King Daucus Carota the First, it struck her painfully, for +the first time, that Herr Amandus von Nebelstern had cried off from +fighting him. If she had for a moment hesitated about sacrificing Herr +Amandus to King Daucus, she was quite decided on the point now that she +had an opportunity of assuring herself of all the excellencies of her +future lord. She sat down and wrote the following letter:-- + +"MY DEAR AMANDUS, + +"Everything in this world is liable to change. Everything passes away, +as the schoolmaster says, and he's quite right. I'm sure _you_, my dear +Amandus, are such a learned and wise student that you will agree with +the schoolmaster, and not be in the very least surprised that my heart +and mind have undergone the least little bit of a change. You may quite +believe me when I say that I still like you very well, and I can quite +imagine how nice you look in your red velvet cap with the gold tassel. +But, with regard to marriage, you know very well, Amandus dear, that, +clever as you are, and beautiful as are your verses, you will never, in +all your days, be a king, and (don't be frightened, dear) little Herr +von Cordovanspitz isn't Herr von Cordovanspitz at all, but a great +king, Daucus Carota the First, who reigns over the great vegetable +kingdom, and has chosen me to be his queen. Since my dear king has +thrown aside his incognito he has grown much nicer-looking, and I see +now that papa was quite right when he said that the head was the beauty +of the man, and therefore couldn't possibly be big enough. And then, +Daucus Carota the First (you see how well I remember the beautiful name +and how nicely I write it now that has got so familiar to me), I was +going to say that my little royal husband, that is to be, has such +charming and delightful manners that there's no describing them. And +what courage, what bravery there is in him! Before my eyes he put to +flight the Duke of Radish, (and a very disagreeable, unfriendly +creature _he_ appears to be) and hey, how he did jump after him out of +the window! You should just have seen him: I only wish you had! And I +don't really think that my Daucus Carota would care about those weapons +of yours that you speak about one bit. He seems pretty tough, and I +don't believe verses would do him any harm at all, however fine and +pointed they might be. So now, dear Amandus, you must just make up your +mind to be contented with your lot, like a good fellow, and not be +vexed with me that I am going to be a Queen instead of marrying you. +Never mind, I shall always be your affectionate friend, and if ever you +would like an appointment in the Carrot bodyguard, or (as you don't +care so much about fighting as about learning) in the Parsley Academy +or the Pumpkin Office, you have but to say the word and your fortune is +made. Farewell, and don't be vexed with + + "Your former _fiancee_, but now friend and well-wisher, as well + as future Queen, + "ANNA VON ZABELTHAU. + "(but soon to be no more Von Zabelthau, but simply + ANNA.) + +"P.S.--You shall always be kept well supplied with the very finest +Virginia tobacco, of that you need have no fear. As far as I can see +there won't be any smoking at my court, but I shall take care to have a +bed or two of Virginia tobacco planted not far from the throne, under +my own special care. This will further culture and morality, and my +little Daucus will no doubt have a statute specially enacted on the +subject." + + + CHAPTER V. + +IN WHICH AN ACCOUNT IS GIVEN OF A FRIGHTFUL CATASTROPHE, AND WE PROCEED + WITH THE FUTURE COURSE OF EVENTS. + +Fraeulein Aennchen had just finished her letter to Herr Amandus von +Nebelstern, when in came Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau and began, in the +bitterest grief and sorrow to say, "O, my daughter Anna, how shamefully +we are both deceived and betrayed! This miscreant who made me believe +he was Baron Porphyrio von Ockerodastes, known as Cordovanspitz, member +of a most illustrious family descended from the mighty gnome Tsilmenech +and the noble Abbess of Cordova--this miscreant, I say--learn it and +fall down insensible--_is_ indeed a gnome, but of that lowest of all +gnomish castes which has charge of the vegetables. The gnome Tsilmenech +was of the highest caste of all, that, namely, to which the care +of the diamonds is committed. Next comes the caste which has care +of the metals in the realms of the metal-king, and then follow the +flower-gnomes, who are lower in position, as depending on the sylphs. +But the lowest and most ignoble are the vegetable gnomes, and not only +is this deceiver Cordovanspitz a gnome of this caste, but he is actual +king of it, and his name is Daucus Carota." + +Fraeulein Aennchen was far from fainting away, neither was she in the +smallest degree frightened, but she smiled in the kindliest way at her +lamenting papa, and the Courteous reader is aware of the reason. But as +Herr Dapsul was very much surprised at this, and kept imploring her for +Heaven's sake to realize the terrible position in which she was, and to +feel the full horror of it, she thought herself at liberty to divulge +the secret entrusted to her. She told Herr Dapsul how the so-called +Baron von Cordovanspitz had told her his real position long ago, and +that since then she had found him altogether so pleasant and delightful +that she couldn't wish for a better husband. Moreover she described all +the marvellous beauties of the vegetable kingdom into which King Daucus +Carota the First had taken her, not forgetting to duly extol the +remarkably delightful manners of the inhabitants of that realm. + +Herr Dapsul struck his hands together several times, and wept bitterly +over the deceiving wickedness of the Gnome-king, who had been, and +still was, employing means the most artful--most dangerous for himself +as well--to lure the unfortunate Anna down into his dark, demoniac +kingdom. "Glorious," he explained, "glorious and advantageous as may be +the union of an elementary spirit with a human being, grand as is the +example of this given by the wedlock of the gnome Tsilmenech with +Magdalena de la Croix (which is of course the reason why this deceiver +Daucus Carota has given himself out as being a descendant of that +union), yet the kings and princes of those races are very different. If +the Salamander kings are only irascible, the sylph kings proud and +haughty, the Undine queens affectionate and jealous, the gnome kings +are fierce, cruel, and deceitful. Merely to revenge themselves on the +children of earth, who deprive them of their vassals, they are +constantly trying their utmost to lure one of them away, who then +wholly lays aside her human nature, and, becoming as shapeless as the +gnomes themselves, has to go down into the earth, and is never more +seen." + +Fraeulein Aennchen didn't seem disposed to believe what her father was +telling her to her dear Daucus's discredit, but began talking again +about the marvels of the beautiful vegetable country over which she was +expecting so soon to reign as queen. + +"Foolish, blinded child," cried Herr Dapsul, "do you not give your +father credit for possessing sufficient cabalistic science to be well +aware that what the abominable Daucus Carota made you suppose you saw +was all deception and falsehood? No, you don't believe me, and to save +you, my only child, I must convince you, and this conviction must be +arrived at by most desperate methods. Come with me." + +For the second time she had to go up into the astronomical tower with +her papa. From a big band-box Herr Dapsul took a quantity of yellow, +red, white, and green ribbon, and, with strange ceremonies, he wrapped +Fraeulein Aennchen up in it from head to foot. He did the same to +himself, and then they both went very carefully to the silken palace of +Daucus Carota the First. It was close shut, and by her papa's +directions, she had to rip a small opening in one of the seams of it +with a large pair of scissors, and then peep in at the opening. + +Heaven be about us! what did she see? Instead of the beautiful +vegetable garden, the carrot guards, the plumed ladies, lavender pages, +lettuce princes, and so forth, she found herself looking down into a +deep pool which seemed to be full of a colourless, disgusting-looking +slime, in which all kinds of horrible creatures from the bowels of the +earth were creeping and twining about. There were fat worms slowly +writhing about amongst each other, and beetle-like creatures stretching +out their short legs and creeping heavily out. On their backs they bore +big onions; but these onions had ugly human faces, and kept fleering +and leering at each other with bleared yellow eyes, and trying, with +their little claws (which were close behind their ears), to catch hold +of one another by their long roman noses, and drag each other down into +the slime, while long, naked slugs were rolling about in crowds, with +repulsive torpidity, stretching their long horns out of their depths. +Fraeulein Aennchen was nearly fainting away at this horrid sight. She +held both hands to her face, and ran away as hard as she could. + +"You see now, do you not," said Herr Dapsul, "how this atrocious Daucus +Carota has been deceiving you in showing you splendours of brief +duration? He dressed his vassals up in gala dresses to delude you with +dazzling displays. But now you have seen the kingdom which you want to +reign over in undress uniform; and when you become the consort of +the frightful Daucus Carota you will have to live for ever in the +subterranean realms, and never appear on the surface any more. And +if--Oh, oh, what must I see, wretched, most miserable of fathers that I +am?" + +He got into such a state all in a moment that she felt certain some +fresh misfortune had just come to light, and asked him anxiously +what he was lamenting about now. However, he could do nothing for +sheer sobbing, but stammer out, "Oh--oh--dau-gh-ter. Wha-t ar--e +y-ou--l--l--like?" She ran to her room, looked into the looking-glass, +and started back, terrified almost to death. + +And she had reason; for the matter stood thus. As Herr Dapsul was +trying to open the eyes of Daucus Carota's intended queen to the danger +she was in of gradually losing her pretty figure and good looks, and +growing more and more into the semblance of a gnome queen, he suddenly +became aware of how far the process had proceeded already. Aennchen's +head had got much broader and bigger, and her skin had turned yellow, +so that she was quite ugly enough already. And though vanity was not +one of her failings, she was woman enough to know that to grow ugly is +the greatest and most frightful misfortune which can happen here below. +How often had she thought how delightful it would be when she would +drive, as queen, to church in the coach and eight, with the crown on +her head, in satins and velvets, with diamonds, and gold chains, and +rings, seated beside her royal husband, setting all the women, the +schoolmaster's wife included, into amazement of admiration, and most +likely, in fact, no doubt, instilling a proper sense of respect even +into the minds of the pompous lord and lady of the manor themselves. +Ay, indeed, how often had she been lapt in these and other such +eccentric dreams, and visions of the future!--Fraeulein Aennchen burst +into long and bitter weeping. + +"Anna, my daughter Anna," cried Herr Dapsul down through the speaking +trumpet; "come up here to me immediately!" + +She found him dressed very much like a miner. He spoke in a tone of +decision and resolution, saying, "When need is the sorest, help is +often nearest. I have ascertained that Daucus Carota will not leave his +palace to-day, and most probably not till noon of to-morrow. He has +assembled the princes of his house, the ministers, and other people +of consequence to hold a council on the subject of the next crop of +winter cabbage. The sitting is important, and it may be prolonged so +much that we may not have any cabbage at all next winter. I mean to +take advantage of this opportunity, while he is so occupied with his +official affairs that he won't be able to attend to my proceedings, to +prepare a weapon with which I may perhaps attack this shameful gnome, +and prevail over him, so that he will be compelled to withdraw, and set +you at liberty. While I am at work, do you look uninterruptedly at the +palace through this glass, and tell me instantly if anybody comes out, +or even looks out of it." She did as she was directed, but the marquee +remained closed, although she often heard (notwithstanding that Herr +Dapsul was making a tremendous hammering on plates of metal a few paces +behind her), a wild, confused crying and screaming, apparently coming +from the marquee, and also distinct sounds of slapping, as if people's +ears were being well boxed. She told Herr Dapsul this, and he was +delighted, saying that the more they quarrelled in there the less they +were likely to know what was being prepared for their destruction. + +Fraeulein Aennchen was much surprised when she found that Herr Dapsul +had hammered out and made several most lovely kitchen-pots and +stew-pans of copper. As an expert in such matters, she observed that +the tinning of them was done in a most superior style, so that her papa +must have paid careful heed to the duties legally enjoined on +coppersmiths. She begged to be allowed to take these nice pots and pans +down to the kitchen, and use them there. But Herr Dapsul smiled a +mysterious smile, and merely said: + +"All in good time, my daughter Anna. Just you go downstairs, my beloved +child, and wait quietly till you see what happens to-morrow." + +He gave a melancholy smile, and that infused a little hope and +confidence into his luckless daughter. + +Next day, as dinner-time came on, Herr Dapsul brought down his pots and +pans, and betook himself to the kitchen, telling his daughter and the +maid to go away and leave him by himself, as he was going to cook the +dinner. He particularly enjoined Fraeulein Aennchen to be as kind and +pleasant with Cordovanspitz as ever she could, when he came in--as he +was pretty sure to do. + +Cordovanspitz--or rather, King Daucus Carota the First--did come in +very soon, and if he had borne himself like an ardent lover on previous +occasions, he far outdid himself on this. Aennchen noticed, to her +terror, that she had grown so small by this time, that Daucus had no +difficulty in getting up into her lap to caress and kiss her; and the +wretched girl had to submit to this, notwithstanding her disgust with +the horrid little monster. Presently Herr Dapsul came in, and said-- + +"Oh, my most egregious Porphyrio von Ockerodastes, won't you come into +the kitchen with my daughter and me, and see what beautiful order your +future bride has got everything in there?" + +Aennchen had never seen the wicked, malicious look upon her father's +face before, which it wore when he took little Daucus by the arm, and +almost forced him from the sitting-room to the kitchen. At a sign of +her father's she went there after them. + +Her heart swelled within her when she saw the fire burning so merrily, +the glowing coals, the beautiful copper pots and pans. As Herr Dapsul +drew Cordovanspitz closer to the fire-place, the hissing and bubbling +in the pots grew louder and louder, and at last changed into whimpering +and groaning. And out of one of the pots came voices, crying, "Oh +Daucus Carota! Oh King, rescue your faithful vassals! Rescue us poor +carrots! Cut up, thrown into despicable water; rubbed over with salt +and butter to our torture, we suffer indescribable woe, whereof a +number of noble young parsleys are partakers with us!" + +And out of the pans came the plaint: "Oh Daucus Carota! Oh King! Rescue +your faithful vassals--rescue us poor carrots. We are roasting in +hell--and they put so little water with us, that our direful thirst +forces us to drink our own heart's blood!" + +And from another of the pots came: "Oh Daucus Carota! Oh King! Rescue +your faithful vassals--rescue us poor carrots. A horrible cook +eviscerated us, and stuffed our insides full of egg, cream, and butter, +so that all our ideas and other mental qualities are in utter +confusion, and we don't know ourselves what we are thinking about!" + +And out of all the pots and pans came howling at once a general +chorus of "Oh Daucus Carota! Mighty King! Rescue us, thy faithful +vassals--rescue us poor carrots!" + +On this, Cordovanspitz gave a loud, croaking cry of--"Cursed, infernal, +stupid humbug and nonsense!" sprang with his usual agility on to the +kitchen range, looked into one of the pots, and suddenly popped down +into it bodily. Herr Dapsul sprang in the act of putting on the cover, +with a triumphant cry of "a Prisoner!" But with the speed of a spiral +spring Cordovanspitz came bounding up out of the pot, and gave Herr +Dapsul two or three ringing slaps on the face, crying "Meddling goose +of an old Cabalist, you shall pay for this! Come out, my lads, one and +all!" + +Then there came swarming out of all the pots and pans hundreds and +hundreds of little creatures about the length of one's finger, and they +attached themselves firmly all over Herr Dapsul's body, threw him down +backwards into an enormous dish, and there dished him up, pouring the +hot juice out of the pots and pans over him, and bestrewing him with +chopped egg, mace, and grated breadcrumbs. Having done this, Daucus +Carota darted out of the window, and his people after him. + +Fraeulein Aennchen sank down in terror beside the dish whereon her poor +papa lay, served up in this manner as if for table. She supposed he was +dead, as he gave not the faintest sign of life. + +She began to lament: "Ah, poor papa--you're dead now, and there's +nobody to save me from this diabolical Daucus!" But Herr Dapsul opened +his eyes, sprang up from the dish with renewed energy, and cried in a +terrible voice, such as she had never heard him make use of before, "Ah +accursed Daucus Carota, I am not at the end of my resources yet. You +shall soon see what the meddling old goose of a Cabalist can do." + +Aennchen had to set to work and clean him with the kitchen besom from +all the chopped egg, the mace, and the grated breadcrumbs; and then he +seized a copper pot, crammed it on his head by way of a helmet, took a +frying-pan in his left hand, and a long iron kitchen ladle in his +right, and thus armed and accoutred, he darted out into the open. +Fraeulein Aennchen saw him running as hard as he could towards +Cordovanspitz's marquee, and yet never moving from the same spot. At +this her senses left her. + +When she came to herself, Herr Dapsul had disappeared, and she got +terribly anxious when evening came, and night, and even the next +morning, without his making his appearance. She could not but dread the +very worst. + + + CHAPTER VI. + + WHICH IS THE LAST--AND, AT THE SAME TIME, THE MOST EDIFYING OF ALL. + +Fraeulein Aennchen was sitting in her room in the deepest sorrow, +when the door opened, and who should come in but Herr Amandus von +Nebelstern. All shame and contrition, she shed a flood of tears, and in +the most weeping accents addressed him as follows: "Oh, my darling +Amandus, pray forgive what I wrote to you in my blinded state! I was +bewitched, and I am so still, no doubt. I am yellow, and I'm hideous, +may God pity me! But my heart is true to you, and I am not going to +marry any king at all." + +"My dear girl," said Amandus, "I really don't see what you have to +complain of. I consider you one of the luckiest women in the world." + +"Oh, don't mock at me," she cried. "I am punished severely enough for +my absurd vanity in wishing to be a Queen." + +"Really and truly, my dear girl," said Amandus, "I can't make you +out one bit. To tell you the real truth, your last letter drove me +stark, staring mad. I first thrashed my servant-boy, then my poodle, +smashed several glasses--and you know a student who's breathing out +threatenings and slaughter in that sort of way isn't to be trifled +with. But when I got a little calmer I made up my mind to come on here +as quickly as I could, and see with my own eyes how, why, and to whom I +had lost my intended bride. Love makes no distinction of class or +station, and I made up my mind that I would make this King Daucus +Carota give a proper account of himself, and ask him if this tale about +his marrying you was mere brag, or if he really meant it--but +everything here is different to what I expected. As I was passing near +the grand marquee that is put up yonder, King Daucus Carota came out of +it, and I soon found that I had before me the most charming prince I +ever saw--at the same time he happens to be the first I ever did see; +but that's nothing. For, just fancy, my dear girl, he immediately +detected the sublime poet in me, praised my poems (which he has never +read) above measure, and offered to appoint me Poet Laureate in his +service. Now a position of that sort has long been the fairest goal of +my warmest wishes, so that I accepted his offer with a thousandfold +delight. Oh, my dear girl, with what an enthusiasm of inspiration will +I chant your praises! A poet can love queens and princesses: or rather, +it is really a part of his simple duty to choose a person of that +exalted station to be the lady of his heart. And if he _does_ get +rather cracky in the head on the subject, that circumstance of itself +gives rise to that celestial delirium without which no poetry is +possible, and no one ought to feel any surprise at a poet's perhaps +somewhat extravagant proceedings. Remember the great Tasso, who must +have had a considerable bee in his bonnet when in love with the +Princess Leonore d'Este. Yes, my dear girl, as you are going to be a +queen so soon, you will always be the lady of my heart, and I will +extol you to the stars in the sublimest and most celestial verses." + +"What, you have seen him, the wicked Cobold?" Fraeulein Aennchen broke +out in the deepest amazement. "And he has----" + +But at that moment in came the little gnomish King himself, and said, +in the tenderest accents, "Oh, my sweet, darling _fiancee_! Idol of my +heart! Do not suppose for a moment that I am in the least degree +annoyed with the little piece of rather unseemly conduct which Herr +Dapsul von Zabelthau was guilty of. Oh, no--and indeed it has led to +the more rapid fulfilment of my hopes; so that the solemn ceremony of +our marriage will actually be celebrated to-morrow. You will be pleased +to find that I have appointed Herr Amandus von Nebelstern our Poet +Laureate, and I should wish him at once to favour us with a specimen of +his talents, and recite one of his poems. But let us go out under the +trees, for I love the open air: and I will lie in your lap, while you, +my most beloved bride elect, may scratch my head a little while he is +singing--for I am fond of having my head scratched in such +circumstances." + +Fraeulein Aennschen, turned to stone with horror and alarm, made no +resistance to this proposal. Daucus Carota, out under the trees, +laid himself in her lap, she scratched his head, and Herr Amandus, +accompanying himself on the guitar, began the first of twelve dozen +songs which he had composed and written out in a thick book. + +It is matter of regret that in the Chronicle of Dapsulheim (from which +all this history is taken), these songs have not been inserted, it +being merely stated that the country folk who were passing, stopped on +their way, and anxiously inquired who could be in such terrible pain in +Herr Dapsul's wood, that he was crying and screaming out in such a +style. + +Daucus Carota, in Aennschen's lap, twisted and writhed, and groaned and +whined more and more lamentably, as if he had a violent pain in his +stomach. Moreover, Fraeulein Aennchen fancied she observed, to her great +amazement, that Cordovanspitz was growing smaller and smaller as the +song went on. At last Herr Amandus sung the following sublime effusion +(which is preserved in the Chronicle):-- + + "Gladly sings the Bard, enraptured, + Breath of blossoms, bright dream-visions, + Moving thro' roseate spaces in Heaven, + Blessed and beautiful, whither away? + 'Whither away?' oh, question of questions-- + Towards that 'Whither,' the Bard is borne onward, + Caring for nought but to love, to believe. + Moving through roseate heavenly spaces, + Towards this 'Whither,' where'er it may be, + Singeth the bard, in a tumult of rapture, + Ever becoming a radiant em----" + +At this point, Daucus Carota uttered a loud croaking cry, and, now +dwindled into a little, little carrot, slipped down from Aennchen's +lap, and into the ground, leaving no trace behind. Upon which, the +great grey fungus which had grown in the night time beside the grassy +bank, shot up and up; but this fungus was nothing less than Herr Dapsul +von Zabelthau's grey felt hat, and he himself was under it, and fell +stormily on Amandus's breast, crying out in the utmost ecstasy, "Oh, my +dearest, best, most beloved Herr Amandus von Nebelstern, with that +mighty song of conjuration you have beaten all my cabalistic science +out of the held? What the profoundest magical art, the utmost daring of +the philosopher fighting for his very existence, could not accomplish, +your verses achieved, passing into the frame of the deceitful Daucus +Carota like the deadliest poison, so that he must have perished of +stomach-ache, in spite of his gnomish nature, if he had not made off +into his kingdom. My daughter Anna is delivered--I am delivered from +the horrible charm which held me spellbound here in the shape of a +nasty fungus, at the risk of being hewn to pieces by my own daughter's +hands; for the good soul hacks them all down with her spade, unless +their edible character is unmistakable, as in the case of the +mushrooms. Thanks, my most heartfelt thanks, and I have no doubt your +intentions as regards my daughter have undergone no change. I am sorry +to say she has lost her good looks, through the machinations of that +inimical gnome; but you are too much of a philosopher to----" + +"Oh, dearest papa," cried Aennchen, overjoyed; "just look there! The +silken palace is gone! The abominable monster is off and away with all +his tribe of salad-princes, cucumber-ministers, and Lord knows what +all!" And she ran away to the vegetable garden, delighted, Herr Dapsul +following as fast as he could. Herr Amandus went behind them, muttering +to himself, "I'm sure I don't know quite what to make of all this. But +this I maintain, that that ugly little carrot creature is a vile, +prosaic lubber, and none of your poetical kings, or my sublime lay +wouldn't have given him the stomach-ache, and sent him scuttling into +the ground." + +As Fraeulein Aennchen was standing in the vegetable garden, where there +wasn't the trace of a green blade to be seen, she suddenly felt a sharp +pain in the finger which had on the fateful ring. At the same time a +cry of piercing sorrow sounded from the ground, and the tip of a carrot +peeped out. Guided by her inspiration she quickly took the ring off (it +came quite easily this time), stuck it on to the carrot, and the latter +disappeared, while the cry of sorrow ceased. But, oh, wonder of +wonders! all at once Fraeulein Aennchen was as pretty as ever, +well-proportioned, and as fair and white as a country lady can be +expected to be. She and her father rejoiced greatly, while Amandus +stood puzzled, and not knowing what to make of it all. + +Fraeulein Aennchen took the spade from the maid, who had come running +up, and flourished it in the air with a joyful shout of "Now let's set +to work," in doing which she was unfortunate enough to deal Herr +Amandus such a thwack on the head with it (just at the place where the +Sensorium Commune is supposed to be situated) that he fell down as one +dead. + +Aennchen threw the murderous weapon far from her, cast herself +down beside her beloved, and broke out into the most despairing +lamentations, whilst the maid poured the contents of a watering pot +over him, and Herr Dapsul quickly ascended the astronomic tower to +consult the stars with as little delay as possible as to whether Herr +Amandus was dead or not. But it was not long before the latter opened +his eyes again, jumped to his legs, clasped Fraeulein Aennchen in his +arms, and cried, with all the rapture of affection, "Now, my best and +dearest Anna, we are one another again." + +The very remarkable, scarcely credible effect of this occurrence on the +two lovers very soon made itself perceptible. Fraeulein Aennchen took a +dislike to touching a spade, and she did really reign like a queen over +the vegetable world, inasmuch as, though taking care that her vassals +were properly supervised and attended to, she set no hand to the work +herself, but entrusted it to maids in whom she had confidence. + +Herr Amandus, for his part, saw now that everything he had ever written +in the shape of verses was wretched, miserable trash, and, burying +himself in the works of the real poets, both of ancient and modern +times, his being was soon so filled with a beneficent enthusiasm that +no room was left for any consideration of himself. He arrived at the +conviction that a real poem has got to be something other than a +confused jumble of words shaken together under the influence of a +crude, jejeune delirium, and threw all his own (so-called) poetry, of +which he had had such a tremendous opinion, into the fire, becoming +once more quite the sensible young gentleman, clear and open in heart +and mind, which he had been originally. + +And one morning Herr Dapsul did actually come down from his +astronomical tower to go to church with Fraeulein Aennchen and Herr +Amandus von Nebelstern on the occasion of their marriage. + +They led an exceedingly happy wedded life. But as to whether Herr +Dapsul's union with the Sylphide Nehabilah ever actually came to +anything the Chronicle of Dapsulheim is silent. + + +During the reading of this the Friends had laughed a good deal, and +they were unanimously of opinion that, though there was not a great +deal in the plot, yet that the details were so humorous and droll that, +as a whole, the tale was a success. + +"As to the plot," Vincenz said, "there is rather a curious circumstance +connected with that. Not long since, happening to be dining at the +table of a certain lady of princely rank, there was a lady present who +had on a gold ring with a beautiful topaz, of which the remarkably +antique-looking form and workmanship attracted universal attention. We +thought it had been some precious heirloom, and were astonished to hear +that it had been found sticking on a carrot dug up on her property a +few years previously. Probably it had been lying pretty deep in the +ground, and had been brought towards the surface when the land was +trenched, so that the carrot had grown through it. + +"The Princess pointed out what a good idea for a story this suggested, +and wished that I should set to work to write one at once on the +subject. So, you see, I hadn't far to go for the idea of the 'Vegetable +King and his People,' and I claim the invention of them for myself, for +there isn't a trace of him to be found in Gabalis or any other book of +the kind." + +"Now," said Lothair, "I think we may say that on none of our former +Serapion evenings has our fare been of a more various character than +to-night. And it is good that we have managed to emerge from that +gruesome darkness into which we had wandered somehow--I am sure it is +hard to tell why--into the clear, brightsome light of day, although, no +doubt, a serious, careful person might, with some reason, say that all +the fantastic matter which we have so long been going on spinning and +accumulating might have a considerable tendency to induce confusion of +head, if not headache and feverishness." + +"We should all do the best we can," said Theodore. "But let no one deem +that his own particular qualities and powers constitute the norm of +what the human understanding is to have laid before it. For there are +people--good sensible folks enough in other respects--who are so easily +made giddy in their heads that they think the rapid flight of an +awakened imagination is the result of an unsound condition of mind. So +that such people say, of this or the other writer, that he only writes +when he is under the influence of intoxicating drinks, and attribute +his imaginative writings to over-excited nerves, and a certain amount +of deliriousness thence arising. But everybody knows that although a +condition of mind raising from either of those causes can give rise to +a happy thought, or fortunate idea, it is impossible that it can yield +perfect and finished work, because that demands the very quietest study +and consideration." + +On this evening Theodore had set before his friends some remarkably +superior wine sent to him by a friend on the Rhine. He poured what +remained of it into the glasses, and said:-- + +"I cannot explain why it should be so; but a melancholy foreboding +comes upon me that we are going to part for a long time, and may, +perhaps, never meet again. But surely the remembrance of those Serapion +evenings will long live in our minds. We have given free play to the +capricious promptings of our fancy. Each of us has spoken out what he +saw in his mind's eye, without supposing his ideas to be anything +extraordinary, or giving them forth as being so, knowing well that the +first essential of all effective composition is that kindly +unpretendingness which is the thing that has the power to warm the +heart and please the mind. If Fate is about to part us, then let us +always faithfully follow the rule of Saint Serapion, and vowing this to +each other, drink this last glass of our wine." + +What Theodore suggested was accordingly done. + + + + + + +LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STANFORD STREET + AND CHARING CROSS. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Serapion Brethren., by +Ernst Theordor Wilhelm Hoffmann + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SERAPION BRETHREN. *** + +***** This file should be named 31668.txt or 31668.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/6/6/31668/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from scans provided by Google Books + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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